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Ep. 132 Reigns Haddow - Bellum Draconis
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Alone, confused and unsure. We pick up our story with Reigns Haddow.
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Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
Music kindly provided by Fesliyan Studios
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Transcript
Introduction: The Mystery of the False Prince
00:00:00
Speaker
It says wanted. ah false prince of Shadowmend. Is there an image on this? There is.
00:00:13
Speaker
It's you.
Game Setup: Entering the World of Aerith
00:00:41
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of this live play D&D 2024 5A game of Dungeons & Dragons set in the magical homebrewed world of Aerith.
00:00:54
Speaker
My name is Danny and I am the Dungeon Master. Joining me tonight we have but one player only. We have Darren who plays the High Elf Artificer Rain's Haddow. Here I go again on my own.
00:01:06
Speaker
app
Character Conflict: Reigns' Internal Struggle
00:01:07
Speaker
ah suitable A suitable ah lyric contribution there. So we're going to wind back time slightly, listeners, to where the world state was ah couple of episodes ago at the point in which Reigns is ejected from the meeting of the Winged Watch.
00:01:28
Speaker
And as that meeting was concluding, Reigns, there in a sewer, you left a note that you're going home. It's
Decision Time: Reigns' Plans for Escape
00:01:36
Speaker
the middle of the night in Scorch Helm. So before we do anything, at this point it would be apt to ask you to make a constitution saving throw to check for exhaustion as you sort of press on now.
00:01:48
Speaker
Sure. 21. ah twenty one You're absolutely fine. So. The evening of one of the busiest cities in Eryth is a ahead of you.
00:02:04
Speaker
Where would you go? What would you do next? Okay, Reigns is feeling a mixture of emotions. He's feeling some pretty big imposter syndrome. He's feeling ah high amount of guilt for the danger that he's just potentially put Sebastian in. He he
Strategic Alliances: Seeking Support Against the Cardinal
00:02:20
Speaker
contributed to that conversation in a way that he...
00:02:24
Speaker
he thought was helpful. he He thought he was in a position to take some kind of directive to help pull things together. And instead, all he's done is just reveal once again that this person who has been educated to a high level, that he's heavily intelligent, he's actually not very wise.
00:02:41
Speaker
And that has fed into a very impulsive reaction to try and go home, an impulsive reaction that his place in the world is not here, but is actually somewhere else.
00:02:53
Speaker
And there's been a dereliction of duty, which is now not only endangered Alpha and Emron as a part of his his vanity mission to to become the next Helena Sleetguard or to emulate Helena, but is now directly and attempting to do that endangered potentially the entire Sleetguardian line.
00:03:13
Speaker
He knows at this point, or at least to his very irrational brain, that there was always a break glass in case of an emergency plan and he is activating this.
00:03:26
Speaker
He's made his way into the city and immediately what he does is he's going to start to make his way to the docks. Before he does that,
00:03:39
Speaker
He's going to just pull over his, his hood and cloak. he's going to, again, put across the, the, the, the cloak that he's used before to try and just, just draw less attention to himself.
00:03:54
Speaker
And, his first port of call in this instance would be to just head straight as a beeline to the docks. Reigns has a plan. He had a plan, which was to get himself north, to get himself north in the direction of Shadow Men. He's intelligent enough to know that direct travel to Shadow Men, particularly through the D'Artagnan Ocean and the the the the mouth of the Bay of Haddo is particularly difficult to traverse and will be even probably more so difficult to traverse at present.
00:04:28
Speaker
But his plan has been to get himself north and to get himself into the D'Artonian Ocean. He's collected a series of artifacts along the way that would make himself a a bit more use to someone at sea. He's he's used a degree of his time to become more proficient with shipwright things here. and And in general, the but the ability to work as a shipwright ability to work on a boat. But he's also as well been able to now perfect the cloak of underwater breathing and also the ring of water walking.
00:05:01
Speaker
So he has a bit more insurance for ah for a life at sea. His backup plan would be to take himself north and to try and find the D'Hartonian water Ganassi fleet of Thry and Mistfall.
00:05:19
Speaker
He's at a point now where he thinks that those two may be natural allies, or at least that the enemy of my enemy might be my friend. And that's something that has sworn resistance against the Cardinal and is an open rebellion against them, or it was or was the last time he checked.
00:05:36
Speaker
He could now utilise that to become a very potent form on his granddad's side, and also as well bring a an entire fleet of ships to... the the wider cause of whatever the fight is, which he still doesn't fully understand.
00:05:51
Speaker
He still doesn't fully understand the shades of grey. he's He's been participating in the Obkriska are bad and ignoring the evidence in front of his eyes and where it's almost appeared to him that they appear to be a quite benevolent force in this city and don't appear to have taken over Dralak in the way that it was reported that they...
00:06:15
Speaker
in in quite a ah martial way, took over Sleetgaard. He's seeing them and seeing their methods compared to those of his grandfather and thinking that they're not malicious and they're not they're not overly ah malignant.
00:06:33
Speaker
But he's aware he's supposed to be on a side here. He's supposed to be on a side. He's not fully sure what he's doing, but he is pretty much following what is an autopilot plan of of get north, get get to sea and get north.
00:06:49
Speaker
Okay. So you head through but city center, relatively un-gnosis with your hood up.
00:07:01
Speaker
um and you're beelining for the dock district. So it's about 30 minutes at this time of day, just without sort of waiting around crowds or whatever to get back to that dock district.
00:07:13
Speaker
When you arrive at the docks, the ships that are in the, on jetties aren't really staffed. At this time of night, the people that have pulled their ships in, particularly given the events last couple of days, those are the ones that are sort of um trade and cargo ships, uh,
00:07:33
Speaker
They're unloaded because you wouldn't leave vulnerable cargo out overnight. And a lot of the sailors that work those ships have retired into the city. As you look quite across the bay, that there are there are some options, but they are further out at sea.
00:07:51
Speaker
There are series different pirate ships that sail under different banners and independent um trading vessels. There are, of course, ships with orange sails, but they all do Vossen's bidding.
00:08:05
Speaker
At one point, the armada ah of ships that bore the Shadow Mendian heraldry was in the Azure Bay, but after the events of the Jewel of Desert Champions, they can't be seen.
