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C3 Episode 33 Eight Bells and All is Well Chapter Three
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The party makes a stop in Vathirond
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Transcript
Introduction and Absences
00:00:00
Speaker
oh
00:00:20
Speaker
and welcome to Everon Renewed Natural Play Podcast set the Everon campaign setting. i am your Game Master, Eric. I'm Phillip. I'm Madison.
00:00:32
Speaker
I'm Jeff. And welcome to another episode. As you all can tell, Trevor and Mia are both absent. Mia will be joining us possibly partway through this episode and maybe in the next one. We'll see.
00:00:43
Speaker
But for now, folks, what happened last time?
Barnaby Finch's Mysterious Loss
00:00:48
Speaker
Barnaby. Yeah, Barnaby's pinch.
00:00:54
Speaker
People are being nice. to Yeah, and he hates it. It's awful. So we're going to go quote unquote fix. We had a difficult time understanding how Barnaby Finch had a problem.
00:01:09
Speaker
But he did lose three months of his life as well. And that one is. well And Nyx hates him. is He seems to desire that everyone hates him.
00:01:21
Speaker
Like, well, I feel that Nyx was the only hospitable person from his perspective. I wonder though openly hostile.
00:01:32
Speaker
Is there is that an impact and intent issue? Like they are kind through hate and you were simply hateful through hate. you know I don't think they are kind through hate. I think they're just hateful. and it's just like It's the platinum rule. Treat others as they wish to be treated.
00:01:46
Speaker
So, you know.
Departure Preparations
00:01:50
Speaker
um Okay, cool. So you all were departing the manor to head to the lightning rail station in Kalzart to take the lightning rail.
00:02:00
Speaker
Barnaby is staying behind and yeah, you all are taking off. Um, so any, as, as you all are going into the town of Cal's art before you depart, any last things that you all want to do before you leave the town?
00:02:17
Speaker
ah but Are you just making a beeline straight for the lightning station? You have your teams.
00:02:26
Speaker
We have what? Oh, thank you. Golly. Oh, I made a whole thing about we forgot to roll icon relationships last
Icon Relationship Rolls
00:02:33
Speaker
session. And then I said, before we do anything, we need to roll icon relationships. And then my brain went, okay, you said it. No need to think about it again. Okay.
00:02:41
Speaker
Let's roll icon relationships. So as a reminder for the listeners, for each relationship point that our players have, they roll 1d6 representing each of those relationships on a five or a six. It gives them a relationship advantage with that icon to use during the arc.
00:02:56
Speaker
And if they roll nothing, then they get a, uh, connection with an automatic twist chosen by me. So go ahead and roll and then we'll read out individually.
00:03:14
Speaker
Okay. Philip, what do you got? I got no fives or sixes. Okay.
00:03:22
Speaker
Jeff, what do you got? I got a five with the platinum Concord. and Okay. Nothing with the Arcane Congress. Madison? I got a six with Lady Vol and a six with the Arcane Congress.
00:03:34
Speaker
Oh, my. Okay, so note that, everyone, and I will note it, too. So Kaz has one with the Platinum Concord. Five or six doesn't make any difference. so Right.
00:03:47
Speaker
And Selena has one with Lady Vol and one with the Arcane Congress. Yep. Yep. And when you all elect to use these, you will roll to see if you get a complication.
00:04:01
Speaker
least. for Philippe, you get one with a twist. Um, De Kien.
00:04:16
Speaker
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
00:04:20
Speaker
I really need to just put, there it is the icon list that I sent you all on my desktop, just so it is always readily available because it's the one document for this campaign I can never find.
00:04:31
Speaker
And Nyx has relationship points with the keeper of the flame and the lord Lord's of dust. Yeah. Lord's of dust is conflicted. Silver flame is negative.
00:04:42
Speaker
Yes.
00:04:50
Speaker
Just as they haven't really come up yet, because I don't think anybody took any relationship points with them. Nyx, you have a connection with an automatic twist with the chamber for this arc. All right.
00:05:05
Speaker
Do you want to close notes that one for the people that are on the on this microphone? Yeah. mr chamber The chamber is a loose alliance of dragons, no more than 100, that secretly attempt to manipulate the events and goings-on.
00:05:19
Speaker
Dragon Illuminati. Yes. Oh, just 100 dragons? Fine. No more than 100. And and none of us none of us know they exist. Yes.
00:05:30
Speaker
So this is going to be interesting. i have to come up with a narrative way to use... You can have a connection with an agent of the chamber, but Nick's may not be aware. Right, yeah. That's the thing. Yeah. be fine.
00:05:44
Speaker
Yeah, they just fill out. You've handed me a lot of chaos.
00:05:49
Speaker
They're obsessed with the draconic prophecy, seeking to understand the prophecy and fulfill conditions of it when it suits their needs. The dragons of the chamber have agents all over the world working for them, as well as some dragons in disguise that work within most major organizations.
00:06:04
Speaker
ah So the Silver Flame Warlords of Dusk, potentially. They would hunt down anyone seeking to understand or manipulate the prophecy outside of their control, and they would be protective and allies of someone they identified as important to the Draconic Prophecy, whether or not that person realized it.
00:06:18
Speaker
So, now that everyone is caught up.
00:06:25
Speaker
is it And then we will have a Philip. I'm going to delegate. Remind me to have me a role for her icon connections when she gets here. Okay.
News from Peller's Watch
00:06:34
Speaker
Okay. So anything that you all would like to do in the town of Kalzart before you head to the lightning rail station.
00:06:42
Speaker
The final preparations or permissions. Some of you have some connections here in town. I think one of you actually has some connection here in town. It was just Kaz, right? this Yeah. His newspaper friend.
00:06:53
Speaker
Yep. Yep. I mean, i you know i like Well, no, it it would make sense to go and ask. He's been out for three months. I guess he... And he doesn't seem to...
00:07:05
Speaker
Because I didn't ask Barnaby and I don't want to retcon a scene, I suppose I can go to the paper and ask her if she has any news from the debt the missing three months of things that happened in Kalazard. If anything big happened that we didn't know about. You mean Pellers Watch.
00:07:18
Speaker
Pellers Watch, yes yes yes yes, yes, yes, yes. Happened in Pellers Watch because that's where Barnaby's from. Yes. Duh, guys. so Get it together.
00:07:30
Speaker
Sure. So you had made their list of worst places to raise a family. Yeah.
00:07:42
Speaker
Do I have her name? Nope. I have GK Kimmel and Habra Riston and Deep Root and Ladaslav and Hervo and but no Renee.
00:07:54
Speaker
I got it now. Um... Cool. So yeah, you head to the Kalazar Cry is the name of the paper.
00:08:05
Speaker
um And you see Renee sitting behind the front desk, feverishly reading over something. And she sees Kaz and she goes, you're back.
00:08:17
Speaker
What got for me? A favor to ask. and Oh, okay. um Nothing special happened to the last one. I don't know what to tell you.
00:08:28
Speaker
He's not going to be like, and then a lion burrowed at us. I'm sorry.
00:08:34
Speaker
Look, I just have i just have a ah i haven't a new client. You've got a real scoop. Oh, man, you've got a real scoop if you won't want to give her one. Yeah, I know. yeah A lot of stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I'm holding on to that one until I can get some guidance from somebody smarter than me.
00:08:49
Speaker
I'm going to go with Javier, I think. Seems like he's smarter. Right. Yeah. No, I just, I'd ask him to say, so I have a client from Peller's Watch who has a three month time skip that he's missing.
