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C1 Ep. 16 Darkness Rising Chapter Three
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Eberron Renewed continues this week as Dex, Beric, and Therudak continue tracking down those responsible for the bombing in Sharn. Join is as they attempt to outsmart their prisoners and get them to start talking.
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Transcript
Introduction and Themes
00:00:07
Speaker
Success in fighting means not coming to your opponent the way he wants to fight you. John Locke, Vegas Moon
00:00:33
Speaker
D20 radio, your gamers roll.
Meet the Cast and Podcast
00:00:51
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Eberron Renewed, a D&D 5th edition actual play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I am your dungeon master, Eric. I'm your very confused warlock, Phillip. I'm Randy. Jeff. And welcome to another episode of Eberron Renewed. Gentlemen, what happened last time?
Recap of Recent Adventure
00:01:11
Speaker
We got a airdrop out of an airship. That was pretty cool. Some did it much better than others. You know, it's all about the journey. And it was my first time and I just nailed it. So we landed in... Give me the name of the town again. Zandrar. Zandrar. I was going to say... Is that where the Nova Corps are based out of? That Zandar. Oh, okay. So we landed in the Zandar.
Battle Reflection and Ethical Dilemmas
00:01:42
Speaker
Kandahar Zandar yes, what's over there and there was a Battle happening because actually that actually happened in the two episodes ago, but so we get engaged in the battle We fought shadows and we and we we beat them boy. Did we mm-hmm?
00:01:56
Speaker
we decided to capture a one of those guys swords of liberty swords of liberty birdheads is what i ordered and we ended up with what to three three of them yes and of course uh... mister craft or what was wailing away on one of them and
00:02:15
Speaker
We had to try to stop that. He was not too pleased with us, but now we're going to go into some interrogation. And apparently the crazy magic sword I have thinks that people who blow up civilians are okay.
00:02:31
Speaker
Yeah, your sword seems very single-minded. Yeah, I'm really not sure where this is going to go as far as our relationship with the sword goes. That's like somebody dismissing Hitler because they're an art fan and his paintings weren't that bad.
00:02:52
Speaker
You all have captured three swords of liberty. Krast is storming off in a huff. One of them is tied up to a tree trunk and has been beaten pretty badly by Krast and the other two are unconscious and tied up with Barak. Yes.
00:03:08
Speaker
Theradak goes up to Beric and looks at him very concerned. Are you okay? You seem to be talking to yourself quite a bit. Doesn't make any sense at all. You're not wrong.
00:03:27
Speaker
Uh, but I'm fine. Uh, this is probably not going to help assuage your concerns, but I'm not talking to myself. I'm talking to a voice I hear in my head that comes from my sword.
00:03:45
Speaker
Okay, then fine. Yes. Oh, yes. No, I, I understand. And it is actually a possibility that I'm just insane.
Interrogation Tactics and Moral Conflict
00:03:53
Speaker
I don't, I have not discounted that op that possibility yet, but, uh, for now, uh, my accent is changing wildly. Uh, and that's probably also not a good sign. Does this one have a name? Uh, yeah, the sort is called Kara Springer. Kara Springer.
00:04:22
Speaker
I don't think so. It doesn't really seem to exist if I'm not holding it.
00:04:32
Speaker
Which is probably obvious at this point because Barak had to drag these two guys. I assume that takes both hands. I appreciated you doing that. You seem to be arguing with it a lot. Maybe you should get rid of it. Well, the thought has crossed my mind. We'll see. Dex, what are you doing with the fellow that you were cleaning up? I mean, he tried to engage me in conversation.
00:04:56
Speaker
The problem is I don't have the resources to have this talk. Okay. So I am trying to get. Or I would love it if crass could come back with more level head, but I'm trying to get Barrick to start asking some questions. So Barrick, uh, just sets the two unconscious ones, um, somewhere, just like lets them lay in the grass now that they're tied up. Okay. And then he comes over to where the conscious one is tied up to a tree and seasons.
00:05:26
Speaker
What happened here? Quest apparently was a little over the top. Oh, so I see. All right. Well, let me get a couple of simple things out of the way. You're a member of the Swords of Liberty. Come on, buddy. He just looks at you angrily. All right. I assume his mask has been taken off. Yes.
00:05:52
Speaker
Are you? No, I washed off his mask. I cleaned his mask up nice. And you were part of the bombing in Sharn yesterday. I didn't plant the bomb if that's what you're asking. But you're a part of the organization, the dead.
00:06:15
Speaker
And part of the organization wishes to eradicate the disease from Breeland and Corvair. And those ambassadors, and frankly, not actually any of the ambassadors, but the random people who just try to make a living working in the tower where the ambassadors have their offices, they're part of that disease? Yes. And what way?
00:06:40
Speaker
They hold up the monarchy. They don't let the people have a voice. They don't let me have a voice. The everyday people who go to work to make money to feed their families.
00:06:56
Speaker
taking letters, those people hold up the monarchy. Those are the people that hold up the monarchy. Change is both made and resisted by everyday people. It's not the kings and queens that fight in the dirt and the muck. It's people who either
00:07:17
Speaker
Hold up that which is evil or bring it down. And now see this is where your philosophy falls apart for me because your whole thing is democracy, right? Yes. And the idea of democracy is people making their own choices, right? Yes. And you blew those people up for making the choice to go to work yesterday.
00:07:37
Speaker
They were not Brie-lish citizens. We want democracy for Brie-land. And you want to blow up everyone who's not Brie-land? Well, Brie-land could have easily won the last war. Oh, yeah. Well, we all the other nations ally against Brie-land. How long is your democracy going to last? Brie-land, at this point... I'm fully aware that Beric has lost the trail of what we were trying to accomplish. Yeah, but I'm lucky. Brie-land is stronger.
00:08:01
Speaker
than the other nations combined at this point. They were ravaged by the day of mourning. They had soldiers in the field. Our soldiers were smart enough. They weren't there. All right. Can we, let's get back on track, Barrick. What are you doing in the town? We were trying to save the town. He was attacked. Yes.
00:08:25
Speaker
and then you came into town and attacked us. Well, to be fair, first we helped you with the shadows and then... Your word. No, you have to trust me. There was a dog. It was good. You killed a dog? A shadow dog. Chill out, buddy. You killed people with a bomb, so... Didn't kill a dog. How do you know that? Yeah, you can't prove there was no dog there.
00:08:53
Speaker
Who brings a pet to the office?
00:09:16
Speaker
Okay, I just don't know where to go with this. I'm not. I mean, Jeff and yeah, don't know. We need to sit here and argue. You know, while that's probably not beneficial, while Berwick prattles on about about the things which he is prattling, I'm actually going to go back to crass. Okay, try to catch up with him. Okay, third, what are you doing?
00:09:41
Speaker
watching this argument. Okay. Okay. So you you come upon Krast who is facing away from you. He has one arm extended up and he's leaning up against a tree just kind of. Recomposing himself. I'm going to I don't want to come up behind him without saying something. Hey Krast buddy. Can we can we talk for just a second? I
00:10:09
Speaker
Are you cool? What do you want? First off, I want to make sure that you know that I would never have actually physically tried to restrain you unless it became absolutely necessary. I just had to use my intimidation skill.
00:10:33
Speaker
And I understand I've gotten hot under the collar before. I've seen things and done things that have made me act not myself. But Crafty, you're the thing, you're the one that we need to maintain a level head and do this interrogation because you know what information we need. We
Krast's Internal Struggle
00:10:52
Speaker
need you back over there, but I can't let you beat the tar out of these guys to get what you want. We've got to try it a different way.
00:11:05
Speaker
But we don't need to get into that right now. I agree. And I think that what they deserve is the full weight of the law, not a vigilante beating. Let's get what we need from them. And then we can take these three back to Commander Bala and let her do with them what is right and appropriate. And I'm sure it will be better than just getting knocked around a little bit tied to a tree.
00:11:21
Speaker
Why not? They deserve it. Well, because there's been a lot of studies that say torture doesn't work.
00:11:30
Speaker
that by better I mean for you more fulfilling for you than just being I get it I understand the catharsis of knocking a guy around but can you come back with us and have a conversation this isn't going to determine the outcome so much but go and give me a persuasion check
00:11:48
Speaker
Seven Krast turns to face you he's kind of been looking away from you up to this point as you approached behind him and There there is a a fire and a rage behind his eyes that
00:12:03
Speaker
You've really only ever seen when you've encountered somebody with a great deal of tragedy. Sure. He, in a swift motion, just turns and punches with his gauntlet the tree. You better say the tree. As bark flies off and he just lets out a grunt as he balls up his fist from the pain. Let's get this over with. And he starts heading back.
