Eladrin

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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] Did... 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. [groans] Let's do that thing where we go around the table to introduce ourselves. I'm Jason, I'm the dungeon master. Going around the table, start with Ian. Hey, I'm Ian, I play Kalden Halek, the half-elf sorcerer.

And Susan. Hey, I'm Susan, I play Erlev Grimlas, the tiefling invoker. And Xavier. Hey, I'm Xavier, and I play actor onus, the revenant clit, Rick. And Alex. Hey, I'm Alex, and I play Brelin, the halfling bard. And Jamie. Hi there, I'm Jamie, I play Kori, forest keeper, the goliath seeker. And last and certainly not least, James. Hey, it's James, and I play Dagon, the eladrin scion. Motherf***er, let's do this. Last time on the show, you guys finally, finally docked. And you are the first player characters to make it to Talur. You also defeated some demons. Let's not glaze over that, because that could have gone a lot worse, as we discussed last time.

Very proud of you guys. You took Stormrender. Now, we're gonna see if there's any complications because of that, but a few things are happening. One, you decided not to dock in West Harbor. Which means there are gonna be some very angry lionfolk who are eventually going to catch wind that you didn't show up. Now, there could be a few different reasons for that. You could have sank at sea, you could have gotten ransacked by pirates. There's all kinds of stuff that could have happened. Or, you could have betrayed them and decided not to give them the weapon that they were expecting.

Now, no matter what happens with that, you guys decided to go a little further south into Githserai territory and kind of make for sure there. Now, after, what we're gonna do is we're gonna pick up the 24th of Thorn. Now, after you guys would have docked, Kree and Kolas would have said goodbye and went their separate ways just to, essentially just start running. Like, just, they're done. They're just gonna try to live their life on the down-low in Talor, at least for now. Now, I had you roll, and we'll get to that. But what would be the first thing that you'd like to do after setting foot on terra firma here?

After getting to Talor, what's the first thing? Vraelon kisses the ground. Okay. Yeah, find a tree to take a piss or something. [Laughter] I kissed the ground far, far away from where he's pissing. [Laughter] That's the classy stuff we expect from Dagon. That's right. From our captain, from our leader. He's just marking the continent, guys. He's used to living in the wild. [Laughter] I claim this land. Yeah. So, okay, after Dagon uses the tree, we'll call it the washroom. [Laughter] Thank you. There's no bathroom there. [Laughter] There's no bathroom in Sumpuria. [Laughter] I would imagine you guys are, firstly, happy to be on firm ground.

Being on that ship for so long is probably not very pleasant. But, after you guys get your bearings and everything, what would be your next thing? What do our elven eyes see? Well, there's only one else, but what do all of our eyes see? Well, how's about we start things off by rolling a little perception? Ah, dice. It's almost like we're playing- All of us? All of you. Let's see what you got. Holy shit. Could I actually, instead of rolling a perception, roll a nature check? You sure can. Because I want more of that information. Oh, why? Corey, can you just keep rolling all the time?

Jesus. This is getting old. It's like continuing from last time. Knock that shit off. Oh yeah, I got like three tricks last time. Send me your file launcher for the tabletop. You should all be feeling good, but I just feel bad now. Oh boy. Well, let's start with this perception stuff. Oh boy. The first thing that you're going to notice is that everything's- this goes without saying, but obviously this entire place is going to have a different feel. Rock formations look different. Grass. The grass has a different texture to it. Bushes and just the shape of leaves and everything.

Trees. Everything looks different. All the trees kind of had a thinner gaunt look to them. There are mountainous formations, but they're kind of flat. They kind of build up to large plateaus and then level off and stuff in there. They're kind of like- they're surrounding things. A lot of them are further north. You can kind of see them on the horizon, but they stretch out for miles and miles and miles. What you're standing in right now is this huge wavy field of grass. And it's a lot more beautiful than you were led to believe. When you hear things like the constant war and everything like that, if you were to have docked a little further north, you probably would have gotten much more of a sense of that.

But this is a huge, huge field of wavy grass, some trees and bushes and things. And then off in the distance to the east, you're going to see more mountainous rock formations. Dagon's going to notice a few more things. There is movement further along in this grass. You'll see every once in a while you'll hear something moving and you'll see grass part and things. In the far distance, far to the northeast, you're going to see a lot of pack animals and things hunting. Because it's getting to that point of the day, almost dusk, where to keep cool most of the day, they're going to stick around.

But there's lions and things, and there's one more bit of information. And that's from Cory. Cory is going to notice tracks. And there's a bunch of different things. Large venomous snakes are a thing in Talor. And they love to hide in tall grass. And that is a thing that you've got to keep an eye out for because you will accidentally step on them and they'll reel back. And if you're not wearing thick armor or something like that, they can slip in between, like where a boot cuts off, something like that, ankle, thigh, something and that. And they could be a lot of trouble.

What about with our dragon armor? When you say large snakes, like compared to me, large, are we talking like game term large or like large as in that's bigger than a normal snake? Like Ka from the jungle book. Mostly what we're talking about is normally we're not talking about like pythons or boa constrictor, something like that. Not that big. But for a venomous snake, there is they pump out enough venom to kill someone your size. Of course. I mean, I had no illusions about that. Well, OK. That's already a given. On a bad day. On a bad day. I mean, it could take out someone like Dagon too.

Like he would be very old, probably near death. But like if it were to if it were to sink its fangs in and stay on for a few seconds, it could pump you so full of venom that they there would be very little that someone could do in a very short amount of time. It's just bad. OK. This is a great start. Noted. One more thing. Two more things, technically. One from Corey. Oh, boy. Weather. Weather's a little different on Talor. And because because of the atmosphere here. So there's a storm building. And the very first thing Corey is going to notice is lightning does not seem to strike the same way as it does on the mainland.

Traditionally, lightning strikes in a very concentrated area, right? It's just bam, fuck that thing in particular. Lightning strike, you get your thunderclap and it's out, right? Lightning strikes in streaks on Talor. And what happens is essentially lightning will start in a spot, but it's it's the same speed like it will just carve a path in a straight line. So strike and then streak across. There's a trail of lightning. And it will it works the same way as lightning, just in a much larger path. So thunder and lightning on Talor is a much more dangerous prospect.

That's fucking cool. Yeah, I assume Corey is telling all this to us. Definitely. OK. And then she says that Braelyn is going to look at everybody and say, "D-Talor sucks." Dagon, part of your perception check, just to follow up. A couple of things. I would imagine that and I don't want to put words in your mouth if I'm wrong. Correct me. But I would imagine the first thing that Dagon would do after you guys get your bearings is just kind of like close his eyes and concentrate on where the Eladrin are supposedly like where where they are. Again, if I'm wrong.

OK. And then just beeline it. Right. OK. So. See you guys. To the east of this place, there's going to be kind of that that same kind of pole. So to the east, miles away, you guys got some hiking to do. So through the tall grass, through these large open fields, and then it looks like you're marching towards rock formations like caverns, mountains, things like that to to the east. A little little. It's going to curve north after a while. But yeah, that is that is where you guys are headed. Hey, Jason. Yeah. Have we had a chance to like rest before we landed as well?

I would say, yeah. OK. OK, I was going to ask that, too, because I lost a lot of good stuff. Yeah. So. We dig on express to the rest of the group. It's like, OK, this way or is it is there a discussion beforehand or is it just marching? How like how far away are these rock formations like day, two days? If you were to if you were to march like through the night, you might be able to get there midday the next day. OK. So he'll just turn to everybody. The Aladrin are there to the east, that rock formation. I'm sure you can see. Is everyone ready for this? Absolutely.

Let's not waste any more time. And he'll give a nod of almost showing that he's not sure he's really ready, but they're going anyway. He'll look to the sky and to the fields and then back to you and be like, I understand the urgency. We all feel it. This is what we've all been looking forward to. But this is an entirely new continent with entirely new creatures that we don't know prowls the fields or will attack us in the dead of night. Maybe daytime when our eyes are at their best would be a better time to set out, considering it's dusk. Yeah, he's totally disregarding like anything.

He's just so focused on. He's so close. He's been looking for years. It's like we're here. He's like, I didn't quite get that it was dusk. So the actor on this looks up, it's like, oh, well, perhaps. And you're going to add tomorrow morning when we leave. Let me suggest that I take the lead or at least walk a bit ahead and scout for you, especially since Corey mentioned these snakes. I am wearing particularly good armor and I do not fear their poisonous bites as much as Breland does. And if Dagon's stories about Storm Render are true, either this thing attracts lightning or at least is associated with it.

So I might be safer if I'm a little distanced away from the group. Breland's going to look at actor onus with side eye and say, I never said I was scared. I just I just would have preferred not to run into one is all. You know, I mean, I am pretty bite sized and tasty. Apparently, they're going to look at actor onus kind of like almost mildly insulted because he's saying when we leave in the morning. It'll consider it. Look up at the sky and then sort of, you know, not sulk, but just, you know, kind of have a little defeatist attitude. Right in the morning.

Hey, Jason. Yeah. Is this storm coming towards us? Not currently, but OK, so your nature check would I would imagine it. Corey sort of works like a barometer or something. It's like I'm getting some kind of the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. So a lot of the storms in Talor are like very violent, like summer storms, not a lot of rain, but tons of lightning and thunder. And they'll sort of come and go within, you know, that they can just like appear out of nowhere and just just hammer an area and move on. Are we in Florida? Oh, man. Worse. What? What's worse than Florida?

Am I right? So, yeah, it's it's it's not great. OK, I think as long as the storm wasn't directly coming towards them, Corey would also think it would be best to stay and wait till morning to go. But she would definitely want to take watch, because if the storm it makes any movement towards them, we got to go. Well, you are very particular with the way you put that. Was I? It's like I'm going to keep very close watching if it makes any movement. Well, I like to think that we just went through a horrific storm, so maybe Corey's a little sensitive. Sure. That makes sense.

Then that is what we'll do. So you guys are going to keep moving is what I what I did that that is the suggestion. Keep moving or no, I think I think. Yeah. All right. So here's what we'll do. Go back to the ship. You know what? Let us not go to Camelot. This is a silly place. All right. So you guys are going to you guys get a bed down for the night. And throughout the course of the evening, the weather's going to clear up eventually. And then in the distance, you'll see another another another storm brewing. This is in the distance. And if someone were to be keeping watch, it's it's it's one of those things where it's like looking at this lightning.

If you've never been to Talor and never, never heard about this, it is it's gorgeous and and and just frightening. Because if you imagine if you've ever seen a lightning strike a tree or something like that, the way lightning usually works is it's directed to something high up. It'll it'll strike something that's the closest to the sky, basically. You can't tell if that's the way lightning works here. It's just without rhyme or reason, it just strikes and then carves up the land and just your storms will dissipate a lot faster. But in the short time that they're raging.

I mean, who knows what kind of horrendous destructible capabilities. But these these you'll see it in the in the horizon where it's just strike, carve, line of lightning, and it's it's almost like a strobe light in the sky and then it'll just stop. Do me a favor. Who would be keeping watch and who'd be sleeping at this point? Let's say it's like three, four in the morning. We'd probably take turns. Take turns. OK, you know what? Do me a favor, everyone roll a perception check. I would imagine this would wake wake some of you up from from sleep if you were sleeping.

