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Ep. 1 The Vaults - Shadowmend Tales
117 Plays2 years ago
Welcome to our mini Season in-between Seasons!
Bellum Draconis will be put on a pause for the upcoming weeks to give our core cast and crew some well earned time away. Never fear though, we have some great content coming your way in the land of Reign's hometown Shadowmend.
Follow us on our Twitters - @FellowshipTable
Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
Music kindly provided by Fesliyan Studios
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Transcript
Announcement: Halloween Special & Mini-Season 2.5
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey everyone, Ian from the Fellowship of the Tabletop here, just to bring you some news and updates on our ongoings here at the podcast. So where we last left our dear Nix and Marota, that story, that whole kind of season as it were, season two, Bellum Draconis,
00:00:19
Speaker
is now just going to be put on pause. I know that I believe at the end of the last episode I said we've got a Halloween special coming up with four episodes. Well that Halloween special, once we recorded it, turns out takes up almost like a mini season of its own, so...
00:00:35
Speaker
It is kind of, I guess, a season 2.5.
Darren as Dungeon Master & Plan for 'The Shadow Men Tales'
00:00:40
Speaker
We're doing that because it allows some of our other cast mates from the main arc, our Bellum Draconis arc, to have a break. We've been doing this for three years now, releasing content every single Friday for that time, and it's only understandable that every now and then
00:00:57
Speaker
some of the core cast members need a break. So that's what we're doing here. Darren has stepped into the DM shoes and will do for the foreseeable future. I probably, if I was to hazard a guess, say that we've got 14 episodes ahead of us. But yeah, we got to the end of recording our Halloween special, which will proceed this with another three episodes. And by the end of that, we realized that we've still got a lot of story to tell for this. So sit back,
00:01:24
Speaker
and relax take this as a season 2.5 if you will it's going to be called the shadow men tales and then in the new year we will catch up with our core group the bellum ducanis clan and find out what happens to nyx marota enjoy stay with us we've got some great content coming your way thank you
00:02:00
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of The Fellowship of the Tabletop.
Setting Introduction: Kingdom of Shadowmend
00:02:04
Speaker
We are a live play 5e podcast set in the Kingdom of Shadowmend in the realm of Eryth. My name is Darren and I am going to run D&D for you this evening. And with me tonight, we have a host of delectable brilliant players. We have with me our rules consultant, Will. We're brilliant players, that's amazing. We have our regular folly slash alpha, Callum.
00:02:30
Speaker
Brilliant is a bit debatable at this stage. And then we have two guests.
Geography of Shadowmend
00:02:35
Speaker
We have our Wilbot, our fantastic role-playing one-shot extraordinaire. Some could say that Brilliant is subjective. And joining us for the first time, we have Mike. Hello, everyone. Pleasure to be here.
00:02:55
Speaker
Allow me to set the scene for you, listeners. To the north-east of Eryth, beyond the vast plains of the Hentist Empire lies the Kingdom of Shadowmend.
00:03:04
Speaker
The Hentist vampire, much like the distant kingdom of Sleetguard, has been battling the hordes of the dead. The dread event, known as the Blight, has seen the great gate gates of Myra that sit on Shadow Man's southern borders shut, with which all land routes to Shadow Man are now cut off by the spanning canyon, known as the Gorge of Swordmare, which paints Shadow Man's land borders on all maps. As such, the events of the Howstorm Surge, the line of Sleetguard, and the heroes
00:03:34
Speaker
therein contained, drift far away from the ears of the citizens of Shadowmend. Myra's gate holds behind it the market town of Sisterhold and the gargantuan vast daunting towers of the Sisterhold Lyceum. We begin by panoramically sweeping over these towers and head northwest of the Triangle, a land of magically created devits and sand dunes.
Journey to Haddow's Bay
00:03:59
Speaker
Day shifts to night as Sol the Sun God is replaced by his wife and equal Selen, the moon goddess of the night. You see the tops of burrows that go down into the sand villages that populate the vast triangle deserts of Shadowmend, the nightlights of the road known as prince lanterns flash into life like fireflies showing the way north. Though the camera swings west away from the road and into the darkness,
00:04:26
Speaker
Time passes once more, and as soul rises the sand gives way to the glistening blue water of Haddow's Bay, leading westward onto the perilous depths of the D'Artonian Ocean. Northwards we go, as water gives way to city walls, the metropolis of Great Haddow, overwatched by the great palace of Bermond's Fall.
00:04:47
Speaker
As the golden and black dragon scales a vermin that adorn the great tower glisten and reflect souls light all over the city, the city comes to life and the smoke of industry begins to bellow from fires and rooftops.
Drezlin's Bazaar & Discovery
00:05:01
Speaker
In the silken spice market, traders begin to fill the streets with the sounds of bartering. The heart of the district lies the mounts of Drezlin's bazaar. The camera sweeps through the golden doors and lands on a nervous looking gnome.
00:05:15
Speaker
The greeting hall is a large open-tented room with large marble pillars. There is a large counter in the center of the room, behind which cavernous rooms are filled with darkness. To the south of the room, the entrance is filled with all manner of strange and curious wonders. Near and surrounding the door stands piles and piles of vials of dust. Above then sits the giant skeleton of a beholder.
00:05:41
Speaker
its vacant eye sockets ever watching out of the hole in its skull. The camera, like the mechanism of a mind, switches to another memory. Now the greeting hall is light. The skeletal beholder is at your back, and in front of you stands the breathing presence of the great beholder Drezlin. The stench of powder and perfume meshes with the smell of decay, with every breath of the giant beholder that now stands in front of you.
00:06:11
Speaker
Find the tome that rests at the bank of Geria. Go to the ghost city of Fatherkeep undetected. I will provide an agent of mine to get you into the city. From there you are on your own.
00:06:26
Speaker
Those that please me, I make rich. Those that fail, I entrust to my brother Gorgon, and he adds them to my dust collection. Dreslin points to the bones that remain of his brother. It's hard to tell what is worst, the darting king stare of Dreslin, or the hollow emptiness of Gorgon's empty eye sockets.
00:06:50
Speaker
You remember a separate tentacle, each pressing a vial of dust into all of your hands and foreboding unison. As you snap out of this memory, you focus on the vial of dust still pressed into your hand or your pocket or in your traveler's pack, wherever it might be on your person.
Travel with Torvid & Avoiding the Vigilance
00:07:08
Speaker
And the voice says to you, you're supposed to be watching, not fantasizing. You see the cold eyes of a human staring back at you.
00:07:17
Speaker
if it were not for sizable scar running from navel to cheek and the missing two teeth to the side of his smile, and the sense of sheer coldness in the eyes, Terevid, your guide since entering the sewers of Great Hather would appear affable and handsome.
00:07:32
Speaker
Ever since you left the city in the seven days hence wandering the sand dunes of the triangle, familiarity with this man only seems to make him colder, yet he does his job well. You have avoided the vigilance, the name given to the military order that are tasked with keeping folk away from father keep. You look up at him, his fine
Introduction of Adventurers
00:07:53
Speaker
lever armor is still about his armor. It's still about his person. He sleeps in his armor with ease, you recall.
00:08:02
Speaker
one of the many things that make him unnerving. The twin short swords that he wields as a deadly artisan are unsheathed and laid out in front of him. You squint to make him out. He's not let you light a fire for the last two days for fear of bringing the vigilance down on you. He chucks a basic passion pack of rations over to you.
