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Ep. 56 Affirmatory - Bellum Draconis
123 Plays1 year ago
This week our adventures battle to save themselves.
Follow us on our Twitters - @FellowshipTable
Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
Recommended
Transcript
Dramatic Conversation and Podcast Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
I'm deadly, deadly, deadly, deadly, hold up. Do we really? You best get your armor back home, boy. I may be old, but I beat the shit out of you. Come on.
00:00:39
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop Ballon Draconis. We are a live play 5e D&D podcast set in the magical homebrewed world of Eryth in the Kingdom of Sleepguard. My name is Mark, hello, and I'm the Dungeon Master.
Character Introductions and Player Banter
00:00:51
Speaker
And also with us for this week's episode, we have Darren, who plays the High Elf Artificer, Rains Haddow. How now, Brown Cow? We have Will, who plays the human Eric. Emron? What? The human Eric. I am his eater, human Eric. Raising in the green grass.
00:01:09
Speaker
Callum, who plays the war-forged artificer Alpha, can get that one wrong.
00:01:13
Speaker
Hello, I don't know what the rest of this thing is. Ian, who plays the Tiefling Warlocks, Nyx Carell. Hey. We've got Danny, who plays the half-orc monk bro to bro. Oh my God. Oh, bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to bro to
00:01:45
Speaker
and also joining us, as you probably guessed, given that we've had him approaching and been passed out and unconscious for the last couple of episodes during the combat with the Witchback swords. We've got Will, who plays the divination wizard, old girl. Oodle lally, it's good to be back. We're up to a rich six.
00:02:07
Speaker
Danny, that's my next character. When Marota dies, you can bring back Barota, Marota's cousin. Barota Mokontusk. I got more, I got more skills than that. Well, really bad disguise. It's just Marota with a big mustache.
Level Up Discussion and Character Upgrades
00:02:23
Speaker
So on the end of last week's horrific mud methods, weather adjusting
00:02:32
Speaker
Near TPK combat near TPK, but not TPK. Well, no, just more Morota PK We I told you all you finally had the reprieve of leveling up to level five or four We'll have five if you want. I'll have five That would cause and the brain aneurysm for Ian having to figure out what level up again
00:02:56
Speaker
I've got, I've, I don't even know if I've done it right. Let's find out. We have played D&D. Nips has got 20,000 sorcery points somehow. Let's pile on, let's pile on. Come on, how long have we been playing D&D for? Five years? We've done this for three years, we've, no, I've set four years, let's say. Four years. Four years, yes, because, yes, because, yes. Yes, because. We can actually calculate our podcast time by children.
00:03:23
Speaker
What, like? And their birth. Oh, right. Yes, you can. Not as a unit of measurement. This podcast is 44 children alone. It's going on. We will pile on to my lack of D&D knowledge, carry on. Yeah, 40 years playing this, fuck off now.
00:03:43
Speaker
It's true. You know three toddlers worth of D&D. That's what you know. Yeah. But anyway, we leveled up. We leveled up level four and we're out of the little bit of the danger zone, despite what I throw at you. So I was going to run around and just let us know what you've done with your level, just so we know what.
00:04:02
Speaker
what to expect and so I know what you've done because no one's, no one's told me. So we'll start with, I'm assuming, oh Gail, you've already, you're already... Oh, you have divination. Yeah, divination. We'll keep that all secret. Yeah, let's keep it fun.
00:04:19
Speaker
We'll start with Darren. What have you done with Reigns for your level up? I was collegiate enough to send you this in advance. What I have done with Reigns is that I thought about what Reigns has achieved since he arrived in Goldview.
00:04:37
Speaker
He's now able to turn himself into a medieval iron man with Roman reigns puns and effectively that has allowed his big brain to grow. It's taken quite a lot of experimentation in the field of artificery to do that, particularly without his substantive shadow Mendian sister hold Lyceum workshop behind him.
00:05:02
Speaker
So in lieu of anything else or anything fancy, he's just added two points to his brain and now have a plus two to his intelligence score, which takes that to a score of 18.
00:05:11
Speaker
Very nice, very nice. That's a straightforward. And with a little bit of backstory there as well, Darren. Lovely, lovely, lovely. I'm going to... I'll be sure to pick one next. Callum looks the least organized. Callum, what have you done with Alpha? I'm guessing two levels in Barbarian, one level in Wisdom, two levels in Druid. I found a special feat that basically let me level up five levels. You found special feat? Yes, it's a special feat. I found special feat.
00:05:38
Speaker
No, I've been nice and simple. I have basically took a sharpshooter as an additional characteristic for Alpha. I don't have disadvantage if I attack at long range with a ranged weapon. My ranged attacks ignore half and three quarters cover. And before I make an attack with a ranged weapon that I am proficient with,
00:06:05
Speaker
I can choose to take a minus five penalty to the attack. If I still hit, I get to add an additional 10 points of damage. Very nice. That has hints. Um, Darren didn't think Robin did have that, but Alpha now have it to effectively become the Terminator by the sound of it. If I get my pistol back, um,
00:06:39
Speaker
We're just going to talk about this and make fun of Callum. Just to check though, when you keep doing this, when you keep trying to shoot someone up close, that's still a disadvantage. That's the crossbow expert feat that allows you to shoot it.
00:06:55
Speaker
It's also Gunner that would permit me to not have disadvantage at close range. And I think Callum said it, but if he didn't, to get that plus 10 bonus to damage, he has to take a second minus five. He didn't, he didn't. Good stuff, thank you very much for that then. Will, let's go, what have you buffed up with? I also sent you a message with all the survivors.
00:07:19
Speaker
I guilt everyone. But unlike the others have said, I've taken another level in cleric because the other guys haven't said whether they took a level in in what you know. No, I've taken a level in cleric from our level four cleric reached that nice asi and I have taken the feet crusher. Nice. So crusher it allows me to gives me a point of strength. So I take my strength 15. And then it allows me to when I hit people
00:07:49
Speaker
What's happened? Sorry. I take notes during this, obviously, as you all know, but the audience might not. And I've got Danny Wank sound. I just saw it there. It just made me laugh.
00:08:12
Speaker
So the crusher feet allows me to, when I hit a creature with a bludgeoning attack, I can move it five feet to an unoccupied space for the targets no more than one size larger than me.
00:08:23
Speaker
And then when I hit, when I score a critical hit that deals bludgeoning damage, the attack rolls against the creature I made with advantage until the start of the next turn. Ooh, girl, that's pretty good. So it's a half feet, gives me a point of stats and then some nice bonuses there. And then I picked up some spells and I picked up the level two spell healing, prayer of healing, which means I can heal multiple people at once. Excellent. Very useful.
00:08:52
Speaker
you know, given how much death surrounds you all.
Mystical Transformations and Celestial Discoveries
00:08:56
Speaker
Nice. Danny, over to you with Morota. What have you gone for with our little lovely, lovely monk? So level four monk annoyingly gets me slow fall. So all of that peril we had six months ago, falling off a cliff, I could have actually been okay with and it would have been fine. As well as slow fall, I took a sentinel attack as my feet.
00:09:19
Speaker
which basically is the ultimate tanking feat. So anyone who tries to get away from me, I can use my opportunity attack to reduce their speed to zero. No one can disengage from me anymore, so disengage does nothing unless they have sentinel attack.
00:09:36
Speaker
And if anyone tries to hurt someone that isn't me when I'm nearby, I get to hit them as well. So it's all about the tanking. Very nice. And again, it would have been useful in the last combat. Oh, yes. Burns your reaction though, doesn't it? Burn your reaction.
00:09:52
Speaker
Oh, lordy. He's not answering the question. Ian, Ian, what have you got with Nyx? All right. Ian doesn't know he's just doing it now. Yes, just randomly as well. I rolled a dice. He's now Rune Knight again. OK, so given everything that happened over the last six months with Nyx, especially the studying that he's taken place with old girls,
00:10:20
Speaker
magical spy glass wall crystal orb magical ball yeah he has taken because he hasn't got really a lot of access to his otherworldly patron from his warlock times he he dove into the only thing he could do which was that crystal orb so he's gone to try
00:10:43
Speaker
and imbue himself with divination where possible. And the orb has gone and granted him sorcery. So he is now a multi-classed warlock sorcerer. And the other wildly influenced from the orb itself is what's given rise to Nix's other magical attainment. There we are.
00:11:09
Speaker
It's great because just what Ian needs is like a highly complex casting cast. We'll see how this goes.
00:11:17
Speaker
Quite a powerful build though. I have no idea if it's powerful or not. I've chosen my cantricts and spells, one of them being feather full. So just like Marota six months ago, I wouldn't have had to suffer the death. You guys aren't falling off cliffs anytime soon. We aren't falling off cliffs. Give us a cliff mark. We will not die. I know. I feel like I should give you a canyon so you can just be like, look guys, look, I'm fine.
00:11:42
Speaker
I hate to point it out, but actually there's too many of us that actually one of us would still die with her before. Oh yeah, yeah. It wouldn't be Nick's. I've got wings, it's okay.
00:11:53
Speaker
So I'll be fine. So yeah, it'll be fun. Uh, Nick's like me learns as he goes along this campaign. He didn't start off a warlock. Then he became one. And now he's, um, he's gotten himself in with, uh, magical powers of the sorcery class. Well, fabulous. I'm looking forward to seeing how that pans out. That sounded really sarcastic, but it wasn't meant to be. I didn't take it as sarcasm, but now I am.
00:12:22
Speaker
No, no, no, not at all, not at all. All right. Thank you for that, everyone. We will pass then straight over if it's applicable to do so to our chronicler, Danny, for a quick update on what happened in last week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop. In the last few pages of our adventure, the party now reformed
00:12:43
Speaker
on the trail of an old companion, an old girl, who had been taken from his shop by the Ridgeback Swords, a mercenary band who found themselves in and over their heads. When the party came calling, the weather picked up something chronic during a conflict between the party and the Ridgeback Swords, a
00:13:08
Speaker
Enchanted storm appeared and seemed to give life to the mud beneath them, causing these mud methods to appear. In the dust of the combat, old girl now recovered, the party fully reunited.
00:13:32
Speaker
And as the final clap of thunder from this conjured storm dissipates finally off the horizon, or indeed from your ears, as almost a memory of what had come before, the silence in the forest again for a few moments.
00:13:50
Speaker
and the slow return of wildlife, the sound of birds, the sound of the rustle of trees, the wind passing through. It feels almost like dome, like you've been trapped in this. You know, like when you put your head under the blankets and like the air gets a little stuffy. The air's almost, yeah, feels a little bit, what did you say? Carbon-y. Carbon-y. Yeah, I don't know.
00:14:14
Speaker
Yeah. Is that what it is? No, I just like, yeah. The air was a little, is it like that? Like suddenly you've got some fresh air hitting you again, like reoxygenated air. Um, and you kind of, you can breathe a free air again and you will pause there for a moment in this strange, slightly hidden camp off the beaten road south through sleep guard towards Dralak.
00:14:41
Speaker
And everyone has stood in this kind of clearing around the now broken and tattered remains of this fire. The two tents stand, sodden with water, old girls still slumped up against a series of boxes to the south.
00:14:57
Speaker
and the lake just 20-30 feet off to your side as well. There's a moment's pause as Alfa Morota, Nix, Emron and Rains and one member of the Ridgeback Sword stand all looking at each other for a second. Rains, we've got some... Just to clarify as well, the Emron's not Emron at the minute. It's just about RP though. I'm still in Angel Farm, yes. I just need to check, I need to check that you were still... Okay, cool. Yeah, we've still got Angel Bay hanging around at the moment as well.
