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C3 Episode 86 Something Wicked Chapter Six
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Transcript
Introduction of Team Members
00:00:04
Speaker
the Everon campaign setting. I am your Game
00:00:18
Speaker
Master, Eric. I'm Mia.
00:00:23
Speaker
to ever everyone new natural play podcast set the everon campaign setting i am your game master eric i mia I'm Philip. I'm Madison. I'm Jeff.
00:00:34
Speaker
And welcome to
Recap of Previous Investigation
00:00:35
Speaker
another episode. Folks, what happened last time? We're in Jarp investigating ah problem with the woods. Another problem with the woods. Problems with the woods seem common.
00:00:46
Speaker
we We went to a Wandsmith's shop, I guess. Workshop. Thank you. There's a word. And found evidence there that leads us to believe that the magistrate of Jarp is behind the whole thing.
00:01:01
Speaker
And we met a
Plan to Approach the Magistrate
00:01:02
Speaker
frog. And a praying mistrude. Alcoholic druid. The least important part.
00:01:11
Speaker
Nyx went rogue and found the right place. That's true. Stumbled upon the right place. Nyx is the only one not stumbling, I think. and We were told we're not drunk. He said sadly. done now listen We're outside magistrate's
Confronting the Magistrate's Barrier
00:01:25
Speaker
house.
00:01:25
Speaker
Our scheme is to basically just be what we are, problem solvers, and pitch ourselves to the magistrate as able to solve the problem.
00:01:39
Speaker
that the magistrate seems to have created and seems to currently have only the plan of hide in my house from. Right. But I think all of us in the back of our minds are expecting another switcher magistrate switcheroo like we had.
00:01:54
Speaker
if Yeah, it's not really in the magistrate. I don't trust there's just some normal dude in this house, honestly. All right, sorry. what were you saying? No, you're good. You first need to find a means of getting to the magistrate. You are currently outside his house and you have seen that there is a lot of security.
00:02:12
Speaker
I think Nyx expressed her intention to do this. Nyx walks towards the gate with the intention of banging on it. unless someone one intercepts or has an objection to that.
00:02:26
Speaker
Yeah, no. I say go for it. He's perfectly happy to let Nyx bang on the gate. Sure. He might even walk up there. Nyx walks to the gate and... Slightly behind her. bangs on the gate
Investigating the Magical Barrier
00:02:37
Speaker
you wouldn't need to check to notice this nix so you bang on the gate you hear the the metal rattle but you also see as nix's gauntlet makes contact there's a red shimmery energy like there's like ripples throughout it that like each time you strike it it's like another stone being thrown into a water surface that the ripples like go out
00:02:59
Speaker
Give me a wisdom-based check based around hearing. Okay. You sure that's just going to be wisdom? Yep. Plus my level, that's 10.
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah, you don't... Nope. Like, you stand there for a moment, and there does not seem to be any stirring within the house or on the other side of the gate. I don't necessarily present this as a good idea, but I could...
00:03:27
Speaker
Pause there to be a creature on the other side of the gate and see what the security system does. This can't always be your soul. Yeah, well It feels like maybe we saved that for the last resort. Nyx hasn't summoned demon a really long time.
00:03:45
Speaker
Yeah, but she still has that every problem looks like a nail. o She absolutely does. That's how I introduced her. Maybe we could try something else first.
00:03:58
Speaker
should how How big of a... Is this a property that we can walk the perimeter, or is it like center of town, abutted up against other properties kind of thing? you can walk It's actually on the outskirts of town, so you can... you know that's okay I propose we... I think went all the way around it, and I can see that... Because I could see that all the like the vines were all growing, and there this stopping point here. So I think Nyx did a... okay A circuit of the place before y'all got here, and...
00:04:29
Speaker
there is, to my memory, a fence all the way around with similar security properties. Can I look closer at the
Communicating with the Magistrate Inside
00:04:37
Speaker
security ritual saying to see what's going on there? Yeah, give me a intelligence check.
00:04:48
Speaker
If the function of this security system is that it keeps him from knowing when people are at his door, it's an extremely bad one. That is 19.
00:05:00
Speaker
So... Unless I can add paranormal investigator, which just... Yes, I would absolutely allow paranormal investigator here. That's 23.
00:05:12
Speaker
So, Valk, walking along the edge, like walking up to the fence and looking at the gate and just examining the magic, what what does it look like when Valk is investigating this magic? Take me a word picture.
00:05:23
Speaker
ah Um, I, it really just looks like pacing just muttering. the it's The occasional, like, flicker of kind of different colors coming up is he's going, like, closer to it. Like, if it's flashing red, he's going try and pull some red from it. He's going to try to...
00:05:46
Speaker
interact with it in a way that's not drawing on Zorya, but it really just looks like a madman mumbling to himself. That's really just what it if is. It's just walking off with no, you know, context to anyone else and just starting to like look at it and like do some hand sigils and hair hand signs like that. him Gotcha. Quietly.
Exploring Barrier's Magical Properties
00:06:14
Speaker
So... what you learn as you're trying to see through the magic that exists here is you get the sense that it is like a, if you were to drape a blanket over a burst pooch, that was very snugly fit around it.
00:06:37
Speaker
And somebody had done a great job at painting an image of you looking through the bird cage and the bird being in there and everything. But in actuality, you can't see through the blanket. If you touch it because it's all lined up perfectly, it looks like you are feeling the cage.
