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Ep. 01 Enter The Dragon - Bellum Draconis
128 Plays2 years ago
Welcome to the first episode in our new campaign - Bellum Draconis - this is a perfect jumping in point for our old and new fans. Come and enjoy our latest adventure.
Follow us on our Twitters - @FellowshipTable
Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
Music kindly provided by Fesliyan Studios
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Transcript
Goldview's Return to Prosperity
00:00:00
Speaker
The bright sun forces you to squint up into the pale blue sky. No clouds. No wind. The tall and sand-stained buildings of the city of Goldview flank your peripheral vision. Since the fall of the Blight, a cataclysmic undead force attacking the living, Goldview has returned to its affluent ways. You, however, are panting. Sweating.
00:00:24
Speaker
Your eyes dart over the mass of the morning sky. The smell of the nearby ocean and docks fills your senses as a warm gust of wind passes over you. Your eyes lock on. You see it. What has been chasing you? For some reason it seems only you. You and the five or six other figures that seem to be staring up and running with you. An unholy alliance of strangers running from something deadly.
Dragon Attack on Goldview
00:00:51
Speaker
Running from a dragon.
00:00:54
Speaker
It belches forth a stream of fire which seems to curl and tornado in the thuds of its massive black wings. You hear the screams of people on the street where you stand. Feel the rush as they make a hasty retreat to the safety of indoors, slamming wood, locks being drawn. The dragon locks on, eyes bearing down on you.
00:01:15
Speaker
Your blood begins to run hot, your heart pounding in your ears. You hear others running away around you. You pick up the squeals of a man from a nearby window. Run! The Uprisca are coming! They will save us! Run! The dragon roars. Its glottal, low war cry fills your head and seems to shake your eyes and your skull. You turn to run, but your legs seem to stick to the ground.
00:01:43
Speaker
terror grips you. Welcome to the fellowship of the tabletop. This is Bellum Draconis.
00:02:19
Speaker
Hi, everyone.
Initiative and Chaos
00:02:20
Speaker
Can I ask you all to make a wisdom saving throw? Holy shit! Oh my god! What the fuck? First roll of the campaign. This is going to decide your initiative order. Oh, that always sounds good. I'll call out names of character names and just tell me what you've got, really. So, Nix, what did you get to start off with? Eight. Eight. Thank you, Nix. Rains, what did you get? Fifteen.
00:02:49
Speaker
Raines got a 15. Thank you very much. Alpha, three. Marotta, 12. Thank you, Marotta and Emron. 23 lad.
00:03:04
Speaker
23. Let me just rearrange my bitty so I've got you in the right order. I know exactly where Alpha's going. Lovely. So the range order I've got, pretty much. The order I've got is Emron, Rains, Marota, Nix and Alpha. We're going to go straight into a skill challenge to escape this dragon.
00:03:24
Speaker
Within reason, anything's fair game. I'll give you a couple of things to work off. If you fail, it doesn't mean necessarily you die straight away. I might ask for just a second and third role. If you want to do something to help someone next to you, if you know the person next to you, or you want to be a nice person and help the person next to you, you can do so. Feel free to interrupt me and just step in with that as it turns to him. Okay, so that's just what I'm checking, sorry, on helping. You want us to be proficient in the skill we're helping with, yes?
00:03:51
Speaker
If you're helping get proficient in this, I think just help, actually just help, just help, just help, just help. We need to get the fuck away from this dragon. That's all we need to worry about, I think. And that's decided your order. No one's actually stuck on spot, even though you rolled like dog shit alpha, but we all decided the order that we're running in.
00:04:06
Speaker
So your legs suddenly take off. The streets blur past you. A gust of wind forces you to duck as the dragon strafes ahead of you. Its black wings beating the air. A ton of flame erupts from its mouth. Buildings ahead of you burst into flame and seem to melt in front of your eyes, buildings to ash in mere seconds.
00:04:26
Speaker
The flames are hundreds of feet from you, yet you feel the heat. You hear the screams. Ash billows up into the air as the dragon pulls up high. You hear the shouts and loud thumps from ahead of you. Through the crowd, three large wooden barrels roll towards you. You roll towards the docks where you are from a burning cart and are heading directly towards you. Towards you, Emron, Rains and Marota are top three. Please, could you all make a dexterity saving throw?
00:04:54
Speaker
I don't like deck saves. I ain't too keen on the muscle. Come on. Oh, shit. Come on now. Okay, M1, what did you get? With my minus one, 13. Thank you very much, Morata. Natural one for a 5.
00:05:16
Speaker
Why? Thank you. And who was it? Reigns. I got a natural 20 for 22. 22. Lovely. What I'm going to say is that these are going to offset each other slightly. So I think what's going on, actually, within, actually, you two don't know each other, so maybe you won't. But...
