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Ep. 68 Passive Smoke - Bellum Draconis
75 Plays10 months ago
Reigns is finally awake! Alpha, Seth and Emron catch him up on the events. Nyx and Baal get to know each other.
Follow us on our Twitters - @FellowshipTable
Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
But was that to me or far? Yeah.
Introduction to Eryth and the Cast
00:00:35
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop Bellum Draconis. We are the live play 5E D&D podcast in the magical homebrew world of Eryth in the Kingdom of Brannak. Joining you for this week's episode, we have Will who plays the human cleric Emron. Hello there. You've got Callum who plays the war-forged water-tight artifice at Alpha. Hello, I'm Leekproof. Ian, who plays the tiefling warlog Nyx Correll. It's our final recording session of the year, listeners and some of us have been drinking somewhat.
00:01:05
Speaker
And he plays the Hyatt of Artifice of Rain's Hat out. Hello there. Will you place the Dragonborn Baal Valkon? Hello there. And my name is Mark, and I'm playing the Human Bladesinger, Seth Farrow Reaver. And last, but by no means least, is our Maestro of Magica, Commander of Combat, our DMD of D&D Dungeon Master, Danny Bonjour!
00:01:26
Speaker
we find ourselves in the salty air near a nearby dock. The sound of birds in the air and fish in the sea. The noise of creaking wood and stepping foot as crouched, neigh hunched over a number of barrels staring deep and vicariously into an orb.
Recap and New Discoveries
00:01:51
Speaker
We see old Gell in the docks of sleep guard.
00:01:57
Speaker
Oh, devil bitch. Damn, that was an interesting one, wasn't it? We had your trying to push all of us back into some sort of sandy abyss. He didn't kill nobody but arachnia. No, not that arachnia. I'm talking about the little s-
00:02:13
Speaker
bite a bitch of Seth's there. Uh, we also found Nick's. He done did the smarts and realized that that worm was just an illusion. It won't eat nobody up, that dumbass bitch. I thought he was smarter than that damn sad and took out for quite a while too. Oh shit. Oh, also, speaking of devil bitch, your done did turn into some freaky ass eight limbs son of a bitch. And she done take that egg and sailed away. Oh,
00:02:40
Speaker
Not before she don't did a warning to my man Nick saying you're next Oh boobies next up there was fire being raining down like God knows what from lightning storms and damn rains done did the living after well Nick's try to blast him to shit So he put him to sleep almost like as some sort of anesthetic it kind of worked I suppose Speaking of Seth we find out a little bit more about him. He ain't one of the of Chris great. He's some ginger pale-eyed
00:03:07
Speaker
little guy with scars and eye patches and all sorts of shit. There was a message done being sent by Val Val Kong back to Chaun Dralicard to tell them that some of the eggs are free and some of them got smashed the fuck up. Speaking of Seth again, he part of the Sleetswad Search. Who knew that? Well I did of course. Some sort of defender of the blight. Oh
00:03:29
Speaker
Dang, he gonna join that party and make them strong. There was also some name drops, as the group done did, looking through all sorts of loot. There was all sorts of fucking shit coming out. We got, I know, spell scrolls and lots of kinda quest hooky kinda things going on, and they also got a map. Oh, dang. And finally, there was some sort of common music whilst the party started drinking. Turns out that shit was Prago, whom Emron Dunn did the forgetting. You wanna find out what happens next? Let's see.
00:04:03
Speaker
We approach sunset now as you stand upon this partial field of victory.
Egg Retrieval and Campfire Reflections
00:04:10
Speaker
The criss-cra seem stopped, but only four of Sean Dralica's eggs were recovered. You gather them around the campfire to continue that sort of safe incubation that you saw when you arrived. The four eggs huddle close to protect them from any accidental hatchings or the drop in temperature that's coming as the evening approaches.
00:04:32
Speaker
The sandstream, as foretold to us by our resident chronicler now, continues now to sail in the direction of Shon-Dralakar's lair. An exhausted reins lays at the foot of the campfire, finally coming to a new face, the red-headed, scarred, a criss-cro, deserter, Seth,
00:05:02
Speaker
and Nyx and Alpha, shaking off some magical effect that caused them to break into instant dance. With each passing second, the shadows grow taller and taller around you as the sun begins to descend. What would you like to do? Oh good, you're awake now. I hear you're the person that wants to hear lots of things that I have to say. Nice to meet you, Seth Farareva.
00:05:34
Speaker
Does this one speak common or does he just make noises like that? No, I speak common. He will be able to understand your language. There is no need to be rude. But what happened? Last time we were in trouble and Emron was... Where's Emron? Alpha,
Seth's Introduction and Group Dynamics
00:05:49
Speaker
where are they? It is quite all right, Rains. You are fine. You passed out from much exhaustion. Oh. Sure. Did we, um...
00:06:03
Speaker
Did we get the eggs? We got some of the eggs, regrettably not all. And this fellow right here has information that I want. I've got a name, you know. I believe he wishes to converse with you.
00:06:26
Speaker
Okay, what's your name? His name's Seth, and everyone will come along and be dumping down a bottle of the creative wine near the party. God, he's just moving to found a name. That would not be wise for Reigns at this time. Well, it's not for him. Very well, then. You're saying all this, Alfred, just as your foot is still sort of just tapping against the mood of the conversation. I like to think Alfred's hips are just kind of shaking back and forth. It's really being really professional, but he just can't stop that booty shake.
00:06:56
Speaker
And sorry, Danny, where is Bol at this time? So the last place I imagined Bol was sort of in the center of that compound near that fire, presumably Bol placed quite close to the eggs in a sense of protection, but that's on you.
00:07:11
Speaker
No, yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah, he would be very, very close to the fire. If anything, well, it's his kind of natural affinity. He's ensuring that that warmth is there as well. And not just a single fire as well. He's probably spreading it with more of his kind of spells and also his breath as well. Just looking over the remaining eggs still somewhat forlorn. You're all starting to feel this as sunset
00:07:40
Speaker
occurs this sort of 10 degree drop in temperature of about an hour. So the way you've been in sort of average 40 degree heat for the day and it's now going to its overnight state of a cool 30.
00:07:55
Speaker
During that time as well where that conversation was taking place, you might have noticed, well any minute would have noticed,
Strategic Debates: Gold Warehouse or Drelak?
00:08:02
Speaker
a small kind of tarantula-esque, kind of muscular looking tarantula scuttling around on Seth and then moving off down and just kind of wandering around that he'd sometimes be like swearing at.
00:08:14
Speaker
It keeps going towards Nick's though and and Seth keeps having to like call it back over and over again and to kind of keep it nearby him and he gets more and more frustrated at this as time goes on this turns for keeps wandering off and then No, I don't care you can sit back here and muttering almost to himself throughout this as well And would
00:08:43
Speaker
fill the awkward silence of the fire by going, as your large friend you just said, my name is Seth Farareva. I am now in your group.
00:08:56
Speaker
That has not been discussed. Yeah, no, it has been discussed. I discussed it with you, well, with myself. This is something I do not recall. You were certainly helpful. You were dragging off some, you were dragging your friend away. I was here, you know, doing the fight. Rains is part of our group and must be consulted. Alpha, we had a discussion and I think, quite frankly, we do need Shaft's help. I do not deny that he would be of help, but Rains has not been consulted within this.
00:09:24
Speaker
He chose to have his voice raised and opinions noted. Okay, okay. Let's hold the sending stones. Why do you want to come with us and why do I need consulting? What's it about you?
00:09:42
Speaker
that ain't strictly on the level.
00:10:01
Speaker
Okay. That's pretty much it. There's no middle ground. I'm an ex-soldier. I fought for the sleep guard, Serge. Go back to last episode to listen to a bit more. I fought the Blight. I knew Lucian Blightbane. He was my commander. I heard some of you lot were responsible for the creation of his arm. It was great. He was very useful. He's loyal to Alan.
00:10:22
Speaker
I know you wanted to meet her. Who is Alan? It's Helena. Helena Sleetguard. You're Queen. Helena? Helena, yes. You're just not saying it's like a strange person. Yeah. Yeah, I am. That is well.
00:10:36
Speaker
I don't lie. What is the point of lying? Life is literally too short before we all rise back as the undead. By the way, the Blight will come back and get us all, you know. I like him more and more every time I speak to him. That's a lot of information. I like you too. Processed. And all the while, I'm wondering, I can't help but ask, are you currently dressed like an O'Krisker? Oh, yeah, I am. Yeah, this is still the vibe I keep it on because it's quite flattering to my figure.
00:11:02
Speaker
I'm quite a slight man, quite a small man. You are all very large imposing people by some of you, especially your friend here, Mr. Emron. Some of you are quite beefy and I feel it affronts my masculinity slightly so I wear the right to make you look bigger. I might suggest that you take that off when my brethren come or you will be immolated, electrocuted, you name it.
