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Chapter 6 - Ten Baubles
56 Plays11 months ago
The best part about making soup is all the weird little freaks you meet along the way.
Meet the cast:
Dungeon Master – Zach Meikle (IG: @zachabee)
Clay Campbell – Prima Zhao (IG: @primbdraws)
Faunalyn Vaydark – Shannon Meikle (IG: @sharsharbinks)
Glimki Treefellow – Jordan Johnsen (IG: @jordan_johnsen)
Editing by Zach Meikle
Follow the show:
X @bard_soup
Instagram: @bard_soup
TikTok: @bard_soup
Music & Ambience
Music: Beyond the Horizon by Alexander Nakarada (www.creatorchords.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
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Ambience: Sewers by Tim Roven (www.tabletopaudio.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Music: The Streets of Prague by Alexander Nakarada (www.creatorchords.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
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Bell0001.WAV by fmiramar_
https://freesound.org/s/397345/
License: Creative Commons 0
Music: Tam Lin by Alexander Nakarada (www.creatorchords.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
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Music: Forest Walk by Alexander Nakarada (www.creatorchords.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
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Music: Enchanted Odyssey by Alexander Nakarada (www.creatorchords.com)
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Ambience: Haven by Tim Roven (www.tabletopaudio.com)
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Music: Drifting Mind (no drums) by Alexander Nakarada (www.creatorchords.com)
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Music: Wanderer by Alexander Nakarada (www.creatorchords.com)
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Music: Foam Rubber by Alexander Nakarada (www.creatorchords.com)
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Ribbits.mp3 by SnowFightStudios
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License: Creative Commons 0
Music: Superepic by Alexander Nakarada (www.creatorchords.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
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Music: Vopna by Alexander Nakarada (www.creatorchords.com)
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Additional sounds provided by Pixabay
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Now, where was I? Ah, yes, that's right.
Meeting King Ferengaltries
00:00:05
Speaker
After appearing before King Ferengaltries at Billfire Palace, our heroes learned that there was little concrete information about the princess's disappearance, just a swarm of rumours swirling around the city. They did learn, however, that the king was offering a boon, anything in his power to give to whoever found his daughter.
Interrogating the Rat
00:00:27
Speaker
Clay and Glimpy caught a rat, and the three heroes reconvened at Berthold Manor, where Clay and Glimpy were hired as personal attendant and gardener, respectively. They attempted to interrogate the rat. They threatened the rat. They pleaded with the rat, but it gave them nothing. They might have let it go at that point, if not for a distinctly wicked glint in the rat's eye.
Researching Shapeshifting Magics
00:00:52
Speaker
The party spent some time in the Berthold's library, reading up on shapeshifting magics, and Von Olin discovered an interesting connection between the Vadox and the Humiliations. Their efforts took them down into the lower reaches of the city, where they dropped off a ransom ladder and talked to the Harbormaster about which ships had been in port the night the princes were missing.
Revealing the Rat's True Form
00:01:13
Speaker
After that, they went to see one of Clay's remaining friends, the High Priest of the Church of Macrog. Brightscale Warrick humbled. Warrick used his divine connection to force the rat to reveal its true shape. Its rat form melted away to reveal a wiry naked man, a lycanthrope named Jimmy Nobones. I may call him Johnny Nobones at various points in this story, but I assure you it's Jimmy, the heat must be getting to me.
Gaining Information from Jimmy Nobones
00:01:38
Speaker
Jimmy revealed that he was a member of the Eyes of Eddy, a group of thieves and blackmailers operating within the city. While he didn't know anything about the princess's disappearance, his associates made any offer to make an introduction.
Meeting Brutus and Chimes
00:01:53
Speaker
Ward gave Clay a holy symbol, then they were led down into the sewers where they met Jimmy's boss, another were-rat named Brutus, along with a kenku named Chimes. Brutus agreed to give the party some information from the Knight of the Princess's disappearance, in exchange for their help in apprehending a shipment of silver headed towards the city. You already said all that. Did I? This heat must be really getting to me, I guess.
Bard Soup Episode 6 Introduction
00:02:20
Speaker
Anyways, on with the story.
00:02:36
Speaker
Come gather round travelers and sit on the stoop We'll tell you a story about Batsu Three lovable scamps in our traveling troop We'll tell you a story about Batsu
00:03:12
Speaker
Welcome back to Bard Soup, Episode 6.
Discussing 'Bardcast' and Player Introductions
00:03:15
Speaker
Who'd have thought we'd made it this far? Not me. Not anyone, really. Me. I believed. Oh. You were the biggest hater of all. You said you'll never be a DM for a Bardcast called Bard Soup. And I said, what the hell? A Bardcast? Yeah. That's what we call it right now. Because I didn't know what a Bardcast was, if I knew what I would have believed.
00:03:34
Speaker
I am your lovely sensual dungeon master, Zach Meekle, joined as always by formal buddy number one, Prima. Hi. Hello. That's good, that's good. Formal buddy number two, Shannon, this is my worst one yet.
00:03:53
Speaker
Hi. Pleased to meet you. And joined by my formal acquaintance, Jordan. Wow, that hurts. Yeah, I'm actually in my most formal hoodie, so that's actually kind of absurd that you went on this whole tangent to call me an acquaintance. So that's a bummer. He dressed up for this sack. Yeah, that sucks. It's my grayest gray shirt. Nope, there's no going back.
Preparing for the Silver Shipment Mission
00:04:20
Speaker
We join our party.
00:04:23
Speaker
Deep beneath the surface of Eredinine, in the dank, musty, damp lair of the eyes of Eredinine. If you recall, Brutus offered you this deal. You apprehend Silver for him, and in exchange, he will give you information. He accepted your offer of acceptance? Mm-hmm.
00:04:48
Speaker
And you are now gathered in this refuse-filled lair. There's a few rats that scurry about, you see some of them leave, you see some of them walk out on two legs, some out on four, a few kenku come and go, but you are sat there with Johnny Nalbones, who is still in a half rat, half man form, and Brutus, who is kind of draped in this robe, or cloak perhaps is a better term, and he says,
00:05:18
Speaker
Alright, then. Shall we go over the details? Yes. Yes. Yes. Tell us the details.
Strategizing Mission Tactics
00:05:26
Speaker
Johnny, grab me a few things, will ya? And Johnny scampers off and comes back. If you recall, he's in a rat form, but he's got a human head, and he's kinda like waddling on two feet.
00:05:35
Speaker
I did not recall that. Does he still have a leash? My rope of climbing on his neck. I believe you have released him from his rope of climbing. Okay. Okay. That's a shame. Yeah, that's horrifying. Johnny waddles off and then comes back with like, just like a handful of garbage and he plops it down in a crash next to Brutus who grabs, he grabs a tin can and says, all right.
00:06:00
Speaker
Here's our domain. He plops it down. He grabs it at the pile again pulls out a piece of seaweed says, this is the Western road. It leads out to spa post and to the West follows the coast and he puts this piece of seaweed down extending from from the tin can. He reaches in again and pulls out a dead cockroach and plops it down says, here's the caravan should be maybe a half dozen guards at the most.
00:06:30
Speaker
Couple horses, carriage with silver. Now, there's a spot about a day's travel from here called Alpha Deerel's Demise.
Receiving the Severed Finger Token
00:06:40
Speaker
It's notoriously narrow. There's cliffs on one side, the ocean on the other. Perfect choke point. He reaches into the pile again and pulls out a human skull that he crashes down and kind of shatters slightly. There's an oak tree there with ash gray leaves.
00:06:58
Speaker
that to be the home of some nature spirit. What I propose you do is you get there before they do. Figure out your plan. I don't care how you do it. You can kill them. You can run them off the road into the ocean. You can sweet talk them into giving you the carriage. I don't care. What you need to do is get the carriage and then bring it and he reaches into the pile and pulls out a severed finger and blobs it down.
00:07:25
Speaker
at a point kind of halfway between the tin can and the skull and says, and bring it here. We'll have a couple agents waiting for you. You will deliver them the silver and then you can return here and you'll receive your payment. Sorry, we can drive them into the sea
Debating Mission Ethics
00:07:40
Speaker
as well. So we don't need to bring the silver here. Well, I need the silver, but I don't care what you do with the gods. Oh, okay. Can either of you swim? Yes.
00:07:52
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Well, then I don't see why we can't drive them into the sea and then go diving for the silver. That might be a little challenging, but we could, we could figure that out when the time comes. Remind me, what was the name of this choke point? Yeah. Auf Widerl's Demise. Okay. Auf Widerl's Demise. That would be really easy to spell in my notes. Auf Widerl.
00:08:15
Speaker
A-R-F, like a dog. O-R-D-I-R-O-L, like a weird dog. You knew it. I think what I have is fine. I prefer what I wrote. I prefer what I wrote. It's easier to pronounce. Affidavit's divide. Avocados. Okay. Well, okay. The shipment is in how many days?
00:08:42
Speaker
It'll reach the city within three days for my understanding, unless they're waylaid. Oh. So we should make it to that choke point and we'll still have a bit of time before they arrive. This is fun. I'd recommend you leave tomorrow morning at the latest in order to have adequate time to prepare, but the sooner the better in case they make better time than we are anticipating.
Debating Tactics Humorously
00:09:04
Speaker
Is there anything that you might be able to give us to help us with this quest? Mission slash heist? He reaches down and picks up the severed finger and holds it out to you. Uh, go ahead. Um, somebody take it. I know. Thank you. I don't like that. How is this going to help? Get creative. Oh.
00:09:34
Speaker
So it's not like a cursed finger. No, we just found it on a body. Okay. Yucky. So no, thanks. No, I'll take it. I have an idea cooking. I think we can make it work. Give it to me, please. And then I would like take out a hanky and like pick it up with the hanky and then roll it up. You can add one severed finger to your inventory. Thank you. Is it a man's finger or is that woman's finger? Give me a medicine check.
Exploring Nature Spirits
00:10:00
Speaker
Yay.
00:10:01
Speaker
Sixteen plus five. Wow. I know whose finger. It's your own. It's mine. No, you look at it. It is a very thick finger. It appears to be most likely a middle finger, maybe a ring finger. It is pretty stubby. You would wager it probably came from a dwarf. Dwarf finger. I hope this is relevant somehow.
00:10:31
Speaker
In episode 37, when you meet a dwarf missing a finger, you'll remember this moment. Will that be all then? Are any of your men from the Eyes of Aridin going to come with us? A few will meet you at the rendezvous point, but this part of the job is yours. Oh, I see. Okay. So no one's helping us with the guards. I understand.
00:10:56
Speaker
Okay, gang. Let's get out of here to discuss the planet in further detail without Brutus and Johnny Nabones.
00:11:05
Speaker
Yeah, do you want a hand getting out of here? Nope. Nope. I've actually had quite enough of looking at you in this kind of in between states
Preparing Offerings for the Spirit
00:11:12
Speaker
thing. And it's, yeah. Come on. I honestly don't understand how your little rat bones are keeping your head upright at this point. They're doing a very poor job. I'll tell you that. Is his head like flocking? Oh, I thought he was like a man sized rat. No, at the moment he is a rat sized rat with a man. Oh my gosh. No, thank you.
00:11:32
Speaker
Eh, alright. Suit yourselves. Shall we, gang? Sounds good. If we're going to be recreational bandits, do we need bandit clothes? Oh. Shopping spree! Are we buying stealth outfits? Yes. Zach, can you pay for holla notes for a musical transition to the shopping spree fashion show? Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
00:12:11
Speaker
you leave this chamber that you had been brought to by Johnny Naubones. And I will say it takes you a bit of time, but you're able to kind of retrace your steps, get back to the ladder that you took down into the sewers. And before long, you are back on the surface. You are in the gold district, not too far from the church that you had previously visited. Okay, so team.
Faunalyn's Social Maneuvers and Ambitions
00:12:38
Speaker
We have one this evening remaining. I think that we were pretty clear about this before, about not murdering people, but I can't remember what we came to in terms of an agreement. We said no murdering people? That does not sound like me. There was some ethical dilemma because they were going to come kill all these bandit people. Oh yes. And we were like, oh yeah, maybe we should kill them. But we're kind of going off the word of some guy named Brutus who lives in the sewers.
00:13:08
Speaker
I'm going to be honest, Blimkey, the whole moral dilemma was a you problem. Yeah, still is. Not really sure how on board I am. I kind of joined up to rescue a princess and now we're potentially murdering some people that are just moving a convoy from A to B.
