Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
C1 Ep. 118 Tales of the Ancients Chapter Four
283 Plays5 years ago
The time has come for the party to reckon with a truth that has been in front of them the whole time. What will they do? And what does their new visitor want with them?
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of our amazing Show Sponsors: Laura Pickrahn, Jessica Smith, Irene Viorritto, Ryan Royce, Darrell DeLaney, Jon Cary, Nikko Batson, Charles Compton, The Kamm Family, David Scrams, Elizabeth Clark, Emily Estella Scott, and Michael Clark.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Sponsor Acknowledgments
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of John Kerry, Laura Pickron, Nico Batson, Elizabeth Clark, Darryl Delaney, Ryan Royce, Irene Villarito, The Cam Family, Charles Compton, Emily Estella Scott, Michael Clark, and David Scrams, as well as all of our generous patrons.
Unusual Dragon Hunting Advice
00:00:30
Speaker
D20 radio, your gamers roll.
00:00:49
Speaker
The key to being a good dragon hunter is to not bathe. Now, don't look at me like that. Everybody looks at me like that. When you don't bathe, you're no longer palatable to a dragon. I've been swallowed by dragons 27 times and I've been vomited back up 27 times. I'm the only person in Eberron that can tell you that dragon stomach acid smells like lilacs.
00:01:16
Speaker
An excerpt from Hunting Dragons for Food and Profit by Belton Zallis.
Podcast Introduction and Recap
00:01:24
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Eberan Anud, a D&D 5th edition actual play podcast set in the Eberan campaign setting. I'm your dungeon master, Eric. I'm Philip. I'm Randy. I'm Jeff. And welcome to another episode. Gentlemen, what happened last time? Somehow I ended up playing two characters again. He had a fight.
00:01:41
Speaker
Nope. No, we didn't have a fight. We had a fight two times ago. Yep. We made our way through a pyramid. I got cursed by a sword. Yep. Dex got cursed by a sword by... Named Waith. Because he did not listen to Barak's advice. Important thing is, we found the spear. We're in the same room as the spear. It's true. And Barasha is a real deal full on dragon.
00:02:06
Speaker
Yes, as it turns out, Parasha is, in fact, a dragon.
Revelation of Barasha as a Dragon
00:02:12
Speaker
Only Barak... Well, Barak said it out loud. Yes, because the DM did not know. Barak's sixth level, Kensei level, gave him the ability to have a brief flash of true sight for one round.
00:02:27
Speaker
And that revealed a dragon. Dex always suspected it. Is what he'll certainly say. So what needs to happen is one of us needs to grab the spear.
00:02:41
Speaker
before Barashia gets it, because you never know what a dragon is up to. That is, yeah, that's a whole thing. I click my boots. I gotta be faster, right? It's like a next job to me. Oh, cool thing about that. You know what else is the thing that's true about dragons? He could kill all of us pretty quickly, I think. Well, can he fit into this room if he changes back into his regular form, though? Well, you would know. So yeah, I asked, I told Barashia that we need to talk about why he's a dragon.
00:03:12
Speaker
So Russia just stands and stares at you for a moment. And Eric behind his back.
Tense Standoff Over the Spear
00:03:30
Speaker
Wait, where's everyone in the room? I'm sorry. Can we paint a word picture real quick of wherever one is now that we've got up here? So brush had started like kind of nonchalantly looking about, but walking towards the spear away from you all. Um, Orianna, I imagine was kind of behind you into your right. I was going towards the spear cause I was checking for, you know, and I was not being nonchalant. I was being very sure. Yeah. I was just standing there probably close by taking things in.
00:04:01
Speaker
Okay. Um, that's part of my day when I say something dumb enough to make him laugh and regret it. Um, so, um, brush ends. So true sight.
00:04:28
Speaker
If you're truly a dragon, I suppose I did see true. We're actually kind of looks around the room and. Did you say it loudly enough that we all, I say, I was not, I was not being quiet. Okay. I probably stopped that turned around said, whoa.
00:04:46
Speaker
Well, then I suppose there's no reason to conceal it. I mean, it's big enough in here. It'll be difficult getting out. I can resume this form whenever I want. And you see him begin to grow in size and like his armor and everything kind of absorbs into himself.
Debate on Barasha Being a Dragon
00:05:05
Speaker
And after Eric, a few seconds, he in the seconds while he transforms, Eric.
00:05:14
Speaker
sort of looks towards Orianna and says, pitched low since she's right by him. Get the spear.
00:05:29
Speaker
Okay. Um, how far is the spear from us? Um, it's, it's a, I mean, you're in like the top third of the pyramids of this room is pretty big. So you got all came up from the center. So I'm going to say, um, 80 feet in each direction from the door. Okay.
00:05:47
Speaker
Um, so, uh, for listeners, because we've rolled dice for her a couple of times in our break, we actually built Orianna out. So if she behaves slightly differently than when I rolled dice for her in earlier episodes is because we didn't expect an eater. So we just grabbed a stat block, but now we have a slightly better representation. Anyway, she's going to go for the spear. Okay. Um, and she can get there in one round.
00:06:12
Speaker
Okay, so we're going into structured action. She was just going to try to go for the spear. So is she like bolting for it? She doesn't strike me as a subtle person. Okay. So it might not be what Barak had in mind. So yeah, she takes off for the spear and Brasha goes to stand in her way, go to stand between her and the spear. I thought he was in the middle of transforming. I mean, it takes seconds. It takes her seconds to get there.
