Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to Clarendon, Ireland Chronicles.
Speaker: Caleranden is an actual play Dungeons and Dragons podcast in which we will actually play Dungeons and Dragons as a podcast. My name is David Case LeClaire and I will be the narrator and game master for these sessions.
Speaker: Caleranden is a world of magic and adventure, a world of indolent inns, placid pubs, and tawdry taverns. It is a world perpetually beset by the forces of chaos.
Speaker: But every time the darkness returns, epic heroes rise to save the realm. But our story is not about the epic heroes, at least not directly. Our story is about three novice adventurers that have recently agreed to carry the epic heroes' baggage.
Speaker: And joining me as the hardy hirelings, we have Beth Gleason as... Lillia Thomas. And my favorite NPC, surprisingly, is Sharnanon.
Speaker: They have been very kind to Lily. They have been very instructive to Lily. And that one episode we had where they were stuck inside the house, they were very helpful. Oh, Lily.
Speaker: Ah, so nice. And we have Dave Sturgis as... I am playing Fredegar, the turnip farmer with big firbolg energy. I guess the boring answer would be the farm folk, obviously. Although if you had to pick one, probably Dagbert, the elder, are not the younger. No offense, young Dag.
Speaker: He's maybe most worried about Fraudhilda right now. And I guess Talonvor is his favorite epic hero. There's plenty of time to steal that away, though. Okay.
Speaker: And Drew Gleason as... Perrinius Garf Mazelsnap. Snot favorite character, Muddy. Muddy sheepdog, mountain dog.
Speaker: Muddy is good dog. Okay, well, if we encounter any of those characters, we'll know you like them. You edit snot, so sound like he not called Muddy sheepdog.
Speaker: Oh, okay. What? It's a hillish mountain dog, but... Yeah. Do you have a preference for how to refer to Muddy? Good dog. The most hillish of mutton dogs?
Speaker: Muddy is the local wolf-wolf.
Speaker: In our last episode, the hardy hirelings traveled to the Grey Grimm Fens and negotiated quite successfully with Branagh Waxwillow, the local swamp hag.
Speaker: After giving her Talonvor's precious mouth paste and listening to her deeply suspect stand-up routine, she told the players of a strange fey entity who seems to tell a lot of lies.
Speaker: What's next for our heroes? Let's find out.
Speaker: Morning dawns on Mud Puddle. A reluctant morning, with the sun only glancing furtively out from behind a veil of mist, but morning nonetheless. Yesterday, you returned from the swamp in a state of, let's say, pungent exhaustion.
Speaker: Talonvor said he needed to think and asked everybody to convene the next morning for breakfast and a major planning sesh. For the rest of the afternoon and evening, little was accomplished.
Speaker: Meg made some snide comments about swamp odor. Foo failed to understand knuckle bones, even though it's pretty simple. And he has some of his own. Yep. But eventually, everyone just went to bed.
Speaker: but This morning, the common room of the Mud Puddle Adventurers Guild is bustling with activity. Talonvor, Topaz, and Sharnanon are around a table, maps and papers spread out before them.
Speaker: Meg and Rufelm are sitting nearby making snarky comments about them. And Fu is coming out of the kitchen in a pink apron that says, kiss the chef. He has with him a very unappetizing platter of hardtack smothered in a kind of spongy gravy.
Speaker: So we've all gathered now in the room. What would you like to do? It's not what I'd immediately like to go for that platter. Just a whole platter? No, no. Just grab a piece of the hardtack off and bite into it with a zeal that evidences he's not expecting it to be a hard sort of bread like that.
Speaker: Yeah. It is very hard. Oh, something wrong with bread. He's going to start wrapping it against the table.
Speaker: I think Fred's going to get get some bread and put it in a bowl with the gravy and let it rehydrate a little. Yeah, bread's got the right idea. It's not going to just be licking the gravy off of the bread.
Speaker: And what is Lily doing as she comes down? Lily will look around the room and observe what her friends are doing. Note not to do what Snot is doing.
Speaker: And look at what Fred's doing, sit with him, and soak her bread the gravy as well, because that looks like a very smart thing to do. Yeah. Talonvor looks over and he's like, is this all we've really got?
Speaker: We've got to do something about that caravan.
Speaker: Just then, Ednis comes down the stairs remarkably late. She is humming a little bit. She goes around to her counter. ah she gets behind the counter, she suddenly jumps back and yells out, what in the name of Kel?
Speaker: Stott's going to jump up. It's Snake? And rush over. Well, kind of. She's pointing behind the counter. The snot's rushing over. Yeah, he's going to yeah scramble over the counter, like over the top of it.
Speaker: The heart attack is still working its way through the gravy, so I think Fred will over there too. I'll go around the counter and look. Okay. So as you go around next to or over, you see...
