M m m. Approaching Kira from Afar is very easy, and with the
daylight having waned for you as a group, you can still make out in
the distance this sort of cuboid new built castle which is sitting atop a now
natural outcrop of rock, almost like a mountain that has been cleaved in two.
You can see that it immediately is one of the strongest fortified positions in
the land below it, but still above the ground level. Below the castle,
there are fields that surround a set of walls that run around the main
town of Kira. It's only a small thing, but it's probably quiet stunning
from the distance that you're at and as the carriages trundle forward, you have
Inness leading the way. You have Ezra, who has been with you for
the last couple of hours but has been pretty quiet. Once you guys set
out on the road and left the troll rocks. The companion that you picked
up, you can tell that he's been hit now by like a sort of
level of exhaustion and shock that it has kind of set in, and he
just appears absolutely exhausted to you. I think at this point, after a
few hours of traveling following this kind of dirt path. Eventually it turns into
a more maintained road with stones that mark out what would be a dug road,
But it has been so set apart from the land that it's actually obvious,
as opposed to the kind of hope that you've been following as a pathway
throughout most of the new inlands. And you come around on the eastern side
of Kira, and once you get close enough, looking up at this castle,
up at this town, you finally make out what is what. And
from a distance this place looked pretty pretty impressive, but I think up close
it looks nice and clean and new, and the walls look new built,
and the houses share a similar architecture for the most part, as opposed to
the ramshackle hodgepodge of the towns that we've seen so far in this campaign and
also in general. Kira was only built two hundred years ago. That being
said, there is only one entrance. There is a grand stairway and a
tower that allow you up onto the rocky plateau and into the town. True
around the south side there is a small village that has cropped up farmhouses for
the most part, a few small farms gardens for local produce, and the
carriages with Guinness in front leading and then fire with the second carriage. You
moved through these small farmlands, past some of these houses, and up towards
that central runway. There are a few people that kind of glance up at
you, but compared to when you entered into j RS and where you entered
into Coal, not as many people that are interested in you. This is
a trading town. It was just simply a military castle that was built a
couple of hundred years ago. But so many traders have stopped here and people
just began to plant houses down and the town was built. And you can
see stairs running up and down an incline that cards would follow up this central
enormous stairway. They lead up to a huge set of gates. Unlike in
Jeri's I think the military presence here is more palpable. You can see Peppard
throughout the outside, and up by the gates themselves, you can see the
guardsmen. They're wearing the red cloaks of Guardia, with shields and spears and
swords that are all standard issue, newer and better well kept than Wills,
but the same kind of thing. You can also tell who the guards are
that are designated for watch here. They have the differentiation of a purple sash
across their chests, which is like the one that Ezra has on his armor.
Guinness leads you through, does his usual speel of let me do the
talking, and then he glances down towards Ezra and then says, actually,
maybe Higgins is the targan. And eventually you come up to the the incline
that leads up to the central gates. There is a guard that approaches you,
quite a young man, human with hair greased to one side and parted,
the purple sash and red cloak below behind him. As he walks towards
your cart, the sun will have set not so long ago, so it's
getting pretty dark out, and he halts the carts and Guinness begins to speak
to the young gentleman. I got two counts full of stuff. It's me
again. I'm a merchant. You should know my name. The guardsman looks
him up and down, looks back at the rest of you, and then
catches sight of Ezra and says, Ezra, is that you. Ezra,
stunned for a moment, looks back and says, ah, yes, I
shall have to report to the duty guardsmen. Would you mind letting these fine
folks through? They help me. They're good people. This actual merchant wears
there's no controls hidden under these The guardsmen says, hey, hey, it's
real fun tonight, oh Ralph, good, Yes, okay, please open
the gates. Open the gates. You see the huge gates at the top
open and Guinness leads the cart up and into the town proper. Of Kira.
Entering into it again, you kind of get the sense of a new
build town. It's pretty bustling too, quite a lot of people here,
lots of stalls and an immediate marketplace. As you pass through the central gates
up on the plateau, there's a bit more of a breeze, but there
are all so these huge sets of walls that run around the town itself.
There's a second set of walls that you can see upp ahead that lead up
into the castle, and I think, will you've been here before? I
would imagine while both areas of the town are accessible, there's split by a
defensive wall, but it doesn't actually split the town in any way. There's
just the upper ward and the lower ward. For the most part, it
just is all parts of the town. It's just a it's a military outpost
first and foremost, and then a town. But yeah, you walk,
you guys are well. Your carts trundle into a marketplace, past a couple
of taverns immediately and into a sort of small opening, a square of sorts
with a few trees planted and people sitting around on benches. It is a
far cry from Jyrus, and it's completely indistinguishable from Coul. There appears to
be people that are just relaxed, and there are kids just playing in the
streets, and people just seem to be having fun. For the most part.
You get the sense that the biggest difference between Cole and here is that
everybody in Cole is a farmer of a sort. In Jeris there was a
mixed and match. Here, you get at the sense that a lot of
people here are military, off duty, military traders, or townsfolk of some
kind, but not really. You don't get the sense of of farm folk
or anything like that. People are reading books, which is pretty crazy to
sometimes when you see you know, more than one person even able to read,
I think will it might remind you of some of the central parts of
Guardia a little bit more distinction because the again, the architecture is very similar,
since all the houses were built around the same time by the same kinds
of people. Guinness turns to you all as he brings the carts to a
stop and says, right, this is gonna take me. It's going to
take me days to sell all of this off, but this is the place
to do it. If I can't sell the shite here, I can't sell
it anywhere. I'll be head not to afraid they probably if I've got the
stuff. If not, I'm back up to Jeris won't be for two days.
Three. Yeah, welcome to join again. Well we find you if
we come to take that off the up. No, it's so good.
That's a good question. Well, I usually pitch here. Leave the carts
here. There's a stable for the horses that costs a pretty penny here to
you, and then I'll head the MT. I was going to go to
the Alehouse, but probably better off going to the Spite. Hi all right,
in the upper ward there's a tavern known as the Slumbering Respite, owned
by a man named Bones. I owe him less money than the Goblin the
Alehouse. I'll stay there a great well. We probably have our own listness
to attend to you. So I think you were with some Hey the box
of jewels, please beast. I will return his box of gems. You
see him open out a bit glitters. He does the thing whereas boxes open
it kind of lights up, like the thing in pulp fiction. And he
takes out the appropriate coin, which I believe was five gold pieces per day,
so each so forty gold pieces, and then an extra ten for the
safe arrival. So fifty gold pieces handed over. I take it. He
says to Ezra, Hey, you didn't get paid nothing. We saved you.
You or us? Right? He was us right? He? Where
did you live? I think we can call it square. Oh come on,
okay, he lives here. Look at this place. It's like mini
Gandhia doesn't mean everyone saying is rich nice. It would be remiss of me
to charge money to a member of the guard. Ezra steps down from his
cart and says to you all, thank you very much. Again. I'm
going to I'm going to find the duty guardsman and let him know report.
Perhaps perhaps afterwards I'll meet with you for a drink or or something. Perhaps
I can at least buy you dinner. Make sure you inform your guardsmen that
we were able to dispose of one of those trolls only by a use of
excessive amounts of fire. I don't think any amount of arrows is going to
get them to stay down. Yes, if you go out there, make
sure you're coordinated, bring a battle mage, or you'll just end up an
even larger meal for that thing. Well, I suspect that they will put
a bounty on that pretty headed one. It's not wise just going to encourage
fools to their death. I think it's going to require a coordinated expedition,
a well trend squad, or you're never gonna kill it. Right, yes,
well, above my station, thank you again? Right, food,
the slumbering respite, the respite, yes very well. Yeah see there,
give me a few hours at least for the shiny new ring. Yes,
you're welcome. Be careful with it, though, it's a magical ring,
he says to the rest of you. Still a man, fully grown,
fully grown man. All right, then that's half Now he had fire m
hmm from me a dexterity saving throw. Actually, no thanks, no thanks.
Oh with eighteen plus one, are you have the cloak, of course,
but nineteen uh so it gets you, but you notice it in the
back of your thigh there is a pinch. Huh, what is it?
I reached for it. There's a dart in the back of your thigh.
A on It is a very very small symbol. That is the symbol for
signaf, which, among many other things in Elvin, means silence. Oh
okay, I just put I just when I grab it, I just slide
it into my my little I want to keep it in my sleeve and just
try to make it not a thing that noticeable. I think you can probably
do that for free at this point. Romeo Constitution save six plus one seven
is a fail. The mark where the thing hit you. If you were
to maybe lift your trouser up or something and look, there is a like
a black mark around the edge of the tiny little pinprick, and it fucking
inches. It's the best way to describe it. At the moment, you've
been stuck by something, and you would assume some form of velve and poison.
It's going to try to nonchalantly look around do that thing when somebody's like,
hey, look at that, but don't stare. Yeah. Perception check
eleve it. You see nothing, well, you see a lot. Really,
what you see is a bunch of people. There are people all over
the place here. It's crazy bustling. This is a very very busy town.
There are any number of people. You can see people who wearing robes
moving around. That might be a couple of mages discussing things. You can
see a young couple holding hands and staring lovingly into each other's eyes. You
can see kids running and playing. You can see people in elevated positions who
are shadowed positions who are shadowed against the moon. You can see traders discussing
things. There are two or three shadowy figures just standing around who could very
easily have hit you with some form of blow dart or something like that.
Of all of them, none of them appear to be shadow elf or drough
But a couple of people around here at Elvin. There are dwarves, There
are half lings. There are lots of humans. You get the sense Thes
more humans than anything here, which somewhat tracks a little bit with Guardia.
Guardia is more of a human capital. There are a couple of tee flings
here, but no gnomes, no shadow elves, that you can see here
in this kind of central area where there's a few things going on. There's
like a it's like a blacksmith over there, there's a marketplace. You can
see like an actual like squad of military people kind of marching towards that gate.
You get the sense that this is a busy central area in Kira.
Okay, huh. I didn't see anyone with any sort of smoking gun though.
Just gonna kind of shift my weight back and forth from like the leg
and see if it's painful or if it's if I feel a poison spreading inside
of me that will surely take me out at any moment. Almost definitely something
like that is happening, But there is no real pain, but your legasa
ching a lot. Hmmm. I think I fixed. Can I talk to
you? Uh sure? Just real quick, okay, just over here,
turn and give Will a look and then walk with five. I think Merlin
also just kind of gives uh Will a look, raising his eyebrow, like,
what's going on? Why are you walking like that? It's nothing serious.
I think I'm having an allergic reaction to what to a poisonous dart that
I just pulled out of the back of my thigh. Somebody hit and canbody
hit me with a poison dart? Just now? I'm trying to do you
see it? Uh? Well, there's a lot of people. Why don't
you got the dot? Yeah? Right here, right? Okay? Does
it just look like a regular dart? Yeah? It looks like one of
those sort of classic looking tribal darts that you would find in a blowgun.
Of a feather sticking out the back of it, of a very very dark
purple almost black, tied to a simple needle thin almost like a toothpick wooden
toothpick style dart, and attached to it is a little I guess it would
be a sort of a circle of vellum with silence, the symbol of silence.
It's tiny, right that I can't read that. I guess it's up
to you whether you can read Elvin. I don't know what your languages are.
But what does that mean? Ah algie? By the way, everyone
is allergic to poison, so that's not it says silent. So I'm trying
to keep it, keep my cool and that now he's so obvious under the
radar. Okay, let me take a look. What did it hit you
for? Leg. Oh well right, okay, just show me your leg.
