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Ep. 47 Shadows From The Past – De Profundis
102 Plays4 years ago
Follow us on our Twitters - @FellowshipTable
Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade - https://josephmcdade.com/
The Fellowship Party Twitter Pages:
- The DM/Mark - @HastilyRolledDM
- Drago/Ian - @IRolledA1
- Folly/Callum - @TheD20Gamer
- Princess Helena/Casey - @unicorncrit
- Carstan/Will - @Natural20Will
- Robin/Darren - @DarrenPage06
- Claude/Danny - @totalpartythrlz
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Transcript
Tension Brews After Insensitive Comment
00:00:00
Speaker
Robin will look at Helena and he will say to her, your mother's dead. What? That's not a very nice thing to say. What are you talking about?
Introduction of Hosts and Characters
00:00:36
Speaker
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop. We are a live play 5e D&D podcast set in the world of Eryth. My name is Mark and I am the Dungeon Master. And also with us for today's episode we have Darren who plays the human fighter rogue Robin. Holy squiggly worms Batman. We've got Danny who plays the human cleric Claude. Hello there. We've got Casey who plays the human champion Hell in a Elite Guard.
00:01:00
Speaker
Oh, hello. We've got Will who plays the human-barred Kastan. We've got a goddamn plan. Callum who plays the gnome-saucer of Folly Fizzlebang the Ninth. Hello, listeners. And Ian who plays the dragonborn barbarian Drago. Holy squiggly worms, Batman.
Divine Connections and Speculations
00:01:39
Speaker
played a game of cards, Claude came up with a theory regarding the six characters from Eryth and their connections maybe to gods which of course a bit of consternation between the group. Finally walked off and got up to some shenanigans along the way which I hope you enjoyed and then at the end of the episode Drago and Claude left
00:01:46
Speaker
I see what you did there. I see what you did there.
00:02:00
Speaker
Had a quick discussion, Claude then walked off and found a quiet spot somewhere and sent a message to Elthea, who was our elven counterpart from a few episodes ago, the name we do not mention. And he used the spell sending to send a message to Elthea. Elthea sent a message back to him saying, do you hear the people singing this up?
Humor in Silence and Music
00:02:22
Speaker
No.
00:02:22
Speaker
i'm kidding it's gonna be a musical episode we could totally do a musical episode i found it we should do a musical episode what we're like we all get like some sort of voodoo magic put on us and we can only speak and rhyme like that episode of Buffy yeah there was uh yeah we could also do we could do an episode but all the characters are mute
00:02:52
Speaker
That'd be such a good podcast. I have enough spell slots to bestow a curse on everybody that makes them only sing. I can do this. Oh my god. Yeah, there was one on Buffy, wasn't it? It was like, is that a demon? A nasty demon? Something isn't right here. You got it. Favorite bit of the, I remember the mute episode and I remember because Xander, the phone rings Xander knows he's mute and still picks it up and tries to say hello, which for some reason just sticks in my head. Really makes me laugh.
00:03:19
Speaker
Anyway, so Claude sent a message using the spell sending to Elphir, who is somewhere, they don't know where he is, and he gets a message back and it really starts to affect Claude.
Seizure and Ominous Message
00:03:29
Speaker
A message that you cannot stand the tide of what is coming, you are foolish to think otherwise. And then basically Claude started to have some kind of fit, some kind of seizure. White foam out of the mouth, black haze closing over his eyes, and he slumped and crashed against the old walls of the castle of, old walls of the
00:03:48
Speaker
old walls of the walls of Blackmouth, the ancient Blackmouth, and kind of left him there. On the start of this episode, we're going to join up with Drago. Drago walked off through the city, through the town, just kind of getting his head straight after what him and Claude would have talked about, which was about Cyan, Drago's brother.
Reflections on Family and Weapons
00:04:06
Speaker
Claude seems to have a bit of an interest in him, and he's kind of stuck on talking about him. Drago, you kind of told him, no, no, no, stop it. Don't even mention it anymore. And you kind of walked off. Drago, is there any way in particular you're heading? Where's Drago at mentally at this moment, do you think? So what happens whenever there's a word about his family being Dengo and his father, Syengar, his brother, anything about his past, really, it sends him into a, not a spiral, but it puts it to the forefront of his mind. Just the, what happened to his dad,
00:04:36
Speaker
how he hasn't seen his brother since that day and it just brings everything that he always tries to successfully push right at the back of his mind whenever there's a mention in it and let's not forget he's in a place that isn't home he's not familiar here so the fact that this has followed him here it brings it straight to the forefront of his mind so what he would do is he try and get it back to the the back of his mind and the best way to do that
00:05:03
Speaker
is to hit stuff with his sword. So to that end he would be asking around if there was some sort of a blacksmith here because usually they'd have to try the swords out on something just to make sure that the blade's edge was sharp enough so he'd be trying to find that kind of thing just to get his edge in as it were.
00:05:28
Speaker
As you walk around the town of Blackmouth, you notice it's quite small. You notice the three areas that the small boy told you about. You've got the storm market, you've got Copper Rock on the upper ward, upper ward is where the Broken Down Castle was, where Jerry's Last Stand is, and where you met Kennard and all that.
00:05:43
Speaker
you're currently in Copper Rock and after wandering around that area there's four places that really stand out to you that have names outside of it but you know signs outside of the rest seem to be a series of tents and small makeshift houses and then again moving closer to Copper Rock and into the into the upper ward it gets more and more
00:06:01
Speaker
regular, so to speak. There's four names that really stick out of places that might be of interest to you. There's Harkins Dry Goods Store, which seems to have an amount of barrels and supplies kind of stood outside of it. You see the Block and Anvil, which as its name says, the sign is made up almost of the site in the shape of an anvil as well. You know there's Riverstone, which is the tavern you've come from. And you notice also in the Copper Rock, another place called House of Pots.
00:06:30
Speaker
which doesn't seem to have any other information. You can't really discern anything from the outside of what it is. He's going to the anvil. OK. Yeah, for sure. Until just kind of walk in, if it's open, if it's that kind of day. Yeah, it is open. The sun is about four o'clock in the afternoon at this point. It's clear and bright day, which is a bit of pathetic fallacy because you had some good luck over the last couple of days. And the weather is lovely and clear. The door is actually a jar, this nondescript building with an anvil also sat outside of it that seems to haven't been used in a while. And opening the door up,
00:06:59
Speaker
Firstly you get a wave of heat as you notice at the very back a small very intense fire is burning like a small forge very very very small with that concrete and stone all around it. In front of this standing looking over some books is a half orc with large tusks sticking out.
00:07:17
Speaker
the bottom of his jaw up towards his lips and he has a small pair of pressed on spectacles over the end of his wide-squat nose. He stands towering, filling the space, his head almost reaching the ceiling. As you walk in, you almost match that in terms of height. He looks up from his ledger where he's writing, puts down his quill, takes the glasses off. Well, not dragonborn. Aye. What may I do for you this fine day?
00:07:43
Speaker
Yes and have you got and saw Drago takes Dengon's deception his sword off his back and swings it around not swings it around places it in front of the blacksmith doesn't just swing it around him.
00:07:58
Speaker
I need to recondition my sword. I didn't know if you had a whetstone that I could use to just keep the blade edge sharp and then if there was a place where you practice with your own swords to make sure that everything is as it should be. I've seen quite a few battles of late. I don't know if you knew but I was part of the group that that came from the mountains earlier so I just need to make sure this sword is in top condition.
00:08:25
Speaker
His eyes flick up to you when you mention about the mountain and his glasses return onto his nose, he presses them down. These are glasses that don't have the bits around the earth, they just sit over his nose and they've been reconditioned to fit around the sides of his nose and he starts looking up and down the blade. He doesn't touch your sword but he looks at it and this man obviously knows there is a bond between a person and their weapon and therefore doesn't touch the blade.
00:08:49
Speaker
he looks up and down and taking some time this is a well-formed blade and i can see you have had many of battle with it there are some small divots but nothing that would need reforgion i have a stone here which you may use and he pulls out and it's a quite light colored kind of almost white colored stone which he lays very gently down next to you there for practice
00:09:16
Speaker
If you follow me in a moment I can show you where I have some mannequins which you may practice if you wish to test your sword on them again. May I also comment on the quality of your weapon, sir? It is a commendable piece of kit. I owe it my life.
00:09:37
Speaker
and I'm sure it has seen you through many a battle and well I can only respect that. You said you are from the group in the mountain, is that correct? Yeah we just took care of a portal, I don't know how much you know but there was a portal of the undead down there so we had to take care of it and that's what we did. Black, apologies please continue.
00:10:05
Speaker
No, obviously that led to some battles and some fights, hence why I'm here. I just need to... I think there's going to be more battles, hence why I just want to make sure this sword is as good as it can be. It gives a knowing nod at that. It seems to be the way that weapons beget violence, and where there is weapons, there is fighting.
00:10:27
Speaker
I understand that. And you have black-mouthed thank for your work in the mines. I knew of some undead, but the numbers seem to be miscalculated by our leaders. So thank you, outsider, for your work on that. You are not the first I have met from your travelling group. I believe you travel with a short fellow, a very small, maybe shin-height to you. Yes, his name is Folly. Yes, with the backpack.
00:10:57
Speaker
With the backpack, yes. Have you met him? I have. I have. I saw him not two hours ago. Oh, else this is where he ended up. Yes, it must be. He came in with some questions and we had a very pleasant conversation. I'm a man onto his own. I don't want to poke around his business.
00:11:17
Speaker
No, no. And I wouldn't be one to share that, unfortunately. And he reaches out his hand and kind of pushes the whetstone closer to watching. If you will follow me with your weapon, I will show you where you may practice, if you will. Thank you. I don't have much money on me. For your aid in closing the mine, consider it as long as you give me the whetstone back. Yeah, of course. Consider it a favor. Consider it payment enough that you have helped my town.
00:11:47
Speaker
Well, that's very gracious of you, thank you. And he puts a hand across his chest and kind of gives a slight nod. Or it has a slight, you don't know where or how you know it, but there's a slight kind of military feel to what he does. Yeah, Drago's got an air of respect for this guy because he clearly understands the importance this weapon is without Drago having to go on about it. So there's some mutual respect thing going on.
00:12:13
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, he's a nice guy. And what? I don't know that he might be an asshole. Anyway, so you walk off, just as you round the back of the shop and around there again, the mud continues and there's a small wooden gate which he opens. And behind there, you can see a group of supplies that he obviously has stacked up around the back that have been almost tied in boxes to the back of the store.
