Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ep. 104 The Calm before the Storm - De Profundis
102 Plays3 years ago
After the intense battle, the party take one final moment of calm to heal up and plan for the end.
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
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Player Exhaustion
00:00:00
Speaker
Do you have anything for mental exhaustion? I seem to have burned through a lot of magic capabilities. It's okay. Just lie to the DM. He'll never know.
Podcast and Character Introduction
00:00:38
Speaker
Hello 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 homebrew world of Aerith. My name is Mark and I am the Dungeon Master. And also with us for today's episode we have Callum, who plays the gnome sorcerer Folly Fizzlebanger 9th. I am the dragon slayer. We have Ian, who plays the dragonborn barbarian paladin Drago. What up? Will, who plays the human bard Kastan. Boy, it'd be really good to have a long rest right about now. We've got Casey, who plays the human champion Helen, a sleepguard.
00:01:06
Speaker
All right then mate. We've got Darren who plays the human fighter rogue Robin. I'm all right there my chummy walnut. And we've got Danny who plays the human cleric Claude. Bonjour my chummy walnut. That was like a normal one. We haven't done a normal, a normal opening in a while. And thank you very much for joining us everyone on this, this episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop.
Battle Aftermath and Environment Description
00:01:27
Speaker
We find ourselves post-battle after the death of a dead dragon. An undead dragon, some might say. The party are reeling from the sheer immense power that this creature had omitted upon the group.
00:01:42
Speaker
ending in a spectacular cinematic ending thanks very much to Folly Fizzlebang the 9th with a incredible wall of fire in the air as the dragon tried to escape. It flew through and its last health points fell aside and it fell into ash. I'm gonna jump straight into it.
00:02:02
Speaker
A thin film of rain slowly falls over the darkened sky. Whipped up in the wind overhead it almost forms the look of bird murmurations. Thousands of small creatures working in unison waiting to land.
00:02:17
Speaker
The wall of fire high in the air burns for a few more seconds as the charred ash of Galgrath falls like snow over the weathered, blackened, and war-torn lands of Sleekard. The groans of the blight ever present in the air, but louder now, so much louder now than ever before. It moves from the periphery of your hearing like a constant buzz to a very real, unignorable atmosphere of sound.
00:02:46
Speaker
the wall of flame off ends as your eyes adjust your surroundings without the wall you realize how bright it was how much like a signal how obvious it might have been
00:02:59
Speaker
In a flashbang, a light blue orb appears near your position. A figure steps
Magi Confrontation and Defense of Actions
00:03:05
Speaker
through. A woman stands in deep purple robes, piercing blue eyes and dark hair. Under one arm is a deep brown, thick tome. In the other hand, a staff. The gold-lined uniform, the deep oak staff and glowing arcane focus at its tip. You all instantly make the connection. This is a magi of the abciscra.
00:03:29
Speaker
She looks up at you all. That was a little fucking obvious, don't you think? Oh, he did it. Draggo points to Folly. You, no. Folly's just gonna kind of stumble over words. Dragon, fire, death, destruction, flee! Can he speak? She turns to the rest. Can he speak in anything more than single words? We're a bit burnt out here, if you'd my pardon the pun.
00:03:58
Speaker
She doesn't flinch, she doesn't take the joke in us all. Folly, appreciate that. I believe that my comrades here, what they're trying to say is that it was an unavoidable expenditure of power in order to defeat a greater evil that we wouldn't have to face later on. Yeah, that. Yeah, what he said. Still, not exactly the most useful thing to do. Hang on, useful thing to do, we've just killed a dragon.
00:04:28
Speaker
And we were very much in danger, so I don't think we had a choice. I don't think that's pretty useful for the battle to... ahead. Pretty useful. You know now everyone in this place knows exactly where you are. I mean, it was gonna happen eventually anyway. Good thing you were gonna bring an army through, though, right? They had a fucking dragon. We have a fucking dragon. Doesn't mean that you can just... What?
00:04:55
Speaker
Just ignore, the whole point is- I can't ignore that. We have a dragon. Why did no one tell us this? No, not you, not we, not me, they, just forget a bit. Listen, I'm not here to talk and as she's about to break into another cascade of conversation, you just hear from behind her, still with this blue orb of light, don't even think about it, any of you. Now is not the time. And the familiar but more gaunt and pale face of Lucian appears from behind her.
Lucian's Return and New Instructions
00:05:26
Speaker
He takes a couple of seconds, almost adjusting to the uncomfortableness of stepping through a spell, stepping through magic the way he just has.
00:05:43
Speaker
She runs over to him, by the way. He kind of pushes you back. No, I'm fine. Honestly, I am. Yestra, start the spell. It takes long enough without whatever's going on here. He turns to you all.
00:05:58
Speaker
You have all done well. But I'm afraid that third spot is not going to be possible with our cover blown. We will have to make do with what we can get through in these two portals and hope to the triumvirate that that will be enough to buy you some time. We need to get the legions through. We have very little time. I don't understand. How could we have jeopardized it? We had no choice.
00:06:24
Speaker
We literally just killed a dragon and you want us to either move on or gather our strength. We just fought a dragon. I understand and from where we could see the... You guys all fought well but we had another point, another area to this pincer.
00:06:51
Speaker
It was part of a bigger plan. I understand why you felt you must have done it, but you now have to understand the time is against us. And despite your past heretic deeds, we have much, we have much at stake now. And as much as I would love to dwell in the past and dwell with this incredible, incredible feat of combat you all achieved, sit around the Spirit of Montveride passing beer through near a roaring fire and discuss the heroics.
Strategic Adjustments and Concerns
00:07:21
Speaker
It's not about the heroics, it's about the fact that that dragon almost killed us and I'm pretty sure we all need a moment. But I think I can, what Lucian's saying is that because the original plan was to secure a three point and unfortunately we've only done two and also made the undead aware that we are doing what we're doing here, Lucian's saying there isn't a chance for us to have a breath. What I'm saying is in Castan, yes you are. More or less correct.
