Forbidden

This transcript is machine-generated and may contain errors in names, terminology, or attribution.

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

Um, I think they mean us. Oh, s***. Um... [clears throat] With an incredible duo sure to take home the comedy gold. Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson. New episodes Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Only on Peacock. This week's episode of Dungeons and Randomness is brought to you by the fantastic folks over at Limitless Adventures. We've talked to you guys about them before and all the really cool modules that they offer, but right now, if you head over to Kickstarter, you can get in at the ground level for some really cool Dungeons and Dragons creatures.

The project is called Limitless Monsters, and for just $15, you can have access to 100 unique monsters for your 5th edition games. There are a ton of illustrations and mechanics and tactics for the monsters that you're going to be throwing at your friends. There are a ton of really nifty rewards at the higher tiers, and they've already hit their goal of 5,000, so there's no risk of this project falling through. We've seen the work these guys pull off, and we know for a fact that they are going to come through with some incredibly interesting and innovative stuff for your table.

Head over to Kickstarter and search for Limitless Monsters, but hurry, because by the time you're hearing this, there will only be 18 days left to back the project. Without further ado, please enjoy the show! Previously for Group A, the party led the Orc slaves from the Nuval camp back to the Mozog clan. While the Orcs were happy to see their brothers return, there was the small matter of a previous run-in between Ubo and Aurag, the clan's enforcer and second in command. The interaction started tense and only got worse from there. Before things could come to blows, however, Gor-Kal, the Mozog leader, stepped in and invited the party to join him in his tent.

After a long chat, both sides came to an agreement that the Mozog would stop cutting westward into the forest, and there would be a ceasefire between the Orcs and the Elbs, at least until things could be figured out further. And now let's catch up with the group, as Astor and Masoka rejoin the party, and find out how the meeting went exactly. Let's do that thing! We're going around the table to introduce ourselves. I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master, going around the table to start with James. Hey, it's James, and I play Masoka, the half-elf rogue. And Xavier.

Hey, this is Xavier, and I play Donovan, the human fighter. And Michael. Hey, this is Michael, and I play Amvin, the half-elf wizard. And Kelsey. Hey, I'm Kelsey, and I play Astor Fingreal, the elven archer. And Robert. Hey, I'm Rob, I play Ubo, a half-orc druid. And Susan. Hey, I'm Susan, I play Madeline Ryoin, the human cleric. So you guys know what happened last time we sat down, and what we're going to do is we're going to skip ahead just a tiny bit to right up at the point where Astor and Masoka would be rejoining the party. This would be pretty well outside the orc encampment, far enough away that Masoka and Astor wouldn't feel too pressured by it.

So with these two rejoining the party, I would imagine there'd be a bit of an uploading conversation, just like, "Oh, yeah, here's all the stuff that happened." Yeah, Ubo certainly doesn't hesitate to share it. How would that go down? How would you... Okay, if Ubo would be the first to speak up and say, "This is what happened," how would Ubo's perception of the entire thing be? Let me go on the wayback machine here and remember that episode. Move on, Rob. Move on, you. No pressure. So, I mean, he just kind of covers it, right? Like, we brought the orcs back and they're happy about that.

And he basically got... I have his name written down here, and it is Gor-Kahl? Mm-hmm. He gets Gor-Kahl to basically agree that he'll tell the orcs to start developing away from the woods and stop bugging the elves, but then we also need to tell the elves, like, "Hey, this is a ceasefire. Let's kind of formally stop picking on each other, and maybe you guys can live like neighbors." And there's this clown and his name is Aurag. Yeah, that guy. And yeah, Aurag might be trouble, but he's not in charge right now, so we've got, like, a tentative agreement, and we need to find some way to send the message to the elves so that they get on the same page.

What would Astor's reaction be to that? Or Misoka? Well, it doesn't look like any of you had to trade any extremities for the deal, so I suppose that's a good sign. No, but really, that's good. Yeah, it's impressive, I think. We'll have to see how it goes down in the evergreen, but it's something. Mm. Did anything happen out here? Mm-mm. I don't even remember if anything happened out here. Got some buddy-buddy time, but yeah, nothing too exciting, aside from the constant sound of destruction, but, you know. Well, Astor, looks like maybe it's your time to shine now with the elves.

I mean, the humans hated me in Brightport, I'm sure the elves would hate me out here. I don't, I mean, I don't know why they'd hate you. I mean, what, just because you're half-elf? I mean, that's... In my experience, that's just how it goes. Jason, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's like, not really, like, elves aren't like super racist, right? I don't know. Eladrinar? Yeah, Eladrinar. I'm not talking about Eladrinar. Okay, it depends on what elf you're talking about. Yeah, Eladrinar, yeah, they're picky. Let's say picky about who they decide. We all know that.

It's polite racism. Right. Historically speaking, elves and drow don't get along. Yeah. And, yeah, we, I'm sure we'll be getting into that. Elves, they aren't what I'd call racist, but they are, there could be friction if they're, it's not even, it's not even that they're outwardly xenophobic or anything like that to half-elves, but you don't really belong to either world, right? Half-elves usually don't grow up in any forest or elven clans and they usually kind of get dumped off in, you know, larger cities, something like that, or small towns, and they're not quite human either.

There's always going to be kind of that blend of the two cultures. So, while most elves aren't necessarily racist, it can be a little exclusionary. Gotcha. Okay. Well, anyways, I don't think they won't look at you compared to Mr. Big and Green over here. What kind of like motion towards Ubo? Yes, you will fit in better than me. Do any of you guys speak elven perchance? Yeah, yeah, I do. I do as well. And we had Skull Splitter back at the camp. Lucky man, you missed the biggest party, you could have been at. You're going to regret this for so long. Excuse me. Uh huh.

And I was just going to like look back towards the orc camp and look at his like, party. Sure. Does he need help or? No, I'm fine. Does he need help? Donnie, are you drunk? No, man. I'm good. Did you play the drum? Yeah, I did it. He is turning green. That means it is working. Hold on, I'll be right back. And he can pierce away. Oh boy. Damn it, I could have filled up while we were there. No. Okay, well. So we need to go tell the elves about the treaty then. I mean, right now there's a ceasefire, but if they don't find out for a bit, I think there's a better chance than not that they'll end up breaking the treaty unknowingly.

There's a lot of tension. We should tell them soon. Also tell Winterhaven we brought the orcs back. They will be pleased. Then we set up ceasefire and break fingers of anyone who does violence. I was just about to say we need to tell Winterhaven. We also have some important documents to deliver that we discovered. So, okay. So Kalkaus first, then back, not north. Sounds like a plan. Yeah. Wait, which one's Kalkaus? It's the big tree. You know, we're all hiding all the unobtainium. Okay, Kalkaus is elf country. Yes. Gotcha. Proper net. Didn't we have a map? Yes, we do.

No, we don't have a map. It's in their maps. Yeah. Sure is. There. Nice. Just like- I don't need my map open anymore. Eventually delete like half of the Evergreen. Just it's gone. Not half. A third. Still a lovely forest. Most of it. All right. So is there anything you'd like to do before you set off and- Sober up, Donnie? Yeah, Astor was gonna suggest that like maybe like head further into the forest and then camp because- or just we should probably set up camp for Donovan, but they don't want to hang out too close to the oryx. They want to get away like as soon as possible.

I don't want to have a random encounter with someone drunk. Just saying. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. This is gonna be good. Yeah, so I guess we're gonna like set up camp then because yeah, that sounds good. Yes. Yeah. Can you see me drawing on the map by any chance? Yes. You can. Sweet. It's updated. Yeah, so that would be pretty much where this ork encampment is, right? That entire area? It's huge. Yes, it is. Oh no, I didn't realize it was that big. It would have taken us days to get around to the back. Well, here's the thing. This is where you would be right about now.

Like this, this, let me see if I can draw a little X. That little X right here, right? So when you were near the forest, I imagine it's just more toward the field, not in the actual forest. So that camp is very much spread out because what the orks like, they like leg room. So don't picture that large area as a big dense cluster of orks. Picture it as like, okay, this tribe is here. This tribe is here. Yeah. That type of thing. There's room between them. They intend to fill that area in and keep moving. So you guys are pretty much trying to get here. I can't see anything.

It'll update in a second. Yeah, it usually, yeah. I have to like click on the map for it to show up. It's weird. Yeah, we're just scrolling it out. Oh, there it is. Yeah, we just have to put your mouse over. Yeah, very strange. But that's pretty much where you guys are off to and that's probably a day, day and a half of travel. If because the good thing is you have a guide. You have someone who would know the area that that that particular patch of forest. So getting lost shouldn't be an issue. This is true. So sobering up is is what what I'm hearing. Yeah. Oh, I mean, it'll happen eventually as we move.

That's true. Like one of our main fighters. Like what what Astor is probably suggesting is like go ahead and move like to like from that X like towards the tree line a bit. It's like the walking probably might help with the sobering up. Masochi, can you vouch for me here? I guess this isn't the first time I fought while slightly inhibited. Right. I get it on myself. I get to handle my boots and my blade blade sometimes better. And it's always funny. If it's a life or death situation, I'd kind of prefer not funny, but hey, what's life without laughter? Life.