00:08:23
Speaker
There's very little activity out on the docks, save for drunken revelers just spilling out and trying to find places to to either find shelter, do nefarious deeds, or just see where the intoxication will take them.
00:08:39
Speaker
The Pisnut is an obvious choice for where to find more information, but you'll note over the last few days, it's not really populated by um adventurous seafaring folk.
00:08:53
Speaker
There's an inn that you have walked past a couple of times, but not gone in, that but that sort of smells like piracy and smells like brine um called the Whispering Sands Inn, which is another couple of minutes westward along the Dock District.
00:09:08
Speaker
that would be the place where you would find
00:09:13
Speaker
those who call those vessels out in the bay What
00:09:21
Speaker
but would you like to do? Okay. Reigns has a series of forts. the The first one is he starts scanning for anything on the horizon, immediate or slightly more distant, and he's looking for marks of the Lido, which would suggest an attachment to either the dwarfs of the Hentian Empire or to wider northern territories that are either related to Shaddamend. There's a small cluster dwarfs
00:09:54
Speaker
people who follow Alido in Shadowmend. But he also knows it spreads further into Wildheart, which would take him round the D'Artonian Cape, and of course just into wider northern Erith. So any ships that look like they're from Wildheart, they're from... It's it's midnight.
00:10:11
Speaker
It's midnight, and you can't particularly see, we're talking 400, 500 feet out into bay. Yeah.
00:10:17
Speaker
There are two moons, but being able to make up that sort of detail when you're naturally a nautical person, right? it's not like you could see a ship, like it's a Porsche and know exactly that that's a Porsche.
00:10:28
Speaker
It's not necessarily in your canon. No, this is Reigns applying his almost kind of like house sigil logic from Westeros where he's just looking for signs. And obviously, of course, this isn't this isn't applicable to this situation, but it's what... This would have been really really possible during the events of the duel, but since then people have sort of fled the city.
00:10:48
Speaker
um And given the darkness, you can't make out but the in the bay exactly what you're looking at. He will then trigger trigger a memory and it he'll just trigger um anywhere where he could potentially find...
00:11:05
Speaker
but the means to to travel north and he will just, without drawing any particular attention to himself, will just say to the first person he comes across who looks particularly nautical, who doesn't look particularly inebriated and will just go, passage north, who do I talk to?
00:11:27
Speaker
so you're on the docks for maybe 10 minutes. ten before you find someone who's fitting the bill of not being too pissed to to speak back. And it's this dwarvish sort of um cargo ship hand person with with you know the the typical short-sleeved shirts and absolute layers upon layers of tattoo and and thick ginger hair down each wrist.
00:11:58
Speaker
he just looks at for you a second and grunts. now And you want to north?
00:12:07
Speaker
I want to go north. don't need a ship. I'm aware of that. The only people leaving this base tonight are the ones who work for Coyne.
00:12:24
Speaker
And where might I find them? Hmm.
00:12:30
Speaker
Pirates and traitors. ah Try the whispering sense.
00:12:38
Speaker
Reigns will nod and we'll just head in the direction and we'll um will just just then say where, as in where is it? And he'll just point westward about three, four dozen shop fronts, building fronts along the harbour to this yeah other, this the this very illuminated building where the music is pounding out of.
00:13:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's where Reigns will go. Okay.
00:13:06
Speaker
So there, nestled amidst the salty breeze from the seas from the north, the Whispering Sands Inn is a humble oasis of of sort of both comfort and hospitality.
00:13:21
Speaker
It's got these whitewashed walls that that are cool. And despite so much of this city being incredibly hot, it's like walking into air conditioning as you sort of approach it. There is this this um mist that almost emanates from this building.
00:13:35
Speaker
You walk into this very small courtyard before you walk into the bar itself. So it's almost like a beer garden almost. And you can hear at this point raging, raging merriment coming from within and the sounds of sort of drums and violins blaring out.
00:13:54
Speaker
You step inside. There's there's maybe sort of and three or four dozen just just random assortments of nautical folk, but they're clustered here. They aren't mingling and merging. that There's a clearly separate crews out in this this sort of garden area.
00:14:10
Speaker
Do you step in? Rains will step in. And as you step in, this is quite a small um ah tavern for for the the the sound it's creating.
00:14:22
Speaker
And then you begin to sort of notice that this exists over a number of layers that go about three stories up. And in the middle of this room is this really elaborate, it's all it's also shaped like a ship as well. It's in like an oblong shape.
00:14:34
Speaker
In the middle of this room is this elaborate in the round staging where these three bards are playing ah two strings and and a drum, shanty-like tunes.
00:14:49
Speaker
And amidst the crowds, you sort of see in a number of tables, very elaborately dressed, ah clearly seafaring folk.
00:15:01
Speaker
You've not spent much time at sea, but you recognize the aura of a captain when you see one, the ah the way that they are the most elaborately dressed within crews of of multicultural and characters, let's say.
00:15:16
Speaker
the way that everyone sort of looks at them from what authority and the way that they sit really casually and relaxed in this bar.
00:15:24
Speaker
There are three that catch your eye
00:15:43
Speaker
There is a ah female, quite broad-statured female, wearing in this very elaborate red robe with these very um
00:15:53
Speaker
sort of flamboyant and spilling out gold chains at the the cuff.
00:16:02
Speaker
She sat amongst a a crew of maybe about 12, 13 people. thirteen people And then there are these two rival tables, like you've walked into this the middle of a Capulet Montague feud almost that are sort of eyeing them up from beside the bar.
00:16:16
Speaker
And this used to be like this quite heavy um ah orange and wrist-wrapped guard ah sort of lining the middle of this bar, sort of keeping these two parties separate.
00:16:34
Speaker
On one side, you see this almost Nyx-like character, a red-skinned tiefling that is just flicking a dagger sort of between each of their fingers and holding this very oversized flagon in one hand, feet on the table, just taking in the the space.
00:16:53
Speaker
And on its other side, you see this human looking a lot more red-faced, a lot more aggressive, much shorter in stature than regular humans, ah but with this very elaborate cutlass that sort of is inexplicably larger than a weapon of that stature should be.
00:17:19
Speaker
It's almost like it's a greatsword, but at the hip rather than over the back. So you have this these these two sort of feuding sides, and at the far end of this tavern, you see this this single individual.