00:07:49
Speaker
Metaphorically we need to move on, past the past, but physically you're going to physically need to move. We have the fourth legion coming through in a matter of moments.
00:08:03
Speaker
Right, and does that fourth legion have healers? Because we're all ready to move, but we do need aid. We've just taken on a dragon. Draggo, and he leans his one working arm up on his shoulder. I just mean take a couple steps that way, just so we can get the first couple of lines of soldiers through. I'm not asking you to go anywhere. I'm just literally at any points, like, step over there. The portal is going to open here. It's 20 foot wide.
00:08:32
Speaker
We're just going to need to literally move there. And what I made of misread the situation. And you know what? I'm, yesterday I'm blaming you because, you know, you came in with all your energy and I think you pissed them off a little bit. Well, don't just go. Blood is boiling. I'm sorry. Yeah. Maybe I haven't turned the rage off. I don't know. No. Fine. Whatever. We've been through an ordeal. It's understandable.
00:08:59
Speaker
don't leave. You know, we need to we need to tell you what's happening really with everything. You know, so please just hold on for now. Yes, they do have healers. Yes, we have mages we have. We can we can give you a health back at least you won't be at full strength. I know everything hurts. Yeah.
00:09:15
Speaker
Oh, Claude. Literally. Right. We'll see what we can do just to fill you in there before he turns around. Yesterday, start the fucking spell. Come on, yourself. I'm bleeding. I'm doing it. Just Christ alive. She quickly pulls out the brown tone, starts thumbing through the pages, turns to it. And then in an instant, her eyes roll back in her head and you can just hear lips kind of muttering in silent movement, almost silent magical prayer, almost as the beginnings of this
00:09:44
Speaker
spells start to take hold. Now, because unfortunately we won't be able to get to that third site, things will have to move slightly differently. Here, where you're stood, in this turgid area where you fought the dragon, is where we will bring through the fourth legion.
00:10:05
Speaker
Over at the Goblin Camp, that's where we're going to call on the Sleepguard Surge and the Blackmouth Rangers, both of whom I'm sure you're intimately aware of. Now, the third was designed for my forces at the Spiritmon Redoubt to come through. Those expert blight fighters that have served me so well for the last few years, but unfortunately, we're going to have to wait and get the Fourth Legion through before we can pull on and in with them. So they will form a second wave, if you will.
00:10:34
Speaker
The idea being is that the Hellstorm Surge and the Blackmouth Rangers will form the Vanguard. They will attack, and he kind of gestures up towards where you can see where the tower is, directly towards the tower and drawing their forces in. The fourth will flank round to the side and try and catch some of their sections unawares, and on horseback, cause a lot of damage.
00:10:53
Speaker
the third the second wave then will come and they will follow up through the sensor giving reinforcements drawing back the injured and hopefully buying you enough of a distraction to get you through to the tower it's not ideal but it's it's the best we can muster at this time i believe yes robin you you seem to have your hand in the air it's not a lesson please feel free to speak freely
00:11:14
Speaker
Robin is going to step forward, his right hand raised as if to say something and his left hand clutching this teddy bear as he's still very close to what would be considered a mortal amount of damage. And he's just going to step forward and he's just going to glance at Lucian and then glance at this lady who has appeared as well and appears to be lambasting them. And he's just going to say to her, you are aware of the fact that there is
00:11:43
Speaker
an army about to come through that isn't going to be massacred by a dragon because of us. I'm just wanting to make sure that that's apparent to you. I mean, we did call the dragon here, didn't we? Just putting that out there. I'm sorry. My point remains that the dragon is no longer here, which means
00:12:09
Speaker
Hundreds of lives are not going to be spent attacking it anyway on the subject of trying to preserve life Did which one he's just pointing at Lucian in her which one of you said the thing about? About the blight expert fighters not coming through until later in the fight I did Lucian puts his right hand in the air Are you okay Robin? I'm fine, but I'm just
00:12:39
Speaker
maybe I'm a little bit I don't know blood thirsty or whatever or whatever you call it when you're nearly dead but I can get you some blood to drink there's plenty of it around here that that that definitely won't be necessary fully get him a cup anyway I've got a vial anyway if these if these why are they not in the vanguard if their specialty is in fighting the blights why are we saving those until last
00:13:07
Speaker
We're saving them as a second wave. They won't be saved to last. The Sleetguard Surge are some of the best fighters of the light power that I've ever seen. Them and the Blackmouth Rangers, some expert archers, will
00:13:23
Speaker
cause considerable damage and once they start to adjust their combat to it, that's when we send in our experts. By experts, I just mean those that have fought the Blight before and to an extent, maybe not one, but held them back. They will be what we need. We'll need their eyes and ears clear of the battle before because they're not going to have their leader with them.
00:13:49
Speaker
Because I'm coming with you. This is all well and good. Where are we going to be positioned? You say you'll get us to the Tower. I agree. Are we going to be with the Fourth Legion or the Blackmouth Rangers? Where's your positioning for us? That's not my decision to make. I don't know. It's going to be up to you to decide that. It might be a spur of the moment decision. It might be you have your own plan.
00:14:20
Speaker
We will attack them and we will make our last stand as Piraka victory as we can hope for. None of us imagine we're making it out of this. But we hope that you will. How long will it take for the armies to be ready here? They're all waiting on the other side of portals that are forming like this. As long as, as physically as quick as we can get them in. We're thinking that the fourth at least ate a breast.
00:14:47
Speaker
and they will come through, the fourth will be the quickest, they're on horseback and they will fly through. Because I imagine the undead are probably coming this way imminently? I haven't really checked to be honest.
00:15:02
Speaker
I'm going to go have a look. Carson's going to go have a wander and try and see what he can go see. Where's the undead coming? As you make your way through the small thicket of trees that stood to your left in the battleground, there's a little mound. There's not a big mound, but it's enough to cover human-sized proportions behind it, hence why this was an area that was picked.
