Coming to Terms

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Previously for Group B. After arriving in the town of Durran Hollow, the group manages to rest and relax for a bit. And Larg manages to catch up with his former mentor, Ellen. After exchanging stories and getting comfortable in town, everyone breaks off to spend the week doing things like helping out townspeople, praying, and general research. However, Tatiana, Braylon, and Callie decide to try and rob a local merchant. This individual is quite powerful and has a feared reputation in town, so they had no qualms about trying to steal money from him. Unfortunately, the heist didn't go exactly as planned, and while they didn't outright get caught, they did escape with absolutely no money.

On top of that, there does seem to be an individual in town that might be able to point the finger at them and cause complications. Let's pick up in the town of Durran Hollow right now. Let's do that thing! Where are we going on the table to introduce ourselves? I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table, starting with Alex. Hey, I'm Alex, and I play Braylon, the halfling bard. And Jamie. Hi there, I'm Jamie, I play Tatiana, the human rogue. And Jameson. Hey, I'm Jameson, I play Larg, the half-orc paladin. And Ian. I'm Ian, I play Cauldron Halec, the half-elf sorcerer.

And Karen. Hi, I'm Karen, and I play Callie, the elven druid. And Valerie. Hello, I'm Valerie, and I play Elena, the human fighter. Was that intro better? Is that cool? Well, here's the thing. You did say, "Let's go in the table." Is that what I said last time, or are you just busting balls? [mocking] Well, last time you said... something. You don't even remember your nitpick. All I'm saying is today you said, "Let's go in the table and introduce ourselves." And I mean, honestly, I'm here for it. [laughter] Is this reverse psychology? You just want him to keep messing it up?

What's going on? Last time Valerie couldn't even, but now she is living for this intro. [laughter] Which one is good? I don't know. Anywho, here's where we're picking up things today, on the 25th of Yes-T. You guys are still in Durran Hollow. Here's the situation as it stands. Let's pick things up in the morning. Now, the 24th was a busy day for your crew. Well, some of your crew. Braylin, Tatiana, Callie. We're all party to an attempted robbery over at Cherry Blossom Heaven. Now, the owner of Cherry Blossom Heaven, Titus Crane, is said to be someone not to fuck with.

Very mean-spirited, cutthroat businessman. That type of thing. Now, you didn't get away with any coin. But you also didn't get outright caught. So that's good. Could have been way worse, right? However, there was a complication. In that, someone was apprehended on the same day as you. That knew about your heist. Knew about your plan, anyway. And it has been... I would say your crew, the three of you, who would know about this, I'm going to allow you to roll to see if you know more about this person. Because you've been in town for a week now. You've probably seen a lot of the locals here and there, out and about.

And you actually might know a bit about this person. So I want to give you a chance to see. Also, Braylin owes 100 gold pieces to Sespa at the Honest Toilet. I'm going to ask Kaldin if I can borrow 50 gold real quick. Yeah, absolutely. What do you need it for? I might have not performed to the best of my ability in our shows earlier this week. You know what? You don't even need to say it. Here, and you'll give him the money. Aw, thanks man! I'm probably not going to pay you back, though. He's going to say that, holding the bull, he's going to say that looking up at him.

As sincere as possible. I'll try my best. Kaldin will shake his head and be like, "After everything we've been through, you don't need to worry about it." Okay, cool. And then he's just going to skedaddle out of there and go pay off Sespa. I know that you will never get this group in trouble. There will be nothing that you can do to possibly risk us in any way. So you have my blessing to take this money. We've got to talk about this later. Bye! He is fast for being short. Yeah, those little legs. They just go. So... are you settling up your debt? Yes. 100%. Sweet.

So let me strike that from the record, and let me strike that gold from your inventory. Oh my god, no. Goodbye, my lover. Goodbye, my friend. So let's see. Kaldin, that leaves you with ten gold. Oh, you rich, boy. Uh, Braylin, that leaves you with five gold. Oh my god. Boy, the road. You guys gotta pick up some jobs. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, busy saving the world over here. Involuntarily. Uh, Tatiana, Callie, Braylin, I would like you to do me a favor and give me a wisdom check. Wisdom check? You got it. I think any one of them are wisdom checks. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh.

Yes, yes, perfect. Uh, that's left side, correct? That's, uh, yes. Hee hee hee hee hee hee. Well, uh, Callie's gonna fill you guys in. Here's the basic gist of this. She's like, "Oh yeah, I saw that guy!" The person that was apprehended is named Cuna Zallos. She is a halfling female and a noted drug addict. The problem is that she has been getting her fix at Cherry Blossom Heaven. So she has an incentive to maybe sell you guys out to, one, perhaps get herself out of some trouble, and two, maybe get herself a fix for free as a reward. Great. Cuna Zallos, huh?

Cuna Zallos. How do you spell for that? That's a heavy, heavy name. Q-U-N-A-Z-A-L-L-O-S. Oh my god, I spelled it right! What?! I was off by one letter. That should be an achievement unlocked if anyone spells any of the names I put in this game. I was debating on whether there was an "I", but I was like, "No. No 'I'." You guessed the Q. Yeah! Wow. Good on ya. Thank you for not making the apostrophe joke. I appreciate that. Is this the 18th? Sorry. It is the 25th. It's the 25th because we've been here for a week. Yeah, time flies. So, my first question would be, would Calli relay this information to Tatiana and Brely?

Yes. How would Brely and Tatiana react? I would be shocked, but I don't want to get into any more trouble. Because it seems like every choice Brely has made so far has been bad. So he's just gonna nod, "Mm-hmm. Wow. Well, that's very troublesome." And basically just stand there. He's afraid to physically move and make any moves. Tatiana, as soon as she hears this information, is gonna sort of go bug-eyed. And maybe look around really quick and then scooch in very uncomfortably close to both Brely and Calli. And she's just going to whisper, So, what do we do?

