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C2 Ep. 148 Eberron Reviewed 27
837 Plays2 years ago
We take a look back on the past arc and answer your questions.
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of our amazing Show Sponsors: Laura Pickrahn, Darrin Katzska, Irene Viorritto, Ryan Royce, Darrell DeLaney, Charles Compton, Deviouspoptart, Nastasia Raulerson, David Scrams, Elizabeth Clark, Andy Dossett, Rebekah Gowman, deviouspoptart, Eðvarð Arnór Sigurðsson, Michael Clark, Eric Witman, Jerry Theuns, Philip Newman, Mark Stanley, and Shelby Johnson.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsors
00:00:00
Speaker
The following episode is brought to you by Darren Kaczka, Deavius Poptart, Elizabeth Clark, Irene Villarito, Laura Pickron, Nathan Stuller, Charles Compton, Natasha Rallerson, David Scrams, Edvard Arnoff, Jerry Thunes, Mark Stanley, Rebecca Gaoeman, and Shelby Johnson, as well as all of our generous patrons.
00:00:54
Speaker
D20 radio, your game is roll.
Meet the Hosts
00:01:05
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to Eberron Renewed, an actual play RPG tabletoping podcast. Where will we play? Eric shaking his head. He's acting like I'm wrong. I'm not wrong. I'm just bad at it. And I'm Jeff. I'm Phillip. I'm Trevor. I'm Randy. And I'm Eric. And we're going to review the last four episodes now. I'm streamlining. So let's get started. So the whole arc begins
Beginning of the Arc: Warforged Possession
00:01:34
Speaker
right after we finished the sabotaging of the machine that was causing the warforged to be possessed by we a can of the can of I don't really don't know exactly who's behind this we assume it's institutional but we really don't know I didn't think about that until I was listening to it today
00:01:55
Speaker
But we're all in a lot of pain, or actually that's not true at all. Some of us are in a lot of pain, and some of us are also in pain. Raynard's like, what? What's a pain, he says. You are, Raynard. You are a pain. And so we go to both Philip and Eris's favorite character. Mm. Marist. Is there a T on the end of the first name? No. Is it Marist? Marist. Okay, it's Marist. It's Marist. No, there is T. Marist. I would say it's not like a T to me. Okay.
00:02:24
Speaker
We go see Marist pebblefist and he takes care of Hob, he takes care of Aeris. Aeris still sucks at interpersonal relationships when it comes to Marist pebblefist. Marist pebblefist is off-putting. Marist pebblefist is off-putting.
00:02:41
Speaker
which you learn is intentional on his part. The rest of us have chosen to ignore it. And then he acted offended when I was off put. He did it on purpose and then acted offended when people were put off. That's called gaslighting. OK, OK, you know what? OK. But technically, Philip, gaslighting, no. Yeah, at this point in our common record, gaslighting just means lying, which is not fair to the people who put in the work to gaslight.
00:03:10
Speaker
Like Marist Pebblefist. We're already off the rails. We're two minutes in and we're already off the rails. And we're recording several things. But yeah, so Marist Pebblefist, and he doesn't
Advice from Marist Pebblefist
00:03:19
Speaker
tell us a lot. We don't already know about what's going on with the Boromar clan and the family and stuff like that, but just reiterates.
00:03:28
Speaker
Things are bad, lay low, stay low. I guess we didn't really, Eric, tell us about your thought process of is Marist sympathetic to us or not, and why you chose to let him be. It could just be money, I get that.
00:03:45
Speaker
I want to say that Randy expended some level of resource like a story point or something to say that he had an existing relationship with Dr. Pebble Fest that would at least open up that possibility. And I could remember if it was a story point or not, but yeah, my thinking cut like once that was.
00:04:05
Speaker
spent and to expand upon okay why would this be the case. Milo's family goes way back with the clan and nobody liked Viggo that much so like you all wreck and shop on him didn't burn many bridges.
00:04:20
Speaker
And people really like Satan. And so it's just a confusing time. And so it's one of those things where if somebody genuinely believes that you didn't kill Satan, then they will probably be sympathetic to you because the only other logical explanation is Vigo had something to do with
Vigo's Guilt and Voicing Characters
00:04:37
Speaker
it. So that was kind of my thinking. And that is certainly true. Six times out of 10 that we've said, no, it wasn't us.
00:04:44
Speaker
Vigo did it and we got him to confess. No one's like, that can't be right. They're like, oh yeah, okay. That actually, yeah, that tracks. Yeah, that definitely tracks. Anything else anybody wants to share about the pebble fist encounter? Anything I've missed? It's always a joy to role play him. I know you like playing Marist a lot. And I have fun with listening to Eric do that. He's one of my favorites for real. Wait, Eric is really? Yes, Eric is.
00:05:11
Speaker
no there's pebble fist loving we go back to another favorite npc if we go next to sigil we still have the core from the machine with us and we've got to get that taken care of i did like after the scene with pebble fist at some point went was it spruce that was asking the inappropriate questions and i hear fella go oh spruce is their aris we just felt pretty apt yeah
00:05:35
Speaker
There's not a lot of there's not a lot of forward momentum. We tell Eric see a residual what we've done They think as they feel they tell us a little bit more about what their plans are next We did see what was his name ash? Right talking about interlopers. Yep
00:05:49
Speaker
But it was glancing at us talk about martyrs like which was. Was he glancing at us as we were walking by like interlopers? And I bet he was doing it. I doubt he was glancing. He might have been pointing and we fill sigil in on what we've done. Let them know that the barrier is down, at least temporarily.
Genesis Game Mechanics and Character Development
00:06:08
Speaker
The machine is broken, at least temporarily if you write or disabled.
00:06:14
Speaker
Yeah, we broke it. Yeah. I don't remember if we explicitly said to them, like, so if you want to take your crew up and see what's going on, let the heat die down. You're good to go. But if that was their plan, that was our green light for it. Yeah. Yeah. There wasn't an explicit explicitly stated it was there. And as we leave, we see a third NPC.