00:05:32
Speaker
I'm going to play with it a little bit anyway, just to get us moving. So, Emron, you're absolutely fine. You see the barrel coming towards you. You lift up, you're lugging armor with your big weapon, and you kind of kind of hop yourself over the barrel as it bounces down the street and smashes ale paws down the street, putting out some of the nearby flames.
00:05:50
Speaker
Unfortunately, though, Morota, you, as Dectress said, you are a half not expecting this and you just kind of freeze on the spot. I'm going to take it that Reigns actually just, he's running past you and sees what's happening and just gives you a nudge to the side with the natural 20. He then kind of, let's say he kind of backflips over the barrel, why not? He did get rolled 22 after all. But Manchester nudge you just out of the way and that has dropped you a place in the initiative order slightly, but
00:06:18
Speaker
and you manage to skip aside from the barrel and you continue moving on down. People are running, scared, you can smell fear. You never realised it until now that it had a smell, either that or you can sense it. There are hundreds of people now in front of you as the city seems to bottleneck to the north.
Navigating the Chaos
00:06:35
Speaker
moving with a mob mentality. You slow your pace as the way becomes blocked with citizens, hundreds of citizens of Goldview. You look back at the banking dragon. You remember the look of chaos in its eye as it flew overhead. You're all sitting ducks out here, in the open. But as you turn to move, you are encased as more scared people fill from behind. You are trapped. Nix, Alpha, as the lowest two in the initiative order, is there anything you want to do to get this moving?
00:07:04
Speaker
I don't know. I'm thinking if you wanted to stand up on something and announce something or look up and see with your perception if you could find another way through to direct some of the crowd away. Okay, what I want to do, can I make a quick perception check to see, you know, or is it obvious which way is probably the easiest way to get out of the dragon's line of sight or
00:07:29
Speaker
range of attack. I basically want to take my pistol, fire a shot into the ear to get everyone's attention, to guide them away, well, to guide them a specific route as to where I want them to go. Okay, firstly, give me a perception check to see if you can notice where there might be an alleyway you could direct people. Come on.
00:07:48
Speaker
Okay, not bad, 16. Yes, absolutely. You look ahead of you, the main thoroughfare through the middle of the street is totally blocked, but you notice off to your right about 20 feet up, there's a line of barrels, but next to it is a split in the building, probably about 10 feet wide that nobody is really using at all. You can see that exit.
00:08:04
Speaker
I will take my pistol then fire it up into the air to gauge everyone's attention and then I will be gesturing everybody to basically start stepping up these barrels and go in between this split to get out of the way. As the crack of the pistol goes off everyone around you seems to duck down about two or three feet. They've never heard anything like this come from such a small item. They assume it must be magic.
00:08:27
Speaker
As you start directing, you notice people looking up and noticing and then suddenly the crowd starts to split away. It's still not moving particularly quick. You're moving at like a walking pace now, but you're still not moving quick as a dragon continues to kind of peel round. Every now and then you see the odd arrow fire up towards its general location, but nowhere near it. Nix, anything you want to do.
00:08:47
Speaker
Fuck, I don't know what to do. So I've just seen Alpha shoot a gun. This Alpha, this robot person next to me just fire a random gun, right? For what it's worth, you wouldn't realize he's a robot. He's wearing a cloak, he has his hood up. You've basically seen a person, a humanoid-shaped figure, fire a pistol up into the air and start telling everybody to go up some barrels. So you wouldn't be able to identify him as a robot. Okay, how tall are you? About six foot.
00:09:14
Speaker
Look good? Look intimidating? Oh god, yeah, I'm quite brawler. I'm quite brawler. Everyone! Follow the big guy! He's intimidating! He knows exactly what he's doing! And as people run towards this guy next to me who's just fired a gun, I'm going to run forwards through the crowd, not following the big guy who's got a fucking gun. I'm gonna just go from the dragon, but I'm gonna try and direct people towards this, this character. Okay, give me a persuasion check. Uh, performance.
00:09:43
Speaker
15. It's a good thing it was you down there because it could have been whoever was at the bottom of the list. I'd be hilarious letting some of the other characters do performance, I think. Yeah, absolutely. People do start to listen. They look at you, then look at this hooded figure, then see the hooded figure with the gun still smoking, pointing off to the side, and they take his aim. And now, 75% of the people are starting to
00:10:04
Speaker
yes yes off you go you follow follow him he will save you he will rescue you he's a dragon slayer oh he's the great dragon slayer off you go i'm gonna go and get more people to follow him as i'm running through the crowd excuse me yet i'm just getting two ones at the back keep following the guy with the gun the guy with the gun keep following and i'm just gonna snake through as i keep going
00:10:24
Speaker
All five of you managed to break through the throng with people, but one small halfling in a light blue jacket stood facing the wrong way, facing the dragon. Lazario, the bard that Nix and Morota helped only last night, stands staring up at the creature of destruction, transfixed. You are all going to run directly past her. You can run directly past her. Is there anything anyone would like
Heroic Rescues
00:10:43
Speaker
to do? Lazario! Lazario, what are you doing? There's a fucking dragon! There's no time, and I'm just gonna grab Lazario by the collar and pull.