00:06:55
Speaker
Looks like you're able to interact the cage, but in actuality, you're looking at an illusion. So whatever is actually on the other side of this fence, you cannot perceive.
00:07:08
Speaker
Although My metaphor was reductive. Obviously, you could see clouds moving and things like that. Like, it looks like you were looking at it, but you realize that whatever you all are perceiving is not the reality of this manner.
00:07:22
Speaker
Additionally, this is like a one-way mirror where yeah whoever is on the other side of the magic can clearly see through it to your side. I will relay that.
00:07:37
Speaker
Um... m
00:07:42
Speaker
So... Nyx picks up a rock and throws it over the fence. Okay. Cass goes, wait, don't do it! It hits the the same red magic and bounces off, and it looks like it ripples.
00:07:56
Speaker
All right. Quick mechanical thing, Philip, just because I think every time that Nyx has done this narratively, we've been able to say that the demon has a run to where it ended up. You have to have the champion level feat for demon summoner to summon a demon not right next to you.
00:08:12
Speaker
Oh, interesting. Yeah. So this is the first instance where Nyx summoning the demon somewhere further away would be like impossible to explain it the narrative if that'd be sense. So can I, I kind of do wrong too.
00:08:29
Speaker
What was your ultimate score on your check, Mia, to investigate this magical barrier with your paranormal investigator? 23. 23. Okay. Then i will say the last bit of information that I will give you is you can also get some insight into how this magic was created.
00:08:48
Speaker
you get a sense that there was probably something inside of the manner that like was set up runic, a ritual circle, but then it was activated outside of the manner.
00:09:01
Speaker
by what would appear to be like there are eight points of focus yes so you would guess that it would have been a group of magic users that did this that's listening and and valk can pinpoint the eight points of focus or just like so that we can go find the projectors It's more like if you were looking at a yard that had just been like watered by sprinklers, Val can get a vague sense of where the sprinklers were set up by like the, where the magic emanated from, but not like a pinpoint. Like this is exactly there.
00:09:37
Speaker
What? I'm trying to be helpful. Incredibly suburban metaphor. Listen, what popped into my head? It's funny. Rich uncle Pennybags over here with his eight sprinkler yard. Grass is stupid.
00:09:50
Speaker
Amen. For giggles, I want to open the journal. Okay. okay And I just want to write, can you come to the front door?
00:10:03
Speaker
You may have seen us throw a rock. We meant no harm. Solid. But we have a meeting. As Valk pulls out Akhil and starts writing, can you come to the front door and hold the journal up? from the timeline that we know the she doesn't have to, just cries on the journal everybody who would be viewing this journal knows that the guy who originally had it is dead there's no way that you wouldn't know this guy's dead because he stopped writing in it and then went back into the forest and then nobody knows where the wantsmiths are so at these we can assume they know he's dead I'm 1000% solid I'm with this entirely this makes perfect sense to me
00:10:41
Speaker
I'm trying to use your item, Eric, please. i it Although I would prefer if you just wrote, hey, come here. Come outside. We're not going to jump you.
00:10:53
Speaker
Please. yeah like ah Go ahead, Jess. Well, should say, so the vines that start on the outside and go to the inside, like there's probably just kind of a a tug on one and see if it breaks apart at the point of the magic shield as though it's, you know, it doesn't cross the shield. Like it doesn't divide. Don't cross the shield. Okay. Yeah. Nothing crosses the shield. Like the pollen's floating through everything.
00:11:21
Speaker
Everything stops at the fence. Okay. I missed that bit. Description. Okay. While we're waiting to see if the journal works, we vow because identified for us the points of the magic, like the corners of the magic. It's it's, it's where the, the individuals are standing when this magic was activated.
00:11:42
Speaker
There are no markings or anything like runes that you could like score through to disrupt the magic. Right. It's yeah. I had a metaphor pop in my head, but I'm not going to use it because I've used too many metaphors already. You all can just interpret it. However you, um,
00:11:56
Speaker
um But Eric, I'm having difficulty visualizing it. No. I need it. but I mean, if this is this is just standard arcane magic, we actually don't, I don't have, I mean, I got i got nothing that I can break magic with.
00:12:08
Speaker
Well, yeah yeah, like, I mean, we talk about utility spells all the time. I imagine a dispel magic would ah would be ah piddly up against, it's like throwing a rock at a dragon.
00:12:20
Speaker
Yeah. Based on its eight eight points of contact. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like breaking magic is is very much the Kaz and Selena department. I have... i got nothing. so So my spells are all for combat. It would look as though we were starting a fight if I were to... Even just to try to see if it would breach the barrier.
00:12:42
Speaker
Like, it would be some sort of twisted skull screaming through the barrier. Like I've said, though, you can fashion a skill check to be a spell.
00:12:53
Speaker
Like, you... The spells that you have for combat are not the only magic that you are capable of casting. A very long time. Oh, i no, mine. No, go ahead. I was going to say, I have been just carrying a very promptly named ritual dagger.
00:13:10
Speaker
Can I try to stab the ritual dagger through it to disrupt the ritual? Do it. Do it. Stab your problems. It's fine. I'm learning.
The Role of Wandsmiths in Breaking the Barrier
00:13:21
Speaker
you You are more than able to try.
00:13:24
Speaker
As you are holding the journal and pull up the dagger, you see you see words appear in the journal. Ooh. Oh, that reminds me.
