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C3 Episode 76 Agents of WAR Chapter Five
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The Journey Home
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Transcript
Introduction to the Aron Campaign
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello the campaign setting.
00:00:14
Speaker
I am your Game
00:00:19
Speaker
Master, Eric. I'm Mia. I'm Mia. and welcome to ever everyone renewed actual play podcast set the aron campaign pain setting i am your game masterster eric a mea I'm Phillip.
00:00:32
Speaker
I'm Madison. I'm Jeff. Welcome to another episode.
Aftermath of the Olath Battle
00:00:36
Speaker
Folks, what happened last time? Warcraft. Just the worst day for a lot of people.
00:00:45
Speaker
Yeah, not a good time. It was a great episode to learn how to let go. You know, let things pass. i just we've We've failed. we have We have failed this battle.
00:00:55
Speaker
Like, we have... half Half the team is down. One half of the team that's standing is not in her right mind. The other half the team has a lower initiative than the team.
00:01:13
Speaker
Has a lower initiative and not enough hit points. Townspeople have been mown down. Yeah. The town of Olath is not well.
Decision to Retreat
00:01:23
Speaker
So.
00:01:25
Speaker
And so we decided to retreat. But importantly, at the end of the episode, the group has decided to activate the mechanic in the system of a party retreat, um which basically means we narratively get you all out of here.
00:01:41
Speaker
And there is a narrative loss that is the cost of this this mechanic. So for a brief little bit, we're going to go into like more narrative mode. So this is genuinely that I rolled right before you all decided to initiate this conversation.
00:01:57
Speaker
but With the escalation die at a six, I rolled for more demons to spot. So rift opens up in Shabrath and some demons clamber through drawing Nyx's attention away from Selena who has the scroll.
00:02:11
Speaker
Selina, Shamara rushes over to you as this battle is turning very poorly and besieges to you. It's the scroll. i really think it's time we open it and take a look at what's inside.
Discovery of Dark Secrets
00:02:28
Speaker
Okay, I don't really see how it could get any worse at this point, so sure. And Selina, open the scroll. Okay, Selina, you see a lot of writings on the scroll in a variety of languages.
00:02:42
Speaker
And what languages does Selina speak? We don't have so hard mechanics for this, but just the top of your head, Madison, Elvish probably. and Yeah. Okay.
00:02:52
Speaker
You find writings in Elvish that this is a ah scroll to the Dark Six. So there's a lot of really bad stuff in here, including a way to tap into the fury.
00:03:07
Speaker
which is tied you see markings that link it to shavarath based on the readings that you've done about the planes and things like that um and it is clear that what's his name nardum read this incantation and activated it and it has been going since which is why the shavarath incursions continue to happen so you all need...
Demon Incantation and Escape
00:03:35
Speaker
You need to basically try to perform this incantation to, like, turn it off. There is a... It's... So the use case for this, and what you see, is that for warriors who needed to have a berserker mode in battle, they could tap into...
00:03:52
Speaker
the powers and also summon legions of awful creatures to fight alongside them. And then they would know the incantation to stop it. So I need... i mean so did you just find a scroll that describes my class?
00:04:05
Speaker
Is that what just happened? This scroll just describes my character class? it's It's a little worse, but it's like the first draft. It's like before they really figured out how to get the summing to work, it was just like turn on the fire hose and let's see what happens.
00:04:21
Speaker
So give me a intelligence based check. Okay. Actually, no, you don't need to make a check. We've initiated the party your retreat. This works. i like i Good.
00:04:33
Speaker
So, Selina, as Nyx is mowing down these demons, Acheron is cackling. Although, you don't I don't think anybody knows that this is Acheron, right, Philip? like There would be no way to like make that connection. It's just a demon that's been really chill and helpful towards Nyx.
00:04:49
Speaker
But after Nyx turned bad, so that kind helps. That would be the way to make the connection, but it's it'd be it'd be a jump given the circumstances. Yeah. Other things going on to notice, yeah. Yeah.
00:05:02
Speaker
And as you are doing this and Shamara is like assisting in so far as she can, you know that Valira and her crew are no longer visible on the battlefield.
00:05:13
Speaker
And as you're getting close to, so there's glowing around you. The few remaining townsfolk have pulled Kaz's body out from the fray as well. The scroll is glowing before you.
