Transcript
Speaker: Screw you and your flying rabbits, this is not clay pigeon shooting!
Speaker: Hello everybody and welcome to this week's epi episode of The Fellowship of the Tabletop. We are a live play 5.5e, before Will corrects me, D&D podcast set in the magical world of Aerith.
Speaker: Playing tonight we have Pubey...
Speaker: A.K.A. Will. You can't call me Pubey. You're not Mark. Hello! We have Baldi, e.g. Darren.
Speaker: Bloody hell.
Speaker: When's Danny getting here? And we have Blowey, e.g. Ian.
Speaker: ah We're going to make your life hell substitute. It's been an intro in this week. It's been an intro drive-by. It most certainly has. I thought it was time I contributed something more than a bit of a monotone character and have opted to be a DM for a small mini-adventure with these three wonderful, wonderful players. Fuck off. Fuck off. Don't pat our egos now. Don't lick our nipples now, my friend.
Speaker: We can't lick the right nipple after you bit the left one.
Speaker: oh This adventure starts a few days before our undying champions entered into the Steel Nightmare. We were going to go easy on you, but then you just got Blacks Creek, Dustin, on the introduction. I right to make a Call of Cthulhu character. That's what we're doing.
Speaker: We have three members of the Winged Watch. currently just off the beaten track east of Steelforge in the Haral Empire.
Speaker: All three of you, a few days ago, received the same message. To meet Lady G at the halfway house between Steelforge and Riverfold.
Speaker: She has acquired information that we long thought was just rumours.
Speaker: A contingency plan put in place by Euriond Cardinal. You are to assist her in any way necessary and ensure his plan fails.
Speaker: It is late evening. The steel nightmare itself still hangs in the sky looming over Erith. You might not know all the details, all the ins and outs of what's going off with the winged watch at the moment.
Speaker: But your faith in the winged watch makes you know that this is something important.
Speaker: Your current schedule is to arrive at the halfway house mid-morning tomorrow.
Speaker: There is a campfire set. It is blazing. We have three adventurers currently sat around eating, drinking, and talking.
Speaker: Ian, why don't you tell us about our first character that we see? Thank you very much, Callum. That was actually a very good opening. Thank you. ah So my name is Caelan Ashwing, and I'm a Wood Elf Veteran Scout of the Winged Watch.
Speaker: Quiet by nature, meticulous by trade, Cailin spent years following trails that others couldn't see, mapping forgotten paths and uncovering secrets meant to stay buried.
Speaker: He's dressed in a weathered green cloak, bearing the faded emblem of the winged watch across the shoulders on the back. He carries a finely crafted longbow and a single short sword that's on his right hip.
Speaker: He's got a leather journal filled with maps and observations and names of those he couldn't save. He's handsome. His dark hair is kind of similar to Frodo's dark hair.
Speaker: It falls untidily around his sharp elven features. His amber eyes are always scanning the horizon, searching for movement before anyone else can see it.
Speaker: He's quite stoic and Caelan only speaks when something he has something worth saying. He trusts tracks over rumors and evidence over instinct and silence over empty, needless conversation.
Speaker: To him, every broken branch, disturbed patch of earth or abandoned campfire tells a story, one that most people don't seem to notice. as long as As well as his longbow and his short sword, he wears studded leather armor.
Speaker: That's brown and dark, similar to the dirt and earth, allows him to hide in the shadows in the forests a lot more. And he's got these tanned leather boots, again, dark tanned, that just sit below his knee.
Speaker: That's Caelan Ashwing. He's got a guiding philosophy of people lie and footprints don't.
Speaker: Very nice. Thank you very much, Dave. As he, as Caelan Ashwing, stoically, stares into the fire, we have sat next to him.
Speaker: Darren, why don't you tell us who is sat next to him? Yeah, sat next to Caelan is a much smaller demure figure who is pretty...
Speaker: predictably for his family line, can immediately identifiable by a great big that is set in red. He has eyes that are set red as well, and his skin seems to resemble that of what looks like it's covered in dirt, although a closer inspection will realize that much like how a rock gnome has like a very stony-like aesthetic or kind of rocky, like a flaky skin to them, this is a forest gnome who looks like he is one of the forest.
Speaker: Going through his hair, you will see are these kind of almost like auburn, autumn-style leaves that are not decorated, but are actually part of his hair.
Speaker: Looking down at his armour, you see the tails of a man who is well-travelled, or a gnome who is well-travelled. On his left arm appears to be some yellow insignia from the forces of Vossan.
Speaker: on his right arm appears to be some of the more conventional medieval style of a gauntlet from sleep guard. And the main part of his body is the, the, the black jet black armor of the brother might Rangers of shadow. And,
Speaker: He sits there at the camp and he is just tossing up and down what appears to be some form of nut that it just goes up and down. And he seems to occasionally, after he's chucked them a few times, just gets bored and lets it land in his mouth. Alongside that as well, he has a pouch that seems to contain bits of uncooked raw meat. And what you see is he goes into his pouch is this insignia on his buckle, which says Remigius Montmillian Fizzlebang IV.
Speaker: So... And as he chucks this little bit of raw meat into the air, this this creature as quick as a flash just seems to dash into shot and just grabs the meat out of the air. And he just says to himself, oh, you appear to be doing some pretty good form tonight there, Folly. And as he says that, this raptor just starts chewing on this piece of raw meat. And you go to the saddle and you can see it marked on the saddle, the same italics, the same kind of scripture, Folly Fizzle Bang the 10th.
Speaker: um This creature again, as as as as it continues to stir around the camp, it seems familiar with the others who were sat with him. It seems to enjoy their presence and company and it seems, and it moves over towards the fire, keeps itself away from it, but nuzzles down next to Foley and Foley just, no, there's that, it's Remigius, sorry. And Remigius just starts to scratch the creature on the the side of the tree.
Speaker: You do notice as well that there is ah a sense of dust across his clothes, as if that scouting at low levels is something that he's particularly used to doing.
Speaker: Sat by him on the other side is a shield that is emblazoned with the insignia of Fiddlebang Tower in Dralak.
Speaker: Lovely. Thank you very much. You continue to scratch folly. just for a few more seconds, something it seems to react to. I envision it's kind of like ah a cat or a dog almost. and You'll see one it with back legs starting to um spring a little bit just against the ground.
Speaker: Yeah, and it's it's um it's purring is, if you've ever seen Jurassic Park, it's very similar to that. And occasionally it just lets out that, ra as it seems to be enjoying it in particular as you scratch across its neck. But it's purring. It's like just a loud rumble akin to that of a cat, but just a lot louder.
Speaker: wonderful Thank you very much, very much. And last but by no means least, one more Winged Watch member sits by the fire as one is stoic looking and one is playing with folly.
Speaker: Will, would you like to tell us of the last member that we've seen? ah Sat around the fire with the other two rangers um is a human, Alessio Di Maggio, a...
Speaker: person who, when you look at him, there's nothing much about him. He's, he's human, he's brown hair. And the curious thing about him is that throughout his life, he has been utterly unremarkable. You look at his face and there's no distinctive mark. There's no distinctive scar or slight way. He, he carries himself and,
Speaker: Today, he is literally sat on the fire as himself. His companions know him as himself, but they've seen him as many other things. Alessio is a spy. He's an infiltrator, a thief.
Speaker: And his job has been to get into places and be people that the Wingwatch need him to be. He's played different roles in different kingdoms for whatever reason there to feed information back to the wind watch to feed information from the wind watch out either misinformation or true information.
Speaker: And he's wearing leather armor. Boots, all earth and colors as his traveling companions are to match the fact that they are traveling doesn't want to go to um be too obvious.
Speaker: think about him, he doesn't wear the brand of the Wing Watch anywhere. It's not part ah of his persona, not part of his role. His job is to go into a place and be, oh, there's a person. Anyway, back to my life.
Speaker: People don't notice him. His job is just to be there, to watch. And that is where his skill is. His skills are watching, observing, and reporting back, and being where he doesn't need to be and seeing what he can see.
Speaker: And he's sat there. he's got a daggers He's got a dagger on his, in his boots. He's got a short sword. He has a bow. Very often, he doesn't take those into his missions.
Speaker: But he has them now because they are traveling.
Speaker: And between all of you together, you feel comfortable while you are not... the best of buddies. At the very least, you guys are comfortable in being travel companions. As members of the Winged Watch, you all feel like you do kind of have each other's back.
Speaker: So the rest for tonight and previous ones has been relatively simple and relatively calm. Remy, you have something to say? It's Darren who has a question, actually, because I know we're in the Haral Empire, did you say?
Speaker: ah Yes, we are at the moment part at part of the Haral Empire. Great. Terrific. I have a question about where we are, because obviously West Heral and East Heral are currently in a civil war that has gone all the way through ah the events of the Still Nightmare and Bellum Draconis. How close are we to the centre where...
Speaker: the fighting in the war is and ah are we in west harrell as in we're close to like sleet garden dralak or are we further afield in east harrell just a general question about where we are no no you are very very much to the west of haral you are away from the front lines ah Very much away from the front lines. You are quite close to Dralak. If you were to walk a week over to the west, you would probably just be entering the border into Dralak.
