Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ch. 27 - New Faces, New Phos | Corrupting Presence
36 Plays22 days ago
When having your deity over for dinner it's important to prepare extra soup in case they bring an unexpected +1 such as a guy named Lukas.
Meet the cast:
Dungeon Master – Zach Meikle (IG: @zachabee)
Clay Campbell – Prima Zhao (IG: @primbdraws)
Faunalyn Vaydark – Shannon Meikle (IG: @sharsharbinks)
Glimki Treefellow – Jordan Johnsen (IG: @jordan_johnsen)
Edited by Zach Meikle
Follow the show:
Instagram: @bard_soup
TikTok: @bard_soup
Website: www.bardsoup.com
Music & Ambience
The following songs are created by Alexander Nakarada (www.creatorchords.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Beyond the Horizon (0:00)
Dreamful Tales of Fantasy Entropy (7:38)
Nightfall (33:44)
Fantasy Ambience (42:20)
The Basset Hound (48:52)
Dungeons and Dragons (1:00:10)
Elysium (1:03:30)
Moon (1:53:30)
Fly Faster Chicken (2:04:04)
Untold Stories (2:11:40)
Sunrise (2:28:59)
Additional music and ambience created by Tim Roven (www.tabletopaudio.com)
Closing Time (8:45)
Sleeping Dragon (1:01:02)
Invisible Mountain (1:07:00)
Foghaven (1:35:58)
Down by the Sea (1:41:10)
River Town (2:08:02)
Sound Effects
Clock Ticking (60 second countdown) by StudioKolomna from Pixabay (29:41)
Designed Fire - Winds - Swish - 04 by Gregor Quendel from Pixabay (1:17:28)
Additional sounds provided by Pixabay
Recommended
Transcript
Capture and Quest Begins
00:00:00
Speaker
Now, let's see. Where were we? Ah yes, that's right. After arriving on the island of Kolbaris, our hero's time together was cut short as Glimki, drawn out of his sleeping dome in the middle of the night by a floral humanoid, soon found himself captured by the island's leader, Jar-Arith.
Trivia Challenge and Battle
00:00:24
Speaker
Clay and Fonelin went searching for their friend, aided by Jar's adopted son Peter, and together they traveled deep beneath the surface of the island, bypassing numerous obstacles and puzzles and a man living in a mud puddle named Jordan Johnson.
00:00:40
Speaker
until they eventually reached a vast cylindrical chamber known as the Reformation Room, where Glimke was being, shall we say, reprogrammed.
00:00:51
Speaker
Before they could free their friend, a familiar southern drawl spoke out to them from the shadows, as Jararth appeared before them and revealed himself to be a dragon.
00:01:03
Speaker
He offered to let the party go, but only after they had proven their collective knowledge a round world and subjected them to a round of trivia. Some of them got their answers correct, but others either chose to moralize or simply forgot that the world was round, and as a result they were forced to find an animated statue of Jar-Areth.
00:01:26
Speaker
The battle went back and forth for a time until Peter attempted to pacify his father by telling him that he was also a dragon. And while it didn't exactly work, he was eventually able to get Jar to stop fighting and the statue was destroyed.
00:01:43
Speaker
Apologies
Research and New Discoveries
00:01:44
Speaker
were made and the party was flown back to the Jar Areth Learning Center by the man, or shall I say, dragon himself. Once they arrived, Jar came out to the attendees and told them that he would be leaving with Peter, but gave permission to everyone who wanted to, to stay.
00:02:02
Speaker
Our hero spent the next few days getting ready to depart, and in this time, Klimki conducted research into the pedal person whom he had spoken with. From this research, he deduced that the petals were that of a Plumeria flower, and thus the entity was most likely from Mencken, the next nearest island in the Anchor's Chain.
00:02:23
Speaker
At last, it was time to go, and as our heroes once again climbed aboard Jarrar's back and departed from Mencken, they expected to find a tropical paradise, but were shocked to discover it had been ravaged by industrialism.
00:02:37
Speaker
You already said all that. Yes, but it was so sad, wasn't it, Club? ah it was supposed to be so beautiful and now it's... Anyway, on with the story.
Industrial Mencken and Mining Concerns
00:03:04
Speaker
Come gather round, travelers, and sit on the stoop. We'll tell you a story about Batsu. Three lovable scamps in our traveling troop.
00:03:18
Speaker
We'll tell you a story about Batsu.
00:03:35
Speaker
It's Supertime! La la la la
00:03:49
Speaker
la eat dot da de tita lay da la la la la la Wow, I sure could use some coffee from Luke's Diner here in Stars Hollow, USA, America.
00:04:03
Speaker
i hope I see three of my dearest friends from Stars Hollow, USA, America in Luke's Diner for coffee. Oh, what's that? It's Lorelai Gilmore. Get out of the way, Lorelai!
00:04:15
Speaker
Because I want to talk to Prima. Is this a Gilmore Girls reference? I've never watched the show, so I was so confused. Yeah, that's fair. ah Hi, I'm Prima and I play Clay Campbell.
00:04:28
Speaker
Amazing. And what's your favorite thing about Stars Hollow USA America? I think a better question is if you were a zany side character living in Stars Hollow USA America on the hit show Gilmore Girls, what would your kooky job be?
00:04:42
Speaker
Um, barista, I guess, making coffee. That means you have to work for Luke. Yeah. Luke is pretty curmudgeonly. He's pretty, pretty curmudgeonly.
00:04:53
Speaker
But that's fine, because over there eating a piece of stinky pie, it's Jordan. Hey, I'm Jordan. I play Gunky Treefellow, and I also have not seen the show Gilmore Girls.
00:05:06
Speaker
Oh, that's cool. Well, Jordan, if you were dating Lorelai Gilmore, what arbitrary reason would she use to break up with you?
00:05:13
Speaker
um that's such a good question and i didn't know that was a character trait from the show is i'm gonna go ahead and guess that i'm too short interesting most common answer is proposed but too short your coast is fake yeah yeah if you propose to lorelei gilmore your ass is getting dumped within two hours how many people have proposed to lorelei gilmore At least three, I want to say? At least one a season.
00:05:39
Speaker
Yeah, i want to say one. How many seasons are there? Seven? and There's seven seasons. Okay, there's Max Medina. There's Chris, which is Rory's dad. and There's Luke, obviously. And she also proposes to Luke, which is different, but worth knowing. She also proposes to Luke, which is different.
00:05:54
Speaker
There's that guy she dates who's rich. um and is really forgettable. I'm pretty sure he talks about getting married and moving in. and I think Obama is mentioned in the last episode, but that might have been why Worry was going on tour or something.
00:06:08
Speaker
That might have been for a different reason, but his name definitely came up. Wait, Gilmore Girls crosses over with Obama? Yeah, in the final season, Obama's on the campaign trail and and Rory graduates from Princeton? Yale? Famously, Yale. Yale, you fake fan.
00:06:23
Speaker
She goes for journalism and then she gets a job following him around the country on the on the campaign trail. Huh. Wow. yeah And what's that over there? Eating spaghetti off the floor? It's Shannon.
00:06:36
Speaker
why Why am I eating spaghetti off the floor? Did Luke make me do that? He's begging you not to. Okay, well, my zany side job as a fun, kooky character on The Gilmore Girls would be as Emily Gilmore's maid for one week.
00:06:51
Speaker
And I get fired because I put the forks in the drawer upside down. And ah do you mind telling me what your name is and who you play? There's so much spaghetti in my mouth. I can't even didn't even talk, I can't even think.
00:07:06
Speaker
My name is Shannon Beverly Meikle, and I play Fondalyn Veidark. christian name wow fondling eugene vaydark wow is that canon it is now wow this has been oh but i'm i'm zach hi uh hi i'm zach hi and i'm i'm team jess and i know i'm the problem and welcome back to bard soup this has been our least productive and least comprehensible intro at nearly five minutes long cutting it down to something usable is going to be a nightmare but we're not gonna worry about that nope it's soup and time
00:07:41
Speaker
We join our heroes late at night, standing in a courtyard. Jar Arith and Peter have just flown away onto to adventures unknown and likely unseen by this show.
00:07:59
Speaker
And you look around and you see a few things. First off, you notice that the ground that you stand upon is seems to be a tiled pattern. It's black and white with almost like a star shape repeating throughout this courtyard.
00:08:15
Speaker
At many places, the tile is cracked and uneven and weeds and dark grass grow up beneath or between the tiles. There are numerous trees that are Not quite rotten, but look very gnarled and withered.
00:08:34
Speaker
There are numerous streets branching off from this courtyard in all directions. And at the center of it is a bronze statue that appears to be missing its head.
00:08:45
Speaker
Can take a closer look at the statue? Yeah. Is there like a plaque? Yeah. What's the friggin' deal? You walk over and with each step, little puffs of ash kick up around your feet.
00:08:59
Speaker
It's raining ash from the sky, kind of getting in your hair and your wig is almost like doubling in size. it stacks up upon your head and you go stand in front of the statue.
00:09:10
Speaker
It is, like I said, it is a bronze statue appears to depict a, a woman, woman, The individual holds a palette in one hand and a paintbrush in the other.
00:09:23
Speaker
The head is missing, as I as i said. It does not appear to be in the courtyard at all. And as you look a little closer, it appears that it was knocked off in some capacity. Yeah, it was wrenched free, if you will. There's like jagged metal at the at the top of the statue where the head would connect.
00:09:42
Speaker
And in bright red letters painted across the chest of this individual, it says, Traitor.
00:09:52
Speaker
Okay. o My powerful perceptive skills are telling me that something has gone horribly awry here. Usually with this kind of rogue industrialism, in my experience, we're dealing with some corporate-inspired, typically male jagweed with delusions of financial grandeur.
00:10:10
Speaker
I would like to speak to whoever has declared themselves in charge of industry here and have words with them about responsible governance, because this is disgusting.
Investigation and Strategy
00:10:20
Speaker
I hate this. I hate it here.
00:10:22
Speaker
hey Glimki, you can't be happy. I mean, all the trees are gross. Those could all be gods or something. but Not really how it works, but agreed.
00:10:33
Speaker
This is horrible. Glimki, how many gods have you met it in a tree? Two. Yeah. How many times have you climbed a tree recently? It's been a while. It's about two, isn't it?
00:10:45
Speaker
It's about two times. You're betting 100% on trees Yeah, i guess if you put it that way. Are you sure we're on the right island? I mean, everything in the book says it's supposed to be some beautiful paradise.
00:10:59
Speaker
Does the book say who this statue is supposed to be of?
00:11:04
Speaker
Let's see. Can I flip through my book? Yeah, give me an investigation check. Mm-hmm. A nine.
00:11:14
Speaker
With a nine, it takes you a couple minutes of flipping through the the section on Mengan, but you come across an entry. for a location known as Podera Square.
00:11:29
Speaker
And it informs you that there was an Apexian architect, Apex being a country back on the mainland, sort of west or clockwise from where Erdenine is.
00:11:41
Speaker
ah There was an Apexian architect named Vernon Podera. And he was one of the early architects of Ankyl, of this city. And Apex is known for its tapestries and textiles. And he had a vision to basically quarter up the town or divide up the town with patches of tile so that each neighborhood or district or region of the city would have a continuous but unique structure.
00:12:11
Speaker
pattern on the ground, almost like a giant quilt that makes up the entire city. And this was the starting point of that. And the entry goes on to say that when the writer Vera Loneberry was here, this place was full of artists displaying there their works and selling paintings and carvings and statues and kind of just at the end, not really ah focal point of the entry, probably because at that time that this was written, it was not important and the statue itself was not defaced, but it is mentioned that there is a statue of the island's governor, Phydra Femada at the center of it all.
00:12:53
Speaker
Sorry, one one more time. Phydra Femada. Phydra? Who is she? Femada. The island's governor. Okay. To the governor, I was wrong about the man thing.
00:13:05
Speaker
That's on me. Usually corporate megalomaniacs have a certain machismo, but good for her for breaking the glass ceiling. Not the point. We're going to go talk to the governor. Also, where are all the people?
00:13:16
Speaker
Didn't we see some people lingering? There's one drunk guy sleeping on us as a doorstep after Jar'arith breathed his sleeping gas upon him. But as you say that, you hear multiple sets of footsteps running down one of these side streets towards you.
00:13:33
Speaker
And a second later, four dwarves in matching uniforms step out. And one of them points a thick, stubby hand. He's got very tight-shaped hair and a close-cropped beard.
00:13:47
Speaker
He looks to be somewhere middle-aged by dwarven standards, probably a couple of hundred years old. And he says, Oi, you lot! You seen a dragon round here?
00:13:58
Speaker
um Briefly, but it flew away. What it won't. Nothing. I think he's just stopped in for a look, but it doesn't seem like there's much to see. Yeah, this place sucks ass. It's terrible. What happened?
00:14:12
Speaker
Was it always like this? Was it propaganda that made it sound so nice? Or is someone doing a very bad job of running the place? Where's all this ash coming from? It's so much ash.
00:14:23
Speaker
What are you burning? Alright, so you're asking a lot of questions. First off, nothing's wrong with the island. Second off, the ashes from the mine, Charia Mine, to be specific.
00:14:35
Speaker
And step three, better watch who you insult. The Korak Mining Company is taking very good care of this island, and we won't stand any talk to the contrary. I don't think I've seen you folks around before. Uh, yeah, that makes sense. We just arrived, like, 25 seconds ago I quietly say to my companions, I'm going to take a big swing.
00:14:55
Speaker
Work with me here. Yes, we're auditors sent on behalf of the king, King of Ofani. You see, he's interested in making some trade negotiations, but certain aspects of business practice are very important to him. So we are going to be taking some notes, walking through, asking a lot of pointed questions and developing a report.
00:15:13
Speaker
So um you're going to want to take us to the mining people immediately. Because we will be making notes on your timeliness also. And I pull out a parchment and I snap my fingers at Glimke.
00:15:26
Speaker
Quill, this is my assistant. Quill? Um, Glimke pats himself down for a quill and hands one over. Faudelin writes, these dudes are just the letter r ugly. And underlines the word ugly four times. And then rolls it back up like she's written something important.
00:15:43
Speaker
So, um, hop hop, let's go. Pardon, the king of whom? The king of a place that's in a different campaign that I am in also is what I said. But what I meant to say was king of the trident, king of Erdenine.
00:15:58
Speaker
Right. In Galtries. I work for many kingdoms. Uh-huh. And might I ask your name, representative of many kingdoms? Yes, my name is Professor Eugene Fitzclay.
00:16:13
Speaker
Clay. all Fitzclay. Well, Professor Eugene Fitzclay, Clay also Fitzclay. Please, Professor Eugene Fitzclay, Clay also Fitzclay was my father. You can call me Professor.
00:16:27
Speaker
This is my colleague, Doctor, and I look at Clay. Uh, Doctor Flora Fano. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and the other companion's name is Quill, got it.
00:16:41
Speaker
PhD! Sorry, Dr. Quill. Give me a deception roll. Just a flat deception roll. yeah Shockingly. You're being very generous. feel like that should be like roll seven and take the worst. Roll 20 and take the worst.