00:12:32
Speaker
and also a couple of stakes sticking out the ground quite tall, like a six foot high with barrels placed on them, kind of makeshift mannequins for would be proprietors to practice with his weaponry. Amazing. This is exactly what Drago is looking for. So there's already some of that kind of good feeling of adrenaline is starting to come back to Drago from how he felt before when he walked in to how he feels now is very different. So he's definitely found what he was looking for.
00:12:59
Speaker
Excellent, so he just kind of gestures you, please take as long as you need and leave the stone on the table when you're done and he just gestures to a small table in a stool that's next to it with a jug of water just on there and help yourself to the water. I often come out here to to quell the anger inside. I'm sure as a fellow warrior you can appreciate what I'm talking about. I've been told that I have some rage. Well sometimes rage can be useful. Yes indeed it can be pointed into
00:13:29
Speaker
a weapon. And he gives a very knowing nod to that. I will leave you with your training, fellow warrior. Thank you. So long. And he walks off and you can feel the ground beneath kind of, but as he walks off, this is a solid, solid ork. And so walks off with again, just a knowing little nod of the catch of eye contact and walks off back to his shop.
00:13:50
Speaker
I like this place. So Drago would just take the whetstone, sit down and start across the edge of the blade with the whetstone just to sharpen up a little and then cue an awesome rocky montage of Drago going to hell on each of these mannequins and then going back to the whetstone to sharpen the blade and then back to the mannequins and there's nothing
00:14:10
Speaker
There's this he's not he's not going full leather on these mannequins. It's not a he wasn't come to this from this rage place It's more just this monotonous action of battle that he's used to is enabling him to refocus his mind away from his family which causes him much trouble and heartache and
00:14:30
Speaker
He's just refocusing his mind into the upcoming battles and setting his focus on the Onyx Reaver. And so that's all he's doing here. It's a it's a methodical beat down of these mannequins with the blade he holds very dear.
00:14:45
Speaker
And as that amazing montage comes to the end, you can imagine just a bit of sweat trickling down his dragonborn face, and grabbing a cup of water just to crunch his thirst. You hear off to the distance, not kind of further into the town, just this loud crunch, and then an, ah, a scream. Oh, shit.
Drago's Heroic Deeds and Advice
00:15:07
Speaker
So if he heard that, he'd stop what he's doing. The scream did sound painful, or scared, or? Scared.
00:15:15
Speaker
Okay, and was it quite loud? Yeah, quite loud and quite high pitched as well. Do I know the owner of the scream? Give me a history check. I didn't know if it was one of the group, that's all. 18.
00:15:28
Speaker
You recognize this voice, not only the pitch of it as well, but also the volume of it as well. This is the sound of that little boy you met on your first entry into Blackmouth. You recognize that definitely. The one who gave you the directions and took you to Riverstone, the tavern. Okay, Jago would calmly walk towards the sound with a, okay, let's see what's happening. Can you hear this?
00:16:00
Speaker
as you get closer and closer. And as you leave the area, the kind of training grounds, you take a street down, it gets a bit dark around here as the shadows are kind of leaning over the buildings. I would nod a thanks just as a cut in here. I would nod a thanks to the proprietor of the blacksmith.
00:16:15
Speaker
There's a small side window and he hears it as well and sticks his head out and he just gives you a knowing nod and a salute to see you on your way and takes your thanks. As you head up the street, again, it's a bit darker just because the buildings are slightly taller, not because of anything ominous. And you turn one more corner into a smaller, thinner alley and you do see this kid with ruffled black hair, pale white skin with mud all over him, and he's pinned under a cart. And there's no one else around except this kid there pinned under this cart.
00:16:44
Speaker
Oh, Dragon Man! Help! Can you get this car off me? Yes, of course. Ow! Ow! Dragon reaches down to the bottom of the car and does an almighty powerful squat on it to lift it up. Cool, can you give me a strike check, please? I can. For athletics. Give me athletics.
00:17:04
Speaker
16. Just about. Okay, I'll give you that. No, no, it's fine. You managed to lift the cart and you managed to grab the wheel or the cart was kind of on his hip and he pulls himself out. Oh, thank you very much for saving me. That was, that was a bit unpleasant. I didn't like being under the cart with the mud. I thought I was going to die. How the hell did you end up under a cart? No, I didn't. It was just an accident. Don't worry about it. Fine. He stands very, looking at you. What were you doing?
00:17:33
Speaker
Nothing, I wasn't doing anything, it wasn't me, I wasn't doing anything. Okay, how this normally goes, when your life gets saved, you tell the person what he wants to know. Especially when that person owns a big sword. Yeah, but I'll get in trouble. By who? By, uh, it's this kid called Nittle. Right.
00:17:54
Speaker
He's got some friends and they're a bit older than me and they don't like me because I talk a lot and they don't think I should talk very much. If I tell you who he is, I tell on him and he might come and beat me up again. So I don't want to tell you. Oh, I've already said his name, haven't I? Oh no. Okay, this sounds very much like a schoolyard playground thing. Yeah, he stabbed me once as well.
00:18:21
Speaker
Physically stabbed you yeah, and he left up his shirt. You can quite clearly see a Mark and he points to and it's gonna abdomen off to the side near his kind of hip and he goes there God it got me once it was a few months ago. It's healed, but thank you though What was this little he's um
00:18:45
Speaker
Well, he hangs around the walls normally. It's not too far. You're gonna go beat him up? Just take me to him.
00:18:53
Speaker
Really? Yeah, but why were you with this cart? I still don't understand that. Well, I was walking through trying to find fellow travellers such as yourselves to make my living and also to buy things with all the money you gave me because I'm really rich. To try and steal half of us and yeah, okay, I know you're gay. No, I wasn't stealing. No, my job is to tell people about the history of black mouth. I told you many a good thing. Yeah, I remember in fine detail, you don't need to go over it again.
00:19:20
Speaker
And then you gave me all that money, didn't you? And your big friend with the bow and the nice woman, they all gave me money and then Nitto took the money as well. Okay, he took your money, right? This is not where I thought this would be heading. Just take me to this damn kid.
00:19:38
Speaker
Okay. And for expediency, he quickly walks you through and kind of yammering away as he does about bits he knows and about things that little have done in the past. And you make your way to the old walls of Blackmouth. And these are quite high up and there's some architecture. This is very different from the design you previously seen. And he points to the corner of the walls where the corner was normally is a bit higher. And there's actually like a little cubby hole. And he points and goes, he normally is in there.
00:20:07
Speaker
Fine. How old is he before I just start going hell for lever on this person? He is approximately 12 to 15 years of age. Fair enough, that's man's age. And Drago walks off to where he's pointing.
00:20:22
Speaker
OK, and you start looking close with some shrubberies around there as well. And as you get closer, you know, you're not very stealthy. There's this rather there's rather gruff looking kid jump steps out. And again, he's no taller than you'd expect a 12 year old really to be, a human 12 year old to be. He comes out and he's got kind of short, short brown hair, really, really short kind of almost like clippered brown hair. He's got big chubby cheeks as well and got grubby food all around his mouth. He comes out. Who's your daddy? What's he do?
00:20:53
Speaker
What do you mean? You see that kid behind me? Uh, yeah. Did you take his money? No. Did you stab him?
00:21:00
Speaker
No, who are you? His friend. You're not. You're a dragon. You can't be friends with anyone, actually. Yeah, OK. Because he's a boy. I'm not friends with you. And dragon starts walking over to him just to use his intimidating presence on him, which I can frighten a creature I see within 30 foot if it can see and hear me. He needs to make a wisdom saving throw of DC 14.
00:21:29
Speaker
he rolled a five cool he's pissed he's like pissing his pants at me that this is as i'm walking towards him so intimidating prison a tick wait wait wait wait okay oh stop oh uh fine fine fine yeah i did i did take his money and he takes that he takes out a gold piece and throws it towards uh throws it towards the kid i feel like we gave him more than that
00:21:49
Speaker
He throws another gold piece out of his pocket, dishes towards him into the mud. Definitely feel like we gave him even more. Look, I haven't got a lot of time here. Okay, fine. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And he just throws his patch of money towards the kid, which he catches. Thank you. Right, okay. If you...
00:22:05
Speaker
Just don't stab him. He can be annoying by the sounds of things and he can piss you off. That's great I have friends that do the very same thing and I Understand where your rage comes from don't stab him. Trust me. You don't want to go down that road All right. I'm sorry. Why did you stab him? Because he's annoying so stop them fair enough. Don't do it again under eyes He'll stab you back and probably kill you and then you're dead
00:22:34
Speaker
yes sir okay right so no stabbing that kid okay no stealing money fine yes sir i'm sorry you're frightened yeah yeah i'm a big mean dragonborn you are yeah right okay i think we're good okay sorry
00:22:51
Speaker
He runs off down the street away away from the the area and it's just you and the kid. Wow. You're good. There's your money on the ground. Thanks. No, you said you said I was annoying though. That wasn't very nice. But thank you for getting my money back. I appreciate you for that. Yeah, sure. Okay. Are you gonna go fight the blight? Yes.
00:23:13
Speaker
When I'm older, I'm gonna go fight the blight as well, just like you. I'm gonna go and I'm gonna buy a big fat sword like you have. Kid, don't, don't follow in my footsteps. Be better than that. You don't want this life.
00:23:27
Speaker
Uh, okay. What? You could I buy us a sword like yours for the money I have, do you think? No. I've got two gold and four silver. Oh my god. Let's just look. The best people I find in this whole place are ones that heal others. Spend your money into learning some of those arts. Okay. Okay. I'll bear that in mind. Right. This is done. This isn't a thing. This whole like father figure. No, I'm not about that. No, no, of course not.
00:23:56
Speaker
Don't get yourself stabbed. Because you're a dragonborn and I'm a human so it'd be very confusing if you weren't my dad. Yeah, that's the reason. Just don't get yourself stabbed and maybe don't talk as much as you do. I don't know. At the same time, you be you. Are we good? Yeah, we're good. My name's Lessie, by the way. Lettie. Yeah, I remember. I'm sure it was written down somewhere.
