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C2 Ep. 123 Plumb the Pockets Chapter One
284 Plays2 years ago
The gang tries to get back to normal.
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of our amazing Show Sponsors: Laura Pickrahn, Darrin Katzska, Irene Viorritto, Ryan Royce, Darrell DeLaney, Charles Compton, Deviouspoptart, Nastasia Raulerson, David Scrams, Elizabeth Clark, Andy Dossett, Rebekah Gowman, deviouspoptart, Eðvarð Arnór Sigurðsson, Michael Clark, Eric Witman, Jerry Theuns, Philip Newman, Mark Stanley, and Shelby Johnson.
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Transcript
Episode Sponsorship and Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
The following episode is brought to you by Mark Stanley, Philip Newman, Shelby Johnson, Jerry Thunes, Andy Dossett, Eric Whitman, Edvard Arnoff, Natasha Rallerson, Deavius Poptart, Rebecca Gowman, Elizabeth Clark, David Scrams, Charles Compton, Darryl Delaney, Ryan Royce, Darren Katska, Irene Villarito, and Laura Pickron, as well as all of our generous patrons.
00:00:36
Speaker
D20 radio, your game is roll.
00:01:10
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Ember Underneath, the actual play podcast and the everyone campaign setting. I'm your Game Master Eric. I'm Philip. I'm Randy. I'm Jeff. Welcome to another episode. Gentlemen, what happened last time?
Surviving Kyber and New Discoveries
00:01:25
Speaker
We had a review where we talked about the previous arc. We survived the encounter into Kyber. Honestly, handily, we really messed up some aberrations.
00:01:38
Speaker
Yes, but yeah, we made it. We helped Cassio do his thing, got the money and got out of there. And then Cassio told Milo things. That he did. Cassio, he's a keyboard now. And Milo's not entirely sure what to do with this knowledge.
Eris's Cauldron and Mysteries Unraveled
00:02:08
Speaker
Randy's got his stuff in his pocket for at least one episode. And the rest of us went and ate some chicken.
00:02:15
Speaker
Yep. Yes. Yep. So where we're going to pick things up is Philip, you had mentioned that Eris desperately needs to get back to the cauldron because she made the mistake of burying her soul in a letter that needs to resolve that. And she's not dead after all, so she doesn't want to face the consequences of burying her soul. So yeah, Eris, the second that we're done with dinner,
00:02:45
Speaker
Eris would probably, slightly uncharacteristically, suggest that Hob and Reynard, what? Oh, I started to say Milo and I tried to switch it halfway through. Hob and Reynard. That's the shit name of Reynard. Hob and Reynard maybe take a cab because Eris is just going to put the pedal down and
00:03:14
Speaker
race at full speed back to the cauldron because she needs to get that letter before Olive discovers it because asking for it back will be more awkward. So yes, Eris is hurrying back to the cauldron to destroy the letter. Okay. So when you arrive,
00:03:40
Speaker
You breathe a sigh of relief that the cauldron is empty. I'm assuming Eris has installed some form of automatic lighting where when you enter the lights, come on. Oh, certainly. Yes. I don't even know what magical element would be motion detection. Like it's so easy with like, it would have to be intelligent. Like you'd have to have like, you'd have like a little, um,
00:04:05
Speaker
air elemental mode or something like that, or fire elemental mode or whatever that wakes up. I guess you could modify the alarm spell to be- Oh yes, that's absolutely what it is. Visual instead of auditory, yeah. Yeah. So anyway, you find the letter, it's where you left it, it's where Tasha said it. Tasha is there. Tell me what kind of
00:04:36
Speaker
Mundane amenities, Eris would have installed in the cauldron in terms of things that you wouldn't typically think in fantasy terms. I imagine
00:04:55
Speaker
that the cauldron probably has like, um, there's, there's some kind of, of mage tech equivalent of like a Keurig. Um, uh, there's definitely a good sound system set up all over the walls. Uh, so that, so that when she's not, when she's not using her, her
00:05:22
Speaker
earbuds, she can blast her music. There's a climate control system. And at Olive's insistence, there's a pretty elaborate fire suppression system.
00:05:50
Speaker
So you mentioned the Keurig. When Eris walks by it, whatever indicator that more water needs to be added is flashing on it. Whoever used it last did not refill the water reservoir. So that's something that you note as you're walking around the cauldron. Eris rolls her eyes and
00:06:17
Speaker
goes over and fiddles with it a bit to get the create water function to activate again. And starts it because Eris never doesn't need some coffee. Yeah, yep. The create water functionality isn't working for some reason.
00:06:43
Speaker
Okay, then Eris would become entirely distracted from whatever else she was going to do and tries to see if she can figure out why.
The Suspicious Offer and Investigation
00:06:53
Speaker
Okay, give me an artifice check. Have it be average, just too purple.
00:07:15
Speaker
Okay. Or success at an advantage. Okay. Uh, Harris, you can pretty easily tell that there's some form of external arcade interference going on. Like something is, uh, inhibiting the create water spell from functioning properly. Interesting.
00:07:43
Speaker
No one's around to see how much she, how much she enjoys them. So Eris puts the goggles that Cassian gave her down over her eyes and starts looking around the, looking around the cauldron to see if she can figure out the source, whether it's even in the cauldron. And if it's, if she sees nothing in the cauldron, she would go outside and start looking around on the street.
