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Ep. 09 Patron - Bellum Draconis
108 Plays2 years ago
Nyx Corell unwittingly makes a deal with a mystical ancient power.
Follow us on our Twitters - @FellowshipTable
Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
Recommended
Transcript
Humorous Introduction: Sex Dungeons and Wi-Fi
00:00:00
Speaker
The question then becomes, what does a contemporary sex dungeon contain?
Introduction to the Fellowship of the Tabletop Podcast
00:00:31
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop, Bellum Draconis. We are a live pay 5E D&D podcast set in the magical home-brewed world of Eryth in the Kingdom of Sleekguard. My name is Mark and I am the Dungeon Master. I got something stuck in my throat. And also with us for this week's episode we have Ian who plays the Tiefling Warlock, Nyx Karel. We've got Danny who plays the half-orc monk, Morota Broken Dusk. We've got Will who plays the human cleric, Emron.
00:01:02
Speaker
We've got a Calamity place, the Warforged Artificia Alpha. I still have it in my throat.
00:01:14
Speaker
I think it's just my voice. If you can hear, there's a slight difference in my acoustics listeners. Unfortunately, I'm recording in Darren's sex dungeon today. And unfortunately, he's left me chained against the wall. He's not with us today either. He's got me hung upside down actually, he's really awkward. And he's basically his anger management class overrun. So he's not with us for today's episode unfortunately.
00:01:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's amazing how good the Wi-Fi is down there. You know, for all the medievalness that surrounds me, I can see, you know, the Virgin super-fast broadband box in the corner. He has a scrim per shot of foil and he's covered the room from head to toe into a shiny, shiny foil. It is nice how he's mixed, like, the modern sort of stuff with more traditional sort of sextensiony things. It's quite interesting. I suppose they keep going on about this, though.
00:02:05
Speaker
Well, the question then becomes, what does a contemporary sex dungeon contain?
Recap of the Haunted Basement Adventure
00:02:12
Speaker
What's your safe word? If I say it, I get let down. Is it potato peeler? Is it spatula? If you can hear dripping at some point, that's the torture started again, but it's nothing weird. You know that line we shouldn't cross.
00:02:31
Speaker
We crossed that on episode two. Back in the day, how are you all? Yeah, good. I'm excited. I'm ready. I want to play some... I want our award. Your award, you do. Yeah, that was pretty epic. Oh, yeah, of course. Really good. Thank you, Mark. How are you? I'm great, thank you. But mentioning the reward, I forgot what actually happened on last week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop. So perhaps we should put a cross on par, but it's all up there. Straight over to our chronic. It was so seamless.
00:03:00
Speaker
It was so seamless. And then I didn't use any words. If you're hung upside down, the oxygen's not getting to your brain, but we will get there. Let's go to our... Yeah, what he said. Sorry. There's an issue with the chains. The gag's a little tight. Let me just loosen it and we'll pass over to our chronic Lidani for any recap on last week's episode.
00:03:22
Speaker
the last few pages of our adventure. The party ventured into the haunted basement in alms and armour in search of the blight veteran and monster hunter Orla. The party encountered the shop's owner's sister, Ella, who was bewitched by an invisible foe.
00:03:41
Speaker
This foe, known as a skulk, only revealed itself when viewed through a mirror. It stalked the party from the shadows until they gazed upon its reflection. After a few bruising and bloody rounds of combat, our not-yet heroes emerged victorious, with the cellar around them a scene of chaos.
Banter and Character Dynamics
00:04:02
Speaker
The dust slowly settles as the shafts of light from the ladder to your backs lets some beams of yellow light through. You can hear panting all around you. As you look from person to person around the group, you realize you've overcome something. Alla stands before you all, just saying those immortal words about your reward.
00:04:32
Speaker
And do you notice as Nyx, I believe you're by the ladder about to climb up. Yes, I've got a helmet on from one of the suits of armour as well, which I like to think is ornately played gold and looks great and makes me look awesome. But I also like to think that it's probably too big for my head in some parts as well. My horns keep it on. My horns. It's not gold.
00:04:54
Speaker
It's not gold. It can't be gold. Come on. Because gold means it's very expensive and then you get lots of money. I just slid that in there. I like to think it's gold. Well, you can think it's gold. It's definitely like copper. No, something cheaper. I don't know. It's made of iron. It's stone. I don't know. Whatever. Stones. Just a really fucking hairy helmet. It's a juggernaut. I'll take iron. What's it made out of, actually? We'll give it a clang.
00:05:19
Speaker
So Nix reaches up and taps the top of it with his knuckles. All it turns to. This is no time for fucking jokes. Get down here. Well, first off, how good do I make this look right now?
00:05:35
Speaker
Well, I can't really see that. Don't let the fact
The Blight's End and Rising Monster Activity
00:05:38
Speaker
that we just saved you, all of us, don't let that make you think otherwise. Just tell me, honestly, does this suit me? Is this the kind of style? I'm normally going for like a seaworthy pirate style, but this is a little bit more, I don't know, kind of army and archaic.
00:05:55
Speaker
strong style, strong man style. What do you think? To be honest, Tiefling, out of everyone here, you did the least. So I think, yes, I had the right- Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. One, we're a unit, okay? What one person does, everyone does. We're a team. That's how teams work. You came down by yourself. I mean, look what happened to you. So one cog in this machine is as important as another cog. Some cogs seem rather superfluous if I do say so myself.
00:06:25
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. So where are we on the fact that we saved you? Any reward for that? Any thanks? Have you got any thanks for any of us here? I mean, like everyone there with his big old hammer, you got Marauder up there. She was pummeling everything. Alpha was computing away and you had Sex Dungeon Reigns was all up in the potato peeling magic. Like, come on.