Speaker: Mayor Wigbalt is curled up in a ball under the counter, got his head in his hands. Ednes is just looking at him like, what on earth are you doing in the adventurer's guild?
Speaker: That was not what I was expecting. That is Mayor Guy. Maybe he want to be a adventurer. No, just, uh, just pretend I'm not here. Just, uh, just leave me alone.
Speaker: It's fine. Okay. Are you hurt, sir? Yes. Perhaps my dignity. But no, I'm not hurt. I don't care so much about that. Well, fine. Just leave me alone.
Speaker: I want to be alone. Yeah, snot's already gone back to the table and is licking the gravy off of another piece of hardtack. He's very respectful of people's wishes. Ednes is like, well, can you be alone somewhere else?
Speaker: Kind of busy in here. you want I should perhaps move him somewhere else? Uh, yeah, maybe just dump him in the kitchen or something. Fred will very gently scoop up the mayor.
Speaker: but He doesn't weigh that much, yeah, I'd say you can pick him up pretty easily. Lily takes a big sigh and just follows. He says, well, no, hold hold on, um, you're not my bodyguard.
Speaker: Speaking of my bodyguard, sighs. This carnivorous fellow, I'm in hiding. He does seem like a piece of work, that fella. Are you, um, at odds with him, sir?
Speaker: Oh, well... You know, i've I heard some things from the people of the town that made some strange threats. It was being a little, I don't know. And then he brought in these rough characters like hobgoblins and these bandits to join the guard. And i so i went up to him. I had a word with him. you know, I was very straightforward. I said, look, you know, you just, we have to make sure we're all on the same page.
Speaker: And despite my, you know, I was being very calm, I was being very commanding, regal, some would say, he just ah laughed in my face, said there was nothing I could do and to get out of here.
Speaker: Next time he saw me, he would slip me like a donkey. That does sound like him.
Speaker: I guess then he's not on your payroll. If I have any say over it, I'm certainly not paying him anymore, but i'm not I'm not sure I have any say over it. Oh, isn't he the sheriff?
Speaker: He's not the mayor, certainly. Unless he bought your house. ah Did he buy your house, sir? i butt I don't think that's how it works, Fred. But he did take all my guards away, which was quite rude.
Speaker: Who's going to make my tea? So it's just kind of problem.
Speaker: Talonvor has come over at this and he's looking at this scene. I guess Fred is still holding the miracle in arms. Yes, it's kind of vacious.
Speaker: Fred, Lily, why don't you come over and join us? I think you can dump him. We need to work this out. Is there like a couch or something I can put him on that's stool? I feel bad throwing the mayor on the floor.
Speaker: you don't have to feel bad. There's no couch. I mean, there's some benches around the room or you can put them in, you know on the rug in the kitchen or something. Mr. Food deserves better than to have a mayor in his kitchen. um I'll put him on a bench.
Speaker: Okay. You put him on the bench. He just goes back to, can you commiserate with yourself?
Speaker: I'm sure he can. If anybody could, it would be that guy. Maybe throw a blanket over him or something? All right. So Talonvor is stood up at the table with Topaz and Sharnan. He's gesturing you guys over.
Speaker: says, all right, everyone. We expect Aunt Fereniel, the leader of the Epicurus, to be here in a day or two, and we need to get things under control in this town. Well, Snot is excited to meet Aunt Fereniel.
Speaker: Well, yes, she's just so pretty much what you'd expect, i suppose. Are you good with elves? Uh-huh.
Speaker: Okay. Wait, so elf is not Big Purple. No. And you are not elf? um I have a little bit of elven blood in me.
Speaker: Oh, it's not sorry. Well, we did meet those elves in the forest. They weren't too bad. i have no recollection of that, honestly. You know, ah Mr. um Sprinkle, I think it was. Glamour, Glitter, and Glow. Are you casting a spell right now?
Speaker: All right, look. ah Here's what we're going to do. We've got some information. Sharanan, why don't you speak up?
Speaker: Oh, me? Moi? Little? Oh, yes. I have investigated the surfaced dust that you have brought back from the caves. I believe this is how these four more...
Speaker: are so able to keep themselves in the mortal realm. Something about the fey dust. They are creatures of the fey, and yet with the dust, they can stay in the mortal realm. This could be important.
Speaker: Do you have anything to contribute? Looking at Billy and Fred. Not even looking at Saad.
Speaker: Who is basically just tucking some hardtack into his bag, thinking it might prove useful as a throwing weapon or something. He's taking some of the ones that he's licked all the gravy off of, but not others.
Speaker: Meg is watching you with a little kind of disgusted look on her face. Look, if Snot was going to be bothered by disgusted it looks, well, we'd have gotten there already. She's going to have to do better than that.
