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C1 Ep. 19 Into the Gloaming Chapter 2
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This episode of Eberron Renewed features gibberish, cute bear faces, and Therudak figuring out when Dex is Dex and when Lyle is Lyle. Come join us as the group ventures deeper into the Towering Woods in search of answers.
Featured Music:
“Burnt Spirit” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
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Transcript
Understanding Over Fear: Setting the Tone
00:00:05
Speaker
Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more so that we may fear less. Marie Curie.
Introduction to Eberron Renewed
00:00:51
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Eberron Renewed, a D&D fifth edition actual play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I am your dungeon master, Eric. I'm Philip. I'm Randy. I'm Jeff. And welcome back to another episode of Eberron Renewed. So gentlemen, what happened last time?
00:01:00
Speaker
D20 radio, your game is roll.
The Werebear Revelation
00:01:08
Speaker
Mostly we were just attacked by bears in the towering wood. That's where we went to look for Jacob. And not normal bears. No. In fact, so not normal.
00:01:22
Speaker
Yeah, they were very strong, first off, with a lot of hit points. But one of them... And a bonus monster to fight inside them. Yeah, they had shadows inside them that leapt from wounds. But another thing that happened was that Lyle was bitten. Dex, he's not even Lyle anymore, Dex was bitten by one.
00:01:41
Speaker
And now he's a werebear. He doesn't really know what that means. Beric seems to know what that means and he is not fond of the idea. So that's where we're at with that is right now Dex thinks it's awesome that he can turn into a bear.
00:01:57
Speaker
And that's pretty much where he stands firmly in that truth.
Recovering After Battle: Short Rest Benefits
00:02:02
Speaker
OK, so are you all going to take a short rest, like kind of hunker down, keep watch, but just take a little time to breathe after that kind of need to fight? I think we probably need to take a moment. Yeah, if I'd known we were going to, I absolutely would have daylighted and probably saved us some trouble last round. I think your daylight is once per long rest. I wrote down once per short. OK.
00:02:22
Speaker
And so that's my story. I'm sticking to it. Okay, so what you all get to do during a short rest is roll however many of your hit die you would like plus your constitution modifier and that's how many hit points you regain. What do you mean however many we would like? Like right now you have four hit dice since your fourth level.
00:02:43
Speaker
But that's a non-renewable resource. Until you take a long rest, well, when you take a long rest, you gain one of them. You gain all of them. Oh, I'm sorry. When you take a long rest, you gain half your total back. Yeah. So without having to roll, just happens. Oh, sorry.
00:03:00
Speaker
You gain all of your hit points back, you gain half your total of hit dice back. Okay, I can use during short rests. Right. So right now I would rule 1d8 plus constitution. You could roll up to four, but I can make that decision as I go. Yes. I'll take it. Okay. So you all have taken a short rest and towering wood. It's very creepy and unsettling and you all are kind of on edge the whole time, especially after the encounter that you just had.
00:03:27
Speaker
And probably during this short rest, we have a talk about Lycanthrobe.
Lycanthropy and Being Watched
00:03:31
Speaker
Right. So now I understand it better because we did have a talk about Lycanthrobe during our actual break. So before you actually get into this conversation in character, though, I want to let you all know just based upon what's everybody's base insight. So your insight modifier plus 10. 12.
00:03:50
Speaker
11, 12. Okay. Nothing happens. You all kind of have the uneasy sense that you may be being watched. Oh, I mean, somebody cast spells on
Controlling the Werebear Within
00:04:05
Speaker
us from out of the darkness. I mean, I am certain that there's someone watching us. Okay, as you were. All right.
00:04:12
Speaker
Listen, Barak, I understand that this gives you pause. Get it? Pause. Definitely it gives you pause. Yep. And Theradak, I know that you're kind of in the same boat. Not as much as Silverflame. I know, I know, I know. Here's my... Here's the best I can offer you.
00:04:37
Speaker
The understanding that we have is that if I choose to be a bear, I'm in complete control of my faculties and I can promise you that I will never bite anything. And if I don't choose to be a bear and like the moon and the winds howl and every, all these are creepy things that have happened so far to me since I've come to this town, uh, this country, then I don't have control.
00:05:05
Speaker
So I guess we just have to hope that that part doesn't happen and everything's gonna be fine. Here's what I'm saying. Please don't kill me. After what you told me you people do to Lycanthropes where folk please don't kill me. May not have choice.
00:05:23
Speaker
Let's cross that bridge when we get to it there, Dick. I want to give you an idea of kind of your instincts as a werebear, like just these impulses that you're going to kind of be grappling with as a character. Is this something that I'll probably end up rolling against at some point? This is all flavor. So this is me informing you and you can do with it what you like.
00:05:45
Speaker
And this is just page 206 in your monster manuals if you're reading along at home. Werebears are powerful lycanthropes with the ability to temper their monstrous natures and reject their violent impulses. In humanoid form, they are large, muscular, and covered in hair, matching the color of their Ursine form's fur. A werebear is a loner by nature, fearing what might happen to innocent creatures around it when its bestial nature takes over.
