Never Easy

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(CLINKING) Peacocks. This summer, during the biggest sporting event of the year, Peacock turns to two broadcasting legends for the Olympics coverage you can't find anywhere else. Um, I think they mean us. Oh, s***. Um... (CLEARS THROAT) With an incredible duo sure to take home the comedy gold, Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson. New episodes Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Only on Peacock. Coming to Apple TV+ on August 9th. You're the Marine? Yeah. You're the ex-con. Yeah, I did time, but you don't gotta cast aspersions at me. From the director of Mr. and Mrs.

Smith and The Bourne Identity comes a new film. This your first job? I know what I'm doing. I'm late for a crit change. Starring Matt Damon. Everybody in New England is after us. And Casey Affleck. Go, go, go, go, go! What are you doing? Taking notes. Taking notes on a criminal conspiracy. The Instigators. Rated R. Streaming August 9th on Apple TV+. Ark 2, episode 72 of the D&R Podcast is brought to you today by the lovely folks over at patreon.com/dandr. That's where you can get all kinds of exclusive behind-the-scenes stuff. Character chats, all kinds of things that we record exclusively for our patrons and post it to you.

With the summer coming up and us taking a little bit of a break, it might be a perfect time to catch up on that stuff. Visit patreon.com/dandr to find out more. Previously for Group A, the crew is still on their way to the city of Donhurst to discover what sort of demonic activity had been taking place there to cause a citywide evacuation. On their way, they stumble across something that resembles a coffin in the middle of the Divide. And that's where we're picking things up today. Let's do that thing one more time for the end of Ark 2. And go around the table.

I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table, starting with Robert. Hey, I'm Rob. I play Ubo, the half-orc druid of the mountain. And James. Hey, it's James. I play Masoka, the half-elf rogue. And Kelsey. I'm Kelsey and I play Aster, the elf archer. And Michael. I'm Michael and I play Amvin, the half-elf wizard. And Susan. Hey, I'm Susan and I play Madeline, reawain, the human cleric. And Xavier. Hi, I'm Xavier and I play Donovan, the human fighter. I don't know what it was about tonight. But Michael, you came off so smooth. It's like, hi. I'm Michael.

It was so -- it was like, oh wow, it just gave me chills. Took me there. Alright. I gotta play it up for this, you know, the ending. Yeah, gotta bring him back for season three. I'm Michael and you're listening to Softrock 1025. The rain. Why don't you settle in, get a nice glass of Chardonnay. Let me take you away to a relaxing place this Friday night. Doesn't matter how much health points you have today. You could be made of tissue paper for all I care. We can still enjoy. Good Friday evening, some air pop popcorn. Does anyone remember a 90s movie called Airheads?

Yes. Okay, thank you. Do you remember at the end when they were going to change the radio station to Softrock? No. No? Okay. That was basically the crux of the movie. Was Michael McKeon's character who was the leader of -- he was basically dicking over Joe Mantegna. And no one gives a shit. And I'm going to stop talking. So let's play some D&D. Holy shit, I feel like this tension just like exploded. I feel like I'm dead. For the record, I totally give a shit. I do remember when they're giving the ransom demands and they're like, we need to put some crazy ones in there.

Yeah! If all goes wrong, we can claim insanity in court and they ask for a football helmet filled with cottage cheese. And nude pictures of Bea Arthur. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. God. I'm going to watch Airheads. Come back for R3. If I would have just been as nervous as I was the first time I joined, this tangent never would have occurred. Okay. It was a good tangent. It's okay. That's like a hallmark of the show. We got a reference to old 80s and 90s movies. This is a trick puzzle in there. You should watch all of the episodes. Yep. So you guys are in the Pyre Forest.

If you remember last time we stopped, it was a couple months back. It was before the Kickstarter, before Theriathon. We're going to take you back to the month of March. And you guys were blazing your way through the Divide. Like, super easy. Barely an inconvenience. I don't know what Group B was bitching about, to be honest. Love Ryan George. And Anven picked up a little something, a little magical something something in the Pyre Forest. And you guys went off the beaten path here, about a mile and a half off the road. And you found this very large coffin-like box, about nine and a half, ten feet tall, leaning up against a tree.

This thing is massive. And I'd like to pick up right there. Can I censor any magic coming off this coffin? Give me an Arcana check. Now that you're a little closer to it, let's see what you pick up. This is our first roll of the night. Oh, no pressure. I mean, this is like, an Amven 101 here. Are you kidding me? Well, that's a four. So somehow your senses got worse as you got closer to it. It's a ten total. Come on. It's a ten total. You're right. I know. I always like to tell people the actual roll, but you're right. Your Arcana modifiers is pretty good. Amven, you're doing great.

So he did average. That's perfectly average. It's called Amven average. It is a... Oh, wow. I'm distracted by this symbol of death. Yeah. Yeah. So you are you're picking up something coming off that this is definitely the source, right? You have it, you know, marked down in the area where it's like, OK, this is definitely where that vibe is coming from. Who would like to give me a perception check on this bad boy? Anyone? Anyone? I have plus four. I got a plus seven. Holy shit. Do it. Do it with advantage because, you know, the monsters. OK. Boom. Oh, yeah. Dropping it, taking eighteen for a total of twenty five.

So this definitely it's it's hard not to look at this big box and not see coffin, right? It's just it's it just looks like it, except for the the height. It's you know, it's pretty standard. You will notice that it is locked. This bad boy is sealed up. As a matter of fact, it doesn't look like there's a there's a latch or a lock on it. It just looks like the the the lid is sealed on. It appears to be made of wooden stone almost. And there are markings carved into it. And what I'm going to ask you to do and this is going to change things drastically depending on how well you roll Astrid.

Oh, boy. OK. I need you to give me a history check. Can I like point out the markings to someone else? You know what? Absolutely. Do you want to hand that back to Anvin? Yes. I got a negative one. You know what? That's fair. Yeah. So it's like Astrid kind of like like like like looks like closely around the coffin and sees the markings, kind of squints at them for a second and then turns back back to Anvin and goes, you got any idea what these things are? Looks kind of weird and squiggly. Do they look like markings like a history would be? Do I have you know what?

Roleplay. Have I ever seen anything like this before? Well, that's what we're about to find out, because this doesn't this doesn't look like a language, right? It doesn't look like it's in Elven or Dwarvis or something like that. These look like symbols. So in the most basic sense, it's it's it's like, OK, this is the closest I can I can give you guys. Back in the early nineteen hundreds, there would be essentially a language that hobos would use when traveling. They would make notches in people's fences and stuff like that, letting people know, oh, this is a dangerous place.

Don't go here. They're shotgun wielding and they don't like, you know, trespassers or oh, these people are friendly. They let me stay the night for work and they gave me a nice bowl of stew and stuff like that. So it's essentially thieves can't for traveling homeless people. So in a sense, it's a language, but it's just symbols that mean different things. So what I want to know is, does Amven recognize any of these symbols or that plane? Does the plane recognize it? History check then? Give me a history check. All right. Oh, yeah, that's so much better than I will have done it.

We'll never know. You could have the highest I could have gotten with a nineteen. That's fair. Yeah, that's fair. You're going to get your twenty two total. You're going to you're going to vaguely recall flipping through something in a book and you're going to kind of recognize a couple of these symbols. And it's it this box was definitely sealed for a reason. It's coming off as a warning to you. So at least that's what you can decipher. Just so you guys are aware of this. This this looks like a warning. Be careful. Go away. You know, and flashback to wagon explosive.

This one's at least courteous to let us know that there is something possibly deadly. Maybe we shouldn't be it. And I look around and see where everyone is like proximity to this thing. They left all of them. It's just you. How long does it look like this thing's been here? Like, is it overgrown at all? Oh, fantastic question. Thank you. Nice. This looks like it's been sitting here for quite a while. Maybe not like decades or centuries, but it's definitely been exposed to some elements. It's also worth pointing out that I don't believe anybody in the party would recognize this as something common.

Like this is definitely a one of a kind item. At the very least, this was built for a very specific purpose because even Goliaths don't need a coffin that tall. And I mean, if you're going to bury, let's say, a Minotaur or something, a Dragonborn, it would be much wider. So this is a very strange find. It's not like there's holes in the ground and it was like it was intended to be buried and it just wasn't finished or it's just been propped against a tree like this. And that's it. Ubo will listen against the surface. OK. Give me a little perception. All right.

Get those ones out of the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just a perception check. While he's doing that, Asher's going to kind of like wrap on one of the sides of it. Oh, like knock on it? Yeah. And that's all he hears. Ubo scowls. Something's inside. Guys, it's knocking. It says, "Open me." Hey, everyone, maybe you'll maybe you just want to take a few steps back, like maybe 50 feet behind me. Yeah. Yeah. So like there's absolutely some kind of big bad monster in here. Right. But I also really want to know what it is. I mean, you sensed it, Anvin. If you think this is something that's worth investigating.

Is there any like like I know you said there was no physical lock, but could I try to determine if there's like an arcane kind of lock or some kind of like ward or some I don't know if that was in my arcana earlier, if there's like more investigation I should do to like try to break it down. Let's go with that arcana you did earlier. OK. I think with that, with a 10 total, you would determine that there's nothing magically holding this box together. It's just been very thoroughly sealed. Like whatever the fantasy equivalent of welding this shut is, that's what happened.

So you're saying that it's not like magically being held closed, it's being like something sealed it magically. And that's as if you did like two stone magics towards each other and then like sealed that way. So it's not being preserved. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's say like, let's say someone used burning hands to seal the two surfaces to get that type of thing. Exactly. But that's not what you were picking up on magically. Whatever that's inside. OK. 100% inside that box. OK. So then what I'm what I'm picking up is actually something inside, not the box. Exactly.

OK. Maddie's going to turn to Anvin and say, do you believe that whatever was obviously sealed within is worth us investigating? It looks like someone went through a lot of trouble to make sure that this was sealed. Do you think they did that to protect it or to protect anyone outside of it? This was probably I mean, this feels like the wagon all over again. I don't know about you guys. Oh, yeah, I'm right there with you. The question is, yeah, I am. Yes, we will. I say we don't open it because look at it. It has been here for a long time. No one has bothered it.