00:13:26
Speaker
We don't have to murder them, and they are bringing silver weapons in to purge all the were-people from the city. Yeah, so if there is some sort of alternative way to get a hold of all the silver weapons without potentially murdering some innocent guards, I'd be more inclined to do it that way. We could talk to them, talk to the guards.
00:13:49
Speaker
Interesting. We could drive them into the ocean, and then if they drown, it's like the sea did the murdering. Okay. Yeah. I can sort of see how that compartmentalization works. You know, maybe we'll just call it in the moment, and we just figure out what things we might need to go this or that. You guys have, like, weapons? I have a very deadly parasol. Clay, are you equipped? I have my dagger and my mace. That's it.
00:14:20
Speaker
Okay, so is there anything that we might want to pick up before we travel out there? How are we gonna stop a carriage?
00:14:31
Speaker
tripwire or like oil spill or something tripwire kind of seems interesting to me maybe
Navigating Social Encounters
00:14:38
Speaker
just tangling up the road or he did mention there was a big oak tree and maybe there's we could I don't know tie something to that or or maybe there's some other big trees and we can roll a log down the cliff I don't know set traps yeah in my past I did effectively stop something of a convoy
00:15:00
Speaker
And what I had done at the time was crawl out of the ditch looking like I'd just been mugged because I had just been mugged. But the carriage did stop. So if we feel like being theatrical with it, we could have someone, you know, rough themselves up and run out asking for help. Classic gambit and 100% success rate for me so far. Huh.
00:15:21
Speaker
Okay, well that definitely gets us close to the carriage. How do you turn help me into a give me all your silver weapons? We could knock them out and then leave them tied up. Ah, yes, non-lethal. We could do that. Every man has a price. Perhaps we could leverage them a bit, but also I'm fine with bashing them up a little bit.
00:15:44
Speaker
How much money do you think it's going to cost? I have, I think I have 10 gold. I was thinking like we offer them neck rubs or something, but yes, I could pool funds. I feel like some men on a long journey will be requiring some more than just neck rubs.
00:16:03
Speaker
You rub it hard enough, they will pass out, so... Yes, let's offer them neck rubs and then line up behind them, and then on the count of three, we all crack their necks. Oh, man. In a non-lethal way.
00:16:16
Speaker
Yeah, I think he did mention something. Maybe we're glazing over this. The great oak tree with the gray ash, ash gray leaves was the home of a nature spirit. What's a nature spirit? Yes, Glimky. What's a nature spirit? You have leaves in your hair. You want to know. Yeah, maybe if some sort of exterior thing from Glimpy's mind is drawn from inspiration if he rolls a history check. Sure. Give me a history. We're in nature check. Honestly, give me a nature check. Oh, first roll of the game.
00:16:46
Speaker
that 20. Let's go. I feel like that makes sense for you. As Glimky would know, given he has met one, the world of Zav is one of two predominant faiths. The first is the church of the Oktad. There are the eight gods that many people worship. Some worship just one or two. Some worship the one that most closely aligns with their
00:17:15
Speaker
profession or their needs, others worship the entire pantheon at various points, and that's more or less the predominant religion throughout the world. There are, however, spirits that occupy the small quiet places of the world that
00:17:34
Speaker
others choose to worship instead. Glimki, as you would know, mulare is a spirit who occupies a vast tree within dwells, and some of the locals choose to offer their devotion to that spirit.
Handling Rumors and Reputation
00:17:50
Speaker
It's often been said that spirits are less immutable, perhaps, than the gods,
00:17:59
Speaker
For example, if there is a spirit of a river, but the river winds up getting dammed or dries up, then that might kill the spirit or force it to move on. They're more or less tied to a small portion of the world. You're not going to find somebody in Erdenin who worships Mulare or knows probably even about Mulare. But if somebody lives in a town with a lake that houses a spirit, then the locals may be familiar with it.
00:18:29
Speaker
So from the sounds of it, this ash gray oak tree along the western highway is home to some regional spirit. So if there is a spirit living in that tree,
00:18:46
Speaker
Maybe we could see if it would be open to helping us in some way. I mean, we could explain the situation that some, some beings that are a mix of whatever race and animals might need protecting, maybe it would be inclined to help protect those kinds of folk. Should we bring something to, to offer or to convince them to help? Would Gloomkie know if there's any kind of thing that would be good for an offering or?
00:19:14
Speaker
Yeah. If you recall before you set off wayfaring, you went to the tree and you made an offering yourself. I don't think there's a prescribed list of things that would be preferred or accepted. It probably varies from spirit to spirit, but from your experience, you do know that offerings may earn the blessing or favor of a spirit for sure.
00:19:44
Speaker
Okay, well, I think it depends probably on the region. So maybe we just bring some extra things and kind of cover our bases. I can recommend a nice bordeaux. I mean, maybe you would like that. I don't know. Why did we all bring one thing? Do I still have the flower? The flower I picked from the Bertolt Garden. Can I bring that? Yeah, it's getting a little wilty. It's been like, you know, a day, but I guess less than a day really hasn't it?
00:20:11
Speaker
We also have a finger. I don't know if that's gonna be good. The fingers of the offering. Maybe it's a carnivorous tree. Yeah, maybe. I like the idea of bringing some flowers. We could snatch a few from the garden on the way out. Yeah, you work in the garden now.
00:20:29
Speaker
Normally, that would appall me, but Grimke, I suppose you're sort of the purveyor of flowers now. You're kind of the president of flowers at Berthold House, so... That's true. Who am I to say anything, even though there's an award-winning prize-earning roses? It's fine. Just a clipping of the whole plant. Yeah, just a little bit. So I'll bring some wine, and you two will bring stolen flowers, and that will be fine. I hope so. Hmm.
00:20:55
Speaker
I don't know what else I have. I'm looking at an inventory. I've got an iron pot. So maybe that. Clay's an artist. Maybe she can carve or whittle something to offer. Ooh, I like that. Like a statue or idol or something. I like that a lot. Yeah, that would be really nice. Just throw in ideas out there. I don't know. I have nothing on me to offer.
00:21:18
Speaker
Well, Clay, I feel that you've kind of stepped up the offering game. Okay, I'm going to come up with something cool and unique also. I can't really think of any business in the city that we need to attend to. I've sent out my blackmail letters.
Discussing Ball Attendance
00:21:30
Speaker
And I think I set a timeline of a few days, so I'm not sure I'm expecting a return on investment just yet. We'll be gone for a few days at least, right?
00:21:40
Speaker
Yeah, so that works out nicely. And then I think it'll be a shit show once I go back to a birth old manner, because my reputation will be in tatters, perhaps, depending on who's spotted me crawling into the sewers with a bunch of freaks. But can we request paid leave from our new job? Oh, that's such a good point. Maybe the job was like terrible for us. I guess if I'm supposed to be Faunalyn's like maid,
00:22:11
Speaker
I can just follow her around. Yeah, I got to tell Willy to cover for me one day into employment. You've got to take those vacation days, man. Take every single one of them. It's honestly crazy, the comprehensive work benefits package that they offered right out of the gates. I know. Not even like a 60 day work grace period. It's like it starts today. Dental, chiropractic. Why haven't you gotten a massage yet?
00:22:38
Speaker
when I had the time, but it's on, you know, something I want to do. Did we go get massages and then buy turtlenecks for the for the banditry and then and then go to sleep and then tomorrow hit the road bright and bushy or whatever? Do we have to like pack?
00:22:54
Speaker
I'm pretty packed up, says the gnome with a full on backpack full of stuff still on. I travel extremely heavy all the time. Okay, so what's the plan? Are we going to Berthold Manor to request time off? Are we just leaving the city this second? What are we doing?
00:23:17
Speaker
I guess, I don't know, some of those are like assumptions. Sure, yeah, birth hold first, pick some flowers, ask for time off. Okay. Get a massage. I think we need to get a massage. Oh, and we need bandit clothes. Yes, bandit clothes. With Madame Faubamont's plays have... Oh, we could make stuff out of the scraps. Yeah, like do I own any dark clothing because of my history, my background?
00:23:44
Speaker
I would say you most assuredly own at least, yeah, one set of dark robes. Do I own several sets and in gunky size? I would say you do not. Okay. Dang it. You definitely have one for yourself. Okay. You're a conspicuous figure at the best of times, so I think many steps were taken to make you less conspicuous. We're in the gold district right now. Madame Fovemont is in the gold district. We can stop by there first, pick up some clothes. What an excellent idea. Yeah, let's do it.
00:24:13
Speaker
Okay. You walk for a few minutes until you, Clay, you know exactly where you are. So you walk for a few minutes until you reach the familiar site of Madame Fauvamos. You push the door open and there's a little bell that rings.
00:24:28
Speaker
and you see that the woman, the dwarven woman who owns this place, she is currently attending to this young noble woman. She is young, maybe around 16 or so.
00:24:44
Speaker
She's with a caretaker, appears to be some handmade type individual. And you see she's standing on his little pedestals and Madame Follimone with her big wig is kind of walking around her. She's got a pair of scissors floating next to her and she says, ah darling, so your first ball, this is very exciting. We will make sure you are so
Balancing Social Plans and Mission
00:25:04
Speaker
beautiful. You are going to look exquisite at this time. Yes. Do I recognize this stylish teenager?
00:25:10
Speaker
No, she is young. And also, Madame Fauvamont just said it will be her first ball. So you presumably have not run into this individual up until now. She isn't an elf or anything, right? Nope, she's human. Okay. Which ball is this? Sorry, I couldn't help it over here. Pardon me.
00:25:37
Speaker
Is it the ball being hosted by Lady Electra-Voon of Sunfall? No, it's being hosted by the Lord and Lady Prelmy. Was I invited to this ball? You were not, but that was the one Electra-Voon mentioned. She was not hosting the ball. Oh, that's the same one. Yeah. That's the bitch. That's a child. Okay. Well, she'll learn those words one day. Okay. The girl says, are you?
00:26:05
Speaker
Faunal and Vedark by any chance? My reputation precedes me, I'm sure, because I'm very noble. Is it true that you're dating a rat? No, I'm rumored to be having sex with a rat. Is it true that you live in the sewer? No, I'm rumored to be having sex with a rat in the sewer. Is the rumor true? No.
00:26:27
Speaker
She says, oh, okay. You gotta let me roll a persuasion. You gotta let me, let me get in there. Go ahead. I'm rolling it. You can't say no. I got a seven and I have a plus five. Okay. She seems relieved. She seems very innocent and the thought of a noble lady consorting with rats in the sewers. That's distasteful to her. So she seems a little relieved that it's just a rumor. Yes. What is your name, child? Claudine.
00:26:57
Speaker
Claudine, who? Bar-ga-la-la. Is that Bar-gong from House Bar-gong? Yes, you've heard of us, sir. I think we passed our house in the gold district, actually.
00:27:27
Speaker
Yes, I'm familiar with her. I'm afraid. I'm afraid. I'm just afraid. As are we all, Claudia. As are we all.
00:27:45
Speaker
This is Claudine. Two lessons. Firstly, never introduce yourself just by first name. It undermines your impact. And if you have a house, then you want to state it. And secondly, Claudine, if you know a rumor about someone as sordid as the fact that they might be having sex with rats in sewers or whatever you believed, you don't just ask them point blank. You insinuate, okay? And you insinuate better yet behind a fan. And at that moment, I'm going to click out a fan and fan myself.
00:28:13
Speaker
Now, Claudine, do you get a plus one to this ball? No, I'm just, well, yes, but- Okay, I'm your plus one. No, no, no, no, my plus one is my- No, dump his ass. Well, no, it's- No, no, no, it's not. Dump his ass, it's me. It's Lorraine, and she points to this, like, older woman standing next to her. Lorraine can kill herself, it's me. Well, that's not very nice. Shut up, Lorraine. What do you say, Claudine?
00:28:38
Speaker
I'm sorry, no. My mom and dad said I have to go with Lorraine. She kind of does like a stage whisper. She says, it's not what I want, but, you know, it's the only way they'll let me go with the missing princess and everything. Oh, well, you see, your parents don't know that there's a better option. Because if you are seen walking into your very first ball, accompanied with Lady Faunalyn Vadok of the Vadok family, you will become unforgettable and utmost desirable.
00:29:08
Speaker
I think my parents are worried about me becoming unforgettable at my first ball. I think they'd rather I keep a low profile. And if I can speak frankly, I don't think you're low profile. I think you might be a brand risk. Claudine, you are going to marry low and fade into obscurity. Whence you will die there. Okay, shall we head upstairs? You didn't say that behind a fan.
