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Ep. 79 Prison Break - De Profundis
110 Plays3 years ago
Finally reunited, the party faces an even bigger challenge to escape Spellhold. Challenge Rating: Stock Magic Tier-Three.
Follow us on our Twitters - @FellowshipTable
Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade - https://josephmcdade.com/
The Fellowship Party Twitter Pages:
- The DM/Mark - @HastilyRolledDM
- Drago/Ian - @IRolledA1
- Folly/Callum - @TheD20Gamer
- Princess Helena/Casey - @unicorncrit
- Carstan/Will - @Natural20Will
- Robin/Darren - @DarrenPage06
- Claude/Danny - @totalpartythrlz
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Transcript
Claude's Wolf Communication
00:00:00
Speaker
Claude, I'm very impressed that you handled that well. Thank you. I always thought that talking to wolves would pay off after all these years. Is this the first one that's ever replied to you? Yes.
00:00:38
Speaker
Hello
Introduction to Fellowship of the Tabletop
00:00:39
Speaker
everyone and welcome to this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop. We are a live play 5e D&D podcast set in the magical homebrewed world of Aerith. My name is Mark and I am the Dungeon Master and also with us for today's episode we have Ian who plays the Dragonborn Barbarian, Drago. What up? We've got Casey who plays the human champion, Helen, a sleep guard.
00:00:57
Speaker
Hello! Danny who plays the human cleric Claude Bonjour! Darren who plays the human fighter Rogue Robin I'm on the edge, the edge, the edge The edge, the edge, the edge, the edge And I'm hanging on with you We've got Callum who plays the gnome sorcerer Folly Fizzlebang the 9th
00:01:18
Speaker
I can't say anything that will top that. I thoroughly enjoyed that. And we have Will, who plays the human bard, Carstan. I am now on the edge of my seat with excitement for playing D&D. Now, I'm
Darren's Singing Frustration
00:01:29
Speaker
sorry, Robert. Darren, you take it, you take it. Have some inspiration, my man. That was beautiful. We haven't had a singing in Darren in a while. Thank you. That was beautiful. That was good. Good luck with that, Darren, because I got given inspiration the other day and never got to use it because nothing happened. You could have used it. On what? I don't want a dice.
00:01:48
Speaker
Well, who's fault is that? You could have just rolled one and added inspiration for who knows what. Anyway, I dare say there's going to be a lot of dice rolling tonight. On last
Recap of Spellhold Visit and Potion Brewing
00:01:57
Speaker
week's episode of The Fellowship at the Tabletop, we spent some time in prison as Spellhold with Drago and Folly. Folly brewed a potion and did incredibly well with it, managing to pass the four stages of stock magic brewing in the dark.
00:02:11
Speaker
absolute darkness, rolling with disadvantage, still managed to pass every test and then crit a few of them as well, meaning he has now this little concoction. We don't really know what it does. Well, he does. With the rest of the group, they basically had to retrace the steps of Drago and Folly going down underground, finding the wreckage of this space with all the
00:02:32
Speaker
tables, all the supplies, everything smashed up. Dragonborn prints, Folly prints, and then they went in and also saw the skeleton of the dragon in one of the holding pens. They also read through some of the letters that Drago and Folly had previously read. Robin went out one of the side grates and kept an eye on two of the crisscross outside.
00:02:50
Speaker
before meeting the others out front, they decided what's best is probably to speak to the dead person. After much deliberation
Speaking with the Dead: Folland Jones
00:02:56
Speaker
about whether or not Carson eats brains or not, they decided to speak to the dead person who was lying there, ravaged in the, um, his name is Taron, I believe. No, Folland Jones, his name was Folland Jones. Sounds like a fake name. And brought him back to life, uh, doing a Carson special. No,
00:03:13
Speaker
sorry, a Claude special, Karsten was testing his brains as they went anyway, and got some information out of them, which basically, basically surmounted to take the right, take the right turn, basically, when there was this right side they hadn't gone to and find the entrance to the rat room.
Meeting Tellian Hellfire
00:03:29
Speaker
While this was happening, however, and Folly and Drago were making this potion, just as the potion was finished, the Dragonborn hand lay down on Folly. And we met this strange figure of another Dragonborn who was referred to as Tellian Hellfire. He spoke to Drago and Folly. He punched Drago in the face and basically said, do you want to leave?
00:03:53
Speaker
But you can't just walk out, you will have to pass the trial being quite vague and basically open the door out of Spellhold, a place where Drago and Folly have not been able to find a way out of, let alone a door out of in their entire time they've been trapped under here.
00:04:13
Speaker
And
Exploring the Sewer System
00:04:14
Speaker
we're going to start off with the group outside of Spellhold. You lot are taking your northern route up and you'll come to that T-junction and you're underground. You're in these architecturally ruined sewer system. You've got a layer of about an inch of water on your feet as you plod quietly through torches lit on your right hand side as you make your way north. You see a T-junction coming up ahead. You hear the slow trickle of water from multiple directions. And apart from that, you just hear the plod, plod, plod of feet in the water.
00:04:44
Speaker
To the left is your way out, your way back to the surface, your way to the greats, to the open sewer system and to the city of Goldview. To the right is nothing but unknown. So Helena, you're out front and you come to this tea junction with the rest of the party behind you. You're leading the way. What would you like to do? It's this way, right? And she's going to point to the right. Yeah, take that way.
00:05:11
Speaker
Is it quiet down there? Can I hear anything?
Helena's Wall Inspection
00:05:15
Speaker
Give me a perception check please Helena. Fourteen.
