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C2 Ep. 12 Dragon’s First Breath Chapter One
306 Plays4 years ago
This episode Erys gathers half of the crew together for a favor. But will this job be too much?
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of our amazing Show Sponsors: Laura Pickrahn, Darrin Katzska, Irene Viorritto, Ryan Royce, Darrell DeLaney, Jessica Smith, Charles Compton, Richard Cree, Nastasia Raulerson, The Kamm Family, David Scrams, Elizabeth Clark, Andy Dossett, Rebekah Miller, deviouspoptart, Eðvarð Arnór Sigurðsson, Michael Clark, Eric Witman, and Dustin Troupe.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
The following episode is brought to you by Darryl Delaney, Ryan Royce, Darren Katska, Jessica Smith, Irene Villarito, Laura Pickron, Eric Whitman, Deavius Poptart, Elizabeth Clark, Andy Dossett, Natasha Rallerson, Richard Cree, The Cam Family, Charles Compton, Edvard Tharnoff, Dustin Troop, Rebecca Miller, Michael Clark, and David Scrams, along with all of our generous patrons.
Character Backstory Segment Introduction
00:00:35
Speaker
D20 radio, your game is roll.
00:01:14
Speaker
What is up everybody, welcome to another cold open introductory segment.
Sigil's Awakening and Purpose
00:01:20
Speaker
I wanted to start doing these also for Sigil, Cath, and Sana to both allow you and the other players a chance to get to know them a bit better, the same we were doing with the four PCs.
00:01:32
Speaker
and what better place to start than Sigil. So I hope that you all enjoy this. This is kind of a test run because it is going to be just me talking for the duration and we'll see if A, that sounds good and B, I feel like doing it again. So definitely let me know in our Discord or on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, wherever your preferred platform is.
00:01:59
Speaker
what you think of this kind of intro and whether or not we should be viewing them in the future. So, hope you enjoy.
00:02:06
Speaker
Sigil looks up at an older man working on a large piece of machinery. They're not really aware of what the function of this large machine is. All they know is that the older gentleman has told them to help, to work, and this person is their master. Sigil kind of chuckles to himself. Owner would be a more apt word, but
00:02:32
Speaker
There's nothing really for it. This person literally created them and I suppose every parent owns their child for a duration of time. Though Sigil was concerned that they had no idea of when their emancipation into adulthood would come. Sigil at this point only
00:02:56
Speaker
A little bit under a year old, uh, Sigil, fortunately, unlike a lot of babies was brought into this world capable of thinking, feeling, speaking, and remembering. Sigil remembers their first moments waking up and the confusion, but this man's face with his tan weathered skin and shockingly white hair was the first face that they ever saw.
00:03:29
Speaker
The face looks down at Sigil. Well, are you going to hand it to me, Sigil? Oh, yes, sorry.
Conflict with Master Sun
00:03:38
Speaker
The older gentlemen began working with the tool on the large apparatus. Sigil was told that this thing would change the war and bring an end to it all, though Sigil wasn't entirely sure about that.
00:03:53
Speaker
They stood there and watched and went and fetched things when the older gentleman asked until finally Sigil looked up. Master, what? What's happening with the war? What what's going on out there?
00:04:16
Speaker
The old man stopped himself for a second, standing up on the ladder more precariously than Sigil would have liked, given the fact that they were charged with protecting this man. I don't rightly have an answer.
00:04:35
Speaker
But hopefully we can save a lot of lives. That's the greatest hope that we have is to do what we can in facilities like this in order to bring it into all the pain and suffering happening out there in the world.
00:04:54
Speaker
Sigil found that answer to be characteristically vague and unsatisfying, but what to expect from such an important person in House Kaneth. After a few brief moments, Sigil heard footsteps entering the lab that his master were working in. They turned to see the familiar form of Master Sun, walking in seemingly very angry and agitated.
00:05:23
Speaker
Now dad, I do not know why you will not share this research with me. I could be helpful. I don't know why you're being so secretive. Now, now, Norrin, I've told you many times that the house has determined you are the house. You get to make the call. Sigil watched as the old gentleman.
00:05:50
Speaker
Slowly made his way down the ladder. Turned to face his son. Now if I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times more.
00:06:01
Speaker
You're not ready for this kind of research. You're too impatient. You're too brash. Norin interrupts him. I'm not like you. Okay. I, I might lack patience, but I get results. I get results quickly. Maybe having somebody who can help you with this means it won't take another five years. I know you got this thing to help you, but it's clearly not making results.
00:06:28
Speaker
Sigil stood there passively. This was nothing new for them. Norin had never been a fan of how much time and attention his master had given her since Sigil had been brought into this world. Now that's the end of it, Norin. I've told you, I don't want you in here, especially while I'm working. So you can go. Sigil's master turned away and began to walk back to his workstation.
00:06:53
Speaker
Sigil stood there looking at Norrin for a moment, confused by the sense of anguish on Norrin's face. This sense of loss, or whatever Norrin was feeling, betrayal, was not something that Sigil was familiar with, this level of anguish. So Sigil could not relate. They simply said,
00:07:21
Speaker
I'm sorry, Norrin. I wish you could help, too.
