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C3 Episode 4 Hunting the Commander Chapter One
442 Plays3 months ago
Vee and her team have to track down the high value target, but when they are struck by a case of mistaken identity the mission has to take a turn.
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of our amazing Show Sponsors: Laura Pickrahn, Irene Viorritto, Darrell DeLaney, Charles Compton, Deviouspoptart, Nastasia Raulerson, David Scrams, Elizabeth Clark, Rebekah Gowman, deviouspoptart, Eðvarð Arnór Sigurðsson, Michael Clark, Jerry Theuns, Mark Stanley, and Shelby Johnson.
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Transcript
Introduction to Ever On Campaign
00:00:03
Speaker
threaten me with a coach
00:00:08
Speaker
or D20 Radio, your game is roll.
00:00:26
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Ever On Renewed National Play Podcasts at the Ever On Campaign Setting. I am your Game Master Eric. I'm Trevor. I'm Madison. I'm Jeff. And welcome to another episode.
Recap of Previous Episode
00:00:35
Speaker
Folks, what happened last time?
00:00:37
Speaker
We had a fight with Nyx, who was played by Phillip, who is not here, and it was her big intro. She got a staff. Sword. Sword, and that's literally all we know so far. Yes. It went great. It did go well. It sure went fine. Alora threw some daggers. that Never hit their target. and So to tonight, we are going to be doing these introductory
Character Backgrounds and Mission Introduction
00:01:00
Speaker
episodes. so Trevor, why don't you give us a recap on who V is?
00:01:05
Speaker
Yes. V is a, I guess X monk or just, just a monk. Yeah. Monk is your class. Okay. Cool. Monk who originated from the ice woods, right? ah Yes. nice It's on here somewhere, but I can't read at the current time. Sounds great. And basically that little porkers going ham over there. literally that Anyway, grew up there thinking that people were sacrificed to the mad stone and safely touched it and was not affected by the magic. And then at some point left to be trained by the the flayed hand and eventually left there and is now a Carnathy Assassin. Yes. So yeah, we are going to be doing V's introductory adventure or prologue, as it were.
00:01:55
Speaker
yeah And before we get too far into it, we need to of course introduce
Mission Planning: Target in Vathirond
00:02:00
Speaker
why Jeff and Madison are here. So Jeff. Go. So I am playing a character named Callum Braithwaite. He is an, what? That last name. He's an Aracocra. Eric just filled me in. It's kind of cool. In Eberron, the way Keith Breakers kind of made Aracocra fit is they are the result of a super soldier program. So that is kind of his whole deal is he's part of the Carnathy military because he was sold to them after a Dallas built him out to what he is now. Yep. Madison.
00:02:31
Speaker
I am playing Alyssa. She is a drow and was an exiled hermit and her day job is working in a tavern. Awesome. So we're going to kind of pick up in media res. So you all are on a small airship that can be camouflaged in flight and you are headed to the location of your job.
00:02:54
Speaker
So, V, you find yourself looking over a dossier of your target, the team's target. You are headed to a small-ish town in Breland, called Vathirond, which is a town that is right on the border of Breland and Cair.
00:03:17
Speaker
And essentially, looking over the dossier, you see that Carnathy military plans indicate that they're going to be attacking the Brielish encampment there and kind of raising the town, just attempting to deal a blow to Brieland. And Ural's mission is to go take out the commander of the forces there, so that their forces will be in disarray and not have strong leadership. You see the name on the dossier of the commander that you are charged with tracking down and eliminating is named Crastwoat.
00:03:47
Speaker
Krast Wot. Wot, yes. I think the worst accent to say all these weird words. So, he wasn't in that campaign. I forget he wasn't in that campaign. Yeah, Krast Wot was a very important NPC in campaign one. Okay. so Short term PC. That's true. So,
Airship Crash in Vathirond
00:04:05
Speaker
Yeah. that And you see a small sketch of what he looks like. um Relatively handsome human man. Poorly drawn. Circle two dots. just ah that's what specific you He seems nondescript. and You do looking over the information that your handlers got you for this mission. It indicates that he doesn't spend a ton of time in the military camps. He tends to spend time in the town.
00:04:32
Speaker
of Vathirond and will frequent a few different taverns and just seems to be a very sociable man of the people kind of dude. So there's a few different places that he could be. ah So Ural's mission is to get into Vathirond without drawing any suspicions ah from both the locals or the Brielish soldiers that are there, ah track down where Crast Woat is, and then eliminate the target ideally without being seen or suspected, and then get out of town.
00:05:01
Speaker
Oh, we have an invisible aircraft. So, hey, oh, not entirely invisible, but yes, it's, it's, it's camouflage. So, okay. light blends in Yeah. Close up.
Mistaken Identity and Gaining Local Intel
00:05:11
Speaker
It can be seen, but at a distance it's, it's hard to spot. So yeah, that's, you all have avoid nearsighted people at UFO from that Google review. Trust me.
00:05:21
Speaker
So you all, all three of you have a chance to look at the dossier. So you have all the information that I just laid out as we was looking over it. So any initial conversations about how to approach the mission? Secretly. sa Who's flying the airship? What is it? Airboat? What are we in? Airship. Airship. I was right. yeah do we have a Sure. There is a warforged piloting the airship. Are we, I mean, I'm assuming we're close.
