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Ep. 93 An Oath of Vengeance - De Profundis
106 Plays3 years ago
After obliterating the final enemy, Drago is pulled into another Realm to discuss his final steps in becoming a Paladin.
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
Drago's Determination to Save Elphir
00:00:01
Speaker
How do you feel about the concept of Elphir, your friend? Do you think you can save him, Drago, or...? Yes. There's no or. I can save him. At what cost, though?
Introduction to Fellowship of the Tabletop
00:00:43
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 Aerith. My name is Mark and I am your dungeon master. The dungeon master, not yours. And also with us for today's episode we've got Danny who plays the human cleric Claude.
00:01:00
Speaker
It went to Rome! It went to Rome! It went to Rome! We've got Will, who plays the human bard, Carstan. You can be our dungeon master any day. Ah, we've got Callum, who plays the gnome sorcerer, Folly Fizzlebang the ninth. It's definitely not coming home. I'm so relieved. We've got Casey, who plays the human champion, Helen, a sleep guard. All right then, mate! We've got Darren, who plays the human fighter, Rogue Robin. Callum shaves where?
00:01:31
Speaker
We've got Ian who plays the Dragonborn Paladin Barbarian, Drago. Yeah, it didn't come home, did it?
00:01:38
Speaker
No. Means I get to keep my head of relatively already balding. He says his head is hair because public announcement Callum Shaves his pubic hair as we've just all found out. That was a lot of information. The only place he has hair is on his head. Yeah. He's waxed the rest of it. There is a little bit. He's like a stripper's pole down there. Just all smooth and slippery. I hear Callum doesn't shower. He just bathes in feet.
00:02:08
Speaker
Oh, God. He gets all out and just does that thing. That is an image and a half there. The first X-Men movie where that man gets turned into a mutant and he turns into the blubbery, he just falls apart. The fish boy. I hate that image. As a kid, watching that, I was like, what? That's what it did to your skin, Callum. Not that you are, I'm making a dinger hole here.
00:02:35
Speaker
So what happened last time,
Battle Recap in the Blightlands
00:02:37
Speaker
Mark? Well, I think we just continue to fight some big fuckers if I'm being perfectly candid to you, Darren. We continue to find ourselves deep within the Blightlands fighting off these huge necrotic-esque beasts. We find ourselves in a third part of this battle with one of the three creatures still left alive, the other two have been smote, the one to the north kill by Claude and Folyphus by the 9th.
00:03:00
Speaker
the one to the east, killed by a combination of Vance, Karst and Drago and Robin and the party have now descended down with Helena and Lucien Blightbane and Drago onto the enemy to the south. We find ourselves kind of from Robin's perspective who's about 30 feet away from this beast to the north of the beast standing on the safe side of a fallen tree using it as cover
00:03:24
Speaker
as another arrow is notched with his mage hand into his bow. Helena, Lucian, and Drago are currently engaged with the creature, Carstan, and Vant stand in the center of the map, probably a little further, about 35, 40 feet away to the north of this creature, with Carstan and Folly another 40 or 50 feet away from that. So Carstan and Folly are probably about 90 feet away. You mean Claude and Folly? Sorry, apologies. Claude and Folly are about 90 feet away from the battle. Slightly less, maybe 70 feet.
00:03:54
Speaker
So we find ourselves mid-round. We also still have Karstan who is still under confusion as well. Helena is still under the hypnosis of this creature and we'll have to make a spell saving throw when it comes around to her turn as we'll Karstan for his confusion as well as it comes around to that. But it is Robin's turn. Robin
00:04:18
Speaker
You look up, sorry, go ahead. I was gonna say, there's two things that are gonna happen here. I'm either going to fall to the effect of confusion or I'm going to fall to the effect of hypnosis on a nine or 10. So, if you're keeping score listeners, you really call that, I roll the natural one whilst trying to shake off hypnosis last time. So I am both confused and hypnotized. That's right listeners, get out your abacuses. Let's roll that D turn, it's the one. So,
00:04:46
Speaker
Which random direction am I sprinting in, Mark? I'll give you two seconds. You need to roll a d8. I know, I know, I know, I know. That is an eight and I was going to go clockwise from the north round. So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. You're going to run northeast.