00:06:10
Speaker
When a werebear transforms, it grows to enormous size, lashing out with weapons or claws. It fights with the ferocity of a bear, though even in its bestial forms it avoids biting so as not to pass on its curse. Typically a werebear passes on its lycanthropy only to chosen companions or apprentices, spending the time that follows helping the new lycanthrope accept the curse in order to control it. Solitary creatures werebears act as wardens over their territory, protecting flora and fauna alike from humanoid or monstrous intrusion.
00:06:38
Speaker
Though most were bears are good alignment, some are every bit as evil as other Lycanthropes. So that's just kind of the nature of where bears. So I promise not to bite is actually a reasonable. They do their best, but we are going to play with like just the bestial nature taking over from time to time. So I mean, that's all very well while you have control.
00:07:03
Speaker
That's the fear of lycanthropy. It's not that the person cursed with it is inevitably bad or that they'll always be violent and feral. It's what happens when you're not in control. It's what happens when the beast takes over. Look, I understand what you're saying.
00:07:30
Speaker
But the fact of the matter is that it has happened. We're not discussing whether or not I should let myself get bit, okay? But we need to find a way to unhappen it. Yeah, if we come across that, then let's definitely look into it. We'll run that up the flagpole, with all that spaghetti against the wall, see if it sticks.
00:07:54
Speaker
until we do I'm letting you know I ain't gonna bite anybody and you're not gonna kill me that's the deal we're striking well of course I'm not gonna kill you while you have control of it
00:08:09
Speaker
I guess that's the best I can ask for right now. Here's what we'll do. When we're done with this business in the woods, let's go back to our blacksmith's friend in Narquar. What is it? Zandar. Yeah, in Zandar. Couldn't you just name it like Cleveland? I can remember Cleveland. We'll go back to our friend in Zandar and we'll have him make a big ol' collar and a big strong chain and we will be prepared to chill me out a little bit.
00:08:39
Speaker
I feel like that's a good preventative measure for now. Perhaps.
Mystery of the Old Tracks
00:08:44
Speaker
All right. Anyway, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to roll a perception check. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to roll a perception check to see if I can catch a glimpse of our woodland friends that helped us. Okay.
00:08:58
Speaker
That's 12. Can I do a survival check to see if maybe there are humanoid tracks? 20. The human tracks that you see aren't fresh. I mean, this is a trade road. So you do see some, but nothing that would lead you to believe that there are people other than you right now in this part of the woods. So I don't see any like leading off into the forest at the side or anywhere.
00:09:22
Speaker
No. Okay. So, further into the woods? I don't see what other options we have. Okay. Well, I mean, we could just turn around and go home. Yeah. Fellows, hang on. I need to try something real quick.
00:09:34
Speaker
And I bear it up and I do a little dance to show Barrick that I still have control. You pull out a unicycle. That's what I was thinking. I just kind of hop around and turn and look at Barrick and give the biggest bear smile I can. And then I change back and I say, there it goes.
00:09:54
Speaker
We kill him now? And I changed back and I said, oh, see, that wasn't so bad, was it? No, that wasn't so bad. Yeah, I think. Oh, and I didn't mention this. I did give fair warning I was about to turn into a bear, so they didn't think that it was...
00:10:10
Speaker
Okay, so you all continue to venture. The woods continue to get darker and darker the further you go, the deeper you get in an unnatural way. Even when you look up, you can't see sunlight diffusing down. It's just darkness above you.
00:10:33
Speaker
Everyone give me perception check. Oh, hey, how that one how long is that last light last for an hour? Cuz that that battle was probably what five minutes Less than oh, it was less than ten rounds wasn't it? Yeah. Okay. I just I'm gonna leave it up to you to let me know when
00:10:50
Speaker
Well, our flight has run out. I mean, the short rest would probably have eaten it if it's... Oh, yeah. The short rest is an hour. It's an hour, so... Okay. I mean, here's the thing, guys, we can crack another one of those or you guys can lead me around by the hands. How many charges do you have? Five. Five? Okay. Well, I cast another one this time. I just cast it on your cane. Yeah, great. Okay. Perception checks all around.
00:11:19
Speaker
22. Good. Cause I got 13. 13. 13. Barrick, as you all are walking and you're kind of looking up and trying to figure out the nature of this, this darkness that envelops you, you take note of some kind of bird with the darkness. You can't really tell, but the, the bird appears to be kind of swooping back and forth. It seems to be following you almost. Um, so yeah, there's a bird keeping an eye on you, it seems like.
00:11:49
Speaker
Can I make an arcana check to interpret the nature of the bird if it's a magically transformed person, for example? You can attempt to. Sure. Not well. Thirteen. It looks like a bird. Sure. That bird's very birdlike. Is it an avian bird? That bird's definitely following us. I'm guessing it's keeping an eye on us for the druids that live out here, but I don't know for sure.
00:12:17
Speaker
Out of context, that sounds like the most paranoid thing a person could ever... Okay, I... Hey, do you think... I mean, are you thinking it's a person bird? I don't know, but it's definitely following us. Can they train animals? Yeah, it could be trained, it could be... It could be magically commanded, it could be a druid in bird shape. All right, well, do you think it'd be worth our while to just kind of shout up to it and say, hey, we're... what do you mean, you know harm?