00:15:26
Speaker
with an angel floating around in the middle of this all along with one member of the Ridgeback swords and a currently kind of unconscious old girl at the moment. Emon is still in this angel, what would you like to do? Rote is just going to sort of stagger back up to her feet
00:15:51
Speaker
And then look at this blinding, like I presume there's like an... He just glows. It's not blinding, but he just glows, yes. Well, it's going to feel blinding because she's just got blood pouring from every space on her at the moment. Wipes her eyes and just goes, what the fuck is that? Greetings, Marota. I know that. How do you know my name? Allow me to feel your wounds.
00:16:19
Speaker
Come near me, creepy, shiny son boy. Chilwa, feel her wounds. Yes, I can. Fuck all this. Chilwa, I assume we don't have much time until you turn back, and I assume you're here for it.
00:16:39
Speaker
another reason that I have so many questions since the last time. Do you, what's your relationship with Emron? I need some answers for him because he has no answers. So sorry, Tom's the president. I know you ain't got much time. I am Emron and Emron is I. We are connected both beyond here, both on the physical and celestial planes. I am the
00:17:05
Speaker
celestial presence that everyone possesses on the celestial planes just as he is his physical presence upon this plane. Hold up, hold up. Are you saying that everyone is in the celestial plane? No, everyone's
00:17:23
Speaker
Blood is connecting him to the celestial... How? Powers. Through his birth, through his blood within him, there runs a celestial element and I, Tylwar, am his celestial self. So... Where is he now? He is here. This is...
00:17:52
Speaker
In Shadow Men, we call this the duality of existence. Have you seen this before, Reigns? No, no, no. It doesn't seem new to you. I mean, we had this after the fight where we lost Yander. Magnus, yep, you told me about this. Hurts that you didn't know his name. Alpha, have you seen this before?
00:18:23
Speaker
Not to my recollection. This is quite confusing, and I don't like it. Please return my dad to me. So this is a fairly recent thing, yeah? This has happened once, but it's happened twice when we've been in peril. I have always been here. It is only now that, as everyone faces dire mortal peril, that...
00:18:44
Speaker
my presence has become necessary. Does he consent to this? I was going to say, who's controlling this? He given the impression Till was the one doing it. He is not aware of his origins. He's not aware of the... Oh, he's going to be now! In his blood. He... Emron is... Basic. We probably don't have much time. Do you have anything that I need to tell Emron?
00:19:12
Speaker
It's time limited. Yeah, he's going to change back pretty soon. Remember, Imran is he is not a person that he may be confused, and he may try and fight against what you if you do tell him
Pursuing the Storm Creator and Character Backgrounds
00:19:29
Speaker
of this. So be gentle. If you do, but there is another thing. How would one go about telling him that he is an angel? That would be up to you, Nick Skarell, son of the
00:19:43
Speaker
Hells. Some of the Hells. You think he's descended from an elf? I believe he said Hell. He said Hell, which the chief linked origin of Nix correct would suggest towards his horns. Descendant of Hells, not of Elves. You miss Earth. Yes. I mean, are you saying that I've got a counterpart down below? I do not know how your blood runs. Your blood runs more on the surface than that of Emron, so it is possible
00:20:12
Speaker
I do not know. My knowledge of the hells and the like is limited beyond the ancient grudge. Though, of course, as a creature of the mortal plane, you're free to choose your direction and free will, so you are not bound by the laws of the nine hells and the demons and their... Guys, you've never seen me turn into it. More of a devil.
00:20:41
Speaker
Right? But there is a thing I must tell you. There was a creature, a man in the woods, controlling this storm that once beset you. I saw him as the storm faded. Whether this person was here by chance or has some other means or nefarious act towards you, you should be aware.
00:21:05
Speaker
Which way did it go? Maroia would be able to track. She's very good at this. Yes. You may be able to track the person. And now... And with that, the light will fade. And Enron will slump to the floor. Oh, good. Dad is back. Is he okay? He gave him a second. He was late last time. He was fine. Maroia must have...
00:21:35
Speaker
Well done, yeah. Geez, that went a bit south very quickly, didn't it? I'm in pain. She killed everyone. Like, it was amazing. She came in and just like... That lightning... Come here. Are we going to camp here? I can't move. Okay, okay. Camping is good. Emron, you had another episode where you... A what?
00:22:04
Speaker
You had another episode where you turned into... No, turned to what? What the fuck's with the shiny? You're an angel? You were some form of divine being. Phyllis Celestial is what was told to us. No, no, lads lads. I don't know what weird shite that lasses lads. Apologies, Maruah. Whatever weird shite was going on with the storm, you saw it was causing all sorts of bollocks to kick off. Insight check.
00:22:34
Speaker
Oh, okay. Um, Oh, I like it. What do you want? Mark? Cause technically M1 doesn't know. Oh shit. No.
00:22:50
Speaker
I can't be deceiving him unless unless so it's persuading you're persuading yourself as well as them okay you're basically yeah you're full you're going full caledon from that's a 13 kings by runners amazon i rolled a 12 so well done good roll um anyway um what what's less what's just oh uh do you remember when
00:23:17
Speaker
When we had that fight with the god Drake, and when you came back, I told you about that you had some kind of transformation that I didn't fully understand. Well, that's happened again. Yeah, I just assumed you'd hit your head. Fair, fair. Yeah, I would have issued the same thing. Well, since I was the only one who saw that, and I was quite emotional at the time since I'd watched two people die,
00:23:45
Speaker
Maybe I was willing to believe that, but right now we have a host of people that's in it. Why didn't Alpha see it? Alpha had gone into something of a quite aggressive state. The red eyes. Red. Red eyes. Yeah. Good idea.
00:24:08
Speaker
It is possible as I have no recollection and then back some sort of memory thing now alpha is that a part of I forget what you can and can't do. But so it's like could you just show of course. May I borrow a puzzle cube momentarily.
00:24:28
Speaker
Also, my hand hasn't left old girl's shoulder during this whole time, just seeing if there's any movement, any twitch or anything, but old girl's head would be uncovered if it was, if there was a back top. I'd laugh if he was like mouth open and Rain has been filling his mouth. That might happen, Nick wouldn't stop that. He wouldn't stop that.
00:25:03
Speaker
And what will happen is that he'll just drop the cape over the bag of holding, and then C will fly out and just come out and grab it and pull it in. And the studded lever will just start to recede and to range this quite fashionable travel gear as the wet armor gives way to the dry travel clothes underneath. And what he'll then do, still clasping the Rubik's Cube in the other hand, is he'll just throw that across to Alpha
00:25:18
Speaker
put some in the odd recovery position. You'll be alright, you'll be alright.
00:25:33
Speaker
Police say he doesn't catch it, just hits him on the head.
00:25:36
Speaker
I don't want to do a dexterity check. Yes. Head, head, head. Absolutely hilarious. Come on, come on. You need like a seven to catch it. I rolled an 18. Oh, fuck you can. All right, fine. You catch the thing that gets disappointing. There's no great, but he just catches the puzzle cube. I'm going to use my magical tinkering capability as an artificer. And I'm just going to imbue a little bit of energy into this puzzle cube and
00:26:07
Speaker
hold it over to Emron. Assuming he takes the puzzle cube. I mean, I'll take it. Right, what am I supposed to do now? As it touches your hand, basically a kind of a 3D holographic image rises from the puzzle cube of what Tillwall looks like.
00:26:30
Speaker
but my instant recollection, it's like the entire scene that is set out. So you can see nicks on the right, you down below the tents are there. And there's you basically stood in the middle as a til wah form. Okay. Right. This was mere moments ago. It just,
00:26:58
Speaker
I'm afraid I do not have the capability to create such an image upon my own intelligence. Are you sure? It wasn't the storm? That thing said that it was consensual, that you agreed that you're okay with it.
00:27:17
Speaker
This is crazy. You don't remember anything of this. No, no. It gives you no spark in your memory. If you really think hard of that name and celestial blood and angel and holier than thou, nothing comes up. No, it just... I mean, you are glowing, man, like blinding light. Look, look, can we all sit down for a bit? Because this is it in my head.
00:27:45
Speaker
Um, I mean, to your point though, are we, are we okay staying here? We did get attacked in this camp. Like everything's telling me to move on. Let's take old girl and maybe somewhere safer. Are we going to, are we going to talk to this fella and make sure he's all right? Because he's been, he's been down. He's unconscious right now as Nick's, he was waving down at the start of the fight. Oh, that's unfortunate. Maybe we can take him back to the shop.
00:28:16
Speaker
How far away was it? I can't. Not far. We were only following for a few hours. That's a good idea. And, and familiar ground for old girl. You know, he's, he's skittish at the best of times, maybe waking up somewhere that he knows he might think it's a dream. I don't know. Yeah, we should. Okay. We should check what these guys have just today. This is out around next.
00:28:40
Speaker
And Nick starts going through the pockets of old girl. I'll find out.
00:28:49
Speaker
What's that old girl got on him? That would be a hard place to store an owl. Well, that's happening. Yes, please. But one of the surviving members of the Ridgeback Swords has been busy making camp. And he's lit a fire again, and he's just been kind of pottering around a little bit, sheepishly looking around. He's put his long sword down now, and he's wandering around just kind of
00:29:14
Speaker
pottering and in one of the pottering actions he does go over to old gail juices you're starting to rummage through his pockets he clears his throat slightly and pulls up a little vial which he just holds under old gail's nose and very very violently old gail releases a massive sneeze and then his eyes
00:29:34
Speaker
Argh! In my eyes and everything! My mouth was open! Oh man! That was one of the best sleeps I done had in a long time! Thank you very much for that there, uh, you know, but I got you. Oh, what the? Who the? Argh! What the fuck are you? Who the fuck am I? It's Nix! Holy titties! It's one of the numbers!
00:30:02
Speaker
The gang! Oh, the gang's here! The gang's here! Hello, old girl. He stands up and kind of excitedly jumps up and down on his little halfling feet and he points over to you as well on the rotor and goes, I see you. I see you. I see you too. And oh, oh, yeah, you've got your old goblin daddy. He's here. That's nice. You brought the new guys with you this time. Oh, that's nice too.
00:30:28
Speaker
Howdy do, the name's on kill, nice to meet you. You haven't met yet. Well, technically I know yous, but you ain't seen me before. I seen you, holy boy, I know you. And I'm a puppet, you's looking a bit bare, I'll be honest. But hey, the gang's all back together, that's nice. Oh shit, what happened here? And he's now surveying the steam.
00:30:56
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good point. I don't think we've forgotten you and I'm just gonna grab the guard who's just woken him up and just take him over to a seat and sit him down. You sit there and we'll deal with you in a second. We went to your house, Gal. You've been taken by this lot. Oh yeah, it's like some sort of glorified taxi service. I ain't gonna walk. I ain't no walkie boy. These guys gonna take me where that needs to be. Hold on, hold on. Did you go of your own free will?
00:31:24
Speaker
Well technically they done did the taking me, but I knew where Daze was taking me and I thought, hell, I'm not gonna stop him. I get a free ride. I love you.
00:31:35
Speaker
I've missed you so much. Wreck me, I've missed you too. I tell you what, I did not think that I would see you fall in for over over there. Donkey Punch, you guys, you're the sweetest couple I've ever seen. We're not a couple. No. No. No. Right. Does it look like we're, are we camping here? That is not a future that's going to happen, sir. There was that one night when it was very cold, but we don't speak about that. No, because that was embarrassing for you.
00:32:04
Speaker
That was, yes.