00:10:52
Speaker
Okay give me an athletics check please Morota. 15. 15 nice okay she is a halfling and you are quite strong and you manage to grab her by the kind of the scruff of the neck and just pull her and eventually after a couple of strong tugs as you yank her down the street her legs start to kind of
00:11:11
Speaker
catch up and then she starts running with you, she starts running with you, the five of you down the street. A deep growl echoes across the city as this young dragon takes position high in the sky above the docks. Despite its distance from you, it speaks and it sounds like it stood five feet from you, its voice quivering with rage.
00:11:32
Speaker
this creature is looking for revenge those of you who speak draconic would realize the key phrase from that is that i'm going to the concept is kind of i'm going to make you pay there is revenge coming sounding like car jogo the dragon uh unleashes another billow of flames on the boats and the docks before diving down into the streets your streets the streets you are stood on
00:11:54
Speaker
You hear the deep inhalation, like a volcano taking one nice gulp of air before spewing molten carnage on the land below. Its throat glows, its eyes yellow and filled with anger. The street fills with a plume of fire. Can everyone make a dexterity saving throw? I'll just go down the initiative. Emron, what did you get?
00:12:15
Speaker
uh 14 14 thank you reigns 16 thank you reigns marota 17 17 good good good nix 12 12 thank you very much and alpha 10 thank you very much all
00:12:34
Speaker
Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Everybody except Alpha has just been burnt alive. So what happens is yes, pretty much. No, and you all manage to, you see this coming and maybe one of you, one or two of you call like, damn, cover, cover, or you hear someone shouting down, cover, cover, cover, and you manage to dart off. I'm going to say, Emeron, Raines and Morota, you dart off a small alley to the right just to take a cover behind a series of barrels. Nyx, you go off to the left and you find another little kind of alcove you can hide in, but behind some rocks.
00:13:03
Speaker
Alpha, you also manage to make your way into the same side as Nyx, but you take the corner a little too quickly and you smash your head, bang, into the corner of the building before Nyx kind of just, or your own speed kind of moves you into the space. Can I just add on something for you, Callum, that if you have to roll a...
00:13:28
Speaker
Let's make it a charisma check of any kind. Just put a minus one on its life. It's a persuasion, minus one. Just for now, like you're just dazed. I'm just putting in like a dazed. It'll drop once you've had a short rest. But anything like persuasion, anything that involves you to talk and be clever, blah, blah, blah, charisma, any kind of charisma check, not a saving throw, just a check or minus one to that. And like I said, that will run off in a moment.
00:13:50
Speaker
But you managed to make it in. You're not going to die just yet. Everyone else passed. Well done. As the flames burn through the streets, it quickly dissipates as it has nothing to really catch on as the dragon continues to move round. You all step out and start continuing to run down the street looking for some kind of cover, some kind of solace from this. Number one, who's number one, Emron, you catch your foot on a piece of debris as you step out from the gap behind you. Could you make a athletics check, please?
00:14:19
Speaker
see if you can not trip.
00:14:22
Speaker
I can indeed. Thank you very much. Come on, everyone. Loving the voice, Will. That would be a 19. Absolutely not a problem. I think what happens with the armour and the heavyset nature of your character, I don't even think this debris actually stops. I think you just kick it and it just explodes. It would have made any other normal human, any other normal mortal person trip, but you just kick straight through it with your heavyset armour. I think you've got armour on your legs, haven't you? He wears it...
00:14:52
Speaker
No, he wears chain mail, so it's just shoes and his trousers. He's got a chain mail shirt, so it's just a case of Emron Smash. Emron Smash. Put that on a t-shirt. Nice. Thank you very much. We're running down the street. Emron up there, still at the top of the order. Well done.
00:15:09
Speaker
As you take a right and a left, you're banking through the streets and you just see carnage. You see not so much the destruction of the city, but the worry and panic in people's faces as they realize this is a new form of attack. This is a new form of danger. It is in the city now. Something has gone horrifically wrong.
00:15:25
Speaker
you take another corner and you hear an almighty scream. As you turn the corner, you see a cart that's tipped over and there's a gnome man and his small daughter trapped underneath it. She looks about five or six years of age and he seems to be wispy gray hair, possibly even a grandfather, you're not really sure what gnome is, she is, and they're stuck under this crate, sorry, under this cart. You can, there's plenty of room for you to run past. Would anyone like to stop and do anything or are we moving on?
