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Ep. 65 Birdsong - De Profundis
102 Plays4 years ago
Happy New Year!
In this episode we return to Erith! Claude is an eagle, Tali is hurt and Drago is confused. Add a pub on wheels and you’ve got a great opening to 2021.
Follow us on our Twitters - @FellowshipTable
Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade - https://josephmcdade.com/
The Fellowship Party Twitter Pages:
- The DM/Mark - @HastilyRolledDM
- Drago/Ian - @IRolledA1
- Folly/Callum - @TheD20Gamer
- Princess Helena/Casey - @unicorncrit
- Carstan/Will - @Natural20Will
- Robin/Darren - @DarrenPage06
- Claude/Danny - @totalpartythrlz
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Transcript
Opening Banter and Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Robin, how does he not be an eagle for the rest of his life? Whatever easy solution for that Drago. Let your sword get happy. Squawk!
00:00:38
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of The Fellowship of the Tabletop. We are a live play 5e D&D podcast set in the magical homebrewed world of Eryth. My name is Mark, I am the Dungeon Master and also with us for today's episode we have Ian who plays the Dragonborn Barbarian Drago. What up? We've got Callum who plays the gnome-saucer of Folly Fizzlebang the 9th.
00:00:57
Speaker
Hello. Casey, who plays the human champion, Helen, a sleep guard. Hola, señor. Will, who plays the human bard, Carstan. Hiya. Danny, who plays the human cleric, Claude. Bonjour. And Darren, who plays the human fighter, Rogue Robin. Holy loofah, Vandross Batman.
00:01:17
Speaker
Wow, we went around the world there, that was great.
Bone Devil Encounter
00:01:19
Speaker
We have, last week's episode of The Fellowship of the Tabletop, we were on some minecarts heading down the Skullroad Mountains on kind of like a ski lift style, two to a cart, and as we were working our way down, it was quite a nice serene view. We were attacked by these massive bone devils, which these flying monstrosities, and three of them attacked the carts, trying to plunge the party to their doom 300 feet below.
00:01:41
Speaker
and what we noticed was in the view of this canyon we found these bone devils flying through everything you did so well you did so well into the view
00:01:57
Speaker
That was a big homage to Callum's deep V. That's all I'm saying. So listen for you just because inside jokes are horrible. One of our cast mates tonight has decided to don the deepest of V-necks we've ever seen. It goes down past his nipples more to the lower rib cage. Enjoy that visual. Check on Twitter. I might throw a picture up.
00:02:23
Speaker
at fellowship table after this the bone devil if you like what you see actually the 20 gamer just say you know bravo bravo bravo he's free ladies anyway on to the bone devils the more important pressing matters um the bone devil was attacked uh almost knocking out one of the carts drago kind of hokily style holding on to these big chains and
00:02:45
Speaker
We had Claude falling out of the sky as he was polymorphed into a giant eagle, I think you were, which then picked up Drago and proceeded to, like Valhalla style, fight off these creatures until all three of them were slain. We find ourselves, at the moment, in a now different order on the cart situation. We have... Hashtag Bone Devil Come! We have... That's my nickname.
00:03:16
Speaker
We okay? Have I broken you? Oh, it's the V. I'm completely broken. It's the V. I tried my best. It was all right. You know what? I was just going to take the jumper off. No, no, no, no. You've made this effort right now. Leave what little there is left to the imagination. Yeah. So.
00:03:35
Speaker
We find ourselves in a different order in these carts. Now, bear in mind, remember these carts could only hold comfortably two people, three at a push. And at some points, we did have three in a cart fighting off the Bone Devils. We now have, at the very front of the cart order, Tali and Robin, followed by the next cart behind with Helena and Karstam. Aside from that, the cart behind that one is the one that is broken, that Drago was trying to save. Drago is currently
00:04:00
Speaker
Dare I say this, riding Claude, the giant eagle, who is now flying around the space with a tiny little fly-like folly, who is also flying, zipping around alongside the carts. We will join over to Helena and Karst and to begin with, just as they get dropped into the cart, and this battle's just kind of ended. Is there anything you guys want to do? I know we've taken a couple of hits, Helena.
00:04:29
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, Helen is going to be, she'll be fine. She'll be out of breath. And she's probably going to say to Carstan. Are you OK? Carstan? Yeah, I'm fine Your Majesty. I'm just, I feel a bit queasy, but I'll be fine. Do you think there are any more around?
00:04:50
Speaker
I hope not. And I don't think so. I mean, Claude and Drago can deal with it now that Claude can fly Drago closer. So it should be fine, hopefully. So where is it? Are we still traveling? Are we still traveling? Yeah, they're still moving at a steady pace as they have been through the entire battle. OK, so how long do you think before we get to the other side?
00:05:15
Speaker
It could be a few hours, I think. It depends where exactly these carts come down, but it could be another couple of hours, I think. So we still need to be on our guard. That's all I'm thinking. Yeah, yeah, hopefully. You sound rather cheery, Castan. Yeah, we're alive. We're flying through the air. It's quite picturesque when you look outside, really. Oh, for your positivity.
00:05:44
Speaker
I know it's hard, big thing. And as you two look at the front of your car, you see Tali kind of popping her head in front of you with Robin also in the car. Tali's going to just turn around to Robin. What the hell were they? I don't know, but that's quite a bad
00:06:04
Speaker
laceration on your shoulder there, Tarly. Are you okay? No, I'm fine. She looks down and sees the blood kind of over her shoulder and overhead chest. It just caught me a little too close for comfort. I'm actually just going to sit down for a minute, actually, and you can see her eyes flutter a little bit. She just kind of plonks herself down, her face going a little bit white, and she just sits in the corner of the car and takes a few deep breaths.
00:06:32
Speaker
Robin, upon seeing that, is going to try and just move towards her and just steady her, doesn't want her falling over
Eagle Claude's Struggles
00:06:38
Speaker
the side of the cart. Yes, I think this is wise, Tali. Sit, sit here. And Robin's going to take from his satchel a piece of cloth that he's maybe used to wrap up some of his arrows or his bones, going to rip it. And he's just going to take her hand and he's going to wrap the cloth around and over her shoulder as a form of bandage. And he's going to take her hand and press it there and go, you need to keep that there, Tali.
00:07:02
Speaker
Look at me. You need to keep that there until Claude can look at you, OK? OK, OK, it's... Yeah, no problem. I'm fine, I just needed to... I just need to sit down, that's all. Are you OK? I am... I'm well. I'm alive. We all are. That's the main thing. It is. It is. Are they still flying around out there? Robin glances over and probably sees...
00:07:32
Speaker
the most ridiculous sight of Folly Trago. I believe that's an apt way of describing the situation. Yes, they're still flying. And I know I left our intrepid flying explorers last episode with quite a quite heroic stance as they kind of fly swooping in to take out this last bone devil. If you remember before, Claude, you aren't the most
00:08:00
Speaker
your aptitude is not for flying particularly so it's not a very graceful way of flying so I think you had a moment of grace as all the stars aligned and you understood dorsal flexion pivot movement your pitch you just hit flying and you managed to nail it for that one perfect picture I think now you're still kind of flying a bit like an idiot a little bit one wing and then the other wing and then and then both and then it's kind of so it's not the most it's not the most
00:08:25
Speaker
Stylish let's be honest and Drago you're probably having a little bit of a bumpy ride trying to try to hold on and this moment is kind of past but Drago you are on top with Folly kind of flying alongside and Claude you're pretty much in control here what where are you taking them what you what are you doing?
00:08:39
Speaker
Well, as fate would have it, I now have the most experience of flying of the entire party, one of which is a descendant of a dragon. So I'm rather, you know, the leading authority on this and yet unable to sort of maintain a steady horizontal perfection. So a lot of swooping and
00:08:59
Speaker
Other terminology, you use an aviation to describe your position in the sky. But what I will be trying to do is just circle around folly, trying to figure out how his magical wings work. In the same time, just keeping afloat, knowing that if I twist, jargon falls. Yeah, and I can't speak, so I'm just going to squawk very confusingly at everyone. Probably looks like I'm quite menacing and intimidating, but really I'm saying,
00:09:29
Speaker
What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What?
00:09:58
Speaker
This isn't going to happen again. Don't fucking drop me. Claude sort of nods. And in doing so, the eagle kind of dips a little bit, then rises a little bit as he nods his head, you're kind of going up and down. Not a lot, just a little bit, noticeably for yourself, Drago. You notice that anymore because Folly is flying so perfectly in a straight line alongside you, you can tell when you're dipping up and down quite perceptively.
