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As tabletop nerds, we all know you can never have enough dice and Dice Envy has got you covered. So go to DiceEnvy.com right now to secure your December box or on that note sign a nerdy, dice lacking friend up for a holiday gift. As always, make sure to let them know that we sent you and enjoy the episode. Let's do that thing where we go around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason. I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table starting with Ian. Hey, I'm Ian. I play Kaldin Halek, the half-elf sorcerer with the morcer. That sounded a lot better in my head.

Okay, session's canceled. Let's all go home. A few weeks we'll try it again. We'll all do better. Good. And two weeks later and we're back. Hey everyone. Hi. Alex. Hey, I'm Alex. I play Braelon, the halfling bard. And Valerie. Hi, I'm Valerie and I play Elaina, the human fighter. And Jamie. Hi, I'm Jamie. I play Tatiana, the human rogue. And Karen. Hi, I'm Karen and I play Callie, the elven druid. Oh boy, guys. You have some decisions to make today. Oh boy. How's about we pick things up directly after this little interrogation of yours? So Ripley's still tied up. You guys essentially told him you'd think about it.

You're gonna confer with the group and all that stuff. You guys walking out here, how would you be feeling about this? How would you be feeling about that exchange? Did it go the way you'd hoped? Did you get the information out of him that you were hoping? How are you feeling? Oh, tense. I think there's like a notable anxiety coming off of Kalden. You can smell it. Just rolling off him. What's it smell like? What's that scent? Like bacon? It's like bacon covered under a bunch of snow. Let me ask another question. How would Tatiana be feeling? So, Tatiana specifically didn't go in there because she knew that Ripley can be a tricky one.

However, she was outside of the door. But she didn't get any contextual facial expressions or anything like that, so I think she would be looking to the group, trying to sort of read them and read their reactions and almost trying to figure out what they're thinking. So I'm imagining you guys are gonna fill in Tatiana and let her know what's up. Yeah, as soon as we step out of the door. Actually, does Tatiana need a rolling dexterity saving throw or anything for being right outside the door as we step right out? If that's how you want to start the session.

I would like to think. I'm just joking. As soon as they step out, you can see Kalden anxious and he's looking at Braylin a lot, just glancing over and info-dumping about this deal, basically. Everything that they said in the room. I can't remember. Did Tatiana tell us how involved she used to be with Ripley? Not specifically, I don't think. I don't think she went into details. She's keeping some stuff pretty close. We knew that they were like involved. For show for show. Okay, we found the slam book. No, slam. It's like we're all like it's like from Mean Girls or like the they write like others.

You mean the book when I was growing up? Oh, I thought I was a journal of all the times they slammed. I thought that was. Look, I'm not the oldest person here. You are not the oldest person here. We all know I'm the oldest person. Yeah, so Kalden will dump this info on Tatiana mainly and be looking at Braylin like very, very concerned. And I think he'll he'll also emphasize the general in the wings. And he'll look at Tatiana and and say, Tatiana, I don't I don't mean to call out my trust of you or anything like that. It has nothing to do with that. After getting us out of Brightport, I trust you implicitly.

But I have a bad feeling that the person he's talking about is you. And I don't know if you have something planned or had something planned or if there's something some influence he might have over you. But is is that the case? Are you are you the are you his general on the back burner? At that Tatiana's face is going to automatically sort of sour as she's looking at Kalden. And she's just going to say, are you fucking kidding me? Of course not. This is the first time I've even seen Ripley in like two years. I didn't mean to offend, honestly. I just he seemed to be well, you know him better than I do.

He had a way with words and it seems he has things in the works. I didn't know if you were a part of those things unwillingly or unwittingly. Ripley has a way of always making you think that he's got backup plans upon backup plans upon backup plans. He could be saying all of this and none of it could be true, or he could just be giving us pieces of the puzzle. I don't know. Brelyne's going to speak up. Well, honestly, you're like our best lead on actually reading him properly. I can tell you right now I went in there. He was slippier than I thought he'd be.

He's going to look at Kalden. He knew some things. You're right. That seemed like truth. But I mean, there are a couple of things in there I hope weren't true. Like the amount of guys they have going in there. We know that's fact. But I'm praying that they are, you know, half as smart as this guy is going to point back to the door. Yeah, I think he said it. I think he said it best in the room. These fang might not be the sharpest tools in the shed, but they might be able to take orders and, well, based on the plan he's created to try and get the bell out of Donhurst.

He certainly is clever. Hey, Jason. Yeah. For, you know, just the listeners at home, obviously everyone here completely remembers everything that happened in the last session. Of course they did. Just for the listeners at home, could you break down really quickly, because I don't want to miss anything, the deal that Ripley had said. I know that it had to deal with us setting him free and that he would help us fake Kalden and Braylon's death and something about Donhurst, but I just don't want to miss any of the details. You mean the listeners. The listeners don't want to miss any of the details.

Exactly. So essentially it breaks down like this. You get Ripley out now. We're talking tonight. That's what he's saying. He gets out. He sends word to Donhurst to tell them, okay, for now, the job is off. Stand down. Don't do anything in Donhurst. Then he heads back to Brightport to explain the current situation. He said that won't stop the Black Hand from trying to get the bell, but it will delay and he will help Braylon and Kalden fake their death. Essentially saying it's like, yeah, we got him. They're dead. They're done. They will not be a thorn in your side anymore.

You can rest assured, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That is essentially the deal. But all that hinges upon you guys getting him out right now. Okay. Well, you're welcome listeners for bringing that up. Absolutely thank you. I thank you. Okay, that helps a lot actually. So yeah, after that, I guess Kalden will look around to everyone and be like, so we have the steel. What does everyone think? And he'll, I guess he'll look to Elena first. Well, obviously Tatiana, you know him better than all of us, but do we have his word? Will he follow through on what he says?

I think as long as we have something on Ripley, he'll follow through. But once we don't, it's really hard to tell which way he'll go. Ripley is always going to look out for Ripley first. Like this, this whole plan is hinging on him telling the truth. And no, I don't, I don't know if it's worth it if we don't know for sure that everything is going to happen the way we think it is. I don't know if you guys have noticed, nothing has been going the way we think it's going to be going. He's going to look around. Callie, what about you? What do you think? If we do this, are you still planning on going to Donhurst to figure out the stealth thing?

If we, if we took this deal and he did what he said and called it off, it would give us some time, I suppose. I just don't see a point in doing this. If you're going to get involved with the Black Hand again, there's no point in faking your death. But also, they're not just going to give up this Bell thing, and you'll cross paths again and then this whole thing will be for nothing. You're right. Tatiana. I'm trying to think of another way to deal with your Black Hand issue. And also how trusting Ripley could bite us in the ass. I think Callie makes a good point.

If we're going to take the deal, you guys should cut ties and not fuck around with the Black Hand anymore. Maybe focus on getting a new arm? And he'll look down at his wound and say, yes, I think that's pressing to me. And I have my answer, but I want to check with all of you. I want to be sure of what we're doing before we make any decisions. And then he looks right at Braylin. Braylin's going to have his hands on his, like the spot on the upper nose in between his eyes. You know, like he's upset. He's going to say, we cannot honestly be thinking about making a deal with this guy.

I would much rather let them come after me than make a deal with that slimeball. Have him hand over some special crazy artifact or something to the Black Hand, which is why we got in trouble in the first place, Kaladin. He's going to look at him. Do you remember? They were going to have like some crazy holy weapon on their side. They were going to change the tide of battle on an entire continent. Or so they said. In this new world, don't you think that there should be a little bit of hope? There should be a little bit of, you know, the good guys winning maybe for once?