We should leave town immediately and never come back to Durnahollow ever again for a hundred years and hope for the best. Roger. Got it. That'll work. Calli, what do you think? We could attempt to talk to her and bribe her so that maybe we could come back in the future. Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm broke. So, if anyone's bribing or making a bankroll with this bribe, it's gonna have to be someone with thicker pockets. I mean, I don't want to perpetuate the stereotype, but she might be interested in some other things than gold. Yeah. Well, you did tell us, right?

You would have told us all about her. Yeah. Well, I'm not an alchemist, you know? I don't cook. That's what the kids call it. I don't do that. And I don't- I mean, no offense to anyone in the party, but I really don't think any of us could possibly know how to make that kind of stuff. Maybe Kaladin, but he'd probably make it cold, and I'm pretty sure some drugs probably can't be cold. What would I have to roll? Oh my god, is group B gonna start cooking meth? Well, we need money, Jason, and the Therian healthcare system is a wreck. Please finish your thought.

Say my name. Braelyn's the one who knocks. What would I have to roll to see if Tatiana would have that sort of knowledge? Wow, you did finish the thought. Okay. Okay, Tatiana's- Do I know what kind of drug is her preference? With that check? Give me a wisdom check. Oh yeah, come on. Cuna's addiction started out very, very small, and from what Kali has heard, Titus has gradually gotten her hooked on harder and harder substances to keep her in his pocket and keep her coming back. So he uses her to peddle information, to spy on people, to do dirty, awful, terrible deeds, and then come back to Titus for a fix.

Oronash is a hardcore Therian narcotic that is usually used for pain relief. Think of it like morphine, something like that. Taken in large quantities, it is highly crazy addictive and worth a ton of money to the right people. Sometimes healers use it for wounds they just can't treat right away, or someone who's dealing with chronic terrible pain in tiny, tiny increments over small, slow periods of time. It can be used to great effect in helping people recover from terrible injuries. When it's just freebooted by a drug addict, though. This is sad. This is becoming very real.

Like, that's very sad. It's a sad life. It's rough? Yeah. That's why I'm saying we shouldn't- Brelyn would say this out loud, like, maybe we shouldn't, like, cure drugs. That seems like it's just gonna make the thing- the problem worse. You know? I'm all for, you know, bouncing out of town and, you know, letting them hear about what happened. I mean, honestly, who comes to Turn Hall that often, right? That would mean that the Black Hand, the Fang, and now the city of Durn Hollow will be after us. No, no, no, no, no. The city of Durn Hollow will be after us, you know.

I forgot the guards of Brightport. Add them in, sprinkle them on top. Well, okay. You know, running is not always a bad thing. It's a good source of cardio, you get in shape easier, and he's gonna look at the ground. No, you're right. Tatiana's gonna sort of, like, break away from this little cluster that she made and, like, frustratingly, like, stroke her hands through her hair, and she'll look back at both of them and, looking at the ground, I think we have to come clean to the group. Ugh. They're gonna get so mad at us. Yeah, but I just don't know, one, how we would convince them to leave town after we spent forever in those woods.

And two, if there is gonna be a problem, I feel like they probably deserve to know. Yeah, that's probably right. It's better to be on guard than get caught off guard, I guess. Right. And then Tatiana puts her finger on her nose and says, "Not it." Oh, that was... Brightline's like, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, shit. Ugh. Okay, fine." He just, kinda Charlie Brown walks away, "Doo doo doo doo." Where would I find the remaining members of our party, Jason? Excellent question. What would be your morning routine in Durn Hollow? I'm speaking to... Continental breakfast. Continental breakfast, okay.

In Durn Hollow, that's probably a crappy bran muffin. Aww. That's a fun point. But it's continental. Doesn't that mean it's free? Or am I just making that up? No. I don't know how hotels work. Is it really free, though? Here's the thing, hold up. I gotta tell ya. I've only stayed at shitty motels. This year, DragonCon's the first real nice hotel I've ever stayed at, so I don't know what an actual continental breakfast is. It's great, man. It's like a fuckin' buffet, beach. Oh, yeah, no. I've never... They have like a waffle station sometimes? Mm-hmm. What? Really? Yeah.

Yeah, dude. Yeah, we're making some waffles. So what I'm hearing is when we go to DragonCon, we have to go to Jason's hotel and pretend like we're staying there waiting. Yeah! It's okay, y'all. I get a fuckin' free breakfast too. Oh, hell yeah, bitch. There we go. So excited. I can eat fruit. Which they don't have in Florida. We've got a waffle station. So yeah, you guys are... You know what? Let's roll for breakfast. Haven't done this in a while. Hold on a second. Yeah! Oh, you know what? Twelve. It's above average. They got some fixin's. And the waffle maker? I would say it's an older waffle maker.

Probably an older model. Nice cast iron thing. Yo, okay. So great story. I was in... I don't even know where I was. I think I was in South Carolina. And we had a breakfast down at the hotel. Their waffle maker... Remember, we were in South Carolina. Their waffle maker made waffles in the shape of Texas. That's weird. It was so good. Did you bite it into the shape of South Carolina? Okay, end of story. I just thought that was so fun. There's just some nice lady who makes a Texas waffle and she's like "Chomp chomp chomp, there you go, sweetheart!" I want to keep hearing your southern accent.

So... Breakfast. Let's say breakfast is the order of the day. So would Tatiana and Elena be coming with Braylin or did they just send Braylin in to do this dirty job? Callie? Callie. Callie, sorry. Not Elena. How did it go with? Yeah, same. Okay. Probably making sure there's food in her mouth at all times, though. Okay. So the group's together. And let's say Ellen's not present. It's more of a thing where you guys are checking. Thank god. Oh, I was really worried about that. Anyway, sorry. Go on. So the group is together. Oh, okay. Halfway through the meal, Braylin would judge it by looking at how satiated Larg and Elena look.