Journey to Sharn and Self-Reflection
00:07:25
Speaker
Sigil did not understand what happened next, nor did they see it coming, as all of a sudden the world went black for a brief moment as Norrin's fist connected with the side of Sigil's head. Norrin! I told you to go! Yeah. I'll go, Dad. I'll go.
00:07:51
Speaker
Sigil, are you all right? Yeah, I'm fine. Sigil said as they picked themselves up off the ground. Now, Sigil, I have a job for you. I know that you haven't left this enclave since, well, since you woke up. But my great nephew Merix is doing some research that I think will benefit both of us. I need you to go to Sharn.
00:08:18
Speaker
Go see him. And he's gonna have some work to be done on you. It should only take a day or so. Then he'll send you back to me, all right? I suppose I... Do I need to be improved if I'd been doing something wrong? No, no, no, no. This'll just make you more capable, make you be able to do more things. It's just an upgrade, that's all. Have you ever been upgraded in any way?
00:08:49
Speaker
The old man chuckled. No, no sigil. That's why rightly I think that your folk may be better than mine. You can work harder, work longer. I think one day you might inherit Eberron.
00:09:07
Speaker
But until that day, I needed to go to Chardon and get an upgrade. Sigil shook their head, still somewhat confused, but appreciating the older man's sense of humor.
00:09:22
Speaker
When do I leave? Oh, there's a lightning we're leaving this evening. I intend for you to head out in the next 15 minutes or so. Go grab some things and head that way. Oh, what do I need to grab for the journey? Just some of my tools. There's a box right over there by the door. Okay.
00:09:41
Speaker
Uh, well then I, I guess I will see you upon my return. Sigil, there's no need to be nervous. Everything's going to be fine. All right. Uh, you just go to Sharn, get the work done by Merix and come back. Esten will be here waiting for ya. Sigil nodded.
00:10:02
Speaker
They left later that evening, sat on a lightning rail from city of Esten, all the way to the city of Tower Sarn, that Sigil had heard so many members of House Caneth talk about and discuss the brilliant work being done there by Merix to Caneth. And they were going to get to see it all.
00:10:26
Speaker
This should be a happy moment, but Sigil couldn't shake the sense of worry that without them there, something might happen. But Sigil wrote this up to Hubris and decided to continue on their way, arriving in Sharn upon their scheduled arrival time.
00:10:50
Speaker
and beginning their journey through the city. The first thing that struck Sigil was the fear in people's eyes when they saw them.
00:11:20
Speaker
their understanding of the world that was placed in their head or something more, but they had never been ashamed of being a warforged. A lot of people had spoken to them like they should be, but Sigil had always thought it was interesting, fascinating that they were able to be born fully formed. And as far as anybody knew at this point, had no shelf life.
00:11:48
Speaker
Granted, that's because most Warforged were sent off to die, but Sigil was trying to stay positive.
Encounter with Merix and Philosophical Thoughts
00:11:54
Speaker
Sigil arrived at the Caneth Enclave in Sharn, undisturbed, and met up with the famous Merix to Caneth after being escorted through some front office workers. Oh yes, you're Sigil, right? Yes, excellent, come on in, come on in.
00:12:12
Speaker
Sigil was taken aback by the state of Merix's office. Their master kept things so tidy and organized and clearly Merix operated differently. Okay, so Sigil, this is top secret stuff that we're doing here, okay? So forgive me, but you're not going to get to know what's about to be done to you.
00:12:35
Speaker
Capiche? I suppose great. Excellent. So I just need you to turn around and lay face down on my desk. Okay, here, let me let me and Merrick's pushes some papers and other trinkets and projects that he had clearly been working on onto the floor to make space for Sigil to lay down.
00:12:59
Speaker
Sigil laid themself down and was not feeling at all comfortable or at ease. The disregard that this man had for them and their feelings was unsettling.
00:13:11
Speaker
Sigil's master had always treated them like a worker, but not like a machine. And the way Merix looked at them made it very clear that Merix viewed Sigil as a machine first and a person maybe second, if not further down the pole.
00:13:32
Speaker
This disregard was made even more clear with the fact that Merix gave Sigil no warning as Merix peeled back their left back shoulder plate. Sigil tensed up a bit, but not wanting to disturb anybody, just stayed laying on the desk. It was only a few minutes, pokes, prods,
00:13:57
Speaker
Nothing too uncomfortable. And then Merrick's put the shoulder plate back and exclaimed, well, that's all for you, buddy. So, uh, yeah, I.
00:14:13
Speaker
I was told that it would take a couple of days to, to accomplish this. Don't be silly. Uh, I don't work in days. I work in minutes. Uh, but listen, you're not going to be able to find the lightning real home at this hour. So you can just crash in the lab. It's fine. Hang out here and, uh, you can head out in the morning. Sound good. And before Sigil had a chance to answer, Merrick's was already out the door onto his next project.
