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Ep. 189 Times Up - Bellum Draconis
19 Plays11 hours ago
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Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
Music kindly provided by Fesliyan Studios
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Well, you know, good if you're listening, Google Caravaggio and tell me it's not, you motherfuckers.
Character Introductions
00:00:33
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of the Fetish of the Tabletop, Ben Drakonis, the TBK edition. We are a live play 5e 2024 D&D podcast set in the magical homebrew bird of Aerith in the kingdom of Dralak, currently in hell, soon to be dead.
00:00:44
Speaker
Joining you for this week's morbid episode, we have ah Ian who plays the currently stuck in the many planes of something or other, ah dragonborn barbarian paladin Drago.
00:00:58
Speaker
I'm in a glass box of emotion. We've got a Will who plays the human cleric, Clemron. ah think we fucked this. We also have Will who plays the human bard, Karstan.
00:01:13
Speaker
i think we really fucked it. My name is Mark and I am playing the currently downed and soon to be deceased human wizard bladesinger, Seth Farah Reaver. And by last but by no means least is the taint. I've done the one before. I'm running out of opportunity say guys. Um, it's just so many rude words.
00:01:36
Speaker
Um, the saga sniffer, the strategist of the stank, the sorcerer of secretion, the steward of the safe word and the sea man of seamen dungeon master Danny. That's one jaw. Look at all of those things.
00:01:48
Speaker
Fantastic. Can we live please? Well, good
Battle and Sacrifice Dilemma
00:01:52
Speaker
question. As we jump straight back into this initiative of order, Emron,
00:01:57
Speaker
Thrust into your hand is the scimitar that Prego was given by Seth earlier today in order help Prego navigate through this space.
00:02:09
Speaker
Prego ushers and pushes you towards the sacrifice in the center of the room, tears beginning to well in his eyes again. And then just looking over the kind of horizontal line of his floating, decaying,
00:02:25
Speaker
brother sees Seth surrounded and being mauled, sees Karstan surrounded and being mauled, and just summons this power in his throat. He's casting thaumaturgy
00:02:37
Speaker
and echoing around the chamber. This booming voice I don't think any of you have been privy to before. But Prager performs the voice of Tolkilon through the chamber and just yells,
00:02:51
Speaker
oh and the stone seems to bounce, it resonates.
00:02:59
Speaker
And all of the the hags, the hellhounds and the surviving Meragon just look westward across this chamber. towards Prego.
00:03:13
Speaker
That's all he can do with his turn. Emron, you have your movement.
00:03:19
Speaker
Emron will move up to the sacrifice and ah Emron will have to take its place. Have used your action already?
00:03:37
Speaker
ah If we're in initiative order, then technically Yes, on spell. Okay. Seth. Yes, on spell yes. Seth, top of the round. I mean, all I can do is do a death save, but he can't. You have to.
00:03:51
Speaker
Jesus, it's a cop. That's six. Failure. Two failures, one success. Okay.
Karstan's Strategic Moves
00:03:57
Speaker
Karstan, you're surrounded by, in within your five-foot range, two hellhounds and two hellhags.
00:04:05
Speaker
10 feet further are additional two hellhounds and 15 feet further another hellhag and another maricon. You're well and truly be surrounded. Has everything stopped doing shit? Everything has stopped and has looked momentarily westward with a kind of fearful glancing westward too. Okay.
00:04:27
Speaker
Do I think I can cast a spell then?
00:04:31
Speaker
Fuck it, yes. Why not? ah Carstan is going to use Quicken's spell, use my Metamagic to cast Cure Wounds as a bonus action on um Seth, please.
00:04:45
Speaker
Go for yeah
00:04:49
Speaker
yes
00:04:56
Speaker
it. Yes. That's 62 points of healing. oh I'm like, you know, in, um you know, in ah the um ah back to the future where his dad's like falling, Marty's like falling down. He's not working this 70 bank.
00:05:09
Speaker
I'm like straight back up. No, and I'm at full fucking health again. and But he's going to feign, He's just going to open his eyes, feel perfect the first time in a long time, but he's going to stay very still on the floor. Yeah, the Uma Thurman adrenaline shot as well as a good is a good metaphor for that as well. and But yeah, to staying very still, eyes open, but just taking in the situation.
00:05:36
Speaker
Castan, there were two failed attempts to counterspell you. cool okay um as that happens um i like you let me say all that shit while you were rolling counter spells you bitch yeah because also i always was going to counter those counter spells yeah i know if had to um ah i'm going to then
00:06:04
Speaker
um
00:06:12
Speaker
I'm engaged by the hellhounds, aren't i and By two of them, yep. and So they haven't stopped, so they could take attacks of opportunity against me. This is going to be a fucker.
00:06:25
Speaker
Because Karstang can see across the sa ah to the sacrifice, can't he? You can see Emron's at the edge of the sacrifice. Yep. You can see Emron's about to sacrifice himself. That is not a good situation to be in. Yeah.
00:06:41
Speaker
That doesn't work. Oh, fuck.
00:06:50
Speaker
I don't think there's anything I can do at this stage other than attack, and that might kick everything off again if...
00:07:03
Speaker
I want to move away, but then I don't.
00:07:10
Speaker
because if i move away, i could then get pummeled. Okay, I'm going to take the action to disengage, which is annoying, because... Okay, Carson takes the action to disengage, um because i've i I wanted the action. I wanted to hold the action to do... Carson...
Emron's Sacrifice Decision
00:07:28
Speaker
No, because that was my other option. So Carson takes the disengage action.
00:07:33
Speaker
Fuck off. It was, because Carson was actually working out a way to... Yeah, each should die, Danny. Um... Carson's going to take the sketch action and move around to Elmron and say, Elmron, if i it has to be someone, I'll sacrifice myself, not to you.
00:07:52
Speaker
You've got to stay here.
00:07:55
Speaker
And that's the end of my turn. I'm going to give Bardic inspiration to Seth as I move away from him. Okay.
00:08:07
Speaker
For this turn... The three hellhags
00:08:15
Speaker
stay stunned, staring, before realizing at the end of their turn that it wasn't Tochalon at all. And that fury comes back in their faces.
00:08:26
Speaker
The same for the hellhounds and the same for the Meragon.
00:08:32
Speaker
Emron and Prego, you're sharing an initiative. Emron, what are you doing?
00:08:47
Speaker
I
00:08:51
Speaker
but don't know either way I'm killing a character at this rate.
00:08:59
Speaker
Keep her around self-hide cast on. Fuck's sake.
00:09:06
Speaker
Which is a real conundrum because I i basically, my decision right now decides whether the cast end dies whether Emron gets rid of himself. Potentially. In my mind.
00:09:17
Speaker
i'm
00:09:21
Speaker
have things I want to say, but I am tired by the laws of initiative not to. You are indeed, yes. I'm just ignoring your plight, Will. I know, or I just smite the piece. You'll be able to before Karstam's turn, if that's any consolation, so.
00:09:35
Speaker
Or I smite the sacrifice.
00:09:40
Speaker
And fuck it, nobody has to be a sacrifice.
00:09:44
Speaker
Okay, fuck it, yeah. um Emron's going to swing his hammer to basically knock the sacrifice out of the fire and get rid of it as they planned.
00:09:59
Speaker
So you're going to strike the sacrifice? Yes. And not step into the flames yourself?