00:24:19
Speaker
I don't think it was. I think the DM forgot to name me before. But that's my name anyway. Okay. Letty. Drago. Me. You're Letty. Nice to meet you, Drago. Thanks a lot. Don't let people push you around. No, I'm like, stab him back. No, I'm not going to stab him. I'm going to scare them. Perfect. He runs off with a stick above his hand yelling down the streets. Okay. I am going back to the tavern because that's my place now. That's my temple.
00:24:49
Speaker
Okay, and as you start heading over, we're going to jump over to the group that are currently there at the time, so that's Karst and Helena, Tali, and Karst and, no not Claude, Robin, Robin's there as well. I've only been here since the beginning. I like the fact that we are endearing ourselves to the locals, and wait, it's the other thing we're doing.
00:25:13
Speaker
So we're back with you guys in the tavern.
Exploration of Social Norms and Apologies
00:25:17
Speaker
What have you been up to? What do you want to be doing? Is there anything in particular you want to talk about? What's going on? Sorry. Casey's just smashed a knee into the table. It's all right. I'm okay. I just had to hold that in, but it didn't stay in. Sorry. I was just saying, what do you guys look up to? I would look over at those two and I would go, so here's an interesting thing. Okay.
00:25:38
Speaker
I haven't met you two before. No, we have. We've all met each other. Let me finish. We haven't met each other since we met on the road a few days back. I feel like I've not had a chance to find anything out about you. So here's a game that we're going to play. You're going to take a look at me and you're going to guess something about me. And if you get the guess right,
00:26:06
Speaker
I will drink. It's going to be boring. No, of course it's not going to be boring. I'll tell you what, I'll go first. Robin will look at Helena and he will say to her, your mother's dead. What? That's not a very nice thing to say. What are you talking about? Am I wrong?
00:26:29
Speaker
You're wrong. And Helena will get up from the table. She'll push it back a bit and then she'll storm off.
00:26:39
Speaker
So Robin, I know you're not experienced with ladies of upbringing. I can tell that from the way you sound. But yeah, yeah, you messed up there. Is that your guess? I'm not experienced with ladies without an upbringing. No, no, my guess is that you... Oh, you're right. So I drink. Oh, OK. I'll help with the ladies, Robin. Don't worry. Well,
00:27:05
Speaker
I wouldn't take it personally if I was her. I don't have any. Why did you say her mum was dead? I went for a random guess. I don't know. Yeah. So in polite society, we tend to not say people's parents are dead. Really? Both of mine are. That upset me. Well, you're different, aren't you? And this is Aerith, not the Sword Coast. I see.
00:27:31
Speaker
Maybe, I don't know. Maybe my understanding of how royalty works is something wrong. But between you and me, Kaftan, royalty is the greatest con that's ever been created. Well, that's why the Sanguine Lands got rid of their royals. Did they? Tell me about the Sanguine Lands. Well, we got so many, many years ago. We had a royal family, just like all the other kingdoms. This is before now, before we became like the most important kingdom in Eryth. And we
00:28:01
Speaker
had our our country was invaded by another country and We didn't have a king anymore and then we kicked those people out and we decided we didn't want Kings anymore so we now have a council and Roth hawks better leads to at the moment and that's why the sanguine lands are the best kingdom in the world we're all Yeah, I've heard that name before yeah, he's pretty famous round here another monarch or a
00:28:29
Speaker
No, no, I'd say he leads the council of the Kingdom of the Sanguine Lands. I see. I see. Why is a princess of sleep guard travelling if it's not for a reason? Maybe I misunderstood her. She does have her reason. So the princess was trained in the Sanguine Lands because we have the best soldiers in the world. And then she travelled back here and then went on a mission.
00:28:59
Speaker
Right, okay, fine. I'm just trying to piece it together as to why. I think that if you remember earlier this, earlier yesterday, I think it was yesterday, was it this morning, at breakfast, she read a letter out, didn't she, about having to go to find something. It wasn't from her mother, was it? I'm pretty sure it might have been, yeah. That was quite the sensitive of me now you say it like that. Yeah.
00:29:22
Speaker
But so I've got it. So I've got a confession to make that game that I was tentatively trying to play with you both to find out more about each other. It went really well. I, I don't know. I was just trying to find a reason to, I don't know, figure out why you're both here. I suppose you could have just asked us. I well, where I come from, you do it in a manner that provokes intrigue and getting drunk.
00:29:50
Speaker
That's easy, look. We do this. And class M will take a drink. See, I've told you loads about the Sangri Lands. I mean, it's a great place. Hopefully, I'll get to go back. Maybe. We'll see. It'll be fine. Is it not within your power to go back? Hold on, no, no, no, no, no, no. You sang a song about a lord and offended him, and that's why you can't go back. That is exactly right. Is that actually true? Yes. I'm not as bad as I thought. You have to drink. Oh, okay. And class M takes a drink. Yeah, I, um... Yeah, I...
00:30:18
Speaker
I wrote a song and it was not popular and so it was felt that I should leave because you know in some families politics is important and you know you you can't let your family's reputation down so it was best you see maybe I don't know I think that's my fault for playing the circumstance and with you it's easy you're a bard who
00:30:42
Speaker
talks a lot and therefore I assume at some point your talent would have been your curse. It is a burden I have to bear, yes. I don't know. I see. Well, yes, perhaps I maybe should have started with something lighter than the... But where did you meet Helena?
00:30:58
Speaker
On the road. On the road. On the road from Goldview, yes. I arrived in Goldview and then I had my ear to the ground, as they say. And I happened to hear that someone who looked remarkably like the princess, because I'm not going to lie, she was walking around before we met you, she was walking around with like her symbol.
00:31:23
Speaker
And all that on the show, it was pretty obvious that she was leaving the city, so I kind of chased after her because I thought, who better to follow around and get a story from than a princess? It's true. I'm just trying to piece her head in my mind by someone would willingly choose to do this, I suppose. I'd have only ever issued it. Do what? Well, whatever it is we're doing right now.
00:31:43
Speaker
Well, it's what heroes do though, isn't it? You know, it's sometimes when, in all the stories, when the kingdoms need help, there's always someone who will step up and fight the good fight, and this time, that's you.
00:32:03
Speaker
Hmm, maybe. And at that, the doors of the tavern swing open to a large backpack with a small gnome walking back in. Folly, was I thinking you were coming back to the tavern from the end of last episode? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:32:18
Speaker
Cool, so you've just walked in and you can see a very confused Thali, been watching this whole situation through thin eyes, watching them talk. And Karstan and Robin at the table that you left still sat there having a conversation with a few more drinks sat around it now. It's probably about five o'clock in the afternoon now.
00:32:35
Speaker
Father's going to go over and... Hello Father, can you pop up on the table? Hello, Castan, hello. These numbers seem to dwindle somewhat. How was your journey? How was your little walk? It was advantageous. What did you do? Castan, just familiarise myself. Hold on, hold on.
00:32:57
Speaker
We're playing a game here at the Minutecast, Dan. I think you went and set fire to something by accident. If you did, you have to drink. And what happens if I didn't? Then you don't drink. I have to drink. Ah, okay. Well, then drink, I guess. I'm not familiar with it, but drink, drink ahead.
00:33:17
Speaker
Joly good. You're okay. Yes. This stuff is really disgusting. I don't know why I keep drinking this. What did you do? I just familiarised myself with the town. I mean, there's not much of it. There's more to see than what you could possibly think. There's more to it and sometimes it's always good to get a feel for the people in a town. You were feeling the people.
00:33:42
Speaker
I was not feeling people specifically, I was getting to know them. Okay, that sounds worse. You may take it however you wish. I feel no particular reason to explain my actions. What a gnome does in the privacy of his own backpack is up to you. What did you learn, Folly? These people are very strong-willed.
00:34:06
Speaker
They have great faith in themselves, and more importantly, they have great faith in the people who command and watch over them. That's what happens, you know? They're leaders and they're followers. Indeed, but faith is something that one should have in oneself, really, in other people. Well, some people don't have faith in themselves. That's why people lead them. A true leader would help them build the faith in themselves, rather than just tell them what to do.
00:34:34
Speaker
Yeah, but, you know, some people are peasants. And here in discriminatory action there, they're in Kastan, if I may say so. And they're in Kastan is the issue that I take with Royal Hierarchy. Yeah, I know what you mean now. So in Sleetguard, there are people who get called peasants and generally they just do things and get told what to do and don't really have anything else. Yet in other countries, we have not peasants. We're a little bit more dignified.
00:35:02
Speaker
Again, you're taking the word pedant as a derivative form.
00:35:06
Speaker
I don't think you're doing it intentionally, it's just part of the class system that builds up the world around you. If there wasn't that kind of, there's got to be some kind of system, could you imagine the anarchy? I'd agree there has to be some kind of system, but I don't know, call me an idealist, I've always strived for a better one. I mean, we did throw off the yoke of kings, but we still have to have an order of something, there's got to be someone in charge.
00:35:33
Speaker
Oh, I agree. I agree with that completely. But you threw off the yoke of kings. I presume you're talking about the Sanguine lands again. Yeah, that's why we thought we don't have a king. And as the D&D version of the Communist Manifesto begins to write itself...
00:35:49
Speaker
around this table where he's going to quickly pan up the stairs and follow Helena as she clumps up the stairs in her armour. So, Helena, you've just made your way upstairs away from this situation after pushing back the table quite violently, moving the table, knocking some of the drinks over after Robinson's sensitive comments were said to you. What do you do? What do you get up to?
00:36:07
Speaker
Well she's very very frustrated and feels that it was handled in a very ignorant way but she storms off up the stairs she realizes she hasn't yet washed so she goes to her bedroom
00:36:23
Speaker
and yeah takes off her armour, gets washed and things and then she sits on her bed breathing in some fresh air taking in a little bit more space and yeah she doesn't want to go back downstairs at the moment she just wants a little bit of time on her own. Okay anything you want to get up to while you're up there or just literally just chilling out taking some time? I'll probably use this time to respond to a couple of letters
00:36:49
Speaker
Okay, no problem. And when you're ready to when you're ready to send them off, we can organize someone to come and take the letters from you when you've when you've got them written. But yeah, you kind of just left left to your own accord for the majority of the time. And then after you've let's say written letters, you know, you started to calm yourself down a bit, maybe depends on how I rate you were about what Robin was said, you do hear quite a light not on your door. Hello. Hello, Helena. When the door opens slightly, you see the face of Julia kind of pop through
00:37:19
Speaker
Oh, Julia, I didn't expect you. Well, I've... Come in. Come in. Thank you. And she just steps in and stands by the door. How are you? I heard things got a little bit problematic in the mine.
