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C3 Episode 25 Bright Moons Rising Chapter Four
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The troubles in the town escalate as the party struggles to find cooperative allies.
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Transcript
Introduction to Eberron Renewed
00:00:00
Speaker
D20 um threaten with the coach boy twenty Radio, at your
00:00:14
Speaker
radio
00:00:22
Speaker
Hello, and welcome to Eberron Renewed, an actual play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I'm your Game Master, Eric. I'm Nia.
00:00:32
Speaker
I'm Phillip. I'm Madison. I'm Jeff. And welcome to another episode. What happened last time, everybody?
Arrival at Ashdown Forest
00:00:39
Speaker
We're in the town of Ashwood Town. Ashdown. Ashdown. Ashdown Wood.
00:00:47
Speaker
Thing. We're in the forest of Ashdown. We made a series of great first impressions, just like our party of ding-dongs does. We clearly walked into this very tiny town, realized we're never going to need to come back here, and behaved ah accordingly.
00:01:05
Speaker
But yes, you all ah were headed back to the Silver Sap Tavern. I'm assuming for the night. Is that a fair assumption? Have some drinks. Well, least Valk and Slayn were excited to have some drinks.
00:01:17
Speaker
Yeah, we have to sleep. I think there's a decent chance, just for the record, that someone in this town is causing what's happening and wants it to force the town to stop its production increase. And if we fix the problem, then that won't happen.
00:01:35
Speaker
And so there's at least some chance that someone in this town will try to kill us tonight. Oh, that wasn't even a possibility. That crossed my mind. I'll admit, I was with her right up until the very last bit. that feels like That feels like a very Nyx-a-dindum to the rest of it.
Threats and Sabotage
00:01:53
Speaker
but If someone here has a plan that so far is working to ruin the productivity of this town in such a way that it has to go back to pre-war levels, and a group of heavily armed mercenaries walks into the town and shows some signs of solving that, what I would do is kill them in their sleep. It could be solved in their favor, though.
00:02:16
Speaker
We might stop the town from not being attacked by animals? Well, I mean, help them with, you know, stopping production. Do you think we'll get paid for that?
00:02:27
Speaker
Hey, we get paid to solve a problem. Problem was solved. Didn't say that to be in the government's favor. The other men did hire us. It feels like they could find a bunch of ways to not pay us if there's things end up worse for them in the end.
00:02:40
Speaker
Oh, sorry. I said that like this. I just wanted my little seasonal drink. I do. You can have your drink. I didn't say you can't have your drink. Yeah, those that the mood is shot in it. Yeah. Specialty drinks. And now we're thinking about getting murdered in our sleep.
00:02:55
Speaker
Falc and I were going to have a good night. Look, if you want a drink, I'm sure I can keep you all safe tonight. I don't think you should try to do anything magic. Corwin sees you all re-enter.
00:03:07
Speaker
Nyx seems completely baffled that this has prevented you all from enjoying your enjoying your nice seasonal drinks. Yeah, it makes sense. This consequence is not something that Nyx perceived when she warned you all about the possibility of dying being attacked. Thank you.
00:03:23
Speaker
I don't think actually die. i just think someone might try to kill us. I mean, those are exclusive things. Someone trying to kill us unless dying. Corwin overhearing that, is that what that face is? Yeah, great.
00:03:34
Speaker
Oh, what Zouk would like to ask Corrin? Corwin. Corblanding. These are names, man. I need to write them down right. About the mystery lady of the elf lady of the woods and get their opinion on the interaction. Corwin seems a bit taken aback but that, you know, Alondra would have shared this information, but it's just like... As I get my specialty drink.
Tavern Tales and Warnings
00:03:59
Speaker
Oh, yeah, of course. Oh, then Santa will go and help too. So the three the three specials you see on the board are the frosted mead, the mulled wine, and the winter glow cider.
00:04:11
Speaker
I'll do a cider. Cider. Okay. You see Korra making it as he talks. You see him put some brandy in the cider and a stick of cinnamon, and he slides them across the bar. Yeah.
00:04:23
Speaker
Alondra came in with this mystery elf woman a few hours before dawn. ah So obviously this place was empty. She said the woods had grown angry at the town and and was turning against us. And the only way to undo the damage was to...
00:04:40
Speaker
Return to our old ways. She definitely seemed afraid of everyone but Alondra, and Alondra vouched for me, and so she calmed down, but she definitely... i would not try to talk to her without Alondra vouching for you beforehand, I guess that's what I'm trying to say.
00:05:00
Speaker
We tried to deliver her sentiment to Devon without revealing the source, just kind of telling Devon maybe if we try not cutting down so many trees and killing so many animals, but... He, he's blind to any notes with scaling back production. So is it possible that.
00:05:19
Speaker
It's possible that Devin might be skeptical of a story that begins with a mysterious elf woman wandering from the woods and told us that the woods are angry with us. Possible. we We didn't start with that, though. we just we She didn't want us revealing her existence, which is why I was surprised that Alondra told you about her. So we didn't tell Devin.
00:05:38
Speaker
The story didn't start that way. It was just... Alondra as the wise druid that people view her as, tried to tell him that the woods were angry and he, yeah, he, he didn't care.
00:05:51
Speaker
he said that but we'll deal with the problem if it gets worse, but that we couldn't possibly stop from the path that we're on now. I, and Corwin kind of like takes a pause and then says, Devin's not a bad guy. Like obviously the money and stuff, he he's enjoying that. And like the growing of the business and the town, but yeah,
00:06:13
Speaker
His wife is also a soldier in the war, so he also like has ah lot... like This is his way to contribute to the war effort and to support his wife who's off fighting. So, yeah. that I like to think that's his primary motivation. It's not just the money, but...
