Iron Grip

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[clattering] [clattering] Pickaxe. Coming to Apple TV+ on August 9th. You're the Marine? Yeah, you're the ex-con. Yeah, I did time, but you don't gotta cast aspersions at me. From the director of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity comes a new film. It's your first job? I know what I'm doing. I'm a little late for a crit change. Starring Matt Damon. Everybody in New England is after us. And Casey Affleck. Go, go, go, go, go! What are you doing? Taking notes. Taking notes on a criminal conspiracy. The Instigators, rated R. Streaming August 9th on Apple TV+.

This summer, during the biggest sporting event of the year, Peacock turns to two broadcasting legends for the Olympics coverage you can't find anywhere else. Um, I think they mean us. Oh, s***. Um... [clears throat] With an incredible duo sure to take home the comedy gold. Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson. New episodes Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Only on Peacock. Episode 167 of the DNR podcast is brought to you today by Mistborn Housewar. If you're already a fan of Brandon Sanderson's work in the Mistborn series, then you don't really need much of an introduction, but just in case you aren't, Mistborn Housewar is a board game set in that universe where you will work with a bunch of different players, each of you running a house, all of you working together to solve problems within the Empire.

Political, social, outright rebellion, environmental, all kinds of things. All of you working together to solve these problems while at the same time competing to be the most powerful house in the entire game. It looks like a hell of a lot of fun. I want to back it. I want to get a copy. It's already funded on Kickstarter right now. It's well into stretch goal territory, and every stretch goal goes to making the board game even better. If you go to DNRpodcast.com and click on the big Mistborn banner at the top of the page, it'll take you directly to their Kickstarter.

We really hope you back it because we want to as well. Are you going to Dragon Con this year? Because we certainly are. We hope to see each and every one of you that can make it in attendance. We're going to have a live panel just for DNR. We want to pack the entire place. Myself and Bree are also going to be at a myriad of other panels that we hope you guys can show up to. Either way, we just want to see you there. We want to shake your hand. We'd like to go maybe go get a bite to eat with as many listeners as we can, or just hang out for a while. So if you're going to be at the Atlanta area or you're going to make the trek to Dragon Con this September, let us know.

Shoot us an email. Without further ado, we really hope you guys enjoy today's episode. Let's do that thing where we go around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table, start with Susan. Oh man, I wasn't ready. Hi, I'm Susan. I play Air Lift. I'm just the tiefling invoker. And Alex. Hey, I'm Alex and I play Brailen the halfling bard. And James. Hey, it's James. I play Dagon the Aladdin scion. And Xavier. Boy, I'm Xavier and I play Actoronas the revenant cleric. And Ian. Hey, I'm Ian and I play Kaldin the half-elf sorcerer.

Last time on the show, you guys, you pretty, pretty people, pulled in to Brightport on your gorgeous Aladdin ship. And the welcome wagon rolled out. I would like to think that everyone was very accommodating. They were eager to greet you. And then you promptly, you promptly made a huge display of yourselves. And you kind of let everyone in and know it's like, "Hey, don't fuck with us." That type of thing. Just a big vulgar display of power. So you wandered down the docks and you found someone who works for House Dragonkeep. And you asked them, "Hey, could you watch our ship?" And at the same time, "Can we get an escort to the house so we don't get murdered?" So that's pretty much where we're going to pick up.

We're going to pick up with you guys arriving in House Dragonkeep. Are you pretty much just walking in like you own the place? Because you do have a grimness in your party. I hear you're a pretty big deal. We know how to make an entrance. Actoronas would be walking pretty like a, with a very big head. With a very proper demeanor next to, or next to and a little in front of Rodrigo carrying his stuff. Yeah, Rodrigo would be kind of shuffling about. That's going to confuse the shit out of two people out there listening. Who the fuck's Rodrigo? While in Brightport, everyone out there, for those of you who didn't catch it last time, Rodrigo and this keep it between us, that's his alias.

Gasp. His mustache, his mustache is made out of my hair. That's so creepy. Okay, let's describe it, because I picture a really wispy, like, long mustache. Like, describe this mustache. What's it look like? Do you want me to do Actoronas or? Well, you go, but I picture the Danny Trejo, like, Fu Menchu. Yep, yep. I picture it as exactly the same one. Okay. Hypothetical high five. Clap. That was a good one. That was solid. So you guys are going to get here, I imagine knock on the door. And as per usual, David is going to answer. And he is going to immediately, like, he's going to recognize Air Love, of course, and most of the party.

He's going to welcome you in. Sort of side step and just gesture in as, you know, as his way. Air Love would probably be a little like, "Oh, hi, how do you..." Like, she would be like, "How does this guy recognize me?" But then, like, step into the house. Well, there are portraits and stuff like that. But I don't know that. Well, no, I know. I'm just saying. Your mom talks about you, too. She's kind of proud or whatever. You're the one kid who's not a shithead. I'll be honest. Get off my back, mom. Like, you hit your rebellious phase in your 30s. 38, too. But in tiefling years, that's like 30.

That's like 29, 30. So, you know, the party is going to come in and there's this gorgeous foyer. It's stacked. Normally, there's kind of like treats and stuff to eat. Right now, it's kind of bare. But in the room, Tessie's going to be there and she's going to stand up and immediately head toward Air Love. Air Love will rush to her and embrace her. Yeah, she would wrap her arms right around Air Love and just really squeeze. Yeah, Air Love will do that thing where she holds on and then squeezes a little more as she's holding on. And if anybody notices, tears might be forming in her eyes.

You're not sure. I think a perception check is in order. Braelyn doesn't see it. I'm sorry, Rodrigo doesn't see it. Hey, that was decent. 14. It was okay. He's got a mustache in his face. These rogue actor onus whiskers are... Yeah, fix that. She'll stop hugging after a moment. Are you okay? Air Love will do a discreet wipe at her eyes and be like, "I am now. It is so good to see you." You have no idea how good it is to see you two. I see you brought friends. Oh, yes. These are my friends. This is Dagon, actor onus, Braelyn, and Calvin. Here we go. Braelyn's gonna cover his face in one hand like, "Ugh." Hey, my mom can keep a secret.

She ain't no snitch. But I believe you've met Dagon before? And actor onus? No. Dagon. Dagon. She's gonna stiffen up a little bit. You could tell she was much more relaxed with Air Love. Not be cold, but just sort of like, "Okay, gotta be professional." Just kind of present that, "I have met Dagon before. It's very nice to see you again." He'll just sort of give her a little bow, and then he'll look at David and say, "David, please prepare some food and four beds. We'll be spending the night." David's gonna look over to Tessia, and Tessia will give a little bit of a nod.

Do me a favor. Everyone roll Perception. Again? Yes, please. Oh, the mustache succeeds. Holy shit, Air Love. Okay. Yeah, calm down. That's like a 500-pound bench press of a Perception check. That's not... We get it. I'm far away right now. My mom gives me strength, guys. I'd say everyone but Kaldin would notice that David's gonna look ever so taken aback. Like, just, "Of course." And he'll excuse himself, and he'll go start prepping food. I was just gonna say, Air Love would probably at this moment come back from her joyous high and be like, "Oh, while we're here, Braylin will be going by Rodrigo.

Could you make sure David knows as well?" I'll tell him the very next time I see him. And she'll have kind of a smile on her face. Is there any particular reason why? Braylin's gonna step forward, and he's gonna try to disguise his voice. "No, ma'am. That's just the name I'm going by." Her eyes are gonna widen just a little bit, 'cause that does not seem like that's the voice that should come out of your mouth. I'll do my best to remember that. Thank you, Kylo, ma'am. And he will be acting as my squire, too. Which is why he's carrying my armor. Hello. I am actor Onu Sidwell at Naseus.

Lady Grimnus, it is an honor to finally be able to meet you. I am the ambassador of Onakal, and we have traveled a long, long way to get here. And you must be such a proud mother. I've fought besides our love, and my, she proves herself in battle, in diplomacy. To meet the mother of such a person is truly a great honor. And he's doing a very deep and overly courteous bow. And really showing off his new armor, too. He still has his helmet. But he's really bowing and grabbing the side of his cape and motioning it as he talks. Little flower. Quick question. Are you doing the thing where you take your helmet off?