00:06:34
Speaker
I would say, less beloved by one player because of what he signifies. Hey, we see Narn, actually, no, Hoblow's known, and Jeff Lowe's known, but was not happy to see Narn this time because I knew it was coming. So obligation is a thing in Genesis that we did once. And I don't know if we have ever really talked about that. We didn't have a conversation about leaving the obligation
00:06:58
Speaker
to the wayside, it just happened. Whoa, what are you talking about? All the rest of us have fulfilled our obligation. It's just not getting it done. I thought, I thought Eris didn't fulfill hers, did she? Eris is the only one to have fulfilled hers. Did I recall her finishing it then? Sure. Yeah. Let's say that. Come on, Eric. I had him going. I knew Raynard couldn't have possibly. So I wasn't going to believe it. I got invited back by my father. I think that counts.
00:07:27
Speaker
As soon as you assassinate the head of House Fearland in, yeah, sure. Yeah. Obligation fulfilled. Good job, Trevor. But like the official mechanic of obligation, rolling for obligation, all of that stuff has gone away. Yeah. And I foolishly thought that with that, perhaps my onus to House Deneth had done the same thing.
00:07:50
Speaker
Apparently not.
New Job Request at Ruska's Roost
00:07:51
Speaker
I guess Milo has fulfilled his obligation also because Jason's dead and Viggo is dead. So yeah, probably if we were doing the mechanics, Milo would have fulfilled his obligation also. So there you go, Randy. But this is a reviewed so it's not canon. So shut up, Randy. And Narn tells that Boomerush has one more job for him.
00:08:15
Speaker
and we're supposed to go to a place called Ruska's Roost, and that's all he knows right now. He might know the Warlord thing. He might know there's the Warlord bit involved at this point, but that's really it. Yeah. Any other things you guys wanna touch on for episode one? Nope. Okay, I don't think we have, we actually, nope, that's episode three that happens. Okay, episode two begins with my, probably my favorite
00:08:43
Speaker
that's happened in campaign two where Aeris has to learn how to be appreciated by strangers. And she just can't handle it. And it doesn't help that her coaches in how to handle this social situation are three absolute idiots. Anti-social, actually Milo's not anti-social in the general sense, but he's both going through some things and
00:09:12
Speaker
Aaron says I'm gonna listen to him anyway. And yes, I do have that. I have it coming up. Yeah, he does get pretty high. On the most inappropriately named drink in Eberron. Yeah, what was it again? The morning sunrise. Morning's embrace. Embrace, yeah. Oh, morning's embrace. Even worse.
00:09:37
Speaker
Yeah, which, if I'm not mistaken, the morning's embrace is asphyxiation. It's death, it's death. And probably horrible mutation. We'll find out. So what happens? So drinks start coming free, food starts coming free. I cannot remember her name, but the young actor's mother comes up. Oh, yeah. And thanks, Eris, and reconciles a bit with, or doesn't reconcile with anybody, but it's like, hey, sorry, I was pretty short with you guys that one time.
00:10:06
Speaker
What else happened? Milo gets suited for kicking Hobb in the groin also, she did. Yeah, I was putting that under the, that was all under the umbrella. We need not state givens. Yeah, Milo gets suited on the morning's embrace and Aeris doesn't drink, Hobb doesn't drink, Raynard doesn't drink yet. That's later in the arc that Raynard begins drinking
Eris, The Fixer: Struggles and Nicknames
00:10:27
Speaker
again. And the only reason
00:10:30
Speaker
I did that is because, okay, Eric has went to the trouble to give us these drinks. A Milo's got to order something. The mornings embrace. I thought, I thought Eris did get like a Kyron sunrise or something. I think that's true. I think they're ordered. I might be wrong. May have had one. Eris says explicitly, I have to work on an explosive weapon later. You may have had one, but not more than that.
00:10:58
Speaker
She doesn't air us out where a bad day leaves you some serious drankin'. And yes, and we'll get to this later, but yes, Eric, the tavern and menu and drink descriptions in this arc, Eric really went to town on them and they were pretty great. So we are going to talk about that during some discussion later. There's a question about it. So I don't want to walk right over Randy's praise of Eric for that because it was pretty fantastic and comprehensive.
00:11:24
Speaker
So we convinced Eris that the smart thing to do to potentially get them to quit buying things for her is to buy a round and that is when Hob gets some of the best information that he's ever heard because this round is attributed to whom?
00:11:39
Speaker
somebody who buys the round. Okay, fine. The DM will do it. The Fixer. Ariz has a nickname and it's the Fixer because the people in high walls are having too much. There's too much of the creative part of their brain just dedicated to surviving. That's what they came up with for that lady who fixes everything. She's the Fixer. Which is appropriate, it sounds to me. Perfect. I love it. Everything about it is great. Yeah.
00:12:07
Speaker
I love that they're like, she fixes things. We need to celebrate her. We shall call her fixer. And also, Eris hates it, which is even better. It's true. Eris doesn't hate the nickname. Eris hates having a nickname.
00:12:19
Speaker
Yes, Eris hates being noticed. Well, at one point she says, I've just never had people who will do things for me to Hob and Milo and Raynard. So good. Eris gets uncomfortable enough that we decide to leave. Three of the four of us decide to leave. Milo wants to kick around for a while longer. Milo keeps trying to get another drink and Hob and Eris are nannying.
00:12:44
Speaker
and then we get stopped on the way out. We do. There's a woman elf who's just clocking Raynard and...
Raynard's Romantic Misadventures
00:12:53
Speaker
Let's go in. Maybe. Maybe. I'm suspicious. She was definitely clocking him. Like, she stares at him. I'm suspicious too. I don't know if she was jocking him, but she was clocking him. So Trevor, let's get inside. You know what? That's not good for anybody. But let's talk about it.
00:13:12
Speaker
was being really conflicted about starting a conversation with the woman that appeared to be interested in you. Was that a character choice? Was that a Trevor don't know what to do? Oh, definitely both. I don't like flirting with my DM, but that just and I don't mean Eric. I mean, my DM whoever happens to be running the thing now as a DM.
00:13:36
Speaker
I'm flirted with constantly because my players are all monsters. But I don't like doing that. So I don't know what I would have done. But Trevor, let's talk. Let's go for it. Yeah, it was awkward for Trevor, so it became awkward for Raynard. There it is. So I think I got into it for Eric all around. Got into it a little bit at the end. So game and Raynard just further cluing into his psyche, apparently thinks that he and Verla have a flirty relationship.