00:08:25
Speaker
He watches you for a moment, taking you all in. We are going over to our regular rules consultant, Will. Tell us what Taravid sees. So, looking across the small camp without a fire that has been set up, you will look towards Macbenna, who is an
00:08:45
Speaker
aged human male. His actual age is difficult to pinpoint because his skin has that aged leathery look of a man who has spent a great deal of his years
00:09:00
Speaker
out either in the sun or out in the elements so his age is difficult to actually pinpoint but you can definitely say from his movements he strikes you as an older male certainly well past what you would call your adventuring prime but you've noticed whenever you've seen his hands move or do something they seem quite quick and nimble as if old age has stopped at the wrist and allowed his hands to maintain the precision that they've had
00:09:29
Speaker
of his youth. His clothing appears patchwork and aged as if this is the clothes that he has worn for his many many decades and has repaired over and over again perhaps adding a new bit every now and then but he certainly hasn't had an affluent lifestyle. He looks well equipped, he's got a bow, he has a rapier, he has a pack that he seems to carry despite his age
00:09:57
Speaker
perfectly well and without any assistance and he rummages around every now and then to get things out of it when he needs it. He strikes you as a man who has seen a lot and perhaps has a great deal of experience in doing adventuring which might be why he is on this adventure. Thank you for that really lovely description Will. Torvid looks back over to you and says, was it a nice daydream that you were having?
00:10:27
Speaker
Well, it was certainly one thing or another. It's been a long time since I've been out like this, so... You know, you get lost in your mind sometimes, unlike you humans. I suppose I can understand that. I ain't too young myself, but fair be, I got a few years to go on you. Ah, you do? I've never been one to ask much of the folk who come and work for Dredlin, but
00:10:57
Speaker
Since it's the first day of the Sunfall, I think I'll give it a go. What on earth is a member of the Rainier doing going into Fatherkeep? Well, you know what it's like. You get to a certain age and know that you can't do everything. And, you know, you're not as strong or as fast as you used to. And you know that at some point, one of your fights is going to be your last.
00:11:26
Speaker
So I'm looking perhaps for a nice retirement, somewhere to put my feet up and enjoy what short years I might have left.
00:11:38
Speaker
You know, my voice ain't native to shadow mends. I picked it up from them dwarven folk and it always made me wonder see when they were stood around their hearth fires and their forges that they'd whack those things until, well until they got quite old. And I've always found that quite funny that, that, that, what the fuck's his name? Alido, that's the fucker, that he would ask his kin to, and his disciples to spend their life toiling at the forge and
00:12:08
Speaker
Well, let me just say, I think it's a mighty noble ambition to want to get yourself a little bit of stock so you can stop toiling away. That would be nice indeed.
00:12:20
Speaker
Oh look, seems like while you were failing to keep watch that the rest of them are starting to wake up. And as he says that, he glances around at the three other people who are starting to rise from their sleeping bags. Those of you who are just waking, you notice that it's, well, it's seasonally cold.
00:12:43
Speaker
The month of sunfall is in particular, which is the colloquial name given to it, is particularly quite cold in shadow men. The sun that rises across the golden dunes of the triangle, it doesn't take hold until later in the day. Nightfall is particularly cold at this time of year, particularly within the calendar of Salim, which is traditionally shadow men's winter months. I'm going to start with
00:13:07
Speaker
the order in which you're appearing on my list on Roll20 in front of
Mike's Comical Character Introduction
00:13:13
Speaker
me. Could I ask Mike, could you describe who is just currently waking?
00:13:20
Speaker
So who's currently waking is a huge muscle ripped individual man. He's probably about six foot 10. He's got a sort of sandy hair, sandy beard. He's not wearing anything at all. He's completely stark because the cold really doesn't affect him. And he's slowly going over and he's putting on what looks to be quite a smart suit.
00:13:50
Speaker
waistcoats, and then he's got his shirt on, bloodstained on it, and then there's a bowler hat. You were originally told by Dresden that he'd sent word via foot messenger to the gentleman explorer Noble, Linx von van der Heijn. Although the noble of the Kingdom of Shadowell, and as such Linx would have had a vested interest in the fate of Father Keith, he's also the master thief that goes by the codename, The Squirrel.
00:14:17
Speaker
The squirrel specialises in fine art acquisition without detection, and as a result, Drezlin required his particular set of skills for this endeavour. It was a shame that the messenger arrived at Link's hideout when he did. Upon opening the lip of his tent, the messenger was witness to the immediate beheading of Link's von van der Heijer. The barbarian responsible quickly made fine work of the messenger before rifling through his personal effects, only to discover a note addressed to Lord von der Heijer.
00:14:45
Speaker
Although his ability to read is poor at best, the barbarian was able to make out a name, location, and reward. His ambition is simple, gold. What confronts you and the rest of the party upon meeting him is clearly a barbarian in a terribly ill-fitting disguise consisting of a blood-stained bowler hat, waistcoat, shirt, and trousers. He is also wearing a hastily made misspelt name tag that maybe says Lynx von van der Heijeronic and then some symbols underneath it.
00:15:13
Speaker
The simplest of perception checks will reveal his true identity and his name, as it's been sewn into every aspect of armour, equipment and clothing. The one who stands in front of you is actually called Eddic Yoursfimmer, but he will never tell you that. Oh look, the squirrel rises. Funny thing, Dredlan used to talk to me about the squirrel. I'm sure he used to be shorter.
00:15:40
Speaker
Well, this is not something that you need to worry about. I have had much newsly this morning, and most moddings makes a boy grow. Well, Dreslin pays me all the same, so I don't really care who you are, if I'm honest. And what about you?
00:15:56
Speaker
He says, as he looks over at the other Will, I believe One Shot Will was the name we were going to go for for you. Indeed, indeed. The first thing you would see is that in front of you kind of sitting upright is a tabaxi. They are in really fine clothing. It's like a thick coat that they're wearing at the moment with gold clasps across it. The shoulders are almost
00:16:25
Speaker
with golden blazing there. He's got a white, almost like a cowboy hat, upturned on one side with a golden feather poking out the top.
00:16:35
Speaker
A quite a big feature that you would notice of him as well is his pristine white fur. He is like a spotless white throughout. The only section of his fur that is tinted is the very tip of his cat-like tail which is a kind of a midnight blue color. He's not wearing any shoes and affixed at his waist around his belt
00:17:02
Speaker
He has a rather large hooded lantern, obviously not lit at all. And as it currently stands, he's kind of just sitting upright, arms resting on his legs. And you can see his both hands are kind of gloved and externally on each of the fingers of these gloved hands is a ring. So there's a ring around his thumb and all of the
Miki's Unusual Awaking
00:17:27
Speaker
fingers. This is Karl Jeet.
00:17:31
Speaker
I'm sitting upright facing you all now with a right smile on his face. Oh the Tabaxia wakes, I would ask you to sing me a song but as I said I don't want to bring the vigilance down on us. If you could just get up and do that quietly it'd be greatly appreciated. Carl Jeep doesn't really do much for songs I'm afraid. I'll have you know that Carl Jeep doesn't sleep, he waits.
00:17:55
Speaker
Oh, sorry, I'm a bit ignorant to the Tabaxi. Most of the folk are know from Tabaxi. Well, they tend to wander the old triangle with the lutes, playing instruments and just finding coin wherever they can. But I suppose I shouldn't jump to conclusions. Probably best not to. I mean, you can't tar everyone with the same brush, surely. Ah, well, out of the knife seems to think it's perfectly fine. Elvin Cunt. Anyway,
00:18:27
Speaker
That's enough about him. What are you doing there, young fellow? And as he says that, Callum, he glances over to you.