00:08:08
Speaker
Yeah, you just see the regular stuff inside the cauldron, nothing of note. When you walk outside and begin looking around above the the small humanoid sized door to enter the cauldron, you see that very faintly, like unless somebody is intently looking for it or they have super special magic goggles,
00:08:30
Speaker
they'd be hard-pressed to see it. There's some kind of arcane rune that's been etched into the stone above the door, and you, with the excellent check that you just made, plus the goggles, you can tell this is, it's an arcane rune. It's an arcane sigil of some kind, designed to be disruptive to specifically any form of
00:09:00
Speaker
water creation, like whatever, however magic can magically create water, this rune is designed to disrupt that. That's weird. Yeah. And I would say just because Eris was looking around, uh, you see that marking on multiple buildings within your field of view. Okay. So,
00:09:28
Speaker
Is it of a, is it of any kind of recognizable magic type? Like is this some kind of can of thing? Is this like, is there anything? I don't know if it's even possible. Is there anything about the rune that would indicate the source to her? Um, I would take a knowledge adventuring check. Okay.
00:09:56
Speaker
have that. This is going to be hard difficulty though. Right. Um, I'm going to spend a story point on that. Okay. Great it. I think that's everything I can do. So wow. Oh, wow. That was a heck of a roll. One success to threat and a triumph.
00:10:24
Speaker
Okay. So, um, with the success, uh, you, you know, that, um, runes like these are oftentimes like, there are variations of this rune that are utilized by the dragon marked houses to prevent, uh, theft of, uh, industry, I guess, better way to put it. And this one is specific to house, uh, Lirinder. Okay.
00:10:57
Speaker
Alright, Eris sort of narrows her eyes. Generally, it's generally it's used on irrigation systems for farms and agricultural communities that don't gate like have the approval or you know, yada, yada, yada. Yeah, yeah. And. Pretty pretty slapdash messes up the rune on on her door. And then.
00:11:27
Speaker
pretty angrily starts, starts stomping down the streets, uh, looking for anywhere else that it is. Like she walks back into the, like normally Eris would handle this with, with great precision because she cares about that sort of thing, but, but she's angry about it. So she walks back into the cauldron, comes back out with just a, just a decent blacksmithing hammer.
00:11:49
Speaker
and starts walking down the street clambering up onto a wall smashing the rune real hard enough to crack the mortar that it's etched onto and then dropping back down and going down the next side of the street. So I imagine that visually we can probably see the effect of Eris's
00:12:12
Speaker
vigilante street maintenance on, on Highwall as she's going down, the street lights all work now. Water purification system is better. A number of houses have like little mundane arcane improvements that she's attached to them most of the time without asking anyone. And I also imagine that very much in spite of herself,
00:12:41
Speaker
people in Highwall are kind of starting to like Eris just because of what she does, not because she's necessarily a socially pleasant person. And so I think this would be weird that Eris, this thing that Eris is now doing is strange. She's going down from everywhere she sees this mark clambering up on the wall, smashing it with a hammer and
00:13:08
Speaker
Moving on. Okay. With the threat, when you go to smash the initial room, give me a hard perception check. Oh no.
Milo's Encounter with Verla
00:13:21
Speaker
And I'm going to flip a story point to upgrade one of those purples to a red. Awesome. Yeah. I'm very basically talented, but
00:13:32
Speaker
I just had this image of Eris in like her pajamas and a robe and boots walking like saw this rune in the morning and like cousin had to eat her way up in this rune to smash it with a hammer. I don't know if Eris owns pajamas, but that's definitely, there's definitely that vibe. Like she's not put together. She's just come back in off the job.
00:14:02
Speaker
Um, and a hammer. Uh-huh. Uh, okay. Uh, yeah. Okay. Oof. Just by the skin of my teeth. Okay. Um, uh,
00:14:21
Speaker
Yeah I'll say I'll say narratively you were able to smash yours perfectly fine but as soon as you go to another building you stop like an inch away from smashing the mortar and you realize you see a faint like
00:14:40
Speaker
cool blue like icy would be like the the evocative like element that you would think when you That the hammer makes contact with and you stop yourself just an inch away and you realize that oh They're booby trapped if you mess with ah
00:14:59
Speaker
something bad happens so you're not sure why yours wasn't but this next one yeah they're they have an anti-tampering system yes when the water company comes to shut off your water they put a lot on the thing so I mean they're disgusting places where they do that mm-hmm
00:15:21
Speaker
Um, okay. So I think before, so this is like, oh yeah. Okay. The triumph. Oh, this is so early for a triumph. Um, early triumphs are always hard. I'm open to suggestions gang. Um,
00:15:44
Speaker
I don't want it to be like, I don't want it to just simply fix a narrative problem. I don't want it to be like, but she knows, but she knows how to undo it. Um, that's, that's boring. Um, unless someone has, unless someone has an interesting narrative suggestion, I'm just going to take the, uh, the upgrade for the free upgrade for the next check.
00:16:12
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's fine. Um, okay. So how about, how about, how about, how about, I mean, I'm not sure if this is any good or not. Somebody comes out of their abode or something and maybe they've seen something important. Oh, that's, that's good. I like that. Yeah. Somebody, somebody saw something that will give us a clue here.
00:16:41
Speaker
Okay, here's a question for you, Philip. Would they know Eris by name or would it just be that girl? Probably by this point. Eris has been living here for, I'd have to look back, for over a month at the very least. A cool street name that they call her Fixer or something. Can they call her Gadget? Philip has absolutely no problem.
00:17:06
Speaker
If people have given Eris a nickname, Eris would absolutely not present a street name. She's already got a cool street name. It's Eris. Her street name is Olive's friend because Olive shares her name. It's just like, yeah, it's Olive's friend.
00:17:30
Speaker
But Phillip has no issue if they have a local nickname for her. No, we'll just stick with Eris for now. So the resident across the street sees Eris up on this ladder and walks out and is like,
00:17:53
Speaker
Hey, this, this is a, um, a dwarf man, uh, with very dark tan skin and bright red hair. Um, and a very long beard looking up at a young woman, very unput together, standing on his wall with a hammer. Hey, what's, what's going on? Uh, do I know this guy's name?
