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Ep. 134 Erithrican Stand Off - Bellum Draconis
22 Plays29 days ago
As the group press onwards, they come across Vossans Crew who are at a standoff with a familiar enemy.
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Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
Music kindly provided by Fesliyan Studios
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Transcript
Cautious Beginnings
00:00:01
Speaker
ah Yeah, that was what was going to ask. But Seth, would upon seeing that slow to a very slow walk in order to give the group time to see, perceive, decide. um And if if he feels like there's any real real realistic chance of a humanoid of his perceptive ability, noticing the group, he will have almost brought he' will bring Trunks to ah to a complete halt. So basically he's going to stop.
00:00:24
Speaker
Yeah. I'll re-rack that. Yeah.
Introduction to the Adventure
00:00:55
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop Bellum Draconis. We are all inclusively a live play 5e D&D podcast set in the magical home Brued world of Aerith in the kingdom of Drolak.
00:01:09
Speaker
Joining you for this week's episode, you've got me, Mark, and I'm playing the Human Blade singer Seth Faroreva. You've also got Will, who plays the Dragonborn Druid Balvalcon. Wingardium Leviosa. Oh, Ian, who plays the Tiefling Walser, Rol, Nyx Carell.
00:01:24
Speaker
Stop it, stop it, Ron. The edgelord Calum, who plays the war-forged artificer Alpha. Oh, hello. I can't remember the rest of that thing. You're shit. Poobah, who plays the human cleric Emron.
00:01:37
Speaker
Look at me, look at me. I'm the main character now. Oh, lordy. And by last, but by no means least, is our reaper of the risks, our reveler in the riddles, our regent of the recondite, Dungeon Master Dany.
00:01:51
Speaker
No, you can't. oh And speaking of oh, we find ourselves in and old girl's bedroom.
Awakening in the Tomb
00:02:05
Speaker
And i like to imagine it's nothing more than what could be described as a dusty tomb as he lays nude, resplendent, on just ah like a plinth. No bed cover, no no pillow, and on his back like ah some kind of flayed chicken.
00:02:22
Speaker
it's like Just full on lying there. I'm enjoying this image way too much. But for me, he is the dude from Tangled. You know, the old man, you got me. The old dude who's in Tangled. He he is this basically. And he's splayed there and then he comes to all of a sudden um and and then in an instant looks directly towards us and he says, I'm just chilling with my giblets out.
00:02:47
Speaker
Ooh. Oh, unambiguous mortality. Clip-clop goes the group. Reigns' new parrot arrives to the group and pretty much falls the fuck apart in Emron's hands. Turns out Reigns is no more. Nyx can confirm it. He done seen it with my ring piece that I done give him.
00:03:06
Speaker
The group... deal with their grief in different ways.
Navigating Grief and Storms
00:03:10
Speaker
There's some battle practice, there's some ground pounding, there's a little bit comforting chat, and then it's clip, clippity-clop, bitches, as the dust storm starts closing in, and Alpha's like, I'm gonna connect with my elf lady, I'm older, and fucks his constitution, apparently!
00:03:28
Speaker
Yeah, my bad. I'm gonna die. You find yourself in a swirling mass of sand.
00:03:39
Speaker
Suspended
00:03:42
Speaker
ah some height, but it's unsure to what extent. Seth, you definitely know that the car has been inclining for maybe the past mile or two.
00:03:58
Speaker
The sight of the two horseless riders has left all of you unnerved temporarily.
00:04:07
Speaker
As you look around, Seth, are you continuing to keep the pace? You're following the road as you see it You have a range of about 40 feet, that much you can see ahead. continuing to keep the pace that that you've been setting thus far.
00:04:20
Speaker
No, he's going to learn from experience and driving blindly into a sandstorm didn't go well last time as I think we full-on face-fucked a boulder going at this pace in a sandstorm. So he's going to look to halve the speed roughly. So go from a run to a canter if an elephant can canter and just use that time to keep an eye out for...
00:04:46
Speaker
any detritus on the road, avoid potholes, keep the ride smooth, but also just ah being aware of his peripheral vision, hoping, assuming, hoping that someone is is watching the rear.
00:04:58
Speaker
That's his aim. But he he's to be focusing plainly forward and then at the sight of anything unbeknownst to even just the the thought of something, his hand's going to start ah twitching towards reaching out towards Baal to kind of tap...
00:05:11
Speaker
to point them towards it, knowing full well that Bale would have seen it already, but just to confirm ah sighting of anything. So he's on, he's on full watch, watchman duty, but he knows also that Bale's kind of, yeah, there as well. Okay.
00:05:24
Speaker
I'm assuming that we have Bale right out front on trunks. We have sort of Nix and Seth sat at the, the, the, um steering point the driving seat and then in the cart probably looking out towards the rear emron and alpha is that all right to assume does anyone have any challenges there cool just just the wording sorry danny i'd like the the the driving seat of this of trunks to be called the cockpit if that's okay yeah okay thank you cheers thank you i think there's a lot of dick metaphor and i think it needs to continue thank you yeah
00:05:56
Speaker
And, you know, i'm all about feedback. We could all improve, you know? I'll take that one. That felt pointed. That felt so pointed. We can all improve. Do the bedroom as well.
00:06:08
Speaker
I told you, Danny, it was one-off. I'll be better.
00:06:12
Speaker
We all get stage fright. Now.
00:06:16
Speaker
Well, you shouldn't invited your mum. I told you about that, man. Oh, no. Did you need a fluffer? that what happened? Oh, yeah. Well, no, that's a problem the Anyway, sorry. Carry on. Oh, my God. There's a sandstorm.
00:06:30
Speaker
So as you're in this position and you're looking around this this sort of stormy nebulous around you, moving at half speed than you were before just out a precaution allows bit better reactions, but you'll note that the ground remains pretty much pristine. You're seeing the road the whole way. The crisper torches are well placed and you're using them to sort of stay in a navigable direction.
The Draconic Toll
00:06:57
Speaker
There is a humming that's drawing up, reverberating around you, very low.
00:07:07
Speaker
but seems to follow gusts of wind, almost like an after sound.
00:07:15
Speaker
And then some words are spoken in a language that I think only some of you may understand. The language is draconic. Does anyone speak that? ah yeah The hands that went up are not really that helpful when it comes to a podcast. Yep, absolutely. And Alpha can still... five and I even said the words I do and I was muted. like You noob.
00:07:38
Speaker
I know. you're dragonborn Five years, guys. so i do. I know Draconic. Nix does. I'll Nix and Alpha. Yes. Okay. It's very awkward when Alpha's in the room next to us.
00:07:52
Speaker
Really not. Well, because you can hear everything. we're serious ah It was a sex joke thing. Like when we and Bal are together. Never mind, let's carry on. yeah
00:08:03
Speaker
the The shapes that were formed when the two horses cantered through. That same sort of shadow in the sands, that form in the sands that you can make for seconds.
00:08:15
Speaker
ah Bal without rolling, but but Seth, because you're actively looking for it as well, I won't make you roll. but they're not at ground level. You're seeing these dark shapes sort of above you, about 30 feet in the air.
00:08:31
Speaker
There are two ahead of you, but they're not getting bigger they're not getting smaller.
00:08:36
Speaker
There are three to the right of the cart and three to the left of the cart.
00:08:44
Speaker
And this sound that turns to a voice just asks,
00:08:50
Speaker
Who enters my lands? In Draconic.
00:09:06
Speaker
ah I would let Baal do this. Nyx is staying silent, just looking up at Baal, just being the dragonborn, hearing the Draconic words, and just sitting on my hands.
00:09:18
Speaker
Does the dialect, like, is there can I tell from the words that are spoken, the is the is the person speaking it of kind of ah like fluent dialect? like Like if you were here in French, can you tell it's a French speaker as opposed to someone just putting on like, or using the words but a different accent? That's what I'm trying to ascertain, basically.