00:32:06
Speaker
Well, now I'm really confused. I've seen you falling for each other. I've seen you falling for each other. You're in love. Just a question about the falling. Did you see the falling recently? Or has this been like, you know, before we met, did you see me fall? Because you could have told us if that was the case. Well, I told you some of the negatories and affirmatories, they come in weird shapes and sizes. I see it's kind of like a metaphor. I've seen you guys falling and I was like, oh, these guys are going to be lovebirds.
00:32:34
Speaker
No, so like two days after we met you we fell off a cliff and you know a little heads up would have been really nice. But I've been practicing myself and Nix takes out the broken crystal orb that you gave him during the whole goblin times. I've been staring at this thing trying to read images and the future because that's really like
00:33:01
Speaker
I could stop that shit happening. You got it to work in his hut, didn't you? I'm making some, like, this thing talks to me. That's my cracked orb there, boy. What do you want me to say? I'm just saying that I still got it. Well, that's wonderful kind of you. I mean, you can keep it all you want. Like I say, my new one's doing a great deal of good for me.
00:33:27
Speaker
Nix is just going to put it back with a sheepish expression as if that didn't impress his hero. Well, so we're on a sort of journey and there's the creature that we might be going to go defeat that might have some reward associated with it and we were told that you would have information about this creature so we went to your house because
00:33:50
Speaker
these three and then Rommel Jesher at Marota, Nyx and Alpha said, knew where you were. But I'm the one who, I led the group. I remembered where you were. We went to your house and it looked like shit had gone down and we were in there looking around and probably didn't want a good job. And Nyx then did his orb thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I looked at the orb and it spoke to me and we found like cool treasures. Did stuff. Yeah, there were treasures for us and
00:34:20
Speaker
Yeah. Well, diddly do. You done did some magic with my orb. I did some magic with some orb. Your orb. This orb. Oh, dang. I didn't see that coming. Oh. Oh, but they said, oh, OK. Well, I'm diddly, diddly, diddly, hold up. Do we really?
00:34:39
Speaker
Do we? Do we? Do we? Do we? Just, just, just, just, just, just, just, okay, calm down a second. I just realized we're being very, very open about our plans and where we've been and what we're doing in front of him. And I'm just going to point to the guard. He's still- Well, hang on. He did, he, he, he, he did help us. Yeah, after trying to kill us. You were trying to kill us, actually. Rains, let me ask- Hold on, let's start with the damn fight.
00:35:10
Speaker
You? How are you dealing with that? No, it wasn't me. Back in a minute.
Moral Confrontations and Survival Debates
00:35:15
Speaker
Fidelity test. Perfect memory. Who started this damn fight? It was indeed the Ridgebats. They fired the first arrow. Of course he'd say that. He's on your side. We did! I can show you their space. I can show you their space. All we were doing was taking this old man, unconscious prisoner. That's fine.
00:35:35
Speaker
Actually, why were you doing that? Well, why does anyone do anything? Money. Who's paying you? Who's going to pay you? Whoever visited the shop, he had any friends or acquaintances, etc. We were going to ransom him. You've been hanging around dwarves lately. With the accent, it just sounds very familiar.
00:36:00
Speaker
No. And I've got the rest. You mean to tell me you were working for a client without knowing who that client was? Yeah. What, how cryptic? You've not done that before. Insight check. Okay. She actually got some dice out already, shouldn't she? Would you say that you're just a nice guy? No. Let's not go down that road again. I've tried. My thing with this guy is how low can I get my voice? I mean, is your name Sean?
00:36:29
Speaker
And G have some beans and can you see you'd understand this is a gift. Okay. I got, I got a five. Okay. I got nine. You got to tell me what you're doing. He's lying. Okay. I'm just going to turn to the group.
00:36:49
Speaker
I speak mercenary. Just leave it to me. It's true. She does. She does. Like, what do you want? I'm going to take out my dagger. She's going to break his nose. My dagger and I'm going to stab him in the... Oh, I didn't see that. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm going to stab him in the hand.
00:37:06
Speaker
And pin his hand to whatever's around I Mean maybe took a lot of hits guys. Just just let her do her stuff. Everyone's gonna. Everyone's good. No Morata. Let's happen I'm not looking. I'm not looking anyone but this guy. What the fuck is going on? I'm gonna raise one hand back to the group and turn back to the guy so Enough of the bullshit
00:37:33
Speaker
I'll take the other hand unless you give us something that's actually worthwhile. Okay fine fine take out take out the dagger I'll tell you. It's gonna hurt more if I take it out first so talk. Arik Vossen. Lord Arik Vossen. He's a silent dominion trade syndicate. We're gonna meet him a day's ride from here to the south. He was gonna take us near the border.
00:37:56
Speaker
across the border to Dralak. And we was going to hide on that side of the border until a payment arrived for old girl. And he's got a caravan, a series of caravans that are traveling across the border in the next. The next couple of hours, couple of days, I don't know. I don't know if they're waiting for us. I didn't hear. He didn't tell me. And we was going to hitch a ride with them.
00:38:24
Speaker
Well, he's never met them. He's never met us, but there was a deal. There was a deal and he was going to take a cut and he was going to help us get across the border away from the surge, away from anyone who tried to stop us doing what we were doing, what we have been doing. Which road is the caravan going to be on? It's not one of the main, well, it's only one of the main trade ones, but one of the dusty ones to the west.
00:38:50
Speaker
I'm going to twist the blade a bit and say it doesn't sound like a name. It doesn't have a name. It doesn't have a name. Well, at least not a proper name by any stretch. I can show you. I can get you there. I can get you there. Look, he doesn't know anyone. He doesn't recognize. He hasn't met any of us before or any of us lot. Okay. It's the first time working with Rossin. All right. He's never met a single one of you.
00:39:16
Speaker
No. So I can lead you there. I can drop you off. I can fuck off. And then you could pretend, you could pretend to be us and then you could get your ride. But he's never seen any of you. So I'm going to take the blade out and I'm going to jam into his throat. And his eyes are going to go big. I'd like to cast healing word.
00:39:38
Speaker
And he's instantly going to still be alive with a dagger. I've got more stabs than you've got a spell slot. I'm just going to do it again. No, no, this is wrong. This is wrong. And he confused, looking at his face as he continues to fade out and back in and out and back in. I mean, I'm going to keep stabbing him. He stops moving. I'm going to take the blade up. So we know what we're doing next.
00:40:10
Speaker
Right. Agreed. Cool. Anybody heard of this Vossen? Okay. Sounds like something you would have seen. Well, yeah, like I said, I was, didn't see this version. I thought that guy was going to do the driving, seeing as though he's got the main route, but hell, you know, I don't get all the fermataries and negataries. So, uh, you know how to drive a cart there, Donkey Punch?
00:40:40
Speaker
Maybe. Affirmatory? Damn, we're still good to go. You can still take me straight across the border, get me closer into that there scorch helm, and we's laughing. I'm going to just wipe the side of this blade on something and put it back in my pack. So we still west in here? Oh, are we going to move on?
00:41:09
Speaker
Seems... I'll look old girl. Seems safe. Well, tell us you what. You give me 10 minutes, I'll tell you. Right here, right now. Oh, who? Er, Aliko. He summons his snowy owl out of a pocket dimension, straight on top of his head. Er, kind of, yeah.
00:41:31
Speaker
spreads its wings flies down directly in front of him and he just sits down cross legged plucks one of the feathers and kind of hovers it in the hair in front of him and he's going to start ritual casting a spell it is um the spell i think i don't know how to pronounce it properly i think it's augury augury augury perfect nix is going to mimic the movement of sitting down cross legged and just studying everything that's going on um and just
00:41:58
Speaker
for the sake of old Gelf. Over the next 11 minutes, he is going to be effectively cast in his ritual spell. And he wants to know that if they set up camp here for this evening, will it be safe for them? Obviously, the outcomes are for you to decide DM, either wheel for good, woe for bad, wheel and woe for good and bad, or nothing, depending on how you view it. But that's what Gelf's doing for the next 11 minutes.
00:42:26
Speaker
Fab, I'll go back to you with that once it's all been cast. In the meantime, Alpha, everyone pretty much, not just Alpha, what do you want to do with your 11 minutes while you wait for the response from O'Gell? Range is going to look at Emron in shock and discuss the callousness and cruelty that he's just seen. Emron will be particularly also put out and disturbed probably, maybe even angry at what Lenny's just seen.
00:42:56
Speaker
Reigns doesn't know how to process it, but yeah, he's looking at Emrom for some kind of what the fuck. Everyone looks angry, like he's incredibly angry. And he doesn't say anything. He kneels down, and he's going to pick up the body of the fallen person.
00:43:19
Speaker
I'm gonna go and he starts to head towards the west towards the little patch of ground between the Lee the lake and the green tent and He's going to look around find some kind of shovel
00:43:35
Speaker
And then he's going to dig a grave for the man. And then, because I'm assuming, Mark, for the purposes of this, that he is beyond any healing spell at this stage. Yes. I am then going to, once I dig a grave for him, I'm going to then cast the spell Ceremony as a ritual and perform a funeral rite for him. Okay. And the other...
00:44:01
Speaker
Pardon? You're doing the other Ridgeback swords? Just the one that helped us, just the one that helped us. At my point, yeah. Very specific. Well, no, the one before that, before Maroates has been. And he's going to do this, but for the one that, you know, when things did hit the pan with the thing, did change the dynamic slightly. And then I'm going to sort of go do this. And he's, unless someone comes and talks to him, he's just going to do this.
00:44:29
Speaker
Okay. I'll say probably in total, it'll take you about half an hour or so too. Well, yeah. Yeah. And then, yeah, it takes 11 minutes for me to cast the spell. And then as a ritual, I can dig in a grave. You could smash out in 20 minutes. Yeah. In that moment where everyone was confused in the aftermath, not knowing what to do. Morita would have just sat and said to allow Trevor, just give me a moment to catch my breath. And I will tell you why that was the wisest course of action.
00:45:00
Speaker
Rains, was there something you were wanting to do? Yeah, Rains will have processed that and seeing Emron goes off. Rains knows that Emron is dubious of Marota's morality as he probably has been in the past, but he knows that
00:45:17
Speaker
Alpha in particular has been highly affected by Morota and Nix's disappearance. So Rains is, without saying anything, is still processing how to handle this himself. He's just continually glancing at Alpha to see how he seems to have processed this very, very violent act from Morota.
00:45:38
Speaker
And how has he processed it? What do you think, Alpha? If you were to look at Alpha, you would get an expression. He'd been taking everything in, all the actions.
00:45:49
Speaker
He would actually approach Marota as she is trying to catch a breath and I will just do a quick cure wounds on her as I'm kind of like dabbing away the blood and all this kind of stuff and as I am doing it I'm applying a little of my own custom salve when you get 10 points of healing. Ah boy, thank you. As I am doing this I will
00:46:16
Speaker
just casually mentioned to Marota, I do not understand Emron and Reinta's issue with your actions. We needed information and your method was very effective. I think they're concerned with my method. But why? They're concerned. Well, we just ain't accustomed to seeing unarmed people get slit in the throat at a knife point. As I say,
00:46:46
Speaker
Give me a moment to catch my breath. Please. I will turn to Raines now. I will reiterate the method was effective. We needed information. We got said information without such perhaps drastic actions. That information may have been lost to us. I failed to see the issue in taking the most effective route to guarantee our success.
00:47:15
Speaker
And you don't see anything wrong with what, just... nothing? No. He was a danger to us before. He still held the potential to be a danger to us now. Now he is not and we have information. He was unarmed and, as Enron said, helped us in that fight.
00:47:42
Speaker
Reigns, he's not a soldier. It's not an honor. He kidnapped someone. All right. Just repeat this then to everyone if you have to. You don't leave the last person in a mercenary band like that alive because the first thing they do is they look for a way to make money again because all of a sudden everything they had is gone. So the first thing they do is they spill the beans on what they know.
