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Ep. 21 - Wildheart - Bunk Buddies
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Two days pass since the events of the Surge. Falco and Rok come to terms with the changes to their group dynamics. They explore their surroundings and meet a handy dandy plot hook in the meantime. Rif'a continues to recover but the toll on her body may be too great. Priestess Iradia - a senior Tidecaller who refused the call to High Haven - tasks the group with recovery and making the Tidecaller tower their home for as long as they need. With exhaustion setting in, what route will the group take now? Will they recover from the loss? And will Falco every find his hat again…
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Transcript
Introduction to Bartonus' Quest and Wild Heart
00:00:14
Speaker
land where legends grow Tidal surges rise and flow Golden treasures deep below Time to get moist, here we go
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Speaker
Gold on emerald shores, glory's felt in ancient lore. Bartonus aims to heal his scars, to color chosen stone and stars.
00:00:44
Speaker
In wild hearts land where legends grow, tidal surges rise and flow. Golden treasures deep below, time to get moist, here we go.
Exploring Additional Content and Promotions
00:00:59
Speaker
Welcome to Wild Heart, the Tidesurge Gambit. Want to explore more? Head to fellowshipofthetabletop.co.uk for maps, lore, and our latest blog. Check out the Interregnums dropping every other Tuesday, and Bellem Draconis, our sister podcast releasing every Friday.
00:01:16
Speaker
Now, let's dive in.
Dreams and Visions: Memories and Surreal Imagery
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Speaker
Darkness penetrates, and a deafening silence. A coldness in your limbs, and something...
00:01:28
Speaker
hard like stone behind your head and silence and time.
00:01:35
Speaker
And then rock what you feel what you experience first is a ah dream. And the first dream is a repetition of your dream states.
00:01:49
Speaker
When you last remember fighting the dream of the training, A dream of being back in Highridge Haven. A dream of being under tutelage and of learning and of combat.
00:02:03
Speaker
And that same vision returns to you again.
00:02:09
Speaker
Yet it feels somewhat distorted. The faces twist in a circular fashion. And dark snow begins to fall.
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Speaker
And the vision dissolves.
00:02:25
Speaker
And what you see instead is this swirling dusk of water turned blood red. ah giant wave rising from the depths and sweeping across a barren plain, a wall of fury and despair.
00:02:40
Speaker
Figures emerging from the crimson foam, these spectral, skeletal, disfigured faces all gaunt and hollow, with the cheeks pinched in, murmuring a litany of loss.
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Speaker
The sky weeps, dark, heavy rain. There's a sense and a feeling of nihilism, of a lack of promise, of a relentless grinding resolve towards an end.
00:03:14
Speaker
Nothing really visually shows you that, but you you get a sense of that, a feeling of that deep within you.
00:03:22
Speaker
and very quickly somehow either it is pushed away or it it it dissipates and falls away and returns to a memory that you have a real memory another memory of your past
00:03:36
Speaker
Would you mind telling us what it is that you encounter, what you feel, what you return
Rock's Nostalgic Recollection and Falco's Existential Reflections
00:03:42
Speaker
to? And this is removing you from this sense of impending dread and doom that sits and rots in your stomach.
00:03:49
Speaker
Something dissolves that feeling and it's the return of a different memory, a real memory. Okay.
00:03:58
Speaker
Uh... yeah you see or or rock sees himself aboard a ship and he is being commanded to climb climb up the kind of the mast, climb his way towards the crow's nest and below him are various sailors going about their business, transporting goods on the ship ah but his sole mission is just focused on getting himself as high as he can and he he's younger, he's a lot younger and he is
00:04:37
Speaker
ah thoroughly enjoying the thrill of the wind ah through his fresh face, no beard, still no hair, but no beard at this point, ah just climbing and climbing and climbing as quickly as he can up to this crow's nest and in front seeing kind of the coast of Wild Heart arriving. That, I think, would be a ah nice memory for him.
00:05:04
Speaker
And as this younger... less experienced but just as kind of green when it comes to the emotional states and social situations of the world a version of rock looks out over the horizon maybe towards the direction of the sun the setting sun or the morning sun ah your eyes start to blur and the sun is replaced by what seems to be a ah candle.
00:05:33
Speaker
A candle close to your face, not two or three feet away from you. And then darkness. Nothing but darkness and the cold.
00:05:45
Speaker
Falco, you also experience a series of memories, hallucinations, deep-stated sweating mid-dreams, whatever you want to call them.
00:05:58
Speaker
And again, the first one is one that you do not control. And the second one is one that you return to, that pulls you back from the brink, pulls you away from this unrelenting force that pulls you forward.
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Speaker
But your vision is different.
00:06:14
Speaker
Yours is the... It opens with an image of a the embers of a fire. slowly dissipating cracked large logs into a stone pit.
00:06:30
Speaker
There's a quiet persistent dripping of water on ancient rock around you. Doesn't look ancient but you know it's ancient. The stones bear the faint image of once great beings.
00:06:44
Speaker
Their visages are contorted in anguish. There's a cold wind that rustles through the fissures and one of them almost seems to whisper a name, but the name you just can't catch.
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Speaker
In the distance, the stars tremble and the air itself quivers with dark inescapable promise.
00:07:12
Speaker
Something distant, something incalculable and in size and power could be reawakened.
00:07:22
Speaker
and could be swept away with the tide.
00:07:26
Speaker
And just at that last moment where you're kind of your psyche, your your mindset is drawn towards the stars, towards the incalculableness of the size and the scope of kind of infinite power, infinite possibility. And and suddenly it all starts to kind of unravel in terms of how inescapably small you are as an individual.
00:07:48
Speaker
Something again pulls you back, this memory, this feeling, this concept that's not really fully formed pushes itself aside or dissipates down and is replaced. by one of your own memories, again, from your past, something that revives your morality, that that brings that warmth to your chest, that would bring a smile to your face if you were conscious.
00:08:13
Speaker
What would that be?
00:08:17
Speaker
think that would be his own hand, silhouetted, like held up above him against bright sunlight, And as like God rays are streaming through, almost almost like he's trying to grab them, there are loads of dust in the air from horses' hooves, and blurred behind his hand, rows and rows of seats filled with cheering members of a crowd.
00:08:49
Speaker
And again, that that roar of the crowd, that tingle on the back of your neck when when when there's that palpable oneness of ah of a large group of people doing something experiencing something as a whole as one and the feeling it gives falco the roar of the crowd blends almost with your memory of the roar of the title search that that happened not a few hours ago and and and it's a mix between hatred and and love and loss and power and and a confusion
00:09:26
Speaker
And it fades away to again, just this, the dripping, the dripping from the memory, the previous memory returns again. But, and again, you, you also see a candle, a single candle in darkness.
00:09:40
Speaker
And both of you simultaneously awaken.
Awakening in Darkness: Exhaustion and Missing Items
00:09:45
Speaker
You are not dead. You are very much in a place. You see darkness around you.
00:09:53
Speaker
You feel cold stone behind your head. Your arms are free, your legs are free, and yet both of you have this incalculable lethargy about you.
00:10:05
Speaker
Like you've just been through an incredibly difficult situation for a while. And a couple of things though, as you as you before you properly come around, I'll just explain kind of mechanically.
00:10:17
Speaker
Firstly, you have no items. Every single item you had in your inventory has been taken from you. no you still You still have your clothes on.
00:10:28
Speaker
ah good. I think for everyone's for everyone's calmness, no one wants to see Rock's package um just yet. Yeah, so all your items good. Your clothing, you still have your clothing.
00:10:39
Speaker
Except for Falco, your hat. Yes! has been my first question yeah yeah i'm sorry that's been so i'll let you figure that out how it's not there but that will not be in your current vicinity um you also have because of the actions the physical and mental drain that it's had on you both incurred uh a couple of levels of exhaustion oh rock because of your physical uh like outpouring on the tidal surge getting out and the speed and tenacity you got out and then the way in which you channeled so much of your new level three stuff ah in terms of accessing a lot of that that new abilities has left you with three levels of exhaustion oh
00:11:28
Speaker
Falco less physically because a lot of Garry quite physically carried you for a lot of it. um But nonetheless, given the combat and your kind of general wear and tear, you've ah gathered two levels of exhaustion.
00:11:44
Speaker
So that's going to be a a reduction in um your movement speed by times five. So 15 foot for rock, 10 foot for Falco, and then ah and then a minus six for rock, minus four for Falco for...
00:11:57
Speaker
Rolls. Nice. I believe. and So something to bear in mind for yourself. There'll be ways and means of getting rid of that, obviously, maybe, possibly, depends on where you are, what you are. So a couple of other things you notice, both of you candles, both of you hear rustling next to you.
00:12:16
Speaker
As you come to, you re I'll give this away. Then you come to and you're in a room, a stone room. There's a window it's dark outside, or at least the window is covered up by something. It's dark. These candles are lit either side of you. You seem to both be in kind of cots, kind of day bed cots, um, with nothing but stone underneath them.
00:12:34
Speaker
Uh, realistically, there's nothing else in the room, but the candles on small wooden side tables and a, a closed wooden door at the end of a relatively small room, about 15 foot. So, uh, it's 15 foot square room.