It is not important to open right now. We can make a note of where it is, go take care of our business that is more important, more needed right now. And if we can't stop thinking about this, then we come back. But we don't have to say never open it just to leave it alone now. Jason. In my head, I'm all ready to like go away, except for one thing. Does this sense like a similar magic, like the gates? Oh, geez. OK, I'm going to ask for another Arkana check. OK, I'm really like, do I? Is it similar? Oh, shit. Fuck. That's a twenty five total. That is almost a crit.

So, OK, I picture it like it's like, OK, like this is this is him like closing his eyes, really concentrate. It's like, OK, well, if we're going to leave this alone, just let me let me get one last taste type of thing. I just really like the chicken sandwich. It's like a little tomophobia inside the coffin. Oh, geez. High five Kelsey. Well, I know who's not going to sponsor the show now. Oh, no. They wouldn't have anyway. Anyway. So you are going to feel something very rare. It's a it's a it's a picture picture magic coming in flavors, basically. Now there's there's magic kind of flowing all around us in everything all the time, like the force.

But it's the way that's channeled and used that that that can be tapped into and changed and bent and all kinds of different stuff can be manifested through that. This is something that is a completely new flavor. This is something that Anven has never picked up on before. Whatever this is is completely unique. And the way magic is written about, there's definitely a feeling that accompanies picking up on this type of stuff. So that'll be chronicled in books like there is a very some of it's very difficult to describe to anybody who, you know, can't pick up on that type of thing.

It's like describing a new color to somebody who can't see like it's just it's very difficult. But there's almost a shorthand that scholars use to pass that information along. And as far as Anven's concerned, he has never felt this before and never seen this written that would describe this feeling to him. Well, now we got to open it. The sense of the of the school that might be like part of the lining of this flavor, this Baskin Robbins treat. Well, OK, let's go with the ice cream metaphor. There's OK. How to put this lightly? Imagine you went to Coldstone and you're you're you got your you got your ice cream flavors lined up.

So you got your you got your illusion. You got your you got you got your stuff. So there's a little bit there's a little bit of protection magic in there. There's a little bit of necromancy in there. There's a little bit of divination magic, like something something like someone put a pin in this to come back to it later. Type of thing you're picking up, you're picking up. It's it's I wouldn't say that what you're picking up is inherently evil, right? Like you're not good and evil or subjective, but it's not like, oh, this is just chock full of blood magic, guys.

Don't know. It's it's more like you're almost picking up something scholarly. Oh, you you tug at my heartstrings. Love you. Open. So I look back and I'm like, I don't know. Mainly picking up those those tones of protection and those feelings of I need to have something. I mean, I started at a train, but it's going to take me a long time to get any tougher and neckers me. Necromancy kind of bugs me a little, but not as much. Turn to the group. I don't I think there is something amazing in there. And even if I can't use it, it might help. Well, now we necromancy out loud.

No, I did not. OK. OK. Question, Jason. Yes. On the history role. Yes. Did you get the the whole translation of the scribblings on the coffin? No, no, no. This would be even with a role that high, it would be like little bits and bobs. But he definitely got what he feels is the intent. OK. Is it actually thieves can't on there? No. Oh, no, no, no. This isn't. But but it's it's it's essentially a language that someone's using like that, like these symbols. Obviously, you're tied to some kind of. Oh, I just have seen them. Yeah. OK. I say we all get a comfortable distance away and then we open this guy up and we take it out.

If it's a bad guy and take whatever amazing magic is there. So I don't know about you guys, but I'm I'm ready to actually take back some of our wounds and maybe it'll help us in Dunhurst. Or we find out it's, you know, nothing amazing. I can tell it. I trust you, and then I am if we're going to do this, I want I want you all to stay way far back. And Masoka, you stay with me next to me and you check that thing for anything that could blow up in our faces and then get the hell out of there. And you let me open it. Yes. Like I say this, like I've been said, it's something to basically like Astrid immediately started kind of like like like almost like almost bouncing kind of there.

Just like from like one leg to the other is like, yes, yes. And I don't say those kind of things. I'm like, oh, this is interesting or I want to research this. Yeah, exactly. As soon as Donnie says, Oh, you all get behind me. Maddie will make a look with like make eye contact with Donnie. I'll be right next to you, like flashing back to when they both like were thrown back from the explosion and they both like, you know, triaged and like. Yeah, he grabs one of your hands and he says, when I'm when my face is melting off, I need you to come back and put it back together, please.

Maddie will smirk, of course. What else am I here for? I mean, there's no slavers for me to attack, right? I meant stay back with the others and then run for me if it explodes. Just let me get someone else's help for this. I think we need Kirkland for this job. So using your your your advice, Maddie, your new tips and tricks, I think I'm going to try some of what you told me. I'm going to try to reach for Kirkland and clear my thoughts. Masoka, can you toss me your flask? What? Chop chop. All right. It'll take a big swig first. So he takes it, he kind of swirls it a bit and you can hear him mutter his the prayer he said the other day under his breath, like, blessed be thine wine.

Blah, blah, blah, blah. And he finishes it, closes his eyes, raises the flask in the toast and then takes a swig. Clear thoughts, clear thoughts, clear thoughts. And then he tries to internalize and focus on the very brief feeling at the exact moment where Kirkland kind of like took over his body to cast the resurrection spell just before it like kicked him his whole body in the balls forever. Just like that faint, that brief moment of like that warm energy coming from the gut and then spreading to the limbs, to the fingertips. And then like as the alcohol goes down into the stomach, that kind of same warmth like goes up his throat and to his cheeks.

And he just like really tries to recapture that feeling to just like hone in on Kirkland. I would say a few minutes are going to pass. And though you are going to feel the warm spread of alcohol. And you are going to be hyper focused. That you have not felt that connection, like you like you did just before the resurrection attempt. You just that has not clicked like it has before. Like you're like that. That part is just missing. I guess it's just us guys. Could you give me a religion check? Sure. It's going to be really high. It's my best skill. 14 is not bad.

It's not bad. Now, while Donovan's not a religious man. I think evidence is starting to pile up where Donovan could make an educated guess. I think the educated guess would be that Kirkland sacrificed himself so that you could get a chance to bring your friend back. Yeah, I had that feeling. And yeah, Donovan kind of like gets that. Yeah, it clicks. He knew he kind of knew the whole time. I'd be like, the shrug, shrug it off. And you look back up at Masocha, hand him his flask back and go like, all right, we're going to do this ourselves. Before we do, I need to tell you all something important.

This is a bad idea. If I die because of the bad idea, I want you to tell people. And he shakes his finger at all of you. Ubo made many mistakes, but Ubo learned from them. And then he backs up and crosses his arms and just stares. And so toward Donnie Masocha right up front, right? I just assume Donnie was doing like parent arm out against Masocha and like pushing him back. I just want you to check the thing for like how to open it and then make sure it's safe. And then I'll take your crowbar before you approach it. A magical shimmer appears over you as Maddy casts a shield of faith.

Oh, no, Masocha. OK, you want me to? I'm the guinea pig here. I will actually cast Enhance Ability Strength on Donovan. I assume like Astor is like standing way back. Like is everyone kind of like at the ready to fight just in case something pops out or? And you guys are so negative. So my understanding is that Masocha is creeping forward, just kind of checking the thing out, maybe mostly with his eyes, maybe kind of like kind of see if there's like a hidden button or something like that. Just kind of one of those things. Very light touches. Yeah, sort of like, yeah, running his hands over it, going, you know, what he can see behind.

I know it's against the tree, but I'm sure it's leaning at an angle or whatever. Right. So giving it a once over. OK, do me a favor, give me an investigation check. Well, that's a nine total. That's so Masocha is not going to find any hidden buttons, nothing that would just pop this baby wide open. But like I said, this has been exposed to the elephants. The elephants? Elephants. It's been exposed to the elephants. They really kicked the shit out of this thing. Operation Dumble Drop. Ah, it's my favorite red Leota movie. That's a lie. So this has been exposed to the elements.

And you're going to notice there's a couple of places where you could jam a pry bar in there and probably pop the top off. Might require some strength, but yeah. OK, well, he'll he'll take out his crowbar, but he'll look over to Donnie first for either approval or not. Well, he he'll extend his hand and kind of do like the fingers on his palm, like give me motion. OK, so we'll just put his hand up, head down and reluctantly hand it over. Kind of like a kid. Don, we're going to take a take a stab at this, so to speak. Yeah, he takes a look back at everyone, wait for Masoko to take a look to meet with the others, and he'll like put his hand on top of this whole thing, kind of like brush it to kind of just get a feel for the kind of material it's made of.

It's stone, you said? It's a mixture of stone and wood. Stone would be at the corners of this to kind of reinforce the edges. This is mostly a very thick wood. OK, yeah, he'll take a crack at it. He'll he'll yeah, he'll be still at the ready, still looking for any like spark that goes off or any like blast of light, like he'll do whatever he can to duck and cover. But he yeah, he is going to stick that crowbar in. A magical shimmer goes over you too. You should have advantage because I gave you the whole strength. Oh, I get advantage. Neat. Who hurt you guys?

I just kind of asked. You did. All right, do me a favor. Give me an athletics check with advantage. Would it be automatically advantage? I think it does because it looks like he applied the effect to you. I think. Let's see. I think you might have to hit advantage because I didn't have this. I'll roll twice if it doesn't. Yeah, whatever. Let's see. OK. Oh, geez. That's a 19. First one's a 27. Let's aim for 20. OK. Double 19. So you're going to bench press this thing over your head and just break it over your knee like Bane. So you are going to jam that pry bar and it's probably going to take, I think, like a giant shipping crate type of thing.

It's probably going to take a couple of tries from a couple of different angles, but you're going to loosen this lid and you're going to hear a crack. And you're going to see that again, this is leaning up against the tree. So you're going to see that like a like a 25, 30 degree angle type of thing. So that lid is going to pop up, but it's not going to just like slide off. But it's loose. Like you could definitely just pull it away if you want. I'll take a peek for opening. OK. Give me a perception check. That's an 11. OK, so there are three tiny slavers in here and they are going to...