00:14:06
Speaker
which is pathological like it's not just wild it's
00:14:14
Speaker
Do you remember there used to be a really like really awful reality show called The Pickup Artist where this dude would explain to socially awkward guys how to pick up girls? The guy dressed in 98 or whatever it was, a lot like you probably picture Raynard dressing. Yeah, that's true. And I remember that because
00:14:41
Speaker
Someone I won't mention here who lived with me was a big fan of this show and and watched it a lot in the apartment I lived in him with. This was during the dark times. But Philip, I lived with your brother, not with you. You got it. Right. Anyway, I remember one of the things was like. Backhanded compliments, and it's called nagging.
00:15:11
Speaker
I didn't want to give it the credence of giving it the fake jargon that was invented by a huckster. This is not Twitter. We named the problem so people know how to avoid them. Fair enough. I feel like that's the only lesson that Reynard absorbed. Peacocking and nagging. Those are the two things that Reynard got, yeah. You guys don't feel that tension?
00:15:36
Speaker
we feel the tension we absolutely feel the tension it's just not what reynard thinks it is visceral animalistic tension yep like right before a badger lunges at your face and close your eyes out i was honestly gonna say badger amazing i will concede the first
00:15:53
Speaker
three scenes between Reynard and Verla, yes, there was a flirty air about things, the gala when she showed up as the mouse to Reynard's owl, et cetera. But Reynard has just systematically bludgeoned all of that out of Verla. I am appalled that it made it to the gala.
00:16:15
Speaker
The cold open gala that you all weren't there for. Okay. Not the one where he deceived her into dressing up for a non-cost party. I said it in the episode and I stand by this. There is not a person in the world or a being in fantasy that I would be incredulous about people finding them attractive. There's someone for everyone. So I have no doubt that Raynard would have opportunities to flirt with
00:16:41
Speaker
people that he is interested in. It's after he starts talking that I'm like, this can't last. There's an aspect to it of the actions and the words and the demeanor of the player against the numbers on the sheet. Reynard's got four yellows charm. Reynard exudes charm. And despite Trevor's awkwardness, Reynard probably to a certain extent is a charming person.
00:17:05
Speaker
in spite of Trevor's best efforts so I try to play it that way also like where there's a translation of what Trevor says into the fiction of what comes out of Reynard's mouth to support the mechanics and I do want to say Trevor when he's Trevor is
00:17:23
Speaker
Unbelievably charming. He's got buckets of this stuff. He's really fun to be around. I was about to say, y'all don't find me charming? No, Trevor is fantastic. You are charming. Trevor has Raynard. Raynard is the problem. Trevor is nothing like Raynard except for tall and thin. Let's put that out there. Yeah. And occasionally a bit of a flashy dresser. That's true. But her name is Nessa Moonshadow and...
00:17:49
Speaker
could not be laying it on thicker. She did not, if she is, as we, all the characters immediately assumed, there to kill him. If that is her real name. The intel she had said- Which surely is not. The intel she had said, boy is thick, make it clear.
00:18:07
Speaker
Oh, I'm not interested in them. I'm here for you. Raynard Turnville, big sign flashing behind her. She read that she read the women's version of the pickup artist and is constantly playing with her hair and making little brushes of physical contact. And I love Raynard's impulse. Like Nessa was interested from the get and Raynard still clout chased. Like she was like, hi, what's your name? He's looking who I'm here with. Maybe Raynard was trying to set her up with Aeris. You're very fun to play with. It's true.
00:18:37
Speaker
All we know right now about Nessa Moonshadow is that she is some, some sort of herbalist magic stuff and wants Raynard, wants Raynard in sentence, but also wants Raynard to come buy her shop sometime.
00:18:54
Speaker
so that she could kill him. We also know that. Drug him and kill him. And Raynard is not oblivion. We said, hey, what do you think? You think she's going to kill you? And he's like, yeah. Were her feelings of affection to you genuine? Just have to go to her papa carry and find out. I'm sure we will. We need things. Hob could use a healing potion. Someone wanting to kill Raynard does not have to get in the way of a decent relationship with that person.
00:19:24
Speaker
Also, we've wanted to kill Rainard before, and he still hangs around us. Completely. But we do get to leave after the Ness and Moonshadow. I almost said resolution. There was no such thing. And back to the cauldron. We're told to be quiet. And then we just make some decisions about all of that make it where we don't have to be quiet anymore, because it makes for better audio if we can talk. And let's talk. OK, so this is where Aerys begins work. We all leave. And then Aerys begins work on her new Fletcher.
00:19:54
Speaker
We explained it in passing, not in passing, but briefly in the episode. So would you guys talk about why, in the narrative, if this was a TV series that didn't have a set of rules or attributes for the characters, that Fletcher would not be back this quickly. So let's talk about why. I want to disagree with the premise. Okay, yeah. Unfortunately, this is my show, so you're not gonna be able to do that. So, okay, so mechanically,
00:20:24
Speaker
Eris has the heroic ability from the realms of Terenoth, Genesis book, signature weapon. That's where the Fletcher originates mechanically. And yes, probably the fiction that is aiming for is like Excalibur or Glamdring or something. You've got a weapon that you're just known for. Eris built this.
00:20:47
Speaker
It's not mystical. She has no genetic attachment to it. It's not tied to her destiny. It's not the result of some deep arcane pact. She built it and it's not the first one that she's built. I've had this on my sheet as the Fletcher Mark II the whole time because I assumed the first time Eris built one of these things at some point it exploded.
00:21:08
Speaker
because this is a really stupid way to build a weapon. I don't think it needed a like some kind of long. I think Laura commented in the discord with a sad emoji and she just replaced it.
Eris and the Fletcher Upgrades
00:21:24
Speaker
Eris is angry that the Fletcher got left behind because it's something she built and it was left behind that basically says Eris was here in a crime scene. The loss of the Fletcher is not
00:21:37
Speaker
emotional to Eris in that the item is emotionally important other than that she's very proud of having built it. So on the one hand, it's not, it's not like there's not an epic, there doesn't need to be an epic montage of Eris rebuilding the Fletcher or anything like that.