Speaker: but So you are very much ah to the west of the Haral Empire, away from the fighting, away from the conflict at the moment. And our week is our journey towards Dralak, or are we heading east towards...
Speaker: The ah halfway house that you've been told to meet at between ah Steel Forge and Riverfold is moving towards the east. So you are slowly kind of making your way in the same direction as the conflict, but you are still very, very much far away from it.
Speaker: For everyone's benefit, I have reposted a picture that Callum sent me that has the Haral Empire and Steel Forge and Riverfold on there, just to make it easier for those of you who want to know any geography. Sorry, I thought I'd help out by sending a picture that you sent me, Callum. Yeah, I only asked because I know the Haral Empire is big, and i was just and I know there's two sides of it at the minute, and they're very much fighting each other.
Speaker: Yeah, no, that's perfectly nice's perfectly fine. Thank you very much, though, Will.
Speaker: You settle in for the night. You don't know what you're going to be encountering tomorrow when you meet ah Lady G. So you hope. All three of you are aware of her reputation.
Speaker: She is a master manipulator. An excellent information gatherer. There is... more information that is provided by her solely to the winged watch than almost anybody else.
Speaker: She's very good at what she does.
Speaker: You've never actually met her. You don't know her history, but almost the idea of meeting somebody so high up and so valuable to the winged watch is almost exciting to you guys.
Speaker: If you guys are a sergeant, then she's a first-class sergeant. She does outrank all of you. And that kind of just sits with you on your journey at the moment.
Speaker: And unless there's anything you guys would like to do tonight, we will settle down for a long rest before starting tomorrow. I'm a better information gathering than her. But i'm just saying, yeah. that's Professional. I take professional umbrage with that description down.
Speaker: Don't be envious, I'm not envious. I just know I'm better. um um Yeah, Alessio is going to be sat by the fire. Perhaps he's got a sting. just poking at the ah the at the embers. um He turns to his traveling companions.
Speaker: so What do you reckon about this Lady G then?
Speaker: Good question. that or i'll what I never met her. So I can't can't be telling you too much about that. I'm afraid.
Speaker: We have to meet her at this halfway house. It is funny old name. Don't seem to be halfway or anywhere apart from halfway towards the fucking wall line. But that's where she won't meet. That's where we're going to go.
Speaker: I don't know what I think, but i tell you what, I'll have a ah conversation with my confidant and see what see what he says. and as he says that, Remedius is going to put his hand into his pouch, and this time he's going to imbue the meat and dip it into what appears to be like a herbs and spices, like little sachet, and he's going to throw it towards Folly the Fiddlebang the Tenth. And I'm going to cast Speak with Animals as a ritual, because I can do that as a forest name on Folly the Tenth. It's not a ritual. I can cast it without speaking, or that without without casting a spell slot.
Speaker: And then what I'm going to do is go, Well, hell's bells there, Folly. What you thinking about all this?
Speaker: Damn, I think that bit's positively delicious. Oh, my. Yes. Smells good. Are you going to defeat me that old? Your voice has changed since we last spoke. This is a good new voice. You two can't hear this. You can only hear a me just. You can't hear Folly. Anyway, they can't hear you. But Folly, I've noticed that you've been leading us up and down these roads up and running. You've got quite good smell for this hurrah place. What are you thinking about the direction we're going?
Speaker: And he's going to pause for a brief moment, stick his nostril straight up, his snout straight up in the and just sniff around. And the snout seems to lead the rest of your Velociraptor and settles on a slight north-easterly direction.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, we're still going this way. Yes, yes, I can smell it, absolutely. very good. Now, about meat. That's the direction you think we're going about that meat. Well, you want no piece? Here you go. And I'll just throw him another piece.
Speaker: And he quickly just bites and clamps his jaws down onto it and just starts... slopping away now for the sake of the will that's not here and the ian that is here i'm not going to imitate those sound effects um but yeah he chews on it as well as for all the listeners that haven't wanted an asmr podcast as well well yes i suppose those as well absolutely um but yeah he he gulps it down after chewing it for a few seconds
Speaker: Yep, yep, I'm sure, I'm sure we're going this way. Yeah, I'm absolutely not sure. I will just, Remedius will just get up and will just pat Folly on the neck, and then he'll go, ain't no more meat for you than that now, boy. I'm just going to put the pouch into the hip sack on Folly, on the saddle. I'm going to go, there you go, straighten your backpack, ready for when you need it for another time.
Speaker: And he's going to take a minute. though Like your namesake. He's going to turn. his nostril towards where you just kind of put the pouch and he's going to kind of circle around himself a couple of times as he tries to get to it. that again, you get your head in there, boy, and I'll turn you into a fish tomorrow.
Speaker: You got hear me? Sorry. And he lowers his head you damn you song in front of you. And then he he kind of pushes forward a little bit and he's just rubbing the top of his head up against your shoulder at this stage. That's okay. That's okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't you lose your mind, boy, because I hope you find it. And I'll turn back to the other two and go,
Speaker: Folly seems to think that northeast is the direction that we need to go. Got a good sense that way.
Speaker: I mean, that is the way the road is going. The two of you kind of look towards Folly at this stage and he just kind of nods slightly. There you go. she You're not sure if he actually understands Folly.
Speaker: what is being said to you too. He's more so, um, just nodding based off the position and kind of, um, the gestures that's been made by Darren's character.
Speaker: What about you tall handsome and brooding?
Speaker: So while this has been going on, Cailin, as always has been casting his eyes around campfire. He's looking up at the sky. Callum, what's the weather doing at the moment? It's quite clear.
Speaker: The stars shine brightly tonight, but all of them just seem to be slightly overwhelmed still by the steel nightmare. But the sky is clear. The weather is dry. Any wind? A slight chilled breeze blows through. Okay, so Caelan would be sitting facing the wind.
Speaker: His nostrils flared so he could take in any scent. He's already done his perimeter checks. You guys know this. He does this every campfire, every evening. He goes around. He takes some twigs and branches from nearby his trees and he places them in different spots throughout the campsite so that a snap of a twig from anyone...
Speaker: his ears would prick up and he'll know the location of any enemy. So he's sitting, facing the breeze, nose flared, taking the whispers from the trees, the sound of the wind.
Speaker: And he stirs at what you said and looks at you quizzically, because as always, you know that he goes into a sort of trance, because Cailin doesn't need long rest, he doesn't sleep.
Speaker: but he does go into a trance kind of almost just on patrol while sat motionless. And you can tell you've just stirred him from that. And he looks at you.
Speaker: What are you talking about? We are just talking about most speedy ways to get to this half house in the morrow. I was asking what we thought about Lady G. He spoke to his dinosaur.
Speaker: Well, tomorrow we can just head down the path. We'll do our standard formation. I'll go ahead.
Speaker: Make sure that we're not being watched. There's no dangers that lie ahead. And this Lady G,
Speaker: all I know is that she's got information. We should be
Speaker: You normally have the information, so it'll be interesting to see what she has to say. Yes, I think we should be cautious as well. The last thing we want to do is go into this and thinking we're meeting with Lady G when actually we've got somebody else meeting us. After all, we know what certain other groups in Eryth like to try and mess with various things, so it's worth us being cautious and not just assuming someone who comes on saying, hi, I'm Lady G, is actually who she says she is.
Speaker: um watches for the evening I figured I'd take first watch um Remy you take second and then we'll let Kalen do his trance thing for the first four hours while we're doing that and then he can take the rest sounds good The thing I'm going to do is just, I've butve i've been driving with Cailin before. It's a mighty clever thing he does with the twigs. And I'm just going to, he's going to take out a little bit of Fred. I'll be about 10 minutes here, just making these twigs a little bit more safe.
Speaker: And I'm going to start casting as a the ritual alarm around the twigs. So he'll just be weaving this this this this little name. He'll almost be like kind of like burrowing, like a squirrel at certain points, and we'll just be putting this little wire. I like to think he's travelled with Kalen before, and that this is a this is a thing that they do sometimes when they have to scout and they don't have the means for people to take a full watch. It's additional security.
Speaker: So I'm just going to cast a ritual of alarm around the twig perimeter.
Speaker: Lovely, lovely. That takes 10 minutes to set up isn't it? and Okay. Caelan, your trance state, are you actually aware of everything that goes off around you while you are in it, just to confirm for myself? Yeah. Lovely, lovely.
Speaker: So, Alessio, would you just kindly do a quick perception check for me? Of course. Or take your passive here, Tire?
Speaker: As we will settle down into... The first watch. So Remy and Caelan are, well, sleep and trance state. ah that's I'll take my passive perception of As the night settles in and the air calms, the airiness starts to kind of...
Speaker: settle in. Every now and then you take a quick glance up until the steel nightmare again. This overwhelming light does seem to always be looming over everything.
