Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
C2 Ep. 136 Seeking the Answers Chapter Two
318 Plays2 years ago
The party gets a call from an ally, but will their assistance prove to be an asset or a liability?
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of our amazing Show Sponsors: Laura Pickrahn, Darrin Katzska, Irene Viorritto, Ryan Royce, Darrell DeLaney, Charles Compton, Deviouspoptart, Nastasia Raulerson, David Scrams, Elizabeth Clark, Andy Dossett, Rebekah Gowman, deviouspoptart, Eðvarð Arnór Sigurðsson, Michael Clark, Eric Witman, Jerry Theuns, Philip Newman, Mark Stanley, and Shelby Johnson.
Recommended
Transcript
Opening and Introductions
00:00:00
Speaker
The following episode is brought to you by Mark Stanley, Philip Newman, Shelby Johnson, Jerry Thunes, Andy Dossett, Eric Whitman, Edvard Arnoff, Natasha Rallerson, Deavius Poptart, Rebecca Gowman, Elizabeth Clark, David Scrams, Charles Compton, Darryl Delaney, Ryan Royce,
00:00:21
Speaker
Darren Katska, Irene Villarito, and Laura Pickford, as well as all of our generous patrons.
00:01:11
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Eberron Renewing the actual play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I'm your game master Eric. I'm Philip. I'm Trevor. Call me Jeff. And welcome to another episode. Gentlemen, what happened last time?
Raynard's Dilemma
00:01:27
Speaker
Greetings.
00:01:29
Speaker
we reconvened to debrief each other on our meetings. And we got most of the way through some of them. And then Raynard decided to take us down the garden path to get to the point of his and got there right as you called the episode. So that's where we're at. So continue. Okay. So when Raynard says, did you say kill the leader of house Yarlent murder? Yeah. Murder. Okay.
00:01:58
Speaker
Hob just does, like he's still holding Trevor by the shoulder, or Rainard by the shoulders, and he just shoves away. It doesn't actually punch him, but he's kind of like, what? I don't know what to do. Not that, I think. Not that. Right. Step one, not that. I think so far so good for you. I tried to not say yes. Good. You didn't say yes, right? I didn't think I did. Does your father think you did?
00:02:26
Speaker
But you didn't say no. I might have insinuated a positive response. Just to keep Raynard out of the doghouse, I feel like it's more appropriate to say he didn't. There was no yes or no. You were told to do it and then dismissed. Sure. I'm just trying to give Trevor an out. I wasn't really given a choice. I was just told to do it and then I left. And we're not gonna do it, right? That's not, it's not, we're not gonna do that.
00:02:54
Speaker
My brother told me to wait a few days and see if my father cooled down. And still not do it. And then changed his mind. Sure. We'll see. That could be good. But we'll see if he changes his mind. We're not seeing if we're going to do it. He might have offered me a seat of power. Yeah. Rainer, I'll be very clear. I cannot imagine.
00:03:21
Speaker
a reason that I would murder the leader of a house because your dad wanted me to, so that he can continue to prop up the work of Solomon Callaway. Right, yeah. That's probably where the 10,000 gold comes in. So, Matt, I forgot about that part. Yeah, if we do that, then...
00:03:41
Speaker
Callaway gets to keep having a dragon marked house in his corner. Could get rid of Solomon Callaway. Yeah, man. Absolutely good. The beginning of a lot of our problems. I have a question about that. Sort of an end to meet with him. If we did that, if we just murdered Solomon Callaway, would that not create more problems for us?
00:04:08
Speaker
in similar style of the death of Ignacio because we killed just a random member of our starani and that got quite a lot of attention in spite of us having a gang trying to keep it from getting attention. I think if you kill a more famous person, it gets even more attention.
00:04:36
Speaker
Not to mention... Do you think your father still would not be unhappy if we were to take out Callaway? Don't make it as obvious it was us. How'd your father want it done? No, don't answer that, because I know that answer. How about the fact that it is possible that taking care of Solomon Callaway would be more trouble than the sum total of all of our other troubles?
00:05:03
Speaker
We don't know how unbelievably difficult it might be, what he might be able to throw at us when he gets wind of it, if he doesn't already know that people are gunning for him, which I'm sure he must.
Strategies and Alternatives
00:05:16
Speaker
Now Trevor, Jesus, now Raynard, I don't want you to think that we're going, I am going to abandon you in this. I'm willing to work on ways to get you out of this situation, but to in a way, ones that do not involve the murder of the leader of a powerful dragon marked house. Oh, when you put it that way, it does seem a bit extreme, doesn't it? Yeah, man.
00:05:42
Speaker
Oh wait, were you considering going ahead and doing this job? Well, just asking you all. Can I have that Anne Fletcher back just so that you don't commit a horrible crime that will then get toast back to me because I made the weapon that you used? No, I wouldn't go alone. Because you're constantly leaving your weapons around. Well, I'm just forgetting I have them on me. Yeah, no, I don't know.
00:06:10
Speaker
Oh, if that's all. Wait, I forgot my wand. Because I feel like I've got a pretty decent set up to not have to be a criminal. And if you go and commit a crime walking around a thing I invented and then like they find out, I feel like that might. I assumed people would react negatively to the idea. You're right. So I was going to pursue it if that were the case.
