Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
C2 Ep. 188 Racing Towards Dread Chapter Five
482 Plays10 months ago
Making preparations
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of our amazing Show Sponsors: Laura Pickrahn, Darrin Katzska, Irene Viorritto, Ryan Royce, Darrell DeLaney, Charles Compton, Deviouspoptart, Nastasia Raulerson, David Scrams, Elizabeth Clark, Rebekah Gowman, deviouspoptart, Eðvarð Arnór Sigurðsson, Michael Clark, Jerry Theuns, Mark Stanley, and Shelby Johnson
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Ever Undernoon
00:00:10
Speaker
D20 radio, your game is roll.
00:00:46
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Ever Undernoon, an actual play podcast and the Ever Undernoon campaign setting.
Reynard's Trouble and Trevor's Absence
00:00:49
Speaker
I'm your game master, Eric. I'm Phillip. I'm Randy. I'm your game master, Jeff. Lies. And as you all can tell, Reynard's having a conversation with Baron Elvinor of House of the Iron. Reynard's getting killed at the boss. So yeah, Trevor will not be joining us for the next couple of episodes because he has a busy schedule.
Dismissal by Fiarlins & Next Moves
00:01:07
Speaker
Yeah, you all were leaving? How, like... I guess. Yeah, actually telling us that we were kind of dismissed. Feels like we were kicked out of the house. Yeah, I mean, I don't think any of us are surprised the Fiarlins aren't particularly, like, kind when it's time to go. Like, well...
00:01:23
Speaker
f off yeah but we could listen at the doors awfully late the one where verla is and the one where reynard is i think reynard left the house he's gone to a second location okay they are going she she took him into the sitting room to collect elder and and then they will be leaving to go to
00:01:39
Speaker
And while I don't think anyone would be surprised at Raynard trying to eavesdrop on family slash verla business, I don't think we'll get away with it as much as I agree. I'd like to know what they're talking about. It's got to be okay. Tell the kitchen staff you want a chicken. I do always want a chicken.
00:01:55
Speaker
No, yeah, we're leaving. We have to be leaving, right? Yeah. They told us to leave. Yes.
Negotiations and Crafting Plans
00:01:59
Speaker
Without telling us. So where are we close to? You're in the upper part of the city. So, I mean, the closest place that you all have been before is either the the nice division of Millhatch Industries or Kath and Sana's parents house. Right. I don't know if you all want to head to either of those two places. They're probably still mad at me. Millhatch Industries? No. Well, sure. Most of Sharn at this point is mad at one of us. Kath and Sana's parents aren't mad at you.
00:02:25
Speaker
I thought I pissed off Sauna's dad pretty good there. Or Eris and I did together. Yeah. Actually, Eris did and I was there. You got some on you. And Kath's dad, specifically, I think, was the one that you were. That's right. Yeah. I mean, we're just working our way through that family. Is the 4Sales open yet? We can always go and help. 4Sales is open whenever we walk in the door. No, I mean to the public. Open to business. Oh, I see. It's still the same. You all left the 4Sales to come to this meeting. Yeah.
00:02:53
Speaker
Yeah. The time dilation. No, you left the four sales and went to Savia's, talked to the bartender, had the conversation, came here. So yeah, you were at the four sales this morning
Eris's Arm Repair Preparation
00:03:02
Speaker
and they were getting stuff set up. So. By my track, our to-do list is as follows. We need to meet.
00:03:09
Speaker
With the disaffected Boromar groups that's being set up by Tarvel, so we don't have any particular control of the timeline on that. Did we give him a communicator? He gave you another coin. Yep, he's got one of those coins. He's got the coin. No, Myla has a coin. Yeah. Tarvel doesn't need a coin. Right. And Eris thinks we should negotiate with Hostar Cannon at some point. Oh no, that's a to-do list. Which that would be down in the cogs. And Eris has a crazy amount of crafting.
00:03:39
Speaker
Yeah, that is true. Do we need to just go back to the cauldron? Well, I mean, there's a degree to which that's real boring content, but potentially. I mean, communicating with Shark Cannon would just be a matter of going in the cogs and like, doing some street wizin' to figure out.
Crafting the Cybernetic Arm
00:03:52
Speaker
Also, Eris is apparently supposed to go to a thing tomorrow. Yes, the garden opening is tomorrow as well. Oh! Unless we're busy. Unless we have other things that we have to do.
00:04:02
Speaker
Eris has enough social cues with all of specifically, you know, all of his reminded Eris like 50 times about the date. And so it would be, be kind of hurt if Eris found a way to blow it off. Well, then let's go to the cogs. I mean, yeah, if that's the thing that Eris wants done, let's go. Did we take Tasha up here? Yeah. Then I suppose we take her back down.
00:04:45
Speaker
Do we even know who? So you encountered like the person that was in charge when you interacted with them, the one that you sold Coldor out to. But that person was like in charge of that operation, right? It wasn't the head of House Tarkanin or do we have any way of knowing? You don't really have any way of knowing based on the information that you have. So as Eric frantically pulls up notes to try and figure out what that person's name was because he knows they had a name.
00:04:49
Speaker
To the cogs. To the cogs. To the cogs. To the cogs. To the cogs. To the cogs. To the cogs. To the cogs. To the cogs.
00:05:13
Speaker
Yep. I don't think we were given the name, weren't we? Eh, maybe not. Alendra. Dark purple skin Tiefling. Okay. So, yeah. That's who you all can recall was in charge when you interacted with House Tarkanen.
