Tales of Yavon | Empire | Ep. 14 | Call Me Magnus

[00:00:00] The following is for mature audiences. Listener discretion is advised. See the description for details. Hey, you're listening to Tales of Yavon. Two D&D tables in one shared world. I'm Micah, DM of the Empire Table. And I'm Sarah, DM of the Pirate Table. This episode is with the Empire Table. Long live the Empire.

[00:00:22] Welcome back to sort of the heart of the Empire. We are in the swamplands of Rishima, the southern region of the Empire, on a quest to the drowned Reed Shire, hometown of Brynn, where we were on a quest until we were disrupted by a group of mercenaries and gladiators that seem to have some issues with both Nico and

[00:00:58] and apparently Swoop. You guys made pretty quick business of them. Left one alive though. And that is where we are picking up as you all are looking over a lot of bodies from a field one. Yeah, there's like eight people. Yeah. What would you like to do?

[00:01:21] I mean, we have one to question. I think luckily it's been a while, but I think Gideon, I think he was the one that knocked him out. It sure was. Non-lethal damage, luckily. But yeah, they pointed out Nico and Swoop. So yeah, I'm kind of curious how the two threads cross. So I guess we got to try and figure that out as well.

[00:01:47] Swoop is going to kind of, for his namesake, swoop down out of the air and land next to the guy. He's going to grab him by the shirt collar and he's going to, with one hand, kind of pull it back and, you know, have some sparks fly if I can with some thaumaturgy. I'd like to use my booming voice to intimidate this guy, hopefully, and say,

[00:02:14] Oi, what you trying to get at, man? You're not ready for this problem. You're lucky he got you, not me. You lean back, fist raised, hand on his collar. He's wearing a really long hood that's covering most of his face. As it crackles, he goes,

[00:02:37] Yes, I am, you in bullying, flying pigeon brain. He's spits in your face. Give it to him. Give it to him, swoops. No mercy. Come on, let me have it, hollow bones. Swoop is going to look around and see the encouragement. Swoop is going to kind of shrug his shoulders and be like,

[00:03:08] All right, man. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Let's look at this man's face first and she's going to rip his hood back. Anything weird about it or can we just lay into this guy? You rip the hood back and you see the figure of a toad folk staring back at you. Swoop, do you know this man?

[00:03:35] Just to double check here. I know this man, huh? You don't know this toad. No? No. You know another toad. No, you haven't seen this toad before. Okay, okay, okay. Okay, okay. You are attacking us, why? Why? Why am I attacking this bird brain? Yes. Well, I'll tell you.

[00:04:05] Lucky I'm turning over a new leaf, mate. Oh, are you? Yeah. Well, we're not. And we have a long memory. I suppose it was sound-dipity. As he goes into a spiel, like he's fully ready for a monologue. His little webbed hand goes up to his head. So it's just going to drop him. Bryn's going to look around to see if there's like actual cameras. Like it looks like he's playing into you.

[00:04:32] He looks as if he's using the sun as a spotlight almost, as he squints watery-eyed looking up at the sun. It all started not but a few weeks ago. When I received word, terrible word, of a tragedy that befell my cousin from the matron herself and he will pull out a letter and just thrust it out for one of you guys to grab.

[00:05:03] I mean, swoops is right in his face. Swoop will go. Yeah, right, man. And he'll snatch it, unwrap it, or unfold it. I'm going to send you this letter to read. Okay. In the notes. Are you going to send it to me, read? It's going to the general notes for whoever would like to read it. No, it was a joke on my name. Sorry. Hi, nice to meet you.

[00:05:29] To all my anurin kin of the Toad Spawn and McToadpool bloodlines, hear me. The Aarakocra, known as Swoop Razorwing, has committed a grievous offense against my beloved grandson, Toadie the 17th. It was cruel, it was deliberate, and it shall not stand.

[00:05:55] When I carried this grievance before the Empire, what answer did I receive? Silence. Silence. The shield Razorwing behind the hollow pretense of diplomatic immunity, offering legal scraps where justice was owed. The Empire has made its choice, and so I have made mine. I call upon all 333 of my offspring, from the eldest spawn to young blood tadpole.

[00:06:21] The matron name has been dishonored, and only blood will wash it clean. Let this serve as my formal declaration. There is a blood feud between the house matron and Swoop Razorwing. Where he nests, we strike. Where he flies, we follow. Bring justice to our name, my children. Do not fail your grandmother. Long may we croak. Mochi matron of the frogs. Is that Materon? M-A-T-E-R-O-N.

[00:06:52] Matron? Yeah, Materon. Okay, Matron. Oh, okay, gotcha. That is absolutely wild. Here's my favorite. Where he nests, we strike. Where he flies, we follow. Love it. That is so funny. Yes! You punched the wrong NPC, dude! Did this happen while you guys were together? No, this was... This is a long story, man. Wait, hold on. Was that out of character? This was out of character, sorry. Okay. Okay. This was...

[00:07:20] He needed an invitation to get into the Empire, and so he stole Toadie the Seventeenth, who is a Naren, Kien, frog person, and that's how he made his way into the Empire. Well, obviously we couldn't let this stand. Me, cousin. Mighty member of the McTadpole family. McTadpole. Oh. And so, I called together a group of ruffians and thugs that already seemed sort of interested

[00:07:50] in getting you all. That guy, he'll point to the man that seems to be kind of heavily armored, and he said he was particularly interested in the one with the mask, kept looking at him when he was coming through to be identified in the city. Well, hey man. Look, and Swoop's gonna walk up to him. I... I was in a bad place. I understand why you'd be angry.

[00:08:18] I totally get that, you know, family. That's why I was the way I was. You know, somebody murdered my dad, and... Murdered. And... Ignore him. Uh... It... I wasn't in a great place, and I just needed an invitation to the city. Unfortunately, he paid the price, and... Let me write this wrong. Let me... Let me write this wrong for you and your family. Uh... You know, let Toadie... No, I'm sorry. And he'll kind of grab a couple of pieces of gold.

[00:08:48] I'm gonna say five pieces of gold, and he's gonna... Right in his little toad hand, and he's gonna say... This is not the way raise the wings intend to be, uh... Representing. You touch his hand? Yes. Give me a constitution saving throw. Oh, son of a bitch. I forgot that they have this skin or whatever. Poisonous skin. Oh my gosh, I completely forgot about that until right now. It's okay. Oh, actually, uh, constitution...

[00:09:18] Oh, never mind. I have advantage on constitution to maintain concentration. That's what this is. But this is not a concentration on a spell. Yep. Oh, well, goody-goody. That is a, uh, that's a nat one. That's a nat one? That's a nat one. Um, yeah, you have the poisoned condition. Uh, rolls are at disadvantage. Go ahead and make a persuasion check for me at disadvantage. Oh my goodness. Um, let's see.

[00:09:47] I think I'm supposed to technically roll some damage too, but I don't know if you'll still be up. Yeah. That would be even funnier. After our most recent... Uh, that is a 21. That's a 21? That's a 21? Yeah, I rolled a nat 20 and a 14. Oh, when sorcerers get proficiency. Yeah, I got a plus seven to my persuasion. Oh, persuasion. You also took five points of poison damage.

[00:10:15] So, right as I was about to let out this beautiful sermon, I say, look, this is not the way us razor wings want to be. Oh, oh, and soup will just collapse backwards. Ah! Nick, Nick will step up as long as the frog doesn't do anything crazy and, uh, administer a potion too.

[00:10:41] He's gonna look at him and be like, I was about to forgive him, but then he just goes and faints right in front of me. I don't know what this bullcrap's about. He's been having a rough time of it. I believe that's D4? 2D4. Yeah, 2D4. 2D4 plus something, right? Plus four. Nice. That's something. Seven. Welcome back.

[00:11:11] What happened? Well, you fainted at my merest touch. Man, uh, yeah, that probably wasn't spot on me. I didn't really think about that. Yeah, the last time it didn't go too well either. I'm willing to look the other way if you've had enough of this smoke.

[00:11:35] I mean, if you think about it, you've, um, made him faint twice over for one discretion. So, I mean, even before gold, it was pretty square. Good point. That being said, I don't talk much to any of my cousins, so I can't say anything about them. Best of luck with that. I have a solution for that. Your note says it will only be settled with blood.

[00:12:06] So, being shot as you were many times in the sky. I'm bleeding actively. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, yeah, we're... I'm gonna, I'm gonna walk over, I'm just gonna, sort of rip off the bottom part, some fabric off the bottom of your cloak. Yeah. Wipe it in your wounds and hand it over. Are you really rough with them too? You just like, you don't even know him yet and you're just like... Ow, ow, ow, dammit. Ow, that was tindestill.

[00:12:34] Brin's just like in the background like, we have an empty potion blast. Yeah. See, this is wonderful. I would love to take this. But... Oy. We need an official notary on this. If you take this to any of my kin, provided they don't kill you, and get it officially notarized with my seal, and he'll kind of fumble to get some wax out and a signet ring and kind of seal it.

[00:13:03] You do have to have more than one signature for it to be notarized. Need someone with the official notary... It's a whole thing in my culture, okay? We just need it. You'll find him in the swamp. I'm sure you'll find someone... If you're going... He kind of points the direction you're going. That way, you'll hit somebody. So we're looking for another mctadpole that we need. Oh! No, no, no. Not. No, we're the brawn of the family. You're looking for the toad spawn. Toad spawn? Yes. Toad spawn, everybody.

[00:13:35] Oy. Toad. Get on your way. Spawn. He will kind of dribble some wax over the piece of cloth that is covered in blood and stamp his seal on it. And he'll go, well, best of luck, and stick his hand out to shake the swoop. Niko will step in front of his hand. Yeah, good on ya. And he'll kind of turn around and walk the other direction. All right.

[00:14:04] Are you all just letting him go? Hmm. Well, I feel like we were until you said that. I mean, I wanted to interrogate him a little bit about... I just, I don't know if Poppy would ask these questions. She'd probably just be like, that sounded fun. Okay, that was good. I mean, you can always like whisper to Niko if you want to ask something, but... I mean, Brynn would, you know, try to stop as well. I'm gonna let him go. As far as I'm aware, this was his fault. We righted it.

[00:14:32] Yeah, we righted that ship the best we could, man. He'll kind of pull you aside, Gideon, just before he leaves and be like... I hope he doesn't... And make sure the other wax sale is on this side next to mine. Otherwise, it's all messed up. They're gonna make you redo it all over. You have to bloody him all over again. All right. That's not a problem. Man, I should've remembered that. That last toad got me too. Yeah, his face, it looked very punchable.

[00:15:01] It very much was not. I'm gonna hand the fabric, the bloodied fabric with the wax seal on it to you. It's your responsibility now. Thanks for the quick thank-in. Yeah, that's fine. Just kind of hold it. Just defeated, still bloodied. I have empty potion, but here you go. Put the rag inside of it. Oh, yeah. Remember, if you lose it, we get to do this all over again.