But after one particular lightning strike. You're going to hear these because the thunder is tremendous, but I imagine it's one of those things you get used to. But after one of these lightning strikes, you are going to hear something scream out in pain. This is miles away. But it sounds huge. It's it's it's just this tremendous roar, but it's it's kind of intermingled with this shrieking sound. And it sounds like whatever was hit got taken down. But at the same time, there is a for it to make that type of noise like that loud from that many miles away.

You probably don't want to be anywhere near something that large. And it doesn't sound like any kind of dragon you've ever heard. And it doesn't sound it just that that's that's the kind of size you're thinking would rival something like that. It's it's pretty big. OK. Oh, shit. Does it sound like it is dying or it just is crying out in pain? Crying out in pain, probably a death throw type of thing. That's it sounded like because the way it was two seconds after the lightning strike, like it, the odds of it being anything else are pretty slim. Arcturus just brings his blanket closer to his face and tries to go back to sleep.

Is it? Does it sound far? Miles away. Yeah. OK. Pretty damn far. But it does sound like it was in the direction you need to start heading. Perfect. New armors. I like that you're seeing the best case scenario. The rest of you getting a good night's sleep or whatever, just falling back asleep eventually, it's going to be morning. So waking up crack of dawn on this very warm day in Talor. What would you guys like to do? Quick look around, see if we can spot any Monster Hunter type creatures around. Monster Hunter. Do me a favor, give me a perception. Here we go. 24.

You're not going to see too terribly much. Again, tall grass and everything like that, but you're also not going to see a lot of movement. So maybe, like, I guess the first thing that will pop into your head is maybe some of the creatures on Talor that would hunt or something are more nocturnal. And because it's dawn, maybe that buys you some time. Maybe that buys you a few hours. Certain creatures are up at different times. I would imagine the culture shock is pretty significant because there's no... None of you have been to Talor. So it's just visiting a foreign land that has completely different flora and fauna and the different temperature and feel, the environment feels different.

It's a little more humid. It just feels very different. Yeah, he would just tell the group, get something to eat quickly and then I believe this would be the right time to leave. I think Dagon would already have this pack, like everything packed up. It's almost setting off, you know? Yeah. Where it's like, you know, if you're coming, you're coming. I'm going. He's like a kid on Christmas. Come on, mom and dad, wake up! Except instead of excited, it's this very solemn, concerned look. Kaldin's ready to go. I think he's really very excited by all of this. I think probably during the night when he wasn't needing to sleep, he was probably watching that storm and really enthralled by all this new stuff that's going on.

You maniac. Braelon's terrified. Braelon probably woke up and was crying when he heard thunder. He's like, "Oh!" And then he falls back asleep. No. I think Kory would probably be sticking pretty close to Dagon, knowing that this is a big deal for him, but she's worried about him. And I think she would probably even, before they left, like as she's packing her sack, she would probably go over and ask him, "Are you sure that you're ready for this?" To be honest, no. As long as I've been searching, hoping for this very day, I just have a bad feeling. She'll put her hand on his shoulder.

Well, today's the day that you finally get your answer. Even if it's not what you were hoping for, at least you'll know. Yeah, I suppose so. Listen, will you walk with me? She'll nod and stand up, like she's ready to go. Is everyone leaving at this point? Oh, I thought you were having an aside. I was going to, but once we start heading out. Yeah, I think Rell's following you. And Torellius is going to start ahead of the group, like he said the day before, just to make sure he wants to scout ahead, basically, so he wouldn't be with you. Okay, so I guess as they're on their way now, Dagon will look, obviously, like something's bugging him.

And walking with Kori straight ahead, just staring straight ahead, he'll start talking. Kori, have you ever done anything terrible that you've regretted very deeply? She'll probably be thinking about it for a minute, not really looking at Dagon, sort of just continuing walking down like this is a nonchalant conversation. I think we all do things we think are terrible. I can't think of anything specifically for myself, but I'm sure that I've hurt somebody somewhere. Yeah, of course we've all done something. I'm going to be honest with you. This, I don't know what we're going to find, but I'm scared.

I'm scared I can't, or I won't be able to control how I feel if something bad has happened. There's just too much going on right now. When I was younger, it was a tradition for Eladrin to have arranged marriages. But in my case, it was no big deal. This was a girl I knew. I'd known, I grew up with her. And having to marry her was not a bad thing. It is for some. Awkward, anyway. Her name was Namira, and she was everything to me. And I would never do anything to break that bond we had. I mean, I thought I wouldn't. Let's just say I slipped up one night. And it's...

If she finds out, if she's there, I don't know. I don't know if I can face it. As soon as Dagon says that he's scared, Corey's reaction to their talk is going to change. And as he's explaining, she's sort of following along, and she's just going to ask right out, "What happened, Dagon? What did you do?" I have a son. And it tears me up inside because, on one hand, I have completely dishonored my vow, my love. But on the other side, this boy, this man, now... I mean, I watched over him from afar. He doesn't even know me. And what kind of person would do that?

You didn't do anything wrong, Dagon. And we're going to find him. Or we're going to find out what happened. There's still time for you to make it right. Maybe I'm paranoid, but as far as I see it, I've lost her in more ways than one. And that eats me up inside. And the closer we get, the bigger that feeling grows. I can feel it. I can see it. When we fought last, it was there. It's affecting me. It's poisoning me. And I don't know how long I can control this. When we get there, if we find out whatever we find out, just try to focus. I know it's hard. I've seen the struggle you go through.

But just try to focus on that bond that you've shared with her, on the possibility of making things right with your son, with her. Focus on us. And she's going to gesture towards the group, even though they can't probably hear this conversation. No matter what you do, Dagon, we're going to be here. If you can't control it, we'll bring you back. He's going to reach into his sack and pull out the Nullifier that he took from House Dragonkeep. Take this. If you see me losing control, please put it on my head. I don't think I'll have the strength to do it myself.

She'll sort of stop walking and look down at it and hesitantly take it from him, and she'll just say, I'll hold on to this for you. But that's all. I'll do what I have to do if I must, but that is not a situation I want to be in, Dagon. She'll nod and then keep walking for a bit. He's going to stop and turn to her and look her right in the eyes. His name is Esno. If I don't make it back. Look for him, please. Just make sure he's OK. She'll nod and give a smile, trying to reassure him. Because if he doesn't make it back, that is definitely happening. Thank you.

You guys are going to travel for a while. I would say a couple of hours are going to go by. And this tall grass, thankfully, is eventually going to come to an end. And only a couple of times you spotted something moving. I would imagine Actaeron would just be like, hold up, everybody. Let's check that out. Maybe a snake or... Yeah, just sort of like small chittering creature or something like that. A lot of burrowers on Talor. And the tall grass is going to end and there is this large open field. And I'd like you to all roll perception for me. Oh, wow. Nice.

Standard Braille. He's just too scared of the snakes or he's not scared. He's just very... He's trying to stay away from the snakes. I rolled twice. I saw. My good one doesn't count. Oh, well, that wasn't a bad one. Kory Erlove Dagon. An Actaeronist, I would imagine. The field ahead of you is sort of riddled with holes. And they look to be... some of them are a little larger than others. Some of them are about the size of a softball or something like that. And some of them are about the size of a person. Someone could conceivably squeeze into... And a lot of them look like explosions.

Like some sort of battle took place here and there were a lot of explosions in the area. And the one thing that is fairly promising is a lot of these look older. Like there was an explosion a long time ago and grasses had a chance to grow back and stuff. But there's still a hole there. Like the land itself is kind of scarred. And from what you've heard of Talor, it sort of makes a lot of sense that you'd see stuff like this. So that's going to be... what it looks like is for the next few miles in front of you, that's what the land is going to look like.

Is there enough room to walk in between them? Oh yeah. Totally. Is there a way to find out if there's anything in these holes? Oh, there sure is. I don't think you're going to like it. Don't go peeing in anything. You could poke around. Is there any sticks nearby? Sure. Yeah, there'd be branches and things like that. A lot of downed trees and stuff too. You're guessing from explosions a long time ago. Shade in Talor is a hard thing to find. You'll find patches of it. But then just miles of open land. So yeah, there's branches and stuff. The only reason I would want to find out is so we're not halfway into this, and then we find out and we're surrounded by something.

Does that make sense? Unless someone wants to shoot fire down there or something. Wait, did someone say fire? If there's a bomb down there, I wouldn't suggest it. Well, that's true. Okay, I will grab a stick and... Oh, does it look like mortar fire? Mortar? This looks like something was lobbed at the area, not like a minefield or anything like that. This was an explosion from underneath. This looks like it comes in from an angle, a lot of them. Alright, let's do it, Dagon. So Dagon is going to start to take this stick and start to prod the area. Is it more aggressive or just kind of gently poking the area around?

Yeah, I think I'll go slow. Just kind of see how deep it is. Do me a favor. Roll a perception check, everybody in the party. Can I ready if something jumps out now that fire's been mentioned? I can ready fire as soon as something jumps out. Let's see how good your perception is. Nope. Not that time. Dagon. Good lord. Okay, Dagon. Glad I saw it. So Dagon's going to be poking with a stick and kind of a couple of gentle taps inside. It's kind of like soft dirt and he's going to poke everyone. So clumps of soil are going to fall out and just kind of like and just kind of fall down this wall.

One of the things Dagon's noticing is this hole in particular, a lot of them look like explosions. This one looks almost almost carved out of the land itself and just sort of poking around. It's very symmetrical, like a cylinder. And it kind of goes off at an angle. And then Dagon's going to hear something moving underneath. But it's not from where he's poking. It's from a few feet away. There's another hole. And Dagon's going to start to look and that that one looks pretty similar to this one. And then a few feet from that, there's another hole. And then a few feet from that one is another hole.

And they're going to be tiny legs that poke out from the hole next to Dagon. And then a head. And it is going to, you know, six legs are going to sort of like grasp the ground above and pull itself up. And these large, clear wings are going to spread. And what it appears to be is a giant wasp. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Well, wouldn't be group two without some bugs or something, right? It appears these holes are inhabited. In this general vicinity, like I'm talking feet around you, you just happen to be lucky enough to stumble into a large nest of these.

Lucky. That's lucky. Well, OK. I'm lucky in that you rolled it to. I thank you, everyone. You're welcome. OK, well, I hope you know a real good trick that works on wasp nests. You burn them. And if the wasp's wings burn and they fall to the ground and die. So she just ignore wasps. Don't do anything. Just like just want it slowly away. Dagon will turn to air love. Area of effect. OK. All right. Are we in battle? Well, here's what we're going to do, because they haven't attacked yet. So here's what we're going to do. They're basically like, what the fuck is going on up here?