No, he's keeping it way off. Just checking. That's very important to the reaction. Yes. My real advice is against it. Can tieflings blush? Well, yeah. Erylov's eyes will go big and she'll probably get a little bit redder. Tessia is gonna kind of awkwardly bow back. That is incredibly flattering of you. I look forward to hearing all sorts of stories about my daughter. Actually, please, everyone, have a seat. Did you say you're from Onakol? That I am, yes. Currently? Well, I don't know if this is news to the people of Brightport, but... After the events that occurred a few weeks back, or a month ago...

I imagine I'm the sole survivor, so... No, not currently. Well, I might be able to give you some good news if there is such a thing to come out of that absolute tragedy. I'm looking forward to hearing about it. Again, please, everyone, have a seat. And she's going to sort of take a seat at the... There's this big cushy chair that's sort of situated in between two large couches. So kind of like sitting at the head of a dining room table type of thing. That way she can sort of see everybody and make eye contact. I'm guessing everyone's going to say yes. Oh, yeah.

Irela will probably take the one closest to her. If I can reach the seat, yeah, I'll sit down. Yeah, it's not... The couches are low enough that you'd be able to see them. Okay. She's now looking to discriminate. Good. You can always use a throw pillow as a booster seat if you wanted to. No. I think I like to envision myself as the little dude from Howl's Moving Castle when he puts on the little robe. Okay. Yes. Yeah, that's what I want to... That's what I will look like for now. So my movements are very childish and comical, but they're on purpose. Okay. So what brings you to Brightport?

Not that I'm not happy to see you, of course. It's just been a while. Well, sadly, this is on a stop somewhere else. We're going to Talor. Talor? Yeah. She'll look to Dagon. Not sure how much he wants her mom to know, but she'll be like, "We were led to believe that we could find Eladrin there." Hmm. What would lead you to believe that? I can't. She'll look to Dagon. If he can give any indication, he trusts Tessia, so he'll nod, like, "Go ahead." We went to visit... I can't talk today. Sorry, guys. We went to visit the Witch in the Swamp for answers, and she told us that that was where the Eladrin were.

Oh. Believe it or not, I think I know where you're going with this. You do? There was a group, actually, that left not that long ago, and if it has anything to do with the upcoming demon threat, I'm pretty plugged into that portion of it now. Was Kori with them? No, they're... no. Oh. Valus did stop by, though. You saw Valus? Did he tell you something? After the fact, yes. Okay. So you know about him and... Jadzia. Okay, okay. Good. Yeah, I was at their wedding. Not in... I didn't... I wasn't invited, though. I kind of showed up there by accident. That's what they said, too.

And I'm glad that you got to make it there in person. So who was here telling you of the demon threat? Well, Merrick, who is their leader, I guess, for lack of a better term, at least group organizer. They had stopped in previously with Valus, and then after the fact they went to visit a library, I think they said, and that's when they filled me in. I guess there's a pretty hard time limit if what they said is to be believed. I'm guessing you already know about that, though. Yes. What is it, 47 days now? 43, I believe. 43? Fer-rr-rr-rr-rr. We are a bit behind schedule, but I'm relieved to hear that Merrick is taking charge.

I think he's the most level-headed of that group. They might not do anything too irrational. Well, what can I do to help? Well, we took a ship here, and we aren't the most sea-savvy people. If you know anybody trustworthy that could help us out on the open waters, and maybe if you know anybody who knows Talor to maybe act as a guide. You are not the only person to ask that, actually. I did know of a person, but they were helping out the other group. I'm very sorry. I could look into maybe getting some guidance on what you could expect to see there. Is there something specific?

Do you know where the Eladrin are supposed to be, but just don't know the way? We were told that Dagon would feel where it was. Now that I'm saying it out loud, it sounds so silly, but we're not certain. However, we're also hoping to find the Gitzirai and Talor. They may hold valuable information about this whole demon situation, so finding them before finding their counterpart would be beneficial. The Breland would elbow at Drones and say, "Now, now, there, sir. We gotta be careful. We can't pick a side in a war." "Well, if a side's gonna provide us the information we need, we may have to." Breland's gonna stroke the mustache.

I like that he's slowly turning into Falkhorn Leghorn. Or Asim! Or Asim! Or somebody's gonna mix with him as well. Or any maps you have of Talor, or any sea charts that could help us along the way. I can absolutely get those to you. How did you find the open waters? Were there any problems? As long as you don't sail north. There weren't any problems beyond poor decisions. We attempted to save a few hours of time by going through icebergs and regretted that decision, but beyond that, the waters were great, actually. But everyone's okay. Yes. Oh yes. We took on the Hydra.

Just look away. She's kinda like, "Oh." Like, just kind of looks like, "That's... okay. That's an awful cavalier attitude, 'cause it sounds horrific." Well, I was gonna offer some assistance, maybe a second ship that could accompany you, but if you don't feel like you'd need it, then I could at least get you maps and charts. Well, man, let's not pull everything off the table now. We may have been riding on luck up until this point. Any persons who know the seas better than we do would probably greatly help. We do have an extremely fast ship, though, so...

Oh, that's true. ...from Dagon City, so any conventional ships might not be able to catch up to us. Well, I do have a couple of cargo ships that set sail back and forth between Tolar and here. They're probably not as fast as what you're used to, though. They're not really built for speed. Hmm. Is there... is there anybody you could spare just to help us with the sailing aspect? I think we could set something up, yeah. Because I know Brightport, and I wouldn't be able to find anybody trustworthy. I wouldn't hire anyone off the streets, though we are making some strides in that arena.

I'm guessing you met some of our people at the dock. Yes, they assisted us in getting here. And before you hear about it, I just want to apologize for my Malchus-esque entrance. What should I say? We thought we needed to make a show of force, and we made somewhat of an entrance. Had more than a few eyes turn our way. I'm sure it'll be fine. And that was probably going to happen anyway. Anyone knew that Ventures Into Port normally gets the evil eye. And besides, it's not like we had to clean up a room or anything. That would be Malchus-esque. Did... okay, before I say this, I just want to establish that the last time Air Love ever spoke to her mom, like in person, was before Overwatch.

So I'm going to preface that before I'm about to say what I am, and everybody's like, "Oh, wouldn't she know?" Okay. Did you hear Malchus has been seen again? I actually saw him recently. He visited with a few interesting party members. I'm surprised he would come here. Alright. Okay. I get the feeling he didn't really have any place to go for a while. Only been missing 20 years, but Malchus. Malchus is way. Whatever. I know it's hard, and I wish I could tell you something that would make all of that alright, or excuse it. But the best I can do is tell you if you do run into him out there somewhere, try to hear him out.

Sure. Did we need anything else, guys? And she's coming to look away from our mom when she says sure, and then look around the room like, "Do we need anything else?" Like, we can just see she's done talking about this. Well, if my constituents are finished, I'd like to ask if we have any information on creatures that exist on T'Lur, for I understand that they have what they call "big game." And I'm how you call "not very big game," as you can see. This is venturing, dangerous, close to Django accent. Are you sure you shouldn't be going by Bubba or something?

You gotta throw him off! I know, I know. I love it. I could do some research and get something for you. Again, we mainly just stop at ports. My people don't really explore T'Lur very often. I understood. There were several men that escorted us here to the house. I'm not sure if we caught their name, but I could point them out. They were very helpful, and if you can, they should be given credit where credit is due. I will be absolutely sure to thank them when I see them again, and I'm glad you made it here safe and sound. The streets of Brightport can be hard on outsiders.

Yes, and thank you, Lady Grimnast, for providing a safe haven here in your home. There is one more thing I'd, if I may ask of you. Of course. I hear that this house is the house that is the home to the dragon that is seen flying around these lands. With your permission, and if it is possible, I would like very much to see it. Amara, yes. How about we take a walk? Lead the way, my lady. She's going to stand up. About this time, David is going to swing through the door here with some finger sandwich type things. Some nice little snacks. He's going to kind of make eye contact with Dagon.

Not tersely, just here's your snacks. Just kind of, you know, there wasn't a please or whatever. Here you go, here you go, it's fine. Excellent, excellent. Brelin attacks the snacks. Roll to attack. It's a crit. What does Rodriio do? Oh, I can't eat through the mustache. Mustache is going to catch all kinds of mayonnaise. We'll give you another one. I will melt, we'll make another one. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get some rooms ready for you. And he's going to excuse himself again. Is anyone going with Kaladin and Tessia? This is downstairs? Yep. Dagon's going.