Oh, shit. Fireball. You've been looking for an excuse to use that fireball. Yes. So inside this box, you're going to just kind of peek inside. And there are these wooden bracers, almost like spider webs that are coming out. It's beautifully etched inside. But the reason they're in there is to hold a smaller box in place. This box is way different. Right off the bat, you're looking at this and you're like, oh, OK. So this box is about six, six and a half feet tall. And there are six metal disks, two at the top, two in the middle, two at the bottom. And do me a favor.

Give me give me an intelligence check, let's say. Ha ha. You got that. Oh, that's just the one. That's just the one. Yeah. So that's a box. You got that nailed down. You know, that's a box. So whoever wanted whatever is inside this, they definitely, they definitely... This is double sealed. And I think Donovan would be able to suss out, even with a one, I think you'd be able to suss out. It's like, OK, well, either there's something very dangerous or very important in here. And it's not going to be happenstance that this opens, right? This isn't going to be, oh, this fell over and, you know, jostled up.

This is this was sealed with a purpose and it's going to have to be opened with a purpose. Also, at the base of this secondary box, there's a key that appears to have writing on it. It appears to be like an old school, like skeleton type key, like a big key. And there is a blood red X scrawled on top of this secondary box in between all these locks. Does this scene make me think of anything? Because this is not what I expected. Well, I mean, I kind of did, but you're not close enough to check it out. He's just peeking. Hey, Don, is it safe? What's in there?

We've got a double box situation. A double box? I've seen a lot of those in my post office days. Well, guess, is it like, can we look at it? How big is this double box? It's another big box. It's another big box. It's about six feet tall, six and a half, somewhere in there. I mean, if the first one wasn't going to explode, the second one might, but you might want to come check it out first. Okay. I creep up. Okay. That's just going to also go look at the box. You know, it's my two things. Do I sense this thing? Because it was magical, like a seal around it. Does it feel?

Oh, Anvin, give me an Arcana check. Oh, yes. Let's do that. Oh, baby. That's a 19 for a total of 25. Let me tell you what's behind door number two. So there are six of these silver looking disks and right off the bat, Anvin can feel that those are magical locks. They have to be done. They have to be done and undone through Arcana or Arcana based means. You can't just like crack these open. These are this is this is a magically sealed box. But, uh, Anvin's going to pick up on something else. There is that that was not the source of that initial tasty that that that tasty magic he was picking up on.

That is definitely inside this box, the secondary box. Okay, so there's definitely something in there. And there's a key. There's a key to I don't know if you notice there's that rings your bell. I look at the key. Does it look like there is it a magic key, Anvin? Does the key go in the box somewhere? It doesn't appear as though that there is a like a like a regular keyhole. You know what? Actually, I'm trying to think of back story stuff. Esther might have a decent swing at this. Mm hmm. As to give me a history check with advantage. Okay. But has advantage. Maybe I have a chance.

Oh, nice. 20. Nat 20. So you got a 19. But it's a crit. It's a crit. So check this out. Esther would recognize this key as the base construction of it material stuff like that. This looks like it belongs to one of the really, really old locks in Brightport. Like, Brightport's one of those big it's got a lot of urban sprawl to it, right? So you got your your base stuff in the city that was built damn near 100 years ago. And then slowly but surely, things are just built on top of other things. Yeah, Esther's going to pick up the key. Yeah. So the the the the key itself's got a very skeleton key look to it like a big iron looking key.

But basically where your thumb and forefinger would go to to hold and turn the key. There's there's an inscription that just it just has three numbers. Four, two, three. Yeah, so I was just going to pick up the key and then actually get a look at Masocha because we know that he's also from Brightport, right? That's been full to the whole party because they like recognize one of these. And they kind of got a grin going on. Give me a history check, Donnie. Or, Masocha, I'm sorry. Oh, OK. Well, I just got the great rolls tonight. Yeah, that's that. Well, nothing's on the line except knowledge.

So with a nine, it's one of those things it's like, oh, maybe I try to break into a place like that, but I just didn't. It's just it's like those old locks suck for picking. Yeah, so he probably just like scratches chin kind of like, yeah, maybe I seen something like that, but nothing that goes with magic. This is from Brightport. This is old, old Brightport. It's in a box like this. There's something going on here. Donovan will take the key. What about those numbers on there? Acid or shruggs? Maybe maybe they got something to do with these disks. Yeah, maybe it's like a old magic safe or something.

We should probably find out someday. It's filled with dogs. We should probably find out someday. No, no, no. Donnie, give me that key for a second. Yeah, I'll hand it over. And then you'll start like taking measurements of the second box and try to like see if it would fit in the cart. So just look at this second box and like sort of count the disks. What was the numbers? Four, two, three or 423. Just so that the chance it might work, he's going to tap the key on the fourth, the second and the third disk in that order. OK. Nothing's going to happen, but you're going to hear this high pitched like "bing" each time you touch it.

Oh, hit it on one of the other ones and see if it makes a different noise. OK. Everyone stand back. Just tap number one. Yeah, same high pitched ring, not a different like you're getting the feeling that it might be because of the magical protection. Like it's just feedback. Not a music puzzle. No, no. Yeah. So I meant to tell you guys this is an arcane lock. I figured you did. That's why. Or you could unlock it arcanely. I might be able to focus. Did I get that sense that I could if I channeled energy into it, that I would be able to unlock them? Oh, man. But so, OK, arcane locks are tricky because unlock, unlike a regular lock where you either have to pick it or there could be like a booby trap or something like that.

But usually you can suss it out. Arcane locks come in a bunch of different varieties. Some of them are just meant like basically in the magic user world, there's like, oh, this is like a bike lock. This is like your standard like, OK, this is just don't steal my shit. Then there are the real booby trappy, magically protected ones. Sometimes there are there are ones that if you fail to unlock it, it just seals forever. Like it locks down, some lash back and that they will destroy the contents of a box. This one, you're getting the sense that while it's a very special, like a very particular kind of lock, you could probably poke at it enough and figure it out.

Did I get a feeling of what kind of lock if I fail this would happen? This seems more like a this was purpose built to keep people out, not destroy any contents, not lash back. It's just it's it's more just to it's like a like a child lock on your cable box type of thing. It's like just don't look at porn. That's basically it's like just don't don't don't. There's porn in it. Yeah, it's a big stash of magazines. It's a big stash. Yeah, it's old bride port porn. Yep. They don't make it like they used to. No, this is hand drawn. This is I have so many jokes lined up, but I can't I just can't write port vintage erotica.

That's what we're out of character here. Does anyone think that this key may lead to something that might benefit opening the box? I don't character. Wasn't there a key found and another group that said 43 on it? But what? Well, I don't know what you're talking about. Wasn't there? OK, nevermind. I thought another group found one. OK, on a body on a dead body. Susan's not wrong. I pay attention to the show. OK, sorry. Did they take this key? Yes. It was found on a dead body who was killed by the collectors. Jason, I'm your biggest fan. Can I have an autograph? Yeah.

So so so what does Amven say? I could probably pick this as long as I don't screw it up. But it doesn't feel like this will destroy what's in its contents. Sometimes that can happen. Or it also doesn't feel like it's going to throw flaming fireballs back at us or anything like that. Also good. Yeah, give it a go. The sun's setting and I don't want us to be caught here in the forest when it's dark. Just in case I'm wrong about another possibility, everyone stay away from me for a little bit. Sounds good. Good luck. Thanks. Mattie won't leave your side. If people step away, she'll turn to you and say a price was paid for you and I don't want it to be paid again.

So I'll I'll stay by your side. Thank you. So I'll look back up and put his hood up. Right on. So so you can take a crack at this? I'm going to take a crack at it. OK. Do you know what I think it's time for? Intimidation. Yeah, I think it's time for a little skill check challenge. That's still good. Let's try this. Let's do that skill check challenge. Do me a favor. Give me an arcana check. Let's kick things off with a little arcana. Ah, that's a good start. That's a good start. So picture this to everyone else. And then is just kind of zoned out in front of this box, just concentrating, kind of reaching out and trying to feel something ethereal almost.

And you're basically sussing out the magical tumblers of this lock, basically. It's like, OK, OK, OK. It's like a puzzle box for your mind. So do me a favor. Give me an intelligence check. Here we go. Oh, beautiful. So you got a 19 and a 20 so far. So. The silver disks. There's essentially, um, they're these flat polished silver disks with two dots. There's a dot at the top of each one of them. And then there's a smaller inner circle with a dot at the bottom. And they're going to start to turn all six of them at once. And the dot at the bottom is going to start to rotate clockwise.

Do me a favor. Give me another arcana check. That's a 12. You're going to get about halfway and you're going to get about halfway with this. And it's like, oh, like all of a sudden, basically this puzzle box type of system is going to throw you a curveball. It's like, oh, that is not where I thought this was going. Hold on a second. And you basically got to get your bearings again. Do me a favor. Give me an intelligence check. There you go. Oh, you sussed it out. 22. Okay. It's basically if you fail again, there's going to be some complications, but you're fine right now.

Sweat going down my side. I have a handkerchief and I tap the sweat away from my forehead. Like you're a surgeon. So that inner disk is going to continue to spin clockwise and it's almost almost lined up. All six of these are moving at the same time. I need you to do me a favor. Give me give me one more arcana check. Well, 16. You're going to hear a click as all six of these line up with each other. And then you're going to hear a hiss. Like, like something's been vacuum sealed and then just. Like the pressure is equal now on the on the inside of this box and the lid is going to pop just kind of a.

And fall down just a little bit. Would you like to do. Does anything else happen? No. So there are some box. They've all clicked. And you have your hook shot. And third box. Yeah. The demo like stick is his arm out to like not like the block and then. But so like I'm I'll open it. I still have like a pat on the back. Can I check to see if it's totally unlocked or if only gun part way. Like the arcana lock has been closed, like unlocked. You. So I would say that's part of it. Like you just it's like boom click opened. Good. It's unlocked. I don't didn't open. Would have been nice.

I got this. Just stand back and he'll. He'll like touch it like very quickly and take his hand off. If that's still good, if his hand still there, he'll open it. And you know, my mind, it's not like hot or cold to the touch or anything like that. It's. Yeah. So you're just going to. Is this the thing where you're just peeling this off, kind of tossing it aside? Are you doing it slowly? How are you doing? I'll do it slowly to the side. OK, I have gloves. It's been established. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. OK. And yeah, I just slowly slide it just so that there's no impact when the lid comes off.