00:06:39
Speaker
Okay, you just haven't said that yet. This is the first time you said I'm not going to do it. And see, then you pause. Are you still going to do it? Okay, we're not going to do it. Are you still going to try to do it? No.
00:06:58
Speaker
Well, what will your father say about that? Hopefully in a few days time he will have changed his mind. But what if he does not change his mind? Are you kicked out of the family again? This really doesn't sound like that's such a bad thing. Yeah, that's so bad. I think he said it would upset Basil to slit my throat. Is that true? Would Basil be upset if he had to slit your throat? Probably not. But I would say I'd be dead.
00:07:25
Speaker
Would it upset Basil enough to not do it? No, I think he's involved heavily enough to not disobey. Okay, then next question. You hate your father, right? Yeah, thank you. I've never even met your father and I hate your father. You could meet him if you like. Nope. Nope. No one would like that, actually. He would not like that either, yeah. We could murder him.
00:07:54
Speaker
That was not actually what I was going to say. So murder doesn't have to be the option. I feel like it's not necessary for us to murder anyone in this position, but you could talk to that head of, you didn't even give us the name of the person you went and talked to. The other, the more powerful person you talk to, you could talk to them and warn them. And maybe that solves the problem since, you know, they want
00:08:23
Speaker
to not work with Callaway and your dad does want to work with Callaway. Yes, perhaps that's very good. Perhaps the Baron could take care of it. She doesn't. But if you truly hate your father, that sounds like a fairly good option to me. I think Eris makes a very strong point.
00:08:46
Speaker
I could talk to her. Apparently, I'm really good at talking to people in power. I feel like I was really successful in talking to Koldor. And that was after I really screwed him up. Hob makes that face that dogs make when they just can't believe what's going on around them. Manera says she's really good at talking to people in power. No one is more surprised than I am. I just don't think there's a way I get out of this with a good ending.
00:09:13
Speaker
But you may not get out of it unscathed, but that could be better than not getting out of it. What's the bad thing that happens if you contact the Baron? What's the downside of that? Father could find out I told her. But it probably wouldn't matter because she'd probably deal with your father. Is that something you have an issue with? No.
00:09:43
Speaker
Right then. And if you don't do it, your father's going to have Basil slit your throat. Just a lot of throat slitting happening in my mind. That's my real sticking point. I can't get past the slit throat part. Everything else seems... But it's just like that's what your house does, isn't it? Yes. So it's probably something out of that no matter what.
00:10:07
Speaker
insinuation that I would be the next in line. They go for the house. If the Baron got rid of your dad, might that not still be true? I don't think that's a good idea. They just turned it down. Milo did. I had a perfectly good scheme to put Milo in charge of the clan. He just doesn't want it, so we're not going to do it. Raynard, I don't mean to intimate that your father might not be trustworthy.
00:10:32
Speaker
But is it possible? He's an increasingly honest man in his defense. Yeah. But is it possible that he's just saying these things to get you to do these things and actually has no intention of putting the son he just recently allowed back into his presence as second in command of the entire family? Yeah, what if he just sends you the Dreadhold? I mean, isn't that Alistair? Is it possible he's setting you up to be the fall guy?
00:11:00
Speaker
Yeah. That'll work. Nefarity? Nefariosity. Based on the nefarious nature of his schemes, he told me I would be the best choice. But is there really any evidence of Alistair? Okay, hang on. Let's not go too far down this road with Raynard right now. Yes. Yeah, but you're a big dumb idiot. I have done nefarious things.
00:11:25
Speaker
Okay. Question for more of an academic pursuit than anything else, but who might challenge your father to fill the power vacuum? Is it guaranteed that he would step up and take the Baron's place? Oh yeah, good point. Because if he doesn't end up being the new leader, then you're not second in command, Reynard. Hey, we can talk to the Dark Latins about this. I bet they could help. I bet they could help with a
Recording Evidence and Family Dynamics
00:11:49
Speaker
lot of things. It's just going to become the default. I don't like to get involved with the
00:11:54
Speaker
authorities I would love for Anybody is more than welcome to make a knowledge society check If you don't have any ranks in it would just be your Intellect as the base if you had said perception. I was going to disconnect from this call. I got some I got no society, but I am intellectual I
00:12:19
Speaker
Two purple. I have almost no knowledge of anything. I've got one rake in underworld. Couldn't tell you what I have. Okay. Eris knows everything about high society. Holy cow. Eris is all of a sudden the most knowledgeable. Zero success for Milo, two success, six advantage for Eris. Through talking through this, and especially once the line of thinking comes up about the ridiculousness of Calvair putting this job on. Oh, yep. I apologize.
00:12:48
Speaker
Something's wrong, but no. Oh, but that still doesn't make sense. Anyway, there should only have been four green. I don't know how they're going to be in six green. So I guess just drop the last two, in which case it's one success and four advantage. OK, one success for advantage.
00:13:03
Speaker
Still, you are successful. What's the line of thinking about the ridiculousness of Calvary giving this job to Reynard, the son that he just brought back into the house, etc. It's entirely possible that it could work out the way that you all are saying. That the Baron realizes Calvary's duplicitousness and gets him out, whatever. It's also equally possible
00:13:25
Speaker
that at this stage it's Calvary's word against Reynard's. Calvary right hand for centuries versus Reynard who was kicked out of the family for stealing from Calvary just now brought back in and now saying he wants me to kill you. So it's a plan but there are some holes in the viability of it. You have four advantage and no it can't be how about that's not true. The Baron will believe Reynard.
