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C3 Episode 52 The Voices in the Trees Chapter Five
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A new way to travel!
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Renewed' and Episode Recap
00:00:00
Speaker
oh
00:00:19
Speaker
Renewed, an actual play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I am your Game Master, Eric. I'm Mia. I'm Philip.
00:00:31
Speaker
I'm Madison. Jess. And welcome
Discussion on Bright Souls Day and NPC Interactions
00:00:34
Speaker
to another episode. Folks, what happened last time? Depression. It was cheerful holiday. Yeah. Silver flame Christmas is the worst.
00:00:45
Speaker
Such a bummer. You know? I'm sure there's some people that just, you know, grill outside for Bright Souls Day and they don't really remember anyone. They just enjoy the day off work. But yeah Aurora demands that we actually like memorialize people.
00:01:02
Speaker
A somber feast. It was well-cooked food, though. The group opened up about as much as you could ever possibly expect us to. It was very good food. I only wish there was leftovers. That's true.
00:01:17
Speaker
Them souls got to eat. Yeah, I guess if it's used for a ritual, it's not considered food waste. doesn't it That doesn't make any sense at all. Selena had an
Introduction of New Mission and Characters
00:01:25
Speaker
episode of being the NPC whisperer also where she was just talking with various NPCs. so That's true.
00:01:32
Speaker
But it is a new day. Yes, it is. So you all are going about your business when the red light comes on. Got to be the first one there.
00:01:45
Speaker
It immediately starts to predict. Nick and Kaz are sword fighting or something. Heck yeah. Kaz gets distracted by the light. Nick takes advantage of the opening. and den says Yes, absolutely. Nick hits him really hard, knocks him down, and says just shakes her head.
00:02:04
Speaker
These are lessons. Judgmentally. And then goes. Yep. Not that Nyx needed an opening, but... So,
Valyra's Request and Airship Offer
00:02:11
Speaker
Valk being the first Javier's office, you see a woman standing in Javier's office. Javier is also there.
00:02:23
Speaker
This is a woman with dirty blonde hair. She is dressed in leather armor with a long coat that goes down to her ankles. And you see...
00:02:36
Speaker
i mean insignia on it that you would immediately clock this is a pirate that she has a magnificent hat on also with her blonde hair draped down over her shoulders and she sees valk come rushing in um and she kind of smirks it's like you like to be punctual i didn't know there was going to be another person in here with Amaya.
00:03:04
Speaker
Yes. Thank you for coming back. We'll wait until the rest are here for proper introductions. And as the rest of you arrive, you see the same woman standing there. And ah
Challenges in Kibara and Airship Preparation
00:03:16
Speaker
Javier gestures for you all to take a seat.
00:03:18
Speaker
And Javier says, this Valaira Ditharani. She... is an old acquaintance of mine and she has come with a request from another shared acquaintance and valyra chuckles and i'd want to keep her at an arm's length too and she looks at all of you Yeah, I am coming on behalf of woman named Lashana.
00:03:48
Speaker
She is the head of the Path Drivers Guild out in Adderport. We have a situation out there that she needs help with and she's deciding to call in a favor from old Javier here.
00:03:59
Speaker
What guild? Path Drivers Guild. Do we know what that is? No, it would be a pretty small organization local to Adderport. So Javier holds up a letter.
00:04:14
Speaker
ah Yes, Velira brought this. Path Drivers Guild is a organization that is looking to expand into the jungles.
00:04:30
Speaker
in the region known as Kibara. And they run into an issue with some lizard folk wielding unusual weapons that indicate potentially some extra planar influence.
00:04:45
Speaker
And Valira chimes in, the weapons are alive. Yeah. yeah Some of them talk and scream. Some of them are like fused onto the bodies of lizard folk.
00:04:57
Speaker
It's real gruesome stuff.