00:05:10
Speaker
away. Yeah, okay, fine. So what Robin sees as he goes to draw his bow is all of a sudden the fugue of confusion kicks in again, and he's back on the Scarrowed Mountains and he sees this creature in the distance towards the northeast once more
00:05:25
Speaker
push what he hoped at the time was the aberration of his sister off a cliff top. Upon seeing this Robin is going to all of a sudden panic and just start to sprint using all of his movement which as a robe gives him double dash so 90 feet in that direction. I don't think you have to use an action to dash it just says all your movement. My reading of it was all my movement which would include
00:05:50
Speaker
But I'm happy to only go 30 feet if that's what I'm supposed to do. Well, that would be an action and you just needed your movement. Beautiful. OK, Robin will regale that. He will run 30 feet towards this aberration of his sister being pushed off a cliff.
00:06:05
Speaker
which listener does not exist, but it means he moves 30 feet away from the battle and further towards the edge of the area and also closer towards the center of the blight. You just moved North West,
Robin's Erratic Escape and Visions
00:06:17
Speaker
not North East. I was moving to West. That was correct. Sorry, I probably said the wrong one. I get my East and West confused. Someone was highlighting where I needed to move to and I just went there.
00:06:28
Speaker
Could you also roll? You have your D20 to try and shake confusion. Hang on a minute. You have to use your movement. It doesn't take an action this time, so I had to check if you had the option of using an action. I wanted the D20 to break it using the DC18 of the confusion of Castor. Natural one. Then you continue to be confused. Two of our characters are confused. Is he still revolving on the spot? AKA Final Fantasy style. Yep.
00:06:56
Speaker
Just spinning around. 100% awesome. It's this creature's turn. This creature isn't going to attack. It's Helena Lucien Andrago. Look at this creature. It is bloodied. Many of its tentacles have been lopped from its body. It's kind of oozing black blood as it kind of tries.
00:07:16
Speaker
hold itself up and it's gonna turn its beak head up and all the wooden apparatus that stuck to its back like a shell again like shake back as it takes in this big breath and it's just gonna
00:07:28
Speaker
release this noise up that echoes through the air across the forest, even through the deep, deep mist that blocks out the sun and limits your view. Release this noise, like a loud kind of battle cry almost to the air before kind of turning back to you all. That's all that's going to do this turn. It's not actually going to make an attack. Helena, you just born the full front of this. Would you like to, and unfortunately it's at the end of your turn, make a
00:07:55
Speaker
Wisdom saving throw to break the effects of this hold. Yes I can. Yes you can. A 17. Meets it beats. You are no longer under the hypnosis of this creature.
00:08:12
Speaker
the end of its turn, whenever it takes damage. Yep. Okay. And in the effect of the success, once you're successful with it, if it tries it again, you now roll with advantage. So you get to roll twice if it tries to do it again, just FYI, because you've now become like more immune to it than others. Okay. Unfortunately, that is the end of your turn though. Yup. Vance.
00:08:37
Speaker
Vance is going to step, walk slowly, cast down to the other side of you and kind of the central map on this kind of slightly open clearing, watching where Robin goes. And then he's going to glance around ever so slightly after hearing that noise and just say, something else is coming. That's all he's going to do.
00:08:56
Speaker
Claude, you hear this creature cry out. There's this massive noise that echoes through the forest and the odd maybe a flutter of one or two probably undead harmless birds in the trees kind of fly off at this noise. This creature is still standing. Helena seems to have shaken something off. What would you like to do?
00:09:15
Speaker
Do I get the impression that this noise that was made is likely to cause many Gribblies to appear very soon? Or is it like, oh, it's going on the wind and we'll see him in hours time.
00:09:30
Speaker
Is it more of a call for help or more of a intruders sort of thing? Give me a perception check. Thank you. That's what I was hoping we'd get to today with that. Also, Mr. Robin, please take inspiration for that lovely description of your confusion as well. I can't give you the dice, but there's a D6 there for you. Because that was a lovely description of what your confusion does, which is great. It's not that good. 12.
00:10:02
Speaker
You don't know the makeup of these creatures well enough to understand it. You know it was a shout. Aside from that, you cannot discern whether or not it was one way or the other. Could have been a war cry to kind of rally itself. It could have been a war cry to rally others. It could just be a noise of distress. It could be a noise of an alarm. You can't really discern exactly what or why. Okay. In which case,
00:10:29
Speaker
I will not speak now because I'll do it by clicking. I'm just going to head south about 20 foot, 25 foot, so I'm in range of the last of the baddies. And I'm just going to cast Sacred Flame. Mark, could you make a deck save, please?
00:10:58
Speaker
That's an unnatural 20. Nevermind. 14 plus 6. That's half damage. No, not on the counter. That's the end of my turn. Saws mate.
00:11:09
Speaker
Okie dokie. That's the end of Claude's turn. Thank you very much, Claude. The final next creature is death. The next creature has died. Lucian is going to take a strike.
