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C1 Ep. 65 The Raven’s Toll Chapter Five
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This week on Eberron Renewed the party takes off on a path that Beric must walk in order to begin repaying the kindness granted to him by his spiritual benefactor. However, the party begins to discover that perhaps things are not going to be as simple as they had hoped…
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of our amazing Show Sponsors: Laura Pickrahn, Jessica Smith, Irene Viorritto, Ryan Royce, Darrin Katzska, Darrell DeLaney, Jon Cary, Charles Compton, Nikko Batson, Matt Lewis, and The Kamm Family.
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Transcript
Introductions and Generous Donations
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of Matt Lewis, Darryl Delaney, Darren Katska, Ryan Royce, Jessica Smith, Laura Pickron, Irene Villarito, Nico Batson, John Kerry, The Cam Family, and Charles Compton, as well as many others.
00:00:43
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Eberron Renewed, a D&D 5th edition actual play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I am your dungeon master, Eric.
00:00:50
Speaker
And I'm Philip. Randy, I'm Jeff and welcome to another episode.
Warm-Up Questions Revisited
00:00:55
Speaker
We are going to revisit a thing that we did a few episodes back where we do some warm up questions just to learn some more about the characters and things they would know about each other through just kind of existing for a while.
00:01:07
Speaker
Um, and because it came up in the last episode, we're going to start off with Booyah. Um, when you first found out that Barrick and Omerin were potentially romantically intertwined, um, what advice did you put in? What a weird way to say that. Involved. Involved. What unsolicited advice did you give Barrick about courting a, um, a potential partner?
00:01:38
Speaker
you have treat woman special make her feel special you know she don't feel special you know get nowhere you find she don't like you well you just get rid of
Perspectives on Romance
00:01:55
Speaker
of your intentions. He was chaotic evil at one point. Let's all keep that. But only if no like you, you know, you just just say goodbye. No need you no more. But you have make feel special. Maybe give present. Maybe find food she like and you make for her.
00:02:20
Speaker
that good. I always good idea. Um, what's a good present? Uh, Oh, good present could be, um, what those type women like by type, you mean human? Yeah. Those are, you know, maybe
00:02:39
Speaker
pick some of those flowers on the road or something, you know, give her a flower. Maybe she liked that. Maybe you could... I don't know, buy jewelry. Don't those kind of women, they like jewelry. Goblin women, they like trinket. But yeah, maybe jewelry like ring, fancy ring. Maybe it'd be good. You might go somewhere.
00:03:09
Speaker
somewhere you probably wanna be, you know? You're almost done with that book. You think she'd like that when you're done with it? You can give her that. That book, Booyah, I love book, got so many good story in it. Booyah, no need woman, Booyah got book. Booyah done with women. Boy. Wonderful.
00:03:39
Speaker
OK. I. Well, you have good advice for goblins. Dex. Yeah. What unsolicited advice did you give to Berwick? Dex did not. Dex. It. Anything Dex would have to say about relationships would be bad. He.
00:04:09
Speaker
never with the exception of his family and then these two jokers long term connection was not an interest of Dex's at any point. He never particularly cared what what women men or any other thing wanted because it was just the thing in front of him. He would do what it took for that. And then move on. So having become a little more
00:04:40
Speaker
Not a dill weed. He recognizes that there's literally nothing that he could say to Beric that would be helpful. And while sometimes that's funny, right now it is not. So.
00:04:55
Speaker
And at some point, Booyah has walked up to you and hands you something. Here, you take this, you give this her. She liked this present. And you see a really black, shiny rock that Booyah has taken his dagger and carved a smiley face into. Oh, that's adorable. You even tell her you put space on there for her.
00:05:25
Speaker
Oh my goodness. So yeah, so Dex has- See, that's something you say you make yourself. Right. Right. I think the only piece of advice that Dex has is don't give her that. Or if you do, tell her what happens. It might make for a cute story. Oh my goodness. Oh wow. Um, Barak.
00:05:52
Speaker
Given your upbringing and being a illegitimate son, how are your ideas on just connections, whether they be friendships, relationships, that kind of thing, informed by your mother's relationship with your stepdad?
00:06:19
Speaker
I think that, uh, York's marriage, uh, was not necessarily in, you know, an unhappy one or an acrimonious one. I think it was just, uh, they were, they were partners. They were, they were on a team, but not really in love, so to speak. They each had.
00:06:45
Speaker
positive attributes that they brought to the table and together they made a pretty decent life for their family. But Yurik, go away to war, go away to whatever tasks you've been given. He'd be in parliament or be doing his thing. And so they just sort of lived
00:07:11
Speaker
their lives were a Venn diagram, large separate spheres of life and this little area that overlap that was mostly just, you know, taking care of their children, had children in the overlap. Yeah. And how was your relationship with your stepdad? Since your mom went away to war, presumably he was the one. Not
00:07:38
Speaker
He was not unkind to Beric. He was never open to Beric. There was never any warmth there. Beric was a responsibility that he had. I think that's pretty much it.
00:08:00
Speaker
OK, which is why Berwick is instantly desperate to please or an L. The moment the moment an older male figure shows any sort of like mentory relationship to Berwick. Yeah. Just desperate to please that person. Booyah is older than than Berwick. I mean, it's true. It's true. It's less clear because goblins, you know, they have that not aging. Yeah. So small. Yeah. Booyah. Oh.
00:08:29
Speaker
How did your relationship with your parents when you were young inform your parenting style when it came to your son? We don't put up no nonsense. You have tasks too. You go do chores. You do what you're supposed to do. You don't do. You get cuff.
00:08:53
Speaker
You get ear cuffed. Um, you might not get eat. Um, you're supposed to be responsible to clan to family, but no time for fooling around, which make tough on Booyah cause the doula he different, you know, he,
00:09:16
Speaker
He's something Booyah today strive to be more like because he learned from son, but it was hard because Booyah have to cuff him sometimes, you know? So, okay. That's how it's hard to, to discipline son, because he's so different and Booyah loves son so much. But anyway, that it was hard for that. Gotcha.
