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Ep. 07 - Wildheart: A Headful of Headbutts
20 Plays7 days ago
A day earlier, not far from Stormspire and etched out of the side of the Tidalsurge Ravine, Rif'a - a Tiefling fighter, daughter to a powerful military family - and Rok partake in a very interesting tavern competition whilst Drift, Rok's newly acquired squire, watches in awe. Unfortunately, not all the patrons are impressed...
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Transcript
Intriguing Comment and Introduction to Wild Heart
00:00:00
Speaker
o Ooh, that's more for a listener than rock. Ooh!
00:01:00
Speaker
Welcome to Wild Heart, the Tide Surge Gambit. A world of shifting tides, high-stakes adventure and unfolding mystery. Want to explore more? Head to fellowshipofthetabletop.co.uk for maps, lore and our latest blog.
00:01:16
Speaker
And if you can't get enough, check out The Interregnums, our short fiction series dropping every other Tuesday. Or Bellum Draconis, our sister actual play podcast releasing every Friday.
00:01:27
Speaker
Now... Let's dive in. We find ourselves between the capital and Storm Spire along the long narrow path that runs up the side of the ravine, which is the tidal surge.
00:01:39
Speaker
And this path is well worn and is usually frequented by travelers, usually frequented by people moving from space to space up and down. It's a thoroughfare from the north to the south.
00:01:54
Speaker
And there's one place in particular that our eye is drawn to. Down low, the path etches away lower towards the base of the ravine, dangerously low.
Rock's Discovery and Introduction to Drift
00:02:06
Speaker
You can see the level of the water, the stain of the water overtake you and move higher as this path continues to lower down and break away from the path which continues to storm spire.
00:02:17
Speaker
You're down 30, 40 feet and you can see clearly down below you, 50, 60, 70 feet below you, the base of the tidal surge, naught but a stream now. You know that this is usually filled weekly, sometimes less, if they call it right.
00:02:34
Speaker
Finally, the path stops. And to your left, as your hand has been stretching down this, reaching down this wall, it opens up to a large circular gap in the wall.
00:02:44
Speaker
The natural chasm, a natural cave has appeared before you. By for you, I'm talking about, well, I'm talking about rock. So, Brock, as you take these steps down towards the entrance to what you assume is some kind of place of revelry, you can see some smoke trickling out the top. You can hear the sound of laughter, the tinkle of glass, and the smell of sweat.
00:03:10
Speaker
you see a small moppy haired boy sat, arms crossed in front of this space. He's flicking a stone with his finger and kind of drawing shapes, almost look like glyphs into the sandy peaty ground at his feet.
00:03:30
Speaker
He stops for a second as he hears the scuff of one of your feet and looks up once, looks up again, double takes you as he sees this hulking figure in front of you. Just to remind us, Will, could you just describe what rock roughly looks like for us?
00:03:45
Speaker
Yeah, certainly. ah He is a seven foot two goliath. um So grey skin, tribal kind of ah tattoos of his ancestral heritage across his kind of chest and arms and head.
00:03:58
Speaker
He's bald on top. but has this braided beard that stretches down from his chin and has um this kind of almost hand-woven, not ribbon per se, but but but something kind of within that beard as well.
00:04:14
Speaker
ah He's absolutely shredded. Not kind of bulky muscular, but just completely and utterly shredded. Every kind of defined muscle you could possibly see is there. on his body which is adorned with a single shoulder kind of bronzy tiger kind of coloured tank top vest that just goes down from one shoulder down to like a belt at his waist.
00:04:36
Speaker
um He has these dark red baggy pantaloon style things down to his calves and his hands and feet are both wrapped in this kind of martial tape. He has a big backpack across his back which seems kind of deflated, there's not much in it, um and this staff with no kind of intricate carvings or anything, it almost looks like it's just kind of a ah big stick that probably has been not kind of shaved down at all, but but has some form ah to it, not to like it's been ripped off a tree.
00:05:07
Speaker
um And yeah, like attached to the backpack, he's got rope um kind of bundled down. So he's kind of, yeah, he's he's got some gear with him quite clearly, but that's the basics of what he looks like.
00:05:20
Speaker
And as this figure double double takes to you, you see this young boy, messy mop of hair, um kind of dusty, dirty cheeks and around his mouth. like He's just stuffed some food in his mouth.
00:05:34
Speaker
Double takes you and just, oh, what a drowned gods. You're fucking massive. Oh, ah hi.
00:05:47
Speaker
Yeah, thank you. I like to stay in shape. He stands up and quickly kind of dusts his hands down on his on his dirty half trousers he's got ripped up and reaches a hand up to you. a Drift.
00:05:59
Speaker
That's my name. Kip Drift. ah Is it Kip or is it Drift or is it a combination? You can call me anything you like, sir. Okay. ah Drift. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Raka Harangui Likopeku Lassa Hokea Fetulia Moi.
00:06:15
Speaker
Kind of bows his head down a little bit. ah You see Drift's eyes kind of glaze over when they come back up. Um, sorry, I... What?
00:06:27
Speaker
did you Did you sneeze? I didn't quite catch... My name is Drift. What's your name? Drift, hi. I said, my name is Raka Harangui Likopeku Lasa Hokefe Tuliamoy. It's a pleasure to meet you. It's pleasure to meet you. Is that all part the name? The pleasure to meet you is...
00:06:43
Speaker
Oh, no, that's just... I thought that was like a basic greeting. Yeah, you just didn't breathe between it, so I didn't... It's great. That's such a long name. I'm nowhere going remember it at all. You are fantastic, though. Oh, that's very kind.
00:06:56
Speaker
um Is this... What's this in here? It smells amazing. Is... And Rock, well, I'll shorten it to Rock for the sake of not repeating it every single time out of character.
00:07:10
Speaker
um But he will kind of like peer over this um over this young person's head into ah further into this kind of area described. And he's going to oh, he's going to try and put his hands up to to to mask your very large, very high face compared to his four foot stature.
00:07:27
Speaker
Oh, don't look in. No, don't and want to go. You don't want to go in there. Not you. i Why? what What's wrong? Oh, just you look like a hero. You know, you're ah you're you're heroic.
00:07:39
Speaker
And this is not a very particularly heroic place to be. um dad So have you tried going all the way back the way you came maybe to somewhere else? Uh, I mean, and Rock will look over his shoulder.
00:07:52
Speaker
As far as I'm aware, Storm Spire is is that direction, and he's going to kind of point past. And, I mean, I could do with resting my legs a little. i'm It's very kind of you to say I'm some sort of hero. I'm not. I'm not. Not yet. I hope to be, maybe, one day. But,
The Delving Eel: A Hub of Activity
00:08:07
Speaker
uh, no, that that's not me yet. Well, you look like one.
00:08:12
Speaker
Well. That's again, very kind. Um, ah what's in, is it like not, is it unkind people in there? Is that, is that what's going on here? Um, no, not particularly that just it's, um, well, it's the delving eel and he points up to the sign that says the delving eel.
00:08:32
Speaker
It's a bit a place of drinking and, um, Fighting and, you know, general good good fun if it's what you're looking for.
00:08:44
Speaker
But, you know, heroes heroes aren't looking for that, though, are they? god No, I don't particularly think so. Is it like sparring? Like training? ah like training no i don't know i've never been training before bra but spring spot sparring but drek runs it drek tharnak and he's he's a he's an he's a soldier he used to be a soldier he was a soldier is a i'm not sure he's he's old he's covered in scars anyway and he um he organizes these competitions everyone gets involved in them sometimes it's one going on at the moment actually it's um
00:09:20
Speaker
But, you know, just your normal your normal kind of competition. I love competitions and contests. and Have you done one Sorry, I'm interrupting you. We're talking over each other so much. We're just really excited to see you because, you know, I feel this is gonna be i'm gonna i'm going to be... be your squire.
00:09:40
Speaker
ah Wow. Okay. um Aren't they, like, reserved for knights and and people of high birth? Don't care. I've got a good feeling about you, rock, rock and the slang doing the, humble, humble, humble, pleased to meet you too.
00:09:55
Speaker
I've got a good feeling about you and going to borrow your training program as well. And you're going teach me how to be all any other flexes, tries to like, like you.
00:10:09
Speaker
Oh, uh, yeah. If you need tips, sure. Uh, okay. ah And he's going to look around. Are you, like, where are your guardians? Your parents? Are they, like, inside?
00:10:25
Speaker
and he's going to just not respond. We can go in if you want. Right. That, okay. That's a, sure. Why not? Have you, are you going to, are you going to do the competition? I think you might win the competition. Would you be like to do the competition? They're still running it. Drek, Drek's still doing it now.
00:10:42
Speaker
Now I, yeah, sure. ah Yeah. Why not? I'd love to meet Drek. Have you done it before though? Uh, I've taken part in lots of competitions before. You're to smash it. You're going to win.
00:10:53
Speaker
And I'm going to be so proud of you. And it's going to be amazing. And this is the beginning of something good. I know it. And if I could be so kind, could I borrow just a tiny bit of money just to buy like a better food?
00:11:08
Speaker
Are you hungry? A little bit. Oh, but like, if it's a problem, don't worry. Like it's not, it's not a big deal. Like I, I, I'm fine. It doesn't matter. You know what? Just forget it. I don't want to, it's not big. ne You look. please Drift walk it is not a problem. I don't have anything on me, but if they've they got things in there, sure.
00:11:25
Speaker
I'm, I'm more than happy to show. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I do. I do appreciate that. Okay, follow follow me. He turns around, takes a breath and then walks in. And the first impression you get is this kind of wall of warmth and smoke, smell of smoke. And suddenly the noise of a full bar, full tavern.
00:11:48
Speaker
And as you first enter in, you notice some of the flora and fauna on the edges of the cave as you enter. Similar to that, not dissimilar at all to the the fauna you get at the bottom of the ravine itself.
00:11:59
Speaker
These are bioluminescent fungi, moss. You've got um small elements of ah storm vines, sage boot, the glow moss fruits, the the lichen that you'd grow at the base of this that seems to glow with another worldly color.
00:12:14
Speaker
You notice it really quite...
00:12:19
Speaker
quite low, that's a bad word, ah muted in comparison to how you've seen it before, Rock, because it's so far away since the last tidal storm. it's It's kind of almost worn off. You know, it's approaching. It's not yet and the day of the storm, but it's it's it's coming close anyway. And so that will all be replenished, you imagine?
00:12:36
Speaker
ah You look up and you see first a long ah wooden bar stretching down the right inside, a large central cave cavernous room with about 20 feet above you with the sound echoes off these stalactites, tights, mites, fucking rocks, sticks on the ceiling. And a series of tables, round tables dotted around the central space and three smaller ah entrances to other areas.
00:12:58
Speaker
One of which you can very clear, one, two, three, four, sorry, four entrances. One of them you very clearly see as a little stunted, I'm not going to say the word I was going to say, a stunted little area. And that's where you get the storage. You can see a lot of barrels and a man stood guard over that. The area is quite full, about 20, 30 people in here. One man, a large, um,
00:13:16
Speaker
A large person behind the bar, an orc stood behind the bar um with chipped chip tusks, which you can assume may be dreck. ah Many of the tables are taken. There's a big cacophony of noise. Two of the alley alleyways, the pathways, the cave caverns.
00:13:31
Speaker
Take yourselves off and you can't really see, but there's light down there. You can imagine there are other rooms or other spaces. And then along the bar, far to your right, past the bar to your right, a series of small tables, then beyond that is something else.
00:13:45
Speaker
It's incredibly well lit down that far right side, but you can't quite get eyes on it because the props that are up to hold the bar up in that area seem to block your way. And there's a noise, there's a noise and there's a group, a gathering around one specific table.
00:14:02
Speaker
And as you enter, drift you see Drift quickly run off to the bar, tap this orc on the shoulder, and then point over to you. And he's got a massive grin on his face. And you you can see he's like gesticulating wildly about height and like a flexible size. He points to him and he thumbs up to you, thumbs up to Drek, and Drek just kind of you know, raises his shoulders and i' i shit and then just kind of, he wanders over to you and Drift just slips himself in the bar and starts picking out a few little crumbs that are on the table.
00:14:30
Speaker
This large orc comes over to you in a long apron, rolled up blue sleeves, ah revealing scarred arms and a missing finger and a broken tusk. And he stands in front of you.
00:14:43
Speaker
Drift seems to like you.
00:14:47
Speaker
Uh, yeah, he's a delightful little fellow. Um, hi. He says you're here to compete. Uh, yeah, I love competitions. You done one of these before, then? Uh, it depends on the competition, but, like, I've done lots of different things. If it's, I don't know, feats of strength or agility or, uh, if it's, like, a sprint or climbing, I'm pretty good at. Uh, there's a sparring, maybe. It depends what it is.
00:15:12
Speaker
know, it gives you a blank stare for a second. We're in a cave. We ain't going to be doing much climbing in here, but yeah it's an arm wrestling competition. You ever done one of those before? ah Right. i i Yeah, sure. It's not my forte, but... ah So you do, you get your arm on the table, yeah?
00:15:31
Speaker
just going to tell you the rules. You put your arm on the table, with your elbow, and he pulls his arm up. And then you grab the other part, you hold your hand, and then you push it down, right? i'm I'm familiar with the concept.
00:15:44
Speaker
Yep. And then you get your other hand and you put that elbow on the table and you do that one. Yeah. No. ah Okay. Yeah, sure. No, I, I, and then you do the last one. Yeah. You've done that one. Yeah. I'm assuming it's the same thing. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'm there.
00:15:57
Speaker
You got it. I think so. You sure you want me to explain what the last one is? Oh, it is fine. You've asked. expert over here knows it all oh i i didn't mean that no no i understand i'm just i hope i didn't offend no you know that it's it's the right hand it's the left hand and then it's your head yep you know it it's the normal way of doing it right okay so uh and he calls over and he calls over to rook rook yeah you i ri it And this ah little human, quite young, and lack of beard or any kind of ability to grow a beard comes over.
00:16:32
Speaker
Yeah, Rook, this is, what's your name again? oh my name is Raka Harangui. licker Yeah, this is Rook. Rook's going to take part in the competition in a moment's time. Can you just pop his name on the list? yeah yeah Have a look over. Come over. You're a bit late starting. We've already got a few contestants under go.