00:13:56
Speaker
I recorded the conversation. Yeah, I was thinking that that's probably more triumph territory. How about Raynard trying to think like how Raynard could know if he wanted to pursue that course. Raynard could know
00:14:17
Speaker
where to acquire evidence of this. Surely if his father jumped immediately to, and I'd be next in line, his father has to have, just by the Tywin Lannister-ness of him, has to have made some kind of preparation ahead of this event to feel that certain that he would be in charge. And Raynard knows where he would be able to acquire
00:14:47
Speaker
that information. So, I mean, yes, but you are correct, except that his plans began today when Elvinor told him to break off relations. So he would be actively doing those things now as opposed to there being existing evidence of him having done it. So there's still, you can still catch him, but it would be more in his active pursuits as opposed to evidence of past pursuits.
00:15:18
Speaker
So what if I rig up a recording device on you and you go back and you get your dad to talk to you about it again? That seems like a death wish. You're planning on going back in three days anyway. There you go. And if he's some sort of, and if he says, no, nevermind, I turned for mind, I was just hot under the collar. Then it doesn't matter. And if he says, yes, why haven't you killed the Baron yet? You disappointment.
00:15:44
Speaker
then you'll have it on recording. I've never met you dad, I was just doing an impression on what I think is just based on the things you've said. You don't get patted down when you go home, do you? Who knows what's going to happen? I can turn anything into a recording device.
00:16:04
Speaker
I can make that distinctive dagger he carries everywhere and loses half the time into a recording device. He no longer has that. It was left in Satan's corpse. What if you turned Arthur into a recording device? I could probably do that. He might already be one. Don't do that. Because Arthur could be there now. Don't hurt everyone's favorite cat. I'm looking at Arthur.
00:16:30
Speaker
Turning him into a recording device implies something happening to Arthur. Look, every now and again, I turn Hobb into a stronger Goliath. Does it hurt him?
Communicating with the Baron
00:16:40
Speaker
Indirectly, it often hurts him. Hobb often gets hurt, but it's not. But I didn't do it. It gives me a confidence that is apparently aggrandized. Eris doesn't know the meaning of the word enablement. Would the Baron accept the word of a house cat?
00:16:57
Speaker
It would be a recording. I just meant we could just get off it to go do it and then you could tell us about it. Since he's a polymorph cop. I'm trying to think of a good thing. Okay. Raynard reaches into like his bag or pocket or something. Are you still wearing the gold armor in front of all of them? Okay. Yeah. Just wanted to make sure, clarify. No, they didn't care. Milo's used to it. Yeah, I remember that. Was it an owl? Eris has resigned. He was for a while as well.
00:17:24
Speaker
Yeah, to the non-costume party. So Raynard takes off the shape-shifting locket and hands it to Aeris and says, turn this into the recording device. Yeah, I can do that. I'll be wearing it anyway. I've been wearing it. It would be the least suspicious. Sure. And I guess I'll- You want to do anything else? Return in a few days and see what happens. And here's a piece of gold for your time. Thank you.
00:17:49
Speaker
Eris looks offended and puts the gold in her pocket. Hey, pay your friends for the, pay your friends for their labor. If they have a skill, don't assume it'll be free. My father had them in a bowl on the way out of the house, so I grabbed a few. In a bowl with his keys.
00:18:07
Speaker
actually listen yes please great podcast called normal gossip where a girl talks about she dated a man who came from a wealthy family and they did just have a spare cash bowl like a petty cash bowl by the front door you could grab some on your way out insane
00:18:23
Speaker
Absolutely ridiculous. Yes, Eris will absolutely attempt to do that when we're done with the rest of this conference. Because, you know, we haven't actually decided what we're doing in terms of the Boromar thing, because this kind of just became another thing. The issue is now I look like Dren here, but that's okay. What is the difference?
00:18:41
Speaker
you keeps acting like you've changed appearance and i can't tell well it's even the slightest difference it's mainly the person is it's mainly the color and the length of the hair does this actually change the shape are you sure this is real oh i described the first time yeah really i know i'm the only the only change i notice is you seem less burdened when you turn in one direction yeah the whole
00:19:10
Speaker
Boromoffing. So we think Erin should be in charge. Can we send her like a questionnaire about how she would behave as leader of the clan before we decide whether to risk our lives getting her out? No? Okay. I think they probably read the prisoners mail.
00:19:31
Speaker
If you want to be our leader. It goes through the teleportation device. You remember when we stole all those teleportation things? You remember when I was teleported to the sky above Sharn?
00:19:50
Speaker
because of something you knew right now. Nope, actually not. My Thorani cousin, right? No, nope. Yes, your Thorani cousin. It was that little guy gaslighting you actually that had a lot to do with what happened to me. Randy, I'm just checking in genuinely to make sure you haven't forgotten, or if you're just waiting about why Erin is in the Dreadhold, because you haven't told them that, like the information that Tarvel revealed about why she's actually in there.