Speaker: Fred will speak up and just sort of say, ah, yes, i yeah we did hear that they need that stuff to stay here. Don't suppose that's that's how they're getting here in the first place?
Speaker: Must maybe they got some leaves like you do. Huh? Maybe? do not know. I do not think the Fados could bring them here.
Speaker: Well, regardless of that, critical information, we need to deal with two things here. I think that Topaz and I should go confront this carnivorous and his ruffians, take care of business there.
Speaker: Lily, perhaps you can take your group and go and track down this caravan on the eastern road. of course. We need to get those jackets and, you know, the Siddharan wine I ordered is quite critical.
Speaker: And if we keep eating this heart attack, I think we're going to die before the quest begins. Fred looks kind of offended, but doesn't say anything. Well, if you're looking for the caravan, you should take the East Road out of town, because that's the way it always comes in.
Speaker: ah I guess if you go past the Fort of Farn, There's an inn out there. You can check with them. I know the caravan stops there before it gets here. And if they haven't seen it, it didn't get that far, then keep going.
Speaker: For another three leagues or so, there's a watch post. Maybe check with them, and then just keep going down the road. Eventually, you'll get to Dimmerdale. It's not this ready. Well, I mean, hopefully you don't have to go that far. All right. Lily, does that sound acceptable?
Speaker: Yes, of course. All right, then. Um, about how long does it take to get to Dimmerdale? Is it a day or two? Well, if you go all the way to Dimmerdale, that's like at least two to three days walking, probably.
Speaker: i think we had word that the caravan left Dimmerdale, so he shouldn't have to go all the way out there. Better be safe than sorry. Fort of Farn is only about a couple hours walk, so good place to start.
Speaker: Fred, are you ready? Do we bring Swift off?
Speaker: I suppose that might be a good idea, unless you need her for something in town that's you're telling for. Yes, why don't you take Swifthoof, and then if you find the caravan and they've lost their horses or something, she can help you bring it back.
Speaker: He looks a little uncertain of whether Swifthoof would do that or not. She's been putting on airs. We did make her up pretty fabulously. I mean, if you do it for anybody, it would be for us, right?
Speaker: Well, you are the the handlers of animals.
Speaker: kings of New England. Distributors of the extreme donkey makeovers.
Speaker: All right. So is there anything else that you guys want to ask or or acquire or do before you head out? Just make sure we have some supplies, but not for a day or two in case we do have to get to Dimmerdale.
Speaker: Damn. This is why Lily is in charge. yeah All right. Well, you've got, you know, you've got your bedrolls and your cooking supplies and Clinton tenders. Fred's still got his backpack of food, which is probably better than any of the food you can get in Mud Puddle these days.
Speaker: Okay. That was going to be my concern. Okay. Certainly. Yeah. If you're talking about organic produce, then absolutely. All right. East Road. So it's still pretty early morning time, right?
Speaker: Yeah. It's still morning, but it's gray. Gray morning, not raining, it's just gray. All right. Misty. Snot is going to out in front of the inn and use the sun to determine what direction east is. Okay. I mean, there's one major road out of town and it goes east.
Speaker: Well, it also goes west. Actually, no. So it ends at the town. Right. And then there's the the trail that goes up further west to the Fratilda's Farm and whatever's beyond.
Speaker: I didn't realize. So Mud Puddle is really like the end of the road as far as trade goes. In more ways than one, Mud Puddle is the end of the road. Okay. I don't want to don't want to sit here and diss Mud Puddle, but that's where we are. Right. You'll be hearing from Mud Puddle's lawyers. All
Speaker: right. Well, Snot is going to point his stick in the direction of the road and wait for the others to assemble. I think you mean Mayor Wigbalt's farm, but yes.
Speaker: Is Fred familiar with this Forda farm? The Ford of the Farn? The Ford of Farn. Ford of Farn, okay. Why doesn't Fred make a history check?
Speaker: And yeah, barbarian powers are not going to help me with history.
Speaker: So that's, ah well, I didn't go negative, but that's a two. All right. You vaguely remember that You've heard of the Ford of Farn. You've never been that far out.
Speaker: It's past the farms in the forest. There's some guy like in your great grandfather's time named Farn Brig who lived out there. But that's basically all you can remember. had like some kind of farm out there, which was seemed a little crazy because that's the forest now, but that's way it was.
Speaker: And there was that was the Ford where they called it the Ford of Farn where he lived. So the river that comes down from the ruins and down from the waterfall where you've been before and goes through a Mud Puddle and past the farms continues going west to east from Mud Puddle for about a couple leagues, and then it turns to go south across the main road.