00:05:47
Speaker
Yeah, I mean where you all are about to drop in. Okay. So. Wow. I'm just giving you all a chance to talk about potential. I know. I'm sorry. You know what I didn't think of? A voice for an autococrat. Yeah, I'm still working on a guy voice. You don't got this. I know. That's fun. That's what I do. Just that the whole time. Just you say I'm the eagle. I could do that. He's a muppet. I wouldn't know. You're not familiar. Yeah, call me out. Call me out. I have never seen him so shocked is when I said at best like passing familiarity with it took me 20 minutes. He couldn't calm down. Just like asking questions like but Fuzzy Bear. But Conzo though. Oh V's just gonna be this piggy now. I don't know the Muppets! Not even the Baby Muppets? I'm still pulling away. Not even the Baby Muppet? No. The Muppet Babies. I'm sorry, I was three. God, forgive me. I don't remember breakfast, let alone three years old. I could pick out Kermit, Kermit, Kermit, and Miss Piggy. She says, I know Kermit. Remember Kermit? Kermit and Miss Poggie. Being green is difficult? You know, Kermit. Anyway. Yeah, okay, fine. I'll sound like Sam the Eagle. That sounds great. The.
00:06:53
Speaker
it all and the have you I'm assuming since this is your mission you would have done some scouting. Sure, let's assume. and mean you would have done some research like you that' sort in the dossier yeah research You would know what the the building layout is that he just told you. So what do you think is our best <unk> entry point? Wow.
00:07:16
Speaker
Hold on one minute. This is Harley Quinn, man. I know. Yeah, Harley Quinn's great. It's very easy. Just lock in. But is this like a city? What is this? is Or a... Yeah, it's it's a largest town. It's got a population of 3,000 people, which by medieval standards is robust. And we're going in a building. No, there's a layout of buildings. Like you don't know where you need to go. We're dropping into town. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. This is an investigative mission.
00:07:41
Speaker
quiet treor just it's a secret my perops are secret um ah i need to call fer stillmo wrong we home eleven Yeah, there's a there's a little patch of trees on the outskirts of town and just just drop us off near there And we'll make our way that was okay. That was just okay That's good. That's good. We put in some applause. Thank you. Make that bigger. So we'll fly into the trees and then... We'll get a lot out near the trees. Figure it out. I think I said near. Yeah. Okay. Yes. We will land near the trees and then figure it out. And we'll check our surroundings, make sure we're okay. And then we'll go from there. I'm just a Jewish mother. I'm just a Jewish mother. Okay. No. Yeah. Sure. Let's do that.
00:08:24
Speaker
I mean, I know we got to go into the city. We'll be on the outside of the city. Just right outside. You know, take a step and you're in the city. So there is a ah function that I would assume the Eric Hochre member of the team performs when dropping into places, which is flying you all like the ship doesn't go down for a landing. No, yeah. Well, I didn't want to assume. I will be seems a little hateful. I mean, how do I do this? Do I just ferry them down? Yeah, you got arms. Yeah. Then that would be the plan. I can do, okay. Do we have enough height that I can do a pass just to get a, ph we can all get eyeballs on it for a second? So this is a military encampment. So if you're just flying around scouting, that is going to draw a, you can try, but it would be a pretty hard stealth check to to pull that off. Especially carrying two other people.
00:09:10
Speaker
Yeah. I suppose I could do it before. My question is, are we currently high enough that I can do a quick, can we see from the boat? What can we see down? Can we get a good visual before we drop jump? Even if it's just how many buildings are there, which one's the tallest? Give me a wisdom check. I can do that. I think you're smart. You're a bird is probably 13, 13. Yeah. But I am a, we said wilderness, not survivalist. So I don't know that I've got a, you're a trained soldier though. Fair enough. So plus two, plus one or first level.
00:09:38
Speaker
13 plus one plus two for background plus one for first level. Yes. so plus and's ah I think it's a 20. That's a 16. Okay. So
Infiltration Plan via Lightning Rail
00:09:50
Speaker
that'd be a 20.
00:09:51
Speaker
That looks like a 43 from here. I assure you it's not. So what are you looking for? I would like to know if there is, I'm probably too high to see people. So I couldn't see if there was like foot guards outside of any particular building. No, not that little detail. But if I can see if there's, is there ah is there a thing that like maybe there's one building that looks ringed by other things? Like, is there a clear HQ and clear outer buildings in this space? And if so, maybe we can target. So are you looking at the military encampment of the town?
00:10:20
Speaker
Where's the thing that we're going? We don't know. We don't know. We don't know. It's could be either. Yeah. I guess where I'm. It was the guy who's normally in the town, right? that's Yeah. He, he normally spends time in the town in town. Then I'm looking at the town. Okay. Yes. I'm looking at the one that's going to give me the information. So down. I mean, there's no like main HQ for the town or anything. That's why I was asking. like i'm with you i'm with Yeah. So I guess it would be, maybe look for a bar or a restaurant. The tavern.
00:10:46
Speaker
Yeah. Is there a space that looks like it's the communal place? A botanical garden. Maybe it wouldn't be too crazy for people to show up at. So, I mean, once again, that kind of information with like a perception check from up high. This would be more like like what I could give you. is so What do you want to tell me about the town, Eric?
00:11:06
Speaker
Like you can see their sections of town are less like densely populated currently to know when we're good Where would be a good entry point into the town kind of thing? That's not very which of the town is it surrounded as a town gated or no? It's not a game. Okay. Yeah, we're the darkest area that looks like we could get in the easiest as well Yeah, so there is three roads that come to town because this town is along the river. So one side obviously doesn't have a whole lot of traffic. Jesus. So there is a road coming in from the east, the west and the south and then the lightning rail.
00:11:39
Speaker
ah comes in from the east. So obviously the eastern side, and it runs east to west of the town. So that road coming up from the south would probably be your your best bet of going unnoticed. But at the same time, Lightning Rail Station is going to have a lot of people, so you could blend in more. So, insofar as an Eric Hoker can blend in.
00:11:59
Speaker
Are there trees? there there there is don't meet the tree thing is not There is an outcropping of trees to the north by the river. Which is not an entry point. I mean, it's just not a road ride, right? You'd just be walking in from the the wood. God, we're not on the road. All right, I looked around. Our options are a pretty sparsely peopled area to the south. There's also our eastern entrance. We could go through the lightning rail. I personally think that we might blend in best.