Journey Preparations on Valyra's Airship
00:04:59
Speaker
What do they mean? Kiteness, looking like bug pots. Does that signify anything, or is that just weird? It's weird, but also adjacent to Javier says, based on reports that we've heard from um the dwarves in the mountains, Amir holds, and their conflict with denizens of Kyber and creatures from Zoriath that can sometimes bleed over, sounds like those type of living weapons that are noted for those types of conflict. And so if we have creatures from Zoriat spilling up into Kabar or
00:05:42
Speaker
God save us, Delkir, then that situation needs to be dealt with. I always hate it when Eric says, sorry, yeah that's me. And the Lyra speaks up and I'm your ride.
00:05:55
Speaker
Yes. Kabar is quite a distance. And I suppose Lashana anticipated that. And she wants you there quicker than not. So...
00:06:08
Speaker
Valyra has offered to transport you all on her airship. That's like brand new, right? I'll take that over the train from last time. Kaz goes, I'm sorry, airship?
00:06:27
Speaker
Is there a port for an airship nearby? Kalazar has one. Kalazar's big enough to have an air airship port. Okay. There's not one else. yeah I was like, is there another roof? We didn't choose that at all.
00:06:39
Speaker
What are you going to say, Philip? Yes, airships.
00:06:45
Speaker
In response to Kaz's exclamation. I mean, are they new enough that... They came after Kaz disappeared. Yeah, you'd have missed the you'd have missed the debut of the airship.
00:06:57
Speaker
Yeah, I've missed... Because the airship's only like a 20-year-old thing and in Standard Eberron, I think. So... Let me take a look.
00:07:07
Speaker
Do we have an update on the wiki? don't see one. But i yeah, I know that they are very... no
00:07:22
Speaker
yeah I mean, cut this if you want. KB says a 990. Yeah. yeah Which I think it's not yet. It's your ever on Eric. Or it's a prototype. Yeah.
00:07:33
Speaker
So maybe all of us go, what now? Yeah, I think that that's the case. is a um Everyone is very confused by the words airship being put together. Yeah, it's new vessel that...
00:07:48
Speaker
House Labyrinth doesn't really want folks knowing about yet. Now can I ask where did you put the airship that people aren't supposed to know about? I got it cloaked. Fancy.
00:08:01
Speaker
Okay. I am fancy. Very fancy. I like your hat. Thank you. I like my hat too. I didn't catch y'all's names. I'm Valk.
00:08:13
Speaker
It's nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, Valk. I'm Selina. Thanks. Casimir. Nyx. Casimir. Nyx.
00:08:23
Speaker
All right. Well, yeah. So what we know about the situation is, like I said, path drivers have been running in with lizard men, for running to lizard men out in the jungle for some time. You know, give as good as they got.
00:08:37
Speaker
Sound. yeah And then at some point, lizard folks started using new weapons. They're living weapons.
00:08:49
Speaker
And we are reasonably assured that the lizard folk would not have the means to create anything like this. So they have allies of some kind that are creating these weapons for them.
00:09:02
Speaker
Oftentimes the Mure Holds, the dwarves get corrupted by the influences of Zoyat or Adelkia, and they start making the weapons themselves.
00:09:14
Speaker
Lizardfolk don't really have access to forges and things like that like they do in the Mure Holds. So... Something has entered the equation that Lashana and the Path Drivers couldn't account for.
00:09:25
Speaker
Okay. Well, make any preparations. Y'all you all want to, and I'll be ready to go in the morning. wow Any questions for me?
00:09:36
Speaker
Not right now. Not from me. I don't have any. I
Boarding the Airship and Crew Introduction
00:09:41
Speaker
mean, I have a lot of questions, guys. i You can ask. ask so All right, Gaze.
00:09:47
Speaker
Go for it. Gaze, mean. the
00:09:52
Speaker
It's not so much that I have i need clarification on anything. I simply have a lot of questions. That tends to happen here, though. yeah The living weapons and the and the but i mean the air the airship and the... of sir What's an airship?
00:10:10
Speaker
but' so ah That'll be my big question now, I think. It's like a regular ship that doesn't go in the water. Knew that was coming. It's able to fly through the air. Technically speaking, due to an elemental being bound into the engine of the airship.
00:10:25
Speaker
It's fascinating stuff. Whoa.