00:18:38
Speaker
And what you'd see is a very, very drowsy gnome that is clad in very, very simple kind of green and brown felt clothes with a little satchel. But the one thing that kind of stands out is that as he's kind of bringing himself around from waking up, there is a swarm of insects and millipedes, caterpillars, ants, bees,
00:19:06
Speaker
an array of bugs that's basically kind of helping him get dressed all the time and they're just kind of moving him around the camp, just like walking under his feet. So the gnome's legs aren't actually moving, but all these insects are. And just as you start to talk to him, these insects just kind of form the shape of a hand and just start to slap him around the front of the face just to try and get him to wake up a little bit. What? What? All right, fine. I'm awake. I'm awake. I'm awake.
00:19:35
Speaker
Anyone ever told you how fucking creepy that is? What? You mean my friends? Yeah, I had the fucking bugs. What's wrong with them? Don't you insult my bugs? I ain't insulting them. I'm saying it's creepy, that's all. I'm sure it's delightful. What other things do you get them to do? Actually, I don't want to know. It's probably best you don't, yes. I agree with that. They're my friends. You insult them and now, well, they can get places.
00:20:02
Speaker
Well, I hope you lot don't mind me all of a sudden taking an interest in you. Just we part company today and well I found you all quite interesting and well as I'm sure you're all aware with such a lucrative prize on the end of it. Many of folk have gone into Fatherkeep, not many have come back out since the events of the Howling.
00:20:23
Speaker
And as he says that, you're all able to reflect on where you were the day you heard that the city of Fatherkeep was engulfed in darkness and stayed that way for seven days. Particularly for you, McKenna, McKeever. I'm sorry, Will have got that name wrong. Correct me if I have.
00:20:42
Speaker
Macbennar. Macbennar. You particularly will remember being in Eden Square at Brothermite Fort and the rumours are true. The howls and the screams that you could hear from Fatherkeep that were engulfed in the darkness could be heard all the way east at Brothermite Fort. It's a moment of reflection that as light returned to the city after seven days, all traces of any of its inhabitants had disappeared.
00:21:11
Speaker
In the years that have passed since, you've had tales of people going into Fatherkeep and you've had tales of terrible things that dwell there, though none in particular seem to involve anything that involves someone returning from the city. Tavid now points to Sol as it starts to rise in the sky and suggests you eat up, vigilance will be out patrolling soon, and I suggest you make whatever business you've got and then we think about making tracks.
00:21:38
Speaker
What you will notice is that as the darkness starts to dissipate, the silhouette of a city is emerging on the horizon. As you look out across the ridge from where you've camped, which is a haven akin to Weathertop, which is our first Middle Earth reference for the evening, you notice that this giant city pretty much looks like it still stands as a font of civilization, save for the fact that there is no sign of industry and no sign of life.
00:22:07
Speaker
The most eerie thing is how silent it is. As the spectre of the city rises, a coldness starts to wash over you all. Can I get a wisdom save from everyone, please? Damn, boy. Something good, something good, something good.
00:22:25
Speaker
Nope. That's a waste. Yeah, that's a good, good, good roll for round there. Okay, McBenna, what did you get? I got an eight. Thank you, Carl. Oh, sorry. That's a seven from Carl. Miki. I got a natural 20 for a 22 total.
Arrival at Fatherkeep
00:22:50
Speaker
And...
00:22:51
Speaker
Biffo as you appear on... Do I? Oh, right. Fantastic. I got a nine. Okay. McBenna, you glance towards the city and what you think you see is just, just for a moment, appearing on the ramparts of the city wall, the cloaked figure that just seems to appear and then very quickly disappears.
00:23:18
Speaker
In the faintest of seconds, you feel this cold chill come over you and then quickly disappear as suddenly as it emerges. You snap out of that cold chill as you hear Torvidge say, I'll take you to the Wells Passage if you like, or you can walk right up to the city from here. I've done my bit and Frat Dreslin hasn't asked me to do any more. And frankly, I want, I'm smart enough to go nowhere near that city. The Wells Passage is a, you go, you go.
00:23:44
Speaker
I don't know about everybody else, but I'll be fancying. We'll take the Wells Passage if it means avoiding the stairs of them empty vacant ramparts. Whatever's, whoever's still in there, I don't want to draw their attention too early. What about the rest of you?
00:24:13
Speaker
Karl Gee will certainly follow, not want to take the front of these kinds of things. Karl will say as he sort of kind of starts standing up and picks up this massive, massive backpack, bedroll, things like that that he's got with him. I've got no problem in it, no problem. Sooner we can get away again.
00:24:37
Speaker
I haven't. I reckon your bugs will quite like it. They mind like it, but I don't. What about you, squirrel? Well, clearly, as I am not a barbarian, I will do whatever a barbarian doesn't do.
00:24:53
Speaker
I don't know what the fuck a barbarian is, but it sounds mighty interesting. Anyway, Wales Passage is located not far from here. I heard a huddle the third had it built as a way that is actually a decoy for a secret passage in and out of the city. Don't know if that's true. I don't really care what those half-elf cons get up to.
00:25:10
Speaker
But anyway, it will bring you out straight in founders square of the room is the true Which I have it on good authority that they are you're not 500 600 paces from the bank then of course if you choose not to take the well in it's going over the city walls and I can't say that will protect you from the Vigilance or you can go up and knock on the gates. Don't think anyone will answer mind And Dreslin sure the book is
00:25:40
Speaker
in the vaults of the bank yeah it wouldn't be paying you 500 gold 500 000 gold or whatever it is he's agreed 50 000 gold i don't know he didn't tell me how much i know it's a lot has to be to get you the going there just just just making sure we understand well this uh wealth passage sounds good to me oh the rest of you lads
00:26:05
Speaker
Yes, let's get a move on quickly. And the gnome is still going to be completely standing still. Got old Mickey Muffle. And the bugs are basically going to start packing up all the crap, putting everything on his back. And he's not even going to be moving his legs again. He's just going to be coasting on an array wave of insects towards this passage. OK. Anyone else want to do anything before you set off from the ridge?
00:26:35
Speaker
I think Carl is passing his backpack. No, I think he was sort of finishing off the last of his rations and he's just watched Mickey do the thing with the bugs and he's absolutely aghast at what he's just seen. But he's never seen anything like it before, just staring at him. This is most confusing. What is this?
00:26:57
Speaker
Are you actually talking to you, bug boy? I don't know if he's actually talking to me or if it's just a... No, no, no, yeah, just a dog staring at him as he's being carried away by his insect folk, like, just not talking directly to him. He says, what is this? I said, they're my friends! Friends? Friends? Then he turns to Torvick, he goes, what are friends? In his case, fucknalls. I heard that.
00:27:24
Speaker
I hope being moved by them creatures doesn't slow you down. That may be a little bit slower than normal, but I'm playing a lot on leg strength, I'm not very strong. Oh aye. Right, well, vigilance will be about their patrol spoon, and whilst well hidden, we're on the ridge, I suggest we get moving, unless anyone else has got any reason to stay.
00:27:53
Speaker
No more, quicker we're in, quicker we're out. I like you, that's good logic. Follow me. And as Torvid leads you off, you start to trek north towards the D'Artonian Sea, the city of Fatherkeep, silently emerging through the mist the soul takes to the sky. As you make your way down the ridge and around, the city remains constantly in your periphery, the giant, ominous, silent spectre that it has now become.