00:12:32
Speaker
As you come back, Barrick is kneeling in front of the, is down on one knee in front of the guy. He's saying, look, if you read Locke, you see that the mandate of the masses is what justifies the government. And evidence clearly shows that the people support the monarchy.
00:12:49
Speaker
And Theradek is just enthralled by this. You wanting Krast to step in with the interrogation, or do you want to continue having a political debate? I mean, that I have not prepared for. Probably better radio if Krast steps in. Krast kind of walks up and you see the guy tense up as Krast approaches again.
00:13:11
Speaker
And Krast says in just kind of a, almost begrudgingly, like his heart isn't in this anymore. He just, where, where's your base? Where are you operating out of? He rolls a one on his persuasion check rather fittingly. Eric has a brilliant idea. And while Krast is asking that question, he hurries over to Lyle and pulls him aside for a moment and says,
00:13:43
Speaker
Okay, I have this idea. We can try and use we can try and convince him that one of his friends gave up information. Using you. Hey, if we wake up one of the others, you get their voice.
00:14:05
Speaker
I like, I like where you're at. Yeah. Yeah. It's like a prisoner dilemma, but you're not lying to him. Oh, oh, hey. Yeah. Sorry. I just pointed for listeners who didn't get the visual gag. Randy's sitting both physically and in the game in between them, just staring back and forth, confused at this conversation. All right. Fair deck. I guess you're part of the crew now. So there's something you need to know. Do you know what a changeling is?
00:14:33
Speaker
Yes, well it me I'm a changeling I'll normally look like this that that orc that you saw in the building Yes Also me
00:14:48
Speaker
Like to bounce around That's not true. I don't very often but uh, but yeah, so so what Barrick is suggesting is that I take the form of one of the other swords that we captured and And then I guess we wing it do I just start screaming. Yeah, I told you everything. That's all you need to know Yeah, something like that. All right. So first things first. Let's go wake up and
00:15:15
Speaker
Let's wake up the one that looks like he has the easier to replicate voice. Don't screw me on this, Eric.
00:15:23
Speaker
So are you walking back to Krast or are you walking to take prisoners? They're just right over by them. Okay. Okay. So you just hear that the prisoner is sitting there silent as Krast is just repeating questions over and over trying to hope that he just starts talking. So you can... Got Beric kneels down by one of them, casts Cure Wounds to wake him up. Okay. And then hauls him to his feet.
00:15:49
Speaker
Well, friend, your comrade there's not being very talkative so we're gonna go have a conversation and see if you're a little bit more amiable and starts leading him off to somewhere. What do you mean?
00:16:07
Speaker
Actually, I think we're gonna have a conversation with your other and I knock him back out Okay, take him over to I mean we're like right on the edge of the town, right? No, you're a little bit ways out of the town You're on the edge of the river. Okay to be fair. We could just go around behind Yeah, we move off to somewhere where we're out of sight of the the prisoner being interrogated
00:16:33
Speaker
And actually, ideally, I'd like to get a little bit out of earshot at first and actually ask him some questions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally. Sure. Yeah, maybe this guy is just more likely.
Revealing the Enemy's Plans
00:16:42
Speaker
What do you want? Barrett just sort of looks over at Dex. And I just kind of shrug like I can work with that.
00:16:56
Speaker
We need to know where you're operating out of. I don't much feel like telling you. Right, right. No, I understand. I just need to ask it. Another question. Where the shadows come out of? You were fighting a bunch of shadows when we got here.
00:17:14
Speaker
They just appeared in the town. They appeared in the town? Well, that's where we first saw them before we started fighting them. Because when they started to retreat, it looked like they were moving across the bridge. So I thought perhaps they went back to a central location. Kind of the same direction you guys were. You all operate out of the woods. Do you encounter them in the woods?
00:17:32
Speaker
He he starts to say we and then stops himself and just I know you operate out of the woods. Come on. It's big woods. You're not telling me anything helpful to tell me you operate out of the woods. Yeah, we saw you run into the woods. It's fairly obvious. Sorry. Sorry to break. You know, if there's some bubble, we cracked your code. We didn't see any shadows in the woods. Not ever before. No.
00:17:59
Speaker
Not in all the time that you've been operating out of the woods. No. The whole time. The whole time. The whole time that he's talking. I mean, y'all have been operating out of there for years. So. Listen. All I'm saying. We've never seen any shadows in the woods. The whole time. The whole time you two are talking. Dex is kind of just over on the side going. All I'm saying. All I'm saying. All I'm saying. Look, we don't operate in the woods. So you've never encountered this before.
00:18:29
Speaker
Huh. So you just happened to be in town when these shadows came? Well, we we saw the town getting attacked and quickly came in to help. Soft from your base. Oh, come on, let me have a roll to cheer him up. OK, I think that's good. Yeah, let's go and do deception. OK.
00:18:58
Speaker
24. He just kind of stammers for a second says I we didn't see him. Yeah, we saw him from the bit and then just kind of stops. Oh, come on, you're gonna give me that was pretty good. Hi. So you saw him from your base. That's obvious. You just said it. Right, right. So do you ever operate near the gloaming?
00:19:27
Speaker
What's the gloaming? Uh, my understanding is it's a section of the woods that you are all, you all are operating out of. Oh yeah. You do. And you've never encountered anything like this there. I hear there are all sorts of weird shadow things out there. Well, nothing like this. No. Okay. I want you to try to understand something here, man. Right now I'm pretty pissed off at your organization, but I know that you weren't in sharn yesterday.
00:19:56
Speaker
But I'm mostly concerned about rescuing a little boy who was dragged into another plane by shadows like this. And that's where my interest lies right now, primarily. So the more helpful you are to me about that, the less I'm really all that I'm trying to dig into the rest of this. Go ahead and give me a perception check. Or sorry, persuasion check.
00:20:25
Speaker
It's going to say perception checks have not been very friendly to me lately for our regular listeners. Hey, that's pretty good. 24, 24. Look, we've had some run ins with shadows like this before. We fought them and we're trying to, we, we found a couple items here and there in the DeConnie ruins across the river. They seem to work really well against the shadows.
00:20:54
Speaker
So we've been using them to try and push them back. But the
Information Gathering and Strategy
00:21:01
Speaker
Druids in the reaches don't much like Brie-lish citizens, much less militant ones, operating in their sovereign nation. So they've been pushing us back, claiming they can handle it. See, that wasn't very hard. That was really helpful. We appreciate it.
00:21:25
Speaker
That comes in on this guy. The druids, they object to you messing around with the ruins, or they object to you being in the woods altogether? They don't want us in the Eldine reaches. I see. I've gone back. I've gone back around behind the captive at this point, and I'm kind of shifting around and shifting around, and I keep looking at Beric, like, waiting for the thumbs up that I got it, that it looked right. Okay, so Beric watches, keeps checking back and forth.
00:21:54
Speaker
His eyes just flicking back and forth until he sees it Okay, cuz in the gives him the high sign and now that I've got it I can recall it so I don't yeah, so I can go back to while and go come back around but
00:22:06
Speaker
Do you know where the Druids are that you're speaking about? It seems to me that they might have more information about this matter that I'm trying to look into. Look, they know the woods like the back of their hands. They strike when we least expect it, and then they disappear in the trees just as fast as they can. Interesting. Interesting. So they attack you whenever you're walking around in the woods? Yeah. When they see us operating in the Eldean reaches, they push us back. All right.
00:22:37
Speaker
All right. Do we want to get back to the trickery? So he's out of earshot of the other guy, right? Yeah. All right. I guess you could have Dak bring you back. So Dak's going to bring me back over as the other guy. Yes. Here's my question. You and I walk away a little bit.
00:23:04
Speaker
I mean, what's your gambit? I get the ruse, what's the gambit?
00:23:10
Speaker
Are we gonna, am I gonna be untied and free and looks like I made a deal with you guys and gave information? That's the closest thing I have. I understand we don't actually have any information to state that's certainly true. But we know a little bit about the location of the woods. Perhaps it could look like you're about to lead Tharadak over to the river and point out exactly where the base is since we know that it's in the right direction. Perhaps get him angry enough to make a mistake, I don't know. Here's what I'm thinking.