00:37:32
Speaker
Yes, I was left behind. I was helped, and I can't thank Claude and Karsten enough for what they did for me, but I lost my way a little. Yes, I don't really like thinking about it. I've never felt quite so terrified, and I've been in bigger battles
00:37:50
Speaker
And she nods at this. If you consider yourself a tree, and bear with me on this, the thickest branch is always the one that heads towards the sun. Branches that come off from that go some distance, but never equate to anything. You merely followed one of those thinner branches and all you need to do now is return to your core, return to what you know. We all make mistakes and I don't think you should take it as a dent in your character or your heritage at all.
00:38:20
Speaker
Thank you. I've never thought about it like before. I quite like that. Well, it's my pleasure. Now, I should say I am not staying in Blackmouth long now that my job here is complete and the Blackmouth Rangers have indeed signed themselves to help the Blight. I will be returning to Moonrise via Goldview in the next coming weeks.
00:38:43
Speaker
However i'm waiting to hear if james returns we have some unfinished business and i would like to say goodbye to him before we leave but i just wanted to pass on some advice and take it if you will or ignore me it is of course your volition to do so sure i know we've talked about where are you going in the purpose of this and what you hope to achieve with your mother that's correct yes.
00:39:11
Speaker
Now, just be aware, and this might just be word on the street from Goldview, but I know your father isn't too keen on you the way you're... He doesn't like you being out of Goldview and the people you're being with. What I've heard is he sent Felstrop with you to keep an eye on you, and now that Felstrop had to go to Veloguard,
00:39:36
Speaker
You're kind of out on a limb. From what I've heard, he's sent two people to keep an eye on you, to follow you, and to make sure you're safe. Now, I don't know if, I don't know who they are, or even if we've met them, or you've met them, or anything, but just be aware of that, that your father, Leopold the King, is trying to keep an eye on you, and... He doesn't trust me. Is that what you're saying?
00:39:58
Speaker
He doesn't trust his people, those in sleep guard, or he doesn't trust you. I can't speak on behalf of the king. This is just what I've heard from people of court. I cannot say how truthful it is, but when I came here, I heard of your return from the Sanguine lands after your training.
00:40:18
Speaker
And I heard of your father's displeasure at what you wanted to achieve.
Helena's Reflections and Realizations
00:40:24
Speaker
So I just thought I should let you know that you might be watched. Yes, that's something I hadn't imagined. I thought that my father would think better of me for this. I will keep my eye out. I'm not too sure what it is I'm looking for. Do you have any idea? Do you think they'll be in uniform?
00:40:44
Speaker
I do not think they will be obvious. I do not think they'll be clear. I think they may hide in plain sight. They might hide. Your father is connected to a number of organizations across Aerith. But what do they think I'm doing? I'm doing this for my family.
00:41:03
Speaker
I think your father thinks it's a lost cause. Whatever you're searching for. How could you put on her like that? I... I mean, she kind of holds her hands up in defense at this point. I'm with you. I believe in what you're searching for as a just cause. I'm just merely passing on what I've heard to you. He... I don't know. Maybe he's lost hope, too. I might need to get word to him. Well... Thank you for letting me know.
00:41:29
Speaker
Like I said, I'm here for the next few days before heading back to Goldview. So if there is anything you would like me to take with me, I'm more than happy to take your correspondence safely to Goldview. That would be very, very helpful. Thank you. No problem. If you can't find me, send your letters to Jerry's last stand and I'll make sure I take them with me on my travels once I've spoken to James. Yes, brilliant. Thank you.
00:41:53
Speaker
I'll leave you to your evening. If there's any good night and she bows deeply, your highness, and quietly shuts the door behind. Is there anything else you'd like to do, Helena?
00:42:03
Speaker
No, I think that's probably made Helena feel even worse about it. She's probably going to pace around a little bit. She'll look out the window. There's a window in her room, right? Yes, there is, yeah. Is there anything that she can see? Anyone lurking around out there that she might spot? As you do look at the window, what you do is you stick your head out. Could you just give me a perception check, please, Casey? Yeah, as a two.
00:42:30
Speaker
As you look out the window, you see the moving of carts. You can hear a very loud crow that seems to set itself on top of the tavern making it.
00:42:43
Speaker
constantly making that noise, and up until now you've probably dealt with it, but that kind of drowns out your ability to hear much else. As you look around, the sun is quite low and it's shining directly into your window, which would be lovely if you're sat inside and not looking to look out, but you get a sense of a nice calm evening of a town at peace with itself for the first time maybe in months.
00:43:04
Speaker
and a calmness to the guards you see walking around and you get a real sense of uh safety here actually despite what you've just been told blackmouth despite its uh shithole of an appearance so to speak um feels homely in some way which is very odd for you given where you've come from
00:43:24
Speaker
But apart from the odd traveling you see passing up the road with the supplies, you do see a rather large orc walking down the path and he seems to be carrying a rucksack on his back and he turns a corner and makes his way into a small tent off to the side. Aside from that, the streets are relatively quiet at this time in the evening.
00:43:45
Speaker
I think what Helena will do is she'll lay on the bed for a bit and probably fall asleep. She'll just be thinking about home, wondering why her dad has sent these people guards on a mission to find her or to keep an eye on her to watch her. She's just trying to understand why her family won't trust her. She knows the severity of it. So yeah, she'll sort of lose herself in her thoughts and she'll probably fall asleep.
00:44:15
Speaker
Okie dokie. And as you slowly drift off, the sun continues to slowly set. And as the camera moves out the window and we zip across Blackmouth, you see the calming city of the sunlight still streaming across, causing long shadows to cast themselves across the mud-strewn streets of Blackmouth.
00:44:33
Speaker
We come to the outskirts of the town and we see as the camera zooms and pans down the body of Claude lying on his back, muddied armor, eyes wide open, but black eyes with white foam filling his beard and mixing with the seaweed that's still encrusted and the charred portions of the beard whitened with his age as we kind of almost zoom straight into his head.
00:45:01
Speaker
And could I ask for everyone just to remove themselves except for Claude, please? Hey, Danny.
Visions and Fears of Being Hunted
00:45:09
Speaker
Hey, hey, hey. Okay, so the last thing you remember is those words entering into your head. You cannot stem the tide of what is coming. You are foolish to think otherwise. And you fall in back and the last thing you feel is this thump of your armour and your head hitting the old walls of black mouth and you slumping into the mud on the ground.
00:45:28
Speaker
You see a silhouette now, possibly the third time, you see in this of a tall dark figure stepping out of the shadow. But before it comes into view, the world begins to blur. This scene of a room in a dungeon somewhere blends out, the scene bleeds into that of this forest, cold and unwelcoming. You see that face, that black face, piercing nebulous green eyes, staring out.
00:45:52
Speaker
You see shadow, a creature standing towering over the forest, engulfed in shadow tall and thin, standing 60, 70, 80 feet above the tree line, black horns protruding from its skull, and in an instant it turns its head and you hear that cacophony, that sound return again and again, that screaming that seems to emanate through your very soul.
00:46:13
Speaker
The image disappears and you see a sword rest on your shoulder and you stand to applause and as you turn you see row upon row of smiling people. You stand tall, taller than you do now and as you reach to your face your black beard is short and cut. You turn and see a gray beard with strong shoulders. He nods his head
00:46:32
Speaker
and his expression morphs into us from a smile to a cold knowing nod as the world melts and the rain pours and with your axe in hand you bring it down down down onto the bare neck of a sobbing man tied to the block at your feet it thuds
00:46:48
Speaker
and you see leaves and the mulch of shadow view forests surrounding you. You peer through the trees and you smile. These forests you know well. You remember the bees, you remember the butterflies, you remember a simpler time, a better time.
00:47:03
Speaker
It's a fire nearby in a small room. Books held high on the walls. It's warming. You're sat at a small table waiting and you know this room. You know who it belongs to. You look around and see grand paintings in this small closeted room with books high up. A single window lets in light into this dusty room and there's one door in and one door out and it shuts
00:47:28
Speaker
wooden, large, ornate. You hear footsteps echoing up the corridor. You stand with that question and bow. And as your head rises, you see the tall, pale, and stern face of Alyssia's sleepguard, your queen. She glides effortlessly across the space with reverence and control. She does not sit but gestures to you to sit.
00:47:50
Speaker
And as you do, you look down at your clean and almost perfected armour. You sit down. The library of the palace is still the air breathless and warm. Even the dust seems to hold in place as if awaiting something. Sir Coldheart, I thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to visit me here at the palace. That is quite all right, your highness. How are you? How goes your family? How is everything?
00:48:19
Speaker
Okay, I haven't really spoken to anyone since I took this post. I tend to just enjoy being in the castle. I didn't really speak to any family for a while now.
00:48:38
Speaker
Oh, well, I'm sorry to hear that. But nonetheless, I would firstly like to commend you on the work you have done for us. Though gritty and necessary, you have performed it with a deft and reverent touch. And for that, myself and my family, thank you. Thank you, your Highness.
00:48:56
Speaker
I'm filled with pride every day serving this family and serving this kingdom. She smiles widely and walks towards the window with her hands behind her back to look out. Yes, it is a wonderful place to sleep guard and it grows more.
00:49:14
Speaker
troublesome as the years go by. I worry, Sir Coldheart. I worry for our future. What could you mean, Your Highness? There is a darkness coming, a darkness that I can feel, and I feel it will encapsulate us all, and I feel that even royalty will suffer. I do not know what it is, but I feel it coming, and she knows it. Pardon, go ahead.
00:49:40
Speaker
I will not let any darkness get to you or the king or your children, your highness. I thank you for that Sir Coldheart. Your trust in my family and your care and duty and honour has always been some of the primary reasons we assigned you to this post. But she turns to you at this point and her fingers pinch the bridge of her nose in her eyes as she pinches her eyes together before removing it looking at you.
00:50:08
Speaker
Your post is part of the reason why I asked you here. We have not taken this decision lightly. Your service to the Crown has been unmistakable. However, in accordance with the decrees set out at the most recent council in the Sanguine Lands, we must end the practice of capital punishment by behalf. Hawke splitter is worried this barbaric practice ties us too closely to Drolak to the south and sets us up as savages to other kingdoms.
00:50:38
Speaker
We're not savages, Your Highness, especially not the Dralak type. No, absolutely. We have our set ways and we are an old and proud kingdom. So, forgive me, what will I do if I'm not going to be...