Drago's Critical Hit and Akiva's Influence
00:11:19
Speaker
Why is that all my NPCs can't actually hit anything? Okay, I got a hit there. Lucian's going to miss with his first hit and then come in with a rather potent second hit, taking out, as this creature is maybe calling up and it comes back down, take out another one of its tentacles. It kind of loses its footing underneath itself, becoming rather uneven. That's the bottom of the round. Lucian back up
00:11:39
Speaker
the top round. Karstan, could you please roll a d10? It's an 8. I'm going to use my action to make a melee attack against a randomly determined creature within my reach. And that randomly determined creature within your reach can only be one person? And that's Vance Skullblade, our lovely gruff-voiced NPC.
00:12:04
Speaker
So Kastan sort of bombarded by this confusion. And it's like he's been hearing words and it's just bombarded his senses. All of a sudden he looks to his right and he sees this undead Vance. Like Vance is dead and stuff, black's coming from his eyes. So he's going to wheel around and with his rapier. Calm down. Thrust at Vance. Okay, roll to hit.
00:12:36
Speaker
that's a 20 that's a critical hit holy bollocks fuck okay roll your roll your double damage bro so that takes oh god so it's 14 points of piercing damage
00:12:54
Speaker
and six points of sneak attack damage because I'm a swashbuckler, I can do sneak attacks against targets that are on their own. Lovely. That's a good bit of damage.
00:13:09
Speaker
Vance does not look well since he was heading off one of these creatures in the previous episodes, pretty much single-handedly wading through the black tentacles. He's been through hell and he is bleeding heavily. He's still up, but he is looking rather unwell, Claude, that you probably noticed appearing down. Could you please make your spell safe? Sorry, your wisdom saving throw. I can.
00:13:35
Speaker
It's a 13, I'm still confused. I'm still confused. Damn, you're high, high, high, spell save, Karstan. No, it's great though. It adds such a fun element to it. Thank you very much. And Drago, this creature has just deafened you with this call out. You're stood to its flanking behind getting a good line of sight between you and Lucian as well, giving you the advantage on any strikes against it. What would you like to do?
00:14:00
Speaker
I'd like to fucking hit that motherfucker after he's gone... And then hit him. Nice, go for it. Al's a 29 to that motherfucker. That misses. Yeah, I'm gonna go for the crit. It's gorgeous. It's 23. Okay, so let's do this. Only. But your first roll was one hit off a crit.
00:14:29
Speaker
Oh Darren, like that's your thing, isn't it? He was itching to say something, I promise. He was itching. It's like getting the abacus to one, two, 19. Oh, 13 points of slashing damage for the first hit.
00:14:45
Speaker
The creature starts to stumble as it kind of starts to cough. This black stuff starts to come out as the damage, as you slide the sword into the creature, it is looking very unwell. Its eyes are flickering. It's not in a good place. Okay, with a flash of triumphant in Drago's eyes, he's going to withdraw Dengel's deception from the body of said beastie and do a 360 spin, aiming to chop its head from its body.
00:15:15
Speaker
So 28 to hit. And a crit! Oh baby, he got a fucking crit! I've got my notes right here, let's just see. So let me just roll my d20 again for Dengong's Deception's ultimate attack. Come on, come on.
00:15:34
Speaker
Isn't that, that's like two charges you've used in this one combat, isn't it? I know. Yeah. You're bullshit, right? However, at a 17, can you make a consaving throw? 15. Bear in mind, you haven't made this work since before we were recording. I haven't ever made this work before we were recording. I mean, it's a bit of a waste on a quick point in the deck. Shut up! Yes!
00:16:04
Speaker
We've never had to explain it before.
00:16:08
Speaker
So let's... No, we haven't. Go for it. No, we've never explained it before. Okay, so listeners, Drago's sword, I'm sure you all know, but if you don't, it imbues some magical properties from the original owner of it to which we're still not sure to this day, but legend has it, it was owned by Bahamut himself. So when Drago ever makes a crit on this sword, which happens, but not a lot,
00:16:36
Speaker
The the player then has to roll another d20 to which if the dice rolls from 16 to 20 It makes the enemy have to roll a con saving throw and if it fails, it's an instant KO
00:16:52
Speaker
And so what you see here is as Drago has withdrawn the sword from his first attack, and he's got that glint of triumph in his eyes, knowing that the battle's coming to an end. As he's swinging around in 360, time almost stops. Slow motion takes over as he's just slowly spinning the blade like a samurai would do on a final kill. And as he's planing the air with his sword,
00:17:15
Speaker
ice and wind and temperature starts to drop. Time itself almost changes as the sword kind of cuts through space and time as it finally makes contact with the enemy. Ice explodes out from it, freezing the enemy before it shatters into many particles of ice.