00:09:42
Speaker
Whether I can ascertain whether this is someone one who is draconic speaking this. Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out if insight or perception is the best check here. Is that like a native native speaker versus a... Yeah, well, my my plus is the set my plus is the same on both of those. Okay, then then you can pick. I feel like insight, it sort of implies you need to see nonverbal cues.
00:10:05
Speaker
Yeah, no worries. I misclicked for the first one. It's 15.
00:10:11
Speaker
It's hard to say. Okay. It's not your mother's version of... ah
00:10:19
Speaker
drconic It's not Shondra LaCarr's version of chacolic Draconic, but this is a language spoken in very different ways across Earth. It's hard to say. this is sad It's hard to understand if someone's performing this language, if that's what you're searching for. ah Yeah, well, I guess so. Yeah, yeah. yeah So, Baal, just kind of seeing this, look back at the the group quickly behind him and then kind of shout out to the winds,
00:10:48
Speaker
in Draconic. My name is Baal Valcon.
00:10:55
Speaker
We're passing through simply to get to another seaside town. Do you take issue?
00:11:10
Speaker
Issue will not be taken.
00:11:17
Speaker
Val Valkon.
00:11:22
Speaker
If the toll paid.
00:11:31
Speaker
May I ask who we are to pay this toll to?
00:11:38
Speaker
And how much? how much? And how much? And how much? And how much?
00:11:45
Speaker
days I am the sand cooler.
00:11:55
Speaker
And you will pay do Have I heard that name before? Is that familiar in any way, shape, or... Make a history check.
00:12:08
Speaker
Oh, donkey. History is not a proficiency of mine. Fourteen?
00:12:18
Speaker
You can't tell if you've heard this name in folklore, in myth, in true form,
00:12:34
Speaker
or in like children's stories, or in literature.
00:12:45
Speaker
But it's familiar to you a bit. Okay. Yes.
00:12:51
Speaker
Do I know the connotations of the name as in do i recall it in a positive light? A negative light. A very negative light. A dangerous concept. Excellent.
00:13:02
Speaker
Wonderful. Okay. I will turn just over my shoulder and speak in the common tongue to those behind.
00:13:14
Speaker
i They're demanding a toll. say their name is the Sandcaller. I can't quite remember what that is. I just know it's not good.
00:13:29
Speaker
I'm going to find out what the toll is. Bear with me. And I'll turn back. And what would you, I'm saying this in Draconic, what would you ask of us? What, pray tell, is the toll, Sandcaller?
00:13:46
Speaker
GOOOOOOOLD.
00:13:56
Speaker
I'm sure we could come to some sort of arrangement.
00:14:01
Speaker
What might the going rate be?
00:14:08
Speaker
I can smell what's in your pocket.
00:14:17
Speaker
I see. You'll give me half. What the fuck? Nick says out loud. Half? Half?
00:14:27
Speaker
hu
00:14:30
Speaker
ah
00:14:34
Speaker
I'll repeat it back to the group in common, the request that's been made.
00:14:44
Speaker
At the request... and The light is getting a little bit dimmer as the sand sort of encompasses much higher up. You're sort of in a cylinder now of swirling sand.
00:14:58
Speaker
at At the request being mentioned, Seth's going just not shake his head, but like kind of crick his neck one way than the other. And he's already got the scimitar of wounding wobbling in the ground below, kind of to his right-hand side, down near his leg, ready to be um whipped out when knit necessary.
00:15:14
Speaker
He's going to draw out awkwardly. his left hand, his left scimitar, and he's going to stab it into the woodwork of the the kind of i the arch of the car ah behind him.
00:15:26
Speaker
So it's wobbling out of the wall. So he's got two in in in very, very different positions. He'll kind of look up to that and secure it there, reach down to the other one, and then hands back on the um on the reins again as he just continues to look around. just like is There's tension in the air. There's crickle-crackles.
00:15:42
Speaker
like there's going to be some clang and bang.
00:15:48
Speaker
If no one else pipes up, he'll call back in Draconic.
00:15:53
Speaker
Are you for striking bargains or deals as well, or is it just the gold that you want, Sandcaller? ah Deals went so well last time. It's always a fucking deal.
00:16:05
Speaker
Goal.
00:16:09
Speaker
oh
00:16:14
Speaker
Right.
00:16:17
Speaker
So not a contest? Or anything of the sort?
00:16:27
Speaker
You watch...
00:16:32
Speaker
As Trunks screams in pain. Motherfuckers attacking Trunks? How fucking dare you? We're going to fight that fool. Just this cry of pain coming out of this elephant below you.
00:16:46
Speaker
Can I perceive why? is it Is it something physical or is it something that I can't quite see?
Mystery and Pain
00:16:55
Speaker
Make a perception check. Okay. Okay. Okay. Oh, shit. Really wish we spent all the gold in... I did not roll very well, but I don't know whether my shield, my fancy new shield, says anything about you have advantage on wisdom perception checks. Yes, awesome. Okay, so I do get the higher roll, which is still dog-shy, but not as dog-shy. The highest roll of mine is a 15.
00:17:22
Speaker
You look either side of the saddle. Are you in a saddle? Is this bareback? I don't know. It's bareback. There's no sort of puncture or piercing. There's no arrow or weapon.
00:17:36
Speaker
There doesn't seem to be a scorch mark or bleed points. He's not been struck by something. okay He's just yelled out in pain as far as you can perceive. cool cup cool Cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Not cool. Not cool.
00:17:49
Speaker
no Not cool at all. Baal will kind of turn to the group. i
00:17:57
Speaker
don't know whether this is best to go the route you're thinking, Seth, as he kind of looks at the ah weapons prepared. don't know whether this... Sorry, ask Danny, um is this screaming perpetual, or is it just like, ow, like you just like stabbed me some psychically, maybe, who knows, um for a second, and then goes away, or is this like a a constant, it's a constant whine and scream? It's singular, one real painful scream that sort of fizzled out over about 10 seconds to to calmness again, but pain to calmness.
00:18:33
Speaker
And there's still no there's no perceivable feature or person on the horizon? If you wanted to make a perception check to scan again. I think he would, yeah, at this point. Just to, i write where's that coming from? Because he's thinking counterspell.
00:18:48
Speaker
um if it's if if it if If it's no physical, I'm imagining Barl kind turns out, I can't see anything, hands up. And so he'll be looking for anything else accordingly. And that's a six.
00:19:02
Speaker
It's such a sensory overload. You've got sand whipping around you and in a scream from trunks. And you're just really struggling to not be focused on the road in front of you and just trying to maintain a safe speed.
00:19:20
Speaker
not being able to see what's coming ahead. Like you're in dense fog, that sort of driving at night in dense fog stuff. Yeah, I got you. Cool. He'll look anyway and continue to look, trying to pierce through it But um yeah, okay, cool.
00:19:32
Speaker
Emron turns over his shoulder because he's heard the bits Barl's told us, but obviously not heard the draconic bits. um Barl, tell this sand whatever, tell him to show themselves rather than skulking in the sand.
00:19:50
Speaker
Okay, then, just so that you're aware, this is everyone's idea. And he'll return it in draconic and say, Might we see the people, person, sandcaller, to whom we're speaking?
00:20:15
Speaker
To look upon my face.
00:20:20
Speaker
is an honor.
00:20:25
Speaker
I would need more than half.
00:20:34
Speaker
You freely look upon the champion of the Duel of the Desert. Sexy fast. I charge nothing for the pleasure.
00:20:44
Speaker
i charge nothing for the pleasure
00:20:48
Speaker
Your name is known to the sounds, Bal Falcon.
00:20:56
Speaker
But you do not command fear as I do.
00:21:09
Speaker
Long story short, Emron, he says no
00:21:15
Speaker
I'm prepared for us to say no to him if everyone else is agreement.