00:28:24
Speaker
After walking for about an hour to an hour and a half, you start to see what looks like the remains of a stone well. It appears to be in relative good order and intact. It's of a basic stone structure. The Arcanic sandstones, which all the viewers and natives of Shadowed Mind would recommend as very small evocation stones that stop sand setting on the wells of the triangle, appear to be completely non-functional.
00:28:50
Speaker
This has been the case of several of the wells that you've passed since you've been within the borders of the Howling and the borders of Fatherkey. The well itself is now sand-covered. A grey, greeny, limey moss covers stones and descends down into the sand plains.
Descent into the Well
00:29:07
Speaker
Tarvid looks down into the well before looking back at you all and still saying, all right, that's to be as expected. In you go.
00:29:18
Speaker
it'll just stand there and kind of look around the group steadily. Okay, and as we look down the well, is it clearly pitch black down there? Do you want to give me a perception check, please? Yeah, all right. I'll roll perception. That's an 11.
00:29:44
Speaker
Yeah I mean you can see all the way down it's about 30 feet to the bottom but Sol is sitting quite high in the sky, it illuminates quite nicely down into the well. It doesn't appear to be anything particularly special about it.
00:29:59
Speaker
You notice that there are signs of wear and tear on the rope. It's been left sat there for the best part of eight years. There's quite a lot of sandweed starting to take over the well. Nothing out of the ordinary. You've been to far worse places and you've seen far worse things. This looks to be a pretty ordinary well to you, but it is about a 30-foot drop.
00:30:23
Speaker
There is, at the top of the well, what appears to be like a stanchion, which you can see that the rope is still hanging off. That's what you get with that roll. OK, so MacBenna will put his pack down, get a torch out. So I reckon I'll light this and drop it down so we've got something down there just to give us a bit more light. And then we descend carefully.
00:30:54
Speaker
Sound about good? What's wrong, old man? Can't you see in the dark? No, I can't. No. Problem? That's not a problem. I was just a bit more from such an experienced adventurer. Sorry. I'm sorry. I've got human eyes and it is what it is. So, you know, deal with it or get to fuck. Okay.
00:31:20
Speaker
A bit of a move, but okay, fair enough. Throw it on your torch. Do you think we should replace it with rope as well? Yeah, if we place some rope down, I can use some of these peatons to give us a bit of a grip. And that way we'll be able to be anchored at the top so the rope won't slip. Carry on then. So I'll use the part of my climber's kit to secure the rope so that it's not going to slip and I'll then light a torch and drop it down.
00:31:50
Speaker
Okay, great for securing the rope. I'm going to assume that as a member of the Rainier, as someone who delves into the gorge, you've done this sort of thing several times. So do you want to give me two checks, survival and sleight of hand. You can do both at advantage. Okay, thank you. So let's do survival first. First roll. Yeah.
00:32:15
Speaker
Second roll, so that's a 23 on the survival, and then slights of hand, and it's a first roll, it's a 12. Second roll, that's a 25 on the slights of hand and a 23 on the survival.
00:32:29
Speaker
Yeah, what the rest of you see is MacBenna is able to, he just gives the stanchion that's hanging above the well just a whack with the fist and seems to be, seems to be happy that this is secure enough. And then yeah, you definitely rip out your, your, your, your tribe, your explorers, right. You're able to tie it around the stanchion. You watch it definitely fall down the well and you're satisfied that you now have a means of descending to the bottom.
00:32:54
Speaker
Excellent, and then lighting the torch with a bit of flint, I make sure the torch is taken nicely, I drop it down and then grab hold of the rope and go, I suppose the old man will go first then. Okay. And down I go. A bit more handy than your bugs. Time will tell on that. Don't get snarky with me.
00:33:19
Speaker
Well, if you make it back out alive, I'll be willing to eat one of them. How about that? How dare you, sir? How dare you? I would not give you the privilege. Well, try not to die in there. Yeah, I don't think there's a problem with that. It's like maybe for the old man. Well, everything has its time. Off you go, then. Well, I'm coming. And yeah, Mickey will follow down as well.
00:33:47
Speaker
As Mickey goes down, could I try to sneakily get one of his bugs? How dare you, sir? How very dare you? Absolutely you can. It's a one-shot. Why not have some player-on-player betrayal nice and early? There's no ramifications for it. Okay, it's going to be sleight of hand, I guess, versus perception. I'll let you know mine when you're ready.
00:34:16
Speaker
with all my perception. I got a 19 as a perception. Last. Yep, only 11 for me. Okay, as soon as he reaches for a bug, I am withdrawing my weapon and saying, this is your first warning, don't you dare. Khaledjeet was just simply curious as to... I know what Khaledjeet was about to do. I've met your kind before, don't you dare. Don't you dare.
00:34:45
Speaker
after you then it'll map on your way down. And what you're actually going to see is the bugs are going to kind of lead the way as I've locked eyes with Carl and I'm still just kind of hovering backwards in reverse and they take me up over the well and just slightly down and I've still locked eyes and as soon as I'm down the well is when I actually pay attention to what I'm doing. In what world is that not fucking creepy?
00:35:11
Speaker
Anyway, you two going down, or are you going to stay here and just enjoy Sal's mighty race for a bit longer? I was just trying to see what's what. Get my eye in, find out a little bit about them. What do you reckon, the squirrel, if that is your name? You making your way down first? I was going to go last. I am quite big and heavy, and I'm concerned the rope will break. After you. That should be a pretty valid point, fair enough.
00:35:40
Speaker
and Karl will kind of vault the lip. And this, well, I'm assuming it goes most of the way down to the bottom. Is that right? Or is it like just at the top and there is kind of cavernous beneath? How long is the rope, Will? 50 feet of rope. Yeah, you're fine. It goes to the bottom. Because Karl's got a climbing speed.
00:36:03
Speaker
So what I wanted to do is kind of bring the claws out a little bit and make it a bit cooler to try and make his way down without necessarily needing the assistance. That would be the aim, whether or not that happens. You can certainly try. I love that phrase. Yeah, bolting the lip of the well and using his claws to kind of dig into the wall and end with cat-like agility, climb down.
00:36:32
Speaker
Hmm, I think that's an acrobatics check, please. Okay, fingers crossed. That's a 16.
00:36:41
Speaker
Yeah, you managed to jump into the well. It's just about wide enough so you can kind of put your hands out either side and you'll just be able to scrape your way down the wall. And as you manage to do that with perfect depth timing, what those of you down the bottom already hear is the sound of just screeching down rocks and small fall of rock dust as Carl descends down to the well very quickly and lands at the bottom with you. I'd like to thank you for the quietness of you doing that.
00:37:11
Speaker
I'll finish with a flourish and take the hat off and a bit of a bow. I'll pull it back on my head and move out of the way of the rope. So, Eddix just seen that Karl's descent and he just turns to Torvik and goes, well that was quite unnecessary. Are you going to go now, Torvik? Ah, my part in the deal is done. Not nearly unnecessary as you butchering the squirrel though. I kind of get it, he was an awful cunt.
00:37:37
Speaker
I don't know what you mean. My name is Lynx von van der Heijer and I, and he points to his little badge and his little nametag is, I am not a barbarian. And he gives you a little smile and a nod, thinking that he's built this up. I told you before, I don't know what one of them is and I don't care. Are you going down that well or are you going to stay here chatting to me all day? Well, I suppose it is my time.