00:12:47
Speaker
And you both kind of rustle and come... Okay, so we're both in the same route on the set, like next to each other. yeah Correct, yeah. Okay.
00:12:59
Speaker
What was the eyebrow raise? Is Rock Big Spoon? Can I roll for Big Spoon? He is the biggest spoon.
00:13:15
Speaker
um Yeah, coming to and kind of seeing that, he'll kind of blink heavily, try and look around and is it it, I know it's a stupid question, it's just the two of us in the room.
00:13:31
Speaker
so he will give me every yeah give me but will give me a perception check just i'll give you what you've you'll passively take in but you give perception okay excuse me give some and i will minus off the six to oh it's a good roll as well uh minus six from it is 16. wow okay jesus christ even with a minus six rock rolls well yeah with the 16 you notice that there are two more of these kind of beds Where your yours are, they're kind of butting heads up, headboards against the wall.
00:14:04
Speaker
There's an against the, sorry, against one wall for your head. And then one side of the bed lays up against the wall on the other side as well. um Both of you have little side tables next to you. Further down at your feet are another two beds with two more kind of side tables.
00:14:19
Speaker
ah No one is in them. They're kind of primly made beds. Yours are not so primly made as you've been in them. Cool. ah just no else physically sorry There's one else physically in the room apart from that. I'm with you.
00:14:32
Speaker
I'm with you. Rock's going to kind of dazedly kind of raise his head a little bit and just say, Reefer, Falco, Garrick, oh, I don't feel good.
00:14:45
Speaker
Oh.
00:14:53
Speaker
ah You know, like, there's a video of the the scruffy dog with his tongue out.
00:15:01
Speaker
ah He, like, lifts his head and looks over at Rock.
00:15:08
Speaker
Oh, God.
00:15:11
Speaker
Oh, wait.
00:15:14
Speaker
Hang on. It's just you and me.
00:15:20
Speaker
I guess so. where Where's Rifa?
00:15:25
Speaker
I don't know. ah remember her falling, dropping to the floor, and Garak was... Oh.
00:15:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:44
Speaker
Garak wasn't there.
00:15:48
Speaker
oh Shit, we lost them both? i I don't know. i saw Reefa drop and I ran to you and...
00:16:02
Speaker
We were fighting and and Rock's going to kind of look down somewhat. Is he still kind of covered in shank wounds from ah the fight? Does it look like anything has dressed them?
00:16:15
Speaker
Are they kind of still there, but healing? What's his physical outlook on himself? yeah So as you look down over your incredibly chiseled, gorgeous Adonis body, and you noticed that you notice that um they've been... You can quite clearly see that they've been cleaned. and Your wounds have been seen too.
00:16:36
Speaker
Some of the largest of the shanks, as you put it, have been stitched um quite neatly from what you can see. i mean, it looks like a neat job. It's not just done by something
Analyzing Attackers and Exploring the Unlocked Tower
00:16:47
Speaker
else.
00:16:47
Speaker
you know it's It's quite a neat... what i'm to say it's a symmetrical kind of weave fuck it who cares basically yes you've been it looks like you've been looked after um i should also say in terms of health you're 100 you're 100 hp um you've had a you've had the equivalent of a long rest but the exhaustion is to make up for the fact that you've you've gone through ah a um an ordeal of it equivalent of a tpk here the um you also notice that on the on the table next to you there's a kind of ah a a pitcher of water and a couple of just kind of pewter mugs sat there as well that um that seem untouched.
00:17:24
Speaker
this nothing else discernible from your current position that you can tell. But yeah, your wounds look dressed and, Rock, if you looked at Falco or Falco, you looked yourself, you would notice the same thing that those hits you took to the clavicle, to the arms, to the body, to the legs have been kind of dressed or supported or plinthed in some way in order to recover you.
00:17:51
Speaker
Cool. Rock's going to kind of swing his legs off the bed and and go to stand up in like a a kind of, how he normally would, but probably stumble a little bit and head kind of shaking around a bit and kind of gather his balance. ah And he'll he'll look down at Falco and go, where's your hat?
00:18:13
Speaker
What? but we we it It's got to be here somewhere. I'll look under the bed. ah the I'll look under the sheets, I'll look under the pillow of the beds that hasn't, I'll rip all the bedding the beddding ah two beds that haven't been slept in.
00:18:29
Speaker
Where's all our stuff? Your head is so small without the hat. don't Don't look at my head. Where's my head? Is anyone else here? I'll shout as loud as I can in the south. Is anybody out there?
00:18:47
Speaker
i the room kind of reverberates, the noise kind of reverberates around the room and there's a couple of seconds of silence as you wait and there's no response.
00:18:58
Speaker
well Where are we?
00:19:01
Speaker
Hey, my stuff's gone too. Really? You look the same. Well, I mean... like Pretty sure I've still got the same clothes on. So do you, apart from the the hat that's gone. but Yeah, yeah, yeah. My hat's missing. I know. It's top of my priority list. so um You didn't see anyone come in here? like you You've been stitched up pretty good. There must have been someone around, right?
00:19:26
Speaker
I mean, I guess this, it looks quite neatly done. i don't think... I don't know why those people would have stabbed us and then kind of stitched it up afterwards.
00:19:39
Speaker
I don't think it was them. ah Well, who were those people? Do you recognise him?
00:19:46
Speaker
Very good question. Very good question, Falco. DM, did Rock recognise any of them? Because he's fought these all similar, I assume, cronies before. Are these similar in garb? Were they similar in garb to the ones that were fought in the kind of the tavern before getting to Stormspire? Or the ones that we'd met in Stormspire?
00:20:06
Speaker
Or is this just completely different? ah give me a him i'm not making a history check it's not history it's it's very no no no they are okay totally different they are different unlike anything you've really seen before and they were better than both parties that you fought as well okay um they were more professional they as you think back to that series of combat they're tactical thinking was much better.
00:20:32
Speaker
Their weaponry was better. Their stance and positioning and and just attack patterns were just overall they were much more efficient or you were just shattered from from going through a life-changing event.
00:20:46
Speaker
Either way, it it just it felt very different compared to the other two earlier on. did they Do I remember any kind of ah insignia or like any particular style of outfit? Or were they all kind of in dark leathers, that that like non-distinct?
00:21:02
Speaker
Did they seem to be kind of anything matching the these ah villains together? Curse you. Yes. um they i think I described it as they were wearing kind of dark green kind of hoods, dark green cloaks. a Kind of forest clothes.
00:21:20
Speaker
darker than forest green kind of like almost of deep briny green color relatively normal in terms of a color you might expect people to wear but that was one thing you noticed the uniform or they all had absolutely blended into the crowd but the minute you were looking for it you could you could see it yeah but in terms of insignias or any kind of specific individuals with specific characteristics that stood out.
00:21:42
Speaker
It just blended into, into you know, foe and friend, and that's that's the way it kind of ended up. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you. ah Rock kind of will head over to the door and just give it a kind of polite knock.
00:22:01
Speaker
ah Roll to hit? No, yeah, the door. ado um ah Yeah, you can knock on the door. Yeah, but any response?
00:22:10
Speaker
Nothing, no. None? I'll try the handle. Is it locked? Is it unlocked? It's unlocked. It's a kind of a twist and the latch kind of comes up and the door comes towards you into the room on a series of hinges. Quite a thin wooden door.
00:22:25
Speaker
As D&D goes, this is like the quickest people have gotten through doors, I think. Just... just find out to Yeah, yeah. Okay. impression Is it unlocked? No, it's not. but Success! Okay, what do I see? Sorry, what do I see? What do I see? Yeah. good So what you see directly in front of you is ah two more doors, one to the right, one to the left, and then a spiral staircase directly in front of you.
00:22:46
Speaker
and There is a kind of a plinth, not plinth, a sconce with a torch that has fire um in in it. Fire in it. There's a lit sconce. Yes, you can see.
00:22:58
Speaker
Two doors and a staircase. Okay, awesome. He'll turn back to Falco. I... Are you coming? I mean, it looks like there's some stairs going up couple more doors.
00:23:10
Speaker
Oh, I'm down. Sorry. I'm down. There's some stairs going down, too. They do that sometimes. Wow, that's the stairs. Well, good job getting through the door right now. We just need to find something sharp we can fight our way out of here with.
00:23:23
Speaker
I don't really use that kind of stuff, and and but okay. I mean, let's have a look. yeah There must be something, some kind of object we can use to, to serve death to those who have captured us.
00:23:38
Speaker
I usually use my hands and, uh, and you'll kind of questioningly think for a second there. I, wow, I think the training actually worked.
00:23:54
Speaker
I was, no, was that a dream? was Was I kind of on um fire a little bit and kind was there, was I channeling the elements when we were fighting?
00:24:05
Speaker
Yeah, well, there was some fire, there was some electricity, but i'm pretty sure it came from the cursed mask that I was holding up. You see, I cursed all the guys and if they attacked you, they would get get smited by the elements.
00:24:18
Speaker
Right. so So you're welcome. No, oh no, thank you for that. No, because I thought, I've never not been able to do it properly. Master Kosha kind of with was training me, but I never quite got it. and i Okay, I thought I had it last time. Oh, wait, that's what you've been training to do?