00:17:36
Speaker
Reigns would go straight to the bar, if possible, and he will pop down on the bar and and signal signal to the barkeep to come over once they're free. he won't He won't push in. he's He's not trying to cause any hostility.
00:17:56
Speaker
He'll um just wait until there's a moment and then signal over the barkeep. It takes maybe five, 10 minutes as you sort of take in the scene. you're You're not the only hooded character in there. You sort of feel like no one is probing about your business.
00:18:08
Speaker
You get a few shoulder knocks every now and again as people just sort of move past you. um But the music is sort of ah ah ah sustaining that shanty-like tempo and everyone's sort of around us.
00:18:19
Speaker
Occasionally the entire tavern just erupts into the ho or hey in a like folk song-like manner. eventually you get served by this um sort of petite, purple tunic woman who just sort of puts ah ah predicts what your drink is going to be before you can speak and just has this this bottle of wine ready to go.
00:18:41
Speaker
Just leans in and goes and says, what can I get for you?
00:18:47
Speaker
I'm looking for passage north and I don't need to know who's best to talk to. i see. How ah ah quickly are you hoping to get there? Be gone by daybreak.
00:19:00
Speaker
I see, and I trust you have a coin to move that quickly. Oh, I've got a coin. Ah, right. Well, are you wanting to go quietly? Are you wanting to go loudly? are you wanting to slip away unnoticed? What's your style?
00:19:15
Speaker
Slip away unnoticed would be preferable. yeah And where is it you're sailing to? North. Hentian Empire, Moonrise, Wildheart.
00:19:27
Speaker
I just want to get inure northward out of the kingdom. That's the one.
00:19:34
Speaker
I'd try her and points to the tiefling.
00:19:42
Speaker
She won't ask questions. Just how big your coin purse is. And if you're bringing, um shall we say, unexpected guests with you,
00:19:57
Speaker
they can handle themselves pretty well in a fight.
00:20:02
Speaker
Reigns will think about that. He'll think about what he's doing in the moment of doubt will creep in. And then his role he's will will resolve as shame hits him and trying to put right mistakes hits him and a resolve that this is all he can do.
00:20:24
Speaker
And he'll just drop a couple of silvers onto the bar and go, no company. And we'll head over towards... Before you go, take this and she hands you the bottle of wine.
00:20:41
Speaker
He'll nod in thanks. It's not for you. I didn't think it was. you And Reigns will take it over. He's going to give this a sniff as well, just to see just what type of wine this person is into. He's trying to gauge this.
00:20:57
Speaker
he's got nothing He's about to make a very strange bedfellow, he thinks, and he's making strange bedfellows. And he's just going to sniff this wine just to see just what are these people. Judge person by what they consume, he's going to apply here.
00:21:13
Speaker
it's ah It's a red wine of a pretty um sort of woody vintage, shall we say. that But it's spiced as well. that when When you sort of let your nostrils, the nostril hairs sort of burn a little bit as they inhale it, as you uncork it.
00:21:33
Speaker
Rather fitting perhaps of someone who can handle the heat.
00:21:39
Speaker
Okay.
00:21:42
Speaker
So you're heading towards that pirate particularly? Yes. So that the the I believe it's the tiefling. The tiefling, yeah. It's been directed towards. So you pass through this sort of um makeshift wall that has been used to keep these parties separate.
00:21:58
Speaker
And as you step in, you get lots of these looks. The entire crew is tiefling as well. You get lots of these looks as you're coming through. And as you begin to sort of get closer and closer towards this captain, more and more people just get interested. They don't seem to sort of leap to defend her. They just sort of turn with their drinks away from antagonizing the opposing faction in there with them. And they just they just look with a lot of curiosity at you.
00:22:21
Speaker
And there is this this female tiefling with both feet hanging. raised onto the table. see these crossed boots and this very elaborate tricorn hat.
00:22:33
Speaker
He just looks up from you up up towards you with only one eye out the side and says, Good evening.
00:22:44
Speaker
Good evening. I understand you have the means to head north and I'm seeking passage. Is this a business conversation?
00:22:57
Speaker
I suppose it is. and Please. and She sort of takes her feet off.
00:23:04
Speaker
Sit. Let's talk. Rains will sit and he'll offer the bottle to her.
00:23:13
Speaker
She gratefully accepts it, uncorks it with her mouth, sniffs it for a second, looks over your shoulder back at the bar and lets out a smile. And it begins to pour into a glass. And it gets a second and look raises it to you to ask if you want one.
00:23:34
Speaker
Not for me. I see. Tell me.
00:23:42
Speaker
Where is it you wish to go? All I ask is that you get... North. That's all I'm asking. If you're heading north, then that's fine by me. I don't mind.
00:23:54
Speaker
If it's around the D'Artonian Cape, if it's south of the D'Artonian Cape, if it's across the Hentian shoreline, north. Moonrise for all I care.
00:24:04
Speaker
Okay.
00:24:07
Speaker
Judging by your, um, looking at your your hood, quiet demeanor, you wish to leave urgently.
00:24:17
Speaker
As soon as possible.
00:24:24
Speaker
I offer two packages. One, ask no more information from you, and I charge quite an extortionate fee. The other, some choice details, and I charge a less astronomical fee. thats Let's talk in hypothetics for a second and say that the one I'm interested in is the but less...
00:24:56
Speaker
I'll charge 80 gold pieces a day until you are satisfied you are far enough north.
00:25:07
Speaker
Or if you wish to give us a true heading in a few days time, that could be arranged.
00:25:18
Speaker
All right. What are you bringing with you? Me and what's about me? Nothing else. And what's about you?
00:25:26
Speaker
I have about me, my coin purse. I have ah series of impressive, impressive ah shall we say, artifacts that are particularly useful to me, but I'm sad to say particularly useless in anyone else's hands.
00:25:41
Speaker
However, i could be willing for the right person to to to make a wisdom saving through. Mm-hmm.
00:25:54
Speaker
Oh, dirty 20.
00:26:04
Speaker
feel a sort of softness just come over your mind for a second, but you're able to sort of shake it off.
00:26:14
Speaker
In your mind's eye, you just see her for a second. you know you know she's tried to dig a little deeper and not succeeded, but has maybe caught some surface thoughts.