00:20:20
Speaker
So, I'm just making sure, if you're waiting to reveal it, that's fine. Ignore me. No, I mean, I had intended to, and then yes, I did forget. So thank you. I do have... You're asking about Erin and sending a questionnaire and whatnot, what she would do or not do, but I would...
00:20:40
Speaker
I'll give you some insight into her character that I previously did not know. But she isn't a dread hold.
00:20:52
Speaker
because she took the fall for the murder of two dark lanterns, as I recall, and she took the fall because of her son. And as I discovered, her son was Vigo. I'm sorry, what? What?
00:21:20
Speaker
You had a meeting with Viggo's father? Oh man, that must've been- We all know Viggo's father. But I had a meeting with him. We didn't all have a meeting with him. I realize we know him, but Milo discovered that he was Viggo's father like moments after we
00:21:40
Speaker
beat the crap out of Vigo and turned him over to the police is what I'm saying. Yes. Yeah. How did he seem to feel about all of that? That's what I'm trying to get to. Yes. After I, and after I played the recording for, they essentially had disowned Vigo. Okay. Not very fond of him. Sure. And a mother's love is
00:22:06
Speaker
quite strong in this case, so she took the fall for Vigo and went into the Dreadhold. Tarvel was... The impression I got anyway was not happy about it at all. So, questioning if a mother's love is that strong, might a mother's love be strong enough that she'd be really angry at a group who, say,
00:22:34
Speaker
beat her son within an inch of his life and then gave him to the police.
00:22:37
Speaker
Or is it possible her love for her son has cooled over her time in the Dreadhold? That'd be nice too. I just... That's why Aer is thinking about it before. On a scale of one to five, your feelings about your son, Viggo? One being not very likely. Hypothetically speaking. I think that she might not be too surprised at what has become and what has befallen him. Okay.
00:23:06
Speaker
I'm not opposed to getting her out. I just don't want to get her out. And then she tries to kill us. Yes. And I'm sure Tarbo will explain everything to her in one of his communiques.
Eren and Vigo's Family Tensions
00:23:23
Speaker
So we can certainly ask him what her response was to that. Okay.
00:23:33
Speaker
That raises just like the slightest potential problem. She's in the Dreadhold for killing Dark Lanterns with whom I just made a lot of negotiated arrangements. Right. Perhaps it would be good to go to. So they have any evidence that it was actually Vigo?
00:23:59
Speaker
Yes, this I do not know. Sure, I could talk to Koldor. Let's see what he thinks about Eren Ormar. Are the rest of us clear to talk to Koldor or if we were to see Verla not have to leave? Yes, Verla is not chasing the rest of you anymore.
00:24:21
Speaker
I don't know why that just occurred to me to ask. I feel like Hobb would have asked sooner, but here we are. Sorry, let's get back on topic. Yeah, there was a multiple step negotiation where I had a conversation with Verla about giving her Vigo in exchange for leaving you all alone. And then the Koldor taught, raised all this other stuff. And so I negotiated with him too.
00:24:47
Speaker
got it i just like i think it may be a very good idea to speak with cold or definitely could get us more info i have figure could they get the information about these murders from him possibly they could easily be we don't have to get her out of there that if there's a confession they let her out oh yeah that's yeah it's worth talking about
00:25:15
Speaker
Yeah, no, that's very reasonable, actually. Am I smart? See, the thing they don't say when they mention that a broken clock is right twice a day is that it's wrong the whole rest of the time. Maybe I can start fixing my own problem. Yeah, OK. So talk to Koldor. That's what we think is the thing to do. Yes, I believe you all want to come this time. Yeah, I haven't seen Berlin in a while. Yeah.
00:25:41
Speaker
Wanted to right up until that right? Yes, I will be there. Hey, I will be there. I will loom it will be although Really amenable without them without them looming. Oh bring on says she likes awesome. He may already be there Yeah, checking in with his employers. He's a cat He's a kitty cat trust that cat
00:26:03
Speaker
I've seen Eric shaking his head no a lot during this episode. Some cats have jobs, Eric. What's your problem? Am I good to call Verla then? Or do we need to, is there anything else we need to work out? No, I think, I think we're doing a lot of things correctly. We're keeping the Dorla demon stuff on the periphery while we handle these very pressing things. But it seems like if, suppose that Dorla's right, if we do what we're talking about doing, then it solves it. It's like, I want to do what Dorla asked us without telling anybody explicitly what Dorla asked us to do.
00:26:33
Speaker
And then you're right because it sounds really silly. Ray not has a couple of days. So that's not something to worry about. Right. So Eris takes out her communicator, adjusts it to Verla's frequency. She loves it when you do this. And so I imagine somewhere, Verla is in the middle of a call and suddenly it just switches. Hi, Verla. Hi, Eris. What's up? So first question, are you in someone else's office?
00:27:03
Speaker
No, I'm in my office currently. Cool, good just to check. I have talked about it with the gang and they also had some odd meetings that touch on the thing that agent Koldor
00:27:22
Speaker
if that's his real name, wanted me to do, we would just sit down with him and he didn't let me handle his communicator, so I don't have his frequency. Okay, I will get in touch with him and see if I can arrange a meeting.