They're the most physical of the group, so I would wait until they look like they're pretty satisfied with their meal. Or halfway through it. And he's going to speak up. "Wow, it's a really nice day outside, huh guys?" And just have this really humongous smile on his face as he looks at all the party members. Larg does that thing where he just put food in his mouth when Braylin spoke, so he's like, "Uh, huh?" Yeah. Good. He looks around. Are there a lot of people around? I'd say not too many. Like probably another four or five people getting breakfast around where you guys are.

Ah, okay. So we got a full rest, right? Yes! I'm going to burn a second level spell and become invisible very quickly. Oh my god! Tatiana blushes. What? And as Braylin's invisible, he's going to kind of... First he'll get up from this table and say, "Excuse me." And then he'll just put on the ring and become invisible. And he'll tap the three who don't know on their shoulders and whisper in their ear the same thing. Tatiana, myself, and Callie, sorry, we tried to rob that bad guy, Titus, and it didn't work out. And now there's a witness who has ID'd us and we need to leave town.

He's going to say that to every one of them. And then he's going to return to his seat and reappear and then state very loudly, "Oh man! These rolls are fantastic! Delicious!" What order do you go in? I feel like this is important. I go, "Lark!" Called in and then Elena's last because I'm afraid Elena's going to hit me. As soon as you say it to Lark, he doesn't look anywhere, he's just still eating, but he just looks up and goes, "Why?" And as he reveals himself, and he says, "Oh, good dinner roll!" And Lark still has that questionable "Why?" He's going to whisper to him, "Because I owed somebody a lot of money and it was a good chance to make money and the guy's an asshole." "Oh man!

Wow! Waffles! We had money. I gave you money." Not every avenue had been explored at the time that the decision was made. I regret nothing, but at the same time, we should probably go. The whole time this is happening, Tatiana has a panicked look on her face, literally stuffing her mouth with whatever she can, trying to make eye contact with Callie, being like, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, we're in so much trouble." Sort of like you do when you're about to tell your parents that you failed French. I feel like Callie's doing something very similar, and at certain points we lock eyes, and then our eyes widen like, "Oh my fucking god," and then we look away from each other again.

Yes, yes, that. And Kalden looks at Callie and he looks her right in the eye and points to the others and he's like, "Did you know about this?" Oh no. And then she's going to get really, really red and she's just going to whisper, "Yes," and then stuff her foot in her mouth. I expect it from these two. I mean, Braille looks shocked, gasp, he says it out loud. That hay was in character as well. But Callie, you? They made some really good points in the moment, and I got kind of swept up in it. And then Braille's like, "Yeah, Tatiana's a really good mastermind." And then he'll start shoving his face full of bread rolls.

So Kalden will put his hands on his temples and he'll look at Tatiana and say, "Okay, who is this person and what do they actually know?" That would actually be a question for Callie, as I do not know this person. Yeah, you should really be thanking Callie because if she didn't tell us about this person who saw us, then we wouldn't really know. We'd all be clueless. Yes, Callie, go ahead and tell us about the criminal enterprise that you three have gotten yourselves into. I became invisible for a reason, Kalden. This whole time, Elena's just been rolling her eyes.

So Callie will just give a quick little download about who she is, what she does for the organization, and kind of the situation they're in. And Kalden will be like, "All right, so did she actually see you? Can she actually prove it?" "Did you leave anything there? What actual evidence does this person have on you?" Because if it's just a word against this person who seems to have an issue with drugs, that may not be something we can't talk our way out of. Do we know exactly what she knows, Jason? Or is there a very heavily implied part to this? It's much more very heavily implied.

So it's more you're not exactly sure what she knows, and you're not exactly sure if she even has plans to tell anyone about it, but she would stand to gain more from squealing than not. I think Callie would express most of that and just say that based on her history, we should be pretty worried about what she may or may not say. Did anyone see you while you guys were doing it? I thought we were clear. I didn't see anybody. Okay, then what do we have to worry about? I think it's more the possibility of this Titus finding out that we tried to take his shit.

And it was just money, right? Yeah, that was the goal. Money. We didn't even get anything. Yeah, we didn't get nothing. So there's no really big deal. We should probably just leave, though. Cauldin's gonna look at Breland with kind of a cold glare and be like, "on this, we are agreed." And he's gonna turn to Larg and he's gonna say, "Larg, is there any other business you need to take care of with the people that are here in Durnhollow?" Larg's just been kind of like, his eyes have been kind of dinner plates and he's been bouncing back and forth between everybody as they've been talking.

And his mouth is still full of food but he stopped chewing a couple minutes ago. And he'll just kind of eventually just swallow and go, "Yeah, I gotta talk to Ellen." This is bad guy stuff. You guys are doing bad guy stuff. Larg and Breland's gonna put his hand on his forearm. This gigantic ass forearm. This isn't usually the kind of things we do. I just want to apologize. I let my pockets get the better of me. And technically it was bad guy stuff to bad guys for good means. And it's not. It cancels out, right? Yeah. This one is zero. And that's what we got.

Callie's gonna look over to Callie and be like, "See, this is the kind of stuff that got me roped in." And how much does Larg know math? Because that adds up. Larg's eyes are gonna kind of narrow, like the fry thing of not sure if they're being honest or trying to trick me too. He's gonna say, "Is this what you guys were doing in Donhurst when I met you?" No. No. No, I didn't. No. Like you guys just... you don't just... And he looks around to the people who were involved and the people who weren't. He's like, "You don't just go around and rob people, right?" No.

No, Larg. I mean, look. Granted, it seemed like a golden opportunity at the time. I'm a quick learner. I learn from my mistakes. And next time, there'll be no witnesses. Or maybe we just don't do it next time. It's up in the air at this point. But usually, you know... I can speak for myself in Cauldron when I say that. Usually we try and do helpful stuff. Like save the world. You were there. You saved it with us once. So after a minute, he's just gonna kind of push his chair back and stand up. He's just gonna go, "I'm gonna go talk to Alan." And he'll walk out.