00:16:48
Speaker
and Come over and have a watch of one and see what you think Right. right ah Yeah, sure. Okay. You got money to put on this, by the way? ah yeah Is that what we usually do? is that What's the going rate?
00:17:00
Speaker
Well, you just make some money if you put money down on a winner. It's just betting, you know? oh right. Of course. ah I will. And what he'll do is he'll make his way over to Drift just very, very quickly, um reach into a point like a coin purse and pull out like a couple of silver pieces to hand over to him and then one more silver piece and just say, ah apparently you can choose someone that you want to win. ah Tell you what, you choose. I don't really know what I'm doing.
00:17:28
Speaker
And he'll hand that over. and thats so well how much have you got how much have you given him now? Three silver pieces. His eyes widen almost as wide as the three silver pieces themselves. Waving men, haven't seen that much money in a while.
00:17:43
Speaker
Okay.
00:17:45
Speaker
And he shoves it into a pocket and looks around. Just don't don't show your money around like that. By the deep, you don't want ah anyone nicking money off you now, do you? ah No, no, I don't. Okay, thanks for the heads up.
00:17:57
Speaker
Just, yeah, keep it on the load, especially the money pouch. In do you want me to hold on to that? ah I mean, it's very kind of you. Yeah, sure. You're very trusting.
00:18:11
Speaker
What he'll do is he'll reach in and he will pull out like 10 gold pieces to hold on to for himself and he'll hand the rest over, which is a fair sum because of his starting amount.
00:18:26
Speaker
um And yeah so effectively ah Drift will be in charge of 39 gold pieces and seven silver pieces.
00:18:37
Speaker
start a new life, couldn't he? He's going to snatch it really quickly and hide it in his belt. And he's goingnna he's got a bit of string holding his trousers up and he's going to like double, triple, quadruple, knot it and tie and then tuck it in under his waist and kind of spread it. So it looks like it's just part of his his waist at all. And it's nothing there. And he goes, okay ill I'll stay here. Okay. Good luck.
00:18:56
Speaker
Okay. Thank you. They've got some really good competitors. Go and have a look. Oh, I will. um and As you turn from the bar towards this kind of central area with the tables, and you see the kind of small hubbub of people around. They're making quite a lot of noise considering what it is.
00:19:11
Speaker
and You see two individuals um sat down. The first one is ah Rook, this human ah unshaven face, short brown hair that had come over and spoken to you just previously.
00:19:23
Speaker
And someone else, someone sat opposite, someone who looks like having a really fucking good time at the moment um and has a rather large bruise in the center center of their head, and ever so slightly at least. and Alice, would you like to describe who and what it is we we see?
00:19:41
Speaker
you see tiefling. She is teal green, um very similar to the glow of the water after a tidal surge. Dark blue hair in a what was probably once quite a neat low bun, but has now got bits of wisps coming out of it.
00:20:04
Speaker
and She's wearing a kind of a longish dress, jacket um almost trench coat style which is a darker green um normal kind of ah linen style shirt.
00:20:22
Speaker
If you look ah to where it's undone at the top, you'll notice that she's got her leather armor on underneath. She's wearing hard-wearing style trousers and military style boots that are clearly well worn and well lived in.
00:20:42
Speaker
Just out of curiosity, given what I've accidentally realized I've just done, whereabouts do you have horns? Yeah. Yeah, um but just poking out of this dark blue hair, um and not on her forehead.
00:20:55
Speaker
the You know, like a little baby goat horn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, just just little baby goat horns. oh and i Yeah. and cool I suddenly realized if i gave if you gave us a massive kind of round one to the front, you're going to this competition right You're going to win it.
00:21:10
Speaker
um Amazing. Thank you very much for that, Alice. So we've got um this tiefling sat on the other side of this rather sheepish looking, um no pun intended, sheepish looking human sat opposite.
00:21:22
Speaker
And you see this crowd of people and ah the dreck, orc, comes over and kind of commands the scene a little bit.
Arm Wrestling Contest: Reefer vs Rock
00:21:31
Speaker
Right then, this is the next round.
00:21:34
Speaker
ah We've got Rook Seastrider. And one person claps. It's Rook clapping himself. And opposite, oh shit, I forgot your name. What was your name again?
00:21:45
Speaker
uh, uh, Reefer. Reefer, reefer, right, yeah. We've got reefer. And there's silence. Right, well, good energy, lads. Fucking brilliant. Come on, you i get your ass up. Come on, do you i make some noise here.
00:22:00
Speaker
This this ah tea other tiefling, old tiefling in the corner goes, yeah and that's, again, it kind of falls quiet again. Right, we all know the rules. We've done this one before. It's left hand, right hand, head. Yeah, you got it? Sorry, don't don't you mean right hand, left hand head?
00:22:18
Speaker
What did I say? Left hand, right hand head. Well, don't matter which hand it is, as long as it finishes with your head. That's a fun one, you see. Shall we just go straight for head?
00:22:30
Speaker
No, no, you're jumping the gun here. We've got to stick to the tradition. Right, stop arguing. Right, hands in. Right hand or left hand? Fucking hell, right. Right hand first. And um Rook's going to put a willowy right hand on the table ah elbow on the table and kind of look very concerned towards you, Reefer.
00:22:49
Speaker
Yeah, she's just going to enthusiastically grasp it in her right hand. and And just, um she's got ah hazel eyes, which are flecked with gold, and they're just kind of glowing with enjoyment at the moment. Amazing, amazing, amazing. um You also have your drink next to you, and Rook has his drink next to him as well, just FYI. And so we're going to do, this is basically to strength check, if you will. So what you can do is you can take your strength modifier,
00:23:17
Speaker
which I believe you're quite good at. um And then roll that alongside with the d20 and see how we get on. And then it's just going to be best of three, right hand, left hand, head. um And um whoever wins the best out of three then would um would win the bank overall.
00:23:33
Speaker
So Rooks rolled three and he's got a plus one. So he does a four. Um, reefers rolled 15 with a plus four.
00:23:45
Speaker
So 19. Okay. So you get set and, um, just as you're at start, Drek shouts out.
00:23:58
Speaker
Well, the deep let's do this. And then you just go poof in like a single instance, smashes hand down to the table. Ah, he winces in pain little bit. Oh God, that hurt. And then instantly he, he knows it's the next hand. And this is literally one, two, three, three, really quick, um, basically attacks back to back.
00:24:18
Speaker
He puts his left hand on the table. He's still shaking off his right one ready for the next, next round.
00:24:26
Speaker
Are you straight into, are you straight into as well, Rifa? Are you, want to do anything in the middle? and No, no, she's straight in. Okay. um He rolled a six plus one. Seven. She rolled a 19 plus four, so 23. Fuck.
00:24:40
Speaker
So for this one, left hand, he's still recoiling from her. Bang, it just gets fired back, knocks his drink, smashes onto the floor. And there's a huge roar of laughter from everyone around it and some nods and of like appreciation, yeah yeah there mainly from Drek making NPC noises.
00:24:56
Speaker
And then the last one, he looks at you and he he starts to move forward almost out of impulse that he's done this before. He knows that and then realizes... Like he's now understood actually how fucking strong you are.
00:25:07
Speaker
And you can see him kind of, Oh God, as he leans himself forward. And, um, you've done one of these before, so you know what to do. And you literally just place your foreheads into one another and it's just enough pressure. it starts. And then there's a three, two, one, go. And it's basically just a push, push, pull with your head space.
00:25:27
Speaker
If you can push them back off their chair, you win. It's a small table you're in front of. And again, it's another strength check. and I'm going to let you do this one with advantage because of your height and because of the the two wins you've had so far. So you can roll it twice and go with your eyes.
00:25:43
Speaker
So Rook got a five. So she got 16, so it'll be an unnatural 20. Flip me. up there you go That's good. That's good. That's good. And literally, it's it for this one against Rookie, it's like you just stood up and he just just tumbles back over his chair, bang onto the floor. I hear a roar of laughter and and clapping. a perfect three, says Drek across him and they all start clapping and clasping you on the back. and whoo You didn't tell me you'd done one of these before.
00:26:13
Speaker
Before you'd been here. Oh, I haven't. This is my very first time.
00:26:19
Speaker
Bloody hell, that's ah ah it's really good disconcerting, you slick fool. No one should be that good at this. I made up the game myself. Right. Any of you 20 and a go then?
00:26:30
Speaker
And he looks around to anyone else in the area who um who would be up for it. If you stay, you if you win, you stay. That's the rule. But the drink's on me. And he hands over another drink towards you, Reefer.
00:26:44
Speaker
um Can I, looking around, notice Rock and go, oh well, I think he'll be a challenge, no?
00:26:54
Speaker
And Drek's going to look round to him. Nope, not him. He just got here. Right, who else wants to go? he's going look round. Raelic, you went to it, Talon?
00:27:06
Speaker
er Iska? No, you're too old. All right, then. And he looks back towards Rock. You went to it? Rock will do the kind of classic look behind him, assuming that he's talking to someone else, kind of point to himself and go, oh yeah, great.
00:27:22
Speaker
No, that'll be wonderful. Yeah, you, the the massive, massive, massive person there, you. yeah Yeah, okay, sure. ah Yeah. And Rock will make his way to the to the table and reach a hand out kind of to shake your hand.
00:27:37
Speaker
ah Yes, she just enthusiastically grabs it with both hands and so and it's just like, this is, um you know, it's great to meet you. um And she kind of indicates with a head to her um her drink can and says you know i don't know what they've got in it but it's amazing stuff you should have one ah and then she's going to lean and close and say you know i think it's why i'm being so successful here you know
00:28:09
Speaker
Oh, yeah, sure. Okay. And I'll kind of motion to get myself a drink as well in like the the stereotypical raise a hand up towards the bar staff. And um you hear a squeak from the bar and a voice come up.
00:28:23
Speaker
Don't anyone else do it! And Drake, you see... And you hear... As the um coin purse moves around and holding above his head is just a little flag and she puts on the table.
00:28:36
Speaker
Gives you thumbs up. back of the i ah put money on her. Okay. And then he's going to walk back over. um and sit back up on the um on the bar and he's just red-faced and having a wonderful time and watching over as he as he nurses his own little half pint he's got in his hand.
00:28:54
Speaker
He didn't buy food. um So ah what happens then is Drek stands there and a few other people from a few other rooms have started to wander over now and are sure there's about 20, 22, 23 people there.
00:29:06
Speaker
know, there's mix of people. Most of them are just in your regular kind of civilian clothing, a couple in kind of like leather brown bits of like chess play armor and things like that but nothing nothing kind of there's no soldiers here or anyone really particularly armed it's just um it's a larger group of individuals there's a mix most of them are kind of middle-aged many are farmers merchants or uh the like you can tell from the warner the fingers and a couple of them maybe maybe traders or merchants.
00:29:31
Speaker
But it's a nice mix of people. It's a good atmosphere. feels convivial. It feels friendly and warm, ah despite the the yeah insolence of Drek and Rook. A bruised Rook now who stands up and is kind of egging you on. Rifa is almost, ah you know, if she beat me, then she must be everyone. And therefore that that makes me feel better about my masculinity. That's what he's going for. He's a good Rook Seastrider, the merchant. train We've all been there. weve That's my whole life.
00:29:56
Speaker
um So Rook... Oh, no, sorry, Drek. Drek stands there and looks, right, two outsiders, two first-timers here going head-to-head.
00:30:08
Speaker
Let's see where she's going to go. Hey, we'll make you back to here. He shouts gobbledygook for all intents purposes to people around him. they yeah do you the other And they see passing of money, money passing hands, et cetera.
00:30:20
Speaker
All right. We'll go right-hand, left-hand head. You got it? Left-hand, right-hand head. Now, right hand... What did I say? What did I say? Right.
00:30:31
Speaker
Is it left? Yeah, what did I say? I don't know. oh don't worry. I was just making a joke. Oh, good one. Humor. You've got it. It's all fantastic.
00:30:44
Speaker
I still don't get a joke. Right. We are right hand, then left hand, and then head. And that's the big one. That's the one that matters. Right. Right. As she yeah enthusiastically puts her right hand forward, she's just going to accidentally catch both of the mugs of ale and just send them flying. but Whoa, she's starting already. She's hammered. She's hammered.
00:31:08
Speaker
yeah Fill them up. Fill them up. And then two more bustle over, two more drinks. ah Put them on the other table. This one's going to be a good one, I'm sure. and Just on the nearby table next. Do you want to switch before we start?
00:31:20
Speaker
Well, why not? ah Yeah, sure. good stuff. Some say parts of it come from the surge itself. You know, I thought that from the taste.
00:31:31
Speaker
It tasted sandy. Yeah, it's got water in it Yeah, from the from the stream. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good stuff, good stuff. Right, elbows on the table. Right hands clasped.
00:31:42
Speaker
Sorry, go ahead. He's going to do it, but I still look a little bit confused. I'm just going to whisper across the reefer, you've drank from the surge? Like, as this is still going on.
00:31:54
Speaker
Yeah, she just ah leans close and and just goes, apparently, and kind of looks around and and looks at, is it Drax? What's the name of the orc?
00:32:06
Speaker
and The orc, Drek. Yeah, Drek. She just kind of shoots Drek a look and yeah.
00:32:15
Speaker
And he looks back, gives you like a broken thumbs up. And um he's having a great time as well, making some decent cash off this. And and you can ask Pans, for this one, we'll just do exactly the same thing again. So as strength, unless you want to do anything shady or and whatever, you know, it's up to you.
00:32:35
Speaker
the The baseline is a D20 Royal plus your strength modifier. Okay. But if there's anything you want to try or adjust to try and mitigate or change the outcome, feel free.
00:32:48
Speaker
So, um Rock, let's start with you. What did you what did you manage to get? ah Yeah, Rock kind of rolled 19. So an 18 plus only one to a strength. Very good. Okay, so 19 against?