00:23:40
Speaker
Alright, so I change, and I go, uh, is this about right? That's about right. Oh yeah, this other- Sling blade. French flag taters. It's hard to get out of it sometimes. He kind of sounded, no he didn't, he kind of sounded, it's lower and raspy and- With a little bit of Australian to it. Yeah, well that's probably not going to happen easily for me. I don't know where Australia is.
00:24:09
Speaker
Could you just mouth and bear extend behind you? Well, I assume that part of the magic of Dex is that he can actually mimic it, even if Jeff can. You will sound fine. Yeah, we're just going to trust that Dex nails it. So we start walking together, me and Dak, and when I get within earshot where I'm not obviously yelling to get their attention, I say,
00:24:36
Speaker
Do you see those there? That's where we found the runes that are helping us fight. And so anyway, what are you doing? I made a deal. He has cut a deal. If you were smart, you'd do the same thing. I haven't told him everything. If you want to get in on this, you can cut a deal. They're letting me go.
00:25:05
Speaker
Alright? You wanna tell him some things? Maybe you can... God, I'm just Lyle again, but with higher pitch. If you wanna... If I had to come up with my own voice, I would be doing it properly. Deception check. Yeah. That's 21. Nice.
00:25:27
Speaker
You see him, the prisoner kind of hang his head and like knock it against the tree and like frustration and confusion and not sure what to do. And he looks at Crass and says, what do I need to tell you to to let me go? Hell yeah. Nice work. I don't I always I don't change back.
00:25:54
Speaker
but I want to walk away where I'm not having to stand and like you and I okay I lead back further down towards the bank where we're completely out of your shot again and I don't turn back around to face or anything like I'm away from him now you hear as as you're changing you hear footsteps rapidly approaching and not trying to be quiet
00:26:17
Speaker
Third act you just positioning you probably see him approaching for it crass is storming up to you furious So have you have you changed Back like by the time crass gets to you. I'm just working up the timing We're out of view yeah, I guess I would probably
00:26:42
Speaker
I mean, it takes six seconds, I may be in the process of changing. It takes a full round to change it. Okay, we'll say that you're facing away and Krasst looks at you, theredactors like, why would you cut a deal with these monsters? Wait a second, we did. No, no. We did not cut a deal. All right, hey, hey, hey, chill out, Krasst. There you go. There's a little something about me you didn't know yet. I'm kind of tricky sometimes with my physicality.
00:27:12
Speaker
We did a real good goof. Krast. And it worked. Go back there and ask the questions you need to ask. We don't really need to give the man a deal. You know we're not going to let him go? You're not. No. Hell no. You're not honor bound to if you say. Here's the thing. You haven't said anything. I said I got a deal. He believes it. He wants to talk. He asks you a question. What do you need to know? Go get your answers. Let him talk.
00:27:37
Speaker
This seems rad, real dirty, and wrong. Hey, I don't know if you noticed, but there was a guy beating the tar out of him earlier. That seemed real dirty and wrong. This way, we haven't done anything physically harm anybody further. I did almost kill a couple of them. Just go get your answers, Kras. Don't worry about the ramifications of this. Let future Kras handle that.
00:28:06
Speaker
He turns around and stomps off and yeah. So are you all going to re-approach him or are you going to go back with Barrett? I'm going to go back.
00:28:21
Speaker
I want to know, I want to hear what Krast gets out of him, but I don't want to stand there as the other guy any longer. Every second that I'm the same face as somebody who's present is a second that something could break bad. I'm going to go back over with Merrick. We're going to go on with Krast. Krast, okay. So Theradak, Krast approaches the guy and squats down in front of him and is like,
00:28:52
Speaker
Where's your base? And then if he looks up at me, he's kind of standing there like, I'm going to know if you're telling the truth or not. Our base is in the Dakani roots. That's what we operate out of.
00:29:17
Speaker
I mean, are there any questions you would like to ask, so I'm not just talking to myself there about the Swords of Liberty or anything like that? If any comes to my mind, I will. Okay. Who is leading your operation? The Red Owl is what she goes by. Don't know her real name. Don't know her face. She never shows it to us. We always meet wearing our masks. Super democratic.
00:29:47
Speaker
We always wear our masks when we meet, so in case any of us are caught in situations like this, we cannot reveal the identities of our fellow swords. Your friend said that they have found items to assist them in helping fight the shadow.
00:30:08
Speaker
Yes, we have recovered D'Kani artifacts that seem to damage the shadows. They emit light that weakens the shadows to make them easier to dissipate, vanquish. I don't know if you would call it killing, but they attack our base far more often than they make it through to Xandrar.
00:30:35
Speaker
So we have we've taken up posters Holding them back from getting into preland. We're going to need some of those I Don't have any I don't have any on me that the high-ranking Members and those that stay on watch in the ruins hold on to them to use them I I don't fight the shadows in the forest. That's not my duty. Um, I Just thought is who can our speaking stones contact just each other. Can we reach back to base? Can we contact commander Bala?
00:31:05
Speaker
Yeah, I'll say you can contact Miranda ball. Okay, I want to do that later, but you I mean you want to continue. You know what actually I'm This guy saw me walk off. Yes and Now so I can come back as Lyle. Yeah. All right. I want to come back and ask a couple questions. Okay Hey, so you guys got him to open up, huh? Hey, listen, buddy. I got a couple of questions for you as well. I
00:31:33
Speaker
What are you planning next? Is there another bomb that we need to get to before it goes off? I'm tired of watching innocent people suffer because of your agenda. Look, I'm not a planner in all this. I stay here. I stay in Zandra and I live my life. Are you telling me that you didn't hear about a bomb going to go off in Sharn?
00:31:58
Speaker
No. I know it happened. We were told shortly before it occurred that morning what was going to happen.
00:32:07
Speaker
so agents in sean would know to not be operating near there okay i guess i don't know this yet so um hey crass have they has he has he filled you in on on home base do we know that yeah all right we know where they are all right um and then i want to get my little speaking stone out i don't want to say uh commander ball are you available
00:32:31
Speaker
Yes. Come on, well, I've got some good news. We have apprehended three members of the Swords of Liberty and I would like for you to advise as to our next steps for getting them into permanent custody. There is an agent operating out of Zendroir.
Collaboration with Allies
00:32:49
Speaker
He is the blacksmith in town. Take your prisoners to him and he will see that any extraction happens. Perfect. Blacksmith, shackles. Love it.
00:32:58
Speaker
The prisoner is starting to look at you and Krast and you, Dak, for instance. I was told I would be let go. And I change into the other guy and I say, no deal. What? You said you'd let me go. And then I change back and I say, dude, we made it up. No one's gonna let you go.
00:33:21
Speaker
Now, he just shuts down in confusion and kind of is muttering, you said you would let me go. Like, I have no sympathy for this dude that's part of this organization that blew up a building. So, shall we away to the blacksmith? We're not getting any more out of this guy. Do you want to see what else you can get out of? Sorry, yeah, sure. So once they've walked off,
00:33:52
Speaker
All right, well, your friend wasn't very helpful in this area, but I suppose I'll ask you, where'd the bomb come from? I, I don't know anything about the bomb being made. I don't know anything about that. I didn't even know about the planning. I, I operate here.
00:34:14
Speaker
near Zandral and I, I fight back shadows. That's what I do. I have nightwatch and you're comfortable and you're comfortable being a part of an organization that in addition to fighting back shadows and protecting, protecting the town of Zandral also blows up innocent people when they go to work. Look, look, the methodology is bad. I agree with that. I see it. I don't entirely support the how.
00:34:44
Speaker
But I support the why. And nobody else, nobody, we've tried to have our voices heard. With the monarchy, with parliament, it's not gonna happen without radical action. That are members of parliament who argue for democracy. Yeah, and they're shut down. It's not gonna happen. But you know when it's definitely not gonna happen? It's definitely not gonna happen if the voice of democracy also blows up buildings. Because you know what's gonna be in the news tomorrow? It's not gonna be a discussion of democracy.
00:35:14
Speaker
You know what was in the sharn inquisitive today? The sharn inquisitive today is about dead people. Innocent dead people whose only crime is going to work. Or being on the sidewalk somewhere below the tower you blew up when a 30-pound piece of rubble fell 2,000 feet and crushed their skull. The sharn inquisitive will be discussing the British government's inability
00:35:41
Speaker
to protect non-brilish citizens within its borders. Thrain, Onder, Karnath, they're not going to be happy. Yeah. And in my experience, the result of those sorts of things is joint action to hunt down terrorists. I've also seen joint action to take down a nation.
