Transcript
Speaker: Ptolemy Henkel looked up from the boiling cauldron of soup that he was slowly cooking in at the giant that had imprisoned him. Clobb, I feel like I've been talking for a very long time, and I'm worried some of our new listeners might not know what's going on.
Speaker: What listeners? It's only me. All the same, I'd like to recap the story from the beginning. Now, let's see. Where were we?
Speaker: Ah, yes, that's right. Our story takes place on the flat world of Zav, a weird and wonderful place where the sun is a great phoenix, dragons can operate wellness retreats, and if you're not careful, you might just walk off the edge of the planet.
Speaker: It all began with a gnomish paladin named Glimki Trefellow, just as he arrived at the great magical city of Aerdinine. Glimki's exploration of the city was soon cut short as he stepped out of a bookshop and was promptly run over by a carriage.
Speaker: Somehow, this was the least of his problems, as he soon discovered that the city was in a state of crisis, as his princess, Callista Galtreese, had recently gone missing.
Speaker: You step out onto the street, kind of holding this book in hand, and you are hit by a carriage. yeah ah You take seven- No, I'm not! Rest in peace, Glimki!
Speaker: You take what the seven bludgeoning damage. Ugh! And your head kind of hits the ground painfully and your ears start ringing. you know what? I must say, Amala darling, you really are rather clever when it comes to these sort of deductions. You know, I always think that. I just know when I give you a juicy piece of gossip that you're going to get to the heart of it rather quickly. I always think that.
Speaker: She ah kind of starts to smile smugly and is about to respond when suddenly you hear from outside. Calistan goes, oh there's two pronounced bumps as the carriage rolls over something.
Speaker: Oh dear. I wonder what that was. Should we go check? The elven noblewoman who ran him over would turn out to be more than a negligent driver. She was also a rogue named Farnalyn Veydok, who would soon prove to be integral to the story.
Speaker: She dusted Glimke off and noticed he had leaves growing out of his hair, but before she could ask him about them, he scurried off, dragging his bloody body through the streets. As Glimke limped along, he soon met a tiefling artist and cleric with a bovine appearance named Clay Campbell.
Speaker: The two got to talking, and Clay soon revealed something shocking. I take out the ring as well and I show the ring. I'm pretty sure this has something to do with with the princess's disappearance.
Speaker: this This ring? Yeah. With the owlbear on it? I think so. I may have to take your word for it Where did you happen across the ring? ah So I was working a job, just like a side gig. and That's not sketchy at all. I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker: i I don't know what you're talking about. But halfway through, I started to get like a weird feeling about the job. it was something was off and the delivery was odd. And my friend grabbed this ring from one of the the people who dropped off the package.
Speaker: But as I was carrying the package, I i think it might have been the princess. And then clay Clay breaks down into tears.
Speaker: oh Okay, so this ring came from the person who was involved with the princess's disappearance. And I show her the ring. And was that person an owlbear?
Speaker: No, they they were kind of far away. this is the only thing I could really see. But there was an owlbear. Sorry, paint a picture for me. Where were you in relation to this owlbear guy? And where was the princess?
Speaker: So ah my friend was talking to this guy to... get our package um and that's when he grabbed the ring and I didn't know i wasn't sure if like at this point what was happening like I didn't know the princess was involved but the package I think was the princess Rumpus did you abduct the princess I don't know you don't know i think it was the outfares I don't know
Speaker: Clay took Glimke back to her home in the attic of a dress shop, only to discover that the elven noblewoman Farnhalin was there purchasing a dress. The three discussed their mutual interest in the missing princess and forged a sacred bond.
Speaker: I feel bad for dragging you both into this, but I would really love both of your help to find the princess. because it's something I need to fix. I've been dragged into nothing. I am here of my own absolute volition. I think we're good to go. i think we should work together.
Speaker: We can pool our resources. I think we should make a pact. Okay. We can do blood, spit, or piss. I vote blood. I was leaning piss, but I can do blood. Glavis spits in his hand. I take out a dagger. cut my hand.
Speaker: i cut I unsheathe... So I've been walking around with a parasol, I have a parasol clutched in my hand, I click something on the base and unsheathe a full-sized ripier. And I instantly cut my hand and reach it out towards both of you. I reach out like this and blood is just dripping on my fingers.
Speaker: I cut my hand with a dagger too and shake her hand. And the folks back home are not going to believe this. And I i cut my hand and I cut into the bloody... What?! The bloody circle here, yeah. The three of you engage in the bloodiest three-way known to the world of Zav. And three-way handshake, sorry, my bad. And seal this this blood pact together.