00:16:58
Speaker
Cool. It's 17. All right, professors. Well... It's doctor, actually. Apologies, Dr. Flora, was it? Dr. Professor to you.
00:17:10
Speaker
All right. Listen up, chuckle fox. um You are welcome to do whatever surveys and research you care to do, but Mr. Strigamore will not be woken in the middle of the night for an unscheduled appointment. If you wish to see him, you may come to Korak Mining Company HQ in the morning and attempt to make an appointment at that time, but we will not be waking him for you.
00:17:37
Speaker
elbow glim key and say, Mr. Strigamon. Strigamol. Strigamol. Strigamol. stringable Yes. Strigamol? Strigamol. Boontar Strigamol, to be precise.
00:17:48
Speaker
Boontar. Boontar. Boontar Strigamol. Boontar. Oh, that's that's an unfortunate name. I see why he behaves the way he does. Okay, take us to our accommodations.
00:18:01
Speaker
What? Where are you staying? I don't like your tone, but where are you staying? Well, assume as delegates of the king will be, you know, caught up in accommodations. This is very beyond the pale.
00:18:13
Speaker
As delegates of whatever king that has no jurisdiction on our island, you are welcome to find accommodations at the Green Sapphire, or I'm sure you could find accommodations at one of the hovels on this side of the river.
00:18:27
Speaker
oh there's like a rich neighborhood, poor neighborhood thing going on now. um Wait, what are who are these guys? are you guys What do these guys do? You work for the mine? Yes, we are security for the Korak Mining Company. we are And you're all the way out here in this town square?
00:18:45
Speaker
He taps his chest and you see that each of them has a matching little insignia. It looks to be it's like a circle with two crescent slivers on either side and then a large red M in the middle.
00:18:59
Speaker
And if you kind of squint, you're like, I guess those crescents could be seen as C's maybe for Korak and company. But he taps his his his insignia and says, that's right.
00:19:11
Speaker
The Korak mining company has significant financial holdings Onkil and have also been assigned or acquired a contract to run security in the town.
00:19:23
Speaker
Okay, well, what happened to all the art and the the beautiful vistas and the views? It says here in my book this whole place is supposed to be some beautiful paradise, and you're saying nothing's wrong with the island. Well, look around.
00:19:36
Speaker
ah And Glimke tries to kick away some of the ash on the tiles to, like, show the color underneath. Where is it all? You sound like one of those bleeding heart artists.
00:19:47
Speaker
Not a professor looking for a mining contract, but I think there's beauty in industry and making money. And right now the island is providing both in spades.
00:19:59
Speaker
If you're looking to stay at the green sapphire, it's over the bridge, one of the larger buildings. You can't miss it. Otherwise, stay safe. And the four of them turn around and walk down one of the side streets out of the courtyard.
00:20:13
Speaker
Okay, I hate everything that's happening here. Yeah. I want to like fix this place and like bring a bunch of people to justice and then plant a bunch of well not plant myself, but watch you guys plant a bunch of trees.
Exploration and Parallels to Past
00:20:28
Speaker
I'm glad you feel disgusted. it Yeah, no, this is... I'm so disg- this is such an- you guys know, I'm from the most beautiful forest us on this flat world. And I have strong feelings about responsible governance.
00:20:41
Speaker
Debatable. Does dwells have a forest? I've been imagining like a flat grassland with one singular tree. Ah, debatable. I'm a tree fell. I live in trees, so.
00:20:52
Speaker
Oh my god! both live in trees! That's so fun! How did we not notice that before? Well, I mean, someone must have not been listening. I say my name at the start every session.
00:21:05
Speaker
I mean, uh... I mean, my name is Veydark. Sometimes we turn the lights on, you know? everything is hyper-literal, Doctor. True, true, true, true, true.
00:21:16
Speaker
I'm just surprised we have something in common. Wow. Well, I hate to just pick up some other random side quest while we're here, but this feels like we need to at least figure out what the hell is going on.
00:21:30
Speaker
This is a mess. Let's fix this. That's what I'm saying. I'm not leaving here until I mythically talk someone's ear off about the obligations and duties that you have as a person in a position of power over the plebeians. You can't treat the plebeians this way.
00:21:47
Speaker
It's disgusting. So sorry about the mining, the audit ruse. You both should read a lot of books tonight because you're the academic kind of doctor. Yeah, and we can yeah figure that out later.
00:22:01
Speaker
But what kind of academic doctor? Like what do we study? I don't know. What do you want to study? Art. o that's nice.
00:22:12
Speaker
Visual arts. Granted in reality. Well, I wonder what they're mining that like is creating so much ash. And it must have been over a short period It must be worth a lot of money.
00:22:26
Speaker
Can Gloomkey keep trying to chip away at this ash until he sees some of this this color? Can we see? Yeah, it is this courtyard appears to be like black and white. like The tile underneath is black and white, so it's a little hard to make out in the dark and then with the the ash mixed in. But it is sort of this simple black and white star pattern that kind of just sweeps over this entirety of this courtyard and...
00:22:48
Speaker
and looks It looks cool. I mean, the bits you can see, it's like it's a very pretty thing. But like I said, of the tiles are cracked and like uneven for whatever reason. And you can imagine this place when it was fresh and maintained.
00:23:01
Speaker
And you imagine it looked very interesting. And it now does not. And would like imagine like just stretching his imagination here with this district, like the houses and the buildings all would have been on this color scheme for this area.
00:23:16
Speaker
ah You look around and the buildings, a lot of them have peeling paint and have like a buildup of grime on the windows and the walls.
00:23:28
Speaker
You see splashes of color. But you also see like star shapes similar to that of the tile painted on many of the walls and get the sense that maybe but color scheme wasn't the most important thing, but there was it seems it seems like different people had their own take on the theme, if you will.
00:23:46
Speaker
And so there's there's variation on how it's been conducted or carried out in these houses, applied to these houses. But it does seem like the residents of this area did try and abide by the theme.
00:24:01
Speaker
Hmm. Well, gang, I guess should we try to find this green emerald or maybe just stay on this side of the river? This side of the river sucks. I want to go to the other side of the river. Okay.
00:24:15
Speaker
I mean, if on principle, if you want to squat here, breathing in whatever the hell they're ejecting into the air, I'm willing to do that for a fellow tree dweller. But I would really rather go somewhere with like people and maybe, I i don't know, sure fire. Sure, it's worth a look. Hopefully this whole island isn't caked in this stuff.
00:24:34
Speaker
Yeah, everybody get some extra fabric pulled up around your mouth because this is probably going to come back to haunt us in a couple of years. Oh God, I have such a long life. If I get coal lung when I'm like in the elf equivalent of my 20s and I just to hack my way through my middle ages, that would be awful.
00:24:53
Speaker
Yeah, I can't imagine what it's doing to the people who live here. yeah Yes. Yes. Is there any other like vandalism on the walls or is it just grime? Because there was like the red paint over the statue.
00:25:08
Speaker
Is there any other like words like that? No, it is just the statue. Everything else, it seems like there's a buildup of grime. And you see, like, there's some houses, like, it doesn't, it's not giving, like, abandoned, but it's giving, like, there's just so much dirt that there's only so much the average person can do to keep things clean.
00:25:24
Speaker
So you notice that, like, some some steps are swept clear, even though, like, Ash is slowly, like, building back up. And some of the windows are somewhat clean. and But the statue is the only thing that has overt vandalism.
00:25:38
Speaker
Well, i I guess I wonder what this Buntar Strigamole has on Phaedra that she would have sold out this whole island to some giant mining corporation. who something Something happened here.
00:25:55
Speaker
i agree. Let's approach this with delusional confidence and like fix this entire island. I really wish I could just get on board with that, but I'm trying really hard to just put it aside the fact that every time we go try to fix something, we end up somehow making things worse. I don't- do we did we count fixing the flat- the round earth thing? Because that feels like they just got re-emboldened somehow.
00:26:21
Speaker
We literally reunited a father and son. would admit, Patrick Fasthands, we tried to find him and he was slaughtered, so that wasn't great. Yeah, and then we went to a ball and the house burned down.
00:26:34
Speaker
Shit. Yeah. We still haven't ah found the princess, and that was why we started this whole thing. I don't mean to derail the whole saving this island thing, because, you know, out of all the things that we've come across so far, I really want to make this one work.
00:26:50
Speaker
And if it ends with us just being chased off on the back of a dragon or on a boat that is for round-earther cults, I don't know. I mean, as a group, not to give a motivational speech, but I guess that's what's happening.
00:27:05
Speaker
As a group, we have, you know, killed an evil entity, collapsed an entire noble family that was gross and weird. We've done other things too, probably.
00:27:18
Speaker
We fought a freaking dragon. That was cool. Another dragon we befriended and bested. We rescued a man from a dragon's lair. We do cool shit.
00:27:30
Speaker
We're competent. Yeah, that's true. So be confident. And when you're not confident, be delusional. You're... Yeah, you're right. You're right. Yeah.
00:27:41
Speaker
Let's go save this island from the evil Korak Mining Company and bring Buntar Strigamold to justice and in the meantime perhaps release Phaedrus from whatever blackmail bullshit that they have hanging over her head.
00:27:56
Speaker
Or you know what, maybe blackmail's not in it and it's entirely up to money. Either way, we got this. find out. Yeah, and then we're gonna fix it. yeah Now, Clay, you say something inspirational. Um, I don't know if it's inspirational, but I do... Then don't say it. Off to the...
00:28:12
Speaker
yeah Okay, let's go.
00:28:18
Speaker
Well, in that case, I ask you, where do you go? Where where are you headed? To the Green Sapphire District. Green Sapphire? Right? green Yeah. The Green Sapphire.
00:28:29
Speaker
Oh, really quick. I'm sorry. Really, really quick. that You said the drunk man was um stirring? No. Oh. He did stir and then he got knocked out by Arith's sleeping gas.
00:28:42
Speaker
Okay. Wait here. Wait, guys. Wait here. up One second. I'm going to hustle my little butt over to the drunk man and I'm going to like kick the chair that he's sitting on and pull out three gold pieces.
00:28:53
Speaker
does he Does he wake? Do you have three gold pieces? Assuredly, I have three gold pieces. three Three gold pieces? Joke's on you, I have 61 gold pieces.
00:29:04
Speaker
Wow, yeah, that's actually infinitely more money than I thought you had. I was actually kind of- Yeah, I know, me too. your financial has I have zero monies. I have 34 gold. Nice, okay. i was great How am I the richest?
00:29:18
Speaker
Okay, not to worry. I pull out three gold pieces and I kick his chair and I wake him up. Dragon, dragon! Oh, Hello, sir. Yes, there was a dragon. This money is yours if you can give me a 30-second rundown. Make it 60. 60-second rundown explaining how this place went from a good place to a terrible place.
00:29:39
Speaker
Your time starts now. Oh, that's easy yeah Dwarves? The dwarves. Keep talking. Your time is not up. Oh. ah They came to the island and they opened a mine.
00:29:55
Speaker
That's about it. What did they mine? I don't know. Do I look like a dwarf to you? What happened to the architect? What? What architect? Phaedra, for motto.
00:30:07
Speaker
She's not an architect. She's the governor, stupid. What happened to the governor? don't She sold us out, lives in her mansion, comes out a couple times a year.
00:30:19
Speaker
yell at her. She goes back to her mansion. How long it been like this? Yeah. how When did the dwarves first come? Oh, 20-ish years ago, maybe? 20 years?
00:30:33
Speaker
It's been like this here? Yeah. I mean, it wasn't like this overnight, but, you know, it's been getting worse. What are they mining in the mines? His eyes drift over to the three gold pieces in Faunlin's hand.
00:30:44
Speaker
Fuck, unfortunately, the time is up. You may no longer speak, and I hand over the three gold pieces. so Thank you. i Again, I'm not a dwarf. i'm I don't work in the mines.
00:30:56
Speaker
I think they mine everything, though. I think it's like magic or some bullshit. It's magic mine? I don't know, because i I don't know much about mines, but I think normally it's like, oh, this is a copper mine, or this is an iron mine, or this is a ah wine mining.
00:31:13
Speaker
and And he starts looking at the three gold pieces in his hand and staggers up to his feet and lurches off into the night without finishing that thought.
00:31:25
Speaker
Okay, that was useful. 20 years? Glimke, you pull out your travel guide and you realize it is actually pretty damn old. God damn. Like it is an old edition from like 25 years ago.
00:31:38
Speaker
And I think that also tells you that, damn, Jararth was, he was doing his thing for a while, huh? Yeah. And he has, what, 50 members? Fucking loser.
00:31:51
Speaker
How old is Devika Shae, the head of the artist guild? She is in her early 50s. Okay. And then I asked her about this island just before we we left Airdenine to see if she knew any anyone here.
00:32:06
Speaker
and she mentioned a friend or an ex-friend. Bena Tarossi. That's also an artist who lives here. But I guess I don't know how long ago they parted ways.
00:32:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's just weird that there's been no news about the state of things here in Erdinen, if this is a popular or was a popular vacation tourist spot.
00:32:33
Speaker
Yeah, that is weird. I would hop in and say this place less of a tourist spot, more of a like ah like a place for artists was the primary thing. I think if you look at the other islands, there are other ones that had more broad appeal, such as Ila Tenokar for those who want to see dinosaurs or Bogatir for those who want to stay at vacation resorts.
00:32:55
Speaker
o Then it's weird that as the leader of an artist guild that Devakashay didn't know about the state of things here for such a big hub for artists. Maybe the mining company is bigger than we thought if they're keeping things quiet.
00:33:11
Speaker
Really quick. How do you guys feel about assassination? Whoa. um Are you talking about Buntar Strigamol? I'm not planning anything. I'm not planning anything. I'm just curious. Like if it comes down to it, are you guys willing to, you know,
00:33:25
Speaker
Poison a chalice? I mean, they've been doing this for 20 years. ah don't feel like... I don't know. It just makes me feel like this might be one of those cases of a Hydra situation where you cut one head off and do more pop-up.
00:33:41
Speaker
Okay. While we walk to this better place, let me tell you a story. so you guys know I'm not really Fomalyn Baydark because who I actually am is Faradeth Throwin of the Throwin family.
00:33:54
Speaker
The Thruan family ancestors were, because we kind of married in, but the point is that my lineage were the rulers of the soaring barony of Omenias for thousands of years.
00:34:07
Speaker
A lot longer than 20. 20 is shoddy a shadiran And we were deposed from our lands. And how that was accomplished, in my view, was a systematic undermining of our authority in the eyes of the people and the people who were in place to uphold our power. Because the thing about power is that it's an illusion.
00:34:26
Speaker
oh It's an illusion that's maintained both by sort of collusion and by, you know, adoration, right? Because there are those who... Follow your power and then there are those who at the same level respect it and verify it. All of this is relevant because what I'm saying is my family were systema systematically undermined at both levels through um through a campaign to tarnish our reputation which affected both our lateral and and vertical credibility.
00:34:55
Speaker
And then following that systematic undermining of our reputation, there was a deliberate and strategic strike against our, you know, holdings, our properties, and all of that, you know, kind of played on the political undermining, which had taken us from millennia old revered family to kind of a a controversial one. And the point is that when the time came for people to take up arms with us, it was easier for them to take up arms against us because we were already unpopular.