00:36:12
Speaker
Well, you think Breland falling is the best way to get it democracy? That's no rather nonsensical. Breland can stand on its own. I had this discussion with your friend. I'm not interested in that and discuss in the future war that hasn't happened. Listen, you say you don't agree with the methodology. I'm telling you the methodology is self destructive. If you can't see that, well, I don't know what the point of this is. This is where Lyle comes over and he says, Hey, Barrick, did you get any actionable information out of this guy? No, he doesn't know anything about the bomb.
00:36:45
Speaker
He's also extremely unrepentant. Definitely not an enemy of the shadow. Did you grip your hand and bring the sword up to say that right to it? Theradak is not sure if this has occurred yet, but he wants to search these individuals. Okay. You know, that's why we have Theradak along. Think about these really obvious things that it never occurred to me to do.
00:37:10
Speaker
Third actually build the world. I like it turn You find are you? Searching the one that crashed and Lyle and you were interrogating for the one that you're yes I'm searching the third one. That's still knocked out You find all right, I go wake him up and try to convince him these off-camera
00:37:35
Speaker
You find on him a small amount of money, let's say five gold pieces, a sword, and traveling papers that identify him as, Hey Dex, now we have one of their driver's licenses.
00:37:50
Speaker
Awesome. And to wake him up and get a voice. And we have their masks. Wake him up and I'll pick a voice. Malar is awesome. Is the one that you were actively interrogating up against the tree. I gave the papers to Krast.
Exploration of the Ruins
00:38:06
Speaker
And I don't care about his money or anything.
00:38:08
Speaker
Okay, the one that you're searching on the ground? Oh, in the meantime, I didn't get around to it. In the meantime, while I'm searching this guy on the ground, I tell Barak, I used those cool rocks and I talked to the commander and there's a guy in town, we're going to take these three too for extraction. So our hands are clean of it all. You find the similar stuff that Dak found, except you all, his traveling papers identify him as Boron Prum.
00:38:37
Speaker
Okay, and I missed it. How? I mean, I heard the traveling papers and all that stuff. And you said five gold pieces pieces. I thought add that to the till I'm not gonna I guess add the other five as well. Boron from Yep.
00:38:53
Speaker
The two M's, one M. And Theradak makes his way over to where Barak is with the other one. He's probably walking the other one back over at this point. Have you searched him yet? No, I have not. Check him out. Look for something that could assist us possibly. All right. I go through his stuff and I assume I find similar. Yeah. Okay. Seren Doron is his name.
00:39:18
Speaker
I asked Darren Deck if he would like to throw the one that's still unconscious up over his shoulder since he's the strongest of us. So we don't have to waste a cure light wounds or anything. Of course. Another guy. OK, so it's a couple of minutes. Well, probably you were all running away from the town. So let's say five to 10 minute walk back to town. The town is still reeling from the attack. There's City Watch out just helping people checking on the wounded, things like that. You can easily. I mean, a blacksmith.
00:39:45
Speaker
It's obvious from street view. So you don't see any real activity going on around there. There is a light on inside, though. Yeah. So we knock on the on the black door. You see a very large half orc open the door, long graying hair tied up in a top knot. Pretty big tusks coming out from his his bottom row teeth. And what can I help you with? Commander Bala sent us.
00:40:10
Speaker
get in.
00:40:23
Speaker
Astonishly the looks at the three young men that you've sit down on the ground is like boom Yeah, I know all of them. What the hell boys? What are you thinking? It just comes to me now. How old are they? Early 20s. Okay So this is like a bunch of young guys who go across the river and play in their clubhouse and occasionally? Yeah horrible murder
00:40:53
Speaker
So, Pete, sending him in? Yeah, I spoke with Commander Balla and she said that you would have the means and method for extraction. Yeah. We also know now that they're operating out of the DeConnie ruins across the river. That's probably information that should also be sent back. Yeah.
00:41:19
Speaker
Yeah, we'll – I'll file a report and let her know what's going on. I suppose since you live here and you're an actual agent, you've already put this together. But you might want to talk to their running buddies. Odds are anybody else that they are close with here in town that they spend a lot of time with are going to be a part of this liberty sword. Yeah, we've known for a while that.
00:41:50
Speaker
because of the masks that the Swords of Liberty were our neighbors. I just never thought that it would be these boys. It's always the quiet ones. I don't know if you guys are quiet. Well, I'm sorry to have brought such a bummer to your day. No, it's fine. I'll make sure that they're extracted and sent away.
00:42:19
Speaker
Alright, so what's next, Krast? Well, we know where the Swords of Liberty are operating out of. We could go take the fight to them. I don't know. Let me tell you a little bit about what I know about these shadows.
00:42:36
Speaker
for some reason they don't go into those DeConnie ruins they get near them they don't they didn't the last time we were around them I think that there is a chance that going into the forest between the beginning of the forest and the getting those ruins is going to be a trek that I don't want to walk right well sorry the DeConnie ruins are outside of the forest they're just on the edge
00:43:00
Speaker
They're on the other river bank, so they're just right there. I mean, we could also, I mean, that fight, those fights went remarkably well, but we could take up lodging and investigate the forest in daylight when the shadows wouldn't be roaming around. Could also be worthwhile to talk to the Druids.
00:43:21
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good call. I mean, I'm down with taking a quick rest. I'll get my daylight back. Probably at this point that everyone realizes that Barak is bleeding profusely from numerous wounds and has three hit points. Oh, holy cow. Let's go take a nap. Yes, rest should probably be fine. In fact, he's wounded so badly that his accent has changed eight times. They just beat the Irish right out of you. Okay.
00:43:47
Speaker
So you all are going to take a long rest and sleep until morning. Yeah, we're bedding down for the night. Okay. Um, the, the blacksmith has lodgings for dark lantern agents in, um, in town. So yeah, anything you all would like to do before now and morning time when crass is going to insist that you all head out into the forest, the towering wood.
00:44:12
Speaker
How many hit points do we get back? I'm going to get them all back. Yeah. Long rest is full. Okay. Out of out of character, you can cut this. I promise to keep this brief, but before bedding down, Barrett brings out Chris Bringer. Okay. And sort of sits down in the room and says, look, I understand what you're about. And frankly, I'm on your side on this whole destroying the shadow thing.
00:44:42
Speaker
But people who put bombs in office buildings are not our allies in that fight. This fight will require as many allies as you can find. Right, right. Well, I'm going to find the ones that aren't blowing up innocent people at work. Then you may very well lose this fight if you are unwilling to take every hand that offers help.
00:45:11
Speaker
La-la-la. Dex busted the barracks room. Oh, sorry. It just closes the door. Jesus. I understand your trepidations, but what are a dozen, even a hundred, innocent lives? A hundred shuts the sword off. Okay.
Confrontation and Surprise Attack
00:45:33
Speaker
You're not my dad.
00:45:35
Speaker
I'm not going to have that conversation. I'm not ready to go. He appears back in your head. I was not done yet. Damn it. You don't hang up on me. I guess I don't know if the sword can do that. That's entirely plausible. I don't know that Dex does anything. I don't know that Dex learned a great lesson today to ponder or to change his ways. Okay. That is going to go get some food because he's famished.
00:46:03
Speaker
OK. There's a small inn in town that is serving up. It probably comes for dinner. OK. Probably probably hungry. We stayed up all night, essentially. Yeah. Time for breakfast. Dex, are you going to go eat as well? Yeah. It's entirely sullenly and silent. He's a terrible company. Dex eats with great applause. And Dex makes comments about he could make it better. Oh, OK. He's not quite up to his car.
00:46:32
Speaker
I walk in and I demand the finest bagels and muffins in all points. Drinking from the keg of glory? Because I have drink from the keg of glory.
00:46:46
Speaker
Okay. Oh, that made me happy. It's my favorite show ever. So you all have rested, eaten, had a merry good time. So yeah, time to head out in the morning. I don't know who's having a good time. Eric certainly isn't. Apparently Dex was. What part of cake of glory sounded like a rough day to you? Dak was just upset that he didn't get to eat his own cooking, apparently. That's right.
00:47:12
Speaker
So yeah, Crast is up and ready to go at the...