Speaker: The Rumpus Pact. The Rumpus Pact, as it'll become to be known in days to come. We're the Rumpus Three. um Also, by the way, you both have hepatitis now. Sorry!
Speaker: The party set out to find Clay's accomplices and, in the process, stumbled across a talented but misunderstood bard doing his best to entertain a tavern full of dullards. I thought we weren't going to be so self-referential.
Speaker: Anyway, Their search eventually led them to an alley near the docks where they found one of Clay's friends. Dead. They tried to warn Clay's other friends, but they were too late to save them.
Speaker: There was only time for them to receive a cryptic warning. She's kind of lying on her back and you see that there's just a gaping hole in her chest and you can barely see a little bit of movement as she breathes one of her last breaths.
Speaker: Can I... quickly go up and cast healing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. like Stabilize her. Quick! I i also have some healing if I if i can run in.
Speaker: You run up, Glimke, you lay on hands. Clay, you cast Cure Wounds. And you watch as the magic tries to take hold and it tries to weave the skin and the broken bones back together.
Speaker: And it just, it's like trying to build a bridge across a gap without enough support. There's just not enough of her left to bring her back. and she looks up at you, eyes wide open, and she kind of coughs up a bit of blood and says, He knows about you.
Speaker: The next day, an appropriately subdued party attended a royal summons at the palace, where the king made an incredible promise. People of Erdenin, we are gathered here in a time of crisis.
Speaker: Now, take heed of your rightful monarch. The Lord of the Brine, the Anchor of Erdenin, Keeper of the Balefire and Archduke of the Southern Coast, Hero of the Knight of Ten Thousand Stones, King Faron Galtries. And the evil vizier drops down to one knee and the crowd follows suit.
Speaker: If any of you or to bring back the Princess Callista Galtries alive, you will be rewarded with whatever the king can give you. The party's first proper lead came from a controversial were-rat NPC named Jimmy Knobbones.
Speaker: What's a NPC? A noteworthy pervert critter. Don't interrupt. Jimmy turned out to be part of a secretive organization called the Eyes of Ayrtonine, a group of were-rats who will share highly private information for a price.
Speaker: In exchange for a Kenku's retelling of the night the princess disappeared, they had to intercept a shipment of silver, headed towards the city. And so, the party set off into the lands surrounding Aretonine to fu fulfill their end of the bargain.
Speaker: They set a trap for the shipment, and while they waited, Glimki met a nature spirit, and... struck a bargain. You see, i'm I'm on a bit of a grand adventure myself, unlike anything I've ever done before.
Speaker: And I am at a bit of a dilemma. You see, we're here to help some some folk that suffer from varying degrees of lycanthropy.
Speaker: And it seems like a noble cause. And there will be some people passing through your ah your little causeway here that are carrying some weapons to kill them all.
Speaker: I'm afraid that if we are to engage with them, we will likely have to kill some of them. And I don't know if I'm in a position to to strike that kind of judgment on someone who might just be innocent.
Speaker: But perhaps you would be able to help us close this passageway, maybe using your deep roots to to plug up the road, make it troublesome for them to to pass, put a delay at least on their travel, and whatever it is that you need from me, I will be open to helping you.
Speaker: These black eyes stare at you and there's no response for a moment longer than you are comfortable with.
Speaker: But eventually spirit speaks again. I will blow favorable wind in your direction. It will aid you in the time is right.
Speaker: All I ask in exchange is, and now the mouth on the woman's head opens and another tongue extends very much like a frog.
Speaker: And but it ends like right in front of you. And there's a small ash gray acorn placed upon it. The voice continues, even though like the tongue is like extended out like three feet.
Speaker: She still speaks perfectly fine and says, take this seed, plant it in your home. When you return, that is all I ask of you. Um, like, reach out, but but hesitate and ask again, who am I speaking to?
Speaker: I am known by many names, but you may call me Vemul. And does Glimki recognize the spirit name or no? I would say probably not. It's not really a thing that is taught back home.
Speaker: It might be something that there's information on somewhere, but it's not something you'd have readily available to you. Mm-hmm. Okay, Gloomkey reaches out and I guess takes the the acorn kind of bowing ahead again and says, if if you can help me with the convoy, if you're true to your word, then I will plant this seed.
Speaker: It shall be done. The spirit kept her word. Help did arrive, though in the form of a blue dragon, which laid waste to the caravan, brutally murdered some horses and ultimately allowed the party to steal the silver.
