169. Friends in the Fight

[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome back to Barely dnd, your sort of Dungeons and Dragons podcast. We are back and out of combat. Com, ladies and gentlemen, And I don't know what you're doing. It sounds like a Saturday Night Live skit. And we are back with episode 169. [00:00:27] Speaker B: Abby's really dancy. After surviving the combat. [00:00:34] Speaker A: That's. [00:00:35] Speaker B: That's morsel of food. And shouted, excellent. This is the way, man. Real manic. Real. I haven't said this in a long time. Real session two energy over here, if you will. [00:00:49] Speaker C: The dm. [00:00:52] Speaker B: We had an alleged question suggested by Grickle. Want to get after it, my guy? [00:00:57] Speaker C: Yes. So my question to all of you is if your character lived in 2026 Texas, first of all, God help them. Second of all, If they had all of the access to the normal fast food and just Texas food like regular restaurants. I'm saying specifically Texas because we have In N Out and Whataburger, and I feel like that's important. [00:01:22] Speaker A: And Taco Bueno. [00:01:23] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. [00:01:24] Speaker C: What would their first meal be after they just got done fighting an unseason massacre and Kuo Toa warriors massacre? I'll go first. [00:01:38] Speaker A: Unceasing manicure. [00:01:41] Speaker B: That's a very different monster. That's awesome. [00:01:45] Speaker C: That's good for 30 minutes, and then it's not fun anymore. [00:01:49] Speaker B: The person with the most recent hair. [00:01:50] Speaker C: Dye, I already know mine, and I dyed my hair yesterday after Jackie. [00:01:54] Speaker B: Before. [00:01:55] Speaker D: After. [00:01:58] Speaker B: Go get him. [00:01:59] Speaker E: Go get him. [00:01:59] Speaker C: But I do think that Gretas would be Panda Express. [00:02:04] Speaker B: Oh, I respect it. And I see it. [00:02:07] Speaker A: I see it too. [00:02:08] Speaker B: I. I think. [00:02:09] Speaker A: I just think with no hands. [00:02:14] Speaker D: Just saying. [00:02:15] Speaker B: Yeah, she's at Panda Express. And the person on the line is like, ma', am, what would you like? And she goes, no fork. And they go, sure. What base would you like? Just hands, ma'. [00:02:24] Speaker E: Am. [00:02:24] Speaker B: We're gonna have to ask her to leave. She's licking the glass. [00:02:28] Speaker C: Her order would be, like, the mushroom chicken with chow mein and spring rolls and no egg rolls. And a spring roll and a large Coke. [00:02:40] Speaker A: I would say they have Pepsi products at Panda Express. [00:02:43] Speaker C: Oh, okay, a large Pepsi. But she would say, ask for a large Coke and would be like, we have this. And she's like, okay. [00:02:51] Speaker F: Okay. [00:02:53] Speaker B: Mickel, what would. What would Craig get after surviving brutal combat? [00:02:57] Speaker G: Arby's beef sandwich with tons of barbecue sauce. [00:03:01] Speaker B: Yeah, that's so correct. That's so right. I don't even have words for how right that is. Hot dang. It's so. And he can assign a beast, too. [00:03:11] Speaker G: To add to the sandwich. [00:03:13] Speaker D: He is holding all of Arby's up right now. [00:03:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:03:18] Speaker B: They give. They give him a discount. He has a local ad joint and he's just like, I love you so much. His doctor is really concerned. Oh my goodness. We were watching Parks and Rec the other day and there was some. It's some scene where Ron's like, it's. [00:03:35] Speaker E: A turkey leg wrapped in bacon. [00:03:37] Speaker B: They call it a Swanson. And Hoffa's just on the couch. And she goes, his cholesterol is not well. But Jekyll. What would. What would Rose be? [00:03:49] Speaker A: I think that the most roe one. I was gonna go with Taco Bueno, but I don't think that's true. I think it would be a grilled cheese from In N Out. So it's basically just a burger from In N Out. But they don't put the meat on. And. Okay, I have to say it out loud now. I have to say it out loud now. [00:04:17] Speaker D: We three were like, we know what to say. [00:04:22] Speaker A: I typed in the chat. Did you know that Diet Pepsi is the only soft drink not suitable for vegetarians or vegans? But they won't tell you why. And that is true. It's on their website. And Micah responded, gross. In October, Zach said, it's the piss. And Daniel said, because it sucks. That was okay. [00:04:45] Speaker G: What me and Daniel just did to the. To the big bad guy is what Zach and Daniel just did verbally. [00:04:58] Speaker B: And they won't tell us why. It's the best. There's just some guy. There's just some guy at the Pepsi factory just fully pissing in the vat and he like turns into the guy in a lab coat and he goes, he goes. They can't. No, he just goes back to peeing. He's got like a hamster water thing to keep up with the hunger. He's got one of those. He's got one of those running bags with the water on the backs. He can always. Okay, okay, okay, okay. [00:05:44] Speaker A: It would be a double double. No, there is no double double. [00:05:48] Speaker G: It doesn't matter. [00:05:48] Speaker A: Cuz it's a grilled cheese. It would be a grilled cheese from in and out with extra sauce or spread or whatever they call it. And fries. And she would try to do some weird thing off the secret menu, but it wouldn't make sense. And a large lemonade. And that would be Rose because she'd be like, oh, it's from California. And also it's vegetarian. [00:06:09] Speaker B: I got. [00:06:10] Speaker D: So she knows what California. [00:06:11] Speaker B: I fully forgot Jackie. Oh, man. [00:06:17] Speaker A: It'S the bin. [00:06:21] Speaker B: So it's a really important time to say, I've slept. I've slept 17 hours this week. Durngle. What's. What's wrong? [00:06:29] Speaker D: You're good. Did we say only fast food or. [00:06:34] Speaker A: Live your dreams just like any food? [00:06:36] Speaker D: My first thought you said city food. [00:06:40] Speaker A: I said. [00:06:43] Speaker D: Sorry, sorry, sorry. Anyway, I think he's going to Texas Roadhouse. He's had a terrible day. He's eating all the biscuits, all the rolls. [00:06:54] Speaker B: Yes. [00:06:54] Speaker C: Everything. [00:06:55] Speaker B: Yes. [00:06:55] Speaker D: He's gonna get a steak, smothered and everything, with everything. Every side that he could order. He gets it T bones, medium rare. [00:07:06] Speaker C: So he somehow gets the blooming onion at Texas Roadhouse. And they don't know how it got there, but they're like, yeah, okay. [00:07:14] Speaker B: Yeah, they're like. He's like. He's like, can I have a bloomin Onion? And the lady, like, the waitress is like, no, sir. I'm sorry. And then he shows her the menu, and she's like, yes, you can. [00:07:26] Speaker D: I suppose. Yeah. [00:07:30] Speaker B: Maya's really turned into a food scene. [00:07:32] Speaker D: They technically have a blooming onion, but they call it, you know, something different. Yes. Yeah. [00:07:42] Speaker B: Is there a DMNPC or what's the. [00:07:46] Speaker A: Would he go to La Madeleine? [00:07:48] Speaker C: I think we should. Hello. As I have to have my window open right now or else the. The smoke bomber block, but I'm worried my neighbor is gonna, like. [00:07:59] Speaker B: Is that because of the farts? [00:08:02] Speaker C: No, it's so. [00:08:04] Speaker B: So today. No, I'm not gonna tell that story. We needed the session to start. Okay. Let's keep it moving, because I don't remember what you guys. [00:08:15] Speaker C: Hello? [00:08:15] Speaker A: I said Tello. [00:08:16] Speaker B: Oh, Tello. [00:08:18] Speaker A: Because he died a million times, so he deserves this. [00:08:22] Speaker D: He's getting shawarma. [00:08:23] Speaker B: That's true. What would Tello gets? The Madeline is good. The Madeline. [00:08:33] Speaker C: Thank you for explaining what was funny. [00:08:34] Speaker B: About the joke, Jackie. You know, he does feel like a Panera guy, but I. I hate to say this. I hate to make it so simple and so obvious, but Starbucks? He's taking himself to Starbucks? Yeah, he's putting on stuff and some uggs and he's going to Starbucks. [00:08:56] Speaker A: And I say. [00:08:57] Speaker C: I feel like he's normally like. He, like, tries to play it off and he's like, too cool for Starbucks. But right now he's like, man, this sucks. [00:09:04] Speaker B: No, Abby, exactly right. He's above Starbucks 24 7. It's only the local places. But today, after that, it's Starbucks. [00:09:14] Speaker C: He needs a Frappuccino and a scone. [00:09:16] Speaker B: He needs. He needs a Frappe and a scone. [00:09:19] Speaker C: One of those sandwiches. [00:09:23] Speaker B: Are we ready to start? Yeah. [00:09:26] Speaker F: Okay. [00:09:27] Speaker B: Note taking, nerds. This is episode 169 of the Accidental Adventures. Yeah, we're getting up there. Friends in the fight. [00:09:38] Speaker A: I don't know if I like that or not. There's friends, but there's fighting. [00:09:42] Speaker B: I mean, it's a lot better than the last one. The last one was titled Unceasing Massacre, and everybody almost died seven times. I think we're doing better. [00:09:52] Speaker A: Did you say friends in the fight? [00:09:55] Speaker B: Friends in the fight. [00:09:57] Speaker C: I just want to say we only have three rounds of combat and I have one, two, three zeros on Tello's counter that I run. [00:10:09] Speaker A: I wrote friends in the fright. [00:10:12] Speaker B: Okay, I'm gonna type this in chat because apparently there is no appropriate number of times I can say it out loud. [00:10:18] Speaker C: Was Friends in the Friar? [00:10:20] Speaker B: In Friends and farts. Episode 169, Friends fights in the fights. [00:10:30] Speaker D: You say fights in the fight? [00:10:32] Speaker B: Episode Episode 169, Fried Far. Episode 169, Fried Farts. Episode 169, Chicken Fried Farts. I make myself laugh so hard I farted while talking about it just now. [00:10:55] Speaker D: Now that's a stiff fart if I'd ever seen one. [00:11:03] Speaker A: Where are we at? I looked away and Mike is in a different place in the. [00:11:11] Speaker G: Making a sandwich. [00:11:14] Speaker D: Making a sandwich. [00:11:19] Speaker A: Wow. It's 10 o'. [00:11:20] Speaker G: Clock. [00:11:20] Speaker A: Mike is making a sandwich. [00:11:22] Speaker B: This is gonna be such a weird energy to come back into the second session with. [00:11:26] Speaker A: Like, you're normally asleep, but that's okay. [00:11:29] Speaker B: This is a level 14 and level 17 adventure. And I've. I think I've discovered that if I don't start talking, I'll never get it back from anybody. So It's a level 14, level 17 adventure. The date is 34.88pb CB call the 10th. As has been made very clear to me and the fungi, I mean, there's not a whole lot of recap or explanation here. The fun guys have just slaughtered the. The Kuoa who came to hunt them down and. Dang it. So funny. That's really good. Okay, fun guys have just slaughtered the Kuo Toa who came to attack them, and. And they have just destroyed the unceasing massacre here in this. In this horrible ravine that somehow looks worse than when it started. It's now filled with body parts and blood and char marks and a truly astounding quantity of BO bone fragments. Having just recovered from near death's door. What's the party doing? [00:12:43] Speaker C: So DM oftentimes After a fight, we do not keep track of spell slots and healing. I. I'm. I'm assuming that we're gonna. [00:12:58] Speaker B: I don't need you to right now. [00:13:01] Speaker C: Okay, well, so I'm gonna put it just in case. [00:13:07] Speaker B: You probably don't need to. [00:13:09] Speaker A: Oh. [00:13:09] Speaker B: Unless something goes real wrong. But in this place, you do always need to have a little track, actually. [00:13:14] Speaker E: So. [00:13:15] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe do keep track. Actually, look at it, guys. [00:13:18] Speaker C: Just a little track. [00:13:21] Speaker A: Okay. [00:13:21] Speaker D: I do have one. One pertinent question. Yeah, Harm. Is that a spell I need to wait till the next day to recover from or. Yep. [00:13:33] Speaker B: Like. [00:13:33] Speaker A: Yep. [00:13:34] Speaker B: You need a long rest. [00:13:36] Speaker D: Okay. [00:13:36] Speaker B: Your hit point max is reduced by that much until the next long rest. [00:13:42] Speaker A: What if you. What if. What if a greater restoration? [00:13:53] Speaker C: Sure. [00:13:55] Speaker B: If you've got the components to burn. [00:13:56] Speaker A: Wait, I'm put. Wait, I. Oh, that's right. It's components. I'm playing boss. So I. Again, hello. But I won't do that because I don't have. It's not. [00:14:06] Speaker D: I. I just wanted to ask for me to. I think if it's okay to roll, take the role play moment at this moment and you can shake your heads. If you don't want me to. I think I feel like we have just killed a thing. It just exploded and both of our arms are just sagging with exertion. Me and Craig, as I kind of. [00:14:28] Speaker B: Also a number of you are somewhat exhausted. [00:14:32] Speaker D: I like. I heave a few times and I look over at Craig once more and I'm like, you're a strong one, Craig. Are you a strong one? [00:14:43] Speaker G: I learned from the best in this past week. [00:14:48] Speaker D: Wow. [00:14:51] Speaker G: It's been a while. [00:14:53] Speaker B: It's been a while. 20ft behind you, all in the fetal position with his head in between his knees, just very softly crying. Not sobbing, just very softly crying. He's got blood all over him. He takes. He lifts his knees, his head up from his knees, takes a little breath, and he goes. [00:15:11] Speaker F: That one sucked. [00:15:14] Speaker C: Hey, Jackie. [00:15:16] Speaker B: He, like, wipes his eyes a little. [00:15:18] Speaker C: I have beacon of hope. Would you like to. If I casted beacon of hope and then you maybe casted some healing. Beacon of hope means that you get all of the maximum healings. So if I cast a beacon of hope and for a minute, all the maximum minimum healings would be maximum. All of the healings. [00:15:38] Speaker B: There's also. There's a mechanic. You guys have never taken advantage of short rest, which is a core mechanic of this game. Yeah. Call the short rest. And I. I think for the purpose of regaining hit dice You've literally never done it, but you can also. [00:15:55] Speaker A: I. While we short rest, I could do Song of Rest and it could help. [00:15:59] Speaker B: Hey, all sorts of things we've never done. [00:16:02] Speaker C: What is Song of Rest? [00:16:05] Speaker A: It's. I've never used it, but I just looked it up on the last session. It basically gives extra hit point dice during your short rest. [00:16:22] Speaker C: I'm communicated to. I communicate a communicant to the party. I say, hey guys, she's like out of breath, like laying on the ground, probably like Patty, she's like, if anybody does healing, just let me know and I'll do my thing first to make it better. Sick. [00:16:42] Speaker A: I say we move away from the giant bone mass, the lava and the dead Kua Toa and we set up. [00:16:49] Speaker B: A little bit of resting for a little contextualization. If you guys recognize, recall what the map looked like, you're in this. It's 15ft of like, like sharp jutting obsidian fragments in the walls on each side. And then the dark sky above you churning with energy. And you know, you've been told it's dangerous to walk outside of the ravines and to get up high because things can see you and come down after you. And you're in this ravine now where like there's just a mass of chard and cracked bones all around. You slaughtered kuoa, your own blood everywhere. And there's also streams of lava up ahead and then a pool behind. So you guys could go like, take a seat near like one of those rocks jutting out of the wall somewhat near enough to the lava that it's like, you know, 20, 30, 40ft away that it's like warming and providing light, but not near enough to start burning your flesh. And you could just have a seat and a rest there. [00:17:41] Speaker A: What time of day is it right now? [00:17:46] Speaker B: It's like, it's like late afternoon, but really rogue. You just have to feel it. Like there is no visual indicator. The only thing, the only really times you can distinguish in this place are night and day. And it is dark now. You're literally in perpetual dim light. The only, the only thing that separates night and day in this place is not dim light and total darkness. Oppressive. [00:18:14] Speaker A: It's a great place. [00:18:17] Speaker C: I'm. I'm going to. I'm just, actually I'm just going to. Did I just heal and mark it down or heal and tell you now I've wasted more time. [00:18:28] Speaker B: You want to roll? Hit. [00:18:29] Speaker A: We've done short rest. [00:18:31] Speaker C: Okay. [00:18:32] Speaker D: I'm. I'm going to gather all the dead Bodies, put them in those pile. [00:18:36] Speaker B: Okay. [00:18:37] Speaker D: That are still alive. [00:18:38] Speaker F: Okay. [00:18:39] Speaker D: Yeah. One to just eventually throw them into the lava, but also just to be like, dude. And while I'm doing this, I'm going to be like, so why'd you piss off these frog people or fish people? [00:18:55] Speaker A: They've never. [00:18:56] Speaker D: Why did they attack you? I can tell, you know. [00:19:04] Speaker B: Their God. [00:19:05] Speaker A: Kind of has a issue with our friend. Well, Craig, you can explain it better. [00:19:16] Speaker G: Pissed me off. [00:19:20] Speaker A: What. [00:19:23] Speaker G: I mean, sorry. Yeah. So my. My bestie is not friends with this. These other guys. Therefore, I don't like those guys and they don't like me. And I'm. I'm holding my bestie. So we don't. They're. So we are target. Yeah. [00:19:49] Speaker D: Is your bestie a weapon? No. [00:19:53] Speaker A: Are you holding all. [00:19:54] Speaker C: Oh, these are my bag. [00:20:00] Speaker G: So. [00:20:03] Speaker C: Like, I guess confusion. [00:20:07] Speaker A: I mean, you're one of our ally. It's a. He's a far seed. [00:20:14] Speaker D: Yeah, I. I don't. I don't know what those are. [00:20:19] Speaker A: He's like an eye of a greater thing of a different dimension. And when we talk to him, he can talk back to us in our heads. [00:20:30] Speaker G: Yeah, but he's like. [00:20:32] Speaker D: To an eyeball. [00:20:34] Speaker A: Yeah. And like, he wants. Like, we've taken a couple of his eyes and like, thrown them into more than one. [00:20:41] Speaker D: Well, more than one eye. [00:20:43] Speaker C: I think this is the second my. [00:20:44] Speaker A: Mother knew him in a different. I. Yeah. [00:20:52] Speaker G: I really like him. And. But that. That other guy that they like does not like him, which we have seen. [00:21:01] Speaker A: He's a big crab gold. [00:21:03] Speaker G: He is scary. No, for real, he is very scary. His minion men are also kind of scary. [00:21:10] Speaker D: But, like, they did explode. [00:21:13] Speaker G: They did. I haven't seen something like that, but that's okay. [00:21:17] Speaker C: Can I. [00:21:18] Speaker A: Can I do an arcana check to see if that was like, the land, like, how the Lost Lands made weird things happen. Like, was it the land that made them explode? Like, it made them hurt us? I'm gonna roll this and you're gonna. You're gonna do that thing, aren't you? [00:21:34] Speaker C: No. [00:21:35] Speaker B: I'll let you. I rolled. [00:21:43] Speaker A: Is this a 29? [00:21:48] Speaker C: Okay, 29. [00:21:51] Speaker B: 29. Dc4. Nope. You saw a great deal of magical evidence to suggest that it was in every way a function of a power that they had coming from their God. The markings on their body, the fire, the spiritual fervor, types of damage used that you've seen associated in the past. The communication happening between them, the way they laid out their strategy and utilized. [00:22:20] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm going to. I'm Going to go now. Good night, guy. [00:22:24] Speaker D: Do any of the bodies that we find have anything on them? I'm sorry, I just. I'm a looter. [00:22:30] Speaker A: They are. [00:22:31] Speaker D: So. [00:22:31] Speaker B: No, no, no. I think it's important to take the reins of the scene a little bit, Daniel. First of all, what's worth saying is, I mean, bodies is a strong word for a lot of what's here. There's really two bodies to find and one you can't even retrieve. The priestess and the exalted are both dead up on the cliffs, 15ft of razor sharp rock jutting out at every angle up the ravine. So in the space where you are, there's the mushed priest, three incinerated enemies, one that's chopped to pieces, another one that's crushed and another one, no, the exalted is also, excuse me, from your spirits, incinerated and down here. So there really aren't any bodies, there's just massacre. But as you piece through belongings, the acolytes, those painted ones who exploded their weapons, are still intact. They are massive teeth fragments from some immense creature that are carved in little etchings and those are still around like blades made out of huge chunks of tooth. And then on the spattered corpse of the priest, you find what looks