00:05:32
Speaker
you stop and you notice both ways to the south and sorry to the right and to the left are dark first of all so your eyesight doesn't really help you much but you then listen out and you can hear more water further down coming from multiple points further down but that doesn't really give you an inkling as to any other sounds apart from falling water this isn't falling water like there's a leak this sounds like controlled falling water you've seen these small spouts
00:05:57
Speaker
of kind of inlet of water coming from other areas, other bits of the sewer, and it seems to be bringing in bits of water. And that's all you can really hear, Helena. Having noticed this dark, I'm just going to cast light on Helena's one of her flails. Is there anything in your hands at the moment? Are you empty handed? Well,
00:06:17
Speaker
I'll have my shield in my hand. Okay, and with that suddenly this burst of light kind of arcs forward and opening up and you can see shadows of the stone work along the side. This is like a sandy coloured stone, not
00:06:34
Speaker
not local to the area of Sleek God in particular as you know the Sleek God architecture is a bit darker than that and you can see the the rutting outlines and shapes and every now and then you see these weird alcoves of just darkness where you can't see in and these seem to be positioned all the way down to the right and from those that's where you can see the water coming from with that light
00:06:54
Speaker
You can see now the path each way down to the right, kind of arching off slightly to the right as well. So you can't see all the way down to the end or to any kind of turning to the left or the right. You can just see this slow kind of arc down to the right. Robin, you all stood just behind Kastan as he casts this. Is that anything you wanted to do?
00:07:11
Speaker
Robin's going to do two things. He's going to firstly take in his surroundings and ascertain that this is probably somewhere where there isn't traditionally a lot of footfall. So any sign on the floor of any disturbance heading in the direction of the water. And secondly, as he kneels down just to investigate for that, he's going to give the air a sniff just to see if this rushing water, which we said we perceive is
00:07:38
Speaker
manmade and not a natural occurrence or a sewer occurrence, it's just going to sniff the air to see if that water is like a sewage off-run or if it appears to be a fresh supply of water. Okay, that's
Robin's Water Investigation
00:07:50
Speaker
kind of two roles I'd say. So the first one would be an investigation to check for the disturbances and footprints. The second one would be more, I'm going to say for you Robin it would be a survival, mainly because we're city, we're underground, your urgent background survival would make sense. So we'll go the investigation one first for the footprints.
00:08:06
Speaker
Well, the investigation is a big fat 29. Wow. 19 plus 10.
00:08:13
Speaker
You look down and as the light for a second gets shone down the corridor, you can not only see the surface level tension of the water, not that you'd know that as a thing, but you can see a series of disturbances down the center, because there's water all the way down, it's about an inch thick of water. But you can actually see where there seem to be these divots of footprints, even through the water, you can make them out through the piercing light that comes from the shield. You can't really make out
00:08:39
Speaker
at the direction they're going in, but you can see four different sets of footprints. You cannot tell which direction they're going in, but you can see four very distinct sets of footprints. For the next would be your survival check to see whether or not this is freshwater or where the water kind of came from. So give me a survival check given your background. Survival is 10 plus 16.
00:09:01
Speaker
It's fresh water. You can probably ascertain then this is either water from the river that's leaking in or this is rainwater, kind of build rainwater off buildings that's kind of collecting from the city and then heading out to the coast. Either one of those would make sense, but the water seems relatively fresh. There's no real stank to it. This isn't, you're not wading through, wading through shit and piss. This is, this is, you know, for all intents and purposes feels like almost a river water or fresh water.
00:09:32
Speaker
The water supply is fresh and there are fresh traces or footprints, I would suggest. Any dragonborn prints? Tiny gomish prints? There are, yes. I would suggest that we're on the right track. Well, I'd also say that the water doesn't end any time soon, so should we be walking through this, we're going to have to be a little bit quieter if we don't know what's at the other end.
00:10:03
Speaker
agree with that. And I agree that heading in the direction of the water is the correct steps to take. But Claude's a bit jangly. I hope you don't mind me saying. It's quite all right. You're not so handsome yourself on Mondays. No, no, no. You don't mind me saying? Jangly means you make quite a lot of noise when you walk. It's not a comment on your appearance.
00:10:32
Speaker
What can you remove? Well, if I'm not wearing this, I'm wearing pyjamas. Oh, yeah, forget that. Well, I don't mind. It's certainly up there with the weirdest things I've been asked to do. I'll start undressing.
00:10:54
Speaker
Robin's going to look at Helen there and just kind of... I need 10 minutes to remove this and I'll just be wearing my under leathers. Claude, I don't think you need to take it off. Just try and keep hold of it all, stopping it shaking, making noise and what have you. I could attach to my rotund waistline and say, well, a lot of it is in the legs and I can't really reach.
00:11:17
Speaker
It's fine. I'll move ahead. As a precaution, I will take it off. Just as a thing, it's worth remembering that we're going to knock on the door. I don't know if stealth has to be the order of the day here. Now I think about it. Is there a door? I think I saw an entrance in the dead person's head. There was some kind of entrance. There was a goblin or something.
00:11:47
Speaker
It was definitely Alex. So whatever happens, we're going to have to say hello. Yes, we're not creeping up on anybody else. Oh, if you don't mind, I'm not putting my trousers back on. You do that, Claude. Wonder about it. And I'll start putting big jars on. And Hannah will begin walking to the right path.
00:12:07
Speaker
You walk down for approximately five or six minutes and you're walking with purpose but a little bit tentatively as the darkness is there. The brightness of your shield does give way to these long and piercing shadows that arc off down this long sewage passageway. And then you take this slow arcing corner to the right
00:12:29
Speaker
It seems akin to a lot of this architecture at the time. Everything's kind of slow corners, not very dissimilar now to the way in which sleep guarding architecture is very formal, straight lines, almost Roman in its formality. And this arc takes you for quite some time. And then Helena, out ahead, you see something and you have to kind of rub dust out of your eye because you assume this must be a mistake.
00:12:53
Speaker
This must be something that you're not seeing correctly at first because the passageway just ends about 30 feet ahead of you. It just ends. It's a kind of a grayish, almost concrete looking color. And it just blocks without a single entrance, without a single window, no handle, just stone, a single piece of almost perfectly smooth stone about 30 feet ahead of you. And it even seems to cut through brick. It just seems to stop.