00:29:31
Speaker
That's not a rumor. Let's go upstairs. So you go upstairs into the attic funneling you with your personal attendant and gardener. And there are broken mannequins and you know, just bolts of fabric scraps kind of scattered in various corners piled up. What are you looking for precisely? Dark, discreet clothing for sneaking around. Give me an investigation role.
00:30:01
Speaker
Ooh, Nat 20.
Planning Non-lethal Tactics
00:30:04
Speaker
Wow. I know this place like the back of my head. You honestly do. I will say with a Nat 20, you find exactly what you're looking for. And I will allow you to describe the outfits you cobbled together for yourself and the other two. Hell yeah. We're like ninja outfits, but under common clothing. So we can like walk out of the city, but not be dressed like ninjas. And then we can take off the common clothing and then be dressed like ninjas.
00:30:31
Speaker
Yeah, those are some prototypes from Madame Fauvelman's ninja line that turns out not to be a very good seller. It turns out most nobles don't want to look like cat burglars. So yeah, it makes sense. So you find three, one clay sized, one faunal and sized, and one glimkey sized. You're welcome to put those on now or tuck them away in a bag or whatever you choose. Luck be a lady tonight, am I right? I'm putting mine on underneath my clothing. Same.
00:30:57
Speaker
I'm going to be honest, I want to go to this ball more than I want to anything. It is such an outrage and an offense for Faunal and Vadok not to be invited to a local event. Faunal and Vadok is more important than almost anyone else in the Sapphire district. If we manage to find the princess, you can just use that as what you want from the king. A ball in... Oh, okay, I have much loftier aspirations.
00:31:26
Speaker
Is the ball tonight? Oh yeah, when is the ball? Great question. I wasn't invited, so I don't have the particulars. It's something of a sore spot, actually. Well, you might have to build a bridge back with that child from the Wacholung family. Ask Claudine. Okay, I'm gonna slip on the stealth clothes under my very beautiful dress, and I kind of want to go talk to Claudine again.
00:31:50
Speaker
Okay. You see, as you come downstairs, you all change. You come back downstairs. She seems to be just finishing up with Madame for the mall. Ah, you'll look magnificent. Come the night of the party. Now come back in a few days and your dress will be ready for you. Uh, if there's any additional alterations to make, then I will make them of course, but I think I do not make mistakes. So I do not need to make alterations. If the dress does not fit, it is because you have changed. Not because my dress is improperly formed and Claudine says, Oh, okay.
00:32:20
Speaker
Thanks. Oh, Claudine, don't you look lovely. Did you like the little lesson I acted out before about what would happen if you met an insistent noble and declined to give them what they wanted? Yeah, that was very effective. Thank you.
00:32:35
Speaker
Yes, it was instructive. And of course I was kidding about being your plus one to the... Well, not kidding. It was part of the demonstration that I was giving. Yeah, because surely a lady as noble as you would already have an invitation, so you wouldn't need to be a plus one. So I figured you were just kidding around. Yes, yes. We like to kid, don't we? I think we're friends now. Oh. No, I don't think it. I know it. I've decided. Okay.
00:33:01
Speaker
Good. Very good. You'll do fine. Now, two questions. Yeah. First of all, hmm, I can't seem to recall. I've been in my smelling salts today. What night is the ball? I think it's in five days. Good. Good, Claudine. Very good. Never try snuff when it's offered to you. It makes you forget things. Secondly, do you know any hot goss? Yeah. I pass her, my fan.
00:33:31
Speaker
She tries to unfold it the wrong way at first and it's like, it doesn't go. And then she like figures it out and she like kind of fans herself. She accidentally like pokes herself in the eye. She goes, ow. Well, the princess is missing. And my dad says that she's probably out hunting peasants for sport or something. I don't know.
00:33:56
Speaker
Is that something that she's been known to do? I don't know. So just to be clear, your parents are so worried about you going to this ball because the princess is missing, but they believe that she autonomously chose to leave and go hunting peasants. Are they scared that the princess is going to kick down the door and harpoon you? My dad's a bit of a conspiracy theorist. I wouldn't take what he says too seriously.
00:34:18
Speaker
I'm very intrigued. I may be paying your father a visit sometime. That's right. We shouldn't come up with a more coherent last name because I'm invested in this family now. That's a problem for everyone involved. Okay.
Journey Preparations
00:34:33
Speaker
And Claudine the second. Well, the third, how many things have I done? I think this is number three. You've done a lot. I've done a lot. Well, I always do. And that's another lesson. Okay. Always do too much because you can't go back in time and do more.
00:34:46
Speaker
Oh, that makes sense. Yes, exactly. Thanks. You're welcome. The third thing is, you were going to tell people that if I was seen in the sewers, it was for recreational sex that is kind of cool of me to be having, okay?
00:35:01
Speaker
She puts her hands over her ears. She says, you've said sex a lot. It's kind of a dirty word. I don't like it. Okay. Well, maybe I'll loop someone else into the PR campaign. Okay. If someone says that I'm, if someone, I'm not saying sex anymore. I'm not saying sex anymore. I'm not talking about sex anymore. We're done talking about sex.
00:35:25
Speaker
She just curls up into a ball and starts to walk. No more sex, bloody, no more sex! Oh, god. She's armadillo'd. Okay, Loretta. It's Lorraine.
00:35:37
Speaker
Lorraine, number one, I'm sorry for telling you to kill yourself. It was part of a demonstration I was teaching. And secondly, you're going to tell Claudine that if someone says that I'm dating a rat, that they should keep their mouths shut. And also she knows for a fact it's not true. Okay. Thank you. Of course, mum. Insight check. She's seriously cooperating. Give me an insight check.
00:36:00
Speaker
I don't know if this woman is the best chaperone for this people's daughter. She's been totally just okay with her child being berated. 15. Hard to say. She's got a very cool demeanor. You don't think she likes you at the very least, but she doesn't seem to be outright lying. Or maybe she is. Who can say? Interesting. Madame Fauvamant. What languages does Madame Fauvamant speak? Common, dwarvish, and French. Does she speak elven or sylvan?
00:36:30
Speaker
You're welcome to speak to her in elven or sylvan and see if this dwarven shopkeeper is a polyglot. It's just that I know that tailor shops are real hubs of gossip, and if I'm gonna get ahead of this smear campaign that I'm responsible for about myself, then that I earned because of my actions, that I need to really... Madame Fauvmont. Oui. You go way back with Lady Berthold, right? I've known her for many summers, yes.
00:36:55
Speaker
Well, she's been known to frequent your place, no? In fact, her advertisement of your services have contributed materially to your success with the upper echelon, is that correct? May we? Yes, you're a smart woman, so I'll cut the bullshit. You don't get the Claudine treatment or the, God knows, the Lorraine treatment.
00:37:12
Speaker
That's right, Lorraine, talking about you. It would be bad for you, I think, if people said nasty rumors about me, because that would reflect on Lady Berthold. And then quite directly, that would reflect on you. So I think if both of us want to stay in fashion, then it would be best if people stopped saying that I was seen crawling into the sewers to have sex with a rat or whatever they're saying. Give me an intimidation check. Ooh, that's a 15 plus five, dirty 20.
00:37:41
Speaker
Of course, it would not do at all. You are bad for business, obviously. Obviously. But don't I look fetching in this gown? May we? Not too snatched, you don't think? Look, can I speak frankly with you? You come into my shop, you harass my customer, you threaten me and my business, so forgive me if I do not feel like commenting on how snatched you are at the moment.
00:38:08
Speaker
You made the dress. Indeed. And I do not make mistakes. If you do not look snatched, it is because you are no longer snatched. But I am not saying that. I just really do not feel like commenting on your snatchiness at this moment, because I find you to be a little difficult, I might say, ma'am. So I would recommend you carry on with your business and take my
00:38:32
Speaker
handy man away from me. Clay, you've done a terrible job of sweeping up today. It is the scraps everywhere. It is truly terrible. Um, sorry, ma'am. I, I kind of just like shove funneling out the door. God, I want her to look so badly now. I'm cleaning up right now, ma'am. See you later. Very good. Thank you, Clay. You have your outfits, I assume, to birth old manor and then off into the wild blue yonder.
00:39:02
Speaker
Is it like evening night time? It is getting into mid afternoon, I'd say. You spent the morning at the castle, you spent the next chunk of time claded. I'd say it's getting like, it's close to evening, actually. Yeah. Okay. It's like late afternoon. All right. Off to birth hold. Clay, don't you have like seven jobs? Is it okay for you to leave all of them?
00:39:22
Speaker
Yet they're all part time. I kind of go to them when I need work. I should probably let the artist guild know I'll be away for a few days. I'll be right back. Can I make a detour just to drop by? Yeah, for sure.
00:39:37
Speaker
you head over to the artist guild is it also the gold district it is yeah as it's on the way you travel uh yeah it's more or less on the way you go to bettler house the site of the artist guild of erdening you
Gathering Supplies at the Artist Guild
00:39:55
Speaker
open the front door and you see a withered old balding elven man seated on just like a little chair in the corner. And as you walk in, he rises up and says, Oh, it's you. Hi, Parkly.
00:40:13
Speaker
Hello, Miss Campbell. Here to make your little ashtrays and mugs. Are you? You know my mugs are beautiful works of art and I'm going to go work on them. I find them a bit trad. That's your opinion, Parkly, and then I go up into my studio. Yes, get his ass, Claire.
00:40:39
Speaker
Yeah, you've kind of got this like dedicated workspace there. You've got some of your projects that you've been working on. I guess, can I pack up some art supplies to take with me in case I want to like carve something for the offering? Yeah, sure. Like a piece of raw material and some art supplies. Yeah. And then I want to write a note, I guess, this is like I'm going to be away for a few days and then stick it on the door on my way out. Sure.
00:41:04
Speaker
You write a little handwritten note and grab your supplies. No one bothers you. Park Lee kind of clares at you as you as you come and go. And yeah, you rejoin your companions out on the street.
00:41:17
Speaker
The rest of you, the three of you, travel up through the rest of the Gold District, up over the Oceancrest Bridge with Faunalyn escorting you. There's no trouble getting into the district, into the neighborhood, and before long you are once again brought to birth old Manor.
00:41:36
Speaker
It is, like I said, late afternoon. The sun's kind of starting to glow a little brighter up above, a little, you know, a little more red burning in with the yellow, and you see that Wooly is tending to the hedge maze while smoking a cigarette. Okay, well, I guess I'll see if he'll cover for me, as we'll be away for a few days. Well,
00:41:59
Speaker
In my notes, I keep a little itemized list of features for every NPC, including voice directions. If you thought my voices were inconsistent, imagine how they'd be without that. I want you to know that my parkly voice note was feeble old man, and I want you to know that my woolly voice direction is also feeble old man.
00:42:18
Speaker
It's not my fault. You two decided to talk to the two feeble old men back to back, but you walk up to Woolie and he's got a cigarette in his mouth and he's going to snip, snip, snip. And he's just saying that and you realize he's not actually doing any work. He's just standing there smoking. Woolie. Yes.
00:42:35
Speaker
I know I've only been employed here for a couple days. It's been three hours. Has it really only been three hours? More or less. I've done a lot of work in that time. As you can see, I've moved the Azaleas into a better spot. You moved the Azaleas, yeah. Yeah, and they're looking a lot more alive.
00:42:52
Speaker
Yeah, you've done good. As I'm sure as you are aware, I am also aware that this is an award winning garden. And yes, you know, I would hate to risk another award just because I have to step away for a few days. I know this is coming out of the dark, but I need you to help me out. I have a very important quest to go on. It's come up out of the blue. I want your wages. Well, OK.
00:43:22
Speaker
I'll cover for you, give me away this. That's really all it takes? Yeah, I don't give a shit. If the place looks good, then they don't need a gardener, they fire me. If the place looks bad, then they think they need a gardener, so it's a pretty, you think I'm- Okay, well, that was a lot easier than I thought. What do we get paid again?
00:43:38
Speaker
I don't know about you and I don't disclose my wage to co-workers because I think that's bad practice. Management doesn't like it when the employees talk about how much they make. You can tell me what you make though. Checking my notes, I am certain I make one silver a day. Give me deception roll. Damn. Three. He says, don't yank my dick on this one.
00:44:08
Speaker
okay damn yeah it okay fine one gold a day for three days that's actually the truth perfect he holds his hand out to you oh you need it up front no no i get like a handshake gesture oh jeez i was like damn i'm not dropping three gold off right now shit i reach out to shake his hand yeah he grabs your wrist and kind of opens like turns it open and then like dabs his ash his his cigarette ash into your hand clenches your fish chest says all right we're bound by ash now
00:44:40
Speaker
What the hell? Okay, if we're gonna be like that, I need you to follow a few things, okay? The azaleas, I moved them because your old ass left them in the sun. They don't like that, okay? I moved them into the shade where they need to be, and the soil needs to be moist all the time, okay? You've been letting it slip. All right, I'll take a leak on that later. Jeez. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Actually, they have to avoid lime as well because they can't have acidic soil, so pissing on it would kill them. I don't piss limes. I piss piss.