00:09:44
Speaker
Um, and Dex, uh, your, your level of detachment from others that you spoke on, um, was that, was any part of that informed by, uh, your upbringing with your parents, uh, specifically not really your brothers, because obviously your brothers inform that quite a bit, but with your parents, what was the relationship like there? Um, so the way that changelings
00:10:16
Speaker
grow up is really dependent on their parents' philosophies. Some parents honestly will even abandon their kid with another family. I was lucky, or Dex, I don't know what I'm doing right now, I was lucky that my parents weren't that way.
00:10:39
Speaker
But I had a different, as I grew up, I had a different philosophy than they did. Um, you know, they were more about living as changelings, not being ashamed of it. You know, they were in a place where there were a lot of them. So it was cool. And I was like, nah, I need to go out and do some adventury stuff, have some fun. Uh, which was a coping mechanism for what had happened at home. Uh, that was Jeff talking, Texas coping mechanism. Um, and so my isolation thing comes from.
00:11:09
Speaker
getting out on my own. My parents didn't inform that at all. That's a pure construct of the way I decided to live at one point, not needing anybody else, which clearly he was wrong about. But he's learning that he probably still doesn't think he needs anybody else. But he's recognizing the benefit of of being with, you know, people that he can trust more than that thieves guild that he was in.
Mission Planning and Preparations
00:11:37
Speaker
Yep.
00:11:39
Speaker
Okay. Well, uh, last we left off, uh, well gentlemen, actually what happened last time? Mostly we made a plan to go after Arselt Ditharn. Uh, one of those. We'll fix it both. You pick the right, pick the right one. We pick after Arselt Ditharn.
00:12:06
Speaker
Who has one of the packs barracks plan is to go and take it We informed the various members of our extended party Yeah, yeah traveling company crew or boat of misfit toys. Yes everybody else of barracks Livingness and also of our intentions to go and
00:12:35
Speaker
do a thing. Barret got swindled by monarchical hierarchy. It's true. And so Borenel's coming with us. I'm very excited. I'll do pretty good that Erick will forget he's there during combat. You know him, right? Whatever. And so yeah, we
00:12:59
Speaker
I discovered that, uh, he can't get too far away from plainer justice. Otherwise he loses his sight. Yeah. And we also got to see exactly how not smooth with the ladies young Barak is specifically a lady. Well, but that's a, it's a, it's a representative sample. Unfortunately, um, of his,
00:13:29
Speaker
suavness okay well and so we're gonna feather fall into yeah do we have a name for this place that we're going i don't arcel's backyard okay i hear it now no that stays in i said his name you named him that's on you no a random table named him um
00:13:59
Speaker
um and once again we see when we see the fruit of random tables and that really i really was just it was this guy's backyard moving on um okay so you all are flying high above uh the british countryside um barrick you you're honed in on uh mr ditharn's uh location archie um
00:14:27
Speaker
So you have a pretty good sense of when you need to jump. You all, everybody but Booyah has done this before. Booyah, how are you feeling? You got a- Bornell's done this before? Yeah. Okay. The required naval service. How this thing works, supposed to work? Booyah never used before. Well, Gerald will explain it.
00:14:54
Speaker
Okay, so the sending stone intercom system. For those of you that are new to feather fall packs, what you do is when you are ready to stop falling quickly, you hit the button on your chest. Is there a button on your chest? Don't hit it yet. Is it glowing? Yes, it glows. Excellent.
00:15:18
Speaker
So, if it is black, you will die. If you do not see a button, it is on your back. So, turn your pack around. What if we want the extra challenge? Good luck. Get to that one spot. Okay, Booyah gonna watch you, Derek. See when you push button, then Booyah push button. I would recommend watching Dex.
00:15:44
Speaker
I was over here, but. Watch you instead. Dex is substantially better at this time. OK, well, yeah, watch you, Dex. Also, I need someone to witness the backflips. Are there any other questions that you all may have in regards to feather fall diving? Excellent. OK, well, then I don't know where the drop zone is like last time. So, Barry, why don't you count us down?
00:16:13
Speaker
Barrick waits until he senses that the direction is roughly down. Barrick just stands there because he can't, like, I don't know, he doesn't have an augmented reality display counting down the kilometers. Just your best guesstimate. Oh yeah, one dive helmet. It wouldn't do you any good. Barrick just waits a little bit and then says,
00:16:35
Speaker
All right, uh, about now. Okay. And jumps. All right. Yeah. I go to, and then I, you know, straighten myself out really stiffly so I can catch up to Booyah since he jumped before me, even though he's supposed to watch me as his arms and legs are flat as you all fall, either flapping around or just, you know, typical diving formation. Yeah. Um, everyone give me perception checks. That doesn't seem like that's going to help us.
00:17:05
Speaker
Crit. Hey, uh, 30, 11, 11, um, 29. Sorry. So you two through the wind rushing past your ears, you just hear coming up from behind you just as you see Borenell just in a straight nosedive go flying past you all. Um, and what would you like to do with your 20? Um, for us all to have a safe landing.
00:17:35
Speaker
perhaps advantage. I'll give you advantage on a safe landing and we're pretty much in the location where we should be. I will say you will have advantage to have a safe landing and you will go unnoticed. I'll do that with that. I dig it. Are any of you going to dive to try to keep up with Boranell or are you just going to let him? No, Barak is very focused on not hitting the ground.
00:18:03
Speaker
I
Arrival in Ardev and Observations
00:18:04
Speaker
want to. So you want to race for and open up around a stick near. I got to say Booyah sees born out goes and gets the idea of how maybe this is supposed to be done. Oh, no. So Booyah is like, oh, that's how we do this. OK.
00:18:18
Speaker
No way. All right. Well, yeah, in that case, I'm going. In my head, I envision the Pathfinder style of goblins with the giant mouths and giant ears. So Booyah's cheeks are just flapping in the wind. Like a Saint Bernard on a highway. This head's sticking out the window.
00:18:35
Speaker
Um, okay. So, uh, it is a mad race down to the ground. Um, then with Bornell in the lead currently, um, I'm trying to think of a check that, uh, it sounds like an acrobat. Yeah. Give me an acrobatics check to everybody. Give me an acrobatics check. This is not for the landing. This is for the race. Okay. I I'm going to pass. Oh, 18.
00:19:00
Speaker
I rolled a natural 19. So that's a 26. Okay. Um, you said 18. Okay. So, uh, Booyah, you managed to catch up with Borenel and Dex. You just go missile flying past and Borenel's laughing. I just barely resist the urge to flip them both off. Just barely. Um, and Borenel just, you hear him laugh and he's like, Oh, let's do it.