If I if it's not too heavy. No, it's not. It's not very heavy. I'd say the outer the outer box was much heavier wood than this one. All right. Inside this box. There's a body. But there's several things that are going to stick out right away that are abnormal, to say the least. Do me a favor. Give me a perception check. Who? Who's open? It sounded like Donnie was open in it. Yes, I was. I was muted. You're good. 14. OK, so this is a figure clad in black ropes, kind of billowy black ropes. There's some red and white trim. And this individual's face is covered in a wooden mask.

It's got some cracks and things. It's it's seen some age. It looks like it's been hand carved, almost whittled. And there's a couple there's a couple of abnormal things about it. One, it's completely like featureless. It's just there to to cover the face. It also looks like it's fused to the skin. And the eyes are completely black. I don't mean this individual's eyes are completely black. I mean, you can't see the eyes through the mask. So wood carved mask kind of cracked and split here and there and fused to the face. Also, there is a necklace hanging. It is a brilliant blue sapphire necklace.

And it's glowing. This individual was wearing gloves. However, looks as though the skin has rotted away to the point where the gloves aren't really doing anything. They're kind of like hanging by by a thread, just kind of. Yeah. This is all exceedingly strange. I sense her magic. Him. This is the gooey center you've been after. Don't touch a thing. Give me that Arcana. OK. Now that the layers have been peeled away. You're getting a much clearer idea of of what one what is the source of this magic. That necklace is 100 percent beyond a shadow of doubt. And it's like, oh, that thing.

That's that's the thing. There is a very powerful enchantment on that necklace. And though it's you. You haven't really seen anything like it before. You can kind of tell the the the the ingredients that went into it. So while you may not know the recipe, while you may never have seen this, you're like, OK, they they they they did some of this and that. And you can kind of pick up on those flavors a bit more. And this part of this seems like it was to preserve. Like if if you were to gauge this, like maybe this person was put in here alive. Almost like this was to cryogenically freeze them for a period of time.

And no one ever came back. They're also going to pick up on something else that while that magic was to preserve the individual. It was also to contain. But they're dead, so no worries, right? Ha. Does the mask or his outfit or anything ring any bells from any history or anything I've read about? Give me a history check. I need one more check from you. So this is part history and kind of kind of part word on the street. So give me a wisdom check. While that's going on, Ubo's seeing his fellow party members not be suddenly annihilated will walk over and peek.

OK, what's Ubo's impression of the situation? He's conflicted now because like no longer can we just not mess with it, right? Like it's open. So if you leave whatever this is exposed, something will happen. So now it's now it's our problem. Right. But yeah, toothpaste is out of the tube on this one. Yeah, he just kind of he just kind of looks over the body and like scowls and says. He says. Well, just because it hasn't gone bad yet doesn't mean it's not going to go bad. So. This is a weird case and Amven's. This is one of those cases where you got to combine book knowledge and street smarts, because it's like, OK, well, I.

Logically. This is adding up to like a quarantine situation or something, but why would they put this person in alive? Why would if you're just trying to lock something away, why not bury it? Why not? Why not just get rid of it? Yeah. Now, I'm going to offer you something. If you were willing to share your your your your fancy book, learn and knowledge with everyone, I would definitely let someone else roll for the street smarts portion of it. A wisdom check. So I started explaining what people will want to listen to about my history of sounds like quarantine.

I read from this chapter on this book that could be like this or, you know, there's also this like protection. It could be like a leech scenario. It could be in this like thing here. Here's the catch. Here's the catch to do this. You're going to have to share that necromancy bit. Yeah. So I'll just listen to my voice. Oh, just trying to slip it in like it's. Yeah, you know, I guess mapturation, you got some divination, you got some necromancy, you've got some just rattled off. Yeah, I just I just listen to schools and really quickly. Mattie will. Stoneface, but now she really wants to know what this is.

Yeah, if it's a threat, she'll want to take care of it. Yeah, that makes sense. So wisdom check, Jason, give me a wisdom check. Stoneface approach this thing, try to figure out. So if it's 20 with history and Maddie's 23 combined, I think if you guys were to spout things off, like if you're kind of you're brainstorming, you're workshopping, right? Just like back in the day. Yeah. There's a group in the world that are very much like the boogeymen of Theria. Their group called the collectors, and it has been highly debated what exactly their purpose is, what what what is their intent?

And there's a lot of things that people disagree on, but there's a few things that are pretty much indisputable. One, they're an incredibly secret group. Like if you're if you believe in them, then. If they're an entity that has existed for maybe centuries, there's there's evidence of them popping up throughout history. Two, they seem to be. While incredibly cold and calculating. They they seem to research disease. And three, they are tapped into some serious shit like how people think of the stonemasons or, you know, the Illuminati, something like that.

These these these people, they they they disappear sometimes for decades, reemerge, and they if you believe the stories, they have had a hand in some of the craziest research into pandemics and diseases that have eradicated hundreds of thousands. Like they they are a faceless group, quite literally, if you are to believe what you're looking at. So, OK. What's interesting about this case is. No one, at least in your in your to your knowledge, in all of your research. No one's ever found one before. This could very well be. An actual body. Of someone from within that group.

Riddled with the seas. Yeah. Burn it. Yeah, I wanted to use a fireball spell. So I feel like if burning would have worked, they wouldn't have done all this. I mean, they wanted to find a cure and come back for him. Right. Anyway, I don't know. I don't know about this. I don't know about all that. So I can find out that the necklace was like supposed to contain it. So maybe that's fine. So as we're brainstorming back and forth and we both come to this realization that, oh, shit, this might be collectors. What are they known for? Now he's going to turn to him, but I.

I highly regret opening this. If what they wanted to have sealed in here. Oh, my God. What if what if they were sealing in a disease? I might have just let a plague upon this land. And Masoko will walk up beside Maddie and he'll have his hood like pinched around his mouth. And you'll look at her and it's muted. Look, burn it. We got to burn it. I mean, we might already be infected, but I don't I don't think so. That arcane lock was wasn't really that hard. I mean, yes, it was hard, but it wasn't the source of protection. That necklace has to be it. Maybe we can just relock and walk away.

Yeah, I mean, didn't like burning sometimes spread fumes and stuff, it's like a magic disease or something. Maybe that just make it worse. I'm just worried that opening this may have caused more than we imagined. Why would they go through the trouble of dealing with sealing it if sealing it didn't help? Too late now. It's done. Ubo is like standing behind everyone suppressing the smugest look right now. We all might be infected with a terrible plague. But at least I was right. Well. Amven, I'm going to give you one chance here to do something. OK. All right.

Considering you've tapped in so well to this necklace, I need you to do me a favor and roll an Arcana check and one more intelligence check. All right. I knew 15 is not bad for Arcana. 15 is not bad for intelligence. Something's going to occur to Amven. Let's say hypothetically that Amven's deductions are correct and that that necklace was essentially like cryogenically freezing someone, right? Well, this person is very much dead. Which means that that spell had a shelf life. And we are past the point where that would have protected the person. Now. With a 15, Amven would also realize that the magic in the necklace is fading, not gone, but fading.

How quickly? And it's gone. Oh, man. Do I feel like a countdown is basically going on on that? I think I think you would. And I think that we need to find out on a scale of one to 10. 10 being man, there's a lot of juice left in this battery. One being shit. Now, I think a random member of the party should roll this. What do you guys think? I think Ubu should do it. That's the reward for being right about this. Yeah, that's I don't feel like that's fair. Actually, the dice have chosen Maddie. On a scale of one to 10. I'm just going to feel so guilty about it.

Oh, my God. So this. If Amven is correct. One, they locked this person away for a damn good reason, which means they were probably infected with something real bad, something they didn't have a cure for. And they probably sealed this person away with like, hey, look, this is your best shot. Maybe we can come back in a few years and we've made some headway, but we can't let we just can't let you be out and about. And the magic is not strong enough to keep them alive for more than, you know, if you're if you're looking at this, maybe maybe a few decades.

Whoa. Yeah, this person's been in here for a while. But it is strong enough to maybe keep this disease from spreading at least far. So we're infected. Thanks. I didn't say that. I'm going off of the 15s that Amven rolled. There's a couple of like things he might not know, but he's pieced a lot of this puzzle together. OK. Can I roll a medicine? Sure. To figure out what they're infected with? Sure. Are you sharing this information like everything we just learned? That's a good question, actually. Oh, yes. Before I make that roll. And Amven? Yep, totally. So as soon as you're like, it's supposed to suppress it from going far, Maddie will be like, business mode, trying to figure out if they're infected, what they have.

Like. OK. Nope. Oh, shit. Fuck. That's an 11. So everything to Maddie's going to seem tip top. I I've never seen this disease before, guys. If you don't want to burn it, that's fine. But we need to dig a hole very deep. Seal this thing back up and bury it. Do we know that there is a deep mine in Dunhurst? Do we know that? Oh, you want to take it with you? That seems like a nah. I mean, if it's people steal radioactive stuff in mines all the time. That's true. Yeah, but they also don't carry it with them along the road. I mean, we're already with it. Yeah, but but like other people.

We're going to carry it through a population center. Also true. But we're still empty. But I'm right. Sorry. There are no like a city. I hope I'm brainstorming. No bad ideas. Do me a favor. Give me a flat 20. Let me see how much wisdom. Give me wisdom check to see. Like, it's like, how much do you know about Donhurst? That's a five. All right. So you got a few options. You could burn it. But you don't know what that's going to do. You could seal it up again and bury it, which, you know, that could totally work. You could take it with you and hopefully find someplace deep and dark where you could toss this fucker.

Or you could just walk away. Hey, Ubo. You have you were able to bring Earth up for that wonderful wagon event. Can you dig down with it? Ubo consults the rule book for the wording of his spells. She's playing. She's playing. You can see the rules for the shovel he bought. Oh, my God. Shovel saves the day. Who knew? Do we need a battering ram? Not yet. I hope not. We can get one. Jason, it's kind of hard to say. I'd have to have you read Erupting Earth and tell me what you think it could do as far as digging a hole. Like maybe if I targeted from the ground down instead of from the ground upward, you could probably interpret it that I could dig a 20 foot cubic hole.