Listen, if we don't know, like boring. This close to the camp, I don't think anything's going to come out at us. Well, you guys cooped it up, right? We're good. What time of day is it? Is it like after dark at this point? No, no, no, no, no, no. You guys are dealing with like a like a nice afternoon type of thing. You got, you know, you got some hours a day like going. It's the 13th of yesterday, by the way. It would take us like half a day to get to the forest anyways. Right. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. So it's just like a casual stroll on. Yeah. Making camp in the afternoon doesn't really make much sense.

Right. Yeah. It's covering some ground. Yeah. So let's do that. All right. As you guys talk and walk and you're you're unwinding from a very stressful situation, which is diplomacy with those orcs. I'd imagine there's a sense of kind of a kind of a job well done because that could have went way worse. Not just because it's a very heated situation for for those people right now. But but Ubo has a not so great past with one of their leaders. So that's the fact that it ended as well as it did. There was no no no fight, no nothing like that. That's nothing to scoff at.

That is a pretty big accomplishment. So I would imagine that that's probably being discussed. And for the rest of the day, you are going to walk toward the tree line. Now, that massive tree, Kalkas is it sort of hovers above the tree line. This thing is huge. And it's easy to spot from from quite a distance. Actually, if you can see the tree line, you can see Kalkas. And after all day, you are going to you're going to you're going to reach the trees, kind of a smattering of trees before the dense forest starts. And the last light is going to start to slip away.

So night time's closing in on you guys. And it sounds like you're going to be making some camp now for a good portion of the day. Let me let me break down different qualities of liquor in Theria. If you guys went to a regular bar and you guys were just tipping back some ale, something like that, for most people, after two or three decent sized mugs, it would start getting to you, right? You'd slur a few words, you'd get tipsy, you'd relax first before that, and you'd know. And eventually you'd get to the point where you're you're pretty drunk. And obviously there are different levels of drunk.

There's the type of drunk where it's like, I should not operate a vehicle right now. And then there's the type of drunk where I don't think I could bend over and tie my own shoes without falling forward. And then there's the type of drunk where you would like people to stop spinning the room around your chair. I would say Donovan was not quite there, but it's definitely, you know, he'd take a few steps and everyone's like, OK, keep going. That type of thing. Just just lose, lose balance a little bit. And that would persist for a few hours. It really sticks with you, Skull Splitter.

But it would start to kind of subside after a while. And I'd say by nightfall, there's a bit of a headache that is that is forming kind of right in the front. So as that that pleasant tipsyness starts to fade, there's there's a pretty it's almost a stabby pain right in the middle of the forehead, kind of a little light sensitive. But that's going to start to close in. I'm going to play it cool. Good. Don't let him know you're hurting. So setting up camp. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Donovan is going to be helping with like super slowly, one hand at a time, just like it's like one like twig for the fire.

It's like tries to make the fire looks like the sticks don't stand together. Just keep falling down. I think the Soka would probably be like, you know, bugging him subtly here and there, making noise. I'm getting hurt his head. Can I ask a question? How's Maddie doing? Real quiet. Yeah. This whole time? Pretty much. Yeah. Very introspective and quiet. Hmm. I think that's a little different because I usually she's like a starting like conversation with people and like, oh, look to the horizon. But now it's just like silence. I feel like it's been established that if there's some particular hardship or something facing the party, Maddie would be the first one to sort of jump in.

It's like, hey, it's all part of a monitor's plan. That type of thing. Oh, yeah. That's OK. OK, so at least the absence of that would probably be noticed by someone. She may she mentions a monitor at least five times a day. Oh, man. He's good potatoes. Thank a monitor. Right. Exactly. Look at the weather. Thank a monitor. So let's say there's a there's a nice crackling fire. It's it's it's the evenings are still pretty cool right now. So it's it's it's perfect bonfire weather, right? You got the fire going. There's probably some seating around there. Is there anything anybody would like to talk about or do while you guys are making camp for the evening?

I'd say Anvin goes up to Astor. And how long has it been since you've returned? It's been a while for me. You mean Kalkos? Yeah. I mean, it hasn't been that long since I've left. I mean, I'll be honest, Winterhaven and this was the first thing I've done since leaving. You you've been there. Yes. My father is there. Really busy. He's he's just a pretty important guy, but he's always busy. OK, but really important. What do you mean? Like specifics? Come on, man. I probably mean he's up there like I'm curious. I really want to get into it right now. Unfortunately, just I see him every so often and I know I know I know he's past you every time I was going to go up and see him.

So, yeah, I mean, I think I think I kind of recognize you. I mean, no offense, but with the whole ropes and stuff, you kind of stand out a bit there. This is where I was hoping my height would play and and you wouldn't notice me. Yeah. So is it something we should be concerned about that? I mean, I'd like should it affect anything or do you just like want to keep it on the down low that you've been there? I think I prefer to keep it on the down low right now. So I probably won't be as visible. I guess I should say when I'm there. OK, you said it's been a while.

Like how long, Jason? You trying to think time wise? OK, because it'd be the event after Winterhaven and like the end of the last arc was probably when I did that. And then I was back in Winterhaven. Oh, yeah, there's there was definitely some downtime after after helping Malchus out. His name gets clear. You pretty much it's it's kind of vacation time, I would imagine. Yeah. So it's probably still been almost two years ish, depending on how long you've stayed. Yeah. Yeah. I think as soon as that event and everything got cleared, it'd be, hey, go say what's up.

And then it's the next next proving grounds. So, yeah, about two years then. OK. Yeah, I'd say it's it's been wow. Already two years. Did you miss it? What? Kalkas? Yeah, I mean, the evergreen, the forest. I don't stay very long when I come to visit. I usually stay for a day or two and then maybe three. Then then I usually end up leaving. So it's usually very short stays. Yeah, I guess we're kind of in opposite boats that I'm only been con, not even a whole month. And I'm ready to be back. Well, I'll let you take the lead here. Yeah, I mean, that's because I know usually great.

Great. I just wanted to kind of have you aware. How was it for you with the whole orc thing? I mean, I know Ubo was Ubo, but for everyone else. It went surprisingly well, I think. I mean, I didn't know what they were saying. Ubo was Ubo had to translate for me. So I hope the words got, you know, messed up and messed up between. But it seems to be working out. I have the confidence in Ubo. So are you going to be on official Winterhaven in regards to the evergreen then or if you want to hang back, I guess? I'll make sure, you know, I can still talk in certain areas.

I'll just make sure if he's there or not. Hopefully he's out on a mission or something. Sorry about putting you in a difficult situation with this. Like we said, we're all recovering here. Yeah, I'm I'm eventually hoping to be headed. It's not going to be an easy place for me to go back to either. So I get it. But hey, we're just kind of dropping by to deliver word and then we'll be gone again. So, yeah, no worries. And even if we do have an uncomfortable run in for you, we'll all be here. And shouldn't be too bad. Yeah, it'll be fine. It'll be fine. Who knows, maybe Donovan will sober up by then.

We can only hope. And then Evan heads back to the, I guess, I don't know if we were sitting around the fire where we were, but he returns to where he was and pulls out his notebook. How would Ubo be doing right now? I mean, really, Ubo is just kind of on the job, I guess, you know, going into elf country is kind of out of his element. But certainly he's he's glad that there's going to be an opportunity here to sort of give the orcs room to grow. So, you know, if that means getting a little chatty with the elves, that's what it takes. Then maybe that's what we do.

So, yeah, he's he's just kind of doing his stuff and preparing to bed down for the night. He's not I would say he's not giving it too deep a thought. OK, I didn't know if he would feel as uneasy going into the evergreen to speak to the elves as Astor would have going into the orc encampment to speak with the orcs. It's kind of a thing where he's used to pretty much everyone in civilized society, like a bad mouthing him. Yeah, like it's it's like, oh, OK, we're going to go somewhere else where people, you know, think I'm a moron or whatever, like. So one's as good as the other.

Yeah, it's kind of par for the course in certain respects. So it's a thing that he doesn't like, but that he's accustomed to. Right. OK. If anyone has anything else they'd like to do, have at it. One quick aside with the Masoka and he's going to gesture to like move away from the camp a little bit to have a private conversation. OK, you'll follow. Cool. Listen, man, I'll make this brief and only answer with soft yes or no's. But what what what did you do to Mandy, man? Did you make her? Did you make her kill that dude? What? No. Donnie, come on. I mean, I don't I, I get I get your whole vibe, but like, don't like don't push people beyond their limits, like if they don't want to do it.

Donnie, come on. You know me. I offered to kill the guy, OK? She wanted to do it. Who am I to say no? All right. Well. I'm not saying it was the best decision, but I wasn't going to argue with her at the time. All right, well, that's that's that's good. Well, I'll I'm sorry I accused you. Please keep it down and only yes or no's. I'll go talk to her. OK, OK, but be. Adequate with your words. Be careful, man. Donnie, it's me. Come on. Yeah. Hey, I'm sorry, I yelled. I'm drunk. Don't tell the others. Don't get done. And he'll kind of like tap them on the side of the head.