00:12:29
Speaker
as obvious out-of-towners and I gesture to myself and I assume the drow, frankly, as obvious out-of-towners it might be best for us to make an entrance in the way a standard out-of-towner might.
00:12:41
Speaker
Town this big wouldn't draw too much crazy attention with new people. I mean, if it's got a lightning rail, new people are coming in and out. Yeah, no. And also with the military and human being nearby, there's like family coming and going and people reporting on the war, et cetera, et cetera. So, so I can drop us a hundred yards outside of the lightning rail and we can.
00:13:01
Speaker
make our way onto or you could try to land on the lightning rail car itself and then sneak in and then just consider my track record with acrobatics on trains our traffic around this table because i'll leave them again this is a different character Trevor never had a good train fight different characters same player so that's my offer that's my suggestion as we land i drop us In the dark, 100 yards outside of town, but on the entrance of the lightning rail, and we take that road in and
Information Gathering at Tavern
00:13:32
Speaker
find our way to that. I mean, if we're on that side of town, we can reasonably blend in as being having just gotten an in on the latest train. Is that a thing where we can time it where we land? Yeah. Where they train? Yeah.
00:13:43
Speaker
I mean, but we can stay up here until we see a checkup. Obviously, yeah. And I guess what time of day would you all be initiating the job? Ooh, let's say morning, like morning rush. Okay. Coffee time. Coffee time. Cool. Is dusk in the morning? Dawn is in the morning. Dusk is at night. I apologize. When's Twilight? Well, like mid 2000s. Yeah. Okay. So you all spotted train headed down the lightning rail towards Vathiran. So you can start to make your drop.
00:14:12
Speaker
I grab my friends. I grab the new, the two nearest women. I feel like you're huge. In a good way. I'm a super soldier. Yeah. Give me a strength check. I think this would probably be my 17. Okay. Wait, no, I'm a ranger. Probably like 14, right? Because rangers play off of dexterity. Dexterity. Yeah. So probably my 14 plus two plus one. Yeah. I mean, this is something that you you have trained to do. So yeah. So another plus one total. That's a seven. That's not good. Not great. Not good.
00:14:42
Speaker
We're about to fall out of the sky, folks. Wonderful. He's not going to kill us. He's going to make us land bad in a bad place. So yeah, as you are descending, yeah, you miscalculated the weight distribution, which obviously affects your capacity to glide. And so you all drift ah pretty severely and find yourselves. Why not? You roll with seven total. Seven total. Natural three. Yeah. You realize that you're going to come in hot in the town square.
00:15:10
Speaker
um ah ah Okay, as we were falling, wait, change the plans. None of us, I assume, are charismatic. Yours has gotta be your kid. Works in a tavern. Yeah, yeah fair enough. yeah It was my 10 on this, but we can change that. Yeah, you can change that for this character. What's your character's name again?
00:15:28
Speaker
Alyssa. Alyssa. Alyssa, I hope you're prepared to talk our way out of this. Also, brace yourselves. And skid into the town square at least a 10 foot long divot. You hear shouting and like, ah! As people split and like kicks up a huge amount of dirt and dust.
00:15:49
Speaker
I stand up and do the bird thing, feathers spread, and all of the dirt just falls out of me. So yeah, people are kind of, nobody said anything, but they are staring wide-eyed at the three of you. So, Alyssa, are you gonna say anything? I'm just gonna say, so sorry, so sorry, bad landing. Pardon us. Should we start singing? we We missed the train and improvised, I apologize. And I think we duck into, is there a gone doll? We get out of there.
00:16:14
Speaker
Yeah. Lovely dirt. Great place so far. Thank you. Yeah. I mean, okay. Trying to find a place to quickly duck into. Uh, first, Alyssa, give me a charisma check. So what do you want your charisma to be for this character? We can do like 13. 13? I guess. Which one do I roll? Is this the right one? The 20 side. Yep. Great. Oh, that's a 20. Hey.
Maintaining Cover at Elder Elderberry Inn
00:16:41
Speaker
That's very good. Woo-hoo. Well, I don't, what do I, do I add 13? Plus 13, yeah. So you get a plus one for your 13 charisma. Okay. And then a plus two, or a plus one for being a tavern worker. So plus two, and then another plus one for being level one. 23. Heck yeah. Woo-hoo.
00:16:57
Speaker
so um These idiots are just fine. we crash play the film down They love us actually. That was neat. Yeah so you see one of the figures step forward to your like so sorry so sorry and like you all kind of injecting your own ah statements and this kind of older woman steps forward that carries a weight of authority around her and she looks at the three of you and says You must be who was set like we we wrote to Roat for assistance. You must be the assistance from the Citadel, right? Yes. Great. Well, yes. Follow me. We are. And she gestures and starts walking. Do you want to know something? I don't know. Yeah. I think this is where we let her get 10 feet ahead and we're like, are you kidding me? I saw a way out and I took it. That could be asking for doctors. We'll figure it out.
00:17:48
Speaker
We will figure out medicine. Yes, that's true. Yes. Yes. So you are following her. Yeah, I guess so. What else are we going to do? So as you all are following her, she ah continues talking, ah speaking to obviously the war effort has put a great burden on the town and our supplies and the the people that live here and While we don't begrudge the soldiers for doing what they need to do and being supplied well, obviously having having people such as yourselves here to assist the town in trying to get back on its feet will be a huge boon. So I'm hoping that we can figure out to path forward. And she opens the door to a building and gestures for you all to come in.
00:18:30
Speaker
I mean, I'm going, she opens the door to a building that looks normal, right? It's a larger building, yeah. We're in for a penny at this point, so I step in. We're looking around anyway, so we might as well. It gets us entry to another building that we need to check. It sounds like we might be asked to do some liaising between the town and the military, potentially, and if that's the case, we may find ourselves talking to one crass-woat.
