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Ep. 3 No Tome To Waste - Shadowmend Tales
104 Plays2 years ago
This week our gang keeps searching for the all important Tome while Drago gets a shock.
Follow us on our Twitters - @FellowshipTable
Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
Music kindly provided by Fesliyan Studios
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Transcript
Introduction and Setup
00:00:00
Speaker
You know who had balls? Folly Fizzlebank. He had balls. Folly would have done it.
00:00:32
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of The Fellowship of the Tabletop. We are a live play, 5e podcast set in the kingdom of shadow mends in the realm of Eryth. My name is Darren and I'm gonna run D&D for you this evening. And with me tonight, I have a wonderful band of players. I have, playing the human ranger hunter McBenna. Yeah, we'll go with that. Will. Run like the wind, ride like the wind.
00:01:01
Speaker
I have, playing the rangers swarm keeper folly, I mean Miki. Callum. Run, run, run away, run away, baby. We have playing the Tabaxi bardlock. Karl, our fantaneous robot. He did the monster bash. We have playing the human berserker barbarian, Eddic, Mike. Hi, I'm Stereo Mike. And playing the dragonborn paladin, Drago.
00:01:32
Speaker
Ian. Who run the world? Dragonborn. Yeah.
Recap and Vault Discovery
00:01:39
Speaker
Last week on the Fellowship of the Tabletop, our band of not-yet-heroes, to steal a phrase from Danny, made their way through the city of Fatherkeep towards the Bank of Jahera. Managing to dodge a piano which plummeted from a third floor window and nearly hit some of our adventurers, they made their way into the bank.
00:02:00
Speaker
upon which they discovered a pristine, well not pristine actually, well it was pristine but it had pretty much been abandoned for some time, foyer toward inside the bank of Jihira. I basically made the right mess of that listeners and I can see everyone laughing at me for it but I'm going to. So you said not yet heroes
00:02:18
Speaker
I like to beg to differ on that very end. I think there's one hero among us all. None of us have ever heard of you. You're just this random dragonborn. You're not a hero to us. You're just a brilliant point of view.
00:02:36
Speaker
Our heroes managed to find the entrance to the vault at the bank of Jihira, and when Eddic, making several attempts to just open the bank with brute force, finally the tactile approach of Miki and Mick Benner was able to open the doors that led down to the bank vault. Upon the way down, Karl had some scary visions where he saw himself as a child and was almost grabbed by a shadow.
00:03:00
Speaker
And upon reaching the actual foot of the bank, they discovered the vault still intact, still full of treasure with a strange figure, a strange male half-orc on the other side of what appears to be a large wall of force.
The Mysterious Half-Orc Encounter
00:03:17
Speaker
That is where we're going to pick up the episode with the half-orc just looking at you all and saying, where am I? Who the hell are you?
00:03:30
Speaker
Well, you're in a vault, in a bank, and we're here to help you get out. What? You're in a bank, vault. In a vault. Yeah, in a bank. What the fuck did I get here? Yeah, you tell us. I was in a tavern.
00:04:00
Speaker
Where? Enjoying a drink, uh, uh, Vawnden. What were you drinking? Uh, I remember everywhere. I ate all wine, had a mixture of both. Vawnden? Where's that? I've seen the Sword Coast. Yeah, that's it. It's an island just off the coast from Neverwinter.
00:04:26
Speaker
Where am I now? Where the fuck is this? Am I in Neverwinter? Is that what's happened? Calm down. Calm down. You're not in any danger. Trust me. I understand what you're going through. Just relax your mind and we can explain everything. But you're not in any immediate danger and we're all not out to get you. We're just as surprised as you are that you're here.
00:04:50
Speaker
But rest assured, you're not the only person who's made the trip from the Sword Coast today. At the mention of that, his eyes are going to drift to Drago's amulet and then over this half-orc. Does it look like he has some sort of trinket like that upon his person? Does it look like he's got an amulet or I'm looking for something kind of obvious and different about him?
00:05:15
Speaker
you're a bit too far away to make an investigation check. So I'm gonna glance towards my rules consultant and say that perception is probably the best check for this. Yeah. Yeah, no problem. I'll just roll one of those up. And it's an 18. Nice. Okay. You look at him and what you see is what appears to be
00:05:46
Speaker
bespoke crafted ornate studded leather. It appears to be a mesh of brown and blacks and silvers where bits of mail are weaved into it. You notice as this person is moving their arms about that there is no sound giving off so it's clearly being crafted in a way that even the heavier points of armour are designed to make is as little noise as possible.
00:06:10
Speaker
You do notice that there appears to be, with a roll like that, that there appears to be the sense that the lever is almost gilded with feathers across it, as if it's an ornate design on the piece of leather. Apart from that, though, there is nothing really to obviously link this to Drago. OK, yep. I'll sidle up to Drago and say,
00:06:40
Speaker
Do you know this person from before? No. I, uh, over then, knowing the place that they're from, don't recognize anything about this person. Do I, DM? No. Yeah. No, I don't know anything about it. Do not recognize anything that's in front of me. Other than the fear and the confusion that I recognize.
00:07:07
Speaker
You said you're from, you're from Vonden as well, pointing at you, Drago. Look, just take a breath. You probably feel a little bit sick as well. That's just from the transportation magic.
00:07:21
Speaker
or however you got here, there's also portals, holes in the world. Yeah, don't worry. It's gonna be okay. So you're in a place called Eryth, specifically Shadow Mend. And that's as much as I've learned. I pass over to the crew around me. Eryth, Eryth.
