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C1 Ep. 127 Thrashing of Eras Chapter Four
294 Plays5 years ago
The party finally has an audience with the governor of Pylas Talaer, but will the powerful elf prove to be an ally? And does she have the information the party needs to find the ancient dragon they seek?
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of our amazing Show Sponsors: Laura Pickrahn, Jessica Smith, Irene Viorritto, Ryan Royce, Darrell DeLaney, Charles Compton, The Kamm Family, David Scrams, Elizabeth Clark, Emily Estella Scott, and Michael Clark.
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Transcript
Sponsorship and Host Introductions
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of John Kerry, Laura Pickron, Nico Batson, Elizabeth Clark, Darryl Delaney, Ryan Royce, Irene Villarito, the Cam family, Charles Compton, Emily Estella Scott, Michael Clark, and David Scrams, as well as all of our generous patrons.
00:00:47
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Eberron Renewed, a D&D 5th edition actual play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I'm your dungeon master, Eric.
00:00:53
Speaker
And I'm Philip. I'm Randy. And I'm Jeff. What happened last time?
Recap of the Previous Episode
00:01:01
Speaker
Travel. We took some time to make sure that Rickard knew that he was a valued member.
00:01:09
Speaker
of our crew. Honestly I don't know from a listening standpoint but from a recording standpoint that episode flew by like it felt like 20 minutes and then I looked up and it had been an hour. Well I was only here for like six minutes of it so that's fair. Oh yeah uh we made our way to Arenal.
00:01:29
Speaker
and landed or disembarked, I guess, and headed to the governor's residence office.
Meeting the Governor and Prophecy Revelation
00:01:39
Speaker
It seemed to be that she was kind of sort of expecting us. Possibly because I told someone she knows that we're coming.
00:01:49
Speaker
I don't know if it's related to the fact that I called Daedric Benar and told him specifically where we were going and he told me to go exactly here. The way it was said, and I had just sat back down, but the way it was said felt like we were a part of a prophecy. Oh, I knew you were coming, but not like this. The day was foretold.
00:02:11
Speaker
I'm going to start. I'm going to start saying that when people have told me the something that I mean, it has been foretold. I already know something's coming instead of, you know, Eric told me it's going to be it has been foretold. So that won't get sick with your coworkers. Hey, there's a birthday cake in the break room. It was foretold.
00:02:33
Speaker
So yeah, Sarane Meledith is coming down the stairs with the skull tattooed on her face, raven black hair, and very formal looking long robes. And she kind of walks up to each of you and extends a hand in a handshake gesture, offering a handshake. Sorry, when I was talking like Rickard, I was trying to go for kind of a,
00:03:03
Speaker
a Jeff Goldblum and Jurassic Park kind of frantic thinking stuttering, and it's real hard to get out of that once you get into it. So forgive me if I Goldblum all over this episode. She extends her hand for a handshake and a handshaking. Beric will shake her hand.
00:03:27
Speaker
She shakes each of your hands if you reciprocate. I appreciate you all coming here to speak with me. Please come up to my office and we can hammer out the details. And she gestures up the stairs and begins walking back up them.
Dragon Prophecy and 'The Claw'
00:03:51
Speaker
Barrick is immediately suspicious because this was easy.
00:03:56
Speaker
Yeah. Decks. It looks to be Eric. I'm going to choose to not take that as a personal slight. Hey, pause for 30 seconds. I got to pull my computer just wasn't Ari. I'm not equipped to do this from home. I rely on Eric to handle all this media medias to teleconference. I'm sorry.
00:04:30
Speaker
So yeah, you all enter her office, which is fairly well appointed. But the design aesthetic is just not anything that you would expect. There are skulls mounted on various tables and on the wall above her desk.
00:04:38
Speaker
Anyway, we're going upstairs.
00:04:56
Speaker
The legs of her desk are made from bone, and it looks humanoid. And yeah, it's just a real, real odd vibe of death in here. Any of it magical? No. Okay.
00:05:18
Speaker
Then Barak walks in entirely un-faced. And she sits down behind her desk in gestures to the four chairs in front of her desk and says, please, sit. Thank you for seeing us. I was not sure that you would be expecting us.
00:05:45
Speaker
Oh, well, I wasn't expecting precisely, per se. I, well, even if I was not expecting you, I would have seen you. I love meeting people from outside of Ehrenal, especially people that seem, for lack of a better word, odd. Yeah. I'm not sure there is a better word.