00:21:57
Speaker
Secondarily, she's already got one back at the shop. Like she has the one that we took from the Milhatch warehouse. It just obviously was deeply inferior. And so she took it apart and stripped it for parts and definitely didn't borrow any ideas from it at all. And so the parts for the new Fletcher and the ideas for the new Fletcher were already in play. And I maybe
00:22:21
Speaker
have even referenced her tinkering around with it a couple of times. I've intended that's been going on, whether or not I've successfully mentioned it or not. And so losing the Fletcher meant going home and making the necessary adjustments to make the Millhatch Fletcher up to her own standards. And I made a couple of
00:22:46
Speaker
cosmetic adjustments to what it looked like to represent progression in her character. Everything we've recorded has come out by the time this comes out. Yes. Everything. But no, the the little side thing where Randy wasn't available. OK, so. Then I can't tell you that I made some adjustments to the nature of of the runes and things that control it and power it to represent.
00:23:13
Speaker
more of who Eris is now because, of course, everything Eris does is chaotically artistic. And so, yeah, so that's I would very happily if this was that kind of like signature weapon, if this was that if it was emotionally important to her, Eris would have launched into some sort of scheme to get it back.
00:23:36
Speaker
Right now, Eris's interest in reacquiring it is just so that no one else has it, as opposed to because she desperately needs it back, because the new Fletcher that she has acquired is actually better for the way that we operate, because no one ever gives Eris space to blow crap up. I'm not blaming you. I realize it's just. Literally can't operate. I'm not blaming anyone, but it is just a fact that it's almost never safe for Eris to use that aspect of the Fletcher.
00:24:05
Speaker
And so this is a better option for the way that she operates in this group. So I'm very much would have.
00:24:17
Speaker
happily left my character without the weapon for a few episodes, a few sessions, if it meant a more narratively satisfying recovery of it or acquisition of a new one. But this was a tool that Eris made that she'd used a lot that had been very reliable and oh, it's gone an opportunity to upgrade. So it's now she's got a Fletcher Mark 3.
00:24:43
Speaker
So I've not had an English class in some time. Is the inverse of dramatic irony? Is that just irony? Is that just like it? Cause a dramatic irony is when we know something, the character doesn't this, the inverse of that is what was here. I didn't remember. And I don't think listeners knew.
00:24:59
Speaker
Eric and Philip were the only two people that knew that the Fletcher was going to be quickly and easily replaced. So it was a much bigger deal to the rest of us than it was to you guys. So every time Hobbs, what are we going to do about this? That was Jeff going, what are we going to do? Eris feels that way because other people having the Fletcher is bad. Like it has actual weight and importance. And if we can find a way to keep it out of someone else's hands or destroy it or whatever,
00:25:25
Speaker
That would be very good. And Eris would care a lot about that. It's just not. A piece of my soul is missing because she lost the Fletcher. Sure. Yeah. OK, great.
00:25:40
Speaker
I think that's situational irony. We'll move on. So episode three begins with all of us returning to the cauldron. Eris has been up all night. Very cute thing where Olive has set a 24 hour. If the bed pressure plate doesn't activate in 24 hours, an alarm goes off.
00:25:57
Speaker
20 hours, not 24. Sorry. I like the idea that Aeris has crashed out on the couch and that alarm wakes her up. Which to be fair, I've woken up and gone to bed before. Sure. Yeah. So absolutely. So that was very cute, very sweet. We all go back to the cauldron, wake Aeris up rudely.
00:26:19
Speaker
And Milo and Olive start to examine the, this isn't the arms, this was the box. The box. The box, yes, thank you. With the intent to feel the arms. And I will shut up and let you guys chat a bit if you would like, because I didn't really do anything until we got to Roost cause Roost, so. Just. Oh, go ahead. Milo just had the ability to help and
00:26:45
Speaker
was asked, Milo wants to help. So he just jumped right in and probably had Eris going, oh my gosh. This wasn't all the facts, right? No. Or was it? Okay. No.
00:26:59
Speaker
No, I mean, I wanted Milo to have a bit of agency in the scene and I knew that Olive was working on the arms and ramping up to fueling them. And so I was like, Oh, I could have, Milo knows a lot about magic and it would also deeply bother Aeris if Olive is asking Milo for input on this project. So that seems like a lot of fun to me. So we'll do that.
00:27:22
Speaker
Yeah. Torture your players, folks. Make sure you torture your players if you're supposed to have some fun as the DM yourself. So didn't say Philip said Eris torture your players, characters, not your players, people. I was being genuine. And importantly, it's absolutely nothing to do with jealousy of all of his attention. It's everything to do that. Hey, I'm going to work on this keg of black powder over there. Hey, you lit match. Come help me.
00:27:49
Speaker
right yeah yeah i didn't think there was any jealousy i no no i know i just yeah tying the cloth around milo's head so he quit smoking was pretty funny too yeah oh that's why that's an effective safety measure yeah that's like when milo was helping heiress says she's like get a hat
00:28:07
Speaker
That was Eris being very nice. Yes. Because what Eris wanted to say was, get out of my workshop. You're going to infect everything here. Yep. And that was Milo going, I know Eris is not happy with me. I want her to be happy with me. I want to try to help her. Make her like me again. That's pretty great. Yeah. Never have admitted that you don't know how magic works.
00:28:34
Speaker
What was the thing? That's the thing. Eric says a violin knows a lot about magic, but Eris knows Milo doesn't know crap about magic. It just happens to him. His magic. His magic. He knows about magic. He just not quite sure how to control it every single time. That's the most important thing about magic. Some might say exactly. If you know everyone knows about magic in this setting,
00:28:59
Speaker
If you know everything about cars except for which one's gas and which one's brake, you're not going to be an effective driver. Which is why I went that route with Milo. It's great. No complaints about the character, Randy, at all. No. Yeah, but Eris finishes the... I guess at that point you were just ruining up the Fletcher. It was mostly... Yeah. The construction was complete.
00:29:25
Speaker
Milo fills in Olive, and we head to Ruska's Roost. Is there an Olive-era scene there, or is that later? I know there's one next episode, but. There was some talking, but nothing substantial. Just more of Olive being super sweet so that it hurts much more when she dock-ox. So we go to Ruska's Roost. We meet, I liked the pleasant surprise that Ruska's Roost was nice. It's a nice place. You hear a goblin, even an Eberron, and you think,
00:29:55
Speaker
skittery woodland creature or whatever. But I liked that it was like, no, this is the place where the people who are trying to integrate or whatever can have a nicer place to
Visit to Ruska's Roost and Voodoo the Goth
00:30:05
Speaker
go. So I thought that was pretty cool. And remind me of the server's name.