00:26:33
Speaker
while you were listing what you were carrying. and she just raises a hand to her chin and strokes it for a second.
00:26:45
Speaker
You can't blame a girl for trying. Not at all. But this creature, this
00:26:55
Speaker
little thing that you have flying around. the parrot? Yes, the parrot made of metal. Yeah, that. Tell me about that. Artificery.
00:27:06
Speaker
It's the same way that I can produce the ring and you hold it up. That lets me walk on water and the cloak, which you've already noted, that allows me to breathe on the water. You're artificer.
00:27:18
Speaker
Correct. Hmm. And you wish to head north. Correct. And this is everything you're bringing with you.
00:27:30
Speaker
Everything.
00:27:35
Speaker
Then I would offer you 80 gold a day and no more questions. For a few more questions, I'd half my fee.
00:27:47
Speaker
Reigns fills his coin purse and knows that if she halves her fee, he'll have enough coin for two days rather than one. So he will just go you questions.
00:28:01
Speaker
I want to know your name. I want to know where you're bound truly. and I want to know exactly why leaving tomorrow would be a problem for you.
00:28:19
Speaker
Reigns will consider this and he'll just look up at her and he'll say...
00:28:33
Speaker
Fair enough.
00:28:37
Speaker
A day. No more questions. Very well. She sort of unbuttons a number of ah unbuttoned a number of buttons on her cuff, reveals her hand, which is full of branding and um torture marks, and just reaches across the table to shake your hand.
00:29:05
Speaker
Yeah, Reigns will take it and shake her hand. Welcome aboard. My name is Captain Roland Swiftblade of the Cracked Ruby.
00:29:19
Speaker
We'll leave within within the next few moments.
00:29:25
Speaker
If you wish to accompany with us, we'll take you out to the vessel.
00:29:31
Speaker
Welcome aboard, Mr. Smith.
00:29:35
Speaker
Reigns will smile at that, knowing that it seems to be something of a common alias. He's fairly confident in one of the many ah shenanigans, for want of a better word, that he's heard Knicks pull, that that name has been used between here and Goldview.
00:29:54
Speaker
And that pang of guilt comes back again as the reminder of Knicks and the reminder of what he is doing hits him. And Then he will just say under his breath, well, he won't say it under his breath, actually. He'll look her in the eye and go, yeah, savvy.
00:30:15
Speaker
And he'll get up and...
00:30:20
Speaker
At that point, you hear a loud whistle and a lot the tieflings sort of go to the table and gather up their belongings. And you're sort of ushered with them.
00:30:32
Speaker
And Captain Rowland just says, we're keeping an eye on you now.
00:30:38
Speaker
Until you're on our ship. Yep, that's fair. This way. And you step out of this very excited tavern back into the docks.
00:30:52
Speaker
And you don't head back eastward towards the piston. You head westward to, you get to a cluster of six um rowing boats, essentially, that are all sort of moored up.
00:31:04
Speaker
And you watch as this 40-person crew sort of splits themselves evenly amongst these boats. The largest one at the front, the captain sort of embarks on first, then just as a hand up to you on the jetty and helps you in.
00:31:22
Speaker
ye And then eight other tiefling sailors just sort of fill the boat with you. Another sharp whistle.
00:31:33
Speaker
And you watch as these two sort of, um sorry, three sort of dancing lights appear from one hand of hers and sort of just meander in front of this armada of rowboats as you're heading towards a much bigger vessel out there in the Azure Bay.
00:31:56
Speaker
It gets a bit windy and the tide starts to pick up a little bit and you find yourself having to sort of hold on really tight to the side of the boat
00:32:08
Speaker
in order to stop yourself a from embarrassing yourself amongst all these pirates, perhaps, and but also just for your own safety. make a constitution saving throw as you're sort of just trying to and you can add you you can add half your proficiency bonuses you're sort of studying um
00:32:28
Speaker
and for nautical vessels i'll say you're about halfway towards that that study i'll save you the job and just say i rolled a natural one Because that's what I rolled.
00:32:41
Speaker
Within about two or three minutes, you're forced to vomit off the side of the boat just from the the sheer choppiness of this this. It's inducing seasickness in you.
00:32:55
Speaker
Temporarily for the next few moments, you are poisoned for for want of a better um yeah means of of of justifying that condition. And as that wind kicks up,
00:33:08
Speaker
There are a series of like papers in the boat and documents and sort light provisions and light rations that just sort of get blown around. Captain Merlin just lets out a shrill, catch them!
00:33:21
Speaker
And he watches these these sort of they're reaching out to try and sort hold hold down all of the the goods that are in this rowboat.
00:33:30
Speaker
But one hits you in the side of the face. One piece of paper and it sort of sticks to you.
00:33:37
Speaker
Do you do anything? He'll take it off his face and then he'll just glance at it as it does. says wanted. ah false prince of Shadowmend.
00:33:56
Speaker
Is there an image on this? There
Revelation: Reigns Identified as the Wanted Target
00:34:00
Speaker
is. It's you.
00:34:07
Speaker
And Ronan looks at you and says, really wish that hadn't have happened here. And I need you to make a wisdom saving throw.
00:34:20
Speaker
And negate, roll a d6 as well to take and subtract that from your saving throw. Okay. ah Again, I'm going to save you the time. Another a natural one.
00:34:33
Speaker
Everything fades to darkness. Everything fades to a pitch black.
00:34:42
Speaker
and you are in this state for what feels like an eternity,
00:34:54
Speaker
you're unable to sort of locate your body. It feels like you're in a dream and and you don't dream too deeply when you do because of your sort of elven heritage. But this this feels like you and your your deepest of dreams You feel your body being sort of manipulated without you being able to control it.
00:35:18
Speaker
And you're not really sure for how long you're in this state.
00:35:22
Speaker
Before that darkness just slowly begins to subside and some more of your senses just become a bit more alerted.
00:35:31
Speaker
You find yourself sort of stretched, both arms pulled as far away from your body as they possibly can. Both feet pulled as far away from your body as you possibly can.
00:35:47
Speaker
All you really have the power to do in these moments is sort of blink and furrow your brow. No other part of your body is really responding. As you're sort of coming to, just make ah make a constitution check, like a straight constitution royalty. Try to understand what state your body is in right now.
00:36:13
Speaker
That sense of nausea never really passed for you. And you fear that maybe seasickness is something you're going be stuck with for a while.