00:06:40
Speaker
I mean, okay, she grabs the spear and now Barasha is standing over her, blocking her exit. That's acceptable. She does not use a spear. I hope to have a conversation. Welcome to have a conversation. His eyes close for a second.
00:06:59
Speaker
And then it like you get a flash of magic in your periphery. How long does the true sight thing last? Oh, it should be over. It should be over. Okay.
Discussion on Weapons and Plane Balance
00:07:11
Speaker
Just teleporting into the room is Orgev who teleports in. It's fine. What seems to be the problem? Well, I'm not entirely sure other than I mean, I suppose it's a real
00:07:26
Speaker
Is it a problem for anyone that he's a dragon? I don't mind. I suppose the potential for a problem, but I'm not aware of a problem at the moment. Well.
00:07:40
Speaker
There is, Orgev doesn't seem surprised, but there's the dragon. Are you about to tell us what the problem is? There is a problem. And it's the spear, the sword, the glaive, and the mole. You're not lost out here. You aren't lost out here. Oh, not at all. Was it lost? I mean, I was captured, but...
00:08:09
Speaker
knowing where to be at the right moment. Those weapons have caused immense damage to many people and we've been searching for them for millennia. You've been searching for millennia? Yes. Are you also a dragon? Yes.
00:08:41
Speaker
That's confusing. How so? I suppose you've been changing shapes over and over again throughout the millennia as. It's confusing because at some point. I mean, at some point. Or give a diet in the morning. Oh, right. All right. Now I'm gonna do that. Yeah, that tracks.
00:09:11
Speaker
And nobody pays attention to a bodyguard, no matter how large and scaly. Well, if he was this large and scary, scaly. Fair enough. Uh, so I got questions. Let's put a pin in the weapon thing, if that's all right. Uh, Borussia, I mean, what is Borussia? All right. You have a name? Uh, my, my name is Borussia. Yes. Okay.
00:09:42
Speaker
You still want to go by Prince Orgev? It's been quite some time that I've been going by Orgev. One moment, I know I wrote it down. Is it four years out of your millennia existence? Quite some time? All day, every day. You hit a routine. Here's my question, Brasherd. Being that you are old.
00:10:08
Speaker
Uh, do you know more than you were letting on about, let's say this pyramid or the dead gray mist that I saw in the flashback or? Yes. Care to share that? Perhaps. Um, and he kind of turns still keeping
00:10:37
Speaker
keeping tabs on Orianna and the spear. I was there, um, when the giants
Dragons' Motivations and Power Misuse
00:10:45
Speaker
fell. I was there when the giants were granted the gifts that the dragons, the giants were granted the gifts, the dragons imparted on them. And I realized our folly, our mistake.
00:11:04
Speaker
that power can't be unleashed again on the world. People tried to recreate it and they wiped out a nation. The Giants wiped out a continent. And I don't know exactly what you intend to do with these weapons.
00:11:33
Speaker
Is that true? Don't you know exactly what we intend to do with these weapons? Have you all shared, you all haven't shared the like going to doubt core using, um, so, but whatever it is, I get the sense you intend to use them and that's our problem. Eric is moving to stand with Orianna. Um,
00:12:02
Speaker
that happen, so does Dex. Oh, I'm just not gonna. Right. Well, I mean, you're, you aren't wrong. It helps you. We're not using them here. We're not using them here. What if I told you we're not using them on anything existing in the material point from the material? We're not using them in on Eberron. Nope.
00:12:34
Speaker
you intend to go to another plane. Tend to go to Dal Kor. We need to stop Bad Thing Happen. And you see Barash and make eye contact with Orgev. It's the only way that we know of to save the world. I'll tell you what. No, it's the only way you know how to save people that live on the world.
00:13:04
Speaker
The world will continue to spin. Unless... You know what makes me mad is I've said the same thing to people. They're destroying the planet! The planet's gonna be fine. Unless these weapons are used somewhere that... The summers grow hotter when the plain of fire is coterminous. Winters grow colder when the plain of ice is coterminous.
00:13:33
Speaker
What if you destroy a plane? What happens to everybody that dreams if they are their consciousness in the plane of dreams? Would you save them? I don't know. That's the problem. I was unaware that's how dreaming worked. Did you see Inception? I did. I did not see its D&D companion.
00:14:02
Speaker
That's the problem you don't know. Do you? No, which is why we suggest caution. It's, I mean, here's the thing. Are you it? Dex takes a moment and explains everything they know about the Dream Thieves and
00:14:24
Speaker
their plans and what we learned from the flame and all of it. I started the beginning I leave nothing out. How would that affect
Moral Implications of Using Weapons
00:14:38
Speaker
your kind.
00:14:45
Speaker
little if at all. So you understand why I'm don't necessarily glom on to your self-righteousness about it when we are not self-righteousness, just righteousness about it. When, uh, we'll all die and everyone we care about will die. And that's what we're trying to prevent. So it's easy for you to stand there and say, your tiny thing doesn't matter to us. Therefore we can't let you do it.
00:15:15
Speaker
because of the potential consequences, which are unknowable. Nobody has used this kind of power on another plane that has such a strong influence over Eberron. I understand the concern, the fear, having an outside entity invade both your country, potentially your mind. None of that is lost on me.
