Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
C3 Episode 30 Bright Moons Rising Chapter Nine
335 Plays8 days ago
Time to return to base with a new friend
Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/5YGEPY4mvb
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of our amazing Show Sponsors: Laura Pickrahn, Irene Viorritto, 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 of the Hosts
00:00:00
Speaker
D20 um threaten with the coach twenty Radio, at your
00:00:16
Speaker
yeah
00:00:23
Speaker
Hello, and welcome to Eberron Renewed, an actual play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I am your game master, Eric. I'm Nia. I'm Philip. I'm Madison. I'm Jeff. And welcome to another episode. Folks, what happened last time?
00:00:37
Speaker
We solved a problem. Yes. Everyone was happy. Yes. yeah Stick around to find out. with No. they're something Yeah. My new best friend. Sorry, guys.
00:00:51
Speaker
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Urumi's Role and the Creepy Butler
00:00:56
Speaker
Yeah. u Rumi is a runaway war forged that we invited to come help keep an eye on our creepy butler.
00:01:06
Speaker
Kind of. Among their duties will be... Oh no, that's that's definitely Urumi's primary duty. Listen, when we say the word pomegranate, you kill the butler.
00:01:18
Speaker
Don't kill Alget.
00:01:21
Speaker
Yes. Any reason.
Past Events and Nyx Tension
00:01:24
Speaker
There there was more. There was the giant... Deep root is it is a giant tree. yeah i have an acorn now. Might be illegal. and But... definitely that That was important to me.
00:01:36
Speaker
That's all I am contributing to this. I mean, they haven't dropped yet since we recorded them. Is the last episode the one where we killed? What's his name? Or was that two with two episodes ago? Oh. That's two episodes ago.
00:01:47
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Yes, yes. Ladislav. He had jeweler's tools on him. I have written down as though it was important. Oh, yeah. Did you take them? We did them. We took everything that was on him, yes. Okay. So I absolutely... I said I grabbed the jeweler's tool. That's why wrote it down. You loaded that Oh.
00:02:03
Speaker
Yes. Yes. Because that's where we got all of the communications, so the missives with steering. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. and And you all had to talk Nix down from killing. That was where my focus was. Yeah.
00:02:17
Speaker
Trayna, right? Yeah. the third
00:02:22
Speaker
Real casual. And then you went back, spoke to Harlan about the situation. and yeah, Davin agreed to be Prut's terms to go back to before production ramped up.
00:02:35
Speaker
And yeah because importantly, the country of Kire was like, i mean, if they can't, they can't. We get it. No one believed me. No one i said it. No one believed me. yeah i I acknowledge that. Nyx was absolutely certain the government was not going to be chill. Yeah. Okay.
00:02:55
Speaker
okay So you all were headed back to Athelhampton
Return to Athelhampton Manor
00:03:00
Speaker
Manor. Yeah. ah Just outside of Calizart. On the River Piddle. Yes.
00:03:06
Speaker
One day get tired of that. yeah I bet not. I'm betting against that. I like to wish that I could be better.
00:03:17
Speaker
We picked this place because of that river. It was it was up there, yeah. You all are headed back. So, as you are traveling on the road...
00:03:29
Speaker
Give me Philip, roll a d12. Okay.
00:03:35
Speaker
Seven. Okay.
00:03:39
Speaker
For the first leg of your journey, nothing happens. Mia, roll a d12.
00:03:47
Speaker
Do it. Look at the chat, Eric. Oh. Mia doesn't have dice. yeah yeah ah She for me. You got it. That's a one. Okay. Good.
00:04:00
Speaker
that's jeff roll a d twelve for me you got it that's a one thank good It's fine. We still don't know what it means.
00:04:12
Speaker
And you never will. You all return to Athelhemp
Mission Briefing with Javier
00:04:16
Speaker
to Minner without issue. So. Okay. I'm absolutely convinced that that the the the scale changes every time or has never had any meaning whatsoever.
00:04:27
Speaker
There is meaning. i will I will assure you that there is meaning. Okay. So. You all arrive probably evening-ish.
00:04:38
Speaker
You all have been gone for a few days now. It's like you know all left on like the 9th of Volt, so it's probably like the 12th or 13th of Volt at this point.
00:04:49
Speaker
So you all return. Javier's in his office. As soon as you approach the door, though, the f front door opens and you see Algot Frisk standing there.
00:05:01
Speaker
Welcome, Master's.
00:05:06
Speaker
I'm opposed to that terminology. Can we put in a request to get that changed? I am always open to feedback.
Warforged Security and Legalities
00:05:16
Speaker
that feel I didn't but realize he would respond to that. I am standing right here. He's he's a dude there. Last So, I don't...
00:05:26
Speaker
last time he he didn't really talk say so i don't I'm just gonna go away. Welcome, ho. And he gestures for you all to enter the house.
00:05:38
Speaker
Do you think he's amenable to feedback about being substantially less creepy? No. I don't think it should be the first feedback he gets.
00:05:50
Speaker
Let's wait till there's something concrete. but like I think we could make a concrete list of what makes him creepy. ah yeah I don't think I'm allowed to include myself in writing that list because I feel like the similar reasons would also apply to me.
00:06:09
Speaker
So as the resident creepy, some self-reflection val is not ready for yet. Yes. So for, it's For me and Madison, you need to know that Jeff and I are awful to butlers yes on this podcast. Characteristically.
00:06:25
Speaker
yeah Charlie well loved us and we loved Charlie. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. He loved it. We called him Charlie. Most of all. ah His name was Charlie.
00:06:38
Speaker
You called him Chuck. That's right. That's what I call him Charlie. His name was Charlie. He already had a nickname. um Anyway. Fans of campaign one will enjoy that.
00:06:51
Speaker
ah So are you all headed to hobbyist's office to debrief? Seems likely, yeah. Yeah, i mean, that's kind of the... That's the M.O., right? Yeah.