00:05:25
Speaker
ah a shadow appears overhead as the airship that Valira has. um flies overhead dropping a ladder down and when you finish the incantation nyx falls unconscious the active rift of demons piling through shuts but it's gone too far the the dretches are still running around there are still like The blighted landscape of Shavarath does not go away when you finish this incantation.
00:05:59
Speaker
And so we see, um like the crew coming down the ladder, scooping up Valk's body, Kaz's body, climbing back up as you all try to get as many townspeople as you can.
Reflections on the Battle
00:06:13
Speaker
There's far fewer than you would have liked maybe.
00:06:19
Speaker
a dozen townsfolk that are still left standing by the end of this fight, including No, like as you are climbing the ladder, you look over your shoulders, Slainess, to see the body of J. Rune, the leader of Oloth, um, and the refugee from Shadukar, her body laying in the town square as Dredge's continue to run over her corpse. But you were able to make it onto Velira's ship and begin to fly away from Oloth.
00:06:49
Speaker
After a couple hours... So, Selina, so your companions will wake up soon. What do you do while you're waiting on them to regain? Like, they're clearly stable. They're no longer in danger of being harmed.
00:07:04
Speaker
So, what do you do with the downtime? um
00:07:14
Speaker
think I'll just kind of go and like say thank you to the people that jumped in. But then I'd probably stay pretty close to them. Okay. The rest of you awaken to feel air rushing over your faces as you find yourselves laying on the deck of an airship.
00:07:31
Speaker
Kaz, Nix, your minds are right, and you have no recollection of what happened. I don't remember any of that. Like, being in Sharroth, being... a fight No, no, you remember the first round of combat and then Nyx went berserk. So it was like, you got knocked out.
00:07:52
Speaker
That makes it hard. of That makes it hard to role play a reaction. That's it. Yeah. you Well, I mean, the orcs had fragments, so you have brief fragments of being in Shavarath. You just don't have like a clear play-by-play like, these are the things that I did while I was in that state.
00:08:12
Speaker
But Kaz, same thing, except you have a bit more memory of the battle.
00:08:17
Speaker
And you also wake up, and you remember everything, including getting stabbed by... what...
00:08:28
Speaker
in what in what larger than the radius of the of the coppice yes yes i think i think falk is fully retreating think he believes this is one of those scenarios where it's like something went so wrong And whenever things go wrong, it's my job to fix it And I tried to fix it and I couldn't do it. And there were so many different options.
00:09:01
Speaker
and don't think he's taking the blame of what is happening, I think he it's a very much like, i I should have known better on what to do.
00:09:15
Speaker
i think Valk is just going to go probably down into the hole. but ah And then just, I mean,
00:09:23
Speaker
sit there can i'm as i'm assuming i would have some sort of a scar now or or would that or is there sort of some sort of magical healing now yeah what where did nick stabby i would assume reaching down it probably would be like the left shoulder okay yeah yeah i mean it it will definitely scar Can I, down in the hold, I keep trying to shape change to see if it goes away?
Struggles with Identity and Responsibility
00:09:56
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. i think I think that's all that Valk is doing, is just quietly away from people, just trying to go back to what was happening. So, Selina, you're certainly the one that would have been most conscious for it, the other two, in the process of waking up, but Valk immediately gets up and wordlessly, like, goes down to the hold.
00:10:17
Speaker
Okay. But Nick's, it would give Val some time. i I guess Kaz is going to have to just assume that he got knocked out during the fight.
00:10:29
Speaker
It makes the most sense. He just got blindsided by something and now they're on the, when I look around, I'm on the, I'm on the deck. Like I wake up on the deck.
00:10:42
Speaker
Yes.
00:10:44
Speaker
What, who, who all do I see when I look around? You said some towns people made it and yeah, there's like a dozen townsfolk. There is a Lyra's crew who are kind of tending to people. The, the druids are also tending to people and you see Chamara is talking to the Lyra as you all are flying through the air.
00:11:01
Speaker
and Okay. But, and Selena, is there, like next to you? Yeah. I'm sure i would, I would ask if, and if the Lyra, I'm sure I'd just ask Selena what happened.
00:11:16
Speaker
i I would take my hint from people the essentially refugees on the ship that it wasn't good. So I don't think I would be particularly loud about it. ah But yeah, I think I would just... If something's close by, should... What?
00:11:31
Speaker
Okay, I don't remember anything after after I started flying. Did I get hit? What happened? Why is everybody on this the boat?
