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Ep. 53 Crystal Maze - Bellum Draconis
123 Plays1 year ago
In this weeks episode, our heroes try to track down and old companion and Nyx give his crystal ball a look-see.
Follow us on our Twitters - @FellowshipTable
Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
Recommended
Transcript
Opening Frustrations
00:00:00
Speaker
give me an investigation check with advantage oh come on come on i can't fail at opening a fucking drawer okay i got one on my first one thank god for advantage nope i can't open shit three
Introduction to 'Fellowship of the Tabletop'
00:00:42
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of The Fellowship of the Tabletop, Bellum Draconis. We are a live play 5e D&D podcast set in the homebrewed magical world of Aerith in the Kingdom of Sleepguard. My name is Mark and I am the Dungeon Master. And also with us for this week's episode we have Danny who plays the half orc monk Morota Broken Dusk. Bonjour. We've got Ian who plays the tiefling warlock Nyx Karel. What up.
00:01:05
Speaker
Darren, who plays the High Elf Artifice of Ray's Haddow. What is occurring? Will, who plays the Human Eric. God, I did that last time. Will, who plays the Human Eric. My lambda, I'm, I'm, I'm. Hola. Sorry, Will. And we've got Callum, who plays the Warforged Artifice of Alpha.
Recap and New Journey
00:01:21
Speaker
Yo. On last week's episode of Fellowship at Tabletop, not much happened, but to get the low down, the L, the DL and all that other, we're going to go to our chronicler, Danny, for an update on what happened in last week's episode.
00:01:34
Speaker
In the last few pages of our adventure, Emron returns to complete our quintuplet of the original party. Upon arriving, the party made clear their plans for where to head next, and through democratic processes, decided that they would accept the offer of a detour to investigate the lair of a roper who seems to be hoarding something quite valuable.
00:02:05
Speaker
The one caveat, however, the person with the information about the roper is our old friend, old girl. The group head north and then east, off and round the back of Goldport Keep, following one of the main thoroughfare roads towards a hill. It's overcast, cloudy, a little bit dimmer and darker than it has been for the last couple of weeks in these parts.
00:02:36
Speaker
strange in these spring months to have this weather.
Arrival at Old Girl's Hut
00:02:39
Speaker
A thin film of rain falls as you approach old girl's hut. A small ram shackled building that sits a-toughed upon a hill and for all intents and purposes sits before you with nothing else really around. You see, off to the side, a small farmstead. Two goats bleat in a small pen. A couple of chickens roam outside scratching at the meagre ground around it.
00:03:09
Speaker
Aside from that from this exterior position, the five of you, Reigns, Morota, Alpha, Nix and Emron, can see no sign of Old Girl save these five animals in front of you. What would you like to do? Right, before we head in there, someone just give me the lowdown on what we should expect and who we're expecting to meet. He has a reputation from
00:03:37
Speaker
various people. So someone, someone fill me in what I can do this. Okay. Are you ready? I'm ready. You sat down. Do you want to sit down? I feel like you should sit down for this. I mean, we're kind of outside and sit down, sit down, sit down. Cue me. You wanted an explanation.
00:03:57
Speaker
Sit on down, get comfortable, get ready for one. The best explanation of your life. Raines, just sit down. If this is a really quick explanation and I sit down and have to get up again, I'm going to be really, really angry. I'm going to sit. OK, well, you're going to have to take that risk. Isn't life better with a little bit of risk? I fell off an edge. You know, it just happens. Sit down. Take a leap of faith. OK, I'm sitting. OK, this is here, door.
00:04:25
Speaker
Let's go and Nixle just open it. Oh, you dick. Explanation comes from inside.
00:04:35
Speaker
Fantastic. And as you push the door in, none of you have been in here before since the meeting with Oakdale.
Mysteries of the Crystal Ball
00:04:40
Speaker
What you see is a very odd, thin room. It was an odd, thin building from the outside exterior and this gray, gray dim purple-ish walls that seem to have a hue of almost like oil that's been kind of layered across the exterior of it. Entering into it, you get a very different feel. It's cooler on the inside, brighter too. A series of almost chandelier-style candles light to the center of the space. It's a long,
00:05:05
Speaker
kind of hallway like space. In the center of the room is a kind of a three tiered shelf, a circular shelf that holds within it a series of pictures, ornates some more modern images or portraits of people.
00:05:23
Speaker
Along the left and right walls, and I'm talking adorned to the full, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 shelves worth, you can barely reach the ceiling above you, are more of these portraits, picture upon picture upon picture, all of them of single individuals, people, humans, other races as well, dotted along these walls. Space is light, bright, the far end of this room. Again, this continues along all the walls of the inside of this house.
00:05:52
Speaker
On the far end of the room, there is a long table with papers strewn across it. The floor is cold and made of stone. And there's a slightly odd, musky smell in the air as you push yourself in next. There are no people present. Hey, old girl! This is... Sombre at Marotto. Borrow you.
00:06:25
Speaker
Yes. I'm just getting a weird vibe. Oh girl! Oh girl! And my little strode in after them. Last time I pulled on the chandelier and he appeared. There was a floating rope, yes. Everybody look for a rope.
00:06:47
Speaker
I'm just gonna start looking around for anything more than just the rope, just any kind of signs of life. Maybe he's gone away, maybe he's taken a trip. Is there dust on everything? Does the floor look like it's got many footprints and stuff? I'll do a perception on just the general fields of the room in terms of a presence. Cool, okay. Give me an investigation check for that, please. And then...
00:07:14
Speaker
Uh, cool. Who's looking for a right? Callum. Sorry. Alpha. You're looking for a right. Alpha was basically looking for a rope. I'm blind. I see nothing. I'll assist him on that because he's looking for stuff. So where are you helping him? I'm helping Alpha look for a rope because Alpha said
Discoveries and Footprints
00:07:33
Speaker
there was a rope. So everyone's gonna be looking for a rope. There was a rope last time.
00:07:37
Speaker
He pulled on a rope and he fell. Rain stop sitting down I was joking get in here! Alpha could you give me a perception check please for that and then Will could you just roll your perception check as an aid. Yeah okay Alpha got a 14 for his perception. Okay 14 and Will would you get?