00:36:26
Speaker
You know your heart's beating, but you can't move much of your body. You can move your eyeballs easily enough, but your your head won't respond. You can't twinge your fingers.
00:36:38
Speaker
You can't do basic things like like swallow. You're breathing, but you're it's involuntary.
00:36:46
Speaker
You feel cold. but not damp. You feel cold as though you're not wearing anything and you sort of get like a really low glimpse and you can sort of see your chest hair. You can see your toes.
00:36:58
Speaker
You can feel that sort of breeze between your legs. your
00:37:05
Speaker
You're entirely unable to act or move and you are laid bare. You begin to scan around this room as your eyes sort of come to. And judging by that that role as well, you feel like you haven't eaten in a couple of days.
00:37:20
Speaker
Or is it a couple of hours? It's hard to tell.
00:37:24
Speaker
Or is it the nausea?
00:37:28
Speaker
You begin to smell and youre you're you're smelling... um
00:37:34
Speaker
you're smelling sort of two layers. You're saying you're smelling a sea breeze steadily, but also this this ashen, um burnt smell, like like the smell of burnt hair, but at large, almost as if something has exploded ah recently.
00:37:51
Speaker
There are sort of murmurations in your and your ah sort of ability to detect balance. You feel like you are on a ship, that you are just swaying from left to right, or your youre your body, is gravity is sort of moving you left to right ever so slightly.
00:38:09
Speaker
You hear very low growling in your immediacy.
00:38:18
Speaker
your spatial awareness makes you feel as that you're in quite a tight space. You're not in a a big open
00:38:26
Speaker
room or chamber. you're so You're confined somehow.
00:38:32
Speaker
But there's also this hive of activity above you. You hear banging above you. You hear calls. You hear singing. You say you hear laughter.
00:38:43
Speaker
And you hear crashing. Not of waves necessarily, but...
00:38:48
Speaker
definitely large bodies of water.
00:38:53
Speaker
You have no sensation of touch or feel or the ability, you're able to really move your fingers to feel anything. It's just what's there. So it's largely just the breeze.
00:39:07
Speaker
And then your eyes begin to come to. And you see these two shapes,
00:39:14
Speaker
two silhouettes,
00:39:20
Speaker
of lions before they pounce, that sort of low lie that they do while they're just gearing their muscles to leap.
00:39:32
Speaker
In between these two lions, there is this shrouded figure that seems to be sort of petting them.
00:39:43
Speaker
Can make a perception check as you your your eyes are just beginning to respond and there is this like this low flicker of a wall sconce in the room with you that's illuminating these figures around you?
00:39:56
Speaker
Well, three in a row, baby. Natural one. Natural one. You're on board a ship. That's all you can tell. You can't make and out any distinct features out other than the fact that these are These are lions.
00:40:12
Speaker
Yeah, pretty sure they're lions. And there is a figure in the room. That's all you can sort of detect. bra Okay. Yep.
00:40:25
Speaker
Okay. Is there anything you to do, knowing that no part of your body is responsive at the moment other than your eyes? Yeah, rings will probably just make... guttural noises from somewhere within him if they can if he can even emote them if he can't it will just be a silent
00:40:44
Speaker
um it's more like the latter you you're unable to form speech that the muscles in your vocal cords just won't shape for that yeah you are paralyzed for for want of ah the the appropriate term entirely you felt like this once before the last time you were is when key duck birch shadow paralyzed you in the desert.
00:41:07
Speaker
This is the exact same sensation.
00:41:12
Speaker
You just watch
00:41:16
Speaker
as the the figure remaining shrouded just sort of approaches you and the the hood is too dense for you to really make out any facial features.
00:41:29
Speaker
But the one thing you will never not recognize
00:41:35
Speaker
is the reflection of light when it's being cast onto a metal object as this dagger just is thrust into your belly.
00:41:49
Speaker
You feel this pain, you sustain 11 points of piercing damage.
00:41:57
Speaker
but you aren't able to wince. You aren't able to contort. All you do can do is cry at the tear ducts. That's all your body will respond to.
00:42:09
Speaker
And the blade just remains embedded in you as the figure steps back.
00:42:17
Speaker
The figure goes to the wall and grabs the torch, still shrouding its face.
00:42:26
Speaker
And then begins to press the torch against your chest.
00:42:33
Speaker
It takes six points of fire damage in that time.
00:42:39
Speaker
Oh my goodness. Yep. Okay. Cool. And then as, again, that smell of burnt flesh just sort of fills your nostrils and you can't do anything except, like, your eyes are completely bloodshed at this moment.
00:42:59
Speaker
The figure is illuminated.
00:43:06
Speaker
It is your grandfather. awesome Fuck. And he just takes down his hood.
00:43:19
Speaker
Boy,
Family Ties: A Shocking Accusation from the Past
00:43:21
Speaker
you've been a thorn in my side, boy.
00:43:29
Speaker
I need you to listen now. Understand me, boy. And he's saying this millimeters away from your face. You can sort of feel his wine-stained breath.
00:43:46
Speaker
um If it's possible to emote hatred from blood-stained eyes, that's what Reigns does.
00:44:03
Speaker
I'm gonna hurt you boy.
00:44:07
Speaker
You don't know what you done did But you done fucked up.
00:44:22
Speaker
Why you couldn't just play nice little princey and not overstep the mark
00:44:38
Speaker
You're here because of what you chose to do.
00:44:45
Speaker
You're running damn near destroying this family.
00:44:53
Speaker
We is one of the oldest kingdoms in earth and you came mighty close to destroying us.
00:45:03
Speaker
I worked so hard To build this. And this is the thanks I get.
00:45:15
Speaker
You're no grandson of mine.
00:45:21
Speaker
And after we're through.
00:45:24
Speaker
You're no grandson of anybody's.
00:45:32
Speaker
And there is this. Equal hatred. Back at you.
00:45:42
Speaker
And he walks around the back of you where you can't necessarily see. And he just tips this sort of warm, liquidy substance over you.
00:46:01
Speaker
it's You can only just sort of make it out by looking down. You can't see much of your body. it appears to be like this off-yellow, soapy-like substance.
00:46:13
Speaker
and he just says, this is the finest goose fat in all of Western Earth.