00:10:11
Speaker
Let's see if I move the body first. Body has, well, roll to hit. It has a single HP. Yeah, but I mean, I've been rolling shit, Daddy, so I could fucking miss it for all we've had. This is true, and it is will rolling. This would be the best anti-dramatic look. Okay, okay. That was a dirty 20 to hit.
00:10:31
Speaker
And you strike your hammer and the sacrifice stops that levitation and just rolls onto the floor and slowly begins rotting into ash.
00:10:44
Speaker
And that light well that's shooting into the skies, the distance above you in this kind of small open chamber in the center of this floating citadel stops.
00:10:58
Speaker
And the space goes to black and there is just the bubbling flame at the top of this altar.
Negotiations with Tilwa
00:11:09
Speaker
What else do you do in your turn?
00:11:25
Speaker
You feel a hand on your shoulder as Prego walks up.
00:11:33
Speaker
Crying now.
00:11:36
Speaker
And just says, we have to be quick.
00:11:44
Speaker
Okay. Are we running? Or am I running?
00:11:49
Speaker
My turn to make you go this time. And everyone's going to sort of press his hammer into um Prego's hands and he's going to step into the fires.
00:12:07
Speaker
no
00:12:15
Speaker
And he's going to he's going to say, as he sort of as he feels this fire enveloping him and his his and angelic wings are almost being buffeted, almost stripped away, the feathers stripping away in this in this blazing torrent, um I'm going to change this curse.
00:12:33
Speaker
I'm going to send Drago back to you. I'm going to do everything I fucking can. And then I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to get me out of here. But I'll be waiting for you. I'll be waiting and I'm going to give your brother a fucking nightmare while he's here.
00:12:52
Speaker
You realise after a few seconds you've been saying everything there in a pitch black chamber and there was no one around to hear your final words.
00:13:07
Speaker
The space you're in resembles the space you were in, but there are no other creatures there other than the hags, and they're no longer hostile.
00:13:17
Speaker
And you find yourself not weighing much at all.
00:13:24
Speaker
It's quite comforting actually after such a long stretch in this hell and the weight that you've been carrying and the heavy armor you've been carrying and the arms to just feel like you're in a pool of water just floating.
00:13:38
Speaker
And instead you're in this heatless fire that's keeping you suspended. And these hags position themselves in a kind of triangle around you.
00:13:51
Speaker
They kneel and start chanting.
00:14:02
Speaker
And then that the at that but fourth figure comes out of the darkness.
00:14:12
Speaker
It's Tilwa.
00:14:21
Speaker
I thought all I could offer you at the end is a friendly face.
00:14:30
Speaker
I've been asked,
00:14:33
Speaker
what are your terms, Emron?
00:14:40
Speaker
I appreciate the friendly face.
00:14:44
Speaker
The terms.
00:14:49
Speaker
Drago is released from this prison and sent back to his friends to help fight.
00:14:59
Speaker
And the energy that is being used to protect the Steel Nightmare,
00:15:07
Speaker
I wish for that energy. to instead go to the undying champions to make them better, stronger, whatever they need to fight this fall.
00:15:21
Speaker
Drago released, Tolkelon stays here and the steel nightmare can be approached because its shields are down and it's going to go to that energy or protect others, help others.
Aftermath of Emron's Sacrifice
00:15:36
Speaker
Those are my terms.
00:15:39
Speaker
What specifically is to go to the undying champions?
00:15:52
Speaker
Strength. Power.
00:15:57
Speaker
The ability that they need to fight. That is what they need. Is that enough or is it even more specific?
00:16:06
Speaker
That is sufficient.
00:16:10
Speaker
and your friends here in the vile plane.
00:16:21
Speaker
Anything for them?
00:16:25
Speaker
I mean, if there's strength to go around, they can have it as well. But also they need to be returned to the steel nightmare, to await the others, to take the fight onwards.
00:16:40
Speaker
Very well.
00:16:44
Speaker
I cannot follow you into the dark, Emron.
00:16:49
Speaker
I know.
00:16:53
Speaker
Farewell, friend. Thank you, Tilwa. For everything. And if you see Aledo, point a good word.
00:17:07
Speaker
May your sacrifice prove not to be in vain. I hope not. Or going twat someone.
00:17:20
Speaker
And everything goes to black.
00:17:35
Speaker
Back in the floating citadel.
00:17:38
Speaker
in this central chamber.
00:17:46
Speaker
Karstam, where you were stood next to Emron trying to convince him otherwise you now find yourself consoling a weeping Prego.
00:17:59
Speaker
Seth, where you were once surrounded in near certain doom by hounds and hags of hell and this golden-faced demon striking at you from distance.
00:18:14
Speaker
Those creatures are entirely docile and slowly begin to walk away from you.
00:18:27
Speaker
And now floating
00:18:31
Speaker
in the center
00:18:34
Speaker
of this ah flaming altar
00:18:39
Speaker
is a silhouette of your friend, Emron.
00:18:48
Speaker
Keeled over,
00:18:52
Speaker
not breathing, not moving, in the western doorway is Drago.
00:19:10
Speaker
What would you all do?
00:19:14
Speaker
Seth would have been laying still the entire time through that and watching it take place from the floor and would just be quietly weeping.
00:19:28
Speaker
And
00:19:31
Speaker
once he feels the presences of the Gorgon and the Gorgon, what was called the cord? Maragon. Maragon, sorry, where did Gorgon come from? And the hellhounds moving away, he'd quickly flit his eyes around and be staring at this silhouette, this image of a, of a,
00:19:49
Speaker
I imagine it quite Pieta-esque, kind of laying back, almost like, you know, the Michelangelo, very kind of stretched out in my mind, anyway, more artistic maybe than Emron's ever been in his life. And yet would sit up and instantly cross his legs like a little boy and still staring at this image would draw out ah one of his back pages of his book and with a piece of charcoal trite in his poor attempt of artistic deference sketch what he sees of Emron in the air and his kind of image.
00:20:28
Speaker
um He's seen enough of people's sacrifices to know that You need a message, you need a story, you need something for people to cling on to more than just your words sometimes. And this image might become something, might be a rallying cry. And this is all going through his head that he's going to help rescue him like he would for Cast Time as well.
00:20:49
Speaker
A rallying cry, a clarion call to help gather those to fight to help fix this, to fix this problem. And so needs all the evidence he can get. And we'll be sketching this image of the fire and the flames and the the the the the body, the silhouette in the air.
Emotional Fallout and Decisions
00:21:08
Speaker
the position of cast and, ah leaning over Prego. It's very actually Caravaggio. If I'm, if I'm going to ah flex my, uh, my artistic dick here. And, um, well, you know, good if, if whoever's listening, Google Caravaggio and tell me it's not, um, you motherfuckers.
00:21:25
Speaker
Um, and, Yes, and we'll just be trying to take as much that in, but it'll just be kind of dark figures. He's not an artist, so it'll be shit. and So it's it's him just trying to get the get trying to remember, trying to remember this image because because what has happened here in this room is seismic.
00:21:44
Speaker
And he knows that. ah Sorry, so shorthand, I open a book, I do some colouring.
00:21:51
Speaker
The longhand's important. Yeah.
00:21:56
Speaker
Uh, Kastan. Kastan is going to have his hands around Prego and it's holding him. And then as he sees the body of Drago, Kastan is, is, Phil is torn and he's just going to rush over to Drago's body and I am going to cast cure wounds on him.