00:11:25
Speaker
Yup, yup, that sounds like a good idea. I will probably just, you know what? I'll just shuffle it off now. Let's just take it off now. I'll just push it onto the floor. Still sat down, just kind of let it just fall to the ground. But given what we might be facing in future, it's a good idea to keep hold of some of them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I'll do is I'll just push it into my bag instead. I'll keep it in my bag and I'll put it in there. Emrom pulls out the map of Dralak. So while we're waiting for Bals,
Sending Stones and Goblin Misunderstandings
00:11:54
Speaker
compatriots to join us to collect the eggs we've saved. I suppose we've got to decide what's next. I know we've got the information that says the eggs have gone to the gold warehouse, but obviously this map indicates that there's more of a chryscra presence, or at least I'm assuming that these markers are of chryscra presence.
00:12:15
Speaker
Do we assume that there might be Baal? Do you know were there more eggs than this taken? I assume they've been taken over an extended period of time. So could more of them be in Dralak before they're being shipped off to Goldview? Emron, you took a very long time to arrive at my sovereign mothers. There are plenty more than this. Are they going to Sleetguard? Is that the thing? They take them from here and send them to Sleetguard?
00:12:45
Speaker
I mean, we've got the shipping manifest that says something about gold warehouse. Well, fuck me, let's go to the warehouse and camp out there, grab the eggs, and then if they bring any more, we fuck them up and take the eggs, cut them off by the supply lines at the sea. I believe it is our duty to rescue more eggs. But the point, what I'm trying to say is about, do we think that there are places in Dralak where these
00:13:15
Speaker
things might still be closer to home before we go all the way to Goldview is Mamet Mafet saying or are we going straight to Goldview like what Seth says? Alright, I thought you meant in Drelak. I didn't know you meant go back to Goldview. I thought there were gold port like in Drelak I mean. I don't know. Are there more points on the map?
00:13:35
Speaker
So there's there's the map here and you've got you've got scorch elm, snaterun, barrow, beach barrow, port, stew, lawn, flame star and the red fort and they've all got this purple triangle stamp on it which i assume surf you might be able to tell us indicates a grisker of presence.
00:13:51
Speaker
Yeah, it does. I don't know if it means that they've got eggs there or some shit. I don't know where they get them from. But, yeah, that's the symbol they would use to signify they have control or at least some presence in the place. Sleeper cells or indeed more overt like we were here. They were here. Apologies. Snake Run or Stirloar, I'd say, is closest places to us. So it's worth it. We want to cross the border here.
00:14:20
Speaker
and go into sleep, guard 20 gold for you, or whether we reckon there's more stuff here to deal with in regards to Crisco. I'm coming at this from an angle of being a little bit out of the game for the past few hours, but it seems to me we have two logical approaches. One is the bottleneck approach, which is we go to where they want to take these things and we cut them off at the point of the arrival. The second one
00:14:46
Speaker
which I think is more logical, is to shut down production. And we're only going to do that by finding which one of these purple little thingies in Dralak... Excuse me, it's been a long, long day. These purple little thingies in Dralak about where they might be coming from. Now, if I had to be a guessing man, their base of operations in Sleetguard is Goldview, which means they're very good at setting themselves up in metropolises or big cities.
00:15:15
Speaker
If I was hedging my bets, I would say Scorch Helm. It's the one that I would say is more likely to be the production suite. Sorry, I apologize, but please go ahead. No, go on, Seth. Sorry. I was just saying, your learner friend speaks well, but what I'm thinking is if it's the eggs that we are looking for here, they aren't going to be producing the eggs in cities, are they? I assume they take them from women. I mean, this assumes our assumption that the place on this
00:15:43
Speaker
on this shipping manifest and these ledgers that says gold warehouse is in fact in gold view. Now, we could make a leap and go to gold view assuming it is, or as we're discussing now, we go and try and find more information by taking on the Christopher and other places where we know they are, and hopefully we get more information about where exactly eggs are going. I'm assuming, Baal, that it's not just your mistress who's had her eggs taken.
00:16:12
Speaker
Oh no, it is many of my kin, not just the Sovereign Mother, but we are talking three, four, five steps ahead. The first we must do is we must return to Shondal Dralica, lest we incur her wrath.
00:16:28
Speaker
They will return here. We will not, Shondra-Lakar cannot come here. Hence why you were summoned in the first place. Hence why we are here in the first place. You have a companion back with Shondra-Lakar. We must return to her. We must explain ourselves to her. I must face judgment.
00:16:47
Speaker
And then we go on with whatever you're suggesting here, Imran. Oh, apologies. I thought I assumed when you did your thing to change the river, I assumed you were getting a message for them to come to us to collect the eggs. Apologies. It's exactly right. It's moving in the opposite direction. It's moving from you back towards the lair, not falling. My misinterpretation. Apologies. Go ahead, sir.
Egg Transport Plans and Alpha's Vessel
00:17:11
Speaker
To come back to what you said,
00:17:13
Speaker
It doesn't make sense, you're correct, that they may have set up under a city, but that's exactly what they've done in Goldview, so... Or we can assume they are comfortable with. I believe that it also would be wise not to aggravate the Obcisca by going after multiple locations. That would only reinforce the places that they do wish to protect. But we're assuming this gold warehouse is in Goldview, and if we go there and we're wrong,
00:17:42
Speaker
So we're better off getting more information to assert that we knew exactly where it is than fucking it up. We may need to take more of a- Before we, apologies for speaking- Of course, Seth, please. I don't know very well, but I have better ideas than some of you. What I want to argue is this. I have some contacts in sleep guard, some people of the sleep guard surge veterans that are good friends of mine that I can trust.
00:18:07
Speaker
why don't you allow me to send a message to them and mention what you tell me about this gold warehouse that the Obkiska might be housing eggs and ask them to keep an eye on the docks just in case that anything becomes obvious and that will save us one avenue to address later on and then we can concentrate in Drelak and fucking clean up this shithole and then we can go back and save you know a good kingdom
00:18:31
Speaker
And would they be able to accomplish this discreetly? Probably not, but at least they will tell us they are soldiers. They aren't, you know, subterfuge spies or whatever. They are ex-soldiers, but they can keep an eye. They are unemployed. Are they ex-surge? Are they ex-soldiers? Of course, yeah. They're the only people I know. And could they be traced back to Lucian?
00:18:51
Speaker
Probably not. Everyone's ex-surge these days, especially if you've got military training and you're not part of a missionary group, you're pretty much everyone was until about a year ago. Whilst I admit this can't be a priority, I'm hoping you can appreciate this, Seth.
00:19:10
Speaker
I've said this before in his boring politics, so forgive me, but Helen there is Princess Regent, her father for what we know is still alive in the Sanguine Lands. And anything that could be done by sympathizers to the line of sleep guard could place him in danger. So I think Alpha has the right of it. Anything that happens in Goldview in terms of poking the upcrisp with Nest has to be done with
00:19:38
Speaker
That's done in a subtle manner.
00:19:41
Speaker
I didn't mean that I'd go all guns blazing and kill people. I was just more talking about what's a gun anyway. What I was more focusing on was they were just going to watch. They were just going to be beggars, like many of them are, these vets, and just watch. And then if they hear anything, they would just send me a letter saying, aye or nay, and keep it vague. I've got a couple of friends in the city. It's my home. So I thought it would make sense just to let them know. And we can get some feelers out there.
00:20:11
Speaker
ready for what we do. We could ask our friends to deliver their information to Goldport Keep. That way it's going to one place, otherwise they're going to have to try and find us in the wilderness. Is that our fort, our kingdom? What is Goldport Keep? It's just outside of Goldview. It's the little keep we acquired through business and
00:20:39
Speaker
it was where we were based while we were in sleep guard. Yeah, okay, I will put that in the letter and ask them to send anything directly to them in person. I assume it's pretty close to this. Yeah, totally. Suddenly, in person, not trusting the messengers, there's some people. Yeah, my messages, they have no money. Who ain't fighters. Yeah. So we don't want to bring any heat to them or...
00:21:01
Speaker
You leave it to me. They can handle themselves. They may look poor, they might look destitute, but they can handle themselves. I fought side by side. They fought the blight. If they can fight the blight, they can fight the obcriska. Don't you worry. Leave that with me. I'll go draft a letter now and I'll be back. I don't like writing in public. It's weird. I don't know. He's going to walk off and just find a corner, hunch over and just start writing a letter privately.
00:21:22
Speaker
Are you wanting us to stay here the night or do you want us to get these eggs onto these boats and sail it back to Drolakar tonight? Well, a good suggestion would be if we have any of the boats remaining to, as you say, load them up and take that journey with us. We can also await further
00:21:44
Speaker
A rival, if you like, from some of my brethren. However, regardless of what we choose to do, we do not leave these eggs unattended. We've got, what, two boats left, I think, and one just looks. Yep. Two boats. So, what, two eggs in each? I don't know whether we'll all fit in the boats, though. I'll take a bottle of space. I can take up minimal space for short amounts of time.