00:24:34
Speaker
Well, it's kind of, i well, it's the Fetulia Moi, the name that I've given myself for the the mastery of the elements. Like, I never quite got it, and like I thought I'd name myself. I'm getting away from myself.
00:24:46
Speaker
We got to find that mask. If the mask is the thing that kind of channels that energy, that's... i mean, yeah, it's to get out of here, isn't it? Into fame and glory. If you can channel the elements with this mask.
00:24:59
Speaker
I guess so. That must be it.
00:25:03
Speaker
Falco's going to... His patter will, like, cease like he's exhausted. um is All right, look, Rok, I'm going to be level with you.
00:25:16
Speaker
I'm cutting the bullshit. I've told a lot of lies in my time. And I think I'm going to turn the page here.
00:25:24
Speaker
I had nothing to do with that. I'm pretty sure that was all you down there at the fight. i don't think we need to find that mask. It's, you it's probably more trouble than it's worth.
00:25:37
Speaker
Well, not if that mask was from the dive. I mean, it must be worth quite a lot of money, and if... I mean, who's to say that it didn't channel some sort of elemental power? How do you... Do you know that for sure?
00:25:54
Speaker
Because I made up some shit and waved it in the air. Well, that was... I mean, you you fooled me. Yeah. Oh, really?
00:26:05
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. ah yeah You know, that's that's my thing. You know, you have your fists. I have my mouth.
00:26:17
Speaker
Oh, God. Well, maybe we can put my fists in your mouth to good use. Okay. We're going to make one hell of a team, buddy. I mean, first things first, maybe Rifa's in one of these doors. What do you reckon? Do you reckon heads or tails?
00:26:33
Speaker
ah Do we prioritize us getting out of here, or do we need to find her? Well, if if we we're in this room and she wasn't, maybe she's in one of these, but I just want to know, which one do we do we take? Do we take the tails, or do we take the heads? ah Is there a ladies' symbol? Because we're we're probably in the men's room.
00:26:49
Speaker
Good point. I'll turn around. Is there anything on the back of the door? There is nothing on the door, no. Okay, i'll go I'll go and investigate the other two doors. Is there a lady symbol? There are no lady symbols that you can see. You do also notice, though, that the doors look very similar to the own door your own door that you have come out of.
00:27:07
Speaker
Okay. ah No, that's no good. I can't see anything. Okay, well, um oh, hey it's like a riddle. and We do the, your fits, my mouth, that's head, right?
00:27:21
Speaker
Take heads. Okay. Okay, heads it is. I'll take the door on the right. Okay. And as you ah go to the, open the handle of the door, you open it up and it's almost an identical room to the room you've just left.
00:27:34
Speaker
Not identical in a weird way, but just those four beds. There's a number of ah kind of side tables. There's no water on these. and There's no candles lit. There's no one in it. they All four beds are not made. They are kind of a jumble of clothes on each one.
00:27:50
Speaker
It looks like it's been left either been ransacked or it's been left in a hurry because nothing, the even the side tables are a little bit out of skew. um It just feels a little bit odd that, yeah, your room was actually quite well put together. This room is not.
00:28:06
Speaker
Okay. Reefer, you in here? He'll say to the empty room. There's no response. You notice there is a window at the far end as well. And again, it's darkness.
00:28:19
Speaker
No. No, she wasn't here. Maybe she's Tails. Check Tails. ah Okay. that' sorry rock I'll go to Tails. Okay. Left.
00:28:29
Speaker
Sorry. Oh, no, I got you. jesus I was there at its inception. Don't you worry. Yep. You open the Tails door and it gets the same kind of lift latch mechanism. and The door swings open, creaky door, and in front of you,
00:28:42
Speaker
is a very similar picture again, but this time there are almost bunk beds. ah So there's eight spaces for beds here. Again, each of these, there's one or two beds that still have what look like some kind of satchel upon it, emptied satchel.
00:28:57
Speaker
ah the The four side tables have been all pushed to the very back of the room. There are a few items of clothing left on the floor as well. Again, it gives the same impression that either this people who lived here are no longer here, obviously, that the room is empty for people, that they are either relatively messy, or this has been ransacked, or it's been left in a hurry.
00:29:21
Speaker
Uh, Reefer? Are you in here? Again, no response. Uh, Hat? Hat, are you in here? The hat doesn't respond. to damn it.
00:29:35
Speaker
It looks like we've got to go up or down the stairs. No, good point. I didn't try the hat thing, though. Uh, hat! Oh.
00:29:42
Speaker
No, it's not here either. Okay. Ah, shit. like that you didn't wait for me to tell you that it didn't. No, I know. I'm not. I don't do that. I don't do that. Pat slides out from under the floor. I'm here. didn't call me. Gryffindor.
00:29:57
Speaker
Falco. Welcome home.
00:30:02
Speaker
I'm going to talk the whole way through the campaign.
00:30:07
Speaker
Um, Rock, could you roll a D4 for me, please? ah Do I subtract six? No, no, no. Just give me, it just so I'm not making the roll so someone else can decide. Minus every time. Yes. Yes, it is. That's that's the highest I could roll.
00:30:22
Speaker
Uh, it's a five. Oh, wait, shit. you said a D4. Four, yeah. You're so I'm so exhausted. It's a three. Three. Okay, cool.
00:30:33
Speaker
Um, yep. Thank you.
00:30:37
Speaker
Okay. What are you going to do? What are doing? i Sorry, I just kicked over a weird kind of thing on the floor. um Are we going up are we going down? ah Well, I mean, okay we how high are we when that was that was actual dialogue, by the way? How high?
00:30:59
Speaker
It's a character thing. and when When we look out of the windows or when we looked out of the windows of the rooms, can we tell roughly, i know it's dark, but is there like a tree line or? Oh, you never really went to the window. we didn't have it. So I didn't.
00:31:11
Speaker
if you If you were to go to the window, okay, so if you pop yourself up on tippy toes, look out the window, it's quite a long, narrow window, kind of like, you know the ones that used medieval archers would have, but a bit wider than that, still quite a thick wall, but it slopes down on the edges towards it maybe about a foot wide in terms of the window. And as you look down from where you are, you see nothing but darkness from, wait, which window have you gone to? Are going to heads or tails or your one?
00:31:40
Speaker
ah the the The room that was in, the left room. The bunk bedroom. Yep. You'd see, you'd look you look out and you can just about make out the sky. You can see stars and you can then see the kind of the darkness of ground.
00:31:54
Speaker
Aside from that, there's no other light that you can see from that window.
00:31:59
Speaker
Okay. Would I be able to make a guesstimate of how high we are? Roughly? ah Yeah, give me a perception.
00:32:09
Speaker
Perceiving? yeah Yeah, perception.
00:32:16
Speaker
With the minus six, it's... Oh, it was a natural 20. No, you're minus four. Oh, minus four. You are, yeah.
00:32:27
Speaker
Because you've got two points of exhaustion, not... Yeah, then that would be... With a plus one, it would be 17. ah so Nice. Yeah, ah about 20 foot.
00:32:41
Speaker
20, 25 foot. Okay. You're on the top of a... It feels like the difference between being on a relatively medium-sized hill up a very big tree or two or three stories up.
00:32:59
Speaker
Any combination. from From that roll. Nice. Okay. Then will... nice okay the then i will callback to rock um there's probably a couple of floors below us and that's gonna be the way out doesn't seem too smart to go up okay well let's go down then okay let's go down together sounds good I always love going down with someone yeah after you oh okay you don't want to do it at the same time no no I insist you're a lot taller than I am and okay yeah I'll lead the way
00:33:39
Speaker
And as you head down all sexual innuendos at the forefront of our minds, you walk down the spiral staircase and it's stone floor. And again, you're listening out and they step seats down, pit-pat, pit-pat as you make your way down.
00:33:54
Speaker
And you're about... one and a half curls of the way around and you can kind of feel that it's going to end and there'll be ah another open space of the of the floor below when a figure um is walking up the stairs and is going to meet you halfway up.
Reuniting with Alara and Discussion on Rifa's Condition
00:34:13
Speaker
three quarters the way down whatever and all you see to begin with is this kind of dark mass of of material of of of something thick and and a strong smell and then you see a face appear and a long black beard below it and a pair of eyes that look up towards you uh rock as you're kind of dominating it and you're probably two or three steps above as well
00:34:40
Speaker
Oh, you're awake now, are you?
00:34:46
Speaker
Yeah, we called and knocked on the doors, but no one came. I thought I heard something I was coming upstairs to see.
00:34:55
Speaker
Right. ah Well, it's ah it's about a floor and a half that way, if you need. um But we're on our way down. We were trying to find our things. My friend Falco, he's he's lost his hat, and I've lost everything.
00:35:08
Speaker
i don't suppose you have it. I see. I understand. I might not be the best person to speak to regarding this.
00:35:20
Speaker
ah Keep going down.
00:35:25
Speaker
Okay. Thank you. Just keep following it down. Not this floor. One more down. And hopefully then, you'll have some answers.
00:35:37
Speaker
Zaleth is my name, by the way. Oh, hi, Xaelith. My name is Raka-Harangui-Likopeculasa-Hokea-Fetulia-Moi, and this is my friend, Falco.