Speaker: You very easily pick up a ah few animals that seem to be in the nearby vicinity. They don't seem to break ah Remy's alarm spell, but you do spy a couple of rabbits just kind of bounding through the night sky and a fox that seems to be in pursuit. I did say night sky there. The night, but on the ground. And a fox that seems to be in pursuit. Flying rabbits in the Haral Empire.
Speaker: Exactly. Yeah, why not? Let's make it a thing. ah But yeah, your watch, perfectly fine, passes without any kind of issues.
Speaker: Lovely. um During his watch, he'll have been sat in the fire, just just tending it, adding a few bits of sticks to the fire to stop it from going out and also make sure it doesn't give off any smoke.
Speaker: um And he'll he'll he'll play around. he he He'll use minor illusion to... create images. He'll just, he's practicing him, his, his little things. He'll use prestidigitation to make objects, make marks and just allow him to go.
Speaker: he's just, he's, he's always practicing. He's just practicing those skills, thinking, right, what need to do next? And he, and he's thinking back. He's, he's been to the Royal Empire before. It's not his first time. um He's been here forever.
Speaker: years ago, mainly to the sort to the north near Chano and that kind of stuff, sort in the northern area, sort of closer to Moonrise. um So he's never been this sort of far south of the mountains and that kind of stuff. But um he knows of the Haral Empire ways, and he's just reminding himself of of their particular ways of doing things, their traditional traditions and and eccentricities that he'd need to know if he was going to be blending in with them should he have to at some point.
Speaker: Okay, lovely. And you practice your illusions in this fire, almost kind of crafting it, crafting the same way you'd craft the weave, what you're just turning and bending the very embers and licks of flame into whatever illusions take your fancy before eventually you go and wake up Remy, I'm presuming is what you're going to be trying to do.
Speaker: Yeah, he'll go over to Remy and he will, you know gently place a hand on him. Give him a moment. Awaken, it's your turn.
Speaker: Jolly good, jolly good. Oh, I'm a stiff little gnome. Think I could be a rachnome, but I'm not a farce gnome. He's going to get up and just move over to near the campfire just to continue just to continue the watch.
Speaker: It's been uneventful. Flying rabbits, you know, usual hurrah and lad pass off. um And he he'll go over to his bedroll. hope one them close enough. i believe I can kind of speak with animals again. and again like I always said they're a bit strange. I've tried to eat flying rabbit.
Speaker: Bit tough. Different to ground rabbits. land rabbi Flying rabbits, less good. Don't say that too loud because one of them won't come close enough for me to speak to it. Things are going to get numb. I don't think they can understand me, but fine. Good night.
Speaker: And he goes over and he lies down on his bedroom and stares up at the sky, watching a few night flying rabbits cross over the sky. you You understand him, Folly?
Speaker: i'll say It's been and he goes half an hour into this podcast so far, and I've made one fuck he's going to just carry for the rest of the entire little campaign that we're going to have now. Thank you, Will. You started it by ragging on us. You made this bed. Now I'm going to restlessly sleep in it. um Darren, as your watch goes on, Folly...
Speaker: seems to do it on par with you you know so he wakes up with you um stands watch with you unless you tell him otherwise but yeah i do believe your speak with animals is actually dwindled at this stage yeah as he would have gone you understand him folly he'll then oh you can't understand me anymore can you anyway thanks for waking up with me boy and i'll reach in the pouch and just get him a bit me too to to just thank him for joining me.
Speaker: and The other thing I would do is immediately, it doesn't particularly bother him, the threat of rain, but obviously around the still melt nightmare, there's been increasing bouts of sleet and heavy rain.
Speaker: He's going to cast Druidcraft just to see what the weather's going to be for the next eight or so hours. A ranger is best prepared to know if he needs to to take some form of water protection.
Speaker: so So I will cast Druidcraft just to find out what the weather's going to be over the next eight hours. Do you have to give a location for that?
Speaker: No, I believe it's just... I think it's within a certain proximity. I can check that for you. I'm not too sure on the Druidcraft. It's a cantrip, so it's not going to be particularly... um It's at your location for the next 24... It's whatever the weather's going to be at your location for the next 24
Speaker: And assuming clouds are quite big and like rain patterns, it's basically like taking your phone out and checking what weather's going to For the next 24 hours according to spell, as you cast Druidcraft, a golden orb just forms in your hands.
Speaker: Probably not too much of a bright one, but a golden orb nonetheless. Oh, that's good. Ain't got any more of that hard, hard rain and sleep, Folly. And I'll just dismiss it. And then what he will do is, if he will go back to some of the nuts he was eating earlier and just a couple of them. It turns out they're actually seeds. He's chucking them up. He's going to cast Druid Craft again. He's just going to cause some of them to just bloom as he chucks them into the air.
Speaker: And apart from that, he's going to be just being vigilant. All of these things that look like they're eccentricities that he's not paying attention. This is a ah seasoned ranger who has delved into the depths of the Shadowmain Gorge, who has survived the harsh sands of Dralak, who has climbed the vast heights of the Bleakmore Mountains. This is someone who may look eccentric in that he's not doing his job, but in reality, he always is.
Speaker: A very seasoned, and traveled adventurer then. um Can you do me a perception check or take your passive? I'm actually quite good at that. My passive is 18, but I'm going to roll anyway. You see what I get.
Speaker: I get a 15, so I'm going to go take that 18.
Speaker: On your watch, you guys are, as I said previously, off the beaten path. So there is a ah very clear, well-trodden route that goes ah from ah the ah two cities and obviously to the halfway house that you guys actually headed to. So you guys have moved off this well-trodden path just to keep out of people's way.
Speaker: um And also... as per experience, just try and keep yourselves to yourselves. But there's an unusual thing that happens in your watch, Darren. There seems to be a cart that you see that is moving along this beaten path.
Speaker: For the time of day, it's very unusual for anybody to be traveling like this. You would possibly assume they might have something valuable, hence all traveling under night.
Speaker: or possibly even running away from something, you're not too sure. But there's a cart that seems to have a decent bit of a more than average pace to it, just headed up by one person.
Speaker: But it's a cargo cart, not a passenger cart. Can I get a good look at the driver, knowing that West Haral has been utilizing Giffyanki mercenaries and we are in East Haral. I'm looking to see if this is anyone who could potentially bring undue attention to us, if this is someone who potentially could be moving in the West name by the dead of night.
Speaker: ah is other Is there anything about this car? are they traveling with torches? And the other thing that he would do once he's done that kind of gleaning as to what he can get from that is he's going to look at the moon and he's going to look at the sky to try and ascertain just what the time is. Let's just say it comes up later, they were moving at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., if that makes sense.
Speaker: Yeah, no, that's perfectly fine. A quick glance. you You're a very seasoned Ranger. again Gauging the time is not going to be a problem. You will probably say sometime between 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning, and you are probably pretty much spot on.
Speaker: There is a torch that is kind of um mounted to the side of the wagon, the same side as the driver. Yeah. And it is lit. It's obviously not to highlight him, but to highlight the path that he is going on.
Speaker: The only thing you can really ascertain is that he is human. You can't really get a good look at the way ah the expression on his face is.
Speaker: But judging by the height the build types of things, you you're ruling out some of the more um different species that you might actually see. So too short for a goliath, too tall for a halfling, too bulky for an elf most of the time. He's got kind kind of a decent rotund belly on him.
Speaker: if If I don't see the pointy ears, the thing I'm particularly looking for is, and again, obviously is that lean build of a GIF Yankee, knowing that they are um traditionally servants of West Haral and that we are in the part of Ereth where obviously they're very a Derry territorial race.
Speaker: I think in the history of this podcast, we've only seen one outside of Haral. and And I'm just making sure it isn't someone who is basically going to be of mind to try and Let's start something.
Speaker: Yeah. From from a appearance that you can see and your perception and your passive perception, it it just looks like a human. Definitely, definitely not a Giffy Yankee. Yeah. the bit The belly would certainly put him at ease. He would know that, you know, Giffy Yankee build is typically lean or muscly. It's very rare you'll see ah ah like a rotund Giffy Yankee. So that will immediately put him at ease. And then he will just curiously observe this car.
Speaker: And as you watch, maybe just a little bit on guard because he always cautious just in case a sharp turn and they can be on you quite quickly. So maybe even a little bit prepared. And folly is also ah watching with you at this stage. Obviously not really particularly aware of the dangers, but still just looking at the same thing you are looking at.
Speaker: ah Yeah, and what I will do is is I'll walk over to Folly's pouch. I will um throw the shield on my back just casually, and I'll bring up my pouch. I'll just put some snuff into it and start smoking it. But the other thing I will do just very casually is I'm going back to my position of the campfire. I'm just going to take the hand crossbow back with me.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely. um Ian, what is the range of your trance, and what... how big were all the twigs and everything else that you put round? What kind of area did you get them covered in?
Speaker: So it would entirely depend on the campsite that you set up in the theatre of the mind. So if you are imagining a thick woodland, So and we found a kind of a clearing in the center of some trees. Then every other gap where the trees are, there's going to be some twigs. And they'll go out for a range of...