Speaker: Okay. And the place where it crosses the main road is the Fort of Farn.
Speaker: Hey, I didn't get to do a history check. Well, i I thought that Snot wouldn't know, but you can make a history check if you like. He doesn't know. He doesn't know. not going to roll.
Speaker: But not because you told me not to.
Speaker: I didn't tell you not to. Okay, I think you proved my point. Okay, yeah, let's let's move on. The eastern road of Mud Puddle is well-traveled.
Speaker: The river tumbles heavily along the farmlands north of the road. After an hour or two, the farmlands give way to thick trees on both the north and south side of the road. At this point, it's probably farther than Fred has ever gone east of Mud Puddle.
Speaker: As you travel along the road through the trees, the river swings across the road from north to south, ah There are large stone fragments of an old bridge that are strewn throughout the river and break up the current.
Speaker: The river here stretches about a good 40 feet wide across the road, but it is very shallow and slow and easily crossed even by wagons. This is the Ford of Farn.
Speaker: So despite being like easily affordable, it used to have a bridge, it appears. Yeah, it's easily affordable. This may not be geographically sound, but it's easily affordable now because the giant fragments of the bridge broke and fell into the river and spread it out. Oh.
Speaker: Over a large area. But in the past, you get the sense that it was a smaller river that was faster, and that's why there was a bridge over it. It's rare for things to get more affordable with time, but here we are.
Speaker: All right, I see her shaking her head. All right. So the instruction from Ednest was that there's an inn somewhere past the Fort of Farn.
Speaker: so So it's easy for a wagon to cross. Do we need to help carry Snot over it? or No, I think Snot can go across. It doesn't get that deep, not more than six inches deep.
Speaker: And it's not super fast. The river is kind of petered out as it wends its way through all the giant bricks of ancient mossy stone. I mean, if if climbing up on Fred's shoulders again is on the table, I guess that wouldn't say no, but he's he's trying to guide Swifthoof across.
Speaker: Yeah. Okay. ah You make your way across the ford. It's a little bit muddy. Do you keep going down the road to the east looking for this inn? Yes. Okay.
Speaker: As you go ah further on, about maybe another 20 minutes past the ford, You do notice there are more tracks on this side of the river. You see an inn rising up on the south side of the brogue. It is a large building, about two stories, constructed of strong timbers and appears well cared for.
Speaker: There's a large sign above the entrance that proclaims that this is the leaky bung. Do they have a cool, like, pictogram or graphic indicating ah leaky bung?
Speaker: Yeah, there's a barrel and there's, like, little drops of water coming from a hole at the end of it. because we've established that, like, only about a third of the party is literate. But Fred can read signs.
Speaker: There's another sign by the entrance, which has a flowing script that states all travelers welcome. So I take it we if we're reading stuff like that, we've come up to it by now. Yeah. In parentheses, all those who wander are not lost.
Speaker: Yep, you come up to the inn. Well... And this inn must have some furbolg blood if it is rising up before us. Mm-hmm. This is going great. Really good stuff.
Speaker: We're being really handfuls today. Okay. You come up to an inn. What would you like to do? Go in the inn. The inside of the leaky bung is a large common room.
Speaker: There is a bar, wooden bar at the far end of the room, and ah instrument, I guess a piano. Some of you might know what a piano is, along the other side. Not me. Yeah. The chairs in this inn are all little wooden barrels, little padded tops, and the tables themselves are larger wooden barrels.
Speaker: It's like a theme thing. Oh, God. Is it a chain? i guess we wouldn't know. There's a jovial man with roguishly attractive features and long flouncy hair standing behind the bar polishing a barrel-shaped mug.
Speaker: There are three other people in the room, two men and a woman, all sitting at one of the barrels in the corner. As you enter, the man behind the bar calls out to you, Welcome, travelers. Come on in and pull up a barrel.
Speaker: Oh, ah you're just going to need to take your shoes off first.
Speaker: Snot is sort of towards the back and trying to assess whether goblins are welcome in the inn. Yeah, nobody has said anything. They haven't given any strange looks to Snot yet.
Speaker: Okay. Well, he doesn't have shoes, so... Right, yeah. In fact, they've they've already checked out his feet, determined he doesn't have shoes, and moved on to Lily and Fred.
Speaker: I guess I'll take off my shoes.
Speaker: How strange. Is there a collection of shoes by the door where other people have taken theirs off? No, they ah they appear to be wearing their shoes.
Speaker: Oh. But we just went through a reverse, so I mean, I kind of understand. Yeah. Does Fred have shoes on and is he taking them off? Yes and yes, because he tries to be polite to people all right by default.
Speaker: So the the barman has sort of like leaned over the bar and taken a good look at your feet and i said, all right, excellent. You can put your shoes back on now. Come on in, have a drink. Why are we doing this?
