Heaven

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We like to do live tweets, and you can talk to us through there. Also, if you really want to go the extra mile, you could go and donate to us through Patreon. It's a monthly donation, and it helps keep the lights on and keep the episodes coming. Thanks for listening. Let's do that thing where we go around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason. I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table, start with Bri. Hi, my name is Brianna, and I play Jadzia Grace, the human warlock. And Kat. Hi, I'm Kat. And I play C, the changeling fifth. And Mac. Hi, I'm Mac, and I play Kaluna Volgares, the unsuccessful unicorn tamer.

Well, you tamed it. Not really. Not-- no. I mean, for the briefest of periods. So last time on the show, you guys escaped custody in Lockfort, kind of tamed a unicorn-- Kaluna kind of tamed a unicorn near the moors, and then rode into White Hedge, immediately lost control of said unicorn, and stabbed an elf in an alley. Rest in peace for Snickety. Yeah. Then you tried to get control of the unicorn. That went poorly. And Valus eventually had to break its neck. So that sucks. How about we pick up in White Hedge? Now, did the group decide to try and stay the night, or were you just kind of riding on?

Was this more of a, boy, this is awkward? It was late evening. We was intending to stay the night. I don't know what the-- I don't know if we adjusted our plans due to circumstances. How does the town guard feel? Like, we helped him move for Snickety out of the way. It's more or less they're just keeping an eye on you. They're going to try to chalk this all up to really unfortunate circumstances, and maybe you guys are just ignorant. Like, they don't know that-- here's the thing. White Hedge is a fairly small town. It's a little bigger than Fair Bay, something like that.

Fair Bay is a real small town. That is almost the definition of small town. So White Hedge gets a lot of traffic from people leaving Brightport, going into Lockford, or traveling west. So they see a lot of people in transit. They get more business. It's a little more up and coming. So while it is a small-ish town, they do deal with a lot of stuff. There's some violence here and there. So while that was a very unfortunate incident and bizarre, you don't see many tree people riding unicorns into town and then just shanking someone like a bad meth deal in an alley.

Blood root. Blood root. Well, yes. They don't have meth, Jason. You're right. I'm sorry. You're breaking the world, ruining the illusion for all of the listeners. I'm sorry, blood root. [LAUGHTER] Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who takes this seriously. [LAUGHTER] So that is bizarre and unfortunate. And they're going to-- they dealt with a body. They pulled it out. But they don't know that you guys are A, fucking experienced soldiers besides Kaluna. Kaluna grew up in the fucking Silver Glade and should know damn well better. You have-- you all are experienced adventurers.

People make mistakes, Jason. Right. No. I'm saying, but they don't know. They're just like, well, these guys are pretty ignorant. They just don't know. So they're kind of-- they kind of see you as babes in the woods, maybe. It's like, OK, they got lucky, tamed a unicorn, or got to ride one for a while, and then lost control of it. That's-- keep that bruise up, guys. So they're keeping an eye on you, but they're not. There's really-- well, there's no ill will from them. There may be a little ill will from Billford the Elf, maybe. So if you were to run into him again, he may not be too trusting of you.

But other than that, you should be fine to move about town. As long as you don't do anything foolish. [LAUGHTER] What time is it? It's it-- no, damn it, no. He's going to make an Adventure Time joke. [LAUGHTER] See, for me, that is no bubble guffers. So it's time to go outside. OK. It's-- Different age group, but I see what you mean. Yeah. Yep. So time-wise, you guys-- let's say it's getting towards evening. So you can totally just stay the night if you like. It's been so long. That's probably a plan. It's probably for the best. It's just not better. You guys have been days.

It has been days. And we think that Oona is fighting a dragon, like, in character. I don't know. Between here and White Hedge, it looks like it's pretty empty. It looks like we're in desert. Can I roll a nature-- no, I should get Kalluna to roll a nature check to see what kind of creatures are between White Hedge and Brightport. I can do that. If I can scroll. 25. 25. Specifically what sort of creatures would be at nighttime. Well, mostly what you're going to run into between White Hedge and Brightport. More the White Hedge end, you're going to run into gnolls.

Ugh. They're not-- they're very much a problem in this area. They are rampant throughout the forest. And they have been known to try to hijack caravans. They will attack passersby. They attack humans predominantly. And then the further north you go, you're going to probably encounter bandits. The bandits are a little easier to deal with, because they have a sense of self-preservation. Gnolls are a little more animalistic. And they will attack something larger than them if they think they have enough to take it down. Bandits usually are looking for the easy mail.

They're not going to really attack adventurers for the most part, unless you're escorting goods. If you have a caravan of something that they think they could steal and profit from, that's when they'll try to attack. But if it's just four people on a horse riding somewhere, they usually don't give too much of a bother. Wait, the bandits or the gnolls? The bandits. OK. The gnolls don't give a fuck. Well, gnolls are a little-- they're a little more random when it comes to that, because they will eat people. Rude. Yeah, bandits don't do that so much. They're just in it for the money.

Gnolls don't really care about money. They will kill and eat. And they will strip the skin from your bones and then dry it out and use it to make a tent. OK. Guys, what do you think? It's been days, and as far as we know, there's a dragon. I know. I imagine that what we would have been most worried about would be the silver glade. And since we got past that, we might-- we might just sort of be like, OK, we'll have to brisket. We're now on the last leg. Let's just get this over and done with. Yeah, so let's just travel through the night. Let's not let anything else go wrong.

Every time we've stayed at a fucking inn, something's gone wrong. People leave the party. People fucking have children and leave with douche bags. They almost get arrested. Let's just go. Love you, Jasper. Love you, Jasper. Hate you, Jasper. I'm worried Jasper's going to start thinking I'm weird because I like this baby so much. Did you get a real thing for babies? Babies are so cute. They're so cute through a monitor. They're so adorable when you don't have to smell them. Hi, Jasper. Sorry. They're smelly. It's not really their fault. You could probably put one in like a big CRT monitor.

I feel the same way about babies that I do about puppies, where it's like, yeah, puppies are really, really cute. I don't want to touch it. I just want to look at it. Is there anything that we need to stock up on before we leave? Oh my gosh, some potions or something? If we were just going straight through town, would we see shops? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. There's one in particular. One in particular that Valis kind of has business with? I think I know. Is this a weapon shop? It would be a weapon shop. Oh, fuck. It would not be-- the town basically has a main street.

You're going to find the tavern, the inn, your usual town structured setup. Now, White Edge is slightly larger. So there are more establishments here. But going down the street, Valis is going to kind of hold up. And he's going to reach out and grab Jadzia just for a second, just to pull her to the side and talk to her. All right, Jadzia will go to the side. I need to stop into this weapon shop for a moment. Jadzia's going to kind of look at the Kettenhund and at his big serrated blade and be like, is something broken? Do you remember the scion? Brianna?

Yes. Dude, we traveled with her for like three months. That's rude. He doesn't use people's names for the most part. Jadzia is different. But if he has an attachment to you, you use your name. If not, it's not because he doesn't remember. It's because he doesn't care. He just doesn't. So rude. I'm just the thief. Right. Una's the paladin. Fucking-- fucking, that's better than what he'd call Kaluna. OK, all right. I'll go with it. Yes, Bri. Her mother works in the shop. Oh. Jadzia's going to kind of like peek into the shop, like trying to get a peek. Should we tell her what's happened?

That her daughter died. And came back. She's going to kind of like do a little half smile, like, yeah, came back. And Valus is going to kind of shake us at, like, yeah. But she could potentially be fighting a dragon right now. It's not exactly good news. The woman just lost two of her daughters. Do you want to go tell her? Honestly, no. But at least-- at least we could tell her the last time we saw her daughter. She was alive. Your whole reason for going west was to tell Brianna about her sisters, right? Yes. We should at least let her mother know that that was done.

Fine. So it is going on nightfall. And a lot of these establishments are closing up for the day. So walking into this place, I imagine the whole party's going? I was going to say, are we just going to leave them outside and look? Right. Is this a thing where-- We're going shopping. They would go in to browse. Yeah, I was about to say, Valus wouldn't necessarily stop to give an explanation to the entire party. It would kind of just be jazzy. Like, that's-- they're like, well, they'll catch on. I'm not walking with them. She'll kind of like wave them in, like, hey, we're going in here.

Like, come on. It's going to be a party. Sad party. I was about to say, it's-- Plenty of dinner rolls. Walking into the shop, so the woman behind the counter is not dismissive, but she's very much-- you can see she's very much kind of packing up for the day. And then she hears you guys enter and looks across the room. And right away notices Valus. And she's going to lift up a portion of the counter here and come across the other side. And she's going to walk right up and hug Valus. And he is going to visibly recoil. Just visibly. Just instantly uncomfortable.

I honestly didn't expect to see you back so soon. Who were your new friends? Valus is going to look down towards Jadzia. This is Jadzia Grace. Jadzia's going to kind of bow her head a little bit. Hello. We met Valus west. We're friends with Brianna. A look's going to come across her face instantly because you didn't use past tense. Technically it's not yet. As far as I know. You've seen her? How is she doing? She's been through some hard times. But she's holding up quite well considering. Does she know about her sisters? Jadzia's going to look back up at Valus.