00:13:35
Speaker
And in fairly new journal, in a fairly jagged handwriting, you see the words, I cannot. I didn't know everybody was over my shoulder.
00:13:49
Speaker
I thought that was still a reaction. Cats definitely is. It's a bubble. Nyx is absolutely still just, like, pacing along the along the barrier, trying to trying to think of some way to break it. and And I reply, are you... You can't come to the door because you don't want to, or because you are being, like, trapped, or you're trapped, or you're held against your will. you see the words. Eric, I... Go ahead.
00:14:24
Speaker
You said jagged handwriting. Is that different from previous messages in the book? Yeah. The original writer, I would assume so. The mat, who we are, who was scrying hasn't written back. Oh, there, I'm sorry. There was no, there was no response. Sorry. Yeah. to Sorry. My bad. Proceed.
00:14:41
Speaker
No, you're good. The words, I am unable, the spell has locked me inside. I say, ask him ask him ask him if we can if we can undo the spell from out here.
00:14:55
Speaker
And I also want to try to fashion just like a little glob of, I mean, you know, Cass is going to try some magic, intentional magic. Just little but blob of light, a little globe, a little something, i don't know, a little little sprite.
00:15:10
Speaker
um Just to see what happens when it touches the barrier. so Okay. Cass's intention Is to create something that is clearly not malicious to so to to slowly float towards the the barrier. Okay. Give me a... You're a charisma-based caster. So my magic comes off charisma. Yeah.
00:15:34
Speaker
Yeah. So give me a charisma-based check and you can use Fae Touched. Okay. Great. Thank God. it's i mean It's an 18. It's not bad. i just When you see a six on the die, she goes, oh, man.
00:15:46
Speaker
Or on the die. So, Kaz, you hold your hand up, palm up. Yes, that is. And magic swirls, and a little like purplish fairy sprite appears in your hand.
00:15:58
Speaker
Perfect. Very Tinkerbell adjacent. Except I think it has a blank face, like the mask of the... That I've seen in my my my visions of my past.
00:16:13
Speaker
Gotcha. okay Well, now it's horrifying. Went from cute to terrifying. It's still cute. It's designed by Guillermo del Toro. It's wearing a mask.
00:16:26
Speaker
Just never mind. Say your things. we're We're joking. We're kidding.
00:16:33
Speaker
It gives you a little wave and then swirls around and flies towards the fence. Are you trying to get flight over or through the bars? What's whats what's your vision, Jeff? Well, I think... I think... but We already know that over... Like, the barrier is still up because Nick's through the rock high. I literally think it's just...
00:16:54
Speaker
What happened? Kaz knows this is just magic, even though it looks like a thing now. And it's just what happens when it touches the barrier? Is it just physical things? is Is there any permeability at all? Yeah. So this, this purple, Sprite fairy flies at the barrier, makes contact with it and a bright red flash of red and magic erupts as you hear a faint scream of pain before it, that purple light dissipates.
00:17:21
Speaker
Oh, okay. think i just that was That was not a real fairy. like There's no way I could make a real fairy, guys. that was But that didn't happen when I banged on the gate.
00:17:32
Speaker
Correct. Interesting. yeah Did she get through the gate a little bit? Or was it like the same it was the same space? okay To borrow a metaphor, it was like a butt down.
00:17:44
Speaker
Nix takes off her gauntlet and puts it up and puts her hand against the barrier. Okay. I'm sorry.
00:17:56
Speaker
Nyx, you put your hand against the barrier and it just feels like there is a barrier. if There's a little bit of give to it, but there's nothing... he doesn't hurt me. No. Interesting.
00:18:08
Speaker
It exploded my magic friend. But it's not doing anything to me. Sir. Val, did you write anything in the journal? I know Kaz. Yeah, I never was catch a suggestion. Yeah. Okay.
00:18:22
Speaker
What was Kaz's suggestion again? He's killed a fairy. Can we, or can you, can you, or I guess we'll just do we, can we disable it from the outside? Writing comes back and said, says,
00:18:35
Speaker
yeah
00:18:38
Speaker
just the wandsmiths assured me only their implements could undo the magic. We have the head the... Well, that was the one that was ordered, but it's Mabar. That was the hatchet. That was the hatchet.
00:18:54
Speaker
yeah That's not technically what they make, though, and we did not find a wand. Yeah, no we did we that's the only like physical element that we found in in the workshop was that
Questioning the Magistrate's Provisions
00:19:05
Speaker
hatchet head.
00:19:05
Speaker
Wait, is someone writing back? Oh, yeah. Yeah, there's... He seems kind of like a dork. He got himself stuck inside. Yeah! Did he himself stuck in inside or did someone trap him? Well... Are we we can sure we're talking to the magistrate? No, but... Yeah, no.
00:19:28
Speaker
Whoever's in there is is kind of a dork. that goes Someone is trapped in there, but we don't know how they came to be trapped. Yes. Well, apparently it's because they were a dork. I thought we knew that it was...
00:19:41
Speaker
No. No. We know it's the Magistrate's house. That's what we've been told, I think, is is as far as we are. Yeah. I had a connection, but it's gone now. It's fine. Sorry.
00:19:53
Speaker
Do you want to ask who are you? You just ask who it is? Who it is? Wait, who who is this? Are you my dad? thought we established your dad's in rote. Yeah, he is. I was just saying words. Um...
