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Ep. 71 The Singer, The Tief and The Baal - Bellum Draconis
67 Plays8 months ago
Seth and Baal have a future path laid before them via Prego. Nyx's debt collector finally makes an appearance.
Follow us on our Twitters - @FellowshipTable
Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
Recommended
Transcript
Art Techniques & Safety Warning
00:00:00
Speaker
Just yeah like it not not to try and burn you but you know when like if you hold a hand over a candle and it gets kind of dark and that's the intention so that you can kind of smear that over the drawing. Don't try this at home.
Welcome to D&D in Drolak
00:00:41
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop, Bellum Draconis. We are a live play 5e D&D podcast set in the magical home-brewed world of Aerith in the Kingdom of Drolak. Joining you for this week's episode we have Will, who plays the dragonborn druid Val Balcon. Not quite! You sound like a tax salesman.
00:01:09
Speaker
I'm ill.
Meet the Characters
00:01:11
Speaker
Excuse me. We also have Ian who plays the tiefling warserer, Nick Skarell. Hello, I'm Val Balthorn and I'm here to sell you car insurance. Now you can get a two for one. No, my name is Mark and I'm playing the human blade singer, Seth Faroreva. And by last but not least, we have a maestro of magic, our commander of combat, our DMD of D and D dungeon master, Danny Bonjour.
Plot Twists & Revelations
00:01:34
Speaker
We pan over the rickety cart of a rain-sodden trade vehicle heading out west into Sleetguard. In the back, huddled under a large waterproof sheet, staring deeply into his orb, we see the face of Old Gell.
00:01:56
Speaker
Oh! Consequences! Goddamn! There were so many questions and Prago Dunn fucked all of the answers!
Prago's Many Roles
00:02:06
Speaker
Nick's father would be a good idea to do the shocking of him and hell, he put his hand on his throat and he delivered the goods but fuck me, nothing happened! And uh, Prago Dunn tells the group that he's a friend, he's a mother, a father, a minder, a debtor, a bounty hunter, a foe, and for Emron, I don't fucking know, he doesn't fucking know either, but oh well.
00:02:26
Speaker
Turns out, bow, dun, don, git, gop, can't speak. Banished by Sean Dralicar. Oh shit, no more brood for him.
Tempting Offers & Decisions
00:02:37
Speaker
Uh, Alpha thought it would be a good fucking idea to take a dagger to the loot of Prago. What a dumb bitch. He gone fucked it up. He gone, done, got cursed. And now he's got little bits of his life just trickling away over the next 27 days. Oh shit.
00:02:55
Speaker
Dan, you got Seth getting on his knees in front of Prego, but not like that. He done did pledge his allegiance to him and ended up laughing his ass off at him. What a little bitch. God damn, everyone just got completely shit up. But it is probably worth remembering that Prego done did spit at Alito's name. Again, not like that.
00:03:15
Speaker
So, we get to show Andralica, turns out he did or they done said that so few children returned to her, but our reward was promised and two of the group will leave with their reward, but three will not.
00:03:31
Speaker
They done had to choose whether or not they was going to take their offer or pass overall, and they were going to be told it in turn. First up, we had Nyx. He was offered power, a siren's eye, some great big pirate treasure,
Nyx's Powerful Choice
00:03:47
Speaker
or protection from their contract, or the pass.
00:03:51
Speaker
Alpha they were offered knowledge knowing where an ancient monument who that echo kind of was and more information about their memory rune or They could go ahead and get themselves a dragon bitch upgrade or pass
00:04:05
Speaker
Number three, Reigns. They were offered influence so they could get a means to gain trust over Sleepguard or a promise to understand more about the ancient pack of House Hatter or maybe even a pass. And finally, Amron. They was offered divinity. They was offered the location of Alito's fallen last steps. Damn! Or maybe some heritage, being able to speak to that other form of Alito once per month or, of course, a pass.
Relic's Powers Unveiled
00:04:32
Speaker
Now, most of the groups were dumb fuckin' bitches and chose to pass! What the fuck you doin' that for, boys? But not Nix, good old Erectnia. You know he, my boy. He done chose the Sirens. Aye, he done chose that power. Of course he did, and they found out that...
00:04:51
Speaker
This was some sort of crazy ass relic that can do cursing of armies, controlling the winds, doing some kind of crazy shit with storms and all sorts of amazing crazy fucking bullshit.
Group Dynamics & Consequences
00:05:06
Speaker
It was found on the corrupted coward ship that was under a lady, not shades command, but no one on the boat knew that that jewel was beneath the decks. That's probably quite important.
00:05:18
Speaker
Finally, because only one person, Nix, my boy, chose the power, they decided to give Raines a little bit of influence. He was uttered a certain phrase that could be doom if spoken in the wrong presences, but whispered in the right ears, could be just what he needed. And he was told
00:05:40
Speaker
that in Scorchhelm, Goldview, Moonrise, or Aerith, this might be quite useful. Just utter the damn name, Felum Draconis! Oh shit, it got mentioned! Damn titties! There was some sort of rumbling even Prago felt upstairs. That's some exciting shit. Let's find out what the fuck happens next.
Reflecting & Transitioning
00:06:11
Speaker
I can't match the energy. That's so intense. I think he'd broken himself. That was the longest intro. It was. I'm sorry. Until next week guys. It was so much good shit. It was so much good shit. So much to cover. Well played. Good bullet point hitting. Wow.
00:06:37
Speaker
So we find two of our heroes taking a breather outside the lair of Sean Dralakar. Both Seth and Baal denied entry into this dragon's domain. That familiar feel of the midday sun in the area that both of you know as the silent borderlands. This is one of Dralak's most deadliest deserts.
00:07:08
Speaker
It burns this hot, familiar weight onto your skin. You shelter under this hempen canvas camp that's been erected. With music from Prago's lute, all there is to break this palpable silence. The song some of you perhaps dip into, some of you maybe you're listening avidly, you can't escape some of the key motifs of what's being played.
00:07:37
Speaker
The song tells a tale of loss and woe, and slips between the common tongue and a language that you too cannot identify. The druids, all of whom continue to be shaped into this crocodile form, are unwilling to acknowledge your presence. You've almost just sort of been cast out and ignored.
00:08:01
Speaker
that platter of fruit that Prago has been grazing at and occasionally you've taken stuff from is beginning to run dry in this heat and stale. You've been waiting for maybe two hours for what the rest of the party have experienced in minutes. Seth, what would you be doing during this time given the events of the sort of the last few hours? Seth would be probably
00:08:31
Speaker
covering hard for his laughing fit when he got hit with Tasha Sidious laughter, possibly by acting more solemn and more morose and more serious than maybe Baal in the short span of time that he's known him has seen. He would then be kind of trying to be very pragmatic with his time. One of the things he would have done is he would have taken out his spell book
00:08:59
Speaker
and flipped to the very, very back end of the book, which is filled with blank pages. And if Baal was in eyeshot or cared, both of which are questionable, he would have seen Seth with some charcoal adding lines and shading to what is
00:09:18
Speaker
a very rudimentary design of a cart. A kind of a large, long cart and kind of looking at it, muttering to himself as he starts to like add lines on and draw things and just kind of fiddle around with this idea he's got in his head. And every now and then maybe trying to make inroads in communication with Baal to learn a lot more about him. But obviously that would depend how forthcoming Baal has been given
00:09:45
Speaker
you know the big news that he's just just received the last couple of hours what they look like for you so initially it would have just been kind of
00:10:00
Speaker
Not necessarily dumbfounded, but I knew full well the consequences were incredibly dire upon returning. And if anything, this is the most merciful of outcomes for him. So, like I say, initially would have just kind of been standing there and just almost stock still for 10, 15 minutes.
00:10:27
Speaker
a little bit unsure of what to do or where to go next but upon kind of turning around taking in the scene and reflecting on the fact that what was his home technically for
00:10:41
Speaker
Well, as far as the party knows, for good, but obviously, not necessarily for him. He's a little bit at a loss. He knows full well that on his mind there is a sense of revenge he wants to.