It's up to you if you want to get like the first because at this point, I would say there's two or three of them up there. And they're probably they're probably soldiers. They're probably it's like, hey, there's a potential threat up there. I smell some shit that doesn't smell like us. And they're poking around. How far do these holes go on for their feet in every direction? I'd say like 20, 30 feet in every direction. And then it looks like they end. Actros is just going to whisper, let's back away. Yeah, like, don't fall asleep. What was that, Corey? Oh, I asked how far would we have to go if we wanted to just run past them?

Depends on how how hard they wanted to chase you, I guess. But you're going to want to run. Does this thing look pissed off and aggressive? Well, I mean, it's tough to roll a nature check. It's tough to gauge whether a giant wasp looks angry. Can we tame them and ride them? Crypt! Oh, whoa! I can tell. I put it this way. It doesn't look happy. It's probably aggressive scouting, let's call it. It's like, hey, the fuck away from our shit. Like, it's more that. So if we got away, they would be cool. Could be. Why don't we take a couple steps back and see what they do?

OK. I am ready. Readying fire, though. OK. I feel it burning beneath this. I'm already eight steps back. Freya is back on the boat. He loves these. So, OK, what's going to happen is there that, you know, two or three of them are going to pop out initially and they just start to hover, like do that thing where they did. And they just like sort of like bump the ground and then just like walk around. These things are large. If I if I had to. OK, let me give you an approximate size. Do you know what a full grown German shepherd looks like? Yeah. Picture that with a really big stinger.

And wings, too. And wings. So we'd be doing to Laura favor if we just burn. So, OK, here's the thing. You're all going to back up and four or five more have sort of like they've kind of emerged just like, hey, we might need backup. Let's just let's just just but they're keeping to themselves for the most part. There's a few of them that have taken to the sky there. OK, there is a sound that the normal like you hear that it is it sounds like a lawnmower. It sounds like someone has started and they've taken off and they're just sort of like there's like there's a few that are just walking around on the ground near the holes.

And then there are a few that are up top and just sort of sort of circling like eight, nine feet in the air somewhere in there. They look like if they wanted to, they could probably pick Breland up and and maybe hover off the ground a few feet. Like they may not be able to carry him clean off, but it would it would be like, let's get him and just walk away. Not surprised. Not surprised at all. They're large. I don't know. I mean, I think my instinct would be to kill it. Well, hold on. We're backing away, right? Mm hmm. We're just sort of like moving away. I think I swallow.

Can I like nature these wasps and be like, hey, chill, dude. Yes. Chill out, bro. You're trying to dress the world, the wasps? You lack pheromones, you lack antennae, you lack some basic communications tools. So it'd be difficult. Like exceed. OK. Unless you guys don't think this is a good idea. I mean, we could back up and Kalden would like to make himself as big as possible. You know how they tell you, like when you're hiking, you know, if there's like mountain lions or bears or something, you're supposed to just like make yourself as big as possible. Like hold your hands up and like puff up your chest.

So he's going to as they're backing up, he's going to be doing that. Just sort of like making himself big. OK. Kalden's the target. Run! We can absolutely do that. Yeah, I'm still backing away like, come on. I thought we were like backing away from the holes. Yeah, even as we're stepping away, Airlove has built up so much fire underneath the surface that the grass starts going as she steps on it, like each step, because she does not feel OK about this. Would the map tell me if all these holes were connected? OK, you're talking about the one that writes itself.

It's more lay of the land. It's not great for high detail. A major check might. Oh, can I crit it again? I would say just based off of both the entire the entire last nature check was you poking around in holes, right? Sure. I just want to know how aggressive they looked, but yeah, I want to give it to me. Do me a favor, roll another nature check. Let's just let's just see what you got. The opposite of that. Opposite. You crit. It's a type of crit. It is. Well, those three could be connected or these 50. I don't know. Well, I'll just leave it there. She can decide if she wants to shoot fire down a hole or what.

It's up to her. I think we're going with backing away and then seeing what they're doing. I think that we're waiting to see if they come flying at us. I'd rather maybe just fight eight on top than 70 million on fire. They're going to fly though. If they got lost by you, they'll fly. Of course, it's a stereo, so I'm probably wrong. The size of these stingers, man, these are not the hole they would leave in you. Let's say, let's say they penetrated armor. The hole they would leave in you is sizable. And then on top of that, you don't know how venomous they are or if there's any residual after effect of being stung by one of these.

I bet there is. So we're backing up still. Backing up. They are not giving chase as of yet. Again, it's more I think it was more of like, hey, stop that. And they're just kind of they're kind of hanging out. You will. OK, the area they're protecting is about 45 or 50 feet. Like this big circular pattern, because as you're backing up, a few more are going to come out. So you got like 12 or 14 up there now. But there is a limit. It doesn't appear like they're they're they're protecting anything outside of that. So you probably just kind of stumbled upon a nest.

How far around are these holes? Like how far around do we need to go to circumvent all of these? OK, if you went south or north, like you could just walk around all of this. Like you just just give them a wide berth type of thing. And it doesn't look like those types of holes extended too much further outside of that. A lot of it just looks like big craters or like little gopher sized holes. Is it going to add any time to how long it's going to take us to get to the rock formations? Not really, no. Again, you're just giving this a wide berth. So this is like a few minutes out of your way.

Like literally like three, four minutes. Yeah, Braben would like quietly knock on whoever's closest to him. I would guess I could ruin this because we're bros like that. Knock on his armor a little bit and be like, shouldn't we be moving faster backwards? Let's not attract any more attention. Let's keep backing away. He's going to ask, so a song is out of the question. Just hold on to it a little bit more. OK. You got it. OK. Do you have a lullaby for wasps? No, I could make us faster or stealthier or we could talk like Kalton. I'll talk like Kalton does, but that's about it.

Stealthier sounds right. OK, I'm going to use Inspire Competence. We all get a plus two power bonus to stealth. OK, good. And I'm going to sing a song that I actually sang earlier today with Ian when we were getting right home. I always feel like somebody's watching me. I love that we're dusting off Rockwell for... Well, you know what's crazy? What I'm going to ask you guys to do is perform a stealth check to just get around these wasps. Now, here's the thing. Unless one of you guys were to roll like a six or lower. You're fine. Unless it's not a skill check challenge.

No, no, no, no. That's all that happens when I'm by myself, James. So that's a plus two? Yeah, everyone has a plus two to whatever they have. All right, here goes a one. Oh, I like this. Nice. Lovely. Gorgeous. Stealth, stealth, stealth. There it is. Oh my God, here we go. Fantastic. Oh no. But the total though. You're good. You're fine. Everyone's good. This is, here's the thing. You're giving them a wide berth. You're trying to show it's like, hey, we're not a threat. We're not after your stuff. Now, if you were to stand there and that could have gotten really ugly.

Dig on what'll drop that stick pretty quick. FYI, Braylin looks at AirLem and says, next time be more quieter. She'll look down at you and like raise one eyebrow, but still like she's focusing on being stealthy because she rolled a three. So she's not very good at it. I'm pretty sure he would point to the grass where you were and it seems like the grass is like catching on a little fire. Oh, she'll be like, she'll look down like she didn't even realize that was happening and then it'll just all of a sudden stop. The Grimnesses are not a stealthy clan.

No. All right, so you guys are going to get past these wasps after a while and you could maintain your regular speed. That's good. I'm glad we didn't walk into the middle of that. I love James's approach. Let's burn him. I was about a second away from rolling an intimidation check too. I just wanted to. Oh man. I'm glad I didn't at this point. Those things are hideous too. I picture them just being almost like part bat, part insect. Like they are large and just. Guys, who would like to do me a favor and roll a flat d20? Not at this time for sure. You know what?

Alex did the last one. It sounds like Xavier. I wanna. I wanna. Before you do it Xavier, how are you feeling? Feeling good. Feeling good. Feeling warm. Can't do worse than a two. Yes I can. Thirteen. All right. All right. Hours. Hours are going to pass. And it's going to start to get warm. The sun's pretty high in the sky. I'd say this is afternoon by this point. You guys have been marching for a while. Taking minimum breaks. I can't imagine Dagon would be too comfortable with relaxing. So it would be like, okay, let's just take a couple of seconds. Let's get some water.

Stuff like that. But for the most part, it's been just a straight shot. Has there been a lot of chatter do you think? Is it more tense silence listening for things? Or is it kind of nervous talking chatter type stuff? Bralin would nervous talk for sure because that's who he is. Like, oh that looks great. Look at that plant. Probably kills you. He's like being really sarcastic. Dagon would be quiet. I'm sure he's very tense. Probably appreciating the chatter from Bralin. Keeping his mind off things. I'd be like the opposite of Bralin. Just like every tiny tiny noise is just like making me twitch, dart, try to see where it came from, especially since the Wasp incident.

I would say that eventually night is going to fall into LARP. And as the sun sets, you're going to hear a plethora of noises. Everyone do me a favor. Roll a perception check. Oh, good Lord. Finally one. Nice. Holy shit, guys. Man, you want to see stuff. It's a whole new world. Oh, we got a crate. Wait, your perception is plus five, Calvin? Yeah, he's bad. Oh man, I thought I was. Well, welcome to the club. We got brochures. You can't see any of them, but. This is our second member who I just found out. Also, actor Rodes. Welcome to the plus nine perception club. I like to think I roll well.

Yeah, you must have hidden it very well this whole time. I had no idea. Fucking Cory's plus fucking 40. Look at that. That is insane. No, I rolled the wrong thing. I'm sorry. Oh, that's nature. Oh, that's true. We're right next to each other. Still though. Still. Still. Yeah. Oh wow. Okay. Yeah. You're right. It's different. It's different in that it's ever so slightly less. Okay. So by this point, you guys have been, you guys have just been marching and trudging and yeah, you're taking it slow here and there because again, you don't exactly know what's what's out there.

I would say at one point. You're going to pass a large body of water. This is that same kind of barren field with after the tall grass ended there's this there's this large field where it's it's you can see everything. And I would say you're probably giving a lot of the stuff, a wide berth like you don't know what's in the water you don't know what's in the bushes you don't know what's in the tree line it's all very just like, all right, let's just kind of keep to ourselves and we'll really scope things out, and there's sort of a dense tree line coming up.

After the body of water, and then just beyond that is that mountain range, type of thing in the body of water though, just again, sun setting it's it's it's gorgeous that the water has this this this red orange hue to it. air love Corey Dagon and actor onus. It's gonna take you a while but in the in the in the water. You're going to notice a large pair of eyes staring at you. No movement whatsoever. And then you're going to see the water ripples just a bit behind the eyes. And they're going to ripple from many feet. And you're going to see kind of, it looks like a cross between reptilian ridges and fins coming out of the water.

And then the curl of a very large tail sort of snap back in the water. And then the eyes are going to submerge, and then this thing is going to disappear. What would you guys like to do. That's unsettling. I will say that. Cauldron Can you freeze a whole lake. I can certainly try. Is are you guys going near the lake. Well, Calvin and I can't break right out the lake. This is great. Let's keep walking. Water. Last time I was near water in the swamp, the fucking Lord of the Rings moment happened. Should never come here. We don't have to go near it do we to go. Okay, then no.

