C2 E9 | Courage Mounteth With Occasion - Venture Forth: A D&D Podcast

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_05 (00:00):
Hey nerds, join us on Discord and hit that
subscribe button.

SPEAKER_09 (00:04):
Hi, I'm Ilya Ramsay.
Philippa.

SPEAKER_13 (00:08):
Vale.
So I'm your DM Seth.
Welcome to Venture Fourth.

SPEAKER_03 (00:12):
Gather round ye gentles.
I've another tale to tell ofwoe-begotten heroes and
repentant now duels, of villainsand their scheming and the fools
that heed the call.
Sweet melodies to ensure thatthey venture.

(00:38):
For they venture, duelingdragons in a dungeon, topping
trolls till the toes are peeled.
Of course they venture.
For they venture, thou mayesthave to trust a notch fate when
a devil's at thy heels.
When last we left our heroes inthe tavern or a cave.
They dispatched a doctor'slaser, found some sun and stops

(01:01):
to sleep.
There's a mate with muchambition.
There's a more connected gate.
The real friend's a politician.

SPEAKER_13 (02:06):
When last we left our heroes.
We saved people.
You guys did.
Your heroes?
We did.
You guys are your second day onthe road brought rain and mist
and the steady eyes of theFreywood, tracking your passage
through the trees.
Before eight hours of travel,and the cresting of a hill laid
open a scene of carnage.
Lizard folk corpses strewnacross the claim, human remains

(02:29):
on tables, and far morequestions and answers.
But a chained bunkhouse doorwith a posted warning perhaps
promised some kind ofinformation.
The warning nailed to thebunkhouse door was plain enough,
but what was inside was anythingbut.
As the chains fell away and thedoor swung open, two figures
awaited you all in eeriesilence.
Miners once, now transformed bysome fell force, they no longer

(02:51):
remembered what they had beenand attacked.
The fight was brief and brutal.
But when it was done, the partymade a careful inspection of
what remained.
Within the footlockers of thesix miners, that presumably were
once here, five pristine goldpieces and individual coin
sacks, far more than theirnormal wages.
Hush money, paid to workers whofound something someone wished

(03:12):
to keep quiet.

unknown (03:13):
Hush money.

SPEAKER_13 (03:14):
But the extra gold hadn't saved them.
Philippa and Vale examined thebodies closely, and what they
found in the bone and sinew andmuscle was unmistakable to
Philippa's practiced eye, agangrenous corruption, a
physical mark of whatever fellforce had transformed these
people into the abominationsthey became.
And while they worked, Shaw,Ramsay, and Ilya continued their
investigation of the surroundingbuildings and the staged

(03:36):
caravan.
The stables provided a potentialmeans of departure, three
Orochs, alive and restless intheir stalls, but the warehouse
yielded something far moresignificant.
Behind a heavy door in a heavilyfortified safe room were the
surviving miners, and amongthem, Tom Forger and Senecalder,
battered, wounded, exhausted,but alive.
A heavy weight lifted from Ilyaat the side of her childhood

(03:58):
friend, and in the warmth ofthat reunion, as the relief of
the survivors filled the room,Ramsay stepped quietly forward
and pressed a good berry intoIlya's hand for her friend.
A small thing, but an importantone.
As we return to this moment,Ilya, you have just given Dom
the Goodberry.
You see as his weight goes andshifts away from the very

(04:19):
heavily wounded leg that you cansee to sort of straddling his
full stance.
And he breathes in a sigh ofrelief.
And you see as the survivorsbegin to filter out into the
space as they see the light forthe first time in who knows how
long.
But uh Dom is standing there andhe pushes back from you, and he

(04:43):
You know, one of these days, I'mgonna have to save you again.

SPEAKER_09 (04:50):
Well, you'll have your chances, trust me.

SPEAKER_13 (04:53):
One can only hope.
Um, everybody, um, yeah, justjust spread out.
Um, let's get out of here.
And you see, as a number offigures kind of come forward,
you recognize some of them.
Um, you see, of course, Dom andSenna both are, like I said,
pretty heavily wounded.
Um you see that uh almosteverybody is um stripped down to

(05:15):
their small clothes, um, andthere is no no gear, no weapons
of any kind.
The room is completely sparseand empty.
The lizard folk left nothing inhere with them.
Um the stench is prettyunbearable.
Um, but they all begin to filterout, and um you also recognize
two other figures.
You uh see um Maren Valdis, whoyou recognize as the uh the

(05:38):
healer who is like stationed inshifts here at the mine for
injuries.
Um, and you see that among theuh the people coming out, you
see a stocky dwarvish woman witha sort of like very uh like a
short, not quite a bob, but likeshoulder length cut hair that is
pulled back into a very tight uhbraid.
Um you recognize Dagra, the umthe foreman, uh or forewoman, I

(06:02):
should say, of the of the mine.
Um but they all begin to filterout as the three of you uh begin
to take stock and kind of seeeverybody um as they are.
Um and you hear like cries forlike water, is there any water?
And just like several voices.
All told there's um around 25 uhor so minors, um, plus um Dom,

(06:27):
Senna, Maren, and Dagra.

SPEAKER_09 (06:29):
Yeah, is when we were looking through all the
buildings, did we see like thecentral mess hall where we can
guide folks to and then theinjured to fill for one of the
cabins?

SPEAKER_13 (06:40):
You guys uh you you saw a number of buildings, um,
but you're not sure which one isthe mess offhand.
Um, but uh yeah, you're notyou're not sure.

SPEAKER_09 (06:50):
I I'll I'll go up to to Dagra and be like, can we
gather everyone to the mess andthen I can take the injured to
Phil?

SPEAKER_13 (06:59):
I uh what happened to the lizard folk?
Where are they?

SPEAKER_09 (07:03):
We don't know.

SPEAKER_13 (07:06):
They're gone.
Dead.

SPEAKER_09 (07:09):
We think there was a creature monster that came from
the mine.

SPEAKER_13 (07:17):
They're all gone.
Dead.
Thank you, gods.
Alright, uh, yeah, everyone.
Let's uh let's go to the miss.
And you see as several of thesurvivors, and this Dabra just
kind of like stops, she turns toyou, puts her hand on your
shoulder and looks at the threeof you.

(07:39):
You've uh well and she justturns and kind of looks at the
room that they were all lockedin, and you see as like kind of
a shudder goes through her shher body, and she sets her jaw.
I wouldn't have liked to knowwhat might have happened if we'd
been left.

SPEAKER_09 (07:54):
We're gonna have some questions for you, but I
can wait.

SPEAKER_13 (07:58):
I'd imagine so.
Hopefully I'll have someanswers.
But um first, and you see likeher like her ever all of them
are talking, kind of like I amright now.
Like their voices are like areraw.
Yeah, yeah.
Um they're you know, they've hadto clear their throat.
You can see that they're theykeep like swallowing, uh trying
to get moisture into theirmouths.
Um they're all, like I said,like severely dehydrated.

(08:20):
Um but uh you see is most of thebody most of those people begin
to move out.
Um, and Dom and Senna uh sort ofcome over to the three of you
guys.

SPEAKER_02 (08:30):
Um I'm outside.
You're oh that's right.
You left.
Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_13 (08:34):
I would have been inside.

SPEAKER_02 (08:35):
I'm like sitting on the stoop, basically, just kind
of like fed away.

SPEAKER_13 (08:38):
Okay, cool, cool, cool.
Um, so the two of you are justinside.
Okay.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (08:42):
Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_14 (08:43):
Yeah, I would have at some point, if uh as this was
going on and they were escortingpeople out, once everyone seemed
to be more or less secured, Iwould make my way over to those
boxes.
Okay.
Potentially, um I don't want tomake a big deal of it.
So like I'll kind of stroll thatway, I'll hold people up, move
my way, get get to the boxes,and I don't want to take a look

(09:04):
at them.
Cool.
Whatever.

SPEAKER_13 (09:05):
All right, I'll I'll probably get back to that.
Um, but Ilya, you see, as Domand Santa are kind of with you.
You see it happen, and youdidn't actually, I don't think,
know this.
Um Marin is, you see, Marin islike tall, thin, uh, tall, thin
male with like very thinfeatures.
Um, you see like very dirtyspectacle glasses.
Um, he's got like this sort oflike uh frumpy blonde, sandy

(09:28):
blonde hair um that probablynormally is done kind of nice,
but is now just like filthydirty.
Um and uh he um Senna and he umyou see like there's kind of a
squeeze of the hand that lingersfor just a minute as uh Marin um
looks at Senna and then looks atall of you guys.

(09:48):
Thanks.
That's um I'm just glad y'allshowed up.
Um and he turns to Senna.
I'll see you in there and turnsand kind of limps away.
Um just a brief moment of ofovert affection between the two
of them.

SPEAKER_09 (10:07):
My main focus after the group starts headed out
towards um the mess halls andeverything is I grab Dom by like
the elbow and like help takesome weight off of his leg.

SPEAKER_13 (10:21):
He his big meaty arm like drapes over your shoulders
and he's still yeah, he's likehe's he starts walking.
I guess there's no sense instaying in here and he starts
walking out of the out of thewarehouse with you.
Everything's dead?
All of them?

SPEAKER_09 (10:37):
I mean, they're not here, but we don't know if
they're dead.

SPEAKER_13 (10:41):
Did you kill them?
Well no, they're lizard folk.

SPEAKER_09 (10:44):
They were gone before we got here.
Looks like there was a struggleagain.
I don't know what it was, but weum we heard something.

SPEAKER_13 (11:00):
We heard a lot of screaming.
But we weren't But we weren'tsure, and then no one came, but
god I could have done that.

SPEAKER_09 (11:12):
When's the last time they took one of you?
The lizard folk.

SPEAKER_13 (11:17):
Um, and he kind of thinks hard to and he looks back
and you see again there's nowindows in that safe room,
right?
And he he kinda you see him kindof doing the mental math and
says and as Seth does the mentalmath.
Well, I've s we've slept threetimes since the screams.
We've been trying to get out,but they took everything we had,

(11:40):
and I mean that fucking room isalso designed to not let people
in or Well, out, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 (11:49):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 (11:51):
Well Yeah, it's been um I think it's been about three
days since anybody came in andtook anybody.

SPEAKER_09 (11:58):
So I guess it's been probably three days since that
thing, whatever it was.
When you get out here, you'llsee what I'm I'm talking about.
It's kinda hard to explain.

SPEAKER_13 (12:11):
We left um a couple of days ago.
But um well, we moved prettyfast when we're traveling, just
the two of us, and he looks overto Santa and and then he kind of
leans down and he like kind ofwhispers to you because Santa
wanted to get here sooner, so wepushed past the way house and
just traveled through the night.