Okay. Air level 2. She's kind of like a shadow to her mom right now. I don't want to stay all by myself, so I'll join. I have to go with you, I have to go wherever you go, remember? I thought you were dropping the act inside the house. No, I'll still keep it up. I'm not so sold on Tessia yet. Alex as a person is, but Brelin is not. Well, I'm curious to see a dragon. Let's go. I follow them. So walking, okay, this house is gorgeously furnished and everything, but there reaches a point where you start to go toward the basement level of the house. And then it's all etched stonework, very cold looking, very arcane, not very lived in.

Sort of a mages bachelor pad looking thing. And as you venture further in, you're going to see a lot of disturbing things. Everyone do me a favor and roll a perception check. Okay, so there's one of you who this isn't going to be news, but Dagon's going to see a lot of familiar sights. And let me see, Kaladin, I think, would be very focused on this dragon thing. I imagine. Yeah, he's like shaking and just sort of, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God. Yeah. So as you're venturing further and further down this long hallway, it's pretty wide, too. But on either side, there are a lot of wooden doors, some of which have bars, and they look like they're there to restrain, like dungeon rooms type of thing.

Big, heavy wooden doors. And you're going to walk past those. And there's also a big, there was a very large looking, like a dining room type of situation. And none of this fits with the motif of the rest of the house. It's very, very strange. But Dagon is going to, eventually you guys are going to move down the hallway and he's going to move past a very familiar room. And that was one he was actually kept here in, like restrained. And then going further beyond that, you guys are going to turn a corner and there's going to be a very large set of double doors.

And there are going to be two people standing at the, standing at the end of this hallway. And Tessie's going to turn and say, "We actually had an incident recently where someone could have gotten very hurt. And we need to keep people here now." And she's going to motion toward the two people standing in front of the door and they're going to start to pull on these big iron rings. And the doors are going to part and open up into the hallway. And beyond that is going to be the largest white dragon. Just this immense thing. Ducking down, this is a huge room by the way.

This is massive. But it's sort of, not super scrunched, but definitely it's kind of hunched down. Like when a cat gets on all fours and just kind of becomes a cloud, like you don't even see its feet anymore type of thing. So, Ammar is kind of ducked down and is going to notice immediately the doors open. Everything in the back of the room though is opened out. So at any moment, Ammar could back out into the streets of Brightport and kind of be free and let loose. Oh my god, Khaldun's eyes are just huge. And he's, I think he is visibly shaking too. So can he talk to dragons?

Can we establish them? Don't know yet. Just to tease Khaldun, Actuarolus would say, "We meet again." Dagon will walk up behind Khaldun, put a hand on his shoulder and say, "If you can't, please tell her Baranath is gone." They had a connection and I think she'd like to know. "Your friend, yes, yes. I will mention this." And he's going to look to Tessia and just sort of raise his eyebrows and say, "Is it safe to approach?" She's going to gesture into the room, of course, just don't make any sudden movements. But she's perfectly friendly. "I see." "That was a pun." And Khaldun is going to leave her side and step into the room slowly but steadily and stand before her.

And in his best draconic, the best draconic that he can muster, he's going to bow very deeply and say loudly into this room, "Oh great one, it is an honor to stand before you. I would like to have audience with you if you will grant it to me." Do me a favor, roll a diplomacy check. With a plus two because you're speaking draconic. Who did I cast inspire competence on last time? Because it's still a non-combat encounter, right? It was Khaldun because he has the highest diplomacy. Fuck yeah, Khaldun. And it was diplomacy because I wished I had given him.

Intimidating. So what's the plus for that? It's just plus two. Oh, so plus four. But then that's it. After that it's gone. You can only use it once. Okay. So no whammies, no whammies. That's not bad. That's not bad at all. You needed it for sure though. Yeah, yes. So his voice, maybe his voice cracks a little bit and his excitement. Just like that. You're a method actor, I like it. She's going to tilt, she's going to tilt her head ever so slightly, almost like a dog. And then lean down. So this massive neck just kind of craning outward. And her nostrils are going to get just a few inches from Khaldun.

And she's going to sniff inward. And there's going to be a pull of airflow. And it's almost going to pull Khaldun forward. And then she's going to exhale and it's almost going to blow Khaldun backward. I mean, this dragon is immense. Oh, it might very well be. He might take a step back actually just because he is a frail man. Okay. And she is going to kind of extend her tongue just a little bit and just kind of lick at Khaldun. Kind of a sign of... Just kind of like, "Yeah, yeah, that's fine." Just letting you know that everything's okay. Khaldun's going to look back at Tessia just to make sure this is all on the up and up.

Like she's not tasting you or something. Right, exactly. Yeah, Tessia would just sort of give a little bit of a nod. Like, "Yeah, go ahead." And Khaldun's going to hold up his hands and reach out to touch her sort of like on the snout. And then just sort of stroke her very gently in just like a very relaxing manner. The second thing you touch, Amara, there's going to be... Picture it as interference in your head. Kind of like in the old days when you're trying to get a UHF station in, but you're using rabbit ears. And it's just not quite... There's lots of static and interference, right?

But you can almost hear speech. You can almost hear like a woman's voice in your head, but it's so garbled and muffled. And there's going to be kind of a pain that accompanies it. Like it's such a strain for your brain to kind of comprehend and focus in on it that it's going to cause Khaldun a little bit of pain here. He's going to wince and take his hand away sharply from her. I would say Tessia would notice that. Are you all right? There was some kind of voice or something. Maybe not. I definitely felt some kind of pain. Is it hers? I wouldn't think so. She had a few scrapes and scars when she came back to us, but she's been healed.

We try to keep her as comfortable as possible. She's obviously free to go whenever she wants. There was someone who could communicate with her with just a touch and thought, but I don't remember causing her any pain. Strange. And this was Baraneth, the friend of Dagon? She's going to shake her head, yeah. I see. And Khaldun's going to turn back and he's going to put his hand back on Amara. He's going to try... I don't know how this is going to work. He's going to try and think words. And I guess very simply he's just going to say, "Greetings, greetings, Great One." Let's do a check.

I would like you to roll an endurance check for me. Okay. Rolling real good. Rolling real good. That's good. Your endurance is plus 15? That's a good roll, right? Holy shit, Ian. You're so good at this game. It says mountain elements. Oh, yeah. Damn, you mountain people. You're all real strong. Racist. I say, how big? It's going to take a bit. And I would say there is all kinds of squinting and wincing going on as time goes on. But after about 30, 40 seconds of doing this, that interference is going to lessen and it's going to become a little more clear what is being said.

And after a few moments, it's going to be very clear to Kaladin that the dragon is speaking to him, but in his mind. I am very pleased to meet you. Like in the warmest voice possible. This is still causing Kaladin a bit of pain. Like this is... picture having a migraine. That's kind of what's coming on here. If I continue to speak, will I need to roll for it? Not right away. The longer this goes on, though, the harder it's going to get. Okay. Kaladin's going to think words to her. I am glad that you are pleased. The honor is absolutely mine. This communication, I didn't believe possible.

It's difficult for me to maintain. And I have much to discuss with you. There is no need to stand on such ceremony. What is it that you wanted to speak about? Here's the thing. This is a very soothing voice, but it's coming into Kaladin's head as just booming megaphone. Almost like there's no volume control. There's no way to kind of filter it. It's like blasting his ears? Yes, but in his head. Okay. Picture having an ice cream headache, but tenfold. It's slowly cranking up as you're speaking. I think he's just going to sort of grit his teeth and try and speak further.

He's going to hold her and he's going to bring his other hand up to her. So he's got both hands now on her snout, I guess. And he's going to say, "My friend here that you have met before, he wanted to let me know. And it is with my great sorrow to inform you that Baraneth has fallen. I know that you have had a connection at some point. Maybe this connection that we're speaking through now, my condolences." Her eyes are going to cast down and you can feel her snout motion downward. That saddens me greatly. There are very few that I can truly speak with.

I understand your language, the Draconic, but I cannot speak to you. Do me a favor, Kaladin, roll an endurance check with a negative two. Okay. You can keep going. Okay. So he's going to like... It's obvious he's in some pain. He's gritting his teeth and sort of like closing his eyes. And he says, "Again, I'm sorry for your loss. The power of this speech is great. And because I am not used to it, it saps my strength. Is there any other way you can communicate? Can you control this power?" "I am not as old as I appear. I know very little of the outside world.