00:13:22
Speaker
Can I investigate it to see if it's a false sort of wall or anything like that? Like if I can shove it out the way and it falls through or? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you want to shove it, that'll be a strength or do you want to investigate it first? It's up to you. Let me investigate it first, please. Give me that investigation check, please. That would be a 17.
00:13:44
Speaker
As you feel
Alcove Mystery and Stone Barrier
00:13:45
Speaker
around, you notice it's almost seamless in the middle. There's nothing that you can really get your fingers in. And even around the edges, the only area you can get your finger in is from where this giant piece of stone, this giant perfectly smooth rock has kind of jutted itself into the architecture of this tunnel.
00:14:05
Speaker
This, you know, human man-made tunnel with bricks all the way around this kind of open arched tunnel. Aside from that, there's nothing else you can find. Even as you reach down into the water and you put your fingers underneath the water to see if you can feel the bottom of it, to get your hands underneath it for some purchase for lifting.
00:14:21
Speaker
you can't get your hands underneath it. It keeps going down and down and down. As you move away some of the grime below you in dirt and dust to get even lower, you realise then it reaches the hard stone surface of the floor underneath the water and underneath the mulch that has grown on the surface of it. So, we were definitely told the right passageway, weren't we? What about a passadore?
00:14:45
Speaker
Well, I can't feel any different, sir. Have you tried knocking? It's quite a perfectly placed stonework. Knock on doors, sometimes that causes people to answer. OK. What are you doing? I'm knocking on the door. There's no... There's no answer.
00:15:11
Speaker
No, there's no answer. Nothing changes, sorry. There's no, it's not, not to answer this. Kastan's going to sort of wiggle himself. He's going to weave in between people and go, can I sort of look at it? Does the barrier have any magical element to it or anything like that? Are you going to give me an Arcana check? Yeah. That's an eight. You go up and, uh, no, this, this seems to be just solid rock, just stone.
00:15:42
Speaker
This is a dead end. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. I take that back because that's the investigation check. There is no magical, there's nothing magical about this. Remove what I said previously, please. Did we miss a turning?
00:15:55
Speaker
I don't know, I mean, this is the way we came. But the water's flowing into this stone wall. That's true. Actually, Mark, can we assess whether or not the water is going underneath this thing or does it stop? How is it flowing? Why is it not filling up? Where's it going into?
00:16:13
Speaker
I'll take your previous investigation, Casey. I won't make you roll again for it. And the water kind of is up against it. And you can see in the stone that there is kind of a line of water where it reaches. But no, it isn't filling up anymore.
00:16:27
Speaker
But this is all, as you've noticed on one level, you haven't gone down or up or anything. So there's no way for it to pool. So you can assume it's just slowly filling up behind you, maybe, or just filling up very, very slowly among the whole system. I was going to say, is the water flowing towards the water or away from it? Is there a current? Towards. OK. While this is happening and they're investigating the wall, Robin is looking at the immediate surroundings, in particular the floor or the ceiling, and is looking for any kind of
00:16:56
Speaker
outlay of a cleaner set of panel, anything that could suggest that there is a pressure point or a trigger pad to open this door. Basically, where the wall is grimy and dunky, he's looking for a clear point where the wall has clearly been disturbed or something has been disturbed, the pressure point. Nice. Give me an investigation check, please. 18.
00:17:23
Speaker
On your investigations, you notice a...
Robin's Brick Discovery
00:17:29
Speaker
When you're looking at it, again, looking over where Helen has already looked, on the far right, where this big slab has etched its way into the wall of it, you notice one brick that does seem slightly loose. The mortar around it has come out ever so slightly, and it does seem to, when you bring in your hands around it, it does seem to wobble ever so slightly.
00:17:49
Speaker
As Robin's doing that, he's just going to grasp it and try and pull it or push it, whatever give there isn't it, he's going to try and... It comes out towards you when you start to pull it slightly. A bit of the rubble falls into the, bloop, bloop, bloop, into the water below you. Do you want to continue pulling it? Sure. Okay, you pull that out and behind you there is just more stone. Sorry, behind it is kind of...
00:18:14
Speaker
rock rubble the interior of being underground pretty much nothing changes but the slab continues the slab continues yeah as you pull the brick out and look the slab continues to go along it's not moving but it's just as you've pulled it out it goes even further than that brick robin will drop robin will take hold the brick in his hand and he will turn around and look around to see if there's anywhere else where it looks like this brick might go
00:18:45
Speaker
Okay, I'll take your old investigation unless you want to roll again for it, which is 19. Why not? 27, 17. No, there's no other way else that would fit this brick as perfectly as you're looking for kind of like a key or some kind of entrance, et cetera. But on your journeys, you do notice as you're looking around a small alcove, just to, if you've got your back to this thing, on the left, you see a small alcove. And at a cursory glance, I mean, I can't deny it when it was at 27, you notice,
00:19:14
Speaker
Within it, within the small alcove, folly prints, well very small gnome prints. One set that go in and then that's it. A hobbit lay here. Tracks speed away from the battle. I'm no hobbit. What did you say?
00:19:35
Speaker
I didn't say anything. What are you thinking? Well, I thought that this brick may have been some form of catch for opening this door. Did you say catch? I said catch. C-A-T-C-H. No point spelling. He can't write, Robin. He doesn't understand spelling.
00:20:00
Speaker
there's folly tracks there's folly tracks in the alcove there are tracks that the one that the one that my finger is pointing at i'm gonna run into the alcove uh it's not really an alcove big enough to write it's more sorry i should have made it clear it's like a shelf in the in the side of it so you it's like hip hyped for you um
00:20:19
Speaker
clawed and it's like big enough to fit like probably some ornaments or some vases or something like that and obviously a gnome at one point. It's more of a shelf than an alcove. I'll bomb second glance. I've learned that the hard way, Robin. I've banged my knee. Cast an... Cast presentation and made his voice louder and goes, hello, spell hold. We're looking for the spell hold. What?