Because that was kind of his job. Yeah. Valus is just kind of not his head. I did end up telling her. She didn't take the news very well. That was to be expected though, I suppose. Valerie's going to just kind of tilt her head down. Just acknowledge. And then she's going to look up to Kaluna. Who next to Valus is the other eye catcher in the room. Because you don't see too many wild and just walking around town, you know, hanging out. Who are these two in the back? Valus? There's this brief silence. And then Valus is going to take it upon himself that he's supposed to-- because he's the one who knew Valerie previous, it kind of falls on him to introduce the two of you.

Valus is going to kind of point his thumb back towards Fi. That's the thief and this is the tree thing. Jadzia's going to smile and say-- their names are Fi and Kaluna. Valus is not even going to stop. Like, just kind of like side eye glance and that's it. Not correct himself. No social graces whatsoever in that arena. Huh, arena. I get it. Because remember, it was terrible. Valerie's going to walk right up to Kaluna and offer her hand to shake. Kaluna will look at it kind of awkwardly and then do that thing again where, like, they don't know how handshakes work.

So they just sort of come in from the wrong angle and shake it that way. So it's just really awkward. It's like when someone reaches to do a handshake, but the other guy's doing a fist bump or a high five or something. It's like, oh, oh, oh, OK. But they will do it very, very happily. And after the slightly awkward but pleasant exchange, she's going to reach out to-- she's going to reach out to Fi. Fi's going to shake her hand and say, don't worry. The Fi thing was previous. Do I need to roll a bluff check? Because I mean, it's like I haven't stolen anything.

And I don't currently intend to steal anything. But that doesn't mean he never would again. Right. I mean, that's not your-- OK. I would say you don't need to roll a bluff check only because that's not your trade. That's not how you get by. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, you're not a thief buy-- it's like, well, I steal to get by. That's how I do it. You're not fucking Aladdin. Don't eat to live, go steal to eat till y'all die when I got the time. I wanted to say it before, but I didn't. And then you said Aladdin and I had to. I know. I was trying to stay one step.

I had to. Did you see how fast it flew out of my mouth, though? I was just waiting. I know my friends. You ain't never had a friend like me, though. Yes. Good night, everybody. We're done. There's six more songs. Let's sneak them in there. Prince Ali, as it is he, but not as you know him. I love the Jafar version of that. Now I'm doing real. People characters from Disney? That's fucking weird. No one will fucking guess. You're a bad boy. With King Scar, I mean Carter. OK, let's get back into the world. Yeah. A whole new world, if you will. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who cares about this, Bree.

Doesn't work if you don't sound like you're crying. I can't do that. Well, I can. You can. You've proven it. Last episode, you broke a lot of people's hearts, actually. Yeah, so I don't think you need to-- to surmise, I don't think you need to roll a bluff check on that. Valerie's going to lean in and whisper to V. That's OK. I don't think Valis is really good with social contracts. Yes, that's something that I picked up quite early on as well. So is there anything I can do for you, or were you just stopping in to keep me posted? Would you guys like to browse the wares, see if there's any updated equipment we could buy real quick?

Sure. Is it just weapons in here, or-- There are some very basic potions. This is kind of your-- this is kind of an adventure shop. It's weapons, not really a lot of armor, not really. She deals pretty much in weapons by trade. But yeah, there's some-- it's sort of like if you go to a store or something like that, and you have the impulse items at the counter. Well, if you're going out there, you might want to get some health potions, that kind of thing. You know, they're just-- it's just smart to stock it. Oh, they're only $2. So I imagine you're picking up some potions at the very least.

Yes, how much are they? These are going to be $150 a pop, because she's kind of discounting them for you. But these are actually pretty, pretty good potions. These are the ones that use a healing surge. You get 2d8 plus a healing-- plus whatever your healing surge value is. I'll take-- I'll take 10. So that would be $1,500. Wow, I should not have needed a calculator for that. I just added a fucking zero ds. So let's do that. OK, Jancia. So you are stocking up, because she's giving you quite a steep discount on these, actually. At least needed $6,500. Can I get three?

She actually only had 10. Oh. Oh. Well, no. I will give one potion to each of my party members. Wow. Including Valus. You are so generous. Well, I bought the whole market. Oh, I should have resold them instead. OK. That's capitalism, right guys? Seven health potions left. OK. Valerie is going to try to pull Jancia aside. Just for a minute. OK. I would ask Valus, but he's not much of a talker. You said you spoke to Brianna recently. Just a few days ago, yes. Did she have any interest in coming here, maybe? Jason, real quick. Do I know about Una and Bri? Anything? What, them relationship-wise?

Yeah. I would say everyone kind of picks up a vibe on it by now, but nothing concrete. Actually, Kaluna would have the most insight into it. Now, depending on whether Kaluna told the rest of the group, or what. You guys have been-- Fi would have a ferret. Well, let's see. Kaluna's like, I saw them fertilizing one another. Ew. And some apples. What did Fi see? Oh yeah, Fi did. He saw them making out. That's true. Yes, that's right. The door. He was hitting it. Saw them macking. So everyone in this party, except for Jancia and Valus, actually would know that there's concrete or something going on between them.

You get a vibe, yeah. That was more from you guys taking turns, walking into the room where something had just previously happened, and everyone's acting weird. Yeah. Yeah. I was just going to say, can I make a check to see if I can hear what Valerie's saying to Jancia? Sure. 18. Not quite. This is kind of low murmurings. You're going to pick up every fourth or fifth word, but it's more you're kind of straining to hear. OK, fair enough. I don't even know where to start with this question. Jancia is just going to kind of look down for a second and then back up and say, I'm not sure about how much you know about what's going on in the West.

Brie's been tangled up in that for some time. And also, she's very attached to someone right now. I would imagine that she will come through here at some point, but I haven't heard anything direct from her that she was coming. I honestly wouldn't-- I wouldn't expect her to want to talk to me, but I just wanted to know how she took the news. I would want her to know that I'm here for her if she ever did want to visit. If I see her before you do, I'll let her know. I really appreciate that. Thank you. God, I want to know what happened, but Jancia would not ask.

Yeah. Damn it. Can I history check this family? The famous Evelmere family? Yes. Cool, all right. Many history books. I got a 28. I was joking. I know. But I got a 28. So I feel like you owe me something. I'm just kidding. Go on. The history of her blouse. Oh, it's rich. Here we go. I've actually written two articles about this blouse. No one read them. But are you guys pretty much done in Whitehead? You'd like to move on? Or is there anything else you'd like to do before you leave? Oh, shit, I should spend healing searches, shouldn't I? You really need to, yes. Brianna is going to arrive in the city of Esterholt and make a beeline for the Temple of Kord.

She has been riding for almost a full 24 hours, taking minimal breaks, stopping only for a moment or two, and then getting back on the road. Even though Actaeron has bought her some time, she's not wasting any of it. Arriving at the Temple of Kord, she's going to hop off of this horse and immediately start to unlash Una from the back of it. There are going to be a couple of people there that would see that Una is apparently in bad shape or worse. And they're going to run over to help Bri untie her. Once they get her off of the horse, Bri is going to almost bark at them.

Help me get her inside. These two individuals are going to help Bri lift Una and get her inside the temple. Julie would be the only remaining paladin that would have any authority here that would be in charge. And seeing Una, she's going to piece together immediately that everything fell apart. And not seeing anyone else come in with Brianna, she is going to surmise that everyone's probably dead. Bri is going to waste no time walking up to Julie. I want to go through the same right that she went through. Whatever she did, I want to do the same thing. I want to bring her back.

Julie's not going to say a word, but she is going to be looking down at Una. And after a few moments, she's going to break her gaze at Una and kind of take Bri in. You don't belong to this temple. You're not a follower of Kord. And you're in no shape. I can't let you do that. Bri is not really willing to take no for an answer. And after a moment, she figured it would be as simple as, I want to try this risky, life-threatening thing. Just let me do it. That's what you people are all about. Let me do it. And she's a little shocked that she's being denied. It's up to me.

It's my choice. If it kills me, it kills me. But I have to try. And Julie is going to stop looking at Bri, look back down at Una. She needed two other people with her. And even then, it almost killed her. You wouldn't survive the trial. I can't let you do that. A long pause is going to settle in between the two of them. And this place is going to go silent. Julie is going to request that the two paladins carry her body into the next room as they prep her for a proper burial. And then Julie is going to turn to Bri and say, we're going to give her all of the respect that she absolutely deserves.

Her weapon will return to the temple. I don't think anyone else is going to be worthy of wielding it for a very long time. You should be incredibly proud of her sacrifice. I don't suppose that anyone else made it. Bri is just going to gently shake her head back and forth. There's going to be a really mournful expression that crosses Julie's face. What about the dragon? And Bri is going to lift her head up and look into Julie's eyes. It's dead. Julie is going to reach over and put her hand on Bri's shoulder. Then at least she died killing what was so obviously a threat to all of us.

That should be some solace. Bri is going to take that in for a moment and then reach up and place her hand around Julie's throat. And her eyes are going to disappear behind a cloud of black. And her hands are going to start to glow. And she's speaking through her teeth. You're a paladin. You can bring her back. You know she deserves to come back. Julie is-- Bri is not large, obviously. But she quite evidently has the power to do some real damage, especially this close, especially to someone who's not currently wearing any armor. And her hand is clenched around her throat.

