Transcript
Speaker: The Salambia saga is a story driven, action packed, fun filled D and D podcast. I'm your DM Anthony. And today we are joined by Austin playing Kith. Howdy gamers. Jared playing Yock. Hello and welcome all. And Amy playing MB. Hello everyone.
Speaker: All right, let's get into it. So, Kith, you are having a quite wonderful and relaxing time sitting in your library, just reading whatever you regularly can get your hands on. And
Speaker: You hear a strange noise coming from the room next door. It sounds like a very dull and quiet hum, but definitely different than the decent silence of the library.
Speaker: Um, I'll, you know, mark my page where I'm. I'm pausing to go inspect the noise in the next room. OK, so as you make your way through the stacks of books and bookcases, you arrive at the door and upon first glance, it seems as though it's kind of shaking.
Speaker: Um, well, that's odd and slightly concerning. Um, trying to remember like, if he had any plans for guests or any other such things that would lead to something being in his, his home that he's unaware of. Um, he'll cautiously open the door and
Speaker: and peek inside. So as you reach your hand towards the doorknob, you feel kind of a tingling sensation in your hand as it gets closer. And that tingling sensation reaches further and further up your arm the closer you get to the doorknob. And as you make contact with the doorknob,
Speaker: the door flings open, kind of pushing you back just a slight bit. And instead of the room, you see a very dark and swirling red mass just kind of sitting in the door's place. Would this be familiar to me at all?
Speaker: Not too entirely familiar, but you feel something very gently drawing you towards it. Well, with a sense of false confidence, Kith will walk through that odd doorway.
Speaker: As you enter the mass, you feel yourself feel a nice sense of warmth, something you haven't felt in quite some time. And you find yourself.
Speaker: in a very, very dark and unlit room. In the center, there is what seems to be a pool of something, but you can't quite make it out. Um,
Speaker: I'll slowly move forward, but being wary of like any motion around the peripherals and kind of, you know, crouching over, ripping the, I mean, it's more of a long paring knife, but the dagger that he keeps on his belt. As you move towards the pool, you feel
Speaker: Something kind of stopping you almost like a wall. It's nothing there, but you feel it nonetheless. He'll say aloud. What is this? Who is there? You get no response. And with that.
Speaker: We will move on. Yak, it is just a normal day amongst your fellow druids. You find yourself on a particularly dark day.
Speaker: There isn't much light coming from the sky as much as there normally is. And you feel a very slight warmth begin to build in your torso. But business is as usual.
Speaker: feeling of warmth building inside of me I'll definitely like have my own kind of like feeling of like trying to sense if this is like an actual magic inside of me but warmth is definitely very close to my people being so close to like lava and the flow of the like molten earth it definitely piques my interest
Speaker: peaks my attention. I might like stop any conversations. I'm in and kind of like focus inward.
Speaker: So you notice that this definitely does not feel very natural. It definitely feels magical, something that's not supposed to be there. When you normally feel that outward and, you know, hot sense of warmth coming from the lava, this is more of an inward and kind of building sense of warmth.
Speaker: As I focus inward on it, is there anything that I can actually gain from feeling this sensation? Can I actually learn from it as I sort of meditate on it? Or if I were to kind of just enter into a sort of meditation to feel out this inward feeling, is there anything that I can learn from it?
Speaker: You can learn that, you know, throughout your experiences with the natural magics and your time spent here, this is definitely coming from somewhere else. It feels as though something is trying to take you somewhere. You feel that although it is building inside of you, it's also building somewhere else.
Speaker: Gotcha. So I think with kind of that sensation of it's like beyond here and kind of like pulling me somewhere, I'll definitely like kind of give way. Normally a substantial part of my attention is kind of like focused on presenting a rather humanoid form. So I think in part I'll kind of like give up some of my attention towards my physical form.
Speaker: and kind of like release myself into my more natural state of what is effectively like a multi -tentacled being. Okay, so as you begin to, you know, lose that focus on your physical form and you begin to kind of revert a little bit, you feel that heat build up very quickly
Speaker: and suddenly you burst into flames. It's not even a painful feeling. It seems to be just an image more than anything else. And if I start to look into this, do I flow further into whatever this movement is?
Speaker: kind of like folks focusing my perception like through it you begin to you know focus on it and notice that it seems as though you can just send yourself wherever it's wanting to take you
Speaker: yeah I'll definitely do that and kind of as I sort of like send my consciousness like through this I'll definitely try to kind of like focus on this idea of my own like view of sort of the stars and the moon like trying to focus on kind of what is sort of my focus in much of life kind of like looking to the stars
Speaker: like his comfort kind of thing so the druids around you are looking in confusion and slight terror because this is not you know this is not normal uh... these things typically don't happen unless you know you're in rituals so they're they're a bit confused and
Speaker: As they begin to try and figure out something to do, you disappear and you find yourself in a very dark room.
Speaker: Kith, you notice a very, very bright flash of light. You see the flame lighting up the room briefly, and then you see Jock standing there. I'll look this tentacle being up and down and ask, is this your doing?
Speaker: I'm not accustomed to such places as this. If you have not called me here, I have not caused this either.
Speaker: Interesting. Kith will sit down and pull out a piece of parchment paper and his a pen and an ink well and begin documenting everything that's happened to him in the last few minutes. Sure. Okay. With that, we will go ahead and move on. MB.
Speaker: Currently, you find yourself in a smaller town than you usually like to visit. But you've been keeping a close eye on a particular set of cultists who have been doing some not so great things.
Speaker: You notice that they're currently on one of their daily run -throughs of the town and you're currently watching from about as far as you can get without a rising suspicion. What do they seem to be doing?
Speaker: Currently, it seems they're just kind of walking through, basically sizing up their targets, trying to find who the best few people are going to be to sacrifice. So they're not doing anything presently, but they are currently sizing up their targets.
Speaker: I follow this greatly and quietly. Okay, so as you follow them, you see it seems they have found that their target, they stop around this seems to be group of like teenagers.