Speaker: They gave the silver to the were-rats and were able to hear the recording that they sought. It seemed to capture a man, telling the princess herself that she was to be taken to a nearby chain of islands called the Anchor's Chain.
Speaker: Take a listen to this, huh? And the Kenku opens its mouth and begins to play.
Speaker: They're late.
Speaker: Patience, patience. These things take time. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt.
Speaker: I don't like it. million bloody things could go wrong in a night like this. you're this easily alarmed, perhaps a different profession would be more to your temperament.
Speaker: To hell with temperament! Quiet. I believe our delivery has arrived.
Speaker: Not feeling so well, your majesty? Well, don't you worry. trip to the Anchor's Chain will have you feeling right as rain. Heh, that rhymes.
Speaker: Upon arriving home, Farnelon received an invitation from a tiefling nobleman named Xerxes Humiliation to attend an upcoming ball at the home of the eminent Praelmi family. Farnelon was suspicious of Xerxes due to his family's proximity to her attempted assassination.
Speaker: You see, Farnelon was nearly killed after being lured to a dangerous locale by a letter bearing the Humiliation House seal, only to be rescued by another nobleman, a visiting prince named Elling Balfurth.
Speaker: It was a whole thing. She accepted the invitation in order to learn more and to hopefully discover whether Erdineen's upper class had anything to do with the princess's disappearance. In the days that followed, the party prepared for the ball by acquiring proper attire, seeking out gossip about the other attendees, and purchasing narcotics in case of an emergency.
Speaker: You know, standard party procedure. Their search for gossip led them back into the sewers where Glimke was nearly devoured by a gelatinous cube. And frankly, I don't see what's so wrong with that.
Speaker: Everyone deserves to eat an adventurer once in a while. Nope, no, it's actually wrong to eat adventurers, and you should learn from this story. While Glimki lay unconscious in the sewers, his mind was transported to the spirit realm, where he spoke with the nature spirit he served, an impossibly large crow named Mulare.
Speaker: Mulare encouraged him to break his deal with the other spirit, and so? Glimki threw away the acorn given to him by the helpful spirit, a decision that would have damning consequences in the future. think Gimki would call out to Malari kind of shout it down from the treetops.
Speaker: The crow looks at you and cocks its head. It then turns to look at the woman and says, The gnome is under my protection.
Speaker: He is not yours to meddle with. The woman responds.
Speaker: He sought me out. I merely aided him in his time of need. And Kalimki can hear this? You can. Though you are hundreds of feet away and they do not appear to be shouting, you can make it out.
Speaker: Does he have any of his, like, stuff, like his satchel, or ah gonna dig around in my pockets for that gray acorn? You do not have a satchel. You do not have a pack.
Speaker: You do not have your fancy tuxedo or your walking stick. But you do have a vest. And you reach into this pocket, and you find an ash-gray acorn.
Speaker: And Glumki's going to shout down again to to the woman this time, I don't belong to you. Malara is my god, and I want to throw the acorn as hard as I can.
Speaker: It lands in this stream and slowly floats away. Old Crow, did you really think we would have noticed a green knight bearing your stench?
Speaker: The boy was broken. As protector of my domain, I had every right to spare him. That is all I did. The gods will not agree.
Speaker: You caught Ruin. Ruin has already come. It arrived the day the Guasatma was forged. After waking Glimki up, the party made their final preparations, then traveled to the Pralmi estate for the much-anticipated ball.
Speaker: Farnelan rubbed shoulders with the other nobles in attendance while Klai poses her attendant in case of an emergency. Meanwhile, Glimki went to play cards with some servants, where he met a man with a shockingly familiar voice.
Speaker: It was the man from the Kinkus recording, and it turned out he was a servant working for Prince Elling Malfurth. Clay followed Malfurth and this servant into a hedge maze where she overheard a shocking plan.
Speaker: You creep forward, rounding the corner, and you watch them enter the maze. You press forward, ever so quietly.
Speaker: As quietly as you've ever been. If you had been this quiet in the past, a lot of jobs with Riggs probably would have been a lot of easier.
Speaker: But you sneak into the maze and you hear distant conversation and you take a couple of turns and you think you've managed to position yourself on the opposite side of one of the walls, on one of the hedges.
Speaker: You hear faint hushed conversation between the two men. Now, Might I ask what is so important that you interrupted my dinner? I was about to enjoy crow ceviche, which, as I'm sure you know, is a favorite of mine, and I have not been able to get a good one since leaving Onos.