like a casting focus and maybe some. [00:24:00] Speaker F: Dust. [00:24:01] Speaker B: And fragments of different components left behind mixed up in the mush of what's left of her. But this really isn't a whole lot of bodies to loot. It's massacre here. And you find very little belongings. You get the feeling that this squad knew what they were here to do, that this was not a team that believed they'd be returning. [00:24:25] Speaker C: Dm, can I. I would like to make an arcana check and then I would like to roleplay. [00:24:31] Speaker B: Okay, I'm so down for that. [00:24:33] Speaker C: Maybe if this is arcana, maybe it's not. I would like to do an arcana check. Should be. I obviously were being tracked by Craig's orb. I would like to see if Craig's orb was placed inside of a bag of clothing like my cloak, if that would cease to track us. [00:24:51] Speaker B: You know what? Yeah, give me, give me an arcana check. And actually, Greta, after that I'll say follow it up with a religion check. Give me an arcana and then a religion. [00:25:01] Speaker C: Arcana is going to be 36. [00:25:06] Speaker B: Also, I'm. [00:25:07] Speaker F: Oh. [00:25:11] Speaker C: Wait, 26. I'm so sorry. I'm using my calculator just to be. [00:25:19] Speaker B: Sure my arcana check's gonna be 49. Sorry, nine. [00:25:26] Speaker A: Sorry. [00:25:28] Speaker B: That's okay. It's like you see into the Ethereum, Greta, you pieced together that actually, certainly for the purposes of scry, a kind of divining magic you're very familiar with at this point, that would be an extremely effective solution. If the object is in fact being scryed upon, putting it in another realm would basically remove that possibility. You're also aware that standing within a certain distance of Roe should make you unscryable. So perhaps your position is being acquired at certain times when members are at certain distance from each other. But that'd be a real start and stop game. What did you get on the Associated Religion check? [00:26:12] Speaker C: I got a. A23. [00:26:19] Speaker B: You are aware from your limited but growing studies of the divine, that because there's also a part of me that likes to believe that you're just reading information of the Incautrum at times and that your role as, like, Arch Priestess is Sailun. And I even had this little idea that, like, your cloak that has little fragments of writing, every once in a while, there's like a new script on it that you could be studying, and it like magically changes every so often. [00:26:45] Speaker C: So just. I think Greta, specifically. Greta, is very interested in this experience. She has been literally since the beginning of her journey. Like this is. [00:26:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:56] Speaker C: To her. [00:26:57] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:26:59] Speaker B: And. Sorry, this is random. I'm just checking. No buzz from me, right? [00:27:02] Speaker C: No. [00:27:04] Speaker B: Okay. I just had the green border going, so I was checking, but I just wanted to. [00:27:06] Speaker A: It's like tiny. It's like very. In the background. [00:27:10] Speaker E: Okay. [00:27:10] Speaker B: All right, then we're fine. So what does dawn on you, Greta, is that this probably isn't the function of a spell. Carchorin is very possibly one of the sing. It is possible that he is the most powerful living entity in this realm. That in this world on the material plane right now, there's probably no other present entity more powerful than him, if he is in fact an actual young God. The term God gets thrown around all the time. Like Rongrim's used it a little bit. But this would be the only God beneath the veil, a thing that shouldn't even be able to happen. And there probably aren't a lot of borders on the things he can do. You have heard of spells like wish and you had wish. No, excuse me, Forget heard. You had wishes demonstrated by the Seelie Court. Right. And you're aware that they were just Archfey. The borders of what's possible with Karkhren are probably thin and ever growing as edges of horizons. And so though you are guarded by Rose necklace. And though you could move the Farseed to the cloak of holding, it also occurs to you that if Carcharan wants you found, especially while you're on the same plane of existence, resistance, there's probably not a lot stopping him. It's a different level of power. [00:28:41] Speaker C: Okay. I know this or I ponder during our story. Yeah. And I kind of, like, parse this out from what I know. And I'm gonna approach Craig and I'm gonna say, hey, Craig, if you could just refresh me. What kind of deal did you make with, like, are you on a. Is there a deal with old? Is that why we're. We're ferrying him? [00:29:14] Speaker G: Zach, it's been a minute. Was there, like, isn't it just that, like, while I'm ferrying him to the well, he tries to. Like. [00:29:32] Speaker F: The. [00:29:33] Speaker B: You previously had much more of like, a. Like a pact, like a union with old. You were. You know, you were once. All of your magical power came from Brawley Gekith, and you had. I mean, you know, there was powerful binding between the two of you. Now he has granted you an affect of his power. You've been separated from that power bind. Now you have an affect of that power. Right? You have. You have the boon of the sighted one, and in return, he's granted you another far seed to faerie. But you're also aware that this is much more of, like, a. Like, the first time there was, like, a true pact. You're aware that in this circumstance, it's much less of some sort of a binding agreement, and more that, like, he's putting faith in you and feels close to you and is just kind of. He's like, hey, take this for me. And this is much less a circumstance of, like, you are bound to him by powerful magics, and more like you've proven yourself to him in the past. Almost something of a champion for him, and he has offered you a benefit without kind of fully collecting on what might be owed for such a thing and is just trusting you to get this done. Both a function of the sort of relationship he considers himself to have with you. You know him really well. And also probably a move of desperation, as you have in the limited contact you've had with him in the last couple months. You have seen him becoming more and more and more and more. He's lost some of that aloofness, some of that cool curiosity, and it's been replaced by a quiet desperation. [00:31:16] Speaker G: There's really not a. Like. It's not like a me Score deal. You know, it's not something that I'm doing because, oh, I. My blood's in it. [00:31:26] Speaker B: It's. [00:31:27] Speaker G: Now it's like this has meant so much to me. Like, I want to. I want to do this. [00:31:41] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:31:42] Speaker G: Yeah. [00:31:45] Speaker C: I think it's so wonderful that I'll be so blunt with you, Craig. I am pretty sure that the orb is endangering us. And it might just like how miscore the deal with me. Score was gonna endanger you when we fought. I fear that this will endanger you and us when we fight further. And I wonder if. But I don't know. I just want to put that in front of you because I think something that everyone loves about you is your loyalty. And I. Like, I understand that you've made an agreement with a. With a dear friend, but I do think that carrying the orb is dangerous for you and dangerous for us as a group. [00:32:40] Speaker G: So what do you want me to do? [00:32:42] Speaker C: I don't know. I'm just. I don't know if there's a solution right now. But I just. I. I don't know. I don't know either. [00:33:02] Speaker G: I see the same problem. I see the same. I. I understand what you mean. And I do agree that in the same way, if, like, I don't know what, someone from the Fae came after you and was dead set on. On attacking you or something, that we would all be in danger. I know that it doesn't make sense, but the same way that hello and Ro and everyone has a place in this party. Like, I also feel the same way about old. And I know that doesn't make a lot of sense, but to lose him would be a loss of. That would be equivalent in my heart to the loss of one of y'. [00:34:05] Speaker C: All. [00:34:07] Speaker G: But I do understand that that is also needing to be balanced out with the reality that a lot of us just almost died. [00:34:16] Speaker C: I wouldn't have. I. I wouldn't have asked if I knew that he held that place in your heart. And I'm sorry for. But I mean, if he's. If he's on our team, he's on our team. You know, if he's on your team, he's on our team. But yeah, I do wonder if maybe it would be safer to leave it in Parseage next time. No. Oh, no, maybe not. [00:34:46] Speaker A: Then Ro pikes up and goes, I'm. I don't really want a bunch of Kuo Toa showing up at our door and burning down parsonage a second time. [00:34:56] Speaker C: That's a great point. I'm going to stop suggesting things. [00:35:01] Speaker G: Now. [00:35:01] Speaker C: If it was. [00:35:03] Speaker A: Is there a place that we could. That we could go? Like, you could drop him? Like, isn't he supposed to be dropped in another Telos thing of water? [00:35:14] Speaker B: Tello's like 20 or 30ft away, you guys. I mean, for the sake of roleplay, you know, for a time after the combat, you guys were just like, breathing for 10 or 15 minutes and resting, and Tello's, like, stretched out things a little bit. He's like sitting down and he sat down up against a rock near one of the lava pools, and he's just picking up stones and just throwing them into the lava and watching them. And from where he is, he's leaning back and he goes around of this. I mean, you know, might be safe leaving a very dangerous magical object with them also. I mean, I'm not telling you guys, like, I don't know. We just almost. [00:35:53] Speaker F: I. [00:35:54] Speaker B: And, well, I understand why we're discussing it because of the circumstances, but I understand this isn't something we're figuring out right now. Like, maybe thinking about it right now makes sense, but, like, we're not going to go and do anything right now. Yeah, right now we're gonna go to Chester. Yeah, right. [00:36:14] Speaker A: Yeah. No, I. I agree. I just, if. Yeah, we need to make a plan, so that could. [00:36:24] Speaker B: I just mean, if we don't come up with a solution right now, I don't know what that changes. [00:36:27] Speaker A: You know, that's true. [00:36:29] Speaker D: I think Ron would pipe up here and be like, I'm not anybody to talk, but I think the bone massacre thing was the thing that almost killed us. Right. Like, Kuo Toa did not bring about the bone monster. And yeah, honestly, it looked like the fish. [00:36:51] Speaker A: That's true. We've. We've fought Kuo Toa a lot. [00:36:56] Speaker B: The. [00:36:57] Speaker A: And. And survived easily. It's. Yeah, you're. That's a really, really good point. [00:37:04] Speaker D: It just was a bad time for both Kuo Toa and a bone monster. [00:37:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:37:08] Speaker D: And then I'm gonna walk over to Craig and just be like. And also, I don't think your friend was saying this, but you. You didn't bring our almost death upon us. No, the bone monster did. And how is everyone doing with that? Is. You know, I've faced death a few times, but if you've been fighting and talking to gods and monsters like the older ones are, because it sounds like you have. Are you okay with this, what we just did? [00:37:39] Speaker A: I'm chill. [00:37:42] Speaker D: You turned into a thing I've never Seen, I don't think. [00:37:47] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that's a. That's a dinosaur. I think from what I figured, bro. [00:37:52] Speaker B: Gets a little nosebleed, and a voice comes by on the wind and goes. [00:37:58] Speaker F: Big Mike. [00:38:00] Speaker A: Or something. I don't know. I saw a blue man turn into it one time, and I kept it in my. In my memory bank and thought that might be good. That might be a good thing to. You know. It's really big. A lot bigger and stronger than I am. It felt fun. I got fish taste in my mouth afterward that was not great. When I unshifted. [00:38:30] Speaker D: Yeah, I was gonna ask that about you. Like, did. Did that. [00:38:32] Speaker A: Yeah, there was. [00:38:33] Speaker D: Yeah, like, there's, like, spiced fish or guts. I was like, I've tasted a lot of fish in my life. I'm a sailor. [00:38:42] Speaker A: It's kind of like fish. [00:38:46] Speaker B: Almost like a fisholder or. I don't know. What do you like? [00:38:50] Speaker A: Head? Like his eyes? [00:38:52] Speaker B: Sorry. Sorry. I got the headache just then. I don't know what that was about. [00:38:55] Speaker E: Blood. [00:38:56] Speaker A: Yeah. It was just really fishy in a bad way. [00:39:05] Speaker C: Greta says, I think that's a great point, wrongly. And I think knowing being able to keep an eye out for it is better than nothing. [00:39:17] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. It's a good thing if. If the eye thing is bringing more of those people out. It's good to know about it. You know, I was gonna give you a way worse option than what your friend was going to give you, so I'm glad she spoke, and I did. So. [00:39:33] Speaker A: Do you guys think if we talk to Carcon, he would help us fight? Like, Shista or Zorgram or. We made, like, a deal with him. [00:39:41] Speaker B: Chokes on his breath. [00:39:45] Speaker D: Is he the person who just sent us the Kuo Toa after us to kill us? [00:39:49] Speaker A: Yeah, he's the God. The crab God. [00:39:51] Speaker C: He's a big wter guy. [00:39:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:39:54] Speaker D: So you think the person who just tried to kill us with fish, we're going to join up with us? [00:40:00] Speaker A: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Kind of. [00:40:04] Speaker B: Quite a bit of time has passed in the course of your resting, and you all have migrated this conversation back into travel. Just because I'm recognizing that you all will do this for a long time and I'll let you. But I'm now just narratively introducing that you guys are returning to the point of the session, but you can keep role playing as you're doing. [00:40:21] Speaker A: I would say after. After a little bit, we would stop and have. Have a short rest and Row would sit down, and that's what you were just doing. Oh, that's what we were doing. Okay. Can I say that Ro is kind of fiddling on her loot while she was having this conversation? She's skilled enough to do that. [00:40:38] Speaker B: Okay, absolutely. [00:40:41] Speaker C: How does. How many hit dice do I roll? [00:40:46] Speaker B: So you have the hit die or the die from your class, and you have a number equal to your level. [00:40:52] Speaker C: I see. I see. [00:40:54] Speaker A: Also, everyone gets. Everyone gets an additional 1d10 because of Rose Song of rest. [00:41:05] Speaker B: Yes. It is a lot. It's. It's really worth noting just how hard it is for a player character to die in 5e. It's incredible. Fell from the atmosphere, take a nap, had your leg chopped off, sit down and rest an hour. It's the healing ability. Everyone in this world is Wolverine. Everyone just needs a little sit and a breathe, and then all your wounds are healed. Yes, Micah, yes. Yeah. [00:41:36] Speaker D: Also, you're adding a con to each one. Yeah. Your con modifier goes to each one of the roles. And you said a D10 plus what? [00:41:47] Speaker A: Just a D10. [00:41:48] Speaker D: Just a 10. Perfect. [00:41:49] Speaker F: Thank you. [00:41:49] Speaker D: I'm gonna do math now. [00:41:51] Speaker A: Same. [00:41:53] Speaker B: So if, Micah, you think to yourself, wow, that's an insane amount of healing. Why would they even. [00:42:00] Speaker D: Yeah. What a. [00:42:01] Speaker E: What a good. [00:42:03] Speaker B: Question. This DM has thought to himself. But, you know, hey, I guess they were thinking for, like, a dungeon crawl that never ended, I suppose. [00:42:13] Speaker C: Wow. [00:42:14] Speaker D: I mean, a lot of old DND used to be like, you go to a dungeon over and over and over again, and you. If you wanted to get all the loot that you wanted, you couldn't leave because other people would come and get that loot. Yeah. [00:42:25] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think maybe it's just a holdover mechanic from when DND was just like a really, really long fight simulator. And it's not like I have an issue with it. It's just when you learn about it, you're like, oh, wow. Okay. So short rest kind of fixes almost everything, but. [00:42:42] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:42:42] Speaker B: Anywho, as the. The group has rested and then they continue. The overcoming, your assailants and the undead monstrosity was unintentionally summoned is hours behind you. Now you've had time to rest, and the dim light is being replaced with the. The horrible, just perfect darkness of this place. The hours are coming on soon, where you will not be able to see, and there's this terrible balancing act here where you both need to light your path to continue. And also, you don't particularly want to be the only thing glowing in the dark, but you. You are aware that. And I mean, you know, there's going to be a long rest in here at some point as well. You're aware that you have about another day's travel looking at the map that was provided and using Rose considerable skills and trying to. And gathering where you are from landmax of landmarks of where you arrived in the landscape. You know that you are. Your ultimate goal is to find that mountain range where Blackfang is said to be nestled. So what we're going to do now is we're not going to. We're not going to get into a ton of detail. We're going to have like a little kind of montage sequence in the loosest of sense. I also feel really bad saying this because everyone's furiously rolling their hit die and adding numbers and probably going to montage our way right through a long rest here in a second, but that's fine. So what I'm going to say next is, first of all, as the party travels onward, I need some survival checks to navigate your way through this landscape utilizing your map and try and find where you're headed to. [00:44:28] Speaker D: I chose survival, so sorry. [00:44:31] Speaker A: And these are navigation. Survival checks. Correct. So I get to be proficient in those. [00:44:37] Speaker B: Correct. You are also proficient. And if you want to, you also have access to Boz's sheet for navigation, which, if I remember correctly, is a comically high modifier. I think it's his highest check, but I didn't put that on summarized sheets. [00:44:55] Speaker A: How is that? [00:44:56] Speaker B: Yeah, you remember the whole thing where you. When you were in the lost lands, where he was all like, yeah, this was my whole thing. I navigated all the time. And he had a special feature that contributed. [00:45:08] Speaker G: He does. [00:45:08] Speaker B: What does he have? [00:45:09] Speaker A: Persuasion, nature and survival are his three highest, which makes sense. That's very Bozzy. [00:45:18] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:45:18] Speaker B: So his. His survival is a plus 11. [00:45:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I see that. [00:45:23] Speaker B: But again, however you guys want to do it and you. You also have all the time from the group to do this. So if you want to expend some resources to help up this check to increase it, but you know that you're gonna need. You're gonna need some checks to go ahead and make it through this landscape. So let's start with those checks. Then we'll montage through some moments and then we'll keep moving with the course of the second. [00:45:42] Speaker C: Can I add Gaishin to these checks? [00:45:45] Speaker B: You can, but I can be guiding. [00:45:47] Speaker C: But like. [00:45:50] Speaker D: Like dedicated help action. Okay. [00:45:53] Speaker E: Wrong. [00:45:53] Speaker B: Grim is helping to navigate. As a former. [00:45:56] Speaker G: How do we all make the check? Or is it all one check? [00:46:00] Speaker C: Is it. [00:46:02] Speaker B: No, it's a set D on a DC on an ability check with a. Which a member of the party needs to accomplish. [00:46:08] Speaker A: I think I'll in. [00:46:10] Speaker B: In the same way that, like, if you guys need to move a large object, every member of the party doesn't need to walk up and do it. If Craig does it, it's done, right? [00:46:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:46:19] Speaker D: Okay. [00:46:20] Speaker B: Yeah, same thing. [00:46:22] Speaker F: Cool. [00:46:23] Speaker A: Okay. I'm going to have. [00:46:26] Speaker G: It doesn't. [00:46:26] Speaker A: I mean, besides the proficiency, it doesn't help because Ro knows like keen mind stuff. Right. So I'm just going to do bars because his is higher. [00:46:34] Speaker B: Makes sense. And it has. Yeah, he has. He has. He's help from wrong and probably Ro as well as they're using all their combined navigational skills. And he's using his connection to the earth through, like those roots. They can grow out of his finger every once in a while. He's like putting them in the ground and