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Ep. 5 The Tides of Chance - Shadowmend Tales
105 Plays2 years ago
Drago, Karl, McBenner and Wren managed to escape the Vaults of Shadowmend. This week, we find out where Wren's hastily cast teleportation spell took them.
Follow us on our Twitters - @FellowshipTable
Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
Music kindly provided by Fesliyan Studios
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Transcript
Podcast Update & New Season
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey guys, Ian here from The Fellowship to give you all an update about our podcast, where we currently are and the short term future. Let me begin by saying that as our regular listeners will know, we have been recording this D&D show for the past 3 years, which is quite a while considering we haven't missed a single Friday in all of that time. Our current season 2 is called Bellum Draconis.
00:00:24
Speaker
and we put a pause on that campaign four weeks ago to record a one-shot Halloween-esque miniseries based in the place of Shadow Men. Now for those of you who listened to that mini Halloween-esque one-shot, found that as we got towards the end of that campaign, certain events took place which made it just too good of a story to contain it within those four episodes.
00:00:53
Speaker
So, considering our core cast has been non-stop recording for the past three years, I wanted to update you, the listeners, with certain changes that we're making in the short term.
00:01:06
Speaker
The plan is for us to keep our pause of the main campaign, Bellum Draconis, ongoing. This gives our cast some well-earned time away, and in the short term we will carry on with our no longer one-shot Halloween-esque special of Shadow Mend. We are making that a Season 2.5, in which it's called Shadow Mend Tales.
00:01:31
Speaker
This will run for approximately 10 to 14 episodes until it gets to a point where it's good to wrap up. Do not worry though, we will pick up Bellum Jaconis and find out what happens to Nix and Marota in the not too distant future. I hope you understand this decision. Doing this keeps our content alive and well. Keep pumping out quality episodes every single Friday like we have done for the past three years. This also gives our core cast a well-earned break.
00:02:00
Speaker
So to our listeners out there, sit back and enjoy The Shadow Men Tales.
Cast Introduction & Character Voices
00:02:20
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop. We are a live play 5e podcast set in the Kingdom of Shalomend in the magical homebrew world of Eryth. My name is Darren and I'm going to run D&D for you this evening. And with me tonight, we have Ian playing the dragonborn paladin, Drago. Hello. We also have with me Will playing the human hunter ranger McBenna.
00:02:49
Speaker
Yeah, hello, my voice is like this, back at throat. And also with us is our Wilbot one-shot extraordinaire playing the Tabaxi backstabbing bastard Bardlock Karl. Might have killed a couple of people last time, sorry about that.
00:03:07
Speaker
Don't be, it was epic. I've got a question for you though, main will. You know, you're doing the deep back of the voice thing. How do you find your voices after a recording session? Well, the problem is when we last did this, I had a
00:03:25
Speaker
bastard of a cold, which made it really, really easy to do. I don't know what it's going to sound like now, but I was practicing because obviously M. Ron's up front of throat and he's all right, whereas McBenary is more of a back of throat creating, so I have no idea. I'll tell you at the end.
00:03:46
Speaker
I feel your pain. Thank you, Witcher. Toss a coin at me. Toss a
The Witcher Series Controversy
00:03:55
Speaker
coin. Toss a coin. Oh, isn't it sad about the whole recast? I feel like there's so much rage about that. So much rage on the internet.
00:04:06
Speaker
rage but more at the the the staff management the directors and writers and i say writers in quotation marks and i don't mean all of them but if you were to believe the story articles that are out this week in regards to how they plan to proceed with the witcher and the story um it seems like they're taking
00:04:29
Speaker
their own versions of how the story should be told and how the game should be portrayed and it seems like Henry, our man Henry, who is a hardcore gamer. We know Henry, he's a fan of the podcast. Name drop. It sounds like he's very pro
00:04:52
Speaker
keeping the authenticity. Which season one was brilliant for that. I was listening to some of the audiobooks and I was listening to and reading some of the stories and it was so good for that. Yeah, it seems like they're diverging away from that, which isn't always a bad thing, but when your main character
00:05:10
Speaker
Or actor turns around and goes, yeah, now I'm out. Liam Hensworth, though. I just don't know how they're going to do the recast. I don't like the idea that they're going to go, cool, this is now also the Witcher, played by a different person. And it's not going to be the same. Like, it's either going to be Hemsworth trying to be Henry and it's just not going to work. I wouldn't want to fill those shoes.
00:05:33
Speaker
Anyway, in the time that that discussion about the Witcher has been happening, I've had the chance to hamfist together an introduction. Four, I was not expecting to be back in the DM's chair quite so soon, but I'm very happy to be so.
00:05:49
Speaker
And listeners. Yeah, just ruin the whole, like, thing that we are a very organised group. I mean, it literally said at the end of the last week's episode that this... That has been edited out. Okay, yeah, of course. So if you do... Yeah, editor's note. For every reason I don't edit this part out, listeners, sometimes I like to just make sure that everything's a coherent structure around here.
Recap of Fatherkeep Session
00:06:16
Speaker
Well, there you go. Well, Darren just did, it took a massive shit all over your continuity. Well, it makes sense for all the times you're probably about to take your shit all over my storyline. So, yep, continuing on from here. Let us recap over what happened last time inside the city of Fatherkeep.
00:06:35
Speaker
In the last episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop, it became clear to the adventurers descending into the Bank of Jahira that their escape from Fatherkeep would be anything but simple, as a potent reminder of the city trapped in time itself.
00:06:51
Speaker
was the ever-ending darkness as souls' light fades. The shadows creeping ever closer towards our party were not moving fast enough for whatever nefarious creature was dwelling within. So it started to spit out some baddies to try and hasten our adventurers' demise. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately for them, someone in the party was also planning to hasten the demise of some of our adventures. And as the fight ensued,
00:07:22
Speaker
a host of terrible things started to happen and it became clear that there was only one way out and that was through the teleportation circle being cast by Ren.
00:07:35
Speaker
Unfortunately for our adventurers Ren along with everyone else was hit by the screeching shreel of a Banshee which caused her to lose concentration of the spell which whilst accelerating the casting time meant that the location where our would-be heroes would be sent to had become somewhat random though they were not to know that at this point. Just as the fight seemed to be turning the way of our adventurers
00:08:00
Speaker
Karl stepped forward and cast the ultimate betrayal on poor Miki, sending him fleeing towards the shadows. Eddic, trying to save his small gnome friend, decided to follow and try to save him. And unfortunately, both of them felt themselves out of the teleportation circle as the spell was cast.