Braylon's gonna get up from the table to, "Wait, Larg! Come on, man!" He's gonna look at the group, "I'll stick with him." And he just kind of leaves. And as he's leaving, he's like, "Oh, you guys cover the bill? Thanks!" Cauldron will signal to Braylon, just give him a nod, and say just kind of real quick and low, "Be ready to go." Yeah, he knows. He nods. I think I might have an idea. I don't know exactly how it helps our situation, but Cal, you mentioned that Crane, you know, does drugs or gives out drugs to people. Do you think he would have anything that we need for Caledon's arm?

Caledon will speak up and say, "I don't think we should get in business with this person. Someone who has just been, well, wronged, whether they know it or not. I don't think we want to jump into bed with them." He would have the connections, though. Bloodroot's not easy to get. Tatiana is going to sort of... Oh, gosh. I don't want to do this, but I'm going to. Tatiana is going to sort of chuckle a little bit at Caledon and just sort of look back after Callie says that. And she's just going to say, "If we want to at least try, I don't mind going to try to talk to him." Caledon will like, he'll like look at everyone sort of like quizzically and is like, "Just to be...

Let me get this straight. You just got away, not being caught without anything, from stealing from someone from this town. Someone who has their connections and roots here. And there is a person waiting to possibly rat us all out. And you want to go to this person and ask them for a favor to help us out." Depending on the price, if we buy from him, then if something, if that person does decide to say something, we can just be like, "No, we didn't, man. We're on your side. You know, we bought from you illegally, you know?" And technically we never actually stole from Titus.

We only attempted to steal from Titus. Yeah, and now we're paying him. If you put your hand on my coin purse and you don't actually take it away from me, but I know that you wanted to, and then you try and chum up to me, I'm sorry. That doesn't, that doesn't track. Tatiana is gonna stand up and sort of like lean over the table and she's just gonna say, "You know what? I am so sick and tired of this good boy act." And she is just gonna look directly at Cauldron. "Stop trying to make me feel less than. I brought you to my home and you attacked people, murdered them in cold blood, literally cold blood.

And you're gonna sit here and act like you're better than me because I try to provide for the group?" Tatiana, I'm not trying to stand on any moral high ground from you. I want to be very clear. If it wasn't for you getting Brelyn and I out of Brightport, we would have never made it. And for that, I owe you a lot. A life, perhaps. But this tactic just doesn't make sense to me. Bloodroot might be difficult to come by, but that doesn't mean that this is the only place to get it. And certainly not from someone who has a reputation here in Durnhollow. Certainly not someone that you have tried to pull something over.

And she'll sort of nod at him and she'll just say, "I understand that point. I really do. I just wish you could get it across without patronizing us." Understood. To that, I think we should maybe discuss where we ought to go next. Calli's gonna speak up. I just want to know, are you interested at all in getting your arm back? Because there's so many things that we need to get done for this to happen. And it doesn't really feel like you're totally invested in that. And Kulln's gonna look at her and sort of cock his head a little bit and say, "Of course I'd like to fix this injury." But there's so much on our plate at the moment.

I mean, escaping Dawnhurst, getting through the forest, here in Durnhollow, finding the survivors. And not to mention that you have now thrown another thing into the mix. And that's not to be patronizing. That is just a fact. And here we are. Of course I want to fix my arm, but there's so many other things that we have to take care of. But you're talking about what we're gonna do next. And to me, the most logical thing is this list of ingredients, which are not easy to come by. I'm not saying that I want to go deal with this man. He is implorable, and I don't want to give him any money to continue what he's doing.

But we need to focus a little bit, I feel. If that's what people want to do, I'm okay with trying to find ingredients that we need to facilitate this. But, I mean, do you really think this is the best place to get it? Do you really think this is the best way to do it? It's certainly not the easiest. Well, one of them, either way is not easy. One of them is asking somebody who is a very, very bad person who could potentially kill us all. And the other is climbing up the path of a mountain. They're both pretty dangerous. Who could kill us all? This Titus man, he's a very bad man.

Have you not been listening? He's got goons. He's got goons. All the more reason that I think that we don't, I mean, why poke the bee's nest when we don't need to? Okay, we're not going to deal with Titus. I just, I feel like your focus is in a lot of different places and I'm just trying to narrow it. Cauldron's going to look at her and be like, "You're not wrong, Callie. There's been a lot on my mind. A lot got brought up in the forest. A lot to unpack that I don't think we've all taken the time to sit down and actually talk about." And sure, my arm is one of them, but I think your condition, he'll sort of like lean in, is also one of those things.

As well as you, Tatyana, we, your convictions in the forest, they seem to shake you to your very core. I'm not exactly sure what happened. And maybe we should, maybe we should all bring that, put that out on the table. And then Tatyana's going to sort of, like, because she's been leaning over the table and she's just going to sort of hang her head and take a second and then she is going to take her seat again and sort of lean back and just say, "You're right. We should talk about it." At what time of day is it, Jason? I'd say it's still morning. You guys were doing the breakfast thing.

OK. So she basically just like sitting back and agreeing like, "You're right. We need to talk about some stuff. There's some unresolved shit. And I don't want to be a bitch the whole time we're traveling." We cannot be a house divided. Not here, because that is how people will get to us. That is how we will get killed. So, why don't we do this? Do you want to maybe go to where this person, this halfling is being held and have a chat with them to see, actually try and suss out what they know? Maybe we can find out if we have any leverage to ask for bloodroot or to put a salve on this situation.

We have to keep in mind, she might not say anything. That's true. We could be worrying about nothing. That's absolutely true. And we won't have anything to worry about if we can't be found here. Which is just my point. Maybe, do we have anything we can offer this person to keep them from talking at all? Maybe we can turn them into being a liaison to get us the things that we want. We talk with them, they put in a good word for us, they feel like they're doing us a favor and everything's good. And then we can get the things we need and get out without any conflict arising.

Okay, what would we use for leverage? I'm not sure. She seemed to like drugs, right? What do we got? I mean, who doesn't though? It's your show. High five! Boom. *laughs* Callie? Thoughts? You seem to know your herpetology pretty well. I don't have what she's looking for. She is, from what I've heard, hooked on some pretty strong stuff. My only hesitation with approaching her is I feel like if we do, she might feel like she actually has some ground to stand on. And that could work against us. Ah, I see. You think maybe we should go nip it in the bud then? Just go to the source.