00:48:11
Speaker
That person alive is a big headache for us. Now, as I understand it, you are trying to remain somewhat under the radar, is that right? Yeah, I think that pretty much has gone out the window. Sure, but also, you also don't seem to want your name to necessarily be negatively affiliated.
00:48:37
Speaker
If this guy goes back to town and starts saying, oh, this murderous bastard killed my entire family, my entire friends, that's a problem. If this guy goes and starts selling our names and putting contracts out, that's a problem. Do you see how I anticipated and stopped said problem? You put this guy back in the world when he has a vendetta against you because you killed all his pals. It's going to bite you hard. Just so you're aware,
00:49:07
Speaker
one of them escaped anyway.
00:49:11
Speaker
And upon saying that, Rains is just going to walk down to the riverbank and it's just going to start filling up hit flasks as many as he can find or get his hands on. He'll take emeralds from his pouch if it's nearby or collegiate and we'll just go fill up the water and we'll just do a ritual, purify food and drink just to make sure there isn't any coli or anything particularly nasty in this water as people are fighting in it. So he's going to just start getting fresh water for people, fill up hit flasks
00:49:41
Speaker
cast purify food and drink. But it's all he's got in there. He doesn't know how to process this. Particularly as the justification is in his eyes for nothing because one of them has got away anyway. Okay, thanks. Nick, are you all gelling at the moment?
00:50:03
Speaker
Yeah, Nix is just hero worshipping, so he's kind of going to mimic old girl. If he's doing some sort of wavy motion, Nix is going to do a wavy motion. He's also got his broken crystal orb just sat in front of his crossed legs and he's just kind of he's looking at old girl. Then he tries to mimic some motions and then he tuts at himself when he can't get it right. Yeah, he's proper like wide eyed.
00:50:27
Speaker
just happy. He's in a happy place. Nothing that Marotta did has fazed him. It's nothing he hasn't seen before. And yeah, he's just, just was what it was. Nice. Okay. Okay. You get a response, we'll say the 11 minutes kind of pass over and you get it in the affirmatory that this would be a safe place that there would be no harm before you if the party were to rest as you look
00:50:51
Speaker
into the wisps of time ahead of you, the tendrils of time ahead of you, the many multifaceted choices that this group could make. And this one is one that would be of the positive in terms of safety. Yeah. No harm before an old girl, that is. Yeah, unless I die in my sleep. Old girl will kind of pick a hoot up again very gently, pop him back on top of the top of his lovely purple turban.
00:51:19
Speaker
finger his mustache, maybe twirl it a little bit at the side, look over at Nick's and just say, oh, we can do the resty rest right here. If you're fancy, it's not a problem. Ain't nobody going to come down here and tickle your toes while you snooze. Hey, guys, we can do the resty rest here. Well, thank Alito. So, how you been there, Nick's?
00:51:50
Speaker
Oh, that's a real big question there, old girl. It's been a long time since we last spoke. Uh, I almost died. Uh, it was, that wasn't fun. Uh, bit of a life changing experience there. And, and then took any job going to kind of make my way. Uh, me and Marota, I would have,
00:52:19
Speaker
I've been lost without her. I see it in your eyes, boy. No, no, no, like that. Oh, girl, you can't. No, don't be pushing no agenda here. You saw us fall, but in the wrong way. Like I'm talking drowning, drowning, horrible water in the lungs image and feeling that I can't like it keeps me up at night. I haven't been out of sleep since is all I'm saying. So.
00:52:47
Speaker
You ain't, like, together. You ain't not, no, you're not a thing. No. No. No. Oh, dang, damn it. Oh, this fucking thing keeps playing with my visions. I can't be doing this shit. And he's going to kind of get up and stomp around. I don't mean to upset you. No, you don't know. You didn't do no upsetting me, Cesar.
00:53:10
Speaker
You see, the trouble is, you know, I went to set up my shop, there were wheels and woes. I was doing fine. I was making my prediction. I was getting lots of firmatories, lots of negatories. And then when I was trying to do my readings, there was something was just blocking me out. I was getting partial visions and then nothing. Like when I says about you being in love, like I said, I see you falling, I see nothing.
00:53:35
Speaker
just a big old black spot in front of my eyes, and I just gotta fill in the blanks, and it's my job, you know, sees what I see, and if there's something stopping that, then, well, shit, no one's gonna come to wheels and woes, old girls' wheels and woes, and get old, duffy predictions, no one want that. I mean, I'll keep it to myself. I'm not going around saying that old girl got it wrong. I'm just, yeah, it's been a, been a big six months. It's been to me, boy.
00:54:03
Speaker
This ain't the usuals. Something playing with these old misdivisions. I tell you that now. Are you saying that there's something bigger out there that's blocking you? In different words, I'm pretty much saying exactly that, yeah.
00:54:19
Speaker
Well, maybe we can figure it out. I mean, I've got my AWP now. So, you know, two is better than one. And I've been trying hard to study it. And maybe I can help you. Well, you've just gone, suddenly, without your years and years of divination training, just go and saddle up next to me, go and see further into the future than me.
00:54:47
Speaker
I didn't say see further than you, maybe just a little bit of a way. I mean, I mean, if I could have seen me falling, I. You know, just. Oh, I know. Oh, I know.
00:55:05
Speaker
But I'm not trying to be you or certainly not be better than you. That ain't happening unless you put yourself 60 years in the university, boy. You've got to study. I just don't think I can study.
00:55:24
Speaker
I'm trying to find my way. I thought that I had something with a kind of a weird blood pack that I made, and some powers materialized from that, but that didn't save me. In fact, that probably was what killed me, because I got overconfident. And so I was left with nothing. I couldn't sleep. I kept dreaming to keep thinking about dying. And all I had was your crystal orb. And you seemed so
00:55:55
Speaker
I don't know, powerful. And I was like, well, maybe if I can see into the future, I can stop certain things happening. Uh, so I don't know. I'm just trying to find my way. And this has been the thing. This, this thing, as he holds up the crystal ball and Marota have gotten me through the darkest periods of my life. And you're not dead, are you? No.
00:56:23
Speaker
Well, it's fucking working then! Keep at it, boy! Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, maybe, maybe, maybe I can help you, uh, with, with your blockage. That... I don't think it was something I ate. Your mind blockage, then. I'm with you. I'm with you. Yeah, I knew that. I don't know if you are. But, damn it, I respect that. Well...
00:56:53
Speaker
I don't know what this is. I don't know what it is. That's, that's why I'm on my way to, to, to scorch helm. Sure. You know, try and do the uncovering. That's why these guys was helping me. What I know in their minds, they wasn't helping me, but hell they was helping me. I got myself a comfy, comfy passage, a lovely bag. Right. So did you like summon them to you? Hell no.
00:57:16
Speaker
They just, I don't, I don't know what their ulterior motive is, apart from this, this here Lord. But you knew, you knew it would get you to the direction you wanted to be in. So you allowed yourself to, you allowed yourself to be captured. I knew it. I knew you were too powerful to get captured and you would see it. Well, they take me over the border. They hand me over to this goony goon and I just, you know, do my thing, raise my stick, make them all sleepies. So in order to help you, I'm hearing, I'm seeing a plan.
00:57:47
Speaker
We get you and hand you to the gooney goon and act like the mercenaries. Well, that's an option. Hell yeah. Unless your friend over there, Donkey Punks, is going to be stabbing up some more neckies. That's Marrero, being Marrero, that's, you know. Maybe, maybe, maybe we can talk about that suggestion in a round table environment next, because no. There's lots of like dead bodies. We can just take their cloaks and
00:58:18
Speaker
be a part of the Ridgeback gang. Unless everyone's got a better idea, this one gets us to where we need to go covertly. Let's put a pin in that. I can do acting classes. I can get you all there. I know. And there is a time and a place. Imagine Alpha with the Ridgeback gear on, trying to pass as a mercenary. Isn't there a little bit of you that just wants to see it, though?
00:58:47
Speaker
And I'm just going to give you a hard look. Just wait. Emron wants to say his piece, I bet. Okay. Okay, I'll wait.
00:59:02
Speaker
Emron, you've just finished completing your ritual and you've taken a moment to yourself, looked out at the lake maybe, and started making your way back over to the camp. I know you're on far away anyway, so you might have picked up some pieces of conversation or some of the exaltations or gale in the process as well as you make your way back over. Rains? Yeah, before Emron makes it back over, Rains would have come over with a fresh, purified water flask, handed it to Emron and go,
00:59:33
Speaker
I didn't like what I just saw right there, Imran. Thanks, Riz. No. If I'm really this angel that you guys see, you saw, then why the fuck couldn't I get him to come out to stop that? I don't know. All I know is that things appeared twice when we were in danger, not when others were in danger.
01:00:01
Speaker
I may have thought that the horror of what happened the last time it appeared, it may have been remiss of me to pass on a message, but it said something about your dreams being important. I don't know how to process a lot of what I just saw. Now least of all, there's still one deity of yours, or what the hell do you know they just do?
01:00:29
Speaker
I'm just a simple man who just wants to make his way into the world. I'm not one for wanting to be out and be in this great adventures or heroes or whatever. I'm not the bloke that... I don't know. I just don't know.
01:01:00
Speaker
there will be a time to truly unpack why you keep turning into this thing when we're in trouble right now we've got a what the hell just happened uh... what happened grains was wrong because whatever anyone says you know there was there was stuff i could have done i could have sat down with him and
01:01:28
Speaker
He didn't start out being who he was. I could have helped him. There are things when I train, when my powers, when Alidos, but my faith in Alido and the power that comes from that came to me many years ago. I spoke to the priests and they said there are things and there are ways of doing stuff. There are ceremonies and stuff that I can
01:01:58
Speaker
do with people to help them get to reset themselves. And he may not have been all bad. He may not have started out as bad as he was. Because he stopped his fight to save us. He didn't go and fuck off and save his own skin. He stopped. He put aside whatever was between us and him. And he helped his fight, the great danger, which means within him somewhere, there was a nobility to do the right thing.
01:02:27
Speaker
And then, and then, and then Marot has just taken any chance he had of, of doing right thing ever again, gone. Yeah. We can't move forwards until we've, until we've,
01:02:57
Speaker
Got this solid with them. I'm not even sure I want them before it's after that. I'm just going to get to her feet and gesture you both just come and sit. Are you by the fire? Yeah. Everyone will come over. Marines will follow.
01:03:26
Speaker
he will sit down but he'll be sat opposite you with the fire between us rather than closer to you. There's a series of stools that are on the fire now many of which have been upturned in the battle previously that have been returned and are placed equidistant around this now large warming fire. Rains isn't comfortable sitting he will hover around the same side of the campfire that everyone is. Literal hover?
01:03:54
Speaker
i can't cast levitation to a few more levels but it's coming dude just attune to the orb i gave you attune to the orb yeah just just pulls gravity into the sky anyway serious alpha 2 will just come sit down and it's kind of in between
01:04:21
Speaker
Marota and Emron, just at the side. At the side. At the side. I'm just going to go and stand in the fire. Dusty. I do believe I am warm. Do you want to look at old girl? Yeah, I mean, this is what happens. Serious conversations, something happens, another serious conversation, something happens again, another serious conversation. Someone died, another serious conversation. I mean, I'm talking to old girl, but I see you, Raines. I see you. We'll get to you.
