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C3 Episode 62 Pilgrimages & Infestation Chapter Eight
177 Plays4 hours ago
What lies around the next corner in this ancient temple?
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Transcript
Introduction to the Eberron Campaign
00:00:00
Speaker
D20 Radio, your game is rolled. www.d20radio.com
00:00:14
Speaker
da
00:00:23
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to Eberron, your new natural play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I am your game master, Eric. I'm Mia. I'm Phillip. I'm Madison. I'm Jeff. Welcome to another
Recap of the Zombie and Spider Battle
00:00:32
Speaker
episode. Folks, what happened last time? Big fight.
00:00:35
Speaker
Great fight. Yeah, good good combat. Good combat. Terrible fight. Zombies with spiders on their faces. Can i do right my GM? We squish spiders everywhere. So bad. Selena exploded again. Next looks a sight. Nyx has a a smashed spider across her head, and then a zombie exploded in close contact with her.
00:01:00
Speaker
Indeed.
Rest, Rules, and Recovery Discussion
00:01:02
Speaker
Okay, you all can take a quick rest, so use any number of recoveries that you like. A quick rule clarification, if you are staggered, you are required to use recoveries to heal up. That's interesting.
00:01:13
Speaker
Tell me what to what to do. But Dimitri is going to use some recoveries. Okay. ah Nyx is like as close to fully demoned out with all this blood on her as as you have probably seen her. What is my recovery? Oh, oh never mind.
00:01:30
Speaker
I can read. Dimitri is back up to And also if you used any recharge abilities, now would be the time to roll to recharge them. Okay. So I better get that. We get our, we get recoveries back with a long rest, right? Yeah. i see aular Yeah.
00:01:47
Speaker
Right. Look, I, I get it and I'll try, but I certainly am not going to make it a point. just They just are different mechanically. So I'm just trying to make sure all understand.
00:02:01
Speaker
didn't use any of my recovery spells. Okay.
Exploring the Temple Chamber
00:02:07
Speaker
Okay. So before anything else, let me describe. So the room that you all find yourselves in, this was clearly once a majestic chamber to welcome travelers into a temple.
00:02:18
Speaker
It has clearly fallen into disrepair, not only to do the ravages of time, But also it seems like due to the new occupants presence, you obviously see the corpses laying around now.
00:02:29
Speaker
um But you also see a lot of markings on the wall in a language that none of you understand. um And the trough that Slayna vaulted over is not filled with water, but rather filled with oil And you see dead bugs, like like clear oil. And you see dead bugs floating in the oil within this trough.
00:02:54
Speaker
um But aside from that, the oil still seems relatively clear and not affected by time. And this would be the oil that you would treat a weapon with. Oh. You do see the room is lit with a orangey glow. you see to your right, there are two pretty large Everbright lanterns. A...
00:03:14
Speaker
new people to Eberron. A lot of like more technologically advanced areas don't have torches. They just have the light spell cast permanently in a light source. Okay. But these are much larger and cast much more striking light throughout the room than a modern Everbright lantern.
00:03:29
Speaker
They're embedded into the floor and clearly were built at the same time as this temple. And to your left in the back corner of the room, you see a small step up and then there are in the corner four alcoves, each containing a statue.
00:03:45
Speaker
of the same feminine figure you saw outside the door. But they're in four different poses from left to right. She is hammering in a forge, then carving runes into a hammer in a
Discoveries and Mysteries Unveiled
00:03:59
Speaker
fighting pose and then mending a piece of armor. In each of these poses, she is wearing like a smithing apron and pretty distinct looking pair of goggles. When she's actually working on the weapon, she has them down over her eyes. And in the last two,
00:04:14
Speaker
She, or in the third one, they're pulled up onto her forehead. Um, but the statues are defaced. You see that the, unlike the face that you saw on the statues outside, they've literally been defaced. The face on them has been cracked off. Defaced. At least the lower half of the face, um,
00:04:33
Speaker
You see two doors on the back wall, one kind of in the center of the room and then one slightly to its right. And that's what you see in this room at first blush. Dimitri stands up like, well, these things seem to be terrible. Thank you, Valk, for the assist.
00:04:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:51
Speaker
He didn't see what you did. No, I know i know know. I wasn't actually expecting He was unconscious when you cast a spell. A response to my my mind. see Nick's looks at the trough full of oil.
00:05:06
Speaker
This must be why the weapons are contagious. Oh. They're treating this is an oil you would treat a weapon with to add properties to it Is it, you can, you can give me anybody can give me a check to inspect the oil trough further if you want. Is it drainable as I was going to look?
00:05:23
Speaker
Flammable? Ooh. Would this be 21? Intelligence? Intelligence or wisdom? Yeah. 24. Nothing like that. So, Nix, as you look, you see that the the dead bugs floating the oil seem to be, like, external factors where bugs landed in the oil and then suffocated, but you do see runes in the bottom of the oil trough that whoever did the defacing in this room clearly overlooked. These seem to be the original runes that whoever built this temple...