00:07:50
Speaker
He studies you, Drago, and looks you up and down and then goes, what's your name? Drago. My name's Boric.
00:08:10
Speaker
I am an apprentice magician and by magician I mean a spellcaster of some kind and I have a limited knowledge of what's going on here but why am I on this side of this wall of force and you're, that's a wall of force by the way, nobody touch it.
Magical Obstacles and Revelations
00:08:35
Speaker
And why are you on that side?
00:08:38
Speaker
I could ask you the same thing for an answer. I don't know. I think it's very clear why. It is because we are here and he is there. You know what? That's your name again. What's your name again? Me? No. I am Lynx von van der Heil. See? And I am not a barbarian.
00:09:00
Speaker
We have done this. I meant you. I was trying to point to the being behind the wall. My name is Boric. If you wish for the spelling on that, it's B-O-U-R-I-C. McBenna, you are bouncing on my screen.
00:09:22
Speaker
Yeah, so whilst this is going on, is this wall of force across the entranceway or is it like a cube around and can we walk around it? So you can quite clearly walk into the vault, but it's effectively running the length of the vault. If you remember from last time, this vault is about the size of two football fields. You can see the treasure on the other side, like a modern day Aladdin's cave, but this wall of force seems to run all the way across. You get the sense that this is the
00:09:50
Speaker
even from looking at it now that this is the main way that the treasure of the vault would be protected. And so it's stretching from wall to wall that we can see. Yes. And there's no like
00:10:10
Speaker
While they're all chatting, Mcvenner's going to sort of be looking at the grounds of where the wall of force meets the ground and perhaps following it along the wall. Is there any signs of anything on the floor or as you get close to the walls that would show where it's being emanated or controlled from? Yes, you can make a perception check to see what you notice. Yeah, right. I will do that.
00:10:40
Speaker
I can't perceive anything. I had a seven. Yeah, you glance around and you're a ranger. The sort of checks you're looking for. It's probably natural that it comes to mind that you look for some kind of fail safe or trigger point or set point for the trap. It's just beyond your comprehension. You spent your life going down into the gorge of sort there. This is a different world to you. It's impossible for you to notice anything.
00:11:07
Speaker
Drago's going to grasp his amulet and just look up for a second and just turn, not his back to the group, but just to his shoulder. Is this you? Do I get anything? It's basically Drago's reaching out to Akiva and just confirming whether or not he's at play here.
00:11:30
Speaker
You reach out, you grab the amulet as you did out in the street, and now that you're in the vault, it almost seems as if the connection you had to Akiva, which seemed to throw up this kind of very weird reading that was something and nothing at the same time, has now just progressed to nothing. You're not getting anything from the amulet.
00:11:51
Speaker
Oh, oh, I have a letter. I have a letter. This was not here before someone has given me a letter. How did I get this? What? Did you? Well, we found it in your pocket or is it just paid in your hand? No, it was in my pocket. My pockets have my coin purse, which is gone, which I'm annoyed about. I still have my spell components, thankfully, but this is new. Okay.
00:12:19
Speaker
Calm down. Read the letter. Read the letter. Let's see. This Drago is just going to kind of nudge Eddic and go, I wasn't this flappy, right? Oh, right. You were more confused, I think. Confused. You weren't scared, but you held your head a lot. Like for maybe the first five minutes.
00:12:53
Speaker
Do you want me to read the letter? Yes, read. You can read, can't you? I'm not being... I can read. Okay, okay. I can read. That's good, I can't. Are those bugs? Yes. Just read the letter. I am so sorry you have to do this. I am so sorry I have done this to you.
00:13:20
Speaker
You must get them to leave before it's too late. Father keep his cur- Am I in father keep? Am I in somewhere that's cursed? No, just keep reading. No, of course not, of course not, no. It is trapped in time itself. I know what Drezlin says. Who's Drezlin? Never heard of him. Keep reading. This sounds all very familiar. The tone is like Drezlin. You cannot take it to him. He is of the shadowfell.
00:13:50
Speaker
can return his true power to him you cannot give him that he is a beholder of a dark realm yeah okay we've heard this before yeah we've had this letter before lad um but thanks for playing anyway um um right so i don't suppose anyone's got anything that can
00:14:12
Speaker
destroy a wall of force then, can they? Well, let me try something. And the torch that I have, I'm just going to throw at it. Yeah, you do that. And then I'm going to look at Mickey as if I've done a good thing by not charging at it. I've thrown the torch at the wall of force instead.
00:14:28
Speaker
As it's not difficult to hit, it's a giant wall. You throw the torch at the wall of force. You see it hit and you see the wall seem to flicker for a second. It then gives out this kind of rumble and it's enough to push you all backwards. It gives you the impression that you wouldn't really desire to touch it. The torch disintegrates and just falls into ash at the floor. I've got another one of those in the kit if you've got a silver piece.
00:14:57
Speaker
Well, no, I gave you my last one as part of the transaction, but foolishly, I did not notice that I actually had one at the bottom of my pack at the beginning of the adventure, so that was pointless before. And he gets out the one that I forgot I actually had, and lights it, and just stares, stares at Karl. Have you tried throwing that one? I mean, you might find you haven't thrown it yet. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Have you lobbed it anyway? Have you thrown it yet? Stop with the sewing!