00:06:49
Speaker
Where's the thanks? Where's the love? You've just said a lot of words that make absolutely no sense to me. But as she turns to Marotta, who has stood directly in front, Marotta Alpha and Emron, who stood directly in front of her or away from Nyx for a minute and says, my thanks to you, you three, and then over to Reigns as well. And to you too. You did a hell of a job with that sculpt then. Is that what it is? I've never seen one.
00:07:18
Speaker
No, and you should thank your lucky stars, you never will have to directly look at one either. As you noticed, it can only be seen through reflections. As I noticed, just saying in there as, you know, the unimportant cog. Yeah, I also announced it to everyone once the gag was taken off me by your friend over there. How did you get gagged by, you know, just how did you let that happen?
00:07:42
Speaker
Aren't you some famous monster hunter after all? No, I'm not. This is a new company. Where are you getting this information from? Next, the woman, there was an advertisement saying that you were a famed monster hunter and you needed help. Oh, for God's sake.
00:08:00
Speaker
But yeah, let's not insult the woman who talks about a reward, yeah? Let's not, you know, kick the gift horse in the mouth, yeah? Well, I assume that the gentleman upstairs would reward us for saving his... No, I think he doesn't strike me as a tap to have the kind of reward we want. No, I'm the one with the money. But you did incredibly well. I genuinely thought you were all toast when you came down here.
00:08:29
Speaker
It did start off to be a bit airy, but once Nick's had discovered we could see it through mirrors and Marauder seemed to have it pinned over by that box over here, it seemed to not have much room once we knew where it was. Yes, you worked well as a group and that was impressive. Do you do this often then? No. Hunting? Our first time actually. Interesting.
00:08:56
Speaker
Interesting, right, okay. So, we are open to the possibility. I know we are in the...
00:09:03
Speaker
in the market for work, you could say. I mean, I speak for myself, sorry, I don't mean to speak for Marauder or Nyx. What sort of monsters are you frequently dealing with or the? She tightens her straight black hair in the ponytail behind and moves to the centre of the room and sits down on a box and just kind of rubs her face and takes a quick sip of water from her flask.
00:09:29
Speaker
anything really. Ever since the end of the Blight, there's been a bit of a power vacuum, you see, and everything's returned. The stuff from old, the stuff from 30, 40 years ago, the stuff we used to crawl out of holes and cellars and everything was attracted to the Blight and it was, in a way, good. At least we knew where the evil was in the world. Now it's spread.
00:09:51
Speaker
And it comes in all different forms. And no two cases seem to be the same. And that's the worrying thing. There's no pattern. There seems to be no one in charge. There's no overarching, I don't know, lich or whatever
Future Monster Hunting Contracts
00:10:07
Speaker
you want to call it. These are just pockets of evil and deceit and decay and hatred and remorse.
00:10:15
Speaker
Perhaps things are just getting back to, it's normal without the Blight sort of being that focal point. I wouldn't go as far as to say what we've seen is normal. Orla, while you've been locked away down here, a dragon attacked Goldview. Did you hear it? Her face drops. What kind of dragon? A big one. Yes, most of them are.
00:10:43
Speaker
You've got a good memory. What colour was the dragon? I believe the colour was black. Her blood drains from her face. That does not bode well for us at all. How badly has the city been hit? We haven't really seen all of the damage, so to speak, but it seemed concentrated in the docks and to the south of the city. So we couldn't say.
00:11:12
Speaker
It seems like the abcriska dealt with it though. She chuckles at that. They dealt with it. They're the bloody cause of it. Okay. Well, this conflates a few issues. Yes, and dragons as one of the outcomes of the lack of the blight as well. We've seen an increase in the dragons. Not necessarily here, but abroad. And it's part of the reason why the abcriska hunt them. So I want to use them as weapons.
00:11:44
Speaker
Anyway, that's that's for another conversation now, really. Your friend with the helmet still stood by the ladder and I'm sure we want to go up and have some rest. And well, I was thinking surely that, you know, he wants to he wants to make sure that his sisters are right.
The Mysterious Endless Ladder
00:12:04
Speaker
Ella went up there. She's already gone. Ah, well, then I'm just making this ladder look good.
00:12:13
Speaker
Nick, do you want me to have a look at that helmet to see whether it's actually any good? You know what? That sounds like a job for up there, too. But yes, everyone, I would love to utilize your masonry skills on such a thing. It's smithy skills, not masonry. Masonry is with rocks and buildings. My apologies, as you can see from my hands, I haven't touched many. No, I can tell. Hot irons. Was that a euphemism or? With Nick, it could be a bit of column B.
00:12:43
Speaker
He's getting me. He's getting me. Maraud, you see this? I'm glad you're making friends. This is good. Humor is useful sometimes. Before we go up, just quickly, is this something you might be interested in? I get contracts in quite often, one or two a week sometimes, for different cases, some of which that are just too big for me and that I don't trust with the purge these days.
00:13:08
Speaker
Is it something that you might be interested in? You don't know, I don't take you to a contract straight away, but if it is. I suppose it depends on the pay or less. Yeah, it just depends on, gotta make it away. Pay's good, pay's very good. I often limit myself to the cases I can take on my own as I am but one person. With a larger group, you can have some of the larger cases. I'll take a 10% cut off the top for findings, finders fee, and then everything else is yours.