00:22:12
Speaker
I fear I would take up too much weight to be travelling with two eggs. I mean to talk to you about whether you want, how you want us to proceed on this. Do you want us to wait for your friends from John to come here to get the eggs and then we'll take it on foot because I can take them on boats or what?
00:22:34
Speaker
Danny, just out of curiosity, would Alpha, because of his capabilities for the right tool for the job, where I can convert any tools into tools that I need,
00:22:46
Speaker
Would I be able to use that to convert to wood carver's tools and possibly use the wreckage of the buildings and everything to maybe consult some kind of more sturdy kind of... This suddenly just becomes Jesus. He just starts crafting boats from the wood. I love it.
00:23:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think there is enough debris and partial boat around for you to sort of conjure a raft like lost season one finale. No spoilers, sorry. Like Robinson Crusoe. Yeah, you could make something very makeshift pending a good role. And I'll let some people muck in if they want, but there's definitely an option. Yeah, there's fabrics from the tent that remains there as
00:23:34
Speaker
Light metalwork, there is timber, there is rope. There's enough to attempt this. I will put it to the group in the same kind of manner. I believe there is enough debris around here for myself with assistance to possibly construct a more sandfaring vessel.
00:24:00
Speaker
It's an option. Baal, you look like you want to say something. Yeah, sorry, this was to Danny as well. Would Baal be aware of the plan as in to get these eggs back? Does he know full well that they're going to be sending troops up here to kind of help collect, or would it have been his best understanding to be like, right, okay, let's... I mean, is it like part of the mission to bring them back? Baal would probably know this, but as a... Yeah, you're confident enough that...
00:24:29
Speaker
The moment that your message was sent and then the immediate change in those sands, that something is coming, something that is going to help or at least recover the eggs. Because yeah, that was my thinking as well. But then suddenly this boat idea came up and I was like, oh, I really like that as an idea. Yeah, awesome. To which then, yeah, Paul would just say, the message was sent, help will be on the way, but
00:24:59
Speaker
I suppose those boats can help us in some way, shape or form if we can once more change these tides for quicker travel in these paths. I will not advise putting the eggs on said boats unless I am confident of its structural integrity. Certainly not. I believe the decision should lie with the group. Because we changed the course at river, we'll, upcrispker downstream, realise it.
00:25:27
Speaker
When eventually that river is cut off for them, I'm sure they will be aware. I was just wondering how long. It is perhaps not best to hang around for. Well, that was my other concern is how long do we wait? You could make a nature check with advantage. Yeah, sounds good.
00:25:49
Speaker
We could kill them off easily enough though, a few and a half couple of bites. Baal will set them on fire and then they will drown in the weird sea eel things anyway. I'm sure they would. If I see any more of those purple cloaks I will immolate them on sight, but yes. But we do not wish to put the eggs in threat or danger. Agreed. No, we don't want to sink the boats with the eggs on. That as well. Thirteen on the nature check, Danny.
00:26:14
Speaker
The sand streams regularly change direction and it's really uncertain what is beneath those streams because it's too perilous to sort of dip your head down and have a look.
00:26:28
Speaker
Quite commonly, whilst wandering around this part of Jalak, you'll see streams and then go back a week later and the streams won't be in that direction anymore. They won't be there at all. So the best thing I can call it is a current. The currents change regularly. It doesn't behave like water where there's an expected channel that this stuff moves down. So you're fairly confident, not 100%, but you're fairly confident you wouldn't arouse suspicion if the stream just stopped.
00:26:57
Speaker
Okay. And I'll read it to the group. Yeah. Yeah. I'll read it all out to the group. Right. What do you think next? It's not me.
00:27:12
Speaker
Nick's has been studying the glass orb from Old Girl this whole time, realizing that his place really isn't in this conversation. There's better people to decide what's going on, especially in the near future.
Personal Stakes and Tactical Discussions
00:27:25
Speaker
His ears prick up at the sound of water and boats because he knows he can charter such things and effectively sail one, but still puts his efforts into just looking through the orb and just
00:27:41
Speaker
ever so slightly missing the companionship of Marotta as everyone around him is deep in conversations. Sorry, what was that, Emron? We were just discussing a course of action going forward and as our resident sailor, you might have some opinions on weighing into this and also what we do next.
00:28:06
Speaker
What sounds like we already know what we're doing next bow is said that we got to go back. I totally agree with that we need to go see Marota first off and then yeah we've got eggs that we've almost died saving and we need to we need to deliver those back I mean we took long enough to get to the damn place in the in the beginning it would be.
00:28:30
Speaker
Have a rude if we kept them waiting, especially now that we have the cargo as for the boats. Yeah, we should just put the eggs on there. I can I'm pretty handy. We've we've taken the. Sorry about this, but the rains for the sales and I can easily charge the course and get us there would be like old times.
00:28:53
Speaker
Alfa, I can teach you how to sail. How about that? Have you got a mechanical propeller that you can shoot out of your arm and just get us there a little bit faster? I do not, but it is possible I could construct one. Yes, why not? You're constructing everything by the sounds of things, so if you could, while you're at it, construct some sort of arse propeller, that would be amazing.
00:29:17
Speaker
Possibly not for my arse, but possibly for the seagoing vessel. A propulsion system would possibly not only increase velocity, but improve steering. Well, you need a rudder for that, otherwise you're just going to go straight. So be aware. It'll be a two prong. Adding a propulsion system doesn't change which direction we're going.
00:29:46
Speaker
Seth, by this point, this is part of the conversation, will finish writing the letter and turn around and go, I have the letter, but I've realised now I have no way of actually sending it. Does anyone have a carrier pigeon or a servant or any means of passing on messages? I haven't really thought multiple steps ahead. I wrote the letter.
00:30:09
Speaker
Do you have an affinity with any kind of animals or anything that could help us or do your people have a way of sending a message? If we could get Seth's message to wherever it needs to go. Like anyone in sleep guard and then they could just pass it to the people because they stand out. You'd know who they are. So if you have a contact to anyone in sleep guard, then that would work.
00:30:31
Speaker
I have no contacts that would be helpful to your cause. Muhfuck. However, I do have some contacts. I don't know whether or not that would be helpful to us. Perhaps, if you were to give me a decent enough description, a name, a place, something that I can perhaps get a companion to look out for, I could send this on for you, but I doubt it will be done tonight. Okay. No, yeah. Really, really done tonight. How long is your letter?
00:31:02
Speaker
It can be shorter. He's going to turn to just face Emron, Rains and Nyx. I mean, he's going to show him a, like it's a sending stone, basically. I have crafted one of these for my goblin clan in order for me to communicate with them.
00:31:25
Speaker
With a short enough message, I could possibly get them to pass a message to Goldport Keep and she could deliver it further on. Your Goblin, what now? It is a long story. That's not a bad idea. Now, Alpha, does the message need to be short or could you just do two short messages to make a long one? I have approximately 25 words, but I believe it's only usable once a day. But you're a knockier.
00:31:57
Speaker
so 25 words that that could work as long as your goblins don't get killed straight away when they turn up at keep if it is a solitary goblin I believe apprehension would possibly be taken I don't know you know what some of our folk are like
00:32:16
Speaker
It is true. But no, it's a good thing. It is an idea. I am not saying it is a fantastic idea, but an idea nonetheless. Anyone got any objections? I'm just confused that we're all brushing over the fact that Alfie here has goblins. He has a goblin clan. He's a very powerful thing. I consider them my extended family. Yeah. What do they do?
00:32:46
Speaker
Majoratively acquire gold. Yeah, right. Yeah, I've got my letter He's the king of goblins. How many words is it? He's the king. He points to reigns Fuck The king of fucking he's the king of interesting
00:33:11
Speaker
Shadow Mend. Shadow Mend, ah, there it's just come back to me. He's the king of Shadow Mend, and he's the king of goblins.
Moral Debates and Night Watch Planning
00:33:20
Speaker
And he's the king of angels. Celestial. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Three kings, right here, in your presence. Of Shadow Mendar. One with a goblin.
00:33:39
Speaker
Just for, um, actual clarification on the rules. Yes. I can use basically sending once per day and the stone regains its capabilities at dawn. So all right. Do you want my message yet? So I need it in 25 words or less in 25 words or less, please explain your message.
00:34:02
Speaker
Oh, fuck. Um, it's also worth you typing it as well for Denny's sake. Okay. I will type it afterwards, but it's going to say speak to Caladian half row eyes on docs. Obciscra high value targets shipments of eggs. Return message to sender.