00:20:12
Speaker
Kaz gets a little sad all of a sudden. Oh yeah, my dad. What you did to yourself. That's all on me. but Self burn. oh This is neither here nor there, but when Kaz made his little fairy, like as soon as it exploded, he whips out his journal and starts writing in it really quickly. He's trying to keep track of different things when he makes his spells.
00:20:36
Speaker
you They write back, I am the magistrate of Jark. Okay. do Right it's pronounced YARP. He's pronouncing wrong. he should have written media is's hilarious I guess his home?
00:20:47
Speaker
its i guess i would wonder did he ask the wasmith's too lock him into his oh It's really burning through my ink. Okay.
00:21:00
Speaker
Like, was this on purpose? I was just flipping to the next page. I'm just, I'm the scribe now. Whatever is said is written. I asked them to provide me protection.
00:21:12
Speaker
I did not realize this would happen. Okay. All right. So he is a dog. You're correct. Yeah. Pretty good at sussing these things out.
00:21:24
Speaker
Kaz thinks, yeah, cool guys like us can see dorks from a mile away. he doesn't say it all out loud because he knows the response that'll get. He's staring directly at Kaz. What?
00:21:36
Speaker
Do you think that the reason I can touch the barrier but that it hurt the magic that Kaz produced, do you think this is because the barrier is specifically against Perhaps against plainer things? That's what the concern is, to keep the overgrowth Lamania from breaking through? That's certainly harmful to, as opposed to just resistant to. Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:11
Speaker
That feels less sinister than a lot of the other possibilities. I wonder if the Wandsmiths didn't know it would trap him. He didn't know. Right. But did the Wandsmiths not know?
00:22:24
Speaker
In the sense that maybe they, like so many other situations we've come across, got in over their heads with the magic they created. I wonder if they trapped him on purpose for some reason.
00:22:38
Speaker
Yeah, it could. Yeah. really casually because now that he knows that i'm writing in it which i'm going to assume he's smart enough to know that i could read what was in it i want to ask what he gave them what he gave the lawnsmiths and then really quickly under that related scribble because i know i don't have that much time before he starts writing back Just adding on, we need more information to try to get you out and keep you safe.
Gathering Information from Key Locations
00:23:14
Speaker
What he writes back, he says, the Wandsmiths were ordered to go to the Whispering Cops.
00:23:20
Speaker
They are needed to undo the magic and release the spell. Or their wands, at least are needed. Do we... I'm trying to go through my notes.
00:23:34
Speaker
We know particularly what's desirable about the Whispering Cops. We know that it's bad, but... I mean, Valk is an investigator. Valk is like, and I'm sure Mia already picked up on this, he did not answer your question at all. No, he didn't. Sure. Yeah.
00:23:53
Speaker
There are wands. And they and they they cleaned out at the workshop. They didn't leave any wand. I feel like I, as president, wand holder, not user. It's just hair. Yeah, you didn't spot any wands.
00:24:12
Speaker
of course he Some more writing starts appearing. ah Says... They were provisioned by Doric Blackvane.
00:24:25
Speaker
in town he may have more information well we have another name i would check this he have like um very a courtesy ask does he have like food is he gonna like starve to death don't know how long he's been in there it's not like we can do anything yes that also is a the solution if ends up starving to nothing he writes back enough to last me a month Oh, he's fine. let's got over Okay. It's a lot of food. It's quite a bit of food.
00:25:00
Speaker
It is a rich, more property. Yeah. But it's all sardines. Everyone can make me a quick wisdom check. This is more like insight-y, so, but it's not like investigative. It's more like socially insightful, if that makes sense.
00:25:17
Speaker
Nothing. I don't think any of us have a particularly... Well, maybe Selena. Daughter of Diplomat? Daughter of Diplomat would be applicable. Okay. Oh, I lost my page. 26. Six.
00:25:28
Speaker
c x Sorry, hold on. Pants are really high. 23. don't want to do math. I just have my slurpy. Your brain's all fuzzy from the sugar. Literally, I lost my page.
00:25:40
Speaker
look that Amazing. Wait, 27. 27? Everyone but Nyx sees that and is like, oh okay. And then a quick thought crosses your mind.
00:25:52
Speaker
That's a big manor. He said enough for me for a month. Maybe there was enough provisions for a whole host of people in that house, and maybe not all of them are getting provisions.
00:26:04
Speaker
Well,
00:26:10
Speaker
that's have we do Do we know how long? are we i Do we assume he's been trapped in there as long as? Probably shortly before the onesmiths disappeared. say, yeah. So not like an insane amount of time.
00:26:23
Speaker
And it may not be that like people are getting starved, but maybe they just aren't hearty. Okay. Kaz, for giggles? Yes. I'd say for giggles. Can kid you try and make something that brings? Like a lion? like a li Yeah, but absolutely. will be a little yeah Yeah, no, I give it a shot. So, yeah, Kaz takes a second and rereads what he just wrote in his journal and tries to summon a little something on the ground.
00:26:51
Speaker
Yeah. Give me a charisma check. do i qui Do I continue adding fey touch? Yeah, okay. Yeah. That's better. 22.
00:27:03
Speaker
22. Yeah. yeah Purple magic appears in Kaz's hand and flies down to the ground and the form of a small miniature lion appears with no face.