Speaker: Oh. Are we looking for caravans? Oh, ah sorry, it's just our policy. You can never be too careful. Well, caravan. Yeah. Oh, sorry. That was for Lily, lady. ah You not know why we're here.
Speaker: Well, I mean, you just you just said you were looking for the caravan. Yes, we're looking for the caravan. Have you seen it? Yeah, that came through a few days ago. No, no problem. why Why don't you come up to the bar and have a drink?
Speaker: Okay. it Snot's gonna walk over to the bar and hop up on one of the barrels. Snot drinks cost money. Snot has money. Okay.
Speaker: How much money has Snot? Is he still working off just the five gold he was paid? ah No, ah but you did ask Edna to keep some of your gold for you early on. That's true. So I'm not sure if you've had her keep it. I think Snot has the original five gold. he He tried to use it to buy a hat.
Speaker: Yes, that's right. Sure. What was unsuccessful. So he's going to he's going to take that out and plop it down on the bar. All right. So the bartender asks you what, you know, what's your poison, sir?
Speaker: Oh, no, it's not one drink. The two patrons at the table on the other side are are watching three of you to see what you're going to do next. Um, maybe now that we have information about the caravan,
Speaker: Lily will put her hand over Snot's gold and slide it back to him. He should go. Oh. Don't need to get drunk. Snot's going to take back his gold.
Speaker: The barman nods his, Well, all right, miss. That's all you need. Stop by any time. Snot will get drunk other time. Nice meet you. He's going to hop back down.
Speaker: Everyone's welcome at the leaky bung as long as their feet are unmarked. Is there any chance this guy's animatronic?
Speaker: Getting some Westworld vibes from this dude. You do get some weird vibes from him. He doesn't seem to be robotic, but he he does have a weird way about him.
Speaker: Now that you think about it, he does look exactly like Mechanical Abe Lincoln.
Speaker: Maybe Lily, if you make a history check, if you roll very high, you might have some clue what this is about. Yeah, I'm very curious.
Speaker: I did not roll high. Something about barrels and and attractive people rings a bell, but you can't place where you heard about this before. Fred, it okay that we leave?
Speaker: i i suppose so. have any other questions? When you say marked, sir, what did you mean by that? Oh, well, there are some people out there who have, uh,
Speaker: I can't tell you too much because it's kind of a secret society thing, but there are people who have a yeah and Z tattooed on their ankle and they're not good people. Stay away from them.
Speaker: So we just got to be extra careful that nobody in here is one of them. Z people. Yeah. They're called the Zarista. They're in all kinds of sinister activities, such as smuggling, slavery, reciting beat poetry at open mic nights.
Speaker: Yeah, Mike hates beat poetry. If you hear anything about the Zarista, you let me know.
Speaker: Fair enough. Snot has briefly doubled over to check his ankles for Zs. Yeah, that he's learned this. You do not find a Z on your ankle. That is a relief.
Speaker: You'd never be too careful. All right, folks. Well, uh, never really thought to look for that. All right. Well, caravan came through a few days ago. who didn't seem anything out of order and, uh, dropped off their supplies and moved on. So, uh, yeah, should be with mud puddle ah days ago.
Speaker: No, but they not go there. Any word of any bandits nearby? Well, I haven't ah heard anything. um But, ah you know, I just serve people here in the the leaky bung.
Speaker: Looks over at the two patrons who are sitting at the table. It's like, you guys heard anything about bandits? Well, they sort of shrug a little bit. Can I do an insight check? Yeah, I was kind of thinking that too.
Speaker: Yeah, insight check. That would be a natural one.
Speaker: Natural 20. ah Okay, so Snot is convinced that these guys are ah straight on the up and up. All above board. Yep. Yep. Lily, however, immediately notices, well, two things about them. One, they're definitely not telling the truth. And two, there were three people when you came into the room.
Speaker: So a person has like vanished when we... Person left. Yes. And are they wearing like all clothes that still have the price tags attached? No. Clearly came from a caravan very recently.
Speaker: No, no, they are they are wearing a worn work clothes, flannel jacket, shirts. One of them, there's a woman and a man. They're looking over at ah you guys. They're like, uh, sorry, um, can't help you.
Speaker: They're right next to us on the at the bar? They're sitting at a table, well, sorry, a barrel that's quite nearby. I'll get up at the bar and just sit at their table. Hi, my name's Lilia.
Speaker: Clearly you know something. i was just wondering if you could tell me a little bit about what you know about the caravan. We're not police. We just want to know where the caravan is. you want to do a persuasion or i think persuasion.
Speaker: Sure. 22.