00:21:21
Speaker
The perceivable range, Seth, is getting tighter now. You can only see about 10 feet ahead. For reference, that's about 5 feet further than you can see the back of Baal.
00:21:37
Speaker
yeah Yeah, so he's he's going to slow a little bit further down. Not quite 25%, I'm talking 37.5%, roughly around that. around roughly on And at the same time, um Seth's going to have pulled out a ah tab while looking and just try to... um It's a flavor. He's going to use Minor Illusion and and create the image of of a small dragon flying and in in this like literally like a couple of inches wide and um and kind of send it forward towards Baal.
Illusions and Negotiations
00:22:07
Speaker
um to get his attention, have it kind of floating there, hoping that Baal notices it. And he's going to kind of palms up like, hmm, with the dragon floating in front of... like Sorry, it's a mini dragon, but it's it's a full-size dragon shrunk down to ah a small image, if that makes sense. It's not young dragon, it's a full-size dragon. yeah Wings played very much in a dragon.
00:22:29
Speaker
What Seth knows of a dragon's pose. And then kind of like looking to Baal, like, question... Baal would turn to you, shake his head, and in the common tongue say, a matriarch to cross into these lands would result in death and war and ruin.
00:22:46
Speaker
No.
00:22:49
Speaker
something seth nos um Seth nods at that and and again cricks his neck.
00:22:57
Speaker
I grow impatient. Half of gold. Yeah.
00:23:09
Speaker
Well, honey, I think the group is saying no.
00:23:16
Speaker
is that well nick Is that in common? Yeah. Seth's pulling the car to a stop. Full stop. And grabs his blades.
00:23:28
Speaker
I like my hammer on a light with light, just for those who can't see. People are getting ready. is like Avengers, man. Fuck yeah! I'll say in Draconic then seeing that.
00:23:41
Speaker
Suncaller, I think we would politely like to say, go fuck yourself.
00:23:53
Speaker
And he will once more burst the wildfire spirit above his head. Oh, shit. That's our call to arms. How long was that last?
00:24:06
Speaker
how long does that last The sand draws even tighter around you.
00:24:17
Speaker
Quarter of gold.
00:24:23
Speaker
ah This motherfucker's hustling. Not so tough anymore, is he? Oh, they're standing up to me. I'll drop my price.
00:24:33
Speaker
Um...
00:24:37
Speaker
Baal will kind of look around at his group, look up to his wildfire spirit and say,
00:24:47
Speaker
i can give you a quarter of mine. They keep theirs.
00:24:56
Speaker
Agreed.
00:25:01
Speaker
Baal will kind of look back to the group.
00:25:07
Speaker
Maybe not this day in common. And he will ah fish into his pouch around his waist. And ah he's going to withdraw.
00:25:20
Speaker
oh fuck me. Quick maths. ah Effectively 220 gold pieces and lob it to the side.
00:25:34
Speaker
move Remove that from your inventory, please. Yep, just done.
00:25:42
Speaker
And then this gold just disappears in this snowstorm.
00:25:57
Speaker
i'm the Sorry, the sandstorm. I said snowstorm. It's Christmas. It took me ages to think about
00:26:07
Speaker
says that then instantly the sandstorm disappears
00:26:20
Speaker
and you just see the smiling face of this small gnome and then she disappears and it's a bright beautiful sunny day just as it was before the winds kicked up
00:26:38
Speaker
Oh, for fuck's sake. We got us all there. What the fuck happened, Carl? used to do the same thing on the seas. Like, it's just one of those things. You learn from it. You learn from it. It's okay. Yes, this is the second fucking time. Oh, come on. Next time someone demands gold and we tell them no, we fucking stick with it.
00:27:00
Speaker
But how did he know the fucking name, the Sandcaller? I've heard, like, childhood stories about this fucking thing. Just like you've heard names of the Sandcaller from childhood stories, this person has clearly. Now what happened?
00:27:12
Speaker
Because we we said no. and What happened? What did it then say? Fuck this! Barl's going to get off the elephant and he's just going to look for tracks. Barl?
00:27:23
Speaker
No! Okay. It's like a dad who's got wrong directions and is going to commit to it. No, honey, we're going this way. I'll figure it out. Saving for a honeymoon.
00:27:38
Speaker
You're really clean road. There isn't any sign of any misplaced sand at all. Okay. Bal is going to... ah Was he to the side of us? To the back of us? To the front of us? It was it was just off to the side of you. To the right of you.
00:27:54
Speaker
Okay. Bar's going to face forward and he's going breath weapon in a 30 foot line down the front of the road ahead of him. Not obviously hitting his ah not hitting any of his friends, anything like that. Just a five foot wide 30 foot line. He just kind of takes a deep breath in and ah directly in front of the group.
00:28:13
Speaker
Okay. Then you release this magnificent breath weapon.
00:28:22
Speaker
And then, fuck! ah He's going to turn around and kind of go, oh, so fuck you two! And do exactly the same thing, but to the rear.
00:28:34
Speaker
Next time someone asks for a... Emron, Emron, Emron, Emron. I think he's learned the hard way. He's going just point don't. Don't. I was trying.
00:28:47
Speaker
do fuck. i least you At least it was a quarter of your own gold and not the group's gold. Hang on a minute. You said a quarter. He said a quarter. It price.
00:28:58
Speaker
Yes, he dropped its price. Yes, I know. We stood up to it. Emron, Emron.
00:29:08
Speaker
Let the dragonborn be. Final breath weapon into the air. 15 foot cone directly above him. Go for it. Yeah, it's done. They're all gone. Come on, Charizard.
00:29:20
Speaker
It's a beautiful breath weapon. It really strikes fear in people that were in a perceivable range to be feared by it. To be fair, to be fair, we have just had two horses pass this by with not but blood on them. So, ah you know... Were they real fucking horses? Yeah, I'm sure they were. Part of the hustle.
00:29:43
Speaker
Maybe just get back on... Next time, maybe we could stop animals that are running past us covered in blood and Barth will them. so da da da To your point, let's keep on the cart and clip-clop.
00:29:56
Speaker
Barth gets back on the cart and just ah arms folded, kind of sits down in the biggest half. There is blood on the road and there is horse hoofs. Fresh.
00:30:10
Speaker
Sorry, horse hoofs? Like impressions of horseshoes. Well, it wasn't that, and I've just blasted all my fucking fire as well. Piece of shit, stupid fucking heart.
00:30:24
Speaker
Do you want to give the command, Barl? No. Okay, Trunks, do you want to clip-clop for us? Seth will give a little, yeah and not out loud, obviously, but just click with the um horns. There's a little slap on the on the bat butt with the reins. um But ah ah Seth's going to, unless noticeably told otherwise, is going to, if it needs it, deviate to follow the blood if it's visible from his... It's on the road.
00:30:55
Speaker
It's on the road. It's the same road. So you haven't like encountered a fork or anything like that. There's only one route you can really take because of all of the the canyons around you. There is sort of one prescribed route.
00:31:08
Speaker
Okay. So you're heading into the direction the horses came from. if it deviates, you'd follow the blood trail. If it deviates off the path... he's just going to stop the cart and then wait until someone notices the nail point.
00:31:20
Speaker
And that's, that's the aim. If it continues all the way, he'll just continue to follow it until, uh, either we need rest or whatever else. Um, or if it goes off the path, then he's going to pause. He's going stop trunks and then, uh, gesture to the others.
00:31:33
Speaker
Sure. Over the next 10 minutes, Baal is ritual casting as Baal. Okay. Okay. rage I remember when I got done once, it was a long time ago on the seas and a similar sort of
Stories and Speculations
00:31:45
Speaker
thing. Someone was just making up a big story that they had a ghost ship and Nix is regaling this story as we're going on just to try and add levity to this moment. Nice. lost 500 gold pieces that day.