Gardening with Hob
00:05:28
Speaker
I guess that's pretty good street wise. Seems like Hobbs knowledge underworld would be. Right. I'm always there to...
00:05:34
Speaker
I know you're the one who has that. Yeah, I've got one ring. I should have put another one in some sort. I bet you have the experience to put a ring in it right now if you wanted to. Yeah, I do in fact. We need to be sneaky. I got two and two. I think I did this right. Nope. Just one second.
00:05:55
Speaker
As we're on our way down, Eris would, I think, say, okay, before we do this, I actually do want to go to the Cauldron, because I feel like there's a non-zero chance that this ends with us in a fight, and I would like to not be quite so disabled before getting into a fight, so I think I need to go finish the fix my arm part of this to-do list before we potentially get into some sort of scrap. Right, I think that's so smart, yeah.
00:06:25
Speaker
get me down to one critical injury. So you're heading to the cauldron? Yes. So Eris is not actually going to magic this up. I'm making a cybernetic item. Basically what this is going to be is it's going to, in the same way that the gauntlet attaches to Eris's
Community Interactions with Durgoth
00:06:43
Speaker
wrist and hand,
00:06:45
Speaker
This is going to attach like a, like a pauldron that's essentially fixed under her shoulder to support the, the damaged tissue underneath the mechanical effect of this other than fixing my injury.
00:07:00
Speaker
is it will increase my soak by one by just putting some extra plating on myself so this is not magical so it's just a matter of cash and deduct that the rarity of this per the book with the cybernetics in it
00:07:17
Speaker
is four which makes the difficulty two okay as the arbiter of how that works in eberron i leave it to you as to whether whether you want to adjust that or not since this is non-magical i use mechanics right yes okay i'm making something get boosts and it gives me that and i think that's
00:07:39
Speaker
Everything. All right. That's a good handful. It is upgrade. I was going to say, I'm up to you. It doesn't have to be like role played out or something, but Eris would definitely get all of his assistance with this. She's working on her own, on her own dominant shoulder. She's going to need, need extra hands and it's going to hurt a whole lot.
Durgoth's Past and Garden's Significance
00:07:56
Speaker
Okay. I've succeeded, but actually somewhat narrowly. So these lack of success being rolled.
00:08:01
Speaker
Yeah, I was gonna say I didn't roll very many successes. Okay, I've ended with two success and five advantage. Okay. So I am fixing that injury. So my brawn is back to normal and my soak increases by one from additional armors. But you didn't heal the critical injury, did you? You just negated? I'm essentially negating it, yes. But you still have the critical injury for the sake of
00:08:30
Speaker
Plus 10. Oh, I suppose that's true. And once you heal the critical injury, then your brawn would go up with another one. I guess that's how we did it with the gauntlet. I don't remember whether the injury ever went away. I thought we just ignored the injury from that point in the line. Yeah, we can say that. Like, brawn brawn? Like, is that the overall score will go up by one?
00:08:48
Speaker
Well, because the critical injury that Eris currently has reduces, reduces it by one. Basically, if I, if I recall what we did with my, with her hand, it was that she, she paid all the costs of the cybernetic to it. But in terms of mechanically, she wasn't still carrying around the injury. Yeah. Because otherwise if we did that, then I brought it as higher than I thought it was. Eris is real strong suddenly. So. Okay. Cool. What are you all doing while she works on that? Just sitting around staring at each other.
00:09:15
Speaker
Hop's got a dowel rod wrapped in leather ray to put in her teeth, but she- cuz he doesn't understand they're using like magic to suppress the pain. He's just like, you know, whiskey in a piece of wood. I mean, just staring in slack jawed one with ridiculous things. We could go see how the garden is coming along. Alright, let's take a walk! Actually, Aeris probably kicks you out cuz she probably has to have her shirt off to do this. That's a great point. Yeah. Yeah!
00:09:35
Speaker
Well, I assume we go either if I mean if I let's us let's go check out the garden I'll be like sure or but if we're getting kicked out, I mean it's either there or For sales. I mean, I mean if you all I mean, yeah Yeah, so you all see a large topiary display that's been trimmed to look like Eris. I Was told no stack No you you see littered pieces of past Fletcher's on the ground and
00:10:02
Speaker
you see it's a it's a pretty warm day in Sharn today and so as you around the corner you see what presumably would have used to have been a small courtyard a lot of the stone has been torn up and then like stacked to create borders and things like that but you see a pretty vibrant display of of various plants from Breeland and you see a large hobgoblin that you've seen before due to the heat he has some like
00:10:32
Speaker
Short pants on just below the knee and no shirt and has some cloth wrapped around his head as he's carrying containers with larger plants and He's getting them set so he's carrying them from like he has a bunch set to the side He goes over and picks up one and takes it out of the container and gets it settled in the dirt and is you know by hand
Seaside's Survival and Refugee Misconceptions
00:10:54
Speaker
packing the dirt, getting it settled, watering it, and that's what you kind of see as you're approaching, is he's just not with any kind of urgency, not with any kind of, he seems to be, well, yeah, I mean, that's what you see. Hob, you know, if we hang around, he's liable to put us to work. Oh, Hob is already walking towards the heavy things, just like if there are heavy things around, I'm going to help. I guess that means we are working. And Milo, if we have things to do, I mean, just let me grab a couple. Oh, no, you're fine, you're fine.
00:11:23
Speaker
Dear God sees you all approaching and raises a hand to wave. Hello. Welcome. I thought we'd come and have a little look and see how things were coming along. It's very nice. Thank you. I am pleased with how things are turning out. The plants are taking better than I hope they would.