00:18:21
Speaker
Uh, sure. Yeah. His name is Job. Um, Oh, um, somebody put this thing on your house. I was going to break it and I just realized that that would be just a really bad idea. Um, did you, did you see who, who did this?
00:18:49
Speaker
I don't see what you're talking about, Eris. What if I come around messing with your house? Well, that was in the neighborhood. Like anyone who's not from here come around.
00:19:04
Speaker
looking at houses carefully. There was a group that came through yesterday I mean I basically the the I don't even know if they would call it plumbing but that's the plumbing shot and some some gal with a
00:19:24
Speaker
Gaggle with it came by offering to to sell water supplementarily like Like oh, no, you're this is such a disaffected part of the city I'm more than willing to help out by providing water for you all at a nominal fee kind of thing. So She's saying she was with No, just yeah
00:19:49
Speaker
She did. She didn't claim that she was, uh, she's a half elf woman. Uh, yeah, blonde hair attitude. Um, look, I mean, I have attitude. It's okay. I mean, that's fine. Just don't knock on my door and give me attitude. Like you're knocking on my door. Then, you know,
00:20:14
Speaker
Right. Hey. Okay. Thanks, Joe. Yeah. Thank you. They go to everyone. I assume so. It seemed like they were just going door to door, um, offered. I mean, district's not that small. So I imagine that they couldn't have hit it all in one day. So they might still be around, but who knows? Right. Um, so what Harris would do then,
00:20:40
Speaker
before, before going for help is Eris would. Hmm. Okay. You said I recognized this as Lirindar in origin. Yes. Okay. Uh, so Eris's instinct would be to go, go get Tasha, but then she thinks better of that. Um, so Eris would go back.
00:21:08
Speaker
get more put together, lock the cauldron. Uh, and then she's just going to walk up and down a few streets. I mean, obviously she's not going to canvas the entire district in, in an evening, but she would just go up and down a few streets and get a picture of how extensive this is. And if she spots this gaggle of people, um, she will not approach them, but she would want to see who, who it is.
00:21:39
Speaker
Okay.
News and Missing Staff
00:21:41
Speaker
Um, while Eris ventures out, uh, to go look for them, we're going to cut to, um, Milo, what are you, what are you up to the day after everything? Once he, uh, gets up and gets around, Milo has decided to go, uh, check on the, the bar and see how, how things are going along. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
00:22:06
Speaker
So yeah, you head over and you tape everywhere.
00:22:13
Speaker
You stop yourself about a half block away because you spot Verla with a team of city watchmen talking to Joe at the site, at the construction site of keg bottoms. Um, and you see a couple of them are down in the basement taking note and like looking around and stuff like that. Um, so yeah, you see some members of the city watch talking to Joe at the construction site.
00:22:38
Speaker
And it seems like construction has stopped, obviously, because the construction workers couldn't keep working while the cops were there. Only bartender can do that. Stupid dead body interfering with construction. Oh, man. Should we just bury him in the foundation? Yeah. Now it's like, would Milo venture over?
00:23:07
Speaker
Because right now. I'm too glad Raynard's not here to make this worse. We totally killed someone here yesterday. You look awful. Part of me is like, they're going to probably want to talk to Milo anyway, because it's at his place. So now Milo's sitting there trying to think, what's a good alibi?
00:23:37
Speaker
I'm trying to think, how long ago, was this like the day before or the day before that or something? Two days ago. Two days ago. You were in Kyber.
00:23:47
Speaker
Yes. And it's true. We're down in the hellscape. All right. Yeah. Cause Milo just is resigned to the fact that they're going to want to talk to him eventually. Berla is going to want to speak with him. And so he just kind of meanders his way over and gets there and he's like, what, uh, what's going on here?
00:24:17
Speaker
Oh, Milo. Hey, Milo. Sorry, construction is halted for the time being. And Verla just holds a hand up to Joe. I can handle it here, Joe. Thank you for your time. And Verla walks up to you. Milo, are you aware that there was an incident here a few nights ago? No, I don't understand. What sort of an incident?
00:24:48
Speaker
There were some witnesses on the street that reported a violent assault that ended in the death of someone and the body was collected shortly thereafter. Like right here on where they're building? On the doorstep.
00:25:13
Speaker
So came across our desks. I took the case up and have been investigating speaking to witnesses who claim that they saw a halfling and a Goliath here.
00:25:32
Speaker
I thought we had established there weren't going to be any witnesses for this. No, we did not say no witnesses. No. In fact, we took care of the houses. Well, poo.
00:25:47
Speaker
We're just the worst covert criminal. Well, I think when we first were like, we should do it at keg bottoms, none of us realized it was going to be completely raised or stick framed or something where everyone could just see what was going on. Like we're just doing it in a field in the middle of a city. It just seemed like an appropriate place. It was narratively, extremely appropriate. And here's the other side of that. Here are the consequences.
00:26:17
Speaker
So, Milo, I have to ask, where were you? This would've been now three nights ago, three nights ago. Well, yes, I certainly understand why you would feel the need to ask. I appreciate your approval, yeah. Yes, actually, I was in Kaiba.
00:26:45
Speaker
Averla looks up from her notepad at you. What? Yes, yes, we had assisted a friend and we had went down to Kaiba. Okay. And who was with you? Well, I mean, you know, the usual, the usual gang.
00:27:16
Speaker
Humor me and give me names, Milo. Well, you know, it would have been Harb and of course Eris and you know, of course Reynard was there. And who was the friend that needed help? The friend was a fellow named Cash. Cash? Yes. Okay. 99% true. That's Milo's game. I'm sorry?