00:13:36
Speaker
That's quite steep, 10% cut for word of mouth. Christ, it's just a made up number. I've never really kind of, you know, I'm a one person team. I've never done this before. It's just an idea. Could help you iron out the details. Yeah, me and you will chat over a healthy amount of alcohol and work. We'll iron the details right out or out as I've been taught. I also have a thought you could use, if that would be useful.
00:14:03
Speaker
thought well like a Battlement kind of thing. It's my father's old one. It doesn't really use anymore maybe I Don't know. Maybe that's not for a place to stay but well, you know if we need to iron out details as you as your friend I said, then maybe you know, maybe not the options open Anyway, yeah, let's go upstairs get a bit dusty near it is can't stand it down here been down too long anyway and What we're doing with the body by the way
00:14:34
Speaker
Ah, that's a very good point. She probably landed it. Take it upstairs and burn it, I would imagine. You know what? Give me a minute. I'll deal with it.
00:14:49
Speaker
I'll deal with it. I've got a guy, he specializes in burning stuff. It's a preclutivity of his. One second. Mark, can I just inspect the corpse? Has it become visible in the creature's death or is it still invisible? I thought you'd asked me this and I've forgotten. Give me two seconds to bring it up.
00:15:14
Speaker
Yes, it has become visible and it's this incredibly pale skin humanoid long nails the way I described it previously but now just kind of pale hairless features of it of what looks almost like a human feature person save the kind of build up of its face seems like etched out of kind of
00:15:38
Speaker
sharper lines for eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, and the long nails of the hands that act as claws. How fleshy is it? It's like skin to bone, kind of very, very tall skin. Very clothed. With a kind of stereotypical loin cloth, I believe, from what I see in the image. So nothing on it. Is it like, right, here's what I'm intending on doing, and you tell me whether or not it's worth, if there's enough meat on the bone. But is there enough meat on the bone?
00:16:09
Speaker
Depends what you're going to do with it, Danny. Well, if it looks like it could be butchered, then I might take it back as a special requisition. It's skin and bone. So probably not in terms of you could take the skin. Like crispy, crispy skin, you know, it's okay. I'll move on. I'll move on. Okay.
00:16:36
Speaker
Um, yeah. So with that information, um, wrote is just going to turn and just kind of have a quick look at the body. Uh, and she's going to, she said, as you said, she's going to, to deal with it. And she goes, I'll, um, I'll see you upstairs. We can, we can talk more, probably best to speak to our friend upstairs and make sure his, uh, his sister's okay. Well, yeah, we better go see him.
00:17:00
Speaker
Awesome, I'll lead the way, and Nix will just confidently climb the ladder and throw the door open like a hero. Cool, are you all heading upstairs
Meeting Feolite and Nyx's Test
00:17:10
Speaker
now? Yeah, I'm going up. Yeah, Alpha wouldn't have any need to hang around. The heroes have returned! Victorious, as you can see, we're all here. As Clay, we were your bardabard, we did your sister. What? No! What?
00:17:28
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, our fate. I almost died down there. Seriously, whatever you had in that basement wasn't easy, but we emerged victorious and we saved your sister and we saved this great famed monster hunter of gold view. And yeah, you may
00:17:51
Speaker
Give us our reward. And you're saying that, I imagine, as you're kind of climbing up the ladder, kind of shouting it up to it. As you keep talking, the ladder continues.
00:18:02
Speaker
It continues and goes on, rung, after rung, after rung, after rung, after rung, after rung. And as you finish that bit, you start to realize something doesn't quite seem right. And as you look up, the gap of light moves up and further away quicker than your pace is moving up towards it. You all notice this as well. After rung, after rung, and as you move in, even if you sped up. Nick, what are you doing? No, I'm not doing this. This isn't me. What the?
00:18:31
Speaker
It keeps going and going and going until suddenly it feels like the ladder itself is falling. Oh my God, what is going on here? And then all of a sudden it flips and in a moment of vertigo it flips upside down and it's like you're walking down the ladder kind of head first. You tumble off, losing your grip and all four of you thud into this grassy floral corridor.
00:18:55
Speaker
There's grass on the floor. It's about 10 feet wide. It's a long corridor heading down with what looks like a series of doors on the left. There's torches lit incredibly well. And what's interesting about the space also is that there is a number of plants, floral life growing on the floor beneath you. You notice the walls are made of solid stone.
00:19:19
Speaker
And as you look around away from this corridor, you just see blackness. You see nothing. You don't see any floor. You don't see any walls. You don't see any sky or sun or moon or anything or stars. You just see darkness around you and then the light of this corridor. And you're stood kind of in the doorway of this corridor. So sorry. So actually where we're stood right now is dark. You're stood on the precipice, on kind of the...
00:19:44
Speaker
Threshold. But other than that, everything surrounding is dark. Correct. And one will quickly stumble into the light. Okay. You're stood in the kind of early areas of this corridor that's probably about 40 feet long.
00:19:57
Speaker
How bloody hell is this? I am unsure. Where did that ladder go to? That's the same ladder, right? I didn't climb like a different ladder. No, you climbed the same ladder. Who's here? Alpha? Marauder? Alex? Ola? Reigns? You look around, it's just the four of you. No one else is around.
00:20:22
Speaker
Alpha, do you get any sort of special read on this? Do you have, like, some sort of locator device on that final gizmo body of yours? Can you tell us where we are? Clear about what just happened to yourself.
00:20:36
Speaker
Oh, do that. Yes. Like slightly glare over. And I think kind of what would happen is you would almost see a little bit of static just come across his eyes as he tries and records this particular
Nyx's Past and Blood Magic Revelations
00:20:47
Speaker
thing. And it's just kind of what I feel like you're what we're seeing is the like, like 1980s, the picture of the little girl on the frozen screen of like of old TV sets when they're trying to tune in something or like a broadcasting interrupting.