00:19:28
Speaker
or no world. Uh, uh, this is round two of the race. Okay. Derek, Derek, Derek, you just see them getting smaller and smaller as the group. Can I, can I shape shift so that I'm top heavy? I guess I was little, he can't have enough speed. This is not good for him. I guess I should actually shape shift to where I'm more aerodynamic. Yeah. You want to cone head. Yeah.
00:19:52
Speaker
I'm a 16. I'm a space shark. Not as good. 13. OK, so Borenel and Booyah managed to catch up to Dex, but Booyah just shoots down into the lead, not knowing what. Now there's urgency. One more time, just for funsies.
00:20:21
Speaker
22? Uh, 15. 3. 23. Okay.
00:20:25
Speaker
Um, so, uh, Bornell and Dex managed to catch up to Booyah and everybody's like locked in together and then Dex pulls just ahead. The ground's getting close now. After his recent experience, Dex is starting to get a little, a little, uh, a little camera shy, a little. Okay. Uh, you're getting the sense to do, uh, a safe guided landing, like to kind of pick a good spot to land. Now is about the time you want to hit the button. And that's what I'm going to do.
00:20:52
Speaker
OK, so go ahead and give me a dexterity because that's what we used last time. So dexterity saving throws to hit your button at the right time that you desire. Is this with the advantage on this? Yes, advantage from the 20 and saving throw. If you have proficiency on it, modifier plus proficiency. Right. OK. Nineteen. Yeah. Advantage. Oh, it's advantage. Yeah. Twenty twenty seven. Twenty one. Twenty one.
00:21:21
Speaker
We got a born I'll go splat. Okay, so you all hit your buttons. At the precise time, Barrick, you obviously a little bit after them, once you catch up, but you all see born, I'll just keep going, not in a uncontrolled banner. And you all give me perception checks.
00:21:51
Speaker
Nine. Twenty five. OK, you two keeping your eyes locked on Borneo, you see him probably 20 feet above the ground, hit his button and just hit like the three stance landing. And he stands up and grabs his hammer and looks up and just ah, he's very, very happy with himself. I mean, I want it. I want to roll with the flavor of my landing now.
00:22:19
Speaker
I want to let my ribbon, we go land and snag it. And then look at Borneo and go. Barak lands and goes, shh. So Booyah hits the ground and does a roll and is just yipping and hollering and runs to Borneo and just jumps on him. Borneo. Awesome, Borneo, you're awesome. So much fun. Borneo. It's OK, we're guaranteed not to be on a murderer.
00:22:47
Speaker
Borenel kind of looks at you and then looks back at Berwick and sets you down on the ground.
00:22:54
Speaker
Um, okay. So, um, you all find yourself in a field, it is nighttime, uh, obviously, um, you all find yourself outside of a large ish, um, village. You would guess that, uh, there, it has about a population of about 1600 people. Um, given the location now that you're on the ground, Barrick, uh, being familiar with the countryside, uh, you know, this is the city of our dev.
00:23:24
Speaker
which is a noted, uh, trading hub for, uh, Breland and Joam. Well, it's just, I mean, traveling merchants, this is a rest stop for them. Got it. All right. Uh, Eric follows his sense of
00:23:48
Speaker
One last thing about our dev. It is the supply market for Castle Arcane, which is Borneo's estate. And given the proximity to Borneo's estate, there are a number of high ranking Citadel agents that operate out of this town. Of course there are. Cool. I should not tell me that before I agreed to take the King loan.
00:24:18
Speaker
You weren't quite sure until you're on the ground. That's like, it's fine. He's got a cloak with a hood. Oh, thank you. And he pulls the hood up on his cloak. All right. Well, where are we going? We're going to find an ex mercenary from the war who's been apparently
00:24:47
Speaker
hunting down old enemies from the war. You know, America meant to ask. Like you said, you know where he is and you winked a lot. So I knew that it meant like you have some special sense. No, that's just been happening ever since I came back. Your eyes are really dry since they're absorbing all the light. But like, you know, like pinpoint accuracy, like where he is. I know the direction and how far.
00:25:14
Speaker
but he not like his home or like his where he's yes to him. All right. Well, that's good. That's good. I mean, I guess let's do that thing that we always do where you go and I'll follow you and we'll and do y'all so we'll follow you and we'll bring this guy to no offense your majesty.
00:25:31
Speaker
offense taken. There was a little bit of a tone on that one. Yeah. You'll get used to it. Um, all right. Well, what do we know about the mercenary? Who are we looking for? His name's Arsal Ditharn. He's an elf. Elf? What kind of? Falunar. Oh.
00:25:55
Speaker
Do I know what that is? Great. Great. Do I even roll to see if I know what that is? Existing, I guess I could just ask him. Sure, why don't you just ask? What's a Volunar, and why did he look like that when you said it?
00:26:07
Speaker
Val and I are a group of warrior elves who came to Corvair a long time ago. But during the last war, they essentially just occupied a section of the old country of Khair and made it their own. And they just, they just love war. They love fighting. They're always looking for an opportunity to show off their martial prowess.
00:26:36
Speaker
Like on a scale of like, you know, group of militant goblins. And, uh, I believe our giant friend put it as murder, death, kill, uh, drow angry, kill, angry, kill, kill, drow. Where are they? Uh, where are they at? They're good. Yeah. It's much more sophisticated than that. They're not just going to be angry that we trespass or something like that. They're, they're professionals.
00:27:04
Speaker
All right. I guess I, I, I probably paid this elf quite a bit of gold to fight for Breeland during the war. Or somebody paid him to fight against me. Well, maybe if we're lucky, we'll find some we're done. Question. Are we expecting a group of them now? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know that. Okay.
00:27:29
Speaker
OK, walk into the streets. So you all approach the city because it is fairly late in the night. Oh, by the way, I'm definitely not wearing my white cloak of good feeling. I feel like that's important to mention, which means I need to. Yeah. OK, so as you all enter the town, everyone give me perception checks. Seventeen. Twenty eight.
00:27:59
Speaker
1417 passive if that matters. That expertise double proficiency bonus. Oh, yeah, just really rocketed my you all get a sense when you walk into the town, actually, let me see if for an ounce of sense to he does not. Things are tense in the town, you don't see a whole lot of people, given what you know about the city, even late at night, there should be people coming in, leaving the city never stops.