00:10:26
Speaker
I picture Folly just kind of floating like Magneto does or something like that and it's just very dignified. He's almost got like one hand behind his back as he's walking along and it's just holding his fork at staff. I imagine your leg still moving. It's like you've hacked the game and you're walking like on air and your leg is still moving. It's like you just hacked the game.
00:10:45
Speaker
Is Folly at danger of moving slower than the carts are advancing? Or is it... Probably the other way around, Folly's probably moving quicker than the carts, to be honest. They're not moving at a massively quick pace. They're slow but steady, the pace of the carts. What I'll probably do is, knowing that Folly will be able to keep up, is I will fly down the conveyor past the
00:11:09
Speaker
Pass the two in the front, which are Tali and Robin, and I will just roost on top of the line, so on the bit of the cart that moves with the line. So I'm roosting, let Drago and I sort of scope out the horizon for any other sort of problems. Okay, could you, Claude, could you give me a perception check with the, no.
00:11:33
Speaker
Through a drago drago. Do you want to give a perception check with advantage as you're on top of you probably got the highest? The eagle also has has the advantage on Oh, well, but give me both of you. Give me your roles. Then it's the one thing you don't have going for a man and that they are coming Because the Eagles are coming just it was coming just to throw in the one the one reference
00:11:58
Speaker
Callum, don't forget your spell runs out after 10 minutes mate. We've not been flying for 10 minutes yet. It lasts less time than Polymorph, just saying. I know, Polymorph lasts an hour, doesn't it? I got 20. Thank you. I got an actual 20. Have you got any pluses to your perception?
Exploring the Distribution Center
00:12:18
Speaker
The eagle adds 4 to it. 24. It says 24, okay.
00:12:24
Speaker
You have a good scope around and your main eye here is for hostiles. You remember the buzzing sound that kind of gave away the bone devils before and your ears and eyes are attuned to that and their kind of angle of attack. As your eyes look up and across the now still sky, there is nothing else moving. There is no life here, dead or living.
00:12:44
Speaker
However, as you continue to scan around, you see the carts slowly pull around another corner and you realize now actually how low we are to the ground here. It's probably only about an hour away from the base. And now you can see a very straight descent directly down towards what must be some kind of distribution facility down below, which again seems long abandoned from your current perspective.
00:13:06
Speaker
You can also see quite close off from that, probably a half an hour's walk is the main road. A road that you remember walking down.
00:13:15
Speaker
quite some time ago, moving from Evershire down to Blackmouth. You passed this part of the path, but obviously didn't pay any attention to some kind of ruined buildings off to the side as your main mission was to go to Blackmouth. So that's all kind of ahead of you, and that's all you can really see. But your main point of any other attacking enemies at the moment, it all seems absolutely clear. You get no inclination that there's anything else, no other Bone Devils attacking.
00:13:40
Speaker
What I'll do then is, I probably won't, because I can't consult with Drago, is I will take him and fly further down towards his distribution point and just sort of do a more in-depth check of where everyone is heading to.
00:13:57
Speaker
Okay, yep, so all you do is as you fly down and over you get a good look over this area and it's really, it's a derelict, uh, looted by the looks of things. There's many of the, uh, areas that would hold goods have either been set on fire or, um, and kind of gutted really. It's just the skeletons of what it used to be.
00:14:15
Speaker
You see large open spaces where goods would have been dumped and loaded on the carts. The paths around the area are incredibly worn with a number of small wooden shacks and outbuildings, many of which, like I said, are either gutted or unusable and collapsed. You can see the amount of industry that must have come through here is really huge, coming down from Evershire, or there was an area to turn, coming from Goldview to turn around and then go back to Goldview again. So this was a highly used area of industry quite some time ago.
00:14:44
Speaker
you notice as you fly down and round another similarly large tower to the one you saw at the very top this massive massive tower is held to get in place by these hugely thick probably like a foot thick chains that are attached to massive hunks of rock in the ground to keep these two massive pillars upright where the carts attach themselves to before lowering down out of sight and probably through an underground system to get back up to the top of the mountain but
00:15:13
Speaker
you see that you can also see the road seems quite quiet you can see the odd person walking along it in pairs um you see also from your current location a bit of this is again massively high perception further north from your position towards high haven and evershire to the north and you can see uh some dust rising quite far off in the distance and that's that's about a lot yeah i will
00:15:42
Speaker
probably land and try and engage in some sort of charades like dialogue with Drago as to our next instruction if I should go back and taxi more people or if we should just come take Drago back up and move as a unit.
00:15:59
Speaker
Okay, cool. So you're dropping off Drago, then you're kind of chiming him off your map. So I'm dropping him off and then looking at him, very puzzled. Could you give me a performance check with disadvantage? Yes. See if he understands anything about what you're... Yes, I believe I can make a check as well to read it. Yeah, we'll do it in a sec. I believe I have to use the Eagles performance modifier. Yeah, so you need to use your charisma, which is nothing. So you roll a dice and that's it. Yes. Nine.
00:16:30
Speaker
Okay, drag over to offset an awful roll. Can you give me your perception check, please? No, Insight. No, perception. Insight or perception? Perception, please. Advantage, disadvantage, normal. Normal. I got a 1, a natural 1, bumped up to 7, but it's a natty 1, so I'm light.
Understanding Eagle Claude
00:16:52
Speaker
No, so it's a 7, it is a 7. No, no, it's a 1, he rolled a 1.
00:16:56
Speaker
One is an automatic fail, no matter what, that you modify onto it. Okay. You are certain that Claude is telling you he is now stuck as an eagle forever? Like, 100% certain, that's what he's saying. He's kind of patting his body with his wings, he's looking, he's doing this around, he's doing this, that way, back, this and that, and then himself again, and then his back again, and you keep thinking, this is it. He's a fucking eagle.
00:17:26
Speaker
Hold up, important distinction here. Do I believe that Claude believes he's an eagle forever? Or do I think that Claude is an eagle forever? You think that he is telling you, I am an eagle forever.
00:17:40
Speaker
All right, okay, cool. So he's telling me that he's an eagle forever. I don't naturally think it. He's telling me I believe it. There's a difference between me thinking that he's an eagle forever or him telling me that he's an eagle forever. It's like, basically, consider it this clear to you in your mind because you got what you did. It's like Claude turned to you and has said, I am going to be an eagle forever. Okay.
00:18:06
Speaker
Cool, cool, cool. And then just make sure, because that's two different answers that will come out of me here. Of course, yeah. Right. You're telling me that you're going to be an this thing forever. The eagle looks quite concerned. OK, I hear you.
00:18:36
Speaker
I understand what you're trying to tell me. Uh, Claude. Wow. Um... Okay, okay. Well, go and get the others first. Then after. Well, me and you... And Drago's miming here. We'll talk to Akiva.
00:19:04
Speaker
I'm sure there is something he can do to you. I'm sure. And if you are an eagle forever, we could still use you in this fight. There's a place for you here.
00:19:26
Speaker
Even if you're an eagle. Tough break. George is going to try and write using his beak right and then realise he doesn't know what letters look like and what letters mean. It's okay. It's okay. Don't cry. I'm sure there's going to be something that we can do. There's no food on the ground, Claude. What do you eat now? I guess rats or something. I don't know. We'll have to learn. There's a lot to figure out on the way.
00:19:56
Speaker
on the way and we will figure out this. We can, I'm sure, Karsten can dive into your mind and we'll find everything out that you want to say. Robin can speak to his bird. Maybe that bird can speak to you. I don't understand. But we can find a way. I'm starting to panic now because I genuinely think this might be permanent. Because that's what Drago has told me.
00:20:26
Speaker
and I've got to start flapping around dangerous ring wingspan here is big like listen Eagle Claude Eagle Claude Claude you can come up with a new name I mean there's good things about this it's hard to think about the good things right now
00:20:58
Speaker
But there's good things. Oh god, fuck. Robin's better at this stuff than I am. Okay, on that, Claude's gonna shoot off, leave Drago there, and go just grab only Robin, and then fly back to this situation. So Robin, you have just been grabbed by this eagle that you've seen. You know it's Claude. It flies over. Tali is in the cart, still looking quite worse for wear. And as you see,
00:21:26
Speaker
him approach, fly straight towards your cart. He's then going to grab you with his talons and try and follow off. Is there a strength off that can be done if you want to resist? Only if Robin wants to resist. Robin, do you want to resist? Robin's not going to resist, but he's going to do a bit of this if he sees what's about to happen. And he's going to try and shout if he's coming in. Tali's wounded. Take her as well. Tali's wounded. Take her as well. And just hope that that's going to translate.
00:21:52
Speaker
Okay, I'll grab, I'll grab Tali gracefully and Robin in a panic with both Talons and start flapping down the mountain again. During this time Drago is just kind of almost pacing just in a circle and his head is down. I really don't know what we're gonna do if he's an eagle.