I have only encountered one other whom I can speak with like this. If it causes you pain, perhaps you should stop." And without even missing a beat, he's just going to think very rapidly like, "I have waited my entire life to meet something like you, to behold you in this moment, and to be able to speak with you. It is a thing that I have dreamed of since I could first speak words myself. There is so much I want to ask you, and I know I don't have much time. Thank you for speaking with me." And he's going to let go and just sort of fall back. So, okay, is this the thing where you fall down, or are you just kind of stumbling backward?

I think he's going to stumble backward, yeah. Okay. But it's very clear you're in pain. Yeah, he's going to shake his head and sort of end the connection, and just sort of breathe heavily. And he's going to turn to Dagon and say, "I passed on your message. She is sorry to hear it. It seemed they shared something very deep." "Thank you. It appeared that maybe that wasn't very comfortable for you, and I appreciate what you've done." "Do you remember when she spoke with Amara here in this fashion, was she ever in any pain?" "No. Not that I can think of. At least she never said anything." And he's going to turn back to Amara, and in Draconic again, he's going to bow again and say, "Thank you for speaking with me.

Thank you for speaking with me, Gray One. Perhaps we can continue our conversation after I've had some rest." She would reach out and just kind of like nuzzle, like very, very gently, realizing she could knock you down very easily. She's going to reach out and just sort of brush against, just sort of brush against, reassuringly. "Oh, yay!" I guess he'll nuzzle back in whatever the human equivalent, just sort of rub her nose and then return to the group. And step up to Lady Grimace and say, "Thank you. Thank you." And he's going to take her hands and say, "Thank you so much for this experience." She would very much look at it as like, "I didn't do anything." But she would hold your hand.

"As long as you got what you were looking for out of it, I'm very glad. I would imagine it gets lonely not being able to speak to other people." Yes, it seemed that it's very limited, the amount of people that she could speak, that she can actually speak to. I know this might be presumptuous of me, but does this house also have a library? It does, actually. You could use my office if you like. I would greatly appreciate that. Why don't we head back upstairs? You look like you could use a little rest. Yes, thank you. Lead the way, please. She's going to turn around and start to very gently sort of motion for everyone to...

Why don't we give Amara some privacy? But as she's doing that, she's going to very deftly change the conversation and direct it toward Actaronis. Okay. So you said you're from Onakol. I am, yes. May I ask the last time you'd visited? I don't have the clear date, but it's been a little over a month. So before the incident? Yes. That was the very day of the incident. Well, I imagine Dagon may have told you what that was like, and it sounds absolutely horrific from what I could gather. But I am proud to say that the city is being rebuilt. Every effort is being taken to re-establish Onakol.

That is good to hear. And who might be in charge of rebuilding it? It's been a group effort. At first it was just the three houses, and Silverclaw and Hammerhand encountered some difficulties there. Financially, we've been able to assist them greatly, and there have been a few wealthier denizens of Brightport that see some opportunity in getting trade routes re-established with Onakol. They would get partial ownership of that, of course. But we've been making progress. Slowly. I'm very pleased to hear. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to stop that story there.

I don't want to be distracted on this trip of us to Talor. We can't afford distractions. And as much as I want to know what world we're coming back to after all this Demon story, but... Can you...can you promise me...can you do me a favor, Lady Grimnus, if I may be so bold? Of course. I don't know what influence you may have over there, but if you could leave the history there intact, statues, the libraries, everything that hasn't been destroyed, that the incident... Could you make an effort to preserve the history of Onakol? I can actually assure you that every precaution is being taken to ensure that none of the actual culture of the city has been touched, any more than it already has, obviously.

And he's going to bow extremely low. She's going to do the same. Kind of awkward because she's not used to doing that, but like yeah, she'll absolutely do the same. I am in your debt, Lady Grimnus. When we come back, when I go back to Onakol, if there's anything I can do to help you, just let me know. Not at all. I would be happy to include you in any way that we can if...when everyone returns. And speaking of which, if you're interested in collecting some historical piece of armor from there, he's going to snap his fingers and look at Rodrigo. I don't have any use for this, but this was the last living survivor of Onakol's armor before it was a little damaged.

If you have any display piece or just a safe place to store it, I could come back and claim it after. But it's a little cumbersome. Rodrigo's going to walk up. Fully work! Your Patreon dollar's at work. I'm sure we can find a proper place for it in the city. The next meeting I have with the other leaders of the house, I'll bring it up. I don't want to be presumptuous, but time is of the essence for everyone. When were you planning on leaving? Truss is going to look at our 11-day gone. As soon as possible. As much as we'd love to stay, we must leave at the earliest available moment.

I understand. Nothing would please me more than to have you stay more than a night. But I'll start making preparations that give you every advantage I can give you. Maps, charts, was there anything else? You had reservations about another ship accompanying you? They wouldn't be able to keep up? If your ship is as fast as you say, that will probably be the situation. We don't always go full speed, judging from our past experience. But I think we would be going full speed to Talor. Hopefully. Time is of the essence. Perhaps a crew could accompany us. Or someone knowledgeable of trade routes.

Yes, yes. Or at least list out. I think I could set you up with a few people. At the very least they can help you at sea. And maybe a few extra hands. I don't think that would hurt you. And maybe a few repair materials and tools on hand. Just in case. Good call, Xavier. If you think you'll need it, I'm sure we can work something out. I'm sure we'll need it. From our past experience, it would be advisable. We always have ice. That was a good line. You should write that one down. Put that on your t-shirt. Are we still downstairs? You're traveling back to the hall, slowly walking, talking, that kind of a thing.

Kind of a West Wing type thing. I think Dagon would break off a little bit and head towards that familiar door. Okay. Is there anything in particular Dagon's looking for? Or is it more just memories? That type of thing. He's looking for something. Okay. Well do me a favor, roll a perception check. See what you find. They figured he'd walk up. He's obviously thinking about the past and now he's going to look down and take a breath before he steps in. Just looking around the room, he's going to rub his forearms. Thinking about all those needles that he was being tortured with.

And then look around to where I think he punched someone right through their head or was it their chest? You did a lot of that. In this room, there's little flashbacks in that. And I'll roll a perception check here. Ooh, gorgeous. This room has been tidied up a bit. Bloodstains sort of scrubbed off the floor, that type of thing. And there was a lot of splintered wood and holes and shit like that. And a lot of this has been cleaned up. Not for use. It's more just like, let's try and erase the memory of the awful things that have happened here. But there are going to be shackles on the wall.

The very same shackles that held Dagon. And over on one of the tables, there's going to be a collar that is going to look very, very familiar to Dagon. Good news. He's going to go over and grab this collar. Pick it up, look it over, think about what it was used for. And had anyone followed him or is he lonely? Well let's see. First of all, everyone roll a perception check to see if you would have noticed Dagon just sort of dip out. Because I would imagine this is the thing where he's kind of hanging back. And, um, Brelin. Brelin would have. Can I like watch him but not bother him?

Sure. I'm going to hide behind the door and watch what he's doing. Do me a favor, roll a stealth check. Fuck yeah. Oh my god. You sly little man you. Rigo's almost as stealthy as Brelin. Yeah, I think that beats your passive perception here. Oh yeah. I don't even have to check. Yeah, okay. I didn't know. I wanted to go through the motions. But yeah, I guess Dagon would not notice Brelin. Okay, so no one's there except for Brelin and he doesn't see him? That's right. Okay. He's just going to, uh, he's actually just going to smile to himself. Just sort of commenting in his head on the fact that such a thing exists.

And actually happy that he's found it. And he'll tuck that in his bag. For safe keeping for another day. Hmm. Okay. Weird. That is weird. Okay. Is it? I don't know. Depends. Is that what you're into? If anyone saw me, he might have explained it. Right. Talk to himself. That would be crazy. Brelin's going to watch and then when he sees him steal it, he's going to cover his mouth and his mind's going to be like, "Ooh." But then he's going to think to himself, "Well, Dagon's taking stuff." And then he's going to just slink away. No. Not for my mom. Well, if anybody has a right.