00:11:43
Speaker
and you've done all this essentially on your own as people have come they have elected to contribute to the labor of the community but most of the work has been me yes yes and your design and everything
00:11:58
Speaker
Yes, to say that I designed it would be a generous statement. I just, I see the plants and I just tend to know where they need to go. That's very, very lovely. Thank you. Is Hobb putting a plant in the exact wrong place? I mean, no, I mean, it's pretty obvious where he has built up borders with like dirt that has, does Hobb make, so Hobb is carrying the large heavy things over to the spot. Does Hobb attempt to take it out of the container and put it in the dirt?
00:12:24
Speaker
I don't think Hobb is so presumptuous. If he doesn't know how to do it, he's gonna wait and... I mean, unless... How many... How many... When did Hobb see? Like, did this look specialized or did he just pop it out of a container and put it in some dirt? Based on an outside perspective, to Hobb, it would have looked like he popped it out and just... Okay, then Hobb's like, this is gonna go here and starts to pop it out. Um... Hmm.
00:12:50
Speaker
We would find out if Hob is naturally gifted and durning. Among my many skills. What's your intellect, Hob? One. One? Yeah. We just learned about that when I was trying to raise Mike. You're more than welcome to give it a go.
00:13:06
Speaker
I mean, Jeff knows a lot about planting, so I'm trying to think of what Hobb would actually do. Hobb would... Here's what he's seen from gardening at the monastery. You take a new plant, you kind of shake it out a little bit, and then you just drop it in the ground and start putting dirt back over the top. Yeah. So that's what Hobb does. Give me a check. It doesn't necessarily mean knowledge of nature. You can... Gardening check. I mean, it could be athletics because it involves a good deal of upper body strength till this large plant out of it.
00:13:31
Speaker
settle it, it could be... Yeah, I mean, I'm more than happy to hear your pitch on what you'd like to roll. I don't have anything. I guess... This is not what your man was built for. I mean, like I said, it could be athletics, like... Okay, that's true. I mean, that's what I'll use, because I'm good at it. How hard? The difficulty is just going to be too red. I'm sorry, too purple. It sounds like cheese. It's just too red. These are very temperamental plants. This is a plant that'll explode. It's not planted properly. All right, I succeeded.
00:13:59
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I think it's just two success is your final check. And then those two go away or no, that's two success on there. I thought it was six.
00:14:13
Speaker
Three success. Three success. It took way too long. I, it's been a minute. No, you're good. So yeah, Durgoth kind of watches you hob as you do it. And as you, as you look up after like setting the dirt, he just kind of gives you a very like, like a curtain nod of well done. Well, you know, the plant knows what to do. I just had to get it in the ground. Indeed. What if I just carry some of these smaller ones to the proper location and allow you to set them? That'd be most appreciated.
00:14:41
Speaker
Very well. I'll get to it. And as you all are doing this, Durgoth also begins caring and setting plans and asks, are you all, I've seen you all around quite a bit. Where in the district do you live? I don't live in the district. And nor do I. High walls doesn't seem to be the type of district that attracts many visitors. What brings you around here so frequently? We have friends that live here. Yes.
00:15:06
Speaker
come by to spend time with them. It's good. Also, we love the foresales and it just relocated. And so we'll be here even more often. Oh, is that that airship, the ship that just... It's a restaurant. They've got seafood. We heard it was in demand down here. They have seafood. Yeah, troops.
00:15:24
Speaker
That, like, Durogoth doesn't make any sense to hide it. That seems to be very intriguing to Durogoth. Okay, heck yeah. That's very good food. No, it's... Your first scallop entree is on me. Just tell Ulfin and I'll cover it. Appreciate it. I will let... Scallops specifically, if you try to get to Laphia, so help me. That's on you, buddy. I will let Ulfin... no. Alright, he runs the joint. It's all very new for you. No, it's just, it's nice to see that non-Kyrans would...
00:15:52
Speaker
befriend and visit. Residents of this district tend to face a certain level of disdain from the citizens of Shawn, so it's nice to see that some of those barriers might be breaking down. Has he never seen us with Eris?
00:16:07
Speaker
I mean, Hob has helped him, like, carry dirty stuff. Yeah, he's seen me walk with her. But he hasn't had, like, a substantial conversation of, like, where are you all? Right. This is where my friend lives. So I come here sometimes. Yeah. Some of them right here, right now at your house here. Yeah. But that is... Yes. That is an abnormal situation, given the nature of the Chiron refugee situation in Charlotte. That tends to be a very cloistered group. You know what? I think he might say, Hob might say, we're not stepping on toes by coming so often, are we?