00:17:39
Speaker
As that happens and this creature starts to slump towards the floor, you hear the gurgling from its innards as it starts to kind of spew forth bits of bile and phlegm, owning on itself, none of it really landing on you, Drago, landing this final blow.
00:17:58
Speaker
But as the sword comes down and as you so aptly described, this sword seems to almost take on a life of its own and the strength and power of not just a Kiva, but the sword itself starts to take control. You notice the
00:18:13
Speaker
the elements of the sword start to move from the sword up into your hands. And as you have this blade down on this creature panting heavily, you start to feel this almost like another hand start to touch your claw, your kind of foreclaw, the one holding it closest to the top of the hill to the sword.
00:18:31
Speaker
and as you look down there's no hand there but you notice this slightly black mist start to form very different from the mist we find around us the white mist that envelops around the place but a black mist a known mist and along with that an almost parental buzzing starts to enter into your ears
00:18:52
Speaker
are buzzing that you have recognized many a times from your dealings with Akiva. You do have the option to resist
Meeting Valinor and Training with Akiva
00:19:01
Speaker
it in some way. Could you make a religion check either way? But then obviously we can talk about if you want to resist it or not. Okay. My religion was seven. Okay. This is always so good. So good.
00:19:14
Speaker
And that's obviously fine. That's just so I know moving forward. And did you want to resist? No, I accept. As long as I know it's Akiva, I recognize the buzzing. My adrenaline is like my heart is pumping fast. Drago's heart is pumping fast. The adrenaline is cursing through his veins. So he accepts knowing that he just slight obliterated this final creature. Yeah, Drago will accept the calling. Okie dokie.
00:19:44
Speaker
And so you let this happen. And you see the mist quickly now, not slowly, not like before where it crept over your body because there's a lack of resistance there because of your connection to a Kiva, because of your kind of almost apprenticeship, almost a Kiva. This moves quite quickly up and across, coursing up your veins, up your arms. And as it reaches up your face and head kind of like the matrix when Mio touches the mirror and the lob goes into him, we follow that almost dying. And, and you,
00:20:13
Speaker
You feel yourself start to sink, stood upright this time, but sink through the ground and mist covers your eyes. You can't see. And in a matter of seconds, much quicker, the buzzing is now deafening, almost deafening out the sound of your blood pulsing through your ears, the pumping of your heart. That is almost drowned out by the sound of this buzzing, almost like flies, like bees, like something buzzing in your ears.
00:20:38
Speaker
And suddenly you feel your feet touch ground with the buzzing subsides and moves back, and you're in a room that you recognise. You see a long arched walkway with massive marble pillars running alongside a cold, dark, polished floor. And that was a, if you remember, back to
00:20:57
Speaker
The trials of Drago has a low white light emanating from a high ceiling to cast shadows from the huge pillars. You can't see the end of the passageway in sight. This is a high vaulted ceiling. You can't even see the roof of that, let alone the end of this walkway.
00:21:17
Speaker
But you recognize this walkway as one of the trials you were put through, where seas of figures that you had in some way, shape or form been involved in the death of, and you had to pass a number of wisdom tests to get through them unscathed. From where you currently stand, you know that is not going to happen again. But you land, you have all your equipment,
00:21:42
Speaker
Your blood is still pulsing, your blood is still racing through your body, but you're in silence, and there's a stillness, but a warmth to the air. Anything you'd like to do? Yes, I'd rather go with Landon, just still panting, like you said. Look around, Kiva, you brought me here. Why? What do you need? What do you want?
00:22:09
Speaker
And your voice echoes through this room and you can almost hear it bounce off the walls. And then it kind of subsides and fades. And then you hear from your left shoulder, almost a conversational distance, meter and a half, maybe. Don't have to shout. I can hear you just fine. Valinor.
00:22:33
Speaker
And as you turn around, you do recognize the now well-worn, well-known face of Valinor behind you, the pale features of this humanoid stood there in his same black cloak, haggard, black bags under his eyes. He looks like he hasn't slept since the last time you saw him, though if you remember, time doesn't seem to travel in the same way down here. You're still here.
00:23:02
Speaker
Well, how long has it been? You know... It's been... true. It hasn't probably been that long. But it feels like a long time since I've been... since I was here with you. Wow. Oh, sorry, I've just...
00:23:24
Speaker
Drago takes Dengel to deception and shoots it on his back and just tries to get his breathing back to normal. He's got his hand on his chest to try and regulate himself and he's breaking out of his rage. Sorry, I've just come from a battle. Here, take this and he hands you a kind of a flask of water, uncorks it and passes it over to you. Drago takes it, trusting Valinor and drinks it.