00:22:31
Speaker
Wait, on Emron? No, no, i'm on Drago, sorry. Sorry, sorry. Are you rolling? Yeah, sorry. Your pitch is frozen for me, which is really confusing me, so I can't tell whether... So it's been a bit weird for me, so I didn't know missed you or not.
00:22:47
Speaker
So yes, I will roll. I'm going to cast it up first level. That way I've got higher ones if need to. um he will The body of of Drago, if he's still alive, will take 11 points of healing.
00:23:00
Speaker
Nothing happens.
00:23:03
Speaker
You bastard. Um.
00:23:12
Speaker
ah good
00:23:16
Speaker
Cast him. We'll do it again.
00:23:20
Speaker
Just because he can. 15 points. Nothing happens. This body is mangled. This body does not look like your friend looked when you last saw him.
00:23:35
Speaker
His skeleton has been shattered. his Parts of his body has been impaled. He has been fighting with Tolkilon for an hour and 40 minutes prior to this.
00:23:55
Speaker
No, no, Drago, no. You don't get to leave like this. This isn't how this happens. You don't get to be the one to leave. Not again. Folly left, clawed left, you don't get to be the one that goes. This isn't how this works. Prego, you need to help Drago.
00:24:11
Speaker
I need you to help him. I need you to bring Drago back. he's He's stunned at the moment and kind of barely with it.
00:24:23
Speaker
He has his name called out, but he's in shock at Emron. Karsan's going to just rush over Praga and grab him by um the the scruff of whatever clothes he's wearing. And in his face, he's going like, I need you to fix Drago.
00:24:42
Speaker
like I can't. Not here. We have to get back. We have to get him back. Okay, fine. We get him back and you're going to fix him. I know everyone's gone and I'm really sorry that this has happened, but we've got to not let this be in vain.
00:24:58
Speaker
We cannot stay here. and I'm sorry, but we've got to get... Drago can't die.
00:25:06
Speaker
Seth... This once... villain in your story, this once composed soul, is distraught and vulnerable and weak and has has has no answers and has no insight and is just lost.
00:25:30
Speaker
We have to get back to Aerith. I have nothing here. Emron.
00:25:39
Speaker
Seth closes up the book and runs over and grabs some of Drago and looks to Prego and helps me.
00:25:51
Speaker
Karstan will help you pull and pick up Drago's body and casts a look towards Karstan.
00:26:00
Speaker
not Cast a look towards Emron and fix that in his mind.
00:26:09
Speaker
I'm sorry, he says to the body. I'm really, really sorry. We will have time. Castan, come on, we have time. We will mourn one, we will not mourn two.
00:26:22
Speaker
Come on. And ah Seth will lead the way backwards um with probably the head and shoulders of Drago up towards the stairs, obviously the rest of him in tow, um heading towards the stairs and leading it upwards. He is emotionless at this moment. It is all pressed aside. This is soldier and no emotion.
00:26:49
Speaker
And you...
00:26:52
Speaker
three able-bodied individuals carry this corpse, limp up the staircase to the summoning circle.
00:27:04
Speaker
And Prego just looks at Seth and looks at you, cast down and just says, where?
00:27:12
Speaker
Where is Seth? Where do we go? um ah Do we go to the Steel Nightmare or or do we go to... can't get in there. I've never been.
00:27:23
Speaker
Okay. I have, but I... What what about the boat? can we Can you go to where the others are? Where is the boat? Exactly. I need a fixed spot. Okay. The keep.
00:27:34
Speaker
The keep. Take us to the keep. We know that at least.
Encounter at Goldport Keep
00:27:38
Speaker
If it's overrun, at least we know our way around it better than they will. I find someone safe. Let's get to the right plane.
00:27:45
Speaker
Prego, stop. Think. Cast this correctly. Don't fucking send us to some demi-plane now. No. We will go through this then, quickly now. Go. He closes his eyes and he presses his hand into this stone circle that you're all stood on.
00:28:01
Speaker
And the runes in it glow blue, then green, and then you're swallowed up in a well of this kind of turquoise light that cackles.
00:28:13
Speaker
And over about the course of about 15 to 20 seconds, you're just feeling yourself all feeling lighter again. That sense of dread that has been with you since you landed on the vile plane is lifting. That sense of kind of feeling intoxicated is lifting. That sense of being aware of of smells and sounds again, of feeling weather again, of a temperature that is more livable is kind of restoring.
00:28:39
Speaker
And you return, but
00:28:42
Speaker
It looks...
00:28:46
Speaker
It looks as though you haven't moved. It looks as though you're still
00:28:52
Speaker
in this fiery scene. Looking around you, you're seeing pools of flame. You're seeing ash rising. You're seeing embers.
00:29:04
Speaker
This looks to Prego. Prego looks around, trying to make sense of where they've landed.
00:29:13
Speaker
And you just see, Seth,
00:29:17
Speaker
as your eyes are adjust, your breath adjusts, the smoldering ruin of gold port slash snake run keep burned under dragon fire.
00:29:35
Speaker
You stand while you all took merriment half a week ago. in Karsthan's mansion, magical mansion, amongst a sea of corpses.
00:29:51
Speaker
Those indentured servants that were left behind to help tend, burnt. Members of the winged watch, burnt.
00:30:06
Speaker
There is nothing here. that resembles what you'd left.
00:30:20
Speaker
Shondra Lekar's been busy, I see. Not our concern. Not now. And Seth's already dropped his pack. He is getting his healing kit out. He's getting his roll out. He's going to build some kind of makeshift tent ah so that Prego can fix Drago or give him the best setup, at least, to do this.
00:30:42
Speaker
And moreover, to distract him ah from not being able to see some of the other stuff and concentrate on the one thing, which is Drago. and This isn't his first radio. He's been in situations like this very similar before.
00:30:57
Speaker
This is the best opportunity he has. Reduced friction. allow him Allow his medic or his healer to focus on the thing. And will just constantly, prego, pick this up and like like constantly on him. i Do this, do this. Not like a harsh way, but just to keep your mind busy. Keep you on the right track. Keep him more focused.
00:31:16
Speaker
um Handing him healing kits. Giving him bandages. Just busying his mind. to make him focus. And that's like, Seth hasn't even seen goal-port keep. The minute he's kind of landed and he smells salt and he knows in dry, like he's to this work, no matter where he is, he would have done the exact same thing.
00:31:35
Speaker
and And so we'd be, yeah, pushing for Drago, ah Sorry, pushing for yeah a small makeshift tent for Drago, but mainly keeping Prego on him, figuring out his ailments, start to help him, handing himself, giving him medical medical packs.
00:31:51
Speaker
And and kind of slowly as you're burdening him with more and more things, he's kind of coming out of this stupor, this kind of trance that he's been in of of ah shock and grief.
00:32:03
Speaker
And he's kind of slowly feeling that lumbering of of everything you're throwing at him. It takes a couple of minutes of just piling him on like buckaroo for him to begin to kind of return to his senses.
00:32:16
Speaker
And eventually just kind of sniffs Nance's head really firmly, places what you've given him down and begins to look for very certain, and very particular provisions. He's looking for the ability to actually cast spells again because he hasn't had that.
00:32:28
Speaker
Um,
00:32:31
Speaker
but begins to move with with ah purpose, but not haste, as though he is not concerned about time, as though he doesn't feel like there is an immediate danger here. He needs to needs to um kind of rush for.