Okay, pretty close to the wood cheek. I don't care. I'll
pull my pants down rather come up roughly pulling your pants down for you.
What does it look like? It is a tiny little what would be a
pin prick, but around it the what would what would normally be red and
sore is definitively black, like almost like necrosis is already set in. Oh
okay, that looks bad. That looks really bad. That looks like you
might be Give me give me a medicine. Check with disadvantage, h and
and fire. Give me int check with advantage. Just a pace. Let's
see here. Advantage you say, because I'm so smart. All right,
well, you are probably smart in a way, but maybe you didn't take
notes in history class as a kid, kind of didn't have to. I
with special sinath means a few different things. The symbol, as it's used
commonly is silence. But there are so many different ways that you can write
Elvin. There's sanscript, there's sylvan, which is very similar. There's archaic
ways of writing things. There's the old text, there is the spoken Elvish.
There are high off runs. There are specific runs that are for shadow
elves and what el and it is whole. It could mean any it could
mean a different couple of things. It's most common usage that you would known
to me is silence on a five medicine check fixed, no idea? What
this is? Great? It looks like what it literally looks like to you.
Okay, do you feel okay? Are you I like, put my
hand on her ford? You feel it is your temperature? Okay? Do
you feel shaky? Are you feeling nauseous? Are you are you weak?
Are you shaking? I feel very itchy? Itchy? Right? Okay,
but that can you pull my pants up? Great? Sorry? Yeah?
Thanks? I mean I have I've got in alix of health that we picked
up somewhere that might maybe you should drink that just in case. I don't
know what it is, but it looks awful. Do you think, well,
here's the thing it says silence. Do you think they mean like like,
is that what it's going to do? Or is that what they're telling
you to do? Yeah? I kind of I don't know, but who
is? The way I interpreted it was maybe like hey, don't don't be
don't react to this. I don't know, you know, I'm not sure,
but I would rather interpret it as them trying to silence you, in
which case you should probably drink this before something bad happens. I trust the
Elixir of Health. Yeah, okay, I'm gonna turn my back to Merlin
and Will so that they don't see this. I just turn around a smile.
I think Merlin just gives them a wave. So that means we saw
the whole probably yeah, you probably well, let me think, but you
probably saw me crouching down like doing something nowhere near as embarrassing as showing weakness
for fire. I feel like you can see my ass. But yeah,
no way. So the Elixir of health, what does that do again?
There's any disease afflicting you? Removes blinded, death and paralyzed and poisoned.
Oh, there was any disease afflicting you, and okay the yeah, the
itching goes away. Yeah does it help M not aching anymore? Okay,
that's probably good. Uh, maybe I should take another look at it.
Uh yeah, sure, more gently try and take a look. Now.
Yeah, I think over the course of like thirty seconds, you witness that
blackness turned to just a sort of standard looking red soreness, the wound it's
which is literally just a pin break. It's not even worth one HP.
Is still there though, as if you've maybe just had your COVID jab or
something. I mean, it looks that's disturbing now, so that's probably good,
right, yeah, Now, why would someone do that to you?
Well, I could think of about a million reasons. So you start with
number one mm. The hair is kind of obvious, right, maybe I
should maybe you should hide that, Yeah, I mean you could chuck it
under your hood. I mean, you know, not that you shouldn't be
proud of it, but I'd make it into your target. And totally I
should go somewhere and go in there and fix my hair and then come out
as a different person. I mean, I could cost illusion for now instead
of you're doing something permanent. Okay, I just I guess cast an illusion.
Just make your hair entirely black. Assume I can probably do that right
out of combat. Just continue an illusion. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's fine. Yes, And for the record, seeing a drought or a
shadow elf, it's the same thing. It's just that they are they have
a secondary reference in the dark realm with white hair is extremely extremely rare.
You've never seen it until Fire, even streaks of white hair like Fire has
these two sort of like the parting in the front parts of her hair.
Your hair is black now all the way through? And what else are you
doing? How do I look? That's amazing? Didn't Dawn Walkers say there
were a lot of drow? What did he say? No, he said
that that he said something specific about them, specific sect of the drow here.
I can't remember. Maybe we'll remember. We should tell well, But
here's the thing is should we? Because Merlin kind of has enough going on
with the whole. Do you think it would be better for him if you've,
you know, got poisoned and died right in front of his eyes?
Yeah, yep, right, okay, yeah, all right, because maybe
nothing happens. Maybe I'm better and I'm fine, right, But I what
if they try again? They don't have anymore My hair won't give me away,
right, but they know what you look like. Now, I suppose
I can try and change your entire appearance for a bit. I kind of
make you into sort of a big brown, shapeless cloak and just really plain
clothing, uh, really normal. I guess it'll do. No, Oh,
we should at least tell Will and Merlin that we need to look out
for something. I don't h we don't want anything to happen to you.
Berlin, make me a constitution saving for us. Oh no, oh nice,
you are crazy hungry. It has been. It's past your twenty four
hours, I think, is it. Let me just check your character a
while. You have to consume uh, at least a mouthful of brain from
a deceased creature for the next for two, next to many for hours.
So yeah, you need human What you need is flesh. I was gonna
say human flesh, but you need fresh flesh. You must maintain a diet
of living or fresh dead flesh. That's what it is. And you're past
that at the moment. So you're starting to get that kind of like almost
vampiric. Just I'm losing it a little bit. People are walking past you,
and they smell so good. It is difficult not to just bite into
Will's hand and just eat a finger. Right now, everyone's brains are walking
past you, doing that thing where they like kind of turn into hamburgers,
and everyone's walking out and you're now it's surrounded by so many people in the
hunger. It's it's like being you would be the same as if you were
absolutely famished and standing in the middle of a food caught somewhere and it's just
everyone with loads of food, but you don't have any. You're having that
you past your safe. So I'm not gonna I'm not gonna punish in any
way for it, or make you do any crazy stuff or you suddenly find
yourself chewing on a random cat or something. But it's yeah, you've probably
got the hunger shakes, and you're probably starting to feel a little crazy right
now. I will need hmmm, let me think about what this would be
a wisdom save. I think we'll do right me out and while these two
are off, kind of having these discussions will give me an insight check.
Sure, just sort of standing around with Merlin. I'm sure you're surveying the
town and remembering the last time you were here and checking out how there reminds
you maybe a little bit of being in the military for all those years,
seeing some of these recruits being trained and marching up and down. There you
go. You're not your glance at Merlin. He looks fine, and you
carry on looking maybe at store window or something. They've got some nice things.
And yeah, I mean you're probably all a little tired after the journey.
You've been traveling all day, not including the troll escapades of the last
two weeks of the campaign, which happened like three hours ago for you.
So yeah, I don't think you're aware of of Merlin. Now, Merlin,
you have a choice that with time has slowed down and something is happening
to Merlin right now. First, yeah, Merlin, you feel crazy.
Okay, however you want to interpret that you are having I am hanky,
You're really hanky. It's beyond that. I think, as give me a
perception check fourteen fourteen your vision Dolly zooms for a moment. Here Will is
standing next to you, shifting uncomfortably in his large armor. Maybe glances down
at you and looks around at some of the other things. You watch his
gaze follow a group of men marching. As this group of men pass a
market store, you can see there's quite a lot of people crowded in the
area dead center of that market store. Staring back at you through from underneath
a cloak is somebody that you recognize, And I think this is what causes
your very strong reaction. As amongst these keep all, this cloaked figure is
staring directly at you. Most of her features are covered under this cloak.
You'd recognize the clean hair, you recognize those eyes, and you recognize that
complexion. It's Fiona. She hasn't aged a day compared to you, and
her eyes blink at you, and then she quietly mouths a single word to
you. I will write to you the word on in a DM. And
at this very same time, there is another ringing behind you. Somebody is
speaking to you, and it's very important that you listen to them. But
Fionna is staring at you from forty feet away. Through these people. What
would you like to do? You're the hunger, this strange sense of something
that will and being purposefully vague, something comes over you and you may concentrate
on one thing, her or this very important message from someone else. Oh
well, as much as Merlin's heart would would tell him to go for her,
I think he would absolutely feel necessary to take this message. Yeah,
you snap back for a moment to reality and you realize that you're hearing the
words of Arius in your head. He's sending you one of those messages.
At this very moment you catch you come back to this halfway through what he's
saying to you, as you're concentrating on something, this message spell that he's
casting, the long distance enhanced version, using the void magic to enhance his
magic. To enhance this message spell, you can do the same thing back,
or if you want, you can enhance most all of your spells with
the void. You get that sense, this is what's happening again. You
come back to Caau's point in five days. I will await you there for
only a few days at most. Do not make me come looking for you.
The message ends there, and the kind of sounds of the town come
back to you. The the shuffling of will returns, and you can see
that the fixed and fire heading back over towards the group. At the same
time, as you glance over quickly to the area where you saw Fionner,
you can see a smaller crowd passing in front of the area where she was
again. But she's gone. I think then Marilin would kind of just shake
his head and immediately draws attention to everyone else. I just received a message
from a riot. Oh what did you say? Hold on? Hold on
one thing? At the time. Here, what's wrong? I who are
you looking at? Fire? And fix what's wrong? It's probably stupid,
but I just want to change of I just want to look different, maybe
a hair cut, hair style, change clothes, something, right. We
thought maybe it'd be best if you fit in a bit more, you know
the locals, And that's perfectly all right. I'm I'm glad you're okay.
Fire, try not sometimes for every lucks ondly mm hmm. This look is
called normal person look doesn't suit you. I'm gonna be honest, Manan,
what was happening? Well, I just received a message from Orias. He
he will wait for us at some's point for a few days, and hems
point greatly expressed he will not wait any longer. He does not want to
go looking for us. So I think it would be best we meet with
him. I went back at Summer's point five five days. Did he mention
why? What he wants to do? Why? You know he didn't mention?
Right, probably once a full debriefing of exactly what we encountered in the
mist and any clues that we found whilst we were up there, right,
we did report back to him over brain talk. I don't know why we
have to meet him. Oh, how else is he to speak with the
rest of you? It's been going well so far with your relaying messages.
Not really. What if I, you know, misunderstand something? All right,
you can brain talk him back and say, hey, I misunderstood something.
He does it get when I talk bit? He usually just straight up
just hangs up on me. If that was a term. Mhm right,
So some's point in five days? Yes, perhaps if we moved quickly,
maybe we could get out of that tower out at sea within five days,
although we'd have to hurry our business here up to do that that we would.
Can I do an insight check on Merlin to like, do I trust
that Merlin's definitely I'm gonna hurt everything correctly? Or would I maybe be by
suspicious? Do you trust the Merlin would have heard everything? Well? It's
nicely. Does he look kind of a bit? Does he look normal?
Does he look kind of frantic and a bit you know, hungry and stuff?
At the moment you give me inside checks on on on Merlin only get
advantage because it's Merlin. I feel like you've I mean, the thing is,
you've only know Merlin two weeks longer than everyone else. I know,
yeah, I know, you're oh wow, mine, but it's a whole
thing. Fire mm hmm, Melin. And I don't know why you fail
this so miserably, And I don't know this did just was very close to
my butt, and so I'm kind of I think that you're your fail here.
Isn't that you can't tell that he is doing poorly or I think maybe
you interpreted this that he's doing even worse than you expected. Actually, to
you, guys, Merlin doesn't probably look great regardless of the insight. It's
been a couple of days since he always been a fair few days since he
died and was brought back, and he doesn't look amazing. He looks pale.