00:11:43
Speaker
So it was the scroll. It got activated whenever he took it. And we probably should have opened it and read it before.
00:11:55
Speaker
You and Nyx went all shavarath? I don't know. What does that mean? I don't even know. I've seen Nyx do it, but I can't i can't do that. What?
00:12:08
Speaker
Well... Just, I don't know, if be glad you don't remember it. But... he thought she so okay. But we all got
Alliance and Return to the Manor
00:12:18
Speaker
out. Not a lot of the the townspeople did.
00:12:22
Speaker
I was able to deactivate it with an incantation from the scroll. So did we, we just ran away? Yeah. I think at that I might, I think I'd go back to wherever I was laying down and just like sit there. Just real quick, Selena, with your study of the scroll, you would have noted Nardum would have activated it. It wasn't like a passive activation. Nardum would have like read the incantation to turn it on essentially.
00:12:54
Speaker
What's Nyx doing? I don't know. i cause it seems like Nix would wake up and just not know why everyone's being weird.
00:13:05
Speaker
And probably one of the weirdest aspects is Acheron seems very happy. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know how to reckon with what happened with my character. I've no memory of any it.
00:13:23
Speaker
I would take a wisdom based skill check to see if Nyx can take a moment to try and hold some memories to the four prime.
00:13:34
Speaker
Okay.
00:13:41
Speaker
With my level, that's 13.
00:13:44
Speaker
13. So as you really try to rack your brain about What went missing because you would know, like based on the state of the battle, you like Nix would have recollections, of like the pain of getting knocked out or stabbed or something.
00:13:59
Speaker
And that's clearly not there in her memory. You do have with a 13.
00:14:09
Speaker
Two, three brief flashes. ah one is kind of the revel of battle and you looking around the wasteland of Shabarath and shouting commanding orders. Kind of that first moment when you turned, you have a memory of stabbing somebody that's sneaking up behind you.
00:14:32
Speaker
But when you recall it, you see like The overlay disappears from only you see Valk very briefly, just as you're stabbing. And then same kind of thing of the town's person that you killed like that. You see an enemy combatant and then it switches off to see town's person of Olaf.
00:14:55
Speaker
And those are the memories that you can call for us. Okay. So I remember nothing about Acheron from the battle. No, well gang, we're not going to put that together.
00:15:06
Speaker
Not yet. And what is everyone else doing? Frankly, why did the townspeople allow them to put Nix on this ship? I mean, there's certainly people giving, giving Nix a wide berth.
00:15:17
Speaker
I think the people like, yeah, you all are definitely tucked away from the townspeople. Like the the townspeople are not huddled around you. And yeah the townspeople are mending to each other. The Druids are helping.
00:15:32
Speaker
And yeah, Valira and Shamara are talking with Valira at the helm. But yeah, that's kind of what you see. right And then you see Selena and Kaz. And I guess Nyx puts together what she's able to put together.
00:15:47
Speaker
And she will retreat to the aft of the ship to try and work out what our situation is right now. But other than we're obviously no longer there. She also doesn't see Valk anywhere and draws some conclusions about that. Okay. Presumably like happening at the same time, Selena, while you're talking to Kaz, you see Nick sit up, look around and then get up and walk away.
00:16:21
Speaker
It's not that big of a ship. So Nick's is probably within sight at the after the Yeah, that that's my thing. Like, Nyx is trying, like, there isn't a wide berth to give Nyx. She is fleeing to the farthest point of the ship that she can. Yeah. Because, you know, luckily there's no fire in bitchforks available here, I assume. Valira does walk over to Selina after a bit, assuming you you lot just want be dropped off at
Discussing the Aftermath and Fears
00:16:49
Speaker
home? Yeah, I think that would be best.
00:16:52
Speaker
All right. I don't know what we can do for you, but that bit went about as wrong as I think any of us could have imagined. If you all need anything, consider you better than allies. Maybe not close friends yet, but have to provide what we can.
00:17:11
Speaker
Thank you. We appreciate it. Belyary gives a nod. goes back to the helm. think after a few minutes, Selina would go over to Nyx. Do you want to talk about what happened?
00:17:22
Speaker
Do you need some time? do you want me to fill you in? What are you thinking? Where are we taking the villagers? I'm not sure. Valira was going to drop us back at the manor, but I'm really not sure what's going on with the villagers. Did we leave Val back there?