00:27:15
Speaker
Uh, cause that's a function of Kaz's magic now. It's not no face. It's wearing a blank mask. You made the character. And the lion like dives up into the ground and then does a barrel roll and dives down and begins burrowing into the ground.
00:27:32
Speaker
It is very majestic. Guys, I didn't tell him to do the barrel roll. He did that on his own. You see a little hole form right on the edge of the gate. And after probably 15 seconds or so, you hear echo from the little like...
00:27:47
Speaker
mole tunnel that has been formed a little like pained roar as like red light kind of flashes. Oh, does this purple smoke come from out out of the hole? Yeah, some smoke. Holy God, stop doing this. Yeah, it really stops. It's Deny, Kaz. I want to remind all of you that I cannot create a real being with my magic. I don't know. That barrel really implies imaginative capacity.
00:28:14
Speaker
and and You said you didn't tell it to do that, so... He has consciousness. I look at all of them like, guys, I can't make life!
00:28:26
Speaker
I think both you and I don't know what you can do. He does not mention the fact that he knows for a fact he can teleport living things, and that might be what has happened to life. I don't make the demons. Yeah, great point.
00:28:45
Speaker
We are not thinking about this for a minute. All right. So but we know who provisions the Wandsmiths.
00:28:54
Speaker
That's a lead. in i was typing. ive seen Oh, yeah. good Just to week wait. What was his name again? typing something else like Dorik, D-O-R-R-I-K, Black Vein.
00:29:06
Speaker
Okay. I i had Beric Blackthorn because I just took a guess at what it was. Done. Well, this guy's a bad person, obviously. Why? help them Doric Blackvane's super villainous name.
00:29:21
Speaker
Or ah the really a really, really edgelord character made by a new D&D player. My name's Doric Blackvane. My parents are... I run a general store. We also still have... Have we seen, just in moving around the town, have we seen a mausoleum?
00:29:40
Speaker
I have notes that there's an Emerald Claw safe house here that's a mausoleum surrounded by a ring of gray ash. Oh, yeah. Right. that there There is a cemetery with a large mausoleum the middle. Yes.
00:29:50
Speaker
Okay. I'd love to not sound stupid, but I don't remember why that matters to me. There were Emerald Claw agents on the train.
00:30:02
Speaker
it was just the people on the train. Okay. Yeah. No, I remember that. was... Yeah. I remember that. just didn't remember. Okay. So that's where that came from. Presumably they were headed somewhere. Sure. Yeah.
00:30:13
Speaker
Yeah. Along with Nick's Tallow Mantle. I have that. Well, important, but more importantly. Zalargo Jones, please. It's just... More importantly than they were just traveling on the train. They also like actually tried to kill Selena. like Yeah, they were. They were after Selena. Yeah, it was. Yeah.
00:30:29
Speaker
I remember why they were important. I just didn't know why the safe house where the safe house came from in my notes. Okay. yeah Well, well, it's nighttime, right? Like it's. It's getting to be like the sun is starting to set. Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:44
Speaker
It is early spring though, so it's not super late, but... Do you suppose the local provisioner is still operating? And Nyx would look at Selina.
00:30:55
Speaker
What is your interest in visiting the cemetery here?
00:31:02
Speaker
I'm not very interested in it. Unless we're ready for a fight. Hello, I'm Nyx. Okay. You know? Good point. i Okay.
00:31:14
Speaker
I suppose you did say we. I have come to understand that fighting is simply a thing that happens, so ready or not, when the fight happens, gives you a look like you've just spoken some sort of like violation of the laws of physics. Just some sort of paradigm that is that is utter insanity to her.
00:31:37
Speaker
utter insanity to her That fighting just happens? Fighting just happens. but Look, when Selena says, are we ready for a fight? Kaz hears, like, you know how that thing that always happens to us every day everywhere we go?
00:31:54
Speaker
but Buckle up, nerd. I see. You know, fair. Ready for a fight. Who gives a crap? we' We're in a fight now. I was unaware that ready was an opportunity that I had. That's what the training's for.
00:32:09
Speaker
Really quick, just to clarify, he said, did he say there the wandsmith's implements are needed or the wands specifically? Wands. He said they are needed and then said at least they're wands.
00:32:31
Speaker
That's have written down. In the woods, yes, but not for the barrier that's around. It's for the barrier. I think it was implements. Oh, my bad. i may I must have editorialized. That's right. I may have interpreted ones. There two parts to that. Yeah.
00:32:47
Speaker
The wands were definitely needed in the woods, but want to say for this because it's just their menma technically it flag we could probably just grab.
00:33:00
Speaker
and some sort of wood left over and then put the hatchet on it. and I was kind of wondering, like, should we try the hatchet? We're already here. Yeah, you're beefy. I'm just going to step back.
00:33:15
Speaker
and And the wandmaker's implements would also include the tools that they used to make the wands that we didn't really ask about laying about at the workshop. So, but i I mean, we got the adjunct on us so.
00:33:28
Speaker
Question before I do this. this was I would say that there is a chance above zero that this will be destroyed. We're in the same manner as that poor, poor pixie and lion that Kaz sent to their deaths. Kaz staring at his hands. makes one know other First thing you've killed, technically. do we Do we care if this is destroyed? Do we think we need this?
00:33:58
Speaker
I mean, it is clearly designed for quickly destroying trees, but So I don't know if it's important to us. Now, is it is it what had Mabar coming off of it? if i its scott Yeah, it's got runes that infuse it with Mabar.