I think no sounds right. Just a lot of no until or a whole lot of fuck this and nope. We are on a time crunch guys. Dagon. Yes. I would imagine that there is a sense of it may be a mixture of things nerves anxiety, maybe a little dread something and it just sort of is building up in your chest. But you're also going to feel something else. You remember the bracelet. You're going to, you're going to feel that thing pull and pull hard. You're going to feel it pull in the same direction. As whatever you're going to find in terms of what the witch told you about the Aladdin.

If you were to estimate just based on that you felt this before. This is probably only. 20, 25 miles away. So this feeling compared to the other pole towards the Aladdin. They're almost identical identical in terms of proximity and intensity. Yes. Would you guys like to set up camp or continue on not near the water. Okay. You said there was a line of trees right. Yes. You don't like throw a stone in the lake and see what happens. No, I want to poke at it with a branch. Thank you. Hey, you never know until you try. I'm going for a swim. I think we should. Sorry, go ahead.

Are we ignoring this thing and just finding a safe place to camp. I almost, I'd almost be in favor of going to wherever you're feeling the pole. It seems so close now and just stopping now just might even be sitting ducks at that point if we set up camp. Okay. I guess they're going to probably notice everyone probably has some sort of concern type look on your face. My right. I think, yeah, we're probably we're probably been like hiking all day we're probably look a little tired too. I'll leave it to you. We're. Yes, yes. 25, maybe 30 miles. Well, I guess 30 miles is still like almost a day's worth of walking.

Yeah, it's taking a bit longer. Yeah, it's pretty long. It's taking a bit longer just because it's, you know, the tall grass, the wasp, it's slow going. It's not you're not you're not jogging because that could get you killed. So it's more like the distance should be that that part. But it's like it's like estimating distance and then, oh, but traffic. It's up to you guys if you want to try and make it tonight. I mean, of course, I'll do it. But if you want to camp, I'll do that, too. Not here, of course. You look towards the lake again. I feel like anything we face on this new continent should be faced fully aware and awake and prepared.

So rest would probably be our best option. Brailin nods in agreement very rapidly. OK. Very well. Let's find a better spot. And in the interest of transparency, I'll let you know that there's a gate there, too. I can feel it. Maybe it's something we'll look at after. I guess Erlo's been tense all day, so she's actually going to make a sarcastic comment. She's like, funny, the witch didn't tell us that we could have just taken a gate there. She's just kind of like she's been so tense all day. So it's kind of like, you know, letting off steam that kind of thing.

I dig a whole lot for that. All right, we do that. Are we going into the forest? Yeah, I think that's yeah. Yeah, we all agree. The tree line. Yeah, probably not super foreign. But I, I think Corey would probably be a little adamant that, you know, that thing saw us. We should probably go a few more miles. We don't know if it can be land bound or not. Good idea. Lead the way. Find us the best place to sleep with your 21 nature. Where's the best place to sleep, Jason? Do my favorite roll in nature check, Corey. I'm going to set us up some nice little tents. Nice.

Good lord. That's plus 21, man. That's so good. Though I will say like perception and nature are kind of like her only deals. You know what, for now you're just rolling streetwise and bluff and thievery from now on. That's all you get to roll. I'm just. The talking is not so great. So getting away from the lake and moving into this tree line, you, you will find this nice little grove in the, it's not incredibly woodsy. It's not that dense, but it is very nice and shaded. And you guys could set up. You can even go so far as to set up hammocks and things like that if you really wanted to go nuts to kind of get you off the ground because snakes are a thing.

But this is a pretty cozy place to set up camp. I would like everyone to do me a favor and roll perception. I would say the whole party is going to notice this. You guys are going to set up camp and it's going to be it's a bit of a smell. Like it's it's one of those smells you also taste and it's going to it's going to be this sort of rotten slash metallic type of stinking. Like you're every once in a while you'll catch it on the breeze. It's like, oh, what what is that? That type of thing. Well, there was a time. Well done. Well played. And there we go. So you had episode 200.

Catch this and other bloopers similar to this on the Patreon. For just one dollar you can get classics like this. Classic like James with a fart gun. Sweet. And the sun is set and it's it's it's nighttime. It makes it pretty difficult to see, but it smells like it's coming from just north of here. Are we headed north? Nope, you'd be heading more east. OK. Could that have been like the general direction from the lightning storm the day before? Yeah. What is that? I'm assuming the wind's blowing from there too. Yeah. Yeah. It's like a gentle breeze every once in a while.

It's just like the smell of a dead carcass from some being that was screaming a couple of days ago or a day ago. Kind of curious. Yeah. Anyone sleeping? I would say this is after you guys have set up camp and probably got a fire going. So anything outside of the fire's glow is just kind of pitch black, like it's it's pretty dark. If anything, that might help mask our own smell. It's true. I can't go roll around a carcass and then go see my girlfriend. Well, I mean, you can. It's just... You just get your day gone, busting through the door. "Honey, I'm home!" What you do is you go roll around in the carcass and take a dip in that lake.

I guess we'll turn to act around this and be like, "I am a bit curious and maybe we should take stock of our surroundings. Do you want to go and see if we can see where that is coming from?" Yeah, that's a good idea. Let's make sure it doesn't attract anything that could notice us as well. And Brelin will be like, "You guys need backup?" Of course. Alright. So who's going to investigate this and who's staying behind at the camp with the fire? I will go where I'm needed. But I'll stay. I'll go. It don't matter to me. They're gonna stay. OK. I like that you were the one who was curious about this.

Go check it out, guys. Well, I'm out of character. Yes, Captain. Yes. Take these red shirts. No, you can't have red shirts anymore. You take them back right now. I'm sorry. I was thoughtless of me. It's probably best to split 50/50. Yeah, 33 is not bad. But I am worried that both me and Ektorinus are going. That's fine. It should be fine. So it sounds like Brelin, Ektorinus, and Keldon? Yeah. I think I'm gonna need to take a torch or something. Oh, god, yes. I would imagine. Yeah, pull something out of the fire or a sun rod. I don't know if we have sun rods or anything in our backpacks.

Something to make life. Keldon, grab something. Make life. The gun would probably just tell them to stay within earshot. So if something did happen, we could get to them quickly. We won't stay too far. Or vice versa. And if we find nothing, we'll return. Hopefully it is nothing. So Brelin, Ektorinus, and Keldon are going to leave camp and start to head north. I would imagine slowly with a torch. And slowly but surely, the light from camp is going to fade into the distance as you disappear into the night. And from camp, you're going to see that tiny flickering light of the torch gradually get dimmer and dimmer until it becomes a pinprick on the horizon and eventually disappears.

In between these trees weaving in and out of cover here, you're going to continue to head north and follow this smell and it's going to get stronger. I would say after seven, eight hundred yards, the torch is going to start to just touch on a shape in the darkness in front of you. And what it looks like is a large mound. Does it seem to be breathing? It doesn't from where you're sitting, no. Oh, by the way, I don't need to breathe at all. Like Ektorinus doesn't have to breathe, so I'm holding my breath the whole time so I don't smell it. Jason, is this technically the same encounter as when I used my last Inspire Competence?

Since we haven't fought anything. I would say technically this is a new encounter. OK. OK. Oh, well, that's very nice of you. Thank you. All right. Well, I'm going to Inspire Competence again to our stealth so we can get a closer look. All right. What can everyone do me a favor? Roll a stealth check. Oh, let me let me do that first. Oh, boy. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Hey, well, you know, you're talking to the sneaky. I am. The sneaky. Creeping up on this figure again, the torch is OK. Are you keeping the torch lit or are you extinguishing it? I don't know. I'm going to extinguish that instantly.

OK. Going to extinguish it. All right. Well, that makes this a little more difficult. So as your eyes slowly adjust to the dark, you're going to get very close to this figure. And whatever this is, it is large. Now, if you were close enough to touch it, would you? Are all three of us disclosed to it? I would I would say so. Yeah. Breland for sure wouldn't touch it. I don't think I would. I think. Kalden would like point at Acta Rana says glaive, maybe. And then point at the lump. I'll cut my head on the side of it, like, are you sure? And he'll shake his head, yes.

Breland shake his head no at the same time. He's going to look between the two of you like a couple of times and he's going to bring his lay forward and kind of like just gently touch it with the bottom end of it. This is softly see what kind of texture it is. There is there's a lot of firmness. There's a lot of firmness to this. It's it's offering quite a bit of resistance, like there's probably a lot of weight here. It's tough to tell it being is it's very dark, but you're going to hear you're going to kind of hear it scrape against this. Like like it's it's either got a very thick hide or maybe it's scaly, something like that.

It's it's it's definitely it has a tough skin, but it's not going to move. Maybe we should try to look around it. Yeah, you're saying it's just a lump, right? Can we like move around and see if we can see any features? Yeah, you absolutely can. I would say your eyes are starting to adjust a little bit. You're getting a little bit of your night vision back. And we all have like low light vision. I know. No, we know. Yeah, I don't. Yeah, I think I don't. OK, I do then. OK, well, then that's a little different. So this actor is going to adjust a little bit before everybody in this mound in front of you.

There's a definite curve to it, like almost like a drumstick, like that kind of shape to it. So in front of you, there would be sort of sort of the base of it will come up to about your your chest. And then if you if you follow your gaze up, this would swoop well above all of you. We're talking probably seven, eight feet above your head. That's not just the ground, right? Starting from the ground up. It's it's it's 14, 15 feet high from the ground to where it is. That is not just the ground either. That is part of the figure you're looking at. Any particular shapes on that thing that I can try to discern?

I would say it is not quite smooth. I'd say as your eyes start to adjust what you're what you're going to make out is this almost looks reptilian in nature. Kind of a craggy, thick, not quite scales, but it's a craggy, thick reptilian hide on this thing. I just don't know if we should pursue this or not. Well, is there is there like a face on it? Is there a way to get around and see if it has some kind of face? You just walk around it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I mean, stealthily and quietly. Plus, she's gone, though. It only works on the next check. So you're going to run on your own numbers there.

It didn't seem to like notice us as we were coming up, though. We came up. We're going to poke it again. We're going to poke it again. Yeah. A little little more. And I kind of like it's not just almost a jab. No, no, no. Not hit it, but like I like gently put the end of it and then like kind of like lean on the glaive a little bit to put like pressure on it a little bit. OK. This is going to completely support your weight. And this thing is not going to move. I keep adding more weight. As hard as actor onus presses against this. It is not going to move. Which gives actor onus the impression that this thing is weighty.

Yeah, I guess I'd start walking around. All right. Do me a favor. Actor onus. Roll a perception check. Should I mention, still Philly liquor? Go team perception. Oh, shit. Oh, my God. I told you I rolled. Oh, shit. It's team. That is a good roll. You are not fucking around. Oh, boy. As actor onus gingerly moves around this figure. It's going to become apparent that what what you guys were standing behind was the the back of this creature. And as actor onus swoops down around the the ankle and foot area. You're going to see that the the feet of this thing are very reptilian.