00:08:00
Speaker
A 12. Perfect. So 12 is a plus one to the check. So it's 15 overall for that. So 15th to check. Alfred, you look around and with Emron kind of noticing and pointing out a few things to you as you kind of gander around it, this room has no rope. There's no magic rope. He's not hiding in some area of that. The rope doesn't seem to be in here. You can't... Is there anything else that's kind of hanging from the ceiling?
00:08:26
Speaker
Apart from the chandelier, no. Okay. We didn't bump into a body. That would have been awkward. Alpha's not going to pull out a chandelier. You're four, Ian, you got for investigation. Yes. Okay. So what do I see? On your investigations that the pictures are very odd and that you don't recognize many of them. That's all you really, your investigation is brought up. Fair enough.
00:08:56
Speaker
I'm getting a Marota. This wasn't like this last time. Last time it was all abandoned and old and he hadn't really set up shop yet. There was a certain warmth to it though, like there was a presence. Is there any sort of tracks, Mark, or any indication of activity?
00:09:25
Speaker
Can you give me an investigation? If you'd be so kind to my writer. So 15.
00:09:35
Speaker
Yeah, the floor near the entrance, you notice deep in the dust, you can see almost dried flecks are of footprints, deep, quite fresh actually, you can see this kind of marsh mud around the edges of it. It indicates towards more than one individual. There seems to be multiple of these footprints going in and multiple of these footprints going out. I would like to follow the footprints, please.
00:10:01
Speaker
the footprints lead outside and back to the main path and then continue to the right kind of the opposite way to which you approached from so you're kind of carrying on. Well she's tracking, she's tracking. Just before, because Nix would follow Marota,
00:10:19
Speaker
Nix is going to just hold out the crystal ball that he's got, the cracked one, and just kind of stare at it, silent communication, just see if there's any pings, messages, feels, anything residing within this ball at all, being in the same place where I got it. Could you give me an Arcana check, please?
00:10:42
Speaker
Is there anything else, Reigns, Alpha, anyone? Anything else you'd like to add? Yeah, Reigns will come in and we'll go, ah, well, this explanation says a lot without saying anything, which is really in keeping for you, Nick. So well done.
00:10:56
Speaker
Ah, still sarcastic. Good. I'm glad you haven't changed all that much. I'll learn anything. Yeah, same. And you fell off a cliff, which is actually speaking for something. You didn't learn that that was a bad idea. You didn't find me, like... No, and I really wish I hadn't. Is there anything more to this room, Mark? Is there more to this building, or is it just one room? Just one room for what you can see. There's no door leading out away from it. It's just literally wall to wall, floor to ceiling.
00:11:24
Speaker
photographs or not photographs but images, paintings, innate intricate realistic portraits of all these seemingly random innocuous individuals. Can I have a look around and see if I can find a book of some description because my memory recollection says that Orla when she visited here and obviously old girl doing his own magical divination stuff said he wrote we kept notes in a book
00:12:09
Speaker
You look around
Negotiations and Ambush Plans
00:12:10
Speaker
and you can just find portraits. On the desk there are some scraps of paper, apart from that there's no book really that you've been looking for. Am I in any of the portraits? Do I recognise any of them as me? It's going to take you a while to look through them all. We're talking about probably thousands of them. Oh, then down it. You can look around it though if you want.
00:12:16
Speaker
of what he actually saw, so I just want to see if I can find that lying around, if that's the only room in the building.
00:12:27
Speaker
No, no, you know, if everyone's leaving, I will search for the book and then I will probably follow Nix and Marota. I mean, Nix is still in with the crystal ball at the moment. I think this is when he doesn't leave. It's all going to happen at the same time a little bit. So Nix, what did you roll for that check? So yeah, Nix is there as he's been, uh, Raines has been bitching, moaning behind him. He's coming through. Still can't take a joke. Uh, 20 is what I got. Wow. Okay. Cool. Yeah. A couple of things happen at the same time. Firstly, the cracked.
00:12:57
Speaker
orb starts to glow, faintly at first, and then intensely bright kind of green light fills the space, kind of neon green we'd kind of know it as now. You see one of the portraits, as you kind of look into this ball, a portrait just above it, the head of it just suddenly moves and looks towards you and then points towards the desk and then returns back to its initial posture and this return to an image.
00:13:26
Speaker
It's pointed towards the desk where old, what you imagine old girl would sit as it's his heightened size. The crystal ball is still glowing and lots of the images on the portraits on the side are all slightly like you can, they're not rattling like an earthquake, but you feel like there's like a rumble, there's an energy now in this room that seems very otherworldly, seems very iconic.
00:13:54
Speaker
Well, Nix is extremely shocked at this and the excitement just bubbles up inside of him because this is the first kind of feedback he's getting from this ball after six months of staring at the thing. And that surprise and adulation drops suddenly when he kind of
00:14:17
Speaker
Tastes the essence that the ball is given off and the serious somberness to the message and he will Kind of just are still holding the ball out walk to the desk and Was it at towards a draw? Is there anything on the desk kind of just like survey it and pull open the drawers and Try and understand why give me an invest give me an investigation check with advantage. Oh, come on Come on. I can't fail opening a fucking drawer. I
00:14:46
Speaker
Okay, I got one on my first one. Thank god for advantage. Nope. I can't open shit. Three. Oh, wow. You're looking over this desk and I mean, you broke the desk thing. And it just seems like papers and the green light, the excitement of this orbit, you kind of, you're looking, but you're not, you're still interested in this. It's the energy in the room. There's too many distractions. I got it.
00:15:13
Speaker
Whilst this is happening, uh, all, uh, Marozzi, you're the only one that's walked out at the moment. You've gone to track outside, haven't you? Is that right? Yep. Okay. Could the other four of you please make a dexterity saving throw, please? Oh, shit. Oh, me. I'm in there. I'm a four. Double the shit. Oh, Jesus. I have no shit that I can pull.
00:15:38
Speaker
I am rolling like an arsehole tonight. I have no tricks. I have no tricks. I got a 91 for three. Three, okay. Alpha? I got an 11. Okay, thank you. Emron? I rolled an 18, so minus one, that's 17. Cool. And Rains? 13. Lovely. So, Rains and Emron, you passed this, so nothing happens to you. But...
00:16:06
Speaker
As you get closer and closer, the intensity of this glowing light gets stronger and stronger and stronger. And that's kind of what puts you off your investigation as you search through.