Fishing Vessel Discovery & Drezlin
00:08:23
Speaker
Where we left off, Drago, Macbenna, Ren,
00:08:28
Speaker
and the nefarious Karl had just teleported and landed onto what appeared to be some form of docks. As the smell of salt air and the sound of the sea starts to bring them back around. That is where we will pick up this week's episode. And for those of you who survive, you crash with a thud face down. You look up as your vision unblurs and senses return.
00:08:55
Speaker
It becomes clear you have teleported not onto a dock, but instead a boat. A medium-sized fishing vessel, to be precise. You realize this as the stench of freshly caught fish brings you back to your senses. You look up. You are surrounded by nothing but ocean.
00:09:15
Speaker
You all of a sudden hear something off to the corner and you see further down the boat an old male water ganassi looking at you as he appears to be trying to hold a fishing line in place where it needs to be. He seems to be humming a tune as he seems to glance at you curiously. What do you want to do? What the fuck?
00:09:44
Speaker
fucks sake we're fucked we're dead that's it we're we're we're dead there's there's oh it's got the fucking book he had the book what the hell was he thinking look you might be a bit
00:10:08
Speaker
confused as well we have just teleported some of us not for the first time today just take a moment just breathe it in and just just try and calm your your rage you don't understand though without the tone Dreslin's coming after us yeah yeah yeah Dreslin is um how do i put this um he's a bastard and quite frankly he's um excuse me
00:10:40
Speaker
I was wondering if I could maybe get a hand from one of you folk. You somewhat distracted me from my fishing line and I've somewhat lost control of what I'm doing. Yeah, maybe in a minute. No, so you're saying Drezlin is going to come after us. He is. Right. He's not the best kind of guy and quite frankly,
00:11:06
Speaker
We're all doing this job for money. Yeah, I was going to say, you've lost two of your party. It must be a hard time for you both. Well, we haven't known each other that long, to be honest, Drago. We came together because we were hired for the job.
00:11:29
Speaker
Salt wore the card. That's what I'm currently losing. If anyone would feel like giving me a hand, I would be much obliged. Mercenaries. I. Paid contracts. In one way or another. I. Okay. That makes sense as to why you're feeling
00:11:52
Speaker
Well, I'm just saying, if it was one of my own, so I get it. I understand where you're coming from. But the point is that we're allowed to get this book. And if we've not got the book and lived, Dresden's going to assume we have got the book and we're screwing him. And he's going to hunt us down and we'll have to live the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders. Right. And I assume.
Ganassi Confrontation
00:12:19
Speaker
Go for it.
00:12:23
Speaker
I was going to reach into his backpack and he's going to pull out a vial of ash and just toss it to Drago and say, that's a stark reminder from Dresden about what happens when he doesn't get what he's asked for.
00:12:46
Speaker
as Drago catches the vial, just holds it up to the, is it light? What's the, is it daylight? Is it dark? No, it's completely full of what appears to be dust. No, no, no, no, no, no, the outside. Is the sun up? Is it the day? Is it the night? Yeah, it's overcast. It appears to be at some point in the day, you would assume at some point between mid-morning and early afternoon. That's
00:13:10
Speaker
what you can ascertain at the glance. As Drago catches fire, he's going to hold it up to look in it. And this is the last person who failed Drezlin and just took what he gave and then didn't come back with what he wanted. Right. Okay. I see your predicament.
00:13:38
Speaker
So you know when you said to us, oh, maybe you should deliver the book to this new person who wanted it and why a lot of us were like, no, we give it to Drezlin and then we go from there because
00:13:49
Speaker
No, Matt, there's not enough money in the world for you to go, oh, I'm safe, because the moment you stop looking over your shoulder, Dresden's gonna fuck you. I managed to get the fish. Thanks for your help. I assume... I assume Dresden is all powerful. He's a mobster. He's... What is he? He's... He's a beholder.
00:14:16
Speaker
You know. Oh. Great big eye. Stokes. Mouth for teeth. And... Yeah, I've had dealings with beholders. Seabass. Not salt card. I was wrong. Why would you make a deal with a beholder? Because it was paying enough money for some of us to not have to worry about where our next meal's coming from. I've been there before. Oh, okay.
00:14:47
Speaker
Right. Right. What's the first thing of a plan that's coming to either you or Karl's head right now? We need to work out where the fuck we are. Excuse me. And MacBennar will look over to the to the Genasi. Where the fuck are we? Well, there's two schools a fort as to where you are, I suppose.
00:15:15
Speaker
Well, you would know this place as the Datonian Ocean. You're about 200... I'd say about 200 knots away from land, which is back that way. He put in slavery's shoulder.
00:15:29
Speaker
sorry, Darren, quick check. Does that ring a bell to those of us from Shadowmen? Yeah, the D'Artonian Ocean is the ocean that is off to the north of Shadowmen. It's pretty much the water mass to the north of the kingdom. It makes sense to all of you. You all know what that is, with the exception of Drago and Ren, obviously. Cool. And the name Drezlin, does that mean out to you? You see a...
00:15:58
Speaker
look come across this Ganassi's face as he just seems to take a spit over the side of the boat and goes, can't say I'm too far on the Drezlin. Insight check. Go for it. Very good. That's a 12.
00:16:20
Speaker
Hard to get a read. This bloke appears to be fishing on his own in a boat that's too big for him in the middle of the D'Artagnan Ocean. Don't have no reason to doubt him but the entire circumstances of everything you've been through plus now where you are is just too weird to get a read on anything. Okay. Can I just ask?
00:16:44
Speaker
Last time I checked when I started fishing for cod and I managed to catch sea bass as I was telling you, thanks for the help by the way. I didn't have one, two, three, four strange folk on my boat. Now I do. Anyone care to fill me in on how that happened? I'd be much obliged. Yeah, are we still in Earth? Last time I checked the Ditonian Ocean is in Earth.