00:10:31
Speaker
I mean, that all checks out to Kaz. What's he going to do? i Sure, okay. but just ah he's just A lot of phrases have been thrown at Kaz in the last couple minutes. The fact that no one has questions is deep as also questionable but to It makes sense. We wrote the train that has an elemental in it.
00:10:53
Speaker
No, it it the the the power of conveyance was not the part that was... It just said airship. And it was very... That's a whole thing, man. I don't know what tell you. Okay, sick.
00:11:06
Speaker
There we go. Now you're on board. Yeah. All right, well, I'll be ready to go in the morning. And Javier says... Feel free to prepare however you see fit and yeah,
00:11:20
Speaker
I will, while you're gone, we did have the Barnaby Finch payday. I'm going to source some stables and potentially some modes of conveyance to be kept in those stables while you're gone for jobs that are hopefully closer than Kabara.
00:11:35
Speaker
Um, but that will be something that I will be working on. Dismissed. So, okay. What's everyone going to do to prep? Can we get on Google Doc as the the upgrades that we have? Mine are across like four different pages.
00:11:52
Speaker
And I don't think I... We have... i have things like really written down that we have. I don't have all of their functions. We have jim the the cellar vault, the map room, the armory, and the annals.
00:12:05
Speaker
ah The annals allow us to save d20 roll for later. But only only for the librarian. Only for the librarian. Which I plan on prepping there. ah The armory, which is where Nyx is going to prep, allows me to make ah runes.
00:12:20
Speaker
I can't remember. I think just one? Hold on. One adventurer level rune is what I have written. One adventurer level rune. Okay. Which is what Nyx will do. I unfortunately don't have... i mean, look. You have the map room...
00:12:35
Speaker
you have the map room which the odds of having a random encounter on the journey are reduced by half what were they at the the cellar vault that's just storage of magic items that have the risk of theft the gym gymnasium yep go ahead so yeah if if you prep in the gym you only need a 10 or higher use a recovery the first time you drop to zero hit points is what i have yep here which As the guy who regularly drops the zero hit points, your boy's going to be in the gym.
00:13:05
Speaker
Were there any others that I... Map room, armory, annals, and gym? And the vault, but that is the cell vault. That's what I have down.
00:13:16
Speaker
you try okay I will put together a Google Doc while you all figure out what you want to do. I think Valk is also going to head to the gym, probably not as sly as they thought they were.
00:13:33
Speaker
Any mention of Zoriat has now made him in incredibly anxious to the point where... He is physically acting and moving a bit different.
00:13:47
Speaker
ah So he will he will be in the gym in case of certain death. Gaz is just in there working out. when you When you come in riddled with consternation, Gaz is just like hitting a dummy, not really knowing what he's doing.
00:14:03
Speaker
try Trying to do what Nyx showed him on a whatever they're called. ah Pell. Dummy. Pell, thank you. It's like, I could not remember from last campaign what we kept calling it.
00:14:17
Speaker
Every once while you see him sheathe his dagger and pull it back out to see if it's gotten bigger or smaller or different in shape. Because that happens sometimes. What? What did he do? There he is. so...
00:14:28
Speaker
okay so
00:14:31
Speaker
Slata, you go to the library and open up the large, empty annals that Urari gave you, and you spent some time writing in it.
00:14:44
Speaker
What is... Obviously it would be impossible for Selena to write a good non editorialized at all, uh, factual account of the adventures. Selena is going to have her own preferences and perspective that she focuses on. So what, how does that manif- how does that manifest in Selena's writing? Like what is the focus of her account of the adventures?
00:15:10
Speaker
i i mean I think she tries to be as like thorough and unbiased as possible, which is like you know not really possible. But think she focuses probably more than even really necessary at this point on the bunkers. Because I think she's very, especially with like finding the sword in there and wanting to find out that connection, i think a lot of her focus kind of veers toward that side of the adventures.
00:15:39
Speaker
totally Okay. Very cool. Philip, what rune does Nyx cook up and what does it look like when Nyx is in the armory working on a rune? So I think, I think what it is, is Nyx is probably, okay a mechanics question with...