00:35:48
Speaker
Hey, I know. I know who you are. I know. oh How do you know who we are? Just, and he's going to just shake his head and smile and just keep going.
00:35:59
Speaker
All will be explained, I'm sure. Just keep making your way down. One more floor. Your friend is down there, so don't worry. She's... She's doing better.
00:36:13
Speaker
With that, Rock... Yeah, Rock will kind of... Well, he can't sprint down the stairs because he's slower than he should be. But he's still... i think I'm just trying to think. too wrap i think i'm yeah I think I might still be absolutely... i think I've got a 30-foot walking speed now.
00:36:29
Speaker
Now that this is reduced. So Rock will, yeah, with that, we' will kind of excitedly start making his way down the steps at pace. Hey, slow down! As you curl around the corner, you see again, you see three more doors in a similar fashion, one, two, three at the end, um as you first went down. this and As you curl around again towards the the bottom floor, the staircase stops.
00:36:52
Speaker
And what you see in front of you is one large circular room. ah One far side of it are a pair of large doors large double wooden doors to one end.
00:37:03
Speaker
um And in the very center of this room is a large pool of water um that seems to have been etched out of the sides of the stone and down deep into the water with a series of glomar, glomar,
00:37:16
Speaker
a fauna growing at the base of it which gives this this uh luminescent light to the whole space and it's lit only by that and there are two figures that you can see down there sorry three figures that you can see down there there's one very tall very slim figure stood dressed all in long long robes off to the side you can't see at the moment this person has got their back to you this figure has his back to you you can also see reefer in the pool of water Her legs ah are bandaged again and again.
00:37:50
Speaker
She is unconscious and sitting, standing over her, holding her head is very clearly the face of Alara. Not just the face, the body and everything else that goes along with it. But Alara is kind of holding and you can see she's kind of, Falco, you probably recognize this, that she's gesturing st at the elements of ah of a spell or something over her.
00:38:09
Speaker
And you can see these kind of calming elements being kind of passed on into her. You've been around When Garrick used cure wounds and things like that, it's obviously a spell that is similar to that that she's trying to imbue upon ah upon Rifa.
00:38:25
Speaker
Upon you running down the stairs, she notices you and very gently places the head of Rifa back on the edge of the pool with her legs reaching out across the water. It must be salted water or something because she seems to float on the surface, her legs kind of suspended out over the center of this pool and she starts to make her way round towards you.
00:38:46
Speaker
And then just spend a bit of time looking at you both and then kind of looking over rock, especially your, your wounds as you are kind of, they're more obvious there. And she doesn't say anything.
00:39:03
Speaker
Uh, Oh cool. You do, you do water massage here. Um, I haven't got any gold cause it was all stolen, but if I can go next, this, This is to keep your friend from whatever is befallen her legs.
00:39:21
Speaker
I'm glad you both came to.
00:39:25
Speaker
She okay. She'll live. It's working what we're doing at the moment, but we don't know what it is, what happened, but it was.
00:39:45
Speaker
wow She got, well, not caught in the surge, but she came out just before it hit.
00:39:58
Speaker
And I think took some of the force from it there. ah
00:40:05
Speaker
I saw. It was different, that one. There was something wrong with it.
00:40:14
Speaker
What was wrong with it? It shouldn't do that, and she's pointing to Rufus' legs. We've had people make it out just... and they're... that doesn't happen.
00:40:28
Speaker
What usually happens to their legs? Sometimes it's an arm, sometimes they hide in cracks and crevices and it's an arm or something, but there's some sometimes potent magical properties that happen to the arm, but
00:40:45
Speaker
It hurts. It's like getting hit by a really big wave, you know? It doesn't do this. It was burning her at one point. And then it was freezing.
00:40:57
Speaker
It's... I've never seen anything like it.
00:41:03
Speaker
Can I... I should pro... Sorry. Can I see her? Can I... Talk to her? Is she... course. She's there, but she's not awake, but she'll hear you.
00:41:17
Speaker
Right. And Rock will kind of wade into the water towards her. and she'll step back out of the way. Like I said, there's a good kind of 15 feet's worth of circumference around this pool.
00:41:29
Speaker
As you get closer, you also realize that on one of the walls adorned near it is a large, you know, like ah a bolt from a crossbow, quite long straight bolt. There's one of those etched into the wall with a number of stars around it and rock. You definitely recognize that as one of the sigils of the Tidecaller's, one of the sigils they use to, to, uh,
00:41:52
Speaker
They don't sell the fact that they're Tidecallers because this' it's it's a to gift, it' something that they're modest about it, but they they use it in places that belong to Tidecallers and you especially would recognize that element. um And especially here, they've done something with the Gloimos to kind of light up, luminescently light up some of the stars um that make up some of the constellations that that you would know of as well. And you can kind of pick out one or two of them um that might be prominent at the time. And it's obviously some way of kind of mapping some of the stars as as they move in their constellations.
00:42:28
Speaker
as as as the Earth moves. So you you kind of see that at the corner of your eyes, you start to move and wade in towards the water. Her legs are in towards the middle of the water, which is about 15 feet deep, um and kind of floating on the surface, and her head is at the opposite end, nearest the nearest the doors.
00:42:44
Speaker
But again, the doors are 15 feet away from her from that well. Okay. ah What he'll do is he'll make his way round not to swim through, make his way round the kind of the side and drop into the water and kind of next to her.
00:42:55
Speaker
And he'll kind of just grab her hand in his and and then grab the other hand in his and lightly kind of headbutt her, but not not in like a brutal way. She sustains five points of blood. No, no. And she's dead. um And he will kind of, yeah, yeah.
00:43:16
Speaker
And as he kind of pulls his head back and lets go of of each hand, he'll just say, you hang in there. Get yourself better.
00:43:26
Speaker
Looks like you're in the right Sorry. looks When you say that and you've just done the light headbutt to her and you're looking at her tiefling features and her face, you can see her eyes.
00:43:36
Speaker
ah You know, like kind of REM sleep where the eyes move underneath the the the closed lid. You can kind of get the impression of that. And there's there's there something restless about her.
00:43:47
Speaker
Either it's that you know as a person she likes to be active, she is a doer, and that this stillness is is driving her crazy, or that she's having ah a bad dream or or a restless dream. You can see dogs and they start twitching because they're running after stuff.
00:44:04
Speaker
I'm not saying Rufa's a dog, but I'm i'm saying that it's the same kind of equivalent. There's little twitches of movement like she's reenacting something in a dream, perhaps, but you get that impression. Yeah, cool.
00:44:16
Speaker
And he'll kind of nod down at her, even though she can't see because her eyes are closed, and he'll turn back and and make his way back towards Falco.
00:44:29
Speaker
Is she alive?
00:44:36
Speaker
i She was when I left her. And he'll turn around and have a look. she said Oh, that good. but But her legs... Amputation, right? That's the only option.
00:44:48
Speaker
Oh no. Is that the only option, Ilara? Yeah, I'm pretty clued up in these medicinal things. We're looking into different options here. It hasn't... It hasn't got to that stage yet, but if we don't see an improvement soon, then... I think that will be our only option before... If it spreads or anything.
00:45:10
Speaker
It's been two days and it hasn't moved much. But we're hoping it'll subside. But it's done a number on her skin.
00:45:21
Speaker
Did you say it's been two days? Since the double surge, yes.
00:45:27
Speaker
Rock's eyes will kind of tick over in his head.
00:45:33
Speaker
Falco, it's been two days. That means it's been at least... We've been asleep for a long time.
00:45:42
Speaker
Yeah. Um, well, that's okay. What, did you have an appointment somewhere?
00:45:50
Speaker
No, not really. It's just all I thought if, if we were going to get your hat or maybe get the things that have been, had been taken, ah we could go charging after them. But if it's been two days, they're going to be quite far away.
00:46:10
Speaker
Yeah, look, ah Rock, I'll be honest with you. I'm on the back foot here. ah We haven't got any resources. We got no weapons. You've got your mouth. I've got my hands.
00:46:22
Speaker
I've got my mouth, but it's only good in certain situations.
00:46:28
Speaker
Can't you find other ways to use it?
00:46:33
Speaker
It's got me in trouble in the past. I'm trying to turn a new leaf here.
00:46:40
Speaker
right Ilar, did you see what happened in in the the fight after the dive? Did you see those guys?
00:46:51
Speaker
I watched it all take place and I hid in the crowd waiting for the moment that I could step in and my, and she looks down at this point, a kind of long greenish hair falling down over her face slightly and she moves it back behind her ear.
00:47:08
Speaker
My courage failed me And when I thought I would, when I knew that final blow was going to come in and I was stepping in and I was going to stop it, something pulled me back.
00:47:25
Speaker
So for that, I'm sorry. But I did the next best thing after they robbed you of your items, after they took what you'd rightly won and found in the title search.
00:47:40
Speaker
myself and drift and some of the others around. We, we came to your aid, hatched up your wounds and, and brought you here.
00:47:51
Speaker
Drift. Drift. Is he okay? Where's drift? He's fine. He said he, he's got an orc friend that has a bench he can sleep on. I, I don't know what he meant, but he said you'd understand.