00:32:47
Speaker
So he's moving with purpose, but he's not moving quick.
00:32:53
Speaker
Prego, we we we we need need to fix Drago.
00:32:58
Speaker
He is... Unless I can find what I need, he's not...
00:33:04
Speaker
I need to choose this very carefully, and if I cast the wrong thing, he will not come back at all. Or he will come back, not as you knew him. what What is it that you need? We have time. He can be there for up to another couple of hours. It's okay.
00:33:17
Speaker
Just let me think. Just let me compose myself. Okay. Just let me mourn and focus. yeah Meanwhile, you try and figure out how you're going to get up there now.
00:33:33
Speaker
And how we're going to get them back from the seas.
00:33:44
Speaker
we should um We should maybe, i don't know, look for Survivor's set. I don't know. yeah um If you're sure that you're in a good place, Prego, I'll do what I can.
00:33:58
Speaker
And you'll do more. Yeah. We go long, long ways back. Okay. Fix this. You've got everything you need.
00:34:12
Speaker
Like you said, if you need anything, you shout us and we'll come running. We're going to go check that plate aside. Gaston, you want to go? Yeah. do you stay here No, we i want to I want to do a lot of things, Seth. I want to fix a lot of things, but I can't right now. um Okay, we need to... Fuck.
00:34:33
Speaker
um
00:34:36
Speaker
Okay, we need to try and work out how we can get a message to the others. um Everyone had the sending stone. i don't know what to do. um Okay, okay.
00:34:48
Speaker
Let's fine sos see what we can work out here. Seth, you receive a message in your mind that just says, may I speak with you in private?
00:35:01
Speaker
Seth sighs. Cast in. theyw walked Go walk the keep. See if there are any survivors or anything that could make Draugr more comfortable. Okay, take some time. breathe Breathe the free air again, okay?
00:35:18
Speaker
Okay. i I'll catch up. I'm just going to check. Okay. Carstan will go off. And seth will continue watching Carstan walk off with kind of Prager behind him.
Debate on Reviving Drago
00:35:32
Speaker
I wish we could just focus on one thing at a time. Firstly, save the hero of Aerith. Next. Plan your next trick in my head.
00:35:45
Speaker
No tricks, just truth. I've heard that before.
00:35:53
Speaker
I didn't get a chance to tell...
00:35:57
Speaker
to tell Emron this.
00:36:04
Speaker
I didn't get a chance to tell any of you this.
00:36:09
Speaker
What do you remember about...
00:36:13
Speaker
what Del Montre said about the last cycle and how it ended and why it ended? Shit. It was a lifetime ago, Prego.
00:36:24
Speaker
I can barely remember making it into that room.
00:36:29
Speaker
ah It was about
00:36:35
Speaker
someone going into the steel nightmare they can't. It shouldn't? Drago? Not quite then. never listened in those conversations. You have to understand we're busy thinking about hell.
00:36:47
Speaker
Okay.
00:36:51
Speaker
When we were last there, we made it to the Cronomancer, we made it to Johan Veritas, and we we were faced with a decision.
00:37:04
Speaker
In order to stop the steel nightmare,
00:37:09
Speaker
an entire kingdom must be sacrificed.
00:37:20
Speaker
Drago
00:37:24
Speaker
and Helena demanded that it be shadow-manned.
00:37:33
Speaker
Emron and Delmontreis argued it should be Sleetgaard.
00:37:42
Speaker
The four came to blows and killed each other near enough.
00:37:52
Speaker
If we are faced
00:37:56
Speaker
with that decision again.
00:38:01
Speaker
There is no way that Drago will choose differently and we are doomed to repeat ourselves.
00:38:11
Speaker
I can feign shock for a long time. I feel it.
00:38:19
Speaker
What if I couldn't bring Drago back? It was beyond my skill and my power.
00:38:27
Speaker
And then when that decision comes, if it comes again,
00:38:34
Speaker
Drago's resolve will not stop us from destroying the steel nightmare at this time.
00:38:44
Speaker
In bringing him back,
00:38:48
Speaker
he could destroy our final and only shot at ending this.
00:38:58
Speaker
We have to remember.
00:39:05
Speaker
We have to remember why we're here and what's at stake. And if we don't remember from errors of the past, we're doomed.
00:39:19
Speaker
had a moment to tell Amrond this and I didn't take it.
00:39:25
Speaker
And now the opportunity presents itself again.
00:39:36
Speaker
You talk about learning from the past. I agree.
00:39:45
Speaker
You must learn from the past.
00:39:49
Speaker
Part of regrets helping destroy the Blight. It could have been the kingdom would be destroyed. That would be handy.
00:39:59
Speaker
I think the one difference this time is that if Drago were to live, We could explain this to him. We could explain the situation that would be put upon him.
00:40:17
Speaker
And how his decision will change things.
00:40:24
Speaker
Or we lie and we tell him he he has to stay on the boat.
00:40:32
Speaker
I don't think in good conscience we can leave a mortal who is, as you said, fought with the god of the vile plane for almost two hours to then not give him the benefit of the doubt and fuck it.
00:40:50
Speaker
Let's say that he is so certain he will go up there, we will all fight him and I will kill him myself. I'll just try to.
00:41:03
Speaker
I don't think we can not give him the opportunity to discuss it. I understand your reticence. I put it upon myself that I will not let him go to the steel nightmare.
00:41:17
Speaker
But I don't think we should take that responsibility from him. I think we should at least give him that chance. If it comes to blows, soldier to soldier, we will fight. I might lose.
00:41:29
Speaker
You won't win, Seth. He's too powerful. I know. But maybe seeing me on the floor, blue bruised and batted, will appeal to his better sense. And again, we are deciding things without him being here. This version of Drago might be different to the last version of Drago. Maybe we talked less in the last iteration, and this one he has dealt with more.
00:41:53
Speaker
Yeah, it's the same thing on repeat, but we're not the same types of people. You've made this point yourself. We have all changed by the experiences we lead each time. So how do we know that this Drago will act exactly the same as the last Drago?
00:42:08
Speaker
We've watched that happen. You've told us that. Thank you. Maybe we can change this mo this one's mind. If not, I'll pretend that he's going to go to this still nightmare, and then I'll use Dimension Door and I'll put him in the ground.
00:42:24
Speaker
Like literally, yeah I will teleport him 200 feet into the ground, into soil. Yeah, you will all go and we will just wrestle in the soil for a bit. He'll get angry. We'll be fine. ah He might kill me then, but you'll already be gone by then.
00:42:37
Speaker
So i can I can lie to him. I can't not let him live after fighting a devil, after fighting the god of devils. But what you've just told me there, Seth, is if I let him live, you're willing to die to stop him.
00:42:53
Speaker
And you probably will stop If I bring him back, I'm dooming you. But I've made that choice. I've made that choice, and I am allowing Drago to make that choice as well.
00:43:05
Speaker
If we remove autonomy from us mortals, then how are we any better than you lot? No offense.
00:43:12
Speaker
I'm just... It's our choice. if if If it's the folly of mortals that we all die, then it is maybe that we are not supposed to live. But that is a moral integrity that we must be able to live on. God, I've been listening to Carsten too much, haven't I?
00:43:29
Speaker
We need to... ah Shit. I don't think it's fair to not give anyone... He's already dead.
00:43:41
Speaker
His life has ended, Seth.