00:16:16
Speaker
There's a loud crack and then this kind of whoosh of air and energy as numerous images of these portraits fly off the walls in different directions, smashing into opposite sides, glass flying everywhere. Some of them do thwacking to you, to Nix and to Alpha, causing you six points of bludgeoning damage. Yeah. Damn it. The other two, you managed to hit the deck just in time and avoid it.
00:16:44
Speaker
As the dust settles and the glass tinkles to the floor, you notice there's something odd. Five of these images have fallen, moved. Something has been left in their place in each of them. At the moment, it's weird. It seems masked by the green light, the green energy. You'd need to get closer to one individually in order to find out what it is.
00:17:10
Speaker
Seems to be some item, something behind each of the images that have flown off. You should say those five, right? Those five, yeah. Marota, we need you back.
00:17:22
Speaker
Can I hear this by too far away? Nothing. You're fine. This is all kind of happened. You've tracked as rain has been bitching. And so it's all kind of happening at the same time. It's just a glass all over me. I'm picking it out of my hair. I'm picking out my tail, uh, strangeness, um, involving this, uh, more or you'd know all about this orb and my fascination with it. Um, and there seems to be five.
00:17:49
Speaker
of the portraits, Nitzi explaining exactly just what's happened covered in glass. Five of us, I'm suggesting we all just pick one and have a look. I'm not sure what we're find. You see, you see this, this old girl was a divination person. Yeah. Yeah. You can see like crazy things into the future, like true things as well. Then I'll go for this one here and then when I'll go towards one of the
00:18:19
Speaker
Thanks. Okay. Could you roll a d20? No modifier. No, nothing. Just a d20. You're all going to do this by the way. Okay. Just a straight d20. And I'll tell you what's there. 90 20, baby. Okay.
00:18:34
Speaker
As you reach up, it seems a small space between these images at first, these portraits at first. But as you reach out for it, your hand seems to warp and shrink, getting smaller and smaller. As you reach out and feel a metallic item, it's a very good choice for you actually. And as you pull it back, your hand and the item starts to grow, grow, grow, grow, grow larger, larger, larger, until you realize what you have in your hand is this
00:18:59
Speaker
bronze polished shield okay and you instantly know what it is which is odd you just know you have a sense always like in a dream when you just know what's happening this is the shield of echoes
00:19:12
Speaker
Oh shit. Damn. Long rest. When hit by a melee attack, you can use your reaction to deal damage back to that attacker. So it kind of reacts the damage back onto an opponent. So reflects the damage pretty much the shield. So I have to have taken the hit first. You have to have taken the hit. Well, no, you have to when hit by a melee hit, you can use your reaction to deal damage back. So yeah, you still take the damage, but you double it back to what the creature.
00:19:40
Speaker
Double it or just they get the same damage. Sorry, yes. You get hit for 10 points of damage, you take the damage, but then you can choose to also give the creature who's 10 points of damage as
Battle Strategy and Conflict
00:19:50
Speaker
well. And once per long breath? Yeah, you could hold that for like an absolute bitch of an attack from a big bad and then go, and you'll take 70 points of damage as well, for example. As I die. Very nice pick for you. It obviously needs a tuning standard as well. Yeah. Okay.
00:20:08
Speaker
This might be a little bit of a, have some items. Things are going to get harder. Is it just a standard, it's not plus or anything. Sorry, it is a plus one. Thank you.
00:20:19
Speaker
Nice. Oh my god, well, we all want to know what we've got. This is like Christmas day and the older sibling has just gone, what else have I got? What else have I got? I just got an M64. Hang on now. Hang on now.
00:20:40
Speaker
In Tales of Shadowmend, a certain someone, Ian, got literally everything. Did I take any of it though? Did I take any of it? Yeah, the only player who didn't get something by the end of that was Drago, so... Nah, don't believe it. Sorry, Will, what is your question? Please feel free to ask. A shield normally confers a plus 2 to your AC anyway. Is it a plus 1 shield? Therefore it's plus 3.
00:21:06
Speaker
No, it is just a plus one shield, so it's not as strong as a regular Calendary. It's not Calendary. I've got this sword, it says Excalibur on it. What's that? But it has that magical property, which is the payoff, like, yeah, it doesn't defend you as much in general, but it's an offensive defensive shield. Maybe I can sell it.
00:21:33
Speaker
Cool, that's your one. Right, who wants to go next? Christmas day! This is a random day. I do, I do, I do. Marotta goes next. Okay, what was your d20 roll? 13. Okay, 13. Ooh. I'm so excited. You reach down. What'd you get? What'd you get? And this simply doesn't happen to you. You feel it's a regular sized item into this kind of green glow that seems to emit. And you feel these two kind of sockets, gaps.
00:22:01
Speaker
And as you reach down, you realise what you're picking up might be a skull, but as it comes further out, you realise it's not, it's a mask. It's a thin, almost feels like bamboo-y texture, quite thin bamboo, bendable wood texture with a thick leather strap that go around the back of your head.
00:22:19
Speaker
And again, you look at this mask, and as you look at it, it looks like a cat's mask. But then as you pull it further out, it looks more like a wolf's mask. When you pull it out further, it looks like an alligator. It looks like a giraffe. It keeps always switching as you pull it out. You've got to take a second with your eyes and push it into your eyeballs to try and focus on a bit. It keeps switching. It doesn't stick on one animal. You've just received the mask of animal empathy. And what you can do is you can basically, when you wear it, communicate and understand animals. Holy shit.
00:22:49
Speaker
This is like seen in power rangers when they all like lose their powers and then they go back and get the Ninjago powers and now they all get in their things. Who's getting the frog? I was thinking we're keeping in time with our name as well. This is I'm playing the eternal Galadriel and I'm inferring upon you your rope and your light that will light in the darkness.
00:23:11
Speaker
who wants a lock of my gorgeous hair. Gimli does. Yeah, he does. So again, attuned, you got to attune to it as well. But yeah, that's, that's what you found out. And this is like, cool. Who's next? Ho, ho, ho. I'll go next. Go on then. I rolled a nine.