Speaker: twentytw Okay. You are very persuasive. they they're They're looking very chagrined. The man sort of puts his hat in his hand. He's like, um, oh, sorry, I'm Erliff.
Speaker: This is Foy. We work at a lumber mill little ways down here. And yeah, okay. We do suspect that there's something funny going on. The guy who's with us is this guy named Dernhelm.
Speaker: And he's been our contact recently. He's been buying a lot of lumber.
Speaker: And it's kind of a weird thing. He, uh, buying this lumber, we bring it out all just to the Ford. And then he tells us to just leave it there.
Speaker: And, and the woman's like, yeah, it was, it was, it's kind of weird. Something funny going on there, but you know, we didn't want to say anything because we're making a lot of money off of it.
Speaker: When we passed through the Ford, we didn't take note of any giant piles of lumber. Correct. No. You definitely didn't notice any giant possible lumber. But you did notice a lot of activity on the eastern side of the ford and not on the western side.
Speaker: Yeah, you mentioned that. So like, look, sorry we didn't say anything. We just felt weird because Lumber Mill could use the work. Oh, yes, I certainly understand. Do you know where this stern helm comes from?
Speaker: No, we don't we don't know him. He just came up to the Lumber Mill and requisitioned this work and he's you know been coming back every... few days for the past week or so with pretty specific requests. Where'd he go?
Speaker: Funny thing, as soon as you ah yelled out about the caravan, he just took off like one right right out the back. Snot's looking over at Lily, like hoping she knows what the next thing we should ask is.
Speaker: Well, thank you very much. appreciate your honesty and and your information. I hope for your continued success. When Fred hears that they the guy has run out of the room, which telling he noticed, he's going to walk over to the door and see if Swifthoof is still where we left her.
Speaker: Swifthoof is still tied up out front, munching on some grass. Oh, that's good. Probably the best thing we could hope for is it somebody attempting to make an escape on Swifthoof.
Speaker: Stroll up behind them. So I guess I will... nod my head to to these fine people, and I'd like to try to look out the back.
Speaker: Okay. Is everybody going out? Just Lily? It's not just follows Lily. I guess Fred went out the front. Okay. So Fred's out the front, Snott's following Lily? Yeah. Okay. So the two of you go around and walk around the place.
Speaker: You can make a perception check.
Speaker: Uh, 23.
Speaker: Okay, you do not see the bandits standing out behind the inn, but you do see very recent tracks that look like somebody was moving. By how far apart the tracks are, they looked like they were moving quickly from the back of the inn to the main road and to the west, back towards Mud Puddle.
Speaker: And the Fort of Farn is to the west.
Speaker: Guide they mention. Go this way? He's gonna point at the tracks and... over to the west. Well, that's back the way we came. Maybe back to a River.
Speaker: I guess we collect Fred and... go back. Those guys pretty nice, huh? Hmm? Guys... they nice.
Speaker: Yes, they're very nice. We can come back sometime. He's not still thirsty. We're not getting drunk. All right, Snots is going to follow Lily back around to attempt to locate our Fred.
Speaker: Okay, so you get you get Fred and Swift-Tooth and head back west following those that trail. we didn't We didn't come around front ah quickly enough to see like somebody vanishing in the distance or anything.
Speaker: No, I mean, you're in there for five or six minutes, so somebody could have gotten a lead, especially if they're moving quickly. I mean, do you want to you want to try and chase this guy down if he's ahead of you, or are you just going to move at your own pace?
Speaker: We're not great chasers. I think we follow. Watch tracks. Can you track them? Probably.
Speaker: You rolled a 23, so you can pretty easily follow these tracks, at least here. where they're fresh, it's just not difficult. Yeah, if we do head back west, then Snot's going to be keeping an eye out for weather.
Speaker: Just keep an eye out for if they leave the road at any point. Yeah. Okay. But i don't I don't think we proceed at a lot of speed. Do you guys think we'd?
Speaker: We're not that quick. I think that no matter what you guys want, the Swift Hoof does not want to proceed at speed. Yeah. So you're you're moving at the speed of Swift of, and it's pretty leisurely pace.
Speaker: ah but So you make your way back along the trail. Day is still gray, occasional drip of rain, but not much. It's about 15 minutes back towards the ford, and the tracks are still there. There are a lot more tracks near the ford, so it's getting a little harder to follow it, but you rolled a 23, and that's still in effect, so Snot is quite capable of following these tracks.
Speaker: They go almost to the ford, and then they turn abruptly into the woods to the north.
Speaker: Snot's got hold up a hand. Look like, can I go off track over this way?
Speaker: I'm gonna kind of turn to my friends. say Do we really feel that this person has something to do with the caravan, or are we just chasing a local bandit?
