Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ep. 72 Vexed Alpha - Bellum Draconis
66 Plays9 months ago
The group come together to begin another journey. This time to Scorchhelm. Meanwhile Alpha has their own troubles.
Follow us on our Twitters - @FellowshipTable
Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
Recommended
Transcript
Comedic Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
And he's going to pull out, he's going to pull out another. It would be weird if you just stayed in there. He's going to grab a handful of... What? Get off me!
Podcast Welcome and Character Introductions
00:00:44
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop Bellum Draconis Bureau of Life. Play 5E D&D podcast set in the magical homebrewed world of Ereth in the Kingdom of Dralak. Joining us for this week's episode we have... I am a Warsewer! Damn straight motherfucker! Hello everyone! We've got Callum who plays the Warforged Jatifis Alpha. Greetings! We've got Willy who plays the human cleric Emron. Hello. Daron who plays the High Elf Artificer Rainshadow. I am the Warrest.
The Adventure Begins
00:01:33
Speaker
track on a back of a rickety old cart with an old man pulling along an old donkey on the way through across the the old hills of central southern sleep guard and on the back perched on the little step up mudded cape staring into an orb we see old girl
00:01:39
Speaker
C-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-
00:01:55
Speaker
Oh, Delorean! Damn, that's some crazy shit from last week. We had Prego playing some beautiful old music, some lost, some woe, some things in common, some things in languages. God only knows what, I don't know.
00:02:11
Speaker
We had Seth telling us a little bit more of that backstory with some charcoal-y drawings or some sort of cart diagram. There was a little bit of a sensual moment, perhaps, between him and Ball, who knows. Dan Prago done there changing up his music, and he started playing before the sands, that whole war with the Stein, Legion versus the Prince of Hells leading to the jungles going to, changing on to deserts and all that kind of shit. Anyway, Prago keeps on playing his music,
00:02:38
Speaker
And the tune changes to something very recognizable. It's reminiscent. Oh, damn, it's the Heretic's Folly by Kostat Valhorn.
Deals and Regrets with Prago
00:02:48
Speaker
Damn titties. Prago starts making some sort of illusion shit going on, and it's the Battle of the Blight all over again. But don't worry, everything's just frozen, and our heroes is fine. And we see the dragon flying across the sky. We see the heroes from season one doing all their fighting.
00:03:08
Speaker
Well, we found out that Bao's mother is the actual dragon. Oh, damn, that's crazy. Prago, he did offer in some funky-ass pacts with the two people that he didn't take, which was Bao and Sef. One thing he didn't offer to Bao was perhaps that he could be
00:03:30
Speaker
made a new home again, or perhaps even find out who Galliphy's heir is, and that is on the proviso that what he does is he protects free of the party. Now, only three of them are valuable. One of them
00:03:47
Speaker
God, I don't even know who that person is. He's just completely useless. But that was what was given over to him. Sef got the same kind of deal, but he got offered information for the King of Sleetguard, perhaps a battalion of soldiers, or maybe even some info on the Sparrowhawk. Well, Bawdun did jump to the opportunity to find Gallifire's heir.
00:04:08
Speaker
Seth's done their jump at the opportunity for a battalion of soldiers and they done shake the hands with the prego man and made that deal. And in return they got some cool ass black tattoos up their arm. But turns out they didn't quite get the fine print of the deal until after they already done made it because they're both stupid as fuck.
00:04:28
Speaker
Anyway, Nick's done re-entered the scene, and Prago says, now come with me, boy, but probably without the boy. And they done teleported away to some sort of rocky outcrop in a tempestuous ocean.
Nix's Dilemma and Confrontation
00:04:42
Speaker
It's really small, there's lightning, there's wind, there's rain, there's drenched. But not only that, there's a fucking massive sea spider. It's a nightmare. And there's all sort of big old red orby eyes, and this is looking pretty fucked up. But you know who that is?
00:04:56
Speaker
tells you it's arachnia boy that's the spider who swims and nix is shit in his pants it turns out that the spider who swims can't get hold of nix because nix don't do no sleeping no more and he ain't in the water no more so what that spider ass bitch says is he says too long you done spent squandering my gifts and not playing your part nix like i don't know what part you're talking about what the fuck you talking
00:05:19
Speaker
What about? Anyway, turns out the spider that swims done says, I'm giving you an order. You take me free souls that done escaped my grasp, bring them back to the sea for me, and maybe recalls it even. Turns out that one of them boys is a criminal incarcerated in scorch helm. One of them being an athlete preparing to duel and one of them being a watcher of disguise. And he done said, Nix, you don't do that.
00:05:44
Speaker
I'ma fuck up the Esmeralda, so you best don't do it, bitch. Then, what happens next, but Prago don't take, uh, Arachnia, that's our nicks I'm talkin' about, straight back to the present, but it's not the present, he kinda takes him a little bit back to the past! It's crazy!
00:05:59
Speaker
He done says that his contract is over, he's no longer his mentor, and that he'll never see him again, but he also drops some crazy shit about Marota being, I don't know, not necessarily who she says he is. Nicks don't like that shit, and he done drops a threat to Prago, saying that his days are numbered. Well, we've seen how that kind of worked out last time, but God, I don't even know what's gonna happen next. Let's find out.
00:06:24
Speaker
Will, for the benefit of our listeners, Will has gone so red, so red from that, that you could have inspiration, because I don't think you can speak for the next couple of hours. Thank you. Take that. That's amazing. Take that. I had my headphones muted for that, and all I could see was just Will getting progressively redder, like he's just a changed colour. I was like everybody laughing. I have like major FOMO right now about what the hell all happened.
00:06:53
Speaker
Crazy shit!
Party Dynamics and Journey
00:07:00
Speaker
The last of the party, the Shadow Mendian trio, ascend out of the lair of Sean Dralikar, up those familiar steps. And just as you're reaching that apex, in front of you, you three, was Nyx. Nyx was sort of leading the step back up. You see Nyx be grappled for a moment, and then he disappears into thin air, causing you to rush, I imagine,
00:07:29
Speaker
up the stairs with maybe more urgency. I'm getting shakes of the head, so I guess you probably were happy that Nick's disappeared in that instance. He does disappear for a while and then comes back later. Let's be honest, no one gives a shit about Nick's. Maro has gone. Like, come on. He does weird stuff. He does weird stuff.
00:07:49
Speaker
Reigns were the rush forward if that happened. The Reigns were the at least feigned interest in what's happening. That's even worse. I know. That may joke, of course. Reigns is interested in Reigns' rushes forward. Nick's gone. Oh, my. Oh, he's late. Never mind. Thank you for complying, Darren. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah, we'll rush forward. Well, as that happens, you find yourself on top of that oasis once again in that familiar scene.
00:08:16
Speaker
In the distance, about 150 yards out into the sands away from this sort of makeshift camp-like space you're in, you see Nyx almost like he has just sort of been teleported in an instant that distance, but not with the same demeanor, the same body language, or indeed the same sort of coloring. He seems unwelled as much as you can sort of tell that from that distance just in the way he's moving.
00:08:47
Speaker
Around that makeshift camp as well, you see Seth and Bol with a similar look of bemusement about them. The heat of the desert now becoming a familiar friend, or companion at least.
00:09:06
Speaker
Alpha, the heat however today seems slightly heavier than it comes accustomed to you. You have ways of regulating your temperature through your mechanical means. You have ways of
00:09:21
Speaker
recognizing the temperature. The temperature is at a level that you have been, it's been consistent for the time you've been in this part of the desert, but you are feeling it a little bit more. You feel slightly weaker, you feel lethargic, you feel groggy. And these are not necessary sensations that you're used to feeling because naturally they are byproducts of being tired and you don't necessarily experience tiredness.
00:09:45
Speaker
You all begin to sort of cluster. I won't presume, Nix, that you're moving at any certain speed. So if you want to do anything, that's entirely up to you. But you all begin to cluster once again. What would you like to do? What happens next? Who is first to speak? What the hell happened to you? Raines will say if he just runs over and sees the change in Nix.
00:10:13
Speaker
I went jogging for a moment there. I just realized. Raines, hi. Hi. Hi there. Hi. You were literally seconds ago with us back there and you're here and you don't look too. I feel a bit dizzy from being honest, like I'm going to be sick. You're not going to color there, Nick. Yeah. And I'm still blue though, am I?
00:10:40
Speaker
Nix looks at his hands. Why the shade of blue, I suppose. Yeah, that's unbecoming. I don't want my skin to go white. Yeah, I just feel crazy and weird and dizzy, actually. I need to just take a, I'm going to sit down for a moment and get some water would be great. And then Nix is just going to kind of stumble towards the water's edge and just kind of
00:11:07
Speaker
lean down, take handfuls of water and splash his face and kind of drink. And as Nick sort of brushes past you all, he smells really briny, like really salty. He's sodden. The clothes he's wearing are noticeably damp and off color compared to the dryness you've been expecting, bits of sort of
00:11:34
Speaker
swash and seaweed and sea debris are just sort of in spaces in his overcoat, in his boots, that sort of thing. There's just stuff attached to him that environmentally does not make sense. That pool there ain't saltwater, Nick. What's going on?
00:12:01
Speaker
I don't even know if I'm being honest. I came out of there and Prago, who stood there, and he made a move for me. And at first I was like, he's going to hug me. And then he didn't. And then Bush, I was teleported. And I was teleported to basically the sea. Hence this, as Nick points his stands back up from the water, he points head down to boots. Hence this, he took me out to sea.
00:12:30
Speaker
Very weighed. As you say that, NC is going to fly over and just, as you're scooping up water, it's just going to pop out of the bag of holding and fly over and just drop a flask, an empty flask. It'll drink an empty flask that he's picked up. This doesn't help. I wanted water. This is nothing in this. Yeah, well, you can fill that up so you don't have to keep scooping in there. I think that's the gist of why you've been given that. Gotcha. That's NC.
00:12:56
Speaker
Hold on a second. Rain's going to turn around. Is that... Is Prego still there? Make a perception check. Sure, we have disadvantage because I'm still in the remnants of fucking myself up in the desert. I'd say it's a straight roll because you know exactly what you're looking for. Okay, cool. Twelve. Can't see him. Well... You said Prego.
00:13:24
Speaker
Where the fuck is that sneaky little son of a bitch gone? I don't know. While this is happening, Seth's going to wander over, look very concerned, walk up to Nick's and then pull up his sleeves and just look at his arms. Hey, hey, hey, what are you pulling my sleeves up? What, what, why?
00:13:44
Speaker
Just, I'm just looking, okay? And you're just gonna pull up the sleeves. That's not okay! That's not okay! You ask! Give me your other hand. Why'd you feel if I walked up to you and just rolled your sleeves up? Was that like a sign to get to work? I don't understand what you're doing. I'm just looking at your arms. I'm just checking something, okay? Give me your left arm. Come. Come on, don't be shy. It's just an arm. It's not your, you know. Fine, take it! Nick's office's left arm kind of looks at the shadow men, guys. Like, what the fuck?