00:14:41
Speaker
Sigil spent a few hours meandering about the lab walking around. Sigil often had these moments where they wondered about at night.
00:14:54
Speaker
sometimes envious of sleep, that idea to shut down for a handful of hours and be taken somewhere else. He had heard some of the humans in the lab talk about what they dreamed of. That's something that Sigil was aware they would never get to experience, but
00:15:20
Speaker
I suppose that's fine, especially if they were going to inherit the world, as their master said.
Catastrophe and Emotional Processing
00:15:28
Speaker
Marix wanted to run some other tests in the morning, make sure that Sigil's functionality was working as intended. Sigil was extremely confused as all Marix had them do was open some boxes, grab a dragon shard and take an elemental and stick it in. You know, just nothing remarkable. It was a small elemental. It wasn't anything special.
00:15:54
Speaker
So, Sigil took Merrick at his word that this wasn't anything out of the ordinary and Sigil took off for the lightning rail station. People weren't paying much attention to Sigil on the walk back. They seemed to be lost in their own minds. The only incident that Sigil had on their trip to the lightning rail station was a human stepped in their way screaming at Sigil about how this man used to be a soldier
00:16:23
Speaker
in the noble, breedlish army until Sigil's kind came along. Nobody's got no use for human soldiers when they can just have your lot. Even without a nose, Sigil could smell the booze on the man's breath. So, Sigil shrugged him off and continued on their way.
00:16:46
Speaker
It wasn't until Sigil reached the lightning rail station that Sigil began to get a sense that something was amiss. People were standing about looking at scraps of paper and looking off to the east. Sigil reached the lightning rail and saw that there was no car waiting for them, just an attendant with a large crowd of people screaming at him. Sigil turned and began asking people what was going on.
00:17:17
Speaker
A woman turned to Sigil with tears in her eyes and said, it's gone. It's all gone. Sigil was confused, asked inquisitively, what's gone? The woman looked astonished at Sigil that Sigil had not heard the news yet. Kire. It's all gone.
00:17:49
Speaker
Sigil was confused. As far as they were aware, a whole country could not just disappear, especially in one night. So Sigil began asking more people and as the news continued to come in, Sigil began to grow more frantic, running through the crowds of people, people wailing in the streets until Sigil finally accepted the fact that their home was gone.
00:18:20
Speaker
Even to this day, Sigil is unsure as to what happened with the rest of that day. The next thing that Sigil remembers is sitting in a dark, isolated alley in the city as rain was falling. Sigil just sitting there.
00:18:43
Speaker
And somewhere deep within them, the compulsion to sob finally erupted. Sigil had no eyes to shed tears, but still the emotion, the anguish that they had seen in Norin's face times a hundred finally spilled out of Sigil as Sigil's chest began convulsing. If tears could fall, they would match the ferocity of the rain.
00:19:14
Speaker
Further down the alley, two figures are walking, making plans for the night, and lost in their own conversation. The half-orc sighs, listen, I understand he is big, but I'm more than enough muscle for our crew. I don't understand why we need him.
00:19:32
Speaker
Listen, I get that, the half elf says to her, but Milo vouches for him and I think that it would be good. You could focus on other things other than just punching people. It might be a nice change of the half elf stops as they both see Sigil sitting in the rain.
00:19:54
Speaker
The half-elf looks to her sister and then looks back at Sigil concerned and half-jogs up as to not startle the warforged sitting there. She crouches down. Were you... Was that your home? Sigil at first didn't even notice her crouching in front of them.
00:20:21
Speaker
But when her voice spoke, Sigil couldn't help himself but nod. What happened next he wasn't expecting, but unlike Noren's punch, Sigil welcomed the two arms of the half-elf wrapping around his neck, pulling his head into the crease of her neck and shoulder. And he could feel her begin to cry with them.
Story Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:20:48
Speaker
Sigil's not sure how long they sat there.
00:20:52
Speaker
But all they knew from that point forward is they didn't have to carry this burden alone. And as their little family began to grow, they knew that maybe it was going to be okay.
00:21:11
Speaker
Well, I hope everybody enjoyed that little, uh, slice of Sigils story and where they came from. Uh, let me know what you thought, uh, after you listen to the rest of the episode, either in the discord and Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, you know, the deal.
Game Mechanics Discussion
00:21:26
Speaker
And I hope you enjoy the rest of the episode. Hello and welcome to Eberron renewed an actual play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I'm your game master, Eric. I'm Philip. I'm Trevor. I'm Randy. I'm Jeff.
00:21:40
Speaker
And welcome to another episode. Gentlemen, what happened last time? We played a game. Trevor should take this one. Yeah, Trevor, explain your game. So apparently there's a fun little game that is played on on.
00:22:01
Speaker
thieving people that someone takes something very important and replaces it with something incriminating. And you have to switch it before you get you get got. Yeah, that's what happens. And turns out this was just a real big problem because it was probably the worst person you could get in trouble with. But we did it. Well, Reynard. Good job. With a little help from Milo.