00:50:55
Speaker
Removing heads, will I be removing feet or putting people in nooses or how can I best serve the kingdom now if I can't remove the head, Your Highness?
00:51:12
Speaker
She pauses and looks directly in your eyes. Sir Colter, you must understand that this is a decision Leopold and I have not taken lightly. You have served our kingdom so well for so long, but this has wider ramifications if we cannot practice our system of punishment.
00:51:31
Speaker
The whole system must be rethought and redeveloped, and she stops and looks, apologetically, at you. I am sorry, Sir Coldheart, I'm skirting round the topic. There is no easy way to say this. Your services are no longer required. I am relieving you of your duties to the Crown and to this family. Your title must be rescinded, and you may no longer go by the name of Sir Coldheart. It holds too much weight, and too much history. You look like you want to say something, please. Please speak.
00:52:00
Speaker
Taking off heads of the enemies of this family is all I know. I don't like to leave the castle. I don't even really like to be outside all that much. And I've always taken orders from your royal family. What should I do now?
00:52:21
Speaker
She looks around. I do not know. There is something. No, there is. For work, I can put in a good word with the governor of Highhaven. It's guard duty or bodyguard work mainly. Consider it a form of retirement, perhaps, and then there will be a sizable sum to cover the loss of job that we will offer to you.
00:52:45
Speaker
Where's Highhaven? Is it far? It's to the north from here. You head out on the Great North Road and take the first right and follow it into the forest, through the forest, and there you'll find Highhaven. It's not too far. Seems like a long way to go each day.
00:53:03
Speaker
come back here and be in the royal executioner's chambers. It's quite a walk every day. You can't stay in the castle anymore. I'm sorry. It holds too much mistrust. It holds too much mistrust for Rothhawk splitter. It holds too much mistrust in those that we have executed. We must adapt and change with the times. And with that
00:53:28
Speaker
We are going to reuse your quarters for another means to help the poor to better support our communities. I am very scared. I am sorry for that.
00:53:41
Speaker
No, you needn't apologize. I feel I should. No, it's not your fault. I'm just very unsure. What does a town guard do if they're quick enough to catch criminals and things?
00:54:03
Speaker
Well, if you explain that to the governor of High Haven, I'm sure he will find other employment for you. Guard duty might sound like just catching criminals, but sometimes it can be defending specific and very important areas that are very key to the kingdom and to my family. Just because you are not defending us or helping us directly, remember that we are the proprietors of sleep guard and any help you do for the kingdom of sleep guard, you will be helping us.
00:54:31
Speaker
That's true. You are my masters, and I can serve you. Even though I'm not beheading, I can still serve you, the great masters of this kingdom. Yes, I think I will gladly accept your assignment, Your Highness.
00:54:49
Speaker
And she's nodding at you, and a tear falls from her eye slightly before she quickly wipes it away. Well, that was all I asked you for. You have a few days until we will need you to take on your new post up at high here. May I ask though, what name will you go by? I don't know.
00:55:13
Speaker
I read them. Oh, I can't really read, but I heard a story once when I was in the orphanage. They'll claw the clown. Maybe I'll call myself clown. Perhaps not. Clown holds a certain weight of
00:55:29
Speaker
It's not the best name, if I'm being honest. Perhaps Claude. I think I'll give that a go. And if it doesn't work out, you may always change it. It is your name, after all. So the people in Highhaven will expect someone called Claude. She smiles at this. I will send word to the governor of Highhaven to expect a brave and loyal soldier by the name of Claude.
00:55:54
Speaker
Okay, I can do this. How do I get there? I can't ride a horse. It's walking distance. You leave the city via the east gate and follow the signs to High Haven. Okay. I hope to see you before you finally depart. I know that Leopold will want to say goodbye to you too.
00:56:19
Speaker
Oh, he's a very busy man and, you know, I will follow your commandment. I wouldn't dare oppose those masters of mine. I'm sure he'll want to see you before you leave, Claude. Okay. Thank you for coming, and I wish you all the luck in the world. You too. Hopefully if you're ever in High Haven, I can come and say hello.
00:56:42
Speaker
Maybe one day I will pop over and see how things are going and see how the newest member of the town guard is looking after my haven. I'll give it a good go. Thank you. Goodbye. Thank you for giving me everything I've ever needed.
00:56:58
Speaker
You're very welcome and thank you for serving my family as well as you have. Goodbye, Claude. Goodbye, mistress. And as you reach for the door handle, your hand reaches out and all of a sudden that picture starts to melt away and you see your hand now covered in mud.
00:57:17
Speaker
up against a now pinky red sky as you turn it over and realize your left arm is shunted up against a wall. You are in a rather dark, thin, muddied area with some barrels near the front. As you lower your hand, you realize you've kind of come back to your senses and you are conscious again. What would you like to do, Claude?
00:57:42
Speaker
back in where I left off. Yeah. I think I'll pray to the master and I'll use my amulet so I can have a quick word with him. Okay. It's an actual chat chat chat or just questions. It depends.
00:57:59
Speaker
Uh, yeah, that depends. I'll come back to it. No, I've got it. I've got it. I'll just have it. Yeah. I'll just have like a, if I could use the amulet, have like a two minute conversation with him as opposed to like three strict questions. Okay. Yep. No problem. Um, let's, I'll come back to you on that. That's okay. We'll just swing over back to the, um, back to the group. Okay.
00:58:21
Speaker
And so we find ourselves, as you just kind of come back to your senses and you reach out and through your amulet, the camera's going to move back over, Drago trudging back through the mud towards the tavern as it overtakes him towards the tavern. It zooms back in and we have Robin Carstan, Tally and Folly sat around the table picking up from their conversation they previously had about the governance and monarchies that surround the coast of Aerith and the sword coast and the differences.
00:58:48
Speaker
A couple more ales in at this point, what kind of things are you guys talking about? Anything you want to do or talk about? And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Dralak is a nasty place to visit. And with that, Karsten takes a drink. Brilliant. Karsten, should I go and apologize to Helena? I didn't mean to be out of order, I was just trying to ascertain
00:59:12
Speaker
I would say yes. Yes, you should probably apologize to her. I'll just go and see if that's possible. Okay. So you're heading up? Yeah. Okay, we'll follow you up in just a second. So, Karsten, Folly and Tali are sat on the table and for a second the table just goes silent. Sure. Yes, Tali. Oh, that's a bit awkward. It is. Do you want to see a card trick?
00:59:39
Speaker
Yeah, go on then. Okay, and Karsten will sort of shuffle the card into one of those like, you know, really fancy things that a card flies through the air and shuffles them. Ooh, that look good. Yeah. So just that curiosity, what are you hoping to achieve by following us?
01:00:02
Speaker
Fair enough. That seems to make sense. I wouldn't mind being famous myself, actually. Well, you will be. You'll be in the book. You'll be famous as well. Oh, yeah. Are you going to write good things about me? Of course I write good things about everybody. Because if you don't, you know, I know where you are and I'll read your book and I'll kick you in the nuts. Yeah, I get that. You have a thing about kicking people in the nuts. Not really. It's just a good way. There's a lot of men, so it's a good way of getting them to know I'm going to cause some pain. Yeah, I get that. I get that. Yeah, I can answer that.
01:00:30
Speaker
good and she reaches for another island. So why are you with these guys? I was rescued a while ago. I was captured and they all brought me out of this weird prison thing. These creatures had me. I went searching for something and then I kind of followed them. My dad always said, you know, if someone does something good for you, you got to do something good back for them. And so they got me out of that. So I said I'd help them with whatever they were doing. And what they were doing was
01:00:57
Speaker
I don't even fucking know what it was, but they ended up fighting this disgusting blob creature thing. And then next thing I know, this massive face appeared and we got transported here, ended up in Osran Islands. And so I've just been following everyone ever since. You know, you don't have to follow. There are safe places for you to go, you know, if you want to have a normal life. It's okay. What do you mean?
01:01:20
Speaker
Well, I mean, you're really young and I know that you're older than your years suggest because of all the things you've seen, all the things you can do. But, you know, there's the academy, there are universities where you could train and you could get to be, I don't know, a kid for a bit. It's not a bad idea. Where would you... I don't see any universities or anything around here.
01:01:45
Speaker
I would say you should go to Sanguinlands. Oh, that place is really far away. Well, it's not really, really far away. It's closer than, say, the Hintis Empire or the Scarlet Realm. I don't know what they are, but OK, I'll take you on it. But if you wanted a proper place to be you and not have to face danger all the time, then there is a place like that.
01:02:13
Speaker
I'll bear it in mind. I'll see what... I don't know. I don't really know what I want to do. It's just, you know, not everyone chooses this adventure for a lifestyle. And I'm doing it because it's what I've got to do. But you don't have to, I don't think. If you don't want to. Just sometimes you seem a bit unsure.
01:02:31
Speaker
I do. I think I'm just a bit unsure about what I'm doing or what we're doing and what our purpose is here. Your friends tend to wander off a lot. Well, they're big personalities. I'm just happy that they're all still here, especially after Shaddar. I'm just happy to him. He fell in battle and then he was gone. Drago still has him or someone still has him.
01:03:00
Speaker
What do you mean still has him? Well, his remains. He was made to dust. Oh, you cremated him? No, he was made into dust. That's what killed him. Oh. I don't want to talk about it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come across and sort of... That's fine. Sorry. I'm just gonna... Do tell me, Talia, just before you do...
01:03:25
Speaker
go. In all honesty, do you enjoy the travelling? Do you enjoy being with these people? Being with us? She takes a moment and she looks around and thinks hard on this question. For Olly I don't know the answer to that, but I like having a purpose. And even though we might not know this land, I listen to what Drago say and I think, yeah,
01:03:49
Speaker
They might not be our people. We might not know them. They might hate us. But if I know anything, I know that something like the Blight cannot exist. There's too many good people. There must be. And we should do something while we have the ability to save them. So I'm with Drago, 100 percent. Wherever he goes, I'm there because I just I believe him. I believe what he says and I'll follow him. I like being with you, Folly. Well, Folly just looked at Carson and then looked back at Harley and just skidded.
01:04:17
Speaker
an agreeable nod to Charlie just saying, look, I'm not trying to say anything about it, but as long as you're sure, then that's it. Okay. And as they all, you all reach for another drink and just have another sip of that. The camera's just going to follow quickly upstairs to the knock of the door of Robin knocking on Helena's door. This is the second knock, Helena, you would have had on your door this evening.