00:33:02
Speaker
ah Not great for her. She got seven plus four, so 11. Okay. Okay. So this first try may be distracted by the comment to Drek or that his comment about drinking from the surge, you're slightly distracted and it's a bit more of, you kind of catch it a bit late on and you hold him for a few seconds before back slams down the table. who And there's like a wow, amazing. And Rooks there looking really unhappy with everything because it can't go the way it was meant to go.
00:33:28
Speaker
and Even Drift has got his head and his hands shaking it, but he's still laughing in between it. and And then instantly, you know, bang, it should be the other elbow on. And we'll go the same again for the left hand, please. So we'll take Rufus's score first, then once you've got it rolled, if that's right. So so it's 19 total.
00:33:48
Speaker
Okay. Just roll the 19 plus one for a 20. So close. This one is really close. And it is like you you're you're all on it this time, and there's a pause, and it gets held in the middle, and there's the vibration of energy between you both, and it it goes one way and the other, and you start pushing rock further and further, over, over, over, almost the entire way. And just as you think you're there, another bout of that alcohol just rushes through your body, and just there's a half second which gives rock an opening. Bam!
00:34:18
Speaker
slams it onto the other side. Big shout, big shout there as well. And as you're setting up for the final one, Drek, who's kind of in your corner, Riffa, if I'm being honest, leans over and goes, now we all know the one that really matters is the head, don't we? Yeah. So let's say counts for double points. Yeah. Double points. And everyone ah gets up on their feet and stamping their feet, slamming their drinks down. You've got the whole whole bar behind you almost at this point.
00:34:44
Speaker
and so it comes down to the heads, small table in the middle. It's a table of two anyway. It's cleared of drinks. It's cleared of lights. And it's just a slight darkness and shadow on both your faces. i think what to do or say before you start.
00:34:59
Speaker
Uh, rock will just say, Oh my goodness, you are strong. i think it's just the the technique and the risks. I'm kind of like, wow. Uh, and that's basically it as he's, as he's doing that gearing up for the head.
00:35:10
Speaker
and Yeah, she she just says, will you teach me after this? ah i mean, sure.
00:35:22
Speaker
You two are too bloody nice with this. You're supposed to be competitors. Put your heads together. um And he ushers, literally grabs back at both the heads and pushes them together. So yeah, four heads are just pressed up against one another.
00:35:33
Speaker
And before you start though, whilst they're awkwardly in that position, Drake's going to turn to everyone go, final bets for final round. miming you Bring it in, bring it in. Drift, drift. You got anything?
00:35:43
Speaker
And there's an awkward moment. Excuse me, this voice is killing me. It's an awkward moment of um of where you're both just waiting with your heads pressed up to each other, ah leaning over this table. Is there anything you want to do before you start headbutting each other?
00:36:01
Speaker
No, I think just awkward silence. rock Rock will just say as it as he's kind of waiting there. I think my new friend bet on you for this one.
00:36:13
Speaker
Good luck. Well, I'm very happy if you want to let me win. Oh, I don't do that.
00:36:21
Speaker
All right. And for this, we're going to break this one down into three parts. This is the first push, second push, third push. It's three rolls we'll do in total for this, um just to give a bit more drama to it So same thing again, strength modifier plus a d20, unless you want to do anything to change up the game in some way. Okay.
00:36:39
Speaker
ah So we'll start with Rock for the first one. What'd you get? Okay. Rock's not changing up the game. It's a five overall for the first. Okay. Against? via An 11.
00:36:51
Speaker
Okay. Okay. so awkward positions. He's much taller than than than ah the rook was. And it just throws you off slightly. And you're both kind of pushing against each other. No one's really moved. Okay. Let's go for the second roll.
00:37:04
Speaker
Yeah. For this one, because of the awkwardness, she's just going to kneel up onto a chair just so the height level is a bit um all more equal. Okay. Do you want to give us the roll you got for that one then?
00:37:19
Speaker
21. Wow. Okay. That works. I got five again. And so with this elevated angle, that the the angle changes and you are on the way back and you're on the pushback now. um It's not looking good for you at the moment, ah Rock, but there's still time to save it. um Do it give us your final roll to see if you, at the last minute, you can step back and save yourself?
00:37:41
Speaker
Yeah, sure. ah Yeah, it's an 18 overall for the last one for me. um Unfortunately for Rock, I got a 22. Oh, yes! Amazing. Rub it in. Fair enough. um And just as you think you're you're just about to lose your footing there, Rock, and you think you can but plant a foot back and and then shove forward and use her own momentum against her, and there's just an additional push. this You notice something in the eyes of Riffa, and it's this... it's this precision.
00:38:10
Speaker
It's this control. It's this training that suddenly seems to back kick in and just driven backwards using every power of ah legs and the angle, everything just seems to line up. And it's just so unexpected where this energy comes from that you are just flattened on the floor and kind of stood over you is this tiefling with the long trench coat almost just kind of stood over you to a cacophony of applause and screams and shouts from everyone in the arena.
00:38:40
Speaker
Drift comes over clapping and clapping and whispers in your ear, I want you too cold. and then just runs on back, cheering and cheering and cheering as he runs around the bar. and You are a prone on your back, Rock, at the moment, and Drift, you're stood over, not not necessarily in a gloating way, unless you intend it to be.
00:38:57
Speaker
What would like to do? I think um she's going to jump up on the table in enthusiasm and it's just going to be like, undefeated. I'm undefeated.
00:39:09
Speaker
And just hold her arms up for the applause. um And after a moment, then she's going to jump down and offer a hand to rock on the floor. Rock's just been applauding from the floor.
00:39:23
Speaker
He's like, that was incredible. Like, I thought I had it at the end there. And then you just did that extra put on. Okay. Well played. Well played. And he'll kind of, yeah, he'll take the hand that you give him as he stands up and goes, Raka Haringui, Lika Peculasa, Fetulia Moi. Okay, Fetulia Moi. I forgot my own name. That that was a hard hit.
00:39:42
Speaker
It's a pleasure to meet you. What was your name again? ah She just kind of blinks you in shock and said say, how hard did I hit you? Pretty hard at the end there. like i was I was coming back and I knew you had the advantage and, know well, I wasn't expecting you I'm Rifa. Nice to meet you. And and you are?
00:40:02
Speaker
Oh, ah ah my name is Raka-Huranguila-Kapekulasa-Hokkeia-Fetulia-Moi. That's your name? Yeah. ah Could you say it slowly for me?
00:40:17
Speaker
If you would like, a of course, it's Raka Harangui Likopeku Lasa Pause, pause. Raka Harangui? ah No, that that means something and entirely different. I'm not going to repeat what that means in the common tongue.
00:40:34
Speaker
and know go on it Go on, I will get it. um Yeah, sure. Raka Harangui. Raka Harangui? Yeah, Likopeku Lasa Hokea.
00:40:46
Speaker
Do you know what? If it's okay with you, I might just call you Rokoharangui. Oh, sure. Yeah, that that's absolutely fine. it's It's more than most people do, to be honest, but i don't mind.
00:40:57
Speaker
Can I get you a drink? i've um It seems I've i've won a lot of money today. You know, I've never done this before. Well, you are... Pretty impressive for ah for for a beginner. I've not kind of done this kind of thing before. I've competed in a lot of different things before, but yeah, that that was... Oh, really? Yeah. i would What have you competed in?
00:41:18
Speaker
Oh, all sorts. um Just with regards to my my training, um that is, i do a lot of kind of fighting and combat, usually kind hand-to-hand. um So I do a lot of sparring there.
00:41:30
Speaker
I'm working personally on trying to channel the elements. um Yeah, my old... Like a tidecaller. Oh, not not quite Tidecalling.
00:41:43
Speaker
Yeah, I tried that. I tried my hand at that and I wasn't very good. I kind of ah kind of i let someone down a little bit, but but that's fine because i'm kind of i've I've got a different calling. So it's, yeah.
00:41:56
Speaker
I mean, there's there's elements of Tidecalling in, I suppose, what i'm what I'm trying to accomplish. You know, i'm I'm also following a calling. I'm going to be a Search Warden.
00:42:08
Speaker
Oh my goodness. You're going to be a surge warden? i Well, that's the hope. Oh. I want to go into the surge diving. Oh, well. You mean to... Sorry, I'm talking over you. No, no, no, you, please do.
00:42:27
Speaker
No, I've never met someone who wanted to to to kind of pursue that path personally. that That's fantastic. No, I'm... I ah kind of... the The adventure of the the surge diving is... Yes, you have to be a bit crazy to do that, don't you?
00:42:39
Speaker
Yeah, but not not that I think you're crazy or anything, but they are rather mad. I don't take offense. They are. They are. they They say that there's not many ah people that kind of do it for long, but I'm i'm pretty confident.
00:42:51
Speaker
ah I've got a pretty good skill set to knowll lend it to it, but a Surge Warden, that's, oh, that's cool. That's impressive.
00:43:04
Speaker
And looking at each other for a little while, like nodding.
00:43:09
Speaker
So, ah drinks here? And he'll kind of turn semi-awkwardly to the bar. And as you turn there, Drift is there kind of been trying to get your attention. He points down and he's he gathered a collect collection of drink and a bit of food um ah at at the bar as well.
00:43:27
Speaker
And stood now back behind the and but behind the bar is Drek and Rook seems to be sat looking rather stoic and impassive behind the bar, sat a stool as well. On the table in the front, we've got a number of drinks.
00:43:39
Speaker
They all have this very slight, very, very light luminescence to it. You think it might be that or it's the glow of the lights. off the cave into the drink. You're not really quite sure. and There's a collection of four or five drinks on the table that's been untouched with a slight foamy head on it.
00:43:53
Speaker
And there's a selection of bread um and eel as well, which would make sense given the name of the um the establishment we're currently in. ah It seems to be some kind of roasted ah sea strike eel um that's been dragged out. almost looks like large chunks of the kind of natural tuna, like tuna steaks that have been roasted with, don't know,
00:44:14
Speaker
turning into a cooking show but fennel why not um and some Thai for shrimp as well and so it's it's a really kind of it's a pungent uh juicy dish and i'm making myself hungry uh a series of kind of like browned small 11 bread and stuff of that as well on the table as well and drift is still sat on the table next to you both as you approach and he just does like double handguns like double finger points to towards um towards you both and then says to refer to yourself, that was amazing.
00:44:45
Speaker
i had to put money on you as well. Um, she awkwardly tries to copy the double finger point, um, and just goes, you're welcome on your walk over. Could you just give me a, um, dexterity check?
00:45:04
Speaker
So now you've had a ah drink and, um, um, 14, um, Okay, now that's fine. you um as you As you do that, you there's a table quite close you with a leg sticking out and you just managed to, you feel it under your foot, but it doesn't actually cause you any any any any issue.
00:45:19
Speaker
And no one really notices except you. You're aware of it where no one else is. And you do that motion. And Drift loves that you've copied it back. and um And and he um this is, um has he introduced himself? Rokaharu, please meet you.
00:45:34
Speaker
Him? Oh, yes. Rokaharu... And she just kind of stops. And then she just goes, yet yes, he has. he's He's going to be a knight.
00:45:47
Speaker
A knight? I thought he was going to be a surge diver. A knight? A knight surge diver. I've not heard of one of those before. surge diver? why would you do that?
00:45:58
Speaker
Can you be both? Well, no, because one involves you being alive and the other one probably kills you.
00:46:07
Speaker
I'm assuming it's the the surge diving. Kills you, yeah. Right, okay, no, I got that one mixed up. Yeah, well, you need to be alive to be a knight, and no one survives the three, it's a pretty short-run career.
00:46:22
Speaker
Well, I mean, people surely do it. People that aren't just trying to, you know, just do it for two and and be done. Surely there's people that that are there kind of trying to break that three. Yeah.
00:46:34
Speaker
You know, I've only heard of one. Have you heard the same thing? Realizing that drift. you It depends which one you're going to say. You say first.
00:46:46
Speaker
I don't want to. Mainly because I can't remember the name off the top my head. can Can one of you say it? Did it begin with a G? It does.
00:46:58
Speaker
I think we think we're thinking of the same one. Then there's only one. That's as far as I'm aware. It's just the one. Just because what happens, it's always the same. The one, the first time you're safe, the second, you go down and you're overly safe and you miss that, you miss the wave.
00:47:14
Speaker
And then you just afterwards, and then you miss out some of the goods and someone else gets more than you. And then you go down the second time with a bit more keeny beeny and you, you get the goods and you make some money and then you put yourself in doubt. And the third one, you, you die.
00:47:26
Speaker
Um, yeah. But not the person that begins with a G. No, and it would be useful if we could remember that, I guess, because i'm i I assume you'd want to talk to him.
00:47:40
Speaker
office The name's gone. We'll come up with it. I'll remember it. Okay. Yeah, if you remember it, I would love no.
00:47:50
Speaker
i would love to grow grower no no It's really famous. Why have we both forgotten it? Anyway, so a lot it's there. I've had one drink. That might be why my memories have gone a bit hazy.
00:48:02
Speaker
So have I. don't think I should have. But it tasted funky. You are far too young. This made my teeth feel fuzzy. Okay. Mine too.
00:48:14
Speaker
fine. Oh. Anyway, and you were really good. I won some more money. and and And he's going to take the whole pouch and hand it back to you. Cool.
00:48:26
Speaker
and she As she does that, she just holds out her hand and goes, you can't give him your money. no No, I don't have any money. This is all his. I held on to it while he was in there, so no one took it off him because I told him that you were a bunch of do joke dodgy dodgers and would probably take it from him.
00:48:40
Speaker
not Not you, I meant. i mean so I mean, some of the others might be. I don't know. No, sorry. That's okay. A misunderstanding.
00:48:51
Speaker
Can I give him his money? No, yeah, of course. Sorry. And then she just takes her hand off it. cha quite rare She kept it there. and And hands it over and then hands you over the three silver and then holds you over the two gold.
00:49:05
Speaker
So you've got plus two gold. He hasn't spent any of it. He's managed to somehow wangle food and drinks and hands it all back to you. And with a quite flourish with a lot, he goes one gold and then the other gold.
00:49:15
Speaker
And he's quite pleased with that as he hands it over to you. Rockle hand the gold ah over to ah his new companion that beat him, basically, and say, I think this was yours. You you beat me in the contest. They're not.