00:45:08
Speaker
Okay, well, if I come back to some fuckin' yellow-leaved azaleas... What are you gonna do about it? It's not me losing the award, so it wouldn't take much to point the finger at whoever fucked it up. Wanna keep your job at all? Alright, no need to get angry. Jeez. Well, too late. I'm just shaking you down for wages and trying to do the bare minimum at work. Is that so wrong?
00:45:31
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Honestly, yeah, I feel like I'm being taken for a ride now. Hey, you're the one who's leaving work. God damn it. Don't fuck up my azaleas. Did Clay and Faunalyn over here that? I would say it's up to you if you want to be like standing nearby or if you wanted to head inside to let anybody know you were taking off. I just want to say to Glimky when he comes back, we're not so different, you and I.
00:45:59
Speaker
We both care about these flowers? We're both terrifying sometimes, I think. I straighten out my ninja clothes.
00:46:15
Speaker
I don't even want to go inside. Yeah, I'm gonna I need to take clay because clay is my assistant or whatever the job title is my executive
Managing Relationships at Berthold Manor
00:46:26
Speaker
assistant. And yeah, I'm gonna go in and I'm going to seek out Amala.
00:46:32
Speaker
You ask around, a couple of the servants point you in the direction of the smoking room. It is there that you find Amala. She is seated in a large, comfortable chair. She has a very full glass of wine in front of her and a very empty bottle of wine sat next to the glass. And you walk in and she takes a sip and says, Hey, hello, darling. How are you? Oh, I'm
00:46:56
Speaker
I'm malaised, darling. Oh. I'm terribly malaised. What is that? Florifauna. Would you fetch me a cigar and light it? Thank you. And then also smoke it for me, but blow it near me so that I get the effect. Thank you. There are terrible scandalous rumours floating around me that originated, I think, while I was out looking for new servants for your household. People are saying that I'm dating a rat man in the sewers. Well, I'm going to roll a wee percentile real quick.
00:47:28
Speaker
She says, oh, that's preposterous. And so shortly after those rumors that you were dating the gardener and the personal assistant, my, you have an active dating life, it would seem. Insight check, did she start this rumor? Which one? She might have started the, I'm more, I'm curious about the recent one. Give me a insight check. Okay, that's a 17 and I have a plus five, plus six, so that's a 23.
00:47:56
Speaker
23. She seems genuinely intrigued by this new development. You get the sense that she did not start it and it likely arose from the fact that you were seen walking into an alleyway with a rat man on a leash. And then shouted, I'm having sex with this rat or something. Yeah. Yeah. As much as you might want to blame all your problems on Amala, I think this one falls squarely on you.
00:48:21
Speaker
Okay, but I think by implication, she did start the first ones. Okay. Well, it's just, it's terrible. I feel so awful because first of all, there was my attempted murder, which of course brought great glory to your house because, you know, not only are you housing me, but also you're housing someone that's important to assassinate.
00:48:40
Speaker
I wonder perhaps, and I've heard it said that perhaps the princess was kidnapped, to create a diversion from my attempt at killing, because it would, after all, be an absolute outrage if a daughter of the house responsible directly for shipping between Ulethor Fayed and every other state including this one was murdered. In fact, it might be more disastrous than a princess being kidnapped because trade has not been touched.
00:49:01
Speaker
It would be terrible if people cast aspersions on my name knowing we're close and it reflected badly on this great house, especially given what people are saying about Kazarin's grandfather. There's a lot to unpack there. First off, I'm going to need a deception roll regarding the idea that the kidnapping was a cover-up for an attempted murder.
00:49:25
Speaker
I think there should be a delusion stat in D&D. And I think I should get to roll delusion. Yeah, that's your dump stat. 16 on deception. So that's going to take me I have a plus seven on deception. I'm a prolific liar. That's another 23. Did she get a debuff because she's sloshed and Clay's I hope blowing smoke in her face if Clay is any kind of friend at all. I'm waving a lit cigar around like incense. Thank you.
00:49:55
Speaker
You're very good at your job. She goes, do you really think it was a cover up for your attempted murder? And she seems to completely miss the second half of that sentence. You can see that her brain fixated on the first part and the second half was completely lost on her. It's actually probably for the best because I came in really hot there. I'm going to keep that locked and loaded. That's a pointy bullet that one is. Although I guess it doesn't matter if bullets are pointy or not. I've never shot anyone.
00:50:26
Speaker
It's not what I think, it's what the people think. And people, you know, think it's a bit suspicious that someone so integral to trade was threatened on a night with such a meaningful diversion. I mean, if I had been killed, which again was a great likelihood, then I can only assume that
00:50:48
Speaker
the Vedarks would rescind trade with this nation or otherwise enact some kind of embargo and wouldn't that be disastrous? Quite. Quite. Quite. Quite. Quite. Anyway! What were we talking about again? I don't, I honestly don't remember. Oh, all of which to say, people are talking mad shit about me right now and it's ridiculous.
00:51:17
Speaker
That's terrible, darling. I know! Perhaps you should stay in for a few days, stay out of the public eye.
Setting Off to the Ambush Site
00:51:23
Speaker
No, Amala, if I don't get invited to that ball, I'm going to do something so drastic. She kind of takes a long sip and says, how drastic? Like, get myself killed in the floating towers and then have my father embargo trade to this state drastic. Would the embargo be before or after your murder? Why are you asking?
00:51:47
Speaker
Oh, just asking, because it seems hard to enact an embargo after you've already had yourself killed. Oh, I would write it in a sealed letter, and then I would give it to a trusted confidant, and then the trusted confidant would mail it after I've been killed.
00:51:58
Speaker
She hops off her chair and she walks over to you and puts a hand on your hand. She got these little gnome hands and she reaches up and grabs yours and says, listen, I will ask around. Perhaps you had an invitation that was lost in the mail or perhaps something else arose. I will look into it for you and I will see what I can do because you are my guest and I will ensure you are well taken care of while you are in my care.
00:52:25
Speaker
Amala, you are not only truly a beneficious host, but also just an excellent, excellent friend. Do you know, I actually heard a rumor about you. And then I would just shoot the shit with her for a few hours and I would start with a rumor about how someone said that she looked really beautiful at the humiliation ball and she has a lovely laugh and she's secretly really good at singing, but she doesn't sing because she's too humble to show it off.
00:52:52
Speaker
Amazing. So you spent a couple of hours chatting with her. Clay, your eyes are red in bloodshot. I get in this conversation as you've been waving a cigar in front of your eyes this entire time. But you just stand there idly. I was like coughing loudly in the corner. Yeah.
00:53:10
Speaker
You are completely ignored. A couple bottles of wine are consumed by Amala. And yeah, the night carries on. I would say that unless there's any other business, any of you are attempting to attend to, I would say you can go to bed. You can rest and awaken in the morning with fresh eyes and hearts aglow.
00:53:35
Speaker
So you awaken in the morning with fresh eyes on part two. And set off for our for dear old demise. Oh, I forgot to tell Amala I was leaving. Can we assume it came up in the course of the conversation? Yeah, she's seen she is worried at the thought of you like venturing out but the fact that you'll have a couple people with you. She's like, Do you want me to send Krombeck with you? Oh, do we want Krombeck gang? He has his name is lung crusher. So it might come in handy.
00:54:05
Speaker
I thought we weren't going for murder, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But if it goes that way, I won't have to kill them. We'll say no. Lung crusher. We're setting lung crusher up to take the fall for us if we end up murdering. Second lung crusher. I think we shouldn't bring lung crusher because I don't think I want a member of this house seeing me crawl out of the mud and then commit murder or so. Fair. I mean, not murder, right? Not murder, guys. Yeah, no murder. No murder. Wink, wink. Something in your eye.
00:54:34
Speaker
So, you get up, fallow, prepare a couple days worth of food for you, and you head out. It should be gone no more than three days, the current plan, you know, day to get there. You might even do two if they happen to reach the ambush site early enough tomorrow, but you head out.
00:54:54
Speaker
You wind your way through the sapphire district, down into the gold district, silver district, copper district, and then you are back at the gates, the entrance to Ardenine. The western road from Ardenine winds along the coast of the El Suin Ocean. Gray blue water swells and crashes against the rocks, and flocks of seabirds pass overhead.
00:55:17
Speaker
You see many fishing boats rocking in the swell, pulling in the day's catch. The early summer heat of Pharaoh shines down upon you, bringing a welcome warmth after a cold winter. You pass a white sand beach and see a pair of children, a human in a tiefling, swinging makeshift swords made of some clear material.
00:55:36
Speaker
The road slants ever so slightly upwards, and gradually the distance to the water increases as you find yourselves walking along cliffs 10, maybe 20 feet above the water below. As the morning unfolds, however, the air begins to cool, and heavy clouds begin to roll in from the water. Before long, the day is overcast, and a short while later it begins to rain. Lightly at first, but within an hour, the rain becomes heavy, obscuring your vision and turning the road soft and muddy.
00:56:05
Speaker
Is there anything you wish to discuss or prepare for as you walk through this rainy, rainy day? So on the road we're just kind of like walking is a just at this point just a muddy mess. Yep, it's a dirt road. It's turning muddy pretty quickly. It is
00:56:25
Speaker
Wide enough for two carriages to pass each other but not much wider than that and it's kind of one of those things if you stop paying attention you could easily wander off the road and fall to your death on the rocks below.
Encountering the Mystical Oak Tree
00:56:39
Speaker
And is this like a it's just heavy rain or is there like a storm coming? Do we hear any thunder lightning or is it just like... For now it's just rain.
00:56:48
Speaker
Yeah, I just call out to the two of them over the pounding rain just to keep away from the edge and stay close to the other cliff. It's probably going to get worse from here.
00:57:00
Speaker
I like the ambiance of the storms. Suits are dark deeds. Phonolin has a parasol she could use as an umbrella. It's always up when I'm in medium sun, when it's remotely extreme. Clay and Glimky, I would like to know quickly, when we receive the king's boob, what are each of you going to ask for?
00:57:24
Speaker
I've never really thought about it. Holy shit. You're both just doing this for charity? Well, the princess is missing. We have to save the princess first. What would you do with the moon? I would liberate a quarter of a nation. Glinky, what would you do? Liberate? Hold on. I don't want to just glance over that. Liberate a quarter of a nation? Who are you liberating? Something unjust was done.
00:57:53
Speaker
to a group of people, and there's nothing that can be done in the place where the injustice occurred. But perhaps the king of Erdenin could... I would ask for a lot of money. I would ask for a shit ton of money and jewels, and maybe opium. Next question. I mean, Glinky, what would you do? I feel like you... would you just... you'd need the money to liberate the people, or couldn't you just ask him to free the people?
00:58:22
Speaker
No, I want the money because I'm frivolous and I have absolutely no hidden depths. Well, my involvement in this was more so just the adventures, to be honest. The boon, of course, would be nice, and perhaps I would ask for a nice gift to bring back home. But honestly,
00:58:44
Speaker
I just want to be able to tell a pretty cool story when I get home. All my brothers and sisters have come back from their wayfaring with glorious stories of adventure. And I don't want to come back and let the family down. So I've been looking for any reason to come back home. It's been fun on the road.
00:59:07
Speaker
This seems like as good a reason as any to get a good story. But, you know, I think would be a really good gift is my younger sister loves books. And if I could ask for one thing, it would be to turn this story into a book of our own. That's so nice. Oh, my God. And Clay could draw the pictures. I could. I think that would be pretty sweet. Wow. Well, I knew something about not wanting to let your family down. That's I think that's lovely.
00:59:42
Speaker
You continue your journey along the western road until you round a bend and see a great oak tree in the distance. It stands over 50 feet tall with ash gray leaves. You can see that the roots wind down the cliff face towards the elsewhere ocean below. And you notice that while the ocean violently swells and crashes into the cliffs you walk along,
01:00:06
Speaker
Closer to the tree, the water is still. The road here has gotten rather narrow, standards between the ocean to your right and a steep cliff face to your left. You continue on for another half hour and around that time you find yourself standing in front of this tree. And it's still like just pouring rain?
01:00:28
Speaker
Yeah, it's getting pretty late, but I'd say it's eased up a little bit, but it's still rainy. Damn, okay. Give me a perception roll. Five.