00:35:27
Speaker
All of that to say, another family lives in that house now. So what I'm saying is 20 hardly anything. What we're looking at here, number one, smear campaign.
00:35:38
Speaker
Okay? Smear campaign, both to the workers and to the colleagues. Can't be exactly the same smear campaign, but it should be close. Number two, what we're looking at is taking a strong inventory, an audit even, of... Yes, doctor, you have a question?
00:35:54
Speaker
How long did it take to lose the value of your family name through the same things you're describing? Hmm, decades. But the good news is that, you know, ratio-based, if we're looking at ratios, it was like a thousand years to 50.
00:36:11
Speaker
You know, you know what i'm saying? So it's like a draw, you know, it's like 0.05% of the time that we were there is how long we were being undermined. So what's 0.05% of 20 years? Like three days or something.
00:36:25
Speaker
That's pretty optimistic, to say least. Yes, delusional. I was saying, we're going to take an inventory of their nexuses of power, okay? We're looking at properties, we're looking at holdings, we're looking at significant relationships. If there's anything symbolically important, we're going to prioritize that. Number three, we're looking at amassing forces. Now, that might just be the three of us working really strategically, or perhaps we'll gather some, you know, some like-minded people, and we'll organize them, and we're going to strike at those places of import.
00:36:53
Speaker
That is how we are going to take back this island. Questions? Any further ones? I have a question, actually. As you are walking, you are navigating through these different streets, past these buildings.
00:37:04
Speaker
You notice that at times the floor changes. At one point you're in like this dark navy blue with like a white crisscross pattern, almost like a like a big navy pillow that you you walk across for a time. And then later on there's like a red and gold swirled pattern, almost like an epoxy spread out across the entirety of this neighborhood.
00:37:26
Speaker
But after a little while of walking, you reach this river and it is dark and there's like an odor wafting up from it. It doesn't smell good. It looks brackish. And you kind of look up and down the riverbank and you see way down to the right. You can see open ocean far off in the distance.
00:37:46
Speaker
And then to the left, you see that the river kind of winds and continues through the city. But also, we'll say just for, and hey, you at home, I'd be like, what kind of bullshit choice is this? You see two bridges, one to the right, one to the left.
Mosaic Discovery and Hotel Stay
00:37:58
Speaker
And I would ask, which bridge do you go to? Do they look identical or are there differences? From this distance, yeah. It's dark. There's not much light.
00:38:09
Speaker
there are I will say that there are like some street lights, like oil, like gas lanterns spread out throughout the city, so it's decently illuminated. But from this distance, I'd say they look like two bridges. Can we see anything on the other side of the river? ah Yeah, on the other side of the riverbank, you see...
00:38:26
Speaker
If there's like a certain avant-garde nature to the area that you're in with these different buildings and the the the sort of quirky shape and structure to the floor, you look across the riverbank and you see a jungle of brutalism.
00:38:41
Speaker
There's just a network of gray concrete and stone buildings, lots of harsh angles. And it looks like, give me give me like a history check, anybody who wants to.
00:38:53
Speaker
got 11. 11. Ooh, I got i like a six. Fourteen. fourteen 14. Clay, you are an artist. Despite not having strong history, you do know some things about architecture. Glimke, you've read enough books at this point.
00:39:08
Speaker
Fondelin, you know, you lived in the trees. Architecture, if it if it wasn't something that you sang into existence, you didn't really worry about it. Clay and Glimke, though, you would recognize the structures on the other side as very traditional dwarven architecture.
00:39:24
Speaker
Oh. Is that where the mine or where the ash is coming from? There are a few smokestacks that you can see belching smoke up into the air, but you don't think that they are enough to create the amount of ash falling down around you.
00:39:41
Speaker
Okay. Are the bridges also dwarven? Those appear to be more in keeping, like more just more like a classic stone bridge. A simple arch, no right angles to be seen, in fact.
00:39:53
Speaker
Well, I mean, the guy ah guy was describing this green what is it green sapphire to be this nicer place, and I can assume that he means that the dwarven stuff is nicer.
00:40:06
Speaker
So I'm guessing it's over there. That sounds good. Yeah. It was the Vedarchs, by the way. Sorry, I was just saying the people who deposed my family. It was the Vedarchs.
00:40:17
Speaker
The actual Vedarchs. Oh, right. Why? You took up their name because you wanted to ruin their reputation? Honestly, no. It was an honest mistake by someone else, and I just rolled with it, and then I was in way too deep, and then I started to think, hey...
00:40:31
Speaker
I could really fuck up their lives. Right. But we do hate the Vedarchs. I feel like this is going to backfire when you rescue the princess. Oh, when I rescue the princess, I'll be having the political prisoners released.
00:40:43
Speaker
So ah nothing they can do to hurt me then. In the name of the Vedarchs. I live in a... No, no, no, no, no. If I get the boon, I'm not a Vedarch for another moment. Okay, got it, got it, got it, got it.
00:40:55
Speaker
Probably the boon would include something like also legally change the word Vedarch in every document to like stinky ass head or something. You know?
00:41:06
Speaker
That's a pretty good use of of the boon. That's what I'm saying. Oh, I'm going to do some damage. Okay, we don't need to talk about my sordid past anymore. I feel very vulnerable and exposed, so I'm going to walk faster, and I hope your little legs can keep up.
00:41:20
Speaker
Which bridge are you going towards? One glib you said! The dwarf one! There's no dwarf bridge. That one! Which one are we closer to? The dwarf one! There's no dwarf one. I asked a simple question, left or right, and it turned into a ten-minute discussion about architecture.
00:41:32
Speaker
The bottle in goes left. Let's go to this stupid hotel inn. Who names it a green sapphire anyways? Who's ever seen one of those? Yeah. So Fondlin storms off to the left, and I assume the two of you follow?
00:41:45
Speaker
Yes. Fondlin stops dead right before she gets to the bridge and goes, do you guys still want to be my friend now that you know that I'm not actually the ruler of anything presently? What?
00:41:56
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Actually, i almost was being your friend in spite of those things. Or despite those things. yeah We can talk about your taste later. Thank you. i thought we were, remember on the on the boat, we were like down with the rich or something. There was a whole thing. i don't know which side we're on anymore.
00:42:17
Speaker
I'm on both! That's my trauma! And also continues away. walking way So you carry on and you eventually reach this bridge and you see while like the exterior, like the outer surface of it is just simple gray stone, very practical in construction. It looks old but looks like it's well maintained, which is not the same that can be said about many of the other parts of the city that you've walked through. Like You see that there's a lot of, like I said, broken like floor tiles.
00:42:48
Speaker
There's some damaged houses, like severely damaged houses that you're not sure where that damage originated. But you see that this bridge at least seems well maintained. And furthermore, you see that it appears to be covered in small little tiles.
00:43:05
Speaker
that line the floor and the the walls of this bridge you know there's a little wall on either side that comes up maybe to your to your knee if you're anyone but glimki and you step onto it and you see yeah there's these little tiles and some of it is covered in ash but you can kind of see that it creates a large piece of art that spans the entire length of this bridge and it appears to be An individual composed of flower petals dancing through a beautiful forest.
00:43:38
Speaker
And you see there's just these little pink tiles scattered behind this individual, leaving a like a trail of of flower petals across the bridge. That's the thing.
00:43:52
Speaker
The spirit. Oh. to You know, i when I walked off into the desert, I was trying to help a spirit that was made of flowers. It looked just just like that.
00:44:06
Speaker
It's Plumeria? That's the flower. You can tell. Look. And he flips to the page. He's dog-eared in the floral compendium. It's it's right here. Plumeria.
00:44:18
Speaker
See? You said that they were calling for help, right? Obviously, this place needs help. This whole island, maybe it's on its it's last legs. 20 years of ash and mining, its it was calling up for help, guys.
00:44:34
Speaker
Great news, because number one, Plumeria grows on a tree, which means that I was correct about magic trees. Number two, we are way ahead of schedule on phase one and three of our plan regarding number one, vertical credibility, and number three, assembling allies.
00:44:49
Speaker
So this is is really like, this is cooking, guys. We're going to do something cool. But is the spirit still okay? Like, I don't see any of the Plumeria growing here. Well, yeah, I don't know.
00:45:01
Speaker
How did we find it? Did it give you specific instructions? No. Can you call to the spirit? Maybe if I find some has a way to make contact with some of the natural world, but I mean, looking around, i don't really see much of a way to connect with that right now.
00:45:23
Speaker
And I think with that in mind, you look again at the the bridge and it is the spirit dancing between trees of this beautiful forest. And like this was obviously constructed after the city existed and there is no sign.
00:45:37
Speaker
The city does not feature in this artwork whatsoever. I think you could take that to mean and it's probably, yeah if it can be found, it's not within the city. Damn.
00:45:50
Speaker
Okay, well. We're going to have to get out of the city. the We're going to have any hope of finding some piece of the natural beauty that this island is supposed to have.
00:46:01
Speaker
That's where the spirit will be, if anywhere. Okay. Guys, we're onto something. We can do this. We are onto something. We are. So let's sleep at this inn, and then tomorrow...
00:46:14
Speaker
We're going to try to find that spirit, maybe? And try to find out more about what's going on, because we need to understand our enemy before we can systematically dismantle and humiliate it. Exactly.
00:46:25
Speaker
And you know what? I think that analogy you said about the whole Vader thing, I mean, they mustn't have done it alone. they They probably brought people in. And I'm sure there's people on this island that'd be willing to join some cause. Who would want to live here?
00:46:40
Speaker
Look at this. It's horrible. That's where the smear campaign comes in. So we're not just going to go after governance and business practices. We're going to be saying their kids are bastards. He's wearing a toupee.
00:46:51
Speaker
His shoes are two sizes too big. He just wants to look like he has big feet. His wife is a bad, don't know, person. I'm just, I'm not, I'm not good at being mean. You guys know that. We'll come up with better once we know what's going on. Okay.
00:47:05
Speaker
Why are you making that face? Nothing. No reason. Sorry. Sometimes. um Oh, look, the inn. Sure enough, you wander through this this side of the river and you see semi-regular dwarven patrols marching around, always in groups of four.
00:47:24
Speaker
They're all armed and wearing matching uniforms. therere Occasionally you'll see like some other dwarves who are not in uniform. They feel them like stumble out of a like out of a tavern and walk off into the night but eventually you find this building and it is once again in this brutalist structure but it looks to be constructed almost like a like a diamond or a gem and there is a simple sign above the door do any of you read dwarven dwarvish no no no there is a sign in dwarvish wow we are a
00:48:05
Speaker
useless wait nope that says gnomish sorry blinky did you know i speak gnomish we could have been speaking gnomish together yeah oh just never wanted to leave clay out wow guess i guess we have two things in common can you teach me gnomish sure that opens up a whole set of opportunities that we could have been using we could have been speaking secretly together this whole time That's an amazing point. I should have just delivered that whole backstory bomb in Gnomesh so that nobody would overhear it.
00:48:33
Speaker
Other gnomes could understand and I wouldn't understand. Clay would learn from body language. Clay, you're very, very intuitive, very observant. You would get it because your heart is pure.
00:48:45
Speaker
Anyone with bad intentions would not be able to understand. That is the crux of the gnomish language. And you step into this building, fairly certain based off its very, like it's the design, this vaguely gem-shaped design that is the building you're looking for.
00:49:01
Speaker
And I would say you're aided by the fact that the sign in Dwarvish has a little green gem painted on the corner. And you step in to this gauche lobby.
00:49:12
Speaker
It is just a cacophony of gold and marble and an excessive number of animal furs and none of it works. None of it goes together. There is a fountain and it depicts a dwarf.
00:49:28
Speaker
with a pickaxe and water is emitting from the top of the pickaxe and spraying down around him and a very proper looking dwarf with a tightly braided beard and slicked back hair and wearing a suit that looks more like a uniform concierge uniform is standing behind a desk with a little bell upon it and he says good evening hi i've talked too much one of you has to handle this Hello. Welcome to the Green Sapphire.
00:49:58
Speaker
Might i find your reservation? Uh, we actually don't have one. But we are here on assignment from the king. Ah, and which king might that be?
00:50:11
Speaker
Verdenine. Ah, wonderful, wonderful. So many kings these days, you know how it is. hard to keep track. Welcome, welcome. We hope that we can serve your every need. I see we still have a few rooms available.
00:50:22
Speaker
should be able to get you in, no problem. How many rooms would you be ah seeking? I assume representatives of the king, you'll likely want one each.
00:50:34
Speaker
Uh, yeah. Yep. How much are they per night? Perfect. A room is five gold pieces per evening. Oh. Yeah, we're going to share in a king, if that's cool. He arches an eyebrow towards you and says, of course, very cool.
00:50:49
Speaker
In a way that immediately implies not cool at all and he's both looking down upon you and immediately suspicious of your backstory you don't need to roll an inside check for that but he says very good for the representatives of the king of erdeneen a single king bed of which they will share no problem can't believe we're being looked down upon by a servant we're a thruple we're a thruple yes Yes!
00:51:18
Speaker
It's a sex thing again! It always works to say that. It's all the same to me. For the polyamorous representatives of the king of Aedonine, one king bed, that will be five gold pieces for the evening. How many nights are you planning on staying with us? 0.5 of 20 years. What it takes to you know? year, days, that'll be we just pay one night at a no.
00:51:51
Speaker
That was a joke, yeah. Do you have a one-night? Yeah. Also, that math was whack. Which part of the math was whack? And he spins a little ledger towards you, and it shows 20 times 0.5 equals 1 times not 0.5, it's 0.05. That's mistake. misspoke,
00:52:04
Speaker
sorry.
00:52:07
Speaker
and then it's because it's not point five it's point zero five funny lots climb blast that's right i'm i misspoke sir i'm sorry Very well, that'd be 200 pieces. I'm going to apologize to him.
00:52:19
Speaker
One knight, please. Yeah, let's go back to the one One knight, very good, very good. Very good. One knight, under what name? Eugene Fitzclay. Eugene Fitzclay, representative, polyamorous representative of the King of Airdenine. Very good.
00:52:36
Speaker
i actually think it's illegal for you to disclose that. ah Not here on Mengen, I assure you we We here write the laws, and they are very permissive of what we're allowed to ask and require of our patrons. Uh-oh.
00:52:51
Speaker
Anyway, five gold pieces, if you will. and Okay, I hand it over. The room's in my name. He hands you a single little key, a little silver key.
00:53:01
Speaker
And he says, ah your room will be on the second floor, of course, if you wish for something nicer for future nights. Though I assure you all our rooms are quite nice. But if you require something larger or more luxurious, we do have nicer rooms for a price, of course.
00:53:17
Speaker
Checkout is at 10. ten Is the breakfast bar included? ah Breakfast is available for a fee in the morning. There's not even, like, no Continental? ah The Continental is available for free.
00:53:28
Speaker
So there's not even hot breakfast? That's crazy. All right, let's go. Very well. Good night. Happy empty Slumbers. The king will hear about this.