00:27:43
Speaker
how are you day great a lot of paperwork with our new guest here at the city watch so just trying to get that all squared away and taken care of so he doesn't walk out the door oh i have maybe a piece of information that you should just know while you're working on vigo apparently some okay
00:28:03
Speaker
I don't remember if we know how long ago Aaron went into the Dreadhold. Milo would have been able to ride that since he was around for it. It's been probably close to 20 years ago. Like it's been a long time because it's Vigo and Corin were like teenagers. OK.
00:28:20
Speaker
That's embarrassing for the Dark Lanterns. Yeah, so like 20 years ago a couple of lanterns got killed and Eren Boromar was arrested and sent to the Dreadhold. Oh yeah, Satan's sisters. Yeah, it has been brought to our attention by some of the people in the clan we've been talking to. That also was Viggo and she took the fall to protect her son.
00:28:46
Speaker
I don't have any evidence for that. It's what I've been told. And so I thought it would be just something for you to hear in case it is in fact true. You don't sound happy. Okay. When you sigh like that. I'm tired. I'm not unhappy. I'm just tired. You're doing a really good job. Thank you, Harris. I appreciate it. I'm just trying to make up for the fact that you're probably going to be in a room with Raynard later. Hello.
00:29:14
Speaker
Thank you. Okay. I bet you're smartly dressed too. Thanks, but no, I appreciate it. Erin Boromar, innocent of the Dark Lantern murder she was convicted for, it was actually Viggo and she took the fall because she is his mother. I'll look into the case files on it and see how strong the case was, if it was shaky and it would be believable, or if it's entirely possible that Erin could have planted evidence making herself seem more culpable in which case it would be a harder sell.
00:29:44
Speaker
Yeah, it just might be relevant to this thing that Koldor wanted me to work on. But I'll explain it to him too, just... Wait, are... Oh wait, okay. What? Wait, what? How does Eren Boromar fall into your plan? Don't tell me. Don't, no, I'll be there for the Koldor meeting, just... Alright.
00:30:06
Speaker
I'm going to enjoy some blissful ignorance for a bit. Thank you. Thank you, Eris, for the information. I will add that to the file and look into it. Be careful out there. We've already had a couple of the barristers for the clan claiming that Viggo has been framed and coerced into his confession. And some of the city watch who are obviously on the Boromar take are
00:30:30
Speaker
inclined to agree with them and yeah, just Be careful out there. And if you need anything know where to reach me at any given second. That's right. Yep You know, it's both ways right you can call me how could I Was about to ask I will be in touch once I get in touch with cold or and we can arrange a meeting. I
00:30:52
Speaker
Yeah, you just put your fingers on the top left and bottom right of your stone of your stone and it will switch frequencies. OK. Good to know. Top left. Wait. Top left bottom right. Yep. If I'm wearing it or if I'm facing it. If you're looking at the front of it. Oh, OK. So for me, it would be top right. Looking at the front of it while I'm wearing it.
00:31:17
Speaker
Okay. Sure. Yes. Okay. Thanks, Eris. I'll be in touch. And frequency goes quiet as she changes the frequency off of yours. Yeah, you just taught her how to hang up. Yes, that's because Eris trusts her now. Which is something she should be able to do. Right. It's the growth of a friendship. Yeah. Yes, it's a growth of a friendship. That's what you are to her. Okay, she's going to contact Agent Koldor and arrange a meeting.
00:31:47
Speaker
Also, she said, be careful because plans looking for us and some of their lawyers have shown up and suggested crazily that maybe Viggo's confession was coerced. It makes it no less true, but it was absolutely a coerced confession. That's my thing. What kind of person commits to a crime without being coerced? Exactly. Aaron Boromar. It was confessed or your son goes to jail. It's not like she's just sitting around thinking, I'm going to confess to a crime I didn't commit.
00:32:16
Speaker
unassailable logic. Thank you. Rainard. Anyway, what's next? Arthur jumps onto your shoulder. Oh, no. Look, I hang up with the police and then Arthur shows up. Coincidence? Yeah. There's a note tied to his collar. Rainard. Oh, he has a note. You were completely silent when Aaron gave you a prompt until he was like, OK, fine. And also this. You said he jumped on Aeris's back, didn't you?
00:32:47
Speaker
No. Rainard shoulder. I was over here jealous. I was like, I feed you. I was like, thank you, Trevor. What a generous improv partner you are. Stun silence instead of yes and. Appreciate it. OK, take two. Arthur. Nailed it. There's a note on his collar. I must read it. It's like you're hosting
Sigil's Call for Help
00:33:10
Speaker
Mr. Rogers. Paperhood.
00:33:13
Speaker
Look he's got a note on his collar and this word starts with boo It's a note from often It says Call the others Sigils here and needs help. I don't have to call you But a sigil is here and needs help at the for sales not here sigil needs help I saw everything at once I suppose
00:33:39
Speaker
Yeah. The one of the few promises we've made was to be there for. Yeah. No, we got to go. We've got to go. Why? We're all going to the same place and we have a skiff. I mean, sure. You can walk. And my bike. So we're waiting to hear back from Verla about the other meeting. Yeah. I don't have that meeting yet. So let's get aboard Tasha and head to the four sales. Off we go.