00:31:55
Speaker
the captain was very mad.
00:32:00
Speaker
oh the captain was so ima And it was my fault. But we kind of gloss over that instance. It was it was fun times. Hey, Alpha, what's going on with you? um what? Sorry?
00:32:16
Speaker
Feeling still angry. I'm afraid your idea didn't work, Nix.
00:32:26
Speaker
There's a certain change in the energy about me, and I am uncomfortable with it.
00:32:33
Speaker
On scale of 1 to 10, 10 being really uncomfortable, 1 being okay, like we have to worry type thing. Where are we at Vibe check on alpha. Maybe about an 8. Okay.
00:32:47
Speaker
Very unusual energy flowing. Don't quite know what to do with it.
00:32:56
Speaker
Hamron? Check on your boy.
00:33:02
Speaker
Emron's been staring at the back of the car. Sorry, of what was that? Nick? ah I realise that we haven't asked you how you're doing. um And we will when you're ready to talk.
00:33:16
Speaker
We're here for you, all of us. um I'm fine.
00:33:21
Speaker
ah Alpha's not feeling himself and probably could do with your masterful hand. No, that's fine.
00:33:32
Speaker
Emron of turns around because, you know. Alpha, what? You were doing some blue magic stuff. It's fine. It's fine, Emron.
00:33:44
Speaker
Cool. And Emron sort of gestures to Nyx, gestures to Alpha. He says he's fine. Savvy.
00:33:54
Speaker
Gay. And Nyx just turns around because Nyx just says...
00:34:00
Speaker
you You don't want to talk? He looks at Seth.
00:34:04
Speaker
ah He's going to, Seth's going to have, ah ah kind of as they start to clip-clop, he'd have pulled the scimitar out of the roof above him and put it back in his scabbard, pulled up the scimitar of Widening and and um shoved back into the scabbard on the right-hand side.
00:34:19
Speaker
Sorry, left-hand side. and we'll um And at that comment, we'll just kind of like, meh. Kind of like a, I'm easy either way, kind of a shoulder shrug. Bahl, you doing a okay?
00:34:32
Speaker
Bahl's just kind of muttering incantations under his neck. Girls, still need a moment. Yep, that's fine. He kind of holds just a finger up towards you and then carries on with his other hand doing the somatic components of this ritual casting.
00:34:45
Speaker
Yep. He can just start whistling. we He will, he will though, with Seth will, when you, when you look back round to him, he will, he will tap, when you look back towards by, will tap your knee at one point and just, and just kind of do finger in each kind of fingers to his eyes, fingers down towards where the blood and the, and the track is along. And he'll just gesture towards that with a slightly furrowed brow ah for you, Nix.
00:35:13
Speaker
oh Oh, you still don't want me to, and Nix will tap his head. He'll, he'll, he'll He'll go, all right. He'll kind of just gesture to the, okay. Oh, thank God.
00:35:24
Speaker
And Nick will just open his mind to yours. All right, bud. Come on. Tell me what's up. I'm really concerned that, firstly, Bo fucked it back there.
00:35:36
Speaker
Big time. Like, it was so obvious. And secondly, i think this is separate. There is some blood here from those horsemen, and I don't think that we're connected. I think this is something else, and there's a lot of blood on the on the path there. There's a lot of blood. I think that kind of wound is never going to end well. That's a big beast. of We need to keep an eye on that.
00:35:59
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Agree, and we'll prepare. And Nix will lean back to the non-talking Brothers of Destruction behind and just go, following some suspicious blood on the road.
00:36:18
Speaker
So don't lay down arms just yet. Be on your guard. ah Feel free to talk about your feelings. A lot's gone on. Just saying you have to. But just so you know, we're also going to follow trail of...
00:36:33
Speaker
this child of blood in front of us and ah just be on your guard as well and try and shake off any gold can we re re re acquired and beautiful bastard okay Would 10 minutes or so have passed? Yeah, if Max... Awesome. If Seth is continuing to keep clip-clopping, then yes. Yeah.
00:37:00
Speaker
So you'd see towards the end of this ritual, Bal just kind of creating this smoke elephant ah within him. He's just going to suck it in go back to the front of the cart and say ah trunks you're doing a wonderful job there where speak with animals has been complete uh just quick question were you actually hurt back in the the with the big sandstorm thing going on was there anything hurting you then or was that not you my brain head hurt so that yeah and he's gonna say this yeah in uh common as well that that i suppose trunks would hear that's
00:37:36
Speaker
so oh oh okay yes yes i'm so sorry trunks i like you sold the fucking illusion to me and now i just want to burn that fucking thing to dust what oh don't worry sorry and bile's kind of there like twitching a little bit uh getting warmer and warmer um under the collar sorry trunk you're doing a wonderful job keep going anything you need Water soon? Mm-hmm.
00:38:04
Speaker
I smell water. Right, you are. Ooh, you smell water? Yeah, fresh water. Okay. I'll repeat that back to the guys behind me, or to the beside me.
00:38:16
Speaker
ah Trunks is quite thirsty. He could do with some water soon. He can smell some water as well, so there's probably water nearby. And yes, blood on the floor. I'm just going to... Maybe the blood will lead to this oasis.
00:38:30
Speaker
Who can tell? But hopefully, hopefully we don't encounter any gnomes on the way. Is that racist? Is that racist?
00:38:42
Speaker
Anyone could scam anyone. I don't know if it's race specifically, but I understand. better fucking gnome, Nix. Yep.
00:38:52
Speaker
He's going to go, fuck! And go back into the cart behind and just sit down in the huff, arms folded. Nyx, is the connection between Seth and Nyx, is it perpetual until it's broken? Yeah, it's perpetual. All it is is...
00:39:07
Speaker
but um but ah wake of mind. So I can choose a creature I can see and it lasts... The connection lasts for five minutes um or if i disconnect it to connect with someone else. But...
00:39:21
Speaker
Once I've connected with your mind, because of how hesitant Seth has been and just straight up disconnecting it, Nyx is just leaving that communication open and just half expecting you to end it.
00:39:34
Speaker
If not... ah If after five minutes we haven't said anything, you would like a prod to me or give me the eyes. Yeah. Okay. i'm And Seth would just say in your mind, Nick's to kill, to kill a man on horseback.
00:39:50
Speaker
You've got to be quite high up and that much blood. I just, I feel this might not be something human.
00:40:01
Speaker
Hmm. Hmm.
00:40:03
Speaker
You know? ah No, but I see what you're saying. ah You've got way more skills in this than I do. Do you think we should still clip-clop towards it?
00:40:16
Speaker
I think we should fuck this bitch up, whatever it is. I need to shed some blood. I've got some anger, and I know Elfer's feeling the rage as well. Yeah, and to be fair, I think also Emron could do with a ah good...
00:40:31
Speaker
smiting oh not him count me out i want to burn something it's it's a silent conversation darling you can't hear this from what i heard emron doing back there it sounds like he needs something big more like some fucking sexual tension the way he was meshing that pistol and mortar you know there's only one other action that works like that you know what i mean do you think we could find him oh we could find him someone I don't think the only person he'd bang is his god, I think, at this point. No, no, no, no, no. There's someone for the different strokes for different folks. There's someone out there for everyone.
00:41:06
Speaker
I mean, it's worth nithravar d'umbra licks.
00:41:10
Speaker
It's just someone just to go, oh, I'll give you a right scene to. Like, he'd love that. That'd be right up his street passage thing. That'd be great. Don't know if he wants it up his passage, but, you know, kind licks umbra keth.
00:41:25
Speaker
You said that twice and i i I overlooked it the first time because I couldn't understand you.
00:41:32
Speaker
Seth's going to just kind of look, there's like a slight look of horror on his face for a second, almost like, ah no, I didn't. He doesn't say anything. He just kind of looks directly at you and there's a as a there's a there's a as a blankness in his eyes and ah and a, no, i didn't.