00:20:50
Speaker
I'm not saying magicari and minty, and that's also going to be loud. OK, brilliant. Yeah, so the first one echoes back. It bounces off this and goes back as your voice is suddenly this booming, loud voice of a bard. But it's set in perfect tone as well. And then the second bit also echoes out as well. And there seems to be a moment of silence. It almost seems like the water stops for a second in bleak anticipation for what might happen.
00:21:19
Speaker
And you all waited breath. Eyes still, body still, waiting for something. Ears are tuned, waiting for just any noise, anything, good, bad. And suddenly you get this really weird
00:21:33
Speaker
sound come through it's almost like a not a rumble but it's like a a warble almost that comes from the direction of the wall as you turn to face
Goblin Encounter and Password Revelation
00:21:43
Speaker
it you see this face start to kind of appear through the stone stretched at first gray and as it pushes through it gives it color as the rock kind of almost melts around this face and two ears pop out as well as this green head
00:21:58
Speaker
pops out of the rock and leans out and looks at you, yellow eyes of a goblin staring out at you all. Helena, you've probably been the closest because the alcove was a couple of steps away and probably clawed as well. Oh my god. Don't. I didn't know I was your god. Don't upset the wall. It looks funny. You're not. You just called me a god. Yes, I'm very shocked. Who are you? Why are you in a wall? Can we enter?
00:22:26
Speaker
That's three very complicated questions you just asked me. Sorry, you can take them in order. Answer them as you will. I've forgotten them all straight away. Who are you? That's none of your business. Why are you in a wall? That's none of your business. Can we enter? No. Fuck off. But could you tell us what the word magickarian minty means? He pauses for a second and looks over at you.
00:22:57
Speaker
You surge? No. Well, you've got the armour of a member of the Fleet Guard surge. Yes, I am. How'd you know that thing you just said? Well... We were told that... I'm a worshipper of a legal religion hiding as a member of the surge in order to free my friends, Mr. Wallman.
00:23:21
Speaker
That sounds complicated. Do you know what that means that you just said? It's a password, isn't it? Yes. We need to get to spell hold and that's an important thing. His eyes widened slightly at that as well. Where did you hear it? From a dead man. From a dead man that I brought back to life. And the head's going to pop through a little bit.
00:23:49
Speaker
You're all kinds of fucking weird, aren't you? Yeah. Don't like me when I'm hungry. I don't even know what that means. And the head's going to look around. Just the four of you. Right, I've got to go eject something because I wasn't really expecting this. It's my first day. It's not. You're doing a great job, Mr. Wallmaster. Shut up and go. It disappears. It disappears through the wall back to just solid, solid, solid stone again.
00:24:18
Speaker
I'm going to tell you these guys, and I'm going to say, I think going forward, we should just use the words magicari and minting more often. It seems to get us much better results than books and spells. The head instantly reappears. No, I wouldn't recommend that if I were you.
00:24:36
Speaker
Okay, Mr. Masterwall. Because it doesn't mean what you think. It's ironic. The password is ironic because magicarium menti is the name, is the expression, the slogan of the magicarium. And we're not fans of the magicarium. The last thing they'd expect us to say is the slogan of our enemy.
00:24:55
Speaker
That's actually very good, isn't it? His hands come through too, so he can go, and point to his head and point back again. Claude nods
Entering the Magical Corridor
00:25:03
Speaker
enthusiastically. I believe you were of the process of sorting out our entry. Ah, yes. You can come in. Thank you. Mr. Wall, looking forward to seeing your house. Right, couple of things. It's a long walk. Fine. Just keep walking.
00:25:23
Speaker
If you see some people, ignore them, but you shouldn't see anyone. Do you know where you're going? Yes. Yeah, we've got to know. Karsten, he doesn't know where to go, but we're very intelligent beings. Yes, we know where we're going. Yeah, I believe you. I rolled a 2 on my perception. I'm not really anything into this. Right, well, just...
00:25:51
Speaker
Head on in. Thank you all, Matt. I'm going to gesture to everyone else in the party as they're like, after you. Claude, I'm very impressed that you handled that well. Thank you. I always thought that talking to wolves would pay off after all these years. Is this the first one that's ever replied to you? Yes. But it was worth it for the millions of attempts that I made. I'm good. Agreed. I'm glad. Helena's going to walk in.
00:26:22
Speaker
Robin, impressed that I talked to a wall? Lost the words, Claude. That's what I like to hear. Just before we go in, I'm going to cast Comprehend Languages on myself. No problem. I'll let you know. Thank you very much. So as you walk in, there's no entrance here still, by the way. It's still just a stone. I'm going to walk through the stone.
00:26:49
Speaker
You're going to walk through the stone. All prepared, I'm going to bang my nose, but I'm going to do it. Like the goblin just did. Sorry, can I just ask though? The goblin said we can enter. How did he gesture that we entered? He didn't gesture. He just, he said you could enter and then his head disappeared again. I'm walking into a stoner. Good pace. Okay. And Claude, if you're going first.
00:27:12
Speaker
Yeah, no one else went in. Well, Claude, you have out your arm for everybody to go. We wouldn't have gone in because there is nowhere to go. Oh, Karsten would have walked forwards. OK, so Karsten, you already headed forward. And as you approach, I imagine you kind of hands like first to kind of feel out to see if you're going through. And again, it feels like you're pushing through. It at first feels like stone. And then as your hands rest for a second, it feels slightly warm, different. And then
00:27:39
Speaker
your hands are going to push through like treacle. I imagine it's like the same kind of viscosity that you know in The Matrix where he touches the mirror and warms onto his finger and it's like that kind of viscosity and he just pushes, you just push your way through and for a second there's just this darkness as you close your eyes and as you
00:27:55
Speaker
peak them open as an inquisitive bar to see what you can see almost on the inside of this stone. You see this eruption of color and chaos and noise, but kind of not in a bad way, but just in an exciting way, in a kind of aurora borealis kind of way, just this absolute flashes of color and brilliance. And as you continue to step through, suddenly you come through the other side of this.