His skin looks very very dry. In certain places, it's looking like
his body isn't retaining water very well. So it's he's starting to look thin
almost underneath all that hair. In places. His hair is doing like a
frazzle thing, which it already kind of is, obviously, but it is
looking a little more in disarray. I think for you, Fire, it
would look pretty damn bad for you. Fixed Melion really does not look good
right now. He's kind of twitchy. His eyes are darting around the place
every now and then. While he's talking to you, he seems immediately to
become distracted by somebody walking past. His eyes keep moving up towards your forehead
and then coming back down and focusing on you again. He's glancing over to
a stand behind where you guys are. There seems to be a group of
people. It's a stand selling basic clothing and nitwear. And yeah, he
didn't look great, I think to all of you. You get the first
part anyway, Merlin's not looking amazing right now. And when he doesn't get
this sustenance, he looks absolutely awful. And then fix on top of that,
you can tell that he seems very twitchy, distracted, maybe agitated or
anxious. It's kind of hard to figure out what it is for sure,
some sort of like hunger is setting in. There's another element to it.
He seems off to you, I think, And Merlin, I don't know
if you want to disguise anything else from the others, but if you want
to roll a deception check you can now. Otherwise I will spell some more.
Yeah, I'm not fake. You can see straight through this will and
fire not so much, but there's something up, something else seems to have
disturbed him since getting into town, since literally turning around speaking to fire and
coming back to him. There was just there's just something else up with him
in the way that he's reacted to you all, you just get that sense
there's something else, there's something else that he's holding back. Yeah, he
doesn't seem in good shape to any of you right now about mellon. You
haven't been hit by anything, have you since coming here? No, but
it's it's been a while since I had something to eat. Yeah, we
need to Let's just take a break from everything and let's get you fent,
all right, and then we can you can contact a rise if you want.
We can do whatever we will with that information. But you need to
eat. Mm hmm. Let's get and then three onks looking like a snack
to me right now, even you guys, and that's not good, even
me and this ugly brown cloak, Yes you, especially you. Thanks.
Do you want to do you want to like hunted food or do you want
to just go buy something? Should buy something? Do you want me to
put somebody in the herd? Lok? And no, we're going to find
a butcher, drat them down an alleyway. No can I can I see
a butcher or a meat place anywhere? Give me a perception check if there's
one right here for you. Funny. Oh yeah, this marketplace has quite
a few different things and places. There is a There are like three stalls
that have stood next to each other that seemed to be selling a vast array
of different meats and hides and pelts and things as well. But yeah,
there's fresh meat on there that looks like probably fresh killed today. All right,
stay with merlin. I'm just going to march straight over there, try
and get some brains. Yeah, there's a halfling who's finally cutting up some
pieces of just a large slab of some form of meat. And as you
approach, he says, hello, there, Hi, I'm looking for brains,
any description as fresh as you've got brains. He has a quiet taste.
Yes, very difficult. It's delicate, very delicate to cook brains,
you know, well, I do that from here in town. I don't
recognize your face. No, I'm traveling through, traveling cook. No,
I just cook as a side hobby. Mere deception check twenty three. Yeah,
he has put some of these things down. He moves over to the
second stall and pulls out two kinds of I guess it would look like iron
pots. He brings one up and says, yes, in here, we've
got a selection of varying meats. And well, I believe this is well
from the size of it, I had say, deer brain, great,
how fresh today? Today? Great? Anything else? Have you got another
one? Two? That one's a little larger. I'm not sure what that
is. It might be pig great. Yeah, I'll take them both.
Okay, there you go. Let's see. Well that's many people actually purchased
the brain. We usually sell it as awful, so I suppose good seasoning,
right, Yes, well it just call it a silver right hand him
over a silver Okay, thank you very much. I'm just leave straight away,
quite welcome. He's got swindled to ship, by the way. I
just want to feed. Might be mildly aware of it. But yeah,
you turn and head back to the others with three brains. Right, I've
gotten brains. We just need to grow some, my quiet, But then
give me a constitution saving throw. Yes, wait, oh boy, you
are the only one here who needs to make constitation constitution saving throws around brain.
You bring give me a you know what? One of them's gone,
was already gone, and he's like licking the brains off of his fingers.
Notice that I'm just looking around. I don't know what came over. I
think I'm exactly what came over. You. Well, I've got three of
them, so we can do a huddle, do you guy? Let's let's
do a huddle, and let's do a you know like audle hold my cloak
out to the side and kind of put it around me. Then ye,
well, he takes another one of the brains starts to eat. Wouldn't wait
till we move inside? As eating them? All? Okay, and go
good plan. I didn't even know I could eat that fast. You ever
see when you know, when you feed the dog and it just goes and
it's gone, And that's why you did that. Yeah, it was pure
animalistic. He was already kind of a dog and that was that was crazy.
Probably one of the three of you just witnessed there. Feel better,
Oh so much better? All right? Now, what happened? Don't lie
to me Melyyn. I know you weren't just hungry. There's something shaken you.
I mean, I could have sworn, and I saw a familiar face
just over there by that stall. Well, if I told you, I
don't know if you guys would believe me. But I did have a special
somebody once. Why wouldn't we believe? All right? Who? Because I'm
incredibly handsome? Well her name was Fiona, all right, I know,
like myself, a much greater wizard. Though sorceress said that I could have
swore and I saw her, but I was receiving the message at the same
time. I felt it was necessary to take it. And well, as
soon as Ariahs said what he said, she was gone. Well then I
hit to ask, but but is she still alive? Oh? Yeah,
No, she does this thing where she likes. She goes off and she
comes back, and she'll leave. She mostly leaves. But how does she
really pull my heart strings? I think give me a wisdom savings for her
seventeen Let me see what spells you have hold on. I need to do
a sweep, I need to clean up there. It's okay, I know
what it all means. Ah, you know what happens. The stuff of
necrosis begins to sing sort of a high pitched note, single note. You
can hear it. Nobody else can. But as soon as you mention,
when Fix asks if they're alive and you say yes, she does a sing
where she comes and goes this high pitched kind of ringing singing. Noise comes
from the comes from the stuff, and you, uh, you feel uncomfortable.
I think, very uncomfortable all of a sudden. I think Merlin's expression
would show that he's in a very distressed state. He would then pull out
the staff of necrosis from his back and maybe almost drop it gently on the
ground and kind of just look at it. It stops singing as soon as
you hit the ground with it, almost snaps you out of a reverie.
But yeah, I think you still feel uncomfortable. Sorry, I don't know
what came over me, but it was like the staff was It was as
if it was emitting like some sort of sound, almost like a song,
but not the most pleasant to the ears. Do you want someone else to
carry it for now? I should have been carrying it this whole time.
I'm sorry, No, it's fine. Merlin would then pick it back up.
We just shouldn't have with us in the first place. No, I'm
with you, will we shouldn't I shouldn't be holding onto this that much longer.
I mean, it's just a few more days until we meet with a
rise again, right now. I trust you, man, and I really
do. I trust you, But I don't know if maybe you heard is
the right way we can check. It's just some's point. It's just so
far away, and we just came from there, and five days is that
even long? Can we even get there in that time? From here?
I don't think so. Can we turned back? If we turned back immediately,
you could probably do it in five days. But we've come all this
way. I don't want to leave. Whatever potential intel is here, we
need to get to the bottom of it. Maybe we persuade him to meet
us someplace else, or we consider the option of deceiving him to the wrong
location and take advantage of that distraction so we can head east and check out
that tower in the sea. I mean, I guess I could try to
convince him. You could just ask him if he wants to meet us that
badly somewhere that we might not be able to make it too. Maybe he
could use some of his magical prowess to just teleport us there or quick in
our travel somehow, it's kind of unreasonable. He can teleport himself somewhere else,
really, that's the easiest. Yeah, he can meet us here.
What I don't He can move himself long distances, so don't I wonder if
he can move a whole group. I'm not sure. I don't know why
specifically Some's point, but that is what he said. And again, you
know, I can try and get a hold of him and convince him otherwise.
I wonder what his odd fixation is with Some's point, why he went
there in the first place, and why he would return there after the people
of that city have already seen him and know who he is. He's certainly
not going to be welcome back. You won't know because of its proximity to
the Mysts. He wanted to create distruction and Bloodlus's close to the mysts.
I understand that it's close to the Mysts. It just seems a rather returning
to the scene of the crime, so to speak. I agree, you
think the people there would not be too receptive. Surely they'd be on hi
alert anyway. I right, we should go some a quiet to discuss this.
There's what are we even going to do? Just tell him everything are
we going to try? And, as Dawn Walkers said, trap him,
I think we should hold off on making that decision until we see what's going
on here in dandlo. There might be some key information here we're missing.
How far I saw a loaf from here and is? Yeah, you're looking
at just about a day. You're as long as nothing goes wrong, right,
we can only go to down the loof. We convince him to meet
us elsewhere? Does he know where we are? I mean, I would
imagine he knows where we are. I'm sure he does so, then why
would he not meet us halfway picked somewhere near us? I can't stay I
know the guy, so I don't know. I don't know what he's scheming
the power play. Right, we have to go to him. Don't forget
that he has an army of hired help on a ship. Perhaps they're still
out at sea, somewhere where the law can't find them so easily, and
he may want to stay close to the water. Right. Perhaps he can
only teleport certain distances, and you can only get to a port or something.
I'd also imagine that maybe he could bring an extra person or two or
three with him. But moving all thirty forty to fifty. However many men
he has left, he probably can't bring them all, so he has to
stay somewhat close. I don't know hard to say what's going through his head,
but I still think we to Dandelo. Either way, exactly what we
tell him, who knows. Maybe we figure out what kind of story to
feed him after we've seen what's going on here, if we can find anything
of note in Dandalo. Okay, I just have a thought. Let's say
we just go to Dandalo. Well, it's actually not so I'll take the
apology after I'm done. Do tell If we go to Dandelo, Let's say
we take our time here, we shop, I get a disguise or change
my look. We go to Dandelo. We're looking for intel. We don't
have enough time to make it to Tom's point when he wants to meet us
there. Let's say he gets angry, warps to Dandelo, blows up the
town that's on Ayes, So maybe we can't We contact him now, get
that dealt with, so we don't have to worry about that. I think
it's more likely he just resort to more extreme methods to continue his research.
I'm not entirely convinced he would be able to simply burn down Dandelo either.
It took a coordinated effort when he attacked some's point, and even then he
was only partially successful, lost a huge chunk of his forces and their leader,
and they were forced to retreat in the end. Yeah, I just
don't want to No. I understand you don't want to be responsible for getting
other people killed. That's a valid concern, But I don't think he would
do it. It wouldn't be a smart move, just strictly strategically, if
he came to Dandalo, there's no quick place for him to retreat to.
It's not on the water. You'd have to flee into the wilderness the desert,
which would put him either heading towards Guardia to the west where he's a
wanted man, heading south into a poisonous desert, or north to lost in
the forest. I don't know there'd be nowhere for him to easily flee to
from Dandelo if he were to come here and take a fight with an entire
city. Let's just find a place too. I guess we can go eat,
go to the dinner plan place and then right, we should maybe speak
to the gods here. I can't remember what I was even looking for here?
Can anyone? Can anyone come to act arias if they hold the staff?