[00:15:30] Yep, and a hunt swoop, I'll tuck it away. Mr. Toad Spawn. Um... McTadpole, the muscle. No, hold on. No. He's got like really bony arms. There's no muscle to this guy at all. So out of character above table, you... I asked if it was McTadpole, and you told me... McTadpole is the individual you're talking to. Oh, I need a...

[00:15:59] We need one... Okay, we need one McTadpole and one Toad Spawn to sign off on this letter. So deep in lore, the McTadpole side of the family is much more brawny, and then the more political side is gonna be the Toad Spawn, because I had to fix some continuity errors with the names that I was using. Okay. That's official lore now, baby! Okay. Woo! So we have... We have a Mc... McToadpole. You're looking for a Toad Spawn.

[00:16:29] Gotcha. So, okay. I'm sorry, Mr. McToad Spawn. Her Toad... Mr. Toad. We'll go with that. Mr. McTadpole. Toad... Very formal in these parts, I see. You banded with these people. How... How did you come about them? Well, like I said, we were at the edge of the city. That guy was a bit creepy. I don't know about him.

[00:16:57] He was just interested in the masked singer over there. Sorry, the masked fighter. Don't know where that came from. And the rest of them, they said they were mercenaries looking to get paid. They were all listening to that guy with the gladiator armor in the center. And he's put... And so, the gladiator was the one that called out Nico, but is also the one that was interested in Gideon. Yeah, I mean, this guy's got a massive bounty on his head from our grandmother.

[00:17:25] So it's like 5,000 gold. Swoop's gonna fly over to the armored dude, kind of search him first, but then make his round searching everybody else while the conversation's going. So you... Were you looking for this gladiator? Or were you just looking for some muscle to help yourself? Like, how did you come about? Well, apparently when you have an official bounty out in your hand, mercenaries kind of come and find you.

[00:17:56] So you were flashing this bounty, and he was like, yeah, I'll offer services. Yeah. Okay. And where did you find them? Were you in the Empire, or were you just around here in Rochima? Well, I mean, they were coming out of the city. They were in a festival. Ah. Okay. I was surprised they could fight. They were really drunk. Well, they are professional gladiators, so they can fight through that. You know, sometimes that's even the state they prefer to fight in. Oh, wow.

[00:18:26] Not well. But, well, they did give us, you know, a good rib kicking. And, you know, Brandel looked up his shirt and his ribs are bruised from this previous... Oh, they didn't do shit. Oh, he didn't do shit. And as he kind of does that, he like... And spits out some more blood. Yeah, they didn't hardly hurt shit. As he continues to make his rounds. And so, well, Nico, do you...

[00:18:56] Do you remember this previous, I guess, opponent? Uh, yes. He was from pits. I do believe he kicked my ass a couple of times. I don't know why he was so pissed other than the time I insulted his owner and threw coin at him. And then Brandel come in closer and be like, your ass or did he kick the... Both, I believe. Yes.

[00:19:26] So you were a part of it, okay. Yeah, yeah. I think I pissed him off. Um, does... Hold on. Before Nico investigates this gladiator that they killed, he wants to ask Mr. Toadpole. Mr. McToadpole, do you know any useful information at all about these individuals other than the fact that they were mercenaries and trying to kill us? Hmm. Hmm.

[00:19:55] He said something about the books when it came to you. Uh, that makes sense. Yeah, he mentioned your bets that you haven't paid up on. Before you fought us, did you know who was in the party? The party here? Yes. Well, no, I mean, as far as I'm concerned, I didn't care.

[00:20:22] I heard that he was here and a lot of my family's heard he's here, so I wouldn't be surprised if they've maybe done some action too, but who knows what they've all put out. Hmm. Other than the hit for 5,000 gold that, you know... And where is... Who would we, um, be looking for if we wanted to cash in said Poundy? Ooh.

[00:20:48] Well, in that case, you'd want to go to our lovely Mochi matron herself. And where is she? Uh, well, let's see. He'll, um, he'll kind of be like, do you have a map? I don't think we... Do we have a map? I don't think we said we got one before we left, so... I don't think we got one. No. Um... How familiar would Bryn be, I guess, just with being a little bit around here?

[00:21:15] Pretty familiar, I would say, with some of your background. Um, why don't you... I'm gonna have to say just narratively, he's gonna try to explain this to you. Why don't you just give me a general survival check to see how well you pick up on the general area from this description? Okay, that worked. And... Well, can I ask him, did any of them have a map? Oh. Well, I mean, I just met all of them. I don't... I don't know what they have.

[00:21:42] Well, sure, but you had to plan an ambush, so did anyone pull out a piece of paper? Start looking at it? Decide this is... They were very eager to kill all of you. I was... I just joined. Just joined, yes. Uh, you did say you were gonna go to the body, so if you want to give me a survival roll two swoop, we'll see what you find out of that. Twenty-two for survival. Twenty-two. Yeah, you're... Um, you're able to tell the... The... Mr. McTopol was correct.

[00:22:11] It is kind of the same direction you're going. Okay. Um, but where you're going kind of southwest towards the border of Reshima, he's describing it more, like, south. So, it's not too terribly far from your... your drowned reed, but it's closer to more of the coast, coastal side than where you're at. Okay. All right. Making notes. That's a fourteen. A fourteen.

[00:22:40] Uh, there's not a lot you get. You get... Uh, let me look at the loot. You're gonna find twenty-seven pieces of copper, thirty pieces of silver, um, and five gold pieces scattered amongst all of them. You will find a booklet, um, as you read through it, it does have list of bets. And, you know, from what you can see, the one individual bet on themselves a lot.

[00:23:11] And that was a fighter named Vesper, and he was in the red by about almost fifteen hundred gold. So, Vesper... Do they have a time stamp on them? Oh, that's right. I forgot that. Yes. Which, I believe this was something we discussed. It would all be within the last six months. Okay.

[00:23:36] For anyone that forgot that John reminded us all that, um, Nico's gladiator name is Vesper. So... Yeah. So, Scoop's gonna walk over and he's gonna be... He's gonna show Nico, he's gonna be like, uh, looks like you worked yourself up a bit of a tab there, mate. He's gonna kinda show him. Eh, yes, quite unfortunate. I mean, it was all part of the cover, but, uh, I'm not really sure how far I was supposed to go with the cover and, uh, accidents happen, you know?

[00:24:09] Yeah, I'd stay away from the table. Statistically, this is quite unlikely. I mean, I was pretty confident I would kick ass, but I am not used to this party. Notably, um, you do see that the name Vesper has occurred, it was a long time ago, and they were never in the red before. It's every time in the last six months that you're seen in the red. It's just you. Look, it's not my fault, okay? He was used to this party, I am not.

[00:24:39] Oh, yeah. You see all these back here? He was whooping ass. Wasn't even close. Yes, I... He... Yeah, he was pretty badass. I will admit. You kinda suck, man. Hey, fuck off. I'm doing my best over here, okay? Hey, I totally get that, man. On the last fight, you see the odds are like, 1 to 32 against Vesper. And Vesper's still bad on themselves.

[00:25:10] Eventually, I was bound to understand this body, you know? I mean, you... I mean, at a certain point, you kind of have to, otherwise. Oh, yeah, it's difficult to lose that many in a row. I totally get your thinking there. I mean, it was quite painful, but I mean, this body heals pretty quickly. I could tell you that for sure. You'd make everything back you lost in one fell swoop. My favorite part is that you're having all this conversation and Gideon's just here. Yeah. The second you...

[00:25:38] Genuinely, Beth, the second you said, I'm not used to this body yet, and then I went... Yeah, you just have no idea what's going on. I have no clue. Pitch in any time, Devon. I think Niko will pause for a second, and they'll slowly turn their head to look at the only new person in the group. Oh, yes. You don't know everything, that is for sure. It's probably safer that way for all of us.

[00:26:08] I'm learning some things, though. It might be easier if you guys stop talking. Yeah, probably. Niko will go and kick over the corpse of the gladiator. He wants to, like, rifle through. Is there anything useful on the corpse? Probably not a lot. Yeah, okay. I mean, outside of the gold, there's some leather armor if you want to lug that around. Oh, I already have some. Okay. Thank you, though.

[00:26:34] I mean, we do have a bag of holding if we just want to shove a whole bunch of shit in it and then sell it later. I mean, we could hide corpses in there. Yes. Do we need to hide corpses? I mean, it... Well, I mean, if we want to make some money off of the betting list, you know, let them like, hey, this person isn't going to pay up. So here's news about that. Can we get a little, you know, something off of that? Or just get a payoff like, hey, you're not going to get this money.

[00:27:03] You're welcome for that information. You could pay us. Question. He will kind of hold the book up to the group. Does this look like the first and final copy of this? Ledger. Yes, yes. Do we think so? Okay, sure. Niko will get a pen out of his bag, a feather with some ink. A quill. Yeah, he'll strike through his debt.

[00:27:31] And like, just put it at like zero. Don't want to be too suspicious, but yeah. Add a few more zeros and then another number in front. Genius, genius, yes. I don't think they're going to send their grunt with the one and only copy of that thing. I mean, one can hope, you know? All the hope that I'm going to change anything. You're just going to write it down and then drop it on the ground and things are going to change for you? Yeah, I mean, that was the plan. I mean, do you have a better one? Oy.

[00:28:01] And he's going to grab it and fold it and put it in the cloak. We'll bring it with us. It'll be valuable. Did we notice any other names in that book of interest? Favreau is the notorious victor. He's the one that you just took down. There were some smaller names. No one that you would necessarily know from your travels together as a party that would particularly stand up to you.

[00:28:28] And no other bigger name to gladiators than Vesper and Favreau. Give me a history check. Oh, not for me, but sure. It's four on the die minus two. So two total. Can I do it just for curiosity? Yeah, go ahead. Okay. So we're all like leaning over each other's shoulders to look at this book. I only got a 12. It's them going like, what is this?

[00:28:57] And I'm just like, all right, I have to see now. Okay. Probably not. Yeah, 12. Did you roll? I rolled a 12. You rolled a 12? I don't think I'm going to give it to you for a 12. If there was something narratively that you guys had done, I would give it to you. But I think this one's going to have to at least be a DC of 15 for it to make sense.

[00:29:27] Fair enough. I think Nico will fight for the book for just a second, just to scribble under Favreau's name a bit more debt. And then I'll let him happen. Fuck you, buddy. She's going to kick him one last time while he's down. Got to make sure his family gets fucked over. Yes! But yeah, I think we could use a little breather here. I'm going to go.

[00:29:56] Can I go now? You're still here. Well, I'm not rude. I'm not a bird man. He got you pretty good swoop. Would you like to join our party? I quite like you. We're doing a tea party. Well, you don't want to keep him around. Hit the road, Jack. We're not taking on any new candidates right now. I mean, I was going to sharpen blades. You could walk with us and sharpen blades with me. Wonderful. Yes.

[00:30:24] Us beefy macho men must be sharpening our weapons for sure. Just for the audience. How tall is this toad? About three feet. And he pulls out this dagger. There's nothing wrong with three feet. This dagger that's been doing an enormous amount of poison damage on all of you guys. And it's like an inch tall. I call this my poker. Wait, no. We're working on that. A snapper? Mine's called Jonathan Chadwick. Hey, what's up?