00:22:16
Speaker
I mean, Akiva, if you are listening and watching this, maybe there's something you can do. Because he's quite important. And Drago starts to get a little bit serious here, as he does when he talks to Akiva. He's quite important to us, as he was. And to you, surely to you, when he's doing your things, maybe it's easier for him to be human.
00:22:44
Speaker
to carry out your task then and he's just gonna carry on like this could you roll uh could you give me a religion check please i am not i am not praying this conversation is a different thing such a hypocrite he's talking to a god that he doesn't believe in could you give me a religion check please it's not hypocritical and it's not praying and yes i can it is praying you're talking to praying is a conversation with the deity by its very definition uh 21
00:23:13
Speaker
That's a good prayer. As you're saying this, you start to feel this now familiar buzzing in your ears and it grows a bit louder and a bit louder and then suddenly stops in an instant and you don't really know what's happened until you see a small sparrow
00:23:39
Speaker
off on a part of the wooden, on one of the wooden huts, or huts, one of the wooden warehouses behind you. And as it flies over, you hear it flying, getting closer and closer to you, it sees you, there's an about turn, you hear it go, oh shit, and then starts to fly off again in the other direction. I'm going to take that as he is an eagle and there's nothing you can do.
00:24:02
Speaker
Okay. Nothing else. Just so you know, you've had comprehend, you've had talk, speak with animals, talk with animals. Speak with animals. Speak with animals cast upon you by Akiva.
00:24:20
Speaker
Okay, cool. Why'd you why'd you roll so well on a on a religion check? I've got a plus two to really that's pretty good That's pretty good considering you are an atheist for all intents and purposes And as
00:24:40
Speaker
Jesus Christ, we're just coming down the mountain. As Claude, in now panicked eagle form, comes flying down the mountain as he comes, with Robin looking very awkward and entirely looking a bit limp. Drago, you see him kind of put them both down on the dry, but earthy floor. You see, Tali is bleeding, but this isn't a wound from Claude. This is a wound from previously that she was covered with her own. I was there when that wound was inflicted. And Robin gets put down quite brazenly onto the ground. What do you want to say?
00:25:09
Speaker
You start pecking at Robin's like between his feet and then point with my beak at drama. Oh my god, he's not food. I keep trying to tell you this, he's not food. I know you're hungry. He's now hearing you speak eagle. He's not, he's not food. Are you an eagle too? You can understand what he's saying now. Are you an eagle? Do I look like a fucking eagle? You're the only one here that's an eagle.
00:25:39
Speaker
Well, you weren't speaking Eagle before. Where did you learn Eagle? I don't know. This is some weird shit. I don't want to be an Eagle forever. Why do you think I'm going to be an Eagle forever? Could Robin fix it? Does it involve a book? You've told me that you're going to be an Eagle forever.
00:25:58
Speaker
No, I tried to give you an elaborate song and dance because I can't speak. And I tried to tell you... Well, you're an elaborate song and dance with shit because all I saw was you flapping your fucking wings and I'm thinking, oh, I'm a fucking eagle forever. And I'm like, shit, he's an eagle forever. Listen, I've traveled in time, right? I don't know how old I am, but I've only been an eagle twice. He holds up three fingers. Three feathers. How have you got fingers? Feathers. Two talons.
00:26:29
Speaker
I don't know how this works, but each time it feels more serious than the last squawk. Are you going to stay as an eagle?
00:26:41
Speaker
I don't know, but you said I was, and now I'm the wrong one. You said that you were going to be an eagle. I didn't say anything. I didn't think you spoke eagle. If you spoke eagle, you'd know I was asking, shall I get everyone else and leave you here? Is that OK? You had that clawed look in your eyes. I said, I'm going to be an eagle. These aren't my eyes. These haven't been my eyes for the last few minutes.
00:27:02
Speaker
Robin, during this time, you've just seen a very, very animated eagle squawking and flapping around, feathers flying everywhere, and then Drago responding to it. But the way you hear it is Drago responds in common, but then is understood and can understand. It's only for his kind of channel that he can, that the eagle talk kind of works. So you're hearing half of this conversation take place as Drago seems to just argue with a giant eagle entirely. He's just out on the floor looking just as perplexed as you.
00:27:32
Speaker
I am... What? What is happening? Don't stop. I mean, you're just hearing squawks. Squawk up, squawk up, squawk up, squawk. Claude's just talking. You're hearing squawks. Ian is hearing, sorry, Drago is hearing everything I just said in that last sentence. I mean, you hear what Claude's saying. I... No. No. He's just flapping a lot and he's saying, car, car.
00:28:03
Speaker
Oh god, what's happened to me? You have learnt how to speak fucking eagle, Drago. You are speaking eagle, speak. Oh, we get too close, Claude, me and you. You know that. Too close.
00:28:16
Speaker
Either way, Tali has quite a bad wound. Can we stop whatever this is and get the actual Claude back to... I don't know. Margot seems to think that this is now permanent and I cannot go back to my original self. We're in the middle of a conversation where Claude is an eagle forever. Tali, are you okay?
00:28:36
Speaker
Yeah, I'm just a little woozy. I think I lost a bit of blood. I saw the wound that hit you. You're stronger than you think you are. This guy is going to be an eagle forever, I think. Am I going to be an eagle forever? He's freaking out about it.
00:28:57
Speaker
Understandably. At this point, Robin just glances at Tally's wound. Is she still bleeding? Is there still quite evidence that she's in a bad way? Yes. Yeah, it's still bleeding. It's not that she's necessarily in a bad way, like she's literally about to die, but the wound continues to bleed, yes. It's quite a bad wound. Robin, upon thinking about it, is just starting to try and process some kind of rational thought here.
00:29:23
Speaker
I'm trying to think, and this may be a question for you, DM, would Robin remember that this is polymorph because he's seen it before?
00:29:33
Speaker
Yeah, it's the same process. It was cast and he turned him into a large owl, I think it was last time. So you'd know it as polymorph, yeah. You wouldn't be able to, I don't think you can cast it, but you know of the spell and its properties and what it takes and the, the, uh, iconic concentration necessary to enable it to work and to keep it going. Robin's going to pause and go, Claude,
00:29:58
Speaker
Drago, ask Claude if he no longer wants to be an eagle. Drago, tell Robin I can hear him. Oh my god, this is getting too much now. Right, one at a time. Robin, Claude can hear you. Claude, you can talk to me and I'll talk to Robin, but please, one at a time, otherwise my sword is gonna get trigger happy. Okay, tell Robin, how do I not be an eagle for the rest of my life? Robin, how does he not be an eagle for the rest of his life?
00:30:28
Speaker
Well, there's an easy solution for that, Drago. Let your sword get happy. Squawk? Exsquawk? I wish I was part of this conversation. What? Well, from what I remember of the premise of the spell, my sister used to be able to cast it. Charlie, if it's in your father's book, just check. But I believe if Eagle
00:30:59
Speaker
Eagle. I can't find the word. No, no, no. It's just, it's just if, if Eagle Claude loses all of his constitution, he will revert to normal Claude. I think that's how the spell works, but I'm not sure. Claude, are you hearing this, Claude? Excuse me, Jago. Could you please ask Robin to clarify? It sounds like he wishes to kill me in order to make me become human.
00:31:26
Speaker
I like, uh, Eagle Claude because he gets quite sassy. I think I like sassy Eagle Claude. Wow.
00:31:39
Speaker
Dragos, he's rubbing a line in between his eyebrows, his fur in his brow. It's almost like he's got a headache. You get this distinct impression that this is causing a migraine. Robin, Claude would like to clarify if you're asking me to kill him.
00:31:59
Speaker
No, I'm asking for the love of... Tali, can you... Do you know anything about this spell? What will happen if they print? She's been going through her book whilst it's been taking place. She's reading over the notes. I think I can make this out, but yeah, I think...
00:32:14
Speaker
You're given the constitution of an eagle, Claude, and if that constitution is dropped and you become rendered unconscious in some way, then, yeah, the spell is broken. Either that or the caster, which I think is Karstan, stops concentrating. Drago, could you please ask what the word constitution means? Go on. Right, okay. Okay, okay. I think...
00:32:51
Speaker
Claude, I don't know if I'm going to kill you. I'm pretty sure that I don't have to kill you. I mean, you have a choice. You can be an eagle. I really don't want to... I don't want to blade you. There were many ways I would like to have died, but you killing me was not one of my top 100. And in the ways that I pictured you dying, this isn't the way I foresaw it. Who turned you into this? How did you become an eagle?
00:33:04
Speaker
I think you need to go and get the others first.