00:05:54
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:05:57
Speaker
and with the twenty four you can tell at least based on these runes ah like as a worshipper or anyone a traveler enters this temple they were encouraged to dip their weapon into the oil And mechanically, it would have granted them a plus one bonus to their attacks and damage rolls for mechanically the remainder of the arc kind of thing.
00:06:18
Speaker
So this was like to get a blessing of Onatar um in the oil trough. And it's been contaminated in some way. You get like the runes in the bottom have not been like defaced or affected the bugs. They're not like, it's a handful of them.
00:06:38
Speaker
Like that probably is the bugs were buzzing around in here. Some of them fell into the oil, but it does not seem to have been contaminated in any way. Interesting. Anybody investigating anything else? Can I check out the statues?
Uncovering the Bone Altar's Secrets
00:06:51
Speaker
Sure.
00:06:52
Speaker
I don't know. Is there any way for me to un-leaf, re-face? ah You do see that the stones that made up the face are like crumbled at the feet of each of the statues. Like whoever had like a hammer or whatever tool just came up and knocked them off. So you could try to mend them in some way. Probably some of the small, like the edges would have like crumbled off. There would be gaps in the the scenes, but you could certainly try to like replace them.
00:07:17
Speaker
I want to try that. Okay. You know, that's, that's a, that's a nine. Nine. Um, yeah. i mean, it's just, it's, it's hard and like, you don't have a good, like, they don't fit evenly and nicely where they were broken off. Unfortunately. no Okay.
00:07:37
Speaker
But yeah, anybody else looking at anything in the room? So I have the mending cantrip because I get to, I took something where I can use the wizard's cantrip still. Yeah. So I can try that on those if you would like.
00:07:50
Speaker
Just let me know what for that. If would like. I mean, give me an intelligence check. Okay. It's 19.
00:07:58
Speaker
yeah, Slaney, you extend your hand and these magical sprites extend from your hand as Valk is like holding these different pieces of stone. And the sprites come up Valk around you and they pick the stones up off the ground and out of your hand and like take them into where the faces were and place them. And then there's a glow of like...
00:08:18
Speaker
it's It's like dark Mabarin light, but it like goes around the seams and like locks them into place. And you can see the faces of this figure um that matches the the face of the large statues out in front.
00:08:33
Speaker
And in fact, the something that you all didn't notice right away, but as the sprites are working, you see is a large dog. you should think There were also like card, like writings at the base of each statue that had been like crumpled up and stopped. It just looked like scattered stone at the bottom of the sprites pushing to place. um And they are in a pretty ancient script.
00:08:57
Speaker
But there are enough like characters to be recognizable. Kind of like us trying to read old English. um Where you see under the first statue, it says she built our future.
00:09:13
Speaker
She made it to last under the second statue. She defended us under the third one. And then the last one says, Fernia Onatar brought us together when we were broken. and Okay.
00:09:25
Speaker
And Ferdy, own a tarp with capitalized is just clearly the name. I love those little sprites. They're so cool. As they finish repairing, one flies up and gives you a thumbs up, and then they disappear. hold I think Kaz might go... Both those doors are made of stone, by the way.
00:09:42
Speaker
ah The stage is just on the ground, yes? Yeah. I think Kaz might go check it out. Out of character, but he's starting to branch out his character a bit. Yeah. Just kind of pat down and see what he has on him, because he's clearly very different than the other things we've fought down here so far. Yeah, for sure.
00:09:59
Speaker
So... What's my, this is my check. Can't be charisma based, can it? I mean, if you're, if while they're doing all of the stuff that they're doing, you're just like taking a minute to thoroughly search this body. I think so. Yeah. I don't need your check. Okay. He doesn't have like a hidden pocket or anything like that. Right. I can't draw out his memories.
00:10:19
Speaker
Um, so you find his staff, which is like twisted and gnarled, has similar markings that you see on the walls, except at this scale, they just look like scratches in the wood, but there's enough pattern to it that you kind of recognize that it's enchanted in some way.
00:10:34
Speaker
But you would, you would almost need to take this to like an expert to figure out what it is like. It's it's not like a normal magical item that, as you the way we've been kind of playing magical items is they are willing to give up the nature of their power this staff is not giving that to you okay you also find two dwarf skulls in his bag and you find a small wooden box so he's still three away from dying The small wooden box has some markings that are different from the markings on the staff. This you can recognize as Elvish. He's got on a robe.
00:11:07
Speaker
Nyx is going to kneel down and just tear just cut a strip off of the robe and then step over and start using it to get the blood off her and guts off her face. Kaz does
Historical Insight: Lady Vol's Origins
00:11:16
Speaker
know Elvish. Okay. You see that this is a rainy Elvish in dialect. It seems to be very ancient and old.
00:11:24
Speaker
And it is seems to be a, like the inscription gives the vibe of a wedding gift, like a holy union to conquer the ancient divide that we all seek to be mended. And...