00:46:26
Speaker
See, my girls are hungry. And they're going feast on you when I'm done.
00:46:35
Speaker
He lets out a sort of cleared throat. And you watch as these two other um high elves come into view, one's concentrating on a spell that much you would recognize. And another one is just casting another one now towards you.
00:47:00
Speaker
I wanna know what you know, boy.
00:47:06
Speaker
ah need to know. What that metal man of yours is in your mind.
00:47:18
Speaker
Can you make a wisdom saving throw? It's one of those spells. Tries to read deeper level thoughts.
00:47:27
Speaker
Twelve.
00:47:32
Speaker
You flash through memories of everything you've learned of Alpha. Starting from the lair of Chandra La Caffe and seeing Alpha in the ah tunnel of reflection that revealed true form, right through to the meeting with Orgrimov, where he was split into Princess Saimolda Gartrin
00:47:57
Speaker
until the final conversations within the Winged Watch.
00:48:03
Speaker
And in all of those memories, your grandfather is right there in view. seeing them all as you experience them.
00:48:17
Speaker
Damn!
00:48:24
Speaker
I did not think you could stoop so low, boy.
00:48:32
Speaker
I did not think you were capable of that.
00:48:38
Speaker
I will say I underestimated you boy. That I did. i thought you would be dead within the day of leaving Shadow men
00:48:53
Speaker
How annoying that I was wrong. yeah
00:49:05
Speaker
Another blade sinks into your back.
00:49:11
Speaker
for five points of piercing damage.
00:49:18
Speaker
Yep.
00:49:23
Speaker
I'm going to give you a moment to process that pain.
00:49:29
Speaker
I'm going to let you scream for the next one.
00:49:39
Speaker
It just sort of comes back into view.
00:49:44
Speaker
And you can't look anywhere. You can just see these two lions chained up in the cell ahead of you as this light's moving around the room. And then the other side of these bars are two high elven figures casting spells.
00:50:05
Speaker
And because that's the only place you can focus, you don't miss what happens next. As a very familiar wood elf just sort of strolls behind the two high elves that are casting spells.
00:50:20
Speaker
Prager the Majestic just makes her pursed lips finger over them towards you.
00:50:32
Speaker
Taps the elf, the high elf that's concentrating on what you assume is this paralyzed spell on the shoulder. And that high elf falls asleep. That spell is no longer being concentrated on. In those same moments, Prego goes invisible.
00:50:50
Speaker
And you're able to let out everything. You're still chained at the wrists and the feet. You can't move. You're naked. But you have the faculties again to speak. You have the faculties to move your head.
00:51:02
Speaker
You have faculties to take a piss if you need to.
00:51:07
Speaker
How much of this, because he's he's aware his granddad has just said his mind is racing. He's just in Prego and he thinks back to a very strange thing that Prego said to him when he was listing what he was to everyone. And he said to Reigns that he was a debtor and Reigns is now his mind is just a mile a minute.
00:51:28
Speaker
And the thing he focuses on first is that shush from Prego. And he's fucking fighting every urge he can to scream.
00:51:41
Speaker
But at this point, Reigns doesn't know if his grandfather is aware the spell has dropped or not. for For what it's worth, Reigns would try his best until he's aware what's happening to not drop the fact that he's no longer... It's probably futile, but it's what he would try to do. Okay, so there's two things I need you to do. What you can choose.
00:52:02
Speaker
You either need to make a constitution saving throw to like see if you can just hold the fact that you've got two blades now in your body and a cauterized chest and to just see if you can sort of sustain that like you're holding up a great weight or a very good deception check.
00:52:21
Speaker
Your choice. He's going to just close his eyes and he's now...
00:52:28
Speaker
If he felt guilt before, it's now just, it's he's drowning in it. And in it is, I have fucked up in a way that I didn't even know. I thought I'd fucked up before. Now I've fucked up royally because in trying to protect Alpha, it's just failed in one moment of one evening of hot-headed stupidity.
00:52:51
Speaker
He's going to go for the con as his eyes grit. 14. 14. fourteen You roll a d4 as you feel blessed somehow. You're not sure why, but something else is willing you to pull all this off.
00:53:06
Speaker
A d4, yeah? Yeah.
00:53:11
Speaker
That's a 3 to that, so that takes that up to 17. It was a con save. Yeah.
00:53:19
Speaker
Beads of sweat drop from your head. You have to tighten the occasional fist, but largely you're able to steady your breathing, do it through gritted teeth. Like you are seething in pain, but you are for the next few moments at least holding that.
00:53:42
Speaker
As he just comes back round into view.
00:53:47
Speaker
and strokes one of his lions.
00:53:55
Speaker
Well boy...
00:54:03
Speaker
It pains me to do this, but in a few moments these girlies are gonna feast on your flesh.
00:54:19
Speaker
I won't lie to you boy, I ain't gonna cry for you. I don't think your daddy is.
00:54:27
Speaker
But it is a crying shame that you never met your younger brother.
00:54:34
Speaker
I think Sceptus would have liked you.
00:54:42
Speaker
We'll be sure that uh... He never learns about you of course.
00:54:50
Speaker
As we speak, you are being erased
00:54:55
Speaker
from history. From everyone who ever thought about you, those memories are being altered.
00:55:12
Speaker
ah can tell
00:55:17
Speaker
I can tell you're back with me, boy, so you might as well speak before I let these girlies off the chain. As he sort of turns back to you now, face to face, and smiles.
00:55:28
Speaker
And it is it is like an older version of you you are looking at.
00:55:36
Speaker
Reigns will just grit his teeth together, and he will glance at his grandfather, and he will say... I am.
00:55:51
Speaker
Spit out a phlegm of blood and then finish the sentence and go, older.
00:55:59
Speaker
And at that he will just smile.
00:56:04
Speaker
And he licks his lips in disgust for a second.
00:56:10
Speaker
You don't even know what you're talking about.
00:56:16
Speaker
I seen what you seen. You don't know the half of it.
00:56:24
Speaker
You failed once.
00:56:31
Speaker
You gonna fail again, you grisly old fuck.
00:56:45
Speaker
He's phased.
00:56:48
Speaker
He's aggravated by by that.
00:56:57
Speaker
Boy.
00:57:02
Speaker
I did not think something I created
00:57:10
Speaker
be so fucking stupid.