Speaker: ah Between 30 to 60 feet, not in a circle, almost like a jagged star from and the first one around. Just enough to capture the, it's not a trap, it's a innocuous branch on the way into camp. It's a twig that will snap, a dry twig that will snap.
Speaker: Something that's... normal to everyone else walking in the woods, but to Kaelin who has purposely put it there is a sign that someone is around. Um, and it's, it's more so that he can allow his senses to push past further from the camp outwards and not so much have to worry about his immediate surroundings rather than purposely setting up traps. Like he's in the hunger games.
Speaker: Okay, okay, that's lovely. So the trodden, well-used path that people use is away from any kind of ah forestry areas, none of that. so Yeah, and he wouldn't set up a well-trodden path because that's a path through the forest is a path through the forest. like people going to He's expecting people to walk on that.
Speaker: But anyone coming, so obviously they've made camp. There's smoke. There's a fire. So someone would have to purposely change direction to come see us. Caelan wants to be the first to know.
Speaker: But as far as a path goes, no, he's not going to laden that with twigs. yeah yeah Yeah, which is fair enough. Fair enough. Senses-wise, sorry, just for quick, you are basically conscious. While while you're trancing, you're basically conscious. You're not unconscious. you You have all your normal senses. You're just...
Speaker: uh, L was basically lived through the, they trance. They basically live through your memories. You live in you, you, cause they don't dream properly. They live, they really relive memories and then come out the trance.
Speaker: Okay. Sorry. Normal senses are fine. Yep. Well, here you go. Here's the, here's the official description. Will's thankfully put in the chat. I've got it up as well. You don't need slim sleep and magic can't put you to sleep.
Speaker: You can finish a long rest in four hours. If you spend those hours in a trance, like meditation during which you retain consciousness.
Speaker: Lovely. So just for your sake and what you would be aware of, um you've obviously been in your meditative state, been ah facing the wind.
Speaker: As you said, obviously getting the downwind for it, making sure your senses for smell are all heightened and at their peak. um For that, you have been facing north. He has been traveling from east over to west.
Speaker: So while your back was kind of towards him, you've still very clearly heard a cart come past. You have heard it, but you've not seen it.
Speaker: um And you've not been able to pick up any kind of smell or anything like that. But you have heard the cart as it's been going past. Okay. Now, if you wanted to react why it's still there, you can do.
Speaker: ah So Caelan would come out of his chance-like state and whisper quietly.
Speaker: he'd not Body whisper, not him whisper in words. His body would move like a whisper. He'd put his hood up and have his longbow with an arrow knocked and just capture the sight of the back of the cart. So he would move through the trees in the shadows, hood up, and he wants to position himself, if he can hear the cart, to the lesser end of it, further enough away, let's say 30 feet.
Speaker: um And if that's successful and I'm able to get there undetected, I would like to roll a perception. i want to see the tracks in the mud. How heavy is this cargo? Because that would give me an undertaking of like why someone would need to travel at this late at night during which a steel nightmare is causing terror around the neighborhood's And are you investigating that it's gone past?
Speaker: Can just confirm? What's that? you investigating this as it's gone past, going to look at the tracks? So if I hear the put cart, yeah I'm going to make movements to the rear of the cart.
Speaker: Okay. And once I've gotten towards the rear of the cart within my sight range, and I've got dark vision for fucking days, I want to see how heavy this cargo is. So I'm checking, are the tires iron?
Speaker: and What are they made of? How deep are they making tracks? Is it like this thing is just traveling at a nice, decent pace, so it's almost floating above the mud and the rocks and the twigs? Or is there some substantial weight that's causing these tracks to make it go slower? It's embedded centimeters deeper.
Speaker: for whatever reason uh caitlin again there's still not as high in the sky there is not a he's already you said from the cart that you can hear it he's not hearing footsteps i presume so there's not a group protecting this so it's a single rider or solo person during in a time like this at 2 a.m m He doesn't want to make himself known and he's not being overly suspicious. This is just what he does. This is in his nature. This is why he's part of the Ringed Watch.
Speaker: He's going to patrol and take a look. Okay, we'll ah sort Caelan out first then. So you've got your dark vision 120 feet. So out to 120 feet, I believe you see in grayscale, but you're very used to looking at things in the darkness. You recon, second nature to you.
Speaker: Definitely one person driving it. The car itself is a relatively budget type of car. It's not designed for transporting heavy goods, and it certainly doesn't seem to be trailing any kind of heavy goods.
Speaker: The tracks that it leaves for you... Just realise I've not even made you roll a perception check yet. I'm giving you a lot of stuff. You passive perception 17, roll for it anyway, just see if you get anything better.
Speaker: and perception? Hmm. You've got a very good passive. You all do, actually. It's like we've been 13. Unfortunately, rolled like shit. No, no, that's fine. 17 is still very, very good for your passive.
Speaker: The wagon itself is majoritively wood construction um designed for light travel and light transportation of goods.
Speaker: It doesn't really seem to be sinking in, but you would absolutely identify that it's moving faster than what it should do at this pace and it goes past you pretty quickly anyway, but both, um, Caelan and Remy, you see, as it starts to push away from you, probably 40, 50 feet past your camp, there is a box that just seems to fall off. The car kind of hits a rock on this path, bounces up and then a box falls off.
Speaker: But to confirm, blew past our camp to which we have a fire and embers and it just blew past no issue. It blew past your camp completely.
Speaker: So just that information alone is enough to... um Like I said, Caleb wasn't on high alert. He was just doing his job. So that's enough for him to... unnot his arrow and he knows that Remy's on watch so would have seen also the box he knows that Remy's skill and considers him an equal ah in terms of perception and sight so he's staying even though he's seen the box his professionalism knows that it's not Caelan to check that it's Remy it's his watch Caelan's just in the shadows
Speaker: And Remy, I'd say that you'd be aware that Caelan's done this and many times. Like he'll he'll wake up and he'd be you'd know without knowing or seeing that Caelan would be there within the perimeter.
Speaker: um And we've probably done this before where we have been ambushed and an arrow will come out of nowhere. And you've just kind of gotten that kind of, you know that there's a sentry out there.
Speaker: Yeah, and Remy also knows that coming to get his pipe and casually taking the hand crossbow with him will know that Kalem is used to trancing, at least with that in line of sight. So even if Kalem is in his trance, not able to fully see what Remy can see, he will see Remy pick up the crossbow, which is enough normally to trigger him out of trance. and The other thing he knows is that, but correct me if I'm wrong, Will, but Alessio is a human and doesn't have dark vision, and there's tears to the dark vision here, which is Remy's goes to 60 feet and that Calum's goes to 120 feet. So he knows that getting into the shadows and getting a better look is going to be better for Calum.
Speaker: and He's going to just cast through message. he's going to He's going to take a little bit of twig and just wrap it around his fingers and he's just going to go
Speaker: dragged that Calum?
Speaker: You can remind me. Can I talk back? You can with message, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I saw. Cart was in a hurry, not carrying a big load. That box, be mindful of any traps. You know the drill. Yeah, I'm getting out there. just do If he was asleep, so keep an eye on the camp.
Speaker: I'll be right back. And he'll just kind of like do a towards folly and we'll climb onto to the mount and they will ride over towards this box.
Speaker: Not really lovely. I'm fighting cover, Callum. Okay, fantastic. You ride over on Folly towards the box, and as you get a closer look at it, it just seemed to be like a a standard simple wooden crate.
Speaker: Okay. Just do me, well, your passive investigation before you do an investigation check, um if you wanted to anyway, um you do notice like a liquid that is starting to have leaked out of the box and onto the ground just to the side of the crate.
Speaker: Okay. um I am not going and upon seeing that, I will do a passive investigation. Well, I will do an investigation. ah That is a I'll take my passive, which is a 10. I rolled nine.
Speaker: Is anything else particularly that you're looking for? It seems to be a very kind of bland box, no stamps or markings it or anything like that. am boxed, soon as liquid coming out of I'm looking to make sure that this isn't some kind of wildfire, some kind of alchemy, it isn't some kind of poison.
Speaker: um it's It's not something like ah rotted water or anything like that. I'm trying to ah ascertain what this liquid is. the While the texture and probably consistency of the liquid itself seems to be lost as it started to mix in with the ground, the smell to it kind of reminds you... it it It's similar. There's kind of like a a sweetness to it.
Speaker: You've drunk plenty of potions of healing in the past. ah This has like not the same, but a similar kind of scent to it.
Speaker: Okey doke. um I'm going to, in a mixture of a series of tongues, ah a mixture between Dwarvish, Elvish and Gnomish, I'm just going to start muttering under my breath as he's just chewing on his pipe, kind of like Gandalf, or man or butan nos and I'm going to cast fine traps on this just to see if there is anything here that's particularly naughty.
Speaker: Okay, do I do anything for that or you going to be told if there's any traps? I've got the spell now. You sense any trap within range that is within line of a site. A trap for the purpose of spell includes any object or mechanism that was created to cause damage or other danger.
