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Ch. 35 - The Paintbrush Rebellion | Corrupting Presence
36 Plays1 month ago
This episode is basically our Avengers Endgame or Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein if that's more your speed.
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)
Edited by Zach Meikle
Follow the show:
Instagram: @bard_soup
TikTok: @bard_soup
Website: www.bardsoup.com
Music & Ambience
Christmas Music - Holiday Hearth by NotAIGenerated from Pixabay (3:14)
Forgotten Days / Ys IX: Monstrum Nox vol. 3 / Copyright © Nihon Falcom Corporation (58:47)
The following songs are created by Alexander Nakarada (www.creatorchords.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Beyond the Horizon (0:00)
Better Times (5:12)
Crossroads (11:09)
Headless Horseman (38:35)
Near End Action (58:04)
Dark n Deep (1:03:40)
Haunted (1:38:58)
Evig Fred (1:50:50)
Moon (1:55:33)
Explorer (2:08:37)
Excecutioner (2:21:08)
Evig Fred Instrumental (2:26:20)
Chemical X (2:29:23)
Emotional Intro 2 (2:37:29)
The In-Between (2:45:54)
Additional music and ambience created by Tim Roven (www.tabletopaudio.com)
The Madding Crowd (10:07)
Underground Lake (20:48)
Sunken Temple (26:52)
Warlock's Whisper (46:33)
Skirmish (1:05:53)
Unto the Breach (1:16:31)
Dark Angel (1:25:16)
Alchemist's Lab (1:42:33)
Solemn Vow (1:58:22)
Lost Mine (2:40:02)
Sound Effects
Cannon Fire by LordSonny from Pixabay
Powerful Cannon Shot by Universfield from Pixabay
Nuclear Explosion by DRAGON-STUDIO from Pixabay
Cicada Buzzing by DRAGON-STUDIO from Pixabay
Explosion FX by SoundReality from Pixabay
Additional sounds provided by Pixabay
Recommended
Transcript
Uncovering a Sinister Plot
00:00:00
Speaker
Now, let's see. Where were we? Ah yes, that's right. After a streak of failures, our heroes regrouped and snuck once more into the office of Boontoss Trigamole, where they were at last able to crack his safe, holding a dark secret indeed.
Escaping and Planning the Rebellion
00:00:19
Speaker
The secret in question was a contract between the Korak Mining Company and Vankay Haven, an order of assassins who evidently had killed and replaced the island's governor, Phaedra Fumata.
00:00:33
Speaker
As our heroes set to leave Korak HQ, they found themselves accosted by the reanimated corpse of security officer Captain Bercozzi, who tried to detonate himself, but not before Clay was able to turn him away and prevented anyone from taking any further damage.
00:00:49
Speaker
Our heroes slid down the exterior of the building where a group of security personnel tried to stop
Gathering Allies and Resources
00:00:55
Speaker
them. The fight brought Glimke down to his final two pedals, but the security personnel were fended off and the party managed to escape back across the river without further harm.
00:01:05
Speaker
There was some tense discussion about whether or not they should pull the trigger immediately, so to speak, or wait to gather their resources together. and ultimately decided to take some time to sow the seeds of Korak's destruction.
00:01:17
Speaker
They spent the next week moving about the island, talking to different factions, and accumulating resources and allies. As the week came to a close, Faunelin returned to Manus once more and met with fish head Franny.
00:01:30
Speaker
She confirmed that her debt had been paid, and attempted to negotiate Glimki's safety. Safety from the remaining zombified assassin, that is. Fat Sal. Franny agreed to forgive Glimke's attempt on her life, but only if she was given the jar hidden within Flotsam Tower.
Rallying the Artists
00:01:47
Speaker
At last, the party reconvened in Onkiel and with them the artists of Mengen who gathered in the large courtyard of Padera Square where Glimke gave an impassioned speech and revealed the truth about the governor's demise.
00:02:00
Speaker
Clay revealed a restored statue of the fallen governor, and as night began to fall, torches were lit, and the artists of Mangan began to move through the streets, the paintbrush rebellion had begun.
00:02:11
Speaker
You already said all that. Yes, Clah, but it was a good time, and I wanted to relive it with you. Is that such a crime? Anyway, on with the story.
00:02:38
Speaker
Come gather round, travelers, and sit on the
Strategic Planning for Rebellion
00:02:42
Speaker
stoop. We'll tell you a story about Batsu. Three lovable scamps in our traveling troop.
00:02:52
Speaker
We'll tell you a story about Batsu.
00:03:23
Speaker
Towards the paintbrush rebellion, they'd made all their plans. Not a creature was sleeping, not even a rat man. They unveiled a statue and there they did pray.
00:03:34
Speaker
Prima, who are you and who do you play? hi I'm Prima and I play Clay Campbell. The artists had gathered and let loose a great cry. For Mengen, for Ettingen, Boontar must die!
00:03:47
Speaker
With a brave little heart and hair full of crud, Jordan, who are you? Introduce yourself, bud. I'm Jordan and I play Glimky Treefell. I'm just a little confused. Why are are you in Christmas?
00:03:59
Speaker
It's 2026, January.
00:04:02
Speaker
To save the island. That's what they all dreamed, including an elf with a wig full of schemes. She carried out her plots with nary a whisper. Last but not least, it's my sister.
00:04:15
Speaker
My name is Shannon and I play an elf. And unlike at Christmas, she doesn't go on a shelf. Hi, I'm Shannon. I play Fauna and Veydac. And did you know elf and shelf famously rhyme?
00:04:29
Speaker
The explosive finale is nearly in sight, so hold on real fast and hold on real tight.
Intensifying the Rebellion
00:04:35
Speaker
There's no time to waste. No Paltrow, no goop. My name is Zach. Welcome back to Bard Soup.
00:04:43
Speaker
Let's dive in. That was great. I think Premier Jordan are bad friends. um But it's it's January I don't get it. hey Keep this up. I'm going to release an episode on Christmas Eve. Kill our listenership because no one will download it on Christmas Eve. And then this will come out January 7th instead.
00:05:03
Speaker
Oh, okay. January 7th. It's January 7th, guys. One day after the big one. Jordan was really yesterday.
00:05:12
Speaker
heck We join our heroes in Podera Square in the city of Ankhil. The night is full of torches and the sounds of rebellion.
00:05:24
Speaker
Formengan! Feredigan! There is a swelling mass of people tired of the oppression that has plagued this island for the last 20 years, and they are ready to do something about it.
00:05:38
Speaker
Amongst the chaos, the clamor, The three of you managed to gather ever so briefly on the stairs of the Church of the Divine Octad to either group up and set off on this endeavor or to split up for the time being.
00:05:56
Speaker
Holy shit, Glamki, that was a really good speech. Yeah, that was amazing. Thank you. yeah And he's like shuffling through many papers, versions of this speech that he had written earlier.
00:06:08
Speaker
I kind of strung it together at the end there, but I'm glad it turned out. These guys seem really riled up now. No turning back now. Yeah, that was a beautiful speech.
00:06:18
Speaker
it It was beautiful. if Clay and I didn't have somewhere to be, I'd be all riled up for Rebellion 2. And... and Where are you guys going again? that The tower? Are we going to the tower?
00:06:29
Speaker
Motherfuckers. Yes, we're going. Clay and I. Oh my god. Get your... Fonelin slaps Clay across the face and then with the same hand, backhands Glimki across the face. And then goes, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. i really riled up. I'm sorry. Okay. And she like straightens you about that.
Reflecting on Strategy and Sacrifices
00:06:43
Speaker
Clay and I are going to the tower. We have to secure Franny's jar. Glimki, I don't think you should come because I think it's going to be very dangerous and I think that Edigan might die if you get hit.
00:06:53
Speaker
Also, i think these people are a powder keg right now and they will all be looking to you to direct them. That being said, some of their fate is in their own hands. So I don't care as much what happens to Edigan. Don't go getting yourself killed in a riot, okay?
00:07:09
Speaker
Well, I'll try my best. I've never led rebellion before. So I think you're a natural. I'll give it best shot. Yeah, that speech was really good start. Claire, what say you?
00:07:20
Speaker
Will you come with me to the tower will you stay here? Yes, I think, Glimki, I trust you to make the right decisions. And I think it's really dangerous in the tower. So kind of worried about Fondaline going by herself. So I'll go with her.
00:07:36
Speaker
Yeah. yeah it might be seen as end And it might be dangerous in ways that maybe we don't expect. I mean, that kid made it out of there alive, just a lot older than he used to be. So maybe keep on your toes for curses or, i don't know, monkey paw style deals. If we go together, we can watch each other's back. You always talk about monkey paws.
00:07:59
Speaker
What is a monkey?
00:08:03
Speaker
Pardon? Wait, is that what it is? monkey Is it a monkey paw? I don't know how... I didn't even say that for weeks you've been saying that I've never once known what you mean. Isn't that what it is?
00:08:15
Speaker
Like, we're ah you like wish for something and you kind of get what you want but it like comes at stakes or is it like can be misconstrued or stretched beyond its original meaning?
00:08:26
Speaker
He'd be like, oh, I wish I was the most famous person in the world. And then every famous person drops dead. And then it's all your fault. Interesting. I don't know what happened to that. What was that kid's name?
00:08:38
Speaker
oh Yes, it doesn't matter. Extremely old. But you should
Mission to Flotsam Tower
00:08:42
Speaker
probably remember because you're his boss now. Yeah. You may use him as a human shield. Well, okay, let's not put it in those kinds of terms. These are people.
00:08:51
Speaker
And obviously I'm worried that these are artists, not warriors. think they'll really benefit from your strategic mind. so wow I agree. Here's hoping. I don't want to lead them.
00:09:04
Speaker
Last thing. And Fonelin rifles in her, in the front of her corset until she pulls out like a a rolled up contract. She hands it over and says, if you possibly can, and if the time arises, have Boontar Strigamol or else someone who really deserves it sign this. ah What is it? It's a contract. It looks one way, but underneath it it says that they accept the debts of everyone on the ship because they know that they deserve it. I don't know if it will pass by Franny's rigorous litigious mind, but if there's a chance, I i think it would be a more meaningful form of justice than whatever's happening to the people on that boat.
00:09:42
Speaker
I mean, it's kind of clever. It says at the bottom there, like, I agree to everything on this document. It's clever. Hmm. Franny said I'm allowed to trick people into taking on debts, okay? She explicitly said that I could coerce them. What is this but creative, eloquent, eloquent coercion with nice penmanship?
00:09:59
Speaker
Sure. I mean, i no promises that I can stop the angry mob once they get close to Buntar, but- Just make another speech. You can do whatever you want. Just make another speech, bro. Okay.
00:10:10
Speaker
I'll have to come up with that one on the spot, I think. I didn't prepare a second speech. If he dies, he dies. Don't worry about it too much. And then we can kill Franny later if that becomes a problem. Oh, she might be listening.
00:10:25
Speaker
Oh, yes, and watch out for men with tapeworms. Okay, sounds good. Be safe. Be clever. Oh, yes. Yeah, Fat Sal could be anywhere. Or anyone, says Callum Swift at your side. But no, i it's me, obviously.
00:10:40
Speaker
yeah Hey, we're moving up Artist Alley towards the Mosaic Bridge and the plans to storm HQ after that. You in? Of course. I want you by my side, Callum. Let's stay safe. Of course. He holds out his hand for the predator handshake.
00:10:56
Speaker
Duh.
00:10:58
Speaker
a I do it. Yeah. Two you clasp hands. It is a ah meaty, resounding slap of skin on skin. And the two of you set off.
00:11:09
Speaker
Clay and Faunelin, you set off through the streets of the Artist District. Did you make any prior preparations to enhance your ability to get back to Manus? It is about a four hour walk by normal means.
00:11:23
Speaker
But did you put in any forethought in how you might get there quicker? I think we probably should have some horses too. We had a week to prepare. I think we easily could have prepared some horses. Easy enough. I will say the two of you run through the artist district, getting to the southern wall and somebody on your team, will say just like a young, young human man with a ah smattering of stubble, baby's first beard, standing there with two horses in reins and says, okay, here you go.
00:11:57
Speaker
Good luck. And gives you a salute and then runs off. The two of you climb aboard these horses set off into the night. It'll still take a couple hours, even on horseback, even running these horses fast, but you'll get there as quick as you can.
00:12:13
Speaker
And we'll have to see what happens when you get there. next week on Bard Soup. thanks Thanks for listening.
00:12:22
Speaker
Glimke, you push through the crowd of rebels, flooding the streets, swelling out from Padera Square.
00:12:34
Speaker
They carry torches, makeshift weapons. Some of them are... Artisan in nature. You see one individual, it's just this tall half-orc, mid-40s, bit of a stoop, bit of a bit of a bend in his back, and he's got a metal rod that is painted intricately. it It's a beautiful display of artistry, but also it looks like he can pack a punch.
00:13:00
Speaker
You see others, they have something as simple as a rake with tassels streaming off of it. You see some have chunks of clay that they have just baked down so that they're hard and dense, and they've got slings and sacks full of these makeshift projectiles.
00:13:19
Speaker
It is a scrappy bunch, it is a determined bunch, it is not a well-armed bunch. And as you and Callum push through the crowd, trying to get closer to the front of this swell, you reach Artist Alley.
00:13:33
Speaker
The streets are lined with these studios. Not a one of them is open still. Everyone is either in this crowd with you or has decided to get away from the action for the time being.
00:13:47
Speaker
And Callum shouts out, all right, everyone to the Mosaic Bridge and then onwards to Korak HQ. crowd starts pushing forward and as it does, you hear the sound of dozens if not hundreds of footsteps coming towards you in near perfect unison.
00:14:10
Speaker
As a squad of Korak security officers rounds the corner, stepping into the alley at the opposite end and begins to move towards you. Going forward, this is going to be very Narrative in nature. There's going to be things you encounter. You're not going to fight a hundred guards at a time. We're not going to roll for a hundred guards to fight back.
00:14:32
Speaker
You have things you spent a week acquiring. various items, poison fish and wagons and kegs, healers kits, what have you.
00:14:44
Speaker
You also have your own imagination. And so I will ask as this group of soldiers starts to engage with your rebels, what, if any instruction does glim key shout out?
00:14:57
Speaker
So this is like a, like a row of buildings down this alley. Yes, it is. arts do there's like some There's some like branching off you smaller streets, but is this is a large street that winds through the Artist District, ending at the Galleria Fantasia. Can any of this thinking or strategy happen before this happens? 100%.
00:15:18
Speaker
Okay, I think if like before the whole march happened, if Glimke could meet with some of those leaders and obviously discerning between the most able-bodied people and those maybe of like older age, I think he would gather them up like the older people and get them to take the upper floors of all those buildings.
00:15:42
Speaker
And we take every oil lantern or oil cask or flag in a veil and like follow in Clay's footsteps and make as many firebombs as possible.
00:15:55
Speaker
And a la la French resistance. When this battle gets ready to pop off, they can open the shutters on their windows and rain hell on these guys. 100%. The rebels start to surge forward. The Korrax security rushes to meet them.
00:16:11
Speaker
And as they do, they enter the street, windows open. Some of them have pre-lit homemade explosives that they've made. Start throwing them down.
00:16:22
Speaker
Others take big casks of oil and start just pouring them out as much they can, throwing them, scattering them onto to the street. As Hammer and Thongs, the dragonborn owners of the Glass Dragon, come rushing out of a side street from opposite ends.
00:16:41
Speaker
breathing fire onto the scattered oil and igniting the street. Some of the dwarves drop to the ground, start rolling, trying to put out the flames. Others, you can see, hold their stomachs in discomfort and decide that they're not making enough for this and run off.
00:17:00
Speaker
But others stay and fight and the battle begins. I get a percentile die from you? 11? You needed you needed a twenty one or higher oh Oh no.
00:17:11
Speaker
With an 11. Progress is made. The plan was executed well. a lot of Korak security... was taken out in this first incursion.
00:17:22
Speaker
He watches, like I said, some of them are spraying down firebombs from above. You watch one studio open up and sculptorist just pushes this large statue out over the balcony with the help of several assistants and it comes crashing down, taking out a dozen guards at once.
00:17:40
Speaker
You see other individuals with makeshift catapults. They've got paint cans that they swing over their head and then throw into the crowd. Big metal containers full of liquid hitting dwarves, knocking them to the ground.
00:17:53
Speaker
Paint is splattered across the streets of Ardis Alley. But there's a lot of them. And they don't go down as easily as you would like. I have a question for you.
00:18:04
Speaker
Does Glimki tell anyone Callum Hammer, Tongs, Baina, any of the other rebels that you've come to know in this past week, does he tell any of them about Etigan and the flower in his hair?
00:18:23
Speaker
I feel like in that conversation with the leaders, if you we can describe them as such, that probably would have been a good... good group of people to tell, but i I don't know, I wouldn't want to have the whole group know in some regard.
00:18:40
Speaker
So, yeah. Okay. With that in mind, a large dwarf armor barely fitting onto his body that's kind of squishes and pushes out of it. But beneath this layer of dense fat, there is equally dense muscle.