00:15:29
Speaker
I think I can get you into here and out again. Okay, how? Okay. I'm quite good with spells. I've done this before. I can cast something.
00:15:55
Speaker
Let's not, let's not criticise him, let him have a go. See what you can do. Actually that's the thing, you're saying him. When I do this, anyone here proficient with spells?
00:16:09
Speaker
in what way? What is that? So when you cast a spell, sometimes you have to concentrate on the spell. And if I cast this, the spell I'm currently concentrating on will, well, it will stop and you have to promise not to freak out. And what spell are you concentrating on now? Ulta self. I tell you what, I'll get you into the vault and then you can ask questions later.
00:16:36
Speaker
Okay and what you see is that boric takes their gauntlet gloves off and you see in the back of boric's hand are two what appear to be rubies that are almost set into the skin. The rubric the ruby start to glow
00:16:53
Speaker
and they almost start to leave like a glow as they start as Boric starts to move his hands. What you see is effectively an effect similar to what happens when Doctor Strange starts to cast a spell. It's almost like it's drawing runes in the air. Boric starts to change. Boric changes into a much slender, much smaller female figure.
00:17:19
Speaker
You would assume from looking at her either a human, an elf, or a half-elf. It's difficult to discern from here. You notice this jet red hair and these purple eyes. The armor seems to change and just mesh to this person's skin. And what happens as this character casts the spell Arcane Gate is that a portal appears behind them.
00:17:46
Speaker
and then you feel this whoosh behind you, and what happens if this portal appears behind you? And as you turn to look at it, you can then see that it leads into the bank vault. It's a weird perception as you turn around, because you can see the back of this person who identified as Boric, as you look through the portal. This is good for about... Sorry, it takes a while for the voice to follow.
00:18:14
Speaker
This is good for about 10 minutes, if you want to come through and find what you're looking for. Right. I hate portals. It's a small portal. It's a small portal, not a big one like the one that brought you and I here. It's literally covering a matter of feet, but it's quite powerful. It's bypassing whatever spell is in that wall of force, which I know from experience is significant. I'm quite good with spells. When I say I'm an apprentice, that's me being modest.
00:18:44
Speaker
They're very good. It's all right. I'll go first. I'll go first. And he's actually saying that to his bugs rather than anyone else in the party. So he's just going to step down from his way, the bugs and just start to slowly. Are there bugs behind me? Is there a spider in that? Is there a spider behind me, Gnome? Yes, yes. Her name is Esmeralda.
Treasure and Tome Discovery
00:19:10
Speaker
Would you like to meet her?
00:19:12
Speaker
Uh, maybe when I can not, not concentrating on this spell and then laugh out. How about Tiffany? She's very nice as well. Okay. Someone other than the unknown talk. He's quite weird. Can we just make banners now through the portal? Can we all just hurry this up, please? I'm getting older here and it's not pleasant. Yeah. You've got about 10 minutes. So if you're looking for something in particular in here, you, your times are wasting. Hard word.
00:19:37
Speaker
See, Karl, normally I'm the grumpy one in the group. So this is quite the turnaround, having McBenna along. I like, I like him. I feel like me and him could have a pint of ale sometime. Well, I'll be honest. I'm not sure apart from the last couple of days that we've been traveling together, then keeping myself to myself somewhat. So, but hey, what are we waiting for? Let's get this tome.
00:20:03
Speaker
Well, I have got brewer's supplies, and after this, I will make us all a lovely drink." And he steps through the portal and is confused. Because he's got that mirror effect where he can... Because if the portal is behind... Turn around. Walk back.
00:20:19
Speaker
Yep. What? No. What? Turn around and get... You're coming closer to me. You need to turn back around and walk further away from me. But every time I look through, there is me. But all I see is the back of my head. You're getting closer to me. You've gone the wrong way. You need to constantly go further away from me. But I have no idea now which way is away and towards... Okay, you're coming closer to me. You need to go further away from me.
00:20:42
Speaker
Okay, okay, and he does 360 degree turn and continues to walk towards you. Again, just verbal away from me. This is what you wanted me to ask. Here's 10 minutes. We don't have time for this. We don't have time for this. We have 10 minutes. I won't lie, this is not something I tried to create. Come to me, come to me, over here. Okay, I'll come to you. And he's just going to be looking to me.
00:21:09
Speaker
I'm not funny, I'm Mickey, go fuck yourself. Who's funny? There is no funny. And he's just going to walk over to Mickey. That's good, Mickey. Come here. Carl's going to make his way through the portal as well. And as he does so, he's going to reach into his pack once more and pull out another torch. And he'll pop through the other end and say, Square, this one here is a really fancy torch. If you want it, it's a gold piece. You can pay me afterwards.
00:21:39
Speaker
Is there any gold on the other side of this? Plenty. Yes, I'm just going to pick up a gold face and hand it to him.
00:21:49
Speaker
And just instantly go, there you are. Does anything happen when he touches the gold on the floor? A giant voice shout. No, you touch the gold piece and nothing happens. Seeing that and kind of recognizing and seeing that the squirrel's kind of done what he was hoping would happen, Karl's just going to kind of stop somewhat near the gold and start shoveling bits into his bag.
00:22:18
Speaker
You're just here to take gold, that's fine. MacBenna will start to look around for the book because someone's got to do the job. I'm going to stand disappointed that that torch has not been handed to me and he's just there, he's just staring at him. Where's my torch? I thought the transaction was complete.