00:09:05
Speaker
And I was wondering if you had gotten anything across, what's the Eberonian AP called? mean, that just stands for Associated Press. It could also be the AP.
00:09:17
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know if, I don't know if we have that. There is a war going on. So I don't know if the papers share a whole lot of information across borders. I mean, that's fair. It's got to be journalists without borders.
00:09:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:32
Speaker
yeah but I mean, radio's got a more obviously other papers would read other papers though. So like they write they would do some some level of intelligence gathering.
00:09:43
Speaker
never yeah i just ah i I assume I know what the three-month span was even though we didn't elucidate it. So I just asked her, is there any news out of Pellar's Watch during this time?
00:09:55
Speaker
Okay. ano Anything anomalous, I guess. Give me some kind of role. um <unk> I'll take charisma since you're trying to convince her to do you a solid.
00:10:06
Speaker
Okay. Good.
00:10:09
Speaker
and And i don't think any of my backgrounds really help with this one.
00:10:18
Speaker
That's cocked. That's a 19.
00:10:23
Speaker
And by 19, I mean 20. Okay. Yeah. She like things are sick. Hell those are much. And she rolls in her chair backwards and like, there's a couple of large filing cabinets and there's one that's labeled Breland.
00:10:39
Speaker
And so she like goes down to the P like the section that includes the peas and pulls it out starts slipping through. um And she's kind of like pulls out a piece of paper and shrugs and says, i mean, the only, the only thing that we really got is that this town is big on charitable work like there's like some the they elected a new mayor in town and he's like a really big philanthropist and there was a big ceremony to celebrate the donations they're making towards the a fund for orphans it looks like okay i was gonna ask specifically what charitable fund was like like orphans affected by the war so orphans there's
00:11:39
Speaker
yeah Yes. Warfans.
00:11:48
Speaker
um Yeah. the mayor The new mayor's name is Jim Johnson.
00:11:54
Speaker
Okay.
00:11:57
Speaker
Jim Johnson. She puts the the clipping on the counter. They didn't keep the whole paper. They just kept this clipping. And it is the most milquetoast white dude you've ever seen.
00:12:08
Speaker
White human just like smiling, surrounded by ah bunch of people clapping. Does he look... It's a sketch of him. Being Brelish myself, I would know, does he look like a local-ish to...
00:12:22
Speaker
I mean, give give me a wisdom or intelligence check as you look at this picture. Okay. Now I just want to check the spelling on that. That's J-Y-M-J-A-H-S-U-N, right? I've got it, right?
00:12:35
Speaker
Sure. Yeah.
00:12:38
Speaker
Yeah. Pretty good. You say, was it intelligence or wisdom? You missed four apostrophes. I'll let you figure out where they go. I'll find it.
00:12:47
Speaker
Intelli intelligence or wisdom and whatever relevant backgrounds you'd like to apply. Cass, if you have any, I don't really have, i i I don't have an official background to apply to this, but as I was raised in Breland, is there anything I can add?
00:13:01
Speaker
what's What's the one about your, your childhood or like how you were raised? Well, there's the, there's the, i it's more about how I acted growing up privileged mischief. Like I kind of got away with crap.
00:13:13
Speaker
But I was also a tailor's son, which again is not a background point that I gave myself. Okay. think I'm just going to have to roll straight. right. I'll let you take practice mischief.
00:13:25
Speaker
Oh, okay. In that case, it is a 19. 19. 19. nineteen nineteen
00:13:33
Speaker
Your question was, like does he fit in with like the Breelish aesthetic? is that like this Yeah, basically, does does he did is there anything about his his appearance in this picture would give me pause as like an outsider?
00:13:44
Speaker
With a 19, he looks the most Breelish. Okay. okay
00:13:50
Speaker
Kaz is not far enough to be put off by that. Sky blue necktie. and Yeah. all the yeah I'm with you. He's got a button down with the sleeves rolled up. You know, it's, you know, real man look.
00:14:01
Speaker
Some of us just don't like stuff around our wrists. yeah I got made fun of last night for having my jacket pulled up off of my wrist. I don't like it. Anyway.
00:14:12
Speaker
Okay. I have the clipping in front of me now is the date... I mean, again, it's from two and a half months ago. Okay. So while shortly after Barnaby's time missing starts.
00:14:31
Speaker
You're right. please He was out for three months, but he's only been back for a bit, right? Sorry, it's it's it's half a month ago. Sorry, I was i was doing my math backwards. yeah Gotcha, gotcha. Okay, so so that's recently before Barnaby woke up. They got a new mayor, and that's when the philanthropy started as well.
00:14:46
Speaker
Yeah. So this could just be a natural extension of their newfound altruism and kindness and empathy. Okay, gotcha. Okay. Okay. And as you read the article, yeah, it talks about how this like newly elected mayor has done wonderful things for the town of Pellas Watch and really turned around what was once considered one of the least desirable places to go in all of the nation and turned it into a hotbed of charitable giving and philanthropy.
00:15:16
Speaker
Okay. It's not something you think of as being a hotbed. Hotbed of charity. it is This din of kindness. to
00:15:29
Speaker
Okay. i I think I thank Renee. And yeah, I'm sure. yeah Like, what what was the last job? You know, you were gone for a bit. What what what was that?
00:15:41
Speaker
Okay. I mean, i don't think it'd be. Yeah. So there were some
00:15:47
Speaker
There was some weird animal aggression happening that thought with ah the local stop might be influenced by something greater than just you know natural occurrences.
00:15:59
Speaker
So we went to check it out and see if maybe there was like a bad guy training animals or something. That was not the case, it turned out. but well You understand I'm not clear to tell you everything right now, but if I ever get to, I will fill you in.
00:16:13
Speaker
So who's keeping you quiet? My own sense of not wanting to anger people that I care about. Oh, interesting. Okay. And my own understanding that I don't even know if people would be angry, but I'm going to stay on the side of caution.
00:16:31
Speaker
Why are you tapping your nose like that? I'm confused. Rene, what are you doing? It's good as a wig to a blind man. Okay.
00:16:41
Speaker
Okay. And she takes the piece paper and starts writing feverishly on her note. I mean, I could make her career. i know, right?
00:16:54
Speaker
Or have her arrested by the Kairish military. Right. Or absolutely get her disappeared. Yeah, those the two options. Could be both. I mean, yeah.
00:17:05
Speaker
Nyx, Selena, you all doing anything in town? Kalzart isn't like a huge town, but it's also not small. They got quite a few resources and things like that.
Travel Plans and Border Crossing
00:17:15
Speaker
I going to say, I've got one thing to do because there's one thing to do, but it's just a newspaper and the entire town is built around the newspaper.
00:17:22
Speaker
Quick question that we didn't establish. What time of day would you all, so you all know it's about an eight, there's a ah two hour layover in Vathron, which is the next lightning rail station. And then you all expressed you would rather overshoot Pella's watch a little bit to end up closer and have to backtrack a little rather than ending up in Vathron and having to walk further.
00:17:43
Speaker
um So, yeah, you'll have a two-hour layover in Vathorand, and then it's basically six hours to Vathorand, or, sorry, four hours to Vathorand, two-hour layover, then 12 hours to Star Slasker.
00:17:56
Speaker
and Right. And that's why we wanted to overshoot, because the long time did not be up Lightning Row. Yeah. Yeah. Have we gotten confirmation on horses once we get to Star Slasker?
00:18:08
Speaker
i No. Okay. You were told if you do a good job, Barnaby's pretty loaded, and so... on the way back. We might overcharge him and be able to... You'll be able to afford horses is if he's happy with the resolution.
00:18:21
Speaker
Right.