Speaker: There's just three of them. And these cultists are numerous, probably about 10 or 12. They surround this group of teenagers and the teenagers know exactly what's happening right now. So their eyes just kind of.
Speaker: go wide They look around briefly for like anything that they can maybe defend themselves with and The tent the situation seems very very tense Is anyone making any aggressive movements towards the teenagers or are they just cornering them and
Speaker: Currently, they have just cornered them. No aggressive movements as of yet. I will slowly see if I can walk behind the aggressors in my, oh, I'm so tired and old way. Yeah. Even though I don't look it. They don't take notice of you. They're really, really focused on the teenagers.
Speaker: I will give it a few minutes and if nothing else happens I will pretend to be someone's big sister, pull out a name, Rhaegar, and start yelling at the teenagers.
Speaker: A few, few seconds go by as you're, you know, walking past or walking towards. And then the cultists begin to move in on these teenagers. They are not.
Speaker: brandishing any weapons but the teenagers seem to have found like rocks or one of them has found a sharp piece of glass so it seems they're ready to defend themselves still not quite aggressive movements but they're definitely moving in on the teenagers now just closing the circle up what time of the day is it
Speaker: It's darker than normal. So you assume that it is nighttime. The moon is out. You see the second moon rising on the horizon. So it seems as though it is nighttime. All right. If there are.
Speaker: even improvised weapons at the ready, I will step in, and in my most intimidating and sisterly voice, start yelling. Rhaegar, Akro, Dalaran, what are you doing after dark outside? How many times have I told you? Get back to the house right now.
Speaker: And so the cultists kind of stop for a brief moment and the teenagers look over at you. So the part of the circle that you are closest to basically break off. So it's about three people. The teenagers kind of freeze for a moment.
Speaker: Uh, but the circle closes in very quickly. So now you have three cultists, uh, kind of facing you down while the rest of them are, uh, now aggressively moving towards the teenagers because they realize that someone is watching and they need to finish what they're doing. Like very quickly. I will keep moving in and seem even more intimidating if I can.
Speaker: Go ahead and just roll intimidation. I will roll my intimidation. Give me just a second, please. Oh, I rolled a natural 20 DM and I have a plus five.
Speaker: so you start walking forward with determination and you know confidence in your you know demeanor and the cultists are not used to this they're used to just kind of walking through doing whatever they feel like they're doing and just you know having a good time
Speaker: But to see someone openly challenge them and not be afraid in the slightest kind of takes them aback. And you see the cultists in front of you, the three, they're kind of backing up back towards the circle. They don't seem to want to fight. But they may defend if they need to. I will use this momentum and start
Speaker: Slightly barking orders. I pointed the teenagers and say, you go home. You live to fight another day. I'm going to look like stare them down. Okay. So they look at you and they kind of size you up.
Speaker: and see what the actual threat level is. And for a brief moment, you see what seems to be a terror in their eyes and the group kind of bumps into each other and breaks up and they kind of move along.
Speaker: much quicker than they originally were just moving through the town. They obviously want to get away. These people are not very strong, but what they do lack in strength, they have in numbers. And right now, it's just not worth it. So they leave the teenagers alone. Are the teenagers following the go back to your house?
Speaker: order they're still kind of sitting there the cultists were the only thing that really moved they they don't know what happened they just know that they were facing pretty much certain death and now they're not I will not allow them to relax for much I will approach them and ask them were you afraid of them the boy looks at you
Speaker: Yes, I mean, it's not much of an easy task to fight off these cultists. Everyone knows that if you get surrounded, you're done for. And we were just talking so we didn't notice them. Well, they're afraid of me, so that just tells you how much more important is that you listen to what I say. And what I said very clearly was,
Speaker: get back to your homes. What are you still doing here? And they kind of nod at you and leave. Kids. I just walked away. You hear a, you hear a not familiar voice, but a voice you've heard once or twice in your head.
Speaker: How are you doing? Not the greatest. I currently require your services. You or she? She.
Speaker: Well then lead the way. You know where to go. I do indeed. Thank you. Thank you. I will find a dark corner and...
Speaker: Starting from the tip of my toes, black smoke will start circling me and I will teleport myself to the foyer before my mistress's audience room.
Speaker: So, Kith and Iok, you both noticed that the room lights up. The pool in the center begins to glow like a bright and very
Speaker: very prominent blue color. So it lights up the room in that same blue color. You notice in the farther corner of the room, a swath of black smoke begins to form. And you also notice in front of you behind the pool is too large, like metallic,
Speaker: and engraved double doors that slowly begin to open as this smoke materializes. And you begin to see the form of Embi. Hello.
Speaker: Hello, Great One. You've summoned us. I've been summoned with you. I think our presence is requested beyond these halls. Do you have any thought of why?
Speaker: some kind of mission, I suppose. Somewhere, somewhere, someone somewhere broke something. We should go and check it out. I'm not entirely sure why I am here. Very rarely do I actually get sent out these days. So if I'm here, it's a little bigger than
Speaker: expected.
Speaker: So as you all stop talking, you notice that the doors have stopped moving, revealing a very, very lit up hallway, torches along the walls, statues throughout all of the hall. And you see at the end of this hall is a very large room. And at the end of the room, there is a very large throne.
Speaker: It's currently empty. I look around, is there anyone else in the room? Other than you three? No. I eye the throne with obvious disgust.
Speaker: So after you sit there and wait for just a moment, you see in a faint purple glow and then the warping of the space around the throne,
Speaker: out pops a very slender figure wrapped in a skin -tight dress that trails behind her. You notice the two large horns, very prominent and recognizable, and the bright piercing yellow eyes of none other than Ol' Spectra.
Speaker: about deeply and graciously. I like squish out and down as I get just wider at the base and all of my tentacles kind of like spread at your service.
Speaker: Kith will also bow and ask, and to what do we owe this pleasure, my lady? So she looks you all up and down, and very briefly is confused. There was supposed to be a fourth, but no matter.