00:06:12
Speaker
So I love to hear the stories of travelers that come to Arenal, but I believe that you all are here to help us.
Planning the Dragon Hunt
00:06:34
Speaker
I suppose that depends on what you need. I had to be quite plain with you and tended to come here and ask for help. So. Well, I, I don't see why me helping you can't be mutually beneficial. Um, I.
00:07:02
Speaker
I have been told that you are here to hunt the claw. Pardon? That's what we call it. The claw, the, uh, the beast that lives, um, on Arenal, um, that will occasionally, uh, attack ships passing by.
00:07:30
Speaker
um nasty green dragon oh well um we are here looking for a green dragon of some age well isn't that fortuitous uh honestly the main reason that i
00:07:56
Speaker
presumed it was you, was that part of the, I hate, hate loathe the word prophecy, just because it's so overused, but the prediction of your arrival, basically it pointed to a, and she looks at Booyah,
00:08:26
Speaker
Amongst the company would be a metal goblin was part of the phrasing. Oh, so you aren't. Contacted by Daedric Benar. You have some sort of foretelling of our coming.
00:08:51
Speaker
There are members of the Undying Court that study the draconic prophecy and try to interpret it to outmaneuver the dragons and that was a piece that they managed to translate. Is it possible to interpret from her words whether she seems to have a
The Undying Court's Role and Prophecy
00:09:22
Speaker
vested interest in seeing this dragon killed. I mean, I'm just going to say that her pointing out that the dragon attacks ships that try to pass by an island. The dragon is a nuisance, like, and being the governor of the trade city, um, maybe not like a blood, like a blood vengeance or anything, but you know, um,
00:09:55
Speaker
So we are looking for such a creature. Do you know where it is? Where it layers?
00:10:06
Speaker
We have some fairly good guesses. It's either on Thal Otheril, which is an island to the east of here, but northeast.
00:10:26
Speaker
Or it's on Thal Elidar, which is even further north. It's the most northern island in the cluster of Arenal.
00:10:38
Speaker
That's where we've seen it flying in that general direction. Now, Thal Eledar is mostly plain land. It's not wooded, whereas Thal Otharil is, so best guess is about what a green dragon would lay. But I do have to warn you that if you go like this, if you head straight for those islands, it will kill you.
00:11:11
Speaker
necrotic magic protecting it from harm. We've sent people out to go after it in the past, elves and otherwise. All of the dragon walked houses have convinced us that their house will be the one to do it. And none of them has succeeded.
00:11:32
Speaker
I see. There's some
00:11:39
Speaker
Orion, House Orion thought that they would be clever and tried to take it down by numbers and their whole whole contingency of their house in there and all got wiped out by the creature. So the the rub being and why I
00:12:02
Speaker
communicated what I had heard from the Undying Court to you all is because another part of this, and she gives a mild eye roll, prophecy of dragons, is the Undying Court claims that they have the means to bypass the magic.
00:12:30
Speaker
But they won't grant it to anyone other than those
00:12:37
Speaker
prophesize to defeat it, which I'm just now, as I'm saying it out loud, makes me feel like they're setting it up to where the interpretation of a prophecy will come true because they refuse to help anybody that does not fit their interpretation of the prophecy. Is that how all of that works? It's incredibly disappointing.
00:13:02
Speaker
So, all of that to say, once my dark master, after she checked your papers, sent word ahead to my office of your arrival, and I have been in contact with the Undying Court that the metal goblin has arrived.
Journey to the Undying Court
00:13:30
Speaker
Booyah say, hi, meet you, nice. Nice to meet you, Booyah. Not going to lie, I'd hoped for an actual metal goblin. Booyah put helmet on, look like metal goblin. Fair enough. So essentially, we want to aid you in
00:13:57
Speaker
eradicating, um, this dragon from Arenal. I see. And it seems like you came here looking for this dragon anyway. That is true. Yes. So it seems that our interests are aligned.
00:14:23
Speaker
I, yes, I, I think so. What exactly does the, do we have to do to be able to get out there? Do, uh, shame or die? Well, we have to go there. The underlying court doesn't go anywhere else.
00:14:49
Speaker
We were explicitly dull. Oh, boy. Yes. We were particularly warned against setting foot in shame or die. Well, those who lack an invitation should be gravely concerned if they end up in shame or die. Right.
00:15:12
Speaker
I see. You all are not obviously my prisoners or beholden to do what I say. You're not my subordinates. But trust me when I tell you, like if you disregard what I say and think that the Undying Court is weird and creepy, and you want to get on your ship and go hunt down this dragon on one of the two islands that I told you about, you will die. Now if you like to- No, I believe you.