00:18:24
Speaker
Dicks. So, all that to ask... expressed longing to be punished. You basically have 18 hours of travel time to get to Starris Lasker and then...
00:18:39
Speaker
probably a half day's walk to Pella's watch along the road. Well, then we should aim to get to star Lasker in the evening, stay the night there. And that way we get to Pella's watch in the middle of the day and we can actually do something instead of getting there in the evening and just having to go find a night in the end at the possibly cursed or possessed or something to town.
00:19:00
Speaker
So you'll want to leave in the morning. Do I'm hearing? So I think that is later. Yeah, that sounds cool. Sure or to me. Okay, so it is morning time then.
00:19:10
Speaker
and Ideally, we'd get to like Vathenrond around lunchtime.
00:19:17
Speaker
Check the local board to see what's got good reviews. but Hit the duty-free shop. um So, are we going to to go? wait So, curiosity's just just flavor curiosity, Eric.
00:19:34
Speaker
This is wartime, Corvair. What's a lightning rail station like during the war? And do we have expectations about what crossing the border is going to mean?
00:19:48
Speaker
so yeah, when you get to the station in Vataron, because it's the closest station to the border, you you will have your papers looked at to make sure that you're not like known war criminals or anything like that.
00:19:59
Speaker
But... Most nations for non-combatants still maintain free travel amongst them just because commerce and sure stuff like that.
00:20:11
Speaker
So, yeah, you all should not have any issues at the border. Worst case scenario, generally speaking, you might find some particularly enterprising soldiers that have a fee associated with border crossing that's not, you know, officially recognized.
00:20:26
Speaker
but Right, right. Yeah. and how nix handles that i'd say i'll kill them and will
00:20:34
Speaker
um but yeah that that would be your expectations for a border crossing at this time especially breland and kair don't really have like massive hostilities right now at this point in the war so it's kind of copacetic if you were traveling from breland to on dare it might be a little bit dicier so yeah all right um carpet So, Nyx, Selina, anything else that you want to do in Calzart?
00:21:01
Speaker
I don't think so. Yeah, no, I don't i don't think so. i think just waiting on the train, going making sure the tickets are secure and all that stuff.
00:21:12
Speaker
Okay. Cool.
00:21:18
Speaker
Um...
00:21:22
Speaker
Alrighty. So then Kaz arrives shortly. having talked to Renee at the Kal-Zerk cry, and you all have about five minutes until your train is due to arrive. Um, so you're hanging out at the lightning rail station and you hear the sound of it coming.
00:21:41
Speaker
As opposed to what you would hear at a normal train station, the rumble of a train on tracks. It sounds like a storm approaching. Like you hear lightning cracks and thunder rumbles. ah Since these trains are powered by lightning and it, it approaches a
00:21:57
Speaker
trying to think of the word for the person that checks your ticket and sends you on your way. Porter? almost said usher. What? Porter? Porter? Porter? ah Sure, I'll take it over. In Eberron it is. The porter looks at your all's tickets and gestures like halfway down the train.
00:22:15
Speaker
you're not You're not in the cargo hold, but you're you're in the mid-tier, which Javier told you all like can't afford to put you all in first class yet. Sorry. So, um you all...
00:22:26
Speaker
Find yourself in a passenger car with rows of seats. Many of them are set facing each other with small tables. Valk is with you all, just to be clear.
00:22:37
Speaker
And Valk's just being characteristically quiet. And so you all can take a seat at one of the tables and the train takes off. Um,
00:22:49
Speaker
course Philip, roll a D12 me.
00:22:58
Speaker
It's seven. Okay.
00:23:05
Speaker
First leg of your trip goes without incident. That's pretty
Layover at Vatheron Station
00:23:08
Speaker
quiet. Not a whole lot of people taking this particular leg between Kalazart and Vatheron. Jeff, roll a d12 for me.
00:23:16
Speaker
Okay.
00:23:19
Speaker
Five. five all right.
00:23:26
Speaker
and ah Nothing happens. And for the last leg on your way to Vatheron, Madison, roll a decoy. Nine. Nine. Okay. So you all arrive at Vatheron Station. but you There is an announcement arriving shortly at the Vatheron Station in Breland. Please be prepared to deboard the train for inspection of papers and cargo.
00:23:51
Speaker
Which does not strike you all as hot. Um, so you all arrived, the train, at the lightning rail slows down. And there are probably half a dozen Breelish soldiers posted on the platform.
00:24:04
Speaker
And they're kind of stationed equidistant from each other down the link, the train. The porters there are guiding you all as you walk off. So they gesture towards one of the shoulder, shoulders, soldiers, the soldier's shoulder and gesture over there.
00:24:20
Speaker
And he just looks at you all as says, all right, let me see your papers.
00:24:27
Speaker
Present papers. Reason for traveling to Breland. Work. they All right.
00:24:37
Speaker
He looks at Kaz. You got a guardian with you? I look at Nick's. He's with me. Because we've not established this.
00:24:49
Speaker
Do I have papers? Do I have... Yes. Yeah. Okay. what i This is like a new thing. Medieval-ish like fantasy. like yeah Right, right, right.
00:25:00
Speaker
you are You are considered to be capable and on your own well before the age of 18. Right. Right. So yeah, Kaz would have papers, but you look young. We've established that Kaz is the kid. So... Yeah.
00:25:12
Speaker
We collectively, not Jeff, but the rest of us. as Everyone keeps telling me Kaz is the kid. All right. And I guess...
00:25:26
Speaker
I've never really gotten to the logistics of how papers would work at Eberron. I guess when you all moved to Absampton. Because it's a disgusting concept. I mean, it's your ID. Like, it's it's your... yeah I guess Javier would have updated y'all's address when you all arrived.
00:25:43
Speaker
but assume that that i would assume you would have that in preparation for a trip like this, Javier would probably have to get, like, travel documents for us, essentially. It would be like ah more like a passport than a driver's license. Yeah.
00:25:56
Speaker
So, yeah, because my papers expired years ago, if that's the case. Yeah, yeah. Hands all of them back to you all. um Oh, the date of birth would be weird for Kaz, though. Yeah. This is what I'm saying. Like, my, if let's let's assume there's like, mine really is forged.
00:26:13
Speaker
It's gotta be. My guess was they just whipped me up some new ones. Yeah. That's what I was asking. Yeah. No, that makes sense. I mean, Nyx would be very capable of forging a passport.
00:26:26
Speaker
Yeah. Do I get to pick a name for it?
00:26:32
Speaker
Casimir Pernarius is fine. Yeah, i I... Normally, yes, Jeff. Dirk Sunder. If we had developed the trust from a GM to player three for a minute to name things on the fly.
00:26:42
Speaker
But they're not on the fly. No, there's a list. There's a list. I know. So, anyway, Soldier tells you all, feel free to spend some time in the station. We will be performing an inspection of the cargo on the train that will let you all know when it's ready to be board.
00:26:58
Speaker
So you all have two hours to kill in Batherond.
00:27:02
Speaker
it's It's a fairly bigger city than Kaluzart. It would be an opportunity to like get any last minute provisions or anything you all feel like you might need or just go grab lunch. Like you said, it is about lunchtime.
00:27:15
Speaker
If you like, you can do that. well Or we can just cut to you all getting back on food or at the plane. I'm sure food here is going to be better than food on the train. True. Absolutely.