(12:32):
So, um That makes sense.
We were tired and we didn't umwe didn't see him.
And he kind of like reaches downto the wound in his leg, and I
mean there was like almost tenof them, so we didn't really
stand much of a chance.
I'm surprised they kept us aliveat all.
And you see, he's like, I mean,yeah, they're they're pretty

(12:53):
fucked up, both of them.

SPEAKER_09 (12:54):
Um We need to send an animal message to Daggett as
soon as possible.

SPEAKER_13 (13:01):
Right, yeah.
Um and at this point now you'vekind of crossed out of the
warehouse and into the into therain and now into the outside.
Um at this point now the sun isthe light's starting to fade.
Um it's getting on towardsevening.
And you see as Dom gets out andhe like takes a big deep breath
of like the fresh air, and he'slike, oh my god.
And you see as a bunch of likeas you get outside, you can see

(13:23):
that most of them are just likestanding there in the rain, just
like like open, their mouths areopen, and you can see that some
are like they've basicallyscattered to like different
little like places whererainwater is collected and
they're like drinking greedilyfrom all of these different
little pockets and places, um,whether it's like the tops of
barrels or like one of themstanding like under the eave of
one of the roofs, just likegetting drenched in water, um,

(13:46):
as the cold, you know, springrain is just like they're all
doing their best.
You see, a few of them puke umas they are too deep, they drink
too much and like it's kind of amess.
Um but um you I will say thatprobably at this point the two
of you have finished what you'redoing and you see like across
the way because you hear noises,and yeah, you hear like people

(14:08):
and voices start coming.

SPEAKER_12 (14:10):
Yeah, once we hear things, I would imagine once as
soon as we heard even just likethe start to hear like voices,
voices, you guys hear voices,like more than normal carry.
So as you guys are because we'dbe like, I'm I would imagine I
would like turn and be like,who's out there?
Bill.
And I like run.

SPEAKER_13 (14:31):
Yeah, you take off, duster flaring behind you as you
guys bust out of the bunkhousethat you guys are in, and you
can see kind of across the camp,a couple hundred yards away, you
can see people are justbeginning to emerge from the
warehouse.
You see, again, as described,everybody's in their small
clothes, pretty much basicallynaked.
Um, and yeah, just like doingexactly right, just looking for

(14:53):
water.

SPEAKER_07 (14:54):
Um, but you see as they come into to eyesight.
Look there!

SPEAKER_03 (14:59):
Is that not the hero veil?
The veil from the sky?

SPEAKER_13 (15:04):
From the stars above, and you see as like
everybody's like, all thesepeople like everybody turns and
looks to see Phil and uh andVale made her way across the
death.
Alright.

SPEAKER_09 (15:21):
Phil, is there uh is there a cabin that all the
injured should go to so we cantreat them?
Not the obviously the one cabin,but I don't fucking know.

SPEAKER_12 (15:34):
Why would I know that?

SPEAKER_08 (15:36):
This is the first time I've been here too.
Who the fuck is here?
Dom! Sit up!

SPEAKER_13 (15:43):
You see, hey Phil.
Um, you see, yeah, you see Domis like draped over everywhere.

SPEAKER_12 (15:51):
Uh where where were they?

SPEAKER_09 (15:54):
Uh in the building that we were checking out across
the uh the caravan where we leftit.
Or where it was left.

SPEAKER_12 (16:02):
Yeah, I start looking at everybody that I see,
um, and I'm sure I see Dagra.

SPEAKER_13 (16:07):
Yeah, you see Dagra.
For sure.

SPEAKER_09 (16:12):
How long were they in there?
Uh probably about three days.

unknown (16:19):
Okay.

SPEAKER_09 (16:20):
They need water, but some of them have bigger
injuries, and I'm like, you seeDom in his legs.

SPEAKER_12 (16:25):
Yeah, and I see Marin.
I was like, well, Marin's here,so he's gonna do a lot more work
than I can.

SPEAKER_09 (16:32):
We're all gonna need help.

SPEAKER_12 (16:33):
I I understand.

SPEAKER_13 (16:35):
How many are there?
Approximately almost 30.
There's like 27 or somethinglike that.
26, 27.

SPEAKER_12 (16:40):
Dagra!

SPEAKER_13 (16:42):
Uh, hey.
Hey, Phil.
Um Nice to see you.

SPEAKER_11 (16:47):
Good to see you.

SPEAKER_13 (16:48):
Thanks for uh for making it for coming.
Um, who sent you?
Did she get my my note?

SPEAKER_12 (16:57):
No note was received.

SPEAKER_07 (17:00):
And I'm like getting up, I've I've flung Luther over
my back, and I I look like a wetdog.
Yeah.
I do not have the appropriateattire for this.
Um uh believe we happened acrossuh No Well, this is Dagra.

SPEAKER_04 (17:17):
You're the one that put the sign on the door, were
you not?

SPEAKER_13 (17:21):
Um yes.

SPEAKER_04 (17:23):
Um We could not read it.
The handwriting was illegible,but I did make out your name.

SPEAKER_13 (17:28):
Um and she like looks are the um That's great.
Make a deception check.

SPEAKER_01 (17:38):
Oh, that was so good.

SPEAKER_13 (17:40):
Uh uh, both of you guys make deception checks on
me.

SPEAKER_07 (17:46):
Come on, Ramsey, old boy.
Uh 12.
12?
Okay, 11, sorry.
Okay.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_12 (17:52):
I'm a plus zero.
Oh no, but I rolled a 19.
Oh.

SPEAKER_13 (17:57):
Um, yeah, you see, she kind of like there's a
moment of like confusion.
Sure.
And but then she just likeweird?
Yeah, she's just dehydrated.
Except she also she also doesn'trecognize you, right?
She has no idea who you are.
Um she recognizes Phil, sherecognizes Ilya.
Um, but she uh oh fuck.

(18:17):
Are they um dead?

SPEAKER_04 (18:21):
Everyone inside, I'm afraid.

unknown (18:25):
Shit.

SPEAKER_04 (18:26):
Do you know what what happened to them?

SPEAKER_10 (18:28):
Um let's get out of the water and start getting
everyone settled, and and Iwould like to know.

SPEAKER_13 (18:37):
I I'll um tell you what I can.
And um you see she kind of alsolike looks around to see like
who is nearby as she kindaacquiesces to this idea.
Um to the mess.
Um, I think everybody needs somefood.
And she like walks across andkind of together, uh most of the

(18:58):
way.
Most of you guys make your wayacross the the grounds to the
mess.
Um, I am gonna come back toShaw, who is inside of the
warehouse still.
You've managed to linger behindand you see the boxes.
Um, they are nailed shut, um, asfar as you can tell, but you're
as everybody leaves, you arealone in here.

SPEAKER_14 (19:19):
How many boxes and how big?

SPEAKER_13 (19:21):
Um there are uh six boxes.
They're probably like two and ahalf, three, three feet,
probably three feet by threefeet by three feet.
Like just kind of a standardlike crate.
Okay.
Um, like a shipping crate.
Yeah, three by three by three.

SPEAKER_14 (19:33):
Yeah, I mean, are they all stacked up together?

SPEAKER_13 (19:35):
Yeah, they're they're basically all like to
there's like yeah, two rows ofthree.
Um, so they're like they're notstacked on top of one another.
There's just like they're linedup.
And as you look around, you dosee that there are uh other
crates and things like that.
There are barrels, there arecrates, there are what look like
mining carts with like canvaswraps over the top of them that
are oiled.

SPEAKER_14 (19:54):
It seems like this is other stuff that was set and
ready to go to get packed up incaravan.

SPEAKER_13 (19:58):
Yeah, there's a lot here.
This is as you look at it, youcan see like this is the bulk of
everything that was here.
Um for the most part, there areum uh most of it that you can
see is like ore.
Um, you know, if you bother tolike pull up the canvases and
stuff like that, you can seethat it's yeah, that it's mostly
ore.
Um you don't see any like gemsor anything like that that are

(20:18):
here.

SPEAKER_14 (20:18):
I'll mose my way over to one of the crates and
I'll flip out my dagger andstick it in there.
Okay.
Pry up the top one, the closestone.

SPEAKER_13 (20:27):
Easy enough to do is you open it up, you can see that
there is a um there is a uh likea series of basically um uh
glass or clay jars um that arejust like lined up in uh what
looks like packed straw.
Um there are six, like so throone, two, three, one, two,
three.
Um, and they are, yeah, they'rejust kind of like these sort of

(20:48):
bulbous, almost like a cord, um,and they all have just like lamp
oil on them.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_14 (20:54):
Um, in my workings with certain people, would I
know what I should look for?
Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 (21:01):
I mean it would never it would never be on top.

SPEAKER_14 (21:03):
Right.
So I will I will kind of pick upone of the lamp oil bottles and
kind of dig through the.
I'm guessing it's sitting insome straw and some kind of like
hay or whatever.
Yeah, yeah.
I'll kind of dig down and I'mkind of feel around and see if I
can find something else.

SPEAKER_13 (21:15):
Yeah, as you dig around and you feel down, once
you get past that first layer ofstraw, you can see that there
are um, like once you get pastthe first layer where all the
bottles are like um they'rehorizontal, you get to kind of a
secondary layer beneath all thestraw, and you can see you feel
what feels like a crate withmultiple uh like liquid, what's
like a like a milk crate wouldbe where there's like uh sort of

(21:37):
liquid um uh glass jars that arelike sealed and standing
upright, packed in amongst thestraw.

SPEAKER_14 (21:45):
Under the mountain of the top, yeah.
I'll pull one out.

SPEAKER_13 (21:47):
Yeah, as you look, you see this sort of like it's
this uh oh man.
Make a poisoners check.
Okay.
How do I do that?
This is gonna be uh this isgonna be your professional.
It's plus your wisdom modifier.
I'll say it's your proficiencybonus.
What do you use to poison?
Is it your wisdom or let melook?

(22:09):
Um It'll be uh yeah, yourproficiency plus.
It's not deck space, it's eitherwisdom or intelligence, I think.
Right.
So it's whichever modifier youuse for your poisoning, that'll
be what it is.
Um wisdom's one.
Yeah, plus one super andintelligence is zero, so it'd be
your wisdom.
So it's just a it's just adumbest comment.

(22:33):
Um it's d20 plus yourproficiency bonus, which is two
plus one.
So it's d20 plus three.
Okay.
Uh because because I will saythat because of your background
specifically, you can make thischeck with advantage.
Love that for me.

SPEAKER_14 (22:45):
Yeah.
Plus three.
Uh huh.

unknown (22:47):
Got this.

SPEAKER_14 (22:48):
What is it, Ronnie?
That's real good.
I'll do it again.
I'm gonna get a 20.
Did I get a 20?
You didn't, but it's okay.