Maybe, are you suggesting putting the cards on the table? Oh... I don't know, guys. I mean, worse comes to worse, she realizes that we are coming clean about trying to rob this guy. And what we're worried is going to happen happens. You're right. Wait, now we're going to tell him that we tried to rob him? Or that you tried to rob him? No, no, I think, look, there's no bad ideas in brainstorming. [Laughter] What we have to consider here, too, is our friend, our compatriot, Larg. He is a man of the cloth. And let's be honest, he has lived in Don Hurst his whole life.

He doesn't live the lifestyle that we do. A component of any of this is going to try and make him understand or to try and make sure that we're all on the same page. If we do any of these dealings. Jason, I have a question. Hit me. What is the going rate for the amount of bloodroot that we need? Because that's going to make or break a decision. That's very true. Well, it depends. Okay, so bloodroot's not cheap. However, it's usually sold, it's usually sold so you can cut it a bit, so you can kind of stretch it out. But to get the amount that you need, it would probably, again, depending on who you go to and if they're willing to cut you a deal of some sort, you could be spending upwards of 150 to 250 gold.

Sorry, Keldon, you're never fucking getting there. It depends. It's propfrostetic forever. It's one of those things where if the more leverage you have in a narcotics purchase, the better. Because if you're going hat in hand, just like I would like to, because one, it's an illegal substance. People know that. Bloodroot specifically, because the Dragonborn have placed pretty much an embargo on it, if you're caught with it, they have the right to kill you. So there's a lot of danger in getting it. So you're not paying for the amount of drugs, what you're paying is for the trouble to get them.

Man, I really wish the heist had worked now. We'd be sitting pretty. Great. While you guys are speaking about this, let's catch up with Larg. What would Larg speak to Ellen about? Yeah, so he'd basically kind of find her wherever she is and ask to speak with her alone for a minute. Braylin would look at him, "Are you sure?" Well, would Braylin have caught up with him before he got to Ellen? Oh, he's just hauling ass. He's following me, man. Okay, so you're not trying to stop him, you're just going where he's going? No, no. And yeah, so he'll turn around and look at Braylin and be like, "Just for a minute." I mean, I'm pretty good at filling in the gaps in stories.

I don't know if you seem to think on my back. It's called the loot. And just kind of squint at him. Never mind. I'll watch the door, I guess. So yeah, Ellen would definitely make time. Yeah, and he'll just kind of like lean back against the wall and he'll be like, "So I guess everybody's talking about leaving pretty soon, so I just wanted to talk to you real quick." Oh, of course. What's on your mind? Well, with everything that's been going on, and we just found you guys a week ago, and there's people who are... You said they're going to come and take the city back and you're helping everybody, and I want to help you, but I was going to ask you if it was okay if I stayed with these guys, because I think that they're...

Well, I thought that they were doing some really good things, and they seemed to be on a path that I thought was really good. Donhurst wasn't even the first time that they fought demons before. They can do really good things, and I was going to ask you if I could stay with them, but now I'm starting to wonder if they are as good as I thought they were, and I don't know what to do. Like, do you think I should stay with them? I mean, I'll come with you if you want me to, or... I don't know. I don't know what to do. She's going to clearly give this some thought.

And if you weren't already sitting, she would probably offer you a seat. Okay, yeah, he'd sit. Well, that's a tough thing for me to answer for you. How well do you know these people? Well, I mean, it's only been a couple of weeks, but, you know, I've seen a lot with them already, and they usually do the right thing, but maybe not always. You know, nobody does always, but, like, let's say that maybe I found out that they didn't do something that was good, but maybe they did it to somebody else who wasn't good, so I don't know if that's okay. Well, you said that they helped you out in Donhurst.

Yeah. From what it sounds like, they could have walked away. Yeah. And you said that they were trying to help you find me and the other survivors? Yeah. Sometimes people make a bad call. And? It... Have you ever thought about what you'd like to do after your training and officially becoming a Paladin? Have you ever thought about what you'd like to try to accomplish? He'll think for a minute and kind of just look out the window or something and be like, "I don't know, I was going to ask you." Well, I can only direct you so much, and you've been through the training.

You know the basics of what it takes. And she's going to give a bit of a smile. You've come a long way since the orphanage. No, I'm not. I also know that friends who are willing to stick their neck out for you are rare. And I wouldn't be so quick to abandon them. Maybe it's your lot right now to try and keep them on a more straight and narrow path. If you see where they're deviating and heading down some avenues that would cause chaos or violence, maybe help them get back to where they should be. He'll think about it for a long time and he'll say, "Yeah, I really think that they'll do good things, but sometimes you learn things that make you not so sure." He'll just kind of shrug, but I think you're right.

I mean, I wasn't always that great, right? He'll smile a little bit. And again, she would smile back. None of us are great 100% of the time, Lark. And people are going to make mistakes. Not everyone's raised in a temple, and some people never set foot in one. And whether they believe in Erathis or not, it's up to us to show them how good society can be with rules and structure. We can't just break them, even if it means hurting someone who breaks the rules themselves. Yeah. Yeah, I just, you know, if I keep telling them that they're wrong, you know, what if they don't want to be with me?

Well, that's a choice they have to make. It sounds like your group has a pretty good head on their shoulders for the most part, and I have no doubt that you'll do the right thing. I would stick this out and see where it goes. They might need you as much as you need them. So you're not mad if I don't come with you? There'd be a big, broad smile. No, Lark, I know what I have to do, and I think you know what you have to do. We're out of the proverbial woods, and it should be relatively smooth sailing to Winterhaven. Okay. Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, maybe I can't.