00:48:05
Speaker
He said he'd pop back in a day or two. He came yesterday. Yeah, back here. He said he he came yesterday and he checked on you both and he said he's um he's looking for them, but it'll be safe.
00:48:20
Speaker
Okay. i I'm not going to be able to pay him. Oh no. Okay. Bigger problems. Um, I didn't tell you.
00:48:33
Speaker
So they, Falco, I'm sorry. You, they took your things. They robbed you. They went for your items that you had from the surge and then just took everything anyway. And it wasn't, they were taking your clothes.
00:48:46
Speaker
They took your hat and they were taking the clothes off your back. But then some of the other people, you know, this stuff happens, which is why I wanted you to move quickly from the surge.
00:48:58
Speaker
um People had enough. There was a bunch of folk over at the over the blacksmiths who came over and started pushing and shoving. Two of them got stabbed, stopping them from taking the clothes off their back. They thought that was a step too far.
00:49:13
Speaker
And, you know, they they're doing all right, I think, but we brought you back here and helped, prayed to the, gosh, what remains of the surge for your for yourselves to come back round, but we weren't, we weren't holding our breath.
00:49:32
Speaker
No pun intended. And Rifa we've put in here.
00:49:40
Speaker
uh, and she's going to shoot to look over to the other figure in the room and then back to you. We haven't managed to find anything of Garrick.
00:49:50
Speaker
And for that, I'm, I am sorry.
00:50:00
Speaker
i am I know you're still probably processing all this.
00:50:06
Speaker
We're in Storm Spire still. The tight-coloured tower, you probably guessed. It's empty. It's just the four of us. Five, one, two, you three, and then us three.
00:50:18
Speaker
I think you met Xaeleth on the stairs. He was coming up. We heard his screaming. Sounded like a...
00:50:26
Speaker
don't know, sounded like a bat or something up there screaming, so we were going up to see what it was. And then um there's me, and then there's the priestess over there.
00:50:39
Speaker
Is everyone... Well, I know that lots of people were leaving before. Are you guys staying behind? you you staying in Stormspire? ah And again, her jaw kind of sets quite hard in her teeth. And again, her eyes flick over to the other figure in the room.
00:50:57
Speaker
And she speaks a little louder. I've made decision to stay.
00:51:05
Speaker
As have the other two here. Too big a building to to leave, to wreck and ruin. And at some point, we're going to want to come back.
00:51:18
Speaker
And I, like I said, I wanted to check on you guys, and I'm bloody glad I did now.
00:51:26
Speaker
Thank you, Ilara. Is there anything that we can do
00:51:32
Speaker
to make up for what you've done for us. I mean, these are pretty good bandages. The stitching work as well near my abs, my rock-hard abs.
00:51:43
Speaker
is It's amazing. It was difficult pulling the skin when it's so taut over. No, the... ah she she um She kind of puts her hands up and, no, please, given...
00:51:58
Speaker
what's happening at the moment what had just happened it's it's the least we could do you guys survived it that second surge i've been warning them and now it happens and i i'm conflicted there's a sense that i'm happy because i was right and then there's what happened and the effect that's gonna have you we were one place doing one dive This takes place all over Wild Heart.
00:52:28
Speaker
How many people died stuck in that? yeah We'll get numbers soon, but I don't wanna, and what's gonna do to the villages? What's gonna do to the farm lands?
00:52:41
Speaker
What's gonna do to the Tidewatch keep and the in the and and what they're doing there trying to harness parts of the surge? How's that affected the markets that hang over there?
00:52:52
Speaker
There's lots of questions. but But no, for me, there's nothing. There's nothing really you can do.
00:53:03
Speaker
But, and as she's about to say more, the the tall figure but kind of spins herself around and it's this very tall, very, very elegant, very pale skinned female elf that spins around and it's a long, long kind of draping material hanging, dripping off her.
00:53:23
Speaker
Alara only speaks for herself. She doesn't speak for the Order of Tide Callers. Priestess Iradia.
00:53:36
Speaker
And she's going to give a slight nod of the head towards you both.
00:53:43
Speaker
Now tell me, why was it that you, and she looks to Falco, And you, Rock, she looks to you, and she survived freak second tidal surge when the most devout amongst the three of you perished.
00:54:10
Speaker
ah To be honest, lady, we we don't know. It all kind of happened in a bit of a blur. But I agree with you. he was... if anything, over-devout.
00:54:22
Speaker
I couldn't fathom that kind of faith.
00:54:27
Speaker
But she, his god, Des, whatever they are, turned their back on him. And part of me really wants to know why.
00:54:41
Speaker
But then part of me is so angry that I don't even want to think about it anymore.
00:54:50
Speaker
When we were down there, and even on the way down, Garrick was looking out for other people. Not just us, and rock motions to the the three of them in the room, but from the other teams as well.
00:55:08
Speaker
And I think he even tried to help some of them back up again before the second surge. And she said, and he points to Rifa,
00:55:20
Speaker
that he'd kind of thrown her up over the edge before that second wave hit, so I think he saved her at the expense of himself.
00:55:36
Speaker
Yes. It tends to be the way with the Devout, especially for some of the more
00:55:45
Speaker
more popular religious choices we have in Aerith. Nonetheless, I do not detract from what your friend has done. He is and was a hero.
00:55:57
Speaker
And it has been noted. People saw what he did. That final throw was very near the ravine edge. And many, many people saw what he did and understood what he did.
00:56:11
Speaker
And we will continue to spread his story as well, as best we can.
00:56:18
Speaker
Yeah, but his story wasn't finished.
00:56:22
Speaker
The best ones never are.
00:56:26
Speaker
But I understand.
Priestess Iradia's Offer and Recovery Plans
00:56:29
Speaker
I do.
00:56:32
Speaker
Now, you have many questions, I understand. And you also need time. Both of which we can give you. If you want it. But not all of you will be like us, and she gestures towards Alara and to Zalith, who's come down the stairs and is standing with his hands crossed over his little belly.
00:56:52
Speaker
We are patient. We can take the time. You are survivors. You have survived not one, but two of the most powerful elements that this plane of existence has ever dealt with.
00:57:13
Speaker
You may not be so happy standing still.
00:57:17
Speaker
So tell me, what is it you want and how can I help you?
00:57:28
Speaker
Falco, do you know what you want?
00:57:34
Speaker
i i don't think I do. i mean, know look, I want my stuff back. And I want to get out of this place. And...
00:57:46
Speaker
and I don't want to change what happened before.
00:57:52
Speaker
But I don't think many of those things are realistic. The only thing I can see is getting the hell out of here and starting again.
00:58:00
Speaker
And how would you start again? Hey, I did alright before I came to this place. I'll be just fine.
00:58:11
Speaker
I understand.
00:58:14
Speaker
Well, and she walks towards the doors and just unclicks them and just open the door up and... There's nothing forcing you to stay here. Your friend will be best suited staying.
00:58:27
Speaker
Upstairs, there is access to academia, to food, and to a... watchtower, if you will, over Stormspire. This place is yours to stay in, if you wish.
00:58:41
Speaker
but nothing will stop you from leaving. Know that. If you wish to start again, my friend, that again I can agree with. But know that here in this room, as a three, as a four, you have a bond now.
00:59:00
Speaker
A bond that you might not even want to be bestowed upon you, but it's a bond that others will bestow upon you. You are the survivors. You were the only three survivors.
00:59:20
Speaker
I'll walk to the door. ah And then beyond, I imagine it's it's dark, right? So not a lot to see, but I'll take a last look back at Rock um and glance at Reefer floating in the tank.
00:59:38
Speaker
And...
00:59:41
Speaker
Falco would take 20 steps out the door.
00:59:48
Speaker
um Enough where he can slightly disappear from view.
00:59:56
Speaker
Round a corner.
01:00:01
Speaker
So that he's out of earshot and out of by eyesight. And he would just absolutely break down.
01:00:10
Speaker
Okay. yeah So there were just, so you know, there were two options really for where you could go. There's the path to the right, which would lead you back into Storm Spire to Glowmos Market where the woman with the trinkets, where that kind of event took place very early on at the start of this campaign.
01:00:26
Speaker
And left would take you down the long path away towards other settlements many, many, many miles away. I'm assuming, again, making an assumption here that you'd probably take the the quiet, what would end up being the quieter route away from traffic? is that Yeah, he's he on almost like on autopilot, he's not his's his feet hit the road and they start stepping but he wouldn't get more than 200 metres probably before he would just stop.
01:00:57
Speaker
So for intents and purposes, he's he's left the tower but he's not leaving, he just wanted to get out. And Rock, you see... im and rock you you see You see him just stoically walk out and and make his way down the road.
01:01:18
Speaker
Alara, at that, you hear a sigh, but she doesn't react and doesn't say anything else aside from that.
01:01:27
Speaker
I didn't think that he'd go.
01:01:32
Speaker
and Iradia looks to you.
01:01:36
Speaker
Grief and the mode of mourning changes from person to person, like tide to tide. We cannot truly predict how someone will react to loss.
01:01:53
Speaker
Rock, you look hungry. Oh god, yeah. wait, can I say God? Are you a, uh, is that a bad thing to say? ah you look like you were kind of pointing at the religion.