00:17:09
Speaker
That's a roundabout, what you're saying, yes. Our lass,
Empress Sariah & D'Artonian Court
00:17:14
Speaker
and McBetter will look around, is she still with us? Yeah, at this point you notice that Ren has gone quite quiet and is just slumped on the floor. She hasn't got up yet, she is still sat on the floor. She's gone incredibly quiet and just appears to be staring in front of herself. Are you okay, lass?
00:17:38
Speaker
I'm fine, I just... It's a powerful spell and it takes a lot out of me, let's all just give me a minute. Oh, okay. Um, Drago is going to... It's one of his hands, it's just absent-mindedly playing with the chain of the amulet, Claude's amulet, and then it's going to reach the kind of the centrepiece, and...
00:18:09
Speaker
kind of just almost natural or subconsciously now. I'm just going to cast once I click in and see it, because I should be better with this. I want to get a pulse on what's going on. And I can't remember what that fucking spell is. You want a card? Well, help me. It's a paladin feature. It's not a spell. What are you trying to do? There's a paladin feature they get quite early on. Divine sense, divine sense. Yeah.
00:18:38
Speaker
Where is it? There it is. Yep, I'm going to cast Divine Sense and try and detect good or evil. So until the end of my next turn, I can sense anything affected by the Hallowspell or know the location of any celestial fiend undead within 60 feet. That is not behind total cover. Hit me with it. I sent out my sonar.
00:18:58
Speaker
OK. Any pings? Yeah, there is a ping of celestial and it's not coming from the Ganasi or the boat. It's instead coming from under the ocean somewhere within 60 feet. OK. Well, who are you praying to? You grab that amulet and you seem to be, I don't know, you got that markings all over you. Over your cloak and whatnot.
00:19:28
Speaker
I just assumed you were praying. Maybe I'm assumed and made an ass out of you and me. No, I was communing with a friend of mine. With this, Carl's ears pick up any kind of noticeably stares and almost a small smirk comes over his face looking at Drago. Right. Yes, what?
00:19:56
Speaker
as Krago noticed this kind of sarcastic look back at him from Karl. Oh, no, nothing. Nothing. Just interesting at all. Look, I'm still very new at this. Okay. If it doesn't look like I know what I'm doing, I'm still learning the ways. Okay. I might not be, I might not be the paladins that you've seen before, but I'm training still. Paladin you say?
00:20:24
Speaker
Interesting, I believe that's what they call us. Paladin, that's a fun term. Is it common for paladins to lose two people and then not be too caught up about it? Because you all seem to be talking about how you lost someone a minute ago. Allow me to just reset this conversation. My name is Petrich Hall, by the way. I'm named after the sweet scent of rainfall that hits our shores. Though what you can currently smell is about 200 pounds of saltwater cod and one sea bass.
00:20:54
Speaker
Can you swim? I am one with the ocean. As is every one of my kind. We might need to borrow your boat. Not one for giving up my boat. Or can you take us to land?
00:21:15
Speaker
I might be able to. Still don't know who you are and how you managed to get on my ship. Well, then it sounds like you want us off your ship as soon as possible, to which we need land. I don't know what I want yet. I've only just met you. Where did you come from and who are you? There was a... We're a group of travelers and there was a...
00:21:38
Speaker
It was a teleportation spell that went slightly awry, and... Ah, let me say that again. You interrupted my spell. I was also trying to teleport something, and somehow I end up catching you instead. What? You brought us here.
00:21:54
Speaker
Oh no, well I was trying to teleport something and then, well when you try and teleport something it's a conjuration. I got the sense that someone else was in the proximity of where I am, i.e. somewhere within 200, 300 miles, also trying to cast a teleportation spell and I got the sense that that person lost control of that spell. I'm guessing it's that little girl sat on the deck right next to you. I was trying to teleport my
00:22:18
Speaker
while I was trying to teleport something mighty important somewhere, and instead, what I get is the full review. So I'm a little bit mighty confused about what's going on here, and how the hell you managed to interrupt my spell? Understand English? Yeah, right. So, Betts, don't be a dick now. Um, but we've got... My bolt? I'll behave all I want. To his point. Look, we're sorry that we...
00:22:48
Speaker
ended up here and interrupted your spell. Trust us when I say that wasn't our intention. We were in a predicament of life or death. You might have heard that we lost two. We had no controls. Look, I am a believer that they've moved on to a peaceful place. However,
00:23:16
Speaker
Except our apologies. It was a life or death situation. I don't know how we got here. I'm not well versed in the spells that got us here. Fair enough. Where did you come from? Seems to be minded dangerous wherever it was. I'm not the best person to answer that, as Drago looks over to Carl and MacBenna.
00:23:46
Speaker
I already know you're working for Drezlin, so you may as well tell me the truth because I can tell you already that the name Drezlin on my boat puts you on unstable ground. Okay, I know I just apologized, but idle threats. Nothing idle about it, my friend. What do you do, you good? Nothing idle about it. Listen here, um, Petrichor, um... Smell the sweet rainfall.
00:24:14
Speaker
Yeah, well, you'll be smelling something else in a minute. He smiles and laughs at that. My brother goes over and farts in his face. Takes a shit on his back. Drop his trowel. Squats one out and goes right then. Look, Ben, look. Listen. We've...
00:24:42
Speaker
escape from quite perilous situation
Drago's Past & Current Reflections
00:24:46
Speaker
where we were, don't matter. We're here now. You're on a boat that, quite frankly, you shouldn't be able to crew yourself. Correct. So where's everybody else? Ah, I see one of you is perceptive enough. You are absolutely right, good sir. I am on a boat that I am unable to crew myself, which of course does bring up the question, where are the rest of my crew?
00:25:13
Speaker
I suppose I could tell you that if you tell me where you came from. Or we could just not bother. You know, quite frankly, I was asking because it just seems odd. There's there's there's four of us, one of you and I'm too old. Okay, you're too old. I'm older than you. I bet I'm older than you. How old are you?
00:25:39
Speaker
great me um well into my 60s mate well into it and quite frankly i've been around long enough and for a human that's that's that's i'm doing well or adorn of the time to piss about okay okay okay it's weird for me to be acting as peacekeeper here but i understand that no one will understand why that's weird
00:26:09
Speaker
McBenna, just take a breath. I understand where you're coming from. Just give me a moment. What's your name again? As he turns to the Ganasi. Head Tree Core means the smell of sweet rainfall. Okay, sweet rainfall. I sense there's a celestial down below us.