00:15:38
Speaker
Now, if your intention is to, uh, have the dragon chase you away from the island and ensure it never returns again, go for it. Um, but, uh, if, if you are at all concerned that, uh, things may turn violent with the cloth, um, then you will want to go see the undying court.
00:16:04
Speaker
And do you know what they will do to us? I have only been to shame or die once. I was called there. I was told in more complicated words to keep my eyes out for a metal goblin. And then I was given this lovely mark and sent on my way.
00:16:32
Speaker
because I am an agent of the Undying now. I see. Which is just great. This necrotic magic that you speak of is something that's under the control of the dragon that is just the nature of the islands.
00:16:59
Speaker
No, no, no, no. Thank you for asking me that. They would have killed you. The islands are coterminous with the plane of Irian, the eternal daylight, the plane of eternal daylight.
00:17:19
Speaker
It's all radiant energy that fuels the Undying Court. Necrotic magic is abhorrent to them and they loathe it and hate it. So it is not coming from the islands itself. I see. So it's something the dragon is projecting in essence. I see. Well, gentlemen, what do you think?
00:17:57
Speaker
Darned if you do scenarios. Uh-huh. Good option among them. I mean, we just kind of pick one, right? I think so. You think there's a better option? Nope. Just no better, but yeah, no better option.
00:18:25
Speaker
Well, uh, suppose I don't want to go just Booyah die. Nope. No, no, of course not. I suppose we need to go to shame or die. Uh, will they allow us to fly out there? Oh,
00:18:47
Speaker
You would be here for weeks if you tried to walk. I certainly have no interest in walking. Go back to your ship.
00:19:01
Speaker
I will reach out to the undying court and ensure that you all do not need to do the rite of passage. There's a whole ceremony to the walk to shame or die. But I assume that time is of the essence in this scenario. So- Do they call that the walk of shame or die?
00:19:28
Speaker
No, they call it the Walk of Transition is the name of it. Opportunity. I agree.
00:19:43
Speaker
Yes, now just to be aware of regardless whether or not they want you to do the walk or they allow you to fly. The whole city is magical and any attempt to use spells fueled by radiant energy are going to go a lot better than you would expect.
00:20:07
Speaker
Um, and any spells that, uh, tend to use necromantic energy are not going to do a whole lot. So just be aware of that. Um, um, also, um, while you are being invited and, um, you are welcomed that expect a fairly, uh, cold welcome.
Exploring the City of Shame or Die
00:20:35
Speaker
Um,
00:20:38
Speaker
but that's the best advice I could give you. So, head back to your ship. I'll reach out to the Undying Court and I should have an answer for you in an hour or so.
00:21:00
Speaker
Thank you very much for your aid. If you truly rid us of the claw, then there's no greater thing I could do. I appreciate it. And Eric will rise and begin to move out of the room. As does Dex.
00:21:23
Speaker
As does Booyah. As does Rickard. Okay, so yeah, you all are able to make it back to the ship unimpeded. Some time goes by and you are the the dock master is the one that comes on to the deck of your ship.
00:21:46
Speaker
and informs you all that the Undying Court has granted you permission to bypass the walk of transition. So you can fly and she asks if you all have a map to Ehrenal, to which Jace. I was gonna say Jace would be the one who answers that question. Jace responds, does anyone?
00:22:12
Speaker
So, um, she unfurls a map, um, and marks where you all need to head. Um, real quick, point of order, Barrick. Yeah, I know. Um, so Barrick is going to, when we get on the ship, like during the interim period, Barrick is going to explain what we were told to Jace and basically make it very clear. Listen, I'm not going to
00:22:41
Speaker
I'm not going to tell you, you have to fly us out to shame or die. I know that's quite a scary place. Um, we have to go. And if you don't want to fly us out there, then we will make other arrangements.
Encounter with the Undying Court
00:22:59
Speaker
Uh, likewise, when we eventually cross to these islands, uh,
00:23:06
Speaker
We won't. I'm not going to tell you how to go. If you go as with most things, it will be easier. But if you don't want to do it, none of us are going to think less and we'll make other arrangements.
00:23:20
Speaker
Jason kind of nods and says, Listen, I, I appreciate it, buddy. But you know, while Charlie was on the ship, I was sending correspondence back home to my folks and my younger brother. And like they would write back and like, my little brother is just enamored with
00:23:46
Speaker
all of this. I haven't told them the mission or anything, but just the things I've seen, the things I've experienced since I've been on the ship with you all. And while I can't send letters anymore because Charlie's not here, I'm still taking down my journal to show them when I get back.