00:33:16
Speaker
I don't know. I fell off the wire, what was suspending those carts of mining, and then I turned into something that could fly. I assumed it was a Kiva. It probably is a Kiva. I would say it's a Kiva. Go and get the others. We can ask a Kiva. And yeah.
00:33:38
Speaker
So while that's all been taking place, Folly, I imagine you're just flying alongside the cart that has Helena and Karstan in it.
Magical Backgrounds and Chaos
00:33:45
Speaker
And I... What have you guys been talking about while all hell breaks loose? This is why I love Dungeons and Dragons. Can I just say, from one duff roll, we've developed half an hour of fucking bollocks where you guys have just rolled with a natural one on something as simple as just, like, what is he telling me?
00:34:03
Speaker
And now we've got, like, serious drama where Claude thinks his life is at stake and... I think I've moved on to, like, homicide. Yep. So anyway, whilst all that's been happening on the grounds, safe now in Sleetguard, away from all the troubles, it's not like there's a blight or anything going on, Helena and Karsten, you know, the folly with his legs tinkering along, kind of like from Wreck-It Ralph, I imagine, alongside you. Anything you've been talking about? So, Folly, when did you first start training to use magic?
00:34:35
Speaker
It all fit, isn't it? That was a very, very long time ago. I suppose you could say it's something that runs in my family, but I accidentally kind of got a knack for it, I suppose you could say. Did you study at one of the universities? Were you like one of the polytechnic colleges on the outskirts of the country? No, no, it was my family.
00:34:59
Speaker
The fizzle bangs have generations of stock magic users and bland magic users. I suppose you could say a bit of a family business. A bit of education then, yes. Homeschooled, yeah. Very much so. Learn from the desk, I can't argue.
00:35:21
Speaker
What about yourself? Where did you study? So I studied at one of the universities in Obsidian. Which one? Which one? It was the University of... I've not heard of it. It's very good. He got abbreviated for something. It was the... Jason said it was...
00:35:50
Speaker
What does M stand for? Hang on, hang on. Go on Mark, go on Mark. The major university... Oh shit, I forgot my name now myself. Yes, we've already established its own... What does M mean? Oh god, what is it? I believe it was a Hogwarts Academy of the Arcane, perhaps. What was that? Just so the DM can make a note of that for Canon?
00:36:19
Speaker
Agramoth Academy of the Arcane. Will I have heard of that one? Yep, you've heard of that. Very famous. So I studied at the Academy of the Arcane. It's part of one of the, you know, one of the University of Obsidia. So I was studying bardic skills and storytelling there. And then I also did several courses in bardic magic and how to use magic of words.
00:36:45
Speaker
That sounds very interesting actually, Gaster. It really was. So I, you know, I did, we studied lots of techs and I did things like performance and yeah, it was, um, you know, the rest of the family were doing their own thing. And I went to university. It's, you know. Did you make many friends there? I made some friends. Yeah. Piss a few people off, but you know. Yes, I can imagine. In the certain greatness, one does normally, as you say, piss people off.
00:37:13
Speaker
Well, you know, it's quite competitive, the bardic scene. It's really quite competitive. Any of the skills that you've learned come into use at all? Well, there's casting spells, they're singing songs. You know, I was famous for a little bit in the Sanguin Lands. And then I decided to, you know, come on this journey to come and travel and make a story about with you guys. So yeah.
00:37:39
Speaker
How far have you got with that story, by the way? I've drawn a nice picture of this. I think this will make a really nice central illustrated part of the novel. And then hopefully, if we get some time to rest, perhaps in Goldview, I might be able to ship off some of my notes back to the Sanguin Lands so they can be kept safe.
00:38:03
Speaker
What was your main thesis at university? And I'm quite curious. Well, you see, it's a bit different. And I don't know how you don't know much about the education system of the Sanguine Lands, because obviously you didn't go through it. But there isn't really like this thesis kind of thing. It's not really like that. They're like there were like magical tests you do at the very end. And you have to be able to do certain spells and certain things to be able to pass that. And then, yeah, the other things are, yeah.
00:38:30
Speaker
I like the elitistness of the university system, it sounds quite akin to that in the UK. So as this conversation is bland but lovely, you're quite relaxed, conversation is you start to recover your senses after the large battle. You see and hear Karsten first of all and then the others quite clearly, this awful noise echoing off the mountains.
00:38:55
Speaker
and you pause halfway through your elitist talk about your redbrook university cast time and you look out in the direction of where the carts are going and this terrible noise coming you've never heard anything quite like it it sounds almost demonic and as you look up over the horizon what pops up
00:39:15
Speaker
It's that fucking eagle again. And you can see Claude flapping with his old fucking wings up towards you and towards your cart where you're all kind of located around. Claude, you're coming up. What do you want to do? You're flapping around. Dive on like a gannet seeing some little mackerel in the sea. Scooping in. Going to get Helena nice and comfortably on.
00:39:34
Speaker
The back of my head, I'm going to talon Kastan quite aggressively and I'm going to start nudging flying backpack boy down the way back to distribution center where other three comrades are. Folly, can you give me an perception check to see if you get the gist of what's going on here or do you also think that he's an eagle for life? Oh, do we think it's an attack?
00:39:59
Speaker
I think the nudging would be gentle at the very least. You've got a 300-pound, very terrified eagle basically ramming your backpack, trying to get you to move down the mountain. Based off what I roll, I think that Folly's reaction to that would basically just be to turn around and aggressively start whacking his beak with his quarterstaff, just kind of trying to beat him away, because I rolled a six. So I interpret that very poorly.
00:40:29
Speaker
Yeah, you've hit him a couple. I mean, you've hit him a couple. Do you want to roll the hit? It's a great big colossal eagle. I don't think I'm going to struggle when it's literally that far away. There is a problem now is that I have three hit points left. So you could put us in problem here. Callum, could you roll the hit please? You have to open your big mouth.
00:40:54
Speaker
This is going to be with your quarter staff. I did say quarter staff. You did. Fortunately my hit with the quarter staff is a bit shit. Yeah, oh yeah, 3 HP. That's a... 13. That hits. Oh god. The AC for a giant eagle is there. Oh god, oh god. Okay, he's back right now. It's one handed, and I have a minus one for this attack.
00:41:24
Speaker
How high up are we? I am more than happy to screenshot this. I did zero damage. I rolled a one, a natural one, and I have a minus one to that attack. So I did zero damage. So you've literally just hit the beacon, nothing's happened. Oh, okay. Oh, that could have been hilarious. Fuck me.
00:41:44
Speaker
Because I can't catch enough spells to keep open the loft. Absolutely, which would have been fucking brilliant. Anyway, so with that crisis, if you follow, you hit him with the quarterstaff and as you hit it, it literally just kind of hits the feathers and bounces off. You haven't thrown up like a hit like that in years probably. And it just does nothing, absolutely nothing.
00:42:06
Speaker
And he nudges you a couple more times and flies off and you're kind of left on your own up the mountain. You realise that Helena and Karst have both been grabbed by Claude, the aggressive eagle, the bastard eagle that attacked you and is flying off down the mountain. What do you want to do? In all fairness, seeing as everyone has been going down the mountain, I know this eagle has took everybody else down the mountain.
00:42:30
Speaker
Folly would probably just take one quick last look around him realising he's all alone now and then just fly off quite casually still at the 60 feet movement speed but just
00:42:44
Speaker
just trailing past the eagle and follow the route that he takes. How fast can the eagle fly, is that curiosity? 80 feet per round. So it can fly slightly quicker than you follow, so you'll be a little bit later into this conversation. But yeah, so as you fly down the mountain for the second, third time now, you reach the base of the distribution center where the others are now kind of sat around.
00:43:06
Speaker
Excuse me. And you drop off Carstan and Helena.
Claude's Return and Travel Plans
00:43:11
Speaker
Carstan and Helena, if you've joined the conversation, you can see a Drago looking very concerned. The most concerned you've seen him in quite some time. Robin looking quite perturbed and entirely still looking worse for wear with quite a large wound across her shoulder.
00:43:27
Speaker
What's dropping these people off? I will start squawking so no one can hear apart from Drago which I'll be saying, okay, there we go, there's the people, sort me out or I'm gonna fly away because I do not want to die but the hands of your fucking sword. No one's gonna fucking die and especially not you, just shut up. Would you just for one moment in your life not talk? I can't believe you're an eagle and I can understand what you're saying still, this is too much Claude. Drago, you can talk to eagles.
00:43:54
Speaker
What's going on? Yes, Castan! I can talk to eagles now! Yes, Castan! Squawky, squawky, squawky, squawky! Alright, I said you come!