00:15:54
Speaker
Is there anybody near me? Alpha is going to stop and try and help out, definitely. But if anybody is going to be running past me, I'm literally going to say, quick, give me a hand. You are the lowest in the initiative order. Emron, you're at the very front. I imagine you're running in this order within reason. Emron, Reigns, Morota, Nix, Alpha. Emron runs over to the cart and goes, Alpha, get under here and help me lift it.
00:16:22
Speaker
And I'm going to try and get them out. The rest of you can hear because everyone and Alpha are opposite ends of the of the initiative. Would anyone else like to help? Yes. I got a yes from yes from Reigns and no from Marota. Nix. Sorry, are you all standing here? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And Nix just carries on running forwards. Fucking idiots.
00:16:48
Speaker
I just want to confirm I've still got Lazario like a hockey puck that I'm just like dribbling through the streets. Not quite. Yeah, you can still be holding on to her. She's kind of running along with you now, otherwise you probably would have choked to the death by now. But yeah, she's got a half running along, half looking back, half being dragged by you. It's a little bit of all three. The hockey puck analogy is lovely though. I do like that.
00:17:10
Speaker
I can still imagine her playing a musical instrument as she'd been lifted and dragged. They'll just carry it along. Absolutely. So what we're going to do is we're going to have a little skill check, a little strength skill check for that. Then what's going to happen is this, we're going to run it as an aided check. I know I've talked to you guys through it, but for listeners, hello, everyone. This is a bit fast paced. Sorry. It's not always like this. Oh my God. What's going to happen is I'm going to ask for the two aiding characters to make a roll. They're going to roll on their athletics. They're going to roll an athletics check as well.
00:17:35
Speaker
and they are going to add one, two, or three, or minus one, two, or three from Will's
Courage and Wisdom Checks
00:17:40
Speaker
roll. Will, as Enron, is going to be making the majority roll. It's his strength check, but the others can aid by either adding plus three to it, if they roll really well, or a minus three if they almost roll a natural one. So, please may I ask that, firstly, Alpha and Rains, could you roll an athletics check for me, please?
00:17:59
Speaker
I was going to say Rains is actually heading straight for the little girl and if possible he's going to take one of his puzzle cubes from his rucksack just have it all of a sudden in views of an image and he's just going to try and calm her and go take a look at this don't look anywhere else look at this you are going to be just fine look at me look at me look at this and he's just going to try and calm her and persuade her and could strengthen his thing
00:18:24
Speaker
No problem, and she does naturally calm down. I don't need to roll for that, because that was a lovely description there. She does naturally calm down, but she's still pinned. She's still not moving anywhere, but she is much, much calmer. And the father looks to you, the male, with an interest. Thank you. Thank you. Please help us. Help us. Get this card off him. Get this card off him, boys. Alpha, could you please roll a athletics check, please?
00:18:47
Speaker
It is an 18. 18, which means you add a plus three to Will's roll. Will, can you please roll your athletics check and then add all your modifiers as normal and then add plus three? Will do. Nice. Nice roll, Alpha. So that's a natural one, plus my modifier is three, plus Alpha's modifier is six.
00:19:09
Speaker
So, what happens when you go to lift the cart up? You manage to lift up and reigns. Could I ask, could you make an athletics check please? It's not good. Free.
00:19:21
Speaker
OK, everyone tries to lift the car and you think you hear him grunting under the strain. It's not moving, even though Alpha seems like digging into the ground. Like you see the ground pushing beneath him as he continues to try and help. You think I can grab the little girl. I can get her. I can save her from this dragon. And she tried to grab her. You realize both her legs are stuck. You thought it was just one, but both her legs are now stuck in the ground. And everyone, you go for another real really, really strong lift. You kind of like screaming.
00:19:49
Speaker
And you do the cart lift slowly, slowly, slowly. Finally, a ranger, you managed to grab the little girl and pull her out. But that's all the energy you've got. The cart returns to its place. You've got the little girl out, but the father is still left in there. And
00:20:06
Speaker
Emron you're gonna drop down the initiative order because you are knackered off the back of that Yeah, the man's gonna look to you and it seems that when you put it down It seems to be putting him in much more considerable, but pain. He just says go just go just leave me go go What do you want to do? Is it in order or can we just?
00:20:26
Speaker
It's all for review. OK, I am going to immediately take my potato peeler out of my rucksack. I'm going to point it directly at my shoes and cast Expeditious Retreat on myself. And I'm going to say to them, I've got to get her out of here. Get out yourselves to these two. And I'm going to take off in the direction of the traffic.