00:06:35
Speaker
I wasn't assuming Devin was a bad person. I also am only here because I'm being paid. That's a great point. but Yeah. I mean, yeah. So that that's what I can tell you about the strange woman in the woods.
00:06:46
Speaker
Did she leave any sort of way to contact her? Any hint about how we might find her? now with me. Yeah, I think her and Alondra have a way to establish contact. But I think part of it was Alondra wanted make sure that she just wasn't going nuts and seeing an illusory woman in the woods. And I can confirm that I did see her.
00:07:08
Speaker
so bro Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. So any other questions? but right Sorry, can I get you two anything to drink? You gestures at Nix and Kaz. Some of that mulled wine sounds nice.
00:07:19
Speaker
Great. Well, water. don't think you introduced him by name. You? Waters. Another water. Okay. And he makes those and slides them across the bar. Great.
00:07:29
Speaker
Can we? Is he still there? Yeah. Yeah. No. He is. He is tending to you all right now. So unless you have some sort of deeply elaborate cocktail at this tiny bar in a tiny town that would have no particular reason to have wildly elaborate liquor options.
00:07:45
Speaker
yeah You never know. You're about to get a cocktail with a foot in it. so you want that Oh, you want the town special? That was it, Eric. Yeah. Tune in to Blades and Banders to find out why Philip's mad at me about that.
00:07:57
Speaker
So, no, just wines and ales and stouts here. Oh, how expected and normal. Water's All right. You guys need to talk off mic for a minute. Give me some space. As Corwin goes to get those things, I kind of am like, okay, so I know i don't, how do i say this?
00:08:14
Speaker
I don't know. Casimir feels a little weird being in this group because he has no conscious understanding of the plane that he is messing with. Whereas all of you have at least some memory or understanding of why So he doesn't really get the whole planar side of things, but he did he does know enough to be like, okay, so that lady has a like Lemania falling all over her and getting on other stuff, right? So like, is that what we're looking for? is see i don't The last time where the plain things did the touching was the bad place. And it feels like she's very Lemania. Am
Planar Influences and Politics
00:08:48
Speaker
I crazy? What are we doing? is
00:08:50
Speaker
Or Solanus. Interesting. I wondered if she was a fae. Eric, would I be able to, I mean, it's too late. I never thought Faye or I would have asked to roll something while we were there. I thought, I thought Lamania the whole time. You can give me a roll with your Faye touch to recollection.
00:09:05
Speaker
ah ah Not great. Even with my Faye touch, that's like 16, no, 14. 14. Yeah, you you're not super certain which plane it is. You can definitely tell that it is a plane with a more
00:09:24
Speaker
wild bent i guess yeah like not yeah naturalistic yeah okay i get ah okay i i concede that it might also be the lattice but they where the wall was the thinnest it the problem was the greatest last time right is that something we should be expecting every time or am i reading too much into the lady saying that forest was mad and that justifiably mad No, I think you're probably right that the core of the problem is going to be wherever the plane is manifesting into our world.
00:09:57
Speaker
So should we be concerned about maybe meeting this lady in the forest or are we all good to go? yeah know that There's going to be an opportunity to meet her anywhere else. Yes. Okay, that's not the part I wanted to focus on. Should we be concerned about Alondra's... Getting jumped in the forest now.
00:10:15
Speaker
Yes. You got me real freaked out, Nyx. Yes, I i think that being jumped in the forest... yeah Whoever is doing this is clearly able to influence, at the very minimum, what the animals in the forest do. This mysterious... would jumped in the forest anyways.
00:10:33
Speaker
This mysterious woman in the forest is likely to... Alondra is clearly a very powerful druid and therefore also very capable of causing this problem and...
00:10:45
Speaker
Probably, if we there's a strange old woman who lives happily out in the woods, she's probably got some sort of a ah understanding with the animals as well. And then there's that half-goliath guy. go oh yeah.
00:10:56
Speaker
It's Goliath. Goliath blogger. don't know where I got half from. He's also kind of in there as well. Oh, right. The leaf guy. Yeah. Yeah. Marcus. and yes Yes, he is also out there and might be worth talking about.
00:11:12
Speaker
If he's not dead. How very appropriate the woodsman to solve the problem in the forest. Really, we have quite all the makings of a nice little fairy tale. There's a strange old woman out in the woods. There's strong and brave woodsman living out there.
00:11:26
Speaker
i think outside of like the town politics, I quite i quite like this. This is kind of my kind of weird. It's interesting, Corrin seemed to think we were suspecting Devon. Devon is actually the only person we've spoken to that I'm quite certain is not causing the problem.
00:11:41
Speaker
I don't think more of a suspect just that because he's so pro-war in a town that's having negative effects because of it, that he is just in general a bad influence or bad person. Also because he's the one calling the shots and making the decisions.
00:12:01
Speaker
So I don't think he's a suspect. You all hear shouting and cries from the street outside.
The Bear Attack
00:12:08
Speaker
Nick stands up. I think that's our cue. Time to go. Stands up, reaches up, and pulls her sword out of the air ah with a slight shriek.
00:12:19
Speaker
It looks ever so slightly different this time. There are, in the the sort of glowing blade, there are some runes sparkling now.
00:12:31
Speaker
Why? I mean, y'all don't know this, but she... She took the power out of the sword she found. course she did. As you all get outside, you see people, specifically Kaz and Selina, you recognize people that were the the tanners running down the street screaming.
00:12:47
Speaker
Saira is near the front of them screaming, a bear, bear, bear in the town. And you all see rounding that corner, a large grizzly bear is bearing down on them.
00:12:59
Speaker
Oh, look. Escalation. And I need initiative. Oh, probably. So just one. Oh, right. Dex and left. Right. Per initiative. Yeah. I think so. Dexterity plus level.