00:41:50
Speaker
Yeah, you're going to end this connection soon, aren't you? He nods and it ends. Yes!
00:41:57
Speaker
You travel um for maybe another 20 minutes or so before one of the canyons beneath you contains a flowing river.
00:42:12
Speaker
And as you sort of begin to move adjacent to that river, ah flowing river, you see this really um broad wooden bridge, about 60 to 80 feet, two campfires either side there letting out these quite large smoke signals.
00:42:33
Speaker
there anything you'd like to do before you approach? You'll be there in matter of seconds unless you slow down. The blood is also in this direction, if that's what you're about to ask.
Bridge of Tensions
00:42:41
Speaker
ah Yeah, that was what was going to ask. But Seth, would upon seeing that slow to a very slow walk in order to give the group time to see, perceive, decide.
00:42:51
Speaker
um And if if he feels like there's any real real realistic chance of a humanoid of his perceptive ability, noticing the group, he will have almost brought he'll bring Trunks to a complete halt.
00:43:03
Speaker
So basically he's going to stop. Yeah. I'll re-rack on that. Yeah.
00:43:08
Speaker
very well explained. That was all going through Seth's head in about half a second and as he just pulls all the reins and stops. But it's just me in his head going, well, maybe, maybe, maybe, percept perceptible. div that Just stop.
00:43:19
Speaker
Yeah. that's Nice. Nice. Nice. Everyone peers out through the front. Do the two campfires look like campfire size are they more bonfire size? can't see on the other side of the bridge. The side that is your side of the bridge is more bonfire size. Yeah, absolutely. the middle of the day still.
00:43:35
Speaker
Middle of the day. Yep. and Hot sign. And you're all at that distance where you can definitely see orange head wrappings on the individuals on the side the bridge you can see.
00:43:53
Speaker
Orange head wrapping. So that's that mercenary lot in it.
00:43:58
Speaker
Here's Vossan's crew. yeah Oh good, we can go. Seth and Sheath's both his scimitars.
00:44:07
Speaker
i wouldn't mind I wouldn't mind us having a ah having a go at Vossan's group. To be honest, theres there's a debt to pay there with the Lord himself.
00:44:20
Speaker
What debt? He captured ah my captain.
00:44:29
Speaker
Do we make sure that these are bad boss and crew first before we... Yeah, we'll make sure they're bad first. okay I'll follow your lead, I'm just saying. like if i Don't follow my lead. We saw what happened when you followed my fucking lead.
00:44:41
Speaker
I'm always going with the Emron there, but... um ah Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. but ah i ba I mean, I'll follow you wherever you go. I got you. And I don't stop beating yourself up on it. We've all been scammed at one point in our lives. You just have to learn with it. And maybe, maybe it makes feel better, we can scam someone else in the same sort of way. I can throw like some sand up in the air and you could be all like, I'm over a dragonborn and I'm going to ask for money.
00:45:05
Speaker
And it'd be great between us. We could scam people on the road. Maybe that leads to something in the future. i don't know. Anyway, shall we um go and check what's going on over there?
00:45:18
Speaker
So do you take the cart up or do you dismount and walk?
00:45:24
Speaker
Let's take the cart. right. And that's going to just hit into a slight, just ah just two a walk to get closer to before any kind of reaction or or comment from the group brings them to stop.
00:45:36
Speaker
You get to within about 50 feet at this point. And what you're seeing is sort of a makeshift camp ah that's got a couple of tents, bonfires set just north of the road, just off the road at the point where this road turns into a bridge.
00:45:55
Speaker
On the bridge, there seems to be about half a dozen members of what is quite clearly Vossan's organisation. And just... From occasional angles for split seconds, you can just see on the other side of that bridge, a Pachriscra plate armour, Pachriscra cloaks.
00:46:19
Speaker
They seem to be arguing the two groups from what you can perceive. Oh, shit. How far away? About 50 feet. Some people have sort of turned and looked at you from the Vossan group, but but they're not but not necessarily concerned. A lot of the their attention is being channeled as aggression and anger at the Akriska.
00:46:42
Speaker
Shall we just keep trying to go over the bridge? they They're on it. Can we keep driving and have to out of the way? After all, we have the... champion of the ah Jewel of the Desert Swords, and we've got the two second-place people, so, you know.
00:46:59
Speaker
Yeah, I think... Sounds great. though Yeah, I was going to say, Seth looks to the others for confirmation before he yeah he yeah picks up the pace. Either they get out of the way or they stop us, you know.
00:47:12
Speaker
I mean, we could, like... Anyone can make a horn-type sound. Or maybe not a horn, like maybe a bell or something less hostile, you know.
00:47:22
Speaker
do you want me to say? Get out the way. Or that. Or that. Yeah. andron cast I'm going to use Thalmaturge to cast a booming voice. Well, how about you could sing to him? the How about sing to him? Everyone loves a song.
00:47:33
Speaker
Sing as we're... as were ah It'd be better because we'll look less intimidating like we're just humble travelers just going to the next port of call. If you could shouted, clear the way. Yeah. With my beaming voice. Really loud.
00:47:46
Speaker
As you're getting closer, you can just sort of see, you sorry, you can just hear that they're just in open argument. But a few of those who are further back in the camp hear your approach and see your approach and sort of join you, sort of intercept you on the road and and sort of walk directly towards sort of trunks and looking up at Baal and and one one sort of looks at Seth, just a a pair.
00:48:08
Speaker
Yeah. And they just sort of, and one raises a hand. They're not they're not in arms. that They're equipped. They're armoured. But they're not bearing weapons at all.
00:48:19
Speaker
And one just raises a hand and says, Sorry about this. ah There's a bit of a dispute here. I hope I don't mind. Perhaps you'd just like to wait a moment until we've figured it out.
00:48:31
Speaker
What's the nature of the dispute? yeah This fucking purple cloak's They've only got an accused of killing a bunch of theirs, but we hadn't. That'd be the two dead horses that passed us on the road.
00:48:48
Speaker
Dead horses?
00:48:50
Speaker
I don't know what i' about dead horses. No, no, sorry. Horses, but with blood covered in blood to be the owners of those horses, then. Oh, there there were two that ran through, Yeah, yeah, yeah. wait We Why don't we kill up Kriska?
00:49:03
Speaker
you know It doesn't make any sense. Okay. but it I'm sure we'll have us all straightened out in a moment or two.
00:49:16
Speaker
Maybe one of us could go over and talk to the Ops-Krishka and just say, look, can we get through? be my Be my guest. um I mean, ah um I'm just here.
00:49:31
Speaker
um I'm just here trying to do my job.
00:49:35
Speaker
You've not seen any gnomes around, have you? and dirt No, and this is a ah mixture of sort of half-orc and drow, two dwarfs amongst the Vosan group.
00:49:56
Speaker
They've Criskrid, are all elven or human.
00:50:00
Speaker
Okay, just checking. We've got a ah thing. just No problem. No problem. everyone looks the group. Shall go talk to you, Chris?
00:50:10
Speaker
ah Seth's going to violently shake his head and then he's going to grab Nix by the scruff of the neck and plunk down. and pump plunk him plunk him down ah on the sand out back, and he's going have climbed through the back of the car, kind of like climbing through them the driver's seat of the car into the the passenger seat, like awkwardly, follow it still holding on to Nick's.
00:50:32
Speaker
Not like an aggressive web, but just like usher. Oh, yeah, yeah, this is fine. This happens to me more often than not. like Like a mama cat would hold the the scruff of the back of the neck, like that kind of thing. out the that And then he's going to get out. with He's still got both scimitars. and Well, one scimitar in hand, one in scabbard.