00:14:14
Speaker
Absef what what is this what what what what kind of weird up Chris grip picked up thing are you doing? Why are you all so weird? It's only his arms. I'm just looking if there's anything like I haven't asked him to
00:14:27
Speaker
Just looking at his arms. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll up. As you roll
00:14:56
Speaker
I mean, those guys didn't voluntarily touch me. You'd just come up to me and just wanted to see my arms. Yeah, because you're covered in seaweed, you prick. That's not a reason! Nix, Nix, maybe he wants to see if you've got veiny arms. I mean, I'm literally my arms here. I'm not stopping you. We're just telling you about etiquette, I guess.
00:15:19
Speaker
I don't know him, so I'm just going to continue looking at your arms here. Fine. Do they look normal? What are you looking for? What are you looking for? Just like any markings, blemishes, anything reminiscent of... Nick has a tattoo, but... Tell us about your tattoo. So on the arm, on the left arm, not on the forearm, it's just the underarm. There's a tattoo of a... Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a tattoo of a compass. Just a...
00:15:49
Speaker
simple star, like once it's a circle with a star imprinted on it, and then it's marked Northwest, Southeast. It's quite... So it's going to like... He's going to set the script around that point to it and go, is that new or is that old? That's old. Right, okay, no problem. Funny story. Okay, he's going to pull the sleeves down and walk away. Right, yep, that was weird. Right, that was weird. Guys, weird. Okay, cool, cool. All right, just checking.
00:16:18
Speaker
Seth, Baal, you two were up here while we went down there. Did you happen to see where that prego fellow went? Seth's going to look to Baal. So Baal's been taking this in as well and obviously keen to see what's on, if there is anything on Nyx's arms as well, but seeing that and kind of taking everyone in. He showed us various things.
00:16:46
Speaker
And told some interesting information about you, actually. About who? Most of you. Didn't he now? Okay. Get a share. Well, it seems our fates are intertwined.
00:17:00
Speaker
Oh, good. More fate. Wonderful. Hey, I'm a little bit antsy. Can we walk somewhere and talk? Just like, I don't know. What's the next
Debate on Travel Destinations
00:17:10
Speaker
destination? Do we know our heading? Our next waypoint? I don't... I mean, we've... Scorch Elm, isn't it? We've discussed taking out some of the Upcrisker locations, haven't we? And...
00:17:24
Speaker
working out what our plan was from there. We hadn't really settled, apart from we were going to go downstairs and talk to...
00:17:42
Speaker
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. All of a sudden, I'm weird for touching arms. And you're all just assuming me and Baal are like there with you. We were not invited. Remember, he is banished. I think is everyone banished or removed from your group. I wasn't told to go down either. So what happened? What what's the deal? Are we all going to go down there or like?
00:18:02
Speaker
I'm all for the talk and the catch-up, I just would like to walk at the same time. I'm all about action, but like, am I fearing for my life that this dragon is going to kill us because we fucked up some eggs? I mean, for God's sake, you don't go down there. Yeah, you're good. Just don't go in that hole. Okay, Scorchhelm, I've got to build a cart, so let's go to Scorchhelm. I mean, hang on. So, Emron pulls out the map that they got of the...
00:18:28
Speaker
Fuck, where the fuck are we at? Drolak. Thank you. Had a brain fart. Everyone, we're in Drolak. It's right there. On the map. Pulls out the map. There's a little you. Let's travel by map. So pulls out the map and looks, obviously this is the one that's got like the symbols on, was it steel horn, snake, all the places have little symbols on, don't they? Some of the places, yes. Does steel horn have one? And double check.
00:18:59
Speaker
I've just found the map you've posted, but obviously it doesn't have symbols on their houses. Either way, I want to go to a city or somewhere big with people. I don't like being in the desert anymore. There was talk about going to Schnake Room, wasn't there? Because that's a pretty good place. It's also on one of the roads and routes back into... Goldview, if, oh well, to...
00:19:26
Speaker
wherever we want to go to if we need to. It's likely to have a lot of Uppercryscra as well. You always connect it to the egg run. I think anyway it's going to have Uppercryscra. Danny? So yes, there is purple marks on the following. Scorch Elm, Snake Run, Beach Barrow Port, Steelhorn, Flamestar and the Red Fort.
00:19:51
Speaker
Sorry, pebble triangle, not pebble star. Okay, so that's all of them, basically. So, steel, horn, snake run, scorch helm, beach barrow horse, port, flame star, and red fort, yeah? Thank you. So, I mean, closest places,
00:20:14
Speaker
I'd say a steel arm, but it sort of goes towards mountains and then that's about it. Schnaterun is towards, for some reason, Nick's wants to go to, to Scott gel. Not just me. I just heard it mentioned is all. Well, I think I back score. That's, that's sensible. That's the biggest place. It's where we're going to find the biggest trail. It's where we're going to come to things that help us. That's probably why I'm thinking surely. Schnaterun is closest to the border of.
00:20:45
Speaker
I don't think we're looking for borders. Have a look at this map. Where's the water in this map? As Nix peers over. Well, Scorchtown is a coastal city from what I remember. It has a dock. So there's water there. It's a big city too. Probably one of the bigger ones. Yeah, I would know that as well. Nix would actually know that. Ian does not. Nix would know that.
00:21:09
Speaker
If you're wanting to just locate yourself a little bit, Nyx, you can make a history check at disadvantage to see if you've ever naughtically can recall anything about Squatch Helm. Baal, a straight roll on nature. That's being disadvantaged, because I just got a crit. Baal, you don't really frequent these places. You have very little information about populated areas, but see what the roll looks like. For everyone's benefit, I will just paste the link to the map again.
00:21:38
Speaker
for you all. Ooh, I got nine. It's a 13 football. Okay.
00:21:45
Speaker
So, Nix, you feel like you've been to Scorcheron before, but you've spent a lot of drunken nights at port because that was sort of the, you know, you remember most being on the sea. When you get to land, everything sort of looks the same from coming in, if that makes sense, and that your first priority is revelry often in those moments. You think you may have seen Scorcheron before, but you don't remember being this hot
00:22:11
Speaker
Bile for you, you would know the safest route to a place of civilization and closest is probably Snakerun because there is a road that goes from Snakerun to Scorchamp. Steelhorn is a bit more isolated. You have to cross a continually tough desert to get there.
00:22:40
Speaker
the further away from coastal dry like the more wild and um unlawful and not necessarily inhospitable but the more just um
00:22:57
Speaker
What is the term? Unlawful activity happening for people that just don't recognize law structures at all frequently. It is more dangerous either by environment or by personnel, let's say.
00:23:16
Speaker
Okay. Yeah, I'll, I'll pipe up then. Um, and just let them all know. I know how to get to snake run and I know full well that there is a direct route there to scorch
Mysterious Rewards and Implications
00:23:26
Speaker
helm. I could lead you there if you wish, but I am curious. Are your dealings with the song with Sean Dralica over?
00:23:38
Speaker
They are, our business is concluded, if that's what you mean. And since I assume you're coming with us and I have enough reason right now to suppose that if we're intertwined and you've done enough to show you're on our side and
00:23:55
Speaker
this information might be of interest to you and in fact you might be the only person here who can actually tell me why they actually is we've just had a message a message of hope, a message that apparently is to be whispered, a message of something that could strike fear into the up-crisker what do the words bellum jocarnis mean to you? what does that mean to you? fuck all ah okay well you're that's not to say it's not important yeah yeah you're um
00:24:28
Speaker
You're the only one with the high enough passive at that moment to have recognised when that was said. The sounds of all the crocodiles stopped.
00:24:44
Speaker
There was like this ambient, intermittent hissing or motion that they have genuinely been making. Some are druids, some are not, you know that much. Just an eerie silence. Yeah, when that phrase was spoken, all you heard was the desert. And Shondralakar gave you those words freely?
00:25:11
Speaker
They were our reward for our part in returning the eggs. I believe it was something to do with me and my presence in this kingdom. Why she offered us that as a reward. Something to do with a lion's sleep guard. Something to do with what's happening in Goldview. Something to do with the wider, the bigger picture. The rewards from Shondra, the car are not likely given. We're walking. Yeah. I'm talking.
00:25:38
Speaker
No, we're still still there. If those words are your reward, Nyx, so hasty. Which way? Snakerun or Scorch Elm? Nyx, what is wrong? Because you've gone from being really sensible... Feel like you're back to being crazy. Snakerun. Which way is Snakerun? That way. Cool.
00:26:01
Speaker
Nick swore head in the direction that Seth has said. Everyone will point towards Seth. Did you point him in the right direction? I don't know. And he's going to walk away. No, 80 feet and there's quicksand. He'll probably just struggle and die. Nick, do come back. I'm walking. Everyone will say, I believe that you're right. You'll shout out for help.
00:26:27
Speaker
I believe the plan and discussion was, obviously, we know that the of Kriska have taken more eggs and we have some kind of.
00:26:40
Speaker
Do we feel an obligation to still try and stop the O'Krishka from whatever they're doing? Because it seems to be affecting here and also Sleek Guard, which I know... Well, it's all connected, Imran. That's the thing.
Interconnected Events and Threats
00:26:51
Speaker
The reward that we've been given, what's been happening in Goldview, the thing that happened when we landed in Sleek Guard, the dragon attack, they have O'Krishka riding that thing, the thing that happened when we rescued Marolla with the other dragon and why it wanted us to come here, the mother, the eggs, all of it. I don't know how.
00:27:09
Speaker
but it's all somehow connected to something big. And we had this idea that there was a warehouse that we had to get to. And I know that we'd sent messages via Alpha's little goblin friends to try and track it down, hadn't we? But the question is, obviously, we need more info. Now, Schnetrun closes place. Scorch Elm, I mean, if it's a big fuck off city, might be a bit more
00:27:41
Speaker
Risky to say the least so I think we go to snake run see what we can find out if we have to Try and find some information off of Chris Gruffaut. We can can do and then go there if we don't go to scorch on there's no point Does anyone have any rope? Yeah, excellent. Just pass it here. I'm just gonna he's literally just about to hit the I'll be right back. Okay, I'll give him the rope Bye, Nick's I'll get you out Shit
00:28:11
Speaker
I'm going down! I'm sprinting after Nyx, just in case he goes somewhere really stupid. Nice. Nice. There is one other thing, since we're back to just... Seth, have you gone as well or are you still here? Oh no, he's totally gone. He's waiting in the distance. Since it's now the Shadowmen Trio who are left then, there is one other thing that we need to consider and run before we go any further.
00:28:37
Speaker
Okay. Alpha's being more quieter than usual, which is saying something. Alpha, what the hell is going on? What do you think, Alpha? As to what are you referring to, Rick? Well, just everything. You've gone really quiet, and for some reason, you've hanged behind. It took you a while to catch up with us. You appear to be behaving more ponderous and quiet than usual. What's up?