00:17:43
Speaker
No, Val's fine. He just needs some time. And Nix's head sort of jerks around. He's fine. We went to the hold. river Yep, he's good. i don't i don't think I should inflict myself on those people.
00:17:58
Speaker
This should find somewhere for them. We're flying them out of their home country. I think that's probably the the best option for right now.
00:18:12
Speaker
Nardun activated the scroll with an incantation when he got it. So it was active the whole time. um Once the battle got really bad, I opened it and deactivated it with another incantation. So that's done.
00:18:33
Speaker
But there wasn't much left to do but retreat. We grabbed everybody that we could. Nyx looks at the
00:18:42
Speaker
distressingly small. The number of people that could have even fit on this ship. So the rest of the town. Yep. I see. I remember Valk and I remember at least one townsperson.
00:18:56
Speaker
Who else did I hurt? I'm not really sure there was a lot going on, but it also wasn't, wasn't really you Like you, you didn't know what you were doing. If that helps. What I am afraid of, Selina, is that You have that backwards and that this is not really me.
00:19:18
Speaker
That is what I really am. It is what I am supposed to be. But I know it's not what you want to be. And I think that does make a difference. should not have pushed for us to come here. so I thought what I am would make me better able to help.
00:19:38
Speaker
But I just draw this to me. It's not the first time. I think you had the best intentions to try to help with what you thought you could help with. And I don't think any of us saw it going like that.
00:19:51
Speaker
Perhaps I should have. Like I said, it's not the first time. I think that we should have Valaira put us down in town, not at the manor. Okay. Get these people wherever they need to go. Okay.
00:20:05
Speaker
I'll go talk to her about it and Zelena will go talk to Valaira about the change in plans. Flaira nods. hope between drop you off just outside Kalazot. We obviously don't want to fly the ship.
00:20:19
Speaker
Oh, maybe the population. Makes sense. Thank you. but With a death ray. That is true. No. Nick, remind me where you said you went, where you and Slater had that conversation. Was it near where you woke up? Because would... Nick would have gone up onto deck and gone to the very back of the ship, basically as far as she can get from from any of the other survivors.
00:20:43
Speaker
Okay. i just Because if if I was in earshot of that, I might have also, know... The nice thing about Kaz is I don't have to think too deep to play him.
00:20:54
Speaker
So I hadn't thought about what casualties Kaz might be worried about having done. And but if I'd ever heard that, so will, I still won't until I think about it later. Although I do think at this point, having wallowed a bit, Kaz does realize that Val, he has not seen Val since he's awakened and runs to find someone to ask.
00:21:16
Speaker
Um, If Channara and Malayra are still talking, maybe he runs straight to them and just asks to say, hey, wait, wait, where's Valk? And then does a terrible job of describing Valk to two people who know who Valk is.
00:21:31
Speaker
so look He's tall and pale and skinny. He went down in the hole. but He's okay. He's here. yeah okay and Not sure about the state of him, but he's awake and down in the hold.
00:21:47
Speaker
Okay, great. I'd probably go down to the hold then at that point and see Valk. And I would probably see Valk.
00:21:58
Speaker
Oh, that's right. You said you changed, you changed didn't you?
00:22:02
Speaker
i don't... Yeah, he probably would go up and ask that person if they'd seen Valk and then describe Valk. I'm looking for my friend. He's tall and... Well, actually, he's not tall. He's about my height.
00:22:14
Speaker
He's about my height, thin, long hair, purple. Where's purple? Not as purple. Do you see any anyone else here?
00:22:26
Speaker
no that's why i was asking so I was asking if you'd seen him. Hang on. And then he leaves it and whispers, Falk? No. Hello.
00:22:36
Speaker
Hello, Stinky Boy. I turn around and I go it away. I probably flipped him off and turned her around and go away. and then i It's just a very small woman with black hair.
00:22:50
Speaker
And as soon as I'm out of her eye line, I check my pits. I mean, we probably, none of us smell good right now. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. I mean, yeah, no, if Val doesn't want to talk, I'm not going talk to him. All right.
00:23:03
Speaker
The flight continues towards Kalzart. Unless anybody has anything else they'd like to discuss or play out on the journey. By airship, it's not that long a venture.
00:23:16
Speaker
Valira goes and lets let you all know those that she can see. And then Valira goes down in the hold to try and track down Valk. Valk with...
00:23:30
Speaker
would appear for further.