00:28:19
Speaker
And it's just one long corridor of the same architecture that you've previously seen. But there's no water on the ground, it's clean. It's a clean, not polished stone, but it's been swept, it's been cleaned. And as each of you, are you each doing this, sorry? Yeah, as soon as I see Carstan disappear, I'll follow suit. And then I'll follow, yeah.
00:28:39
Speaker
and then Claude bringing up the rear and you step through as well. As each of you do that, and as you kind of come to your senses, it's quite an experience, quite a nice, strange, a worryingly chaotic, but kind of exciting experience, what you've just kind of experienced stepping through that.
00:28:55
Speaker
this corridor goes up quite some distance and about 30 or 40 feet away you see nothing just again it's another end but it's not like the previous end this corridor like this stonework just rounds off and it's like a dead-end corridor about 30 feet ahead of you so where's the goblin gone um mr minty
00:29:22
Speaker
I don't think that's his name, Claude. He did say not to use that term. He said not to use it on just random places. That's true. I won't say it again. Robin, can you take the lead? I didn't do a great job last time. I can. You did a good job, Robin. This immediately feels very different to where we were before. I'm not entirely sure we're anywhere
00:29:53
Speaker
of normality. Does anyone else feel like this is a trap? No. I don't know. It felt quite exciting. Look, we went on a block on wheels and we thought that was glorious and that ended up being a trap. But now the creepy dark sewer with a lovely man what lives in a wall doesn't feel strange at all. Okay.
00:30:19
Speaker
Myself and Helena still have our weapons and you still have your own means of protecting us, I'm sure. I've still got my weapon and Karsten will jaggle his rapier proudly. Shall we move forwards and try and find our friends? I don't see anything else. Is there still water on the floor? No, there's no water. It's dry. And it looks like the same stonework of the the arch that's sort of above you as well.
Helena's Corridor Investigation
00:30:44
Speaker
So it's the same kind of stone kind of sand coloured stone beneath you.
00:30:51
Speaker
I just don't even understand where he expected us to go. Well, let's keep going forwards. If in doubt, forwards. This corridor also, by the way, started to give you some context.
00:31:02
Speaker
Yeah, just give it context, about 15 foot wide as well. So you can fit kind of three abreast comfortably. It has kind of opened up slightly as well. And there's quite a long, it's not a corridor. I wouldn't say it's a corridor. This is, again, part of a disused sewer system. And so it has kind of opened up almost like it's expecting more volume at some point of liquid. Yes, you can do another investigation if you want. Helen, you can take the lead if you want to do it with advantage if someone's probably going to be helping you, which I assume
00:31:30
Speaker
I've got a natural 20. I need our help. You've still got a plus to that, haven't you?
00:31:37
Speaker
Yeah, it was plus two, so 22. Okay, nice. As you look around, you can see no footprints, you can see no discernible traps, you can see no entrances, no way. There's no light either. This is dark, except for the light of your shield and the dark vision that you and the party naturally have. There's nothing here. Are you going all the way to the end of the corridor? Sorry, the end of the sewer system where it kind of rounds off?
00:32:06
Speaker
Yeah, I will, but I will also just, I think I'll try to feel the walls as I'm going, whichever one's nearest, you know, I won't sort of go each one, I'll either do the right side or the left side, but I'll sort of drag my fingers on the side of the wall just to see that it doesn't veer off anywhere else.
00:32:26
Speaker
Yep, it feels solid, it feels real. I think after the experience of going through that, whatever that was, everything feels a little bit, a little bit unsure, but yeah, you can feel it under your fingers, you can feel the dirt, you can feel the dust, you can feel the roughness of the stone, you can feel the divots of mortar, but none of these seem to give way to any kind of panels or anything that would push out to identify anything at all. I think, I think the dye is cast and
00:32:52
Speaker
Whatever is waiting for is in here. We are inescapably going to have to face it now. I see no need to proceed with caution. Karsten, you hear from behind you some clanking, almost like Claude's armour, but you can see Claude, this is coming from further back. Okay, this is coming from further behind, what, the way we came? The way you came, near the door. Guys, something's coming.
Encounter with Armored Dragonborn
00:33:19
Speaker
I'll draw my bow. And as you turn around, you see a dragonborn. Stood. Bear. In front of you. Menacing, looking down upon you, long horns above its head. This isn't like the dragonborn you've seen previously.
00:33:33
Speaker
Your friend Drago, this is a taller, no, actually similar height, but he is adorning armor, plate male armor, ancient looking armor, purple with a gold trim, purple long cloak, and a long great, not a great sword, but a long sword on his side, armor covering his claws all the way down to his feet. It's an impressive looking dragonborn steps.
00:34:01
Speaker
into the corridor in front of you he looks and kind of lifts his head sorry does he step so obviously there's the barrier we've walked through has he then stepped from an alcove between that and us no he's come from the doorway sorry the the passageway you've come so through that stone barrier right okay
00:34:24
Speaker
He stands there and kind of lifts and heading almost like a knowing nod towards you. And from behind them, you see another dragonborn on the right shoulder. And then down to the left, you see the squinting eyes of a gnome step through, followed by the large backpack on his back. And you can see to his sides now, drago and folly.
00:34:50
Speaker
He looks down the corridor, and Drago and Follible just kind of join from your perspective. You've stepped out of spell holding. He's opened this door. And as you step through, you've experienced something very similar to what I just described earlier, this flashes of light, this brilliance of chaos, aurora borealis matched with a feeling of adrenaline. And then in front of you, you can again see the rest of your friends, the rest of your comrades, the rest of your colleagues staring back at you, dumbfounded at what they are looking at.
00:35:20
Speaker
The Dragonborn, to you all, is going to turn his head towards Drago. Are they your friends? They are indeed. As Drago has a smile across his face at seeing you all. You've got five minutes before it starts. Before what starts? He turns fully around to you. The trial. I'll explain all then. I feel you haven't met each other.