00:22:43
Speaker
As that's happening, and as Karl's probably paying you no heed, as they literally start to fill their pockets, McBenna, you see, about 100 feet away, there is clearly a section that is just stacked full of bookshelves. You assume that that's a good place to start looking for the tone. Right, I'll
00:23:06
Speaker
go walking for the tome, reach down, grab a handful of gold coins and just start counting them as I'm walking. You never said what you were looking for. I can help. We're looking for a book.
00:23:20
Speaker
uh the name of which uh in my old age i've forgotten mickey do you remember what book was called don't try and fob this on me just because i don't have my notes prepared it's not it's not this this one that the letter says you you shouldn't get is it because do what's it say letter reminders it doesn't say anything in the letter but it says it's a book of the shadow fell which in itself might make it quite distinctive okay so looking for a shadowy book
00:23:51
Speaker
Okay, um, it's a it's a shadow Mendian phrase Just for continuity I've never I've never heard the word read before. Yeah, it's like right but different when something's read good as
00:24:13
Speaker
That's actually rather enjoyable. I might, I might remember that for myself. You can have that one for free. Just so you're aware, just so you're aware, you have about seven minutes left. You are playing to a real time clock and you've had three minutes. We need to get crystal and get book and then get out. You can't make another portal.
00:24:36
Speaker
I can't believe I have a limited amount of spell supplies. So if we take the full 10 minutes and that portal dissipates, we're just stuck in here until you decide to use another spell. Well, I probably would need a rest before I could do it. So you could be down here for a while, eight hours. That's a little bit longer. I can't believe we've had that much. Let's get looking for this blasted tomb.
00:25:03
Speaker
Okay, as you take off towards the tone section, can I ask those of you who have gone over there to look for the book to roll investigation? If it's a collaborative effort, I'll allow you to decide between you if someone wants to roll with advantage. How we want investigation, Mickey?
00:25:24
Speaker
I have a decent modifier, that's all I was saying. I mean, I've got proficiency in it, if that helps. Yeah, why can't you just say? I'm good. You can both roll, all of you rather do that. Let's just both roll. The general conversation between two people is, let's just both fucking roll. No, I suck. Yes, I'm good. I do suck. I have a decent modifier and my role still sucked. Oh, our role's at the same.
00:25:47
Speaker
I got a 13, then I got a 10. Okay, with both of those roles, it doesn't take a particularly high investigation check to see that there is a section of books that gives you the creeps. They appear to be otherworldly. They appear to be made from something that is a different type of paper that doesn't look particularly pleasant and a different type of leather to what you're used to. The language on them switches to another language that, do either of you speak abyssal?
00:26:18
Speaker
No. Okay, as you look through that then, it is apparent that this language is different to pre-mordial. I think it's pretty clear when you look at something that it's not the same as before, but it is also still something that is alien to you both. But there are a host of books here. You do notice that one of them appears to have a particular sinister feel to it. You
00:26:43
Speaker
It's a bit like the one ring in the sense that it looks like a gold ring, but even in its presence alone, you can feel this. This book has something that just makes your hair stand up and not in a good way. Well, I don't know about you, Mickey, but that book there gives me the creeps and appears to be glowing with a little like quest marker above it. So it's probably that one.
00:27:08
Speaker
Well, it's a bit high for me. I don't know if I'm able to grab it. Don't worry. I'll lift you up for you. I can just download your backpack. Squirrel. Squirrel. And McBenna will be jashing over to Squirrel to come over.
00:27:25
Speaker
Mickey needs lifting again. Straight over, and like runs, like it's from the other side of the vault, suddenly completely ignoring, let's face it, his torch slash, yeah, and just understands his task. It's like, yes, straight in, picks him up, doesn't know where he's putting him and just straight up in the air above his head. Now where?
00:27:47
Speaker
To the book there, so we can reach it. To the book there? Or books? Which book are you after? This one here, the one that's particularly, you know, glowy and creepy. I would prefer not to, you know, kind of, there's a whole load of protest from making it this stage. And I'm assuming it's just going to kind of go completely unrequited. No one's paying attention to any of his protests right now. He's just going to crane him over to the book.
00:28:12
Speaker
As this is happening, yeah, even you, Eddic, where is you've noticed that all of a sudden that the direction that Macbenna is pointing in, like a fear of foreboding, something strikes you from this book that Macbenna is pointing towards? It's pretty apparent to you now which book Macbenna is suggesting. So I'm just going to crane him over towards it so it's sort of arced around a little bit, arched around and just dangle him in front of the book.
00:28:41
Speaker
not touching it because part of me doesn't want him to touch it yet without him reaching it and grabbing it. I don't want to sort of push him against this.
00:28:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's fine. I'm very excited about this. And I'm going to summon my bugs and use my swarm-like mage hand to just reach out and attempt to grab the tome from the shelf. Make an arcana check, please. That is some creepy shit that you can do. I got a nine.
00:29:18
Speaker
You go to cast the mate hand, the bugs start to move towards the book, and then you lose control of them. And it's as if they do not wish to approach this book. They come back in return and hide behind you. What are you doing? What are you doing? No. Why are you running away? Talking to the bugs completely now. Well, I don't want to touch the bloody thing. No, no. Sean, shut up. No, I'm not interested. Eric, Deidre, what are all of you? Oh, fine. Please don't get any of them on me.