00:28:26
Speaker
moving. But the streets are surprisingly bare. And you see a few of what you would peg his town's guard and an agent of the King's shield in the street kind of talking. Cool.
Dex's Frustration and Borenel's Authority
00:28:47
Speaker
Now I will say, are there alleyways? You are confident that unless somebody has a picture, like a drawing of your face and holds it up, in that scenario, they might be able to put it together, but just at a cursory glance, you do not look enough like Barrick Rowan used to look to somebody to go, Hey, I think that's Barrick. So, and I'm full Vern. Yeah. And Borneo's got his hood up. So, uh, Barrick says,
00:29:18
Speaker
So, you know, you were saying that all the time, what I can do keeps changing. What are you about to do? Give me a moment. Barak sort of steps over into the shadows and you see the shadows sort of swirl around him and then his form alters.
00:29:41
Speaker
Uh, and he looks like you have no way of knowing this, but he looks like, um, the guy who used to deliver his mail when he was a kid. Dex just silks on. I had one thing. I had one thing that I could do that you couldn't do. I can't make bats. I can't banish to other planes. I can change the way I look.
00:30:08
Speaker
You're a lot faster than me. I'm not special. You're a lot. You're a whole lot faster than me. But you did a lot of backflips and you see better than me. He didn't do backflips. Hey, Dex, look, Booyah before your eyes, Booyah turns into a halfling. Dex sits down. Y'all go have fun. And then Borneo says, Dex, watch this. And he turns in the street and just stabs you. No.
00:30:38
Speaker
Not really. Fine then, I suppose. Let's go. I feel inadequate. Dex holds his tongue. Dex, if it makes you feel any better, mirror your hand. Okay, and I give him my hand. Okay. And the person that I appear to be has like a big bushy beard.
00:31:03
Speaker
And Beric just guides your hand up, and your hand just passes right through the beard, and you feel Beric's face. Got it. So is it seeming? This is disguised self. So I can't physically alter myself. Booyah has to alter self. Although you do, at this point, realize that Beric's skin is cold to the touch. So then what Dex does is he says, oh, so it's like not. You can't feel it. It's an illusion. Dex turns his hand into the biggest Goliath hand he can and says, can you feel this? It punches him in the shoulder.
00:31:34
Speaker
Yes. And you all turn in the town guard or just watching you from a bit. No, not really. Did you catch that, though, that he said he felt cold when you touched him? Yeah. I mean, Dex really didn't surprised by that. Like, I mean. Dex has has has come to the conclusion without asking that Beric is is no longer a living person. He is an undead entity, but he's still Beric. And that's enough for Dex.
00:32:05
Speaker
Whether he's right or not. And then the cold just solidifies. All right. So, um, what are you all doing now? Walking towards our soul. Okay.
00:32:16
Speaker
So you all begin making your way. You feel it beyond the group of town guards, you either re exit the city and walk around, walk past them, however you want to. Turning, seeing guard like walking part way in, turning around in front of the guards and trying to go back out and re exit sounds way more suspicious than just trying to mosey on by trying to get past them. OK, we're just mosey on by.
00:32:44
Speaker
Um, okay. Well, uh, the, the head honcho that's standing there, like sees you all approaching and holds his hand up and excuse me. Uh, who, who are you? Eric says, I'm a, uh, Sol right. And, and we're just traveling. Did you just arrive in town? I walked in. Yeah. It's dropped in.
00:33:11
Speaker
Okay. Well, we need you to head to the tavern right over here. The streets are closed right now. We just had a murder something. Oh, and my good. Who was it? And, uh, that's classified information. Just head to the tavern and we'll let you know when the streets are safe to conduct your business. Right. All right.
00:33:38
Speaker
Are they going to watch us all the way to the, is the tavern a straight shot? It's, it's just right. Yeah. Right within eyesight. We can't duck. We can't have more and I'll duck out and do an alley or something. They'll see it.
00:33:53
Speaker
unless you've got a spell I can't imagine us doing anything but turning around and walking towards the tavern. Oh, we can start walking towards the tavern. All right, we walk towards the tavern. Okay, except that as they turn to watch us, a little kid runs by them down the street. Oh, what the okay, see
00:34:19
Speaker
the member of the king's shield signals to the town garden like, get that child. Where are his parents? Whose child is this? Not ours.
00:34:33
Speaker
Well, um, that will, we'll be going to the tavern for questioning shortly. We're just figuring out all the evidence we have and all the towns guard have taken off to go apprehend the child. And bear kind of watches for when he turns to watch the progress of that activity and then grabs everyone and pulls them into an alley. Okay. Stealth checks.
00:35:01
Speaker
What's Boranell wearing? He's not like in plate armor, is he? I'm really hoping that Boranell was a rogue in another life. He's got chain on. If the war hammer is in the indication. Gives you multi-classed. I got a 15. 11.
00:35:23
Speaker
I got a 10. What? How is that possible? Natural to my stealth isn't. Wait. Stealth is pretty good. And I. Yeah, I add eight. I had nine. I got 11. So. Borno rolled a three for a total of five on his stealth. Um.
00:35:43
Speaker
Look at me. Yeah, I mean, Barrick, you try to grab everybody, but without the plane being fully communicated, you're the only one that successfully makes it into the alley. Everyone else just kind of stumbles, and the King Siddle says, the tavern door is right there. Oh, that tavern. All right.
00:36:08
Speaker
This is why we should have learned the Navy SEAL symbols, symbols, signals. I mean, Berwick was hoping you would all run, but here we are. So on we go. But there's I mean, I can't communicate that locally. I mean, we're. Right. But the guy's looking at us now. Yeah. Yeah. OK, to the tavern. So you all walk into the the Lonely Bear Tavern.
00:36:39
Speaker
And it is packed full of people. It's just kind of a cacophony of noise once you open up the door. Clearly, the majority of the merchants that were passing through and would have been sleeping in their wagons and things like that have been forced to come in here until some kind of investigation can commence. But given that it's so crowded,
00:37:03
Speaker
You get a few cursory glances of people hoping to see the town's guard and this Citadel agent that promised to question them soon. And once they see if not them, they just disregard you and go back to their conversations. I want to look around to see if there is. I guess I won't know for sure if it's a back door or a door to a kitchen or something, but there's a back door or maybe upstairs that might have rooms we could stash Boranella in.