00:30:10
Speaker
Gothok. Gothok. Gothok the demanding. It was combative service. I don't know what to say. It was this guy. We don't talk about this a lot. My job title is instructor of hospitality and food service. It's more about safety and health regulations, but there's a little bit of customer service in there and Gothok wasn't good at it.
00:30:29
Speaker
Hey, for your culture, your goblin culture, you have come into a restaurant and when you go there, you let's proceed. Just because you get to order appetite. Some size. Great. Small talk or ask her how her day was or anything. He knew what she was there for. Came.
00:30:50
Speaker
to the point. All right. Yeah. But he runs us through the menu. Again, it's extensive. Lots of Jack and apes and monkey shines with the menu. And then remember on boys trying to order food never goes cleanly. Radar tried so hard to fit in, though. He tried so hard to. He was. That's why I was like, he would do something. And then you go, really? You want mushrooms twice? Come on.
00:31:15
Speaker
Like they tell you when you go to France, if you try to speak French to the waiter, that you're going to ingratiate yourself. And this guy was like, shut up. You don't want much. Wrong answer. Try again. I feel like there were some nice bonding moments between Raynard and Aeris, though, during doing food service. There were a couple of little moments here and there. I felt like this was a couple of episodes where Aerin and Raynard were getting along pretty well.
00:31:38
Speaker
I agree with that. It was the. So what's going to ruin the Tigers? Yeah. They hunt on the Tigers. They don't eat the Tigers. And then actually, they occasionally eat the Tigers. The other the war party comes in. A bunch of hobgoblins and a bugbear looking real scary and intimidating because we'll look up a bugbear and hobgoblins. Aeris, thankfully, has the customary knowledge to say, let them eat. They'll come to us.
00:32:06
Speaker
And that's exactly what happens. They come over, say we're gonna be upstairs, we finish eating, we go upstairs, and then they fill us in on what happened. And what happened was they were mean to a guy. I guess they weren't mean to a guy, they weren't helpful to a guy.
00:32:20
Speaker
Which is mean. They were callous, like they were unempathetic. They were heartless. He was not deserving, as I recall. Yes, he was not deserving because he had been brought low. And my favorite, he had been brought low. And then the next line is when he got better and he was like mad or something, essentially what the line was. But did we have the warlord's name? I know. I start not do we have. I know we do. I don't. We do not. It's like the warlord.
00:32:48
Speaker
Voodoo the Goth, yeah. Oh, it's not, it's like a, it's like a title, pseudonym title. Yeah. Yeah. I pronounce it as though the middle of it has L D's and R's just in sequence for a little bit. Voodoo the Goth. It makes it easy. Yeah. So we learned that he is an artificer who is making death machines and blood sucking machines.
00:33:13
Speaker
and those blood-sucking machines, once they suck your blood, they're better prepared to fight you later. That's the impression I got, is that right? They can track you down, they can hunt you effectively. There it is, yes, okay, they can track you down. Who else has tracky things? Hob, you know who didn't remember? Jeff, but it's okay because they don't work on it. So as long as he has his mask on, they don't work on it.
00:33:33
Speaker
I'm trying to remember. I feel like this conversation was just like they were forthcoming because they wanted our help. There wasn't a lot of being around the bush. It was very straightforward. Yeah. We asked some useful questions. We did some examining of the thing. We've worked out that Eris can use the machine to backtrack towards his lair and get us closer. So we, a narrower space to search. And.
00:33:57
Speaker
Oh, they also had a tiger. That's important. Yeah. They got a big tiger. Who didn't seem. Your ranger has a tiger. Who didn't seem offended at the tiger suit. So I guess they're all used to it. But yeah, basically we learned. Yeah, they they have it. They know his general area. It's in the cogs. They know and they we have a not the blood sucker, but the other one. We actually have a decommission, a decommission. They beat the tar out of one of them that Eris is eventually going to work on and.
00:34:24
Speaker
After, I don't know about you guys, but after I listened to all that, I was like, this is so much more difficult and dangerous than I thought this little side quest was going to be. This is a real thing. This is not a, we are blowing time until we hear back from the dark lanterns. Black lanterns? I never remember.
00:34:42
Speaker
You're the Black Lamps. They're the Dark Lanterns. We're definitely not the Black Lamps anymore. And I was like, oh, this is this is way more serious than I thought. We're going to need the rest of the crew. We're going to need time. We're going to need to plan. This is not just go and beat up a guy who's probably strong, but that is the extent of his metal. No, we're getting a crack at God of us. We're not careful. Yeah.
00:35:04
Speaker
And so that's what we do. We decide that we're going to split up. I almost said Eris and Milo decide, no, Eris says she's going to, and Milo decides to go with her. So let's jump to that. Let's just have you guys, this is getting, let's just move from this straight through episode four, because it all flows at this point. So Eris and Milo go off on their side bit, and then we'll talk about what happens with the twins, not the twins, the twins with different dads, the sisters with Rainer and Hob. It's basically just Eris is trying to build some,
00:35:34
Speaker
anti-construct options. So some acid flasks, some ammunition for Reynard's quiver that will function particularly effectively against creatures made of metal and whatnot. Some sort of tracking goggles, I think, or danger sense goggles, essentially, also for Reynard. I think that's most of what she made, but it was just a lot of that.
00:36:04
Speaker
and Milo followed her home, so he was there and she let him assist. Yep, Milo just wanted to be useful. I do remember now, at one point, I hope it's in these episodes and not in the one that we haven't released yet. I think it is though. This is where you make the headgear, the eyewear for Raynor. Yes. And at one point I heard Eric say, you guys don't realize this, but you've just home brewed a real D&D item called the goggles of night.
00:36:33
Speaker
And I'm like, man, Dex is wearing goggles at night in his official picture on the wiki. And I specifically said Trevor, to be fair, which I doubt Trevor's checked out the campaign one wiki lately. Have an eye. Have an eye. Trevor doesn't know who Dex is, and that's fine. But yeah, when you said, I don't know, probably some owl motif, I was like, that is literally the goggles of night. That's amazing. Yeah. Pretty great. What else would you guys like to talk about from that? Anything about the interpersonal growth between the two of you?