I'll kill you. I'll fucking kill you. You know, this this is the perfect time to discuss this. Remember how I said you have a headache kind of coming on, creeping up? Well, imagine your headache on a scale of one to four. Oh, oh. And I say imagine your headache on a scale of one to four, because I'd like you to roll four, six. And then your head explodes like scanners like that. Well, one is just kind of a dull like it'll last a couple of hours, just kind of a dull like, oh, man, just turn off the lights and just leave me alone type of thing to. It gets a little more intense.

Three, a four is going to be you just terrible, terrible headache that just you're just a nasty migraine that doesn't go away for six to eight hours. Well, let's see. Let's see. Let's hope for a one. Hey, all right. So what? Yeah, it's a one. So this is just going to be kind of a dull throbbing headache, just kind of like, OK, let's just keep it down your standard hangover thing. But it's going to last like two or three hours and then it's going to slowly fade away and you'll probably get a pretty decent night's sleep. All right. Is Maddie sitting around the fire?

Yes. OK, so go walk up to the fire. I'm sure she's sort of like lost in thought or whatever. Yeah. Staring into the flames. OK. You're like, hey, Maddie, full moon tonight. Would she look up? Yeah. She's like, huh? So he'll be mooning her. Oh, my God. What? So, OK, let's take a step back. So you have this heart to heart with Donovan. Hey, you know, just don't. Hey, I'm going to go talk to her. It's fine. And your opening gambit is to pull your pants down. Yeah. OK, just OK. Is this like just in the camp? Like in the. Yeah, he doesn't care. OK. It's beautiful, isn't it? And you'll notice he's very hairless.

You know, we're in the back of the camp. He's trying to make her laugh. Yeah, but from the back of the camp again, you're like, oh, I pulled down too far. Astor just like covers their face. What the fuck? Maddie puts her hand to her forehead like Susan's doing right now. Oh, a monitor. Yeah, it's something. And then she'll look away like she was shocked for a second and look away like, is this really happening? Well, he'll be proud, lucky. Yeah, it's something. And he'll pull his pants up and comes to tell me sooner. One one moment. OK. I don't want to interrupt.

Miss, I could do me a favor. Roll a roll a flat detail for what? What is I want to register as quality? I want to know. I want to paint a picture for the folks at home. That's what we do. Oh, yeah. OK. So Masocha has not skimped on the squats like he's like he's like he has done some he's done some shaping and toning. This is this is nice. This is a seven out of ten. Like this is this is pretty quality. The above average. Yeah, it's an above average. No, I don't think she does, but you know it's for you. Yes, I know. I'm I'm even more proud now. So he'll come sit down like.

Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood. Oh, how you doing? Because it was nothing to him. He's just this is all normal. I don't think Maddy would know how to respond because neither does Susan. So she probably is like looking back into the fire with her mouth slightly agape. OK. And then she'll go. I'm I'm OK. OK, you've been you know, you've been quiet. I'm I'm concerned, you know, because. Was that your first one? First one, you know, the you know, like, you know, fingers over his neck. She's got to look down at her hands. No, I I fought in the war on Overwatch.

So I've seen and put a lot of bodies in the ground. Yeah, I only heard about that, but. It sounded pretty bad. It's probably worse than you can imagine. Fire's not a good way to die. Yeah, you know, I kind of feel bad because I've I've been in Brightport my whole life doing stupid shit. It's the first time I've been out here and I feel like maybe I could have been doing something better. She's got a side to you. She's been really tense and kind of like a monitor has us all on a path. Even if you don't even if you don't believe in that, we just deal with the cards we're dealt.

I'm sure you did the best you could. I actually I grew up in a place called a monitor's light, actually an orphanage. It was anything but. Loving or I don't know. I don't even know what a monitor stands for, to be honest, because I kind of just hated the name. She's going to like do that thing where you pull your face back and give like that quizzical look. Really? I'm sorry. Please don't take offense. It's just. No, it's not that it's it's that an orphanage of a monitor. Could be. Could be a bad place. I, I was taken in by the church when I was a kid, so it it's strange to me that.

An orphanage in Brightport could be any different from one in Aubrey that's run by the same church. You you've been to bright for much. No, I farthest west, I've been astonished. Farthest east. Directions. It's. It's not a nice place. It's corrupt. I'm pretty sure. A monitor's light was a front for Silverclaw or something like that. You know, we were just. We were just things making the money, something like that. But whatever, I mean, you know, I'm I'm OK. I'm I'm sorry that anything bad happened to you in the name of a monitor. I'm sorry. No, no, I'm I'm I'm just happy now that maybe you can share with me what what it really means.

She's going to. There's going to be like a sad look that crosses her face and then she's going to say it's about light and hope and how things could always get brighter. Well, I mean, I I always hoped to get out of report and and here I am, you know, with you. Maybe a monitor sent you to me so I could show you what it's about. But I haven't done a very good job, have I? I I killed that man, not out of mercy. I and she's going to get a little quieter, so it's just between us. I killed him out of rage. I didn't know that hatred lived in my heart. Look, I mean, we all have a balance of good and bad.

I mean, that guy was a slaver. He was scum. If you didn't do it, I was going to do it, but I've gone out into Theria to shed light and show second chances. And then when faced with something she faced with something I deem evil, I just I just give in to the darkness. I. I'm not proud. I I don't feel. But I have done a monitor proud. Well, I don't know about that, but. I mean, you made the world a little bit safer. A lot of people could have been ending up slaves with that guy. But I'm not a God to cast judgment. I. And what scares me the most? I would do it again.

And I there's something in me that just wants to track down all slavers. Well, why do you see that as a bad thing? Because someone taught you to. Because my entire life, light and hope and second chances. Or something I believed in. And now I'm casting judgment like I'm I have that right. Well, who's to say you're not doing a monitor as well? I don't think a monitor would like slavers running around. I don't think. Any of us want slavers running around? I mean, the orcs, your friend Ubo. You're doing good things for them. But it's not an altruistic feeling.

This is. I want to kill. Slavers not to do good. But to get revenge. And that's not. That's that's not a monitor's way. I'm sure you've noticed. I have a broken nose. Sometimes I stumble on my left leg every once in a while. I was a slave. I. I was bought by the church of a monitor. They freed me. But I was asleep. And I was not in good shape when they got me. I was recovering for months. Along with my sister. I'm really sorry, Maddie. That's. That's awful. So that's why this feeling scares me. Because it's not to spread good or bring justice. It's for revenge. I really wish I had the answer you want, but.

I mean, like I said, I would have done it. I think it's OK if we take out some of the bad guys to make this a better place. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I appreciate your words. But I think I need to find a way to calm this hatred in my heart. And I need to. I need more than anything to feel right with a monitor again. Is there a temple or something? I don't know how it works. It's a I could go to a temple. There's one in Winter Haven and there's one in Aubrey. I feel like this is more of a personal journey I need to take. Sure. Yeah, for sure.

I just want you to be good. You know, she's going to like because you're sitting right next door. Right. Yeah. She's going to grab this. OK, it's like forearm and like squeeze and say thank you. I just talking has really helped. And she'll let go of his arm. I think for like a split second when she grabbed his arm, his eyes would like widen. But like just for a second. But he'll say, yeah, anything that he really anything. Anything you need. Please just just ask. Mattie will do a half smile and say thank you. And then she'll look back towards the fire. All right.

I'll let you get some sleep. How's about everyone get some sleep here and we're going to kick things off for the 14th of ESD. Now, you don't have a full day of travel, but you got to get ready and go through these woods. Who would like to do me a favor and roll a flat D 20. This turn is it? Oh, there we go. Oh, look at that. I shouted boom when I did it and my mic was muted. Noted. Well, let's get ready and get this party on the road. Done. I had a little bit of a hard time falling asleep, but after the headaches subsided, I would I would imagine it was pretty much smooth sailing.

Trekking through these woods. I'm going to guess that it's asked her leading the charge here. Yeah, for sure. Since you have all been a party. This is the smoothest that travel has been. It's actually very shaded because of the forest. It's a gorgeous weather out. There's no time limit of tracking down these orcs and Astor seems to know the way perfectly. Everything is pretty much coming up roses. You guys are doing a great job. So about part way through the day, I'd say one or one or two somewhere in there. You guys are taking taking a bit of a break and grabbing some water, refilling canteens by this river.

Let's see here. Everyone do me a favor. Give me a perception check. Oh, no, it's too bright. There it gets to your phrase. All right. Oh, that's about right. Yeah. Okay. I'm not used to grabby perception rules. You're a commoner now. So getting everything together, you guys are going to have a little meal, kind of break out mess kits and stuff like that. And this is that that midday break. You know, you got hours to go before you're at your destination, but you are dead in the middle of this forest. And Maddie's going to spot something now through this forest.