00:37:29
Speaker
I mean, there are stairs going upstairs. There are three doors that you can see other than the front door in the main room, one behind the bar, one on the far wall away from you and one to your right. And the bars to your left. The far wall one is by the one saves developed lead outdoors. Possibly. Okay. Hey, do we want to give
00:37:54
Speaker
Get a king up in one of those rooms up there. That'd be a good idea. I mean, I have a scarf. I can just. Eric goes over to the inn, keep and asks if they have any rooms. Oh. That he has or no. No, I think that no. How much gold you have? 10,000 gold says you have a room.
00:38:24
Speaker
If you want to convince somebody to go give up their room, you're more than welcome to, but no, we are quite booked up for the night. Barrick pulls everyone into a corner. So I have just a thought. That fella out there who works for the Citadel.
00:38:51
Speaker
Is there any particular reason that the king shouldn't go out there and just order him? I was thinking that. I'm assuming, uh, your highness, you didn't recognize him as one of your super secret squirrels, did you? No, I didn't. I didn't see that. It was a shadow. The whole, the whole citadel can't have been suborned. Right. I mean, they're following the orders of an imposter. And they, they wouldn't know if it was, unless we're standing in the same room, they wouldn't know if I was an imposter or not. I figure we got two options.
00:39:20
Speaker
We have the king go out there and order that guy around. Apparently, he's very persuasive when he drops his station, Barrick. Or. I'm very excited to be here. Or, well, good. Great, good. Well, then in that case, here's your other option. We go in, we sit down, put a couple empty glasses in front of you. You put your forehead on the table and we say you passed out drinking and they won't question you. Bye.
00:39:51
Speaker
No, I was going to say, if we're not going to have the King do that, we should go upstairs and go out a window. We want people to know King here. Well, the King can also order a member of the Citadel to keep his trap shut. Yeah. I mean, we're, we're just a half a day's ride from my home. So it would not be out of the ordinary for me to be here. Okay. All right. I guess, uh, we can go that or climb out the window.
00:40:20
Speaker
Now the only problem I can see is why didn't he tell him to jump? As soon as he saw the guy. And when the man asks that question, the king says, are you questioning me? All right. I forget how this works. I haven't done a lot of hanging out. Remember that time I tried to tell the prime minister, no, I don't really get how this stuff goes. Right.
00:40:42
Speaker
Yeah. Hey, uh, you know, actually, uh, King Bornell, you could tell him that you trust us to take a look around the crime scene. Maybe we can even find out who the guy was that got murdered. I'm not suggesting just all of this. Just let us pass. We don't have to give an alibi.
00:40:58
Speaker
That's fair. Well, no, I wouldn't say an alibi. I was saying, what if Arseld and Thurn got got? I guess you would know. I don't know. Your packed sense, the pings that you're getting every so often, the pact is getting farther away. No, he's running. Down to go. We'll also need their horses.
00:41:25
Speaker
That seems mean. But well, he's getting away. Oh, okay. Well, they can surely requisition other horses. To be fair, we really only need three horses. Yeah, you doubt you find doubling up? Why you ride a horse on your own? Barry, you know, ride with where he is and what direction he's traveling. Yeah, correct. How fast it he's clearly on horseback. He's riding horse fast.
00:41:53
Speaker
Unlikely to catch them even with town guard horses, but we can try. Unless you've got a better way, unless you can get us some valinar horses, I don't really see an option. Fair enough. Okay, well, let's go pull the hood back. Fair enough.
00:42:10
Speaker
Okay, so you all come striding back out of the bar. Are you still staying in Vern? Sure. Mailman and halfling? No particular reason to blow the whole thing. So wait, and as you all make your way to the door, Boranell stops.
00:42:28
Speaker
What's the what's the story? I mean, I can go off the cuff. But if there's a specific tale you want me to weave, I should probably know. I think probably it should be on a need to know basis and he doesn't need to know. Okay. That makes sense. Okay. You're here on royal business. Yes. Your majesty. It's an adventure. Go with it. Have some fun.
00:42:55
Speaker
I just I I thought I'd be using my hammer more. It's it's fine. It's fine. If we can catch up with some horses, you might have a chance. OK, so more details will not be beneficial. As you all reach the door, you see Borenelle just take off full stride and walk to the member of the Citadel, the King Shield, who holds his hand up is like, excuse me, I'm I'm certain I was clear as to where you needed to. And Borenelle flips the hood back.
00:43:23
Speaker
What was that again, boy? Okay, you're concerned about being mean, but you're gonna insult him. And the guy just drops to a knee. And yes, that's more like it.
00:43:39
Speaker
Now, Beric resist or Dex resist here to say, get up. Now, me and my companions will not be waiting in the tavern to be questioned by you. Is that clear?
00:43:54
Speaker
Yes. All right. We need horses. We are on sensitive time. We're on business with a sensitive, of a sensitive nature. And this is all born. He's trying to lie as best he can. Time sensitive. Time sensitive. That's the majesty. Thank you. Thank you.
00:44:14
Speaker
your fastest horses, as a matter of fact. Yes, that would be ideal. So, quickly now. And I want mine to be pretty. One pretty horse. Don't worry about the speed apparently, just make it pretty. The fastest pretty horse. Okay, we need a pretty fast horse. No, not a pretty fast horse. A fast, pretty horse. There you go.
Tracking Arselt Ditharn
00:44:37
Speaker
So after after a few moments pass the wait before he leaves Your majesty don't you want to tell him no one else needs to know why he's getting these horses do not tell anybody that your king is here. Thank you
00:44:54
Speaker
You're welcome. Also, thank me, because you know, Eric was about to be like, have six guys go with horses to meet the game. With fanfare playing. The king arrives in Audave. Hail through the king. Okay, so this member of the king's shield comes around trying to wrangle four horses.
00:45:23
Speaker
But we didn't tell him that. Oh, fair enough. What? I just believe I was going to ride double. Like, OK, and you can see which one's the pretty one. So and born, I was like, thank you. Now you may go back to your investigation. I can attest to the innocence of myself and my companions. Is that enough? Yes, yes, sir. Good. And you all have horses.