00:44:04
Speaker
Can you keep the bird to be less sassy, please? Oh, Carson. Right. OK. Can you do something about this, please? Because this is starting to haunt me now. Entalia needs curing. I'm confused. But what's happened? Claude is taking shelter behind Helena as well as the only person he thinks will protect him from what's happening now. This giant eagle is sort of like burrowing behind your back. Claude? Squawk.
00:44:33
Speaker
So I was going to ask, what the fuck did we just fight? But now there's a bigger issue of Drago, you can talk to Eagles and Claude's the Eagle and I mean, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, you look injured. Are you are you well?
00:44:50
Speaker
Castan, can you please do something about this? I'm sure you have the means of stopping whatever top-holder it is. She can't do anything, but Helena's going to go up to Tali and just hold her hands. Just keep asking her, what's wrong? How can we help? I'm fine. I just got caught. I wasn't paying attention. It's sort of safe, first of all. Honestly, she is stronger than you all think she is.
00:45:14
Speaker
I mean, yeah, I mean, I can, I can, I can stop Claude being an eagle at any time. I don't know why nobody's asked me. Oh, I've literally just asked you, please stop him being an eagle. Okay. And Carson will just take a moment and then Claude will start to sort of like transform back into Claude.
00:45:33
Speaker
And then slowly the feathers melt back into plate mail armour and then all of a sudden the height shrinks down, the beard grows as the beak basically drops down and forms the beard which turns into wispiness in the seaweed and the burnt embers of the last few combats seem to take form again until finally he is fully human again.
00:45:53
Speaker
I don't think any of you can help me. I'm going to go get Folly and I'm going to run and try and jump out into the air before realizing as I take a leap and jump that when I flap, I do not take flight. Can you give me an acrobatics check, please? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. I will willingly for acrobatics.
00:46:12
Speaker
Oh shit, 16! Okay, you manage to take off as you swing your arms up to fly it doesn't quite work and you just kind of plunk plunk back onto the ground again you're only about foot off the ground before clunk back down again and as you look and you kind of look at your arms you start to realize that you have human arms
00:46:31
Speaker
I'll start cowering because it hasn't quite sunk in yet. I don't want to die! Drago's my friend! Don't let him kill me! Oh, God, Drago's not gonna kill you. He only does that. I'm not saying he's gonna kill me! He's smoking, come to me! Yeah, but I never said I was gonna kill you. At this point, at this point, Folly's just flying down the mountain and is joined to see Claude just, like, crying, basically.
00:46:59
Speaker
What on earth is going on here? I have an existential crisis. Drago was just trying to kill you, Claude. Drago can talk eagle. Claude thought Drago was going to kill him because he was an eagle. Robin was annoyed at this whole situation for some reason. Talia's injured, but I think she's going to be all right. And now we're off the mountain. There's nothing more to discuss. Let's fucking move on.
00:47:24
Speaker
I agree with Helena. I believe we wasted quite enough time with this whole debacle. We've got more pressing things to deal with. You've literally just arrived here. I'm sorry, Folly! I have had a very serious moment where you've been flapping down the mountain, okay? What have you been waiting for you, sunshine? You want a final one here, Folly? I cannot leave you with a fucking backpack of death! Oh my god. I need a drink.
00:47:52
Speaker
Perhaps. I mean, how far away from Goldview are we? I don't know. Would I still be able to see it as I'm still flying? You could fly up, up, up, and have a little look if you want. I will fly up, up, up. Could you give me a perception check, please, Folly? Oh, wait a second. I hope you've not been flying too long, Folly. Carsten will shout up.
00:48:15
Speaker
17 okay as you pop yourself up up up up up in the air you start to get two things happen one you start to notice that your spell is about to reach its end and you are minutes away from running out of the concentration necessary for fly but as you look around you can see the great northern road as it's called sweeps down to the south and splits very quickly two ways right to blackmouth left to gold of you
00:48:42
Speaker
you have a look along the path and you reckon maybe two days worth of travel in order to get to Goldview, which you can see on the coast, the gleaming bright jewel of Sleet Guard, black smoke rising as it naturally does, as industry and life and metropolitan life really
00:49:00
Speaker
kind of pulses out from the center, this beacon of commerce within the ereth, really, in the whole of ereth. Yeah, really obvious to see, high walls, you can see it off in the distance. You've only been through once or twice, but yeah, two days, two days travel, you think, as you start to drop off a few inches and you go, okay, you start to low yourself back down. I think it's like Iron Man 1 style, we just kind of drops a little bit and then just a bit of propulsion comes back up and then it drops again. It's a bit of a very clumsier landing and it's probably going to land on top of the
00:49:29
Speaker
distribution center with a decent bit of a thud as well. That could have been more graceful. We can go that way. That way he's over to Goldview and he has points in the general direction. A decent bit of a trek though. Probably a couple of days, even if we do press on.
00:49:50
Speaker
Let me help you, Tali. I'm going to be sniveling and saying Between Tears, and I'll cast a level 4 Cure Wounds on her since she receives 18 points of healing. Oh, nice. Just looking at the map of Eryth, have we come out about where the D is of Sleepguard? Is that where we've ended up? Bare with. Sorry, just a bit.
00:50:16
Speaker
You can look at your map on Aerith at D&D Beyond. That's at fellowshiptabletop.fandom.com, actually. Which doesn't exist yet, but yeah. Doesn't exist, it does. Fellowshiptabletop.fandom.com. Yeah, it does. However, it's not loading for me at the moment. Yeah, it's below High Haven, isn't it?
00:50:36
Speaker
No, so, well, it's below Evershire, sorry, isn't it? The D is just below Evershire. Then you have to follow the road down. The road then splits to Highhaven to the east and then Goldview to the south. You follow that road, you then get to another junction where it goes to Blackmouth to the west and Goldview. So you travel between some hills and some forests. Yeah, pretty much. You're just below the D, yeah, of sleep guard on there. Yeah. Below the D. Thank you.
00:51:02
Speaker
Yeah that's where you currently find yourself and you're about probably 20 minutes half an hour to walk away from the main road. You're on basically a side road which will join on to the great northern road that will take you directly where you need to be. What time of day is it? It's mid afternoon so you've probably got a good number of hours on the road before it starts to get dark.
00:51:24
Speaker
Tali is going to thank Claude. Thank you for that. I feel much better now actually. Oh God. That was awful. She's going to try and take out a bit of thread and start just doing up some of the leather she wears to try and kind of fix the damage that's been done to it.
00:51:41
Speaker
That's okay. Does it feel any worse than that? Like, you might have a bit sicky in you. No, I feel great. I feel better than I felt in weeks. So whatever you did, that was some important stuff. Thank you. Yeah, please don't let anyone try to kill me that I like.
00:51:59
Speaker
No, I think it was just a bit of a misunderstanding if I'm honest. Yeah, I know. Just don't let them misunderstand again, because you're really smart, and they're not smart, apart from the fact that Drago can speak to eagles. But I guess he's a dragon, it makes sense. They're pretty similar, I guess. Just don't tell them that. So Carsten's going to wander over to Tali as she's talking to Claude. Tali, do you want me to help fix that for you? I can do it quicker.
00:52:28
Speaker
Yeah, why is everyone being really nice all of a sudden? Because we're nice people. Robin said you were going to die, so I thought you might need some help. Alright. I cast Mend on her clothing. Oh, and it just kind of forms up, glows a little bit, then heals itself, kind of puts itself back together. Oh, brilliant. That'll save me on the thread. Thank you. What's the plan then? I think, I don't know what everyone else thinks. We need to head to Goldview.
00:52:58
Speaker
Yes. Probably find a place to camp. We've still got a few hours of light left. So if we start walking, we can either go straight to the road, or find somewhere here to camp, or I don't know. We'll go straight to the road. OK. What time of day is it? It's about mid-afternoon. So you've probably got about four, four and a half hours left of traveling time before dark. But you could travel, right? Draggo looks around.
00:53:25
Speaker
Yeah, we'll go straight to the road and just carry on. We'll make camp when we get tired. Yeah, Helena's already pressed on, seeing that Claude and Karsten went over to Tali to help her. Helena sort of just patted Tali on the shoulders and walked ahead.
00:53:46
Speaker
OK, so we've got Helena at the front. Could you have a running order just so I know how we're kind of walking here? Just as Helena does do that, Drago tries to catch Robin's eye and then nods after Helena. I really like her style. Do you say that to Robin? Yeah.
00:54:10
Speaker
No, he says it to the camera. Well, so do I, Draggo, so do I. I'm getting quite a bit of interference there, don't know what that was, but... Um, maybe you need to speak Eagle, I don't know.