SPEAKER_00 (22:59):
Line it!

SPEAKER_14 (23:00):
What was the total?
Okay, so it was uh 19 plusthree, so 22.
Oh wow, 22.
That's real good.

SPEAKER_00 (23:05):
Okay, um he's good at this.

SPEAKER_14 (23:07):
Okay.
Yeah, so it's pryed up.

SPEAKER_13 (23:09):
Um look around, dig under, pull out one of the
vials, and so this, oh boy, youhave seen this substance.
Um, uh-huh, uh-huh.
It's my favorite.
We love it when he does that.
Okay, um, so uh as you pull upone of them, um, you see inside

(23:31):
is kind of a like a viscous,kind of thick liquid.
Um and you actually recognizethis because you've seen it
before.
And you know that occasionallyit does move through um, it
moves through the red thorn.
Uh this is unrefined rush.

SPEAKER_09 (23:52):
Yeah, baby.
Droga.

SPEAKER_13 (23:55):
So it is it is Oh, is that raw?
It needs to be um basically inthis form.
It's it needs an additionalstage of processing, but it is
the requisite sort of rawsubstance.
Um, effectively, it needs to belike suspended in some
additional materials before itcan be uh well with that check,
you know that rush is aninjectable drug favored by um

(24:19):
fighters um and soldiers.
Um remind me of it.
Yeah, so it's gives you um sorush is a it's an injectable,
yeah.
Um and you know that um it isvery high risk, very high
reward.
Um when you take it and youinject it, it effectively um

(24:39):
gives you the benefits of ashort rest, like immediately.
Wow.
Um but it the drawback is isthat it can also fuck you up.
Um and it comes with a lot ofconsequences if used repeatedly.

SPEAKER_14 (24:52):
Okay.

SPEAKER_13 (24:52):
Some really, really harsh drawbacks.

SPEAKER_14 (24:54):
Do I know the the if I were to use it now somehow,
yeah, what would happen?
Do I know like this is why werefine it?

SPEAKER_13 (25:01):
Uh yeah.
You oh if you use it now, yeah.
Yeah, it would be like it's justor what it is like poison can
be.
It could none of the benefits onall the drawbacks.
It could, it could uh in thisform, uh-huh, and it also has to
be injected.
That's the way that it like itworks.
And so it doesn't work when it'sconsumed.
If you consume it, it's likelythat it will just make you sick.

SPEAKER_14 (25:19):
Um, and then I guess as the kit and the carries that
I have, yeah.
Do I I'm assuming I have likethe the means to inject like in
my all my pouches and my becauseI have the poisons and
everything, would I have aninjectable in my on my hip in my
pouches?

SPEAKER_13 (25:34):
The trouble with this is this is a an illicit
substance, not necessarily apoison.
You've seen it before, youhaven't worked with it before.
So you would have to like dosome experimentation if you were
to try um to to refine it andmake it work.
Oh, I wouldn't refine it.
Um, you're just gonna try it?
No, I'm not gonna take it.
I'm just saying I'm just I'mokay.

(25:54):
Okay.

SPEAKER_14 (25:55):
I'm gonna heal like if I if I were to have the means
to inject it, yeah.
I I'm assuming I would.
I'll I'll I'll keep one if Icould.
Like I'll look at my pouch andbe like, okay, I have a a
syringe or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_13 (26:07):
You could I mean, yeah, you could keep a jar.
I will pocket it.
Okay, cool.
Um cool.
You also, because you'rerummaging through here, so I'm
assuming you kind of check acouple of things.

SPEAKER_14 (26:19):
I'll see if they're all the same color, all rust on
unrefined rust.

SPEAKER_13 (26:23):
So as you uh unrefined rust.
That's just you.

SPEAKER_00 (26:26):
There's you in a back.

SPEAKER_13 (26:28):
Hey! No, no, no.
You have to find it we found it.
Um the uh as you go through, yousee that there are other
similar-sized jars.
There is one that, or there aresome that do not have that same
liquid in them at all.
Uh instead, you see a verythick, viscous, uh, like red uh
material.
Um, it is a deep uh deep red.

(26:51):
You're actually very familiarwith this.
Um it is um redthorn resin.
Okay.
So redthorn resin is the um,this is like the the substance
that actually is is brewed intoa lot of the uh the vitals, I
think that's how you say thatword.
Uh the like um the wines and thedrinks and the cocktails that

(27:11):
are made at the red thorn.
Uh comes from a redthorn vine,which is native to the Freywood
um only, and it grows in likethe deeper parts of the forest.
It's known because the thethorns are like very sort of
dark and then they fade to avery bright red at the tip.
Um this resin, uh, when againcompounded into like uh
consumables produces like a verylike euphoric sort of effect.

(27:34):
It's basically like uh yeah,it's a drug.
Now both of these are drugs.
Love that.

SPEAKER_14 (27:39):
I'll pocket that too.
Okay.
I'll take one of each.
One of each undefined unrefineduh rush.

SPEAKER_13 (27:45):
You have unrefined rush, and you can read it.

SPEAKER_12 (27:46):
Your boss is gonna open up the screen and be like,
maybe.

SPEAKER_13 (27:50):
There's some missing stuff in here, maybe but you're
yeah, you're able to take a vialof each.
So you have uh I you have onejar of unrefined rush, one jar
of redthorn resin.

SPEAKER_14 (28:01):
Love that.
I'll I'll uh I'll start downwith the back of the dagger.
Okay.
Um we'll be back for you in aminute.
I'll head back out.

SPEAKER_13 (28:12):
Okay.
As we go over to everybody else,you guys are making your way to
uh the um to the mess.

SPEAKER_12 (28:19):
Yeah, how does um daggra look?

SPEAKER_13 (28:22):
Uh not good.
Um, everybody here almost forthe most part has uh some form
of of wound.
Um well, not everybody, excuseme.
Uh I think I mentioned this atthe end of last episode.
Some of them don't have anywounds.
So they're just hungry.
And you can you you um uh itwould appear that Marin, between
Marin Senna and um and Dom, someof these people have been able

(28:44):
to be tended to um of the worstof their wounds.
But um, yeah, there are therebut Dagra um is still sporting
wounds, she apparently uhrefused.

SPEAKER_12 (28:55):
Yeah, so as I'm following um with her walking to
the mess, I'm gonna I'm gonnaput my hand on her back um to
like kind of walk with her.

SPEAKER_13 (29:04):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_12 (29:04):
Um and I will um cast cure wounds.

SPEAKER_13 (29:08):
Okay, cool.
Um, yeah, as you cast curewounds, you see she like and But
I like won't make a big deal.

SPEAKER_12 (29:15):
Yeah.
Like it's gonna be really kindof like it's not a subtle spell,
obviously.
Like people would know if theywere paying attention.
Right.

SPEAKER_13 (29:20):
Um You guys are kind of in the back of the group.
She's walking with you.

SPEAKER_12 (29:23):
I don't want to make it a big deal so that because I
know she'll refuse if I ask ortry to do it.

SPEAKER_13 (29:29):
Yeah, and there is a moment of like she like she
breathes in deep and then shekind of looks at you and you see
the brow kind of furrows alittle bit.
Thank you, she walks a littlebit easier.

SPEAKER_10 (29:42):
Don't even mention it.

SPEAKER_13 (29:43):
I won't.

SPEAKER_12 (29:45):
Um, and yeah, I don't know if it matters how
much she gets back.

SPEAKER_13 (29:49):
Yeah, go ahead and roll for me.

SPEAKER_12 (29:52):
And um And I use um my mark of healing for that, so
it's not even It's not even athing.

SPEAKER_13 (29:59):
Okay, go ahead and roll for me.
Um as you guys walk to the mess,you can see that all of the
people, um the miners, um, arelooking around at like, and
there's still bodies everywhere.
Yeah, and you can see some ofthem are like whispering, Dom,
next to you.

SPEAKER_12 (30:15):
What the hell did this 17 points of healing?

SPEAKER_13 (30:19):
Awesome.
She's full of it.
Wow.
Um, you see, yeah, she liketakes a big deep breath, and she
you can see that like she waskind of like hunched over to one
side and she like straightensup.
You can see that there is a Imean she's basically naked.
So you see that there's a biggash across her left side from
some form of crude cleavingweapon um that like as as you

(30:40):
cast your spell, what whathappens?
Does it just is that is thatthat same blue white light?

SPEAKER_12 (30:44):
No, so I use my oh what's different.
Yeah, so um as I um like mycollar is all flipped up, so I
don't think anyone seesanything.
Yeah, because my collar is is uhkind of pulled up.
Um so you don't see anything.

(31:05):
Um you just hear me like um likeon as I like pat her back and
kind of move my collar like pullmy collar up a little bit more,
almost like to hunt it under theagainst the wind in the water.
Um I I touch the back of my neckwhile I do that.
Um almost as if the same thing,like pulling up my collar,
massaging the muscle out, um,and uh you know, like murmur

(31:31):
under my breath as I'm and thenI'm you know touching her back,
yeah.

SPEAKER_13 (31:35):
The cesarean cantations spoken, you see the
the wound in her side, plus adozen other like cut, scrapes,
bruises.
Um, you know, her cheek has likethis mottled purple, yellow,
nasty bruise that just likevanishes and goes away as she's
brought back to full health.
Um and uh yeah, she like like Isaid, she kind of looks at you

(31:58):
slightly disapprovingly, butalso very grateful for the for
the help.
Um as Dom you see is scoping outthe bodies and seeing the the
the way in which everything waskilled, and you see him he says
to you, looks down at you asyou're kind of like supporting
his way.
What the hell did this?

SPEAKER_09 (32:18):
We don't know.
This thing disappeared.

SPEAKER_13 (32:29):
And he like squats down and he looks at it, like
investigates it very, veryclosely.
And you see his eyes like veryalert look up at you.
I've never seen anything likethat.
The whole place is like this.

SPEAKER_09 (32:49):
And I like point to the gate if we can see it, and
just blast it open.

SPEAKER_13 (33:01):
And you see as he like does this whistle, and it's
like it mimics one of the birdcalls that you heard very
frequently, and like a momentlater, you see as like this
small sort of red-chested, uh,sort of uh almost like a r-a
robin, um, like a like aninverted version of a blue jay,
like the same sort of crest anduh cardinal, I suppose, would be

(33:21):
the closest what it would looklike.
Um this sort of cardinal comesdown and and it like just
perches straight into his hand.
You see as he like moves hishand um and whispers an
incantation under his breath umand speaks to to the bird.
Attack it.
Ilya and the group have arrived.
Santa and I are safe.

(33:43):
Twenty-six is total survivors.
We'll make our way back as soonas we can.
And the bird flames off into theinto the night and just beelines
it.