00:34:26
Speaker
I'm going to need that again. One more time. Speak to Canadian half row. I'll put this in a message. Yeah. Eyes on docs. Obcrisco. High value targets. Shipment. I don't mind. I'm always fucking shipment shipments of eggs. Return information to sender.
00:34:48
Speaker
I couldn't show it anymore. Stop. Felt like a telegram a little bit. So that message is being communicated from Alpha to an unnamed individual within an Alpha's clan. It's not because it does have to be named. OK, so is it Shank Klegmott's set of interests? Shank Klegmott's got the stone, isn't it? It's where it's going. If it's a character we know, can someone just give me the intelligence score of that goblin?
00:35:17
Speaker
I'm going to pass the message that Seth has given me on to Grona. Thank you. OK. And if it works the same as a sending spell, there is an opportunity for you to receive a message in response. Yes, there is. You hear the following. What the fuck? What? Who? Eggs? No. Eaton. Thank you.
00:35:49
Speaker
Okay. Did it work, Alpha? Alpha, how'd that go? The message was received. However, I do not believe it has been interpreted in the manner that we expected. At dawn, do you need to send a clarification instruction? I think it's a lost cause anyway. But it's interesting you have goblins. This is interesting. And you use them for money, you say.
00:36:09
Speaker
What, like slaves or something? They aspire to collect money. They collect it, okay. Not like, okay. They do not spend it. They like to, as I understand, roll around in the dough. And you talk to them via the stone? If I took the stone, could I use it? I'm afraid not. It is purely based on an individual aspect. Individual. How does that work? Individually. Are you sure about that, Alfred?
00:36:37
Speaker
It was constructed to work with such a manner. Is that how your refusions work, Alf? Are you sure that's how the rules work? I have... Yes, I believe it is exactly how it works. Go fuck yourself, Emron. That's what I'm talking about right there. No, you can make your... Nick's currently holding my bag of Holden, and that hasn't gone blown up to diddly, so clearly that it could be someone else, can you? The sentence requires a more specific artificial... Hold on, hold on, hold on.
00:37:04
Speaker
My bag of Horden ain't gone blowing up to Diddley, has it? Where are we with moving the eggs? We wait here, perhaps for tonight. Reinforcements arrive from Sean's roller car and then we return ourselves to the lair. Okay, so all of this right now, I could just go away.
00:37:26
Speaker
Until the morning is what I'm hearing. Yeah. We should set a watch. I will take the first watch. I then decide that the metal man, you should take the second watch, Baal, the third, Emeron the fourth, and then Reins, or maybe Nix, you take the fifth if we need it. So I don't need it. I do not keep. I do not keep. Upkriska does not take the first watch. I'll take it with him. I've just been asleep for hours. I'll take it with him. You up to the task, Reins?
00:37:56
Speaker
Oh, we're going to find out. Can I have my back? But before, before Nix does walk off, what happened to my bag of healing? My bag of holding. I'm going to let everyone tell you that story and then Nix will just walk off. I believe when you were unconscious, your infusions may have stopped working.
00:38:14
Speaker
I was just worried about your bag of holding reins, I don't know. It's alright, there's one way to find out and what Reigns will do is he'll end the infusion on the bag of holding. So if it's still active, as Nyx is walking away, he's literally about to loot drop. Thanks for the trust, Reigns. It's alright, clearly you were worthy of it. As all of your gold coins sort of just begin to sink into the sand a little bit.
00:38:40
Speaker
Rains will NC just start gathering. I can easily repatch the bag of holding and I ain't too fussed about the gold. Just save what you can. Don't forget we got to swallow all his debt. Don't forget the swabbing. Oh yeah, shit. Yeah, Rains will go over as well. Right. Okay. You're setting watch with Seth Reit.
00:39:04
Speaker
The rest of us can rest. Seth said he was taking a second watch. Seth, you seem to have very good plans set out. Alpha, then you, Imran, and then the Nyx, if he needs to. Oh, then Baal and the Nyx as well. I'll just wake you up. Don't worry. I'll tell you the order. I don't sleep. You don't sleep as well. Not out of choice. I lack the capability to sleep. Oh, fuck it. Why don't you just do the whole thing then?
00:39:31
Speaker
I am more than happy to let him do it. Let's just let him do the song for fucking bed. I'm going to sleep. Goodbye.
00:39:42
Speaker
our end model, sort stuff out, get comfortable. No, Seth, I'd like to work with you so that the whole point of doing the watch with you was because you said you had information for me and I'd like to talk a little bit more about it. Oh, sorry. I don't do subtlety very well. Yeah, cool. Okay, come over. Let's go jump at the front. Fine. Well, if you come over here, because me and my squirrel are currently dealing with my full bar. You and your water dealing with your who? Me and my squirrel are dealing with the fact that I just blew up my bag of holding. I thought it was gone. No, for I didn't need the infusion anymore.
00:40:31
Speaker
recalibrate everything that was in it, including this really rusty piece of armor and these bags of gold that you can see, I don't want them disappearing. So you are iconic as well. Interesting. Very much so.
00:40:35
Speaker
but turns out I did.
00:40:43
Speaker
Well, I'm not. What I can do is are the fisteries.
Bonding Moments and Personal Growth
00:40:46
Speaker
It's about the, the, the iconic nature of other things. But anyway, we should, we can talk. We can talk over a while. I will stay here. I will stay here and, uh, I'll sharpen my, um, uh, my wits. I'll be quiet for a while. You guys talk. Okay. No. Okay. Fine. Unless everyone else is gone. If everyone else is gone, then we can talk. I don't know. I don't know what the situation is. Everyone's just sitting there staring at me. I don't know. So Nick's is gone. Oh, everyone's gone.
00:41:13
Speaker
Oh, right. Bal, where are you? Bal is near the fire, but his eyes have watched Nick's leave. How far away are you walking next to a quiet place? Like, like how far away are we talking out of eyesight? We talking. No, it's not like just trying to make himself scarce. Just a secluded area. And you'll, you'd be able to see him and you'd see, you'd see him sit down, get out book crystal orb.
00:41:43
Speaker
emerald big emerald and just kind of lose himself by tracing different patterns in the sand that surround him okay after a couple of minutes of watching this and looking around the group and assessing the fact that we've got these adventurers who have
00:42:00
Speaker
I mean, they have taken on the Abcrushka, they have won, they have saved, albeit only four eggs with myself. He will eventually kind of stand himself up and go and walk over towards Nix. I'm happy to play that out whenever it's ready. Let's do that one now since that's the live one. Okay. Yeah, he'll come up behind Nix. What? Try and observe. Guess who?
00:42:30
Speaker
And just kind of stand there for a while observing, seeing what you're doing. Yeah. I, I, um, Nick's is quite into what he's doing at this point. It's always almost become like a ritual for his mental wellbeing as well as just his iconic practice. So he wouldn't necessarily be aware that there was a presence behind him because he's not that sentinel about it. So you'd see him just read through this big book and it looks really old.
00:43:01
Speaker
And Nix doesn't look that old compared to the book, so it's obviously not his. And he's reading through it, and the pages are old, and the book seems quite dusty. And every now and then, he just flicks through the page, he stops at one, traces a finger down it, and then he'll try and trace some shapes into the sand, and just try and mutter into himself, like, I don't know if that's right, I don't know if that's right. I don't know if I have the components for that one.
00:43:29
Speaker
What is this one? And then he'll scratch that and go again. And then every now and then he'll pick up the orb, kind of look at it as if he's just staring deep into it. And they put the orb down, flick through the book. Then he'll pick up the emerald, look at that. And then that's just on repeat. Awesome. Yeah, Bob will kind of stand there, observe this for a while. And they just pipe up and say, you are... Holy shit!
00:43:58
Speaker
Bal! Bal! Bal, you can't just come up behind people like that! I've been standing here for a while. I didn't make my presence... sneaky. I was just here watching what you were doing. I mean, you're only dragonborn, I guess. What does that mean? It's just... I don't know. Look at me. Sorry, sorry. I get so caught up in this. What did you say? I'm fascinating.
00:44:29
Speaker
That's indeed what I said. Yes. Fascinating. Thanks. You're fascinating yourself. You want to sit down? I do. Okay. And he'll take a seat cross legged and kind of look over you and just kind of stare at you for a little bit. Is this how you let off steam? Um, hmm. I, I don't know. Uh,
00:44:58
Speaker
I don't really sleep. So when it comes to these situations and everyone kind of goes off and they decide who takes watch and if it's me, I'll be more aware that obviously no one could sneak up on me if I was taken watch. You understand that? Like I'm really good when it comes to taking watch, no one could sneak up on me. No one. But if I'm not the one taking watch, it's not like I can go and sleep. I'm not entirely sure why that is. It's I think dealing with a little bit of insomnia. I'm sure it will pass. So I kind of.