Yeah, you know what? I'm down for that. OK. So, yeah, Ubo basically says... I could make a hole quickly, maybe three of my height deep, a little more. I'll even say this. Depending on how many spell slots you want to use up, I'll let you double or triple it. I mean, yeah, if we're not doing that, depending on whether or not we're running into anything else today, and you never know. Who knows? My spells... man, where's that information? I have three third level spell slots. That's a 60 foot cubicle. Now, the problem is we have to put all the dirt back after I dig, like I can instant dig it.

Yeah, but we have to scoop it all back in. Putting the dirt back is the easy part. Yeah, I mean, we'd have to do that even if we dug it up with a shovel anyway, so at least half of the job done. Yeah, and you weren't going to dig 60 feet of hole. Yeah. That's a big shovel. You only got one shovel. So we're taking turns. See you later, Donnie. Have fun. So, yeah, Anvin, you're saying that the spell's still working for a while. Yeah. We've opened it, so if we were going to get infected, it's already happened, or we're not, we're fine. Right. Do you all want to see what these fuckers look like?

No, I don't want to touch this thing. Yeah, that seems like a bad idea. Yeah, no. Like, I think, I think if we're, if we're done in, okay, but I don't want to accelerate anything. Also, it looks like it's kind of, like, attached. Yeah. I don't know, it's kind of weird. True. And not knowing what this is, Ubo and Astor stay as far back as you can, because you haven't approached it as closely as we have, and then Mattie's going to turn to Anvin, Mazoka, and Donnie, and cast Lesser Restoration on them, which will catch a disease before it kicks in. Yay. I only have three second level spots, so I can cast it on myself.

Okay. Okay, maybe we should leave, like, so are we just putting, like, the smaller box in, I guess, and maybe we should leave, like, a note or something in the bigger box. Like, hey, sorry for accidentally opening up y'all's disease thing. We left you a 60 foot apology. We've been vested by the Royals. Yeah. I was thinking about us just pushing the thing over in, so it's on top of it as best we can. Oh, well, at least we have, like, the lid there as, like, a marker, because I feel like if, like, they might come back looking for this with some way to actually get rid of it, and so they should at least, like, if it's just, oh, all gone in the forest, that, like, be gone.

And I mean, if we're concerned about it, we might want to come back in the future, too. Yeah. Mattie wants to look into it, into a cure or something, or if their cure has been found in the years, we know where it is. Do you want to, like, write down the markings and stuff, or, like, record all of this business? I will write all this down in my book to ensure that if I die, someone else knows what it is. And try not to burn up the book when I die. Yeah, that's good. Maybe after Donhurst, we head to Brightport, and maybe this key will lead to something. Yeah, we could do that.

I also wanted to stop by Uminyiro. Well, it's kind of on the way. I mean, at least it's the same coast. Yeah, but better than the opposite coast, so. Oh, Ubo would hate it there. Have we committed to burying this thing? I think so. Yeah, and Vin has to lock it before? Yeah, I was going to try to at least relock it up. Yeah, I don't think the, once you figure out how to unlock it, I think locking it would just be a reverse of the process, so you'd pretty much, you're good to go. Ta-da! So we're dumping the bigger box so that it falls over the bottoms on the top, kind of, like turning it over a cake pan?

Is that what we're doing? And then leaving the lid out on the ground so we have a marker. So that's what I understood. That's what I understood. Cool. I'm making sure I lock it. If it's doable. Any level of protection as possible. Okay, so you're going to seal this inner box up again. And then this is going to require some heft. This might not be an anthem job, but it sounds like you guys are dumping it into a 60 foot hole? Yeah, let's just dump it. Okay. Let's lower it down with a rope. No, we're... I don't want it to explode when it gets down there. Alright, alright, ropes.

Lowering down. Yeah. Good plan. Okay. I'm going to let you know that in the course of all this, the sun is setting. If you do the rope thing, that's going to add about 45 minutes or so to your time. I'll take that. Okay. Just let you know. Yeah. So, ropes. So you guys rig up a pulley system here and just lower it in respectfully. Face down in the dirt and then... You guys just start shoveling stuff on top of it. So there's a big mound here that you can tamp down. And you have buried this box. Can I write, or use like, not write, but like the dirt mound, basically that warning symbol that was on there.

Can I just put it on top of the mound? Sure. And just because I don't want any of us to spread a disease, I'm going to expend all the rest of my spell slots to do a lesser restoration on the rest of us. Okay. Before you do that... Diseases in Tharia work a little differently than they do in the book. I know, I read your instructions, but lesser restoration gets it at if it's count early enough in your rules. Right. Unless it's something really nasty. Mm-hmm. Which it's not. Which we don't know if it is or not. We don't even know if you're infected. So basically, it can't hurt.

But essentially, it's like taking Airborne to get rid of cancer. If it were to be that. Well, Maddie doesn't know, and she's trying to take every precaution she can, and she's exhausted and tired and just like, not even like thinking about it, wants to do whatever she can. I absolutely understand. I just wanted to, I just wanted a little buyer beware thing. Yes. I get it. I'm trying to stay off complaints if we all end up dying of the plague. Or spread it to everyone. Okay. We done? You guys good? Good. No. Done. Yes. Okay. Yes. Let's go to Don Hurst. Actually do our mission a year later.

You guys took the key, right? Just to make sure. Oh yeah. Okay. Just to make sure. I didn't know if that got sealed up. So, yeah. No, no, no, no. That's interesting. You guys stumbled upon some information. I think Mazoka currently has it. I thought after kept it. Did you take it? After throwing it to people? I thought, I don't know. Well, Donny took it and then Mazoka took it from Donny. Someone's got it. Someone's got it is the point. It's not in the box. Yes. Okay. Excellent. Back on the road, guys. You are about two and a half to three days outside of Don Hurst. Could I get a flat D20?

To see how the road is going to treat you. Oh, good job. Ubo. We found another box. Okay. So this one's filled with candies. Well, if third time's the charm, it's not explosives or a disease. It's gotta be candy. One out of three boxes has to be a good box. Yeah. Well, again, I wouldn't completely discount. I played Overwatch. You guys like it? Everyone see that new Mei skin? Good Lord. Anyway, so, okay. One, I wouldn't call that last box bad necessarily. You guys got some crucial information. It's very, very, very interesting stuff. Two, the road is going to treat you very well for the next few days.

It's going to be about 6 p.m. on the third day. And you are going to be approaching the city of Don Hurst. And all day it's been threatening to rain. Maybe thunderstorm. And it's going to start drizzling as you're approaching the city. And it's going to be downpouring by the time you get there. Now, I am going to leave this completely up to you how you'd like to approach this situation. Normally, when you arrive at a major city, you just drive on up to the gate. Don Hurst is a walled up city. They usually have their gates locked or shut. And they have watch people to open the gates as people approach.

But they're really close to orc country. The Bruk'ol camp specifically. And they've had troubles. So, how would you guys like to approach this situation? What's the information we have so far? We just know that there was something that wiped out people. But we have no idea that there was a group of thieves and scum and villainy. So, what you know, and it's been over a year since you took that job. Can you guys believe it? Anyway. Oh, I can. Yeah. What you know was there was a major event in the city that wiped out tons of people. And essentially the rest of the people evacuated and started heading west.

It was so bad that it was just a mass exodus. You know that it's been labeled demonic in nature. And I wouldn't think that you guys are expecting a welcoming committee basically. Alright. I've been doing it all day. Can I check to see if there's any magic coming out? I mean, I got a shit dick. I gotta use it. Are we at the doors? Or are we a distance away from the city? I would say you're... Well, I wanted to ask how you wanted to approach it essentially. So, you see the city and you're a ways back. You can see that the gates are shut. So, essentially, the city of Donhurst has these immense walls that surround everything.

It's very fort-like, very wooden, very big, thick timbers, stuff like that. And you're gonna see watch posts and stuff stationed throughout the city with no one in them. There are no lights. There do not appear to be any signs of life. But you weren't expecting signs of life. Beyond the city, there's this essentially a castle up on the hills far above the city in the distance. And that's what you'd see approaching. And we'll shelf the castle for now. Okay. Fair enough. Well, if the gates are shut and there's still anything from that event inside, hopefully they stay in.

So, if there was a way to get around those walls, get in one of those watch posts, say with... I don't know, Bo, can you turn into a flying boar? Have you seen a flying boar in nature? I have yet to see one, but you'd be my first. I cannot turn into a flying boar. All right. I have this. What about you, Aster? How are those legs? How are those gates locked? From the inside, it would appear. Damn. I'm pretty good at climbing. I think I got this handy grappling hook. Yes, I do. You've got a grappling hook. I do have spider climb though, so I can just become capable of climbing.

That seems like much smarter and less likely to fail through a bad acrobatics or athletics check. And that's a very typical rub. It really is. You've had spider climb since I've known you. It's a mountain spider. Malkus used it a lot. He used it once in a while. I don't know. It's not a knock. It's a good thing to have in certain circumstances come up. Yeah, no, not a knock against you. It's just fitting. I pick it, yeah. And I did. So here it is. Jason, can you apply a long rest to all of us, I guess? I absolutely can. There's all my spell slots back. There you go.

Okay, Upo will cast Spider Climb on himself. And, let's see, until the spell ends, one willing creature you touch gains the ability to move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings while leaving its hands free. Oh cool, so I just walk on two legs. Oh, that's super weird. Oh man, it's like the Dancing on the Ceiling music video. Does he say anything before he just starts walking up the wall? Uh, he says, um, he says, "If it's safe to let you in, I'll let you in." And then he walks up to the wall and just like steps onto the vertical surface and starts going up.

Is... do all of us do that? That's a luster. Squirting off at him. I have diamond tugs on his collar. Eww. Right? So, Upo walks up over, and I guess he perches on the top and kind of like sits in like Assassin's Creed perch style right there for a moment and like scans the horizon with his darkvision. Do me a favor, give me a perception check. Because I wanna, like there's stuff passively you're gonna see, but I wanna see if you're looking at specifics. Oh Jesus. Hey, good one. That's crit. There you go, you were due. Yeah. So, it's gotta be phenomenally creepy to be able to get on a high perch, look into a city, and see no signs of life.