00:23:31
Speaker
okay okay okay you reach down and again you feel this like ball of energy this ball of light down as you reach closer kind of tensing against it you feel the actual orb of light itself and as you pull out you pull the actual orb out itself but suddenly it feels incredibly heavy and then for a second it just floats up and then lands back in your hand feeling really heavy again and then light and then it kind of settles oh Terry no no there's light what's going on here but
00:23:59
Speaker
a slightly lighter than normal crystal ball-sized orb that's still kind of lightly, faintly glowing green.
00:24:06
Speaker
And what you notice for a second is, as you hold it, and it settles in your hand, you for a second feel very heavy for a second. And then you for a second float just a tiny bit off the ground, then come back down again. You've got the orb of gravity manipulation. Once per day, the user can alter the gravity in a 30-foot radius affecting movement and combat. And I'll go into detail about what that can do. Holy damn. That's awesome. You can adjust and play with the nature of gravity.
00:24:35
Speaker
You've made Iron Man fly. Yes, it depends. It's in a 30-foot cube. So you could fly within that area, but that's if you want to do. Or you could do something with a different... Anyway, these are fun because they're not always... Anyway, sorry. That's what you find there. Who's next? Jesus Christ. I'll go then. I get a four. I get a big stick. Okay.
00:25:05
Speaker
You're like Kevin Hart and Jim Angie. Why am I, why's my weakness cake? You reach down and it feels like nothing there for a second until you, there's nothing there. No, you get nothing there. I realised there's some money there. There's some money. So you reach down to coin.
00:25:24
Speaker
pick it up on one side of the coin is what look at ancient coin almost bronzy silvery mix again almost this kind of oily effects to it that kind of refracts light of yellows and oranges and purples and greens and modes in the surface of it you can't quite get a proper mix on it one side of the corner has the face of
00:25:48
Speaker
what must be a demon of some description it literally like it takes your breath slightly looking at this thing on one side it just seems to be the aura and aurora look of some kind of outline of some kind of angel you just received the cursed coin of luck
00:26:07
Speaker
You flip a coin, and as you land, it doesn't matter what, you've got to use an action to flip it, basically, a bonus action, sorry, a bonus action to flip the coin, and you gain advantage on any one roll, the next roll you do after that. But as a result of that, the next roll after that is always a disadvantage. So when you choose, you ping, you flip the coin, you get advantage on the attack roll, you get advantage on the check, but the next check you do after that is always with disadvantage.
00:26:37
Speaker
Okay. Okay. All right. Finally. Next. Yeah. I got 18. I'm so excited. N64. You get a rock. N64. N64. N64. Why can't I see 18? One second. You won this brand new car. Drive away now. I've probably got a cuddly toy. Oh shit. Okay.
00:27:08
Speaker
Cool. All right. Oh, it's just cloned of himself. Cloned of himself. Cloned of himself. That's a season one joke. Go back and listen to the, no, don't bother. Anyway. Right. Is this going to break the game? Let's see. Let's see. Okay. You probably, are you about to give me magical dragon's teeth? No, no, don't worry. It's nothing about OP. You reach down and again, there's nothing there for a couple of seconds and the green light starts to fade and
00:27:34
Speaker
but in the orb becomes even brighter, the orb you're holding and you reach down, you feel like a thin small chain almost out of a necklace. And as you pull up, you're holding a small timepiece, a small clock. And at first,
00:27:47
Speaker
It looks like a normal clock, and it seems like a normal clock. But then it feels like it holds all magical properties, but through the orb that you're holding, through this source of connection, this cracked, you hear the voice of old girl. I'm not going to pretend to do the voice. And it doesn't come through clearly, like, hello, are you here? It just sounds like a whisper, like almost a memory, like a dream, something you've heard before. And what you have is the chrono locket.
00:28:14
Speaker
And once, this is of course definitely a tuned item. Fuck, okay, whatever. Once per day, you can rewind time one minute. Once per day. Oh, that's like a whole 10 rounds of combat. That's strong. To undo, yeah, to undo a last action or last event.
00:28:44
Speaker
One whole minute is 10 rounds of combat. That's an entire boss fight that we can redo. As long as he's alive to use it. As long as he's alive to do it. It's a save point. Though when you pick this up and you get that sense, you pick it up and again, something within you kind of tells you, like a DM speaking to you, tells you this is all just kind of like almost, there are five, there's five for you. It's almost like he knew you were coming. Like he's a divination wizard of some kind and he was gearing you up maybe.
00:29:14
Speaker
Nick, in particular, feel this almighty sense of dread with this item as well. There's something... Yeah, it's great, but there's something heavy that weighs with this item as well, like a real kind of foreboding dread. Why do I feel like it's tied to the soul of my essence? Yeah, so that's what's... Yeah, sorry. As a point, I literally have something that is called the cursed item here, so, you know...
00:29:44
Speaker
I got the time tuner from Harry Potter. Fucking bring it on. You got literally a life saving thing there. So this whole girl saw into the future, did he? Yeah, he was very... Divination is what I want to say. It's the school that he follows. He just knew things, everyone.
00:30:10
Speaker
don't know whether we should be thankful or worried about what he's given us. Well, are you happy? You seem like you've got a shield. Oh, I'm happy. It's just, you know, when you get given something, you think, hang on a minute, is this this old girl scene stuff that we don't know what's coming? I would say yes. That's sort of the point of divination magic is we won't see it coming, but the diviners do. The good thing about this, though,
00:30:40
Speaker
is that I speak for myself, and I assume Alpha and Maro to feel the same. At least the source of this divination comes from someone we trust. Oh, don't go wrong. It's like, but divination, is it like, is this the decision we've just made to go and do this creature? If we don't go and do it, is that changing the divination? What's... This makes my edit. Yeah. I think you're thinking too hard.
00:31:10
Speaker
I've been trying really hard ever since I met old girl to key in to like how he knew the stuff he knew. And this, and he holds up this cracked glass orb. This was his, this was his seeing looking lens glass thing that he was using before we recovered his real one or his actual, this was just like his spare.
00:31:39
Speaker
And he gave it to me. And I've been trying to read like he can. And this is the first time I've ever got any anything from it. You've never had it do that before. I'm looking at the DM here. No. I mean, maybe when we get a chance to rest, I could help you have a look at it. I would actually really appreciate that.