00:23:51
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I've just been pulled out of a battle. So I'm a bit confused. How are you? What's going on? Do you know why I'm here? Well, yes, actually. I think I've been tasked with talking to you about why you're here. You see, it's been years for me since we last spoke, Drago.
00:24:23
Speaker
I've been following your progress and what you're doing and I passed. You passed? Yeah, it took quite a few more attempts, if you know what I mean. I think another 6,000 or so, but I got through in the end and, you know, Akiva was, you know, he wasn't happy to say the least. It took that many, but I'm here now and yeah.
00:24:49
Speaker
So, and he kind of straightens up a little bit, almost taking on a more official role. You have been tasked by coming here, Drago, to complete your training, to finish what you failed. Akiva doesn't like half-finished work you see, and there's more to give, there's more to get. Hang on, I failed by not killing you, and you've stood here in front of me, now a member.
00:25:20
Speaker
of Akiva's religion, for want of a better word. Like, how is that a fail? It was a failure of the eternal covenant. You passed four, yes. Sorry. You passed three. You failed the fourth. So your power was limited, if you remember. And so... No, I remember choosing not to kill you. Well, and for that I do appreciate, but...
00:25:50
Speaker
It's not about you and me in the end, is it? Anyway, these conversations on board, Akiva knows, so we're not gonna get in trouble like we did before. Now, if you remember what he was saying about trust is singular to Akiva, to the cause, we need to finish that. And it's not a test, but we just need to finish up some things,
00:26:20
Speaker
it's serious now yeah this is it yeah we're i think all of us are finding that it's got serious um down there up there wherever wherever there is it's definitely um wrong move could be fatal and that fatal ending you might not necessarily end up down here drago you might not end up with the kiva
00:26:51
Speaker
the things I've seen it's currency souls get sold and bought from God to God it's a control of their power Akiva doesn't use it like that or so he says but he keeps them safe controlled removing power from the other gods but
00:27:16
Speaker
What am I saying? I'm just saying it's not a guarantee that you or Claude or anyone else would end up down here with a Kiva. You need to make sure this ends. It needs to end right.
Oath of Vengeance to Akiva
00:27:30
Speaker
If it ends right, I might be allowed back up or down or sideways, wherever it is. This needs to end right. You need to finish this and you need the power to do it.
00:27:46
Speaker
Yes, and Drago gives Valinor a levelled look in agreement. I agree. I do need the power to finish this. What's Akiva wanting of me? Nothing, really. And he kind of kicks an imaginary stone on the ground and coughs and scratches his face. You know, just a note of your soul for the eternal plane.
00:28:14
Speaker
I'm sorry, can you say that a bit louder and slower? What, I just... You know, make an oath to a Kiva to sign over your soul to a certain old servitude in return for increases, increased power and, you know, the like. Everything has a cost. You see, Drago just kind of...
00:28:43
Speaker
Throw his head back and walk a few steps in flustration. As in... become... fully faithful. As much as one can, yes. Take a knee. I don't think he wants you to take a knee particularly, but yeah, within the metaphor, yeah. And swear an oath. For my soul is this after I...
00:29:14
Speaker
I'm no longer part of the physical world. Yeah. Like I said, how, you know, when we die, the souls are kind of bought and bartered. It just ties you more completely to Akiva and less likely to go to, I don't know, one of the seven hells or I don't know. I serve Akiva. Yeah. Well, I will serve Akiva.
00:29:43
Speaker
Yeah, pretty much. For eternity. Yeah, which isn't too bad really when you think about it. Cause it's, you know, um, yeah, sure. Eternity is what I blink of an eye. Yeah. But think of it this way, Drago. I mean, you've been serving a Kiva since we last talked. Has it felt like service? No. How'd you know? Won't be the same.
00:30:12
Speaker
For my limited dealings and knowledge of deities and gods, I've seen some good come from following Akiva. I've clawed to thank for that. I mean, if we wanted simple zombies, why wouldn't we have just taken those of the Blight? And he'd be happy with Emma's servants forever, but...
00:30:39
Speaker
It's those with willpower, those with control, those who fight back against the Kiva. That's what's important. That gives them the strength, the question to improve, to grow. I think what's most important here is having the power to help defeat.