So Julie is taking a very different tact here. While she wants to be comforting, she is very much on the defensive. Una was one of our-- Una was an example of who should follow Kord and how to follow him. She wouldn't want to come back. She's where she belongs. She died protecting Theria from Strahd. You know deep down she doesn't want to come back. Bri is going to tighten her grasp around Julie's throat. She's thinking about it. Acuarona said something fairly similar. After thinking about it for a moment, I want her back. She risked her life to save me, and I owe her that much.

I did not come this far to have you just let her die. And I'm sorry, but I will kill you if you don't bring her back. Julie's going to raise her hands up just a bit, just more or less saying, OK, I can't do anything with you threatening me like this. I'm not going to try and hurt you. I'm not going to try to get away. Bri's going to let go of her throat, and Julie is going to take a step back, kind of rub at her throat for a moment, and then the entire time just staring at Bri, kind of assessing to see if she thinks she's serious, if she would do something violent.

And then after a moment, she's going to turn and go into the room where they placed Una. Julie is going to place her hands on Una, and a pale white glow is going to emanate from her hands, and it's going to grow in intensity until it's blinding. And after a moment-- I'm going to roll here-- Una is going to draw a painfully sharp breath. Like someone who's been underwater for a long time, they're just like, [GASP] like a huge gasp. And life is going to switch back on. She is-- Una is alive. Julie is going to fall over. She is massively weakened from this.

And Bri is going to try and at least get her to a seated position. Just try to-- she's not just dismissive of her. She didn't forget about her, but she wants to check on Una as soon as possible. So as soon as Julie's kind of propped up against a pillar, Bri is going to race over to Una to make sure she's OK. All right. Leaving White Hedge. A few more hours on the road. I would like you all to roll a perception check for me, please. 28. 12. 18. That is a rare, bad perception roll for fate. 28. Kaluna is going to be the first one in the party to pick up the very distinct smell of smoke in the air.

Oh, good. It's coming from off to the side. There's a small patch of trees. And it's wooded, but it's not necessarily a forest. It's right off to the side, the left-hand side of the road. And as the party gets closer to it, everyone else is going to start picking this up, too. It is very distinct. Something is burning. Now Kaluna is also going to notice that it would appear as though there is an abandoned cart. Kind of rickety, looks as though that it may be many years old. It's been used quite a bit. And it looks like it has been attacked recently. And there have been some objects kind of drug off the back of it, maybe in a hurry.

And there are going to be tracks in the dirt and mud near the road itself that would indicate that something has attacked this cart. And it looks as though they have drug bodies into the small patch of wood. Can I do a nature check to identify the tracks? You absolutely can. 32. Did Valus need to roll previously on the perception? That would be a good idea. So 11, Valus don't see shit. But he did pick up the smoke when you're right on top of it. Basically, everyone else would be almost choking on it. He's like, oh, yeah, I kind of smell something. So a nature check of 32.

These are definitely no tracks. It would appear as though that they have attacked this cart. And it looks like two individuals were wrestled off of the cart. There are no horses attached to the cart any longer. The horses actually, it looks as though they took off. Down the road. That maybe, perhaps during the melee, they were cut free. Or something happened. But they look as though they are loose and kind of ran off. It looks as though these poor hapless beings were surrounded. You don't know if they're alive or not. But you do see bits of blood here and there in the cart and around the cart.

But not necessarily enough to assume that these two people are dead. Good news, guys. The horses are probably OK. Yeah, Kaluna would sort of try to stop everyone and point at the cart and say, "Noles." OK. Once we all know that noles are a thing, can we do another check to see if we can hear anything nearby? Can everyone do it? Because if it's on me, I'm not going to do well. We're bummed. That's what you-- I get 21. Nice. Yeah. There he is. Got a 23. Ah. I get a crit. 26. Very nice. Everyone did pretty well here. I get crits on the best things. The party is going to hear that not very far off the road at all is the sound of many noles.

If you had to put a number on it, you would say that minimum, you're probably looking at six or seven. You're looking at a small pack of noles. But with-- Is anyone else terrified he'd throw out a number like 60? Well-- Half a second? Are you worried? Here's the thing. With Kaluna's nature check combined with what you would know about noles, you know that no packs can grow as large as 30 or 40. Once they get to that size, though, they kind of implode. Because there tends to be a lot of infighting about who's in charge. They're very hard to keep organized and focused.

So they end up kind of ripping each other apart. And then the group usually dissolves into two or three smaller groups. And then the process starts anew. So there can be as many as 30 or 40 in a group, though. Great. OK. Beautiful. Is it obvious what was on this cart? It would appear as though this was just a cart full of pretty regular stuff. This looks like people's possessions. This didn't even look like they were out to deliver anything. This looked like maybe these people were moving. Or just maybe they packed up to visit somewhere. A lot of blankets and bedrolls.

And there's a chest. There looks to be a chest that was drug off of this cart. Could have been food or minor possessions, things like that. These didn't look like people who are cash rich. This cart was not in the best of shape. Nothing of any night, then? Not really. Fair enough. I would check for traps first. That sounds smart. Because noles seem like the trapeze sort. They can be. They're not as bad as kobolds, but they can be. Nole traps tend to be a bit more brutal. Whereas kobold traps tend to be a bit more immobilized, stunned, that kind of thing. Nole traps will be much more, let's put a spike through your leg, or that kind of thing.

That sounds-- Perfect. Yeah. To Kaluna, it must sound familiar. Ha. Oh, I see what you did there. And Yenn were-- Actually, that one was the floaty one, not the stabby one. No, it was a stabby one. It was a iron spike of this. I thought it was the infernam wind curse. No, I just remembered that it was like, man, that is effective. Man, I have two immobilization things. Why am I not more powerful? Or at least more helpful. You need AOEs. So are we checking for traps before you continue on? That sounds smart. I like that plan. Should I do that? Because I have 12. That sounds like a FEE type thing. 27. 27.

Checking the area around the road. FEE doesn't see any traps. It looks like that maybe these Noles just got the jump on these poor travelers and just ambushed the crap out of them. It didn't appear as though that they had anything particularly well thought out or set up in the road to hamper their progress. They just probably-- wrong place, wrong time. Cool. Yeah, yeah. The FEE would relay that. It's like, yeah, I can't see any traps on or around the road. OK, so you guys are going to get ready and continue on? Yep. I guess so. Yep. Seeing that everyone has assessed the situation, stopped, and then they're getting ready to continue on again, Ballas is going to call out to Jadzia.

Wait just one second. Jadzia will stop. You can continue on with the party. I'm going to see if I can do something here. Do you think those people are alive? I don't know, but it doesn't look like they had any means of defending themselves if they did. I could at least see if they are. If they aren't, then I'll rejoin the party right away. If not, I can catch up with you in Brightport after I deal with whatever's there. I'm not leaving you behind. If you're going in, I'm going in. There's no reason to put yourself in any further danger. It's just a pack of gnolls I've dealt with them before.

I'll wait here. Ballas is going to-- Is Ballas going to be the sneaky one here? Because that's a really bad idea. Yeah. Could work. We don't know. I think we know. You're telling me with the guy with fucking 30 feet of chain and a bear trap strapped to his-- you're telling me he's not going to be sneaky? I'm just saying I think that it might be a good idea to further assess the situation. Jadzia will kind of look over at the group and see if they notice that she stopped yet. So has anyone else in the party noticed that Jadzia has stopped? I imagine we would notice.

We're hella perceptive. Are you stopping as well, or it's like, fuck that. Like, are we-- Well, yeah. We're not going to leave everybody behind. Yeah. OK, so if you guys come a little bit closer, then Jadzia will tell you, like, Ballas thinks that they might be alive. Maybe we should just go see what's up. And she's kind of looking at Fi like, I'm not going to make you do it. But-- Yeah. Yeah, Fi-- Fi-- Fi-- Fi's got a look on his face, which is kind of like, oh, why-- why-- why-- why are we stopping? This is-- this isn't-- this is pointless. But yeah, he's going to look at Valles and say, what makes you think that they're still alive?

I honestly have no idea. We did watch someone die the other day, and we could have done something to stop it. What makes them more important than stopping Strahd? We've already been days on the road. If I can just-- it would only take me a few moments. If you'd like to continue on, then go right ahead. I could do this by myself. You're a valuable member of our party, but I wouldn't-- I wouldn't say that you're the quietest of members. I shall go and have a look and see what is happening. And I'll report back. Valles is going to nod his head and just kind of defer to you on the stealth thing.

Because Valles has tried to be stealthy around gnolls before. That didn't work out so well, this particular area, as a matter of fact. So go ahead and, yeah, roll a stealth check for me. 21. So stealthing into this little patch of woods, Fi is going to-- going to hear these gnolls cackle and moving about. And it's pretty loud. He's right on top of them. And he's in a section of treeline that is fairly obscured to them. And it would appear as though they've set up a makeshift camp. They have a fire going. And they appear to be burning possessions that they pulled off this cart, just to get this fire started, apparently.