00:29:03
Speaker
I'd just like to point out, as a continuation from the previous episode, I am still in my elf form that you guys seen in the mirror and I'm not aware of it. Oh, you're also still dressed as an elf, just as an FYI. I didn't even notice, honestly. I don't know. I feel funny. Almost slow, I think, would be a possible
00:29:32
Speaker
better description. Okay. Well.
00:29:37
Speaker
I'll tell you what, and Danny, I'm going to take out the, for the first time I haven't used this in ages, Raines is going to reach into his bag of holding and he's going to pull out the potato peeler that's going to start to whirl and I'm going to point it at alpha. It's going to take 10 minutes, alpha, we might want to head over and just to see what they're doing while that's happening. I'm just, let's see what I can find out. Run a base diagnostic checks. I'll go and check.
00:30:05
Speaker
Okay, you do that. I'll run a base diagnostics checks. Alpha do not move. And I'm gonna have a ritual cast detect magic on alpha. Okay. What I would expect from that is there's already going to be a load of stuff of abjuration. There's going to be a load of stuff of transmutation just in alpha's fabric. Anything outside of that would be alien.
00:30:29
Speaker
Yes, i.e. the big clock over his head. That's what he said. No, I should stress. I should stress on the meta level. If that's a curse, I wouldn't get anything. It's only if this is some form of arcane affliction would I get anything. Can you tell me what this purpose of the listener is really? Could you please just tell me the exact...
00:30:48
Speaker
knowledge you're expecting the spell it's asking for. So, Reigns knows that in the very constitution of Alpha is that he's held together by magic, he's not made by biological, he's not pulled together by biological means. There is a degree of transmutation magic in him as he is basically an enchanted suit of armour built by Enron, but there's also a strong degree of abjuration
00:31:15
Speaker
which is what's keeping the memory ruin in his chest from from blowing a small hole in Dralic. So strong, strong abduration, strong transmutation. If any other school of magic comes up, though, that is something alien to what should be there. So Rains is just scanning to see if any any other school of magic and all you have to do is tell me the school and nothing more is coming out of Alpha. You're also sensing necrotic. Oh,
00:31:45
Speaker
Oh, um, Alpha, what's going on? Tell me everything, what happened? I do not know as to what you are referring to. You've been dabbled in necromancy? No. And Rain's going to turn the potato peeler around knowing that Alpha as well can read Artificia Infusions and we'll see the readings.
00:32:12
Speaker
Because you are kicking off something strong from the necrotic school of magic. That is most curious. I am not aware of any necromantic doings that I have been involved in or partaking thereof. All right. So when did you start to feel strange? Very shortly after coming back up here. And what did you do down there? What did you do before you go down there?
00:32:43
Speaker
We went down, we had an interaction with the disappearing man, Prego, and... Well, hold... I had no interaction with him, and as far as I know, Emmerin had no interaction with him beyond talking to him. What do you mean, interaction? He was rather insultingly imitating Morota. I took it as a...
00:33:11
Speaker
a friend of mine, and in an attempt to cease said imitation, I cut a string on his lute. Alpher, Prago is a bard, right? You've read stories about bards. You know what they can do with instruments. You know that they are magically powerful.
00:33:35
Speaker
He does not seem threatening. I did not seem threatening. When people have threatened us in the past, when people have threatened us in the past, Marotta's way of dealing with it has been to either punch them in the face or stab them in the throat. This time, Marotta's way of dealing with it is to run away. What do you think that tells you about this prego? I do not believe that Marotta would have run away.
00:34:03
Speaker
Well, she ain't here. And Prago said that she had to leave for something. Something to do with him, which means when he turned his rather offensive, rather annoying, rather cryptic and rather threatening words on her, this time she didn't choose to punch him in the face or stab him in the throat. She chose to leave. What does that tell you about this person? Hmm, I see your point.
00:34:30
Speaker
possibly cutting the string was a bad idea. Although I... How's your memory bank? How's your memory bank? Don't worry about that for now. How is it? As I said, I appear to be running slow. Can you remember what Prego said in the role that went? The blank expression that comes over him is like, no.
00:35:00
Speaker
We have to find them. I'm deadly serious. She seems to know something about this fellow that meant that she decided to take off. And Alpha, this is necromancy. You are not an organic creature. Necromancy is the mark of death, Alpha. It's the mark of something from beyond this world. Everything about your constitution is made up of things of this world.
00:35:28
Speaker
You are walking abjuration and transmutation magic contained inside. Yes, there's more to you than that. We've been through all that. But right now, Alpha, my main concern is I have no earthly idea how in the very fabric of you there is necromancy. Considering previous readings, it is unusual. We have no idea where Prego has moved to.
00:35:58
Speaker
Prago, I don't think we should be trying to actively find Prago right now. I think he's very dangerous. But he could undo, said Necromancy.
00:36:09
Speaker
Or is there somebody else that may? Those people that help make others better? As I said, Alfred, I think the only other person who seems to have any insight into this fella and chose that to take off. Don't forget, Marauder was waiting for us. Marauder promised Nyx that that's what she would do. What do you think it would take for her to willingly leave him again?
00:36:39
Speaker
I think we have to find Marotta. Very well, I would not be against such an idea irregardless of the situation but if Marotta is possible to help identify my current condition then I would agree. Well for I, she don't like me and I don't really care too much for her but I think right now she might be
00:37:09
Speaker
She might be all we got. Come on. And Reigns is going to take off after the others. And Alpha's going to momentarily kind of walk in an opposite direction to Reigns and then realise he's not with Reigns and then just quickly kind of turn around and follow him.
00:37:25
Speaker
And at this point, Baal will be throwing a rope out towards Nyx. I can't believe that no one warned me about this as Nyx grabs the rope. You are an excellent swimmer, but you can't swim in that. Oh, I don't know. Sand, water, water, sand. It seems porous enough. They're one on the same... Just pull me out. Okay, okay. Seth, take hold. Yeah, I told you, no, don't go that way, you idiot. You fucking hell.
00:37:50
Speaker
If your information is in the Northeast. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Welcome to the group. That'll help yank on the rope and pull them out. I think the plan's go to Snet one next. Great, Emron. Glad you're here. Don't go this way, though, Emron. I'm warning you now. It is not a good way to go. Oh, for fuck's sake, where is it going? Where are we going? It's not the way we should go. Well, let's just make sure we've got all our supplies. We don't want to go wandering off into the desert without, you know, water.
00:38:21
Speaker
That was a very pointed water. Yeah, I've got some right here. Where's yours? As Raines arrives, he's just going to come straight up to everyone and go, we have to find Marauder.
Alpha's Condition and Concerns
00:38:36
Speaker
Whatever the plan is, it's changed. We have to find Marauder. How fortunate she went towards Snake Run. Yes, perfect. Let's go towards Snake Run.
00:38:44
Speaker
Let's go there. Follow me then. I'll take off in my direction. Anyway, as we're walking, Rains, what's up? It's Alpha. Something's wrong, Imran. He'll turn around the potato. That won't mean anything to you, but that's Alpha's... That's necromancy.
00:39:09
Speaker
something's wrong with Alfa. Something's inside of him that shouldn't be there and it's dangerous. Are you saying that like conversation? Raines is panicking, he's not doing that part. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just talking to Raines, but people can feel free to hit over here. Okay, as we're walking. Right, okay, so when we stop for a bit, because I don't know whether we'll be able to get to Snitwin in one day, maybe I'll have a look at him as well. I can always try and
00:39:35
Speaker
get a bit more information off, you know what school of magic is, I can try and find a bit more out about it, maybe. I must say that the alpha did piss off prego before he came down to follow you down under to see the dragon. Yeah, and I pointed out to alpha that
00:39:54
Speaker
When Marauder usually is threatened, she kills it. This time she chills to leave, which should tell you an awful lot about how dangerous Prago is. Well, I know. And that's why I fixed Prago's loot for him after, you know. Yeah, I think there's a lot for us to talk about, I think, personally. But yeah, when we stop over, I'll try and have a look, just like I did with Nick's orb. Thanks for that, by the way. Maybe I can have a look at Alpha and get a bit more...
00:40:24
Speaker
you know, detail about necromancy. If there is a spell on him, you know that if there's some kind of magic effect him, I might be able to find out a bit more. Sure. Sure. Fine. Alpha, get in the middle of the party. We can't have you at the back in case you fall behind. Whilst the party starts walking, Seth would run ahead of Baal, who I think is at the front.
00:40:51
Speaker
ahead of him and kind of run up the next June and just kind of feign looking over and just kind of thinking he's the leader and waiting for Baal to catch up. And as he catches up, he'll walk in pace with Baal and very quietly to himself, just say, I think we've got a bit of a problem. Yes, I was going to catch your attention at some point. Which of the three? That's what I'm thinking. And if it's him,
00:41:21
Speaker
We have a bit of a problem. Not a bit of a problem. A lot of a problem. I don't know the cities too well, but I know that Snakerun most likely won't have the provisions that they need.
00:41:36
Speaker
Scorch hell might be the best option. Yeah, I know but I'm just that and he's gonna be a little white-eyed He's not looking at you. He's gonna walking into kind of staring off into the could you two just make performance checks against and Whoever would be next in that order, which sounds like it's either nix or alpha It'd be nix. Yeah, because the shadow man guys speak then these two newbies speak Nix is on his own in the middle and he's just he's just got a walk on I mean
00:42:06
Speaker
going, the DC is Nixx's passive insight, which is 11. However, Nixx has also got a lot on his brain. Yeah, that's why I'm not getting you to roll because I think you're thinking quite a lot about serious shit right now. So Nixx's passive insight is 11. So what did you do to roll on performance?
00:42:22
Speaker
I didn't even know that. Or deception. I will allow you to pick whichever modifier is higher. I'm whimsy as fuck, guys. I'm thinking about unicorns and rainbows right now. Yeah, neither of mine are very good, but 13 is mine. Yeah, easy. Seth? I just rolled it, and now I can't find where it's gone. I want a game log, and it's just constitution saving rolls for people, and I don't know where... I'll just roll again. I can tell you what you got, if you wish.
00:42:49
Speaker
Yes, please. You got a nine. You got a nine. Oh, no. Sorry, I rolled a nine. That makes sense. Are you adding deception or performance? I did say you can choose either modifier. You did. I'm going to... You rolled a seven and add one. So just while this is happening, Nick, they're just behaving a bit oddly. You do perceive that. Okay.
00:43:15
Speaker
There's nothing out of the ordinary that I've seen so far. You can tell they're actively trying to not share information. That's all you grab from that. But otherwise, Seth, Bao, please continue. Yeah. But, and he's kind of a bit wired up with this. My big concern, my big, big, big concern, my big, big, big, big, big, big concern at the moment, though, is not about him just being a little bit awful. Perhaps, you know, we have to break something that we've otherwise lined up here. But what if this is the start of the return of the blight?