00:10:57
Speaker
destroy and obliterate the abcrisp group. But right now, there's no real means of necessarily achieving that. So I guess after sort of maybe 10, 15 minutes or so, Baal would have been taking in the scene, wouldn't have been trying to make any contact whatsoever with any of the other druids, and probably would be like, you say, Mark, receptive to a conversation sparking up between Seth and himself. Yeah, and he what he'll do is similar to the night before he'll kind of linger
00:11:27
Speaker
around you Seth, sit looking over your shoulder, having a little look and seeing what it is that you're actually doing within the book. This is the second, not necessarily companion, but close person that he knows that is actually, again, fiddling around with what he can clearly see as some sort of tome of magical power. And he'll just kind of linger there and keep an eye over the shoulder and won't initiate a conversation.
00:11:54
Speaker
you will also feel probably, while from your position there, the scuttling of a, I don't know if you'd feel it, you would feel it, of a spider. It's gonna try and climb up your leg. And I don't know how you'd respond to that. It's more kind of red, red spider. Would I recognize the kind of the breed of it or would it be unusual, do you think? It looks, well, I don't know.
00:12:20
Speaker
I don't know what breed it. It's the familiar. It's as familiar, but I don't know what. When you use fine familiar, it's your imagery that creates the creature. When you summon your friend, where does the species of that spider originate from? Where do you recall that species of spider? At home.
00:12:46
Speaker
actual home, proper home, and his empire. Then, Bol, I would make a nature check a disadvantage. Okay, yeah, yeah, certainly will do. Yeah, just to see if I can ascertain it, it's the lowest one is A7. I mean the highest one. A disadvantage, I said the lowest. Yeah, yeah, so A7 is what I came up with. Sorry.
00:13:14
Speaker
You recognize it's a spider. You recognize it's a non-threatening behavior of that spider. You don't feel, you understand the sort of iconic relationship that's there, but you really don't recognize the species. No. Okay. You affiliate the color red with elements and that's probably all you have.
00:13:28
Speaker
Yeah, no worries. And that would almost be kind of a mild comfort as well to Baal, but I'm sure they would be able to put two and two together, having seen this spider in the fight as well, get blasted off into the river, I think it was. You definitely know that it's Seth's. You definitely know that. OK. Recognize that connection. You just don't understand the species. I'm with him. OK, excellent. This is interesting, he'll say. He won't bat it off. He won't kind of throw it anyway. He'll just let it kind of climb up him.
00:13:58
Speaker
Where did you find this one then? Do you have pockets, Paul? I imagine he would. He's got leather armor, so I imagine there'd be pockets and pouches, but mainly there's a lot of, he's the kind of the substantial item that he's wearing is like a bandolier that's got pouches with glass vials and things in.
00:14:18
Speaker
And a cape over his back, yeah. Gotcha. Despite it to make a beeline for any kind of pocket-like thing and we'll just start kind of rifling around in them. In which case, yeah, you'd be immediately stopped. Yeah, he'd grab it and go, at least take me to dinner first and kind of just hold it away from if he can in his hand.
00:14:44
Speaker
and just keep it away from the pouches. It's enough to draw Seth away from his sketching. We'll turn around and look up. Sorry about him. Pinglog. That's his name. He's got a penchant for trying to take things from people. Though I keep trying to explain to him that it's very difficult in his ethereal form to fucking take things, you know? But anyway, he does it all the same. I thought I familiar, you know, was supposed to be
00:15:14
Speaker
It's supposed to behave. When the owner says do this, it's supposed to do it, but Penlock's a little cunt, he doesn't do it oftentimes. I've got the only thing that'll make him behave is the blade. When that comes out, he sings and dances from the same, he doesn't actually do that, but you get the picture. He does what I tell him basically, but only when the blade is out. It's odd. Interesting.
00:15:38
Speaker
So you have no control over his actions whatsoever. I've got some control, but I feel like I feel like he is a child. You know, sometimes you tell a child, do this and they go, yeah, OK, I wanted to do it anyway, so I'll do it. And then other times you say, do this and they say, no, I'm going to shit on the floor. That's kind of what the relationship is here. It's as long as he wants to do it, we kind of we kind of we see eye to eye.
00:16:02
Speaker
I don't know if that's right, but anyway. Well, I'm not too familiar myself, excuse the pun. However, I have a similar bond.
00:16:12
Speaker
And you'll see the kind of eyes ignite a little bit and once more kind of around appearing coiling around the shoulder Baal is going to summon the wildfire spirit around their shoulders this kind of serpentine dragon in a sense that's just kind of coiling round and just appears There in fact, let me just quickly check. I don't know if I can fuck if I really fucked this up I don't know if I can summon this without it creating its
00:16:42
Speaker
uh big explosion brilliant i'm sure if i if i knew that it would create an explosion i'm sure that i'd do it without kind of doing that uh you have a snake that explodes well yeah yeah you want to see my explains
00:16:58
Speaker
it says when it appears yeah when it appears it does kind of burst into life but I wonder if you'll allow me to do it without I will allow you if you could at the same time spend control flame or equivalent I see okay
00:17:17
Speaker
Because it makes an explosive appearance. The only way to contain that is if you can magically work that. I'm with you. Yeah, I don't have that. So knowing that then, I probably wouldn't... I'd probably wreck on that. I probably wouldn't... Just to have a mild explosion on myself with Seth and his book right in front of me and a spider crawling over me. So instead of necessarily summoning it around me then, I'll just say, that's fascinating. I have complete control.
00:17:47
Speaker
over the one that I summon. We communicate together, we work together, but never before have I been disobeyed. Oh, right. That doesn't bate well. Well, it makes sense actually though, because this book ain't mine. He's gesturing to the spell book. Right.
00:18:09
Speaker
One of your and Baal's eyes will kind of narrow a little bit and scan around the room and speak relatively quietly. Old friends from the camp? Oh no, no. This precedes them totally. This is a year ago almost now. I don't know why I'm telling you this actually. And the final battle against the Blight.
00:18:36
Speaker
I was drudging back across the fields of the dead and I came across this lady and an air amount so she was one of the high ranking wizards in the army. She was dying and I took the book thinking to return it to someone and I just kind of held on to it and then a few other things happened and I could read it. I could draw energy from it. I could use the spells within it.
00:19:07
Speaker
But they don't always work the way I want them. What I think is kind of why Ben Block here doesn't always, doesn't always follow suit if you know what I mean. Maybe he knows deep down I'm not really the one who should be in control. I don't know. It's all kind of raise an eyebrow at this kind of everything you've said, paying particular attention to you talking about the fact that you've, you kind of took the book from this person.
00:19:35
Speaker
And they'll look down at the spider back at you and at the book and say, when you say you took the book, do you mean it was given to you by this dying wizard, arcane, enchantress, whoever it might be? Or was it asked that it was returned to someone in particular?
00:19:59
Speaker
No, she was on death's door. It's a death rattle. She was gone. Her chest was heaving, but nothing. No, life was there. If you've been on battlefields as long as I have, you know when someone is not for the healers.
00:20:17
Speaker
I took it to return it at first. No one told me to do it. I just saw it lying there. It was either me or the scavengers who would come to the land soon enough. I thought I'd do a good deed and was interested by what it contained. And the screwings didn't make sense to begin with and then we slowly did.
00:20:39
Speaker
First thing I summoned was this blade, nothing if not by chance, bring up the blade of death and it appeared in the song. Glancing over your shoulder, can I see any writing in this book or does it all look kind of runic? Is it like a
00:20:59
Speaker
On the back pages that he's got it open, it's literally just a left page of just blank parchment and a right page landscape of a very rudimentary drawing of this kind of extended large cart with like added bags and chests on the side. Of course, yeah. Guards and like a post above and it looks almost like a castle built on wheels pretty much. It doesn't look like it would actually move at all. Awesome.