Speaker: Well, it sounds like the caravan didn't get past here. So, not sure what other leads we have to follow. Unless that odd bartender fellow was lying to us.
Speaker: Where it turns off to the north, does it look like there are other tracks that go this way? Yes. In fact, now that you're looking at it, you can see that lot of stuff has been dragged into the woods here.
Speaker: Trees are quite thick here. I should say lots of undergrowth. You can make a perception check to investigate the forest or investigation if you prefer. It's not like Sherlock's not here.
Speaker: Yeah, that is an eight. All right. It takes you some time.
Speaker: You do spend 10 or 15 minutes or so looking around, and then you realize but there's a gate hidden in the bushes. All of the undergrowth is tied to it. It's like a wooden gate just swings open, and there's a path leading north to the forest.
Speaker: I mean, you should have figured this out right away, so you're not sure why it took you 15 minutes to... Maybe because nobody else is looking, apparently. Feel free. Well, Swift-Tuff needed some brushing, so... Okay.
Speaker: Gotta keep her show ready. I know I'm not in my most perceptive state, but does the gate look like new? No. This looks like a really old gate that maybe has been fixed up recently.
Speaker: Oh. Been repaired a little bit, and it looks like bushes have been attached to it recently. These are fresh leaves. There is gate. It's not Nazi because have bushes tied to it.
Speaker: Oh, that's a clever one. Okay. Big gate, little gate. I'll go up to the gate. It's big gate. Big gate. Can Snot pull it open? You can swing it open.
Speaker: Behind it, there's a path leading through the forest to the north. How dark is it? It's not that dark. It's still morning. Late morning. The trees are close, but you can see perfectly well.
Speaker: Look, okay. Anyone could miss this.
Speaker: ah Swift of sniffs.
Speaker: Maybe not stay here with Swift of Fred and Lillia. Oh, see what on path? You don't want to help, Snot. That's your prerogative. But, you know, we always need you.
Speaker: But for the first half of that sentence, Snot was feeling pretty good about his options, but he is touched by that. Lillia treats you like a little kid. and Wow, okay.
Speaker: ah Us not want to go, but Swift Hoof not want to go. Swift Hoof raises eyebrow. Swift Hoof, do you want to come with us? Swift Hoof is trying to get into Fred's backpack.
Speaker: like Swift Hoof would fit in Fred's backpack? Wow. I've got delicious local organic food in there. Fred's going to try to coax her along the path with the bag.
Speaker: Okay. Yeah, it's not that difficult. You don't need to make a check. She will follow you if you you go into the forest. All right. Well, keeping stick in hand and crouching low like he's doing stealth from a video game, Snot is going to proceed along the path ahead of the others.
Speaker: Okay. So you're trying to go a little ways ahead, scout things out? little bit. Just a little bit. All right. The Snot hits B to duck.
Speaker: Seed accroach. And moves down the trail. Nobody has a cardboard box, I guess. ah real Lily and Fred, you're following along, swift hoof and toe? Yes. Okay. As you go maybe 10, 15 minutes into the forest snot, you can see that ahead of you, it looks like there's a wooden structure.
Speaker: From here, all you can see is there's a big gate that looks very heavy and bunch of wooden stakes have been made into a high wall, stretches off to the east and west. Like a palisade? Yeah, palisade.
Speaker: And there's a crude wooden tower that's been erected next to the gate but on the inside of the wall. Like a guard tower, like somebody up there would be able to see? Yeah, and you can see some movement in that tower.
Speaker: Can Snot get to the side of the path undercover? Can I attempt to hide? Sure. Okay. Make a stealth check.
Speaker: Wow, my dice are all over the place today. That's a 13. That's good enough. Nobody seems to be actively looking ah where you are. You're able to meld into the shadows in the forest at the edge of the path.
Speaker: Can I tell how many people are in that tower? After observing it for a minute or two, you can see there are two people in the tower. You can't see them very well. Lily and Fred, as you see Snot ahead of you slips into the forest to the side, what do you want to do?
Speaker: If Fred sees Snot taking cover, he'll at least stop advancing. Okay. Yeah. I'll stop advancing and get to see the crouch. Okay.
Speaker: I'll hold X to pay my respects.
Speaker: Fred and Lily and Swift of Vegas, you can see there's a structure up there, but you can't see it as clearly as Snot because he's good 20 feet further up the path from you. Okay, so Snot, you've identified that there are at least two people, probably humans, up there in the guard tower. and it's not that high. It just goes a little bit above the wall, which is about ten feet high.
Speaker: Snot is going to creep backwards towards the others. And he's going to talk to them in a low voice. He's going to say, they're a big fork.
Speaker: Like, wall and power and tool guard. He holds up two fingers. He's got this one down.