00:23:35
Speaker
Well, we are approaching your drop-off point, just to let you know. oh Thank you. You're welcome. And Valyra goes back up top. and yeah the They extend a ladder down, since they don't have an airship tower to dock at.
00:23:54
Speaker
And the library read eggs to Selena, seeming like Selena is the other one in the best place to talk. Um, but within earshot of everyone else, like you need anything, let me know.
00:24:09
Speaker
I'll be wrapped. Thank you. I feel free to descend. I want to point out the woman is with you. Oh, the the black haired lady.
00:24:21
Speaker
The black haired lady is still. No doubt. So Kaz, you see the rude woman begin to come down the ladder with you all. Oh, Kaz gets it and doesn't care. Fine. Whatever, man.
00:24:33
Speaker
yeah so it I'm also sad about what happened. I... There's not gonna be a D-bag about it. And I climbed down the ladder. I... I sought solace in my teammates and apparently that's not how we all roll. So, fine.
00:24:51
Speaker
Wanna be left alone? Be left alone. do doop doop doop doop do do I'll go talk to Nyx. She'll be asking to see me. Um...
00:25:03
Speaker
All right, so the the trek into Kalazart is uneventful. Unless you all have a
Debrief and Consequences
00:25:09
Speaker
desire to stop in town, you all can head straight to Athelhampton without any any issues. and We got a real scoop for the cry.
00:25:16
Speaker
Town and train lost to plane of war. So do you all just head back to Athelhampton? Yeah. Yeah, I think so, yeah. Okay.
00:25:28
Speaker
You all approach the door and it creaks open as Alget Frisk is there awaiting your arrival. Good day says. Nyx just brushes past him. Yeah. Stands aside. Are you all just heading to your quarters or where are you heading in the house? I think Valk is going head to Javier.
00:25:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think we need to go to Javier. Okay. Valk and Selina headed to Javier. Kaz, Nyx. Yeah, I think it's one of those things. i Yes, I think Kaz would go to Javier because of just the authority of it all. Okay.
00:26:01
Speaker
Next. Next goes to her quarters. Okay. Also, Kaz is still not clear on what happened. and thinks he might hear them tell Javier and get a better idea of it. Already.
00:26:12
Speaker
So, Javier kind of looks up as the three of you walk into his office, and he's like... ah Welcome back.
00:26:26
Speaker
Are you ready to debrief on the mission? i mean, yeah. Okay, I'm going to a quick little, yeah. Getting the sense that it did not go well.
00:26:37
Speaker
You could say that. My first question is, where's Nyx? Where nix or i or she's sleeping. i did Did she come back? Yes. Yes, she is back. Thank you.
00:26:48
Speaker
is We all made it back.
00:26:53
Speaker
Okay. So what happened? One of the orcs found a scroll. Scroll is related to Shabareth. Read it.
00:27:04
Speaker
Actually, number one, they didn't even do like a ah full body search to make sure that there wasn't, that's, there was a Matthew item that had intense influence.
00:27:17
Speaker
What happened? doesn't That town is gone. Those people are gone. And there are demons. i don't I don't know. i i i will i went under before I could even process that the land was changing to even try to use the compass.
00:27:36
Speaker
it I don't think it would as have even been in the radius the entire town changing.
00:27:43
Speaker
part of it and I don't think we could have fixed that. There was too much influence. The scroll was activated by the orc that took it from Shadukar. We did not know that it was still active or had been activated and things pretty quickly fell apart.
00:28:06
Speaker
By the end of it, I was the only one still awake, conscious. And so I opened the scroll and read it and was able to deactivate it.
00:28:21
Speaker
But at that point, almost all of the townspeople were gone. And so we had to we had to retreat. Okay.
00:28:34
Speaker
I will, I'll send the report to Thrain so that they know the situation within their borders that we made an attempt to rectify the situation. Anything. now you know what? Let's leave it there.
00:28:49
Speaker
We can talk about further debriefing and talking through what happens once you all had a chance to rest, recover, get your bearings. Okay. Okay.
00:29:03
Speaker
Is healing... oh what do you all need? Are all my skulls gone? Or am i am I still just low one? It will be once you've had the full rest. You're back at the manor, so you will get a full rest while you're here. So that that will be taken care of. I will be fine. I can manage myself.
00:29:20
Speaker
I think we just need to rest.