00:15:58
Speaker
Selina's change of class. Does Selina wear armor now? The sword mage uses mage armor, so they are unarmored. Let me double check that. But I'm fairly certain that is the case.
00:16:09
Speaker
You gain a plus five bonus to your unarmored base armor class for a total of 15. This is already reflected in the sword to mage stats table. When your offhand is empty, i.e. you're not using a shield, you gain a plus one bonus to AC by directing the magic of your mage armor like an invisible shield.
00:16:27
Speaker
Okay, then it's probably something more like something...
00:16:38
Speaker
She's probably worried about Kaz getting killed then. I'm glad someone else is. So Nyx has acquired maybe like, I mean, Kaz has, you know, more clothes, more sets of outfits and things than than strictly necessary. And so Nyx has found one of Kaz's jackets or something.
00:16:57
Speaker
ah And she has... attached little metal little bits of metal reinforcement like there's armor added onto the shoulders and down by the forearms of the jacket and in in a few other just strategic places so that it's not encumbering because obviously Kaz doesn't know how to wear armor in the normal sense, um but will just be more protective than the street clothes that Kaz usually wears and gets stabbed through. So this is, let's see, I have to roll for, also very fitting to Kaz, I have to roll for a random effect that the rune adds to your armor.
00:17:41
Speaker
Yep. Should be rolling now.
00:17:46
Speaker
That's so excellent. I got a good one. Okay. Okay. So the, what it looks like as she's doing it, so they this is what she's working on. What it looks like as she's doing it is she's sitting there at the forge that has the the ritual circle underneath it, underneath the anvil.
00:18:06
Speaker
And she's standing over it, probably alone, but for Acheron. And... and As she is working, there is just the this sort of red veins of magic that run up the the the block on which the anvil is placed and spiral their way through the anvil.
00:18:31
Speaker
until the, these runes are worked into the actual metal and they're kind of ah jagged, ah very sharp angular shapes that the runes are.
00:18:45
Speaker
And so when she brings the, the jacket over to the gym but while they're working out, And walks over to Kaz and says, you don't dress appropriately for what we do.
00:18:59
Speaker
And holds out this, I'm going to say, leather jacket with metal plates reinforcing the sleeves. And it looks cool, is is my intention. It also looks cool.
00:19:14
Speaker
Great. um So this will give you a plus one to your AC. Okay. In addition... you can take the first rally and but of a battle as a quick action and just to be clear with how runes work runes are a one-time use magic item so it gets activated and lasts a battle so you get the plus one bonus to your ac for the battle that you activate it and you can use that property during that battle Sure. yeah The first rally or my first rally?
00:19:48
Speaker
your Your first right you you take rally. You take your first rally. yeah
00:19:54
Speaker
Sick. Also, I forgot to roll my... a I forgot to roll my d twenty earlier for mine. like So I got an 18 for that. Nice. yeah That's great. i was excited.
00:20:07
Speaker
do I... do i Is it just the next battle or can I hold on to that for this until we get to a battle that real but really matters? I think you can hold on to it.
00:20:20
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. You can choose to activate it. Okay, great. like My AC is just pitiful. with With everything, my is
00:20:34
Speaker
i am you know i don't i wouldn't I wouldn't say that's pitiful. That's fairly language. I'm so used to not that, though.
00:20:46
Speaker
I've never played it, Mia, ever. ah Most casters would say that's perfectly normal. Valk, what does your training montage look like in the gym? it is It is actually just him staring at the weight racks and it's just like you physically see magic distortion around him.
00:21:04
Speaker
so I think of like the whenever you see a character is just like bug eyed, which is like black over their face. That is about staring at the rack, which is magic around him.
00:21:17
Speaker
hasn't actually touched anything occasionally the one of the weights will shift and then shift back into place but that's that's about it all right it's all mental mental training insertion all right love it okay so everyone has thoroughly prepared and Yeah, anything else you all want to do the day before you leave the manor? Any last-minute business you want to take care of?