Speaker: We don't know if these are bad people or good people. We don't want to hurt anybody until we know what's going on.
Speaker: Why good people hiding in building and forest? Taking caravan? We don't know if they took the caravan. Snot, you're pretty sure they took the caravan.
Speaker: Not could make guards fall asleep. That not hurt them.
Speaker: Well, this point, you don't even know how big this compound is. All you know is that there's a 10-foot high wall, it's big gate, and there's a tower.
Speaker: Snot is going to step a little further off of this path and kneel down and start making some really strange noises. And he is casting Fine Familiar.
Speaker: oh Snot is going to coax a skunk out of the woods, or that's what it looks like anyway. That's good. I was worried he was casting Hairball.
Speaker: You can't wait till you get your bedroll out for that.
Speaker: And Snot is going to instruct the skunk to make its way along the side of the path up to the palisade and see if it can maybe fit around the door.
Speaker: Okay. You can communicate it with it telepathically when it's within 100 feet of you. Mm-hmm. And you can use a bonus action to see through its eyes if you want while it's in that range. No.
Speaker: It can still go out of that range, it's just you can't communicate with until it returns. Okay. So for the moment, just going to be communicating with it in my head, asking it to try to find its way in around the gate.
Speaker: Yeah. So Frog, a.k.a. the skunk. Yes, Frog. Goes creeping up the path and goes snuffling around the edge of the wall, distracted momentarily by a particularly tasty batch of clover.
Speaker: But then easily finds a way to wiggle between two of the palisade spikes and gets into the camp. All right.
Speaker: Snot is going to squat down and his hands over his ears and shut his eyes very tightly and try to use the senses of the familiar. Okay. Okay.
Speaker: can see that it is quite a large area in here, and it is bustling with activity. Within the fort itself, on the eastern side, there is a number of small wooden buildings that have been erected in orderly rows.
Speaker: In the center of the camp, the skunk can see an open area with stumps and crude wooden benches. To the north of that clearing, there is a fortified building.
Speaker: Looks new, made of a wood. And you can see smoke rising through the trees to the northeast, but you can't really see what's making it. And then to the west side of the camp, back more towards the north,
Speaker: There's a little trail that leads to what you can see is a hulking building made of old stone and newer wood. It looks like a collapsed kind of storehouse or barn. It's been repaired with wood.
Speaker: And that's back towards the northwest end of the encampment. Throughout the encampment, you see rough characters of all sorts moving about, mostly humans. Occasionally, you see a goblin.
Speaker: ah The humans and the goblins seem to give themselves a wide berth. They're carrying supplies, moving around. Do I recognize the clan of the goblins or anything? Yeah, they're stone jaws. Do I see wagons or any direct evidence of caravan?
Speaker: No, there's no clear wagon in the area. there are piles of lumber people are working with, but there aren't any, there's nothing that looks like a caravan that's visible. Would the large building be capable of holding and concealing something of that size though?
Speaker: Yeah, the large building to the northwest looks like the old barn. Seems the most likely candidate for where they would store stuff. you could You could definitely drive a couple of like big wagons and stuff in there. Yeah.
Speaker: Okay. The fortified building on the north side of the clearing is pretty big, but it has a small door and it looks more like a command center. Okay. Snot is going to break that part of the bond with his familiar and telepathically urgent to come back.
Speaker: okay We go tell Ednes, tell heroes. Many, many bandit here. Many mans, goblins, don't ya donja goblin So we can't handle this on our own?
Speaker: Snot shakes his head from side to side so vigorously that his ear slapped. Plop, plop, plop, plop. More mans than Snot ever see. Okay. Let's make a hasty retreat then.
Speaker: As you're making this decision and, I assume, preparing to head back, a figure appears in the woods beside you. Steps out like a little shadow. but A relatively big shadow.
Speaker: It's Meg. She says, Hey, what are you idiots doing here? You're supposed to be finding the caravan. We're leaving is what we're doing. All right, hold on. The others are coming up.
Speaker: What? We tracked Carnivarius back here. Everything's going down.
Speaker: be pretty sure the caravan's in there. All right, let's get back further out. Big building full of caravans. Snot is going to, well, give Frog a few pets and tell it what a good job it did, and it's going to dismiss it.
Speaker: I don't know if it disapparates or just wanders off on its own. Well, what would you like it to do? Technically, it just goes to an extra-dimensional space, but it can disappear in whatever manner you yeah find most fitting.
Speaker: I think it just sort of wanders under a bush and then isn't there anymore. Okay. And as Meg is motioning you back towards the main road, presumably to meet with the others, we bring this episode to a close.
Speaker: Thank you for listening to Caleranden, and join us for our next exciting episode.
Speaker: you
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