00:18:53
Speaker
So I say, this is Jeff, not the, e not saying the eagle. They sound similar very similar. One's just bald. Yep. Yeah. So yeah, as you all walk in, you see group of what appear to be like older towns, people, but they all carry that same weight of authority. You figured like a town council or something.
00:19:14
Speaker
that are all seated around a table and there are various maps in front of them with different squares marked and and things like that and the woman that led you all here says to the rest uh the delegation from the citadel is here to assist us with the agricultural woes and trying to get the supply lines reopened for the city and an older man with like big mutton chops just looks at the he was like Good, good. We're excited to have you all here. I did not expect Erekokra to be amongst the delegation. I figure you all were soldiers exclusively. We have found that having a reminder of the war effort in these negotiations can be helpful without explicitly mentioning the war effort. Interesting, interesting. So what is your plan?
00:20:12
Speaker
Well, as every town's needs are different, we would love to get, we were sent here. I don't know that we received all the information you relayed to the Capitol. Citadel. Citadel. Which is where? Where at? In the Capitol. Just the Capitol, right? Yeah. Just making sure. Yeah.
00:20:30
Speaker
a would love to hear more about what specifically you're hoping to gain from our partnership. Well obviously as you can see on the map multiple farms have been picked dry as it were from the soldiers being encamped outside the town for so long and additionally putting a target on the town's back we've been attacked multiple times by various nations which makes any kind of a rebuilding effort nearly impossible for our farmers. Additionally The blockades along the borders has made trade next to impossible. And so the town is dying a very slow death. So we need solutions.
00:21:07
Speaker
It sounds like you need to get rid of the camp. Well, that would be. we and There's a beat where he looks at V, and then in a very kind of measured, boarding on rehearse tone, the city of Vathranran is honored to be hosting the British military. Boy, you just sound like you were doing a big test. In our experience.
00:21:29
Speaker
These changes don't last after we leave unless we get buy-in from the soldiers themselves. We would love to speak with you about some of... I'm sure you've had several ideas of what we can do. Once we've talked with the soldiers and convinced them of the plight of the town, then perhaps we can we can meet about specific steps that we can do, every town being different. I i unfortunately don't know what you grow here and what your needs are.
00:21:53
Speaker
We'd have to have those conversations, but I think we must begin by getting buy-in from the soldiers. i my Myself and my colleagues here can speak to them in a common parlance. Give me a charisma check, Callum. i'm so what i say my charisms well as Nothing yet. I've blown 14 and 15, right? 14 and 13. I really want to make it 15. Super soldier, charisma, even though it's intimidation based, I feel like it'd be high. Okay.
00:22:19
Speaker
This is not trained soldier stuff though. like This is not within your, yeah. So this is just, you get a plus two from your charisma. And a plus one from being level one. Natural too ah two. It's a two. So So they hear you talking and the woman that initially engaged with you all. like But I, apologies, but something that we, they they the Citadel mentioned having a drought delegate that could assist us in learning how to grow alternative crops given the nature of like your people living in subterranean environments and things like that various fungus and other types of so that's that's really what we were hoping you could help with is assisting our farmers and learning how to grow like your people do if our environment is such that
00:23:10
Speaker
it would be conducive to it, but it was indicated in your communication with us that that would be the case, that it wouldn't be a problem. Of course, yes, that's no problem at all. um We will need the day to explore the environment and kind of see what we're working with before we can come up with a game plan. I see. Would you like you've got one of those, would you like one of our attendants to walk with you to show you the various farms and be a liaison for you all? and No. I think sometimes it's easier to come in with only an outside perspective, but if we could have some maps of the town, kind of the layout and what areas we need to be looking in, then that would be very helpful. Yes, you can take this and he slides the map that was on the table with all the various farms marked and things like that. Feel free to to take that.
00:23:54
Speaker
If you need anything, this is the council chambers, so we will be here for most of the day. Would I know? Probably not. That's why you're asking. No. When we're when when this this town being blockaded, coming from a military background, I feel like I would at least know if these are things that are like...
00:24:10
Speaker
set in stone or if that's the thing we could if i were to make some false assuagement right now of and we'll talk we'll see what we can do about these blockades as well or would i know so the town itself isn't blockaded it's just the borders like trade okay it's not because it's not because this town sits right by the other nations and so understood they're used to traffic coming in okay i thought it was because there was a military encampment they had blocked off no access to the town but i guess we did just not come in on a lightning rail, so that I'm with you. Then I will not mention the blockades. Well, I would start with probably Smithison's farm right here. He's a dwarf, so he also is used to subterranean climates and might be able to ah brainstorm if you need any assistance in that. Thank you. That's very helpful. Yes.
00:24:55
Speaker
Well, uh, thank you all for coming. Uh, very much appreciated. Appreciate it. And we will be here if you need anything. We take the math away. Yeah. Okay. So I guess first things first, are we doing this? No, but we have a map now. Yes. but We have plausible deniability to walk around now. That's good. We don't know where we're going.
00:25:17
Speaker
But we have map. Yes. So we can clearly see labeled all of the places we don't know if we should be there. Well, we can maybe narrow it down to where he might be at this time of day. I've got the dossier. Looks like it's lunchtime, fellas. It was just morning. Just said it was morning. a Brunch. So sorry. Logistically speaking.
00:25:39
Speaker
Wars were won and lost in the details. Yeah, so there. So in the dossier talks about the fact that he spends a lot of time in the town at a few various spots. um There is a sorry, my brain just there is a barbershop in town that Crass is known to sit in. There is a tavern called the unwritten lamp.
00:26:02
Speaker
that he frequents quite a bit when he's looking to eat. And there's also an inn called the Elder Elderberry. Well, I guess if we're trying to stay a little bit undercover, which we probably should, let's go to one of these places first that could be distributed the food from the farmers so we can at least pretend like we're asking questions. Sure. Okay. Makes sense. Which one? We'll start at the tavern. The unwritten lamp. The unwritten lamp.