01:02:04
Speaker
i he'll kind of stumble over himself. And she'll let you without any kind of like, Oh, go on, dig you yourself a hole. None of that. Just letting you, letting you talk and listening and nodding. There's no disrespect here.
01:02:16
Speaker
Don't worry. ah zela And she'll look towards Zaylith who was, I so quickly look up. Yes. Priestess. Uh, I know just come down and it's a couple of floors up.
01:02:28
Speaker
Do you think you could bring some of the food down, and she looks towards Rock, down down here? Or would you like to be more comfortable upstairs? No, ah here's good. Then I can, we can chat things through. I am going to be behind on my training now.
01:02:44
Speaker
ah But I also don't feel so good. Um... But yeah, no, I didn't realize how hungry I was. You almost died a number of times from my reckoning.
01:02:57
Speaker
That does a number on you, and then the magics and medicine we used upon you takes its toll as well. You may feel refreshed in one sense, but exhausted in another.
01:03:10
Speaker
That is normal. That will pass with time. Yeah, I feel exhausted three times over. Yes. I can see those three points of exhaustion above you now. and Oh yeah, look at the HUD.
01:03:23
Speaker
Just don't press control, alt F4, otherwise... What does this key do? i'm Then, you know, unless anything else happens, a couple minutes later, Zalith comes down with ah with a plate of food and a couple of...
01:03:40
Speaker
i'm kind of platters of meats and fishes and things like that and and vegetables are on a large kind of plates, cheeses, et cetera.
01:03:50
Speaker
A couple of jugs worth of kind of what looks like a milky substance. It turns out it's milk. don't know why I said like milky substance. Anyway, milk, water, and just kind of all kind of good, good wholesome foods are brought down. Nothing fancy, nothing clever, nothing expensive, all very cheap, run-of-the-mill, basic stuff. Despite this Eradia's appearance, and what's being served is is is very basic. um And she will also partake in the food as well.
01:04:19
Speaker
and there's ah There's a small rock outcropping that sits slightly higher. on one side of the pool nearest the the um kind of bolt symbol with the stars around it. And so it's kind of gingerly placed upon that.
01:04:32
Speaker
And she sits on the floor and just starts eating. Alara stands and then returns some every now and then ceremoniously over towards to Rifa to, again, try another incantation or to you hear her quietly whisper into Rifa's ear and then return back to you. But she doesn't partake in the food. Zalith and Iradia do, though.
01:04:52
Speaker
Cool. Yeah, Rock's smashing his face as well. Just just absolutely smashing it back. And it part partway through, he'll probably go, Rufo, do you want some of this? And kind of getting no response, go, it's good. else Maybe they can get you some when you're awake.
01:05:09
Speaker
It is good, though. um Hey, Iradia, did I say that right? Priestess Iradia? Sure. Sure. ah You asked us what we wanted and I turned it to Falco and then he abandoned the the group, never to be seen again.
01:05:26
Speaker
ah But I didn't necessarily say what I wanted. And he's kind of still kind of eating as he's doing this.
01:05:34
Speaker
I kind of want that stuff back as well. The things that we that we got. not It's difficult to say why. i feel like we need it.
01:05:50
Speaker
I feel like it's...
01:05:54
Speaker
All I wanted to do was dive for a very long time. And even now, even now that technically I'm on my second dive, I guess.
01:06:06
Speaker
Wait, does that count with two surges? Does that count as my first and second dive? She's excited. That means I've only got... I don't know. I've only got one left, because they say you can only do three. So even though I kind of want to...
01:06:20
Speaker
Look, it's it's all we had. It's all we've got left of our group. And I kind of...
01:06:30
Speaker
I don't know if Garak would have gone for the dive I hadn't talked about it so much. So I don't know if part of that is is down to me.
01:06:45
Speaker
And with everything gone, it's like...
01:06:50
Speaker
It's... Like he died for nothing.
01:06:55
Speaker
So...
01:06:58
Speaker
Do you know how I'd find out more about those guys that took those things from us? She nods ahead. Yes. I have people in the city.
01:07:10
Speaker
In the town. We are trying to find out who it was. So far, they're not a group we're aware of. Now bear in mind we're not a clandestine hidden force of assassination, death and decay. We are, for want of other kingdoms wording priests and priestesses, we are religious figures.
01:07:33
Speaker
But as so many people trust us, less so now, she looks to the ground. Yet many still do and many still look to us and we have reached out to those across the divide in Stormspire for answers.
01:07:51
Speaker
So far, they have not been forthcoming, but I have hope that we will get a lead on this and that we will find where they are for you.
01:08:04
Speaker
We will not be able to retrieve them if if if these people still live, but we can at least supply you with the information.
01:08:13
Speaker
I really appreciate that. I don't think I could go after the right now anyway. i'm and feeling I'm feeling a bit over... overexerted.
01:08:29
Speaker
Just a bit.
01:08:32
Speaker
I can understand what you went through. Actually, I can't understand it, but I can appreciate it nonetheless. Have you never dived? Absolutely not, no.
01:08:44
Speaker
I never would.
01:08:48
Speaker
Now, I have always, from a very young age, worked for with or have been an apprentice of the Tidecaller. I was not far from Alara's position not ten years ago.
01:09:02
Speaker
the the surge itself is not for us to comprehend. Us is one of mapping it. And as such, to interfere with the wave itself would be seen as a form of sacrilege for us.
01:09:16
Speaker
We understand the need and what it brings to the the kingdom itself and the joy it brings so many people and the purpose. Yet it is not for us.
01:09:30
Speaker
Plus, and she has a small smile at this. I'm slightly scared of heights.
01:09:39
Speaker
It's quite a long way. looks at. I can barely get close myself. Yet I appreciate and I can respect those that dive. You may be thinking, and rightly so, why are you doing all this for us?
01:09:57
Speaker
What's in it for me? And she kind of winters almost as she says that. There may be a time, Rock, where the people of Stormspire turn.
01:10:12
Speaker
I don't if you heard about the events that took place not a week ago at Dewdrop Falls. Did... Where you... and She looks to Alara and then looks back. Yeah, he'll look to Alara as well and kind of nod his head.
01:10:26
Speaker
Yeah, that sounded pretty nasty. Yes. God knows what that will do to the remaining now that the second surge wave piled through not minutes after the first...
01:10:41
Speaker
There was a... More casualties than just us as well. Some of the Tidesworn vanguard that were sent there to keep law and order were also taken in the process.
01:10:55
Speaker
Ripped apart. But my sources have confirmed that this is not the action of a creature or monster. This is merely mob brutality.
01:11:09
Speaker
And I'm worried that it might happen here.
01:11:14
Speaker
How far away is Judab Falls from here? It's a day's journey from Clifestone Keep, so it'll take you less than a week.
01:11:27
Speaker
Okay. Six days at Adipush, perhaps. They have sent to a ah detachment, i'm not really sure on the terminology, but a detachment of soldiers in Tidesworn Vanguard from the capital down south ah soldiers have come from Cliffstone as well to support the town.
01:11:48
Speaker
But something seems wrong there. Now, my worry is that something will happen to Stormspy here, and to me, and more importantly to Allara and to Zaleth. The upcomers, I'm ah young leader long in the tooth now, yet they are the next generation.
01:12:07
Speaker
And I worry for them. All I ask, Rock, is that in return for us finding this, these people, returning your items, if we can, to you, that you return the favor one day when I call for your or your aid.
01:12:30
Speaker
Of course. No, you have done more than you needed to for us here, for my friends. I, uh, I'm in your debt.
01:12:41
Speaker
I would be... honored to, to, to help, to protect if I could. You see her shoulders kind of drop and like almost she deflates a little bit, like she's been building up to this moment for a while and thank the Stoning Stars.
01:12:56
Speaker
I was worried then. Good. Glad we got that out of the way.
01:13:02
Speaker
Now all you're broke as well now, it seems.
01:13:08
Speaker
Uh, no, they fixed pretty much everything. Um, No, sorry. i'm Money, you've had your gold taken. Everything's taken from you. I have nothing left.
01:13:21
Speaker
I've just got these fists and Falco's just got his mouth. Okay, fists and a mouth. So- Oh, wait. Falco's gone. Well, give him time.
01:13:32
Speaker
Give him time. I don't have any money. we we we don't have We don't really deal with money per se, gold, etc. We work on services, etc. For our sustenance and supplies.
01:13:46
Speaker
So I can't offer any. And if I did, it wouldn't be much. Yet, there are possibilities and options of ways you can maybe gain money that might be of interest to you.
01:14:02
Speaker
Um, yet with Rifa in her current state and you exhausted, we can talk about them, but maybe now isn't the best time. i'm I'm sorry for drunk dropping this all on you.
01:14:14
Speaker
No, you're right. You're right. It's good to be at kind of full strength. So if there's something that I can do with my hands to earn a bit of money, I'm all for it.
01:14:26
Speaker
And she nods and smiles and as she kind of breathes in to start, Alara, you see Alara's eyes look towards the door.
01:14:35
Speaker
And there's a a stillness for a second and she stands quite quickly. And then you can see Rock, her hands kind of gesturing into ah an incantation to the the an element of a spell.