Well, let me ask a question here. What would everyone be doing now? Let's say you've adjourned upstairs and, you know, what would be the vibe? Because it's late. So is this a thing where you guys are getting ready to just catch a nap and then head back out? Actor Onis would be hanging out in the foyer or just the living room space looking at the portraits and stuff like that. Trying to see if the portrait Dagon talked about is still there. I doubt it is. But just looking at the art, the place. I would be shocked if it wasn't there. But actually he's waiting for David to just walk by and if he does see him walking by, he's like, "Hup, my good sir." Oh, yeah, he'd be buzzing around.

Part of his job is checking in on everybody, making sure everyone has what they need, but he's involved in everything in this place. So you'd see him eventually, yeah, he'd walk by. I'll just ask him quickly. David, my good man, may I ask you a question briefly? Of course. Are you perhaps familiar with the name Edmund Page, perhaps? Page? He used to be a steward for the Athanasius estate back in Olanacal. I knew he had dealings in and out of the city and took care of most of the family's affairs. You being the steward of this house, I was just wondering.

The name sounds familiar, but I'm not sure if I had any direct dealings with him. That might be the previous owner. Well, that's too bad. Is there a way for me to talk with the previous owner? He died, actually, recently. Does Dagon hear this? Let's see, how soon after you guys come upstairs would you say that this would happen? Would everyone be back up here? Would I still be downstairs while this was happening? Unless you're down there for more than a few moments, I would say you'd be back upstairs. Because this would probably be a little while later, like maybe 20, 30 minutes later.

Yeah. Okay. So as long as you didn't just kind of get lost in thought for a long time, I would say that... Just brailling watching you smile for 20 minutes. I would have got bored and left after about five minutes. All the interesting shit's done, I guess. I probably wouldn't have lingered in that room too long. Right, okay, that makes sense. So, I mean, I don't think this is a private conversation necessarily, so... No, no, none at all. Then yeah, I guess Dagon would hear it. Then he'll scoff a little. Just say, "Well, that's a polite way to put it." That was the most polite way I could put murder, Mr.

Dagon. Murder. The man was a torturer, among other things. I'm not defending his actions. I'm just speaking matter-of-factly. I meant no offense, of course. Sounds more like judgment. That's not really my role here. No, your role is to go about business as usual. No matter who runs this household or not, isn't it? I could see that you take offense to that. But... My role as a steward is to facilitate the daily goings-on in this house. And that goes for whoever happens to be running. Now, that being said, I am much happier under Tessia. I'm sorry. I am much happier under Lady Grimnast than I was under Thermac.

There just seems to be a morality about you I find a little unsettling. No offense, of course. Of course. Is there anything I could do to ease that? Actually, yes. He's gonna sort of raise his eyebrows, like, "Please go on." We need some information. And being part of one of the Houses of Power in Brightport, I'm hoping you have more information than the man down at the dock. We'll see. What sort of information were you looking for? The Black Hand. Who is he? I honestly probably don't know much more than you. I do know that the Hand has been a fixture in this city for longer than most people would care to admit.

It's only recently that the Hand has come to a level of power that most are uncomfortable with, if they were being honest. If you like, I may be able to arrange a meeting. May I ask why you'd want such a thing, though? Well, it seems we drew his attention on our arrival. And from what we heard down at the docks, that's potentially not a good thing. I fear we're eventually going to meet up with him anyhow, and I'd like to be prepared. I'll see what I can do. Would you like your entire party present, or is this more of a solo venture? No. The party will be there.

As much as I'd love to take him on myself, I don't think that would be wise. I'll get the ball rolling then, Mr. Dagon. Thank you, David. And he's going to do this semi-bow thing. He's had his hands crossed over each other at the front of him the entire time, and he's just going to bow his head a bit and then walk away. And it wasn't by design. He just sort of forgot that Aronas is standing there. If he could blink, he would do a double blink. Is there anyone else around besides him and us? Again, if you guys are hanging out in the foyer, that was not a private conversation.

That got sort of heated. I think Bralin would tap on Dagon and say, "Mr. Dagon, if we could have a word..." [Laughter] Oh, he's the accident. I'm trying to pull him aside so that I can use my regular voice. I think he'll just look at him and be like, "You know you don't have to do that in here, right?" And then I'm going to move my mustache a little bit out of the way. Yeah, but you never know. I was under the impression, boss, that we had a kind of race against the clock. Are we going to spend some... We've got any overtime that I don't know about going after a mob boss?

My thought on this is that there is a few... A small distance between us and our ship. Do you think this Black Hand is going to let us leave? That's a very good point. No one just walks into Brightport and leaves at their own will. Usually you're forced out. You know as well as I. Alright. Well, I mean... Mob bosses can't be that bad, right? I mean, we've killed hydras, purple worms, pissed off a god. It can't be that bad, right? You're right. You're right. We have done that. I think this will be a minor speed lump. Yeah. Okay, good. Good. Just checking, man. Alright.

Carry on. So, during all this, what would... Okay, Kaladin is in Tessia's office studying up, right? Yeah, I think Kaladin would, immediately following those events, would go with Tessia to her office and ask her if she had any books on the... specifically on the DragonClan Elves or the Silverglade. Ooh. Well, do me a favor. And she would point you towards some reference material that may tie in to what you're looking for, because there is a... Obviously Thermek had an interest in dragons. Some would say not a healthy one. But do me a favor and... Let's have you roll a history check.

Something like that to see what you would find in here. Okay. Ooh. Now, would this be a thing where you would be kind of studying all night? Something like that? Or would you eventually get some sleep? The reason I'm asking is, will you be... Would there be a point where Dagon would fill the rest of the party in on what he plans to do? I would say everybody who was in that room heard. But obviously Kaladin's a little out of the loop here. Would you just let Kaladin study, or would it be a thing like, "Hey, we got business maybe in the morning, so..." Well, he's always out of the loop, so maybe we'll just... [Laughter] You can come and get me.

You can come and get me. Yeah, everybody knows. We'll tell them. Okay. Yeah. I don't think Aralov was in the foyer either. Ooh. Okay. So, you know what? We'll do a little group catch-up for right now. Let's see what Kaladin would know. I learn. It goes into specific areas where that clan of elves would have been situated. It breaks it down, almost like a longitude/latitude type of thing. There's a type of thing where there's actually sketches of the actual forest and where they would be and where their civilization was. And then on top of that, dragons specifically, there are earmarked pages where Thermac...

Mostly the power, right? It's mostly being able to communicate with them, or if there was some way to harness that type of power. And it looks like he figured out a way to sort of jumpstart that process. If you raised a dragon from birth, right? Well, it would be like raising a puppy, right? In certain regards. It's like, "Oh, well, it would see you as its master." The problem is getting a formidable dragon takes centuries. So his idea was to jumpstart the process and just like, "Well, I'm going to start with a baby dragon, but let me jumpstart that forward." That whole thing didn't work out for a number of reasons.

But there may be some complications with Amara as a result. Okay, so it's like he's trying to accelerate them to get the power of ancient dragons faster. Yeah. Amara was sort of the dry run. That's a prototype. Okay. But like Jangle Fett. A little bit, yes. Does it happen to say anything about the experience that he just had at all? Like with the pain or... Oh, with the communication? Yeah. It would go into... See, okay. This wasn't written by one of those elves. So it's more second and third hand accounts of these elves being able to communicate with dragons.

And they holding whole conversations and things like that. There would be a mention of like head pain, headaches, things like that, or like trauma. In some very rare instances, someone who is like a half elf, something like that. So kind of one foot in the door, one foot out, their head exploding. Oh, God. Very rare though. Very, very rare. Because sometimes a half elf takes more after the elven side and sometimes they just look like people, like humans. And they just blend into society that way. But in your case, what you'd be able to extrapolate from that was maybe this is like a muscle that needs building up.

It's just that's because that was your first time. Gotcha, gotcha. But there's no real... The experience is different for everyone. This may take years for you to get good at it and not cause you pain. It may take less time. You don't know. Okay. So yeah, Khaldun will just... He'll thank Tessia for pointing him to these books. And he'll be poring over them until someone comes in and gets him. Which please do, please do. Day gone. Would you assemble the crew? Are we resting first or... I would say, okay. I would say that after a while people would get some sleep and this would be next day, eventually.