01:04:40
Speaker
because she, oh no, she's asleep before, sorry. You're kind of in the process of, sorry, I've kind of ad-libbed this in slightly, but this is the process of you kind of getting ready to go to sleep, you know, kind of, you know, lying down, resting, getting self-sorted, meditating, whatever your training needs you to do when you hear this knock at the door. Oh, oh, oh, what, who is it? It's, um, I, uh, I offended you. Robin, is that you?
01:05:06
Speaker
Correct. Right and so Helena will just jump out of bed quite quickly and because she's taken off her shoes she's stood on something like a nail or something splintery in the wood. Oh fuck! I'm just gonna travel over to the door and she's gonna open the door really quite flustered and what is it Robin? I offended you my attempt to try and
01:05:31
Speaker
learn more about you and figure out why you were with us that tried horribly and i wanted to come on in come on in robin come on in don't air my dirty laundry on the stairs i am i offended you and i apologize for it i um i don't know what i was trying to do i guess i was just trying to figure out why you're here in a way that either way it was stupid and i mean most people ask questions but
01:05:55
Speaker
Yes, I accept your apology. I didn't know if you said it was a game and games are meant to be fun, I thought. Well, I don't know, maybe. You do know why I'm here. I know that you're pursuing something, but I guess I don't know. I've always, I guess I assume most travellers have ulterior motives and perhaps because of my own shortcomings, I always assume that motive is running away from something. She's going to sit on the bed and rub her foot from wherever it was, went through a heel.
01:06:26
Speaker
So I'm here because I'm on a quest to find something for my mother, okay? My mother, as most mothers should be, is very special to me and I need to figure out what's wrong with her or how to cure her is actually more to the point. I don't know where she is. What you said to me down there was insensitive but I know you don't know the reasons as to why. So I can
01:06:54
Speaker
accept your apologies. I was on a quest, it was me and my assistant.
01:07:03
Speaker
And he left, and I was then left with Castan, who I met on the road. And then you came along, and your party. And I've enjoyed being with you. You were going in the same direction as I, and I thought it was right for us to tag along. And I didn't expect to stay, but lo and behold, I'm still here. Well, that's what it's worth. I'm glad you stayed. You're quite the fighter. I've had years of training. I should hope so. Thank you.
01:07:34
Speaker
I just, um, I won't say I was sorry. That's all. That's okay. Listen, we can, we can have a drink. Um, I'll be down in a minute. I just need to, um, I just need to clear up a few things and I've got some things sort of scattered around on my desk, um, and probably put my shoes back on as well. So that's what she'll want. Robin will walk to the door and as he gets to the door, he'll stop and he'll just turn and say to her,
01:07:59
Speaker
My own mother, she died when I was very young. Very young. I'm sorry. She died giving birth to my sister. My father, in turn, found out one thing from my sister's birth, and that was that he was not the father, for my sister was born a half-elf. Right. My father turned to drink, and, well, we were left orphans, then for ourselves. I guess I tried to read my own security troubles in yourself, and that was foolish. I apologize.
01:08:29
Speaker
Again, I accept your apology, Robin. Don't worry about it. And I'm sorry about your past. I hope that you are finding happiness somewhere. Well, I think maybe, but I think for now it's fair to say that perhaps I shouldn't assume that everybody is like me and is doing this because they're running away from
01:08:48
Speaker
Well, there's something that I think I need to talk to the party about when I come back downstairs. I'd like to discuss it with you all perhaps. Fair enough. I appreciate you coming up to speak with me. Thank you. And she'll nod her head at him.
01:09:02
Speaker
and Robin will take that as a you can leave and we'll exit and we'll step into the corridor and go just say to himself i will never i'm not entirely sure if it's women or royalty that i'll never understand but he'll he'll just head back downstairs lovely and that's Helena will shut the door and yeah
01:09:27
Speaker
You're getting yourself sorted to come back down. Is that right, Helena? Yeah, yeah. She's just wrapping up her papers and putting her socks and her shoes back on. Lovely. What's ever experienced in the Drago? You come back in as well at this point as well as Claude. You do all notice that Claude is a bit muddied and covered in mud and
01:09:45
Speaker
You kind of slowly all come back down. Robin, you've come back down as well. And a couple of minutes later, Helena is just about to come down. I'll give you a minute or two to get yourself sorted. So you guys are all kind of at the table just as Claude walks in and clumps and sits himself down. Oh, no, sorry, Claude, we're doing your thingy, aren't we?
01:10:00
Speaker
Yeah, I've got the three questions. I've changed my mind. I'll do the commune. You sure? Okay. Sorry. Let me, let me work on that before you all meet up. We return back over to Claude. You're clutching your amulets. Your eyes start to haze over as you start to commune with your God, with a Kiva. And as your body starts to still and your mind starts to darken, what are the questions you'd like to ask? And this is, I give a, I can give a yes or no. Is that right? Yeah. Cool. Okay. Go ahead.
01:10:27
Speaker
I master. I tried to speak of fear and he said something quite threatening and I turned into the past and made me quite unnerved.
01:10:44
Speaker
I suppose what I would like to ask is, we're going, I think we're going up to the mountains to look for the Onyx Reaver. My first question is, is the Onyx Reaver what we're really looking for? You have a feeling of elation and happiness within your body starts to kind of come from your chest. Oh, I'm really glad to feel that right now.
01:11:08
Speaker
are we in danger going up the scalaroid mountains you get a feeling of happiness and kind of comfort wave over you but tinged with a sense of dread with a sense of what you cut out sorry it would tinge with a sense of dread oh and my last question is am i have i become a target of the obcisca obcisca
01:11:34
Speaker
Upkriska, that's right, yeah. Upkriska, of the illegal religion hunters. You get a slight feeling of your voice, your lift feels slightly good, only slightly. And we're reading those as positive responses as yes.
01:11:51
Speaker
Yes. So when you feel good, it's positive. When you feel bad, it's a negative response. Just a bit more interesting than me just saying yes or no. Yeah. Okay. I was worried that was happening. Um, if there's anything I should do to help you master.
01:12:08
Speaker
Before I might get caught, please send me a sign. I'm going to go and have some of this disgusting water now. And what are you doing? Are you starting to head back over? Yeah. Back to the tavern. Okay, okay, yep. And you're, I mean, it's kind of stops vibrating and rescinds back to its original form. You stand up, dust yourself off and start heading back over. Is there anything you want to do along the way, Claude, as you're making your way back there?
01:12:34
Speaker
I think I will just start to be very wary of other people again. It was easy to get distracted coming into
01:12:44
Speaker
bleak black mouth, but the last time I was never shy or was very nervous about the fact that I'm now being hunted. So yeah, I think those, those thoughts are coming in again. And I just want to eye all the people I'm passing to see, you know, like in a paranoid way. Yep. Gotcha. And a few people from your perspective, as you look at them, do you simply staring slightly longer at you as well, which probably plays into your paranoia slightly that you're feeling. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
01:13:11
Speaker
and you make your way back over and you do see ahead of you Drago walking into the tavern as well as you turn the corner and walk yourself in Robin you've returned down at this point and you can see party starting to group back up again a little bit as the sun just starts to set and the candles and the fire is lit in the tavern as Fadrin continues to serve ails to those customers who are in dotted around they're changing but they're still staying relatively busy as the heroes of black are still staying at his tavern the river stone
01:13:40
Speaker
Drago, you've just walked in and you can see Folly, Tally, Robin and Carstan sat around the table. There's quite a collection of empty ales just on the table next to them as well as you walk back in. Well, it's nice to see you're still here.
01:13:56
Speaker
Jago! It's good to see you. And you, I think you are taller than you were this morning. Am I right or am I not right? I think you're not, not right, Tally. Karsten, you know what, Karsten, Karsten, you've got to put your arm around you. You are the smartest man with bagpipes I have met this afternoon. And I say that with so much honesty.
01:14:23
Speaker
Thanks. I think we've got a pint for you. No, that one's empty. That's okay. I'm sure that the bartender will have enough for me. We've definitely, definitely got a pint here. We did. We kept one for you. Is it that one? How about I get another round in for us all?
01:14:41
Speaker
Okay. Yes, that would be a very beneficial thing to do. Then consider it done. Done what? Done what? What has he done? Drago's gone off to the bar to get another round for the for the fun party. I think he's getting another drinking. Did he ask us what we want? No, very rude.
01:15:05
Speaker
It will be ale with ale, I'm afraid. If ale's your drink, then you will be absolutely fine. You know what? I didn't like ale before I came here. But actually, this stuff tastes all right. I find after the fifth pint, you can't really taste it anymore. That's why... Oh, that's what I was thinking too. Are you in my headcar stand? Because you didn't ask my permission before you did that, if you are. It might be. Maybe everything's in your head.
01:15:31
Speaker
No, you're being stupid now. You're doing your stupid thing with the way you say words and you make me think things. That's not cool. I've got a way that we can test this. And Robin will snap his fingers and Nira will come over and say, I'm technically inside Nira's head and if you watch and Robin will just telepathically tell Nira to jump up on the table and she'll jump up on the table and say,
01:15:56
Speaker
If Karstan was in your head, Talia, he'd be able to make you jump up on the table. Karstan? I didn't want to. No, no, Karstan. Yeah? In your head, try and make me jump up on the table. I dare you. I doubled it. Okay, okay. I think you should jump up on the table. No, you got it. You gotta think it.
01:16:15
Speaker
can you make a wisdom saving throw please she rolls a 13 she fails she thinks jumping on the table is a fantastic idea do you guys think it though actually as you say you know what it did look lots of fun doing that and fuck it and she's gonna try and jump up on the table and she's gonna roll with disadvantage oh she rolled a natural 20 but she rolls a five so as she tries to double foot jump up onto the table she catches her foot on the table and slams down lying across the table ah
01:16:56
Speaker
What's going on? I thought it was really good idea to jump on the table. I wanted to jump on the table but I didn't have wind in myself. Okay Talia off the table. A table for drinks only. To which I have more. Have one of these. It'll help.
01:17:12
Speaker
Okay, I'll just drink it and be quiet for a bit. Okay, that really hurt. Oh fuck. That's okay. The pain will lessen the more you drink. That's the best thing about ale.