SPEAKER_09 (33:54):
And next time we do that, immediately when you get
somewhere.

SPEAKER_13 (34:00):
It was dark.
They came out of nowhere.
I know we were tired.
I'm just saying.
They hit me in the leg with aspear right away.

SPEAKER_08 (34:10):
I'm just saying if you're gonna snip an outpost,
won't worry me as much nexttime.
Ugh.

SPEAKER_13 (34:18):
And hearing the like actual like tremor in your
voice, he stands up and hereaches out and he puts his hand
on your shoulder.
I'll do that moving forward.
Great.
Come on, you big oaf.
Oh, shut up.
And he like puts his his uh hisshoulder and you realize like he

(34:39):
doesn't really need to help.
He just wants the comfort of youclose.

SPEAKER_09 (34:42):
Oh yeah, he would crush me.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 (34:45):
A lot of his weight is on you, but he just is
holding you close.
Um, and as you guys make yourway to the mess, we go, oh god.

SPEAKER_06 (34:53):
Other people are noticing the bodies.

SPEAKER_07 (34:54):
Yeah, I will subtly sort of like look over toward
Vale and I'll be like, didn'tstand a chance.
And just kind of like intimatethat it was Vale who killed all
these lizards.
No contest at all.
Just yeah, quiet reassurances.

SPEAKER_13 (35:14):
And as you s as you see, Dom with his very
perceptive ears, uh, unless youwanted that to be, you wanted
that to be broadcasted, is thatright?

SPEAKER_07 (35:21):
I'm I'm I'm trying to make it as subtle as I can.

SPEAKER_06 (35:24):
I'm like applying to the you know, I would uh infer
are a little less educated.
Is anybody I can convince isthat?

SPEAKER_13 (35:37):
Alright, cool.
Uh yeah, you see some of theminers and the like sort of
normal people of the thing, theylike sudden they look over at
you and then they like look atVale and they have like a sudden
appraising look.
You see as they like look him upand down, and you're like
they're like, and some whispersstart to start to like, do you
think did he do that?

SPEAKER_15 (35:55):
Do they do that?
I have a question for you realquick.
Um as as Ramsey says that I takeanother look at the carnage.

SPEAKER_16 (36:05):
Have I seen Carnage like this before?
Yeah.
Yeah, you have some morerecently.

SPEAKER_13 (36:25):
Some more recently.
And I think that's a good timeto go to break.

SPEAKER_09 (36:34):
What a great clip.
We'll see you in a minute, stickaround!

SPEAKER_12 (36:38):
Give me some rush- I think the gadget.
Hey nerds.
Hey nerds! If you are lookingfor a way to support
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Going to conventions, having original
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SPEAKER_12 (37:31):
And maybe even ask us questions.

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Mud, just come in!

SPEAKER_12 (37:35):
Push the door open.
You can do it.

SPEAKER_05 (37:36):
You can do it, you're so strong.

SPEAKER_12 (37:37):
Push the There you go.
Push!

SPEAKER_05 (37:39):
Push a little harder.
Push the door, you little rat.
If all that sounds cool, membersof our$25 tier get access to an
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SPEAKER_10 (38:17):
Somewhere.

SPEAKER_05 (38:18):
It's it's there.

SPEAKER_10 (38:20):
It's there, I promise it's there.

SPEAKER_15 (38:25):
Hello nerds.
It is I, Rodney, and I'm here towelcome you to Holopot Herald.
That's right, we got anewsletter.
It's coming at you where you'regoing to get an exclusive
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So please ride along with us.

(38:47):
Get ready.
It's coming to a screen near yousoon.
Biners.

SPEAKER_12 (38:53):
Hey.
Hey you.
Are you watching on Twitch rightnow?
If so, do you have an AmazonPrime account?
Are you using your Twitch Primesubscription?
If you have an Amazon Prime, youalso have this.
Maybe you just don't know how touse it.
Maybe you're a computerilliterate like me.

(39:13):
That's fine.
Here's how you do it.

SPEAKER_05 (39:15):
Twitch subscribers get access to exclusive channels
in our little Discord as well asemotes in our chat.

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So if you have a free Prime membership, you may
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SPEAKER_14 (39:24):
Yeah, that's great, Rebecca, but what if they're
watching on YouTube?
Hi, YouTube nerds.
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(39:44):
And if you're in the stream, youget access to cool venture forth
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Or check out the link in thedescription below if you're
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Enjoy the rest of the shortrest.

(40:05):
Bye, nerds.

SPEAKER_13 (46:42):
As we return.
Veil.
Um, very specifically the thefoot.
While you were running throughthe halls, yeah, there was a
corridor where you came across agroup that looked like this.

SPEAKER_12 (47:03):
The halls?

SPEAKER_13 (47:05):
Okay.
When you were making your way.

SPEAKER_15 (47:11):
Going getting back to the apparatus.
Yeah.
Yeah.
To the apparatus.
Yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_13 (47:15):
Yeah.
We were all there.

SPEAKER_15 (47:17):
Okay.
In that one location.

SPEAKER_13 (47:19):
You didn't see the same thing though.
You didn't see what did it.
And it was so fast because youwere just moving through.

SPEAKER_15 (47:24):
Yeah, I was trying to get away.

SPEAKER_13 (47:25):
You were trying to get somewhere.
Um, and you didn't see whatcaused it, but you saw the
aftermath of it.

SPEAKER_16 (47:31):
Um, so with that, observation and it settling in
finally, I start to lag behind alittle as I'm looking at it more
closely.
The concern is rising in me.

SPEAKER_12 (47:48):
And Dagger and I pass him since we were at back.

SPEAKER_13 (47:51):
Yeah.
You pass up as you just sitthere and you're looking.
At this point, Dom and Ilya havealso moved on.
Um, and you guys, uh, unlessthere's anything else that
anybody is doing specifically,you all arrive at the mess.
Shaw, you join them a short timelater.

SPEAKER_14 (48:07):
I'll kind of follow the group as they're kind of
leading to wherever they'regoing.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 (48:11):
Cool.
Um, you guys walk into the mess.
Um, in as you arrive at themess, you can see that there are
bedrolls.
Um there are no lizard folkcorpses in here.
Um, it looks everything doeslook like it's left in a hurry.
Um, as you arrive, there arecertainly uh leavings from the
lizard folks' meal that theywere enjoying in here prior to.

(48:33):
Um, and you can see thateverybody just kind of like
stays far away from thosetables.
Um, but people circuitously maketheir way into the back.
Um, and you hear the cry come upthat like the food is still
there.
Right, because they the lizardfolk don't have any interest in
human food.
So the larder is pretty muchuntouched.
Um, and you over the next coupleof minutes, um, you see as the

(48:56):
miners very quickly get togetherand start grabbing food and
passing out water and and startabout preparing a meal.
But you guys are able to sitdown um at a faraway table kind
of away from the from thecommotion.
Um, and you're able to sit downwith Dagra, Dom, Senna.
So it's all of you guys kind ofseated at a table.

(49:19):
And um Dagra is um well um I'vegot some questions.
I imagine you've got somequestions, so what are your
questions?
Um well um you said that um mynote never arrived.

SPEAKER_11 (49:38):
No note arrived, no.
Um Taggett sent us.
Taggett sent us becauseBavrolder told him that she was
expecting a caravan that wasnever arrived.

SPEAKER_12 (49:51):
So after four days, I mean w the day that you were
to arrive in BlackRock, Ibelieve Dominna was sent out.

SPEAKER_11 (50:00):
A few days after that, when no one had heard from
Dominna.
We were sent.

SPEAKER_13 (50:09):
I thought I timed it out right the runners were
supposed to get there the daythat um we were supposed to
arrive.
So there shouldn't have been anymissing communication.

SPEAKER_12 (50:17):
We did see some bodies.

SPEAKER_04 (50:20):
Perhaps some atrocity befell them in the
wilds.

SPEAKER_12 (50:23):
We did see some bodies on the road.

SPEAKER_09 (50:26):
Oh, right, yes, I forgot about that.
I think they were killed bylizard folk and then their
bodies were dragged out to thefields beyond the outpost.

unknown (50:35):
Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_12 (50:36):
We don't know what they were killed by.
We didn't see anything.

SPEAKER_09 (50:46):
I'm just putting one and two together, but true.
We don't know what exactly itwas.

SPEAKER_13 (50:54):
One man and one woman.

SPEAKER_11 (50:57):
I I think so.

SPEAKER_13 (51:02):
Then you see she kind of just like it takes a
second.
Well, it takes that it does.
She was supposed to know thefirst day that um well, she was
supposed to be informed the daythat we arrived.
I held a caravan because umwell, some of the miners fell

(51:23):
sick.

SPEAKER_11 (51:24):
I saw that.

SPEAKER_13 (51:28):
Well, I d the last thing I wanted to do was um
bring it back to town, so.

SPEAKER_11 (51:32):
Why were they sick?
What happened?

SPEAKER_13 (51:36):
That you all have to ask Marin.
I don't know.
Fell ill several days ago.

SPEAKER_12 (51:41):
Ill because they went down into the Freywood, or
ill because they What?
Did they come into contact withsomething?
Uh we've seen this illnessbefore, so.
Sorry, did you say Sorry has Imean we've saw we've seen some
of this illness before with umthe minor that came back.

SPEAKER_13 (51:58):
Yeah, you saw one.
And so when you say we've seenthis illness before, she sorry,
I'm very confused here.

SPEAKER_04 (52:05):
Um there's another there was a minor.
And did you say you fell ill orjust those just the six?

SPEAKER_11 (52:14):
Jaro came back to town.
Week and a half.
Gone.
Sick.
He's passed.

SPEAKER_13 (52:27):
You see her brow kind of knits in consternation.

SPEAKER_12 (52:30):
If there's a contagion that is just common
now in the mines, we we have toknow this.

SPEAKER_13 (52:37):
It was contagious, I think by now Meren would be
sick, no?
And you look over and you seeMeren is sitting down, um like
looks perfectly hail andhealthy.
Madon was alone with him thewhole time treating him.

SPEAKER_04 (52:54):
So Well, um what um but you don't know what was
special about these people thatwere all in that sort of sort of
um quarantine you set up?
Are they all part of the sameventure?

SPEAKER_16 (53:13):
Around here, I'm I'm gonna be making my way in.
Um and I'll sit with everybody.

SPEAKER_02 (53:23):
I'm kind of sitting, we're at a table.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm sitting on the table withsome feet on the bench.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 (53:29):
Um pertinent as always.
I love it.
Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_16 (53:33):
Um I will do the same thing because I think
that's what you do.

SPEAKER_09 (53:37):
So it's the rest of us not doing that yet.
You're like, no, I'm gonna dobetter.