00:43:50
Speaker
It's not the world we live in though. You know this as well as I.
00:44:00
Speaker
can't. In good conscience. You can appeal to a lot of things about me but
00:44:10
Speaker
can't.
00:44:13
Speaker
I can't watch him kill my friends again. i lived that once. And it has taken me since the unmending
00:44:25
Speaker
to not want to divert and destroy him. Well, I'll take a leaf out of your book then, Prego the Majestic.
00:44:41
Speaker
I need you to hate me, so that if I need to die, it's not a friend that has died. You piece of shit, cunt.
00:44:53
Speaker
So let me take the bait on this one. You bring Drago back, you piece of shit, because I've told you to, and I'll smack you the chops if you don't. He starts crying and smiling. Don't cry. Don't cry at me. We're being serious here.
00:45:07
Speaker
Then, if he is a cunt, like you are, because we are not friends, because if I am to die, you are not to be my friend, then... I will bury him in the soil with my spell.
00:45:18
Speaker
We will be trapped for a while. That's my choice. We've given him his choice. He made a bad choice. I made a bad choice. We deal with the consequences. You guys go save the fucking world and everything goes
Rest and Reflection
00:45:30
Speaker
back. We've removed those two objectives.
00:45:32
Speaker
Okay? One fucked up, very damaged, one-eyed ginger man, and one very, very opinionated, very dangerous Dragonborn. Let's be honest, I think the one new world that we create doesn't need destroyers like us.
00:45:46
Speaker
You need builders like Emron. You need builders like Karstan. You need people like Nyx, sometimes. You need people like Alpha who can help rebuild, not breakers.
00:46:01
Speaker
So it's not the worst thing if we both guys, but let us have that choice. You piece of shit.
00:46:13
Speaker
And he cries very happy tears throughout all all of that.
00:46:17
Speaker
And he's so warmed by everything you attempted.
00:46:28
Speaker
Okay.
00:46:31
Speaker
I'll be able to bring you back in the morning. I just need to rest. Okay, you do realise I'm not going to sleep to make sure you don't do a runner. Where would i run?
00:46:45
Speaker
I don't know, you're fucking weird.
00:46:49
Speaker
performed that.
00:46:53
Speaker
The only family I have is here.
00:47:00
Speaker
You're really fucking confusing, you know that? I had to be.
00:47:06
Speaker
Still, I am going to tie you one of your legs to one of my legs.
00:47:12
Speaker
If it makes you feel better. And I know some pretty desperate knots that are very difficult to untie. And I will be awake the whole night. Yes, it will cost me, but I don't care. Alright.
00:47:28
Speaker
Before you do...
00:47:31
Speaker
Maybe look amongst the bodies.
00:47:37
Speaker
Yeah. I cannot remember who was here before you left and who stayed.
00:47:45
Speaker
Yeah. ah Okay. There might be a better use of this spell yet.
00:47:55
Speaker
Somehow I doubt that, but okay. allah ah look I'll wreck you a cast then. See what he's found.
00:48:05
Speaker
Or do you want to go? And I'll make camp. I'll protect Drago.
00:48:13
Speaker
Yeah. We'll see about that. I'll believe it when I see it, okay? just ah You say you're a changed man and it will change devil whatever, but but we'll see about that.
00:48:26
Speaker
okay I'll go catch up with Carsten and he'll slowly walk away kind of every now and then looking back just almost half expecting to see Prager trying to rip Drago's head off or something because he still doesn't fully trust him. He just sits in the dirt and the ash and just stares at the body. And Emron during that.
00:48:47
Speaker
What did you do? Well, he suspended. Emron was in flames. Oh gosh, sorry. Carsten.
00:48:54
Speaker
ah Too soon, Danny. Too soon, Dan. It's because you names your name on... um I know, I've changed that permanently, don't I? um
00:49:04
Speaker
Karstan is shell-shocked by the whole situation. um In no world did he sort of envisage the idea that that there would be a sacrifice and Drago would still potentially be dead.
00:49:22
Speaker
And he's not prepared for that. ah He's also very aware that one of the cruciers why he wanted to sacrifice himself because he'd know that he would have to atone for the fact that what has happened here is probably something that he's caused.
00:49:36
Speaker
It's his fault that Shondralakar has done this. um I mean, Shondralakar's on his shit list now even more. So, you know, whole new campaign to kill a dragon. um Karstan will be searching among...
00:49:53
Speaker
The bodies trying to see if he can find anyone who is still like alive or not dead. And I will be casting spare the dying on those that I find.
00:50:14
Speaker
There's maybe 40 bodies.
00:50:19
Speaker
And the next time Seth and Prager were talking, you probably do a kind of lap once of the damage.
00:50:32
Speaker
There is no one who's drawing breath amongst them. These have been dead for more than a day, maybe two.
00:50:47
Speaker
You do find some faces, however, and you do recognize most of them anyway because they've all broken bread with you in your mansion. there are no There's no one here that you didn't see a few days ago. You find Bovrin the Dwarf, the prophet of Vatinis.
00:51:15
Speaker
You find all a go-port.
00:51:25
Speaker
You find two dozen indentured servants.
00:51:34
Speaker
You find the corpse of the red rook.
00:51:44
Speaker
You find Thava, the druid that helped shepherd Shondralikar's eggs from where you captured them.
00:52:04
Speaker
As you're seeing all these faces,
00:52:08
Speaker
there's one you look for pretty urgently.
00:52:16
Speaker
And you eventually find...
00:52:24
Speaker
You eventually find ripped torso from legs the body of Sebastian Sleetgaard.
00:52:37
Speaker
Well, piss.
00:52:44
Speaker
Ah, shit.
00:52:50
Speaker
You do not find Robin. You do not find Sayangar. You do not find ren
00:53:07
Speaker
Karstan has... Probably when he's done the circuit.
00:53:15
Speaker
And they they all hurt.
Honoring the Fallen
00:53:21
Speaker
But he sort of pauses
00:53:26
Speaker
in this ash, smoke-blasted fire, probably sort of smouldering places, devastation, and sort of just falls to his knees and next to Sebastian.
00:53:46
Speaker
I am really sorry.
00:53:56
Speaker
And he was probably the last body you found.
00:54:02
Speaker
And Seth, time's about appropriate for the end of your conversation with Prager as you're heading towards Emron. the Emron, there's still some distance if you kind of want to do anything before this point.
00:54:17
Speaker
Sorry, Carlton. Change my name, please.
00:54:22
Speaker
I would leave and rejoin, but that would screw the scrap cat thing. Um,
00:54:28
Speaker
Carstens just in the dirt, in the mud, his everything is forgotten.
00:54:38
Speaker
And when Seth finds him, he is just there having sort arranged Sebastian's
00:55:02
Speaker
He's just there next to the sort of ruined corpse of Sebastian.
00:55:16
Speaker
Seth would look directly at him and um there would be ah like a ah sharp inhalation of breath, ah but no reaction on his face. And he'll just nod.
00:55:30
Speaker
to cast Anne.
00:55:36
Speaker
I'll see if I can find shovel. It should have been me, Seth. Decision's been made. We can't think of the past now.
00:55:49
Speaker
We don't have control over that, we have control over now. And now we've got some friends of ours that need some respect. It's done.
00:56:00
Speaker
It's done. So let's take control now of this moment of what we can do now.