00:26:30
Speaker
Does that have any meaning or resonance with you in terms of like answering your question of where we've come from? Trust me when I say that is a very long conversation. My name is Drago. And again, just like he did previously, he announced his name. He's just going to hold that waited silence after he's mentioned his name to see if there's anything there that resonates back. Make a perception check.
00:27:00
Speaker
I mean, hold your applause, please. A 22 with a crit. Yes. That name seems, for the first time, this person who seems to have tried to have held all the answers looks a little bit confused. And you can see something in his eye seems to register. OK, good. You know of my name.
00:27:23
Speaker
That I do. Right. So I'm in a predicament here where I need your help. How can we get this moving? Gentlemen.
00:27:40
Speaker
ladies of course out the water and what happens is suddenly four other ganasi pull themselves over the side of the ship and they all appear to be armed with some form of weaponry shortbows in unison you see them draw arrows but don't knock them suddenly what you see is what appears to be two dolphins leap out of the air in mid
00:28:00
Speaker
Amid jumps seem to turn into two other ganasis who land on the ship, two more seem to appear from thin air, their hands seeming to hold some form of arcanic matter. You sure you're telling me the truth that your name is Drago? You know, I was trying to be peaceful about this. I'm turning over somewhat of a nude leaf.
00:28:23
Speaker
What's the point behind this as Drago slings from the back of his back the great axe that he got from the vaults? You see Petricor puts out his hand and all of the Gennasi who have landed on the boat armed seem to put down their weapons and you see the casters as you assume they are seem to drop whatever it is that they were starting to cast. At that point McBenna will have
00:28:49
Speaker
let go of the arrow you half drew because they all had their weapons out. Okay, who are you aiming for?
00:28:56
Speaker
No, no, no, I will let go. I had an arrow. I didn't like the bow was ready. The arrow was half drawn, ready to be knocked. And then he's like, okay, I'm gonna let go. Okay. I'll let go. That's just like that letter that started the war because of a typo or something like that, which I know is a really shitty history lesson from me there, but there's something out there that started.
00:29:24
Speaker
Yeah, that's the John Aaron was murdered letter, isn't it? I knew you'd know. I managed to find it, yeah. Okay, right. He looks at you all and says, that name drag old man had just saved you from a, well, from a bad situation. You see, whilst you are in the Datonian Ocean, where you are actually is that you're in the court of a great and fantastic lady.
00:29:50
Speaker
The Empress of D'Artona, and you see, well, unfortunately your former boss Drezlin ain't a fan of the Empress of D'Artona, though I have the privilege to call her my commander and captain. She'll be most interested in hearing what you have to say, seeming as you claim to be quitting the name Drago, and the rest of you seem to be withholding what you've been doing for Drezlin. Seems only right she gets to talk to you since you have intruded her teleportation and have landed quite rudely in her court.
00:30:20
Speaker
This is D'Artona. This is the court of Sariah Missphul.
00:30:28
Speaker
And as he says that, you see his eyes start to glaze over. And then all of a sudden this misting cloud seems to appear from nowhere. You feel this rumble, you assume it has to be something like an earthquake and suddenly what happens, a gargantuan grand looking ship emerges from the waves coming through the sea and ascending to the surface. Another follows and then another,
00:30:56
Speaker
This goes on and on and on. There could be merging through the mists from what you hear ascending, 30, maybe 40 ships as far as the mist lies. You see looking down at you from the ships that now surround this fishing boat's faces upon faces of more Ganasi staring down at you. A burst of sunlight hits the water just off in the distance. And what you see is a figure emerge from the water
00:31:27
Speaker
and begins to walk across the water as if it was, well, as if it was land with confidence. She wears rich clothes and a somewhat outlandish hat. She walks across the water as if she and it were one. As she approaches the fishing boat, she effortlessly pulls herself onto the bow of the boat. You notice that all of the Ganasi, including Petrucor, are now kneeling. Petrucor says to you,
00:31:54
Speaker
May I present to you Saram Mistfall, First Lady of the Depths, Empress of D'Thonor and Captain of the Free Saria pulls herself onto the deck and comes to Petricor and says
Karl's Mysterious Message
00:32:09
Speaker
I was told we were to ambush a fleet of silk ships belonging to Drezlin. I don't see no ships but my own, Petrichor. Apologies, your grace, these folks interrupted my teleporting of the fleet with a teleporting of their own. And our quarry, Garm, unless they plan on sitting still for the next 24 hours, she then turns to you all and says,
00:32:35
Speaker
And who are you, who have robbed the people of D'Artona of their justice? Erm, erm... Drago. We haven't really got a name. Erm, McBenna, have you got a name for your group? No. Erm... Karl? They really decided on it, didn't really have time, I suppose. Right.
00:33:02
Speaker
Okay, my name's Drago. I've been to Eryth before. There's McBenna. That there is Karl. And the lady here is Ren. Again, you see her look at Petricorn. You can only assume the thing that seems to have taken her off guard is the same thing that took him off guard. The name Drago.
00:33:28
Speaker
She turns back to you all and says, oh, go on. Everyone's going to look. You will all seem to be wrong. Everyone's back again. I started already. Steve, you're right. The feathers get a sort of look and be like, I'm sorry. You all keep acting like the drug or someone who should, everyone should know now,
00:33:54
Speaker
we don't know rather than what we've seen so far and he's a fine, fine, great guy. But what's going on? She contemplates what you said and then steps forward and seems to speak loudly as if she's talking to the ships around us. Nineteen years ago, the subjugation as it was called was forced onto the Gennasi by the line of Haddo. Our ancestors were butchered and coerced
00:34:22
Speaker
into slavery. I was ten when I was told my father was murdered while sitting with Heather the Ninth under a peace banner. My mother and I were sold into the service of Drezlin. My mother managed to get me away, and I was, and entrusted me to Petricourt here. If you worked for Drezlin, he gave you the vials, didn't he? She holds one of herself.
00:34:52
Speaker
Perhaps one of them is my mother. And you're welcome to it if it'll help you. Your mother's in this. She takes a glance at that and then looks up at the boats and says, people loved Artona. We could send Drezlin a different message rather than the one we were planning on sending. Four heads, and she points back at you all.