trying to use that to guide himself and guidance. [00:46:56] Speaker D: And he has guidance. [00:46:59] Speaker A: Well, I rolled pretty good if I disassel myself so that bartically inspire him. [00:47:05] Speaker D: If you wanted. [00:47:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I just want to see how high this is. [00:47:13] Speaker B: The same day you intend to arrive at Blackfang. [00:47:17] Speaker A: As you can see, the same day. Oh, I thought we had a long rest. [00:47:21] Speaker B: Okay, that's happened. You've long rested. [00:47:25] Speaker A: Oh, we've long rested. Understood. [00:47:28] Speaker B: Okay, this is the next. [00:47:30] Speaker A: Let me do that. [00:47:31] Speaker C: Wow. [00:47:33] Speaker G: We're not ready for that. [00:47:35] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh. [00:47:39] Speaker A: Okay, so Boz. [00:47:41] Speaker B: Micah went. I didn't know we were going to black thing. I thought we were just going to window shop. [00:47:46] Speaker A: Oz with rose dice got a third of three. [00:47:53] Speaker B: That big number. [00:47:55] Speaker F: Jeez. [00:47:58] Speaker B: I like how Jackie specified it was his role. But my dice. [00:48:01] Speaker A: Okay, I've been using all different dice tonight. Trying to roll for boss. No, no, none of them worked good. So I've gone back to rose dice. Okay. Boss get rose dice tonight. [00:48:14] Speaker B: So just to clarify. [00:48:18] Speaker G: Doing anything for spell slots or. [00:48:20] Speaker B: No, we have a long rest. So you have everything. [00:48:24] Speaker A: We got it. [00:48:25] Speaker B: It's the next day, the 11th. [00:48:27] Speaker G: Okay, that makes sense. [00:48:30] Speaker B: Yes. I see now what was not clicking. I'm now smelling. [00:48:33] Speaker A: We were confused. [00:48:34] Speaker B: I'm with you now. [00:48:35] Speaker A: Yeah, we're sorry. [00:48:36] Speaker B: I was like, we can't do it. [00:48:38] Speaker F: I was like, why? [00:48:40] Speaker B: I wish. [00:48:40] Speaker C: Still calculating hit points. [00:48:42] Speaker B: He's got a combat. [00:48:44] Speaker A: Okay, cool. [00:48:44] Speaker B: Micah's like, no, we're gonna die. Yeah, I'd be concerned too. So the party is doing an excellent job navigating itself even through this hellish landscape, and we can zoom right along. I'm just checking. Is there. Is there any particular moments of interaction or role play that the party wants in the course of their rendezvous to this location? Or are they like, no, we're just traveling. [00:49:13] Speaker A: My question, because I'm boss right now is more logistically as a player before the fight, not to meta. [00:49:23] Speaker B: Landon can pick whatever spells he wants to have picked up. [00:49:26] Speaker A: Okay. And I was just gonna ask, like, are we gonna have time to prep? Like, would he. When we come back, are we gonna have time to be like. And Boz does his shield thing and all that. Okay. [00:49:36] Speaker E: So. [00:49:36] Speaker A: So I don't need to worry about. [00:49:38] Speaker B: It would be in. It would be clinically, certifiably insane of me if I said, now you need to prep for a fight, but you have to do it a month before it's going to happen, and it needs to be done while one of the players for their character isn't there. I'd just be a mean dealer. [00:49:57] Speaker A: Figure. [00:49:59] Speaker D: It's a week away, isn't it? [00:50:01] Speaker A: Yeah, it's just a week. [00:50:01] Speaker B: Well, I mean, but yeah, you know. [00:50:08] Speaker A: Okay. [00:50:10] Speaker B: That would be unhinged behavior. [00:50:13] Speaker A: Thank you. [00:50:15] Speaker B: Consider yourself thumped. [00:50:17] Speaker A: Are we another. Another ask for rose memory. [00:50:23] Speaker C: Are. [00:50:23] Speaker A: Are we meeting anyone? [00:50:26] Speaker B: So let's give a little context in case we've forgotten. [00:50:28] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:50:28] Speaker B: The whole plan here is for you guys to arrive in Zorgram, travel to this. To this big mountain, because you know that there's this mountain. I mean, mountain range is not quite right, but this, like. Like a little valley in between some mountains where Blackfang is set and where the five towers of the Lich Lords are around them. And you know that you're set to go there to meet up with Alandra and a bunch of other people who are supposed to be a part of this assault force to strategize with her. That's this session, and then to go, go assault Blackfang. That's. That's the whole thing. You know, the basic idea you've gotten is that everybody's gonna be broken up into teens because these towers of the Lich Lords need to be taken down before you can get to Blackfang. They create this magical barrier around the tower, so you can't just go and fight it. You're gonna have to get through a tower. Everybody else is gonna have to take. Take their towers down at the same time, and then you can go fight Shista. And you're aware that there's not going to be any rest. There's like it's going to be go time. It's going to be Omaha beach, and then the next thing and then the next thing, and then the next thing and that's it. So you are aware that you are headed now to go to this place where Black Fang is going to be to meet up with your allies to strategize and prepare and then go do this thing. [00:51:43] Speaker A: Okay, then no, I don't have anything until we get there. [00:51:48] Speaker B: Okay, great. Nickel. [00:51:50] Speaker G: Hey, Zach, real quick. So we long rested. [00:51:55] Speaker B: Yes. [00:51:56] Speaker D: Okay. [00:51:57] Speaker G: Doesn't that reset our hit points or. [00:52:00] Speaker B: Is it absolutely everything and no exhaustion? [00:52:05] Speaker C: Okay, so why did we roll the deep? [00:52:07] Speaker G: Why didn't we roll the 10? [00:52:09] Speaker B: Couldn't. And yet. [00:52:13] Speaker A: Okay. [00:52:17] Speaker D: Well, how many people got multiple levels of exhaustion? It would only take away one level, right? [00:52:23] Speaker B: That's true. That's true. Did anybody get two levels of exhaustion? [00:52:26] Speaker D: I did. [00:52:27] Speaker C: Am I still exhausted? [00:52:28] Speaker B: You are exhausted. One point. So disadvantage on ability checks. Okay, the nice thing is, you know, that's not movement in combat and saving throws like you know, but a billion. [00:52:45] Speaker D: But there's also a thing. [00:52:46] Speaker F: If. [00:52:46] Speaker D: If we were using spells the day before, if someone had a greater restoration or something, they could remember exhaustion. [00:52:52] Speaker B: Yes. If you guys wanted to retroactively have spent a greater restoration, you could have. If you have the components. [00:52:59] Speaker D: Oh, that's true. [00:53:00] Speaker A: What are the components? [00:53:02] Speaker C: I have 300 gold dust in my inventory, but it says four, boss, so I'm not. It's 100 gold. It's 100 gold worth of diamond dust. I have 300 gold worth of diamond dust, but it's for boss and I don't remember what it's for. [00:53:17] Speaker B: So I will let you make that decision. [00:53:21] Speaker C: I'm not gonna do that. [00:53:23] Speaker D: You should do it. I believe in you. [00:53:25] Speaker A: Let me see if Boz in his inventory, Let me see if boss in his inventory has any more like what he has in his inventory. Okay. Cuz if he has enough for multiple greater restoration, I say we go from. [00:53:41] Speaker C: Well, I just want. I don't want to take his stuff. [00:53:46] Speaker B: Is it in your inventory? [00:53:49] Speaker C: Yes, but it says four, boss. [00:53:53] Speaker A: Well, I have. Okay, he had. He has some diamond dust. He has enough for one greater restoration in his. So I say you use the one. Cuz I think he had you buy some more so that he had more than one. I say you use it. Because I say you. I mean that's. I say you use it. Boz still has one for a greater restoration in his inventory. So just use that one and we'll call. [00:54:21] Speaker B: You are on the way to the greatest smackdown of your lives. [00:54:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:54:25] Speaker C: Okay, well then I will use it and we'll say I did that yesterday. [00:54:31] Speaker B: In the period of the long rest, Greta sublimated the diamond dust she had on her person and supplicated to Ioun and had her layer of exhaustion removed. So I think if I'm picking up the vibe correctly, we're now on the same page about what's happening. And no one has any roleplay activities or anything, anything before arriving, right? It's just a day of travel, okay? The landscape is harsh and dark and awful. And there are many small moments where yalls abilities are necessary to traverse this landscape. Many periods of navigating, like sometimes the ravine splits into great gaps and this has to be traversed. There are pools, I mean you. At one point you go like half a day without seeing any lava. And then there's more. And you have to carefully cut your way around it and not get anywhere near it for the sake of its great heat. But after the sum of your arduous venturing more than two days through this landscape, in the early evening of. [00:55:38] Speaker F: This. [00:55:39] Speaker B: Third day here, you all work your way through this long ravine change split into others with many stops of checking your direction and using your magical headings. But eventually you level out into this higher plane and there start to be spires of stone around you and jutting topographies. And you find the base of this mountain chain and you follow it. And you are rewarded eventually with a foul sight haunting the gloomy distance ahead. The landscape rises into a sea series of uneven stony thorns. Small mountains of and small ones, but small mountains of dark ash stained stone. Among all of them, a single mountain rises to notable height, broad and coarse and craggy, draped in many hundreds of tiny shadows and ravines. Far worse still, beyond the mountain, very far, just at the edge of your vision, especially in the increasingly dimming light, the perennially overcast sky is a horrible spine of a stone tower climbing into the sky so thin like a needle at its distance, unnatural and impossible, almost seeming to reach to the churning low hanging black clouds above. The lazy maelstrom cracks with anger. And whispers of distant evils to come. The tower is thin and unnatural, less like seeing a structure in the real world and more like catching the glimpse of a nightmare from a grim dream realized supernaturally into a reality where it does not belong. It is a strange sight past the mountain. It's painful in your eyes. [00:57:34] Speaker F: It stings. [00:57:35] Speaker B: And you all start to tear up, not from emotion, but as if Physically gazing upon it hurts your eyes. And they're protecting themselves. And it seems to, for a moment, almost muddy the mind with fear. [00:57:48] Speaker F: And cold whispers. [00:57:55] Speaker B: Seem to drift by your ears. I actually need a charisma saving throw from everyone as they look at the tower for the first time. [00:58:04] Speaker A: Necromancer. [00:58:05] Speaker C: I do have a. [00:58:10] Speaker B: Yes. And everyone's within range of Craig. [00:58:13] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:58:15] Speaker B: What does it do? Micah? [00:58:18] Speaker G: You can't be frightened. If you're within 10ft of me, you can't be frightened. So if this is a charisma saving. [00:58:25] Speaker B: Throw frightened, this, this entire feature is negated. Micah. [00:58:32] Speaker C: Oh no. [00:58:34] Speaker B: The party even has the possibility of becoming dumbfounded and stunned as there's just this magical essence coming off of Craig. And as you all stand near him, what is it that the party feels that steels them against this horrible power in the distance? Mikkel. [00:58:52] Speaker G: Oh yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna say. [00:58:56] Speaker C: That. [00:58:58] Speaker G: There the, the sense of loyalty and like mission oriented, like beautifulness of Craig. [00:59:11] Speaker C: Like. [00:59:15] Speaker G: I'm gonna say, like, I don't know, it's just good vibes. Just good vibes when you're around, I mean, you're just, you know, just really. I like, I'm gonna let go of. [00:59:27] Speaker B: My control issues and I'm gonna let just good vibes be the answer. [00:59:31] Speaker G: Yeah, well, I'm gonna say like vibes. [00:59:34] Speaker B: Roll you right past the Tower of Doom, Magically warded by the divine power flowing through your, through your paladin, it is no less chilling. And whatever that that horrible sight makes you feel in the distance that you've. [00:59:52] Speaker G: Built for so long, want to remind everyone that if you are within 10ft of me and you make a saving throw, you gain the bonus of plus three. Because of my charisma modifier, I just have to be conscious to grant the bonus. You have to be within 10 minutes. [01:00:10] Speaker C: If you do a saving throw, you. [01:00:11] Speaker G: Get to add +3. [01:00:13] Speaker B: To be clear, that is a super important note for next time. Super important, very important. So, shuttering your eyes from the horrible view, stealing yourselves, the party trudges forward. You do see, far in the distance in the dimming light, some of those hard stone statued beings frozen in the landscape. But you move away from them and can you continue on toward the mountain? After overcoming the haunting visage of the black spire, the funguys move closer and closer and closer to that grave mountain in the distance. A couple more hours of walking. It's also worth noting that at some point you guys are just getting tired. It's been days of travel. And it's not like it's been filled with easy rest, with comfort, but finally, as night is really setting in and this place is starting to become a perfect black, and you guys are having to create your own magical light, which is a horrible feeling in this landscape. I mean, it's around a jungle at night with a flashlight, and. Except a thousand times worse. [01:01:21] Speaker C: Spooky. [01:01:24] Speaker B: Eventually, you all start to see something that brings just this first smidgen of hope in all this time. In the distance, toward the base of this mountainscape, opposite, where that dark spire rises that you can no longer see in the light, but you feel like it's watching you. You all see another light, a twin light to your own, Very, very dimly in the darkness, a weak light. And just around it, you can see a gathering. It looks like huddled shapes and figures clothed in dark shadow. A little natural and a little magical. Near the mountain space, it's really hard to make out the figures, but it's very much at the location you all were told to rendezvous. [01:02:13] Speaker C: I'm gonna grab the sending stone. [01:02:17] Speaker B: Okay. [01:02:18] Speaker C: And I'm gonna call. Who do we know is gonna be there? Do I get to talk to my fiery friend? [01:02:26] Speaker B: You are very aware that this entire thing was called together by Alandra. [01:02:31] Speaker C: Okay, well, I'll. Callandra. Callandra. Did the fiery friend mention that she was gonna be there? [01:02:38] Speaker B: You were very specifically told that qwert would not be a part of this venture, that the idea is that not all of the mana must nor all of the heroes of the world would be gathered in the case that this was catastrophic, that all of the world's defenders would not be slaughtered in one place. [01:02:51] Speaker C: Right. Well, I was just wondering. [01:02:56] Speaker B: She's my favorite, for sure. [01:02:58] Speaker C: So I call Alondra. I say, this is so awesome. [01:03:02] Speaker G: Quite. [01:03:02] Speaker C: Every time I say hello. [01:03:08] Speaker B: Okay. There's a momentary pause. [01:03:16] Speaker C: Great. [01:03:18] Speaker E: Oh, man. [01:03:18] Speaker B: The energy we came into this session with. There's a pause, and then you hear a voice say, greta, Hello. [01:03:28] Speaker F: I take it you've arrived somewhere in the distance. [01:03:31] Speaker C: You see us? [01:03:33] Speaker F: Oh, I see you. Can you make your way to us? [01:03:38] Speaker C: Yes, we're on our way. I just want to. I just. [01:03:40] Speaker F: Yes, I can. [01:03:41] Speaker B: And there's just this. The light. And then reappears. [01:03:45] Speaker F: And she says, you might want to dim your. Soon. [01:03:48] Speaker C: Okay, cool. Click. [01:03:57] Speaker F: Okay. [01:03:57] Speaker C: I. I say, hey, guys, Alondra said we should maybe dim our light. That's scary. Yes. What's the. [01:04:07] Speaker D: Like. [01:04:08] Speaker C: What's the ambient. Like a color to the ambient light? [01:04:13] Speaker B: Well, the one she's producing. Or the landscape. [01:04:17] Speaker C: No, no, no, no. Like, if I turned my light off. [01:04:20] Speaker B: Is it just pitch black, dark and the like, you guys are. Not only is this land so shadowy and so dark that as you're. Oh, that's a good point. There's a light you can never turn off. [01:04:34] Speaker A: Yeah, it's boss. [01:04:35] Speaker B: Thank you for bringing that up. I'd forgotten. As you all dim your light off, there is like a very faint, grainish rainbow. [01:04:43] Speaker E: Ish. [01:04:43] Speaker B: Hey, man. At this point, the hey, you forgot the homework is your shtick and I respect it about you. There's this sort of like opalescent light coming from him that can never fully be extinguished. And as you all dim your light, it's very faint, but there is still a bit of life coming. Light coming off of him at all times. [01:05:00] Speaker C: Okay. Is that enough to see by just. [01:05:03] Speaker B: I mean like the foot. The footstep in front of you. Truly, the footstep in front of you. [01:05:10] Speaker F: Install. [01:05:12] Speaker C: I'm gonna. Yeah, I guess we just keep doing that. [01:05:16] Speaker B: Submerged in the black of the landscape, like walking through the bottom of an ocean of air, you all can see only the footstep in front of you, moving slowly, trying not to fall into something or trip over something. And it is so hard to keep your mind from being plagued by the idea of what might be just a short distance away, knowing that you just stumbled upon the unceasing massacre in this place. What other horrors might this place hold? You all move closer and closer and closer and closer to this huddled group of figures by light. And finally, as you move ever closer, you are greeted by a really odd moment. As you move to the edge of these figures, you're in the last bit of the faintest light of this space. You catch just the silhouette of the mountain ahead of you, but even that gets swallowed up into darkness, and you can only make out the stony area in your immediate vicinity. And as you all move close enough, there is this brief breath of fresh air, as not more empty, dark stone are monsters, but people. People you know. And though you are gripped by the danger of what's around you and what's going to happen, there's also just this moment of oh my goodness friends. And you see, huddled together. Oh, you didn't know how many people you were expecting, but more than 10, and some really big figures. There's machine things here, like some sort of golems. There's like 12 or 15 figures here who have also brought large golem structures with them. And in the center of them is this very dim light and there's this thin shadowy cover over them. And as you all finally get close enough and step through, some heads turn toward you and you see many familiar figures, many unfamiliar. But as you step through, light, oh, light. Fairly bright light. As you step through, you look back and none of it is passing beyond. There's this thin shadowy veil of twilight held over a brighter light, held in its center. As you all step through, you are both greeted by comfort and a strange and shocking sight. As you all step in, you see what probably had Alandra a little out of breath. The group that you walk into is. I mean, you are acknowledged. Ten faces turn up and look at you and then return to what they're looking at. They're in a small circle around a prone figure over which another appears to be casting a spell. As you get closer, you can see that there is a man. A very big large man with dark skin and a white beard braided into thin clasps with metal caps on them. He is wearing imposing armor made from the bones of a monster, with a great shield from a skull laid beside him. And as you see the silvery mace from his side, you see the older figure you all have come to be so very fond of. Archpriest Ehmund Kai is there, and he is. He has kneeled over an even larger figure who is laid down on his back. His head is supported up against a stone, but even in front of him is one of the biggest people you have ever seen, and one you have seen before. There is a Loxodon, an elephant person laid down on the ground in front of him, broad and strong, barrel chested with a great hammer, with lightning bolts covered into its side. And you see Kettle, the thunderhand from the blood bowl, laid on his back with his head resting up against a stone. There's some sort of a dark, patchy necrotic shape all across him, and Emund is leaned over him, muttering magics with white glowing from