00:49:32
Speaker
I don't believe they're my winnings. Drack has my winnings. But if you don't want them, Drift, here you go. I believe you were the one that bet on on me. So here you have those two golds.
00:49:45
Speaker
and he's going to take one, take the other. and then just put them up to his eyes and just hold them over his eyes and then look down at them and then okay, I don't really know what to do this.
00:49:59
Speaker
I'll break it down into coppers. That's what do. And he's going to drop down behind the bar and just start like rummaging in money pockets around the back, and Drek isn't
Colonel Shellmere and the Journey to Storm Spire
00:50:08
Speaker
bothered by it. He knows what he's doing.
00:50:09
Speaker
ah But by that, he kind of um drift passes Drek, and Drek comes over, and he again hands over. two Three, four, five, six, seven. That is your 15 gold and three silver. That's your earnings.
00:50:23
Speaker
That's a good little taking. Thank you kindly. You know, I could. weren't really in your favour, to be honest. No one thought you was going to be Rook, let alone ah Big Boy here.
00:50:36
Speaker
and Well, i to be honest, I didn't think they were in my favour too. i Like I said, I've never done it before. and And I guess I took to it like ah an eel to the surge waters. Yeah, good. I like that expression. That's a southern expression. You from the south?
00:50:51
Speaker
ah Yes, down down that way. Whereabouts? I've got a cousin who knows someone who's been to the south. and Um, around, uh, the area near Clifestone Keep.
00:51:07
Speaker
Oh. You, a military kid? Uh, something like that, yes. Yeah, yeah. That's all anyone ever is down there against the dwarves, isn't it? How's it all looking down there? You were there recently?
00:51:22
Speaker
i well, yes, I guess quite recently. um I assume things are in tip-top shape. I mean, it was when I left, so here's hoping nothing's changed in the last week.
00:51:38
Speaker
There's a lot worry up here in this in the central parts about them dwarves. Well, don't you worry the colonel has it under control. He always has everything under control.
00:51:51
Speaker
Yeah, he sounds like you don't really like your colonel, buddy. Who am I to say? Who am I to say, eh? No, professionally, he is a wonderful person. And he gets out cloth and starts wiping down the bar in a very stereotypical manner and clearing out a glass.
00:52:05
Speaker
What's up in your What do you mean? That sounds odd. I'm a military man myself. what served I served my time quite few years ago. ah know colonels can be bastards. That's a nice way putting it. But what's he done with this one?
00:52:21
Speaker
Do want to know who might have been led by his son or brother or something like that? I guess you may have heard of him. and Colonel...
00:52:37
Speaker
Surname on the spot. um
00:52:44
Speaker
Colonel Surname on the spot. I've never heard of him before.
00:52:50
Speaker
You can go the first name if you prefer. Nope, we didn't get that far with him.
00:53:00
Speaker
Colonel Sanders? and
00:53:04
Speaker
ah Colonel Shellmere.
00:53:08
Speaker
Shellmere? Shellmere. Yeah, I've heard of that. Ain't he running the joint down there?
00:53:15
Speaker
and Sorry? Isn't he running the joint down there? need a full-on lead ah No, there is a the general above him, but the general is not always at the keep, I guess. So, yes, I guess he is the top dog, they say.
00:53:29
Speaker
Are you relative of yours? you're You're speaking about him with a lot of stain in your voice. No, no, no relative of mine.
00:53:43
Speaker
and thenlin jaw tells me otherwise And then she's to turn to Rock and just push the four mugs of ales his way and just goes, one's enough for me, thank you.
00:54:01
Speaker
You have them.
00:54:04
Speaker
Yeah, sure, if you'd recommend it. And Rock will take one and, and yeah, said he's not going to see it off. He's just going to sip it like a fine wine. Very good. i Drift at this point has come back on. It's just sat on the bar watching you both talk and just popping in bits of the sea strike eel into his mouth as um any conversation takes place or any silences naturally take place. he'll um He'll just sit and just kind of just watch you both, just taking you in, taking in your personality, your people, your faces, just taking that all in like he's in the presence of of some kind of deity in his mind as he watches these two people converse.
00:54:42
Speaker
And then all of that, sorry, go I was, uh, rocks just kind of as, as that, our conversations gone on he's just kind of sat there and taken in the, the, the kind of the mannerisms and the, the, uh, intonations, if you like, just be like, so you're a soldier from the South related to this person that you don't quite like. I'm not related to him.
00:55:12
Speaker
Right. And she's just, she's not going to say anything. She cuts it off. Yeah, cuts it off. Cool. and it'll just there kind of nod, sip, nod, sip.
00:55:26
Speaker
ah So ah where are you from then? ah i mean, originally, <unk>s it's a very, very long story, but I mean, the last few years, I suppose, High Ridge Haven has been my kind of base of operations, if you like.
00:55:41
Speaker
To the north. Is that yeah Drift kind picked up with this?
00:55:47
Speaker
Hmm. That's interesting. What are you doing down this way? Well, it's a long story, but the the short version is I started trying to you know, lend my services to to kind of guide a few people down into the ravines.
00:56:03
Speaker
ah Like not not quite tours per se, but more as like ah like an extra hand. um Usually you get the the kind of the touristy types that want to make their ways down towards the surge in the safest way possible. But ah I don't mean to cause offense by saying this, but they're not usually the most athletic of people, these tourists. So sometimes they need someone to ah give a helping hand or be at the other end of the rope or ah Put the pittons in the wall, if you get what I mean. And well, that's taken me all over, real well, not all over. I've not really been to loads of places, but ah I mean, i was working my way to Tidewatch Keep when I thought, you know what, why am I doing this?
00:56:45
Speaker
for other people. And I heard tell of the surge divers. And ah I'm pretty sure I heard some mention of some sort of meet up or something like that in the storm spire.
00:57:00
Speaker
um And it'll be in the next few days or so. So that's where I'm heading at the moment. Actually, I was in fact, on my way there when I came across across this place and and found this nice fellow and he motions to drift.
00:57:13
Speaker
And heard there was a contest and thought, you know what, I'll just um i'll rest my feet for a little while, ah get myself involved and take in some of the local culture here before making my way off to to Stormspire.
00:57:27
Speaker
That was a long story. Sorry. No, no, it's um its interesting. i've I've heard the the views of the surge from Stormspire are incredible. It's ah so beautiful, isn't it?
00:57:39
Speaker
The surge. It almost calls to one.
00:57:45
Speaker
Well, I guess that's kind of one of the reasons that I kind of want to want to pursue this, as well as obviously, you know, the the call to adventure and ah promise of wealth and glory and all that. That's obviously part of it, but ah yeah.
00:58:04
Speaker
Yeah, it calls. It does call. do Do you feel like it calls to you? like Don't you? It's...
00:58:13
Speaker
It's magical almost, no?
00:58:17
Speaker
i mean, it ah I believe it infuses lots of things with magic. You know, i i would have loved to have been a tide caller, but I was never trained. You have to train when you're young, no?
00:58:29
Speaker
Never got the chance. So I'm hoping surge warden will... will allow me to be close to the waters without getting killed.
00:58:41
Speaker
Well, one can hope. That's the aim. At that drift, leans down a little bit towards you both. Have you thought of staying here for the next tidal surge?
00:58:54
Speaker
Have you heard what happens? No. So you know we're below the level of the surge... So if the wave comes, it's above where we are. And so it would get filled with water.
00:59:07
Speaker
And what they do is they put this massive stone up against it and it seals it. And then the stone glows, which is why those, all them things in the corners of that order or the mushroomy things and all the bits and pieces.
00:59:21
Speaker
And people lock do like lock-ins where they, they, they weather the surge in here. I've heard it's really cool.
00:59:31
Speaker
Have you been here when that's happened? Absolutely not. Cause that is shit scary, but it sounds pretty cool, but you're right. You're right. Stormspire has got some pretty nifty views of it all.
00:59:42
Speaker
Cause it's got the whole the split and you can, you can pick an edge and it's got all those great places. You're right, though, Rock, the the ti did did the diving, the wave divers and all that, they all they all work out of there. there's surge They've got so many names. They keep thinking they're cool.
00:59:57
Speaker
But I think I know who you're talking about, though, Rock. If you do need someone, I do know someone. um And they are at Storm Spire because they they sought me out a while back, actually. It did me some good. Over at the... um Which one is it? i was gilded The Gilded Anchor.
01:00:13
Speaker
It's one of the pubs there. It's a guy... He's a bit eccentric. So just take him with a big old pinch of tide salt. But he's Tashlin Violetta.
01:00:24
Speaker
That's the name he gives himself. i don don't actually know his real name. It's Tashlin, T-A-S-H, Violetta.
01:00:38
Speaker
um He's a merchant dude. He's a bit of snob. But he also organizes a lot of the um a lot the wave diving. and and the guiding and the organizing of teams. these Again, I think there's some, they run many competitions for groups on the jump down and and they're missing a few from the last one. Cause I think it was like a full on wipeout. I think they lost like six teams straight off the bat. So like they're looking for some new ones and they got some groups over from the North.
01:01:01
Speaker
They got some over from the, um the, the East as well. and So it's worth it. You know, the more and other areas are around there. It's, it's great. And you can get some really, really good shit there.
01:01:12
Speaker
I'm talking like high end stuff as well, you know, magical items and, and the stuff that, you know, you can set you up for life. Whoa. Uh, yeah. Fucking whoa.
01:01:25
Speaker
Have you been to storm spire before? oh yeah. I've been there loads. I'd been there all the time. I'd be there now if wasn't here. I like like, I know it better than I know it. I know really well, like not just well, like really well,
01:01:39
Speaker
Like, okay, uh, when we're done here, do you think you could take me to the Gilded Anchor and and kind of point this Tashlin V letter out to me?
01:01:50
Speaker
Oh yeah, I wasn't intending on going anywhere. I was going to take you exactly where you needed to go.
01:01:57
Speaker
You're just... You're a very good person, Drift. That is very kind. Well, not really kindness. It's what a squire has to do, isn't it? Oh.
01:02:08
Speaker
That's my job.
01:02:11
Speaker
ah ah so you're You're actually like my my squire now? Yeah. I thought we'd agreed on that. No? Even though I'm not an i'm not a knight. Is that a problem? I can still do that because what we'll do is we'll get you we'll get you the bits you need to be a knight and then and then you you're a knight. I don't even know that's the proper word for it here. But anyway, we'll go we'll we'll go we'll figure it out.
01:02:30
Speaker
But I just have a good feeling about you, Rockalang, Dewey, Deedler, being nice to me. I've got a good feeling about you. And I think we're going to be hard, fast friends.
01:02:40
Speaker
uh yeah not a question it's not a question it's just a no no no hard fact it's a fact of life like a like a sea strike eel gets the shrimp it's gonna happen yeah sure and i you know i'll teach you how to say my name at some point i'm sure saying it perfectly already i don't know what talking about it he says with a smile it's your fault for having a silly name no offense uh Hey, I chose this name. let's fuck What's silly about it? Nothing. It's fantastic and suits you really well, Rock.
01:03:11
Speaker
rock Suits you good. And, and another, and as he begins to start on another point that he's going to make about something to do with how fabulous rock is, and you both, if you're looking at him, notice a tonal shift in his, his expression and face. And he pauses mid sentence and his face drops. Um, and from over your shoulder, the kind of the shoulder, probably your right shoulder, uh, refer as your,
01:03:38
Speaker
I guess you're kind of facing to your
Bar Ambush and Escalating Conflict
01:03:40
Speaker
right at the bar. um He's looking over that side and you just hear quite close to you, The dwarves send their regards.
01:03:51
Speaker
And you just feel this arm wrap around your neck and start trying to squeeze down on you. We're going to do ah just a grapple check and just off the back, if that's right. Then we're going to fall into initiative. and Rock, what you will have seen just at the corner of your eyes, this figure with this kind of leather chest piece and dark sleeves and...
01:04:09
Speaker
what seems to be kind of a red rough around the neck, just grab Rifa from around the neck and kind of put in like a choke hold, pulling back. As you turn, and we'll get to the role in just a second, um Alice, as you turn, ah Rock, to oversee the situation, you do notice one or two other figures starting to move in. At the moment, because it's so muted, no one else has really taken note of it so far. Now, I've been killing time because because of the damn new change to this. idea I was going to tell you that if you wanted. You know what? I know exactly what it is, but maybe for the listener, it would be really good to know. The grapple you've got to succeed a strength or dexterity check. You get to choose which one it is.
01:04:47
Speaker
So it's a saving throw. It's your DC 8, place your preferential bonus, plus ah your strength or your dexterity. principle So the the escape DC is set by the grappleur. So your nasty bastard character, whatever their strength, or I think it would be strength score for them.
01:05:05
Speaker
basically eight plus their that proficiency, whatever that would be, probably plus two, ah plus their strength. So that would be the DC set. Yeah. So it's 12. Okay. So I'm just rolling strength or?
01:05:20
Speaker
i think it's a saving throw that you can make. Strength saving. Strength saving throw. Okay. Which is higher for you. Yeah. and So rolled a 19, it's 25. Okay.
01:05:31
Speaker
but Absolutely. So the minute this arm comes around, your neck is your your hand is already shoved underneath it. you Your training goes to auto and you are literally in and round and out and facing in an instant. I was going to have your Royal Initiative with disadvantage, but because of that, well I'm going to negate that. You are ready for it. You are literally but back in like fighting time.
01:05:54
Speaker
You know, if drift could press play on the boom box and it'd play like Highway to the Danger Zone or ACDC right now. That's what would be happening, but nothing. It's going on ah in her head. Yeah. so That's what just kicked in now, a little fucking montage time. and So on roll 20, I'll just position the figure that's just reaching behind you.
01:06:14
Speaker
For ease, I've just made the other individuals that have similar... garbs and moving towards you wear something relatively similar but not only they kind of blend in a little bit on dindy beyond so while the comment takes place i'll try and enlighten them a little bit to make them clearer for you um but nonetheless they're there now so uh we'll go with initiative i'll give them a group one just to make it easier and then we'll go off yours so did anyone get more than 20 all
01:06:42
Speaker
No. Good, because we are still level one. Are we level one? Yeah, we're level one. Yeah, we're level one. What about 15 or higher? We're all going to die. 10 or higher? Yeah, I got 13.