00:45:53
Speaker
And we ride. Pop the clutch. Okay, so you all are taking off through the night of the realish countryside, you can sense the pack still getting further away as you all push your horses to their limit. And then you feel it. You feel the pack stop. Excellent. So you're able to continue riding after some time.
00:46:26
Speaker
you continue to bear dead. And something kills bear. And you see in the distance, everybody give you perception checks. 2716
00:46:42
Speaker
26. OK, you all see pretty easily the moon is high in the sky tonight. You see sitting on a hill or shadow dancing. No, it's been blowing cold. You see on a hill, a very large house sitting alone, not in a village on a hillside. Is it Castle Arkin? No, it is not a castle. Excellent. It is a very large house.
00:47:09
Speaker
Are you all going to continue to ride up on horseback? Are you just going in guns blazing or no? OK. I mean, I was are we still inside the tree line? Were we in the woods? Was it all pretty open space? I mean, it was it was fields like you were in a forest. Yeah. It's not really a place to hitch. No. Oh, that's easy. You just make a little figure eight loop and set it around their feet and their domesticated horses are. Yeah, sure. Stupid enough that it's the hitches in their head.
00:47:40
Speaker
OK, so you do that by dum dum Booyah, you were you were able to ride the horse. OK, it was not pleasant, but OK, so you all what what's your approach? What are you going to do? Well, let's try to sneak. Yeah. Yeah. OK. As without trace.
00:48:08
Speaker
There it is. Yeah. OK, so should we do a quick perimeter, like walk about, see how many points of egress. I mean, at this distance, like where I told like you all see it, I know, but I'm saying before we try to breach. Yeah. Like we walk up and then we walk around. Sure. OK, so go ahead and give me a stealth check. Plus 10 plus 10. Yeah. And Booyah looks like Booyah. Or no, got a 31.
00:48:38
Speaker
29. A bear looks like himself again is to that would have worn 37. Dex 21 proudly still looking like Vern. Okay, so yeah, you all are one with the night. You're finding clouds are rolling through and you all are managing to go with the shadows of the clouds and things like that. To where you are within 30 feet of the house. Once you get to this distance, you see that it is a
00:49:06
Speaker
It does not seem like anybody has lived in this house for a very long time Most of the windows have been boarded up The house is pretty dilapidated and old old old the the construction you would peg is being Centuries if not a thousand years old just the style signs of a horse
00:49:29
Speaker
No. Signs of anyone at all. Give me a investigations check.
00:49:47
Speaker
17. 10. 21. Okay. You two are able to spot some points of distress on the ground, not perfect footprints, but clearly where some pressure was applied, leading in through the front door of the house. Just one person? Just one. Okay, can you can you can you detect magic? Or is that a spell slot? I don't want to. That's it's a spell slot. It's a spell slot. All right.
00:50:18
Speaker
Uh, that's right. Cause you got rid of the at will for the dark vision. Yeah. Smooth move. No, it's been good. Um, so if you all want to do a perimeter check, you can, uh, whoever's going to be doing it needs to give me another stuff. I say, do we all forward? I guess Booyan needs to go to stay within 30 feet. Uh, yeah. So should we just all four do it? Yep. All right. Okay. 29.
00:50:49
Speaker
27 great or no got a 29
00:50:53
Speaker
Well, twenty two. Twenty two. OK, yeah, you all are able to four remain undetected. As you all circle the house, you see that there is one window on the back side of the house that has not been boarded up on the second floor. And there is a back door. And other than the front door, those are the only points that you can see that would be accessible aside from removing boards from windows to access the house.
00:51:24
Speaker
Uh, so, I mean, should we blank? That sounds reasonable. Do we all bust in together or do we one bus in one ways and wait? I just, I, I have one request if we're using the term busting in, um, can I bust the door in and he grabs his hammer off his back. You sure can buddy. Excellent.
00:51:50
Speaker
When it's time, I can handle the second story window pretty easily. All right. Um, so you're going in second story.
00:52:02
Speaker
all which one which door looks more readily busted into because I can I can pick the lock of one which one's more dilapidated he can get through with this I mean the front door seems like it's had a lot more use the the back door looks like it hasn't hasn't had a whole lot of the wood looks fairly weathered but so does the front door there's no real way I can check to see if it's locked is what's above without just trying to open it and then who knows what
00:52:30
Speaker
Um, we are you going in with Borneau's going front. I'm going back. I don't see you going in with Barrick. I guess I'll say you're getting up there, huh? Are you misty step? Barrick looks for a moment, kind of confused. What do you mean? You said you're going to take the second story window. Yeah, I tell a poor you all kinds of things. But
00:53:02
Speaker
Or you could climb. Did I say how? No, that's what I'm saying. Would you like to keep it a secret? I can shut up now. No, I just never had that thing where it slips your mind. All the time. Have you heard me call people's names? Not fair enough. I have idea.
00:53:26
Speaker
Excellent. Would you like to share? You know, Booyah can, Booyah can go ethereal plane and go inside house, look around. I didn't know Booyah could do that at all. I was also unaware of Booyah's ability. Don't worry guys, I can still hit things with my stick.
00:53:45
Speaker
Well, yeah, I can go in, maybe look, see what can see and come back, report or stay inside. That's a pretty good idea. Yeah. Go scout. Are you invisible when you're not, when you're that way? Uh, no, just on other plane. But are you like undetectable? Like someone on this plane, we won't be able to, we wouldn't be able to see you on this plane. That's this true. Oh, perfect. Yeah. Go, go see if he's in there. We'll go and look and then come back. Yeah. So you're going in through the front door.
00:54:16
Speaker
Um, does he physically manipulate objects? When it says I, I know where all objects and effects that are, are not on the ethereal plane. Okay. So I think I could just like walk in through a wall. Okay. Sweet. Um, you become a ghost. Yeah. Kind of wondering, but yeah, but yeah, one though should try to go in. Cause does not, does not last long.
00:54:46
Speaker
how long basically it's I would assume it's till my turn well wait no no I don't get the full effect of it the bonus action spell ends at the end of my current turn oh so you won't be able to get back to us right unless I unless I walk in and walk out you poke your head into the wall and then yeah so I'm that's what Booyah is asking should should Booyah try to climb and look
00:55:14
Speaker
in top floor where light on or there's a light on. I missed that. No, just there was a, the windows not boarded up. Okay. Okay. So should Booyock go try look, climb up and look or look in bottom. I don't know. Uh, if you can only be there for half a moment, I'm not sure unless he's just sitting in the main room. Yeah. It almost doesn't sound worth, but you know what is worth it is, is you checking the door for traps.