SPEAKER_13 (53:44):
It's a little awkward for you because you're
six centers.

SPEAKER_12 (53:47):
So it's all.
We can't help if we don't knowwhat happened.
We were given a few, I don'tknow, tasks when we came out
here.
The first was to find whathappened to the caravan, which
seems like we've done.
The second was to findDominicna, which oh look at
that, we've done that too.

(54:09):
But we need to know what causedthe delay in the first part, and
I don't think, based on whatyou're telling me, that it has
to do with the ambush you foughtyou faced.

SPEAKER_13 (54:22):
Um, Phil, Vale, and Ramsey make persuasion checks.

SPEAKER_09 (54:28):
Got it.
You got it.
It's so likable.
Yes, he is so likable.

SPEAKER_01 (54:40):
Okay.

SPEAKER_12 (54:40):
Um, yeah, I have no charisma, guys.

SPEAKER_01 (54:42):
Oh, it's each other, guys.

SPEAKER_07 (54:45):
I have stuff for a total of 19.
That's a thir 13 for me.

SPEAKER_13 (54:51):
13, 12, 19.
I'm rolling so good.

SPEAKER_12 (54:54):
You are my charisma calling.
We need you to be doing this.

SPEAKER_09 (54:58):
I have root I'm I'm not in this.
I I'm just sitting and waiting.

SPEAKER_13 (55:04):
A few weeks back, um, before my shift, mind you.
This was under classes watch.
Um Classes?
Classes.
C K-L-A-A-S.
Use the other foreman.
We swap out some time ago.
Jaro, um, well, he foundsomething in the mine.

SPEAKER_10 (55:25):
That's all he would say was that he found something
in the mine.
He was just on an endless loopalmost.

SPEAKER_13 (55:34):
I don't know what it was.
Um, it looked like a it lookedlike um to be honest, I'd never
seen anything like it.
It was metal.
Um flat.
Had 14 sides on it.
And um, well.

SPEAKER_12 (55:54):
Did Jawa bring it.
Do I remember if Jawa brought itback with him?

SPEAKER_13 (55:56):
He did not bring it back.
I sent it, uh Class sent it umback to Black Rock with the
previous caravan.
So pretty much the last thing Iknow of it, but um truly before
I got here um still underClass's watch.

(56:19):
And she kind of looks over itlike Dominna.
And then just makes a decision.
The six miners who fell illfound something down in the
mine.
Set of doors.
Chamber.

SPEAKER_04 (56:36):
And this object was in the chamber?

SPEAKER_13 (56:39):
No, the object was found nearby.
It wasn't inside.
It was found outside of thechamber itself.

SPEAKER_04 (56:48):
So the object um has not to do with the illness by
circumstance?

SPEAKER_13 (56:55):
No.
Not that I know anyway.

SPEAKER_04 (56:59):
The object um happened to say drink light out
of the air.
Anything like that.

SPEAKER_13 (57:07):
Oh it I mind you, I only heard about it through
class.
I I never saw it myself.
Um But the stone uh it does asyou say.

SPEAKER_16 (57:29):
Where's the stone?

SPEAKER_13 (57:31):
It's uh it's in the chamber as far as I know.

SPEAKER_12 (57:34):
Uh Were those six the only men who went into the
chamber?
And all six are ill?

SPEAKER_13 (57:42):
They spend um send them in.
Well didn't send them, they justwent.
Curiosity.
They um they tried open thedoors, um and um well it's uh it
was a sort of long hallway andthen uh a big chamber.

(58:04):
Um and you see her eyes get likereally hard to explain.

SPEAKER_11 (58:11):
Oh lines and patterns and like runes.
A language?

SPEAKER_13 (58:23):
I don't know.

SPEAKER_14 (58:26):
Is this what they told you?

SPEAKER_13 (58:27):
I've seen it.
I've been down there.
And you're not ill.

SPEAKER_04 (58:31):
Right.
But you went not into thechamber itself.

SPEAKER_13 (58:35):
No, I've I've been.
Um there's um only for a time,mind you.

SPEAKER_11 (58:46):
Um So you don't know why the six miners are ill, but
you're not ill.

SPEAKER_14 (58:52):
What did they do that you didn't?
It's ill.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_10 (58:56):
Did you come into contact with this with this
stone?

SPEAKER_13 (58:59):
There's uh bits of it throughout, yeah.
Uh you perhaps just have suchstrong constitution.
I'm Torvish, so maybe.

SPEAKER_06 (59:07):
I give a meaningful look over to the naysayers to
our adventure.

SPEAKER_13 (59:12):
Um my people are um more resilient than most.
Um poisons don't affect us asharshly.

SPEAKER_12 (59:20):
But um So you could guide us to where we're where
this chamber is.

SPEAKER_16 (59:27):
I could, I I would like to see it.

SPEAKER_13 (59:30):
Then um in the middle of the chamber there was
a sort of um a box.
Like a like a like a um a almostlike a like a coffin made with

(59:52):
metal and glass.
Inside there was a stone, a big,great big stone, and she like
looks and kind of measures itout on the table almost.
It's large, probably I don'tknow, seven, eight feet at
least.

SPEAKER_16 (01:00:09):
And then elbow you.

SPEAKER_13 (01:00:14):
And um inside uh it was a a large stone.
Uh it was strange that And shejust throws up her hands.
It's like light our torches, ourlamps, and if it works the way

(01:00:34):
it's supposed to down there, itdoesn't go as far, it doesn't
work like it should.
It's like it's like the lightgets swallowed.
But the stone emits light, it'sand she kind of like looks
around for support, but thenrealizes no one there knows what
she's talking about.

(01:00:55):
I can't I can I explain it.
It's something you just have tosee.
But there's like it's butthere's bits of the stone
throughout, and the men weregathering portions of it.

SPEAKER_14 (01:01:07):
Did you ever touch the stone?

SPEAKER_13 (01:01:09):
I I touched it.
Not all of them, just the six.
Plus he paid them extra.
Um, only allowed them to workdown there.
Uh until such a time as we couldsort out what it was, get word
to Bavaralda and our direction.

SPEAKER_14 (01:01:31):
So they were down there multiple times.
Aye.
And they weren't sick until Umlater.
It was an exposure thing.

SPEAKER_13 (01:01:42):
They found it on the 27th.
And didn't start to exhibitsymptoms until the following
day.
But they were there for longerthan you.

SPEAKER_04 (01:01:56):
Days worth of mining as well.
Right near pulling it out of thestone.

SPEAKER_13 (01:02:01):
Near two, yeah.
We couldn't um trying to figureout how to get the sort of box
out, but it didn't want to move.

SPEAKER_04 (01:02:14):
So it's still down there, this box.

SPEAKER_13 (01:02:19):
Oh I it's it's heavy, but um.

SPEAKER_14 (01:02:22):
Did you feel weird when you're down there?
Near a weird feeling orlethargy.

SPEAKER_13 (01:02:27):
Yes.
It's all the room, the song.
Never seen anything like it.
And it's not.
There's not a spot of rest.
Not damn near not a speck oftest.

SPEAKER_14 (01:02:45):
And you're the only thing living down there.
You never saw anything elsemove.

SPEAKER_13 (01:02:53):
Things I mean it's not unheard of for minds to run
into things.
Right.
Things make their way in, orperhaps you hit a vein or a
natural cavern extension thatsomething crawls out of.
It's not unheard of, especiallyin deep planes like this.
But um well.
As far as I know, no.
There's nothing down there.

SPEAKER_14 (01:03:14):
Uh Phil, did you ever get a chance to take a look
at the other bodies that were inthe room with those creatures?
All of them were down there.
Was there any signs of somethingthey might have done
differently?
Had in their pockets scars,scratches, anything.

SPEAKER_13 (01:03:30):
The only thing all of them had that, like their
muscle and their bone had thatlike corruption, but only two of
them had changed.

SPEAKER_12 (01:03:38):
Yeah.
No.

SPEAKER_14 (01:03:42):
Can't think of what it would be.

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:44):
We may just have to inspect ourselves.

SPEAKER_14 (01:03:46):
Do we need to?

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:47):
Yes.
Yes, we do.

SPEAKER_14 (01:03:50):
Just to double check here, we have her friends.
We have the caravan.
We have an idea of whathappened.
That's far more than we need todeliver to get our reward.

SPEAKER_11 (01:04:02):
Well, you can see the caravan back if you so
choose.
But I'm going in to check itout.

SPEAKER_13 (01:04:08):
Yes, we must as well.
I s I sealed the chamber.
So mind you, they discovered thethe day that I arrived earlier.
I didn't arrive until theevening.
Class let me know when we, aspart of our handoff, told me
about it.
The next day they fell ill.
And well, I just thought itmight be best to seal the

(01:04:30):
chamber, who knows?
But it was the only parallel Icould draw between the men
falling ill and I sealed it.
And no one's been in since.
But then the next day, they gotworse.
And then the following day wewere supposed to leave, and they

(01:04:50):
were even worse, and at thatpoint I wasn't sure if it was
something that would spread, so.

SPEAKER_04 (01:04:55):
Had they at that point um manifested limbs,
growths, anything like that?

SPEAKER_13 (01:05:03):
Not to my knowledge, but again, Marin was the one who
took over their care.

SPEAKER_12 (01:05:08):
So you and them were the only ones that went into
that area.

SPEAKER_04 (01:05:16):
Um, I think he did.
Has there um sorry, I'm astoryteller by trade.
I know naught of um miningexpeditions.
Is there some kind of standingpolicy that your workers have as
far as um discoveries they mayfind?
I mean the fray would.
Veritable treasure trove.

(01:05:37):
Possible discoveries, no?

SPEAKER_13 (01:05:39):
Everyone here is well, they're paid their labor.
They don't um they're paid awage.
That's they don't own anythingthat's found in the claim at
all, belongs to Buffalda.
Sometimes.
Those of us who are the four theforeman, we receive incentives.
But the everyday work.

(01:06:00):
Workers know they don't don't uhpartake in the spoils.

SPEAKER_14 (01:06:03):
Does class receive incentives?

SPEAKER_13 (01:06:06):
Uh I don't follow.

SPEAKER_14 (01:06:08):
Um other people.

SPEAKER_13 (01:06:15):
I wouldn't know.
Um I mean Class and I both getcompensated well from Bravda
Bravda.
We when items or uh gems ofparticular value get discovered,

(01:06:36):
there's a certain againincentive for us to report it.
But as I understand, Jaro foundthe object that I described.
Gosh more than two weeks agonow.

SPEAKER_04 (01:06:51):
The fourteen-sided metal.

SPEAKER_13 (01:06:54):
He found that.
Uh then it was sent back withhis caravan.
Not under his care, mind you.
But um with a caravan leader, Ipresume it's been given to
Pavralda as part of the find ofthe claim.