00:26:29
Speaker
I've never written Alliance. You do have to run then. I know, I i know, I know. It's my thing, I get it. Okay, so using the map, ah you find yourself in front of a tavern and the door is open. You hear voices chatting within it. And yeah, I mean, are you walking in? Before we walk in, I'm simply going to look at me and say, suppose our friend is there. What are you going to do? I mean, I'm supposed to kill him. In a way that it's not like obvious or visible.
00:26:55
Speaker
As someone who works in a tavern, I recommend getting getting him out of the tavern first. Well, there's our first goal. Out of the tavern. solid plan as long as we've got a plan let's go so you'll walk into the unwritten lamp and you see quite a few people of various nationalities sitting you see a bartender behind the bar wiping that one mug like they do importantly as you're looking around you don't see anybody that looks like krass according to your sketch sitting in the tavern well nobody looks like the doodle so i guess let's ask some questions okay
00:27:31
Speaker
Bartender, three cold ones. Cold what? Whatever's cold. All right. Not nice. You are one of the most charming people I know when you're alive, and every character you play is an absolute charisma vacuum. I gotta to get it out.
00:27:44
Speaker
um He reaches down, and this is a half-elf that is pretty large in a very muscular way, and also is about six foot six, so very imposing figure. Reaches down, pulls three brown bottles, are you puffing your feathers out? Yep, you're right. The neck just pulls three nondescript brown bottles that are like condensation in the outside and slides them in the bar. Are you three silver? Did you guys bring any? I pay him. Okay. All right. And he goes back to wiping his cup. I'm gonna go sit down.
00:28:17
Speaker
and I take a sip and I go, this one sure is cold. That's all I asked for and that's all we got. Well, you said you wanted to ask questions and now we have a three drinks. Yeah, well we need to ask people questions. Who looks like we should ask? Who's around? you a bar andder like Is there anyone in military? Is there anybody currently? You see a couple soldiers sitting around having breakfast. Like I said, there was the bartender Uh, there is a group of four Breelish soldiers, all human sitting at a table. There are, uh, two tables, one with two dwarfs and an elf and another with just shifters sitting at it. okay And there are three shifters. So that's kind of the lay land of what you see currently. How are, obviously we've, we've never played, I've never played during the war. How are non-nationals treated if they are ah not military?
00:29:07
Speaker
Like if if it were to be found out that we were from Karnath in Greenland. It would raise suspicions. okay it's It's very much kind of Cold War-esque, like lots of espionage stuff going on. So it would immediately draw some... Very little camaraderie, though, if I were to go up to the British soldiers and try to start talking about things. It was, I mean, clear that I was Carnathy. Yeah, definitely. If they knew you were Carnathy. Additionally, like soldiers have various opinions about the nature of sure augmented soldiers such as yourself. So ah you might also get some some cold shoulders for that. I didn't ask for this. We could talk to the bartender.
00:29:49
Speaker
Well, you gave it a shot and we got three cold ones. So you can get any shots. I got three cold ones. Yeah, for sure. go talk to martin What shall we ask him? No, I said you could. but If you're like, I was on the talk too, because you can't talk
Planning Meeting with Crastwoat
00:30:00
Speaker
to the other people. That's ah they what we just decided. What? No, what we just determined is that you you shouldn't talk to the other people. They don't know that I'm Carnathy. They don't know that we're soldiers. They don't know anything about us. OK. I was saying if we were to make that clear that we were from Carnath without the soldier part. I think what Trevor was pinging is you being an Eric. coco Yeah. You're the most like obvious person to not be from there.
00:30:23
Speaker
They're everywhere, right? I mean, they think I'm from Roat. I mean, yes. Well, the augmented soldier too. there Yes, i auged I am. I am. I could be discriminated against by these soldiers because I'm augmented, but not necessarily because America. They are all like warforged. But I'm saying like the bartender may not sure i lay about gotcha you understood. So like myself or our other friend could talk to the soldiers. Yeah. and You could talk to the bartender.
00:30:46
Speaker
I will go talk to the bar... ah You know, we're sitting at our table saying, I'll go talk to the bartender to keep up our ruse. I'll ask her about supply lines, I'll ask her about the food that she's been getting and how... She's got a deep voice. Okay, sorry, you're right. he Okay, yeah, so I'll... I can go do that. um So I guess I approach the bartender. Alright, he looks up as you approach, stops right from the glass. I sit down.
00:31:07
Speaker
to let them know that I'd like to have a chat with them, I think. With my cold one. Yeah. What can I do for you? yeah I don't know if you heard, but we've been sent here from ROAT at the request of the Citadel to help you get back on track agriculturally. My friend, and I point to Alyssa, my friend is going to speak to some of your local farmers about some subterranean horticulture. And I was hoping I could pick your brain a bit about what you needed.
00:31:37
Speaker
What's been, I mean, are you brewing or are you importing? Do we need to worry about wheat and hops or? I mean, most of my stuff gets brought in from town. Like I don't, I don't, I'm not a brewer. I don't brew stuff here. sure So the, for food and stuff, I get like fresh vegetables, butchered meats and stuff from the farmers around town. So things have been a little light and. Right.
00:32:01
Speaker
with the war going on, trade has also been difficult. So yeah, it's been hard, but if you all can help, I'm not too keen on how favorable everyone's going to be to eat mushrooms all the time, but no, fair enough.
00:32:16
Speaker
I gesture to my personage of obviously being a military man myself. How are the soldiers treating you all? How is the camp treating the town? Are they taking more than their share? do we And eileen I lean in kind of conspiratorially. Look, this would not be the first time.
00:32:36
Speaker
that I had to come in and expose a hoarding situation by our comrades in the military. Give me a charisma check. I am specifically invoking my soldierliness right now. Sure. I think it's 16 again. Yeah, so 20, would that be a 20? Yeah. Two one and one? Oh, charisma is plus two. Oh yeah. He kind of, it's like...