his palms, with his eyes closed, moving his hands back and forth. He appears to be trying to believe something. At the same time, opposite E there is a great moose like Servan Woman, a huge ungulate like lady, who is in every way as large as f Moon is not larger. It's funny, this group is strangely arranged by size in the middle, and she has a moose's head and great antlers that protrude from her head. She's covered in beautiful forest green and heather cloaks, and she is likewise making a magical healing. But she is not over the Loxodon figure. She is bent over another fellow, A dark skinned dwarven warrior in beautiful full plate armor plated with gold and brass and silver with a symbol on it of a God. At the time you didn't even have the recognition for. And now you might even be able to identify he has blood staining the front of his armor. And this servant woman appears to be doing some sort of a similar magic over him. Clearly some sort of human healing or restoration. And you all recognize this figure too. Or at least those among you with capable memories. Paulu. Paulu Coelho. Also from the blood bowl. The paladin who briefly visited you all and spoke with you. The dark skinned man from more than a year ago. And he is there also, laying near. Near kettle. And both of these individuals are being. Are being healed in some way. Other individuals are gathered all around them. I'm going to take a second to make some description and then we can get all into role play. But this is all coming to your senses very quickly. [01:10:59] Speaker A: Is it fresh blood on him? [01:11:02] Speaker B: Yes, it appears to be, yeah. So there are figures you recognize. And again, you didn't. You didn't expect so many people to be gathered here. You hadn't put together that this assaulting force was going to be so robust. [01:11:15] Speaker E: This is. [01:11:16] Speaker B: This is a small army of Yalabrand's mightiest warriors. Alandra, the great Abjurer, the de facto leader of the Manabus Arcum. The high elven wizard in her pale clothes and her dark hair, is leaned over watching the healings happen and discussing quietly. At her side is a woman none of you all have ever seen. She appears to have Southeast Asian features. She's rather short. She has monolid eyes with thin eyebrows. She has a wispy, somewhat curly dark hair that spills over her shoulder, stained with gray. She is also wearing wizardly robes, and you're not particularly familiar with her. If you are proficient in history, you may make a check here. And also Ro, you may specifically, because you are from Unsent, standing behind Alandra. And this figure is a towering thing that you've never seen. A creature made entirely of metal, with an immense broad torso. It stands at almost 12ft tall. A great humanoid machine. You've heard of some of these. [01:12:23] Speaker E: A golem. [01:12:24] Speaker B: And over its face is a sheer metal plate with a carved circle in the front. And you can see emblazoned onto its chest in a mechanical series of factional rings, the symbol of the maker. Rongrim, you heard these described by your compatriots. These are recovered from Tchaskan. These are the Arch Security Golems. They fought so long ago and it is one of a number. What did we get on those history checks? [01:12:52] Speaker C: I got a dirty 20. [01:12:54] Speaker A: I got a 22. [01:12:57] Speaker B: Okay, Greta, you don't quite place the individual, but ro just barely do. This is Atal Biroq, the kind a apostrophe t, A L. So a apostrophe T, A L. And Biroq is B I R O Q. Atal Biroq. She is the headmistress of Biro's Arcane Academy, one of the other great schools of magic in Yalabrud and Unson's foremost educator for the Arcane. She's standing next to Alandra with the security golem behind them. Ehmund is over the Loxodon fellow healing him. Kettle, who you recognize and Holy crap, Craig, that's Kettle. Whoa, That's a dude you fought Next to Ehmund is another figure you did not know you would be seeing here. There is a half elven fellow with wavy brown hair in polished silver armor with some scars on him and a mace at his side and a shield slung over his back, with a blue half cape over his shoulder. A fellow you are knowing increasing increasingly well. Thespis Aronson is. [01:14:14] Speaker A: I knew it. [01:14:16] Speaker B: Helping to preside over the healing focus and skilled and capable. I knew that on the other side is a figure you truly did not expect to see. A drow woman with dark skin and very short hair, cloaked in a heavy short gray cloak that seems practical and weathered. [01:14:37] Speaker C: She. [01:14:37] Speaker B: She holds in her hand a staff with a studded crystal at the top with a symbol of the Kefkan Empire in the head. And you will see Kaladra standing next to Thespis and Ehmund. She appears to be quietly watching, though not communicating with them. There is Palo Coelho, the Paladin, along with Kettle and the Arch Security Golem behind them. And then there are even more figures you do not recognize. And not only figures you don't know, some belonging to peoples and ethnicities you've never witnessed in this realm of note. There is a Dragonborn Paladin. She has a broad strong head with white with white horns that come up out of the best out of the back and a great basilisk like crest going down. She's heavily plated and she carries herself with poison strength. She is towering with a great sword on her back and a shield at her side. She's scarred both in her armor and in her scales. She's clashing but with some concern, looking over Paolo next to her you see a very, very small fellow. There is a halfling. Rogue woman. I just said her class, but it doesn't matter. There's a halfling draped in dark cloaks with blades at her side. And. And it's just like 20 knives everywhere and a short sword. [01:16:00] Speaker A: See, we knew she was a rogue. [01:16:02] Speaker B: And you can see a handful of metal studs over her. You also see on the left breast of her armor, a metal signet with the fangs of a dagger. You recognize her as, from your very brief dalliance in the land, as being a member of the Bleeding Blades of Sandoria. And actually, based off of that crest segment, I'd like. I like those proficient in history to try and give a history check here. [01:16:32] Speaker A: What about rumors I'm talking about. [01:16:37] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be a stupid high DC, but you can make it 32. [01:16:43] Speaker F: Jeez. [01:16:49] Speaker A: A dirty 20. [01:16:52] Speaker E: Ro. [01:16:52] Speaker B: You're not familiar, Greta. That's very fitting, given that your order is in Sandoria. [01:16:57] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:16:58] Speaker B: Oh, that's not a Blade of Sandoria. She's a member of the Death Adders. They are within the Blades of Sandoria, their most elite sect. Wow. They're the high elite order of assassins. And she's the elite assassin among them. One of that group you can put together. She's probably not here out of altruism. She's probably being paid a small fortune. [01:17:22] Speaker C: Cool. [01:17:24] Speaker B: So there is the Servan cleric, the immense moose woman, also conducting healing. And there is yet again, another of those massive security golems. You've seen three of them now. There are still more figures you do not recognize. There's another security golem, a fourth. They are towering and powerful and gleaming. The ground cracks underneath the points where they stand. You see also a woman with dark blue skin. She has green hair pulled up in a coif that's tightly bunned. She has all of these little metal earrings studded in her ear, along with a very wide septum ring. And her eyes crackle with a green energy. She has powerful tribalistic tattoos going up her left arm, which has no sleeve. And then the rest of her cloak is a dark, dark, dark, dark gray, blue. And there is a Triton woman here, one of the sea dwelling races you've had little contact with, but you don't know very much about her beyond that. You also see a short dwarven woman, lean and strong and muscular. She's entirely bald and her scalp is heavily tattooed with like geometric shapes and designs that seem to go all the way down her back or all the way down her neck and also appear to continue down her arms. She's wearing no sleeves and she's wearing clothes, but only the barest clothes beneath what are sparse armor. And she has two short swords at her side, as well as a gauntlet that's only plated with metal on one side. And then she has what are like just a series of metal cylinders on one hip. Beyond that, you're not sure what's going on with that. And then lastly, Rongrim. This is a people you are familiar with, Greta. This is a people of whom you have heard. And everybody else, you have no knowledge of this. There is a Grung woman, a frog person, and she is huge. She is so big. She's almost as big as Ehmund and the moose woman and the Loxodon. She is so big. I mean, Kettle's bigger than everybody else, but like a massive bullfrog. And she is wearing no armor. She has almost no clothes. She's very quiet. And on her back she has a huge hammer made out of what looks like wood and stone grown together, covered in magical runes. So basically, she's wearing the bandolier that holds the hammer, some pouches on her side, and that's it. And she is littered with scars. And all of these individuals stand gathered in this group before you. And you see people look at you and acknowledge you. Some I stay on you. But most people are focused on this moment of healing. This is the incredible, overwhelming scene. You all approach 23 people. In what way do you interact with it? [01:20:19] Speaker A: I go up and immediately go up to Alandra and just like, give her a hug, and I'm like, we made it. [01:20:32] Speaker B: As you approach, she quit speaking with Atal, who gets a kind of a diplomatic, if cool and calm smile. Just very like, you know, Alandra, you watch. Oh, she's got bags under her eyes and she looks exhausted. And she just goes. She runs hand through her hair and she reaches out from her great height to your little hand that reaches up and she holds it and she goes. Now that is a relief. [01:21:01] Speaker F: It is good to see you all. Fungus. [01:21:04] Speaker B: And you all notice how much of the the group gathered here is staring at you. And you're aware that you are both. I think he's repairing his signal by leaving and rejoining. You are aware that, you know, you're very famous individuals. You're probably some of the most famous people in this entire group. But also you recall that the basic gist you got of the plan before coming here was that y' all are. Y' all are the Head. You're the, you're the head of the spear. So everybody else here had the supporting role. And as you all approach, there are warm looks from friends, but there's also plenty of looks like, oh, they're here, the ones with the job. Alandra puts a hand on your smile. She holds your hand and she looks up at everyone else in the smile and the party smiles at each of. [01:21:48] Speaker F: You individually and she says, I'm glad you've made it. I. I began to worry. [01:21:55] Speaker A: Yeah, sorry we're a little late. There was no complication, but we're good now. [01:22:02] Speaker B: Evmon stays focused on his task. And when you say that Ro, the servant woman moves her hands slightly back as the, the dark skinned dwarven fellow sits up from where he is in his armor making a clanking. And as he says, he goes, you could say that he coughs up a little blood and he goes, we had. [01:22:20] Speaker F: Some troubles of our own. [01:22:23] Speaker A: What happened? [01:22:30] Speaker F: Dark creatures from the skies. [01:22:32] Speaker A: Oh. [01:22:35] Speaker F: But they're dead and we're not. [01:22:40] Speaker B: And he gives you like a kind of like rakish smile and he looks at Craig and just like winks and. [01:22:46] Speaker F: He goes, who knew our paths would cross again? Armor suits you. [01:22:56] Speaker B: Okay. You walk over to fist bump. He like weakly raises an arm. The servant woman gives like a polite smile to you and then bats your hand away. Like she just quietly says, no, not now. [01:23:07] Speaker F: He's recovering. [01:23:09] Speaker B: She just, she like pushes his head down to the rock. [01:23:13] Speaker A: To recovering. [01:23:17] Speaker C: I would like to go up. As soon as I enter the scene, I want to rush up to where Thespis and Ethmund are and I'm she, Greta like she's like you know, been hobbling, doing the old lady shuffle. But she sees that like, she sees that and she just runs up and like pulls out whatever components and, and just like tries to. She's probably just guiding them over and over and you join in. [01:23:44] Speaker F: Yeah, yeah. [01:23:45] Speaker B: You hop in with the divine healers. [01:23:47] Speaker C: He's like, what do you need? What, what's going on? How can I help? Yeah. [01:23:51] Speaker B: As you run up and take your role as these very, this very small figure between the two of them, Thespas turns to you and smiles warmly. F. Moon doesn't acknowledge you at all. He is in the zone. But Thespis turns and smiles and you can see that he's really just observing. It's Emund, the one who's doing the healing. And he turns to you and goes, Greta. And he just like falls down to a knee and like opens his arms up For a hug. Is it returned? [01:24:18] Speaker C: Yeah. Greta's like, she's okay. [01:24:20] Speaker B: Is you hugging back? [01:24:23] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:24:23] Speaker B: As you hug him back warmly. It's a warm hug. It's not long. He hugs you and squeezes you and then let's go. And he like kind of sits back on the knee and he goes, I've got. [01:24:32] Speaker F: That is a face I didn't think. [01:24:33] Speaker B: I was going to see for a long time. [01:24:36] Speaker F: I. I'd heard you guys were coming, so, I mean, I guess I know, but I can't believe I get to see you again. [01:24:42] Speaker B: And he like looks up and smiles at. At everyone in the group, at Craig. He like waves at Craig and smiles at Ro and looks at RM a little confused, but just kind of waves too. Cuz he sees part of. He sees part of the party. Boz gives a wave and he nods and he says. [01:24:58] Speaker F: I'm so glad to see that you guys are. Well. This Kettle fellow, he's gonna recover just fine. Echmon's just wrapping up the ceremonial healings and. [01:25:10] Speaker B: Not a lot of time left to learn before we get into some action. [01:25:13] Speaker F: But I figured if there's anything less to absorb here, I might as well be learning from the master. [01:25:21] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. Is he wearing. He's wearing Ceylon symbol. [01:25:28] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. He has. He has on the same thing as the last time you saw him. That silvered plate with Saemun symbol on his chest and on his shield, or the two eyes, the two stars on his shield. The exact same. I mean, it's got more nicks and scars in it than the last time, but the same armor you saw him in last time. And there's a small din of chatter all along. [01:25:45] Speaker F: The group. [01:25:46] Speaker B: That halfling woman is standing near the barbarian is talking with her. You get the feeling she doesn't feel whole lot of sense of belonging among you all. Dur. Yes. Dur. [01:25:58] Speaker D: I had met Thespis before, right? Because then I go with everyone to. [01:26:03] Speaker B: Oh my goodness. You did. That's totally correct. Yes, you very briefly met. So there's that guy. Never mind. He does remember you and wrong. And you're like, oh, there's that guy I met for five minutes when. [01:26:15] Speaker A: Wait. Warriors of the well met Thespis. That makes me so happy. [01:26:20] Speaker B: Well, that happens internally in Ron Grimm's head, but yes. So Thespis smiles warmly. And you can see there's both a lift in the air, in the tension as you all arrive, and also a simultaneous. It's a weird shift. It's like the tension both rises, like they're here. Everyone's here now. And also like a everyone's here because you get the feeling half of the people here have been to hell and back just to get to this place. And the servant woman finally puts her hands down and some of the light fades and she says. [01:26:52] Speaker F: He'Ll be all right. [01:26:55] Speaker B: He's going to need some time to. [01:26:57] Speaker F: Rest, but he'll be fine. [01:27:00] Speaker B: Kettle's just. His trunk lifts a little bit and the Grong woman says something in a language you don't recognize to the halfling lady and oh, I'm so sorry. There's one figure I forgot to describe. Probably the most visually distracting of them all. Another again, Greta, you've heard of these people. No one else here I don't think probably has. I can't believe I forgot to describe this person. There's one last figure here. He's not the biggest of everyone. Kettle's the biggest, but he is the tallest. This figure is 7:4. And he is a person who is in every way very much a lion. And you know these to be Leonin people. Lion people from Nikistinik in the south of the Wildlands. [01:27:54] Speaker F: He is huge. [01:27:57] Speaker B: He wears of a bit of leather armor, but otherwise it's just him with some cloaks with a tavern beneath. He's heavily scarred all over. He has three really large claws that rake down his face and just barely miss his eye. He has a massive mane flowing down his neck. He has a heavy chain with some sort of a symbol tucked into his cloak. And he is standing on his back is a huge double bladed sword that's put in a bandolier on his back. And he's just standing there quietly. He's got his arms folded and he's just got a very grim look on his face. Just listening and watching. Forgot to describe that character. Sorry. And otherwise. Alondra takes a breath and she says okay, we're all gathered. [01:28:46] Speaker F: I'm going to go check in with the other Manabus members. And everyone take some time to rest and acquaint yourselves. And I'll return in half an hour for cinder briefing, some planning for tomorrow and at first light tomorrow we'll begin. [01:29:03] Speaker B: She takes a sort of uneasy step, moves away to the edge of the clearing a stone and begins whispering into a terra arcanae. But for now, with which characters do you choose to communicate? And. [01:29:16] Speaker F: And what are you doing? [01:29:18] Speaker B: You're just here gathered around a lot of the most powerful people in Yalden. Oh my goodness. Daniel. [01:29:26] Speaker A: As I speak up and just kind of say hello everyone, we're the fun guys. And she. [01:29:41] Speaker B: There's a weird awkward mix, like hi. Hello. [01:29:44] Speaker A: And I think like I say I'm. I'm Rowena. And I like, I go around like at this point and kind of like introduce myself to people and like I don't like. I know it doesn't really help anything but I play the part of like the bard, trying to like inspire people and build morale for what's going to happen of like playing some a little bit throughout the night or like just kind of giving any kind of like route, like rallying speech a little bit. Yeah. [01:30:20] Speaker B: You are at this point not a meaningful charismatic figure in this world. The Funguys are a world renowned group of heroes at this point. Give me a persuasion check to try and lift the morale of the people gathered here as you go around and introduce yourself as the. This public figure and. [01:30:36] Speaker A: Oh, I got not 20, so that's gonna be 26. [01:30:45] Speaker B: 26. Phenomenal. Mickle Night night. Thank you for participating so long. But hang on as long as you want. [01:30:54] Speaker C: Hi M. I'm gonna resend my character sheet in the. In Craig's thing in case it's needed. [01:31:04] Speaker G: Okay, Goodbye. [01:31:05] Speaker A: Bye. [01:31:06] Speaker C: M. Night. [01:31:07] Speaker F: Night. [01:31:09] Speaker B: Craig talks for a second, sets his head down and then just he's out. He and Kettle are like shoulder to shoulder, just like having a snoring competition. And there's a moment where you're worried about the sound and one of you curiously puts an ear toward the edge and you realize that within whatever the structure you are, whatever magical structure, none of the sound is escaping. And you're very hidden in this thing. [01:31:31] Speaker D: Ro. [01:31:32] Speaker B: As you go around communicating and introducing yourself and trying to make a connection. It's very subtle, but there is a palpable shift in the energy here. Everything kind of calms. Not like a growing confidence, but a relief. And you get the feeling that the Fungi's are here. Not only the people who are supposed to spearhead this endeavor, but the Fungi's. And you watch as people respond meaningfully and positively to your gesture. And Rose specifically as you go around. I'll run through some names really quickly, but I'm going to try not to get us stuck here because I want some roleplay, you know, pollocuelhu, you know, Kettle, you introduce yourself to the Leonin fellow and that huge hand reaches down as he extends his fingers, these massive 2 inch claws retract back into them and he proceeds to give you a very warm but gentle handshake. And as you introduce yourself, this really big