Speaker: Thus the spell would sense the alarm or glyph or warding spell or a mechanical pit trap, but it wouldn't reveal a natural weakness in the floor, an unstable ceiling or a hidden sinkhole. This spell reveals the trap is present, but not its location. You do learn the general nature and danger possessed by the trap.
Speaker: Okay, fair enough. um Seeing as you're not obviously facing towards the camp at this stage, you are a little bit further away, because I think that would come up as traps on your spell. The box seems to be clean of any kind of detect traps. Okay.
Speaker: ah I'm going to open the box. Yeah, and there's like just a little um gap underneath the top of it, um and you pull this like ah piece of wood that's been kind of nailed to it just off ah quite easily. Maybe the liquid has seeped into that a little bit more, but it looks like there was four glass bottles inside here, one of which has been smashed.
Speaker: And you can obviously see that. That's one that's been leaking. There's broken glass just in the um bottom of it. The label seemed to have kind of worn away a little bit from it as well. But on one of the glass bottles, you can see the remainder of one word, stocked.
Speaker: Well, dang, Fally, I believe this is the sort of the stuff that your namesake was interested in. and what I'm going to do is I'm going to take it out and go now, remember, you may be just kind of like the essence of Primordial and and never find a creature, but you've got be really careful with this now. We'll be right back. How big is this box? Because I'm quite small.
Speaker: It's not a huge box as you've been able to open it quite easily. i would probably say maybe about eight inches square.
Speaker: Okay then, I'm going to just cough back for a message. Whatever this fella is, he's doing something with Stark magic.
Speaker: That's fine. If you find it of use, bring her back to the camp. Well, Stark magic can either go boom, or it can make you feel better, or it can make you feel a heck of a lot worse. or I don't really know what this one is, but i I'll bring it back anyway. We're just going to have careful with it.
Speaker: and I'll gather up the bottles that have but besides the cracked one, obviously.
Speaker: Yeah, that's perfect. fine You can grab the other three without cutting yourself on it, and assuming you just put them in the pouch that's on folly. Yeah, and in the rucksack. Yeah, and you you you start heading back. There's a clang and a clatter to the bottles that are in the pouch now, but you're able to get back perfectly fine.
Speaker: Yeah, I would walk him back, like like kind of taking my reins and walking back purely because but i don't know if I'm about to blow up both myself and my Raptor. So I would get back into camp and I would take the bottles out and I would just put them not too near the campfire, but close enough so that they are in light so we can just get a better look at them.
Speaker: and And you make your way back, you bring out the bottles and you try to kind of ah look at them through the fire. And the consistency and the color as you kind of gaze them at the fire just seem to be changing a little bit. They seem to be going thick to thin and they're almost kind of cycling through colors a little bit. Whatever these kind of...
Speaker: um potions are, these stock magic things that you've obviously identified as stock magic, that's from ah that word.
Speaker: it yeah It could take an expert to identify what would do, but it is beyond your ability. Yeah, I can't. There's not a proficiency of mine, um um but I am going to just...
Speaker: Okay, keep them to one side. ah Maybe leave them for Alessio to have a look at in the morning. um And yeah, that's been quite an eventful watch. Indeed.
Speaker: And you can settle down with your sleep now and basically leaves us with Caelan. Are you still in your trance at this stage are you just like patrolling?
Speaker: Um, so while I was watching Remy, um, I was not in a chance. I was, focused on the area. Um, and having seen Remy, Remy go back, um, how much of my chance did I get? Um, in all fairness, if you're splitting up, you probably had about three hours worth of it just from, uh, Alessio's watch.
Speaker: um Okay, so I would... It'll be two hours for each of us, two hours for me, two hours for because that's how much you can have. There you go. I've been corrected.
Speaker: Sorry. it's okay The maximum amount that we can do without um incurring things is is two out within the long rest window. It's two hours, if anything else. like Hence why the old four-hour work. was very happy when you were free to do this well. I'm not going to lie. I know it sounds like I'm not, because I knew you'd keep me honest and straight. So thank you. But yeah, two hours. You've had two hours. As Darren casts a leveled spell, his long rest will have to be an hour longer than the rest of ours, because his his he affects his his long restness.
Speaker: Can I break up a sleep? Here you go. Can I break up a trance? Yeah. Well, that's fine. So you didn't cast any level of spells. No. So your your long rest window isn't affected. So you could go straight back into your trance. Trance. Amazing. And finish at the end of Darren's watch and then do yours.
Speaker: so Because Darren cast... Remy's fine with that. Remy, there's been several times where this would have been needed and Remy can do this and he can sleep in the saddle. So yeah there have been times... I just thought I'd mention it. No, we're keeping honest here. So, Callum, keep me true, Will. Keep me true. I would... um when Remy brought back the stock magic to the camp, um, again, I would just slowly, um, Remy would know again that, uh, Caleb would be around without necessarily seeing like it's, it's all about instincts here. Uh, and also familiarity, like Alessia would know as well, like it's sleeping soundly. So Caleb would go back in position of, um, facing the wind,
Speaker: and take two hours of my trance and then just silently open my eyes from that. And um if if nothing's happened and I've got space, waiting for you say yeah.
Speaker: Okay, cool. I would just spend time um just The very first thing that Caelan does at the end of every trance is um take care of his gear because that's needed for the next day. So that's, um like said, he's got a longbow.
Speaker: um The longbow is actually called Whisper, which I thought was pretty cool. and he would spend time just... um And this is important for you to know because you never know when this might come into play. So when his trance is over, he would take whisper and he would take off the bowstring from it to allow the limbs to rest back up into their natural position because obviously with his um ability...
Speaker: with the long bow, that bowstring creates a lot of pressure on those limbs and having that tied all the time is not good for the wood. So he would allow just for the wood to breathe.
Speaker: During that time, he would take the bowstring and he'd re-wax it. And that's where the name Whisper comes from because when he plucks that, when he draws and he shoots, you can't hear him.
Speaker: um and he would polish the wood. And if you'd look at the wood, it was a dark kind of yew wood, and there's a silver inlay, which is kind of woven around it.
Speaker: And it's polished, not because it's a prized possession, it's polished because it's a necessary tool and companion. And out of everything, his bows never lied to him.
Speaker: Yeah, I love that. that That's pretty damn cool. So you are starting your out of trance basically just by polishing your wood. That's... um um yeah But no, yeah, yeah. I love i love the scene. i do love the scene. Thank you very much for that.
Speaker: um Yeah, taking... quite clearly quality checks of your gear as a first thing still with this kind of stoic attitude and demeanor to yourself you're still very aware of everything that's going around you i'm sure even while this is all going off um can you just do a ah quick perception check for me and obviously if it is ah less than your passive then by all means use your passive Well, I'm not rolling nice to tonight, Cotton. That's 15, a passive of 17. We'll take your passive anyway. anyway
Speaker: You are very aware of all the animals around you now. It's almost like hunting time for potentially people who aren't well stocked with rations and food.
Speaker: There was an abundance of animals around at this early hour of the morning just as the sun is coming over the horizon and finally something that is going to drown out.
Speaker: um Screw you and your flying rabbits. This is not clay pigeon shooting. um The Horizon is finally ah taking some of the glimmer away from the steel nightmare that is a being positioned ah high above Aerith. And as you start offloading all of your gear, there is one piece of equipment that the Winged Watch has given you, has given all of you, and it's always designed for communication.
Speaker: Just a small sending stone.
Speaker: It's how you receive a lot of information. It's how you receive a lot of your missions, but it's more so for emergencies only. And as you are checking your gear, Kalen, you see the st sending stone pulsating just a light blue.
Speaker: i I would know that means someone's getting in touch. Exactly. You would know exactly what it means. Someone is trying to send you a message. Okay. Caelan would look at this inquisitively and held it hold it in his palm and accept the voicemail.
Speaker: Yes, you accept the voicemail. And in your head is where you actually hear it. We have lost communication with Lady G.
Speaker: Please make haste. We must find out what has happened.
Speaker: Cool. Again, calm, doesn't react.
Speaker: ah Is he? ah Well, so I know this group. Yes, you do. Am I aware they've had long rest? Because Caelan also knows the value of a long rest.
Speaker: and You would be aware that Alessio has had a long rest. That's it. At this stage, i know Remy needs of that extra hour. Do we have a cart? Or are we traveling on foot? It feels weird to have a cart.
Speaker: you two You two are on foot. Remy might occasionally travel on Velociraptor. And Remy remy wemy is often can be the one who can cast spells during the night because he can the beast is in tune to him. He can just tell him, follow you two and sleep in the saddle.
Speaker: Okay, um so he'd restring, whisper, set that over his shoulder, make sure he's counted his arrows and got all of that, puts it in a quiver, that goes around his back, short sword, he's ready for the day and walks over to the campfire and just kind of kicks it out and leave no trace.
Speaker: Standard morning ritual. And then he'll go over to Alessio just lean down while not looking. He's never really looking at his group. He's always looking elsewhere and on the horizon.
Speaker: And he'll just reach behind him and tap Alessio.