We can't let them get that bell. We can't let them get anything. And we definitely can't let guys like that get away with making the deals that they've been making over and over again to live another day. So you're suggesting we go and get the bell? I'm suggesting we tell people who have more strength than we do to get the bell or at least watch over the bell and laugh in this guy's face. I mean, no offense. Sorry if you still got feelings for him or something, but if he's got to hang, he's got to hang. If this is the last time that he thinks he's going to get away, we make it the last time he thinks that.

I'm inclined to agree. I say no deal. I say I don't trust this Ripley as far as I can throw him. I think the bell is more important. I think the people of Dawnhurst are more important. And I don't think he merits enough influence from the Black Hand to have them come down meddling in here to release a mercenary. If he finds a way out, he finds a way out. But I think we take the fast horses that are available here and we ride and we ride hard to Dawnhurst to warn them. We know the plans that are in motion. We know the numbers that are going to be going there.

It's a clever plan, I grant you, but if we can make it... we are fewer and we are smaller, lighter and faster. We can make it to Dawnhurst and secure the bell, warn the people, make sure that it's not stolen from the temple. But every moment we stay here, every moment we debate and we wait, the Fang marches closer to Dawnhurst and the Black Hand, and he looks to Braelyn, is closer to getting her hand on that bell. He's going to nod. Yeah, no deal. Tatiana is specifically staying silent because she wants to go with the group on this one. She doesn't want to make waves.

But it's hard for her to say to let him hang, but she's not portraying that. So it seems like we're all agreeing on this? You do understand if we go there and we get involved in that, they're going to come after you even harder. Braelyn's going to nod, looking at the ground. Yeah. I thought about that too. You know, after a certain point, even the prey gets tired of running from the predator. But usually by then it gets eaten. He's going to chuckle a little bit. Well, you said it yourself, Braelyn. If we're able to secure this bell, we might have some kind of leverage against the Black Hand for her to leave us alone, for her to leave all of us alone and everyone that we love.

Yeah, that's the high hope, right? Because you're all caught up in this now. And it's unfortunate, but it's true. You don't get revenge on your enemies by going after them. You get revenge on your enemies by going after the people they care about, the people that they're involved in, and that is exactly what the Black Hand will do. And he looks to Tatiana. She will go after us. She will go after you and everyone we care about. But if we can get this bell and then send a message back, leave us alone, or we will throw this bell in the ocean, we will throw it in a volcano, we will destroy it or smash it, and you will never have it.

It will be the only time, it will be the only thing that we've ever had against her. Not to mention we keep the people of Donhurst safe. I mean, you were in there, he talked about stealing the bell out from under them, but there are also a hundred strong fang marching there. If they had just planned on stealing it without hurting anyone, they wouldn't need as many forces. Definitely not. And then Brelyn's gonna look up, "Yeah, I didn't really think about that." They're gonna try and take that gate, whether to allow them to slip out silently, or if things don't go well, to take the city by force.

We can't let that happen. I can't, and he'll like, ball his hand up and he'll be like, "I can't go off getting herbs for my arm or going into the Silver Glade, thinking that we didn't do everything that we could to help the people of Donhurst." What say you? Shall we ride? So quick question, while Kaladin is talking here, I'm noticing Callie and Alina are kind of quiet. Tatiana is being purposefully quiet. What would Callie and Alina be thinking here? Callie is just like, I don't know, she's just kind of, "Why do they want to keep getting into this? You have your out, just take it." Obviously she doesn't want to let Ripley go, but she doesn't want to get more involved with this, and she's just trying to wrap her head around it.

Yeah, and I think both Alina and Callie come from an interesting perspective, because both of us, we found each other and then we found everybody else. We just wanted to see the world, and this is a lot more than we bargained for. So these people are Alina's friends now, and she wants to help them, but at the same time, like I said earlier, she doesn't see what's going on as important as Braylin and Kaladin do, and also as important as we as the listeners know that it is. Right, like you guys don't know how bad the Black Hands influence... Exactly. Yeah, we just know bits of what we were told.

And then if we believe it, you know? So what would your decision be? Yeah, you can respond to all this. This is Kaladin giving you a speech. A very good speech. So good. And then there's like crickets. Oh, we can edit that out, right? Oh, God, yes. Also, I picture that just being like, well, that's tough to follow. I thought we were going to add crickets in. Oh, nobody wants to go with me? Okay, cool. Alright, 11 herbs and spices. So Kaladin gives this big speech and it's like, okay, let's rot. Who's with me? Who would be with him? Oh, Braylin, of course, raises his hand like, you know you don't have to ask for my help.

Obviously, you feel very strongly about this, so I'll go with you. I mean, Don Hurst is on my list, so why not? It seems important to you, which in turn makes it important to me. So I'll go. And Tatiana is like, while Kaladin was giving his big speech, she's really taking it in and sort of listening to everyone's responses on how they feel about the subject. And even maybe glancing towards the door. And she'll look back at Kaladin with stern and direct eye contact and say, "You're right. The people of Don Hurst need us." Then I will get Taron and ask him to help us get those fast horses.

"Kali, I know you have some reservations about this. I swear to you, once we're in Don Hurst, once we get everything settled, we'll make a day of it. We'll make our way back to Lockford. We'll find those herbs. Heck, maybe we'll even find a drake, if we're lucky. We'll come to the Silver Glade as we are best prepared, without being hounded by the fang or the Black Hand or anything darkening our doorstep. I swear to you both." And he'll look at Kali and Elena. "I just want you to do what's best for you, and obviously you feel that this is what you need to be doing right now." "I do." "Then we'll go." And he will take his hand and grip your shoulder and just give it a squeeze.

And then look at Tatiana and give her a nod, just an acknowledging nod. And then look at the door and say, "Tatiana, now's your time. If you want to say anything, this would be it." And then he'll go and get the horses. So we're getting ready to leave? Yeah. I do think Tatiana would probably want to say goodbye to Ripley. So I think she would do that first. "Make sure you say something really cool." No pressure. Make your last goodbye really, really, you know, just good. Just don't blow this. She could stroke from tears in there too, that'd be great. I don't think Tatiana is the crying publicly type.

So Ripley would be tied up still in this room. How would Tatiana like to handle this? Were we ever told when Ripley was gonna be? I think it's something that's being deliberated upon. It's... Okay. Yeah. Okay. I guess she'll just sort of enter the room and close the door behind her. And she'll look over at him to see if he's in a state where he could converse or if he's so beaten up that he's, I don't know, passed out or something. No, he's gonna look surprised. But he's conscious. Again, one eye pretty swollen. They laid into him. It's bad. Okay, so I guess she'll sort of read his surprised face and trying to make sort of light of the situation, though that is hard in the situation they're in, she'll just sort of meander over across the room.

You got yourself in quite a pickle here, Ripley. Hey, baby. Did you come to gloat? No. You know I'm not the gloating type. And she'll sort of smirk because that is not true. Well, I'm gonna go ahead and put two and two together here. I'm guessing that the group that was just in this room is with you. You are quite perceptive. Yeah. And she's not looking at him. She's sort of just looking around the room. And he's gonna smile just a little bit. Any inkling as to which way they're leaning on that deal I offered? Sad to say, it looks like it's a pretty hard no. Yeah, I kind of figured.

So, I gotta ask... What brings you in for a visit? Well, apparently the town is gonna execute you. Shouldn't have killed all those guys, maybe. Or at least not publicly. Well, you know. Hindsight and all. And I think at this point she'll finally turn towards him and like look at him and make eye contact with him. So what do you got up your sleeve? He's gonna look Tatiana dead in the eye. I guess that depends on what you mean. If you're talking about my current situation... That was it. I offered a fair trade to get out of here. Now, I'm fully prepared to check out.