[00:30:53] Oh my God. Do you know your knife speaks? Yeah, man. He's pretty cool. You want a good reputation out there? Talk to this guy. Really? Yeah, he's good with PR. Oh my. Yeah. Does he consult with frogs? Not for free. Right. As he whispers the joke. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm still laying out the groundwork for like my pricing. So maybe it's kind of fluid based on the package. I mean, package deals. Yeah, I mean, we can get your name out there real quick.

[00:31:24] You know, you can start low and then as you get better and higher, you know, that's when you can start increasing. So yeah, here's your first chance, man. He's like, can you get me real close to him? Yeah. And I'll put the knife right up next to a McTote Pulse ear like it's a phone. Yeah, it goes next to his ear hole. And as he leans into it, the McTote Pulse gonna go, hello. And John Wick really quiet is gonna go, hey man, if you need me to start a smear campaign

[00:31:54] against air cock or bird folks, I totally got you. We can totally do a number. Just let me know. Okay. And Brin gets a thumbs up. He's like, mmm, noted. Hey, good job. I think we got a client. But we should probably be on our way. I have my first reason to be alive ever. So I should probably figure that out.

[00:32:21] And Brin has very important people to find and make sure they aren't dead. That was deeply existential. And I don't know if I needed to be a part of that, but sure. I mean, yeah. I mean, if you're going to be sharpening blades with us, you might as well know. I mean, yeah. Or... Mr. McTatle. Do you have boundaries? No. Sharpen the mind as well as the body as well as the blade. I like you. Sharpen. I mean, it's going to be real funny when you give him your blades and then he just takes off in the middle of the night. But let's get on the road. Why are you giving him ideas?

[00:32:52] Sharpen. Does this look like the body of a poor person? Yeah, he's no coward. Is he wearing like rags? Um, no. Okay. But it's like, it's like obviously very, uh, interesting because it's, I guess, semi-aquatic. So like, probably wouldn't be that fancy to any of you guys, but he's like, seriously,

[00:33:17] guys, like down in the swamps, like, it doesn't get much fancier than this. I'm just picturing you. He's going to sigh, he's going to go, alright man, whatever. And then he's going to take back off to the air, just kind of idle around, keep, keep watch, ready to head out. So speaking of the swamps, has anything happened? Oh. Like the last year or so?

[00:33:45] Anything very important or life changing happening. He's going to roll a history check. Ooh. Let it go, Mr. McTatle. Mr. McTatle. Yeah. This is the tea that he was talking about, right? He pulls out a little teapot. Well, um, there are rumors, not in towns that I'm aware of, of, I suppose the best thing

[00:34:10] you could put it was a sickness within the swamp. I, I, I, I, there's so many different stories conflicting from town to town. I couldn't tell you what's real, what's not. But somewhere in our swamp of ours, something has messed with the nature of things.

[00:34:37] And, and Bryn will kind of like, like go a little, you know, tense and scared again. You can, you can, uh, you know, the original three here can kind of see him tense up and get scared again about, uh, this news. And how, how long has this been happening? Oh, good question.

[00:35:02] Oh, um, I mean, most notably within the last year, it's really started to kick up the last few months. Hard to say exactly when it started, I guess. I wouldn't know that for sure. Uh, I can say if, if there's anyone that you should perhaps ask, maybe look at, maybe some of the clans of the path. They seem to be the ones with the news, if you know what I'm saying.

[00:35:32] The real hot girls. Although they're not usually that keen to talk. Clans of the what? Uh, the clans of the path. Oh, okay. Um, the gathering. Yeah. I've got, I've got, I've got some friends. I know one. Um, it, is it, is it affecting every sort of being here in the swamp or just humanoids? Has it stricken your folk?

[00:36:03] No, but we have noticed some changes in the ecosystem itself as if the very last land itself is, I don't know, sick. So, so the nature's getting sick, but what about the people are okay? Or are people actually getting sick as well? See, and that's where it depends on what town you ask and who you talk to. Ah, okay. Okay.

[00:36:31] So, uh, Nico will put a big meaty paw on Bryn's shoulder. I think we should be on our way. We need to figure things out. Yeah. Yeah. We, uh. You either come or you don't, but we're walking. We need to move. Hmm. He'll look over at us, whoop, and go, not. Later. Goodbye, small toad. It was nice meeting you, I think. Likewise, I think. Uh.

[00:37:00] Soopal will see him walking the other direction while he's mid-flight. I'll think, think, but call. He's not following. He's not following. Uh, I am answering a question real quick for one of the players. Uh, but yes, we can begin to go on our way if everyone's in agreement with that. Absolutely. Lead on little man. Is there anything anybody else wants to do before we reach Bryn's village? And just to clarify, even though I looked through all the bodies, did not find a map.

[00:37:30] Uh, you had a 14 on your survival? No map with a 14. Bastard. Um. Part of my. There's just a dead body underneath him with flies coming off of it. Part of one of my knacks is, uh, up to 10 creatures. Oh, we're not slow but difficult. And then, uh, where is that?

[00:37:59] I think there's one to where I don't, we don't get lost. There it is. You also can't become lost so long as you can see the night sky. So we will begin once again. Um, you guys are not going to be impeded with any type of disadvantage from the terrain. Thanks to Reed. Let's go ahead and get a group survival check just to see what kind of pace we make. Okay.

[00:38:28] Does anyone have a dice jail? A what? A dice jail. Yeah, I know. I'm having a... I need to punish one. Sorry, what was it? Survival? Yes, survival please. Oh, nice. 18. It's a 19 for Nico. Okay. It's a 16 for Bryn. Oh, nice. Okay. 17 for Gideon. Oh, we're all pretty... Oh, thank goodness. Nat one. Um...

[00:38:56] Actually, I think because it's a nat one, I think I do have to do the math to see if you guys succeed on this now. Oh. We're at what level? Are we still recording? We are still in fact recording. Sorry, I was... No, I just want to make sure you're good. It's a 53 divided by five? Mm-hmm. Uh... 53 divided by five... 10 or above is... As it says, right? That brought it to a hardy 11. So, we take a while.

[00:39:27] Do you get any additional bonus on that nat one? Mm-hmm. So, here's the thing. Uh, technically it's a five. Oh, okay, yeah. But it's a nat one, but it's a five. That brings us about to like a 13. Oh, yeah! So, it's still not great. You guys are making, I'd say, normal pace. You guys are making normal pace. Poppy, keep up! Yeah, Poppy has been complaining about... No, I'm kidding. I keep trying to get off the road because I think I see a pretty flower and I want to go after and you're like, oh, god, we need to get a child leash. No, no, no, no, no, come back.

[00:39:55] You have like the souls of like thousands of dead plants just like all around you. Even plants. Yes! Oh, my god. You just see a field of like dead flowers everywhere you look. Um, but you guys are making pretty good pace. I would say that you traveled, you've traveled about two hours already. We're well into the afternoon and we're starting to push towards twilight as, um, confident

[00:40:22] as you would be, uh, Bryn, you come across one of the main kind of rivers that lead back to the wetlands to the south. Um, that is a great landmark for all of you because you can follow that most of the way directly to your shire. As you come up to it, you do see that there are some very simple rafts and, uh, an older

[00:40:51] woman that seems to be renting the rafts, um, at a small port for people that would like to travel via water. And we're about to near twilight at the moment. Yeah, about near twilight. Yeah. Okay. So you've, you've traveled successfully for most of the day unimpeded with that role. Can I kind of look like up and down, you know, the river?

[00:41:18] Does it look like it, it goes, you know, a good direction kind of direction we're traveling? So there's a little bit of movement. You see that at, towards the south, the direction you're going, there's more and more growth building up in the river. And you can see that this is slowly turning more into stagnant water. It's got a slow drift towards the south. Okay.

[00:41:44] I'm going to kind of fly back down, reunite with the party and I'm going to let Bren know as kind of master navigator. Where, it kind of seems like it's feeding down south, maybe to more larger body of water down there. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it flows towards the shire there. Um, I, uh, I'm kind of scared of what's happening right now.

[00:42:11] And, um, yeah, I, um, I, I, I, I don't know what to do, uh, to take the river or take the road. Um, I, I kind of want to take the road to see what's happening, get a little more understanding, um, possibly be able to, um, so Mr. uh, McTodeball mentioned, uh, talking with some members of

[00:42:38] the path and I, I know some people from the path. These are orcs and, um, this path is part of a larger clan, uh, called the gathering, the gathering clan. Um, and so the, the path that I'm familiar with is the Umbra path. And this is the path of orcs that come to the swamp and, you know, they, they venture

[00:43:06] out, uh, the different paths. Uh, they venture out, they just gather things, they gather knowledge in any way of the, uh, the form of gathering. Um, if they spot something or if they trade, they barter. Um, or they go, you know, searching, digging, things like that. Um, so we, we could possibly meet somebody on the road that way as well, uh, and get some

[00:43:36] answers that way. Um, so when I'm, I'm pretty familiar, um, with most of the Umbra and I, I, uh, you think they take the road, not the river? Well, they are, they're the ones that come to the swamp. So I, I, I, they're okay either way, but I, you did mention something in your vision about something going into the water.

[00:44:04] Uh, so maybe, uh, better move for us to take the road. Stay off the water, maybe. Yeah. Well, in my vision, what, what was mentioned was the ledger that this oppressor, um, came in and like, he, that's how he kept the leash on my shire. That's how he, you know, inflicted these laws that it felt like, you know, he was just making up anything that he could.

[00:44:34] And so, yeah, I took the ledger and the, in the dead of night and, um, I lit it on fire and let the, let the water wash it away. You know, uh, it, you know, the, the swamps doesn't, doesn't answer to ink. It washes it away. And that's exactly what it did. And I, now that you mentioned that, I'm, I think I might've done something to the shire. I think this is because of me.

[00:45:04] I'm going to kneel down and put both hands on your shoulders and make you look me in the eye holes of my mask. And Bryn is going to fight that and not want to look at, look you in the eye. Not because of you being just a new, it's just, he can't bring himself to do that because of this fear and feeling that he caused it. That's fine.

[00:45:31] Little man, I don't know your business, but this is important to you. So I'm going to offer you some suggestions to help you make your choice. Yes. Are you ready? That, yeah. The river will be faster to get where you need. How wide is this river? Not very wide where it is. Maybe 30, 40 feet across currently. So we take the river for speed.

[00:45:57] We can always veer back off to the shore whenever we get to or see someone that we need to talk to and then hop back on and get there faster. If you want to take the road, by all means, you're in charge. But whatever is happening to your home, more damage will happen to it. The slower we are.

[00:46:22] So what, what could I gauge what sort of time difference this river could give? It's not a crazy speed, but it is a more direct route. You think that on a week's travel, you could maybe shave at least two days off with the river. Okay. Oy, if speed's the name of the game, I side with him.