It would also appear as though there are two people, a man and woman, who appear to be a little on the older side. They're not tied up. One of them is lying on the ground. The other is kind of on their knees. One of them is definitely alive. The other one may be unconscious, may be dead. You're not sure from this angle. There are three gnolls surrounding those two people, brandishing weapons. And whatever they're going to do with them, they're going to be doing it fairly soon, you'd surmise. And there are four more around the fire. So you're dealing with seven gnolls.

How far away am I from the prisoners? You're about 30 feet away. OK. And how easy would it be to stealth around to them? Well, the problem is, the way this is set up, there's a clearing in the treeline. So you would-- to stealth around to them, it would be a little trickier, because there's a patch of area where there's nothing to hide behind. So that'd be a pretty high stealth check. This would be something where you would almost have to be a ghost and kind of dart across to where there's more trees and bushes. If I could use Shadow Tendrils and attack one of the-- Let's do this.

Let's put some on the board here. So let's say that-- OK, you're using Shadow Tendrils. So go ahead and pop your character on the board there. OK, where would I have come in from? Just 30 feet away. Just pick an area that's six spaces away. OK, yeah, so Fie would-- and that gets me a melee basic attack. I have a feeling that's a mess. OK. Can I do my shouty thing now? You absolutely can as a minor action. Cool. So here-- OK, good. I was going to shout, Valis, they're alive. OK, so here's how this is going to work. We're going to go through one round, and the party is going to be able to get to you.

OK, so-- oh, wow. OK, these-- Noel's got some good rolls. OK. Noel's Sika-Fant. Let's see here. Noel's Sika-Fant number three is going to move on up to Fie and use his hand ax. That's going to hit. 16 damage. Noel's Sika-Fant number four-- one, two, three, four, five, six. He's going to use his longbow. That's going to hit for 16 damage. And Fie, your turn. Okey-dokey. OK, so I have just noticed-- I have a thing called First Strike. So adding counter-start, get combat advantage against those that haven't acted yet. So that gives me combat advantage against number one, who I'm next to.

And I'm just going to use a melee basic attack against him. And that's it. OK, so sneak attack damage first. 16. Dead. Oh, even better. That is everything then. OK. These noels are-- you can see where they're shifting. They're more animal than people. And they kind of keep their heads real low and their eyes trained on you as they shift around. And there's this maniacal little cackle that follows them wherever they go, almost like hyenas. Almost. And noel number seven, he's going to use his longbow against-- well, Fi, obviously. That's going to hit. Nine damage.

Fi is now bloodied. Noel number five, one. He's also going to use his longbow. That's going to hit. 13 damage. Noel number two is going to silo raid on up next to Fi and use his hand axe. That's going to hit for 10 damage. Fi is down to 10 life. Fi, your turn. Okie dokie. Wild repulsion, which is a daily, and it gives me resist drive to all damage. That is until the stunt ends. Okie dokie. So I will use Cloak of the Walking Wounded, which is when I use my second wind, while bloodied, I can expend two Lean's Edges instead of one. So I will do that. Unbalance and Trick, which allows me to shift two squares, which I will go there.

I will also use my action point to do a melee basic attack against number three. That's a hit. Damage. That will kill him. And by using my action point, I can teleport five squares. So one, two, three, four, five over this way. Cool, and that is everything I can do. Ok, Knoll's sick of ant number six. He's going to run up to Fi, use his hand axe, and that'll miss. Ok, the rest of the party, if you would like to place your characters somewhere in this area right here, they're going to come streaking into this little clearing. Ok, we are back to Knoll number four.

Let's see. He's going to use his hand axe against Fi, that's going to hit. Damage. 15 damage, that will bloody Fi. Fi, your turn. Okie dokie. Just a melee basic attack against number four. That's a hit. That'll hit. That will kill him. That is everything for now. Let's see, Knoll number seven is going to see that the... You have reinforcements now that there's a new grouping of people coming into this clearing. And this Knoll is going to run up to Kaluna and use his hand axe. And that'll hit. These googly-eyed fuckers. They're quite googly-eyed actually. 17 damage to Kaluna.

That's really rude. Knoll number five is going to do the same thing. Hand axe charge against Kaluna. That will hit. 19 damage to Kaluna. Regretting my placement. Valus is going to walk right up next to Kaluna. Let's see. He's going to take a huge broad swipe with his sword against these two Knolls that are standing right next to you. So attack. That will miss the one and it will definitely hit the other. That will kill number five. Number seven is still very much alive. Jason, I think you just broke a rule. What did I do? You rolled a 19 and you didn't say it.

That's incredibly against the rules. You're right. I'm sorry. That would almost be a crit, guys. There we go. Okay. I thought we were going to follow the rules here. I'm sorry. I lost track. Kaluna, your turn. Yay. Okay. Let's see. Wow. I had a bunch of cool things I was going to do. Okay. So instead of doing a bunch of cool things, I'm just going to use healing spirit on fee. The target can spend a healing surge and that's all. Next up, we've got Knoll number two. Knoll number two is going to move right here and then take a swipe at Valis with his hand X. That'll hit.

Oh, wow. Yeah. He's going to catch. He's going to catch Valis pretty good in the back with his hand X. Just kind of bury it near his shoulder blade and do 18 damage. Jadzia, your turn. All right. I am going to curse number two and which spell do I want to use? Which spell do I want to use? Constitution. I will use diabolic grasp against him. Come on. Let me do it. Miss. All right. Wait. What did I get? It's not even worth saving at this point, is it? Oh, I can reroll and attack roll if I use my dark one zone luck. I'll try that. It's probably just going to miss twice, but let's do it.

I missed again. Wow. A two and a five. I am not helpful right now. Is it worth using an action point? No. Wait. No. He hurt Valis really bad. I'm going to use an action point. I'll try for it to ... I just ... Okay. I'm not going to get one for being speedy anyway. So let me look at my powers real quick. I want to try to get something that will actually really hurt him. All of my things are against fortitude. Don't I have anything? Actually, can I put my little dude next to that guy? As a miner? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Can I put Sheldon right next to number two? Preferably on the kaluna side.

Right over there. Sweet. All right. I'm going to try demonic possession. That's versus will. I imagine their will can't be that high. Let's give it a shot. Yay. Blame. I slide the target up to the number of squares equal to its speed. The target then makes a melee basic attack as a free action against creature you choose. I would like to send that motherfucker back here. Bam. I want him to attack that motherfucker right there. Bam. Done. The target has combat advantage for the attack and a plus four power bonus to the damage roll. That's going to miss. He rolled one.

Oh, wow. Well, it's going to be dazed until the end of its next turn at least. Okay. I tried. You did. That was not a good turn. That happens to the best of them. Fi, your turn. Thank you, Ducky. Does Pig grant combat advantage? Let me double check. No, it's only if he uses a thing. No, if he's opposite. Nope. He has to use a specific attack in order for you to get combat advantage from him. I should have done that. My bad. Sorry, sorry. Okay. So, atmosphere will get me combat advantage against him anyway. So, that's fine. Against number six and I'll use a melee basic attack.

Oh, fuck it. That's a miss. That is going to miss. Thank you. You lost everything. Number six. He is going to use his hand ax against Fi. That's going to hit 18 damage to Fi. That will bloody him. Back to the top of the order. Fi, your turn. Okay, Ducky. I will do exactly the same thing again. Ambushook gives me combat advantage and melee basic. That's a hit. That'll hit. 19. That kills it. That will kill it. Yep. Okay, Ducky. Yeah, that's everything then. Okay. Number seven here is going to use his hand ax versus Kaluna. That will hit. 15 damage to Kaluna and that will bloody her.

Them. Damn it. You know what? Valus is going to try another broad swing here with his sword against two and seven. Jesus, that's going to miss seven. That will definitely hit two. So he's just taking these big, meaty, inaccurate swings. Easily duckable. It's very, very much telegraphed. But two did not duck in time and he caught the brunt of Valus' sword in its chest and just kind of falls limp. Seven is still alive. Kaluna, your turn. Actually seven is the only gnoll left alive in this clearing. What I'm going to do is... That's what I was going to do. Okay. I'm going to use healing spirit on myself and I just saw a thing where I missed it beforehand so I'm not going to try and use it on Fi.

It's vigorous spirit. Light of healing spirit regains additional HP equal to my wisdom modifier, which is six. So I'll do that and then Fi gets one D8 hit points because he's adjacent to Pig. Thank you very much. Welcome. And then I guess I'll move Pig in the general direction. His speed's six, right? Where are you trying to get him? Oh, I'm just moving him closer. Yeah. Okay. All right. Let's see if I actually do anything this time, guys. All right. Because that die that I cursed died, I'm looking at Kaluna's thing. Sorry. I get something when he dies. Fuck, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm being bad today. Fate of the void. There you are. You gain a plus one bonus to any single d20 die recommended. An enemy under your warlock curse, which is zero hit points or fewer. I gain a plus one bonus to any single d20 roll I make. Woo. Exciting. I'm going to move over here. I'm going to go ahead and be concealed. I'm going to curse number seven. And then I'm just going to go ahead and use infernal moon curse on him because I feel like it. Fucking hell. That was a two, everybody. God, you rolled a two. Jesus. It was a two. I am not doing well today.