00:53:41
Speaker
What hospitality school did he attend? He is awful. I mean, he's got the accent, but other than that, terrible manners. Oh, one more question. Is this, sorry, totally random question. Is this hotel operated by the Korak Mining Company?
00:53:59
Speaker
Yes, indeed. The Green Sapphire is a subsidiary of the Korak Mining Company. Yeah, that checks out. All right. See you in the morning. Very well. See you in the morning. I won't be on shift, but someone will see you in the morning.
00:54:11
Speaker
just being Just being polite, buddy. Checkers are 10. Won't be on shift. Come on. this guy's a hack. Good servant is always on shift.
00:54:22
Speaker
This is crazy. And you walk up this carpeted gold and marble staircase. It really combines all three elements in a grotesque way. And you walk up and go down the hall and you find your room. And it's it is decently nice for what it's worth. It's it's garish, but it's it's clean.
00:54:42
Speaker
The bed is large and decently comfortable. A bit short, perhaps. I think, Clay, you're your feet probably poke out to the end. It seems it's more designed for dwarves. It's perfect.
00:54:53
Speaker
Glimke, you fit it very well. And Fondalyn, your wig sticks out the other end. Clay's feet out one end. Fondalyn's wig out the other. Glimke's just right. And yeah. Who's in the middle? Glimke. Duh.
00:55:05
Speaker
I need the baby bumpers. don't want to fall off. but I will say, as the three of you climb into bed, Clay, the amulet around your neck, starts to pull ever so slightly towards Fondalyn's wig.
00:55:19
Speaker
What? Oh, I shoot up in bed. forgot I put something in there. Are you a dragon? I don't think so. how do would I know? The amulet, it's reacting to you.
00:55:32
Speaker
oh, it's probably, it's probably... Funnelin takes off her wig and ah hot round ball rolls out, like a hot rock rolls out.
00:55:43
Speaker
Like several letters, a whole mess, like a nest of memory tendrils, like some notes, some like notes to self, an entire quill that's in shockingly good shape. ah A small jewelry case tumbles out. There's like a bird feather.
00:55:58
Speaker
And then, yes, also the dragon scale. She like brushes off her short red hair and hands it over. Oh, is this Jara'arth's scale?
00:56:09
Speaker
Yeah, it was in a pool in his lair. There was so much happening, I forgot to even mention it. was going to ask if you wanted it. i don't Dragons aren't really my motif. Unless I am one, but I don't think that I am.
00:56:21
Speaker
Yeah, I can hold on to it. It looks pretty cool. You can have it. it was yeah Take it. but it looks like your amulet's like trying to attach to it. Yeah, it's getting pulled pretty hard towards Krikamon's skill kind of just stuck. It's stuck. I can't actually take it off of the amulet.
00:56:41
Speaker
Well, then try this one. Sure, but I guess we I won't be able to take it off if it gets stuck again onto the amulet. Oh. Why do you have to take it off?
00:56:51
Speaker
don't know. In case you wanted it back. You found it. I don't... Clay? Clay? Clay? I'm giving this to you as a gift. I don't want it back. I don't care about it. oh It's like a thing that I saw on the ground and thought was neat.
00:57:02
Speaker
And I was like... Even while I was picking it up, I was like, Clay is going to love this. Aw. Have I traumatized you two? can give gifts. I gave Peter a really nice friendship bracelet.
00:57:15
Speaker
And Jar Oris. And the Perez brothers. And Amala. Yeah. And the detective. I'm nice. So is this a friendship scale then?
00:57:26
Speaker
It didn't say that, but it... But you're giving it to me as a friendship. Do you guys like really need the bracelets? you really want like a friendship bracelet for me? If the scale is equivalent to that.
00:57:37
Speaker
Fadalyn shakes out her wig and a whole like massive embroidery thread falls out and she's like, okay, all right. She starts, immediately starts on ah new bracelet. ah Clay sticks the scale to her amulet.
00:57:50
Speaker
Yeah, it's almost like it's magnetized, just slaps on. And it affixes itself in such a way that it ever so slightly overlaps with that of Krikamon.
00:58:02
Speaker
And you can imagine if given enough time and given enough scales... This would look like just from any way you looked at it, like the body of a dragon, just with scales wrapping all around it.
00:58:13
Speaker
And these two scales, yeah, fixed to this amulet.
Clay's Dream and Dragon Connection
00:58:17
Speaker
And Fallen obviously needs less rest than the two of you. So perhaps she stays up late making friendship bracelets.
00:58:24
Speaker
Is there anything else anybody wants to do before you sleep? Take a shower. Good. There is a clawfoot tub on one side of the room. Oh, is the water clean?
00:58:36
Speaker
oh smart. Oh, interesting. Really smart. You turn the faucet and there's like a bit of gray water that comes out. It's a little murky. And then after like a few seconds, it starts to run clear.
00:58:50
Speaker
Yeah. So they have clean water somewhere. h I take a shower, a quick one, and then I go to bed. I just wanted to know. Yeah, you spent all day on dragon back and you're got a thin layer of ash on you. So yeah, you go to bed fresh and clean.
00:59:06
Speaker
Okay, well, then Fondolin also takes a shower, I guess. If we're setting the precedent of Clay being the only fresh one and the rest of us being stinky, sweaty, ashy, Fondolin takes a shower.
00:59:18
Speaker
ah Perfect. Glenke, do you take a shower? ah Sure. Nice. Now, I think canonically, this is the first shower since the ball. Yeah. Yeah. Wow.
00:59:29
Speaker
Yeah. It's been 13 episodes since your last shower or whatever. day Here we are. Wow. Has anybody pooped? No one's pooped. You are all so constipated. I've been pooping the whole time. You just said no. Sheesh. Haven't stopped.
00:59:44
Speaker
It's a big day for showers. Let me tell you. so Thanks. I hate it. Fondlin stays up late making friendship bracelets.
00:59:56
Speaker
Glimke, you sleep perhaps hoping to dream now that you are closer to the island. You're on the island closer to the the voice calling for help, but you have a dreamless sleep.
01:00:11
Speaker
Clay, you awaken in a familiar dark cavern with cold stone walls occasional pile of bone littered throughout.
01:00:27
Speaker
You're lying on your back, and as you look over, you see a skeleton.
01:00:36
Speaker
It's around your height, and from its skull, two long horns protrude, identical to yours.
01:00:49
Speaker
Ooh, I go to clutch at my amulet. Am I wearing it in the dream? You are. I look down both sides of the cavern.
01:01:03
Speaker
Do I see anything? You don't see anything, but from off in the distance, you hear a faint rumbling, as if from a great way off.
01:01:17
Speaker
But despite how far away it seems, you can tell, perhaps it's dream logic, perhaps it's a knowledge of something that you can't fully comprehend, but you know whatever it is, is extremely big.
01:01:34
Speaker
I take another peek at the skeleton and then I book it down the cavern in the opposite direction as the rumble. Just start running.
01:01:48
Speaker
You start to run. And from off in the distance, from the direction of that rumbling, you hear a voice. You remember the last time you were here.
01:02:02
Speaker
As fire consumed you and picked your bones clean, that same voice said something, but it was in a language you couldn't comprehend. And this time, as you begin to run in the opposite direction, the ground is sloping upwards, it's difficult, it's an incredibly steep incline.
01:02:23
Speaker
You hear that voice, and it says, Cowardness will not hate you.
01:02:34
Speaker
Um, Clay keeps running. You keep running. The ground is steep. At a certain point, you have to start scrambling up to continue moving through this tunnel.
01:02:49
Speaker
But from off in the distance, you see a light. Not like the last time, not the light of fire sweeping towards you, but the light of daylight.
01:03:01
Speaker
and you keep climbing and you keep reaching and you keep scrambling. And eventually you pull yourself up. It's almost a 90 degree climb at a certain point. And you pull yourself up onto this ledge
01:03:14
Speaker
and you find yourself standing at the opening and you step out onto this ledge and see yourself standing somewhere you would say at the top.
01:03:27
Speaker
But as you look up, You can't see the top of this impossibly tall mountain that you find yourself perched upon. The peak of it disappears up into the clouds, and as you look down, you see a resplendent green field with beautiful pristine lakes and rivers running throughout it.
01:03:50
Speaker
There are lush forests and crystal spires. It's as if the entirety of creation is born out before you, and you don't know if you are hundred or a thousand miles off the ground, but you know you are incredibly high up.
01:04:11
Speaker
and in a place mortals should not be. Does it still look like Zav? It does not. The air is cleaner and clearer than any place you've been on Zav.
01:04:28
Speaker
The water is bluer, the grass is greener. There is no sign of pollution, or decay, or corruption, or any of the untold numerous problems that plague your world.
01:04:48
Speaker
You take in a deep breath and you can tell you are somewhere not just good, but where evil cannot exist.
01:04:59
Speaker
well Is the rumbling still happening behind me? It is, though fainter. You don't know how long you were running for, but you feel like you covered a great distance.
01:05:11
Speaker
it feel like it's still getting closer or is it going away now? I'd say it seems like it's holding its distance. Neither following you nor retreating.
01:05:22
Speaker
Then she's just gonna... stop at the outcropping and just try to take in as much of the view as she can and commit it to memory and just like scan the horizon and like try to make out as much detail as she can of where she is.
01:05:42
Speaker
It is overwhelming. Every time you think you've reached the edges of your limit or the limit of your your vision shall we say
01:05:56
Speaker
You see another detail. You see another impossibly tall tree or a lake that looks like a gemstone, a mountain range with perfect snow capped peaks.
01:06:13
Speaker
It's like one of those infinite scroll paintings where there's just more and more and more detail and it's almost too much to take in. but you stare at it for as long as possible, basking in it, absorbing it.
01:06:29
Speaker
It feels good. If it feels like mortals shouldn't be here, do I see any creatures, like birds in the sky or fish in the lakes and stuff like that?
01:06:42
Speaker
you do. You look up into the sky and you see a flock of birds flying overhead.
01:06:52
Speaker
And then you look closer and do you realize they're not birds. They are winged men and women, these large white feathery wings.
01:07:08
Speaker
And they almost seem to have like ah a glow beneath the skin. There is a ah holy light shining out from them. think Clay seeing that there's people, what looks like people flying in the sky, she's gonna like wave an arm at them and shout hello or hey at them and see if they can see her.
01:07:37
Speaker
One of them peels off.
01:07:40
Speaker
The others continue on and this other one sort of parts off, peels off from the larger group. and circles down towards you with these beautiful white wings that spread out probably 10 feet in total towards you. And as it gets closer, you see that is this individual.
01:07:59
Speaker
It looks like a man with golden, almost white blonde hair streaking behind him, kind of in curls and waves down his back. He's wearing this pristine, gleaming white tunic of sorts, pair of breezy white pants a simple leather belt wrapped around his waist.
01:08:20
Speaker
And as he approaches, he pulls out a sword that burns. You have cast various spells that rely upon radiant energy, divine magic.
01:08:35
Speaker
And you see a blade crafted of the exact same material that emits from you when you cast a guiding bolt. And it circles down and lands on this precipice with you, wings sort of wrapped around it.
01:08:50
Speaker
And then he stands up, sword pointed down, both hands upon it. And the individual says, Hail, guest of Makrog. What might I do for you?
01:09:03
Speaker
Where am I? You do not know. No. Why, of course you are in Empyrean, the home of the gods. And who are you? a god?
01:09:15
Speaker
No, I am but a humble servant. You may call me Lucas. How did I get here? Tis not mine to know the specifics, but I would imagine you are an invited guest of the Divine Flame himself.
01:09:30
Speaker
Have you not spoken with him? No. I've done my best to to learn his teachings, but I've never, you know, spoken with him.
01:09:42
Speaker
Well, you must have learned them very well, for there's not many who are brought to this place before their time, and... Might I say, not that many ever have such a time to begin with. i turn to gesture at the cave behind me.
01:10:00
Speaker
ah came from that way. Where does that lead? Why, of course that leads within the heart of the mountain itself, the home of Makrog.
01:10:13
Speaker
Oh, Makrog is in there. He lives in there. Indeed. Can I do a history check or something? Or religion?
01:10:25
Speaker
Do I remember any stories about where Makrog lives? Like what mountain? Yeah, give me a religion check. A way to improve my religion like ability score.
01:10:40
Speaker
Yeah.
01:10:43
Speaker
That's an eight. Eight is okay. You would know with an eight that Empyrean is the home of the gods, and within it there are seven realms or regions, each the domain of one of the members of the Divine Octad, the exception of Mar-Wul, the goddess of death who resides in Sistilis, a different place, the underworld.
01:11:14
Speaker
You would know from your teachings that at the center of Empyrean is a great mountain. Mount Otanida, said to be an endless mountain, both where the gods convene and where Macrog himself resides at its heart.
01:11:32
Speaker
Does Clay feel her amulet be drawn towards the mountain or in any particular direction? It's strange.
01:11:44
Speaker
It is not pulling... In the way it does in the waking world, when you are in the presence of a dragon or a dragon scale, it seems to be calm hanging from your neck.
01:12:01
Speaker
Almost as if it's letting you decide. oh walk back towards the cave. And can I try to pull my magic and cast a spell?
01:12:21
Speaker
want to cast light on the amulet and see if I can do magic here. You can. The amulet illuminates. My magic comes from Krog, so I guess Clay's going to start walking back into the mountain.
01:12:41
Speaker
From behind you, you hear a voice say, Will that be all then? I think Clay's too absorbed in trying to go back towards the rumbling noise, which she's pretty scared of.
01:12:57
Speaker
Remembering the pain of the fire from the first dream that she doesn't respond. She just keeps walking. Yeah. You hear wings flap off and Lucas disappears.
01:13:10
Speaker
With the light shining from this amulet, it appears to be familiar stone. There's no secrets revealed by this light, but I would say as you proceed down this tunnel, and even if it's only a short distance,
01:13:30
Speaker
The light flares brighter with each step that you take. Not because you are putting more into it. Not because you're spending higher level spell slots.
01:13:43
Speaker
It just seems enhanced or empowered. She keeps going. Is there like a rumble or anything that she's going towards? Are there more skeletons?
01:13:55
Speaker
Not in this tunnel. Every so often you do hear that rumbling noise. getting ever so slightly louder as you proceed. And I'd say it's not until you reach that starting cavern before you see your remains or the remains of anyone else.
01:14:14
Speaker
And when I get to that cavern, is the skeleton still there? It is. does it look Does it look like a full skeleton or like it's been injured or killed in some way?
01:14:29
Speaker
Killed for sure. I see question within the question. Dead for sure. No, the skeleton's dead. No, I would say the skeleton with the horns that match yours The bones are pristine white, but you can see the stone around it is charred and burnt.
01:14:54
Speaker
This is where I died last time in the dream? It is. This is so freaky. I don't know what's going on. That's so weird. Holy shit.
01:15:07
Speaker
She's gonna stand in that cavern that she started in and say towards the other end that she didn't that the rumble came from.
01:15:20
Speaker
I'm not a coward, but she doesn't go further. Is there any response? Just the rumbling. A Krog? How long do you wait?
01:15:32
Speaker
I'm just gonna stand there for a while and start feeling antsy probably. It's just rumbling though, there's no words or anything. Nope.