01:17:25
Speaker
My dad used to said that. Okay, I'll just, yeah. To everyone's good health. Yeah, health. And Ty's gonna take a sip of her ale. And at this point, as you were all just having a quick chug, Helena's gonna walk downstairs, and I think that'll be everyone together at this point, and then everyone will be at the table. And there is still that one chair left for Helena. No one's actually sat in her chair since she left it. Has she come in yet?
01:17:53
Speaker
Pardon? Has Claude come in yet? Oh, no, sorry. Yes, of course. We'll kind of say, for example, they're both kind of walking pretty much at the same time. Claude enters through the doors, and Helena walks downstairs as though there's two chairs free. And Claude slops himself down, mud all over his arm, especially on his back, someone in his arms. And Helena comes down looking pristine, looking, well, looking as you might expect a member of the Royal Family to look, trying to be subtle, but still, unfortunately, looking fast.
01:18:39
Speaker
given her. I didn't give them anything. I took it myself. Would you like one? I mean I'd love one, thank you very much. I mean you've all been gone for hours and we had to stay because it was impolite.
01:18:45
Speaker
fabulous. Claude, you look muddier than when
01:18:57
Speaker
I'm not gallivanting around being a good person. You will feel it in the morning, I will tell you that. You'll feel it in the morning. Oh shit, sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry. Robin will glance around the table and he'll just, he threw his mind that when he went upstairs to talk to Helena, the two people he left Talib with are
01:19:21
Speaker
at Carsten and Folly and he'll just kind of say to the others, I think I understand how this happened. It's all someone's fault. You're right. It is. We should find him. If you do look at Folly, you just kind of see him sat in a chair and he's kind of hugging a pint glass as best as you can and rocking back and forth.
01:19:41
Speaker
Oh, my God. Really? He's spaced out right now. It doesn't take a lot to get Folly drunk, but he's got to get out right now. How many? How much have you guys had to drink? Are you sure it's only ale that you've been consuming? You see all this and cast down sort of Jesse's hands across the table and knocks a glass. Oh, I'm not. Oh, these these were some of them, I think. Claude is going to stand up. Oh, hello, Claude.
01:20:10
Speaker
Walk over to Tali and cast restoration. Walk over to Folly and cast restoration to remove their drunken stupor. Sit back down at the table. We have a problem. Another one. Who's a problem? I think we've stayed here too long and people know we're here.
01:20:35
Speaker
Come on Claude, you've got something you want to say. You've got that look in your face again. Your guild has to be a bit more specific. I'm being hunted. Do we need to fight people? Hang on. I can't fight them. You're being hunted by who? Well, do you remember what I said when we were in Evershire that, and he's going to lean into Drago, Elphir knows who the master is.
01:20:57
Speaker
Yes, I remember this, and you said that because Elthea could tell others about your religion, you'd be headhunted by other religions. Am I correct?
Race to the Onyx Reaver
01:21:09
Speaker
They're an order that go around destroying people that worship the illegal religions, and I have just learnt that I am a target, and they are coming this way. Oh, I was going to say, you are always a target. How do you know they're coming this way? Elthea.
01:21:27
Speaker
Hold on, have you been in contact with Althea? Yeah. How? You need to explain everything. I think Drago is a bit angry. I just wanted to confirm something and his response caused me to have quite an episode and
01:21:52
Speaker
Get the impression that we're all running out of time to get to the Onyx Reaver. I mean, time's a construct that we apply to things. I think we need to leave soon. What do you know of Elthea? He's an elf. Oh my god, Karsten, can someone- Helena, can you shut him up?
01:22:13
Speaker
Why? He's only chipping in conversation. No, this is important. What did you garner from Elthir? He told me that we cannot stem the tide of what is coming, and we're foolish.
01:22:29
Speaker
Otherwise... Is he close? Well, the magic's that he... whatever it was that caused me to have whatever happened to me happen, that's quite powerful magic. I would expect it would have to be used nearby. Yeah, I think we're in a bit of a foot race now to get to the mountains.
01:22:51
Speaker
Is he after the Onyx Reaver? I couldn't tell, but I'm very... The Claude is looking around quite panically at everyone else in the bar now, not just the people. People here are watching us. Doesn't matter. Claude, look at me. Is he after the Onyx Reaver? I would imagine so.
01:23:11
Speaker
We need to go. Claude, that spell you just cast to return Folly and Talia to their senses, do you have the means to do that one more time? No, not today. Then I'll take my chances, and Robin's gonna bolt from the table and just head out of the tavern door.
01:23:35
Speaker
armed with his bow. Oh God. He got up quickly. Should we follow? Drago rushes after him. I'll follow too. And Carson's gonna grab his sword and pull it out. Folly, what we could do with you as Drago's leaving. Folly hobbles as quickly as he can.
01:23:55
Speaker
Well, that sort of spoke what I was going to say. Never mind. I'll just save it for later and then she'll also get up and go outside. I feel really bad for Helena now. You should. And as Helena stands up, wait, are we leaving, leaving? I don't know. We're following Robin. Claude's still sat at the table looking very scared. We're just following Robin, man.
01:24:19
Speaker
Yeah. Okay, Thali's gonna stay stat as well, thinking, where are they all going? Karthon's drinkily followed after them with his rapier out, so you know who knows. What's Thali doing? He's following. Thali has followed. As Helena steps out into the street in the cold air of Blackmouth, you see in front of you almost a line of people sprinting off Robin, the dark of the night, plinths are lit, but apart from that, Blackmouth is a very dark place at night, whereabouts you're heading.
01:24:48
Speaker
Robin is going to head out. First of all, he's going to take in the courtyard outside the tavern and he is looking for anything that could be a reference to Elfyr. He's looking for any trace of Elfyr. Okay, give me an investigation check. 28.
01:25:05
Speaker
You find no evidence that could pertain to any sign of Elthea. The foot tracks too muddy, it's been a busy day, then lots of footfall in and out and around this area. You cannot discern Elvin Prince, you cannot discern Elthea's Prince out of this area at all. Is there like a town guard nearby?
01:25:23
Speaker
You could go back to the gate that which you first came through which is kind of the entrance You might go speak to some of them if you want or if you remember Kennard said about along the pathway Sometimes there are patrols of Blackmouth rangers who kind of look after the route He will go for where he feels he's most likely to find someone which is probably down at the gate Okay, you're running there. Yeah
01:25:45
Speaker
Okay, so as the group, he banks off to the left and starts heading kind of out of town as you follow along. And you come to the gates and there is a black-mouthed ranger stood leaning up against the wall with a small glass of his hand sipping from it. As he sees you approach, he pulls down his green hood and you can see his bright ginger hair underneath with a goatee and he looks over to you. Ranger, what can I do for you? It's rather late. Robin will take out the illusory script that he made earlier.
01:26:14
Speaker
And he will, the one that he copied and gave to Canard, and he'll fold it out and go, have you seen any trace of that man? He's going to take it off you slightly and reach over and take the torch and shine it over the picture. He looks at it closely and looks up at you. Yeah. And he hands the script back to you, keeping hold of the torch. About two days ago, came through here just before you came. Who is he? He's a man wanted for murder.
01:26:41
Speaker
that we are very keen to bring to justice. And Robin will turn from the guard and have the others caught up with him yet? Yeah, yeah, they've kept up with Robin behind you. And I will just say to them all as they arrive, he's been here for two days. He's been around us for two days. How do you have what? I know. Just trust me on this one. I know that he's been around us for two days while we've been down in the mines, everything we've been doing, he's been watching. Okay, well, he must be on his way to the Onyx River then.
01:27:09
Speaker
What if, while we're here, he's now at the pub?
01:27:12
Speaker
He must be on the way to the Onyx Reaver. Robin, we need to find Kennard. We need to, we need to get going. I agree. And where are you heading? Robin's going to take off in the direction of wherever Kennard is, which I guess would be... Hang on, hang on, hang on. Before you run, one, can't we just get Claude to message? Or can't you message? You did something before when your voice appeared in my head. Can't you do the same thing?
01:27:40
Speaker
Mine works only within a limited range. However, I reckon our best bet is to head back to, is it Copper Rock, where Canard resigns? I believe that was the... You met him in Jarry's Last Stand, which is in the upper ward district. Go ahead, Elena. Let's just stop right here because we've just run away from the tavern and we have left half of the party still sat at the table. I don't know what's going on.
01:28:09
Speaker
Can we just go back and we can talk about this before moving anywhere forward? I'm afraid we'll have to explain on route, Robin. If you go and find Kennard, I'll gather the others from the pub and we'll meet at the foot of the... Oh, fuck, what's the damn thing we're going on the road? Skull Road Mountains. We'll meet at the foot of the Skull Road Mountains. I think, Your Majesty, he's here.
01:28:32
Speaker
A very dangerous man who we need to beat to the onyx river. He may, well, I'm now confident that he is ahead of us, which means we can't afford to waste any time. We will explain, but it will have to be as an en route discussion. I mean, if we're going up the mountains, aren't we going to need coats and stuff?
01:28:52
Speaker
I think we are very unprepared for this. We are wholly unprepared for this. Robin, go find Kennard. See what he can gather in terms of supplies. His memory's been up the mountain. They all know what they need and chances are they'll have what we need. Get the gear. No matter what it takes. No matter what you have to promise him. Do it as quick as possible. I'll get the others. We'll meet at the foot of the mountain.
01:29:17
Speaker
I'll come back with you, driver. I'll come too. Okay. No, you'll come with me. You're quite persuasive and we might need your silver tongue, shall we say? Okay, I can be persuaded that word.
01:29:33
Speaker
Okay, so we're kind of splitting this group up. And what is going to happen first is we're going to go with the group heading back to the pub. So that's going to be Helena, or Helen, you need to get your armour on. And also with Drago, we're heading back in as the party kind of splits off into two separate lines or Y-ship. One group heading towards Jerry's last stand in the upper ward district to get hold of Kennard. The other group heading towards Riverstone. We go with Riverstone a lot quickly. You burst through the doors of now a quiet pub with only Tarly,
01:30:03
Speaker
and Claude sat around the table and Folly, which way are you going by the way? I'm going to say you have all run off and Folly's still there is exhausted trying to keep up with you people running around it's absolutely ridiculous by now. He's going to cut out the middle man and just basically head straight to the foot of the mountain. He is prepared everybody else has got their jobs already so
01:30:25
Speaker
if there was a group going to the foot of the mountains to talk to them about getting supplies, weren't there? The foot of the mountains is kind of a different route altogether, kind of in between the two. Though you wouldn't know exactly where to go for the foot of the mountains. No, it wouldn't. He'll follow Robin's group for now.