00:21:50
Speaker
Valka's going to return to the shed and unbury his his brooch. Like, keep it wrapped and put it in his fur coat pocket, which he is taking with him this time because it's going to be in the air, but it's...
00:22:08
Speaker
Nice. Smart.
Airship Journey and Cavalry Battle
00:22:10
Speaker
Okay. Hold on a second, everyone. And did you want respond to your... She did once? Right, she's at 1045, so... Nine-ish. Okay, where you want me to put the Demet card for you?
00:22:21
Speaker
Just by the garage door, it's fine. So...
00:22:30
Speaker
Okay, so you all... Madison says hi. You're playing D&D. God. Okay, so anything else anybody's doing before the morning? No. Based on the date, everything we're doing is before the morning, but Eberron joke.
00:22:45
Speaker
Yes, we did it. he Shut it down. Podcast is over. that did da da duut Okay. So the next morning, Valira stayed in manor and she is awake and awaiting you all at the front of the house. As you all gather, she, as well, only I'll say, stay away from the railing if you're afraid of heights and don't bother my crew too much.
00:23:17
Speaker
Okay. Then she smiles and walks out the front door. And then you see her presuming that you all follow. She walks about 30 paces away from the manor.
00:23:30
Speaker
And you could tell that she is kind of like walking with a distinct, gait and very deliberate in her steps. And then she stops and extends an arm out and kind of like slowly waves in front of her. And then you see her like stop and grab onto something.
00:23:46
Speaker
And then she just begins climbing up an invisible ladder straight up. Interesting. And then she stops looks down and back at you. Come on. Jump, jump. I will go first. That is so cool. are you going to know when you've reached the top?
00:24:00
Speaker
There'll be a ship there. No more ladder. And yeah, she continues climbing. Valk made it sound like Valk was eagerly following next. Yeah, it's weird, Valk. It's even even for your mind, it takes some like acclimation of just not seeing what you're grabbing onto, but physically feeling something being there.
00:24:20
Speaker
But eventually you see... um Valyra gets to the top and then she kind of goes forward and then disappears from your site. Um, and once you get up to the top, you see Valk as you like get up to a certain point in the ladder, you see the deck of a ship.
00:24:38
Speaker
And you see Lyra standing there talking to three other figures. Um, and she turns like, there's the first one rest will be up in a second.
00:24:49
Speaker
I was literally just about to turn to Nyx and Selina and say, think better be able to see this thing. Once we're on it, I do not want to look down and just see expanse. I agree.
00:25:01
Speaker
If that would be scary. but Yeah, that would be horrifying.
00:25:08
Speaker
Kaz is going to try to go up the ladder last because he doesn't want to, like, miss wrongs because he can't see them and look foolish. So... We'll go next. Okay.
00:25:20
Speaker
Nyx. It's just a bit of blind faith. It's okay. And this group is well known for... yeah If Nyx or Slayta has a better reason than vanity for going last, I will happily go up before that.
00:25:32
Speaker
Um...
00:25:38
Speaker
Sorry, one second, just taking some final notes. Boom. Okay, you all get up to the top and you see the three figures talking to Valyra. One of them is a male half-elf with pretty distinct dragon mark. Like he he has what looks like a pilot's like uniform on, but one sleeve it has been cut off and his whole right arm that's exposed, you see um the mark of lightning.
00:26:07
Speaker
on it and you also see a white like claw hand branded into his cheek that's been like tattooed white you also see um a orc but standing there based on the gear that he's just carrying you can instantly clock that this is the quartermaster But he on his neck has this strange, like, it's like a dragon whose face is made of tentacles tattooed on his neck. And then the the last one that you see is somebody standing, um just in, in their demeanor.
00:26:52
Speaker
You get a sense that they are like almost on equal footing with val Lyra, like appear rather than crew. Um, But this person is very tall, fair skinned and blonde.
00:27:04
Speaker
And you all can tell not from Corvair. Uh, if any of you have met someone from Sarlona before, this is a Sarlonan human. So it looks pretty distinctly different than humans that you would encounter in Corvair.
00:27:18
Speaker
What freaky tattoo do they have? They don't have a freaky tattoo.