Or doesn't have to be Merlin? Why are you asking me? I'm
asking everyone. I don't think we've ever tried. Ah well, hmm,
maybe we I would just like to send Orias a quick message just to say,
hey, what you're asking is impossible. We would have to leave right
now, and we're not doing that. And that's if nothing happened on the
road, right. I probably should have said something when you mentioned that,
but you know, he doesn't seem like the type. Well if you say
otherwise, yeah, no, you're fine. Yeah, I just don't want
to get as bad side, you know. Yeah? Do you want to
try for that me? That's the right do I don't think you will.
If you want me to, I will. Don't find out on me you
suggested it. I can try. I'd like to go somewhere, not just
give me the blasted thing. Oh hold the charmer, okay, Marlin hands
will the staff? Okay? I'm uh at all of about two weeks of
practice figuring out how this magic stuff works? Marlin, how should I do
this? Well, it's m m. It's almost like this is going to
be very hard to explain. How How does I think? Just try to
focus on him and only him, even that smug, ugly face of his,
even though you don't want to think about it. You have to just
picture that, and I don't know, maybe maybe he'll get back to you.
I have not stopped picturing that face. Then this should be agree.
I'm going to I'm going to try to reach out this same way that I've
been focusing to communicate with the beings in the mist, like just kind of
channeling that same sensation through the staff, except instead of trying to reach the
mist, I'm gonna, you know, take a right at Albuquerque and try
to get a hold of Ariois instead and see if this works okay for you?
This is simply a wisdom save Oh that is a seven. A seven.
It is not good rom me a D ten first of all, A
ten, sanity damage every take. Um, you're grabbing staff, no response,
nothing crazy happens, and it explains to focus on Arias and you reach
outwards. Yeah. I was trying to ask earlier and I forgot. Do
we how much time has passed since the encounter with the troll? Did we
sleep at some point since then? Are we off of a long rest?
Or did we just travel all night? It's been about three hours. Okay,
so we're still banged up, basically, That's all I wanted to know.
Yes, you've had can have had a short rest if you want.
But I suppose technically you would have had a short rest, those of you
that get things on a short rest. But so, what exactly were you
thinking? You were thinking of it? Of various or contacting Orios uh,
focusing, focusing on Orias and picturing him, but using the kind of the
same sensation that I've used to try and speak with the entity in the mist,
except channeling it in a different direction this time. Okay, roll me
a D four one. I think for you this just feels like you've been
just punched in the brain. I think that's really all that happens here.
There is a sensation, and you've done this once outside of the myst where
you've attempted to sort of connect with that consciousness. In order for you to
do this, you need to roll much higher than a seven to flip into
that mist consciousness and then to potentially use it, or harness it, or
stabilize it, or even control it in some way to your benefit. You
get the sense that, I don't know whether it's you're too tired, the
day has been too long, or you feel like maybe you just screwed this
up in some way, but as soon as you attempt it, you get
that immediate connection. For sure, you're now pretty convinced that whatever that blanket
consciousness is that exists within the mist, you can connect with it pretty easily.
It certainly takes some concentration, but for you, after I think your
experience in Jyrus, you get that immediate sensation. But I think it also
feels like you've just flipped the wrong switch, and almost as if you take
an electric shock and it's instant. It is a horrible sensation that moves through
your brain, pulses through your mind as you mechanically take this tense psychic damage,
this tense sanity damage, feels like someone has has reached out from somewhere
and just split your mind into And I think there's probably just a second where
you're you probably say a few things, but it's just gibberish. You don't
even you're almost like trying to speak and your tongue gets caught in your mouth.
And yeah, but that's really I think all that happens there as you
attempt this, it really sucks. And guess what, you got a bad
headache? Yeah, given that I rolled like the highest damage possible, I
think I would probably lose my grip on the staff while I'm attempting it just
and it drops on the ground. Well, what did you say? I
said something? Did I this? It was like you were trying to say
cake, but your mouth was so shut. It's weird. I don't know.
I don't think I said anything. I know that that thing does not
like me. I thought you would figure it out. Yeah, I thought
I would too. But as soon as I tried to feel out any kind
of a connection there, it violently severed it. Mmm. You want to
try and fixed, not particularly, try and limit any connection I have with
that man? Mm hmm yeah, I'll try. I'll pick it up.
Yes, what are you trying to do? Mm hmmm, I like to
call a rise cost. Any spells that would allow you to do this first,
just anything like the message spell, for example, would allow you to
psychically contact. You're proficient with any magic whatsoever, I can do a misty
step. Then whatever you do is as ineffective as you can imagine it to
be. You're standing there concentrating or whether you're trying to do something or you're
spinning it around. Absolutely nothing happens to you anything. Hello did he answer
you? I think it's turned off all right? Hand me that, No,
just give it to me, Are you sure? Yeah? Okay,
I'll take the stuff and attempt to contact for us. Same question. Any
sort of ability to psychically message or connect with anyone, any of those sorts
of spells that would allow you to do that, or any diviner spells,
anything like that. No, I have m you have proficiency with our kana.
Yes, you do have a connection to Arias. Uh mmmm okay let
me see here. H m hm okay, what are you? What are
you? What are you? What are you using or doing specifically first with
this and how are you attempting to do this thing? The message Arias?
So I take the staff in both hands, and I I kind of try
and do the same thing I would do when I use any magic, which
is sort of imagine the effect happening and channeling through my body, and how
these tips of my fingers, and I imagine it going through the staff and
connecting with Arias not physically, but like imagining his voice responding to me,
mum okay, um okay. So, first of all, rommy wisdom saving
throw natural money, Moore nice, You know exactly what's happening. As soon
as you do this, you would begin this, you begin to connect,
or you try to reach out, or you think about him, or either
way, as soon as you attempt this with any real gusto or you begin
to concentrate on this thing, it is like someone reaches into your uh mind
and you feel your your fingers which are gripping this stuff, wobble, You
feel your legs buckle a little bit, and for a half a second,
someone else is utterly and completely in control of your body. You feel and
sense that they are desperately trying to look out of your eyes more than anything
else. But you cut it off and block it instantly and snap back to
this area. It is about half a second, but it is an extremely
uncomfortable feeling. I would imagine I should throw the staff straight away away from
me. Fuck was that there was like a something was trying to see through
me, through my eyes breathe, you're here, You're You're back with us
now, m every time I touched that stuff, no more. I I
know I need to do it. Merlin takes the staff and immediately casts enhanced
message. Yes. Ah, so the first thing you need to do for
me is let me see here. Uh sorry, hold on, I'm in
your sheet here from me a D four plus one wow five? Okay,
Oh, the spell is cast. You grab this thing and you send this
message out to arias Rommy a D two. There is a strange reverb that
I think hits you here when you make this kind of connection. First of
all, you are enhancing a spell using the school of the Void, this
magic that you have learned about and have begun to kind of understand to a
degree. And Rommy and arcnnage check as you do that, you have to
beat A one. But let's see how well you beat it. Yeah,
so you learn a couple of things simply by attempting this first. You're able
to enhance almost any of your spells to do all sorts of different things.
Your spells up until understanding and learning about the Void magic were locked within their
own schools of magic in the same way that the laws of physics work.
Certain laws bound or bind the other schools of magic, which is essentially what
the mechanical terminology of the wording of those spells is. They can't really go
outside of those things once you learn them. Two or three people can learn
the same spell, but they almost always get the same result. With you.
Now, you are able to smash and break through the rules of the
other schools of magic by twisting and enhancing them using this school of the void
of magic. But what you draw from is such a vast emptiness that by
using it it I think, much like how will experience connecting with the consciousness
of the miss. You connect with something larger than you can imagine, larger
than is comprehensible, and it drains you to do so, and you take
five psychic damage. Almost any time you attempt to enhance these spells by using
and drawing from the voids to twist and change the rules, you're going to
take some form of mental damage. This isn't sanity damage, it's actual physical
damage. Oh, I want to give you the benefit of the doubt and
let you roll a couple of hit die now if you want. Considering you've
had a short rest, because otherwise this is going to kou. Yeah,
this is but you have hit dice and you've had a short rest. So
if you want to use them, okay, I will, Okay, all
right, yep, I would. I would be down to it till I'd
be beaten pretty bad, unlike will connecting with this body of consciousness that is
the mist and feeling that sort of a feedback. This feels like something reaches
in to you and takes a piece of you as soon as you cast this
spell. It takes a very small piece of you. It cuts a slither
off of your spirit or your soul, or removes a very very small piece
of view, but a piece of you that you know that you will never
get back, and that psych damage is representative of that. But I think
there's just an element to it that I think maybe would unsell you in doing
so. You feel for a moment everyone, you can message anyone as long
as you know who they are. You can use this to message literally anyone.
And I think there are elements to you being undead that this would be
quite an overwhelming sensation. Again, a brief fraction of a moment. Yeah,
and you experience all of these things and you're able to send your message
by focusing yourself again concentrating on Arias and locating him. It doesn't do anything
like that. You know where it is. This isn't like you're connecting to
you know, some location necessarily, but you know that you can send this
message so much further than it should be able to be sent. This is
a spell that you understand. You can cast a message to somebody within about
one hundred feet of you that you can see. This is now sort of
allowing you to slingshot a message through something that you understand to be the void
of this vast emptiness, which is allowing you to access things that you probably
shouldn't be able to access. And what message you said, I guess,
just to clarify with a Rise, it may have been slightly distracted at the
time you sent me. Your initial message was that really somes point we were
to meet within the next five days. If you can confirm with the message
spell, you are able to receive a response, pretty short response, and
you get a response almost instantly from a Rise that says it seems the mist
has frazzled your mind almost as badly as my own. Gau's point I shall
be there in five days, and I will await there for only a few
days at most. I think Merlin has the space of like ah. I
would then imagine Barlin would snap out of this and look up at everybody.
Well, you know, like I said, uh, you know, when
when I initially received his message, I you know, I saw, I
saw Fiona, and then you know, I didn't have anything in my stomach,
you know, mm hmm. I might have misheard. Okay, and
well where to meet him? At Gore's point? Okay and not some support?
Right, that's even better. That's where we're going anyway. It's close
enough that we can probably make it in that time frame. Yeah, that
is well. Good thing. Uh, good thing. My trying to talk
to him didn't work because I was gonna it's fine misunderstanding when I used the
staff. Did I get any sense of what the being was that was trying
to see? I get like, any feeling give me and our conna chapt
with disadvantage if you would like, Oh cool, that's fine, it's that
one. H so. So No, just absolutely no clue, no sense
of recognition or resemblance to anything that I think. Oh, just nothing.
Something I'm just distracted. Now I'm just probably just shaken and frazzled. All
right, can we do, like do something, go somewhere, walk anywhere
to buy a wig? A great just a cheap, yep, cheap wig.
Right, let's go find a wig shop. Then there's gotta be one
here somewhere, right. Uh, maybe I'll just start walking in zig zaggy
patterns ever quickly trying to find a wig shop, trying to move okay,
and everyone's following along, just kind of beginning to take a moment, take
a breath, and wander around this this relatively open square with all sorts of
different shops and things and stuff. Let's see if they sell wigs here.