[00:46:48] Not only do I think travel by the water might be better or quicker, but I can also generate quite a bit of wind. I think maybe we can speed that up even a little faster, maybe. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Kind of calling back to the gust of wind that I'm able to do, thinking maybe I can potentially speed it up. Yeah, that's what Bryn, yeah, he's gonna be sure. Yeah, yeah, you were able to pin a couple of those nubbles to the wall there with that. Yeah.

[00:47:22] Gideon, thank you for that input. And it, I wish, I wish my mind could have, you know, answered that myself, but I, thank you. Yeah, I, I think I, I think I might prefer taking the boat. I'll stand up and give his head a little tuft. Um, and I'll go over and talk to the lady with the, with the raps. Hello. Good evening.

[00:47:52] Yes, it is. Would you like to rent a raft? It's only five copper. We would absolutely love to. Wonderful. Well, there are many ports you can drop them off at along your journey down south. Any will do. Just make sure you do drop it off. Or we might try to come get you. I promise we'll drop it off. And I'll, I'll give her a gold. I'm generous enough.

[00:48:23] She'll take it, kind of bite it. Well, wonderful. I should say with a generous heart like yourself. Don't be weirdery if you see bigger rafts come through. Those are traveling merchants. They may even try to offer you wares while you're on the river. Just, just to note, sometimes it gets a little, uh, scary in times like these and people misunderstand. I appreciate your wisdom. Well, I appreciate your gold.

[00:48:52] Uh, well, Gideon walked away to do that. Um, Brynn will turn to Poppy. I'm, I'm, I'm sorry to ask this for a third time. Do you, do you think you can check on old Sina again and see if you can talk to her? I, I'm really just shaken that she could be, she could be gone.

[00:49:18] I mean, I think the only true way to know is for us to go to your, uh, village and find out, no? If she doesn't answer, she could have moved on. Yeah, it would, it would just help me. I can always try. I appreciate that. Thank you. And he'll pat his, you know, like lapel where he has his, uh, cat reed tail.

[00:49:47] You gave us all a cat reed, right? Uh, not yet. He, he drew, he drew the, the paper. Yeah, a little parchment and he, he said he promised he would replace that with an actual reed from the Shire when we get there. Gotcha. She taps the little pocket that she keeps hers in that I think she would have visibly tucked it away. You would have seen, uh, and I'll, I'll try to see if I can channel. We have official custom homebrew rules. I gave a custom feet to her cause I, I was, I wanted this to actually be consistent thing. Oh, cool. I keep coming up.

[00:50:17] So I do need you to roll a D 100 for me. A D 100. Okay. A bus table. I didn't know about this. I'm glad I could help. Uh, no, genuinely you asking me to do it before. And because I was like, wait, is this a thing I can just, can I just keep asking to do this? Because it feels like, but like, I see ghosts. I want to do something. I gotcha. Yeah. So she can do it. There's a big table with a lot of options. Some of them are good and some of them are bad. So she can do it as much as she wants, but she could potentially overstrain herself with

[00:50:46] I see dead people. Which I'm excited for. Yeah. I didn't know this was the thing. So I'm glad I could showcase it here. Oh, hell yeah. There was no, uh, there was no like rule thing or set that you gave me, right? I, you just tell me to do this. Okay. I want to make sure I wasn't forgetting to look at something. Cool. I actually called it a feat called the sixth sense. Ha ha. Let's go. Okay. So the D 100 is the, uh, the two and your goal for this is you want to do it. I want the lowest possible number. Lowest possible. Okay. Like golf.

[00:51:16] Golfers. I need a very big dice. I need a dice prison. Okay. I need a dice. Oh no. Prison industrial complex. That's a 92. A 92. Prison industrial complex. Um, what you feel is almost like static. You feel a tug from beyond, but nothing comes into focus. It's sort of like that swooping feeling in your stomach. Like something's happened.

[00:51:43] Oh, but it's like the spidey sense in the last movie where it just kind of does the warping. Everything goes silent for a second. Strangely enough, that happens and you don't hear anything, which is very uncommon when you're trying to connect with the spirit realm. I think Poppy even like twitches once and then just kind of goes still. She didn't show up.

[00:52:15] Okay. So it's probably fine. She's going to start looking around. Uh, and because we rolled so high, I do need you to make a luck roll for me. Okay. Not that one. Not that die. Not that die. This prison's getting pretty full. Uh, that's a just straight luck roll, right? Yeah. Straight, straight luck roll. Two. It was nice playing with you guys. Yeah. I really enjoyed this.

[00:52:44] The connection is severed. You spontaneously combust. You can go ahead and delete that six in its feet now. Yeah. Create a new character. The next character I make, can they also see ghosts, but like we just have entirely different classes. Poppy's just whispering in the next character's ear the whole time. Your character is like a chef, but just randomly has the sixth sense. Just haunted. Oh my God. Um, yes. So that's all you're going to be able to get. Shut up. I'm not adding curry. Jeez. Stop trying to ratatouille me. God.

[00:53:15] But yeah, no. And Poppy's just kind of looking around a little paranoid, but she, she seems authentic when she says she doesn't see anybody. Yeah. Okay. Um, I mean, are we going to, are we going to boat through the night here since we just got the boat here at twilight? That's entirely up to you. It is big enough that if, if the party wanted to potentially lay down on the raft, you don't

[00:53:45] think that'd be too difficult. Well, there would probably need to be one person steering and so what do you call it doing? So if I want it. Yeah. If I wanted to do my, uh, my gust of wind, like off the back of this to speed that up, would that give us any potential bonus you think? Damn. Um, also how long will this boat ride last? Oh, this is eight days. This is potentially an eight day ride.

[00:54:13] Um, if we, if we wanted to take it the, the whole way there. Yeah. We can also stop and get back on and keep going. Yeah, you can. There are multiple ports that will show up to let the raft off. I'm sure you already said that. Sorry. I am fully prepared to let that be a boon to the party. However, I also want to say, I'm going to treat that narratively as if it creates a huge disturbance on the water. So do with that what you will.

[00:54:42] You are not going to be going with any level of stealth though. If you do gust of wind. Can I alternatively? I have elementalism, which lets me do small bursts of light wind to assist in getting that further along. I have elementalism, which will let me do small bursts of wind. Um, that will not create as big a disturbance on the water. Wait, I'm totally chill with that. Within a five feet cube, correct? Yes. I need me a nap.

[00:55:11] So I ain't going to complain either way. I think with a five foot cube, you could definitely use this as a freeway to steer and to push it along. I don't know if that's going to be a strong enough spell for me to say that it's actually a spoon to the speed. Okay. Gotcha. But if you want something with more certainty, no athletics check where you can just do it. I can reward you in that way. No athletics check needed if you're using elementalism. We'll do that.

[00:55:38] If you don't mind through the night, man, I would definitely enjoy some getting some, some Z's man. I, uh, pretty beat up. I, and as long as I think you, you are doing four hours of rest, we'll still count the short rest. So if one of you wants to maybe pass off midway to let the other person also benefit from the short rest, you can. Okay. Could you said there's enough room for all of us to lay down? Okay.

[00:56:06] Could I potentially, since we're traveling for so long, snag a long rest or is it not been long enough? Uh, so we're redid it with gritty realism. So now long rest will be three days, three days. Gotcha. Okay. Nevermind. That's right. So overnight is going to be the short rest, which is why you need to do the four hour, basically four hour switch off for each of you guys to benefit. That's right. Three days. I remember we talked about that. Okay, cool. Yeah. Yes. Um, above board, I don't have anything that I think I need a short rest to get back.

[00:56:36] So, and I'm not, well, during a short rest, you can roll hit dice. So if you need to get healed up. I was just, what I was literally just saying, as you said that was that I don't have any, I apologize. You're good. You're good. But I was like, I don't think I have anything that I need to do a short rest for. So I can be the person who takes watch. I can do the start of it just to make sure that we're clear in terms of like travel. And then after that four hours, I can. That sounds good to me. Okay. So two of you. I'm definitely napping. Yeah.

[00:57:07] Uh, Nico will have puffed up for a second as if they wanted to watch. And then having two volunteers, they're like, okay, I'll take a nap as well. And he'll plop down, cross his legs and go extremely still, but with his eyes open. City well, Elchibold. And then I'll look at you and I'll see if that landed, if that was a yes or a no. Uh, Nico will open their mouth. My name is Nico, but okay. I was just testing out in case you wanted, you said you wanted another name.

[00:57:35] So I'm just going to throw a few out there every now and then and see if one hits right. I think his, his eyes will light up a little bit. So you will be choosing my name then. Nice. Well, I'll be pitching a few and we'll see what you like. So sorry. On my head dice, I got exactly what I needed to heal. Nice. Let's go. Sorry. No worries. Uh, I don't know if, uh, Ikebold is, uh, the, the name I would choose.

[00:58:04] Ikebold is much better than what I said. I like that. Next character. Next character. Ikebold. There we go. Maybe another try. Oh, I have several. Hell yes. Sorry. Go ahead. Um, while you guys are rolling hit dice, I am going to narrow this. I'll reiterate a moment with swoop. Go ahead and roll them, add them to your character as you need.

[00:58:33] We will roll your D six at the crack of dawn for Nico. For swoop. Fine. Go ahead. Swoop will kind of sit down cross-legged as he's like going to rest. And he'll, you know, look down at his new robes and think back. And he'll breathe in deeply as he focuses in. And like a small glow begins to come from the, the chest piece of the cloak as he focuses.

[00:59:04] As you do so, uh, in your mind's eye, you focus on what it is you desire. Go ahead and give me a survival check. The one from before. Uh, this is, this is for what you asked. Yes. Okay. That is. Mm. I'm going to use my, my once a day ability to increase that because that was not very good.

[00:59:34] What? Uh, sorry. Go ahead and do it. Okay. Uh, I'm going to add 2d4 to that. One sec. Uh, that is a 10. It's a 10.

[00:59:59] Deep within your chest, you feel something begin to tug you towards the east. And that is all you feel. Okay. So we pull kind of feel that, that tug over. And he'll kind of look in that direction. Does he immediately see anything? I assume not. Right. Nothing immediate that you will see.

[01:00:28] Swoop will take a deep breath, kind of look over longingly in that direction. And then without saying another word, he'll lay down fully. All right. Excellent. Here's what we're going to do for our two people that are doing a watch. Mm-hmm. We're going to do one perception check each. Okay. To see if anything is noticeable during your watch. I believe we said that Gideon's going first, right?

[01:00:57] Or did we say Poppy's going first? I think you were going first, right? Yes. Okay. I would like to make note that I'm going to pull my, unsheathe my sword so that there's a little extra light to see what's immediately around us as we're sailing. Okay. No problem. Go ahead and give me a perception check. 17. A 17. No. Okay.

[01:01:26] With a 17, you notice a lot of things. You notice the rustling of the trees surrounding the occasional hair on the mainland. Nothing, however, that would indicate humanoids watching were any immediate danger to your party.

[01:01:50] And with that, you relieve your duties to get Poppy to take over the watch for you. I will leave my sword available to you if you need to see better. Thank you. I quite like that. Okay. Excellent. Poppy, I'm going to have you do two rolls for me. Okay.