00:57:25
Speaker
Well, if it's any consolation,
00:57:32
Speaker
i have every firm belief that something I created will be the death of you.
00:57:44
Speaker
Time will tell. You're ungrateful son, bitch.
00:57:56
Speaker
You know, I thought...
00:58:00
Speaker
I thought you'd be the best son I ever had. Yeah, that's right.
00:58:10
Speaker
I'm your daddy.
00:58:16
Speaker
And now I'm about to see you... Get feasted on...
00:58:25
Speaker
Goodbye, Reigns.
00:58:28
Speaker
May you rot.
00:58:34
Speaker
And he steps out
00:58:38
Speaker
of the brick and locks it behind him.
00:58:44
Speaker
and walks back round where the two other high elves were. and has this key that pulls back to this single padlock that's with with it's holding back those lions on the chains, and just inserts the key into the lock,
00:59:05
Speaker
and begins to twist.
00:59:09
Speaker
And those chains around the lion's necks drop to the floor, And that pounce begins as they both leap up. You see these
A Frozen Moment: Prego's Offer of Escape
00:59:20
Speaker
two airborne lions leaping towards you and then they are frozen.
00:59:25
Speaker
Everything around you is frozen in time.
00:59:31
Speaker
And you just feel this arm rest on your shoulder.
00:59:38
Speaker
Do you know why Shadow Men, the so-called
00:59:47
Speaker
Rainfall just laugh at that and say,
00:59:53
Speaker
my dear, inform me.
00:59:58
Speaker
Prego sort of unperches from your shoulder, walks around into view and just strokes this flying kitty in the underbelly. this This huge lion that's leaping towards you is just giving it a scrooge in its underbelly.
01:00:13
Speaker
Shadowmend. Its name has been um translated inconsistently between the languages of my homeworld and the languages of Elvish here on Earth.
01:00:32
Speaker
In origin tongue, your homeland, is called Gwathrin Bair, or loosely, commonly now translated as promise.
01:00:53
Speaker
My brother's final words on Erith, he spoke to Uriand centuries ago.
01:01:05
Speaker
hior iberr nain unil guthri ba This land I promise to you until Tocholon's shadows are mended.
01:01:25
Speaker
And thus the kingdom of shadowment came.
01:01:30
Speaker
I have known this man, and points at your... father now, as it's been revealed, for a very long time.
01:01:42
Speaker
But killing his own, this is a new one for him.
01:01:51
Speaker
You are entirely within your faculties here, Reigns. You are in pain and you are bleeding out and seeing your imminent death. These lions are moving at hyper-slow speed towards you.
01:02:03
Speaker
Alright.
01:02:06
Speaker
You were my debtor. Now I'm yours.
01:02:13
Speaker
What prize on my life? What do you want from me, Prego? Well, I just really am seeking the agreement that um it's a bad thing, no? That this man, Uriand, who's known you for such a good time, has built such a bond with you.
01:02:33
Speaker
killing you. That's a terrible thing, no?
01:02:40
Speaker
Well, I'm not exactly looking forward to what's about to happen, but I'm in a lot a lot of pain. Yes. So will your friends when they find out that you are gone.
01:02:54
Speaker
His mind will turn to the others and it will race through them all.
01:03:01
Speaker
And...
01:03:04
Speaker
he remembers what he was told about Seth.
01:03:13
Speaker
ah
01:03:16
Speaker
Tell me I'm not one of the names. Tell me it's Alpha and Emran.
01:03:26
Speaker
There are three in Seth's deal that need to be kept alive.
01:03:34
Speaker
Alright. Alright, fucked up. I am. All the things my grandfather said about being a fucking fool. Get me out here, pretty girl, and I'll put it right.
01:03:46
Speaker
I swear to it.
01:03:51
Speaker
I'll do whatever I can. Whatever you can?
01:04:02
Speaker
ah hill And about what Shadowmend is and how it will fall. And he'll look at him and say, It can end with me.
01:04:15
Speaker
Shadowmend, the Cardano line, the Haddo line.
01:04:22
Speaker
It can end.
01:04:27
Speaker
It can. These lions get their promised meal and I kill your father right here, right now?
01:04:38
Speaker
Yes. I would end your line.
01:04:46
Speaker
But your father and my brother are in an ancient pact and that would most displease my brother.
01:04:59
Speaker
So,
01:05:03
Speaker
if you get eaten and killed now, you will die, as will Seth.
01:05:18
Speaker
So, if I were to help you,
01:05:26
Speaker
what would you offer me
01:05:37
Speaker
At this point, he's taking more of the flying lion and just catches his fingertip on the lion's sharp claw and just shows you that he's bleeding and sucks sucks his finger. Should Reigns prove successful, he knows he has the entire kingdom of Shadomend as a bartering tool.
01:05:56
Speaker
He also knows that's probably useless in this negotiation. So he's just going to say to Prego, Name your price.
01:06:11
Speaker
No. It is your life you're bargaining for. It is Seth's.
01:06:18
Speaker
Tell me the offer.
01:06:23
Speaker
You can have the entire kingdom of Shattermen for lack of air. You can have whatever it is within my facilities to give. Heck.
01:06:34
Speaker
You want debts fulfilling. You want another mindless puppet. Whatever it was you made, Marolder, I ain't judging. I ain't bothering.
01:06:46
Speaker
You can have whatever within my facilities to give, Prego. I can have whatever is in your facilities to give. That is your offer.
01:07:00
Speaker
Reigns looks at the lions. and thinks... They're about a meter away from you at this point. Yeah, he thinks his life at this point is pretty much done. There's probably less... He probably does less damage in the grave. It's only the fact that he's taking Seth with him that makes him go... Whatever.
01:07:22
Speaker
He rolls up his sleeve...
01:07:25
Speaker
and shows a a white outline that he's just drawing on his forearm that matches the tattoos that that you've seen Seth wear, and begins to hold his hand nearish to you, but not not close enough that you could reach it just yet.
01:07:44
Speaker
Alpha.
01:07:48
Speaker
You'll give me alpha? And all of this is done.
01:07:56
Speaker
He is your possession. You made him know he is within your facility to give.
01:08:24
Speaker
No.
01:08:27
Speaker
Then it is you and Seth.