00:18:56
Speaker
He's got a morning star in one hand and a large tower shield in the other. And he just clobbers through the crowd, charging towards you. And as he raises up this mace over his head, Hammer is going to run and shove you out of the way as the mace comes crashing down on him.
00:19:13
Speaker
God. And he doesn't get up again.
00:19:19
Speaker
God. Oh my God. You're able to draw your sword and swing back, taking this guard out. And the fight continues on. Eventually, you manage to push them back as they're pelted from above, many of them burning in the streets.
00:19:34
Speaker
You hear one of the dwarves in command say, Retreat! Retreat to the bridge! They won't be able to get past us there! and you keep pushing on. We continue on back Manistown.
00:19:49
Speaker
Time is going to get a little wibbly wobbly perhaps, but Clay and Fondlin, you ride as fast as these horses will carry you down this dark path alongside the river until once again you see the familiar sight of Manistown.
00:20:06
Speaker
Fishhead Franny's boat isn't immediately visible. The cannery has gone quiet. Despite the efforts you took to prepare in keeping your plans secret, it seems at least some of the information got out that something was happening. Some tension was building, it seems like.
00:20:25
Speaker
Forces were pulled from the cannery back towards Onkyil. But there are boats, and at the center of the lake sits Flotsam Tower. Okay.
00:20:36
Speaker
Is there available boats that we could just row onto the tower? I'm kind of buddies with that guy now. We could just take this boat. you know which one is his Yeah, and Fondland points to a boat.
00:20:50
Speaker
Awesome. you hop inside, grabbing the oars and start to push towards the center of the lake. It takes some time. And you know, with each passing minute, the situation in the city is rapidly developing.
00:21:04
Speaker
There is an increased chance that fat Sal will find Glimki and detonate. But you row as fast as you can.
00:21:16
Speaker
And after some time, the boat comes to a stop. outside Flotsam Tower. It is slightly crooked. It looks to be decaying. It's been here a very long time and has had no one to upkeep it.
00:21:30
Speaker
There is a wooden door that is closed that appears to be the only point of entry into the tower. How tall is the tower? Probably 40 feet. My magic group said there's 60.
00:21:47
Speaker
Hmm. How many floors is that? Like from the outside? Two, three floors? You don't know. There's no windows. It's not that big. Okay. Do you want to go in through the top or through the there might be another entrance from the top?
00:22:01
Speaker
You can make an entrance. You have a weapon. The roof is in the zone. yeah We can go look at the top if you want first. I feel like going through the front door is like maybe there's traps and they won't be expecting someone from the top.
00:22:19
Speaker
Exactly. Magic rope slither forth. And I want it to knot itself and to climb and wind up the way up the side of the building. Okay. it is difficult there's not really any crenellations there's no roof specifically there is a roof but there's not like an easy place to stand up there is a crooked tower with a bent roof pretty steep peak but the rope manages to wrap around a small piece of jutting out stone and appears to secure itself
00:22:55
Speaker
There's no windows or any gaps whatsoever. There's windows or any gaps. Any chimneys at the top? No chimney. Is the roof made of stone too? Appears to be.
00:23:05
Speaker
Hmm. Don't really see a way in. Bronwyn, do you have any ideas? You know, this is a little embarrassing considering we are on a time crunch. i I really, when I was looking up, thought that the roof might not be stone. And I guess it's my fault for not believing in a god named Zachary who could have asked us to make a perception check. So let's go back down and let's go into the front door.
00:23:29
Speaker
Okay, we can climb back down. But do you think the front door might be trapped? 100%, but I can't bust through stone. Can you? What have you got? No. You're some kind of witch. don't think can bust through stone. Okay.
00:23:41
Speaker
I'm not a witch. You drink potions and do spells. cleric of a croc. What is a cleric but a witch with a badge, you know? Okay, when we get back to Airdeneen, I think you need to talk with the Bright Scale some more. He can explain it better. Yeah, would love if I got all up in your coven and met all your other witches.
00:24:01
Speaker
Now let's go. Let's go. All right, let's go take the front door. You open it? I inspect it. Yeah. yeah Check it for traps. Give me an investigation roll. Both us? Sure. or one of you with advantage either way.
00:24:13
Speaker
I will give her advantage. Oh. Because I rolled and it was bad. but You can't do that! No, you can't. Can I help? I got a 10.
00:24:24
Speaker
What did you get? I got a 4, so... you look for any signs of traps you don't see anything and i think you recognize that like people have been coming here for many years maybe not a lot of people recently but there have been people that have entered this tower before you and so maybe if there was a trap at the front door Maybe it's been taken care of by someone like Corvus or whoever came before him trying to enter the tower.
00:24:58
Speaker
Maybe. I will open it gingerly. You try. But as soon as your hand turns the knob and begins to pull, a cascade of water comes rushing out of the tower, knocks the door free from your hand and threatens to capsize the boat.
00:25:17
Speaker
Whoa. It is a endless torrent of dark water. Um, we're still in the boat. Like this is, oh well So you row up next to it, Faunon leans over, opens up the door. There's no ground.
00:25:32
Speaker
It's just like towers straight about. Okay, then slither forth magic rope. And I try to make it go through the door, through the rushing water and grab onto something. Oh, clever.
00:25:44
Speaker
Okay. The rope pushes in and it struggles. It can't move very fast at the best of times. but it seems almost like a water snake to wind through ever so slowly and seems to take root somewhere. You give a little tug and the rope holds fast.
00:26:03
Speaker
It's still going to be difficult to get inside the tower to get through this water, but you can make the athletics check with advantage. Ooh, sweet. len Nice.
00:26:15
Speaker
I got a 11. I got a five. With advantage? I got a natural 20. Whoa. isn Clay, what is your constitution score?
00:26:26
Speaker
Constitution? Or your constitution modifier. Plus two. You can hold your breath for three minutes. Fondalyn, what is your constitution modifier? My constitution modifier is plus one. You can hold your breath for two minutes.
00:26:39
Speaker
The two of you grab on and it's hard. The water's pulling at you, trying to drag you away, push you out of the tower. But you hold on and you pull with everything you've got. Take a big breath before you jump in And you manage to enter the tower.
00:26:52
Speaker
Once you're through the doorway, the torrent slows down. You are still underwater. The tower is flooded. o But you're no longer being pushed outside of it. You look around and you see that this main floor, this entryway of the tower is flooded and well picked over.
00:27:11
Speaker
A few gray-skinned trout swim around the space, and a thick layer of algae grows on the floor and on overturned pieces of furniture. You see several skeletons long since picked apart from those who came before you.
00:27:26
Speaker
Scraps of paper turned to pulp sit under thick layers of detritus, and two sets of stairs wind along the far wall, one leading up and the other down. Between these sets of stairs is a large, smooth pipe that extends from floor to ceiling.
00:27:41
Speaker
Faunolin, as you're glancing around this circular chamber, you see something move.
00:27:49
Speaker
It looks to be a body more intact than the others in this chamber. And you watch as it floats up, kind of just in your periphery, you see it floating up. And as you glance over to look at it, it passes through the ceiling and out of sight.
00:28:03
Speaker
What the frick? I want to look at this pipe. Is there a way that it looks like I could break it or Clay could break it? Give me an investigation roll. That's a natural two, which is a six in total.
00:28:15
Speaker
The rolls are not hot tonight and they need to be. agree It looks to be a solid piece of metal. It is well constructed. And like i said, it goes from floor to ceiling. I'd say with a six, it indicates to you that it probably continues to the floors above and the floors below, but it does not appear to be, it doesn't have any joints or seams.
00:28:38
Speaker
It seems to be just a solid chunk of metal. The water is still rushing out of the tower, like through the front door. You look out and yeah, it seems like there's a constant flow. There's like some movement in this water, but it's not dragging you out.
00:28:50
Speaker
Where's the water coming from? Like, does it seem like the room is emptying or it's just... You would think it is so much water, but it extends up the stairs to the next floor at the very least. You know that much.
00:29:02
Speaker
Like you see, you kind of swim over and you see that the water just continues on the stairs that wrap up. Clay, would you like to give me a perception roll? Yes. Did I see that body float through the ceiling?
00:29:12
Speaker
It but floated through the ceiling? It did. What's your passive perception? My passive perception is 14 and I just rolled active. You rolled disadvantage so because there's no light in here unless you want to create a light source.
00:29:30
Speaker
Okay. There's no light in here? It is completely dark. Dude, the only cantrip I have, literally the only cantrip that I have is light. Can I swim up to this? This is the only thing I can do. Can I swim up to this this central pillar, the central pipe that runs from floor to floor and cast light on it?
00:29:50
Speaker
You can. However, there is a verbal component. No! So it will exhaust your air. You can go back out. You can go back out and take another breath, but it will exhaust your reserve air.
00:30:03
Speaker
Okay, so Clay, you were in the middle of perceiving things and doing things. I can yeah do this once you're done your stuff. I don't want to At disadvantage, I rolled a 12 and a 16. So that's a 16 total. Your passive perception is reduced to nine with the darkness.
00:30:19
Speaker
So I'm to say you don't see the body floating. But with 16, you kind of glance at the walls and specifically, I say because you were looking at the water that's leaving the tower, you look at the walls around this doorway.
00:30:36
Speaker
And as you get a little bit closer, you see that there seems to be some sort of intricate engraving all along the southern half of this room. It's a little hard to make out though without a light source. Fonelin, are you turning on the lights? 100%, yeah.
00:30:49
Speaker
I wanna swim up to the pipe and I wanna cast light on it, thereby depleting some of my air. Bubbles escape my mouth as I gasp out this incantation underwater. And then I want to look at clay and gesture with my hands.
00:31:03
Speaker
I like kind of swirl around the water and gesture at the water and make like an upward flowing motion through the pipe and then point at the pipe to indicate that I think that the water is flowing up through this pipe.
00:31:15
Speaker
And maybe if we can destroy the pipe or get rid of it somehow, we could stop the water. Okay. There's runes. There's like stuff on the walls also that I see.
00:31:27
Speaker
Two things. Fauniline, you are out of air. Oh, shit. Do you leave? i i You said two things. I was waiting for the second thing. ah Clay has a minute of air I'd say probably like two remaining.
00:31:41
Speaker
If we swim to the door, can we like pop our heads out and get air and talk? You'll have to leave the tower to get air. We can't just like cling onto the door frame and pop our heads out.
00:31:53
Speaker
say no. You have to leave the tower to get air. That's part of the challenge of this tower. If you wish to Make it easy, get rid of the water somehow. Then if I see that Fonglin's running out of air, I'm going to point at the door with the like markings on it and go like, what do you think that is?
00:32:12
Speaker
and then if I have enough air, I want to swim towards the sea, like where the pipe meets the ceiling, I guess. Okay, so you look at this wall with the engraving and you see it is a etched mural.
00:32:27
Speaker
It appears to be depicting the night sky. Much of the mural is overgrown with algae. but a few lustrous twinkling stars glimmer through the muck.
00:32:39
Speaker
Could I get an investigation check? Actually, you know, with a 16, I won't even make you roll. You're good. o You start to float up along the wall as Faunlin paddles as fast as she can towards the door, rushing out of it like a salmon running down stroke.
00:32:55
Speaker
And Faunlin, you are shunted out into the night, treading water in the dark. You've managed to fill your lungs with air And as you prepare to come back in clay, you see that amongst this mural, there is a small circular carve out roughly the size of a grapefruit embedded near the ceiling.
00:33:18
Speaker
It's like someone took a scoop out of the wall. Can I touch it? Sure. You run your fingers over it. It is smooth stone. m Nothing happens.
00:33:30
Speaker
Do I think that's like some sort of key that will turn off the water or it's just like someone scooped something off? Give me a nature check. Nature? Ten.
00:33:41
Speaker
Ten is what you needed. You look at the night sky here. You've spent some time outdoors, a lot of time outdoors, especially as a child. You've looked up at the stars, you've seen the constellations.
00:33:53
Speaker
You don't see any that you recognize in this mural. And that could be happenstance, that could be because it's pure farce, but it doesn't appear to be the night sky of Xav at the very least.
00:34:09
Speaker
I don't see the two moons, the two eggs. You don't see the two moons, but what you notice is that this carve out is circular and it reminds you of the moon or of the moons of a moon.
00:34:22
Speaker
It's kind of where the moon might be. Okay. I'm going to swim out of the door before Fondland comes back in to see if I can talk to her. You emerge from the tower and the two of you have a moment to reconvene before continuing back in.
00:34:38
Speaker
Okay. Funnelin wants to cry out, hey, fish! And like splash the water with her hands. If any of you are listening, tell Fran that if she wants us to be good at this, we need something to help us breathe underwater.
00:34:52
Speaker
Well, she would go back in. Yeah, and there's some sort of mural with like weird stars. and it Weird stars? Looks like the moon's missing. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my God, what if it's the stars on the other side of Zav?
00:35:07
Speaker
On the bottom side, and we wouldn't see the moon down there. Do you think there's another moon down there? Oh, like I didn't think so because Pharos flies. There's no need for that because Pharos flies to his, he knew both yeah. He never goes to the other side.
00:35:20
Speaker
But that there's a there's a space for something that looks like a moon. There's like a scoop out of the wall. Oh, a scoop out of the wall.
00:35:31
Speaker
Okay. Well, oh, also I saw some kind of phantom ghost fly through the, uh, fly through the ceiling. So I'm a little nervous about going upstairs, but I think we might as well go up. I mean, we obviously can't get through this downstairs door. We might as well go up and try to destroy whatever's causing the water to come down.
00:35:47
Speaker
That's what I thought too. If we go up, we might we might find an air pocket. i don't know about that pipe though, if it's the whole tower that's flooded all the way to the top. I just think it's pumping water from the bottom to the top, and that's where the water's coming from. Otherwise, what else is this big-ass pipe for? Mm-hmm.
00:36:03
Speaker
How do we turn it off? but I mean, if we can destroy the pipe, we'll break the suction, and it will no longer work to pump water, right? I don't know. I'm not a plumber.
00:36:15
Speaker
If there's one thing about me that I'm not, it's a plumber. Yeah, I'm not a plumber either. I don't know how these things work, but maybe there's, like, an off switch if it's actively pumping water.
00:36:26
Speaker
We finally found a vocation you don't have. Should we go back in? Let's do it. And Fonnellin takes a deep breath. Could I get athletics checks with advantage from both of you? I'm rolling so poorly today. Yeah, me too. We need to get it together.
00:36:41
Speaker
Actually, I got a nat 20. I can't complain. Clay! I rolled a four and the five. Good lord. The two of you managed to make it in, but it's hard. Even with the rope, it's hard.
00:36:51
Speaker
And your breath capacity is reduced by one minute until you take a short rest. oh That's so bad. So we match now. You both have two minutes of airtime.
00:37:03
Speaker
The main floor is illuminated by the light cantrip that Fonulin cast, and you're going up the stairs. Yeah. yeah Yeah. swimming up the stairs. I'm keeping an eye out for that thing.
00:37:15
Speaker
Of course. Any fish make an appearance with a magical breathe underwater spell? They do not. Oh, that's such a shame. The door to the second floor has been unlocked, presumably by either the owner of this place or by other treasure seekers from before your time, and access to the second floor is unbarred.
00:37:42
Speaker
You swim up the stairs, going as fast as you can without exhausting yourselves. We'll say it takes maybe like 15-20 seconds of you swimming through the dark.
00:37:55
Speaker
And you see few things. The stairs empty out onto a second floor. There are the long ruined remains of a library here.
00:38:08
Speaker
Shelves just with molded over, algae-ridden debris that was once tomes of knowledge. The pipe from below comes up here and ends.
00:38:23
Speaker
It does not extend into the ceiling. It is closed on the top. However, there is a small opening carved into the side of it.
00:38:34
Speaker
There is also a body floating in the water. near the stairs that wind up to a third floor. As you swim up into the space, the body's head turns to look at you, and you watch as its face elongates and stretches and begins to scream.
00:38:57
Speaker
As the face grows and swells in your vision, the water pulses with the tremors emitting from this mouth. And I need both of you to make a wisdom saving throw.
00:39:10
Speaker
Ew. This thing is scary. for so What is this? What is this? 11, you freak. I have a plus six to wisdom saving.
00:39:23
Speaker
That's crazy. I'm scared. Mom, come pick me up. Fonelin. You are frightened. Yeah, no shit. You rolled an 11, the DC was 13.
00:39:36
Speaker
If you had rolled an eight or lower, you would have immediately aged 1d4 times 10 years. it wo What? What is this thing?
00:39:50
Speaker
But as it stands, there's almost like an aura emitting from this body, a spirit that emerges from it. And you can see it is not human. It was never human, but it was perhaps Elven.
00:40:05
Speaker
It's this older looking Elven individual who looks at you with empty eye sockets that somehow still contain ample menace. Fawn and you are paralyzed in your tracks, gripped by fear.
00:40:17
Speaker
as this spirit drifts slowly up the stairs. and out of sight. Clay, you see this, and you manage to hold your composure.