00:30:58
Speaker
the plight yeah i think we were getting ahead of ourselves talking about the end where you know where eventually you die and everything which is sad uh you know let's not let's not talk about that that's that's that's depressing i'd rather not die anytime soon yeah i've got a job to do let's not talk about that let's talk about the end of the world instead that's that's less depressing i think yeah sure right sure
00:31:22
Speaker
What do I... Okay. Okay, so just to make sure I get this right, I need to swear an oath to Akiva, and then he will grant me more power. Yeah. And I can use that power to help defeat the Blight, defend my friends, and avenge those that were taken. He smiles at the corner of his left half of his face. Very astutely put, Trago.
00:31:51
Speaker
Yeah, pretty much. Imagine it's like this, you know. You've got a house, and this house has one door that's just been locked. The house is given to you by a Kiva, obviously. He's a landlord now. No, ignore that bit. And he's given you this house, but one of the doors has been locked. This will be the key to unlock that door, that last door, so that you have the whole house. It's your house. It's yours in total. You have ownership over it.
00:32:20
Speaker
And that's why it's not up to me what the oath is, not to really a keyboard, what the oath is. It's up to you. What do you want this oath to be? How do you want to pass yourself over? You give me the wording, you give us the wording, and we can suit the action to the word, the word to the action, to quote someone.
00:32:45
Speaker
drago's brow furrows as he goes deep in thought he starts muttering words to describe my oath i started this journey not believing in gods not that i didn't know that they weren't out there but i didn't believe in what they stood for
00:33:14
Speaker
I have had people taken away from me, from our family, from my friends, and yet I'm still here in their place. Hell, I'm even wielding one of my dead friend's weapons as he taps the axe's shader to the side of him.
00:33:44
Speaker
I've watched friends get turned against me. I want to kill the person, thing, god, deity, whomever is behind all of this. I want to bring justice to those that were lost. I have
00:34:14
Speaker
this thirst for vengeance that hasn't been quelled and it's only grown it powers me it fuels me it's the reason why I'm still here it's the reason why I'm still alive so if there is such a thing to take an oath in it would be that of vengeance with the the deal being
00:34:45
Speaker
with Akiva's power and my own, my father's blade, my friend's axe. I will bring the end of the blight, but I will bring justice to those that were lost. As a silence, as Valinor takes in what you've said, and he seems slowly smiling and nodding,
00:35:14
Speaker
Vengeance you are and vengeance it shall be. He puts a hand on a shoulder looking up at you slightly because he is shorter than you and looks directly into your eyes and can see the earnestness at which you've just described your emotions and feelings towards the situation you're sitting yourself in. And could you make a perception check please?
00:35:44
Speaker
13. Okay. You notice something not normal with his eyes. There's something different in his eyes that don't look, they look like Valinor's eyes, but within the pupil of it, there's something else there. Not like a bug or a bit of anything. Like there's something within the eye that looks slightly different. He looks at you and he's still got that smile.
00:36:14
Speaker
To kill that which is dead is to learn. To fight the very notion of fear is to grow. These are the words of the Courage Tenant. You remember these words, the death salad, you did well, but they pass on here too. It's trust. It's always been about trust, Drago.
00:36:43
Speaker
not just trust of me. I was just a test, but a true trust of you and those around you. How much do you actually trust them? And is it our hesitation? Then let that drive you forward. Trust is singular to Akiva, to the cause, to vengeance.
00:37:11
Speaker
And with that, he's just gonna tap you on the shoulder and turn his back to you, start walking down the path, the long, long path into going follow. We've got a bit of a walk ahead of us, if you remember. Yeah, I do.
Blood Oath Sealed and Power Gained
00:37:30
Speaker
And you're following? Yeah, I am. Could you make another perception check, please? Yeah, I can.
00:37:38
Speaker
17. There you go. You know, there we go. You notice now, even from this angle, you notice something odd about his kind of aura, his kind of area around him. It has a slight almost chaotic blue outline. Yes. Outline to him as he walks away. Not him himself, but just around him. And as he's walking, he's kind of talking to you as you start to walk on in life.
00:38:07
Speaker
As in death, souls are worthy of preservation, of control. That's what Akiva does here. Even those that have undertaken, he looks back at you, despicable acts in their mortal form. And then he kind of puts a hand to his own chest in saying what he's been doing, deserve retribution. How do you feel about the concept of Elphir, your friend?
00:38:38
Speaker
Do you think you can save him, Drago, or? Yes. There's no or. I can save him. At what cost, though? Drago just falls silent, unable to answer. Would you save him over the realm? Is that the choice that is going to be?
00:39:04
Speaker
Are you just hypothesizing? I am postulating and hypothesizing, Drago. I know no more than what I am told and what I'm told is very vague, I'm sure, from yourself and from Akiva. It just seems like the natural problem, the eternal problem that you need to sort moving forward. Don't tell me, though. It's more fun for the podcast.