00:56:11
Speaker
I'm going to dig some holes and then I'm going to say goodbye to some friends. I'll get a shovel and we'll help. Thank you.
00:56:22
Speaker
Don't feel you have to though. No, no, I i need to. They're dead because of me.
00:56:30
Speaker
They're dead because of war and conflict. And in wars, good people die. And in conflicts, somehow the wicked reep remain. But that's not how... It's my job to stop people from dying, Seth.
00:56:51
Speaker
It's my job to help people and stop them from dying and not making stupid decisions.
00:57:00
Speaker
Seth's going to kind of side smile out of his mouth a little bit
00:57:06
Speaker
And you're good. You're not that good.
00:57:10
Speaker
You can't stop everyone from making silly mistakes. Look at what we just fucking did. That should have been a very different situation in hell. And yet we move on.
00:57:23
Speaker
Come. Don't dwell on the past. It will consume us. We'll bury these and we'll remember them. We'll remember Emron. I won't let him be forgotten, Seth. No.
00:57:40
Speaker
I promise you that.
00:57:44
Speaker
Let's just survive the night, Gusten.
00:57:49
Speaker
Yes, and then
00:57:54
Speaker
And then we've got some, what is it? used Who do we kill? Is that ah that a thing you used to say? Let's hope there's anyone left to kill.
00:58:05
Speaker
Oh, there will be. There is a list of people that we have escorted to settle with now.
00:58:13
Speaker
I'll get the shovels and that's going to move off. Okay. And as a night is spent, no doubt, hole dug after hole after hole after hole.
00:58:29
Speaker
It eventually gets to the point where your bodies just give in to the exhaustion unless you make a constitution saving through and choose to or choose to rest.
00:58:42
Speaker
I'll make a con save and work through the night. Anyway. Seven. I get a point of exhaustion. Yeah, I'll do that.
Drago's Resurrection
00:58:53
Speaker
I will make a con save.
00:59:01
Speaker
I got a nine. you get point of However, I am going to use um favored by the gods and add 2d4 to that role.
00:59:15
Speaker
Do I still have that bardic inspiration? Probably. Goes after an hour? um Yeah, that adds an eight to that. That was what that was what I get. um 17 then.
00:59:28
Speaker
ah seventeen that eight Okay, so you you don't suffer the point of exhaustion. But dawn eventually rises.
00:59:38
Speaker
Prager rested throughout all of this as he needed to do.
00:59:43
Speaker
As dawn rises and you just was seth you you just fall on your ass out of exhaustion and just kind of look upon ah ah once glorious structure that then fell into just disrepair and then was restored very temporarily in its final seconds.
01:00:05
Speaker
Now looks like a series is of trenches have been dug around it.
01:00:12
Speaker
before you kind of think about filling those holes. Prego sits and brings some water
01:00:22
Speaker
to you.
01:00:27
Speaker
Long pause before he chooses to say anything.
01:00:38
Speaker
It doesn't have to be Drago that comes back.
01:00:49
Speaker
Hey, Prego.
01:00:53
Speaker
Do us a favor.
01:00:57
Speaker
Shut the fuck up.
01:01:00
Speaker
And going to take the water and pass it back over. And just he's been looking out at the holes he's dug.
01:01:13
Speaker
And he does. and he just sits with you so you have company but doesn't say anything.
01:01:24
Speaker
He stands abruptly. Let's get this over with.
01:01:31
Speaker
And he nods. I'm getting Sebastian first.
01:01:36
Speaker
And he kind of just makes himself available to help you with the lifting and the moving.
01:01:45
Speaker
And he'd be a dirge and he'd give everyone an equal
01:01:52
Speaker
space he's dug enough for individual graves, not piling any on top of anyone else.
01:01:59
Speaker
And then would work down the line, filling them in and leaving Orla and leaving a few moments with Orla in the brief time he knew her, saying a few kind words, but then pausing
01:02:19
Speaker
at Sebastian And by this point, his hands are bleeding with the you know even the thick calluses of years and decades of war have worn down his hands. And yet holding a shovel for a day has rendered him blistered and bleeding from the hands. And he it's either the strength of his hand is failing him, the exhaustion in his body, the exhaustion in his mind, the loss in his heart,
01:02:49
Speaker
or the bleeding of his hands, but something makes this last one impossible to fill.
01:02:59
Speaker
And he just leans on the hilt of the spade in the ground and kind of reps rests his hand on his fist and his fist on the end and just kind of breathes and calm to it.
01:03:11
Speaker
And Prager would watch him there for but God, he'd be there for hours if no one intervened. think after about five minutes of giving you that time, Prego, hands and knees, begins to shift dirt without the need, without the kind of access to the space or dish shovel.
01:03:32
Speaker
And he begins to fill the grave very slowly. And it is a real labor.
01:03:39
Speaker
And it takes him a very long time unless, Karstan, you do anything to help During Seth's whole thing of burying the bodies, obviously he helped dig the graves. um Karstan has been, when Seth was exhausted, Karstan stayed awake, he stood by the graves.
01:03:57
Speaker
um And he's been playing bagpipes throughout the whole thing in a very somber, mellow funeral tune to play the souls into the afterlife to shepherd them onto their next step.
01:04:26
Speaker
As he sees you with struggling with Sebastian, he he allows the the notes just to sort of dwindle and echo and and and around them in the ruins.
01:04:43
Speaker
And he puts his bagpipes down and he comes over his usual pristine clothes are covered in mud and dirt and he he doesn't care. And he will just help push the soil and bury Sebastian.
01:05:04
Speaker
Seth, you just watch as your ah two allies do this for you and give you this time.
01:05:16
Speaker
And then,
01:05:20
Speaker
once that is full, bring your heads over to the corpse, the only corpse not buried, and the only corpse without a hole dug, and floats a few feet away.
01:05:46
Speaker
from Drago and waits for you two to join him.
01:05:57
Speaker
Karsan comes over.
01:06:02
Speaker
I'm glad we did it this way round.
01:06:06
Speaker
Drago is going to feel a lot of guilt anyway, though he has nothing to feel guilty about. He did need to take part in that
01:06:16
Speaker
Bring him back, he says to Prager. No more talk of you. Our decision has been made. Let us mortals be fallible.
01:06:27
Speaker
Please.
01:06:32
Speaker
Prager rolls, he's found some clothes that aren't his and are incredibly dirty and kind of mistreated and burned, slightly scorched.
01:06:45
Speaker
but he rolls what cuffs are left of those shirts up.
01:06:51
Speaker
Looks at the lifeless face of Drago and just lets our sigh.
01:06:59
Speaker
have watched you murder my friends.
01:07:05
Speaker
That's bitter sweet irony this is that I am bringing you back. When I longed for this for so long,
01:07:18
Speaker
begins to kind of dance his fingers.
01:07:24
Speaker
And the coin kind of flicks, Captain Jack Sparrow style, between each of his knuckles.
01:07:34
Speaker
And this blue light just kind of emanates from his various tattoos.
01:07:42
Speaker
And all of his force just kind of channels into his palm.
01:07:48
Speaker
And he places it on Drago's chest.
01:07:56
Speaker
Drago's color has completely kind of left him at this point. And slowly but surely, that definition comes back.
01:08:15
Speaker
Prego breaks his concentration but doesn't stop the spell but just looks, looks you in the eye, Seth, almost for confirmation.
01:08:31
Speaker
Seth very slowly nods and says, he will not go to this dear nightmare.