00:27:25
Speaker
Um... Valaira turns to you all and says, well, I suppose introductions on order. This is pilot Jesha house, like former see house of Iranda and also former order the Emerald Claw.
00:27:40
Speaker
Then we got quarter master Karak, former dragon cult of the dragon below cult leader. And we got our first met here, Giles.
00:27:51
Speaker
And he looks at y'all. Pleased to meet you. From the continent of Salona. And according to him, he used to have some creepy things up in his brain, but that got taken care of. Cool. This is McCrew. This is Valk, Slayna, Nyx, and Kazimir. You can call me Kaz. Pleasure to meet y'all.
00:28:10
Speaker
but Oh, didn't know that was an option. He doesn't. I say, just don't call me the kid. and Yeah, that's what we can call him. Only his friends call him that. friends? he's Slow down. Slow down. Nick said we were friends.
00:28:25
Speaker
Only his workplace proximity associates. Exactly. Only my coworkers can call me by my nickname. Said the saddest man ever. My collaborators.
00:28:36
Speaker
Giles says pleasure to have you all on board the ship. um Make yourselves at home and if you need anything let Kurok know he's off. Call the master and Kurok says and then walks away.
00:28:51
Speaker
Yeah. Velaira turns to Jesha and says, all right, Jesha, why don't we get headed to Adaport and do our best to stay off radars.
00:29:03
Speaker
And Jesha nods and then wordlessly turns away and heads into the helmsman. ah Helm. Jesus. Yeah. The helmsman spot. The spot where the helmsman goes.
00:29:15
Speaker
And Velaira says, there's... There's hammocks down in the cargo hold if you all want to just rest down there. But no one welcome to have do free reign of the ship.
00:29:27
Speaker
Go where you like. Just do your best to stay out of folks' way. But you need anything from me before we take off? Any questions about where we're headed? Any y'all been to Adaport before? No, never. Never, never.
00:29:39
Speaker
Oh, is it a substantial smuggling slots? A stop? Like it's pretty far out of the way. Like unless you're taking something to Kabara, there's not really a reason to, or and't know if there was like a black market of taking things out of Kabara that there are a lot of dragon shards there, but like I said, that that's kind of going to be your gig. If you're smuggling stuff in and out of Kabara, right?
00:30:05
Speaker
Um, So I'd say probably not. It's nice. Bit rough and tumble, but good spot to go if you're trying to get off the map. Well, I'll leave you to it. And if you need anything, just holler.
00:30:17
Speaker
Okay. Thank you. You're welcome, Selina. And Lyra goes below deck. how big if How big is this ship, Eric? I'm sorry if you if you said that I missed that bit.
00:30:30
Speaker
Is it like... I mean, it's only a crew of four people, so it's not like a massive galleon. It's definitely a smuggler ship. Like, Nix, you would instantly clock this, the cloaking notwithstanding. This is designed to be fast, inconspicuous, and get out of places quick. I just like kind of wondering how big the deck is because I'd like to stay up there but also very out of the way if I can.
00:30:52
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you can definitely be out of the way unless like a massive fight breaks out where they need to run around and like adjust riggings or fire weapons, things like that. But why would you mention that?
00:31:05
Speaker
This kind of journey. No real worries. I don't know. Just sometimes it's fun to talk. yeah Kaz is looking at the ropes and considering tying himself to the rail because he flies sometimes when he doesn't mean to.
00:31:21
Speaker
He's just going to make a little, new ah, just a little tether. Yeah. Yeah. Objects at rest tend to stay at rest. Who is going to be responsible for balloon boy now? Honestly, I prefer the kid.
00:31:32
Speaker
just going to say, do you love your new smithing cast?
00:31:38
Speaker
I will, I should probably go down there actually. Yeah. Yeah. I get a good look around and then I go down below the deck. All right.
00:31:47
Speaker
Just because nobody's mentioned it up to this point, do you want to point out there is a bunker loaded located in Kibara? Oh, didn't even look at the map. Okay. Always got to look at the map.