00:54:29
Speaker
It's been a hard day. Let's carry on. The call. OK, so we've got Helen at the front followed by who's going to be following along. Robin would have nodded at what Drago said and would have turned and just started following Helen down the road. Robin's mood is immediately relaxed by the fact that Charlie is no longer bleeding and he will start to follow, probably either falling alongside Drago or just ahead of him.
00:54:58
Speaker
What can I say except you're welcome? And then I'm guessing we'll have the rear guard of Tali in the middle, probably, followed by who wants to go. I'm going to be quiet in the front because this is the most exciting I've been in a while, despite almost being killed. Going back to my OG hometown and showing all my friends the places that I like to go and do stuff, I'm very excited. So I'm going to be skipping around. Won't talk to Jago just yet. I'd like to have a moment with Jago later on about the fact that we almost sleep here.
00:55:26
Speaker
But yeah, but like pushing people on and like sort of being the quarterback right now, pushing people, hiring them to the street. Oh, let's go, let's go. Fun times around the corner sort of thing. Amazing. The DM is also looking forward to making up all the places that he'll have to create later on as well, which is really good forward to that. And then I'm guessing followed up by Icastat and Folly at the rear. Is that right?
00:55:47
Speaker
Yeah, most likely. Yeah, cool. Yeah, OK. And as we start making our way to the road, it's just barren, barren grounds around
Warnings about Goldview
00:55:54
Speaker
here, really. It's kind of an empty of any kind of greenery used to create this the center of distribution for goods of the Skull Road Mountains. But you do get this nice feeling.
00:56:05
Speaker
The road that as you start to approach it is one of familiarity for many of you Sikh guardians and also familiarity for those of you who have come from the Sword Coast as well. You've traveled down here before and actually that recollection is quite nice as everything else has been new to you so far. But you do start to see grass, you see tufts of bushels, you see trees in the distance of the nearby forest. Life seems to return to the region. Greenery and forestry are also welcome sight.
00:56:31
Speaker
You notice collections of birds flying high in the air, cast down even with your keen eyes you can make out this single hawk far from the distance hovering in a thermal. The natural order of things seems somewhat comforting. As you start to make your way right at the back cast to Folly can you give me a perception check please? I've only done one good roll of that tonight, I don't think I've got another one in me.
00:56:57
Speaker
Okay that's fair enough, otherwise you'd leave a major plot point behind so I'm glad you are. What you notice is the large tower that we would have come down if you completed your journey on the minecart. You see a black arrow sticking out the side of it and then you recognize this black arrow as the arrows that were used by the black mouth rangers back in black mouth.
00:57:22
Speaker
OK, Folly would probably just kind of poke Karstan, who's in front of him. Oh, I can do it. No, no, no, that's not what I need. How could that? And it'll point to obviously the tower they're describing. It's the tower. It's probably got some some things in it powering the thing as well. Yeah. Do you see the arrow?
00:57:49
Speaker
You can see the arrow. At how high up is it? It's not that high. It's kind of at... If Drago reached up, up, you could probably grab it. Yeah, it's an arrow. Are we nearby this tower? Yeah, this is kind of... As everyone's turning to leave, you look back one final time and you've noticed this arrow. So the others are kind of pressing ahead a little bit with you two behind. It's an arrow. You can find lots of them in Sleek Guard and the cross area. With the rangers, though.
00:58:17
Speaker
one of their particular areas. What are you doing here? Would I notice that if there's actually anything on the arrow itself? Give me a perception. No, 15, no. No. But, well, your natural perception for Karstain would notice there is a white slip of something notched around the flight of this arrow. Oh shit!
00:58:37
Speaker
And there's something on there. Let's go have a look. We'll catch the others up. Let's go. We'll go on and find this. In all fairness, Folly's just going to cast Mage Hand and have it float over to pull the arrow out of the tower. Before you can break it. No, no, it's fine. I trust my hand completely. Okay. What do you use that Mage Hand for, Folly?
00:59:04
Speaker
Don't infer Drago in that. That was an Ian comment, not a Drago comment. You come up quietly? How did you sneak up on? Once again, Ian comment, not a Drago comment. Yeah, if Oli's just going to fling up the mage hand and pull the arrow out of the tower and then bring it back down to him.
00:59:29
Speaker
OK, it's like a note that's on there. Yes, you do. Notice there's a small piece of string attached as a rolled up note. And as you pull the note off, you undo it and you realize it is a note. Would you like to read it? I will read it between me and Castan at the first. I will read it aloud to Castan as the others are wandering forward.
00:59:49
Speaker
It says, and I've just shared it on the chat with you all, if you've made it this far, there is hope yet. Come to me at the half hoof inn. Goldview is changing. You are not safe here. The Obriskra are looking for you. For Claude. They asked for him by name. There is word that Delmon Trace himself is heading up the search. Come in through the Union Pass. Find the stables. Tell them Kennard owes you a pint. They will know what to do.
01:00:16
Speaker
The Abriskra know you travel with royalty, but they have the ear of the king. Disguise might be your friend, for her and for the others that don't blend into a sleepguard crowd well. You did right by Jamis, now I must do right by you. Make haste, Kennard." Okay, so yeah, this is quite interesting. I'm very appreciative of the warning for this as well.
01:00:40
Speaker
Ugh, Claude's not gonna like this. He's gonna panic, and we're gonna have to go in disguise, you know? I don't think Drago's gonna be the kind of person who wants to parade around trying to pretend not to be him. He doesn't specify Drago, but unfortunately, I'd rather call Dragonborn to stand out quite a bit. I mean, the fact that it says, don't blend into Sleek God crowd well, I'm pretty sure that covers Drago.
01:01:06
Speaker
We need to have a think about what we could do with disguises. I don't believe there's any shops or anything like that on the way there. There are spells that can do it. I mean, have you got enough material? Maybe we could make him a really big cloak to hide, but...
01:01:22
Speaker
I mean, I suppose a big cloak and they might pass for like a really tall orc or something like that. I could always see what I've got in my backpack. I mean, I tell you what, I could check my stock magic ingredients and see if I might be able to create some spells that will be able to...
01:01:41
Speaker
transform our appearance. Yeah, that's a really good idea. We've got illusion and that kind of stuff, but there are some spells, I think, if you can put them together. I know of the spells, but I'm afraid I've never actually mastered them. I can do small things, small decorations, but a whole person. No, absolutely not.
01:02:02
Speaker
I mean, I could polymorph into something really small, so we could fit my pocket. How many people can you polymorph? Only one at a time, and I can only polymorph it on one person, so... That might be alright for Drago, or possibly even Claude, saying if we aren't looking for him as well. I'll put him in someone's pocket. He could go in my pocket, it'd be nice to have a smaller companion.
01:02:27
Speaker
You guys are evil. Yeah, it's probably best for us to talk about this once we've camped, because... Yes, this is definitely a group discussion, and rather difficult to have a group discussion while we're... Well, for starters, it's actually getting quite behind. I think we possibly should pick up the pace, but... You never know who might be listening. I know. Right, let's go.
01:02:50
Speaker
And you turn and quickly make your way to try and catch up the others. And you probably have to jog a little bit of the way to catch up with them as we start to approach the northern, the great northern road. And as you take your right turn to the south, you start to make your way along this rather large road, about 30 foot wide
Journey Proposal and Acceptance
01:03:07
Speaker
road. It's the main thoroughfare up and down the center of Sleeker, which you all have traveled before.
01:03:13
Speaker
Is it paved or is it just a dirt track? It's a well used, well preserved dirt track. It's not paved, but you put in good condition potholes and the like are filled in quite regularly and it looks relatively flat as dirt roads go. But it's quite wide, 30, 40 foot wide. It's obviously used to quite a bit of a commute back and forth. And you do pass the odd
01:03:42
Speaker
cart or two no one really takes any notice of you most people are deep in conversation in twos and threes on carts moving probably up towards Evershire and to high sorry up towards Evershire and don't actually notice you as you pass they leave a wide berth between you as you walk on one side they walk on the other is there anything wants to be discussed on the walk
01:04:02
Speaker
Were you happy just trotting on? Robin, you wanted to say something? Yes, at one point Robin would just drop back and fall next to Claude and would just say, it wasn't my intention to hurt you Claude, it was just I was worried about Talia. I didn't know what to do. Sorry, if you thought I was going to hurt you, it wasn't my intention to give you that impression.