00:40:28
Speaker
Faunelin, you are unable to move closer to the source of your fear, and I'm going to extend that towards the body as well. I think in this moment you don't have like a firm grasp on what this terrible thing is.
00:40:41
Speaker
So every six seconds, you can repeat your saving throw to try and get over the fear effect, but you are losing time as it goes. Clay, what are you doing?
00:40:53
Speaker
Are you staying by Faunolin? Are you moving into the chamber? What are you doing? The body's already left, right? It went up the ceiling. The body is there, but another spirit seemed to oh abandon it.
00:41:08
Speaker
What's the water situation in this room? All the way up to the ceiling. And the opening in the pipe? What is that? Give me an investigation check. Rolling like shit. That's a unnatural one. I rolled a two and a minus one. It's a one.
00:41:22
Speaker
It's dark up here. The light does not extend from down below into the space. You're relying on your dark vision. You look into this opening and you don't see anything.
00:41:33
Speaker
There bubbles or anything? There are no bubbles. Faunelin, repeat the saving throw.
00:41:41
Speaker
That's a natural one. Another six seconds pass. You are terrified by what you saw. It is perverse, it is unnatural, and you can't get it out of your mind.
00:41:52
Speaker
I think Fawnalyn knows that she can't swim any closer to Clay to grab Clay, and she is going to swim for the exit because I think she screamed when she saw that thing, and her lungs are burning and she needs air, and also she wants to get the hell out of there, and she can't reach Clay, so she just has to go.
00:42:09
Speaker
You go swimming back down the stairs, lungs burning, but you manage to make it. Repeat the saving throw for me like one more time on your way out. That is a 19. As you start to move down the stairs, the light that you previously cast greets you and brings some comfort and some clarity.
00:42:27
Speaker
You still have about a minute of breath left in your lungs if you want to try and figure things out up here. Or you can continue on to the exit. This thing came out of a corpse both times I saw it, right?
00:42:40
Speaker
I think if you think back, there was no corpse the first time. Oh, shit. But the second time there was. Mm-hmm. I Fawnalyn goes out for air. We can cut back to Clay.
00:42:52
Speaker
I have an idea, but go back to Clay. Clay. I'm just looking around the room. Any round objects or anything, glus hints Yeah, you look around. The mural does not extend up here.
00:43:07
Speaker
It is not on this floor. There are no round objects that you can see. Admittedly, bad investigation roll, but it's just mostly ruins of a book collection.
00:43:19
Speaker
If you so dare, you can see that the stairs, like I said, continue up to the third floor, but they are barred by a heavy wooden door. Do you try and open it?
00:43:33
Speaker
Hmm. Are there any like bubbles or anything or it's just like pure water throughout the whole room? It appears to be pure water. And the opening in the pipe, it's just like water in the pipe as well. Yeah. If you swim back and like it's a tight opening, but you like try and stick your hand in and reach down and it's it's just all water.
00:43:55
Speaker
No, no air. Uh, yeah, go take a look at the door if I still have air time. gotta bet. You can do a lot in two minutes if no your DM has a poor sense of time.
00:44:07
Speaker
Wait, sorry, just to be clear, we've discovered that the water does not seem to be rushing out of the pipe? No, it's like a dead stop on a pipe. Yeah. What the frick? Water's from somewhere else.
00:44:18
Speaker
I know. That's so weird. It's gotta be magic. Yeah. I don't care for it. clay you go over to the door and if you try and open it you discover it is locked is there a lock on it or it's just like not open it's like a like you know you try and try and open you try and we'll say turn the knob it's more of like a latch situation you try and depress the plunger and it just does it does not open it you hear ah a lock rattling like it's not a padlock but there's clearly like a locking mechanism
00:44:51
Speaker
Okay. And I saw the person go through here? The spirit go through here? Yes. i don't know. There's no windows or anything on in this room either?
00:45:03
Speaker
it is, yeah. Solid stone. No windows. guess the last thing I want to do in this, or the last thing I can look at in this room is the body that's floating, right? Can I like search the body? There's anything on it?
00:45:15
Speaker
Give me an investigation roll once more. Come on. It's a three. You try and put a hand in a pocket and the body falls apart in your hands. ow It's more sponge than corpse. Oh my god, Zach.
00:45:33
Speaker
the Clay throws up in the water. yeah Yeah, she's leaving. She's gonna swim away. You swim away. You swim back to the exit.
00:45:44
Speaker
you leave enough time that you get out comfortably, but it's a long time to hold your breath and be moving and be confronted with horrible things such as this. And you and Faunalyn reconvene outside once again. What the hell was that?
00:45:58
Speaker
yeah I think I... I touched the body and it fell apart. What was that? Was that an elf? It looked like a gross dead elf.
00:46:10
Speaker
I don't like this place, Fondalit. I don't know. Can't see anything. It's so dark and wet. It's disgusting. Oh my god. She's going to cry out in Elvish.
00:46:20
Speaker
Entity that is in there. Please, for the love of God, leave us alone. We mean you no harm. Oh my God. Oh my God. Ew. Oh my God. She's like thrashing about in the water as she cries out in Elvish.
00:46:34
Speaker
The light that you cast turns dark, purple and green, and a voice in Elven responds, The leave. Clay, did you hear that? Clay, did you hear that? Oh my God, did you hear that?
00:46:48
Speaker
Yeah, what did it say? yeah. It said, leave. In Elvish, Faunilin will cry out, who are you? How may we properly address you?
00:46:59
Speaker
And like, as she's speaking, her voice is shaking. She's trying to call out, but she's short in breath and she's also terrified. There's no response. The pale light that you cast brightens. And once again, you can see the light from the pipe emitting out through the gloom.
00:47:15
Speaker
Fat chance, you do not get out of interlocution with me that easily. She cries out again. She cries out again. I am Faradeth Thrillwyn of House Thrillwyn of the Soaring Barony of Omanias.
00:47:29
Speaker
I'm here for one purpose and one purpose only, and that purpose does not include your harm. Who are you? Give me a persuasion roll. That's a natural 15, a natty 15.
00:47:42
Speaker
Oh, come on, Mr. Persuasion stat. That's a that's a filthy unnatural 20. The light darkens once more. and the opening into the tower seems to move.
00:47:56
Speaker
I am the rightful owner of this tower, and to enter it without my permission is to bring harm upon me. Stay out, or there will be consequences.
00:48:07
Speaker
Then I must humbly... Seek permission to enter. We wish you no harm, but harm will come to another if we are not able to complete our purpose.
00:48:18
Speaker
We only want an item. I know what you seek, the same that all before you have sought. It is mine and mine alone.
00:48:31
Speaker
You shall not have it. Perhaps we do not need it. I cannot speak freely in the presence of so many fish. Is there a dry space in your abode where we might discuss?
00:48:44
Speaker
I said that we have no interest in harming you. That is true. Perhaps there is an alternative. What know you of the arcane arts?
00:48:57
Speaker
Some. I am well-educated, as are all of we elves. My companion is a witch. A good witch. Give me a deception roll. That's not even a deception! That Clay's a witch.
00:49:10
Speaker
That's what Vondelin was calling her! yeah If you call her a dragon, that doesn't make her a dragon, now does it? she cleric She's a natural two, which is a nine for deception.
00:49:25
Speaker
Not even trying to deceive him. Vondelin's just trying to say that her friend does magic. if you are skilled in the arcane arts in a way that is meaningful to me, then you should be able to enter my study without difficulty.
00:49:42
Speaker
I will not attempt to stop you, but I will not aid you. Come find me if you are able. Oh, hell yes. Clay, Clay, Clay, you beauty. She's like, she's like treading water with one hand she like grabs Clay's horn with the other hand and like turns Clay to look at her. She's like, she's like, Clay, Clay, we have to use magic. We have to use skilled in the arcane arts. There's a guy, he didn't say his name. He's some kind of elf.
00:50:09
Speaker
He's actually kind of nice. He will not harm us again. ah Well, he will not interfere with us. He may harm us. He will not interfere with our attempts to get into his study. I believe that if we can get into his study using our wits and arcane acuity, which I have very little. That light thing I did in there, that is literally, actually, that's not true. I can also do the memory thing, but not relevant given the circumstances. Clay, if we can get into his study, I believe he will parlay with us. Okay, I did try the door just briefly. it is locked.
00:50:39
Speaker
I don't see any like locks or keyholes on this side of the door. You are a witch! Clay! You are a cleric of McCrog and competent criminal! You're telling me that with the power of God and criminality on your side, you can't magic a door open?
00:51:02
Speaker
I only know fire spells. It's full of water. It's full of water. Clay! Clay!
00:51:12
Speaker
Um, I don't know. Okay. yeah Foniland says the worst swear word in Elvish. Okay, you really don't have anything? If we are skilled in the arcane, we may make it through the door. What else is there?
00:51:30
Speaker
The runes, the study, the runes with the study, the study with the runes, the door with the runes. Do you know, do you speak runes? No. no
00:51:41
Speaker
I know the constellations in Zav, but I don't know the ones on the mural in the tower. They're different. What does that have to do with our arcane skill? We have to go in and figure out what's going on.
00:51:54
Speaker
watch walk My hot rock is a magic item. Do you think my hot rock would fit in the hole? We can try it. Okay. Is it round? Is it the same shape? It's super round. Okay. We need to go in we need to figure out what's going on, and then whatever we do, we have to come up with a clever, arcanical means by which to enter the Entity Study.
00:52:14
Speaker
And from there, we'll take it from there. Okay. I can cast the light spell that you did. i know that one. Cleo, are you telling me? Cleo, are you telling me? Dear God, Cleo. And Fondalyn stops treading water with her other hand and just grabs both of Cleo's horns and like is almost like falling under the water. She's almost drowning Cleo. She's like, are you telling me that as a witch, as a chosen cleric of M'Krog, the only thing that you have relevant to this situation is the one thing that I can already do?
00:52:51
Speaker
i'm not a witch. Okay, well, let's go in there and try again. I'll cast whatever spells I know at it. Yes! Yes! Good good thinking! but well Do we think the room with the study? Do we think the study is the room with the with the mural?
00:53:07
Speaker
I think the study is probably on the third floor, but it's blocked by the closed door. That's where we saw that that ugly thing go through, right Don't call him ugly. For the love of God. Oh. Do not disrespect this thing.
00:53:19
Speaker
but I thought it only speaks Elvish. Okay, that's a good point. You can call it Elvish then, but only in common. Okay. I don't speak Elvish. You think the study's up there? What was up with the door? I couldn't get close to it. I was having a panic attack or something. It's locked. It's locked?
00:53:35
Speaker
It's locked? Can you open it? Can you unlock it? ah Yeah, I think I can open it. And Varnalyn takes a deep breath and swims inside. Before Clay swims, she's going to cast light on her mace so that she has a light source when she goes to the second floor. Smart.
00:53:50
Speaker
Amazing. Give me another athletics check with advantage. This rate, I'm not even going to be able to enter the tower at one point. That was kind of the idea for me of this particular problem.
00:54:03
Speaker
Oh, I haven't rolled above a 10. okay. there's a That's above a 10, so I can go in, right? Yep. Okay, that's a 12. Love it. Sister?
00:54:14
Speaker
That's a 17. The two of you pull yourselves back in once more. Clay's mace illuminating, casting shadows through the space, and you swim up the stairs back towards the door to the third floor.
00:54:28
Speaker
Fondalyn, you are attempting to picket. Yes, but I'm making, i take just a couple seconds to make a show of it. She pulls out a memory strand from her sleeve and she weaves it between her fingers and she imitates the hand shapes that she's seen other spellcasters. She thinks back to what clay has done and the many spells she's seen clay cast. And with this glowing strand woven between her fingers, almost like she's playing Cat's Cradle, she makes those shapes with her hands just for a second to imply, perhaps, to someone who's not good at this stuff, maybe, that she's doing something magical. And then she is going to close in on the lock and with one hand try to conceal what she's doing so that they would only see, an observer would only see her hands glowing and weaving. but with the other hand to pick the lock.
00:55:21
Speaker
Amazing. Give me a dexterity check. That is not that great. That is 13. thirteen What if I cast Guidance search's for some extra magic? Oh, that'd be gorgeous.
00:55:33
Speaker
Now, Guidance has a verbal component, but I can say you could cast Guidance before you entered the tower. yeah That's plus four? A D4? A D4. So I was up to 13. That is up to 16.
00:55:49
Speaker
Fawnalyn, you get your picks into the lock, trying to make it look like ah arcane casting. It should have worked. You've picked a lot of locks in your day.
00:56:00
Speaker
it should have worked, but you feel a resistance. It's almost like the pins are resetting as you're putting them into place. And I think that you could sense or get an idea, based off what he said, that this lock is magically enhanced in some way.
00:56:20
Speaker
Still possible to pick, but a significantly higher DC than a standard lock. I would like to cast Light on the lock and juice it with magic and then continue to try to pick it and determine whether having used magic on this lock affects the DC in some way.
00:56:39
Speaker
That will exhaust your air. It'll do it. Okay. You cast Light, and as you save the incantation, the lock begins to glow and you begin to drown.
00:56:51
Speaker
Oh. yeah But did it feel easier to pick? You don't have a chance to find out. Yeah. Okay. I black out. No, no, no. You've got two rounds before you lose consciousness.
00:57:04
Speaker
Two rounds? Okay. I swim up olves i so swim up to Clay and I plant one on Clay and I suck some air out of Clay's lungs. I read that in a young adult novel once. It was about a bunch of teens getting, I guess, like murdered at a beach resort. And then two teens hid in a hot tub and they hid, I think one of them was caught at the bottom of the hot tub and the other one kept him alive by like swimming to the surface and then breathing into his mouth for him.
00:57:33
Speaker
You're thinking that just could be carbon dioxide. If I drown in here, we're both drowning. Okay. That would be if your lungs worked at a hundred for percent efficiency with ton. Yeah. There's some O2 in there. I'll share my air with you, Fondalyn. I just did, I did recently throw up though, so. One pleasant for everyone involved. You suck some oxygen out of Clay's mouth.
00:57:55
Speaker
And I will say the two of you together have like 15 seconds of air time. Oh, we gotta go. Did the lock open though? It did not. Okay. We go out. You swim as fast as you can back towards the exit.
00:58:08
Speaker
It takes some time, you know, it's like maybe a hundred plus feet. So you're kind of like on the verge of drowning as you reach the exit. Like I would say you actually start to run out of air entirely, but you get there and you once more are shunted back out into the lake.
00:58:27
Speaker
You're getting cold. maybe a little tired, you've been treading water and swimming for a decent amount of time now. The lock did not appear to react to your magic. If you'd like, make an arcana check.
00:58:39
Speaker
Both of us? Sure. Even though my arcana sucks and I've been rolling very bad. Ooh, that's not bad. Clay, when you were young, running around the Dragon's Heart Cathedral, there was a cabinet of sacred artifacts.
00:58:58
Speaker
that were only used on special occasions. Extremely rare, perhaps powerful, extremely valuable at the very least. And you, you wanted to play with them so bad.
00:59:11
Speaker
But try as you might to open the door, it would not open. And eventually in your frustration, you went and asked the bright scale, Well, he wasn't the bright scale then, but you went asked Warwick Hummeld why you couldn't get in.
00:59:25
Speaker
And he told you that they had hired a wizard to cast an arcane lock spell upon the cabinet so that no one could get in easily.
00:59:36
Speaker
And you think it's probably something similar here. A convenient method of security employed by wizards. Did I ask the bright scale if there was a way to...
00:59:50
Speaker
Undo it? Of course. And he did not tell you. ah Okay, well, I tell this to Fondlin. I think it's probably locked by an arcane lock spell.
01:00:01
Speaker
I don't know how to undo it, though. Well, I mean, i only know of so many ways that a door might open. Number one, a key. Number two, i don't know, like a password or an invocation.
01:00:14
Speaker
but that's not something we know. Number three, lock picking, but I did pretty well and that didn't work. Number four, exploding the door. So one through three are my less preferable options.
01:00:27
Speaker
Number four, you go in there and explode the door. That is my more preferred option. Okay, well, I have another idea. i know we're running out of time, but there is also staircase going down.
01:00:41
Speaker
Maybe there's a key downstairs, or maybe we'll find something else. All right. Let's look downstairs. Let's look downstairs, and if not, are you able to explode that door? Um, I don't know how well my fire spells will do in the water, but I can try to hit it and just break it. Okay, let's look for a key.
01:00:59
Speaker
Into the basement we go. This time, can we swim downstairs? Yeah, we re-enter. Give an athletics check with advantage. Oh my god. That's an eight.
01:01:09
Speaker
And that's a 16. I got a natural one on one of those rolls. Faunilin, your breath is reduced to one minute of breathing time. Oh lord. Oh.
01:01:20
Speaker
Clay, you get in no problem. And the two of you swim across this chamber once again down the stairs. This area is below... The water level below the surface of the lake.