00:07:03
Speaker
It is a bit later in the day, so you see um Javier isn't, like, in his PJs or anything, but he's definitely more dressed down than he typically is when you all are meeting with him.
00:07:16
Speaker
um ah Still in slacks, but in a, like, looser-fitting... almost like a t-shirt, like a short sleeve tunic tucked into the slacks.
00:07:28
Speaker
hey he looks up at you all. Oh, but welcome back. how but Have a seat. Excited to hear how things went.
00:07:37
Speaker
Does Arumi sit inside? ah Yeah, when Arumi rounds the corner, Javier looks like, hi.
00:07:49
Speaker
We hired someone. We made a friend. Those are two different things.
00:07:56
Speaker
I assumed you wouldn't mind one more. ae Sure. Yeah. ah There wasn't really a choice either. Sorry.
00:08:09
Speaker
Yeah, Javier is very taken aback because once again, this is like pre... like cost yeah Security on the grounds could probably... be improved and Urumi was in need of a of new employment did Urumi tell us how he was disguising himself previous to was an amulet he had ah an amulet but it got lost on the boar so he and we will need to replace that ability if we want him outside ever I mean you can well okay the could an aristocrat hire a warforged civilians buy warforged Eric
00:08:50
Speaker
I know. Do we have neighbors on the other side of the river piddle? Yes. If it would make you feel better to call it hiring. But people come by the house.
00:09:04
Speaker
Could someone with enough money hire a warforged for personal use from the chaos? I'm going to say that as of right now, in the timeline, no. It is exclusively government contracts that can purchase large amounts of warforged. So it would be weird for a warforged to not be part of an army.
00:09:21
Speaker
Then we need to talk to Hendrick about way to disguise Could we convince someone? Would it be plausible to convince someone that a roomie just at a casual glance an automata?
00:09:36
Speaker
that Hendrick has built. like Potentially. is ah is anyone walking by, unless they come close and expect him, is anyone going to notice this? like Because yeah we're the creepy manor up on the hill. it's not like right It's not like there's a ton of traffic coming and out of our door.
00:09:51
Speaker
To answer both questions, yes, it is reasonable that Ermi could be mistaken for an automata until, even at a distance, someone seeing him ah like move and exist, he obviously is a lot more lifelike than an automata would be might react to a stimulus that would yeah yeah um to madison's question yeah i mean both you know aurora is a very skilled magic user and hendrick is an artificer so either of them both of them in tandem like yes they could come up with a disguise similar to what a roomie had before it would take some time but yes okay he might need a big hat
00:10:30
Speaker
I like hats. Oh, good. Someone that's not Kaz probably should quickly explain the whole conscientious objection thing because Kaz doesn't know War Force enough to know that just seeing one is scary to everyone. You know what i mean? Like Javier saw a weapon walk in with us. Someone needs to say, like, he doesn't like the war. I don't know.
00:10:53
Speaker
Nyx feels that we brought a weapon home. Fair enough. That's true. that Now, Valky's also very happy and and positive for once about a friend, so... Okay. I feel like... Yeah, you can pick a side.
00:11:08
Speaker
You got it. That's fine. but Okay. but Well, great. We didn't... Nobody wanted to take up the security role when we were deciding jobs around here, so...
00:11:20
Speaker
ah Rumi, more than happy to have you on board. We can talk. And Javier, like, you can see him doing, like, some mental math slash gymnastics.
00:11:31
Speaker
We'll talk... board and pay and et cetera after we debrief the mission you can hang back and we'll talk um so other than fighting a new security officer for the manor and making a new friend what what happened what was the what was the cause of the increased violence and how did we resolve it
00:12:01
Speaker
yes We solved it with diplomacy. We'll start there. Great. The cause was a chi giant tree in the forest was created.
00:12:16
Speaker
Getting angry at the greed of the town and mobilize the animals to get more aggressive. There was an awakened tree. Yes, I eight i guess Kaz didn't know if that part needed to be said, but you I guess that's fair.
00:12:33
Speaker
Okay, so... and planar influence at all, or was this just a regular old awakened tree? is I say that's a normal thing.
00:12:45
Speaker
You know what i mean, though. Was Lamania involved? Yes. Okay. He makes note. The forest is is ah effectively a Lamania. The deep part of the... The inner part of the forest is effectively a Lamania manifesto.
00:12:58
Speaker
and Okay.
00:13:02
Speaker
Did we have to... tamper with it at all? Did you lessen the manifest zone? Did you use Hendrick's compass item? We did not. No.
Ladislav Hytor's Lycanthropy
00:13:12
Speaker
Okay.
00:13:13
Speaker
That's fine. It seemed so long that the natural balance was an order that it was fine. Okay. Self-managing. It certainly is currently fine.
00:13:27
Speaker
Okay. This will be good to all send back to the Tyron government ah for completion of the job. um Anything else notable happen on the job that's worth addressing?
00:13:42
Speaker
oh we did kill that guy. but Excuse me? very but that That was surprising that we killed someone. I'm just phrasing it that, I guess. with With no context or information is more of my reaction. Next. but count the wear bore and slew it who And it was also Ladislav Hightor.
00:14:04
Speaker
Thank you. A citizen of the town brought in Ladislav Hightor for the same reason that we were there to figure out what's going on, but with a different end in mind. And...
00:14:18
Speaker
and A boar attacked us in the woods and we ah we slew it, not realizing that it was Ladislav Hytor in a wild shape or a lycanthropic raid.
00:14:31
Speaker
We discovered that Ladislav Hytor is a lycanthrope and we aster put him down.
00:14:42
Speaker
I feel like we have done an immense service the government. We did no lycanthrope for sure. After he transformed that didn't to the half-shape. He turned into a hybrid. That's right. yeah did He did go half- I forgot that bit.