00:29:49
Speaker
I'm going to have to do this myself. And he's going to try and pump himself up. And he's just going to lunge forward. He's not grabbing it, he's just putting his hands on like the spine of this book, because he's expecting something to happen. Okay, you build yourself up, you start the hyperventilating as you were just doing. And as you thrust your hands out, you immediately expect something. And it takes you a few seconds to realise nothing.
00:30:17
Speaker
Your hands are just resting on this book. So he's going to kind of open one of his eyes a little bit, just seeing if he's still in the same room or if anything happened. Oh, oh, OK. Maybe this isn't so bad. And still very hesitantly, he's going to grab the top and the bottom of the book and just slowly pull it out. Is there an eyeball on it? I look at the front of the cover. Is there an eyeball?
Personal Connections and Escape
00:30:49
Speaker
Does it say anything on the front? You've seen what it says on the front. You can still see these dark, abyssal tones that appear to read something that you can't quite understand. There's no eyeball, just some words I don't understand. You might expect there to be an eyeball, but that's frankly a load of hocus pocus. Well, well bought in. At least the book didn't put a spell on you.
00:31:18
Speaker
But he did reach out and touch this. Right, so let's put the book in your bag and then we can finish looting the room and get out of here. How big is this tome, DM? And what else is in your bag?
00:31:38
Speaker
This book is about the size of an A5. It's not particularly big. That's a particularly striking thing about it. It's no bigger than an A5 book. Fair enough then, yeah. That would be able to fit in. Are all your bugs in your bag? And will they come out? Are they somewhere else? My bugs are not in my bag. They are always out.
00:31:58
Speaker
Okay, I'm going to rule because of Chex. You've got about two minutes left to fill your boots, basically, before this spell runs out, to fill your boots for whatever else you want to get from the vault. Dresden made it abundantly clear that as long as he gets the tome, whatever else you take from the vault is fair game and yours. Yeah, as much gold as I can carry.
00:32:19
Speaker
Are there any precious jewels or anything? Or is it just gold coins? And weapons, is there any weapons about the place? Okay, we're going to do this in a series of checks. We've got Mcbenna looking for gold, we've got... No, I'm looking for jewels, looking for jewels. Because jewels are worth more than gold, but take up less space. We've got Eddic just going around and filling his boots with gold, is that correct? That is, like just shovel it, like he has a shovel, but he's just using the palms of his hands and just as much, because that's all he thinks about his gold.
00:32:49
Speaker
OK, so we've got gold, jewels, weapons. What about Karl and Miki? So Karl's been kind of filling his boots, so to speak, more likely satchel. But at this point, kind of seeing the mission is on its way there, he'll start looking for
00:33:05
Speaker
trinkets, like something that's odd, something that's different. He's a traveling merchant. He wants things that he can sell for a high value. So you're looking for more uniqueness rather than specific value. Okay, cool. Terrific. And Miki? I'm just going to be entranced by the tome and I am just going to leave the portal. I'm going to ride my way through bugs. I'm going to get out of the portal. I'm leaving them to their gold. I have no interest in that.
00:33:35
Speaker
OK, we'll make our way around then. First of all, this is going to take place over a series of minutes. So, Mick Fenner, do you want to roll your investigation check, please? I will. Oh, it's good. That's a 19.
00:33:56
Speaker
If there's any, I mean, you find sapphires, amethyst, emeralds, you can take your pick. There appears to be a section where you find them as raw cuts. You find them embedded in rings, in gauntlets, in gloves, in necklaces, in tiaras. You can take your pick of any of the known birthstones and some of the other more phantasmagorical stones. I'll be grabbing things like sapphires and that kind of stuff. Yeah.
00:34:24
Speaker
Edic, your cheque is going to be a bit different because you're literally just scooping up. Do you want to roll athletics to see how well you do in scooping this up? I can do athletics. I'm imagining yours is the most exhausting motion because it's just shovelling. It's shovelling. Eighteen. It was going to be athletics or strength and I've got a plus four in both.
00:34:49
Speaker
I mean, you're limited by what you, I would say the threshold of what you can carry. I'd probably need to check with the rules consultant, but you get pretty close to that in terms of. I don't know what that would be. Well, do you want, I mean, are you, are you willing to load up to the point that you're over encumbered? I'm willing to load up to the point. Yeah. Potentially. I want him to go to a point where he's gone too far and he's not going to be doing any running and he's going to have to make a choice if anything bad should happen.
00:35:18
Speaker
That's the character with some balls. Thank you.
00:35:22
Speaker
What's the most I can carry, Will? 50 coins weigh one pound. So on your inventory, you should see on the top left, it should say weight carried. I've got my name is PD and I have gigantic balls. I absolutely love the fact that Will's able to just pull this up. It should say weight carried on your inventory, on your D&D Beyond. If you could comment, it will tell you what your carrying capacity is.
00:35:50
Speaker
Okay, carrying capacity 270. And what you want to do right now? 67. Right, so basically, your settings should be set to, essentially, you can just keep adding gold, and in theory... Up until 270. Well, that should, in theory, adjust. Yeah, so you can, when you click on coins on D&D Beyond,
00:36:15
Speaker
yep on your inventory if you click thing and then you click add basically you put the number of gold coins in there press add and then it will it will increase your weight carried number and just keep doing that until you get to like close your incumbent and did you say 50 gold was what per pound 50 each coin equals 50 coins equal one pound okay i've got some so leave me to it i've got some calculating to do that yeah um
00:36:43
Speaker
Okay, let's go to Carl then. Next. Carl, do you want the wrong investigation as well? It's probably best. Yeah, already done. Got an 18 for that one. Okay, great. Yeah, you find some really strange things. You seem to find what appear to be almost taxidermied creatures that you've never seen before.