00:38:01
Speaker
He goes over to the well and he grabs the rope, but you can see that he's just truly petrified of heights. He just slowly grabs onto the rope, locks his legs around it with a little squeal, and then just slowly, really slowly descends, staring at you slowly, bit by bit, maintaining eye contact, truly petrified until he's just gone into the darkness.
00:38:24
Speaker
Yeah, even before your head disappears beneath the parapet of the well, Torvid's already gathering up his stuff and leaving. So you're looking at him and he's just lost interest. He gives holding eye contact and just starts gathering his bits and starts to walk away. As you land at the bottom of the well, you're plunged into an environment that will require dark vision or some form of artificial light, or at least you get the sense as you move further into wherever this tunnel is, that's almost certainly what's going to be needed.
00:38:53
Speaker
You're at the bottom of the well. You can feel the moss beneath you. The floor is really dry. You get the sense that there's been no water in this well for quite some time. It's like a dry riverbed. You can see the cracks in it. You can see the moss starting to come through and the weed and dandelions. What do you want to do? McBenna will pick up the torch that you drop down and sort of use its light to sort of see what you can see around them.
Unlocking the Hidden Door
00:39:26
Speaker
Okay, yep. As you do that, can you give me a perception check, please? Yeah, right. Ah, 15.
00:39:36
Speaker
Yeah, it's quite obvious with that that the stones here have pretty much been undisturbed for some time. But with that, you can clearly see an out of place outline to the stones that appear to be heading southeast, which would be for a ranger of your caliber. You would know the direction back towards Fatherkeep.
00:40:01
Speaker
So is it, am I seeing a code or is it the outline of what could be a doorway? The outline of something that could be a doorway. With a perception check, that's really the best you can get. You'd have to go closer and to obtain more. Right, so looks like there's a doorway of some kind. Either you lot want to get in good with doors or just keep taking lead.
00:40:31
Speaker
Is it open? Is it locked? Well, you see this outline here and McVenna will go up to the stonework and just point out. See, stonework here just doesn't quite line up right. It wouldn't make sense if this is some kind of passageway or a secret way out.
00:40:54
Speaker
That's been blocked off then, yes? Well, if that is designed to not be found by someone looking down a well, you know, secret passageways, secret, it's in the word. Okay, can we get it open? I'm afraid I don't really have a lot of strength. I can try and push things, but I don't think it'll have much of an effect. How about you, big man, squirrel? I could give it a push, but can't you make your little bugs into a little key and open the door?
00:41:24
Speaker
How would that work exactly? I have no idea. I don't understand your box. This is not an actual door. There is no key. It's like something that's been blocked off. I don't think it would work that way. I think looking at your rather broad shoulders and rippling muscles, Mr Vanderhorn, you would be quite good for this. Oh, thank you. And he's just gonna lumber himself over and go, Where do you want me to push or pull it?
00:41:54
Speaker
or in and out where? Here? And he's just random area and then he's just going to go nuts on it. Absolutely just push like borderline rage. Just go for it and like pure anger comes out of him. He's just rampaging against this door thing just trying to get it to bunch.
00:42:14
Speaker
Okay, nice. In lieu of not thinking of a better check, though I will defer to our rules consultant if he can come up with one, can you give me a strength saving throw in this? I think athletics is probably the better use of this thing. See, almost like a little Buddha, I can hear Will, like a Yoda, I can hear what he would say. And yet, athletics is probably better. Give me an athletics check. That's going to be a 15.
00:42:38
Speaker
You thump into the wall and again similar to when Kyle came down with his claws you do notice that the dust is there's another another fall of dust. Something seems to give but it doesn't open yet but you do feel like kind of like pushing against a locked door you do feel that this is where something will give way.
00:43:00
Speaker
I haven't watched the squirrel, as inverted commas, he has, try and push the door. Can I now investigate to see if there's a keyhole? Sure. You walk over to the door where Eddic, the squirrel, I think we're going to call him the squirrel from here on in, it's just the blanket name. Yes. Can I have an investigation check as you go over to the door, please?
00:43:29
Speaker
Maybe, and McBenna will look to the wee gnome and the cat. Maybe you want to help me out here, your eyesight might be better than mine. Carl will take the lantern from his belt, cast Light on it, ignite it pretty much, and hold it up to help, but not move any closer.
00:43:54
Speaker
Can nobody see the dark here? Go for the books, go see what you can find, will you? Go see what you can find. So yeah, I'm going to send my swarm of insects just to kind of explore all the crevices and cracks that might be in this wall just to see if there's any kind of little hole that could be mistaken as a key and they will report back to me. That extra is looking at that and muttering under his breath and he's like, find the key, find the key, little ones.
00:44:20
Speaker
Okay, as you're both singing from different hymn sheets on the way to find the door, I'm going to suggest that you both roll investigation rather than one of you waiting for the other. So that's Callum and McBennar and Miki. Yeah, I rolled poorly.
00:44:41
Speaker
Just wanted to help, I just wanted the assist action to give advantage, but it's fine guys, ignore the games. I'm a passive of 14, just FYI. As do I, I'm a passive of 14, but I rolled a 13. Just for fidelity for our listeners, what did you roll? I rolled a 9.
00:45:03
Speaker
Okay, thank you. And Miki roll the 13. With that passive of 14, yeah, it becomes clear eventually after glancing around, you go to the natural place where you'd expect the lock to be and you realize it's not there, but after another quick glance, you can see there's effectively two locks. One at the top of the door, at the top right of the door, like in the postage stamp, and another one in the bottom right. It appears to be like a dual lock system.
00:45:32
Speaker
right okay let me let me just um have a have a look here and i'm gonna just try and
00:45:40
Speaker
go through my ... Well, you're not going to see me. You're going to see a bug hand just kind of reach into the rupsack, just trying to ... God, it's kind of like folly now. Reach into the rupsack and just try and find something, and you're actually going to pull out a set of thieves tools that I actually have. Okay, okay. My bugs have told me there's a lock at the top and a lock at the bottom. So it's somebody who's ...
00:46:06
Speaker
tall takes this they can try and sort something out at the top and i could try and use some of the other stuff and try and sort it out from the bottom unless anybody's got anything else that we can use i mean if you're uh andy and proficient at using them to use tools and you uh go foot bottom um actually i just kind of picked them off off of somebody i found in the forest we didn't need them anymore so so do you want someone who actually knows how to use them that would be much much preferred yes yeah it is
00:46:36
Speaker
Oh, sorry. I was going to, Eddyk's going to step over at that point and look at Miki and go, hey, I've solved your height problem. And he's just going to pick him up in one hand and hold him up to the top lock so that he can work on it from height. Wow. Please don't do that again. It's good. Okay, fine.
00:47:04
Speaker
I was going to say Karl was going to make his way over to there as well. Take the backpack fully off him and rummage around. He's also going to pull out basically thieves tools as well and just get to work on the lower lock. Okay. Yep. Can I get slight of hand checks from both Miki and Karl? You can.
00:47:32
Speaker
Okay, so Miki got a 15 and 20 from Karl. Yeah, what eventually you hear is first Karl, all of a sudden you're able to Jimmy the lock another. And then a few seconds later you hear the same from the top as Miki also produces a...
00:47:50
Speaker
and all of a sudden you can feel the warm air as this door starts to shift slightly, just coming down this corridor. It is dry, it is stale, but it is unmistakably behind here. You assume once you push this thing open will be some form of passageway.
00:48:09
Speaker
So seeing and feeling that, because I feel like Eddick's sort of in that he's still holding Miki at height.