00:32:59
Speaker
Listen, uh, I think that the farmers had their way. They'd say, yes, the soldiers are absolutely overtaking because they're taking things without paying a fair price for it. Reality of the situation. No, soldiers are taking military is taking what they need, not more. It's just making things hard on everyone. And they've been here for so long that the town is really starting to feel it. No, I understand.
00:33:22
Speaker
I think out of the corner of your eye you see if you get up and walk over to a table of soldiers. I think the last thing I say to, trying to figure out, okay. Look, I understand that mushrooms aren't ideal and hopefully we'll be able to move on from encampment here before too long. I mean, hopefully the whole thing will be over before too long, am I right? But in the meantime, doing mouth clicks. I've got it. Pull out some bread and Thursday. I coup and I catch it. It's hard to, I mean instinct is instinct, right?
00:33:52
Speaker
I don't know what I I'm trying to think a way to say something that I'm having so much trouble it's probably not the right time or person to say it to so I think I I thank him for his time and I'll slide another a couple copper across the bar and you know I think I will say I'll say hey while we're here we're We're just going to hear kind of talking to some folks and gathering some information while, but while I'm in the bar, if anything else comes up, somebody comes in, you think I might need to talk to, uh, about some of these situations. Um, I'd really love a heads up. Sure. Great. And I go and return to the day, I guess, just now, Alyssa. Yeah, but we'll cut to be walking over while Callum is talking. So yeah, you approach table of soldiers. How's she walking?
00:34:33
Speaker
Oh, she's just turned on the womanhood. she what sweet turn but She's turned it on or she's turned on it? Turned on, the switch is on. The soldiers, the four soldiers, stop eating their breakfast and look at V as you approach. Well, hey fellas, how we doing? Doing fine, miss. Name's Alan, one of the soldiers says. Alan. Lovely to meet you. That's a big bottle you got there. You gonna finish it all by yourself?
00:34:58
Speaker
You can, and and another- She just pulls out a chair. Yes. Join us, please. sir My name is Devin. Devin, lovely to meet you. So what are you- Ooh. What are you fellas doing here so early having a drink? Just having having breakfast, man. I'm a secretary from Mad Men. Did you ask what do they fiddle faddling? What do you fiddle faddles doing over here? We got leave to leave the encampment. They come into town for a bit, so we're having breakfast and just enjoying the day.
00:35:27
Speaker
Oh, here for a little fun, huh? Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, let's play a game. All right. What game do you propose playing? You ask me a question. If I don't answer it, I drink.
00:35:38
Speaker
What question do you want to ask you? But I get to ask you a question. And if you don't answer, you drink. Okay. Ask me anything you want. Question one. This grass won't have any weaknesses. That was gonna be like question four.
00:35:55
Speaker
um give me Give me a charisma check. That is none. I have zero in charisma. but this is probably something that you are act like going into a situation and lying your way through it is definitely within the purview of like yeah being an assassin i would think so that's a 12 plus not bad plus what what's your background for being an assassin what does that mean You should have a plus next to your backgrounds. Where's background? Three. Okay. And then i love a one for being a level one. Yeah. Yeah. So plus four, 16, 16. Oh, she's endearing as heck. All right. Um, what, what brings you to town?
00:36:37
Speaker
Oh, I'm just here with my, not coworkers, what's the word I'm looking for? Colleagues. Colleagues, yes. Yeah, that was fine. Oh, I just flew in with my colleagues here today. We're here to do a little research and help out agriculturally. Oh, good. That's good. It's a fancy word for farming.
00:36:55
Speaker
and Yeah, yeah. It's really not that fancy. Really, I could barely say it in this accent. This is going to be so fun. All right. I assume now it's your turn to get some of this game that you thrust upon me. Yes. What's your wife think about you being here today? Um, um, Devin kind of like, we're both, we're both single. Oh, what your wife's here. I'm also saying, um, I'll both single. Yeah. Yeah. We're single too.
00:37:24
Speaker
Well, what's wrong with you? Oh, you couldn't answer. Take a drink. This is a very confusing game. He grabs the drink in front of him and takes the drink. Oh, she's trying very hard to be flirtatious. It's not great. It's just a very aggressive. Alright, so um where are you from originally? Oh, where am I from originally? ah Man, what'd I say? Why do you ask me geographical questions at a place I don't know about? Eberron? From around the way. Well, the girl's got to keep some secrets. I'll just take a drink.
00:37:50
Speaker
All right, guess it's your turn then, ma'am. How soon's too soon? God, I'm feeling my way out. I don't know. All right, well, we gotta go. I'm just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there, just sitting there okay uh oh god i don't know how i don't want to be just trying to have a little cuse is she well at least to get to the information she wants so sorry remind me again what it's crass right crass crass quote what is he again he's lieutenant in the british military okay so lieutenant would probably be how they would decide to see young sexy grass whoa you are giving you an old guy
00:38:34
Speaker
So I don't know much about the military, are any of you a lieutenant? No, we are both privates in the military, so we're at the bottom of the ladder, hoping to work our way up. Aw shucks, you'll get there one day. Maybe, be hopefully, yes. So Alyssa and some of my guys named Callum are just staring like, what is she doing? She has a job that she's good at, and it isn't this. Nope. Absolute train wreck. so um what what does your husband think about you being someplace like this so early he's dead condolences that's all right wasn't a great guy anyway anyway so you're not a lieutenant if you were a lieutenant where would you be hanging out right now suck all the air out of the room and then drop ball i mean i that was a little vague of a question who is your your lieutenant
00:39:28
Speaker
Oh, Lieutenant Woot. He commands the... I think I might have heard of him. Is he popular? People like him? I mean, yeah, we don't know him that well, but and he he's has a very personable way about him. Well, why isn't he here? He sounds like a fun guy. He may just be taking breakfast elsewhere. I mean, he also likes the elderberry or there's a salon that he likes to... That's already stuff I knew.