00:21:04
Speaker
Yeah, I thought you were going ring first, but no, you're just going for the broadcast interruption. No, that's not what you see.
00:21:12
Speaker
I'm not making that, Gannon. I'm making that, Gannon. But it's just a little bit of static, and Al was going to turn to you. All I remember is Nick's attempting to climb a ladder. Not attempting, successfully, can I just say? We successfully climbed a ladder. We just didn't successfully go to the place the ladder was meant to go. You did not get to the top of the ladder, hence thought your climbing was unsuccessful. You could consider this the top of the ladder, Al. Either way, do you know where we are?
00:21:39
Speaker
obvious this is getting us nowhere and I'm just going to... you said there's torches, Mark? Yes, there's a series of plinths attached to the side. I'm going to grab one if it's possible and use it as a light and head down the corridor. I'm with Marotta, I'm not first standing about in a place that we've just
00:21:56
Speaker
just suddenly appeared here. I'm following Marotta, so I'm with you. And as you take that torch off the wall, there's a small plant beneath your feet where the torch is on the right from your position, Marotta. And you start moving down the corridor. You notice a few things. The minute you grab the Marotta and everyone, then Alpha and Rains behind. Sorry, Rains. Alpha and Nyx behind.
00:22:21
Speaker
you notice as your eyes look up to grab the torch as you look back down the corridor directly in front of you is an old man stood smiling at you he stands literally five feet away from you he is got an image of him yep
00:22:37
Speaker
He's got like a long baggy white shirt that's rolled up round the sleeves of some rather muscular forearms, a black tunic that sits kind of like a waistcoat over his central section, a long impressive and controlled beard, white beard, down to a point. He's bowled on top to save the back of his hair which runs quite long down the back of his neck.
00:22:56
Speaker
He has a number of ornate rings on his fingers and gold chain around his neck, one of which has an amulet within it, a blue amulet within it. He stands and looks at you all. Does he look fully corporal?
00:23:12
Speaker
You can see he's got kind of red eyes, a kind of red tinge to his eyes as in his people, not his people, his iris. He looks like a human. He looks like a human. I'm just going to go down the corridor. Oi! You! And I'm going to pursue him a quick... Sorry, he's stood directly in front of you. Oh, then I'm just going to grab him by the scruff, if I can. You do grab him by the scruff. Yeah, absolutely. He doesn't tend to move. His clothes move, but he seems immovable. What are you doing? Pulling him towards you or...? Yeah, so I keep trying to pull him.
00:23:42
Speaker
Give me a strength check. Or athletics if you want. That's a seven. He doesn't move at all. His clothes move a little bit, but there is no give really in his clothes either as he continues to look directly at you, Marota, Emron, Nix, and Alpha. Excuse me, sir. Where are we? He like snaps to your attention all of a sudden, Emron.
00:24:11
Speaker
One that is polite. Fantastic. My name is Feolite. Feolite. We are in a test. A test? Correct. No, no, no. We didn't sign up for no test. Oh, no. Of course you didn't. Anyone else? Anyone's going to look around?
00:24:40
Speaker
I don't believe I have signed up for any such test either. No test I know of? No. Stop speaking in riddles. He looks confused at this point. I've been incredibly forthright with you, Morota. This is a test. I don't like that you know my name. Hey, at least, well, it's better than Raines, right? Where is the talky one?
00:25:09
Speaker
What have you done with him? Yeah, where are the other two? They were not needed for this. Only the four of you need to be here for this. I'm gonna punch him. What the hell? Twelve. Twelve, okay. You make contact, could you roll damage? Five. Okay.
00:25:35
Speaker
Could everyone else take your headphones off, please, except Danny? Whoa. Oh, shit. Just a quick one. Let me mute my mic so this doesn't, yeah, of course, noise. You know, doing anything inappropriate. As you hit this man...
00:25:51
Speaker
Nothing happens when you hit his face, doesn't move. There's no push of flesh or blood or teeth or anything like that at all. Imagine him for his face. When your fist makes contact with his skin, you get a number of flashing images come into your head. A few of which makes sense, one of which makes absolutely no sense to you.
00:26:18
Speaker
The first image is of a desert and of glass. Glass made in the desert, in the sand.
Nyx's Visions and Madness
00:26:29
Speaker
The second image is of a war, of a magnitude unknown to you, of destruction.
00:26:44
Speaker
but huge beings fighting, not mortals, not humans, not orcs or halflings fighting, these huge beasts fighting, cracks of thunder, billowing black clouds, boiling lava, chaos, hell. The final image that you managed to make sense of is of a giant dragon, huge, proud, sat on,
00:27:13
Speaker
a mountain topped by the looks of things, looking down and belching forth a line of lightning into the sky. The last image that makes no sense to you is, I can't describe what you see, because it makes no sense to you, but you know it doesn't make sense.
00:27:42
Speaker
with your idea of time, of reality, of what is right and wrong, what is good and evil. It's like you stare at this image for eternity and no time at the same time. Time seems to become impassive and very important at the same time. It is an image that just... Shit, I'm trying to find the best way of describing this to you.
00:28:10
Speaker
And the problem is there are no words for it because it's just something that is so indescribable to a mortal that you cannot feel it. I also need you to roll on the Short-term Madness table. So let me just find, get that rolled up for you. You've just seen something you definitely should not have seen. Okay. Okay, this is gonna affect. So firstly, could you roll a d10 for me, please, Danny?