It's a very wide base. Looks like that the legs of this thing are very powerful and muscular. It looks like it looks like it can run. And there are large talons that are at the end of its feet here, like just claws. And what it looks like is next to it, there are sort of holes indicating that this thing digs in and really it's it's probably it's probably insanely difficult to knock down. And judging by the fact that it is down, something probably happened. And those moving around, you're going to be on its underbelly. And this thing just just keeps going for feet and feet.

It is it is massive. It looks like it can it could probably house two of you full grown in its stomach. And then going up from that. You're going to see these long, muscular arms leading to, again, large talons. And if you were to do me a roll of nature check. Holy shit, that's a crit. You're not the only one. Team perception is now team nature. Nature is the same as my perception. It looks like lightning got a hold of this thing like wrong place, wrong time. The entire back, the entire the the the the thicker outer hide of this thing on top of you're looking from from back of the neck on down was just carved up with lightning the entire it's charred black on the back and it's it's it's it's underbelly sort of spilling out.

And that's probably what's causing the stench. If you were to take a good guess. I thought they smell bad on the outside. You are not the first person to make that joke this week in session. Yeah, I'm not surprised. And leading up to the to the arms of this thing again thick muscular looks like it takes a wide stance think very difficult to look at it and kind of gauge it definitely walked on its hind legs, and while it's it's it's very large it looks like it could cover a good amount of ground in a short amount of time. These hands these talents up top are definitely meant for holding and shredding.

But that's not the most disturbing thing about this. This is the most disturbing thing about this. It's Joel seems to unhinge in two places. And there is two sets of teeth, one that are very small and when I say small picture your index fingers sticking straight up running around the rim of its mouth, and then on the inside picture an organic blender. Its eyes are wide set and they kind of hang low, almost like a horse something like that but facing forward. There's these long kind of flappy ears that are that are attached to the back of it. This thing is 100% certain dead.

That was a nature check that was part of nature and perception. Yeah, cool. It is not breathing it is it is definitely dead but this is the shit that nightmares are crafted from. Yeah, it's yeah actress a bit like unsettled by this, but an idea comes across his mind. And he on straps storm render from his back. He's gonna head over to one of his big arms with the big talents are like the feet with the talents. He's gonna like, look over at brilliant and golden and say, this you might want to avert your eyes from this but if we ever need negotiation power at some point with the inhabitants of this land, perhaps the lion folk, maybe the kids are I maybe a little trophy from this creature, saying that we've slain it might might be a card in our hand, and I'm aware that allegory goes above my Yeah, that might be a good way to perhaps make ourselves look bigger.

If you know what I mean called it and calling winks at him. So he's gonna start hacking at like the talents and try to chip out some of the teeth to just to bring at least one for everyone in the party. Okay, I didn't know if you were trying to bring back anything intact like a whole hand or something just the, just something transform transportable and not too gruesome. Yeah, okay, sweet like trophy just to, and I'm pretty sure that people from this island know what this talent comes from. Yeah, so yeah I want I want just to make sure that like if we ever say like we're badasses, and we got proof.

We're gonna take these out. Right, with them out. So, the first axe swing, it's good. You ever, you ever watch someone just plant an axe dead into a tree trunk, and then just get stuck for a moment. It's gonna, it's gonna kind of be, it's gonna kind of be that where it's like that's a lot of resistance the this very thick, like dense bones on this and the hide getting past that is is a bit difficult, but eventually actor onus is going to carve some bits off of this thing. Is there anything else you would like to do. That hide would be good for armor but I don't think we can even remove it and carry it with us.

Yeah, I mean, I don't want this to become our mo either. Yeah, hey, there's things somebody killed something else. Let me give you an idea. Let's say you were to hack off one of its arms right and you decided that you wanted to try and carry that back. We're talking three 400 pounds of arm. Oh my goodness, that's more than income calling calling can barely lift his own arm so for you guys I just do like a quick look around just to see like if there's context to whatever the thing was doing before getting shut down. Sure, nothing extensive. Sure, give me a perception check.

There we go. The most you're going to find is bits and pieces of carcass next to this thing. It doesn't appear to be part of that so it was probably feeding and just got caught with a bad lightning strike and died. All right. Think we found the source of this thing, the stance boys. What would Braylin and Kaladin's reaction to all this be because at this point I'd imagine you you've taken in the site you you know what it is like you you you your eyes have adjusted enough to make this out. I feel like really would climb up on it and stand on top of it to feel proud of himself, you know, you didn't do it.

Okay. Do me a favor, give me a grammatics check. No, an athletics check. Oh shit. Athletics. No, athletics club. It's all the same, it's all one club. It's all plus nine, the plus nine club. That's what it is. I think I was part of this club in high school. Yeah. He's going to grab the sort of just above where the bellies burst open and just sort of like grab it it's just gonna get a foothold, and then his, his little feet are just gonna like just like scrape the side of this thing and make no traction. And after a while just sort of like slide down it. He walks away in shame.

We start messing around. I think we should head back. He just nods while he's looking at the ground and begins to walk back, basically towards the camp, but waiting for you guys. After you make it back to camp, would you would you relay this information to the rest of the group. Oh yeah yeah yeah. Yeah, yeah. Colin would say, we found the source of the, of the smell it seems to be one of the local fauna struck down by the lightning that we saw last night, and actor on is sexually had a very clever idea. And he'll motion towards him. And just like, turn my backpack upside down just like sprawl everything on the ground, probably including like other items.

But, uh, yeah, just so that like all the huge talents like our sprawled on the campsite. Each of you take one of these. These are trophies we've all, and he like winks, but nobody sees it. So he just like does the head motion of winking. These are trophies we gathered on the beast that we've taken down ourselves. I mean, that's not true, obviously, but that's what we should say when we are asked about it. I was thinking it could come in handy when if we ever have to face either kids, not face but prove anything to the kids, the right or the lion folk while we're here.

What would Cory Dagon and air loves reaction be to just the fact that something like this exists? Are these all gory? Oh, I would imagine we hacked them off the thing it did. They're not coming clean. And he's not a butcher. He doesn't know how to do things very well with me. It's such straight. You know what actor us roll a nature check. Let's see how well you pulled this off. All right. Surprisingly well, there's there's there's some blood on these, but it's surprisingly well done. I'm starting to get a get a hold of a storm render if you know what I mean.

Like a surgeon with a giant battle axe. It's all about finesse. I love we'll pick one up, but, you know, do that thing where you just barely touch it with two fingers and like hope like hold it in front of your face and be like, this is a good idea. I'm just going to clean mine off a bit. And then she's gonna know towards the fire. No, I will say I'll tell you why I said that Jason said we should go wash it off. It's only because I know you'd say no. And then she'll like take out a rag and start like getting some of the blood off and stuff. Corey's going to look to actor onus and without touching it.

She's going to ask and you're sure this is going to garner us favor. If you had seen the size of it, Corey, any any local would know that it's no simple feat to take down such a beast or to climb it or to climb it. No one's done it so far. I guess my only reservation would be that you're sure it was a beast like it wouldn't have been maybe I don't know. My only worry would be that maybe the gifts or I don't see it that way. Maybe it was a domesticated sort of creature. Oh, no, it was definitely a wild animal. Yeah, it was a champion. There's no domesticating a nightmare.

Well, if it was sacred to the gives or I let's let's only use them as a last resort tip. And the smell might keep more of these creatures away. You'll get used to it after a while, I think. And he'll like take one of the claws or whatever and just sort of like tuck it into his robe. All bloody. OK, we've got red armors. You guys getting some rest? Yep. Yeah. All right. It is the twenty sixth of the storm. You are relatively close to that mountain range. Would someone like to do me a favor and roll a flat D 20, please? I'm good. Did it last time. You know what?

I'm going to say Susan. I felt that coming. Oh, yes. Thirteen. OK. Always a lucky number. Getting started the next day. Again, sun shining, birds chirping, I would imagine you guys are getting started at dawn. And hours are going to pass on the road, so to speak. And eventually. You are going to reach the mountain range. And that pole is going to be insane. I guess both the both. Yeah. And eventually. Exploring this area, there doesn't seem to be any caverns or even like overhangs or anything like that. It's very it's it's almost a vertical slope. It's it's it's a pretty large rock formation that leads to a plateau at the very top.

We're talking, you know, hundreds and hundreds of feet. And it's it's kind of strange, but it seems to be leading you directly into a wall, like part of the actual mountain itself. What would the group like to do? I'm going to speak friend. Yeah. But all whatever it is. Yeah, it's about I think I think they can probably go up and just sort of like put his hands against the wall. And turn around like I don't understand it's. It's here. It has to be here. Air Love will then put her hand on the wall and do I feel anything? Well, here's something interesting. Dagon is going to place his hands on the wall.

And then the moment he turns around to sort of exclaim to the group in frustration, there are going to be hairline splits that appear in the side of this mountain. Faint blue glow. And. After a few moments, there is going to be sort of a large set of double doors that are going to open up in the side of this rock. This that it is it is it goes from being a solid mass. Two doors appearing and slowly grinding open. So I guess I did feel some magic. Yes. OK. In short, I just want to establish that. Well, I'm not done. Done well. No, I'm just kidding. Hair Love is going to feel more than that.

There's some there's some big time mojo coming from within this place. And inside it is pitch black. What would the group like to do? Well, there's no turning back now. Dagon would light a torch. All right. Because he would have turned around when he's probably ahead of the group, he knows there's no turning back, so he'd like this thing, I think, and start slowly. Maybe maybe I'll roll a Dungeoneering check. OK. It doesn't appear as though there are any any traps. It also doesn't appear as though this place is shaped at all. If you've ever been inside a dungeon or crypt cavern, anything like that, where there have been something chiseled or the rock accommodations made, like someone's living there, specifically dwarves, things like that.

There's none of that. It is a straight cylindrical path. That leads further into the mountain. Other than the door outside. It doesn't appear as though there's anything truly special about this. Jason, you said the doors look pretty normal, right? They don't even. They barely look like doors. It just looks like the mountain itself opened up to you. OK. After taking a couple steps, he'll finally turn around and look at everyone with this like, sort of, what is this look on his face and wait for them to see if they're going to follow him. Cauldron will crack a torch or light a torch and follow him.

Will the rest of the group follow? Yeah. Yeah. Let's do this. All right. Everyone do me a favor and roll a perception check. Oh, Brelin. It's classic. I'm so sorry. I've got a high-yest socket. Actually, Kaldin, too. I don't know why Kaldin goes unnoticed every time. It's always Brelin. Oh, it's been me in the past, yeah. I think he's hit it just as well as I've thrown us in the past. Yeah. Everyone except for Kaldin and Brelin are going to notice something about this place right off the bat. This doesn't look natural. It doesn't look like a natural cavern. You guys have been in tons of caves in your lifetimes.

Caverns twist and turn. They wind and round. This is just a straight, almost a hallway carved in the middle of this mountain. Just almost a perfect cylinder. And there are going to be rocks and imperfections and things like that along the wall, but other than that, it's almost smooth. Nothing dug this. There's no real explanation. And this is going to continue for hundreds of feet. Just going to continue. And then, kind of without warning, it's going to open up into this massive room. And the only way to describe this is a room. In every direction, it opens up.