00:43:41
Speaker
They talked about necromancy, okay? I'm not gonna lie. That's how it starts. A little tip here, a little bit there. It's in him. Yeah, I know I use it a little bit, but this talks about it being in him. What if he is like that big fucking demon thing again? What if it's gonna grow in him? That's my- What was that big demon thing made of metal? I don't know. And he's gonna kind of cast an eye over his shoulder at a curious glance back to Alpha. Kind of not really believe in that to be the case.
00:44:10
Speaker
But turn it back and go You probably see the blankest expression on Alfred's face as you look at him as well. Just a FYI I'm just I'm just voicing my opinion now. I trust you now But anyway, we've got a problem either way we are yes, we do seem to did when you got a close look at Nick's did you Did he make a pact?
00:44:36
Speaker
No. I didn't see anything. Well he had some weird awful tattoo on his arm anyway from before but nothing, no. Nothing I recognized. Why three? That's my big question. Why three of them? Why not just say one of them? Why give us three? Which one? Do you know? Yes, I suppose. Keeps this on our toes, isn't it?
00:45:03
Speaker
He seemed to know a lot more than he actually told us. I don't understand why. Why not just be completely upfront about it so we can be upfront with them, but nevermind. Have you got any idea how long it will take for us to get to Snagrun?
00:45:19
Speaker
Danny, do I know? It is a 60 mile journey from where you are based on the best navigation in which I'll get you to a journey roll on your survival skill ball. If you're leading, Seth, if you're leading, then I'll get you to do it. 60 mile journey, but you're all moving at half pace because it's difficult terrain because of the sand. You have something to combat that, but it requires
00:45:48
Speaker
achievement and it has a minus one AC penalty. So it's up to you guys whether you want to put those sandstrider sandals on or not. Does Seth already have them all?
00:45:59
Speaker
Seth, you carried both. So, what's your choice, whether they're on or not? He would have, when giving them with the Obcisca, suddenly not worn them and worn some normal sandals that look similar to them to fit in, but aware of its magical implications, he sequestered that option at the time and will continue to choose not to.
00:46:22
Speaker
Okay. Okay. No. So not wearing them will make me everyone else does. Yeah. So if you, if you had them on a direct route would take you three days. If you had them on a dad had them off, the direct route would take you six days because half pace and plus whatever might happen, you encounter along that way. So that's, um, that's a given based on bars, local geography. Um, okay.
00:46:48
Speaker
How are you guys preparing yourself? So I take it you're just filling up water. You did that. I'll give you that from the Oasis. So you have water for an extended period of time.
00:47:03
Speaker
travel gear and that kind of stuff and rations. After we get to the next centre of population, we're going to start tracking rations as well. I would say Rains has gone into full paranoid mode of just how dangerous this desert is. So he's taken spells that are all about survival and he's prepared spells. So any water that's been scooped up by NC has immediately, through the process of ritual, 10 minutes NC has just been almost like a kettle.
00:47:29
Speaker
doing purified food and water on it, so any diseases, bacteria in it is just being eradicated. And rains would also as well be any food they find and pick up that's not rations, which I know would be scarce in the desert, but anything that they find. Yeah, you were given a fruit platter. Yeah, when you left for Chandralekar, that was pretty much empty by the time that Seth Bell and Prago wrapped up their activity.
00:47:56
Speaker
Yeah, so it's just the water then, anything they've picked up, just been purified, just the safety. Okay. So if not everyone's wearing those sandals, in order to move together, it's going to take six days. Raines would wear them. Raines would wear them. You could put them on at any point in the journey. I'm just saying right now, it's going to be a slower start.
00:48:17
Speaker
So if you change your mind, feel free. Yeah, Rains would wear them because he can summon these armour in six seconds, including the boots. So he has the means to... Just those who have achievement slots at capacity, just double check you're not over them now. That's a good question.
00:48:34
Speaker
Okay, so the heading is Snakerun. That is where you've started to move towards. We have a marching order of, presumably, Emron at the back, then Rains, then Alpha, then Nyx, then at the front, who is leading this, or is it a co-venture between Baal and Seth?
00:48:51
Speaker
I mean, Baal would probably try to lead it, being a bit more familiar. Okay. Can I get a survival roll from you then, Baal, as a test of how well you can navigate this wilderness and sort of map, align the map, the printed map to the reality in which you're walking? Yes, to 21.
00:49:13
Speaker
Yeah, you confidently feel you can take the party to the most direct route, you know the points to pivot around, the points to navigate, you know what dangers look like and you feel on this journey.
00:49:29
Speaker
a sense of purpose and a sense of security. To that end, any check that's been asked to make of the party gets to add preparation die. And what that is, is it's an extra D6 in any event. You get three of those based on Baal's role there. Okay, so anything that happens on the events between here and getting to your destination, based on Baal's guidance, there are three D6s that the party can grab at any point.
00:49:59
Speaker
D6 is or D8? D6. I thought you said D8 before, that's the one I meant. D6 is. You can add that to damage, you can add that to hits, you can add that to skills, add that to save and throws. Okay. So is there anything between here and us, reaching a snake? Anything you roll and you want to, you can take that out of the party resource and use it. Is that Baal's, sorry to ask many questions, is that Baal's decision or is that? Any of you can say, any of you players can use those.
00:50:26
Speaker
doesn't allow it. It's just Biles performance has meant that you're all in a better sense of preparation on this journey. You're welcome. Nice. Very good. Would Seth have, and this is a question for you, Mark, as we're kind of walking and chatting away, do you think you'd have brought up the sandals at any point or just through natural conversation as we're walking, knowing that it's obviously difficult as we're going through? Because
00:50:50
Speaker
I don't think Baal would be, I know that Emeron went and identified it and found out all the uses, but when that was going on, Baal was still either angry, raining down fire or tending to the eggs. So I don't think I would have that knowledge that others could do. Yeah, he wouldn't have brought them up because he wouldn't be wearing them and probably make a point of that as well. Not by saying anything, but just take the soldierly route and just
00:51:18
Speaker
suffer through it because it's part of them. Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. Because Bar's the same. He's barefoot. But again, he's, I mean, he's used to this. He's resistant to fire. So the heat is enjoyable, not necessarily painful. But scanning back to the group, I mean, I know that Rain suffered last time. So he is who Bar would kind of be paying a close eye on.
00:51:44
Speaker
How does the group seem to be faring as the journeys continuing?
Journey to Snake Run
00:51:49
Speaker
So I'm only going to...
00:51:52
Speaker
I'm only sort of prescribing the first 15 minutes of this journey. So at the end of like later on, then feel free to sort of do that review, that check-in. But these are sort of the leaving conditions. The last thing I need from anyone doesn't have to be bald, but I need someone to roll on a random events table for me, which is a D20, please. Callum, you roll it. Yeah.
00:52:16
Speaker
I'll tell you what, I'll roll it, shall I? I think Callum should roll it. I think Callum should roll it. Callum. I got a 12 on my roll for fucking sake, Callum. Fucking shit. I know, it's so terrible. I'm ashamed of that. That's the last thing you ever do in this podcast. Can you shut up because you've been talking too much? Too much. That's better, that's much better. Okay, you're on 12. Thank you, Callum.
00:52:42
Speaker
Fuck yeah, he said that was a grin. You see that little twinkling? Oh yeah, we're all gonna die. It's your fault.
00:52:48
Speaker
I'm just going to die before the rest of you. Maybe. Fucking sand snake. It's going to take at least six days right now to get there. Clock's a ticket. Okay, so you are setting off. Baal has instilled in all of you a confidence that he knows where he's going, despite the heat, despite everything. He knows the way to snake crown. You were all sort of empowered by the fact that you're about to go to civilization. Get away from this this whole
00:53:13
Speaker
drag any business. But I'm aware we park some conversations until we were walking or some topics of conversations. If people want to return to those now that we are walking, because I know Nix was very much like, let's get walking first, then we'll talk. So those topics, as I recall them, were something about Baal and Seth knowing information on the group and what happened in the lair for the benefit of Seth and Baal. And then anything else you guys want to talk about, go for it.
00:53:45
Speaker
It gets everywhere. There's a cloud over there
00:53:54
Speaker
So, Reigns, knowing that Alfa is safe and people are keeping an eye on him, he's going to just momentarily move to the front, using the sandals to... Oh, these are quite good. Reigns is currently not armed. He's not in his armour. He's wearing much more loose, comfortable clothes this time, knowing he can summon his armour should he need it. It just basically means I have to waste a turn in combat. So, Reigns is doing everything he can. He's drinking water. He's got a shawl on. He's doing everything he can to keep cool at this time.
00:54:24
Speaker
And he's just going to go up to Baal and go, okay, go on. You have my curiosity amidst the urgency. Why are we intertwined? As in me and you in the group? No, the entire group. You said it seems we're, our fates are intertwined and I'm just curious what that means. Oh, you know, prophecies, destinies, the works. Yeah, the real casual things. What sort of prophecy?
00:54:54
Speaker
Is now the right time as we're setting off it seems like you should be conserving your strength reigns I seem to remember the last time we set off on a little jaunt you Boiled somewhat on the sands. Oh snap
00:55:09
Speaker
All right, fair enough. I'm not too keen to boil on the sands again. You know what I can do there, Reince, for you to take the weight off your feet. You heard of something called Tense's Floating Discs. I hadn't heard of it before, but basically I can summon it and you can just chill on this plate for a while, take your weight off for an hour, and literally just take you along. It won't weigh anything for me. What do you say? You fancy you can do your tinkering thing, your potato peeler stuff?
00:55:40
Speaker
A glance back at Alpha and go, I suppose I do have some things to figure out. You sure it won't inconvenience you? I mean, I'll have to cut a new piece of paper for my spell book, but apart from that, it won't cause any issues for me. Much obliged, Seth.
00:55:58
Speaker
All right, let's get on it then. And he's going to rip out very dramatically. One of his middle, um, uh, bookmarks, red bookmark mist starts to swirl and form and almost like putty or clay on like one of the spinning, making the pottery plate thing starts to, this smoke starts to spin around and he kind of pushes it down into the spreads into a five foot wide diameter disc that floats a couple of feet above the ground. And he just gestures towards it to, uh, to, to range, kind of like jump on.
00:56:27
Speaker
Rains will step on. And then he walks off and the plate doesn't move for a while until I think it's 20 feet behind me. And then suddenly you start moving at exactly the same pace that I'm moving at, but it just kind of floats above the dunes, a couple of feet above, very smooth ride. And Rains, Seth would just shout back, this is what I'm talking about. Like in fights, this could be useful. But for now, it's good for chilling as well. It's like some sort of royal taxi, it seems.
00:56:59
Speaker
Don't call me Roddy either. And Rains, as he's doing that, just take out his own book of artificery, his own inscriptions and scribes. And he's going to just go to all the pages to the very front of the book, which he started on the Constitution of Alpha. And he's not scrawled through these notes like a thesis in detail for ages. And he's rereading them for the first time in years because what's happened to Alpha has spooked him.
00:57:22
Speaker
Start calling me a Texie.