But I figured I'd give it one more swing, you know? Mm-hmm. So you're telling me you're ready to go. I'm telling you that if it has to be... It has to be. But you know what I'm thinking? You could have left. You could have left and not said a word to me. And I looked me in the eye. You could have forgot all about me. Unless you can't forget all about me. Doesn't have to be the end, Tati. So Tatiana's been trying to be as nonchalant as possible. While she was looking around the room and not necessarily looking at Ripley. And as soon as he went into that last bout of dialogue where he was talking about "You could have just left." She's gonna start to sort of pace around him.

Because he's tied up and this is like a power position for her. So she's gonna sort of circle around towards the back of him. So because she's behind Ripley at this point, she's going to lean down over his shoulder. And just sort of say... "After all we've been through, I had to at least say goodbye." And then she'll sort of like lift her body back to an upright position. And go back around to the front of him and sort of like crouch down. And she's going to say... "You know, I know you say you're ready to go, but the Ripley I knew two years ago could always find a way out of any situation at any time.

There was always a way. And he taught me that. That Ripley taught me that. So if this is really you saying you're ready to go, that makes me sad. But if this is the Ripley I know, and you're just saying this because you know I'm with that other group. Maybe I'll see you sometime." And at this point she's going to take out her dagger. And she is going to slam it on the chair in between his legs. And she is going to look straight up at him and say... "But if you come after me, my family, or my friends, ever again, I will castrate you. And I will kill you." This is going to be a momentary shock as you plunge the dagger in between his legs here.

And then he's going to give you sort of a wide smile as you're expositing this. "Trust me. I wouldn't hurt your friends. You know, in case this is it. I know two things. One, they're not going to execute me at night. Which means I go back to my cell. And two, most decent people get a last request. Do you mind if I get my last request from you, Tati?" She's still sort of in threatening mode because she's still crouched down like staring looking up at him. So she'll just sort of flick her eyes down like "Go ahead." "Let me get one last kiss. When we were talking in the bar, I may have played it cool about not missing you as much as you might think.

But no one could ever replace you, baby." Tatiana is going to sort of get out of her crouching position and lean in towards Ripley. But she's not going to kiss him. She's going to whisper in his ear, "Try not to kill anybody." And she is going to get up and leave and say, "I'll see you later, Ripley." Purposefully leaving the dagger in between Ripley's legs. Okay. So Tatiana's going to rejoin the party, I'm guessing. Yes. Oh, Tatiana, where's your dagger? I have two, so here it is! I'm glad I was muted because I started screaming. And he was never seen again.

Okay. Yeah, so I think we're probably getting the horses together. At least that's what Cauldron is doing. Getting these fast horses. And then unless you guys have everything to do, I say we ride. So you're saying tonight? Yeah, tonight. I'm saying right now. I'm not scared enough. It's like XCOM. He's going to fucking Belpons and I'm like, "Let's do this shit." And everyone else is on board? Yep. Alright. Speaking with Taron. He negotiated a deal for you guys. Again, there's a local guy who raises like championship horses. And as long as these horses are returned within the next week or two, then he's going to let you borrow three.

These things are fast. So fast, in fact, that what he's promising is that normally it takes about six and a half days to ride to Dunhurst. He's saying you could do it in five. Oh, nice. So four days. And what if we ride through the night? Well, here's the thing. I wouldn't push these horses too hard. Like you could ride through the night tonight and then, you know, keep trekking, but I wouldn't do that two or three days in a row. Oh, I see. Okay. Yeah. Because we've got them on lease and if we break the rental, we're going to the back. Right. There's no insurance on this rental.

Picture it that way. Ooh, right. Dangerous. Yes. I'm naming mine. This one's called Trollsinger. I was going to ask if mine had a name. Well, so three. So we're going to have to double up. So probably Braylon and Kaldin, right? Of course. Hello. Why? Do I have any questions? Never. Never. So I have three and that's, well, that makes four people. I was thinking like Braylon with, does it? Yeah, that makes four people and we have five, right? Mm hmm. Okay. Sorry. Math. I was thinking what if instead of like Braylon and Kaldin together on one, that it's like Braylon with like a large person.

Because we're both, we're both light. I see. Gasp. Excuse me. You're probably right. In case one of us gets destroyed, the other one's still alive. You're right. Oh, that? Wow. That is the bleakest. We're both light. We're both light boys. Yeah. We're the skinnies. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I mean, Kaldin, like you'll see Kaldin like, like kind of like putting that through his head for a little bit. Like, but with Braylon and then. But yeah, that sounds good. Like that. Yeah, that's good. We're riding Don Hurst like right now with these horses. It's going to be Kaldin and Elena, Braylon and Callie on one horse and then Tatiana is going to be on the last horse.

Good. Is that cool with everyone? It's awesome. That's great. That's cool with me. I can be scouting. By yourself, Tatiana. Oh, that's a good idea. Yeah. Yeah. Since I'm all stealthy and shit. Stealthy. Not like a Lannister or anything. So, yeah, I guess. Well, Kaldin wants to have Kaldin wants to say a couple of things before they go. So he's going to be like, not to everyone, but just to Elena. So everyone's like saddling up. Right. And he's like helping the best he can. And he's going to look up at Elena, like on the saddle and be like, help me up and like hold out his hand.

Yeah, she'll help him up. And he gets up with some trouble and like wraps his his arm around around her middle. And he says, Elena, do you know why I asked you to cut my hand off? Well, I assume it's because I have the largest sword. Well, yes, that you are good with a sword, but it's because I've seen you use it a couple of times. I've seen you do things with your strength and with your will that inspires me. And I knew that you could do it. I don't I want you to know that I don't blame you for this at all. That's very kind, but I don't know if that'll stop me from blaming myself.

Well, that's exactly why I think that you missed. We all believe in you here. And we're going to believe in you going up to Donhurst. But I think the reason you missed is because you lack a little confidence in yourself. And just know that we are all behind you here. It's time to believe in yourself a little bit. Thank you, Calvin. That that means a lot, actually. And I promise once this is this whole bell thing and during hollow, I'll help you get your arm back. It's the least I can do. And he'll he'll give her a little squeeze, just like just like a reassuring squeeze around the thing and just like nod his head against her back and say thank you.

Can I do one thing before we go, Jason? What you got? I think if you'll allow it to reach over to his stump and just use like form a a nonfunctional but like ice hand off of the like ruined thing, just like a Like a placeholder? Yeah, exactly. Just like a thing of ice that just kind of looks like a hand that has its like fingers folded together or something. OK, sure. Sweet. Yeah. So, Colton just reaches over and does that, like pulls down his arm and then says, let's go. So here's what we're going to do. Now you guys are in a race against time, right? The entire point is to try and beat the Fang there.

Right now, they have a pretty hefty head start on you. They basically have a nearly a day's head start on you, which is a problem. Here's what I like to do. I'd like to make a flat T20 roll. Who would like to do that for me? Not me. That was all me last episode. So not me. I did it. Hell yeah. Hey-o! You just got to think about it. You just got to do it. Just got to do it, guys. It's always a gamble though, because if you go bad, everyone hates you. We just all get hurt or lose land. It's thematically like we're just going for it, like just ride. Just throw that.

Alright, so here's what we're going to do. First of all, let's pocket that 17 for a second, because that's a good roll. That's a darn good roll. So you guys are starting out. Weather's on your side. Everything's awesome. Now here's what we're going to do. We're going to roll a D10 with a modifier of a +3 because of the speed of your horses. Now the Fang is going to be doing the same. Now, problem being is you guys are shooting for 40, eventually adding up to 40. Since they have a head start, they're going to roll twice for this one time. Does that sound okay?

Gotcha. Okay, so we're going to have you and the Fang. Oh, real quick too. What time is it? Okay, so we had spent a lot of the day sleeping, and then we got up and all this crazy stuff happened and this is evening time. Okay. Definitely evening. Is there any point that we can consider a short rest just so I can get my spell slot back? Wait, didn't we sleep? Did you guys sleep? No, but I healed Braelyn, so I used one of my spell slots. But I get it back when I take a short rest. I would say in the time it took, you know, processing and all that stuff, them questioning him and all that, them beating the shit out of Ripley and all that, I'd say that's a short rest.