So far, you've spotted numerous plants and wildlife and stuff like that, probably stuff you don't get a chance to see while you're on the road. Normally, this is a gorgeous forest and it's so heartbreaking that it's been marred by tragedy recently and greed and such. But for the most part, when you're in here, you kind of forget about all that. The outside world just seems to melt away. And throughout the day, you're going to pass a lot of things that would be landmarks on the road and stuff. But you're going to pass this cave. It's going to be kind of an offshoot from where you are.

And normally a cave like this wouldn't stand out so much, but you're going to spot what looks to be some sort of decoration or something like that. Something has marked this cave specifically. I'm guessing what it is in my mind, but Maddie spots it. Yep. So she's still introspective today, but she seems a little lighter. So I guess that's why she's like more present and looking around. And she'll say to Aster, "What's that?" and point at the cave. Does Aster recognize the cave? Maybe not so much the cave, but the decoration outside of it. So the decoration outside of it would essentially tell others that this area is...

A nicer way of saying off limits. It's like, look, out of respect, just kind of leave this area alone. We don't want anybody building anything in it or taking anything from it, that type of thing. Not quite a crypt, not quite a burial tomb, something like that, but it is kind of, let's just leave everything the way we found it and walk on, that type of thing. And on the outside of it, there's going to be a few carvings. And a lot of it is in elven script, that type of thing, which would be to Aster. But below all that, there's going to be this white raven carving at the bottom.

Hmm. Geez. How recent are the markings? Weather's gotten to it a little bit, but... It's not ancient. No, not at all. Not even. Interesting. Okay. So, Aster will kind of get up and go look at them. Yeah, that's... Huh, so it's kind of sane to leave this thing alone. And then, I mean, I don't know, like how are the white ravens pretty like commonly known? Oh, to the elves? Oh, yeah. Okay. I should also note that this is not... It's pretty much regarded that anything in the forest sort of, it sounds pompous, but it sort of belongs to the elves. Yeah. So to have this section sort of roped off, think of like, oh, this is Velvet Road, and oh, this is the VIP lounge type of thing.

Don't go in here. It's kind of curious. It's not common at all. Yeah, so they're kind of like caulking their head a bit and like, so something related to the white ravens, but this is kind of weird. Would the rest of the group show an interest in this if you see two people sort of talking about it? So, we're going in? I mean, it says we're not supposed to, but... Well, don't say that. Masoko's just gonna go even faster. He's already on the way. Like, Astar was already kind of like waffling because they're really curious, but I mean, we can just like see what it's about.

It looks like it's old enough that maybe there's no one still there, but just yeah, I want to go see. All right, let's go check out a cave. Maddie's gonna look to Ubo and shrug, like I guess we're in for the ride too. And literally says on the door, keep out. We don't know that. I mean, I thought it was like, Emon was like writing and following and then like now he just like turns and someone else is moving. Like, oh wait, how do we end up in this cave? This guy's still down in his notes. I lost my light. What's going on? Donovan's gonna dust off his elven and as he approaches the entrance, just gonna say hello in elven.

And I guess he would sound like he's got this bright board accent when he speaks elven. This bright board accent. Not a cop. Are we establishing canonically that bright board is Boston? Are we doing this? Quick, what is hello in elven? Oh, Christ, I'd have to look it up. Good to hear that. This is interesting. So one, it's going to be it's going to get dark quickly. If you're if you're walking into this cave, and it's it's really interesting because this is the most lived in cave system that any of you would have ever seen. I mean, people make camp in caves all the time, even though it's it's kind of a dangerous practice because the first thing that's that's claimed in forests and things like this is cave systems by animals, usually bears and wolves, things like that that'll that are looking to get out of weather.

And, you know, you could run into some nasty things just to name a few things like goblins, things like that. But this definitely is not that people lived here. And you could tell instantly because one, there's all sorts of torches and stuff lined up on the wall. Obviously, none of them are lit. But that right off the bat is a tip off that people were in here for the long haul. And if you were to continue going down this this cavern system, you're going to see bits of cloth and deeper and you're going to see little little crates and such. And there's going to be this looks like there was an offshoot to the right that looks like a caved in or there's some sort of accident, something like that.

But it's just piled to the brim with rubble. It's completely inaccessible. But the pathway to the left continues onward. Is it something the party would like to do is to continue going forward? Yeah. Can we investigate? Like, can we hear anything or... If you'd like to run an investigation check, that'd be my guess. There was no callback after Donovan shouted into the cavern, just echoes. Yeah, I'd love to just roll an investigation. You're probably good at that. I am not. That's not bad. That's not bad. So remember how I said there were crates and things like that?

There's spoiled food and there's bits and pieces of cloth. There's droplets of blood that have dried here and there. And if you were to sort of take a guess, it looks like that there could have been people squatting against the cavern here, you know, pretty thick like this place may have been chock full of people at one point, some of them very injured or sick. And it looks like people had clothing get caught on jagged bits of rock or maybe they were using it as some sort of tourniquet, something like that. There's going to be a lot of cloth just soaked in blood and the entire area has a smell about it.

And I'd imagine you guys being adventurers for the most part, everyone's had to duck into a cave at some point. And sometimes it runs the gamut. Sometimes it just smells a little musty, something like that. Some some caverns end up being very, very wet, moist places, kind of a wet basement smell. This is different. This is, um, there's a, you're going to smell a lot of familiar stuff if you've been to dungeons or you've been to areas where you can smell, you could smell a lot of metallic objects, things like that, like stockpiles of weapons. And some of these crates are actually going to have, you know, axes and swords, not of the best quality.

Looks like some of these were maybe hastily fashioned. Some of them actually have the Overwatch branding, the old Overwatch insignia. As we look around here, Ubo's just kind of looking it over and unimpressed and just kind of turns to the party in general and says, whatever was worth hiding here is gone now. This is left behind. Garbage. I agree. This is to be back when some Overwatch maybe as a safe storage for maybe like a checkpoint. But I think we do have a more important mission. We will let down. How far does it look like the cave goes? It looks like this could stretch on for a while.

The one thing I would say is that those torches seem to go on. So it looks like it wasn't just the, the initial opening that people made their home in. It looks like they maybe even ran out of room in the cavern and had to put people there. Does anyone have a magical means of lighting multiple torches at once? I don't think so. You manifest a minor wonder, a sign of supernatural power within range up to 30 feet. I was going to say Ubo can produce flame at will as an attack and it says he can hold it or throw it so he can generate it from himself, but he can't like, I guess he can't just like pass them out, you know?

Let's go back to, let's go back to Maddie's suggestion here. I'd say in the area that you're standing in, if you'd like to cast that, I'd say all the torches on the walls near you within 30 feet would sort of light at once. What was said in character? So I feel like Anvin probably was like, hey, like we got something more important and Astor is kind of looking down the hallway like, oh, they're really curious about all this. Trying to see like, is it too far that we need to just leave and go on or? I guess then Maddie will pick up on that and just like touch the wall and then do the doo doo doo doo.

They all light up. Astor probably chokes a bit at that. Turns my grill. I did that. I did that. Oh, okay. Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you. Oh, that's awesome. That's really cool. Oh, man. So how far down does it go then? I'm guessing past 30 feet. Yeah, but you're going to, you're definitely going to get a glimpse of what this actually looks like now. And there's all kinds of art sort of decorating the walls, almost like cave drawings. I mean, technically, I guess they are cave drawings, but it looks like a lot of children maybe past their time here. Just sort of drawing into the rock.

And it looks like this, if you were to follow it, it looks like the the cavern sort of winds around and slightly downward. Okay, well, when they see the drawings, Astor is going to kind of like walk towards and they're just going to like run their fingers over the markings in the wall, looking at all of that and kind of walking forward. Well, yeah, Donovan is going to show interest to as soon as he sees like there's something on the walls to look at, like you said, art too, or just like just those drawings on the wall? The drawings on the wall would definitely be a little lower.

Okay. Like a child height type of thing. But yeah, that's that's mostly what's on the walls. Okay, like it's decorated really cool. Yeah, so maybe mild interest. How, how wide is the cavern? I'd say it's about 25 to 30 feet wide at any given point. It's it's definitely you could see where people would get claustrophobic living here. Okay. But if you were to follow this down, it opens up a bit in spots. And there's there's like sometimes 50 to 60 feet, something like that. Do me a favor roll a perception check. I just want to state that if we're still walking down every 30 feet, Maddie will cast Thaumaturgy because it's a cantrip.

Okay. I think too, as soon as the light came on, Masoka would have been like rummaging through crates looking for anything that is shiny or okay. No, no, no, no. Okay, if he's doing that, I mean, is he being like sneaky about it? No, I don't think because he doesn't really need to be. Okay. So when he starts doing that, Astor is gonna like, no, leave everything in here alone. Why? This place is clearly abandoned. Yeah, but it's been marked. We don't mess with the stuff. I mean, you see this was like, I'm guessing this is where refugees from the Overwatch or something related to the White Ravens.