The ceiling opens up. The walls open up. This is just a large expanse. And again, still pitch black in here. What would the party like to do? What feeling is Dagon getting? Same thing? All that pull? Mm-hmm. You're right on top of it. Is there anything that we can see with our torches? Something we can light to light up the room or something like that? That's kind of what's eerie about this entire situation. This almost looks man-made, but it's too perfect to be man-made. And there's no sculptures or pedestals. There's nothing to even support that. The whole way you just walk down for cave-ins.

Every indication so far has been that this is completely deserted. Like creatures made that. Like this is nature. But that isn't true either. The only thing that would alert you that you are at your goal is that pull. This is what the witch was showing you. So we can't see into this big cavernous room at all? Well, holding your torches up you'd see that it opens up in every direction, but you're not going to see the limits of that. This is how large it is. It just goes out. What's the magic-y feel? Yeah, did the previous arcana cover this? Give me a new one.

Who's rolling? I think you have the highest. I've got 18. Yeah, she has the highest. Okay. Hopefully the roll matches. A chill is going to run down Dagon's spine. Not only is this exceedingly powerful magic in this place, there is sort of a dark and twisted way about it. This is not to be trifled with. Do we recognize this particular magical feeling? Dagon might. The closest he could place it would be something the witch did to him many decades ago. But even that, it just pales in comparison. What would you guys like to do? I don't know. Does the map show anything?

Here's the most interesting part. The map shows absolutely nothing. Nothing. I think after looking at it, Dagon will just turn and say, "This place isn't natural. It shouldn't be here." Yeah, you know what, Bralyn will walk in and shout, "Hello." Hello! You're actually doing that? Yeah, fuck it. Love a tuck. We got here. We need to light this fire. Let's do it. Okay. Do it. Alright. Bralyn's voice is going to bounce in every conceivable direction. Echo and re-echo. And then, for a while, this place is going to go silent. And then faintly, from further in... Who is that?

Who goes there? Bralyn whispers, "Whoops." Do we recognize the voice? Does Dagon recognize the voice? I wouldn't say you do, right off the bat. Bralyn's going to motion to Dagon. Stage is yours, boss. Yeah. My name is Dagon Arkanscape, last known survivor of the Eladrin. Dagon's voice is going to reverberate off of these walls, similar to what Bralyn's did, just not as boisterous. And then again silence for a few moments. Dagon... This can't be... How? And you're going to hear shuffling. Dagon's heart is going to start pounding. Who is it? Who's there? And the light from your torches is going to start to illuminate a figure coming out of the darkness.

It's just going to illuminate and lick at this person's feet. But slowly and surely... An Eladrin is going to stumble into view. A very old Eladrin, in tattered robes and just broken boots. If you were to take a guess, this Eladrin is over 200 years old. Do me a favor and roll a perception check, everyone in the party. This Eladrin is male. With long white hair and... For an Eladrin, an unkept beard. Very, very long. And you're guessing what once was these proud illustrious robes. Are stained and tattered. It looks as though this person has been here for a very, very long time.

Covering this person's skin. I should say just under the skin is this inky spider web of veins. This Eladrin is gaunt. Thinner than most Eladrin would look to be. And his eyes appear to be developing cataracts. They've got a milky white tint to them. But other than that, you could tell that his eyes were a very vibrant blue at one point. And he is going to stumble out of the darkness. And toward the party. Specifically toward Dagon. And he is going to get within feet of you. How? The witch has been known to use trickery and possibly illusions, so our love is skeptical.

Can I just make sure this isn't a magical illusion or something? Sure, give me an arcana check. 28. While there is definitely some arcane power coming off of this individual, they appear to be flesh and blood. Dagon will take a couple steps forward until he's right at this person and he's choking on words like he just can't. He can't speak. He's going to reach out. You know, just to check if it's actually real. Right. And sort of touch his face. He would probably reach up and grab your hand as you did it, just to... Honestly, if you were to guess, he was doing the same thing that you guys were doing, just to see if you're real.

Yeah. Okay. You're a latrin? Have you been here this whole time? For many decades, yes. And the entire time he's... he has this staff that he's just leaning on. You can tell he's using it mostly for support. I... I thought I was the last one. You look... So much older. I suppose I do too. Forgive me. I... I don't recognize you. Please tell me your name. I am Terandor. I was the Knowledge Keeper of Odysseia. I knew of you and your family, but they weren't exactly close. You were very young at the time. How did you get to this place? He'll stare off for a moment. The witch.

Whatever... whatever she is. She said you'd all be here. Tell me, where are the others? Come with me, Dagon. We have much to discuss. And he's going to, um... he's going to reach for your hand, if you're willing to give it to him. Yes. Yeah, he will help him out. And he's going to lead you further into this place. Feels like you're going to shuffle for many, many, many, many feet. This is the most lived in, and I use the terms and quotes, portion of this cavern so far. In that there... There appears to be a clearing, like a circling of objects. The closest thing that there would be to chairs, which are these smooth rocks.

And a collection of little carvings and such. Again, you could tell this person's been here for a very long time. But near that? You're going to see a gate. And he's going to gesture for Dagon to sit. Dagon will be looking at the gate, and he'll sit while still looking at the gate. And when he's finally sat, he'll turn back to Terandor. I... I don't understand, where are the others? They're here, in a sense. I've been a very lonely man for a long time, Dagon. In truth, you're the first Aladjinn I've spoken to. First person I've spoken to since I arrived here.

I don't mean to be rude. Are these your... squires? He's going to look around at the party. Braelyn audibly goes, "Ugh." Squires? No. No. No, these are my... These are my friends. They helped me get here. There's going to be a soft... a soft chuckle come from Terandor. Well, I suppose you have limited options these days. That comment would hurt Dagon, but he's going to let it slide, because there's more pressing matters at hand. It's like talking to your grandma, come from a different time. You can't say that word. He'll just give that smile that you give your grandparents.

Right, yeah. May I ask a question of you, Dagon? Yes, of course. Where are we? On the island of Talor. We are... Well, we're inside a mountain. I can't explain it. I... We walked up and a door presented itself. Of course. I've been trying to find a way out for a very long time. Obviously to no avail. How did you get here? I woke up here one day, decades and decades ago. I remember... A great darkness... Seemingly... Swallowing our city whole. I couldn't remember where that ended and this place began. It felt like it was days before my eyes could adjust. Slowly but surely, I started to get my bearings.

You said something about being the last, the lone survivor. Does that mean that there are no others like us out there? I remember the darkness too. But when I woke up, I was home. And everyone else was gone. I thought I was the last. But I never gave up hope that I might find another. That I would hopefully find everyone. I don't understand that. I understand punishing me, but... Why, child, why punish you? And he's gonna look like he's starting to get upset. Like he's just frustrated. What do you mean punish you? What did you do? Hang on, it's what we did. All of us.

The witch spoke in cryptic verse of sealing the gods and... Saying I had... something more. There was a reason I was spared. You keep talking about a witch. What... what witch? I don't know if she claims to be a god trapped. Ah... How much do you know about your people, Dagon? Their... their history. I can say I've learned a little more in the last few weeks than I did when I was younger. Stories, of course. Or are they? It was my job as Knowledge Keeper... To guard our history. To make sure that we never forget our proud heritage. There are some chapters of our past that...

Are not as illustrious as they could have been. Many centuries ago, we'd... Seemingly reached our pinnacle of what we could accomplish. But there were those... leading us at the time. Who felt that we could accomplish more. Felt that we should be... A beacon. A shining example. Of what a race could be. What we could achieve. We were... untethered. Not hindered by... The forces larger than ourselves. They began taking measures. And he's going to look down. So you imprisoned... The gods? All for the sake of your ego? This was well before my time, Dagon. Then tell me again why you are here.

They started small, so to speak. They imprisoned a god of justice. Someone who... Would strike out against us if... They caught wind. Once they were out of the way... We continued unabated. So the stories go. Constructed Odysseia. Took over a large portion of the south. They ruled the arcane, Dagon. And those were the golden years. Again. Before my time. You see, magic has a price. You can't just... Conjure something like that out of thin air. It took many, many years of study. We had to tap into something larger than ourselves. There's a seal to the north. It was originally constructed to...

Seal away the demons. Keep them in their own realm. There's a very powerful source of magic there, Dagon. And our people used that... To ensnare a god. As you can imagine, they... They didn't take too kindly. And eventually... Our people decided it would be best... To simply imprison the rest. That should have been the end of it. However... Mistakes were made. Over time, the spell weakened. And there were some gods that... Remembered the fate. Who they once were, their... True power. The witch. The witch spoke of this. What did she say? She remembers. We didn't quite know what to make of it.

Whether she was telling the truth or not. Clearly she was. I feel like there's centuries of knowledge to impart to you. It's hard to know where to begin, but... I knew... I knew that... It was happening. They were starting to remember. A hold over them was weakening. I brought this up to the leaders at the time. It was a concern. I don't want to place all the burden on them, they knew, but... We could have done more. We could have... We could have collaborated with others. We could have reached out. More? What more would you have done? This is the Aladrin's fault.

This is all happening. We can let them out, Dagon. After this much time has passed, there will surely be retribution. And rightfully so. She did this to you. That's my burden to bear, Dagon. In her shoes I might have done the same thing. The point is... If it's not too late... We can now leave this place. We can... We can travel back. We can... Put a stop to this before it gets any worse. You speak of yourself or you speak of the others? The others. You said they're here, so to speak. He's going to stand up. I can show you, but... I want to warn you of something, Dagon.

You might not like what you find here. Are you prepared? I am. Terandor is going to brace himself. On this huge staff. And the tip of it is going to begin to glow. He's going to raise it above his head and slam it into the ground in front of you. And snaking out... Is going to be a faint blue spider web. A glow. And it's going to snake out in every direction and it's going to make a beeline for the walls. And it is going to slowly start to illuminate this cavern. And it is going to race outward. Many, many feet in every direction. And this entire place has a dome shape to it.

You can start to see that now. Again, it's not the best lighting, but you can definitely make out shapes and things in the darkness. And it is going to race toward the walls and skitter up. Like hairline fractures, cracks. And then it is going to reach the walls itself and... It looks like roots in the walls. The lighting, that faint blue light is going to get thicker. Everyone do me a favor and roll a perception check. I just don't want to see it. Everyone in the party is going to make out the following. When this blue lighting gets to the walls themselves and they start to sneak up, you're going to see that this place is almost a coliseum in size.

And the walls are going to arch up into a dome above you. Just smooth. Except for one feature. There are thousands of Eladrin embedded into the walls of this place. Sort of cocooned in this tree root type system. All of them appear to be... The same age as Dagon remembers them being. Oh no. Except for the gentleman standing in front of you. There is a city's worth of Eladrin's in the walls. Oh no. Dagon is going to start hyperventilating when he sees this and he's going to frantically dart his eyes and move his head looking all over. Specifically trying to find Nemira and his parents.