I used my action point already. Yeah, I think I'm just going to accept that this isn't my day. And at least I didn't yell in the middle of a thing of gnolls. Oh, fee your turn. Because I'd be dead. See, fee could survive that. I'd be dead. So, tactical trick gets me up to my speed. So that's six, one, two, three, four, five, six. And I'm going to use black stab with my ranged basic attack, which, so I have a plus two because tactical trick gives me combat advantage against any opponent which is next to one of my allies. And back stab gives me a plus three.

So I'm running this at a plus five. That's a fucking miss. And that's everything then. See your turn. That's trick again. She kept me there. Two, three, four, six. Yeah. And just my middle basic sec. Actually fuck it backstab as well. And that's a hit. That'll hit. 22. That will kill the last gnoll on the field. Exciting. All right. Sorry. Phallus, no, sorry. Phallus is going to cut a look to fee. And he's going to put away his weapon and not yell at him, but definitely with a much more stern voice than he usually uses. You know, for someone who was leery about walking in here to begin with you picking a fight with seven knolls by yourself wasn't exactly brilliant.

No, but we all survived. And I didn't I didn't feel that the prisoners were going to be around for long enough to go back and describe the situation. He's going to kind of just grumble and start to walk past. Just just and just let's just walk past and move towards these move towards these two people. Is anyone else interested in checking on these two people or is it pretty much just packing up and leaving? Thal'Seal will run over. Kaluna will keep watch to make sure no more gnolls show up. Probably a good idea. Wouldn't it have sucked if it were a pack of 30 or 40?

Jesus Christ. The the man who's kneeling down here is they've both been beaten up pretty badly. Do me a favor roll a perception check Jadzia. Of course. Let me get back to that. Sorry, my computer's going very slowly. Perception. Why are you making me do it? Eleven. There you go. You get what you pay for. Oh, I'm sorry. Phi, you too. Sixteen. Oh, my God. Wow. Thal'Seal. They appear to be people. Everyone. They've both been they've both been beaten pretty badly. The female appears to have taken a bit more of a beating. She does appear to be alive, but is unconscious.

The man's just kind of hunched over her trying to trying to wake her up. He is going to thank you profusely. Jadzia first and then and then Phi. Phi he's going to reach out to shake his hand pretty aggressively. This is a this is a taller man, darker hair appears to be a bit older, probably in his 50s. Phi is going to shake his hand, but he's going to say the person you want to be thanking is Thal'Seal and motion towards Thal'Seal. Thal'Seal is going to be standing about five feet away. Just kind of keeping an eye on things, but not necessarily not necessarily intervening or getting involved.

This man is going to when you when you point out Thal'Seal, he's going to look over to Thal'Seal and he's going to take a step back. Do me a favor roll a perception check. Okay. So twenty seventeen. That's better than usual. The look the look on this man's face. It looks as though he may know Thal'Seal because this this is a look of recognition. This isn't just like, oh, fuck this tiefling. This is like, oh, like like he's he's he's backing up visibly. He would say, what's that look for? This man's still still backing up a bit, almost almost tripping over his almost tripping over the woman on the ground.

That's that's the butcher. Explain. And it kind of that kind of snaps him out of his stupor a bit because he's locked eyes with Valis and he's he's going to look he's going to look over to feel like, the fuck do you mean explain? You don't know. That's the butcher of Brightport. Look, we just we just want to get out of here. Just just could you please just let me let me take my wife. Let me leave. Just I don't want any trouble from you. Just please don't hurt me. Jodzia is going to kind of step in front of Valis and so that like she's between the two of them and she's going to kind of glare at them like, where the fuck do you get off?

She's going to say we wouldn't have stopped if he hadn't noticed that you might have been alive. Do me a favor roll a diplomacy check. OK, that always goes well for me, too. Hey, 20. That is a crit. You should feel really guilty and bad about yourself, sir. I took a mommy tone. Yeah, I'm really sorry. We are. I'm very grateful. I just I'm again, I'm sorry. I just I'm I'm going to go now. I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to go. And he's going to reach down. OK, are you leaving? Are you leaving her? No, he's going to reach down and scoop up. Just kind of scoop up his his wife and.

Before they leave, could Jodzia motion like over to Kaluna and be like, do you have any healing left? But yeah, I'll just I'll just use a healing spirit on her. Kaluna is walking around a forest like, look at all these giant people. So this man is going to walk past kind of walking past Kaluna. Kaluna is going to do this. And she's she's going to start to come to very groggy, very, very, very out of it. But looking a hell of a lot better than she than she did a few seconds ago. And this man is going to look at Kaluna and just kind of mouth the word thank you.

And then he's going to like as she's coming to, he's going to look over his shoulder again at at back towards Valis and then start double timing in the opposite direction. So rude. Kaluna will wave like as like as he's thanking them, the wave and it'll continue and just sort of taper off as he runs. Like, what the fuck, man? What the French toast. I'm assuming Una's still still lying down. You know, eyes snapped open. Yeah, I'm assuming there's probably blood all over. There's probably still blood like on her mouth. Oh, yeah. And she's just going to stare at the ceiling like blank for a few seconds and then her eyes will kind of slide over to Brie.

Just taking in surroundings. She's waiting for you to speak. She's kind of waiting to see if you came back. You she's going to she's going to reach for your hand, just kind of like just like grab, grab your hand. Una, are you OK? Come on, say something. Una's eyes will go like straight back up to the ceiling and she'll part her lips. I'm guessing they're still coated in blood and it's disgusting. And really quietly, she just says. There's nothing. And then she's going to sit up like a bolt of lightning has gone through her and just wrench her hand away from Brie and reach for her hammer.

She will grab the hammer and just leap up onto the table and grab her hammer with both hands and bring it down as hard as possible. And then having smashed it, just leap off and run out of the room. Brie is going to fall backwards because that's pretty jarring. That's that's not the reaction she was expecting or hoping for. She's going to look over to Julie really quickly. More wide-eyed shock than anything. And then after a couple of seconds, she's going to catch her bearings and then she's going to sprint out of the room and chase after Una. Una has headed directly to the main chapel area of the temple and she is just going to begin smashing everything, everything with the symbol of Kord on it.

Chalices, weapons, daises, candelabra. She will just be destroying whatever she can. The hammer returns to her hand whenever she throws it, so anything that's too high up to reach, she'll just be hurling the hammer at it. And she is, for the most part, silent until Brie walks in the room or runs into the room, at which point she turns to Brie and she just goes, "There is nothing!" So as she's running into the room, she's kind of barreling in face first and then she's going to recoil violently when you scream at her. What do you mean there's nothing?

Una will completely ignore that and continue smashing and screaming. Not even words, just bellowing with rage until most things in the temple are at least broken or dented and then she will kind of fall to her knees and just hurl the hammer away from her. If it returns, that's kind of bullshit, but just kind of slide it across the floor like she doesn't give a shit. And just shaking with anger, she'll look up at Brie and just say, "I was dead and there was nothing. There was nothing out there. There was no cord. There was no heaven. There was nothing." Brie doesn't really know what to say to that.

She's going to slowly start to step towards Una. And she's kind of got her hand outstretched like she's going to put it on Una's shoulder and then kind of thinks better of it. And then she's going to kneel down to kind of get on Una's level, just kind of get down towards the floor. I really wish I had something to say to make that any better than what it is. Una is just going to stare Brie in the eyes for a couple seconds and then just throw her arms around her and pull her super close and just break down sobbing. Brie's going to be shocked. Honestly, at first she thought that you were going to do something maybe physically violent.

But after she hears you crying, she's going to wrap her arms around you really, really tightly. And she's just going to hold you until you're done. Continuing your way to Brightport. Hours and hours go by. You are going to ride through the night. As luck would have it, the road is pretty much deserted going into Brightport. And it is going to be light out by the time you get to Brightport. It's going to be around 7, 8 a.m. somewhere in there. And you're riding fairly steady. This is a pretty swift pace you're moving. But it's just taking a while to get there.

So riding into the city itself. The guards are not going to stand in your way. They're not going to, they pretty much allow everyone to enter and exit. The only time they're there, every once in a while there's a search or something needed. Or if someone looks particularly menacing, they're kind of warned about the lay of the land law-wise that most people promptly ignore anyway once they're in the city. Then they're allowed to go on their way. But riding into the city proper, Vatlas is going to start to lead you towards the not so great section of town.

The houses of Brightport are scattered. They're spaced out a little bit. And House Dragon's Keep, formerly House Darkspane, is in the lower quarter of the city. Still a massive house. It's one of the three largest standing structures in the entire city. It is huge. Large enough for a fucking dragon to live in it, I'll put it that way. City streets are busy and congested. Obviously, you can't ride through on a horse, so there's hitching posts outside the city to kind of dismount and get your things together and then move into town. Most people, if they're leaving anything valuable, they employ people to watch their goods and that kind of thing, but you guys don't really need to worry about that.

So you are in the city on foot. Is there any place you'd like to go before heading right to House Dragon's Keep? So making your way to House Dragon's Keep, the city of Brightport itself is laid out almost like a maze. This is built layer upon layer vertically. After the city ran out of room, they just started to build up. And as you head into the lower section of the city, the environment is going to start to get noticeably rougher. The shadows cast from buildings and overpasses and bridges and such create ambush spots, really. If you weren't who you were, looking like what you look like, you would probably be attacked openly on the streets, heading down some of the back alleyways and such you were heading down.