00:27:43
Speaker
And who is Cash? He's somebody that we had met that was in some trouble and he... Thought he was a friend. Yes, so when he became a friend in the process of us being together. So you helped a stranger and through your tribulations you became friends? He did offer some excellent payment for our assistance. So you were on a job? It was a job, Milo.
00:28:12
Speaker
Well, yes, of course. In fact, that's kind of what we do. So nice of her to help him with his alibi. I know. I mean, I wouldn't really want to go down to Kai, but unless I was getting, you know, handsomely paid. I know. Milo, you presented this as helping a friend and now it switched to being a job. Well, yes, the fellow ended up being
00:28:38
Speaker
friendly I liked him I can't speak for everyone else but I would consider him a friend at this point yes okay how could I get in contact with cash now that I'm not sure because after he got we were able to procure what he needed he let Shawn absolutely absolutely true
00:29:04
Speaker
Thank you for the emphasis, Milo. You can't say if it's false. Other parts might not have been, but... You legally can't tell a cop this is absolutely true if it isn't. Where did Cass take off to, Milo? I believe that he went to passage. Shard for passage, okay? Yes.
00:29:32
Speaker
Okay, so three nights ago, you were in Kyber with Hob Eris Raynard hired by someone named Cash and through your trials and tribulations, you became friends. He has since left Sharn. I really want that to be in her police report. Through trials and tribulations, a friendship blossomed. They all learned a lot that day. What were you saying, Randy?
00:29:58
Speaker
I don't remember. And Cash, as soon as the job was over, reflecting the deep friendship you had formed, immediately left and went to Passage. Yes. Okay. When did you initially head down to Kyber? When did we initially head down?
00:30:23
Speaker
Right after you murdered the guy. Like what time of the day was that that we took care of days? It was mid evening. Yeah. Yeah. We left in the mid afternoon, I believe. Mid afternoon three days ago. Okay. Was this a clan approved job?
00:30:53
Speaker
It was not further. Okay. When did you get back from Kyber? Was it like late that evening, right? Yeah, it was last night. It was last night. Yeah. Yes, we got back late late last night.
00:31:19
Speaker
Okay. And I'll just go ahead and tell you, as soon as we got back, I went directly home and had a nice little evening in supper with my mother. How sweet. And the others may have went to
00:31:40
Speaker
to orphans, to the foresales. I'll talk to Hob when I get a chance. So you were in Kyber, hired by a cash individual who is in passage.
00:32:04
Speaker
left mid-afternoon three days ago, got back late last night, had dinner with your mom afterwards. Okay. Yes. Milo, um, does the name Ignacio Dithurani mean anything to you? No.
00:32:23
Speaker
Gonna need a check there, bud. Oh, I was waiting for that. Um, you were tiptoed through the tulips just enough up until that point. Um, yeah. Deception against, uh, Virla's perception, which is two reds and a purple. Deception, Milo's two reds and a purple.
00:32:54
Speaker
Yes. Uh, want to flip a story point to get a, what a blue, a boost? No change from a green to yellow. Okay.
00:33:18
Speaker
Yes. It's funny because the way my screen set up, I'd smaller and I have to roll and I don't see what I rolled to success to threat. Okay. So yeah, you successfully lie, um, to Verla about Ignacio Dithrani meaning nothing to you. Um,
00:33:44
Speaker
The threat is, I mean, there's enough holes in your story to where she's not, she's not not suspicious of you, but she believes that that name didn't mean anything to you. So, okay. Let's find Milo. All right, well,
00:34:11
Speaker
I don't have anything else for you right now. We're going to corroborate some stories and get some descriptions of the individuals that were seen here. Sorry that this happened on the doorstep of your future business. Yes, I was coming to check on progress and see how things were going. Obviously they're not going at the moment.
00:34:32
Speaker
No, apologies. We do need to keep the crime scene intact as best we can at this point. But I'll keep you updated. Like I said, we have some sit down meetings with some of the witnesses to get a more thorough description of the people that committed this crime at the construction site. And I'll keep you updated when construction can start back up once we've wrapped up the investigation. All right, very well. Thank you, brother.
00:35:01
Speaker
Thank you for your cooperation Milo. I'll be in touch. Very well. Turns and starts talking to one of the city watchmen. And Joe walks up to Milo.
00:35:17
Speaker
Well, Milo, sorry about this. It's going to set us back. I'll go let Sadie know about the situation and see if we can't expedite the investigative process along, but... No need to apologize. Not your fault that this is a good... I certainly didn't kill anyone. Exactly. So, yes, well...
00:35:42
Speaker
You know, thank you. Let me know what happens. You know how soon things can get going again Okay. Yeah, have a have a wonderful day. Oh Yeah, you too. My love say hi to your mother for me. Absolutely Hob
00:36:02
Speaker
Yeah. What are you up to? Probably at work. Probably it's obvious. Just because he sleeps there. So he would have done that and then woken up and just been there. And be like, all right.
00:36:17
Speaker
Okay. While you're there, you see a figure you've never seen before walk into Sabia's and asks after, I don't
Hob's Visitor and Noel's Predicament
00:36:30
Speaker
think we ever gave her a name, asks after Noel, the ex-Thirani. We did give her a name, but if you would like to change it. I wrote it down, hang on. I think it's in my Notes app.
00:36:49
Speaker
Is it in my note tap on this phone? Who knows? I don't have multiple phones. I have a tablet and a phone and I don't want to seem like being crazy. It might be on my drug phone.
00:37:03
Speaker
Uh, no, it's not. I apologize. So let's just change our name to Noel. Okay. Um, ask after Noel, the ex the Ronnie member that you had talked to prior to, um, the, the Jason job. Um, you just overhear them asking at the front, uh, reception area and, um, give me a,
00:37:30
Speaker
A one red, one purple perception check. All right. Oh, I passed it. Sorry. Perception. Boom. Oh my God. That's one failing to advantage and a despair.