00:11:41
Speaker
You see, sorry, there's a proper noun that I forgot to write down that I need. also have this really bad habit of like frantically pulling up Eberron's source books, forgetting that there's a ah wiki on the internet yeah with like 90% of the knowledge.
00:11:58
Speaker
is Is the proper noun Peyton Manning? Yes. Okay. It says two Minara, M I N A R a At the top? At the bottom. of ah Yeah.
00:12:10
Speaker
Kind of like the message is along the top. The box is not locked in any way. It's just a simple, it almost looks like a music box. I give a very gentle shake to see if there feels like there's something inside of it or if the box itself is the keepsake. You get a sense that the box itself is the keepsake. yeah I put the box in my adventure bag for sure. Are you going to open it or no?
00:12:31
Speaker
The box itself, boy, oh boy. Man, the last time Kaz opened a box. It wasn't for him, though. I really don't know that Kaz would open it right now. Sorry.
00:12:42
Speaker
Huh? Oh, it's distracted. It works. I've been there. I really am trying to think if Kaz would open this box that was considering the last magical box.
00:12:54
Speaker
He thinks it might be magical. And the last magical box he opened really did a number on it. You all right? That box was different. So, you all right? I found this and I... says Says the demon girl covered in blood. It drops this... Are you? This blood-soaked rag on the ground. Honestly, Kaz assumes this is perfectly fine with Nix, honestly.
00:13:21
Speaker
He doesn't like it. Right. I found... I show the staff that I can't read and I show the box and I tell Nix what it says. i don't know if Nix can read Elvish, so I just kind of say what it says.
00:13:32
Speaker
Probably not. Elvish and Elvish, by the way, is what the cat is. I don't know that name. i mean, there's a Harman flipping it open, right? Probably? Most likely there's no Harman flipping it open. I put it away from me. There is the possibility that there's Harman flipping it open, but...
00:13:46
Speaker
i'm going I'm going to point it away from me and open it up. It contains bees. It contains bees. The direction won't matter. im bessuming the Bees are omnidirectional. Spring-loaded bees. and Whatever this was originally, it seems to have been modified. And you see that there are small, like, probably...
00:14:07
Speaker
you would guess avian bones in it kind of like attached to a fixed position avian bone and bird bones and dwarfs like it's like a bird skeleton it's not like it's not a full skeleton it's not a slain of sprites is it this is a magic item okay that it's called a bone altar just surprised Kaz, since you are in possession of the Bone Altar, you have a special one-point positive relationship with Lady Vol. Okay.
00:14:41
Speaker
You may spend one of your recoveries at any time to use this. to draw on the connection that you now have with her and roll a relationship die.
00:14:53
Speaker
Like we would when we're rolling our iconic relationship. So you don't roll normally when we do. It's only when you use a recovery. Understood. However, all, all relationships come with a complication.
00:15:04
Speaker
Like if you, if you roll a five or a six on it, it will always have a complication. So the complication only comes if the relationship hits on five or six that time I roll, but it will have one.
00:15:16
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Basically, if you're in dire need, you need some help, you can use a recovery to get to roll a bonus icon die. Interesting. um And if you get a five or a six, you have the advantage with that icon to use. I wonder why he had this. This was a dwarf, right? Yeah.
00:15:34
Speaker
Yeah. But the box isn't. of i You should show Selena. Oh yeah, for sure. Um, I will. My guess is it's a spoil of, I mean, that they have to fight or something. Sure. But yeah. So I, in case it has significance, right. If it doesn't to us, I do take it to Selena and I start to read to her like, Oh, here, here. Selena, give me a intelligence check with what are your backgrounds again? The bar touched daughter of diplomat and arcane training.
00:16:07
Speaker
Which is better, arcane training or daughter of a diplomat? Daughter diplomat. With your daughter of a diplomat. 15. I have a leftover thing that didn't get used in the battle. I'd really like to use it. Okay.
00:16:20
Speaker
I had a trick die of a 15, a roll of 15 from my initiative, and there was never a moment where someone desperately needed it. I really want Selena to succeed on this roll. I'll allow it.
00:16:35
Speaker
so You actually rolled a 15. A natural 15. Okay, great. So that's 27. That will do it. The DC for this was 25. So it was going to be... it's This is inscrutable knowledge.
00:16:48
Speaker
Selena, you recall... It's a little scrutable. Your father... about to be scrutin'. It's scrutin' all over the place. You recall your father talking about like the history of your people when you all like fled and were on the run.
00:17:00
Speaker
And he talked about this family that brought great shame to elves everywhere. There you at one time was a war between the elves and the dragons.
00:17:13
Speaker
And a family tried to bring peace to that war by having their daughter marry a dragon.
00:17:24
Speaker
who ah The house was house of Olfus. and the woman that married, the dragon's name was Emerald Claw, and the woman's name was Minara Vol.
00:17:35
Speaker
Also, there is tale that, so that marriage did nothing but make both sides. It it brought unity against them. The elves and the dragons were both equally...
00:17:47
Speaker
like off put by this. And so they, the elves proceeded to hunt down the Vol family and kill all of them with the exception of their, the daughter of Emerald Claw and Minara Vol.