00:37:04
Speaker
You don't know where they're from. You don't know if they're of this world. They're just something you've never seen before. You find about three or four of them. They're about the size. The biggest one is about the size of a Labrador. The smallest one is about the size of a spider. And they range from there. But the majority of them are about the size of a cat or a rat, depending on what you're after.
00:37:27
Speaker
They appear to have really curious things that their eyes almost seem to glisten like they are due themselves. It's really strange. But they appear to like move when you pick them up. So it's almost like a liquid jewel in the eye. It's proper, both in entrancing and also disgusting at the same time. Amazing. I will take the smallest and the second smallest. So just add two with me and I'm also going to be kind of keeping eyes on the room.
00:37:56
Speaker
Does it look like our resident mage is kind of struggling with this spell at this moment? Does it look like they're kind of... No, no, the minute she has started to wander over to Drago, who is looking for weapons, I believe. Just some kind of blade, a sword, a dagger, anything that's just usable and I'm familiar with. Would you like to roll investigation as well, please? Yep, 14. Okay.
00:38:25
Speaker
Yeah, you find a weapons rack. There's nothing particularly magical about the weapons that you find, but you do notice something. They glisten. They're a sharper metallic, almost as if they're silver. There appear to be arrows, crossbow bolts. You find the long sword. You don't find the great sword, which obviously would be your, but you do find the long sword. You find some shields.
00:38:50
Speaker
There are some spears. There is a similar to your great sword, which all our listeners will know so well. There is a great axe, which appears to be the same size. That's what you find. If you went through the player's handbook and looked at the one-handed typical weapons you would find forged, you find an abundance of them, but you also find one striking great axe.
00:39:22
Speaker
Drago tilts his head to one side as he's looking at the great axe, almost like a dog does to an owner, and then takes the axe in his hands, twirls it around a little, and then checks the weight, feels the heft, and he slings it on his back. Are you good with that? I guess we'll find out. Something tells me that this is no quick grab and run.
00:39:51
Speaker
You said you were from the Sword Coast as well. Where are you from? I'm from a place called Icewind Dale. Tiny little village in the north. It's near the spine of the world, right? Yes. Cool. It's weird. It's not so weird actually, having someone else from the Sword Coast here. It's weird in this situation, let me just say. Where are you from? Ah, wow.
00:40:20
Speaker
I grew up in the south, but I spent most of my years in the forests of Neverwinter and around the city of Neverwinter in general. The forests of Neverwinter. Yeah. A long story. We find it best to live outside the silly walls. Well, that life's gone now, but something
00:40:48
Speaker
I didn't exactly live inside the law, let's just say. You sound very familiar to a friend of mine. You know someone from Neverwinter. Oh, yeah. His name was Robin and he kept himself to himself. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't know. Robin.
00:41:17
Speaker
Yeah, I knew an elf as well. Actually still know an elf. I've not long dropped him back to his home. She looks at you curiously, ignoring everything you've just said about the elf. And she says, my father and mother, they did, my birth mother, they called, we're thinking of the same person, they called this, they called him.
00:41:43
Speaker
They called him Dustin, and then our adopted mother called him Robin.
Moral Dilemmas and Group Tension
00:41:48
Speaker
She looks at you curiously and says, they called me, my birth parents, Ella, but my adopted parents called me Ren. Ren? Yeah. You're Ren. Yeah, and uh... Jeez, you're Ren, the Ren, Robin's sister Ren.
00:42:14
Speaker
So you do know him? Ren. Yeah, I'm his half-sister, because she pulls her hair back and points to you, because I'm half-elf. But yeah, I'm... You're Ren. I'm Ren. I've been looking for Robin for years, but I... He's Ren. Did you know? Where is he? I don't know. Exactly. But this is...
00:42:41
Speaker
You're in. This is very strange. I was looking for you. I had some things to do in the Sword Coast. I dropped Elphir off. I did Shader's axe, gave that back to his family. That was emotional. But my next day, I was searching for you.
00:43:05
Speaker
so that I could take you or send you towards Robin if you so choose. I was going to not take you of your own. I was going to be of your own free will, of course. I'm not like a mercenary. So you know where he is. You know where Robin is.
00:43:25
Speaker
in terms of, I know, an area he might be in. I'm not entirely sure how long time has passed since I was last here. And where we are is definitely not where Robin would be. But this is great. This is, yeah, amazing. This is slightly strange.
00:43:50
Speaker
What happened to him? I've been looking for him for years. There's literally a whole podcast on what happened to him.
00:43:59
Speaker
I'm sorry to be the person to interrupt, but should your gear be flickering like that? Oh, shit, yeah. You've probably got about 60 seconds to get through the other side of that thing. You remind me a bit of him. Do you shoot that thing? My brother's quite good with that bowl. But anyway, portals closing, portals closing. I'm going through the portal.
00:44:21
Speaker
And as she's running, she turns to you, Drago, and says, he does brood a bit like that. That's a Robin thing, right? He still does that. We're not done, me and you. Cool. No, no. But for now, anyway, yeah, I'm at Old Garden. She looks at her back of her hands. Yeah, that's definitely closing. We should move. OK. I think it's just going to lumber through just nonchalantly. Yes, OK.