00:12:46
Speaker
Parrot turns around and waves at the bird Okay, I mean you see the bird actually break away and fly off into the darkness. Yeah Well solve that problem Now if you see a bunny following us later, let me know and wave at it, too. Yeah
00:13:05
Speaker
and we continue walking through the forest. Okay, you all are able to travel for a bit, probably about 15 to 20 minutes unimpeded, but the darkness just kind of persists. Is it crunching down on my wand even more or is it the same? Is there no dim ring any longer? Yeah, it's pretty much just the bright circle of 30 feet.
00:13:29
Speaker
So it's the same thing that happened in the cave. You all continue to walk. Do I know enough about the geography to know if we are in the gloaming, like if we would be in the right part of this? This is the part of the forest. You are in the gloaming.
Entering the Gloaming: A Plane of Night
00:13:40
Speaker
Would you tell us that? Yeah, as far as we're going along. So a part of this forest is a manifest zone for the plane of shadow or the plane of night, kind of like the whispering. Nope. The fading forest. OK.
00:13:58
Speaker
except all the trees are larger. And there are terrible shadow bears instead of just regular bears. Right. Are you telling me that somewhere near here there's another one of those rings from which our big angry friend comes out? That I don't know. Well, best guess. It could be. But on the other hand, there's no such manifest zone in Sharn and he came out there too. So I don't know that that's
00:14:22
Speaker
necessarily required for him to do that. And as we go along, we explain to Theradak what we're talking about. This is probably the good point. So we sort of explained to Theradak. And during the short rest, we caught him up on a lot of stuff. The search for Jacob, our encounters with the Lich that came out of the portals, both at the time that it took Jacob and when it took Draconis, our former companion.
00:14:55
Speaker
and the prophecy. We probably talked a little bit about the prophecy. Yeah, we definitely talked about the prophecy. And we will save the listener for having to hear all of that again. Yeah. I'm operating under the assumption that by now Randy has listened to the podcast, okay? So we don't need to tell Randy about these things. Yes. And Barak begins to explain about the sword, too. Oh, yeah, that.
00:15:18
Speaker
some legacy from my father. I don't know, but the sword is some kind of legacy from my father who apparently came from Zendrik. And it's, uh, it's got some manner of intelligence. Yes. You talk to sword. I do. Yes. It talks back. I'm not, well, I think it talks back. It's actually something I worry about that perhaps it doesn't talk back. I am real. But yes, you would say that. Uh, wait, I don't have you out right now. You can't talk to me.
00:15:51
Speaker
Uh, I worry about whether or not it's actually talking to me or if I'm just losing my mind. But you're in control of Sword. Sword not controlled you. So far. It's never tried to control me. We're all in control of all of our various things.
00:16:07
Speaker
So far. Everybody give me a perception check while you're walking down the road having a conversation. And also during this, I'll roll this check, but also during this conversation, Derek has made up several lies about Daring Do and amazing conquests that they've had. And I think Barrick is loving it. Barrick is probably enjoying it.
00:16:35
Speaker
25 23 okay it bears only refused you if you claim if you if you claim something about that waitress that we were competing over or or anything I say we're like well Berwick was unconscious and so I had to accept that one time it was true right
00:16:52
Speaker
you all as you're walking all of a sudden stop in your tracks as you just very faintly hear gibberish in the distance like something speaking just incomprehensible being a spellcaster
00:17:11
Speaker
Gibberish or an incantation? Gibberish. Okay. Well, and I was going to say, I turned it, I turned a bear. Can I say, are we, are those spells again?
Mysterious Creature in the Woods
00:17:20
Speaker
It doesn't sound like a spell. I speak gibberish. They're saying, this is an old dialect. I speak gibberish. They're saying, look at the armor on that handsome big one. That sounds like just, just ravings.
00:17:41
Speaker
Does it sound like it's from a human mouth humanoid? I don't know. We got pretty good perception rule very good perception rules In fact, I could have only done one better Does it sound like animal noises or like gibberish words? It sounds like a like yeah gibberish
00:17:59
Speaker
It's something speaking. Okay. I mean, I'm, I'm choking up on my stick just so I'm, I've got it. I mean, I don't think I ever really am not prepared to use it when we're in these sorts of situations, but it occurs to Barak that he could try something. And so he summons curse, bring her into his hand, holds it up for a second. You don't understand that, do you?
00:18:23
Speaker
No. I don't know. Just thought I'd check. OK, bye. No, not yet. I have so much left to say. No, he actually keeps it out because I assume that whatever's gibbering up there might try to kill us. So do you all continue to move forward cautiously? OK. Oh, hey, this light spell. Is it a torch? Is it something I could, if I were to try to cover it for? Yes, specifically light. If you cover it, it does stuff out. It doesn't snuff out. It's still present. It's just it's covered. You can't block it. OK, so it's like covering a flashlight.
00:18:53
Speaker
Okay, so I can do that. Okay, cool. Interesting, the darkness spell works the same way. Oh, really? So if we need to bug out for some reason, of course, these people live here so they can probably see anyway. I would just be impeding myself, so never mind. Well, I mean, they might not see us coming. Right. Okay. As you all continue to move forward, the gibberish keeps getting louder and louder.
00:19:16
Speaker
Is it coming from ahead of us or is it? Yes, it's on the trail in front of you. OK, so we are getting closer to it. Not necessarily. It's getting closer to us. Yeah. Does it sound like two ships passing in the night? Does it sound like a gibberish form of any language? No. OK. Yeah, it's just it's just some elf with an aphasia. Right. In fact, as you all continue forward, everyone give me perception checks real quick. Sixteen. Eighteen.