Speaker: I have called you all here to assist me on a matter that I quite frankly cannot partake in on my own. You know that since I took away the light for this world, that I have eyes and ears pretty much everywhere.
Speaker: I have felt a very great disturbance, something I have not felt since I don't even know. Something has broken through my barrier and it's something quite far away and powerful. I'm not sure what it is. And I have a great suspicion that it may be one of the gods.
Speaker: I don't know which one yet and I don't know what the purpose is, but I need you to find this disturbance and I need you to find it as quick as you can. Because the last thing I need is some nuisance destroying and breaking down all of my plans.
Speaker: Where is this disturbance, my lady? I haven't been able to pinpoint where it is, but I know approximately where it is. However, I can't have you all just going out into the world and showing off all of your power because that would be the opposite of the thing I need done. You will each take on
Speaker: very humanoid forms to blend in with the mortal population. You will go about your day as a regular mortal. And until you find what I need you to find, you will not have your power back. So that being said,
Speaker: You'll be going to our current stronghold in the mortal realm. Used to be called Hemena. And you will meet Obora. Obora will give you commands and tell you what you must do. Do you understand?
Speaker: Your will is clear. Thank you, a slight nod. That being said, I will see you off now. You all feel as
Speaker: something seems to just drain out of you and you feel very very weak all of the sudden almost as if you are sick and you notice that in an instant where all spectra was now stands nothing it's very very dark just pitch black nothingness
Speaker: A brief second goes by, and once again, your vision is filled with color, and you find yourself on the outskirts of the castle of the stronghold, Hemina. I'll look at the other two. I say, are you ready to do this?
Speaker: I almost didn't recognize you there, Yark, without all of your tentacles. All spectres will be done.
Speaker: And I'll look at her a little bit curiously. Uh, do I, I mean, at this point I know MB for MB, uh, just for, you know, reasons on that level, but do I necessarily know anything about her right off the bat? Uh, this is actually kind of what I was going to ask, uh, like, do I feel a sense of this has happened to me over and over again, where I've been drained and kind of like had my memory wiped.
Speaker: This definitely does seem a bit familiar. All right. There's nothing to it. Let's go. Lead the way.
Speaker: So as you all make your way into the courtyard, you see demons of all shapes and sizes. You see all different grades and powers as well. You make your way past all of them. They look at you for a brief moment, but since you all know each other's names, they don't think anything of your humanoid forms.
Speaker: You all move past the gates into the actual castle, and you are very swiftly guided through the halls by a very short and quite skinny demon.
Speaker: It leads you through halls and down corridors and you reach what seems to be the throne room but is currently laid out like a battle station. There are demons and armor with weapons posted around. You see a very large table in the center.
Speaker: And you see the throne upside down, just kind of in the corner. It doesn't seem to be obviously used. And you notice a demon with a quite large stature, much larger than all of the things around him, stands about 12 feet tall.
Speaker: very, very muscular, and is currently clothed in quite ragged and baggy clothes. Quite different than the sights around you. And you notice
Speaker: the wings very large but straight furled behind him. And Embi, you recognize this as Obora, a person that you've had very, very brief dealings with in the past, but not much in the future.
Speaker: I whisper to them, this is a bora. Go ahead. And I give them a nod. So you notice that as you enter the room, it immediately grabs his attention and you see
Speaker: very strong line of focus from him to you and he just be lines as fast as he can walk he gets towards you and he looks at you all and says what do we have here all spectra sent me
Speaker: Imbetha? And who are you two that you are in cohorts with this one? I am Yak. That's your service.
Speaker: For all spectra, that is all that matters. Guide me. And I am Kith. I assume my presence here will be, or the need for my presence will be revealed when you give us our orders. Yeah.
Speaker: No matter. You don't seem nearly as strong as what I may need. It's quite concerning, but it doesn't matter. I just need you all to figure out how to get into a dungeon that we haven't quite been able to get into.
Speaker: I may have misheard you. Did you just say that? How come we're here and we don't seem as strong as you need? Precisely. So are you doubting the wisdom and abilities of all spectra right in front of promotionaries? I thought you were smarter than that.
Speaker: But you're dumber than you look, and I didn't even think that was possible. Ha ha ha ha. Ahh. M .B .The. Never gets old with you. Here's what you need to do.
Speaker: I need you to figure out how to get into what used to be an underground fort, but now seems to be unoccupied. But all of the grunts and even higher levels that I have sent just haven't been able to get in. I'm sure it may take you quite some time, but I have faith that you'll be able to at least get inside.
Speaker: Currently we are trying to retrieve an artifact out of there. The Helm of Moriartis is going to be very, very helpful because it has a soul trapped within it, at least rumored, but we haven't been able to get in to figure it out. Obviously I can't leave my post and just go and do it myself.
Speaker: So I need to find you all to do it. There may be some other things in there, but if the Helm of Moriarty's does not have the soul within it, we can still use it for the magic it possesses. So find the Helm, bring it back.
Speaker: do not try to wear it. It will only cause you immense pain. And with that being said, you are dismissed. I will have a grunt follow you out, direct you towards the fort, and hopefully you will be back at some point. And he turns away from you.
Speaker: as a fairly lanky but smaller demon approaches you and it says I'm supposed to be taking you to the fort do you need anything before we go
Speaker: I'm before O 'Bara gets too far away. O 'Bara, we kill everything else. And I have like, uh, like desire, like... O 'Bara, are we killing everything? If there's something to kill, obviously.
Speaker: Excellent. Onward. So do you need anything, or are we just going? I need more information about this danger we're going in and what happened to the previous people that went, you know, some information gathering for anything else.
Speaker: Nothing happened to them. Um, they just came back because they can't get in. Oh, they came back. They didn't. Yeah. Yeah. And what stopped them from getting, was that they encountered, and they said, nope, left. They, they just couldn't get in. We don't know. That's why they have you, apparently. Point me to the people that went in and couldn't go in.
Speaker: Like, did they take damage? Did they encounter an invisible wall? Did they encounter enemies that they thought they couldn't take? Because I'm not going in. Has very many variations. Apparently, they just couldn't open the doors. Ah, I see. We sent our brightest into bravest. No wonder they sent us. All right. Let's go.