So there are countless buildings, shops, and just cobblestone streets that have no activity. With this rain coming down and the wind kicking up, you're gonna see shutters blowing in the breeze. You're gonna see doors that are just open. So there are buildings and shops that are just kind of flooding with this rain coming in. It is a very strange sight. You're also gonna see a lot of barrels and carts and things tipped over. Like, maybe this place has been ransacked, maybe that was part of the exodus, like people are just in a panic running, that type of thing.

But you're not gonna see anybody within your eyesight. Okay, no, man, not even like monsters or anything like that. Nothing. Nothing. That's eerie. Okay, Ubo will walk down the other side of the wall and head toward the gate to open it. Okay, give me an athletics check, 'cause I picture a big wooden bar there. Athletics check. Yeah, I took that one. 17. Yeah, nice. So Ubo's going to lift this big wooden bar that's keeping this gate shut. And I guess you're gonna open it up for everybody? Yep. Let me ask you a question. Are you guys just driving the cart on in?

Why wouldn't we? I'm just asking. Hey, I'm just asking for information. Is there a trap? You know, it's on there, it's saying "Free food." We'd probably attract, if there's anything in there, we'd probably attract less attention than with horses in a cart going on the cobblestone. I would leave them here. Someone also might come by the city and steal our cart. And do you see anyone around? I don't think anyone's coming here for at least a couple hours. Oh yeah, how long are we just gonna be in there? A couple hours? I'm not planning setting up shop. Is there a stable?

I mean, in the city, yeah. I don't think anybody's gonna be taking care of your horses. Yeah. No, but we could at least... Yeah, there seems like pretty soon after you enter a city should be a place to put horses, that we can at least put them there. That sounds fair. Good enough. I'm thinking that we'll probably approach without them and then see that there's no immediate danger, because we don't even know if it goes alive on the other side. And then once we determine that, okay. Yeah, we can do it quick, quickly, con, stealth style. Stealth in the city.

Yeah. Donovan's built for stealth. Yes. Yeah, how's that, uh, Kaladin armor working out for you? Oh, you know, I have disadvantage. So, okay. Let's cut to the chase and let's say that you bring them inside after you check around and see that there's no immediate danger. And essentially you are parking the cart, leaving the horses somewhere where it looks like they'd be safe. Maybe they're, they're snacking on some hay, something like that. Yeah. Do we see four very fast horses in there? No, you don't. So there don't appear to be any signs of life at all. But I'll tell you what, uh, give me an investigation check.

Okay. Do it with advantage, because like the whole group's looking around. Okay. No, can someone else? Hey, Amvit. It's an intelligence space. I've been rolling all day. Because you're the only one with intelligence. You got glasses. Oh, that's what makes a difference. There's like no lenses. It's like no. No. Amvit's a hipster. So you're running which one? The investigation? Investigation with, uh, with advantage. Ooh. Okay. Yeah, because you guys are, you guys are all looking around. Oh, good. Drop that five, take a 14 for a total of 20. You are going to see that there have definitely been signs of struggles, little fights here and there around the city.

I'd say you're checking out Main Street first. Like after the gate, you're just like poking around, looking at buildings, kind of doing a really, kind of a SWAT team, like sweep, looking around. And there are some busted out windows and doors and stuff. There looks to have been a few fights. One notable you're going to see in a shop. Um, you're going to find some bodies. And the one that would stick out is not human at all. Big, elongated arms and legs. Looks like if it were standing, it would be really hunched over. You can almost, you can almost see its spine through its skin.

It is so not human. Does it, does it look like a race that I'm aware of or is it more demon-esque? Okay, if you already know that you're looking for demonic activity coming into the city, it would not take a rocket scientist to figure out that that shit is not from your plane. Okay. Uh, do we all see it? Oh yeah, it'd stick out like a sore thumb. Guys, check this out. Yeah, Astar returned to Anthony and Maddie because they seemed like they'd be experts in this kind of thing. Like, is that a demon? Help, help me drag it outside. Oh shit. Help me drag it outside.

And she's going to grab it. Get over. Astar will grab the other foot. Oh man. So the sound that this thing makes as you're dragging it, not it making, but it dragging on the floor is god awful because it's got these bony plate protrusions that cover its body. So it's like a, it's digging into the wood, kind of like err. It's dead weight in the, in the, the most literal sense. And as you're dragging this out, it's like, shit. Okay, this thing's super heavy. You, if this thing were alive and standing, you'd market it at least like six and a half feet tall and it would be a problem.

This thing looks like it is built for combat. And as we like drag it outside, get all exhausted, Maddie's going to kneel over it and start praying and then cast her channel divinity radiance of the dawn, which it, it's basically I present my holy symbol over it. And then this beam of light shoots down on it and it lights on fire with radiant damage. That's pretty cool. That's, that's pretty baller. So that's a spectacle. Like, I mean, like that is for you guys. Like that is a, that's, that's cause I picture with the storm and everything like that, that, you know, the, the night kind of happens upon you guys a little faster.

So this bright ass, like holy light is, is going to light up this demon and it is going to emulate and yeah, that's a one less demon carcass. Yeah. And Maddie's just standing over these probably pure white flames, just continually praying until it's like gone. Jonathan's kind of like dumbfounded. Like if suddenly it hits him that like the rumors were true, like they're actually demons in there. He's never seen anything like he's ever seen demons. He's fucked some monsters, but like this, this is some wild shit. And now like seeing Maddie do her like define magic to like, and in this ritual, he's kind of like not believing it.

He knows it's happening. He's like not in shock, but he's really like, like brushing his hair off his forehead. I'm just going like, looking around like cautiously together. There might be more of these things. Is it silent or do I hear anything in this dead city? Well, the rain's making it difficult. I would imagine that's going to be a hindrance, but you're going to hear a lot of creaking. Like I said, like a wooden shutters kind of slamming against windows and doors kind of. Yeah, a lot of, a lot of clamoring, a lot of clattering, that type of thing.

I'm going to pull an anvil. After the flames die down and this carcass is basically ashes, Maddie's going to hold onto her holy symbol and then try to sense for other demons in the city. Can I roll like a religion for that? Do you have a spell for it, by the way? No, I can't sense evil. Oh, OK. But I'm praying, asking for help. Well, you know what? Let's see if a God's listening. They only listen to a Misoka. Yeah. No, no, man. It's true. Give me a religion check. Whoa. Fuck. That's a 23. Holy shit. They weren't listening when you threw that ring. No. I got almost grit though, so. [Laughing] That's a total of 23 for everyone listening at home.

It sure is. Maddie's going to feel something. It's a sensation that Maddie has never felt before. Usually, usually when you pray, you might get, you might get a good feeling about something. You might later in the day find it's like, "Oh, I was praying for safe passage and we got..." So maybe someone was listening. It's always an intangible, like indefinite thing. Like you're just like, "I think..." Or sometimes it's like, "Oh, maybe I just didn't pray hard enough." Or maybe they were busy, they just weren't. But this is, something's almost going to click with Maddie.

Like a light switch has been turned on. Like in her bones. She knows that at the very least a monitor is listening. Mmm. And Maddie will feel it deep down in her soul. That one, there is certainly danger in this city. Yeah. And right now, this party is in some way, shape, or form being watched over by a god. Aww. Ugh. So, this happens after the flames are dying down and this is just ashes. And everyone's looking around trying to like get their bearings and see if anything else is here. And then the flames die down and Maddie's still continuing to pray and then she goes stock still.

No longer praying. And then she looks down at her holy symbol, which is a necklace. And she just kind of looks at it with like a reverent look. And then squeezes it and nods and then turns to the group. There's something still here. But the gods are on our side. When she says that, Ubo stands up and walks over and kind of, let's see, he's got, I'm trying to remember what my weapon is. Ahh! Can't find my, yeah, it's cornered down. So, when she says that, Ubo walks over to where she is and kind of like taps the butt of his quarterstaff on the ground loudly and says, "Good.

I have been waiting to do something meaningful. Make things better. Let's hunt." How would everyone else react to that? Like, at first Maddie's like, there's something still here as her like tense up and then when she says the thing about like the gods being on their side, they would kind of like shift a bit. Like they look kind of like not quite sure how to feel about that and even a bit uncomfortable at it, but they're not going to say anything. Would you say that Aster is a religious person? Not like, they're, I'd say it's very complicated. Like, if the gods are real and they do exist like people say they do, then Aster kind of doesn't necessarily think that they might be things that are worthy of worship, for instance, like there's some, like, there's something about the whole thing of like heaven and hell and stuff that doesn't sit right with them.

So the idea that like, oh, these all powerful beings that decide who, like, that judge everybody are like watching over us that just kind of is a bit uncomfortable for them. Got it. On the other hand, when Maddie says the gods are watching over us and Ubo steps in, like he'll get to get his bearing back and he'll like, he'll smile and go like, oh yeah, the gods are with us. I'll drink to that. I hope there's more than just a monitor too. There's a couple of good ones in that lot. And he like takes his weapons out as he gets ready to go. He says, I might know where to go first too.

I look over and see if Maddie had any reaction to that statement. No, she's has, she's determined like almost as soon as she says it, like she's just looking. Okay, what next? Where to go? We need to find this. We need to stop it. Almost like even if everyone was against her at this point, like, oh, she's crazy. She probably just would have gone off by herself because now she has like in her sole purpose. This is a porn ring. Oh, yeah. Okay. Maybe we should go down in one of these houses until the rain passes. I mean, I can't hear shit out here. Maybe a temple would be best to ward off any other demons and then she'll like gesture down to the ashes of the demon.

Yeah, that sounds good. Guess we go find a temple. Yeah, and you will do the first one we find we should try or I may have access to the post office if we walk by there first. Lots of information there and packages still to be sent. You might find something in there. I thought what happened in the few days prior. I love your dedication. I'm employed. Oh, something to my employer. Donovan, it is a holy place. Oh, so spreading out not I mean not sorry that sound like you were splitting up. We're not doing that. But I would imagine you're cautiously walking the streets and you are going to stumble upon a temple.