Mysteries in the Tunnel
00:48:17
Speaker
He feels that and he lowers Miki down a little bit, but forgetting he's still holding him pushes the door open, but with Miki first. So just pushing him into the door and then the door hopefully is going to swing open, but using Miki's face more than anything else.
00:48:34
Speaker
Yeah, as soon as you try to move, you're just going to hear Mickey go... There's going to be an array of bugs that try and come in front of Mickey's face just to try and soften this blow. It's not hard. It's not hard. It's soft. It's just like a slow adding of pressure towards you and the door. He's completely oblivious of what you're doing. Fair enough.
00:48:56
Speaker
Yeah and as this very comical image happens what you see is this stone what appears to now be a stone door on hinge just just creaks back and with a thud hits the wall behind it and then what you see in front of you is just a a a wall a a passageway of complete darkness
00:49:23
Speaker
I think as the thing opens up, you're just going to see Mickey there with a few bugs still on his face. You're going to be staring at the squirrel with such a kind of disappointed look on his face right now. I always heard that the squirrel was a man of style and class. Upon hearing this, I think he looks down at his hand and is just startled, but you're still there and drops you.
00:49:50
Speaker
He tries to stop me but again the bugs just kind of gently lower me down to a certain degree because they've followed me up. Shall we get a move on?
00:50:02
Speaker
Is the corridor magical darkness or is it kind of just pitch black? There's no light down there. You can see, is it sconces, how it's pronounced? Yeah, sconces on the side. You can see that they're empty. There's no candles in them. That there are quite a few cobwebs wrapped around them.
00:50:23
Speaker
And you can see they seem to go down the corridor at intermittent lengths. You can only see the first two before it plunges into darkness. There's nothing to suggest this is magical darkness. It's just pitch black because it's under the earth.
00:50:36
Speaker
Yeah, I have darkvision, so I think Mickey would start to lead the way on his wave of bugs. Go on now, keep up those who can't see. I've got a thought. Yeah, sorry to kind of rules lawyer myself. Darkvision won't help because it's pitch black. You still need some form of light for darkvision to work. Ah, okay.
00:51:09
Speaker
once you see dim light within the radius of the bright light, but you can't discern color, so if you're looking at something, everything is in grey, so essentially if you're looking at something and it's a color-based puzzle in the pitch black, you can't see the colors and that kind of stuff, but the crucial thing is you can still see, because it's not low light vision, which used to be a thing, it's just dark vision, so you can see in the dark, just not
00:51:10
Speaker
doesn't it?
00:51:33
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Rules consultants for everyone who has dark vision, then you can see that grayscale kind of view that will so aptly just described for those of you that don't, you need to produce some form of light. I've got a lit torch. It cast light for 20 feet. I'm good. I'm going to start. I don't have anything. So I'm going to have to stay near a McBrenner. Noticing this, I'll turn to you squirrel and say, you know,
00:52:03
Speaker
I've got plenty of wares in my backpack. I could probably sell you a torch if you fancy. That's fairly kind, but where aware are all of your wares? There's? Here's? What are wares? Right, I think I might have to dull down the speech here a little bit for you. I can give you a torch and light it for you.
00:52:29
Speaker
If you've got any money, let's say a single gold piece for a torch for you, just so you can see. Oh, okay. And he's just going to pat his pockets and just turn back here. I'm sorry, I never keep change. That's a shame. I'll turn around and walk off.
00:52:52
Speaker
Okay, unless anyone's gone down the tunnel before, your car will be the first one walking down. You do realise that it's probably wide enough for three of you to walk abreast and in order, otherwise, you'd have to drop into formation. One of you would certainly not be able to walk in an equal line. This tunnel's about 15 feet wide and probably not wide enough for all four of you to walk.
00:53:17
Speaker
As I said, I've got the dark vision, I think for an advantage point of view and all my bugs, I would purposely try and stay ahead of the light a little bit. So I can be just by myself. I'm happy to see you at the back. So for the purposes of this, it's going to be in the marching order. It's going to be Karl, Miki, and then it's going to be McBenna and then the squirrel, kind of in tandem at the back.
00:53:47
Speaker
Yeah, that works. You make your way down the tunnel. You can notice as you make your way in that there is smooth brickwork here that this has been deliberately put in and perhaps Torvid's story stands true.
00:54:04
Speaker
You do notice that in the corners, both high and low of the tunnel, there appear to be sporadic holes that seem to have been burrowed in over time. They're about the holes the size of a tennis ball, but better with your history about delving into the gorge. They look like rat warrens to you as an easily discernible thing from what you've seen, though you don't see any sign of any rats.
00:54:27
Speaker
You walk for what feels like an eternity. If you've ever been in a dark tunnel, it seems to just go on forever and ever and ever. Though in truth, you're aware that you've probably been walking for no more than 15 minutes. Can I get a perception check from you all? The least likely person might see something here. The least likely person who got the best chance. Literally, I just imagine like, what was that? Can I get your rolls, please?
00:54:57
Speaker
Miki with an 18. Edic the squirrel. I got a 19. Carl. 11 from Tarth. And then Macbeth. 12 for Macbeth. After about 20 minutes, Carl, you at the front notice what appears to be a pile of bones just sat upon the floor. It's a skeletal figure that seems to remain and you'll
00:55:26
Speaker
It immediately dawns on you what Drezlin said about getting into the Bank of Jahara, the purpose why you're here, to go and find some form of mythical tone. The reason this dawns on you now is because your sense of purpose is brought back into clarity by what you see, as is the danger of what you face.
00:55:52
Speaker
This is quite clearly the remains of a humanoid skeleton. OK, yeah, Karl will kind of just stop in his tracks, turn around to the rest of the group and just say, this is as far as one person got. Anyone feel like leading from here? I can light a torch for you, of course. But I do nothing. Sorry, I do not have the coins for a torch.
00:56:22
Speaker
Did he have anything good on him? Well... Did he get bones now? That's all I can see at the moment, yeah. Do you like bones? Yeah, I'm not a fan. A few of my bugs are. Good calcium.
00:56:37
Speaker
you do notice as you glance at him that there are like very basic what appear to be functional lever armor nothing particularly fancy to it that seems to encompass these bones there appears to be a little pouch at his side and you do notice that he was armed with a short sword okay um does it is he completely intact like does it look like it's a blunt force trauma does it look like he's i don't know if there's no
00:57:06
Speaker
bone damage if you like i could assume that he's bled out or something like that you'd have to get closer that that would require an investigation check okay um i'll uh turn around and say why don't you go and have a closer look there mickey yeah yeah yeah fine you're hungry fellas you're hungry fellas and on a wave of bugs i'm going to approach the skeleton
00:57:29
Speaker
And they're just going to kind of go into, start creeping in through all the bones and going through any kind of satchels and things like that. I've got no interest in weapons, anything like that, but. Okay. You creepy fuck. Uh, roll it. 13.
00:57:50
Speaker
And yeah, you're able to find a handful of silvers. They appear to be relatively old silvers. As you look at them, you can see the marking on the top says haddow and then the Roman numerals for eight, which means this is from the reign of the previous king. So his coins have got a bit of wear and life to them.
00:58:13
Speaker
you do notice that he appears to be facing in the direction from whence you came. So this person appears to have been heading in the direction from which you came, as if they were trying to get out rather than get in. Apart from that, you don't find anything else. You do
00:58:37
Speaker
Yeah, there are a handful of keepsakes, little strange things that you would find in like a wallet. Obviously, this is a D&D equivalent of a wallet of a satchel purse. So there appears to be a bill that appears to have rotted now, so you can't make anything on it. But it's mostly that he appears to have four silver pieces in his coin purse.