SPEAKER_04 (01:07:10):
And then once you found the chamber and then well
that was when Klass returned.

SPEAKER_13 (01:07:16):
Class found that the day that I arrived was the day
that the chamber was found.
It was found that morning.
Klass, as far as I know, wentin, as did the miners, and then
that night we did our handoff.
Class left the followingmorning, and then the miners
fell ill that night.

SPEAKER_12 (01:07:33):
It's not abnormal for a foreman to leave when a
new foreman arrives.

SPEAKER_04 (01:07:41):
I really know just this morning or whatever time it
was.

SPEAKER_13 (01:07:45):
He also told me about the extra coin that he had
given to the men.
All in the ledgers.

SPEAKER_04 (01:07:50):
But the ones, uh the six that fell.

SPEAKER_13 (01:07:54):
Aye.

SPEAKER_14 (01:07:54):
I went into the chamber.

SPEAKER_13 (01:07:56):
Yes, we didn't find any coin, but uh I believe you.
And as I said, then the resthappened as I said.
I they fell ill.
When they didn't recover, Isealed the chamber, and then
when they got worse and worse,fear and it was spread.
I sent the runners and held upthe caravan.
Last thing I wanted to do wasbring something back to town.
Lord of Blackrock's had enoughsickness over the years.

(01:08:18):
Right.
And then Well, um basically theevening, a few evenings later,
suddenly the lizard folkarrived.
They attacked in the night.
And that's when er and uh Dompipes up.
How did they attack?
And Diagra kind of turns.

(01:08:40):
Attacked in the night.
Most of us hadn't heard anythingat all.
No alarms went up.
They um overwhelmed us.
Half the men were dead in theirbeds before anybody knew
anything was amiss.
That's when Dom is like, and Domis like.
What?
And then Dagra, she just likeshrugs.
And Dom turns to you guys.

(01:09:01):
Speak your mind, friend.
That's not normal.
It is weird.

SPEAKER_11 (01:09:06):
Couldn't there be a watcher?

SPEAKER_13 (01:09:07):
Right.
It would have been.
Those are folks don't usetactics.
They attack in the night.
Daga, I an alarm didn't go up.

SPEAKER_04 (01:09:17):
Aye.
Is it possible it's one of thoseum Freywood uh mutations?
Uh you know, where they grewdouble brains in their little
lizard skulls.

SPEAKER_13 (01:09:30):
Lizard folk are they're lizard folk are I mean
they're smarter than m animals,but they don't Exactly Question
for you.

SPEAKER_14 (01:09:40):
Um Do you have watchers uh at night to keep an
eye on things?
I always are those watchersstill alive right now.
Who would have been alive on theinteresting There's no answer
there.

SPEAKER_04 (01:09:57):
Lizard folk are smart enough to follow a leader
if someone were to tell them howto do a night and have a strike.

SPEAKER_14 (01:10:04):
Meaning and that leader didn't die in this fight
either.

SPEAKER_12 (01:10:08):
Where are you getting that from?

SPEAKER_14 (01:10:10):
We haven't seen anything but lizard folk so far.

SPEAKER_12 (01:10:15):
They might have eaten whatever the watchmen them
they might have might havekilled.

SPEAKER_14 (01:10:21):
No, I'm talking about the leader that led a
lizard folk and got away.

SPEAKER_04 (01:10:25):
Some sort of um betrayer of some kind.
Pretty good detail.

SPEAKER_13 (01:10:30):
It's just dumb, yeah.
He kind of staples his fingers.
Look, lizard folk aren't subtle.
You know?
They're they're kind of brutesfor the most part.
They don't have they also don'thave metallurgy or complicated
weapons.
These lizard folk had somesteel-made weapons, and then he

(01:10:57):
turns to Senna and he's like,and they they were they got the
drop on us.

SPEAKER_14 (01:11:06):
That's abnormal.
Someone knew something aboutthis.

SPEAKER_09 (01:11:11):
Or something's helping the lizard out.

SPEAKER_11 (01:11:13):
That is the mighty gotten away.

SPEAKER_04 (01:11:16):
Um the chamber Was there something extracted?
There's um an odd um arrangementof areas outside.
Um sort of in a circle.
Uh is there something largethat's missing from the quarry?

SPEAKER_13 (01:11:30):
No.
Not to my knowledge.
I uh after the attack theylocked uh they locked everybody
who was still alive in thestoreroom, so most of us have
been in the dark now for um afew days now, several days.
By by what we can tell.
Since the attack.
And then a short time after Wellthey chucked these two in with

(01:11:52):
us.

SPEAKER_12 (01:11:53):
It's possible that Tom Senna, did you see anyone
other than Lizard Folk?
I know you said it was night, Iknow.
Well, it's possible that whoeverassisted the Lizard Folk, be
them human or other man orbeast, is no longer here.

SPEAKER_04 (01:12:12):
Or down in the world.
Maybe left as soon as perhapsmaybe left, maybe left as soon
as for example could beassisting these lizard folk.
They might have taken control ofSam, maybe.
Never know.

SPEAKER_14 (01:12:29):
I really, really hope that's not the case.

SPEAKER_04 (01:12:35):
Glorious battle.

SPEAKER_05 (01:12:37):
Glorious battle?

SPEAKER_04 (01:12:39):
Do you think?

SPEAKER_16 (01:12:41):
We should well go down and see.
Also, I would like to talk toyou.

SPEAKER_04 (01:12:48):
Um of course and I thank you for your time.
Um I'm going to confer with myassociate here.

SPEAKER_11 (01:12:55):
I think it's best if we all rest tonight.

SPEAKER_04 (01:12:58):
Yes, that's probably why.

SPEAKER_11 (01:13:00):
And then as you're prepping the caravan tomorrow,
we'll go check out the chamber.

SPEAKER_13 (01:13:11):
Uh Dagger just kind of shrugs.
I can take you there, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:13:17):
Um And then hopefully by midday we can Is it
worth subjecting this poor womanto um further trauma?

SPEAKER_14 (01:13:28):
Is it hard to get to the chamber?

SPEAKER_13 (01:13:31):
It's deep in the mine, but um I don't know, about
thirty minutes of walking.

SPEAKER_14 (01:13:38):
A lot of left and right, or do you think it'd be
easy for us to find it?

SPEAKER_13 (01:13:41):
Uh she kind of looks at all of you.
I um I think it'd best I go withyou.
Alright.

SPEAKER_14 (01:13:50):
We are quite capable.

SPEAKER_13 (01:13:52):
I just it's hard to tell up from down if you're not
um familiar.
Uh although I I mean and shekind of turns and you see she
looks off in the distance.
I could get you a map of theshafts and the various mines.
We have everything in the assayhouse.

SPEAKER_14 (01:14:08):
We do have a friend that seems to have a pant for uh
I would love him.

SPEAKER_11 (01:14:13):
But I think we would take your we would take your
leadership at least to make it aquick journey, and then you can
head back and get everyonefilling up the caravan.

SPEAKER_12 (01:14:22):
We can do it first thing in the morning.
And then hopefully bymid-morning we can be on our
way.

SPEAKER_04 (01:14:27):
Alright.

SPEAKER_13 (01:14:32):
Alright.
Dominicana kinda sit forward.
Do you need help?

SPEAKER_09 (01:14:39):
Always.

SPEAKER_14 (01:14:40):
Oh, look at the alien.

SPEAKER_09 (01:14:42):
Why are we going down there?
We don't know what it is.
We could all become mutatedmonsters.
You're right.

unknown (01:14:55):
We could.

SPEAKER_04 (01:14:56):
So could all of the people in BlackRock if this is
left um unattended to.

SPEAKER_09 (01:15:00):
I'm not saying we leave it unattended, I'm saying.

SPEAKER_14 (01:15:02):
So you trust we have ruled to do that?
And we could also go back tocamp or go back to BlackRock and
get reinforcements.
Better force, people with moremagic capabilities, more
understanding.

SPEAKER_11 (01:15:19):
You can do that, do you?

SPEAKER_12 (01:15:21):
You can head back with Don, Sinna.

SPEAKER_11 (01:15:24):
The caravan.
Do what you must.

SPEAKER_12 (01:15:28):
But there's something tickling my brain.
No.
There's something in there.
And I can't make the connectionsjust yet.
But I know, I know it exists,and I have to see.

SPEAKER_14 (01:15:53):
hesitant as well.
I am curious.
We can be in and out.
Be quick.
If anything seems amiss, we run.

SPEAKER_09 (01:16:06):
I have a very, very, very bad feeling.

SPEAKER_14 (01:16:12):
You should.
Good.
I have a very good feeling.
You know, good category.
That's actually more worrisome.

SPEAKER_11 (01:16:19):
I'm not going to ask you to go down there.

SPEAKER_04 (01:16:22):
No, it certainly doesn't seem for the faint of
heart.

SPEAKER_14 (01:16:28):
I'll stay up if you want.

SPEAKER_04 (01:16:30):
Darling, you're trembling.

unknown (01:16:32):
The only one.

SPEAKER_04 (01:16:35):
Well, it's worth it.
I don't think we should subjectyour friends to it any further.
This clearly takes a certaincaliber of individual.
No offense, Tom.

SPEAKER_14 (01:16:46):
Well, you all you have all been through it
already.
Maybe set this one out.

SPEAKER_13 (01:16:51):
He looks he looks at Santa.
Santa can.
Your son looks over Elia.
I'm gone.

SPEAKER_04 (01:17:01):
I'm so sorry.
We've had to endure this poorlas in terror about your state
for the past indefinite feelingamount of hours.
So I really would prefer if youdidn't go.

SPEAKER_09 (01:17:17):
Or just sleep on it.

SPEAKER_13 (01:17:19):
Look, I'm sure that's your preference, and
that's great.
But I've known her my wholelife, and I'm not gonna let her
go down there by herself.

SPEAKER_17 (01:17:29):
I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_13 (01:17:32):
And I just turned my head, I just struggled when you
say I'm so sorry, he does, helikes smiles.

SPEAKER_04 (01:17:39):
So he's like Well, you've got your friend now, I
suppose.
Yeah.
Maybe that helps.
I just think it'll be a grandbit of fun.

SPEAKER_09 (01:17:52):
If both of you are going, I'm obviously not gonna
get left behind.
Alright.

SPEAKER_14 (01:18:04):
I'll uh hold uh I'll hold a gaze on Ilya for a
moment.
Right, I'll go too.
Who knows?
Maybe the stone is worthsomething.
Right?

SPEAKER_13 (01:18:21):
Tyra kinda just shrugs.
Something that can do this.

SPEAKER_04 (01:18:25):
Come on now.
You know, what's the sword gofor?
That's good, um, you know, 30,50 silver, something like that.