00:27:25
Speaker
And i do need to fill them in on this new mayor situation. Yeah, for sure. Do they allow animals on the train? Do I have grub? I assume they probably don't allow raccoons. I don't know. Yeah, they're very different. Yeah, they're different. Animal companions and... Definitely people don't expect a raccoon, but there's no rule against it. Okay, great. think it's delightful that the small dragon hanging out on Nyx's shoulder probably elicits less comment than the cape-wearing raccoon. With its little head poking out of my bag? Yeah.
00:28:04
Speaker
We looked and looked and she's right. We can't tell her she can't have it. Yeah,
00:28:14
Speaker
um yeah there is a, there's a tavern near the train station called the bronze flask that you all can go to. on just second. Let me shut my door. He's going to get the menu. That's my favorite part. Oh, I got the menu. Don't you worry.
00:28:29
Speaker
Oh, you know, I made a menu. Um, despite the fact that I was greatly burned at GamerNationCon, because I made three separate menus for that adventure, and guess how many people asked about the menu?
00:28:40
Speaker
Guess how many menus you've got. Yeah. that's rock it Those people don't appreciate you like we do, Eric. That's clear. look get the Half of them are listening. we You appreciate it. you appreciate it more They appreciate them in a him in a different way.
00:28:55
Speaker
yeah Ours is mostly comprised of griefing. yeah Cass was going to explain to Nix the difference between someone you love being mean to you and someone just being mean to you. And now that's When Eric is mean, I laugh. If other people said the things to me that Eric said, I would never stop thinking about it.
00:29:16
Speaker
it's right. So yeah, you walk in to the bronze flask. Well, you walk up to it. It's sturt it's a sturdy looking two-story stone structure ring with iron lanterns. It's kind of run down like there's some patches in the roof with like scavenged metal and things like that.
00:29:33
Speaker
um And you see a sign carved into bronze depicting a stylized soldier's canteen. As you all walk in, the main room has pretty low ceilings and a couple of fireplaces that are burning because it is cold. It is wintertime.
00:29:49
Speaker
Thick oak beams carved with breelish military medals and slogans from the last war. It seems like a lot of soldiers like are welcome to carve different things from their travels in here.
00:30:02
Speaker
And there are some like... campaign banners hanging along the walls and stuff like that. It seems like this is a really popular spot with soldiers. Um, And yeah, you see there is fair number of tables scattered about. There's also a bar with a human man looks to be in his late 40s behind it ah serving couple of guests there.
00:30:26
Speaker
You see Nix. Your eyes are probably drawn pretty quickly to the very nice looking crossbow that is mounted over the bar. um Just in reach. Like, it's not so high that, like, if needed, it can't be can't be grabbed.
00:30:43
Speaker
But, yeah. um The proprietary, like, sees you all enter and, like, there's a beat. you You all are kind of a motley crew, so not so much kaz but you know kaz could blend in but anyway what is our what is our look gang what is everybody like is there a trap is there a like travel outfit for people is kaz still wearing a boarding school uniform no definitely not kaz is in um i think kaz is in like appropriate clothing for his age but not a boarding school like he's wearing i
00:31:20
Speaker
I mean, we've never really talked about this. Is this a, is this a knickered society or are these a long pants kind of folks? Cause Kaz is wearing whichever one he's supposed to be in. I would say it's like you get to tell us.
00:31:31
Speaker
Yeah. but I don't want to lean so far into this little Lloyd, little Lord Fauntleroy thing. So I think he's just wearing like plain pants and a shirt. Like pretty well-made, like clearly quality craftsmanship. Cause I think it is still clothes that he had, but, but nothing special.
00:31:49
Speaker
I have a question for about Kaz. So obviously we don't know Kaz's situation, but just ka does Kaz still have like in a in a box somewhere clothes from the Feywild?
00:32:04
Speaker
I don't think he does. I think the only thing he has from the Feywild is this burden of magic. I think if it weren't for the fact that someone maybe in that brief incarceration made a connection between what he's doing and Thelonus, I don't think he would know that's where his connection is.
00:32:22
Speaker
but someone Or maybe Javier or or Aurora said something to like, well, your magic is clearly Thelonian or something. i't I think otherwise he might not know because he just literally woke up in the field.
00:32:34
Speaker
Yeah. ah That i was precursor to his character introduction. So cool. Yeah.
00:32:43
Speaker
Nyx is probably, i mean, Nyx is not wearing armor. Like Nyx usually goes armored to places that we go, but she's not going to do an 18 hour train ride in armor. Yeah.
00:32:54
Speaker
So that's that's packed. And I assume she was not allowed to carry weapons onto the train. Yeah, they probably need to be packed up. Yeah. So she feels very, very naked. And yeah. buts just Just comfortable clothes.
00:33:11
Speaker
Travel fit. I think Selena has like comfortable clothes, but still nice. like Good for travel, but they're still nice. so She likes nice things. Yeah. is it still Is it still kind of like gothy Pretty Pretty Princess? Yes, a little bit.
00:33:25
Speaker
Yeah. um Okay, cool. So yeah, the proprietor looks at you all and just kind of gives a nod and there there are empty tables that you could take or you could go sit at the bar either way.
00:33:40
Speaker
um And there's a handful of servers walking around that will get to you when they get a chance. So go ahead and feel free Kaz fill them in since she said that's what you
Speculation on Peller's Watch's Philanthropy
00:33:50
Speaker
want to do. Yeah.
00:33:51
Speaker
So, okay. So I went and I talked to Renee at the cry again. i just thought it might be good to know if anything... happened in Peller's Watch while Barnaby was asleep or whatever he was.
00:34:04
Speaker
And the only thing she had, and I guess it makes sense, like it's not a big town, but she said, we found out that about two weeks ago, I guess two weeks ago was the culmination of an election.
00:34:15
Speaker
So I don't know how long the cycle is in Peller's Watch, but they have elected a new mayor and he's one of those guys, he's like He's like a Hollywood extra. He's like a filler person. He's like, just, you wouldn't notice him kind of relish quab relish, but they love him. His name's Jim Johnson.
00:34:36
Speaker
And I guess his whole thing is philanthropy. And now the whole town is just shoveling money at an orphan's charity, a conflict orphan's charity.
00:34:48
Speaker
i not going to say what I said earlier because it really threw Renee off and I don't want to do that to you guys again. so yeah Okay.
00:34:59
Speaker
Well, my immediate suspicion would be that Jim Johnson is not in fact what he appears to be. but Yes. That's what I was thinking. I was thinking he was like probably he leaned too hard.
00:35:17
Speaker
into into it. And my question is if there really is a charity, you know, like that's kind of what my first thought was. it so it is explained ah it's ah It's a con, perhaps. it's a It's a con and he did something to make everybody all sweet and nice so that two and a half months later he could become the mayor.
00:35:38
Speaker
Yes. Sure. There's all sorts of magic you could do. Although on the scale, like of an entire town, Like for a sorcerer or someone to charm a person might be relatively straightforward, but an entire town, that's a lot.
00:35:59
Speaker
I think it might be possible to once again ascribe this to a lone weirdo who didn't know what he was doing. we mean, you know, what's his name? Zombified hassles of a country. Good point. All right, yes.
00:36:13
Speaker
He might also be... terrifyingly powerful or i was thinking i was thinking not human oh yeah yeah sure true like it could be a fiend or a celestial or something or ah or a or a fey i'm doing this for reasons i don't know what the reasons would be yeah
00:36:40
Speaker
As you all are talking, your trains of thought are disrupted briefly as a black cat hops up onto the table and kind of regards you all. but You do notice, though, that the cat on each of its paws has one extra toe, and its eyes are a very vibrant silver as it kind of looks at Selina specifically.