00:22:35
Speaker
Actually, with a little help from Kylie. Yeah. OK, so yeah, since this is sort of a new arc, I know that most of you, all of you, in fact, spent some experience. So why don't we go around the horn starting with Jeff? What did you spend on Hobb? Sure. So I had not spent any yet, so I had a little extra throw around.
00:23:01
Speaker
I took a third tier talent called Bodyguard that allows me to pick one of my allies and make the upgrade the difficulty of any attack on them for an entire round.
00:23:17
Speaker
Mm hmm. And then I just took some ranks. I. Oh, and I also took a tier one talent of toughened just because I died once already and I don't want it to happen again. And that gives me a couple extra wounds. And then I took a rank in heavy melee so that my staff is almost as tough as my fists. And I took a rank in streetwise because I beefed that too many times last time. OK, very good. Raynard, Trevor, what did you spend experience on?
00:23:48
Speaker
I believe I just upped my rank in charm and streetwise, so. Yep, so you have two ranks in each of those now? Yes. And that now. Very good. Nothing too exciting, but we'll see if I'm any more charming than I was. Randy, what did you spend on Milo?
00:24:13
Speaker
I took another rank in Arcana and one in Perception. That was all I spent this going on. Very good. Okay. And Philip. I took a tier two talent called Jury Rig by which I improved my Fletcher a little bit, lowered its Crit requirement.
00:24:43
Speaker
to two instead of three. And since Eris has spent most of the downtime working on our wrecked Sky Coach, I'm establishing that if you give Eris something to fix, you will not get it back like new. You will get it back in Eris's opinion of better than new.
Sky Coach Upgrades
00:25:09
Speaker
And so I took a tier one, a tier one talent, there it is, called signature vehicle. Since she is tricking out our ride.
00:25:25
Speaker
And do you want to explain what signature vehicle does signature vehicle? Basically, I mean, it's it's primary function here is that I get to upgrade all mechanics checks to work on our our particular vehicle.
00:25:45
Speaker
Yes. And that talent also has some like an improved and a Supreme version. So that might be interesting down the road. But yeah. And also, Eris was going to make a artifice in check to improve it. Yes. Eris is going to make it better than new. So
00:26:11
Speaker
At some point, how much time has passed since the downtime episode? Since we saved Raynard's bacon, as it were? It's been about a week. Okay, and before that, that was about a week after. It was about four days, so it's been about a week and a half. So, Eris has spent most of that time working on repairing our vehicle. Do I need to make a mechanics check for the repairs? Are you just going to let me get away with having? No, with enough time, you can accomplish that.
00:26:43
Speaker
Whenever it occurs, on the first night where there is a storm, Eris shows up at Milo's door, just banging on Milo's door. Milo answers. Come on, we gotta go quick. The storm will only be at peak for a little bit. We've got to go quick. The storm will only be at peak for a few hours.
00:27:11
Speaker
For what purpose, Eris? I have to finish the Sky Coach. Well, alright, I'm always here to help you, Eris, so lead the way. So, Eris leads Milo over closer to the river and out onto a high
00:27:40
Speaker
tower that sort of juts away. And Eris has a fairly, you know, a good sized dragon shard with her. And she has affixed it to this apparatus that is just strapped to the side of a balcony railing. All right. Now, you have a good idea of how magic works and the planes and stuff like that, like I do. We're watching
00:28:11
Speaker
four elementals. It's a manifest zone, and when there's a storm, they come out and they're dancing around, all right? So we go keep an eye on it. And so I'm hoping that Milo can use Arcana to give me a boost on the check when I do this. Are we looking for any particular type of elemental?
00:28:38
Speaker
It needs to be a bit of a larger one than I've used before. I'm thinking, you know, about the size of a dog or a chicken or something. What's the purpose? It's full of skycoach. Ah, all right. So Milo's presence can give you a boost eye onto the check. Would you like to use a story point to upgrade?
00:29:07
Speaker
Well, let's see my. My difficulty is three purple, right? Correct. And my glove upgrades me once, which I think is I think we have built in and gives me a boost. And now Milo is giving me a boost. So I got three purple and I'm rolling three yellow and two blue. What's the pool look like?
00:29:29
Speaker
Three purple difficulty and you have a boost. Sorry the the story point pool. I don't realize that was it's the it's the start of a new session So four and one sure I will spend one. Let's let's go for broke here. This will be beneficial to everyone Okay, so you have your upgrade right here we go. How about that one over there? All right, let's figure it looks perfect and she activates the apparatus and
00:29:55
Speaker
That is one success. You rolled a boost die, three yellow and three purple. It won't matter, but I'm missing part of the upgrade and the extra boost die from my Artificing glove. But no additional triumph could have been rolled, and that's the only thing that would have made a difference here.
00:30:16
Speaker
Not important. Well, because advantage plays a role, doesn't it? I don't think I get anything better from advantage. I think I can only really get something good from from a triumph on this kind of check. OK. I mean, I'd be happy to see them rolled in case I get some advantage, because I do have an idea on how to spend them. Let me do that. I'll roll. So it should be a boost and a gain.