01:08:43
Speaker
And nods again. unable to really make expressions at this present time. Frege returns his focus to Drago's body.
01:08:57
Speaker
Karsan looks confused, but doesn't say anything, but he looks questioningly towards Seth.
01:09:10
Speaker
And as this light now kind of hits a crescendo, Prego just pushes very forcefully
01:09:19
Speaker
into Drago's chest and you start to hear snapping. But things not breaking, things breaking back, things snapping back, skeleton reforming.
01:09:34
Speaker
Elements of bones that had shattered and Drago just looked flat, like pancake, muscle is kind of redefining. color is beginning to come back.
01:09:48
Speaker
And as Prager lifts his hand back out,
01:09:56
Speaker
the chest rises independently of the power.
01:10:01
Speaker
And Drago
01:10:05
Speaker
The last thing you remember is the agony of being struck by a blunt object the size of a tree ten times your shape.
01:10:16
Speaker
To now. So you open your eyes in shock. You see blue skies. You smell burnt earth and burnt flesh.
01:10:31
Speaker
You are weaker than you have ever felt.
01:10:38
Speaker
you've drawn breath in near instant from the last one you drew. But in reality, it's been, it's been maybe 14 hours.
01:10:56
Speaker
And you find yourself on a scorched field, once of stone, but now not.
01:11:08
Speaker
But in Sleetgaard nonetheless, that dread of being on the vile plane is gone. That sensory overload of being on the vile plane.
01:11:19
Speaker
That threat of being wherever you were after the vile plane has gone. And also you're met with deep sorrow. Deep sorrow because you were in the eternal plane momentarily too. It's that you had found yourself at a keeper's side at the end of all things.
01:11:39
Speaker
And then you blinked.
01:11:42
Speaker
You blinked away from your friends. You blinked away from people that you have lost.
01:11:53
Speaker
And in that moment,
01:11:59
Speaker
in that moment, where you're beginning to see the skies above you,
01:12:10
Speaker
You feel you have a choice. You feel you have a choice to step closer towards Karstan who holds his hand in yours and in your other hand.
01:12:29
Speaker
It's held by your father.
01:12:34
Speaker
It's held by Claude and Folly. Everyone you have loved that has passed.
01:12:44
Speaker
You hold both tightly, but you know you need to let go of one.
01:12:52
Speaker
What do you do? i go back to Carsten.
01:12:59
Speaker
For one final time, perhaps
01:13:05
Speaker
you bid adieu to your former friends, your fallen comrades.
01:13:11
Speaker
This heavy, heavy dwarven hand of Shadar's then slaps on yours as you make that call.
01:13:23
Speaker
They know. Drago knows. And they know. This is what he's got to do. This is what he's here for. Long has he fought the hands of fate.
01:13:34
Speaker
He's accepted a long time ago that Those that bind him to this world still need him, and his job's not done. There's no real choice.
01:13:45
Speaker
And a nod and a sending warmth in all his loved one's directions, and a promise to return, probably in not too far in the distant future, but solemnly walks towards the light.
01:14:01
Speaker
of Karstan to reclaim his place on the mortal plane.
01:14:10
Speaker
And like falling, just at that point where you're falling asleep and jolting yourself back awake, you leap, you leap up into life once again, far more weakened. You're under the effects of the resurrection spell.
01:14:25
Speaker
You have a minus four to all attack rolls, saving throws, ability checks, basically in time you roll um And every time you've finished a long rest, that deduces by one. So basically for the next four days, it's kind of like you are also under the effects of exhaustion.
01:14:41
Speaker
and Any missing body parts you had are also back. So, you know, if you'd lost anything over the years, that's that's now back too. you're You know, you've been fully serviced.
01:14:54
Speaker
but you are there, you you are back and you are not in the place that you left these this party in.
Drago's Struggle and Resolve
01:15:07
Speaker
Is there anything you'd like to do?
01:15:12
Speaker
Just takes a moment to look around because he doesn't know what's going on. And as you so beautifully described, he's now back on Aerith where the last thing you remembered was ah being defeated.
01:15:25
Speaker
He searches
01:15:30
Speaker
unsure where he really is because of the change in landscape from all the dragon fire and his memories foggy. It's almost, he's been suffering with a migraine for days and now he's finally just coming out of it.
01:15:46
Speaker
And he, his eyes will latch onto things that he knows. So cast down Seth, Prego. At the sight of Prego.
01:16:02
Speaker
Togalon.
01:16:10
Speaker
Prego is unable to speak to you and kind of turns in a mixture of anger and sadness. It's back to you. Don't turn your back on me. Your brother.
01:16:21
Speaker
Talk along. What's happened? he's He's still trapped, Drago, we think. Where? and in In that pocket dimension where you were.
01:16:35
Speaker
Okay, that's a good thing. Yeah, but someone had to keep him there.
01:16:44
Speaker
Right.
01:16:47
Speaker
Who? What from our group? To do what we had to do, we could either we if to did what we did and we would ah would we would have lost you.
01:16:58
Speaker
Things went bad very quickly. Emron took the place of the sacrifice. For fuck's sake. At the start of all of this, ah said, if we go down, we carry on.
01:17:18
Speaker
Right. The problem is that... That was the plan, the plan. I told them that we were going to do that and then we were overwhelmed and we had to... Emron felt that we had to take things into our own hands in order to stop me dying, to stop Karstan dying, to stop Prego dying and continue to have you trapped there.
01:17:44
Speaker
it was It was a snap decision, I think, because he was down with the plan. The plan was we were going to leave you there. And then when Because that was the plan.
01:17:58
Speaker
Right, okay. So the end of the plan where we defeat the Steel Nightmare, what's happening there? that's that's That's still on. I think... i don't i don't We don't know what M1 did. All we know is when he stepped into the fire, the the demons that were attacking stopped. They they they they they they walked away.
01:18:17
Speaker
They left us. we They could have killed us all. I don't know what M1 did. no None of us know what Emrin did. So what happened here?
01:18:28
Speaker
You can see that Drago's getting frustrated and angry. Old Drago being very confused. If I was to rush your emotion that he's purposely pushing to one side to remain on point.
01:18:46
Speaker
If I was to hazard a guess, I would say that this is Sean Dralica.
01:18:52
Speaker
Right. And she was meant to help us. Well, no, she was. She'd had offers from all sides. And I wasn't able to convince her to help us.
01:19:03
Speaker
This is my fault. Okay, so we put her on the kill list. What's the next step? absolutely We need to find the others. But the important thing, Drago, is that we've got you back. Because you were dead.
01:19:21
Speaker
I don't know what to do with that right now. and and Because it sounds like I should have been dead and someone else has taken my place.
01:19:32
Speaker
But right now, in order to not let anything that you guys made the choice on and thank you i for me being here, but in order for it not to be in vain, what's the next step?
01:19:49
Speaker
We have to try and get the others and get to the steel nightmare. That is how do we do that? I don't know. Prego. How do we do that? His back still turned to you.
01:20:03
Speaker
He's...
01:20:07
Speaker
He's mourning, Drago. He didn't want Emron under any circumstances to be the person stepping into that fire. No one wants anyone of this party to die.
01:20:20
Speaker
But there is a time and a place for this. We are in what Look around us.
01:20:27
Speaker
We don't have time to mourn. We don't have time to sit and deliberate on what to do next. We don't have time to run over the decisions we've made and question whether or not we made the right one.