00:13:10
Speaker
Yes. 11. Valk. 19. 23. Selina. Kaz. 21. All right. So our order is Selina. Kaz. 21. twenty one all right so our order is selena has Vau, Nyx, then the bear.
00:13:23
Speaker
No, it's not bad. I vote. Escalation I, is it a zero? Okay, so yeah, all of you see this bear chasing down the tanners. Other people are running into buildings.
00:13:34
Speaker
So is it specifically chasing tanners? like Or it just happens to be chasing tanners? It came in where the tanners collected. Yeah. It's just that those are the people that are closest to it that it's trying to. Sure. Yes. it These are these are the the people that came across. Got it.
00:13:50
Speaker
Yes. Selena. What would you like to do? All right. Well, Selena is going to do Ray of Frost. Love it. Oh, OK. That is 25 against physical defense.
00:14:02
Speaker
Yes, that will hit. Well, that's good. I'm being rich. Oh, we're not finishing this job. OK, and then that. Four damage. Okay.
00:14:13
Speaker
All right. The the ray of icy energy hits the the bear and you see its fur frost over as it lets out a cry of pain. Kaz.
00:14:24
Speaker
Okay. i I rolled all my dumb stuff in the background here. So what happens is you see Kaz notices the bear and in a moment of panic, he disappears and he goes invisible. That was my weirdness table was he goes transparent.
00:14:40
Speaker
He goes invisible and then he just kind of explodes out with the standard kind of weird scream ray thing that he's able to do. And that is a 19 versus physical defense.
00:14:56
Speaker
19 versus physical defense is a hit. all right. It's not the most powerful spell he's got. That's going to do seven damage. Okay. And what does this attack look like? Nothing, because he's invisible. but if you could Pay attention, Eric.
00:15:09
Speaker
If you can see it, it's it's the one where he opens his mouth and like the energy force kind of just comes, shoots in a pulse from his mouth and hits the bear in the dutch onside or whatever. And because it was a natural even, another enemy nearby would take half damage, but there's no one else, right? It's just this bear right now. Yeah.
00:15:26
Speaker
Unless you want to attack one of the people. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't like the Saira was talking to me. I'm going to go with Nix's theory and start picking off people in this town. They're suspicious. They're all guilty, and they all must go.
00:15:39
Speaker
No, so thats that that is all. And i it doesn't look like I reappear until the end of the battle or another high weirdness roll. Oh, it's fantastic. so Okay.
00:15:50
Speaker
I mean, i have a one in six chance of pulling another attack group of dice, which would do that. So we're, yeah, that'd be fine. Okay. It is now Valk's turn. Valk is going to take a sip of his drink and gain his focus.
00:16:06
Speaker
Okay. Not finished with that. Yep. That is all I am doing. Alrighty, Nyx. Nyx is going to charge the bear. Correct. So Nyx takes sword in both hands and is is pretty much already running when we get out of the door.
00:16:24
Speaker
Races up towards the bear, waits for it to rear at her, and then slices at it. Oh, upon reaching the bear, the bear does take five shots. Damage. And then I rolled a 13 plus a 19 versus AC.
00:16:41
Speaker
That is a hit. Oh, that's the wrong thing. Oh, and I get to roll two D10s now. Gosh, it's complicated. That's 11 plus 15.
00:16:52
Speaker
Okay. Yep. Anything else? No, that's it. oh they're saying yeah this is fair This is not worth summoning a demon. She's already made a bad impression here. The bear lets out a cry of pain as the sword makes contact and cuts into it.
00:17:06
Speaker
And it is going to rear back and attack Nix with its or it's bite. That is only going to be a 13 versus AC, which is not great. And yeah the bear will try to run away from Nix. It has already used its action to try and bite Nix, so it cannot take the disengage or disengage as part of the move action.
00:17:28
Speaker
That's right. Right. So it will make a save to disengage from Nyx. It rolled a three. So Nyx, you can, it's going to still try to run. So you can take an opportunity attack. Nyx will do so. It's an enemy. That is 24 hit. Yes. That's 13 damage. 13.
00:17:43
Speaker
yes that's thirteen damage thirteen Yeah, the bear has panicked look in its eye as it tries to bite down on Nyx and Nyx dodges. And so it turns to run back the that came. Nyx, you slice at its hindquarters and cut deep into it.
00:17:59
Speaker
the The bear is limping pretty severely. It's still barely on its feet, but it is trying to get away. Nyx doesn't show any signs of chasing it. Yeah, it's laying up. Okay, so Lena will do magic missile. Okay. and that was a one, so I'll just do it this one time.
00:18:15
Speaker
and then I think it's five damage. How does the magic missile finish off it, Bear? Oh, poor Bear. Just like a burst of white light hits it as it's running away, it falls.
00:18:26
Speaker
Yeah, you hear a final grunt and exhale from the Bear as it falls to the ground in the middle of the street as people begin to poke their heads out. There's good deal of fear and concern in their eyes as they see the bear Harlan and Devin come out of their respective buildings.
Aftermath and Arguments
00:18:47
Speaker
And you all feel free to say whatever you interrupt if you all want to interrupt. But Devin starts calling for people to like alright, like, situation's taken care of, calm down, let's let's get back to to work and let's just take things easy.
00:19:04
Speaker
Harlan walks up and actually shoves Devin and says, are you crazy? They're coming into the town now, we have to do something, we have to step up. Like, okay, one bear isn't the end of the world now, so let's just keep level heads. And Saira approaches the two of them and says, I told you all this was going to happen. We keep lift literally poking the bear and we're going to get killed and Harlan sees everybody kind of starting to watch them and
00:19:37
Speaker
gets a bit more gumption than he had in the tent with you all as he kind of forcefully grabs Devin and Syrah like briefly by the back of the neck as he pushes them towards the tent and like get inside and they go to the tent that Harlan just set up in to continue their discussion Selena's going to follow to the tent.