00:24:04
Speaker
I know I personally don't have an invitation to go to shame or die, but I'm going to get to see it with my eyes and that's not something any human outside of me and Rickard will get to say.
00:24:23
Speaker
Like, and yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm here. Like you all literally can't fly the ship without me. Uh, you laid out the mission to me before day one. So I appreciate it, but I'm here for it. Thank you. And also great. Um,
00:24:51
Speaker
Okay. So, uh, yeah, the, the doc master, uh, shows you the map point of order. Barrick, um, you still always in the back of your mind, sensing where the last, uh, destiny arm is, um, it's moving for the first time since you could sense it. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. So.
00:25:18
Speaker
Not much I can do about that right now, but I will go ahead and say, listen, I know it's not really anything we can handle about right now. And, uh, but I'm trying to be more, um, transparent about these things. Uh, the, uh, the mall of glacial
00:25:45
Speaker
The Mall of Glacial Heights is moving. I think they've decided that the neighborhood of Glacial Heights is just not a very good place for a mall and they're going to relocate. The school districts are terrible. Yeah, it's not attracting enough customers.
00:26:13
Speaker
Hi, comedy guys. Yeah, it's good content. Find it funny if you're hot. All right. OK, so I mean, I guess that. You told them where it was, right? No, I didn't tell them where it was yet. That's right. Well, I was going to tell them I was so someone else has found it and that doesn't really speak well of anything.
00:26:41
Speaker
Frankly, certainly curious and foreboding. Oh, yes. Yes. Also bad, I think probably. Oh, right. That is also almost almost certainly bad. Since we need it, as it turns out, or maybe we need it. I don't really know anymore. That might be a more important thing to have called it than the other two. I realize that now.
00:27:05
Speaker
But anyway, right now we're going to shame or die this dragon or find this dragon and we can't go find this dragon without dying without first going to the city of the head. Small thing is bad, but everything's kind of good on our end is what you're saying. Let's do the thing. I don't think that's what I'm saying, but sound like the thing now. Well, here we are. So, you know, unless you change your mind.
00:27:35
Speaker
No, no, we're, we're, we're on this. Um, I believe you may have heard me say before, uh, that I have two choices or to die. I'm just saying they probably have horses in the fair wild. So I think that would still be an option. And we even have, I mean, Jason's even willing to give us a ride. So, uh, yes, that is very convenient. So, uh, Tally ho.
00:28:08
Speaker
OK, so let's say anchors away, but there's probably not anchors on this thing, so. Knots undone. Oh. OK, so, yeah, you all fly over the island of the main island of Arenal.
Receiving the Drakhorn
00:28:30
Speaker
And it's
00:28:33
Speaker
It's a couple hours flight. You see a small, small looking village below you as you fly straight towards shame or die. That on the map that you were given appears to be called tear Calendall.
00:28:55
Speaker
You don't know what that city is. But after. I hope you're not going to tell us all the things we don't know about. Yeah. It's a long list. There's a real weird bird. You don't know that there is an item there that will solve all the problems.
00:29:13
Speaker
So, no you, after some time flying you're kind of following a river that you can see a faint path next to it that seems to be the walk of transition along this river. And you see
00:29:31
Speaker
at night is beginning to fall as you make this journey. And but once you get closer, it seems like there is a perpetual sunrise that you are headed towards. And through the trees, there breaks a shining light that you once you look realize is shame or die, the city of the dead.
00:29:54
Speaker
But a little bit brighter than what you were expecting a city called City of the Dead to be. Yeah. And you see some gates that clearly is the point of entrance. So Jace brings you down low and drops a rope ladder out of the cargo hold that you all can climb down. Okay, well,
00:30:21
Speaker
Good luck, guys.
Preparing for the Dragon Battle
00:30:22
Speaker
And I would say anything, but I literally have no idea what to expect. So do good. Okay, so my understanding is that in order for us to not die going to those islands, we need to be here. Would that not hold true of everyone on our ship? No, the
00:30:48
Speaker
They're not going to do anything to to you. They need to give you some give you the means. I see. OK. Yeah. Good to know. Got it. Thank you.
00:31:02
Speaker
And so, yeah, Orianna says farewell, Rickard is there to see you all off as well and is just kind of looking awestruck at the city of the dead. And you all can already see shades and ghosts milling about the city. You also see some living elves walking amongst them.