I'm checking my skills real quick. Erlev and Tessia probably stayed up a little late talking, you know. I would imagine, yeah. Share a nice bottle of wine, that type of thing. Yeah, just catching up. Mother daughter stuff. Oh yeah. She would tell you about like, oh, like all the stuff with like running into Valis and then, you know. Yeah. All the stuff that's happened on air that we don't need. Yeah. When are you going to have grandkids? When, you know, just... You're in your later 30s, dear. It's not... It doesn't get any easier, honey. I know a great doctor. Mom, I've already died once.

I don't want to put a kid through that. Would that be something you talk to? I mean, because you've written letters. I'd like to see canonically, like we don't have to roleplay it out because that's a long, like, you know. Yeah. I think for now, because Erlev's betting on the fact she's going to come back. She will tell her all the things from her travels that she doesn't regret. Okay. Okay. So we're just going to glaze over that. I don't want to say the name of it in case there's a company that's cold that's listening. Yeah. The... The "W". Nice. It's like Tin Man.

We can't say Ozzy. I don't know. You did. Yeah. She would be like, "Yeah, I joined the army and learned some great skills." Okay. So again, next day. You guys had some lovely rooms. David prepared the fluffed pillows and all that stuff. There's a mint. It's very nice. Four stars. I would thank him. The mint. I write good comments on the comment cards. Are we sure Dagon did get a mint? I feel like he didn't get a mint. I feel like it's one of those things. I didn't take a room. That's why I only said four. That makes sense. That's all right. So next day, would Dagon kind of assemble the crew and tell them what's what?

G2 assemble. Should we do typical group two and house the Duckings Keep for breakfast? No. That breakfast was delicious. Glad it's done. It's been three years and G2 will never... Fantastic bacon, my dear. There it is. If there really was a roll... 19. Oh, 19. All the bacon. All of it. All our arteries are very clogged down. Are you happy now, forums? We rolled for bacon and we got a night. You're welcome, world. It's almost a crit. Almost a crit. Oh my God, we're hitting all the milestones. Every DNR meme. All of them. So, Dagon, I leave the floor to you. Right. Okay, team.

I spoke with David and he's arranging a meeting for us with the Black Hand. I figure hitting the offense first is better than waiting for him to attack us on the way back to the ship. Either way, I think we have to deal with this. Captain Dagon, do you really think that he will be aggressive towards us? We've done nothing but arrive in this city and we will be leaving shortly. It's hard to say, but from what we've heard from everyone else, he doesn't seem like the most pleasant man, and the people that deal with him tend to disappear. And we definitely garnered his attention at the docks.

Exactly. I've arranged for all of us to be there, but if any of you don't want to, I understand. I would gladly come to be with this crew. I only ask that before we leave Brightport for good, I would like to hold one last conversation with Amara. Absolutely. I myself have a personal matter to attend to. And it can wait until after we have this meeting. But thank you, Captain Dagon. David will... David's going to approach the group. Mr. Dagon, a word. Um... like in private? No, that isn't necessary. Just a moment of your time. Sure. I was able to procure a meeting with the Hand.

Though I want you to know that this didn't come without a price. I had to call in quite a few favors, and I get the feeling that the only reason it was allowed was because the Hand has taken an interest in your group as a whole. Even so, I would advise all of you to be on your guard. Is it the Hand or the Black Hand? It's the Black Hand, but it's sort of the abbreviation within the city. It's Mr. Hand to you. Mr. Hand lives in Florida. Call me Steve. Mr. Hand was my father. Thank you for the warning. We will be on guard as always, and hopefully this won't take up too much of our time.

Yes. Another thing. I understand that you may see things a little black and white. While you're in Brightport, I would urge you not to rush too quickly to judgment or violence. That has a way of coming back on people. I'm not speaking about myself, of course. I'm speaking about your meeting. David, I'm the most non-violent person around here. Bluff check, please, Dagon. It wasn't really a bluff. Was it more of a "with a smile" type of thing? Yeah. Snark check. He would kind of give a smile, of course. Well, a representative from the Hand will be here shortly to escort you.

To escort us to where, exactly? The lower quarter, Miss Grimness. That is where the Hand's headquarters is, at least. That's what I've heard. I haven't been there myself, but at this point, it's a poorly kept secret. I'm almost thinking by design. I'm not sure there's anything we could do about it now, but personally, I don't feel comfortable meeting the Black Hand on his own territory. I got the distinct impression that a meeting here would be quite impossible. Are we expected to go alone, or can we bring some men from this house to accompany us? I could see.

I can always call this off, if you'd prefer. Were there any assurances given with this meeting? Like, no violence, or... I was told that it would just be a conversation. At least, that's what I told them that you were interested in. Well, one way or another, we want to know what his interest is in us. Like Dagon said, we will find out, meeting or not. Let's just go find out right now. We should just keep in mind that meeting him there, he has the advantage of knowing the surroundings, the building, and who is around him. Of course, and this is why we will be very diplomatic.

Go in, go out, and I will ensure that not a sword is drawn. Jason, the map, the magic map, the Marauder's Map, it'll show me the layout, right? It'll show you the general layout of buildings and things like that. It's really handy in the wilderness, and even caves and stuff, because it'll show you the general layout of everything. It's not going to show you blueprints for buildings, it's not that precise. It's like a world map in Fallout 4. Kinda, yeah. It's all kind of fucked up, and you're like "I don't know where the exit is." Super handy in most situations.

Yeah, I was thinking I could keep an eye on it on our way in to figure out what the best possible exits would be, but I guess that's not going to work. Guys, these aren't vampires. It's going to go great. Yeah! Well, I know. After a few moments, there's going to be a knock at the door, and David is going to answer it. There is going to be a cloaked figure just like the ones you saw at the docks. Kind of the same tiger-striped type of... very gaudy. It's almost like they want to be seen. Because it's not very stealthy or shadowy. Those are fairly bright colors for accent pieces.

And this is a lone figure. One man. And David is going to look at this person, and after a few moments, nothing is going to be said. David is going to look to the party. I believe your escort is here. Alright. Let's keep our wits about us. Is Tessia there, or is it just David? Just David. Okay. You're going to follow this man? I am. Yep. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's rip this band-aid right off. Everybody roll on your shoes. So distrusting. You're going to follow this individual who's not going to speak. Do me a favor, roll Perception, actually. Let's see what you get a feel for here.

What what? Wowza. I knew his name. That's Ralph. Everyone's going to get a feeling like this person, firstly, has no intentions of speaking to you. They very much came there to do a job. You're also going to see individuals on the street watching you as you pass. There are going to be people in front of bars and such having full-blown loud conversations that are like someone, one of their buddies is like, "Fuck, shut up." And then they're all going to watch you in rapt attention. These look to be general thugs and low lives, that type of thing. And even upstanding business owners are going to stop what they're doing and watch you until you're out of eyeshot.

And then they're going to go back to what they were doing. Can we maybe... Is it a look of shock or is it a look like they're walking to the gallows, basically? Not necessarily walking to the gallows. And I think Airlove would pick this up the best. It's more... Okay, one... Okay, that's one of two things, right? It's either you guys are super connected to a very bad element in this city and you are not to be fucked with. Or you owed this person something or may owe someone something in the future and that's not good for you. So sometimes it's a look of like, "Oh, those poor bastards.

I wonder what they did. I wonder... Wow, that's a shame. They're so pretty." Or it's a look like, "Oh shit, there's new players in town. I better not fuck with them. Like, I'll just go back to sweeping, go back to sweeping." That kind of thing. I like that one better. And after a while, you guys are going to get to the not so great part of town, like the dregs of this little society in Brightport. And you're going to notice that the houses are built more like really cheap, crappy apartment building type things. Like they're stacked up on top of each other, like house, house, house, house.

They kind of like scale upwards. And there are very narrow walkways in between all of these. Like houses are built right on top of each other. Very, very cramped. It's very crappy. People are sharing like six, seven people to a place. It's just... It's not great. And this person is going to just not break stride, walk clean through. And the thing about this part of town is it's very shadowy in every sense of the word. Because of the way... Because of the height of the buildings and things like that, it gets dark in between these alleyways and stuff. And it's...

Oh, it's so easy to get ambushed and robbed. If you're lucky, just robbed and not murdered. And continuing to walk, you're eventually going to get to a place where you see a lot of these... A lot of these cloaks kind of centered around one building. And what it looks like is maybe several of these apartment building type things used as one entity. Like... Kind of like a really crappy mansion, if you can picture it. And this person is going to stop. And they're going to look down, but gesture outward toward that front door. And someone standing near the front door is going to open it.