00:39:30
Speaker
you continue walking down this way and eventually you do see the clear hallway end and comes to a smaller room which you remember to be the forge of the eternal ones where you had the choice of what you would imbue a weapon with the soul of you know three options and you pick that obviously of Shader into Shader's axe to create the weapon and you enter into the forge and
00:39:58
Speaker
where you previously stood which is what kind of one side of the forge and there's a bit of a gap between that we never really crossed to the other side of the forge where these souls where i was imagine this is the crossover from almost this kind of demi play my you are what mortals can be to the other side which is the eternal plane. Because the difference is start this is kind of black shredded missus has hangs in the air it looks like lease and.
00:40:26
Speaker
Like a TV that's not quite at the right setting. I'm talking old antenna TVs here. It's not quite there. Yeah, analogs. It's just a little bit fuzzy on the other side. There's a very clear distinct between realities here. And you recognize that even then, because even looking through and seeing shader, et cetera, in your previous time here, you'd recognize that you were too caught up in what's happening. And what you start to notice, though, is that as you get close to the edge, the precipice of this area, Valinor doesn't slow down. He continues to walk at pace.
00:40:56
Speaker
and then steps through into the mist and then onto the other side and into the forge itself and he slowly turns with his hands kind of wide with a bit of a sorry face on what's with the face and why are you sorry what aren't you telling me do you remember when uh
00:41:25
Speaker
Akiva last spoke to you and took on the form of... Tali. Yes. Any kind of gestures to himself again? I just thought it might be easier this way, Drago. Are you telling me you're actually not Valinor? No. Did he even pass the test? That's beside the point.
00:41:51
Speaker
Oh, what's beside the point is you ask for trust, yet you constantly materialize in people I'm friends or that I have acquaintance with. Trust is singular, Drago. Trust to Akiva, to your vengeance.
00:42:14
Speaker
to the cause. I do trust in my vengeance. You do like to refer yourself in the third person, which is a bit weird. Well, if you were ever a god, I'm sure you'd do the same. I'm sure you have your reasons. It's not for me to question. I've tried that. I failed that. But I do need your help. I do need your power. And I actually don't think
00:42:45
Speaker
You're that bad. He touches his hand to his chest. Untouched, Drago. Truly? Yeah, you have Claude to thank for a lot of this. Wow. Claude and I need a long talk soon. Right. Down to your oath of vengeance, which I do like the sound of Drago. It's just a... on my knees job. No, not at all.
00:43:14
Speaker
All you must do is spill your blood. Just a drop. Just a drop. Sure. Sure. Why the knees when you can just spill blood? Fine. Okay, then drug. I'll put it to you. Which one would you prefer? No, I'll do the blood. It sounds better. Sounds better, more dramatic, etc. Just lean your claw over the the gap, the precipice between the two realms and just squeeze a drop of blood.
00:43:45
Speaker
down into the chasm. Joago will take the axe of Shader, not dang honest deception, walk over to the aforementioned well. It's like a big, it's literally like I'm imagining like broken, like an earthquake has split these two parts apart, so it's just kind of craggid rocks all the way down to darkness below. He'll lean his hand over his claw,
00:44:13
Speaker
the axe in the other hand, and he goes to swipe down the centre of his hand, but just stops as he remembers Kastan saying, that's the worst place to give blood when Folly did it. So instead, he'll just go over to where he's just the inside of his thumb and just slice a little bit and then just close his thumb to the palm of his hand hard enough for a drop of blood.
00:44:40
Speaker
to go down and you see it fall down down down and falls into darkness but then you hear a thud at the bottom almost like a drum hitting something solid
00:44:51
Speaker
And there's a rush of wind who comes up from below and from the chasm up and it kind of hits your face and you can feel it hits the hair of Valinor and you can see that kind of moving up as this kind of long strong gust of wind continues to fire up almost like a wind tunnel. Valinor steps forward slightly into it and now you can see very clearly his eyes are that same almost chaotic blue mist of when you first saw Akiva in his kind of natural form.
00:45:20
Speaker
And as it drops, he nods to you. We may meet again soon yet, Drago. And that is thou Valinor, not of Akiva. Oh God, I can't keep up. Okay. Don't try. Whatever you say. Is it done? It's done. You have now sworn an oath of vengeance to Akiva.
00:45:50
Speaker
This is the way. Ah fuck no, this is the way. I didn't mean to say that. Might as well just go with the forces strong in this one. Fucking hell. Don't know why I said that. Wow, I haven't even watched Mando in ages. Mandos.