00:21:27
Speaker
Okay. I'm looking that and taking you over as well. It is impressive, Seth. You're able to garner power from someone without necessarily having studied it or practice it, perhaps yourself. But like you say, maybe practice does make perfect. That is interesting. I know well of the Blight Lands that you speak of. And I know well, as you say, of those that would raid and pillage.
00:21:57
Speaker
I've had my dealings with them too. Sean, and then he'll stop and kind of pause for a moment and kind of recollecting himself will say, as I mentioned, I was tasked myself with purifying some of the Blightlands, the evil that took place deep within root and stone and body.
00:22:26
Speaker
turns out that fire is a good purifier. So a few other of the brood, my original brood and myself, we were tasked with returning the land, some of it back to itself. But there were, as you say, people who intended to, how do I put this, take
00:22:53
Speaker
what did not belong to them taint what was perhaps still untainted and they were purified themselves. But I believe you said you were one of the sleet guard surge, was that? He stiffens at this almost like a mini kind of at kind of like a proper soldier's pose, even sat down for a second, his shoulders go back his chin juts out. Yes, I did. I served for quite a few years.
00:23:26
Speaker
And I want to remind you, I did not take it on the case of trying to make ill or make wrong that which was, I agree with everything you've said. And whatever way this thing goes down with these people down on the ground, whatever happens to them, I'll definitely suggest that if
00:23:47
Speaker
If you and I, as outsiders here, are no longer welcome with this lot, we could make our way north, back to Sleek Garden, do some real good. I know many places that still have this. I tend to say myself, one evil has been destroyed, which just leaves room for other evil. And it's been filled, not with the undead, but with the living, with all kinds returning to Sleek Garden, taking hold there, making, as you said, taking something that once was pure,
00:24:17
Speaker
ruining it so either way this goes down Baal you always have a place next to me if your mind and your heart is where it says it what it says it is I've got a passive insight at 17
00:24:32
Speaker
The reason Bala's skeptical is because not two days previous, this was someone on the team of the mortal enemy who kind of turned coat. What I'm trying to do with all of this speech is I'm just trying to look for
00:24:47
Speaker
I knew in sentiment, specifically when he was talking about kind of trust and specifically when he was also talking about the intent when he had behind the book. So it's almost two different, I'm happy to roll twice or whatever you want me to do specifically for it, but that's what I'm looking out for just to garner whether or not Baal feels like he can
00:25:09
Speaker
confide perhaps a little bit more, but also maybe offer a little bit of trust towards Seth. Yeah. Could you roll an insight roll for me? Mark, could you roll persuasion or deception? Don't tell us which one you're doing, but whatever you roll, Mark, persuasion if it's truth, deception if it's lie, whatever you roll is the DC that Baal has to meet in order to
00:25:33
Speaker
Understand whether or not it's a truth or a lie because I've always taken on face value okay mark your first give us the two separate for the or is this just the DC cover because it's also about the book and the I'm taking the last bit you spoke about which was about the
00:25:50
Speaker
Are you trying to insight on those two parts? Well, are you trying to ascertain whether or not the book was taken by me that was explained to you? Exactly. I didn't want to interrupt him because, yeah, it was fascinating to listen through, but that's something that Barr would definitely have been kind of paying attention to because he kind of brought it up again, but as well as this last sentiment that Seth just brought across about it. Okay, we'll do that in two parts. We'll do it chronologically because it would affect how you would read the second part if you...
00:26:15
Speaker
Mistrust. So, Seth, based on the notion that you've come to obtain the book, please roll Persuasion or Deception. Don't tell us which one you use, but just tell us what you roll. I rolled a two. Okay. Bart, you need to roll. Sixteen. Insight. You believe...
00:26:33
Speaker
Well, this is now for Seth to reveal. If Seth is lying, you need to say you're lying. If you were telling the truth about it, you need to tell us, say you're telling the truth. Tell him truth. He was wrong with it. Okay, truth. And Baal, you believe that. Okay. And then to follow up, the recollection of Seth's past serving the hailstorm surge and the sentiment that Seth attached to that, Seth, role, persuasion, or deception,
00:26:59
Speaker
Two again. Two again, Baal roll inside. Twenty-four. Twenty-four. Seth, what did you pick? True as persuasion. You believe it to be true as well, Baal. Okay, so kind of taking that in as well. You'd probably notice that Baal is still in this kind of upright position as talking to you, but there's probably a slight loosening maybe of the shoulders or any tension in the neck or anything like that as he takes in what you say.
00:27:27
Speaker
I believe your heart to be in the right place, Seth. And I am one of the forgotten Exodus now. There is no home for me here, like some of those who have come before me from this brood and from my former. If your intention is to burn out the rot of these lands, I think I can lend my services.
00:27:57
Speaker
Seth's going to let out a real toothy grin at that and kind of nod his head in agreement and scratching out the ginger hair he's got above him. So what do you think about this lot then? The group that we've come across, you know, stick with them if they'll take us. What are your thoughts? Honest opinion. Always. Their mission was to return the eggs.
00:28:26
Speaker
I know full well that I was not successful in my part. No, you definitely didn't help the fact at all. You made it worse, actually. Sorry, you were talking. And he'll wait for a little bit of that and nod. And my penance will come. However, some also do seem to have true focus. Some less so.
00:28:56
Speaker
I wonder if they have a common goal. I wonder if they all know what they desire. And therefore I wonder if setting themselves towards one target, one focus, they'll be successful. It's too early for me to tell.
00:29:18
Speaker
If you want my opinion, I feel like they're a team that have not had the proper kind of squad leader yet. I feel like they have.
00:29:30
Speaker
dealt with a lot of shit, probably. You can see it, you know, you can see it in his eyes, you know, the, um, which one, the one with the hammer and the one who talks funny. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. The one that almost fell into the river of doom. Yeah. The stupid one. Yeah. And you know, you can see in his eyes, like there's a haunted look that you get when you've seen stuff you can't. Unforget. Unremember. No, you get what I think. Yeah.
00:30:00
Speaker
But I agree. They've seen some shit. There's some interesting characters, some real strength here. I think it's a good group. I think they just let that idea, like you said, that forward propulsion. A common goal. Out of interest, what are your thoughts on the tiefling?
00:30:26
Speaker
Oh, I don't know. I've seen him once. He was just flapped around, looked confused. I feel like I'm gonna slap him in the face and send it back to basic training for a bit, but he's powerful. He doesn't know what he's doing with this shit yet, but I can relate to that with a bit of training and a bit of support. I think he could be quite a useful soldier in the battle of the years to come.
00:30:50
Speaker
Aside from that, I don't know the guy enough yet, but I see men, I see people, I see possible soldiers, that is my role, unfortunately, so anything more than that you are looking for, I don't really know, unfortunately. No, I'm just curious. I think you're right. I was in power there, absolutely, something innate. Me, it's forced, it comes from the book, but with him, it seems to just like his emotions control it, you know? He's just like, ah, and it happens.
00:31:20
Speaker
So I don't know. It worries me a little bit because I feel like if he sneezes, he could fucking thunderbolt the room. I don't know. But yeah, that's what I mean. There's something quite fun about that though, isn't there? Oh yeah. Such danger. To an extent, you know, I'm more looking at it thinking like these are people and places that can help us, you know, control and look after sleep garden. Like you said,
00:31:43
Speaker
rip out the or burn out the rot. Whatever your expression was, it's a needed thing, especially in these dark times. It's usually something to do with fire. It's kind of my thing. I've noticed it's very efficient. Yes, it works. You've got to burn the corpses because the undead will come back. We all know that. I have much experience in this, trust me. They don't come back when they're ash.
00:32:07
Speaker
Exactly. There's nothing to come back. Either you just come back as little butterflies of ash? No. So they just stay there. And then I could kill a butterfly. That's quite straightforward too. Oh, I'm sure with your fancy dark sword. Yeah, it's a shadow blade. But yeah, close enough, yeah. I do apologize. I'm in no offense. It's huge. Well, thanks. I think. Anyway, you like my drawing.