Okay. You guys were chilling for a while. So the cool thing is they are not rolling with a modifier because there are so many of them. Right. So you guys are just faster, flat out. They're going to roll once and... Wow. So they make... they're making good time. So, Fang GB. Just have a little thing right here and they're going to roll one more time. And that's probably going to... that's a two. Eat it, eat it. So, who would like to do me a favor? Roll a d10 with a plus three. Can I? Sure, let's do it. D10 plus three. That's a five. That's still better than them technically if we get a high number in the next one.

So you guys... you guys are gaining on them. You're going to... at this rate, you might catch them before Dawnhurst. Now something I would start to think about is what do you do if you catch up to them? Yeah, we haven't thought that far. We flip them off as we go by. Yeah, boom boom. What's the... what is the terrain like? Like, I'm guessing there's one trade road basically, but like... So picture this area and this is the tricky part. It depends on when you might be able to overtake them. Because you guys are... you are smack dab in the middle of... you're going to be entering Dragon's Reach soon.

So right now it's a lot of foresty paths and things like that. So there will be a lot of foliage on either side. And then once you hit the mountains, there's a space between the blistering peaks and the hazon mountains that is this narrow passageway. And then it just opens up. Then it's just farmland and fields as far as the eye can see. Think about driving through Kansas, something like that. So once you get past the mountains, and I'd say you're about a day and a half away from that, something like that. So once you get past those mountains, you could conceivably ride off the main road.

Okay. I would like... you know what? Callie, give me a SURVIVAL check. Survivor or nature? You pick. Uhhhh... I'm gonna do survival. So that area is one you're gonna want to be careful of. Which one? Well, if you get past the mountains and you want to dip off the main road, right? You want to ride. That area actually is less dangerous than most if you were to get off the main road. You're not gonna find anything like drakes or something like that. Every once in a while you will find hill giants, something that they come down from the mountains and they're pretty damn aggressive.

Something nice for level three. Don't think about it in terms of levels. Think about it in terms of experience. You guys have been through a lot. You've had some experiences. Experience to levels, yeah. That is true though, because like, canonically we've faced a witch. Well, we've talked to a witch. We've faced, you know, sea monster, a dracolich, a zombie monk who had the ability to like, crack his bones and shit. Ton of shit, man. You guys have been through a lot. So, um, you could dip off the main road and it wouldn't be, uh, it wouldn't be as huge a risk as if, say, you were in Lockford and dipped off the main road.

You know what I mean? Now the good news is that's 17. You guys are gonna ride clean through the night. You're gonna spot something in the distance on the side of the road and what it looks to be is a cart. This cart looks to be in disrepair, broken down. At least maybe one of the wheels or something like that is pull out to the side and listing, kind of leaning to the right. And you're gonna see a slightly portly gentleman standing next to it in a suit. Now, you guys got a few options here. You could ride clean on by. You could stop to see what's going on.

You could, um, I don't know, kill him. I don't know, whatever feels right to you guys. Kill a fire! I'm just so frustrated right now I need to take that on the first bystander. *chuckles* Um, oh boy, what do you guys wanna do? Well, I mean, we're coming off, we're post-Calton's Independence Day speech. You know, like, I don't think, I know I wouldn't stop. Well, I'm not in charge. Callie, you're driving. But I would tell you, like, nope, don't stop. We gotta keep going. I feel like, what, Calton's probably in front? With Elena? Uh, sure. Okay. Well, I was gonna say, like, if you guys don't slow, she's just gonna keep going.

Yeah, I don't, I wouldn't wanna slow down. Same. Okay, sounds like you guys are skating on by. As we pass by him, say, "Bye, sorry!" Is he a gnomish man in a suit? No, this guy looks human, and he's gonna wave, like, "Go high!" That type of thing, and you're just gonna *boom, ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum* and just... Bye, storyline! Yep, gone. So you guys are gonna ride clean through the night. You're probably pretty tired by this point. And you're pushing on. That is my, that is my understanding. Uh, yeah, I think, unless, unless you guys wanna do something, I think we're gonna push on for the day, and then probably break early, just to give the horses some rest.

And us some rest, too, I guess. Riding is difficult. We don't wanna kill these things, man. Yeah, if the horse, whatever the horses wanna do. Eat grass! Should we maybe, like, roll a nature check or something, or like... Just, like, see how they're doing, you know? I mean, you can, sure, let's, let's, you know what? Elena, give me a nature check. Aw, but mine's not good. Well, you brought it up! Oh! Oh, that's pretty good. Gorgeous. Almost a crit. Uh, so yeah, that's, these things are, these things are bred right, man. They are, they are raring to go. So even after riding most of the night, I imagine every once in a while stopping for water, stop for a quick graze, that kind of thing, but they're, they're raring to go.

And they could probably go for another, you know, a few hours. Okay, so if they're good, I'm good. Okay. Um, every time we stop for, like, water or whatever, I just wanna, like, look around and see if any of, like, the herbs on my list are in the area. Ooh! Let's talk about that list! Yeah! On this list, they, these herbs are ranked from common, uncommon, to rare. And obviously there's the Drakeblood, but that's another, uh, that's a whole 'nother thing. But let's, let's focus on these herbs. So, let's see. Sunthistle and Drunkvine. Those are both really common things.

You can find them, uh, you can find them in this area pretty easily. Uh, Chlorberries and Faeroot, a little tougher. That's a little more uncommon. You're gonna find that probably near the edge of the mountains, uh, or deep in forests, that type of thing. And then the other two are, uh, a Larblade, which is a type of grass. Which you are definitely going to find, it sort of grows on the, uh, the southern pass of mountains and things. And Bloodroot. Yeah! Okay! Now, Bloodroot, can't, here's the thing. Knowing where to find it isn't the hard part. It's getting to it?

It's getting to it, and then- There's no one when to stop after you skip it. (laughter) No one knows the lines. But yeah, that's, um, we're gonna be keeping an eye out for those, and, uh, and grabbing some every once in a while if you can find some. Bloodroot? I mean, just cards for that now. It's only like ten dollars. It's just- There's little, uh, little cross signs with red, like, red crosses everywhere. Holy shit! Oh, nine Bloodroots. Nine Bloodroots. No, uh, I did just roll for the Fang. They just rolled a nine. So, who'd like to do me a favor? Give me a roll.

D10 plus three. I'll do it! Hit me. Okay, I don't know how to do the plus three. Oh, yes I do. I have to put the modifier in like that. Well, bam! Wee! Yes! That's a twelve! Oh, shit! (laughter) So you are- you are gaining. You're catching up, man. This is awesome. Okay. What did you say the, uh, the very first herb was? Sunthistle. Uh, Sunthistle. What was the cloud berries? Clorberries. That's, uh, my stripper name. Wow. I just- I really like it, and then I had to say something. Sorry. Okay, no! (laughter) That just came out of nowhere. I just really like clorberries. Sunthistle, Drunkvine, Faeroot, Clorberries, Larblade, and Bloodroot.

Uh, yep. You never said where we can find Bloodroot. Oh! So you're gonna find Bloodroot in the Hezon Mountains. Right. Or Tatiana was a guy. Ooh! Just kidding, I don't know. Maybe. I mean, honestly, probably. Hmm. Do my favorite roll of Flat T20, Tatiana. Oh, okay. Alright, that worked out. Ooh. But the Hezon Mountains always has- always has Bloodroot. And that's all that was said about that. Uh, uh, Kalden would like to do something. While we're taking one of these short breaks just to get water or something, Kalden would like to, like, maybe find a little frog.