00:18:01
Speaker
Her name was Arandas named after her grandmother. And it is rumored that in the final moments, right before Minara died, her last act was turning her own daughter, who was a half elf, half dragon into a lich so that she could not be killed.
00:18:17
Speaker
And now she goes by a lot of different names. Lady Ilmaro, her own name, Miranda Svohl, Lady Vohl. But she is like, she is still regarded as being out there somewhere as one of the most powerful undead figures that you know.
00:18:33
Speaker
And she has had, like, you have a tie to Lady Vohl. So seeing this kind of makes your blood run cold a little bit. Okay. So yeah, that is... well I will share that story with the group.
00:18:48
Speaker
So we have Ladyville's mom's what a gift wedding gift. Wow. Yeah. Possibly given to her by the original Aranda Skull. That seems very important, but I don't know what to do with it. Or how it ended up in the bug
Understanding the Power of Lady Vol
00:19:04
Speaker
cave. Well, it wasn't... The bugs came after.
00:19:09
Speaker
cave was your first. But it was... but Sure. ah with With the incredibly high intelligence check, as you're reading this box and looking in the dwarf, you see markings that like have been kind of torn and try to be covered up, but it seems like this dwarf may have been a follower of the blood of Vol on his robes and stuff, and then something changed. like he okay He's not wearing the vestiges of a seeker, but this seems to be like he modified his existing. So it may have been that he was and that he wasn't or something. but yeah Makes sense.
00:19:40
Speaker
everyone knows like who Lady Vol is, right? like no no it's she of almost no one. but we know about the what What is known? Blood Vole, Emerald Claw. Blood Vole is a religion right that like scholars may know. Oh, there was an ancient elf house that shared the name Vole. What a weird coincidence. okay The Order of the Emerald Claw is a terrorist organization. Right. I just i guess Blood of the Vole and Emerald Claw such a part of the other campaigns we've done. I have an outsized sense of its importance. Yes. Yeah, that's why I said that that knowledge is scrutable. Because the elves tried to erase it from history, tried to completely get rid of House Bull. And House Bull had a dragon mark that also go wiped out the mark of death.
Magic Items Inventory Review
00:20:23
Speaker
so I should keep that safe until we know happens.
00:20:26
Speaker
You have a vault in your basement to keep... Yeah. i Or you could use it. I'm happy to hold on to it in my pack since I have... i mean, I'm sure we all do, but I just keep talking about mine. But I also do not intend to take ownership of this thing. It feels like it shouldn't be mine. So if you want to hold on to it... I can hold on to it. Great. Grub can guard it in their little bag. Oh, man. I just need to a quick check. Everyone is level three. How many magic items does everyone possess currently?
00:20:54
Speaker
It is one. you You don't have any? i don't have any. I mean... Unless this staff is magic. Right. Well, I suspect the staff is magic, but i can't I can't read the staff the way I can a weapon. I suddenly have a staff, but no, I don't have any. I'm not being gifted any magic items. I'm assuming the armor is magic? Your armor and and theard the shard thing you have are magic. So you have two.
00:21:15
Speaker
Selina has sword and now the bone altar. So two, one, and zero. okay Okay. Just my sword. I'm pretty sure I don't have any. Do you remember giving me one that i don't recall? I remember giving one to the group that may not have made its way to Kaz, but i thought, oh, that might be good for Kaz, but... The ring?
00:21:32
Speaker
The ring, yeah. That Nyx has. Wait. but That's not wearing, but... Oh. He just pocketed it. It's the dwarf warrior ring. It's probably in my notes. i Let me see if that's even in my notes because that doesn't ring a bell.
00:21:47
Speaker
Yeah, it was last session. It was. Yes, I have a ring of instant vengeance. When you take damage, choose an ally in sight who can make a basic melee or ranged attack. So Nyx has two magic items.
00:22:03
Speaker
To my knowledge, not wearing it. I don't know that... like Yes. Okay. So there are two doors before
Investigating Arcane Circles and Secret Passages
00:22:10
Speaker
you. One in the middle of the room one slightly to the right of i am in the market. Well, you just gave one. I gave you one and then you gave it away. No, that is fair. I kind of forgot my sword was magic.
00:22:19
Speaker
I get plus one to attack and damage. you do. Well, look at that. Cool. also does some other neat things. right Oh, yeah. Winter's Reversal. i don't know what that means, but I will look at it.
00:22:32
Speaker
Where to game? You said there's a pair of doors? Yeah. and that's Like double doors or two separate doors? That is different. that is different That presents a choice. And there's not any indication of where either one leads.
00:22:45
Speaker
No, they're both closed. Does it look like one has been opened more recently? Like, can you see, like, scuffs on the ground if they open in one? There is more traffic going in the door to the left than the one to the right. They've both been used. Like, neither of them look, like, preserved in time, but there is more traffic going through the left-hand door. are more dead bugs by the by one of one or the other sets of doors. There are some more, like, dead bugs on the floor to the left, the left-hand door that has more traffic.