00:31:27
Speaker
But these are not undead beings. These are certainly ethereal beings that are tethered to this plane from what you can see at this distance. So weird. I guess we approach the gates.
00:31:44
Speaker
Um, so yeah, you all hop off of the rope ladder and Jace pulls it back up and then flies up to what he would estimate is a safe distance, a respectful distance. Um, and yeah, uh, so you all approach the gates and as you approach them, uh, they begin to, uh, swing inward, uh, opening for you as you approach.
00:32:16
Speaker
You know, sometimes that feels so accommodating. I do not feel that way right now. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, on, on the other hand, one assumes that if they didn't want us to be here, then they wouldn't open the gates. Uh, fair enough. Shall we, shall we Sally forth? I think that is the way to go.
00:32:44
Speaker
Let's. So entering the city of the dead, like I said, you see shades and ghosts milling about all of them appear to have.
00:33:01
Speaker
very translucent translucent skin to where you can see the ethereal skeleton that makes them up. And so it's, it's kind of a disconcerting thing where as you're walking through the city.
00:33:18
Speaker
You're approaching somebody who's facing the direction like you're walking down a road. You see somebody facing the road that you're walking down. So you start looking at them at profile and you see them, their features, their skin, what they looked like in life. And the closer you get to front facing, the more the face disappears and you just see a skull. And then as you get past them, the face begins to reappear again.
00:33:45
Speaker
So yeah, so you all see that and
00:34:01
Speaker
There's a main road that leads from the gate that you all walked into. And there is a big old spire in the center of this city.
Confrontation with the Dragon Begins
00:34:10
Speaker
And as soon as you walk through the gates, you kind of have this notion that that's where you need to go. You don't know why, but you kind of have a sense of like, that's that's where we need to be.
00:34:24
Speaker
Well, everyone think a spy, everyone else have a, a feeling about the spire. Yeah, boy. I think spire, we need to go spire. Well, that's, I'm certainly drawn towards it yet. Let's go that way then. I don't see any, I don't see any opportunity to turn back at this point. So.
00:34:48
Speaker
Okay, so yeah, you all as you're walking, you see living elves that appear to be scholarly in nature taking down notes as one of the ghosts is speaking. All the conversations are like so faint that you can barely even pick up the fact that sound is being created. Yeah, and you walk throughout the city and you
00:35:17
Speaker
The spire looms above everything else. So even you deviate from the main road and kind of circle around some other buildings and you find yourself facing a giant set of stairs leading up to this building that the spire belongs to. And you do see
00:35:34
Speaker
two guards that are living, elves standing at the doorway, kind of in a not attack position, but just standing at attention at the top of the stairs. Eric begins to ascend the stairs, watching the guards for some signal that they stop. If they seem to want him to stop, he's going to stop and talk
00:36:06
Speaker
Um, I am, I am right behind. Okay. Um, I'd like to be in front. The guards with my eyeballs to see if they start to make tensing movements that they might want us to stop. Well, I assume that guards on a place that we just stop are going to say something. Sure.
00:36:33
Speaker
I'm hoping that we don't just have to intuit that they would like us to stop. Our intuition has evidently been heightened considerably since we walked in. I'm very, as previously stated. The guards do take one step inward not to completely block your path.
00:37:03
Speaker
but to certainly address you and step in front of you to stop your entrance. And they say in unison, no living being other than our highest priests and the sibling kings have ever stepped foot inside the court. And then one of them continues, you are about to break that sacred tradition.
00:37:32
Speaker
by the will of the court, and the other one chimes in, and at this point you notice that these are identical twins. By the very nature of stepping foot in here, the court will know one thing and one thing only of you from this day forth.
00:37:58
Speaker
cuts back to the other one. If you whisper a word of what you see or experience here today, they will know. And then they say in unison, and we will find you. And then they step out of the way.
00:38:22
Speaker
I don't feel like they're waiting for us to agree to those terms. Accept terms and conditions. Nobody, nobody. Barak. This situation became immediately very, and so Barak sort of half bows and then straightens and walks through the door.
00:38:53
Speaker
A question, because I'm not certain. Is Rickard with us? Is it just the three of us? I believe it's just the three of us. Just the three of you. Jason or Oriana even know what's about to happen. Okay. For what we learned or anything. Cool. Great. That'll be fine. I mean, yes, I feel like if we explained to them that two extremely threatening people said that they would... They won't get it. And they will try.