00:19:56
Speaker
Okay. Anybody else going? Well, so here's the thing. Kaz is invisible. The battle is over. Okay, fine. Vix turns around where's the kid? In that case, what's what happened, there were several things I was going to do depending on how this went. So but in that case, Kaz reappears to to the visible plane.
00:20:17
Speaker
on the roof of the tavern behind all of you. Because my attacking warp was that I could teleport, use my move to actually teleport on that turn. And I thought he's going to get high because there's a bear on the ground. Sure. So but that is nice.
00:20:30
Speaker
If I could have, I was going to use that to teleport invisibly on top of the tent that Harlan was in. But apparently Eric's going to get fun today. so The rules say till the end of the battle. The battle is over.
00:20:41
Speaker
Don't look at me. Battle Raging in here. Metaphorical battle, Eric. Recently, Jeff has really enjoyed holding the rules of the system we're playing against me personally. So, riding that wave.
00:20:55
Speaker
That is what Kaz appears on the roof by his beauty. I'm up here. ah Good thought. How is he getting down? I hop down. It's not that high.
00:21:06
Speaker
And I've got teen knees. so your Remember that? ability The ability to jump off of things. I was looking at a stairwell in the theater the other day thinking, I jumped off the top of that once. Nine days in a row. with No problem. Now it hurts to walk up.
00:21:21
Speaker
and so slate is going into the techt So I down. Selene is going toward the tent. don't know if Selene is going to go inside if no one follows. I think Valk is feeling a little empowered, still holding his cup and going inside the tent. I was going to start walking towards the bear, and I think I probably i still will, despite not really having any insight into animals. I'm going walk towards the bear. Nyx is standing in the middle of the street with a glowing sword, watching where everyone goes, and I think just stands still for the moment.
00:21:52
Speaker
Very are unified. Okay. So since Valk is also with you, Selina, are you going into the tent with Valk? Yeah. Once Valk walks in, I'm like, oh, okay, we're doing this. Let's go. As you all walk in you hear Saira saying with a raised voice directly directed at Devin, like, people are going to continue to die if we don't change what we're doing.
00:22:14
Speaker
And then you all walk in and all three faces turn to you two. And Harlan is like, well, these people are here to help us solve the problem. So it makes sense for them to be part of this discussion too. Exactly. And Devin kind of throws his hands up and is like, they're here to figure out why the animals are attacking us, not to make policy decisions on behalf of the town about what we should and should not be doing.
00:22:37
Speaker
Well, I think that your policies could impact the happenings around. I mean, we've already seen that. Everyone here has said that as you increase production, you are getting more violently attacked. So I think having some idea of what is about to happen or plans to happen would be best for our group.
00:23:01
Speaker
Devin says correlation does not mean causation just because these two things align does not mean that they are a result of one another. And I would like to have all of the facts before I go out and almost get myself killed in order to help your town. All right. What what facts do you want to know? No, no, just keep going.
00:23:18
Speaker
I'm just listening. Harlan just like Harlan pours the last dregs of the bottle that was next to him into his glass and takes a healthy pull off of it.
00:23:29
Speaker
And listen, we were all willing to mostly ignore the problem as long as the town was safe. The town is not safe anymore, Devin. So we need to do something.
00:23:40
Speaker
Maybe we divert some of your woodworkers away from building what they've been building to, I don't know, start helping us construct a wall to keep the wildlife out of the town.
00:23:51
Speaker
That seems like a proper use of the Wood Rights Guild to build a wooden wall. And Devin says, we have quotas that we have to meet now. Like, we we got a ah we got a deal with the government. We can't slack.
00:24:04
Speaker
We already got the Tanner's Collective refusing to pull their weight around here. And Cyrus says, we are not going to just shill out basically leather shirts that wouldn't even stop an arrow just because you want to...
00:24:19
Speaker
raise your station in this part of the country. Like we're doing good. We're helping the war and we can't stop now. If you want to find some other people that are capable of building a wall, be my guest.
00:24:32
Speaker
Maybe the tanners can find something to do with their time, but my, my people are not going to stop working on what they're working on. And Harlan just let's set aside and looks at Valk and Selena, like in a, do you see what I've had to deal with before you got here? Kind of look.
00:24:48
Speaker
Yeah, Valk's just going to nod in understanding. We'll cut to Kaz looking at the bear real quick. So Kaz, are the bear. Yeah, this system doesn't really have like, even if I could just draw my own spell to use like stuff like, you know, take good and evil or whatever.
00:25:04
Speaker
um But I just I wanted figured since Nick's brought up that it might be a Thalottis thing. I just kind of wanted to catch a vibe off of this bear. I didn't like I don't know.
00:25:16
Speaker
Yeah, it's eyelid and check its eyes and see if they are. Yeah, for sure. I don't know. So I'm guessing that would probably be a wisdom role, which is not great for me.
00:25:27
Speaker
Wisdom or intelligence, I would take. Okay. But I can add my Fae Touched. Yes, I'll let you and take it. Okay. How'd we do, Jeff? Well, rolled a natural two. Again.
Investigations and Observations
00:25:38
Speaker
yeah Okay. That's like a seven or an eight. Yeah. Your two weapon investigation, so we can't re-roll.
00:25:43
Speaker
No. You pulling back spare's eyelid and examining the body. what's What's your check after adding everything? Like a seven? Eight. Eight.
00:25:54
Speaker
Eight.
00:25:57
Speaker
Yeah, you you can't really... You know definitively, even with an 8, this thing is from this plane. Like, this this is a a native of the material plane. This is not a Thelonian...