00:15:26
Speaker
And you kind of scrabble your way up this muddied, dirty blackened ground. You peer up towards the indomitable tower that is to your north, your plate, your folly, and your goal. The swirling and the innumerable hordes of the blight have come to a complete standstill.
00:15:43
Speaker
like an ocean calm on a full moon night. The dead, the damned and the restless have all come to a halt. There's tension in the air and you can literally taste it. You can make out ranks of monsters, lines and order. Something or someone has ordered this horde into position where they wait.
00:16:04
Speaker
Their calls and screams echo out over the plains. And it's almost like as cast and your head comes up, almost you're hit with the sound of kind of almost war cries, but it's as close as you can imagine a war cry could come from a throat of something that is dead. Louder now than ever, the blackened deadlands between you and them seem to stretch on for like an eternity, knowing that you must cross and survive this unholy place.
Undead Battlefield and Magical Reinforcements
00:16:50
Speaker
Well, that's a vision that's going to haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life. So it looks like they're all just waiting for you. It's all very nice. There's lots of them. I don't know how many people you're bringing through. But yeah, it's it's like a sea of things. What was the plan again? Because, yeah. Well, did you see a route there? Was there any kind of
00:17:00
Speaker
but they're not coming towards us at the moment.
00:17:18
Speaker
spacing? Or are we literally going to have to fight our way through? I mean, if you imagine, what I can imagine is the sea. And then if you imagine that the sea is lots of undead gribblies, there's about as much path as there is if you try to walk through water. Yeah, bugger. Could we not? The most the best thing we can do is deal with what's in that tower when the fighting starts.
00:17:45
Speaker
we've flown as a party before can we not just when the when the the fighting starts just in the chaos just sweep over to the top of the tower i think we have i mean we could do i suppose we have to hope that there's no other flying things to take us out we know that the enemy has someone mentioned something about someone defeating the dragon like 55 000 times but but but but
00:18:08
Speaker
the dragon's not the only flying thing that we've been, that the blind has thrown at us. But we do have a lot of, shall we say, distance abled fighters. And as long as people don't mind riding a little bit, then we could indeed all fly over. I mean, a couple of people may have to ride on the backs of others, but
00:18:32
Speaker
It is possible. It's a very powerful spell that I would have to use to do this. Can you just teleport us there? Hang on. Hang on with this. I'm afraid not. I'm afraid not. Not like that. It doesn't work like that. I need a reference point. We need all the spells that we can have for whatever is coming ahead. So let's just hang fire any rasp decisions. We need a plan. We need a heal.
00:18:57
Speaker
Don't worry about that. We can sort that out. I know, but when you're healed, you have a clearer head. I bloody hell, this is a good point. Listen, Vances with the others, they're setting up at the goblin camp now. The forces are already coming through. If you'd be so kind, could you just fuck off a little bit that way, police driver? That would be, yeah, there you go. They're just, yeah, a little bit to the, to the, just a little bit towards the trees. Where do we need to go? Just literally points over there, just the other side of the trees. They just said the trees.
00:19:25
Speaker
fine let's go over there yes let's be having that connection now please nothing annoyed uh over to the trees he's had enough
00:19:32
Speaker
Yes, let's go now. Come on. Let's have a connection, please. We've got a goddamn round to save. And she horizons. We're trying. They're not talking to folly. Shush. Yeah, this is this is the cinematic moment. Shut up, Folly. All right. Look back, Ryan, and get shoots him a dirty look and goes back up. And the magic, yes, refers to one knee and her eyes. Yeah, like I've rolled back into her head now, but her eyes are starting to almost glow with a faint white light from the
00:19:58
Speaker
the whites of our eyes that you can only see. The whites of our eyes that you can only see now. A hand tracing over the page after page of text, her lips moving as she silently, almost silently recites. The spell intensifies and as you start to step away the other side of the trees, you can feel the magical energy from the still cold air being drawn out and towards her. Like a magnet growing in power as time goes on. You can't help but almost lean
00:20:23
Speaker
back slightly as the spell reaches its final stanza. And all of a sudden, as you get to your location, just maybe 30, 40 feet away from where Yestra is knelt, this rippling blue portal bursts into light. It flickers in and out of existence a few times before settles into the surroundings.
00:20:43
Speaker
Looking through the Pacific blue, 20-foot-wide portal, you see almost the shadows of beings on the other side, hulking, faceless, dark beings stand poised on the other side of the portal. Yestra's eyes return as she stands, standing in front of the portal and looks towards you all with a little smirk creeps on her face. She stands in front of it and waves to those on the other side, and then steps away.
00:21:12
Speaker
And what you see coming through is a single black horse with a rider passing through the rippling energy of the portal. Heavily armored, hooves come slamming down onto the cracked black earth below. Behind this figure you see, line after line of similar riders, armed with dual bastard swords or pristine. The rider has his weapons drawn and seems to be actively looking for threats.
00:21:36
Speaker
The horse is wide-eyed and gives the early signs of disobeying its master, but its relationship is clear. The horse braids slightly and calms, panting, but calm, and white specks of sweat adorns this impressive steed. The horse halts and the rider pulls back their torn black hood to remove a helmet. A black metal helm with a single white plume is tucked under the black chainmail and plated arm of this impressive tiefling. His horns seem to have been bent back to fit under his helmet.
00:22:04
Speaker
On the right side of his face, as you have seen before, his usual dark purple skin is blistered from some previous incident. He looks different from the last time you saw him back at Bleakmoor, tired, weary, yet stronger and with more conviction and resolve. This is Garmir, leader of the 4th Battalion of the Obsidianist. He looks towards you, Helena, and to the rest of your group.
00:22:34
Speaker
and lets out a slight smile. Hello. Long time no see. I would ask if you've been keeping well, but you're here. Listen, I have 8,000 at my rear, all ready to die for the living, Helena. I wish there was time to see the warrior and leader you have become, but I hope now more than ever you remember the training you had all those years ago. I hope that I've been putting it into practice these past few months. I've heard.