[01:02:16] I am going to have you either do an acrobatics or a, maybe not acrobatics, let's either say athletics or let's say a, maybe a nature roll to see how well you navigate kind of pushing us further along because you don't have that elementalism to just naturally push the boat. Yes.

[01:02:38] And a question with the hag's eye that I have. Yes. If I cast dark vision on myself, how long does the dark vision last? It says, okay, it says eight hours. So I just have it for. Correct. Cool. 150 feet. Then, okay, got you, got you, got you, got you. Cause I don't really. Excuse me, a hundred and yeah, 150. Okay, cool, cool.

[01:03:07] So I'm going to go ahead and, uh, use it since I'm the one in charge of party safety for the moment. Yeah. So I'm going to go ahead and pop that. And when we're doing charges, it's not, it says every dawn, but this one means cause there's three charges every long rest. Correct? Okay. Got you. Just making sure I got that in my head. Okay. Uh, so I will have dark vision up, but I still am by the sword. Everything.

[01:03:36] Uh, so you said two rolls. Or no, one roll. First roll is going to be either in nature or an athletics to see how well you navigate. Uh, I'm going to go with nature. Okay. Uh, and flavor it by saying that I am whispering to spirits that have, uh, either drowned near the, either drowned in here and are telling me what not to do. That's what I'm hoping for. This, this, this one goes free. This one goes free.

[01:04:05] It's a free man. That is, uh, 14 plus, uh, four, that's an 18 nature. 18. Yeah. Let's go. You hear a little voice go, not that way. Don't do that way, sweetheart. That's a terrible way to go. Thank you. Okay. There we go. How about this? Like this? Shhh. Sounds good. Now I need a perception check to see if you notice anything on your bit of this long rest.

[01:04:36] Uh, and, uh, uh, sorry. Uh, that was, that was a false. That's another nat one. No, no. You know what? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Wait, wait, wait, wait. I have something for this. I have something. I have heroic inspiration. Actually, I have heroic inspiration. Reverse that. Take that. Would you like a different die? I'm using, I have three different d20s. I've used each one. One's been a nat one, one's been a two, one's been a one.

[01:05:05] I have, I, I'm gonna use my heroic inspiration to re-roll that. And we'll use the one that gave me a two, cause it at least wasn't a nat one. What is this? Okay. Okay. That is a 16 on the die, plus perception, plus four. That's a dirty 20. With a dirty 20. We don't die today, yet. Yet.

[01:05:30] You do see a pair of humanoid eyes watching you as you pass. About hour six or seven on this trail, but they let you pass. No aggression and no attempt to follow. As we're passing, and they don't seem to be doing anything, I'll just watch and then give them a little smile and wave.

[01:05:56] As you go by, they don't turn their head, but they stick their hand out and they'll wave back a little bit. The hand. I have to ask, what does it look like? Does it look like a little human hand? Looks like a normal elven hand. Elven hand. Let them go by. We'll just keep continuing on. You all continue your short rest, and hopefully everyone's got a chance to roll their hit points

[01:06:26] that's new to. Mm-hmm. Excellent. The night passes without any incident. Dawn breaks. Nico awakens for the day. Nico, you know, well maybe, I don't know, your memory's not great, but I feel like everyone at this table knows that an unburdened soul is a gift.

[01:06:54] To not be weighted down emotionally or really in any way from deep, meaningful things is hugely beneficial. Now imagine that weight times 100. That would be crushing on anyone and crushing on everyone that surrounds.

[01:07:19] As Poppy, our spirit bard, you get the sense of souls all around you as you awake in the morning. Nico, with your roll from your, the shattered blade that you made this morning. Of a thousand souls. Your speed will be halved for the remainder of the day.

[01:07:45] You have disadvantage on dexterity checks and dexterity saving throws. And you give off an aura of 50 feet of crushing burden as the weights of the souls around you affect everything within your reach. Any creature within 15 feet of you is going to be moving in difficult terrain. Does that include our raft?

[01:08:14] That is not a creature, so I will not include the raft. Great, okay. I just wanted to make sure. I knew, I know rafts are not creatures. But that does include everyone on the raft. And now this, this guy is within 15 feet. I'm very interested in how you use this one because while this is definitely a bane, I do think this is the one option on the table that you could potentially use to your advantage if you play it right. Swoop is going to immediately fly above this, this aura. He's going to go, oh my God, man.

[01:08:44] Wait, can he? He can. Yeah, it's going to be hard. It's very difficult for you to get up. But once you reach about 15 feet, all of that burden that you were feeling emotionally and physically lifts you away and you're able to get your normal speed flying. Does he catapult himself just a little higher? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of like a boy in the water just as he goes up. Yeah. Whatever you got going on there, man, that's, uh, that's pretty, pretty screwed up, man.

[01:09:15] So it seems this is pretty, um, uncomfortable. As you push through and the sun rises up, you notice with the passive perception of this group, specifically Bren, I know that a similar sized raft is coming up behind you. Hmm.

[01:09:44] Um, it's making decent speed, but you don't see an oar. Instead, you see a gentleman sitting in what seems to be a booth built upon this raft. Oh, hey, I, we might have a merchant coming up behind us here. If not, I guess still be a little weary. Do you want me to stop?

[01:10:12] Swoop will kind of look over at the, uh, the boat trying to be like as nonchalant as possible. Can I kind of see anything from this distance? Nico is not being nonchalant at all. She like blinked for the first time in four hours and then stands up and whips their head around as soon as he says something. Give me your perception check. Everybody's making binoculars out of their hands real quick. Looking backwards.

[01:10:40] That is a 16. It's a 15. The two of you don't notice anything. Um, that's out of the ordinary. I say it's a man sitting in what appears to be a booth with a table on a raft drifting towards you. He's not notably pushing the raft along.

[01:11:06] It just seems to be moving of its own accord reasonably swiftly and closing the distance with you. I'm going to maneuver us off to the side, um, so that it can either pass or catch up. Yeah. See what happens. I mean, yeah, if he's a merchant, we'll hear, hey, you want some wares? You know, whatever. So we'll see. But yeah, make him some space and I'll be getting to give him the wave. You know?

[01:11:35] Yeah, you're good to pass. I'm going to pass. Just Captain America on your left. Yeah. That's so funny.

[01:11:41] As you do this and move over to the side, he does bring his raft next to yours and you see an older elvish man, milky white eyes in leather garb, a big long brim brown hat that goes way down low.

[01:12:10] And over his face, he has a handkerchief of, of, of sorts wrapped around covering his mouth on the handkerchief itself. There appears to be a red sigil only the longer that you look at it, the more that sigil seems to be ever changing on the handkerchief.

[01:12:38] He'll move up next to you and begin to match your speed. As you see the booth says, information. He'll look at all of you best he can. As he says, could I interest any of you in information? Depends on what it costs.

[01:13:05] A question asked gets a question answered. And in return, a question I ask also gets answered. One wonders if it has to be truthful. I don't plan to lie. Do you? He'll snap his fingers as candles light up on his table.

[01:13:31] And while all of this is happening, you do just notice that there are three decks in front of him of cards. He doesn't acknowledge them. But they are there. In front of you. On this table. For our podcast listeners, there are physical cards all lined up in front of our DM. And the DM lit fricking candles like a psychopath. I'm sure there's nothing ominous going on here at all.

[01:14:00] Can Nico, Nico desperately wants answers for everything. Like they don't have any. Does this guy look legit? Like he, does he look like a swindler? Is what Nico is trying to get the vibe of. So you're like trying to read his face and kind of get a tell on it. Yeah. Is this a trick or could I maybe learn something? Give me an insight check. Can I try and get the measure of him as well? But instead of trying to like figure out, is he fucking with us or not? I just genuinely want to get a sense of.

[01:14:30] Is he Faye? Is he like, is he something I recognize because I've experienced it before? Like I'm genuinely trying to figure out. I'm going to let you tell me narratively what role you'd like to make. I would love to do something that really boosts for my stats. But genuinely I'm thinking like personal experience. I'm thinking maybe history.

[01:14:58] Rather than insight, even though my insights better because I'm trying to think like, well, she's taken trips to the Faye wild before she's met with a couple interesting characters. Does this guy read the same as that to her? Yeah, you can do it. You can do any role you want. I'll let you get as creative with this role as you'd like. Nico, what is your role? 17. A 17 insight.

[01:15:25] All this time he was talking, this body has been astonishingly still. You look in his eyes for that semblance of truth or that look of sincerity. And what you see are two milky eyes that don't seem to hold a gaze towards you at all.

[01:15:55] I was trying to think of an argument for Arcana just because it's higher on the modifier, but feels a little cheesy. So I'm going to stick with the history. Go for it. Would a passive 16 insight have gotten that same insight read? Yes. What do we get? That's a nat 20. Good God, a nat 20. Okay. And this was history. History. So total 24. 24 history.

[01:16:27] Give me a moment to think about this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In terms of history. And hey, I'll just word vomit a little here because I'm just thinking. Yeah, give me a little bit more to go on in terms of what you're looking for. There we go. Poppy spent a little bit of time in the Feywild talking to different kinds of creatures, both scary and not so outwardly scary and everything's scary there. But she's also met a lot of nobles.

[01:16:56] She's met a lot of information brokers. She's met a lot of different kinds of characters over the years, usually plucking things she likes from people. Fey nobles or just? People in the capital as well, doing lots of work for all that. Just like she's been out there disguised. You got a nat 20 and this is a 24. Yes. All right, screw it. You know this face.

[01:17:21] This is a face of a merchant you are certain you've seen at the capital. You're also certain this man's died. Now I'm gazing at him to see. Does the soul match the body? Can I get a wisp? I'm gonna give this to you only because of the nat 20. I'm gonna let you get one more roll in and then I'm gonna give some time to other people if they want it. Yes, yes, yes.

[01:17:50] Go ahead and give me a, um, arcana or medicine check. I will go arcana because that's definitely more in line with her and it's better. Okay. It's not gonna be great, but that is a 7 plus 5 is 12 arcana. Actually, you know what? I'm gonna use, I'm gonna use, I'm gonna use my lucky feature. I'm gonna use one of my luckies. Go ahead. Because this feels, this feels, this feels right.

[01:18:20] This feels worth it. Please just be higher. It doesn't even have to be much. Just higher. Higher. Okay. Uh, 14 plus 7. 21. 21. What soul? While they're interacting with the dude on the boat as I'm kind of flying around, can I say that like I'm circling the boats and then I would like to, you know, check his boat kind of as they're interacting.

[01:18:50] See if I noticed anything, you know, off about the boat. Give me a perception. Either, uh, I don't want to pigeonhole you if you're investigating for something specific. Investigate. Otherwise just give me a general perception check. I'm cool with general perception. Uh, so really the only conversation that has happened with this merchant is the weird back and forth question after question after question between Poppy and the merchant. Yeah.

[01:19:14] Uh, Bryn, Bryn walks up already like, you know, grab it at his gold pouch and walks up to him. Yes, I have a question. What? Or I would like information. And I am willing to provide. You don't have to give gold though. And I'll tuck it away. Okay. Is the drowned Reed Shire safe?