But because you were walking around with not just a tiefling, but Valus, and the rest of you look like accomplished, like you're wearing dragon scale armor. That's a big stay the fuck away from me if ever there was one. And Keluna's just a wild card. A lot of people would be looking at her like, "I don't know what that is, so let's not really attack it. Let's see what it does for a while." Now that does not mean that you don't have eyes on you and there are people, there will be people watching you and staying a very safe distance away, but this is not the kind of city where you're someone as conspicuous as you guys, you're not going to remain unnoticed.

So, heading up to the doors of House Dragon's Keep itself, Valus is, he is going to knock quite loudly with the base of his fist. Just kind of pound at this door. Future Jason, you should put the knock here. That's the knocking sound. Oh, okay. The first one it's like, was that a badger? And a badger shoots a crystal power. Also a badger. Fucking Brightport is infested with badgers. It's a problem to be honest. I think that would make it a better place honestly. Please come right in. Beautiful. Okay. I do a really good badger impression of parents. Good to know.

You can play all the NPC badgers in Brightport. Perfect. A man is going to open, is going to open the door and you can see that it looks like he was going to launch into a, almost a prerecorded spiel. It's like, oh, welcome. And then he sees Valus and he's going to give the slightest of nods and then step out of the way, open the door a bit wider and kind of with a sweeping hand gesture invite you in. And Valus is just going to step into the building itself and just not a second thought, just kind of stride right in. Jaxio will just follow it after him, I guess.

And she looks a little bit nervous, like just comes. Yeah. These are these, these are pretty big double doors. And the rest of this, the rest of this house itself, calling it a house is almost an insult to houses. This is a fucking mansion if ever there was one and quite a large one. There are grounds that surround it. It looks as though they're in the midst of some sort of renovation, maybe some construction because half of the outside appears to be, well, there's no other way to put it, a fucking graveyard. And then the other half looks to be, looks to be, you know, a regular looking yard, like nice greenery and it looks like someone's planting trees.

I mean, it looks like it is, it is very habitable. And the other half looks kind of dark, depressing and gloomy. So work is being done. Stepping, stepping through the door. The interior is much more cheery, actually a lot brighter and welcoming, almost pretty warm which is night and day compared to what the graveyard motif outside would have you believe. Shutting the door, the man's going to turn to the party. My name's David. I'm assuming you're here to speak to Tessia. Tessia is going to completely like leave this up to Valus. He knows the place and she's scared.

Not because of the house, by the way. She's okay with like scary magical shit. She's kind of used to it, but she is about to meet Tessia, who is Valus's mommy. Valus is just kind of looking around the place because it's drastically changed since the last time he was here. Yes, I'm assuming she's in the back somewhere. And David's going to kind of give this really deep respectful nod and he's going to point toward the upstairs. She would be in her office. That would be there, Max former office. I believe you know where that is. Valus is going to give a nod and almost dismissive, like halfway through the nod, he's already pivoted and started towards the stairs.

He's not even standing there to chit chat any longer. Totally up to you guys if you want to follow him. Judsy will stick pretty close. Though I think she'd also be looking around for books and shit. V would be following, but he is looking around, kind of taking in the layout and seeing if there are any nooks and crannies. Do me a favor, roll. So are you actively looking for secret passages and things like that or are you just kind of giving a cursory... This is looking as I'm going through, so I'm not touching anything, but I'm just studying. Well do me a favor, roll a perception check.

Oh, I crit one. That was terrible. This is also new. I'm still thinking of rolling in. Mostly fees noticing motif that this place is pretty welcoming for one of the houses of Brightport. From what you've heard, these establishments are mostly for business and they can be a bit cold. This one in particular has a pretty nasty reputation within the city that you know of in the past anyway. So once you're upstairs, there's this long hallway and towards the end of it, there's another set of double doors and that would be Theramax's former office, which is Tessia's current office.

And Valis is going to thump, thump, thump all the way down the end of this hallway. Turn the knob, open the door and walk right in. Again I'm guessing everyone is just kind of following along unless you want to kind of get lost and explore a bit. Kaluna is going to follow, but they're going to sort of like dart from doorway to doorway, just sort of like poking their head in sort of like, "Well, we're supposed to meet Merrick here, so is he here? Is he here? Is he here?" And just sort of each time getting more and more concerned. Inside this office, as soon as the door swings open, Tessia is going to drop what she was doing, stand up from behind her desk and kind of hurry up, just kind of hustle around the desk and throw her arms around Valis's waist and just kind of give this really loving squeeze, beaming ear to ear to see him.

And Valis is going to, he's going to take one of his hands and kind of cradle her back and just kind of like smush her up against him. Kind of a hug, but almost more of a, it's just like, it's not possessive. It's just like, "Yes, I love you too, but you know, I'm with people and you know, it does nothing for my reputation when you do this." "I'm out in front of my friends." "You're embarrassing me." There's definitely love there. It's just, he's, you know, he's not great with the expressing emotions thing. Valis is going to turn towards the party, specifically Jadzia, and he is going to kind of like indicate with his head, like kind of like down, kind of point with his noggin, "This is my mother, Tessia." And Tessie is going to let go of Valis and kind of straighten out her, like the dress she's wearing.

She's going to extend a hand towards Jadzia. Jadzia is going to take her hand and kind of shake it. And like, she usually doesn't like to just grab the handshake at normal. She's doing a little bit too hard. And then she's also going to bow her head, like she usually does, but she's going to go a little bit lower than she normally would. And she's not going to say anything. Tessie is going to, she's going to expect a handshake and then just again, a little aggressive, a little, a little formal. And she's going to, she's, she's going to give it a second.

You, you, you can relax. You don't have to be so formal. Jadzia is going to nod, like, but again, like just a little bit too much. Like instead of just nodding twice, she's going to nod like five or six times and then straighten back up and be like, "Hi." Tessie's going to, she's going to kind of warmly smile at Jadzia and then she's going to reach past and go to shake Thi's hand. Thi will shake her hand and say, "Hello, I think I now have almost met all of the, all of the grimnesses." Um, she's going to cock her eyebrow just a bit. Oh, really? You've met who?

I have, I have fought alongside both Malchus and our love. Well, more Malchus. And she's going to look back to Vels. Is that so? You fought next to Malchus? Briefly. When was this? This was a few weeks ago, further out west. She's going to look back to Valus again. Is that true? Valus? Valus is going to kind of roll his eyes. Yes, he's alive. And she's going to look back to the party. You haven't seen him recently, though? Not since that battle. I'm sorry, where are my manners? And she's going to reach over to shake Kaluna's hand. Kaluna is going to have like sensed, "This is an important person," and sort of watched as Jadzia and Thi shook her hand.

And so they're going to sort of try really hard to duplicate that, probably be a little too mechanical with it, but try really, really hard. Again, another warm smile, just going to shake Kaluna's hand. I'm going to go ahead and guess that you've had a rough journey. How about we sit down to some tea and we can have a bit of a chat? I'm also going to guess that, and she's going to look back to Valus, that you're not just here to socialize. Valus is going to nod his head, just kind of like, "Yeah, sorry." Every time he comes here, it seems that there's a problem.

So Tessia is going to reach out for Jadzia's hand, not to shake it, but more just to grab it and it's more to lead her because she's getting the sense that Jadzia is feeling just a bit uncomfortable. She's acting very stiff, very kind of uncomfortable inside her own skin. That's what it looks like. So she's trying to be welcoming and friendly, and she's going to try and take Jadzia by the hand and start to lead her down this hallway. All right, Jadzia will look up at, she's going to see the hand, her eyes are going to widen a little bit, and then she's going to look up at Valus really quick, and then she's going to take the hand because she doesn't want to offend her and follow her along.

She's going to lead everyone downstairs and into the parlor, and she's going to flag David down and have him bring out something for everyone to drink. Their butler gets to be alive, but okay. David's not a butler. David's not a butler. It's a little different. He will do butler-y things, but it's- I'm sorry, personal assistant. He's a fancy butler. Jeffrey was fancy as fuck. It was. Poor Jeffrey. Dandy, in fact. Dandy. So, there's a really comfortable setup down here in this parlor. It's kind of an open space, very comfy chairs and this huge puffy couch, and she kind of invites everyone to have a seat.

She's going to have a seat in the chair that's clearly set up to run conversations. It is clearly like, "Okay, that person's in charge." We're in the principal office, guys. Oh no. Fuck. You never did good in these situations. All right, before Jodeci sits down, she's going to look over and see if Valis is going to. I feel like Valis is one of those guys who refuses to sit down in other people's houses. He's one of those douchebags who stands in the corner, and when people tell him to sit down, he's like, "No, no. I would prefer to stand." Hey, wait, I'm one of those douchebags.

Yeah, you are. That's kind of where I'm getting it from. Oh, okay. Is this because I paced around while everyone was eating and I just ate standing up and all that weird shit? Is that because? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is. It's fucking weird. It's not fucking weird. I'd prefer to... See, J does the same thing. It's weird. Fine, whatever. My weirdness aside. Is Valis weird? Valis is a little weird. Valis is going to stand off to the side a bit, not really one for sitting unless he's kind of forced to. So he is going to stand off to the side just a touch, but he's going to be near Jasia.