00:32:09
Speaker
Maybe it might be that I can see what magic has been used or is used or was used when it was made or whatever. Yeah. I mean, imagine knowing things before they happened. Like, I could stop. And then his face goes dark as he remembers falling into the water.
00:32:36
Speaker
stop many things if I just knew in advance.
00:32:53
Speaker
live it strong. I've been adding some things to it. It does take, there is a, there will be a kind of like a casting time to it. It's not like an instant six second action thing to it. It does take a little, a little chunk of time to prepare. I had to take some time thinking about this. This is your good man. It's me. I'm not going to tell you right now.
00:33:11
Speaker
Quick, let's use it now, re-roll. We can re-roll. Yeah, that's what I thought you were going to do. If you zen, and you have to do too much to it, and you go back one minute, you just go back to when you were zenning to plan for it, and it just, you get stuck in like a time limit. Figure it out, write it up, send it to me. I'm not going to, I'm not attuned to it. I don't, you know, Nix is not the character that knows about this sort of stuff anyway, but he will be very interested to find out.
00:33:35
Speaker
If it helps, Mark, he could use it now, go back and time one minute, roll a different number on the dice. Put it back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And get someone else.
00:33:43
Speaker
mind blown it's a DeLorean like cool i'm gonna go back and do that again and get another magic item and another magic item and another magic item um no that that that would imply the the time doesn't refresh itself i know i'm thinking about linear and non-linear time timelines happening oh god we're in the fucking metaverse yeah it's the metaverse of dnd oh what have we done what have i done why did you roll that number was you roll a four 18 no i got the four
00:34:12
Speaker
Before he takes it off, I feel like, Rains, you look like you were going to say something. Never mind. Yeah, I was just going to say that if you want that examined now for types of magic, I'm prepared to do it. I have the means to do it. I really appreciate this, guys, and I want to look into it.
00:34:39
Speaker
And it's really cool that we've got all this stuff, but I am worried old girl should be here. I mean, Maro, you look like you were off tracking before. We could go there. There is a bunch of there's a bunch of prints going away from the shop, so he could be in trouble or it could just gone for a meeting. He might be out with some pals, you know, but it would be locked.
00:35:06
Speaker
Maybe I can find out this work just now. Give me a moment and Nix will turn his back to everyone. Find a corner of the room and just grab the ball of orb and look into it again and think of old girl, old girl, old girl. Another iconic act please then, Nix. As you grab the ball. 18 again.
00:35:27
Speaker
Oh my God, okay, yeah. All right. More items. More bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. It's Christmas. No, no more. Not after that hoard. You're not getting anything. No, it's fine. You can only attune to three, can't you? So, you know, I can eliminate that one. Stop backtracking on your amazing gifts. No, it's done now. It's done. I just worry. No, I'm not going to worry. Ian's got it. You'll be great with it.
00:35:54
Speaker
How can it do this without it? It's just going to ping. Also, I'm still very new to this as well. So it's not like I fucking I can't I can't imagine like Pocahontas sea of many colors. Like, yeah, I'm just wondering if there is. Nix is just confident after what's just happened. Oh, shit. Maybe I've cracked it. Cracked orb. So that's that's where this is coming from. The orbs going to levitate out of your hands slightly. Glow a light green.
00:36:19
Speaker
Just a couple of inches above him, shoot across the room, moving its way around Raines's head, around Marota, and hover above the desk of old Gal, specifically over the kind of bottom left corner of the desk. Still on top, and then amid all the papers, kind of floating just above the papers, about three inches. Okay, Nyx is gonna... It's working, guys! It's working! He's in his desk! And I'm gonna go to the papers and open him up.
00:36:49
Speaker
Oh, gal, are you in here? God, I'm just going to sit down willingly this time just because this time, do you know what? I'm going to take Nick's advice and I'm going to take a seat just in case. Just not last time. You notice a piece of paper and a small amulet placed upon it.
00:37:09
Speaker
A small note in quick and hurried handwriting that must have been accidentally covered up by other papers, by wind, by something else. It's a short, simple statement upon a large piece of parchment. It says, the ridgeback swords have taken the old wizard. Bring the gold to the woods if you ever wish to see him again. Captain Baraxis.
00:37:32
Speaker
Top of it is a small trinket, small amulet. Like I said, it's an intricately carved wooden token with the emblem of a ship on it as well. It has the initials underneath RS. You can assume from this, it's a symbol of authenticity to show that this is indeed one of the Ridgebeck swords, who up until now
00:37:55
Speaker
Well, unless you wanna do a history check. Yeah, let's do that. Yeah, I will do a history check actually. Nix is from the world. 14.
00:38:06
Speaker
Yes, you've heard of the Ridgeback Swords. They used to be quite a small underground kind of thievery group, particularly. Since the Purge, after the Purge, they started to take a more prominent role in Sleepguard, a little bit in Dralak, and a little bit of piracy, though they have had more competition in piracy. That's why you've heard of them. You've basically blown them out of some ports and fought them off some of the places.
00:38:32
Speaker
So you know about that regard and they've moved more inland because the sea's too deep and the world's too wide and the market's too small in the ocean. So they've moved inland, thievery, smuggling and apparently now people trafficking as well and kidnapping.
00:38:47
Speaker
Cool, as Nyx kind of holds this letter out to the group and he'll, word of word, read it out. Looks like he's been taken by the Ridgeback swords. And it's a simple cash job, gold for prisoner. Do we need to go and rescue him then? I would not like to leave old Kel stranded with bad people.
00:39:18
Speaker
I agree. I'd sooner take my chances with pirates than whatever this roper thing is. Well, let's rescue Gal. Gal might be able to tell us more about the roper. And then go. Well, I've got the tracks, shall we? Let's go. Time's a-wasting. Okay, Martyr, could you give me a... Let's go survival check.
00:39:47
Speaker
Can indeed. Survival survival. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For tracking, survival's 19. Oh, you guys and your role so far, Jesus. By the way, Ian, you do know that for the Arcana check, I'd set up really high and you and Arcana, I thought, nah. No, no.
00:40:06
Speaker
If I mean Nana, it's Nana. It's been six months of staring at this thing and we are in old girl's places. It's pretty cool that it's decided to wake up now and we don't know if that's more for the place. Oh my God. Yeah, I'd set it very, very, very, I didn't really want, you know, I thought it was going to be one item. Anyway, so. Oh, really?