SPEAKER_13 (01:18:35):
Alright, so um.
Rest.
And um, I'll take you to thechamber tomorrow.

SPEAKER_09 (01:18:44):
We should keep watch on the mineshaft entrance.

SPEAKER_14 (01:18:47):
Alright, let us take watch on this one.
Get the miners, let them rest.
We'll take this one.
Dom, Cinna, do you help us withthat as well?
Yeah.
We'll we'll take we'll takewatches.

unknown (01:18:56):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 (01:18:58):
Probably a good idea to keep an eye out for Dom.
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (01:19:01):
I'll see you to you later.

SPEAKER_13 (01:19:03):
Thanks, Well.
You see, and you do notice thatDom and Sinna are of everybody,
they are uh they're the mostheavily wounded, but they are
not as like Of course.

SPEAKER_07 (01:19:14):
Yeah, they're not as um but also both had a good
berry, I guess.

SPEAKER_13 (01:19:17):
Yeah, they did.
And and also like both of themthough, or I I gave for the
record, I gave you all ten.

SPEAKER_07 (01:19:23):
Yeah, however many.

SPEAKER_14 (01:19:23):
I think we did it amount to all the batteries, I
think.

SPEAKER_09 (01:19:26):
I gave them all the guns.

SPEAKER_13 (01:19:34):
So yeah, they he they were definitely
distributed, because he knowswhat they are.
Like he's he's very familiar.
I mean, like once he had it,after he added the first one, he
was like he knew what they are.
Yeah, he's familiar with magic.

SPEAKER_16 (01:19:48):
He gets the craft, yeah.

SPEAKER_13 (01:19:50):
Um, yeah, I mean his his own magic is rooted in in
the primal magic.
So um he uh he what it took hima second because it looks so
different than what he'saccustomed to.
Um but he was able to give themout.
And uh, but even even with likethree days of um of like not
eating and drinking, like himand Stenna look actually like

(01:20:11):
pretty good.
Um they're they're they canrecover like exhaustion on short
rests, like they're they'refucking badass.

(01:20:31):
The Thorwodch is like super hardto wear down.
Uh used to be.

SPEAKER_12 (01:20:35):
Yeah, I mean that's why Willow can sleep after me in
a w and a wake up.

SPEAKER_13 (01:20:43):
Sleeping in the saddle and like getting 20
minutes and then coming out ofthe end.
So they're that's great.

SPEAKER_06 (01:20:48):
They're very, very hard to wear.
I feel like I have a featurethat requires me to have 12
hours of sleep.

SPEAKER_13 (01:21:03):
Yeah, but yeah, I mean they're they're um uh in
yeah.
So anyway, um but coming backinto into our into the into the
moment here, um you see theminers evolve like everybody's
eating, um, and um you knowBavaralda as well, Dom and
Senna.
Um even with the good berry,they're still they still you

(01:21:24):
know eat eat eat uh plentifully.

SPEAKER_12 (01:21:27):
Um I would like to pull Ilya aside in one second.
Oh yeah, like not even lookingat me, I imagine.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_09 (01:21:38):
I'm I've been glaring daggers into like I
noticed when when Shaw like kindof looked at me and was like,
well, I'll go to, but like I'mlike locked in on Phil.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_12 (01:21:50):
So after I after I address, like wrap up.

SPEAKER_13 (01:21:53):
Yeah, you guys kind of you and you they kind of turn
to their food and everyone'sjust and I um stand up.

SPEAKER_09 (01:22:00):
Well, I stand up and I like allow her glare that's
been like the moment I knowshe's done, I also get up
because I know I know it's likewhere we have and I just like I
feel the glare.

SPEAKER_12 (01:22:13):
I don't look, I just keep walking, I know, I know um
off to the side and um you knowmake it to like the a doorway,
just turn the doorway andliterally like post up against
the wall, just like waiting.

unknown (01:22:28):
Cool.

SPEAKER_13 (01:22:28):
Yeah, you're able to depart and you follow you the
rest of you see as the two ofthem get up and leave, exit the
mess hall and out with it.

SPEAKER_09 (01:22:39):
You're hiding something.

SPEAKER_12 (01:22:41):
I'm not hiding anything, I already told you.
There's an itch, and I need toresolve it.
You are so quick to makeassumptions and to tell everyone
what is going on.
This is our moment to actuallyinvestigate, to see what could
be happening, to have proofbehind all of your ideation, and

(01:23:02):
you're running from it.
You love to make assumptions andto tell me what is happening.
This is our moment to see andknow for fact what is happening.

SPEAKER_09 (01:23:15):
And yet, you're so eager to go into this darkness,
this unknown, and I am I'm theone advocating for caution.

SPEAKER_12 (01:23:28):
I'm not saying let's be uncautious when we go down.
But I am an intellectual at theend of the day.
And I need to see what's there.
Why?
Something is killing people.

(01:23:49):
It is my job to keep the peopleof Black Rock healthy and safe.
And I will do whatever I can todo that.

SPEAKER_09 (01:24:00):
Do I believe her?
Oh I've known my whole life.

SPEAKER_13 (01:24:07):
Oh, that's true.
Okay.

SPEAKER_09 (01:24:09):
And I I know that she cares about the people of
Black Rock.

SPEAKER_08 (01:24:16):
I'm like, I'm not there's something else.

SPEAKER_13 (01:24:20):
Rebecca.
I think Phil needs to make achoice of persuasion or
deception.

SPEAKER_12 (01:24:25):
They're the same.

SPEAKER_13 (01:24:27):
Don't tell me which one it is.
Okay.
Um, and then Elia, go ahead andmake uh insight.
Um then just do me a favor.
Uh, what is the DC she's lookingfor?

SPEAKER_09 (01:24:42):
14.

SPEAKER_13 (01:24:43):
Okay.

SPEAKER_09 (01:24:44):
And I am in insight?

SPEAKER_14 (01:24:46):
Yes.

SPEAKER_09 (01:24:47):
Oh no!

SPEAKER_14 (01:24:48):
Do the do the do the rolling hood thing.

SPEAKER_09 (01:24:50):
Yeah, yeah.
Just confidence.
Okay.
Natural 20 plus two.

SPEAKER_00 (01:24:58):
What are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 (01:25:00):
I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_12 (01:25:01):
No, no, no, you're fine.
You're fine.
Here's the thing.
Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_13 (01:25:04):
Do we do you want everybody to leave the room?
Ooh, I'm down.

SPEAKER_12 (01:25:08):
I don't think I need to.
I don't think I because youdon't need to tell her anything.
She just knows you're if you'renot going to be able to do that.
Exactly.
Here's what I'm gonna say.
Here's what I'm with it withthat, here's what I'll say.
You know that I'm not being 100%truthful.
You know that I do just like Ijust saw Jar and Jaro die.
I know that Obin is ill.
I care about Abin.
Um, I do I care about everysingle person in BlackRock?

(01:25:31):
Absolutely not.
You know that that's not true.
You know that there's somethingmore.
There is absolutely 100%something else that is there in
addition to wanting to figureout what this illness is.

SPEAKER_09 (01:25:47):
I would like to open my mind.
Because there's no one aroundus, right?
We we were walking.

SPEAKER_13 (01:25:54):
No, it's just the two great, great, so I know.
Okay.
Holy fuck.
Oh.

SPEAKER_09 (01:26:02):
I know you're hiding something, so I'm just gonna.

SPEAKER_07 (01:26:05):
Okay.
I mean, wow.
This is worrisome.
Wow.
What the heck is this?

SPEAKER_06 (01:26:09):
I never know, it's not worried.

SPEAKER_09 (01:26:11):
Yeah, what's the range?

SPEAKER_06 (01:26:13):
Are you are you getting up?

SPEAKER_09 (01:26:15):
No, I gotta walk away from people.

SPEAKER_13 (01:26:18):
Okay.
Um cool.
Ilya, you as you're looking atPhil, release the locks, the
controls that you alwaysmaintain and you allow your
consciousness to expand outward.

(01:26:40):
What I would like for you to do,Rebecca, is as Ilya's mind opens
and connects with yours, you donot you're not aware of this
connection, but what are theprimary emotions?
Is there anything that Ilya cankind of sense or see that is
very like surface thoughts, topof mind for for Phil right now?

SPEAKER_12 (01:27:01):
Yeah, well, um, you'll see like the frustration
with this conversation, the likeum desire to um get through to
you, to be on the same page.
So you'll see like thefrustration and the desire kind
of both there, very surface.
I guess we're in the middle ofthis conversation, right?
I don't know that you're kind oflike digging into my bat, my
path.
Yeah, that's why it's likeusually in the midst of a
conversation because I'm like,you're thinking about the thing.

(01:27:23):
Will be our conversation.
Um and the surface will be whatI just said, which is the health
and well-being of our people.
So you'll above the people ofBlackRock.
So you'll see, you know, I wasthere when Jaro died.
So you'll have like thosefeelings will have been there.
Um, I was supposed to see Avonbefore we even left on this,
wanting to wanting to keepwanting to heal him and cure

(01:27:45):
him.
Um, so you'll see that.
You will also see um surfacethought.
Is it a surface thought rightnow?
Is the question.
Like, I it would be surface,because I'm thinking about it, I
guess, like in terms of Meknowing, but it wouldn't be in a
like in in a more obtuse way ofputting it, I think, in more

(01:28:07):
like uh obfuscated, because Idon't think it's like you
wouldn't it wouldn't be likewords.
Yeah, nothing.
It'd be a images, it'd beflashes of images, and you might
see um there was a metal14-sided item discussed.
You will see pictures of adrawing of an item.

(01:28:29):
You will see images of that.
It is not the item itself.

SPEAKER_09 (01:28:33):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_12 (01:28:34):
It is not even maybe, maybe it's not even fully
14 sides, maybe it's a series ofsides, maybe it's more than 14
sides, maybe it's less than 14sides.
It's it's it's an object.
But you'll see me thinking aboutit, as well as like scribbles
and like notes and in a languagethat I that you don't

(01:28:56):
understand.

SPEAKER_09 (01:28:56):
Yeah, would I have been able have I ever seen those
have or have I ever seen thosenotes?
No.
I wow.
Okay.
Wow.

unknown (01:29:09):
Wow.

SPEAKER_15 (01:29:10):
Okay.

SPEAKER_09 (01:29:12):
Okay, so I'm I'm And you're just going surface,
right?
Yeah, I'm not going deeper.

SPEAKER_16 (01:29:17):
That's better than I was thinking surface styles and
be like, that was weird.

SPEAKER_01 (01:29:22):
I remember that one.
That's not she'll just say that.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 (01:29:26):
Um okay, okay.
Um I can't help you if you don'tbe honest with me.
But I get it.