00:57:29
Speaker
And Baal will just call back over his shoulder leading the group. If we keep this pace, you should be in a snake run in six days. Settle in. I'll call this the tensor's piggyback reign. Sorry, you're busy. It's fine, nevermind. I might all sort of shuffle up the order and just go towards next. All right, for Royal Fork, is he nods towards that?
00:57:55
Speaker
raids on his disc. I mean, considering what happened to him last time, I guess this is a better journey for him. I was just having fun at his expense, you know. No, I'm completely poking fun at the fact that he fucked up in the first journey on the sand. Sorry, my sarcasm is light today. No, it's all right. It's all right, Nix, you know, I'm just, you know, normally you're all wit and bounce, you know.
00:58:22
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. We've done a lot of talking recently and I've got itchy feet. Maybe it's because I've been away from the water too long or maybe I'm just getting ill vibes from the whole dragon thing. We didn't particularly do a good job there, but we seem to have new people in our party. We've lost one in our party. Things are changing. I don't do well with change, everyone as it seems.
00:58:47
Speaker
Like, you know, when I was on the ship, it used to be a little bit more steady, you know, day to day, doing our things, doing our activities, doing our pirate, you don't like that term, doing our, well, up above the board ship errands. But I was, it was stable, it was stable and everything's a little bit in a state of flux at the moment. It looks like it sets me off. So, sorry. Okay.
00:59:15
Speaker
I mean, if you wanted to, if you'll get your feet wet, you could have paddled in the pond. How? I was wet enough. You saw that, right? I know, I know. Yeah, being down in that down in that cave was a bit weird. You know, she she offered us all that rewards and. I turned it down, you know. But it was strange. Question out of that, you turned it down. What about Tilla? Were they?
00:59:43
Speaker
turn it down, do you think? Like if the situation, like if you were Tilwa, if you were in Tilwa form and that offer had come up, would you have thought about it as Tilwa or as everyone? We haven't really spoken about the thing inside of you. I don't know. I don't understand how this whole Tilwa thing works, Alpha. I'm not Alpha, man. I know, sorry. There's something playing on my mind because Alpha's been acting strange as well. You know, he tried to piss off that prego folk and as much as Alpha, like, you know,
01:00:13
Speaker
I feel like Alpha sometimes was acting a bit like he was trying to like me, oh yeah, look at me. And yeah, pissed off the wrong folk. You know what I mean? I feel like I'm getting a backhanded slap. No, no, no, no, no. There's lots of stuff going on in my mind. Anyway. Right. Tillwah. Yes. I don't know how that works yet. Next. Just switch it on, switch it off. Like if I, if I said, Hey, I want to speak to Tillwah, could you just become Tillwah right now?
01:00:45
Speaker
Right. Try! Turn it on! Do you need me to do something? Do I need to put a facial expression on? Do I need to shed a little bit of clothing? Like, what's the trigger point here? You can keep your clothes on. Do I have to put a knife to your throat in the threatening way? Just the threatening way? And maybe that, like, maybe that will... I don't know. That'll just piss me off. Would that might be the thing? Like, in which situations has Tylvar been summoned?
01:01:14
Speaker
Only when, like, things have locked fucking dire is when, you know... Now, I'm not a researched or well-booked man. Surprising, I know. But it stands to reason that a knife to your throat would provide a situation for Tiltwire to be summoned. Yeah, but I could handle that. I don't... I mean... I... I... You don't know. Quick... Quick backhand across the face, you know, you provide.
01:01:46
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, maybe when we've rested, I mean, just try right now. Like I'm like, you know, arms up just as we're walking, switch. Okay. Someone to what? Nothing's happening.
01:02:06
Speaker
Performance I get that that's okay some some men Well, maybe maybe down the line. I don't know after a rest or something It's I don't know Reins, you know, you don't know reigns Shit you've been with him this whole time. Is this what you wanted to talk to me about? There's lots of like I thought you do go way back. We do go way back. Is he like your brother?
01:02:36
Speaker
No, it's, it's, it's complicated. So, Reigns and I, we met in a bar, really strange, you know. Reigns was, I think Reigns was trying to ruff it with like the poor folk. And I would have loved to have seen that because I think Reigns' idea of ruff it still requires him to dress in finery and go up to the bar made. Oh, sorry, what do you have on the menu?
01:03:03
Speaker
It was something like that, but anyway, it was while I was, I just finished being an apprentice and yeah, I was, I was just finished being an apprentice and I just started out on my own and yeah, it was, it was, and I hate to use this word, almost like fate or our paths crossed and then that were it. We stuck up this friendship and then
Creation of Alpha and Mystical Elements
01:03:29
Speaker
You know, Ryan's keen with this crazy idea about an arm and making it into a weapon. And I thought, why the fuck not? And then we did that. And then we went off. That was Lucian's bite bane. That was Lucian's bite bane's arm, yeah. OK, see? And then we went off to the sister hold last see him. And we did this. I mean, it took a long time to make Alpha. A long time.
01:03:55
Speaker
I mean, I'm not black months, days. Oh, yes. I honestly, I honestly thought that quite frankly, I was, I wasn't sure we were actually gonna do it. You know, it was just, but we did it. It took a long time. I mean, we must be working on five years to make alpha in the end. Wow. And that was with a few, you know, like,
01:04:25
Speaker
It misses. You know, I remember after I'd met Ray. What's before Alpha? What do you mean? Like Alpha 1, Alpha 2, Alpha 3, Alpha 4. We got memories that when we were, you know, Raynes, we'd had these ideas and Raynes, you know, he loved his history and we had all this knowledge and it was a bit all hit and miss. So we could make the moulds, but it was trying to infuse it with magic.
01:04:55
Speaker
And that was the tricky bit, I think, for my personal. And then there was lots of other stuff. And every time we'd make it, if the magic didn't work, we'd have to make it a little bit. See, now, that's the thing. I'm getting a little bit more into the magic realm, as Nick's patched a book that you very well know of. There's no spell that I can see that would animate metal with the conscience. Well, it's not just that, because there's
01:05:24
Speaker
There's a memory, there's a crystal within him that contains the memories of life. From an individual or a race or... I don't know, Reigns got it. It was all about... When? Surely he didn't come up to you one day and just said, here's a crystal, shoved that into the... Or maybe he did? No, we went to a city, I can't remember the name of it. It raised... What was that city we went to?
01:05:53
Speaker
He's talking about when you got the memory rune for Alpha. Reigns is, as you're saying that, is studying the pages and is looking through just a list of memory runes and is thinking about that elf as well and will then all of a sudden just show up. Dash Kalrai, memory. Dash Kalrai. Big player, so at the top there's all this stuff, it's a font of memory thing, people go and
01:06:19
Speaker
give their memories and memories of dead fork. And yeah, anyway, it was good, good pubs there, good pubs. And yeah, so that's where we got it from. And once we put that in him, and, you know, when you when you're crafting magical items, it's it's, you there's never always like there might not be a perfect spell.
01:06:41
Speaker
So when smiths and your magic users come together to make magical items, sometimes it's about infusing that into the weapon and almost taking the weave that magic users use like yourself. And almost it's like a communication I've heard it described as where they ask the weave to do a certain thing
01:07:05
Speaker
And if the weaves willing and the magic user has the control over it, they can make this weapon or whatever item they want, even if there is no specific spell to speak of it, if you follow me. What happens if there's like cases where the weapon might not want to be a part of that spell? What happens there?
01:07:24
Speaker
Well, if the forgery of the weapon or whatever you're making hold the spell is flawed, sometimes it can break, the spell could not work. It's like when you take a sword and if you've not made it and heated it properly, the first time you hit something with it, the sword shatters. Same principle about putting magic into stuff. You're saying that the sword has a choice or has no choice? I've never thought about it like that.
01:07:52
Speaker
I don't know, I suppose it comes down to if the sword has... I suppose before we put the sword in Alpha, Alpha was just, you know, forged metal. He was like a, you know, yeah, it's...
01:08:12
Speaker
Good question. Having been brought into this conversation by M. M. Raines is going to just add to this as he scrolls through his notes. He's just going through the list, the list of memory ruins and the numbers on them of the ones that failed, the ones that caught fire, the ones that exploded, the ones that refused to do anything. And he's just going to chip in.
01:08:32
Speaker
sometimes when it comes to studying the arcane arts it's about trying to understand that which that you can't comprehend and when we were working on alpha we found a host of memory rooms that were just either on compliant or resistant or violent until we found the one that worked and i can only put it down to one thing that there are things on this world bigger than we can understand that the memories inside of that room wanted to come back
01:09:02
Speaker
And that's what you call fate. Walking into a bar. That, right there. That's where it started, I suppose. You do. That's just beautiful. Well, it was, you know, it was... You know, Reigns was interested in artificery and needed to know about how it worked and about smithery and so, you know,
01:09:30
Speaker
It was really weird. Like I hadn't thought about teaching someone else how to be a Smith so early in my life. I just did. And then that were it. And then, you know, three years passed and we forged an arm for, you know, five years later, we made Alpha.
01:09:50
Speaker
I needed the smith to make something that was polished and could could function properly I mean any evidence to see what happens when I try to do it myself will just ask nc no offense nc so it's alpha alpha or is alpha a memory rune it's it's complicated there's several things at play that makes me not fully understand alpha it rains will just glance back again at alpha he still I assume seems quite vacant and and and
01:10:17
Speaker
He's also lagging quite a bit behind you. M-ROM's pushed forward and you're on the floating disk, this floating taxi. Alpha's slowly just getting further and further away. Should we put Alpha on the disk? I feel like Alpha needs to be on something. Yeah, Seth, can you hold up for a sec?
01:10:40
Speaker
Why is your golden carriage going too fast? How many people can get on the disc? Or how much metal objects? It's three feet wide. It's one inch thick. It can carry up to 500 pounds. That's what the small text of my spell book says.
01:11:04
Speaker
So, uh, spells of that. Well, it's got, it's not my handwriting. It's already there. Um, so as long as you know, you two don't mind getting intimate or, uh, big metal boy isn't over 500 pounds. Does anyone have a set of scales? I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what. I'll take my chances. I've got these sandals on and alpha is lag and alpha. Come on. You're getting up on this desk here. Magnanimous right there. Very, very, very well.
01:11:35
Speaker
You see now, Alpha, when you're on here and you've got your little cannon thing, that would be really useful in combat, no? Surely you're lying down there, Alpha. Are you standing on this thing? I would just put your back on it and... Look up at the sky. Like a med bay. What's a med bay? I don't know. I'm materializing it in my head right now. Sand is everywhere and it's just... I hate it. It gets everywhere.
01:12:00
Speaker
Ava will try and step on it. At the moment, he's just going to kind of sit and almost like a child that's been told off. He's kind of got his knees up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his legs, just trying to take up as much, as little space on the actual disc as possible.
01:12:18
Speaker
Okay. Super, super quick ball question. I, again, I keep referring back to my high passive perception. Um, since Emron shouted across to reigns, I think that would have taken bars attention as well. Would you allow me to have listened in to the conversation that was happening back there?