Speaker: Apologies, my prince, but it would seem we have a problem. What do you mean, problem? There is gnome in the service of House Fedor.
Speaker: he quite bluntly insinuated that I was at the docks the night of the disappearance.
Speaker: What do you mean insinuated? Did he see you? I am uncertain. He merely made his insinuation.
Speaker: This is most un- Fortunate. The Minotaur, the one we've been looking for, is in the service House Veydark as well.
Speaker: Fuck. What do you suggest we do, my prince? We are going to do nothing. You will go back and continue doing whatever you do during these events.
Speaker: And I will call in the butcher to finish the work he started. i don't know why he didn't stick around to finish them off when they had the chance, but we'll ensure this is put to rest and things can proceed intended.
Speaker: Very good. As part of their deal for information with the Were-Rats, our heroes had agreed to smuggle Jimmy Gnawbones into the party, and he revealed that he had stolen a golden key that led to a hidden crypt beneath the Prailmi estate.
Speaker: Glimke joined Jimmy, and the two discovered a vast underground labyrinth filled with ominous signs of a dark bargain made by the Prailmis. As the party came to an end, Farnalyn got sick.
Speaker: Like, really sick. Not the usual level of sick she pretended to have, but like, deathly ill. And collapsed in her carriage, nearly succumbing to a second assassination attempt. As the carriage took off into the night, it was suddenly enveloped by a swarm of locusts.
Speaker: The butcher had arrived.
Speaker: From the inside of the mansion. You hear the distant sound of midnight being struck. It is very late and you hear a distant.
Speaker: And as you hurry down the path that Clay and Glimke know, Glimke, you look up onto the roof of the mansion and you see a bird man staring down at you. That motherfucker.
Speaker: You keep running.
Speaker: Fonelin, your stomach starts to churn. Oh, eating food. the the shirpies!
Speaker: You hurry along. You get to the carriage. You alert Calston that it's time to go. He ah collects his earnings.
Speaker: Your face starts to burn. Your fingertips start to go numb. What?
Speaker: You pull into the carriage and with a yeah you start to exit the Prailmi Estate. There's the hooting of owlbears off in the distance.
Speaker: The carriage rolls along into the trees. This path is still illuminated by the fireflies that welcomed you but a few hours ago. And you look out the window.
Speaker: Glimki, you see insect. A locust attached to the carriage, just crawling there.
Speaker: Faunelin starts to retch. Oh my god. Don't do this. You feel like your insides are turning to liquid. You feel like your entire body is burning up. What the fuck?
Speaker: The carriage is rolling along and suddenly comes to a stop. You hear Callsten Faddlefaddle say, watch it! I nearly- ah Oh no.
Speaker: A swarm of locusts swirl around the carriage, covering the windows, obscuring your view.
Speaker: At the twelfth stroke of midnight. Oh shit, that's a lot of dice. Fonlin, I need a constitution saving throw. Oh yeah, oh god.
Speaker: Okay, okay. That's a 16.
Speaker: Are locusts gonna come up my mouth? du You take 30 poison damage. Holy shit. I go unconscious. Clay, I'd say Fondalyn drops into your arms and you catch her.
Speaker: Oh my god. Glimki, you, amongst this swarm of locusts, push the door open. There's these flapping wings everywhere.
Speaker: but it is completely quiet. You do not hear hooting. You do not hear sound of these fluttering wings. You do not hear anything.
Speaker: You kind of just swat your hands, clearing a path through the swarm. And you see standing 15 feet up the path. a hulking figure clad in this black cloak that whips around him in the evening breeze, a swarm of locusts pooling at his feet.
Speaker: In one hand, he holds a massive war pick, and his head is clad in a wrought iron helmet depicting a swarm of locusts. Oh, Oh, God. god The party fought desperately, nearly meeting their doom on the top of a burning carriage.
Speaker: But the emergency narcotics they purchased slowed their assailant down, and some crow ceviche stolen from the party attracted a local owlbear, which chased the butcher off for the time being. Oh yeah, they shoved it up his- Yes, yes, we all remember where they shoved Clobb.
Speaker: After spending the night at the Dragon's Heart Cathedral, the party was approached by Bakra Pralmi, hostess of the previous night's ball. She demanded the return of the Golden Key leading to the crypts, and in order to avoid further violence, the party agreed.
Speaker: They returned once more to the sewers to get the key back from Jimmy Gnawbones, and they were told that if they wanted it, it would cost them 1,000 gold pieces. In desperate need of cash, the party stumbled upon an underground fighting ring.