smile spreads over his face. And you weren't expecting this bubbly personality, but he leans all the way down. [01:32:36] Speaker E: Your level and he goes, it's excellent to meet you. I've heard much about the rowan, a. [01:32:43] Speaker F: Green bottle of fungi. [01:32:45] Speaker E: Your stories of you have spread all. [01:32:47] Speaker F: The way out, even to Nikistinik. [01:32:49] Speaker B: I'm Nyogweni. And sorry. [01:32:57] Speaker F: Okay. [01:32:58] Speaker B: As he says his name. Nyogweni, that is N Y O G W E N I N Y O G W E N I. Nyogweni. [01:33:13] Speaker C: Nyogweni. [01:33:16] Speaker F: Nyogweni. He says, it's excellent to meet you. I'm glad that you all are leading us. [01:33:23] Speaker B: And you weren't kind of expecting that level of enthusiasm. You move over to the dragonborn paladin woman, and she just nods somberly at. [01:33:33] Speaker F: You and gives you a warm smile. [01:33:35] Speaker B: But there's less. Less of an appearance from her to try and make some sort of a connection, Though she's not cold or distant either. And she just puts a hand on. On the plated breast of her armor and she says, and that is going to be G, A Z, G a Z, S H. And then R a S H, like rash. So G A Z, S H. Rash. So Gazrash is her first name. [01:34:07] Speaker C: Okay. [01:34:08] Speaker B: And then her last name is I. [01:34:10] Speaker F: T H eth Gazrashith. [01:34:17] Speaker B: And she repeats, and she says, you. [01:34:19] Speaker F: Can just call me Gaz. I'm Jarskin, and I know our names are not easy to say. [01:34:25] Speaker A: You can call me Ro. And she laughs. And. [01:34:31] Speaker B: You all see emblazoned on the pauldron, the left pauldron of her armor, the shoulder piece there is a symbol of a tree with a little water sprouting down it and falling into a pool. You both as members, as habitu. Well, Greta from your education, Ro from your time in the earth in bloom. And the person here who knows the symbol best is Rongrim, who looks at it. Well, you know that symbol, That's a symbol of Eldath on her shoulder. This lady's a paladin of Uegg's goddess. [01:35:01] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:35:03] Speaker B: And she just has this very calm energy. Also really classy. White half cape. It's really cool looking going down the back of her armor. Monochromatic thing going on. You introduce yourself to the halfling rogue woman, and she has very little to say to you. She's got pursed lips and a flat demeanor. She says. She says, sarah. [01:35:29] Speaker A: Sarah. And how do you spell that really intricate name? I'm just kidding. [01:35:38] Speaker D: Without an H. Sarah with or without an H? Yeah. [01:35:42] Speaker A: Is it with or without an H? An H. Oh, I spelled it like not with an H. You failed. [01:35:53] Speaker B: And she gives you her name, and she just kind of, like, looks away at a rock, not interested in any more conversation. [01:36:00] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:36:02] Speaker B: You meet the big servant woman, and she says, is that the moose? Yes, yes, yes. The moose lady. And she says, kimdon. Kim Denov. [01:36:15] Speaker F: But most people simply call me Kim. [01:36:20] Speaker B: I've heard your accent. Or you Zejian. [01:36:23] Speaker A: Yes, originally. Yeah. Born and raised in. Oh, very cool. [01:36:34] Speaker B: I mean, I could say that I. The area north of Yapor, but it's. [01:36:36] Speaker F: So wild, it's almost. [01:36:37] Speaker B: Just ask. [01:36:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I. I grew up in. [01:36:44] Speaker B: You were saying, Zach, remind me. [01:36:47] Speaker A: Zach, remind me where I grow up. Yes. [01:36:50] Speaker C: Yes. [01:36:51] Speaker A: Why don't I remember? This is not. This is not like me. [01:36:57] Speaker C: It's in my town. [01:36:59] Speaker B: That's a different country. [01:37:01] Speaker A: Yeah, duh. [01:37:03] Speaker C: No, that's Aslan. [01:37:04] Speaker F: It. [01:37:05] Speaker B: It's okay. I'm just going to let you squirm for a moment. And you all can see that on the chest of her cloak, on the breast of her cloak, there is also a tree with water flowing down it into a pool. And she appears to be a cleric of Eldath. So quite a bit of that connection that you recognize here. [01:37:21] Speaker F: Vrongrim. [01:37:25] Speaker B: Vrongrim. At some point while you're standing there has been. At some point while you're there, Rongrim. As your allies are introducing themselves to people and making connections. The huge bullfrog woman. She's like 6 foot, and she's almost as big around as she is up. She's huge. She just. [01:37:49] Speaker E: Up to you. And she goes. [01:37:53] Speaker B: She holds up a big slimy hand. [01:37:58] Speaker D: Odd green. [01:38:02] Speaker B: And she shakes it. Oh, she's strong. And for y', all, that is gli. No G L I B L I n. That was her name. She said. So G L I B L I n glimpse. I use D O B B Glibling Gob. [01:38:26] Speaker A: I recognize that there's a lot of people here with different languages, so I activate my band of. Of sick ambassadors so that I can speak to everyone. [01:38:39] Speaker B: Dope. And you proceed to fluently slip in and out of people's languages. [01:38:44] Speaker C: That's awesome. [01:38:45] Speaker B: Wrong. You pick up what you remember speaking with Glublin. That Khalidlan accent, a very specific. Like, it's different than the one you were used to, but she's definitely from. She's definitely from Kraska and doesn't seem like she's Khalid. Laugh. But she goes, No, that was in common. She said. [01:39:19] Speaker E: Dragon is dead. We are no longer eaten. [01:39:24] Speaker C: Nice. [01:39:25] Speaker B: And her throat expands, and you put together wrong. Oh, that's probably the Draco Hydra you killed. And you get the feeling that's why she's paying any attention to you. This is probably. And she lifts up a massive adhesive foot and just stamps it a couple times on the ground. And you go. That's probably the grung equivalent of that thing with their tails that the Khalid lands did where she's probably from a roop in the south. And that slapping thing is a. Yes. That they did with their tails. That's probably what she's doing with her foot. This is her probably way, her way of, like, honoring you and acknowledging you. [01:40:01] Speaker D: I try to replicate all the ones that we did for a while there to, like, respond to that. And I also pick out all my Draco Hydra javelins, and I show it to them. I think she would like to see them. [01:40:17] Speaker B: As you pull it out, she takes it from you and looks at it in her hand, and there's a real reverence. She just stares at it for a while. She runs her fingers along it where this individual could be very easily mistake for someone of any less intellect. She's just recalcitrant and quiet and. And focused on a different set of intelligences. But you watch her hold the weapon with delicacy and consider it and rotate it in her hand. She hands it back to you, and she says. [01:40:45] Speaker E: You are honorable. You are strong. [01:40:52] Speaker D: I hope to see. Yes. [01:40:58] Speaker E: You are strong. [01:41:00] Speaker D: Yes. [01:41:01] Speaker B: She nods. [01:41:01] Speaker D: She just. [01:41:04] Speaker B: Walks away. And then she reaches down and this huge stone up out of the ground walks over and sets it down. And like four or five people startle and look, and you watches Atal. That lady from across the way. This sound. [01:41:21] Speaker F: The sound doesn't move beyond the barrier. We are fine. We are fine. [01:41:25] Speaker B: Everybody, like, kind of nods and looks nervously, and she squats down and she puts her elbow down on the rock, puts her hand forward, and she says. [01:41:35] Speaker C: Wow, where is Craig? Where is Micah? [01:41:41] Speaker D: Yeah, I guess I'm like. [01:41:42] Speaker B: When she offers you an arm, which. [01:41:44] Speaker E: Is a weird introduction to this person. [01:41:46] Speaker B: But. [01:41:49] Speaker D: Like, I stretched for just a little bit and, like, no bending of the hand, you know, as I sit down and I. Like, she gives you a vastly different arm. [01:42:01] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. You're. I mean, you are huge in terms of muscle, but she's much bigger than you. She gives you a weird look when you say that. And as you put your hand in her. Oh, that's sticky. As you put your hand in her hand, she proceeds to then put her Other elbow down and hold up her other hand. Oh, this isn't arm wrestling. This must be Kraskin. [01:42:23] Speaker D: Okay, well, I. I put up my hand into the other hand, if that's what we're going for. [01:42:28] Speaker B: Okay. And she says, knuckles or elbows? [01:42:36] Speaker D: Knuckles or elbows. So either like this or like this. [01:42:42] Speaker B: You get exactly what she's going for. And she says, I'll be knuckles. And she just nods and she says. [01:42:51] Speaker E: When you are ready to begin. [01:42:56] Speaker B: Would. [01:42:56] Speaker D: I, for my own self, think if I go into rage, this is probably, like, dishonoring the ability that we're doing here? [01:43:06] Speaker B: Or give me an insight check. You spent time among Kraskan people, and the Khalidlyns are probably probably significantly different than the Arups. But, I mean, you spent time among some of these peoples. There's. There's. Give me an insight check. [01:43:17] Speaker D: Oh, good insight. I got a 19. [01:43:24] Speaker B: Dude. Nice with a 19. No, actually, that's probably totally what she's going for. [01:43:34] Speaker D: Got it. Hey, I, as I, like, do again, like, I just roll my shoulders and I just am, like. I get a very intense look on my face, and I go into a bonus action rage as I'm just, like, phenomenal. Ready. [01:43:51] Speaker B: You watch her. You watch her. You watch her eyes slit. Her. Her skin grows flush, all the warts on her back raise. She grips with incredible strength. And she says. And she just begins pushing. And I need. I need an athletics check. Posed with advantage for you. [01:44:08] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. [01:44:11] Speaker B: Oh, she rolled really good. [01:44:14] Speaker D: I rolled really good, too. I rolled one away from my highest. So that is a 31. [01:44:24] Speaker F: Okay. [01:44:29] Speaker B: It is not an insignificant battle. It's a struggle. [01:44:32] Speaker F: Rongrim. [01:44:33] Speaker B: You are pushing hard with your muscles. You're, like, flexing down, and she's like. And she's making these animalistic noises, pulling the other way. And you just watch. [01:44:44] Speaker F: The rogue lady looks to the border. [01:44:48] Speaker B: And a tall lady goes, we cannot be hard. [01:44:54] Speaker F: We are safe. [01:44:55] Speaker B: She just rolls her eyes and steps toward one of the golems. And you push and you push and you push wrong. And finally you push her arms down, and she, like, they bend backward to the sides. She got a 27. So you do beat her out, but it's like two or three minutes of hard pushing. And when you do slam her hands down, the rock that she pulled up goes and just fractures just a little bit from the force. And you watch her. She stands up and she goes. Shakes out her arm, and she, like, holds it with pain. And she looks at you and she. [01:45:26] Speaker E: Goes, it was good to have the fight. [01:45:32] Speaker D: Same to you as I do a bit of the. I do. I try to match the beats on what she did for me for honorable with my feet. [01:45:41] Speaker E: You. [01:45:41] Speaker B: You stamp your foot like she did and you watch this big smile spread across her face and she goes, shame. [01:45:47] Speaker E: You are not grown. [01:45:49] Speaker B: And shame it is. She sits down next to kettle on the ground. Any other interactions? Anyone's. [01:46:01] Speaker F: I'm just. [01:46:02] Speaker B: I'm gonna let you guys have free reign for a little bit before Alandra comes back and does a roleplay. So just any. Any sort of interaction you want to. [01:46:08] Speaker C: Have with anybody, I would like to go talk to our drow friend, the sorcerer. The Kepkin sorcerer. [01:46:17] Speaker B: Absolutely. And so in this time Ro, the energy you've instilled has really loosened things. And you can see that Alandra is still to the side having a concerned long conversation on the stone. But you all have this moment where you can. Can fraternize with each other and you get the feeling that Alandra is both taking care of business and also aware that this is probably good for the group. And you guys just have this moment where you can talk. And Greta, as you go step to the side of Thespis, who Ehmund has already finished the work he was doing over Ketl, but is repositioning him to sleep. And Thespis has to help. He's huge. And so you tread by both of them. As you go toward Kaladra, she's just sitting at the side very quietly. She's reading through a tome. Oh, that must be her wizard text. She's reading through her spellbook. And she looks up at you and then froze her brow. You watch her take a concerted breath. Just like she looks up at you. She's ready to have you say something. [01:47:31] Speaker C: I say hello. It's. It's so good. It's. I'm glad that you're here. [01:47:37] Speaker F: Yeah, I wasn't expecting this either. [01:47:40] Speaker C: Yeah. Dm, can you remind me, how did we. Where did we leave her? [01:47:49] Speaker B: Things left off with you leaving her in Ethmoon's company and F. Moon saying that he was going to get her to a safe house for far in Eastern Viasta and she'd be like ferried somewhere safe from the Kefkans. Far, far away. [01:48:02] Speaker C: Yes. Okay. I would like to say. Okay. [01:48:11] Speaker G: How. [01:48:13] Speaker C: What brought you here? I hope that you're here because you want to be here. [01:48:21] Speaker B: You're nothing if not genuine. [01:48:23] Speaker F: And Greta. [01:48:26] Speaker B: Man, I never really thought. [01:48:27] Speaker F: I was going to talk to you or see you again. My life. Well, I did we set up the. [01:48:38] Speaker B: Preparation for me to be ferried. [01:48:41] Speaker F: And I would go west, probably Hiden's Edge or Ashas or somewhere, but at some point. [01:48:52] Speaker B: Where was I going, you know? [01:48:56] Speaker F: So I. I canceled on that, and I just stayed with Hepmund in the. [01:49:03] Speaker B: Temple for a long time. And. [01:49:14] Speaker F: I don't know, I was coming to. [01:49:15] Speaker B: Peace with the fact that I would. [01:49:16] Speaker F: Have to leave at some point somehow. But then. [01:49:21] Speaker B: And she looks up at Rongrim for. [01:49:23] Speaker F: A moment, and she looks back to you, and she says, then the empire fell. [01:49:28] Speaker B: All of a sudden, the future was a different thing. Not good, but different. [01:49:37] Speaker F: Anyway, I am. [01:49:42] Speaker B: What am I doing here, Greta? [01:49:43] Speaker F: I don't know. [01:49:45] Speaker B: I hope. Probably just finally dying. It's long overdue, but. [01:49:53] Speaker F: I should have been dead a long time ago, but. But F. Moon was coming, and he's grown on me a little. He doesn't talk. It's nice. [01:50:06] Speaker B: I just figured if he was gonna. [01:50:08] Speaker F: Go die somewhere, I picked up bits of what was going on from his conversation. [01:50:14] Speaker B: And to be clear, I don't know what I'm gonna contribute here. I'm gonna. [01:50:19] Speaker F: I'm gonna die, but good time and place to die. You know, if this is. [01:50:28] Speaker B: If this is where we. [01:50:32] Speaker F: Put down. [01:50:32] Speaker B: The stake for the end of the world. [01:50:36] Speaker F: That'S a good thing to spend my life on. [01:50:42] Speaker C: It just takes a deep breath, And she kind of, like, squats down. Is she sitting? [01:50:56] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, she's sitting on a stone. [01:50:58] Speaker C: Yeah, she kind of squats down, And she, like, makes. She, like, looks at the ground for a little bit, and she looks up and she makes eye contact, and she says, well, I think we're very lucky to have you here. And she kind of looks for a little bit, but, like, gives. Like. Makes eye contact and gives, like, a solid nod. And then, like, stands up and. [01:51:38] Speaker B: Whatever that last part of what you said was, it was completely inaudible to the mic. Oh, no. I think of a decibel too low to be picked up, or volume, rather. Did you want to repeat that? [01:51:52] Speaker C: Yes. She, like, makes eye contact, doesn't leave all that much time to respond, and then stands up and, like, leaves kind of slowly. She, like. She gives, like, one more breath in case she wants to. [01:52:09] Speaker B: As you. As you start to walk away. [01:52:11] Speaker F: She goes, well. [01:52:15] Speaker B: If we survive. [01:52:17] Speaker F: Yeah, all this. [01:52:20] Speaker B: I'll give you a platinum if you can keep Craig from talking to me. [01:52:25] Speaker A: Ooh. [01:52:27] Speaker C: I mean, that'll be tricky, but do your best. [01:52:32] Speaker B: And she goes back to her book. [01:52:35] Speaker C: I nod. [01:52:36] Speaker B: Okay. [01:52:39] Speaker C: And I. Well, Craig's asleep, but I Look over and make sure that Craig is asleep. [01:52:44] Speaker B: You look over and he's asleep. And in the pocket of his cheek, you can see hanging down the mass of the sending stone. [01:52:50] Speaker F: Just. [01:52:51] Speaker B: It's a massive choking hazard. But, I mean, he hasn't so far, so he must be okay. [01:52:57] Speaker C: Yeah. Got lots of practice. [01:53:00] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:53:04] Speaker D: I would like to come straight to this lady. [01:53:06] Speaker B: Get in there, buddy. [01:53:07] Speaker D: Just got done talking to this other lady. I kind of, like, give Greta, like, a thumbs up as I'm, like, stretching my arms as I'm coming over to. [01:53:17] Speaker B: This lady, and I'm like, after arm wrestling, the frog. [01:53:19] Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah. I say hello. I. I see you. You are part of the empire, like me. As I put up my own shoulder. [01:53:28] Speaker B: With the tattoo, she nods and she goes, wow, that's a lot of exuberance. [01:53:35] Speaker D: Oh, well, yes. [01:53:39] Speaker B: I mean, I. You did good in your hand fighting thing. So you hopped up. [01:53:45] Speaker D: Oh, wait, Glibkin. Oh. Oh, she's. She's strong. Very strong. I've. [01:53:53] Speaker B: You know, you're. [01:53:54] Speaker F: You're wrong, right? [01:53:56] Speaker D: I am. I am. Ron Grim. [01:53:58] Speaker B: Heard of you. [01:54:00] Speaker F: Yes. [01:54:01] Speaker D: Tell me, did you leave the Empire willingly, or did you wait for it to dissolve? [01:54:10] Speaker B: Neither. I was. [01:54:14] Speaker F: I was selected from the Iron Cauldron. [01:54:18] Speaker B: Against my choice, and I was transcripted eventually, after too much success to be. [01:54:23] Speaker F: Under Dolgoth, so I was one of his lieutenants. [01:54:31] Speaker B: And I watched him burn. [01:54:35] Speaker F: Families and kill kids for about a decade, and then. And then he hunted down the fungi. [01:54:44] Speaker B: And your Janice was there. Together, they killed him. And then I wasn't under him anymore, and now I'm here. [01:54:56] Speaker D: Well, you want to be here. [01:55:04] Speaker B: No. [01:55:06] Speaker F: Do you? [01:55:08] Speaker D: Yes. [01:55:10] Speaker F: Okay. [01:55:11] Speaker D: Of course I want to be here. I want to stand and fight and. And kill and destroy all those who rain tyranny upon this world. You know, that's why. And I pull out, which it isn't noticeable right now because it's in the cool little shape that we made for it, but I pull out just very casually. I flip over. As I flip it, I feel like it changes into the Emperor's blade. [01:55:31] Speaker B: Heck, yeah. [01:55:32] Speaker D: And I bring it out, and I say, I want to make sure no one does this again. As I show her the blade, there's like a. [01:55:40] Speaker B: There's like a full second where she's just looking at you like, okay, dork. And then you watch it finally land, like, she's like. And her expression slackens, and she says, oh, yeah, I heard you killed the Emperor. [01:55:56] Speaker D: Yeah. And it was terrible. I did not want to survive it always. [01:56:06] Speaker F: It Always is with them. [01:56:08] Speaker B: Did. [01:56:11] Speaker D: I. I want to be here to stop that. So I would say, if you don't want to be here, there's no one's keeping you. I put the sword back into the hilt. [01:56:20] Speaker F: I say, I'm not confused about that. [01:56:23] Speaker D: Be here. [01:56:24] Speaker F: Look, I'm not. [01:56:25] Speaker B: I'm not happy to be here. I think it's a thing worth spending the last of my life on. But forgive me if I don't feel as enthusiastic about it as you. [01:56:38] Speaker D: Oh, I. I did not mean to say you have to be enthusiastic about it. [01:56:42] Speaker B: Did you. [01:56:43] Speaker D: You are no longer controlled by the Empire. [01:56:46] Speaker B: Really get annihilated. [01:56:49] Speaker D: Oh, yes. It's a crater. I believe at this point. [01:57:00] Speaker B: In that case, I don't see any. [01:57:01] Speaker F: Reason I shouldn't be here. [01:57:05] Speaker B: And she just