00:20:46
Speaker
Okay, and you're getting yourselves out of there with the girl. Awesome, thank you very much. And as I'm going, I'll just give her the puzzle cube and I'll be like, you keep looking at that, you hear me? You keep looking at that, you're going to be just fine. And she calmly continues to stare at the cube, almost slightly transfixed, but calmly. Only once or twice does she look back, but then quickly she looks back to the cube again. Alpha and Emron, what would you like to do? Emron's going to look to Alpha and say,
00:21:13
Speaker
Caught on Alpha. One more try. That's all I'm asking. One more try. Alpha is... Alpha is going to go along with it. Come on, father.
00:21:25
Speaker
Come on, Father, we can do this. Okay, and Emron's gonna sort of look at the man and go, and he's gonna sort of hold his chest and go, Elidor, guide my hands right now. And I'm gonna cast Bless on both me and Alpha. Oh, yes, thank God, yes. One, D4. Four, 212 rolls, yes. And could you also give me a religion check, please, Emron?
00:21:54
Speaker
Yes, I can. It's only a five on this occasion. Okay, not a problem. Don't worry about it. Thank you. And yes, you've got bless already. And who's leading whom on this in terms of who's aiding whom?
00:22:04
Speaker
I'm probably gonna keep leading. I still think you should lead on it. Yeah, well not to get everyone's gonna sort of he's gonna squat down and he's gonna lift and you can literally see like You know all of his life he's been spent, you know hammering a forge He's gonna be putting everything the muscles on his neck are gonna strain it's gonna be he's gonna literally be screaming out in frustration in everything just to try and put all of his All of that energy into his muscles all of that
00:22:36
Speaker
all of that adrenaline just surging through him, just to try and get this man out. Because he can't let this person go. No. OK. Awesome. Thank you, Raj. Alpha, could you make your athletics check, please, to see your check? Alpha's digging down Db. He's got his heels in the ground. He's pushing that as much as he can. Unnatural 20. Nice. OK, so that is, again, a plus three to the roll here. Fantastic. Come on, Will. And, everyone, over to you.
00:23:06
Speaker
Okay, so, I'm enrolled and I'll add my plus four. That's well. Ah. I didn't even put my plus four on that actually. I don't think it matters. Less marks as it does. No, no, it's fine for that. Wouldn't have gone to plus four. Eight. That's eleven.
00:23:24
Speaker
You know what? It meets at beats, don't worry. The DC for most of these things... Oh, thank God. It's huge in magnitude, straining, straining up, and it seems to have been lodged in the mud somehow, which is causing an issue. The pivot point wasn't right, really, but this time you hear a massive crunch and crack as you manage to basically snap the central spine of this cart, which wasn't allowing you to lift it. It didn't pivot up properly. You just snapped it in half, freeing this man. He stands up.
00:23:50
Speaker
Which way did she go? Which way did she go? My daughter, where is she? Which way did she go? I'm not going to hesitate on this. I know that Emron is already kind of exhausted from previous attempts, so I'm just going to grab the gnome father and start running in the same direction. And I'm going to say, do not worry. We will note you with your daughter soon. Amazing. Awesome. Thank you very much, guys. That was fantastic. Catching up with the bulk of people ahead, with your expeditious retreat reigns, I've said you've kind of caught up with Marota and Nick, so they've continued to make their way through.
00:24:20
Speaker
You all hear, though, this amazingly loud roar. It seems to have doubled, tripled in sound, almost like someone's amplifying the sound of this dragon as it screams out this rage-induced roar overhead. Could you all please make a wisdom saving throw to see whether or not you're frightened or not? Is that all of us or just those guys? All of you. All of this echoes through the city. Sorry. It's the next state where it's the three of them. Don't forget to add D4, Callum. Thank you.
00:24:50
Speaker
Okay, Marota. Let's have 15. 15, thank you, Nix. 13. 13, Reigns. 18. 18, Alpha.
00:25:01
Speaker
13. 13. Emron. 25. 25. Fucking hell, Will. Lovely. Fuck you, Will. You hear the dragon roar and your blood runs hot. Your heart beats faster. The pupils in your eyes dilate slightly. Your skin prickles in your hairs and the back of your neck stand on end, but you continue to move through this. Morota nicks and rains. You take a right and a left. You bank down and you cross the river, across the bridge into the center of town, into Vita Square. You continue on your way north. North and...
00:25:30
Speaker
kind of east west sorry north and west to get away inland inland away closer into sleep guard away from got the center of golds you away from the docks where this creature seems to be focusing and suddenly here there's a mighty crack and one of the buildings off vita square starts to crumble down across your path and could you please make a dexterity saving throw it will be crushed under the falling structure so that's marota nicks and rains
00:25:56
Speaker
Marotta, what did you get? 16. 16, thank you very much. Nix? 17. You're rolling really well, guys. Nice. Reigns? 13. 13, absolutely. You all managed to pass. This all drops when you stop. All three of you stop, one, two, three, in front of it. Reigns still with the little gnomish girl in his hands. The other two of you are free of hands. Marotta, you're at the very top and you turn to your left and manage to make a way through a side street.