00:32:33
Speaker
Mmm, I was trying to work out what on earth that thing was, some sort of castle on wheels. Yeah, pretty much. I'm an expert drawer. Not really. No, I'm not artist myself, but I've got an idea, right? If we're going to hang around with these bunch of cunts and we're going to have, we're going to be on the road a bit. We're going to be traveling a bit. We need to do it in style because people need to know who we are. We're goddamn heroes. Okay. I'm going to be a hero. We're going to safely go and say the fucking world.
00:32:58
Speaker
And because of that, you can't be walking around on your feet like some peasant people. You need a cart, a big cart that we can sit on, right? We've got people who can work their fortunes. We can get them fixing our equipment as we go instead of walking, walking, being lazy bastards.
00:33:14
Speaker
We can have sentries, we can have a place to stay. I'm just thinking it gives us options. I can't design this shit. I'm thinking when we get to a city, I'll borrow some money off the tiefling or tell them what we're going to do and we're going to buy this cart or get someone to build it. And wind power or hope for a good downhill slope? I don't know actually.
00:33:41
Speaker
not thought that far well not really i thought like camels or something shit something basic or you know if you're doing your thing you know if you got your snakes maybe the snakes could pull it i don't know get pen log wrapped up as well it's like a snake and a spider pulling it along i'll be quite a sight people would stop and be like what the fuck is that firstly camels are anything but basic but uh
00:34:02
Speaker
Like I say, your heart's in the right place. This, it's an interesting idea. I imagine that guy, sorry, but you know, the guy, the other one, the one who barely spoke, the, the rich, rich boy one, he passed out crossing the desert. How are we going to save the planet? How are we going to save sleep guard when he can't walk across sand? We've got to protect those Royal feet of him. We've got to put him on a, put him on a cart and let him just do his,
00:34:28
Speaker
Oh, my thing from there. Well, why not use his money rather than the tieflings? And if they, like you say, happen to be rather wealthy than perhaps, it's their pockets you should be going towards. That's a good idea, actually. Maybe I'll just tell them to do it. I won't even give them the option. I'll just say, you're going to do this. And you think they'll accept. I don't know. I'll just, I wasn't going to say threaten them, but I kind of like them. Maybe I'll threaten them anyway.
00:34:56
Speaker
I don't know. There's still some, there are some creases that need ironing out of this idea, but I just think, shit, we gotta be better than the other adventurers out there. We gotta stand out. If we want people to join us and help our cause.
00:35:10
Speaker
or whatever our cause is, we need a banner. And I think that banner could be plastered to the side of a big fucking cart. That's what I think. I like it. Yeah, my work. I don't know. It's just something I was thinking, but I can't draw. I've just got an idea. I'm good with a sword. That's about it. But yeah, please. Yeah. And he'll go over and kind of had a little closer look at the drawing and he'll kind of hold out his hand to take yours.
00:35:39
Speaker
it'll go and shake your hand. Nice to meet you too properly. You'll kind of grab it, turn it over, breathe a little bit of fire into one hand with kind of like a produce flame, hold it close to a thumb and just to try and charcoal one of your thumbs and just say, needs a bit of shading.
00:35:56
Speaker
Um, just yeah, like not, not to try and burn you, but you know, when like, if you hold a hand over a candle and it gets kind of dark and that's the intention so that you can kind of smear that over the drawing. Um, don't try this at home kids. Don't use your fucking hands and then go, Oh my God, I think the draw with there's a candle though. And then just make some makeshift human skin charcoal with your fucking hand. Please don't do it.
00:36:24
Speaker
Is it possible? I like to think it's possible. I don't know, you just fucking did it. This is fucking fantasy, okay? Part of me wants to go fucking fine now. I'm looking at my hands differently now. Right. There's a lighter next to me, he's looking fucking, you know, good. I need an appendage, that's all. Ooh, god, you're not finding that. So that's gonna, like, draw back it first, then kind of understand it, be like, alright, yeah, okay.
00:36:45
Speaker
Feels a bit strange, but all right. Um, and he will just kind of use his finger and arbitrarily shade in a bit of the sky above the car and kind of look for approval. Like Donald, right? Is that enough? A good start. Okay. Now some blood needs more crimson with a brain.
00:37:11
Speaker
Yeah, and then Seth will just kind of continue the drawing. He'll reach out, turn around after you've done up with his hand, actually, with one of his hands that after done the shading, he will reach up towards you with his free hand, his left hand.
00:37:26
Speaker
He's right handed, his blades are in his left hand. And he's getting closer and closer, slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly. And then pauses for a second and then pounces really quickly. And as he draws back, he's grabbed the pen log off your shoulder. He's kind of scuffled up there. This little fucker was getting a bit too close.
00:37:46
Speaker
fucking sit down properly, don't fuck around anymore. Put them down next to the book and it does look like if a spider could sulk, it looks like it's sulking, kind of droops down its haunches slightly and kind of crosses a few of its legs and just kind of sits there very unhappy with the situation. And yeah, we're just kind of taking them, taking the music, taking the weird fucking situation they're in and
00:38:09
Speaker
and just carry on sketching with the burnt finger for Biles. And yeah, Biles gonna kind of join him sitting down cross-legged and with the kind of two hands splayed out behind, almost not like a super recumbent, relaxed pose, but two hands kind of splayed out behind. And with that, with the hands on the sand as well, he'll kind of pause for a second and sweep his hand around in the sand. And then he's gonna reach into the bandolier and pull out like an empty vial and just take some of that sand and pour it in.
00:38:39
Speaker
and kind of cork it and kind of place it back there. Yeah, and like you say, just kind of taking in the music and continue to wait. Nice. And both of you there mentioned that you were taking in the music. Can you both remind our listeners what your passive perceptions are, please? I think Biles is 17, but I cannot remember Seth's.
00:39:07
Speaker
Mine is 11. Okay. You dumb bitch. Yeah, you were right with mine. So, while you were sort of having the last 15, 20 minutes of conversation, at the point where both of you began to form a... Let's call it the early stages of a bond, but you were connecting over your past of involving yourselves in the events of the blight.
00:39:37
Speaker
The genre of music stopped silent during that period. And then in those moments afterwards where you were talking about the cart and you were talking about how you feel about the other party members,
00:39:52
Speaker
a different genre of music sort of kicked in and it had, where it was this sort of very much laid back, slower tempo, single string guitar, this became more of a Spanish guitar with a Cassinet accompaniment onto it after that. There was a tempo change, there was a key change in everything that was being played.
00:40:17
Speaker
And with your passive as well, Val, I'm imagining your passive insight is also around the... It matches it, yeah. Okay, right. It would make sense that Seth, perhaps you don't know this because you're not of Dralak, but the...
00:40:33
Speaker
The composition that Prego moved on to playing, and it's about a 10-minute epic, was a rendition of something called Before the Sands. And that's an ode to Dralak's past as this vast jungle that once filled the entire landscape. It wasn't a desert in ages gone, it was a rich jungle.
00:40:55
Speaker
but there was an ancient war between a legion known as the Styan Legion and the various princes of the hells that tried to claim Aerith at that time that caused the jungle to basically disappear overnight and it became a desolate wasteland. And that is the song before the sands, or the composition. And you're probably going to add lyrics to it, but you recognize the tune.
00:41:22
Speaker
Because it really forms a lot of philosophy that you hold, Bal, that idea about the sand being sacred and the legacy of the climate here in Dralak. So this begins to, this plays out in its entirety. And once it does, Prego steps down towards the Oasis waters.
00:41:45
Speaker
He removes his shoes, but the lute is still playing. There are now two mage hands, one on the fretboard, one strumming. And you can see these two blue lights in Prago's hand as he is about 20, 30 feet away from his lute. You watch as he steps into the water and then begins to dance in time with what's playing.