00:14:56
Speaker
So, yes. I will make that part of my report. Presumably you can charge extra. Well...
00:15:05
Speaker
Even my Nix, we do have a lycanthrope that lives here in the house, so if killing one is not in and of itself a good deed. Discovering one that's been hiding in plain sight and is uncontrolled and has apparently been killing people and then covering it up by pretending they were traitors.
00:15:22
Speaker
Though...
00:15:24
Speaker
i thought those are sure if Hendrick is also not in hide. But Hendrick hasn't been covering up... His loss of control and murder. That was a bad person. That's the part independent of the lycanthropy that we need to be focusing on for why he deserved to die is all we are saying.
00:15:47
Speaker
we This is not a place for that talk. the So you're saying that you discovered that his track record of finding spies and eliminating them was a facade?
00:15:58
Speaker
How has no one reached that conclusion? ah He never found any spies. He killed people and then told everyone they were spies. how has it not been reached How has the conclusion not been reached a long time ago that the fact that he only ever discovers their spies after killing them is suspicious?
00:16:22
Speaker
Sounds like a lot of paperwork. It is hard to argue with Nix when she puts it that clearly.
00:16:28
Speaker
I mean, i'm I'm not in the Chiron courts, so I can't speak to that assertion. The wild incompetence at the high levels of their military. Fair enough.
00:16:40
Speaker
Okay. Our understanding of the story is that he kills people and then they always turn out to be a spy. It seems fairly plain that this is him losing control, which he plainly does, because Nyx doesn't know that that was the result of Kaz's weird spell, yeah but he plainly does, and then using his official position to cover up his loss of control.
00:17:05
Speaker
Okay. More importantly, Harland also gave us a letter to vouch for us that it's okay that that happened.
00:17:16
Speaker
So we should be suppose regardless, we killed him in self-defense. Yes, that is what I'm going to include in my report, is that you were attacked by a wereboar, and after you killed him, and he transformed back into Ladislav Hytor, Chiron Hero.
00:17:34
Speaker
and maybe resist that last part. did and Yes. OK. I almost said great. That feels like an inappropriate word in this moment.
00:17:46
Speaker
Good to know. Thank you. And also glad that you all made it out of that fight intact. So. Largely.
00:17:59
Speaker
There's a big, like, rent in Nix's clothes where she was gored by a giant boar. Yeah. Yeah, the lion definitely got Selina pretty good. Oh, yeah. A lion? Right, there was a giant li railroad road lion lion.
00:18:19
Speaker
I knew this job would be weird, but... But here's the thing. All the other animals we saw were just large. None of them behaved strangely. This one was a large lion that also burrowed through the ground.
00:18:34
Speaker
Interesting. A selfish number of weird things, honestly.
00:18:42
Speaker
Okay. Any cause for concern about ah ah continuing issue in Ashdown Hollow moving forward? Or does it seem like things are resolved? I think it's inevitably going to repeat itself.
00:18:55
Speaker
I think if he wants his marriage to be sound, he'll be fine. but Don't worry about that. That.
Recruitment Possibility of Angelina
00:19:05
Speaker
Nix's head just sort of whips sideways. Okay. hey And last question. Obviously, Arumi returned with you all. Did you all identify anyone else that might be of interest to the lighthouse in terms of Obviously, we want to grow down the road. So did you identify any potential future people to bring in?
00:19:28
Speaker
What was the name of the strange woman in the woods? yeah The strange. She was described to us over. Angelina. Angelina. Angelina. We encountered a a woman living in the woods called Angelina.
00:19:44
Speaker
But I don't know that she would be very amenable to recruitment, but she was very knowledgeable about matters in the woods. ah She seems like she could be extremely helpful when she wants to be and agrees with what we're up to.
00:19:59
Speaker
Yes. It's kind of the only way that I could describe that. But also quite happy where she is, so perhaps not likely to be recruited. Certainly. Gotcha. Okay. Okay.
00:20:13
Speaker
Noted. Yeah, she does does seem to be the type to live in the large house among the topiaries. Yes. i She's a bit more wild and free. On the other hand, isn't her wood in our backyard?
00:20:25
Speaker
Like a day away. But like, the woods are between us and Ashdan Hollow, so like, we could get to her woods. Yeah. yeah
00:20:37
Speaker
Well, okay. Good to know. um Maybe we will send word to her. Okay. Well, anything else worth discussing or talking about?
00:20:50
Speaker
Okay. Well done. ah Enjoy your downtime. And as soon as something else comes up, I will hit the button and turn on the red lights.
00:21:05
Speaker
Dismissed.
00:21:08
Speaker
Adjourned.
Mission Development Points
00:21:11
Speaker
Need to talk to your roommate. Please go away. Please get out. Let's listen in.
00:21:17
Speaker
let's listen in so um Okay. and Now that the mission is officially over, we get to do our little questionnaire.
00:21:27
Speaker
See how many development points you all earned. You spent all but two last time, I believe is correct. So you have two outstanding development points. So ah prior to leaving for the mission, did you play at least one scene at the headquarters?
00:21:44
Speaker
Yes. I believe you did. yup Yep. We got a butler. there' is that Did you encounter a new type of planar creature? Yes. A growing lion.
00:21:58
Speaker
Did you visit another plane? No. No. no Were you subjected to planar magic? Yes. Zink? ah Did you bring any notable items back to the headquarters? Acorn.
00:22:13
Speaker
But it's mine. A roomie. He's not an item. under ru We brought something notable back. And I have jeweler's tools. Acorn is back at the headquarters. Acorn, I will count for this because the next question, did you make important contacts?
00:22:26
Speaker
Yes. Yes. was this missing Was this particularly difficult and epic?