00:39:58
Speaker
what that's her um i'm deciding that there was something i was gonna say oh was it oh it was good dang it i forgot i gave it up for a joke i know oh well it's been real fun gentlemen but uh i'm starting to feel that shot and i better go over to some food or else you're gonna be carrying me out of here all right nice lovely to meet you adam dennis
00:40:22
Speaker
and important but but ive just dr that like i would' have at a bar shot the rest of my water i'm two in character
00:40:31
Speaker
Alyssa were you gonna go talk to the shifters or were you just waiting for the rest of them to get back? I was just waiting for the rest of them to get back. So V you returned to the table where Callum and Alyssa are awaiting you. Yeah a real gusher of information those men good lord. Looks like it went well. As well as it could. What did you learn?
00:40:49
Speaker
Absolutely nothing that we didn't already know. Okay, except that they're single but go figure great they both would go but but Then what shall we do next I was simply extending our alibi i That's what that was the point of my seat. Well, we could move on to the end There's another place we can go that might get distributed food great. Give us a little more cover. and We'll just hope he's not at the barber Perfect.
00:41:10
Speaker
barbara
00:41:13
Speaker
baba baba ah or You know, Streisand. Okay. Okay. Then the elder elderberry. I suppose we go to the elder elderberry and on the way there, I fill them in on what I learned so that we can continue our alibi. Just like, yeah here's, here's what's going on. The military is not actually taking more than they should. They're simply not paying for what they take. Perhaps we can lie and say that we are working on a remunation ah remuneration program for after the war that might placate some people. Okay. Do you want to talk?
00:41:39
Speaker
to the proprietor at the inn or do you want me to continue going you continue you're already starting our alibi sure you got it i'll be there you sure will i'm getting around that all right we head to the elder elder elder the elder is this one of those things where i'm like i'm just chaotic you're what i'm just chaotic i'm not neutral i'm not good or bad What are the things in D and&D? Lawful, neutral, chaotic, good, neutral, evil. Just chaos, baby. Chaos incarnate. You walk into Elder Elderberry. This has a much different vibe than the unwritten lamp. ah This is clearly like there are wait staff walking around.
00:42:20
Speaker
There are tables, it's an inn, so this is like breakfast service for the people staying there, but also people from the town can come in and eat as well. sure There is a ah host stand where you see a pair of twins standing there, elf twins, and one of them says, hello, welcome to the Elte Elte Perry. How many in your party? I thought I was about to meet a Corin.
00:42:43
Speaker
There's twins that own it in in our home game. Okay, okay. And I love them so much. They're so dumb. ah There's three of us. Oh, excellent. Right this way. Do we see grass? No, not at a cursory glance. ah They see you in a small booth near the back of the room. ah Your server will be with you in just one moment. Feel free to take a look at the menu while you wait. Thank you. There's lights, like harp music playing. It smells very nice in here.
00:43:09
Speaker
what a dump okay so you say we don't see it at a cursory glance do we see some other like maybe private rooms or something well it's an inn so there are rooms upstairs right i sorry i
Session Conclusion and Podcast Wrap-Up
00:43:20
Speaker
i mean theres there's no private dining area you can see there are doors that lead back to the kitchen private public um you do see some other A couple other tables that have military personnel. These are clearly officer level, a little bit higher than Alan and Devin. So, and then the rest are just, looks like townspeople just sitting around having a meal. You see a dwarf walk up to your table. He says, welcome to the elder elderberry. What can I get started for you all to drink? I'll have a glass of water. Thank you. Water? Good. Water for me too.
00:43:53
Speaker
water good i guess three waters it is great alright i will be right back um i'm gonna ask before he goes though i'm gonna say i was hoping i could speak to someone we're here i explained our life uh that we've been given and um i was hoping i could speak to someone about your supply needs. I don't know if that would be your chef or if you have a manager. Also, I realized that we may be here a bit and I didn't ask anyone about accommodations. So I need to speak to someone. I'll have our manager Adela come to you. Wonderful. And he leaves the table. You all gonna do anything while you wait for him or Adela to come? Do you tell us how the last conversation with those soldiers went?
00:44:34
Speaker
Well, I mean, just that you didn't learn anything. Yeah. They had the same information we did. Do you intend to speak to these soldiers as well? I don't know if you're gonna let me. I'm asking if you were playing to. That was the plan. Yeah, great. Wonderful. Okay. I was just thinking maybe we could think of... A better thing to drink again. A targeted question or two that might get us closer to Crasswood without specifically saying Well, it's probably about the farming and the food. Like, hey, who's in charge of things on that end for you all? Do we have anything in the dossier about, like, quartermastering? Like, is that something that might fall on Crass Woke? I mean, he would oversee it, but... Right, okay. He's much more, like, military strategy-focused guy. Sure, of course. That would have been neat.
00:45:17
Speaker
I can just go ask questions about that. Yeah, I think that sounds fine. After a moment, the manager of the establishment, very tall, stark features elf woman with especially long pointed ears approaches and looks at three of you. Your server informed me that you wanted to speak to me. about the establishment and our supplies and additionally potential accommodations. How can I help you? We'll we like we can begin very quickly with the accommodations. We will be here for some time and I realize what we've been brought here at the request of your town council and I didn't know if there was an accommodation set up or if that was something we have they spoken with you about that is simply all I was wondering. Nobody has spoken to me about it. Alright, well, this is a lovely place, but before we... I hope you'll understand, before we put our own coin towards it, we will I will be running back to the council and asking if we have accommodation set. However, explain why we're here. Explain. I glide to her. And that's kind of a similar question. Do you know of anyone... that you've met who I see and I kind of you clearly bring in the higher clientele, the top brass. Thank you. I appreciate it. I would like to for the sake of your farmers, speak to someone. Do you know of anyone who might be sympathetic? Anyone we might speak to who is of a certain and I just straight up said, I'm like,
00:46:36
Speaker
I mean, again, gesture to my militariness and say, I mean, I'm talking lieutenant or higher is the only people they're going that that are going to be listened to around here. So yes, I believe that um there is a lieutenant for the army that is stationed here. Lieutenant Wote, I've heard him referred to as he has a small office that he maintains actually in our establishment where renting a room to him is to be kind of a command center, as it were.