00:15:45
Speaker
but when weighed against the potential cost what would you do if what would you do if an outsider an outside force was going to consume all dragonkind what would you not do well um
00:16:19
Speaker
We fought. We destroyed this continent. No, I'm not speaking about the Giants. The Giants were nothing. Nonetheless, when you brought them down, you considered them enough of a problem, you brought them down, you destroyed this continent.
00:16:35
Speaker
Yes, because we made a mistake, we granted them power that they were not ready for, they should not have had, and they used it to win a conflict that this continent still has not recovered from. Maybe never will. You understand that it's hard for me to, pardon me for speaking colloquially,
00:16:56
Speaker
give a crap about your pearl clutching when what you're saying is we are going to let you and everyone else die for a potential of an unknown, possibly bad consequence. But next the goblins died.
00:17:15
Speaker
The elves died. Every nation is invaded by another nation and people die. And the invaded nation does what they can to stop it? Yes. Unless they are going to do something foolish, then we step in to stop them from destroying the world. We're not your pets? In a physical- No. We're not your children. But if you're threatening to potentially tear apart the fabric of- Whatever else do you have that it will do that?
00:17:41
Speaker
What evidence do you have that you won't? That's not how it works. You are using a power that you don't understand in a place you've never been. That literally every waking creature that sleeps visits every night. What happens if you destroy that plane? We've not been told we're going to destroy that plane. Okay. Tell me what happens if you wipe out everything on that plane. Like the Giants did to this continent.
00:18:12
Speaker
Well, first off, the giants didn't wipe out everything on this continent. They're still living creatures that came from that time. After many, many years. And there were things that were twisted and warped. Yes. Some things did endure. We all want to know. We all want to know. You have better idea? Yeah, has better ideas. Let us all die. They'll be fine. No, find a way to fight. We did. We found way fight. You know, have better idea. No, you find a way to destroy. There's a difference.
00:18:44
Speaker
I mean, that's how you guys fight. Yes, because we understand the power. We don't take things too far. We ensure that life will end after our conflicts. Were you guys in charge of the dead Grey Mist?
Dragons, Gods, and Motivations
00:19:00
Speaker
No.
00:19:02
Speaker
Hey, it seems worth asking, right? No, the giants, because they didn't understand what they were doing, created the dead gray mist. We had to come in and clean it up. And then a couple thousand years later, it happened again. That how humans replicated the power of these weapons is still a mystery to us, but, um, fortunately they did not kill the entirety of Corvair.
00:19:38
Speaker
What have you been, why, why do you feel compelled? He just told you the whole story. But so you told me about the meeting with, um, yeah, that seemed super important as to why we're getting these weapons. Yeah. That's on the hierarchy of.
00:19:57
Speaker
I mean, dragons don't care about gods, right? Like dragons do not consider what a god has to say or do they? There are elevated dragons that there's a pretty strong correlation between the gods that are worshipped in the Sovereign Host, the Dark Six, that like were dragons. And so those dragons venerate them as heroes. And so they don't believe in gods, they just, it's their kind.
00:20:23
Speaker
that the greatest among them are immortalized by humans. Now Bahomet is the evil dragon god, right? Tiamet is the evil. I just realized that could have been cause for concern that that's who Varashic conjured the image of. So if you know better, that's what's telling us we need to do this.
00:20:53
Speaker
Oh, I, I am reluctant to, it's a person telling you something that you can't hear, that she promises this is what they said. And she's 12.
00:21:21
Speaker
She's just been making it up. I mean, I don't that feels exactly as solid as we don't know, but it might. But we don't know. So that's why we're going to stop because it might. But we don't know. Well, we just what you're giving us. We've seen if you use these weapons right here right now, you had all four of them and you activate them. We've seen what that does. That's all we're doing. I know you're doing something far worse. No way to use weapons safe there. If you do it here.
00:21:49
Speaker
Southern half, maybe all of Zendric, wiped out potentially or morphed or whatever, but that's it. You go to a plane that's connected to everybody. Most people, the potential devastation is far more widespread. Do you not? Like we know what it does here. You're talking about amplifying how big a place is.com.
00:22:19
Speaker
It's a plane. So it doesn't, I mean, but the material plane is a plane. It has physical existence. Well, not the material. I mean, the material plane is not just is the universe. Like, oh, okay. Sure. We've been given exactly no impression that we're going to destroy the plane of Dalek or, or for that matter, no one said we're going to kill everything on the plane of Dalek or. Yeah. I mean, that's true. Then how will this help you in your conflict?
00:22:51
Speaker
been told this will help us stop the quarry from invading. How? These are the weapons that we need to stop them. What will they do? My assumption is... No, I'm not... What will they do? I'm sorry, but if we're going to have a conversation where all of your statements are about assumptions, then I think you don't get to tell us not to make assumptions. We have witnessed what these weapons do. And your whole argument is that you're assuming they'll do something worse if we wait on a plane of Dal Kor.
00:23:18
Speaker
So if you're allowed assumptions, which I'm not going to claim you aren't, we're allowed assumptions. You assume it will be worse if we use them on Dal Kor. You don't know. You assume. Things that are asleep, that consciousness are on Dal Kor. We've seen what this does to beings that come in contact with the mist. So somebody's consciousness is on Dal Kor and you use this. They will be harmed. You assume. We've seen things come into contact and they've been harmed. Not.