Encounter at the Bronze Flask
00:37:02
Speaker
Acheron stands on Nick's shoulders, flares its wings, and and does the draconic equivalent of bristling his tail.
00:37:08
Speaker
Yeah. Cachron hates polydactyl-y. That's exactly what it is, yeah. So very specifically six-toed cats. Yeah, the the cat regards each of you.
00:37:23
Speaker
Grub pops his head out of the bag and just stare back. Yeah, silver eyes. Still feline, still the the vertical slits. I think Kaz might actually reach out to pet it until he notices the eyes and then kind of go, oh, not...
00:37:38
Speaker
Not a cat. Not different kind of cat. Are there other cats in this place? As you look around, you don't see any. And as you're looking around, you finally see a humanoid figure approach your table and says, Whiskers down.
00:37:53
Speaker
Hi, my name's Kayla. And you see a changeling woman in changeling form standing at your table. um What can i do for y'all? Y'all seem to be out of towners.
00:38:08
Speaker
I'm just here for lunch, waiting on the train. Of course. Get plenty of folks in that situation. So what can I get for y'all?
00:38:19
Speaker
What are your specials? Hit us with the menus,
00:38:25
Speaker
Grant. The current specials are the Border Watcher's Pie, which is... A thick layer of mashed potatoes, minced meat, mushrooms, cheesy crust.
00:38:37
Speaker
Garrett's chili, which he... It's a staple, but the ingredients change. That's what makes it a special is it's seasonal in nature. Gareth is there the cook. ah Gareth is actually the owner, and she gestures the person behind the bar.
00:38:51
Speaker
um We have a roast fowl right now, a wild fowl served with onion gravy and roasted greens. A field rations board with some hard cheeses, smoked sausage, pickles, black bread, dried fruit.
00:39:04
Speaker
And we can serve that to go, just so you know. We can box that up for you. Take it as a lunchable. Excellent. I was going to say Cas wants the lunchable. ah And then unfortunately, our special dessert is only for after sundown. It's a night's indulgent dessert, but it's spelled night. And so night, if you can get it.
00:39:24
Speaker
So, and then we have a Castron Daggerdark Stout, a Ardev Red Wine, the Whispering Ghost, which is a house cocktail that we have right now, and the Barrel Reserve King's Fred and Brandy that we imported from Roat.
00:39:40
Speaker
That'd
00:39:42
Speaker
That is a five silver per glass, just so you know.
00:39:47
Speaker
I'll have the fowl. I'll take the pie. Great. What about you, young man? Yeah, can I? I'd love to try the pie as well. Is that a kid's menu? No. I mean, honestly, he'd ask for chicken nuggets. Um... um Okay, here I need you to take the fowl, bread roll it, chop it, slice it, chop it small, roll it in the potato from the Border Watchers pie and throw it in some hot oil for me. for I think he's going to ask for the pie and he's going to see if he can get a glass of the, the was it ale from Rowat?
00:40:22
Speaker
ah Brandy from Rowat. Oh, that's that's probably harder than he's had before. He's definitely snuck a beer from his hometown, but I don't know that he's ever gotten into the liquor cabinet, so maybe he wouldn't try to be nostalgic. I think he might just ask for ah water.
00:40:38
Speaker
um we We have some like some lighter fare if you want. like ah ah We have a golden ale. That sounds good. Great. Okay. ni Nix's head sort of swivels and cocks sideways.
00:40:54
Speaker
um Anything to drink for you? I am larger than several adults who do drink this stuff. Yeah.
00:41:03
Speaker
In my head, Kaz is bigger than Selena, so just dumber, younger, taller as it goes. Anything for you two? I'll take the wine.
00:41:15
Speaker
The wine? There it is. Okay. Water. Water. All righty. I'll be right back. And she takes off. And the yeah the cat takes one final look at you all and hops down off the table.
00:41:31
Speaker
Weird cat, right? Yes. Okay. That was weird.
00:41:36
Speaker
like Yes. It's eyes for weird. I've seen toes. That many toes on a cat. Yeah. far was That's fine. Sure. it Also, you would think if it lived here, it would have probably gotten the message of not jumping up on the tables by this point.
00:41:54
Speaker
Fair enough.
00:41:57
Speaker
Did it give any of us a look, Eric? I don't know if you mentioned that. You kind of got to think it was regarding each of you, like like okay of measuring you up. It started with Selena, and then it moved on to the other two.
Kaz's Reflections and Connections
00:42:08
Speaker
Okay. What did Kayla name it? She said its name. Whiskers. Whiskers. Okay. I could have just guessed. Yeah. Salem, Whiskers, Sable, Black Cat, Worgers. Is that ah but
00:42:26
Speaker
Void Beast. Anything else you all would like to discuss?
00:42:34
Speaker
Um...
00:42:43
Speaker
I guess... No. no Not that I can think of. and up the Stuff that would require prerequisite knowledge that I never asked Barnaby last episode. Like, the hey, are you the richest guy in town?
00:42:56
Speaker
You know that he is well-off. We know that he's well-off, but we don't know if it's a town of well-off people. We didn't ask him anything about Peller's Watch baseline except for that they're all a bunch of a-holes.
00:43:07
Speaker
Yeah. So how does he become well off? It sounded like his main his main this is something like his time was spent pickpocketing and ah shoplifting. And brawling. And offered also this is an instance where if you wanted more information just for free, you could use a connection to say that narratively something occurs that gives you some insight into Pella's watch before you arrive.
00:43:33
Speaker
ah
00:43:37
Speaker
Hey, Is it possible that Barnaby was wealthy enough that he was wearing eight platinum rings?
00:43:45
Speaker
So... Because that would I have a ah connection with those guys right now. they So, like I said, with the Icon stuff, like a lot of them are the leadership of a particular organization. So like your like your connection could spread out to all of the Aurum. So you could you could just...
00:44:02
Speaker
like try to establish that Barnaby, yeah, had or that like you recognized somebody from the Aurum or you knew someone from Pella's watch that was in the Aurum. You could say that that memory is jogged on Kaz's part.
00:44:17
Speaker
hey I like that idea. um
00:44:24
Speaker
Kaz spent most of his life Aurum adjacent because of his dad's job, so I think that it would not be crazy to think that he would know someone, maybe not, like, it'd have to be in Peller's Watch with for this to work.
00:44:37
Speaker
Or that had business there and knows what their... Also, a big part of the Orem is, like, the network. So... Right, yeah right. they would They would be aware of goings-on. Yeah, i think i think that's fair. I think, you know, Kaz has his...
00:44:50
Speaker
and yeah um Kaz has aspirations to one day be in the Platinum Concorde just because it's he grew up knowing about it and knows that it's it it's power and it's influence and he has been adjacent to those things.
00:45:04
Speaker
His priorities were markedly different before he disappeared for a while and came back and everything had changed. I guess that's good way to say it. yeah And so I think maybe he would know a little bit more about Peller's Watch.
00:45:17
Speaker
Okay. yeah i can Just to remind you all, as well as the listeners, how it works with the narrative benefit. Yes, please. Jeff, this is your story to tell. you get to make up kind of whatever you want in terms of how your connection to the Platinum car Concord and by extension, the Aurum helps. And it's a, is it a complicated relationship? Is that what it is?
00:45:36
Speaker
I have a conflicted relationship with them because... simply i I went conflicted with the with that one simply because i I know that I've been gone for so long and I don't know what they are, who they are, and how the war has changed, what they do, and stuff like that. it's kind of my My idea was the conflicted was I am now conflicted about whether... I'm not as sure i that I want to win to aspire to that, I guess is the way to say it.