00:44:46
Speaker
And as you're all on the other side, she waves her hands one more time and closes. Huh. Not my first bank vault. So, where are we going now? Well, we get out of the city, turn the book into our
00:45:04
Speaker
employer and get paid again. I don't wish that me and him have letters that say that you shouldn't do that. Great great mysterious letters isn't any way to run business so you know that's like saying some bint giving you a sword out of a lake is a way to form a government so you know.
00:45:27
Speaker
Ren's confused at that and he's just going to look at you, Drago, as if to say... McBenna. I'm going to try this once and if it doesn't work, trust me when I say I understand why it won't work. However, I've been where you've been in the mindset that you have
00:45:52
Speaker
and it might be worth listening to what's in this letter just in case it has some severe circumstances on you and your family group and of outlaws, whatever this is. It is your problem, Drago. So if we don't give Dreslin the book that he's hired us all to do,
00:46:20
Speaker
He will single-handedly hunt us down and turn our entrails into ex-trails and other such nasty things. And there'll be lots of, lots of thonging and it won't be nice. And quite frankly, I quite like to be able to live in me riches without having to keep looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. Like I said, I totally understand. I'm going to give you this letter.
00:46:50
Speaker
so that you have all the information in your literal fingertips and then whatever you decide shall be. Let's get out of the city first and then we can go from there. Maybe that's the easiest thing to do because, you know, there was creepy stuff going on. Yeah, I'm a bit concerned about this trapped in time thing that maybe we don't want to stay here for too much longer. This is happening, Carl. What are you doing? Carl's just going to pipe up and take
00:47:17
Speaker
Karajit wants to know who's actually got the tome. That would be me. I'm turning to look to you, Mickey. I'll just go, right. Well, tell you what, I've got a nice big backpack here. It's super secure. I can run pretty fast if we get into trouble as well.
00:47:40
Speaker
what say he handed over to me, I'll keep it nice and secure. And as I'm saying this, I'm weaving magic into my words. I'm doing two things. I am using my feature as an eloquence bard to use unsettling words. And at the same time, I'm also casting suggestion to you. So first things first, with regards to suggestion, it's a wisdom 13 saving throw.
00:48:10
Speaker
as the spell goes in, but I'd like you to subtract a d6 from the saving throw as the unsettling words kind of negates any perhaps mental barrier that you've got against it. I have to subtract a d6. Keep this interesting, Karl roll the d6. Okay. Fingers crossed, Karl, come on. Get a one. This is awesome.
00:48:39
Speaker
Two. Minus two is zero. On wisdom saving throws, I have advantage against magic. I hope you fail it, man. I'm just going to put it out there. There's no point rolling. No, that's it. So yeah, I rolled a 15 plus my modifier, which is to take away Khajit's detrimental effect, which is 15. Okay, yeah, that succeeds.
00:49:11
Speaker
Do I get a sense of what he tried to do because of the spell or... I'm not too sure on this one. The way suggestion works is... I'm not too sure if you have an idea, obviously sometimes when you get charmed you're aware that you've been charmed. I don't know which suggestion I've never used it. Wouldn't be Fellowship of the Tabletop if someone didn't try to roll the dice against someone in the party.
00:49:36
Speaker
I know if it's successfully cast you don't know because it's doing a suggestion within your mind.
Time-Looped City and Shadowy Threat
00:49:43
Speaker
A reasonable suggestion, yes. I'm going to get the play of handbook, hold on. There's nothing that says in the description. No, because some spells like friend and charm person explicitly say. Well, what's your ruling on this?
00:50:01
Speaker
I mean, as rules as intended, or rules written, sorry, there's nothing that suggests that anyone knows anything about it unless they are iconically aware. That's enough. Thank you. Thank you. I'm not really not aware that anything's happened. As far as you're concerned, you get material components out because it requires
00:50:20
Speaker
Spell components. I can use my genie's vessel as my spellcasting focus. You're going to need a cast down level of perception to have noticed that, is what I'm going to rule for that. So the answer is you don't. Someone who has cast down ilk, if you think back with that passive perception of 18, would have noticed it. None of you would. I would probably look back to him with a bit more of a puzzled look over my face.
00:50:50
Speaker
No, no, that's perfectly fine with me. Whilst this is happening, Karl's kind of already taking his backpack off, like, so cocksure of himself, so certain that this action's going to take place, and he kind of stops, and again, puzzled, looks back at you. Sorry to interrupt. Can you hear that? Hear what? Make a perception check, all of you.
00:51:21
Speaker
Nice. Well done, Callum. Thank you. Callum hears time itself. Yeah. Not bad for Alex's third name, that's called Muffle. OK, what did you roll, please, Drago? Twelve. Twelve. Thirteen. OK, what did you roll, please, Karl? Sixteen from Karl. Thank you. Edic? Eleven.
00:51:51
Speaker
15. And Miki Muffle. Natural 20 for 24. I'm going to say McBenna and Miki Muffle. What was yours again, Carl? Was it 16? Yeah, so McBenna, Carl and Miki Muffle hear the sound of what appears to be like welcoming soft acoustic, almost violins and lutes and pianos, as if there is a band coming from back up the stairs. Right.
00:52:20
Speaker
Okay, no, I do, I do have that. Yeah. Um, so I'm going to go with this is a creepy place. And this isn't time for us to have a discussion about what we're doing with the book. Let's get out of this. And then what can happen? What happened? Why is it always a fucking book?