00:45:29
Speaker
just end up having a lot of thoughts in my head and there's not a lot I can do about it. It's not like I could leave the group and, uh, don't want to be by myself anyway. So I just try and learn what I can from these kinds of. Arcanic abilities that I've been gifted and it's all in this and Nick's holds up the book, um, that he was reading it and I'm trying to
00:45:56
Speaker
trying to learn how to cast spells and be, I guess, more powerful. So, yeah, I guess in some ways, doing this is like a way to quell the voices in my head. Yeah. And it keeps me occupied rather than just kind of standing around not being out of sleep. I feel like I've just vomited up a lot of words there. What was the question?
00:46:27
Speaker
I'm sure it's not all in this and bar kind of places a hand on the ball as well and kind of lowers that. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This is like this, this, this was a present gifted to me from a very, very old friend. Not that old, but like, like important friend. I know it's cracked. It's very precious. And I just don't want it to, you're very strong. Look at you. And like, I know.
00:46:57
Speaker
I guess you can have a look. There you go. You can have a look. Has anyone told you that you talk too much, Nix? A lot. Actually, yes. Quite a lot. I don't know. It's weird. You've just come up. I don't really know you that well. And now you just like come and sit down next to me. I guess I find this like a private moment. I don't know. I'm not saying that you can't go. I never really had to explain it before. So I've never really thought about it. Now I'm thinking about it.
00:47:24
Speaker
There's the orb anyway. It was given to me by a friend, old girl. Don't know if you heard of him. Quite a powerful kind of mage type thing. He could read time, could read to the future. He could look into it and he could like see the future. And I think that was very cool. And I don't know if you could see the future, like you could stop a lot of bad things happening to yourself or your friends. And what I will do is he'll put a finger onto Nick's lips.
00:47:54
Speaker
Well, so you're kind of carrying on talking, talking, talking, sexy thing. You know, you're going to kiss me in the morning. I'm probably going to be executed by Sean. Why for the fuck up I've experienced today. Well, I mean, you couldn't have done more than.
00:48:19
Speaker
It's not like you willingly sent the eggs that we lost away. You actively shit without you. We wouldn't have even got what we had. No, I know. Well, why would they execute you for that? Because of what I did. What did you do? In my attempts to save, I seem to have done worse. But if you didn't attempt it,
00:48:47
Speaker
all of that would have gone. We didn't know where we were going. And we don't have, you have a personal stake in this. And it's that personal stake that allowed you to, we saved some. I mean, I'm not taking away the ones that we lost. And obviously I don't know how important that part is, but I'll stand up to,
00:49:14
Speaker
I mean, she's very tall and she's very powerful, but I'll stand behind you and I'll say that, you know, without you, there wouldn't be the eggs that we have bring them back. I mean, so that's the cause for celebration. And it's not necessary that we've lost the others. We don't know what's happened to them. Do you know what's happened to them? Yup. Kriska has them. Therefore they're lost. Why can't we get them back? We can try. You can try. Well, the Kriska,
00:49:44
Speaker
They're not gonna break them and make an omelette there's a ulterior motive here surely then it's a little insensitive. I'm sorry i'm just trying to make light of a and i'll put another finger to your lips. A few days back i saw that you could handle the heat. I'm with that i'll kind of they'll be like you'll see almost like a glow coming up within them doesn't mean you have to burn me though not at all.
00:50:16
Speaker
That's not my intention, Nick, because I don't want to burn you. I feel like you're... Just... Execute... Execution, like, that's a... I don't know, that seems... I'm very new, I guess, to this whole, like... thing that's happened with the eggs. I've never really had a lot of experience with dragon eggs before, so... I can only imagine...
00:50:46
Speaker
how much hurt that must be for you and your clan. But I was going to one more time, put one more finger to the front of Nick's face, but slide his hand round the side and just quickly move in and give him a pec straight on the lips on the front before pulling away, standing up and walking back to the group. Let me know if you can handle the heat next and he'll return back to the fireplace and sit down.
00:51:17
Speaker
Oh. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's. Right back at your ball, I'm not going anywhere. Cool. And Nick's won't return to his reading or the orb or the emerald, he's just going to sit there kind of hands in the center of his lap.
00:51:45
Speaker
and just rock back and forth kind of just thinking about what's just happened. And if a blue tiefling could go red, it'd be red. Turn purple. Well, this podcast has got 100% more sexy. It's always been sexy, don't it? And now we pan the camera to the next potential couple, Raines and Seth. And they're already fucking.
00:52:14
Speaker
He's holding his bag. Raw dogging. Right now. So, um, why were you unconscious, by the way? You were not in a fit state to fight. Why were you not? It's complicated. Something happened that hasn't really happened before. I had walking over the desert, got myself in a bad way, and I'm pretty physically beat up at the minute.
00:52:44
Speaker
I think it might be attached because I use this thing and he'll hold up the orb like trinket that he got from old girl that allowed him to defy gravity. And he's just going to go, I use this and I felt particularly bad straight after. I don't know if the tool link, but I'm not going to be using it again anytime soon. Seth's going to look close at it and then it rains and then say, oh, I get it. Oh, I understand. So you are unfit.
00:53:15
Speaker
That's why you couldn't walk across the desert? Well, you're blunt and to the point, but you're not wrong. You're not wrong. Perhaps my life of privilege means I'm not particularly well versed for trolling across hot sand dunes. But I'm trying to fix that, Seth. And part of the reason I'm trying to fix that is because while I spent most of my 50 years
00:53:41
Speaker
rocking around in palaces, playing around and seeing what sort of things I could do with my artificery, like building Alpha over there. It turns out that someone much younger than me, Lucian, had decided to take his wealth and privilege to try and save the world from something catastrophic. I built him his arm when he was younger, when he first suffered the amputation after that illness that he had.
00:54:12
Speaker
And the final commission that Miofa and Emrom had was to make him a chair. So I suppose what I'm trying to ask you is if you were there with the Blight, were you there?
00:54:31
Speaker
At that mention of the history, Seth's slightly avuncular and set jaw sinks slightly, his eyes glaze slightly, and he looks down towards the fire and away for a few minutes before choosing to respond. Yeah, I was there at the battle for the Tower, the fight for the living.
00:54:55
Speaker
I was trapped under a horse that had been killed. My torso was unmovable. I could shift my head from side to side through the dirt, through the tendrils, through the muck, through the blood. And I watched as a demigod fought a dragonborn and realized how insignificant I was.
00:55:23
Speaker
And it was at that moment that I knew I must change and become a better force and grow in strength, grow in power in order to help those around me. And one year later, fast forward from spearmen to bladesinger. Here I am.
00:55:46
Speaker
I appreciate, I was not, I might have overstepped my mark slightly by saying I knew him. I was, he was my commanding officer by some steps removed. The Canadian author was my commanding officer, my captain, but he was commanded by Lucian. I heard his speeches and he looked at me once and you know, with some people that's all you need, that's all you need. And he emanates power, he emanates confidence
00:56:15
Speaker
He is a man to follow. You don't need to, you look once at him the way he holds himself. You tell he's a leader. And I understand why you did the things you did for him. He just exudes confidence in such a positive way, makes everyone feel like you are important, even if you are a beggar on the streets, even if you are his worst enemy. He's a wonderful man. I would die for him. I did want to die for him. If for anyone, it would be for him. And, uh,
00:56:42
Speaker
Now I can't die for him in that combat, so I will fight for him. I will help build up a force that can defensively guard again, him and his family. As Rains can finish his picking up some of the last bits, he'll pick up a bottle and go, it's a port from a shadow man. And he'll find two of the trinket goblets that are in there.
00:57:09
Speaker
Paul some of it into one for himself and one into another for Seth and hold it out. You, uh, partake. I think you're muted, my friend. Oh, I am indeed. Thank you very much.
00:57:27
Speaker
Seth would take the trinket, the goblet and kind of hold it up as a suggestion, like a nod of the head to kind of say, you know, appreciate this. And then he's going to pour it onto the sand next to him. I don't partake, but I have many friends who did. And I will send it to them as a, as a gesture to them. If you'd understand. I understand. And he paused. Do you know what happened for me when I felt insignificant in the grand scheme of a law? When?
00:57:57
Speaker
when i got the commission to build ocean black being a chair because i heard he's lost pretty much the entirety of his limbs fighting whatever demon it was that you saw from under that horse now i've learned something the past few days and well firstly i've learned that i still have deep-seated trust issues but that that comes from
00:58:24
Speaker
Existing in a kingdom that when the world forced its greatest foe it decided to show up its borders and you hang around paranoia enough some of it gets to you I Should go apologize to Nick's in a minute. But anyway, that's that's that's not that's neither here nor there. I'm like you I'm I'm trying to do better as well and
00:58:52
Speaker
I feel somewhat silly, Seth, that the last 24 hours I've been trying to do that have nearly been fell by the weather. But it's a humbling point to remember that Lucian was able to take on these things because he'd stepped away from the responsibilities that were on him because of his station.