00:22:35
Speaker
There was a burrowing lion under bore theyrerowing lion. On the sense of scale. ifal Scale was, I mean. Being epic, we did see the biggest tree ever. It was so difficult that we declined to fight.
00:22:50
Speaker
Six, and then did you solve the mystery? Yes. yes yeah You earned seven development points, so you were up to nine. Cool. So...
00:23:03
Speaker
so I had shared with you all the upgrades document. Do you need me to review or do you all have I took notes. Yeah. Madison took notes, so we're going to turn her.
00:23:15
Speaker
So we are, we got nine. Forbidden Library was one that we had all kind of liked the idea of before.
Base Upgrades Decision
00:23:22
Speaker
was five. could
00:23:28
Speaker
we call a guard. Yeah, I was going to say
00:23:36
Speaker
Or would need to spend five to make Arumi that guard?
00:23:41
Speaker
i mean, Arumi is head of security now, so you don't need to spend anything. This would be hot like finding someone from the now to act as and a guard for the house specifically. Certainly.
00:23:58
Speaker
Nearby Tavern, I think, was also... We did like that, yeah. And gymnasium? Did we like gymnasium? Is that one? Yeah. yeah Because that has the first down you get. There we go. Oh, yeah. Recover on a 10. Yeah. Oh, yeah. o Yeah.
00:24:16
Speaker
That is good. I'm very weak. You did also do the cellar vault last time. and so you have unlocked the dungeon because the cellar vault was a prerequisite of That's true.
00:24:31
Speaker
So that costs three. You haven't really had to keep prisoners, but you would hate to need to and not have the dungeon ready. So that would be unfortunate. Yes.
00:24:42
Speaker
It's called future proofing. yeah um
00:24:51
Speaker
I'm just character wise. Nix's.
00:24:56
Speaker
Very. Nick's likes gymnasium. I, the new gymnasium idea in terms of Nick's spends a lot of time exercising. Um, Nick's is unlikely to visit a nearby tavern very often, but I like it as a person.
00:25:13
Speaker
I feel like Selena would like the Forbidden Library. Yeah, the Forbidden Library. Phillip likes the Forbidden Library a lot. I mean, from a meta standpoint, I feel like the gymnasium might be more important than the library starting out, but... I'm up for either.
00:25:34
Speaker
do you think, Mia?
00:25:38
Speaker
I would... Of the ones that were listed, I would go with the... With the gem.
00:25:49
Speaker
I'm good with the gem. right We'll alternate between slightly creepy and not so creepy. You have nine points, so you can get the gem and the tavern if you want to get both. We did earn seven this time, so it seems like we could probably... We could zero it out. It would be fine. sportch Let's be bad.
00:26:07
Speaker
We deserve a little treat. A little gymnasium for the table. yes least I'm sold on the gymnasium. I'm fine with the tavern. Well, there's...
00:26:20
Speaker
What's up, Mia? Oh, I guess. Well, there's also the map room that reduces random encounter, random combat encounters by ass. And that could have stopped the wolves and the random lion and potentially Lottie appearing that early, maybe.
00:26:35
Speaker
But we have already gotten very close to entering important combats half, like at half efficacy. I guess that is, that wouldn't be bad. Like,
00:26:51
Speaker
And that one's also four. Yeah. Yeah. So it's gym and map or gym and tavern, it sounds like, for this route. I think that's where we are, yeah. I'm really okay with either of those. I feel like story-wise, having a map of the local area kind of makes more sense. We found that map. We can put the map up on a wall now. Yeah. Or table. We need a room for the map.
00:27:12
Speaker
Okay. That's my vote. Sure. Okay. we We do need a room where we can like have yarn all over the walls. yeah um That's the dream, yeah. yeah I can't say with any certainty that Kaz is old enough to go to the tavern anyway.
00:27:26
Speaker
So let's do in that room for now. While we find out local laws.
00:27:33
Speaker
We'll do another another year. We'll check on his birthday. Randomly assigned birthday. Alright. So, it kind of makes sense that... So, part of the description... So, the gymnasium is technically a discovery. You uncover the gymnasium. You don't build it.
00:27:50
Speaker
So... i Valk, once you all have gotten back and you're going back to like your day job of the groundskeeper, you go to the tool shed and you find in the back of the tool shed, cracked door that leads to the tool shed is actually the, like the entryway of the gymnasium. It was the ticket vestibule back when this was an arena.
00:28:15
Speaker
Uh, Crack door that leads to part of the annex with dirty windows along the roof ridge and inside you see a gymnasium half full of old junk that needs to be cleared out. But once it is, could be a good place to get physically prepared for jobs and missions.
00:28:32
Speaker
um And for the players who don't recall player characters who use their time before a job to prep here. And just a reminder, you can only prep in one area. So player characters who prep here only need to roll a 10 or higher the first time they drop to zero in order to use your recovery. Once player successfully recovered in this way, the normal rules apply.
00:28:53
Speaker
So cool. And in the map room, if player character preps here, the odds of having a random encounter on the journey are reduced by half. Does not affect discoveries, which are a different result on those weird deep bubbles.
00:29:07
Speaker
So, cool. All right, so, ah you all have jobs to do now that you are back in the house. So, but you're the armorer.
00:29:18
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
Hidden Gymnasium Discovery
00:29:22
Speaker
um So yeah, I'd love to hear you all describe how, like, you know, you have some downtime before the next job comes in.
00:29:30
Speaker
So how are you helping to benefit the lighthouse in your chosen role?
00:29:37
Speaker
Well, I guess you're you're just going to look... Well, I actually want, because it seems funny to me, before the gym is discovered, I want Valk to realize there's just a large building...
00:29:51
Speaker
that we can't figure out where the entrance is. So he's been going around inside, touching walls. It's like, there there is an access here. And then figuring out the tool shed, quote-unquote tool shed, is is just an entryway yeah to the gym.