00:34:07
Speaker
What is up everybody, quick little break in the middle of the episode here to let you all know an exciting announcement forever on Renewed Moving Forward in that we're gonna start having sponsors! We've had some companies reach out wanting to sponsor the show and run ads and things like that.
00:34:23
Speaker
And part of the requirement is that we do them in the middle of an episode. And so this is just a less intrusive announcement of moving forward. We may have ad drops. We'll find a narratively satisfying point within the story to kind of take a break, do a quick ad run, and then come back into the episode.
00:34:41
Speaker
but just wanted to give you all a heads up beforehand so it's not really jarring the first time an ad drop happens, which may be in the very next episode. So yeah, I hope that you enjoy the products that decide to align with us and want us to tell you about them. And we will give you more information as we move forward. Thank you all so much. And back to the episode. Nah. You all get there without incident. I was looking at the story points. Think about flipping one, but you know. You thought about it though. You thought about an incident.
00:35:12
Speaker
Yo gets the for sales and do you all just walk into the front door like normal or what's the, you're more than welcome to, I'm just asking.
00:35:23
Speaker
Seems like we should then. I didn't think that until Eric asked. I could like walk in some sort of disguise myself, perhaps. I'm going to make an assumption of your approach. It's clear in territory. Paris pulls up to the foresales and walks into the foresales.
00:35:45
Speaker
OK, unless someone stops her, certainly goes in with her. You walk to the for sales. Arthur is with you. Arthur hops up onto the shelf up behind the bar that often has put a little cap that up there for Arthur for his breaks. But you see Sigil, they are sitting in a booth near the back and they see you walk in and they reach up and wave a bit at you all. See, they have a lot of nervous energy coming off of them. Oh, we walk over and Eris
00:36:15
Speaker
Hello. Sorry about the interruption. I hope that it wasn't a bad time. What's up? I need some help. My associates and I have discovered the location of an implement that House Caneth wants to use in the endeavors that I spoke to you about. They essentially, there's
00:36:40
Speaker
two competing movements and we've generated enough noise to where Kenneth is concerned about it. So they basically set up wards to where Warforged specifically can't cross a certain boundary. So we need to enlist the help of some non-Warforged people to stop this.
00:37:00
Speaker
Okay. If you all don't mind coming down to the cogs with me, myself and my friends can explain the situation, give you a layout and like the location and all that. I just came to retrieve you all and make sure that you were okay with helping. Absolutely. Thank you. Awards. Are they going to affect non warforged constructs?
00:37:24
Speaker
I don't believe so. I think it's a, once again, a lot of the war forge magic is in so far as we understand it is with our ghoulra. So as long as it's something that doesn't have a ghoulra on it, then should be fine. Okay. So yeah, unless you all have anything else that you need to do, we can head down that way.
Mission Planning and Moral Debates
00:37:43
Speaker
Lead on.
00:37:45
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sure. Let's go. Oh wait, is there a healing potion around? Just in case things turn soft, we all are beat the heck up still. It's been a day since anyone did a medicine check. That's true. You could. So somebody wanted to do a medicine check on some of us. This wound threshold is less than half, so it would be an easy difficulty medicine check. Thanks for that one night's rest, or mine would not be.
00:38:14
Speaker
I can do a check on somebody. I think Hobb is the worst off. Okay, what did you say? What was the difficulty too? One purple. One purple. Two success. Hobb. Two advantage. So that's two wounds back, right? Yep. I'll take the advantage and pass a boost on to Raynod to do a medicine check. Yeah.
00:38:40
Speaker
Yeah, we just doubling up on Auburn. What are we doing? Heiress is in a bad way as well. Heiress is down four after two next rest that we got. Heiress is in bad shape and has way less soak than Hawes. Oh, I forgot how to do that for you.
00:38:56
Speaker
I will attempt to heal Eris. You also, I forgot, have an outstanding upgrade that never got used for a check because of, I think one of Reynard's checks. We can apply that here since Reynard's medicine is too green. Eris is probably, okay. Sorry. One success, two advantage. Okay. Oh wait, two boost, not one. One success, so two success, three advantage.
00:39:23
Speaker
that cool and sure three advantage there's a often hears you ask about the healing potion hob and throws one at you okay and what do I roll you don't you drink it and heal six wood all six yep hooray and I have that bottle back yep and he sets it on the counter because he's not a great throwing let's ever come up pops not great throwing things oh
00:39:53
Speaker
He's always afraid he's going to throw it too hard. Fair enough. So he'd be good at throwing things in combat potentially. Cause then the point is to throw it hard, but okay. Anything that you all want to do before you head down to the cogs with Sigil? I don't think so. I don't. Okay. Taking Tasha, I'm assuming. Yes.
00:40:12
Speaker
Okay. Sasha, you'll, or Sasha, Tasha, you take her all down to the cogs and enter Narn as you enter. Narn gives a nod to Hob and a wave is, he's at the booth, signing people up, join House Deneth. Uh, and how's he looking? Is he, is there a line? Is he, it's evened out between House Tharashkin, House Deneth. Hob's efforts have been doing well. Certainly haven't overtaken, but certainly may close the gap.
00:40:42
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not losing any sleep over it. You just wanted to ask as you all are walking through the war the more warforged heavy district of the cogs and In a different spot, but a similar scene the last time you were down here and you saw sigil You see another warforged kind of standing
00:41:00
Speaker
on a small stage. This Warforged seems much more primal in terms of their construction, whereas Sigil is like shiny copper, they have intricate runes carved on them, things like that.