00:28:39
Speaker
This is going to determine how long you're going to be effective with this for four minutes. Isn't very long. Never go with that. We got four minutes. Okay. Then could you roll a D 100? That's okay. 73.
00:29:12
Speaker
For the next four minutes, you do whatever anyone tells you to do that isn't obviously self-destructive. Okay, so anyone, as long as it isn't self-destructive, like hurt yourself, throw yourself off that cliff, run into that dagger, that isn't going to physically hurt you, then you do what they kind of tell you to do, okay? Okay, thank you. Thank you.
00:29:39
Speaker
Keep me on my toes, Danny boy, I like it. All right, I'll do the signal for getting everyone back.
00:29:47
Speaker
So for the rest of you, what you've just seen is Maro to go up and strike this old chap in the face. She's hit him like a normal punch that you've seen Maro do many times. Him not move, not block, not do anything, allows the strike to hit. Bang, he hits, she hits him. And then she just basically crumples to the floor, like down, just on the floor for a second and then starts to instantly kind of come round and start to kind of scrabble to move around. What would you like to do?
00:30:16
Speaker
Are you okay, bro? Yes, I'm fine. Thank you. Now, let's perhaps that one best. You have to understand, sir, that we're, we're a bit disorientated.
Confronting Nyx's Past and Consequences
00:30:32
Speaker
So please excuse any certain outbursts from from the group, we have to understand we've just been in a bit of a Barney. And now all of a sudden, we're, we're here, it's a bit,
00:30:46
Speaker
It's a bit disconcerting, if you follow. Difficult to comprehend. Aye, that's what I meant, disconcerting. Absolutely. Well, thank you all for being here, though. Where is ear? You are in a test. This is a time and a place and a realm that is not of importance. Well, it's pretty important because we're ear. Not for long.
00:31:14
Speaker
If anything goes well, that is. And I hope it does go well. Right, so who's being tested? Because none of us signed up for this. You know, Nix didn't, Alpha didn't, Marauder didn't, neither did I, so... Then if no one's signed up for anything, then I guess we can all leave. Oh, good. Cheers. But there is one of two ways that we leave here, either by the order of the patron or your soul is rent from your body and you walk the eternal plains.
00:32:00
Speaker
I am not at liberty to describe or tell the eloquence of which the patron is. I am merely a vessel through which the patron passes on their wishes in a form that will not annihilate your sense of being. Their form is beyond your reckoning and would destroy your very mind. A whisper from your patron has been known to drive mortals mad with delusion from whence they have spoken. Well, he's not our patron. The figure's eyes flit to Nyx.
00:32:04
Speaker
for all eternity.
00:32:28
Speaker
a perception check. Do I do we pick up on that? Sorry. Yeah. Give me a what we on 12 and 13 at the moment. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're looking directly at him. You're going to watch his eyes. You watch you see him look at next. You have one among you that might have made a deal. Everyone will turn around.
00:32:47
Speaker
What have you got us into? I swear, I swear, everyone, this isn't me. You've been with me this whole time. Did I make a deal? I just put a helmet on. It's not like I summoned a genie from the lab. Let me look at that helmet then. Let me just check. Yeah, feel free. See? I'll inspect the helmet, please. What do you want, an investigation? Yeah. Arcana or what do you want? Well, go to investigation. I'm investigating the thing. Okay, yeah, go for it.
00:33:20
Speaker
That's a 10 on my investigation. You look over and inside out check the helm for all that's kind of imperfections and there are a number of imperfections. This is shoddy work and it looks just like an apprentice practicing really in terms of the quality of the helm really. There's some imperfections even in the makeup of the iron that's been used. It's not pure at all, which is good for iron, but yeah.
00:33:45
Speaker
I mean, it's elm, mate. It's more of a show piece, really, Nick, because if you took a hit on this, I'd worry it might do you more damage than if you weren't wearing it. Yes, but it's not like it summoned some great deity from the sky, is it, Emron? No, it just looks like a really shite piece of metal. Yes, but that aside, I didn't do nothing here. Well, hang on. Didn't do nothing. Does that mean... I mean, I don't know if you did something.
00:34:14
Speaker
Double negative. I didn't do nothing. Is it me? You know Nix, you've known Nix longer than we have. Aye. So, I mean, you know, the, the, the gentleman here. I don't, I don't know, just move on. Okay, how do we get out of this test then? Or just, just, just, just Nix have to do it if it's his test.
00:34:44
Speaker
Why is it my test? Why is it my test? Why are you looking at me? Because he thinks it's your test, Nick. So, you know, just go with it. Can you tell me what this is in regard to Sir, as you prefer to be called as such?
Resolving Inner Conflict and Facing the Test
00:34:56
Speaker
He takes a sigh. The first show of kind of an emotion that you've seen on his face. Nick's corral. Does that have an effect on people? You know my surname? Nick's corral.
00:35:08
Speaker
Aboard the Esmeralda, not too long ago, you met with a man who was imprisoned by your crew. What was that man's name? Oh, let me think. We have many prisoners on our ship. You seem to know a lot, but you'd have to pick out some finer detail. We hold a lot of people. The one who taught you?
00:35:38
Speaker
To find talk. I talk, I talk, I talk to people. I don't, I don't take any learnings on. The one who told you how to gain power? Nah. The one who taught you the symbols and sigils on which you drew etched into the deck of the Esmeralda, causing your removal from the crew. Hang on a minute, you're removed from your crew?