Or a lizard. Oh, no! Again? You're gonna do it again? Come on, I still don't know what happened. Okay. Let's do it. Uh, you want me to roll a nature check or something for that? Uh, give me- yeah, give me a nature check. Let's see if you can find one. Okay. Anything high- yeah, you found one. Oh, hey. So Kalden's gonna just break away from the group for a little bit. Be like, um, uh, one sec, I, uh, uh, just need to drain the humors. Yep. Drain the humors! Oh, what a great callback. Oh my goodness. Wait, that's not a callback, it's just old science stuff. Yeah, a callback to older times.

More refined times. Um, yeah, and then he's going to do what he did before and just try and, like, channel his magic into the- into this animal's essence to try and basically stop its blood flow, uh, with- with his ice magic. Do me a favor, give me an arcana check. I can't wait until Callie catches you doing this. Yeah, that'll do it. So, I'm guessing you're- you're cupping- so that explains the fake hand. Okay, so you're cupping this frog against the ice hand with your good hand, right? Oh, I like that, yes. The fake hand was just to look cool, but- Oh, okay.

I was- I like that a lot. I love that, yeah. So, what's gonna happen is this- this- this little frog is going to obviously resist a bit. And it's- the base, uh, the- the feet of the frog are gonna be planted against the, uh, the ice hand and Kaldin's regular hand is gonna go on top of that and slowly but surely, just trying to concentrate. And it's pretty rough because you're used to doing this with two hands. You're used to channeling magic through both hands and it's- it's- it's- it's gonna feel weird, right? It's like trying to swim with one arm, that type of thing.

It's gonna feel strange. But eventually, you're gonna get these juices flowing and this frog is going to start to slow down a little more and a little more. Eventually, it is going to, uh, it- it- it's- it's- it's little heart is going to stop and its blood is going to stop pumping and is actually going to freeze to this ice hand. Oh boy. So, yeah, you're gonna have to, like, pull it off, but yeah, you succeeded. Yeah, so, uh, I imagine this takes a bit out of Kaldin to, like, its new magic and- and he's doing it after- after all this has happened, so yeah, he's gonna just, like, just, like, fall in the tall grass, I guess, panting a little bit and looking at this frog frozen to his- to his hand.

And I guess he'll just try and pry it off, pull it off. Back on the road? Mm-hmm. So let's say, um, let's say that killed a day and a half there, so it is... Hmm. Let's say it's the eighth right now. So it is the eighth of Yesdi. It is, uh, let's say noonish somewhere in there, so you're in the middle of the day and so you've- you've- you've gotten sleep at some point, you had the horses rest, that type of thing. I want... So you're riding fast, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah, we're doing that thing where, I guess, mechanically, like, our perception checks would be at disadvantage or something because we're just trying to make speed.

Yeah, it's like a- isn't it like a 10? Take 10, or is that something different? I think it's something to do- I think it's, uh, it normally just shaves off. What I want to do is, I want Tatiana to do me a favor, roll a perception check with disadvantage. Oh boy. Okie dokie, artichokie. Is that- is that Tatiana's new thing? Because I love it. Yep! That's Jamie's thing. Seventeen. That's with disadvantage, though. That- yeah, that's- that's with disadvantage. That's awesome. So, uh, you guys are in hot pursuit of the Fang, but Tatiana's gonna notice something. It looks like someone's in hot pursuit of you.

Behind you, there are a few figures on horseback riding very deliberately. Looks like they're either trying to keep- keep up or catch up to you. And I would say with that type of perception, Tatiana's going to recognize the figure in the lead. And that is, um, a very aristocratic-looking tiefling. Oh my god dammit! Nooooooo. Oh, beautiful. Makes a return. Vincent Delorne. Oh my god. Fuck. Alright, let's do this. Time to go invisible, brain. There's a thunderclap right next to his ear, and hopefully his head explodes. Like in Fallout. Bloody mess. I win. *laughter* He looks, uh, quite cross.

Well, we're not a British podcast. Calm down. Wow. Sorry. You're right. You know what? I'm sorry, I must be in some sort of mood tonight. I sincerely apologize. Your humors, my dear, are of much imbalance. Lord. I was trying to be more inclusive? I was just trying- Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. I must- oh my goodness. You got no blood sugar? Just a bump? Let's keep it American. I don't know, I think I'm still upset about how bad my pot pie was. Awwww. It was very disappointing. Oh, I'm sorry. Don't stop though, I love it. I love sassy pal. One day you won't. When that sass is directed your way?

Oh, it's no fun. You just sass back. And then I get offended. Yeah, I'm always afraid of hurting House Felix. So, what would you guys like to do here? Does it look like he's really coming towards us and is angry at us, or does it look like he's just heading towards the same direction we are? Well, okay. He is behind you, coming up the road, and again, this is- you could tell on the road when someone's riding with purpose, or just like, "Okay, we're going to the next town and we're doing the next thing." You guys are riding with purpose. If you saw someone who was just like, "Okay, let's go, book it, book it, let's go, we don't have time for breaks," that type of thing, this person, being as how you've already seen them before, you gave them the runaround.

Um, putting two and two together, they probably want a word with you. They don't know we gave them the runaround. Yeah. I mean... They look mad at whatever transpired, right? Yeah. So you guys, you guys are on horseback here. Fuego, Bubsy, and Tesla are just streaking. What the fuck is that? I love all those horses names. Thank you! And I hope that when we reach on the call, I find three horses that I can bet on called Fuego, Bugsy, and Tesla. Is it Bugsy or Bubsly? Bugsy. Like the cat. Nice. And one of them is energy responsible. One of them's a hybrid horse. I guess Tatiana would relay that information to the group, and she would probably say something along the lines of, "Hey, that stuck up asshole tiefling from earlier is running towards us." And she would say that out loud.

Kalden will yell back as they're like riding, "What do you want to do?" Does she keep riding, I guess? Let's like outrun them. I mean, we got the hot hands right now. I think he would, yeah, like I think Kalden, well, he's not running the horse, but I think he would defer to Tatiana as escaping things as kind of her purview or, you know, whatever. I think Tatiana, in her brain, she's thinking that it would be silly to sort of stop to have a confrontation with these people. So she's just going to sort of look back to see how far behind they are and yell up front, "Why don't we just keep going till they catch up?" If they catch up.

Sounds good. Well, then they're going to be back there, still the eighth of Yesti, so let's ride into the evening, do me a favor, give me a roll. We're going to have to stop sometime too, because these horsies. I figured you had a break at some point in there and had an extended rest, that type of thing, because you just had to. Who's going to roll? I'll do it. Shit, that's an eight. And let me have them roll. That's an eight. Good lord, they're making great time. Wait, so what are our numbers? Let me add them up right now. I mean, even if they get there before us, the townsfolk of Lockford still sent word to Don Hurst, right?

Mm-hmm. Who knows how that long they'll take? Well, I think it's by bird, so... What if it was that guy on the cart? Damn it. His name is Raven. We're saying it's our fastest raven. I mean, that would make sense. Oh, the whole squad's named Raven? Yeah, all of us. That's why we have the shop. Let's see here. So that, in total, that's a 29 for them and a 25 for you. I would say that pushes us into the ninth of Yesty. And these guys are getting closer to you, like really close. And I would say the next time you break, which you're going to have to do, they're going to be catching up to you.

So it is the ninth of Yesty. You are about halfway there. Maybe probably a little over halfway because the weather and everything has been cooperating with you guys wonderfully. You're doing great. Now, the fang's been pushing it really, really, really hard, which means that they're going to stop and take a break. Now, you guys have to stop and take a break as well, otherwise you're pushing these horses really, really difficult. It's just too much for them. When you stop, those horses behind you are going to catch up. Now, I imagine you have a campsite, something like that.