00:35:20
Speaker
And as she says this, the Ganasi start to just kind of raptiously cheer and roar until she holds up her hand and then looks at you, Karl, as if you're about to say something. Yeah, Karl kind of steps out with his hands kind of up, somewhat out towards Sarai and just says, whoa, whoa, whoa. We're no friends right now of Drezlin. In fact, if anything, you could say that he'd be pretty grateful of our heads rather than a little bit upset to see them.
00:35:49
Speaker
We might well be on the same side here. At this stage, you know, enemy of my enemies, my friend, and you know, yeah, we certainly ain't friends of Drezlin, not anymore.
00:36:03
Speaker
Drago's going to just walk back a little bit, still facing Sariah. Sariah. Sariah. But he is just going to get within speaking distance with him, Ren, and just go, you start to do the teleport thing again. It will take me 10 minutes. Don't have it in me, I'm sorry.
00:36:29
Speaker
Fine. Just stay behind me. OK. OK. So I believe you were asked for names. I know that this one is called Drago. What about the rest of you? Well, we just did that a couple of minutes ago. Ignoring them, Karl's going to take off the hat with the feather in the top of it and kind of flourish it in front of him and say, Karl Jeet, at your service. I see.
00:37:01
Speaker
I'm going to be quite truthful with you and say that your position of employment in Dresden should mean that they have you killed and then dump your bodies in the ocean. However, you ranger with the sharp tongue, you asked what the name Drago means. It's stopping me doing that. Well, great. You're welcome. And McBennan will look towards Drago. Good name.
00:37:36
Speaker
I suppose in time it can be arranged for you to maybe ponder upon the decision that you're making here and perhaps come to the truth about telling me where it is you've come from. Put them in cabins for now. No harm shall come to you so long as you try not to escape your lodgings. You'll hand over your weapons first, of course, if you'll truly know any of mine. That shouldn't be a problem. I promise they'll be returned to you.
00:38:07
Speaker
Yeah, fine with me. Mr. Jago kind of lays down the axe that was in his hands. Wren holds up her hands and tries to gesture that she has no weapons. One of the female Gamassis who's come aboard the ship just walks over to her and gives her a quick pat down and nods the truth of it. It's Carlin McBenna to declare their hands.
00:38:36
Speaker
Yeah, Karl will withdraw a dagger from a sheath at his belt and kind of stab it into the side of the boat that he's on. Downwards, right? Naturally. Look at the others doing this.
00:38:58
Speaker
He sort of starts muttering to himself and sort of... And he dumps his quiver of arrows, he puts his longbow down, he shuffles off his satchel, puts down a quarter staff.
00:39:13
Speaker
pulls off, the rapier off his belt, almost like that seed that cracked the Caribbean. And then he puts down, he pulls out a short sword, puts that down, reaches into his boot, pulls out a knife, puts that down. I half expected it to be made out of wood. Reaches into his, reaches between his back, pulls out another knife.
00:39:40
Speaker
Is the boat at this point, like, risen on one side? Not quite, no, not quite. It's a pretty sturdy fishing boat. As you finish doing that, Petricor walks over and inspects the weapons that you've just dropped and turns back to Soraya and goes, your grace, I do believe that this one is a member of the Rainier, this type of equipment and this type of arsenal.
00:40:10
Speaker
I, a Rainier, a brother might fought, or at least, former Rainier. Well, you're a long way from brother might fought now, Ranger. I am. Give them two bunk chambers on the endless horizon. Make sure they're secure with airlocks. Prepare the fleet for descent. And as she says that, she just turns and just gracefully disappears. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Descent.
00:40:38
Speaker
Yeah, and as you say that, the water can actually start to form around you.
Empress Sariah's Demand & Conclusion
00:40:44
Speaker
And what happens are these lines seem to start pulling the fishing rope back onto the deck of the endless ocean. As you're saying, that petrichor says, I won't worry about that. As long as you stay in your cabin, you're going to be just fine, Drago. Yes, if we're going underwater there, I'm a little bit worried. That'd be what the airlock is for. And as the fishing boat is pulled
00:41:08
Speaker
onto the deck of this great ship called the Endless Horizon. You can see now just the sheer volume of people who are clearly following this woman who are part of the Free Kingdom of D'Artonia.
00:41:25
Speaker
What you notice is that you are led into two functional yet comfortable cabins as you enter the top deck of the endless horizon. You notice a series of eyes are watching you, all ganassi, as you go. The two cabins that you are placed in face each other. Drago, you and Ren are ushered into one on the starboard side of the ship. Carlin McBenna, you were both placed into one on the port side.
00:41:51
Speaker
The rooms that you are putting are identical. You have two bunk beds on one side, a basin table, two chairs and equivalent paper on the other. There appears to be a side room to each that makes up a functional but basic what we would call in the modern day on suite. There is a tin bar from what you would perceive to be a latrine hole.
00:42:11
Speaker
There are what appear to be port windows in each cabin. These are at a surface level. Suddenly there is a flash of gold around these windows. The same happens around the door. And you see through the window that the ship and the other ships on the horizon have started to descend under the water. But you notice no water is entering your cabin. We'll come to
00:42:34
Speaker
McBenna and Kyle shortly, but we'll first just dive into the cabin with Drago and Ren. Ren, who has been very quiet, just immediately goes and sits at the table. She stares ahead in silence. Is there anything you want to say or do, Drago?
00:42:50
Speaker
Yeah, Drago's gonna... First off, is there water around us? You say airlock. Like, what? What? Yeah, you glance out and it appears that, as she said, the ship has descended into the ocean. It's the equivalent of now being in a submarine. But the port window holds. Whatever seems to have just flashed across the window and across the door appears to be keeping the water out of your cabin.
00:43:13
Speaker
OK, well, in spite of everything that's going on, Drago would take a moment just to look and wonderment at what the fuck is happening. If he's by the portcullis, he's just kind of looking out there at the depths of the ocean and kind of there is a sense of wonder that comes with that because, as I said, he can't swim. He doesn't really, you know, for all intents and purposes, this little submarine trip, he's never seen anything like this. So it does
00:43:41
Speaker
Yeah, for a while, he'll be staring at that until he gets the sense that the room is very quiet and that there is no body next to him. He'll turn around and spy Ren at the table. He's going to take a moment and look over Ren and just kind of probably with a perception check analyze her kind of her figure. That sounds really wrong. Stop checking around. Yeah, right.