00:34:14
Speaker
I mean, I do have a concern about like crossing the streams of that magic with whatever magic. Do we get a sense... of planality with the very... My hypothesis is this is like anti-planar.
00:34:29
Speaker
Right. Like, just... but Yeah, don you did say that. That's right. To be fair, the hatchet head on its own is not the lawnsmith. That's true. It's not made by Zane.
00:34:42
Speaker
So I might want to grab wood from their workshop. All right. thanks text back into a building We probably should see...
00:34:54
Speaker
Doric? Derek? Dane? Derek! Somebody. Probably do that first instead of bugging this. Well, I guess we're not really bugging him. He's stuck in there. sir Sorry. Before we sacrifice any more pixies. And if we're going to potentially destroy the the hatchet head, we may as well hedge our bets and put some of the wand makers implements in in with it for sure yeah that makes sense the hatchet head was made by morin's forge is what we had found and we found some receipts for that yes yeah and again depending on your interpretation of implement if they bought it to use as a tool for their wand making it is their implement but i don't know i like the idea of finding some wood in their workshop and
00:35:46
Speaker
turning it into an axe hand handle and at the very least having 50% Juan Smith in it by weight. It's fine. Yeah. Do you want me to make a weapon?
00:36:01
Speaker
Someone say they want me to make a weapon? You know what? point but dear So at this point, we have talking to Doric Blackvane
00:36:17
Speaker
Right. Going back to the Wandsmiths and taking a second look around and going into the woods as our- And possibly Morin's Forge. Oh yeah, Morin's And- Well, we were told that there's also- There's also an Emerald Claw safe house here.
00:36:33
Speaker
They tried to kidnap one of our friends. Or murder. I'm not entirely sure. It seemed like we're going to bother asking. It got to the point of murder, but I don't know if that's what they were on the train for. You didn't bother asking. Hey, real quick, just so for for me to know.
00:36:51
Speaker
Are you trying to kill her or do you try to take her? There's this concept of taking prisoners, Jeff. I don't know if you're familiar with it to question them after a fight. Nick's is not. I don't remember if I ended any of them or not.
00:37:03
Speaker
So we'll just say I did and whoops. Okay, so what's the next step? Where are we heading? To the guy. Yeah, I think we should talk to Dorit. Okay. go for Or at least see if he's available before the night.
00:37:15
Speaker
Before he falls. All righty. So, you see, you're walking through the town, and you spot a shop that just simply says Black Fane's. To just stop a humble little...
00:37:31
Speaker
I mean, decent looking storefront. This isn't a huge town, so it looks like they are one of the few provisioners. So, you know, doing well. It's not a shack or anything. Can I open the door? Yeah. Oh, yeah. the Yeah. is There are lanterns lit inside. Like, it's very clear that they are still open for business.
00:37:49
Speaker
Okay. You see a dwarf standing behind the counter. The dwarf is broad, even for dwarf standards, like very, very stocky, thick boy with black hair and a big bushy beard braided in three large braids. And, ah he smiles as you all enter and says, Welcome to Black Veins.
00:38:13
Speaker
How can I help you have a quiet time? You... We're trying to help with what's going around town with... Dire squirrels and giant peaches.
00:38:26
Speaker
Yeah. um Mainly the peach threat. Those are, they're going to rot. It's going to be really bad. When the peach has become an invasive species, you know something's gone wrong.
00:38:39
Speaker
And we, we heard that you were. Yep. involved with in the least pointed way with the wandsmiths and we're we're really just needing some more information everyone can give me an insight check it's like fantastic briefly notice a look on his face before he starts talking wisdom yeah Yes.
00:39:08
Speaker
Yep. Investigator would be applicable. the Black Marketer would be applicable. Daughter of a Diplomat would be applicable. Jeff, I don't know if anything has related. 16 is all. I got a but let's just see what
00:39:28
Speaker
yeah slatea just reads this guy hot There's, there's a brief look in his eye that you read as a question of how much do they know?
00:39:40
Speaker
Before he then starts talking, well, I did provide them provisions and whatnot to head it into the forest. They made it clear that they had a dangerous job. They were also allegedly trying to deal with this problem. So, yeah, I'm more than happy to help however I can, though. Selina was the only one that picked up on that, with by the way.
00:40:01
Speaker
Are we done? Pause. Pause. Was that was that intentional? Because I thought that this happened after Wandsmiths.
00:40:14
Speaker
Everything bad that was happening happened after the Wandsmiths went in there. So it's clear that the Wandsmiths had made all the trips in and out. so maybe some like early stuff started happening and it got worse. Or you could ask him about that. But yeah.
00:40:33
Speaker
Everybody think about how to interrogate him. Diversion. Nick starts looking at all of the bladed provisions. What do they got, Eric? um I mean just yeah Give me a menu As you walk around You see fairly standard implements for This is not a at least build As a weaponsmith No but I figure you're like knives or machetes Or something yeah like that is Yeah they definitely have stuff like that You see um The two bladed implements that you see That look immaculately crafted Are their Small foldable pocket knives
00:41:09
Speaker
are there most of them are made from like horn rather than wood like the the little handles you're curious is that an unusual thing in in ever i mean ever on's world like is is a little foldable pocket knife a novelty probably it is certainly less common than our world where walking around with a sheathed blade is very common but it's Why not? We'll say and it's very, it is marketed heavily towards smaller races because a smaller tiny knife, uh, yeah.