01:06:55
Speaker
I got 14. So, which one do you want? Rifa. Rifa, okay.
01:07:06
Speaker
I would call that three different inflections so far, so just want to make sure it's right. um Bastards. Cool. right. and So, ah Rock, you just turn around. ah Drift is still sat on the bar at this point and just wide-eyed. This awesome move has just taken place to get yourself out of it um Your eyes quickly flip down. What is your... Rock, what's your passive perception?
01:07:34
Speaker
It's not bad. ah It's not bad. It's a 14. Cool. Same for Alice actually as well. um You both notice that they are armed daggers. they have weapons drawn. This isn't your little friendly bar fight. This seems more serious than that. and Though it's still quite muted because for all intents purposes, it could have looked like a really shit hug from the way in which it did absolutely nothing. So, but he's in an aggressive stance. and this He hasn't paused as a result of that.
01:08:03
Speaker
If this was a proper form of combat, he would be already lunging towards Riffa. You'd probably assume So, ah just to give you the... Ruck, this is over to you. Top of the round, what do you want to do Awesome. Okay, so I've i've kind of just... We're having a nice time, having a chat. That arm's come round Riffa's throat, and she's kind of wriggled out of it and turned to face him, and I can see that they're armed, yeah?
01:08:24
Speaker
Yep. immediately Rock's going to just go for a kick to this person's kneecap. um I'm going to use my bonus action as an unarmed strike first to try and do that um rather than anything else. Okay. um So it's a 10 to hit.
01:08:45
Speaker
ah That misses, unfortunately. ye Thought it would.
01:08:52
Speaker
ah That's fine. So going down to kick the knee and kind of just just completely damage that. That kind of fails in some way. So he's going to follow up with a punch to the nuts. ah So as his action, he's going to try and ah punch this guy right in the ghoulies for a 22 to hit.
01:09:08
Speaker
That does hit. Okay. going to use my feature from my Goliath background called Hill's Tumble, where I can basically make a creature prone if I attack it and deal damage to it, like without a save or anything like that. It's just one of those features. So I've rolled max damage, which is nine points of bludgeoning damage as I punch him in the dick.
01:09:34
Speaker
and knock him prone um wow immediately that's awesome plan when was that fun and then with i tried i fucked it up i fucked it up a lot last episode i kept rolling like i did with my bonus action hit um and then scanning around uh that are these people do they seem to be coming towards um reefer are they looking at her in particular obviously i overheard what what was said as well Yes, it's all aimed towards her at the moment until... Well, yeah, at the moment, it's all aimed towards her.
01:10:09
Speaker
Okay. What I will do then, if you'll allow it as a free action, if not, not a problem, but I just want to quickly turn and if if um Drift is sitting on the bar behind me, just gently kind of push him back so that he... Like, not not throw him off the bar, but the intention is to push him behind the bar.
01:10:26
Speaker
Okay, the intention of get down there. yeah Yeah, literally that. like Or even even if it's just like a hand signal to get him to do that. And then I'll take a step forwards so that I'm not leaving this prone guy's range.
01:10:37
Speaker
um But I'm kind of stepping around his body almost. And and you'll you'll see Rock do this kind of martial maneuver to get himself ready into a position. He's instantly ah engaged and ready. But his eyes at the moment are kind of... He's kind of standing here almost in like a V...
01:10:54
Speaker
shape between the the two standing people that are on their way towards where reefer is so he's kind of in ah in a ready position there not leaving range of the person he's just not prone sure you've got a fire pit just five feet away from you to your north which is fine it's not a problem that's there you've got four tables around you uh reefer has you've got a table not too far away from you also just off your left shoulder acting is almost like a ah physical barricade as well the bars in front of you Tables, chairs, et cetera.
01:11:21
Speaker
and Everything's fair game at this point. and Amazing. Rufo, thank you very much, Rock. Rufo, over to you. What do you want
01:11:32
Speaker
do? You're muted, a Alice.
01:11:36
Speaker
Happens to us Yeah, it was it was amazing, that move. I'm sorry you missed it.
01:11:42
Speaker
um What do you want to do? The guy on the ground. He's he's prone but not unconscious, right? Absolutely. So the first thing she does is she she grabs one of the mugs of ales, two hands.
01:11:55
Speaker
She's just ah going to throw it down onto his face, like hit him in the face of it. And as she does, she kind of mutters under her breath. Rock probably wouldn't hear it, but just going to mutter like, my goddamn father. Ooh, that's more for a listener than Rock. Ooh.
01:12:15
Speaker
right, as we are kind of dropping this mug on them, let's... Dropping with a lot of force. Okay, well, um let's just go improvised weapon then, I reckon.
01:12:26
Speaker
um So that is going to be... just looking through you. If you've got proficiency with improvised weapons, um then it gets to be something slightly more. But if not, it entirely depends on what's on your character sheet.
01:12:41
Speaker
Um...
01:12:44
Speaker
Provide... No, I don't think you do have that. mar reach create strength bleaching down That's unarmed. Where is it on this now? As in you look in player's handbook?
01:13:01
Speaker
um looking on the character sheet, see if it was there. Oh, yeah. No, it won't technically it won't be there, I don't think, because the rules are um pretty similar, basically, in the sense that what it'll do, if it's an object that bears no resemblance to a weapon, it deals a d4 of damage.
01:13:17
Speaker
um I mean, if... Sorry, a character proficient with a weapon can can do that. ah Proficient with improvised weapons. ah Sorry, I'm cocking that up.
01:13:29
Speaker
No ending. But it's... ah Yeah, I mean, if you're if you're trying to smash a glass mug over someone's head, then yeah, I think how I would rule it personally would probably be like a d4.
01:13:41
Speaker
um I think if you're proficient, you get to add your strength modifier. yeah Oh no, if you're proficient, you get to use your proficiency bonus with the attack. So your, your two hit would be like an unarmed strike, but minus your proficiency bonus. So, um, your two hit damage would be, uh, eight plus your strength score.
01:14:01
Speaker
Wait, shit. No, that, that's, that's not that at all. Uh, your two hit, let me just work this out. I'm glad you're here, because I would have struggled with this. i think I think it would be... What's your what's your strength score?
01:14:14
Speaker
My strength? um Yeah. Plus four. Okay, so you technically... You've got a plus six to hit yeah pretty much on like ah a normal hit. It would be a plus ah four to hit instead. The damage would be a d4, but the two hit would be a plus four to hit um based on the... Unless you're proficient with yeah improvised weapons, which you need a feature Tavern Brawler for.
01:14:40
Speaker
Yeah, um I don't have that, so. Okay. right, so we'll go for a, um just a D20 and then Adjun modifier, which would be four, yeah.
01:14:52
Speaker
Seven. as the As you kind of throw the drink down, the rage, your anger or surprise, the adrenaline, everything in this new place overtakes just smashes off to his head. He does flinch as a result of this, but he's still down on the floor. Sorry.
01:15:07
Speaker
He's prone, which is advantage on melee attacks. It is. Roll again. I just described this. I'm really sorry. for it. It is... better.
01:15:21
Speaker
Seven again.
01:15:25
Speaker
Never mind. Nothing but consistent there. So the the old old ruling still stands. It's the same it's the same thing then. um So it misses off to the side. oh Is there anything else you want to do? You've got movement, bonus action, anything else you want to... Yeah.
01:15:39
Speaker
Yeah. um As a bonus action, she's just going to... She's got two-weapon fighting, so she's just going to kneel down and with her offhand just punch him in the dick.
01:15:56
Speaker
Okay. It's a double-grain. It's a poor man. This guy's dick. but Jesus Christ. All right, um... you take the attack action return and attack with a light weapon would it count as a light weapon if you're going for an unarmed strike the unarmed strike would be you'd have your proficiency bonus with it I'm pretty sure as an unarmed strike because the damage is just your strength modifier so it would only be it would be exactly four points of damage if you hit um but you'd get your whatever your plus to hit is usually so it's plus six for that would be wouldn't it yeah okay ah yeah go on with advantage with advantage because he's prone
01:16:36
Speaker
Okay, so the first one would be 24. Okay, yeah. I don't think I need to go with that. Roll for the crit. Roll for the crit. Crit that dick. I don't know how you can, um this poor man's groin. um He, ah I mean, are you aiming to incapacitate or? Yeah, yeah, like hit so hard. It just, he blacks out.
01:17:03
Speaker
Okay. He fully blacks out and you hear a rather disconcerting squelch. Oh, no! Did you say a disconcerting squelch? Oh, no! He is otherwise indisposed.
01:17:15
Speaker
um he is he is otherwise indisposed um he is in here's a non a non-problem ah let's just say at this point uh yeah he got poor man an awful noise uh yep exploding dick syndrome is we've all been there poor
01:17:38
Speaker
poor poor guy all right um that's uh the end that violent turn god what do i do i could have just said yep he's down but no i gotta i you made it disgusting you mentioned yeah well that could be a really good like death metal band couldn't i'm just yeah i'd listen to disconcerting squelch yeah all right uh it's the um it's the unknown assailants turn at the moment i'll get rid of our um squelch boy on the floor there and And they're all going to rush you. And the third one comes out the central column to the north as well.
01:18:09
Speaker
um And see how close they get. Five, 10, 15, 20, right, 30. And he's going to pause by the table the further away. He takes in the scene. ah The chap over to your right, over your left shoulder, if ah is going to five, 10, 15, 20, can make it to you on that side.
01:18:25
Speaker
And five, 10, 15, 20, 25. and You can have one to your other side rock. So you've got one coming from the left, one from the right. one each and one kind of taking in the scene in the middle.
01:18:35
Speaker
Uh, rock, the one against you is going to swing, to, he's, he's going to go full on for the throat. This is dagger to the throat. There's no old bard here. He's going for the, um, the kill, uh, that, oh that's going to be a 19 to hit.
01:18:50
Speaker
Yeah, certainly will. You take three points of slashing damage as you drag yourself back, but it cuts across your shoulder blade, your clavicle, up that kind of area. And you realize this isn't this isn't a brawl. These guys mean business.
01:19:05
Speaker
and The person against you, Rufa, is going to take a swing, same similar style. um That's going to four to hit and just literally times it wrong. And you manage to parry the hand away quite easily.
01:19:17
Speaker
and The last individual is just gonna look at Rock at Riffa and then i was gonna lock on Riffa and just gonna stay perfectly still.
01:19:29
Speaker
Drift is his turn now, and he is going to ignore what Rock has just said, and he's going to barrel down off the bar between your legs, Rock, and he's going to shove as hard as he can the fire pit that's on the floor. He's going to kind of step through your legs, then step to the left, and then reach with his hands and push it up. And you can hear a sizzling. It's metal. It's metal, ah gilded, iron-ish kind of looking... um fire pit holder thing quite high and he's going to try and push it over and hear a sizzle of flesh as he tries to do this taking a little bit of damage to himself as he tries
01:20:08
Speaker
no scar natural one and fails falls down ah he looks at his hands and oh shit he rubs his hands he um he stupidly because is finds himself now to the opposite side of um of this individual um stuck between a fire pit and a ruffian let's just say and that's the end of his turn rock background to you um okay another chap's come at you he means to business what do you want to do Yeah, yeah, yeah, no worries. ah The guy that's just kind of taking a swing at me, I'm going to use my bonus action again first, um because then it frees up what I can do, because monks are fucking cool in 5.5.
01:20:47
Speaker
ah So the first thing I'm going to do is make an unarmed attack for a natural 20. um ah That's annoying, because what I was trying to do, what I was hoping to do...
01:20:59
Speaker
ah Wait, hold on, let me just quickly check my features, whether I can do this. I think I need a different feat than this one. Nope. Fuck it. Never mind. ah Yeah, so the that I'm going to use this as ah as ah as a damaging strike against this guy. Is he, um like on the on roll 20 now, he's closer to the bar?
01:21:18
Speaker
Is that right? Or was he kind of still um near where the fire pit is? He's right next to the fire pit. He's diagonally opposite the fire pit. He's about five, seven feet away from the bar at this point.
01:21:32
Speaker
Right, okay. I think he might have moved slightly on on where roll 20 is um because my initial intention was to use the fire in some way, shape or form. Yes, you'd be able to, yeah. Yeah, with that, I'd i'd get myself around the like around the other side of him after that swipe has come in and and kind of taken him in the clavicle.
01:21:49
Speaker
He'd kind of go around the back of it and and lay in this unarmed strike towards him for, let me just get the damage on that. I'm all right, and thinking you're trying to push him towards the fire. Is that...
01:22:02
Speaker
I'd be able to with regards to the the feet that I have. um i'm I'm kind of perfectly made for this. I can push him back five feet with ah with an unarmed strike when I hit and deal damage. Are going to this spar to him into the fire? Yeah. What's what's your crit rules? Is it rolled twice or is it double the roll?
01:22:24
Speaker
Oh, whatever's cooler, really. ah No, let's go with... um ah Yeah, rolled twice. i think that's what I've done before. I think actually, the think I think that's what the actual real rules are. And that's good because that's given me some really good shit.
01:22:38
Speaker
ah So that is 11 points of bludgeoning damage. As I kind of get round and behind him, I'm just going to place this punch that's almost kind of more of like a a palm punch right into the sternum where he is, which will push him back five feet um if the fire is is next to him. That's the intention to basically push him into it.
01:22:56
Speaker
okay got you so in that move the swipe comes in you duck under the maybe the the swinging left hand let's say and as you get around across this diagonal you've seen drift kind scatter between your legs and you hear a shout and you half looking at him half keeping an eye on him in the fire douch this hand smashes into the chest and you hear a crunch and a crack crack of the chest bone or something within the, within the, the rib cage of this person. And he seems to, you see pain in his eyes as already there's a power that just pushes him back.
01:23:27
Speaker
And with the help of, of drift, who continues to try and push over this, this fire pit, this body lands in and then over the pits, lighting himself on fire. It's quite a high flame.
01:23:40
Speaker
And then the fire pit knocks itself over in the direction that diagonal direction that actually drift was aiming for anyway. across the floor of the bar. ah He's on fire now and fully dead.