So at a quick glance, how many are there? On the outside? At a quick glance, do me a favor, roll Perception. Let's see how many you see. Jason, since I grew up in Brightport, would I recognize this area? Oh yes! Oh god yes! This is not a place you want to be, for the most part. Even if you live here. The only way that you're not going to get touched while you live here is if you are in desperate poverty. If they know you have nothing worth taking, then they don't fuck with you usually. Do they need landmarks? Most of this is just a living quarters type thing.

But it's almost set up like a maze. Because so much of this has been built on top of old shit and building and building and building. Brailin would pretty much be the only one who would have a good sense of like, "Okay, if shit goes down, we can run this way and everyone might have to follow you." If something like that were to happen. Would Erolith know anything? Erolith I would say didn't make it down to this part of town too often. I would say Tessie would have done everything in her power to make sure that if at all possible Erolith didn't even know something like this existed in the city, if possible.

Yeah, knowing your brothers and your mom. Yeah. Valus would know this area a little bit. Maybe some debt collecting took place here. Calden is going to say under his breath to everyone, "We showed strength coming in. Show strength now. Don't rush to violence. Remember David's words. But they saw us as strong. We must stay strong." I think in the spirit of that, what you just said, we shouldn't break stride at all. Just walk steadily to the door as soon as they motion forward. Oh, that's a good idea. Yeah, keep going. Don't even pause. So you're not scurred is basically what you mean.

Scurred. I'm not scurred. Did I see how many? Sorry, yes. You would spot, oh Jesus, that's a good perception. You'd spot 14 people centered around this building. Do they look minion-esque? They, the best you could tell, a lot of them are kind of covered. They'll kind of wear that cloak and they've got their hoods pulled up and stuff. Some of them are a little larger than others, but most of them just look... Like they have one hit point? Cool. Can I do like an arcana check on them to see if anything... Like as you're walking through, just kind of see what kind of vibe?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Do that. Nah, you're not really feeling anything. Okay. I don't know if that's the roll or if that's just how it is. Air love. Do me a favor and roll an arcana check. Okay. What's up? Almost agree. You've been rolling 19 all night. I know, Jesus. Yeah, what is it? Good job. Air love's gonna feel something. As you were crossing through the threshold of this place, there's gonna be a chill that runs up Air love's spine. There is some not so great mojo here. Once you cross through, there is going to be another representative of the Black Hand that is going to gesture for you to walk.

Again, it's sort of like all these dotted apartment buildings. There are holes, like doors and stuff, that sort of just chain through the place. It's almost, again, set up kind of like a maze. And he would gesture in a direction, and that would be where you'd find the hand is what you would surmise. Would you follow his direction? Before that, I'd like to make a note as to which directions we're coming from, like not to forget. Oh, absolutely. So, yeah, absolutely. You would... Like we need a left, then a right, then a left. Yes. Absolutely. Okay. Actually, you know what?

No. You're dead. No, you know what? You're dead. Oh, you're dead. Do me a favor, roll an intelligence check to see how well you'd keep track of that. Hmm. I like that. Second highest. Okay, let's see. 20 and above, and you'll have a perfect recolle- Oh, fuck you. Not quite perfect. Wouldn't everybody sort of... Do me a favor, everyone roll it, and on 20 and above you'll have a pretty perfect recollection. 19. Not quite. Oh, here it is. Oh my god. No. Hold on, I need to find an intelligence check. Oh, okay. Oh. No one? No one. Not quite. It's dark. It must be dark in here.

Like, all the windows up front are boarded. Yeah, it's fucking war-torn Somalia, basically. I hate that mission, Black Ops. Or is it Black Ops? No, whatever one it was. What is it? I don't know. I don't know. Dagon would have a really good idea, though. Oh, he'd have a pretty good- he'd be like, "Follow me, I know the way." "Nah, we'll work on that." "Fuck you guys, I'm gone." That's why he's so soon. We need to leave in a rush. It's gonna be like the end of Star Fox 64. Oh my god. I don't know. Dagon will make an audible gulping noise. I'm feared. So making your way through this building, there are gonna be more individuals inside.

Now, they're only really toward the front of the building, these cloaked figures. And then you're gonna notice a stunning absence of people. But you are gonna hear movement down the way here. And it sounds like it's about three, four rooms away. And as you make your way through these rooms, and you can obviously see where everyone's congregating, and that must be the room that the Black hands in, there is going to be a figure clad in black armor that is going to walk into view a little larger than the people that you're seeing with the cloaks, not wearing the trademark Black hand garb.

Everyone do me a favor, roll Perception check. And Harrow loves good rolls, her back. I love that. Everyone except for Kaladin and Actaronis are gonna pick a little bit of this up, but like, Airlove and Dagon, Airlove, Dagon, and Brelin, they're gonna notice something really off about this person, specifically its eyes. This person's eyes are sort of murky, shadowy, almost as if there is like an inky blackness that extends out beyond the skull, almost like an aura that's coming off of this person. And he's going to stop in the doorway ahead of you, backed away from it so that you can get through, and he's gonna raise his hand, and he's gonna motion for you to step forward.

Yeah, Actaronis will. Yeah, we can't show weakness, right? You're right. So it looks humanoid? Can I do an Arcana check on this guy? Yeah, me too. You know what, do me a favor, you two roll an Arcana check. Yeah, I'm pretty good at magic too, guys. Oh, yes. Oh, Dagon! Yes. For the Wiki, that's a 20 for Dagon. Yep, that is a crit. You guys are gonna pick up, remember I said there's bad mojo here? Oh, it's definitely coming from this room, and if you were, let's say, like Geiger counter type of thing, it would be spiking right now, that there is something cold and foreign, and there is definitely a strength.

There is something going on here. Walking through the threshold of this door, this person is going to back up a bit, and as you enter the room, you're gonna see a few more of them. Four more, to be exact. Same as this guy? Same as this guy. And you're gonna see a smaller, blonde-haired woman standing next to a desk. Please, everyone, have a seat. Very chipper, very, very relaxed. - Carl, that's it. - I'll have a seat. Sit. I have a question about these things. - Mm-hmm, go! - So they look humanoid? Yes, they look, for the most part, like human men. Except for the vibe, they give you the willies, basically.

There is something cold. They're not speaking, they look different than the people with cloaks, there's something very off-putting about them. So our conic checks wouldn't be able to identify what they are? Not specifically, but it's very much, there is kind of a raw power coming off of them. Are they like our good buddy Actaronis here? I wish I could detect them. And this woman is gonna speak up. You know, there's absolutely no reason to be put off. If we wanted you dead, you'd be dead by now, so relax. Hmm. Dagon doesn't like hearing that, but he's gonna go with it. 'Cause he'd probably be thinking the exact opposite.

Actaronis would sit a little more comfortably, then. Um, Khaldun would say, "Thank you for granting us an audience. "And it seems that the greeting us here in your city "is a little cold, though." Well, I can't speak for everyone in the city, of course, but I can only hope that I make up for it. Maybe we can make you a little more cozy. Would anyone like something to drink? And she's gonna reach for a pitcher that's on her desk. Uh, Actaronis will raise his hand, though. Yeah. Before I say yes or no, can we, is there a way to, like, check it for poison?

(laughter) I'm being very deliberate. It would be one of those things that, um, it would be like, "I'm gonna sniff this," or, "I'm gonna," you know, it would be one of those things where it's like, you'd probably, it would probably be pretty obvious that you're checking. Rodrigo would put his hand up for no, as well. Okay. Yeah, I think Khaldun would just say, "Thank you, but no." Uh... I'm thinking about taking one in good faith, but I don't know. (sighs) I don't want to insult her yet. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Um, Irelia will put her hand up and say, "I just came from a rather large breakfast at House Dragon's Keep.

I'm... I'm good." Of course. Well, then, let's just jump into business. I heard you wanted to speak with me. Here I am. It would seem that your eyes on the docks have taken interest in us. It would simply know what interest you have in us. Well, firstly, I have an interest in everything that comes into my port, and you have to admit, you're a very interesting group of people. You're shipped specifically. And, no offense, but I don't want to glaze over the importance of... And, uh, she's going to gesture toward Dagon. I personally have never seen an Aladrin, and it's an absolute honor, I have to say.