01:14:50
Speaker
And you can see small wisps of green kind of curl around her finger as she prepares a spell and moves slowly towards the door. And just as she gets about 10 feet away from it, and again at this, Iradia has stood up and she is reaching down to her side to a small dagger as well.
01:15:08
Speaker
Yeah, Rock seeing that is going to kind of spin his foot around, kind of sweeping along the floor and drop straight into a martial kind of stance. And if if there was any dust on the floor, you'd see it kind of swept up, but then swirl almost kind of around him a little bit before dropping back down again. But his his hands are there ready and he's putting himself to the front.
01:15:30
Speaker
and the door just creaks the one door that had been pushed open by iradia earlier on just creaks open a little bit and the small well face of falco is seen just just just outside.
01:15:48
Speaker
Was it the wind that pushed the door or was it him? You can't tell from this position, Rock, but Falco's kind of just outside. Falco, you want to... Sorry, um I might have put put you in... i tried to get you there, but I forgot about the knock.
01:16:02
Speaker
Sorry. night Nice one. You'd hear from outside the door, Rock away, Ganui.
01:16:13
Speaker
ah I think that's me. Raka harangui likupeculasa feetulia moi. Feetulia moi. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you. Is that you, Falco?
01:16:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's me.
01:16:29
Speaker
Did you stub your toe?
01:16:33
Speaker
Uh, no. No, my toes are right. Um... You sound upset. I'll enter the, I'll push the door a bit further open and step in and you'll see like bright red eyes ah trying to hold it together.
01:16:52
Speaker
And he'll just like look at everyone awkwardly in the room. Walk over to Rock.
01:16:59
Speaker
ah I'm not going to go. I'm going to stay. I think we get some things to put right here.
01:17:10
Speaker
Big grin creeping across Rock's face. He holds out his right hand to you.
01:17:19
Speaker
Falco will look at the hand and look up to, but way up to his eyes for the stone and stars and he'll take Rock's hand. Cool.
01:17:30
Speaker
Rock will kind of pull him in, pull him up into the air and headbutt him. wow
01:17:37
Speaker
Welcome back to the group, buddy. Oh, yeah, thanks. Thanks, big guy. ah Look, I know this is a moment and everything, but I'm real tired.
01:17:55
Speaker
Do you want any food? ah What is it? Ha ha ha ha ha.
01:18:03
Speaker
ah fuck will turn around what was probably like a quarter of the overall platters left and just motion out to you I think well they they got a bit of Glowmas there I'm not sure if they got it off the walls or anything and there wasn't any Stee Strike eel this time I was looking out for it in particular that's no no offense at all I didn't expect you to have it necessarily it's just one of those things that you know what well I'm looking to try little anyway help yourself go and have a look add
01:18:34
Speaker
is that There's not a lot of whole pieces of food here. Oh, ah well, you ought to try something first and to know whether or not you like it. In turns out, I like pretty much all of it, but I had to try bits first. I didn't want to eat half-eaten food. so Yeah, yeah you you get those calories in, but no it's all right. I'll i'll leave until breakfast. i'm I'm not too hungry anyway.
01:18:56
Speaker
Okay. I mean, are are we going back to the same rooms? Are we going be bunk buddies?
01:19:05
Speaker
Uh, yeah, we can be. i Dib's on the top. You go on top. That's fine. I'm a bottom anyway. Okay, go, go, go, go. Because of the size of the bunk, obviously, Rock, you've got to be on the bottom of the bunk. It's got to be safe. That's exactly the reference I was making. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:19:26
Speaker
While that conversation is taking place, Iradia has just been kind of gently smiling and watching like that kind of awkward encounter take place between Rock and Falco. And after that, she just stands and tall, slender figure stands up.
01:19:40
Speaker
And she just gives you a quick overview and says... This is one of the Tidecaller Towers. There are many like this all the way across, Wildheart.
01:19:51
Speaker
All almost identical to this, yet not as empty. The two stories above, the two floors above, are where we would stay. ah Myself, Xaelith, and Alara are on the first or second floor, and you, ah we'd put you on the floor above, just in case we didn't know how you'd react if you came to.
01:20:12
Speaker
Above that, got some storage and our eating area if you will and above that it enters into scholarship and above that is the uh the observatory and the open platform where we can map and chart the stars all of this is open to you yet most of the implementation have been taken when the rest of us departed not too long ago i don't envisage them returning anytime soon so if you need a place to stay for a few days of course
01:20:44
Speaker
You're more than welcome here. Sorry it feels a little bit haunted. It isn't, I can assure you of that. It's just a lot quieter and a lot darker since our brethren left.
01:20:59
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that. ah Do you have any kind of training equipment at all? Is that something that you have in here? A defined training equipment. I can see what we can find.
01:21:12
Speaker
Uh, yeah, you know, just your basic things like, uh, perhaps couple of dumbbells, um, maybe some climbing equipment, maybe a wall or anything like that that can be climbed up, a trapeze, perhaps a set of kind of like, I mean, I think they're called monkey bars.
01:21:30
Speaker
Um, like, uh, you know, that kind of stuff. Her eyebrows have just been raised the entire time. Rock, you could have been speaking a different language then. i genuinely did not understand a single noun you just said to me.
01:21:45
Speaker
ah Sorry. i'm Something about climbing. Climbing? The scales... the the the We can go to the where the scalers do their... um The Skystring Arena. that they they They could probably supply with some things...
01:21:59
Speaker
Of course. No, that it's fine. I was just, I wasn't sure if you had one of those home Skystring Arena kind of systems, but that's okay. That's not a problem. Like I said, scale of heights. Not for me.
01:22:10
Speaker
But no, ah ah scholarly notes on movement of stars. We've got loads of them. Telescopes. Oh, yeah. that Yeah.
01:22:22
Speaker
ah Telescopes, Falco. If you wanted to scope. but the What's a telescope? i you've i I'm so sorry. i don't'm I'm not entirely sure. its I was trying to sound smarter than I am.
01:22:38
Speaker
she becomes instantly animated, almost ignoring the fact that you tried to fake out knowing what a telescope is. It allows us, and she looks towards Falco with, ah again, a really kind of genuine smile on her face, to map the stars, their positions. Now, they've been mapped many, many, many millennia ago by many people prior to this. Yeah, I think we should be getting to bed that time. Yes, absolutely.
01:23:02
Speaker
Yes. I understand. And she knowingly laughs and at the yawn. and Sorry. we we tend We tend to get excited, you see. No, no, no, no. It's good. I like it.
01:23:13
Speaker
and It's the simple things. It's the simple things, you know. Alara, darling, would you be so kind as to stay with these fine gentlemen and make sure that if anything else they need...
01:23:26
Speaker
you know we we we We supply what we can. Is that okay? I must ah make haste and deliver a few messages. I'll be back. and And if they become restless, do mention the Blackwater Bloom.
01:23:42
Speaker
And she smiles and then nods to you again. Zayla, stay here. Don't get in trouble. And then she's going to kind of almost, without... and I don't want to say without moving her legs, I don't want her to sound like Rahid Ramel.
01:23:55
Speaker
If you don't get that reference, go back to one of our one shots. But it's that almost effervescently effortless movement and towards the door, very flowy in movements, like water, and heads towards the door and then heads around the corner after picking up a satchel.
01:24:12
Speaker
And you can always see Alara's relax after she's after she's exited the place as well. Well...
01:24:22
Speaker
I didn't think she'd stay.
01:24:26
Speaker
Why not?
01:24:28
Speaker
She's one of the heads of the Order. She's much more important than any of us. Like of... of all of the Tidecallers?
01:24:39
Speaker
Hmm... She's had visions or something, and so they've given her the title of Priestess. I think it's a bit forward, but she's on the level with an Elder.
01:24:53
Speaker
What level's that? Pretty high.
01:24:57
Speaker
Like above the observatory?
01:25:01
Speaker
I see. You're tired.
01:25:05
Speaker
Yeah.
01:25:09
Speaker
I see. Well, we'll talk more maybe in the morning. Yeah. Okay. I think that's a good idea. Hey, Falco.
01:25:18
Speaker
Yeah? You want to go first up the stairs? Oh, you wantt have a race up the stairs? I don't want to have a race up the stairs, Rock. I mean, have some common sense here, buddy. We're naked.
01:25:31
Speaker
Last one up the stairs is ah sea strike eels bogeys. All right, that's me. Yeah, I'm the bogeys, and I'll walk very slowly up the stairs. Rock will sprint.
01:25:46
Speaker
Action dash, bonus action dash. Ha, ha, ha.
01:25:52
Speaker
stumble a bit yeah you'll see him two floors up just like a big gash in his head bleeding out but well on that could you give me a um a dexterity ah dexterity saving throw please it would be my honor to roll this beautiful uh with the minus six that is 13 okay wow okay 2019 before it, flippin' heck. It was. and Yeah, there is a step in your trip, but you manage to catch yourself like any other normal person would, but your razor-sharp reflexes and and pace and positioning and prowess is is off.