00:26:22
Speaker
You didn't know it was even there, but you managed to see it quite clearly through the dust and smoke and make your way through as you continue to hear the screams and shouts and runs and noise of people. This isn't the normal noise of a city anymore. This is the noise of a city in war. And a man is sprinting directly towards you from left to right in Marota at the top of the initiative order. He will barge and knock into you prone unless you do something about it. Could you please give me an athletics or an acrobatics check depending on what you want to do?
00:26:48
Speaker
What's the physique of this person? Um, quite heavy set. Um, he's wearing quite loose clothing, looks in his kind of late forties. Um, but he is running like a man possessed and doesn't seem to even take you in as a person. Yeah, no, I'll go for acrobatics. I'll let him steamroll through.
00:27:09
Speaker
19. 19, lovely. You managed to, oh God, however you want to do this really, you could slide between his legs as he continues to run directly over and you managed to make it pass without even breaking a sweat. Whilst, as he gets past you and the others behind, he's noticed by this point and kind of, sorry, sorry, sorry, let me get past, let me get past, and he manages to get past you, the other few of you. Quite soon afterwards, Alpha and M1, you're kind of catching up at this point.
00:27:36
Speaker
You continue down the streets along one of the main thoroughfares. It's now almost empty, but there is a single child, stood, ash-covered face, crying in the middle of the road. Nix reigns. You're the next two that come across this. What do you want to do? Anything from you, Reigns? Is there a particular order to the world, are we? Yeah, we'll go Nix then reigns, actually. Nix, anything you want to do as you're kind of top of the initiative order now?
00:27:58
Speaker
For God's sake, why is there always kids? Has to be kids! What are you doing here? Come here!" And Nix will grab him by the scruff of the neck and just keep running. Okay, could you give me an athletics check, please? Just to make sure you can still run with this child. He's made of lead, by the way, so no checking. 13. Lovely. Yeah, not a problem. You managed to scoop this kid up and run with this little boy down the street.
00:28:25
Speaker
You're all kind of together now as a five as you continue to run. Nick's leading the way with Reigns. Morota just slightly more literally alongside Reigns and Nick's. Reigns with his unholy speed given by his expedious retreat. Alpha and Emberon catching up through the bless and actions of Aledo. You turn one more corner and you can hear almost the faint distant noise of the dragon now like you are getting away. And in front of you, you just see a scattering of gold coins littering the street.
Temptations and Tactics
00:28:51
Speaker
There's probably about 20 gold just on the streets now.
00:28:55
Speaker
You can continue to run. You can stop and grab some. What do you want to do? We'll go with probably what's happened there. The Marotta probably now is at the top of that list. Anything you want to do? I'll see the shimmer of the coin. I'll give a knowing glance to Nix. And then I'm just going to do a sort of side lean down and grab one or two. One or two. OK, thank you very much. Nix.
00:29:25
Speaker
Ah, I'm... So, gold coins from there are... Stop, child! Look, help me! Get the gold! Get all the gold! And Nix will get on his knees and start picking them up, picking them up, picking them up, picking them up, sticking in his pocket, sticking in his pocket, picking them up, picking them up. Go on! On the boy! Boy! Come on! Come on! To me! To me, with the gold! Good boy! That's it! Adder lad! Come on! Could you roll a persuasion check, please? Eight!
00:29:51
Speaker
Okay, the boy looks at you and just starts crying. He doesn't help at all. And whilst you've picked up, so I'm gonna say- Run towards the dragon then, all I care. Just fucking give me the gold. You've probably picked up about five or six by this point. Marota, was there anything you want to add to that? So while the failed attempt to try and persuade the child, I'm just going to stare at the child and gnarl in attempts to sort of intimidate the child to help out. Okay, nice. Rock, give me an intimidation, please, then. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
00:30:22
Speaker
Sticks. The bogey comes out instead, accidentally. You start coughing like... You have a little cough, some of the smoke and dust from the journey so far of these last 40 minutes has taken its toll on you and you just go to... And just cough up a little bit of phlegm and the boy kind of pats you on the knee and continues to kind of wander off down the street on his own.
00:30:51
Speaker
Alpha, Emron and Morota, you've caught up with these two by this point. You see the little boy walking in the opposite direction. Quite calm now, but still Ash covered on his face as you approach the others. There's still probably about 10 gold on the floor. Is there anything you three want to do? We'll start with Rains.