00:23:03
Speaker
Your brother has told us lots of you and your party's endeavors. We know your plight. I know the odds are not just stacked against us but piled high. The better to go out fighting for our existence instead of clinging to the fringes of this world, to scrap a living from the scavengers that remain. We must hold true to our cause, to hope, to life. And more than anything, and he looks at you all at this point, more than anything,
00:23:30
Speaker
You must, all of you, trust your instincts. War is not won in open combat, but through the battle we fight in our minds. I wish you steely combat and a sturdy mind of the battle to come.
00:23:45
Speaker
nods and moves to the side and with a wave of a hand he pulls his hand down in a single motion his right hand down and six abreast line after line after line of impressive impeccable obsidianist soldiers all on horseback all donning the same black armor with their namesake homeland come filing through with pinpoint precision and speed the first hundred or so gallop often form a defensive perimeter whilst Garmir orders his commanders to gather troops in sheltered spaces near the slow
00:24:15
Speaker
oozing river. The figure of Yestra approaches you with a still slight smirk on her face you realise this is just the way she looks and she doesn't seem to mean you any harm. Okay, who needs healing?
00:24:29
Speaker
Yes, please.
Preparation and Army Organization
00:24:30
Speaker
All of us. All of us, I'd say. Very well. Maybe not Folly. He was under a tree. But all of us. She's going to literally matrix style, open up the underside of her like purple hooded jacket. And underneath it is just like potion after potion after potion. Like you can even remove any metallic items you carry. Holy shit. It's that bit. It's like healing potions. She's firstly going to just cut. They knock off. Oh, no, no, they're legit.
00:24:59
Speaker
Are they stop magic ones, you know just no no these are these are legit they don't mess with that shit and She's also gonna cast mass healing on 1 2 3 4 5 5 6 of you just the whole party and you're all gonna get back fifth Was it I had it up here a second 49 points of healing give it and then she's gonna look to each of you after that as if to say Who needs more?
00:25:24
Speaker
And she's gonna hand a few potions out to two more, two to each of you. Potions of, kind of greater potions of healing. Do you have anything for mental exhaustion? I seem to have burned through a lot of magic capabilities. It's okay, just lie to the DM, he'll never know.
00:25:50
Speaker
I forgot about my 10 billion sorcery points. I like this woman. Is that Page of Healing greater? Just checking that? Yes, that's 4d4 plus 4. 4d4 plus 4, and that's two each. Marvelous. I'm going to drink one now. All right, you roll the healing because I haven't got my dice out. What a bad d and d player. Meanwhile, Carson's going to have been writing down the little speech that Garmir gave.
00:26:18
Speaker
and to the others around him. He's gonna be like, hmm, when I write this in the book, I'll have him standing on a hillside, maybe with lots of people around him. It'll sound better in the book. Does all these potions mean that the chance for a more sustained rest is out of the question? Is this what's happening here? I think you've probably got
00:26:40
Speaker
the good side of an hour at best, at very best, and then we will have to move. Once the forces are through, they will push on. You've probably felt it too, but the longer we spend in this place, the more it drains at the very life force, the very thing that makes us human or living.
00:26:54
Speaker
I mean, an hour's rest would be good. I'm not going to lie. Yeah, it would be very good. I'd take an hour. Very well. I will go and pass the message on to Gamia and the others. They will pass it back to Vance and the other forces. I mean, that will at least let you guys gather yourselves up. We can see what we're dead of doing. We can come up with some kind of plan rather than sort of rushing into this, you know, guns blazing and all haphazardly. It'll done a horribly. Let's at least have a plan. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I totally agree with Garst and I think that's the best course of action.
00:27:24
Speaker
I know. Kastad's going to put out his diary. No, don't make a note of that. I will go and let them know of your intentions, but I will come back in an hour or no. I mean, sooner if you want, whatever, you know, come on. Very well, but I'll pass you on your message. Okay, tiddles. Just to say that.
00:27:48
Speaker
good luck yeah we're awesome we know thanks for the healing and the potions that really really really helps not a problem it's literally the least we can do given where you're going to go
00:28:01
Speaker
I wish you all the best. You too. Stay alive. You too. The look on her face is one of much hope and she walks back towards Lucian and the others and just is discussing, kind of pointing and as this conversation continues, the army of the fourth legion starts to continue to pour through.
00:28:24
Speaker
it's almost like they've pre-planned this and as they come out almost like a waterfall, they break away into positions, everyone into separate jobs, into separate positions, the forces are moving, they almost knew the kind of layout of the place they were going to be and have these separate kind of battalion elements set up, the perimeters are set up, you've got some people entering
00:28:42
Speaker
setting up defensive spells and wards to give them some kind of defensive hold and position here whilst others are building up certain units to kind of begin their kind of assault when necessary. There is nothing here in terms of camping, there is nothing here in terms of supplies, they are coming through to fight, they are coming through to die, they're coming through to win or lose and that is it. They do not intend on staying here particularly long.
00:29:07
Speaker
What do you guys want to do? Short rest, please. Yes, you have your short rest. Go for your short rest, and then we can have a little bit of a jib. Have we taken a short rest already today, so we have barely any here today? That imagery, Mark, was phenomenal.
00:29:23
Speaker
I've got to give it some gravitas. Right, so I can imagine that you guys have just kind of set yourselves down near the set of trees, maybe a tiny little small fire to keep you warm in the cold night, the cold kind of sleep that's coming down over a sleep guard. Are there any conversations or anything that wants to take place? Sorry, quick, is everyone at full hit points now?
00:29:44
Speaker
If you're not, you can add an extra D8, because I'll have done some of rest as well during that. If you're not at full, you get an extra D1, D8 of hit points back. Burn those hit die, man. I'm not going to have another chance. I was going to say, I've just spent my hit die thinking that this is the last time I'll spend them.
00:30:09
Speaker
You know, I can cast, we can build a little tent for an hour and chill out for an hour while the undead are still safe. I think we're good, we're good, we're good. We've found a good place for a short rest. I think we're past team building exercises now, mate. I like the sass and Claude. You're getting ready. I'm pumping myself up, you know? How do you feel about all of this, especially working alongside the Ubriska?