00:23:13
Speaker
Is that the one that has a stronger draw towards Zoriat? The one to the right has a stronger pull towards Zoryat. But you feel a pull through both. Just the right has a stronger pull.
00:23:26
Speaker
I don't know what metric to choose on. This one has more people going through it. who It doesn't necessarily mean it leads to the forge. I think Valk's going to linger at the door.
00:23:38
Speaker
Which one? That draws him closer to his plane. mean, you just feel that there is a, like, kind of the same way that, like, when you first got out of the the pathway through Kyber that you all were taking, that you still felt the pull Zoriath behind you like you were close to a a point of strong Zoriath magic. You feel that same thing coming through the right-hand door.
00:24:03
Speaker
Does Dimitri have any insight? Dimitri looks like if we are looking for the people responsible for these weapons then following the pack seems like the right way but and I'm assuming Valk has not communicated that Valk is feeling the pull of Zoriat through one of the doors.
00:24:19
Speaker
No I think he's starting to disassociate just a little bit. Something there Valk? Door? You seem interested in this door over as the other ones. I am. Would you care to share why?
00:24:33
Speaker
I don't know. I like this door a little more. Actually, i don't know if ix and No, no, I don't think I like this door anymore. but i don't know why I would... I have Zoriat. I feel it's here, over here, than I do over there. That one has bugs on it. got it But I mean, if bugs are coming out of Zoriat, so there might be bugs either way, but... So...
00:24:57
Speaker
it comes down to our um ah more what immediate goal. We could open both doors and see what is behind each and then decide which one we want to walk through. and Just let everything bum rush us and see what happens. I mean, i we were not quiet since that fight, I assume, since on the other side a joy. That's a good point.
00:25:12
Speaker
ah So it seems like one is is the means of production and one is the reason we are here. we must see that We're here for the forge. Next we'll walk over to the door that Valk is looking at.
00:25:27
Speaker
okay Is it locked? Nope. We'll open carefully. It pushes in. Yeah. So you push this door in.
00:25:38
Speaker
Carefully. Slowly and not all the way. and Unfortunately. With a toe. I didn't even do this from an intentional design point, but you crack the door open and it like, it opens towards the wall. So you have to like get it like at least halfway open. that that and There is, there are no creatures in this room that you see.
00:25:54
Speaker
There are no creatures in this room. Let's double down on that Wink. This room is lined with long, burnt-down candles with metallic bronze wax dripping down their sconces with all the wax frozen in place.
00:26:10
Speaker
There are bare walls and a lack of seating anywhere in this room. The floor is dominated by two large arcane ritual circles carved into the stone. Oh, we love ritual circles. You get the impression that this room wasn't sacked, but rather that the only things in this room to begin with were the circles and the candles. All right.
00:26:28
Speaker
So like the habituals predate these dwarves that have come in? ah They look very similar to the markings that you saw in the bottom of the oil trough.
00:26:41
Speaker
More Zoriad here. Am I able to more clearly see what is specifically drawing me? Is it like one... Are you entering the room? I will enter the room. I'm going to enter the room. you You feel the pull is like beyond this room. Like you kind of walk along the back wall and it's like it's on the other side of the wall. Like you're feeling it.
00:27:01
Speaker
Nyx is staying close to Valk. You can give me a wisdom based check to try and figure out. e With Zori a touch? Is that my thing?
00:27:13
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I moved everything around, so I don't, I think I pulled it off of the ship. Nope, that's a one. Gone. You probably just chalk it up to like, probably just the configuration of this temple, like the source to Zoriat is like back that direction, but you got to walk a rep, like it was just probably a directional thing that threw you off.
Dilemmas and Decisions in the Dungeon
00:27:31
Speaker
Can I try to understand the rituals? Yeah. Give me an intelligence check. That's going to be unimpressive. What are your backgrounds? Probably not, unless Shavarath touched. Can hold? I can try. Relicor runaway for... those would be applicable. Then probably someone with a better magic background. Arcane training. Arcane training. Yeah, there you go. Oh, cut the... What's up?
00:27:58
Speaker
Fae Touch didn't gonna touch this way. Dirty 20. Okay. okay but You can tell that these are arcane circles that are designed for extra planar communication, Selina. The runes are arcanic and pretty far out of date from any training that you underwent.
00:28:12
Speaker
But among them, you see some significant markings that you can clog tied to the plane of Furnia. And also House Caneth's dragon and mark, the mark of making, are two symbols that you see in this.
00:28:28
Speaker
um But these runes were obviously carved long, long, long before the formation of House Caneth and possibly even before the
00:28:38
Speaker
Oh, like first appearance of the dragon mark on someone. Okay. But if you knew the correct ritual with it, with a 20, I will say, if you know the correct ritual to say, as you're in this circle, then it would be a means to communicate with the plane of Furnia, which is the plane of fire. Okay.
00:28:57
Speaker
I guess just give the room once around for like, I don't know hidden compartments or something using my black market skills. Yeah. That's great. 23.