I don't see why they wouldn't, but I guess just rommy romy a perception
check fix seven seven. There's no like overt wig shop here that you can
see. There are a couple of places that look like they sell different types
of clothing. There is a you know, like a tailor, but popping
your head in quickly inquiring, doesn't seem like there are any wig specialists in
town. But maybe one of the shop keeps lets you know that they do
sometimes sell wigs with the trading markets, people coming in and out, so
it's not impossible that there would be someone with some forms of wigs and two
pays and things in town, but it's not really there's no wig shop,
and your quick scoot around, it's quite hard to find any any trader in
this immediate area that seems to have any wigs. But again, the tired
town is covered in marketplaces and stalls and various sellers and shops all over the
place. I think you probably walk past an alleyway and there's one of those
guys in a trench coat that's selling all sorts of stolen and fenced goods and
any wigs in there, wigs in there, a bunch of you know,
poorly made looking things and trinkets. So on your immediate look here, you
don't find anywhere that seems to sell any any wigs right now. And I
assume you're also kind of half keeping up this spell, just every now and
then, just recasting the spell. And yeah, it's very flickered when I
was using this stuff as I dropped concentration for a bit. But what about
hat? A hat? Would hat work a new cloak? I maybe I
can just tuck it, tuck it right, yeah, I mean I can't
see what you're doing anyway, because it just looks like I'll take it down
for a second. Fine, I could make I could deal like a beard.
You know, it doesn't look realistic. No, just get cutting off.
I don't know. No, No, it grows back its hair.
Yeah, but it's yours. Why would you cut it? Because I look
to see if Marling can hear me. We're getting out of here anyway.
We should just we can just disguise you for now and then we'll be leaving
in a day. Okay, I put the illusion back up, and I
actually, as I'm just before I put the illusion back up, I kind
of like make a pretend fire walk around a corner quite obviously somewhere else,
and then I make her. Okay, I'll roll the dice. What else
do you do? Oh yeah, I'll make a ten fire walker at the
corner, and then I'll make fire look normal at the same time, just
as that drops, like an average commoner. Okay, And you guys heading
anywhere in particular? Are you wandering around? What is what is your general
plan here? Plan to stay here for the night? Hmm? What time
is it you got here? Probably around eight pm, so it's probably around
nine pm. Now. This seems like one of those towns that doesn't sleep
early, though most people still seem to be active. There are people still
selling wears, and there are people still buying things and trading. Seems to
be a lot of trading going on in this town. Most of the places
are open, but you can see there are a couple of taverns here.
There's one that you that is in this literal square, which is called the
it's called Go Go's Alehouse, and it's packed. People are in there and
they've been in there a lot, but you can see there's more and more
people heading in. Right, we strength for the night, sleep rest,
maybe headed Dandalo tomorrow and then straight. We're not in a good we're not
in great shape to go out on the road. And besides that, we
don't have a ride anymore if we want to hire a cart, right,
be a long walk to Dandelo. Okay, we agreed to meet what was
his name at the slumberingerspy Tonights General sun one Hi for one could use a
good meal, so yes that bargain. Yeah. The four of you begin
heading towards the upper ward then, which is the sort of plateau is split
into three sections. The whole thing kind of has an incline upwards and heads
towards the very large squat castle that sits on the highest point of the plateau.
But the second walled area, which has three enormous gates that are open
all day. They simply would only ever be closed under some form of an
attack, allow you to pass to the upper ward, and it's very very
similar looking to the to the other section, but you do pass through a
residential area for the first time since really being here, just a thick set
of multi storied houses. For the most part, you just the hustle and
bustle of the square that you were in with all the markets and stuff kind
of dies down. But there are still people traveling up and down the roads,
many of them with carts or pulling hand carts behind them with wears on
them, but less people showing at you to buy a plum or you know,
here's a thing that you definitely don't need purchase it today. Until you
come to the the the upper ward, where there is another town square.
There is a crowded area with lots of shoppers. There also seems to be
like a few smaller crowds of people that are gathered around entertainment. There are
two two bards that are playing songs to a pretty decent crowd of people.
They seem to be standing around eating food and drinking while they watch these bards
out on the street. Passed by an area where there are guys playing dice
in an alleyway and there are a bunch of people betting and throwing coins at
each other. But at the center of this secondary square, in the upper
ward you can see the tavern, the Slumbering Respite, a much bigger looking
thing than go gos, and it looks more like an inn in the sense
that it's longer, and it's got an upper floor that has multiple rows of
windows with similar looking things, most likely bedrooms that you can stay in.
Big open door covered in blank ivy on one side of the building, with
an archway over the doorway. And it's pretty nice looking tavern. Again,
you've spent time in Coal and in Jeryis where the taverns were not very inviting.
Coal's tavern has literal holes in it from Grell's and things. And this
thing is pretty well made brick thing with a nice shingled roof and ivy and
a well carved and new looking sign that says the slumbering Respite with a bed
and a pint of ale carved onto a hanging sign. Again, busy looking
thing. But I think we probably see you pass across this square through all
of these crowds of people and the head over towards that building. And it's
probably a good time for us to go to a break as well, a
little later than usual, and we're going to go to a short break here,
ladies and gents. We will be back after a few minutes and we'll
see what the plan is for the rest of the evening and tomorrow before the
crew head out. Multiple different options. Now the options keep coming for you.
Huh, Welcome to the dark round. This is a pretty difficult place
to live. I said, welcome back to part two of this episode.
And I was just discussing with my wonderful players here that it is possible to
purchase a lot of things in this town as there is this is the place
to go to buy things. If you want to buy things, you can
assume that there is a lot of everything here. It's just a matter of
finding it, such as wigs, things that you can buy in this town
alcohol, animals, books, maps, flowers, food, animal parts,
furniture, high fashion, jewelry, gems, nick knacks, leather, working
things. There are mechanical contraptions. There's all sorts of armors, oceans,
poisons, herbs, lots of religious things, songs, spell tons, and
scrolls for wizards. There are lots of thieving supplies, tools, and there
are some legendary merchants here that sell things like enchantments and magical items. And
those legendary merchants probably sell things at a price. So if there was ever
a time to purchase things, you can if you want, assume that you
can quick buy. It would probably be tomorrow morning, or maybe you pick
them up on the way here to this tavern as you were looking around.
But if any if there's anything that jumped out to you there also don't forget
you still have access almost every single town in your handouts in the in the
in the rod twenty you have of this thing with the adventuring items on it.
Pretty much everything on there is available in the towns. Remember that some
potions are cheaper. Potions are around or really the only thing that's cheaper in
this saying everything else you can assume is about the same price, but anything
that is off of a special merchant, such as off the list. But
I just listed off, and I know that was a general list. But
if I list off every single possible thing in the town, then it's crazy.
Let me know if there's anything you want to quick buy now and have
had picked up on the way here. I'd like five healing potions if we
can five, yep, I think five is perfectly doable. Yeah, all
right, cool. There are gold pecs, remember in this saying so goal
one gold per wait, let me make a note of one buy and so
I know how much did it duct? Later? I have feeling potions fi,
I've got each. I'd like a flask of oil. Anybody else,
well, I Merlond, do you need any herbs potions? You know what?
Can never have too many, especially if I can craft greater portions of
healing. Yeah. Well, with greater portions of healing that you can craft,
you have to find the wild mushrooms for let me see how much they
are to buy out right, I mean yeah, let's see if they have
to be here, and I will point out some fire that they have.
Costume clothing, as well suggesters outfit. You're in the upper ward now,
actually give me another perception checks if you can find somewhere that sells wigs or
hats seventeen seventeen you actually find somewhere that sells up a bunch of hats and
a couple of wigs in there robby a D twenty to determine whether it's the
type of wig you're looking for or not under a ten will be or neither
review. Let's go with you. This is your luck. I don't want
to be responsible for your tap. You. You walk in and whatever wig
you want or need is right there, and it costs two gold pieces.
I can't believe it. It's so cool. That'll do now the thing that
you are looking for. Aha, here it is okay. These these mushrooms
are not cheap. This is a common item, so per mushroom, it's
five gold piece. The mushrooms that make the greater potions of healing from melin
and you can still mess up the creation of them because this is the raw
ingredient. So if you want to purchase the mushrooms, which are those classic
looking amanita mushrooms, the red capped ones with the white dots on them like
you see in cartoons all the time. This is what they're called. That
is what you've been finding to create your healing potions, and it's Merlin's skill
that allows them to be a potion of greater healing. But you can purchase
those at five gold pieces per expensive. There's a lot of things here actually
that you could you could make. You can make poisons. You can make
truth serum. Well, actually you can get the ingredients to make truth serum
Ocean of poison. You can find the ingredients to make rules like an oil
of sharpness, which will allow you to you coat a slashing or piercing weapon
with it and one hour the coated item is magical and has plus three bonus
to attack and damage rolls. But you're looking at about fifteen gold pieces to
purchase the ingredients, and then Merlin has to not screw up the making of
it. So it's a bit of a gam before you if you want to
make some of these potions. The ingredients are really yeah, that's good.
Who would use it a fire I assume probably be the best person. He
already has quite a lot of plus to their attack. But everything will help
me because I would be swinging it more than once. But I mean that's
sound like we could figure out at the moment. I think just having it
with us was just a whether or not it's worth doing. But yeah,
yeah, all right, we'll get that. Then all right, so how
many mushrooms are you buying? Any So hang on, that's the for a
portion of what for the fifteen girl pieces, that is for an oil of
sharpness. I love sharpness cool. And then do you want to buy three
mushrooms three greater portions of healing? You know what, let's do it.
Okay, three mushrooms. Probably could forage for them, but yeah, well
he has to forage one a day. Yeah, he can only find one
per day for it. So buying them gives you at least think how much
mortal peril will get in every time we step out of a town. And
then you also purchase the required ingredients for the other thing, which is ankhe
geker and silver thorn. And you need two silver thorns. So that's an
another fifteen gold for the three ingredients for the oil of sharpness fifteen gold or
the three do you say three or four mushrooms? Three? Three great?
So yeah, thirty gold from the the herbalist that you find along the way,
and when probably overnight or maybe when you get some downtime, Merlin,
you will be able to make your herbalism rolls to see if you butcher the
creation of these things, waste the ingredients, or whether you make these oceans.
Can we see what kind of scrolls they have for sale? Yes,
scrolls are a whole thing. Here's the thing that it costs you money to
copy a spell into your scroll as well as the scroll. So if you
find the scroll, for example, you find a scroll of a spell that
you want to learn, you will also have a cost. Depending on the
school you will have specialized in a particular scool of magic, which I think
for you was evocation. So for your let me see here, copying a
spell into your book involves reproduce in the basic form of the spell and deciphering
the system ba ba blaveh. Process takes two hours and cost fifty gold pieces.
The cost represents material components you expend as you experiment with the spell to
master it. So when you buy a scroll, it will cost you the
cost of a scroll and plus fifty gold pieces. Again, this is another
thing with with your character, with wizards. It's the same as the hobalism
in a way that you have this extra thing on top of it. So
bear that in mind whenever you purchase a scroll, scroll for the wizard.
Wonderful scrolls and books. Yeah, there's a bookseller. This is probably an
actual store, like a shop that you walk into bell Dings and there are
books piled up left and right, bookshelves all around you, bins with books
in them, and a very large eyed halfling in a nice outfit will appear
and maybe take you around, walking you through the varying books and things.