00:59:00
Speaker
Okay, fair enough. I'll shout out. Yeah, got some old silvers. How do the eight? Yeah, I suppose that gives us some indication of how long it's been here. I will put them in my satchel. Anyone got the sword or anything like that? I'm not... Eddicks can hopefully see the coin and just go, could I please have one coin?
00:59:24
Speaker
Um, sure. I'm surprised the screw would care so much for the drinking, but there you are. And just the mage hand of books is just going to reach out and present him one of these silver coins. Okay. And he's going to take it and immediately turn to Carl with the silver coin and go, I do not understand. If I give you this, you can give me something in return. Yes.
00:59:54
Speaker
Oh, you're quite right there. If you have coin, Kharjit has the words. Yes. What? Where can coin do? He's just staring at the coin, looking at the symbols on there, just transfixed. This is bizarre to him that he can actually trade with people. He's so used to the barbarian lifestyle of killing, taking, never actually buys anything.
01:00:25
Speaker
Carl will kind of, off his backpack once more, take out a torch, light it for him and take the coin from the squirrel's hand and just say, there you go, that coin's got you this torch. Hopefully now you can see. And it is this simple. I do not have to kill you for it. Well, I'd hope not because the transaction is complete. And he's just going to take the torch and go, transaction.
01:00:56
Speaker
transaction and just totter up bewildered at what's just happened. I think just while that transaction is going off, I will have had more time to kind of investigate it and I'll just announce to everybody else now. I don't really want to start on anybody but this guy's going the other way.
01:01:18
Speaker
I'm surprised. I thought you'd want to go in because that's where the good stuff is. Why was this guy coming out if he didn't have anything on him? Did he die in the howling? I'm not able to tell. McBenna, you in particular would be aware of the fact that the common
01:01:38
Speaker
The thing most harrowing about the howling was that there were no bodies. The entire everyone just vanished. And the line of had very quickly issued a decree that no one was allowed to go anywhere near the city within within a thousand leagues of the city. It's pretty much the general quarantine line and has been for eight years. This this man, he won killed by the
01:02:08
Speaker
by the howling. He was probably in the city trying to do something similar to us. And McBenna will sort of bend down and just look ahead and just to see if he can see any tracks no matter how old because obviously this person's clearly been going away. So he's looking, can he still see this person's tracks? Are there any other tracks that were following it and that kind of stuff? Yeah, do you want to give me an investigation as well? Yeah, boy.
01:02:42
Speaker
Oh, it's at an unnatural 20. Lovely. OK, what you see are a series of very tiny footprint tracks, but you can see them heading in and out of the warrens and the walls. There are some rap tracks that you could follow. He's been here for some time. I mean, he's a skeletal figure, so he's fully decayed. And the general nature of dust and just the settle of sand has swallowed his footprints. There's nothing.
01:03:09
Speaker
And just going off what One Shot Will was saying, is the skeleton intact? Are there signs of things like, does it look like it's got blunt force trauma as if it died from that? Or does it look like we can't tell how it's intact? We don't know how it died, fine. Well, wherever he was, wherever he was going, or wherever he was coming from,
01:03:36
Speaker
There's no way to find out how or where it's come from. So just might as well keep going. There's now all we can do for him and now more he can do for us. Yeah, I suppose not. Let me just proceed with a little bit of caution. Yes. OK. Well, I agree. We should be cautious from the moment we stepped in here because
01:04:06
Speaker
It don't strike me as being a friendly place, this. Yeah, considering the potential rewards we're getting, yes, possibly not. But, soldier, I don't want to hang around here all day and certainly don't want to end up like this person. No. It's like the worst fear of getting those weapons out now.
01:04:27
Speaker
That is a good idea. I'm just going to hear the click of the string coming over a latch from a hand crossbow. You've not got a pistol this time. I've not got a pistol. I've got something else that finds things. But because of my inventory stuff, I have a lot of arrows. And I'm going to start to slowly move forward again on my wave of bugs.
01:04:55
Speaker
As you continue to make your way down this corridor, you walk for another hour, hour and a half, and eventually you find a dead end and find a similar misshapen stones and hinges. As before,
Emergence into the Grand Courtyard
01:05:10
Speaker
Well, actually, unlike before, this one appears to be off the latch and you can see a little bit of sunlight is just starting to seep in. And as you get closer to the door, you realize that you have made journeys end as far as this tunnel is concerned. Oh, good. It looks like we're at the end, chaps. Right, so I think we got another door to open.
01:05:40
Speaker
I'm hearing that edicts just start slowly to reach down to pick up Mickey again. Nope, nope, nope, nope. Bad Vanderhorn. No, it's give locks. We need to elevate you.
01:05:56
Speaker
We don't know where the locks are yet. Sorry, just to say that there is light coming through this door. It appears to be slightly ajar. This one is not locked. It's not stopping at it. There is light. The door is open. Just you push. You push Vanderhoorn. Push. I'd like to think you're saying that as he's picking you up. He's just paying no attention to you.
01:06:22
Speaker
That's up to Eddig. He's just going to stop there after hearing Vanderhorn go, no, it's Van den Heijer. And he's pointing at his name tag again. Van den Heijer. And I am not a barbarian. And just goes over and in the most barbarian way slams the door open. The squirrel is definitely not one for subtlety. No, it doesn't don't quite have the
01:06:52
Speaker
reputation that precedes him. No, no, no, definitely not. But doors open, I call that a win. Well done. Down the way, just a little bit away, he turns around, he yells back, the door is open. Death, death we know, thank you. Okay, as the door opens, I will say that squirrel edit your first through. You emerge, you emerge into a large courtyard in a manse, in a palace.
01:07:21
Speaker
you are quite clearly inside the city of Favequi. It is so quiet. You see the grandeur in majesty for what this city was, in particular this courtyard. Nature, weeds, plants seem to unwillingly take their place. It's as if nature itself that should have overtaken this city is growing and then almost recoiling and dying and then starting to grow again. The weeds just don't look right.
01:07:52
Speaker
It's a city vacant for eight years, and you would expect nature to have taken charge by now as it had done in the well, but there doesn't appear to be any sight of that. The size of the courtyard, which those of you who are familiar with the history of Father Keep would know as the square of the Founder King, it strikes you immediately because of its size. It could easily hold 200, 300 people.
01:08:15
Speaker
To the north appears to be a large mance or villa. To the south, a large gateway stands underneath two giant structures of sphinxes. The gyno sphinx of the Elvin family cardinal and the ando sphinx, the sigil of House Haddow. There is a large thoroughfare beyond and you can see tall buildings scraping up either side. This you would know is the pathway towards the bank.
01:08:45
Speaker
You also notice that in front of you is this stunning square which runs from north to south. And you see a series of statues along the side that have long been toppled or left to ruin, only their plants still remain upright. The statues of what appear to be these male elven figures just pulled over into the dirt. In the center of the courtyard is a large statue, undefiled by hand but beaten by the decaying nature.
01:09:14
Speaker
Flanking the statue are a series of walls. Stood in between the left panels of the wall is the unmistakable presence of the human form of soul. Dressed in his warrior's armour, his right hand holding a stone sunblade, his left hand a reflective shield of coloured glass designed in its heyday to reflect the splendor of colour all over the floor underneath.