Not pacing or anything, just standing there. Kalluna's going to stay standing too, but they're going to keep shifting and constantly look around. Just checking. He doesn't have a full beard or anything, does he? Z will sit on the chairs. Okay. Okay, Jasia's going to sit down too and she's going to kind of cross her ankles and she's going to sit like a nine year old who was just told to sit up straight. So Tessie's going to sit down and everyone's going to start to get comfortable. Okay, that's a lot better. I always find conversation flows a bit more when everyone's comfy.

So if Valis has taken time to come back here, I'm guessing that something's both wrong and important. So who would like to start? Who would like to start? Fee will. Fee leans forward slightly and says, "Do you know of anything that is happening out west at the moment?" I've heard a few things. Is there something in particular you're referencing? Do you know of a creature named Strahd? I've heard the same old stories everyone else has. Why? Is evident to us that Strahd is roaming and destroying the countryside as we speak. A number of paladins, including a few friends of ours, set out to lead Strahd away from the city and potentially engage it in battle if the need arose.

Why am I guessing this has something to do with Amara? You can see that she's putting two and two together. Like the entire time you're speaking, she's just adding it up and is like, "Okay, well, I can't do anything to stop that if it were true. And why would you come all the way to Brightport from Esterhold unless you were looking for another dragon?" Like, you can see the gears are turning in her head. You can definitely see it on her face. She says, "I presume Amara is the dragon that Valus mentioned?" It would be, yes. You understand that there's an inherent problem with that and that's that I can't speak to him.

And I know that Valus can't unless any of you speak Draconic. I'm going to go ahead and guess that communicating with Amara is going to be very basic. I do speak Draconic. Tessie is kind of like raise her hand over her head, but her eyes are down when she says that. So you raise your hand and Tessie is going to look over. Really? Tessie is just gonna nod really quickly. That's quite fascinating. When did you find the time to learn that? That's not usually a language people study unless they intend on using it. So Judzia is going to shrug and there was a time in my life where I spent most of my time hiding and reading and I had a few books on the subject.

She's just gonna nod her head in recognition. Alright. And she's going to kind of tilt her head up to Valus. Have you seen Baranath or the group after they left Brightport? And then she's going to give this side-eyed glance to Judzia. Judzia's face is going to light up a little bit because I think she does recognize the name. Like Valus kind of told you about, yeah. And her shoulders are going to go up a little bit defensive. Valus is just gonna shake his head no, but again not making eye contact with her. That's obviously a sore subject and he's just gonna kind of dodge it.

And Tessia is going to pinball between the two of you. Do me a favor and roll a perception check there, Judzia. Fourteen. Okay. You will notice that she is stealing glances at both of you. Back and forth, kind of pinballing. And then she's gonna stop. Alright. It doesn't sound like you have much time then. And I'm afraid that any more sitting is just wasting that precious time. So I'm going to go ahead and see how Amarr is feeling. The rest of you please just get comfortable and David is going to serve you something. If you want any food, anything, please don't hesitate to ask.

My home is your home and I hope that you just enjoy a rest while I get things ready. And she's going to stand up and start to leave the room. K'Loon is going to stop her before she leaves the room and just sort of really, very nervously, just sort of let out a little, "Is Merrick here?" Very clearly just distressed. I don't know, Merrick. Were you expecting to meet him here? K'Loon will just sort of nod really quickly. Well, he hasn't arrived yet. If you like, I could give him a message when or if he shows up. K'Loon will shake their head and then go finally sit down.

She's going to get ready and turn to leave again, but then kind of hesitate. Jadzia, why don't you accompany me? Jadzia's eyes are going to bulge out of her head for like half a second, but Tessia is behind her so she can't see. She's going to glance over at Valus really quickly. And... Valus is going to have a look like, "I don't know, I guess?" This is kind of a shock to him too. It's like, "You better go, though. You better do it." Okay, and then she's going to nod again. Again, too many times, but she's kind of reeling it in a little bit. And she'll just get up and follow.

So, Tessia is going to, again, reach out for Jadzia's hand and start to lead her down another long hallway here that leads to a set of steps downward. And while they're traveling, about halfway down these steps, the light is going to dim just a bit, but there are a set of torches at the base of the steps. So there is some light cascading upward, but it's not as illuminated as the rest of the house. And very flatly, she's going to ask Jadzia, "So how long have you been seeing Valus?" - Jadzia, I don't think she's going to be surprised that the question was asked.

More like how it was asked, like just out of the blue like that. And I'm actually going to need Jason to tell me how long she's been seeing Valus, because I'm not good at this. - Well, let's see. You met up with Valus, what depends on your definition of when they started like "seeing" each other. They met weeks ago. So this would be almost a month ago that they had met. If you remember, their first interaction was Valus trying to strangle her, essentially, their first fight. You hired him and the very first bit of trouble, well, Jadzia stabbed him and then Valus tried to strangle her.

So, I don't think they were dating. - Meet cute. That's what they call it in romance comedies. - So that all depends on your definition of when, you know, when officially. - All right, I'm going to imagine that Jadzia has caught off guard enough that she's just going to say, "It's been a few weeks now." - I can tell that he likes you. If you don't mind me asking, how did you meet? - I was very sick. Originally my group had been fighting vampires and I had been bitten. While searching for a cure, we needed anyone to help make up for the power that I was lacking.

And Valus was available. We hired him. And after some time, she's going to kind of like look away, like she really doesn't want to tell the story of what happened between point A and point B. - The entire time she is just studying you. Tessie is the kind of person that seems to drink people in while she's speaking to them. She is noticing every flinch, every movement, every eyebrow twitch, everything. She is taking you in as a person. - Perfect. Really settling. - Yeah. Well, there's a reason she does it. - Because she's smart. She grew up in Brightport. There's a lot of good reasons.

- He changed my perception about a lot of things along the way. I like him too. And she's going to kind of meet her eyes for like half a second and then look back down. - She's going to kind of smile and then she's going to again take Jessie's hand and start back down these steps. Going towards the end of this hallway, there is a very large set of double doors. Now these things are fucking huge. And there are two individuals standing on either side. They don't look like guards. So much as maybe attendants. And there are these very large bronze door handles, almost like knockers.

And you have to kind of pause while the two men start to try and jerk open these doors because they're huge and weighted. And she's going to take a moment while they're opening these doors. Without breaking eye contact with the door, she is going to lean over and say, "Well, he definitely has a type and he seems to gravitate towards women who can speak with dragons for some reason." And these doors are going to swing open and instantly your eyes are going to fill with the sight of Amara, which is this... It is the largest thing that Jadzia has ever seen in her entire life.

This huge white dragon is kind of curled up in the center of this immense room. In back of Amara, there is this huge opening. So it looks as though she can leave at any time, but just chooses to stay here for one reason or another. And in the corner of the room, you can see that there's been scraps and remnants of bits of carcasses of goats and cows, things like that, just random assortments of meat. And it looks as though Amara probably had her fill at one point and then just stopped eating. But there's a definite odor about that corner of the room if you were to walk past it.

It does smell like raw meat, but the fact that the room is open and ventilated isn't really too bad. It's not rotting or anything. It's not like the meat sits there long enough to rot. It's just, if you've ever smelled it, it's pretty distinctive. I kind of feel like Jadzia would have an immunity to corpses. Probably though, yeah. The last few weeks. Right. It's like, oh, raw meat, whatever. I got this. Oh man, these ones are cows. Boring. Call me when you get some real people. So Tessia is going to start to walk up to Amara. Now she has let go of Jadzia's hand.

Is Jadzia going to follow her in or is this kind of a holy shit type of thing? Like the fucking Jurassic Park with the rhinoceroses and stuff is like. Yes that probably. At first Jadzia would stay in place. Even when Tessia is holding her hand, Tessia would have to tug a little bit. And then once it's let go, she'll walk in on her own as well. Just staring at this thing and taking in the immensity of it and kind of wishing at this moment that she didn't speak Draconic. Like that someone else could be the one speaking Draconic right now. So again, huge dragon.

Amara is going to again kind of curled up like a dog a little bit, but a really big fucking dog. And then when the doors have been fully open and Tessia walks in, Amara is going to move her head forward and again very low and Tessia is going to kind of hold her hands out. And Amara is going to very gently approach Tessia and then allow Tessia to kind of stroke Amara's nose, the snout portion. And Tessia after a couple of seconds of this, Tessia is going to motion for Jadzia to kind of come over and at the very least get closer. But if she feels comfortable enough, she's going to kind of motion to just, you know, you can do the same.

You can touch her. Jadzia is going to move forward and very nervously like reach out and put her hand right where Tessia is, like right next to it. But in the way like when you're not sure if a dog is nice or not. So you're kind of like, can I can I like if she moved, then she would snap back really quick. Amara is going to breathe in and it's very audible. It's like it's audible and Jadzia can feel the slightest pull from Amara's intake of breath just through her nostrils. That's how strong, like that's how large this dragon is. Just it's like, oh shit.

Like you could just the slightest tug, like just the slightest. And then after a second, Amara is going to let loose again through her nostrils and this gust of air is going to flow out. And it's going to blow her cloak back a bit and just like she can feel like that is that is a huge surge of just power. That's from her breathing. This dragon could kill you with no effort whatsoever. Good. Just just paint a picture. That's settling for someone who doesn't have a soul. Shit. Jadzia is going to bow her head very deeply and very respectfully, like almost as deep as she did for Tessia.