00:40:31
Speaker
But there was always the chance to be really giant as always. You guys are welcome, by the way. As you're welcome, by the way, I hope you all enjoy your gifts. If you want to pay me a small fee, a finder's fee, we can call it. That's okay. We'll talk about it down the line.
00:40:48
Speaker
Shit, I've got to introduce animal NPCs now for you, Morita, don't I? I'm just going to talk to pigeons. Every pigeon we have. I look up at this. Are there any birds in the sky? Even the meta pigeon.
Intensifying Battle and Magical Revelations
00:40:59
Speaker
I can talk directly to the meta pigeon now. But it already speaks English, so would it speak in a pigeon to you then?
00:41:06
Speaker
It doesn't matter, I'll understand it. You will. Amazing. So, not our girl, you're not our girl. You're Morotez. Morotez, you head out on the track, you see the tracks of the track that you're looking for on the track. And you see a number of footprints. You see three or four sets of footprints. Three of which, heavy-fitted, larger, and one quite small, quite dainty. One could assume that would be a smaller, perhaps older individual. The path takes you quite some way.
00:41:36
Speaker
You head down near to the outskirts of the swampland, where you came through when you were passing through to see, to find and kill the guard drake, but you skirt back away from that when you journey slightly south. You continue moving through some of the forestry and forest lands that were once blighted by the blight and are now starting to come back to life, meadows filled with
00:42:01
Speaker
All kinds of flowers bloom. The smell in the air becomes fresh, though the sky is still blotted with clouds. A thin form of rain threatens, but has yet not fallen. The path stays strong on this journey. Is there anything, any conversation you want to take place on your way down? I imagine, Morita, you're at the front kind of leading the pack almost sniffled on the staff as you go. Is there anything else that's happening on the way, or would you just want to get there?
00:42:28
Speaker
Get there. Get there. Yeah, Alpha's not got anything to say. Fabulous. You brought your clearing. And the path snakes towards a set of crossroads.
00:42:42
Speaker
The clearing disappears and you are in this kind of a group of thicket of trees. And notice something strange happens to the tracks. They quite quickly leave. So this path is heading kind of south, north to south. And there's a path that heads to the west as well. As you're heading south down the path, the footprints deviate off towards the kind of southwest slightly away towards a thicket of trees.
00:43:09
Speaker
The air is hushed and still. The sound of crickets has passed. Something is very quiet and still in the air. What would you like to do? What did that note say again? The ransom? Yeah, bring the gold to the... What did it say?
00:43:33
Speaker
What did it say? Ridgebacks, Captain Brassles. Bring the gold to the woods if you ever wish to see him again, Captain Braxis. So, just putting it out there, we're probably going to get ambushed. But we're in a woods and there's no water around so we should be fine. Yeah and that don't make any sense. They wanted, they wanted
00:43:59
Speaker
Oh, the ransom for old girl, right? Well, suppose they could kill us and take the ransom and then kill old girl anyway. That's a possibility. That is not the preferred outcome I would like. All I'm saying is that the tracks lead off road now and I don't know the Ridgeback swords well or their methods. I can take point if you want. And if you guys want to spread out,
00:44:29
Speaker
And so if they do come at me, you can noise kind of join in. I don't know. I could act like a bait or diversion. Have we got like a bag of swag we could give you and make it look clear you're here to give money? I mean, I've got the gold that Alpha gave me. Yeah. Hold that, but leave the gold out. Okay.
00:44:59
Speaker
I like it. A diversion. Hmm. Beat. Okay. After you. Oh. Yes. Yes. Yes. Expendable one. Uh, cool. Ha. Okay. And Nix will kind of walk forwards, um, head down, arms kind of, uh, moving forwards with some kind of dramatic pace and just getting a shift on.
00:45:29
Speaker
I'm going to try and keep pace, but stealthily from a distance. Follow. Yeah, seeing that Marota seems to have the most tangible and sensible way to follow Nyx, Rains will follow suit and will just follow Marota. Also using stealth, but what he will do is he will quietly summon the suit because it is quieter, the studied level one, and he will activate the stealth dampeners that are on that suit so he can do stealth checks or advantage.
00:45:59
Speaker
Okay, those stealthily moving, so is that Marota and Rains? I will also stealthily move at disadvantage. Fabulous. Could you... Alpha? What do you think, Alpha? I am walking at the back. I will attempt to do stealthily, but I really suck at it.
00:46:18
Speaker
Okay, could I ask that you all make stealth checks and also please check that you can find yourselves on Roll20. We're at the north of the map. To confirm I don't need a stealth, do I? I'm not. Wow. Ooh, donkey. I also feel like everyone, for you Final Fantasy IX fans out there, when you said your attempt and disadvantage itself, I'm thinking Steiner, just like this clanging of armour. I can hear the clanging. Yeah, I can hear the clanging. Do you feel it? It literally runs around. Yep.
00:46:46
Speaker
Every time everyone bends his knees, you hear his knees crack and have guards detect him when he crouches. Also on the Final Fantasy score, when I designed the Studded Leather Armour effect, I had the L-Bend in mind from Final Fantasy X. Yeah, it's Final Fantasy X. Alright, Rains, what did you get for your subject? I got a 21. Very nice. Morota.
00:47:11
Speaker
Natural one. Fabulous. Alpha. With disadvantage, 15. 15, very nice. Emron? At disadvantage, 14. Whoa, wow. Clunky guys, go for the stealth. So, okay, thank you very much. You start making your way, Nix, south through the thickets of trees that stand to the east and the west of your location. For a few steps, for a few meters, you hear nothing.
00:47:41
Speaker
as the group silently all follow behind. You get to a point where you hear a gruff voice from the thicket to your south and slightly to your west, the slight outcropping that's blurred out. You hear this voice. Stop now. Stop moving. Nix's hands both go up. Okay.
00:48:11
Speaker
I'm here to make the trade. I've got your note. Assuming you're the Ridgeback Raiders. Show us the money. It's here in this bag. Put the bag down. Okay. And walk backwards. How far?
00:48:49
Speaker
Listen, guys, I don't mean to tell you how to do your business, but really, in this kind of scenario, there's a little bit of like, I give you give. And so far, I seem to be the giver, which is fine in an after dark sense. But right now, I just kind of I need to at least see that he's alive. The silence for a minute. Fine. Take the gold. We'll just kill him. OK.