[01:19:46] No. He, the head will swivel slightly to really be facing you. Mm. That sigil will begin to move around more vigorously as he looks best he can on you and says, who exactly are you? Can,

[01:20:17] can an insight check, like, really tell the real question he's asking or the real answer that he's wanting? I'm feeling he's asking, you know, who, who am I really? And I think the question, the answer that he is looking is the badger. Is that the answer he's really looking for? Or I'll, I'll let you do the insight as your friend.

[01:20:44] I'm going to let you know you may get more if you choose to do a different type of role against him. As opposed to an insight role. But if that's what you're wanting to do, I'm going to honor it and I'm going to give you something for it. I mean, that, that's really more, you know, Bren's style. So he wouldn't, he doesn't innately know sort of what other senses or give it to me. Like, what do you call it?

[01:21:14] To roll that you're saying outside of that. Um, so we'll go. Nat 20. Nat 20. That's a nat 20. That's a nat 20 myself. Oh, yeah. The, the cadence of the voice gives enough to you. There is nothing you're getting from the body.

[01:21:32] But the cadence of the voice has this strange, almost baffled quality as he asks this question of, who are you? Almost as if he's asking, who is this guy? Like he knows something about you, but he doesn't believe it. So then.

[01:21:59] And I will also state, just so you know, the moment he asked his questions, you feel the effects of a zone of truth go up and you know you cannot tell a lie to him willingly. Okay. Oh, that's fine. Um, I think he, I think he, even without that, he would have willingly given the truth as the, just the previous, uh, back and forth with Poppy. He, he said he wasn't, he wasn't going to lie.

[01:22:28] And this was a, you know, a question asked a question answered. And so he would feel obliged to do the same as well. Um, so he, so with that insight, what, uh, he, he's, he's baffled at his own question. He's baffled. It's almost like you've done something that he can't believe you're doing.

[01:22:57] So help me out as a player. What just, I don't know how to handle that kind of, you don't necessarily have to give me anything specific. You just have to answer truthfully. So if you think Bren in this moment would just reiterate something relating to him personally, or just even a general answer to the question, go ahead and give that.

[01:23:19] I think in this moment with the plan and action to go back to the Shire and he feels like it's in trouble again and he's returning home. He'll say, I'm Brindle Wickfoot. I'm the badger. A badger. B. Badger. B. Badger. They certainly weren't expecting a badger. B.

[01:23:48] Swoop as he kind of circles, he's got a 19 on his perception check looking down. Um, there is nothing of note on either side of the bank, um, or any cause of concern of danger. You do think that whoever this individual is, he showed up alone. Um, there is nothing on his raft that would indicate weapons or immediate threat to your party.

[01:24:18] It seems like from this overhead view, just a booth with candles and three stacks of cards in front of him. Seems legit. Are these laid out as if he wants us to board his raft or is it just like, uh, he's pulling up beside us, going to give us these, uh, interactions real quick and then disappear off into the ether? There is a stool of sorts.

[01:24:45] If you would like to join his raft and sit in front of his booth. Oh, if that was the case that Bryn would have been, you know, he would have. Wonderful. Then Bryn's already in that. Um, but there is probably room with the raft itself that if you also wanted to step over to his raft, he's providing no, um, hostility or contradiction to you doing so.

[01:25:09] Uh, I think, I think Nico for sure has a lot of questions they would love answered, but there is one most pressing and they will sidle up next to Bryn and kind of put a hand up on the table next to the cards and lean over almost conspiratorially over Bryn. I have a question.

[01:25:31] And I will have an answer, but I recommend you don't touch these unless you wish to see what they show. Nico will very quickly lift their hand as if they've been touched by something disgusting. I understand. Uh, thank you. Um, and he'll slowly put it back behind along with the other one and kind of hold them away from anything.

[01:26:00] Something that, uh, is potentially magical and dangerous because he's learned his lesson. Maybe. Uh. Maybe. I've got another one if anyone doesn't have a question. Um, I would like to know. We'll, we'll go around the table. I know, I know this is probably pretty suspicious, but I, I'm not rushing anything. So if Bryn has additional questions, we'll get back to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm waiting as well. Yeah.

[01:26:27] If I find what I seek, will it mean my end? Meaning, just as your DM, the true soul of Nico? Yes. The truth of that question depends entirely on how clever you are.

[01:26:50] I am a purveyor of possibilities, and you have too many to count. So the answer is yes or no. That was not very helpful, but thank you. Very fae and fiendish. I have a question for you.

[01:27:21] It is the currency we were exchanging, yes. What are you? A traveler. Not quite undead. Not quite a fiend either. I suppose that answer is truthful. Very well. Uh, I'll step up.

[01:27:51] My turn? Yeah. Oh yeah. Has Margazar surfaced on this plane? Yes. Why are you with them?

[01:28:21] I made a deal to assist me in finding Margazar. Then I should say in the spirit of truth, I can nudge the players, but I'm not allowed to reveal the board. Anyone else? Yeah.

[01:28:43] Um, Brynn will, after asking his question, he's digging in his pocket, and he pulls out this signet ring. And it's Lord Valus' signet ring. And holds it up. Or just puts it on the table. And goes, where's the owner of this ring? They're on their way to Mavuru. And, uh, luckily for my notes, that is where the capital is headed next.

[01:29:13] Uh, they are headed to, uh... I had it. Where is it? I'm trying to find out my notes. I know I had it. Anyway, but, yeah. They will, again, best they can, tilt the head towards you. As it says, What chance do you think you have

[01:29:40] of changing the fate of your shire? I believe I can change it. So I've got a, I've got a Brynn's chance of changing it. The badger. Swoop will kind of circle and then slowly fly down and then land on the boat. And he's going to walk right up to him and he's going to say, or he's going to ask, What is the full name of me for this killer?

[01:30:09] In case you didn't hear, I can nudge the players, but I can't reveal the board. What I can tell you is he was the key to unlock, I suppose, the beginning of the end.

[01:30:36] Or perhaps more accurately, the undoing. Say that again for me, Liam. He was the key to unlocking the beginning of the end. Or perhaps the undoing. And yes, he is very pointedly referring to language used earlier in this campaign. Correct. He will look towards Swoop and say,

[01:31:03] What will you do when the crossroads of revenge and purpose meet? I will do as Bacall guides me. Do you truly believe that or is there any hesitation in Swoop? Swoop externally is trying to give off as strong in faith as he possibly can. But internally, yeah, there's definitely still quite a bit of inner conflict.

[01:31:32] You begin to say these words, but what comes out instead is I don't know. Understood. Is there anything else I could provide information for? I think Poppy from the back. Everyone else kind of comes up to the desk and she just kind of pops up a little bit in the background and goes,

[01:32:00] I'm ever so curious about so many things. But I really do wonder. Hmm. Hmm. Purpeteering a dead merchant from the capital city. No soul to speak of. One wonders. Just who is on the other side. I want to answer you honestly.

[01:32:23] And the honest answer is my name in your tongue be translated. But I suppose the closest translation would be something along the lines of magnificence. So perhaps you can call me Magnus. Pleasure to meet you, Magnus. Likewise.

[01:32:52] I have one last question. As do I. I'm sure you do. I will say. And tell me if I can get away with this because I tried to see. I didn't actually ask the question. I just posed that I was wondering something. Um. And I will say I was actively trying to see if I could get away with that.

[01:33:15] Internally, I think this is going to be a individual that is based in terms of intention. Hmm. So would the intention have been to ask the question? Definitely tell me if this counts. Uh. The intention would have been to see if he would have let slip information if she didn't actually pose it as a question. Trying to use the, like, never give a Faye your real name. Like, she's trying to see if she can find the workaround.

[01:33:45] So if he just takes intent to, like, I pose something, seeing if I could get an answer. If that counts, then definitely. But she was trying to not actually speak it as a question to see if she could get away with it. What's going to happen is the color of the flames are going to change slightly. Mm-hmm. As his head will tilt towards you. And he says, I wonder how deeply you would tempt fate

[01:34:14] if you knew the tragedies that I did. Do I feel the compulsion to tell the truth if I go to speak? You do. Yeah. Oh. I'd so hope I'd find a way around. But to be honest, Sona of Truth does not require you to answer. It just requires you not to lie. But we did say answer for answer. You know, question for question, answer for answer.

[01:34:44] So, yeah, she'd go, I did so hope I could slide that one past. It depends on the tragedy. I don't know what tragedies you know, so I couldn't rightly tell you. But if you told me one, I could tell you for that one. I can tell you the players, but I can't reveal the board. If you wish to ask,

[01:35:16] I will answer of the tragedies of which I speak. I won't lie. My brain got caught on what I was going to try and do, and so then it's lagging, trying to figure out what he's just said. Basically, he's offering you another question exchange. If you want to ask him directly to reveal a tragedy, he gets one more question on you. I mean, he said he can... He said he... He can nudge the players, but he can't reveal the board.

[01:35:45] Okay, I heard on that one, and it might have just been playing tricks, or it might have just been having to say it a whole bunch, but I heard I can reveal the players, but not the board. So I was about to ask him, who are all the players? That's what I was going to do, but that's not what he said. He said I can nudge the players, but I... Okay, he repeated the same thing. Got you. That is what Mike accidentally said. That might have been what I said, but yes, that is what I intended. Got you, got you, got you, because my immediate thing was like, bruh. Like, you're perked up. I mean, honestly, in terms of essence,

[01:36:12] in terms of names, he can. The essence of what you're getting with passive insight is he can give you hints. There are certain limits to the amount of information, so potentially you could get a direct name from him. He gave one for Gideon, essentially. Yeah. He may just not be able to provide you

[01:36:40] with a comprehensive truth regarding what's going on. Right. I do think Swoop's... The only reason Swoop's direct answer failed is because the person he was asking about was so integral to the board. Like, whatever the board is. Got you, got you, got you. Yeah, you can't just walk out and be like, all right, who's the BBEG of this whole thing? Yeah. Hulk Hogan! Hey, dude, yeah, quick question. Brother! Brother! Yeah, so what the fuck, guy?

[01:37:10] Yeah, what the fuck is up, Kyle? What the fuck? Get out of here, Kyle! It's Magnus. Magnificence, Magnus. Okay, cool, cool, cool. I've got a couple of other questions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go ahead. Are you sure you don't want to... Because he's giving you all on the table. He is giving this to you on the table, and I just want to make sure. He's opening it up to share the tragedies he knows. Okay. Outright.

[01:37:38] Or at the very least, to answer your question, reveal the person behind the tragedy in exchange for one more question for you. Okay. Okay. Then, would you please tell me about the tragedies and the ones responsible that you can speak of? I wonder what you will tell me. I wonder too.

[01:38:05] If I tell you I know of another changeling who even now has been dealt a fate worse than death itself. A fate that has left him weeping every day since it has occurred. Ask your question. What does a father mean to you?