00:26:09
Speaker
or Lamonian bear that has come through to the to another plane of existence. You also are fairly confident that this bear was acting of its own accord.
00:26:23
Speaker
Like, you don't sense any kind of, like, manipulation magic, if that makes sense. So, those are the two things you pick up with an eight. Sure. But... We, we all have that knowledge that the animals around here are reasoning at a different level than most animals that come in contact with, right? Based on the vibe. That's what Selena saw with the wolves. yeahtle Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:46
Speaker
Okay. I keep that information to myself because I feel silly for going to the bear and learning nothing. So, Nix, are you doing anything other than like? Nope. Watching it. Selena, Valk, are you all ah chiming?
00:26:59
Speaker
Basically, this, the tent devolves into a argument between two people who have no intention of listening to the other one, which is always fun to be in a room for. For my personal amusement, I would stay, but I think Valk would start. Please don't make me roleplay that. Just do the whole thing and just back out.
00:27:15
Speaker
I think Solano would realize we're not getting anything from this. This is just the same argument they've been having over and over and over, probably. So there's no point in staying for that. Um... ah
00:27:30
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. So yeah, you all exit the tent. You see Kaz looking at the bear. Nyx is standing where she was before the bear died. ah People are going back into their homes, obviously little shaken.
00:27:44
Speaker
Corwin is standing in the doorway of the Silver Sap. Selina and Valk, give me a wisdom-based check to notice something about Corwin. So whatever backgrounds might be applicable there, you're free to add.
00:27:56
Speaker
I don't think so. I don't think my paranormal investigator does anything. not in this case. No, I don't think mine do either. But I'm 24. I'm at 20. i'm at twenty Okay.
00:28:08
Speaker
You both see that Corwin is looking dead set, like he's positioned behind her, but he is looking dead set at Nyx with level of mixture of interest and concern, but he's not making any movement towards her or something. He's just staying in the doorway kind of watching. ah Can I, as I'm walking past or towards Nyx, can I kind of do a head gesture over to Corbin and maybe say, well, you're not demoned out or anything.
00:28:38
Speaker
nope No, no, never mind. Fight was, for sure I mean, she's always a tiefling. yeah So to an extent, she's always, but. Always a little demon. The elevated. Yeah. Yes.
00:28:49
Speaker
Not staring at you. Nyx's head swivels. She flicks her eyes over at Corwin. Corwin, like, just gives a half smile and nod and walks back into Silver Sap.
00:29:03
Speaker
Nyx doesn't give any response and hands her sword back into the ether. Kaz walks back over to Nyx at this point and just kind of stands there and goes, Bear's pretty much bear over there. That's the special about the bear.
00:29:16
Speaker
That's information that we didn't have before. Yeah, I guess. It is. It's not a werebear. It's just a bear. it didn't It didn't turn back into a person. Did you guys know I didn't climb up there? I teleported. i need i was That was pretty cool. It's just no one saw it. too I did not. Looking for a W. And it's not No, it's just a bear.
00:29:39
Speaker
and no it's just a big We're a family-friendly podcast. It's just a bear, man. And and I do share, i mean, like, and I don't think that it was, like, charmed or put up to this. Really?
00:29:55
Speaker
Remember when Selina saw the wolves? And remember when you, how you said, you guys are over there now, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Remember how you said you thought the wolves kind of, like, knew what they were doing more than? Yeah, there was something different about their eyes.
00:30:07
Speaker
I think that, well, okay, this area didn't have anything in its eyes, but, you know, anything. But, I mean, lice. But it's, it, it could have come here of its own volition, like, deeper than instinct. And that's really scary.
00:30:22
Speaker
The, the animals are thinking on a higher level and they're using that ability to hate us. Is and more interesting. And are they recruiting? Is that why there's so many more around here than normal?
00:30:34
Speaker
Nyx looks around. Is there any sign that Alondra came out? All the other town elders showed up. No, you don't spot Alondra anymore. Distinct absence of druid for a bear attack.
00:30:47
Speaker
How far away was she? Or how like how far yeah how how far out is Alondra? It was like three, four minute walk. I mean, certainly between the time of like, holy crap, there's a bear and you all killing the bear.
00:31:00
Speaker
She wouldn't have been able to get there that quickly, but at least by walking or running. so But if I were a very powerful druid and I heard people screaming about an animal attack in the town and I were a person of general goodwill, I would come running.
00:31:16
Speaker
Good point. It may mean nothing, but I notice her absence. I don't know. A lot of the powerful magical women I know tend to not try to get themselves involved in the little messy things.
00:31:30
Speaker
And they let the other smaller people below them handle handle the mess over and over again. it's not unusual for me. A lot of the powerful, magical women you know is an interesting sentence.
00:31:46
Speaker
Did in her conversation... have to call it by a bear being a little messy thing. I also thought was kind of an interesting sentence, Malk. Well, we handled that. In your conversation with... and In the conversation with Alondra, did she say why she shared the secret news with Corwin and not anyone else?
00:32:06
Speaker
Why is Corwin the person she goes to to say... Is this well manifestation real? she's she said She did make reference that Corwin was the only person in this town she yeah trusts.
00:32:17
Speaker
she is She said that. Does she say why? Not the same thing. is it that she trusts Corwin or went to Corwin or is it that she took the elf woman to a place...
00:32:28
Speaker
she thought was relatively safe and that was Corwin's place. You know what I mean? like I assumed she would have maybe, yeah, that's a fair question. I don't, i don't know the answer to that. I was, as I had been assuming that she had taken Corwin to see the elf woman and not the other way around. Okay.