00:30:45
Speaker
Okay. Two more success. It just works really well. So there's this sort of flash and then it basically looks like lightning strikes the dragon shard and Eris takes it and tucks it into a pocket of her coat and says, thank you. And then turns and starts to walk towards the restaurant.
00:31:09
Speaker
OK, so that was just a little mini scene to establish that you're all Skycoach now has the effect. Would you like to explain our Skycoach now has a mind of its own. Its engine, Eris has used the same trick that she used in the creation of the Fletcher to put a an actual air elemental at its core.
00:31:41
Speaker
And the effect that this has is when Aeris is driving now, I get to use the air elementals piloting ranks in place of my own non-existent piloting ranks. So as long as I am on good terms with the air elemental, I get to roll as if I had three ranks in piloting.
00:32:02
Speaker
Yes, how long is the era limits are going to be mad that you've trapped it before you're on good terms with it. Eris is very friendly with elementals and machines and things like that. I have I have already established since it is an NPC. I give you a heads up on it.
00:32:19
Speaker
It's desire, fear, strength, and flaw. So that will come into play. I'm hoping its desire is... Eris will try to communicate with it as she's doing this. Yeah. I'm hoping its desire is not to not run around the city with a group of criminals.
00:32:36
Speaker
Yeah. But the most important part is to remember that it was the third session of Campaign 1 when Philip introduced a magical item that had a personality of its own. So we will see how it works out this time. Yeah. And so it's... Wait, can the boat talk?
00:32:58
Speaker
Uh, that's actually not entirely clear. It has intelligence, but it's not actually entirely clear whether the elemental can talk to Eris or to anyone else for that matter. Let's just flip over all the story points and say, boat, don't talk. I would like to spend any amount of story points to say that the boat is not sarcastic at least.
00:33:23
Speaker
OK, so I'll probably have some kind of checks. I'm not going to figure out what it is right now, but there will be checks down the line for Eris to learn and figure out the kind of four guiding principles of this elementals personality if they do not make themselves apparent through the game. So anyway.
Olive's Request and Group Planning
00:33:43
Speaker
Okay, so now time for the session proper. So Eris, you, to kick things off, because for those of you that listened to the end of the last arc, we rolled Eris's obligation. So that plays a part in this session.
00:34:06
Speaker
So, Eris, you are just arriving in the Upper Memphis Plateau to go meet with Olive. It's one of the days where you go study with her.
00:34:24
Speaker
And as you walk in, she is frantically at her desk flipping papers over and her hair is completely disheveled and just down, not tied up like it normally is. And she seems to be rifling through anything and everything in the general vicinity of her desk. Everything all right. Oh, Eris, I'm glad you're here.
00:34:54
Speaker
And as you're walking over to her desk, I presume you don't walk in and just stop at the door as you get closer. I. I know that you work down in the lower districts of the city. Yeah. And I know that you just work for a casino doing repairs and things like that, but yes, that's it.
00:35:20
Speaker
I know that I know who owns the casino that you work for. That's just kind of common knowledge. So I I'm you know what? Never mind. This is incredibly presumptuous. I shouldn't be assuming any. Well, just what's what's what's the matter? I need to.
00:35:41
Speaker
I need to hire somebody to go retrieve something for me. I believe something has been stolen. I don't believe I know that somebody stole something from me and I need to hire a person or a group of individuals to go get it. And I know that I shouldn't I should just go
00:36:00
Speaker
to the clan or whoever directly. But if you know somebody that you could put me in touch with, who might have a crew or something like that that could go deal with the situation, I can't. But but if you can find tell me who to talk to, I'd appreciate it. What? What? What? What's stolen?
00:36:26
Speaker
Uh, some of my research. Um, I, I think that, uh, you remember, uh, a couple of weeks ago, you were up here for your lessons and, uh, the Norse and mill hatch, uh, came by, um, and he- I love that name so much. Just well done, Eric. Norse and mill hatch is just such a good name. Um,
00:36:49
Speaker
He came by and talked about this particular piece of research I've been working on for him. And now it's missing and he was growing really impatient. That's why he came by that day. So I know that he came and he took the research and it's not done. And I need to get it back before something happens. Yeah, you think he took it? I know he took it. Right.
00:37:19
Speaker
He was kind of a somebody, right?
00:37:27
Speaker
Yes, he he works as a a contractor for House Kenneth. He's not a member of the house, but he he has a mind unlike anybody else in the city. I I would argue among certain groups that he is more brilliant than Merrick's in terms of what his mind is capable of coming up with. But his curse is that he can't
00:37:57
Speaker
realize any of his ideas. So House Caneth rents him lackeys, for lack of a better way to put it, to dream up his creations. But
00:38:15
Speaker
This was beyond the people that he had conscripted from from House Kenneth. So that's why it was brought to me. He donates a lot of money to the university, so I was pressured into working on it for him. He was growing impatient and he wanted he wanted to start testing. I don't think it's ready for that. So that's that's where we're at.