00:16:37
Speaker
I don't. He doesn't go on to say, our friends didn't spend as much time in Cairo as some of you might have. She may not know all the customs. No, honestly. And Durgoth, to that statement, kind of stops for a second. No, sorry. He doesn't go so far to say that part. I think I said it out loud. But that's what Hob is thinking. Oh, crap. What did Eris forget about? Durgoth just says, no, it's I think that honestly, most people would presume that you are refugees of the morning given
Durgoth's Garden Philosophy
00:17:06
Speaker
that you're seeing here I think that people would assume anyone spending time in high walls has that shared history with them that was and I don't begrudge you this but that was my assumption about you all is that that was a an experience that we shared so I mean based on that statement you all know that like he's right he survived the morning looks like you were to say something Randy I see the same thing
00:17:31
Speaker
yeah yeah look and still you still have the work like you're still you want to just give it a shot i think maybe your maybe your face knows you want to say something my brain does not no i just noticed that your your friend wears a kyran military coat so i thought that perhaps she so she seems young but not so young she is kyran and i believe is a identify strongly with her own so
00:17:56
Speaker
Despite having not served and he knows that right? I mean, obviously did you did you speak? I'm trying to remember if you spoke goblin to jurgoth when you all interacted trying to recall I Think she price a tot that counts not extensively, but I think she probably has used I think she has greeted him in goblin. Okay
00:18:16
Speaker
No, I'm originally from Dargun, obviously, but things change and I found myself residing in Kaya. Well, Dargun would have been Kaya when he was young. Well, he's like... Yeah, he's like the opposite of what happened to Iris. I decided to move to Seaside, which was coastal Kaya, and lived out my days there until the morning happened. I think Hobbs has done a couple more plants over the course of that, and am I getting the sense that
00:18:46
Speaker
Durgoth wants us to be around and chat, or is he like, you've kind of messed with my zen of my gardening by being here. Give me a perception check. Yeah, that one. One red, one purple. Very private individual, this Durgoth. No, he's not necessarily private. He's inscrutable. It's difficult to read him. Not for Hob. It's one success, two advantage. One success, two advantage.
00:19:08
Speaker
You get the sense that you had a couple of boosts also that I think got passed at one point that haven't been rolled yet if you want to roll them to see. Well, that's a whole lot. This is the sort of thing I should blow a boost on, Eric. Well, they were passed, so the thing is like they didn't give them. They're not infinite. Yeah, I should have used them for the last one, but I didn't. Three advantage.
00:19:28
Speaker
You get the sense from Durgoth that like he said, his interactions have been almost exclusive with people that have that shared experience of either like losing their home because of the morning or a direct interaction with the morning in some capacity. So you get the sense that like speaking to people that don't have an intimate knowledge of that circumstance and that situation
00:19:57
Speaker
is odd but welcomed. Okay. You have three advantage. Yeah I know. You could introduce an additional rub to your read on Durgoth if you wanted to make a pitch on some other attitude that he has or something else that hot reads or you can pass an upgrade to the next check.
00:20:18
Speaker
I think it's just gonna have to be passed an upgrade. Okay. There's nothing here for me right now. Okay. But he says then obviously after the morning came came here and was sent to this place. Now something that is notable is Durgok didn't like start showing up to you all until well after you all had started him around here. Right. And he just told you he came here immediately after the morning so he was in the district but yeah. But I wasn't in the district.
00:20:48
Speaker
Well, but what I'm saying is, the time when Hobb started hanging out in the district, there was a decent stretch of time where Durgok started showing his, like, being around, I guess. Yeah, I guess. So we saw him working on the big garden.
00:21:05
Speaker
I'm trying to remember if he's already told us why he's doing this, though. I don't want to ask a question he's already answered. The only thing that he's spoken about is why he didn't want the golem's help, that it is a... That there is a certain level of respect he has for the physical labor of it.
Invitation to Garden Opening
00:21:22
Speaker
So, Durgoth, why all this? Is it just to beautify the place, to feed people? I mean, those are good reasons, but... I, during the war, I was a scout, and I would be sent north out of Dargoon into Kire, and I would find myself in these wooded areas in Kire, and I would find some solace away from the war in those places, and eventually took up gardening as a hobby when I wasn't
00:21:51
Speaker
on active duty. Then I was on the outskirts of the dancing forest in Kaya and we were being pushed to burn down a forest that a Chiron camp had been set up in. And I, Philip, you might know off the top of your head or be able to look it up quicker. Goblin, or come up with it for me. Goblin word for traitor. Like somebody that abandons their duty.
00:22:14
Speaker
If he says Todd, I'll get it. I got the world anvil translation if you guys want that. I'm just not sure. It is with Todd. If anybody was wondering.
00:22:26
Speaker
This is very funny. I'm looking I found I found goblin etymology. I'm enjoying myself now. I see why you're into this, right? According to world anvil the goblin word for traitor is a compound word of the goblin words for betrayal and asshole or whatever it was you told me taught means What is yours Jeff
00:22:50
Speaker
Kappa tat. Kappa tat. Kappa is betrayal and tat is tat. Oh, yeah, there it is. Kappa betrayal. Yeah. So, yeah, Durkhaat says I became Kappa tat. And, and upstairs blankly, he knows tat, but I don't waste more on yourself, buddy.
00:23:06
Speaker
I betrayed everything that I'd known, and bounty was placed on my head by my former comrades. So I fled, and I made my way through Kaia working as an apothecary and gardener, healing people. Then I settled in Seaside and had a garden in the courtyard of the town, tending to it when I heard the cries and the alarm raised. Tell me this. The first-hand accounts of morning survivors are
00:23:37
Speaker
like a known story like everyone's everyone's heard one so morning survivors typically speaks to people that lived on the borders of Kyra they were able to outrun the mists any accounts of somebody that like got trapped in the mist that survived our urban legend usually but
00:23:55
Speaker
Durgoth's story I've heard enough similar to know like he didn't go into details I probably heard a detailed story of somebody who's had to deal with that that I can Empathize yeah, probably from Hobbes perspective. Yes Milo give me a Knowledge lore check with a two purple difficulty what I'm kind of asking is hob knows how to respond to this if it's with like a
00:24:20
Speaker
Yes, but, Hob, like, there's a specific rub to the survivors of Seaside. Sure. That Hob probably hasn't heard about, just because Hob may not have...
Completion of Eris's Cybernetic Arm
00:24:32
Speaker
Say, too purple? Too purple. I think I do. That's a lot of success. That's a lot of success. That's what I wanted to say. That goes away. And that takes away... Those.