Maybe I shouldn't tell them what to do, but maybe I can just show them how to do it the right way, right? Exactly. Whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck. And he'll kind of just, after a moment's thought, he'll just kind of nod and he'll make eye contact with her and be like, "Okay. Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah, I'm gonna go with him. I think that's good." And he'll stand up and kind of go over to... He's gonna walk over to her like he's gonna shake her hand, but he's basically just gonna give her a hug. Right, yeah, and she would hug you right back.

And she would say, "Once we get everything sorted out with Dunhurst, I swear to you, I'll do everything in my power to get it back to where it once was. I would love if you came and visited sometime." Yeah, I will. There's a lot I want to tell you. They told me a pretty crazy story about something that happened up north a couple years ago, and I wanted to tell you that, but, you know, another time. And she would nod. Again, good luck, Clark. Yeah, you too. When are you leaving? The way things look? Probably tomorrow. Okay, we might be going today. I gotta find out.

But I'll come see you before we go. Travel safe. You too. And he'll do whatever, like a little salute or something. A little Arathas salute? Yeah, a little bow or whatever, and then take his leave. Would the group meet up at a certain point? 'Cause I imagine Larg is wrapped up with Ellen, and then leaves this little room here and probably meets back up with Braylon. Yeah, I would just be chilling by the door. Yeah, so he'll come out and just kinda look at Braylon and just nod and give him kind of a grin and be like, "Alright, what are we doing?" Oh, good.

You're back to normal. Mmm, okay. Yeah, what are we doing? Braylon will say, "Well, you know, we ate, so let's just find the rest of the guys. It's not probably a good idea to be separated like this." And he's gonna just quickly look around. Oh, good. I was hoping you'd say that. Do me a favor, Braylon. Roll a reception check. Oh, no. Wow, this is so good! Oh my god. That's a good result, though, right? I'm gonna have to hire Orange. Orange is gonna be retired. Ones are good in D&D, right? Ones are great. That means Braylon is number one. Uhh, nevermind. You're fine.

You and Larg continue on. Alright. So Braylon just looks around. "Okay, let's go." There's a dragon behind the building. And the gristmute walks out of wherever they are. Okay, yeah, we'll just try to get back to wherever the rest of the group is, then. Alright. So, breakfast is done. I'd imagine it's late in the morning by the time everything is wrapped up. People are kind of mingling around town doing what they gotta do, and then the group meets back up. Yeah, and I think we can safely say that these conversations are happening simultaneously. We're still just kind of chatting around this table and talking.

And yeah, when Colvin sees Larg and Braylon, he motions them over to come sit back down to the table. And he says, "We're still figuring out what our next move is." Well, go ahead, Larg. Sorry. And the gristmute says, "Okay, so, and kind of like waiting for the 'and' that next move is." Well, okay. Here's, hear me out. Why don't we try and do this? We have maybe burned a bridge in this town, and it might be time for us to leave. I would like to travel now that we're here. If everything is okay with the people from Donhurst, I would like to move, to take that town back.

Whether the Fang is there occupying it, or whether it needs rebuilding. Now, I promised the Fang, back in Lockford, that if they continue to pursue us, that we would bring down the wrath of the Paladins of Kord upon them. I want to make good on that promise, and I want to make sure that Ripley and his band of thugs are sent back to Brightport with nothing. We have, in Heel Jester to Braylon, we have some friends in Esterholt, and he says friends like, "Hmmm, friends." Braylon listens to him, and stops him, "Friends." And he's thinking, "Friends? Oh!

Yeah, that hyper-aggressive, yeah, yeah, yeah!" And then he thinks about it, and then he starts shaking his head, "No, wait, no, no. Is she your friend?" Well, we've shared some time, and spilled some blood together, and that has to count for something here. If nothing else, I think that we can get them on our side for trying to, just taking control from these ruffians and mercenaries. If anyone likes to smash a good skull, then it's the Paladins of Kord. I don't think they'll have anything against that. Braylon's gonna stop him. "You know what? Don't they owe us a favor?

I did rescue that guy from the side of the cliff. Was he important?" "I wasn't there for that." "Oh, yeah. So, Jason, would Braylon know that Craig was the head of them? 'Cause he never..." "Yeah!" "Oh, oh my God. What would I know about what happened to him?" "Well, that's an interesting question. How close would you have kept up with things in Esterholt?" "Not even remotely close at all." "Uh, then I would say probably not." "Okay. Well, then I would just bring it up like, 'Yeah, I rescued the head of their order when I first joined up with our old pals.' He's gonna look at Kaladin when he says this." "Yeah, heading guy." "Things are looking up already.

That's something we can use. That's something that we can pocket." "And let's try and get some bloodroot before we leave town. It doesn't have to be from the cherry blossom or from Titus. Maybe there's someone else who will sell it to us, perhaps." "I can try to look around town to see if I hear anything." "Sounds good. I can get some provisions for the road so that we'll be set. Brandon's gonna nudge Kaladin." "Hey, you mind buying me some provisions? I'm really broke. I don't know if you know this." "You have taken all the provisions I have." "He's gonna look shocked." "Oh, fine, fine.

I'll find my own provisions. I was just asking." "So we're just gonna get another... 'Cause there's an army coming to do Donhurst, but we're gonna get another one?" "The more forces we can rally, the better, I think. We want to send the fang a message to get out of Donhurst and stay out of Donhurst. And more importantly, we send the Black Hand that message." "Yeah, plus one paladin accord is worth a couple of normal guys, I think." "Margo will nod and he'll smile probably the first easy smile in a while. I'll be like, 'That's a good plan. I like that plan.'" "So, you guys are talking about heading south from Durn Hollow to Esterhold." "Sounds like it." "Is everyone cool with that?" "Yeah, that works." "Are we going to Esterhold?" "Were we ever in Esterhold?" "No, we were in Fair Bay." "We started in Fair Bay, right?" "You guys did a circle, basically.