00:37:52
Speaker
Okay, so yeah, Hob, there's a lot of noise going on in here. You can't quite pick up on everything that's being said, and that kind of continues once. Noelle comes out and sees this person, and they begin talking, and the person kind of pulls them off into a corner by themselves. To advantage, what do you want to do with those? I have no idea. I feel like this encounter might have hinged on succeeding.
00:38:23
Speaker
Okay, me knowing what to do might have hinged on succeeding. To advantage, I mean, I want to... So they've walked farther away, like the bartender or whom? Like they just went to the bartender and asked this question?
00:38:42
Speaker
Well, they know that kind of the front reception area where people would check in and stuff like that. And then Noelle came out, and they pulled Noelle off into a corner and are talking to them as privately as they can. OK. From the two advantage, I mean, I could give you some nonverbal cues of what you notice about the interaction. Yeah, if I can, like, is this person
00:39:09
Speaker
Uh, angry or concerned or something. Yeah. Like, uh, this person seems agitated. Uh, they seem very, uh, aggressive seems too strong of a word because they're more composed than that. It's just very clear that they hold all the power in this interaction and they know it and they're wielding it. If that makes sense. I don't think it would be out of place for hob to non-conspicuously keep an eye on this. Like that's his job to break up fights. So I think he's pretty intently watching.
00:39:39
Speaker
Because he knows he can get away with it But if it's not aggressive he's not gonna try to insert himself yet, but he's gonna keep his eyeballs maybe even maybe even he's not gonna go up to them, but he might even You know cheat that direction a little bit okay, and I
00:40:03
Speaker
trying to think of a way, like, Hobb is thinking of a way to make sure that that Noelle doesn't leave when this other person does. Like, what can I do to say, hey, hey, real quick, come over here. So if that means. So the despair. I can't think of a way.
00:40:25
Speaker
The person puts their hand on Noel's back, like upper back, and begins walking and guiding Noel with them towards the front reception desk. And you're able to keep pace and be able to overhear.
00:40:46
Speaker
This person produces a piece of paper and puts it on the reception desk and No longer trying to speak in hushed tones. You can hear them very clearly say Yes, this individual has a very clear non-compete clause in their former contract with house the Ronnie and cannot be working at Sabia's so She'll be coming with me
00:41:09
Speaker
and the house will sort this business out, but she's been in breach of contract working here, and I need to take her back to the house. What does she do in Saudi? She works, she's one of the girls. Okay, Tharani has a similar establishment, that's why it's about me. Okay, I didn't realize that, that makes some sense.
00:41:35
Speaker
Well, Hobb's job is to not just let people take the employees away against their will. So he's got to go, all right, hang on, hold on, let me see, what's all this? Okay, so now that you're closer and you've been paying attention, I just didn't do a good job describing it. This person is an elf, probably stands about,
00:41:58
Speaker
Six foot four, so they are accustomed to being one of the tallest and most domineering people in the room, which Hobb throws a wrench in. But they have very severe angle, a very angular face. Very severe cheekbones. Has a hottie look that would make Raynard seem humble by comparison. And jet black hair.
00:42:28
Speaker
with, that's about, just past shoulder length long, pulled straight back, like slicked back, but the temples are gray, and the temple grayness goes down about halfway down their hair. And they look up at you, Hob, and say, do I see a dragon mark?
00:42:48
Speaker
Yeah, you can see the faint hints of a dragon mark just past their shirt collar coming up. So they're in the family member's work for them. All right. Yeah. Kind of looks at, well, can I help you? Well, yeah, actually, you see, we...
00:43:09
Speaker
Don't just let people take employees away against their will. I understand- Oh, she's no longer an employee here. Right, no, you don't understand that that's not how this works. I can't just let you take someone away. I don't know you and you're being unreasonable. I'd like, I'm just over here to see what's going on and read the letter. What's your deal? Oh, she doesn't work here anymore. Come on, dude, have a little, like, chill a little.
00:43:37
Speaker
What will you do to stop me? Oh my, alright. What are you willing to do to take her, I guess, because I have to have some idea of what you're going to do to know what I would do to stop you. Oh, I'm just going to walk out of here. Well, I'm going to stand in the doorway until I know that she's going to be safe, I suppose.
00:44:01
Speaker
Look man, I'm not. I'm just saying you're trying to take someone away and I'm trying to figure out why. And that is, in fact, my job, much like yours is, apparently, to take her. So let's work together so we can both do our jobs, potentially.
00:44:17
Speaker
Very well, as I was just explaining, she's in breach of contract with her contract with House Thorani as an ex-member of the House. The contract is still binding, so because she's broken the contract, she has to return to House headquarters to answer for that crime. Well, first off, a breach of personal contract is not a crime. It's a civil situation. Secondly,
00:44:49
Speaker
Non-competes are pretty flimsy and rarely holds up, but mainly, you're still asking me to simply take your word for something as you try to remove someone who doesn't want to leave from this establishment.
00:45:03
Speaker
Well, as the letter I just provided with, who I assumed was the person that would arrange such things, clearly explains from House Thirani on official business, that this is the appropriate course of action. Okay. Well, now that it's now hard to find the letter. Sorry.
00:45:21
Speaker
Yeah, I mean it is it's on the Ronnie letterhead and very clearly Without all the legalese just explains that yeah, Noel formerly Noel Ditherani is a contracted member of the house who left of her own accord and
00:45:41
Speaker
under the specific instructions that she would not partake or employ herself in any of the businesses of House Therani, under penalty of basically returning to the House, et cetera, et cetera. So it seems like a very official document.