00:47:19
Speaker
Cracked on. Cracked on. He wote at the Cracked of Dawn. Oh, okay. I mean, you know what? I deserve that. This third deck is up at the deck of Kong. Decks just woke up at some point. Okay, so pun free, but ready to go. So you all are ready to head into the woods. Most people are still reeling from the attack the night before. They're not really giving you all even a
00:47:46
Speaker
a second glance. An attack like this had never really happened on the town before. And so, yeah. Very few people glance at Barrick twice. Once is usually sufficient. And that's a question that I actually wanted to ask is what was the lasting damage to the town from that attack? Did they lose people? Yeah, there were some people lost.
00:48:07
Speaker
This was a first time occurrence. The city had not, our town had not been attacked before previously. Nope. All right. So we're walking the same path we walked last night, I guess, just towards that bridge. Yeah. Um, yeah. So you all can easily, I mean, you get the sense when it's not being attacked by shadows that it's a pretty sleepy town and not a whole lot goes on. Now, do we want to try to investigate the ruins first or do we want to try to contact the Druids?
00:48:32
Speaker
The ruins might be more direct, I mean, if it's easy. Yeah, I'd like to, I think the ruins, because, well, among other reasons, there might still be people there. Yeah. Resting up and hold up from the previous night. Fair enough.
00:48:50
Speaker
And as such, I have my hand on the button of my stick. Okay. These ruins are very different from the DeConnie ruins that you've encountered before, primarily because this isn't the tomb of a knightly order. This was a small town, much like the Zandar that now sits on the other side of the river, but for goblins. So the architecture is different. It's mostly stonework that's left behind. So everyone give me perception checks. Easy, crazy.
00:49:20
Speaker
Hey, 20. No, 90. Still. Well, good, because I got a 23. OK, you two tell me what you see, fellas. You two can see tracks pretty clearly throughout the town and just signs of life here. You don't really spot.
00:49:39
Speaker
You spot signs of living, but you don't spot any like immediate evidence of people being here. There's no like bedrolls or campfires or anything of that nature just lying about. So no, no people, just signs of people moving through it. Yes. Okay. Well, I, I,
00:50:00
Speaker
just caution indicates to me that I think we should move through the town. It's not very big, I assume. No, it's fairly small. Move through the town and just check whatever ruined buildings remain before we let our guard down in any way and make sure they're not lurking in a basement somewhere or something.
00:50:20
Speaker
So you all are walking about getting a pretty good sense of where, when the Swords of Liberty are here, where like the meeting room is and where they sleep. But once again, you're not really able to spot anybody in the town moving slowly through it.
00:50:38
Speaker
And our impression has been just if I understand our impression after talking with those guys is they meet here. They don't. The terminology that the one guy used Malar used is that they operate out of here. OK. What was your perception check earlier? Twenty three. Twenty three. OK. So yeah, that's that's all you can really tell from from this. OK. Everyone give me survival checks.
00:51:08
Speaker
16 20 what you do not survive survival is wisdom oh right sure uh so it's a two thing nicely done sir they're a deck you can spot
00:51:27
Speaker
Confusively, you spot some tracks. I imagine you've kind of fallen behind looking at stuff and you see some tracks turn in between two buildings and they stop all of a sudden.
Escaping the Ruins and Aftermath
00:51:41
Speaker
Like the person disappeared almost. Well, I've seen Barry do that.
00:51:47
Speaker
He calls the guys over and as they get to him before he says anything, he is looking at the ground and he goes, ooh, ooh, look at this. Now this one is very shiny. You see him pick up a little rock that has kind of got a blue luminescence to it.
00:52:12
Speaker
And then he reaches down to the side with a pouch and he takes his pouch off and he shakes it and you hear movement inside and he opens it up and he drops the rock inside and attaches it back to his belt. Collect rocks there, do you doubt? Only bright, shiny ones. I've been collecting them since I was a kid. Now, besides that, I called you over here for a purpose.
00:52:42
Speaker
Do you see these tracks? Yes. Look closely. Where do they go? They appear to just stop. Exactly. Where did they stop at? About halfway down the alleyway that they were traveling down. So Dex looks up. There are tracks here and no more. Very strange. Can I make an investigation check? I was going to ask if I do the same.
00:53:10
Speaker
And you can do the same deck. 16. 23. Okay. When you look up, um, you spot some writing on a wall. It's almost like a little archway that goes over this alleyway that connects the two buildings in goblin. It's in a familiar script that you've seen before. Third act. You don't by any chance read goblin. Do you?
00:53:37
Speaker
Sorry. Did Crass go with us? Crass kind of rolls his eyes and is like, really? None of you all speak goblin? What? Why would we? You live in a country that shares a border with a nation of goblins. Goblins live here. I didn't grow up here. You live here? Not long enough to have learned a language based on the game mechanics. Okay. Let me see if I can figure this out. I mean, kind of stretches his eyes and
00:54:08
Speaker
It's an old dialect, really old. Dex starts to get a little misty, I think, in a vehicle.
00:54:16
Speaker
He always used to complain about translating for us, too. Um, okay. No, I tried to learn goblin once. I just don't have a knack for it. What, do you speak orc? I assume. Yes. Common. Yeah. That's it. So now we know we can talk elvish around him if we need to. Do not be wooed. Well, that's okay. You and I can talk orcish around him if we need to. That's true. I heard you say, do not be wooed. Like, oh.
00:54:45
Speaker
Would either of you like to see my walks? You know what, a nice collection. Sure. Okay. You guys do that. I'm going to try to, I'm going to listen to Krast. Uh, he's got 20. Let me count them real quick. Oh.
00:55:02
Speaker
Oh, this will not do 21. No. And he peaks, picks out the least shiniest one that he can find, which if you were looking, he probably couldn't tell a difference, but in his head and it's like, this one has to go. He throws it over his shoulder. Maximum of a maximum of 20, huh? Yes. 20 is my lucky number. Do you collect anything?
00:55:25
Speaker
I mean... He collects shadow energy. Right. He collects... He collects black things. They don't start that way. No. No, I... No, I don't really... I never really have taken up a collection. Okay, I've translated it. When I am needed, I am thrown away. When you are done with me, I am brought back.
00:55:59
Speaker
God when I'm needed I'm thrown away when you're done with me. I'm brought back Is it an arrow You say that nothing happens boomerang Spare When you're done with me, I'm brought back I feel like that's yeah like I want to focus less on the things you chuck to use them and more on the When you're done with me, I'm brought back
00:56:29
Speaker
So when you need me, I'm thrown away. Thrown away. Watch back.
00:56:44
Speaker
Barrick Barrick in a moment of poeticness says your heart And deck says nerd Of course the last time all we had to do is stumble around for a while and read more things and eventually I have a feeling someone has learned from that situation. I
00:57:07
Speaker
Theradak kind of likes sayings. They kind of collect some sayings and could he make any like maybe a wisdom check or something to see if maybe this jogs his memory of something he may have heard before? I mean, if you all would like to resort to checks instead of actually solving the riddle, that's fine. But perhaps Theradak could get a hint if he makes a check.
00:57:31
Speaker
Or he could get farther away from it. Let's see. Nothing coming to my mind. Everyone could give perception checks if you would like to. When I am needed, I am thrown away. When you are done with me, I am brought back. A fish and lure. Nothing happens. That was good though. The ball. When you're done with me, I'm brought back. I feel like it's going to be something really abstract because the last one was about an oath.
00:58:01
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like Eric Googled obscure riddle obtuse riddle a minute ago and just threw this bad boy out there for us. If you all want to get perception checks for like clues nearby or something, you can. Is there a statue of someone throwing something? Tin.
00:58:26
Speaker
uh 20 18 18 um the only things you all can really note no clue sorry guys where you are in the town um this this alley um you can the direction you're facing just the way you walk through you're facing the river you get the sense like the the buildings that you're in between looking through the windows and stuff
00:58:48
Speaker
One of them appears to have been kind of a general store stocking up, things like that. The other one next to you, it looks like, was attached to some kind of dock that people would register when they got into town, stuff like that. So that's really the only things nearby. General store and the dock. I feel like Eric just keeps rolling the probability that somebody comes upon us.
00:59:15
Speaker
I mean, as long as they come out of the secret door that's obviously right here, I'm okay with it. Right. I'm scared we're going to open a portal. Yeah. That familiar lich emerges, the portal opens. Sucks one of us through. I'll be back in a minute if you don't have the riddle. Oh, no. Uh, God. General store, dock, thrown away. When you're done with me, I'm brought back.