00:48:52
Speaker
back home.
00:49:17
Speaker
OK, well, you know, I can't say I didn't try. I've got the gold here. Oh, I should tell you, there's a massive army coming this way as well. Not to spur you on or anything like that, but he's quite an important person. And, you know, this was your one and only chance to get anything from it. You're going to die either way, but this was your opportunity to get the gold, leave him here, turn around and walk off and live.
00:49:46
Speaker
But I know how you guys work. I remember the pirate times. You were massively successful and all you want. Anyway, be about your day. I'm going to take this big bag of gold away. Okay. Uh, Nick's Corel sends his regards. Good day. And Nick's will turn to a deception check, please. That's a crit. How about a
00:50:16
Speaker
23. As you complete that and you turn your back, you hear, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Let's figure steps out, large black shields, white hair must be in his kind of mid fifties, strong, tall looking human steps out, male stands out with a large sword in his hand. All right, fine, fine, fine. Look, I'm here. Just
00:50:46
Speaker
We'll show you all, girl. Pass me the money. And then you can be on your way and we'll bring him back. The... the trade, like... the sanctity of the trade. I bring the gold, you bring the prisoner. What are you not getting here? What, do you need him? You just told me there's a massive army coming this way. We'd rather not be killed by them.
00:51:14
Speaker
So why don't you take your gold and get out of here? Leave old girl behind. It makes no sense just waiting for death. Trust me, I've been there. It's not nice. We'd like a guarantee. He is our guarantee. We will bring him back. You have my word. Leave the gold. Can you at least bring him out then?
00:51:41
Speaker
He turns around to the thicket behind you, which is thick with bushes, leaves and kind of high leafy trees, nods.
00:51:50
Speaker
and just held up above it all of a sudden, the head of old girl with a gag in his mouth. The body's attached to the head, right? I'm going to say, you said a head, I'm like, what? Okay, I'll hurt rage mode. No, you just see the head, but you see him go. He's not like he's upset or like, ah, help me, help me. It looks like he's just kind of talking, muttering away to himself, quite happy, and then gets pulled back down into the bushes.
00:52:21
Speaker
Which bush is that, Mark? Could you mark that for us? I can mark you mark it. It is coming from a bush kind of 25 feet away from the man, kind of his to the west from his location. Where the road starts to bend round to the east, like a big kind of bump in the road in that area seems to be where this chap's come out of and from where old girls head has just appeared from bush and then gone back inside.
00:52:46
Speaker
Oh, I see him there in the bush down to the left of me. This is great. I'm glad he's alive and right there in the bushes. Can I try and make my way through the woods along the edges? My dear sir, what's your name as this is going on?
00:53:09
Speaker
which whereabouts are you heading? Yeah, well, I'm imagining your... I'm trying to make my way 30 feet down the edge. It's still in cover, I assume.
00:53:23
Speaker
That's open, where you're looking at the moment, that's open terrain there, that's kind of meadowland. The wood line kind of starts where you can't see at the moment. What about here? Yeah, that's where we'd be in cover, but it's also because... Can mine cover where I am right now? You're kind of low to the ground, there's kind of high grass, but it's not like, if you get closer, he probably will physically see you, because...
00:53:43
Speaker
So I have to go towards the west. Yeah, I'm arguing that the stuff you can't see at the moment, the fog of war stuff is where it gets thicker and that gives you ample cover. I will head that way then. Okie dokie. As you head in towards it, you start to make out a couple of things. Firstly, you're into some thicket of trees, all different kinds of colors, thick wooded area, lovely smells of oak and pine and all other lovely flavors. You can smell that. I've been watching lots of gardening documentaries, you see, and
00:54:13
Speaker
What you also notice is the back side of a tent to the south and also a lake, a small body of water to the south as well as you approach what you can imagine is probably some kind of camp or the edge of an encampment as you start to get closer.
00:54:29
Speaker
You don't see any other people around that area, but you can make that out. I'll just kind of not kind of treat it in turn order, but just so it's fair to give everyone a chance to have a go at this as it's going along, as Nyx keeps this person speaking. Rains, is there anything you want to be doing or would you be kind of skulking in the darkness, skulking behind some trees? Rains is just going to glance around because the armour at the minute is set to the
00:54:57
Speaker
the lightning launcher, it makes no sense for him to get too close. The best thing Rains can do is just survey from where we are, which was the original plan. What he will do is he will keep an eye on Enron and Nyx and should any act of aggression happen towards either of them from an angle or direction that he can see, he will ready an attack to return fire.
00:55:20
Speaker
So you want to ready an action that if there's... It's a continual ready of action that if any form
Cliffhanger and Future Hints
00:55:27
Speaker
of aggression or hostility should befall Emrom or Nyx as the two that he's keeping an eye on in front of him, then he will immediately return fire. Okay, Fab, thank you very much. Alpha? I think Alpha would actually forego the stealth approach behind
00:55:50
Speaker
Uh, Nick's just as his, uh, well, he kind of getting close towards him, but not directly behind, uh, where Nick says, and he's just got sword and shield in his hand. What are you doing? What do you get back? Oh, for God's sakes. I see him in the bushes. He's alive.
00:56:17
Speaker
I'm literally, I'm not doing anything else. I'm literally standing there. I'm just probably maybe 15 feet behind nicks at the moment. Okay. And Marotta, yourself, anything else to do while you're starving? Any sort of major predators around? Big scary animals. You might need to go hunting for that. Is this going to be the equivalent of one people used to ask for? Is there rough terrain?
00:56:42
Speaker
Is there a saber-toothed lion around that I can just ask to go and, you know, deal with these bad guys now that I can do that? You might need to pop into the thicket, maybe to the west. It's going to become Batman. Also make a, if you want to look for something. I'm not going to move. I'm not going to move. I think I'm going to stay absolutely still. Survival checkpoint, please.
00:57:04
Speaker
Survival? Nature? Is there a nature role? There is a nature role. I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to stay absolutely still. Oh, you don't want to do it? No, no, no, no, no. Okay. Not a problem. Oh, I was going to see what I could roll up for you. Okay. No problem.