00:42:07
Speaker
flourishing and splashing and kicking up the water in rhythm almost becomes a dance in itself and as he as he conjures and splashes up this water it doesn't respond naturally to gravity it just sort of holds its shape for a moment and slowly falls down rather than instantly sort of behaving like a splash or a report would and he sort of he's able to conjure up this vortex a very um
00:42:29
Speaker
light, delicate vortex, not like a swirling, aggressive one, just this small cylinder of water that stays suspended for a few seconds with him as he moves. The tune transitions then from this collection of chords that none of you really recognise before the sands finishes, into something that both of you recognise wholeheartedly.
00:42:57
Speaker
This is one incredibly recognisable composition that speaks to a lot of the lived experiences you just spoke about.
00:43:06
Speaker
You can't help but react. And I'm going to ask both of you to make Constitution saving throws right now. As you begin to hear, it's almost like hearing the first chord of your favorite ballad kick in and the guess the intro style pub quiz questions. And you're like, I know what this means. And all of a sudden those feelings of hearing that are rushing back. What did you get? Balgo A19.
00:43:31
Speaker
and I got 22. Okay, both of you are hit with these first few chords and there is a moment where you just not literally drop everything but you freeze and you're taken aback to quite an emotional time and rather than succumbing to those emotions and needing to really process those, you're able to safely keep those held
00:44:01
Speaker
What's being played is a song called The Heretic's Folly. Composed by the famous bard, Carstan Valhorn, which sings of the last moments of the Blight. The heroes who sacrificed themselves to save Eryth, and the great loss of those who succumbed to the Blight's darkness. And now I need you both to make intelligent saving throws.
00:44:31
Speaker
Okay, I got a 22 again. 18. But consistent. Seth, you understand what's happening now is a illusion. You understand that you're not where, you're not where the information that's about to be presented to you, you understand that it's illusion. It is not rare you actually are. But you believe in this moment that you have been teleported elsewhere.
00:45:05
Speaker
slowly as this song progresses the heretics follow you've heard it a number of times the sands and the oasis give way around you and you notice that these two blue lights in prego's hand join to make one much larger purple orb that then begins to spread out and fill the entire scene around you
00:45:32
Speaker
you find yourselves back on that battlefield for the last stages of the blight in that last day of the blight that epicenter that last charge from Spiritmon readout to Svenberg Citadel that snapshot frozen in time above the scene amidst the desolate black landscape is this dragon still
00:46:05
Speaker
wingspan fully stretched out, as looking as valiantly as ever, but undead. You spy in the distance the figures charging on horseback are heroes from season one, if you will. Seth, if you looked close enough, you could probably place yourself in this scene quite easily. Nothing is moving.
00:46:34
Speaker
Prego continues to just control this purple, small purple light with one hand. It says to you both, and the alligators are out of sight here, it is just the three of you that are placed in this scene that are moving, but everyone else that you recall from these moments are there but static ghosts. I dislike his writings. But to give him credit, Valhorn
00:47:02
Speaker
The boy can compose with the best of them. We, and he marks both of you, we were allies once. I too served the hailstorm surge as a portoleer, a master of transportation.
00:47:27
Speaker
And he sort of comes in close to Seth to you, extends an arm out, points it far off into the distance, back in the direction of Spirit Month readout, and says, about there in this scene. And then he starts to scan around, takes a moment, steps back from you, marks your features, and then just looks around the battlefield trying to identify where you were in this moment. Then points at the dragon, a loft in the sky.
00:47:58
Speaker
and says imperfect, draconic to you, Baal. Gail fire the sleet, if I am not mistaken. Your mother, this now being spoken in common, in her last moments before death, no? On death.
00:48:23
Speaker
And with this, there will be tears welling in Baal's eyes. Prego will place a hand on your shoulder lightly. The rest is now said in common. I make it my life's mission to never see events like this again. And I think we
00:48:54
Speaker
Hoping for eye contact from you Seth, but knowing Baal is not quite there. We are united in this. No? I did not know you were here. Yes. In this we are united. Perhaps, as once accommodates,
00:49:25
Speaker
Two of you would listen to an offer of mine. As one that served alongside the living against the undead, that is the least I can offer you, but I cannot speak for Baal. And to Baal, saying in Draconic quite lightly in your ear,
00:49:52
Speaker
as an individual now without a home and then to Seth and to one whose home is on its knees. And then he just moves to the center of this scene and takes a seat and sort of waits for you to sit with him. Baal will respond in Draconic as well.
00:50:25
Speaker
If you wish never to see this again, my goal aligns with yours, Prego. And he'll head over and sit with you.
00:50:40
Speaker
Seth, yeah, even though he knows it's a vision, even though he knows it's not real, it's just an illusion, it's like knowing you're in a dream of the past. It doesn't help but bring back all the emotions, feelings, and memories that one would go through, again, like I even know in real life. But I imagine it would bring back the same level of intensity of feeling of the real nightmares that Seth has been dealing with
00:51:07
Speaker
since he went through these events and will inherently rip out one of his bookmarks second level and summon his shadow blade, not in an aggressive way and it will literally just have his right arm down to its side, palm open and the blade will just form in his hand, there'll be no movement. You will hear this kind of
00:51:30
Speaker
Mongolian throat-esque dirge, kind of three-part harmony in kind of incredible minor keys, kind of like swaying in the kind of soundtrack of this vision behind him. And he'll walk over and then just really slowly slide the blade down into the ground so it's kind of hilt upwards, the rest of it buried in the blight-infested lands below it.
00:51:54
Speaker
and then just sit on his knees sit on his feet on his knees if it makes sense hands kind of resting on his knees and looking directly at um at prego and sits waiting prego recognizes that gesture and from his back unfastens the the holster that holds his rapier and again places that
00:52:21
Speaker
right in the middle of this sort of circle you've formed that any of you could reach it as evenly as he could if you wanted to. He marks you both with a smile. Three of the party you have come to travel with are incredibly valuable to me, not for personal financial gain,
00:52:51
Speaker
but their destinies prevent scenes like these as he gestures towards Gale Fire, as he gestures towards Spemberg Citadel, as he gestures towards the battlefield. I have been protecting them for some time, intercepting bounty hunters,
00:53:16
Speaker
fending off mercenaries, intervening when they find themselves falling unsurvivable depths. I even embedded my dearest orcish companion within their group, all in an effort to keep them alive.
00:53:45
Speaker
I am being called elsewhere. I will not be able to offer that protection any longer. I ask and he begins to remove his shirt cufflinks and roll back the sleeve of his right hand. You to aid me.
00:54:07
Speaker
Take my mark, and as he gestures out towards you two, you just see this tattooed from the extremity of the middle finger all the way to the elbow, this fully tattooed forearm. Do this, and I will reward you tenfold. Moves the hand towards you, Baal.
00:54:36
Speaker
a home, once again, either to help you undo the exile you are now in, or where you will find Gail Fire's heir, and then unfastens
00:55:02
Speaker
All buttons on his left hand. Again, the same aesthetic quality of tattoos, not identical tattoos, but like the same genre of markings. Always his left hand towards you, Seth. I know where King Leopold's lead guide is.
00:55:25
Speaker
I can offer you soldiers who will have unwavering allegiance to this crown, and not the kriscra or the others who move against them. I have information for Sparrowhawk, the organization you have found yourself within, and says to both of you, take your pick.
00:55:54
Speaker
Just to check, Danny, the options that Seth has been offered is information regarding the, up till now, lost king of Sleetguard, which Hellen is kind of standing in for at the time.
00:56:12
Speaker
or is it or unwavering the total support of soldiers? There's three options on the table. He will give you a battalion of soldiers with unwavering support. He will tell you where the king is or he will give you information to help Sparrowhawk and the organization that Sparrowhawk represents.
00:56:34
Speaker
kind of look at the outstretched hand and the promises that have been given by Prago. And is the illusion still surrounding them? Like he's looking around the scene. And I mean, Baal knows this scene. Baal looks up at where Gallifire, the sleep is. And what he's going to do is he's going to
00:57:04
Speaker
lift the cloak at the back and unhook this rotting shard shield.