00:23:47
Speaker
Not in their dreams. You have not. You're making assumptions. That's entirely separate. You're making an assumption. There's a physical, there's a conscience. There's a, it's different, but that's willing to allow you an assumption, but you don't get to say, we can't make assumptions. What I'm trying to say is that you don't know. And neither do you. You sure don't. So are you willing to
00:24:19
Speaker
Fight the reedrons, try to drive them back, make this a conflict that is not worth their time or effort so that they will retreat back to Salona. The reedrons are not the problem. They are
Existential Risks vs Immediate Dangers
00:24:31
Speaker
the manifestation here. The Dream Thieves aren't here. The Dream Thieves are using things as a bridge, but we didn't get into this with reedrons. We got into this with Mabar. They used Mabar as a bridge. Okay.
00:24:47
Speaker
And we blocked that. They'll just do another. Okay. Blocked that. We'll just do another. They'll just do another. Never ends. The reedrons are small by comparison. They're putting, they're setting up things that change people's minds all over Corvair. Well, changing people's minds. I altering, not convincing, not, not persuading.
00:25:16
Speaker
invading forcibly altering minds. This is not a military invasion. It's not the problem.
00:25:29
Speaker
So, um, you don't think that if there were loss of life, loss of resources, um, perhaps even attack directly on Salona, that they wouldn't, I mean, they can't invade everybody. I don't think the Corey care about the flesh vessels that they make use of. Why would they?
00:25:54
Speaker
I don't know, but we can't know that they don't. I mean, I feel pretty confident in saying that they don't. I mean, cause nope, nevermind. We don't know that they just find another one yet, do we? If one dies, nevermind. Strichen from the podcast.
00:26:25
Speaker
So you're, let's just say humanoids dying out, but preserving the rest of the planet and other life forms on it is an acceptable amount of loss for you. Well, I mean, that's what you're saying. I mean, humanoids dying out that
00:26:50
Speaker
I find that hard to believe that that would happen. Arenal alone, the quarry cannot touch. At least in the way that you're speaking about. The drow can't be touched. So humanoids will persist, humanoids will live on. Why can't the, is that canon? Bells don't dream. They don't sleep, they don't dream, they don't have a connection to that plane. So even if they touched an obelisk? Yeah, unarmed. I didn't realize that.
00:27:20
Speaker
We probably should have had some elves working on those obelisks instead of that little gnome. What were we thinking? But if there's a reason why the plane of Dal Kor was simply severed away, tucked away, rather than some action being taken directly on the plane. The plane's a
00:27:45
Speaker
a symphony. They work together, they make each other better, they enrich each other. And if you remove one, it's discordant. It doesn't work anymore. You destroy the plane of fire, this becomes a plane of ice.
00:28:12
Speaker
You keep speaking as though our plan is to destroy a plane, and we've never had that plan. The tools that you are proposing to use are tools of destruction. Yes, and you suggested that when people far more competent than us used them wrongly and massively powerfully, it yet did not destroy this plane. Correct. It destroyed... So why are you making the assumption that it will destroy the plane of Dal Kor? What I just said, the planes work together.
00:28:42
Speaker
You remove a plane, but we're not, we're not doing, there's no basis for thinking that we'll destroy the entire plane. You can make, if you're going to make an assumption based on past events, we're going to hurt a portion of an area in the plane because that's what happened here. By people as stated far more powerful than we were that the weapons were intended for the use of, and they only managed to destroy.
00:29:12
Speaker
So much. At the end of the day, I am an agent. I do not make the decisions. I have been tasked for the past millennia to hunt down these four weapons. You have managed to find three of them. What last time? Yes.
00:29:36
Speaker
It's almost as though an entity that knows better, maybe it guided us to them and turns out they're right. And perhaps we should fulfill their plan. Well, I mean, that does sound reasonable, right? That's fine. But I, I still have to take them to my commanding offices.
00:30:04
Speaker
So you can't come up with an answer to the argument we're making. And so you're now resorting to commands. Just following orders. Of course. It's not just following orders. It's protection. But you're not responding to our points anymore.
Proposing Alternatives and Compromise
00:30:23
Speaker
That's right. Because you don't have a good rebuttal for it? Because I don't have to. Why not?
00:30:34
Speaker
I think it's pretty apparent why not. Ah, cool. Yeah, because he could kill all of us, and that's all that really matters.
00:30:45
Speaker
I tried to have a conversation with you about alternatives and you would not... You did not propose an alternative. Your alternative was do something else. I said go fight. I said take the fight to them. That's what you all do. You all were not wavering in your resolve to utilize these weapons in a way that could potentially cause irrevocable harm to the plane of Eberron and to all the other planes.
00:31:19
Speaker
And no way to use weapons safe. We don't know that. No way to use one weapon. That's why the Chamber wants to examine the weapons to find out. So you take weapon, Chamber check weapon.
00:31:35
Speaker
Maybe we get the weapon back. Oh, we'll never see him again. If they take him, we'll never see him again. I assumed when he says testing them to find out is just trying to placate us. And what he means is destroying them in the fiery pits of the maw of a fire breeding dragon. I don't know, you know, something. No, we do not intend to destroy them.