00:30:07
Speaker
So I guess Valkish is going to be... It's a giant building attached to the tool and I can't figure out where the entrance is. It's like, how did we not notice this before? I guess Valkish is going to be dragging...
00:30:21
Speaker
junk out of new said gymnasium um okay opening up windows if possible i don't think he's really bothered by the cop webs and the dust and at this point i think it's that's just in his system the equivalent to microplastics um so he's just breathing it all in Yeah, but I don't know. Can I see if there's anything cool that has been left behind in this gym? Yeah, ja me a give me wisdom-based check. You can use backgrounds if applicable.
00:30:57
Speaker
ah um ah i'm ah I'm just going to assume there's no ghost in the gym. Bold assumption. Bold assumption. but but I'm going to not ask because I don't want there to be ghosts in the gym.
00:31:13
Speaker
Okay,
00:31:15
Speaker
Oh, look
00:31:24
Speaker
Yeah, as you are clearing out the gym, you know, there's there's lots of gym-esque equipment, you know, heavy medicine balls and...
00:31:38
Speaker
Other types of balls, I'm losing plot on what Jim- Hey-o! ah Wow. Hey-o.
00:31:53
Speaker
Quiet, you.
00:31:59
Speaker
um
00:32:04
Speaker
Is there like that giant children's parachute? Everyone throws it up and we all run under in the scooter. Big ropes. yeah
00:32:18
Speaker
You find... What type of armor does Valk wear, Mia?
00:32:25
Speaker
i Just robes, I think? I don't technically think he's that armor, but the probably, yeah, the equivalent of robes. I think it's... Where is he?
00:32:40
Speaker
You know, i might have done the thing where I just assumed he will be safe and never... yeah you you wear you wear no slash light armor. Yeah, I was pretty sure was that. Okay, so you find... Yeah, you you find like a set of gym clothes...
00:32:59
Speaker
but Amazing. and That you can... Have a tracksuit? Yeah, you've had a tracksuit. That you can instantly tell Property of River Piddle High. <unk> a Magical... I think these might fit Kaz better.
00:33:14
Speaker
Some magic emanating off of it. And you can kind of, like, sealing the fabric, feel that there is, like, arcane thread woven into these clothes.
00:33:26
Speaker
Um... Give me an intelligence check to identify what magic is. Oh, that's not. Okay. yeah that's fine. 23. 23. Okay.
00:33:48
Speaker
but when ok valk After taking a little bit of time, like feeling the fabric and kind of attuning to it, you realize that this light armor that Vout could wear has the property of last stand,
00:34:05
Speaker
which gives you a plus four bonus to your AC when you have no recoveries left. Oh.
00:34:19
Speaker
Nice. I am just thinking of the nastiest tracksuit. You know i definitely want to wash it. It also smells very bad.
00:34:31
Speaker
So, yeah. Okay. So that's, as you're cleaning out the gym, that's the significant thing that you find during your downtime. All right.
Kaz's Magic Evolution
00:34:42
Speaker
What is everyone else doing?
00:34:47
Speaker
Well, do you remember when I asked you in passing and then we never followed up about a tiny respec of my character? Because I could do that during my downtime. Yeah, I'm fine with that, Jeff. Okay.
00:34:57
Speaker
So Kaz is actually going to spend his time reading into magic ah a little bit more and trying to figure out how to cast it on purpose.
00:35:08
Speaker
And I think he ends up finding a book on healing magic. It's a cleric's book, but he has no intention of becoming more holy.
00:35:19
Speaker
Um, Mechanically, i am losing my chaos spike talent that was kind of a wet fart anyway, and I am picking up one called A Touch of the Divine, where now after every long rest, I randomly get a first level cleric spell that I work into my defensive spell rotation if I draw defensive thing.
00:35:38
Speaker
So mechanically, that's what happened. But in the story, Kaz really just got really interested in the idea of healing magic. He's now been raised by other people more than once and likes the idea of being the one who can do that if he needs to.
00:35:51
Speaker
Gotcha. So that's what I've been up to. That's Kaz has been up to. Cool. Love that. No offense to whoever came up with Chaos Spike. It's a lot of fun. We just, I just, I i didnt didn't work for my character build.
00:36:04
Speaker
Yep. OK, and one thing just real quick to touch on with the system at large, and let me pull up the rules just to make sure that I'm not speaking this incorrectly.
00:36:18
Speaker
So, you know, in in games like D&D, you you have like attunement slots that limit the number of really powerful magic items that you can have so that your characters just can't be tricked out and become a god just through magic.
00:36:33
Speaker
Um, 13th age works a little bit differently in that every magic item that you get, like the sword that Nick's kind of attuned to her soul blade, the light armor that about just found, they all have,
00:36:54
Speaker
personalities, I guess, for lack of a better way to put it, that if you overdo it with too much magic items, those personality traits start to affect your character. Um, and so let me, they don't handle a number.
00:37:12
Speaker
You can handle a number of magic items equal to your level. So, Oh,
00:37:22
Speaker
There are some really powerful magic items. So, you know, 13 ages broken up into tiers of, I think it's Explorer tier, Champion tier, and Epic tier. Magic items are also broken up that way. So if you somehow get a magic item that's of a higher tier, it counts for two magic items or three magic items.
00:37:39
Speaker
So because it has more of a force of personality. So all that to say, if you start having more magic items than your level, then your personality will start to get impacted by the magic items.
00:37:55
Speaker
Makes sense. Yes. Okay. Um,
00:38:04
Speaker
And just to be clear, all of the quirks of the magic items turn on. So it's not like the full like if you're second level right now and you get a third one, just that quirk, all three quarts overtake your personality.
00:38:16
Speaker
So that's cool, which is a very fun way of doing it. I think so anyway.