01:23:51
Speaker
um ah Across the that diagonal in front of that final person now is just a stream of burning ash. It's going to count as difficult terrain. And also um you're going to take some fire damage if you're kind of, you you start, you know, you enter into it or you end your turn there. um So that it's kind of like a cone from the fire diagonally backed, if that makes sense.
01:24:13
Speaker
Yeah, is that I'm happy to draw that on the map for you if you can tell me whether or not that is that kind of what you're thinking with regards to the the kind of the fire spread out from. Amazing.
01:24:23
Speaker
um That was my bonus action. Fuck me. So for my action, um that guy is that guy kind of there in the fire? Has it kind of affected him? and He's just on the edge of it. you haven't seen Have you had a reaction to it yet? No.
01:24:37
Speaker
Okay. ah In which case, I am going to move. I've got 35 feet of movement as a monk. I'm literally going to kind of sprint over this, probably kind of leap over a corner of the fire onto the onto the table, skid along it just to get behind this guy.
01:24:53
Speaker
And I'm going to use my action to try and punch this guy right in the spine into the fire that ah Drift has very kindly placed for a 19 to hit. Fuck me. Yes.
01:25:05
Speaker
Amazing. ah That's another fucking six. So that's nine points of bludgeoning damage and he's pushed back five feet into the fire. Fantastic. Which is exactly what I wanted to happen to. It's all working out this episode. Hooray.
01:25:18
Speaker
Okay. He's still alive. He's burning slightly. um But he's still he's still upright. He's still upright. ah This chap is Yeah, he's still going.
01:25:30
Speaker
um Wow. Okay. The bar is now on fire. This is awesome. um Everything's kicking off. It's great. We're only around two. Riffa, over to you. You've been approached from, you've probably not heard or seen any You've heard the clang and you feel the heat of a fire on the back of your neck, perhaps, but you're too um engaged with this individual to your left.
01:25:48
Speaker
and What would you like to do? um Yeah, so I kind of imagine that when she deflected his ah strike with a dagger, was almost like a ah right hand to right hand.
01:26:02
Speaker
um And, you know, she spent pretty much most of the day doing right hand to right hand for the arm wrestling. So just not quite instinct, but just in that mode, you know, she's powered with the right hand and then she's just going to go for a headbutt.
01:26:20
Speaker
ah believe Amazing. Amazing. Incredible. Okay, cool. ah i get that That's considered as an arm strike, it? That's right. you're going Cool. All right. and ah Really nice. I love that. Roll against creatures. Yeah, sorry. Sorry. No, it's 22.
01:26:38
Speaker
Yes, 100% yes. That is a full-on headbutt. um Is that a set damage? Yes, five. Oh, it's five. Even better. Oh, shoot.
01:26:48
Speaker
Very nice, very nice. ah do She fully takes this headbutt and is not high. Her nose starts to run a little bit. You can see the watering of the eyes a little bit. He's still upright and ready to go.
01:27:00
Speaker
Anything else you want to do with your turn? Yeah. and She grabs another... Flagon of Ale and she's just going to take it straight across his face in a hook. All right. We've got this down now. So this would be an improvised weapon, a plus four yep against their armor class.
01:27:18
Speaker
Oh, it's a nine. Ah, unfortunately, as he did ducks down to hold his nose and lowers his head, whoosh, the flagon comes at you, kind of crack across the crown of the head, little bit too high and just whoosh, goes over and you still got hold of this flagon if you want. Or you could drop it's up to you.
01:27:35
Speaker
It's only for flavour. right, um it's his turn. He's going to return, retort back straight away. as the flagon comes over, the hand comes up and he's going to just try and drive the dagger straight forward towards your your stomach um for 11 against your armour class.
01:27:49
Speaker
Yeah, that hits. You're going to take, oh shit, that's the lowest. Two points of piercing damage is it just kind of glances off your side. You can't quite twist your body out of the way in time.
01:28:01
Speaker
Yeah. ah Could you make a dexterity saving throw, please?
01:28:09
Speaker
You asked for this. I know. Eight. o Okay. Okay. but um You start, as you take that, you twist your body to try and get out of the way. Your left foot catches on a stool behind you and you start to lose your balance back.
01:28:26
Speaker
Could you please give me a, e ah let's go and athletics or acrobatics check to see if you can choose to see if you can regain your footing before you topple over and um and lose your footing yeah definitely athletics is my acrobatics is minus two so oh shit we'll go with my um plus six for athletics um so totaling 11 Okay, just enough. Yeah, absolutely. You just managed to kick the stool back. It flings back. You hear it smash against the bar itself and you can just plant that back foot more relying on and the stances you were taught in terms of kind of formation fighting.
01:29:06
Speaker
This keeps you upright rather than anything else. and You are saved from it, but you have moved. yeah no you're not out range. Otherwise that's unfair. um You're just like a foot or two further back. You're not out of, they're not going to get an attack of opportunity or any other stuff. It's not fair.
01:29:20
Speaker
ah Not yet, anyway, not level one. Maybe later. and Cool. ah Oops. That is the end of his turn. The one, the fireman, um is going is... and he is He doesn't know you've moved so quickly, rock on the fire and the smoke and everything. He's just felt the shove, but he has seen drift.
01:29:39
Speaker
He's seen drift, push the fire. He sees him as responsible. So he takes another step forward towards drift and he's going to swing a hit at him. And that is going to hit.
01:29:53
Speaker
Okay. Two points of damage against drift. How much has he got?
01:30:02
Speaker
ah um And he takes, each you or you see these hands go up and you see ah blood off from the, from the wrist of one of the arms and another billow of smoke.
01:30:13
Speaker
And this figure has moved off towards Drift rocking away from you. Riffa, you, you're totally unbeknownst this. You're facing the opposite direction at this point. and It is Drift's turn and he is going to, he's going to panic and he's just going to hunker down. Not that anyone can really see where he is at the moment, given the smoke in the space.
01:30:30
Speaker
Other figures around the bar have scattered. ah This is beyond what they're really up for. So many of them have moved just to the extremities and are shouting, screaming, um confused at what's kind of taking place.
01:30:41
Speaker
You've lost sight of ah the owner of Drek. He's somewhere. Your eyes aren't on him at the moment. It's a little bit chaotic more so than they are used to. ah Up right the top of the round, Rock.
01:30:53
Speaker
You've lost eyes on Drift and your figures moved out of the fire. What you want to do? And obviously noting that time is of the essence, um what he is going to do is I'm going to make a ranged attack with a mug, but going to flavor it as him basically... um What's the what's the like vertical kick where you just bring your leg up and just slam it down? like Think of it from Tekken. Is it like an axe kick?
01:31:19
Speaker
That's the one Thank you, Alice. You let's say it like you don't do this on a weekly basis. I bet you do. Axe kicking machine. So axe kick in the table to kind of flip it and then leap in the air and kick one of these mugs to make it look really cool and dope. um Basically, it's like a ranged attack, but I know that might incur a roll.
01:31:39
Speaker
A couple, a couple. I should really just save this guy instead of trying to be cool. No, no, no, no, no. Who cares about the time? Let's just... The... Okay.
01:31:53
Speaker
First, i would like... Uh, athletics. Let me, wait, let me write down some numbers to make sure you can pass off. value these Okay. Uh, no, I'm writing one number because then depending on the outcome, I'll change there.
01:32:06
Speaker
Uh, let's be generous and go. okay. Yep. right. So is this to what kick the table to get the, to get the mug up in the air? Okay. Okay.
01:32:17
Speaker
Okay. I got this. Rock's got this. Rock's got this. 13. 13. thirteen Yep, that's enough. The mug oof is high in the air now. um In order to kick it accurately, give me just ah like a dexterity check.
01:32:31
Speaker
Can I do acrobatics? Sure. to do like Yeah. Dope flying in the air. Cool shit. It's a 24. Fuck yeah. Okay. Now give me ah a, let's do, it counts as an improvised weapon.
01:32:46
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. It's improvised weapon with advantage because ah cool or technically he's, um technically he's, we'll drift to the other side of him. And also because everything else up to that point has been sick and passed.
01:32:59
Speaker
I'll give you with advantage. With advantage, thankfully is a 23. 23. Okay. Right. Yeah. Roll, how much damage is that? Is it set? So just a D4, but I rolled a four on the D4, I think. I think I just need to praise D&D Beyond today. Jesus Christ, you're doing ah nice things. and You just see this figure and lower, um and and in the in the fire that's around, just disappear from view in the direction of drift.
01:33:31
Speaker
And there's a silence in the air because we can't hear you, Will, because you're muted, mate. What a knob. sorry ah Sorry. Did the mug make contact or the tank had made contact before that happened? Sorry, yes. It did make contact. You did see that. And then there's ah a crackle of smoke and a bit of that fire in the air. And then suddenly his figure's lowered and you can't see him and you can't see Drift.
01:33:54
Speaker
Okay, ah so Rock is going to, ah having done that, like leap over the fire probably, or try to, um from where he is in the kind of least, let's jump right into the middle of this fire, but I mean, straight line is the quickest, isn't it?
01:34:11
Speaker
So the intention is to kind of leap forward. I mean, six, seven foot over the the the the kind of coals or fire on the floor to get to where I've seen this person drop. It's about four feet, I think, ah the way I've mentioned it.
01:34:24
Speaker
I think ken you can you can manage that anyway, isn't it? you As a standing jump, I should be able to with my my basic strength yeah um to get over this person with another kind of strike ready to go if the if they are a threat to...
01:34:39
Speaker
um drift okay you jump over and you feel the heat of the fire attack you as you jump and the ceiling comes up close to you just passing a few hanging stones which i can't for the life me remember the name of them um as you jump over and i learn every time static tights and i know had our campaign underground i still can't remember it I had a really pervy geography teacher that that taught me the difference.
01:35:03
Speaker
Oh. I feel like I shouldn't shouldn't say what what they said, but it was probably not appropriate. It wouldn't it wouldn't fly in 2024. I'm going to off i'm go leave that there. I feel like I need to report that or something. like Yeah, I feel like I need to report He's probably dead now, to be fair.
01:35:18
Speaker
It's no excuse. It's no excuse now. Well, you know, we want to talk about it, now's not the time. Yeah. But, you know. Anyway, let's save a child. Let's save a different child. You had your childhood ruined. Let's save this one.
01:35:32
Speaker
Anyway, um why you dropped that ball earlier? Why is it tight? Like stalactite. Why is it tight? Anyway. I got it. I knew where you were going with it. I wanted to make it worse. You jump over and your head curse Mr. Or Mrs. So-and-so, the geography teacher from a previous life. As you land on the other side and fist ready or kick ready or headbutt, aiming for another groin wherever you can see one probably. And you just see these little arms flailing, one with a quite deep wound down the forearm, kind of flailing over and then a little head pop, a mop of hair. He's falling on me. And he's just...
01:36:08
Speaker
You can see now that this figure is just kind of slumped on top of Drift. It's just kind of collapsed onto him. um But he seems unconscious or dead or otherwise predisposed.
01:36:19
Speaker
Okay. So I've used my action. I've used a bit of movement there. I've only got a bonus action, but I can only use it to to kind of twat people, which is no help here. um so I'll use whatever whatever I can do left to try and help um help Drift out with there and just say, I i told you you should probably be behind the bar for this. And that's that's me.
01:36:38
Speaker
It's Riffa's turn and you are now, yes, you're still one-on-one with this this individual at the bar. You try to swing at him, missed.
01:36:49
Speaker
What do you have to do? Yeah, so she's just going to come back with her action and her bonus action to like short, sharp punches to the face with the mugger veil.
01:37:01
Speaker
Amazing. do you want gear? Do doing whatever order you want. It's up to you. um First one's a 10. Oh, hold on. No, no, no.
01:37:13
Speaker
It's an eight because it's improvised weapon, isn't it? Great. Yeah. So take two. Is that the flagon first? ah No, she's doing... ah Yeah, flagging first then and arms. So that one is an eight. Swing.
01:37:29
Speaker
I imagine from the previous round, you've swung one way, missed, and then you kind of backhand swing it back around using that momentum. And that still continues to miss. And then you've got your kind of left arm free with a punch. Do you want roll for that? Yeah. And that'll be with your plus six, won't it? Yeah.
01:37:43
Speaker
Yeah, that's 23. Yes, absolutely. That 100% hits. um Yeah. ah set damage just Straight five, yeah. Five, sorry, five.
01:37:54
Speaker
And he takes this bash straight in the face again on top of the head, butt part of his face. And you hear the nose crunch and he's a bit woozy on his feet. still upright then. And then he's going to he's going to try and take dagger and he's going to swing down kind of left shoulder across the center of your body from knave to chaps, if you will.
01:38:12
Speaker
and miss horrifically with an eight across your kind of midsection as he just kind of and swings it. And then he's going to um he's going to look at you for a second through blurry, bloody eyes. his nose continues to stream blood, snot, and what else else that's pouring out of his face.
01:38:27
Speaker
And he's just going to try and run. And he's going to try and sprint around you and out. And he's going to leave your point of your kind of range so you would get an attack of opportunity against him if you wish to take it, which will burn your reaction.
01:38:42
Speaker
don't have to just so there and yeah I just want to reach out grab him ah pull him to me and in his ear just say um send my regards back and then I'm going push him forward so that he can go off Okay. Yeah. I'll let that happen. And he gets, pull back a second and then just, yeah, takes off with that message nice and firmly in his ear as he tries to make out the door. So it's five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. He's at his action. That's his movement. He can't, he's not out yet. He's at the corner of the bar. He's still got a good 30, 35 feet, 40 feet to get towards the entrance in order to escape from this failed, whatever it was, attack, attempt, assassination, whatever.
01:39:33
Speaker
and That's the end of his turn. Drift is just going to struggle and stand up and then cower nearby to you, ah ah Rock, and not do much else and just kind of take your lead off that.
01:39:44
Speaker
And then it takes us to the top of the round again, Rock. um Background to you. Fire to your left. Drift in front of you. You can see a figure running towards the door in front of you. Okay, looks like that person's running away. can quite clearly see.