You made four lefts." "This has been a very expensive circle, if I may say." "Very, yes. Costly, dangerous." "Well, that's 'cause we did lefts instead of rights. You don't have to stop." "Oh, Callie, did we meet in Esterhold?" "Yeah, I think you and I met on the road to Esterhold? Something like that." "We, together, have been to Esterhold." "Okay. What did we do?" "I don't think we did anything." "Tight." "I think it was like a stop on the road so we could get to Windy and Ciarzia." "Mmm, okay." "So, uh, it also sounds like you're trying to score some drugs before you leave." "Yeah, I think you're right.

Maybe try and get some blood root. Does that sound okay?" "Yeah." "Who would be spearheading this operation?" "Well, would my criminal contact thing do anything? Like, give advantage or have a cat join the group?" "You know this cat." "Um, in Brightport, absolutely. In Fairbay, totally. In Durnhollow, maybe not so much. However, you do know the look of a person who is either looking to score or looking to sell, right?" "I would say the Tatiana's been around the block enough times to like, 'Okay, yeah, that person probably.'" "Do me a favor. Give me an Insight roll." "Oh, yay." "Oh, do it with advantage, by the way." "Okay." "Shit.

Well, okay, here's the deal. There used to be someone who ran sort of an apothecary type of deal in this town and they sort of got driven out. Rumor has it they went to Brightport." "The Bloodroot game in Durnhollow, as a result, is kinda dry. There's pretty much only one name in town that keeps coming up, and that would be Titus Crane." "I was gonna say Draconis." "No, nah. Well, he ain't Sharon. That's the problem." "That's why it's dried up." "Yeah, that's the..." "Alright, we tried." "So Larga has something he wants to do before we gig Erwin." "Okay." "I don't know if anybody else has anything else, real quick." "No, the less I do, the better." "Just sit on your hands and don't move until we're ready to go." "Yeah.

I will literally be in the middle of everyone. It's like, as we're moving as a group, it'll be like, hiding in the middle." "Yeah, so I guess while they're running around looking for drugs, Larga's gonna head back to the temple real quick, 'cause they owe him a favor, don't they?" "They do." "Basically, he's gonna try to get them to give him a cart with one or two horses." "Oh, God, yeah." "Such a good idea." "I mean, even if you get one horse, it's still good." "Right." "It's better than the month we spent in the woods." "Right. So that's a fairly expensive favor." "Usually this is more like, 'Oh, we'll use our influence to talk to somebody,' or 'We'll try and get you out of trouble with this person,' or something like that, but this is totally doable." "Let's try this.

Larga, roll a persuasion check with advantage." "Mm-hmm-hmm." "Alright, well." "Okay, wow, shit! That's a 21. That's pretty awesome." "Nice." "So, they will definitely give you a cart to start with. Big enough for the party to fit in. Now, this isn't going to be the breeziest of travel options. Carts are a little slower. Specifically, they did find an animal to pull this cart for you. It is a fairly large mule." "Okay." "Named Dusty." "I love him. He's coming with us." "Okay, good. Dusty is a bit on the older, Skew is a little older on the mule side, but definitely Trusty is Dusty." "Yeah, Dusty." "Oh my god." "So, I'm sure you will get very far down the road and have a lovely relationship with Dusty.

So, as long as you take care of him." "You're telling us that he's gonna die." "No, I'm not! I just said the opposite of that!" "That's literally what you're saying." "If he ends up frozen a little bit and nobody knows what happened..." "Oh, you better not. You better not." "How much would it cost to get a second mule?" "Uh, a second mule? You're looking at about 60 gold." "Okay, I think I have that. Yeah, I mean, Tatiana gave me 50, right? Yeah, so I've got that. I'll spend 60 gold and get another one and name him Rusty." "Awwww!" "Marking this down, Dusty!" "I would chip in, but I think my goal is going to provisions." "Look, okay, things happen.

Alright, when do you roll two ones?" "Ever." "Well, we need to settle up hotel bills for everybody. We did that with Braylon, but you guys stayed places for a week, right?" "Mm-hmm." "Mm-hmm." "Okay, so everybody who stayed in a hotel, unless you did extravagant things and stuff like that..." "Okay, let me ask you a question. Did everyone get their armor cleaned and stuff like that?" "I don't even have armor." "No, well, okay." "Oh, I got an extra pair of clothes." "Okay, so I'm going to assume... everybody do me a favor, take 10 gold away from their total." "Oof." "Except for Larg, Larg stayed at the temple." "Can I add something to this?

A question, perhaps?" "When I was rich and treated like a superstar..." "Yes." "Could I have gotten their armor cleaned and stuff and that still add up to 100 gold?" "Yeah, okay, we can do that." "Okay, let's say that." "So, they're cleaning armor, even if it's just robes and stuff like that, they clean it and stuff like that." "Because the life of an adventure is a smelly one." "Mm-hmm." "So, yeah, I would include that in the hundreds." "So, everyone else, take 10 gold away from your total, except for Larg, Larg stayed at the temple." "Oh, yeah." "I do want to... I didn't want to forget this. I want to buy a new holy symbol because I gave mine away." "Oh, shit." "I want to buy one and I want to keep it and I'm not giving it to werewolves this time because she did not stick to the deal." "Well, you know, she may keep that as a treasure.

Keepsake." "One's away from her, twice shy." "Ow." "Two gold." "Two gold, okay." "Anybody else want to do anything before you leave town?" "Kalden will just find Larg in a moment where he's just kind of like away from the group a little bit and just like kind of motion to him and say, 'Larg, I want to clarify something.'" "Bralyn, Tatyana, Kallie, all of us, we're... we haven't had a home in a really long time." "And life on the road and the way that we've been living makes you... well, it makes you do things that you're not particularly proud of and that are sometimes out of desperation." "I want you to know that we may not be the right people, but we are trying to do good here." "Yeah, he'll think for a minute and he'll go, 'I understand. Nobody makes the right choice every time.'" "And I think that maybe, you know, tomorrow maybe we'll make the right choice and then if we do it again the next day, then that's a good start." "It's not my place to judge anybody and I don't want anybody to feel judged, but I'm here to help and I want to do it the right way." "And that's what I think we want too. We're trying... it's like building a city, right?