00:59:20
Speaker
I'd like to think that I'm in a similar position to Helena where I'm not at liberty to do that, but clearly like you, I'm here for a similar reason.
Strategic Planning and Future Alliances
00:59:31
Speaker
I want to do better and I want to get better and I want to be a better artificer and I want to be able to use what I'm able to do to make things better. So when you say about finding those moments where you
00:59:44
Speaker
you felt like you weren't doing anything, you were there with the best one in the world. And it sounds like that disc Rosette and this Dragonborn, if it's the one that I think of, retracing Helena's story, went by the name of Drago and he sounds like he was quite a fighter. He bested him in one-on-one combat. I've never seen anything like it.
01:00:10
Speaker
And yeah, I agree. I think going forward, you have my respect, and he puts a hand on Rain's shoulder. I can appreciate someone wanting to improve themselves, and I appreciate your honesty given that I am a stranger to you. I have known you less than three hours, let us say.
01:00:32
Speaker
So upon that, may I also then give a little bit of advice. You are a powerful group. I am also quite powerful myself. I'm a mage. I'm a wizard by my practice, despite my upbringing as a swordsman, as a spearmen.
01:00:52
Speaker
Now, let's just talk tactics for a second, because I am a man of war, if ever it comes across. I have the capacity to grow a disc, not grow a disc, but make a disc that will follow me, okay? What I'm saying is this, I'm quick. My spells allow me, and he taps his large tome of spell books that have loads of like bookmarks, red bookmarks sticking out to them, that kind of these small tendrils of wispy red smoke seem to build around them.
01:01:18
Speaker
The capacity to move quicker, using the Longstrider spell. Upon that, you could place yourself upon this disk, this platform behind me, and I could tie you around the battlefield at multiple speeds, allowing you to, I assume with your artificiality, fire off long-distance ranged attacks at a safe distance and save when you move it.
01:01:36
Speaker
Just as an idea in terms of combat when it comes, I don't know how much you guys talk about your fights, but I believe you probably come across lots of fights given the power you have in your group and the circles you move within. I know you wanted to talk history, etc., but I think about the future as well. That's useful. I've heard a lot about the surge.
01:02:03
Speaker
I don't think anyone who was on that field that day is inconsequential. You did a lot more than me on the far side of the world. Yeah, that sounds... So it's like a disc, like a shield-like thing.
01:02:23
Speaker
It's more like a large red plate. It's quite large, five feet wide pretty much. I move and then it ends up following me. It's like I'm towing something, but it doesn't weigh anything. I don't feel the pull. I've used it for getting supplies and stuff, but I could easily put someone on it. I was thinking maybe your Alpha friend, but I don't know about him yet. I know about you. I trust you. I like where you're coming from. I like your views and what you want to aim for. I can be the mule to your cart.
01:02:52
Speaker
As it was a joke. It wasn't very funny. I'll work on it. No, no, no, no. I got it. I got it. Okay. Well, your surge and I trust the Hellstone surge. I trust Lucian Blood Lane. So fine, fine. Emron, I know it said that he liked the sound of you. And normally when I, I distrust something, I take Emron as my moral compass. People switch down than I am. So, uh,
01:03:21
Speaker
It's good to have you Seth and it's nice to meet someone who did a really good thing for this world, who was a part of that thing. It didn't feel so great at the time and still doesn't. I can imagine how it looks from the outside but I was inconsequential. I know you said otherwise but I appreciate the tip of the head so to speak.
01:03:50
Speaker
Do you know what Lucian is now? No idea.
01:03:54
Speaker
I don't know where any of my unit are, let alone anyone above that. We all disbanded quite quickly and then the support we'd received once we turned into sleep-up was next to nothing, so we had to fend for ourselves first in small groups and then eventually we all just dissipated to nothing. I couldn't stand the way that mine and my kin were being treated and as I became more cognizant of my abilities as a blade-singer, I moved towards other means.
01:04:22
Speaker
and other groups, more nefarious, darker, mercenary work, just in terms of moving away from the Obgriska and ways to fight them.
01:04:30
Speaker
I ended up down in these parts through a contact of mine called Sparrowhawk. I don't really imagine it's his actual name. I probably assume it's a pseudonym because it's a bit of a strange name to give a child. Oh, look, you are a bird. I don't believe it. I think either the mother was fucked up or I don't know. Nonetheless, I think it's a pseudonym. And I got sent down part of a group, infiltrates and then you lot appeared and I could see you are fucking them up. So I thought, you know,
01:04:58
Speaker
Now's probably a good time to say i'm not actually one of them so i don't think everyone still believes me properly as a couple of shifty looks, but you want to even there so you don't even know so this is why i trust you more you didn't see what i did. I hamstring the guy right and when it happens my blade doesn't cut through flesh you cut through the fucking soul through the mind. I killed a few of them and for this big the captain with like eight legs crazy.
01:05:25
Speaker
she was human and then suddenly she was not kind of humanoid she was this creature thing and uh that is something we need to discuss actually i think it's a group why the fuck was a spider thing in the obciska i thought they were like people just a bit fucked up people but it was literally like legs and man she fucked me up not gonna lie well that does sound dis concerned took an egg and fucked off as well so no one knows she's still at there somewhere so uh don't imagine
01:05:54
Speaker
That won't come back to haunt us. And I assume the reason you and your brethren, your brothers-in-arms, was because you got back to Sleet Garden, discovered CRISPR were running the show, and that made it very hard for the surge, right?
01:06:11
Speaker
Well, they just disbanded at full stop. Took all the money. They didn't need it anymore. The surge is there just to fight the blight. The blight was gone. Why do you need to know why that big? We don't have to spend that much money anymore. So it got taken back. I got sent back to guard duty and slowly we fell to boredom. Did you know there was a second one? A second blight? I've always known. The only way you can stop the dead from rising is to burn them.
01:06:37
Speaker
corpses in the ground. That's why no one in sleep guard buries their dead anymore. They burn them. That's why Baal over there is so useful. I swear he's done a lot of work already, but we will need him close by to make sure that the blood does not return. I've had no official sources, but I just feel it deep in my gut. I was there. I felt it. I saw it. The tendrils coming up from Akiva to drag down all the corpses, all the souls. That hasn't gone. That's still there. Something is still remaining. I'm sure of it.
01:07:05
Speaker
They say the one who sent you an empire was deep under the ground in the, the, the dwarven architecture and minds that were there. Well, I hope it's gone because no way of knowing doors, keep it close to that chest. But fuck it. We are new friends here. Let's not talk politics. Let's not talk the deep end of the world. That shit can last, you know, we can bring everyone down.
01:07:32
Speaker
I'm going to go put my head down. Ryan, it's been a pleasure to meet you. You are now, I've officially decided, you are a friend of Seth for Aviva. I will defend you with my honor and my life. And if necessary, I will kill anyone here who stands against you. Sorry, come on a bit hard. I do admit that. No, it's assuring. It's assuring. You want to go get the abcrisco, right? I get that.
01:08:01
Speaker
Yep, yep. I should probably continue to hide that road, but Baal mentioned I could probably get emulated if I keep it nearby. Actually, I'll use it as a bed cover because it gets a bit chilly at night. I am not looking very well, really. Not because of all the old scars, but I got fucked up by her a bit. She sliced me up good and proper. I'm just going to go slip off some serious catastrophic injuries I've got. I forgot I had them, actually.
01:08:28
Speaker
Yeah, I'm feeling a bit ropy myself, so we'll leave it there. Bleeding from your eyes, hopefully. Yeah, good. I'll, yeah, in the morning. And then Seth will collapse somewhere nearby. Only a flesh wound. And sleep for the night. Nice. Anyone else? Sorry. He'll just slump onto the floor. Ray just stumbles to the floor. He'll slump to the floor and he's going to say, just still incredibly warm.
01:08:54
Speaker
Just get me out of this thing. The level armor will open and Rains in his much softer, lighter travel clothes will just take in the breath. And we'll send NC over to wake up who I think it was Emron who was agreed next. And we'll let Emron know it's time for their watch and Rains themselves will just slumber.
01:09:25
Speaker
and see what the fuck. I thought we said Alfa was going to do the fucking watches. As you look up, Alfa's already awake. Despite discussions and decisions, he's still attempting to build a ship. You see him taking debris and things like that from the old wrecked houses. He's just working through the night.
01:09:51
Speaker
NC will just tap your arm guard or anything on you and what will appear is some writing that just says, and whenever has that been a good idea before just flying off. Was that to me? Yes.