01:12:34
Speaker
No one has indicated they're doing anything quietly. Everyone was not, everyone was talking conversationally, you know, Nick's, we got into a conversation and Nick, everyone's quite happy to talk about. A bit of a rule, if people want to have discrete conversations, label that. So just on the top right of your HUD, you'd see Baal will remember that. Is it weird when it's something like, box, then we're back to flish? I feel like sometimes I'm not playing myself.
01:13:04
Speaker
Yeah, so it's a strange question. Straight up. Let's just make sure that Alf is okay on this thing first. Alf, are you able to... Are you happy here? It seems to be okay. Thank you, Seth. Thank you. But do you see what I mean, though? Do you know what I mean? You put the cannon on your shoulder now on a fighting machine in combat, yeah? Yes, cannon normally on my shoulder.
01:13:33
Speaker
Is that the only weapon you have? Is that the only weapon you have by the way? That little shoulder cannon thing? Because I... I had... You're pretty useless apart from that so far and you're kind of slowing us down.
01:13:47
Speaker
I did have a pistol. I don't know if you've never seen one. I'm going to kind of bring out the parts of this pistol that I have that remains. But I broke it. I was unable to repair and I broke it. I need things to fix it. Parts. Maybe we'll find them in snare run. Alpha.
01:14:17
Speaker
Did you pick up Marota's boomerang? I did, if you recall. I said at the time, while all the lightning chains coming down and bars having his little hissy feet, I wanted to attempt to go and get the boomerang without getting hit. Yeah, OK. Just checking. Yeah, I did grab it, but I've not got that on. I'm not bringing that out yet. Cool. Rob, let's get you fixed and then you could sit on that while I drag you around and kick ass, yeah?
01:14:48
Speaker
and we save the world. Sounds good. Is that disc linked to you, Seth? I don't know. It's either me or the spell book. It could be either. I don't feel it, but it's all- Throw the spell book as far as you can. You run the opposite direction, and we'll see which way it goes. Maybe we could wait until we're camped for this to do this. Yeah, I understand the hypothesis, but yeah, I don't think that's a good idea. I'm not letting this out of my sight, and he's going to tap the spell book.
01:15:16
Speaker
and I ain't throwing it in the sand. Like you said, it'll ruin the pages. I've got some important drawings in here as well, you know. I'm just curious because you keep going on about how it would be so useful to have someone stand on that and shoot, but if it's just your little legs running around with someone pottering behind you, is that really a good idea? Little legs, have you seen our squat, bro?
01:15:42
Speaker
He does not skip leg dare. And also, I can do this. Fucks sake. Why are you doing the splits? So random. He's going to throw the sand as well. Put your cock away. Deep bag in the sand. Keep it out. And he's going to pull out. He's going to pull out another. It would be weird if you just stayed in there.
01:16:10
Speaker
We're gonna grab a handful of... What? Get off me!
01:16:18
Speaker
Grab a handful of sand from the bottom. No, don't use sand. It's too coarse. It'll give you birds. And pull out the bookmark at the same time, throw it up, and then throw the bookmark into the air, and it rips through the dust, causing an arrow to form, and the now red mist. He grabs the arrow and presses it into his chest. And then you see him markedly. There's a red glow in his thighs and calves as he just fucking takes off, like fucking Forrest Gump.
01:16:46
Speaker
It's got a long strider. And for however long, why would you buy another first level spell? For an hour. Yeah, for an hour, I can just move with this additional 10 feet of pace, which is still slower than Raines walking with his boots, with his sandals on, but just to prove a point to Baal that he can move with
Desert Survival Challenges
01:17:07
Speaker
some pace. And he goes, see, this would be quite useful, I think.
01:17:10
Speaker
He starts kind of running up. Does Alpha move quicker? The disc follows so I am moving quicker now. Okay. Put yourself on a horse and that sounds interesting. Still doesn't answer whether it's the book or him though.
01:17:27
Speaker
And also I should mention, sorry, it depends how long this goes on for, but at exactly the same time, pretty much both his speed reduces and Tense's disc just disappears and Alpha just thuds to the ground. Seth will know this is going to happen and won't tell Alpha. Nice. Nice. Great.
01:17:49
Speaker
As in like, as in when you sprint, it drops. No, no, no. After an hour, they both are. Oh, I'm, I'm with you. They're both just stop. Um, and, um, you sprint for an hour just to prove a point. Yeah. Yeah. It's 100%. That's straight out of this literal spell. Wow. Yeah.
01:18:11
Speaker
I can't totally imagine Seth running really far forward and then coming back and keep going. He'll just start when he's at the lab door, please. He'll wait. He'll wait because he was silently breathing out of his arse. As you catch up. Yeah, come on, guys. You slow fuckers. And then he'll run off. The only person will hear it is Alpha. He'll hear wheezing every couple of hundred meters or so. Nice. Yeah, that's for the next hour or so.
01:18:40
Speaker
on the subject of covering distance. Sorry, Emron. What was I going to say? Well, with Seth rushing off with Alpha. Yeah, no, sorry. It's fine. It's all there. You sure? Yeah. OK. Just before they do move, Reigns will have just turned to Nix and gone. And just to answer your question,
01:19:07
Speaker
in the way that you have a mother and a father, Alpha has the life that's inside that memory room and he has something else that I'm the one who placed the memory room into Alpha's chest and Alpha came to life and something that I'd spent my life years, 15, 20 years working towards artificery, boom, just like that, Alpha understood it, could process it, could make things himself.
01:19:38
Speaker
There's two things that make up the spiritual, the soul of Alpha. He's DNA. It's me, our history, and whoever's in that room. So I think, anyways. Cool. Thanks for telling me. Thanks for asking.
01:20:08
Speaker
I'd like everyone to make Constitution saving throws for the day based on dredging through 40 degree heat. Now, before people start rolling, anyone wearing metal is a disadvantage. Bow and nicks are an advantage based on your resistance to fire damage. However, if you are wearing quite a considerable amount of metal, that will undo that. But I don't believe either of you are.
01:20:34
Speaker
Seth, I'm aware you're wearing two jackets, so that's quite a lot of layers. Unless you change clothes otherwise, I'm going to get you to roll at disadvantage.
01:20:45
Speaker
Oh, wait, sorry. Constitution. Yeah. Yeah. He would have taken, no, because earlier I lie, I lie, I lie. He did at the beginning, but he took off the criss-cross coat because everyone was giving him shady looks. So there's one hot layer. One layer, he stashed the other one in a bag, because it was just the one coat of black and white. Ah, that's more layers than you would be comfortable moving with as a human in 40 degree heat. So that's disadvantage for you. Okay.
01:21:11
Speaker
Okay. Remember there is three preparation die available to pull from if people need it. So I think I might need it. I, I'm not on a thing where I'm seeing your roles. So I think Nick's, what did you roll? 16. Okay. What did you roll?
01:21:34
Speaker
No, do we have to declare it before we use the D6? It's like inspiration. Like before you tell me your outcome. I'm going to use the D6 now. Okay, so you have two left for the remainder of this journey. As in two for the group. Two left. Yeah, so it's not three each. It's three as a group that are available. Oh my God. For the remaining five days. I've got seven in total. Thank you very much. There was no chance for you using a D6 to save yourself on a five. For fuck's sake.
01:22:01
Speaker
f**k god damn it Will. No Will. F**king youth. Alpha. Thirteen. Thank you. Seth. See, Callum that's one that might have been good for a d6. I've got a f**king Callum one. Natural one, so three. It's because you were sprinting around. It's because I'm running at the devil with a coat on. Two coats. Okay, so it's a natural one for Seth. Seth, I need you to roll another...
01:22:25
Speaker
I need a straight D20 roll from you, please. I want to come back to you. No, maybe you could have saved yourself. Can you fail a saving throw? You can here. Raines can. Ball. Yeah, 19. I'm hopefully good. Raines. The D and D dice, giveth and takeeth away. I rolled a natural 20 for 24. Nice. Okay. Always good. Seth, the outcome of your roll, please. Seven. Okay.
01:22:53
Speaker
So you press on for the majority of the day, and just at the point where you're sort of finding camp, and there is no, like, obvious shelter. This is the sandiest, uh, June-iest space. The Dunes aren't that peaky either, so it's not like you're able to, like, burrow in. It's quite flat and unforgiving. Um, the day is tough for some of you. For some of you, it's relatively quite easy.
01:23:18
Speaker
For Emron, however, you get to the end of that day, and you have been panting since about midday onwards. And you end the day with two stacks of exhaustion. Ah, shit. Seth, you end the day with two stacks of exhaustion. And? And, yeah, I'm expecting that. The silence.
01:23:40
Speaker
Oh god. Oh god, he's dead. Oh god, wake up, Seth! Wake up! What did you roll? Remind us what you rolled on the d20 afterwards? Seven. You take seven points of fire damage. Or so. Oof. Ouch. Burn. Where? Sunscreen. Smuggins.
01:24:06
Speaker
Now, you have reached a point where the sun is setting. It would be an opportunity, this is like a natural point in the day where you'd probably stop journeying or you can press on, but you will have to risk another exhaustion roll.
01:24:24
Speaker
I don't know about anyone else, but quite frankly, I think we should rest here. I'm seeing in you what happened to me. I think we're the chain mail fucking bad idea. We could keep going, I'm good. Go on then. Seth, you're literally ready.
01:24:52
Speaker
You're feeling pretty bad sunburned that's part of you peeling your legs look like they're shaking sir i don't know what you're talking about this my usual tremor i like i'm shaking with excitement for what you're going to do to the of chris grow with anger and i go red because of all the the the the
01:25:13
Speaker
The eggs they have taken, I'm so angry. Inside check, inside check. I know, I'm tired, I'm tired. I know, I know, I know. Fine, has anyone got any Apres Soleil? What? Yeah. No, it's okay. Hey, maybe Alpha, I've carried you for quite some time and then dropped you on ceremoniously, but maybe you can, you're a artificially, can you make any cream to clear my pasty white skin of all this burn?
Alpha's Deteriorating Condition
01:25:41
Speaker
I'm fucked here.
01:25:43
Speaker
I'm afraid biological knowledge. I reckon a lot of wrestlers do, yeah. You want to get yourself into as much shade as possible.
01:25:58
Speaker
And C still managed to gather up the rags that we used to keep me cool last time. I suggest we keep you cool. Jan, I think I'm going to take this big, heavy winter coat off as well. Good idea. I'm smart. I also agree. Oh my God, why am I the only one who's smart enough to wear the damn sandals? Didn't you pass out last time? Just saying. Yeah, I passed out because it's fucking hot. And then this time I decided not to pass out. I ain't wearing my armor. I'm wearing sandals. Not enough. I ain't burnt.
01:26:27
Speaker
Okay. What fucking sandals? The sandals of the Acrisca. The Acrisca thing is... The fuck are you wearing those for? Because I don't want to die. They help move in. They negate, I believe, they negate the difficulties of traveling in sand.