00:41:48
Speaker
So fold zo is yeah, because the blade would be more fragile. So you'd want to protect it protected when it's not inactive. The other implement that are very, very well made are hatchets.
00:41:59
Speaker
you i would like to look for maker's marks on them. I want to know if this is Doran's Forge stuff. Moran's Forge, right? Yeah. So you do see marks that indicate these blades were crafted by someone named Moran.
00:42:15
Speaker
Yes. Cool. M-O-R-R-I-N. Oh, I spelled it wrong. Me too. How did you spell it? I gave it in ah give it an a Moran. Oh, I did it in E. I did M-O-R-E-N.
00:42:31
Speaker
Oh, I did it. I had everything except I got the wrong i got the wrong second vowel. Alright, I bought you time. Interrogate the NPC. Go. Two minutes. I was listening. the um We've been in contact with the Magistry and we're He sent us here. I guess he's trying to do like a round two or something like that. We just want to try and kind of pick up where the wandsmiths kind of left off. He said you would just know. Well, more than happy give you what you need for the journey. Yeah.
00:43:07
Speaker
Please. All right. do you know what Do you need rations? Like what, what supplies do you already have? He said, you well, we just, we need what they, or provide he's just going to, it's to redo the same purchase order. All right.
00:43:19
Speaker
And he like reaches down and pulls up a big, like blog of records and opens it and just like starts flipping through enough for eight people for the four of us.
00:43:32
Speaker
Dope. We have for a month. He starts walking primarily behind his counter, getting the various things that he has back there. You see him grab quite a few lengths of rope and put them on the counter. And he just starts quietly, like, gathering the provisions.
00:43:48
Speaker
You, as you watch... Oh, go ahead, Mia. What were you going say? I was just going to, like, real quick, like, open the book. Just be like, what? going to try to read the book? Not the... No, I want to... oh the mess Yeah. Yeah.
00:44:02
Speaker
What? What? He's not fully trusting of us. We need to gain his trust. What do we need to tell him?
00:44:14
Speaker
and just so I mean, he's kind of yeah stuck inside. Yeah. If he wants to eventually get out, he needs to work with somebody. Yeah. The magistrate writes back and he said, I don't know what they said to him. Dork, dude. I'm not even letting my ink dry. That's...
00:44:33
Speaker
that waste you just scratch out the words that he wrote yeah like passive aggressive i can't believe i wasted page space on that it's my ink i think while he's distracted getting this stuff selena will kind of turn where he can't see what she's saying and very quietly just tell everyone else like he's hiding something He knows more than he's letting on.
00:44:58
Speaker
Let me see. Sounds like it's time for scary interrogation. can ask aggressively. happy What was Kaz going to do? No, other look at Nyx. Kaz was going to walk his willowy frame up to the and be like, you're hiding something.
00:45:16
Speaker
Do what I told you. Make yourself big. And then create a fairy. And kill it in front of him. You realize how many fairies I've killed today? Sure. You know, X is certainly willing to. Well, okay, but... Okay, so when when that is... as won't Aren't we kind of in the middle of attempting deception? Won't my walking up and at minimum implying the threat of violence somewhat undermine
00:45:47
Speaker
current deception that is in play against this person what i'm gonna be i wasn't the person in my normal group that did the deception stuff so i'm just kind i was i was i was zarya's thing she's kind of bringing her i feel like we can let this play out but i don't want to just leave knowing that he knows more than he's letting on.
00:46:12
Speaker
I just wanted you guys to know. The sound of a door opening behind the counter and you see another dwarf enter. You all can see past the door because he doesn't shut up behind him. There are stairs that lead down i move from the inside of the door. Okay. yeah Yeah.
00:46:26
Speaker
And this dwarf has a ah shaved head with a very tightly trimmed black beard. And his left eye has been replaced by a kind of smoky violet.
00:46:40
Speaker
It looks like a kyber shard is like put into his left eye socket. Um, awesome and what a cool dude door kind of stops and looks at him and he's got like, I'm sure this is a thing for, well, I know it's a thing.
00:46:53
Speaker
Like the, the leather things that you carry firewood in that kind of fold up that you can just, oh yeah yeah yeah he's got that, but there are like a few like weapons and implements and things like that. Like, and he like sets it on a small table and gives door curtain nod and walks back, but heads back into the door.
00:47:12
Speaker
How's he dressed? ha Like a smith. He has a leather apron. He has a leather apron with like on the front of it is a stylized like leafless tree with ravens perched in it.
00:47:27
Speaker
ah we Brought in weapons and implements. What? Like we just established this is not a weapon shop. Like what? It's the same stuff that you see out on the floor. like Oh, yeah. Hatches, machetes, that kind of thing. like like Yeah. odd Odd question while you're looking gra gathering the things that we need i I mean, obviously, the... Oh, that looks fantastic.
00:47:52
Speaker
wi I was just on a shelf. It's... What are you doing? I'm actually, I know the wandsmiths are out. Do you happen to carry a stock? I don't, my wand is getting a little old and I i don't think it's really going to be able to hold up if I have too many large combats. It might. So do you have any extras here that they, I don't know if they might've partnered with you in terms of
00:48:24
Speaker
making a couple sales, even if it's like a like a basic one. Something to just get me through. so why could take a look. let me He sets loaf of bread down and like go like ducks down, like looking under the counter.