00:46:04
Speaker
So yeah, you you get to kind of establish how that connection plays into the adventure to get you what you want. um It is obviously pending my ostensibly my approval, but a lot of times if it's something like really massive, then I might forego the narrative twist role and just say if it's something that big, there will be a twist associated with it.
00:46:28
Speaker
So you can you can push it to get a bit more for an automatic twist. is the way that it works this so this may not be what what you want the direction you want to take go but we're in breland now right and that's where your family's from and right a big town so like is there a business connection of your of your dad but maybe kaz wouldn't want to do that i don't know but i'm one when they do that i'm sure wonder yeah jeff dead maybe maybe jeff doesn't want to do that to his to his character yet i don't know
00:47:02
Speaker
I know not everyone hates their home characters as much as I do. I am wondering if there's a way that I could...
00:47:12
Speaker
is a... so so
00:47:21
Speaker
there is a
00:47:25
Speaker
I just don't know how to make it work that isn't just totally convoluted. i don't As much as I know that that's okay, I don't want to do it like that. I'm trying to think if there's a way. I'm open to anything from anyone.
00:47:37
Speaker
There is a a tailor or something in this town that... my dad had worked with in the past. I don't have to say I'm Casimir Panarius. I can simply be from Panarius. There you go. Clothing works. So I can, I i mean, I know the answers to the questions that I'd ask.
00:47:57
Speaker
But I don't... that I mean, that's a connection to this town. That gets me back into Breland, but that doesn't get me to New Pillars Watch or the Concord. A little bit if the network is is all there. Yeah. I mean, if it's a business associate of your dad, like they might recognize you as like looking a bit like your dad. They probably wouldn't think, oh, this is old Casimir who hasn't aged a day in years. Yeah, no, i could fully be a a nephew or something. Yeah. So it might just be somebody in this tavern that goes, you look familiar.
00:48:26
Speaker
So... Yeah, that would work. How do we get from there to like what goes on in Pillars Watch? Or is it just, I mean, I guess, what what do you what what are you trying to answer?
00:48:36
Speaker
Because it could be knowledge. It could be, yeah, I mean... the Well, it would be interesting to find out how business has been affected by right by a little Jim Johnson.
00:48:47
Speaker
And the sudden philanthropy and charity and actual... It's the it's the fiscal drain that has has interested me now. When it was just everyone's being nice, it was one thing. And now it's, well, how much money is there in Pelotor's Watch? Two...
00:49:02
Speaker
funnel into whatever yeah yeah like are all of these people wealthy is he particularly wealthy is this a quarter horse town and the whole place is just rich you know what i mean like is there is everyone sitting on oil you know like there's one also real quick let me so the the
00:49:24
Speaker
What was that town in New England that was like, hey, did you like you dig three feet down in your own front yard, you have a million dollars worth of shale? And so everybody did, now they're all rich.
00:49:38
Speaker
Someone's going to correct me, but it was something like that. Um... Don't hear it.
00:49:49
Speaker
I think that's what he's trying to find out is exactly how much money there is for just leaning into our new theory for Jim Johnson to siphon away.
00:49:59
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, that's cool. I like that. That's a good, that's a good thought.
00:50:05
Speaker
but not Or legitimately donate to people in need, which is also fine know. So in the, in the second edition, like draft that we currently have to work off of, it gives some examples of narrative benefits that you can pull up just as like a starting point to think through.
00:50:23
Speaker
So knowledge that helps the party choose a better path between two or more options, a new detail in the scene related to the icons, other followers, or to its magical power. entertaining entertaining changes to interactions or relationships with NPCs aids from spirits or other messengers information that sends the adventure in the campaign in surprising direction helpful that's the party achieve a goal without paying the expected costs such as time favors recoveries uh help less the heroes arrived just in the nick of time helping an upcoming battle avoiding avoiding a upcoming battle um
00:51:02
Speaker
um an effect that's based on the icons metaphysical influence in the world is raw iconic power. This would be something obviously economic. Right. Flashbacks is something that it says. So if you wanted to say that, like, you know,
00:51:16
Speaker
Kaz had to make a trip with his dad back then to Pella's watch. I know that ratio would be 20 years stale, but it would still be something that you could inject into the narrative. Um, things your character experiences in the downtime between your adventures. So once again, that's kind of a flashbacky thing or story development set firmly in the future. So you could kind of say, when we get to Pella's watch, there will be this thing there.
00:51:41
Speaker
like the this story development will occur when we arise kind of thing so up to you i just want to kind of go through that list just to give you an idea of like from a design standpoint that's kind of what their where their head was at with using icon relationships in a narrative sense it in a meta way just to throw this out there someone outside of pellet's watch might be more useful to us since someone inside pellet's watch would presumably be affected by whatever is going on the town Yeah, you could have it be Staris Lasker, however you may pronounce that weird town name.
00:52:15
Speaker
Let us know in the comments, Keith Baker. Yeah. Lurching Tower, which is the nearby military base. So you could have it be one of those places as well, like a point of contact you all can go to on your way.
00:52:26
Speaker
guild we're talking about, be a tailor's guild. So military uniforms, that kind thing. What if... How about this? What if...
00:52:38
Speaker
for my thing that happens firmly in the future, we arrive to... When we arrive at Star Alaska, we're on the train with somebody else who also happens to be going to Peller's Watch who is a traveling merchant.
00:52:50
Speaker
And they are a member of... The Orem. The Orem. And maybe yeah got to kind of fill us in on some stuff about...
00:53:02
Speaker
Pellers watch as we not travel with them because i know Nick's doesn't want to travel with them but but
00:53:12
Speaker
this person who was really unhelpful to all of our efforts to learn anything useful Nick's thought might get in our way of objectively considering all options For almost 10 years, I have disingenuously misconstrued Phillips characters, actions and motivations.
00:53:34
Speaker
keep it And it's not been kind of fun.
00:53:40
Speaker
All right. So, uh, is that, is that reasonable? Is that, I think that's perfectly reasonable. Okay, great. i think that's great. use Cool. So you all finish up your meals. Anybody want to do anything else before we head back to the train?
00:54:00
Speaker
Anybody want to ask what's up with that cat?
00:54:04
Speaker
I want, I mean, Philip wants to know what's up with the cat. Nix is comfortable with the fact that we will never encounter the cat again. Right. Yeah. Eric threw a cat at us.
00:54:16
Speaker
Eric threw a weird cat at us.
Nyx's Black Market Inquiries
00:54:18
Speaker
i I actually have a ah thought that might be useful in an advance since we have a little bit of time. Um, I'd like to make a roll to see if Nix still knows somebody from her black market days.
00:54:38
Speaker
If we're, if we're kind of saying, and it honestly hadn't occurred to me until Jeff brought it up, but if we're kind of saying that Pella's watch is a, is a place with real business and with some sort of industry,
00:54:54
Speaker
It's the war. Somebody's smuggling that thing. And so let's see if there's somebody in town, some some criminal element in town Nix could go ask a couple of questions of just to to get an idea of of what's what we might expect on the illegitimate side of things.
00:55:12
Speaker
See if there's someone in Pella's watch or somebody in Vatheron that knows something about Pella's watch. Somebody in Vatheron who knows something. Yeah. Cool. Yes. Real quick before you roll that though, Jeff, roll a d20 to see if there's a twist with your- Oh yeah.
00:55:25
Speaker
Oh, i sure. Yes, yes, yes. If you get a six or higher, you're good. One through five, ah there's a twist. Wait, you said roll a d20? Six or higher is good? Okay, awesome.