01:09:37
Speaker
In between the right of the panels stands the hooded slender feminine figure of Selene. Her right hand holds the lute, the instrument of choice in shadow men, whilst her left hand raises up to the night sky.
01:09:49
Speaker
her statue positioned to cast great shadows under the moon. To the south of the tapestry appears to be a large forge. You're not close enough to see this properly or make out what's inscribed on it, but you safely assume this to be the Hentian god of the Dwarven clans of the Hentist Empire, or those who settled in shadow men long ago. This is the Dwarven forge god of Alido. Can I ask that you all make a wisdom saving throw?
01:10:22
Speaker
Can I also ask, is this for some magic that may affect us? I only ask, I only ask because I have advantage on Winston saying who is against magic. No, no, this is, this is not any form of magic that would be protected from, from what you've got. If I DM says no. If the DM will permit me.
01:10:56
Speaker
Okay. Um, can I ask what you all got, please? Yeah. Well, she probably, I should probably do my job and ask you. Let's just, everyone say it on three. Well, I've done, we're an hour in and I've done the same well, but anyway, Carl, what did you roll? Uh, Carl got measly four. Oops. Okay. Uh, look, Ben. 11.
01:11:25
Speaker
Also 11. And Miki.
Karl's Vision & Dragonborn's Appearance
01:11:28
Speaker
16. Okay, Karl, suddenly for you, you see a court lard alive in its heyday full of hundreds of people. The sun shines brightly, brighter than the cold winter's day in which you were walking in. The statue stands and every, the statues that are down on the floor stand and everything feels normal.
01:11:49
Speaker
You see in the center of the court, the young male elven figure stands next to an armored fire ganasi. The elf wears smart, very fine clothes. The fire ganasi wears a distinct set of plate male armor. As one action, the armor opens and the ganasi exits. You see that he is marked in very distinct tattoos. He reaches in and removes out of the armor that stands behind them a tube and chucks it towards the elf.
01:12:17
Speaker
you realize that this is a basic puzzle cube. The fire gun, as he seems to walk up to the elf, as the crowd starts to cheer and says to him, and you hear this very clearly, see magic everywhere and in everything, my prince. That is the true meaning of artificery. Suddenly you snap back to where you were, and this vision seems to disappear and dissipate, and you're back in the hallow silence as to where you once were.
01:12:48
Speaker
I'll cast my eyes about the rest of the group and kind of gauge their expression, gauge their change, gauge their reaction, obviously not knowing that they've not seen what it was. All Macbeth has been doing is once they emerged, he's been getting his bow ready because it's finally in a place to use it. So he looks over at you and goes, something, something wrong.
01:13:19
Speaker
You're telling me you didn't just see all the people? What people? Only people are here as us. There's something strange going on here. I got a view full of people in this courtyard, a sort of fire ganassi sort of passing something back and forth. And then it's, then it's gone.
01:13:45
Speaker
Eddick's going to interject there and go, I see them too. And he's staring at the statues. And as you say, there's an elf. He's looking at the elven statue that's fallen over. You mean this? These are the things he sees. Oh, all right. I saw something on the walls when we were looking out from camp. I saw something, a shadowy figure on walls. So maybe whatever happened here is left her.
01:14:14
Speaker
an echo of something. But I think that's all the more reason to try and move along now, shall we? Let's keep our wits about us and our eyes peeled.
01:14:36
Speaker
Okay, as you begin to make your way through the courtyard, you notice some of the tapestries that are deteriorating closer to the center. It's quite clear that these are from the reign of Haddo I. You see tapestries that denote his shipwreck, him being safely guided by the Andos things. You see the water Gennasi pulling him from the waters, the forming of brother might fought, Haddo giving homage to the natural gods of Sol and Selen.
01:15:01
Speaker
You see tapestries that denote the foundations of cities, the discovery of gold mines. The flaw that you realize now is innate marble as you walk across it. You notice a large inscription seems to run in front of you. It reads, here lies the father of our kingdom. Our memory shall we forever keep. Here lies Haddo, first of his name, the founder king.
01:15:27
Speaker
And as you take that in or make your way past it, depending on what your preference is, all of a sudden, this time something happens that you all notice. You feel this sense of buzzing in your ears. And all of a sudden this flashing white light is literally no more than a blink. But as that happens and you all recoil from it, all of a sudden you notice that in front of you on the ground is a figure.
01:15:57
Speaker
From what you can see, this figure appears to be a humanoid form. It appears to have a tail, something that you find particularly strange. It appears to have a hood pulled up over its head. It appears to be quite tall, even whilst it's on the ground. Ian, why don't you tell them what they see? What you see is a seven and a half foot tall dragonborn.
01:16:26
Speaker
Resembling a bipedal dragon, this creature in front of you is covered in a tough, worn, scarred scaly hide. It's murky brown in colour. In between the scales you can see an ice blue light which gives away his silver, draconic ancestry.
01:16:47
Speaker
His head strongly resembles a dragon, and like his veins, his eyes are ice-cold blue. He is strongly built, and gives off the aura of being an individual who has seen a lot of battles. The scarring over his body reinforces this. He is clothesless for the most part, a set for a dark green-tough leather belt across his waist with material over the front and the back.
01:17:13
Speaker
His large hands are humanoid except for the scales and long claws at the end. His feet are more dragon-like with three claws. Finally, unlike most dragonborns, you see a thick tail reaches out from the long black cloak that he's wearing. The long black cloak is hooded up so that you can't see his face, but on the back of the cloak
01:17:41
Speaker
crudely drawn, is a silver star. And as this creature stands up, he turns round. Confusion on his scarred face. Where am I? Oh my god! And as he says that, that is where we're going to leave it for this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop.
01:18:11
Speaker
Oh my god! Interesting. Indeed. I really hope Dribbo's back. I think it's his clone. Well I didn't ask Darren when this was set. No, no I didn't either actually. Compared to the main campaign. All interesting questions as a voice that many of our listeners and certainly all of our players recognise echoes out across the marble floors.
01:18:41
Speaker
And you'll have to tune in next time to hear what the resolution to this question is. Where is he? What?
01:18:52
Speaker
Well, I gave Will the opportunity to take the ending of this, but his silence is spoken volumes. So listen, I know you sure I'm just going to overdose and go for you. Thank you for tuning in and listening and making us a party every day week. We love you for it on this special episode of You Will. I'm going to mute you.
01:19:11
Speaker
If you want to keep up to date with the podcast, you can do so on one of our various social media channels. Let's go just for the Twitter for today, because it's a rather special event. Yeah, you can keep in touch with us at Fellowship Table. And I will extend my thanks to our newest member of the Fellowship family, Mike. Hi, Michael. How was your first time? That was good. I enjoyed that. I really enjoyed that playing with you guys.
01:19:42
Speaker
Well, thankfully, this won't be the last time you play with us because we have another three episodes of this glorious one-shot for you all and your delights. Mike. Hello. Do you have a Twitter page that you would like our listeners to know about if they, for whatever reason, wanted to give you a poke? I may have created a Twitter profile for this. This is brilliant. This is very standard. Very fellowship of you. Thank you. What is it? It is at not a barbarian.
01:20:17
Speaker
One shot Will, where can we find you? Fellowship NPC PC. Use your rules consultant Will, where can we find you? Natural 20 Will.
01:20:29
Speaker
You can find me at iRolledA1, and Callum where can we find you? At TheD20Gamer. And our wonderfully done tonight, DM. Where can we find you? Darren Page, 06. Until next time, guys. Farewell!