[01:38:33] And I think Poppy's gone white, and she is not smiling. Hold on. When you say white, is this metaphorical, or did your image actually change? Good point. It starts as the kind of blood has left her face, and then I think her skin does like flash that chalky paper white for a moment before coming back,

[01:39:02] but that's... What was the exact question again? What does a father figure mean to you? As he asks this question to you, though, his head will tilt one more time and begin to swivel more towards Gideon. Oh. That's your dad. Gideon, is that my dad? No. No.

[01:39:33] That'd be sick. Wouldn't it be like, this is Poppy's dead dad? No, I'm kidding. Surprise! Yeah. Yeah, I know neither of y'all planned this or knew this beforehand, but here you go. Yeah. That's my secret cap. I'm always your dad. Someone's dead dad. I'm always your dad. All right. Anyway. The second that attention flops away, I think Poppy like flinches

[01:40:02] and her eyes are in the vacant distance. And I think she actually like goes to answer because it's part of the deal and just what comes out is just a lot of cut off words because she doesn't know, but instead of saying, I don't know, it just keeps not forming. I think the answer he gets is just a struggle. Deep down,

[01:40:31] what is the emotion that you would have towards that individual? The individual, a father figure. Yes. It's a messy tangle of longing for the person who's gone, guilt over the way he left, a kind of anger over the lack of

[01:41:01] any knowledge sense and a deep fear for what that might mean. There's a lot of blame on both sides. So you feel yourself speaking those words and getting cut off. But at the heart of it is love. Oh. And I think that is something she can't really recognize. She can recognize everything else around it,

[01:41:31] but at the heart of it, because that's not what love is supposed to be. Love is what the bards sing in songs. Yeah. This right here is heartbreak. You feel yourself giving these cut off words, but this time around, in the case of Swoop, you actually see it's almost like tangible thought within you as manifest around this man's face as you hear in your own voice anger, guilt,

[01:42:01] fear, love. I see. Complicated. Is it? Yes. Another question. I gave another answer. Another of me for free. Me, the player, is like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Poppy's fucking dead inside.

[01:42:33] She's yeah, she, she is masking so hard that I think it's like, you know how Vulcans don't give off any emotion, but when they do, it's like, oh, there's been some sort of break in it, but I've always liked the idea that if, like, you got to know one of them, you'd pick up little ticks and certainties, but the second they shut down to stop emoting, that's when you knew something was fucked up

[01:43:02] because of how hard they're repressing. That's the kind of repression that is going on with Poppy right now where it's just so little lack of inflection that it's like, oh, Poppy's left, we have a mannequin on the team. Oh, interesting. When that happened. Turning off, shutting down. Yes. Question wise, what she goes to ask is not what comes out, but what she goes to ask is something cold and logical.

[01:43:31] Let's get, let's get off this topic completely and she was probably going to ask what's waiting for us up ahead, what's the best course of action, just completely trying to get her mind off of that and what her mouth actually says is where is he? And there is genuine surprise for a moment on her own face that she asked where her father is. He is seen. In a prison

[01:44:02] between planes. And is the body still looking at Gideon? Yes. Poppy turns to Gideon. I believe we have something to discuss later. All right. Bren, what would you like to ask? With that ring

[01:44:32] still out on the table, is the owner of this ring still alive? Yes. In a manner of speaking. He is at least not undead. Is there another back and forth? If I ask a question, he asks a question or? Um, he's going to look towards Bren and ask,

[01:45:01] is anarchy what you seek? or is it something else? It is when the oppressors are corrupt or not playing by the rules. He seems deeply, like, satisfied with that answer as a moment kind of pauses and he, he finally says,

[01:45:33] I see. So perhaps best define you as a wild card. He kind of, yes. And that's, that's not necessarily a question. It's like he's talking to himself when he says that and he goes, yes, yes, I think I will put you down as a wild card. Yeah. And he asked that. So, you know, categorize Bren as a wild card. He puts his hand up on his chin and goes, yeah, I am a bit of a wild card. Is the,

[01:46:03] is the honor of this ring possessed then? Yes. In a manner of speaking. Is it possession if it plays off of the desires one already has? What do you think? Well, possession by the meaning is something else

[01:46:32] is using his body and his mind. Reason for that possession if you're saying is just increasing the desires or increasing a drive, then I guess they're really only helping that individual.

[01:47:02] But still, by the meaning being a possession, then he, if, if somebody else is driving, then he's possessed. Yes, a complicated one. I haven't been sure whether to flag it myself. And so Bren will grab that ring and put it in his pocket. and Pacruciador has been made governor

[01:47:31] of this region. What sort of, what sort of bad deeds were used to get him there, if any? I suppose it's not in my nature to define things in terms of good or bad. but then again, I can nudge the players, but I can't reveal the

[01:48:01] board. And with the un, you know, unsurprised he'll just nod. Do you think hypothetically you would bet on yourself? I would? Wait, bet on myself for governor of Roshima? No, no. Okay, okay. But that was a question. I, like I said,

[01:48:31] I believe in myself and I have a, I have a brins chance at anything and that takes my heart and body and mind. So anything I do, I've got a, I've got a chance of me doing the best I can. That you do, lad, you know, slap him on the back. Oh, yeah, you're here. I missed you up in the sky.

[01:49:01] In that case, question for a question, could I observe you moving forward? This, this intrigues Bryn and you know, just the, the nature of this guy, guy, but also how Bryn is an interest to him. Yeah, I think I'd be okay with

[01:49:31] that. Understood. I will be watching with keen interest. Okay. As DM, does anyone have, anyone else have questions or does anyone else want to do a check on this individual? Nico has questions. I'll have questions, but I can go after you. Okay. Nico, go ahead. All right. Nico leans forward onto the table

[01:50:01] and very carefully avoiding touching the cards. How was Nicodemus' grandfather poisoned? Or rather, if you would allow a reward, who is responsible for his grandfather being poisoned? That is two questions. As to the first,

[01:50:30] I'm not sure if it counts as poison, if the nature death itself is permeated within one's body. I am not as familiar with, for the first time you'll see the body move, the hand tap, material, things. As to the second question,

[01:50:59] deals were struck. I can nudge the players, but I can't reveal the board. Tell me what you can about what Margazar has to do with what's been happening in the Empire. there. A long pause will go as if deep consideration is happening and he'll answer your question with his question. What is that colloquial phrase

[01:51:30] about the chicken and the egg? You're asking me this question. That's his question. What came first? Yes. It's like that. Okay. Does a beginning or an end occur in a circle? I am not able to tell you. So Nico will hesitantly

[01:52:00] but since this corpse seems to already know much more than he would have let on take out his blade. The one that is causing so many issues. The one who made both rafts shake when he stepped but when nobody else did. He will hold it so that the man or creature can see what purpose does this

[01:52:30] blade have? To break that which is done. As the moment you show the blade he begins to laugh as he says for the first time repeating a question What are you? Not quite celestial not quite they. I do not know quite myself.

[01:53:00] I see. That is disappointing but I suppose understandable. I will find it for you and give you that information in exchange for more. No, no, I will find the right question to ask. I have one final question. If anybody would like to have questions as well before I ask mine. Any checks? Anything on this guy? I have

[01:53:30] one more question. Okay. We'll get Gideon's question and we'll get Nico's last question. Can they be trusted? His body seems to be twitching a little bit. As he says, the nature of your question requires further specificity. It does not require extra, but please.

[01:54:01] More information. More information. Can they be trusted to do the right thing when it matters? I am not being that interacts in terms of right or wrong good or bad. But perhaps this will help. I believe in my understanding it was the Golden Empress's wish

[01:54:31] that you would trust one another. He just nods. What does it mean to be worthy? He'll think on it for a minute on what he thinks would make himself worthy and what he deems to be worthy to work for the betterment of others, not just yourself. Self sacrifice.

[01:55:00] This is acceptable. Any other questions? I think we towards the beginning of this campaign, it was mentioned that giants were spotted. What? Up north, northeast where? I don't think we really got much into that, but I believe it was swoops that

[01:55:30] mentioned that when we first came to the empire. What was the significance of giants being spotted there? They are basically no longer seen, nobody's seen giants in years and years and years. There's basically been rumors around my home that there's been sightings. Okay, do you think that's something you could ask about

[01:55:59] or is that something that you already know now being the keeper of secrets? That's a really good question, guys. This has become such a richer segment than I ever intended. As your friend, that's totally worth asking. Whether Swoop would ask that, I'll leave that up to you. This is why your boy takes notes. Hell yeah! Swoop will

[01:56:29] kind of lean over have the giants truly returned? And if so, second question, why? That is two questions. He's struggling hard to know how to answer this. And finally, he'll say, children of the primordial were sometimes included.

[01:56:59] That's the answer to your first question. Are sometimes included? And I'll add, but sometimes they don't want to play. What is that that you have in your ropes? You mentioned something earlier that you put inside your ropes. I'm trying to think. I remember that I had put something here once I must have marked it down.

[01:57:29] Oh, the blood. Yeah, the blood soaked rope. It's you. You're in the ropes. You're wearing them. You put your armies in your sleeves. You specifically mentioned that you put a booklet in your ropes. Oh, yes, that's right. Yeah, the ledger. So, I'm going to kind of slide it out and present it.

[01:58:00] The hand in a very mechanical motion will reach out for it. And swoop will kind of reluctantly hand it over. So, do understand. And he'll hand it back to you. you have answered your second question. What does a father figure mean to you? It means guidance. It means one to follow.

[01:58:31] Means leader. But honest. Out of curiosity, out of game, the question about the giants, would I have any knowledge of why considering give me a history check. I'm not going to give you the answer to your question directly, but I will.

[01:59:12] fiends. We're talking about those that emerged from the primordial or better word for based on your knowledge would be the elemental planes. These are really the planes that brought existence to time and space more than the celestials and demons. Celestial and demons are creatures that

[01:59:43] if he's referring to the children of primordials being invited, there is something that he is referring to that certain species may have been given knowledge to. What that is you don't know. But it seems like based on his answers they are either participating or they're not participating but still reacting to it.