There are blank spell books, there's parchment, there's ink, there are things
that you can store paper in, all sorts of things like that. In
here. There are books of ritual books that allow you to cast, to
copy a ritual spell into. There are scrolls all over the place. He's
throwing them at you. I guess really what this comes down to is if
there's any spells off of the wizard spell list that stand out to you,
and you are looking for any spells that you wanted to learn, and then
the cost of that scroll depends on that. Cantrips will not cost as much
as first level spells and second level spells, and there's probably a scroll in
here somewhere that was scribed into a golden plate that is a ninth level spell
scroll. Also, for the record, anyone can buy a scroll and use
it. You just need a proficiency in arcana and then you can read the
spell off. But there's a chance that it will go wrong and the scroll
will simply burn up. So if you have any sort of proficiency in arcana,
you can use spell scrolls. But a wizard copying the spell into his
spell book is a far more. Is it only wizard spells for him to
be able to copy into his spell book? Yes, avocation spells cost you
like half, I think, let me just avocation savant the money in time
you spent to copy and a vocation spell is half. So it's only twenty
five gold for an avocation spell. So I will remember a few other lists.
Still, there is a list of spells. Yeah, you're being walked
around and he's pointing out all of these different scrolls. This is chill touch.
This one will allow you to mend things that have broken, and this
one will you can spit poison at people. And then he's he finds another
one. If you put your hands together. This will cause flames to spill
out from your hands. It's very very useful, but not in this shop,
and walks over to another one. Ah, this is a This allows
you to puppet things like a puppet. It will make a good, good
bit of coin on the street. This will allows you put people to sleep,
very strong with it. This one casts like lightning. Do you have
lightning bolt? Lightning bolt? Lightning polt? Now, let's see what level
lightning bolt Isn't that pretty high level spell? It's a third level spell.
Yes, you cast those level spells. I have no idea what you people
can do anymore. I've given up lightning bolt. Rommy a D twenty.
See if he has a scroll of lightning bolt in stock seventeen seventeen. Yeah,
he wanders off for a moment and finds a scroll, brings it back
to you and looks at it and jumps and runs away, coming back to
bring you this scroll. He places it carefully down, reads through it.
You can see that the script on this scroll was written by by an elf
of some kind. This is written in Elvish type of thing that you can
understand, nicely transcribed, easy for you to learn and copy into your book,
and he pushes it forward and says, that'll be two hundred and fifty
gold pieces. I beg your pardon. Two hundred and fifty gold pieces.
Why can't we haggle this down? Don't you think that's a little overpriced?
Well, I have to understand that. I mean, these are very hard
to come by, and I have to trade in. Some high elf somewhere
probably described this. It probably took them weeks to ensure that it was scribed
correctly and make sure that then we have to find somebody to touch it from.
I understand there are lots of traders coming through, but the scrolls are
not very easy to come by. The paper itself is probably worth two hundreds
that gold. I just, of course, Yeah, how often is it
that you get a wizard coming on by here buying your scrolls? Well,
it was just about every day. Well, this is of course a very
dangerous spell as well, so there's a little tax hike on that. I
don't have anybody walking around with a scroll of lightning bolt, I unfortunately must
will I refrained from this purchase. It's a little way out of my budget.
Yeah, but thank you, Yes, we have a some cheaper look
at you. Perhaps you'd be more interested in one of these scrolls. And
he points to a bin of half ripped, old looking bits of paper as
a fly buzzing around one of them. But the bottom one of them is
literally just absolutely so ancient that it's turning to dust before your eyes. Yes,
these are a lot cheaper the scrolls in here. Uh perhaps, but
there absolutely is certainly not anything that would that would match a lightning bolt,
of course, but maybe you'd be interested in a blade ward. The entire
bin is probably filled with blade ward. Yeah. Oh I'm good, but
but thank you. That's mighty kind of you to offer bladeboard. Look lightning
lure. Oh, that's that's the right, you know, with that,
I'm sure, but not as great written by Dwarf. Oh, I mean,
I'm not. I'm not going to judge. Yeah, what what's that
supposed to mean? Big hands? Right? It means you can barely read
it, That's what it means. Still it's lightning like, don't you.
I do very much, but I can't even make out half the words on
it. But if you want it, I can sell it at a bargain
price for you. And how much is a bargain price fifty gold pieces,
my good friend. Okay, now out of town, I will have to
pass. I will politely decline, and Merlin will start taking a few steps
back. Well it was, it was a lovely browsing through your weares,
but I got some friends waiting for me, so I will I will make
my leave, and Merlin just scurries off anywhere can day the old bell guys
over the door, No cross defeated. Expensive. Being a wizard is expensive.
Being a wizard sucks when it comes to the cost. You can have
any spell, get more spells than any other a class, but you've got
to pay for him. And that's what you get for learning, instead of
just asking someone to give you spells for free or being born a sorcerer.
Okay, everyone leaving demon. I asked question only because I just don't trust
the fire is attempting to steal it, but I'm not. How dare you
good? You consider it? And then your fingers feel sore for no reason,
and you're buying what sorry rations yet by a bunch of rations? And
is there anything anyone else was thinking of looking at you? Guys? Kind
of upgraded some armor in the last town a little bit, so I think
you're all good in that way. And trinkets and things. Yeah, mark
offs for some arrows and how many again, just twenty or more? Just
twenty. We're not we're not counting each individual arrow. The rule was that
just every time you hit a town, you spend a little bit on some
and we assume that you have enough. M hmm. Yeah, what would
Marlin need to make an anti toxin motion? Anti toxin? Let's see you
can do this, so that would be uh. I have a pretty cool
PDF that has a bunch of different things. It's called Crafting Alchemy, Herbalism
and Poisons. If you want to find it. I don't know where I
found it from. Bought it off for DMS guilds somewhere. DM's out there
just for times like this. Aha, need some berries and uh, well,
technically anti toxin. You want something that cures poisons. Not so really
you want another elixir of health. I think the anti toxin gives you advantage
on saving throws against poison for one hour health. Yeah. I haven't mentioned
this because technically, you know, no one ever told me about the poison
in the square. But this is just your friendly reminder that will can purge
poison out of people already, you're a paladin. I hasn't told you fix
the stay and loyal No one mentioned. I'm just saying, I can you
know, would we know you can do that? I've already done it for
Merlin twice, and I think both times you've seen me force something out of
Merlin twice now like foreign substances out of him. Once it was the like
the berries, and once it was the boggle. So I don't know.
Maybe you'd put two and two together. I guess not. I don't think
you can make an elixir of health, so that's fine. Yeah, I
think you're down to Okay, that's fine. Let's say I didn't magic.
We knew you could do it, but obviously, for the sake of discretion,
didn't want to ask. So we U see the elixir of health.
I'll say that I was just sitting there like, oh, we've been poisoned.
We'd best not tell. The one person in the party is who can
heal magically. What's going on? Well, it was by my butt.
Okay. You know they do sell here gillye weed tm um, which is
not coffee righted at all? Allows you to make a portion of water breathing
h any specific reason. No, I just didn't mention it because I'm looking
at the things that are available under a certain level of crafting here. So
that is the other thing that he can get. That's the that's a five
What do you get here? I think you might get more than one for
this though. Mmm. For five gold pieces you get two D four leaves
of it. How long does that last underwater? Well, a potion of
water breathing I think lets you breathe underwater for an hour. You basically become
a fish as well, I think, unless you don't swim and fight effectively
if you needed to. That's five gold piece for two D four leave.
Yeah, and that's potentially an hour underwater. Okay, yeah, I guess
we'll buy someone, We'll buy We'll buy five goldsworth, Yes, saw me
at two D four someone, Merlin? Would you like to well? Was
that again? Yet? Plusure to breathe on the water for an hour after
you drink the potion? Rob me two D four five you have five leaves
of gilliweed tm oh wow uh and with those you will be able to potentially
make potions of war breathing as well. So you have five shots at that.
Yeah, I think that's all you can really get here under Merlin's skill
level. We'll buy more. I feel like we might. M So there
is bought a month. Oh what was you going to say? Fella?
Oh, I need to refill the bag of kinks. So one a cow
tramp, a hunting trap, and an oil flask which had total six gold
and one silver. Mark it all off. How much have you spent so
far? H fifteen thirty fifty one? And what does your wig look like?
Did you buy? You bought the wig right for two gold and that
would and what does it look like? I am still deciding. Oh okay,
but I will have that for you next week. Okay, but it
looks really good. Sure, yeah, yeah, it looks great. Yeah,
I'll roll the dice, no reason whatsoever. Cool. Yeah, you
guys, I think kind of wandering through from the original marketplace up through the
residential area back into this new square, there's all of these other There are
traders all over the place. There are people sat on carpets that are selling
you some of these things. You walk past a couple of different herbalists stalls,
You find a potion cellar, you find the high fashion highware with the
wigs and the bookshop and scroll seller, picking up the general things that you
pick up over the course of maybe another hour as it hits maybe around ten
pm, when we finally catch up to where we left off for the break,
where you had approached the tavern. Wow, that's a my brain is
functioning at one thousand percent today apparently. And yeah, I think you probably
head in. I assume you just wandering. It is a relatively inviting looking
place with a big path at the center. There's a massive collection of alcohol
behind the bar, pretty standard looking but clean and decent, well kept haverned,
lots of shelving with bits and pieces on that. You can see some
swords, arrows, and a few military things that represent guardia hung on the
walls, suggesting that this place is maybe one of the bars that the military
frequent. You can see a handful of the guards sitting around with the purple
sashes on. You can see a handful of the soldiers without the purple sashes
that are more general soldiers in here. You can see quite a few tables
with a bunch of burly looking men and women who might be off duty soldiers
and things like that. But there's plenty of townsfolk in here as well.
There's a few traders and travelers. You get the sense that there are some
other people in here who probably remind you of Guinness, though there's no sign
of Guinness himself. You're a little earlier than the time you had planned to
meet with Ezra. He'said, give me like a few hours, I think,
he said. So he's probably you can probably expect him within the hour,
but he doesn't seem to be here. When you do head in,
there's a very very thin and very tall human man standing behind the bar.
He has very clean and pressed set of clothing on, and he is serving
drinks to varying people. You can see a handful of bar staff. People
move between the tables serving different bits of food as you move through the room.
Actually, you're probably hit by the varying smells. It seems like they've
got like meat balls here. You catch varying stews, a couple of people
eating things like sandwiches. The food looks pretty good here as well. Again,
you're coming from Jyrris and Coal, and while the food was technically fresh,
the preparation was so so in here. Whoever is cooking these things seems
to be doing a pretty decent job of it. Most people drinking things like
wine and cider instead of the basic ales and beers that you found in Jyris
and Coal. They have some decent looking drinks. Here again, a massive
array of different liquors behind the bar as well. One of your heads up
to the bar and the very very tall looking human with a fully shaved head
but a thick mustache that covers his mouth. You approach him, he places
a glass down. He's got three rings on his hand, and he looks
down towards all of you and says, what will it be? How many
days has it been? Brad? Can I get drunk? I don't think
you can. No. What was it to? I think? And I've
been trying to track it correctly, but I am sometimes quite bad at tracking
this kind of mechanical stuff. The gms that hate me are always are screaming.
Now they're screaming. But I believe this is day fourteen of the campaign
since we first saw you, So it's actually it's been about two weeks since
our in game, since you all met, about four weeks since Grant's refuge
for you, and I think I can't remember what was the amount of time
that you were cursed with? Sixteen days? Yeah, you're probably going to
be this whole campaign. You're probably not going to be able to escape that.
Honestly, it's very plastered in the finale of the kid. If if
you're will try and time it so that you can at least have a what
would it be a victory or a commiseration drink as you inevitably explode the planet
or something. But right now now you still can't get drunk. I'm sorry.
The rest of you can if you want, you order beers, and
while you probably can't get drunk, drinking a beer is probably preferable to some
of the other things on offer. The The bartender introduces himself as Bones and
goes around and pause each of you four tankards of beer. The beer shows
up, and it is a strong smelling beer. It's quite dark, a
dark looking ale, but pretty standard stuff. He pushes the tankards across to
you and says, we be eating later, I think waiting for a friend.