00:24:45
Speaker
at three success and advantage milo running keg bottoms probably in the wake of the morning you heard stories from maybe somebody that was probably not a survivor but you you heard stories from probably people that rescued them
00:25:02
Speaker
But the survivors of Seaside, because it was on the coast, they fled to the small, it's a very small town and they had like a dock, like on the edge of the massive lake that Kyra borders. And so that was the only place that they could run to.
00:25:23
Speaker
And so the mist stopping at the border of Kire was four feet away from them. So they couldn't outrun the mists and probably had accepted their fate, seeing the mist coming to them and not having anywhere that they could go. And it just stopped just short of. So it's like the most horrifying version of surviving the morning because they would have been very close and have accepted what was going to happen to them.
00:25:47
Speaker
is kind of what you would know about seaside survivors. So basically they the ones that escaped escaped to the lake. They didn't even like yeah I mean but they were they were found on the docks. Oh okay.
00:26:03
Speaker
like huddling together from the mists so stories i've heard it was a very very hard time so you essentially you you barely escaped yes i um yes were they like rescued by a sea route like picked up
00:26:23
Speaker
it by boat and taken yeah eventually they were found on the docks and and somebody came and got them okay just just yeah the story but but but i'm sorry i'm just trying yeah that story hasn't like i feel like that's the story everyone would hear i mean it's it's one of those things where prop like not properly factually like the people that rescued them told that story sure probably the people that experienced it don't like relay it to people right
00:26:49
Speaker
so so yeah it's it's something that's not super widely known because it would have been three or four people that were on that boat that rescued them and they would be the ones talking about it so but I'm here now and thankfully those of us that that made it made it so
00:27:08
Speaker
but to answer your question that's why I do this is nature has always been something that I found solace in and something that and he kind of touches one of the leaves has the capacity to heal so um sorry I need to return to my home to get some tools but I appreciate your all's assistance and feel free to to come tomorrow to the opening I guess I don't
00:27:30
Speaker
that was something that the community wanted to do to celebrate it being finished i i don't know what to expect honestly i just started this because i wanted to and other people seem to have made a thing
Strategizing Next Moves
00:27:41
Speaker
out of it so this will definitely be here and you know they're gonna they're gonna do the whole fixer thing probably and i think you know air is well enough to know that she's not gonna take it well and i also think you know her well enough to know that that is not a personal affront to you but
00:27:58
Speaker
We're all very glad that you've put this here. It beautifies the place and is also functionally beneficial. No, I understand the reluctance to be seen in certain circumstances, so I do not begrudge. Sure. Eris that.
00:28:15
Speaker
Well then it sounds like it was not your intent when you first started to make the garden. No. Just kind of developed into that. Your friend suggested a statue of her, but I thought that sounded rather silly. As did we. I hope she won't be disappointed. Anyway, thank you all for your time and I will see you tomorrow. Farewell. Farewell. And that probably took enough time to where Eris has wrapped up her project.
00:28:40
Speaker
how you look yeah i mean well by the time you come back eris has she's wearing a tank top or something and she stays essentially there's articulated armored plates running over her shoulder and down down her bicep and that roughly match the the same metallic style as the as the gauntlet around her arm around her wrist and hand
00:29:04
Speaker
And so when you come back, she's just, she's going through a range of motion with, with all of all of us checking it to make sure nothing's buckling or anything like that. Is it like your arm's still in there, right? Yes. Okay. Okay. Cool. I just wondering, it wouldn't make a difference how I feel about you. I don't know. Yes. My arm is still there.
00:29:21
Speaker
and it looks amazingly functional and she only she only wins twice oh it says with his smirk so like does it do stuff like i just don't ever know with you aris like is it just an arm to protect your arm or like
00:29:36
Speaker
I mean, it, it does have the functionality of it. It is armored now, but mostly it's just compensating for whatever is, whatever those ghosts tore up inside me. Sure. So it doesn't just, I'm asking now, like you didn't use it up. It doesn't like add strength or anything. This is not, it adds, it adds soak and a point of range defense. Okay. Protection. Love it. So what, what are you all up to for the rest of the day? Two o'clock tomorrow.
00:30:02
Speaker
Yes. Oh, we'll all be there. Oh, excellent. And it's coming along nicely. Yeah, we were actually just chatting with Duroth. Right. He's, you know, doing fine or whatever. As far as the rest of the day. We have some more negotiating today. Yeah, that's probably the big, I mean, Tarval, we're waiting for Tarval to tell us he's ready to talk. And who knows how long it's going to take for him to rally that information for us. Right. Hob has no personal enrichment to do right now. So does Milo?
00:30:31
Speaker
I thought we were going to have gym class. I was listening to the latest episode that dropped on the way over here. You already like gave yourself, you already got your strength points. So if you want to act to that, we can, but that's funny.
Meeting Narn & Recruitment Challenges
00:30:42
Speaker
So should we head to the cogs then? Right. Seems alike.
00:30:47
Speaker
Be careful. Yeah. Do the best. And Olive turns back to her harness hanging from the ceiling and grabs some tools to climb up and continue working on them. Okay. You all head down to the cogs and don't run into any significant issues as you get down there. You, as you enter the cogs, you see Narn standing there. Um, and he says, Hob, how's it going? I'm pretty good. Good.
00:31:14
Speaker
Good. What brings you down to the cogs? We just have a meeting with some folks down here. Neat. Yeah, but it's not interesting. How's, I guess, recruiting going? It's fine. A little slow, past few days, less people coming in, but there's been some stuff going on in Droem that less people are coming to Sharn from there, so slowing things down down here. Things are getting better, like infrastructure overhauls in Droem.