00:47:04
Speaker
It's down in one of our basement rooms that you all could go down there. I can reach out to him to ensure that he is willing to speak with you all. Yes, please. That would be wonderful. That would be lovely. Excellent. And she turns and walks away from the table. Okay. yeah I don't need to ask you anything else, huh? I'm not gonna pretend to care about her crops. The dwarf returns with three waters. Did you all have a chance to look at the menu? Do you know what you'd like to have to get started food-wise? It's brunch time.
00:47:31
Speaker
Yeah, I want to say old chicken as a joke, but that seems really out of character for an air of coconut. I assume I will be eating some sort of raw meat or seeds, so I will ask for that. Yes, we have a lovely steak tartare that I can beautiful. You know, the breakfast soup sounds interesting. It is one of our chef's specials. Let's try it. It's just cream of wheat. Cereal. Warm cereals. And for you. I'll just take some toast, please. All right, great.
00:47:59
Speaker
And, what yeah, there's General, like, you can tell he's a little annoyed with the order so far. Not a big tip coming his way. We're gonna tip like crazy so he forgets we're here. But from his perspective, absolutely three waters and toast. Stake, target. Any conversations you all want to have before Adela comes back? I mean, yeah. Hey, guys, if we get down into his room, do we just handle it? I don't see why not. What do we know about his abilities? What's in the dossier about him? Is he a martial fighter? What do we know?
00:48:29
Speaker
the stuff about me. We're need to find our escape route from the basement before we decide whether we can handle it right away or not. That sounds like a wizarding thing, doesn't it? hu maybe What kind of cool tricks you got? So Craft is a martial fighter. the dossier He likes to fight from the vanguard. He is very competent and capable with weapons. There you go.
00:48:54
Speaker
me too yeah so are you and i'm smaller and i have this crossbow and magic o magic indeed so anything else that i want to discuss before she returns i mean i think that i am eyeballing points of egress now like the hope being that we can go down there for a meeting and just walk out the front door would be fantastic but if we cause too much of a commotion yep we need a backup plan i'm looking over the i'm i'm i'm Eyeballing in the kitchen when the doors flip flap to see if there's a back door there if there's windows I mean I'm just thinking points of egress because they're not gonna be from the basement there's be one big one way down and one way up So we may have to find our way up the stairs. Give me a wisdom i' running out of good numbers that's actually two that's wisdom of thirteen Yeah, got a 14 yeah, I'll look too that's plus one I can't I mean
00:49:44
Speaker
Assassin will be applicable for years or trying to find an escape route. Well, that's not good. Is that nine or six? Six. The dots on the bottom of the number. Okay, so that's a nine, right? Okay. So nine plus two, I get the plus two for wisdom. Plus two for wisdom, plus three for assassin, plus one for first. Five, six. So 13? 15. And I got 13.
00:50:08
Speaker
okay do i need to do one too or if you want to you can okay my wisdom is a 15 that was a 16 so 18 what else do i add to it one for your level okay 19 and i don't think exiled hermit or tavern worker would be applicable so i mean yeah probably not i mean knowing the layout of tavern i was about to say but we're at an end now no that's fine plus one for tavern okay cool so what 20 okay so thank god you're here because we're only tall you know me 16 is good alissa and um v look around and yeah you spot like obviously uh there's the door to the kitchen and as somebody walks through and swing it swings open uh you see that there is a clear exit out the back through the kitchen there's the door that you came in
00:50:52
Speaker
There are stairs that lead up. All those rooms are gonna have windows that would be points of escape. And sure, with that high of a roll, you also clocked when you were walking in. that There were kind of short windows along the bottom that indicate that probably some of those rooms down in the basement have a small window. Did we establish, or do we have an established extraction plan?
00:51:13
Speaker
with our warforged pilot. I mean, this would be a typical mission. So yeah, you always have. If we can get out of the building and out of town limits. Yeah, you all would need to get out of the city. Yeah, yeah, for sure. No, I know that. Yeah. I just want to make sure. Maybe that's where our trees come into play. Yeah. They're there. I can only glide. Oh, reminder, I can only glide while carrying the two of you. I certainly could not fly us out of here. If that, good lord, I remember that landing. I seem to remember a crash landing. right As you remember, I'm the one getting information. Great, you can talk but you can't fly.
00:51:46
Speaker
Yeah, fine. Established. Alrighty, so you all see Adela coming back and she says, um hello, yes, I spoke with Lieutenant Wote and he'd be ready to receive you all once you all are done with your meal. Fantastic. Excellent. We eat fast. Your food's not there yet. How long's toast and tartar and mo and cereal take? Just in case, put it in the yeah to-go window. right we'll ah We'll pick it up on our way out from the kitchen.
00:52:15
Speaker
Don't worry about it. So yeah, you all get your food, eat, and when. It's not pretty. You all are done. It is not pretty the way Callum is. Adela comes to your table to escort you to the basement. And that's where we're going to leave things. So thank you all so much for listening. If you want to be part of the conversation starting this episode, you can head on over to our Discord, the link to which you can find on all of our socials, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter. ah We also have a YouTube channel, youtube.com slash the eat pantheon, where I do TTRPG videos. So you can check that out.
00:52:46
Speaker
ah We also have a Patreon. Patreon dot.com. Slice the Geek Pantheon if you want to financially support the shows. You can do so there. Or you can buy some merch at the GeekPantheon.com. Thank you all so much for listening. I have been your Game Master, Eric. I'm Trevor. I'm Madison. I'm Jeff. And we will see you next time.