01:39:57
Speaker
I'll just kind of place a hand on Rock and kind of... Sorry, how that
Aftermath and the Fortune Teller's Prophecy
01:40:01
Speaker
that's me. I'll place a hand on myself. self I'll a hand on Drift and kind of push him behind me somewhat.
01:40:09
Speaker
um I'm assuming that there's kind of beverages on these tables, but is Rock smart enough to know not to put them on the fire? Give me a ah give me a history check.
01:40:23
Speaker
Okay, it's it's not going to be positive, literally. Let's say eight. You remember that liquids put out fires. Perfect. Then what he's going to do is he's going to use his action to just grab anything that's on a nearby table and just heave it onto the flames.
01:40:42
Speaker
ah And basically just, well, he'll say to Drift as well, ah help me put these fires out. And yeah, do that. ah Drift will nod along and and start helping out. And yep, none of the beverages are weighty in terms of spirits enough to to cause the fire to grow. So you do manage to put it out. And the space, it's mainly ales and water-filled beverages anyway. And the space starts to fill with steam and the energy drops out of the room as we drop out of initiative as well.
01:41:09
Speaker
and As you put out the last remaining flames, a few individuals pop over. to to help put rest of the fire as well. Drek is there. Rook rocks up as well, looking much less forlorn by the situation and moves around the space. Drek checks, sorry, Rook helps put out the fire with yourself, and Rock and Drift.
01:41:29
Speaker
And Drek comes up towards you, and
01:41:34
Speaker
bre re Sorry, I forgot your name for a second. I had Rila in my head. and thats I'm looking at lots of different names or pages of NPCs here and I've just, I've been looking at the wrong bloody name. um Start calling them with a different letter, mate.
01:41:45
Speaker
I know, maybe it'd be a question. And it comes over to you. I'm so sorry about that. Did you know them? No. No, I didn't.
01:41:56
Speaker
But it's not your fault. In fact, I think I should be apologising and I'm going to take out the purse of the winnings he gave me earlier and give them his back.
01:42:10
Speaker
Oh, I can't accept all that. You won that fair and square. But the damage we did to your bar. Oh, it's fine. It's rock and stone and wood and rubble. Nothing we can't rebuild here.
01:42:22
Speaker
Well... Honestly, you need to keep that. She kind of pauses for a moment, but then she's not going to argue, argue much, um, with that. And she just goes, well, if you're, if you're sure and just kind of tucks it away in her, her bag.
01:42:39
Speaker
So what'd you have to do to piss off Highwind, eh? Highwind? Is that who they were? Yeah, yeah. They serve that a lot around Normally to keep themselves to themselves, you see, but, uh,
01:42:52
Speaker
I don't know. They're moving a lot around recently. And he yeah brings over another beverage and sits down at a stall. ah Do you know where they... Do they have a base near here?
01:43:05
Speaker
is is Sorry, is Highwind a place? No, no, it's the name of their group. Do you know much about their group?
01:43:15
Speaker
Here's a rumor of the stuff you hear working in a bar, you see. know I've been in the business long enough to know when something's off, yeah? These high winds, like, they've got their methods and their precision. They know, you know, what they're looking for and when. How are they going to know that you were going to be here now, right here, at this time? They must know someone else. You've got plans bigger than bigger than that.
01:43:39
Speaker
And I think they're working with the enshrouded tribunal. You heard to that lot? To the north, near the border. The enshrouded tribunal? No. I've not heard of those before. oh up they Serafi Veleth, that's that snake. It's her work. If I've ever seen it, she's and encouraging them forever.
01:44:01
Speaker
fueling it somehow. She rules our shadow gate like a ghost and wrapped around every, and every dark deed from here, the glacier's edge. Oh, it's, it makes me sick.
01:44:15
Speaker
And no one's ever done anything about her before. I can't. No one knows where to find them half the time. They say the rumors, the whispers say they act out Shadowgate like a ghost. It's a place. They've been hunting it.
01:44:31
Speaker
I'm surprised my fart, and she just catches herself before she goes, says the next bit. and But i'm I'm surprised the military haven't done anything about it.
01:44:46
Speaker
He clocks that. He's a good listener. He's a barman. Yeah, he's bit far away from Cliffstone Keep, if you get my drift. The other end of the country, it's a big old ask.
01:44:57
Speaker
Walking on me up there, entering to a city that's ah held by a different faction and overthrow it, you know what mean? but But I wouldn't put a pass on Sleeks to be involved. That's Serafi Valeth's work all over, I'm telling you.
01:45:10
Speaker
Look, Folks like Veileth, they're not interested in petty coin, you see. They're after yeah power, you know? Control over Wildheart, control over the surge.
01:45:23
Speaker
And if the Shroud's got to reach this far, we're not just talking about a band of bandits, a group of bandits, are we? We're talking a well-oiled machine. You've heard some of shit they've done.
01:45:35
Speaker
assassinations, the spying... They hear they get a lot of stuff from Shadow Man over the border, but I can only talk about what I've heard from mere folks who enter in here, but it makes sense.
01:45:50
Speaker
How else were they to know that you would be here now at this precise time? how It seems odd to me. Unless someone told them that I was travelling north.
01:46:03
Speaker
Still, to get ahead of you in that time, it seems odd. Unless they've been following you for a while and they chose this place to strike. But I've seen them in here before, you know, they, uh, they do frequently. I'll keep them out of their business. They stay out of mine. It's, but I do apologize. I didn't realize so many of them would come in today.
01:46:23
Speaker
was distracted by your head buttering and your competition.
01:46:29
Speaker
Um, she just kind of rubs her head and, um, And to say, yes, it's a and understandable, really. and I was rather good at it, wasn't i You put on a good show. and That's all we can really ask you for, you know?
01:46:48
Speaker
ah Listen, I'm just going to go tidy up. Drift here said he's going to stick by you, is that? ah And he looks towards Rock at this point. It's all right. He's a bit annoying, but it ain't one of mine.
01:47:00
Speaker
um She does the finger-pointing thing to him towards Drift and goes, that's okay with me. right.
01:47:11
Speaker
Well, you know, just send him back here if he becomes a nuisance. Storm spy, you say. He says he's taking you there. ah ah Yeah, that's the plan for for me. If you don't mind me tagging along.
01:47:26
Speaker
I mean, sure. you It's a free wild heart. And Drek will kind of just nod at that situation. Then again, he'll look over his shoulder and roll his eyes a little bit. And what you'll see is this figure that you saw and heard bits of earlier, a hooded, um again,
01:47:48
Speaker
similar kind of skin complexion to your own tiefling. Grey hood slowly come down. You see this wizened old face, specks of ah white hair adorn the top of her head.
01:48:03
Speaker
She has these, well, one incredibly ornate and curled right hand horn. And the other one is matching to a half degree and then is has been cut down or shone down or is much shorter as a result.
01:48:18
Speaker
And again, these bright, these kind of intensely hazely, almost hazely greeny eyes ah stare back directly at you, Reefer.
01:48:30
Speaker
And she, steps forward and Drek kind of takes a sidestep at this and she steps forward to you and can I speak with you before you go?
01:48:48
Speaker
will bow to her and say, of course, Alda.
01:48:53
Speaker
Ishka Vale is my name, and I would like to ply my trade upon you, if I may be so kind. And she holds out her hand towards you.
01:49:04
Speaker
Drek at this point steps Fortune-telling. The future. Some of the people enjoy it. He's a bit almost embarrassed by her. and Listen, Ishka, she's not about that. She's from the South, all right? They've got important things going on there.
01:49:19
Speaker
No, no, no, No, no yeah no please, please. i've I've never had my fortune told before. Hopefully, I'm as good it is as at it as the ah the old arm wrestling.
01:49:32
Speaker
indeed and he's reaching behind the bar and he pulls out three copper pieces and hands them to Ishka which she takes and then lays out ah again holds out her hand towards you Rifa and she'll lay her hand in to the elder's hand but she's gonna she doesn't know she's not seen fortune telling before so she puts it palm down And with a slight right smile, she lifts your hand at the wrist and just twists it over. So now it's moved from right hand to left hand. And then she's her left hand to just guide over the marks on your hands, the calluses on your fingers from your training and your weaponry holding from the strength in your arm and forearm. And she just very, very gently glides her hand over the inside of your palm, just looking for a second at first.
01:50:20
Speaker
and I just pull back slightly and go, oh, that tickled.
01:50:26
Speaker
why my apologies, please. And she'll pull your hand forward again and look deeply into it, almost quite close, like like a child would look at a small, interesting stone or a bug or something they found quite close to the face. Is it eyesight?
01:50:40
Speaker
You're not sure. And she begins to talk after a second. She doesn't touch her hand anymore after that comment, but just traces lines with her with the hand a couple of centimeters away from it.
01:50:52
Speaker
I see a strong current pulling you forward, clear as the wave off the shore. She looks up at you, intense eyes. There's wealth here.
01:51:04
Speaker
Gold, maybe, or something rarer like knowledge name. a name Walk that path and you'll see yourself standing tall, hands full of what you sought.
01:51:18
Speaker
Folk will lift a cup in your honour. Remember your face at every tavern across Wildheart. That's one way the current goes. And she runs her finger down your thumb towards the tip.
01:51:33
Speaker
And as she gets to go, she just kind of pinches the tip and then returns back to the base of your palm. But it splits. There's another route, just as strong.
01:51:47
Speaker
Only this one runs dark. Shadows wait there, faces hidden, icy whispers, secrets. Maybe the tribunal itself.
01:51:59
Speaker
They don't give out favors lightly and they won't spare you to cross it. They watch from the shadows those ones and don't take kindly to anyone getting in their way.
01:52:11
Speaker
The surge rewards the bold, yes, but only the wise come back whole. Take more than your share, ignore the signs, and you'll find yourself reaching for air pulled under before you know it.
01:52:26
Speaker
But walk steady. Listen to what the tides tell you. You might just leave with your hands full and your feet dry.
01:52:38
Speaker
And with that, she slowly releases your hand, takes a step back and you see after a second or two, this, it goes from almost a nice, like she knows she's playing with words. She knows she's she dangling these concepts in front of you.
01:52:54
Speaker
But there's a moment as she steps away of almost it's difficult to describe, but with your passive, it's, it's almost a bit of panic followed by a sense of draining and then a cover again. So there's um just a moment where you get this sense that the true emotion was shown and then disappeared and was hidden again.
01:53:11
Speaker
And then the hood comes up and she turns and, and slightly lower down to the, to the ground, not on the ground, but just a bit lower and hunched more, a turns and moves herself away towards um a chair and sits herself down.
01:53:25
Speaker
Drek has been listening to this and steps in. I told you she was mental, wouldn't Oh, that was all good.
01:53:37
Speaker
Rifa just turns to him and just says, we should always respect our elders. Yeah, except when that batshit crazy, though, yeah, yeah, apart from that, you know. No, it was just me then. She hangs around here for years now. She was here when my dad ran the place, so I felt bad to kick her out. Yeah, I guess I show her respect, you know, let her stay here and, you know, scare people like that.
01:54:04
Speaker
Rifa's just going to take two gold coins out, ah no, five gold coins out of her bag and just press ah passes them ter to Jack and just says, take take good care of her.
01:54:20
Speaker
oh ah yeah I will do. You are too generous, madam, with your with your with your yeah generosity and generousness. Oh, thank you very kindly. ah You know, if you're ever a heading back from Storm Spire down south towards ah towards the general, I mean your dad, then, you know, ah you were ah and he's he's fishing for a reaction there. Do you react to that? He's doing that on purpose. He just kind of see, um, like a small clench of the jaw, not when he mentioned the general because her, her dad isn't the general, but when he mentions her dad, just, just a slight clench of the, the jaw there. Okay.
01:55:05
Speaker
Which he reads very high perception. And, uh, yeah. right. Uh, well, if you have a heading back down that way and you want to come visit, then do you, uh, do come down. It's a,
01:55:16
Speaker
We'll have tidied up the corpses by then, you know what I mean? We'll chuck them in river. It's not problem. Infuse them and see if someone else downstream can make their money's worth, you know what mean? I do regret that down in the lakes down there, they must get hundreds of corpses down there, you know I mean Everyone must just chuck them in there, you know.
01:55:33
Speaker
No, not you? Well, you know, you're better than I am. Not that I do that in case, you know. Right, well, I'm going to... Start cleaning up a bit, but you are more than welcome to stay here as long as you want.
01:55:48
Speaker
Stop. Wait. ah Oh, shit. Why I forget this? And he's going to reach down under the bar. I forgot. I forgot I had a request for you, if you'd be so kind. And he's going to slide back one of the gold pieces back to you.
01:55:59
Speaker
Consider a a payment of sorts. It's a favour, if you will. I've got package here for someone up there, ah Raylick Halfsworn. He's a mate's brother, you see.
01:56:11
Speaker
Raylick Halfsworn.
01:56:14
Speaker
I told him I'd given him this before storm call and I'm getting a bit close to the wire, you know, so would you mind taking it up and just, if you, if you go to the gilded anchor, the pub that's up there, he's, he's, well, he runs it. He owns the place. So just, if you get into him, he's a, it's ah a friend of a brother and he knows what it's for. Just, I meant to send it up ages ago and I just haven't done it yet. No, ain't nothing illegal. Nothing. It's all above board. Don't worry. It's just some goods that, excuse me, he was expecting.
01:56:45
Speaker
I don't know but you pull them off me. Would that be all right? Sorry to be a pain. I know it's not your job. No, no, no, of of course. And um she's not going question him at all about the contents. She's just
Plans for Stormspire and Emerging Friendships
01:56:57
Speaker
just completely going to take it at face value that this is exactly what he says it is.
01:57:02
Speaker
And we'll take um the package off him and put it in her backpack. So it's about a loaf of bread sized and as you grab it, it does feel quite light and squishy.
01:57:12
Speaker
It doesn't feel like bread. You have the feeling that it could be clothes or material or cloth or something like that because it feels like ah a pillow or a sheet or something. Without opening it, you wouldn't able to know for certain, but it has that kind of texture to it.
01:57:25
Speaker
For some reason you assumed it'd be heavier, but it really isn't. really quite light, um almost weightless. and Yeah, so it's about size of a relatively normal loaf of bread.