Yeah, I think so. Yeah. How many of them are there? Did we ever find out? Three. Three, including the horny boy? Yes. There are three, including Vincent. Now, what you're going to notice is Vincent seems to be coated in like mud and muck and his clothing is torn. He's in like he's just you can understand why he's a bit upset and he's going to approach the campsite and get off his horse. He is going to he's going to move a bit bit closer to the group. Might I have a word, please? Brothers do speak up. You might. I'm sure you remember me from last week. We had words.

I asked you if you had seen a young lady and you gave me directions into a river. I don't seem to remember that. No, me neither. Sorry. He is going to get like he does a thing where he's getting ready to scream and just. Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot. And he's going to he's going to move closer and take a deep breath and do that thing where you steeple your fingers and he's just kind of got him up to his mouth, just like, OK. My name is Vincent Delorn of House Delorn. I am in the area because I am trying to recover something that was stolen. Now, I may not have been 100 percent honest with you in our last encounter.

And for that, I apologize. Time is of the essence and I was hoping my name might grease some wheels. That apparently was not the case. I am trying to recover an egg. It was stolen from one of the houses of Brightport. And I am in pursuit of it. If you could give me any information on that woman, it would be greatly appreciated. Time is of the essence. And if she gets too far away, I fear that we may never find her again. This woman is dangerous. And again, I am humbly requesting your help. Which house was this artifact stolen from? An egg, you say? He is going to take a knee here and then settle in.

I am doing a favor for House Dragonkeep. Let's say that I owe them one. A dragon's egg. Quite rare, actually. A white dragon egg was stolen from that house. It is insanely important that I recover it. Or at the very least give some sort of whereabouts as to where it might be now. Cauldron will just be gobsmacked, I think. And he's going to look at Brelyn and with big white eyes. Brelyn's mouth is going to be kind of hanging down. If I can ask a dragon egg. Okay. How do you know House Dragonkeep? If you don't mind my asking. They were kind enough to broker some deals for me about a year ago.

It ended up saving me a tremendous pain. I don't mind saying that I made a tiny profit at the end of the day out of something that should have cost me quite a bit of money. In exchange, I told Miss Grimness that I would owe her a favor. When the egg was stolen, I honestly thought that this job would be painless. It shouldn't be too difficult to track down someone in a slow-moving cart. But, apparently this woman is quite charming and has made more than a few friends along the way. Brelyn's going to look at the ground, like avoid the guy's eyes. Just kind of rubbing his temples.

So it was this woman that stole the egg? She's in possession of it, that's all I know. And you don't know why? Or how she was able to steal it? He's going to look back to his men. We have a hunch. We believe that she's part of a cult. And he's going to sort of lean down really close to the group when he says that kind of a hushed tone. Some kind of dragon cult, I'm assuming? That would be correct. Oh, I see. I see. He's going to just like put his hands on his face. Well, I guess one hand on his face. And then shake his shoulders and gesture to him and Brelyn and say, "We are friends of House Dragonkeep, of Lady Grimness, and of her daughter." And although we did not, it seems we did not get off on the right foot.

And for that, I apologize. We have had pursuits of our own that are drawing us towards Don Hurst. Right, right. He's very sorry. But we can give you whatever information and aid you in any way that we can. We did see this woman on the road coming up to Lockford. Is that where we were? Is that where we saw her? You were coming from Fair Bay to Lockford at the time. So we'll say that, yeah. Headed from Fair Bay to Lockford. When we met you on the road, we unfortunately thought you very rude and sent you in the wrong direction on pursuit of apparently a hapless woman.

But that is where we saw her last. She's several days in the opposite direction. He's going to look just crestfallen. I don't suppose you would have a final destination somewhere that she might be trying to make set down stakes, a camp, anything. I don't know. Well, she was on the road to Fair Bay, but that's as far as we know. We haven't heard of any cults or anything in the area. And I don't know of any off the top of my head. Can I roll a history check or something and see if I maybe know of anything? You sure can. Holy shit. He knows everything. It's like dragons, so...

So check this shit out. The order of the scale is obsessed with all things dragons. As a matter of fact, they feel that the butchering of the Black Dragons on this continent is one of the biggest attracts way bigger than anything done to the tieflings. Proud, glorious creatures should be ruling shit, not be subjugated by people. They believe firmly that we should be serving our dragon masters. That is what they feel. They will do pretty much anything to preserve dragon kind and impede any progress that would be a hindrance to dragons. They will even kill people to uphold that ideal.

Okay, so Therian domestic terrorists for dragons. They are pretty wacky out there. Oh my god. So, Kal'Danor will remember thinking back his studies of trying to learn Draconic and figure out about the dragon clan elves about this cult and will relay this information, but say, but I haven't heard about where they've sprouted up or anything other than that they exist. And that is the purpose. You ever talk to somebody and then partway through the conversation you realize, oh no, you're a horrendous racist and I need to get out of this conversation now?

I would imagine while Kal'Danor is learning Draconic, it's one of those things that's like, hey, I know a few things. Maybe I could teach you. I love Draconic dragons, right? Yeah. And then partway through the conversation, you'd realize, oh, you're insane. Like that type of thing where it's like, I think you like dragons too much. Look, we're heading in the opposite direction, but if there's anything that we can do to help speed you along on this or speed you back to pick up the trail, we will. I think we can take it from here and I apologize for my curtness when we first met.

It has gotten me in trouble before. Oh yeah, no worries. Don't worry. Kal'Danor apologizes as well. Yeah, he's very sorry for the way he treated you. You know, a friend of a friend is a friend, right? He's going to hold a handout to Kal'Danor. Kal'Danor will hold his hand out to, or will grab it and give him a shake. And with that, he's going to get ready and get back on his horse with his crew and they're going to get ready and go. Brelan's going to look at Kal'Danor. Wow. Was that our fault? It's a lot to take in, but if that's truly what happened, was Amara pregnant?

Did she have a child? How does that even work? I mean, okay, I know how it works. You need two, but like... Yeah, well the thing about dragons is they have a cloaca and they're gestating an egg. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He's going to close the ears. He's going to turn around and go back to like the log he was sitting on. It's about like 12 months and you would think it's live birth, but no, they give birth to the... I'm not listening anymore! Hey, I could just go on about dragon cloacas. On and on. I need a flat d20 from someone. For pertaining to what? For cloacas.

For... roll for cloaca! I didn't do it. That there's a five. Too good of a night. It was bound to happen. Well that there's a five and it's going to start to rain heavily. Here's what we're going to do. It is now the tenth. The tenth of Iesti. Now, because of this rain, it is going to slow you down. That being said, the fang has taken a full day off of riding. These are a bunch of drunks and maybe they're supposed to get there on a specific date. Not really sure, but they are going to stop, which means I want a flat d20. No modifier from you guys because of this rain.

I'll do it. I haven't done it yet today. A d20 or a d10? D10. Sorry. Grab that d20. That's a six. That's pretty good. So check this shit out. Yes. I'm liking your new coined phase. I like it when you say that. Because this is good stuff. This is good stuff. Well good or bad, it just gets me excited. As a result of being bloodied. This shit. I like this new one. I approve. We haven't had a result of being bloodied yet this entire arc. Just throwing that out there. Doesn't mean it's not going to come up. Just hasn't yet. You guys are going to come up on a large camp. Way off the side of the road.

This looks like maybe 150 guys, maybe more. They are off the main road, far off the main road actually. Probably like 500-600 feet, kind of scattered out there. What would you like to do? Slow down? Well you got a few options. You could give them a wide berth and ride out into... You could ride off the road and give them a wide berth. You could just streak on by. Or you could slow down and observe. No, I don't think slowing down and talking to them would be... I don't want to talk to them. I was just wondering who they are. Is it the group we're thinking of?