This is this isn't ours to mess with. I don't think there's anything valuable in here anyways. Just leave it well enough alone. So you don't think there is something valuable. We can't take it anyway, but you want to go even more in the cave. I want to see just a little bit further and they're kind of looking down at the drawings. Astor. People's lives were here and... What are you concerned about? What, you mean in regards to Masoka or? This cave. I mean, I'm not concerned. I just, I want to see a little bit. People lived and probably died in here and no one else is gonna see.

It's just to recognize a bit. Just to see any, I don't... It's a weird thing to care about, but we need you to lead us. So let's get it done. That roll is legit, by the way. Wait, what's... The slide of hand. Okay. Everyone's like, perception, perception, perception. So it's like, slide of hand. Okay, also it's like, I did get a crit 20 on perception. Let's deal with that in just a moment. Let's deal with that in just a moment. Oh no, I got a rusty dagger, guys. I'm gonna be so rich. Going through these, well, okay. Like, every once in a while I'm kind of checking out, because not all this stuff is covered and a lot of it's sort of, there's sort of some dust or just general cave filth type of thing on it.

And again, a lot of this is just spoiled food rations, that type of thing, dried meats that have gone bad. Every once in a while you'll find like a little weapons cache or something like that, or bits of jewelry. But as you go deeper into this place and you round that bend that I was saying, this hallway opens up quite a bit. And there's going to be a door to the right. And that is significant for a few different reasons, because up until this point you'll see caverns open up into what could be classified as small rooms. And you could definitely see where people have made makeshift beds of straw and, you know, cloth burlap type things just to try and make this as comfy as possible.

You could see where several people were bunked up in a room at a time. But this is the first door that you've encountered, and it's very makeshift. It's made of several splintered pieces of wood, but it does sort of form a door and it's going to be on the right side. And this one is very specifically labeled. It's the same White Raven's insignia, but the elven word for forbidden... He's clearly marking the door above it. Okay, so when Astor sees that, they're just going to kind of stop and just like... I assume this... Okay, so this whole thing is kind of odd, like you said, like the markings before White Raven's sign.

Oh, yeah. Same like just like outright forbidden. That's definitely weird, right? Very. That's not common. Okay. Yeah, so Astor's just going to kind of stop and just stare at that and they're kind of not sure what to do. Donovan is going to nod you and say, "Better check it for traps." I don't know. Clearly torn. Well, we came down here to find out something. If we leave now, we found out nothing. I guess just... Arcana? Yeah, hit me with an Arcana check. Mmm. Mmm. Look at that. Feels good to have above 14 or 10 for once. God, I felt that. You're like, "Yeah." Solid.

There is no magical protection whatsoever on this door. Of course. All right, guys, come on. What does it say? No, Misoka is allowed. Does it really? Eivin like closes his eyes and then opens his M. I don't sense anything. There's no magic. Well, that's good, so... But don't touch anything. This could be really bad or something else. Are things usually forbidden in elven culture? Astra just kind of shakes their head wide. Very weird. I mean, I'm not usually one to back down from something, but this is giving me pause. Look, this is probably for the children. From when back, there were people living here to keep them outside of this door.

We're adults. We can handle it. But if it was Overwatch, I would imagine it would be in common, but this is written in elven. Yeah, this is White Raven. I mean, this isn't anything related to Overwatch. Okay, just be careful. Keep an eye out in case it's forbidden, is in danger. But yeah, let's go. I'm going to say one more thing. Yeah. Remember how Anven kind of reached out and was trying to see if there's anything magical protecting the door? Anything like that? Uh-huh. So we've established in Theria that there's sort of a Geiger counter that people with a connection to magic can try to tap into.

And while there's nothing at this door, facing the door to Anven's left, like further into this cavern, there's something. Oh, fuck. There's definitely something. There's almost a pull. It's like, "Whoa, okay, nothing at this door, but..." And it probably takes a few moments to get... Like echo location, like it hit this, nothing. And it's like, "Oh darn." It's one of those things where it's such big mojo, it would probably take a couple of seconds to like, "Oh, whoa." Like that type of thing. I'm getting flashes from my past life. This is just the janitor's closet. [Laughter] Magical bucket.

Would you say it's like the way we came or like it'd be through this door? No, no. This is, if you picture it, this is very much in a hallway where it's just on your right as you're walking down. Like there's more to this cavern, but it's like, this is the first door, which is strange. And it's clearly marked to stay out, which is strange. And yeah. Okay, so there's more we could go and search. I mean, sure. So there is something big here. Oh. It's, uh, I kind of point in the direction that I felt it, uh, pulling me. In that direction, would you say it's like a, Jason, would you say it's a, uh, like overwhelming, like powerful feeling or like...

If, um, okay. Think of it as a Geiger counter type of thing. So you're, you're measuring whether it's like, okay, how, if I feel something, how big is it? What kind of threat is it? Something like that. This is kind of off the charts, just like, like you're, you're feeling something or something of magical quality in that direction. And it's powerful. It's over 9000. Got it. So whatever that is that way, I don't think we got to go anywhere near it. I even feel overwhelmed in, I don't know, we're pretty, it's far enough away, but it's still pretty big. I don't recommend us.

I'm already feeling a little bit smaller than I am. Okay. Well, I mean, let's at least open the door and maybe there's some papers or something. Let's not go. Let's just look to see. That sounds really bad, but I'm also really curious what kind of major magic thing has been under the forest this whole time. Don't get me wrong. I would love to add this to my notes, but I would like this to somehow make sure we exit with my notes alive and packed. Yeah, no, they're going to open the door and look in. This door is going to open with a creek. And it's when I say makeshift, I mean, makeshift.

There's ropes sort of tied into a portion of carved rock that are holding these, these splinters of wood, both lashed together and then to almost like a makeshift hinge. And this is going to open very easily. And it opens up into a room, probably like a, like a 15 by 15 room, not, not large at all. And there's a few things that are going to be apparent right away to anyone that steps in. Who would step in? Astor. Johnny. Ubo just kind of crosses his arms and waits like this is some big waste of time. And Vins just chilling, sitting where standing where he is just basically wanting to keep a read on everything.

I would imagine that's a huge distraction to pull from. Yeah. He's like, that's cool. You guys go just don't die. I'm going to stand right here. Maddie would probably go in, not cause she's like, Oh, I want to see what this is more. So like someone should probably protect them in case. So she's actually going to put a hand on her weapon. Walking into this room, you could tell that this was a single person that very much lived in this room. That's going to stand out for a couple of reasons because one rooms in a, in a cavern or would be at a premium if you have tons of people stocked up on top of each other, finding a single space for one person is pretty rare to this place had a door on it, which is also weird.

And three, it's the way this room is decorated. There's going to be the same makeshift bed in the corner and lots of dark clothing. It looks like maybe these people were sneaking around a lot or trying to hide something like that. Just the way they lived is pretty evident of that. Lots of torn kind of tattered clothing. That same insignia is going to be around a lot. And there's going to be carvings on the wall. Remember how you saw the artwork out in the caverns themselves? These are going to be names. All around this room, starting with a single point across from the bed on the wall are going to be names.

Hundreds of names and next to them are dates. And as you look around the room, all of these are going to be in the same handwriting. Every time you see a name, you're going to see a date. Sometimes clusters of them all at once. Sometimes weeks would go by without an entry, but every single one of these names has a date next to them. And it wraps around the room almost like someone in prison ticking off days with hash marks. Until you get to the end. And there is one last name recorded, and that's Brianna Ebelmare. But it's in different handwriting. And it's dated about two and a half years ago.

Oh fuck! Is that name well known? With... yeah, that's pretty well known with the elves. Okay, yeah, Astar just... fuck. They almost deflate a bit. They were on edge and that just whooshes out of them almost. Oh fuck. Oh wow. Oh, we... oh. What is it? Q, does this make sense to you? This... They're looking at all the names just everywhere and I think I know who's room this was. Do you know about the White Ravens? Ubo just shakes his head no. I don't know if I'm close enough to you guys because I'm outside. I think you guys are... I don't know how... I mean, Astar would have been saying that to everyone.

Yeah. I've heard a lot. I never knew her. Yeah. I mean, for Astar to kind of nod towards Ubo, I just don't know how much you know about the Overwatch, but they are pretty much the reason that it fell. And the person who owned this room was their leader. So she is good then. Was. She's... They're kind of motioning towards the name on the wall. I mean, wait, Jason, so is it kind of common knowledge that she's dead then? Well, it depends on how close you follow all that history. Okay. It's one of those things. If you live in the Evergreen, yeah, that's common knowledge.

Okay, gotcha. Yeah. She... She's not alive anymore. She was really brave. And I mean, she led an entire rebellion. Clearly that had a lot of weight behind it. Cool. So we're standing in a big cave shaped tombstone. Let's get the hell out of here. Getting to creeps. Yeah, it's... Emon's head points towards the source. Yeah, let's go. Where's the magic though? Where's the big magic? I was promised some big magic. I think we'd be best if we avoided it this time. I would love to come back when I feel like we could take it on. As much as I want to record this. One of the things you learn when I do a Nero is, when is too much.