You know I was part head of a house here. Yes, I have heard about that, Mr. Arkinscape. It's... well, it's sort of my job to know things like that. I didn't get to where I was by being misinformed. So you noticed us? Um... Surely it seems you want something from us? Hmph. I was hoping we could maybe get to know each other a little bit before we jumped right into what we want, but if that's how you'd prefer it, we could do it that way too. Forgive me, our time is short here, and we are in a bit of a rush. Hm. Aren't we all? Very well. And she's going to sit down.

We would like to use your ship. Dagon will have a sort of a look of shock on his face and apprehension, but he won't blurt out what he wants to say. We'll just wait for her to continue. The word is, and forgive me for being so forward, but the word is you're heading toward Talor. Is that true? Just a question. Outside of character, did we mention that outside of the house? No, dude. There's a spy, man. That's exactly what I was getting ready to tell you. This son of a bitch. Hm. May I ask where you got your information? Oh, I could never reveal a source that's, uh...

That's not a good way to keep friends, I think you'd agree. Well, I can already narrow it down. But you'd never really be sure, would you? We are headed to Talor. Excellent. You do understand that I am trying to be your friend. I wouldn't want to put you out. It's just that... Let's say I'm looking to branch out a little, and there are some individuals in Talor that I'm looking to reach out to, and you happen to have a very fast ship from the looks of it. Built for speed and all that? Let's say we don't want to deal with you. What then? Hm. Well... That would be quite the inconvenience to me.

And... I don't particularly like to be inconvenienced. We understand that you are trying to be friendly. But I'm sure you know this better than we. It is difficult to make friends in this city. Or so I've heard. You have heard correct. You do understand that I'm not offering a lack of compensation. You'd be paid for your... Well, I consider it a monumental favor to us. Me personally, actually. If you're already on the way there, I'm just asking that some of my men accompany you. That's all. Vrelia's gonna sit up a little straighter. Well, ma'am, am I to believe you wish to communicate with one of the two races that are on Talur?

Mr. Galbok, I don't... [laughter] I knew that was coming! Ass honey! I'm so sorry! I'll put my hand on Vrelia's shoulder. It's so, like, tap-tap, like, it's okay. You try it. Mr. Galbok, I don't want to be rude, but you can stop doing that ridiculous voice. My business there is just that. Just like your business there is just that. I wouldn't dare ask you what you were doing. Well, and he's gonna gently peel off the mustache because he's gonna use it later. Our business is doing good. And from what I understand, madam, the Black Hands business usually leads to bad.

Um, she's going to lean forward and kind of put her elbows on the desk and... Just sort of lean in a little closer. Mr. Galbok, good is subjective. True. But if you were to tip the scale in favor of one of those two races on Talur, it would have catastrophic effects, I feel, for every place on Tharia. You are aware that there's a scale in Brightport too, I'm guessing. The houses balance each other out, and there are so many people, let's say in this very quarter of the city, that are left out. Would you say that's fair? I guess. So it's fair for an individual to scrape, claw, scratch their entire existence and maybe, if they're lucky, survive.

With the bare minimum, of course. What are you trying to get at? She's gonna lean in just a little bit further. I find that once you ignore the scale, you tend to get what you want a little faster. Now, you are fully welcome to say no to me, and that's fine. But I am going to get what I want, and it's just a matter of whether you are going to give it to me, or if I'm going to have to take it. Madam Blackhand, you seem to know Dagon, and you seem to know Brelin. I assume you know Erolove. And I mean no disrespect, but I wonder how far your information goes.

Are you asking if I know about you? No, not particularly. I'm asking if you know about Aubrey. I'll be honest, most of the things I know are within Brightport. That doesn't mean that I don't have little birdies telling me things that happen outside of the city. But my main concern for now is Brightport. Why do you ask? I think it's wise to know the surroundings that you live in. And perhaps these birds will come and tell you the events that have happened in Aubrey. But let me say this. You are in favor of ignoring the scales. So are we. You know, there was one member of your group that I could not find much information on, and that would be you.

Though we did catch your display at the docks. And I have to say hats off to you. You are a very powerful sorcerer. I am not in the business of surrounding myself with non-competent fighters, and I would not bandy about threats that I couldn't follow through on. Are we clear? Of this I have no doubt. I am not an ochre, and I will give you a full day to think over my offer. You are absolutely 100% free to leave. Though, if you leave this city without giving me an answer, particularly the answer I would appreciate, and she is going to narrow her eyes at Erolove, I will kill your mother.

Braelyn's going to sit up really quickly. Hey! No threats! We're not ochres, right? I just want you to understand the stakes. And again, I apologize for such abhorrent manners, but like you said, time is of the essence. Erolove's going to get a steely look in her eye. She is full of resolve, and if anybody's sitting near her, she kind of heats up a little bit. And she'll say, "In the spirit of giving all the information, you maybe should have looked into who could drive that ship. Only a Ladron can do it. So before you go and kill everyone, know that there's only one person who could do it." She's going to look over at Dagon.

I very much appreciate you illuminating that for me. And Dagon won't be very cooperative should you start hurting people. Also noted. Now, since we're exchanging information, and I am hoping that this will get us back on the right page, there are many ways to get people to cooperate. And some of them are pleasant. I won't lie, I've gotten many people in my organization to do what I want simply by offering them a trade. But there are also many unpleasant ways to get people to do what you want. Let's steer the conversation into more friendly waters, like when we first came here.

Of course. What did you have in mind? First off, if we do this thing for you, what's in it for us? You talk of favors, you talk of trades, and offer us, so far, all we've heard is threats. What is it that you offer us in return for assisting you with our ship? I think that is absolutely fair. And again, she's going to raise a hand to her chest. I deeply apologize. I'm used to adventurers coming in with a lot of posturing and bluster, and maybe I mistook you a lot. What I can offer is travel to Talor that is easier, barring weather, than you would probably get on your own.

No offense, but if pirates saw your ship, you would attract a lot of unwanted attention, I'm guessing. I can get you through all of that. Nary a scratch. I am also willing to part with some gold. For your trouble, of course. And again, this is merely allowing my men to ride along with you. And please state exactly what you expect of us. I expect you to go about your business, just as you would have before, with just a few extra passengers. I can even offer them to be helping hands, to deck crew. They're not above getting their hands dirty. All we need to do is bring them to Talor.

That's it. I think any discussion beyond this point would be redundant. And I think we're all against that. I suggest that we take the day to think on our side, and we'll reconvene if everybody is agreeable. And she's going to look to the rest of the party. Reylen nods and puts his mustache back on. Dagon will nod, but he clearly looks pissed off. Yeah, Erelove still has the steely look on her eyes, and still anybody sitting next to her would feel the temperature rising. And then anyone standing next to Cauldron will feel the temperature going down. I mess between both and I get a cold.

She's going to stand up. Well, I think this is the beginning of a very beneficial friendship for the both of us. And I appreciate you taking the time to make your way down to the lower quarter. And she is going to outstretch her hand with the most confident smile, just beaming ear to ear. She wants to shake hands. Erelove will. And she'll do that too firm of grip, and she'll make sure she feels the heat under, like the fire that's burning within. And the entire time she is going to make eye contact with each one of you, and that smile is kind of unwavering, almost in direct defiance.

Like, you're going to do what I want. That kind of smile. It's not reassuring in the least. It's not warm, it's creepy under the circumstances. She's on bridge. Basically, that's what I was thinking too. I guess as Erelove is shaking her hand, she'll be like, beyond Madame Blackhand, what should we be calling you, seeing as we have a fruitful friendship? You can call me Lauren. Thank you, Lauren. We will get back to you. And I kind of really want to do Cape Swish Walkaway. (laughter) Because I'm getting all the memes, so... That's good. Guys, I think that's a pretty good time for us to stop for the evening.

Yeah, that was dope. I love her. I love her Blackhand. She's super cool. Yeah, she's great. Her and Tessie are awesome. Oh, man. Like, cool you meme. Horrible, right? (laughter) Exactly. Didn't even respect my disguise, man. (laughter) Threaten to kill Tessie. The bitch is gonna die. I was ready to pop off, man. She was talking about killing Tessie? No. Howdy folks, we really hope that you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, there's a few things you can do to help support the show. If you go to patreon.com/dandr, you can maybe toss in a couple shekels, get a bunch of extra content, like behind the scenes stuff for this very episode.

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