00:59:42
Speaker
Man some listener already knows this Those of you screaming at your device right now You might want to you might want to bump up to 2x B. Luckily for you. We've edited out the long silence as well. We just sort of stare at each other and Blank expressions a boat food a fishing net a casting casting of net general store
01:00:11
Speaker
I roll on the percentile dice for Crass to figure it out if you would like to continue on with the story or if you all are so proud that you want to figure it out. I'm really pretty proud. I'm so angry. I'm so angry. Crass starts to light up.
01:00:37
Speaker
and says, uh, when you're done with me, I'm brought back. What the hell? I mean, I've guessed all the literal things that you throw to use and they're pro and you'd retrieve when you're done. So I use me, I'm thrown away. When I am needed, when I am needed, I am thrown away, I'm thrown away. Discipline. Self-control.
01:01:08
Speaker
A plan. When you're done with me, I am brought back. Crash, you're being awful quiet. You got any ideas? I don't want to do it that way. I don't have any idea. I'm a long way. It's going to be like 45 minutes of us sitting here. Some of your guesses have been remarkably close. Like, love. You're getting colder. A racquetball.
01:01:38
Speaker
Crass, you got any clue on this? Very small rocks. Let me explain. Crass, the last time we were in a DeConnie ruin and we found a tooth riddle reciting the answer opened a door for us with mixed results.
01:01:58
Speaker
You all have guessed most of the stuff that you throw away and then bring back. We're near the docks, so anchor, and the ground begins to rumble. You know, I gotta say, that's very good, but I don't think you could have gotten there if I hadn't said fish and lure and fish and that to really guide you down that direction. Thank you for your guidance getting me in the nautical realm. Well, you know.
01:02:26
Speaker
Okay. You okay, Philip? I'm so mad. He looks so detective over there. I think Philip and I feel the same way about this, which is purely angry. Yup. The ground begins to rumble as the section where the footsteps that you spotted stop and there are stairs. He steps back. He's been down this hole before. Right? And you see stairs start to lead down and then kind of switch and come back.
01:02:57
Speaker
going further down. I mean, it's not going to take you under the river is what I'm trying to do. Hey, uh, Eric, you want to crack open one of those light ones and sounds get to walk in. That sounds like a good idea. Uh, so Eric takes one of the ones and casts light on something on. Yeah.
01:03:20
Speaker
Perhaps we cast it on, uh, Theron Dax armor and get a good glow going. He's going to be in the Vanguard anyway with his giant hit points. If he's, if he's amenable to it, that would be fine. All right. I cast it on. Uh, so I take out, take out the wand and I cast it on Theron Dax armor.
01:03:41
Speaker
OK, I'm going to lead the way. As you begin to walk down these stairs, it gets it's getting darker. The the air doesn't seem quite as stale as you would figure a place like this would be. It's clear that this has been disturbed recently.
01:04:01
Speaker
You all do see some light up ahead. There's like a shut door with light coming from underneath it, essentially. So, do you all continue and open the door? Yeah? I mean, I can't imagine why we wouldn't. Let's have a listen at the door, see if we hear anything. Good idea. We all stick our ears up to the door. Just wait outside the door, yeah. I have a cup.
01:04:31
Speaker
I'm in the back. All right. 17. 9 and 6. 15. Nope. Not through a door. 6. Barracks got his ear pressed against the wall. I don't hear anything!
01:04:45
Speaker
You all hear... Which of us? Did I pass it? Oh, sorry. You two. Here. Muffled voices. You can definitely tell that one is feminine in nature, higher timbre. Another one is a very low rumbling voice. They're talking back and forth. The low rumbling voice seems to be a lot
01:05:09
Speaker
louder, you still can't make out words. But you can definitely, definitely tell the kind of emotion in the room is tense. But yeah, at least two. Yeah, I say every year that
01:05:31
Speaker
No. All right. Two people in there, best I can tell, one male, one female. Yes. I don't know. One of them sounds big, but he could just have a deep, deep gruff voice. Huh? We meet a lot of people with deep gruff voice. What's going on? Can I make out the words? But they may be having an argument. Here's, here's my thought. Tell me what you guys think. Two of us, like, does the door open in or out?
01:05:58
Speaker
Um, it opens out. Okay. One of us on the side of the door, everybody else starts making a commotion. That door opens up. We get one good sneak attack hit on whoever opens the door just to get, get started. That's reasonable to me. Sounds, sounds like a plan. Okay. How, uh, how wide is the passageway we're standing in? It's probably about 10 feet. Okay. Um, so it is possible to get on, get to the sides of the door.
01:06:28
Speaker
It's gonna be kind of a tight squeeze because the door is centered in the hallway. So right a couple feet on each side, but So who is going to be doing the striking? Let's discuss that real quick fellas. Who do we want to do the hit? Well, I mean it strikes me that that you seem to hit very very well when I've been on a bit of a streak when you have the opportunity to especially when you have the opportunity to surprise someone and your weapon is not angry with you and
01:06:52
Speaker
that is true i do i am on good terms with my weapon yeah oh yeah do i get advantage on surprise right so i get to i get two shots at it okay great yeah sure um i'm gonna stick i think i'm gonna stick with just the the wood part i don't think i'm gonna go flashing around my blade but all right yeah let's do this uh so so um
01:07:15
Speaker
I just want to make sure for narrative purposes, when this happens, what is your intent to subdue? Is it like... Oh, it's absolutely to to subdue. Okay. I mean, all right, Barrick, here's the thing. Like, before we do this, you agree with me. And you agree with me, right? That 99% chance that these guys are swords.
01:07:36
Speaker
Yeah, that seems, seems by far the most likely. We know their leader is a woman. Exactly, and they told us that the leader was a woman. My best guess is this is the leader and a bodyguard, and maybe she calls this home base more often than everybody else does. That seems reasonable, or perhaps whoever's pulling their strings. Yeah. Might not be as altruistic as they all think. But so here's my question to you, fellas. Am I shooting to kill? Am I shooting to wound? I think a lot depends on what we find the other person to be. If this is just her and another sword, then
01:08:04
Speaker
Yeah, let's let's bring him down and bring him in if this is well and something worse. With with the setup that you all are giving, like your strike is going to be before you really get it. If you want the surprise and the sneak attack and everything, it has to be door open. Boom. Yeah. No real time to assess. So there's things could give you a moment to assess. Actually.
01:08:30
Speaker
Well, here's the other thing. If I strike to subdue or strike to kill and I don't take him down to zero, it becomes a battle. If I do take him down to zero, I strike to subdue. It turns out we should have killed him. It ain't like we can't just pull a little coup de grace. That's true. So I think I'm going to stick with subdue. All right. That's fine.
01:08:50
Speaker
All right. I'm glad we, I'm glad we discussed this. Uh, all right. You guys do. I'm going to stand here. You guys do your thing to make her make a ruckus. Uh, so, all right. Um, Oh, you have thaumaturgy, don't you? No. Oh, you don't. Okay. Here's what I would propose as the distraction. Uh, you two get on either side of the door.
01:09:18
Speaker
But the door opens out. Yeah, that's the thing. If the door opened in, we'd have two people. Yeah. One on either side. You two get to either side, crashed, retreat back a little bit. Okay. And I'll see about drawing them out.
01:09:38
Speaker
All right. So I'm in position. Uh, Barrick sort of concentrates for a minute, uh, and his eyes go black and then his whole form sort of melts into black and then vanishes. Okay. As I cast invisibility. Uh, and then I say, where did you go? And he reaches for the door and opens the door, steps inside and slams the door.
01:10:08
Speaker
Okay. What do I see? The sight you see is a woman sitting behind a desk with her feet kind of leisurely up as soon as you slam the door though. That's way less tense than I thought it would be. She puts her feet down and you see a large figure turn confusedly to look back at the door and you recognize the large figure. It is Trant.
01:10:35
Speaker
Oh, well, I mean, I don't know this. What was what was that? I I don't know. Well, go go look, go see what it was. And Trent walks up to the door and swings it open. So while he's walking, here's what I want to know before he gets by the time he gets to the door, can I cross the room to be behind her?
01:11:04
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it's, it's dirt floors and things like that. Go and give me a stealth check to see if you can walk in such a way to where. Do I have advantage for being invisible? Um, you were, you actually heightened her awareness of the situation. Well, but not of the floor. Oh, that's all right. Okay. Uh, then go back to my skill page.