00:36:11
Speaker
I need a moment. I need a moment. I'm getting warm. Anyone else getting warm? Where did you? Yeah, okay. Maybe I dabbled in a little bit of, he said, blood magic. Nothing came of it, though. I just carved some runes into the deck of the ship and blood seeped into it. But I was gone. I blacked out. I was kicked awake by the deck hand. And then, yes, I might have been kicked off the ship.
00:36:40
Speaker
At this point, can Emron grab Nix by the scruff of his neck and just pull him forward. Morota's going to intercept if you try that. I'm going to grab him by the scruff of his neck then first. And I'm going to grab your wrist, Emron. I will grab Morota's wrist. I just want to be a part of it. He's not even aggressive. He just kind of puts his hand out and grabs Morota's wrist. I mean, there's no role for it. I think we're all just touching each other at the moment. Now.
00:37:09
Speaker
Now, Marotta, I'm just going to bring Nick's front and centre, because it seems to be that E needs to be at the front rather than adding at the back here, because he seems to have got us into a big pile of shite. No, no, no, Emron, I didn't even know you when I made this deal. Did you say this was... I didn't think... Look, nothing happened of it, sir. What's your name? If I keep... What's your name?
00:37:34
Speaker
Fairlights. I have mentioned it before. Fairlights. Yes, of course. Sorry. You caught me unawares, you see. Maybe I can... There's got to be something I can do about this. You've got to understand, when... So you asked about this prisoner. His name was Gartrax, okay? And he presented me this...
00:37:52
Speaker
He had a nogget of information where he said if I was to perform some simple blood magic up on the deck of my ship I would be imbued with great power. Now I took it with a pinch of salt at the time as you can imagine but I was still intrigued.
00:38:10
Speaker
And nothing came of it. I did it word for word. Can I just say I made a great show of it. I did a great job and nothing came of it apart from I lost my ship and my crew. And now are you saying that you being here is related to that? Did it work?
00:38:29
Speaker
Am I getting- am I- hold up. Am I getting great power? Is this what's gonna happen? Am I getting- is this happening? Are you simple or something? You don't do blood magic and expect it now to happen? Well nothing happened, M. Ron. Like- That you knew of, and here we bloody are. Well I didn't-
00:38:47
Speaker
make one and one in this situation. Okay, maybe, maybe this is the thing, but hold on. Am I going to be if this could be great? This could be great for all of us. Am I about to be imbued with some unhaulier than now power? Could be great. Or as he said, our souls get ripped from our bodies and we wander the empty planes for all eternity.
Accepting the Challenge Under Divine Protection
00:39:07
Speaker
Well, then, Emron, perhaps let Nix find a way out of this for us. I think he should start doing that now.
00:39:17
Speaker
Oh, you're being serious, you're looking at me to lead this to... Ah, oh... Sir, um, uh, uh... Fairlight, Fairlight. I was alone when I made this bargain. It was not on them, and really, does, like, the power split four ways? No, you will have the power yourself, but... The Patron.
00:39:46
Speaker
Your patron, Nyx Carell, deemed your companions of interest. They will not be affected by their power or their knowledge or the danger or enjoyment that comes with that. Yet, well, as at least one of your members is protected at least by a deity of other. However,
00:40:18
Speaker
The patron, your patron also understands that you are not without your proclivities, Nyx Carell. And that's this group of individuals that you have chosen or not chosen to surround yourself with have an impact on your sense of self and self-worth. And they will come with you through this test
00:40:44
Speaker
I mean, you're going to have to convince them. It's not me. I'm happy. I'll go along with you. You're offering something great. I can't. And Nick turns to the group. I mean, you wanted me to get us out of this. It sounds like... Hang on. You said one of us was protected.
00:41:01
Speaker
Well, that's got to prove you and your Aledo god, surely. Well, I wouldn't be so presumptuous to assume that Aledo watches me. I'm just a humble blacksmith who follows his teachings. Fairlight nods, however, to Nix's assumption. See? You're protected. You've got nothing to worry about him. Marotta's strong as hell and he's a robot, so we're okay.
00:41:29
Speaker
Okay, right, well, I don't know how to take that. As in you've been chosen from your deity, maybe this is my calling, everyone. For some man of the faith, this might be my calling, surely you can understand. Yeah, but my calling didn't involve blood magic and blacking out on a deck of a ship.
00:41:47
Speaker
Hey, I mean, like, I might have made it up in my brain, you know, who really knows, maybe, maybe it was just a handshake with a prisoner, you know, you know, let bygones be bygones. We're here now, regardless of how we arrived here, we are here now.
00:42:08
Speaker
Go on, then. And everyone will sort of... Are we all still holding each other, by the way? Just checking. I like to think you are. I've sort of let go and I sort of step aside and sort of gesture to the next bit, like... Go on, then. Lead on. Yeah. Right, yeah. Lead. I can do that. Fairlight. What do I do?
00:42:36
Speaker
And he gestures down the corridor with a single arm and then looks back to you. Down the corridor, there are a number of doors leading into different rooms. Each of these rooms have a number of items within them, different things within them. It's up to you what you choose to do with them, Nyx, Corel, and companions. You will not know, however, if you have passed the tests until the final threshold is crossed.
00:43:01
Speaker
Beware, Nix and company, that your decisions within this place will have far-reaching consequences on your place in this realm. Not all will be tied to the packs of Nix's patron, your patron, Nix, but all will feel his presence.
Facing the Unknown Test
00:43:18
Speaker
Yeah, you keep saying, Nix's patron? Does this patron have a name, or is there something I should be chanting, or I don't know how this works?
00:43:31
Speaker
I am his voice for now, in this moment. I am not, however, your patron. I am nowhere near his sense of power. He pauses again. I am nowhere near their sense of power. As I previously mentioned, the very sights of this patron would destroy your very mind.