00:35:49
Speaker
No, we haven't, so five minutes is good. Okay, thank you very much. Tell, tell, um, tell Ian, tell Ian, um, um, hi, everyone. He's going to step back away. Which legal system are we using for the trial? What? Sorry? Uh, you, you mentioned a trial, but what legal system are we following? Not that kind of trial, bard.
00:36:13
Speaker
Oh. And if it's anything like the trials I've been facing, it's a bit more combat in mind. That's just saying, it's more of a test. Anyway, I feel you haven't seen each other in a while.
00:36:24
Speaker
Yes, let's get back to the trial, Drago Foley. Thank goodness we found you. Where did you come from? We didn't know where to go. It's a long, long story and I'm not entirely sure if now's the right time to explain it, but I will. Well, you've only been gone a few hours. I explained you went for your walk to the city. Really? It seems a lot longer for him. Let me word it like that.
00:36:52
Speaker
I've only been gone a few hours. Yeah, like half a day tops. Drago puts one hand to his head as you almost see like a headache kind of takeover. Less than a day I've been gone. Yeah. Yes, but we didn't know where you got to. That was all. And then Folly went missing and we had a message from
00:37:22
Speaker
from Claude to come and find everybody.
00:37:25
Speaker
Oh, I can't speak for folly. For me, it feels like I've been gone, well, more than a day, let's put it like that. Either way, I don't think now's the time to explain it all, but it's good to see you all. I must be honest. Right, well, how the fuck do we get out of here? That's all I would like to know. Mark, what I saw driver was my Spidey sense, tingly. Yes. Okay, I would just take a knee during this exchange and just pray.
00:37:55
Speaker
OK. I don't know if I should follow suit, Claude. Maybe we can discuss this later. So what's this about, a trial? What's going on? Why were you in prison?
00:38:13
Speaker
Okay, there's two questions there. One I know the answer to, and the other one I don't. We're in prison because of me, and I've already apologized to Folly about that, but... It was part of a cunning stratagem, but unfortunately didn't pay off. And Folly had my back.
00:38:31
Speaker
As for the trials question, as you seem to be wanting to move on quite quickly there, I guess five minutes is up. Tell Ian, can you tell us about these trials? Robin, it's good to see you. As Drago lifts his head to Robin for the first time and nods his head. He takes a knowing stance, hand on the hilt of his swords, and looks to you all.
00:39:01
Speaker
I am the leader of Ratrun, one of the lead stockies here in Goldview. We work with the Upkriskra from time to time but it is a tenuous relationship. They and the general policing need spell hold. Goldview get a lot of spellcasters and we have a deal with them. They keep their shit out of our city and we keep ourselves away from their business.
00:39:28
Speaker
But recently, that relationship has started to fray. And as you see, they start using our facility here for reasons outside of what we agreed. Namely, capturing your friends, any gestures to Drago and to Folly. With what, to me, is an unnecessary use of Spellhold. Spellhold you must know we use primarily for the containment of stock magic and its effects.
00:39:58
Speaker
We have a few of these spaces dotted throughout the area. Now, you ask for the trial. Our relationship with the Obkriska is frayed. We stockies have a certain way of doing things in the rat run. Now... And he pauses for a second. I don't want you here.
00:40:19
Speaker
I don't want one of my brothers, one of my kin here. And to be honest, from what I saw in that spell hold, I don't want one of the most talented brewers of stocky potions stuck in there either. We need you out, my man. But they will come for you. Now, I can buy you a day, but the trial, sorry, I must return to the trial. He's pacing a little bit.
00:40:43
Speaker
As he's pacing and the others are looking between two dragonborns, if you study in Drago, you'd notice that every time Telion moves, Drago draws himself to be as tall and as intimidating as possible.
Dragonborn Leader's Trial Explanation
00:40:57
Speaker
We have a council in Ratrun. Yes, you. This is Will asking this. Does Drago have his sword on his back? Do you? Yeah.
00:41:13
Speaker
I was just checking that you appeared. Has anything changed about your outward appearance? Ah. Okay, so, no. Is the shortest answer there? I mean, it depends on how... Mark, you know what's changed with the axe, so it's however you want to play that. I have a passive perception of 26.
00:41:39
Speaker
Yes, the axe seems to have a certain entity to it, a certain je ne sais quoi, something iconic about it. Aside from that, he looks pretty much the same, except he looks downright confused. The axe does have a name written on it. Probably not close enough to read that. Even with the 26. Yeah, even with the 26. Fair. Okay. I was just making sure. He continues to pace. We have a council here in Ratrun of great stockies.
00:42:08
Speaker
And if we're gonna let someone out, as I intend to do so with your friends here, you must pass the test. It's a test to see if you can harness the internal chaos that stock magic brings. And it's grinning at this point. But only one of us is a stocky here. That's the beauty of it, Bard. You don't need to be a stocky for this. You gesture's down the hallway to the door.
00:42:37
Speaker
The door probably confused you a bit. We only have one door in, one door out, one door out, at one door east, and one door west. And it all comes from that one door. You step through that door, you must step through with someone who knows the rat run, or you'll just end up on the outside. We only use the one door, that's why the abcriska can't get in. It's all kinds of crazy magic up in here. But the test.
00:43:01
Speaker
Simple. You follow me through. You enter into an arena. It's nothing but stone and pillars and dust. And a creature comes through. I can't tell you what it is. It's random. It's all generated from this... Well, anyway, one of our stockies creates the potion and it goes off and a creature appears. You must kill this creature. Simple enough?
00:43:24
Speaker
and he smiles and his grin gets bigger showing row upon row of enormous crocodile style teeth of white gleaming teeth all the way back to the back of his jaw. On each of the pillars, there'll be a scroll. Third tier, stop magic.
00:43:42
Speaker
the creature will continue to come back to life until all those scrolls have been expelled and used by each person. There are enough pillars for each of you, one scroll per person. Okay. Yes, sleep guard search with your hand up. I can't breathe. Don't worry, it's not in common. It's not in any language. It's all to do with your inner chaos.