01:11:29
Speaker
That would be 19. Okay, so yeah, you're able to make your way around the office behind her. Okay, as soon as he swings the door open, I want to reach around, bring Cursebringer into existence at her throat, and say immediately into the speaking stone, Dex, it's Trant.
01:11:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean if you subdue trance, it's not the end of the world. Yeah, that's the only thing that's what's gonna happen That's fine. I mean cuz you saying Dex. It's Trent doesn't mean yeah. No I so all right So I have advantage Good cuz I was a two. Let's try again 21 nice. Yeah for
01:12:17
Speaker
Okay, both of my d8s have been consistently rolling once today. Wow. Okay, so that's uh, so that's six Seven eight what damage? I just rolled three ones Fuck Tap tap tap. Oh my gosh. Oh
01:12:40
Speaker
Um, I mean, you, you bring the cane version of your weapon just straight down on trance head who falls like a sack of bricks. I mean, he's a small town blacksmith. Like eight hit points is commoner level stuff. So I thought, I thought I pulled my punch. That's what I was going to tell him when I, I mean, yeah, you, you whack him and he just barrels back against the door frame and falls on the ground.
01:13:08
Speaker
unconscious. And the woman is like, who, who are you? Why are you here? I swing into the doorway and I unfurl the ribbon weave just to be ready for what might happen. So it occurs to me that probably curse bringers also invisible because I'm holding it. Yeah. She tries to run towards Trent and decapitates herself.
01:13:34
Speaker
Well, all right, it served its purpose. I drop invisibility. Okay. She is terrified of what's happening. Ma'am hold very still. I don't actually have any interest in harming you right now. What, what do you want? I take it you're the red owl. I don't know what you're talking about. Can I insight check that? I also want to insight check that. Yeah.
01:13:57
Speaker
And their deck walks into the doorway. Oh, there we go. Says, well, that was that was easy. Twenty. Fourteen plus intelligence, right? Fifteen. No, insight, wisdom, wisdom. Still fifteen. As far as you can tell, she's telling the truth. What are you doing here? I was meeting with an associate trying to to help him. What are you doing? What's Tramp doing here? Is he looking for his boy still?
01:14:26
Speaker
And I say of course he's still looking for well, no, I meant like is he actively taking on the act of looking for his boy? How do you know Trent? I've asked crass to wake Tranta. We're uh We're from that we know we're the ones out looking for his boy. You're the ones that took off out of town To find his boy or find some means of retrieving his boy. Oh
01:14:48
Speaker
Well, yeah, Trant's still looking for his kid. Yeah, that's why we're here. We're still following the trail of these shadows and such. Trant came to me to try and help. Well, who are you? I'm somebody that can help. Listen, can we stop with the pretense? My name's Lyle. That's Beric. What's your name? Are you not going to introduce your other friend? Oh, yeah, sorry. That's Dak. I thought Dak was, yeah. You did say you came in. My bad. His name's Dak. That's Crass. That's Trant. And I have no idea what you're doing.
01:15:17
Speaker
Well see, and that's the thing. He wasn't part of the original group. We've already lost one guy looking for Jacob, so can you do us the courtesy of telling us who you are and what you do? Did you just knock this guy out and he's supposed to be a friend? Oh, he's not supposed to be. He's a friend. He's a buddy. Oh. I didn't know. I didn't know it was him. I didn't know he'd be looking for help from the Swords of Liberty. Look.
01:15:44
Speaker
We heard through contacts. See, see, see how I got it to confirm that she's a sort of Liberty in Miss Marsh. We heard through contacts near Miss Marsh that a boy had gone missing and the story was that he had been taken by shadows. Well, we deal with that kind of thing. And so we contacted Trent as being able to possibly
01:16:13
Speaker
Find his son in the towering wood because there's shadows running around trying to kill people. Yeah, we wouldn't want anyone to get killed. I know. I know how much concern you people put into that. I don't I don't know who you are. Why are you here threatening and mocking me? Well, frankly, it's a long story, but but the part where we're here begins yesterday when you blew up an office building.
01:16:43
Speaker
Look, I'm not here to answer to you or to give you anything, so can you just go? Afraid we're the only people available to answer to at the moment. Okay, take me to the blacksmith then.
01:17:05
Speaker
Come on, let's go. I mean Barak has absolutely no sympathy for this woman's point of view. Yeah, I mean now we don't know that she's the red owl, but she's confirmed that she's a dark like this. She's a sort of Liberty sort of Liberty and She's apparently in charge of this cell and the person in charge of this cell is a woman who goes by the name the red owl Right, so it seems to me that all of those pieces would seem to gentlemen. I'm growing bored. Can we go?
01:17:28
Speaker
All right. Real quick, I'm going to... Is she out from behind the desk? No. She's sitting behind the desk with a sword at her throat. All right, walk her out. Hey, Barrick, why don't you bring her out here? I'm going to take a look in this desk real quick. Stand her out, move her around. I go out behind the desk, and do I need to roll investigation? I mean, I'm just looking through a desk, but... There might be secret compartments. Roll it out. Let's roll this one. If that doesn't work, then Dak here can just chop it into pieces. I got an 11 on my investigation.
01:17:58
Speaker
What's in the desk? Were you specifically rummaging through or were you looking for secret compartments? I mean, I'm going through the desk. Going through the desk? Yeah, sorry. On the off chance that she has her mask in there. Right. That's why I'm doing this. Yeah, what's in the desk? You do open a drawer and see a red mask. And she just kind of sighs and goes, boys, we have about three minutes to get out of here now.
01:18:25
Speaker
Ma'am, if you think for a moment that Imperius works for me, you haven't met me finally. And Dex says, but three minutes till what? Tran's awake, right? Yeah. And very confused. Yeah, hey Tran, first off, sorry, I realized as my swing was coming down who you were and that's why it was a very weak... How'd you get in touch with these people?
01:18:53
Speaker
They contacted me. They told me they could help me find Jacob. Why three minutes, please?
01:19:06
Speaker
Oh, well, that would spoil the fun, but I would really suggest getting out of here in the next, uh, two and a half-ish minutes. I mean, start walking? Sure. Tick tock, tick tock. Hey, uh, we're, we're, we're gonna walk. We're gonna go. Let's go to the blacksmith. That's fine. Uh, tick tock, tick tock. You're very, you're very scary and, and, and you got a real, real whole vibe going, but from which direction will this threat come just so we're ready? We don't want anybody to die, even you. Oh, the threat is...
01:19:34
Speaker
here in the ruins.
01:19:37
Speaker
We really should get going. I imagine we'll have to be at least 50 to 100 feet away to be safe. There's a bomb. Oh, they're blowing the joint. Yeah, let's go. Grab the mask. Yep. And we run with her at sword point still, right? Yeah. OK. Oh, I say real quick, fellas, did you hear that? You were in the room. Crafts might have been paying attention to who knows what. You obviously heard it because you asked the question. So yeah, we're all running now. I want to make a quick check of that desk again.
01:20:05
Speaker
Okay, so that's gonna he can check I'm running. That's pretty good role. 20. 20. What are you looking for? Just just secret compartment. You do manage to find a secret compartment underneath where the red mask was pulled out of. And all you see is like
01:20:31
Speaker
this mass. Um, you're, you're unsure of what it is, but it almost looks like diamonds balled together pulsing with bright light. And as you kind of watch the pulsing is starting to get quicker. I think I found the bomb. Let's get out of here. So he's not lying.
01:20:50
Speaker
Okay. Well, thanks. Um, as we're going because he cannot help himself as we're going versus. So what happens if you try to get your mask out? Why would you put a bomb that's triggered by you opening a drawing your desk?
01:21:09
Speaker
Well, obviously there would be a sequence that I open the drawers to make sure that the bomb doesn't trigger. Well, that's just the stupidest thing. Well, it worked on you. No, it didn't. You told us about the bomb and now we're running away and not going to get blown up. Well, I didn't want to die. Well, all right, then it didn't work. If you would have gone in there when I wasn't there and just were rummaging through my things, it would have worked quite well. Hey, you too. Your things would all still be destroyed. You too. That's fine. I have copies. I'm not going to yell into this microphone, but all right. Sorry.
01:21:38
Speaker
Alright, I'm running. You Juggle folks can... I imagine that we're doing this while we're running, like having us back and forth, yeah. I'm running faster because I'm conserving my breath for the important thing which is surviving. You do. So are you like trying to run with your sword at her throat? I've got her by the arm and I'm holding the sword.