And boy, it looks like this temple has been through the rain. Some of the some of the glass is busted out. And there are a stunning amount of atrocities abominations, if you will. It looks like people have been cut up and then stitched back together. They're not moving. They're all they all appear to be dead. But yeah, whatever got a hold of the city did did a number. They will do double take. Maybe a temple wasn't the best choice. They're all dead. Great. I seem to have worked out fine for the people fighting in. Masaka, can you toss me that flask again? I need to find my center again.

Do I feel any magic as we walk through? I wouldn't say so. No, it's it's a stunning lack of anything like this city definitely has a story to tell things happened here, but it doesn't appear as though there's anything currently happening. Are these bodies all on the outside? Oh, yes. OK, well, Masaka will just step over them or whatever he has to do to get to the temple and open the doors. Which temple is it, by the way? This looks maybe like non-denominational, like it's a like it like it. If anything, it's a temple of Arathis. OK. Very functional. Yeah, let's go in.

Yeah, we're all creeped out. Yeah. Yeah. Rightfully so. Oh, yeah. So inside again, there's like a lot of these pews are kind of tossed over and stuff like this place has definitely been gone through. But there's some living areas and stuff. This looks like a pretty large temple. Like how large like. Could be something here we need to look for. Should we barricade the doors? Jason, are there any like major holes in like roofs or walls that would make this a bad place to fort up? No, again, there's a couple of windows smashed out, so you're still going to hear that rain, but it's it's a lot less intrusive.

Doors and stuff are still pretty much intact. You could stack things in front of them like it's it's a it's a pretty big building to cover all of the entrances and exits if you're counting windows as those. But doesn't look like there's a hell of a lot going on outside. So at least this is a place where you can get your bearings and dry off. Yeah. I mean, it's it's like late night now, right? It's it's getting there. I'd say like like nine. Yeah. Nine thirty. Somewhere in there. It's it's kind of hard to sensibly hunt a creature of any kind in driving rain.

So I think I think maybe we're going to try to sleep. Yeah. Rain and night. Yeah. Can I go around all the windows and doors and put my alarm thread so that I can be aware that there's an intrusion? Sure. Has infants doing this? OK. I'm ready. We're building itself. No, we're doing a group B bus rush as as you're doing this, you're going to hear a knocking sound. It's big and echoey. Not not not like someone's pounding, but it sounds quite literally almost like someone's knocking on a door. Within the temple or maybe like outside of it, you're going to hear like a knock, knock, knock, wait.

Did anyone else hear that? Jason, did we all hear that? I I would say, yeah, you'd all hear it within the temple. And where did it seem to be coming from? The front door. OK. Can what is there a window near the front door? Yeah, sure. Oh, yeah. All our six heads slowly. It's Girl Scouts. So looking out the front window on the stoop. There's a single person, man, shoulder length, hair, dressed in layers, but looks to be in like leather armor, passively standing at the front door like he's calling on a neighbor. You don't know that there's not regular people here.

Can we read that person's body language at all? Give me an insight. That's a six. No weapons drawn. Doesn't look like they're standoffish, but who knows? I mean, anything. I was just to say, any anything that could actually like do harm to us would have the ability to just kick down this door and start the fight. So I think like, unless it's something that's trying to deceive us, which in which case we just sort that out as it comes. Yeah, Donovan will say, like, password. Oh, you're you're you're calling out to it? Yeah, like, I imagine it's one of the like broken windows we're looking through or.

Oh, okay. So you're kind of shouting that out. Yeah. So this this this this person is going to be standing expectantly at the door, but then hearing the shout, he's very much being rained on and he is going to squint and look over and hop off the stoop and move over to the window. Would you mind if I come in? It's very cold out here. Quick glance, see if he's alone. Doesn't look like anybody else is with him. You get a look good look at his appearance. Give me perception. No, let's let's go to me. We probably don't look like the most savory individuals right now.

Donovan will say there's a whole city of unlocked doors and you come knocking to the one that's barricaded. He's he's gonna he's gonna lean in like he's trying to look into the building to see how many people there are. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you're new in town. Donovan will like shrug. Think of me as a greeter. Don't look around to the rest of the party. I assume they can hear that. Hey, Jason. Is it like known in theory is theory of vampire lore like you have to invite them in before they can enter? Like that's is that a thing about vampires in theory?

There's there are certain spells you can enchant a home to make that a thing, but by default, no. What if it's a temple? No. After all, kind of shrug and say, I mean, it's six versus one. He does decide to pull something. I mean, more information is not going to exactly hurt us. There is a box. Sorry. No, I think I think this we should probably find out where this goes. Otherwise, I mean, he may have good information. Yeah, like he'll nod at the guy like towards the door. Like, I'll come I'll come open it. He'll give you a nod back and then hop back up on that stoop and wait by the front door.

And I'll look at Astor and I'll give them a quick look, like at their bow at the same time. I look back at them. Yeah, I mean, I don't feel like they would have put up a bow this entire time. Yeah. Like we've been pretty tense about this entire city. Yeah, I was just making sure. I'm assuming that you guys are at the ready for the part. All right. Opening the door. He is going to kind of give a quick glance around, almost like he's sizing you guys up. Like it's like, are you going to jump me or something like that type of thing? But there's a very calm demeanor about this person.

You pick that up in the previous conversation with him and he would step inside and start to kind of like give his hair a flick and like try to get some of the excess water off of him. It's very hospitable of you. Thanks. You're welcome. I'm Donovan. What's your name? Ripley. And he would hold out a hand. I've heard of you. No kidding. He'll shake the hand back. Nice to meet you. And he would look at the rest of the party. Let me officially welcome you all to Donner's. What are you doing here? You're by yourself. And he would start to walk over to one of these pews and kind of lean up against it, kind of put his back to it.

Like he's just kind of like partially sitting, very relaxed. In a sense. I'm actually looking for some old friends. We got separated a little while back. You mind if I ask what you're doing here? Well, we heard this whole city was wiped out, which seems to be the case. So forgive us if we're shocked to see people just casually strolling in. We came here to investigate. And he would he'd kind of he kind of not. Well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later. I take it you're the cleanup crew. Everyone like, yes, that sounds cool, but I don't think that's right.

The pencil, your definition of cleanup, like we're more of scouting. We're like three. There's a lot of bodies and only six of us. Think of us as like friendly neighbors, 60 foot hole. So are you basically saying that to him? Yeah, I mean, I said what they said. OK. And he'd give a smile. Well, I take it one of the other cities hired you. I would send you back with a message. There are no occupants. The city's doing fine. No need to send more people. A name or something for these new occupants. I mean, if we're going to tell the folks back in the city in charge, we probably should have some more details or else we're going to get in trouble.

He's almost going to like, OK, with pride. You ever hear the fang? Do we? Yeah, I mean, give me a wisdom check. Give me a little give me a little word on the street. Whiz, all of us. Little whiz. Oh, 11 whiz. Yeah, everybody give me some whiz. Whiz. Oh, oh, I whizzed all over that. Oh, yeah. Maddie. Maddie and Masoko would have heard the name before. It's basically the name of a two bit gang that they're shake that they're a shakedown crew. Right. They'll they'll they'll hold people at knife point and take wallets and rob passers by that type of thing. They're they're they're not big players.

Not OK. Definitely not the kind of people who get to take a city. So you guys are just squatters. Actually, sir. You're talking to the mayor of Donhurst. I was going to laugh. Oh, OK. Matty rolls her eyes, as did Susan. And he's going to hold his hands up. Hey, I'm not looking to fight you. I'm just giving you a friendly one. Yeah, more like a comedy show. You're giving the same friendly warning to the dozens of survivors who had to leave their home. I need a place to come back. And he was. Well, it's case by case basis. They're welcome to come back, but it's going to be a restructuring of the city from here on out.

Matty will step forward. Ripley, was it mayor of Donhurst? Yeah, he'll not. There's something here that needs hunting. That's what we're here for. Man, big toothy grin. Look, I'm going to save you a lot of trouble. I could let you poke around the city and look in the doors. Find what you're going to find. There's a lot of dead bodies. How a lot of my old crew. But I assure you, everything's being taken care of from here on out. I'm giving you the chance to walk away. And take back a message. Who's your friends were looking for? What were you talking about earlier?

He's going to start to pace and talk now. You know, I've been here for weeks. And. Life is a funny way of working out sometimes. I used to be like you. I used to take orders. I used to just scrape by looking for jobs. And then the city happened. And man, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Fell right in our lap. Me and my crew walked in. No push back, no fight. We just took the city. Well, you know the problem with that. Trade. And he's he's going to he's he's always going to give you a nod. Like, well, that's one thing. Yeah. We weren't running anything.

It's just buildings. It's walls. There's no one to no one to boss around. And then he's going to he's going to kind of wag a finger. And then an opportunity came up. You saw that castle when you were walking in, right? Where there's a lady up there that has been dying to come back into the city. So I made a little deal with her. You said he made a two big grin earlier, right? Mm hmm. Did we notice anything? Give me perception. Coming up. Right up. Oh, twenty. You're going to notice one, he has impeccable teeth for a bandit. It takes real good care. Probably visits the dentist probably twice a year.

Good. He runs it, too. He runs a dentist place. Oh, man. It's so good. You're also going to notice he has some very elongated canines. I mean, Uber was going to accuse him of being the pawn of demons anyway, so. I'd given up on the vampire route, but I was pretty I was pretty sure, like, pawn of demons. So do we when Maddy explain about the countess in the cart and everything, did she explain that the countess lives in Donhurst in the castle? Yes. Yeah. So can I would Donovan put two two two and two together? Oh, yeah. Again, not rocket science. Oh, so you. You're for the countess.

And he's going to give a nod. Well. I'm more like middle management. My crew works for the countess. Now, the ones left over. Well, then I have a message for her, if you could relate to her, please. He'll he'll kind of fold his arms like he's listening. Nobody kills my friends and he's going to punch him in the face. Oh, man. OK. Give me give me an attack roll. Do I have just fist? I just just an arm. Yeah. So, like, OK, I guess it would be the same. I would be proficient with my fist. It would be the same attack modifier. Right. As an attack. Let's do it. Fuck it.