01:04:29
Speaker
thank you for your apology it's a weird thing never having friends before i met you and then one of your friends or two of your friends suggesting the best thing to do is to kill you like is it not to take in no i'm going to friend part a bit it was it was more to because um
01:04:50
Speaker
only you could help Talia and you couldn't do that in your bird form. That was all. I certainly value you, Claude, and wouldn't want to hurt you. I understand, but if I can't take a breath, I can't heal Talia, you know? Yes, well, Talia was pretty confident from checking her book that all that would have happened is that you would have returned to your normal self, but I didn't want to do that in case, until we were sure, but it was just, I was worried about Talia, that's all. It wasn't
01:05:19
Speaker
I understand that part, that part I understand. Could you do me a favour though? Sure. Could you ask Karstan very nicely and I did really enjoy it, but could he just not turn me into anything unnatural again? I will have a word with him.
01:05:44
Speaker
you know it was nice to experience once the second time I almost you know I had a panic attack so if it could just be that if I could be it and we just walk away no questions asked I'll um I will have a word with him yeah thanks and after leaving a slightly awkward silence Robin's then gonna go almost as if he can't believe he's about to ask this he's gonna go Claude I
01:06:12
Speaker
I have a favour to ask of you as well. Yes. Yes, as long as it doesn't involve me hurting you, go for it. No, it doesn't. This creature that we, that's with Elf here, he showed me a vision of hurting someone I care about deeply and I have no way of knowing if
01:06:39
Speaker
that person, my sister back on the Sword Coast. I have no way of knowing if she's safe. And Drago said that you can send messages to people. And I don't know. I just thought that I don't even know if it would be able to cross planes or if you need to know this person. I can. I will have to just find a quiet moment tonight so I can help with that.
01:07:10
Speaker
you can see from Robin's face before he even said anything that that means a lot to him and he just kind of nods and says I am I appreciate that Claude thank you that's that's okay um you know I'll have one condition though name it uh when we get to Goldview
01:07:35
Speaker
You have to let me take you to a very special place I think you're going to like. I get the distinct impression that I probably won't like it but I think it's right up your street but you have to let me take you there.
01:07:52
Speaker
Okay, is this one of those surprise deals? Or are you going to tell me? It's called the Double Ork Pub. Okay. And what's really special about the Double Ork Pub is that there's an ork with two heads that runs it. That does sound quite good. I've never seen an ork in all of Sleepguard, apart from in that pub.
01:08:18
Speaker
And it's great to just stand there and just marvel in it. Yeah. Yeah. Get excited because there's more on the claw to show you, but I'm staring at the double-orc. I will, I will, um, I will look forward to that with great anticipation. Yeah, actually my mate Tim's, he sometimes goes there. He's a really good poisoner. You might get on, like he might be able to show you a trick or two.
01:08:48
Speaker
Well, Claude, I have been preconditioned through years of experience to not show too much emotion, but rest assured, I am inside leaping with excitement at the property. There are three words you said. I don't know what they mean, but that sounds like a yes to me. It is a yes, Claude. Thank you. That's all I need to hear, and I start swapping my hands and walking away.
01:09:11
Speaker
And as we continue to walk further up the path, the sun slowly gets a little bit, arches longer shadows across. We probably have about another half an hour or hour's worth of travel before it's dark. And as we continue to make our way up the path, there's some small genius, small talk, as well as Claude talking this double-headed orc. Thanks for that, Danny. Off in the distance, behind you, Karstan, firstly, you hear a rumble.
01:09:37
Speaker
and you see a small dust cloud rising along the road, far off to the north. Is it the kind of cloud and rumble kicked up by horses? Yes. This is from quite a few horses. This isn't from a single rider. You would consider this is a small group, seven, eight, maybe more. You can't really see. Are there, are we, are Folly and I back with the main group now? Yes. Yes. You have caught up and you caught up behind the rest of them by now. Yeah.
01:10:07
Speaker
Everyone, I think we should get off the road, or at least make way there appears to be a lot of horses about to come charging past. Good old sport's really like Lord of the Rings.
01:10:23
Speaker
What do you mean? Horses? I mean, if you look behind me, there's a lot of dust being kicked off, and that's normally a lot of horses travelling quite quickly. Oh shit! Yeah, I can see that. Horses! Let's get us aside! Let's get to the side! Why are we scared of horses? Because we don't live on them. And also horses travelling really quickly on roads, they don't tend to care about pedestrians. If you get hit by a horse, you die. But I'm a Knight of the Realm!
01:10:50
Speaker
Okay, horses don't tend to care about night, so just run them over. It's true. Listen, let's just see who it is. Okay. And as you pull yourselves over to the side, you see this dust glide get closer and closer, the rumble continue to grow and grow and grow. And suddenly as it comes up over a small hill, you realise this isn't a group of soldiers, or a group of, well it is a group of horses, but they're all riding a single cart.
01:11:15
Speaker
Now this isn't a normal cart. This cart seems now less like a cart and more like a small house. The wheels alone are probably Drago's height if he reached up in terms of diameter across. This house on wheels pretty much is 30 foot wide, 100 foot long, and it's pulled by a dozen horses out front. All these jet black horses that you are familiar with, those of you who are north and fighting the Battle of Bleakmoor.
01:11:41
Speaker
of being well-bred horses and there's 12 of them pulling this absolutely massive car, it's a single massive ram shackled rickety car, things hanging off it, knickknacks, bits and pieces and as it gets closer you see a rider in front with a large black hood pull back on the reins and all these horses, their hind and front legs dig into the ground skidding to a stop, the dust kicked up, flies everywhere
01:12:07
Speaker
And there's a moment of silence where the horses, you can just hear the of the horses as the rider steps back into the car at this waccard house. And there's a moment of silence as it just stops next to you. Hello. The house doesn't respond. Claude, I mean, is this a feature in Sleepguard?
01:12:33
Speaker
I don't believe I've ever seen a house pulled by horses before. Helen, do you recognize this? No, no I don't.
01:12:43
Speaker
A small haze of pipe smoke comes trickling out and the silhouette of a human fills the doorway. A white shirt and a deep brown try- sorry, deep brown trousers step off with a thick head of shocking red hair. She wears a red waistcoat which hangs open, a cigarette in one hand and a dagger in its sheath in the other. Blowing a wisp of hair from her face and a red headband reveals a red headband tightly fixed to hold up some of her hair. She looks at you all, she steps off and hits the ground, looking up at you takes a long drag.
01:13:12
Speaker
Of the cigarette. Hello. What are you all doing on the northern road? What are you doing stopping in front of us? I was going to ask if you wanted to lift Dragonborn. Well we... Who are you? Frena. Frena Oldspore. And this is my rather impressive card. Oldspore's Spokes and Spirits. You see the name and she's literally got it written into the side of a piece of wood. Etched into the side of a piece of wood. Where are you going?
01:13:42
Speaker
Goldview. I do the journey from Highhaven up to Evershire and down to Goldview. And mainly carrying patrons down. There's a small pub on board. Uh, there's a pub on board. It's called Oldspore's Spokes and Spirits. The spokes are the wheels and the spirits... Well, there are high spirits and then also the actual spirits of alcohol we have on board as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you've got a pub in your... in there?
01:14:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's what we probably pretty much do. We travel around. I take Patrons. We got a chap on board at the moment. He's come over from somewhere. We don't ask names. That's the great thing about it. You want to go somewhere? We'll take you somewhere. And I saw a intrepid group of travellers, seven of you, a strange bunch. And I thought they probably don't want to be out here in the dark. Hold up. How about a journey? You're offering us a trip to Goldview in your mobile pub. Yeah. And you don't care who we are.
01:14:37
Speaker
No, I want money though. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to keep this place going. You have my gold. And Drago kind of walks. If they're blocking the path, he just kind of pushes through and walks up. Drago, maybe we want to discuss this. There's Drake. And Drago's gone.
01:14:57
Speaker
She follows you in and then looks back to the others. I've got one, six more.
Privacy Concerns and Negotiations
01:15:03
Speaker
Robin will just say to Karstan under his breath, you're a man of the world, Karstan, who has a good read on these things. Do you recognise this woman? Does this mean anything to you? I'm not from Sleepguard personally, so she travels around Sleepguard a lot. I don't know her. I mean, I think she was being pretty honest.
01:15:22
Speaker
Mark? Yeah, do you want to just go off your passive? Yeah, everything seems above board unless you want to. I'll roll anyway, but yeah, she'll give us a roll. Okay, 21. Yeah, just seems to be quite simple, quite honest. She's pretty honest. I mean, I would assume the major towns. I mean,
01:15:42
Speaker
given how bad the road are here in Sleetgard, it would make sense. They would have some kind of system to travel around. It's not the craziest idea. It's just not very private, Robin. She pipes up at this point. Plus, some people are just nice. She rolled a natural 20 on perception to see if you could hear you all.