[02:00:14] But I do know that this has all happened relatively recently? Relatively recently. You of anyone would probably have the most knowledge that the giants have for almost a millennium kept to the elemental planes. Swoop kind of looking around at the rest of the party will reach down and

[02:00:44] grab a card. Which deck? Right in the middle. The center. Oh shit. Please tell me and why don't you tell everyone give a description of the image on the card and then what the title of the card is. So it is the font of the gambler. It is a cloaked individual in nice dress with a tie has fanned out cards in one hand and then the other he has an ace of spades

[02:01:14] that he slash she is holding out. Okay. You feel a distinct arcane disturbance occur over you and your entire party. Great. Look what you did John. Go ahead and keep that card with you moving forward until it resolves itself. You would like to tempt

[02:01:44] fate. I find that very interesting indeed. Any may also that may have answered my next question. I was going to ask if you he darts a glance between the deck and poppy and back at the deck if you would give us a reading I will answer the meaning of

[02:02:15] any card that you pick. I think Nico's thirst for knowledge is so great that he would be willing to risk it. I haven't been here very long but track record this was the pile that John picked from correct you are more than welcome to pick one from that there's also two other ones the two other ones have a similar back to them are they pretty much are those two of the same or

[02:02:45] we're about to find out interesting okay please for the audience Nico give me a description of the card and the title that the card has the card is easy on the eyes and it is a very distinct looking blonde headed guessing that is a drow wearing all gold armor with a gold shield and a shining sword he

[02:03:16] will look at you and say sometimes fate can be tempted in the most physical of senses as he speaks this word you feel a physical change occurring on your face all of you look over to Nico and see objectively a beautiful man across every species Nico when

[02:03:45] making persuasion checks specifically regarding a flirtatious mood or your own charm you will do so at advantage hell yeah I mean seeing everybody look at him a little weird he's gonna rush over to the water knowing that he just recently got a cursed weapon does he see anything differently in the water damn you look good man thank you

[02:04:15] have you always been so aerodynamic very angular under this lighting for one that has perhaps felt so lost you've never looked so much like the hero is it the same look for everybody or is it different depending on who sees it oh that's a good question let me roll for that in object as objective as a standard that

[02:04:45] could be sent across a very interspecies world objectively everyone would agree Nico is handsome you're Chris Hemsworth doesn't matter sexual orientation nothing wait Beth why are you changing your character name to sexy Nico Poppy's like your name is Chad I also have

[02:05:15] another question I will ask one and then answer yours as he looks to Nico and says are you prepared to uncover the past if it turns out to be much uglier than you I am as ready as I will ever be I suppose very well Master Bryn your

[02:05:45] question oh master now okay is is Rin Sadoba in any danger of possession after he thinks back on all the things that we found and you know we found a locket and we found some hair and stuff like that they're just thinking back on what has happened

[02:06:15] he's just being a little weary of possession no not in the traditional sense what would you classify Nico as um a fighter I think I was going to stick his chest out a little bit broad but I'm might be able to get away with that this

[02:06:45] dude fucking writing up like all right and it's lucky number celebrity going to the racetrack side like the dossier on each of right again I'm going to reiterate one more time I'm not trying to affect the party but I want to make sure that I'm not steamrolling you into doing questions you can do further checks of your choice if you'd like I think Brent said he had one more question though was that right that was that was it about oh that was it but

[02:07:15] also kind of kind of looking at Nico and swoop that have drawn this card each he would he'll look at the vendor this merchant and go would you draw your own cards a star is not drawn to the gravity of another star but it might observe

[02:07:44] the gravity of the planets so why do you just observe the cards he'll answer your first question by saying who says I do and the second question perhaps because I don't need to but that doesn't make me uninvested we all after all have to be double checked every now and then

[02:08:15] why did you get rid of the ledger I I figured it was was used to put in power the one holding it wasn't doing any good to me to my people so I thought taking that was taking away his power I'm not complaining however I'm certainly not complaining

[02:08:44] I have one more question go ahead why would her father be put in that prison believe me when I answer truthfully because he was seen what would drive a man to become something he's not is that a question that's looking for an answer that is a question looking for an answer

[02:09:14] and in fact he's asking it with such genuine like the voice of such genuine sincerity it's almost as if there is a desperate desire to understand something about human nature okay it's not like pointed at some okay say what was the question one more time what would drive a man to become something he's not desperation yes

[02:09:45] yes indeed perhaps you are right that would make sense at least I think it would I'm not very familiar Brent will reach to the table and he'll pick a card from the deck that hasn't been drawn from please give me a description of the card and the name

[02:10:26] let's and this you can visibly see this aura it's like this red aura around them and there's a dog looking up growling there's a I guess guardsman of the town kind of like grimacing at him with the spear in his hand but not pointed and there's a woman with the baby also grimacing at the adventure as it passed by her

[02:10:56] when you reach for it the hand of the the body is going to reach out and grab your hand as you do it as he says desperation drives a man to do that which he is not until this bane is removed anytime you roll a nat one on any charisma check

[02:11:27] creatures around you will become hostile towards you um I will remind everybody that I'm a half plane so whenever I do roll a nat one I get to so it is true there is a lot of luck here the chance of rolling two nat ones though on a charisma check which I don't really push Brynn to do but it is lower so

[02:11:57] best person to have that bane I guess a little bit okay um I want to do a check and then maybe one last question okay is there anything anyone else would like to do I think I think that's crossed my swoop will continually just this whole time as everybody else has been going has been just locked on this card and I'll kind of show it back to the vendor it be

[02:12:42] like underneath like like maybe like a mountain out cropping and out from underneath you know the kind of purchase he's found underneath this cliff there's just a massive storm with lightning thunder rain the adventure does not look like he's having a very good time this feels like a good time to start walking so on your first card you pulled there was the sense of kinetic energy that kinetic arcane energy that filled the space around you,

[02:13:12] as if untapped potential was just sitting in the ether. On the second one, you suddenly begin to notice just how wet this bog and swamp is making you feel, as that feeling doesn't seem to go away. We will need to be very careful in tracking anything that you are holding moving forward. Oh, no.

[02:13:41] Oh, fuck. Stompers. It'd be a shame not to triple down. Go, John, go. Why am I tempted, though? Because your first one was a good one or a very interesting one, at least. We know who we're not bringing to Las Vegas, guys. That's not a problem. That's not a problem. He does look visibly soaked as you look over at Swoop.

[02:14:09] It's a bit damp out here for the rest of you. You fall into the pond. I don't... Yeah, get a towel. You smell like you're molting. Oh, my God. Nasty. Yeah, bog is not kind to you. I heard a check as well, correct? Yes. I wanted to know, have I heard the name Magnus?

[02:14:39] Give me a history with disadvantage. Magnificence as well. The translation is magnificence. Disadvantage, eight plus three. That's 11? No. I mean, it's kind of... I guess kind of a common name-ish in terms of historical significance. No. And Nico will think for a minute. Maybe I have two questions.

[02:15:08] Firstly, he'll be eyeing the soaked bird in their party. How would... Who would we go to to remove curses and banes? Those equipped in the arcane knowledge of the mystic ways. Why do you ask this? This seems to be a party that is... He'll look down at his own dagger. Prone to collecting curses.

[02:15:40] I will need to note that. The DM will remember this. And for the last one, you very vaguely answered who you are. I would like to know, what are you? Give me a wisdom saving throw. It's a 14. A 14. You are able to remain conscious

[02:16:09] as you are overwhelmed with a presence unlike anything you've ever felt that feels both celestial and fiendish. I am Magnificence. I'm also the man at the booth. And perhaps the Watcher from afar. Who are you? Being asked this question again,

[02:16:39] Nico will look down, browsen it, frustrated. I am trying to become someone I can be proud of. It's so strange. Always trying to become something without realizing that your basis of it is always who you are. Strangely linear. Very well. I'm loving this.

[02:17:09] I really didn't think you guys would eat this up as much. Okay, go for it. One more question. Knowing that the meeting with Alma as whenever we first met her, it was preference that me, Brandon Swoops kind of had the same interest with this quote unquote master of ledgers.

[02:17:37] And so he thinks back on that and asks, I probably understand you can't tell us who, but can you tell us where this master of ledgers is? Master of ledgers is a bit of a misnomer if you ask me. He of all people should not be considered such. But I suppose I see through the spirit of the question and will answer honestly.

[02:18:08] They appreciate that. The person I think to whom you refer is in the shire where you left him. But a master, perhaps only a master of none. All right. That answers. What would you do differently if you were to see a ledger again? Am I getting the sense that

[02:18:37] if we do return to Drown Reed Shire that this oppression has returned and again, this ledger is used as the what do you call it? The measure of power or the item of power. If you need it to help as a player not as Brynn, I will let you make a check of your choice to help give you more information

[02:19:07] on how to answer. Yeah, I would like that. I'm a little stumped. So, yeah. And again, this is using Brynn stats but I want to open this up for you as a player for your understanding. Pick what you think would help you the most understand in terms of your ability checks. I think thinking of this maybe survival. You know,

[02:19:36] would this help? Would doing something differently change the survivability of the Shire himself or the survivability of, you know, this oppression that is happening? Could it end it? Could what is the best measure to bring the Shire back to what it once was and, you know,

[02:20:05] survive that way? Maybe bring it back. I would say with that because you could touch it on three different things. You could do it as a survival. You could also potentially do it as an insight or an investigation. But if you think survival, go for it. Yeah, I think more and more in the mind of revive and survive the Shire. Okay. Yeah, let's get that roll.

[02:20:35] It's a nat one so I'm going to reroll that and that is going to be a dirty 20. Dirty 20. You're almost certain that if you were to do things over and do them differently, the causality of what has occurred in nature would be different. So, so with that, it's okay what I, it's okay what I did but it hurt the nature.

[02:21:05] So if I was to do something different, don't do that. but if I do, if I do anything with the ledger, would it still I suppose stop. Better thing to think of it in terms of this framework and in your, your interaction with this individual maybe has broadened your mind to the idea of going beyond good or bad, right or wrong. Perhaps it's less a matter of what was the right or wrong course of action

[02:21:35] and maybe that the ledger was unintentionally or intentionally used in a way that its nature was not intended to be used. Okay, okay, okay. So, Magnificence, Magnus' question was would I do something differently? Not specifically what would I do differently, but would I do something differently? Yeah,

[02:22:05] thinking about that and being able to process and break that down with this check. Yeah, I think, I think somebody better should be in charge of the ledger. I see. Then it is perhaps time I allow you to tempt fate further as the corpse ushers you back to your

[02:22:34] own raft. Does everyone go over? Swiping the water off of his wings as he goes, man, it's awfully fucking wet. Gross. That's the first thing Poppy says. Is everyone going over? I would like to point out, I never went over to the other thing. Okay, yes, yes. I stayed on ours. I will walk to our boat. Yep.

[02:23:05] I think Nico will be the last to step over, and if you allow me a moment, and if Poppy would be watching and maybe seeing the spirits around Nico, as he goes to take a step, the hands up and grabbing at his coat and his pants, and in the water even, hands are coming up and out and pulling at him, and he feels so heavy, and the rafts aren't

[02:23:35] moving up and down as much when people are stepping over, until Nico takes one big step into our raft, and it dips noticeably and shakes the raft, and he's over. Farewell, Legion. As his raft begins to depart from all of you, with passive perception, you see him begin to fade out of the water as he pulls out a notebook. And begins

[02:24:04] starting to write things. With a passive perception of 16, Brynn, this notebook looks exactly like the ledger you burned. Oh, great. He's gone as he was there one moment and disappears like a morning fog. As he disappears, you hear a voice on the far bank.

[02:24:34] Hey! And you see a dwarven farmer by a tree that has strung up on all of the branches various dried fruits that are just hanging there swinging in the breeze. Behind him, you see a small cottage style with a bit of agriculture to the side

[02:25:10] and that's where we're going to end this session. This has been Tales of Yvonne, the Empire Table. Beyond the Empire's reach, the pirate table sails dangerous waters. Be sure to follow their side of the story to uncover more about the world of Yvonne. Follow the show to stay ahead of what's coming, and if you're enjoying the journey, leave a review. It brings more souls into the story. Until next time, long live the Empire.