00:31:42
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. You hear things. Sure, sure, sure, sure. So interesting. I'm trying to think how probably would have left before the Daughters of Swordkill started doing stuff in Jo-Am. So Hot probably wouldn't even be aware of who they were. So yeah, so hopefully things will pick up again soon. But we'll see. So well, have fun at your meeting. Yeah, thanks.
00:32:04
Speaker
If you ever want to do some side work for House Dennett, you know where to find me. I've got to tell you the truth. As much as I enjoyed your company, I hated working for House Dennett. I know. It was an obligation, not a pleasure. I know. But I want to tell you, the consistent bird, have you been there lately? Because that's where you took them, right? Yeah. Totally overhauled. They've got like
00:32:22
Speaker
little fellas that'll cut your meat for you now, and the whole thing's pretty rad. So like halflings that come to the table? No, tiny warforged. Tiny warforged. And they let you keep, well they let, all right, they let this one guy that I was there with keep him, but I think that guy just gets a lot of things he wants. I don't know this, that's policy. So you may not want to try, but you know, food's still good. I mostly just want to see these tiny warforged. They're tiny warforged! I thought they were like six foot minimum. Well they're not like imbued warforged.
00:32:53
Speaker
What are they then? Automata? Right? That's what they are, right? I'm not crazy? Yeah. Okay. It's more about, it's just an aesthetic thing. Okay. Look, Darn, they're cool, man. Hey, I was just confused. You said tiny warforged. I know what warforged. No, you're right. I was confused. No, I know what I did. I'm just making sure. Well, you said tiny fellas at first, and then we eventually got here. Right. I missed you, bud. We have fun. Yeah. And you also see the knoll in the top hat also at the other table across the way. Excellent. Starling it. Narn. His name.
00:33:22
Speaker
I don't think we ever gave him anything. I don't think he's ever had a name. Yeah, just a fancy knoll with a top hat. That's not who I got the speeder from. He was a lion. Yeah, Leonin. Yeah, he was he was a member in Dask. Right, right. And he's dead. That's how I got the. Yes, very good. Right. Well, he fell. We didn't see a corpse. Like I did my best to death.
Meeting with Lady Thora Tarkannon
00:33:39
Speaker
OK, so what's the plan to try and track down House Tarkannon down here, gang? Streetwise. OK, who would like to make that role? I'm pretty good at it. Would Narn have any info on that, maybe?
00:33:50
Speaker
I don't really want to ask anyone about the criminal assassins guild that we're trying to contact. Third house employee. Even if it is not. One employee of one house. What's the difficulty of a streetwise check for this? The difficulty to track down house Tarkannon down in the cogs. It'd be too red, but you do have a free upgrade coming your way from a previous check. Cool. And you also have all of the story points if you would like to. I shall flip a story point.
00:34:19
Speaker
We are going to see we can catch a despair of it. I can't imagine those not succeeding here He said like an idiot for yellow to green take a boost because you you know what some of them look like Okay, as you've interacted with a large group of them before positively. Yeah, we did not catch a despair Okay Okay, very successful for success and one advantage for
00:34:45
Speaker
or success one advantage. Okay, so yeah, Eris, it doesn't take you long. I mean, one thing that you do recall is Alundra had very distinct horns for a tiefling rather than like ram style. They were vertical horns that spiraled up. And so Streetwise kind of looking around and asking around after this person, it does not take you long to be pointed in the direction of Alundra. You had one advantage. What would you like to do with that?
00:35:13
Speaker
I'll set up a boost for this conversation.
00:35:16
Speaker
So yeah, you're, you're pointed in a certain direction and you eventually, yeah, you see a tiefling woman with dark purple skin, vertical spiral horns, kind of leaning on the corner of a building, talking with a couple other people. And yeah, you note that her clothing, like I said, it's a hot day. It's even hotter down in the cogs, but her top, the sleeves come down. It's like a raglan length, like halfway down the forearm.
00:35:44
Speaker
and she's got trousers on and boots and she sees you all coming and it takes a moment but Eris has a very distinctive look and then like kind of gives you a nod like it's a good sign it took her a moment to really recognize us because that means that they haven't already put out a hit on us actually that's a solid line of logic yeah and then looking at the other two you all also have distinctive features about you of the scar someone I want dead I recall them immediately right yeah
00:36:11
Speaker
Hey occurred to me as we were walking out that maybe they had already been hired to murder us And this was a really bad idea, so I feel really good about this now Hobbs just starts crying immediately like Hey funny seeing you all down here, sir Is it y'all don't I know you don't live in the cogs Oh, no, okay people don't come down here to hang out that often so what do you live in the cogs you just worked out?
00:36:37
Speaker
I'm... I'm... I have a place down here. So we have some news that may be useful to you and a proposition that you might wish to hear. It would be better in private. Alright. And she looks at the other two people standing there. One is a gnome and the other one is a gnoll.
00:37:01
Speaker
And she kind of nods to a door of the building they're leaning against and she walks over and opens it up and gestures for you all to go inside. You first, Hob. Yeah, sure. I mean, yeah. Hob tenses every muscle he's got ready to get smacked as soon as he walks through the doorway.
00:37:19
Speaker
Yeah, hub, as you enter and then presumably as the rest of you follow, this seems to be a very functional space. There are small like single beds with foot lockers at the base. There's like a weapons rack. And I mean, yeah, it seems like a a safe house slash barrack as opposed to a home. And there's there's some chairs and a small table. Take a seat. OK.