00:32:41
Speaker
Corwin said that Llandrath brought the elf woman to Bartholomew. Interesting. Yeah, but very specifically did it when no one else was there or would be there. Right. Oh, yes, that's right. At like three, yeah, at like three in morning. Like it was important that only Corwin was there, but I think Corwin being there was incidental to a safe place to be open as much as, and that she trusts him. But I don't think Corwin had any, like we must get you to Corwin was not the...
00:33:07
Speaker
Right, right, right. was just trying to assess whether we had why are these two trusted only each other in town. I think of Val will chime up and kind of say that, like, from the way that Eladris spoke...
00:33:21
Speaker
I don't think that she would want to involve either Syrah or his name. Devin. Yes. Simply because of like the kind of messy town politics.
00:33:36
Speaker
ah In some way, there is some variation of a differing opinion to where it just may not even be worth it to bring it up to the two. Just be fuel to the fire of either side of an argument and kind of avoiding the actual problem.
00:33:49
Speaker
I know age is nebulous in a lot of this stuff because of the different lifespans of races, but what... like just do they Do they have an air of like having ah predating a lot of this stuff?
00:34:01
Speaker
Alondra are alandra e Corwin? Sorry. How long they've been around? let's say if say Corwin's a half-elf, so he ages pretty similarly to a human. So he's... yeah But Alondra is an elf, so she could be way predating this or she might be relatively young.
00:34:19
Speaker
Does Corwin seem old for a yeah like Corwin looks to be in his like mid 30s. Like, yeah. but All right. I just didn't know if maybe the they trust each other because they were out here.
00:34:29
Speaker
already Down. Yeah. No, and I don't know if Dix would have shared that Coram was a veteran of the war, but he, yeah, so. Well, I don't think this changes that our path leads to the woods. No.
00:34:41
Speaker
if If we don't go out there, it's going to keep coming in here, and he looks at the bear again. Correct. Okay. And I think we should turn in for the night and get prepared. Yeah, I've got give this one a chance to sober up, and he points to Selina.
00:34:54
Speaker
I barely got to even have my drink. Lovk was not sweating. Well, you still have a chance unless the bar is closed. I don't think I'm in the mood anymore. The bear kind of messed it up.
00:35:05
Speaker
You did kill him. Sorry. I'm actually very sad on it. With his little friend-shaped ears. Grub is also upset about it. Grub is very upset about it. I keep apologizing to Grub.
00:35:16
Speaker
What is the room situation at this tavern? I mean, this is a tiny place that doesn't seem like it gets a lot of traffic. No, I mean, that there's a second story with like half a dozen rooms. So you all are going to take up over half of the occupancy.
00:35:31
Speaker
a but snap you are all on the same thing Are they all in the same hallway? there is Yeah, you go up the stairs and there is a singular hallway with three rooms on one side, three rooms on the other.
00:35:42
Speaker
Okay. Once everyone is bedded down, Nyx comes out into the hallway, goes down to the end of the hallway near the stairs, and sits down, stretches her legs out across the hallway, and leans back against the wall and sleeps there.
00:35:55
Speaker
Okay. Kaz crawls up into the bed that was provided to him. Yes. that Acheron clings to the ceiling and watches. Yeah, Selena's sleeping in her bed and has moved a little pillow onto the ground for Grubb to sleep on, too.
00:36:10
Speaker
So he's comfy. ah Roll a d12. No, Nyx, after a couple of hours, ah you hear footsteps approaching. like Basically, the stairs go up like this, and then there is a small landing where they they make a ah turn.
00:36:24
Speaker
You hear footsteps approaching. ah Do you do anything prior to seeing who's coming up the stairs? Nyx doesn't immediately move. ah she She rouses out of sleep and just lays there. Continues to cause you sit there with her head leaned back against the wall and probably just like cracks an eye an eyelid okay to watch for the shape coming up the stairs. Fly behind the figure, cast a shadow on the wall.
00:36:48
Speaker
As it gets closer and then rounds the corner. And you see Corwin, who then starts at the sight of Nyx at the top the stairs. Like, hi, are we okay? Nyx opens her eyes and shakes her head off.
00:36:59
Speaker
shakes shakespeare Shakes the sleep out of eyes and looks up. No, your town is under siege by wild animals. And someone's causing it. i I'm aware of the the first half of that bit. I'm more speaking to...
00:37:12
Speaker
The quality of the room? are you choosing to sleep on the stairs? Someone's causing this. My friends and I are here to stop it. If I was the person causing it, my easiest solution to this would be to see that we don't wake up.
00:37:25
Speaker
Okay. And conveniently, there's only one hallway. The rooms do have windows, though. I wouldn't take the front door if I was going try to kill you. It's a very strange action. I mean, just trying to think through your logic.
00:37:37
Speaker
Unless you all are going to bed down in one room, then there's no real way that you can assure that they're all safe, even right now. Does you need something? I... Just about to close up for the night and was come up to make sure that there wasn't anything strange going on upstairs.
00:37:50
Speaker
Upstairs is a part of the town. There's something strange going on here. So, yes. So are you the kind of person that can't, like, enjoy a book or a drink because there's suffering that exists, like, in the world in general? Like, do you carry that weight on you all the time?
Cryptic Conversations and Concerns
00:38:05
Speaker
but
00:38:08
Speaker
In the world i inhabit in the world that the book is... I don't understand your question. Yeah. Yeah. Have a good night. Then Corrin turns to go back downstairs. I didn't understand his question either. So Nix and Philip up are both just completely flummoxed by that interaction. i have no idea what he's asking.
00:38:24
Speaker
He reacted... really normally. Like, he he reacted in an extremely even way to everything Nyx said, and that's not normal. Nothing. So, yeah. I'm just saying Nyx is not the only person behaving strangely in that conversation. I wasn't saying that. He was.
00:38:41
Speaker
But, yeah, you you don't hear anything else. you You hear the front door shut and a lock engage as the lights are dimmed downstairs. Does he not live here? Yes, not. Nyx, you're able to doze back off to sleep after that interaction with Corwin.