00:50:48
Speaker
And he's going to push Nyx. He's going to follow Nyx towards the ah the the bridge. Everyone's coming too. Everyone's coming too. We're all getting out. we get out Alpha and Baal, are you staying on the cart? coming with him?
00:51:03
Speaker
oh I'm going to have to leave trunks behind and stay with the group if it looks like the people around aren't attempting to... Alpha, stay with the the the the the trunks.
00:51:19
Speaker
With the trunks. Alpha, do you acquiesce? Are you staying there?
00:51:25
Speaker
Alfred's still kind of fortificating all about this new energy that's kind of just going through him at the moment. So we he he quite possibly was about to leave. He hears Nick just tell him to stay with Trunks.
00:51:39
Speaker
Very well. still kind of looking at his hands and feeling the energy coursing through him. Bar's going to bridge the gap then between the two groups. Okay. So Seth would transfer his, sorry, Seth would transfer his grip on on Nick's clothing to just a hand on the shoulder to a pat, to a kind of like a knowing larder, like a, you got this kind of, like, was there was no aggression behind his motion. It was just, you're the best person for this.
00:52:04
Speaker
And there's no there's the equivalent, there's a Seth equivalent of a pat on the bum, which is a knowing nod, but there's no contact with buttocks. Okay.
00:52:15
Speaker
So this is quite a narrow bridge and it's about 60 foot, um the the length of it. And it stems over this very, very deep canyon with this sort of whitewater rapid style river below it.
00:52:32
Speaker
So you can sort of come to the canyon edge and look across and you can sort of see the the scene happening on this bridge. And it's about half a dozen ah members of the Vossan organization and three Khris Khris soldiers.
00:52:49
Speaker
Their body language is aggressive, but they're not bearing weapons or anything, but they are armed.
00:52:58
Speaker
And one of the half-awks at the front of the Vossen organization that are squaring up to the... Christopher just says, Why would we do anything about it?
00:53:09
Speaker
Why would we risk breaking the Tri-Crown Agreement over some random skirmish in the desert? And then the Crisker elf, the lead of the the trio, just says, Well, my men are no longer here.
00:53:26
Speaker
You are all that's in sight, and you are blocking our passage south. I suggest you get out of our way, and I suggest you allow us to accompany you back to the prisons, and you will report the breaking of our agreement to your
00:53:53
Speaker
The half-orc replies, I told you once, this had nothing to do with us. I suggest you fuck off.
00:54:10
Speaker
The Krishker agent rests a hand on her longsword.
00:54:21
Speaker
Hey, hey, hey, guys. How we doing? ah We're just humble travelers passing by. my name's Nix Carell. ah Clearly something's going on here.
00:54:32
Speaker
ah Maybe something connected with two horses we've just seen covered in blood. Maybe maybe you know of. This band of miscreants, and this is the Chris Carell agent pointing at at the Vossan crew, slaughtered us.
00:54:50
Speaker
Attacked us on the road. Attacked us while we slept. Did you see them do that? They are the only people out here. I've lost two of my men. We are all being redeployed with an utterly urgent mission and you are impeding our progress.
00:55:04
Speaker
And to have violated the agreement by killing two of ours, I'm minded here to destroy the lot of you. Gay, gay, gay. Like, no, I understand that. Revenge arcs are very popular, especially at the moment. But without, the like, evidence of tomfoolery going on, how do you know it was these fair... We are in the middle of the desert.
00:55:28
Speaker
i mean... I am down two men. Yes. There is nobody else here. Well, I mean, like, could it have been an inside job? Could have, like, do they have wives? Was there some, like, he cheated on that person, so there is some revenge inside the group going on?
00:55:42
Speaker
Or maybe they robbed some gold? Like, there's been some fucking stealing out here. i don't want to name names and races, but. A gnome has been like known for like stealing gold around these parts. Do you reckon that that happened at all in your group? And then maybe someone got annoyed because they lost some gold, so they just stabbed a person. People died for less before, if you know what I mean. I'm just saying there's a lot more options here than the people that you see in front of you. Did you even do it? And Nick points over to the Orc.
00:56:10
Speaker
Make a persuasion check to see if you can that helped temper moots. I'm not the right person for this. I've got a minus six. A minus six to persuasion?
00:56:22
Speaker
It's because he's exhausted. Oh, shit. Oh, yeah. No, no, no. On your two levels, because didn't you go down? Oh, a minus four. Minus four. Minus four. Thank you. Persuasion, yeah?
00:56:32
Speaker
Yeah. ah Fourteen.
00:56:40
Speaker
oh She rests and lifts her hand off the hilt of her longsword and looks at the half-orc. Well, you heard the tiefling.
00:56:52
Speaker
Speak. ah you up but ah I know you're going to get sick of my voice, but are you also the leader? Because you're the leader of your group, but the Equus Gra. You can tell that by just your stance and sheer power alone.
00:57:05
Speaker
Are you the leader of your group? Nix asks the orc. ah Yeah, I suppose. Name's Vork. Vork! Very pleased to meet you. So you're the leader? You were here? Like, you've been here the whole time?
00:57:18
Speaker
This is our camp. We're in the region. I'll be insight checking whenever he talks. Sorry, Danny. Just everything in the line I say? ah Basically, when he's talking, and everyone's looking at him to be to be looking whether he's lying, he's being deceitful.
00:57:34
Speaker
Basically, just I'm just i just trying to get a read on what Valk the Orc is saying. yep And if he's lying, if he's trying to mislead what he's saying, if he's trying to be evasive, that's what I'm looking out for. Sure.
00:57:47
Speaker
Go ahead and roll insight. Thanks.
00:57:55
Speaker
ah That's a 12. twelve You accept he's trying to plead innocent. He doesn't seem to be responsible for what's happened.
00:58:06
Speaker
Thank you. My passive is 12, just whenever there need be. Then the same answer. Okay. Sorry, I lost what the question was. So the walk just sort of turns to you, Nix.
00:58:22
Speaker
We're just here doing our jobs. moving stuff to Beach Barrow Port.
00:58:32
Speaker
It's not our fault you lost men.
00:58:38
Speaker
Though I'm sure that you're also sorry that they did lose men because, you know, any group traveling on the road. a fuck. Okay, that doesn't help this situation so much. Empathy is really important. Empathy?
00:58:49
Speaker
Well, as a leader of the group, like, if you're in charge of people, it's where it's pretty important to have some empathetic traits, I would say. Like, if one of your – let's turn this story around.
00:59:00
Speaker
Let's say that two of your men had been killed, possibly by the next people that would cross this bridge. How you feel? Kill them. I'd kill them. Okay, so you understand where they're coming from, Nick's points them. But i didn't kill them.
00:59:14
Speaker
Yeah, but you understand where they're coming from, so you can just kind of take a step back and be in their shoes for a moment, understand their anger, and tell exactly why you couldn't have killed them.
00:59:26
Speaker
Were your men asleep? Were your men even your even What's the shift patterns going on? Like, did you see the horses that came through? Because if you saw the horses with no riders, it's really hard for your group to have killed them because they're coming towards you. But if there was two riders and they made it through the group and then those riders mysteriously just died while they were passing through your group, then there's a good chance that some of your men might have killed him, in which case you need to have a talk to your group and maybe get better control. I'm just saying there's different things here.
00:59:56
Speaker
So like put yourself in their shoes. ah What the T-Fleek said. And he's look back at the Elven of Kriska commander.
01:00:10
Speaker
ah she just um On their point, like, you're clearly, in fact, give me a moment. And Nyx will just telepathically speak to her um and ah put his mind to hers.
01:00:24
Speaker
You're clearly way more powerful than this group here. Do you really think that they're capable of killing any one of your soldiers? Because I'm getting the distinct impression that they don't.
01:00:35
Speaker
In which case, I wouldn't say to waste your time and belittle yourselves on and such a fool's quest. It's clear that you've got important things to do. Look at you. Look how you're dressed. Look how you're acting.