00:45:59
Speaker
Is this one of those things, or whether it is or not, would Hobb know or assume this is one of those things, I guess? Where it's like, they can pretty much say anything she does is competing against House Theronnie, so they're gonna bring her back. Like, is this, like, some public stuff? I mean, it's one of those things to where, like, if she's a member of the House, she was raised up with a set of very specific skills. And so if she, after leaving, tries to take advantage of any of the, any of the, the marketable skills that she have,
00:46:27
Speaker
would probably fall under house to Ronnie's umbrella. So it's, yeah, she could have gone and worked as like a construction worker rebuilding keg bottoms and they wouldn't have cared. But she doesn't have that skill set. So it's not totally entrapping. No, no, no, no, yeah. She'd have to be like Raynard and just start doing crime. She wouldn't.
00:46:51
Speaker
I thought that would also be competing with Theron. But essentially, if she had gone off to become an actress or an entertainer or a musician or her current job, anything like that would have fallen under that umbrella. Can I do a perception on her to see what her demeanor seems like? Is she annoyed that she got caught or does she seem scared? Just a perception and how hard was that?
00:47:14
Speaker
She doesn't seem...
00:47:26
Speaker
Fear isn't the correct way to she's just there's a lot of anxiety. She does not want to go She left for a reason. Mm-hmm But it she doesn't seem like she's fearful that something awful is going to happen to her if that makes sense Okay, I think okay hob does not want to engage with this dude like that's the dumbest thing in the world over Noel no offense to Noel
00:47:51
Speaker
He'll fight anybody for Milo, Aeris, maybe even Reynard, Cass, Sana, sure. So I think he's gonna just say, let me see what I can... I need to look at my character sheet and see if I have a skill that might help with this real quick.
00:48:10
Speaker
Um, I'm guessing. Well, sure. Um, you're not going to let me plausible deniability of Mario and just he walks away. Uh, that's not how that works. No, convince one person equal to your willpower to depart quietly.
00:48:26
Speaker
That's what it is. I guess to be fair. Yeah, I think I mean it says it also says bystander and I left that out, but don't worry about that. Yeah. No negotiation. Yeah. No, no, I thought I took a talent. I'm looking to see, but I think it's just more intimidating stuff, which I don't necessarily want to do.
00:48:54
Speaker
athletics, you could do a backflip. How about this? How about I just want to? I'm trying to figure out how to talk to her for a minute before she goes. That's all he wants because he knows he can't keep her from going. But he wants to make sure that so I think he's just going to ask just be like, all right, listen, you're not in a rush. Can I have a minute with her? That's all I ask. Look, I grew attached and I'd like to say goodbye.
00:49:26
Speaker
And he's still in the doorway. He's asking, but he's telling, I'm gonna talk to her for a minute before you guys leave. And if that needs to be persuasion, because I didn't get scary enough to be coercing, so.
00:49:45
Speaker
No, I mean he's willing to make this concession as long as you back off once he's given you that much. So okay. He's a businessman. So sure Very well. All right, hob Puts his hand on her shoulder and walks her back over away out of your shot sit at the bar and like Port like they have like pictures on the bar of like just water and he just poured her glass of water and he's like, all right, um, I
00:50:35
Speaker
shutter the windows and tie up any loose ends they might have. Oh, so this just might be a closing ranks thing. Like they're using the formality to bring people in. Yeah. Okay. I mean, they'll probably ask me some questions about if I knew the person, if I know anything about what happened, et cetera, et cetera. So, I mean,
00:50:38
Speaker
How bad is this
00:51:04
Speaker
I don't know. It's not good, but... What happened? I mean, we were down in Khyber. Some of your family? Did you know him? Are you okay? Oh, I mean, he's a cousin I knew of him. I'm trying to remember. Did you specifically ask after him when you were talking to her? You were just asking operational. Yeah, yeah. I was just asking about the Ronnie stuff. In fact,
00:51:27
Speaker
No, I don't think it's made it to the edit. I think it was something we spitballed. So I don't want to say that. But no, I never said Jason's name. I never intimated that we were doing something. I just asked him about the Ronnie. I think I said we've heard that there's people in town. Is this going to become a problem?
00:51:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Um, so no, I mean, it's like, I'll, I'll be leaving sharn. Um, but, um, no, I, they'll, they'll probably have some questions for me since it was in this district. And there's a known, uh, former member of house, um, fearland that lives down here. He's probably suspect number one, but, um, so they'll probably ask if I know anything about him, stuff like that. What was that guy?
00:52:18
Speaker
I think he says, well, listen, if you, I'm sorry that you're having to go back. I'm glad that it's not under worse circumstances. It doesn't sound like you're gonna be in much trouble once you get there. No, just left for a reason, not excited to go back.
00:52:42
Speaker
If you get a chance to leave again, and I'm still here, I'll help you find something that won't get you extradited. There's a lot of jobs in Sharn, and we can help find you one that won't run afoul of your family. I appreciate that. It might take
Clara's Scheme and Response
00:53:04
Speaker
you up on that. We'll see. How are you with automaton maintenance?
00:53:12
Speaker
worse than useless. Are you a quick learner? Well, I'm sorry. I hope that you are able to make the trip very unpleasant for your escort. I'll probably just do my best to ignore him the whole time. He is very chatty. Hob did not catch that vibe.
00:53:44
Speaker
Um, no, he's, he's my brother. So it's, it's fine. Well, now you can understand why I left. Right. Right. Great. Boy. Every, every, every throny I've met. I know this guy, Ignacio. Um, he says, uh, he says, um, listen, um,
00:54:11
Speaker
It's great to get to know you while you were here, and I'm sorry that you have to go. I do hope to see you again. Me too. Thanks, Hob. Hob was never going to try to stop that.