00:57:19
Speaker
I also realized I haven't had the hour to attune to the mask. Ah, yes, of course. Yeah, no one's asked to attune to anything yet, so nothing's possibly usable. Fair, fair, fair, fair, fair. Okay, so what is happening at the time? We've all been moving a bit closer, which is awesome. This man is still in conversation with you, Nix. Who's the, who's the stranger one? Listen, I'm all for having a chat, but business is business. Yeah, absolutely. Business is business.
00:57:50
Speaker
Is he yours? And Nick's points behind him to Alpha. This thing. He didn't come with me. Did you see anyone with me when I walked into this clearing? Well, yeah, you and the orc. Sorry. He saw me and the orc. But this is yours, right? You didn't see this with me.
00:58:19
Speaker
I was just looking for berries and whatnot here in the bush. A deal's a deal. The gold's here on the ground. I'm going to back away slowly now that I've seen that he's alive and well. I'm going to leave your thing here and
00:58:42
Speaker
Yeah, there we go. And as Nick's backs away, he's going to just mutter alpha. Yeah. There was a name that I wrote down years ago, like Steven Stanley. What? There was something.
00:59:04
Speaker
While you're pontificating on that, Ian, at Emron, you are on the edge of this kind of, looks like a lake in the back of what seems to be the back of their camps, like a bell tent set up white and green stripes hidden in amongst the thicket here.
00:59:18
Speaker
I'm trying to creep as careful as I can to in the direction of where old girl's head was raised above the bush. What was your stealth check again? My stealth check was 14. You continue to make your way along there, feel free to move yourself on roll 20 and I'm going to reveal to you the majority of the camp because you get to that position, you have spotted and you see this two bell tents and a number of what look like old shit
00:59:49
Speaker
Crates that have been dragged and lugged here to make a very nice Cozy and very well-hidden camp on the edge of what do I see any people yet? You do you see old girl to the side old girl?
01:00:03
Speaker
Just get in there, Will, please let me finish. You see, I would go to the south of the encampment nearest to some large stack of crates. He seemed to be perched up, gray wispy beard, perched up on one of the boxes, hands bound, feet bound, looks in good condition. In front of him, looks like a rather scary looking, kind of teal-cloaked, sordid man. And there is a woman sitting near the fire, kind of picking at her nails and
01:00:29
Speaker
furtively looking over her shoulder in the direction of where the other chap is on the main road talking to Nyx. Aside from that, there are no other people here, just the three of them, old girl, the two members of the Ridgeback Swords, and then the one on the road that you can see. Has any of them made any attempts or indicated that they've noticed me?
01:00:49
Speaker
No, none at all. They all seem to be. There's a quick look over at the woman's shoulder, the kind of lightly armored, leather armored woman shoulders, but she's definitely looking out away from you over towards the trek. It's not like a who's there. It was like, is he done yet kind of look?
01:01:04
Speaker
I'm assuming it's clearing from me to them, so there's no more cover once I leave these trees. That's correct. In front of you is a sprawled out bedroll. To the right of you is the green bell tent. Directly in front of you is a fire that the woman sits next to, and the other side of her is a blue and white striped bell tent, both quite tattered, both quite old. Nearest to the lake are these huge array of boxes and crates with all number of accoutrements and items all around it. This seems to be quite a permanent place they've been here for a while. You know what time it is, Mark?
01:01:34
Speaker
It's hammer time. Fuck yeah. I will cast spiritual weapon just off to the left or as the bad guy in the green cloaks looking at it, a spiritual hammer will appear next to him and hit him. He'll look up and go.
01:01:59
Speaker
What the f... And he just gets thwarted with this ammo. Could you roll to hit please? Yes. Oh, it's good, it's good, it's a 22 to hit. That hits. Roll damage. And that is... 11 points of force damage. Very nice, that's how that functions across his face, teeth can fly out of his mouth as 11 points of force damage smash into this person.
01:02:27
Speaker
suddenly noise lifts you hear arrows flyer in from different directions not just towards you but towards the others as well suddenly you hear shouting as the man out front talking to nyx turns and starts to run back into camp they're attacking us as an ambush and before we get into initiative order that's what we're going to leave it for this
01:02:47
Speaker
the polish tip of the tabletop. Very nice. Snunky M-ron. What the fuck is happening there? It's a sneaky M-ron. I love it. It's a clunky M-ron. Oh, I so don't want to leave it there. I mean, yeah, I was like, do I run across the clearing? No, no, I'll use this action to have a hammer come down and then I'm going to charge in there screaming Alito's name. It'll be fine.
01:03:16
Speaker
That's exactly what I'm going to do as well. And I love it. I love it. I love it. Very, very nice. Oh, man. Yeah. A bit of combat. Let's get along killing time and the stealthiness. That was a bit of teamwork. We haven't had teamwork like that in a while. Yeah. I know. I really enjoyed the teamwork. I really did. Berries being picked as well. Morita, I thought it was a lovely team.
01:03:39
Speaker
Yeah, just foraging, really. Just foraging, that's what I am. Fab, fab, fab, fab. Good stuff, guys. But I'm going to level it up by killing someone. There's a magical Christmas that's just taken place. I think it's almost more exciting than a level up, which we will have eventually, don't worry, very, very soon. But it's exciting because it's random and there's some, yeah, some very potent stuff in there. Yeah, for level three, there's some very... There's some really high power craft stuff.
01:04:07
Speaker
things to play with as well anyway. Things to have a think about. Oh, I can't wait. Gives you some more options. And while you're on low level, you get more things to play with anyway. Speaking of things to play with, hopefully you've enjoyed yourselves during this episode. Oh, God.
01:04:23
Speaker
And if you want to hear more, you have to tune in next week to find us. Thank you for tuning in this week, making us a part of you every day. We love you for it. If you wanted to just step in on the ongoings of the podcast, you can do so. We have a Twitter page. It's at Fellowship Table. It's up to you. And then if you wanted to hit on our doors and knock us up individually, you can do that too. I'm at iRoller1. Danny's at.
01:04:46
Speaker
Total Party Thrill. Calum's at. The D20 Gamer. Darren's at. Darren, page 06. Big Willy Will is at. Natural20well. And our Santa Claus of a DM is at. Hastily rolled DM. Oh, we're gonna make shit go wrong. Until next time, guys. Farewell. Farewell.