00:31:56
Speaker
They're immensely powerful. We helped create them. Our magic helped create them. The Giants simply didn't know what they were doing with them. They used them like a hammer. And we're talking to Orgiv, right? Yes. I was like, nope. And in his voice, Orgiv. You don't know us particularly well, but I feel like you
00:32:25
Speaker
I've been able to get a sense of us much more than we were of you, clearly. Uh, do we seem dumb? Do we seem malevolent? No, you don't seem dumb or malevolent, but you have been told that this is the path to walk and you've begun marching down it. That by a column of fire.
00:32:55
Speaker
I mean, we're three for three on the weapons, so it seems like the Intel was good. Don't you think? Yes. You've been able to track down the weapons, but do you not question whether or not there is some motivation compelling you to go do this? There's a reason why you were sent after these weapons. There's somebody who might benefit from them being used in a way that would cause destruction. I mean, I can think of a lot of people that would benefit from them being used in a way that didn't cause destruction.
00:33:26
Speaker
Who? Well, the people that sent you down this path, the church for one. What would the church gain if we accidentally kill everyone who's sleeping at the time? Um, well, I don't know the motivations of them, but you, but you're willing to assume they're bad. I assume the worst in all. That's cool. That's a bummer. It is, but I've been proven correct far too many times. This amount of power given to somebody that doesn't understand it will be abused.
00:33:57
Speaker
100% of the time. I really don't think we were gonna, I don't think we would. I feel pretty confident in saying that I don't really want to be doing this. I feel compelled to by a sense of, uh, you know, saving everybody. You propose that the way that we intend to try and save our species is wrong.
00:34:22
Speaker
Your only alternative proposal is to fight conventionally against an enemy we cannot defeat conventionally. That's the only alternative proposal is a military campaign against Riedra. Propose a better solution. If you want this to be a conversation, you've got to contribute something other than demands.
00:34:46
Speaker
Well, you all have been on the path. You've been learning about the dream thieves. You've been learning about the intentions, the reedrons, the way they're using them. What do you have? What do you mean? What do we have? Three impressive weapons.
Dreaming Dark and Kyber Crystals
00:35:00
Speaker
What do you mean? What do we have? What Intel have you gained? What, what methods could be utilized? What leads were you tracking down before these weapons came into play?
00:35:13
Speaker
We had nothing. Oh, we were getting our butts handed to us by, uh, you know, we were at the end of our leads, my brothers who were taking control of by the quarry. We were just running around, putting out one fire after another. One of what we're going to do for the rest of our lives. One piece of, one piece of Intel that we do have is that conventional fighting ain't going to do it this time.
00:35:40
Speaker
Potentially, if you and all your brethren decided to join the fight, maybe we'd have a better chance, but I don't see that happening to you. Not unless the koi posed a greater threat to the plane. Well, let me propose this to you then.
00:35:57
Speaker
The existence of the Quarry threat makes it extremely likely that one of these bizarre and genius humans, and let's admit it, we're not the most bizarre and genius of humanoids. Um, I mean, we're not even talking about dragon marked houses. Uh, here, let's say one of the event doesn't that increase the potentiality of one of these bizarre and genius humanoid groups is just inevitably eventually going to find some way to do what we're trying to do. So wouldn't that make it a threat to the plane?
00:36:28
Speaker
Potentially, but there are, I mean, hundreds of agents in Corvette. Tracking all of the people that might be stupid enough to try to do something like this. This talk make Booyah head explode. Booyah walks and sits on a wall. He's just exasperated with everything. Listen, we're not just going to turn over to you. The only thing we, the only thing we've got
00:36:58
Speaker
Give us something else. Suggest something else. Suggest something better. Of course we don't want to harm anyone. No, of course, but you don't get to come over here and be like, Hey, we're not going to let you save yourself and your loved ones. Just be like, Oh, well, all right. After all, you know, best for some reason. The reasons that I'm tens of thousands of years old. I haven't you done a bang up job. I mean, Agonescent's fine. That's the only place that matters is
00:37:27
Speaker
Well, it's the only place that's not volatile and constantly killing each other. I mean, we try. No, no, no. What? This is off topic. I'm not interested in hearing what a beautiful, beautiful land you live in because everyone does what you say. Give us something else. You want us to give up the only thing we've got right now. Tell us what we should do instead.
00:37:57
Speaker
Well, I'm not saying that you can't go to Dal Kor and attempt to, um, attempt to fix things on that level. How? How would we do that? What would that look like? We show up with swords and whatnot and start hacking at dream spirits. What would that look like? Well, they exist physically in Dal Kor. And can we? I mean, are we physically capable of it? Is there air? If you physically traveled to that plane. Is there air on Dal Kor?
00:38:28
Speaker
Well, people have gone there before long time ago, but. And your, your entire argument with these weapons is going to doubt core. Right. Because we've been told we could do something different with them other than just go around hacking Corey apart. And you're telling us that's a bad thing. And I'm willing to entertain that because well, gee, everyone else has lied to us on this journey, but yeah, I'm not saying anything else. You aren't telling us what we should do instead.
00:39:00
Speaker
And if this is the only chance, then of course we're going to do it. You tell us what the other chance is and we'll talk about it. Um, you, you hear, you're, you're standing closer to Brasha than you are to Orgev and you hear Brasha start to say, well, they have been mining and Orgev cuts them. I was like, um,
00:39:34
Speaker
you all in your recap of where you've been, what you've done. Part of the invasion of Zendric has been the mining facilities for Kyber Crystals, correct? They've overtaken it from some of the dragon-marked houses. Probably. And the reason for that being
00:40:03
Speaker
Every, every so often, Daocor experiences an apocalypse. Just like when you go to sleep, you wake up, and then you go back to sleep, your dreams do not persist. They've reset. The entire dream plane for you is different.