00:29:23
Speaker
Kaz, are you okay? Okay. I don't... I think that I turned to Selena and I asked if I heard anybody that I asked if i heard anybody.
00:29:38
Speaker
ah she Not, not that I know of or can remember seeing there was still a lot happening. Okay.
00:29:51
Speaker
No, here I'm not okay, but I'm definitely can, I'm going to go, going go lay down. Okay.
00:29:59
Speaker
It's absolutely fine. You need to talk to anyone out of the air. Obviously the doctor's here. So go lay down, rest up. Okay. And you all are able to go back to your various quarters.
00:30:13
Speaker
Um, so Nix, you got to your room first. So what does the next do? Um,
00:30:25
Speaker
Nick starts packing. Okay. It's not much. and Just some spare clothing, couple of books. Packs these things up into a satchel. She reaches for her satchel and realizes she doesn't have a satchel anymore.
00:30:40
Speaker
Finds a bag. But yeah, Nyx packs. And she will start. It probably doesn't take very long. Probably starts to head back downstairs. Okay. Probably the conversation with Javier takes about the same amount of time that takes Nyx to pack. So probably running into each other, but So Nix, are you just headed for the door or where are you headed? No.
00:31:04
Speaker
okay She doesn't just go for the door. She will probably, she will probably be waiting to go. She would, she would feel a certain lawful obligation to,
00:31:18
Speaker
To give haer Javier her resignation. Yeah, she's she's not not chaotic enough to
Reassurance and Support
00:31:24
Speaker
just bolt. Okay. So Javier sees you walk into his office. Nyx. It is quite apparent to me that given the nature of our work, I am...
00:31:39
Speaker
likely the risk and reward the times when I am an asset versus the times when I may be a liability. I do not think the ratio is beneficial anymore. I, I bring things after me in some circumstances, I think. And once news spreads of what went down, i think it's not, there were a lot of survivors who saw what I did. Not a lot, but there were enough.
00:32:12
Speaker
And they know what town we were dropped off at. Someone who's cousin I murdered is going to show up here I'll get, i don't know, but think my presence is a hazard at this stage. I think it's best I go.
00:32:28
Speaker
Well, First and foremost, you're obviously not compelled to be here by myself or anyone else. So if at any point you feel like you know I'm going to be here, there's no...
00:32:45
Speaker
reason for you to stay. However, if you're leaving for my benefit or benefit of the lighthouse or the benefit of your companions, then i would strongly consider you or ask you to reconsider that notion.
00:33:02
Speaker
I hear your concerns, but I nearly killed Val. I, because a magical artifact took over your mind, which unfortunately is a hazard of the job, but not, sorry, but not because of who you are. It is based on the report I got from Selena and Valk and Kaz, obviously this job was aligned with Shabrass.
00:33:34
Speaker
which is the plane that you have some history with, but that seems to be more of a coincidence than a causal certain circumstance. i I, think that's a difficult hypothesis to win me over to that. It is mere coincidence that a Shavarath manifest stone
00:34:01
Speaker
forms and the instant I walk outside into it, i completely and utterly lose control of myself and end up killing at minimum one of the townspeople and very nearly one of my companions, given that my previous encounter with the plane.
00:34:26
Speaker
Before this one, right approached an artifact and again, immediately, the fiends called into the plane and nearly, I say nearly because I think all of my crew got out, but they saw me for what I was and wisely made themselves scarce whatever was done to me is is making me vulnerable to these things and not just in a i'm very curious about it way in a i lose myself and begin to casually kill the people around me well if that is your concern i don't think walking away from this place in our resources is the answer i if you want to try and
00:35:21
Speaker
lessen the reverberations of your connection to Shabrath. That's something we can also try to help with. I don't just, I, I did not ask you to be here because of your capabilities when it comes to violence or the powers that you possess.
00:35:42
Speaker
And so those are things that you want to investigate lessen. Hendrix is already working on it. Not for you specifically, but in theory for anyone.
00:35:54
Speaker
I don't want you to leave. I'm not going to tell you to stay, but I want you to hear from me. I don't want you to leave. All right.
00:36:06
Speaker
As she abruptly turns and walks out his office. She's not in a state to politely announce that she's going to. Yeah. Yeah. We're just kind of lets out a breath and goes back to the correspondence on his desk. Does anyone do anything for the remainder of the day? Not if, not if, not if we don't see Nick's leaving.