00:19:46
Speaker
15. Okay. You all notice a, a pretty sizable patch of mud, like a mud puddle about with like a 10 foot radius in the middle of the road up ahead. Um, you're about 30 feet from it right now where you stopped. Um, but that's what you see in hatch of mud. Yes.
00:20:12
Speaker
Does the gibberish appear to be coming from the mud in that direction? I mean, you're still not quite close enough to pinpoint the exact source of the.
00:20:23
Speaker
Is there any other sign of wet in the area? Like are the leaves dripping? Is there any sign there was recent rain? So there's a random mud puddle and an otherwise dry path. You're in a forest. So I mean, it's humid, but it's not rainy. So either a large animal took a pee in the middle of the path or we're about to mess with an elemental. Very large animal. Did you see those bears? They're probably not the biggest. That's fair. That's fair. They're probably not the biggest things around here either. Yeah.
00:20:54
Speaker
Okay. Well, does it have that we can see evident borders, the mud pedal? Yeah. Like such that we could confidently move around it. Yeah. I don't know why, but I think we should probably move around that.
00:21:16
Speaker
Well, I don't think we need much of a reason, Beric. It's a mud puddle. That's what you do. You move around it. All right. Let's go. Yeah, fine. To the left or to the right? Do you check for magic? I can. Can I do an investigation check to see if there might be traps on either side of this mud puddle? And that's what they're expecting. I detect magic and see if it has an aura, a magical aura. The mud does have a magical aura to it.
00:21:47
Speaker
It's definitely magical. You're right. I'm doing a good thought. I'm doing my thing. Go for it. 16. Whoa, wait. Either. Should I do an investigation or perception? I'm looking for traps on either side of the puddle. I would say that's investigation. Okay. Then 15. You don't see anything. Okay. Can I make an arcana check to see if I can identify the type of magic? Sure.
00:22:11
Speaker
Oh, nine. Can't quite figure it out. There's something magical about the bubble, but I'm not sure what it is. What good are you?
00:22:21
Speaker
I mean, you want to just flip around it and flip a coin and see which side we go on. Sure. Is there one side that looks is there one side? I don't talk like that. Is there one is there one side that looks more perilous than the other, more brush, more overgrowth? Right. We go to the left. We do. OK. Weapon at the ready. Once you always move down the road 10 feet further, like towards the pedal before you break left, I need everybody to give me a wisdom saving throw.
00:22:51
Speaker
Oh my. Okay. Oh, nice. Natural plan. 16. 21. 24. Natural 20. Thank you, 19. Okay, so the gibberish almost started to like mess with your head a little bit, but you all were able to shake off kind of the confusing nature of the gibberish as it gets really loud as you continue down the road.
00:23:20
Speaker
And now I need everybody to roll initiative. Oh. 29. Six. Seven. Okay. And there will be a surprise around.
Battle with the Gibbering Mouther
00:23:43
Speaker
But not for ducks. So out of this mud puddle, you see it begin to rise off the ground and form into this little number.
00:23:59
Speaker
Ah! Beautiful. Allow me to describe this. It's very gross. I think it's a word picture. Okay, let me begin with very gross. It is covered in mouths with like lamprey mouths with circles of sharp teeth. Full head of teeth. Full head of teeth. Full head of eyes. There's eyes everywhere. There's eyes everywhere. Are these separate consciences?
00:24:27
Speaker
It's also like slime. It's like formless. It's ooze. It appears to be writhing. Here's a couple different poses. Oh cool. Oh cool, it can get up on its little fake slime. What are the words, flagella? Slime tail.
00:24:43
Speaker
And the the gibbering just reaches a crescendo at this point and you see Out of one of the mouths a glob of something comes flying at you And as it hits the ground in front of you, I need everybody but Dex to make a Saving throw with disadvantage. What manner of savings Oh
00:25:11
Speaker
disadvantage, huh? While this is happening... Oh, you still need to roll the dexterity saving throws just not with disadvantage. Okay. 15. 5. 23. 22. Okay, um, Barak, for the... till the end of the first round, you are born. As the light just flashes and
00:25:37
Speaker
Mind you, yeah. Okay, so now it is Dex's turn. Okay. Dex first says to Beric, hey Berica. I need you to make a wisdom saving throw at the start of your turn. Okay.
00:25:48
Speaker
sweet gibbering mother it's 20 okay all right deck says to Barrett hey I know we'd like just talked about this but I can't see at the moment I'm not asking you to say see anything can you hear? Barrett manages to look at to give you a look
00:26:14
Speaker
No, but you did see this thing before it winded. So, you know... Oh, yes. I will never unsee that. That's the last thing I saw. Well, we'll fix you, but here's the thing. Can these bad boys contract lycanthropy? Can anything, or there's only certain kinds of creatures you know, does Barrick know? Pause out of character question. Because... Because...
00:26:38
Speaker
I know, Philip knows, that the whole Umbrigen thing is fighting aberrations and delk here and all that stuff. Have I read enough in the book? Have I read anything in the book that makes this thing appear and I go, oh, that's an aberration? Yeah. And do I know if aberrations can contract lycanthropy? That's a weird question, so I- Lycanthropy is unique to humanoids. Okay. I think only humanoids can contract it.