Let's go. Yeah. Oh, 13. That's boo. Boo. D&D. So you're going to take a swing at him and he's going to move his head a bit to the to the left. So you'll you'll damn near hit him. But just then he'll kind of look startled, like, man, we were talking. What are you doing? That type of thing. And he'll he'll he'll kind of back off a bit. You know. If you're serious about that. I could take you to her. Tell yourself. I was going to kind of like glance at everyone else in the party, like, I didn't think we signed up to hunt the like very old vampire. That's probably very powerful and deadly.

Like we've done a few bad decisions lately. Well, I don't know. We should do one more. So I don't even know. Like put that save file together. Yeah. Jason, how do the vampires of Aubrey do they how do they talk about the countess? That he's probably talked about it once or twice with them. How do they feel about her? Not great. OK, well, OK. Picture it like this. OK. OK, we're all humans, right? Sure. And OK. OK. Do you know how some humans are just. Fitter than us or stronger or faster or smarter, that type of thing. Take, for example, Arnold Schwarzenegger was just drop kicked in South Africa and barely flinched.

A man ran across the gym floor and drop kicked a 60 year old Arnold Schwarzenegger. And he was fine. I don't want anybody drop kicking my spine. I don't think I'd react as well. Vampires. This woman is campfire stories to them. She's recluse. She's old. And there are lots and lots of stories. So many, in fact, that that castle has been there for decades, hanging above the city of Donhurst. And no one goes up there. No one investigates. There are no pitchforks and torches there. They just try to pretend like it doesn't exist. We have our mission. We could go back or.

I look to everyone else. I don't think going to her with violence would be in our best interest. Well. If she's. Technically in charge of this, in charge of the city now. We don't need to go in with violence in mind. We're just here to represent the city that sent us. She's going to gather information. Frickly, mayor of Donhurst is saying this was very like veiled sarcasm. Yeah, just a fixtual lacking of sarcasm. Yeah. If we meet with the countess, what do we be leaving after we met with her? Again, toothy grin. Well, I can't guarantee anything, but. Probably as long as you're not.

Violence. And he's going to step forward toward the group. You're not here to cause trouble in my city, are you? Donovan is going to step up to him. And the lean in. He's going to say. Now, your city is going to be fine and he's going to. Kiss him on the forehead. One of the man you run hot and cold. It's a callback. Yeah. And he'll he'll he'll almost reflexively flinch like you're going to fucking headbutt him or something. And it's like, OK, that's fine. And he is going to start toward the front door. On the way up. If you could do me a favor, keep your eyes peeled.

I'm still looking for a few stragglers. And he's going to he's going to kind of like mumble to himself. Still haven't found Trent. Ubo, I think you're going to get your wish. I'm trying to remember who Trent is. It's a big douchebag. Yeah. A lot of people in the fangir are big douchebags. Guys. I think that's a good time for us to stop for the ark. Boy. Oh, shit. A lot just happened. Congratulations. Yeah. Man, I was I was like mega close to barbecuing Ripley with a fighting bolt. Well, vampire. Are we going to end up attacking her? Because if we do, I don't think we're going to live.

And I'm very afraid. I don't think we'll be attacking her, but we might attack a few ones on the way up. I honestly was going to cast her head as soon as he approached being like, oh, it might be a demon or something. And then anything that's like below my level or like crit rating undermine, it would have been destroyed. So I could have just destroyed him as he knocked on the door. But he's the mayor. Yeah. The city would be in chaos without him. Vote for another one. I mean, I think if I think if we end up like turning this into the group that's going after the countess, I don't think we try to do it in her throne room kind of thing.

I think it's one of those things where we like cause enough of a ruckus that she has to come outside onto our turf. Also, the Fang has a lot of people, if I remember correctly, even if a lot of them have died, still six people versus a city full of vampires. It's going to be the first episode of the arc. So, you know, it's the first boss battle that you mandatory losing to it. And then we start lower with less powers and we just play too much Dark Souls. Final Fantasy, sir. Oh, OK. We got to find out this key thing. Now it's the new thing. Oh, geez. I almost forgot about this more threads.

We got to make it to Brightport. Yeah, I feel like Brightport is kind of where we're headed after this. Now, there's like a few things that have been mentioned before, like when Missoka was talking to Maddie and stuff. And now it's just like kind of all seems to be leading there. It's OK. Our plague virus will just kill the game. Oh, yeah, we get all infected and then we have the vampires drink our blood and then like we. Yeah, it was all part of my plan. Count us in the eye and says sucks to be you. Everybody dies. TPK party deserves. It was good. I thought we'd be going deeper in the city to investigate more.

But I mean, steeper in the hole. I mean, totally fine. Yeah, even the coffin turned out to be huge because that like if I hadn't have been found, you know, Jason would have just let that plague like go. Absolutely. Now, I'm like, I'm still really glad we like went ahead and explored it because now like it's out there. In the story, like it exists. And until someone rolls that number on the table and like sees it, it's kind of like the Schrodinger's double box. Yeah, it definitely unlocked a very interesting storyline that we now have to discover. I'm very excited about it.

That's cool. And so is Jason, according to his laughter. Yeah, I'm so excited about all this. Are you kidding? Oh, my God. Yeah, that was nice. Somewhere on the continent of Atheas, a group of disgruntled Aladrin, no longer content to stay in the city of Onakol and forfeit their previous legacy, struck out on their own to find an ancient artifact that might help them turn back the clock. So is that the thing? Game here for? As I look towards Dagon. Yeah, not the not the way I wanted to do it. I'm I'm going to need I'm going to need to do something about this point at his leg.

Althea at this point, this is probably like a little bit after the fight, but Althea is probably supporting Dagon at this point. Yeah. We need to get you some care. At least it's not bleeding anymore. I don't suppose any of you can do something about this. No, that's not exactly my area of expertise. Yeah, nope. I can I can chop the other one off. I'm just messing with you. That's right up there with I'll give you something to cry about. I do appreciate this. Oh, you know, well, as long as we can get you back or at least maybe not back, but. Is ready to go, maybe stop somewhere to help out.

I don't really know who would be able to fix that. And it's not like we have a lot of favors backing on a call, which, of course, is the only gate that leads directly into a city. Maybe the maybe the maybe the elves in the forest. At the very least, in the long run, maybe there we can get you an artificial leg. I know that there are ways to regrow your leg, but at least we can get you an artificial one. You know what? It doesn't matter. With this, and it will hold up the urea on, I could bring my leg back right now. Would that then prevent us from using it for our true purpose?

I mean, providing it's a one use sort of thing, but even if it is, then, I mean, by the time I get somewhere, at least I'll be able to walk right now. If I could figure this out. Jason, I think you pitched this to us before that we have to hold this device in one place and have it in constant use, right? Yeah, it's pretty stationary when it's up and running. OK. Althea is going to turn the dig on. From what I know of this, once you use it, you won't be able to move around with it. Yeah, I guess that would have been too easy. OK. Well, for now, we've got to get back to the gate.

And I may need some help. I'm always here to... I come over and do that arm around and walk. On the other side, because Althea is already there. What a good mom. Mommy. No, we're not doing that. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's my fault. I'm sorry. That's disregard. Mandy's not here to hide behind anymore. That's OK. It was Mandy's fault the first time. It was my fault this time. You were incoherent last time. I don't know how well you slept last night, but let's try not to go there. You're right. I'm sorry. That's lowbrow. We're highbrow. Yeah. So what does the path ahead of us look like?

Honestly, it's not too bad. It's pretty deserted. You guys walked for a bit from the gate to get here. Sadly, it wasn't located conveniently next to this crypt, but I wouldn't say that there'd be too much in the way of resistance. Maybe some wildlife, something like that. But I don't think it's anything you guys couldn't handle in terms of chasing them away. So Dagon is going to fire up this gate. And you are all going to step through. Now, normally this would be a very dangerous way to travel if you're not 100% sure of what you're doing, but you've already done this once.

So I wouldn't say that you're necessarily worried about doing it again. This time, however, you are going to step out of the gate and into a fairly empty cave. There's obviously evidence of people previously living here. Lots of rusted swords and tattered clothing, things like that. But yeah, no one's currently living here. I'm going to say that over the next week, you're going to be traveling. Probably taking your time, what with Dagon's leg and everything. But on the 11th, you are going to reach the city of Odysseia. There's a long hill to go up, and the hill is littered with these almost tank trap looking things.

They're meant to stop carts and horses from coming up to the city. And it was an installation from the Warforged. They installed security measures, somewhat crude, by Aladrin standards, but they got the job done. You're also going to see a hell of a lot of Warforged bodies just laying about, collecting rust. At this point, probably grass, moss growing in them, that type of thing. Continuing past them, you're going to enter the city of Odysseia proper. Normally, there's a large black dragon, or at least there has been for the last couple of years. But earlier in the previous month, this dragon took off.

And no one's exactly sure if it's coming back, or why it took off in the first place, but it's gone. There is, however, a very large red dragon corpse in the middle of the city. Mostly picked clean, but it is a huge reminder of the devastation that took place here. The buildings are collapsed, and the city is basically a shell of its former self. What would you guys like to do? We really hope you guys enjoyed today's Group A finale, and the little interstitial, there might be more to come next week. Speaking of next week, check this out everybody. Live on Twitch, Saturday the 15th at 6pm Eastern, we'll be posting about it a ton.

We'll be streaming live the very last episode of Ark 2. We want to share it with you guys, and see your reactions in the chat. We want to hang out with everybody, and we can't wait to do that on a live place. We've never streamed an episode like that before, and we are really excited about it. You can also check out patreon.com/dandr to find out a bunch of information about Ark 3. As soon as that's posted, we're probably going to be doing some sort of fly in the wall if we hit a certain milestone. That is actually our next milestone on Patreon. You can see that there, and how close we are to it.

We're also doing character chats. I'm just about ready to post a Group C character chat. Next month it'll be Group A, and then finally in August it'll be Group B. We'll be talking about the entire Ark, what it meant to them character-wise, player-wise. It's a pretty deep delve, and I think you guys are really going to enjoy it. Well until next week on the 15th, we'll see you guys later. Hope you guys have a fantastic week. Please drop your feedback at dandrpodcast@gmail.com. That's dandrpodcast@gmail.com, and we'll see you guys on the 15th.