01:10:21
Speaker
And one will sort of nod to himself like, right. Okay. Okay. Right. Um, right. Uh, why wake up, wake up. So it's, uh, and I'm going to wander over to, uh, alpha boat building. There's a new one. I thought it wise to have a precautionary backup, our
01:10:49
Speaker
meeting tomorrow may be delayed by any means. Either that or we can use the raft if Bal can get this river to take us where we need to go and then, you know, sell the river. Yeah, I've already done it once. I presume no reason why that would be able to change. No, no, no. Good point, good point. Oh, that was a fucking weird fire. It was unusual. I was very concerned about Reims' capabilities. I mean, he was swallowed by a worm, wasn't he?
01:11:20
Speaker
It may have appeared in such a manner, but the worm was actually an illusion. No. Well. Attempting to battle said worm proved this. Any attempts at attack merely passed through. That's usually how illusions work. Oh well. At least we've got some stuff. I mean, we've got to offload all this now, somehow.
01:11:49
Speaker
and work out where we're going from here, Alpha. I believe the first priority should indeed be returning to the Mother Dragon. Yeah, yeah, what would we have? I mean, after that, after that, you know, trying to work out where next. I believe the discussion should also be open to Marota. We will be returning to her. Oh, why? No, no, don't get me wrong. It's going to work out what we want to do.
01:12:21
Speaker
Well, personally I believe it would be best to gather as much information as we can, but a diversionary tactic against the Upcrispra I think is foolhardy. Drawing their attention to somebody who is going up against them seems rather incompetent from an aggressive standpoint. It would be more logical to possibly gather information and do an aggressive attack against a more
01:12:50
Speaker
stand-worthy location. Surprise is, of course, one of the best methods of combat. Oh, I have no doubt that when we go to these places on this map, that there is no way that many of us there are can overthrow the Acrisca, settle in those places, but it does give us the potential, as you've said, to maybe find more information while we're there, rather than, you know, totally overthrowing them.
01:13:18
Speaker
You know, we're not the Drolak resistance, after all, if the three is one or whatever. But there is something I believe you must be prepared for. However, if we were to go after smaller pockets of the Upriskra, then I believe a Marota esque level of aggression would be most wise.
01:13:43
Speaker
Any left over members of the Ofcrisco would surely report higher up the chain of command. Therefore, complete annihilation or silence, I believe, would be the best course of action. I will do this to protect our group no matter the cost. I hope you are aware of this. Well, folk that are without redemption, then that's no problem, Alpha. My issue with morality was that that person wasn't beyond redemption.
01:14:11
Speaker
But how are you confident of this? If a member of the Ecriska were to make the same plea to us in that moment, how can you determine who is lying and who is telling the truth? Surely the best course of action would be to negate all complications and be done with them? Because it's what I believe, Alpha. I
01:14:38
Speaker
Know that there is good in most folk. Everyone deserves a chance at redemption. No one's truly damned until they've been given a chance. Now, the man Marota killed never got that chance. Don't get me wrong, if someone is faced with that opportunity for redemption and denies it, then absolutely do what you have to do.
01:15:07
Speaker
But everyone deserves a chance, do they not? Indeed. But a peculiar thought always crosses my mind. Should Marota have let that man live? The one who escaped? Should he report to his superiors about our descriptions? Our actions? Should that come down on the party, then it proves Marota was right. Well, that person wasn't the one that turned around and helped us, was he?
01:15:34
Speaker
Indeed not. But who's to say, even though he helped us, that he wasn't out of desperation? But we never got a chance to explore the opportunity for him to redeem himself. That's my point, Alpha. But perhaps some people shouldn't be given the chance. Perhaps some people are not capable of change. It is difficult to discern which ones are and which ones are not.
01:16:04
Speaker
Therefore, I reiterate my previous point. Should there be any survivors upon our attempts at smaller ob-kriska structures, I do intend not to leave any survivors unless we can be sure that they will be contained in a trustworthy environment. And I'll make sure that anyone we do meet, and we do have as survivors,
01:16:33
Speaker
is given a chance. If you wish to capture them, or possibly knock them out, then I will not hesitate to allow you to do this, but I will not put the danger of reigns, and more so the rest of this party, in any sort of question. That's fair enough. All I ask is to give him a chance. Marauder didn't give him that.
01:17:04
Speaker
And what would you do if that chance were to backfire? What if you give somebody a chance and they use it to go after Reince, or Nix, or Baal, or even Seth? And if their lives were to be forfeit, the chance you've given them has ruined somebody else's life. Nobody is truly, you can't just judge someone based on one thing.
01:17:30
Speaker
We have to give them a chance. We have to know what is right and what is wrong. And that's just going to be what I face. And we'll make that decision when it comes to it. But I'm not going to let you murder folk in cold blood alpha. Not unless we have to. It is not in cold blood if I believe they will come to harm to the party, to our friends, to my family.
01:17:58
Speaker
Alpha, if we let anyone know where we are, anyone could be a threat to us. So you're just going to start murdering everyone. If that is the case, then so be it. Then I think we'd have a problem, Alpha, if that is truly your look on life. I have very nearly lost reigns in our most recent battle. I will not risk such a thing again.
01:18:27
Speaker
no matter who may stand in my way. Then if that dare truly comes, Alpha, I will be sorry. And everyone will walk away.
Dragonborn Guide and Journey Preparations
01:18:40
Speaker
Alpha, just without any kind of expression, is going to continue building the ship. So in this moment of pause, then, it's worth asking you, Alpha,
01:18:58
Speaker
If you could make a, I'm going to put this down as a, you have the right tool, but are you proficient? I am proficient. Yes. Okay. So can you roll a T20 and add your survival modifier? I think survival is probably the most apt skill to contribute towards this. Okay.
01:19:28
Speaker
Okay, so my survival will come out at an 11. Okay. Would I add my proficiency modifier to it? I assumed it was probably on par. I've not stuck that on yet. So that takes it up to 13. 13. Thank you. And obviously you can only do
01:19:49
Speaker
like duties for part of this rest. So there's only a spell where you can work on this. So this is maybe what you can cobble together within a couple hours. You're unable to finish it by the time that you need to just sort of power down, essentially. You make good progress. You make like a spine for it. You make a plan that just basically needs some filling in and detailing work on the internals. But there's a frame. There's an obvious course of action that you've made. You're applying seafaring logic to the build, however. Yeah.
01:20:20
Speaker
I haven't necessarily tried it because it's not structurally sound enough. But as I understand it, that's your approach is you're building a ship based on the limited amount of ships you've seen and maybe something you've seen or read about. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Okay. So more, it's not finished by the time you're able to complete your contribution. The rest of the evening passes without incident as we move through various watches.
01:20:46
Speaker
In the sort of waking hour before dawn, the wind changes and wakes everyone up like an alarm. It's been a really still, dry evening. And before you start to see the light of the next morning, there is this almighty gust moving in the southerly direction.
01:21:12
Speaker
passing through you and traveling north. So almost like you are, you are downwind of the lair of Shandralakar. And then a few moments later is your sort to begin to wake and climb to your feet. You spy on the horizon, 14 flying creatures. Okay, closer and closer still.
01:21:38
Speaker
and then they begin to sort of break formation and fan out amongst you. And they are bats, but they are huge. They have the sort of dark furry skin of bats. The wings, though, however, are more like eagles. They circle for a bit, and then one, the largest one, lands.
01:22:05
Speaker
and then shapes into a very familiar looking dragonborn says nothing and points at the eggs turns to you take the boat we will guide you home
Sandstorm Guidance and Mystical Armor
01:22:26
Speaker
nods to Baal, kicks off, shapes back into this colossal bat. And as it does, sort of sweeps up all of this sand and you will have to sort of recoil and flinch as this sand is blown into your eyes. What would you like to do? Baal's going straight to the boat. Okay. Yeah, Seth would follow along. Yep. Yeah. That's what we're doing. That's what we're doing.
01:22:55
Speaker
I'll dust myself off from all the sand that's now all over me and then on me. It's course against everywhere. Yeah, it's course and yeah. And when I look around, we've got everything rained.
01:23:09
Speaker
Well, I believe so. Incy, give me the Rubik's Cube, let's get the armour on and get Stephen. And the Rubik's Cube will go into the gauntlet and the studded lever will manifest and extend in the way that it does from the chest plate that he's still wearing. And Rains will go to the boats as well. Nice.
01:23:33
Speaker
Are the druids taking the eggs? Yeah, so you can see that they're... Do bats have claws? Are they claws on bats? I think they're feet. I could be wrong. They're clawy feet type thing. They're mammalian though, so I think it's appropriate to say feet. Their feet sort of grab it almost like a giant bird would. Not like talons, but they sort of wrap around. Like carrying a token of...
01:24:01
Speaker
Are they African twins? What is the asking velocity of the guy? There's one thing I'd like to do once they've taken the eggs and gone and once we're kind of on the boat. So until that happens, I'll. Sounds like everyone apart from Nick. Everyone will kick some sand over the fire to put it out. And so it doesn't leave it. So it doesn't leave smoke. So just covers it smothers the fire.