01:00:39
Speaker
Yeah, it's hard to see anything in this rain. It's kind of obscuring your vision a bit. I will say, despite that, you can see a little bit of the terrain around you for planning purposes, in case there's any strategy that you wish to discuss this evening. I will provide a map now. A map? A map. A what?
01:01:04
Speaker
Would this be a good place for us to perhaps we could set up camp next to the tree or something? Yeah. How difficult does it look to climb up to the tree area?
01:01:14
Speaker
So you see that there's not like a ton of room, like the tree itself, like it's a pretty steep climb up into the thicker branches. You could attempt to. You also see that there's cliffs and you see that there's a couple striations, if you will. There's a couple levels. You see that the water is kind of about 20 feet below off the edge of this cliff. And then you can kind of climb up to the right if you wish to. You see like it seems to flatten up after about 20 feet. So you think you could maybe climb up there as an alternative. I see.
01:01:43
Speaker
Is there any coverage from the rain or anything? From where you're standing, you see that you can kind of nestle yourselves under these branches for a bit of shelter. Maybe there's something up. If you climb up, you see there's a couple trees up there. But from where you're standing, you don't really have a good view of if there's any cover up there. Otherwise, it's pretty exposed. And which direction is the carriage we're expecting going to come from?
01:02:07
Speaker
the way you've been traveling. So you've been traveling south and it'll be coming north along this road. I see. So what do you, what do you think? And we set up, we set up camp by, do we want to go up onto the ridge? Just make sure our camp is out of sight. It would be nice to go visit this tree if we could get an idea of what, what spirit might be making home there. Okay. Yeah. I like a high ground camp. And then, you know, if there's a flash flood or something, it will run downhill.
01:02:37
Speaker
And then also we can go make our offerings to the big tree. I cooked up something really sweet and nostalgic. So I hope you both stepped up your game because it harkens back to our nascent friendships and our origins, et cetera. Oh my goodness. Should we like show each other what we're going to offer? Oh. Like see what we have. I just have a bouquet of azaleas sticking to the backlight. Can Clay have like whittled something on her way here? Yeah.
01:03:04
Speaker
It's like a nice carving. Give me a performance roll. Yay. Ooh. What is my performance? Does she have proficiency in that? No. Shouldn't it be something I'm good at because I'm an artist? You are an artist. You do mostly work with like stone and clay. What if I carved it out of stone?
01:03:25
Speaker
I would say you can add your proficiency bonus to this. Oh, okay. Nice. 15. It has been difficult. You've been walking. It is raining. You've occasionally, Glimkeys had to kind of grab onto your arm and pull you away from a cliff that you were about to walk back. But yeah, you've got a little piece of art. What does it look like?
01:03:43
Speaker
It's a carving of an acorn. It's like a very nice acorn shaped mug. A mug. Very good. With like an acorn cap. And then inside is like the flowers that I picked from the garden. Nice. Yeah, for sure. So you have that and you pull that out to show them. Yeah, that's awesome. Acorn is a great symbol.
01:04:12
Speaker
To me, it represents the cycle of life. Now we have a great oak tree that stood here for potentially a century. And this little thing would be its birth. It's a very thoughtful, thoughtful gift. And I'm kind of kicking myself, but I didn't think of it. It's a gift from all of us. We try to convince. Oh, thank God. You're putting my name on that too. Good, good, good, good. Maybe. And I take out the bouquet of azaleas and I say, maybe it could hold these. Yeah, add them to the flowers.
01:04:41
Speaker
Like how wonderful this gift is gonna be. Yeah, what did you bring? So something about Faunalyn that I haven't mentioned is that sometimes her puffy sleeves, you can see trails of glowing blue kind of tendril things just ever so slightly. And if she ever pokes out, she'll tuck it back in and you might just mistake it for some kind of undergarment and kind of lacy, still leave decoration or perhaps a ribbon. But Faunalyn is going to pull out a glowing tendril and it is very much like a ribbon. I brought the moment when Glimke agreed that we were friends.
01:05:11
Speaker
and she's going to put it next to the acorn. What? You can ask questions, but it's more fun if I reveal it later and I get to be mysterious for a bit first. Wow. Damn. So it's just like a ribbon? So it's not a physical ribbon, but it's kind of like a glowing, magical fragment that very much resembles a satin ribbon, but it just has a little less of the material to it. So if you give up that memory, do you like lose that memory? No. No.
01:05:39
Speaker
Here. Okay. Well, I remember very clearly when we were hanging out on the pier and we were just sort of shooting the shit. And then you said out of nowhere, something along the lines of like, yes, we're very good friends. And then we were talking to that guy that I was blackmailing. But here, so question to the DM, can other people encounter, when I've encoded a thought, can other people experience those if I give them the ribbon? No. No, they can't.
01:06:04
Speaker
Casting the spell while holding a thought strand allows you to instantly receive whatever memory, idea, or message the thought strand contains.
Strategizing the Ambush
01:06:11
Speaker
Okay, my thing was cooler, but it's fine.
01:06:14
Speaker
Your thing is also a very powerful game breaking tool. If I just casually give it to you as a cantrip that you could be like, oh look, I remember here I wasn't the murderer because here you go. Read my memory. I feel like the gesture is still a cool. Yeah, I guess I'll still give it to the tree. But it was a nice moment and I thought, you know, we're doing this together and I'm very happy to be here with you too. I thought it would be nice to give it to the tree. It's a really pretty ribbon. Thank you.
01:06:39
Speaker
And I love your acorn. You are extraordinarily skilled, Clay. Thank you. Oh, do you prefer to be called Florafauna? Uh, no, I prefer Clay. Okay. Your name's Florafauna. My fake name, I guess. Oh, damn. It's a friend I am. If we're doing a mission, should we all go by Rumpus again?
01:07:00
Speaker
Oh yeah, it's Rumpus Hour. Tomorrow is Rumpus Hour. Yeah, tomorrow. That's another good way to compartmentalize the murder. I didn't kill anybody, Rumpus did. And we're all Rumpus, so it kind of like disperses the blame. Dr. Treefellow and Mr. Rumpus. I think people who have read the book know that Dr. Treefellow is the real monster. I guess we're going to the tree first then.
01:07:27
Speaker
I guess to see if there's actually a spirit there. You walk up to this tree and the bark is kind of just dark brown, but it's rather smooth. You see, like I said, that this tree stands over 50 feet tall. Its branches kind of splay up before you with these ash gray leaves. Looks like you're standing underneath a cloud and they kind of sway ever so slightly in the breeze.
01:07:52
Speaker
Kind of not really the way that other trees are, if you notice. They're not. It seems unaffected by the rain. It feels like it's kind of just existing within this space. Cool. As you approach the ground, it feels a little cooler beneath your feet. The air seems to chill ever so slightly. And as you reach a handout, you place it upon the tree and it is cold to the touch. What are you doing with your offerings?
01:08:18
Speaker
Is there like a knot or like a little nook perhaps? There's a small hollow at the base of the tree kind of amongst the roots that you could play stuff.
01:08:26
Speaker
I gather up the items I guess and I go back over to the little nook and I'll place items inside and kind of like whisper to the tree a little prayer thanking it for the the temporary cover from the rain and I hope that it can enjoy these little offerings and aside from that I kind of just like sit crisscross applesauce in front of the the tree kind of just looking up at the leaves waiting
01:08:55
Speaker
Clay and Faunalyn, as you're watching this, you notice that the swaying of the tree stops, but then it leans ever so slightly in the direction of Glimky. It doesn't sway back, it just kind of freezes. And you watch as his hair with these leaves and these branches, the little twigs caught up in it, starts to slowly rise up and reach towards the tree for just a second. And then
01:09:23
Speaker
His hair falls back down, the tree goes back to swaying, and everything is quiet. The rain eases up a little bit, little cracks of sunlight pouring into the clouds, and for the time being, it seems like it's going to be a less stormy evening. He stands up and goes, I don't think anybody's here.
01:09:51
Speaker
Sorry guys, at least the storm let up. Yeah, that's nice. You know where I'm from, they would always talk about oak trees and how they were like these silent sentinels. They would sit in the forest and whisper to one another and tell each other stories. And I'm not really getting that. So I don't know, did you guys see anything? It stopped moving for like a second, but I don't know.
01:10:17
Speaker
I don't know anything about tree spirits, so I trust you. Yeah. So you seem to be sort of one with the tree for a moment, but it was just a moment. So maybe this tree is worse than other oak trees. I don't know. Well, I feel like it's, it seems like a special tree. I guess I was expecting more, but. That's okay. I think we could, we couldn't start maybe setting a trap and then maybe they're, they hurt us and they can help us out. Hmm.
01:10:45
Speaker
Maybe you're right. I guess what we were doing again, we're going to tie a rope around. Yes. Break the horse's legs. Maybe we don't tie a rope around this tree. Okay. I feel like that would be rude. Is it slippery at all from the rain? Oh, definitely. Would a cart actually fall into the ocean? I mean, it would probably need some encouraging, but it's not like there's guardrails.
Scouting the Cliffs and Tower
01:11:12
Speaker
just jump out in front of the cart and then hope they veer off into the ocean. Yeah, on the other end of the road, on the cliffs, are there any dead trees or logs or loose rocks? There is nothing at road level, but when you look up the cliff face, you see that there's this plateau 10 feet up. And then if you look another 10 feet, you do see at the top of the cliffs here, you see a few trees, you do see a couple boulders for sure.
01:11:38
Speaker
boulders. Well, maybe if we head up there, we can kind of ramshackle together some sort of trap we could spring with either a boulder or a log. If anything, startling them off course would be good or blocking the road. Are you guys okay with killing a lot of horses? No. I'd rather not kill anything, but if we can startle the horse and it just happens to drive them into the sea, I don't know.
01:12:05
Speaker
Ideally, we want to preserve the horses because then we can drive the carriage back, right? Because we need to bring the shipment back. Oh, yeah. Right. Okay. Well, then how about how about we just we look for some logs or a tree and we just make a barricade and we can just say that the storm knocked it over. Yeah, we could stage like an accident and then maybe they'll stop and investigate and then we can ambush them.
01:12:33
Speaker
I really think Clay should lie on the ground and pretend she's been hit by something. I think a tree will do a better job of stopping them to be honest. We can move some boulders down and then we could like lie around and pretend that the boulders fell on top of us. Yes.
01:12:49
Speaker
Okay. Let's go get some logs and boulders. You look around and you do see that you can climb up directly, which would be harder, but you poke around a bit and you see there's like a bit of a, like it's still steep, but it's like just kind of more of a natural incline. You think you could scramble up that. Yeah. Let's, let's get to scrambling. Okay. No checks required. It is difficult terrain. So it's a little, you know, it's hard to climb up, but you don't have to make any check to do so. It just takes you a little longer.
01:13:15
Speaker
and you pull yourself up that are the other two. Are you two also traveling with Gunki up the cliff? Yeah, I guess we go all the same way. Okay. You climb up to the top of this cliff. When you reach the top, you see that there are several trees growing along the edge of the cliff. There's a few more further back, of course. There's some boulders. You also see that there is a series of stone circles. They appear to be perhaps the foundation of an old building.
01:13:44
Speaker
At the center of this circle is a crude stone tower. It's hastily cobbled together. It looks like it's crooked in the middle, but it is standing. You look and you see there's a small wooden door. It's circular. It's got a small, pointed, thatched roof.
01:13:59
Speaker
Well, if that's piqued anyone else's interest, I'd be open to going to look at that. Yeah. Does it look like anyone's there, like inside the tower? Give me a perception roll. Oh my God. Three. 17. Glimky, you look up to taking this tower and you just get a bunch of rain in the face. You're blinking. You can't, you don't, you don't see anything. Clay, you look, you see a small wisp of smoke coming out of a little hole in the roof, a little chimney.
01:14:28
Speaker
Oh, someone lives here. Is there any significance of the stone circles? Would I know anything about it?
01:14:35
Speaker
I'd say you could make a investigation check. You could make a history check. They're both bad. Yeah, that's fair. Investigation? Three. You think possibly, but it's odd. It's odd to see this structure here or these stones are smooth. I'd say even with the three, the stones are like, they seem fairly smooth. They're not just boulders that have been placed in a circle, but beyond that, you don't really pick up on anything.
01:15:05
Speaker
Are
Interacting with the Tower's Resident
01:15:06
Speaker
there any windows on the tower? Yes, but not like in the sense that there's glass or shutters. There's just a couple gaps higher up in the stone like a stones been pushed through Jenga style. What do you guys think? Well, if you think someone's in there, maybe we could leave them be or boo. Oh, my god. No, it's like knock or something. Throw a rock at the window. Okay. My bad.