00:40:25
Speaker
For each person it's a miniature version, but every so often the entire plane resets. Every quarry, every consciousness, everything is different, but yet the same. The kyber crystals, they've been mining and shipping.
00:40:50
Speaker
Our intelligence leads us to believe that they're somehow getting those kyber crystals onto the plane of Dal Kor, and somehow using them to prevent the reset. We've come to call the Kori that exists right now in Dal Kor the Dreaming Dark, because they're innately evil, vicious things. They weren't always that way, and then before that they were that way, and then before that they were somewhere in the middle.
00:41:23
Speaker
If you could somehow disrupt whatever Eldritch machine they're using to prevent the reset, then things would reset. The dream things as you know them would destroy themselves. Where's the machine? Presumably in Dal Kor.
00:41:45
Speaker
What awesome, actionable information we could have known back the first time we talked to you about some of this stuff and you knew we were looking for these weapons. Maybe back before Barrett gave his eyes up to find them. So it would have been some cool information. We needed the weapons. And you all clearly are better at this than I am. And you put us there.
00:42:11
Speaker
I, I would, I would love to speculate and say maybe, let's not pretend you haven't been doing a bit of that today.
Deal Struck and Mission to Confront Rogue Dragon
00:42:19
Speaker
I've been practicing caution. There's a difference between that and eliciting false hope. I don't know is the answer to your question. I could confer with some of my elders, see if there's a way that we can access Dal Kor. But they physically tried to invade this plane once. That's why we assisted the giants in stopping them.
00:42:41
Speaker
They are trying to establish a bridge by way of another plane. Can you transport us safely the other direction through a plane to Dapur?
00:42:56
Speaker
That's how they've been doing it. That's how they did it. Yes. But no Corey have been able to physically pass through a bridge yet. That's why they're trying over and over. They haven't perfected it. They, they have through their own machinations have figured out a way to where some of their ascended individuals can visit the plane of Delco physically.
00:43:22
Speaker
but the Quarry have not figured out how to pass into this plane. So we can confer with the chamber and see if they can figure out how. The Quarry clearly already have. We believe that Strint, your brother, is one of the ascended that has physically visited Dal Kor.
00:43:42
Speaker
And, uh, so, um, chance and. Yeah. Do you know where strength is? He alive. He is alive. All right. And as, as a gesture of good faith, um, he's on Zendrick and he's looking for what you're looking for.
00:44:11
Speaker
I presume he's going to be far slower. So, uh, especially since that would require finding us for three of them. Well, but you need all four. Exactly. And I make you a deal. We won't go after the fourth. I know where it is. Also will not give you the ones we have. We will not go after the fourth and we will make no attempt to go to Del Corps.
00:44:41
Speaker
consult with who you need to consult with. If you can put us on Dal Kor, with every bit of information you can give us about this machine, we'll surrender the weapons we have and I'll tell you, I mean, I assume you're able to produce for me a good map of Zendrik, no human can, but if you can produce for me a good map of Zendrik, I can point to exactly where they are.
00:45:05
Speaker
Whereas wherever it is, even if Strand got ahold of it, I could still tell you exactly where the model is. Based on your directional sense, it's not on the move. It's, it stays. Sure. But even if, even if you are to get it is what I'm saying. Even in the interim, he were to get it. Talk with who you need to talk with. Well, my, my proposal was going to be you keep the three weapons for now.
00:45:37
Speaker
We would love to have the fourth. I go confer. You all continue as you have been. And once you get the fourth, we meet up. I give you all of the information. You give me the weapons. You have clearly been using us as bloodhounds to find them.
00:46:06
Speaker
Forgive me if that does not inspire trust. And you ask me to go on and do the, and finish finding the hole and have them all in one place. At the moment, my instinct, and since you've been tracking us this whole time, perhaps you'll understand this instinct based on some knowledge of our experiences. My instinct is to assume that as soon as we have the fourth, you'll show up and attack us for them.
00:46:33
Speaker
I have no reason to trust you. Don't tell me otherwise. I have no reason to trust you. You have observed us for a long time, and I think it is fair for me to say we're not an overtly dishonest bunch. I will tell you exactly where it is. I don't think you'll have a hard time getting it. If we're being honest, there's no particular reason for me to think that two dragons cannot go obtain the thing.
00:47:00
Speaker
Yeah. Two dragons minimum. If there's a reason you couldn't please tell me, I will reconsider my opinion, but it seems to me from what I understand. And that's limited of what you're able to do, that it shouldn't be a problem. We'll hold onto these three. We'll wait for you to confer. We'll meet you. And if you can put us on Dal Kor with every piece of information you're able to obtain about this machine we need to destroy.
00:47:32
Speaker
I'll hand over the weapons provided also. Well, not provided also included also. If you know how to destroy the machine and part of the, how is it's beyond our means currently ideally you'd provide us with some, we'd, we'd find some, we'd find some means real helpful as well. I assume you have access to things that we don't. That's fab. So that's my proposal. I'm willing to give you these swords. If you provide us the other way.