01:04:51
Speaker
Do you want to, do you want to join? I mean, I know you're, I think you're part of the group. I think this is like, unless you've seen this conversation and you know what happens, in which case, give me the cliff notes. No, I ain't seen this one. No, I don't see any of this little itty bitty stuff, but yeah, I'd like to, I'll sit on it. Oh, come in, come in. I'll get you a chair. I'll get you a chair. And so, uh, Nick's all like kind of pat or girl on the back and then I'll show him over, pull up a chair, kind of wipe the bottom of the chair. And then there you go.
01:05:20
Speaker
They'll kind of just stand there and stare at Nyx for a while and slowly sit down and go, you don't need to suck my dick so hard, boy. Oh, God. Right, yeah, sorry, of course. And then Nyx is going to sit closer to Marota after that. There's a moment of silence.
01:05:49
Speaker
the crackle of the fire is all that you can hear a large log snaps and sends up a bout of embers into the sky above you still late afternoon a few small clombus clouds move across the sky and the bird tweets in a tree
01:06:21
Speaker
I was just trying to set the scene nicely and I ruined it. Crackle fire, silence. Everyone's just kind of waiting for the first person to talk. Most eyes looking kind of glancingly over towards Marota as she instigated the meeting, if you will.
01:06:39
Speaker
so it's worth prefacing that you are here in my world right now if
01:06:55
Speaker
list i checked telling the sleep goggles no no no no i'm not claiming to be a fucking monarch okay what i'm saying is that if somehow our positions had been reversed and we found ourselves in shadow mend i would not be comfortable doing what i just did okay so let me just speak from experience here i'll repeat briefly what i said and that is this was
01:07:22
Speaker
One guy left from a collective group. He was the last survivor. He flipped at the last minute because and helped us. But he didn't really see how it played out. This guy helped us because all of his friends were dead. If he didn't help us, he would be where he is now anyway. By him flipping, it's not a sense of honor, my friend. It's
01:07:51
Speaker
It's him trying to stay alive and in a really gross way. How do you know that? I know how these people work. I have worked with these people for decades, okay? You can't say that every single person acts the same way with any surety. I can count on two hands the amount of times that we have left sole survivors of mercenary groups alive and it's come back and been a much bigger problem.
01:08:24
Speaker
Because as I said before, this person, he goes back to sleep guard. He has no one left. He hasn't got his pals. He goes and either reports a murder and tries to get in good again, or he puts in a contract and we get much bigger fish on our plate. This was not a soldier. This was not someone fighting for honor. This was someone fighting for money. And all they know is how to worm their way into more money. So this becomes a bigger problem. And when you're getting into bed with someone like Vossen,
01:08:53
Speaker
This is a much bigger headache. So it's better that nobody knows anything happened. All Vossen will learn of this is that they couldn't overpower old Gel and old Gel managed to get the best of his mercenaries. Not even his. This is subcontracted. This is small Fry from Vossen, okay? But he was never given choice. He was given a choice. That man was an adult, okay?
01:09:22
Speaker
He chose this path. No, no, no. Your choice, though. You never gave him a choice to see whether he could have changed. He wouldn't. You could see it in his face. That is like the fourth or fifth mercenary band he's been in because of the way he behaves. But you don't know, Marota. How can you know what could have been now you've done what you've done?
01:09:48
Speaker
but I know what I can control and run. And that is our safety now. Putting him back in the world, letting him go about his business has a risk. What I just did eliminates that risk. And when you move in circles that I move in, it's about staying in control. It's not pleasant. And I've said a few quiet prayers under my breath.
01:10:19
Speaker
But as I said, I know how things work here. Shadow, not Shadow Mend, that's the wrong place. Scorch Helm, where we're heading, is okay, but... Why are we going to Scorch Helm? But no, moving it, because this is the general direction we're going, but the wider Dralak area is not kind, and it's incredibly dishonourable. This is where the scum of Aerith come.
01:10:47
Speaker
This was kind. And as I said, if this was happening in Shadow Mende, I don't know that place. I wouldn't behave like that. So I understand how you're all feeling. Well, how you two are feeling. Because you have this understanding of honor where you're from. And that's great. Good for you. Like, it's good that that exists somewhere in Aerith, but it doesn't here.
01:11:17
Speaker
You seem to think that we come from some honorable part of the world. Well, you found that a problem. You found that what I just did a problem, which is not about where we're from. It's about who we are. Sure. No, there are there are plenty of fucking gentlemen. Let's do nature versus nurture. Bring it on. This seems I am who I am because I choose to be. Likewise. This seems like a and sounds like
01:11:48
Speaker
diminished responsibility dressed up as morality and I'm not a... I don't buy it, Neroda. I've said my piece. I don't... I think everything you just said is bullshit. Welcome to Dralak, my friend. It's going to be grim.
Strategic Planning and Looting
01:12:14
Speaker
I don't know this.
01:12:17
Speaker
diminished responsibility, it ranges far more educated than I am. I know right and I know wrong. And I know at that moment in time, however you dress it up, that wasn't right to me. That was immoral. If your moral compass recognises honour, yes. They were wrong. And
01:12:45
Speaker
On your compass, yes, it was. I see that. I understand how that would be perceived from what your center is from. But my center is a completely different location to yours. We should decide where we're going next. We came here to talk to a girl about this roper.
01:13:13
Speaker
Or, Gil, you've now been asked to speak. Well, shit. There's a creature called a Roper that we've been told you have some knowledge of, you know, as well as potentially fight it to get whatever it's guarding. Oh, baby, I know it. Yeah, he wants the goods. I tells you, Oz, he needs to know, boy. He wants to know now, or he wants to know when it's going to count.
01:13:40
Speaker
both see the cryptic nature of it isn't it great looking around the group i agree what we need to know is is it a firmatory are you able to are you able to help us defeat this roper oh hell yeah right sorted then that's reach
01:14:08
Speaker
That's what the question is. Ropers before, or is this like a first time? You want to know how they work? It would help. Well, they're pretty ropey. Is that a joke? Yeah, that was meant to be a joke. Okay, calm it down, boy. I've already told you to stop sucking so hard. Tell us you what.
01:14:33
Speaker
Tells you what, how about, I mean, Donkey Punch, she's looking a little bit better, but she's still looking a bit worse for wear. How about you guys rest up? I do my thing, I do a little bit of looking and seeing, and I tell you all about it after a cheeky get down, what you say? A rest to be good. How far away is this Roper? Far enough.
01:15:03
Speaker
Insight check. All right, give us an insight check against perception or deception. I'm at 18. Oh, geez. Okay, I have a negative two. Nice. Minus one. Yeah, I didn't roll that enough.
01:15:32
Speaker
Old girl's not letting everything on. He's kind of trying to keep the stare with you, but he's not letting everything on just yet. Honestly, guys, his information is solid. If he says that give him a night and he'll get the information needed, we can trust it. We've experienced it before. No, I already got the information. It's just I've seen this play out two ways. That's all I'm saying.
01:15:59
Speaker
Oh no, we were gonna rest no matter what you said. Oh no, yeah, that's fine, but I mean, I'm just saying, you guys go in there as two separate teams and, well, let's just say that seven pieces come out. You guys go in there as one big solid, you're gonna be fine. That's a very confusing statement. I think he means work as a team, Alpha. We should rest, we don't wanna,
01:16:27
Speaker
As a unit. We should see what supplies these guys have for our journey south. That's one. We should probably have a what seven point. You don't need to watch, you'll be fine. Nix, I know you said I'd have a look at that orb for you so we can do that while we're resting if you'd like. Yeah, that would be cool.
01:16:57
Speaker
and we can have a good chat. Maruta stands up and says, I'll take the first watch. Raines, Emran, the Ridgeback swords and Vossen, they're slavers. Old girl was being sold into slavery. That's why I had no problem doing what I did.
01:17:27
Speaker
And I'm going to go. Just when you think you've figured it out, they pull you back in again. And Morita walks off maybe towards the lake or something else picturesque. Everyone's going to go over to one of the green tents. Do I find it? To the green tent towards the north?
01:17:57
Speaker
I'm just going to start searching through it and just clearing it out as a place to camp or find anything. Thank you. I could always rely on you Will to loot the place, which is good because I have a list of things you've looted. Loot to run away from that moral boomerang.
01:18:15
Speaker
Oh, and ironic because you have a boomerang. Right, there's a big old list of shit. There's a lot of boxes here and a lot of things they've got. Some of it is useful, some of it is not useful. I'm going to go through it once for fidelity and then a lot of it, I think it could be collective goods, food and bits and pieces. Some of it are specific items, so it's up to give them up. Maybe write down that you can fight about it afterwards, but I'll send it off to us all to sort out later on as well.
01:18:44
Speaker
So you start cracking open these boxes, opening up these tents. One of the tents seems to be primarily used as storage, dry storage, because you've got 10 days worth of dried rations, four water skins, some spare clothing, cooking utensils, flint and steel. There's, when you do crack open one of the boxes, there seem to be useful kind of camping supplies, but more importantly, there's a healers kit in there and a well-worn pair of leather gloves. They're not magical or armor-based, they're just a nice pair of gloves.
01:19:13
Speaker
One of the slightly harder to crack open boxes, it's kind of a metal-ridged reinforced crate. Don't have a lock on it, but it's just reinforced. They want to take care of it a little bit more, have a couple of more useful items within it. There's a single piece of studded leather armor. You've got some climbing gear in there as well. Two potions of healing, which are your 1d4 plus one.
01:19:42
Speaker
and a rather interesting looking silver-handled, hand-held mirror. Now those of you who are goblin episode people, don't worry, it's just a regular hand-held mirror. It's nothing magical about it. One of the other boxes contains mainly just kind of like
01:20:04
Speaker
brick-brack-in-a-kitchen utensils, a sack of potatoes, pots and pans. There's a fishing net and a couple of fishing rods with some hooks attached to it as well. A separate area around the side you managed to find. You did find, as you mentioned, a shovel. There's a couple of shovels, a couple of picks, 10 torches as well, and one lantern. Sorry if I'm going quick through this, but like I said, we can pass it back over later on as well.
01:20:34
Speaker
Yep, and what else do we find? Oh yeah, another useful box of goods up here. There's three almost brand new looking daggers, regular daggers, three of them. There is a set of lock picking tools.
01:20:54
Speaker
a group of thick woolen blankets and some playing cards and a stack of about six dice as well regular six playing cards you say you got it and with a deck of many things imagine oh god that'd be violent to bring in early
01:21:13
Speaker
Two final things. Sorry, I'm saying a lot of things. But the one final box, there's only one item in it. There's only one thing in it. And it is almost deep in hay. And as you kind of sift through it, Emron, you reach down and feel the small item as you pull it out. It's a small crystal amulet.
01:21:29
Speaker
And this amulet, once you attune to it, is the amulet of Gust. And basically, if you attune to it and you wear it, you can cast Gust to the cantrip. Do I know that from my iconic score? It's almost innate. Does it come with an extraction label? It's an IKEA thing to the side. It's like, put it on, and then it's like a fart coming out of it.
01:21:52
Speaker
You're like, oh, okay, understand it now. So they haven't got to do the instructions in multiple languages. It's very clever. And it's like, you know, I've killed that IKEA joke. Anyway, yes, pretty much just so you know what it is, more, more, more meta. So you guys, I mean, I've got a spell that tells me that, but thanks for taking away the roleplay. Luckily, well, I wasn't just telling you was I was telling everyone else here and Ian, you know,
01:22:15
Speaker
Ian's not tracking my clients, he didn't have to play. Yeah, it's a sensory effect, but it's a nice little touch there. And then I'm assuming that we have the mercenaries, the other mercenaries that are alive, sorry, not alive, that are dead in the forest and around the space. Do we want to have, do you want to look at the bodies? Or are we now suddenly really tempted? I don't know where they are.