01:15:42
Speaker
No? And the cavern's more lit up now because there's light? Yeah.
01:15:50
Speaker
After a long time, I'd say perhaps you sit there or stand there at the edge of the tunnel for 30 minutes, maybe an hour, and then you hear that voice once again.
01:16:06
Speaker
Prove it.
01:16:10
Speaker
I think hearing the voice again, Clay is still scared. Like, I guess she'll she'll start walking again towards it, though.
01:16:24
Speaker
You start to walk.
01:16:27
Speaker
Slow, cautious steps, holding the amulet up. It illuminates your path. The tunnel ahead is smooth. Smooth stones.
01:16:39
Speaker
And you almost don't see it at first because as you take each step, the amulet in your hand glows brighter and brighter. But soon that brightness is challenged by ah mode of light far off in the tunnel ahead.
01:16:59
Speaker
And you see a wave of fire coming towards you once again. Ooh. Does Clay have any weapons on her? Just the amulet.
01:17:10
Speaker
She doesn't have her mace or any of her equipment. Simple clothes and and the amulet, that's all. I think she's going to just clutch the amulet, g scream, i'm not a coward again, and then run towards the flame.
01:17:26
Speaker
It washes over you, consuming burning you to the atom.
01:17:35
Speaker
But you don't feel it in your body. You don't feel it on your skin. You feel it on the tip of your finger. And you look down and you see that little sliver of finger is touching the scale of Jar'arith.
01:17:51
Speaker
And it burns and it flares bright. And it feels like an eternity, but in a second the fire is gone. And you are intact.
01:18:03
Speaker
The tunnel lies before you, beckoning. Just gonna like, look around again. it was just there, gone, the fire. You look behind you and you see it is carrying off into the distance.
01:18:18
Speaker
Oh, like a wall of flame. Disappearing around a bend. Oh. She's gonna keep going? Just clutching the amulet tighter. You keep walking. The floor becomes glassy, like sand that has been heated extremely hot.
01:18:35
Speaker
And where there is stone and stalagmites, stalactites, they are replaced with bits of crystal, bits of glass that line the walls and line the floor.
01:18:48
Speaker
And the tunnel opens up ever so slightly. into a circular chamber with four perfectly carved glass cylinders, glass pillars spread out across the room.
01:19:02
Speaker
And as you step into the chamber, you see from off in the distance, I say see very, very generously because you have barely have a second to react as a bolt of lightning strikes one of these pillars and just explodes outward.
01:19:20
Speaker
arcing between each of these pillars, bouncing off the walls, bouncing off the floor, electrifying the room. Whoa. What's there? Like, is this a closed-off cavern, like a dead end?
01:19:32
Speaker
You see a tunnel. The tunnel continues on from the opposite end. Did the bolt of lightning come from there? It did. step.
01:19:44
Speaker
and It's like the whole room is electrified? It is. She's just going to keep walking through the room then. Okay.
01:19:56
Speaker
Clutching the amulet still? Yeah. You step towards this chamber. You step into this chamber. And you watch as an arc of electricity bounces off one of the nearby pillars, hurtling straight towards you. And you hold up this amulet.
01:20:17
Speaker
And the lightning strikes the blue scale of Krigamon and absorbs the lightning. The scale absorbs the lightning. And you keep walking. And every so often another bolt arcs towards you, striking you.
01:20:31
Speaker
And again, it feels bad. It's like you've been electrically shocked. But it's no worse than a shock with each bolt that hits you. It's not pleasant, but you can survive it.
01:20:46
Speaker
And you push through into the tunnel beyond. So one scale type will protect against one type of damage.
01:21:00
Speaker
So keep walking and keep going. The tunnel around you, it becomes almost like a Salvador Dali painting.
01:21:10
Speaker
The walls droop as if the stone has been melted and it pools and weird puddles and distorts everything. There's large fissures in the ground as if someone has just scraped away large chunks of stone, but there's no piles, like there's no piled up gravel to show where it has been. It's as if it's just been melted away.
01:21:35
Speaker
and you keep pressing forward. And after a time, you, if nothing else, get the feeling that time is not the same here.
01:21:46
Speaker
It might be minutes, it might be hours. Your light flashes off liquid in the distance. And it is like the elevator scene in The Shining as this wave of green liquid bubbles and roils down the tunnel towards you melting stone, burning it away.
01:22:08
Speaker
What do you do? I don't think I have another scale for this. She's just going to clutch the amulet and draw Earth, you're up, come on, and then she's going to charge into the acid.
01:22:20
Speaker
The acid melts you to the bone. Your skin is dissolved, and though you're not alive to see it, you perceive your skull floating back down the tunnel,
01:22:34
Speaker
on a wave of acid before it comes to rest in one of those fissures that have been melted into the ground. The last thing you hear before you wake up is that voice once more.
01:22:50
Speaker
This one shows potential. And the last thing you see is the glint of a massive eyeball larger than the tunnel itself, off in the distance, watching you.
01:23:11
Speaker
And then you wake up, and it is morning. Wow. I think this dream, Clay's definitely kicked both Glimki and Faunalyn off the bed throughout.
01:23:28
Speaker
Yeah, holy shit. Are you okay, Clay? You look like you've seen a ghost. Fondalina's sitting on the other side of the room because Clay was thrashing, still working on that bracelet. and Oh, I just, I don't know. I had a crazy dream.
01:23:44
Speaker
but What happened? i think I think I met the Krog, kind of. and a guy named Lucas in my dream.
01:23:56
Speaker
Dang. McCrog and a guy named Lucas. That's pretty crazy. Yeah, Lucas is not a common name anymore. Was it ever? Yeah, it was scary. I feel like I've had this dream before and it was scary and then it was super nice and that's when I met Lucas and then it was scary again.
01:24:21
Speaker
So everything with McGraw was scary. Yeah, he's kind of scary. Yeah, that makes sense. Hey, you know what? I've had some crazy dreams too with with my spirit. so maybe maybe this wasn't just a dream. Maybe it's probably safe to say that McGraw's reaching out to you in some way.
01:24:42
Speaker
Is that how your spirit reaches out to you? It's happened before. you know, this might be good timing because he's a got a judgment, right? Mm-hmm. Oh. we got a lot of got a lot of people to judge here.
01:24:58
Speaker
That's true. so maybe you could get him on our side. Or at least get his eyes on this island. wonder if there's any followers of Macrog here. o Clay, okay, I know you're a cleric of Macrog, but are you, like, special to him?
01:25:15
Speaker
I think it might be this amulet. I've never, this has never happened to me before. yeah I don't know. You just gave me this scale last night and then he, he spoke to me. So I feel like maybe it's to do with finding more dragon scales.
01:25:37
Speaker
What did he say to you in the dream? Did he speak to you? Uh, he He called me a coward, but wow but I'm not, so you know maybe he's wrong.
01:25:49
Speaker
He's definitely wrong. Definitely not. Definitely wrong. You haven't done one cowardice thing this whole time. Yeah. I'm brave, and I was really brave in that dream.
01:26:04
Speaker
I'm sure you were. Yeah. ah what What kind of scales are you looking for? More dragon scales, yeah you said? I think so. Makrog is a rainbow dragon. and So maybe more different colored scales.
01:26:22
Speaker
And what we have now? What do we have now? we have We have a blue one and we have a brass one. Blue one and a brass one. Okay, well, we got this whole encyclopedia.
01:26:35
Speaker
We can track some more now. Yeah, can we look at the Draconomicon? Yeah, can we flip
Dragon Search and Plans
01:26:42
Speaker
through it? What what kind of dragon are you looking for next, according to your dream?
01:26:47
Speaker
don't know. Is there anything to do with poison or acid? Poison or acid? Can I flip through the book? Yeah. The book contains many references to dragons ages.
01:27:01
Speaker
ages and dispositions. I would say looking for any information on green dragons. You said green, yes? I said acid. Anything that references poison.
01:27:13
Speaker
Well, acid or poison, I guess, is is my... Acid or poison, yeah. Yeah. You flip through... or Salvador Dali. Yeah. You see that depending on the type of dragon that you are looking for,
01:27:31
Speaker
If it is acid, that is most commonly associated with black dragons. Black dragons. copper, whereas poison is more commonly associated with green.
01:27:43
Speaker
Okay, so we're looking for a black dragon, copper dragon, or a green dragon. Does it have any information of where like where those might belong or where they were recorded in the book?
01:27:55
Speaker
Yeah, I would say that there are, like i said, many dragons throughout this this this text. Our recurring location is a place that Glimke has already been to in the past, which would be the island nation of Alarsha to the west.
01:28:10
Speaker
o It is the home of the dragonborn, and at various times, different dragons will visit the island to conduct their own business amongst their kind. Whoa, whoa, whoa. That is...
01:28:23
Speaker
one potential place where one could find any number of dragons, but it doesn't seem like many of them are permanent residents. Okay. That's i would say beyond that, yeah, yeah, I would say beyond that, there are also the seeping lands, which are a sort of jungle swamp back on the mainland,
01:28:44
Speaker
to the southeast of Erdenine. If you were to travel south from Erdenine for a great distance, Zav is a very, dare I say, annoying world to traverse if it's not by boat.
01:28:55
Speaker
Moving inland takes a very long time. But if you were to travel straight south from Erdenine, you would eventually reach the Atum Mountains. And if you were then to travel either counterclockwise or east, depending on how you wish to view this flat world, you would come across a ah vast jungle.
01:29:12
Speaker
And within that jungle, there is a massive swamp known as the Seeping Lands. And that is said to be home ah to the black dragon Fenyaget.
01:29:24
Speaker
Okay, actually, you know what? Now that I'm flipping through the book, is there any dragons that native to this chain of islands? I mean, besides the brass dragon? Besides the surprise brass dragon, no.
01:29:37
Speaker
And I think if you, if Glimki were like examine that, most of the islands, relatively small. which means probably not a lot of food available for a large dragon.
01:29:50
Speaker
And I would say there is reference to other brass dragons in here. And one entry, there's all there's like a lot of like margin notes, right? There's often like an illustration of the dragon right and then some margin notes.
01:30:04
Speaker
And this one adventurer who previously entered into this book traveled through a desert to the far east Arphadiral's demise, also known as the Plains of Damnation, and met with a brass dragon there who at length told this this scribe but that she could survive off a single drop of dew per day.
01:30:29
Speaker
And if you think that perhaps that is a trait shared by other brass dragons, that might explain why Jararth was able to survive on the Anchor's Chain and thrive on the Anchor's Chain, I should say.
01:30:43
Speaker
when perhaps others of his kind could not. Interesting. So brass dragons can survive for a long time without eating. Interesting. I don't know that much about the gods, but isn't Macrog like the progenitor of dragons?
01:31:00
Speaker
Like the father of all dragons? He is. He's a rainbow dragon. What if there's, i don't know, what if he's trying to like get his house in order or something? What do you mean? I don't know, like maybe his kids are acting up.
01:31:12
Speaker
And he's having Clay Avenger style go, no, that doesn't make sense because we didn't do anything to Krikamon. Clay, are you in like a gauntlet right now? Oh my God, I think you're special to McCrog. Doesn't this seem like a test?
01:31:25
Speaker
I don't know. I feel like I need to ask Warwick about this because he gave me the amulet and his has way more scales attached to his.
01:31:37
Speaker
But he didn't tell me anything about this. Well, I think in the meantime, it's pretty clear we just need to keep collecting more for you. So we'll keep our eyes peeled. Maybe there are some collectors about.
01:31:49
Speaker
I don't know. We we can snag some up. Yeah. I don't think it means we have to go. i mean, you found one on the ground, right, Bonalyn? Yeah. Well, it was in a dragon's lair. A dragon's lair. So, I mean, maybe we'll get lucky.
01:32:02
Speaker
Yeah. Thanks, guys. Maybe there's one in the mine. Oh. Be really original. Maybe different temples have more. Yeah. A really, really original big bad.
Information Gathering
01:32:15
Speaker
There is a knock on the door. oh God. And a voice says, Excuse me, sirs and madames. The polyamorous representatives of the King of Aldenine, it is 10 o'clock and we would ask that you vacate your room.
01:32:28
Speaker
Late checkout. We want a late checkout.
01:32:33
Speaker
Let's extend our stay by one more night tonight and we'll figure out how to deal with this whole island. Yeah, how do we want to do this? Are we both tracking down Phaedra, Buntar?
01:32:47
Speaker
Do we want to go straight to the forest? Somebody want to explore the mine? We've got a lot of things I guess we could go do. I want to talk to people and get the... You guys are going to think i'm being frivolous but genuinely i want to get the hot goss i think that will be powerful it's worked getting the goss bondy exactly i want to talk to people i want to talk to the muckety bucks that sounds good i mean so far threat level feels minimal do we want to split up we're good at splitting up we're also good at staying together but we're good at splitting up we might cover more ground
01:33:23
Speaker
Yeah. Grimki, I assume you'll be dealing with the plumeria? Ideally, yes. Clay? I think I want to go back across to the other side of the river and see if I can talk to some artists.
01:33:37
Speaker
I like that plan. Good plan. Remember, folks, we're looking for allies, we're looking for ammunition, and we're looking for access points. Oh, my God. I'm such a good rebel organizer.
01:33:50
Speaker
I just came up with an alliteration. Triple A's. Let's go. Where are you going, though? What's fun I'm doing? Oh, you know, I'm just going to... I don't know yet, but I'm going to find it.
01:34:03
Speaker
And I'm going to find out cool stuff. Okay. So don't worry about me. You can always come with me if you want. No, I have a plan. No, no, no, no, no. I have a plan. It's just I just need to suss out the vibe, you know? The plan number one is be like, where do the cool people hang out?
01:34:16
Speaker
I just don't know where that is yet. By the end of the day, I'm going to be a member in the Rich Person Club. Okay. So do we meet back here? but we paid for another night. Let's ah come back here. if you're not back by, shall we say, sundown, then we start getting nervous.
01:34:31
Speaker
By that, I mean sunsplosion, of course. Okay. Old habits die hard. have all that round earth nonsense in my mind. Didn't it look kind of round from up there though? Because it's a circle. It's a disc. Yeah, you're right. You're right. You're right. ha You're right.
01:34:49
Speaker
But it's just that if it was round and the edge was like a piece of chewing gum stuck to a baseball, how would we know? Just kidding. ha ha Just kidding. Let's go. You head out.
01:35:00
Speaker
So you mark off five more gold if you're staying another night at this hotel. God damn. Okay, I'll pay. we need money, dude. We could just check back in at Sun's Closion, though. We're staying at a $500 a night hotel.
01:35:18
Speaker
We also paid $3 to a drunkard earlier. That's like almost half. God damn. That was more than half the of the hotel.
01:35:29
Speaker
You see him floating down the river on a boat-sized bottle of champagne. He's as happy as can be. Okay, Glimtkey. Where do you go?
01:35:40
Speaker
um Yeah, I guess he's going to just shuffle through the streets of this brutalist architecture until he can find some sort of hint of an exit or glimpse of an out-of-town kind of direction and follow that.
01:35:58
Speaker
Okay, I'm going to roll d4, and i think that'll indicate how you navigate this concrete jungle where dreams are not made of.