01:00:46
Speaker
Clearly you're on a mission to get somewhere. Don't let these idiots hold you back. We've just had a ah similar sort of fool's quest put on ourselves to try and hold us back.
01:00:57
Speaker
Don't succumb to these idiots. Either way, they are refusing to move. Oh, didn't realize that. Why are you refusing to move? ah but Because she's threatening to kill us.
01:01:10
Speaker
Well, if she didn't threaten to kill you, would you lull them through? Well, our good name has been resmirched as a result of this woman's insults.
01:01:21
Speaker
But there's no one else around. Your good name is between two groups. and And the choices on the table seem to be like you take umbrage with the besmirching of your name between two groups and thus lose men of your own.
01:01:35
Speaker
yeah Or you just let them through, acknowledge their loss, maybe say sorry for your loss, and you go about your days. No one else dies.
01:01:48
Speaker
No blame is laid at people's feet and you all just get about your day. There's shit going on right now. Nick's points to the sky. I cannot allow that to happen.
01:02:00
Speaker
That's not helpful. We're literally just saying that trying to get you through here and allowing the fact that possibly you didn't get killed by this group. They murdered my men.
01:02:13
Speaker
Where is the justice? You don't know that? I've literally just like... Do they look like they could kill your men? Yes! How? Savages! My men were brutalised by spears and then cannibalised and eaten.
01:02:31
Speaker
That seems very oddly specific. Yes, and only those sorts, points directly in the gestures of the half-works, would indulge in such a disgusting skill of honor is this out loud sorry is this still mental uh this is i the only mental bit was the trying to pander to their superior yeah yeah um seth's gonna huff at this point and slowly reach with his right hand down towards the scabbard of his of his scimitar
01:03:05
Speaker
Right, right, right. Look, look, there's going to be, there's going to be three groups coming to this table very soon. So we need to wrap this up sooner rather than later. Cause my friends, ah they don't need a big push to, cause we're also trying to get through, you see.
01:03:19
Speaker
So with all sympathies to your loss and, yeah and a slight hesitancy on the racism just ah dispelled right in front of me, there, there's just, there's just a better way of doing things.
01:03:32
Speaker
And if you really want justice, right. for the ones who have died in that very oddly specific way, like you seem like you know a lot, um may I suggest you choose a champion, one from each group, and justice is served through your chosen champion.
Dueling for Peace?
01:03:56
Speaker
Whoever wins... is the victor, thus meaning they either did or didn't kill said members. And then justice is served through the immortalization of combat, which look at you all, you're ready for it. I can see it in the very eyes of you.
01:04:18
Speaker
And then you allow the the groups to pass through, knowing that justice has been served.
01:04:26
Speaker
Lipkriska, I'm sort of nodding in affirmation with your suggestion. Fork just sort of turns to you.
01:04:37
Speaker
Oh, we won't be. That's just going to kill us. One-on-one, we can't. um
01:04:49
Speaker
I don't fancy me or any of my friends against one of them lot. um
01:04:59
Speaker
It's embarrassing to a admit, but um no. They'd kill us.
01:05:05
Speaker
Right. That's not a fair fight. Okay. So what is a fair fight? If you were going to kill the Kriska, to you, what's a fair fight? How many do you need?
01:05:16
Speaker
About six against three would do it. Right. Would you say that you had six the other night to kill two? We didn't kill them. I'm going to appear into his mind. Fucking go full in as well. Just fucking detect thoughts.
01:05:35
Speaker
Wisdom saving throw. while While that's happening, just to add um to the the perpetual pressure that Nix is feeling of this situation. Yeah, he's sweat. Beed to sweat. Yeah.
01:05:46
Speaker
As that's happening, you just the the hand moves from ah Seth's hand moves from his reaching for the hilt of his sword towards the spell book, and he pulls out, and he's going to cast Minor Illusion. And in a conversational volume, you'll just hear a very a kind of neutral voice just going, clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop, as he just repeats it. And it's just there in the background as Nick's trying to assuage these two halves over and over again, clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop.
01:06:15
Speaker
And Seth's just staring. at uh no i'm not gonna because we'll put in the chat uh no yeah we'll put in the chat subtle so no ah i'm not trying to hide anything here and i actively want the chris gritter to know that i am i'm just doing something as well so i'm peering into this motherfucker's mind uh i get the surface thoughts just as um so what the last thing i said was like are you sure you didn't kill with your members um so i get the same the surface for the surface for there is yeah absolutely we know we cannot break the tri crown agreement oh like that's what i get straight up yeah that's the surface what they absolutely did wouldn't he vork believes absolutely they did not kill them it would have broken the agreement oh i'm do and but i'm not gonna go in further than okay
01:07:08
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not going to go in further. I don't need to for that. ah So he wouldn't necessarily know that I've done that, but everyone would know that I've cast the spell. There'd be purple ah like mist coming from the Nix's horns.
01:07:22
Speaker
All right. Okay. Okay. I've literally just peered into this guy's mind. Sorry for that. I know that you didn't accept it, but still peered into his mind. Nix is saying to the Kriska, he is as straight as your arrows.
01:07:38
Speaker
honest that he did not nor his party kill your guys this blood loss and blood shed would be futile and and you of all people especially after recent events would know how precious life is we don't need to shed any more blood one how can you take that for certain two what do you mean are people after recent events you' but You've had two people die on you. So surely after that, we've just had one of our members die and it sends a shockwave through your group and it makes you fucking thankful that you yourself are alive. You have just had two members your group die.
01:08:22
Speaker
I can't begin to imagine the heartache or anger you're feeling from that. Two, as you like to use numbers, appeared into the guy's mind. I saw inside his mind.
01:08:35
Speaker
Sorry again for that. and What if it's trickery? What if it's trickery? And Nyx now goes over to the guy and like but expresses his hands towards the orc's face and goes, does this look like a high trickery scholar to you? No offence.
01:08:55
Speaker
Make a persuasion check, Nyx.
01:08:59
Speaker
Seth's moved back towards the cart. All this time, Alta's just twiddling his thumbs near the cart.
01:09:07
Speaker
Six.
01:09:11
Speaker
She puts her hand on the hilt of her blade. Yeah, Seth, I might need you. If it wasn't them,
01:09:23
Speaker
then who was it?
01:09:27
Speaker
That is the question. a new I knew, knew you were the smartest one here because that is the fucking question. But if you're willing to believe that it's not them, look at him again.
01:09:42
Speaker
i Don't act unless your conviction is strong because then the gods will do their own justice on you.
01:09:55
Speaker
God's.
01:09:58
Speaker
they're quite important at the moment again sky ah lot of shit going on we really need to work together a little bit more seth's high hard uh trunks into motion
01:10:12
Speaker
i say just like a rumbling kind of we're we' we're chundering at this point we're chunkering we're still quite far away but we're chundering we're getting there ah He also gestured to Alpha with his head to get on the cart.
01:10:26
Speaker
which Oh yeah, Alpha's kind of on the cart. Very well.
01:10:36
Speaker
I will take this to the capital. We will deal with it another time. Yes! If you would all be willing to part ways. Yes! ah yeah ah Yeah, we didn't do it We didn't fucking do it.
01:10:53
Speaker
Love it. Love it. They all begin to sort of back to the camp. Can I just say before you go, because I know that you've heard enough of my voice, but just before you walk off and just before you walk off, usual happenings go wrong what happened here today the would take the word was just lovely and has restored my faith that that we can save this world of ours. Thank you.
01:11:16
Speaker
Thank you. And yeah, and yeah I hope to see you again. Nick's points over to the Chris. What was your name? Again?
01:11:26
Speaker
You will not learn this.
01:11:30
Speaker
You know what could peer into your mind, but i won't out of respect. See, sorry again for doing that. I dare you to try. but No, I just, I don't want to out of respect, like respect to you.