00:57:13
Speaker
that he has and place it just like the others have placed their swords in front the rapier in front he's going to place this directly in front of it and this as soon as it's kind of taken out from the cover of his cloak is it's on fire it is you notice there's no heat coming from it but it is just kind of flames wreaths from this and placing that down in front he'll cast one more eye up
00:57:45
Speaker
to his mother, look you dead in the eye and say, I want to know where her air is and grasp your hand. And as you do, it feels warm, warmer than your register of warm.
00:58:15
Speaker
compared to everyone else's, maybe not Nixx's but it feels hot to the touch for you and that is a sensation like the boring on too hot and as you sort of hold his hand it's up to you whether you try and pull away but you can't at this point
00:58:41
Speaker
No, with the heat, especially with the heat. You feel well, you feel welded to him. Yeah. It's, it's pain. He knows pain. He knows pain from a fire. He's not immune. Uh, but rather than kind of grimace or anything like that and kind of try and shut out the pain, he's just going to let it in, uh, and not break eye contact with prego. Okay. Eyes turn to Seth. He's going to ask a question or two first.
00:59:13
Speaker
You talk about those other three being important. Their destiny intertwined with stopping something like this happening again. How? Why are they so special? Three of them are one entirely redundant. Which? I am not allowed to know. Or am I?
00:59:45
Speaker
Fair. We would of course then prioritize the three that are important and ditch the one that is not. I see. That does not answer your question. Your question was, how do I know? Yes. That is not a question I can answer. For my, I don't like the term masters, my benefactors.
01:00:15
Speaker
They know. And you're telling me that those three individuals will stop something like this happening again? Them staying alive. Yeah. Yes. I hate going into combat with less information, but I feel like the questions I will ask you, we will just go in circles.
01:00:42
Speaker
I agree, though I did had you penned as a foe, I rescind what I mentioned earlier to you. Consider this part of my penance, that I will, like Baal, take the mark, and I rescind you as my foe. Before you lean in after those words to take his hand, his open hand just turns to a cautionary finger.
01:01:12
Speaker
We will be foes. Just not yet. If me starting with you for now stops this happening to Slitgard again, I can't see that happening. But then again I can't see the future. I understand that what you say. Times will change people. Or whatever you are. And he'll reach out and
01:01:42
Speaker
grasp the hand of prego and as you do it feels exceedingly cold and icicles begin to form around back to the finger and below your grasped hand sleet drops slowly onto the sand hits the hot sand dissipates up in a small puff of steam nothing huge just tiny puffs
01:02:10
Speaker
You hold hands as a broken triangle because I'm guessing Seth and Balan holding each other's hand. After about five, six seconds of this grasp, you see these tattoos move from the forearm of Prago.
01:02:35
Speaker
and onto both of yours Seth your entire left hand from fingertip to elbow is covered in these black tattoos bow your right and then with that the connection in your palms breaks and prego stands
01:03:03
Speaker
the spell slowly dissipates and he begins to just wipe his hands clear now his hands completely untattooed you will not be able to remove this should you break it disagreement I will kill you if I fail
01:03:33
Speaker
Those I serve will succeed. Is that clear? Wait, no, hang on a minute. If you fail, your benefactors succeed? In killing you. They will successfully kill you. All right, I'll get you. Sorry, I thought you meant you were undermining those above. Yes, no, I was on his page as well. That's a recreation. Okay, just good to check that. Okay, yeah, cool. So we have your tattoos now? Yes.
01:04:04
Speaker
When do I get my battalion of soldiers? In time. You will get what you are promised as long as you keep what is promised to me. I just had mentioned it. That's all. I just, I guess you can know my thoughts. Of course, that's very unnerving, but yeah. No, Seth does make a good point. Do you say keep them alive? Is this until they die of old age? I can make them live longer than that. I'll learn necromancy if you need me to. I'll keep them going. And with the mention of necromancy, Baal will just kind of shoot you a stare. Or not.
01:04:35
Speaker
They will remain unharmed until a time that will be clear to all of us and you will get what we have agreed. I only need to put his hands up at this. One tattooed hand and obviously one normal hand. I only need picking here because if we get this wrong, we're dead.
01:04:55
Speaker
Unharmed, can they be harmed as long as they don't die? Because to keep them, we are fighters, we are combatants. We look for trouble, and they're gonna fall down cliffs. I mean, the other one, he just fell over in the sand. I mentioned to you, Bally, fell over and passed out in the sand. Like, would we die if that happened to him again? Yes, the sun did damage him quite a bit, and that is a bit problematic. I can fight the sun. I will give it a go, but I don't think I'll do much. It's a bit far.
01:05:22
Speaker
I'm not being flippant, but I just want to know clearly the facts here to eventually avoid dying myself. Is it keep them alive, keep them well, keep them healthy or is it no damage whatsoever? Because they're two very different things. He smiles.
01:05:40
Speaker
The time for questions was before the pact was agreed. Well, fuck. Yeah, I should have thought about that, Paul, really, you know? Yes, no. It's like, read the small prince. I was more intelligent then. Yeah, me too. I've got very high intelligence, and probably not. And the scene now completely returns to the oasis. And Prago stands.
01:06:03
Speaker
refattens his rapier and moves over to where his lute and his his wine are and begins to just sort of pack bits and bobs. And you notice the waters that you're now sat in parked once again as you're now duty bound
01:06:32
Speaker
Stooger isn't the right word. Charges, your duty-bound charges begin to re-emerge from Shondralakar's lair. And as they re-emerge, Prager just says, ah, yes. I have one more meeting before I must depart. The first individual stepping out of the lair, horns first, is Nyx Karel.
01:07:01
Speaker
Prego, now with his things. B-lines for Nix. Walks past both you, Seth and Val. It has been a pleasure. I will return him unharmed. Walks to you, Nix. Looks you dead in the eye. Says,
01:07:32
Speaker
Now, come with me. I've just been from down there. He looks at you, doesn't blink, raises a hand.
01:07:51
Speaker
No, don't hit me. Right. Fine. Where are we going? Not aggressively. Just raises a hand towards the side of his head, begins to do a little fingertip wave. All right. All right. All right. All right. I know enough now about magic and your wares and your holiness. Look, I'm, I'm, I'm offering myself both Nix's hands up in the air. Where, where are we going? Don't need to do any.
01:08:17
Speaker
Any magic to act on me. I'm here. Free will. I'd like to keep my free will. If that's okay with you. Especially some weird things are going on at the moment. I've just come from down there. I've had to make some decisions. Where do you need me? To make another decision. Another choice. Come on. I've just come and made for my choice. I feel like all my life is choices at the moment.
01:08:41
Speaker
Prego begins to just motion his fingers and his wrist in quite a cyclical motion, and that purple light returns in his hand. And it turns into this ring that grows even bigger. And you're just looking at this purple disc for a split second before it encompasses you and Prego. Seth, Val, the two are completely gone, completely disappeared. The portal is still open.
01:09:10
Speaker
And you see, as Alpha, Emron, and Rains just sort of rush up, having seen for a second, Nix was there, and now Nix has just disappeared in this purple burst. For a few minutes, Nix, you are in this abyss. You haven't...
01:09:39
Speaker
You don't sleep, so you don't really recognize that absolute darkness that everyone goes through each day, but you are in the absolute darkness now for a minute or two. You still feel the presence of Prager, you feel sort of warmth coming off him, you hear his breath, but you're just in this sense of motion, but it's not really clear where you're going.
01:10:00
Speaker
about three minutes pass and you land hard on this huge rocky outcrop in the middle of a tempestuous ocean. You see waves on all sides of you the size of dragons that crash into this small foundation that you and Prago are clinging to. It's no bigger than the size of
01:10:31
Speaker
It's about, say, a frisbee, but it's not. It's much bigger than that. It's about maybe the size of a mini, right? It is small, but sturdy enough that it can withstand these crushing rocks. And every time the waves hit you, you just sort of feel that reverberation underfoot. The air is thick with this salt briny smell, and the relentless spray of this sea just keeps hitting you.