00:55:36
Speaker
Well, guess what? That's a three. yeah yeah say the The way you said that, the laws of the universe are going to demand irony. It was more awesome, I like that design, not awesome, I think I'm going to succeed. Cool.
00:55:49
Speaker
All right. So there will be a twist related to that traveling merchant. Cool. Yes, Philip, go ahead and give me...
00:56:03
Speaker
I mean, how would Nyx go about this? Like trying to see if there's someone. I mean, this is a border town. Nyx has absolutely smuggled something through here at some point, probably on this lightning rail line.
00:56:15
Speaker
So surely there's someone in town who's a, who's a, who's a black market contact. Yeah, I think this would be kind of like sneaking around town, though, to because there's a bunch of soldiers here, so obviously Nyx would be a death to this, but that would be still like... I don't think it would be hard for Nyx to find the place, and it just would be more of like doing it unnoticed.
00:56:36
Speaker
Sure. Are you taking Selina and Kaz with you? and um
00:56:44
Speaker
but It isn't so much that Nyx wants to hide this from them, it's more... Is that are there is their presence going to make it Harder to do.
00:57:00
Speaker
ah You know what? Actually, absolutely. Yes. For the benefit of getting past soldiers, because Selena looks like. Official and yeah well off and is less likely to be stopped by the cops than Nix is.
00:57:19
Speaker
okay Go ahead and roll a dexterity check to sneak about town with relevant backgrounds. Yep. And for your thinking, you can add Selena's daughter of a diplomat background.
00:57:33
Speaker
Ooh. What's that number? Four. Cool. Okay, so that is a natural 13, plus for Daughter of Diplomat, plus 2 for Black Marketeer, to 17, and it's dex, you said?
00:57:48
Speaker
Yeah. So 19 plus my level 21. Okay. So yeah you see a fair amount of soldiers walking about town. You also see kind of maybe your your eyes are more primed to notice it, given what Kaz told you all.
00:58:02
Speaker
You also see a fair amount of like young kids that clearly are like, maybe don't have a home to go back to like traveling in groups around the town, wide variety of races. You see like some young half orcs, tieflings, stuff like that, running around and you're able to sneak into an alleyway, kind of duck behind some buildings and you find an old smuggler's drop point. That is a former seller that you open the doors to and are able to sneak into unnoticed.
00:58:36
Speaker
um as you reach the bottom
00:58:42
Speaker
so you're looking for people to talk to right yeah okay um ideally someone she knows from olde days great an old an old member of her crew or just someone she used to sell goods to or Okay, for sure.
00:59:03
Speaker
So yeah, you walk down the the dark stairs, the three of you, and yeah, it's dank, smells very, very strongly of mildew and other like alchemical agents like...
00:59:18
Speaker
This is clearly ah a spot where a lot of things get passed through. And as you reach the bottom, and next, you see the familiar sight of a rather short desk with the actress Dolan, who is a gnome woman with a very prominent crystal eye.
00:59:37
Speaker
that kind of constantly shifts and spins and changes changes colors as she looks around the room. um She's wearing her typical outfit, which is ah tattered courier's uniform from the nation of Kire with all of the metals removed off of it.
00:59:53
Speaker
And it fits just a little too big, like it was maybe for halfling. um And she's puffing on a bizarre mechanical pipe.
01:00:04
Speaker
And she like looks up and sees you as like, Nyx. Before we get into this, spell this person's name. Viatris? Viatris. V-I-A-T-R-I-S.
01:00:18
Speaker
Okay. and Did she have a surname? Dolan. D-O-L-Y-N.
01:00:26
Speaker
She goes by Glass Eye, though.
01:00:30
Speaker
Sure. Why? Because she wants to. Because she has a crystal eye. Oh, here it is. Okay.
01:00:38
Speaker
Uh... Glaceye.
01:00:44
Speaker
Haven't seen you in a while.
01:00:47
Speaker
We've been... it you taking a sabbatical. I heard you went straight, is what I heard.
01:01:00
Speaker
Do an honest i would not describe it that way. Interesting. Alright, well, what brings you down here?
01:01:13
Speaker
I'm doing a little bit of freelance inquisitive work. you i have a client out of Pella's Watch. I'm told things have become strange there over the last three months, and I'm um just wondering anything you'd be able to give me a heads up on.
01:01:36
Speaker
Pella's Watch?
01:01:39
Speaker
me When I said you were rumored to be out of the game, that was an understatement compared to Pella's watch. It's dried up. They've gone honest with their work. And that was... Go ahead.
01:01:53
Speaker
ah What was it before? I um i never had any work through there. Mostly soldier contraband, you know, Lurching Tower is nearby. So Breelish military keeps a pretty tight leash on their soldiers when they're on duty.
01:02:06
Speaker
ah So there was no shortage of folks in Pella's watch looking to make a quick buck and smuggling into Lurching Tower was a a good, good business, but nobody's willing to do that anymore.
01:02:23
Speaker
So we found other ways.
01:02:29
Speaker
Well, since soldiers contraband, what are they produce there? i
01:02:39
Speaker
Oh. Pellows Watch produces people with no morals or scruples, typically. It's a station for smuggling things. I see.
01:02:50
Speaker
if you're If you're looking to make good coin because you have illicit goods, you go to Pellows Watch to find somebody willing to risk life and limb to get it to the soldiers for cheap.
01:03:02
Speaker
and cheaper than a normal smuggler we cost at least. Sounds like a regular hive of scum and villainy. I've heard it called that. Jeff, that's a Star Wars reference.
01:03:15
Speaker
I recognized it as such and appropriately reacted with a blank face. Any idea? I mean...
01:03:29
Speaker
and idea i mean Anyone from there left and gone found work in other places?
01:03:41
Speaker
You said they've gone straight. Surely not every smuggler and cutthroat in the town has stopped. Dark work. I haven't been there myself.
01:03:53
Speaker
I only know what people tell me. And lots of people come through here out of Kyr into Breland on their way to Pella's Watch to take some, you know, various contraband to the soldiers.
01:04:06
Speaker
And um yeah, they they had to go to Starr's Lasker, start finding the smugglers there willing to take the journey because literally... they They were starting to get not run out of town because they're not that aggressive allegedly, just stonewalled.
01:04:23
Speaker
Just nobody was willing to even talk to the smugglers when they showed up.
01:04:28
Speaker
The people going in are run out of town, not somebody ran the smugglers out of Pella's Watch. Pella's Watch is... Yeah, all the people that were smugglers in Pella's Watch no longer interested in smuggling.
01:04:40
Speaker
That's... Interesting. Your reaction is accurate. don't know. And no one knows what's changed. Um, I suppose what's created some of the, the change.
01:05:00
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, there's, there's rumors. They like, there's a new guy in charge that apparently whipped the town into shape, but, um, Don't know much about that. They, they elected him. So it's not like he came over and didn't take over anything.
01:05:13
Speaker
Breland hasn't instituted martial law. Like I said, there's no soldiers in the town. According to what I hear, they, they showed up and just the people there no longer stood working with them. It's a new band. So a local, nobody really recognized him. He might've been, I mean, they didn't have a full roster of the town or anything, but sure.
01:05:32
Speaker
Yeah. He, he, whi he began to wield a lot of influence and very quickly. Now, when I was in the game,
Shift in Peller's Watch's Morality
01:05:45
Speaker
there were people with less professional pride who, in a situation like that, might just see this new man as a problem to be solved.
01:06:04
Speaker
Yeah. You hear about anything like that happening? Anyone trying? Nobody's tried it that I know of anyway, but it, a lot of the smugglers had that similar thought, but the problem is there's no, in situations like that, there's always dissenters. There's always people that aren't happy with the new regime and we can't find it.