00:48:37
Speaker
Nyx wanders. us Since Nyx has been told that this person is not trustworthy, she does not like him disappearing from view behind the counter. look at john said Sure. you know And so Nix wanders over to the counter and starts just examining the the sheaf of weapons that Morin just dropped off and and admiring the cure.
00:49:01
Speaker
You don't know who that is. Yes, I do. No, you don't. You haven't asked. You just told me. All right. You... the The stuff that he has dropped off looked to be largely the same as what you saw out on the shelves, Nick's.
00:49:13
Speaker
Very, very well-crafted blades. It looks like the the actual, like like, the wooden halves of the hatchets and things like that are not as, like, extreme high quality, but the blades are immaculate. He pops up, Valk, and he says, All I can find...
00:49:39
Speaker
is this and he holds up a sovereign host like holy symbol that i think is from we bought a lot of stock from another shop that went out of business like five years ago i think that's from them and this i've never seen it before but it's like a gnarled piece of like willow branch um he's like wait he's never seen it before he like He just went down and then it was in the counter and he'd never seen it before. yeah like that's what he's saying. and stuff it's in the That's real dangerous. you' the Holy cow. please
00:50:18
Speaker
I'd be willing to sell it to you, but i it's a it's an as-is sale, I do have to say. It's an as-cursed sale. The Wandsmith may have made it. um and no Sometimes I'm not in, and Morin is... but There was that strange old woman who wandered in. Morin sometimes haggles rather than takes cash, so this might have been his doing some time ago.
00:50:40
Speaker
I don't know. Can we get a Mazzara fly, though?
00:50:47
Speaker
Uh, sure. Give me just one second. Please? Sorry. just easily easy keep Go. He flips the book of records shut and slides it under his arm as he takes the wand and opens the door and begins to walk down the steps.
00:51:03
Speaker
So Morin's Forge is the lower level of this place. Yeah, i I want to ask Selena while we have a second. she's like what Tell me more about the vibe that you got off of this guy. like When did you, what was he saying when you realized we couldn't trust him? like i like I mean, at the very beginning when we were asking about, you know, everything, he just had a look that made me think that he was kind of wondering how much we knew and like how much to let on. So do we play into that by letting him know we do in fact know more?
00:51:43
Speaker
I mean, is this, you know, side of the nose kind of thing where we could get on his side with it as opposed to aggressively trying to interrogate what he knows? I don't know. I don't know.
00:51:56
Speaker
i don't even think we need him. We need Morn to come out. How do we? It was his order. I mean, I was going to try to get him to come up, but then, you know, he kind of scurried away. Yeah.
00:52:08
Speaker
and there ah We commissioned something. Yeah. Maybe it's... Doesn't Nix have the mandate? Physically? Have the mandate?
00:52:22
Speaker
Signed by... Well, no. I don't think that was for... no I do, but I don't think that was directed at Morin. Payments...
00:52:33
Speaker
They're for the specialized weaponry, which was the... Yeah, yeah. like I have the mandate for the wandsmiths to push into the Whispering Cups, which presumably is why they bought the hatchets from Morin's. Right.
00:52:45
Speaker
i Is there possibly just an opportunity, Nyx, for you and Morin to... Please don't be upset about my terminology. Geek out about all this stuff together and we could gain their trust that way.
00:52:59
Speaker
You're a real weapons gal, Nix. I picked up on that. You seem very pained. The things that are on the on the shelf here on the counter here while he goes downstairs. right Two questions while I have an opportunity to examine them closely.
00:53:14
Speaker
Are any of them Are any of them ruined in in any way? Like we saw these runes that were summoning Marlboro energy.
00:53:25
Speaker
Are any of them in any way? Do they have runes? they have some sort of enchantment worked into them? and No, you do not. Run your fingers out of the blades. Yeah, you don't see anything like that. are any of the hatchets made for a larger part? So we've been describing these as hatchets, but if they're going out cutting down trees. Yeah. I mean, some yeah some of them are like larger into like full axe territory. Yes. Okay.
00:53:50
Speaker
Are there any of those sick two man saws? There's what? It's mounted on the Yeah, on the wall. It's painted. It's kind of landscape painted on it. Like a cracker barrel. Because our group always operates so seamlessly in sync. I think we could really do a great job with one of those two mans. Well, before...
00:54:11
Speaker
Doric returns back up here. I'll give you all a week to think on what you want to do. End of episode. Liar. cat ah It's going to be like five minutes. Thank you all so much for listening. If you want to be part of the conversation surrounding this episode, you can head over to our discord. The link to which is in the show notes. but We also have YouTube channel, youtube.com slash epantheon. If you want to check out the videos over there, Philip,
00:54:34
Speaker
Also on YouTube and Spotify, you can find another actual play that we've got under Tales from the Laughing Tree, where we are just starting a a Legend in the Mist arc using for Queen's Blades, which is going to be like swashbuckling in Eberron.
00:54:50
Speaker
Yes, we also have a Patreon, patreon.com. If you want to financially support the show, you can do so over there. Thank you all so much for listening. I've been your Game Master, Eric. I'm Mia. I'm Phillip. I'm Madison. Jeff.
00:55:03
Speaker
We'll see you next time. See you next time.