But this time it's clearly on purpose instead of a goofy accident. I guess you'd start with just a greeting. She's going to say in Draconic. Hello, Amara. Please don't speak back. She's not going to say that. Yeah, she's going to say hello. Hope that Amara knows not to. Please don't blow my head up. Amara is going to snap to the second the words leave your mouth in Draconic. She is going to back her head up a little bit and then and then tilt her head so that one of her giant fucking eyes is centered right on Jadzia. Obviously taking notice. Actually a little surprised that you can you can you can speak to her.

Jadzia is going to like kind of lean back. She's not going to take a step back, but kind of lean back when that happens and smile a little bit because recognition is good. She's so she's going to smile just a little bit and and then she's going to say, you can understand me, right? The slightest of slightest of nods, but it's it's her head is giant. So it's it's like the slightest of nods to her. Again, she doesn't want to hurt anybody. So she's not like flailing her head about. But yeah, she definitely understands. All right. I've come from the West. There's another dragon there.

I'm not sure if you've heard of him. His name is Strahd and that she's going to wait and see if there's any recognition. There doesn't appear to be. Right. Because she's like a baby. He's causing a lot of damage and there's a good chance that he's hurt a close friend of mine. We don't have the means to stop him, but we were hoping you might join us in trying to end the destruction he's causing. Amara is going to back up violently and shimmy out of this giant room and out into the city streets of Brightport. Now these there's there's a street that is pretty big that is in the rear of House Dragon's Keep.

Now that is largely abandoned now because of this dragon. It used to be a bustling pathway for people getting from the lower quarter to the more center of the city. That stopped when a botched landing, let's call it, took out large chunks of the stone walkways and streets here. So people have taken that as a warning that at any moment this dragon can just come bounding out. Which is a good thing because that's exactly what just happened. And Amara is going to back back out, shimmy out into the street and then is able to stand up fully, which is twice as impressive as her size in the building.

And she's going to stretch her wings and narrowly miss the tops of the top of the house dragon keep. And then on the other side her wing fully extends over the buildings on the opposite side of the street. And then after a moment of that she is going to kneel down again and just sort of look into the house. And Tessia is going to look over to Jadzia. I'm not exactly sure what you said, but I think she wants you to follow her. The whole time that was happening Jadzia looked absolutely terrified because this thing could literally just like take a step and destroy her.

But when Tessia kind of translates what the body language meant, because Jadzia thought that she had, you know, fucked up somehow, like offended the dragon. But when Tessia says that she wants to be followed, she'll nod and kind of hurry along like, "Okay, I'll do whatever the dragon tells me to do. I will do anything the dragon tells me to do. Let's go." Would you would you like me to get your friends? She's going to turn around and quickly nod and say thank you. Tessia is going to, she's going to get ready and turn back towards the big double doors and then give it a second's hesitation and then start back towards Jadzia.

And she's going to kind of scoop up both of Jadzia's hands in hers. And it's meant to be somewhat comforting, but it's a little off-putting. She's looking into Jadzia's eyes, but very, like really looking into her eyes. You know what I'm saying? Right. Yeah. She's going to say, "I want you to take good care of him. Can you do that for me?" Jadzia's going to nod quickly and she's going to say, "I'll do everything I can." And again, no words spoken after that. She's just assessing. And then after about five seconds of stone cold silence, she's going to let go of Jadzia's hands and then lean in and give her a hug.

Aww. Jadzia will be a little bit stiff, but she's kind of slowly getting used to human contact again, like because of Una and because of Valis, and she'll hug back too. Then Tessia's going to let it go and then start back towards the door. I'm going to go get your friends. You might want to take care of the dragon in the street. All right. I'm going to run and go take care of the dragon in the street. Seems like a good, solid suggestion. Guys, I think that's probably a good time for us to stop for the night. Sounds good to me. Well, we got to Brightport, guys.

Yes. Thank God. That's the thing that happened. Goodness gracious. How many more things can we run into on the road, really? I'm glad we went through the night, though. If we had woken up at the end and it's like, "Oh, a bunch of people were trying to stop you from going again," I would have shot myself in the face. I just... Done. Yeah, that was a problematic little journey. Yeah. Well, we're here now, so we'll definitely be able to go help Una. Yes. Our dragon flange. If there's a silver lining to all this, then... Let's pick things up a couple of hours down the road.

Unenbri left the temple shortly after that. I don't think they'd really be all that welcome there anymore. They'd go back to their house, I guess, because that's the only other place they have in Esterholt. I'd assume Brie would just walk her back to the house. Yeah, it's very much like, "Let's just go. Let's get you some hot chocolate." She'd want to do anything in her power to try and make you feel better, and she would put two and two together. It's like, "Probably staying in this temple is a bad idea. That's not going to make you feel any better." So yeah, maybe just like they're in the sitting room or study or something?

Yeah, they would come into this living room area and she would guide you to the couch and just have you sit down. It's like, "Okay. You want anything to eat or drink or anything? Maybe we can get you cleaned up?" I know that's the first thing I wanted. She kind of trails off. She has nothing that she can say. It's like, "Hey, sorry you wasted your entire life." That's like she has nothing that she can say that's going to make that any better. Una would slowly start unstrapping her armor and look over at Brie. She's obviously really shaken up. She's got those puffy, "I spent the last two hours crying" kind of eyes, those teenager eyes.

And she's kind of like, "What happened with Strahd? Where is he now?" He's in Odysseus. Dead. Dead? And Una's going to stop and she looks obviously very surprised because she knows she didn't kill a fucking dragon. Brie's going to break eye contact and just kind of look. She's going to look at the ground and just shake her head, yeah. "How?" Do you... What's the last thing you remember? "A tail slamming into me very painfully. And that's about it." "Well, after that, Strahd took off and perched himself right back on the same tower he was in when we entered the city.

I tried to drag you as far as I could, but it was obvious I wasn't going to get you out of there without a horse and I didn't know where else to take you, so I just took you down the path where I thought we wouldn't be seen and then I watched you die. And I just felt... I don't know. I felt helpless and angry and I didn't care whether I lived or died anymore. I wanted to hurt him." Are you telling me that you killed the dragon by yourself? "I had help." Who? "Well, I mean, you and all the paladins. I didn't do it by myself. You fought him before I did." Did you see any of the paladins?

Did they make it out? Where... Craig, was he... I saw him go over a cliff, but was anyone alive? I didn't see his body, but he tumbled over the cliff. I really doubt that. And again, she's gonna just kind of trail off. Una's gonna swallow really hard and stand up and just kind of tear her armor off and look down at the tattoos on her arms. I don't think we've gone into full detail about all of the tattoos she has, but at least on her forearms. She has the symbol of Kord on the backs of her hands, the fist of Kord on her knuckles, and words going up each of her forearms, "Strength from courage" and "Courage from strength." And a look of just disgust is going to roll over her features.

And she's gonna walk over to the fireplace and plunge her arms up to the elbows in the fire and just hold them there. And I'm gonna pop Lay on Hands and Una's going to heal her flesh as it burns off her until there is nothing but scarred, burned flesh. Rhea is going to, the second you plunge your arms into the fire, she is going to leap towards you and as soon as she sees that you're healing yourself as you do it, she gets it, but at the same time she is mortified that you would do that. She's very obviously distraught. And she, after a few moments of this, she places her hand on Una's shoulder and just tries to slowly guide her back away from the fire.

Once it's clear that the tattoos have been thoroughly burned off her flesh, Una will kind of pull her arms out of the fire and look up at Bree and just say, "I led Craig and those young paladins to their deaths for nothing. I thought we were going to march into heaven together and there was nothing and they died because of me. I dragged them to fight a fucking legendary dragon for no goddamn reason. Fuck Kord." Do you really think that you talked him into doing anything he didn't actually want to do already? If I had insisted, he wouldn't have gone.

I know it. What you did may have saved countless lives. We have no idea. I know the world's a safer place because that dragon doesn't exist anymore. And you played a direct hand in that. And whether it was for Kord or not, you did it. It was your choice. You fought the dragon. You and Craig and those paladins, you all fought the dragon. Look, I'm not saying it wasn't brave. Regardless of Kord, it was. But I've lived my life. I have lost best friends because I followed this bullshit, this lie to a T since I was eight. This has been my existence. I have wanted to die for so long.

And when I finally get there, everything I've been told, everything I've hoped for, everything I've dreamed about, everything I've read, everything that my life was a symbol of is nothing. It doesn't exist. Not even a shadow of it. What the fuck am I supposed to do now? Well, what do you want to do? I mean, if you've lived your entire life, if you've lived your entire life thinking about what Kord wants you to do or what the bravest thing to do is or what do you want? What do you want to do? What do you want out of life? The way I see it, you have a second chance.

And trust me, those don't come along without someone paying some pretty steep price. And I'm going to have to answer for that. But what do you want to do? I don't know. I want to find Jadzia and I want to find Fi. I have some important things to tell them. All right. We'll find them. In the meantime, we should probably get you cleaned up, though. They're not going to want to see you coated in blood, huh? Probably not. [ Music ]