00:39:20
Speaker
I feel like everyone on the ship seemed to have a pretty respectful view of this place in terms of. They'll get it. They'll like to get a death. They will understand why we cannot. I just am. I'm delighted to see the difficulties that that come into play because we cannot is what I'm saying. Right. Yes. OK. Onward onward ho.
00:39:46
Speaker
Okay, so yeah, the opening that leads into this place is there and you walk in and find yourselves in a very fancy foyer, for lack of a better term. And there is three stone doors on the three walls that you walk into. Oh, man. Three of them?
00:40:16
Speaker
Always three doors. No, the left one opens. Oh, okay. Eric immediately relaxes. What do we see? Or was it like a beckoning to come in kind of open? You see darkness. What do I see? Darkness. Here's an odd question.
00:40:46
Speaker
Since I am now seeing life, essentially, as magic, have I been able to see any of the beings here? Yes. Yes, because this isn't undeath. This is just a prolonging of life. Interesting. Okay.
00:41:07
Speaker
Do we feel that same beckoning towards this now open door or are we just going to have to think it's right now? No, you don't feel any kind of compulsion or pushing towards the door. I mean, there being no point in hesitating now, Barrett turns and walks towards. Same. Yep. Going to the door. OK, so you walk into the darkness and for a moment,
00:41:38
Speaker
They there's just darkness as you kind of step into it. You don't feel any kind of sense of falling. It's just it feels like you are detached from existence for a moment. And then.
00:41:55
Speaker
suddenly those of you with eyelids, you blink. And they're emotionally blinks. Yeah. A courtly hall appears before you. And you all are at the end of a very long hall with an ornate rug.
00:42:16
Speaker
running down the center, a large table like dining table that could seat probably 25 people or so. And at the far end, you see a raised dais with various chairs with a long line of
00:42:41
Speaker
Elvin ghosts sitting there looking at you expectantly and they're about 40 feet away from you. It's a very long haul. Oh, I, cause I don't want to risk offending them by speaking right now. Dex wants to know what Barrick is picking up on because he needs to know. I mean, you know, like, yeah.
00:43:03
Speaker
It's ephemeral enough for Jeff, exactly what, what Barrick can see. I'm sure for Dex or anything else going on at the more difficult, but I'm not, I realized I'm not going to ask that cause I do not want to speak first in this chamber now. So, uh, Barrick walks down the hall towards the seated figures and I'm going to remain. I agree with, I agree with, with Texas instinct here. Uh, Barrick is going to remain quiet until we are addressed. Okay. Um,
00:43:36
Speaker
When he gets to the end and is I mean, the seed of figures are kind of like they're in sort of in the round here. Is that what I'm saying? Is this like a game at thing? Are they on a raised? Yeah, they're on a raise. Well above. No, no, no. Like three steps up. OK, platform. They're on a stage, not like not like we use black box. No, no. Then upon the listener. OK, right upon.
00:44:06
Speaker
arriving at them at an appropriate distance, Barrick will bow again and then wait. Okay. Um, yeah, I think Dex walks up now to be level with Barrick since clearly this we're in a prison tree sort of thing. And it considers like, do I kneel? Do I lay down my arms? What do I do? And then just bowels when he sees Barrick do it. It's like, well, as good as any guess. So.
00:44:35
Speaker
Yeah, Booyah follows up there and gives a bow also. This nice little halo shining. So as you all approach,
00:44:56
Speaker
You're kind of taken aback because you see at the center of this kind of line of elves. You recognize instantly because the images are kind of burned into your brain.
00:45:14
Speaker
The ghostly figure of the center elf, when you can catch his actual face and not the skull visage, is one of the elves that stood in the circle with the conflagration.
00:45:29
Speaker
Uh, so yeah, you recognize the one in the center, uh, as being the representative of, uh, of the fear lawn line. Um, and, uh, he kind of sits forward and looks at each of you and says, welcome to the Undying Court. I'm sure you're confused.
00:45:58
Speaker
as to why we've brought you here. We were given to believe that you are willing to provide us with something that will allow us passage to the outer islands so that we can track down the green dragon that dwells out there.
00:46:30
Speaker
Yes, not so much tracked down, but there's a ancient magic guarding it from harm that we have the means to give you something to bypass this protection. I see. Thank you.
00:46:59
Speaker
And he gestures to one of the other elves who stands up with a case and walks in front of you while still holding the case and opens it. And you see what appears to be kind of a gnarled blackened horn that's been hollowed out to be a functioning horn.