00:29:09
Speaker
twenty three As you are looking around the room, Nick, you hit a point and you feel like a slight breeze brush across your cheek as you're walking along the back wall. And you kind of take a step back and you take a moment and you see a scene in the stone making up the back wall that a secret door would be located. Nick's taps on the rock.
00:29:30
Speaker
There's a draft here. In back, you're kind of realizing, oh, maybe that's what... Staring at that wall. Some nice, some nice masonry.
00:29:42
Speaker
Doc's just staring. Oh, there is a seam. right but You gotta figure how to open it. Sure. Uh, next we'll start trying to work out how to open it. Trying with the sword worked earlier. Yeah, Nix, you kind of shoulder into it and it scoots back a little bit and then slides over just slightly into itself and provides like a means that you can step through. You see that there's a pretty short, like 15 foot long hallway with another door.
00:30:08
Speaker
and And as you slide the secret secret door open, you hear voices like from the other side of the door at the end of the hall. Nix will indicate that by gesture and to stay quiet.
00:30:25
Speaker
Are you going down the hallway to get closer to the door? or I want to know whether there are other means of other forms of security in this hallway before I do that. Smur.
00:30:37
Speaker
Smur. Smur. i've got Okay, so good. Okay, good. More. You get the sense that this secret hallway has not been used since the invaders have arrived, so they would be unaware of this ah secret hallway. You don't sense any traps or any pressure plates or anything like that.
00:30:58
Speaker
Okay. Nyx is going to move very carefully down the hallway. Okay. Towards the other door. right. Moving slowly and carefully enough. Don't need to worry about making a check. You put your ear against the door and you hear a...
00:31:13
Speaker
a A voice that has a pretty, i mean, it it is a reptilian-like style of speaking, like li lizard folk. yeah you You hear one of the lizard folk talking to a dwarf.
00:31:27
Speaker
They both seem to be speaking in the lizard folk's language, though. But based on based on the cadence of the talk and everything, Nyx, you'd probably be able to pick up pretty easily that there's some kind of negotiation going on, and it's going well.
00:31:42
Speaker
whom? For whom? All parties involved. Yeah, but good negotiation goes well for everyone. These are reasonable people. They're reasonable Soriat Madden cultists. So, okay.
00:32:01
Speaker
Nix cruise back down the hall. There's a dwarf and a lizard folk. on the other side of that door, and they're negotiating something, but I don't speak their language.
00:32:13
Speaker
But if we're here to disrupt that, well, that may mean that that's not the forge, but someone in charge will be in there. and you've got the sense that this dwarf is, i mean, obviously it's not a spider zombie, but it's not, it's otherwise... was speaking... In total faculties? hey He was speaking, so... Well, there you go. That's that's as much as I can give.
00:32:36
Speaker
Do the weapons that were being used by the dwarves, did those feel like they had Zori at part of it? They would, wouldn't they? Yeah.
00:32:47
Speaker
Okay. well I think I would assume that there's probably, if there's negotiations, it's probably I'm probably feeling a weapon or weapons in mass in that room.
00:32:59
Speaker
The feeling got stronger when the secret door opened. Yeah. yeah mean, if we're talking, i would I would assume that there's probably items in there. So... do But I... Does Dimitri know what the forge looks like?
00:33:14
Speaker
I've never been in here this far. I do not. Why did I ask you to? I never made a claim to them. Do we want... Do we check the other door? check the other door first? I mean, we seems like we can. Fine.
00:33:26
Speaker
Okay. Whatever they're talking about will eventually conclude. But I don't know if that's... him I'm simply laying out yeah that there is possibly a a time limit on how long they will be in there.
00:33:43
Speaker
And a strong possibility this is the only way out of that room as well, is back down this hallway we were just in. It's awesome. No. No. This is a door. This passageway was hidden.
00:33:56
Speaker
There's almost certainly another way out of the room on the other side of that door. Okay. I didn't know if maybe the point was a hidden room. No, this no one's come down this passage. Gotcha. So. The other door opens into the welcoming chamber.
00:34:09
Speaker
It is not a very welcoming chamber for the record. you see a hallway that goes down about 20 feet straight and then turns to the left. Do we hear anything? You do not hear anything. ok Is it just going to loop into the room? You only heard two people? ah You heard two voices. I heard two voices.
00:34:29
Speaker
I don't know that that means there's not more. Right.
00:34:34
Speaker
We can go down the hall. Because it seems empty. Okay. But if it's... I'm... I would assume it's kind of bending. Is it going to... No, I'm not going ask.
00:34:47
Speaker
was the Was the door at the other end of the hall also a sliding in, or can we... Could I tell how it opened? to be it would surprisingly bust through. It also looked like a secret door, so it would open the similar manner.
00:34:58
Speaker
and So sorry not quite as a shock and awe of an entry. Well, just depends on how we set up. and These doors were on opposite sides, right? you They were next to each other. next street So the right door led to the secret passage. This has a hallway that goes down into the left. Are you all going down those halls?