00:31:12
Speaker
Yeah, Rains will just, if only after one gold coin, he's just gonna bend down, scoop off the coin. That's mine, that's mine! This all fell out of my pocket, so I was so scared about the dragon, this just exploded out of me, so if you could just pick up the gold if you're picking it up, but give it back to me. I ignore that. Could you roll, um, uh, uh, deception please, uh, Nix? 18. I mean, I'll make you roll against that, Darren.
00:31:40
Speaker
It's up to you should do in theory having roll inside theory a roll inside against it, please then next listen to the rules lawyer. Yeah, buddy. Not lawyer. I've heard rules enforcer rules and forces. What did you 17? So unfortunately, yeah, you you for the all intents and purposes believe that this person this this tiefling that stands in front of you stood next to a to a half or cruel intents and purposes and is telling the truth and yes, if you wanted to help pick up the gold you could
00:32:12
Speaker
I was going to scoop up one coin and all I'm going to do is just flick it towards Nyx and I'm going to keep on moving. You're a gent, you're a gent. I hope you are saved from the dragon as you run away. Okay, Alpha and Emron, anything from you two? When you said the child was what, which direction has the child gone in? He's going kind of, he's continuing west. He's going the right, okay. Yeah, he's going the right way, yeah.
00:32:39
Speaker
Um, at speed... He's kind of toddling. Okay, um, Emron's gonna sort of... sort of keeping up with and sort of catching up with Reigns. Everyone's gonna scoop up and sort of carry the child to try and speed things up a bit.
00:32:56
Speaker
Could you give me some athletics check please to make sure you can grab him. Has my bless worn off it only lasts for a minute? I just want to check. Yes, it would have worn off by now. That's fine. I just wanted to check. Thank you. Rules and Forza. It's good. 18 on athletics. Absolutely fine. You bench press the kid six times, getting up a bit of the stuff.
00:33:17
Speaker
It's got two now, just like barbells. You're getting a protein shake after this, probably, man. You're getting a hench delt. No, yeah, you absolutely managed to lift the kid up. I mean, you're a big, strong lad anyway, so yeah, it's not a problem. And finally, Alpha, you kind of approach the rear, so to speak. And you see these people, this tiefling, a tiefling that you've never probably seen before, and a half-orc stood around, scrambling for money. You see reins flick a gold coin over anything you want to do.
00:33:45
Speaker
Yeah, Alpha will stop, literally, he's kind of running and just stops dead. Sees him, feeling around on the floor, looks down, sees one. He basically leans down, pick a coin's up, and he's almost just kind of examining it, so he's just kind of holding it up in the light. He's not actually seen money before, so he's just gonna do that for a second. Big guy, over here, over here, big guy. You do have Alpha's attention. Throw it.
00:34:14
Speaker
Is this yours? That's mine. Yes, it fell out of me. There's a big fucking dragon. I'm trying to get everything as quick as I can so we can run and get out of dodge. Capisce? What is capisce? Throw it to me. Okay. And I'm just going to kind of throw it to him. I'm really tempted to do... I'm really tempted to do catapult at him in all fear.
00:34:37
Speaker
I'm so tempted. Okay, no problem. You manage to ping the coin over to him and he manages to grab it. Nix, you've got a total of 15 gold pieces on your person now. Alpha would also say at this point as well, would you like more assistance in reclaiming the rest of your gold? No, no, no, that's fine. I think someone ran over that way and Nix points down towards the road. If you want to catch it up with them, I'm not sure. I'm fine. Thank you very much. I'm just collecting everything. Morata, Morata, you got everything you need? Aye.
00:35:07
Speaker
Okay, thank you for your assistance and then Alpha will run after. Thank you for... weird. Okay, let's get out of here, Morota, while we can. Aye, let's go. Morota, you've picked up about five gold by this point, because you've got the rest of the 15 there as well. I know because you're only surreptitiously picking up a couple, Morota. Nice.
00:35:28
Speaker
Despite the group kind of splitting off into two, it seems like the most sensible route to continue to run, the main thoroughfare, the main street is now almost deserted. You bank to the right, the left, you take another right, you follow down a strong street, you go into a side corridor, as I call it, a side alley, going between some barrels, just trying to make space distance, put buildings between you and the dragon. You bank one more time to the right, the wrong right. A crack and a thud.
00:35:57
Speaker
Dust plumes up all around you. You can't see. You cover your face, but the sand from Dralak is always blown up the coast and lands on these streets. A wind whips the dust away, but not a natural wind.
Dragon's Calm and Control
00:36:12
Speaker
Stood.
00:36:13
Speaker
Upright on its hind legs is a young, black dragon. It glares its teeth and speaks to the street, not looking at anyone in particular. You realize by now there are quite a few other people around. It's hit this kind of central residential area. It says, Astahi shila tilarin udoka.
00:36:38
Speaker
They cannot tame us. You through legs are we will rise. On a nearby rooftop, you see a small athletic figure doused in a purple robe and goggles holding up a mess of blonde hair. She flips onto a nearby roof and you see her hands move as she accesses her magical energy. Suddenly her breathing becomes audible.