00:52:43
Speaker
I don't know. I don't have any experience with the books other than reading them. So, you know, I don't know where I'm going. So I don't know where I'm going. So someone wants to lead the way. I'll just go back up these stairs. But better. Why don't you go first? I OK. Macbeth is going to sort of be.
00:53:07
Speaker
limbering himself up at this stage because he really thinks things are getting a bit weird. He's got his bow off his back, he's got it in his hand now, he's ready to actually fight because he feels like this might go south quickly. He's going to look to Mickey
00:53:26
Speaker
And I'm going to say, do you understand me in Dwarvish, Goblin, Silver, Undercommon and Orc? And if anyone understands that or Mickey understands that, say so. On the second one, what are you doing? I understand you in all of those languages. What are you doing? Yeah, just trying to talk to Mickey.
00:53:50
Speaker
And yeah, I will respond in awkward as well and says, yeah, he's trying to talk to me. Yeah, I get that. I get you as well. What, were we moving or what? Yeah, I, I assumed I assumed I was, I was walking and talking to help you to plot along. As you make your way back upstairs, Karl, what are you doing? Yeah, I'm just going to quickly hang back and just hold on to Drago's shoulder and just say, just watch your step at the top there. Uh,
00:54:19
Speaker
and yeah just kind of leave it at that knowing full well that i've emptied out a bag of ball bearings at the entrance to the bank okay at the entrance to the bank not the vault just to be clear right i believe so yeah or not on our entrance yes no you didn't know you didn't know it was the entrance to vault oh i'll apologize not the bank okay yeah that is that one
00:54:41
Speaker
I'm going to fall, though, to my death. You make your way back upstairs. What strikes you, and I'm really sorry, Will, but this is the notes as it's written, is that as you come back through the vault door, the ball bearings are gone. The sense of age and time has gone. This vault
00:55:04
Speaker
Or this foyer, rather, as you're in now, is alive. There are no people, but the chandeliers, which had sat dormant for you guests for years, are lit. The music is coming from somewhere, but you can't see where. Minus people, this room is alive. And then it hits you all. It is a city trapped in time itself.
00:55:32
Speaker
And you notice something else. Outside, it doesn't make sense that the sun has faded, that the sun has gone, but it's nighttime. And you also notice, particularly those of you with a passive perception of over 10, that something quite strange is happening in the side of the room. Stay out of the shadows. They're moving. They're coming inwards. What do you want to do?
00:56:05
Speaker
I'll be looking for a blue box first. I was thinking of the library episode. And it's frozen in time and Will started nodding along and I think it was doing the same. I was thinking that'd be perfect for the Doctor Who theme right there. What remains, the shadows are moving and they're moving towards you. Macbenna will look over shoulders of the rest of the group and go,
00:56:33
Speaker
Fuck this place, fuck this city, let's go. And yeah, don't go in shadows from my experience. This is fucked up. And McBenna will try and make his way out without going in the shadows. Okay, yeah, they're still on the side of the room, so you can sprint down the middle of the room easily enough and avoid them as you burst through the main gates, which again, you left open, but they are shut. They seem to open instinctively as you hit them. You notice something, McBenna, and as the rest of you follow,
00:57:02
Speaker
You glance left and what you see is this thick wall of shadow. It's nighttime now, but the moonlight seems to light where you are, but about 40, 50 feet down the thoroughfare to your left is just a wall of darkness and you can see something, something not pleasant moving within. You glance right and you see the same. This appears to now to all intensive purposes be as if you are surrounded by these wall of shadows.
00:57:32
Speaker
And what happens as you glance right is all of a sudden you see a face just emerge through the right wall of the shadow followed by this. It comes through the wall, looks at you and starts to run towards you. And that is where we're going to leave it for this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop.
Suspenseful Conclusion and Farewell
00:57:59
Speaker
What the fuck is that thing?
00:58:02
Speaker
um run and we started the episode on those very words so it's very poetic to end the episode on the same one that was awesome darren good stuff there some uh some big bombs dropped along the way as well um the whole rain thing i mean i can't wait for this pvp thing when the party turns on itself the whole episode and that pvp
00:58:28
Speaker
We're going to do the heroes of the Blight versus the heroes of Time. Hang on. Are we the heroes of Time? That's cool. The heroes of Time. I'd like to thank everyone for their time in listening to this episode.
00:58:56
Speaker
If you wanted to keep up to date with the podcast, as well as our general monkeys around, you can do so on one of our various social media pages. We have a website, which is fellowshiptable.com. We have a Facebook page, which is fellowshiptable. And we have a Twitter page, which is at fellowshiptable. Then if you wanted to go one step further and follow us individually, you can do so. I'm at iRolledA1. Our rules consultant Will is at
00:59:24
Speaker
Don't sue us for copyright infringement. No, I've had the natural 20, Will. Our renter, Will, is at... Hello, ship NPCPC. Our brand new Mike is at... Not a barbarian. Our very old and shit column is at...
00:59:42
Speaker
The d20 gamer and our epic wonderful DM is at Darren page. Oh six by the way Callum you bottled that crossbow thing by the way. I Did I did I did I bottles? I like the fact that I can't be an asshole. I can't I want anyway, I just wanted the listeners to end on that so I'm sorry. I'm not an asshole. I Believe the word is time everybody. There we go. Yeah. Yeah