01:26:47
Speaker
a bull kind of spit on the floor and ignite a bonfire about 10 feet away from it. Nice. Wearing sandals is pretty low compared to, you know, on the Criscra Dangerous thing compared to, I don't know, destroying some dragon eggs just while we're up there.
01:27:09
Speaker
wear them away. So rations, has everyone got rations of their own or are we having to, what we got? I'll be doing. I am taking it as given that you've got enough to get you to the next center of population because in the handover we didn't allocate. So you have provisions to do this. Fine. Okay. And based on Baal's departure role, the
01:27:37
Speaker
You get quite a confident sense that there is absolutely nothing that's going to threaten you. You are so far this evening from any source of concern. You have not seen any life all day, nothing floral, nothing, no animals, no critters, no insects. There's been no movement in the earth. It has been barren all day.
01:27:59
Speaker
OK, I'll obviously relay as such and sit down cross-legged near my fire. And from kind of a satchel, I'll pull out a small kind of thin metal rod and connect it to another one and just be doing my own thing around that fire. Cool. Do we have tents with us? Everyone looks at the group.
01:28:24
Speaker
No. So I just thought, because obviously, you know, back in Shadow Men, sometimes if you haven't traveled across desert, we found sometimes that traveling at night was better, but obviously we'd need cover during the day. But if we don't have that, no problem. Stupid idea. That's a good idea. We just don't have the, maybe when we're going, we can, we can get some before we head on. It's a good idea. Just, you know, just from what I remember. It's one more, it's one more parking.
01:28:51
Speaker
Alpha, can you commit that to the memory bank? We want some, if you're functioning, how you feeling, Alpha? Little, I don't know. I think hot heat might be taking you for a bit. Alpha, can I have a look at you for a bit? Yes, yes, if you so wish.
01:29:16
Speaker
OK, right. Come and sit down here and sort of takes him not not right next to the fire, but sort of we're nicely within the fire lights when the sun does actually set set. We're still sort of in that 30 feet light. And Danny, I'm going to catch identify as a ritual. OK. On I am alpha. I don't see that as being necessary.
01:29:40
Speaker
So just like I did with the orb for Nyx, everyone takes out a few items and will almost set up a little shrine almost around Alpha, putting down load stones and that kind of stuff in a certain pattern. And then a pearl as well will be sat there. Okay.
01:30:09
Speaker
I'm going to just be around for this, if anyone would allow, because I know this now and have seen it before. So I'm just going to be sat to the side, just kind of watching intently. I imagine like a hungry hippo going towards the pearl. No, no, no. It's too small. Ten minutes, ten minutes pass. Is it a ten minute ritual? It's normally one minute, isn't it? Is it an hour? I have to do this for.
01:30:38
Speaker
Okay, sorry, an hour pass. In the time it takes... Anything that's instantaneous is 10 minutes, isn't it? And it's always 10 times the... Yeah, it spells, yes, it's an hour. In the hour it takes you to the ritual, if Nyx is sort of invested in that for that process, those of you who aren't, as the sun sets in the west, in the direction you've been heading from, in the east, the direction you're heading,
01:31:06
Speaker
you see this ambient blue glowing light five, six miles away, almost like if you're driving towards a city at night and you've been out in a remote place and you just see the ambient glow that exists above a city, that sort of sensation. But while you know you're nowhere near Snake Crown yet, and you know it wouldn't emit light on this scale, but there is something about five or six miles away in the direction you're heading towards.
01:31:37
Speaker
And that stays with you throughout the night as well. It doesn't sort of flicker or go off. It's just like a solid glow. And one is you get to the sort of crescendo of your ritual. You learn everything you would expect to learn from Alpha based on what's already existing within Alpha's DNA. Now identify...
01:32:04
Speaker
asks for a specific item. It doesn't say you can use it on a person. I mean, I mean, is your person, but I'm going to give you a half answer because that's fine bending the rules to allow you to do this a little bit. There is something
01:32:28
Speaker
There is some magical effect that is weakening alpha. That's all you can really ascertain. And you sort of, in the course of that hour, you sort of detect this about half an hour in, and then you measure it again half an hour later, while the time you've hit that crescendo. And it just seems to be getting,
01:32:54
Speaker
marginally worse in that time rather than marginally better like his his his constitution is not recovering from it it is deteriorating to it that makes sense okay that that's all you so sorry are there any spells affecting it talks about if i touch a creature and then what spells are affecting him not a spell
01:33:13
Speaker
Okay. Fine. Not a spell. Um, okay. Lovely. Thank you. Um, because you're specific because range is sort of prep to you. You're looking for a thing. That's where the focus of that goes. Really. I'm looking for that. I'm looking for me with that, that necromantic. Yes. Um, cool. Okay. Thank you. So, okay. I'll for you. You'll stay there and do you want me to move you closer to fire? No, no, no, no. I'm fine. It's fine.
01:33:43
Speaker
I'm fine. Do you want some water to pour on yourself to cool yourself down? I stock it up at the last point. And he will just kind of pour some water out of his hand and just kind of slap it onto him, I suppose. It's probably like a little sizzle as the water just comes in contact with the metal of Alfa's body. Everyone will sort of get up and put stuff away. Pat Alfa on the shoulder.
01:34:11
Speaker
and then sort of wander over towards wherever Reigns is. Reigns wasn't gone far. He's sat on the periphery of camp just looking in the general direction, watching this blue light that's appeared in the sky marvelling at it and is just, yeah, just staring off to the horizon. Everyone sort of comes over, sort of, he's taken his chain mail off, he's wearing just his shirt, obviously looks quite, quite sexy.
01:34:41
Speaker
I will just say as well, before the conversation starts, I will try not to be actively look like I'm listening to it, but I'm desperately trying to hear what everyone is actually saying. Everyone sort of taken like, trying to go over to reigns. It's almost like, you know, when doctors go and have a quiet conversation about you, you know. So, everyone sort of goes over, sort of wiping his hands from any dust, any sand that got him. So, I got something out of that.
01:35:13
Speaker
It's not good. There is something magical that is weakening him. And it's not like just always weakened a bit. That's it. Whatever it is, is getting progressively worse. Well, now, I mean, it was, it was a small increase over the, you know, I'll look, I was with him for an hour, but
01:35:43
Speaker
You know, you're talking it all up like anything. You leave something to fire too up for too long. Time will tell. So whatever it is, time is not Alpha's friend. Who the fuck was that bard? I don't know. He was someone who was quite powerful. Now I wanted to talk to you about this because, you know, Alpha
01:36:12
Speaker
He deliberately pissed off the bard, deliberately. I went up to him, I can only assume he was trying to channel Marotta and just thought, oh, you know what, I'll do, I'll just, I'm gonna cut the bard's string while I look him in the eye. And I thought, for fuck's sake. I'm just saying this now, Reince, Alpha's going down.
01:36:42
Speaker
He said stuff that just makes me worried and concerned about just whatever route he's taking. I know his choices is, but some of the things he says, some of the things he was talking about when he was saying what he would be prepared to do, that didn't sit right with me.
01:37:11
Speaker
I'm not set out for it. It don't matter. Nothing else matters right now. My prego said something weird. He said I was his debtor. I don't know what kind of debt does he owe me if he could stop by not killing my friend. There's so much I don't understand right now, but I do think
01:37:39
Speaker
whatever Prager is, he is far more powerful than you or I or any of us. We can't be contemplating and dealing with that right now. I think this, the words we heard down there, I think we didn't pick anything. So I think we got what we needed, but all of that right now, they don't matter one bit, what we probably save an alpha. If I was in Shadowment and I found someone like this, you know, when we were living in the city or when we were
01:38:09
Speaker
You know, when I was living in town, when I was working, I'd be taking him straight to a house of healing to see what they could do. If he was human, if that was, if he was, you know, like you and I are flesh and blood, we can still do that. If Dralak has that kind of stuff in, in, in snaerun, then we can take him to a house of healing. They may have been able to do more than I can. That'd be my, my healing's nothing compared to what they can do.
01:38:38
Speaker
Progressively worse, that's what you said, right? Progressively worse over a small amount of time, I don't know. It wasn't a significant change, so I can only guess that whatever's wrong with him is over an extended period, but I couldn't tell you without a lot more experimentation what actually the period is, if you follow me.
01:39:04
Speaker
Check him again at dawn. Okay. If it does what you're hypothesizing and gets worse. Oh, it will, but I just, it's difficult to tell how much it's like, you know, it's like catching grains of sand and then quickly counting them and catching them again. So it's a bit, it's not very,
01:39:25
Speaker
It's not a sure, accurate science. I just know it's getting worse. You run it regularly until, just so we can get some sign of how quickly this thing is happening. Okay. I reckon I can probably do it a bit quicker than just now. Cause I've, you know, remembered out rules work. So, you know, all right. Um, anyway, I just wanted to say just, you know, I know alpha's getting sicker, but we have one hope.
01:39:56
Speaker
We've got to find the only person who seems to have some kind of insight on Prago. We've got to find Marauder. What I'm trying to say is, what if Marauder ain't there? Then we're chasing around Marauder. Whereas as I'm saying, we need to find... It ain't worth hypothesizing. We haven't got any other lead. We haven't got anything else. I'm saying we need to find healers or magic users, more powerful than us, who can have a look at them.
01:40:27
Speaker
That's what I'm saying. That would be a surefire way of knowing how to fix him or to fix him. Chase Naphtha Marotta assumes she's there. Just saying. Someone in my gut, everyone tells me that... Who the hell knows what to do with a lack of oil that's decaying? I don't. You don't? We're the ones who build him. No, but if... I see what you're saying, I do, but...
01:40:56
Speaker
I think we have to look at understanding what this prego person is and what... What if Marula doesn't know and she was just scared? Well, and she decides to do whatever she decides to do. Well, well, everyone, everyone.
01:41:13
Speaker
Just cutting in. Am I hearing this as soon as Marota's name, I can hear this? Yeah, I assume that I've got a bit louder, yeah. Yeah, cool. Excuse me. Marota doesn't get scared. If she had a reason to leave, it would be a good reason. If you're trying to find her, it's just a waste of time. She don't want to be found. She would have stayed if she could. There's no, whatever you guys are cooking up,
01:41:42
Speaker
to save Alpha, find a Marota, take it from me, chasing ghosts. Well, there you go, Reins. I have invested interest in this, too. I'm saying this as a friend. And with some knowledge on Marota. Exactly what I'm saying. I know why you want to do it. Also, she never gets scared.
01:42:10
Speaker
Yeah, that way she gets scared. She'd want to help. She don't like me. She's probably indifferent to you, but she seems to care about Alpha, and I think she'd want to help, that's all. I agree. But you're chasing ghosts. You're right. You've got instinct to want to find her, and that she'll care, and want to help. You're correct. But she ain't here.
01:42:38
Speaker
Alright, next, you're providing reason here while I'm providing the motion. Give me some... What are we doing talking about my ass? No, you're not talking about your ass, Amaron. You're just... We're in the... Look where we are, man. This ain't our world. This is... Look, the best person to ask is Bal. He knows this area more than any of us. Ask him if he knows of a healer. If you're asking me, I would choose the nearest, biggest city.