00:48:02
Speaker
If you're taking from us the one thing that we've been told from a so far pretty on the nose source is the one thing that we might be able to use to stop this. You'd better give us an alternative that works. Does that, I mean, yes. And that's, that's what I'm attempting to do is provide you with that. Um,
00:48:27
Speaker
We are not married to these weapons if there's another way, but until we're provided with another way, we're sticking with these weapons. It's kind of where we're at. So we'll hold them and you confer and we'll tell you what Barrick will tell you. Barrick will tell you what the fourth one is. You're going to get what you want.
00:48:47
Speaker
And we're going to get what we want and no one's going to lose on anything except for, I mean, I don't know if you've got a deadline, but assume that you've been working on it for millennia. You do not. And all four of us get to go home and both of you get to go home. I don't pretend to think we'll win, but I think we could kill one of you. And that would be a shame for a creature that has lived in. That up until today, I genuinely considered a friend and liked quite a bit.
00:49:18
Speaker
I still like you. I don't think I don't know that we're friends. I'm not quite sure we're not friends. It definitely feels like we're not friends, but I didn't want to make that decision unilaterally. I've always considered you more than equate useful. No, please. You know what your care would call it.
00:49:42
Speaker
There's an old drow word. Y'all wanna see Dexter have a dragon?
00:49:53
Speaker
That's the deal I offer. I like to think they'd rise up to defend me, but I'd die. We have three of the weapons. We'll hold them. I'll give you the weapons. I'll give you the location of the fourth weapon. You put us on Delcor or provide us the clear means to get there and everything you can tell us about this machine that we need to find and destroy. I mean, surely that's a deal you're authorized to make today. At least the don't take it from us right now and confer with
00:50:20
Speaker
higher ups as you need to. And that's not a slam on being genuine. That's the sort of thing you gotta have the leeway to do.
00:50:34
Speaker
acquiesce to everything that you want. You get to keep the three weapons. We will go confer when we come back, give you all the information, how to get to DAO Core, gain more intel on the machine, everything.
Mission Strategies and Contingency Plans
00:50:48
Speaker
Um, then you tell us where the fourth weapon is. We can go retrieve it.
00:50:53
Speaker
Um, but, uh, I, I don't know if you recall, but, uh, I stopped by your ship in storm reach when brush and I were leaving and told Gerald that we were headed for on there. Uh, that is something else that we have been working on is trying to track down a, um, a member of the chamber that's gone rogue and is trying to, um, cause some problems in on there.
00:51:22
Speaker
So we were going to go deal with that. If you all could go take care of it for us, um, that, that would be our ask to do this because we are going to go talk to the chamber instead of doing that. And potentially the entire nation of on dev would, uh, it's, it's potentially going to crumble if things go unchecked. When you say member of the chamber, you mean you're telling us you want us to go to on dare and stop at dragon? Yes.
00:51:53
Speaker
manner of dragon far younger than me. You tell from from his wall where he's sitting, you tell all you know about this dragon. Yes, his name is Thor Law. Does he have an alias? Yes, and that's part of the problem. His alias that he's going by right now is Prince Adal.
00:52:24
Speaker
Queen Arala's brother. And we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, it's him. This isn't a like, you might be wrong. You kill a prince thing. Um, he, he's a member of the chamber that's gone rogue. He was supposed to be there observing, got a taste for power, wine, women and song. Exactly. So he killed a prince, assumed his identity, and now is plotting to kill the queen so he can assume the throne.
00:52:53
Speaker
Well, unfortunately, none of the three of us are the three members of our group that have experienced killing fake royalty. That's a bummer. I'm sure you know people. Well, one of them, we cannot contact. Two of them, I think we cannot contact. One of them you can. Man, we won't. But look at me, we freaking won't. We need you to come kill the Prince of Andere. You know, I always do this day with content.
00:53:30
Speaker
if he kills the queen. I understand why that's bad. I'm just working the extreme likelihood of our death out in my head. I think we got it. I've seen your skillset at Barasche Chimes Inn based on what I saw downstairs with the undead guardians. You all are more than capable. I mean, you should have died. Let's not pretend this is a matter of fighting through a hallway of armed men.
00:53:58
Speaker
Well, you should have died three times over the course of that fight and you didn't. Yeah. Amazing. But I know it was, I mean, not the amazing part, although, oh, thank you. I should have been dead yet. At this point, Rasha has assumed his dragonborn form again and walks over and stands next to Ordev. Does he have a lair? Yes.
00:54:19
Speaker
Is it maybe not in the middle of Fairhaven? Correct. It's, it's on the outskirts, obviously. Oh, that's better. Yes. Um, now he does split his time. I would say based on observations, what would you say? About 75 as a doll and 25 as, uh, Thorlar. I should have picked a better name. That's a terrible name. Do the, uh, Thorlar. Do the, do the people of on dare know? I didn't realize there was an R at the end. Thorlar.
00:54:49
Speaker
What? Do the people of Andeir know a Thorolaur exists? That there's a dragon there? No, no, no, no. Well, they might have seen a dragon because he's been pillaging, but he's not well known. So anything you find in his Leia, well, any gold, anything that seems... That's not... Counter offer. Anything.
00:55:17
Speaker
Mmm. We can talk about it. Got her offer. You won't search my bag next time we see each other after we take care of this. I haven't searched your bag now. Right, but I just gave you a reason to- Well, this is my fault. Grasha reassumes his dragon form and just picks you up and holds you upside down. Shakes you. Not really. You know what I do when he does that? I take my action and I'm morphing to Brasha. You're extremely poor. Like, why are you hitting yourself? I'm extremely bad.