closes the book and stands up and walks away from you. [01:57:12] Speaker D: We'll crack her. I turn back around and walk back over to our group. [01:57:20] Speaker C: You might be getting more than one Platinum. She plays her cards right. [01:57:27] Speaker B: She'S not. [01:57:27] Speaker F: Getting one of them. [01:57:29] Speaker D: Okay. [01:57:31] Speaker A: I'd like to say that I don't think. Because if I recall, Ro hated her and there was a lot of. A lot of discourse there. So I don't. [01:57:43] Speaker B: Not very subtle. [01:57:45] Speaker A: I don't think she would even go up to her, but I think at some point she would try to, like, catch her eye at some point and just be like. Like just a. Like a smile. Like, not a smile, but like a. Yeah, like a. [01:58:00] Speaker B: Wearing it and not recognition. [01:58:03] Speaker A: Like just a. Hey, a little bit of respect. [01:58:06] Speaker B: You make the face at some point. She makes eye contact with you. Just stares for a moment. Not challenging, not rude, just flat and looks away. [01:58:19] Speaker A: I was wondering. This is a question for you, Zach, because of the message, like, okay, two questions. One, is there going to be a long rest again? So there is. [01:58:34] Speaker D: Okay. [01:58:34] Speaker B: Yeah. They told you it was tomorrow. Be doing an assault. Everybody's going. [01:58:37] Speaker A: Okay. So Landon had said. Said in his message to me earlier about Feel free. Feel free to use anything. Like, he was very. I was wondering could boss and tell me if this is not cool. Do a hero's feast for the people here. He's got two jewel encrusted things, so he'd still have one. [01:59:05] Speaker B: That's probably. Probably a really freaking good idea. I'm going to. Landon asked me to let him know. [01:59:14] Speaker A: If we were making decisions, but I haven't. [01:59:17] Speaker B: You already texted him? [01:59:18] Speaker A: I did. I did say I did. I kept him updated, too. I told him that he didn't die and that we were out of combat. And then I asked him about Heroes Feast, but I haven't heard anything. [01:59:31] Speaker D: So. [01:59:32] Speaker B: Okay, I'm gonna say. [01:59:37] Speaker A: And I explained to him that he would get his spell slot back since it's the night before. [01:59:42] Speaker F: Yes. [01:59:46] Speaker B: I'm gonna. I texted him the same. I'm gonna go ahead and rule it. Okay. Especially because he has two. So there's another one left over after this. Right? And also, you all are fabulously and stupidly rich and could acquire another one, so yay rich. Also, you're going to freaking need it. So it's a good idea. [02:00:05] Speaker A: It says up to 12 other creatures. So I'm just going to say the fun guys, Rangram. And then Zach, you give the other to who you need. [02:00:17] Speaker B: So what does it look like? As. As well, actually, I guess it's. [02:00:20] Speaker F: Boz. [02:00:21] Speaker B: I will describe you. [02:00:22] Speaker F: Do it. [02:00:23] Speaker B: As everyone's having all this time where they are fraternizing and speaking and talking. Boz sits down quietly, away from everyone, separated as he's been lately. The way that he has withdrawn within himself in these last months, the way that so much of this journey has taken a toll on him and put miles on his heart and mind. But he just quietly listens and he puts the chalice on the ground in front of him. He watches all these people he cares about, that he has remained committed to, all these people that he has stayed with, even if displeased with the dark and grim tiding at the end of this journey. He puts his fingers into the ground and he lets those roots spread outward. He tries to connect back home to Ogba and much of the group. And it's in this dead, dead place where nothing should be able to. But much of the group doesn't notice. It's only after a moment that anyone notices that a little bit of gold fire has caught in the rim of the cup and is beginning to fill with fluid. And it takes a long time before anyone notices the wood growing out of the ground starting to form a knotted woven table of branches spreading out across the space with spaces enough for all. [02:01:46] Speaker F: To come and sit. [02:01:47] Speaker B: And slowly but surely, as the metal cup encrusted in jewels, begins dematerializing and disintegrating, dissolving into the crown. Roots swallow it up and flowers sprout from the edge of the tables. And all these different foods and dishes, some clear to your home. Oh, my goodness. There's honey bread and there's rangrim. You see Yaslani pies that you had forgotten about from your childhood, meat pies From Jazlan. Spiced and scented. And you see not too much flavor, but good, hearty food, consistent and stable, Absolutely nothing spicy. And you all see dishes some of you all don't recognize. And slowly but surely, the table is littered with the foods that are close to the hearts of these people. And the group is brought together a little more and comes closer and closer and begins sitting down and eating. And Alandra's done with her call now, but still letting everyone have a moment. [02:02:50] Speaker F: To just eat and sit. [02:02:52] Speaker B: And with that, Heroes Feast has been cast. Everyone will get the benefits of Heroes Feast. So. So I will make a note of that in my DM notes. I didn't have to specify that. [02:03:04] Speaker A: Do you want me to read it out? [02:03:08] Speaker B: Yes, go ahead. [02:03:10] Speaker A: So every creature that partakes in this is cured of all diseases and poison, becomes immune to poison and being frightened and makes all will wisdom saving throws with advantage. Its hit point maximum also increases by 2d10 and it gains the same number of hit points. These benefits will last for 24 hours. [02:03:35] Speaker C: Nice. [02:03:38] Speaker D: Do you want us each to roll 2d10 or do you want to roll 2d10 for us? [02:03:42] Speaker B: Let's roll for it. Let's like, like, like, like one roll for the group. [02:03:47] Speaker A: Do you want me to do it or you do it, Jack? [02:03:49] Speaker B: I think it's more fun if you do it. You're the player you should get to. [02:03:54] Speaker C: Let's go Jackalicious. Let's go Jackalicious. Jacky. Jacky. Jacky. Jackalicious. Jackalicious. [02:04:06] Speaker A: I like that song. 2d10. Okay, that's going to be 30. [02:04:14] Speaker F: 13. [02:04:16] Speaker B: That's a good roll. Okay, everyone gets a 13 hit point increase to their maxes. That's really great. And there's this strange moment as you all are gathered here with new people that you're having somewhat odd interactions with, with close friends that you hadn't seen might have wondered if you would again. There is this bizarre moment of closeness on the edge of something so awful. And there's just a little breath of fresh air. And people are still feeling complicated feelings. People are still feeling fear and worry and anxiety and pain and sorrow. But that feeling of being alone is a little less oppressive. As everyone eats here together, a couple more conversations transpire at some point. Sitting heavily down in between you all is a very large man in bone. [02:05:15] Speaker E: Armor who says, it is good to see you all. I did not speak earlier. I was healing someone. But he is fine now. How are you fun guys? That is an odd response, Gritus. Fair enough. [02:05:31] Speaker G: No, no, No. [02:05:32] Speaker C: I say, it is so good to see you. [02:05:34] Speaker E: It is good to see you. [02:05:38] Speaker A: Ro smiles and says, good you're doing. Are you doing better now that you've been healed? [02:05:45] Speaker E: I was doing the healing. [02:05:48] Speaker A: I mean, that's not. That's what I meant. [02:05:51] Speaker E: I heard you were also in a battle. Have you suffered any head contusions? [02:05:56] Speaker A: Ab Mate. [02:05:58] Speaker E: Understood. [02:06:01] Speaker B: He reaches a hand across the table toward you. [02:06:04] Speaker E: He says, it is good to meet you. I am Archpriest Ekmund Kai of the Goddess Saloon. I've been told that you are a member of the warriors of the well. [02:06:13] Speaker D: Yes. Ron Krim shakes your hand, big, big. [02:06:17] Speaker E: Strong hand, and he goes, I was a member of the Holy Hunters of Z. We were allies of your current party. [02:06:28] Speaker D: Oh, good to hear. Are you the ones that killed the dragon? [02:06:33] Speaker E: Yes. [02:06:35] Speaker D: That sounded like a terrible fight. [02:06:38] Speaker B: It was. [02:06:40] Speaker E: It was grim. Like the fight we go to tomorrow. I would have never imagined in my life as a boy that I would see two days so dark. [02:06:53] Speaker B: And he takes another sip from a. [02:06:55] Speaker E: Goblet and he says, how was Janus? [02:07:00] Speaker D: She goes, well, she's. Well, I don't know what you remember of her, but she seems similar every time I've seen her. Better at fighting, better at standing in the fight. [02:07:14] Speaker E: She was already so very powerful. [02:07:16] Speaker D: Yes, she's probably the most powerful cast I've ever met. [02:07:23] Speaker E: It is an old concept, one not visited in our age, but in the Elder Age. So the annals of history tell. Gods chose champions. It is a heavy weight to be chosen. I am glad to hear that she is bearing the weight upon her brow better. It seems she is surrounded by those she cares for. I SCRY upon you all. Sometimes I consider the hours of the day when you would be most likely to be clothed and decent together. I have had no issues. But this is aside the point. It is good to see you all behaving as a family. I don't know who you are, Rond Grim, but if you care for Janus and Javian and Uegg. I like him very much. Then you are certainly a friend of mine. [02:08:24] Speaker D: Same here. [02:08:30] Speaker E: Is Barry still with. [02:08:33] Speaker C: Oh, go ahead, mister. [02:08:38] Speaker E: Is Barry still among you? [02:08:41] Speaker D: Oh, I don't believe so. I. I never met Barry. We have a. [02:08:47] Speaker E: We'd have seen that coming. [02:08:49] Speaker D: Oh, we have a. A fabulous ranger named Wee Woo. [02:08:55] Speaker E: That is a very silly name. [02:08:57] Speaker D: She is a very silly person. You know, we. [02:09:00] Speaker B: You. [02:09:00] Speaker D: We built. Or I guess Janice built, a trebuchet. And then we pushed it into the lair of a Draco Hydra and then used it to Kill the Draco Hydra. It was a fascinating tale. As I go into a bit of detail for you. [02:09:16] Speaker E: All of those words were nonsense to me. [02:09:20] Speaker D: Well, it shot me at the Draco hydraulic, and I wrote it until it died. [02:09:26] Speaker E: Okay. [02:09:27] Speaker B: And he takes another sip from his goblet. Were you gonna say something, Greta? [02:09:33] Speaker C: When there's like a lull in the conversation with F. Moon that seems sufficiently like, not like awkward silence and like an actual. [02:09:40] Speaker B: It's hard to guess with him, but you find one. [02:09:42] Speaker C: I feel like he tries a couple times and then. Oh, never mind. [02:09:46] Speaker A: I'll wait. [02:09:48] Speaker B: It's hard because Vongrim just keeps going back into another detail from the story. But eventually you find your spot and. [02:09:54] Speaker C: I kind of ask. Oh. So how is. How is Craig's family doing? [02:10:02] Speaker E: They are well. [02:10:05] Speaker C: Okay. [02:10:06] Speaker E: That is, His son is doing better than his daughter in law. But it is a difficult rift. [02:10:22] Speaker B: That. [02:10:22] Speaker E: Between him and his wife. I say this to you candidly now. [02:10:27] Speaker B: For he sleeps so loudly. And Craig is over just. And Ethmun just nods also, for whatever reasons, Craig has the heroes feast too. We're not gonna. [02:10:39] Speaker D: You know. [02:10:40] Speaker B: But anyway, Seti goes over and slips something in his mouth and. Yeah, yeah. And he choose it. Sleep choose in this, Wallace. You guys make it as a joke. And Evan continues and says. [02:10:53] Speaker E: If he hopes. I. I don't think. Though I have never been married or. [02:11:00] Speaker B: Romantic. [02:11:03] Speaker E: I've counseled many. I do not think he can repair that relationship. I think he will need to make a new one. And that will be very hard. [02:11:15] Speaker D: But. [02:11:18] Speaker E: You all are here to kill the Lich Queen, so if Craig can do that, I think he can try at a new marriage. [02:11:27] Speaker C: Yeah. [02:11:28] Speaker E: But nothing will be guaranteed for him. [02:11:33] Speaker C: That's a great point, Ethan. [02:11:37] Speaker E: Thank you, Greta. I am told that you are also an archpriest now. An archpriestess I am. [02:11:43] Speaker C: And I show him my. My new badge. [02:11:47] Speaker B: He looks at it. He holds it with reverence in his hands, and he examines it. [02:11:50] Speaker F: And he says. [02:11:51] Speaker E: So you are Archpriestess Greta Smallstar of the Goddess Ioun. Yes, and I am Archpriest Hermund Kai of the Goddess Saloon. [02:12:03] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. [02:12:04] Speaker A: When he says that Ro does the. [02:12:07] Speaker B: Saloon thing, he smiles and does the symbol. And you got a full smile out of him for a second, like he was excited. Somebody knew it. And he does the symbol, and he. [02:12:15] Speaker E: Says, we are two loons in a temple, you and I. [02:12:19] Speaker B: And he hands you back his symbol. And then he goes. [02:12:24] Speaker D: And he takes. [02:12:24] Speaker B: Another sip from his goblet. And you're like, oh, just made a joke. [02:12:29] Speaker C: I laugh. That was a funny joke. It really does feel like the loon sometimes. [02:12:34] Speaker B: This is across the table, and he's got. He's got a tankard. And when F. Moon does that, he goes. [02:12:43] Speaker F: That was the first. [02:12:44] Speaker B: He takes another sip. [02:12:47] Speaker D: Are you sure ATH. Moon doesn't call himself an archpriestess as well? Because if I remember correctly, Rob did that all the time. [02:12:55] Speaker B: Rob made that mistake many times. [02:12:57] Speaker D: Yes. [02:12:58] Speaker B: Four or five times. [02:13:00] Speaker E: And Epun goes, you know, funny story about that. [02:13:03] Speaker B: And then he continues on with. [02:13:05] Speaker E: And he says, there was a man with a potato peeler, and. [02:13:08] Speaker B: And then it's sometimes later, and he. [02:13:09] Speaker E: Goes, and we killed them all. [02:13:11] Speaker B: And then there's more time later, and just thing after thing after thing, and. [02:13:15] Speaker E: He goes, you wouldn't have expected Nugget to go over the side. [02:13:18] Speaker B: And then just. [02:13:21] Speaker D: Yep. Man, this Terrence guy sounds awesome. [02:13:29] Speaker B: And. And then. And then there's just layers of Daniel looking at Daniel, looking at Daniel, looking. [02:13:33] Speaker D: At Daniel. [02:13:37] Speaker A: When he says, that road digs through a bag, and it's like, oh, I have some bird seeds still. [02:13:44] Speaker C: No, I've never seen him in the same room. [02:13:48] Speaker B: True. [02:13:49] Speaker D: After you. [02:13:49] Speaker B: All are gathered. Are gathered there a moment longer. Thespis. Thespis comes and sits down next to you. [02:13:57] Speaker E: Bron. [02:13:59] Speaker D: Okay. [02:13:59] Speaker B: Milling about, back and forth. [02:14:00] Speaker A: Okay. [02:14:01] Speaker B: He says. [02:14:03] Speaker F: Hey, Bron. [02:14:03] Speaker B: Grim. [02:14:04] Speaker F: How's it going? [02:14:06] Speaker D: Good. How are you, Thespis? [02:14:09] Speaker F: I'm good. I'm good. I'm sorry I didn't place you earlier. I know that it had been a. [02:14:13] Speaker B: Second, and I didn't spend a lot. [02:14:15] Speaker F: Of time with you. [02:14:16] Speaker D: That's okay. You were probably more concerned with Xavian and his family. [02:14:21] Speaker F: I was. I was just to check in. They're. They're doing well. The Anoms, Ewan and Myrna. [02:14:29] Speaker D: Good. I. I give a very grim grunt as I remember a different family member. And then I let it. I don't interrupt. [02:14:42] Speaker B: He, like, picks up on it, but doesn't particularly know what it's about, so he just lets it go. And then he's getting just a tiny little bit of scruff around his jaw and half. Elves can't really grow beards, so you get the feeling this is the result of months of not shaving. And he, like, rubs his chin a little bit, and he goes. [02:15:02] Speaker F: This is. [02:15:03] Speaker B: Only a little weird, but I think. [02:15:06] Speaker F: Maybe I'm gonna have the life sucked out of my face and bones tomorrow. So I just thought I'd be a. [02:15:10] Speaker B: Little honest right now. [02:15:12] Speaker D: Please share. [02:15:14] Speaker F: I know you And I don't hardly. [02:15:16] Speaker B: Know each other at all, but. [02:15:17] Speaker D: At all. [02:15:19] Speaker F: I just. Yeah. No, but I wanted to say thanks. I can't really imagine what's gonna happen tomorrow. And as I understand it, you guys are gonna be in the absolute worst of it. [02:15:35] Speaker D: Of course. [02:15:38] Speaker F: So thanks for not leaving the Fungi's alone. [02:15:44] Speaker B: You're a warrior of the well. [02:15:46] Speaker F: I've heard about how you toppled the empire. I've heard about how you slew the generals and other things. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what's true and not true. I'm not gonna make you sit here and mire through speculation. [02:16:04] Speaker B: Nobody likes being talked about. [02:16:06] Speaker D: Good. Majority of it is true. If it's good. [02:16:10] Speaker B: Okay. I'll do that. You're funny, Monkrum. But. [02:16:18] Speaker F: The thing I'm trying to say that I'm not is that. I know. I bet you've got your own reason to be here and that you're highly motivated all on your own, but. [02:16:29] Speaker B: But when you're in the middle of hell tomorrow. [02:16:35] Speaker F: Thanks for doing it for them. They kind of mean the world to me. And I really appreciate that you're gonna. [02:16:43] Speaker B: Be there helping to take care of them. [02:16:50] Speaker F: I won't bore you with the whole story, but I was the worst a long time ago. And they were just better to me than they needed to be. So again, forgive me, this is kind of stupid, but I know that you're gonna do everything you can for them tomorrow. But please, be better to them than you have to be. Because I really wanna. If I don't get my soul sucked out, I want to live in a. [02:17:24] Speaker B: World where they're 11. [02:17:26] Speaker F: So. [02:17:28] Speaker D: I. I put a meaty palm on his shoulder and I say. He leans into it and I, like, bring him close. And I say, I will be the shield that saves them from the pits of hell. No worries, my friend. I die before they move. [02:17:45] Speaker B: He gets a serious look on his. [02:17:46] Speaker F: Face and he nods and he says, thank you. That means a lot. [02:17:57] Speaker B: He just smiles and nods and is it. [02:17:59] Speaker D: Hold on. [02:18:00] Speaker B: Moves on to talk. [02:18:01] Speaker D: Is. Do I get the sense that Thespis knows the lady? I didn't introduce myself to, but kind of did? [02:18:09] Speaker B: Kaladra. [02:18:10] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:18:12] Speaker B: No. [02:18:12] Speaker D: No. [02:18:13] Speaker B: It doesn't seem like they have much of a relationship. [02:18:14] Speaker D: I don't. I don't bother him with it, though. [02:18:17] Speaker F: Okay, Jekyll. [02:18:18] Speaker D: Get him. [02:18:19] Speaker B: Jekyll. [02:18:20] Speaker A: Not to be that player, but can I. Can I say that I overheard some of that? [02:18:24] Speaker B: Just like. [02:18:25] Speaker A: Just like a little. [02:18:26] Speaker B: You can give me a perception check. [02:18:28] Speaker A: I'll do that. I'll do that. [02:18:33] Speaker B: All right. [02:18:35] Speaker A: Pause the sheet, not mine. What am I doing? Perception. [02:18:42] Speaker B: Just as an update, are we calling them Perkevkin? [02:18:45] Speaker F: Kex? [02:18:46] Speaker B: The empire's fallen, so we don't anymore. [02:18:49] Speaker C: I feel like it takes a long time for slang to go away, right? [02:18:54] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:18:57] Speaker C: Per Trump or like Kurt Ken Dead. [02:19:02] Speaker A: I got. [02:19:02] Speaker B: Can I make her? Oh, my goodness. [02:19:06] Speaker D: Maybe. [02:19:06] Speaker B: Maybe not the most sensitive in the. [02:19:08] Speaker D: Current party, but yeah. [02:19:09] Speaker A: Yeah, maybe we. That sounds like a road joke. Abby. [02:19:14] Speaker D: Dang. [02:19:16] Speaker B: How the turns have tabled. [02:19:18] Speaker A: I got a 17. [02:19:20] Speaker F: 17. [02:19:21] Speaker B: You didn't quite make it out rote. You could tell that he was saying something about you all, but you couldn't quite tell out what it was. Okay, you overheard something about you all. [02:19:31] Speaker A: I'm gonna. Can I do an insight check to see if I can tell if he seems a little scared or nervous? [02:19:42] Speaker F: Sure. [02:19:42] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:19:43] Speaker B: Give me an insight check. [02:19:46] Speaker C: I make an Abby guess. [02:19:51] Speaker B: You are