00:47:25
Speaker
But this appears to be a giant horn from a dragon. Awesome. And also relieved that their artifact is already black.
00:47:40
Speaker
Yeah. And forgive me, it was actually two elves that came down to hold this case and the third one opened it because the horn is so large that it's not something that could easily be carried by one creature.
00:48:01
Speaker
This is what we've come to call the Drakhorn. It's one of the beast's horns that it lost in the Great War between the dragons and the elves.
00:48:25
Speaker
And we fashioned it into this functioning horn that it allows the temporary disabling of the necrotic magic that surrounds this foul creature. Very well.
00:48:54
Speaker
So, as you can see, it's rather large. It will probably take two of you holding it and a third one to blow into it to activate the magic within it. Booyah, I have a question. Booyah, I want to know how long time have be safe. Oh, roughly an hour or so.
00:49:22
Speaker
Uh, may I ask, does the, uh, those into it have to be a, a magical or a spell casting person in order for it to work? Or can any of the, uh, three of us do that? The item itself is magical. So we're turning one. Exactly. Great.
00:49:47
Speaker
So, um, this is yours to take. Um, and the only thing that we ask in return is that, um, you read the world of this foul creature. We are going to do our best.
00:50:14
Speaker
We, I don't know that I can adequately put into words. I'm sure I can't actually. How much we appreciate the lengths you've gone to to give us this assistance. We understand that we've broken a lot of norms or a lot of norms have been broken for us. Being as this clearly
00:50:42
Speaker
Uh, our, our artifact might be the wrong word, uh, tool for sure. The correct word is artifact. I don't want it to go unsaid how appreciative we are, uh, for this. And we will do our best to live up to your margins. And yes, this, uh, this task for you. Good.
00:51:12
Speaker
Um, I think that's, and he kind of looks down the line and all of the other elves nod. He's like, I think that's, uh, that's it. Does anyone have a motion to adjourn? You know, you know, I and I, and this is, I just, I'm sorry if this is pedantic of me. I do need to ask.
00:51:41
Speaker
And we really do understand that we are to say nothing of what happened in here. Patriots that travel with us and they're going to see us pull. Do we have to do this horn thing in secrecy? Can, can it be observed by others? Do we have to shut ourselves off when we do this basis here? Um, no, uh, you can use the horn in front of other people. Just can't explain it.
00:52:12
Speaker
Yeah, we are very protective of the Undying Court and the power that resides here and the artifacts that we possess. And so you are the first outsiders to ever be in our presence and
00:52:42
Speaker
We, to put it bluntly, we cannot trust you.
00:52:52
Speaker
You have no devotion to us. You have no love for us. You better know it will to us as far as I know, but you are at best apathetic with a dash of reverence towards us simply because of our appearance. So it's best to just cover our bases and say that if you say anything, we will know about it and we will not be pleased.
00:53:23
Speaker
understood and we will not betray that. I just wanted to make sure that we don't accidentally run afoul of something. Bye.
00:53:30
Speaker
revealing this around other people, this artifact? No, for all we care you can claim that you made the thing. If you want to curry a great amount of favor with us, then you can, if you so choose, return the horn, and if you bring us another horn to prove of the creature's destruction, then perhaps we would be
00:54:01
Speaker
Uh, convinced to offer you some kind of boon. Understood. All right. Well.
00:54:14
Speaker
Thank you all for coming, and you may show yourselves out. And as he gestures up at you, kind of gesturing a door behind you, you all get that sensation of utter darkness and detached from existence. And then after a moment, you find yourself stepping out of the doorway on the right-hand side, back into the foyer area.
00:54:43
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Um, so yeah, you all can head back out of, um, out of shame or die, um, carrying this giant case. Um, it's made of, uh, well, actually, uh, both two of you are needed to kind of control it, but the case is made of sore wood. Nice. Nice. Awesome. Um,
00:55:13
Speaker
Perik will maintain telekinesis on the thing and in that way make our way back with it.
00:55:23
Speaker
Okay, so yeah, and one other thing I didn't really point out as you all walked through the streets of Shameword Eye. The population of the port city was just over 10,000. The population of this city is over 42,000. So there's a lot more people and most of them are dead.