00:38:45
Speaker
Well, what is it? What does it do? This thing he wants to test. She hesitates and looks you in the eyes, says Eris, I'm. I have no desire to profit off of.
00:39:09
Speaker
the death of other people. And that's why I wanted to go slow with this research, to ensure that I could do everything I could. But essentially, Norsen had it in his eye, in his head, that because we use dragon shards to augment
00:39:34
Speaker
weapons, armor, items, vehicles. He began working on a plan that I was assisting him on of trying to find a way to refine dragon charts into something that could potentially be consumable, something that could augment an individual.
00:40:01
Speaker
Oh, we are we are nowhere near being able to test this on a rat, much less a sentient living, breathing being. But Norseman was growing impatient, and so he took the research and all the research that I had worked on. Do you know? And so do you know where he took it? To his to his headquarters.
00:40:29
Speaker
I'm sure that it's in his lab where people are working on it right now. It's in Middle Tavox Landing, large warehouse with an office attached to the front. I've been in it a handful of times and I have to get the research back before he does something with it. Yeah.
00:40:59
Speaker
Is he the kind of person that's going to have guards, like private security?
00:41:08
Speaker
There will be security in the lab protecting things. Fortunately, I developed a spell a number of years back called the Academic Integrity Agreement that ensures that if anybody attempts to memorize or copy my research,
00:41:31
Speaker
It disappears instantly. If they try to copy the words onto another piece of parchment, it disappears. If they try to memorize it, it leaves their mind. They can't plagiarize my work. So the physical copies that he took are the only. The only way he can have that research is what he's doing. Legal. It's not. Illegal.
00:42:02
Speaker
but I don't know if I would call it legal either. There's no precedent for this. I might know some people. They probably have questions about it too.
00:42:32
Speaker
Would you? There's this great restaurant down in the lower Memphis. I could probably get them to to meet you there. Could take a ride down if you want. Right now, when? Now's probably good. What time of day is it?
00:42:59
Speaker
Um, what time of day do you typically go for your lessons? Morning, afternoon. I assume it's when she's not on the clock or likely to have visitors. So I don't know when that would be for, for her. I don't know if that makes it the evening. I'm trying to think whether anybody, whether any of the rest of my crew are at their day jobs right now. I mean, for the sake of plot and simplicity, let's say no. Yeah, that's fine. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Now it'd probably be, probably be fine.
00:43:29
Speaker
Okay. Um, how much, how much money should I bring with me? Oh, um, don't worry about that. This is all right. Um, I know, I know some people. I, I wouldn't want to put you in any kind of position, Eris. I, you don't mean I owe you.
00:44:03
Speaker
Fair enough. And she nods and gestures for you to lead the way. Harris leads her out to the to the Sky coach. OK. And drives down to the for sales. OK, we can do the quick Mighty Ducks montage of getting the gang back together again.
00:44:27
Speaker
So Eris has gathered you all here to hear the good word and talk to all of so you all as you enter the for sales on your own time. In turn, see Eris there with with all of. And it's this this woman
00:44:54
Speaker
She has now tied her dreadlocks up into her typical messy bun kind of fashion. And she's sitting there and you see each of you as you walk in. She's wearing kind of a leather vest style outfit, very much like a workers outfit. And you see a dragon mark on her shoulder that you all recognizes the mark of making from house Kenneth. Eris hasn't stopped talking.
00:45:22
Speaker
out of her extreme nervousness of the Venn diagram of her life overlapping. And so she has probably told Olive
00:45:43
Speaker
everything she knows about Ulfin by the time that everyone else arrives. She has told every single Ulfin story that she knows. Okay. In just a constant stream.
00:45:57
Speaker
which makes often not at all uncomfortable to have somebody talk about him in the same room. But yeah, so you all you all get there in your own time. We can just pick up everybody there and ready to hear about what's going on. So what's going on? So this is this is all of hi. She has a job that needs doing.
00:46:27
Speaker
I thank you all for coming. I have a bit of research that was taken by a benefactor slash colleague that was stolen from me that I need returned to me as soon as physically possible. Where might this research be?
00:46:52
Speaker
Uh, in, in his lab, uh, in the, uh, the middle Tavix landing. I mean, that means something to hob. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it's a section of the city. Um, like, uh, the, the specific, uh, district within it is, um, is the cornerstone district in, in Tavix landing, but yeah.
00:47:17
Speaker
I assume there will be some security there. Do you know what the security is? How many? What exactly? At any given time, when work is happening in the lab, which is most of the time,
00:47:38
Speaker
The individual's name is Norsen Millhatch. Him and his assistant Jerome De Caneth will be in the lab working along with some other researchers, but they do keep a crew of warforged there to both work as lab hands and security as well. Any other type of security that you know about?
00:48:04
Speaker
Not that I'm aware of, I've only been there during operating hours. I know that there's there's one door in and out of the place with a reception desk at the front. And then there's also a loading dock at the back and some the the only windows are on the roof, bringing in light from from above. It's one of the rare buildings that has a sky view.