01:22:37
Speaker
We're looting them now. Yes, yes, we are. I assume
Detecting Magic and Revelation of Magical Items
01:22:40
Speaker
everyone's kind of chipping in to this looting session. Yeah, I'm wrong at some point, we'll have gone through. Reigns, can you sort of check any of this for magic? Are you able to do that? No, hold on a second. I have to pull up the Rubik's Cube to see what he currently has prepared to be able to be cast as a ritual.
01:23:02
Speaker
Yeah, I actually can. I can tell you whether it innates the magic quality. It'd be good to know if any of this stuff is magical. Is it one of those things that you cast and it gives a radius thing to anything? Yeah, it's going to give you a conventional school of magic, so your divinations, your transmutations. It's just good to know, just in case these folk have anything dangerous.
01:23:28
Speaker
Okay, sure. NC, can you run a contingency check for any Arcanic abilities? And then C will come up and just up to Pulse. And I'll spend 10 minutes just casting Detect Magic as a ritual.
01:23:41
Speaker
Okay, thanks. Anything that's magical amongst that stuff will glow. That item glows, obviously. Anything else? The Mercenaries. Yeah, I'm getting there. Let me finish this a bit after I can close this page. Upon the Mercenaries, there are in total, you managed to collect, do what you will with this, 106 gold pieces. And also hidden in the pack of one of the archers, which seems a bit out of place slightly, is a silvered shortsword.
01:24:10
Speaker
that we never use. This is the one that reigns you magic missiles to death multiple times. There is also on a separate one a locket that seems to have a faded portrait of someone in it, but yet the picture has long since faded, but it is a nice kind of bronzy colored necklace locket thing. As you're doing your
Camp Setup and Rest Preparations
01:24:34
Speaker
detect magic thing,
01:24:37
Speaker
Reigns, two other items, even kind of focusing on the items on the ground, but two other items literally are like blindingly clear in your mind as you kind of, I imagine you see the magic and then- I think everything glows. I think it's a visual effect for everyone. Oh, for everyone. Yeah, NC kind of like hovers over it and it starts to glow like in the video game where it's like, come over here and Reigns will just follow the squirrel. Yeah. Two things are glowing incredibly bright.
01:25:05
Speaker
One of them is on Nix's person and one of them is on Old Girl's person is each of the orbs, which almost like you can almost, you can't really make out Old Girl and you can't really make out Nix because of these orbs that seem to be glowing really bright and they're kind of, ah, hit by the light as well, it's quite intense. Like a dog. Do you know when a dog wanders over to someone when it's just like really curious, brains will just whistle and then the sea will come back towards him. Don't go for stuff on people's person.
01:25:33
Speaker
Was there anything out we should be worried about amongst all this? Enough, and that's to hand. He'll say just glancing towards old Gullenix. Reet, at least we don't have to worry about picking up anything that's cursed or shite like that, Reet. Okay, where's Nick? I was going to sit down with him, weren't I?
01:26:01
Speaker
Sorry, just also during that time, both tents have been cleared out, bed rolls laid out within. You can easily fit three to four individuals within each one of them. The space by the lake is clear as well. Much of the bloodshed and bodies have been shifted. This is now a pretty nifty working camp. I also imagine, as you are well-traveled, seasoned adventurers, some of you, that the
01:26:25
Speaker
a lot of the shrubbery along the outside of the of the camp which shielded your initial view of the camp when you attacked when you were attacked when the combats took place shielded your view from that you stood up the branches on that to kind of give you like just that sense of cover slightly from anyone who might take that road down but you're a good 20 feet off the road and it's thick shrubbery and you'd have to really
01:26:49
Speaker
weighed in a little bit and then be looking for this camp in order to find it so you're in a pretty good secluded yet accessible position in your camp at the moment. What's Alva been up to
Nix and Emron's Reflective Discussions
01:27:03
Speaker
recently? In other words I would have been going around looting some of the corpses corpses and whatnot. I would have made a point as well just to kind of grab you know the clothes that were in the
01:27:17
Speaker
Um, one of the cases, were they like a Ridgeback uniform type of thing or. Yeah. Yeah. The two kind of spare clean copies of the uniform. I would have made sure I would have grabbed one of those and just kind of put it into, um, my satchel. Yeah. But no, aside from that, yeah, just looting everybody else. You've seen what's useful.
01:27:43
Speaker
And after we'd done it all, I would have head back to the central camp. Fair enough. OK, we're heading into a resting period, mainly because I gave them all to you. And I want some of you to use them, please. You don't have to, though. This is just me giving you nice things, and no one's used them yet because you haven't given you a chance. Might be a chance to jump into some of the magic items that I gave you, like a glabriel. Yeah, we stole them from Wheels and Woes to attune to any of the magical items. So if you think about that, hit points, et cetera,
01:28:11
Speaker
Spell slots, all your sorcery points, Callum, all that bullshit can be reset as well. Is this going to be a long rest or a short rest? I think we need a long rest. Short rest. Back on the road for a night. All right, warm up. Yeah, it works for you, mate. That's going to be taking place and we've got our shifts and we'll just work through a little bit of that evening shift and evening time as well.
01:28:40
Speaker
Yes, sorry, Emron, you wanted to speak to Nyx, was that? At some point during the evening, or during our long rest, because we're probably having over eight hours, we're probably going to actually spend more than eight hours at this camp. At some point, I will want to sit down because, as Emron said, he would with Nyx to have a look at his crystal ball. Well, you got me all night, Emron, I don't sleep. So, well, I think you want to do it, my friend.
01:29:09
Speaker
Uh, let's do it. Uh, that's at some point when things are quieting down, but it's on the evening and model sort of maybe I'd like to do it sooner rather than later. I, I, although I don't sleep, I will like to just spend some time, um, by myself. It's not a weird thing. It's just a, uh, like a
01:29:28
Speaker
mental break from the day's events. When others are doing other stuff, everyone will have found a point when perhaps there's just a chance just for everyone and Nick to sit there without a captive audience within five feet kind of thing. Everyone will be sat down.
01:29:45
Speaker
You've been through a lot then. Yes, I just want to make sure of one thing before we do this and Nix will run over to Olga. Olga, are you fine? Do you know what you're doing here? I know you're kind of new to this kind of group. Are we good just to leave? Do you want to hang out with me and everyone? You don't have to. You're fine to kind of do your own thing.
01:30:04
Speaker
Yeah, I'm doing my own thing. You do your own thing, boy. We ain't cuddling up if that's what this is about. No, no, no. There's no falling of any sorts. Just making sure you're okay, because you're the new one. Okie dokie. Okie dokie. And then Nix will run back to Emron. Just a little bit out of breath. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Yes. What did you say?
01:30:27
Speaker
You've been through a lot then since where? Oh yes. I assume you're talking about the six months prior. Yeah.
01:30:38
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you could say that. Face to face with your mortality, which brings in, I guess, and Nick starts to stare off into it like a far away non-vision thing. I'm going to reach under his chainmail in that light and he will... Whoa, okay, whoa, whoa, you don't need to... I didn't lose...
01:31:03
Speaker
from around his neck, the horseshoe and the book that was attached to it from under his shirt. Even though you'd gone and we never found your body, part of me knew perhaps that you
01:31:28
Speaker
weren't properly gone, even though we couldn't find anything. And eventually common sense said we've got to go. But when this stayed here, I didn't know. So I've kept it. Oh, everyone. Can I have it? You've been through a lot, Nick, and I don't know. You know, you've changed.
01:31:57
Speaker
And have you if you've changed in many ways, perhaps more than you know, or perhaps you do know, I don't know. But this was given for me to judge you. But you're not the person I knew when I was asked to judge you. There's definite truth in what you're saying. And I'm following you.
01:32:28
Speaker
So I think in this day of rights and wrongs... You're gonna do a massive right. I have no... You know you want to. I have no right to hold this boat against you. He's gonna hold out the horseshoe and the book to you. So as Nix was kind of playing off and being quite...
01:32:59
Speaker
Chummy, pally, smiley, about, especially over the question of like, yes, it's been a, what has been, you've been through a lot. There's a definite look of fear as you hand this to him. Yes. That's, that's, that's. I can keep it if you want me to. No.
01:33:25
Speaker
No, just because I have it doesn't mean I have to. Whatever this is, is a path and don't think just because I'm giving it to you that you feel like you have to walk it alone. If you need guidance, I'm not here to judge you. If you need guidance, if you need help to know the path you're on,
01:33:49
Speaker
I'm happy to do that. That means a lot, everyone. Thank you. It's been a. It's been a time. And there's part of me that really wants this and everything it contains to be the power. Potential power. Just just remember that. With great power. Oh, God. There does come.
01:34:19
Speaker
some responsibility. Yeah, but lucky for me, you're responsible enough. So yeah, I'm gonna end with that. Nix will take the book. It's a book, isn't it? Well, there's a horseshoe and then I imagine there's almost like a palm sized book that sort of attached itself to it, dangling from it that everyone's kept.
01:34:46
Speaker
together. Cool. So Nix will take that and take the book off the necklace and kind of just quickly flick through it. Yeah.
Emron's Vision and Cryptic Advice
01:34:56
Speaker
Yeah. More reading material. Did you want me to look at the stone? Yes. Yes. That would be really helpful. Thank you. And then Nix reaches into his pocket, pulls out the cracked orb and hands it over to you. So everyone will take the orb and don't break it though. Place it reverently on the ground.
01:35:15
Speaker
And then he reached into his pouch and satchel, takes out two lodestones and places them either side of the orb. And then he takes out a pearl, quite a large pearl, and places that above the orb. And then he takes out an alfeather and places that below. So there's now these four things almost like compass points around the orb.
01:35:45
Speaker
And he sort of sits there. Hey, hey, don't illegal. Oh, okay. You're doing it. Aledo. I come to you as we come craftsman. And I call upon your power and your we've been able to help guard my understanding to craft these things into what walls and what is
01:36:14
Speaker
And as he does that, you'll see the orb starts to glow and the two lodestones. So the first thing I'm going to do is that mending is cast upon the orb, which can physically repair a magic item or construct, but it can't restore magic to such an object. So if it's a magical object, it is repaired to whatever its previous state was.
01:36:39
Speaker
And then you almost see the two low tones glow and the orb sort of glows as well. And you can see the cracks, however it was broken, start to shift as almost, you see magical energy flow from everyone's hands. It's almost like he's crafting it in a forge, but without physically touching it.
01:36:58
Speaker
as the energy, he's using his faith to create almost like a metaphysical divine forge, using his faith for Lido. And then I'm going to cast as a ritual. Will, can I just jump in there really quick? Yes, go for it. Just to add to that really lovely imagery you got there, and as the lodestone's kind of fill up with energy, I just want to finish the image of the, oh, that's all right. Filled at the same time, during the energy passes into the stone, what I'd like to think is just because it is the cracked orb,
01:37:27
Speaker
As you repair it, it still retains internally a crack. The external surface is clear, but some of the energy, some of the light, whichever color you can choose, well, this is M1's magic, that feeds into it, it's kind of infused within it. So within it, there's this like hairline fracture crack that glows ever so slightly, but the exterior of the orb is now totally refreshed. Is it a blue stone?
01:37:55
Speaker
It's your call. This is to Nyx, whatever colour of the stone. Oh, it's clear. Sorry. Is it clear? I'm going to imagine, you know those marbles that have like the colours in them? That's what I was thinking. I'm going to imagine it like it's also down this red streak almost like a little flame within it. Essence of emeron in my ball.
01:38:18
Speaker
Sorry, yeah, you were casting a ritual. And then I was going to cast Identify as a ritual and everyone's hands will reach out and almost like the orb sort of almost is picked up by the magic and rests in his hand. So I now, I choose one object, if it's a magical item or some other magical imbued object, you learn its properties and how to use them, whether it requires attunement to use and how many charges it has, if any.