00:38:55
Speaker
And nothing happens for the rest of the night. You all wake up the next morning. Corwin unlocks the door fairly early. And you hear the thrum of people downstairs. What time, how early would you all wake up?
00:39:08
Speaker
Other than Salada, obviously, who is massively hungover from how much drinking she was doing. From my two sips I got before the fair interrupting. I've seen you drink. That's... True. I mean, what time do things get going in this town? Like, is it sunrise or do people? kind I mean, people come for like pretty early breakfast before they go to work. So it would be. a Yeah. ah Yeah. Some people would be here as early as sunrise.
00:39:31
Speaker
Valk will be up at sunrise. Nix gets up when somebody wakes her up by opening the door by opening a door. Okay. Sounds like Valk is there. Open the door. You don't look it up a little bit after sunrise. Jasmine's not opening that door, that's for sure.
00:39:46
Speaker
Valk opens the door. Nix starts at his sleep and looks up. Sort of nowhere. No, she's just got a, there's is there's just a knife, like, kind of tucked under her, son tucked in, like, into the corner between the the wall and her lower back.
00:40:04
Speaker
I think at this point, Valk is just gonna say good morning and then step over go down. Nyx gets up, goes back to the room and changes her clothes. Um...
00:40:17
Speaker
Okay. Awaken by the smell of breakfast and goes downstairs. Is part of his fey weirdness that he floats downstairs on the yeah on the scent waves? Yes, exactly right. Okay, so Valky, as you get down there first, you see groups of people you didn't see the night before eating.
00:40:33
Speaker
pretty hearty breakfasts all over there is the smell of both calf and towel coffee and tea for eberron newbies in the air as well as a lot meats being cooked and things like that so yeah there there is an empty table and corwin sees you coming downstairs and just gives you a ah nod as he is working on some orders so okay nix comes down a few minutes later think that was going to get the heartiest breakfast with the big old orange and juice equivalent.
00:41:08
Speaker
That would be the woodworker's feast. A heartiest feast. Smoked ham, two eggs, roasted root veg, and a slice of dense rye bread.
00:41:19
Speaker
um studying the menu. but the the The listeners can't see your face. He's looking over. He's reading this. He has a menu written. It's fun for me. That's fine. I'm glad it is.
00:41:29
Speaker
the details that matter. So I'm downstairs and ask if there are any breakfast specials because she learned her lesson last night. She wants to know the specials. Thank you. Because he does have some winter specials.
00:41:41
Speaker
Corwin takes a great, great pride. So there is the winter's hearth platter, which is boar sausage, two eggs, ah some honey glazed parsnips, and thick slice of toasted brown bread served with hot cider. Then he has some frostberry oak porridge.
00:41:59
Speaker
That is the other seasonal. offering. Selena's going to do the winter horse. Excellent. Nick sort of steak and eggs. Steak and eggs. Okay. Menu. Yeah. I don't know what's on the menu. Kaz would like biscuits and gravy. Is that on the menu? What's a biscuit?
00:42:13
Speaker
Yeah. forget yes It's a cookie. hit You want Cass is about to get a plate of chocolate chip cookies and some gravy. At no point was this said to be medieval UK.
00:42:24
Speaker
This is just some weird place we're at that has biscuits and grain and a black coffee. And he fully intends to eat at least one of Selena's sausage links because there's no way she's eating all that. Selena will not eat all that. Grubb slaps your hand as you reach for something. I forgot about Grubb. I fight him for his tactical error, my friend. Tactical error.
00:42:42
Speaker
That's why Selena had to get the big platter. There's a trash panda with a cake. the tape you're not You're not winning that fight. So yeah, you all are able to get your breakfast and Corwin ah happily grits you all and brings you all your orders as he is placing other orders for the workers of the town.
00:42:56
Speaker
What do you do? To the woods. Yeah, you but believe it or not, I've had no major insights last night while sleeping. So... Colin's a bit strange. i actually would like to, if possible, revisit Alondra and try to get something that would be like like her blessing or like quote-unquote voucher just in case we run into the elf lady in the woods so she doesn't run away and or attack us. so it might be something quick.
00:43:25
Speaker
I don't know, like plant on a, I don't know. That's a good idea. Necklace, something like that. Something small. It doesn't need to be like huge interaction unless it ends up needing to be a huge interaction. Cool. Kaz did react to Corwin's weird statement from Nyx, though.
00:43:40
Speaker
Yeah, just trying to figure out how you know that. but What could have happened last night that- Did you go back downstairs, Dr. Corwin? No, I stayed in the hole. He came upstairs and seemed he doesn't react normally to the things I say. Look, i'm aware that I'm off-putting. Okay, yeah. I wasn't sure how to respond to that.
00:43:57
Speaker
I'm not, I've been, I have been off-putting since I was about 10. People are off-put by me. I don't know what Corwin's reaction for last night was, but in the middle of the night coming up the stairs, his reaction to my explanation of sleeping in the hall was not to be off-put and that's
Seeking Alondra's Guidance
00:44:19
Speaker
strange. It may not mean anything. He may not be strange in a threatening or hostile way, but he is strange.
00:44:24
Speaker
Okay. Makes sense. Kaz starts to globe a little bit and he's like, yeah, don't like strange things either. To Alondra? To Alondra. Yeah. I think Alondra's finishing breakfast. makes sense. It's a fairly short walk, I know, but I i mean, I hope that on the way there, cat Valk fills us in a bit on why we're going back to Alondra just so we could all be on kind of the same. I know there was the, like, you gave us a... To get a thing.
00:44:45
Speaker
To get a talisman. Right. Yep. that was That was Mia and Valk. Okay. So yeah. Yeah. Y'all know. Don't worry. He's not going to run off this time.