00:37:44
Speaker
So we're hoping to speak to the leader of your organization. You see a lenders eyebrows kind of shoot up for a second.
00:37:54
Speaker
we know from some of our own experience that you have that your organization has an arrangement with House Boromar and there's some things going on within I'm sorry the Boromar clan I said house within the Boromar clan that it's probably a mistake that gets made yeah that it gives me in my head almost all the time may impact
00:38:19
Speaker
your ability to operate and frankly you're not you're having to take a minute to recognize us suggests that you are not have not been brought into the loop by the Boromar clan as to some of the developments that are going on inside the clan or you're just covering very well i don't know which but if you've been left in the dark about it then it's you you'll probably be annoyed by that or at least i would so we're hoping to
00:38:46
Speaker
have a frank conversation about things that are currently and also about to start happening in the clan.
00:38:56
Speaker
and get the temperature of your organization on where you might stand in all of this. Elintric kind of nods at yours. Well, no, there's not a hit out for you all, if that was... The thought occurred to me. It's reassuring. But we have felt Satan's death. The house is cloistered up a bit, at least insofar as my reach.
00:39:19
Speaker
extends, but I am far from the top of the pecking order in our house. In terms of getting you a meeting with Lady Tarkannon, let me... I have a means to contact her. Do you have any additional information you can give me to relay to her to make this meeting worth her while?
00:39:40
Speaker
I promise we will not waste her time. There are some rumblings going on. There are some ways in which the clan and its leadership are more in flux than they may seem. And it seems to me that there would be some opportunities
00:39:56
Speaker
for the various organizations that the clan has kept or attempted to keep subordinate to benefit from and have some control over how all of this shakes out. Okay. I'll go talk to her. Tell her all of that. Mostly because of you giving us heads up about that. Darkly a turn.
00:40:21
Speaker
I appreciate you remembering. Of course. I'm sad that he got away since we did not just want to make him, but... Here's nods. Alundra gets up and goes through a door in the back of the room and shuts it behind her and the gnome and the gnoll kind of look at you all and
00:40:41
Speaker
Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
00:40:58
Speaker
as the as the gnoll starts to deal cards has not told you what game you all are playing yet the gnome looks at the three of you and is like so forgive the question but why come to us we don't get many outsiders coming to us for anything honestly well we've been a part of the clan and your organization is somewhat attached to the clan so
00:41:23
Speaker
Not entirely outside. Yes. It's just to most people with the boogeyman. Well, that's just That's just nonsense. Is it nonsense? It's an earned reputation. They're they're the assassin boys Well, they're also aberrant marked. Well, that's right. That's that that's the boogeyman thing We had a meeting with we had a meeting with people who had petrified somebody I mean
00:41:47
Speaker
on the scale of horrible people we've met. Oh, sure. Y'all don't write as horrible yet.
00:41:55
Speaker
Thank you. So far what I've seen is you were unhappy that somebody had lied to you about who they were. That track is normal to me. We are all so annoyed that it's cooled off a bit but your clan was using Thirani for assassinations instead of us and we make good money killing people. We have some, yeah. That is one of the things that we would hopefully speak to. She said Lady Tarkanen. Yes, Lady Tarkanen. I don't know why it never occurred to me there was actually someone called Tarkanen.
00:42:25
Speaker
It's an... A lot of members of the house use the surname Tarkhanen, but it's an assumed name to kind of represent that all Abrant marks are one extended family. There's like... There was a guy that was actually named Tarkhanen, but he died a long time ago. I see.
00:42:41
Speaker
Dale's our cannon but no she she set us up here in Sean out and the Dark Lanterns tried to murder all of us when we were initially getting started but she held them off and thankfully here we are so hence why we were so jumpy about a Dark Lantern
00:43:01
Speaker
So, Alundra comes back out and she says that she's willing to meet with you all in her estate up on... Hold please. Up on fancyton. Uh, not quite that fancy.
00:43:14
Speaker
Oh, what's the, it's the great Muppet caper where she's like, what's your address? One, two, three big expensive planes. That is not it. Exactly. But it's similar enough forever since I've seen that one. Middle central plateau, which you all know is where all a lot of the dragon marked house. Highbrow street. Highbrow street. And also where the highbrow street, the ambassador and embassy district is as well. So yeah, we can escort you all there. If you have a mean to transport grade, if not, we can.
00:43:42
Speaker
Yeah, we have a skiff. Oh, do we? Okay. So, yeah. You all... We hang out with a skiff. We don't have a skiff. That's true. A skiff is part of our crew. Yeah. That's skiffs with us. So, yeah, they direct you to the closest Skydoc. Do you all talk to them about anything on the drive or... I mean, presumably there would be idle chitchat, but...
00:44:02
Speaker
Eris is not relaxed. Eris feels like there's a lot of... This was her idea, and she's very concerned that it's all going to go terribly wrong. I am currently realizing that I have agreed for Eris' plan to go to a second location with the assassin house. Yes. Yeah. And Hob's not scared, but he's aware. To their place. Yeah. To their place. Yeah. Where presumably there are other assassins.
00:44:29
Speaker
Hobbs thinking about getting into guns, if that gives you any indication. Yeah. As you all get close to Middle Central Plateau, kind of not assuaging your fears at all. Sure. Alindra says, now the only reason you all are meeting her here is because I vouched for you all looking out for us in the past. So this is not a public facing location of House Tarkan. This is, if you tell anyone, I will relish getting to exact vengeance. Oh, I understand that. So.