Speaker: If entering doors is the problem, I might be able to destroy them. But do any of you have skills breaking into locks or doors? Is that possible?
Speaker: I probably look specifically towards Kith, who's always holding a book, assuming he has a book on lockpicking. I've never practiced picking locks, but we'll see what the actual problem is when we get there. You can't just knowledge it.
Speaker: Well, we'll see. OK, it's going to be not that far from here. But I'll lead you to it. And so he takes you out of the castle, into the courtyard, out of the courtyard, into the city, out of the city, across the way.
Speaker: It's like a slight little plains area that you cross over. Follows a road for a little while and then cuts off. You start approaching this hill. You see in the side of this hill, there is two large doors and an archway.
Speaker: There it is. You guys figure it out and come back, I guess. And he leaves you back where he came from and you are now in front of the double doors on the hillside. There doesn't seem to be anything around. It's just the doors. What do they look like?
Speaker: They are just two fairly sturdy looking wooden doors. The doors are made of wood. We could burn our way inside, but do they have handles? Is there a lock perhaps? There are handles.
Speaker: And it looks to be capable of being locked. Are they over a stone lintel? Are they on dirt? They're on dirt. Can I begin to focus my power?
Speaker: pulling energy from my chest, slowly removing the dirt from beneath the doors, using mold earth to make a tunnel underneath them. Yeah, that sounds like a bright idea.
Speaker: So you just see as I like focus like my hands kind of like shoveling air towards my chest and as I do that you see with each motion of my hand a scoop of dirt pulls from under the doors.
Speaker: After a while, I'm quick to lay down and crawl into the dirt. Can I see under the door or do I encounter a stone inside? Does it make a tunnel underneath that we could crawl through? It is stone underneath. So you are encountering the stone?
Speaker: So, crawling back from the dirt, if we could break this stone to pieces, I could get us past, but I think perhaps destroying the doors might be easier.
Speaker: When Yock says that, Kith will look at him for a second to say, I'd assume those who came before also thought that. And are these doors connected to anything or is it like magical doors just in the middle of a field? So it's in a hillside. There's like a stone archway.
Speaker: So they're connected. Oh, OK, yeah, it goes into the hill. I get it now. Yeah. Um. So is there anything else on this hill? Nope, just the doors and it looks like a normal hill outside of that.
Speaker: I mean, we can try breaking it. Is there anything like written on the arches? Nothing that you can see.
Speaker: How big is the structure? I'm thinking is there another way
Speaker: Uh, well, I mean, you could look, but currently the only thing you can see from here is just those double doors. And how tall is the structure? Uh, the hill itself. Uh, it goes up quite a ways, um, but not more than like 25 feet. Got it.
Speaker: Do you want to search for another one or do you want to focus? Say that one more time. You started breaking up there. I asked, do you want to search for another way in or do you want to focus our efforts here?
Speaker: I think it may be worth at least walking the perimeter and inspecting. Do you want to walk your perimeter while I start at the doors? I would rather not break them if I can avoid it.
Speaker: But if we can't dig around them or under them, I guess that's a viable option. I don't want to give any sites from anyone else that could be passing outside that the door is now open. I'm like growing vines up out of the ground, and they're starting to scratch at the doors. And I just stop as she says that.
Speaker: How, in your vines go under, see how deep the door goes? There's stone between the floor and the doors that keeps me out. I'll leave it up to you. What do you guys want to do? Burn it, break it.
Speaker: Well, Yock, maybe we should try knocking first. Perhaps whatever's inside responds to kindness. I smile at that. Kindness seems foolish. And I'll knock at the door. So as you get close to this door, you see it begin to light up in a kind of bright greenish color.
Speaker: And as you touch the door, you feel a pretty like jolting pain in your hand. I don't believe the door consents.
Speaker: I take out my little wand and try to knock it with a wand without making direct contact with the door. So once again, it does light up. As you get close, it lights up a bright greenish color. But as you knock it with the wand, nothing seems to happen.
Speaker: Door can detect race at the resume or affinity. Can I try and see if I can unlock it? Yeah. What are you using? I will take out some pins from my hair and try to
Speaker: Fiddle with the lock and see if it's at all movable. And if the lock is really the only thing stopping this door from opening. I suppose light of hand, maybe? Yeah, yeah. I graded it, but better than, oh, yep, nope. A total of seven tells me nothing, I presume.
Speaker: Yep, nothing happens. As you noted, I'm much better at asking things to happen politely, so I'm not quite versed in trying to open locked doors. And I offer them the pins either of you want to try. Be my guest.
Speaker: um i mean i am not particularly talented in such activities neither is subtlety my way ground and pound it is please lead the way yuck
Speaker: Do we want to walk the perimeter of the hill? Sure. Yeah, I think that would be smart. So as you walk the perimeter of this hill, you notice that there is nothing around but this door.
Speaker: with a glint of joy in my eyes. Can I destroy the doors now? Please do. Please proceed.
Speaker: yeah so like returning to in front of the doors i'll like start to like chant and like growing vines out of like my body and out of the ground beneath uh very much looking like this humanoid form a little bit more like that like um
Speaker: what is it, like quadrapod kind of like tentacle form that I had before. I'll like start to grow these vines, just like scratching at the wood of the door and trying to just start to pull it piece by piece. And again, this is effectively, what is it, vine whip? Okay. Or thorn whip. Go ahead and I guess roll the damage.
Speaker: Uh, six damage. OK, so. You do see that the door begins to splinter away, but you can tell that this is a very sturdily reinforced door. Doc. Will it fire? Yeah, will it hinder?
Speaker: your efforts if we also try lighted fire at the same time. I'll just move away from the door. I assume on some level the thorn whip is kind of prevented by if we started a fire. Do either of you have a magical fire?