01:36:13
Speaker
You wander around for some time. You don't go back in the direction you came from, which is what my role was ultimately deciding.
01:36:26
Speaker
You move away from the river and the buildings don't stop. The dwarven houses don't stop.
01:36:37
Speaker
It is not so many personal dwellings. The more you walk around, the more you realize there are large like row houses that look almost like barracks. You get the sense that these are built to house a lot of workers.
01:36:53
Speaker
and you continue to navigate looking around some buildings are larger than others and one such building that you pass by is a large it looks almost like a military compound you see that there are multiple walls erected around this large square building and you can see that there are guards patrolling the walls. You see that there are checkpoints with wrought iron gates like portcullises.
01:37:27
Speaker
Multiple checkpoints it seems. And as you're walking and watching this, you see a caravan. There are two wagons pulled in succession by these large oxen, these beasts of burden.
01:37:43
Speaker
There are a half dozen dwarves marching on either side of this procession with weapons out and ready. They're fully armored. And you see patrolling at the back of this procession is a metal construct.
01:38:02
Speaker
maybe nine feet tall. Whoa. And just with heavy footsteps, clink, clink, clink, it moves its way down the street.
01:38:13
Speaker
following these wagons. And you watch as they draw up to the first gate and multiple dwarves step forward and check under the wagon. They check inside it.
01:38:28
Speaker
It takes multiple minutes and then there's a command given and the portcullis is drawn up.
01:38:40
Speaker
and the procession carries through, and the portcullis drops down behind it, and you watch the process is repeated at a second checkpoint, and they disappear into this compound beyond.
01:38:54
Speaker
And you keep walking, and eventually you reach a wall. And kind of standing on the outskirts of the city, you realize you're at the edge of the city. You see that there's a large, heavy wall that seems to wrap around the entirety of the city.
01:39:10
Speaker
It was dark when you arrived, but on the other side of the river, the east side of the river, things felt older. They felt more worn. you're You're a natural guy. You're a man of nature.
01:39:22
Speaker
You're not sure how old these buildings are or how old this wall is, but they both feel newer than anything you saw on the opposite side of the river. And you you follow along this wall for a while, and after some time...
01:39:41
Speaker
you reach a gatehouse and it is a entry slash exit point in or out of the city with sort of like a wooden structure built into the wall and you see that there are numerous guards positioned at it and the wood has been painted and green and it is sort of refreshing because there's so much gray in this area of the city but this this one bit of artwork And artwork I use very generously because it is basically just painted green exists here.
01:40:14
Speaker
And you see that there is a road that continues out of the city here. Is there anybody at the gatehouse? Many dwarves wearing uniforms. It seems quiet, this gate.
01:40:26
Speaker
Not a whole lot of people coming or going. but I'll say you see like an old man with a little fishing rod and he's not dwarven, he is a ah human and he walks past you and out through the gate and the guards look at him intently but do not stop him or accost him.
01:40:44
Speaker
I'm just gonna try follow that guy. Yeah, you follow him out of the city and again, the dwarves watch you but nobody makes a move to stop you or question you And you find yourself outside the city and standing out here. You see that this wall stretches out a great distance and seems, seems solid, seems well-built.
01:41:08
Speaker
Can I catch up to the fishermen? Sure. Um, excuse me, excuse me, sir. Yes. hi I presume you you you live here on Mangan?
01:41:19
Speaker
Yes, right. Lived here my whole life. I'm um' just visiting. I was just curious. um How have you been adjusting the last couple decades but with this whole mining operation taking over?
01:41:35
Speaker
Well, on one hand... Any Kasa look over at the at the gate behind you guys? It hasn't been so bad. They provide safety and security and they built the wall, which has kept us safe from raiders and pirates and beasts.
01:41:59
Speaker
And then he leans in close and he says, but also, I didn't have this cough before they arrived, so who can say? And they need a wall like that just for raiders and pirates and beasts? Was it really that much of a problem before they got here?
01:42:16
Speaker
Well, not to be an apologist, but... Before them, it was mostly just oil paintings and canvases and ceramics.
01:42:27
Speaker
Not much of great value, especially for pirates, but now there's metals and ores and gems and what have you, and that could draw unwanted attention, to be sure. So it sounds like more they built the wall to protect themselves than you.
01:42:48
Speaker
You said it, not me. But... Yeah. Yes. What are they mining anyways? Well, I've never stepped foot in the mine. I was too old by the time the mining operation began. But I've heard talk from some of the younger folks here that...
01:43:06
Speaker
Well, they can mine almost anything. If it's found in the in the ground, you can find at a Charia mine. Oh, so there's like a bunch of mines.
01:43:18
Speaker
They're just pulling everything out of the ground? That's my understanding, yes. You can find gemstones and gold and iron. Any number of precious gems or metals?
01:43:30
Speaker
So there's not some, like, super magical element that they're pulling out of the ground that needs to be secretly capped on caravans into that giant compound in the middle of the city? Like, that wouldn't be a weird thing if that's just where all the no- everything goes.
01:43:43
Speaker
i That's my understanding. i don't busy myself with okay mining operations, but no unobtainium or anything of that sort, to my my knowledge.
01:43:54
Speaker
Okay, well, that's good, I guess. It depends on your point of view, I suppose. I mean, yeah, I guess it would be more acceptable if there was some otherworldly element that they were pulling out of the ground. Yeah, versus regular gems, metals, and alloys. Great. Cool.
01:44:13
Speaker
Where are you heading? I mean, there's still some nature left. You've got a fishing rod, so there must be someplace with something still alive out here. ah The ocean fishing's not so bad. It's better than things at Lake Brinder. That's for sure. I don't go up there anymore.
01:44:28
Speaker
You get weird fish these days. Brinder. And that's... Which way are we heading? You're going to the ocean... Yeah, so you would want to head out.
01:44:40
Speaker
Well, we just went through the Green Gate. You'd want to go through the Yellow Gate, follow the river, and ah eventually you'd reach Manus, and it's it's built on on the shores of the lake there.
01:44:53
Speaker
It used used to be great fishing, best fishing on the island, in fact. but And ah surrounded by woods, forest, nature? A decent amount, yeah. so it's It's nice there, it's green.
01:45:05
Speaker
Well, at least it was. and Another question. There's a bridge in town, got some nice mosaic on it, of this nice nature of spirit made of petals. Ah, you speak of Eddigan.
01:45:18
Speaker
Eddigan? Indeed. That's the spirit? The spirit of the island, yes. I saw him once in my youth. His eyes take on like a distant expression as he is clearly remembering something. And he says he danced with a ah grace and a beauty of've I've never seen before after.
01:45:39
Speaker
And it's made of flowers. That's, yeah, that's the one. I've actually seen them too. Recently. You have? Yes.
01:45:52
Speaker
Oh, that's wonderful. I've heard whispers in town that Etigan is God and that's why the island looks as it does. Well, I fear that you guys are not far off.
01:46:05
Speaker
Then when I saw Etigan, they were asking for help. It seems that perhaps we are about to lose the spirit. Oh. Well, that is terrible news.
01:46:22
Speaker
yeah looks incredibly sad as you say that and says, I'm sorry. I think perhaps I don't feel like fishing today after all.
01:46:34
Speaker
And begins to turn back towards the city wall. Wait, sir. Yes. What was your name? Durin. Durin, I'm sorry for the sad news, but this is maybe a moment for all of us, especially the inhabitants of this island, to to make a change.
01:46:55
Speaker
These people can't kill the spirit of this island. For what, some metals and gems? You can find anywhere else to do that. Pshh. He waves his hand at you.
01:47:09
Speaker
Look at me. It'll be my 70th birthday next month. You sound like one of those young rebels up at Manus. That's not me. I just want to fish.
01:47:21
Speaker
And he turns and walks away. Damn. Okay. ah should i Oh, man. Should I call out to this guy? i feel bad. Wait, you know what? Yeah, wait, sir. Durin. Durin, please. Hold on.
01:47:33
Speaker
Give me a persuasion roll. Oh, shit. Nine. Nine. he keeps walking. Do you run after him?
01:47:45
Speaker
Yes. You catch up to him just as he reaches the gate. And you kind of like grab him. And one of the dwarven guards, a dwarven woman, she says,
01:47:59
Speaker
Didn't you just leave, Darren? Not doing any fishing today. says, no no, not in the in the mood. And they look over at you, a couple more dwarves, and one of them says, is this guy bothering you?
01:48:14
Speaker
Um... No, no, he's just new to the island and looking for the best fishing spots.
01:48:25
Speaker
Can I, i've I'll walk through with him through the gate, because I have to go through the other gate anyways, right? ah Presumably, if one wishes to reach Menace. ah Yeah, so i'm going i I'll keep up the ruse and be like, oh, you said that, yeah, there's some other some other spots at one of the other gates? I'd love to learn more about them.
01:48:46
Speaker
yeah Yes, right, yes. um Right, well, if it's sea bass you're after, then you'd want to go out the red gate, as it were.
01:48:59
Speaker
as it as it were Right, right, right, right, right. And yeah, the two of you make your way past the gate out of earshot. As soon as we're out of earshot, yeah. I want to say, Durin, I know that this is and incredibly sad news.
01:49:13
Speaker
In 70 years of your time spent on what was presumably a beautiful island for most of it, A paradise. It's not too late to get some of that back.
01:49:25
Speaker
And I know you don't know who who I am or why i would even be interested in helping, but my name is Glimke Trefhello, and I'm here to help you.
01:49:35
Speaker
And if you need any other proof that i I am who I say I am, and I'm here for what I want to do, Glimke wants to reach into his bag and pull out one of the petals of the plumeria that he collected on the other island and give it to him and be like, would I have found this in a desert on another island here in the Anchor's Chain if it wasn't for being visited by the spirit of this island?
01:50:04
Speaker
This might be our only chance. And I want to like force it into his hand so he can hold on to it. Give me one more persuasion roll with disadvantage.
01:50:17
Speaker
Nine again. He looks at the pedal and he kind of just like grips it tightly in his hand and says, I'm sorry. I'm, I'm not the one you're looking for.
01:50:32
Speaker
I'm just a tired old man. And he turns away once again and leaves you. Damn. And with Glimke sad in the streets, meeting the downtrodden people of Onkiel, we are going to cut to Fonelin.
01:50:49
Speaker
What are you doing? Oh my. Fonelin gets... She actually spends a long time in the morning getting made up and dressed up as impressively and opulently as she can. And she also spends some time, we know, Fonelin is, maybe we don't know this, Fonelin's really good at forging documents.
01:51:09
Speaker
And Fonelin forges a cutesy little, like, mark from the king, being like, these are my auditors. Never mind the polyamory, they're here to work, basically.
01:51:20
Speaker
She doesn't, Try to make it perfect. she No one she's talking to today actually is going to be like pulling out a magnifying glass. So she doesn't try to make it perfect, but she wants something.
01:51:31
Speaker
She wants a prop for the character work she's about to do. I'm going to have you, you are proficient with a forgery kit, of course. I'm going to have you make an intelligence check and you can add your proficiency modifier to that.
01:51:43
Speaker
Okay, that was a natural one. So that's a two. No, a three. Yeah. Did I do good? You spend some time trying to like make a fake stamp, engrave it.
01:51:56
Speaker
And I would say... as you As you do so, you spend hours just like writing up this this letter, and you go to pour the seal, and you your hand slips, the bottle slips, and you pour hot wax and just spreads across the page, ruining it.
01:52:14
Speaker
So it's not like you're going to show up at the meeting with this document, they're going to be like, it says King Poopybutt. It's just you look at it and you know, even the most backwater commoner would not...
01:52:27
Speaker
be impressed by what you have got on hand at the moment. so So it is up to you if you wish to spend more time trying again, but I would say it takes the better part of the morning to, uh, create this failed forgery.
01:52:41
Speaker
Nope. I'm going to roll instead for a snatch at this. Oh, that's a five. You're feeling bloated. no Must be the continental breakfast. That's okay.
01:52:52
Speaker
When we're bloated, we do an empire waistline. I'm built like a Matryoshka doll this morning, but by God, I am resplendent. What a sentence. Put that in whatever TikTok montage you come up with. The words that you just said.
01:53:08
Speaker
what it Okay. Anyway, I am going to walk down the street and I'm going to try to look as important and and impressive as I can.
01:53:19
Speaker
Perfect posture. I'm observing and I'm strolling. You shake the stray cats out of your wig that you've been harboring for the last few weeks. You lint roll your dress and you head out.
01:53:30
Speaker
I would say you have spent time in some big cities, mostly elven, with their own design and you know architecture and city planning.
01:53:41
Speaker
But I think you know a promenade when you see one. I think you know when a street is meant to draw your attention. And you step out of the green sapphire. and you see that only a short distance away, a lot of the streets you've gone through in the last like 12 hours have been tight and cramped, covered in ash. Some of the times it's just piled up.
01:54:01
Speaker
You step out and you see this long street that runs north-south, and it is pristine. It is swept clean. There are numerous guards just patrolling it at any given point, and you look to the right and you see it kind of winds off and You see it travels towards via the north, which is where the the ocean is.
01:54:25
Speaker
You think, if I were building a city and I wanted to impress people, I would build a thoroughfare from the docks to the most important building in the city.
01:54:35
Speaker
So you think to the north, that is where the docks are. And you go south, you turn left and you start walking down the street. And it is, like I said, it's very well maintained.
01:54:46
Speaker
A lot of the, if you recall, on the eastern side of the river, there was these fun tile floor patterns throughout the the area. None of that here. It is simple cobblestone. It is practical.
01:55:00
Speaker
You get the sense that if it gets damaged, it's easily replaced. And it is not nice, but it is utilitarian. And it is kept in good condition. And you continue on for a time until you reach...
01:55:15
Speaker
the end of this road. And it ends in a wall that appears to be walled-off building. You see, not quite as tall as the city wall that surrounds Ankyil, but there is still a ah decently tall wall, very hard to scale, you reckon.
01:55:35
Speaker
There's sort of little metal protrusions that line it, intended to keep away birds and any who would try to climb the wall. And you can see on the other side of it that there is a another one of these brutalist structures.
01:55:51
Speaker
If not for the trees growing in the courtyard around it that add just the softest edge to it, you would assume this was a military compound. It is very practical.
01:56:02
Speaker
It does not seem adorned in any real way, but it stands tall and looks important. And you have a feeling that is where you want to be Disgusting.
01:56:14
Speaker
i yeah, I look for a way in. Any people going in, maybe? No people going in, but there is a ah gate that is guarded by ah dwarves in uniform.
01:56:26
Speaker
Okay. That's cool. I'm going to approach. Hi there. hope you're having just the loveliest day. And may I say, you're both looking so dapper in that uniform.
01:56:38
Speaker
Really, the minimalistic design is so fetching. I can't stand all the adornments on so many clothes these days. Brushes off a frill. you Anyway, was just on my way because you see, I'm actually an auditor sent by... him oh i there's something...
01:56:57
Speaker
but I'm not feeling very well. Oh, oh goodness. And she like drapes a hand across her forehead and like a melting sundae just crumples to the ground in the dramatic fashion.