01:15:33
Speaker
So we do have to camp out here. Maybe we can ask if we can stay in the tower with them while we're here. Oh, yeah, that's true. I just we're also making maybe making this person complicit. But we're going by code names. So we can we can finish our trap first. True. We should finish our trap first.
01:15:56
Speaker
Oh, I have an idea. What if we do the trap thing and then tomorrow we come up here and we're like, my God, there's been an accident. And then I don't know. I don't know. I don't know where I was going. Oh, if they've been a witness, if they've been a witness, then, but if they haven't seen anything, then we'll just pretend that we're shell shocked or whatever. Oh, so I'm realizing that gestures don't read well for a podcast. The implication was if they witness the crime, we take them out.
01:16:26
Speaker
Man, I'm already having trouble wanting to, if we hurt the guards at all. Now we're gonna potentially this random person who's just living in this house is gonna have to be murdered. I don't like that. Good point. What if we just ask them if we can sleep in their house because otherwise we're going to sleep on the dirt or something and that sounds gross and it's going to rain today.
01:16:44
Speaker
Also, this house is cool, and I think Clay wants to go inside. Clay spent, like, five minutes looking at the stones. I just think it's cool. Yeah, yeah, no, no, we should go, you can go definitely go talk to them. You go, you can go say hi, I'm gonna go look for a dead tree to cut down on. And or put in posish. Posish. This place is called the Arf- Arfordeel's Demise, right? Oh. Arfordeerells. What if this is Arfordeerell's house?
01:17:11
Speaker
This kind of ominous name. Who's our fruit? So probably a cool and mysterious guy lives in this house, I would bet. Yeah, that's true. Okay, on the count of three, let's all say if we want to go inside or not.
01:17:24
Speaker
Oh, I think you should go and say hi. You didn't want to come? No. We should prepare our trap first and then see. I'll take care of it.
Negotiating Shelter with the Goblin
01:17:35
Speaker
I'll find some rocks in a tree. Get two birds stoned at once, right? I was speaking of, and I want to pull out a box of cigars and be like, Clay, since you like them so much. No. She's traumatized. She doesn't smoke.
01:17:51
Speaker
Okay, well, Clay, do you want to go ahead and knock or should we bust a window or something for a grander entrance? What do you think? I don't know. Should we, should we disturb them? Grumpke doesn't seem to want to. No, no, no, no, don't pay. You can go. You do it. I like the idea. Okay, let's go knock to see who's in there. So, Clay, you walk up to the front door. Faunalyn, are you joining her? Yeah, I'll hang out with Clay. It's either that or roll rocks around outside, right? Yeah. Yeah, I'm joining Clay.
01:18:21
Speaker
Glenn Key, you started looking around for some trap pieces, some trap components. Clay, you knock on the door. As you approach, you look at this circular wooden door and you get the sense that it's not that very big. Like for you to fit through it, you would probably have to crawl on your hands and knees. You think it might be the lid of a barrel. It's about that size. Oh, I guess I like crouch a little bit and knock on the door. Sure. You crouch down and knock. From inside, you hear a muffled.
01:18:51
Speaker
And then a second later, the door swings open and you see before you is this small goblin woman. She has green skin and is wearing a black cloak with a black pointed hat and little green ears that are folded down, like poking down out of the hat. And she says, ah, where are you? I think you want to give that another take because it did not read as anything other than screaming.
01:19:21
Speaker
I think that's okay. Wait, what did the creature say? I think they asked who we are. Who are you? Hi ma'am, is this your house? Do you live here? Yes! Is this my tower? Oh, it's a lovely place you've got here. Thank you! So, who do we invite?
01:19:44
Speaker
we're we're just uh travelers we were wondering if you had a room for us to stay in there's no it doesn't seem to be any other shelter around here it's raining quite heavily give me a persuasion check oh no eight she kind of furrows her brow and shakes her head and these like floppy ears go back and forth she says 10 bobbles bobbles
01:20:11
Speaker
Yes! Ten bobbles! We won't pay more than five bobbles, and I think you know that's fair. Give me a persuasion check of your own. Oh my god. That's an eleven. Ten! Clay. Yes? I mean Rumpus. Shit, I keep doxxing you, it's terrible. What's a bobble? I don't know. What do we think it is? I pull out another...
01:20:38
Speaker
rock that I've carved into a acorn, but it's like a shitty, it's like a draft version of the one I made for the oak tree. And do you hand it to her? I like show it to her. Is this a bobble? She kind of holds out this little clawed hand. I give her the acorn. She looks at it. Not very shiny, but okay. Tucks it into
Conversing with the Tree Spirit
01:21:01
Speaker
her pocket. Nine more bobbles.
01:21:04
Speaker
Nine more bubbles. We're gonna have to get creative. I start carving. Nine more equals. No, no, no! Shiny. Shiny. Uh oh. I like pulled Faunalina aside so that she's not hearing this. She slams the door shut as you leave.
01:21:22
Speaker
Silver is shiny. We could convince her to help tell her that there's a carriage coming with silver weapons. And then if she helps us, we'll give her 10 silver weapons. And you know, I love this plan because it gives us a henchman and it gets us off bobble duty because I was going to start ripping buttons off your shirt. Oh, I guess we only had to give her nine because she accepted my acorn.
01:21:50
Speaker
and you have like five buttons there so we could do the button thing and then only give her four silver things my buttons in the meantime glipkey actually wants to scramble back down to the tree oh while the two of them are discussing baubles you scrambled down as you approach you immediately notice that the three things you left are no longer where you place them
01:22:10
Speaker
Oh, wonderful. Bimki walks over again, dropping his hood once he exits the rain. And he looks up to the tree and says, I'm sorry to disturb you again. It's just, it's been some time since I've been so close to nature. To be honest, I'm feeling a little disconnected. And I know you don't know me, but perhaps you know my patron spirit, Malare? If you could, for me,
01:22:37
Speaker
I know the old crow very well. And I glonky drops to a knee and it stares at the floor. Your offering is well given and well received. Um, who am I speaking to? You say that you know Malari well? We've crossed paths from time to time over the millennia. Wow. And would you call each other a friend perhaps? No.
01:23:06
Speaker
Oh, well, I was going to ask you if maybe you could send a message to be carried back to the forest of dwells, to just let them know I miss them. And I just am in the need of a little bit of guidance, but maybe perhaps you could help me with that. Give me a persuasion roll. Eight. Yeah, you're continuing to stare at the ground?
01:23:35
Speaker
Yes. Then what would that be? As Klimhe's eyes are beginning to, I guess, look more up at the tree.
01:23:55
Speaker
As your eyes rise up, you see a large frog positioned in the branches, like the size of a bulldog. It's perched up in the branches. It's got this gray skin that matches the leaves of the tree and these dark spots speckled on its back.
01:24:17
Speaker
As you look up, the frog's mouth opens and its tongue shoots out and a woman's head is at the end of the tongue and the head starts to move its mouth and it speaks and says, My business is my own. I do not answer to interlopers bringing the smell of more.
01:24:35
Speaker
You may rest here for the night, but I am not your messenger. I'm not your errand boy." Of course, I meant no offense by it. I simply hoped that maybe if your crawls would pass again, that you would just say hi for me. If there's any way that I can help you with your duties, perhaps you would be okay with letting me know what they are. I can see what I can do.
01:25:06
Speaker
The frog's mouth remains open, the tongue remains fully extended. You have a chance to look at this woman's head. It's got pale skin and long brown hair. His eyes are just pure black. You offer a trade? You offer services? Well, if it's going to be a trade, can I ask for something different than simply hello? You seek to bargain, brave little sapling.
01:25:33
Speaker
if you're open to it. You see, I'm on a bit of a grand adventure myself, unlike anything I've ever done before, and I am at a bit of a dilemma.
01:25:48
Speaker
You see, we're here to help some folk that suffer from varying degrees of lycanthropy. And it seems like a noble cause. And there will be some people passing through your little causeway here that are carrying some weapons to kill them all. I'm afraid that if we are to engage with them, we will likely have to kill some of them. And I don't know if
01:26:17
Speaker
I'm in a position to strike that kind of judgment on someone who might just be innocent. But perhaps you would be able to help us close this passageway, maybe using your deep roots to plug up the road, make it troublesome for them to pass, put a delay at least on their travel, and whatever it is that you need from me, I will be open to helping you.
01:26:47
Speaker
These black eyes stare at you and there's no response for a moment longer than you are comfortable with. But eventually the spirit speaks again. I will blow a favorable wind in your direction. It will aid you in the time is right. All I ask in exchange,
01:27:18
Speaker
is. And now the mouth on the woman's head opens and another tongue extends very much like a frog. And it ends like right in front of you. And there's a small ash gray acorn placed upon it. The
Planning the Convoy Trap
01:27:35
Speaker
voice continues even though like the tongue is like extended out like three feet. She still speaks perfectly fine and says, Take this seed planted in your home when you return. That is all I ask of you.
01:27:49
Speaker
Um, I like reach out, but, but hesitate and ask again, who am I speaking to? I am known by many names, but you may call me Vemul. And does, does Glimky recognize the spirit name or no? I would say probably not. It's not really a thing that is taught back home. It might be something that there's information on somewhere, but it's not something you'd have readily available to you. Mm-hmm.
01:28:17
Speaker
Okay, Gloomkey reaches out and I guess takes the acorn kind of bowing ahead again and says, if you can help me with the convoy, if you're true to your word, then I will plant the seed. It shall be done.
01:28:32
Speaker
And the tongue retracts, the mouth curls into a smile, and then the tongue retracts of the frog, and the frog has this big grin on its face. And then it goes, and its throat billows out, and then as it contracts, it just keeps shrinking and shrinking and shrinking until the entire frog has disappeared. Whoa. All right, back to looking for logs.
01:28:59
Speaker
Meanwhile, at the top of the cliff, what's the bobble sitch? Have we ripped your buttons off yet? Maybe just one button from each of us. I'm not cutting a button off for this shit. Yours are shinier. Look at mine. Okay, one button. And then I could give up like a memory. I could encode a memory of us arguing over bobbles. Those are very shiny.
01:29:26
Speaker
Oh, your memory ribbons are shiny. They're coming in real handy today. I've had those the whole time. Not once have they come up, but today? Twice. Do you have nine of them though? I mean, I do, but they're like... I have like a whole filing system and... Okay, one button, one ribbon, or two buttons. A ribbon. The acorn that I already gave her. That's four things. That's four things. Oh, Glimky might have a button.
01:29:56
Speaker
We give her Glimpkey. A button from each of us. Yeah, you see him pushing some logs around. It's like acorn.
01:30:06
Speaker
button, button, button, ribbon. We need five more things. Wait,
Discussing Werewolf Possibility
01:30:10
Speaker
what are we going to rope her into our violent scheme? We can ask her. Wait, violent scheme? We just want to... We're just trying to waylay a convoy and do away with the people operating it? Yes, that's completely non-violent, Clay. We just have to knock them out and take the carriage and drive it away. They can't catch up to us.
01:30:31
Speaker
Right? I guess when you put it like that, it sounds so non-violent. What if we just go through with our plan? We stage like a rock slide. They have to stop the carriage. We convince them all to get off of it. Then we drive the carriage away. Yeah, I think that's the plan, but also we're going to have to bash some heads. Otherwise they'll just hitch the next carriage and come into town and, I don't know, beat us up or something. But they won't have silver weapons with them.
01:31:01
Speaker
Yeah, but we're not werewolves. If they come after us, I don't know about you, but regular weapons will do fine. Actually, I shouldn't speak. Clay, are you? You're not. Are you? A werewolf? No. A were cow? No. Insight check.
01:31:26
Speaker
Go for it. If you roll poorly, you're just tricked yourself. I got a 24. Clay, you may roll a persuasion or deception roll. And if the roll is less than a 24, you can tell Faunalyn. Whatever I want. But she gleans, yeah. 13 plus four. With a 17, Faunalyn, you are pretty confident
01:31:55
Speaker
Clay is not a lycanthrope. One of the chief ways of transmitting lycanthropy is through a bite. Cows famously have dull teeth. Hard
Further Negotiations with the Goblin
01:32:10
Speaker
to transmit. Hard to have a population of wear cattle. But- That's unfortunate. You've also never quite seen anyone quite like Clay, so who knows really.