Speaker: and I'll just pull out a torch. I would say let's start with normal fire first, see what happens. I just take out my little fire starter and see if that helps the door catch fire. I also try to build it as a fire, see if we can find some
Speaker: Tinder? Suppose? Yeah, there's grass around. Some dead, some not. So I think you could find an adequate amount of Tinder to start a fire, if that's what you're doing.
Speaker: I think so. Can we use the tunnel that I kind of built underneath it to kind of put the fire underneath the doors and then like use some of the like almost like scraped pieces from the thorns to try to like, I don't know, increase the surface area of like almost scraping at the base of the door just as much as anything else.
Speaker: So it might increase that surface area to like, but the way into it before burning it. Yeah, I feel like that could possibly work. Enhanced fire, basically. Yeah. Does it work, though?
Speaker: So as you start doing all that, you notice that as you get close to the door to set this up, it once again shines that bright greenish color. And as you move away, it stops shining.
Speaker: But you notice as you begin doing this, the door is fairly sturdy. It's not really wanting to take damage. Yeah, can I roll an arcana check to understand what kind of effect the door is having to approach? Yes, you may. All right, let's see.
Speaker: 16 total, please. So you recognize this as a barrier or a ward. And you've noticed, you already pointed out, that it is able to detect a certain race or quality. And you recognize this, especially this color, as an anti -demon ward.
Speaker: With a 16, do I understand if, if I discuss myself or change myself to another race, will it still detect me? It will detect. Hmm. Thank you. And go ahead and roll just a flat D20 for me. Sure. 17.
Speaker: OK, so you also remember and recall this being used in the past in your many years of existence. And you know how to get rid of them. It's a very, very short ritual. And you just have to apply some demon blood in mixture with Earth and some natural material.
Speaker: and basically make a paste out of that to spread upon the door. I'm going to look at Keith and I can say, indulge me for a minute, please. In my traveling kit, do I perhaps have a bowl that I eat out of or a glass, not a glass, like a wooden receptacle that I can put stuff in?
Speaker: I would say, yeah, you would have that on your person. I will take some of the dirt that was dug up from Yuck. I will take some of the grass, chew it, and put it in the bowl, and then offer it to each of them and say, wander with blood, please. So the door recognizes us and lets us through.
Speaker: Yes, we'll pull out a small knife. She offers the bowl and prick one of his fingers and squeeze a drop or two of blood into the bowl. Thank you. That's more than enough. Yuck. My blood freely given. And I'll use a vine whip to like put into one of my palms.
Speaker: and just kind of press my, like a fist to kind of flow out some blood. But a bit of a drop of mine as well is barely there. Um, and I approach the door and in demonic, I write the word open on the door.
Speaker: So as you apply the mixture onto the door, you see the green light fade away. And disappear completely. I tried to open, but it is it is still there. Is it still locked? I don't know. I try to open it. It opens.
Speaker: Excellent. I step aside and point towards the inside. After you, gentlemen. That to do, Thodana be praised. So as you all enter, you see steps leading downwards. They go quite a ways. Probably about a hundred or so feet.
Speaker: And as you go down the steps, it initially is fairly dark from the outside. And as you enter, you begin to see torches still lit and braziers. But it doesn't seem like there's anyone here. As you enter into this great hall filled with columns and paintings and chandeliers,
Speaker: And you see at the very end of this hall is a wall with a very massive painting. This wall probably goes about 100, 150 feet in the air. So this is essentially like 100 foot by 100 foot painting. Just a large mural.
Speaker: You notice some doors in the far right corner and on the right side as well. But once again, doesn't seem like there's anyone here. Before we go in too deep, I would like to close the doors behind me, but also wipe the open from it so that no one else follows us back. And I keep some of the paste in case we need to get out.
Speaker: OK, works for me. While we are here, Keith. I'm sorry, I want to call it the Helm of Moriarty, but I don't remember that the actual name. Is that the name? Moriarty? Moriarty.
Speaker: So while we try to find this helm, Kith, you are a knowledge fella. Do you know anything about this helm? Could I perform some kind of check to see if I know anything about the helm or the place that we're in? You may make a history check.
Speaker: 13. So you recognize the name slightly. You've heard about it. You've read about it.
Speaker: You know it's something significant that someone essentially was died, buried with, and then basically resurfaced. But you don't know much more than the fact that it's just a slightly significant artifact. You don't know anything about the place that you are in, though.
Speaker: All right, I'll relate that to the group. I just want to point out both of you that it was very specific about us not wearing it and not doing anything other than bringing it back, which tells me that this helm may be more than a little important. And I'm not too keen on it.
Speaker: other kind of interrupt her at the end of saying that. She's like saying, it tells me that we should use it to kill him. Oh, it's important. Let's go to the tapestry, I suppose. What does the tapestry depict exactly? I'm inclined.
Speaker: to as we kind of move into this place, to not walk on the floor and move slower but by flight. Okay, that works for me. The mural depicts what seems to be a battle scene.
Speaker: You're not sure what from, but you see in the left corner there are a bunch of armored individuals with like golden armor and in the right corner you notice it is similar to this hillside.
Speaker: another army on top of the hill basically charging downwards on horses and on elephants and a couple other creatures They are not armored but seem to be multi -limbed Some have four, some have six, but they all are brandishing a bunch of weapons
Speaker: I look at Kith. Kith, can you assess when this was painted? Or does this button remind you? As I secretly break my memory, this is not one of mine.
Speaker: Yeah, so, Kith, when you look at this, you can tell that it's a very old painting. This structure and this painting have been here for quite some time. You're not entirely sure when it's from, but you know it probably depicts some kind of battle that happened in this location many, many years ago.
Speaker: OK, is there anything in the tapestry that would lead me to believe or like to have a guess on which army won the battle? Given your knowledge of things, you can guess that the golden armored army was more than likely victorious. OK.
Speaker: Yeah, so I'll tell MB and Yak. I am unsure of when this battle took place or who the armies were, though I assume these ones in the gold armor were the victors. Strange, as old as this place is, it has escaped my archives.
Speaker: He'll begin inspecting the tapestry to see if he can safely take it off the wall because he's going to take it home. If he can. Given the size of it. It would more than likely take some time to.