00:38:28
Speaker
Jeff is spending some time, or Kaz is spending some time reading about divine magic and trying to get a better handle on that. um Cool. Selena or Nyx? I think Nyx in her role as the armorer fulfills that by having her weapon horde.
00:38:46
Speaker
Nyx is like, Nyx is like the, the, the, the sommelier in, in John wick. Um, uh, if you need a weapon, you just go talk to Nix about it and Nix will match you with a weapon. and love it But, uh, but since that doesn't really happen much with this group, I don't know that Nix is really actively doing any armor ring.
00:39:08
Speaker
um unless somebody needs a weapon, uh, Nix has picked up that, people are uncomfortable with her talking about a roomie as a weapon.
00:39:21
Speaker
And so she's not trying to arm a roomie at the moment. Although she doesn't understand why, but she has picked up on that and she relies on other people for such things.
00:39:37
Speaker
But no, I think mix is kind of, closed off, kind of uncomfortable right now. ah She came quite close to harming
00:39:55
Speaker
her allies during the last adventure and that spooks her a little bit. So she is probably mostly in the chapel
00:40:13
Speaker
coming over for meals or if we have a meeting or something, but I think she's a little bit, I think she's a little closed off. Okay. Something you notice one night, well, one morning when you wake up in the chapel is last time you here mentioned that, you know, there are multiple
Chapel Mural Mystery
00:40:33
Speaker
depictions of the sovereign host throughout the chapel and that somebody had vandalized it by drawing the traveler amongst that, that group.
00:40:43
Speaker
Um, you now spot another figure that has been drawn into, and this is probably like a week after you've gotten back that, It wouldn't take a lot.
00:40:58
Speaker
Next for you to recognize that like bus behind the figure of Orion in the sovereign host, a shadow much larger than Orion, but still the same silhouette has been drawn behind Orion. Orion is law. Orion is...
00:41:16
Speaker
law oran is
00:41:23
Speaker
I believe so. Me.
00:41:26
Speaker
Yeah. Law and Lore. The patron wizards. And Shadow. The God of Magic. The Shadow is like forbidden knowledge and yeah dark secrets and that kind of thing. Okay.
00:41:39
Speaker
So. Interesting. Yep. Nyx looks suspiciously at Acheron. say Acheron just like shrugs thank yeah and shake, shakes their head slightly.
00:41:56
Speaker
um Okay. Selena. oak circle at Her hands and just checks like under her fingernails for, i don't know. You said paint painted onto the wall.
00:42:09
Speaker
Yeah. or Yeah. It's, it's, yeah. It's like to paint under her nails or. Okay. Okay.
00:42:20
Speaker
Selena? Librarian? Yeah, Selena would be in the library. She wants to see, first of all, if all the books have been moved around again to their original positions. When you get back, Aurora is working on reorganizing the books and she sees you enter. It's like, it i we might need to come up with a sorting system that acquiesces to the house because for some reason the books keep getting moved around.
00:42:46
Speaker
We can do that. That's the worst kind of haunting. That's so frustrating. Not if you can't read. um And then I think Selena would try to look more into, like before we left, she had started looking into the like spell sword stuff.
00:43:08
Speaker
And I think Selena would try to find some more information about that. Okay. For sure. Sword you say. Um, um so yeah some Somewhere in in the chapel, Nick's pauses and goes, it's happening.
00:43:26
Speaker
So you were reading about Sarandra Faldrin, who was kind of the the head of this order for... Um, not just like it, like headed up the order that combined all kinds of magic with martial prowess. And for some reason, paladins were the only ones that kind of stuck around.
00:43:49
Speaker
Um, so give me a intelligence check. All right.
00:44:01
Speaker
Ooh, okay. that is a twenty six That is a 26. 26. Okay. you, as you are reading through some of these books and continue to go down the rabbit hole.
00:44:14
Speaker
The house has placed all the books you need in a neat little stack. so And Selena looks at Grubb suspiciously. Um...
00:44:25
Speaker
um Now you begin to find stories about Luminara, which is the name of Sarandra's sword that she wielded. And what is it notable for you, Slain, in this study...
00:44:44
Speaker
Is the concept that Luminara was both a longsword as well as an arcane implement. And so in order for this concept to work, it required Soandra fight in a very unique style that allowed her to perform the somatic components of a spell, like the hand gestures and the physical movement that spells required as part of her fighting style.
00:45:12
Speaker
So it was a very, you're you're reading like thirdpart third party accounts of like watching her fight. yeah And it almost seemed erratic because in the middle of a sword swing, she would have to do this like a gesture with her sword to perform the somatic component of the spell she was wanting to cast and then continue with the swing.
00:45:32
Speaker
So it seems like based on your check, you're beginning to understand that divine magic is fake based. Divine magic doesn't require as much, um,
00:45:47
Speaker
mechanical components for lack better to put it because it's just driven by your will whereas the arcane and primal magics require a lot more of those somatic and like intentional movements so selena begins understand it would be easier for somebody to use divine magic while fighting martially than using the arcane or the primal magic subsets. And so that's probably why those two schools fell out of favor is because it's much more difficult to pull off.
00:46:20
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Interesting.
00:46:25
Speaker
And...
00:46:30
Speaker
The last element that you find is while, uh, so Andre was a, you know, up close and personal fighter in Eldritch night that used arcane magic as she fought.
00:46:43
Speaker
You also find a different subset of. her school of magic, the arcane, of arcane archers that would, as they were pulling the arrow, do the somatic component of the spell as they were placing it into the bow and then drawing and firing it So there were also archers that performed this type of fighting.
00:47:04
Speaker
Okay.
00:47:10
Speaker
And that's what you learn. Now now i need to... go
00:47:19
Speaker
yeah yeah
00:47:26
Speaker
Okay. A few days pass and you...
00:47:33
Speaker
Slayda, as you are walking from the library back to your room, you see Hendrick walking down the hallway with an arm full of what you can all only describe as creepy decorations.