00:48:35
Speaker
But I don't know anything about those other two aspects of the building. I came in through the front door, did a tour, and then left. What is so important about this research that someone would want to take it from you? I...
00:48:56
Speaker
It's research unlike anything that's ever been done before. It's attempting to take dragon shards and break them down to their residual components to where they can be consumed in some fashion by
00:49:12
Speaker
humanoid beings, or any type of organic creature really. We don't know what will happen, which is why I wasn't ready for the research to be taken from me, but we're operating under the assumption that
00:49:30
Speaker
Something similar to when you insert a dragon shard into an item weapon piece of armor, anything will will happen. This has been research that Kenneth has grown very interested in potentially selling. But that's that's the research, and that's why it needs to not be in the hands of somebody that doesn't respect what it represents. OK, is the
00:49:59
Speaker
Are the rest of us, are we aware of the relationship that Aeris has with Olive? Are we aware that she goes? No, Aeris is immensely tense. She is. Playing at the side of her hair that hangs down over her left eye. And fidgeting and not making eye contact.
00:50:27
Speaker
OK, so Milo notices this and looks at Olive, looks back at Eris. So how do you two know each other? She came to me with a job, like I said. So you don't know her, rather than she just came to you for a job? Interesting. Done some work.
00:50:57
Speaker
together before a little bit is there a check milo could make to
00:51:04
Speaker
like an insight type of check or something. This check would be perception against what the difficulty would be, whatever Eris's deception is. I mean, Eris doesn't have any ranks in deception. She has three cunning, but she doesn't have any ranks in it. Three cunning. OK, so yeah, the skill is perception, Milo, but difficulty is set for you. OK, I'm ready to go.
00:51:34
Speaker
Because that's a success and a threat. So. You. You know that Eris isn't telling you the whole truth. You also can see how uncomfortable you're making her right now and that threat. Take a point. Take a point of strain because you realize that you are overstepping some lines in this moment. OK.
00:52:02
Speaker
All right, so Milo just kind of takes that information, just kind of keeps it to himself. OK. Anybody have any other questions for Olive about the job? Hob doesn't. Rainard, you got anything? No. Payment, maybe.
00:52:31
Speaker
Well, are you going to ask about that? Oh, I said, Rainard was just going to slide his drink over to Eris to help. Detensify. What? So, Miley, you're going to ask about. Yes, what sort of payment are we looking at for this? She and I have already discussed that. It's been worked out.
00:52:57
Speaker
being worked out. She and I already negotiated that. All right, Eris. Sounds fine with me. If we're going to do this job, I say let's do it. The research that you're looking for when you find it, the
00:53:20
Speaker
The header, it's three pages of, frankly, the ramblings of a mad woman, but the header is Project Dragon's Breath. I think I spelled all that right. D-R-A-Y-G-J-I-I-N. All right, well, we'll take care of it and get back for you as fast as possible.
00:53:50
Speaker
I think in this moment, just because we skipped over a lot of conversation, but I'm gonna have this moment be here. You using the will take care of it. Finally, like, you're not covering the cost of this, which was kind of the assumption that Olive was holding on to. Like, oh, okay. And so she kind of nods and gets up and thanks Ulfin for his time and she walks out.
00:54:21
Speaker
And I think that's where Eris realizes what she just did and is kind of just deflates a little bit. You OK, Eris? Yeah. We're going to do this is this is just, you know,
00:54:50
Speaker
I'll make you some things. And that'll be... That'll be... That'll be square. Ah, so we are doing this as a favor? Right. As I said before, Eris, I'm here for anything you need, so... I say we help you on this favor, and... I do not expect you to make anything for me, though I do appreciate that kind gesture.
00:55:22
Speaker
A question, Eris. Just because didn't address it just now occurred to me, did you go grab Kath's on and sigil as well? Were they here for this meeting? I didn't assume that I went and got anyone. I assumed this is our hangout. And I assume at least this has been the hangout for this group. I don't know that it's the hangout for Kath's on it and sigil.
00:55:47
Speaker
I mean, it is like so. I mean, it it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to have been there. But if Eris would not have wanted to broach the subject with that, like you basically tell me. This is very difficult because we have done nothing to establish a relationship between Eris and them. So I really don't know.
00:56:11
Speaker
They are just like, I know with the downtime episodes, we've had just the PCs, but like, at least in terms of the hierarchy and kind of the establishment of this world, like the crew includes them. Right. No, I guess like when doing jobs. No, I realize that I just haven't had. The occasion to work out. What that means on a personal level for any of us.
00:56:39
Speaker
This is the group of people that Eris trusts significantly so that she has not gathered the rest of them. This is not strictly speaking a job of our crew. This is Eris talking her friends into covering something for her. OK, so what is the plan? So
00:57:07
Speaker
We got a break into this lab and get back the research. I think it would be good to. Hopefully find a time when it's. The least active. Yeah, that's possible. We we definitely, you know, it'd be real bad to to mix it up with anyone actually from the house, so.