01:01:35
Speaker
It appears to be a basement and it is dark. The remains of rotting crates are stacked in collapsed piles throughout the space and the pipe from the main floor continues down, once again melding with the floor smoothly.
01:01:49
Speaker
A swarm of fish with sharp teeth can be seen swimming around, disturbing the silt on the floor of this space. This is scary, bro.
01:02:00
Speaker
I still have light cast on my mace, right? Can I wave it around and scare away the fish? Yeah. Give me a perception roll. Both of you can make a perception roll and I'd say, no disadvantage because of the light.
01:02:11
Speaker
Cool. Uh, flat roll. I got a seven. I got a 15 total. okay clay it is a sliver of light but you see it the mural from above extends through the floor down into this space but you can see instead of depicting the entirety of the night sky the lower third of the mural seems to depict a vast ocean waves are etched into it and you can see little chunks of land
01:02:42
Speaker
islands scattered on the horizon. You see a faint glow of something covered nearly entirely in soot and algae. And as you swim a little bit closer to get a better look, you see that it is an orb, roughly grapefruit sized.
01:02:58
Speaker
Yes! The moon! Glowing similar to the moons above. You begin to reach for it. But as you do, you see that there is a crack, a crevice in the wall.
01:03:11
Speaker
and you see a pair of glinting eyes of a large eel, mouth hungry and agape, floating in wait. What do you do? As I approach, can i use my mace to like kick up some silt from the floor and throw it into the eel's eyes and then grab the orb?
01:03:33
Speaker
Give me a sleight of hand roll. Wow, sleight of hand. What is sleight of hand? Plus zero, so that's a 13. You scrape your mace along the floor, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris.
01:03:46
Speaker
Silt pours into the crack, and the creature seems to withdraw slightly. And as it does, you reach down and grab this orb. The second you do, the eyes of these fish begin to glow red.
01:04:01
Speaker
They congeal into a ball and swim directly at you. And we are going to cut over to Glimki in the city. What the hell? This place is so scary, man. Oh, glowing red fishbowl. Interesting.
01:04:17
Speaker
Can I open on a flashback? Sure. Oh, no. I think it'd just be more interesting than just me listing out the things that I had planned, but I'm still going to do that. But I'd like to add some, some element of narrative to it. Sure. Okay. So yeah, I was just imagining the conversations that we would have had with that leadership team, whether it would have been in like in the halls of that church.
01:04:40
Speaker
And it's like a really hard part of the conversation where like all the leaders are talking about like, what do we do with the casualties? Like what happens when there's fatalities? Cause everyone knows they're inevitable.
01:04:53
Speaker
And I can like see in my head, like imagine the our our virtual camera here, if you will, is like focused in on the two petals in Glunki's hair as he like touches them.
01:05:04
Speaker
And like all of the leaders are like looking at him for like for the answer. And then we match cut to the the petals in his hair, but back on the streets of present time. But now they're like they're like spattered with the like little droplets of blood from friend and foe alike.
01:05:22
Speaker
And there's like Glimki and the other leaders like yelling to like the the whole group of people in the wounded. We have to triage the wounded, get the seamstresses to start tending to folks that need the extra care. Those who can stand under their own strength need to get back in the fight because we're going to need the numbers.
01:05:42
Speaker
From here until the walls of the HQ, it's all a show of force. Give me a persuasion roll as you try and rally the forces.
01:05:52
Speaker
I have decent. Oh yeah. 23. twenty three Heyo. There is some shock in the eyes of your army. They did not have a lot of time to prepare for this, and even with months of training, this would have come as a huge shock.
01:06:07
Speaker
But at the sound of your voice, they rally around you. The healer's kits that Clay made are distributed. Those that are wounded but still alive are patched up as best they can, and those that are able to quickly pull themselves back to their feet, regaining the fight.
01:06:25
Speaker
Many of the dwarves that you encountered were killed, others threw down their weapons, so those that were wielding rakes and paint cans are able to find swords and the odd shield or helmet scraps of armor.
01:06:37
Speaker
Whether or not they know how to use them is another question, but they do rally, and the march continues. And Glen Key like, keeps shouting, be like water, relentless, because even a mountain will be carved by the persistence of a stream.
01:06:54
Speaker
You know these streets better than they do. Carve your way through them and push to the HQ. If they close their gates, we'll move to phase two. And then he wants to call out for Callum and tell him to gather the expeditionary force.
01:07:09
Speaker
And I have a list of things that I have questions for. Amazing. First one, how many kegs do we have? So there was a total of three stolen initially.
01:07:23
Speaker
One. has been converted into a magic mushroom keg. Clay brought this to you one day with a brigginock named Boof. And frankly, you don't know what this is. And you're hoping at the very least it functions as a regular keg, but you're not sure.
01:07:39
Speaker
The second keg is just a regular keg. The third you had requested for accessing the chamber where the stone tree is hidden.
01:07:50
Speaker
Okay, so those are the three. So this is where I knew it was going to get tricky because I'm trying to figure out where we can spend them. So one keg has to stay with what I'm now calling the Expeditionary Force.
01:08:05
Speaker
Okay. and the second free keg has to go in the carriage that we had made the fake korak one and here's why is it possible to have instructed some of the defector dwarves that you had described because of the letters to bring that carriage and like park it in an alley near the hq waiting for phase two and what phase two would be is if they retreat into their keep which is their headquarters we can use that carriage to blow a hole in their wall or destroy the gate 100 okay the second keg will come with us okay that's that's good
01:08:50
Speaker
The third keg, the mushroom keg. What do we do with the mushroom keg? It's supposed to work on dwarves, so it'd be best if you could hit a lot of dwarves it. Okay, so the next question then was, there's obviously a bridge coming from the art kind of district area. There's two.
01:09:10
Speaker
There's the Mosaic Bridge and the Painted Bridge. Okay, and what is the difference? ah design primarily. But they both come from one district to the other. Yes. One is further north, like closer to the... Yeah, one is one is further north, one is further south. The southernmost one has the most direct route from Artist Alley towards Korak HQ. It's actually pretty close to Korak HQ. That's kind of how you got into that. Okay, got it. Okay, so then the other one, is there yeah is there any reason to believe that that other bridge, the northernmost one, would be used at all to access the mine, like going towards the mine?
01:09:47
Speaker
Uh, it would access the city, like the that side of the city, which could then be used to get to the road to the mine, for sure. Like, if you were trying to sneak out, that is a way you could do it. You do know that both of these gates are, or sorry, both of these bridges are heavily guarded, not only by dwarves, but also by these metal constructs. Right, right, the constructs. I forgot about the constructs.
01:10:08
Speaker
Okay, so would it be reasonable to believe that if... shit popped off in the city. If they were to call back some of the forces from either the northern part or the mines, would they cross that other bridge to come back to this area?
01:10:25
Speaker
It is a potential flank point where if you were to push over the mosaic bridge, they could definitely send troops over the painted bridge after you and kind of flank you, cut off your retreat.
01:10:36
Speaker
No, i'm I'm more curious about if there's reinforcements to like relieve the siege on their HQ. I mean, that's also possible. Last you saw when you snuck out of Speakeasy Artworks for the last time, good number of guards stationed at that northernmost bridge. Got it. Okay, so what I was thinking in another flashback is there's Glimki and Callum and a group of like 50, 70 people like an extra group.
01:11:04
Speaker
And we're talking about where we can see a potential relief from their side coming and see if it comes from either the mine or the northernmost bridge.
01:11:17
Speaker
And if we do, we're not going to do anything about it, but we're going to use that as a sign that we can move to the mine. Hmm. So if all of the forces are pulling back to relieve the siege, we could use that as an opportunity to like maybe head there with less. So step one, get them to pull back. Step two, initiate a siege so that they remove extra security from mines.
01:11:44
Speaker
Step three, go to mines and release Etigan. Yeah, so the idea would be, yeah, so we push them over the bridge and we push as far as we can to get to the HQ. To really make it feel like it's a lot, my idea of like even getting people standing is that this force needs to seem so big, even if they're wounded and can't do shit, we look so powerful that they have to defend themselves with the keep.
01:12:09
Speaker
And then the hope would be that once that first keg explodes at the HQ, they would have to be like, okay, well, we have to go help. So then our so our expeditionary force, what we're hoping for is waiting for that clear sign that if there is another force, we we can be like, hey, like, people are going to die. Like, that's just the reality, but we have something more important to do.
01:12:32
Speaker
Okay. I think Glinky was a general in a past life. think maybe. I'm going say, I love it. The first thing to do is to cross the bridge.
01:12:43
Speaker
We have to cross the bridge. Like, was Dwell's not actually peaceful? Is Dwell's like... No, we got a lot of time to play make-believe. Utilistic. Yeah.
01:12:54
Speaker
Yeah. Huckadori's brutally slaughtering the ah finders. Very sad. The crowd pushes forward. You abandon Artis Alley, moving towards the Mosaic Bridge.
01:13:07
Speaker
And as you do, you see that there is a blockade. You see that these two metal constructs have gathered in front of the bridge, blocking access. There are numerous dwarves with crossbows positioned behind them. I will remind you that you believe that there are wizards or artificers who have control over these... Right, right, right, right, right....shield guardians.
01:13:30
Speaker
Tower things, yeah. in nearby structures. And yeah, there's like not like not like a pause, but like the troops are unsure. how to proceed i Actually, I'd say like a handful of rebels, maybe a tad overzealous, rush forward, and you watch as this metal construct just backhands them, and they go flying backwards, just fit landing in a pile next to like on the street. God dang it.
01:13:57
Speaker
I think maybe just correcting the their focus is important, so rallying our leadership team to be like, You have to find the wizards or whoever is controlling the constructs and clearly pointing out the structures so that they're not wasting their time crashing against those constructs.
01:14:17
Speaker
Yeah. Those structures are on the other side of the bridge. So do you have a plan to get them over? How much flashbacks am I allowed to have? Endless. Baby, boy, you had a week of planning. You keep flashing back until I get tired. Okay, amazing. So, okay, flashback.
01:14:35
Speaker
Clay is there, and ah what are their names? Hammer and... Bonalent? Tongs. R.I.P. and oh And we're gathering piles of scrap material, like shingles and pieces of wood, planks, barrels that like can be broken down and recycled.
01:14:58
Speaker
And we're building like hinged bridge platforms, really narrow, like a ladder, but flat so that the groups of people can drop them over the river and cross to flank them.
01:15:09
Speaker
So they're rickety, they're really really not sturdy, but if they go single file, it should be able to support the weight of a few at a time. So if the focus is like on the bridge, you know, maybe like 50 meters that way or 50 meters that way on either end of the bridge, they can lay these down and start piling onto the other bank.
01:15:30
Speaker
Does Glimke join? Crossing the bridge? No. This is all happening like a street back with, you know, check-ins with some of these ah leaders.
01:15:41
Speaker
But like, to some degree, there's like a lot of this that would have been like, I think, thought of in that week leading up. So that it's almost like I'm relying on this group of people to do what they came here to do.
01:15:54
Speaker
Okay. It would be like the group of like that extra 50, 75 people, like all waiting eagerly. And it would like, honestly, I think it would be horrible for everybody that's waiting back.
01:16:05
Speaker
Cause it's like, they want to be there, but they like know that they can't. Cause it's like, there's something else that we have to do. ah So like they have to just wait and watch. Okay. Could I get, are sorry, are you doing anything to distract the guards on the bridge? I think it's just, yeah, that I think there's a siege at the bridge, like the the main group is going, and then there's handfuls of people trying to get across the bridge just so they can kind of overwhelm those shacks. Okay, crossbow bolts go flying out. Everyone you know ducks behind barrels and some carriages some other carriages that are wheeled up as cover, ducking back into alleys, exchanging fire, shooting more of these paint cans, shooting some bows and arrows, some crossbows of their own they've salvaged. du tu sututu
01:16:48
Speaker
crossbow belts come flying over and while that's happening, this other force tries cross the river to gain the surprise with the intention of breaking into these structures and helping out. Okay, give me a another percentile. forty five 45. This time it is a success.
01:17:09
Speaker
through Nice. They notice the people crossing, but not before a good number of them get over. Some of the dwarves pull back and engage with them, and those troops try and break into these houses where these artificers are controlling these constructs.
01:17:28
Speaker
One of them locks eyes on you, this large metal man, and just starts throw through the streets, knocking people aside, charging at you.
01:17:40
Speaker
It swings a huge metal fist down, enough to crush you. It slams into the ground, cobblestones go flying everywhere. You back up, dodging its strikes, and your back presses up against a tree.
01:17:53
Speaker
It raises its fist. You've got nowhere else to run. And then a voice says, I've got you, a little one. Yes! Yes, Sapfeen! And grabs the arms of the shield guardian. Sapfeen! And the two just start wrestling in the street. You're able to get away and you watch as the clash on the other side of the bridge continues. The one shield guardian occupied by Sapfeen, the rest of you are able to surge forward, cutting down the troops on the bridge.
01:18:20
Speaker
Eventually, the infiltration force on the other side breaks into the nearby structures. They're hidden in upper balcony windows and... tucked away as best they can, these artificers, but they are found and they are stopped.
01:18:34
Speaker
Their necklaces that they use to control the shield guardians are destroyed. With this result, you do not gain their fighting force, but they are stopped and you gain a foothold over the bridge.
01:18:47
Speaker
The Shield Guardians come to a grinding halt as their necklaces are destroyed, and the surge pushes forward. As you cross the bridge, the ground quakes.
01:19:00
Speaker
There's been earthquakes throughout the week. They've been getting more frequent and more intense, and this is a big one. A building on the other side, back in the Artist District, just collapses completely.
01:19:14
Speaker
jeez. It lasts several minutes. Whoa. But you keep pushing forward. You run towards Korak HQ. Callum finds you.
01:19:25
Speaker
And he says, this is going really well. I think we might we might actually win. This isn't ah ah just about winning, Callum.
01:19:35
Speaker
and We have to get Etigan back to full strength. You're right. You're right. No, I know. There's something else, too. Damn it, boy. Say it. i I think we should send some people to try and stop the fake governor from escaping. I'm worried that if we win, she'll get away and we won't have a moment of justice.
01:19:58
Speaker
So if it's okay with you, I want to go bring some troops there and make sure she doesn't escape. She needs to be punished for what she did. Damn it, Callum. Now in the 11th hour, you bring this to me?
01:20:11
Speaker
i didn't think we'd make it this far. That's fair. Okay. We have one keg, carriage at the wall. We have one keg for us to get into the mine, and now we have a mushroom keg.
01:20:21
Speaker
How many people do you need, Callum? If they kept the guard the same, i mean, we can either do it sneaky style, just like a couple people, or we can go into the front door. um maybe Maybe two dozen if we're going to the front. Otherwise, four or five if we're sneaking in.
01:20:37
Speaker
I look at Sap Fiend and I say, bring the tree and put that keg through the front door. Which keg? The regular mushroom keg. Oh, shit. Okay.
01:20:48
Speaker
I love it. So he can bring Sap Fiend in at, I don't know, 20 people. Amazing. Amazing. Callum kind of grabs you by the back of the head and pulls your foreheads together.
01:20:59
Speaker
And we kiss. who Whoa! Everybody's unexpected snooches tonight. No, no, I didn't mean to do that. It was an accident. Sharing oxygen. before He grabs you by the head.
01:21:16
Speaker
Thank you. I'll see you soon. Don't make me regret this, Callum. With Sap Fiend. Doom. holding a keg on his tree shoulder, him and another two dozen individuals run off towards the governor's mansion as fast as they can.
01:21:34
Speaker
You turn your attentions to Korak HQ. From a distance. Sure, sure, sure. There are guards in your way. It's bloody battle street by street, but you're making progress.
01:21:46
Speaker
It seems that the disinformation has worked. and the poisoned fish is helping as well. There is a lack of fighting spirit amongst the dwarves. Oh, the fish, man.
01:21:58
Speaker
Morales. Hell yeah. Despite their presence in the city, this is not an army. This is a mining corporation. They lack the rigor and structure of a proper armed force, and you are making progress.
01:22:14
Speaker
How close do you get to HQ? And do you pull the trigger on the explosive? Do they retreat inside the gates? Give me one more percentile wall.
01:22:26
Speaker
You want a 26 or higher. Come on now. A flat 50. fifty hey They do. Things are going well. They are turning around. Many are running.
01:22:36
Speaker
Retreat! Retreat to HQ! We can pick them off with the cannon. The fuck? The canon? What? The book? The what? Okay, so I can i can see in my mind if they're like, we're finally arriving at this this wall.
01:22:55
Speaker
It's almost like our forces like stop across the street and like hunker down around the corners of alleys. And I can imagine it being like, well, what the hell are they doing?
01:23:08
Speaker
But unbeknownst to them, slowly up one of the side streets is a carriage filled to the brim with oils and a keg of blast powder as they wheel it up next to one of the adjacent walls to the courtyard.
01:23:21
Speaker
I love it. Kaboom? Yeah, kaboom, man.
01:23:28
Speaker
A fireball emits through the air. Even from this far away, Clay and Faunalyn in the basement of this tower, the water pulses.