00:47:49
Speaker
Interesting. Like there's lots of like, like figures of people cut out in black fabric, like silhouettes. That's, that's the primary. It's a lot of black fabric and stuff like that. And he's caring, but it is like cut out in a very decorative fashion.
00:48:06
Speaker
ah And he sees you. It's like, Oh, hello, Selena. Hi, Hendrick. What is that? Oh, i I figured I talked to Javier about it and I don't know how you celebrate but long shadows is in
Long Shadows Feast Planning
00:48:23
Speaker
a few days. And so thought I would decorate the the dining hall and I, me and my family would celebrate by having a big feast that started an hour before sundown and just play games and and have a good time. So yeah, I thought that would be a fun thing to do in the house.
00:48:42
Speaker
That does sound fun. Let me know if you need any help with decorations. Oh, that'd be great. Thank you. So you all would know, Long Shadows is the last three days of the year of the Eberonian calendar.
00:48:54
Speaker
it is is the three last three nights in Volt, and it is said that the shadow... the one of the evil gods, member of the Dark Six, enhances dark magic on these nights.
00:49:05
Speaker
Regardless of the actual cause, more dark magic is enhanced. Like it is more powerful to cast dark magic during the last three nights of the year. As a result, Common folk have a tradition of staying indoors with their family on these nights, kind of hunkering down.
00:49:21
Speaker
um And, you know, people that are super into the shadow do rituals outside and cast a bunch magic. And Nyx, probably you would be the most tuned to the fact that the middle night of Long Shadows, since it is a three night celebration, is called Kybersef, formerly called Kyber's Eve.
00:49:40
Speaker
which is when worshippers of the silver flame marked the beginning of winter. ah And this is believed to be the day that the shadow is at its strongest. And it's also believed that this is when the forces holding the overlords are at their weakest.
00:49:55
Speaker
So once again, it super like super intense members of the church of the silver flame will like pray all night and like be really intense about like warding magic and stuff like that.
00:50:08
Speaker
Vassals of the silver flame will like, you know, stay inside and have a party. So, um, yeah. But it seems like Hendrick is wanting to celebrate long shadows in manner this year.
00:50:20
Speaker
And he is decorating the dining room for it. So. Hey, Eric. Yeah. Yeah. Do we need to have rolled icons? Yes. I'm going to do that next episode when like the next adventure properly starts.
00:50:34
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. and But thank you. I appreciate Okay. So. The first night, the 26 of Volt comes around and it's time for dinner.
00:50:48
Speaker
And, uh, Aurora has like, as you all have like made your way around the house, the couple of days before has said, Hendrick is very excited about doing something in the manor. So please attend for some level of time. Uh, it, it will be fun.
00:51:11
Speaker
And i if you want dinner that night, the party is dinner, so.
00:51:21
Speaker
If you want to eat, you have to show up. yeah If you want to eat, you have to come to my party. um so where We're not serving lunch that day either, so you can't fill up on lunch and then power through the night. And there's no davern, so you have to show up. I've got snacks in my bunk.
00:51:39
Speaker
I'm trying figure out if Kaz would be concerned. He doesn't know if he has dark magic. I think Kaz might ask if he can take dinner to his room and stay in the the danger room for the god those couple of nights.
00:51:54
Speaker
mean, you know that Selina definitely has dark magic. But she knows how to handle but what it's doing. Yeah, Selina's been handling it for years, so... Yeah. I mean, does Kaz express that concern to Aurora when she's encouraging him to come to the party?
00:52:08
Speaker
Yes. that's i was no I was getting to, I think Kaz would talk to one of the grownups. Okay. That he doesn't go on adventures with. Yeah. Aurora says, oh, Kaz, we've...
00:52:20
Speaker
We've looked into it. You're you're tied to Thelanus, which is not tied to the darker schools of magic. So ah people tied to Mabar or Dolor, those would be the ones that we would be concerned about on a night like this. So I believe that you are fine.
00:52:34
Speaker
So when
00:52:38
Speaker
when it hurts really bad, when the tentacle shoots out of my mouth and hits people, that's bright magic? it's It's not bright magic, but it's not dark.
00:52:50
Speaker
There are dark stories in Thelanus, but that does not mean that the magic that you use is the same as the magic that we're worried about during Long Shadows.
Kaz's Magic Concerns
00:53:01
Speaker
Selina would be the one magic user in the house that we would be concerned about. yeah Maybe Valk. We're still trying to figure Valk out, but. Boy, no kidding. Well, I'll see you dinner.
00:53:16
Speaker
Um, Hendrick does come to Selina the day, the 20, on the 26th during the day. It's like, hi, I hate to pull you away from your duties, but you did offer.
00:53:27
Speaker
I need help going to pick up all of the food since we have not yet hired somebody to cook meals for us here. And so are you willing to come with me to Calzark to pick up the food?
00:53:38
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. Okay. He takes like three steps towards the door and then goes, oh, and he transforms into his human form. which is a very broad, like he's he's like six foot three tall, but a very broad person, muscular, very like square jawline.
00:53:56
Speaker
um And he's like, okay, much better. Less likely to get stabbed this way. And he laughs as he's walking. That's true. ah On the walk to Kalazart along the road, Hendrik does ask, so how are you are you finding things with the lighthouse and the manor?
00:54:17
Speaker
It's been nice. I've liked getting to know everybody a little bit better. feel like we're we're kind of getting more comfortable with each other. good. i do Do you miss being around your family at all? to Do you miss them, or ah is it a bit of a relief being away?
00:54:35
Speaker
little bit of both, I think. Fair. Yeah, I miss them sometimes, but I like being here.
00:54:43
Speaker
I had the pleasure of meeting your father once some time ago. So so you understand. and that was the reason I wanted my question.