00:37:01
Speaker
I'm not sure that there really was any. No. Correct. It was just Milo helped. Eris led him. That's it. Milo followed Eris home and she is trying to be less openly hostile about his whatever it is. So, Raynard and Hob first go to see Kath.
00:37:28
Speaker
And she's at home and she won't let us in. And I do the typical thing that I do, which is like, what can I roll to find out the thing Eric doesn't want to tell me? I want to try that right now first and front, right up front. Let's just get that out of the way. And it doesn't work. But Trevor rolls well and sees. Okay, remind me, we didn't see it at all. We didn't even see the suit before Trevor rolled, right?
00:37:54
Speaker
I think that's right. Correct. Yeah. But Trevor rules well, and we see a suit that Aeris did not make, but the could attach to the gloves that she did.
Secrets and Surprises at Kath's Home
00:38:05
Speaker
Trevor, do you remember anything else that we saw in there? Was that it? I saw the guy sitting in a chair. Yes, we saw a hostage, a hostage, a torture victim, a poor man. I assume a poor person. Cath is cagey, obviously. I did love the
00:38:22
Speaker
Eric, when you had Kath say, is that all you saw? Was that intentional to be like, what else is in there? Yeah, it was. Yeah, that was basically just me playing up for you all because once again, dramatic irony. Trevor saw something that you all know what he saw, but trying to downplay Raynard's understanding of what he saw. Yeah. But she says she'll join us and she's going to meet at the for sales later. So we go to see Kath and.
00:38:51
Speaker
I will admit, Jeff the player was with Hob the character about thinking that Sana, while not complicit, was certainly permissive. I had not put together at any point that Sana's
00:39:08
Speaker
or harriedness or anything else that we've seen was because of this. I thought she was real stressed about her party. I'm gonna shoot you real straight at the last time we talked to her. That may be my low EQ, maybe the rest of you guys glommed onto that, but I did not. My thought was that she knew Kath was up to something, but I didn't realize to what extent she knew Kath was up to something. It turns out that the extent is bringing friends home.
00:39:36
Speaker
But, so we talked to Kath, and she also agrees to help, but she basically says, please don't tell, or talked to Sada, pardon me. She basically says, please don't tell Kath to stop, which I am operating, like, Jeff is remembering that people in the throes of trauma do things that don't make sense, because Hob wants to shake Sada and be like, what are you talking about? We need to stop this immediately.
00:40:04
Speaker
but they both agree to go, so that's good. How do we close that fourth one out? I didn't get to finish it today when I was doing my re-listen, unfortunately. Does everybody show back up or? No. Is it the arms? Yeah, Olive activates the arms. Right, okay. Yeah. And that goes fine. It goes really well based on the role. Yeah, otherwise Milo would have got blamed for it. That's absolutely true.
00:40:29
Speaker
I do remember now, yes, that we go back to the cauldron with you two, sorry. Yeah, and the arms, they work. So far. So far, huzzah. Eric, first question from a listener. Hi, I'm Jeff. I listen occasionally. How often are you gonna make, how often are you gonna do behind the screen roles to see if all is going crazy? Is this like a one session thing? Or what's an episode thing? Are we just taking it on faith that it's good? You all know
00:40:58
Speaker
what has to happen for something to happen. And it's probably not gonna be like a simple switch is flipped like circumstances, et cetera, et cetera. So just stay tuned. It'll be fine. It'll be fine. All right. In the interest of time, we are going to move on to our questions. We will start with Laura.
00:41:17
Speaker
Again, if you have any questions that you would like to ask, you can do so in our Discord. You can find a link to the Discord on the GeekPantheon
Join the Community
00:41:24
Speaker
.com. That's our merch page. It's also on our Facebook. Is it pinned on our Twitter? I know it's in there, but like on our... No, it's not pinned. Okay. But you can find it on Facebook and the GeekPantheon.com are the quickest ways to find it. It is a free to join Discord. Please come and hang out with us. Laura asks,
00:41:42
Speaker
Okay. So for the three of us that went to gamer nation con, what was our favorite board game that we played while we were there. And the other two of you, if you have a favorite board game, you'd like to throw out shipwrights of the North sea, which I have purchased since going to gaming. Same here. You bought it. I haven't bought it, but it's my pick. Yeah. I also loved shipwrights of the North sea and one that wasn't new, but I just love, I love wingspan. It's such a wonderful game. Yeah. And that was great.
00:42:09
Speaker
I picked I really liked planet to that weird, that weird game with the magnetic D12s that we played, Jeff. Oh, yeah. The animal populating one or whatever. I don't think I played enough to buy it, but it was cool. What do you say, Randy? So I picked up wingspan. I have not got to play it yet. It's very fun. Yeah. Fight me over, dude. Yeah. We've really been enjoying a long shot dice is a lot of just a quick, fun horse racing game that everybody I've played with it loves it. All right.
00:42:39
Speaker
Trevor, you got a favorite board game? Any game I can play with my friends. What a bad answer. Lame. I don't really remember the names of board games I play, honestly. But I do have a lot of fun playing them. Fair enough. Oh, the Ted Lasso board game was surprisingly fun. That was surprisingly good. Well done, Laura. Very little to do with the Ted Lasso show. It was just a really good game.
00:43:03
Speaker
Next question from Laura. Have you considered making campaign three a restaurant themed sitcom? No. I'll play in that one shot though, Eric, if you want to write it. Right. For sure. If your character was a restaurant, what restaurant would they be is a question that Laura has. I don't even know how to approach that one. I actually have an answer for this. It was surprisingly easy. I don't think I could have answered it for any other character I've ever played because what? But Eris is definitely any kind of restaurant where you
00:43:31
Speaker
build your own meal, like from Mod Pizza or Chipotle, like anything where all the pieces are there and you make it however, and you have them assemble it however you like. That's obviously, that's what Eris is as a restaurant. Okay.
00:43:48
Speaker
There's a place in New York City, and I don't know if it's still open. I went there years and years ago called Dallas Barbecue. And it is because it is very large. And the one time that I went there, the only thing they had on offer was whole chickens. So there you go. That's how Trevor left. It's like it's nasty. It do not go to Dallas Barbecue in New York City. I was not part of a tourist group. I would not have been there. If someone read the definition of barbecue and said I can make that.