Speaker: time
Speaker: Is it? I try and do lot to make sure that we're unseen, but every morning you do like to yawn loudly. Look, look, look. If I sleep in a bed, it's absolutely fine, we're not going to lie. This hardwood floor, the hard floors, they do great sometimes. Anyway, right. Okay, I'm up.
Speaker: Oh, is, um, is, is Remy having a lie-in? Usually, yes, but we need to, we need to leave. We had a message and, uh, Caleb will kind of shake the sending stone.
Speaker: Ah, okay. um What was the message? What's up? They've lost contact contact with this Lady G. So they're worried. Okay.
Speaker: Lady G might be in a spot. Okay, right. Let's... um Okay, and he starts packing up his bedroll, rolling up and buckling it up and putting it on his pack. Do you want to wake him and get him in his Velociraptor and we can get walking?
Speaker: Indeed. Unless he'll walk over and go and have a piss. And then we'll join the group. um In the light of the yellow fluorescent, Caleb will go and just same thing, but with Remy, exactly the same.
Speaker: In this, literally, time. Yep, yep, yep. And he'll go, I need another hour. You boys are going to have to just lead the way while I get a kip on the back of old Folly here. And he's going to go around and pick up the stock magic bottles. ah Sandra, I had to cast spell during the night. It turns out we got some of it. Well, it appears to be stock magic. There's three, and there's three of us. Happy coinkydink. Bottle each.
Speaker: News from the Winged Watch. Go on. They've lost contact with Lady G. So they're worried. Shitfire.
Speaker: And I will just go and get on the back of folly and go. and He'll just start saddling up as soon as he's heard that. He knows that's we need to move. Shitfire. guess i love that. I love that. Shitfire.
Speaker: He's just chewing a bit of grass and he just spits it out. Shitfire. And goes and gets on the back of folly.
Speaker: And everyone has a bottle of this stock magic stuff because I've gone around handed that out as well.
Speaker: Cool. Everyone has a bottle of the stock magic and possibly Alessio and Remy, you guys kind of make haste as you're packing the stuff up. um Caelan, you are obviously a little bit more methodic with the way you are kind of...
Speaker: getting your shit together um for it. But it doesn't take long. you You travel light as members of the Winged Watch anyway. Well, it should only be a few moments, and you guys can get along your way.
Speaker: ah So Caelan would be ahead of the group, but not as in a leader. He would be ahead of the group. So we know which direction we'll go in and Kalen would be in the trees, sometimes on the north, like 30 foot ahead, sometimes on the east, again, 30 foot and west.
Speaker: So he's he's almost double the movement of um of the others. You're kind of zigzagging left and right. Yeah, he he would set off ah like five minutes before. So while, and they, again,
Speaker: This group knows this. So while Alessio gets himself ready, while Remy gets himself remy ready, Remy, well, Kayla would already be off. They'd expect it as well. So they know.
Speaker: Which is really good while SEO can talk to us still. Look at us, guys. Look at us. Teamwork. yeah teamwork Folly will stick with Alessio because he knows that Remy is going to be asleep for the first hour, so he will keep within contact of someone. So so Folly is going to be following Alessio. Folly knows it's too inconspicuous to or not inconspicuous to try and follow Caelan, so it will stick to Alessio.
Speaker: And i so I said, just a box on a human. He just walks his 30 feet, just plods along, you know. Next to a velociraptor as one. The velociraptor is probably having to actually check itself. as The velociraptor can be for about 40 feet. The velociraptor probably not actually going at full speed either. yeah it's not it's it's it's going at quite a slow cadence. But yeah Folly is grateful for that. Not Folly. Remy is grateful for that because Remy is trying to sleep in the saddle. So he's quite happy for a gentler pace from Folly.
Speaker: So Remy's basically kind of sat in the saddle and almost drooped over the neck of Folly at this thing. Yeah, I mean, this this is a group this is the group that in a pinch may need a spell during the night. And and folleyed Remy knows that thanks to Folly that he's the one who can take the hit because of the way that they travel. He'll have Alessio next to him. Folly's moving at a canter, a gentle pace compared to what he can do. And he will just huddle into the saddle and sleep for another hour.
Speaker: Which... I'm sorry, Will. That's right. And Alessia just... While we're on the side, of just he'll just be humming along to himself. He's probably picked up a long blow glass. He'll go into the seeds on the end. He's just like just like you know playing with the seeds behind. It's getting long. He's just having a stroll off their mission.
Speaker: Occasionally sees Caelan perhaps dash across. And, you know, that's it. So, Alessio and Remy, you guys are just at the back of this. At the moment, you've got like a nice casual pace and you you keep that going basically for an hour and a half.
Speaker: So, Remy, you do eventually get to your long rest before we get to this ah destination of the halfway house. Kalen, you've obviously been zigzagging left and right, left and right, left and right. And you've actually...
Speaker: What's your passive investigation? 14. 14. Thank you very much. um Your passive investigation, while you have been zigzagging, up to you if you mention anything, and you've noticed and you've been able to basically, so far, follow the trail of the car that went past early, mid-morning hours. It still seems relatively fresh in the ground for it. And all along...
Speaker: the well-beaten path you can find, ah the Trail of the Wheels. um Eventually, as you are nearing what you believe to be the location of a halfway house, you're all familiar with what this halfway house is. And the only way to kind of describe it, it's just like a really, really small village that has the basic necessities.
Speaker: And it's designed as a resting spot for people who are out traveling. It normally comes with some very basic necessities, a place of worship, a place to get some food, a place to get some rest, and then a place for people to move on.
Speaker: And, Cailin, you're the first to see it far off in the distance, and very easily your eye also catches two pillars of smoke that seem to be coming out of where the location of a halfway house is.
Speaker: um so we've we're in contact aren't we alicia
Speaker: not psychically not unless i need it to be um because it's only less than a cent of hours so i only only activate it before we're going into a mission that's fine at this stage no sorry no no that's all good i would see the smoke um
Speaker: So my first, because I'm five minutes ahead, so I'm going to just recon first. I'm going to climb ah a tree with a decent vantage point. And I want to roll perception and the layout of the land. So I want to see and tell you what I'm looking for.
Speaker: I see smoke, but that's happenstance right now. Kalen's looking for footprints and he's looking for any change in the environment if he knows this area. So he's looking for broken doors, ah rocks that are out of place.
Speaker: Anything that indicates what this is, arson or anything like that.
Speaker: Okay. So do the investigation check to begin with then please. Investigational perception. Uh, well, you're looking for evidence of certain things. So investigation would be the most sacred one at this age. 23.
Speaker: twenty three We have a good roll. Yeah. At the night. Woo. Yeah. Fantastic. It's 19, which is one off a crit. It is one off a c crit. Yes. Absolutely fantastic.
Speaker: You've taken your vantage point. As you look around, you can't gauge a good idea of what's going off inside this little area of the moment. You're still too far out.
Speaker: There are a few things that you can easily determine, what would be your passive perception and investigation role anyway. One, there seems to be at least one fire that is coming from um the top of one of the buildings of this halfway house setup.
Speaker: Two, you are able to gauge... an array of footprints that are coming out of the area where this is a halfway house is. So there's like, um, not just footprints on the beaten path, but that you can spy a few heavy trodden footprints that seem to have been made in haste going from all the southerly directions to,
Speaker: of this halfway house
Speaker: footprints from not to from to how many can I ascertain how many people or is it just at the very least been able to see four different sets And again, that's from the house.
Speaker: That's coming from the village, the surrounding areas. That's what you can see. Obviously, you're still far away from it. Going south. Going south, yeah. That's away from the where my head away from the halfway house, away from where you've been heading to. We're going from the north.
Speaker: You or guys have been traveling north at this stage. okay So you've been doing a lot of east, and then it's kind of just turned a little bit towards the north. Thank you. And just before I end that and go and return to the group, um audible, what am I hearing?
Speaker: Eerily, nothing. Birds? No birds. okay There's no squawks. There's no rummage of footprints from animals on the ground. Anything.
Speaker: All seems eerily quiet. So having, thank you, having gotten that, uh, Kellen would, uh, skimmy back down the tree again through the shadows. They take a long way around, come from the rear of, uh, Alessio and like a whisper or ah just a appear next onto Alessio's right or left, wherever Remy is on the other side.
Speaker: Halfway house. There's been a fire. Footsteps show that people have run away. I can't tell how many people have gone in.
Speaker: I'm counting four people at least. The tracks are fresh, no more than an hour hour old.
Speaker: Does it look like there was an accident? Are there people around it or is it look deserted?
Speaker: Given the weight.
Speaker: the depth of the footsteps, the weight of which suggests they were running away. So this isn't an accident.
Speaker: Okay. There's fear there. Okay. source Birds are quiet. Nature's dead. Something ill happened there.
Speaker: Be on your guard. Okay. which precaut is How far away are we? How long till we get there? Callum? um At this moment, probably it's about 200 feet to the very edge of the actual ah halfway house. At this moment, probably about 200 feet from the actual edge of the encampment.