00:35:15
Speaker
We should split up. and ah Cover more ground that way. look Right. i for this while do me trade that I think it would be best to further explore the hall until we know that there is like a... agree. Sure.
00:35:30
Speaker
ae but So you go down and you look to the left and you see a door. the The hallway goes another 20 feet to the left. There's a door at the end of the hall. And then about five feet before the end of the hall, there's a door on the right.
00:35:44
Speaker
and i You should listen. Do we hear anything now? You don't hear any voices. How are you feeling? Are you feeling led? The feeling of Zoriad is getting weaker. Yeah, I feel clearer now.
00:35:57
Speaker
That's great. I feel better. It's also farther away from, potentially farther away from yeah where we're heading. Yeah. Like, I'm glad you feel good, but yeah maybe we should. Thank you. If there's a cache back in that room, then the lizard folk are picking it up.
00:36:12
Speaker
Right. We're getting a little bit mad. I'm looking at everyone. yeah You are one of three people whose opinion I address to me here. look Sorry. Sorry, Kaz. Wolf. was Very good. cityy Which also indicates that we would be busting into a room full of weapons that we don't want to use, it even in a pinch. Probably fewer of them than there are weapons. It's not like all of the weapons are going to be turned against us.
00:36:41
Speaker
hill But also, I could do something... Very unpleasantly surprising. Oh, sure. sure One would assume there would be more than one person to take all the weapon weapons home, though. So there's definitely more than two people. I would assume it's not just two people. i mean, it's conceivable that it's two people negotiating and they have cronies waiting somewhere. But yes, my guess would be it would be more than more than just the two of them.
00:37:08
Speaker
Does the... Because assuming there's a main door and then there's a side door. Do they... Does one look like more like, i don't know, like a dorm and storage closet versus like, this is a main room door. this is just like... They both...
00:37:27
Speaker
And I'm sorry, I misspoke. the The path to the right is not a door. It's just the hallway goes off in that direction. further So there's just a door straight, but the hallway also turns right. Would I, based on sense of direction and how far we've walked, is that passage to the right going to lead back around to that room that has secret door?
00:37:47
Speaker
ah You're headed in the... So the hallway to the right will be parallel to the secret hallway. You're still further left than... Okay. And the hallway to the right is far enough that we can't see what it does in its terminus. If it turns back... It goes about 20 feet straight and then turns to the left. To the left. so getting farther from the secret. So it will get farther away. yeah So whatever there is to gain in that other room, which may not be anything that we, we may not it may not bring us closer to what we're trying to do, but if we proceed down this path, that is an opportunity that we will lose. Yeah.
00:38:19
Speaker
We can go back. Is everyone feeling fine and us it do? Yeah. Yeah, golden. Okay. Okay. and I say let's go back.
Strategizing the Surprise Attack
00:38:30
Speaker
That was Dimitri. Oh, i am feeling much better. Catching my breath was very helpful. Thank you, Kaz. It's a self-serving question.
00:38:43
Speaker
Okay, so we head back to the secret hallway. Yep. And Kaz gets fishes in a pocket. It produces a ring. Do you want this? What is it? This ring will... don't know if it's legal.
00:38:58
Speaker
If it's legal? joke that did not land we're doing all sorts of illegal things what are you talking about because it small sixty or when you take damage this will allow you to allow another of us to make an attack okay sure and i don't usually have as good a view of a battlefield as you do fair enough You know, with the flying and all that. Yes, I'm aware flying. Well, simply with the... You're getting better at it. Yeah, it was really good. I noticed that you were under your own power. I went up there I got whipped. You stayed up there. came back down. Next, we'll hand you the ring.
00:39:40
Speaker
Thank you. It's called a Ring of Instant Vengeance, and it has a recharge of 16 after a battle. Kaz does not like the look of it, but he will not say that I looked it. Don't remember what it looked like. i Whatever it is.
00:39:51
Speaker
I could try to resize it when we get back. My family used to do jewelry, so could probably make it smaller. cat catholic too Another layer to the balcony. A family of former jewelers. It was Dwarven Ring? Yes.
00:40:06
Speaker
So probably like blocky, like it it almost looks like a lug nut. Like it's just got the... I mean those guys work with their hands. They got to bust it. It's going to be a big ring. It's going to thumb. Caslake seems like a thumb ring guy.
00:40:23
Speaker
As we return to the secret passage,
00:40:27
Speaker
Nyx will say, could... could Give them a very unpleasant surprise without any of us going in the route. And how would that make you feel? I don't want to discuss that in present company. If you're up to it, and do we just wait until silence of one form or another and see how well it did?
00:40:51
Speaker
That would be an option. I don't know. Or wait approximately, I don't know, six seconds? either Either way. What do you all think?
00:41:04
Speaker
Or we can go in and we'll all be... We'll have more force in there. My decision was based on an answer that I was shut down on.
00:41:14
Speaker
So I have... Do what you will. I also have the ability, prior to Nyx doing her unpleasantness, to render a number of the potential components unconscious once the door opens, just to make it a bit more manageable, if that would be at all.