00:55:45
Speaker
I can do that. It's been so long. It's my investigation or leave its investigation to check the traps. Um, yes.
00:55:59
Speaker
Let's just assume it. Well, 1717. You you do detect some kind of magical. You see some magical markings around the seam of the front door, but you don't get a real good sense of what they would do. All right, it's it's enchanted somehow. I don't know what it is. There's would be safe say runes. Yeah.
00:56:29
Speaker
There's like rooms around the perimeter of this door and I'd have to assume the front one too. Uh, do you, can I, since I've seen it, can I try to make an arcana check and see if I mean, I'm not arcane. So I don't think it'll work.
00:56:47
Speaker
Jeez, crazy. Well, you can't get a real good beat on what these markings mean or do. There's a magic mumbo jumbo on the door. I guess I can go up and look at them. Okay. Much better. 24. 24. You know that the type of magic and the nature of these markings, they are warding, keeping things from passing through.
00:57:17
Speaker
Can I check the front door? I don't want to run around. Can I look up at the window and? Oh, that was the front door. I'm sorry. Oh, OK. I thought we were out of the back. Since I'm sorry, since we've discovered them, can I or perhaps Booyah, who has done things like this before, just sort of disrupt the sequence enough to shut it off? Sure. Yeah. Oh, like you did on the yeah, the obelisk obelisk.
00:57:46
Speaker
What tech would you like for that to be? It was Arcana when you were doing with the obelisk. I'm helping so you have advantage. Yes. It's 12. 12. You
00:58:09
Speaker
You trace some of the runes with your tools. And oh, we gave you tools and I told you you could add your proficiency bonus to it with the tools. So that's right. Yeah, I thought there was something else. Okay, so that would be.
00:58:23
Speaker
What is 15 16 now 16 16 plus four. OK, yeah. So, yeah, you actually are able to use your tools to trace and you make some nicks in the runes and you see it was kind of a green glow to them. It kind of pulses and then dies and any magic that you sensed is gone. All right. So new plan. We all go through this one. I mean, we want to play that game on every entrance.
00:58:52
Speaker
will still let you smash the door in. Excellent. I'm still inclined to try the window. I would personally, I haven't done this in a while, but when me and my companions would go out adventuring, we had a tendency to want to stick together to not split up because bad things would happen when we would split up.
00:59:23
Speaker
And if we're trying to, whether we're doing it through brute force or surgical precision, I feel like us as a team is stronger than the individuals. Did the back door look like it was directly across from the front door? Like it might be both entrances in one great room kind of thing. Potentially. It was pretty close to being a straight shot. In that case, I don't, I don't feel the need to do front and back, but if we want to do three in the, three in the front and one in the window, if you, if you, if you're set on trying to go up there.
00:59:56
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Well, just hold on. Booyah. Gonna go in real fast and look at least on ground floor. All right. And where we at in the front or the back when the front front is where the readings were. Okay. Going to, so you have six seconds.
01:00:13
Speaker
go with ethereal. Do I get my movement or not? Yeah, basically you get. So can I use my movement speed to walk in? Until the end of your next turn. So you would get to do it as an action. Right. It's a bonus action. A bonus action. So you could move in and then dash out. Well, he could move in because it's the end of his next turn. I thought it was the end of his current turn. Oh, end of current turn. So yeah, you could move in and then dash back out. That's my idea. Okay.
01:00:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's the end of the current turn. Okay. Okay. So Booyah goes at the real, goes into the house. Okay. Um, are you going in like near the front door where like, yeah, kind of not, not at the front door, but kind of off to the side. Okay. Cause you know, if you can walk through a wall, why wouldn't you? Yeah. Um, okay. So you,
01:01:04
Speaker
find yourself in the ethereal plane. And you sense a lot of like the ethereal plane still kind of exists, the house still kind of exists on the ethereal plane, but the walls are more shimmery. And
01:01:21
Speaker
Before you even have a chance to walk in through the wall as you like turn and take a step, you see three figures just on the other side of the front door kind of looking at it. Look at you. And then you're back in the material plane inside. Yes. OK.
Confrontation with a Banshee
01:01:47
Speaker
OK, Booyah see three figures and these figures, they look back at Booyah.
01:01:52
Speaker
Do I recognize what they were? How much experience have you had with the ethereal? Did you say he's inside or outside before? Because he could see through the walls. OK, so he never made it inside. Didn't need to. OK. Um.
01:02:09
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, that's part of what his job kind of was with, you know, the ranger he traveled with. There are some figures, you know, that can exist on multiple planes at one time. The most common would be known as ghosts who exist on both the material and the ethereal plane simultaneously.
01:02:29
Speaker
So we think we think these these may probably be ghosts. So we are tracking a I don't know Valinar elf whose hideout is a haunted mansion. Sounds like this is incredible. I just want to thank you all for I gotta say I'm with him on this letting me be a part of this but I would like to ask you your majesty.
01:02:56
Speaker
Exactly. How much damage do you expect your hammer to do to a good, good, good ghost? Well, it's a magical hammer. Oh, well then we're good. Okay. Yeah, that's right. Typically it should, it should crack some, some ghost skulls. And Dale, you got a magic weapon too. Is there a horse in there?
01:03:17
Speaker
I, I, I told you what you saw. No, boy. No, see, no, see horse. Just three ghost. Look at me. So footprints and he's definitely in the house. I mean, that's where you last saw the footprints entering, but I can sense him. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Right. Um, you, you are the general direction you're sensing even though is towards the house, but down. He's in the basement.
01:03:41
Speaker
We have such a good track record in basements. Yes. Right. Uh, are there four kids and a dog anywhere here? Real quick. Just make a check to find out. Is there a seller entrance to look for like a hidden seller entrance? Now that we know there is a base, you can give me a perception check to try to find one. All of us. Sure. If you're all going to make the trick around the house, 18, 17.