01:21:58
Speaker
Okay. I'm very willing to kill her if she does. Okay. Yeah. And so, I mean, given that we can run 30 feet in six seconds, we are clear of the ball. Yeah. Yeah. You all are able to clear it pretty well. By the time you kind of get back across the bridge, you hear a loud explosion and you look back and the DeConnie ruins are just rubble. So that was a big one then.
01:22:27
Speaker
Yeah, like the all the ruins have kind of crumbled in on themselves. Well, the first thing I asked her is, were there other people still there? Oh, no, just me and Trent. Trent, speaking of we're gonna have to talk with you later. Why? Well, we'll discuss it later. There are things you don't know. And so things you'll want to know.
01:22:52
Speaker
But, get excited, we're getting to go hang out with another blacksmith. So we go to, and we take her to the Smith, and... Okay. The Smith sees you all approach again, it's like, what? Who, who's brought me now? Well, I believe that she goes by the red owl. What? Yeah, we are extremely competent.
01:23:15
Speaker
Um, do you know, do you know this one to mention that in your report? No, I, I don't, I don't know who this is. All right. Oh, we haven't, we haven't searched or turned her pockets out or anything. Let's do that real quick. I walk up and carefully.
01:23:32
Speaker
Yeah, take your stuff. Okay. You find some gold, things like that. You do not find traveling papers on her, but yeah, that's all you really find. Her pockets were pretty much empty, except a little bit of spending money, presumably for travel. You
Interrogating the Red Owl
01:23:47
Speaker
get the sense that the blacksmith, if she was from Zandraar, would know who this is.
01:23:52
Speaker
Um, so yeah, I would personally like to have a word with her before we turn her over entirely and see if we can find out anything that will be helpful with Jacob since she seemed to believe that she could. Yeah. Yeah. Let's have a chat. Okay.
01:24:07
Speaker
Um, all right, listen, uh, give us some sort of something to call you. I don't want to call you the red owl. That's ridiculous. It really is. Oh, I'm, I'm quite fine with it. Well, then I guess we're just at an impasse. So you can call me red though, if that makes it easier and doesn't, you know, it's still, it's still not better. I look, I'm just going to say, uh, you, I guess. So, uh, you know what, let's just go with criminal murderer, like murderer, murderer. Good. So listen, murderer. Um,
01:24:36
Speaker
you and we are on opposing sides of a lot of things, but we are genuinely working towards finding Jacob and anybody else that has been taken by these shadows. Now you are no longer going to be able to pursue this quest because you are going to some sort of prison-y jail. So why don't you help us further that part of your cause by telling us what you know? And I guess, can I roll persuasion on that?
01:25:08
Speaker
I think that
01:25:19
Speaker
I'll be able to continue to help Trent far better than, than you all have thus far. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, we know how much you're concerned for the wellbeing of children. She just rolls her eyes at you like, I have no time for short sighted petulance. Yeah. Short sighted. Mm-hmm. I have no time for your crack a few eggs to make an omelet mentality. Right. Do you know about that, Trent? You know about the bombing?
01:25:46
Speaker
What? Her folks. Bombing in shine yesterday. Blew up a tower on the top level. Rebel probably fell all the way to the bottom, I would imagine. I'm sure there were no children in the way. Listen, you may delude yourself to the point of thinking that the war is over.
01:26:11
Speaker
And if you think that nobody that you're related to was ever responsible for the death of innocent civilians, well, that would be a foolish thought then, Mr. Rowan.
01:26:31
Speaker
Yeah, well, when my mother talked about it, she used a different tone. Look, this is all fun. But if you're not going to help us, I mean, Barrick, if she's not going to talk to us, you can go. This myth will take care of the rest. If you're not.
01:26:48
Speaker
You're not willing, you're not interested in helping find Trant's son. I'm telling you, actually I will continue to help Trant find his son. Real quick, I get my speaking stone, I say, Commander Bala, are you available?
01:27:03
Speaker
Yes, yes. Did the three, did the three young men that we brought to the blacksmith yesterday, have they made it to you? Oh, yes. They've been detained. They are on their way to the Dreadhold. All right. May I ask, is there some way that we can make sure? Oh, hey, by the way, cool story. We have the Red Owl in custody. What? Yeah, I know. It's really neat, right? She seems extreme. Okay, I'm not on the same channel. This is how this works. No, this is a conference conference.
01:27:30
Speaker
continue, sorry. Wait, can you tell her anything? I don't know. Well, she seems extremely confident that she's not going to jail. So yeah, the thing, the reason I'm calling is because the red owl, I hate it. I'm gonna call her. Leslie, the red owl here seems pretty certain.
01:27:45
Speaker
that she's not going to go to jail or remain apprehended. So I just wanted to call and check and make sure that the other guys made it there. There's not a breach in our chain. No, they have arrived. We processed them and then sent them away. Same thing will be done with her. I mean, I like Commander Balla's confidence over the Owl's confidence, to be perfectly honest with you fellas.
01:28:11
Speaker
But just the same, Commander, is there any reason that we can't have an escort with the prisoner besides the, perhaps, off camera? Right. Are you asking to escort the prisoner or do you want to send Krast? Do we want to try and make contact with the Druids?
01:28:35
Speaker
Do we want to, which is more important to us, getting, getting her, making sure that she ends up in prison or talking to the drugs? Well, it sounded to me like
Future Threats and Episode Close
01:28:44
Speaker
commander who? Bala. When he, when you told him. Her.
01:28:52
Speaker
her, yes, that we had the red owl. That sound that she made did not sound like one of happiness to me, like she was glad that we caught this person. I took it as just surprise. I think that she was astounded by her effectiveness. I don't know. Berwick's willing to believe that there's some
01:29:14
Speaker
That there's that barracks fully willing to believe that we're being played both sides. We are by the dark land barracks a real tenfold hat kind of fella. Well, yeah All right, here's what I'm gonna say. I'm say a commander. I just I wanted to give you a heads up I would recommend sending extra detail to escort We've done you we've done what you sent us here to we've got four members including the leader of the swords of Liberty coming to you and
01:29:41
Speaker
I'm not asking to go escort her back because now we're going to get back to our business and we're going to get into those woods. We're going to speak with some people and try to figure out more about what happened to this boy. This kid and any others at whatever other portals in the woods there are in this place.
01:30:02
Speaker
So just so you know, beef up the detail a little bit. Over and out. Is that satisfactory, guys? I suppose. Beric turns ball at, er, sorry, the red owl. Says, excuse me, the red owl. I'm going to use all three words because it's a stupid name.
01:30:20
Speaker
I don't know what you have planned. I have enough experience of British government to know that it's perfectly possible that you've got a way out of all this and that you're going to escape. I want you to understand, if you do, the next time we meet, I'm simply going to kill you. I have no tolerance. I can't tell you the number of times that someone has tried to convince me of this greater good Trump's all nonsense.
01:30:50
Speaker
justifies it for you, that's fine. You're an evil, heartless, terrible person. And I will very happily rid the world of you the next time I meet you. And I go, yeah. Good luck.
01:31:08
Speaker
end of episode. All right, real quickly, we want to thank you guys for listening. I want to direct you to our social media. We want to direct you to the social media where we do the media socially. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, it's the Geek Pantheon or at the Geek Pantheon on the ones that use that.
01:31:30
Speaker
And our website if you wanna even hashtag the geek pantheon You're not gonna find us that way you might I don't know how Twitter we're about at Twitter But or just head straight to our website. It's the geek pantheon comm you can feel free to leave Comments the community on Facebook is pretty fun people post in there a lot. So Thanks again for listening. Thanks for telling your friends about it. It's the only way that we grow
01:31:59
Speaker
each of you is wonderful in your own way have a great evening
01:32:05
Speaker
We would also like to thank Kevin MacLeod for providing all the music that we use here on Eberron Renewed and all of the Geek Pantheon podcasts. If you are interested in listening to his music or using some of it for your own creative endeavors, you can head on over to freepd.com. All of the music that he posts over there is public domain, so absolutely free to use. So thank you once again, Kevin MacLeod. And once again, I am Eric. I'm Philip.
01:32:32
Speaker
I'm Randy. I'm Jeff. Hi. Hello. I am talking. Hey, look at that. We have sound go ahead and talk Randy breaker one nine. Hello. Hello. I'm not coming through loud and clear. I can't see the screen. You're good.
01:33:11
Speaker
Thank you. And me! That's my new character voice. Excellent. Good. That's wonderful.