00:54:28
Speaker
Okay, Eris, you're walking around looking at stuff. It does not take you very long at all. You get a couple blocks over and you spot a small little group of
00:54:44
Speaker
Um, so there is, um, a few orcs, uh, about six goblins, uh, standing around on the street, which is notable in and of itself in, in high wall. But, um, and they are, they're dressed like street tuffs. Like they, they, they look, they look like the criminal element.
00:55:10
Speaker
That's not the most interesting thing, though. You see they clearly there's talking to a resident of Highwall. You see a half-elf woman with blonde hair dressed up in. I mean, it's it's like con man fineries. It's like the the cheap clothes designed to look expensive.
00:55:33
Speaker
And standing behind them is a golem with just kind of standing there with arms crossed, just passively waiting. Fascinating. And that's what you see from a distance. Okay.
00:55:55
Speaker
Eris, before Eris seeks help, she wants to get an impression of what she's dealing with. And so what Eris wants to try and get a bead on is, and I think I have an impression of it just based on that description, is this
00:56:14
Speaker
the actual house has decided to move in and take over the water systems in lower tabics. Or is this a just a person with the Mark throwing their weight around trying to be their own little, their own little street tough.
00:56:40
Speaker
Based on the entourage, I have the latter impression, but is it a kind of make it like a skullduggery roll to try and get the impression of, is this crime or is this official? Who am I messing with, a house or an heir?
00:56:54
Speaker
Eris having a four in both intellect and cunning. I feel like those two, that Venn diagram can overlap to just Eris. It's not, it wouldn't be too difficult for Eris to figure out that this is clearly because they know the runic marks. This is somebody that had an association with the house to learn that skill. But based on their current circumstance, it seems like maybe they have broken out into their
00:57:17
Speaker
own ventures and things like that and are trying to take advantage of a disenfranchised people. But awesome. This this seems too gross even for the houses like to do something like this. So. OK. Which is saying a lot for my version of the Dragon Marked houses. That's true. OK, so in that case. Eris is
00:57:48
Speaker
What's her entourage's numbers? Six goblins, three orcs and a golem. Are any of them local? You don't recognize any of them, no. Okay. And what's the golem made of?
00:58:16
Speaker
Stone, and it's got runes all over it that crackle with blue lightning. Cool. All right, so there are nine tufts we have to beat up, one house heir we have to see off, and a golem we have to befriend. Oh, and are you wearing the goggles? Yes. Oh, yes. I am wearing the goggles.
00:58:41
Speaker
Um, uh, yeah, you, the little HUD thing circles around the half elf's name and you see a little pop-up that says Clara de la, uh, Clara, um, uh, uh, Yeah. C L A R A. Yeah. C L A R A. Romley R A M L I. And then under it says formally delay, delay, delay rendered.
00:59:08
Speaker
R-A-M-L-I, and I want to know, I want to observe this conversation. All the goblins and orcs have like American gladiator names like Turbo and stuff, so sweet. The golem have a name, according to the goggles. The golems aren't sentient, exactly, but no. The golem does not have a name. Cool. Okay, then...
00:59:37
Speaker
Eris will observe the conversation and try to get a beat on how, how threatening it is. Or, you know, to, to what degree is this a, Hey, you know, super flammable place. You got like that kind of thing. Like to what degree is this that, uh, one, one other thing about the Golem, it has four arms. I forgot to mention, uh,
01:00:03
Speaker
gets cooler every day. So yeah, I mean, the person they're speaking to, which is a tiefling man that you know as Roz, is aggressive in his agitation about the situation.
01:00:33
Speaker
and shoves Clara at one point as Clara is like standing in his doorway, like get out of here. And the golem steps in and with like the bottom pair of arms like grabs Roz by the waist and lifts him up like just a little bit off the ground and one of the top arms punches Roz in the face and then drops him back down on the ground. And Clara like does the brush off her shoulders and
01:01:00
Speaker
You hear her say something pithy as she turns to walk away and the entourage follows. So care aggressive. Right. Okay. Then Harris is really, really angry, but not
01:01:20
Speaker
Eris Angry is still a relatively small person who doesn't think that she can fight nine people or 10 people plus a golem. And she doesn't really know like what the Eris's care and aid to this community is very much
01:01:44
Speaker
vigilante work. And so she doesn't have like connections in this community to rally the place. This isn't, that's not how she can solve this. So Eris will retreat back to the cauldron, uh, get Tasha and head for, uh, head for olfins. Um, because at the very least from olfins, she can find the others if they're not there.
01:02:07
Speaker
Yeah, okay.
Sensational News and Team Mobilization
01:02:10
Speaker
So yeah, Aeris, as you head up to Ulfin's, Milo, you just one bit that I want. Does Milo read the paper? Like would Milo like part of his morning ritual read the paper and stuff like that? Yes, I feel that Milo would do that. Which paper? Does he read like the, is he like the tabloid inquisitor or is he the,
01:02:33
Speaker
the New York Times Corinburg Chronicle kind of guy. If they got comics Milo reads them. Yeah, so does Randy. I would say at one time it was the fun fun paper and at this point in his life he probably reads both. He probably still reads the other one and he probably
01:02:59
Speaker
Okay, so you see this morning as you're sitting down, kind of maybe still reeling from the whole, oh god, the cops are investigating the murder we did. You see two similar stories in the two papers, obviously with different tones.