00:36:26
Speaker
but Yeah. Nick's isn't hiding. So yeah your call. I mean, if, if, if the timing works so that she's coming into Javier's office as we are going out of Javier's office and she has clearly packed a bag Kaz's initial plan was to go back to the danger room and crash there, so having to potentially deal with the goblin tonight. But now he's waiting outside Javier's office for Nyx to come out. If we were all privy to that. Yeah, Selina would be waiting too, I think.
00:37:01
Speaker
Who's? I think Valk is at a distance. I think Valk has the compass in his hand. He's got a little preoccupied. and Valk is still in a new form, yes? Yeah.
00:37:13
Speaker
Okay. Nyx comes out and looks slightly nonplussed that you're all lingering in the hallway. Are you going somewhere? I... I suppose not. Oh!
00:37:24
Speaker
Good. Yeah. <unk> Okay. I'm glad. You to help you take your stuff back to your... because I don't know where Nyx stays.
00:37:36
Speaker
I want to find out. Are you going to help me take your stuff back? I pack light. I can manage. Okay. So, see you tomorrow? Put you all in danger today. is this still today? Yeah. I don't know what to do to say it won't happen again. i don't think any of us expect... Oh, sorry.
00:37:57
Speaker
She will look at... I'm sorry. There's nothing to apologize for. Well, I hit you very hard with a sword, I think. Well, you pierced my sword.
00:38:11
Speaker
nipet But I had already known at that point you were not in the right state of mind. I knew fairly early on that you were not in the right state of mind. My job is to observe and to fix. I don't think this is fixable.
00:38:26
Speaker
Didn't say you.
00:38:30
Speaker
bit a bit out of my control but i tried to fix the situation i assessed the risk and i went for the item that i did not identify or investigate knowing that sounds like that's the main idea yes and you know the strong woman with a sword does what a strong woman with a sword does i don't they don't know what to tell you i don't do well with words that you heard.
00:39:05
Speaker
Stop laughing. I'm so sorry. But it's fine. This is... I don't think that one was going to land well. Just give me a second.
00:39:24
Speaker
It's not... I will be okay.
00:39:28
Speaker
It's just not my first time someone, that's not goingnna that's that's also not going to land well. so i I think Foul's cracking at this point.
00:39:41
Speaker
i don't I don't think he has the capacity to try and be standoffish or angry for for very long. He's a very compassionate person. But I think.
00:39:55
Speaker
What I will say is I don't. That's also not going to land well. This is legitimate. is Is Valk saying that's also not going to land well or is that Mia?
00:40:09
Speaker
That's Valk. Okay. Valk, last time I did something like this, I was chased out of the town. The last time I did something like this while on a job, I was left for dead by the people that I worked with. The standard is quite low.
00:40:27
Speaker
So whatever you are trying to say does not have to land well. Yeah, I'm trying to work on the whole communication skills, though. So by you saying a the standard is low, that's still...
00:40:40
Speaker
doesn't help the development portion. That's actually kind of enabling the thing, the miscommunication. It's not the first time that someone else's decision has put me in a precarious position.
00:40:57
Speaker
ah new death. So it's, this is when it comes to handling magical items, it's just part of the job.
00:41:09
Speaker
I scolded someone for not being more careful while also not being more careful. So. And I'm not actually I'm not gonna say That's actually that's actually quite inappropriate for the for what happened. i am going to try to attune this as a fail safe in case I fall like that.
00:41:33
Speaker
So I'm gonna I'm gonna go. Yes. Yeah. Also just that no. Well yeah they don't need to be around. It's fine. Okay. Yeah I'm gonna leave.
00:41:48
Speaker
but think That will head to Hendrik. Okay. For moving towards the stairs, Nyx will say to Selina, I didn't say thank you. You didn't need to it would have been It would have been smarter to take the others and run. We weren't going to do that.
00:42:06
Speaker
I know. I'm glad you're staying. Well, we'll see. you Glad you're staying today. Thank you. Nyx will shoulder the pack and walk towards the stairs. Quick question, can I do what can i
Conclusion with Humor and Advice
00:42:15
Speaker
can i just peek to see if everyone sees her going upstairs? Can I kind of just do a shoulder glance? I don't think Nyx is trying to hide going upstairs, right? Nyx is in fact walking towards the stairs. Can you walk lighter when you're up there?
00:42:29
Speaker
should kind of kind of c clomp around a little bit when you get a little comfortable. buts And i i you're kind of above my area.