01:11:44
Speaker
Have a very, very good rest of the day and a good journey. i wish you all the luck, truly. Nick's Corral and Nick's will pop his hat off and turn around.
01:11:55
Speaker
you're Corral. Clip, clop, clip, clop, clip, clop, clip, clop.
01:12:00
Speaker
at At this point, the bridge is sort of clearing and the the three of Christopher and their cart are moving on. So there is space for, yeah, trunks at this point to move past. I get back on the car and I am fucking sweating, man. Like the beads of sweat. Just you look at Nix and he's just this fucking early Morrowind character. Just Plasticine. Just like... Vork just sort of notes yours, your passing, and says, Thank you. who um I've got a bit dangerous there.
01:12:37
Speaker
You're good. It wasn't us that killed them. I, ah again, looked into your mind. but Just let them... Just careful. If you're going that way, if you're headed east, whatever killed them, it wasn't us. It's someone else out there.
01:12:54
Speaker
ah Then we shall bring back evidence that it was not you. Commandable job on your post. Let them through. And best wishes to you. Fortune favours the brave.
01:13:07
Speaker
All right. Thank you, I think. Throwing fables around like he's fucking Plato. When inspiration hits.
01:13:20
Speaker
He's got any cast done to write this shit down. I mean it, fancy words, boy.
01:13:28
Speaker
If whatever's out there decimated two of Chris Keragans like they were Plato's,
01:13:36
Speaker
it might be an overhead. Stay on the road.
01:13:43
Speaker
Your words have been heard, my friend. And I give thanks again. Alright.
01:13:52
Speaker
He just returns his back to you and goes back to the camp.
01:13:57
Speaker
Oh, fuck me.
01:14:00
Speaker
Thanks guys for that, Seth. He's going to hold up a hand for a high five.
01:14:06
Speaker
Yeah. Bam.
01:14:10
Speaker
How much gold did you have to pay them to get through?
01:14:16
Speaker
um Turns out that like we've already paid the gold that Gnome works for them and that was a toll for passing through, so you helped us. Oh.
01:14:28
Speaker
Really? Yeah.
01:14:32
Speaker
Bowe kind of smiled to himself. Result? Result?
01:14:39
Speaker
Seth's confused. Mixed looks at Seth.
01:14:43
Speaker
Everyone's sort the back, just shaking his head. Because he was there.
01:14:53
Speaker
I've got a passive of 17. I'm saying. Read the bullshit. Does Baal want to believe the lie? wants to believe it There you Lie with love.
01:15:08
Speaker
With love. he's so He's not going to challenge it. All is said with love.
01:15:14
Speaker
You press on. Through
01:15:22
Speaker
as many bridges
01:15:26
Speaker
as solid patches of land. this is This is a very broken landscape in terms of just the two levels here, the that the plateau that you are crossing, the various plateaus and the sheer drops that you are and traversing over on these these well-kept bridges.
01:15:48
Speaker
The rest of the day passes without incident as you approach nightfall. You don't pass anyone else on the road. This road has been incredibly quiet.
01:15:59
Speaker
But given that you moved through the night last night and a full day relatively uninterrupted journeying, you brought a four-day journey down to just less than half, just more than, just less than half.
01:16:16
Speaker
um Basically, you've got two and a half days left rather than four.
01:16:22
Speaker
It is that natural point where we choose to make camp. Are you going to risk another exhaustion role? ah Seth's going have a fully, like, when that looks like a natural point to pull over where he could, the guys could make camp and he could just sleep.
01:16:41
Speaker
Seth's knackered. he's He's shattered and will just pull over and just stop and just sit there like... but not not awful, but just like tired and will, yeah.
01:16:56
Speaker
And yeah, get off and kind of start making waves to create camp without really obviously speaking to anyone, hoping that he's made a right decision.
01:17:08
Speaker
then you make the arrangements to begin setting up camp for the eve. And just as you're all sort of taking your time to to free Trunks from his sort of tether, to dig in whatever you would usually do when you're setting up a watch,
01:17:32
Speaker
you just hear this scream on the horizon
01:17:40
Speaker
followed by the sound
01:17:47
Speaker
o viscera and flesh squishing. and Sorry to
Echoes of Danger
01:17:53
Speaker
interrupt. The scream is coming from from front of us. It's coming. You're sat um i'm monk on a plateau amongst seven, eight different canyons.
01:18:04
Speaker
It's just a scream erupted from somewhere within a couple of miles of where you are. And then just a... Good sound. Flesh being feasted upon. of good sound feast being fit flesh being feasted upon But it doesn't sound... No, I'm sorry. It doesn't sound like from the direction we just came or we really cannot get that spatial awareness. Make a perception check at disadvantage.
01:18:29
Speaker
ah You are in a sound vacuum right now. Hand minus four. Yeah, hand minus four. I know.
01:18:40
Speaker
ah That would be an 11. 11.
01:18:43
Speaker
It's not coming from back where you came. It's pretty good. im fucking But it's coming from all around you. It's coming from the east along the road.
01:18:55
Speaker
It's coming from the north. It's coming from the south. It is echoing. It is in unison.
01:19:04
Speaker
And that's where we're going to end this week's episode of Bellashian and Tabletop, Bellum Draconis. Motherfucker! Of course we are. Creepy night's sleep. Oh, my God. I don't sleep. oh my god i don sleep I am warmed.
01:19:19
Speaker
Well done, Ian, because I thought that was going kick off. Well done. You smashed that man. Thank Sorry for dragging it to the forefront. and Sometimes like get I get Seth, but when everyone is so quick to just kill people, it just seems really out of character.
01:19:33
Speaker
It does. ah What? What do you mean? It felt like at one point you were just like going to hop off and get your hammer out and go hit them all. hammer swings where it wants to s swing. is's a god he' a god He's a god man, but he's got rage issues. sure He's a blacksmith by Trey. He likes his pounding stuff.
01:19:54
Speaker
Which doesn't have rage issues? I'm like an onion. doesn't have rage issues? God. No, Nick Stephanie doesn't have rage issues. He's the only one without rage issues. He has many other issues. so He's got all the STDs in them.
01:20:10
Speaker
So many afflictions. Smorgasbord of STDs. Ian, how... help help umm like again Help me, please. Nice guy. please Give me that. Be a nice guy. kill I'm just feasting on some corpses. It's been a long time, guys.
01:20:30
Speaker
Let me eat. Coppock's got to eat, bro. Our social media director has a page that you can follow. He's got a promotion. One more follower.
01:20:44
Speaker
why Each follower gives you a promotion. So let's let's go with that. um Okay. Where can the people find us? So you can find us ah on Blue Sky at Fellowship Tabletop.
01:20:57
Speaker
um We are also on Facebook um at Fellowship Tabletop. And we are also on X at Fellowship Table. And if you wish to go one step further and follow us individually, you can do so. I'm Natural20Will. Ian's at...
01:21:16
Speaker
ian's Now you're taking my bit. I'm at I Rolled-A-One. Will's at Fellowship NBCBC. A humble edgelord, Callum. I like to think you're a humble edgelord.
01:21:29
Speaker
You get to the point humbly. humbly How you do that humbly? love bowing No aggression. Soft. Softly, softly, she goes. Lots of apologizing.
01:21:41
Speaker
lots of hoit on um I'm totally tired. terribly sorry so sorry so sorry Sorry. Not yet. Sorry. so we find you calibb it's going nowhere fucking nowhere
01:21:58
Speaker
On a street corner.
01:22:01
Speaker
sorry That's the best joke you've ever done on this podcast. Five years it's taken you to come up with a witchy retort. Mark can be found at. Hastely rolled DM.
01:22:13
Speaker
And our VIP of Dungeon Master Danny, can be found at Total Party Thrills. Until next week, guys. Farewell. Farewell.