00:44:56
Speaker
You all see as you approach, you see Alondra meditating in her garden. But as you all get close, she speaks out loud. How can I help you? But she still remains seated in the garden.
00:45:07
Speaker
Hi, I don't mean to disturb your meditation. you know that's important in the mornings. It's lunch. Anyways, we're gonna go into the woods and I thought that maybe in case we see the happen by the elf woman, if there was something...
00:45:28
Speaker
of yours or something of your blessing that you could pass on to us. She seems, from what Corwin said, she seems to have only trusted you.
00:45:40
Speaker
and I feel like if we were able to make contact with her, I wouldn't want to startle her. if she's If you're the only person she trusts Alondra nods and stands up and turns to face you all.
00:45:51
Speaker
That is a intelligent course of action. And she goes over to one of the plants and takes a clipping from it and pulls out a small length of twine from her pocket and begins tying it up and into a little bundle with a cord around it and holds it out.
00:46:11
Speaker
This plant is not native to this continent. This garden is the only place that it grows. So if she sees this, she will know that you are a friend of mine.
00:46:22
Speaker
Thank you. I will take that and I keep that on my person where it is... Semi-visible. Also, did you happen to hear about that bear?
00:46:33
Speaker
Yes, I heard the shouting. And you didn't, I mean, you didn't want to help? Question mark. Well, they're here to help, right? Did you have any problems handling the bear?
00:46:44
Speaker
No, it's just that everyone else kind of showed up and you were not present. I did not think that my presence was needed or would be helpful.
00:46:55
Speaker
What were you doing? I was here, in my garden. and You didn't think you could be helpful? ah Perhaps I'm entirely wrong, but I don't think I and far off in reading you as quite a powerful druid.
00:47:09
Speaker
My modesty prevents me from fully confirming the ah scope of your claim, but I will confirm that yes, I i am a druid. By saying that, you do actually, never mind...
00:47:20
Speaker
No use of the word powerful. ah I am a druid, yes. I see. I am not greatly experienced with druids, but I would have thought that at the core of druid's abilities might be various skills that would be eminently useful in a situation where a wild animal is attacking a town.
00:47:43
Speaker
yeah How could you not see yourself as helpful? and Truids come up in in various circles for training and ethos, and my circle prevents the use of our abilities to harm or impede nature.
00:47:58
Speaker
So I would not be able to stop or harm the bear. I wouldn't have wanted you to harm the bear, but to impede the bear. Your beliefs prevent you from impeding a bear that is rampaging through ah village, endangering the lives of the inhabitants?
00:48:19
Speaker
I would be capable of healing and helping the people after the bear attacked. And she gives a smile. I see. Can do a vibes check while this is happening to see if she's check truthful? Wisdom-based check.
00:48:32
Speaker
Feel free to use your investigator background. This better be good. 25. ah spinnerpeek twenty five Wow. Wow. Yeah, you you certainly get the sense that she is not being deceptive.
00:48:45
Speaker
She... The biggest vibe that... Like, biggest vibe you get off of her is she... There is a lot of...
00:48:56
Speaker
at least in her mind, baggage surrounding her circle and the order and like the reasons that they do the things the way they do. And she has no interest in litigating that at this moment. So it's like she is giving as much information as being requested, but she also desperately does not want to quote unquote get into it right now kind of thing is the vibe that you're getting off of.
00:49:18
Speaker
I think Valpheus kind of chime in towards Nix and just say and it's fine. It's like not right now. It's fine. Is it? It's fine in a sense that this is not a conversation worth continuing, not in the end overall picture of the scenario. This so whole scenario is not fine, but...
00:49:39
Speaker
That is what I was trying to say to Corbin last night. Amazing. But for this moment, this is fine. We can continue to the parts that are not fine. Like the forest. If you need anything else for feel free to let me know.
00:49:52
Speaker
Thank you. What did we get from her? I got a very special flower. No, the flower. It's a special shibboleth. It does not grow in Corvair. This is the only garden in which it grows on this continent. So the woman will recognize it as being from Alondra.
00:50:10
Speaker
As being stolen from Elantra. Okay, so do we go in the woods now? The question is, which part of the woods? Because you can go to Marcus's camp, which Devin marked on the map.
Conclusion and Quest into the Woods
00:50:22
Speaker
Syra marked where the rough area of Angelina's hut. and Or you could try to find the mysterious elf woman. Does it seem like going to one of the two places we know and hopefully run into the elf woman on the way is a silly thing to do? Or exactly the only way to do this?
00:50:37
Speaker
Not sure how else we would find her. Yeah, i mean that I mean, I feel like she is our goal, but I don't know. i don't know how to take a direct run at her. it a I think two people have told us about Angelina now, at least two, maybe more.
00:50:50
Speaker
so maybe she does to talk too she She does seem more likely to know something about what's going on in the woods. strain Old women living in the woods who are perceived as strange probably know what's going on in the woods.
00:51:02
Speaker
i agree. Fair enough. Let's go meet her. And we will call it an episode there. Thank you all so much for listening. If you want to be part of the conversation surrounding this episode, you can head it over to our Discord. The link to which is in the description of this podcast.
00:51:16
Speaker
ah We also a YouTube channel, youtube.com slash epantheon if you want to watch TTRPG videos that I make over there. And now, Philip. On Spotify and YouTube, you can find us at Tales from the Laughing Tree.
00:51:27
Speaker
where we have another actual play campaign using tales of the valiant it's called blades and banners it's pirates yes we also have a patreon patreon.com slash epantheon if you want to financially support the show you can do so over there thank you all so much for listening i've been your game master eric i'm mia i'm philip i'm madison i'm jeff and we will see you next time