00:46:06
Speaker
Oh, it's so good, though. This episode is going to end with... What a soundtrack. Anyway, shit, that was a shame. I know you could have pulled it off. You could have pulled it off. This is the way you could have... Nowhere. I would have said, I have spoken.
00:46:26
Speaker
Um, no, cause it's like the forge as well. And there's like the Mandalorian, the forged, uh, the blacksmith lady. And yeah, I can't be doing that. There's too many connections. I didn't even think about that anyway. And I've never seen Akima's face either. So it's all like, God, I've just ripped off the Mandalorian. Are we doing the Mandalorian? Is that what we're doing? Um,
00:46:48
Speaker
As the wind continues to pummel and buffet both of you, the rest of the forge stays almost completely still in relation to that. Then the body of Alinor does start to dematerialize and break up. This blue swirl and mist of Akiva returns moving in different directions, spinning around over the forge, the forge in which you
00:47:12
Speaker
basically signed over the soul of Shader to your control, to your kind of emotional connection back with Shader. And you feel your eyes start to become heavy. And you're not sure this is the combat or the rage subsiding properly or the adrenaline or something else. But you also feel just this coursing strength in your legs and in your arms and this feeling of
00:47:43
Speaker
isn't rage, this isn't anger, this is revenge, this is something different, this is a drive that comes below the base necessities of a dragonborn barbarian that needs to attack and hit and blood and death etc. This is something that has reason behind it, force behind it, something that will overpower those needs if possible.
00:48:08
Speaker
that starts to really kind of build up underneath you and you feel it just building and building and building as it gets stronger and stronger. Just as it gets stronger you hear the words of Akiva just as you start to kind of fade out and you can feel the tension and pull between the two worlds getting stronger and stronger and you're kind of returning back to the mortal plane you just hear the voice of Akiva. A golden ship. A facade. Trust is singular.
00:48:38
Speaker
to a cave.
00:48:41
Speaker
And as the buzzing fades away, in an instant, sorry, fades away, cuts off in an instant, you just hear, quite far from the distance, as your eyes readjust to the mist and the light of this area of the Blightlands, you can hear, just off in the distance, you swear you pick up the word, Grazit, and you hear Robin's voice, and you hear him muttering something to himself, and as you blink in your eyes, come back into focus, you're still there, sawed down within the guts of this creature that you've just smote
00:49:09
Speaker
And as you look up and round, you can see the rest of your party exactly where they were just before you struck the creature.
Conclusion and Technical Reflections
00:49:18
Speaker
So this time, however long it's been, a few hours has been literally a millisecond, two or three milliseconds in the time in the mortal plane. As you look around and see the rest of your group there, you've returned back to the mortal plane with your group, with your newfound oath of vengeance, Drago.
00:49:37
Speaker
Hell yeah. Fuck yeah. Vengeance boy. I am a vengeance boy. That's what they shall call me. There you go. There you go. Awesome. I think that's what we're going to leave it for this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop.
00:49:52
Speaker
Hell yeah, I loved that. That was amazing. We started off massive. And then listeners, we had some technical issues where along the way we lost people. So it ended up becoming a very dragocentric episode. So apologies about that. But it worked well. We did well out of literally nothing. We just called this on the fly. Considering also that we've been online now for over a year,
00:50:18
Speaker
that, you know, it's, we haven't had many big dropouts and we've still been on every Friday. So every Friday and we're still on every Friday. Hell yeah. So we started this episode with all cast members and we're ending it with two. So I'm going to fill in the rest for everyone else. So, um, let's do this. So, um, if you want you do the, thank you to your normal one and I'll fill in, I could do the voices.
00:50:40
Speaker
Oh, I like this. OK, well, thank you very much for tuning in, listening to us, making us a party every day week. We love you for it. If you wanted to keep in touch with the podcast, find out all the things that are going on in our lives. We don't post there, but maybe one day we will. We have a combined Twitter page, which is at Fellowship Table. And then if you wanted to go one step further and follow us individually, you can do so. I'm at iRod1, Casey's at Unicorn Crit, Danny's at
00:51:08
Speaker
total party thralls, columns at the d20 gala, very good will is at natural 20 will.
00:51:18
Speaker
Darren's at... Darren, page 06. And our wonderful DM is at... Hasterly Roll DM. That was well done, sir. Thank you. I didn't do the voices, I just did the intonation, the way they all... Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think you picked them up. I think that when they listen back on this, they're gonna be nothing but, um... Offended. Oh, well, there you go. There you go. Yeah. Maybe. A little bit, maybe. Until next time, guys. Farewell!