01:23:39
Speaker
You feel something wash over you. Oh my God. The wall is blown apart and your forces come surging through. Dwarves come streaming out from the Korak HQ, this square pyramidal shaped building.
01:23:55
Speaker
And on the roof, o you see an ogre wearing an apron covered in fish guts.
01:24:05
Speaker
He pounds his chest and then takes these fists and just slams them into the roof of the building. And you see a long black cannon strapped to his back. Oh, fuck. Oh my God. Several dwarves light a fuse and a cannonball comes sailing through the air, crashing into the street, feet away from you.
01:24:25
Speaker
Colostone's been kicking up a cloud of dust, and it just starts raining fire upon you. As fast as they can load it, these massive cannonballs are firing down on your troops. Holy shit. A week of recon did not reveal this. Yeah, holy shit. You had a week to prepare. Are you going to cut to another flashback? Another flashback? shit. Flashback, Terry tells you about this cannon well beforehand, and you have...
01:24:51
Speaker
Lots of counter-hiders. And we built a giant trampoline so we can bounce the balls.
01:24:59
Speaker
And i think I think we're going to cut back to the tower. As cannibals rain down, the fight continues in the core HQ courtyard. We will cut to Clay and Faunalyn in the basement of Flotsam Tower.
01:25:14
Speaker
I'm going to need an initiative roll from the two of you. fight fish For fish, for these fricking fish. Oh scared, bro. i know. I'm worried about Glinky. 21 for initiative.
01:25:28
Speaker
I got a 11. Okay, Faunilin, you are first. So there is an eel and a ball of angry fish. Yes. You don't know if the eel is coming after you.
01:25:42
Speaker
It was kind of looming near the orb, but you don't know if it's a combatant in this fight. Didn't its eyes go red too? You did not see its eyes go red. Oh, okay. Just retreated into the crack.
01:25:55
Speaker
Fondalina is going to bonus action disengage around the fish and she's going to go for that orb because I have some kind... of Clay already has the orb in their hand.
01:26:07
Speaker
I have the orb, yeah. That's what, as soon as Clay picked up the orb, the fish's eyes turned red and they swimming right at Clay. I'm going to use my movement to swim as hard as I can up to Clay and I'm going to attempt to take the orb from them.
01:26:20
Speaker
I give it to you. I don't resist. Okay. I have a theory. Okay. They immediately turn and are coming after you now. Cool. Bonus action. do i need to disengage or can I dash?
01:26:32
Speaker
They are not on you yet. So if you wish to dash, you can dash. Yes. I wish to dash. And then i know that I'm running out of oxygen, but I want to use a little, oh, but the rope is so slow.
01:26:45
Speaker
I use a little bit of oxygen to say, slither forth magic rope, and I want to call the rope to me because I'm worried some shit's going to go down and I might need something to pull me out. Or maybe I can move faster if I can pull myself along.
01:26:56
Speaker
So yeah, I swim as far away as I can. We might need to find some cash down here, Clay. I'm going to say 20 seconds for you to get down into the basement, find the orb, kick off this fight.
01:27:07
Speaker
Very, i'm very say generous. I'm going to say, you only have one minute of air, huh? Crazy. Well, you did this. That is a little crazy. That is a little crazy. You did this. Be stronger. All right. We're going to say 20 seconds to swim down the stairs.
01:27:23
Speaker
You know, it's like you're swimming as fast as you can, right? Like you're not, you're not dallying. 20 seconds to get down the stairs. I'm going to say another 20 seconds to call to the magic rope.
01:27:34
Speaker
So you have enough air for three rounds of combat. Okay. Past that, you are going to start drowning. Dash every round, Fondalyn. got this. Yeah?
01:27:45
Speaker
I don't say that. The fish aren't on you! The fish aren't on you anymore! I'm gonna go get them. Let's just play catch, bro. I actually think let's just play catch. So you were next to Clay, who was next to the orb.
01:28:00
Speaker
can move 15 feet because your movement is half. You don't have a swim speed, so you can move 15 feet in a round. So collectively, 30 feet if you dash, which you did.
01:28:12
Speaker
So we can say, are you trying to leave the basement? Yeah, 100%. I am trying to get to the higher level so I can put the orb in the hole. I'm gonna say you get to the base of the stairs and that is your turn.
01:28:24
Speaker
The quippers are going to come after you. Do have all your hit points? We're fully rested, i think. Okay, it's actually a really good question because I'm currently at 13 out of 22, but I think I must've just forgotten to press long rest because we haven't done anything. Okay, then yes, i am yes week of I am at full hit points, but be advised that's not very many. They attack you normal.
01:28:49
Speaker
Does a 13 hit? It does not, stupid fish. Okay. They are swimming around you, biting, but you managed to like just kind of kick away from them.
01:29:01
Speaker
No damage done yet. They are in your space, and unlike a certain locust fight, they will get an opportunity attack if you leave it. Good thing I'm a rogue and can disengage.
01:29:12
Speaker
Clay, it is your turn. Okay, i chase after the fish and I try to hit them with my mace. Okay, your attack will be with disadvantage as you are fighting underwater, but go for it.
01:29:25
Speaker
That's cool. <unk> that's That's eight. Eight will not do it. Your strike is sluggish and they just swim around you and reform swimming around fawnling.
01:29:38
Speaker
Anything else? Do I have any movement left or did I take all my movement to chase the fish? It's honestly, it's kind of stretching your movement to even get this attack in. So yeah, you you were out of movement. Then that's all I can do. All of my spells include a verbal component. Most of them do. There's shockingly few without. This has really not been Clay's environment. You are in fact a fire guy and we are underwater. Yeah. I'm like a wet rat.
01:30:06
Speaker
Faunilin, it is your turn then. Cool, I'm going to bonus action, disengage, and then use both my movement, i use my movement and take my action to dash. You go swimming up the stairs. They try and bite you, but you kind of bludgeon a few away with the orb, swimming as fast as you can.
01:30:24
Speaker
With all your movement from the dash, you get to the top of the stairs and are now across the room from the opening that Clay pointed out to you. Okay, I got one more round. Let's hope my hunch pays off.
01:30:37
Speaker
You have two rounds, right? That was one out of three. Did my first one count? You have one round left. Oh, shit. Yup. The Quippers are going to follow you up the stairs. They easily keep up with you. That is a natural 20. Mm-hmm.
01:30:52
Speaker
Oh. Oh, this is going to a lot. Oh.
01:31:01
Speaker
That was a lot of dice. How much HP does Faunlan have? Zach, did you just kill me outright? By fish?
01:31:12
Speaker
How much damage do you have? Or how much health do you have? i have 22 hit points, Zachary. Okay, you take 29 points of piercing damage as these fish swarm over you, biting you in a dozen places. You start to bleed and you collapse, dropping the orb in the process.
01:31:30
Speaker
Untimely critical hit. That's crazy. Help me, Clay. yeah Save me Clay, it is your turn.
01:31:41
Speaker
Okay, so the she dropped the orb. Do the fish go after the orb? Do they stay biting Fauna? As soon as she drops it, they not like disperse.
01:31:52
Speaker
I'd say their eyes stop glowing, but these are still carnivorous fish and they look hungry. And this is a meal. Oh my God. So they're on Faunilin. They're eating me. Oh fuck. You are sick in the head. I grabbed the orb. Okay. I'm going to say, I mean, it takes Faunilin's fast. huh Can I reach the orb? You can reach the orb if you dash.
01:32:15
Speaker
and That's an action dash? That is an action to dash, yes. Okay, I action dash, get the orb. Can I still use a bonus action? Yeah. Bonus action. Well, once I grab the orb, do the fish come towards me?
01:32:30
Speaker
They immediately pivot and look at you. Okay, well, as soon as they're not paying attention to Faunolin and i have the orb in my hand, I'm going to bonus action healing word to Faunolin, even though we're underwater.
01:32:44
Speaker
Oh, thank you. All right. Clay, you are now drowning. ah In three rounds, you will drop to zero hit points. Bro, what is up with you? What up with you?
01:32:56
Speaker
How much HP does finally get? 1d4 plus four. Do I roll it do you roll it? You roll. But I'm bad at rolling and Shannon's good at rolling, so. Get good. I need you to get so good at it right now. You're doing great, by the way.
01:33:09
Speaker
Oh, God, that's a four plus four, so eight. That's the max heal. That's gorgeous. Thank you. I will accept. I humbly and gladly accept. So Fondalyn comes to you with hardly any air in her lungs, eh?
01:33:22
Speaker
I would say it happens quick enough that you have like six seconds of air. You have one more round. After this next turn, you will also start to drown. Wait, can someone explain drowning to me? Like, do I get an action still or is it like I'm dead, like unconscious?
01:33:35
Speaker
When a creature runs out of breath or is choking, it can survive for a number of rounds equal to its constitution modifier. At the start of its next turn, it drops to zero hit points and is dying. And it can't regain hit points or be stabilized until it can breathe again.
01:33:48
Speaker
So I can still do my rounds. I just dropped to zero after the end of... ah believe so. Okay, leave me. no I have 90 feet of movement. I, Fondalyn is going to try to grab clay and drag clay out of there.
01:34:02
Speaker
You can move 90 feet normally. Yep. With swimming, you can move 45. And I'd say with dragon clay, you can move just over 20. So you can get clay close, but you will not reach the exit if you are dragging them.
01:34:19
Speaker
Frick, dude. That's okay. I still have rounds in me, right? Or do I drop next round? You got rounds in you. Yeah. All right, Fonilin pulls Clay as far as she can, but when when she starts seeing black, she lets go and throws a glance to the magic rope that she hopes is still winding its way towards Clay and thrashes her way to the surface. Okay.
01:34:44
Speaker
You drag Clay about 15 feet away from the quippers and then make for the door.
01:34:52
Speaker
Your vision darkens entirely for a second, and you briefly black out before awakening on your back in the lake.
01:35:03
Speaker
We are going to cut not back inside. The fish are going to attack you, Clay. Okay. They swim up to you. You have not been damaged, so they do not get advantage.
01:35:14
Speaker
Okay. Does a 13 hit. I'm not wearing my shield, but my normal armor class is 14, so no. They start to try and bite you, but you're wearing this armor and they can't find skin.
01:35:27
Speaker
You are surrounded. You are swarmed. You are 18 seconds from dying. Your lungs are burning. Okay. That's three rounds, right? Yeah. You got three your rounds. What are you doing? plenty time. Okay. So they're attacking me because I'm holding the orb, but as soon as Fawnalyn had dropped it earlier, the fish stopped swarming and they didn't go for the orb either. Correct.
01:35:53
Speaker
I'm going to let go of the orb and it's just, does it sink or does it float there? It sinks. It drops to the ground. Before it drops, because Frondolin had made the end of the magic rope come near me, can I make the rope go near, tie itself around the orb instead?
01:36:10
Speaker
What? You have no air with which to breathe. You cannot issue a command to the magic rope at this time. ah Okay, I'll just drop the orb and I'll swim towards the exit then.
01:36:25
Speaker
Okay. Yeah, you drop the orb. They don't attack you. And you swim to the exit, landing next to Fonelin, who's gasping for air, trying to float on her back. Oh my god.
01:36:37
Speaker
What the heck? What the heck? We've got to get that orb in the hole. think the water might away. I have an idea. We use the rope, because it doesn't look like the fish attack unless someone is holding the orb.
01:36:49
Speaker
But if the rope does it, maybe it won't attack. Oh, we command the rope to tie itself around the orb and then slot the orb into the hole. Yeah. Yeah, you know.
01:37:00
Speaker
Use the rope. I like it. Go for it. Okay. From outside, can I command the rope to tie around the orb? I'm going to require an arcana check.
01:37:12
Speaker
If you're successful, it will do it. But this is a pretty advanced maneuver for blindly guiding a rope in a space that you can't actually see right now I know where it's positioned. Oh, I rolled good though. Okay. Arcana is minus one. 17. 15.
01:37:28
Speaker
dc was fifteen We have so much practice with this rope. It's like a second arm. like Yeah, seriously. Imagine us without this rope. We would have died in like session four. I know. the The rope is part of us now.
01:37:40
Speaker
Truly. A fourth rumpus. You've heard of rumpus. Get ready for ropeus. You float there in the water, paddling, staying afloat.
01:37:52
Speaker
The water keeps cascading out and out and out. And then it begins to slow. imperceptibly at first, but then you see the water level decrease.
01:38:05
Speaker
You can see into the space and eventually the water recedes down the stairs into the basement and the main floor is emptied of water.
01:38:18
Speaker
The quippers flop on the floor thrashing around. The rope has several bite marks in it, but is otherwise intact. And you see it is stretched up across the room and is pressed this orb into the wall.
01:38:35
Speaker
A wall that looks like a night sky, but is not the night sky you know. night sky with but one moon. A night sky with a moon that controls the height of the water.
01:38:48
Speaker
and you're able to access Flotsam Tower without struggling. We did it! That's great, because I was so freaking tired of swimming. You know often I exercise?
01:38:59
Speaker
Not a lot! You know, I grew up on the coast, but I think I hate water. I think I hate water, too. I grew up in trees. Trees don't have anything to do with water.
01:39:12
Speaker
ah That that was really disgusting experience, to be honest. God. I like kick some of the fish out of the tower. Yeah. A clipper goes sailing through the night and swims down.
01:39:27
Speaker
You retrieve your rope. Yes. I kiss that rope. Yes. Everybody's getting kisses tonight. i want to ah I want to look around this tower properly. Sure. Give me an investigation roll.
01:39:39
Speaker
Thank you all. Oh my god, i would like to roll well. That was just an eight. With an eight, not much stands out to you. It is smelly. This place stinks of mold and water and fish.
01:39:54
Speaker
But you do notice one thing. The outside of this tower is stone. Stacked stone, reaching up into the night. The inside is oddly smooth. You couldn't see it clearly when you were swimming around in here without a proper light source.
01:40:12
Speaker
But it's like the stone is fused together. There is practice back home in Ulithorthyad singing the trees, shaping wood through Elfsong, and it seems like a similar practice has been carried out here, but applied to stone.
01:40:32
Speaker
Oh my god. I wanna... That's so interesting. And now we need to look for a key open the study. Yeah. Well, now at least we're pressed for air while we investigate.
01:40:46
Speaker
Did the basement have more stairs going down or is it just that's the basement? It did not. Hmm. Should we go look at the door again? Yeah, or you could just blast it open Yeah, you can do fire stuff now, so yes, I'd say so.
01:41:00
Speaker
Okay, go back up to the door. Can I look around up here real quick and see if there's... What's up with this pipe now that there's no water? Give me an investigation. I'm gonna look too.
01:41:11
Speaker
That is slightly better. That's 17. Why are all my skills minus one? And that's 17, though. I did roll good. The two of you if we were to pull from Jordan's description of previous events and place a camera outside the pipe looking in, we see two eyeballs from two different individuals pressed up against this opening.
01:41:37
Speaker
And then we pan down. And we see that there is a plunger that was elevated by the water that has lowered. And maybe a foot down below this opening, you see a small platform with a silver key covered in algae sitting upon it.
01:41:56
Speaker
Oh my god. The set design in this place is unbelievable. Clay, will you do the honors? Uh, yeah. I will take the key. Does it look trapped before I take it? I'm like paranoid.
01:42:11
Speaker
Give me one more investigation, Will. who Nat 2, which with my investigation is a 1. Oh my goodness. Why I even ask? Clay just grabs the key. She doesn't care. As you're turning the key, you're like, oh, I hope it's not trapped. Click.
01:42:30
Speaker
The lock opens and the door swings open. You step a foot inside and nothing happens. Then one more foot and then one more.
01:42:44
Speaker
It's dry in here. The space wasn't touched by the wet that permeated the rest of the tower. You look around and you see a workshop in disarray.
01:42:57
Speaker
The floor is a mess and you see countless oddities and artifacts scattered throughout. The first thing you notice is a withered corpse slumped over against the wall wearing a black mask that you as someone who's worked and lived in a dress shop for several years, immediately recognizes as velvet.
01:43:22
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Stitched with silver thread, depicting a death's head hawk moth. Wow. You see a model of... What appears to be a sun and planets circling around it, which you've never seen before.
01:43:37
Speaker
There's only one planet and the sun flies above it. So you don't really understand why this glowing ball of enchanted light is being circled around by these larger little rocks that painted different colors that are swirling around it, magically enchanted. Oh my god. It's the round Zav gold again. Oh god.
01:44:00
Speaker
The round drivers. You see a work table covered in flasks and overturned potion bottles, scatterings of arcane reagents from countless experiments and spells gone awry, scorch marks in the stone.
01:44:20
Speaker
You see that there are several books and scrolls untouched by the water below. You see a preserved eel in a jar on a shelf. Hmm. And you see the ghastly visage of a translucent elf.
01:44:35
Speaker
Pointed, crooked ears. An elongated widow's peak. Despite the fact that you are in a dry space, these wisps of spectral hair move as if he were underwater.