00:30:41
Speaker
I mean, you know, they're not trying to put an axe in my back. And if I walk away from this and I'm going to put an axe in some of their backs. There we go. Claude. Hello. Robin's going to sheepishly walk over to Claude with the teddy bear still and just offer it back to him and say, I think I'm alive because of you. So
00:31:09
Speaker
Thank you. I gave you the fucking bear. Yeah, I mean, Jocko gave up his bear. You're welcome. None of you have ever thanked me for it before, so don't make a habit of doing it now.
00:31:22
Speaker
I've never had a bear. I feel like I've been left out. I've never had a bear. No, I've never had a bear either. The bear is just a container for the magic that's keeping you going all these years, months, weeks, days. What do you call that bear? Would you call it a care, maybe? A care? Terrible. Cannon. No, I think it's a stupid idea.
00:31:52
Speaker
Not marketable at all. No. Bill D. Bear. That's his name. Bill D. Bear. Bill D. Bear. But in all seriousness, don't start thanking me for the healing now because that means that something's different about this trip and there's nothing different about this trip, all right? I'd say there's something very different about this trip, Claude. Yeah, but don't start, you know,
00:32:20
Speaker
talking about feeling like you've got to share your emotions, because that's not what we do. Yeah, but Folly's going to look at you for a brief moment and just say to you, in a very low, sheepy voice, I made you a toy. I made you a mini Claude.
00:32:37
Speaker
You did. Thank you. I've still got him somewhere next to me, pyjamas. I know there are people who actually appreciate what you do here, Claude. Oh, I know. I know. I know. I'm not saying that. I've got more friends than I've ever been able to count before in my life. I'm just saying, let's not make this feel like it's any different because we're all walking back from that tower, maybe a little bit toasty on our fingers, but we'll be fine.
00:33:03
Speaker
Actually, you do bring up a very valid point. Anyone, ideas for getting to that tower? We can, but the way I see it, Robin had it. One of flying. Well, the good news is that Helena and I have already climbed it once, so we know where we're going.
00:33:20
Speaker
That is true, I did think this. Claude, can I- So we know what to do when we get to the tower. It's just getting to the tower. That's for sure. Okay, that's good. We can either fly there, as Robin suggested, or we can- We made our way over dead bodies and- We climbed from the bottom up, didn't we? We fought to get to the top. Did they have an open window there? I haven't got the book, I've only got the reaver at the minute. No, I was like, Folly, can I have a look at the book? I thought, I can't remember who had it. Is it in your bag? Um, okay.
00:33:50
Speaker
Because I know, well sorry, from a will point of view, I know Mark originally said that the script inside of it, we couldn't read it, it was a language we couldn't recognise. Mark? Yeah, yeah, sounds like something I'd say. Cool, I want to use... Sounds like an unprepared DM bullshit. I'd like to cast Comprehend Languages as a ritual, please, and read the book. Okay. You want to read the entire book the whole other way? Well, no, no, I want to basically, I'm flicking through it, trying to find if there's anything in it,
00:34:19
Speaker
that marks it as why it's so significant to be used with a dagger. That's what I'm trying to find. Okay, so while they're kind of conversing... Just in case it has like, you know, a quick crib sheet on the ship we need to do. This feels a lot like trying to like do your essay and look for quotes like an hour before it's due in. Yeah, I'll sort of eat the blight for dummies. We should have done this months ago. Oh well. He's also incredibly... I've got a really high investigation and a really high perception. I reckon I'll be fine.
00:34:46
Speaker
Of course you do. So yes, as you cast the spell and you turn the pages and suddenly the word, the scribbles, the etchings on this dark red almost ink that you hope is ink starts to form into words of common that you can understand. And almost instantly you break out into a little bit of a cold sweat. It's almost like the reading the book has
00:35:14
Speaker
It's the feeling you get after like spinning around on the spot a lot. The rest of the world seems to, there's a slight kind of spin and turn to it. As your eyes focus on it, everything else seems to turn like a night with too much mead or port in Kastan's case.
00:35:29
Speaker
Though, as you start to thumb through it, it very much reads like a really, really poor imitation of other religious books that you have read in your time. Save that this is more of an occult, more of a book dedicated to that of the nefarious, not necessarily to the undead, but to the evil in the world, applying so much to the evil rather than the good of mankind and those that live.
00:35:56
Speaker
It is of the faith of mixowas. It details how betrayal forms a major milestone in the religion and how going through the process of betrayal is part of what is known as the bloodletting, which is the allowance of you to enter into the faith of mixowas allegedly, given you have to betray someone who has your devout trust.
00:36:19
Speaker
And that draws on your memory of the great flame and the battle that took place on Trotus Bay, et cetera, et cetera, which ended one of the big wars 50 years ago.
00:36:26
Speaker
And however, as skimming through the rest of the history of it, you realize that there's no real, there's no connection to the blight. Blight is never mentioned as you skim through. The undead is mentioned on occasion, but more of the unliving, more of the way you go after you die in returning of earnest into hell, more than returning to heaven or with the triumvirate.
00:36:50
Speaker
So there's no direct correlation, there's no direct mention in like the 20, 30 minutes you might be scanning through this book that you can find from the Blight, though you do now understand that it is a book of relatively poorly written religious entity, to that of the negative, to that of the dead, to that of the evil in society, evil in the world, though no specific link to the Blight. Cool, so another character going down the treachery route now, he's correct about evil, I see.
00:37:21
Speaker
Does the book feel iconic though? Yes. Does it have its own latent arcana? Yes, absolutely. Which is, I think, part of the reason why you felt yourself break into that cold sweat, whereas other arcanic energies kind of almost fill you and feed into your own life force, kind of feeding and giving like a...
Dark Magic and Kastan's Struggle
00:37:37
Speaker
This almost seems to drain away from you slightly, but as you put the book down, it kind of returns back to you like it was just drawing on you and then returns it to you.