You enjoy when you learn how to tap into this. When you should stop, otherwise you could hurt yourself or others. I... This... This would hurt all of us. But I then take out my notebook and write roughly where we are and directions like, "I am coming back for this when I can." And shut my book. The ravens had a base here and there's no way that no one in Kal'Koz knows about it. Someone has to. We can ask when we get there. How do you know that's not good magic? We don't know, we don't care. I'm gonna take a leak, I'll be out of this cave. I'll see you in the entrance.

I do want to say that when everybody steps out of the room, creeped out or something, Maddie's gonna actually take a moment and say a prayer. 'Cause these are obviously names of the fallen. And she probably fought with some of the names on there. So she's just gonna take a moment, say a prayer, and then reverently close the door. 'Cause she was probably the last person out. Uba will briefly look at Ambin and say, "You said the big magic you feel. It's too much, but children lived here, yes?" Seems like it may be something rather- "Why was it okay to keep children near the big magic?" Good point.

Seems like a new resident. Maybe after it was emptied, he decided to take up residence here. Some of you seem very... what is word? This place makes you feel strong feelings. We can walk away and keep going to Elf Tree. Or we can walk further and see the next thing. And if that thing is okay, we walk further and see the next thing. And each time we see a thing, we decide if it is too much. We walked in here, and you all feel very strong feelings. It would be bad to walk away now. Wait, so Jason, is there a path leading further in, or was that- Oh yeah. Whoa, okay.

Oh, dang. Well, if the orc's gonna say we should go on, I'm not gonna say no to that. You looked in the room, you say, "Oh, big important person was here." You feel with magic sense, you say, "Oh, big important magic is here." Then you say, "Okay, we leave and go to Elf Tree. That makes no sense." Yeah, he has a point. We walk a little more down this path. We see something, we say, "Do we keep going, or is this thing bad?" Each time we say yes, we go more. Nobody die. I like you. Or okay. (laughter) You're gonna grin at that. Ubo, when you were growing up, I'm sure you were met upon many, many stronger orc than you.

Have you ever been in front of an orc so strong that you knew you could not fight him? There was a time I did not know Aurag was stronger than I was. Then Aurag hit me. This magic has not hit me. We go a little more. We see how hard the magic hits. While they've been talking, Astor's already started walking down the cave. Amven holds his arm out as like, "Follow me," and then under his breath mutters, "Hopefully it'll take more than just one hit," and walks forward. No one breaks a mountain in one hit. And Ubo just nods resolutely and then walks. By the way, Amven feels like he's got lead boots on.

Did Donovan leave? I'm gonna roll with it. Oh no! I forgot! I think I have to. I can't just do both. No, I gotta roll with it. This is probably gonna hit you, right? No, he would've said in a manner like, "No, you know what? I'm gonna be outside. That's cool." He was thinking that you decided not to, and then didn't hear Ubo. So, respectfully, away from the carving, the writing on the entrance, he's gonna take a leak. And then he's just gonna wait. No, no, no. Like, in the, like, crubs. You sure Masoka wouldn't go after him? I feel like if Masoka found out that we're leaving, I mean going in, he'd be like, "Oh, Donnie wouldn't want to miss this." Also, I feel like after like ten minutes, he'd be like, "What's the matter?" Well, let's see how long you guys go.

But he would roll with it. I'm fine with that. I'll, uh, I won't even think anything of it. Donnie's a big boy. Alrighty then. So, Masoka. I didn't forget about you. Oh, that roll. Yeah, that roll. That was a really good sleight of hand check. Thank you. While you were in that room with the door, you're gonna palm something. I would like you to roll a 1d10. And I have ten objects here. Oh my god, it's so sweet. So, you're gonna roll a d10 and whatever pops up, that is going to be a personal effect from this room that you are going to swipe. Oh my god. That's a d8.

Oh, sorry. Oh, no problem. Yeah, he rolled a d8 earlier for the butt thing, but he's got high, so it's okay. That's canon. Like dumb. Same number. Same number, wow. Destiny. Now, obviously you're probably not gonna look at it right now. It's gonna be a thing where you're like, "And yoink." And you're just gonna grab it. It's all about the act of stealing. It doesn't matter what I steal. Right. We'll get into it later. Okay. So you guys are gonna keep going. Unfortunately. So every 30 feet, Patty's going to sort of spread her arms. These torches are gonna light. And every time you do that, your eyes kind of readjust and there's gonna be more carvings and drawings, things like that, and more portions where the cavern sort of deviates or opens up.

And there's just so many places where you can tell people squirreled away. And there's all these little bed situations. You could just tell this place was not only lived in, but lived in for a while and hundreds of people. So for a long time, that's what you're gonna see moving into this cavern. And then finally, the cavern's gonna open up to a large room toward the end here. And Amven's definitely gonna piece together. It's like, okay, we're up. We're on it. This is whatever was going on. This is where it's coming from. What would you say to the rest of the party?

It's here. I'd be looking around trying to pinpoint. Should I do another Arcana? Sure. There we go. Oh, I thought that was the one at first. It's above average. Well, here's the thing. Obviously, this pull, this draw is coming from this room. It's beyond a shadow of a doubt. It's just that Amven's understanding of it is going to be a little fuzzy. And if Matty lights torches in this room, that sort of lines almost, sort of hexagon almost circular the way this room is, but it's huge. And in the middle of this room, there's going to be this really strange thing.

There's almost a dais or stand. It's really large. It's large enough for all of you to sort of stand on around. And then it's a little raised in the center. And then there's this standing stone circle, like a ring, just in the middle of this room. And there's going to be bits of carving and such all over it. But there's something about this. Someone held this in high regard, or has definitely been around it for a long time, because all around this room, there's going to be evidence of someone basically living in this room. So I'd say as soon as he realizes it's not like someone living here that's super powerful, where he's like, researcher Amven is kicking in.

And so he goes up to the dais and starts looking it over and be careful first not to touch anything, but like looking it over, looking for his symbols, looking for anything and then running over to the circle, looking at it. Like basically running across the room and then starting to take notes. Like, what is this? Ubo just kind of crosses his arms and says, "Nothing punched us. Aren't you glad you came?" Hey, hey, hey, hey, Amven, magic boy, what is this thing? Amven looks up with a grin on his face because it's a big awesome power, not going to kill us.

I don't know. Okay, so you don't know and you seem a lot more sure about the not going to kill us thing than you were like two seconds ago. Yeah, we, yeah, it's, I was afraid of either a magical beast or a magical person or a magical trap, which hopefully this isn't a trap. Yeah, because you put my hand like, I'm not poking, I'm not touching. Do not touch. But you are standing on. Uh, yes, I am. As I like step one back. Uh huh. So near the- Then the turbine spun up. There lies Amven. Everywhere. And there lies Amven and there, um, near this, this, this circle, there's going to be two small poles.

Again, all of this is carved stone and gorgeously carved, like very, like smooth, polished stonework. This is not rough at all. Lots of etchings and carvings and symbols and stuff. And there's sort of two raised bits of stone. It looks like it's, if you were standing in front of it, it's a place to put your hand, something like that. It's kind of etched and smooth and definitely grab-able, I guess is the best word to use. Do me a favor, roll a perception check. Amven specifically here, but everyone can do it. Haw. Haw! Oh my. Holy crap. I got you. Astra's on fire today.

Oh, that was almost a 20. That was almost. Ubo isn't trying, so that's why he's not here. Ubo just has his arms crossed, satisfied that nothing hit us on the way. Remember how I said that there is clear, there are clear signs everywhere that someone definitely was living here. Yeah. There are scrolls and notes and... You want to talk about researcher mode kicking in? This is the equivalent of like walking into like an old school private detective's office and they got the corkboard up with the yarn. Like it's like, oh, there's got to be a connection. That's like the thing.

That's what's in this room. Everywhere. So this is where Amven lives now. And that's the end of our story. Not mine. Yeah, so research stuff like this isn't really Astra's thing. They're going to kind of like glance to see if there's anything interesting. But there's... Isn't this something resting guys? Yeah, yeah. There's nothing like flashy or cool happening. It's like kind of cool and harsh, but this is not their thing. Mattie probably notices as well and Amven and Mattie's thing was hanging out in a library together. So... Mm-hmm. Mattie's going to look at it, pick something up and just start, just glance at it and be like, oh, it's research.

And be like, notice Amven hasn't noticed at all. And she's going to be like, Amven, look. And she'll hold up a scroll to him. Merry Christmas. Yeah. Hey, you don't have to write your own notes, buddy. Someone else already did it for you. Amven literally gets his nose out of the book between jumping up, looking at the dais and his book. He's like, shuts it. You can hear the book slam. Eyes wide. Mattie, I am so glad you're here today. And then grabs it and looks at it and gives you a big hug and then takes it and starts unfolding it to see like a quick glance for a book.