01:44:50
Speaker
Same with the robes he wears upon his body. Not too shabby. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Torbis Delucat.
01:45:03
Speaker
Welcome to my home. And we're going cut back to Ankeel. Cannonballs rain from above as this ogre artillery battery rains destruction down upon the rebel army, fighting in the courtyard of Korak HQ.
01:45:20
Speaker
Glimke. Flashback.
01:45:25
Speaker
Hell yeah. Okay, in this flashback, similar scene as before with the expeditionary force. we're so We're all, like, imagine, like, little tableaus of, like, these people sitting in the pews of this church. And it's, like, candlelit and lanternlit.
01:45:43
Speaker
And... Klimki's like explaining to them the plan of this extra team. And he's like, this is going to go against every instinct.
01:45:57
Speaker
You have to fight the urge to help your friends at the front line. They're going to crash against the walls of the HQ and we mustn't aid them because we have a very different mission.
01:46:13
Speaker
And then he's going to like point out the petals in his hair to this group, this this group of however many it was, 50, 70 people. Or maybe at this point it's like a hundred or something. But then he explains that these petals in my hair are the spirit of Eddigan, and I am just a vessel.
01:46:33
Speaker
So I need you to help me reunite this spirit with the heart of the island. And what that means is that I'm in a horrible position because I have to ask you all for something that I would have never otherwise do.
01:46:49
Speaker
If I'm injured, Ed again will perish. If I'm in danger, you have to protect me by any and all means. So I'm standing here asking you for the ultimate sacrifice, your lives.
01:47:05
Speaker
And if that's too tall in order, I understand you can leave right now because I can offer you nothing in return except for a spark of hope. And then I want to flash back to present time, the cannonballs exploding at the at the front lines.
01:47:22
Speaker
looking around this group of men and women and elders, and I'm assuming young people all gathered, huddled in our little alley, and be like, we have to make it to the mines.
Advancing to Chariah Mine
01:47:36
Speaker
that There's no other option. Tongs, the gold-scale dragonborn crouches down beside you. We understand. What would you have us do?
01:47:49
Speaker
We wait to see if reinforcements come. If we do, then that's our time. Callum has taken a group of people to to take on the governor, but all we can do right now is wait for our window of opportunity and then we can go.
01:48:02
Speaker
And once we're at the mine, we just we bring that keg down with us. We go as far as the tunnels will let us. And then, yeah, then Boof will show us where to plant the keg. And hopefully we can gain access.
01:48:15
Speaker
Boof, the critical revolutionary figure. like History books will speak of Glimke and Callum and Boof. Damn right. My God, he's your Rochambeau.
01:48:28
Speaker
Boof climbs up onto your shoulder. He is wearing a black beret and smoking a cigar. You insisted he cut back on the homies' mogenics for today's endeavor.
01:48:41
Speaker
We got this, boss. Everyone's going to be okay. And in a rare moment of kindness, Zach doesn't have Boof immediately shot in the head. We thought about it.
01:48:52
Speaker
We all thought about it. You hunker down. There are waves of combat clashes in the courtyard. I think there's an ebb and flow as forces rush in, dwarven forces rush out.
01:49:06
Speaker
The cannon keeps firing. The bows and projectiles that have been salvaged fire back in return at the ogre wielding it. It's not a stalemate, and even if it were, that's kind of what you want.
01:49:21
Speaker
At one point, a scout, a young half-orc boy the you haven't met, but Clay taught how to forge rings about a week ago, comes running up to you and says, "'There's more dwarves coming in from the blue gate, sir!' And you would know that the blue gate is the entry point by which transport to and from the mines is conducted.
01:49:47
Speaker
They're coming straight here. Should we pull back or go to meet them? Coming straight for the HQ? Coming straight for the HQ. Oh my god. I didn't think this would actually work or happen. Uh oh. It wasn't supposed to go this well.
01:50:02
Speaker
Huh. What should we do? I think Glimki is like stuck in it in a ah moment here and he's flashing back, not to be some sort of problem solving flashback, but more so the words that he spoke at the church that the the night before with the bell tower tolling repeatedly through the night and every time he hears the bell chime in his head, it reminds him that somebody is falling in combat and he's gonna grab the boy.
01:50:30
Speaker
by the neck and shoulder and say, we meet them on the streets. That's all we can do. And I'll look back at the group of the people waiting and just give a silent nod, essentially signaling that it's like our time to move.
01:50:45
Speaker
As you say that, another earthquake rips through the city. Oh God. Larger, more powerful than the last. Oh You watch as a fissure opens up in the center of the courtyard on the opposite side of this fence what you see a shape begin to rise oh no crawling through pressing squeezing oh my god it is the elongated neck of a dwarf and by elongated i mean 10 15 feet long
01:51:24
Speaker
fifteen feet long There is a bearded face at the end of it and this impossibly long neck that's thrashing about. Oh my god. What the hell? You see another shape start to press up and this one looks like a fish.
01:51:38
Speaker
Just a long scaled neck with a barracuda's face. Franny you bitch! Another one. Is this a hydra? He's a dwarf, I'm a jerk. The head of an orca thrashes out. This creature emerges with five long necks. Four of them fish-like in nature, the fifth dwarven. Oh my god. Oh my god. Share the same dead glassy eyes. What the hell? As creature screams in unison.
01:52:05
Speaker
an abomination of the gods, Franny's Hydra. Is this what Franny Korak's friendship has been based on this whole time?
01:52:15
Speaker
this is disgusting. My god. This is insane. Okay. This is also one of the coolest things ever. Yeah. Uh, okay. Well, what the hell? The rebels start to panic. Frankly, the dwarves do as well. Evidently, yeah what the majority, if not the entirety of them, did not know of this creature's existence.
01:52:36
Speaker
Wait, the dwarves as well? There is panic amongst them. Some of them fall into that fissure. You watch as one of these heads, it's this orca whale head on a long neck that doesn't belong to that type of creature, just thrashes out and grabs a dwarf and just tears it in two.
01:52:50
Speaker
And another head, the dwarven head, just clamps down on one and tosses it in the air. Two more heads just grab it and rip them in half. It is chaos in the courtyard. Holy shit.
01:53:02
Speaker
Chaos in the courtyard sounds like a medieval panic at the disco. Holy shit. Yeah, hell yeah. And tonight for your entertainment. um Chaos in the courtyard. A heavy metal loot band. a bring biging band amazing Playing the Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. That's fucked up. That's kind of fucked up, dude. It's kinda fucked up what you're doing actually. It's kinda crazy actually. Kinda crazy. Holy shit.
01:53:39
Speaker
Man, I'm also just fighting the words that Glimpy just said to everybody else. You can't help them. The timing of that. You can't help them.
01:53:51
Speaker
We have to go. That's it. We have to go. This is our time. Do you order a retreat? Or do you leave the bulk of your forces to hold off this creature and escape out the blue gate?
01:54:06
Speaker
This is me more a player knowing some things about Hydra that I don't think Glimki would. Can I make a history check to know how much Glimki might know about a Hydra? I would say, yeah, give me either a history or a nature check.
01:54:17
Speaker
Nice. They're both plus zero. Your nature is plus zero? What? Yeah. Why is your religion minus one? 11. question. 11. What do I know about Hydras?
01:54:31
Speaker
Because base knowledge, they have multiple ads What else do I know? who don't give me that crap this is franny's hydra though could be anything but there's one piece of information that i'm thinking about yeah the player that i want to know you might know because it'll change something i believe correct me if i'm wrong that when fighting a hydra it can obviously heal itself or when even when you cut off a head, it can regrow a head or grow multiple heads. Unless it's being hurt with fire, which will stop it from
01:55:10
Speaker
regenerating. But I don't know Glimke would know that. Man, we really upset you the wrong spot. is really shooting. I know, fuck! Glimke, you would've been- this your- I know, is thing. I like a water tower. Shit! do you want to take these back, Steve? We can redo this whole session. Glimke goes to the tower.
01:55:27
Speaker
No, I'm dead. I'm gonna say- with you got a ten eleven Even amongst the myriad of monstrous creatures that live in the world of Zav, the abundance of mythology and folktale that permeates the collective consciousness of the various monstrosities that haunt this world, you have heard from enough boundless pilgrims and drunken sailors in your travels that to cut off a hydra's head is to invite two to return.
01:56:05
Speaker
And you've heard tale of a group of heroes, the League of Icar, who stopped the monstrous- Those motherfuckers! Rampaging up the side of Mount Nelvaldir, the great dwarven kingdom, that they were able to stop it by burning the severed stumps.
01:56:26
Speaker
ah I was thinking of playing this two ways. It was, if I didn't know, I didn't know, and he wouldn't do anything. But because he does know, he looks back at the group of people and looks at the people hauling the keg and says, they need that more than we do.
01:56:43
Speaker
And I'm going to tell them that they need to use that keg to hurt that thing so we can kill it with fire. And I'll tell the boy as well, like if if any means that you have, lanterns of oil or anything, you have to hurt that thing with fire.
01:57:00
Speaker
Understood. Thank you. And I'm going to point at the two with the keg. I'm going to be like, you bring it to them. Figure it out. I i know you can. We'll find another way. that There must be some remnants of blast powder at the mine.
01:57:14
Speaker
You take off? I take off. Oh my god. You run through the streets, this monstrosity thrashing out, attacking your side and theirs in almost equal measure.
01:57:29
Speaker
The dwarves that are able to retreat back inside Korak HQ. Your people retreat tactically, pull back a few blocks. Except for two individuals carrying a powder keg.
01:57:45
Speaker
They're being so brave. Yeah. dwarven defector named Terry. Wait, what? And a golden dragon horn.
01:57:58
Speaker
And Tong. And they run through the street into this courtyard, just snapping down at them from above. They get as close as they can.
01:58:10
Speaker
Tong's mouth fills with fire. and an explosion rips through the courtyard. Oh shit. And you run.
01:58:20
Speaker
That's crazy. You avoid the troops coming into the city, the reinforcements flooding in from the mine. You manage to avoid the majority of them and run down the road towards Churia Mine.
01:58:34
Speaker
Your group of rebels in tow it is a full out sprint. It is a two hour walk. It's a pretty big distance. It's several miles and you are running as fast as you can. Several people fall back out of breath, unable to keep up, but you keep going.
01:58:51
Speaker
Could I get a constitution saving throw as you try and maintain this pace? Goddamn seven. Ah, damn. You have two choices.
01:59:04
Speaker
You can keep going at this pace and gain a level of exhaustion, or you can slow down and increase the time. No, it's not worth it. I'll slow down and let the group reconnect. It's not worth it.
01:59:18
Speaker
I can't do it alone. And if I can't do it alone with disadvantages, that'd be stupid. Can I get a percentile roll, please? Yes. Oh God. Come on now. Come on now. 39.
01:59:35
Speaker
Bro. No. No. No. no no i needed authority It was a 40 plus. No. Honestly, that's on Jordan. Oh no.
01:59:47
Speaker
As you're slumped over, gasping for air, regrouping, you hear the sound of something moving through the brush. and smell something foul.
01:59:58
Speaker
No. No. Shit. What was it all for? Bigger than any of you've seen before. A bear? Fuck that stupid thing. Oh shit. Okay. Covered in pustules. That would have been better. That would have been better. Probably. i already said a bear so I won't make it a fat salvo. Okay. Well then I'm going to use channel divinity.
02:00:24
Speaker
Okay. And I will try to use turn the faithless. I don't know what this thing is, but it's a fey or fiend. I don't think so. I think it's undead, but try anything to make this thing go away.
02:00:35
Speaker
So he's going clutch onto the, I don't even know what his symbol is anymore. The branches in his hair. Glimke grabs his hair and screams and this bear rises up and then just drops dead on the ground. What?
02:00:52
Speaker
one You continue on, running to the mine. You encounter no further obstacles shit as you race to meet it. Holy shit.
02:01:03
Speaker
It worked. Was that like exactly what you needed to do? And we're going to cut back to Clay and Fawnlyn in the arcane workshop of Flotsam Tower.
02:01:14
Speaker
Oh, do you kill off Hammer and Tongs? I'm so sad, actually. Both of them, I know. I'm actually going to cry. Clay's going to devastating. Not the hot dragonborns. I know.
02:01:30
Speaker
They had a good vibe. Yeah. Clay, give me a charisma saving throw. What? What are were we doing? i don't even remember since you introduced Franny as Hydra. Yeah, honestly.
02:01:44
Speaker
like what the hell was even happening in here? Torbus Delucarte introduced himself to you. Oh, yes. Why am I doing charisma save? I don't understand, Elvish. It's 12.
02:01:56
Speaker
12? Yeah. Excellent. Awesome. The DC was 13. Oh. hu as the spectral elven shape says that it darts towards Clay entering their body.
02:02:10
Speaker
Clay, your head kicks back. Your limbs stick out stiffly. And I'm going to need you to repeat everything I say because it's going to sound cool as fuck in the edit. Okay.
02:02:23
Speaker
That's better. don't Don't want you getting the wrong idea. Delicarte. I think I knew that name. Do I? Give me a history roll with advantage. Give me a history roll with advantage. That was good. That was good, Freema.
02:02:38
Speaker
um That was a 19. You think back on the name Delucarte and you remember a scandal that ripped through all of Ulithar Thayad maybe some 70 plus years ago before you were banished.
02:02:58
Speaker
Yeah, that's my prime time. That's my heyday. You heard that the brothers Torbis and Tilran Delucart were banished from Ulith Sifnor for unauthorized experiments. And you got the sense, even back then, that unauthorized had a connotation to it.
02:03:20
Speaker
There was something dirty about that word, something profane. Were they lords? Were they noble? Or is this like a Menendez brother thing where it's like two freaks who make the news a lot?
02:03:31
Speaker
Make the news a lot is a crazy way to describe the yeah Menendez brothers. those guys are just always in the news. Why are always talking about these guys?
02:03:43
Speaker
I would say that you knew of them, not because they were of the nobility, but nonetheless were part Of the noble system, specifically, they were, for lack of a better word, house wizards, or under the employ, shall we say, of House Alum of the Soan Barony.
02:04:07
Speaker
ah Oh yeah, I know House Alum. Oh my God. That's so interesting. I'm just asking, because would referring to him as Lord be appropriate? No. Probably not. Okay. Mr. Delicarte, I find myself quite in awe to be in your acquaintance. I i am familiar.
02:04:27
Speaker
With your work, I hate to ask insensitive question, but how did you get here? My work and my ambition brought me in search of a new source of power.
02:04:41
Speaker
Eventually, i landed here. What was his brother's name again? Tilran. And your brother Tilran. ah Forgive me, but as I had heard, you two had departed House Alam together.
02:04:55
Speaker
We parted ways at Svalreeth. His ambitions led him to put down roots. We're quite alike you and i I. too have an estranged sibling across the sea.
02:05:09
Speaker
I don't know if you recognize the name that I told you. i am Faradeth Thrillwyn, the rightful heir to the soaring barony of Omenaeus. And I am no friend to House Alum.
02:05:23
Speaker
I remember you. Went to your father once, seeking refuge. I did not receive it. Well, you may have heard, my father was deposed. He's shown several significant lapses in judgment.
02:05:40
Speaker
I assure you, if ever you find yourself back in Ulethor-Thayad, after I am rightfully restored to my place, your hospitality here will be duly repaid.
02:05:51
Speaker
Although it seems perhaps, and Faunilin looks over to the the corpse with the moth's head on it and says, it seems perhaps you may be unable to travel.
02:06:03
Speaker
I encountered a temporary setback. Right. It's interesting work with the stone. I assume you sung it into form?
02:06:16
Speaker
It is a beautiful practice. Precisely. Your talents, I think, are uncommon. House Alum, I fear. They too have shown several shocking lapses in judgment, and I i have the impression that their treatment of you and your brother is one such lapse.
02:06:38
Speaker
Clay's body begins to move on jerky legs towards a red velvet armchair. sits down, the chair slides back a couple inches.
02:06:51
Speaker
Enough flattery. Tell me, why are you here? yeah I was sent by the foul entity known as Fish Head Franny to recover jar. I know not its purpose, only that she wants it very badly. And I also know that if I do not bring it to her, she will try to explode my very dear friend.
02:07:11
Speaker
Franny has been sending those like you into my domain for many years. Really? How many noble and important, culturally significant, beautiful and esteemed elves have passed through here?
02:07:27
Speaker
I doubt that there have been any like me. I could sense one recently, but he did not have Oh, yes, Dianel. Well, he's not beautiful.
02:07:39
Speaker
So not like me at all, what is preventing you from handing over this jar? It is mine. And I need And need it. Well, I would love more information, Mr. Delacarte.
02:07:51
Speaker
What is it and why do you need it? See for yourself. Run your hand along the bramble. She'll be glad for the company. And Clay's hand lifts up and gestures into a shadowy,
02:08:08
Speaker
not quite corner. There's no corners in a a circular space, but into the shadowy edges of this chamber. And you see on the ground next to a workbench is a earthen jar made of a dark blood red clay wrapped in brambles.