01:04:10
Speaker
Uh, okay. I mean, you created on it. So I'm going to say you can, you can say there's a seller entrance. There wasn't going to be, but okay. Then can you say friendly ghosts? Hey, I was thinking of that. That thought crossed my mind. Um,
01:04:32
Speaker
Um, you, uh, that, those are the options. You can either provide a cellar door entrance, or you can say that the ghosts that are standing by the door are not antagonistic towards you. And there were three of them, your call, your call, your 20, your call, make the story. I'm going to say that the.
01:04:57
Speaker
I'm gonna say the ghosts are not gonna be antagonistic. I like it. I knew as soon as that option was out there, that's what we're doing. Okay, so you actually, as you... Casper, Casper, Casper, where's it gonna go downstairs? So as you all finish your loop around the house looking for a cellar door entrance, you do not find one anywhere. But as you come around back to the front door doing a full circle around the house, you see an ethereal hand come through the door.
01:05:25
Speaker
And it kind of turns as if this has never happened before. And you see three ethereal figures walk out a man, a woman, and a small girl. And they stop and look at all of you.
01:05:50
Speaker
We've never been able to leave the house. There was some kind of magic keeping us in. Cool. We just let some ghosts loose. They seem friendly. Thank you for doing this. We can finally seek our peace.
01:06:08
Speaker
This good thing. You seek peace. Well, I want it to be a good thing. I think it will be a good thing. Your peace is not a revenge sort of seeking peace, right? Well, we did die through not natural means, so. We'll sure get that guy back. That's fine. I understand that. You want the crap out of that fella. Wait, it wasn't one of us. We've done some things.
01:06:38
Speaker
Thank you. We have much to accomplish. What have you done?
01:06:47
Speaker
Who's the one who brought up the idea? They were going to seek their peace. I mean, to be fair, it was a real group effort here of you found them, you identified and you disabled. So, um, good, good job team. Um, and you see the ghosts kind of recede into the ethereal plane and you can no longer see them. I'd say, you know, do they come back?
01:07:13
Speaker
maybe this bad guy in the cell there's one that killed him and there after him that would be good that would be just fine that's an extra 20 or two i think to make that happen all right uh well do we sneak in i mean i think we have the option now if you can retract your promise of door smashing
01:07:33
Speaker
All right. Hey, let's let them smack you. You want to smash the cellar door real quick. Just as soon as you say that there is no cellar door for one. There has to be a inside interior interior. Don't you tell me that's a sealed up cellar. We'll just let them die as you as you ask that question to Borenel. Give me a charisma saving throw.
01:08:01
Speaker
Oh boy. Okay. What? Did you roll a natural one? I rolled a net. Wait, is it a seven? No, that's a natural one. Okay. Am I about to get possessed? No, no, no, no. Okay. So, so I'm pretty sure the king is charming you. Come on.
01:08:24
Speaker
Actually, why don't you sit there? No, that's not actually what I had in mind. So as soon as you ask that question out of nowhere, you see the visage of a little girl just pop back out from the ethereal plane and go and you shriek. That's the result of your one. And you see this little giggle and she goes back into the ethereal plane. I just start punching the air where she was.
01:08:51
Speaker
So. All right. I screamed. We got to go in. Hammer. Yeah. Hammer. Nail. Door.
01:09:00
Speaker
It's a turn of never mind. Right. So are we doing this? It doesn't seem to be an option now. We suddenly have a very sensitive time. I believe was the turn of phrase. I was flustered. Thank you. I have a particular set of skills. That's not one of them. But this is we have been attacked by werewolves, vampires and a lich and a little ghost girl pops her head out and says, boo, and you shriek. I startle.
01:09:29
Speaker
That's actually 100% true, by the way. I startle so easily. My kid scares me like three times a week just by living in the house with me. Kids are sneaky, man. So, Borenel takes his hammer and rolls a 24 to hit the door and just doesn't even hit the handle side, just hits it square and the door just busts open.
01:09:56
Speaker
And he you see him kind of flex like he hasn't gotten to swing that hammer like that in a while. And he's just very happy. I'm already in the building slicing the pie. Checking who's with me. Nobody can slice the pie by myself. Eric steps into the room. And what are you doing? I'm standing here looking around, looking around, slicing the pie. Here we go. Everyone give me perception checks.
01:10:26
Speaker
Twenty seven. Eighteen. Twenty three. Twenty seven. Eighteen. Twenty three. You all spot. There's a large staircase probably about 20 feet from the front door leading up to a central balcony. But at the top of the balcony, you see having just finished moving and stopping at the top of the stairs.
01:10:52
Speaker
You see another figure standing up there with flowing hair and it's female, eyes shut, flowing gown. Spectral. That is literally floating. It is material. Like it's not like the ghosts where you can see through it. And all of a sudden the eyes pop open and I need
01:11:14
Speaker
Point to the door. You're free to go. I don't really do that. That's a joke for the table. I need everyone to give me a constitution saving throw. Oh my. So bad. Me too. Well, I guess porno needs to roll.
01:11:40
Speaker
Yeah. Um, he, his, his modifier is pretty good. Um, if I just tell you, I'm in the single digits, is that enough for you? Who's not in the single digits? Okay. 11. That's still not super. Um, are you technically undead? Did we establish that? Or are you dead or living? I believe the revenant
01:12:04
Speaker
Well, I know the old one was, I cannot find specificity in the unearthed arcana. I'm going to have to let you rule. Because you are no longer attached to the traditional mortal coil, I'm going to say, sure, you are, you are undead. So in the process of shuffling it off. Yeah. So, uh, you walk into the room, this figure appears at the top, lets out a scream and then Dex, Booyan, Borenelle just crumple to the ground.
01:12:32
Speaker
End of episode. Oh boy. Thank you all so much for listening. Why do you do this to the listeners? Eric tries to kill the party. We really have fun doing this. If you want to be a part of the conversation and tell us what you think, head on over to the Facebook group, the Geek Pantheon. We're also on Twitter and Instagram.
01:12:50
Speaker
We have a Patreon. If you like what we do and would like to see it done better, please consider giving to the shows at patreon.com slash the geek pantheon. We'd like to thank Kevin McLeod for the use of all of his music. You can find it over at incompetent.com. I imagine I was using some real spooky music to set up this episode. Will have been. Will have been. Yeah. Thank you all so much for listening. Once again, I am your dungeon master, Eric. I'm Philip and I'm really doing the best that I can. Randy.
01:13:20
Speaker
I'm down. We'll see you next time.