01:38:44
Speaker
you learn whether any spells are affecting the item and what they are. If the item was created by a spell, you learn which spell created it. And if you, and so yeah, so basically I know all the magical properties of this that I can then tell Nix. So whether it's active, whether it has been active, whether it was created by a spell, what spell created it. All right, cool. As you start to cast Identify on it, something happens.
01:39:10
Speaker
You feel the information, the surge of our iconic ability flow into you and you feel it's in its strength. It's hidden strength that seems to hide and the wisp of red within it starts to pulse that only to you. No one else seems to look at this oddly. Well, Nix doesn't seem to look at it oddly. It's just to you, Emron, to begin with.
01:39:32
Speaker
very slowly your heart starts to beat faster as this wave upon wave of energy starts hitting you again and again you can hear your heartbeat your eyes start to dim and phase and suddenly you are in this grand temple only you dressed in white shirt linen trousers no weapon at your side no friends by your side and in front of you
01:40:04
Speaker
is a... looks like an ancient gnome. Long, deep, gnarled beard. Wisps of curled white hair seem to froth out from his head and down. He stands looking at you, confused for a second. Hello, wise one. And may I ask why you are here?
01:40:35
Speaker
Young man! I was holding an orb. Don't stutter! Trying to help a friend understand what this orb did. Or does. Or can do. Or has done. Then you at Horacles have you just said to me, which one do you need answering?
01:41:01
Speaker
Speak! Ah, greedy, greedy, letting everything know, no one hidden any more, nothing unknown in the world. And suddenly all becomes clear, but all becomes black. Fool your house. Is anything ever clear? As clear as the water of mud, as I can say, off the coast of Goldview in these days, or as clear as the mind of the Blight, that you're too young to even appreciate it.
01:41:29
Speaker
where I from from the the black was a world away yes yes yes we know across the water near the place with the big chasms and the goobies and the water people in the sea and the rising revolution and the dying people and the elves and the good and the bad and the death and the bad I get it yes very new very exciting very fun very fun tell me young man what do you intend to do now well I was doing this for a
01:42:01
Speaker
For a friend, welcome. No, no, no. What do you intend to do now, given what's happened? What, me being here? No, no, stabby throat, death, kill man, moral question, big thing, you know. You seem a bit confused by it all. That, yes.
01:42:18
Speaker
And it's almost like a, cause then whilst doing this, it almost pushed that part aside from his face and relaxed. And he almost, he was enjoying what he was doing with Nick's. And almost like a dark shadow almost then crosses back over his face. Why are you speaking in the third person? I can hear all this, you know. The written foot to audience. Brilliant. I don't know how to,
01:42:48
Speaker
deal with that. This has been a day of revelations and angels and whatever else. I know what Marotta did was wrong from what I knew or what I know. She's right, perhaps. The way I see world in black and white is different. I know folks see it in grays and I know what is right and what is wrong.
01:43:18
Speaker
Prep, work, world. All I know is we've got a job to do, we've got something to do. Fabulous! Nice to meet you. Grand Chronomancer Johan Veritas. You might know a companion of mine. You'll never guess. Would it be someone called Old Girl? No.
01:43:46
Speaker
Oh, I'm M Ron. Pleased to meet you. Nice to meet you. Not. I don't know that person. Someone else maybe. Nevermind. The question you have is this orb you are holding or trying to attune or find information about. It doesn't concern you.
01:44:03
Speaker
Let's just say it's not for you to worry about. I'm not going to tell you what it is. You aren't going to find anything about it. I will block it. Blocked, blocked, stopped. No more. No luck. Good luck. Goodbye. That's what will happen. Why? None of your damn business. Why?
01:44:23
Speaker
because there are things bigger than you and stabby throats you know no look at me teen angst I've got things to do people to see and if I try and give too much away things don't happen and if things don't happen
01:44:38
Speaker
There's something up with your parents, Marty. No, things don't. His voice was changing. Things don't happen. Problem don't happen. Things are coming. You're like old girl. Your, um, person sees into future, aren't you? I don't know this old girl. Spits on the floor. Marble the floor. It's green. But as in the spit, not the marble. I don't know anyone called, oh, oh girl. Oh girl.
01:45:03
Speaker
Old girl. No, I'm a man. Look at me in my beard, you fool. He's a norm. He has an owl. No. Ah, yes, OK. I don't know why he's using that name. What is his name? Well, to you, it's Old Girl. No, no. But what name do you know him by? Well, it's some of your business. That's nothing. That's not concerning you.
01:45:29
Speaker
Why does it change you, what I think of them? Do you need to know what I call you? It went behind your back? Well, yes, I'd like to. Simple as this. You step on up of your time. Though it's immaterial, you'll go back and nothing will have changed. You'll blink your eyes and Nix will still be there staring at you like some full-on child wishing he was an old man who could see into the future. Simple as that. What I'm here to tell you is... And he's going to take a step forward and it's Nall Cain he's going to point at you and he'll go, back off!
01:45:59
Speaker
And give back the orb! And don't make me come back here and tell you again! Is that clear, young boy? But there's a reason for everything.
01:46:11
Speaker
I want to try and help Nick to understand what it is he's got. Oh, for God's sake. Yes, there's a reason for everything. You have fart on one side of the world and someone trips off a cliff on the other. Simple as that. If you look hard enough, everything has a damn reason. The fact is, some things just happen. OK? And you can make connections if you want, or you can just move on with your bloody life. Right? So too much. Now that thing's not going to happen, and it's going to fall. So well done to you, Emron.
01:46:40
Speaker
Right. Before I... Oh, shut up. If there's anything else going to happen... If I tell that, have you heard nothing? Have you listened to me one bit? This is why I don't talk to you people. You can't get it. You fool. Right? Finally. Leave the orb alone, you bitch. Do you hear me?
01:47:01
Speaker
not for you bad boy put it down down who's it for down not not for you stop it all right that's all i'm gonna say i'm gonna go now don't mess with the orb again
01:47:21
Speaker
You hear me? Cheerio. Cheerio me. Youth of today. The youth of today. Turn around and mutter and then your eyes are just going to blink and you'll be back looking at the orb as Nix is going to just be kind of looking on at you kind of expectantly seeing what's happened. You're still upright. It literally has been like a blink of a second. The fire's still crackling. Everything still remains the same. Oh, whoa. Ed Rush. Ed Rush.
01:47:51
Speaker
Go on a trip. Yeah, something like that. There was this Johann Veritas, some kind of chronomaster. Old man. Old man, yeah. He seemed to know old girl, but not by old girl's name. Really weird. That's never happened before.
01:48:20
Speaker
Did you find anything out other than that? The orb is not for me to mess with, apparently. But you repaired it. I have fixed it for you. That's amazing. It's just what I can do. That's very, very cool. And you fixed my orb.
01:48:41
Speaker
OK, so you can't tell me anything else. I am sorry for that. Everyone, you fixed my orb. This is this is huge. This is a great day. And you've given me
Friendship and Understanding Between Nix and Emron
01:48:51
Speaker
my I guess my patron. Is he still a thing, do you think? Who knows? I'll find that out. But you've given me you give me many gifts.
01:49:06
Speaker
Maybe we can talk to Gell about this veritas at some point. I probably shouldn't talk to old Gell as much as I am doing. I don't know if he likes that. I think he thinks that I'm a bit of a freak. I don't want that. It's nice to see you talking like more of your old self. Thanks. I know.
01:49:32
Speaker
Listen, everyone, I and Nix will reach over and they'll put a hand on top of yours. There's so many things I need to catch you up on over the last six months, and now's not the time, especially given everything going on. And there's still I can sense the fractious nature of this group. Sufficient to say that I've dealt with a lot of
01:50:02
Speaker
Dark, dangerous people. Over my lifetime, yes, specifically more within these six months. And it's just told me how good your nature is. And I see it more now that we're hanging out again, and it's really good to see you. And so I know that the core of you comes from
01:50:32
Speaker
a rather pure play. I mean, I knew that before the celestial turned up, but, you know, that just kind of underlines it. There's something pure within you. And I see that. So I needed to tell you this. Marota did what she did tonight to protect all of us. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her.
01:51:01
Speaker
The last six months, she saved my life and kept me going. And she's got a past that explains her actions and whether or not you agree with it in the current circumstance, that's for you. I know it's a big reach to ask, to trust her.
01:51:31
Speaker
but she has a reasons and it would be to protect us. I've seen it firsthand, countless of times. Just have some faith. I can appreciate what you're saying next. I'm not asking you to change your mind. I know you're not. I'm just telling you she has a reasons. And that's fine. And same as you have yours. From my, I know that
01:52:01
Speaker
People do things for what they think are good reasons. But the ends don't always justify means. No. A little act here for a greater good. Does that make the good less? There's two situations. One, she killed him.
01:52:31
Speaker
And we survive. And that is 100%. As long as she kills him, we survive. There's another situation, the Grey, where we don't know what happens if we allow that person to live. But we judge on the situation of he was trying to kill us.
01:52:52
Speaker
And he was doing what was in his best interest at the very end of a fight. That still doesn't make it trustworthy. So Marota, her instinct is to go for the 100% certainty. And that comes from a life of hard knocks. She has her reasons.
01:53:15
Speaker
I understand where you're coming from. I really do. And I'm not here to add some fuel to the flames or to make it more fractious. It's just to let you know she has a reason. And I wouldn't be here if she didn't have those reasons and used them and relied upon them.
01:53:38
Speaker
Hey, but I mean, I really, this orb and this, I'm going to go and study up on everything that you've given me. I'm really glad my hand comes off yours. I'm really glad that we're back. I'm back in with you guys. Like
Orb's Importance and Divination Magic
01:53:56
Speaker
I said, I've met a lot of nefarious people and I know that you're not one of them. So I'm glad to be fighting alongside you again. Hopefully I'll be more of an aide now. Thanks to you. Cheers.
01:54:09
Speaker
OK, and with that, Nix is going to stand up, kind of dust himself off and walk away and try and find an area which is kind of like elevated, I guess, on the scene. And he's just going to kind of sit there and study the orb, study the book and just keep a gentle eye and watch and go into his kind of
01:54:39
Speaker
sleepless stance which he's been in for the last six months and he still assumes he can't sleep because he came close to death and it's just now part of his life. There we go.
01:54:54
Speaker
Nice. Okay. Um, sorry to shoehorn this ever so slightly, but, uh, before that, before you go into your stance stance, um, okay. Well, did you want to talk them through some of the stuff, um, that you wanted to talk them through before? Yeah, there was a, there was a couple of little things that I wanted to do whilst the rest was happening. One was to head over to reigns, um, just quickly and just kind of stand semi awkwardly in front of him, just kind of staring into his face until he responds. Brilliant.
01:55:26
Speaker
Rains is currently watching some iconic symbols appear on the Rubik's cubes and appearing on NC and will then just immediately just with an eye glance down at this halfling who's just come over turn back to the Rubik's Cube for a second glance back oh he's still staring oh girl how may I help you
01:55:52
Speaker
Well, there's a couple of things that you can do, but let me just tell you this. I done been told that you've been rummaging through my things, is that right? Rummaging through your what now? Rummaging through my things, you know.
01:56:09
Speaker
Arachne back there he came up and he told me that you guys been in my house and just gone doing a little bit of rummaging well I've just been taking a little bit of time to look into this here see all but I've just been trying to work out what's gone gone and I don't think I'm the only one with all but I'm not talking about him oh it was
01:56:30
Speaker
Well, Nick started looking through things and stuff rather than to materialize. And yeah, you're not wrong. Raines will fool you all about the bag of holding. This thing. You know how to use that, boy? Absolutely not. Though I am most excited to find out. Well, you best get learning because you's gonna need it. I am.