00:44:11
Speaker
But tier 3 scrolls are dangerous. Yep, and? We could die. And? You've got him, and he points down to Folly at his side. I watch what he did in complete magical darkness. Four stages. Brood a potion. He brewed a tier 3 potion.
00:44:35
Speaker
He knows what he made in there. If he can do that, I think you'll be fine. But grudgingly, it was very, very impressive considering it was pitch black in there. Why did he have to cry though? What? You said he gave free tears.
00:44:51
Speaker
tier T I'm not gonna spell it you can't spell Oh Claude he didn't hurt him it was it was a tear he's in level as in oh man I've missed you but I haven't missed these headaches
00:45:10
Speaker
So you're saying that even though some of us are non-magic users, we will still be able to use these scrolls? Is that correct? That's the way stock magic works. Anyone can access it. That's the beauty of it. You look at it, you speak whatever comes to your mind, you answer what the scroll asks, and then something happens. Either you have access to a spell, either that is cast on you or cast on your foe.
00:45:38
Speaker
or you fail it and stock magic has its revenge.
Understanding Stock Magic
00:45:42
Speaker
He's smiling all the way through this. Not like, not like, sorry, not like a menacing smile, like, but like, uh, like, uh, this is, this is like, he's fucking pumped about it. Like it's like a skateboarder describing like the fucking most rad trick he's ever seen. And he's just very different images for a dragon. I mean, kick for the baby. This dragon ball now looks like the dinosaur from the dinosaurs. They're like that.
00:46:09
Speaker
It's tricky to rock a rhyme. No, he doesn't. But no, it's that kind of just kind of like pumped energy, but it's in this kind of huge hulking form of a plate mailed dragonborn as he kind of pacing side to side with excitement for what's going to happen. But again, not in a vicious way, but just in a, this is exciting. This is everything he fucking lives for kind of way. His energy is robbing off onto Drago.
00:46:31
Speaker
if we die we're dead and all our troubles are done which will be very sad but i i have to i have to ask what if we win you obviously can't let us walk out of here why
00:46:46
Speaker
then why can't you just let us walk out of here? But you need to pass a test. We can't just let anyone out of here. The council want to make sure that those that we re-release and those that we release from Spellhold are people that have that potential, the potential to join us at some point in the rebellion and take back the city. And it's the question of faith. What about the Obcrythra?
00:47:11
Speaker
I can buy you a day. They have their ways. They have their means. They will come to the door. They will ask for them both. They will want to take them. I'll let them in. I'll lock them in for a few hours, but more will arrive and I will eventually have to tell them that...
00:47:26
Speaker
I'll make up some shit. I'll say they escaped. They'll ask how? I'll tell them I don't fucking know. I can buy you probably a day. I can lock them in there for a day before they peg on. Then after that, they will come searching for you. So then we've got one thing abundantly clear. If you pass this test, which I fucking hope you do, it'll be very fun. But if you pass this test, you'll have a day before the whole city will lock down.
00:47:49
Speaker
the whole city.
24 Hours to Evade Pursuers
00:47:50
Speaker
So if you've got any affairs or any business you need to get done before you leave Goldview, you'll have 24 hours. Goldview, we're in Goldview. Great. As Drago says that, Robin will give Drago a curious look and just go, 24 hours. I'm getting the increasing impression that a lot can happen in the day. Castan's going to edge towards Claude and Helena and be like,
00:48:19
Speaker
to stop magic is a dangerous thing. We can't be seriously considering this can we? I don't I mean I don't think there's another another way out here. I have been weary of stock magic since I spent half a year as a frog. Well all I know right now is that with Matt Drago
00:48:41
Speaker
Folly, Andrago's big sister, they want us to play the little game and I'm ready for it. Not my sister, not my sister. There was a stocky at the university in the San Gwinland. He blew up a wing of a building. Yeah, and, you know, Jena almost killed us in black mouth. That's true. So I hate the idea of this, but you know what? I'm just going to whisper each card.
00:49:09
Speaker
This is actually a trial for someone else. No reason why we couldn't tell Robin and Folly about Drago's little estimate. I don't even know where Drago went. I thought you were later. I just followed your story. I thought you were later. OK, yeah. This is important to one of us. All right. Listen, I'm sorry to break up this little thing. Yeah, we're just wanting recipes about bread. Fine. But I've actually got things to do in sleep guard.
00:49:39
Speaker
and we're going to make sure you get to do them. Yes, for 24 hours. Well, like Robin said, a lot can happen in 24 hours and if we're motivated and work as a team and don't spread out everywhere, we should be able to get stuff done.
00:49:53
Speaker
Yeah, we've got a whole trial to face before then. How about we decide what we do after we get to going out? Unfortunately, Princess, it sounds like if we don't do this trial, then fully Andrago are going to stay in prison. And that also doesn't help us. Actually, that is a fair point. Tell Ian, do these guys actually need to do the trial, considering they're not the ones who was put in here? Good point. But they're in now.
00:50:23
Speaker
They've passed through the barrier. They're in the rat run. And it's one way out. It's to see how deep, now I'm not gonna say, I was gonna do a see how deep the rabbit hole goes. There's only one way out, and that's through the trial. In all right. To see how deep the rabbit hole goes, I got you. Yeah, I was gonna go with that matrix reference, but I feel like that's two in one episode, that might be it. Yeah, we're gonna take the blue pill. Yeah, I think so, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Trial Preparation
00:50:47
Speaker
Hand in the mirror kind of thing.
00:50:49
Speaker
I mean, how are we all feeling strength-wise? Folly, you're all prepped, ready to go? 400%? Yeah? Yeah, absolutely. And as you look at Folly at that stage, he'll just kind of get engulfed in a very, very dark aura. And he's just a major armor himself, basically, but all of a sudden just like coated in a bit of a black smoke that seems to be emanating from him. See, this guy's ready to go. Folly's got all his spells, he's ready to go, but we're sorted.