00:57:37
Speaker
Yeah, I think, I think at night is probably, night's probably our best bet of not having to, not running into anyone from, from House Kangat. What about possibly scouting it out first? It seems, seems smart. Cummings, Cummings and Goings.
00:58:06
Speaker
before we decide to infiltrate. I mean, that seems intelligent, yeah. I'm not much of one for scouting. But of course, I'll be there when you need me.
00:58:26
Speaker
I mean, it sounds like she's in a bit of a hurry to get it, but. Sorry, I keep getting they can't see me. And I need to I need to say things. So that was me saying, yeah, I'm in. But I didn't actually say it. So here we go. Rainard says, yes, I'm ready. Let's go. OK, so you all are heading out to go scout out Mill Hatches warehouse. Yes. Yeah, I think so. OK.
00:58:55
Speaker
Eris brightens visibly. You can meet Tasha. Tasha? Tasha? Yeah. And she gets up and runs out the door. And there is now the repaired Sky Coach.
00:59:20
Speaker
It's not yet been tricked out in any painted way. We'll get there when I get the fancy paint job talent. But it is fully repaired. And you can see that back in the helm area, the compartment where the arcane engine or whatever it is that
00:59:48
Speaker
that propels this thing has been substantially enlarged. And there is just sort of the slight smell of ozone around the Skycoach now. As you've made good use of that elemental. There's an elemental on the boat.
01:00:13
Speaker
What is, it's maybe, I mean, kind of, um, it's maybe better to think that the boat, the elemental is the boat now. After you say that the boat kind of lurches a little bit and like hovers a little bit higher, like indicating, are we going somewhere?
01:00:37
Speaker
Um, and, and you named it Tasha. Yeah. Well, I mean, it has a name, but it's in, it's in Orin and I can't pronounce it. All right. Well, we went back and forth with a few things and, and she seems not to mind Tasha. Hob gets into her be the love bug.
01:01:07
Speaker
My little clap again.
01:01:09
Speaker
So this place is not difficult to find once you get to the cornerstone neighborhood of the middle Tavix landing. It's it's a it's a big box with some glass windows. Kind of the roof like comes up 90 degree angle. And then after the roof goes in a little bit, there's like a 45 degree angle of windows like boxing around and then another level of the roof just to let all that sweet natural light in.
01:01:39
Speaker
because that's important in the lab. But yeah, so that's what you all see upon your approach. Is it possible to get on the roof easily or no? It's a roof. You're going to be seen, but it's a roof. So is it what time of day are we at? I was.
01:02:09
Speaker
I think we established that it was in the evening when she talked to Olive. Yeah. So, dusk-ish. I mean, we could watch a bit and see if we see the crew leaving. We see the staff leave. I don't assume they work overnight. That sounds weird enough.
01:02:37
Speaker
So you all are just sitting and scouting out from a distance. Sort of casing the joint, I guess. Okay. So after you all sit there for probably about.
01:02:50
Speaker
Uh, let's say 30 ish minutes. Um, you see a group of individuals, um, walking out of the front doors. Um, and there's, there's like windows and stuff, uh, for the front little like office that jets out. Um, and you see those ever right lanterns go off.
01:03:09
Speaker
But the lights in the lab glowing out of the the windows on the top still glow. So there's still lights on in the lab, but it looks like the front of the front office crew have gone home for. Do I see Norse at this point?
Episode Conclusion and Community Engagement
01:03:23
Speaker
No, no, you do not see Norse and exit the building. So, yeah, so you all eagerly await to see what happens next. End of episode.
01:03:37
Speaker
Thank you all so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode, setting up the new arc. And if you want to be part of the conversation, you can head on over to our Facebook group, The Geek Pantheon. We're also on Twitter and Instagram at The Geek Pantheon. And we have a Discord server that you can find the link to over on our website, TheGeekPantheon.com. We would love to have you in there. That's the best way to chat with us about the shows, movies, books, all kinds of stuff. We also have a Patreon, Patreon.com slash TheGeekPantheon.
01:04:08
Speaker
We would love to have you be a part of that community. Our patrons have some exclusive channels in the Discord. And additionally, the reviewed that you just heard last week. Patrons get to ask us questions for those reviewed. So if you want to have your questions answered, the best way to do that is to hop in at the $1 a month tier or higher over on our Patreon. We are also proudly part of the D20 radio podcasting community.
01:04:33
Speaker
If you head on over to d20radio.com and click on the podcast tab, you'll find all of our shows along with all the other wonderful shows. And if you enjoy Genesis actual play podcast, then you'll want to check out what comes after, which is another Genesis actual play that follows four survivors of a post-apocalyptic event that happened five years before the start of the campaign in the mid 1980s.
01:04:56
Speaker
So if you like those old 80s post-apocalyptic cold war, the world's going to end movies, then go check out their show because it's in a similar vein. But yeah, anyway, that's all for me. Thank you once again so much for listening. I have been your game master, Eric. I'm Philip. I'm Trevor. I am Randy. I'm Jeff.
01:05:20
Speaker
and we'll see you next time.