00:41:16
Speaker
this warforge their plating seems to be more stone as opposed to metallic and the wood that makes up their muscle fibers are a lot bigger and like some of the roots like branch out and wrap around the stone plating with small leaves and stuff and they have vines that grow out of the back of their head that they've tied up into kind of a high
00:41:39
Speaker
ponytail hangs down and they are standing, speaking to the crowd and you hear Sigil let out, sovereigns. That's the other movement that I spoke of that is not aligned with ours in terms of methodology. Well, they wanted you.
00:42:05
Speaker
as they look sick they his name is ash and he is a follower of the figure known as the lord of blades and as you get closer you can hear ashes proselytization to the group and saying they've been lying to all of you they tell you they respect you i'm sorry that you are
00:42:32
Speaker
One of them, that you are their equal, but it is lies. You are a sheep to them, meant to be taken to the slaughter. But if you come with us, you can rise up, throw off those that oppress you, and bring vengeance and retribution to those that gave you life and then told you how to live it.
00:43:01
Speaker
And unless you all are stopping to listen, Sigil just urges you all to continue walking. And they hate non-warforged, for one, him and his ilk. They want to go start their own nation in the morn land under the rule of the Lord of Blades, start a war against all non-warforged, kill them, things like that.
00:43:26
Speaker
And it's in the immediate with what's going on right now, whereas we want to find what Kenneth is doing and stop it. Their solution is if there is no Kenneth, then they can't continue their work. So why don't we just kill all of them is their methodology. Yeah.
00:43:47
Speaker
OK, so intense, very intense, but they've been getting a lot of movement because whereas. We don't really have a solution to what comes next for the war forge. Once we've dealt with this problem, they obviously can promise life in the mornland starting their own nation, where, as they put it, blood bags can't live. And so that's the term that one of the terms they use for
00:44:16
Speaker
non-warforged up to a point i'm like if there's a group of warforged that want to live in the mornland and they can do so safely then it's okay but that point where you get to like then start a war and kill everybody who's not that's where yeah lose it step two for their group is like reactivating the creation forges to create an army of warforged to then march and things like that so again halfway through that sentence is where i lost you because
00:44:44
Speaker
Sure, more warforged. Why not? But then the march on all the non-warforged and kill them. It's really, I'm discovering all across the course of these conversations that it's really the point at which we start murdering people that I just start to have a problem with a plan. Yeah, yeah.
00:45:07
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Anyway, we're almost there.
Warforged Allies and Facility Infiltration Plans
00:45:12
Speaker
And Sigil turns down an alleyway and leads you to a warehouse sliding barn style door with some crates and stuff near it and slide it and walk in. And it's an abandoned warehouse it looks to be, but it's the record scratch moment of the door opens and you all are standing in the doorway and every conversation that was happening amongst a group of about
00:45:35
Speaker
40 warforged stop and they all turn and look at the four of you in sigils waves it's like they're with me hello we're with them but you can let's just go yeah hi hi everyone and continues walking through
00:45:54
Speaker
You all approach a table at the back of this warehouse led by Sigil and a smattering of Warforged standing around the table, looking, examining. You notice a Warforged who has an intricate tree design on the top of their head. Their gulra is incorporated into the tree design, their eyes shining bright yellow. You also see a very large Warforged, not as big, like six foot seven. So like big for most people.
00:46:22
Speaker
covered in bright, shining adamantine plating. And yeah, I mean, you also see a couple other Warforged and Sigil walks up and says, hi, everyone. These are some of my friends that I've been making down here in our efforts. This is Spruce, Twig, and Leatherneck, and they've been assisting with the efforts down here and helping introduce me to the right people and things like that.
00:46:48
Speaker
And they twig is the really big one. Spruce is the one with the tree on their head. Leatherneck is pretty unassuming looking warforged twig. Why don't you, these are my friends. They are here to help us with the problem with the barrier that set up since obviously they aren't warforged. And yeah, so I can trust them, which means you all can trust them. And you all, even without really needing a perception check, notice that there is a deference to Sigil.
00:47:24
Speaker
intently listened and it's uniform. There doesn't seem to be any kind of, like when Rainard is formulating a plan the way Aeris gets, there's none of that in this group. Yeah. And Twig kind of nods like, well, thank you all for coming to help. I, we obviously appreciate it. We're hoping that you can break into a can of facility to steal something. Is everyone comfortable with that type of work?
00:47:41
Speaker
As soon as they began talking, everybody
00:47:53
Speaker
It's not like we've never done that before. That sounds awesome. Oh, great. Okay. And Twig references a large blueprint on the table. So these are the layout of the Canada facility. It's one level up, kind of directly above where we are.
00:48:11
Speaker
And there's a reception area. It's a industrial facility, but obviously they have a place for people to come check in and inspect and that kind of thing. There are some ventilation shafts that go down, so you could go directly up. There are also some windows, things like that.
00:48:27
Speaker
Essentially, the biggest issue is going to be that it is heavily, arcanely secured from what we can tell lots of potential traps, if not automaton security personnel, or unfortunately, there may be some warforged that have already undergone the transformation that we're all seeking to stop in a mass scale.