00:44:17
Speaker
Yeah, I don't have a specific restaurant, but I think Milo would be like smoky barbecue.
00:44:24
Speaker
Oh, Raynard is definitely something that people think is fancy, but it's not. So Red Lobster or Olive Garden. Raynard is where rural school kids go to prom dinner. Yeah. We got PF Chang's. There you go. And nothing wrong with that either. I definitely went to Zio's, which is basically the Olive Garden, a local small chain Olive Garden. Zio's is real good. It is pretty good. What does Raynard think of losing his mini Fletcher privileges?
00:44:54
Speaker
M-I-N-I, you never had many Fletcher privileges, but you had many Fletcher. Yeah, I was gonna say, he didn't even remember that he didn't have the Fletcher. Okay. I think Raynard is fine. The long go has not let him astray yet. That's fair. How would our campaign one characters have dressed for the fancy gala party? We went to a fancy gala as the campaign one characters. That's true, we did. We murdered people there.
00:45:19
Speaker
or kidnapped maybe we just kidnapped i don't actually think we killed anyone we tried we definitely we stole too yes it was definitely yeah i think we do a couple of fancy parties met the white raven at once oh yeah we went yeah we went to the art showing where dex got driven briefly insane oh that's right yeah dex lived his life like he was at a fancy party the man would wear silver dragon mail barrico dressed entirely appropriately like formally in in an understated formal way
00:45:51
Speaker
Booyah trying to copy that and failing miserably. Booyah put cufflinks on his trashcan. A goblin in a bucket. Where are we at? Oh, OK, Phillip, how likely is it that Eris eventually embraces her vigilante alter ego, the Fixer, or at least is not terrified of it? Eris has already embraced her vigilantiness. She's been vigilanting. She will never embrace
00:46:19
Speaker
a nickname associated with it because Eris doesn't understand why there's a nickname associated with it. This is what Eris has done for her entire life since she got to Sharn is just fix things that no one really asked her to mess with. It's just that she's finally arrived at a place where people don't mind that. Yeah, okay. Laura's last question is, how is it that Kath is just learning about TARDIS of Tylers?
00:46:48
Speaker
Players have not had a conversation with Kath about TARDIS for Tithers. Expanding into Liz's question, go and read Liz's question. Yeah, Liz's question is essentially, how are you handling character interactions with NPCs not on the air? I've always considered that Hob just stands and stares at the wall when he's not on screen. But I bet that's probably not true. That's how I play him for sure. But Eric, please. I generally leave that agency up to you all. Like, Eris and Olive live together. So that provides a perceived value that they are going to talk
00:47:14
Speaker
almost every day. Reynard and Arthur talk almost every day, but it's never really been discussed that anyone like.
00:47:22
Speaker
hits up kath to go like to the for sales to have a chat or sauna or anything so i just operate on the assumption that they are living their lives much like sigil has moved on and is living their life and they'll hear things they'll hear about stuff going on but like sensitive information that the party acquires i'm never going to assume that an npc has that information unless
00:47:44
Speaker
the party and the players explicitly say, we are telling this person this thing because that removes a level of agency from the players. Right. And you do also you do act let us say retroactively. Oh, I would have told them that. So it's not like we have to elucidate at the moment. Yeah, I would let Sigil and Kath know. And to add just a little bit to that, just tiny bit like my home games, I'm in two home games, one idea and one I play in. We text each other about things and have a DM or like an open DM thread and things like that.
00:48:12
Speaker
We don't want to do that here because we don't want to rob you guys because it might become difficult to follow over you guys if we're playing by post between sessions. Yeah. So anything that happens, we have to do it retcon like that, which hasn't proven to be huge issues very often.
00:48:28
Speaker
Yeah, but to the second part of Liz's question, how do I keep track of what NPC knows I have it in my one note I have a header with each NPC and anytime they learn information. I write it down, like for Norse and mill hatch, I had a running tally of whose faces he had seen and had noted that he had not seen areas without her mask until
00:48:49
Speaker
a certain point and then noted that so that as he interacted with you all in the future, I could play that up correctly. Yeah. I just keep running tally of what the NPC knows in a very easy to read sheet. Yeah. All right. Let's knock through these. Diogen asks in the discord. So since we've seen quite a bit of taverns, restaurants, et cetera, in this season,
00:49:07
Speaker
Is anyone else wondering what Eric's process of building places of hospitality and menus are? And I will say, Eric just dropped a fantastic YouTube video exactly about how he comes up with these things. And I will admit, I haven't finished it yet, but it's really fun. I mainly only scrub through to see if he says my name.
00:49:23
Speaker
But, God, that hurt to say, I'm so douchey. But please go listen, his search for the Geek Pantheon on YouTube, that is Eric's YouTube channel, and he's got his latest video is exactly about this, how he comes up with these fantastic restaurants and taverns that he's been presenting with us, presenting us with lately.
00:49:44
Speaker
Alright, let's kick out some more questions. Unweirden asks, aside from Eris, whose home the cauldron is likely unknown to the Boromars, why have there been no moves against the party when they go home? Same team, man. The claim is working. The claim is working. While vengeance is a fire that burns hot, it doesn't necessarily make people dumb and rash. And yeah, don't worry about it.
00:50:12
Speaker
And these are a people that are familiar with revenge. Yeah. Like bloody revenge. This is not a new concept for them. Is the one that doesn't see you coming. Yeah. They continue. How fun was it for everyone else when Eris was being tortured with kindness and a loss of anonymity? Delightful. Yeah. Yeah. That was fun. Yep. So fun.
00:50:34
Speaker
And part of the thing that made it fun was how Phillip was playing Eris. It would not have been fun if Eris had suddenly decided, oh, this is nice to be appreciated. It's fun that Eris hates it no matter how good it is for her. Or how beneficial, I don't know. Materially beneficial. Why is no one concerned that Rainard is drinking again? I don't think Milo was in the position to care after a little while. I honestly didn't notice that it was new again.