00:42:41
Speaker
sleep light. It's the suggestion that Nyx walks heavily enough that you in the basement hear her the basement two entire floors above you. My room is on the first floor. My workshop is in the basement.
00:42:57
Speaker
Nyx, who walks with extremely controlled footfalls, nonetheless says, sorry. I just assumed. what Thanks. Bye. think once Nyx is up the stairs, Kaz throws his hands in the air and he goes, yeah, Kaz, see you tomorrow. And he walked to the danger room. Glad everybody had their moment before nix decided to stay. And I walked to the danger You can talk. Nyx didn't hit you with a sword and you didn't rescue Nyx from mind control. No, you're absolutely right. so That is Kaz's complaint, not Jeff's. Okay.
00:43:30
Speaker
Balke, you said you were headed to go see Hendrix. Yes. Hendrix is in his workshop. He sees you walk in. Oh, hi. You're back sooner than expected.
00:43:44
Speaker
I'm lucky to be back at all. Oh my. Is there a way no one else carries this? It cannot be easily transferred from one person to another. And Valk is still holding the compass. I mean, anybody on the team can... Anybody that knows how to use it could use it. And my dead body is far away from everyone else and they are trying to fight for their lives. Is there a way to make this a failsafe if I go down?
00:44:14
Speaker
The kill switch. Yes. yes Potentially, yes. Yes. Might require some work because I'm assuming you wouldn't want it to be a physical, it could be something tied to the fact that you are alive now. And if you are no longer alive, it would go off.
00:44:37
Speaker
I, I don't know if it would have helped because at that point the entire town was changing. Well, also that's an interesting, so the fact that you're standing before me he tells me you didn't die. You were on the precipice of stats, but so we would need to find a way to designate the difference between unconscious because of physical trauma versus unconscious due to sleeping because we certainly wasn't want to go off when you go to sleep but yes i sorry these are just thoughts leaking out i can i can make sure it yes should we outfit the whole team with some kind of mechanism potentially
00:45:28
Speaker
I mean, you said we could only, we only really could make one of these. so Well, I'm saying that we could tie it to, like, if we figure out a way to tie it to your mental capacity, whether or not you're conscious, we could make four switches to the different team members. So if any of you go down, it would go on.
00:45:50
Speaker
But just something to think about. Maybe. it push comes to show that it, I mean, I have given them all items.
00:45:59
Speaker
ukraine Tell them that I could, that there is a... But you know, I mean, they all have a tie to me and a physical piece.
00:46:11
Speaker
Interesting. Not malicious. I know you're thanking it. I just think it's interesting. I think it's good to be prepared.
00:46:23
Speaker
I agree. Go get some rest. I will think on it and how to make this work. Okay. Sure. I like the new look, by the way. Thanks. I'm going to- Why are you making weird? I was just paying you a compliment. I'm not making it weird. just- You are certifiably making it weird.
00:46:40
Speaker
I didn't make anything weird. This is how I normally respond to you. Right. I don't understand. she died You should be- That's true. You do not act so affronted when I pay you a compliment.
00:46:54
Speaker
i yeah I haven't had a compliment for me before if we're going into going to get into this. I've told you you've had good ideas before when we've talked about... Yeah, that's my brain. I wasn't saying that I'm physically attracted to you, Mike. I was just saying you like to were. It's like you got a new haircut. hasn't been a physical compliment. This isn't a new haircut.
00:47:15
Speaker
Well, technically technically. Technically. Technically it's not. ah she It's a different hairstyle. I mean, technically, it's different here entirely. If we're going to talk about things that are weird, talking look at your murder wall. I'm leaving. It's an investigation. It's murder wall. And we'll call the episode there.
00:47:35
Speaker
Oh, it is. Wonderful. Thank you all so much for listening. If you want to be part of the conversation surrounding this episode, you can head on over to our discord, the link to which is the show notes. We also have a YouTube channel, youtube.com slash the pantheon. If you want check out the videos over there, Philip over on YouTube and Spotify, you can also find tales from the laughing tree where we have another actual play called blades and banners. It's pirates and Emberon.
00:48:00
Speaker
We also have a Patreon, patreon.com. If you want to financially support the show, you can do so there. Thank you all so much for listening. I've been your Game Master, Eric. I'm Mia. I'm Phillip. I'm Madison. I'll see you tomorrow. I'll see you next time.