00:55:48
Speaker
memories of being told not to take anything from a dragon's lair. Oh, yeah. Yeah, me too. Now. Thanks. An all powerful entity really screwed us over. And so. All right. I just I'm gonna. What if we just don't discuss anything about the Horde after? We just agree not to not to have that conversation.
00:56:14
Speaker
Uh, Orgav looks over at Brashan's like, he's not old enough to really be like, I doubt he has anything about it. Anything fun. Fine. Any, anything in his hoard is yours. Uh, give us a moment, would you?
00:56:35
Speaker
Thank you. We're in one giant square. What do you want us to go? Just stop actively listening and let me talk to my friends over here. Do y'all want to know what kind dragon? Uh, red. Oh, well that's a bummer cause I'm only, I'm, I'm good against red. Yes. No, no, we're not, we're not having that conversation. We're definitely not making that a part of this negotiation.
00:57:04
Speaker
No, but it's probably gonna come up. That would be an extremely inappropriate part of this topic to discuss right now. Can you imagine? Boy, I just say he like red colors. Imagine me though in a red hat. It would clash so hard. Red and white don't clash. You're in silver. Silver and red are fine.
00:57:23
Speaker
You would look ridiculous. It's called power clashing. Already looks ridiculous. More ridiculous. Power clashing is a move now. It's a thing. A little plume coming out. I purposefully wore this paisley tie with this striped shirt. And I look boss. Anyway. That's not what you're wearing just for the listener's benefit. No, I'm wearing shorts. And no shirt. It's for everyone's benefit that he's not wearing that. Anyway. Everyone in the world benefits right now. Listen, fellas, I mean,
00:57:53
Speaker
I don't want to think this of them, but I don't think they let us leave with four later and I'm concerned about them.
Episode Conclusion and Future Challenges
00:58:04
Speaker
Letting us leave with three now without taking this deal. No, I'm, I'm actually, I mean, I proposed the deal. I just think we're all going to die trying to assassinate the Prince of under. I just think we're all going to die. We could try it. That doesn't seem to be another option. It doesn't seem to be another option. I think we're all going to die. I don't think we're all going to die.
00:58:24
Speaker
I don't think any of us are gonna die. The expendable among us might die. That's not what I'm saying. What if Orianna's there? No. No, hear me out.
00:58:38
Speaker
you all have made some very capable friends over your time going about. I'd like to include myself in that company, but he won't let me. Look, it's just that, okay. Let me hear my, let's hear, hear me out. What if you documented and handed off what's going on in as much detail as you just told the dragons to Thorin, Krast,
00:59:09
Speaker
Gerald, like, so that Gerald's not coming. No, no, I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not going to Fair Haven. No, I'm not. I'm not saying they come with you. I'm saying if you die, they they are the back. They know what needs to be done. I don't want to play any of them.
00:59:29
Speaker
I mean, I want to play one of them. Gerald. Even like I know that you're not going to let me come kill a dragon. Like even this one's too much for you. You understand that, right? It's actually not that I'm not going to let you come kill the prince of on dare. And that's what everyone's going to think we've done. I want to. Did they revert when they die like I do? Like I have no idea. I've never. I go, hey, I don't want to be anywhere near where anyone's going to find it.
00:59:59
Speaker
Um, worst case scenario, they find that we've killed him and it's like, ah, our Prince was a dragon all along and they slow him, kill them. Yeah. I would suck too. What if on the flight to Fairhaven, you, you do this, you document everything.
01:00:14
Speaker
You have the documentation to me. While you're doing things in Fairhaven, Jace, Charlie, Cassie, and myself, we go deliver these things so that even if something happens to you, the world can still be saved. I mean, I think that's a pretty good idea, but it does always make me feel sad. You exclude Rickard from things. Oh, Rickard. He just stays in his closet. It's weird, right?
01:00:49
Speaker
I think we can discuss contingencies later. I don't think we have a choice but to accept this. I mean, clearly they're done waiting on us to make a decision. So, oh, hey, Marasha, Orgev, deal. Great. All right. And we'll just cut to
01:01:14
Speaker
jace lowers the air unless there's something else that you all want to do in the context of the pyramid um you all boarding the pyramid with the weapons um and the pyramid or the pyramid takes off that's my camera yeah um boarding the ship um you see over the horizon um two dragons over by the time this airs
01:01:36
Speaker
Two dragons flying off south, off towards the horizon as you all take off north, back towards Corvair once again. End of episode.
01:01:49
Speaker
Thank you all so much for listening. If you want to be part of the conversation, head on over to the Geek Pantheon Facebook group. We're also on Twitter and Instagram at the Geek Pantheon. We have a Patreon. If you like what we do and want to join our awesome Patreon community, consider heading over there and joining one of the tiers where you get a lot of really cool stuff. We're also probably part of the D20 radio podcasting network. If you head over to d20radio.com and click on the podcast tab, you can find all of our shows as well as all the other amazing shows on the network.
01:02:16
Speaker
including the original podcast that started it all, the Order 66 podcast that covers all of your Star Wars role-playing game needs. GM Chris, GM Dave, and GM Phil do a great job of conveying information in a really fun and engaging way. Anyway, thank you all once again so much for listening. Once again, I'm your dungeon master, Eric. I'm Philip. I'm Randy. Jeff. We'll see you next time.