01:57:09
Speaker
Give me a deception check. Okay, that is a 21. One of the dwarves begins to move towards you and then his companion puts a hand on his shoulder.
01:57:22
Speaker
and says, that's not your job. but And he says, come on, look at her. And he shrugs off the hand and runs over to your side and not too gently kind of slaps your face. Hey, wake up.
01:57:36
Speaker
Wake up. Wake up. yeah and It's the, it's the, I'm so sorry. It's the, I have a ah lung condition and I could Die because of the air quality.
01:57:47
Speaker
I'm so sorry. I hate to be a bother. ah you, are you alright? I didn't fall upon you, did i From the gate, you hear the other dwarves say, You clearly didn't.
01:57:59
Speaker
You were like ten feet away. i sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm disoriented. It sounded like your colleague was um talking over you. Ignore him. He takes his job very seriously. As do I, as do I. But you were saying you're sick.
01:58:15
Speaker
Perhaps you should rest. the The rooms at the Green Sapphire are very comfortable. imagine you might be more comfortable there than out on the streets. If it's the ash, I find it's usually not so bad between the hours of two and six in the morning.
01:58:31
Speaker
I'm so sorry to ask it. Would you just be able to help me over to that bench over there? i feel if I just sit for a bit, I think I'll be able to walk away. Give me a persuasion roll with advantage.
01:58:43
Speaker
That's another natural one. That's crazy. And hey, with advantage, I rolled a 15. So that's going to be a dirty 20. He casts a nervous look over at his companion at the gate and then says, uh, of course, of course.
01:59:00
Speaker
And he helps you to your feet and escorts you over to the bench. So is the ah is the other one like your boss? No, a co-worker.
01:59:11
Speaker
Oh, good. I was going to say I hope I didn't get you in trouble, but it doesn't sound like he has any authority. Still, bit, um... I don't know. Maybe it's different where I'm from. You know, you're you're being really very nice. it's It's more uncommon where I'm from to be sort of barky at a woman who's just fainted than it is to help her up. Is it?
01:59:33
Speaker
I'm new here. Is that, you know, the custom? Well, it's a very important job we have, you see. We're protecting the Korak Mining Company headquarters.
01:59:44
Speaker
It's where all of our executives gather and much of the most important administrative work is carried out. You understand? you You can tell he's like reciting like an employee manual. Mm-hmm.
01:59:57
Speaker
And so you you must understand that it's important work. We can't let anyone, no matter how Apologies. Frail. They are. Get inside.
02:00:08
Speaker
No, I am so frail. It's my lungs. Ahem. Do people try to get inside often? Not for a while. um There was a time few years back that a few troublemakers tried to get at Mr. Strigamole, but things have been relatively quiet as of late.
02:00:26
Speaker
Occasional protest or, you know, avant-garde bullshit. Art... protest type thing, but nothing, nothing in quite some time, I'd say. You're not a fan of art? Well, a waste of time, isn't it Could be working.
02:00:40
Speaker
I see, yes. Who are these, um bastard artists who protest? I don't don't trouble myself with them. Over on the east side. i see.
02:00:51
Speaker
Mister, this is my, I'm so sorry, I've troubled you far too too long, and I won't take up any more of your time, I wouldn't want to get you in trouble, oh, rather, create conflict with your colleague. My question is,
02:01:01
Speaker
Mr. Strigamall, can you remind this is such an awkward question, it's and it's totally on a different topic. It's just, I've been invited to a party later, and I can't remember, like, the name of his family.
02:01:15
Speaker
Could you just spare me the embarrassment for later when I meet his family? It's the Strigamall family. I know, but what is his partner's name? He doesn't have one. Oh, frick. Married to the job, he always says.
02:01:27
Speaker
Right, right. you Married to the job! Oh, that's it. I was briefed on my way over here, but I'm really new to my job, so I think I i got some things confused. Okay, he's ah he's a total loner. Well, thank you very much for um tending to me. You've been very kind.
02:01:43
Speaker
I'll be back later with my letter of Mark. I have an appointment for later. will. I recommend two to six in the morning for your lungs, but the office will be closed at the time, so you might want to come sooner.
02:01:56
Speaker
Okay, that's very helpful. Thank you. Good day. And I'm going to look for a pub or like a luncheon place that i that looks like rich people would go eat lunch.
02:02:08
Speaker
Give me an investigation check. Holy shit. That's my third natural one of the night. These dice are getting retired. Yeah, that's crazy. That's brutal. You wander around for a while looking for something that looks fancy.
02:02:22
Speaker
you occasionally find restaurants, but they appear to be like, they, they carry the mark of the Korak mining company. Yeah. And you get the sense that they are like company owned kitchens that provide food for the workers that are here.
02:02:41
Speaker
And I'll say eventually maybe you like you wander back to the the the the hotel and you get the sense that this is probably the closest thing to ah a place with a fine dining establishment, at least on this side of the river.
02:02:56
Speaker
Okay. I'm going have lunch and I'm going to park myself near anyone who's chatting and I'm just going to eavesdrop for a little bit. Sure. Well, first off, a ah a waiter wearing a similar uniform as the front desk staff comes up and says, Good afternoon, ma'am. you be joining us for luncheon?
02:03:17
Speaker
oh yeah yes, please. And I like hubbub, so put me in the middle of it, please. Of course, ma'am. Would you like steak, pork chops, or steak and pork chops?
02:03:28
Speaker
Steak and pork chops. Good. If that wasn't an option, I was going to ask you to make that for me. So steak and pork chops. It is in fact one of the three options available. And you have ordered it and I hope you enjoy. What an unconventional restaurant.
02:03:42
Speaker
He returns in a very short period of time, like shorter than you feel comfortable with, with a steak and some pork chops. And you're like, I don't think that's enough time to get either of those cooked. But okay. And yeah, give me a give me a perception check as you eavesdropping.
02:03:57
Speaker
Ooh, these eaves be dropping. That's a 17 plus 4. That's a 21. I will say, you overhear a conversation between a dwarf and, at first glance, you think a half-orc.
02:04:12
Speaker
But you've seen some half-orcs, especially in Erdenine, and this individual is larger by a degree. And you overhear the dwarf say, Now, listen here, Prince Winston.
02:04:26
Speaker
We are committed to fulfilling your order on time, and of course we would love to show you the mining operation, but... yeah various things take time and will put in a great order for steel and so I'm afraid it might just be an extra ah day or two we have many orders and we ah we value your business greatly of course and the the orc speaks up and says that is not good enough I require my steel by night's end or I will find another provider we need weapons quickly and i simply must have them
02:05:03
Speaker
Of course, of course, Prince Winston. I shall talk to my superiors and we shall we shall see what we can do. Perhaps perhaps we can make this right. we can make it we can make this right Do not do not worry And you overhear a another conversation between two dwarves, appear to be slightly older, they've got salt and pepper hair, and theyre their beards are styled in a very similar fashion. They don't look like, it's not like a twin thing. You get the sense that they're like, i don't know, they seem like, they seem important.
02:05:32
Speaker
And one of them says, Now word on the street is that you are. Vying for a VP position? that is that true, Theodore?
02:05:44
Speaker
Oh, well, you can't trust everything you hear, friend. After all, aren't we all vying for a VP position, one way or another? well suppose that's true but uh thorn thinks for sure i'll never be president but i'll die in that seat and may that be a long time in the coming he's done such a good job have you seen our profit report business is good and that's about it i mean that's more than enough sheesh
02:06:16
Speaker
I am going to time my meal so that i finish around the same time as these two gents. By the way, internally, do you recognize the name Prince Winston of somewhere with orcs, half orcs? ah give me Give me a history check.
02:06:31
Speaker
That is a 16. I think I have a plus zero. Yeah, 16. You are familiar, of course, not by personally knowing him, but by name, Prince Bertram Vestergaard, who is a orcish prince from Mount Drolbrek.
02:06:50
Speaker
You think back on the lessons you learned on court attending court and politics and international relations and it is your understanding that mount drollbrek hands out the title of prince like elves hand out mushrooms or little pieces of wood Whatever your people do.
02:07:10
Speaker
We haven't really spent much time there. if We'll figure that out. again But you get you you believe that there are many Orcish princes and princesses that call Mount Drolbrek home. And that does not mean that they have a strong noble lineage or a direct line to any specific throne, but that this is probably a a diplomat or nobleman from that part of the world, far to the north. Yeah.
02:07:36
Speaker
Okay, that's handy to know. I'm thinking on my feet and my feet are very clumsy. I think that's okay. I think that's a a good amount for now. i think you end the morning doing that, you go to lunch, get some intel, and we are going to go to Clay Campbell.
02:07:51
Speaker
Clay, what are you doing? Where are you going? I would like to go to the bridge that we did not cross the first time just to take a look.
02:08:03
Speaker
Yeah, you go you go east and north a little bit. You wrap up along the river into the north and you find this other bridge and you cross it.
02:08:14
Speaker
And whereas the other one was this like mosaic with all these little tiles, this one appears to be painted. The paint is peeling and faded in many spots, but it appears, you can tell, to depict workers or the people of kill at some moment in time sort of coming together to build this city and it seems to tell the the story of the city it's in its it's early days at least and there are builders and artists and fisher folk all kind of contributing in their own way to the growth of the city
02:08:51
Speaker
Nice. And there's no flower people in there. It's just the people of the city. Give me an investigation check. Yeah. In one corner of the painting, sort of near the opposite end of the bridge, you see a few pink petals, but they end in a part of the painting where the paint has been peeled away, and you can't see if the nature spirit Etigan was...
02:09:17
Speaker
portrayed fully or how they were portrayed at any point okay i just wanted to see the other bridge and i'll cross back onto the other side of i guess like old bunkil where the the tiled the mosaic floors are and yeah do i see people around now in the daytime Yeah, it's daytime. You see a lot of people wearing masks or with like wide brimmed hats, some with parasols or umbrellas.
02:09:49
Speaker
The ash seems to have slowed down today, but they're still a bit drifting through the air. And yeah, the streets are not lively. They're pretty quiet, but you see people.
02:09:59
Speaker
And I would say specifically, you see people that aren't exclusively dwarves. You see some humans and you see some Elves and halflings and various individuals that... You see some dwarves as well, mostly in uniform, but it seems a little more diverse on this side of the bridge.
02:10:19
Speaker
Are there any like shops or what looks like art? Yeah. This is going to sound forced, but I've got a map in front of me, so it feels earned. I would say almost immediately after crossing the bridge, you see a ah building...
02:10:35
Speaker
with a, it's like a, it's a simple sort of wooden structure. It has a iron door with a slat, like an eye slat and painted above it in just this beautiful flowing script.
02:10:49
Speaker
It says speakeasy artworks. Cool. And is the flowing script like fresh or is it like old and grimy like everything else?
02:11:01
Speaker
It is decently looked after. You get the sense that whoever owns this building takes pride in it and it's probably fighting a losing battle against entropy, but he's putting up one hell of a fight.
02:11:14
Speaker
Okay. I will go up to that building then. Knock. Knock. You knock and the little eye slat opens up and you can't see much, but you see a woman's face on the other side and you hear her voice and she says, Password?
02:11:36
Speaker
No, I'm just kidding. Come on in. And the ah the the door opens and you step in to see a little art studio. There is...
02:11:47
Speaker
a big workbench with little piles of like metal shavings it looks like and you see a big roller with like this canvas you see various pieces of artwork you see some of them are metal and some some are this like this canvas material with impressions like it's almost like something's been stamped onto them it looks like the metal's been carved that's kind of like the big chunk of the room let's say it's like there's a third there's a third of it which is like this creative space where stuff's being made you see another third where there's artwork on display some of it hung up on the wall some of it on little pedestals or benches or tables out on display much of it with price tags ranging from
02:12:25
Speaker
A few gold pieces to a couple hundred. And then the last third of the room is sort of this cozy little space. There's some tables, some chairs, some couches.
02:12:36
Speaker
You see a couple of big old kegs mounted up on the wall for... for ale and this woman stands in front of you she is probably in her late 40s she's kind of got a a rounder figure she's wearing a very simple dress her hair is tied up in a big messy bun but it's this blonde hair with some loose strands poking out and you see she's got hands that look like they work a lot that they just like they they look they look Like they do a lot of days of honest labor.
02:13:09
Speaker
And she's got sort of a little bit of faint pink lipstick on. And lastly, she's wearing an eye patch. Clay's eyes are like shining, looking at like the art supplies and the art in this room.
02:13:26
Speaker
Are there other people like at the tables and stuff? here At this time, it is just her. Oh, okay. hi is this your to a shop?
02:13:37
Speaker
Indeed it is. Speakeasy artworks. There, she makes a face at the end of that sentence. Would you like to roll an insight check? Yeah, of course. That's 23.
02:13:48
Speaker
I'd say with 23... i'd say with a twenty three there's a note of uncertainty to her response. It's subtle, but you catch it. And I think you look past her and where at first you saw chaos and some clutter, you also can't help but notice that along the wall to your left, you didn't notice at first, there is several crates stacked up that appear to be half packed up with art supplies and art pieces.
02:14:17
Speaker
Clay's gonna say oh this is this is an amazing store I mean an artist myself and ah traveled here hoping to find some inspiration and speak with fellow artists but it's not really what I was expecting here but your shop it it looks like you've still been doing a lot of work here yeah yeah I've been I've been trying it's uh Yeah, island's not what it used to be.
02:14:48
Speaker
I've been holding out hope that things would go back to the way they were, but, ah, island's dying. You know, people are leaving. Only people coming back are more dwarves that work the mines, and they don't care about the arts, so, uh, thinking it might be time to pack it up, you know?
02:15:04
Speaker
Oh. but What happened? Like, are there other artists still? Oh, yeah. No, for sure. There's a it's a decent number still. I mean, Hammer and Tong are still doing their thing at the Glass Dragon. And, well, Cordelia, she's mostly ah mostly selling art supplies these days, is not doing so much art herself.
02:15:25
Speaker
And... I don't know. Barksdale's trying to keep the gallery open, but it's hard. There's not many people coming in to buy the art, so it's getting harder to justify keeping it open. And Kusty's... Well, she's packed it up. She's out in Manus now. I don't think she's done anything in a few years at this point, ever since her ever since her husband died. But, you know, there's still there's still a few of us around.
02:15:50
Speaker
but ah sounds like you're getting ready to pack up and go. Yeah, Yeah, I think so. I think, uh, I gave it a good shot. I've been here 11 years, and, uh, I've always, I've always known when to call it quits, I think, and it's feeling like time.
02:16:10
Speaker
I heard that the mine has been here for almost two decades. What was it like when you first came to Mencken? It wasn't so bad. i mean, you know, the people had been here longer, said things were worse, but it was still beautiful. It wasn't rain and ash like it's winter all the time, you know?
02:16:30
Speaker
It was, uh, oh, the views, the inspiration. You could walk out on any corner or turn in any direction outside the city and be inspired for days, you know?
02:16:41
Speaker
The art shows, the galleries, the... It was really something. It was really something. That's what I wanted to see, to come here and see that.