01:56:54
Speaker
You is. I shit you not. You don't do nothing with that orb. These boys gonna die. And this lady over here don't keep on your course. All right. Fair enough. Just trust me. I'm all sold on your magic. We have one of the finest universities, one of the finest lysims in the known world for divination and shit. I've never practiced it myself.
01:57:23
Speaker
My family's put a lot of stock in your craft, or at least it used to. What's that supposed to mean?
01:57:33
Speaker
Oh, it means that... Was this used to shit? Oh, sorry. Yeah, of course. My family used to have a line of expert soothsayers and diviners that would be trained at the Lyceum to help the Haddo line, understand the world around them, understand the future, and help safeguard the kingdom. But my father got tired of that and decided to have them all thrown into a nice big hole. And they didn't see that coming? Yes, they didn't.
01:58:03
Speaker
Well, there we go. You ain't looking at the right diviners. That's all I'm saying now. You, uh, you gonna need that. Trust me, you don't use that tomorrow. And, uh, well, maybe not tomorrow. I mean, I just need to consult my old Wednesday's get there. That's all I'm saying. You get on that. You see now for about here. He's probably around somewhere, but to, uh, answer your question, it weren't that they didn't see it coming. I knew one of them. He said that.
01:58:32
Speaker
something powerful
Goblin Management and Battle Preparations
01:58:33
Speaker
was blocking their ability to see anything well no shit oh damn so um there's that look there's a giant um gorge canyon you want to call around shadow man many many years ago a wizard he served my ancestor hello the second went by the name of sort mayor and uh
01:59:01
Speaker
Shadowman used to be like the jungles to the east, and he turned the land to some kind of magical desert. It's quite volatile, the plains of Shadowman. Some say that his magic still holds true, and that someone else had learnt how to wield it, and that's how they were able to... You're a man of the world, aren't you, old girl? Well, in a sense.
01:59:30
Speaker
Well, you know enough that a type of magic that can purely block the type of magic that you practice, like just shut it down. That would have to be powerful, right? Oh, hell yeah. It's got to be all the super duper powerful stuff. That's what, well, I'll let you into a little secret. Well, it's not supposed, it's not a secret, but I think I know exactly what you're talking about. There's some blocky stuff happening. It's not the good kind. Yeah, well.
01:59:59
Speaker
Whoever was doing it in shadow, man, ain't no friend of mine. Well, looks like you got yourselves a partner there, Dan. I'm a puppet. All right, fair enough. You just, uh, you work out how hefty Bobbers all bought, and, uh, we'll see about it on tomorrow. I'll, um, make sure to do that tonight.
02:00:27
Speaker
I'm a fan of the novel and the iconic, and this happens to do both of those things, so I'm... I appreciate this. Ain't nothing novel about that. That's some powerful shit. I'll keep that in mind. Yeah, Jibaba Fizz Whizzle, he just... you made that up there for you. He's the real deal. Just saying. I don't know who Baba Fizz Whizzle is, but... Jibaba Fizz Whizzle. Okay, I don't know... I don't expect you to know him. Okay, fine.
02:00:58
Speaker
I'm going to give this some time and thought that it needs. I'll leave you to it. Alpha's going to be somewhere staring at something, processing. I got an idea. I got a really good thing that usually gets the attention of the people that I need, and they'll turn around and go,
02:01:25
Speaker
Range will just kind of like, as the two Rubik's Cube fall on the floor, that voice just goes right through him. Oh, that's... That works. Yep, I'm sure that's right. Alpha! Just so we don't do that again, can you get out here, please? A wonderful image of just, you don't see Alpha at all and all of a sudden you see his head pop out behind a tent or something like that. It's like almost out of no way his head comes out. Yeah.
02:01:54
Speaker
Yes, of course. Goblin Daddy, just a man. Quick word? Of course, I'll get it. It is a pleasure to see you again. Likewise. You were you going to keep that rage behind your eyes? You're going to keep that locked up or is that that coming out to play? What are we doing? It does seem to expose itself every now and then. It is sometimes difficult to control. No, I hear you. I hear you. So I'm just going to let you in on a little thing that I've seen.
02:02:24
Speaker
What you doing with those boars we done found underneath that mansion? My goblin friends. They are continuing as they did before. Oh, good. Just attempting to gather gold and other miscellaneous items, but now they seem to do it for me to a certain extent. It is rather unusual. You sure that they're doing everything for you now?
02:02:54
Speaker
I still prefer to think they are doing things for themselves. Well, let's just put it this way. Those little photos, little green gobbles, they need someone's in charge. And if
Conclusion and Future Plans
02:03:05
Speaker
you ain't given the orders, they's going to find someone who can. Really? Oh yeah. I can send them a message right now. You want to send me a message?
02:03:17
Speaker
I have sent them messages myself, but I believe they would recall you as well. What message would you like to send? You just need to show you the big goblin daddy that you is, otherwise they don't find someone to replace you. I've seen it. What actually would you recommend? Just when you're done doing all the shit here, you just don't know. Go on, go full red-eye, show them who's boss.
02:03:42
Speaker
Well, I send a message, I tell them to watch their backs for you. You see, these little green boys, they react to power, see? Not so much the kind of, oh, just do what you like, it's all fine. No, they need someone who's in charge. They need someone who's powerful. You know what I'm saying?
02:04:05
Speaker
So you believe a more aggressive stance in being the leader of their goblin clan would be the most appropriate action? Not all the time. I'm just saying, you just gotta, you know, gotta make them sure they know who the big metal boy is. Time to time. Very well. I shall send them... I shall send them a message. Also, if they go rogue, they're gonna tear my shit up. They know where I live, boy.
02:04:35
Speaker
Kind of like I tell you this and you help me out kind of thing, you know what I'm saying? I will instruct them quite happily to leave you alone. Okay, fair enough. Well, that's all I have to say. I thank you very much for your advice. I am unaware as to how to take care of goblins after never having took care of them before. Well, you took care of their leader, that's for sure. You beat the shit out of him.
02:05:02
Speaker
I still maintain that was a group effort rather than just my sole actions. Well, you are a very noble man there, Alpha. Fair enough. Bye! And he's going to turn. Oh dear.
02:05:20
Speaker
Fantastic. Sorry if it was about one final time, Will. No, that's fine. As the rest goes on and as people kind of do their shit and kind of get themselves all gathered, what old girl will do is he'll kind of just plant his staff into the middle of the circle and kind of just be standing super close to it, eyes looking into it. And what he'll do is he'll just say,
02:05:52
Speaker
Yeah, I think we've got this one in the bag. Everyone plays their role. You want to know how to beat this roper? Very much. Is this powerful? Well, we ain't doing it right now, but I might as well tell you right now. You come with me. We're going to fight this boy. There's a couple of, you know, itty-bitty things that you might need to pay attention to if you want to beat this thing. First things first, these ropers,
02:06:23
Speaker
Oh, they don't like the streams, they don't like the lakes, they don't like the rain. You put some of that streams or rain or any sort of that stuff in them days, gonna get all, whoo, get the heeba jeebies and you know, they's not gonna do fighting too well. That's rule number one. Rule number two. Well, this is the thing.
02:06:47
Speaker
this this thing yeah he's got some good stuff with him but he's also got some uh stuff that's gonna keep him all powerful see and uh he's gonna need to do some luring i don't know if anyone brought their fishing rod but that's probably a stupid idea but he's gonna have to drag that bitch from where he sit otherwise this gonna be a difficult old fight
02:07:11
Speaker
Trust me. And where's we going as well? It's all Sharpie Sharp too. So keep an eye out for that because that's gonna act badly on us, but I don't know, we could use some of those Sharpie Shops to our advantage. Is that? And he's kind of looking into the orb whilst this is going on. Really? Is that it? Okay, no, there's one more thing. Shit.
02:07:37
Speaker
Hey you, holy boy, and he'll turn to face you, Imran. You give off some light, yeah? Aye, I can cast light and make me amaglow. Can you take a beating? Pardon? Can you take a beating, boy? That's what I'm asking you, take a whoopin'. I've been known to be able to take a punch in O2 and... Oh, that's good to know, that's good to know. You light that shit up, he coming for you, that's all I'm saying.
02:08:09
Speaker
Great. Okay. Okay. Okay. We got a roper to kill. Oh, baby. Where is the roper? Right here. It's old girl. I'm just thinking it's all well and good that we've got like a plan or an objective or a heading. Where are we going? You rest up. You follow me.
02:08:40
Speaker
All we know is it's this side of the Shattermendian border. Shattermendian, sorry, Sleetgalleon border. It's somewhere near the border, but it's still on this side. Oh shit, he's doing no intel. That's what we were told. Near Laver, so go to what's on the border. Yeah, that's about it. That's about it. I got a few trickies up my sleeves, too. Don't worry, we're gonna be fine if it all plays out the wheels that I done seen. Although, sometimes I don't see it right at the moment.
02:09:11
Speaker
And with that unsettling final image of everything he's been telling you, he's just turned to the last minute gone, or I could all be wrong. As you all kind of look sheepishly to each other thinking, is this the right person? Can we trust this information? Do we even understand what the fuck he's just said? Everyone except Nick's obviously who is still looking lovingly at old girl.
02:09:37
Speaker
That is where we'll end our slightly bumper episode of this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop. Thank you very much, Will, for joining us again and gracing us with the lovely, lovely Will. You're all right. I mean, if they're going to massage your egos, yeah, you're all right. Shut up, Will. Shut up, other Will.
02:09:55
Speaker
I mean, Ian's been notching your character off most of this episode, so yeah. It had to be done, doesn't it? And in person, we can see you on the webcam, Ian. It was really obvious. I don't know what to film. Yeah, I'll start and pick a few things there, guys. Thank you very much for that.
02:10:12
Speaker
No, thank you very much. And thanks to everyone listening at home for, like Mark said, a, quite a bumper episode. I think this all said and done will be about, uh, two hours and 20 minutes. So enjoy editing this. Ah, it'll be right. Read as, uh, and read say, um, yeah, so many little colloquial.
02:10:32
Speaker
words that Nyx is gonna pick up on from you guys. Anyway, but do, yes, I do thank you all for tuning in, listening, and making this a party every day week. We love you for it. I won't keep you too long, so let's wrap it up quick, because you've already been here long enough. If you want to keep up to date with the podcast, you can do so on our X page, which is at fellowship table. And then if you wanted to go one step further, fuck you for shaking your heads. I didn't name it X, that was Elon, hashtag,
02:10:59
Speaker
Justice for Elon. If you wanted to follow us individually, you can do so at our individual X pages. I'm at Ivar1, Darren's at... Darren Peugeot 6. Danny's at... Total Party Thrills. Callum's at... TheD20Gamer. Will is at...
02:11:23
Speaker
I was going to just the one world to claim their spot I didn't want to know who's the alpha world who's the alpha world I'm at natural 20 well there we go and our resident later will beta will beta will
02:11:43
Speaker
sub will sub will I'm at fellowship NPC PC should be sub willy will at don't forget our safe word is spatula
02:11:55
Speaker
Ah, that's a callback to episode, I'm going to shoot in the dark and say episode, uh, 46 of, um, dip pond. Maybe. Yeah. Original season one. Yeah. Listen to it. Let me know. And you could also let Mark know and you can find him at, it was depro fundus actually. We never actually called it it. I'm at, uh,
02:12:20
Speaker
Shit, I'm a hastily rolled DM. Until next time, go east!