02:08:28
Speaker
Fonilin extends a single finger and swipes it along the bramble. You take one point of damage. The jar begins to vibrate. At first you think it's another earthquake, but only the jar is moving.
02:08:43
Speaker
It begins to move violently, you take a step back. You think it's going to topple over, but before it does, the lid comes flying off. landing several feet away.
02:08:55
Speaker
You see a thick arm with brown skin and veins of gold running along it reach out and grasp the edge and then another.
02:09:11
Speaker
What? And then you see a head wearing a hood begin to push through
02:09:23
Speaker
Torbus, what the fuck? It's been 15 years! You see a muscular female form push itself out of the jar, emerging up to the waist. You cannot see her lower portion. She appears to be wearing garment of clay would know. Perhaps you would know of ah Lame. It's like a it's a fabric that looks metallic. It's got metal strands woven into it.
02:09:49
Speaker
Like I said, she's got dark brown skin and you can see veins of gold that seem to be where your own veins would be. Glowing burnt orange eyes, a shaved head wearing this hood, and a circular golden clasp holding this hood of this dress in place.
02:10:08
Speaker
Any religious iconography on her that I can see? Give me a religion check. If only Clay were here. Is your religion better than mine? I got a two. And you're specifically looking at the circular clasp?
02:10:19
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. Surely the DC is better than it two. If there were a DC, it would be better than a two, which is to say you are unsure. It might just be a circle.
02:10:30
Speaker
It might be a symbol of something. You don't know. Clay and Torbos' voices ring out from the chair. As you could see, Burakan, I've been indisposed.
02:10:42
Speaker
And Clay gestures over to the slumped over body against the wall. So you have, you big stupid dumbass. her ah attention turns to you.
02:10:53
Speaker
And who are you? hi pleased to meet you. I'm Lady Faradeth Throwin. I came seeking a jar to give to Fish Head Franny, but I'm ah noticing that it's occupied and wondering if instead, maybe we can come to some other arrangement.
02:11:09
Speaker
Well, first off, pleasure to meet your acquaintance, m'lady. I am Borakan the Untimely. And she gives not quite a curtsy, because her legs are fully inside of a jar, but a bit of a dip of the head.
02:11:22
Speaker
like The pleasure is all mine. An arrangement, you say? Well, yes, you see, Franny is quite evil. But if she doesn't get this jar, she's going to try to explode my very dear friend, Glimke.
02:11:35
Speaker
And he's a good guy. I don't know what your relative morality is. Mine is pretty flexible, but even within my flexible morality, he's one of the good guys and he doesn't deserve to be exploded. Fran, however!
02:11:48
Speaker
you hear what I'm saying? So you're telling me you woke me up from my 15 year slumber to blow up a woman named Fran. Is that right? Oh, you didn't know Fish Head Franny?
02:11:59
Speaker
I've been in the jar for 15 years. Oh. Dumbass over there, put me in here. Would only let me out when he needed help with his science experiments. And then one day he stopped knocking.
02:12:10
Speaker
And now I can see why. Delacarte, that is not remotely considerate behavior. Okay, that's enough. Kindly put the lid back on the jar and we can continue our conversation.
02:12:24
Speaker
Fauniline is going to do a little magic trick. Fauniline has big ass sleeves and she's going to hide something up them. She is going to sleight of hand the way someone would procure a quarter from behind someone's ear and attempt to disappear the lid into her billowing sleeves.
02:12:39
Speaker
It's pretty big, so it's going to be hard. I'm saying it's like you know like it's like a side plate sort of size. like It's a big jar. She's got big s sleeves. Not big enough to hold a fully grown person, should this actually be a person, but go for it.
02:12:55
Speaker
Sleight of hand, that was a 16. 16 is enough. You reach over towards the jar. Actually, no, you tell me what happens here because I actually don't know what the angle is.
02:13:08
Speaker
Fonelin already, I think Fonelin picks up the lid and then as she turns, there's a slight flourish and assuming she passes the DC, it's it's one of those things where you're watching a magician and you know that they've moved their hands in a suspicious way, but yet the thing you were watching did in fact disappear from view.
02:13:26
Speaker
And she ah she looks at Delacarte and says, I'm so sorry. It it's just it just would be against it just would be against against the rules of hospitality to dismiss a guest so early. Why don't we all come to a solution together? Now, Delicarte, I'm recognizing the iconography on your visage there, and I'm getting the sense that you are perhaps a worshipper of Marule.
02:13:48
Speaker
Tell me this. Who performed your funerary rites? Did you have any? I know that that's sacred to worshippers of Marwool, and I would be so sad to hear that someone died without the proper rites of passage of their faith.
02:14:04
Speaker
My friend here is a cleric. If anyone can perform a divine rite, it would be Clay. I performed them myself, an attempt at avoiding the goddess's gaze for all time.
02:14:17
Speaker
Evading her gaze. Well, I am no cleric, but they do say she has many eyes. Did it work? Did you see her face when you died? No.
02:14:30
Speaker
Impressive. But I didn't intend to be trapped here either. And Barakan is trapped. There. And I am trapped between a rock and a hard place, knowing that I don't want to displace this nice person from their jar. But also my very dear friend is going to explode.
02:14:49
Speaker
Crazy how that sort of stuff happens, eh? Zav is a crazy place. No, it really is. It's really relentless out here. And have ever thought about how ridiculous it is that the world is flat? Like, how does gravity work? What's that?
02:15:05
Speaker
I like you. Amazing point. That's what I've been saying. The point is, I can't exactly propose solutions right now to our mutual quandaries. Only you two know what you two want while also having the benefit of knowing what I want. You are both being rather opaque.
02:15:23
Speaker
Now, perhaps one of you, perhaps both of you can come up with a solution that makes us all happy because I'm here and I'm living and I'm capable of making others' dreams come true.
02:15:35
Speaker
You can do the same for me, but we need to get talking. And we also have got to get the show on the road because honestly, if I don't secure this deal in time, if I don't handle Franny in time, my friend's going to explode anyway. And then I might as well have just been killed by a horde of fish.
02:15:48
Speaker
Yeah, that was crazy. Yeah, those fish were nasty. You almost did for fish. there There is a ritual you could perform that would reintegrate my spirit and my body.
02:16:03
Speaker
It would allow me to leave this place finally. Easy. And do you, Barakan? Uh, mine's a lot easier than some cockamamie ritual. I'm gonna cut ahead to his grand reveal. Whatever ritual he's planning is gonna be entirely reliant on my latent abilities. Dumbass there couldn't do a thing without me. So, real simple, you break this jar and I leave.
02:16:29
Speaker
I got things I've been meaning to do for the last, oh, I don't know, few decades really, but, uh, I've been propping up this two-bit wizard for that entire time, so... Would love to get out of here.
02:16:41
Speaker
Right. Fondalyn procures the lid and plops it back on the jar. You squish her down. Yeah, exactly. Okay, great. All right. Okay. She holds up her finger to Delicarte. She goes like, hums a little song. the la And she lifts the lid and she steps back.
02:16:58
Speaker
The lid does not open. Doesn't open? you put the lid back on. Frick, why isn't it opening, Delicarte? The sc brambles. Get out of my friend, okay? It's enough. It's enough being in my friend.
02:17:10
Speaker
I don't get to remake my save at any point. For 24 hours, you are possessed until he decides. 24 hours? Until he's had enough. I'd rather be stone again. Oh my god.
02:17:22
Speaker
son of a... Fondalyn swipes her hand over it again. You take one more point of damage. And I remove the lid. only have eight, bro. I only gave you eight. Okay. All right. That was a lot quicker this time. Thank you. Don't know why you put it on the first place, but... Okay, so how about you just kick that thing over and I'll get to Geddon.
02:17:43
Speaker
Burkon, I did that to demonstrate the point that you are in fact at this very moment a little bit at my ah convenience and I've just told you that I need this jar or my friend is going to explode. Your proposed solution, and I'm very amenable to kicking this jar against the wall or otherwise destroying it, Your proposed solution does not preclude my friend from exploding. So let's take it from the top and come up with a plan where we all get what we want.
02:18:12
Speaker
I'm very happy to perform a ah funeral right. Thank you, Delicarte, for being so reasonable. Burkan, take notes from Delicarte, think it over, and I'm willing to listen to your revised proposal.
02:18:24
Speaker
Let's hear it. How old are you? That is such a rude question. How old do I look? Oh, that's the bad follow-up. Hard to tell with your kind. Somewhere between 103, maybe? 103 is a very flattering estimate. Thank you. Okay.
02:18:47
Speaker
How about this? Power. This asshole wants to be a lich, which means eternal servitude to him. you Assuming that isn't your ambition. Sorry, Delacarte, but ew. Ew.
02:18:58
Speaker
a lifetime of support. And then once you're gone, boom, I'm on my own again. Great, fine. I can delay my plans by a few hundred years. What kind of power are we talking about?
02:19:09
Speaker
Arcane. like cool arcane stuff. Like, the okay, here's my ambition. I'm going to return to Ulothorðiad with my new friends in tow. After we rescue the Princess Geltrides, I will also have, if not legions, wealth and means.
02:19:22
Speaker
Once there, I'm going to incite a rebellion, depose the Vajok family and the monarch, reassume my place in the Soaring Bereni of Vomenaias, and impose a revised peerage of those I approve.
02:19:36
Speaker
Is that something you can make happen? With a snap of my fingers, Insight check. I know that was kind of bullshit, but I have to insight check it. Ah, that's pretty good on insight.
02:19:47
Speaker
That is 23.
02:19:50
Speaker
she sees you like squint at her and she says, okay, okay, okay. Maybe not a snap, but like a lot of snaps. Like I can make a lot of snaps and we can probably make that happen. It'll take some time, sure. But maybe, you know, you help me out along the way.
02:20:05
Speaker
i don't know. We can know help each other. i don't know. Like I said, I've got a to-do list that hasn't been to-do in quite some time. And she looks over with these glowing orange eyes at Torbus.
02:20:19
Speaker
So what do you say? Will this to-do list kill me, maim me, take years off my life, siphon my soul, et cetera, et cetera? Possibly, possibly, possibly, possibly?
02:20:33
Speaker
There's no guarantees in this life. I didn't plan on getting stuck in a jar for 30 years, but hey, what can you do? I like those odds, Burakan. We're not so different, actually. I spent 50 years in a tailor's shop, which is worse than a jar, probably.
02:20:48
Speaker
Now, Delicarte, do you step back. And Finalin is going to, you don't use a rapier. She's going to walk up to Clay, ah Clay's body, and she's going to pick up Clay's mace and like feel the weight in her hands and give it like a few swings in the air to feel its weight and walk back to the jar and say, how do we seal our bond?
02:21:09
Speaker
Before you get halfway across the room. No! And the spirit of Torbus Delicarte is going to shoot across the room towards you.
02:21:21
Speaker
wow Out of my body? Out of your body. Let's roll initiative. Oh shit! up to ah Why do I keep rolling the same thing? I got a six. I got an 11.
02:21:35
Speaker
Dude, you're gonna kill me possibly We need to smash this jar ASAP because then she can give me her power. this is like I feel like this is like the Pokemon where you get to pick your starter. You get to pick the genie, the lich wannabe, or fish and franny. So I love the genie though. I'm kind of obsessed with her already. Yeah, it's just fun.
02:21:57
Speaker
Clay, what did you get? 11. 11 for Clay and Torbis got a one. Yes! Wow. Oh, that's so fortunate. That's the first lucky thing that's happened all day.
02:22:13
Speaker
Yeah. Guess who's seen a long rest since I last cast my turn on death. Yes! Oh my gosh.
02:22:23
Speaker
Is it my turn? It is your turn. Goodbye. That is a wisdom saving throw. What is the DC? DC 14. He has a plus one to wisdom. Come on.
02:22:35
Speaker
You need a 12 or lower for him to fail.
02:22:40
Speaker
And I roll a nine. Yes. Clay, would you please describe what this turn on dead looks like as Torbus Delacarte's body rushes across the floor of this workshop?
02:22:56
Speaker
ah yeah. His spirit like leaves Klai's body and she snaps back into it. And she immediately grips her amulet and her eyes flash. And as his spirit like rushes out of her body, it continues past, runs back, goes past where he was aiming for and continues to get as far away from Klai as possible.
02:23:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's less him charging at Fondolin and more you just forcing him out. And Fondolin, you turn and look as the spirit rushes at you and then just goes right through you and down the stairs, disappearing from sight.
02:23:34
Speaker
You know it's only going to last one minute and you know he will be coming back. Well done, Clay. And Fondolin makes a strike with his mace night and tries to break the jack. One more thing. Sure. Nope. Yes. Can I cast spiritual weapon?
02:23:49
Speaker
Sure. Just as like a security measure. i want to like decapitate his corpse. Nice. Okay. So in sync, our camera splits.
02:24:00
Speaker
Faunolin with the physical mace raised over her head. Clay with the spiritual mace floating in the air. They come striking down. The head of Torbus Delucarte is smashed, destroying this mask.
02:24:13
Speaker
And Faunolin smashes the jar. Well, I had just asked, how do we seal the bond? Okay, gay yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She flashes you a smile and says, the oldest magic known throughout the cosmos, blood spit or piss.
02:24:31
Speaker
Ah, yes. Yes! I love more! Better seal this deal with piss. The strongest one. And it's the only way.
02:24:44
Speaker
Fawnalyn's hand is ah already cut from the brambles. She spits in it and then grit with her with her disgusting hand, she, do they need to shake? Yeah, they need to shake.
02:24:56
Speaker
She reaches up for a shake. Oh, all three, okay.
02:25:01
Speaker
You bring the piss, baby. It's already covered. And your hands clasp together in a terrible fashion and you feel her start to pull from the jar.
02:25:13
Speaker
oh i I pull her out. One leg and then the other. She is slightly shorter than you because Lord knows you are tall and want everybody to know it, but she is- Taller than Clay with my wig on.
02:25:28
Speaker
Has these massively muscular thighs and is wearing these like open-toed sandals and this dress kind of ah extends down near her ankles.
02:25:40
Speaker
Oh, please smash that thing. Maybe. hu What's stopping me from giving it to Fishhead Fanny? You're free now. Well, no, no, I'm still bound to it.
02:25:52
Speaker
Oh, ugh. All right. i will smash it. The opposite of a triumphant note. We've got this big buildup and you're like, um, and then she's like, uh, you're like, all right, fine. You're so right. you're You're so right. Let's take that.
02:26:08
Speaker
She says, smash that thing. You got it. And Vondelin smashes it. Was that better? Was that triumphant? And Fondalyn swings like a pro baseball player.
02:26:22
Speaker
10,000 voices cry out in anger from outside the tower. The ground shakes, though you don't know if it is the release of Burakan or something else.
02:26:40
Speaker
Burakan is going to put a hand upon like your head, like kind of like just grabs your head in one hand. She's got these thick, big hands and just palms your head like a basketball.
02:26:51
Speaker
All right, ah we got to go. We got to go Where are we going? i'm supposed to I'm supposed to perform that ceremony. We're supposed to perform that ceremony for Delicarte. No, are you kidding me? that would just bring him back to life.
02:27:05
Speaker
I thought you knew that. thought that's why you chose me over him. Who cares if he- Because he's an asshole. What are you talking about? left me in a jar for 15 years. Fondalyn, what's happening? You wanting to bring that guy back? It's a really good point. No, you know what? It's a really good point. I'm so sorry. I'm a woman of my word. I'm just so moral and upstanding. I'm too good. I'm too good. We got to get out I hope you're a little bad or this is going to get real boring.
02:27:31
Speaker
I can, okay. All right. We're not going anywhere until you tell me how we're going to fake getting a jar to Franny or otherwise stop Franny from exploding my friend. I mean, I don't know Franny, is she the kind that we could just like give her a jar and be like, this is the jar? Or is she gonna like know, oh, this isn't the jar holding a a genie inside of it?
02:27:49
Speaker
God, I've made a mess of this. You know what? Maybe we don't even need Franny. Can you stop a bomb? With a snap of my finger. Go, what have I done? What have I done? oh my God. Okay, we have to go because of Delicarte. We have to go God, this is pissing me off.
02:28:06
Speaker
Clay, we'll come up with a plan as we go. Okay, while Fondolin is arguing with her new patient, can I take a look around the room and loot it? Hell yeah. Yes, you can.
02:28:18
Speaker
ah Well, I'm going to remind you, you have one minute and counting. on the man downstairs. um But I will say very quickly, you start to look around for something you can grab. There's scrolls, there is you know arcane schematics, runes, circles, wizard lab shit.
02:28:39
Speaker
And there is a rug underneath that armchair that you were forced to sit in. And Burakan sees you looking around and says, Yeah, Move the chair, move the chair, move the chair. We'll take my ride. Oh my God. Oh my God. Fly carpet.
02:28:56
Speaker
Yeah. Anything else? Give me an an investigation roll with disadvantage. Disadvantage? I have one minute. That's why, right? Yeah. That's not good. Six. The walls are smooth, but still have the grout lines in some spots.