You said it's a camp, right? Are we pretty sure this is the fang? When I say camp, I mean there's some tents pitched, there's a bunch of... these guys look like scum. Then we could just keep going. Yeah, Brelyn would say let's go around them. The mission is to get there before they do. If we go around them, what do we get? Cool. Does Brelyn do a cool SWAT team? Yes, yes he does. Just super exaggerated, like, "Two, go that way, triangle." [laughter] Well, here's what we're going to do. This is downpouring. This is some bad rain. You guys are going to go off the beaten path here, off the main road, and it's really uneven, soggy ground.

So what we're going to do is we're going to roll a saving throw. We're going to roll a saving throw, and then I'm going to get into this. If it's... oh, okay. If it's seven, it's not good. If it's ten or lower, you die. So I'm going to get ready and roll a d6, guys. One of you is about to take a tumble. Now, if it comes up a six, none of you take a tumble, and you just keep on going. Four. Yes, boss? Kaladin! Kaladin is going to get ready, and his horse is just going to... Which means Elena is also going to take a tumble. What if it's because he's short and he's not holding on as hard?

It's only him. Okay, we can do that. Yeah, could it be like he loses his grip in the wet and just lets go of Elena? Or like slips off? So, you know, remember how I said this is uneven ground and stuff like that? So these horses are just going to like bounce. It's a lot of bouncing. They're trying to keep up speed. And this down port, you're going to bounce upward, and as you come down, slip off the back of this saddle just because you landed just poorly? How? You're going to get lightly kicked by this horse and then fall into about three inches of muck and wet.

He didn't hit his head though, right? No. And Kaladin is damaged mentally for real. Just because that literally happened to my friend. She was riding a racehorse, and they were going fast, and she fell off, and she hit her head, and then she got a concussion. I'd say this is more like a chest kick. Like wind knocked out. Yeah, so that's only going to do one damage though. That's lucky. Oh my gosh. And he lands in the mud and it's just like *pfft* like, just covers him like Jamie Lannister just slopping around. The arm now is all mucked up instead of like, "Oh, that's nice ice." Well, no no no, the ice arms got all mud all over it.

I thought his is closed up, his stomach. Yeah. Would the people on the other horses see this happen or would we just like... I'd say yeah, it wouldn't take long. At the very least, Elena would and then like I'd imagine there's a rally, everybody gets back and yeah. Okay, seeing this happen and then noticing that Kaladin's okay, Tatiana might might shuffle to herself a little bit. *gasping* Hey, Callie. Hey. Do me a favor, give me a D10 roll. Okay. That'll get us killed, please. That's a five, you guys are so close to Don Hurst. You are so close. *sigh* Which horse kicked me?

I gotta know. It was yours. Well, which one were we riding? We're in the front, you're riding Tesla, obviously. Oh, Tesla kicked me right in the chest. It just caught like, it just grazed, right? Just like a *grunt* like it could have been so much worse like a square kick from a horse that poof. Yeah, yeah. Kaladin's a frail, a frail boy, so yeah, he a free boy, frail boy. Except when he, you know, has higher endurance than everybody else. That's all magical. So the Fang's gonna get ready and get back on the road, but they're gonna roll with a disadvantage because most of the day is just gone.

They don't make any progress for the day. Just mud. Yeah, just mud and just ick and maybe that's kind of slowing them down. They're like, "I don't wanna go riding, it's muddy." Like that type of shit. It is the eleventh. The eleventh of Yesti. Boy, making progress, guys. Yeah, you are. I'm gonna have them roll. That is a six for them. And let's have... Who'd like to give me a roll here? Nobody. I haven't done a D10 yet. Yeah, do the D10. You just gotta get four more. Yeah, that's it. You can do it. Yeah! Kinda panicked for a second. Lucky number seven. So, it is still... it's still raining.

When you arrive at Donhurst. Now, when you get there, it is... It's kind of tough to describe to somebody the size of these big wooden walls and the huge front gate that accompanies them. This front gate is going to be locked up. It's gonna be closed. And I would say you're gonna get there middle of the day, something like that. Still raining, but there's plenty of light outside to see. What would you like to do? Right when we start banging on the gate. Hey, let us in! So, you're just kind of a furious like boom boom boom boom, that type of thing. Yeah, but his small soul is like a little bang.

Right, and there's like a little door built into the gate that would let individuals in, but like for big wagons or something like that, they open the double doors. The little door. Yeah. No one's gonna answer. Like, at all. And minutes are gonna go by, and this rain is just down, but... And that is... It's weird. It's a weird occurrence. But no one's gonna answer. No one's gonna answer. Is there anyone... Like, how high is this gate? Is there anything up above? Can we like look and see if there's any towers or anything? There are lookout posts, and there's...

The walls themselves, if you had to like eyeball it, you'd figure maybe 17, 18 feet high. Okay. No climbing. It's wet, dude. Yeah, well, I wasn't thinking climbing it. I was just trying to see if there's anyone up there. But guys, I have more spider climb. Oh, shit. But is there anybody... Like, can we see anybody in the lookout towers? Do me a favor. Someone give me a Perception roll. I'll do it. Oh my god. Crazy. Great mama. Callie's not gonna see anybody in these lookout towers either, although there is a bit of smoke. But it looks like it's coming from the distance.

It looks like it's coming from behind Donhurst, not necessarily from Donhurst. And with no one opening the gates and no one in those lookout towers, that's a pretty big... Like, that's a red flag, let's call it. It's very peculiar. Not completely unheard of, just like a "huh, that's not good." Jason, I have some questions. Okay. Historically, if you didn't live in Donhurst but you lived somewhere else, let's say, Brightport, would you learn about the other cities? Uh, you'd always hear things, sure. Okay. Would I know history of Donhurst, like, anytime someone's breached the gates or anytime there's some sort of, like, "Oh, this guy's a master criminal, he got out of Donhurst," or "He got into Donhurst," or something like that.

You know, like some kind of tall tale. Well, how about you give me a History check? That's what I was hoping for. Not history, I was hoping for, like, anything else, but... Oh, God, no! Nope, I know shit. Well, you'd know a couple of things. One, you'd know that those walls were erected to keep orcs out. Orcs were the big threat for Donhurst. A long time ago, this was just farming land, and there was really no protection for anybody living in that area, and orcs would just raid the place. A lot of half-orcs got born that way, and it's just that they ended up erecting those walls as a way to defend themselves.

The orc encampment is several miles north, west, actually, of Donhurst, just below the Stone Thunder Mountains, and it's always been a concern. Other than that, they do have some wildlife in the area, and they have some things going on, but that's why those walls are there. If they're shut, it's either because there's a curfew, or there's some sort of threat that they're preparing for, something like that. It is not uncommon these days to see those gates shut, but someone is usually at the gates to man that little door, to talk to people potentially coming into or out of the city.

Okay, so I don't learn... I learned the history of the city, but not much about it. Yeah. I see. Alright, well, everyone's gonna look at everybody like, "This is very odd." Unless someone wants to block harder, maybe they didn't hear me. Go right ahead. There's nobody in the watchtowers. Oh, even better. I don't know how to say the same character, but do you want to spider climb up there? Like, do you want to try that? Do you want to just, like, climb up that wall? I don't know how to, yeah, like, I don't know. I mean, we can ask, like, Kelly, you can kind of change into animals, right?

Oh, yes. Yeah. Just my fox, but my fox isn't very good at climbing, but I could climb it. Anything you could climb? No, I can climb it myself. Oh, like an obstacle? Right on the look at Kelly, and look back at the wall. Are you sure? Yeah, I could probably climb up it and then open the door from the other side. Like a monkey, or... Yeah, like, how are you gonna climb it? Or a fire beetle? I know a spell. Oh. Okay. Do you think you could carry me with you? Just, you know, kissing some backup? Oh, that's a good- Gonna flex his muscles? Can I carry Braylin, like, on my back?