00:32:00
Speaker
I mean, they're going find the map. I know. Yeah. I don't even know if I have that map. yeah We're letting Eric down with our lack of obsession.
00:32:13
Speaker
um
00:32:17
Speaker
So you all begin your journey. Let's go with Jeff roll a d12 for me. You got it. That's a two. um All right.
00:32:31
Speaker
First leg of your journey goes by an event fleet. Madison roll a d12 for me. That's a six. Okay. Next leg of your journey goes by Unevent's Leaves.
00:32:44
Speaker
Present. It gets to be nighttime. You all been on here for a bit, so you're free to go below deck and sleep if you so choose. Mia, roll a d12 for me.
00:32:56
Speaker
Stop. That is a two. Okay. And that will be on deck looking at the stars. All right. Morning comes. The sun breaks over the horizon. Philip,
Pirate Threat and Preparation for Battle
00:33:08
Speaker
roll a d12 for me.
00:33:09
Speaker
Thor. Okay. It's about mid-morning. So what would people be doing on the ship? You still got a handful of hours before you arrive in outer court. Kaz would be up on deck. Like, he he has pattern recognition skills. He understands if he's not trying to cast magic or doing something, he's probably not going to fly.
00:33:26
Speaker
So... Probably just checking it out, looking over the railing, being amazed at what he's experiencing. Nyx would be trying to find some—Nyx does not like being cooped up—and be trying to find some place where she can move and exercise a little bit without being actively in the way of the function of the ship.
00:33:51
Speaker
Okay. And failing that has probably been in a bad mood. Fair. Selina's probably up on deck too, but keeping a very close eye on Grubb because she's a little nervous with him being up here. There are definitely stretches of time where Grubb kind of like side-eyes you, looks at you, and then dives into a shadow that like, ah as like the clouds clear and like the sun shines down and you have to spend some time hunting around the ship for Grubb.
00:34:17
Speaker
typically you find him in the the food stores like this this most recent time this mid-morning grub dove into a shadow and you go down below deck and you see a very exasperated orc holding grub by the tail and grub is like clawing and gnawing at his wrists trying to get him to let go and the orc just extends his fist out to you Sorry. And releases Grubb's tail as Grubb scurries up onto your shoulder and then hisses at Karak.
00:34:48
Speaker
Yeah, Grubb gets put in my little little pouch for a while. He's in time out. That's funny. um
00:34:59
Speaker
Valk, what are you doing? Valk is just exploring, but also staying out of the way. He's a pretty thin dude, so he's kind of like hugging walls and being as respectfully nosy as he could.
00:35:13
Speaker
He's very intrigued by this airship and what is going on here. Yeah. Yeah. As you're kind of poking around, you approach the helm at one point and you see Jesha with hands on some pretty inscrutable controls, Valk.
00:35:28
Speaker
But they like their dragon mark is lit up pretty brightly as it is like, seems to be resonating with the controls in some way.
00:35:39
Speaker
um And Jesha just kind of looks at you, wordlessly nods, and then turns back to what they're doing. He's just watching. Uh, Kaz, as you're looking down over the edge of the ship, you actually see as you all are flying over the the Northern, but you're flying over what's known as the blade desert.
00:36:05
Speaker
And you happen to catch glimpse of a very large band of elves on horseback riding in formation. And you see them rapidly approaching a band of halflings riding on the backs of dinosaurs that are approaching them.
00:36:23
Speaker
but And you see a pretty hit heated cavalry battle begin to happen between these two forces. Yeah. And it is, it's pretty remarkable. The, the elves, their mastery of horse riding is really remarkable. Whereas kind of the brazing blunt force chaos of the halflings, it's, it's more evenly matched than you would anticipate.
00:36:50
Speaker
Kaz watches it for a while and then it kind of starts to sink in that he is watching people dying and kind of looks away. Dirt. Nyx is watching pacing up and down.
00:37:00
Speaker
After a bit of watching that, you all feel the ship rise. And as you look ahead, you see you're approaching a mountain range known, if you looked at a map as the end world mountains.