Knowing he probably won't be able to stay here even though he'd like to. Mattie picks up another scroll and starts reading too. So I'll come over and be like, ah, all right, I don't really do books and scrolls. So I'm going to go check on Donnie. The moment you say that, Ubo kind of froze his brow and he was like, I have not been bothered in a while. He is definitely not here. Nice. Now, would that be an absence in Ubo's heart to go find? Or just... Well, Masoka said he's going to find Donovan. Ubo is happy to go with Donovan because Ubo knows he's of no use here.

Right. OK. So we'll just describe it as a longing, a missing Donovan. Or you could just let it be vague. That's fine. OK. You know what? Let the mystery be there. A vague attachment. OK, so let's stay with the researchers here for just a moment. Pouring through these notes, if you were to pour through these notes. Of course. Oh, man, there is research. It's all meticulously dated and labeled. And it would not take long for you to figure out that this apparatus, this thing is a transporter, I guess, is the easiest way to describe it. And there's long sections of notes, more theoretical than anything and failed experiment after failed experiment.

And there will be one that goes into great detail about actually activating this thing and moving several people out of the area. Goes into great detail about how this was done and just raw power output, but not. There's so much more about it that isn't understood, like how to actually use it in any conceivable way that would be commonplace. Like, it's like, well, we did it this way, but that's not really replicatable. So it's not it's not safe to use. It's not and there's there's tons of notes like that and it sort of drops off. They're all dated. The last recorded entry in this cavern is about a year and a half old.

Since Anvin is obsessed with like magic itself and like the bonds and all that, does it say Sion specifically was what the event? Oh, yeah. Like, I figure that's using is meticulous. Yeah, this is dates, names, all that stuff. It's all in here. And if I remember correctly, Sion power is basically it's still cut up with a different, I guess, schools, but it's just the raw form of it. It's not like picture it as unrefined magic. Yeah, it's not really channeled. Picture it as the sawed off shotgun of magic. Right. Aster's going to notice something. On the wall, across from this skate.

You remember how I said that there are like handholds like you get there. They're basically two freestanding poles there. Behind that, against the wall, Aster's going to see a blood spot. Oh. No. Sorry. Why isn't he here anymore taking notes? Oh, God. Yeah, that pot never came into my head. Is it just the... It's faint. It looks to be older, but everything in this place looks to be a little older. Yeah. But it's distinct. It doesn't, it clashes with the rest of the cavern wall here. It is clearly a blood stain. Not a huge one, but yeah, it's there. Oh. They're going to glance at the other side.

It's like, okay, well they're absorbed, so they're going to walk over and kind of look around it. Mm-hmm. It's on the wall. Yep. How high? It's got a decent arc to it, but it would be about eye level. Okay. Hey, does it say anything about blood? This is weird. And then Emon's going to look up. You're talking to us. Like, hey, does those notes say anything about blood? Yeah. So Emon looks up, blood, blood. No. Actually, this is really cool. It's apparently a teleporter. A what? Apparently, you can travel from one place to another far, far away place in a large group.

Apparently, it succeeded once. Only once, it looks like. Wait, what do you mean by blood? Wait. So you can just, whoa, that explains the magic thing. Does it say that it's dangerous? Because something bad happened, I think. I mean, there's blood here and it's on a weird spot. And I think it came from somewhere by the arch thing. It doesn't exactly say it's dangerous, but it does take a lot of power, like magic. Right now, the only way it looks like it's ever been opened was by a scion. And they haven't been able to ever replicate it with the current magic we have.

I mean, I would imagine it would be dangerous to try to activate this without sufficient amount of power, but I don't think so. Let me keep looking. Head explodey thing or... Are there any notes on accidents? There are days worth of notes to go through all of this meticulously. It would take you a long time. This is someone's life's work, it looks like. Is there like a last entry thing? We're going to do this experiment and then nothing. Here's the thing. While it all is labeled and dated, it isn't organized. It doesn't look like someone laid this out for curation.

It looks like it's like I have a system and I know the system. Let's not point fingers about who that might allude to. But, yeah, this is all transportable, it looks like, but it would take a while. Well, this is not the organization of the libraries I'm used to going to. I don't think I can quickly find the date of the most recent entry. But I would very much like to see how much, if all, we could take. Granted, that is quite a bit to take to Halqas and then, again, to Winterhaven, where I would want to look at this further. And then make trips here. In fact, I don't know if the elves would let me even stay there at all to come back and visit.

So, maybe the notes would be better there. As Emon says out loud. Yeah, I think this is more of a long-term thing and we've got to get forward to Halqas. But, I mean, like I said before, there has to be someone there that even knows about this place. I would hope so. I would imagine there would be more of these if it's a transportation system. Maybe someone in Un'Yoro would know too. Does it say how old this is? Like, is this Aladrin stuff? Hey Jason, the construction of it looks like nothing I've ever seen before, right? Yeah, this is, yeah. Like some ancient something.

Yeah. No, I don't think so. This is, I've never seen anything like this. Or even read about anything like this. So, well, I guess there was someone around before anything we know of that's kind of cool, kind of creepy. How would Maddie be feeling about this? I feel like they would start talking and then Maddie would like still be like, oh, these are really, this is really interesting. So actually there's something I kind of want to do. Like she's glancing through these notes real fast. Once they take a pause, she's gonna be like, oh, wow, the orb of a monitor was used to try and power this.

Just like an interesting fact. Like a Snapple fact? I feel like she would, oh, a monitor? What? And then she'd be like, it looks like other things have been used to try to power this before. And then she'll realize in heavy conversations going on, like she really hasn't been paying attention. And then she'll, you guys would look over and be like, oh, sorry. No, Astro kind of like perked up like, hey, you know, healing stuff, right? What do you think happened with this bot? And kind of motion towards the blood. Oh, and she'll put down the notes and then head over there.

Ooh, this could be fun. I'm good at medicine. This is true. You know what? Let's do some Dexter shit. Roll a medicine check. What? Nope. That's not terrible. What's up with 12 this game? I don't know. Yeah, really. Well, now normally if Maddie could get to something while it's fresh, it's a lot easier to sort of piece together what happened. But to Maddie, what this looks like is some sort of something maybe blunt force, like an impact type of thing. This looks like, it doesn't look like a splatter. Like it doesn't look like someone was near the wall and got hit or was maybe struck with an arrow or something and bled through and, you know, leaned up against this or something.

This looks like maybe someone was launched into this. Like it's, it's, oh. Mm-hmm. Maddie will look at it and kind of like put her hand up to it, like, oh, and then look back what the trajectory would be. This someone hit the wall, was thrown into the wall or? So, oof. Does it look like you could have, that could have been thrown from where the dais, dais is? Or is like the ring in the way? Would I be able to infer that? This would be on the side with the handholds, so. Yeah. Theoretically with enough force, yeah. That's a big. And how far away is it? That would be a good 35 to 40 feet.

Oof. Oof. That's a big magical explosion. I mean, you're saying it's a lot of power and when you get a lot of magical power, yeah, that, oof. I mean, we should definitely postpone looking in this for now, but. Is there any spots that look, singe or less, not clean, because the whole thing is probably full of paper, still clean. But like maybe origin spot of some other than, well, it's probably gonna be covered by all the other magic. See, I'm thinking like a mage. Is there any like scorch marks or anything on the floor? Well, do me a favor and roll a perception check.

Or, you know what, investigation. Give me investigation for this one. Thank you. What? Let's take a trip outside. Let's catch up with Ethan and Lissoca and Donovan. Lissoca and Donovan real quick. I don't want to be greedy. So Donovan relieved his bladder. He's feeling a little bit better. After a little bit, Lissoca and Ubo would catch up. Cool. Gentlemen, how's that old thing going? They found a bunch of scrolls, some sort of circle thing. I don't know. I don't know. They're looking at them. Well, this blows. I wanted to spoon with an elf tonight and I'm getting a cold shoulder from you three.

So I just want to get going, you know. Amven found a big magic arch. It might be important. He could be a while. Oh man. Well, if it's important, I mean, if there's gonna be anyone coming back, I can just keep watch here. Maybe intercept some lone elves coming to see what's up. Practice my, my elven chops. Just stay out of trouble. I just came to see that you were not dead. Oh no. Quite the contrary compared from yesterday for sure. You seem to have recovered. Yeah, it takes more than that to keep me down. Masoka will take out his flask and take a sip and offer some to Donovan.

Oh yeah. Oh, he's taking it? Oh yeah. This is like water to him now. Okay. He'll offer it to Ubo too. There is too much to do. I will not drink with the elves. I will drink in Winterhaven. Uh, okay. In Masoka's culture, that's disrespectful. You should take it. You should. In Ubo's culture, you don't get drunk near elves so that they don't stab you. Sorry, I can't keep track of all these. All right. Well, I guess I'll take a nappy nap. I'm uh, I'm kind of hungry. Ubo, you want to go find something? Ubo kind of like looks back into the cave and like looks back outside and says, "Amven will be some time.