00:43:58
Speaker
Those of which... Human mind, though. I'm... Tiefling. Mortal minds. The question of who your patron is, however, Nix. The patron is one, however, that transcends time, space, and realms. They hold no affinity, no love, no opinion on the likes of mortals, but enjoys the machinations that they take upon themselves.
00:44:24
Speaker
Your patron is also interested by challenge of the mortal's will against all odds, against their very nature. Let this not be lightly taken. Your patron is and always has been. They have transcended the very bonds of mortality, and through the echoes across the realms, they have formed into a being of unimaginable power, vitality, and knowledge.
00:44:51
Speaker
Their name even will be one that you are not ready to, I hear uttered. Okay, I'm reading you. I'm hearing great power. Comes great responsibility. I saw it on the tip of your tongue. Get out. I didn't want to say it.
00:45:12
Speaker
Your patron also transcends to the Marvel universe, and unfortunately... Your patron is Uncle Ben. His rice is great. Um... I hear power. I mean, like... Sounds like...
00:45:34
Speaker
Fun, guys, like a test? I mean, we all like to, I mean, come on, what's the worst that can happen apart from obliteration of our souls? But this is, it sounds like it's a me problem anyway. So, you know, let's just, I'll tell you what, follow me, take my lead. I will guide us through this sea of decisions and we will, and Nick draws himself up as if he's trying to embody someone greater than him.
00:46:04
Speaker
And we will, we will, we will make it through me, hearties. You stay by me and we will cross this sea together. Are you with me? Aye. Aye. Yes. Okay. Okay. Sorry. Aye. Aye.
00:46:25
Speaker
Alfa just kind of caught up in the moment. The performance from Nix I think would have kind of lit an Envision in Adventure books for Alfa and he just kind of... Was it a good performance? I did. It was a performance check. I had the benefit to get out for it. If you want to... Yeah, make him roll for it. 17. Yes, it was... Yeah, that would be good. Yeah, bloody good. Alfa. Yeah, Alfa kind of thrusts his fist up in the air. Aye! We're in a corridor, there is no sea.
00:46:53
Speaker
Ay, the sea's in your mind, me hearty. There's always a sea to be travelled, and as long as you stick with ye, captain, ye shall make it through. Are ye savvy? No. Well, you got no choice, Inouye. That man's gonna obliterate your soul, so ye best be following me. I can't... I can't... I don't know how... I don't know how he does it. Anyway, anyway, follow me, and we'll make it through, okay?
00:47:21
Speaker
That's cool. That's cool.
Unexpected Vision and Nyx's Paralysis
00:47:22
Speaker
Fairlight turns and steps someone out of the way, kind of allowing the corridor to be open to you with a gesture to his hand again. Onwards, brave travellers. I would offer hope and luck, but both are within the reckoning of the patron and therefore would be sacrilege. Up top, Fairlight. And Nix raises his hand for a cheeky high five. He lifts his hand slowly but shakes his head.
00:47:48
Speaker
Yeah, Nick slaps the hand. Can everyone take your headphones off except Ian, please? Why do you guys keep doing this to me, man? No, it's great.
00:48:07
Speaker
You, high five, this old man in front of you, even though he shook his head as he held his hand up, a series of images flash in front of your vision, three of which make sense, one of which makes no sense. The first image is of a blue dragon, bright blue.
00:48:32
Speaker
deep blue and bright blue. And between the scales, you can see kind of the channels of electricity and lightning moving among its scales sat on a massive, massive hoard of treasure. And it's just screaming in draconic, yet you can understand it. Can you understand draconic? No, I don't think so. Just one second, because I have got
00:49:02
Speaker
No, because I'm not technically a warlock yet. So no, I'm not. So it's speaking Draconic. You can understand it. You're like in a dream when someone speaks a different language and you don't speak that language, but you can understand it anyway. It's like that. But it's just screaming liars, liars, liars at something in this in this layer.
00:49:23
Speaker
And that's the first image. The second image is of a tiny, tiny scorpion just scuttling across a desert. It moves for quite some time before being buried in this kind of deep orange sand as the wind starts to pick up. The third image is of war.
00:49:43
Speaker
but not of mortal war, but the war of dragons in the air. There is no ground. There is just cloud and lightning and belches of fire and ice and flame. And it's all hidden and shredded by fog. And you can just, the danger is there. You're not on anything. You're just there kind of seeing and feeling the terror of this gargantuan attack.
00:50:08
Speaker
The final image transcends description, which is great for a podcast. It transcends description, but it's, from what you have heard from Theolite, you can probably imagine that you have just had a link. You've seen an image of what this patron of yours is. It is,
00:50:37
Speaker
a storm. It is a mountain. It is the world cracking. It is the sun exploding. This isn't all the images. This is just the feeling. There's no words to describe it. It's the feeling of enormity that you get. It's the great worm that arcs around the world. It is the Alpha Omega. It is nothing and it is everything. It is time and it is
00:51:02
Speaker
absolutely nothing at the same time. It is a sense of dread and elation of love and hatred of joy and disgust. It's, it's everything and nothing is an absence and a fullness. And I need you to roll on the madness table. Oh my God. So this is going to be
00:51:26
Speaker
This is going to be short-term madness. So it's only gonna affect you up to 10 minutes. So could you first roll the d10 for me, please? Six. Okay, so it's gonna affect you for six minutes. Could you now roll up a d100? Eight. Okay. You become paralyzed. So in that high-five position, you're gonna be stuck there for, is it six minutes? Six minutes.