00:37:13
Speaker
And, ah then, uh, probably Valk if you're still watching like near the helm and watching. Velira comes up from below deck and looks back um and mutters under her breath and she looks at Valk and says, well, you all about to earn your keep.
00:37:35
Speaker
ah I want get prepped for things to get a bit nasty. the And then she like says to Jesha like evasive maneuvers pick up the speed let's see if we can outrun him.
00:37:47
Speaker
Earn our keep. Weren't we hired? Not by Velira, she's just- I assume somebody paid her. After favors. Right. Okay, in that case, legitimately, is there some way for Kaz to secure himself?
00:38:01
Speaker
Like, is there... Yeah, there's ropes everywhere. Well, i didn't I didn't know if there was a thing like... you rigging stuff? just i Just untie a random rope. I know, right? Yeah. And tie it to your belt. It's probably not important. Kaz does not have the cas that i have the rigging skill that Dex so clearly possess.
00:38:19
Speaker
I didn't know if there might be like some sort of carabiner system for ah but that would be there for rough waters that would still be on the There has got to be. Right. When the when the when the the consequences of falling off are not, you get wet. There has got to be right some sort of safety system available.
00:38:37
Speaker
Cassius, strap it in. He turns to the court investor and says, i hear you can give me what I require. i would like to not fall off the boat. Mm-hmm. He kind of looks at you and then grabs a harness out of a satchel and like tosses it to Kaz and it has a length of rope. It is corrected by somebody and gets it done right.
00:39:01
Speaker
And it like a length of rope. I can kind of run up and down ah bit of the length of the ship. Okay, great. Perfect. Yeah. Nyx looks back. Yeah, you see, probably to your amazement, another small airship closing in on you all.
00:39:16
Speaker
Aren't we invisible? Not to those who know how to look. If you've got somebody that's got true true sight, some of the means to see through invisibility, then we are quite visible, in fact. And unfortunately, Ka'es Rasabra has a member of his crew that can see invisibility, apparently.
00:39:35
Speaker
Wait, how many of these things are there? Well, not under lock and key with House Irenda. Three that I know of, because I was part of the job that got him. Is this another one of those, or are you being chased by whoever you stole it from?
00:39:50
Speaker
Oh, no, this is another pirate. I stole an artifact from him some time ago, and he's pissed about it, so he's come to blow our ship out of the sky. Oh, great. Sick. I like your attitude, Kaz.
00:40:03
Speaker
No, I've gotten sick over the side of the... Understood. Yeah, they're going to come in hot. They're going to come in firing. So assuming you all don't want to get blown out in the sky, I'll provide you all with a small assistance fee if we get out of the life and get to Adderport.
00:40:24
Speaker
Sound fair?
00:40:26
Speaker
Sounds like our options. I mean, I'm pretty incentivized to fight anyway, so I will take a little bit of money. but Right. I'm not used to getting paid.
00:40:36
Speaker
And as the other ship gets closer, it is closing rather quickly, and you hear Volaira say, I knew I should have taken the faster one. importantly this ship you all can see approaching noted so you get a sense that this one was the cloaking ship that valyra took rather than the speedy ship and you hear a voice bellow out as it gets close By the blood of my ancestors of Dakan, I will have vengeance for the wrong slighted against me.
00:41:06
Speaker
And you see a massive hobgoblin in just like golden armor with just spikes coming off of it and a gigantic great sword standing on the bow of the ship as it closes in on you.
00:41:22
Speaker
He's so dramatic. and let's get an initiative. End of episode.
Outro and Community Engagement
00:41:27
Speaker
Thank you all so much for listening. This episode went a little long, we're splitting it up into a couple different episodes for you.
00:41:33
Speaker
But thank you all so much for listening. If you want to be part of the conversation starting this episode, you can head over to our Discord. The link to which is in the description of this podcast. We also have a YouTube channel, youtube.com slash The New Pantheon. If you want to check out some TTRPG videoss videos made by myself,
00:41:47
Speaker
And we also have a Patreon, patreon.com slash thegatepanthoun. If you want to financially support the show, you can do so over there. Thank you all so much for listening. I've been the Game Master Eric, and we will see you next time.