Abby. [02:19:52] Speaker F: I want. [02:19:52] Speaker B: I want you to hold this truth with you the rest of your life. I will never be able to stop you from making an Abby guess. An Abby guess is your human right and your undeniable ability. [02:20:02] Speaker C: My Abby guesses that he's a little worried. [02:20:05] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, yeah. [02:20:06] Speaker B: The 22 row. Yeah. Yeah. He's freaking out. I mean, he's keeping it together, but. [02:20:13] Speaker F: Yeah. [02:20:14] Speaker B: Everyone here is scared. Everyone here scared. [02:20:17] Speaker A: I think Roe would go up to him at some point and sit next to him and just pat him on his knee and. Cuz she's never even. When they met up again, she was kind of. [02:20:26] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Off. [02:20:28] Speaker A: Like she was like. [02:20:29] Speaker B: No. [02:20:29] Speaker A: Like no. Kevkins, no. [02:20:31] Speaker B: Thus. [02:20:33] Speaker A: We didn't grow until very recently. [02:20:37] Speaker B: You sit down next to him and I say. He smiles warmly. [02:20:40] Speaker A: Say, how. How you holding up there? [02:20:45] Speaker F: Oh, man, just so good. So, so good. [02:20:51] Speaker A: We all are, right? [02:20:52] Speaker B: I'm doing great. [02:20:53] Speaker F: This is. This is great. The food's good. I'm. I'm really trying to focus on that, actually. I'm trying to eat my feelings at the moment, really. [02:21:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:21:04] Speaker F: Yeah. Come a long way for the fruit stand, huh? [02:21:08] Speaker A: That's true. I wonder what happened to that fruit. [02:21:12] Speaker B: Rotten, probably. [02:21:15] Speaker A: Yeah, I just. I might have said this, but it might have been insincere. More insincere. Last time. I just wanted to say, you know, sorry for, you know. Yeah, but we're. [02:21:34] Speaker C: I just. [02:21:34] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:21:36] Speaker B: Oh, sure. [02:21:39] Speaker A: We've come a long way. [02:21:41] Speaker B: More. [02:21:42] Speaker F: Yeah. [02:21:45] Speaker B: Let me really mean it when I. [02:21:46] Speaker F: Say it this time. [02:21:48] Speaker B: We're good. [02:21:52] Speaker F: I mean, maybe it was uncool also. I totally Deserved it. And I really don't think there's any way around the fact that I was terrible. So allow this to be my one more sorry from me, too. [02:22:10] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, I think, you know, we've all done a lot of weird things. Everyone here. And she kind of looks around and takes it in a Does everyone she knows. And all she's like, but we're all. I don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow, but I. I truly mean it when I say I. I hope you. I see you on the other side of this. [02:22:46] Speaker B: Sorry, I forgot I muted my mic. He gets a warm smile on his. [02:22:49] Speaker F: Face and he says, yeah, you too, bro. You guys are. You guys are just great, you know that? You're really nice and you tell the truth to each other and you respect each other. I mean, you know, you can be difficult. I can be difficult. [02:23:07] Speaker B: Everybody can be difficult. [02:23:08] Speaker F: But you're just. [02:23:12] Speaker B: I didn't know about people like you guys or people like Aph Moond or. [02:23:21] Speaker F: You know, I. I thought my life. [02:23:25] Speaker B: Before. [02:23:28] Speaker F: My life was always missing something. And I thought it was meaning or adventure or power. No, I thought it was power, and. [02:23:38] Speaker B: I thought it was. [02:23:39] Speaker F: I thought there was this kind of person I was supposed to be who. [02:23:42] Speaker B: Was impressive and powerful and cool and able. [02:23:46] Speaker F: I think I just wanted to matter. So then I tried to make myself. [02:23:49] Speaker B: Matter with power and ability that I didn't have. I was a fruit seller with a lisp. What was my plan? [02:24:00] Speaker F: But then I met you guys, and nothing good happened. [02:24:05] Speaker B: And then Greta killed me. [02:24:06] Speaker F: But then later on, I met Atmund and I met you guys again. And. You guys are the kind of people I want to be. And I think what I've finally figured out after all this time is that you guys aren't amazing people. You're becoming better people. And that's awesome. Somebody who's not just great, but somebody. [02:24:39] Speaker B: Who gets better and better, and then. [02:24:41] Speaker F: They try again and they mess up and they try again. The first time Ermund apologized to me just blew my mind. [02:24:55] Speaker B: It was, like, weird. [02:24:56] Speaker E: It was all like, oh, I'm Esmorton. [02:24:58] Speaker B: I'm apologizing. But. [02:24:59] Speaker F: But he, like, meant it, you know? [02:25:01] Speaker C: Yeah. [02:25:01] Speaker B: I don't think I'd ever had him. [02:25:02] Speaker F: Want to do that to me. I think I'm gonna literally piss in my pants tomorrow. [02:25:14] Speaker B: Like, literally. [02:25:18] Speaker F: Don't want to die. Not here, not this way, you know? [02:25:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:25:22] Speaker F: Like, I face down some monsters protecting people and be like, oh, if you. I die, that's fine. But not like this. [02:25:30] Speaker B: But. [02:25:36] Speaker F: But If I gotta die trying to. [02:25:38] Speaker B: Make sure that there's people like you. [02:25:40] Speaker F: Guys in the world, then that's. That's worth it. Thanks for being you, bro. [02:25:47] Speaker B: You know, you got handed a short deck, too. [02:25:51] Speaker F: I feel like you've really made the most out of it above and beyond. [02:25:57] Speaker A: You too, Thespluss. [02:25:58] Speaker C: I'm. [02:25:59] Speaker D: I'm. [02:26:00] Speaker A: I'm really glad you're part of our team. [02:26:06] Speaker B: He gets, like, a funny look, and he looks down at the table for. [02:26:09] Speaker F: A second and he goes, yeah, me too. [02:26:12] Speaker A: I think Ro. I think Ro, like, kind of pats his leg and like, gives him a kiss on the cheek and stands up and goes about her business. [02:26:25] Speaker B: He gets a warm little smile, and he. He blushes a little bit. And as you walk away, he goes, hey, bro. [02:26:35] Speaker C: Yes. [02:26:35] Speaker D: He said, if. [02:26:36] Speaker F: If I don't get to tell you again tomorrow, I bet you make Ceglun really proud. [02:26:47] Speaker B: And then he just takes a little bit more sip of whatever he's drinking. [02:26:51] Speaker A: I think for the first time this evening, like, Ro is, like, her emotional, like, guard that she's put up is like, I'm the bard. I'm supposed to be inspiring. Like, kind of cracks, and she has, like, a little tear and then just. And goes back to. [02:27:09] Speaker B: It's at about this time that Alondra returns, and she's been quietly dining at the table for a time. Guys, the gifts he sent. Alandra's been quietly, like, kind of eating. Well, she's been here eating at the end of the table silently, but she. At this point, she, like, clears her. [02:27:28] Speaker F: Throat and she says, All right, everyone. Oh, Abby, did you. [02:27:38] Speaker B: I'm sorry. I went to the next thing. You raised your hand for something. [02:27:40] Speaker F: Did you want something? [02:27:41] Speaker C: No, I'm sorry. I just. During that exchange, Greta, I think, was watching, like, she's, like, nervously. I feel like she's still. Greta's still growing, and she still is experiencing so much guilt, specifically about killing the. [02:28:02] Speaker B: So about committing a murder on a fruit stand. [02:28:07] Speaker D: Time. [02:28:09] Speaker C: So she's like. She's, like, watching them, and she's like. She's, like, sitting back, like, eating some bread or something and just, like, watching them interact. Like, oh, it feels so. And then she watches when. When Ro gives espoused kiss, she goes and then tries to pretend really normal as Ro. [02:28:31] Speaker B: And I want Tello's three spaces down. You, like, look. You look shocked. You look around, and you immediately catch his eye contact. He's at the other end of the table, and he just goes. He, like, mouths to you in insinian yeah. [02:28:45] Speaker F: Did you see that? [02:28:46] Speaker G: Yeah. [02:28:46] Speaker C: And I go. I go, it's happening. It's happening. [02:28:50] Speaker B: He, like, he just holds up two fingers and he just goes. And then. And then he, like. He, like, eats a little piece of. [02:28:59] Speaker E: Bread and he goes. [02:29:00] Speaker B: And then, like, eats a little orange drink some wine. [02:29:02] Speaker C: Yeah. [02:29:04] Speaker D: Can I also do something real quick just for this? [02:29:06] Speaker E: Yes. [02:29:06] Speaker B: Okay. I want to be so clear. Like, I'm trying to respect Yalls time and moving things along, but there are not words for how much. If you want to do something, do it. I will. I've set so much time for this, so do everything you want to do. [02:29:19] Speaker D: I. I'm gonna. After this thing transpires, I would like to go back over to specifically this Pollo. And I'm like, I. I'll make sure Shespis. Right? [02:29:33] Speaker E: Okay. [02:29:33] Speaker D: Yeah. He's got kissed. [02:29:34] Speaker A: We care a lot about this guy, Zach. [02:29:36] Speaker B: I'm just checking. [02:29:37] Speaker D: Well, I just want. I. I just am like. I'll be like, I'll make sure she's back. No worries. As I pat his shoulder and then laugh a little bit and then move on. [02:29:46] Speaker B: Okay. When you do, he, like, blushes a little and smiles, and then you start to walk away. And in a moment that no one sees as you step away after saying that, he just gets a really serious look and looks a little sad at the edge of the field. [02:30:05] Speaker F: And then. [02:30:06] Speaker B: Takes another sip of the cup. [02:30:14] Speaker F: You know, did it. [02:30:14] Speaker A: It was you. I said, don't kill the. [02:30:18] Speaker B: Oh, I thought you said you killed Thespis. Like, that emotional moment made their choir in the story for the narrative. [02:30:24] Speaker A: Don't kill Thespis. [02:30:27] Speaker B: And so it's after this moment that Alondra clears her throat and the table looks to her, and she's also. The cool thing is the table's like, everybody's sitting on the ground. Ground, you know, it's not like chairs. It's like a sitting on the ground table. And Alandra's at the head, and she clears her voice and she says. [02:30:47] Speaker F: Thank you all for coming. [02:30:49] Speaker B: Hold on, I'm going to switch the music real quick. And is this appropriate? No, this isn't what I want. Let's go with this one. [02:31:03] Speaker F: Is this what I want? [02:31:05] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll take this. She says. [02:31:09] Speaker F: Thank you all. Thank you all for coming. You all are here because there is no one else to call. You all have been gathered here because we are at the edge of something monstrous and dark, and you are the. [02:31:38] Speaker B: People who, in every way. [02:31:41] Speaker F: We must depend upon. Thank you for the bravery it took Even to come here. If suddenly one among you had to turn back now, it would have meant something that you'd even come this far. So, thank you. [02:32:02] Speaker B: Sorry, I'm going to change it one more time. This is the one I wanted. Moving on. And she says. [02:32:13] Speaker F: You all are welcome to discuss and plan and share words with each other. That's a good thing to do tonight. And I will leave you all to do so. But first we must discuss some strategy. We have laid down the essentials of our plan, and some of you are very aware of everything that's happening. [02:32:44] Speaker A: You. [02:32:45] Speaker F: But there are differing levels of information here. So we need to unify things. Tomorrow. [02:32:59] Speaker B: And she just takes a breath for a moment, and she watches some tea swirl around in her glass. [02:33:05] Speaker F: And she says, tomorrow we take Blackfang. We will attack at first light, not because it presents really any real benefit over our enemy, but simply because they can see just fine in the dark and we cannot. Not all of us. [02:33:30] Speaker B: And she smiles at Nigueni, the Leonin guy, who just gets a wry smile and his tail back and forth. She continues, and she says. [02:33:46] Speaker F: For those of you who are not informed, there are five great towers around Blackfang. Each of these belongs to Shiztha's Lich Lords. These towers are a staggering field of watering over Blackfang. They protect it from. From the ability to have it be destroyed. And again, the goal tomorrow isn't simply to depose the queen, but to lay everything in this land to west, to lay everything in this land to rest, to destroy it, to shatter it. And if those towers remain, Black Fang cannot fall, not by an immortal meaning among us. So we have divided everyone into teams. We have first of all a perimeter team. This consists of myself, Atal, our lady over here. [02:34:51] Speaker B: Atal raises a goblet of wine and. [02:34:54] Speaker F: Sips from it and puts it down. She says, and we will take a golem for ourself. And the three of us will. Our role will be to draw the ire and thin the hoard of the forces which surround Blackfang. Some of you were with us on the venture to go to the other side of the mount and surveil. Most of you were not, as a matter of reference for what you'll see tomorrow, that you might not be shocked when we cross that mountain tomorrow, there will be an army of the undead. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of skeletal figures. Thousands of thousands. [02:35:45] Speaker B: Actually. [02:35:50] Speaker F: It will be the role of the perimeter team to keep the gaze of the Lich Queen fixed upon us and to keep her forces Both to thin them and to draw them away from you all. As will become clearer as we move forward, if their forces are heavy, they could come down upon those further toward the heart of Blackfang, and that could be disastrous. [02:36:16] Speaker B: It's at this point that Sarah, the Tiefling rogue, pipes up, and she doesn't look particularly impressed with what's been said so far. [02:36:26] Speaker F: And she says, okay. [02:36:31] Speaker B: Wizard lady, I'm sure you really know what you're talking about here. You're telling me there's a whole army. [02:36:38] Speaker F: Of skeletons and you and the statue. [02:36:42] Speaker B: Are gonna get them all? And, you know, you watch as EP Moon, he listens flatly. Yi just sort of, like, cocks an ear and turns to listen. You all watch as Pallu gets a kind of, like, scowl on his face, like, he didn't like that. The lady called that. [02:37:06] Speaker D: The. [02:37:06] Speaker B: The roguish lady called Alandra. Wizard Lady. He didn't like that. So he gets a kind of look on his face and narrows his eyes. But Alandra smiles and she says, I'll. [02:37:18] Speaker F: Be of some use. We're really leaving that mainly to Atoll. I'm also on the perimeter to help coordinate if something goes very wrong. We need some observing, making sure that we can restructure things. But I am very capable of. I'm capable of wielding great destruction, but it's truly Atol who will be of the most use. [02:37:43] Speaker B: And then the halfling woman responds again, okay, so is she a better wizard? [02:37:51] Speaker F: What's the difference? [02:37:52] Speaker B: And Atoll just gets a smile, and. [02:37:54] Speaker F: She says, you know, having clear strategy at this point is a good idea, but I invite you to just watch tomorrow. I think it would be clear. [02:38:07] Speaker B: And the halfling woman froze her brow and goes, yeah, that's not reassuring at all. I'm not here to die. It's at this point that Kettle chimes. [02:38:16] Speaker E: In and says, you are here because of great fortune. So you will go and you will kill. That's what we've paid you. [02:38:27] Speaker A: No. [02:38:27] Speaker E: At any point, if you're confused, you. [02:38:30] Speaker B: Could die before the battle. And Alandra, like you, watch as the halfling woman narrows her eyes and smiles and she starts to say something, and Alandra lifts a hand and she says. [02:38:41] Speaker F: We are on the precipice of some of the worst evil in the world. This is not the time to quarrel among ourselves. [02:38:48] Speaker B: She opens her hand diplomatically towards Sarah, and you can watch as the. Like, the. The ambassador in her just takes over. [02:38:54] Speaker F: And she says, your concerns are valid, Sarah. Ms. Baroque has a powerful set of skills that will be Indelible. Tomorrow it will be clear why she is on primitive team. And the goal is, if we can thin the numbers enough to enter further in in some support, you all. [02:39:13] Speaker B: And Sarah just kind of furrows her. [02:39:15] Speaker F: Brow and goes, okay, all right. Here to throw knives. And Alondra nods and says yes. So we have the perimeter team who will be in charge of thinning numbers and drawing attention. From there, we have four tower teams. This consists of team one, Ehmund, Thespis, and Calabhra. [02:39:41] Speaker B: And you notice that they all sat down together. Yes. It's a lot having to go back and forth between. [02:39:48] Speaker A: It's an art, and it's amazing to watch, I admit. No sarcasm in that. Like, it's great. [02:39:54] Speaker B: I appreciate it. [02:39:55] Speaker E: Hopefully. [02:39:56] Speaker C: It was Ethmoon. [02:40:00] Speaker B: Thestis and Caladra. And you notice that. Oh, they all sat together. They must have kind of understood this assignment. [02:40:06] Speaker F: She says they will be assaulting one of the towers. Team two will be Sir Coelho. [02:40:15] Speaker B: She nods to Paolo, the dwarven paladin. Also, Greta, as you've gotten a little more educated, the symbol on his breastplate is a mighty gauntleted fist holding two scales in between it. He's a paladin of Tyr t y r, a God of justice and law. So that's his. And that's. You haven't seen a lot of that worship around Yalabran. That's not a deity who's come up a great deal for you. But you're also aware that he's a little more popular in dwarven communities, so probably far south in dwarm and stuff. [02:40:50] Speaker F: And she says, sir Coelho and Kettle, which will take a golem with them. [02:40:56] Speaker B: And they will take another tower. [02:40:59] Speaker F: A bit of a smash team, if you will. [02:41:01] Speaker B: And Coelho, that's Palu. That's the Paladin. The dwarven paladin unit. [02:41:08] Speaker A: Oh, so just Palu, Kettle, and the golem. Okay. I'm sorry. [02:41:12] Speaker B: And when you guys got here, you were like, oh, my goodness, this is so many people. And now she's lifting out the teams. Yeah, this is pretty thin. That's three people to a tower. Well, I guess, yeah, for some of the groups. Not. You're starting to realize that, like, people came here to put their lives on the line. And she says. [02:41:37] Speaker F: For still another tower, Yogweni will be going with Gaz as well as Sarah in Kimdon. [02:41:48] Speaker B: And she refers to the servant cleric. [02:41:53] Speaker F: Again, they will also take a goatm. [02:41:56] Speaker B: It's at this point that Sarah smiles a little bit and then the dwarven fighter woman, whose name you never got, she points to them and she says. [02:42:07] Speaker F: How come they're getting four? That doesn't make any sense. [02:42:13] Speaker C: What was team three again? [02:42:14] Speaker B: Team three was Yogweni the lion guy, Ghaz the white Dragonborn Paladin woman, Sarah the rogue, Kimdon or Kim the moose lady, and then a golem. And it's at this point that the dwarven lady, the bald one with the tattoos, who you never got the name. [02:42:35] Speaker F: Of, she goes, how come they get another person? What's that about? [02:42:39] Speaker B: And Alandra chimes in, and she responds. [02:42:43] Speaker F: And she says, not all of the lich lords are. They're all powerful and they're all lords of lichdom. They're all incredibly potent. But from all of our understanding and considerable preparation, some of them are worse than others. If you're part of a larger team, that's not because you're having an easier time. [02:43:07] Speaker B: And you watch as the smile gets wiped off of Sarah's face. She was, like, happy about the assignment. Then she's like. And the dwarven woman then nods like, oh, okay. She looks around like, there's not enough people left for me to be on a big team. And Alondra resumes, and she says. [02:43:30] Speaker F: Lastly, we have Gliblyn. [02:43:33] Speaker B: She gestures to the massive Grung woman, Teliallala, and she gestures to the Triton woman, the blue one. [02:43:44] Speaker A: I love her. [02:43:45] Speaker B: That name is T E L I T E L I L A L L A A. We're just gonna use your passive rumors, Ro. You've heard that some of the aquatic peoples have very sing songy names like that, names that, like, create a sound, but then repeat it a little bit to give it a symphonic quality. And then she says, as well as Tilgon. And she points to that dwarven woman, the one who chimed up, the bald one whose name he didn't get. That's T I L apostrophe, G H A N. She says, you all will. [02:44:19] Speaker F: Also take a golem. [02:44:20] Speaker