00:51:54
Speaker
Cool. It ends and then the effect ends if you take any damage or someone hits you or you get hit with an arrow or anyone slaps or anything like that, it breaks. But if it doesn't, if nothing happens like that, you're just stood there like that for six minutes. Do you want any confirmation on those images or is that all?
00:52:11
Speaker
No, that makes sense. Um, can I talk when I'm paralyzed? What's no, I'm totally frozen. I think it's in a bro fist moment. I'd be up top and you just held up.
Exploring the Throne Room and Goblin Encounter
00:52:22
Speaker
Okay, cool. Okay. Bring it. I'll do the, I'll do the team America sign to get everyone back. I think he's saying, kiss me. Smart ass motherfucker. So is Ian minus one level? Yeah, actually he's dead. Yeah.
00:52:41
Speaker
What the rest of you see is Nick's step forward for a high five with this unknown figure. He high fives, fail out lowers his hand, looks at the rest of you, gives a solemn slow nod and dissipates. But just for a half second you
00:53:00
Speaker
You get the feeling, I mean, this is a passive perception, passing your past anyway, you get the feeling that this is not his corporeal form, this is not a normal form, he would put this on for some reason because there's a flash of something else, there's a feeling of something else as he kind of disappears from your view. Nix is still up in a high five position and he isn't moving. Nix, what are you doing? He doesn't respond.
00:53:29
Speaker
Right, I'll carry him. Let's go. I'd like to investigate. Next, please. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Give us, uh, I think you'll find to carry him on. He's quite big. He's just carrying him, aren't you? Yeah. That's fine. You're not running. Yeah. You're not running with him or anything or throwing him. Okay. Uh, give me an investigation check, please. Will.
00:53:52
Speaker
Sorry. That's a seven. He's not moving. Can I do a medicine check on him? You can do a medicine check, Alpha.
00:54:04
Speaker
13. He's breathing. He's alive. His eyes are open. His pupils dilate. But he's breathing. His heart is beating. His digestive system is working properly. His liver seems to be functioning well, but a little bit damaged. And he has slight indigestion. Can we move his arm? If I try and push his arm down. His arm stays perfectly still. Morata, this might be a bigger problem than we
00:54:36
Speaker
Either way, I'll carry him. Okay. It appears to be in a form of paralysis. I'll... You've got him. I'll hold the torches and... I'll figure you get the door. Very well. A motor with nicks in tow is going to walk to the east. Okay, and to the double doors that are just to your left.
00:55:02
Speaker
Okay. We don't, I only see like half the corridor. Is that right? It's slightly cut off. I didn't know there were doors there. Can you see that hiding it from your site? Inside this room is a large pillared throne room.
00:55:19
Speaker
You see around the edges a number of candelabras and burning torches lighting the space. This makes it erupts in light and long cast shadows across. There are four pillars in the center of the room and the far side of the room is a large kind of shielded, not leather, velvets, kind of tent almost that leads down to a large plush red throne.
00:55:43
Speaker
It's empty. There are four pillars made of marble dotting in the center of the space, and between these two pillars, leaving a clear gangway between the pillars directly to the throne, are to look like very important people's coffins. One has etched on top of it what you can look like a male, and one has etched on top of it from your distance the figure of a female out of stone on the top of these large casks.
00:56:09
Speaker
In the corner of the room there is an upturned rowing boat. Seems very out of place. But more importantly than that though, what you look at at the moment are a number of goblins in the room. There is one to the north, one to the south, and then two directly ahead of you. Morotun, you've got Nyx.
00:56:30
Speaker
in your hands at the moment. The front, sorry, the goblin at the back seems to be more well-armored. He holds a shield and an axe in his hand. He's almost like, not sat on the throne, but near the throne. And he looks down towards you and just goes, get him!
00:56:47
Speaker
And just before the goblins all start moving, that's where we're going to leave it for this week's episode of the fellowship of the tabletop. Oh yeah, of course we are. Yeah! Yeah. For fuck's sake.
Conclusion and Podcast Engagement
00:56:57
Speaker
You're still cheating. I can't believe that. I can't believe that. A simple high five gone wrong. Absolutely. Well, don't worry. I mean, I mean, Nick, she'll be about as useless as you normally are at a fight. Yeah, everybody here. Wow. Good stuff, Nick. I'm just a patron. Yeah.
00:57:15
Speaker
you know how warlocks work is it's not like it's not all no idea how warlock works that's like taking some knowledge of dnd mate which we all know and the listeners should know i'm not the best dad that's why i'm lying on you i've already been playing this game for three years it's give and take mate it's give and take you have to give a lot and then it gives you a bit of power
00:57:35
Speaker
Well, we're going to find out how that all unfolds next week. And this is a great opportunity for me to say thank you very much for tuning in and listening to us, making us a part of your everyday week. We love you for it. If you wanted to keep in touch with the podcast, you can do so on one on many various social.
00:57:51
Speaker
pages. We have a fucking website called fellowshipathetabletop.com. We have a Facebook, which is fellowship table, and we have a Twitter page, which is at fellowship table. If you wanted a puchus and hit us with a DM in an individual status, you can do so on one of our many combined Twitter pages. We have an individual one, as I just said, and I'm over rolling here because being next takes it out of me and I just can't seem to stop.
00:58:16
Speaker
I'm at iWorlda1, Danny's at Total Party Thrills, Callum's at TheD20Gamer, Will is at Natural20Will, and our wicked awesome DM is at AisleyRollDn. Until next time, guys. Farewell, world! Farewell! See you later, gang.