Speaker: Despite her diminutive frame and fragile bird bones, they chose to enter Farnaline into the event while Clay and Glimpki provided support from the sidelines. This support took the form of some covert spells and some performance enhancing drugs that allowed her to punch well above her weight class.
Speaker: She stops and looks at you and says, sir, I'm in the middle of something. He's waving over the mic. yeah
Speaker: out The crowd starts to boo. give me to Give me a persuasion roll. 16 plus four. point cap She looks at you for a long second.
Speaker: Just trust me. And then hands the mic over to you. Climkey taps on it and there's a lot of feedback. He looks around the dark, hazy room over at Fondalyn with her hood up in the shadows.
Speaker: Ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure to introduce you to Challenger. Some of you may have already heard of her, but the whispered stories that you've been hearing do not tell the full story.
Speaker: Don't be fooled by her fragile demeanor or her powdered wig shielded by a paper-thin parasol, because this flower has
Speaker: Some may say a flower by any other name will not hit as hard. Because after bloody brawls, chasing dragons, and surviving not one, but two assassination attempts, she's decided instead of dying, she'd rather come here and kick some ass.
Speaker: She is the infamous, the unkillable. She is- The announcer takes the microphone back and says, Come back, the lung crusher!
Speaker: wait And Crumback pushes past you and hops into the ring and he just rips off his cloak, revealing that's just this hairy, gray chest.
Speaker: Crumback, no! Farnalyn won the first two fights easily and reached the final against a massive masked man known only as the Bear. Clay was responsible for placing bets on Farnalyn and learned that the only way they would be able to make enough money would be to make a bet with a risky parlay, wherein Farnalyn would not only have to land the first blow,
Speaker: would also need to win by a knockout. It was a vicious fight between the two of them, but Farnelon managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Actually, this is going to be 34 damage. Last time I only did 32.
Speaker: Wow, you're living in a time loop something. That's actually insane. Yeah. That's so much shes output. With the rage, you needed to do 22 damage.
Speaker: twenty two damage Will you please describe how you knock Ulvern Rothbard out?
Speaker: Okay, I think there's a series of kind of hits in there because I'm kicky-kicking him. I start windmilling in his arms and it's not dignified, but I managed to almost like get my foot straight into his trap. And I think it kind of makes his arm loosen it up that i reach up, grab the cage above me, lift my body pull up style so that I'm tight with the cage and then let go elbow first and pile drive this man straight in the back of the neck, driving him into the dirt. I think taking a little bit of damage in the process myself, but just a little bit because I'm riding high on adrenaline and I
Speaker: As soon as he hits the ground, I like crawl on top of his head because I don't really understand how wrestling and fighting works. And I just curl around his head for a second to make sure he's not moving. And then as soon as I'm sure he's not moving, I stand up and I run to the side of the cage where Clay and Glimki are. And you know, at the end of f one races where you kind of dive into your team's arms, there's a cage in the way, so I can't do that. But I am essentially doing that. I am like reaching through the bars and I'm like crying a little and i'm like, I'm
Speaker: I'm just really excited. The party bought the key back from the were-rats and brought it to the Pralmi Estate, where they were intercepted by the House Butler. He asked them not to return the key, but use it to travel down beneath the crypt and vanquish the creature that lived within.
Speaker: Farnalind was weakened from her fights and stayed behind, but Clay and Glimki ventured once more into the crypts. There they met Lemoris the Skull Thief, a monstrous fiend with an owlbear's skull, who was responsible for the Pralmi's rise to power within the city.
Speaker: He seemed to know one of Clay's parents, but before they could learn more, Glimki attacked Lamoris. The Fiend attempted to drag Clay down into the Hells, but Glimki was able to destroy the tethers that gave it access to the material plane, and Lamoris was banished.
Speaker: Hopefully for good. Tell me how it happens as you destroy this skull. Screaming with the tears in his eyes, you see the green flash in the the tears that are like welled up in his eyes before you see the sword come down, smashing through the top of the skull.
Speaker: Explodes in this like cascade of greed and energy that kind of illuminates the cave around us, sending scary stark shadows across the inside of the the walls. and then after the the energy comes to a quiet you can still hear glimki just screaming after all of it has come to a like a silent end meanwhile on the surface farnelan confronted the lord of the house clear pralmi she sought to blackmail him but he instead chose to unleash his immense infernal power and cast a feeble mind spell upon her clay and glimki found farnelan wandering around the estate in a stupor just as the mansion collapsed in on itself
Speaker: The party fled once more to the Dragon's Heart Cathedral where Farnalyn's mind was restored. Upon recovering, she revealed that she had been keeping a big secret. I am so grateful that I've found friends and companions like you who are willing to, you know, like, avenge me and say badass things like, go House Faye Dark or um whatever cool thing you said. I believe it was very cool.