01:16:04
Speaker
And I don't think this is really the best idea, Caster, knowing what we know and what we're going into. This approach isn't exactly subtle. Robin, we need to have a chat privately as a group and travelling in someone's pub is not really very private. I could pull up before we get to Goldview if privacy is a problem. I can stop before we get there. Don't feel I have to take you into the city. I can stop a mile or so outside. It's up to you. It might cost you the less to stop.
01:16:30
Speaker
i promised jago i'd show him um gold view so i'm gonna make sure i do uh i'm gonna go in but if you want us off just give me a tinkle yeah i'm gonna need your gold good sir as you go i don't have any the man over there will pay and they'll point at castan cast okay your castan okay yeah um what distance outside of gold view do you think would be safe castan um
01:16:58
Speaker
Mark, the reference to Union Pass, is that one of the gates? That is the western road that comes in that you would travel on anywhere. The Union Pass is the name of the road you would travel on and the stables that he's referring to are outside of that gate.
01:17:17
Speaker
Actually, so that's where he's told you coming on the Union Pass and there's a stables outside of it. Um, which is quite renowned for the number of breed of horses. There's like a, uh, there's a horse breeding area just outside there. So he's basically saying go there. Okay. A couple of miles. I mean, we just, we just don't want to, you know, arriving in a big white traveling pub would probably cause a bit of a, uh, uh, an uproar. And you know, you've seen our group. We, we already stand out. Um, so yeah, we're not subtle. I get it.
01:17:43
Speaker
and perhaps a couple of miles outside would be good. Now, in terms of payment, I am a well-renowned bard of the Sanguinlands, so perhaps I could perform for you and perform for any guests you have and you pick up on the way, and perhaps that could be our payment. Yeah, I mean, that would be great exposure for you and your resume. I'm sure that'd be really great for your CV, but it's still gonna cost, yeah, two gold per person.
01:18:11
Speaker
Mark, I'd like to use my entertainer background to try and convince her that I can... So you're trying to persuade her? Yes, a part of my background is I should be able to find a place that an inner would happen to perform and use that as a way of not paying for my lodgings. Gotcha, no problem.
01:18:34
Speaker
she pauses actually on second thoughts does get quite quiet sometimes and a bit awkward considering i like my privacy i mean i figured you know if you're picking up more guests because you've you've got to pass through near i assume you've got to pass near high haven yet and and perhaps you'll get a few more guests on board and it it might encourage people to you know buy more drinks if i can get
01:18:56
Speaker
If you've actually got a permanent position, I'm sure he'd also be quite interested. And then she's going to just shake this lady's hand and she's going to go into the cup. I like her. I mean, no permanent position. I'm afraid everything. I'm not going to be tied down. I'm more of a sort of a lone wolf kind of guy.
01:19:17
Speaker
Why not, yep, okay. Yeah, we'll see what we can do. Yeah, all right, we'll have you on then for that. Seven of you for one bar might be a bit of overkill, so we'll see how good you are. I mean, I'll tell you what, well, let's see if I can't, obviously, I can get on for free, because I'll perform for you, but maybe I can reduce their costs down a bit, maybe. We'll see. If you get some good word, if we get good word in from some of the other patrons, there's only one other guy on here at the moment, but if we pick any more up, and they're keen on you, maybe I'll look at- I can encourage them to part with their money to buy things at your bar.
01:19:47
Speaker
Well then actually you will have a deal then. And she reaches out her hand to shake yours.
Boarding the Mobile Pub
01:19:51
Speaker
Carson will shake that person's hand. On you get. And she's got quite a firm grip and she kind of hooks you back on. And looks to the rest of you now, which I think now are Tally, Robin and Folly. Are we joining us or should I skid at all?
01:20:08
Speaker
Cool, I'll pull up the ladder real slow. No, no, no, it's absolutely fine. Folly, there is no sense in partying, even if I share your trepidation about such an exuberant arrival into Goldview. I mean, I have... You did hear me ask to be stopped a couple of miles outside of the city, guys.
01:20:29
Speaker
and there's that pigeon again that's uh apparently yeah i better say castan's already gone in so i don't know where that boy sounds like i've had always coming over the hills you guys just have bad memories and he's already on the stage you guys got shit memory for carl doesn't yeah it's still no no just doesn't we're still planning on traveling down the road in a giant pub that's not exactly subtle
01:20:54
Speaker
Sounds fucking awesome though, right? It certainly looks subtle, but... ...hastives of the utmost importance, but... ...as long as we do stop indeed outside of goal view, I... ...believe a bit of rest, relaxation, and a good conversation could do us some good. But it is. You have a deal. And Folly is... ...gonna shake her hand as well, and...
01:21:19
Speaker
He's going to have put some gold in his hand anyway and do the friend's handshake thing where there's a secret bit of money just in
Episode Conclusion and Social Media
01:21:28
Speaker
there. And as he does, he's going to hold the grip slightly, not tight. He's just literally holding the handshake there. Discretion will be key. And he's just slipped to 10 gold. Are you going to channel a bingit?
01:21:42
Speaker
T and L. No, I'm not going to cham the bing. Hopefully not. She's going to take the handshake works, but as you try and release, she pulls your hand back in and just says quietly into your ear. I recommend then, you don't use people's names, because I already know about the bard castan. So we don't use names here, unless you want everyone to know. So I'll say back to you, discretion is key. Oh, that's fair. That's fair.
01:22:12
Speaker
Folly is just going to smirk at that and just think, I like this person. She's going to pocket the 10 gold and turn to Tally and Robin. Tally is going to look up at you, Robin. Well, Tally, I suppose rather than walking down the road, just you and me, we should follow the others. Oh, well, we could have a great side adventure and really piss off the DM. Cool. Tempting, though, that is.
01:22:39
Speaker
The pigeon of temptation makes a good deal. But no, I think we will come along. All right. She jumps up and she's still going to shake the one time. She's going to awkwardly wave. Hello. You don't need to know my name. And then she walks on to the pub. Robin will just say to her, he goes past, how far from Golgi. Give us the night and we'll get you there. Two miles out.
01:23:09
Speaker
fair enough and robin will walk onto the cart and as you walk onto the cart you're greeted by warmth you're greeted by thick rugs and the smell of mead and meat and warm light as you walk onto and it is now literally a small mobile pub there's a there's a bar area with a large
01:23:28
Speaker
or bar kind of a three-sided u-shaped bar in the center of it with a number of wooden pillars sticking up holding up the roof of this area and there's long bits and material kind of hanging down with empty bottles, trinkets, doodads, skulls and ornate daggers and an extra tester all kind of hanging from the ceiling so as the car
01:23:45
Speaker
shudders to a movement all these kind of move a little bit and as it kind of bumps down the road slightly as you see and feel it start to pick up speed everything has a slight kind of movement and sway to it as you walk in and you notice that Franamp the lady who made you at the front shuts up the door latch shuts the latch
01:24:02
Speaker
looks around and says, make yourself at home, and she walks behind the bar. The only other person you can see, and there's a number of small tables that fit maybe two or three people at a turn, there's probably three or four of these, with a small kind of safe looking fire in the center of them, is a single, what looks like a boy, really, but then you quickly realize to be a halfling sat in the corner on his own, and he shoots you all a glare, he's got kind of long blonde straight hair, a number of piercings in his ears, a long blue jacket looking quite regal with an ornate
01:24:31
Speaker
Dagen in his side as he looks up towards you and then looks back to his kind of a glass of port or something like that and continues to drink it and as we just look around and start to look at each other and situate and firstly see Drago probably already deep into an ale as we kind of find ourselves in this situation this is where we're going to pause for this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop and we'll see how our tavern journey gets on next week
01:24:56
Speaker
Bring in the Fellowship of the Tavern to the Fellowship of the Tabletop. I like it. That's very meta. Very, very good. I enjoyed that episode and hopefully everyone did at home. Thank you very much for tuning in and making this a part of your everyday week. We appreciate, we love and respect and want to please you.
01:25:15
Speaker
But we're talking about taverns and dungeons and dragons. You never know where this could go. And if you wanted to know where it could go one step further, you can do so on our Twitter page. I'm sure that we'll update it at some point, which you can find at at Fellowship Table. And if you wanted to go one step further, you can also do so. I'm at iWorlda1. Darren's at... DarrenKjo6.
01:25:38
Speaker
That was a very angry Twitter. His eyebrows also concaved in as well. You can find Will at Natural20Will. You follow Callum at... TheD20Gamer. You can follow Danny at... On Twitter and my call girl name. At TotalPartyThrills. Hashtag 69. You can follow Casey at...
01:26:07
Speaker
unicorn crit or clip or... Oh my god that's broken me oh you you can follow uh incredible oh Jesus that's good incredible dm at
01:26:36
Speaker
I am a GOG. I am a GAST. You can follow me at hastily rolled DM. Until next time, guys. Farewell.