00:44:10
Speaker
My best friend's sister. What you notice through the porticolour is that you can see what appears to be apartment on the other side and you just hear, stop looking at my sister. He's going to
00:44:29
Speaker
just check her general, like, the vibe that she's given off, as if it's... Is it similar to Robin? Because Robin was always quite stoic, and in times like this, wouldn't really speak a lot, and would just kind of keep himself to himself. Is it that kind of vibe that I'm getting from Ren, just from watching her? Yeah, let's see how good Drago is at reading the emotions of a teenage half-elf. Roll the perception check.
00:44:59
Speaker
A natural one. Yeah, you glance at her and you can see the family resemblance to Robin, but you can see that it's quite clear that they only share one pair and that would be obvious from the fact that she's a half elf.
00:45:15
Speaker
There is a stoicness to her, but you get the sense that whereas for Robin that came through a host of emotions for her, this is being caused by confusion. I'm giving you a lot of information for a natural one. You really are. But.
00:45:34
Speaker
I'm probably allowing that from A, a passive, as Will said, and B, how well you know Robin. I would say as she clicks her fingers and just because you notice as you descend further under the sea, it starts to get dark. She just clicks her fingers and starts to just produce tiny flames and goes around and lights all the candles that appear to be in the room. And then she slits back at the table.
00:46:01
Speaker
Thanks, I appreciate that. I can't see really well in the dark. What happened? Where am I and why am I here? Like, are you asking me to confirm or have you genuinely forgot? I was in Vonden.
00:46:29
Speaker
I heard that someone was looking for me, then I teleported here and I had that letter in my pocket. You say you know where Robin is, but he's the other side of the world. Am I reading this right? He's the other side of the world. We're in the boat that's going under the sea. We were just in a city where the shadows tried to kill you, and two people died because I couldn't control the spell properly.
00:46:54
Speaker
I don't know what's happening and you can see she's quite emotional and upset at this point. Drago, um, awkwardly as he is with emotions kind of just opens his hands out one behind the other and goes, welcome to areas. I didn't willingly come here.
00:47:18
Speaker
Did you? No, no, no. Sorry. This is a lot to take in. You're right in everything that you just said. Now, I don't know why you were in Vorden and
00:47:42
Speaker
I don't know who told you that someone was looking for you, whether that person was me, like the person was inferring it was me who was looking for you, because I was searching for you back on the salt coast at the request of Robin. But it's really important not to lose yourself right now, given the current situation.
00:48:09
Speaker
uh at the very kind of least of it you are with someone who has traversed these lands before not particularly this land and i've never really been under the ocean it's and yeah this is new for me as well but at least we're in erith which is where your brother is
00:48:33
Speaker
And I assume that's a good thing. Jago kind of waits at the end of that. We've been so- No, not brothers. It can be, you know- He left me. He left me and he promised he never would. And I've been trying to find him and Vornzen was where I last traced him to. And for whatever reason,
00:49:02
Speaker
I'm now here and you tell me he's here and what happened with you and him why did he leave me okay just to confirm I'm picking up on anger resentment sadness she just seems to slump at that and says did he
00:49:31
Speaker
you talk about me do you? Right I guess I never thought really about how I was gonna tell you all of this stuff when I was looking for you I keep things quite simple Robin asked me like go and find my sister and I'm like okay I'll go and find your sister I didn't really think about what would happen when I found you so it's only right
00:49:59
Speaker
for you to ask these questions um okay how to make this concise we there was three of us that was teleported just like you were
00:50:15
Speaker
some time ago. And that three was me, Drago, Elthea, and Robin, your brother. And we were teleported by a god called Akiva. And a long story short, we we saved Erith, which is the place that we've been teleported to. And we saved Erith from a
00:50:43
Speaker
A shadow. This corruption, this polite that was taking over the lands and essentially killing it. And bringing the dead back to life.
00:50:57
Speaker
Yeah, there was a lot of dead people coming back and we had to find the source or the spell and stop it. We found a book. Robin got lost in a book. There was a tree at some point. There was another guy called Claude. We met a guy called Folly. Folly was transported with us as well. Sorry, it's been a while.
00:51:22
Speaker
Do you mean the Prince from Blondond? Because his name was Shader. No, I mean Shader. Yeah, that's right. Shader was transported with us. He died. They were in mourning when I was there, yes. You'd just taken the axe back, right? The island was in mourning. They did luster prints.
00:51:42
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, it was it was very sad. It was almost like reliving it again. He died. He died admittedly through the in part ways, my own hands and my own decisions. But we don't need to we don't need to go there.
00:52:09
Speaker
And yeah, and then Elthir, the other person that was teleported with us, he got corrupted by a demigod called Krazet. Krazet actually killed my father in my past life, and so I sought to revenge that, and it turns out that he was a big reason for this whole blight. And...
00:52:34
Speaker
And yeah, well, we found another friend, he's called Folly. He sacrificed himself in order to save the lands of the Blight. I have heard that the book was stabbed, a book that I talked about earlier and that was a key. No, no, a different book. This book, when it was stabbed with this knife,
00:53:01
Speaker
ended the Blight. I know I'm not making a lot of sense but the only takeaway you need to get from this is that your brother was sent here to save this world and he succeeded and at the same time he found a greater purpose within himself. I don't know if he was lost or searching in the Sword Coast for like a life purpose but he found it here under the Queen Helena Sleepguard
00:53:29
Speaker
And... Queen. He... Queen in waiting. You need to tell me, my brother, the great, the great freedom fighter of the Neverwinter Forest is serving a queen. Well, I mean, he's his own man, I would say, not serving, but for all intents and purposes, protecting, I would say. I can believe...
00:53:59
Speaker
can believe most of that. The blight, as you called it, the dead coming back, it started to happen in the Sword Coast. And... When? When? About a few weeks after I last spoke to Robin, I sent him a message and he told me he was proud of me and he said he was having to take care of something. You'd just broken out of the Icewind prison.
00:54:27
Speaker
And it was a few weeks after that. And then, don't worry though, it stopped quite recently. Perhaps that was you. Perhaps when you stopped it here, you stopped it there as well.