01:32:22
Speaker
I think a cow, because cows have all masticators, right? So I think they could transmit it, but they would just have to grind really hard on the arm and then the arm would get kind of mashed up. That makes sense. So I immediately start looking at Clay for like mashed up limbs. Do I have any mashed up limbs? You tell us. You tell us, but to my knowledge, no. From our conversations, no mashed up limbs. I'm like 90% sure I'm not a cow I can throw.
01:32:51
Speaker
Okay. I don't like that it's not a hundred, but... You never know these things. This is true. Well, I think you might know. Hmm. Okay. You're a very mysterious person, Clay. What were we talking about? Oh, baubles. Oh, yes. And then we were talking about roping in this innocent goblin. Who I quite like, by the way. Yeah, we should ask her a name.
01:33:19
Speaker
Okay, you go do it. You have a good rapport with her. I knock on the goblin's door again. Ah! The door swings open and you see her standing there once again. She's got one hand clenched tight into a fist and she says,
01:33:37
Speaker
No refunds! Oh no, it's us again, ma'am. Here's three more baubles. I give my button, Faunalyn's button, and her memory ribbon over. She snatches them from your hand and says, good baubles indeed. She's so cute. She takes the memory ribbon and stuffs it into her mouth. Friend?
01:34:08
Speaker
Please tell me if you eat a memory ribbon, do you get like an essence of like an aftertaste of the memory? Well, she did say friend. Aww. She knows we're friends, Claire.
01:34:19
Speaker
Uh, so six, she holds up three fingers and says six more bubbles. How many fingers does she have total? Oh, I give her that. Oh, wait. Yes. There's a dismembered finger. Oh, we could rip the nail off. Is it shiny? Okay. Give me a second. And I turn around and just hear me like squelching. I shouldn't have said anything.
01:34:49
Speaker
I don't think she'll like this. Oh, I think she will. Just watch. Clay, you were gonna ask her her name. Oh, yeah. What's your name? Tildee! Watch you! Tildee? Oh, my name's Clay, but you can call me Rumpus. So I have a... I don't have any more baubles on me, unfortunately. But I happen to know that around a day from now, how far away is the carriage?
01:35:18
Speaker
From what you've heard, it should probably arrive sometime tomorrow morning, maybe? Okay. So like sometime in the next day, I think a carriage will be passing through here carrying a lot of baubles. And we could pay you if you help us to get the baubles from them. Give me a persuasion check. 14. She kind of squints at you suspiciously and says,
01:35:46
Speaker
What help? We just want to convince around six people to get off of their carriage so we can take the baubles. You
Discovering the Giant Crab Jaquis
01:35:57
Speaker
live around here, right? Yes. Me and Jacquees. Who's Jacquees? Wait, there's somebody else here? So yeah, do you see a lot of people pass through here? No. No? Got here only a couple of days ago. Oh, do you like it here?
01:36:16
Speaker
wet yeah it is really wet we were hoping we could stay inside with you help and inside yeah but ten baubles i spin around and show the finger that the fingernail that i've just ripped out of the severed finger
01:36:34
Speaker
She comes climbing up your chest. She like jumps on you. Like grabs it from you and then turns her head. And when she turns it back, the thumb there, this nail is like pressed into her like her eye, like, you know, like an eye patch. She's like kind of pinching it in there by like winking. And bubbles. What did I tell you, Clay? Do I know little freaks or do I know little freaks? Do they give potion?
01:36:59
Speaker
Ooh. Potion help? You sell potions? What kind of potions? Can you make potions? Magic potions! What kind of potions? What kind of magic? Magic. And she smiles and there's like this big, like she's got these sharp teeth and just like this really big smile that just really accentuates all of them. Good magic or?
01:37:24
Speaker
She nods vigorously. Oh, what does the magic do? Magic. Okay. Come, come. I show. I show. And she like kind of runs over to you and grabs one of your fingers and starts like pulling you towards the tower. Okay. I go. I follow her. Yeah. You get to the, the door. She does not stop. She does not break stride. So I need you to make an acrobatics check real quick. Oh geez. You are pulled towards the door. It's a 10.
01:37:52
Speaker
Ten is what you needed. You narrowly duck out of the way as you are pulled through the door. You don't bonk your head. And you find yourself standing in a small little tower. There is a little fire on one side with a small little pot above it. There's a small little set of stairs that go up to a small little second floor. You kind of have to crouch the entire time, because if you stand up to your full height, you will bonk your head on the ceiling above. And she says, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit.
01:38:21
Speaker
Magic potion, potion, potion. And runs over to this trunk and pulls it open and comes running back with like an armful of bottles. They're these little glass bottles. They've got quirk stoppers. And she says, Matt, check. Can I do an arcana check or investigation check? Sure. Give me either one, honestly. Take it back. Ooh, these are all bad. Not one. Not one. The potions are dark.
01:38:51
Speaker
But she seems pretty sure that they're magic. And who are you to question an expert? Okay, magic potion. Can I sniff one? Does it smell like anything? You pop open the cork on one and you take a big whiff and it smells distinctly like mud. What's in this magic potion? Did you make this?
01:39:17
Speaker
I make all potions. Well, do you have some other ones that I could take a look at? She says, take one and points to the chest. Take one? Okay. Can I go look in the chest? Give me an investigation check.
01:39:36
Speaker
19 minus one so 18 you start poking through this trunk it is full like full up with bottles most of them are full of what you are pretty sure is mud you see little specks of green that you think are probably grass in one of them there is a frog that is very dead just like kind of floating in like a clear liquid
01:40:00
Speaker
You see one that's full of fireflies that are also dead because there's no air holes. And kind of nestled in at the bottom, you see one which has a thinner viscosity than
Potion Mishaps and Solutions
01:40:11
Speaker
all the mud ones and kind of this dark red color. That you're not a potion person, but if any of these are real potions, that is probably your best bet.
01:40:23
Speaker
Okay, I picked that one out and I show it to Tildi. Good magic potion? Good potion. Good potion. Make Jaquis so strong. What's Jaquis? My friend. Your friend? He's in the potion? No, no, no, no, no. Stupid. Okay. Jaquis drink potion and get strong.
01:40:51
Speaker
Oh, it's a strength potion. She kind of like looks at you as if she were talking to like a puppy that just, you know, just doesn't quite get it. I don't quite get it. Come, come, come, come, come, come, come. Okay, I follow her. She brings you outside. Faunalyn, have you just been standing there the whole time?
01:41:10
Speaker
I got some finger goo on my ninja clothes. I just fit in the corner like dabbing at finger goo. And also, Phonolin doesn't know like anything about magic. I have one magical ability and that's the only thing I can do. So I'm like seeing mud and I presume it's magic. I'm just watching Flay barter. I'm like, the good doctor is doing her work. Perfect. So do you follow them outside?
01:41:37
Speaker
So you climb out, you have to like carefully navigate so your wig doesn't get caught on the, uh, on the door frame, but you get brought outside and Tildi, the goblin witch brings you about 10 feet away from the tower and then cups her hands over her mouth and says, and the ground starts to vibrate.
01:42:00
Speaker
ever so slightly at first. And then you watch as the dirt around the tower starts to shimmer and shake and slide away. And you watch as a gigantic crab pulls itself up from the earth with the tower precariously perched upon it. And you watch as someone like
Encountering Jaquis for Convoy Plan
01:42:15
Speaker
there's a few shingles that fall off and you watch like one stone tumble away from the wall and you see just this massive crab. It's got these two giant pincer claws and these little like eye stalks, dark eyes. Oh my God.
01:42:37
Speaker
Oh. Jakes is your home, I see. That's cool as hell. That is really cool. Is Jakes okay, like mentally still? When he comes out of the
01:42:48
Speaker
the ground? Does the cliff get disturbed at all? Or is he small enough to... It's far enough back that you're not close enough to the edge that anything's tumbling off. And it does seem like there's a crater left behind. There's this large, Jacquees-shaped hole in the ground that seems like it was mostly dirt that has piled up over top of it.
01:43:10
Speaker
Glimky, as you're pushing logs, you feel a tremor and you like look over your shoulder and you just see suddenly there's a gigantic crab with a tower upon its back. And your companions are standing in front of it with this little goblin witch. Oh my god. Yeah, Glimky drops some branches and debris and draws his sword and starts sprinting towards the crab. Can I talk to Jackie? Like, does he talk? Hi. Nice to meet you.
01:43:36
Speaker
It kind of just snaps its claws shut a couple of times. Clay, I haven't asked this before. I don't think it's ever come up. Do you cast like spells?
01:43:47
Speaker
Uh, a few, just a few. Do any of those spells let you talk to giant grabs? Um, let me check. I don't think so. I think we're on episode six and Clay has never cast a spell more, can't you? I have never needed to. We're a non-traditional D&D podcast. We are non-traditional. We spend a lot of time talking about hot goss.
01:44:10
Speaker
Are you tired of professional voice actors or trained comedians or people that can do a goblin voice without confusing themselves? Then, hey, welcome. Thanks for coming. We're here for you. Glimky, make an acrobatics check for me. We're a dexterity saving throw if that's more to your liking. Athletics or acrobatics?
01:44:32
Speaker
I would say, honestly, athletics, acrobatics, a dexterity saving throw. Any of those, I don't care which. Oh my god. Five. You come running up sword in hand and find yourself suddenly scooped off the ground by a massive claw. As Shakiz reaches out and grabs you and just hoists you up. Oh shit.
01:44:50
Speaker
Does it feel violent? There's pressure. You get the sense if he wanted to try and crush you, he probably could. That has not happened. He just kind of holds you up next to his big eyes, staring at you. I shout down to my friends. Run!
01:45:08
Speaker
Can I turn to Tildi and be like, wait, wait, he's, he's our friend. Can you ask Jackie to let him go? Jackie's drop. And Glimky, you were dropped about five feet to the ground, not, you know, not so far, but you know, you land on your butt in the mud a little bit.
01:45:23
Speaker
Where the hell did this thing come from? So this is who was living in the tower, and this is the tower, Jackie. Geez, oh my god. They've agreed to help us with our plan if we give them some baubles. Do you have any baubles on you? What the hell is a bauble? Oh, like a severed fingernail, a button, you know. Something shiny, preferably. Yes.
01:45:48
Speaker
uh okay like now or no no no no god she starts dancing around you like in a circle chanting now now now i've got this pot oh that's way too high value no no no no no sorry okay hang on hang on tilly tilly right tilde tilde pardon me this is worth five baubles give me a persuasion roll
01:46:19
Speaker
Oh, that's a 17 plus 5, that's a 22. She grabs it from your hand and says, funny hat! And then runs over to Jaquis and puts it on his head. Oh, I've been trying to hold it back, but I have never liked an NPC in any D&D game more than I like Tilly and Jaquis. This whole thing feels so like Miyazaki, like the frog and the talking head, the crab tower. Very cool.
01:46:46
Speaker
A lot of people have been calling me the Miyazaki of my time. The white Miyazaki they call me. The Miyazaki of the West. They got a lot of names for me. None of them I like. She says, potion, big, funny hat, chickies.
01:47:03
Speaker
Clay, you're gonna drink that potion, right? If we need to. I mean, it'd be so fucking cool. We could convince Jaquith to sit in the middle of the road. But Glimkey's just, I'm seeing like logs and I mean, your thing is better, but Glimkey did put some logs there. Is it enough to block the road for carriage? Almost. Nikki, how hard would it be to put all that back?
01:47:31
Speaker
Well, maybe if the giant crab moves it, not so hard. I don't know. We can keep blocking the road with the stuff. That part seems
Contemplating Alternative Plans
01:47:39
Speaker
to be good, I guess. I mean, at this point, like, I feel could we just scare off the guards with the giant crab? Oh, yeah. And then we'll be fine. We should take off his hat, though. It makes him look adorable. Yeah. Yeah, this sounds like a pretty good deal.
01:47:53
Speaker
Okay, so that's the plan, right? Is we're going to stop the carriage and then have Jaquis descend upon them. Yeah, and scare the crap out of them. Yes. You could pick up Glinky with one claw, you could pick up the people on the carriage and shake them round a bit. Yeah, yeah, chuck them into the sea. Ooh, yes, where the sea will- Or not, just scare them.
01:48:15
Speaker
I'm sure the sea will scare them, yes. It's turbulent today. Sea is for crap. I tell this plant to Tildi. That's it. Can you ask Jacquise if he wants to help us? She walks over to Jacquise and starts snapping her hands back and forth like their little claws.
01:48:42
Speaker
And then like looks up at Jaquie's expectantly and yep, that seems about right. She rolled a nap one on her persuasion check and she gives a single clock lap and she says, nope, no do. Can I mimic what she did with the class? Yup.