We can hunt." Yeah. Jason, you want to, what is it, nature check? Survival check? Give me nature. That's right. Survival's rolled into nature at this point. Oh yeah. Oh, that's no good. Nope. Nope. Didn't work out. It's not amazing, for the most part. Let's say the game in Evergreen's a little more wily than you'd expect it to be. So there's a couple of opportunities for you to snag something big and it just hears you or catches your scent and just sprints off. You do catch a few rabbits. Is that Masoka's doing in this case because he got a 12 and he got a 6? Ubo's deeply insulted that this just happened.

This is not the natural order of things. The drunk just hunted better than him. I suppose Masoka's bull hunting because he's not dagger hunting. Yeah, probably. So that's pretty good actually. I could imagine Masoka dagger hunting though. Just crawling around on his stomach. I am used to hunting in the mountains. These woods are tricky. I'm used to hunting in the gutters of Brightport. This is nice. I suppose it is better than cities and gutters. I'll agree with you there. Time's gonna go by. Let's catch up with Aster and Amphan and Mattie. I'm sorry, what was your question again?

What did you want to roll for? Just... To refresh the people at home. You mean the investigation check? You were investigating. To see if there are any marks or anything on the floor on the ground. It could be anything. Just give me anything, Mattie. I'm like, alright, if I be too specific, you'll be like, nope, you don't see anything. Cool, thanks for trying. Holy shit, I want to give you a hug. That was the most desperate I think I've ever heard. Give me a win here. Jesus. Maybe just scorch marks, maybe a point of origin, maybe an event. Maybe give a clue of the blood slot.

Maybe give me a clue of the device. It looks like just anything that seems out of the ordinary, other than having a bunch of scrolls and research everywhere. Sure. Well, that was a really good investigation check, by the way. The best way to put it is sort of magical gunpowder blast marks, that type of thing. There have definitely been times, at some point in this cavern's history, where chunks of rock were blown away from the cavern itself. Impact marks just a boom. Some of these are straight shots. Some of these are much more, instead of it being laser focused, it's more kind of spread out.

So there'd be little dents and divots in the walls, and then around that would be sort of like charred rock, that type of thing. And then the dais itself has definitely seen... It's seen some wear and tear a little bit, where you could tell that this was originally very smooth and polished. Like the rest of it, like the ring in the center. It's in pieces around where someone might be able to stand. Very worn. Specifically, those two stone pillars that are sticking up. The entirety of the top of these are almost, not charred, but worn down almost. Anven would be able to tell, but that's not from weapon damage or anything like that.

It's not from fire. That's magical doing. So like the tides of magic, like the tides of water. Pretty much, yeah. But it's not a refined version of that. Yeah, just raw. Like raw. But imagine, okay, Anven studying magic, if you want to cast a lightning bolt, or if you want to cast fireballs, something like that. It takes huge amounts of concentration and practice and channeling and stuff like that, and people who don't have a natural tap into magic could go their entire life and never successfully cast a spell like that. So imagine what it would take to just, there's no spell attached to this, it doesn't look like.

It's just raw power. Like imagine how unwieldy that would be. Anven, looking around, looks back at Astor and Mattie. There was a lot of just immense magic being used here. And not like the magic we use. I worked hard to even be able to do what I do today. The amount of control that would be needed? Could this even be controlled? I don't know. This is, I don't know if, looking over at the blood spot over there, if that was a reflection of being unable to control a vast amount of power, or another means, but there is some powerful magic here that points to the worn down parts.

That is done by just raw power. Uncontrolled, unrefined, raw power. Astor's gonna shudder a bit. I don't like the sound of that, I'll admit. I don't even know how you would get to that. I mean, even Mattie would know that when you try to cast magic, you have to focus and you have to pull it out of you, and you have to make sure you know what you're doing, otherwise it'll fail. This, I don't know how it's even possible. Well, someone figured it out, and if they could get enough magic to do that here, if they wanted to do something else with that power...

The only record that I was able to stumble upon, and the amazing thing that I did, is that only a sign has been able to open it, and I guess their power is unrefined. Which fits, but we all know that they're gone, right Jason? Or is that just more like, "Oh, we haven't seen any." They're not as rare as it was. Anvin would know that Arya lost her powers, but I don't know if that makes sense. That's the thing. Here's the thing. If it were anyone... Like, okay, all clerics lost their ability to heal and cast magic of any kind, that would be a much larger sample size, because everyone knows a cleric.

If you know one scion and they lose their powers, it's like, "Huh, well I know you lost your powers. You don't run into many scions is the problem." Right. Well, I know the scion magic isn't... That's how I always put it, scion magic. The one person I did know can't do that anymore, but I haven't run into any others, so I can't confirm if there's anything going on with that. Maybe we could find another scion, but still the amount of power... Last time I saw someone, a scion even, for a few seconds, it looked painful. It didn't look good. I don't think someone could just maintain this power and hold this open.

Do you think the blood was a scion then, maybe? They just did too much and boom? I don't know if that, pointing toward the blood, is caused by this here, or if that's a separate event. I don't think there's clear cause and effect that that big blood spot is because of the raw power, or if it was, maybe it was a different channeling device, or... Eh, you lost me. I'm gonna guess that the person who made these notes so lovingly and detailed might have been the one to make that mark, cause research this in depth and detailed, you don't just give up. They would probably still be here.

Yeah, that's almost tragic. Unless he opened it. I mean, whoever it was, they clearly loved this thing. If they ended up being killed in relation to it, that's the way to go, I guess. Well, I believe we were led here for a reason, but I don't think now is the time to research this further. Yeah. Maybe we should continue our journey and come back here. I agree. I also don't think I should be the only one researching it. I might, when we're in Kalkaus, I'll send a missive to Uminiro. Yeah, that sounds like your guys' sort of thing, for sure. I would want to get permission first, cause this is inside the Evergreen.

Yeah, that would need to happen, but I mean... Like I said, someone at Kalkaus has to know about this. Weren't there signs out front that said "Do not enter"? I mean, I haven't felt the magic before we got in the room. I mean, as the opening of the cave, would it be smart to say we'd win in? Maybe we should tell them after we let them know about the orcs. Yeah, I mean, that definitely takes priority. I mean, it's not like we're gonna just ask Ratana Moonshadow about it. I'd just say that we were in the area and we saw the cave and Anven felt the magic. Yeah.

That's not exactly the best excuse. Yeah, I'm... We'll figure it out when we get there. Maybe do some light investigating while we're in Kalkaus to see if there is anyone that might know it under the radar. And then maybe find an inn that's safe. After, of course, we deliver everything. Yep. Let's head out then, I guess. There's one last thing that I'd like to do before we wrap things up. -Masoka. -Yes. At any point while you're hunting or just generally spending some time outside this cavern, would you want to take a look at the thing that you swiped from that room?

Oh, absolutely. I've been thinking about that. Okay, good. So while this is going on inside the cavern, Masoka is going to reach into his back pocket here and find out what he grabbed from that room. It's wrapped in this cloth, kind of a really nice cloth, almost like the Therian version of gift wrap type of thing. And he could feel a solid object inside and gently peeling away the layers of this soft fabric, which does not fit in with the rest of the stuff in that cavern. Everything kind of has a rough, built for function, not form. But peeling out the layers of this very soft cloth, there is going to be a...

The best way to describe it is this polished... It almost looks like ivory. But after taking a look at it, you could tell that this is like a very, very polished form of wood. And it's going to take Masoka a few seconds to kind of figure out what the hell this is, because it's a small handheld object. And it looks... elven? In nature? But it's grittier, it's rougher than what elves typically would make. It's kind of these little nubs, almost spikes, curling around this very basic curve. And it's slowly going to dawn on Masoka that these are like a pair of brass knuckles.

And there's some etching at the bottom of it, and it just says "Tupo." Oh! Oh, man! Oh, man! And that is where I think it would be a good time for us to stop for the evening. She never gave them to me because she... Oh, my God! They're the worst! One for the fans! Oh, my gosh. This was such a cool episode. It was... Oh, man! Do you want to know... Go ahead, sorry. I'm so glad we have curious characters! Oh, my God! Defiant curious characters. I'm so glad! Don't tell me I can't take anything. We hope that you enjoyed this episode, and we also hope that if you are interested in hearing more from us, that you will check out our Patreon, where we here at Dungeons & Randomness are so excited to put out a very special month of content for all of you.

October is going to be fantastic on Patreon, with all of our content becoming horror-themed for the month this time around. We are going to be having a very special Safe Haven Society, which will be extra spooky for you guys. We're going to have a middle-ground topic this time, which is something new we're trying. In between the questions that Jason and I will be answering, we're going to discuss how to keep a game suspenseful during tabletop roleplay, where you might not have the aid of visuals or things such as that, and you want your players to have that sense of fear.

Our topic for living in Theria is werewolves and vampires, which we know a lot of people have been looking forward to, and you can get the actual Therian stats for werewolves themselves this month in the Bestiary. Thank you all so much for listening, and if you can spare it, please help support us and the show. Thank you so much, and have a wonderful day.