01:10:58
Speaker
You find yourself in a complete sense of peril but with this hint of comfort as you look upon this overwhelmingly intimidating yet beautiful chaotic tide that only you would find this weird sense of comfort from just being at the most aggressive sea you have ever seen.
01:11:21
Speaker
The sky above you is painted these ominous shades of grey and cackling with lightning every other split second. The wind howls like a banshee and it whips your now soaked clothing. You've been there less than a minute and you are drenched from head to foot.
01:11:43
Speaker
and you are beginning to shiver. It is even making you feel cold. Every direction you look, these waves are towering over you like mountains, and each crash feels like an earthquake. But amidst all this, you find yourself next to a pretty much a stranger. You note that Prago is holding focus down at the base of these rocky crops.
01:12:12
Speaker
What do you do in this moment? So Nick hasn't been this close to like crashing water. And although it is somewhat comforting, it's also somewhat daunting given the journey into it he took with Marota not so long ago. So there's a little bit of fear going on, especially because of how sudden
01:12:39
Speaker
this happened just after stepping out of the dragon's lair. So he's taking his surroundings, his eyes are kind of wide as his adrenaline starts to kick in and his breath starts to quicken. And all the goosebumps are kind of up from how cold it is and he instinctually just
01:13:03
Speaker
huddles his chest, one arm over the top of each other, just to try and keep the warmth in as possible. And studies prego, stranger. Right, okay. I'm here. I'm seeing what you're seeing. We go back and we can talk about this. Don't need to push me off the edge.
01:13:32
Speaker
He turns to you very briefly, says something, but you can't hear it. It's that deafening. Great. And then he looks back down towards the water below you. Just some weird silent game. Okay, fine. And Nick's all looked down. What do I see? Make a perception check. Gladly.
01:14:02
Speaker
How does a 17 hit you? Nice. As you're sort of trying to focus in on this scene, you sort of draw comfort from the fact that Prego looks so composed and not intimidated by the storm around you. And as you try and sort of match his gaze, you see a sea spider of unimaginable proportion.
01:14:30
Speaker
It's sort of spindly legs stretch out like a nightmarish lattice that weaves through these waters with a sort of
01:14:45
Speaker
Angelic isn't the word maybe like a harrowing grace in and out of these tides. It's somehow able to hold itself despite the fact that this would move cities, this sheer power of the sea. Each leg coming above the water adorned with these huge serrated edges that look like boulders slicing through all of these crashing waves with an otherworldly accuracy.
01:15:16
Speaker
The body itself is this monstrous amalgamation of an arachnid and some sort of aquatic celestial body. It glows with this bioluminescence. Do you know what I mean by that? All those creatures you see much lower down in the depths of planet Earth 2. What colour out of interest? Purple, green, blue, but purple is the predominant hue from that mix of green and blue.
01:15:50
Speaker
There are strange patterns that move up its leg in that bioluminescent sort of kinetic-ness motion dynamic that casts this glow as well around the leg. So it just amplifies and projects that sense that this is not a natural occurrence, but it is a natural occurrence at the same time.
01:16:16
Speaker
The tempest seems to bend to the will of this creature and you notice as one by one these legs just sort of wrap around the rocky outcrop that you two are stood on. It makes this sort of shield wall around where you are and for a moment everything is still and you just see the occasional splash coming over the top of these legs but you are basically it's like someone's taken a watchtower and plonked it over you in the middle of the ocean.
01:16:47
Speaker
The waters where these legs emerge from reveal three, four dozen crimson orbs at various depths below the surface of the water. It's hard to get an idea about a baseline for the surface of the water because it's so rippled and in motion. But yeah, somewhere close to 50 of these orbs. As you study these orbs, feel dim and come back on at once.
01:17:17
Speaker
They aren't orbs, they are eyes. Oh my. Prago, fucking what? And he hears that and the wrapped arms of this arachnid are able to cut through the storms and the waves and you're able to audibly hear each other again and he just announces with this cacophony of thunder behind him, you look upon the spider who swims.
01:17:45
Speaker
Picture lightning crashing, thunder rolling. Hi! Nix is thinking about all the spells that he has mastered and trying to, if you think a mind is racing through pages, you're like flipping through a book really fast. That's his mind right now, trying to think of any defensive, offensive, anything that would help in this
01:18:11
Speaker
Giant of a spider, this situation that he's found himself in, he can't arrive, he can't focus in on one spell. It's like I said, you can't even bring one page into focus. It just keeps moving and moving and moving as he's just kind of, the fear is quite palpable and the adrenaline is pumping and his breath is getting shorter. You hear this voice from beneath the waves. Fear. Yep, you got it. Only one.
01:18:41
Speaker
Keep searching. Right. Myself. Myself. Find the spell that will save you. Right. Cool. And then at that, Nix will take out the book and just manually try to settle, but his hands are shaking. This is so bad and he can't really hold it. Yeah.
01:19:14
Speaker
Oh god! Sleep won't work! He's gonna... No. No. No. No. No. Mind blank. Mind blank. He's just in this complete utter terror. Seeing you in agony for a few moments.
01:19:45
Speaker
Not sure if this thing is enjoying seeing you squirm, taking some sort of twisted satisfaction from it. You notice Prago is stood not looking at you, looking straight towards those crimson eyes in the depths of these seas, with that side smile that you're used to seeing on Prago's face. The voice bellows out again,
01:20:15
Speaker
You are difficult to find, Corell. My realms are the seas. My realms are nightmares, neither of which you appear to dwell in.
01:20:35
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I used to do the seas quite a bit. Nightmares is new and I'm not really a fan of the nightmares. I don't dwell in the nightmares. But the sea, you know, I've been known to frequent a bit. Your lordship. Too long have you spent my gifts without playing your part.
01:21:04
Speaker
Right, okay, I kind of think, wait, I know where you're going with this. Like, when I'm, long time ago I made this pact, this blood pact on the Esmeralda, the ship where, you know, I said I was part of the sea. It was a long time ago and I didn't really know what I was doing. And so I didn't know it was your powers that I was borrowing. I thought they were just kind of born within me. You can have them back. I've got new powers now.
01:21:37
Speaker
I do not want them back, Corel. I want something from you. Yeah, that's how it often goes. What's the bargain? Bargain? The... This is an order, Corel. Right. Can you clarify what that means?
01:22:03
Speaker
Three souls have escaped my grasp. Lives, due to be lost at sea, taken from me. Like you, they are avoiding the seas. Like you, they are avoiding sleep.
01:22:30
Speaker
I mean, I'm not avoiding sleep. It's just something that's subconsciously happening to me right now. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get it back. It's just this weird insomnia that I'm having right now. A couple of other weird things that's going on. Souls that were stolen from you. I like, so I don't know how. I assume you're talking about me and my friend Maro Earth, like we were souls that entered the water and then we came out of it. Like, you know, can you have something else?
01:23:00
Speaker
Are we talking about three different souls? In which case you want me to go and farm some? Is there any random souls that will do? Have you got specifics in mind? I'm very confused. Prago, is there anything here? Why? Maybe you didn't mean me. Did you mean me? Did you mean him? Can you make a wisdom saving throw? Oh, fuck.
01:23:32
Speaker
A 91. Nice. A critical fail. You feel an overwhelming sense of weakness just develop within you. It's hard to get a grasp on its source. It seems to be coming from the very core of you.
01:24:01
Speaker
it leaves you quite breathless at times and you feel a compulsion to drop to your knees and you're unable to fight it and as you do you sustain 30 points of necrotic damage okay
01:24:34
Speaker
I'm very, I am very low on, on the old hit points. So Nick's hits that ground hard and probably almost coughs up blood, if you will, um, just from the damage internally. And he just kind of stares at his blood. He's just cuffed up. All right. Souls, three souls.
01:25:05
Speaker
I cannot reach them on land. I cannot reach them if they do not slumber. It is up to you. Return these souls to the seas. I cannot how you do this. I will have them when they breathe the spray and salt once more.
01:25:35
Speaker
I mean like anywhere in the sea or a specific place? Anywhere. Right and don't forgive me if they eluded you and they elude me, what will happen? They will not elude you.