B: And there's nodding. And then finally, Gliblyn pipes in, and. [02:44:26] Speaker E: She goes, this is only four of five. [02:44:31] Speaker F: She nods and she says, yes, that leaves our illustrious final group. [02:44:39] Speaker B: And she looks to kind of where you all are seated, and she says. [02:44:41] Speaker F: The funguys, along with Rongrim, who's been so courageous to be here, they are taking a tower, but their destination lies beyond. [02:44:55] Speaker B: And she looks at you all very directly, and she says, I want to. [02:44:58] Speaker F: Be clear that I'm very sorry we had Hoped to muster force sufficient to have a Tower team ahead of you and that you all could go straight to Blackfang. But. There are other conflicts around the world, and not everyone felt they could be dispensable. And there were some allies we were countering upon who have not survived to this moment. But you all are taking the fifth Tower. [02:45:29] Speaker B: And as she was going around. I'm just not going to bore you guys with it, but she said the names of each of the Liches that each of the teams had, and she gave a little information, and she said. [02:45:38] Speaker F: You all will be facing Lord Kalaska. [02:45:41] Speaker B: Int that is K A L A S K A Kalaska. K A L A S K a Lord Kolaska. [02:45:52] Speaker F: And then Ent is E E N T. She says he was a necromancer of period toward the beginning of the Shade Ages, and he was actually a lich millennia before. Shiztha was predated into it. But many fell under her dominion in this period. We have aimed you all at him because we believe him to be one of the less formidable of all of them. We do not mean for that to be in any way confusing. He will be deadly. Your job, you are not a perimeter or a tower team. You are the slayer team. Your role is to break through the tower as quickly as you can to move straight through to Blackfang, engage none of the enemies along the path, and slay the Lich Queen. The plan is we gave you more resources and forces than any other team. We've lined you up with what we believe to be the least formidable of the lords. [02:47:09] Speaker B: And there's both some nods of agreement around the table, and also a couple looks of like, I'm sorry. And she continues, and she says, we. [02:47:16] Speaker F: Hope that they will slow you down the least. For if you hope to destroy Blackfang, all the other towers must be felled when you attempt to do so. This will require the expedient and valiant work of all those around us. I want to be very clear, and I imagine I'm saying something no one needs to hear, but if we survive this, not all of us will be here on the other side. The sacrifice that you all make now, you make for all of Yldr. And I'm sure that you have your reasons, and I'm not going to bore you with messages of them, but this I need to make very clear. [02:47:56] Speaker B: And she looks at her, the other. [02:47:57] Speaker F: People at the table, and she says, the sacrifice you must make is that by the time the Fungi's reach Blackfang, your Towers must be crumbling even if you must give your life. For if your tower is not fallen, they cannot save all the rest of us. [02:48:24] Speaker B: And there's a lot of somber silence around the table. She says. [02:48:30] Speaker F: To speak practically for all of my tower teams. Give this everything you've got. There is no resource, no tool, no implement, no idea worth maintaining after this. Give everything before you give your life. [02:48:49] Speaker B: Then she turns back to you all. [02:48:50] Speaker F: And she says, but for the Slayer's team I must heed you, if you had not considered this already. This is a complicated task I set you to. But you must mean to kill Lord with the least expenditure of your abilities possible. For beyond him lies Shistha and Blackfang. And there's perhaps no more foul nest of hellish evil and power in all this world. It is a terrible task. But I challenge you destroy intelligence while maintaining all the greatest resources you have. You will need them for Schistha. It would also be wise to come up with speaking practically. The towers are more than a thousand and a half feet from Blackfang, so you will need a rather rapid method of transport. But I imagine you can. [02:49:57] Speaker B: She takes another breath and she says Some practicality for the Sylla's team and we're going to skip some stuff. She gives other logistic details. Some of the other groups. She explains for a little bit how the golems work and how. Part of the reason she's part of the Primord team is she can control them all at a distance with some of. With an object that's been provided to her from an ally in Chaskanen. She says they're going to be used to help in the attack. And she says Question. [02:50:22] Speaker C: Does she say who that ally is? [02:50:24] Speaker F: She doesn't. [02:50:25] Speaker B: She leaves it intentionally vague. I know. She continues and she says. But after some time she comes back to you all. [02:50:34] Speaker F: And she says for the Slayers team. Remember all of these other Liches are connected to Schistha. If we kill them, they will return. But not if Schistha dies and they are of no consequence. She is the great danger. For reasons you are well aware. [02:50:56] Speaker B: She pauses on that for a moment. And it dawns on you that the other people at this table probably don't know about the veil blades. Many of these people probably have no concept of who the Bloodied One is. As they're concerned, this is the great evil of their time. And she's making it acknowledgable to you. You know why you're here. And she continues and she says it. [02:51:15] Speaker F: Is imperative that you find the phylactery within her tower, the object to which her soul was bound. If it is not destroyed, her tower will not fall and the greater danger at threat here will remain. [02:51:33] Speaker B: She pauses on that for a moment, emphasizing that this phylactery within the tower must be destro destroyed. That's your ultimate mission to destroy her. P H Y L A C T E R Y Phylactery So damn like. [02:51:53] Speaker C: Greta knows what a phylactery is. Greg does. Could you explain for Craig what a phyl. Okay, got you got what that. What that would look like. [02:52:05] Speaker B: And as Craig brings up hey, what's a phylactery? Or Alandra continues and she says a. [02:52:11] Speaker F: Phylactery is an object to which a lich has bound part of their soul. [02:52:17] Speaker B: Or really any being living beyond the. [02:52:21] Speaker F: Coils of mortal life. [02:52:22] Speaker C: What. [02:52:26] Speaker F: If the object's not destroyed? She can recall constitute herself after being. [02:52:32] Speaker C: Right. What does that object normally look like? Is it different every time? Is it a stone? Is it a. [02:52:39] Speaker F: We are not certain. [02:52:40] Speaker C: We don't know. [02:52:42] Speaker B: Okay. [02:52:43] Speaker F: Unfortunately. But you all have proved quite clever in the past and we hope you to do so as well. We imagine it will look like one. [02:52:58] Speaker B: And she goes over some more fine details that we can retroactively use as answers to questions you ask later. [02:53:05] Speaker F: She continues and she says we ask too much of all of you now. Far too much. And I ask that you give it before tomorrow. Know your reasons and say your peace. Because tomorrow we fight with no reserve. Fayalabryn and she raises a glass fajallobren. [02:53:44] Speaker B: And around the table, slowly but surely, person after person, person after person. [02:53:47] Speaker F: She takes a sip and she says we have plenty of people to set a watch, get some sleep. [02:53:57] Speaker A: As everyone kind of starts dispersing and all, Ro goes up to Alandra and asks. I don't know if this is a bad idea, a good idea. I'm just going to ask you, would it be all right to give everyone a little better night's sleep if I brought up the fortress? The fungi's fortress? [02:54:32] Speaker F: No, actually, abysmally we shouldn't. [02:54:37] Speaker B: And okay. [02:54:40] Speaker F: The opening of a plane may not be such a good idea so close to blackfy. [02:54:44] Speaker A: That's what I was worried about. [02:54:47] Speaker F: Okay, but it's very considerate of you. Thank you, Ron. [02:54:54] Speaker A: I think Ro would go off and for anyone that didn't have as comfy of a bed or anything, she would definitely like plant growth around area to where it's like how she always sleeps without her bed. Roll or anything. She has like that all set up so that anyone who needs like better lumbar support has. [02:55:14] Speaker B: As you sprout cloves, clovers all around. Many people do appreciate the softer bed, even if they're putting rolls over it. And kettle smiles and says, that was very considerate. And his trunks reaches down, starts ripping out of the ground to eat them. You're like, oh, not what I was saying thinking, but okay, doubles as a snack. He doesn't. [02:55:35] Speaker C: Oh, they meat. [02:55:38] Speaker B: Well, I mean actually big cats are typically very slightly on omnivoric, but you. [02:55:42] Speaker C: Know, very slightly omnivorous. [02:55:45] Speaker B: Okay, she's getting tired. But a strange thing you notice, bro, at the very edge of your casting where your plants tend to grow, you notice the very moment they get beyond the perimeter of your casting, the clovers immediately die and wither. You get the feeling that the moment your magic has moved on from here, none of these plants will survive in this landscape. Love that and otherwise. The party prepares themselves for the day. [02:56:12] Speaker F: Of the assault on Blackfang. [02:56:15] Speaker B: The next day and the party, slowly. [02:56:18] Speaker F: But surely, one by one goes to sleep. [02:56:27] Speaker B: Is otherwise uneventful and dark and still. And some of you sleep profusely, exhausted from your journeys. Others cannot sleep at all, consumed by nerves. And others of you are woken up at different times for watches. People are just picking people because there has never been a time more important. [02:56:53] Speaker F: To have a watch. [02:56:54] Speaker B: And there are a great litany of people to do it. People can take an hour watch a 45 minute watch if they want to. [02:57:03] Speaker C: I have a question. [02:57:04] Speaker F: Yes, yes, yes. [02:57:06] Speaker C: Can the golems keep watch? Like could they just keep watch. [02:57:12] Speaker B: They are standing in a perimeter around you, watching, but for a reason that's not explained to you. Humanoid individuals are also being woken up from watch and you're not quite sure what the purpose of nature of that is. There might be a very good reason. You would imagine so, but you haven't asked. But it is ironic that you asked the question because it is at some point in the evening that you are woken up for a watch, Greta, just by another person, one of the individuals you don't know well, the Triton woman wakes you up. [02:57:39] Speaker F: And then she goes. [02:57:40] Speaker B: And lays down for sleep. And it is your watch in the dark. It's just me wrapping up here. [02:57:46] Speaker C: Yeah, okay. Watch. [02:57:50] Speaker F: Okay. [02:57:51] Speaker C: She's probably pacing like around, like around the whole perimeter. [02:57:57] Speaker F: As you pace and. [02:57:58] Speaker B: Walk around the edges, you can't get very far at all before you notice. [02:58:04] Speaker D: That. [02:58:07] Speaker B: Alondra is awake and standing near the edge Just staring out into the darkness. [02:58:15] Speaker C: Okay, go. Say I go walk up, I guess. Kind of clear my throat as I choose. Facing out. [02:58:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Just watching out into the darkness as well. It's a very grim watch. It's so hard to see anything beyond this dome covering you all. [02:58:40] Speaker C: I kind of clear my throat and I say. [02:58:46] Speaker B: She, like, jumps just a little bit and startles and looks at. [02:58:49] Speaker F: You and says, hello, Greta. [02:58:54] Speaker C: Hello. We having two per one? [02:58:58] Speaker B: Yes. [02:58:59] Speaker D: No. [02:59:00] Speaker F: No, I'm just not sleeping well. That's all right. I think the adrenaline will keep me awake for days if need be. I'll be ready to go tomorrow. Don't worry. [02:59:12] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah, I know you are. [02:59:18] Speaker F: I'm really glad you all came, and that's obvious. We need you to kill the sister. But I'm glad you came. [02:59:35] Speaker C: I did. I'm glad that you're here. I know it's. I know it's taking a toll on you. And you never want to perceive it, right? [02:59:56] Speaker F: You know something, Greta? I'm much older than you. And that's all. [03:00:05] Speaker B: Yes. [03:00:07] Speaker F: I don't look it, but I'm. I'm a century older than you, actually. Ro's like that. She never considers it, but it's something I think about from time to time. She's aged quickly enough to get to the appearance she is now. But what she doesn't consider, I'm sure, is that because of her heritage and her blood, assuming she survives, she will be looking at that face. Face she sees now for the next four or five decades before a single line or hair changes color. And even then it will happen slowly. I'm rambling, but. I'm not afraid of dying. In many ways, I'm weary of this life. I don't want to die. I want to go back home. I want to hold my cats and drink tea and read books. [03:01:22] Speaker C: But. [03:01:26] Speaker F: But if I have to die, I have to die. I've been at peace with that for longer than most of these people have been alive. But I can't sleep because I'm worried that tomorrow I won't die. Everything will die. I'm worried tomorrow that millions of people, millions who never even knew any of this will existed, will cease to exist. That's terrifying. [03:02:10] Speaker C: Yeah. A lot to heavy burden. [03:02:19] Speaker F: That's why I'm so glad you're here. I find you very encouraging. [03:02:26] Speaker B: And she reaches down a hand and opens it toward you. [03:02:31] Speaker C: Yeah, I take it. I put my hand in it. [03:02:36] Speaker B: It's a sweet moment, but unexpected. There's like a. You know, the last time you met with Alandra. She was a lot more emotionally available than she'd ever been. But this. [03:02:49] Speaker F: She's like, scared. [03:02:50] Speaker B: You can see the fear in her eyes. And she takes your hand. She just stands there, looking out into the darkness. [03:02:55] Speaker F: And she keeps speaking to you. And she says, I'm encouraged by you because you feel that passage of time. Your body is nearer the grave than mine. And yet here you are, still doing this. You know, tomorrow. I'm sorry. [03:03:26] Speaker C: Well, I think there's always time to start over. About a year ago, I thought my life was. I felt like my life was over at the end of its rope a lot of times. And I think if we survive this, the whole thing, you know, not just tomorrow, but I think it'll be a great time to start over. [03:04:03] Speaker F: Let me know if you want a manabus to manab. [03:04:05] Speaker B: Manage. [03:04:05] Speaker F: Because I think after all this is done, I'm quite. I'm quite through with it. You know, tomorrow everyone's going to kill the Lich Queen, but not me. I'm going to go destroy the tiny little last bit that's left of my friend. [03:04:35] Speaker C: Oh. [03:04:39] Speaker F: You'Re actually. I mean, she's. She's been dead a long time. That's just a monster in her bones. That's the worst part. Her death was hard. But what is so awful is that he stole her bones. That last little bit of her that was left. He took it and he's kept it all these years to hurt us with. And he stole her mind. I think perhaps another reason I find you so terrible, terribly comforting, Greta. You're very much like her. She was quiet, like you. Thoughtful. She led us quietly. She led us with her example. She'd be leading you and you wouldn't even know. She was wise like that. Oh, so smart, clever. She was always thinking before she was speaking. Something I pretend to do, but. And he took her mind. And I used to think to myself, if he could take her mind. I know she wasn't perfect. I know we shouldn't have epitomize people, but if even the tiny fissures in her heart could be broken open. How long before he takes me and he never has? What does that mean? [03:06:38] Speaker C: It's. It's so hard to let go of something. Something that you love, that you do love. Even when it's. Even when it's just bones and even when it's just cruel and leather and vicious and parts of something even that is, you know, even that you can still miss it. And you can still. It's impossible to Break away from. [03:07:16] Speaker F: I don't want to do this. [03:07:21] Speaker C: You don't want to do what? [03:07:24] Speaker F: To do this tomorrow. [03:07:27] Speaker C: Yeah. [03:07:29] Speaker F: Everyone's worried about surviving tomorrow. Right now, I don't feel like I'll survive the night. [03:07:43] Speaker B: She just squeezes your hand a little. [03:07:44] Speaker F: Tighter and she says, thank you. [03:07:52] Speaker B: For. [03:07:52] Speaker F: Holding the hand of an old, old woman as she looks out into the dark. [03:07:58] Speaker C: Yeah, can I. I'm gonna try and do something and let me know if I can do this, but I'm gonna lean on my fourth level casting. And we're looking out into the distance. Right. [03:08:12] Speaker B: Well, into darkness, but. [03:08:13] Speaker C: Yeah, right. Yeah. Greta loves the can trip light. So what I'm gonna try and do is, like, within the dark, within the bubble, I'm gonna try and cast light on, like, she's gonna try and cast, like, light in a way that it's like a floating. Like it looks like a leaf, like, floating and just kind of like. Like floating in the. In the distance, like, right above them. Is that something that I can do with light even though that. Absolutely not something that I can. [03:08:51] Speaker B: That is not what that cantrip can accomplish. But as Archpriestess of Ioun, who's been mastering this cantrip for a century now, you watch as a particle of ash floats down and you cast light upon that. Something you shouldn't even be able to do anyway, but you're just too good at it. [03:09:13] Speaker F: And as the particle floats, you even. [03:09:15] Speaker B: Manipulate the way the light cantrip shifts around it to look like the turning of a leaf, very abstractly, as it falls. [03:09:22] Speaker C: Yeah. [03:09:22] Speaker F: And she looks up at it as it falls. [03:09:25] Speaker C: And I. I don't like. I don't hide that. Yeah, I. I pass that. I think. I think I know that I will never get away from the things that I loved that I shouldn't have loved, or the things that I loved that turned sour or the things that I loved that I didn't get to love long enough. But. I don't know. I just. I know that I'll never get away from them, but. And I. I don't want to. You know, I don't want to get away from those. Those things, but I don't know. I do somehow. And for some reason, and I know that I. I think that. [03:10:32] Speaker B: She just gets really quiet. She's still holding your hand. [03:10:34] Speaker F: She sits down on a stone nearby. [03:10:36] Speaker B: And continues to look out of the darkness. She whispers something you can't quite hear. [03:10:47] Speaker F: And she just continues to hold your hand. [03:10:52] Speaker C: No, like, just sit for a little bit. And then she's I. How do you. How do you think it'll. Like, how do you. How do you think that you'll die? And I don't mean like, like, not how you want to or not how, like, considering tomorrow, like, you think that it'll happen strategically, but, like, is there. What do you think it'll happen? [03:11:35] Speaker F: I don't know. If all goes well, I hope I die alongside my allies, as I almost have so many times. And if all goes poorly. [03:11:55] Speaker B: I hope. [03:11:56] Speaker F: I die quickly at the start. [03:12:01] Speaker D: When. [03:12:02] Speaker F: It still looks like there's a chance. And she sits there holding your hand. [03:12:27] Speaker C: Is she sitting now? [03:12:29] Speaker B: Yeah, you're both sitting together. [03:12:33] Speaker C: I think Greta just kind of moves behind her and like, if just like, starts like, she knows that Alondra is older than her and way more powerful, but she can't help but be a little grandmotherly. And she just starts like. Or even just like, I guess, sisterly, or she just starts, like, gently, like, like not breaking but like combing through Alondra's hair as she sits, just, like, sighing heavy and yeah, like, staring into space. [03:13:18] Speaker F: Alondra doesn't fight it. And as you two sit there consoling. [03:13:27] Speaker B: Each other, staring out of the darkness, run out of words to say, but still chosing to be, still choosing to be with each other in that moment, that is where we're going to end. Episode 169 of the Accidental Adventures. We will pick up next time on the next day. Listener, listen. [03:13:58] Speaker F: Life is an incredible adventure, even in the middle of a dark night before a hard day. But every new day begins in the dark. [03:14:10] Speaker B: And you're a very important part of it. [03:14:13] Speaker F: Skibidi wapin Dada.