00:55:54
Speaker
So, uh, Jace sees you all coming. You see borrowed time begin to lower back down and the rope bridge drops. Um, you're able to easily kind of pull the case up into the cargo hold. Um, and
00:56:11
Speaker
all of them are there waiting in the cargo hold and Rickard kind of excitedly says, so what was it like? We can't tell you. I don't know how to say this other than to just say it. We were basically told that if we tell you anything that happened in there, they're going to hunt us all down and kill us. They know about and come get
00:56:39
Speaker
I assume that they are scrying on this object that we have, which will help us in the event of a battle. We can't tell you otherwise about it, other than it will help deal with this necrotic field that we've been told we must contend with. I'm sorry, and that's terrible, but it's, as it was explained, as Dex said,
00:57:08
Speaker
They'll kill us all. And I assume they're able to watch pretty effectively in their realm. And when they say, like, fellas, you believed them, right? Like you bought it when they said it. Yes. Would you say that they threatened to kill you and everyone you love? It was a little like that. Yeah. They're not sociopaths.
00:57:30
Speaker
Again, jokes on them. Everyone I love will already be dead. They're on this boat with me. Oh, man. OK, then, I guess. Are we? Cassian's not on the boat. Oh, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I think we're heading to probably the forested island. And since it attacks passing ships, I think we're going to try and fly over the island.
00:57:59
Speaker
Do we still have our wild net set up with our 18 foot wide planks? And I think that failed when we attempted it on the dragon on the, on the red dragon. I couldn't remember if it was irreparably destroyed. Cause it feels like we would have rigged it back up for this, but if we, if we don't, we don't, I just throw it out there. Um.
00:58:23
Speaker
OK, so you all take off in the air towards the direction of those two islands that you can see on the map. And any last any last words? No, I mean, we're just watching the islands approach.
00:58:41
Speaker
Stealing ourselves. So yeah, you you fly in the direction of six islands of varying size to the northeast of the main island and your
00:59:02
Speaker
flying and you can kind of, the things that Rickard pointed out about the perpetual fog and the dense trees and everything, you're looking at Thal Otharil and not seeing any of that. No signs of the Green Dragon.
00:59:27
Speaker
No, wait, no trees like you're seeing trees, you're seeing trees, but not not the way Rickard described. They would be for the layer of a green dragon. You look a little bit further on at Thal Eladar and you see where that may have been true at one time.
00:59:51
Speaker
What from a distance could easily be mistaken for planes because of the tall grass line as you approach you realize that underneath the tall grass you see kind of a especially on the coast of the island. Kind of a rolling. Dark mist kind of flowing into the ocean and you see
01:00:19
Speaker
gnarled trees that have been toppled over and kind of have almost grown back into the ground. It's very odd looking. And you do see a ground poison no build.
01:00:35
Speaker
Let's swing that way then. You do see a large hole near the center of the island. It seems to be some kind of cave or burl. Everyone give me perception checks. Give you a what? Perception check. 27. OK. Does passive count? 23. No.
01:01:05
Speaker
Okay, well in that case, it's a 19, because I rolled a natural one. Oh, wow. Okay, so all of you know, I don't flub roles, because I could have said anything. I'm sitting in my living room right now. All of you are kind of looking at foul Eladar. Because that's where you were told to look. But you see,
01:01:35
Speaker
The larger island that you're about to fly over, according to your map called Valen's Isle, you see movement and rustling in the trees down there. And you see a chunk of the trees erupt out of the ground as the massive wingspan of a gargantuan dragon erupts.
01:02:04
Speaker
from it and kind of roars out with your stellar perception checks all the way around except for Dex. Dex, you don't notice this. Something's off. You tell what? Yes. As it roars, you see kind of shadowy mist erupt out of its mouth. And it turns its head kind of gnashing. And that's when you realize that there's
01:02:34
Speaker
skin covering only half of its face. And you see the dragon skull exposed on the other side. And yeah, that's that's what you see. And then Booyah, you got a 27. Booyah, you also notice the reason for the draconic roar.
01:03:00
Speaker
is near these woods because it seems like this dragon may have been lying in wait. You see some creatures entering the woods with weapons and they seem to be attacking the dragon. I jump off the ship. End of episode.
01:03:21
Speaker
goal. Thank you all so much for listening. If you want to be part of the conversation, head over to the Facebook group, the Geek Pantheon. We're also on Twitter and Instagram at the Geek Pantheon. If you want to join our Patreon community, there is an amazing group of people over there that have conversations with us all the time. You can head over to patreon.com slash the Geek Pantheon.
01:03:42
Speaker
to join us there and help support the shows. And I think that's all I got. So once again, I'm your dungeon master, Eric. I'm Philip. I'm Randy. I'm Jeff. And we will see you next time.