00:48:51
Speaker
and Sigil chimes in the Eldritch machine that we found some time ago. We think there may be another one of those in here as well, but there's a core to it that we're hoping that you all can steal and bring back to us and we can reverse engineer it in such a way to where we could hopefully remotely disable these machines without having to physically
00:49:15
Speaker
get to them is the end goal here. So, and Twig speaks up, I'm sorry that none of us can help, obviously with the wards being what they are, Warforged can't enter. If you could also, this is more of a sidebar, if you could figure out what's going on with that, that would be great. Maybe figuring a way to disrupt those wards, but obviously that's a secondary if things don't go wrong type of deal. And Spruce says,
00:49:45
Speaker
Also, if there are warforged that have been taken over, if you could figure out how to undo it, because right now we don't know that either. And Sigil puts a hit up. That's a blue skies ask, but if not, that's totally fine. And Spruce realizes they maybe shouldn't have maybe spoke out of turn in that moment and kind of steps back. Any questions? And if an else, Sigil says,
00:50:16
Speaker
Do you have anything, any questions for us, any needs or anything? Have you have a blueprint here? Oh, what happens when you try to cross the wards? It's a wall. It's an invisible wall. We physically cannot. Specifically our ghoulra. If we were to try and lean back and stick our foot through, we can, but our ghoulra can't physically pass through the ward. Have you been able to scout at all? Do we know anything about security or
00:50:43
Speaker
We, like I said, with the wards there, we've only been able to get an external sense. And then Spruce was able to sneak in and steal these blueprints from the, the district center that has such records. And this is house Kenneth, not like a contractor with house Kenneth.
00:51:03
Speaker
Insofar as we can tell, it is House Canit themselves. Yes. In fact, I have one other lead and Sigil gets a small pen and a piece of parchment and scribbles down.
00:51:18
Speaker
I think I've tracked down our friend that we've worked with before, worked against, and then worked with one time, and she might be able to help with the association, and Sigil hand you a piece of paper with an address. Posey. Posey! Aransas, but yes, we're on the same page. Good. We all go by nicknames here. I'm not really Hob.
00:51:45
Speaker
That's pretty much it. I know, but I didn't know if that was something you would have volunteered, so I stopped. Yeah, really, Milo's the only one going by his actual name, as far as we know. Yeah, what's up, Milo? Short for Milovich, actually, but... Wait, Aeris is not your real name? Nope. Nope, it's not. None of that had to happen in character. Twig kind of looks, Twig looks around. I'm uncomfortable, can I go? Me too, I'll go with you.
00:52:14
Speaker
We all go, actually. I don't know what happened here. I gotta stop making jokes. You're the ones bringing the awkward energy, so if you leave, I'm good to stay. Listen Twig, we don't really call each other out that specifically. I understand I'm in your group here, but also you're in our group here. We like to more passively aggressively do this.
00:52:36
Speaker
Sorry, oh no don't go no stay This is how I feel yeah, we're excited to help you all yeah, it's gonna be great
00:52:54
Speaker
Awesome. Be careful, though. Sigil, I was going to tell you this is Spruce speaking up. I was going to tell you when you got here, but you came with your friends. Ash Ash's group, I think, is also planning a hit. So there might be some I don't know the timeline or anything, but I heard murmurings that they were wanting to hit this place as well. Obviously, when we do in a more violent manner. But yeah, so just heads up. Keep an eye out.
00:53:24
Speaker
Hey, you mentioned us talking to Posey that she might help. Why would she help? She helped with the lizard situation, remember? That was Milhatch.
00:53:40
Speaker
It was also, it was in concert with Kenneth and she wasn't super stoked about what they were doing. And I feel like maybe she, I don't know, it was just an idea. And I thought that they might be, she might be willing to help because what Kenneth's doing right now is super not okay. And she seems to have at least some kind of moral compass. She's friends with Olive and you're friends with Olive. I don't know. But is Francis friends with Olive?
00:54:08
Speaker
They're friendly because Jerome and Aransas work together a lot. And you know how like you become friends by osmosis kind of thing. I don't know. Maybe that's just a me thing either. Okay. You all can handle it however you see fit, but thank you for your help. And if you need anything from us, we'll be here planning next, next moves. Bye. Awesome. Thank you. Thanks Will. Did we get a, is it just an ASAP kind of thing? Did I miss a deadline?
00:54:37
Speaker
No. Okay. I don't think we got one. Yeah. Okay. May as well take care. Yeah, exactly. Hooray.
00:54:45
Speaker
And we'll call the episode there. Thank you all so much for listening. If you want part of the conversation surrounding this episode, you can head over to our Discord, the link to which you can find on all of our socials at the Geek Pantheon, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, et cetera. The link is also in all of the descriptions of the YouTube videos over on YouTube.com slash the Geek Pantheon, where I do a variety of videos. We also have another actual play, Kyber Shards, on the Laughing Tree YouTube channel, GM'd by Philip.
00:55:12
Speaker
Played in by me and we have a patreon patreon.com slash the pantheon if you want to financially support the shows in any way that you can you can also buy some merch over at the game handy on calm and I've been your game master Eric I'm Philip. I'm Trevor. I'm Randy. Oh Jeff. Bye