00:37:45
Speaker
Okay, I'm gonna let the others have been talking whilst Carson's doing that then. So, cool, sorry. I just wanted, I just thought, because it's a book we got and we've never ever actually sat down and checked the book. So I thought it might be useful. It was good, it was good. So while you're doing that, Draghi's just gonna... Yeah, so we've got the access to the tower sorted. Claude, I don't know, you've been there before and you can show us the way. But getting to the tower, I thought... Yes, that's gonna be tricky.
00:38:14
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know how you guys feel about this. I'm going to sling an idea out there and then we'll have the floor open and we'll back and forth. Sling away. Thank you. I like the idea of taking a few of those horses and Dragos pointing down to the legions of armies that have entered through and us just piling through to get to the tower. It saves us probably needed spells and resources.
00:38:44
Speaker
and gets us there. Would that be all of us on horses? Yeah. Why don't we, like behind the fourth legion, let them, just the spearhead and then we pile through the middle like the poison.
00:39:00
Speaker
I like that. I mean, there's part of me that does want to ride at the front. I don't know, there's this montage maybe thing in my head. I don't know, the horse is rearing up. Tengon's deception's slaying. But that's the poison idea is far superior. We could keep the flying thing at our back up just in case everything goes awry. Yeah, I mean, if Dropper's like, decided he wants to charge ahead and all of a sudden there's a great big moat and he's going to fall in it, maybe just turn him into a Pegasus or something like that.
00:39:30
Speaker
Yeah, I really don't want to be turned into anything. I didn't do that, you know, turning into an actual proper dragon instead of a baby dragon. Oh, wow. So many things there that upset me, not upset me. No, it made me angry. I'm going to put it to one side as we're talking about. You can punch me after we've defeated the Blight. Fair enough. Robin, what do you think? I think we... What do you think, Robin? His face totally got that. That was great.
00:40:01
Speaker
I think that we need to reserve as much energy as we possibly can and therefore charging into an army of undead where there are lots of variables is not a good idea. I think we should fly there. Maybe let's do a vote. Do you think perhaps, Robin, we should split the party or is this not an option? No, I think we have to stay together. So what we agree has to be
00:40:29
Speaker
I think what we agree has to be unanimous and that means finding out everyone's opinion. What about you, Helena? I'm all for going all in with both hands. I'm flying or horseback or something else. Too much euphemism. Are we still talking about the combat here?
00:40:54
Speaker
The conversation shifted. Is this another fuck me situation? Sorry, I was talking about my personal interests there. No, I was saying that, yes, I'd prefer to probably go in on horseback, if I'm honest. But I think, like Claude said, to go in behind an army would be better than charging in up front. That would save us, I think, a lot of injury and perhaps death.
00:41:24
Speaker
I've got the image of almost like a horseback V-shape going off right now. So the entire platoon in a V-shape charging through the blight and us just kind of behind it, following them with as much speed as what we can. That's what I just said, Folly. No, no, I agree. I just like the V-shape imagery. That's all. And if the V-shape fails? Well, then we can fly. How quick Folly is it to get the flight spell going on all of us?
00:41:52
Speaker
Um, the effect is instantaneous, but I would need to basically lay my hands or at least my staff on each of you. Get it in now lads, get it in now. Laugh about it, laugh about it, go on. Okay, that's, that's feasible. Uh, so we have the options of both is what I'm hearing. Then we'd have to travel close to each other. Yeah. Folly, you haven't identified the preference yet.
00:42:24
Speaker
My initial preference was to flying, as I thought it would be better to avoid certain ages rather than combat them. But they're admittedly saving my more powerful level spell should we need them when we're actually into the tower. I think it's a wiser course of action. Mark, just looking around, I'd take it we're still at the Dragon Nest area. We haven't really troubled. Correct. You know, the Drakes, the little babies, were they undead?
00:42:54
Speaker
Because they were hatching from a mound, so they had life. They were... They weren't necessarily hatching. They were kind of nestled in there. I hope they were like barrows. Okay, so they were definitely undead.
00:43:08
Speaker
Yes. OK. Never mind. We can't bring them back to life and we can't ride them. That's what I was thinking. That would have been awesome. Can I change? Can we go back and change? We've got awesome horses. You set it up perfectly. Like, oh, it's so good. Horseback for me. Horseback for you, Claude. Horseback for me, too. I'm sorry.
00:43:29
Speaker
horseback for me too and trade horseback for folly as well i mean we have got castan as well we should really not ignore him in this and he's reading the castan sorry i forgot so um uh yes just but um i'd rather we didn't lead the charge um statistically speaking the person at the front of the charge how do you even know what we were talking about were you listening while you're reading i can't do both that's multitasking to the extreme and i'm an academic brago it's fine you'll get there eventually it's fine
00:43:58
Speaker
What's your preference, Carsten? So, where we need to do the old stabbing of the book, where exactly in the tower is that? Through those double doors. Oh, because I was going to say, I mean, if it was at the top, for example, then flying would make a lot of sense. Yeah. Because it would, like, skip out a load of the way. That's exactly what flying is. There's no point in flying, really. To be honest, if any of us could dig particularly fast, then under would be the idea. If only we had a dwarf.
00:44:29
Speaker
fuck you or a ferret or a mole man so what i'm saying is the problem is i think i like the idea of flying being a backup because i'm not gonna like that this book is trash and i'm learning nothing from it because
00:44:49
Speaker
One out of five stars. One out of five would not read again. All I'm smelling is obviously the armies go in and smack the undead. The problem is what happens if the armies get bogged down before they've reached the tower? This is what I've been trying to hint at. Then we flying. Okay, what stops the undead from like shooting us down?
00:45:18
Speaker
Mate, it's a battlefield you're going to get shot at. Yeah, I don't think that's a full proof. Yeah, there's not a full proof safe option here. What stops you getting hurt is me. Oh, thanks Claude. I'm going to be flying next to Claude, please. My choice, flying or horseback? I'll go with the group. I don't have much experience of these battles that you guys do. You did mine on the back of a horse.