01:30:42
Speaker
I was going to say, that's the way towards the mountain. That'll probably get you the most expedient group. He's took a still, for some reason, drunken car stand with him. So that's the case. We return back to the tavern, the Riverstone Inn, and we burst through the doors, Drago, and he's gone with you? I'm confused. Sorry, Helen. Apologies, apologies. And you see Claude and Tylee still set there, looking rather concerned, looking up as you enter. What happened?
01:31:09
Speaker
As Trago was going back to the tavern, he would have just tried to do a TLDR to Helena as best as he could, just going, look, the reason why we're having a rush through this is there is an old comrade of us. His name is Elthir.
01:31:25
Speaker
He's very, very dangerous and he came from the Sword Coast like us to this place. Unlike us, we think he wants to, for want of a better word, destroy Aerith. So we need to stop that from happening and he's after this. Right, and this honest reaver is going to destroy Aerith.
01:31:43
Speaker
The Onyx Reaver is a powerful weapon that we believe or lead to believe will end the Blight. It is quite key to the whole saving the world thing. I really don't think it should be in Elthea's hands.
01:31:57
Speaker
Okay, I agree. We'll explain more as we go, but that's why. We should ask Claude how he feels about this. He was very panicked when he came in. He was dirty, and I don't know where he'd been. Claude will come with us. He knows health here, so he understands the expediency here. Right. Let's find them.
Preparations and Departure
01:32:20
Speaker
And as you burst through the doors of the tavern, you see Tali sat looking at the, looking kind of under the table and then up at you as you enter, kind of shaking your head. I don't know what's going on. What's happening? Shush, Tali. We think Elthi is after the Onyx Reaver and he might have a two day head start on us. We need to mosey. Claude, we need you to come with us. What you said might be more true than you realize. And if you're with us, we can protect you and we need you.
01:32:47
Speaker
As you're saying that, Tali's kind of gesturing with her kind of pointing down under the table. Can I take this hidey place with me? No, Claude, you need to come with us. Come on, you need to get your things. Tali, you too. I need to go and get my armour on. And Helena's just going to run upstairs, get her armour on as quick as she can. But what she wants to do is leave her royal uniform or sigils. Can she do that?
01:33:14
Speaker
yeah of course absolutely this is dnd you can do what the fuck you like yeah absolutely you can leave that i don't know if i can i don't know if i can take the the royal sigils off my robes or cloak or whatever or whether or not i just need to leave my cloak you've got yeah you basically have to leave your cloak you do have small etchings on your armor that would be a bit harder to hide but they are quite difficult to see anyway um yes you'd have to just leave your cloak your cloak is one of the big elements that gives you away really your real cloak i'm gonna i'm gonna leave that
01:33:39
Speaker
I will grab Drago with both hands on his shoulders. I was literally gonna say the same thing to you. Oh my god. Word for word. Oh shit.
01:33:52
Speaker
Do you want to go first? No. Which is there in this weird distant slow dance. Like this horrible like high school like slow dance thing where you got the foot away. We're doing social distancing at a pressure point. I like it. Go on. God damn it. Why do we always do this?
01:34:11
Speaker
We are chasing Elphir up the mountains. The Acrisca are chasing me up the mountain. The Acrisca is chasing you wherever you go. We have you. I'm coming with you, but I just need...
01:34:28
Speaker
listen i need if if anything happens i just need you to talk to the master and even if it's not you i need you to arrange for someone else to help the master if anything happens could you do that
01:34:43
Speaker
Yes, you have my word. I will help the master if anything happens, but I can promise you nothing will happen to you. Stay close. I'll protect you. You need to come with us though. You understand the severity of this situation better than all of us. I do. I do. I need to move. Okay. Yeah, okay. Okay. Keep the teddy bear as close as it can be, okay? Listen, you have faith in Akiva and I don't get it, but have faith in us.
01:35:13
Speaker
yeah i kind of think that one of you is a keeper anyway so okay when you all two hentler yes hentler do you know where the foothold of the fucking road skelroyd the skelroyd road do you know the the mountain
01:35:29
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know the scale, Royd roads, but I know the scale road road mountains. Yeah. Head straight up the path. Take the right kind of fork off. Follow along. It becomes a thin part. You have to push through some leaves and trees. You don't really head up very often. Just keep going. Keep going. That's the way. Why are you going up the mountain? It's not my place. Just yeah, that's the way. Awesome. No worries, Talia.
01:35:53
Speaker
Yeah? Are you ready? I mean, I'm never ready, but if you are, I am. I'm glad to hear that. I'm running down the stairs. Helena, are you ready? Are we good? I'm good. Let's go. Okay. Let's do this. Let's go. Okay. Let's do it.
Mountain Trek and Spectral Chaos
01:36:09
Speaker
And Charlie runs out ahead of you. Oh, shit. Yep, that's good. We need more of that. Let's mosey.
01:36:16
Speaker
And as you make your way out of the bar and start heading down the street, what will have happened with Kennard is that he would have understood what you've said. Try to put up some kind of argument, but he's going to go with it because he understands the look in your eye and what you would have said would have just convinced him anyway. So I'm going to just skip over that conversation slightly, but he's game. He's up for it. You do. He does manage to supply you with these thick, think kind of Game of Thrones style, the North coats.
01:36:40
Speaker
He manages to bring them with him and he manages to grab up a load of supplies. He pillages Jena's room, takes a load of her supplies in terms of some kind of food. He mentions something to Robin about. He's going to tell me to get up there. As soon as we get to the verdant, there's some more food there. We've just got to survive those three days on the road. It might take slightly longer if we're starting off at night, but let's get going. What are your friends meeting us? At the foot of the mountain. Right, that's good. Robin will just pick up one of the black bows and go, you don't mind, do you?
01:37:09
Speaker
Of course not. For all you've done for us, it's the least that we can do. Let's get moving. And you start to make your way to the foot of the mountains. And as you all meet up, Kennard... Hold on a sec, your DM needs to just skip, skip, skip, skip, skip. Skip over the notes. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Well done, Robin. Good morning. You've gathered all of your supplies. It's a nice morning. There it is. Yeah. If something happens on the road, no. Upon leaving that area, you follow Kennard as...
01:37:38
Speaker
And as the group matches up, he goes, let's get a few minutes on the road and I'll explain something to you. You take a long winding single path through the back of Jerry's last stand and through a small green arrow of bushels before the expanse of your journey seems to become clear. You can't see a lot of it, as many of you don't have dark vision, but the air becomes incredibly still and you can hear off in the distance these strange noises that seem to like little whispers of air that seem to just pass by you. But apart from that, it's deathly quiet. As you start to walk up, he again mentions to you. Now, as I mentioned before,
01:38:08
Speaker
It's a three day hike to the verdant and it's not going to be easy. You've got to keep your footing. Sure. Yeah. Starting off at night, isn't going to be the best way, but these are the easy parts of the mountains. So if anything, we can get a head start on this. They'll be a guy. Keep focused. Keep your eyes on the road and keep your eyes on me. As I mentioned before, you don't listen to the mountains. There's a good reason why we abandon these despite everything and all the riches they hold. I'll say it again. And again, you need to listen to me.
01:38:36
Speaker
and do not listen to the mountains. And as you start to make your way up this path and as you start to kind of fill each other in with a sudden burst of adrenaline that rushes through your body as the half an hour moves into an hour as you start to take this easy path up, Tali, who's in the middle of the party, stops and looks back.
01:38:55
Speaker
oh shit guys look and as you look back you can see just down inside a black mouth that one flamed spectre that ran out of the mine has lit fire to one of the buildings nearby to the river stone tavern
01:39:12
Speaker
you can see a number of the archers firing shots at it the building is ablaze has finally been managed to six seven eight nine ten of these rangers start to surround it subdue this creature one of them throws a large bucket of water over and finally puts it out as one of the buildings slowly burns to the ground next to you as you start to make your way out of blackmouth
01:39:33
Speaker
and the cold expanse of the mountains seems to really be apparent to you. That's why we're going to end this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop. Well done, guys. Oh my gosh, that just kind of turned up a notch, didn't it? Cranky talk to Eleven. I love the cast I'm still pissed. That's brilliant.
01:39:56
Speaker
That was so funny. Everyone's exhausted. I've got like the lowest health. I've still got a level of exhaustion. Are we all exhausted? I am. Not quite yet. You will be if you don't take a rest. We're going to need a long rest soon. But yeah, we're not exhausted yet. I wasted a second level. I cast suggestion on it and it worked. It was brilliant.
01:40:20
Speaker
Robin's logic is we're actually safer in the mountains than we are. Last time we slept in a tab and an elf it was about he burnt it to the ground. I mean it's not like we're going to mountains with good exposure. This is Mark's looking up the weather effects now. Oh don't worry I've got the next one. Three. Five.
01:40:37
Speaker
Six days worth of travel and travel and everything that happens in between that will plan down. I love this bit that's coming up. I had fun planning it. But I did also manage to, because no one asked about that spectre, I did manage to let that just come back and burn something down as you left, keeping up your tradition of burning something down. So it's the one that we turned and ran away, wasn't it? Yeah, that was. I can't be blamed for that one. Yeah, it turned undead and it ran out because no one really looked for it. It skid out of light for a while and then caused a bit of damage as you left. And we did enough for that town.
01:41:08
Speaker
Exactly.
Exhausted Resolutions
01:41:10
Speaker
Thank you very much for tuning in everyone and making us a part of your everyday week on this Bumper episode which which got us all off guard at certain points and then yeah that rush towards the end. That is just how I like to hear these episodes go.
01:41:26
Speaker
If you would like to follow us and keep up to date with all the Mad Bants and the hashtags, please do so. You can follow us at Fellowship Table, and then if you wanted to go further into the Mad Bants and hashtags, you can follow us individually. For example, you can follow me at iWorlda1. You can follow Casey at... Unicorn Crit. You can follow Danny at... Total Party. Which one was it? Thrills?
01:41:50
Speaker
TOTY! TOTY POTTY TWILLS! Oh my god, Darren, what can you be followed up?
01:42:00
Speaker
That's down on page 06 in case you didn't catch that. Callum. The D20 Gamer. Will. You can follow Will at natural20will. And you can follow our majestic DM at... Hey Steely Roll DM. Until next time guys. Farewell. Farewell. Wellfare.