01:03:20
Speaker
The Kornberg Chronicle is reporting on the Charn City Watch is growing increasingly concerned as multiple members of the staff of Mill Hatch Industries have gone missing over the past couple weeks. There's currently four people reported missing and you know
01:03:48
Speaker
Sharon City Watch encourages any citizens with any information regarding the following people, their names that you don't recognize, to let them know and yada yada yada. In the Sharon inquisitive,
01:04:01
Speaker
It's a masked vigilante hunting mill hatch industry workers and reports of a masked figure stalking about mill hatch industries. It's just a very sensationalized, and they don't have the discretion to say, you know, person's missing, please give any information. It's like murder spree on mill hatch industries. It's just sensationalized.
01:04:29
Speaker
What was the name of that first paper again? Kornberg Chronicle. Kornberg Chronicle, okay. By the Gnomes, because they're respectable. And they have all the information. Yes, and there's anything I learned last campaign is that Gnomes are infinitely respectable. So Kornberg Chronicle and the Sharn Inquisitor. Inquisitive. Inquisitive.
01:05:00
Speaker
Less, less terrifying. Yeah. That'd be a good villain name though, the shard inquisitor. The shard inquisitor. What was the... That can be a virulous superhero name when she goes bad. How about you mean kids on bikes where you said the bad guy's name was the defenestrator, but it never came about again.
01:05:28
Speaker
You're walking down the street towards the Four Sails. You notice that there is some new construction going on in one of the abandoned buildings that was on this street. And you see a little banner that says, Coming Soon, Golden Dragon.
01:05:46
Speaker
For those of you that don't know, the Golden Dragon is the franchised in establishment run by House Galanda. It's the McDonald's of Eberron. Slash holiday and express, because you can also sleep there. So. Would Satan say if I burned it down? Why did you burn that building down? That'd probably be the first thing. Dude, what?
01:06:17
Speaker
Um, uh, would any of you be at the four sales when he arrives? How long hob would probably leave when Noel left and just head that way. So yeah. Yeah. Probably he would beat her there because what she did probably took longer. Sure. And she had the drive. So.
01:06:36
Speaker
Okay. Milo Milo would probably, you know, after he's done with his breakfast morning paper, checking on, checking on the building of his new establishment would then probably, yeah, I head over to the four sales. Okay. Um, so good.
01:06:54
Speaker
I was going to say, those of you that are already there, Ulfin would have informed you and shown you a note on Arthur's caller that just says, Father came calling, pray for me, Reynard. So. Outstanding. Yeah.
01:07:15
Speaker
So Eris comes in and has obviously not slept. Like she's wired on caffeine. Um, she, your, her, you know, she always has sort of a sloppy hairstyle, but this is very clearly, um,
01:07:38
Speaker
unwashed, came out of bed sort of thing. Like whatever nasty dust we got in it from coming up out of Kyber is still in it. It's everywhere. She looks like a crazy person. And she storms in, looks around wild eyed, sees the two of you and stomps over.
01:08:10
Speaker
Some fracking tot is messing about with water system that I installed in Highwall, which you may or may not know anything about. Right. And going about trying to sell water to the people. God's stupid mark of storm and his big golem and a bunch of goblins and orcs. And we need to beat the crap out of them.
01:08:42
Speaker
goes, yeah, all right, and gets up because he's already frustrated. Yes, that's the hob I needed this morning. And Eris is clearly perturbed. And while he finds that a little funny, the way she came up was like, some fracking top. And he's like, Eris has worked up. But he's also already pissed. And yeah, he actually sees like,
01:09:05
Speaker
whether or not you talked about the water system, he understands what you mean. You found a way to provide water to people and now this guy's trying to destroy that and exploit them. So, hob rises. And then of course Milo, you know, is still, he's lost in his thoughts as all this is happening and here's this, you know, Eris disrupts his thoughts and he's like kind of shrugs and stands up also.
01:09:36
Speaker
And because when Eris is mad, everything is painted with the same brush. She then storms over to wherever Ulfin is and like leans over the bar really close to him and says, I don't know what's going on with that, but it's going to be ashes when I'm done with it. Pointing out the window towards the McDonald's sign. Eris, I don't think we need to bring arson into it. We can find another way, but I appreciate the energy. Yarg.
01:10:06
Speaker
Fair enough. That golem could help. Aeris, Aeris turns to a patron. And as for you, give me a minute. I'll take yourself. Who gets the french fries instead of the tater tots? You dipping your french fries in mustard.
01:10:30
Speaker
It is on Darian tradition. It's disgusting. You're disgusting. I have a feeling that's a fill-up take as well. I have honestly never tried that. It has never occurred to me as a good idea. No, it doesn't sound like a good idea. Any mustard is solid. Anyway, I can see that. America does it wrong, dip your fries in mayo. Let's all move on.
01:11:00
Speaker
Oh, what?
Community and Social Media Engagement
01:11:01
Speaker
It's so good. Oh, what's wrong with you? Thank you all so much for listening. If you want to be part of the conversation about your fry dipping preferences, then head on over to our Discord, the link to which you can find on all of our social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok at thegeekpantheon. We also have a YouTube channel, youtube.com slash thegeekpantheon. You can find the link to our Discord in all the video descriptions. And while you're there, watch a video or two.
01:11:28
Speaker
And we also have another actual play, Kyber Shards, that lives on the Laughing Tree YouTube channel. And we have a Patreon, patreon.com slash Geek Pantheon. If you want to financially support the shows, you can do so over there. And we also have a merch store, geekpantheon.com, where if you want to get shirts, coffee mugs, journals, water bottles, or pet apparel, we got it all over at thegeekpantheon.com.
01:11:58
Speaker
Eric and I are both currently wearing Geek Pantheon merch, and I look great. And I feel great. And you know what? It shows. Thank you all so much for listening. I've been your Game Master Eric. I'm Philip. I'm Randy. I'm Jeff. We'll see you next time.