00:45:46
Speaker
Yes, I can I can ride horses. OK, I think. I think that's the majority of going with the horseback. It's nice to have the tactical opportunity to fly as a backup if it all gets a bit shitty.
00:46:02
Speaker
I would like to bring up another point in regards that before we do actually do anything in regards that we should possibly discuss who will be paired with whom when and if we need to fly. As I said, I can't grant the ability towards all only some there are two maybe three who will have to buddy up.
00:46:25
Speaker
I'll probably put myself forward as Claude, as we've done it before. There's another question there. Does the process of flying mean that that person can only concentrate on flying and nothing else? No, the concentration will come from me. I will keep you flying, truly, yes. And I think it would be advisory for
00:46:48
Speaker
on somebody to possibly help with any incoming projectiles that may come to me. A single hit could send this entire plan awry as a backup.
00:46:58
Speaker
Okay, let's stay on the ground. For fuck's sake. I'm merely mentioning the negatives that could possibly come with the back of plans. No, but you're right to mention it because we may find ourselves in a situation where we have no alternative but to fly. So we need to think about it. I think we're overthinking it. I think we're overthinking it. I think we do what needs to be done. Let's just do it. I often think we can think of these life and death situations. Yeah, absolutely.
00:47:22
Speaker
yeah anything so hard last night before we didn't think about it when you know we had to deal with dragon dragon dragon we're like drago great idea let's go with your idea drago and we kill a dragon so we're having an idea now to go in a tower great idea let's go in a tower um helen record is there anything and um car sounds reaching his memories back as well because he also experienced it through going into helen's mind is there anything are there any like
00:47:52
Speaker
foes that we need to be careful of? All of them mate. Is there anything in particular that we need to be saving ourselves for?
00:48:05
Speaker
yeah well you know there is there is drago's arch nemesis he's probably there there is the weird one from your dream he might be there presumably our fear is there and we've got a plan for him i'm gonna burn that bastard he nearly burnt me
00:48:23
Speaker
Well, you know, let's save the, save the anger for the bad bads, you know. Okay. Yeah. We just need to defeat this blight and there's only one way to do that. Yeah. And if you, to be honest, Karsten, if you turn around and run away again, you're going to have to look out, you're going to have to be careful of me because I'm going to come and spank you. I'm running to the blight. It's not the best thing.
00:48:48
Speaker
Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. You are the habit of running away, mate. I stood still last time, thank you very much. Didn't run away. That's growth, personal growth. You were trapped in a hole.
00:49:02
Speaker
You're a horse. Okay, so horseback, that start we're going for. Yeah, sorry, back on track. Horseback, I stand there, we'll be at the back so that no one pokes him in the eye. Right, okay, so horseback behind the surge, it's pushing
Tower Assault Plan and Final Preparations
00:49:14
Speaker
forward. Not the surge, they're going on the pints of blank. We're going to go behind the fourth. Fourth legion, behind the fourth, and act as the poison when the opportunity arises, enter through to the tower, and then hopefully we'll have a chance to
00:49:31
Speaker
maybe getting off the horses and talk about our next steps before. Well, when we're in the tower, there isn't much talking. When we're in the tower, there's a staircase to the left, and there's another door to go through. We went through the second door, and then we were stood above the pit of doom, and that's where we need to destroy it, Aragorn. Bish, bash, bash. Destroy the really bad book. Done. Yeah. Right. Okay. That sounds... What are we waiting for?
00:49:59
Speaker
And as Khastan flails his hands in the air to that comment, I've forgotten his name, there's so many NPCs now, I can't wait. Lucian wanders back over towards you, looking a little aimless, and he's kind of rubbing his hands a little bit, a furrowed brow and just looks towards you, Helena, and just says, Helena, can I have a word alone? Yes, of course. Thank you.
00:50:23
Speaker
He kind of wanders off a little bit, kind of rubs his head a little bit, and turns to you after a couple of paces away and just says, I'm going to come with you. You know that, right? I wouldn't think anything different. And I know that this is where I die. I feel it. I know it. What do you mean? You don't know anything. You haven't seen the future. How can you?
00:50:54
Speaker
I don't know. It's just, it's something that's been growing this, this knowledge, this end. I feel like a book and I'm in my own last chapter and I'm more weighty on the left than I am on the right. Lucy, how much have you been drinking? He looks stoically back at you. Nothing.
00:51:19
Speaker
I just need to tell you that something might happen to me and you are not to stop. You are to leave. You are to continue. I don't know what it is and I hope I am wrong and I hope these feelings are just mutual feelings of dread and apprehension that comes with battle but this is something bigger than that. This is something deeper and this is something more forlorn. Just promise me you'll
00:51:47
Speaker
You'll find what remains of our family and you'll bring the sleep guard back to what it was. Of course I will, Lucian. I won't let you down. Have I ever? No. No, you've never. But I... You're my brother. I need to protect you. No. Those days are long gone now. We're all grown up saving the world. But I can't. You've seen me. I'm a warrior.
00:52:17
Speaker
A champion fighter, I can take it on. There won't be any stopping when the blight hits. You've seen them. It's do or die. There's no time to turn back and rescue people and be the hero in that regard. You have to be ruthless. You have to be stoic. You have to complete your mission. You have to get to that damn tower. And you need to do what needs to be done.
00:52:48
Speaker
Promise me you won't turn around. And through gritted teeth, she looks into your eyes and she knots her head. Thank you. Now, I'm just going to go, uh, have a quick chat with Gum here, if that's okay. But grabs your, um, hands as you're just about to move away. And then she pulls you into her so she can give you a big hug.