01:26:09
Speaker
If they elude you, you will feel my powers ebb away from you. If they elude you, the Esmeralda will join me at the bottom of the ocean. Not okay. Okay. Not okay. Not okay. Three souls. There's more than three souls on that ship.
01:26:37
Speaker
The three souls I need were once sailors. Now, not. In Scorchhelm, you will find them. A criminal incarcerated. Okay, a criminal? Yeah, bad guy. An athlete preparing to duel.
01:27:05
Speaker
There's a bit of a grey area, but he could be dueling someone like a hero. Okay. And a watcher. A watcher of the skies. Just the skies? Not crystal ball? The skies. Okay.
01:27:36
Speaker
Sounds... Right, and... You want them in the sea? Dead? Alive? Asleep? I cannot. Okay. They just need to touch salt water once again. As Nyx coughs out some more blood. Time?
01:28:04
Speaker
It's like, how long have I got? It's no response. I feel like sooner rather than later. If
01:28:27
Speaker
I have to summon you again. It will be to watch your precious ship sink. Okay. But... Like... Is there any more...
01:28:53
Speaker
If I'm gonna do this and one of them's an athlete, maybe I need some other powers. I've got enough power, okay. Yeah. One of the legs just unoccupied itself in the rocky outcrop. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. All right, all right.
01:29:23
Speaker
I have enough power. Three souls. I've got it all. And, uh, okay. One thing more. Should you ever take audience with a dragon again? This one will kill you.
01:29:54
Speaker
And Prago just turns and looks at you. Oh, for fuck's sake, you could have stopped me from going in there. Yup. Yup. Okay, fine. No audience with dragons. Dragon, dragon, dragons, or dragonborns. I know you don't like the specifics, but if I'm traveling with a dragon born, is that considered being part of an audience of dragons?
01:30:24
Speaker
I feel like you'll clarify that as and when I need to. Okay. What's your name? You look upon the spider who swims. That's quite a powerful name. Another leg detaches from the rocky outcrop.
01:30:54
Speaker
And you begin to now see some of those crashing waves come back in, the level of volume just rockets once more. The Esmeralda continues to sail safely. Do not test me, Corel. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Just three soles. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep.
01:31:24
Speaker
You performed the fact. You invited me in. You must deal with the consequences of your actions. Yep. Really, uh... Glad I did this. Um... Just... Yeah. Not the... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You'll get your three tolls. Leave the Ezmeral building.
01:31:56
Speaker
prego puts a hand on your shoulder and that same purple disc envelops you again and in a second you're taken into this black abyss feeling motion but not really able to orient yourself anywhere and then you appear back at the oasis
01:32:26
Speaker
But you appear about 15, 20 meters or so away from the scene that you left. But the Oasis is closed. You look towards where the Oasis should be. And there is this closing spell of a battlefield you don't really recognize.
01:32:52
Speaker
and then sat in a small circle is Prago, is Seth, is Baal. They're all shaking hands. But Prago is also resting a hand on your shoulder, observing the scene.
01:33:16
Speaker
Nyx is going to immediately from landing turn not towards Prego but the other side and throw up hard from all the seawater mixed with fear mixed with almost fucking getting KO'd. I've got one hit point remaining.
01:33:37
Speaker
and he's he's he's gonna immediately like collapse down to one knee and just you know that convulsing after everything has come out of his stomach and he's just dry heaving as he's uh his mind is fucked it is blown and he's just trying to
01:34:04
Speaker
ground himself, I guess, and deal with the... He can't even deal with it. It's just this, this is awful and sudden and huge. And he's gone from one moment receiving this massive chance of a boon that would do so much for him. And there's Morelda and the people around him to
01:34:28
Speaker
the lowest of lows and his mind is fractured from the once high of the treasure hunter to the low of the patronage of his actions and before toaster's dry heaving at the moment. And as you're doing that you just notice in the corner of your eye you're being handed a vial
01:34:51
Speaker
a potion. And Prager says, this will help. You fucking, you didn't, it's you. You didn't need to take me there. Why did you, you, your patron too? On Wednesdays, yes. Would that make no sense? Fine.
01:35:15
Speaker
And next we'll take the violin, drink it down in one. 66 healing you receive. Oh, for God's sake. I'll let you roll that if you want. 66. Come on, be good. 25. Nice.
01:35:39
Speaker
And as you stand there, you're sort of recovering, you drink this potion. The scene about, yeah, 15, 20 meters ahead of you has just turned and the oasis waters are parting again. And you see a prego in the distance walk to a Nyx Carell in the distance. And that purple sphere, that purple disc appears again and you are gone.
01:36:11
Speaker
And then seconds later, you see Alpha, Emron, and rains rush to the surface to see what's happened. You see Seth and Baal. Is Prego still next to me? Prego's still next to you. The fuck do I do now? Your fate is in your hands. Do they know about this? Because clearly, I'm not the only one who's aware of this. You're aware of all of this. What are you going to do? Are you going to sell me out?
01:36:41
Speaker
My contract on you has been completed then. God, everyone got a contract on me! I didn't invite you in! No, but your patron needed you recovering. What does that mean? I am no longer your minder. Ma- Wha- Who is? No one. I was paid to get you back to this spider who swims.
01:37:09
Speaker
I know our contract has ended. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I don't suppose you know the names of these three souls or anything. I do. I don't suppose you'll tell me. I won't. Par for the course. I would threaten you, but that
01:37:39
Speaker
Go forth, Nyx Carell. Now is your time to shine. Doesn't feel like it. She waits you in scorcher. Yep. Go on. I gotta deal with this. Thanks for healing me, I guess.
01:38:12
Speaker
Go on, get the fuck out of here, you're making it awkward. He's just gonna stand and watch. Nah! This is how people feel about me! It saddens me that you will never see her again. I liked the relationship you thought you had. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, are we talking about Marota? What do you mean I'll never see her again?
Ownership & Conflict
01:38:45
Speaker
She had a part to play and she played it willingly and beautifully. Are you saying she's dead? No. So why can't I see her again? Because I own her. I'll decide where she goes next. That! I'm coming for you.
01:39:13
Speaker
One day, and you will have a tough choice to make your life or how you perceive to own that woman. I might have fucked up, but I'm getting more powerful. And you can cross my words here. This is not the last time that I will see you. And I don't care how many souls I have to give to the ocean. Your days are numbered, Frago.
01:39:45
Speaker
Nix is going to walk off. Ciao. Fuck off. For now. And he dissipates into thin air behind you. And as you
Episode Wrap-Up
01:39:58
Speaker
turn and stumble back towards your friends, that is where we are going to end this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop Bellum Draconis.
01:40:13
Speaker
That's probably the best sign
Listener Appreciation & Social Media
01:40:15
Speaker
off that Nick has ever had to know, fuck off. Oh, that's awesome. I'm warm. I'm sweaty. I'm scared. I want to throw up. Knees weak arms are heavy.
01:40:30
Speaker
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Thank you, Danny. Yes, amazing. All amazing. Shit, I am. My mind is just racing through. It's like I've got that spider in front of me again. I don't know how to end this. So I will just say thank you for tuning in, listening, making this a party every day week. We love you for it. If you wanted to keep in touch with the podcast, you can do so on our Twitter pages. If you wanted to help us out,
01:40:51
Speaker
Like, rate, review, thumb up, subscribe, all of that. But just more than anything, tell a friend, tell a loved one, tell a family member, anything to get more is on our podcast. It's the best thing you could do to help us. But if you do want to check us out on Twitter, you can follow the main page at Fellowship Table. Then if you want to go one step further and follow us individually, you can do so too. I'm at iWorld One.
01:41:13
Speaker
Mark is at... Is he still your old DM? Where is at? Fellowship NPC. Awesome! Fucking... Spider Master of a DM. Shit, I'm gonna have nightmares. I'll take Spider Master. Spider Master of a DM can be found at... Total Party Thrills. Until next time, guys. Farewell!