00:51:03
Speaker
I clocked it when he said it and actually made a little mental note of let's see if this is he's drinking tonight or if he's drinking again. I think that we haven't necessarily established that he's relapsed yet. Yes, in the real world, in AA parlance, one drink you are drinking again. But we're gonna give a little bit of grace to a fantasy world and these fake characters and say, let's see. Because as much as he is no longer
00:51:28
Speaker
drinking a lot he's also not in any sort of official recovery that we've heard about so we're not gonna flag him as off the wagon yet yeah did he just like only have one drink i think it wasn't even out of a flower vase yeah prior to this he chugged a vase of wine also he chugged a vase of wine at one point that was concerning though not specifically because of the alcohol i may not have seen it he wasn't he under a table when he did it
00:51:54
Speaker
No, he was just standing at the party when he saw us down. Okay. Okay. Anyway, we were scattered around. And then unwear didn't continues with talking. It's not really a question, but it's talking about wanting to see how really unload. And I will say to that me too. No, stay tuned. I'll just say that flame asks Philip regarding the frequent omens that all of my go the way of doc op has Eric ever demonstrated such a capacity for long running cruelty before, or is this a new low even for him? Not in the watch campaign one.
00:52:22
Speaker
Did you listen to campaign one flame like i'm wondering genuinely because if you didn't see campaign one I can't think of a time that he's been this conniving in the game but in our friendship I can yes absolutely yes
00:52:39
Speaker
This is more delightful in a lot of ways because of the dramatic irony of it. None of our characters actually have any justification for acting to intervene in this situation. It's entirely the metaphor of Doc Ock that's playing with this, and I think that's what makes it much more fun, a much more fun agonizing sort of thing.
00:53:05
Speaker
Yeah, and it's also joyous on my end because there's every opportunity it'll never happen and they'll be clinched until the last second of campaign. Sure. Waiting for it to happen. I have had I'm not gonna pretend that I have not done the cacti's on my head of what happens if hob has to save Eris from all of I don't know that Eris is going to let hob save Eris from all of I don't know. I don't like it. Don't do it. Eric, take it back. I'm talking to destroy the arms.
00:53:33
Speaker
And our last question on the Discord, Nathan, oh no, pardon me, second to last. Nathan Stuller asks, playing in Genesis instead of D&D, have there been things you want to do in the system instead of support? Besides areas inventing things, there have been things the players have been able to do that they couldn't have done in D&D. We get a flavor of this question regularly, but this is, I thought it was nuanced differently enough that it's worth talking about.
00:53:52
Speaker
Yeah. My answer, the only thing that I miss about playing in D&D compared to this, for this campaign is being able to buy character specific dice. Like that's literally the only thing that I miss. No. And honestly, I have built Aeris successfully in a couple of other systems, just playing around, just to learn how a character is built in those systems. I cannot build Aeris in D&D. She doesn't work. Yeah. I have gotten over the shortcomings of.
00:54:21
Speaker
Shortcoming is not a fair way to say it, especially since my friend actually did the work to build it for me. The differences between this monk build in Genesis and an actual monk from D&D. Originally, I had those misgivings of key points and flurry of blows and things. I have learned to appreciate Genesis for what it is, and now they hold separate but equal status in my mind. I don't even compare the gameplay anymore. I've moved on to comparing Fantasy Age
00:54:50
Speaker
and Pathfinder 2e to D&D now because I'm learning those now for fun. The only thing I'll say on that is that I have enjoyed Genesis a whole lot more than I thought I initially would. It's been really enjoyable.
00:55:05
Speaker
I don't know if I could say. Yeah. Trevor says the numbers were easier. I'll give them that. I will say the biggest thing is, and this is both a pro and a con for Genesis, it's much more swingy than D&D. D&D provides a level of consistency that a lot of people really enjoy whereas Genesis, I mean, to unweirden's question before or comment before about Hob going full ham, Hob like did a version of that down in Kyber against the big main villain of that encounter and just one shot in them, which is not something
00:55:34
Speaker
you can really do in D&D, like just the math doesn't work. And especially with the level of consistency that Hobb could do it. Because unlike a 5% chance of rolling a natural 20 to crit on a divine smite, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, Hobb just has to roll enough success. And the amount of dice that Hobb is rolling, Hobb can roll that many success. And the mechanics of triumph, despair, story points, all those things, I've stolen so many of them to make D&D more fun.
00:56:03
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, fair enough. Yeah. Yeah. Indeed, you roll a one. Some little bad thing happens. And Genesis, you get a despair and all kinds of crazy crap happens. I'll see this. Go, please. I have played a couple of sessions of D&D using 3D6s instead of D20s so that I can have a way of measuring levels of success like Genesis allows. And it's awesome, by the way. Try it out. I'll say this, then we'll do our last question. One thing about creating content
00:56:32
Speaker
when considering the two systems. If you are playing a game for the consumption of other people and you are having an off day, Genesis is far less forgiving than D&D in making content. And that has been something that has rubbed me the wrong way a couple of our sessions. Because I'm just like, my brain's gone. And I wrote a triumph. I don't care, guys. What did we do? Like, it's a bummer that way. But when you're having an on day, which is what, you know, Philip does most of the time, you can do some really cool stuff.
00:57:01
Speaker
All right. And then last question, because it is tradition to have an off topic from Becca to end the show. I lost it. There it is. What are your favorite mythological creatures? Real quick. Everybody pick one. Griffin. Griffin. I was going to say Griffin. Yes. Chimera. Good choice. Oh gosh. This is very hard. There's literally zero sakes. Just say one. They won't know if you lie.
00:57:32
Speaker
Mine's probably like anything that's like small and funny, like gnomes of the classical sense, not D&D gnomes, like something that are elves, fairies, little guys, little mischievous guys are fun. Okay, that is it. I think I've hit all the plugs throughout the course of this, but I'll run through them really quickly. We have a Facebook page, search for the Geek Pantheon, Twitter at the Geek Pantheon, Instagram at the Geek Pantheon, TikTok at the Geek Pantheon. Search for the Geek Pantheon on YouTube to see Eric's DMing videos. Search for the Laughing Tree on YouTube to watch Kyber Shards, our sister show DMed by Philip Pladen by Eric.
00:57:47
Speaker
OK, a Pegasus. Pegasus. Great Pegasus.
00:58:02
Speaker
There's a, no, not this one, it'll be the next one. I'm gonna start streaming soon. Watch the Discord. And I believe that's all of it, merchantgeekpantheon.com. Join the Discord if you would like to. Thank you so much for listening, and we will be back next week with the beginning of a new arc. I am Jeff. I'm Philip. I'm Trevor. I'm Randy. I am.