01:26:28
Speaker
It very much feels like... you've done a, like after a normal, pat like your, I'm going to use a technical type, your central nervous, your your CNS, yeah your your everything's just shot. And like, it almost feels like if you were to try and reach for something, you'd overestimate how far away it is or underestimate how big your hands are. Everything just feels a bit numb and a bit, a bit, bit knackered, bit exhausted. ah But beyond that, like it's it affected your kind of central nervous system almost.
01:26:55
Speaker
Like set really heavy deadlifts. Yeah. so and but sorry, that the yeah You managed to get up and you just misplaced the step slightly, but you you you passed that one. I'll give you that for free.
01:27:06
Speaker
um And where are we heading? Are we heading to the same room? to Bedtime. Bedtime. Rock's going straight back to the the the room that he woke up in and he'll have the door open and he'll kind of ah be, if there were our covers there, under the covers, panting heavily and pretending to be asleep as if like he's just he's's gotten there so much quicker than Falco that he's had time to go to bed ah because apparently he's a child.
01:27:32
Speaker
ah So that's what doing. Five minutes later Yeah, say
01:27:41
Speaker
Could you give me a ah dece a deception um check, Rock? oh I can certainly try. Just like you rolling with minus six. Do you know what?
Late-Night Stories and Laughter: Goliath and Vampire Tales
01:27:51
Speaker
It's 13.
01:27:53
Speaker
Bloody hell. Okay. thats I have no modifier to that one. Fair enough. Go on, Farco. What are you saying? Five minutes later. ah Yeah, maybe just under five minutes later, you'd hear, somebody stares.
01:28:09
Speaker
Uh, Rack, are you in this room? Oh yeah, there you are. Are you asleep? Rack, are you asleep? No, uh, yeah. you sleeping, Rack? Yeah, I'm asleep.
01:28:21
Speaker
Oh, sorry. Ugh. Let's get through a couple of little stretches. And I'll climb into the bed on the opposite wall, the one that I woke up in. um The one that I didn't pull all the bedding out of.
01:28:34
Speaker
Sure. Um...
01:28:37
Speaker
bundle myself up and, uh, a long, Hey, rock. Yeah. Falco.
01:28:51
Speaker
You got any good stories?
01:28:55
Speaker
A couple. Yeah. Yeah.
01:29:01
Speaker
Tell me what.
01:29:05
Speaker
Okay.
01:29:07
Speaker
So
01:29:12
Speaker
a long time ago, there was this Goliath, right? And
01:29:23
Speaker
he didn't have a name, but he decided to make something of himself and he loved the challenge. So what he did is after it failing everything at school.
01:29:40
Speaker
I mean, they tried to teach him all sorts, and he was just no good whatsoever, but he did relatively well at the competitions and at the sports. And so his parents, well, they're not really his parents. Well, they enrolled him in this, ah well, monastery.
01:30:05
Speaker
And he did well. He excelled. He was faster than the others. He was stronger than most of the others.
01:30:17
Speaker
He was pretty darn good with, uh, both staff. Uh, he was pretty good with his hands as well. And he wanted to make something of himself.
01:30:31
Speaker
He was frustrated by not necessarily being the smartest cookie, but he thought that if he projects himself as, as hard as a mountain and as
01:30:53
Speaker
fast as the wind and in control of the elements, that he could be the greatest Goliath.
01:31:05
Speaker
And he trained. He trained so hard. He trained so hard that he would be vomiting on the floor of the arena. But there were things that he just couldn't quite get right.
01:31:18
Speaker
Even though his master would tell him, would teach him like his teachers at school.
01:31:25
Speaker
And then... One day, after not quite managing to complete all of his training, he set out with a goal to be the greatest.
01:31:40
Speaker
And he came to this beautiful city with towers raising to the skies, ravines, and roped bridges across these kind of cavernous drops, and
01:32:01
Speaker
he met this child who was really good friends with this person who wore this beautiful plate armor and had a penchant for carving things into the floor.
01:32:23
Speaker
And
01:32:26
Speaker
they lived happily ever after. end.
01:32:33
Speaker
Ah, there's days. You think Goliath sounds like a real dreamer?
01:32:41
Speaker
Huh. Yeah.
01:32:45
Speaker
Yeah, he was. I think. Huh. That's a good story. You should, uh, you should write it down. I don't know about that.
01:32:56
Speaker
I haven't thought up a very good ending for it. And I miss out quite a... Well, sometimes I forget about some of the finer details. I remember the beginning quite well.
01:33:09
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, well, you know, writing the stories takes time. You start with the structure and then you start adding little bits in. Hey, Falco.
01:33:20
Speaker
Uh-huh?
01:33:24
Speaker
Do you know any good jokes? Yeah. I'm not so good on jokes. I've got a couple of limericks up my sleeve. What's a limerick? It's like a ah small rhyme.
01:33:40
Speaker
Aimed to, um... Aimed for enjoyment rather than, you know, education or otherwise. Oh. Great. Can I hear one?
01:33:53
Speaker
You got any gold? I, uh, I did. Nah, I'm kidding you.
01:34:02
Speaker
Uh, uh, what's an appropriate one for this circumstance? Let me just flick through my mind library. Okay, right so.
01:34:12
Speaker
There once was a vampire named Mabel, whose periods were always quite stable. At every full moon, she would whip out a spoon and drink herself under the table.
01:34:27
Speaker
up
01:34:32
Speaker
You see how it's like a rhyme? i I like the rhyming words. I don't quite i don't quite understand. What is she drinking? Is it beer?
01:34:47
Speaker
Yeah, it's beer. Oh, I get it. That's good. It's good rhyme. all right did you know this Did you know this, Mabel? ah No, no, no. it's ah You know, it kind of ruins it when you have to explain the story so much. Like, did you know that Goliath?
01:35:05
Speaker
No. he's like He's just like ah an old Goliath, right? so Can I tell you a ah secret?
01:35:13
Speaker
Yeah, sure.
01:35:16
Speaker
The Goliath's me in the story.
01:35:24
Speaker
Wow, fun I did not get that.
01:35:33
Speaker
Were you Mabel?
01:35:44
Speaker
ah guess I guess there's times where I've been Mabel, yeah. Not right now. But I think at times in my life, yeah.
01:35:57
Speaker
I think we've all been Mabel at some point in our lives. i
01:36:11
Speaker
She sounds pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, she's all right.
01:36:19
Speaker
Good night, Falco. Good night, Rock.
01:36:26
Speaker
You held it together for an unfathomably long time.
01:36:32
Speaker
i also like to think that that whole chat happened in the dark. You know, like when you do as kids, like yeah you just chat in the dark. I feel like that's just that whole, that whole thing was in total darkness. he' Just looking up and just having the story, the poignant story. And then the, you know, the lovely, you know, relaxed and not at all inappropriate limerick.
01:36:55
Speaker
Um, And it's, you know, and, you know, this is a beautiful image to have, ironically, an image, but in the dark, that kind of memory, that idea of like that taking place is really lovely. and And yeah, unless there's anything else that um that you want to do, or is it just for going going straight to sleep? Is that the idea here?
01:37:16
Speaker
Yeah, rock ah Rock will go to sleep. Okay. both asleep and as you as you both just kind of slowly fade out to sleep in your own time um falco rock you don't experience this so much but falco what you do notice is you get really weird sensation just as you're about to fall asleep you know like the feeling you get when you're really drunk and you lay down and the room is spinning You get a little bit of that, but it's this weird juddering spin. like it It takes a couple of bits forward, then... the And it's just before you fall asleep. So your body's already in that kind of sleepy mode, but you get this real sensation of kind of like... Like going... Equivalent of kind of going around a roundabout. What they called in the parks that spin around? The spinny...
01:38:04
Speaker
thingies is a roundabout okay on a roundabout a little bit but it's kind of like it's broken so it kind of judders every now and then it very much feels like that um but it gets quicker and quicker and quicker and just as you just as you you kind of fade out of consciousness into sleep and it is a good restful sleep you just experience that on the way out and your kind of last memory of that aside from the limerick and aside from the the story and the, ah you know, sudden revelation that this Goliath happens to be rock.
01:38:38
Speaker
And that's, that's, that's the final kind of image and feeling you get this kind of more circling motion and feeling.
Conclusion and Community Engagement
01:38:47
Speaker
And that's a wrap on this episode of Wild Heart. But the adventure doesn't stop here. Dive deeper into the world of Wild Heart over at fellowshipofthetabletop.co.uk.
01:39:04
Speaker
There, you'll find expanded lore, detailed maps of Erith, and a brand new blog covering both Wild Heart and Bellum Draconis.
01:39:17
Speaker
Got theories, questions, well, predictions? We'd love to hear them. Drop us a message on fellowshipofthetabletop at gmail.com. Chuck a theory on our the blog or join the conversation on our socials.
01:39:30
Speaker
Your input might just shape what happens next. And if you're craving even more stories from Wild Heart, don't forget to check out The Interregnums, our short fiction podcast bringing the hidden corners of the world to life.
01:39:43
Speaker
This drops every other Tuesday. Until next time, subscribe to keep up to date, stay curious, and as always, watch the tide.
01:40:06
Speaker
In wild heartland where legends grow Tidal surges rise and flow Golden treasures deep below Time to get moist, here we go