Do me a favor. Roll a perception check. Finding a specific Eladrin in this place is... It's kind of like finding a needle in a haystack. The entire population of Odyssea is embedded into the walls of this place. And not only is this a huge, huge ring, it goes hundreds of feet up. But after minutes of searching, Dagon is going to recognize a familiar face. About 25 feet up. That's the face of Ulthea Arkinscape. Mummy. She does not appear to have aged a day since you remember her. Terandor is going to come up and... After a bit of a coughing fit, he's going to place a hand on Dagon's shoulder.

Dagon will have had one of his hands outstretched, sort of reaching for his mother. And just devastated. Sort of startled when Terandor puts his hand on him. What would the rest of the party's reaction be? Being flabbergasted? Yeah. Hand to mouth. Like, what? Actorus is going to turn around to Terandor. That's his name, right? Terandor? Mm-hmm. Pardon me, Terandor. But you said you came here and you were already the only one here. Were you in the city at the same time as the rest of Odysseia was, taken? I was in the city with everyone else. Still have no idea what exactly it was that... ...befell Odysseia.

But there's not a doubt in my mind that... ...one of the gods was probably behind it. It was only a matter of time before they... ...enacted some order of vengeance upon us. The marks you have... We have seen those before. Have you? The same witch that Dagon has been speaking of claims to be a god. She has never herself mentioned who she was. Now some people that we know assumed she was... ...Alvarin. Do me a favor, roll a perception check. This man is going to tense up, instantly... ...upon hearing that name. And he's going to look over to Dagon. Is this true?

Do you think this... ...this witch, this... Do you think she's Alvarin? After all this? After seeing this? Yes. Yes, I am positive. She is who she says. Well, I still doubt it, Dagon. The stories match up. If she was a goddess of justice, she would have stepped forward and said it. Terandor, do you know... ...what the gods of the Aladrin have sealed? Terandor is going to be looking down. All of them. We sealed away all of them. To make sure that not a single one could interfere. But Alvarin was the first. We knew that... ...we knew that she would interfere. Erolove's going to speak up.

Interfere with what, exactly? Anything specific, or just the world? He's going to look at Erolove and almost... Oh boy, um... Almost cock his head at Erolove? Erolove, like, why are you speaking to me? Almost like... Just a little, um... Yeah, but... After a moment... Do you understand what our goal was? As a people, young lady. I have no idea. The Aladrin have not been in this world for a hundred years. No one knows of your people anymore. Kind of jabbing it in. Yeah. Oh boy. He is going to take a few steps toward Erolove, and... Each time that step is going to resonate as it slams against the ground.

What we were trying to do is civilize that continent. We were trying to carve order. And we couldn't do that. With the gods hanging over our head. What they claimed to do, specifically Alvarin... Was to keep a level playing field. Order among the races. But tell me... Should creatures like the Orcs be placed in the same hierarchy as creatures like us? And he's going to... He's got like palm to chest. Our study. Our mastery of the arcane is what made your civilization possible. The tiefling were savages in our time. I don't know if things have gotten any better for you.

But if they have, you can feel free to thank us now. Dagon will turn, still after searching the walls. He'll say, "Enough. All your meddling has gotten." "All it has led to is this point, and all of it is about to implode." "The demons are on the verge of breaking the seal." "And what we need to do..." "We need to release the gods and put this right." He is going to... Almost go wide-eyed. Are you insane? Do you have any idea what they would do to us? To your world if... If you were to set them free? Look around you. Is this what you want? Is this worth everything that's happened?

Is it worth your pride? Can Kori sort of interject? Please. So the whole time that this conversation has been going on, she's sort of been like bubbling just underneath the surface. Because she knew it, but hearing it from the source is a little differently. And she's just going to sort of look up at Dagon and just say, "He can't help us, Dagon." And then she'll look back over to him. He's just an old, fragile man past his time. They fucked up the world and then ran. We're on our own. And Braille's in the back. Oh, sorry, go ahead, Shima. Oh, no, she'll just look back at Dagon.

After Kori says that, you hear Braille in the back, "Yeah!" Terador would approach Kori. "Do it!" And again, Kori towers over this fragile old Aladrin. I totally want to intimidate check him, whatever he's about to say to. Ran. You accuse me of running. We were placed here. This was not... This is not what I would have wanted for our people. But... If this is the penance that we have to pay... So that you all have a better life... Then so be it. Whether you ran or were placed here doesn't make a difference. Either way, something bigger and better did this to you.

And she's gonna intimidate check him. Kori dad? And what would you have him do? And he's gonna point to Dagon. You'd have him grovel at the feet... Of those... Gods. You'd have him reinstate the status quo. And let them reap whatever vengeance... And let them reap whatever vengeance... They would deem... Justified. When he mentions Dagon, her face will look over to him and sort of soften. I would never do that to a friend. And he is going to... He's gonna turn to Dagon. He spoke of this witch like you... You knew her. How long have you known her, Dagon? I've known her for quite some time.

I've known her since I've been able to do this. He'll light up his hands. Briefly. Oh boy. Terador's going to... Go mouth-a-gate. You... You're the key. What are you talking about? The key, Dagon. You've been left... You were left out there for a reason. The magic... That our people used to... Imprison the gods. We discussed a failsafe. We knew that one day... Some danger could arise that... We might not be able to handle on our own. So we created the Sion. A being who is strong enough to... Open the seal should we need it. Release the gods. What do you mean you created the Sion?

If the spell holds, there should be more out there like you. Powerful individuals that... Are capable of creating much chaos. You must have had a very difficult life. For that I apologize. I was lucky. I found someone who taught me. Taught me how to control. Well... If not for our disappearance, we could have... Taught you to hone those powers. And should the need arise... We could have told you to... Channel your abilities to open the seal. No. We would all hope that would never happen. I don't understand. You sent a spell out... To randomly create Sions? How is that an effective failsafe?

That's the problem with that type of magic. It's a little more powerful than we could even control. Random was never our intention. If we had our way, we would have just kept it to the Elatran. But unfortunately... We don't always get to choose our lot in life. You should know that more than most, Dagon. Yeah. This witch... Intrigues me. Exactly when did you meet her? When did your paths cross? She sounds... Remarkably powerful. And your... Stench-written friend here seems to believe that... At least someone else is under the impression that she's a lost god. I was...

I was around thirty. So... Eighty, almost ninety years ago. It's been a while. Human. Elf. Dwarf. The race, Dagon. What was a race? Human. Dagon. Dagon, I'm going to ask you a very important question now. And I need you to be very honest with me. In all the time that you've known, huh? Has she aged? No. Not a single day. He's gonna lean back, sort of defeated. Of course. We could have done more, we should have... We knew... This was happening. We should have redoubled our efforts... To make sure... And we did nothing. Nothing. This still... This still doesn't sit right with me.

If she really is the Goddess of Justice... Then why would she be using blood magic? What kind of justice is this? Do you have any idea... What some people would do... To regain power? Trap someone in a place for hundreds of years. Destroy their memories. Shackle them... To a decaying mortal body. They didn't know that we could touch them. They had no idea. And she was the first one to know. And she was the first. In an ultimate act of hubris... We even renamed her. Almost to send a message to the others. If only we'd taken the proper precautions... To make sure that they could never regain their power.

What did you name her? Our High Elder at the time. Thought it would be clever. He renamed her the Chained God. In Elvish... Roughly translates... To Therizdun. Therizdun... Hardly matters now though. If what you're saying is true... Dear God, when you believe this to be Alverine... Then it's already too late. She has you exactly where she wants you. And if I were you, I would get very comfortable. And wait for the end of the world. And he is going to sit down. Are you saying there's no way out of here? For you, maybe. We got in. *coughs* I'm willing to bet... That your way in is now closed.

The gate? And he's going to put a hand on it. Well, I'm no slouch in the magical department, but... Try as I might, I... Couldn't muster up the power to activate it. You might be able to, but... I'm going to go ahead and guess that... She knows what you're capable of. She wanted you here. Dagon. She wanted you out of the way. Then you're going to help me open it. Am I? Let me ask you a question, Dagon. What would you do if I did? Would you go and set them free? Hope for the best. That's not the only issue plaguing the world right now. There's the other side to this coin.

The demons. The demons are getting ready... To come to the surface... And claim it as their own. And how do you know this? Well, a good friend of which told us. That's what she wants. She wants to see the world burn so she can build it anew. She told us that. It all makes perfect sense. She wants the demons to destroy this world so she can... Re-use it. She wants the demons to destroy this world so she can... rebuild it. If the demons were released, that wouldn't get her any closer to... Reclaiming her former glory. Then why trap us here? She must not have trusted you.

Or sensed that you might turn against her. I've never spoken with her, so... I can only make assumptions. All I know is that my family... Is sitting right up there. And I'll do whatever I have to... To get them out. And what you have to do is very simple. Dega, at least in concept. You have to kill her. Why? What is that gonna do? He is going to stand up. And again, put a hand on Dagon's shoulder. If you suspect... This woman... Of being a god... And she has any memory... Of who she used to be. Then you need to start the cycle anew by killing her. Slay that woman. And she'll be placed in a new mortal body.

She'll be born all over again. And that will at least buy you time. And then he's going to... Very abruptly let go of you. Almost like your shoulder bit him. Hm. And his mouth is gonna sort of go agape again. Just open. [Sigh] It was you. She's been using you from the start. [Sigh] Dagon will look very confused. What are you talking about? I sense... I sense dark magic... Within you, Dagon. It's almost dripping off of you. I can't believe that I didn't feel it sooner. It must... [Sigh] I must be slipping in my old age. She used you to put us here. She couldn't do it alone.

She needed... She needed to tap into power beyond her. So she used you. To get us out of the picture. Wha... What do you mean she used me? What do I have to do with this? You're Sion, Dagon. Dagon, you're a key. [Sigh] On top of that... I'm going to guess that you do possess the power to move from place to place. You're after all still a Ladron. Am I correct in this assumption? Yeah. That power is amplified. Because of your abilities. Now... Imagine someone with her kind of power. Using you. What do you think she could accomplish? No, that's... That's... No. I mean, myself, I can move...

One other person. There's no way. There are thousands of people here. I did not do this. Not on your own, no. It's actually very clever when you think about it. You were young at the time. Had no real control over your power or emotions. That's ingenious. Dagon will just be looking around at everyone. At the walls. And... He's going to grow very angry. To the point where he's going to light up, but it's not... It's not the same anymore. This is like a dark. And his eyes are going to go black. And the only thought on his mind right now... Is killing that witch. In whatever form she appears in.

Actor Onis will walk in between the two. And just try to go face to face with Dagon. Put his hands up. Try to get him to see me. And then maybe try to have him calm down. He'll see Actor Onis, but I don't think... I think in this instant he'd probably look at the gate. And he knows that he's supercharged right now. Now I know he doesn't really know exactly how the gate works. But the only thing on his mind... Is the witch. And he'd probably go over and try to power it. Just instinctively. Cora will follow close by. Which is completely irrational and everything.