00:27:06
Speaker
I'm going to spend this action turning into a bear and you're going to look up those werebear stats. And the last thing I say while you can still understand me is of course if you want to put that in your mouth. Okay, it is Dex's turn so you've turned into the bear. Did you move or stay where you are?
00:27:24
Speaker
I am where I am. Okay. Then it is the Jibbering Mather's turn. This blob stands up on its tentacles and walks down the road towards you all. Oozes. Oozes down the road. I thought walking would be more unsettling. It's almost like an octopus walking on its tentacles, but its head is just mouths and eyes.
00:27:49
Speaker
All of it. It's tentacles are just mouths and eyes as it continues gibbering louder and louder and louder. And it is going to take a bite at, let's say, a barrack. Cool. So he has advantage. That he does. Six.
00:28:07
Speaker
11. So the mouths just kind of come up on you and gum at you and you're blind so you don't so you don't see it coming and just feel mouths on you. Okay, and flails wildly with a sword. And he needs to charge. Okay, that is it for its turn. So now I need Barrett to make a wisdom save turn.
00:28:36
Speaker
Oh, hey, wait. Is this... Is this a form of charm? No.
00:28:46
Speaker
Shoot. Ten. You're good. Cool. Still blind and not having anything that will do anything about that. Beric hacks in front of him with Cursebringer. Ouch! It's a disadvantage, right? Yes.
00:29:12
Speaker
15. I'm so glad that I'm a werebear and not a wererat. Now that I'm reading about all these... Yeah, a wererat would be a fun option. Although being able to turn into a rat could be awfully handy for sneakiness. 15 is a hit. Cool. Well, it would actually lower my dexterity by four to become a wererat.
00:29:29
Speaker
That's funny. That will be nine damage. Okay. So Cursebringer just cuts into the slime and the ichor and like a couple of mouths and probably half a dozen eyes get sliced off and onto the ground and is now a third extra. I need you to make a wisdom save.
00:29:50
Speaker
Well, we're about to find out what happens. Four. Okay. You cannot take any reactions until the start of the gibbering mother's next turn. And I need you to roll a d8.
00:30:09
Speaker
Six. You cannot take an action or a bonus action and you have to use your full movement to run in a random direction, which I'm going to use a D8. You all would be traveling northwest. You take off running southwest into the woods off the road for 30 feet. 30 feet. So you just take off running into the woods. Back is not having a good day.
00:30:33
Speaker
That's not a good thing at all. And there was no attack or anything, so your bare eyes, you just saw him take off running. You see there that raise his great sword, you know, preparing to just unleash on this thing and all of a sudden his eyes pop open and he looks really scared and turns around and just bolts.
00:31:01
Speaker
So yeah, it is now Dex's turn. Need a wisdom saving throw. Has a bear. He maintains his stats. Oh shit. Has a nine. Okay. You can't take reactions. Roll a d8. Two. Two? Now is this like the other one or is this random? I don't know. Different strokes for different folks. You just put your bear paws over your ears and shake your head and you do nothing on your turn.
00:31:30
Speaker
It does look adorable though. Like when dogs put their paws over their paws. Okay, Beric, your eyesight has now returned. And what you see is... This is not better. The gibbering mouther is going to try to bite you again. Oh, good. Good. That is going to be an 18. That will hit me. Oh, that's a one. Nice. A lot of mouths come down and bite on you.
00:32:03
Speaker
I don't like the look on GM's face. 16 damage. I've never really been a big fan of the GM's face. Oh. And you are medium-sized, so you are not prone as this gibbering mouther dives on you and the mouths are just biting. Gross, gross, gross, gross. And constantly making noise. You're getting gummed up by this thing. And you need to make a wisdom saving throw now. You're sure that this is not charm to which I have advantage because of my elven heritage? It is not a charm effect.
00:32:23
Speaker
I mean, what are you doing to us, man?
00:32:38
Speaker
Alright, I very immediately place my Hexblade's curse upon it. While this Hexblade curses loudly. And climbs my feet. And I try to kill it, kill it, kill it, kill it, kill it. Because that's how a Barret feels about this.
00:33:03
Speaker
15? That's a hit. Okay. And I'm going to drop a spell into it because I don't want this to be alive anymore.
00:33:13
Speaker
Basically just sort of just grabs Cursebringer and pours power into it and just hacks. There's no form to it. It's just, this is awful. I want it to be dead. It's on top of me. What's this pointy-rolly one? 27 damage. Okay. You managed to cut off a few of the mouths that were biting at you and they fall to the ground. Things starting to look a little shaky.
00:33:38
Speaker
Theradak. Need a wisdom support? Nope. You are out of range of it now, so your faculties come back and you are 30 feet away from the fight in the woods. Theradak stops and shakes his head. What are you doing? Get back there. Turns around and goes back into the fight to take a swing at this Malby thing. Okay.
00:34:07
Speaker
How about a 9? Hit. Oh. Okay, and while he's swinging and hitting, he's like, you don't do that to me, you leave friends alone, you come at me. It's a goading attack. Okay. It's been the superior... It responds with... Well put.