00:54:43
Speaker
Um, maybe for greater minds to decide, but either way, uh, when I left Robin, I took a couple of things with me, including Shadar's axe. As you already mentioned, I took Althea. We managed to, um, uh, he was brought back to his senses. I took him back home and my final thing was to come and find you and
00:55:12
Speaker
somehow bring you back to Aerith and if you wanted to, obviously, I was not told to go and kidnap you. She's going to glance at you and you can see there is a curiosity in her eye and what she does is she snaps her fingers and this
00:55:36
Speaker
Falcon appears on her shoulder and she just starts to nuzzle it under the bottom of the neck. It's a Falcon that you quite clearly recognize and she holds it out towards you as it steps onto her wrist and says, you know what she's called, don't you? No. Right? Yeah. Right. Can you take me to him? Robin. Huh? Can you take me to him? I'm not Robin.
00:56:06
Speaker
No, that's why I want you to take me to. Can you take me to my brother? Yes. That's why we're here. Or why I came to find- Yes, I can take you to your brother. Um, interesting question about that bird. Has that only just started to happen now since you've arrived here, or have you always had access to her? No, it's, um...
00:56:32
Speaker
It's, uh, my mother used to be able to call forward a creature of the Feywild and summon it as a familiar. It's, I base it on what she cast it, but it's, it's not the same one. Almost certainly not. Right. Okay. Why? Yes, I can take you to your brother. Um, might take some time. I did not expect us to be under the ocean. Robin always liked to believe that she was the same one, but it
00:57:02
Speaker
He can cast her and I can cast her as well. That probably answers that question. Yeah, well, it's a bit rich coming from me, but try not to be angry at your brother. He didn't even choose to come here. We were forced against our will.
00:57:23
Speaker
He found a purpose and life meaning and goal here, serving the greater good. He saved people. But you're always worried about your well-being, hence why he entrusted me to find you. He's the best man I know, so don't or try not to be angry. She smiles at that and then the moment of sadness passes over and she says, Miki,
00:57:51
Speaker
That one you called the squirrel, a strange one. They're dead because of me. Why did they run? Some people have a fight or flight response to danger. I guess that one was flight.
00:58:20
Speaker
I couldn't get a read. I tried to stop Miki from running, but he didn't listen. What do you have the two? Do you trust them? I don't know them. So, I mean, they're hired swords. If it's in their interest,
00:58:48
Speaker
Then yes, I would trust them, but I don't know them and should keep your guard up. But they're just doing a job at the end of the day. The Ranger, he got quite a lot of the jewels in that vault and I don't know what the Tabaxi was doing. Probably getting jewels as well. I've been there. I've done it. I understand where they're coming from. I wouldn't worry.
00:59:18
Speaker
And as you say that, let's cross over to the other. Good work there, by the way. And thank you very much for that. I did not expect to relive the season one. It was always going to happen when you found yourself alone with her.
00:59:34
Speaker
Cheeky recap. If people want to recap on season one, they can now just tune in to episode 37. With that then, with that lovely recap of season one, which if you haven't listened to listeners, you should totally go back and do so. But excuse the first few episodes, because I was going to say, yeah.
00:59:53
Speaker
I can make a more succinct recap. Listen, let me know if you want a more succinct recap of Season 1, rather than having to go through over 100 episodes yourself, especially because those first
01:00:06
Speaker
20 episodes are a little bit ropey. Yeah, we could easily do it previously on The Fellowship to Tabletop last season. In your epic recap. Previously on The Fellowship of the Network. I am practically titillated at that. Anyway, back to the story. Anyway, as we move out of your cabin, we'd see that the corridor is completely submerged and full with water and it crosses through the other airlock and into the other cabin.
01:00:34
Speaker
Joining Carl in with Benner. Anything you want to talk about? Anything you want to do? Oh, I assume this is going on at the same time as... Yes, this is happening at the same time. Right. Carl, did you manage to... I'm sure you've still got a fair few bags of tricks on you, yeah? With regards to what there, Benner? Well, you know...
01:01:01
Speaker
out that we might need to keep ourselves alive. Aye. I've got a few little things that I've perhaps got up my sleeve. Aye, me too. When you start getting out loads of weapons, they stop searching. They don't bother searching you. You don't have to get it all out. You got more hiding, dare I ask where? I got something up my sleeve as well, lad. Don't you worry.
01:01:29
Speaker
Great. Just so I don't look good. That's the least we know where we are or what, wherever we're going because, and McBenna will sort of stare out the porthole and give a slight shudder and be like, you know, I've lived a lot of my time in very dusty, dry places and this is far, far wetter than I normally like. Do you know something just doesn't add up?
01:02:01
Speaker
What do you mean? I just, how did we get here? That's what spell casting me on my, my Ken, you know, the, the we last bless her, you know, she was casting a spell and it went wrong. I've seen it done. I've seen teleportation spells. We've used them in, in the, as a ranger, but
01:02:31
Speaker
I don't know whether she lost control. I mean, we could have ended up anywhere. I mean, we're bloody lucky we ended up here. This is your thing.
01:02:39
Speaker
Just to give you some context, McBenna, the teleportation circles that you've seen, they would always transport you out of the gorge back to permanent teleportation circles that were within Brother Might Keep. So the law of the spell teleportation circles that you have to go through. Yeah, if you cast it in the same place for a year, though, you can create permanent points where someone can teleport to. And
01:03:04
Speaker
It's been common practice for the Rangers of the Rainier for years to go into the gorge and then get out as quickly as they can by teleporting back to brother might. So I don't know. And I mean, if that if Mr. Petricola, whatever his name was, is telling the truth and he was cast a spell as well, maybe a spell
01:03:32
Speaker
I jacked into it and that gave us a destination point because most of these times you tell a point from fixed point to fixed point. So yeah, just, it does seem likely convenient though, you know. That's what I was thinking. You get those two people, Drago and Ren showing up and then everything goes to shit. Oh, aye.
01:04:02
Speaker
I mean, another way of looking at it is without Ren being where she was, we wouldn't have been out of there. They were talking about that tome going to someone else, do you remember? It was, yeah, they did. They mentioned sort of giving it to someone else in one of the other places in the... He said Uru and Cardinale at the Lyceum. At the Lyceum, that was it.