01:20:41
Speaker
All we can do is do the next thing. So if the next thing is to find the others, how do we do that? We would need to get a message to them. And we don't have a Sending Stone to do it unless you've magically got one shoved up your ass.
01:20:57
Speaker
We don't have one.
01:21:01
Speaker
Unless you can talk to your brother from here. We have very little ability right now to communicate. I might be able to talk to my brother from here. Just give me a moment.
01:21:14
Speaker
Drago would just step away.
01:21:19
Speaker
As he walks away, he's kicking up the dust of the ground. It's probably ashes of people he's known. Feeling very confused and very angry. um He will grasp the amulet of Kiva. He hasn't got the amulet of Kiva.
01:21:36
Speaker
He's going to close his eyes and reach out to Akiva. Are you there? Are there?
01:21:48
Speaker
I literally just saw you. i was in your presence. You cannot say that you're unaware of what's going on right now. Where the fuck are you?
01:22:05
Speaker
Silence.
01:22:13
Speaker
um He's going to...
01:22:17
Speaker
to do to do do What's my palate in treat?
01:22:35
Speaker
True shit. He has nothing. He's sensing nothing. He closes his eyes, tries to breathe. so that his heart rate comes down, so he's not full of anger.
01:22:47
Speaker
He straightens his back. He's trying all all the fucking techniques that Claude taught him in order to commune with the fucking gods. Is anything at all working? Am I getting any friction, any wave, any sense that he's here?
01:23:06
Speaker
No. You feel too weak to be able to access that. You feel...
01:23:16
Speaker
entirely kind of lost in your fatigue that you struggle to kind of tap into the continuous resident rent resonance that you are used to just not coming to you over everything else you're experiencing you are not well enough
01:23:42
Speaker
nope I don't accept this and He'll stomp back to the group. Okay, no, I don't have something. I was trying to talk to Akiva. ah Anyone got anything?
01:23:54
Speaker
going to place a hand on Drago's chest and Danny, I'm going to cast Greater Restoration on him to see if it does anything to help him.
01:24:07
Speaker
As you touch his chest, although you're Karstan, and although there is great trust there, there is a flinch as you're bringing him out of the mind fuck that he's currently in and the cloud and the fog. And that kind of any touch makes him bristle. and You do feel that.
01:24:28
Speaker
Yeah.
01:24:31
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know whether it does anything to help it. yeah you You feel kind of slightly warmed by that spell, but you are left feeling exactly the same when it ends.
01:24:49
Speaker
I'm sorry, Drago. Don't be sorry. We need to do better. Right. Come on. We've been here before, Kastan. There's got to be something. Um... um
01:25:09
Speaker
I feel like he could do something. Prego walks away. I feel like you could get him to do something because clearly he's pissed.
01:25:20
Speaker
i How did you get here? I was quite brutal with him and told him that we had to get out of here and save you. And I begged him to save you. That's what happened.
01:25:31
Speaker
Yeah, but you got here through him. Yes. Right. At the moment, I don't see a better way to move ourselves. Okay.
01:25:43
Speaker
I'll talk to him. Surely he can commune with someone. one Who's on the boat? What about Baal or Nyx? yeah ye yeah Yep, yep,
01:25:58
Speaker
Give me a moment.
01:26:01
Speaker
And Karsan's going to go over to... to so wherever Prager has gone.
01:26:10
Speaker
He's just kind of moved north out of what was once the a kind of northern wall of Goldport slash Necron Keep and just facing the kind of road and in the very distant horizon you can just kind of see the onslaught of war 15, 10, 15 miles away towards Goldview. And he's just staring he's just staring at those anchors in the sky that are penetrating every single kingdom, but specifically looking at the one at Goldview that's closest.
01:26:54
Speaker
Well, um
01:26:59
Speaker
I'm sorry.
01:27:02
Speaker
Prego, for what it's worth.
01:27:09
Speaker
I never intended for him to have to do that.
01:27:15
Speaker
I know.
01:27:18
Speaker
I know. I disagree with Drago.
01:27:25
Speaker
What do you mean? There is time to mourn.
01:27:33
Speaker
but but the the The window, though, the we don't have long, do we? either If I know Emron, he wouldn't have put a timer on it. And he just looks up at the Steel Nightmare.
01:27:50
Speaker
I cannot see your dragon friend.
01:27:55
Speaker
They're probably inside now.
01:28:01
Speaker
You mean...
01:28:04
Speaker
Okay. Drago's brother. Yes. is Which means that we will be able to get to them. I just need to get to the people on the boat.
01:28:15
Speaker
I'll go get them.
01:28:18
Speaker
Thank you. i I know it's hard to ask you this now, but I think Drago would probably want me to be a bit more stern. but What do you want to be?
01:28:32
Speaker
This is your story too.
01:28:36
Speaker
Don't do what Drago wants, do what you feel is right. What feel is right I should have died down there. So feel that. I do. And I am angry beyond comprehension.
01:28:50
Speaker
I don't show my anger like Drago does. It's it's justs different for me. But ah I will... There's a very short shit list right now.
01:29:04
Speaker
And I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that that list has some names scratched off it if it kills me.
01:29:16
Speaker
But I also need to remember Emron for you.
01:29:22
Speaker
I think I owe him that.
01:29:27
Speaker
I am angry. I am infuriated and I am ashamed because of what has happened here, down there, everywhere.
01:29:41
Speaker
Thank you for fred going to get the others. I appreciate that and i'm thank you for not having me ask you. I don't think I would have felt good about asking more of you again after I demanded you fixed Drago.
01:30:04
Speaker
I know you could have brought but brought back Sebastian instead. I'm not a fool. I know I sometimes act stupid, but I'm not. I know.
01:30:15
Speaker
i know what that supposed to cost you.
01:30:22
Speaker
There are many others I would have preferred to have brought back, but I respect the wishes of my friends.
01:30:31
Speaker
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to tell a very young man that both of his fathers are now dead.
01:30:43
Speaker
Thank you.
01:30:48
Speaker
We'll be... We'll wait here, I guess. That won't be long.
01:30:55
Speaker
I'll find them.
Conclusion and Teasers
01:31:00
Speaker
cost And Carson sort of
01:31:04
Speaker
me makes to put a hand on his shoulder and then isn't sure and finally does just rest a hand.
01:31:14
Speaker
He kind of lingers but doesn't really reciprocate but doesn't chew you off straight away. And then heads... and along the northern path towards the road, bound for the shore.
01:31:28
Speaker
And Karstan trudges back towards Drago.
01:31:35
Speaker
And that's where we're going to end this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop Bellum Draconis. Ugh, so sad.
01:31:46
Speaker
Farewell! Oh!
01:31:52
Speaker
Bye. Bye. Bye. for listening, though. Don't leave it on the sour note. Thanks for listening, guys, for tuning in every week. Stay with us because as you can feel, the DM is concocting a magical, beautiful, brutal, but beautiful tale.
01:32:09
Speaker
So please do tune in next week where we will find out what happens to our woodway our Waveway followers, I assume. I don't know. I'm not in the DM's head. We could be going elsewhere. Fuck it. We could be going having a one-on-one with Emron and find out what kind of psychedelic fuck-up trip he's into. I don't know. But you'll find out next week. Thank you. We are the Fellowship Tabletop.
01:32:29
Speaker
Farewell.