00:34:31
Speaker
10 damage and the superior to 12 damage total and he needs to make a wisdom saving throw DC's 15. Turnabout is fair play I see. He fails. He has disadvantage on all attack rolls against targets other than me until the end of my next turn.
00:34:50
Speaker
Wisdom saving throw. Okay, uh, also, uh, well hang on, I'll resolve this first. That's a 20 some odd. Okay. Um, or no, I'm sorry, uh, my wisdom's kind of low, it's a 19. Um, alright, question. I am a bear. Yes. But I am still Dex. Yes. Do I keep Dex's properties, particularly sneak attack? I mean, I would, I would think so because you're- That's all I need to do. Okay, so I get to do, I get to do two claw attacks, first one,
00:35:21
Speaker
is an 11, that's a hit, and I get to do 2d8, so that's a 7, that's 15, and I get to do 2d6. So my first attack, that's 20 points a damage.
00:35:35
Speaker
Okay. I am a second attack. It dies. Your claws just rip into it as mouths and eyes go flying. So what I do is I look down at Barrick, still is a bear, and you know that thing that St. Bernard's can do where they lift one eyebrow up and kind of look at you?
00:35:53
Speaker
I just give them one of those. And then I change back. And I don't change back into humanoid form. I stay a hybrid. And here's why I'm looking at this. I can do bite and claw and ribbon weave if I stay hybrid. I can use anything I want. Well, if you're holding ribbon weave and I can only do one claw. Yeah. But just the same. Yeah. I have more options as a hybrid and I can talk to you. Okay. So that's why I'm going to be staying as long as we're in these woods.
00:36:23
Speaker
I'm going to be a hybrid. Okay. So the gibbering mother is in pieces on the ground and the gibbering finally stops. I didn't, I didn't bite it. Well, that's good. All the mouth turned into little bears.
00:36:41
Speaker
Barak creates bonfire and kicks the pieces into it. Okay out of spite. I don't have any idea But this thing is alien enough that it occurs to Barak that it at this point So many things are plausible. It could just T 1000 walk away and it just yeah curse bringer expresses
00:37:04
Speaker
great pleasure that you killed this being that does not belong on this plane. Look, do you agree? You agree in the things that are obviously evil or evil is not going to make up for that for yesterday.
00:37:16
Speaker
I do not ask for your forgiveness for yesterday. I am right, you are wrong. This is the worst. He's doing it again, Dak. That ain't for us. Now I have to keep eye on you and him. Okay, once the bonfire is going and the pieces are burning, everyone give me perception checks. Oh, you know what?
00:37:45
Speaker
okay I'll resolve this I wanted to say it before you asked 13 23 okay does your bear form how does your your hybrid form have dark vision it doesn't say I don't think bears have dark vision I don't know yeah bears apparently do not have dark vision
00:38:07
Speaker
Okay. 14 because that's my passive. Now, I get advantage on perception checks if it relies on smell. So do I roll again? I mean, I have a 20 something, so I go, so I don't really need to. I guess mine's 14 also. Yeah. Oh yeah. You could totally find those dudes now.
Scent of Farlin: A Familiar Presence
00:38:21
Speaker
And I guess that's in new form. It doesn't specify a form. So if it's a smell perception, I always have advantage. So do it again. I mean, I got a 20, what? I got a 23. Yeah. 23. Okay.
00:38:35
Speaker
Um, so Dex, as you lift your nose to the air and kind of sniff, you actually smell.
00:38:46
Speaker
something familiar, something that reminds you of mistmarsh and home. I say grand? Grand. Grand. Hello. No, you, you smelled the familiar smell of sweat, hops and bad attitude. Of course, he just far lands a druid.
00:39:10
Speaker
um i guess now there would be probably no way for anybody else to know this like that you recognize this scent so um
00:39:22
Speaker
as quietly as I can, and in Elvish and Orcish, so each of you, I say to you, I smell Farlin. My senses have been keyed up by this new thing, and it is Farlin. And then I say to Theodak in Orcish, you speak Orcish, I assume, right? You're half Orcish? Okay. I say...
00:39:45
Speaker
Farlin no, I say I say I say One of the people following us is someone that we know from mr. Marsh I did we fought with him before and he didn't and he was on our side I don't know if he still is right now, but that and also he's very strong Should we talk to him? Yeah, and then
00:40:08
Speaker
Uh, yeah, you won't. Oh, and I also ask you, should I shave? I honestly don't know what the position of the various druidic circles is about these. In that case, I'm gonna stay strong. Druids can usually beast shape. Right, so they wouldn't be too weirded out by it. I say, Farlin, come out, buddy. Oh yeah, that's Farlin.
00:40:38
Speaker
You see a grizzly bear come walking out of the woods, head hanging like that pouty stomp sort of thing that kids do.
Encounter with Farlin from Mistmarsh
00:40:46
Speaker
And he stands up on his hind legs and the bear just starts to shrink down until you see the familiar dwarf standing before you. And I say, you may have noticed we got something new in common, bud. Oh, I saw. All right. Why are you here? Same reason we left Miss Marsh.
00:41:07
Speaker
And I was thinking, you know, given your curiosity about it all, maybe the same reason you are. Also, this is Theradak. Oh, yeah. He's our friend, Theradak. He's a part-time bartender. We'll tell you what happened to Dracos. He's a part-time he's a part-time brewer. Part-time kid. He's a brewer. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Hopefully you are kinder than some of your companions. Hashtag brewer. Boo.