01:57:37
Speaker
depends It's a loaf of bread size anyway, so it's not huge. It's bread size. it's a Just to clarify, not a baguette, but like a sliced loaf bread. I'm talking a 50-50 Hovis loaf would probably be the perfect weight. So not sourdough?
01:57:51
Speaker
Absolutely not. And no extra fillings, so no light olives or anything in that bread weight. Well, you'd notice that though, wouldn't you? You'd notice the weight difference, I think, with your with your passive perception being as high as it is You'd notice, you'd smell the saltiness of the um of the olives and the bread, so unfortunately. It's just for the listeners. Thanks for that.
01:58:12
Speaker
Thanks for that. God, I'm glad this guy is ah is a passing NPC because it's ruining my voice, but I'm really enjoying doing it. and He's going to have wandered off at this point. Oh, Orc. Oh, they're all, I've got so many Orcs coming up. What a shame.
01:58:26
Speaker
And ah Drift is going to just, I put out the fire he's be sat at the bar now, just kind of and looking at the wound on his forearm. um As I'm i'm imagining, Rock, you've just finished the last kind of moments of putting out the fire.
01:58:39
Speaker
And at the yeah same time as ah Reef is kind of finishing up that conversation with, uh, he He would have done that and he would have definitely turned his attentions as well to um to drift from that, in particular getting... um like He's got within his pack, he has got kind of um ah cloth strips and ah small like strands of thread and rope and stuff like that um that he's not in an expert way at all, but using just to kind of but apply a little bit of extra pressure um to the arms in order to say, that's
01:59:14
Speaker
Could probably have been a lot worse there, Drift. You should really have kept your head down. Oh, yeah, I know. But, you know, how else am I going learn? I can't just sit back all the time, haven't I? an eye I've got prove to you that I can do the things I said I'm going to do. Otherwise, what's point of being a squire?
01:59:31
Speaker
Squire's help. They do. And I, you're brave. You're really brave, but with bravery comes ah danger. And I mean, wait for, you know, some training before you jump in ah because otherwise you could have ended up like, um and he'll motion down to the, if is is the the bandit with the exploded nuts still there? Yeah, he's still there. Like a damp pool. Oh my God.
02:00:02
Speaker
He's just quietly groaning. Yeah. I mean, that that, you never know, could have been yourself. um um When he notices that Rifa's kind of coming back as well, ah he'll kind of, he'll reach up and and just kind of massage out where the blade has nicked his clavicle somewhat and see if he can do anything regarding that.
02:00:23
Speaker
So you can handle yourself pretty well, it looks like from arm wrestles and headbutts to a tankard fighting. Is that a, have you trained in that in particular? You're pretty good at it.
02:00:37
Speaker
ah you You wouldn't and believe it, but that's the first time I've, I've had a tankard actually.
02:00:49
Speaker
Yes, normally I... you This is the first time you've held it and you're just using it to ah bludgeon someone's face. Okay. it's It worked pretty well, no?
02:01:01
Speaker
No, it did. that that I was complimenting you on it. It was very impressive. Okay. you yeah I mean, I guess you pick things up pretty quickly. Is is that is that your thing? I guess so.
02:01:13
Speaker
If I'm being honest, I haven't really got out much before, so it's all a bit new to me.
02:01:22
Speaker
Well, I'm pretty sure you can handle your own if that's what, I mean, you can do that. That's exactly what I imagine the Surge Wardens will will want from someone. Here's hoping.
02:01:34
Speaker
Yeah. Right. I think this is the start of a really good friendship. I think we should all travel together and save wild heart.
02:01:48
Speaker
ah from what do know haven't figured that out yet maybe that guy the runaway we could chase him not right now i'm tired but like in general we could in theory we like we could chase the cop the idea of like baddies and um uh what they call the windy windy high winds high windies highwaymen how those ones whatever derek said oh Yeah.
02:02:14
Speaker
I mean, it's an option. How far away is Stormspire from here out of interest? About day, half a day, day and a half. I know. Well, that's which one is it? Is it going to be more than a day?
02:02:28
Speaker
Is it going to less than a day? Just trying to work out how long it'll take to get there because ah fighting builds up an appetite. How about... And he's going to pop his head out.
02:02:39
Speaker
I mean, we could go now and we get there it'd be dark or just wait. They got places to stay. They got a big old room that for sleeps and stuff. And you could just crack it out and we could go first light.
02:02:54
Speaker
I mean, and he'll turn around to reefer. i I didn't mean to listen in and and and be nosy, but it sounded like you're going to the the same tavern that I'm going to. do you Do you want to travel together safer on the road?
02:03:09
Speaker
Yeah, yes, that sounds ah sounds great. and You seem to handle yourself well too. So the two of us with, a sorry, drift, the three of us can um look out for each other.
02:03:23
Speaker
gonna He's going to bow at that. I will do my best to look out for you both and make sure you're both as safe can be on the roads, all way to Stormspire, and then when we get into Stormspire, and then everything around there as well. I've got you covered.
02:03:34
Speaker
This is going to be great fun. this is We're going to do lots of good things. We've to think of a name. So... So I... You think stay here for the night and then and then head off first thing? Is that the plan?
02:03:47
Speaker
That's what I'd do. That's was planning on doing, actually. That's why was chilling outside. a bit smoky in here, and now it's nice and steamy instead. Well, if Squire Drift thinks it's a good idea, then i think maybe we should do it.
02:04:01
Speaker
And then a finger point at Drift. He's going like, like take an inhalation of breath at that. Like, Oh my God, I didn't even think of calling myself that like that kind of, and a big grin on his face.
02:04:12
Speaker
He's probably about 12, 11 or 12 around that age, of the you know? And he's just like, like little red cheeks light up a little bit. and He kind of sits a little bit taller. I think I would be a fan.
02:04:23
Speaker
I think that would be a very heroic choice. We would be strong getting out there and doing, doing the right thing around, places and stuff. Yes.
02:04:34
Speaker
I would like to stay here, please.
02:04:38
Speaker
Okay. Well, let's, I guess, get a few rooms and I could do with a lot of food. I, it depends what they've got on offer here, but I'm, I've got an appetite.
02:04:50
Speaker
I've still got the fish. we ah and the ele i can sort out. Let me sort it out. You guys chill. You just chill out. You just relax. Relax. And let Squire, Squire Drift do his work. And let me go and figure out some stuff.
02:05:03
Speaker
I'll get it all sorted for free. Because, you know, we did kind of just save the world in here, in this little space. We saved everyone. They don't know it, but we saved them. So ah let me, let me go to, let me go talk to Drek. Let me just get a few things sorted in. And then we'll get going in the morning and then we'll, we'll get going and then we're going to save the world. is amazing. I can't wait. I'm back.
02:05:21
Speaker
And then jumps over the bar and then disappears off of him, scuttering to go find, um, to go get Drek and sort rooms out. I pictured a hot fuzz fence jump.
02:05:32
Speaker
Tries to make it look really cool. It just collapses underneath him. Yeah. Not quite, but it's it's not graceful, but it's more of a scuttle over the top seat to to get up and over.
02:05:43
Speaker
and There's another moment of ah of silence if there's anything that wants to be said by either of you. and No, is there still... Obviously, we're using the ale, but is there still the food that was kind of on there? so I'm just going to pull a couple of those dishes um across in front of us and then just start eating food.
02:06:08
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And you'll notice that Rock in particular, like he'll just like he'll he'll get like a plate or something and put one or two things on it, three, five, ten, and it's just stacking and stacking and stacking and stacking. i have one thing in his mouth and one thing in his hand there.
02:06:27
Speaker
um he's just he's He's taking kind of half the food, basically, to just smash back. And it's like a platter. It's like a big old platter of food as well. Sorry, go ahead. I was just going to seeing this, I just pushed the rest of the platter to him and just said, I can wait on on the food drift brings. It's okay.
02:06:45
Speaker
Are you going to eat that? Oh, thank you. but Just smashing it down. Metabolism, it's kind of, oh, it's so good. Yeah, and Rifa's just kind of, she's sitting kind of silent, I guess contemplating what should happen and kind of just enjoying the companionship. She kind of like smiles to herself. It's kind of like,
02:07:06
Speaker
um I guess just for listener purposes so they get to know a bit more, it's, um you know, she's kind of thinking, so this is kind of what it feels like to have a friend type thing.
02:07:20
Speaker
Clutchers, heart. oh Violent playing. Yeah. yeah
02:07:29
Speaker
And um as that nice kind of moment, and the kind of realization you're eating food, um Drift does come back over and I think it works for what, know we've gone back in time to then go forward in time for the first episode, and but he does purposefully mention to you what you're eating is Sea Strike eel, um well, ah's to rock, um so that you know that, so that when you end up buying the entire eel,
02:07:52
Speaker
in the next, gives a a little little bit of sense as to why you buy the entire fucking eel um and try and use it a weapon in the next episode, first episode, because you've, you've just engorged yourself half of one and it is delicious. It's just gorgeous. It's this almost Mediterranean style platter of fish and it's just impeccably cooked. It's, it's, it's wonderful.
02:08:13
Speaker
It's um annoyingly good. You know, when you go somewhere for the first time and you eat and it's just so good and then you can never quite match that. Kind of like heroin. It's the same kind of thing as that really. It's just, tip It's heroin eel. It's heroin eel, sea strike heroin eel.
02:08:26
Speaker
ah Always riding that that hit, that first first bite. and yeah It's quality food. And um you can just see the quiet sweeping and someone strikes up a little bit of ah music in the corner, maybe just some some quiet singing that echoes through the the caves and drifts, settles down and just almost that dog-like falls asleep. Not at your feet, but just kind of leant up against the bar with a little but his like jacket tucked under his head.
02:08:49
Speaker
And just, he kind of nods off as the smoke of the fire begins to rise as the fire pit has been really ignited and patrons come in for the evening and afternoon after the, after the farm, after the farming of the surge has taken place.
02:09:01
Speaker
um And there anything else that to go? Just quickly with that, with like kind of eating and and smash it back, he's just going to quickly kind of side ah speak to, um to his new companion, just say, do you know what the daily rate is for a squire?
02:09:21
Speaker
and She's got no clue, but just um kind of seeing him there, she she's going to say, oh I think it's know two to three silvers at least.
02:09:36
Speaker
And he'll nod. And then ah if if ah Drift is kind of drifting, if you like, near us, what I'm going to try to do is I want to try to kind of slyly drop that. If he's got a coin pouch or if he's got a pocket or something on him, um just kind of try to offload that to him on the sly, not in like a here's your wages, but in like ah he's Okay. So couple of things. Firstly, uh, Rifa, could I give me a deception check please?
02:10:03
Speaker
Um, against your blatant lie at the cost of a squire. and and then obviously rock, you can get the choice whether you, even if you know it's a lie, you can choose to go through it or not.
02:10:16
Speaker
Um, I've got a passive of 12. Um, I wouldn't actively fight it. It's 11. So I guess you, you do know. You do know, but you you can see why.
02:10:29
Speaker
And you can see what she's doing. So it's it's... I like to think when it's that close, I think of it as like you can see this transparency to the reasons why they're lying as well. And you first see her eyes drop down towards Drift and a look of kind of like... Like you would look at a cute little dog, kind of. ah And then up towards you. And then you can almost see the cogs turning. It's down...
02:10:50
Speaker
poor little boy look up. Hmm. I could lie here. Hmm. What would be an unreasonable mind? Hmm. Looks down at gold in her hand. Maybe. I don't know. And then comes
Conclusion and Future Adventures
02:10:58
Speaker
up with, I don't know, two to three gold. So you can see the silver, silver, silver. Oh, fuck. like god it's So expensive.
02:11:05
Speaker
Better be worth it. Um, so you can see, you can see the reasoning behind her. Like you can see why she's lying. Basically. If that changes anything. Yeah. No, it doesn't. It changes absolutely nothing. He's going to kind of nod, stuff another ah bit of the scram in his in his mouth and use his spare hand now to kind of fish around in the in the in the coin purse and drop three silver pieces, if possible, slightly into his pocket. All right let's go sleight of hand for that then to see if you can do it without him noticing.
02:11:33
Speaker
but He is drifting off, so... um It's ah an eight overall. Okay, i was going to say give you an extra one because he's... I don't want to give you advantage, but he's drifting off, so we'll give you... make it a nine.
02:11:45
Speaker
It's still not enough, unfortunately. And he's just going to flinch at that, like, what are you doing? Oh, ah sorry. ah Daily wages. i just thought this might be useful for you.
02:11:58
Speaker
He breezes for a second and looks... And then instantly, yep, sounds all right. Thank you very much. And ah takes the takes the silvers and pops them in his pocket and gives a little wink towards Reefer.
02:12:08
Speaker
and um And then gets himself comfy again. um just kind of just he kind of zones out, kind of staring. But like I imagine he's literally at your feet. You're sat at the bar. He's at your feet looking at through the bet through the um the chair legs towards the fire pit and you can see the glow on his face and he's just happy and content and warm and he's just going to slowly kind of just fall asleep or just relax himself into it.
02:12:32
Speaker
And as the twinkle of the music and there the sun continues to set between the high mountains ah to the east, and makes sense if that's where we leave it for for today's episode. Thank you very much. We've got, finally met all the band. Now we've got to put them all together in the same the same place. Thank you very much. you And that's a wrap on this episode of Wild Heart.
02:12:53
Speaker
But the adventure doesn't stop there. Dive deeper into the world of Wild Heart over at fellowshipofthetabletop.co.uk. There, you'll find expanded lore, a detailed map of Erith, and a brand new blog covering both Wild Heart and Belem Draconis.
02:13:09
Speaker
Got theories, questions, wild predictions? We'd love to hear them. Reach out to us at fellowshipofthetabletop at gmail.com. Chuck a theory on the blog, or join our conversation on the socials.
02:13:20
Speaker
your input might just shape what happens next. And if you're craving even more stories from Wild Heart, don't forget to check out The Interregnums, our short fiction podcast bringing the hidden corners of this world to life.
02:13:33
Speaker
This drops every other Tuesday. Until next time, subscribe to keep up to date, stay curious, and as always, watch the tide.