01:04:31
Speaker
And if they wanted to take it there, then we were going to have some trouble. Because quite frankly, I don't want Dresden on my back for the rest of my short life. I'd quite like to enjoy myself rather than having to sleep with one eye open. That's what I'm thinking as well. They've got a different agenda. They show up. Ren leaves them behind in that teleportation. And Mickey and
01:05:01
Speaker
and the squirrel, it's just too convenient. Do you think they've got the book? Can you trust them? I mean, that draw goes a dab and with his axe and you know, as long as he's doing what he can do to help us, then that's great. And he seems to be all full of this noble idea. Again, that's the thing.
01:05:30
Speaker
He just says his name and suddenly we meet an empress. Are you? Who prepares to pull out all the stops to stop us from dying? You know, are you seeing what I'm getting at here? Yeah. Someone's not telling us everything or someone's manipulating things to put us on a path. And quite frankly, I'm not dancing to someone else's tune unless I know the dance.
01:06:01
Speaker
We need to stick together now more than ever, but better. I can tell you now, I've got your back. I appreciate that, Karl, I do. Motherfucker! Just an interesting point, Darren. Obviously we're having this chat in our cell. Is sound from Drago's cell going through the water or is it? No, the water is basically...
01:06:27
Speaker
It's like trying to hear underwater. You can't hear what's happening outside. Just wanted to check, that's fine. Hold on, are you saying that all that time, Ren was hearing... She heard you because you were inside the same airlock with her. But there's a corridor between you and Karl and... It's canon now. That's always speaking through to your ears. Do you speak motorboat?
01:06:57
Speaker
No, I appreciate that, Carl, I really do. I think, you know, losing, losing squirrel and losing the Littlin, just... Squirrel saved my life at least three times out there with the shadows. He cut them down straight in front of me. They were good lads. I mean, we didn't get to know them for long. And, you know, in another world, I've heard to say it's a shame and
01:07:29
Speaker
Do you think they made it? If they, whatever happened, no, in all honesty, whatever happened, they were ripped apart probably. And I know Drago says they're in a better place, but there are some things, there are some things that when they kill you, if they kill you straight away, you don't go to a better place.
01:08:00
Speaker
Just need to keep our wits about, it's much better. That's what I'm saying. Find out what this, what this fish lady, what her agenda is, because she's capable of life for a reason. I know Drago, Drago's name carries weight and if it carries enough weight for her to be like, oh, let's all be big buddies now. She wouldn't be locking us in cells or treating us like this, at least for now. How do we even know they're locked in a cell? Well,
01:08:30
Speaker
and McBenna will look across. Drago says he can't breathe underwater, and I'm willing to best the last can't either. So for the time being, they are at least in the same boat, literally, as us. Carl will turn back to the bunks. Do you mind if I take the top? No, I'm better close to the ground. There's less distance for me to fall if I roll out of bed. That's true. And I suppose you can be quicker on your feet
01:09:00
Speaker
whatever you've got up your sleeve and your hand. And I'm sure you'll be ready to pounce from the top if we need to. Let's just play it by ear and then if we if things have to go south and we have to make our move, we should. Yeah, I've got you back. You if you make a move, you know, you're a you're a spry lad, you've got wits about you and probably see more than I do. So you think it's going down? I've got you.
01:09:30
Speaker
They appreciate that. It's likewise. Right. OK. McBenna's going to sort of go, can he, is he sort of looking at the porthole? What can he see? At the darkness of the ocean. You've descended to the point where it's just pitch black out there. Cool.
01:09:50
Speaker
And that's it, you'll sort of lean against the wall and that's it. Great. Time passes one hour, two hour, three hours. And eventually... I'll take a short rest then. Well, I was going to say, even for those of you who are feeling untrusting in this place here, you start to feel the weariness of the fact that the last time you were asleep was outside the gates of
01:10:15
Speaker
father keep with Torvid. For Draga and Ren you were back on the sword coast and it's just impossible. You get to that point where you're fighting sleep and it becomes inevitable that clearly that whatever is happening is still taking place and sleep just starts to creep up on you all as we start to begin the process of the long rest. As the night draws in for all of you bar one
01:10:45
Speaker
Something happens. A voice reaches out to you, Karl, as your eyes flick open on your bed in the dead of the night, and you hear a voice say, Find me, at the darkest point of the Arctic Horizon. Bring me the tome, and you shall be rewarded.
01:11:16
Speaker
Go into the ocean, my child, at the hour of the God's union. And as you contemplate this message from your patron, that's where we're going to end it with this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop. Oh, shit! It's a trap! It's a trap! It's an amazing trap!
01:11:44
Speaker
Oh boy. Oh you little knob. Oh baby. I've got no reason to mistrust you right now. No I know, it's so well played. So well played. My god, the two wills, the two wills going at it. It was amazing. That was epic. My throat is on fire. I'm alright, I'm doing alright. You're okay? Yeah, sounding good.
01:12:09
Speaker
It's been a while. Well, I mean, it's been a while for that length. Yeah. Shit. Well done, Darren. Good stuff. Thank you. Well done, Wills. Thanks. Cheers. Cheers, yeah. And, you know, I mean, Ian, you did all right, you know, if you could just pick up a bit of it, you know. Have an original idea and create a new character once in a while. If you could, if you could remember all the notes from like last season, that'd be great. You could usually skip the recap, certainly, at the beginning.
01:12:37
Speaker
I know Ian's about to do the call out, but Mike, if you're out there and you want to just let the rest of us know how many times you called Will Hobbie a seabomb whilst listening to that, that would be great.
01:12:53
Speaker
Indeed. And if you wanted to tell everyone, I like it. Thanks, Will. You're welcome. He's right. If you did want to tell, hey, if you wanted to reach out to Rent-A-Will and call him whatever you wanted to, you can find his own Twitter page, which is at... Fellowship NPC PC.
01:13:17
Speaker
And then if you wanted to give our real Will a high five, you could find him at... I'm a real boy! Natural 20 Will.
01:13:25
Speaker
If you wanted a £5 Drago, you can find me at iRoller1, shameless self plug. And if you wanted to find our awesome DM, he can be found at DarrenPage06. And if you wanted to find the actual podcast itself, you can find it at Photoshop Tabletop. Until next time, guys.