00:41:37
Speaker
I'm here for very specific reasons that I can assure you you are not here for druid stuff
00:41:45
Speaker
To put it simply, yes. Well, yeah. It's probably the only way I could put it that you would comprehend a while. Well, it would be very strange for it to be brewing stuff. Well, there's also good hops that grow in these forests. What? Why do they grow grain? What? Don't worry about it. Here in the dark. I'm a druid. I can grow things anywhere. All right. Yeah. I feel like that's nonsense. I'm growing impatient. Why are you following us? Because you're treading in a place that you should not be.
00:42:14
Speaker
These woods are home. Well, for one, you're in the Eldean reaches now, so you're outside of Breeland. Secondly, you're in a very specific part of the woods that you shouldn't be in. I'm Beric Filiman. We're looking for Jacob still. This is another place. It's like it's like the fading forest.
00:42:36
Speaker
and there's been sightings of shadows running around attacking things near the Kani ruins. I've been fighting the shadows. Well, right. I understand all these things, which is why Dex suggested that, you know, we were here for the same reason you were. Okay. Yeah, that's why.
00:42:59
Speaker
Barrick, I would have expected you to know how the Druids feel about people coming in to the Towering Woods. Well, I would have expected you to know how I feel about missing children. Okay. And also, until recently, when I became this thing, I haven't really been much for territorialism. That's suddenly a thing that matters to me. Well, me and my people have it under control. It also took Draconis.
00:43:28
Speaker
And we were in Zandraar last night, or two nights ago. We were recently in Zandraar. I got it right.
00:43:36
Speaker
Uh, fighting all these shadows. Uh, so clearly you don't have it quite as under control as you believe to do. You do. You don't, you don't know what you think you do. You don't. Well, I mean, some things, Lyle take time and patience and a deeper understanding of the way the world works, which I know are things that you aren't really interested in. So, okay, look, I understand where you're coming from, but I need you to understand something. I've been condescended to every day this week.
00:44:04
Speaker
by someone insufferable. We are working towards the greater good, Barrick. Wait a minute, Barrick pulls Lyle? Wait, hold on, Lyle? Oh, crap. Ah! My bad. I was just hoping that would be Barrick trying to cover, like, the moment of just, ah! As if it's a physical. We'll explain later. That's two times why he called you Lyle, drew it, called you Lyle, and now Barrick called you Lyle.
00:44:34
Speaker
What do you call him? It's a nickname. Yeah, I remember it's what I introduced myself to Commander Bala and what Krasz calls me. It's just a name I go by along with, you know, all the other ones. Inside check. Okay. Well, that's true. Everything I said is true. Oh, is it? That's what Commander Bala called me. It's what Krasz calls me. It's what I go by most of the time. I mean, I'm checking inside if this is really a nickname.
00:45:02
Speaker
I mean, I would argue that it is, but yeah, go ahead. Uh, nine. I mean, you, you believe what he's telling you. Okay. And you know, I'm a changeling too. Like none of this is so, I mean, you, you may be able to pick up, you probably would pick up on the fact pretty quickly that this is somebody that doesn't know that he's a changeling and just by the nature of the world. And you would know that changelings, a lot of changelings protect their identity.
00:45:32
Speaker
Right. Although if you've ever wanted to reveal that to him, this is probably the time because it's covered by the much larger. Well, that's the thing is, is now if I ever see Farlin again, I have to look like I will know because I can be, I can be human. I can do whatever I want. You can do it. No, he's a changeling. No. Okay. You don't know. You do not know that. But yeah, no. And you would not be able to ask that question. Right. Right. Okay.
00:45:59
Speaker
So once again, I ask that you let my people do what we're doing.
Druids' Control Over the Forest
00:46:06
Speaker
We are working diligently on trying to deal with the shadows. I am working diligently on getting Jacob back. Look, they invaded Zendral and one attacked us in Sharn, hundreds of miles away, the other side of the bloody country. Watch your mouth.
00:46:25
Speaker
their reach is not just in these manifest zones.
00:46:31
Speaker
Um, and, and, and, and Dex ads. Look, we're not here to interfere with your, the things that only you guys can do. We're not here to interfere with that, but you know that we are effective at defense, at protection, and we're fairly bright. Well, we've saw some things when you weren't around. Really. You just saw us fight. You hear. And also we're a lot stronger than we were when we were on that train.
00:46:55
Speaker
You hear a voice from the trees start speaking in, you can tell it's a language, it's not more gibberish, but you cannot understand the language. And Farlin kind of looks up to the trees and responds in the same language and is kind of having a
00:47:12
Speaker
back and forth. I turn to Theradak and explain everything about who Lyle is and who Dex is and the changing stuff in Orcish just to piss them off. We can do this too. So now you know. Farlin throws his hands up and says, fine. And out of the trees, straight onto the path, a female shifter lands in the road and stands up wearing green robes with leaf
00:47:40
Speaker
accessories and things like that just if you have been dealing with the the shadow this is her speaking yes for as long as you claim and you are allies of Farlin then perhaps you should come Dex kind of yeah Farlin does the same thing
00:48:04
Speaker
I think we can safely say we are not mortal enemies. She goes down and says to Farlin, it's nice to see you working with people again. It may be temporary. I think that you should come with us. However, I need your trust because we need to take you somewhere sacred to our order and we can't let you know how to get there.