Speaker: Okay, so probably less than a minute for me to walk there so I can see this towering fire in front of me. yeah the The pillar of smoke is probably clear to both of you, and it probably has been for a while. Obviously, you've still approached, but you've known that Caelan's been ahead of everything, doing the recon, doing the investigation, ah just as you guys are making your way. you're very careful, obviously, not to get ahead of him just while he does what he does best.
Speaker: um In that case, ah as they're walking, Alessio sort of places a couple of fingers by his temple. And then I'm going to use my ah sonic power, psychic whispers.
Speaker: um ah So up to three creatures you can see. ah get to roll a d6.
Speaker: It's a five. Excellent. That means for the next five hours, we can now speak telepathically with each other um as long as we're within one mile. And it does not require any action to do so, which is very important when you're in combat. doesn't it require an action to talk to each other. it is just It's telepathic communication. um You can end in telepathic communication if you wish. but other than that, you basically have the ability to speak in your mind to the rest of the group.
Speaker: And that includes um that includes Remy as well. Have I had my hour yet? my yeah yeah you you have been awake probably for the last half hour ah worth of traveling after you've had your full long rest. So again, you've had almost the approach. so Knowing that the psychic link is now there, just a psychic message is going to come out and go, we approaching Nats and Quiet Lag.
Speaker: Yes, don't rush in. fear Fire destroys evidence, but not all of it. yeah Spread out and touch nothing. yeah Good plan. and I'm going to start. He's going to start rolling around. He's going to go to the back of his belt this time and take out another pouch. And in it is some burnt mistletoe. And he's just going to crankle it in front of him.
Speaker: And as Folly's footstep lands on the floor, it is deathly silent as I will cast Pass of Without Trace on all of us. So we get a plus 10 to our stealth rolls.
Speaker: Oh, sick. Absolutely fantastic.
Speaker: All of you take a cautious approach towards this halfway house.
Speaker: While you know you're aware, your experience tells you something is off, as Kaylin would very, very aware, there is no evidence as to what yet. So at the moment, you're just approaching with caution.
Speaker: You guys probably get to about 50 feet away from the village at the moment. And this is when you start to hear the faintest of noises.
Speaker: It's a little bit of whirring, almost like a clockwork type of thing that's just slowly spinning.
Speaker: And you all stop. You all crouch down,
Speaker: all under the pass without trace effect.
Speaker: You see in front of you
Speaker: a small construct, probably about the size of a football.
Speaker: And you watch it just kind of come out of one of the villagers, out of the village, almost kind of circle round and then go back in.
Speaker: It is clear to you that it is patrolling. But what interests you most is the creature. You've heard...
Speaker: Rumours of these. You were never there when it happened. You didn't see. But you've heard through the winged watch of the creatures that attacked just after the Jewel of the Desert Championship. These small football-like constructs that started to wreak havoc.
Speaker: The description matches what you've been told perfectly. And now you are seeing one in this tiny little village out in the middle of nowhere, at a halfway house.
Speaker: That is where we'll leave it for the end of today's session.
Speaker: don't wish to sound surprised but that was amazing thank you you are very welcome and I don't take offence to the surprise obviously our listeners would not be aware of my first attempt to DM for this group which if that had been recorded I think would be a hilarious podcast but definitely something what not to do as a DM would be the title for it I've got no notes yeah that's great man Look, as long as everybody enjoys it, as long as everybody has fun, I always consider that a good session. And that goes to for you two listeners as well. hope you did. Oh, she's doing the sign-off. Do All enjoy it. I don't know. I was on a roll and I i saw a segue, so I'm going for it. Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going.
Speaker: I hope you all enjoy this podcast. I hope you all join us again for next week for my little mini campaign, my mini sessions, just before we pick up again with the main story, have fun, have great weekends, look after yourselves. We will see you all next week.
Speaker: Thank you very much and farewell. Fuck you. i have the stop button. I'm the one who chooses to end this. I was going to say, there's a very kind of point Ian wants the control. Ian wants the power. I get oh it. Not at all. That was great. I'm going to just end it now because there's no better way to sign off than what just Callum did. I'm just being a fuck.
Speaker: Hello everybody and welcome to this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop. Are we actually good to start here? Yeah, we're fine. there anything else that you wanted us to know? Right.
Speaker: We're good. Are we doing character introductions or is it worth having a little backy because we know each other going... If you guys want to talk and hash some stuff out, that's perfectly fine.
Speaker: Right, let's have a little backy then. I'm going to chuck it over to you guys to obviously do your character descriptions anyway. Well, it's just it makes it a little bit more authentic if we have a quick discussion, at least, over for what your characters are. if Because if we're vets and we're part of the Wing Watch, are we elite in the Wing Watch?
Speaker: Not elite. We're better than the average guy. Yeah. You're higher than a peon, but lower than lieutenant. In terms of Star Trek, what colours are shirts?
Speaker: That's a bad reference for me. I don't watch too much Star Trek. ah You're higher than a red.
Speaker: No, no, that's not. Because red doesn't donate rank. We're basically early Dralak. We're the equivalent of early Dralak, aren't we? Like when Bellum Dracolis were early Dralak, because that's like when they were level five. So we're that sort of equivalent. We're fledgling adventurers. We're five times better than the average human is what we are.
Speaker: Yeah. Because we're level five. yeah no no. I actually need to know this. Right. In terms of just like army rank or personnel, are we higher up than foot soldiers? yeah Are we mercenaries?
Speaker: Are we mercenaries? That's something your character can decide, whether you do the winged, whatever ah reason you're part of the winged pay for their watch They do, but you are members of the winged watch.
Speaker: Right, so mercenaries. So you're not solely, but if you're doing it for money, because you can make money along the way. Maybe you could have started out as a mercenary and then actually gone, actually, I believe in this cause, and therefore joined them, perhaps.
Speaker: It's a 10 episode thing. It's not going to be a deep arc. I just kind of want to initiate. Basically, what are we in the Winged Watch? Are we trusted advisors that's like, oh, we'll just send anyone out to do this? Or, ah, no, we need this team. So picture the Winged Watch meeting that we had.
Speaker: And you are people that would probably be allowed to go, but not expected to speak.
Speaker: I can look military rank. get the impression that we would be, we'd beat as as someone with ranger background, entrusted with scouting, but we wouldn't necessarily be something anything dangerous more dangerous. yeah we we're we're we're like We're like senior agents.
Speaker: Might be sent to steal something, but he wouldn't be sent into... All three of us are saying different things. Go go for a sergeant go for a sergeant. Military rank, oh me go for a sergeant.
Speaker: um Ah, thes people that actually do the hard work, not officers. act That just makes that makes it a lot clearer of, like, where we are it's fine. It's fine. I don't know military ranks on the island. No, no, no, no, no. Straight there.
Speaker: You know enough from, like, Final Fantasy to tell me where we are. Like, you could have used Soldier. like we I could have. That would have been a brilliant one Oh, we're Zach. Like, wow. But some us don't play Final Fantasy, so we wouldn't gone...
Speaker: then third Third class soldiers. I should have gone with that. I should have led with that. Fuck's sake, Callum. Callum. at Shameful. Shameful. Sebastian Sleetgaard, just known as Sparrowhawk, right? We don't know him. the Yeah, you don't know him as anything else. You know him as Sparrowhawk.
Speaker: That's a really good... Where are your characters from originally? Do we know? So, Darren, where's your character from originally? My character's originally from Shadowmend.
Speaker: ah Yes. Yes. Got a love a bit Shadow Mend. Ian? Darren's just making the most of that backstory he wrote. ah Mine's from Aerith.
Speaker: Where in Aerith? There's a wanderer. I know. I don't have a clue. I don't know how where I fucking think. What's that? Gold view. So Sleet Guard, okay. A true Sleet Guardian.
Speaker: Yeah. Again, I haven't gone heavy on my back because this is more of a mission, isn't it? No, I expected a little bit of like character purpose and that was about it.
Speaker: i can't imagine much other stuff is going to be coming out, but who knows? I've got a deeply ingrained factor. Cool.
Speaker: My character's from the sort of southern Sanguine lands, not like not near the capital of Cydia, but more to the southern part of the continent of the Sanguine lands. Okay. Does anyone know where the elves come from in Aerith?
Speaker: All over the place. Yeah, so Sleetguard then. Elves come all over the place, yeah.
Speaker: Fuck yeah.
Speaker: We're winning, guys.
Speaker: been a while since i've had to make a new character. in
Speaker: Callum, I've seen the dragon stuff is classified as well. We don't know about that. Yep, dragon stuff is classified. You're at that stage where... second again Belum Draconis.
Speaker: Do we know, guest considering they made quite a bit of a racket in the Jewel the Desert Champions, do are we are we do we know of the Undying Champions? You are you know of the Undying Champions. um Perhaps, oh to you with in all fairness, you might have ah encountered them like at the Jewel of the Desert Championships. You might have seen them. You've not had any major interaction with them, but it's a type of thing you'd probably recognize them if you saw them up close, but from a distance, you won't have any clue.