00:53:18
Speaker
There's one good hand and it's clawed right. He kind of clunks that round you and embraces you and holds you tight. And it lasts a while. It's a good hold. It's a good embrace. It holds for a while. Before he instigates the break, takes a breath and just says, I need to go have a quick look at
00:53:37
Speaker
so the wires are loose loose on the on the old uh on the old anchor here so i need to just go sort that out uh come here's got a guy that should be able to just have a quick look at it before we go in it's a bit creaky on the old joints but you go and she sort of gives you a punch in the arm hey none of that please we'll be back soon anyway i need to hear what the fuck we're doing or how we're even going to get there but i'm sure you guys have come up with a absolutely foolproof plan absolutely solid yes yeah don't worry it's all gonna be fine
00:54:08
Speaker
And he gives you that kind of knowing, knowledgeable look of a brother that has, you know, stayed you right through all these years. And he turns away and kind of saunters off towards Gomir and now the growing multitudinous force of the obsidianus that continues. Sorry, yes, the obsidianus that continued to grow the fourth under Gomir. Impressive tiefling stood over now on a slightly elevated platform, commanding areas and platoons of his legions as they pour through. They seem to have almost grown in numbers since you last saw them at Bleakmoor all those months ago.
00:54:39
Speaker
And as you turn in as a group and you take your final provisions on casting closes the book, Casa, may I ask who you're going to pass the book to? Are you holding on to it? Because I feel that might be important. Who wants the book? Don't keep hold of it or safest in the bag. It's safest with. No, no, no, no, no. It's safest on a person. We might need it quickly rather than like in fully bag of like stuff. It took images to find it.
00:55:06
Speaker
Yep. I'm going to give it to Claude. Thank you. Who's got the dagger again, Helena? Me. I've got them both. Can we split them up? I'll take the dagger. Helena, take one. Claude, take the other. That's a terrible idea. We have to stab the book with it. We don't want them in two places. We do have to stab the book with it, but if we...
00:55:25
Speaker
I don't know. You guys had this vision. Who stabbed a book? I'll keep it safe and then when we get there, I'll give it to Helena. I think it's a good idea if we keep them all on the one person because if one person falls down, we have to remember to get back from them. I think if we just know that there's one person that's got everything, it's safer for us to know. Maybe. I'm sorry about this, Claude. This isn't against you.
00:55:53
Speaker
Maybe it's best giving it to Helena because you can act as her ward and keep her alive. But Helena might be doing a lot of fighting before then? Exactly. I mean, I'd say I would be actually, yeah. It's your decision. I'd be happy to keep hold of them. I know. I trust you as, you know, as a family friend and my God, as it has been the past couple of months. I'll give them both to you.
00:56:22
Speaker
and Helena will take them. You've been her shield all this time, Claude. No need for that to stop now. Nope. And as you pass over those items, the cold evening rain continues to drizzle down upon you, protected by the dead black trees above you. You take in the final provisions, you douse the small fire you put to keep you warm,
00:56:48
Speaker
and the second the flames are put out your body starts to plummet in temperature back again though you can't see your breath anymore, you feel cold your chest feels cold almost like you're coming down with something like a cold, like a flu but it doesn't sit well on you and all of you start to realise that this is the area, this is what it does to you if you stay too long here it starts to pull on your very being
00:57:15
Speaker
As the realization comes on, and maybe as maybe Kastan or Drago, you peek your head up over and look down almost across the natural parapets towards your goal, towards the undead, you can see. You take a breath and look back at each other and realize this is it. This is the push. This is the end.
00:57:38
Speaker
And that's where we're going to leave it for this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop. That was epic. Oh, it's just the car before the storm, though, I'm feeling. It's just too... Yeah, man. That was so needed, like, that calm. I know your plan. I can actually plan how it's going to happen. And you've picked, like, the best of every single world. We're going to do a bit of this, then maybe a bit of this, and then maybe a bit of that. You've given me the narrative, so thank you for your plan.
00:58:05
Speaker
Drago's part of, I wanna ride at the front, I'm like, we're gonna die, we're gonna die. I know, I know, I know, it's not a good plan. It was quite funny. But Drago did not like magic, he did not like flying, so of course he's gonna go fly one horse back. Also, it's the battle, like, come on! I love the idea that if we were gonna go to the top of the tower, we were gonna like, what if they took the eagles to Mordor?
00:58:35
Speaker
We just bypassed all these floors of plot that Mark had written. No, no, no, no. At this point, genuinely, at this point, I've gone, I will write, I've got nothing after this. I've got a rough idea for the final battle. I've got nothing after this because I want you guys to totally make every choice you want. And when you said about flying, I was like, fuck yeah, you've just taken out the big bad in the sky.
00:58:54
Speaker
fair enough but then the idea we came up with was good and the idea that like then then suddenly folly becomes the focal point because if he goes down you all literally plummet um like it's all it's all made yeah it's not a spell i can cast twice no so it's um you always had polymorph i thought that might be something you might think about polymorph i can only cast it once
00:59:13
Speaker
And it's only concentrate, and it's concentrate again. And unless you can turn yourself into a fucking dragon, then we all ride on. No, I don't have the increased version of polymorph, otherwise it's totally fine. Just think about that. Beautiful montage we've got of riding through the fucking storm to get to the eye. It's gonna be epic. I'll fuck it. Tune in next week, guys. Come on. I mean, I don't have to work to sell this shit anymore, surely. There's a hundred and fucking four episodes in. If you've made it this far, we've sold it to you. Congratulations. You're committed already. I'm stuck.
00:59:39
Speaker
We're excited about this. You should be too.
Conclusion and Social Media Outro
00:59:42
Speaker
And if you wanted to buy stock into Twitter, maybe you should because the only fucking social media that managed to keep online at the moment.
00:59:50
Speaker
And we have a Twitter page. You can find it at fellowship table, and then you wanted to go one step further and follow us individually. You can do so. I'm at iWorldA1, Callum's at theD20Gamer, Darrin's at... Darrin, page 06. Hacey's at... Unicorn Quit. Danny's at... Total Party Thrills. Will is at... Natural 20 Will. And Wicked... I wanted to say Big Willy Will, and I... I'm right here, mate. So our Big Willy DM is at... Tastily World DM.
01:00:19
Speaker
Until next time guys.