Speaker: The only problem is Oh, how do I say this? Have you guys ever been in a situation where like you've been lying to your friends the entire time they've known you and like you try to come clean about it, but then you're like, wow, it's not nice to lie to all your friends all the time and then you feel like kind of a jerk. Anyway, has that ever happened to you?
Speaker: I don't think so. Not really. Oh, okay. Just me then. Cool. So the point, the thing, but hippi the thing is, the thing, thing, thing is, there's a non-zero chance that I die or am irreparably altered while hanging out with you two.
Speaker: And it's really important to me that I don't get buried in Vedark colors under the Vedark name. And I think we'll just leave it at that. What?
Speaker: then what colors and what name are you to be buried under? What do you mean? Probably like my real name, which isn't Faunilin.
Speaker: you not a Vader? What the f- What? who What are you talking about? Yeah, no. Okay. So it's it's important that you two keep calling me Faunilin all the time, but that's not my name.
Speaker: Okay. What is your name? I'm nailing this. I feel like I'm really nailing this and you two are being receptive. This is good. This is good. Honesty is good. I think the thing is you haven't really said anything yet.
Speaker: Okay, okay, okay. Well, my... I'm confused. So my house colors are Heather and Mulberry. And my name is... It doesn't... Actually, it's I shouldn't say what my name is. It doesn't matter what my name is. You don't need to know it. No. point is... What?
Speaker: No. You don't... make us walk into crypts to deal with some bullshit family vengeance plot to then reveal that your name is not your name and then be backpedaled out of the situation not reveal what your name is no what Okay, well just the thing is, I've been very honest about many, many things. No! and I don't think you have!
Speaker: It's just like the the person you know is me, you know? Like, there's not a lot of pretense. I've just been pretending to be someone else. Man, it's crazy.
Speaker: Because I honestly was starting to like you again. What? You know you don't? What? Why doesn't this man? What? It's just a little fib. I don't know who you are. Okay, okay, all right, okay, all right. Come, click come, come, come, come. I have to say, come, come, have to say it quietly.
Speaker: Come closer. Hard to love. Is there a real Lady Faudaline then? Yes, and she sucks. She's terrible. i am her, but a thousand times cooler. The Veidarks, on average, are pieces of shit. Okay, my name is Farida Thrillwin. Never say that name again, because the thing, the thing about being a Thrillwin is that we're kind of persecuted.
Speaker: politically by the Vedarchs. the point is, if it gets around that I'm Farida Thrillwyn, we're talking imprisonment, we're talking beheading, we're talking stripped of my reputation, humiliated, left destitute, probably imprisoned, actually. I think I said imprisoned already, but imprisonment is a big thing for Thrillwyn's.
Speaker: It's all elf drama. As they debated what to do next, Farnelon's longtime friend and personal attendant, Fallow, revealed she had arranged passage for them to the island of Kobaris, one of the islands in the Anchor's Chain, in hopes of keeping Farnelon away from the dangers of the city.
Speaker: Little did she know that equal and greater dangers awaited them in the islands. Before departing, our heroes went to meet with the princess's lady-in-waiting, who gave them critical information on the princess's kidnapping.
Speaker: She told them of a secret rendezvous between the princess and a half-orc prince named Bertrand Brestegard the day before she disappeared, as well as a strange black sand found in the princess's bedchamber the morning after.
Speaker: The party went to the site of the rendezvous and found the dried husk of a locust, the calling card of the butcher. With no time to spare, it was time to depart, and so the party boarded the vigilant and set off for the anchor's chain in hopes that they would find the princess there.
Speaker: You already said all that. Yes, Klaab, but I didn't mention rescuing a fake princess from a prepubescent dragon with the power of drag. Other NPCs with names that are impossible to spell, like Claudine Perla.
Speaker: That time Clay turned into a stone statue. Not to mention that pervert named Fletcher. Or that other pervert. The private detective with the invisible hat. That's right, as well as a heaping pile of blackmail and horse death.
Speaker: Don't forget about all the rat sex. How could I forget, Clob? A lot has happened in this story, and that's only half of it. So. Let's see.
Speaker: Werewolf.