Any city, you start with the foundation and sometimes it doesn't really work, but you keep building and you add support to it and eventually something stands." "That's kind of what we want to do. We might build in a weird direction sometimes, but we're trying to make Theria a better place." "Yeah, I think that's good and I agree. And I think even though sometimes people do the wrong things, they do them for the right reasons and that's enough for now." "And then he says, 'Sir, go ahead.' 'No, no, no, go ahead.' Then he goes, 'Oh, I want to show you something.' And then he brings him over to the cart with two donkeys." "Caldin looks at it and he's like, 'Larg, this is amazing.

Look at these animals. Do they have names?' "Ah, yes, that one's Dusty and that one's Rusty and I'm told that they are trusty." "I can see these are noble beasts. They are good. And Caldin goes up to Dusty. Is Rusty sort of a brownish color and Dusty a grayish color?" "I really hope so." "Yeah, he goes over and he pets each intern and then he looks at Lara Gernisly and he's like, 'I know it's been rough for you and it's not likely to get any easier where we're going, but I'm really glad that you're with us.'" "I'm glad too. I think that as awful as it was when we met, I think it was for a reason and I want to help." "Now what do these things eat?" "Oh, watch this.

And he gives a carrot to one of them and it just kind of mows it down." "It ate the whole thing, the top of the whole." "I don't think he even tasted it." "Can they even taste? I don't even know. I don't want to get inside with a donkey." "Let's ask Callie." "Hey Callie." "We go find Callie." "Wait, what was the question?" "Can donkeys taste food?" "Yes." "Okay, yeah, I thought so. Anyway, we got donkeys." "Oh, okay." "So yeah, he'll eventually just show the whole group and we'll be very proud." "And then we're abandoning. What does Tatiana tell us about the blood root situation?" "I think she would probably just come right out and say I wasn't able to find anybody besides Titus that has blood root." "Like there's nobody.

It may be in a different town we might be able to have a different outcome, but here he sort of runs the gambit on all the drug trade." "Well, there's thieves and the underground in every town. I mean, you said it yourself, who doesn't love drugs?" "Truth." "Snap." "That's another carrot." "Can I?" "Oh, go ahead." "Oh, I just wanted to ask a quick question. I know that the last time we recorded and we were planning this whole heist thing, I had mentioned too that I wanted to do like little street corner type cons." "Mm-hmm." "Can I take any money off of that or no?

Or we can just retcon and say that didn't happen too." "Well, I lumped that into the bigger heist." "Oh, yeah, like that's how you were getting information about it?" "Yeah." "Kalden will like put a flagon of mead or alcohol in Tatiana's arms from the provisions that he bought for everyone and he says, 'Here, you're gonna need this because we're gonna talk.'" "And then he'll smile at her." "She will accept tentatively because she is not one to open up about her feelings." "So it sounds like you guys are hitting the road." "Once again, here we go." "What is Valerie doing?" "I don't know." "I'm very tired." "Well, we're gonna get ready to wrap things up, but I want two things to happen. Kalden, do me a favor. Roll a perception check for me." "Oh boy, okey-doke." "Shaboom." "Okay, never mind." "Hi." "Every perception check tonight has been fail." "I have a passive perception of 17." "I don't know if that's a fail." "Here's what I would like.

I would like one of you to roll a flat d20 to see how the first leg of your journey south goes." "Not me, I've been so good so far." "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Kalden!" "He did it right, he had to do it over." "Oh, we got a winner everybody with a 2." "Both donkeys die." "Stop!" "Or they just don't move." "They were stuffed donkeys the entire time." "Alright, well let me jot that down." "Oh my god, I feel like we can never catch a fucking break." "Anything that can and will go wrong has." "Anything that can and will go wrong has." "Bad News Bears." "That's the long name of Group B." "Group Bad News Bears." "I'm... okay, so the next time we sit down, obviously you rolled a 2." "It's gonna be one of those sessions, so come prepared." "Okay." "So it's gonna be great though, I hope, and I'm..." "Okay, so let me tell you a little something about the journey south." "There's a point, and you won't get to that in the next session, but you guys are gonna have to travel through the mountains." "Yeah, Blue Stream Peaks." "Group 4 traveled through the mountains." "It was rough." "It was pretty." "Yeah, we're gonna be doing a complete everything next time we sit down." "It's gonna be great, you guys did amazingly today." "And you guys have a... you know what you're doing now." "There's a clear thing on the horizon, it's gonna be great." "Whew, golly, I hope you guys enjoyed today's episode." "We are in the countdown right now." "August is the countdown to Dragon Con in just a few weeks." "We'll be flying to Atlanta, we'll be putting on a live show." "There's gonna be a live listener meetup, a DNR panel." "We're gonna be on a bunch of panels with some amazing people." "Like Monty Cook, Shauna Germain, Keith Baker, there's just a ton going on." "And we really honestly cannot wait to see you guys there." "We're trying to stock the Patreon up with tons and tons of stuff." "This month there's another Strahd, that's our fifth Curse of Strahd session." "And honestly, while we're in Atlanta, we're probably gonna be recording everything we possibly can." "It is going to be the most cast members that we've ever had in one place at one time, so that's crazy." "And we're just gonna try to get as much recorded material out to you guys as possible." "So if you have anything to tell us, please send an email to dandrpodcast@gmail.com." "That's dandrpodcast@gmail.com." "And obviously, your iTunes reviews have been helping us significantly." "We're up over 700 reviews right now, which is something I never thought we would reach." "So thank you all so much, please keep on coming." "If you have a couple of seconds and you're on iTunes, give us a little five stars." "It really, really helps out the show, we've been climbing the charts for a while thanks to some advice on Discord." "We'll see you next week with a brand new episode." "Again, if you have any feedback, if you haven't seen the trailer for Year of the Dragon, maybe swing by our YouTube channel." "Or you can visit www.dandrpodcast.com and you can find it right there too." "Thank you all so much, we'll see you next week." week.