01:24:28
Speaker
and then gets on the boat once everyone else is there. Yeah, if everyone's there, if everyone's ready to go, what Baal will do is he'll turn back to one of the eggs that he himself caused the ruin of. That previous night he placed one of the glass vials from the bandolier he wears about himself into
01:24:49
Speaker
the smoldering ruins that you kind of created around it as well. And within that glass vial, Baal had some plant life native to Dralak.
01:25:04
Speaker
And what he's going to do is he's going to cast his third level spell plant growth specifically on that vial with the intention of having this plant life erupt from the remains of the fire from the egg and spread throughout that area and basically overtake anything that is left
01:25:29
Speaker
of this filth-ridden, up-crisker camp and just bring it back into almost like a mini oasis of new life.
01:25:42
Speaker
And it's certainly, yeah, you certainly get these thorny, viney like low bearing bushels that sort of sprout. And it's a very slow process once there's like an immediate explosion of life and a very gradual growth that happens over the course of a couple of hours by the time it sort of worked its magic. So you probably wouldn't be around to watch it all, but you get a sense of the journey it takes.
Turbulent Sandstream Journey
01:26:11
Speaker
So we head onto the boats and as you step on it's interesting it sort of syncs it doesn't feel like you're on
01:26:24
Speaker
a seafaring vessel there isn't that natural propulsion there isn't that natural sort of drift like you're on tides you fall in and the best thing i can i can i can compare it to is imagine imagine you're sat on a sleigh on a sled right and you are being smacked in the back
01:26:43
Speaker
with snowball after snowball after snowball, so much that that just causes that trickle of momentum. And then the board itself gets hit more and more. You almost have to sort of hold on like it's a whitewater rapid more than like a cruising tide or a cruising current. And it's... There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going. As Willy Wonka provides from the background.
01:27:10
Speaker
And yeah, you are absolutely just knocked along this whole time. It's more like, rather than a smooth, you're sort of being pushed and battered and there's occasional times where it's sort of, um,
01:27:20
Speaker
Jackknifes and your spun around going through this channel that never really existed. Don't judge my sailing skill. This isn't me. As I'm picturing Nyx is on the foremost boat and there's a tether line back to the other boat. Nyx was so excited about this. It's quickly turning into a game of dodgems, to be honest, that you have no control over the direction. But as you're teacuping down,
01:27:43
Speaker
after about an hour. So to get a sense of the ability to traverse here, it took you a day and a half to get from the layer to this point.
Mysterious Footprints and Intrigue
01:27:52
Speaker
And that was moving through sand at a very slow pace. Now you're moving almost double speed of normal speed. So you expect to be there within a couple of hours. And it gets to that point where you're able to sort of,
01:28:08
Speaker
Not control, but you just get used to the momentum and the pattern of being propelled down this sand stream. And you spy not too far, about 20, 30 feet away from you, your footprints as they existed two days ago at this point. All six pairs of footprints. Just letting you do the maths for a second. Six? Yes.
01:28:40
Speaker
Yeah, Seth wasn't with us when we went off. Correct. Oh, that figured out, but Seth hasn't. That bloody bad. And that continues as the stream sort of moves parallel almost to your footprints for an hour, two hours, six sets of prints.
01:29:04
Speaker
And then eventually, you come within about 100 meters of that familiar oasis. And the stream almost just falls subterranean and dips into almost like a huge swirling sand pit, but not enough really to pull the boat down. And the boat just sort of tipples over into the static sands. But you're back within a matter of about three hours. Did anybody else?
01:29:34
Speaker
Count six sets of footprints. Booyah! We made it! Told you I'd do it! Ignore the choppy seas back there, that was some bullshit! That wasn't anything to do with me, but I did say I'd get you back, and we are back! Everyone off the vessel, make sure that you get home safely, and thank you for sailing Nick's boats. Shit, yeah! We did it! Boom! Six footprints? What's that? Nick's boats. Yeah, so... Believe in being followed.
01:30:03
Speaker
So you know when Nick, when you two were dancing in the tent, while you two were dancing in the tent that I was doing the robot, that bloke that was in the tunnel with us and then disappeared and said, Oh, I'll see you later. I only introduced myself once cause I'm a twat. Um, he, he, he showed up again, took a bottle of wine and then fucked off. Um,
01:30:32
Speaker
What the fuck is that about? I mean, are you asking that now? We're trying to get off the boat. I mean... I'm already off, Nix. Yeah, but there's got to be a better time and place to ask this question. Because we don't know, do we? We're going to just turn around and go, I don't know, you know, I don't know. And it's just going to, like, nothing can get solved out of that. Let's just get on. Like, we've got to follow these guys as he looks after this guy. Just wish to pause the question, you know.
01:30:59
Speaker
post as much as you want. It's a valid question. I'm not saying it's not, but we have asked a lot of questions and now's the time to get a moving. And do you get in your wish is just there. It is just there. And I guess are you approaching or you're holding back?
Prego's Unexpected Appearance
01:31:17
Speaker
balls going to be first off the boat, they're going to look pretty stoically. But those with a higher perception might see a slight trembling kind of a slight tremble in the fingers or something like that as they
01:31:31
Speaker
approach their destiny, their fate, whatever it will be. Nice. Seth would, sorry, because he's never been, he wouldn't have said it, he wouldn't have asked any of them about this. He's just going along with it. Of course. He will prepare us. We have long rested though, haven't we? Yes. Yeah, sorry. Everyone should have taken a long rest though. And just so I'm keeping score, that means I'm down to one level of exhaustion. Brilliant. Thank you.
01:31:56
Speaker
So Seth will prepare a second level spell of Shadow Blade and if he gets the sense of violence being done to him or the party, the party or himself, any of them, he will summon the blade.
01:32:18
Speaker
Mechanically that only lasts for six seconds before you lose a spell slot. So I'll just say you're in that sense of preparation and then it happens the moment. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I haven't been a spellcaster in a while. Um, yeah, so I'll do, I'm in a state of anything. Yeah.
01:32:36
Speaker
Fair. Yeah, pretty much. And as a given, I already have Meijama cast. The first thing he does when he wakes up is Meijama. So that's just a guess. Nice. Yeah, but just prepared, feeling anxious, feeling like he can see something up with Baal.
01:32:52
Speaker
but I was kind of all tense and weird and yeah, going down in an oasis odd. So getting ready. And these, these want sort of cruising speed bats just sort of dart immediately down towards that oasis that you see and you disembark and head towards the oasis.
01:33:11
Speaker
Nick's just going to fall in close to Baal. Just within your circumference, Baal, you'd see me just on the left of you. Close, but not in your face. Close. Just aware. Slightly still red. The heat. He's following the heat. Oh yeah, must be. And as you head towards that oasis, nice. And come into view.
01:33:43
Speaker
There's that familiar scene again of those alligators that are like sentinels in that water. And on the far shore of that oasis is that small camp that was made and assembled for you. There are rugs, there is a cover, there is a platter of fruits, and there is a figure lounging there, throwing up small berries, catching in their mouths.
01:34:12
Speaker
but as you step closer, you notice this figure is not who you're expecting. This figure is lying down with one hand strumming a guitar, a mage hand playing the fretboard, the other hand between throwing fruit in the air and sipping on wine. The prego, the majestic lounging on the camp where you once saw Marota.
01:34:42
Speaker
And that is where we're going to end this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop, Bellum Draconis. That had a bit of everything, it had some drama, it had some sexual tension. For episode 69, it could have ended as such, like there was so many things going on. There was some foreshadowing, there was some darkness, and now we've ended it on prego, the fucking majestic. Oh my God.
01:35:10
Speaker
Prego the soon to be castrated. Prego the eunuch.
01:35:16
Speaker
Incredible stuff, really enjoyed
Humorous Outro and Social Media Shoutouts
01:35:18
Speaker
that. Hope you did too, listening at home, at work, in the car, on the run, whatever you're doing, during sex. Fucking knows. You know what? And if you would like us that much that you do want to listen to us and you don't want to break the listening streak, even if it means pleasuring someone while you're listening to us, that means you should like, review and tell a friend about us. Definitely those of you out there doing the episode 69, we're going to keep the sexy theme going. If you wanted to keep up to date with the podcast, you could do so on our fellowship page, which is fellowship page.
01:35:46
Speaker
on our X page, which is at the fellowship table. And then if you wanted to go one step further and follow us individually, you can do so too. I rolled one, Kyle, I'm zap. The D20 Gamer. I thought well he's out of the pleasure. And that was very well. I thought well he's out. Fellowship and busy busy. Big digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga
01:36:14
Speaker
He's muted, but he's hastily rolled DM. And our actual DM can be found at Total Party Thrills. Until next time, guys. Farewell.