01:08:31
Speaker
But I'm sorry Seth.
01:08:35
Speaker
But Alpha bigger than anything I have, anything anyone has.
01:08:45
Speaker
Couldn't you?
01:08:48
Speaker
That is why I want him.
01:08:57
Speaker
I wager you have about 30 seconds to contact. So if there is any other deal up your sleeve, and I'm ready to make it.
01:09:12
Speaker
Reigns' mind is going to race through his options. It's going to race through potentially what he could offer.
01:09:26
Speaker
and
01:09:31
Speaker
It's going to stop and and and think about why specifically Alpha, because the technology to make Nacobolo now could be copied, particularly by someone like Prego. And Reigns will look at him and say, it's the Gartrand you want, isn't it?
01:09:55
Speaker
How astute. About seconds.
01:10:04
Speaker
I'll get you the Gartrands.
01:10:10
Speaker
The stone...
01:10:16
Speaker
It's not safe in Alpha.
01:10:20
Speaker
I know I can do it. I can find a way to save Alpha and get you the Gartrands.
01:10:27
Speaker
He draws a blade and then punctures the closest lion.
01:10:36
Speaker
who's about a centimeter from making contact.
01:10:44
Speaker
That has brought you two minutes before the next one gets you. And how will you give me the stone?
01:10:54
Speaker
Dash Kaura. The magic to sustain Alpha, to make him free of the Gartrans is there. It was always the plan.
01:11:06
Speaker
No, the stone is on his person.
01:11:11
Speaker
What?
01:11:16
Speaker
You got it. When you went to visit that um shape changer.
01:11:25
Speaker
Reigns is just watching his complete logic break down in front of him. It's not the memory rune, is it? You mean to tell me that it's not the... root it's It is what has been extracted.
01:11:41
Speaker
I want her. Okay.
01:11:59
Speaker
Two minutes, yeah? Well, about one now. It gives me 30 seconds to think about it then. And Reigns is just going to rack through his brains and just try and make sense. It's a wing of the prayer arcana check to try and just try and make sense of how this magic works because he thought he understood memory runes.
01:12:24
Speaker
He was convinced he understood it and it's just come crashing down. So he's just doing a bit of what's the word, revisionist history here, to try and think where he's gone wrong in his understanding, to see if anything comes to him.
01:12:39
Speaker
Go for it. Add your plus four.
01:12:49
Speaker
Add plus four, yeah? Mm-hmm. And do notice the Prego is concentrating on two spells. Fourteen. One of them seems to be connecting with you. Fourteen? Mm-hmm.
01:13:01
Speaker
You don't think there's any flaw in your understanding of memory runes. You think the new discovery is the ability to extract a memory from that memory rune once it's been in Akamolo and stored in another object.
01:13:13
Speaker
That's all very new understanding for you. And the object that Alpha now carries that contains the soul of Aymol Degatra, that's what you're thinking about.
01:13:35
Speaker
Reigns makes a logical choice here. He weighs
The Cost of Freedom: Reigns' Dilemma
01:13:40
Speaker
up everything. He weighs up where he is. He weighs up letting himself die here, thinking it might be better to save Alpha. hey processes everything, and eventually what his mind lands on is what I am older said about how the kingdoms will kneel to her,
01:14:01
Speaker
oh they will face her wrath. He thinks about her being steadfastly in charge of all of Ereth. Yeah, about 10 seconds before that, 30 seconds is spent. Yeah, and as that happens, he immediately goes, I'm older.
01:14:20
Speaker
She's yours.
01:14:26
Speaker
Prego smiles.
01:14:29
Speaker
Pierces. straight through, skewers the ascending lion. And then watch that lion very slowly now begins to convulse.
01:14:43
Speaker
And he pulls his blade back out of this levitating lion.
01:14:51
Speaker
I will take you to them.
01:14:59
Speaker
You will take
01:15:02
Speaker
Stone containing her? And you will hand it to me. Or I will return you back to this moment. Is that agreed?
01:15:15
Speaker
There are words left. Rang just nods.
01:15:21
Speaker
Then he clasps your hand with an almighty strength that feels like you are still shackled. And he is able to, just with the rapier, break the chains that you are attached to.
01:15:32
Speaker
And you sort of contort in space and warp for a few seconds. And you are standing still frozen in this state. Completely butt naked. That's what saying.
01:15:49
Speaker
In a stable. You see your five friends looking at trunks. You've seen the backs of all of them. And you see Alpha there.
01:16:04
Speaker
Your hand is still like welded to Prego's as he sort of pulls you towards Alpha.
01:16:17
Speaker
It is there for the taking.
01:16:21
Speaker
Hand it to me.
01:16:44
Speaker
Oh, fuck.
01:16:52
Speaker
What would Rains do?
01:16:56
Speaker
I think you'll do better under time. You have 15 seconds or I am taking you back to that ship. One.
01:17:08
Speaker
Two.
01:17:10
Speaker
Three.
01:17:13
Speaker
four
01:17:16
Speaker
Five.
01:17:19
Speaker
Six.
01:17:22
Speaker
Seven. Eight. yeah
01:17:28
Speaker
Nine. and then he
Defiance and Consequences: Reigns' Stand Against Fate
01:17:30
Speaker
slips rain into your grandfather's voice. Reach out. And just in this moment of seeing Alpha and everything that Alpha is to him.
01:17:44
Speaker
He'll just say,
01:17:49
Speaker
nobody just decides your destiny, my boy. Not me. He'll look at Prego and go, not you.
01:18:01
Speaker
Make me proud. And he'll just lower his hand.
01:18:08
Speaker
Prego's seething in this moment. Just lets out a scream.
01:18:15
Speaker
And you are back inside the cell in the brig of what you now know is the lion of the sea, Rian Cardinal's largest ship.
01:18:32
Speaker
These two lions are bleeding out on the floor. You are chained, you are shackled. And your grandfather, now father, looks at you with disgust, grabs the dagger, heads back into the cell, and lunge after lunge after lunge,
01:18:59
Speaker
you are defeated.
01:19:06
Speaker
And that is where we're going to end this week's episode of The Fellowship of the Tabletop, Bellum Draconis.
01:19:21
Speaker
Oh, fuck.
01:19:29
Speaker
Until next time, guys.
01:19:33
Speaker
Farewell.