Speaker: Cut out and roll up and package in a way that you can take it. But do you have anything that would make that much easier?
Speaker: Yeah, other than a knife to cut it out. No, I don't have like a, a map case or anything like that. So I guess he'll, he'll determine that it's going to take too much time compared to what we have. And he may have to come back later. Okay. Yeah. I would like to help a little bit.
Speaker: I don't think it's wise to try to take this off the wall, but can we see behind it at all to see if it's hidden behind? And if possible, I would like to roll a performance and see if I can take out a piece of scroll and sketch as close to it as possible so that I can at least have a sketch of what we saw. Looking behind it, there is just wall.
Speaker: performance go ahead all right a total of 15 please with your skills and the time that you've spent doing everything this could be you could sketch it very well
Speaker: within a very short amount of time. So it's not obviously colored and fleshed out, but it does look a symbolant to the original. I offer it to Keith and say, I hope this will help your archives. That's the best I can do with the amount that we have. Thank you. This will keep my memories sharp.
Speaker: He'll carefully fold the little picture that she made and put it safely in his backpack. All right. I will remind you that in the right corner of this room, very close to where you are now, are two doors in the respective walls of this corner. And then there is another door on just the middle of the right wall.
Speaker: I don't know why, but I have this like feeling that yak is better at sniffing things out. So I'm kind of holding back to see where, where they go.
Speaker: I was kind of thinking that at some point while they are like drawing and investigating this mural that I've like gone up to each of these doors and like pricked my hand and basically bled on them to see if it opens. I've not tried any door handles, just bled on it. Bleeding on it, it didn't seem like it does much of anything.
Speaker: So I assume at some point like Embi like looks up from her drawing like when she's nearing the end of it and basically sees me like puzzled at a door like with a bloody handprint or like a bloody palm print on it. I do have a raised eyebrow and say if you're willing to sacrifice your blood I'm more than happy to collect it but I think maybe let's try handles first.
Speaker: Can you try listening in or sniffing just in case? And I will do the same at this door at any point at the middle one. Yeah, so I'll just what is it? I think I'm at the double door on the right. Yeah.
Speaker: You see me like drop down to like all fours and just kind of leaned over Does it smell anything different it smells like a dusty a dusty door a Dusty floor
Speaker: I don't recognize the smell of this place. I believe this is a door. Is it possible to determine whether either of those three doors was opened recently, or if not, which one was the most recently opened?
Speaker: You can tell that none of these doors have been opened for quite some time. Got it. And I guess I would like to put my ear on the middle door, see if I can hear anything or use any of my other senses. I'm going to put my ear to the door and mimic it and be. So any of your other senses, are you going to taste the door? You know what? Yes, I will. I will taste the door.
Speaker: I will lick it. I lick it as well. It tastes like dust. You don't hear anything either. It's just silence. I motion to them, which one do you want to open first?
Speaker: Let's open the side ones first, the double ones, because I think those may be in character. Let's say we open the corner ones first. Maybe they are more storage and may give us some idea of what else could be in there. Maybe there's archives in there, sleeping quarters, something else. The central one looks more important. Otherwise, why would it be at the center?
Speaker: Okay, so as you enter those doors, you notice it is a circular room and it is filled with uniformly spaced just beds that are all very neatly made. A nice layer of dust on top of each of them. At the foot of each of the beds are chests, but they're all propped open and empty.
Speaker: They look like barracks room. Yeah. I say dining room as they're like going to say what it is that a dining room. Both doors lead to the same circular room. Yes, they do.
Speaker: Maybe a quick investigation around to see if anything was missed. Checking under pillows and mattresses to see if anyone left something. How many beds are there? There's a little over 100 beds in here.
Speaker: My investigative skills aren't the best, so I will be happily offering assistance to someone that may have better investigative skills than myself. Okay, works for me. All right, mine are adequate, I think, I hope. Kind of received my Advantagee help.
Speaker: Seventeen plus five twenty two. OK, as you look through this room under pillows, under blankets, under mattresses in the chest, you find a whole lot of dust, but that is it. Well, they were very thorough when they cleared out.
Speaker: Which tells me they didn't leave in a hurry or someone came after them as well. Are we happy to proceed with the middle room? And look at Yak. I'll go to that door and if I can just like fling it open. It opens.
Speaker: You find yourself in a hallway that leads to yet another door, but this door is already open and you can sort of see some tables and more light coming from there. I'm sorry to say this, but I kind of imagined Yak just walking up to the door and with a flare, just opening the door and saying, I have arrived. I follow Yak.
Speaker: So do you all go into the next room? We're opening the middle door, right? And there's no other door in the main hall.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. So having opened that middle door into the hall, I'll progress forward now. By the time we get to that other room, almost entering it on all fours, I'll start to walk forward slowly, again smelling to see. And I'll probably lick the ground as well as I enter. OK.
Speaker: Once again, it tastes like dust. It's not great. It smells like dust. As you enter the next room, you notice a lot of very long tables with many seats at each of them. And in the corner of the room, you notice what seems to be a furnace, fireplace,
Speaker: some tables and pots and pans and the like. Ah, another dining room. I think this time you're correct.
Speaker: You also notice at the other corner of this room, directly opposite of the kitchen area, there are some stairs that lead downwards, spirally. You mentioned there's a light coming from somewhere? It's just a very lit room, just like the others. Where does the light come from?
Speaker: torches and chandeliers can I cast a con and say this like is eternal flame some kind of spell because if no one's been here in quite a long time how are these torches lit yeah go ahead let's see 15 total this is definitely magical flame
Speaker: I motion to Yogg and say, you want to light the torch yukari from this flame? It will last for a very long time. I run my hand through the flame.
Speaker: Can I hold the the flame and or do I get burned? You you get burned. It is fire. Yes, and I'll take my own torch and like light a torch from it and see like does it look like the torch is now burning with like a different sort of fire or does it just look like the torch is burning? It looks like the torch is burning.