01:06:26
Speaker
Everybody loves the guy. No.
01:06:30
Speaker
So just, and I apologize to make you repeat yourself, but man In a town whose entire industry was illicit work and black marketeer and black man marketeering, everyone went straight at once after electing a new mayor. And there hasn't been a single voice of dissent about the...
01:07:04
Speaker
sudden loss of rep what does the town do now
01:07:10
Speaker
I mean don't know what tell you Nick they're not smuggling anymore so I have no business there so you don't get that that's fair no that's that's fair fit that chip right well are you in the market for anything or your friends hi we weren't introduced I'm glass eye hi I'm Selena I'm Nice to meet you.
01:07:34
Speaker
Who's the kid? We just call him that. yeah His name is Kaz. Kaz? Yeah. oh yeah. It's short for, yes. Name's Kaz. I didn't know I was there.
01:07:45
Speaker
ah you I genuinely thought you guys left me alone in the restaurant with or with without, without. but I'm fine with that. Sure. Hi, I'm here. love Valc alone.
01:07:56
Speaker
Kaz? You want some whisper dust? No. Hey, he doesn't. Let the kid speak for himself, Nix. Yeah, Nix, I'd like to make an informed decision about this. What is Whisper Dust?
01:08:09
Speaker
Oh, you never tried it before? hey It's so really good stuff. I am old enough to know that if when I to make a direct what is it and you prefer to interrupt you've never tried it before, it's probably not great for me.
01:08:23
Speaker
Selena is just shaking her head at Cass. Nix. Nyx puts a hand on the desk and her eyes change a little bit. He's not interested. All right. He has never been more interested.
01:08:37
Speaker
but That's just... If he doesn't want to have vivid, euphoric dreams while he's awake and possibly see glimpses of the future, that's no skin off my back.
01:08:49
Speaker
No. Just the future, he says, genuinely asking. Yeah? Okay. Hey, this could unlock something for the last 20 years of my life. I understood that. You said it. The character was reacting. No, I know. I know.
01:09:05
Speaker
The silent looks, you always have to wonder if it's the player or the character. I got it. Nothing like that. Thank you. Come on.
01:09:18
Speaker
nick You tell me, Phil, because Nick's doesn't drink. So there is a particular drive on her list called Iron Howl Powder that grants a surge of physical vigor. Your criminals have menus?
01:09:37
Speaker
What's a good smuggler without things to try and tempt you with?
01:09:42
Speaker
I mean, the world's changed, man. we mix him and Would Nyx have ever take like taken performance enhancing drugs in Battlefield? ah Yes, absolutely. So then, Glass i would be like, i do have a fresh batch of Iron Howl powder, Nyx.
01:09:58
Speaker
No. but All right.
01:10:03
Speaker
What about you? You look creepy and like you like my bar. You want some Glone Drop? Glass Eye says towards Selena. No, thanks. fine.
01:10:14
Speaker
What about just illicit goods, not drugs? Do y'all need anything? Are you just here for my knowledge and stellar company yeah on this occasion, just your company, but it is good to know you're still in business.
01:10:29
Speaker
Oh yeah. Never going out of business. Um,
01:10:36
Speaker
Nix, you would probably know after like interacting with glass. a little bit. Part of the reason why glass eye is so brazen is it's rumored that glass. I has what's called a house civis death writ.
01:10:47
Speaker
That basically means that no official house or nation can take action against her without risking like inter house war or secrets getting leaked by civis. So like, she's got kind of a, that's the rumor, you know, so let's roll. Get out of jail free card.
01:11:05
Speaker
yeah but to To never go into jail for That's fair. Never go into jail on the first place card. That's cool. um
01:11:19
Speaker
She puffs on her pipe. Like, well, if you don't mean anything else, you're not interested in anything else. appreciate the Appreciate the information.
01:11:30
Speaker
All right. Happy to put it. Good to see you. Good to see you.
01:11:40
Speaker
And Nyx will
01:11:46
Speaker
gesture the others out and be the last person out of this room. Selina's ready to go. Selina's not heading out. Oh, Kaz had his hands in his pockets looking down the whole time.
01:12:00
Speaker
Yeah, Kaz just experienced going to your aunt's weird friend's house for a quick visit and then have visit. And then that friend talks to you too much. Yeah.
01:12:12
Speaker
This is not between you and me, sir. All
01:12:17
Speaker
all right. So anything else before we go back to the train station?
01:12:22
Speaker
Imagine we're running out at of time. Okay. Okay. Is it like ah street vendor you got in your pocket on the way back? Like snow cones or something?
01:12:36
Speaker
I don't have anything like that in my back. Sorry. It's finally got me. aha I'd like a fruit cup with some tahit, actually. What about a big pretzel? like Somebody like walking along the along the the train station selling snacks?
01:12:49
Speaker
Grub would love a hot dog. Nix gets a pretzel on the way back. Yes, you all can get quick snacks from a street vendor. Finally, chicken tender.
01:13:00
Speaker
Um, okay, cool. So you all arrived back at the train. There are a few crates that have been pulled off the train. You can tell, and there's like some paperwork slapped on them. None that you recognize. Doesn't seem like any of your ah goods were taken and yeah, you, and the porters are there and welcoming people back onto the train.
Train Robbery and Conclusion
01:13:25
Speaker
So you hear the crack of lightning and thunder as the train begins to take off on its way to Star a Lascar. um Philip, roll a d12 for me.
01:13:40
Speaker
A six. Sorry, had to find little line. First hour goes by an event fleet. Jeff, d12 for me.
01:13:53
Speaker
That's a six. Okay. Yeah. Madison.
01:14:01
Speaker
Eight. Eight. Okay. So nothing out of the ordinary happens during the first leg of your journey. Everyone give me a wisdom check to notice something as you all are traveling.
01:14:15
Speaker
Wisdom. Yeah. Okay. Yes. And relevant backgrounds related to noticing your environment. Okay. shit I'm taking privileged mischief on that one. well fart Well, farts 12, 12, 13, 20, 20.
01:14:36
Speaker
twenty funny Okay. So you all are sitting in the train, smattering a conversation here and there. um Selena, as you are sitting there, you kind of glance out the window every now and then, you know, it's been a few hours on the train and you look out again and you get this odd sense that like the, the tree line looks like you get a ah wave of deja vu, a brief moment as you're looking out the window.
01:15:06
Speaker
And then all of you here thumps on the roof of the train um and that's in like dooo And after a moment, the transitory doors between the train cars for your train car flies open and a group of rough and tumble, no good bandits step.
01:15:29
Speaker
All right. As soon as we hear this, I'd like to say that Nix, who's been on the other side of the train roof, um looks at the others and says, we're about to be robbed.
01:15:41
Speaker
That's fair. End of episode. Thank you all so much for listening. If you want to be part of the conversation starting in this episode, you can head over to our discord. The link to which is in the description of this podcast. We also have a YouTube channel, youtube.com slash the geek pantheon. If you want to watch videos that I make about TTRPGs, there you can also link to the discord is in all of the descriptions of those videos.
01:16:02
Speaker
Philip. Also, over on Spotify and YouTube, you can find Tales from the Laughing Tree, where we have another actual play show called Blades and Banners. It's Pirates in Eberron. It is.
01:16:13
Speaker
We also have a Patreon, patreon.com. If you want to financially support the show, you can do so over there. Thank you all so much for listening. I've been your Game Master, Eric. I'm Phillip. I'm Madison. I'm Jeff.
01:16:24
Speaker
We see time.