All right, Well, the tables towards the back over there by the
windows, them's three eating. If you just drinking at the bar or on
this side, great, you're staying. Yeah, yes, all right,
the gold piece per? You want a room each or a group room?
How much is the group room? Group room? Four gold? We can
share? Right? Sharing? Yeah? One group room? Then? Please
four beds or is it moria four? He's sharing beds? Maybe double beds?
Y in the one room? Four double beds? Well, you want
a group room, but I don't know it's a couple. Can we each
get a room and I just I'll pay for it, the big boy,
I'm fine. Roommage, you're a group room. How much is a roommage?
Two gold per room? By night? All right? Find one room
each? Four rooms? All right? Do you want your own room or
do you want to stay with I don't want to be by myself. I
will stay with you, Marlin and I will share one room, all right?
Three rooms? Mm hmm? Okay, double bed yep, all right,
I suppose unexpected shadow from the nome. We're not all right? But
you still want to double bed though, But two friends can't share the same
bed. He crawls up at the end of my bed like a dog usually.
Okay, whatever you're into, Yeah, no problem, all right,
we'll get your rooms made up for you and I'll I'll bring the keys over
and tell you where they are later on. Okay, we're not fucking,
it's all right. Yeah, your husband never needs to know. I don't
even know if I am considering. I'm dead tired. Yeah, make yourself
comfortable. If you need food, head on over or whistle at one of
them. Lot, thank you. I'm not married. Who said you're married?
He said, husband doesn't need to know. He troll in the twenty.
That's fine, fire, Okay, I am eighteen. There is a
table that will see six of you. You see a group of people stand
up and head out. A dwarf runs over, cleans the table, nods
that each of you as you approach. But this table has actually got a
window view, so you can see out into this kind of this square out
there where people moving around, some of the music from the minstrels trailing in
through the open doorway, the light of the burying lamps and fires around the
square lighting up, with all the different windows and stores and marketplaces still opening,
several of them shutting down now, but the you have a decent view
for the evening as you sit down with your bears around a table and presumably
await for your friend Ezra to show up. And on that note, let's
have fair light roll Mia D twenty a two one two and a two.
So far, at least this isn't the troll fight from last week. Yeah,
an hour passes an hour and a half. You're probably starting to get
really hungry, and there's no sign of Ezra. Doesn't it doesn't show upright.
I love free food as much as the next guy, but I don't
feel like waiting for this guy anymore. Maybe we could just go a he
could pick up the tab, we can put it, we can say it's
on his tab. Yeah, I bet they know him. He lives here,
that is true. Let's let's get the whole menu. Mm hmmm it's
tab. He's not staying here. Why would he even have a tab?
I don't know. Just good, all right, try it and works?
It works with a try who's trying it? All right? You probably head
up to the bar at some point and the barman lets you know what there
is available? Food wise, meat balls and stew with potatoes, your beetroots
sandwiches, and we've got egg stew with peas, fresh peas and all got
me today? Wow? Yeah, A right little twag called guinness. He
hyked up the fucking prices and all sounds like a bad, terrible, terrible
man. Yeah, and he's been traveling with some massive, absolute hunk of
a man, long flowing hair, eyes like fire. Apparently he killed seventeen
trolls with just his hands, and then he pulled out a blade and started
going at the ogres. Mm hmmm, travels with a wizard and a witch
and no one else. Yeah, that is I've heard the same thing.
I think it's accurate. I don't want to risk it, so I paid
the price fresh peas with the eggs jew. Okay, do you know a
fellow named Ezra from me D twenty mm nine? Never heard of him?
Okay, well, he's a member of the guard and he told us that
we could. We saved him and escorted him here. There was a troll
fight, this whole thing, but he said that we could eat here on
his tab. Give me a deception check, okay, yeah, you have
to beat a thirteen. Oh yeah, I'm sure he did. Okay,
good, so just write that down and we'll take the lot. So all
right, no such thing as tabs, not any air. What do you
think I'm running a pisole like go go, don't look like a goblin at
you? Uh? No, you look so good? Did I have I
seen you before? Somewhere? Do you travel? Trust me? I love?
It ain't gonna work. Fuck ah, you know that the long flowing
hair guy, that's my friend. Really he's a hero from me a deception
check with advantage. Really give him your away kind of? It's also bullshit.
You have long flowing hair, Huh. I wouldn't describe it as flowing.
You have a clopped military haircut with a couple of superman carls at the
front. Will Will keeps his hair short enough that if you try to grab
him by the hair, you're not gonna get much. That's call it long.
He seems interested by a minute, mm hmm doing the witch? Ay,
I don't know if we can eat on that tab. It's this beautiful
hunk of a man. Uh, I can introduce you to him. We'll
bring him up. Do you want to write down Ezra on a little piece
of paper? Why so we can eat on his tap. There's no such
thing as a tab, okay, but make make a tab pick up what
I'm putting down. Just write his name down on a piece of paper.
No, okay, ever meeting You're never gonna meet the beast? What do
they call him? The beast? Oh? You want to know? Don't
you want to walk away? I've written it down. Okay, that's what
I thought. We'll take the lot. When you say the lot, you
mean one of each, four of each, but I don't know you got
four of each? Four of each? All right, but I'll want one
date with the Beast guaranteed. And I put my hand out. He holds
his hand up and says, mm hmm. Fuck me over, and I'll
send the Zola after you, the Zole. What you know who the Zola
is? Right? Mm hmm? Remind me? How can you know known
is? What? Does that mean? You ain't one of the silence?
Mm hmm? Are you right? You know we're the leader of the Silence.
Yeah. I think we're called that for a reason. Yeah so maybe,
Oh she's my best friend? Oh okay, do you want to introduce
me? What? Huh? Fine, I'll just hand out. Okay,
one date all right with the leader? Like like what yep, you're lead
your hand out. I want to date with the bees. I don't want
to date with Zola. No, I want to date with I want to
date with your friend, and you get a date with my friend, all
right, dar And okay, okay, So you want to pay for the
food, then nope, I'll go get my friend bye, and I'm gonna
go get well okay, and I'm gonna say it will Yeah, are we
paying for our food or nope? Because I am very charismatic and charming and
people love me. You threatened him, didn't you? No? I did
not. I'm seeing your charm. You sure you didn't threaten him? Maybe
with a good time is all at your that's how you want to pay your
bills? Go for it? Well, I think just he might say some
things and you it's really simple. So all we gotta do is like,
is it the story? The exaggerated stuff again? Young? Yeah? Yeah,
he heard about you the beast and all that, and he wants to
know what the beast is like between the sheets and all. So excuse me.
Here's the thing I've learned from you, that it's important to be a
man or woman of your word. Right, that's important right to me?
Something to me now? Because we're friends. So I guaranteed him a date
with you, and that's it's important that I keep my word. You will's
body for a ball of stew sounds it sounds to me like you've become my
pimp for one meal. Oh well, you you know, some people could
be described it in such a way. I got stew how much to Oh
yeah, that's not gonna work because I guaranteed it. And I even shook
his hand. And ship ton of food suddenly shows up at the table.
You get four big bowls of meat bowls and stew with potatoes, four beetroot
sandwiches with rice on the side that's pretty rare and good, and egg stew
with fresh peas. They also delivered two bottles of wine, a red and
a white. I'd say it's worth it. It's worth it. Will you
go on a date with the guy? Yeah? You will. You will
get it. You will keep my word. It's not the same as me
keeping your word. There's a difference. You have to keep my word.
It's a well I made it a thing. Now, it's that's how it
works. Now. I'm I'm still learning. You know, you can't let
this all go to waste. It will upset me considering I can't eat any
of this anymore. Yeah, do you want Merlin to cry really loudly.
I will, I will throw it. Do you want a tantrum? Are
you going to throw a tantrum? Fire? No, but Merlin will,
And if it doesn't work, maybe I will. That would be kind of
funny. Proceed Is it gotta be fun? You're not supposed to get a
laugh out of it? Do you want to start? Do you want to
cry like a cry like a baby? I don't know. Kick your holds
the scene. I'm gonna get kicked out. Just well, you gotta do
this. No, I'm not reluctant in any way to throw I could we
could buy our own meals. There's no guaranteed it. Do you know what
a guarantee is. I did a handshake, he shook his hand, I
made eye contact. There is no need to resort to this when we could
simply buy our food the normal. Yeah, but I did a good thing.
I did a handshake deal with the man, and I did a guarantee,
A good thing by whose definition? By his he's he gets a night
with the beast. You haven't had it. I mean we've been out for
how long and you haven't had a night alone with a lovely, sensual sensual,
sexy, funny, smart. Oh he looked into his eyes. It
is a swirling great stop and he didn't smell that bad stop it No oh
no, okay, I gotta I'll be back. Oh is he doing it?
I think I think maybe he is? No, I you know,
I think I did a whoopsie there. Yeah, maybe don't do that again?
I yeah, yeah, So which one I use? The base?
Uh? Funny thing is it's me. I am polymorphed into this form.
I will coust illusion and make fire look like this giant long flowing hair,
flowing hair muscle stuff. I do a spin, just kidding. It's me.
It concentrating intently, you're trying to keep this illusion going. I am
the beast. That is the beast, all right? I saw you cast
that spell. By the way, that'll be twenty five gold pieces. Then
for the dinner, I still get a date with your friend? What spell?
Guys still get a date. But we haven't eaten anything yet to introduce
you to my friend. We haven't touched the food yet. Can we get
a discount? Unfortunately, you have paid for the food with lies. Listen,
I it wasn't a lie. Well, this isn't the beast, but
we are traveling with the beast, but he's not available right now, so
he just stepped out. Yeah, does anybody mind if we smash cut to
you guys being kicked out the bar and the three of you are slung out
of the bar, thrown out into the into the street of the of the
town there. H how oh I mean, oh I didn't really. Maybe
next time I'll do the negotiating. I you know, I said who should
do it? And you were like, fire and stay out. Try your
luck at go and gos. They are all a bunch of swindlers down there
anyway. And if you my doorway again, single silence after you don't say
the name, there is silence. It's I don't. I'm just I've made
a whole web of lies. Great. Uh, well I'm still starving and
we were going to meet Ezra and now where are we supposed to meet es?
Do you think he's dead? I don't. He didn't even show who
knows where he is? Also? Will are you okay? I would be
out back behind the building alone currently if you want to go looking for me,
yeah, I would go looking as soon as we've been kicked out.
I'm like I just look after Merlin a second, stay here, please go
anywhere. Tell him I didn't mean it, you know what. I'm not
gonna tell him anything. I don't think it's gonna help, okay, And
I'm just gonna go look for will. Yeah. Well I wouldn't be hard
to find. Ah, well will you? Okay? Not really. I'm
sorry about all that, you know, like just gets carried away. And
I mean I suppose we wanted. I'm sorry. I think even I kind
of loose track of time a little bit while we're on the road. You
know what, feels like it's been a lot longer than it really has been.
It's only been what two weeks? Just barely? Yeah, right,
and I mean it weird approximates. You can't be helping things right now.
Which I could just talk to her one most time mm hmm if you could,
what would you say? I don't know. You hard to pick one
thing, you know, probably ends up sounding kind of cliche. But I
wish I could have told her I loved it one last time. Mhm.
There was there's a lot going on. Do you blame yourself? You shouldn't.