00:48:37
Speaker
What do you intend to do to keep us from... Are you going to blindfold us or are you going to blind us? We are going to temporarily magically blind you. I consult Barrick. Look, we came to talk to the druids. That's why we came to the forest. I'm going to consult both of you on if you want to go along with it. I'm consulting you right now on, that's a thing, temporary magic blindness that they can easily... It's a spell they can... They can quickly and easily... They can cast it and dispel it.
00:49:04
Speaker
Now, everybody, are we comfortable? I don't like Farlin, but I don't distrust him either. We came to consult the dress. Not happy, but we came to speak to the druid, so. Okay. I say, curse my beautiful eyes. The shifter walks up to each of you and places a hand over your eyes, and her hand approaching your face is the last thing that
Blinded and Led to a Secret Gathering
00:49:25
Speaker
you see.
00:49:25
Speaker
Um, then you feel a length of rope placed into each of your hands and the rope starts to tighten and they're leading you, um, down a path. And eventually you leave the trail and you can tell that you're walking through the woods. Um, everyone give me perception checks or investigation, whichever is higher. 17.
00:50:01
Speaker
13. 13. Well, so 16. 16. Passive. All of you can tell that they are, it would probably take you a third of the time to get to where you're going if they weren't doubling back and looping around and intentionally keeping you all confused as to the direction. I say, whoa, where am I? This is so confusing. What direction are you facing right now, Lyle?
00:50:21
Speaker
or investigation, whichever you like.
00:50:30
Speaker
I don't know. Up. Okay. How long are we walking? Like how long does it take us? Probably, I mean, best you could guess probably an hour and a half. I mean, it's, it's a long walk. So as we're going, so there, Nick, you were in the war. Yes. Where'd you serve? Well, I served at the border of
00:50:59
Speaker
It was, uh, the rain and, uh, what's the rain could be on there. It could be drollum could be dargoon. No, he told me it was, it was as I was heading south. What's at the Northern border of Thrain, the Northern border of Thrain. That's the C it was the Eastern Western border, the border of Thrain and on there on there. Okay. Yes. He kind of hangs his head down and as we're walking, he goes, no seed battle.
00:51:29
Speaker
cook. War ended before I got to the Academy. Closer than I got. Enemy overrun camp, slave mini friends, captain make. Dak leave, save Dak. Dak learn to fight, better. Dak kind of clumsy sometimes.
00:51:57
Speaker
I don't want to interrupt, but it sounds like you guys are sad that you were not involved in the war where many people died. Like I get the honor part of it, but also you're here now to do this because you weren't in the academy yet. Not sad. Just same could not help friends. Well, now that one, that one I understand. Yeah, that one I understand.
00:52:23
Speaker
Yours a little less, though. You're not from my family. Oh, right. All right. Sorry. Yeah. I mean. Never mind. My thinking is that it's I mean, obviously we could totally have found our way through the towering woods again once we left. That's why we stayed on the road. You all eventually begin to hear voices in the distance of
00:52:52
Speaker
Talking and conferring some in languages that you understand some in that you don't be predominant language seems to be the late whatever language that. Farland and this shifter woman spoke in front of you but once the volume hits a certain point all of a sudden there is just silence.
00:53:14
Speaker
and you all have stopped walking the blindness spell is removed from you all and you see standing before you just I mean easily over a thousand druids based on their garb all looking at
Arrival at the Druid Gathering in Greenheart
00:53:30
Speaker
you
00:53:30
Speaker
And in the center of this group. And I'm sorry, Druid is a class. So we're talking anybody can be out there. Yeah. Dwarf gnome, half elf, everything. And then you also take note very quickly of in the middle of this sea of Druids, an impossibly large pine tree reaching up through the towering woods. And Farland looks at you and says, welcome to Greenheart.
00:53:59
Speaker
and the most important gathering of druids Eberron has ever seen. End of episode.
00:54:07
Speaker
Hey guys, thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eberron Renewed. We realized after we stopped recording that we didn't really record an outro for this episode. It just kind of ended on me saying end of episode. So we just want to thank you all for your support. If you want to get involved with the community, please head on over to the Facebook group. It's just thegeekpantheon. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at thegeekpantheon. If you want to get in touch with us, thegeekpantheon.com is a great way to do that.
00:54:35
Speaker
Or you can head over to our website, thegeekpantheon.com and get in touch with us there. We also want to thank Kevin McLeod for the use of his music in all of our episodes. If you want to check out his music, head on over to incompetent.com. And it's all phenomenal. If you're working on a project and you want some Creative Commons music to use, definitely go check out Kevin's work. It is stellar. And as you can hear on our show, it's top-notch stuff.
00:55:01
Speaker
So yeah, thank you all so much for listening. And once again, I am your dungeon master, Eric, and Philip, Randy and Jeff wish that they could be here to say their farewell also, but they didn't when they had a chance. So thanks. Bye. You are in front of.
00:55:32
Speaker
Oh, dang. Oh, dang. Oh, dang. Oh, dang. Oh, dang. Oh, dang. Oh, dang. Oh, dang. Oh, dang. Oh, dang. Oh, dang.