I'm... hmm... He's pretty small. He's fairly small. Mm-hmm, and I weigh... inventory. 53 pounds. Plus the stuff you carry. Ah, shit, you're right. Well, if you leave his stuff, we're just gonna, like, go over it. Oh, yeah. Leave my stuff? Excuse me. What? We're just gonna go open a door. Well, what if they're- Okay, you're right. Alright, if Braylin's gonna leave his stuff, I'll allow it. Can I bring my sword, or my rapier at least? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Your basic stuff. I'm talking dropping your pack with all your supplies. Ah, yeah, I'm gonna need water.

No, that's cool. I don't need water. I'm gonna treat myself to a really nice- and everybody else, I'm sorry, everyone else, we're gonna have a really nice dinner when we get in there. 'Cause I think I'm the richest one currently. No, no I'm not. I'll just take a warm bath. Yeah. Wiping mud off. So I'll put my pack on the ground. I'll look at the ground, it's all muddy, and I'll say, "Uh... someone wanna hold this?" Uh, Kaldin'll put out his arm. He's gonna put it. That's why I like you. I think, uh, Callie will leave her bag too. Just like- Kaldin'll put out his other arm.

Aww. So... Callie's going to approach this wall, and I imagine Braylin is just gonna kind of hop on and sort of wrap her- like a little sleeper hold almost? Uh, I had an idea. I was gonna take some of my rope and tie myself around her. Oh, okay. So like Yoda and Skywalker. Your backpack. I am a backpack now. And as we climb, before we climb, I'm going to- do I still have that ability? Oh my god. I don't anymore, huh? I don't know what it is. The inspiration. The Bardic Inspiration. How do I use this? Hold on. Cuz it's different now. It's not as easy as it was before.

Isn't it like a D4 or something? A D6? Q? Excuse me? Q. Oh, sorry. I'm not a D4. I'm not some conjurer of cheap tricks. Uh, hold on. I'm gonna inspire her with stirring words for music. She can use my Bardic Inspiration die in the next 10 minutes and add it to number roll on an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw. Well, uh, let's break out Spider Climb here. What's it do? What's it do? Okay, so I can move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings with my hands free. Also, I gain a climbing speed equal to my walking speed. Ooh, okay.

So here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna get ready and approach this wall. And I imagine at first it's kind of like, "Okay, let's try this out." Like that type of thing. And you're gonna cast this spell and essentially just stick to this wall. And then eventually, while you're moving up, just like you're walking, like just like da da da da da, you're gonna stop using your hands and being on all fours and you're going to essentially, almost like you're walking against the wind, but you're going to walk up this vertical surface. Braille is terrified.

So, Braille is gonna be dangling, and I would imagine dangling face first toward the ground. Yes, now the backpack seems like a bad idea. And I will be playing brown-eyed girl the whole time. I hope you're not afraid of heights. I'm so sorry. It's too late. Just like pat him over the shoulder. So, eventually, Callie's going to reach the top. And I'm guessing you're just going right over. Yes. Okay. So going right over, getting down to the other side, and that would lead you to the gate. You don't see anybody at this front gate, and that pretty much confirms your suspicions on the other side of it.

Oh, good. All right. Is the door big enough? Like, not the gate, but like the door, is it big enough for the horses or do I have to open the gates? You probably have to open the gates. Okay. So I'll do that? Okay. Let me get off first. I don't want to... Oh, yeah? I'm gonna hook myself. So, either way, there's this, there's a bar. There's this big wooden bar that keeps the gate shut. Now, I could have you roll strength checks and all that stuff, but even if you failed it, you just let the rest of the party in, you get it open. So, we're gonna skip that part. So, this gate is going to open, the main gate to Don Hurst is going to open and let the rest of the party in.

What would you guys like to do? Close the gate. Are we in a gate house or something? Good question. Are we in like a gate house when she brought us up to the top? This is actually very, it's actually very low, low-fi, right? Like, it's very low, like, all it is is just a, just, there's a little, there's a little cabin type of thing right next to the gate that soldiers would sit in if they're, if it's like raining like it is now. But other than that, that's just the bar blocking that gate and keeping it shut. There's no chairs or tables up here or anything?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, there's, yeah, there's, there's chairs and tables and stuff, sorry. Is there like a desk or anything around or like any type of like notice on a board somewhere like on a wall near us? There's lots of little different pieces of, of parchment and stuff. Yeah, the guards will leave notes for each other. I want to scan them really quickly after she opens the thing to see like maybe there's a note or something and it's like, hey, we got to get the hell out of here or something that will catch my attention. Sure. Okay. Do me a favor. Give me a little investigation check.

Another one that I'm terrible at. You keep having all the great ideas. Look at that. Hey, any half eaten sandwiches? Yeah, glad you're in for dairy bread. So there's like, there's a couple of mugs up here with cold liquid in them. And the newest bit of parchment is a note about keeping the gate shut. And that was from four days ago. That is the newest bit of parchment you can find here. That is the there's a date on it and it's it's labeled four days ago. I'm going to take it if I can and show it to Callie. Doesn't it say like why or just like we need to keep the door shut?

It's talking about there being some sort of trouble in the in the south end of the city. And until it's sorted, no one leaves. No one leaves the city at all. And is that where I saw the smoke? It could be. Honestly, the smoke looked distant enough that it might not even be coming from Donhurst. OK. As the guy is everyone in the city, at least? No. Oh, yeah, I think we all. Yeah, I got in. Let's close that mofo, please. OK, we close back up the gate. So the gate is closed back up. Bar is placed again. Where is everyone? Why is there no one watching this gate? Well, Braylon found this new.

Apparently there is something going on the south side of the city, but that was days ago. Jason, is it like dead quiet in the city or what? I mean, with the rain, it's a little tough to tell, but you're not hearing other people yet. Oh, God. Do we see any like torches or what? I'm guessing it's evening. Is that correct or no, it's middle of the day ish. Give me give me a perception check. Let me look. You guys are in the city now and you are scoping stuff out. And with all of you looking, give me give me one with advantage. Thirteen. OK. From what you can see, there are no lanterns lit.

You don't see another living soul. The streets of Donhurst appear to be completely and utterly devoid of another living person. And I think that's a good time for us to stop. I'm having PTSD, guys. Oh, no. Yeah, I picture like we're all just walking into this rainy thing and like the camera just like pans up and up and up and up rain and there's no one there. No empty city. Oh, that's so cool. And I just promised you guys dinner. God. Donners full of the Elodran. We have an Elodran situation going on. Oh, my God. We hope that you enjoyed that episode of DNR.

And as you folks know, we are supported by the lovely listeners over at Patreon.com, where we offer you guys a slew of bonus content starting at just one dollar a month. And as a super special clip just for this week, here's a tidbit of the behind the scenes from this very episode. But you changed it and I'm not very happy. Oh, did I change it? I thought it was the same. Wait, you guys don't notice? I don't know. It gets me pumped. It's very different. Are you guys serious? You didn't notice the difference? I noticed that he's putting a little bit more oomph into it, but I like that.

I didn't I didn't catch the the subtext, the subtle slights that he's doing to Valerie specifically. Well, let me do it. Let me do it. Valerie, let's get around. Yeah, let me do a little slower. OK, well, go fuck yourself. Let's do that. I do that. I heard it. When you slow it down. You slow it down. OK, cool. OK. When you play it a half-sash time. If you enjoyed that peek behind the curtain and would like to see more, please visit patreon.com/dandr to check out the tiers we've created. And if you really want to support us and would like to maybe play a game with Jason himself, keep an eye on the higher tiers, because we may be offering up a new spot soon for the Patreon games.

Thank you all so much for listening and have a fantastic week.