01:49:07
Speaker
I don't know, man, a performance check. Okay. Thirteen. You watch as Jaquis turns 180 degrees and just starts to burrow down into the ground, just starts to wiggle slowly back and forth and starts pulling dirt back on top of himself. Okay. All right. I guess he's going back underground. Jaquis sleep now. Is his little hat poking out? Yeah. After a few minutes, you see there is a tower with a pot placed in front of him.
01:49:37
Speaker
i like them so much i could always drink the potion and then hopefully that will scare off the people drink potion yeah drink potion drink drink drink you've got to drink the potion right now or when the carriage appears oh good point
01:49:56
Speaker
What does this one smell like? You pop it open. It smells kind of like it's like floral. You think maybe elderflower? It is sweet, but there's like a slight hint of sour mixed in. I sip it. It's a small sip. I need you to roll a percentile for me. 18.
01:50:23
Speaker
you take a sip and just like a little little taste and as you do your notice the bottle seems to grow slightly in your hand and then you like kind of hold your arm out further and you see your hand has shrunken down to half its size just the hand just the hand whoa it made the potion bottle bigger what's going on um i don't think it's getting bigger how long does this last i take another sip
01:50:53
Speaker
How many sips are in this bottle? If you try and sip much more beyond this, you might not have enough to actually use when the time comes. I just have one small baby hand. Yeah, you've got like a child-sized hand. Oh, no. How long does this potion last? The key is forever. Oh, my God. Permanent small hand.
01:51:17
Speaker
Uh-oh. She kind of runs up and like jumps onto your shoulders and like looks at your hand and says, hmm. Scratches her, her one of her ears and says, hmm. Backwards. Yeah. This is the opposite of what happened to Jackie's. Have you got another potion Tildi, a different one? Okay. This is the wrong one. So let's go get the right one. She runs inside and comes back with a dark thick liquid and like holds it out to you. Drink it, Clay, quickly.
01:51:47
Speaker
before the magic becomes permanent. Why are we just drinking this mysterious liquid? This one obviously did something wrong. This woman is a doctor or something. She knows what she's doing. This woman lives on the back of a crab. Yes, and we could all learn a thing or two. Yeah, crab. You lived on the street under a carriage when I met you, so... Okay, well that's rude. Is this potion that she's holding out mud? Yes.
01:52:16
Speaker
Okay, I give it a funnel and I'm like, this one's yours. No, I don't want a giant hand though. Okay, bottoms up and I take a little sip. Sure. Can you make a constitution saving throw for me? That's a 10 plus one is 11. Yeah, you get a mouthful of mud. Clay, you have wounded me body and soul this day. You never know, it could be magic.
01:52:46
Speaker
Oh, no, you knew. Finally, as this is happening, you start to feel like something moving within you. Oh, parasite.
01:52:55
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. You reach and you pull out like a little earthworm that's like was in your mouth. Ew. I am going to encode another memory and I'm going to stare Clay dead in the eyes while I conjure up a memory and pull it from my mind. I take the earthworm from her. You can have it and I'm going to tuck it into my sleeve. Is the earthworm alive? It is. Cool. I'm glad you're so worried about the fucking earthworm. That's really nice of you, Clay.
01:53:22
Speaker
Tildy runs up and is kind of like jumping, trying to like get a better look at the worm. Yeah, this potion makes worms. Oh my god. Okay. This potion makes worms. It bottoms up and I take another sip. Make another constitution saving throw for me, please. That's another 11. Okay. Another worm? You know what? You feel something crunch? Huh? You spit and like just a pebble comes out. I conjure another memory staring clean, dead in the eyes. Father Lin will remember this.
01:53:50
Speaker
Oh, it seems like maybe this is a backwards potion as well. Only created one worm. It should what? Delete an earthworm? Delete a rock? It should subtract earthworms from my body? I haven't got any clay! You look over at Tildine, she's got like a little notepad and a quill out and she's taking very serious notes. I told you. If you look over her shoulder, you see that she's just drawing like circles.
01:54:18
Speaker
I love her. I told you the woman is a doctor. She looks up at
Nightfall and Dinner with the Goblin
01:54:22
Speaker
the sky and you notice the clouds have like largely cleared at this point and you see the sun is starting to like glow bright red hot and then it goes and stars scatter across the sky and you're thrust into darkness. It's kind of this afterglow for a bit and she says, time for dinner and runs inside. Well, I feel that I've already eaten.
01:54:44
Speaker
Tell me Glimky did my tooth actually break on the rock or did it just feel like it? It's hard to tell your mouth is like full of dirt You should really floss
01:54:59
Speaker
Let's go see if we can help Tildee with dinner. So you go inside. Glimky, you don't have to duck. This is a perfectly sized door. Oh, fantastic. The other two you kind of have to crawl or like, you know, squat to get in, hobble in. And yeah, you see that Tildee is standing in front of this big soup pot and kind of just throwing
01:55:21
Speaker
a bunch of stuff in there you see that the bottle with the dead frog gets poured in you see uh kind of just some like really gross warp looking carrots just chopping them up and throwing them in just seems like just a good old-fashioned everything soup is getting made does any of the bottles that she pours in there like look like actual magic potions nothing you can tell does it look edible make an insight roll
01:55:48
Speaker
What's my insight? Three? So seven. You know, it doesn't look, it doesn't look like poison. It doesn't maybe look good, but it looks edible, maybe? Cool. When it's done, I serve myself a small bowl. Okay. The other two, are you eating as well? No. What have I got to lose? I'll just take out some of my rations. Clay and Phoneline, could you both make constitution saving throws for me, please? No!
01:56:18
Speaker
Is it hot, at least? Oh yeah, it's very hot. Oh. It's worse. 17. 17. Me too. It doesn't taste good. It doesn't taste completely inedible. You pick out a few earthworms that she's added. There's like a bat wing that floats by, a hunk of moss that you're like, I think that's actually edible. And it turns out
Keeping Watch and Observing the Storm
01:56:39
Speaker
it is. And you have soup.
01:56:41
Speaker
Yay, soup. Tildi says, okay, sleep now. And then just walks upstairs, doesn't say another word to you. And you're kind of left alone in this living room. As night has fallen, are any of you planning on keeping a watch or are you going to just go to bed in this witch's tower? I feel like the house is a watch.
01:57:06
Speaker
Well, I think we should keep a watch to see if the carriage we're waiting for shows up early. I feel like Glimky would like to sleep under the tree. Okay. So where'd we land on a watch? Glimky's going to the tree, Clay and Faunalyn staying indoors. I think the vibe we should keep a watch, folks. I don't know about you. I think we should keep a watch. Maybe we can take turns. Who wants to take first watch? I'm an elf, so I only have to sleep for like
01:57:36
Speaker
four hours a night, right? Okay, well, then there you go. So I'll watch first from the tree for as long as I can. And then whenever you poke your head out, I'm not off. Sounds good. I'll wave a shiny memory. Two hours for glimkey, two hours for clay, four hours for fondling. I will do most of the work. I drank mud earlier. I just think you should all appreciate my contributions. Also, I gave up the most baubles. So true.
01:58:02
Speaker
but they were buttons. I gave a button and I gave it a chord. So, first watch. Glinky, you climb back down the cliff over to the tree. Tuck yourself in between a couple of roots or are you planning on climbing up into the branches? No, just in the roots, yeah. Well, actually, if it will let me, I am a tree fellow after all. It would be nice to be off the ground.
01:58:30
Speaker
You walk up to the tree, and as you're kind of like, you know, hands on hips, staring up at it, you watch as one of the branches bends down and extends towards you. Nice. I approach it and see if it'll let me climb up. You put a hand on it, it's cold to the touch, but it seems to wait there for you to put your weight on it, and when you do, it lifts you up off the ground, kind of tucks you into one of the upper branches. This is so cool.
01:58:58
Speaker
It's cold, but it's not unpleasantly so. It's like sleeping in one of those cooling mattresses. A little undercurrent of coolness that kind of pushes through you. You're seated up there, sat up there, seated even. Give me a perception check as you take the first watch.
01:59:15
Speaker
Holy crap. Five. I literally first rolled this session with a nat 20 and then I haven't rolled anything over a 10 since then. Very good. Five. You don't see anything. It seems to be a quiet night. You notice that the clouds are kind of pooling again to the north. It seems like it's going to cloud up again overnight.
01:59:40
Speaker
You do notice that the wind changes while you're sat up there. And you notice that it shifts from coming inland, going west to east, and switches directions and actually points back up towards the north. That sort of shifts in the night during your watch. And you hear a voice on the breeze say, a fair wind blows. Thanks. Thank you.
02:00:10
Speaker
After a couple hours, clay, we'll say you're woken up by glimkey. You step outside to keep watch. Give me a perception roll. 20, not enough. You see clouds forming in the north. And every so often throughout your watch, you see a burst of lightning. But with a 20, you notice it's all coming from the same spot.
02:00:42
Speaker
And it doesn't seem to be coming from the clouds. The lightning's coming like inside the cloud, but from one spot. It's below the cloud line. You see it's along the cliffs, like the level of the cliffs. It's pretty far off to the north. But yeah, you just see occasionally these bursts of lightning bursting upwards.
02:01:04
Speaker
And it's coming towards us? It seems like it's not getting closer. It just kind of seems to be concentrated in one area. And it's not a lot. It's not constant, but like it happens. And then like 20 minutes later, it happens again. And then 45 minutes, it happens a couple of times really quickly.
02:01:22
Speaker
I don't really do anything. It's far enough away that it's, and it's not approaching or anything. Nope. Okay. I just think there's like a storm on the horizon, I guess. Your watch concludes without any further excitement. And Faunalyn, you are roused from your trance. Where do you keep your watch? Do you go outside? Do you stay indoors?
02:01:47
Speaker
I sit where Clay was. YouTube pissed me off, by the way. One of you is talking to a tree. The other one sees spooky, unnatural lightning. And not one of you has notes for me when I start my watch. Not one of you wants to pass along a message. That was pretty chill. When I wake you up, I'm like, this looks like there's a storm over there. And then I fall asleep. Oh, spooky. Hey, good night. I'm going to try. I'm going to try. Is Clay near me while I'm doing my watch? Clay would be inside, I imagine.
02:02:14
Speaker
Mm, does Clay sleep in the same clothes that they spend the day in? I guess I like strip off the outer layer and I'm in like a under shirt. This is such a silly thing, but I want to sew one of my nicer buttons onto Clay's shirt while I'm doing my watch. Oh, that's cool. I'm very good at sewing, by the way. That's so nice. You work on that, and while you're doing so, give me a perception roll.
02:02:44
Speaker
Ooh, that's an 18. As you are working on this, this sewing project, much like one of those older ladies who brings her knitting needles to a social function and just kind of sitting there. Honestly, younger ladies as well, younger, not ladies, everybody's sewing, knitting, whatever. Anyway, I'm getting weirdly self-conscious. Much like an old woman who sews or hits, you do that thing. I'm like, am I offending anyone? Who can sew? Who's allowed to knit? What are all the demographics that like sewing?
02:03:14
Speaker
The preferred term is person who sews. Much like a person who sews, you sit down on the front entrance to this tower, keeping an eye out on the nearby road as it stretches in either direction to the north and to the south. You attach this nice button. Perfect fit. It looks like it'll do quite nicely. You look to the north where Clay pointed out
02:03:40
Speaker
this storm. And you notice that the sky has clouded over once again. The light of the two moons is completely obscured. The stars have disappeared. The air begins to cool. You can tell there's probably a storm coming. And as you look over to the north, keeping an eye on things, you see the occasional burst of lightning. It's not coming from the clouds.
02:04:07
Speaker
And it seems to be getting ever so slightly closer. Hmm. I stab myself in the thumb with a needle on purpose and then say, by the pricking of my thumb. Let me start over. By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked. Oh my God. By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.
02:04:38
Speaker
And that's
Episode Conclusion and Announcements
02:04:39
Speaker
where we'll end tonight's episode of Bart soup Well, well, well you made it to the end of another delicious bowl of Bart soup I'm proud of you. You did good
02:05:03
Speaker
Thanks for listening to Chapter 6 of Bard Soup. As always, I am your Dungeon Master, Zach Meekle. I am joined by Krima Zhao as Clay Campbell, Jordan Johnson as Glinky Treefellow, and Shannon Meekle as Faunalyn Vadark. You can follow us at bard underscore soup on Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok. And new episodes coming out every two weeks. We appreciate all the support and kind words, and we'll see you again soon. Slurp slurp.
02:05:35
Speaker
you