00:54:58
Speaker
like Well, I'm glad that you are you are finding things at the house. and How are things with the rest of the team? Things going well when you all are out in the field? Yeah, it's going well.
00:55:12
Speaker
I don't know. I think we're all still trying to figure each other out some, but I think we work pretty well together. Good. That's good. there anything i can be doing better to help you all before you go out on jobs? Anything that I could do assist you with?
00:55:30
Speaker
I don't think so. Okay. Well, if that changes, you're free to let me know. Will do. Okay. um So you'll get to Kalzart and go to the local tavern in Kalzart proper. Madison, what is the name of the tavern in Kalzart?
00:55:48
Speaker
Oh, no. I'm not good with names.
00:55:54
Speaker
Part of me wants to say the burrowing lion, but that would just be wild. That would be very fun. I'm down. I'm fine with it. and Let's do it. this This day makes no sense. What is this? This is ridiculous. says it Selina, you have a moment as you're approaching the tavern where you stop and look up at the sign and you see a lion coming up out of the ground on the sign and it says the burrowing lion. Everything go okay? Selina just goes, are you kidding me? Okay.
00:56:27
Speaker
um You all go in and they have like... You see the bar, which is normally where people would be seated to have drinks, is just lined with crates, prepared food. in very like It's clear that lots of people order big feasts from taverns because who wants to cook that much? Especially wants to clean that much after cooking that much.
00:56:49
Speaker
And so... it says Hendrick grabs one of big crates and puts it under his arm. And he grabs a smaller bag and you hear bottles click in it. And he hands it to you. um Wine for the night, obviously.
00:57:03
Speaker
Great. And then he grabs the other crate under his other arm. And so, and begins walking.
00:57:11
Speaker
All right. And you all are able to return without any incident back to the house. So... so After a couple hours, about an hour before sundown, you all were told that's when the the party would begin. So does anybody try to be fashionably late?
00:57:30
Speaker
I think Selena's there a little early. Like she's kind of just stayed there helping set up. ye Yeah, yeah, for sure. Hendrick is very. thin
00:57:40
Speaker
Kaz shows up late, but not fashionably. He runs in because he's like two minutes late and feels bad.
00:57:48
Speaker
I think Valk would have been there early, but just awkwardly standing as he usually... usually does that mistimed the walk and so accidentally got there five minutes or he's like yeah it's just like sitting just outside the door but you can very clearly like see his hair and his in his fur coat and just like yeah i get it i've sat in my car for 15 minutes because i got it to someone's house too early i've been there if i go in there i'm gonna have to offer the help or do i offer the help i I've made Madison go around the block once or twice before committing to parking. Yeah, absolutely.
00:58:23
Speaker
I think Selena looks at Valk just standing there and says, we have wine. think he's going to shuffle further out of the door. realizes he was invisible. He was invisible. Sorry.
00:58:39
Speaker
ah sorry yeah but Gotta be real so got to move real slow with the
Long Shadows Feast and Dangers
00:58:44
Speaker
Valk. I think now he's just gonna walk. Just do one lap. And then he will be fast on accident.
00:58:52
Speaker
Takes too long walking on the lap. That's really funny. It's harsh.
00:59:03
Speaker
ah What time, if at any time, does Nyx arrive? I mean, Nyx arrives because she wants to eat dinner, and dinner was held hostage by this event. Nyx is uncomfortable with this on so many levels. Like, you know, the Silver Flame stuff, Nyx is not the primary thing, but...
00:59:25
Speaker
the The Overlords are strong. like the The Lords of Dust are strong, and Nyx is... Nyx doesn't think this is a night to mess around.
00:59:36
Speaker
Yeah. And so she comes to eat, but she's not not celebratory. yeah Javier and Aurora are there. Alget is, of course, refilling cups as needed. He is looming throughout the party.
00:59:54
Speaker
yeah And Arumi is also there. It's suspicious that that's the job he chose. I'm just saying it. He's got lot of things to help out. He's walking around topping off drinks. I don't know. I don't trust him. Arumi is sitting there and somebody, we'll say Hendrik, fixed a plate for Arumi because social norms with Warforged are absolutely not a thing that anybody thinks about yet. So, yeah.
01:00:15
Speaker
So a Rumi is just sitting there with a full plate and a full glass of wine, just enjoying the vibes. um And Hendrick is having a great time. Like Hendrick, the decorations all on the wall are like large fabric shadows of people hung.
01:00:33
Speaker
You can see the shadows of like vague. It's not exact because that would be... Weird. Sorry, hung as in as in they've been hanged?
01:00:47
Speaker
No, and they're just hanging on the wall, like decorations. Yeah, no, no, no, no. Not that creepy. hot just like It's a little of a bit extreme even for me. no, no, no. Decorations hanging on the wall.
01:01:00
Speaker
And Hendrick pulls out, ah once everyone is kind of getting towards the end of dinner, Hendrick pulls out a deck of cards, a bag of dice in a small box and goes, games?
01:01:13
Speaker
End of episode. Mm-hmm.
Conclusion and Community Engagement
01:01:17
Speaker
Thank you all so much for listening. If you weren want to be part of the conversation starting in this episode, you can head to the Discord. The link which is in the description of the podcast.
01:01:25
Speaker
You can also check out our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash epantheon, where I do TTRPG-related videos. Now, Philip's going to do a thing. ah Yeah, on YouTube and Spotify, you can find Tales from the Laughing Tree. We have another actual play called Blades and Banners. It's Pirates.
01:01:39
Speaker
Indeed. We also have a Patreon, patreon.com slash the GeekPanteon. If you want to financially support the shows, you can do so over there. Thank you all so much for listening. I've been your Game Master, Eric. I'm Mia. I'm Phillip.
01:01:51
Speaker
I'm Madison. I'm Jeff. We'll see you next time.