Because I know he doesn't know everything. He probably should know at this point. And we don't know that you're going after the witch. So we're probably just like, "Oh, you're leaving. Okay." Yeah, but he's already like, "Dagon, wait." He's not thinking right now. He's not thinking straight. He just found out that he was a huge part in all the elatrin. Disappearing. Is Dagon walking away? Out of the cage? Or out of the tunnels? Well, the gate is in this room, right? Yeah, if he's walking up to the gate, I'm going to ask you to do a couple of things. Okay. First, I'm going to ask you to roll a charged roll with a +5.

Okay. 22. Okay. Now here's the thing. If Dagon is marching up to this gate... And if I were to ask you... What emotion is driving Dagon right now? Is it just anger? Like, just plain rage? Just anger? Yeah, hate, rage. Alright, so I would say that that softer blue that normally accompanies Dagon's chart is going to be more of a bright white. And I would say that standing on this pedestal near the gate... Are you just going to try and power it? Yeah, I mean... I don't think he'd be thinking, really. He's just like, I need to get there, I need to kill her. There's a gate here, I need to make it work.

As Dagon reaches the pedestal, could Actorinus shout something at Dagon? I don't see why not. Alright, just... Okay. Yeah, Actorinus would shout from the back. Dagon, if you get vengeance for what the witch made you do to the Eladrin, you may lose your only chance to save them. Is there something I'd have to roll to see if I acknowledge that? I think it's more of a personal decision. Okay. Okay. I guess it comes down to this. What's more important to Dagon in the immediate? Is it vengeance for what the witch has done, or potentially fixing what she's done? Fixing.

Okay. So, he'll hear Actorinus, and he'll stop short, and he'll turn around and look at him. And then he'll look at Terrandor, and get right up in his face. He said I could get them back if I killed her. What does that mean? What do I need to do? Well, I don't have access to my books. But it's a working theory, specifically since you've arrived. There's a reason all of this is happening, Dagon, and I'm willing to bet that there are larger pieces in play. There's a reason she did what she did, and there could be more of them acting, manipulating. Think about how angry you are right now, in this moment.

Your people stripped away from you, your family imprisoned. And for nearly a century, you've been looking, searching for reason. Now imagine how they feel. What do you think they'd be willing to do? To reinstate themselves? What do you think they'd be willing to do to us? Dagon will still be raging with this power, and he's just so mad right now. But understands that he can't, understands what he's hearing, he can't act irrationally. So he's gonna look at Kori. And it'll be a look, she'll probably know what it means. To pull out that nullifier, and help him.

Terrandor would speak up. Dagon, do you truly believe that there are individuals trying to release demons into our world? I have to. Everything she said was true. From when I was thirty until now, it's all been true. And do you truly believe that you possess the power to activate this gate? I don't have a choice. I have to do it. Then you have a decision to make. You can either stay here, or you can try to leave. And if you, if you could activate this gate, I could get you close to where you need to be. Just tell me what you decide to do. Kori is going to purposefully step in front, or in between Terradon and Dagon.

And she's gonna be looking Dagon directly in the eyes, slowly stepping towards him. Dagon, I know that you're upset. I know that you're angry. And she'll look down at his hands, which are still glowing, I believe. But I just need you to focus. He'll look at her, and he'll think back to his teachings, his meditation. All that stuff will be running through his head. And he'll take a bunch of deep breaths, and slowly start calming down. That's it. Just like you taught me on the ship. You just need to breathe. Thank you, Kori. And she's not going to move from in between them.

The decision is completely yours on what we do now. Kori, you have a large stake in the outcome. And whatever happens here, I need to know what you want. I need this to work for everyone. She's gonna take a deep breath herself. I worry that what I want, it may not be good for your loved ones. And I would never want to hurt you. You wish to be free. And she's gonna start to tear up a little. And she'll just nod back at him. I know that not all gods are gonna seek vengeance upon us mortals. I know that some gods are willing to work with us, to show compassion, to show us strength, to show us love.

And I think that they may even extend that helpful hand to Eladrin that weren't even on this world. When all these events happened. I have faith. I'm not a religious man, but I have faith in some of the gods I know. Dagon will turn to Actoronas. His thoughts have also crossed my mind. Of course we have one god. I'm very much sure we'll not be on our side. But you're right. I'm pretty sure we have one who will help us. Now look at Kori. And hopefully there will be others. Now look back to Kori. I will help you do whatever we can to get you back to where you need to be.

And I'll hold onto the hope that that act can save some, if not all, of everything I've lost. At this point I think tears are starting to trail down her face. Not a lot. It's more for Dagon than for herself because she does worry about what will happen if they're all freed. And she really cares about the repercussions. But she'll just look up back at Dagon and whisper "thank you." Terrandor would speak up. The giantess wastes our time. You have a decision to make, Dagon. What is it you choose to do? She has a name. And it's Kori. And we're going to fix the mistake that our people made hundreds of years ago.

If you think that what's out there, at no point from the way they came, is any better than it was before our people enslaved the gods, then you surely have been sitting under a rock for a hundred years. And I am positive that some of those gods will be grateful to be back where they belong. Now I'm asking you to help us set this right. As one Aladrin to another. Please help us. And this is your choice, then? And he'll take a second to look around at the walls, over to his mother, and then back to Terrandor. Yes. Yes, this is what I want. Then so be it. I'll help you, Dagon.

You might need all the help you can get. I hope for all of our sakes that you're confident in this choice. He's going to step toward the gate. When you're ready. Is Dagon going to turn to the group? Are we ready for this? Erolove will glare at Terrandor and say, "I'm ready to leave this place." Oh, he'd be looking at most of this party with disdain. Kalden will step up and say, "To set this world right, and to help your people, I will follow you, Captain Dagon." Thank you, Kalden. You've proven yourself to be quite a friend. And you have proven yourself to be quite a leader.

Well, it wouldn't go that far. I've told you that I would see this through with you, Dagon, a long time ago when we were walking in the streets of Odysseia. And I have followed you with confidence in your decisions. And this is no different. I will follow you, and I trust that this is the right thing to do. Let me help you take this burden off your shoulders. Give him the hand on the shoulder thing. You've been a true brother, Dr. Onis. I'm happy you came back from the dead. He's gonna nod, then he's gonna look at Terrandor and nod again. Give him a little wink.

Yup. Distain. I think this guy's got resting bitch face. He hasn't had the people in a while, too, so there's a bit of that. Mm-hmm. Kora will walk right up to Dagon and sort of, after doing that thing that you do where you sort of look away from the group and just casually wipe away your tears because you don't want anybody to realize that that's what you're doing. She'll walk up to him and she'll grab his hand and give it a squeeze and she'll just say, "We can do this. We're gonna do it." He'll nod and he's just gonna give her a big hug and he's gonna say, "Don't ever leave again." She'll chuckle while still hugging Dagon and just say, "It's a little late for that." Dagon will probably just hold out a fist to Brelin.

Yeah, Brelin will walk up, fist bump and nod. Are you ready? Ready. Brelin's gonna say, "Wait, wait, one second." And he's gonna close his eyes and he's gonna use Gwimps to future. Nice. Do me a favor. Roll three. Flat D20s. Oh boy. A 14. Decent. A 3. Gross. And a 12. So we're taking that 14. Yep. Brelin sees the gate explode in one future. He sees the gate collapse on itself in another and then he sees it opening in one of the three futures. As you approach this gate, Terrandor is going to sort of regard Dagon for a moment. I wish I had more time to educate you. To help mold the person you were supposed to be.

I do wish you luck though, Dagon. You truly believe what you're doing is the correct path. And may you be successful. Thank you for your help. And I believe I am the person I was supposed to be. If you can power the gate, and I can get you to the continent, the seal, you'll still be a good man. You'll still be a good measure away though. Well we made it here. And it wasn't easy. I can only imagine. Are you prepared? I'm ready. Ready as I'll ever be. I want you to focus on something for me, Dagon. While you're channeling your power. I want you to think about everything you've learned here today.

I want you to tap into that helplessness and frustration. I want you to tap into that anger. And I want you to use it. Can you do that for me? Yeah. Good. And give it your best attempt. Dagon. Remember that charge roll we took earlier? Yep. Does it still count? It does. Sweet. What we're going to do is we're going to use that to power your endurance. Okay. So I want you to roll an endurance check with a plus seven. Okay, that helps a lot because my endurance is not great. This one roll. We're going to see if you open this gate or not. I don't think you're ever going to have a better chance.

I give you the fourteen instead. Yes. What? Oh, thank you, Brailin. Slowly but surely, Dagon is going to build up a charge. And he is going to channel his power into this pedestal. Just like he did in the Evergreen. The gate is going to come to life slowly. However, unlike his experience in the Evergreen, this gate is going to come to life slowly. As Dagon releases a torrent of energy into this thing. Tarantor is going to reach up and you're going to see light sort of flicker off his hand. And one of the glyphs is going to burn bright. If you would like, you can now step through the gate.

You can already feel cold wind blowing through. Brailin is going to like shout, "Hey, how did you make this one go somewhere specifically?" And the wind is going to keep pushing it back like, "Ugh." It's decades of study, half-man. That's cool, I haven't heard that one before, you asshole. Air love will laugh out loud. Are you guys going to go through? Yeah, of course. Step over and walk past them. I can't believe we're not fighting out. I'm going to give Tear and Poop finger guns, but use my middle fingers instead of my pointer fingers. Just after Brailin does that, Actris is also going to finger gun him and continue with one question.

Go, "So who built these?" Okay. That is a long answer. Well, as I'm walking through. Right. I believe you're wasting time. Alright, so he keeps the finger guns and walks through the portal. Yeah, middle finger guns, right? Yeah. And then Air Love is going to look at him, "So it wasn't you, okay." And then walk through. He's going to glare at Air Love. Well, Dagon is holding on here, charging this thing. Eyes clenched, eyes shut, he's just going to go, "We can ask him when this is all over." "Get through the gate." "Get through the fucking gate." Yeah, this is literally, okay, picture the mystical equivalent of physically holding open a door.

And everyone's like, "I, oh, did I get my wallet?" "Did I, wait, I'm pretty sh-" Yeah. But like, Dagon is fizzing, like using himself to channel this open. So there is a finite amount of time. So yeah. Corey will go up to it and sort of brace herself, like hold onto herself to get ready for the cold and walk through. Did Kaladin march through already? Oh yeah, he went in arms wide open. Ah, it's not a little fun. Home. That leaves Dagon. He'll turn to Tarrindor, give him a nod, and say, "I'll see you again." And walk through the portal. [wind howling] Guys.

I think that's a good time for us to stop for the night. [laughter] Oh my god. There's so much going on. Wow. So much. So good. Oh, James. Seriously. Yeah, dude. Knock it out. Yeah, way to go, man. Good job. Good job, man. Thanks. Are you mad at me? [laughter] No. They're not dead. Hey everybody, thanks for listening. Hopefully I survived this episode. If not, doesn't matter. If you guys enjoyed it, you can always catch behind the scenes stuff by going to our Patreon at patreon.com/dandr. Even $1 will get you some pretty cool stuff. Maybe a little bit more will get you behind the scenes and some bonuses that come out bimonthly, biweekly.

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