Mystical Blue Glow and Episode Conclusion
01:43:09
Speaker
And ask someone of faith, maybe, who is the best healer. That's what we used to do on the Esmeralda. We used to dock on the port, usually find that the religious folk know of some magic, some heals. That's my two, that's my two goals worth. Well, consider them known and valued. Well, I don't know how much of this you've been hearing.
01:43:40
Speaker
But Bal is kind of separate-ish from the group, not massively far away. But what he's been doing is he has been basically getting out his glassblowers kit and he has been mixing various different compounds together along with some of the sounds that he actually got from.
01:44:02
Speaker
from Shondra Nakar's lair as well. And he's going about the processes of basically creating another vial using his bonfire that he's got in front of him that he's keeping stoked, using even elements of his breath weapon as well in there. It looks incredibly skillful. It's almost like this could be a trade for him on the side as well, the emotions that he's going through and as this conversation is going on.
01:44:30
Speaker
He'll kind of, as they're trying to get his attention to hold up a finger and just kind of finish a certain section, if you like, that he can't necessarily wait over and then pop it to one side and just rest this glowing white hot kind of compound on the end of this metallic tube. You were saying? Alpha's sick. It's bad. And we're thinking we need to find a temple to the...
01:44:59
Speaker
the three or a House of Eden of some kind. Now what? House of what? Healing. Say, Ian. House of Eden. Healing. Oh, I thought you said Ian. Yeah, me too. I didn't know an Ian in Sniffling. Out of Eden. Right. Or a Temple to the Three Gods. I'm now writing the House of Eden into my plans for Sniffling.
01:45:23
Speaker
Fantastic. Yeah, it's a great place. Actually, Al Sivian does great range of like leatherworking, smithing material clothing. It's great. So if you want to like, they've got a little like smoking sex and they've got blacksmith sex, it's almost like a tradesman's kind of outfittery kind of place. Let's go right there.
01:45:48
Speaker
out-sevealing or a temple to the gods, where someone might be able to either help us find out what's wrong with Alfred a bit more or actually fix him, because whatever it is, it's something beyond our ken. Well, if Snake Run doesn't have anything of the sort, obviously we've got Scorch Helm. How long would it take to get from Scorch Helm, from Snail into Scorch Helm?
01:46:14
Speaker
It's a question for the DM. By road, if you can secure a vehicle. Three days if it's a quick vehicle, four if it's a slow. If it's by foot, 12 to 15 days. If we continue at this pace, it will take almost a couple of weeks.
01:46:38
Speaker
But if we were to procure some sort of fast transport, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, that might be something we have to look at. Okay, I'll, thank you. I suppose, and everyone sort of sits down by the fire with, so I've looked at everyone. We have to decide, obviously, Snape, when has one of them symbols on it, what's the plan when we get there?
01:47:06
Speaker
burn the fuckers to the ground? Well, see, that was what I was going to try and discuss, because walking in there and starting to, you know, kill for left, right and center might not be... How do I say this? The most efficient way of doing what we want it to do. Oh, no, I agree. I'm not saying just, you know, knock on a door and say, fuck you and start burning shit. That's ridiculous suicidal. Yeah. However,
01:47:34
Speaker
No, no, let's go with the suicide. So what I'm saying is, do you want to, do we want to try and get more information about what your CRISPR are doing? Because also we've got some information. Do we want to try and get more while we're there? Or are we just finding if they can fix Alpha there? If not, keep going to Scorch Elm. It sounds if your priorities are saving Alpha, if you say he's deteriorating as it sounds like might be the case, put a stopper in that. Okay. However,
01:48:04
Speaker
Yeah, but Chriska must be a top priority for you, certainly for me. OK, but I think we can all agree we don't go batshit crazy on the first group of Chriska we see in Snake One. We can't repeat what happened last time. That's a certain... In what sense do you mean? Well, it went badly last time. We don't want to repeat that.
01:48:34
Speaker
badly in the sense of the eggs. Yes, I agree, wholeheartedly. And a lot of that falls with me, and I will bear that till the day I move on and feed the next. However, with regards to the eradication of the abcisca, I thought that was pretty successful. But what I'm alluding to is if we're walking down the main street of Snake Run and see a bunch of abcisca stood on the street, what we don't want to do is kick off. Oh, no, certainly not. No, you burn the root, not the leaves.
01:49:06
Speaker
Okay, metaphors aside, that one probably escaped me a little bit, but... Oh, apologies. Let me explain it better. You follow the Acrisca back to where they are, where there are more of them, and you ignite them in their sleep. Okay, a little bit scary, a little bit impressed, both. Okay. But we all agree, and everyone looks to the whole group now at this point, looking for their input, that Alpha
01:49:35
Speaker
should be our priority. If we can't fix an incident, we get what we need quickly to travel on the scorch helm. It gets my vote if that's how we're running this ship. I see no arguments otherwise. How are we going to get quickly from one to the other though?
01:49:59
Speaker
Well, there's got to be some transport we can get in Snake Run. Surely. Even if we end up just... The Obquiska has got to move. They know this area. They're not going to be walking. They're going to... It's not just the Obquiska. They don't just run everything. There are many other factions involved. There are many other citizens, civilians. Of course they're going to have... We'll commandeer a vessel. Yeah, that's good because...
01:50:28
Speaker
It then gives us the option to not go picking fights with the Obkrisker in this instance. I'm with you, Baal. I want them gone for a host of reasons, but I also don't want my friend to die. So we don't pick the fight with the Obkrisker this time, unless they pick a fight with us. We get to Snakerun, we immediately try to find some transport, and we get to Scorched Helm as quickly as we can. That's the plan, right? Unless they've got means to save Alpha there, in which case we save Alpha and learn those fuckers to the ground.
01:50:57
Speaker
and we take their cart. Perfect. Deal. Or whatever, you know, transport we need. Is it right? All this because you got a string on a guitar. Did you snap your banjo string? It was a big dick move there, though. Is anyone right? Is that what you did? It would appear to be the origin of the situation. Why'd you do it? Don't get me wrong, I'm impressed. Like more of that, please.
01:51:26
Speaker
Why? He's going to kind of turn deadpan to Nyx. I felt like he was insulting Maruta. That checks out with me. I then fixed his banjo. I tried to kill him. Because I assumed pissing off a being of incredible power, more powerful than us, is never in my experience a very smart thing to do. Plus, if we have a card, we can get around much quicker in general as well.
01:51:56
Speaker
Yes, I feel like your conversations.
01:52:00
Speaker
I mean, if you want to talk about carts and a little bit about them, I've helped fix wheels. We can talk about carts. Show them the picture, Seth. Show them the picture. Don't fuck off. It's my own picture. I'm not going to... Oh, there's a picture. I like looking at pictures. The shading is excellent. Is it from the Argus catalog? No, it's not one of the Argus. Is that a fireplace? No, listen. All I'm getting at... Don't listen. It was for you. He's talking to you about that. I apologize. Just to let you know, I think it's a cracking plan. Let's fix the robot man. Let's go and fuck them. Are you a bit of an artist, Seth?
01:52:30
Speaker
No, I'm not near an artist. I'm getting to my point is that I am very good at driving shit. I get a lot of training with the slipguard surge on vehicles.
01:52:40
Speaker
Some might say I am proficient at one of the tools I have, the LED vehicles. He's also an artist. Trust me. He's an artist. Ooh, I can appreciate a bit of artwork. I'm going to bed. I'm very sunburned. Should we sort out a watch order? I don't care, I'm going to bed. Trust me, Emron.
01:53:02
Speaker
There is no living or undead. What about that glowing blue thing over there? Chances are, my friend, I'll be awake. We discover it tomorrow. How will I? Nix doesn't sleep. For now. It's a weird thing.
01:53:20
Speaker
I might as well lean into it. Do you want like, I mean, I can, I can, I can try and knock you out. I'm okay. I'm okay. Not there yet. I'm just trying to be honest. I'm not there yet. I was just trying to, you know, I got your back. In a friendly way. Yes. Yeah.
01:53:41
Speaker
I mean, if you need help relaxing, the office still stands. Alpha. I'm going to leave that. I'm going to, and everyone gets his bed roll out. Yes, James. What are you thinking about this plan? Just quickly. What do you think, Alpha? I believe personal investment would
01:54:10
Speaker
warrants self-preservation. That didn't answer my question. How are you feeling? I do not like putting the upcrico to one side for something of my own foolish making. That wasn't foolish. Everyone reacts with emotions. Yours just has this consequence. It wasn't a foolish action.
01:54:37
Speaker
I do not regret my actions. Well, there you go. But I do believe they may have been foolish. Nah. Pick to fight with a more powerful being. It makes you human. Passion can make fools of us all. Human is probably the last word I would have used to describe myself. That makes you more human.
01:55:06
Speaker
Interesting, but a group of non-humans are passing description on making people humans, but Seth and maybe I'm sorry, is that term only allowed to be used by you? No, I'm not a human. I'm an elf. I think that's the key. We should all go to bed now that we've been pretty racist towards humans. Maybe, maybe the sun has eddled our brains. Shut the fuck up and go to sleep.
01:55:35
Speaker
Plus, if we have a card, we could store supplies in it. Just saying, good night. God. Get me a card. So. As eyes begin to feel heavy. Mom's spaghetti. These week, particularly from Emron and Sir.
01:55:58
Speaker
All of you who can begin to drift off, Seth, you turn just as you are on that edge of sleep, just as your eyes are about to shut. You rest, staring at that blue glow in the distance. And there's this pulse, just this pulse. And all of the hairs on your body stand on end. You lose your breath for a second as you stare at this,
01:56:29
Speaker
And it's almost like, you know, when you're falling asleep and you jolt and suddenly you come back entirely awake and your heart is racing, five, six seconds pass and you're back at that state of slumber. That is where we're going to end this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop.
01:56:53
Speaker
Ooh, it's a wee boy! That's a hefty episode. What a chonk. What a chonk you've all listened to. Thank you very much for listening to our chonky girth, the massive huge episode. We hope you enjoyed it. And if you did, feel free to like, subscribe, review, rate, tell a friend, tell a loved one, tell everyone about this podcast, because it's the best way to show us some love, because we love you.
01:57:20
Speaker
If you wanted to keep up to date with the podcast you can do so. I'm gonna have to start thinking of something else because I don't update the X page let's be honest not a lot of people like X at the moment because of the old Elon gate thing but if you wanted to see what we used to post on there.
01:57:37
Speaker
We have an X page, it's that fellowship table and we used to post on our individual pages which you can find too. I'm at iWorld1, Callum's at TheD20Gamer, Darren's at Darren Page A6, Alpha Will is at Natural20Will, Mark is at PastyWorldDM
01:57:55
Speaker
Where is that? I was gonna fight for it then. Fellowship NPC, PC. And our extraordinary DM can be found at Total Party Thrills. Until the next time, guys. Farewell.