Hum, No, it doesn't work that way. It really doesn't you
know, I could. I could sit here and talk about how many of
them there were and we were ambushed unarmed. There was no winning that fine,
that isn't my fault. I don't know. Maybe I could have noticed
it happening a little sooner, but no, stop, it was a day.
No, I don't think it was my fault. But it doesn't stop
me from waking up in the middle of the night here in her scream.
All this traveling and fighting, killing, spilling blood. It's taking my mind
off it a little bit. Maybe not, maybe that's not for the best,
but the very least keeping us you me now, the two, keeping
us alive has been It's given me a sense of purpose over the past two
weeks since I lost my last one, helped me take my mind off things
and then stuff she was saying tonight, it was kind of just dragged it
all back to the front of my mind again. It's hard to put it
out. Yeah, I don't know what you're going through right now, but
I know what you mean, and I'm sorry. I reach out to put
an arm around you then kind of give you like a tight, one armed
hug. Thanks. I think of all the things you could be doing you're
doing the right thing. I don't know. It probably doesn't mean anything coming
from me, but I I don't know. I feel like she might be
proud. You haven't given up, You've never stopped trying to protect those who
are in need. Someone's got to do it, and a lot of other
people just won't. So I will. That's all it really comes down to.
I know she didn't mean nothing by it. I feel like maybe she
loses track of my position sometimes. I don't know if any of us know.
Yeah, but I think we're all the same, all managing to pull
open the scabs that we have, ignoring everything we're going through, to get
by day by day. Yeah, I'll be all right in time. I
just because I've never really taken the time to sit there and process it.
You know. It's it all happened, and then the next day I was
on the road. Day after that, I ran into you, and that
it's just been crossing swords ever since, running halfway around the continent. It's
been no time to stop, and no time to stop and feel. I
mean, it can take months years to get over that kind of thing.
I don't don't rush it. Yeah, give me at least three weeks.
Be reasonable. You can have all the time you need and just keep channeling
that pain into doing what we're doing. I'll take all the time I need.
After I catch up with Daryl and Arias, I have a whole lifetime
to sit back and think. You after that, all right, we have
a thought about you know, writing down the memories you have. That's what
I do. It helps me when i'm you know, feeling out of control,
feeling I have a lot of those, a lot of those writings.
They're not They're not on me anymore. I uh, collected a lot of
my thoughts in letters. I mean, you know, sometimes it's not even
having them that helps, it's just writing it down. I find. Yeah,
let's say it helped. I've sent three letters now, one to each
of my parents to explain the situation and where I am. And I had
to send one to her dad let him know what happened and inform him of
my failings. I don't know how he's going to take it if he thinks
they're failings. I don't know what to say. No sane person would What
am I going to say to him? Everyone else died, but I got
away. He knows the realm we live in. He's gonna thank me the
one coward who ran, unless I try to explain to him what actually happened.
And I don't really know if I want to sit there and try to
convince him that, no, I'm not a coward. I thought to the
death and just came back. It's crazy talk. He won't believe it.
Probably better off just telling him I lost my nerve and wran. Surely you'd
rather he think you're a madman and you tell him the truth, maybe and
believe a lot. I don't know, honestly, if I tell him I
lost my nerve and rent, he might he might think me a liar then
too. Yeah, he knows my personality pretty well. I think he knows
that wouldn't happen. Bridge. Let me come to it. Well, that's
the thing. We may We may come to that bridge fairly quickly. He's
oh, he's in Gerfraider and we're heading that way, and I feel like
I need to stop and see him in person. So that's gonna be Yeah,
that's gonna be fun. Yeah. I mean, I think there's plenty
of evidence to show you're not running away, and you knows perhaps skinness the
stories that have traveled to get fraid about that point. Maybe I don't know
Begar is while were there. If if you meet him, depending on circumstances,
if it ends up that we all talk for whatever reason, you'll you'll
see he's He's unnerving. Never met anyone quite like him. He looks right
through you. I was in the army fix. I've had I've had large
angry men streaming in my face. I've been woken up at all hours of
day and night. I've had to fight for my life. I've had men
trying to kill me, lots of it. You kind of you learn to
tune it out, You become numb to it. You just keep putting one
foot in front of the other. I've had people try to rattle me over
and over and over. Vegas the only one I've ever met that genuinely intimidates
me in a way that I can't explain. Just don't ever try to lie
to Oh, we'll keep fire far away from him, then, yes,
please God, I mean so yeah, I uh, I'm gonna have to
try to explain to him what happened. That's not I don't even that's gonna
I don't know. I don't know what I'm gonna do. Well, luckily
we have a few days to figure it out, and we will. I
guess. I guess an angry father. In the long, long term,
the grand scheme of things is kind of a minor problem compared to the fate
of the realm and monsters and demon princes and all that. But frankly,
none of that really scares me as much as he does. Right, of
course, but maybe it's maybe it's really true the girlfriend's dad is always the
scariest man on earth, no matter what. All right, is that a
saying my dad said, I suppose we'll find out. H we uh we
we got kicked out? Uh? Why he wanted to meet the beast,
and well he didn't take too kindly to us, pretending for I was the
beast. It was a good try. I guess he saw straight the illusion.
I don't seem to have much luck with that lately. You know,
everyone's seeing straight through. They do look real, right, they do.
They look real. They're on their own, But when you try to wrap
them around someone, I mean, maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm biased
because I know you're making an illusion, so I can a lot of it
I'll work on it. I guess, yeah, it's it's hard not to
account for. Yeah, anyway, we've left Fire and mid Than alone for
a while, and I think aren't down the town yet. You know,
I don't want to risk it any longer. I don't smell smoke. No,
I don't hear screaming, But that doesn't necessarily mean anything. So you're
feeling all right better? Yeah, anytime, let's go stop those other two
from kidnapping some more soul and eating his brain in a back alley, shall
I. I think we're the only two I can stop that. It's good,
and that is where we'll end our a session for the day. The
record, you cast minor illusion right in front of him. He walked over
to the table. I was sat there, Smulin was sat there, and
then you went pho togobat and then she turned into someone else, and he
went, I saw you cast that spell. So I don't know if it's
necessarily it look bad just to do it, seeing like oh the last the
leasure that chid failed and then at this one isn't me it's irrational, all
right? Send me the list of things that you purchased, which pertained mostly
to the ingredients please, Leah, and we're going to do a bunch of
shout outs here. People can come and find some people can find where you
stream during the week. We'll be back next week with another episode. We'll
see what you guys do for the remainder of this evening. I'm guessing you
need to find somewhere to sleep and then come up with a plan and probably
head off to Dandlow, the desert city at the center of the realm.
But until then, shout outs for everyone. Let's start with disby Hi,
I'm Dispierx. I played Maryland for you today. You can find me here,
twitch it, Twitter, I play video gapes. Thanks for tuning in,
everybody. What a great episode. I really enjoyed the role play between
Leah and Fairlight Tonight really really good stuff, great role play all around,
a lot of good things throughout. I think, lots of little reveals and
moments, and everyone kind of had a couple of points that they I'm sure
we'll be discuss at some point, perhaps tomorrow maybe Leah, what about you,
what are you doing in the week? Maybe? Who knows? That
was a quintessential misslike episode. I felt it just needed a bit of combat.
I have a bit of everything, but mystery, a bit of use,
a bit of it feels a lot going on. Yeah, if we
count the dart at the beginning is combat, it has everything. Yeah that's
true. Yeah, hello, you found me at twitch dot tv for us.
Actually, well, I'm actually in between games of the moment, so
I just finished Metal Rising re Vengeance, and tomorrow I'm playing Pasmophobia with some
some people I don't know me, she means me. I'm playing it as
well. I'll be there, so there might be an after Dusk tomorrow,
and I guess it depends on we finished playing Phobia. Yeah, we shall
find out. But there will be one next maybe next week, Yes,
that should be. Sorry, I'm next week, I'll be from a different
location because I'll be away, So I don't know if they'll be an afterdog
next week. It's gonna be me, you and pebe talking about Miss Sly
all evening, and Meyer is going to be there, like I don't won't
that because I'm in another show. All right? Well, wait, what
game you playing next? I just thought that God is a galaxy, but
I don't know. It's a mystery variety streaming. Yeah, always someone else
who does Varioty's streaming. Where can people find you? Jesse? You can
find me over at twitch dot tv, slash Firlight, Underscore ex Caliber.
I play will the Sad Boy today for you, who is being literally taunted
that he hasn't gotten laid in a while two weeks after he's become a widower
by the least sensitive helf in history. Had a lot of fun with today's
session. You can find me playing far Christ six, doing my traditional go
through the shooter game without any guns because why not, and a whole lot
of New World Pimp town for dinner. I am, it's fine, you
feel bad. Man's got to eat fire. That a fire would feel bad,
No fire would feel down. Okay. The thing that people liked,
I feel like people glaze over is that fire is like the equivalent of like
a fucking kid who is going away for college for the first time and came
from a very sheltered home, and it's like she was like, Oh,
I'm I'm really tough and I don't talk to anybody, and now she's like,
oh, I kind of trust these people. Maybe I can fuck around
and have fun with these people. And then this happens we'll see I fucked
around and found out. Yeah, not a good idea to pimp ound someone
for dinner. If he came back to her. She the first thing Fire
was going to say was, oh, I guess it wasn't your type.
Well, I'm glad that we we called it there. Then then we're going
to jump forward in time at least ten minutes, so that we didn't see
any of that awkward exchange. Next week, imagine the awkward exchange. That's
your homework, viewers. Imagine the ten minutes of awkward exchange and then silent
walking as they try and find somewhere else to sleep. And then we'll tune
in after that next time. Uh, are you streaming this week or anything?
What's going on? You did in any streams? You did a little
secret stream? What about secret streams? One secret stream in the week.
Do you want me to do a secret stream in the week? Bru One
secret stream will happen on the Brutal Bride channel at some point in the week.
You have to following out retained that crowd. This is going to be
it's gonna be a hour breakdown of how horrific Fire feels. I'm just going
to cry the whole time. Yeah, because you cry, that's the secret
streamer, is you crying for three hours? Everyone's going to regret being excited
about the secret stream. Maybe maybe a secret stream follow all of these people.
Some of them will do secret streams and some of them won't. I
find you can follow me if you'd like to as well. I'm starting Visage
tomorrow, which I really Yeah, I played a little bit of it before
and it shipped me up. Like scary games don't get me too hard,
but when they well that's a weird that's a phrase that you can get me
that. No, they don't, they don't. They don't make me jump
too much, but like when they when they do scar me, they get
me pretty crazy. In that one. I don't know what it is,
man, It's like there's nothing in it. It's like just the lights go
out and I'm like, I'm done, I'm out, give me out of
this game right now. And then yeah, we're doing Pasmophobia after that.
It will be me Leah, Peebee and Mayer. I believe. So if
you're a table story boy, then tune in for that on one of our
channels at some point tomorrow night. Other than that, please go and follow
all of these people. Throw them some twitch primes and subs and bits for
the fantastic work they do here, and we will be back tomorrow night for
Rhyme of the Frost Maiden. Sundays is Leech a Vampire the Masquerade. Tuesdays
Witchcraft on Wizardry. I don't know if that's on its hiatus yet, but
find out on Tuesday Wednesdays spell wind D and D and we'll see you next
Thursday or more of mislike. Thanks again for shuning in everybody, and see
you next time. Bye, you enjoyed yours day. Mum m uh h