00:41:33
Speaker
How often can you do that again? Once a day. Not once an adventure, I guess. It's so much harder to explain when it's once an hour. We were to conceive of this as a story arc, let's say.
00:41:47
Speaker
Once until narratively appropriate. That's also useful. We haven't found the bug lady yet, so I feel like that might not might not want to use that one. We're not going to put her to sleep.
00:41:59
Speaker
Well, no, but the bug lady's not going to be alone. is The way it works is it's teasers is it the the most susceptible to going night-night go first, so it would render a not minion from weak to strong. yes She looked like a minion kind of gal. if we pictured simy So I'm just saying, if if I were to do that and then Nyx does her unpleasantness, I don't know the nature of your unpleasantness, but on the bigger things that do not follow- You're not allowed to be in the room when I do unpleasantness.
00:42:26
Speaker
then I guess that is the answer to my proposal. We can do that, but he's not allowed to be in the room when I do mine. If we're going to, so we can't do both. So let's... I will take Dimitri back to the main room. Yeah, let's let's see what Dimitri's got.
00:42:42
Speaker
All right. I only need one assistant for this, really. i'm mi free I just need someone to open the door. Your cast chest actually steps up for that. Yeah, right. Everybody else...
00:42:54
Speaker
Worst case scenario, be ready to close that door as soon as we jump through. We're of the room. of the hall. if You're out the the other side of the door. this is ah this is We're in an airlock, so you guys can be prepared to shut the airlock if we have to retreat back down this passage.
00:43:11
Speaker
Right, so you're just going to open that. I'm going to do this, and you're going to close it again. Right. Great. So Nyx will look behind to see that Dimitri is not in line of sight. Body blocking Dimitri. He gives a thumbs up to the room. I kind of feel around for... Is this like rough hume still? Yeah. So I kind of feel around for like a finger pole going each direction.
00:43:32
Speaker
You all won't let her kill him, so nothing she can do is going in his stupid reports. Selena is distracting Dimitri. With conversation. With a raccoon. Do us a little magic trick. Grubb is doing a puppet show. I'm showing Dimitri.
00:43:53
Speaker
ah nix i am capable of respecting someone's boundaries and just not looking when they tell me not to look. Absolutely no evidence of that. Yeah. You've got a great grasp on boundaries. Thanks, Cass. He did ask. I did give him permission. He's going to let it go. but Right. I'm a you, dogs. We're all in.
00:44:13
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. All right. Next. Focus Dude, not made me roll to open this door. And I will, don't, whatever the equivalent of readying an action is.
00:44:26
Speaker
Yeah. I like have a whisper, like, you've got to say when to close it. I'm not going to look in there. That's wise. And ah open the door. What do I see in there?
00:44:37
Speaker
You see another dwarf in robes with a large staff. You see four lizard folk. And...
00:44:49
Speaker
They're not the spider face zombies. They're like the ones that you fought in the cave when you first got in here, the much more like less durable zombies, but you see 12 zombies. So it's, fuels it's the, the, the configuration everyone is you see the lizard folk kind of standing facing the direction that Kaz has just opened the door.
00:45:08
Speaker
There's one at the head talking with three others behind him. And then the dwarf facing away from you all with all of his zombies kind of like flanking behind him. So battle like metaphorical battle lines. They're all sort of one might say clustered up.
00:45:25
Speaker
Yeah. Cool. We're going to use a hellhound then. So yeah, Nick's just on the other side of the room. Whatever side where this thing will come out facing as many of them as possible. a wait, if we do this just right, like if all their attention is drawn to this thing, then it's actually going to be very explicable by where they are because it looks like a, just a a portal of fire tears open in the air and a hellhound bounds out of it. Okay. And Nix is close.
00:45:54
Speaker
May I ask a question before I close it? Yeah. If I draw from my bag and I get an attack spell and I forfeit it in in obviously ensuing battle, can I pop one off as I shut the door? Sure. Sure.
00:46:07
Speaker
Doesn't matter. well i mean i climbed I said attack. It doesn't count. Okay. right. I'll put this back in. Okay. So you slide the door shut. You better believe it. End of episode. As we were wanting do sometimes when we were just having too much doggone fun with this game, we went really long on the recording of this episode. So we're going to cut it off here and we will let you all...
00:46:27
Speaker
follow up with what happens for the rest of the recorded episode next time thank you all so much for listening i've been your game master eric if you want to financially support the show we have a patreon patreon.com slash the geek pantheon where you can do so over there we also have a discord the link twitches in the show notes of this podcast episode if you want to be part of the conversation surrounding the episode we also have youtube channel youtube.com slash the geek pantheon if you want to watch ttrpg related videos made by myself And we also have the Laughing Tree YouTube channel that Philip manages, where we have other actual plays over there, including Blades and Banners, which is Pirates in Eberron. Go check it out.
00:47:04
Speaker
Thank you all so much for listening. Once again, I've been your Game Master, Karrick. They been the cast, and we will see you next time.