00:51:23
Speaker
Drago's older sister. I have an idea and I'm just going to move in closer to Tellian. Yep. Please don't stand too close to me though. It's okay. It's a habit of doing this. You just have to kind of let it happen. When you need to tell the chriscro, whatever you need to tell them, to delay them for 24 hours. Tell them that Claude the heretic kidnapped the prisoners and took them to Dralak.
00:51:52
Speaker
That should draw more of their forces out of the city to help the rebellion. All right. I'll do it with the heretic. Claude the heretic. Underlined. Yeah, I've got it. I've seen the posters too. And I get it. I'll tell them it, but their go-to thing will be to lock the city down. So is included. Claude, how are we going to believe that? Because nobody goes to Dralak. It's a shithole.
00:52:16
Speaker
Yeah, I know. My cousin lives there, so... Your cousin lives there? Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. He must be a real turd. There's more than one dragonborn. Yeah, I didn't just spring out of the ground, did I? Forgive me, it's been a while since I've seen another of my kin. Would that be your brother, dragon? Is it your brother? Right, let's clear something up. How's your sister?
00:52:42
Speaker
uh assuming we're related is a bit racist i'm just gonna put it out there and we're not we're not okay that's just no i don't think we don't look at you humans and say you're all related i mean
00:52:55
Speaker
Whatever, this is getting off topic. And I'm losing my pizzazz. I'm losing my dramatic aura I had around me when we first started. It's really hard to keep the voice going of a Dragonborn for a while. I tell you what, I've picked two characters now. My voice is fucked. Whatever bad guy you're facing next is going to have a high squeaky voice. Right. Next day you'll find that your throat will be very sore. So sore. So I recommend your camera mile. A bit low key as well.
00:53:20
Speaker
Right, this character always, it happened in the last episode, blends between meta and real. Anyway, now, right, we ready? It's this way, you need to follow me. Like I said, you can't get through these doors unless you're with a stocky. I'm with a stocky who works here, and he gestures Jan to folly at that. Right then, follow me. And as he's walking, he's gonna say to folly, someday you're gonna have to show me how you did that.
00:53:50
Speaker
Only if you ask nicely. No? Sounds like you're coming on some cheeky. Folly. He did help us, Folly. I mean, I got you out of fucking prison. But anyway, here we are. Right. You ready? Yes. Yes. I genuinely have no idea what's going to come through. And he pulls out into, reaches into the pocket and pulls out a small, a really, really small, like an inch vial of glowing, it's like glowing white liquid with a heavy cork in the top of it. It's this.
00:54:20
Speaker
Right. Let's go. Just to confirm. Step through. Yep. Oh, and he stops. Yep. Sorry. They almost got me there. Yep. Yep. We have to use all six scrolls on the pillars before it will end. Even if you use it, you then got to kill it. I want I'm saying is if you kill it beforehand, it will just keep coming back. Could one person use all? No, each one of us has to use the scroll.
00:54:45
Speaker
Correct. Okay, so you have to, Robin has to, I do, Helena does, Claude does, Folly does, every single one, Carsten. And you've got whatever the fuck is in this coming at you too, just to add a bit of chaos to the whole magic. Okay. Excellent. He turns around, big smile on his face. Good fucking luck. And he steps through, back through the barrier. And so you're left alone for a moment in this space. Anything you want to do or say before you walk through? I like him. It was nice knowing you all.
00:55:16
Speaker
We'll be fine. Just get in touch with your chaotic side a little bit and you'll be fine. That
Stepping Through the Magical Barrier
00:55:22
Speaker
part worries me. Helena, to echo what Robin said, I won't pretend that I'm not of sound mind, but if there's anything I can do to help whatever your situation you're facing, you have my sword. And you've got Robin's bow and Traga's got a new axe.
00:55:47
Speaker
And you need people of contagions to go on this mission? Quest? Thing? Well, I'm pretty sure we can rule you out. Oh, you said it so well, and I just thought it would work. Oh, shit. Fuck you, Will. That's another lawsuit. Listen, I'll be helping you before you have to help me.
00:56:11
Speaker
And would that Helena's going to walk through? I will just catch the eyes of Drago. Time for the last trial. And I will follow Helena. Fair enough. Robin will walk up to the wall, give Drago a curious look, as if up and down, as if he's about to say something serious, and we'll then just turn and look at the wall and go,
00:56:38
Speaker
Another Dragonborn is taller than you, you know? Before smiling and going, it's good to see you too. I'm walking through the wall. Okay, Karsten, do you want to say anything to me before you go through the damn fucking wall? Um, no. And Karsten walks through the wall. Folly, it's a strange time when I feel like you're the only one that understands me right now.
00:57:08
Speaker
Possibly understand you more than you might think there, Drago. Okay, that just scares me. Do you want to go through the wall at the same time? Why not? Okay, we got this. We'll be fine, Drago. We'll be fine. Are you the last two? We are.
00:57:28
Speaker
as you step through and you have that same chaotic, aurora borealis sensation as you step through, before you can see what's on the other side, before you can see the trial, before you can see finally this group back together again, before you trace this, whatever the hell this is that, that Telly and Hell Fire has put forward for you.
Episode Conclusion and Next Episode Tease
00:57:46
Speaker
That is where we're going to end it for this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop. We're going to find out what happens in the trial next week. The bodies are back in town. The bodies are back together.
00:57:56
Speaker
Oh, it's been way too long since it's all of us. And that's great. Oh, brilliant. Um, yes, you will. I think that kind of, that stopped me on my track there. I was like, what's going on? Oh yeah, a sign off. That's normally what happens at this time.
00:58:13
Speaker
If you would all like to keep in touch with the podcast, please do so on our combined Twitter page, which is at fellowship table. And if you wanted to go one step further and follow us individually, you can also do that.
00:58:28
Speaker
Little smoke from Mark as he hears me say the word individually, but in my coined fashion.
00:58:47
Speaker
Callums at DD20Gamer. Our motherfucking DM is at Tasty Roll DM. That is everyone and we're signing off. Thank you very much for listening and making us part of your everyday week. Until next time, farewell.