02:16:52
Speaker
Is there nothing that can be done? like What are they mining that's creating so much ash? I don't know if it's anything specific, just the scale of it. It's just... Chariya Mine, it's it's huge, and it's growing every year. It's like a cancer in the center of the island, just spreading, expanding. Well, surely at that At the rate that they're mining, are they going to run out of but materials to mine?
02:17:22
Speaker
You would think, but they just keep going. Can i can i offer you a beer? And she gestures over at one of the kegs. Uh, yeah.
02:17:33
Speaker
Sure, thanks. That'd be great. I feel like I could breathe in here. It's so cruddy outside. Oh yeah, it's way better inside. Way better. Don't feel like you're eating your air.
02:17:44
Speaker
And she walks over and she grabs a... she There's like um there's um this little box and she pulls out a mug and it seems like ah like a tankard. And it appears to be frosted. It's just like iced ever so slightly.
02:17:55
Speaker
And she reaches up and she grabs the handle and this this light ale starts to flow out. And as she's pouring it, the building begins to shake. The walls shake and the artwork, one of the pieces just topples off a pedestal and lands on the ground. It's metal, it's heavy, it stays intact.
02:18:13
Speaker
But she yeah she slams the the lever shut before anything sloshes out and she holds onto the wall. And lasts maybe 15 seconds, maybe 20 in a bit of retconning.
02:18:25
Speaker
Phanelan, when you spill that that that wax, it is the result of this earthquake as well. Nice. This woman, she she sighs heavily and then brings over the tankard and hands it to you. And it's it's cold to the touch.
02:18:41
Speaker
And of course, that's been happening more and more. So, you know. Imagine trying to do like a fine line work and- Whoa, is that the mine? I don't know. It's just earthquakes. They've been shaking the island.
02:18:54
Speaker
That's awful. When first moved here, there was like one in the entire first year and now you might get a couple a day on a bad week. Oh my God. Clay will help her like write her artwork, pick it back up and put it nicely back onto the pedestal it was on.
02:19:11
Speaker
Thank you. What's your name? My name's Clay. And what's yours? Vena. Nice to meet you. Oh my gosh. You're Vena. ah Yes, that's what I said.
02:19:23
Speaker
Wow, I thought it'd be harder to find you. you know a Devika? Two things happen. She has had this kind happy-go-lucky, this warm expression. She's been very happy to talk art with you since you've been here.
02:19:38
Speaker
Immediately, her face hardens. And then almost subconsciously, she sort of rubs at the edge of that eye patch. Yeah, I know a Devika. Why?
02:19:50
Speaker
She runs the Artist Guild in Ergenine, which I'm a part of. Yeah, I heard that. I don't know what history you guys have, and I don't mean to bring up any bad memories for you, but she definitely still feels some sort of way about the incident between you. And she she mentioned your name when I told her I was coming to Mengen and asked me to pass along some amends to you.
02:20:22
Speaker
And pull out the... bag that she gave me she holds out her hand i give it to her she she feels it it's almost like this little like almost like velvet bag and she she feels it and you've held it you never opened it but there's something like round inside come my god is it her eyeball she pulls open that's so wrong and empties the contents into her hand And it is not her eyeball, but it is a ah glass eye that has been exquisitely crafted.
02:20:58
Speaker
it is like a swirling art piece in and of itself. And she looks at it. for a very long time with that sour expression on her face. And then the corner of her mouth creeps up and she begins to laugh.
02:21:18
Speaker
Oh, that's stupid bitch. And she pulls back the, the eye patch revealing just like this empty socket. And she kind of pops the eye in there and she blinks. And she now has this beautiful dazzling glass eye.
02:21:35
Speaker
Did she tell you how I lost the eye in the first place? She didn't say anything. And I never looked in that bag. Well, very, very, uh, very polite of you.
02:21:47
Speaker
I was teaching her engraving and, uh, she got a little excited. She, she finished a piece and she was quite pleased with herself and she was still holding the chisel and she kind of went, wahoo! And then, the rest is history.
02:22:01
Speaker
So, uh, thank you for bringing this. That's, uh, Yeah. ah she's She's ridiculous. and I'm sure she must feel awful.
02:22:12
Speaker
ah She should. Yeah. Has it been hard to adjust to the loss of your eye? Yeah, I'd say it was hard.
02:22:24
Speaker
Wouldn't recommend it, if that's what you're asking. Didn't make me a better artist. Oh, but... Wow. So you you taught her engraving. Yeah, a bit. Well, you know, a bit. And then after the whole eye incident, I decided I needed a fresh start and came out here.
02:22:40
Speaker
Yeah. she's She's still crazy, by the way. Oh, I wouldn't wouldn't have it any other way. Yeah. Maybe I should swing by Erdineen on my way out of town. Yeah, I think she would be happy to have a visit from you.
02:22:54
Speaker
And the Artist Guild in Erdineen is top tier. Oh, I know. I i was a member at one point. Some of the best. Almost as good as you'll find here in Onkiel. But listen, if you're if you're in town, check out the Galleria Fantasia.
02:23:12
Speaker
It's a kind of the southern end down Artist Alley. It's been in better shape, but it's still it's still something special. And if you ever need inspiration, that's the place to find it.
02:23:24
Speaker
ah Listen, thank you for bringing this. I really appreciate it. It was good of you to do. You came a long way to deliver a marble, but I got some packing to do and I'm supposed to meet with a Korak representative this evening and finish signing the paperwork.
02:23:40
Speaker
I'm going to get something out of this place at least before I go. And yeah, maybe we'll see each other again in Airdenine. Maybe. It's sad to see, you know, this beautiful studio you have here close. Are you selling it to a Korak? Yeah.
02:23:55
Speaker
Yeah, i think they're going to turn it into a housing or, i don't know, a pickaxe storage facility. Whatever they do with these these places. And you're going to be okay with that? Doesn't it make you angry, like, seeing all these artists forced to leave because of the bad conditions?
02:24:15
Speaker
She looks away and then looks back at you and the light catches her new glass eye and it almost seems to glint red. furious I'm absolutely livid.
02:24:28
Speaker
But, I mean, there's not much I can do. I'm not a not a fighter. I'm an engraver. If you got a sword, I can give it a cool pattern. But beyond that, I mean, there's, I don't know.
02:24:40
Speaker
The most vocal seem to find a way to disappear, leave the island suddenly, you know? Few too many accidental fires over the years. I'd rather get something from the building. That's wrong.
02:24:52
Speaker
Yeah. No, it is. I'm not saying it's right. But I don't know. She taps the glass eye. She says... This is nice. I'd rather have my real eye back.
02:25:03
Speaker
But, you know, sometimes you take what you can get. Yeah, I i mean, i just got to Mangan and it's, don't it's infuriating. it's It's disgusting what they've done to this place and the earthquakes.
02:25:18
Speaker
I don't know how you've held on for so long, but it seems like such a shame to just give it up now. My friends and I, i think we've we've decided that if we have the power to do something, we should...
02:25:31
Speaker
ah I had some crazy dreams last night and, you know, the one takeaway I got from it is that running away won't solve any problems.
02:25:43
Speaker
If you're planning to go anyways, which is fine, don't you want to at least burn them the way the artists here have been burned before you go and leave something behind? Give me a persuasion roll.
02:25:57
Speaker
Yes. Plant those seeds. 22. twenty two She looks at you for a long time. There's like a candle and the flame dances across her new glass eye. And then she looks away and nods quietly to herself.
02:26:16
Speaker
She walks over to the door and she takes the little slab and she pops it open and she looks out, slams it shut again, locks the door behind her. And she says, listen.
02:26:29
Speaker
It's not going to be easy. It might not even be possible. But there's some other people talking like you. One of them was in here a few weeks back. Got a little drunk.
02:26:41
Speaker
Said some things. I kicked him out just to keep the peace. Young fella by the name of Callum Swift. yeah He doesn't live in Onkiel. He's up Manus.
02:26:53
Speaker
Everybody's in Manus, dude. It's maybe four or five hour walk from here. be set out soon. You could probably reach it by, by evening. I'll hold off on signing the paperwork for a bit.
02:27:07
Speaker
I can't promise much more than that, but if you and whoever is working with you wants a place to stay, you can shack up here. You can plan shit here. What are they going to do?
02:27:20
Speaker
Take my studio away? Thank you so much. I know, you know, there must be other artists you mentioned that are still holding on like you have, and they must feel the same way.
02:27:31
Speaker
It's so painful seeing this place the way it is now. If you could, you know, talk to anyone, convince them to hold on just a little longer, help me and my friends.
02:27:43
Speaker
We're going to definitely do something about this. I'll see what i can do. love the confidence. Hell yeah.
02:27:51
Speaker
What is this manis that you've mentioned? It's a lakeside town. If you follow the river down Brinder Lake, it's, I mean, at one point it was beautiful. It's lot of houses up on stilts and lovely lake.
02:28:06
Speaker
lot the houses on stilts have collapsed. Turns out earthquakes are bad for stilt houses. And well, the lake's not quite as pristine as it used to be either. it's It's gone bad, but yeah, that's where I'd start.
02:28:21
Speaker
Thank you. She ah begins to walk you towards the door. But before you go, she says, suppose we're going to need an actual password now, huh? Yeah, what ah what was the password?
02:28:31
Speaker
I didn't have one. Everyone who's been around here, they know you can just walk in. We should make one. How about Devika? Yeah, sounds good.
02:28:42
Speaker
All right. Well, Clay, I hope to see you again soon. Oh, you will. I will definitely take you up on your offer to use this as a base. It's a lovely studio.
02:28:53
Speaker
And I would love to take a closer look at your work. There'll be time for that, I'm sure. Yes. Lots of time, hopefully.
Rebellion Plans and Episode Conclusion
02:29:04
Speaker
So I'm going to say you head out. I'm going to say the three of you reconvene. Perhaps, Clay, you wander around for a bit more, looking at the artist's district in the light of day.
02:29:16
Speaker
appreciating. There's murals. a lot of them, again, are covered in paint. You see a lot of walls are cracked. The plaster is is is cracked, presumably from the earthquakes. The upheaval that you've seen in the floor, the ruination of this quilt-like pattern on the ground makes a lot more sense.
02:29:32
Speaker
But you continue back to the green sapphire and go to your room, and Fondlin is there. Glimke joins you, and the three of you reconvene.
02:29:44
Speaker
Okay, I'm excited to learn what you've all learned. All I've gotten is that there's some downtrodden people here, which is no surprise. But I've heard maybe just a slip of the tongue, but of a rebel group in a town called Manus.
02:30:00
Speaker
I think this whole uprising thing might not be that far off, Vonalyn. Yeah, I was gonna say i didn't get any concrete leads today, but the rebellion already exists, and I think we can make something happen.
02:30:14
Speaker
I think I know who is leading the rebellion. You should have led with that! What? i was I was wondering if, you know, Gunkie, did you find any traces of Etigan?
02:30:27
Speaker
No, unfortunately, not yet. I know Manus is a little further off away from the city. Maybe there will be traces there. I went back to...
02:30:39
Speaker
across across the bridge and I found there's still artists here in Mangan and I met an acquaintance of the leader of the artist guild, Devika, and she she's she told me about someone who came to her a couple weeks back called Callum, who is leading a rebellion at Manus.
02:31:03
Speaker
Okay. Yeah, it seems very hopeless and a lot of artists are leaving, but they they're very angry. And I think it's been building up for years. So I think we can do this.
02:31:15
Speaker
The rebellion? It's a good plan. I think that we can do this. Yeah. Does anyone know if there's a volcano on this island? Did you guys feel that shake earlier? Yeah, right?
02:31:27
Speaker
Yeah, it fucked up my forgeries. Your what? You look over on the floor, there's just like a pile of spilled wax that has not been cleaned up. Oh, yeah I don't know. I just feel like if the pressure is rising here on the surface with this rebellion on the cusp, hopefully we've just made it in time before whatever is going on below ground boils over.
02:31:47
Speaker
yeah I think we need to go talk to these rebels and find out what their plan is and let them know that they have three new unhinged agents ready to do some bonkers things to make this happen on an accelerated timeline.
02:32:01
Speaker
Because we've got places to be. We can't stay here forever. Let's launch some Molotov cocktails, baby. Let's light some things on fire. And then let's dip and find a princess. Yes, I'm in. All right.
02:32:12
Speaker
Let's freaking go Things here look like they've been getting worse and worse for years. It's time to actually change something. ah great Agreed. Do you guys think Strigamorel is a dragon in disguise?
02:32:25
Speaker
is kind of hard to pronounce a name that might be a dragon. Krigamon? Strigamon? Do you think it could be Strigamorel with an apostrophe? Is it just Strigamorel?
02:32:43
Speaker
Either way, yes. No, it couldn't possibly be a dragon again. a Name one reason. I just feel like the odds of us running into another dragon, it just seems ridiculous.
02:33:00
Speaker
Think of the data points we have so far. each island of Each island of the Anchor's Chain we've gone to so far has a dragon. just one Two for two. Like the tree, yes. We are destroying Glimki with basic statistics today. Yes.
02:33:17
Speaker
That's how math works on Zav. Vimki hates to see mathematical reasoning coming his I don't want to hear anything about math, science, whatever. I've had enough of that.
02:33:30
Speaker
Okay, should we go talk to some rebels? I think we should. Can we get a refund on this place? We're not staying here tonight, are we? yeah No, I have a better place to stay. Hell yeah, yeah, let's go beg for a refund.
02:33:43
Speaker
We smash cut to the the front desk of the green sapphire where a different employee, that's right, says, no refunds. ah He's a dwarf. He just talks like that.
02:33:54
Speaker
And he taps a sign aggressively that says no refunds. Yeah, that seems like sound business practice. Yeah, yeah that makes sense. ye Yeah, I'm not going to argue. Then he taps a second sign that says monopolies are good.
02:34:05
Speaker
And the three of you venture out into the... into the early afternoon air we're back baby this early afternoon air thick air shouldn't be thick this one has a taste to it but you choke it down and venture towards the eastern side of the city where glimki has learned the road to manis lies who knows what rebellion and uprisings lie in your future but that's not a problem for tonight that's a problem for tomorrow night next time on Bard Soup. That's how we're ending this episode.
02:34:37
Speaker
Okay. Wow. Bye-bye. What the hell? Wow.
02:35:02
Speaker
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Bard Soup. I have been your pestilence-ridden Dungeon Master Zach Meikle, joined by Prima Zhao as Clay Campbell, Jordan Johnson as Glinky Tree Fellow, and Shannon Meikle as Fauna Lynn Baydark.
02:35:16
Speaker
If you enjoyed this episode, we would greatly appreciate if you would leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or whatever bootleg podcast app you use.
02:35:27
Speaker
It helps us a lot, helps us grow our audience, and helps us... Keep making the show. While you're at it, why don't follow us at bard underscore soup on Instagram and TikTok. We've really been up in our content game and there's some great stuff to check out there.
02:35:41
Speaker
We will be back in two weeks with a brand new piping episode. So stay frosty and we will see you then. Bye-bye. You know, they can move around and merge into one big hammer, right?
02:35:56
Speaker
um Is that real? I don't know. ah Doctor, please tell me that's not real. I don't know. I just made that up.