00:37:00
Speaker
Thaumaturgy. She bellows in perfect draconic, Vax, if this bit, Vihwil, Idri. Bow, calm, gentle, sleep. The dragon fights this, but something seems to be pulling it down or pushing it. The large lids of the dragon fall shut and then spring open again. It roars out in frustration. You see its ribs jutting out, scarring and scabs on the joints and its back.
00:37:28
Speaker
The lids fall heavy again. More purple robes appear from the crowd and surround the creature. The lids are shut. The purple robes start to move closer, holding a large, ringed chain. Tentatively approaching the creature's neck as its head continues to lower, the shackle-carriers move in closer. The woman on the rooftop is vociferously shaking her head and her eyes are wide as she continues to chant,
00:37:55
Speaker
Bow, calm, gentle, sleep. The eyes snap open, a deafening roar echoes through the street. The buildings seem to shake with the energy. Everyone flinches. Everyone except the rooftop person. She stands perfectly still, continuing her chant. The dragon turns, and in a moment of unremorseful rage, it spits out a black ball of energy right at the feet of you all. Its eyes roll back, and it thuds to the ground.
00:38:28
Speaker
The fireball thuds harmlessly into the ground at your feet. You look up from your flinched positions, readying a prayer to whichever God would hear you. You see a swirling ball of black energy, which is the fireball lodged into the cobblestone streets. Quickly now, she shouts from the rooftop, her voice returning to normal. Get on with it so I can get him out of here. They attach the large shackle.
00:38:55
Speaker
around the neck of the dragon, and it starts to glow with a light teal color. Slowly, the creature stirs, but it seems different now. The eyes are not rage-filled, but pupil-less, docile, quiet.
00:39:15
Speaker
The figure from the rooftop jumps down and lands on the back of the dragon. She looks around, whispers something to the dragon, and the wings unfurl, huge, filling the street, almost touching the buildings on either side as one, two, three big pouts of these wings kick up the dust, and this woman and this dragon flies off over the city of Goldview, silently and out over the bronze storm sea.
Reflections and Future Plans
00:39:45
Speaker
Suddenly, the pulsing energy emanates from the fireball. The floor collapses beneath you all. There is only darkness and the ringing in your ears as the world goes dark.
00:40:15
Speaker
Sorry guys. Sorry. I am exhausted. We needed to get, I know to get us going and don't worry, next episode guys, you're gonna have loads. Trial by fire. Yeah, I was gonna say you definitely got us going. My lord. That was intense. Wow. Cool. Awesome. Well, congratulations Mark. For kick-starting us.
00:40:40
Speaker
Like I said, normally, from next week, you guys will have plenty of time to chat and stuff. I just wanted to hit the grind run and give us all a bit of a shared experience to start us off anyway. Thank you very much, Mark, for kick-starting us in such a glorious, intense, fast, fun, thrilled way. It was like a great ride at Disneyland, but for free. What can you get better than that? So let's just go around the table quickly and introduce us and who we are. So we're the Fellowship of the Tabletop.
00:41:07
Speaker
We've been together for three years now. Yeah, it's about three years. Obviously it's our second campaign. And you've joined us along for a merry adventure. We have our DM, who is Mark, if you want to say hi. You've heard a lot of my voice this episode. Thanks for sticking with me. You've heard a lot of his voice. And if you wanted to follow him, he has a Twitter page and it can be found at... I used to hear old DM.
00:41:31
Speaker
We have a Danny, who is one of our co-hosts and plays Morotta. Hey. And you can find him at? At Total Party Thrills. Our other co-host, Darren, he plays. Reigns, not to be confused with Roman, but this is Reigns, and you can find him at? Darren Page, 06. We have a column, who plays Alpha. And you can find him at?
00:42:00
Speaker
at TheD20Gamer and we also have a Will who plays M. Ron and can be found at
00:42:10
Speaker
Natural 20 will. And you have an Ian, which is me and I could be found out. I've got a one. This is a weird way of closing the show, but it's not normally like this. This is the first episode. We're running fast and loose here. If you wanted to keep up to date with the podcast, you can do so at our Twitter page, which is at fellowship table. We have Facebook as well, which is at the fellowship at the tabletop. And we have a website, which I just, it's at fellowship tabletop somewhere. But I'll tell you what, if you just go to the Twitter pages, everything will be linked in there.
00:42:36
Speaker
So just bear in mind at fellowship table, jobs are good and you'll find us, give us a like, give us a retweet, give us a message. Why not? We'd love to say hi. You'll find us every Friday into your ear holes at seven AM GMT time. And we hope that you join us next week. Thank you very much. Until next week, guys.