00:44:59
Speaker
Who'd be really weird if you as an assassin's guild had a public facing location? Well, additionally the more concerned about the aberrant mark thing because that's you know, there's assassin guilds every one I might tell is already in this boat. I Because I assure you I would never tell you have done us a good turn. You have vouched for us. We will not let you down
00:45:20
Speaker
appreciate that. So yeah, you all are led by Alundra and you see as as you all get near the sky dock, the gnome begins doing some gestures and you see a faint glow. Anybody that's seated behind him through his shirt of some like jagged lines and stuff.
00:45:39
Speaker
And you see him, Alundra, and the gnome, or not the gnome, the gnoll, their forms begin to change. But it doesn't seem like a mask like you've done before. And it also doesn't seem comfortable. It's like their bodies are like, like their bones are reshaping and their bodies are physically changing form, but they've done it enough to where they're just kind of wincing.
00:46:02
Speaker
and then after a moment you are now with a halfling man and elf woman and a shifter that are dressed well like they're they're dressed like bureaucrats not like fancy but dressed well okay follow us right does hob have that kind of reaction or
00:46:20
Speaker
Hob has seen a lot of things, so he doesn't have an outward reaction, but it's... This was different, though. This was like, it's... It was... You could hear the bones cracking in, like... In the sense... Seen a lot of things in the sense that he's able to control his, like, gag reflex. Yeah. It... It affected him. Yeah. Especially the... The Knoll seemed to have the... Because the Knoll's whole, like, head and neck structure got reshaped into... I see Milo wincing at every crunch. Yeah. There you go.
00:46:48
Speaker
And, uh, yeah, Lender says, follow me. And you all are led through to the district where the house enclaves are. So like you've been here before when you had to deal with boom rush. And also when you all had to get Raynard's dagger back from the civis enclave, because it was way, way back when.
00:47:09
Speaker
Remember Downtime episode? Hilarious prank that that was. But you all find yourself in front of a mansion basically that's nestled between these enclaves looks like a really nice large house not as nice and bougie as like Kath and Sana's parents place but much nicer than you would expect the leader of House Tarkannon to be holed up in.
00:47:31
Speaker
And yeah, Alundra walks the front door and opens it and gestures for you all to enter. The gnome and the knoll, I'm going to call them by their actual, not their disguises. Enter before you all, though, as Alundra opens the door and gestures for you to follow. And for Penny, would I go in first or would I go in after you? I don't know. What would Hobb do? I don't know, man. You're covered in guns. It's true. Probably let you go first. You're also covered in guns. Hey.
00:47:59
Speaker
And I'm just mild-mannered, meek-looking fella. You're definitely in the middle. With smoke coming out of his head. So as you all are crossing, you see the gnome and the knoll leading towards a door on the first floor. It's actually a set of double doors.
00:48:16
Speaker
and as the doors open the doors open as you're approaching and you see a very kind of severe looking human man with a furrowed brow kind of walk out and walk past you all and kind of eyes especially hob up and down because hob has so much exposed skin that he takes note of something as he looks you up and down if you would like to make it
00:48:37
Speaker
Check in that regard. Severe-looking man, like a disapproving butler or? No, this seems to be covered in angles. He's just a very angular dude. He's what I was picturing. Eris, give me your background. Like this person like fought in the last war, like fought in the last war, saw some stuff, has like lived a lot of life and it weighs heavy on their shoulders. Okay. Too purple. Okay. I did this wrong. No boosts out. There was one advantage. There was one boost. So yeah, one boost. I have failed. Wow.
00:49:07
Speaker
Okay. Pass a couple of boost. Yeah, I was passing boost and I learned nothing. Sure. Yeah. This guy just, he disapproves of us. Yep.
00:49:14
Speaker
Your failure, like, you've been mean mugged before, Hob. Like, you're a bouncer. Like, you get the sense this guy's mean mugging you. Maybe looking for a fight. You want to fight about it? Thankfully, I have the discipline as a bouncer to not fight every guy who mean mugs me. Just punch him already. Right? You like the way that guy's looking at you? But you all also note that this guy is looking Hob up and down as he walks past you all. I assume it's jealousy.
00:49:39
Speaker
Alundra is bringing up the the rear of you all and yeah the the gnome and the gnome walk into the double doors that were just opened and if you all continue following you walk in and see a very well-appointed office set up a large desk bookshelves nice seating area once again not what you were anticipating presumably House Tarkan and underground assassins guild of aberrant marked individuals
00:50:02
Speaker
But you see a kind of beleaguered looking red-headed woman sitting behind the desk and she looks up and says, hello, how can I
Conclusion and Promotions
00:50:12
Speaker
help you? And sees a lunge, and it's like, Lady Thora, these are the people that I told you about. Well, let's talk Baltimore then. End of episode.
00:50:20
Speaker
Thank you all so much for listening. If you want to be part of the conversation surrounding this episode, you can head over to our Discord link, which you can find on all of our socials, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, at the Geek Pantheon. We also have a YouTube channel, youtube.com slash Geek Pantheon, where you can see me making TTRPG content. Philip, go!
00:50:36
Speaker
There's also a YouTube channel called The Laughing Tree where you can see another actual play using 5th edition called Kyber Shards. I'm the GM, Eric's player. With a different version of Thora. With a different version? Yes, the streams are crossing. If you want to financially support the show, you can do so over at patreon.com slash thegeekpantheon, or you can buy some merch over at thegeekpantheon.com. Thank you all so much for listening. I've been your game master, Eric and Philip. I'm Randy. I'm Jeff. We'll see you next time.