Speaker: Fire forever and I'll hold it up over my head and say a little prayer to tag the You said there was a spiral staircase in this room is that like on the opposite side It is on the opposite side. Yes Does it lead up or down? downwards
Speaker: Do you care to search any of the rest of this dining room before we progress forward? Not particularly interested. What about you, Keith? No. I think we should continue.
Speaker: Okay, so as you take the stairs downwards, the room begins to get dark. And then at the end of the staircase, you notice light once again. And the room opens up.
Speaker: to a very very large circular room. There are statues along the wall all the way around. They are very evenly spaced and throughout this room you see piles of precious metals and precious gems.
Speaker: Uh, and you see in each, uh, basically direction of the room, like northeast, southwest, um, you notice a pedestal with a glass case on top. And in each of these things are an item. All right. A helmet. Yep. One of them is the helmet way. What are the other ones?
Speaker: So the other one is a jagged and serrated sword. It's very, very large. Probably about triple the size of a regular, like, longsword. The other one seems to be a medallion. And the last one is a circlet with red gems and laid around it.
Speaker: Is that that there are three items? One of them is a circlet or is there also like another helmet as well? There is the helmet and then those three other items. OK, OK. Now that I look at them, get any else to. What? Era they belong to. Most of these seem ancient to some degree.
Speaker: I cast Mage Hand and try to see if I can flip, bump, or interact with the glass in case there's a trap somewhere. I do everything I can to disturb. I'm already approaching the closest one, so if her Mage Hand goes for it, I'm already walking up to it to open it.
Speaker: So as you open it, nothing happens. Which one did you open? From my perspective, it's just whichever is closest to me. They're all equidistant, but the one you're facing is going to be the one you're facing is going to be the circlet, actually. Excellent.
Speaker: I put it on. Do I look pretty? Very. Roll a pretty check. Is this just a D20? Or do you want it to be like charisma? Yeah, just do a D20. And also, what is the baseline of your pretty? So give you better back. There's no baseline. It's just a D20. OK. I got an 18.
Speaker: You look very pretty. Oh my - Not the prettiest, but you're up there. I feel pretty. Oh, so pretty. Circlet suits you. Um... Not having that magic is... but... Does MP panic as I do this? Yes, a lot.
Speaker: In hindsight, should I not have done that? I would say not yet. If you like the circuit, it is not required of us to deliver it to anyone, so you will be equipped to keep it. But for now, we don't know what these items do. It would be best to keep a certain distance from them theoretically.
Speaker: I don't believe I can ritual cast. So I'm gonna... Should I... I should... I should have checked.
Speaker: Uh, and I'm just going to kind of like, almost like sitting into the air, like kind of lifting my legs to my chest a little bit and like sitting into like a lotus position, um, begin to kind of like hum. Uh, and you'll see, hear that same name of, uh, tagged to a Thodana Ruad, Ruftesa, as I kind of meditate and I am going to cast detect magic. Uh, it's magical.
Speaker: Are the other three pieces magical as well? They're magical. And then after that, do I see anything else in this room? The disaminating magic. Besides, like, say the, um, the sconces, like the torches. Every single one of the statues. I love these items.
Speaker: And all of these statues are magical. How many statues are there? Twenty. Oh. And they're big and like they have all of the
Speaker: They're all big. I presume what I want to ask is not something I can put in my backpack. They're all about 30 feet tall. Do we recognize any of them? No, they all seem the same character, just a, you know, indistinct human male covered in armor, holding a spear and a shield.
Speaker: Does detect magic give you an idea of what kind of magic you're detecting, like the school of magic? It does. Are these effectively like enchantment magics? Is there anything that I can actually learn from the schools? They are enchantment, yes. If you spend enough time, you could learn something.
Speaker: What about the three remaining like artifacts are they all enchantment as well like is it basically everything? Minus the torches What is it the torches are Was that illusion yes Places
Speaker: Filled with the enchantment magic on the figures in these items. The torches are illusory. We should have found out what Moriatus looked like. I wonder if this is him. If these things guard his helm.
Speaker: Yeah, I would like to repeat my previous action of taking out a piece of paper. I assume I have a sketchbook at this point. I like sketching and trying to sketch the face of the person that I see.
Speaker: OK, it is it is helmeted. So you really only see nose and mouth. I mean, you can see the eyes, but there isn't a whole lot to really discern. It's just mainly just a. Instinct man with a helmet on his head. Yeah, still as close to it as I can, just in case. Sounds good.
Speaker: trying to help Kith increase his library. I will assume that other cases are not booby -trapped either, trying other artifacts as well. OK, which one do you go to first?
Speaker: I don't think I can lift the sword to be able to, but I don't think I can lift it. So I will go to first the helmet. And then I'm sorry, what was the last one? An amulet? It's a medallion, yeah. Medallion. Let's do the helmet first, since that's what it's for. OK. So as you lift the glass case,
Speaker: you hear the creaking of stone. And you see the room light up with a much different light. This is the same kind of bright green as the door, except all of the statue's eyes are now lit up with a bright green color. And they're moving.
Speaker: It seems as though they are just waking up at this point. But they are moving. Gang, I say we grab everything and leave very quickly. I agree. And Kiss will cast Mage Hand next to the medallion and use that to knock off the glass and grab the medallion and bring it back to him.
Speaker: If I smash the glass and grab the sword, how much does it weigh? Uh, you can try to lift it. I'm not that strong, so I don't know if it's going to matter. Uh, what is your strength score? 11 plus zero. What? Yeah, you're not, you're not lifting this thing.
Speaker: I believe the sword is meant to stay. Onward, outward. Outward, I would say. I would try to lift it as well, just in case. What is your strength score? Thirteen. No. Okay. I'm already saying I loosened it. That's... That's not enough. Uh, yeah. I would say let's run, because I think those statues, we may have made them angry.
Speaker: So they start making a move towards you.
Speaker: They're all basically beelining it towards the middle of the room. But you all make it to the stairs quick enough that they don't have any time to actually do anything. You make it up the stairs, back into the dining room, and for all intents and purposes, you can assume that the statues cannot make it up these stairs. So you are effectively safe.