02:29:12
Speaker
And you notice that they are irregular in a spot. Like, they don't line up properly. Like, the stone was melded together hastily in that location.
02:29:23
Speaker
But you move the chair, and the rug starts to vibrate, and then a corner lifts off the ground, and then another, and starts to float.
02:29:33
Speaker
And Burakan hops aboard and says, All right, are we going? Let's go! Sorry, Delicott! And you just know... There's probably something in there. But you don't have the time to investigate it properly. I hate that. And you hop aboard this carpet and it wraps down the stairs, down to the second floor, down to the first floor. You see the spirit of Torbis Delicarte rushing up the stairs towards you, a hand stretched out, malice in his empty eye sockets.
02:30:01
Speaker
And as you fly out into the night, the door slams shut. Oh, shit. The clouds have cleared and the moons are casting light upon Brinder Lake and you see thousands of dead fish floating along the surface.
02:30:20
Speaker
and a paddle wheeled boat moving towards you at a speed you did not know it possessed. Oh God. Lady Fonelin, we have to go pick up Quincy and Hildy.
02:30:33
Speaker
Yeah, they're they're coming to pick us up. Shit. We can just run. They're water bound. We can run. You. are we flying? Burkhan. Yes.
02:30:44
Speaker
Use all of your magic powers to locate a man named Fat Sal. He also has a parasite within him that you may be able to locate. With a snap of my fingers. and Oh my god. She snaps her fingers and a trickle of blood starts to run out of her nose.
02:31:01
Speaker
And she like grabs her head and says, Torbis, you son of a bitch. What did you do to me? i that way. And she points kind of across the lake, almost west, not quite straight west though.
02:31:19
Speaker
And I think you've had some time, you've received maps of the island during the last week as you were planning. And you know that is the direction of the mines. Ah!
02:31:31
Speaker
This is stressing out! I think we have to go. we We can't stay and confront Franny. There's no time. Yeah, let's go. Because now that Franny's pissed, yeah, we have to go. Okay, that way. We beat her back to Glimki, right?
02:31:42
Speaker
Can you heal me, by the way, while we're traveling somewhere? Do you have anything else? Yeah, I can heal you. I have Cure Wounds. Thank you. You're too kind. Cure Wounds is one d eight plus 4.
02:31:55
Speaker
Just like that, i became a Warlock. Just like that. I like her so much. But who is she?
02:32:04
Speaker
rolled a one on my d so you get five. oh Oh my god. fine. That's fine. Damn. Nice. The magic carpet streaks across the lake.
02:32:17
Speaker
The voice of Fishhead Franny begins to echo out from the thousands of dead fish.
02:32:25
Speaker
A pox upon you. pox upon Thrilwin. You will rue this day, girl. May you never know peace. And may you always know that I'm watching.
02:32:37
Speaker
The carpet flies up into the air, leaving me in the lake far behind. Clay, you look out. It's beautiful up here. You see trees, though they're wilted, the lake disappearing in the distance, and a strand of string unwrapping behind you.
02:32:58
Speaker
Oh no. as the carpet is quickly becoming unwoven. la Can I grab the place where it's and like unraveling? You try and... Cut it. Your hand starts wiggling back and forth. Cut Quickly coming undone.
02:33:16
Speaker
And we're going to cut to Glimke.
Facing the Mine's Challenges
02:33:20
Speaker
Oh god. We've been slanting over water. Glimke, after a long, hard march across the countryside, you what loss you po where's couple of ass You reach the entrance to Chariah Mine.
02:33:44
Speaker
There is a vast fence that wraps around it. It is a massive operation. You see just piles of rock and debris. You see cranes with just these wooden arms reaching up into the sky.
02:33:58
Speaker
it is a blight upon this land. Even despite the turmoil and the chaos going on in the city, you see plumes of smoke rising out of various facilities.
02:34:09
Speaker
You see miners hurrying to and fro, even under the threat of total structural collapse. The work continues on to some degree. I can see the opening.
02:34:20
Speaker
You can. Flashback. Hell yeah. This flashback, again, has no strategic weight whatsoever. But in this flashback, we we're like in some sunlight.
02:34:36
Speaker
There's some green. you can hear birds chirping. Like above us, there's like a little flock of sparrows. It's like chasing each other through the branches of this massive oak tree.
02:34:49
Speaker
there's like tall grass sitting around the roots that are like swaying in the breeze. There's that like really distinct cicada buzz that's like signaling summer.
02:34:59
Speaker
And there's the laughter of children, gnome children. And there's a group of little gnome kids standing under a burl of this oak tree.
02:35:10
Speaker
And there's a like a hole under the tree. And there's ah a group of kids that are jeering young gnome boy. You hear them be like, come on, Glimki.
02:35:21
Speaker
If you're so brave, go inside. and they're like, oh, he's a tree fellow. He he's supposed to be a protector. And you see Glimki in this little kid form with his bushy brown hair, turn away from the hole with tears in his eyes and run away.
02:35:41
Speaker
And you hear the kids from in the background, back to the treetops, eh, tree fellow? Back where it's safe. And then we're going to flash back to now, that same opening in the earth.
02:35:53
Speaker
And he has no other choice but to press on. You breach the fence, running through the opening leading towards the mine entrance.
02:36:06
Speaker
Several miners stop. The remnant of the guard tries to engage with your troops, but you outnumber them. The vast majority been brought back to the city, and you reach the entrance.
02:36:20
Speaker
I need explosives. i We need to look for explosives. ah'll I'll grab a miner, I don't care. Somebody. Yeah, I'll say two of your two of the individuals who came with you wrestle a miner down to his knees in front of you, and Boof grabs onto him, like jumps onto his chest and grabs him by the suspender straps and says, All right, where's the blast powder? We got digging to do. And the guy just like, We're there.
02:36:49
Speaker
And points to a secured facility, but you manage to gain access and there are several casks of blast powder here. Oh, yes.
02:37:00
Speaker
assistant Get it in a cart, boys. Yeah, you start loading it into a cart and from outside, you hear a massive crash. Oh, God.
02:37:11
Speaker
Running outside, you see a large, muscular woman with a shaved head and a hood picking herself up off the ground, dusting herself off.
02:37:23
Speaker
And as she steps to the side, you see Clay and Faunalyn in a heap on the ground. You guys! Glukey, you're okay. Clay holds a single string in their hand.
02:37:37
Speaker
You guys! Glukey! You're alive! You're alive! Fanny hasn't gone to you yet. Oh my gosh. Oh my god.
02:37:48
Speaker
There's no time to waste. yeah What's happening? We're blowing a hole in this hole. Okay, Fat Sal is here. Granny is on her way. Well, there's no time.
02:38:00
Speaker
We have to go. Save Edgen first, because you can't get hurt still. And I'm Burakan. All right. Sorry, this is my new friend Burakan. I pledged my allegiance to them in exchange for powers which have not yet materialized. But the ride can explain that later, I bet. We'll talk all of later. Okay, the big vessel woman, let's go. ah right. well She claps her hands together. There's like a big like sonic wave that like emanates out from her, kicking up dust and ash.
02:38:31
Speaker
How many of your people are you bringing with you? Uh, well now I have Clay and Fondolin and Big Muscle Woman. I don't know how many people are left. We'll say like few were injured in the skirmishes. Maybe you've got like 15, 16 that are like still in fighting shape.
02:38:49
Speaker
We'll say 15 plus boof. Plus boof, eh? All right. Well then I will take 10 and send five with the other wounded with more casks back to town.
02:39:01
Speaker
One of the 10 says, sir, do you think some of us should stay out here and guard the entrance? Make sure no one comes in after you or we can we can warn you if the dwarves are coming. That also makes sense. Sure.
02:39:12
Speaker
Yeah. up you No, no, no. That that makes sense. That makes sense. No, that that makes sense. I'm not going to do anything. do You guys are doing this all for us. Well, for yourselves, really. We're just kind of the we're all doing it for each other. Yes, exactly. And like they all put their hands into like a big hand stack. Oh, well, i put my hand in too.
02:39:33
Speaker
Huracan puts her hand in too. What said. Someone stay out here. Forenigan. Forenigan. Forenigan. How many do you bring with? Yeah, ten will come with Some can stay at the entrance. maybe So still bringing 10, but yeah, yeah a couple just leaving a few. And then whatever who is, send a couple that could go with the wounded with like a couple carts or something.
02:39:58
Speaker
Okay.
Exploring the Mine's Depths
02:39:59
Speaker
Bring as much powder as you can carry. Of course, sir. You load onto a large wooden platform suspended by one of these cranes.
02:40:10
Speaker
You see that there are numerous of these leading down into the mine below. One of the soldiers or rebels staying behind starts to unwinch it. And you lower down, into the dark.
02:40:26
Speaker
and you lower down down down into the dark The ride takes excruciating minutes before eventually, the platform comes to a stop on solid ground.
02:40:45
Speaker
Boof takes his cigar and throws it down. It lands on your shoe. All right, follow me. And he leads the 15 or so of you through the mines.
02:41:02
Speaker
This is a winding stone labyrinth carved deep within the island. Though these tunnels have been excavated, you can't help but notice that veins of gold and silver, copper, clusters of gemstones and geodes are sprinkled throughout.
02:41:23
Speaker
You cannot look in any direction without seeing a small fortune. scattered within the cave walls and floor. You keep running and running past veins of precious metals that would equal the GDP of all of Dwell's.
02:41:43
Speaker
Boof says, okay, we're almost there. Leans you down one more passageway that ends in a tiny crack, a few inches wide, big enough for someone of his stature to slip through.
02:41:59
Speaker
it's a It's through here. Okay. If you want to like, if you don't mind me saying, give me some and I'll sprinkle it through the opening and then we'll go kabaloo.
02:42:11
Speaker
Okay. If you think that that'll work. We'll find out. He pops open. We'll say but you pop open the lid on the keg of blast powder and faster than you thought possible.
02:42:23
Speaker
You watch as the volume just starts to decrease. You barely see him move. And yet the blast powder just disappears as he works his brigadock magic disappearing in and out of this crevice before about a minute later, he hops onto the edge of the barrel.
02:42:42
Speaker
It's about half empty or half full if that's your demeanor. And he says, all right, it's, uh, it's lined. I think we, uh, I think we're good to go. All right, get, get some cover everybody.
02:42:55
Speaker
Everybody runs back down the tunnel. Clay, there is a keg of explosives waiting for you. Okay, i ignite a spark and I send it towards the opening.
02:43:11
Speaker
mode of fire runs down the walls of this cavern, casting light upon the tunnel before connecting with the barrels.
02:43:24
Speaker
Smoke and debris comes rushing out towards you, feeling the air, making it hard to breathe. But after a few minutes, it clears and you venture forward.
02:43:36
Speaker
The tunnel is open wide. It is still tight fit. There's jagged rock. It's hot to the touch, but it's big enough for all of you to fit through.
02:43:48
Speaker
Glynky, go! Let's do it. but Let's go. Pushes through the smoke and soot and whatever and into this void beyond the the hole we just made.
02:44:00
Speaker
Clay and Faunalyn follow? Yeah, definitely. i I want to stand back and look for Fat Sal and wait for Fat Sal. I like grab Burakan I say, uh-uh-uh, we're on watch duty.
02:44:11
Speaker
And I am going to stay at the entrance and keep my head on a swivel. We'll say half of the rebels... Follow Glimke. The other half stay with you, Fondelin. Glimke, the smoke is thick. The dust is thick.
02:44:27
Speaker
But you push through. And eventually the air clears. Clears isn't maybe the right word because it feels stagnant. It feels undisturbed. It's heavy. You're in a vast cavern.
Confronting Mystical Threats
02:44:40
Speaker
Stalactates line the ceiling. There's a large mound of earth up against one wall. But the thing that draws your attention is an immense stone tree at the center of it all.
02:44:56
Speaker
It's as tall as the cavern, probably taller if it could be. The branches kind of fuse up into the ceiling, the roots spread out, almost covering the floor.
02:45:08
Speaker
You can't see it, but you can feel it. There's a pulse, rhythmic, emitting from the tree. It washes over you in waves.
02:45:21
Speaker
And it's not dark. It's not oppressive. It's not like the evils you faced in mausoleums and on ships at night.
02:45:33
Speaker
It's good. It's almost too good. It's too much candy on Halloween. It's coyingly sweet. It's overwhelmingly positive.
02:45:47
Speaker
It's earnest. And it's heartfelt. And it's giving too much. I think Glimke is kind of just overwhelmed by the fact that we made it this far.
02:46:01
Speaker
I think that Glimke had acknowledged the fact that he wouldn't have made it here. I mean, he had already put it in the preparations, you know, in action to be sure that if he if he fell before he got here, that people would know that he was otherwise safe.
02:46:19
Speaker
So he's going to take some deep breaths and then walk out over these roots and yeah, see if he can put his hands on this tree. You begin to cross the cavern.
02:46:33
Speaker
Fawnelin is outside Clay. Remind me, where did you go? I wanted to follow Glimki, but like respectful distance, just in case anything attacks, I want to just like be prepared to defend him.
02:46:43
Speaker
Okay. So we'll say you're like maybe 10 feet back. The other rebels are kind of standing poised at the entrance. Boof is on Clay's shoulder. It's the highest point in here. It's the best view of what's about to happen.
02:47:00
Speaker
Faunilin, you're outside with the other guards, the other rebels. You hear footsteps in the dark. Oh my God. Slowly coming towards you.
02:47:13
Speaker
No way. No way. Hello? Is there anybody here? Who goes there? I just want to talk.
02:47:27
Speaker
She, she, she put something inside me. I don't, I don't feel so good. Stay back. Step back now or we will fire upon you. The footsteps keep coming and you see a dwarven figure emerge from the gloom.
02:47:44
Speaker
He's thin, unnaturally thin in fact. He's kind of clutching at his stomach. Oh no. Glimki, you approach this tree.
02:47:55
Speaker
And you watch as one of the roots turns gold. It's like water being pushed through a hose. You just see that root turns gold and starts to push along it, extending out of this cavern.
02:48:12
Speaker
There's no gems here, there's no precious metals, there's no mineral deposits. It's just stone. But for this brief moment, this root is gold, and you think that you understand that this is the source of the wealth of Tria Mine.
02:48:32
Speaker
It all comes from this tree, it all comes from Etigan's heart. But you're not the only creature to make that realization. is that mound of earth up against the wall begins to move.
02:48:47
Speaker
And you watch as a squat creature rouses itself from the ground. A massive eyeball opens up alongside its body. And you see it's got these large, rocky arms and these squat, rocky legs.
02:49:04
Speaker
And it begins to cross the cavern towards that root. you watch as it just grabs onto the golden root. A mouth opens up upon the top of its body, and it just rips out this gold and drops it in.
02:49:25
Speaker
The creature turns at the sight of you. It says something in a language you don't understand. Thondlinn. You see this individual keeps coming, one feeble step at a time towards you.
02:49:44
Speaker
Oh Burakan, prove yourself now. Stop him. With a snap of my fingers, and she shoots an Eldritch Blast directly into Fat Sal.
02:49:57
Speaker
Ooh. Oh no.
02:50:01
Speaker
Faunelin, you are knocked off your feet as a shockwave runs down the length of this tunnel. As you pull yourself up, you hear a voice echoed multiple times.
02:50:14
Speaker
That wasn't very nice. Guess we'll just have to do what she wanted after what she wanted after all. The smoke clears and you see Sal's upper torso is completely gone.
02:50:29
Speaker
but a mass of writhing worms flails around.
02:50:36
Speaker
Oh, as he charges towards you. Oh, what the fuck? And that's, where we're going to stop tonight's episode of Bard Soup.
Conclusion and Future Hints
02:50:45
Speaker
That's like a, that's like a resident evil creature.
02:50:48
Speaker
inspiration. Oh, not the tapeworm monster.
02:51:03
Speaker
Thank you so much for listening to chapter 35 of Bard Soup. I have been your tragic dungeon master, Zach Meikle, joined as always Prima Jow as Clay Campbell, Jordan Johnson as Glimke Treefellow, and Shannon Meikle as Fallen Veidark.
02:51:19
Speaker
This has been an arc, if you ask me. It's been crazy, and I'll tell the next episode, it gets crazier still. And if you're enjoying the craziness, I would ask humbly, so humbly, that you leave a five-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
02:51:37
Speaker
Tell us what you like about the show. While you're at it, follow us at bard underscore soup on Instagram or TikTok. And check out bardsoup.com. We're slowly turning it into something respectable.
02:51:49
Speaker
It's looking pretty good these days, I think. Anyway, we will be back in two weeks time with chapter 36. Very, very, very excited for you to listen to it.
02:52:00
Speaker
So in the meantime, stay warm. It's still so cold out there. man stay warm live moss and we will see you soon bye bye as you can see birakan as you can see birakan bera can beer can no don't do sometimes you don't say a name until the moment that the session starts all right fine you know we're changing we're changing is this is this like the name that where you like to make an accent yeah on was again burcan or it's haven't said now it's that's slightly better