Speaker: You're aware of like the species of them all. So, you know, there's a dragonborn, whatever the fuck alpha is. Um, but obviously tieflings. oh Everyone's still a alive. you say Whatever the fuck that is, is your own. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, can I just turn the game down on your mic a little bit, please?
Speaker: There we go. I've turned it down a little bit. Thank you. You're most welcome. Okay, so, ah guys, my name is Caelan Ashwing. I'm an elf ranger ah who is just stoic and calm.
Speaker: He speaks quite... Almost monotone. As he takes he treats this as a job and a purpose. And so there's no, like, he's not here for the jollies. He's here to get it done.
Speaker: um And he he looks like a fucking classic ranger. going to be honest, guys. He looks like a so cardboard cutout Lord of the Rings ranger jobby with a leather armor.
Speaker: He's got this green... billowing a cloak that he uses to kind of hide himself. He likes being in the shadows. He's quite stealthy. He's got a hood on that cloak. He's got Frodo-esque hair, but he's an elf. He's really tall, long. He uses a long bow. He's got a short sword at his side for when the bow doesn't work.
Speaker: And his boots, car brown leather boots come just below his knees. And he's got the, has the winged watch got a logo or an insignia? It's got to be, right? ah i described you farruk I did describe one for Farrakh who obviously was a foot soldier when when you guys met him which is basically that somewhere on the shoulder blades or the shoulder armors there are insignias of wings a bit like a musketeer's war kind of thing yeah he's got the same thing but it's not on his shoulders it's on the um top of the back of the cloak um if the cloak is green the insignia is in like a dull grey not white because again he's stealth
Speaker: um and yet he's just he' he'd be known because you guys know him he's dependable quiet and good eyes he's the one that you send out to to have a look and to shoot from afar he's not one for close quarters he's one to reconnaissance um there go nice thanks do you want me to go Fuck yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. ah So I am Remigius Montmillibang Fizzlebang IV. Plagues Remigius Montmillian Fizzles. Remigius. I don't need the rest. What's your first name? I'm not going to call you the whole fucking thing. Remigius. Do you have a nickname?
Speaker: Just Remigius. Cool. going to call you Remy. I'm going to say Call him that. He wouldn't have objected to that. It's a great He is a slightly similar to what Ian's just described with Caelan in the sense that he is a Ranger of the Wing Watch. So again, it's almost part of the insignia of the Scouts and Rangers of the Wing Watch will go with that, that they have like the silver wings on a cloak. His cloak comes up over his head and goes around this kind of big bushy red hair that goes all the way around into this big red bushy beard. Um,
Speaker: He was originally born in Dralak, as most of the Fizzlebangs are. He's never met the most famous namesake of his kin, though obviously he knows of the hero of the Blight and Folly Fizzlebang because they are kin. They are a big, deep family.
Speaker: So his gear looks a mixture of patched, traveled armor. So he has insignias of yellow from his time in Dralak. He may have an arm guard that's still of like Dralak colors. His overall main livery is winged watch, but he will have a belt that suggests the ranges of the brother might fought and similar to McBenner's. He would not be able now to return to Shadowmend because when you join the Rangers of Brother Might, you are meant to serve for life and to abandon your post would lead to execution.
Speaker: He has, similar to McBenner again, returned back to Shadowmend, returned back to Sleetguard rather, because he has seen firsthand in Shadowmend just how much of a nasty piece of work Eurond Cardinal can be.
Speaker: And if it was a choice between playing fealty to him and staying at Brother Might and abandoning his oath, an oath to Euron Cardinal is an oath not worth keeping.
Speaker: The other things about him is he's too small for a longbow, so he won't look like the conventional ranger in the sense that Caelan is. He can't practice the traditional skills of a ranger because he's just too small to hold a longbow. So he has a short bow for hunting, and his preferred hand crossbow is what he uses in combat because he can wield a shield with it. But he ultimately prefers to use his beast mount through through his forest gnome nature. He has learnt the ways of the ranger to attune himself to nature where he can summon a magical beast, which he is often keen to fight on from mount back.
Speaker: that is Remigius. And what's the what's the animal you summoned? so Because we know that, I assume. Yeah, we would. Yeah, yeah you would have seen it. it's It's very rare in these parts when it's a traditional beast of the land, it is a velociraptor.
Speaker: When it is a ah beast of the air, it is a pterodactyl, so he still holds to the Shadom end virtues and some of the things that he's seen over there. And if it ends up being a beast of the sea, it tends to be a shark.
Speaker: Cool. Of course, those are what it looks like because the beast has its own stats. It doesn't have the stats of a specific creature in the 2024 Ranger. The beast of itself has its own stats.
Speaker: It just takes the appearance of those things because it's technically a feywild creature. Nice.
Speaker: ah I will leap in then. um So, Alessio Di Maggio. Alessio. Alessio, yes. Alessio Di Maggio. What's wonderful name? Alessio.
Speaker: Yes. E... A-L-E-S-S-I-O. Alessio. Ah... So he and's creed yeah he is the younger, youngest son of a minor trading family in the Sanguine lands. Um, essentially he was sent by his family to go explore various places and see what trading and opportunities could open up.
Speaker: Um, bit of a wanderer, a bit of a traveler. Um, hence why he's a bit of a, he's he's a rogue. He's, he's a thief. He likes to get places and get into trouble and that kind of stuff. And he's also a bard, hence why he's wandering. Um,
Speaker: But the most curious thing about him is is that it's almost like he's he's he's gone out of his way to be utterly unremarkable. but There's nothing distinct about his face that like stands out. like He's utterly unremarkable. like you You'd look at him and then you forget his face five seconds later and move on someone else. because there's there's no distinguishing marks or features that that mark him out from a crowd. And he's used that to play on him. So within the Winged Watch, he's very much um an infiltrator. He doesn't have a standard set of clothes you see him in because quite often he's he's in role. He's sent by the Winged Watch to infiltrate groups and play a role within that group.
Speaker: He's used to taking on different names and different identities and living that role as an infiltrator, as a spy, and has used those skills and talents to, to feed information back to the wind watch when the wing watch need information, ah false information spreading out. He's been used for that. And he will have various aliases and cover stories that he can just slip into character and become that person, which sort of aids into his unremarkableness. He can be quite ruthless. He has no problems. Um,
Speaker: getting rid of someone if they need to gotten rid of. um And he doesn't, he's, the one thing is he doesn't, whilst he has daggers on him, he doesn't kill with them. He doesn't use his daggers. He uses his psychic blades and they're very remarkable that psychic blades don't leave a mark.
Speaker: They go into a person, they come back out. They literally leave no mark and the person's dead. wow is he ah because he's a bard does he sing and like uh he doesn't uh well he he probably can sing um but he doesn't like to he doesn't want to make himself famous because that would go against the idea of him being unremarkable but he can pass it off as part of his role if he needs to does he like deface statues like banksy about that doesn't leave like a mark like a banksy bars he No, he's not the Aerith Banksy. No. That's a fucking great idea as a character. Yeah. That's a great idea as a future character. a fucking Aerith Banksy. Goes around just, yeah.
Speaker: I love that. So his thing's all about disguise and infiltration and that kind of thing. Also, do you have a, you know how we said that the the scouts, Rangers, we have like those wings on our, do you have, do you have wing insignia? and No, ah no but there is nothing about him that identifies him as part of the wing watch because he's an infiltrator and that defeats the whole object of his role in the wing watch. Nobody wants to look at him and go, oh, that guy's in the wing watch.
Speaker: There is nothing about him. Like sometimes he's wearing traveling clothes. He might be wearing a monk's habit. He might be dressed as a scholar. He might dressed as scholar. He could be dressed in lots of different things. And at no point is he ever outwardly showing that he's part of the Wing Watch.
Speaker: What race is he? He's human. I want to be a changeling for a second. No, no, he's literally just human. No, no, and that wouldn't be quite cool. But I just like the idea of just human. Just no, he's human.
Speaker: like it. Because you know they've been published now. They've published all the bronze stuff. so Yeah, and I thought about it, but like, no. I thought I'd go simple character down the human route. Maybe future class, maybe change. but Because change would have been quite good for it. But i want the idea of it's just a human amongst the world. he' let just He's unremarkable, but he his skills are in the infiltration and he's gone there. And he has this ability to manifest his blades and his abilities through um his mind rather than anything else through his sonic powers.
Speaker: cool Oh, and you will know that he has the ability to make us be able to speak to each other telepathically for a certain number of hours. um Literally, he can he can basically, for a certain number of hours, I can say, we can all talk to other. And mechanically, it doesn't take an action to talk. We can talk. We can respond. As long as we're within mile of each other, we can talk freely. And it's not permanent. so you're not hearing your guyses You're not hearing your um thoughts all the time. It's literally you can choose to, in your mind, speak to the group or someone else in the group.
Speaker: And we have good we all have good dexterity for once. This could be the first stealth party. Yeah. I think we've all taken strength as a dumpster, I feel. Yep.
Speaker: Okay. ah So Callum, when you're when you're ready, do you want to kick us off and we'll do all the character descriptions again?