Speaker: I stop us from running and say, here's my question. We were sent here from all spectra for this. This isn't a disturbance. This isn't anything worth either you or me coming down here for.
Speaker: So either this is more than anything we've encountered before, if there's something else happening. I don't think that's what El Spectra wanted us to investigate. I think... I'm sorry, what's his name again? Obra. I think, yeah, I think Obra may have used this to just do his bidding. You think we should put it on?
Speaker: I think we should not return it. I'm very happy to go and pretend to say that I'm quite good at lying at people and almost say, either we failed to go in or even better, you sent it as a full, full quest. There was nothing there.
Speaker: Oh, we would know like Obra compared to Embi. Is he like equal power level? Is he below her? He is about equal. But in his current state, he is much stronger. I serve your will is your will and.
Speaker: I can follow. I might caress the the circlet because I'm starting to recognize I'm not allowed to wear this in public now. I would say let's go to the nearest town, see if we can identify this, see if we can get more information as to what they were, what battle may have been.
Speaker: We're not expected to return soon anyway because if you recall everyone else failed so it is okay if it takes us longer. I don't think it will raise suspicion but I do want to know what this helm and everything else does before I surrender them. Especially in my current state.
Speaker: We could go to a town or we could go to a luxurious forest and have some place where we have all of the creature comforts. No offense, Yak, but I think the creature comforts comfort you more than us. But I'm open to suggestions. I'm happy to go to the forest. It's been a while.
Speaker: Keith, do you happen to know anyone that may be good at history in this part of the world? Um, would I know people in this part of the world? Probably not. I don't know people. Into the world that is, I suppose.
Speaker: I go from downtrodden to like perking up to the woods. I look at Keith and kind of like motion towards towards Yuck. I mean. The woods are perfectly fine, Yuck.
Speaker: However, we are in our building or a hill, a hovel that has hundreds of perfectly good beds for us. But at the same time, it's a place where we know demons frequent trying to open the door. And there's no way out, except for that one main door.
Speaker: Can we hear like those stone statues like perpetually like trying to make their way out of that area? Yes. You absolutely can. I would prefer perhaps stone that is not living.
Speaker: On a scale of 1 to 10, how stupid do you think it would be of me to go down and try to talk to these statues? Maybe speak from the top of the stairs. Yeah, I'll try to stay out of reach, but still. What do you think? Worth a shot?
Speaker: It would be interesting if they were enchanted with some form of intelligence. I'll tie a little MB shaped harness into my rope and see if she wants like a support harness. Do you want protection in case they pull you down? I would like that very much, yes.
Speaker: Yeah, I make myself, oh, I go down the stairs again. I'm trying not to get into the room, stay like, I'm trying to see if the statues are still fighting and trying to get out. I'm thinking that both Keith and Yuck should be like 20 feet behind me because I don't think the rope is this long. But yeah, I've decided to go back and try to reason with these statues.
Speaker: So what type of harness are we talking about here? Is this like climber style or is this like shibari style? I've got a climbing background. So I recognize the difference of you don't just tie a loop around somebody's waist. That's a great way to break their back. I don't necessarily have a reason for Yak to know that.
Speaker: Um, but I like the idea that a simple harness is basically a couple of loops and then tied back on itself. Wouldn't take more than five or 10 feet of the 50 foot line to make like around the waist, around each thigh, uh, sort of harness. And I'm, and I'm a willing target as well. I'm not going to resist the pool.
Speaker: Yeah, that works. So you get, I just needed a visual of that harness. So you get down the stairs. They're still, these are fairly small stairs in comparison to their size. The bottom of these steps you can see from the top that they're not existent anymore with them trying to get through.
Speaker: Yeah. Uh, but you know, you can see them, you're in a, you're at a good distance. Uh, what do you wish to say to them? I will start without, um, I'm taking the helmet with me just in case putting it on allows me to communicate with them. So without the helmet on, um, I will say, I mean, you know, harm. I would like to understand why you're here.
Speaker: Are you willing to discuss with me? They just keep trying to get up the steps. I look back at Keith and Yak and say, prepare, please? I put the helmet on and try the exact same thing. OK, so you put the helmet on. I need you to make a wisdom saving throw.
Speaker: That's fine. We're high on wisdom. Oh, 21. Okay. All right. So you put the helmet on.
Speaker: Nothing seems to happen, but you feel like an immense pressure on your head. Uh, the top of this helmet features like a nice little, uh, nice little tuft of blue, blue dyed like hair. Um, and you feel that like brush your neck a little bit, but that's about all that you feel. I look at Kith and Yak, do I look different?
Speaker: You look functionally the same. You just have a helmet on your head. And the statues are still fighting. Yep. I don't think there's anything we're going to learn from these statues. I try to check my strengths, see if I'm more flexible.
Speaker: See if I feel just as much pain, try to do some calculations in my mind. Basically, I go through all of my abilities to see if something changed. Nope. Nope. Everything. Can you speak with the spirit of Marietas? I close my eyes. I try to focus and understand.
Speaker: what this helmet may allow me to do and also say... Moriartists, if you're out there, can you hear me? Go ahead and make another wisdom saving throw for me. Oh! This is not gonna go well. I can feel it. Oh, natural 20! Hahaha! Yeah. Good lord. Okay.
Speaker: I also roll a net 20 to check for myself. I'm definitely gonna take a thorn whip and like just tickle underneath her nose as she closes her eyes. So one, you feel a tickling sensation under your nose. And you...
Speaker: What's your wisdom modifier? Plus three. OK. All right. Well, your vision does go dark, but you stay standing. And that's where we're going to end it. What?
Speaker: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Salambia Saga podcast. I'm your DM, Anthony, and would like to remind you that we are novice podcasters with very novice editing skills, and are doing this for both your and our enjoyment. This means that the end product could be just a little rough. I would like to once again thank you for all of your time, and we'll see you next time. Bye -bye.