(01:29:48):
Do you really need this?

SPEAKER_12 (01:29:51):
I need to go down there, yes.
You don't need to.

SPEAKER_09 (01:30:00):
I love you.
Well, do you really need this?
Yes.
Okay.

SPEAKER_12 (01:30:09):
Okay.
And I'll just like pull her in.
Like I'll like reach up to theback because I'm taller,
somewhat taller.

SPEAKER_07 (01:30:23):
Yeah, you gotta tell her boots on.

SPEAKER_12 (01:30:25):
Stop.

SPEAKER_07 (01:30:25):
Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_12 (01:30:26):
I lie.
I aye.
Um I'll grab around like thekind of like you the the neck,
like um behind your neck, andI'll just like bring you in and
just put my forehead to yourforehead.
Thank you.

SPEAKER_09 (01:30:41):
Okay.

SPEAKER_13 (01:30:44):
Phil's sorry.

SPEAKER_09 (01:30:46):
I was gonna say, let's join the others.

SPEAKER_13 (01:30:48):
Phil's intelligence is 18, right?

SPEAKER_12 (01:30:53):
I believe so, but I can check.
Okay.
Mm-hmm.
It is 18.

SPEAKER_13 (01:30:56):
Billy, I need you to roll a D100.

SPEAKER_12 (01:30:58):
Of course.
Yeah.
Because I didn't know.
There's a big brain.
There's a blue brain to getbutton.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_13 (01:31:06):
A creature of a certain intelligence level
increases the chances of amishap.

SPEAKER_07 (01:31:09):
Yeah, just do well.
You're safe with me.
That's good.

SPEAKER_09 (01:31:17):
54?

unknown (01:31:19):
You're fine.

SPEAKER_09 (01:31:20):
Moderate.
Moderate is good.
Moderate is good.
And I'm gonna uh forcefullyclose the the connection instead
of letting it go.

SPEAKER_01 (01:31:27):
Cool.

unknown (01:31:28):
Pew.

SPEAKER_09 (01:31:29):
As we're getting closer to people, I'm like,
whoop, tighten up.
What is what is does Ilya havelike a mental exercise or any
sort of like way that sheenvisions the There's a void,
and I see myself in a mirrorversion of myself that is

(01:31:51):
reflected within like mirroredwalls, glass, uh, chromatic,
very similar to my magic, but itjust kind of closes around and
it's like protective.
Like this, these are mine, thisis my emotion, this is my um,

(01:32:14):
these are my thoughts.
So the my emotion, it kind ofshifts like a prism, and you see
me like smiling, and you see melike sad, and I see myself, and
then it's like these are mythoughts, and it kind of shifts
and changes geometrically, sothat you see more mirrors and
like more walls and moreprotection.

(01:32:38):
And then like the void as wellbreathes with that chromatic,
mirrored, fractal just shell.

SPEAKER_01 (01:32:46):
Cool.

SPEAKER_09 (01:32:48):
Walk in with the person that I love dearly, who's
known me practically my wholelife.
Um, yeah, and just as we go.

SPEAKER_13 (01:32:58):
Does that motion stop as you sever the
connection?

SPEAKER_09 (01:33:03):
It's it doesn't stop, but it is it's always
spinning.
And I'm just no longer thinkingabout it.
It's just in the back of mymind, constantly, constantly
keeping it up, constantly.
But I'm not, it's not active, soI'm not visualizing it in my
inner eye.

SPEAKER_13 (01:33:24):
Compartmentalize that piece of your your mind.
Okay.
So you head off into the eveningto find your place to rest after
having gotten food and havinghad a very long day.
You return to the inside of themess hall where we see Vale and
Ramsey.
Vale, Ramsey, and Shaw stillthere.

(01:33:47):
Um, most of the miners now areum at this point, like some of
the other miners, the ones whogot the good berries, have like
gone and retrieved, uh, they'veretrieved like clothing and
stuff like that.
They've distributed it, food hasbeen distributed, everybody's
now dressed.
Um, it looks like uh um Dom andCinna have uh actually recovered
their weapons.
Um it looks like the lizard folkdid hang on to the very

(01:34:10):
well-made pose, the very well,the very, very well forged
steel.
Um and it was actually here inthe mess hall.
This looks like kind of theplace where the lizard folk had
a bit of a base of operations.
Um so a lot of their uh, like Isaid, the things they plundered
from the miners specifically,like anything steel-made is was
kind of like collected in here.

(01:34:31):
Um, but the three of you, um,yeah, clothing has been
dispersed and and most ofeverybody has finished eating at
this point, and they're makingtheir way towards the bunkhouses
for uh um for uh to to rest.
Um yeah, so the mess hall kindof slowly clears out until it's
really just the three of you.

SPEAKER_14 (01:34:50):
Uh we can take first watch if you get some rest.

SPEAKER_04 (01:34:55):
Um, no, I'm alright to take first watch.
I deal better with the laterhours, as it were.

SPEAKER_14 (01:35:05):
What?
Which watch would you like totake, Frank?
Early morning.

SPEAKER_04 (01:35:13):
Yes.

SPEAKER_14 (01:35:15):
Still a bit famished if you've got any modes of
light.

SPEAKER_04 (01:35:22):
Well we're in mess hall, so might be able to defend
for yourself.
Um I've given all my modes oflight to the good people here.
Well, modes of light are quitebitter, so it's a pretty even
trade or something.
But say you hate me, friend.
No, I don't hate you, Shaw.
I find you very entertaining.
You're not my type, you know.
Maybe.
Little slenderer.

SPEAKER_14 (01:35:43):
I'm gonna go get a bit smaller, and I'll walk off
and find some food.
Alright.
He's kind of cute.

SPEAKER_07 (01:35:51):
I heard that you were meant to.

SPEAKER_13 (01:36:00):
You mentioned the food again and are able to leave
earshot, leaving it.

SPEAKER_15 (01:36:04):
As he walks away, I roll over like a couple motes.

SPEAKER_01 (01:36:07):
You son of a big I don't know, it's just hard to
give them to him.

SPEAKER_17 (01:36:22):
I'm glad to hear you say that.

SPEAKER_04 (01:36:25):
I'm you kind of fluctuate, my friend.
You know this.
No.
You've got this streak in youwhere you well, I guess I'm
starting to understand.
You know, the thing about givingthe money to them so that they
would be up be trust trust usmore.
Yes.
Um but I'm glad that you'reconserving your resources.
It's important, you know, direstraits out here.

(01:36:45):
And this whole thing about youknow, finding this whatever
object, we certainly can't trustthe people of Blackrock with
such a thing.

SPEAKER_16 (01:36:54):
I think we're on a new trail.

SPEAKER_06 (01:36:57):
Let's and as as we're having the conversation,
we'll, you know, make our wayout of the mess hall could be
more private, uh uh, you know,finding like um any kind of
awnings or anything like that.
Yeah, you're gonna watch firstand walking your way there.
Yeah, going up to the tower.

SPEAKER_14 (01:37:10):
Oh, yeah, cool.

SPEAKER_13 (01:37:11):
The tower's still very much there.

SPEAKER_14 (01:37:12):
So we're basically everyone's bent down.
It's it's about that.

SPEAKER_13 (01:37:15):
Yeah, the night's starting to wind down.
It's probably like the sun is isat this point, probably set.
Um, so yeah, I mean, like thereis a bonfire that's go like
basically the lizard folk area.
People are staying towards thebunkhouses that are like
furthest away from all the ickyuh basically the lizard folk
left.
Um but you know, people aremaking their way that way.
Um, and uh, and you guys kind ofhead actually in the total

(01:37:37):
opposite direction towards thewatchtower.
Um yeah.
The the the light is fadingfast.
There's it's twilight at thispoint.

SPEAKER_16 (01:37:45):
Yeah, when we get when we get to the tower.
Oh I'll just stay with you.

SPEAKER_04 (01:37:53):
Oh this watch.
I think that's probably wise.

SPEAKER_16 (01:37:58):
Uh remember the attack I told you about?

SPEAKER_04 (01:38:02):
Yes, um They led me here.

unknown (01:38:05):
Kind of.

SPEAKER_04 (01:38:06):
Uh this was how it crashed.
It's how that all took place, orno.

SPEAKER_16 (01:38:11):
We were boarded.

SPEAKER_04 (01:38:12):
Yes.
And were they carrying thisstone?
I think they wanted it.
So you your ship had it in itspossession, and then Yes.
And so I think And who boardedit?

SPEAKER_16 (01:38:34):
Not terrible creatures.

SPEAKER_04 (01:38:37):
Like the ones we fought in the um Worse.
Worse.

SPEAKER_16 (01:38:43):
How exactly?
Are we we're up in the town?
Yeah, yeah.
Our gesture to the carnagearound us.

SPEAKER_04 (01:38:53):
This, um it I saw damage like this.
Do they like shoot cannonballsor something?
Like how does one achieve that Ididn't see them do it.

SPEAKER_16 (01:39:06):
I just saw the aftermath.
The results, I see.
And if that's true, I can getsome revenge.
And the town may be under.
Maybe in grave danger.

(01:39:26):
Yes.
And your legend grows.
Especially if they took some ofthis back to the town.

SPEAKER_04 (01:39:36):
Yes, that um that does concern me as well.
That's what that's the case Iwas trying to make to Elia, but
um she's caught up in all of heremotions, you know.
I think that happens to me.

SPEAKER_16 (01:39:48):
Uh, kind of.
Kind of like the town.
Blackrock.
Yes.
Well why?
Reminds me a bit of Githgear.
Except for the people on thehill.
I don't like them.

SPEAKER_04 (01:40:05):
With the highstone folks.
Yes.
Yes, we're going to do somethingabout that.
I think this Beverlder person.
Untrustworthy.
Not good.
Yes.
Yes.
I I do wonder if perhaps Beverldknows something about what's in
this mine.

SPEAKER_16 (01:40:24):
I mean, Beverld's claim.
Another claim had somethingsimilar too, right?

SPEAKER_04 (01:40:30):
Um.

SPEAKER_16 (01:40:31):
No or no.
I don't I don't recall.

unknown (01:40:33):
Hmm.

SPEAKER_16 (01:40:33):
I don't think so.
Um, the the one that can'tspeak, um, Arbin.
Yes.

SPEAKER_04 (01:40:40):
Was not here.
We haven't quite made thatconnection yet.
Um he's lost his senses, but hedoesn't exhibit any of the other
symptoms.

SPEAKER_16 (01:40:50):
The illness.
I don't know about the symptom.
I don't know what's causingthat.
I didn't see that.

SPEAKER_04 (01:40:56):
Right, you did a sort of um what's that called,
um autopsy.
Oh, yes, but with when we hadthis stone or whatever it is, I
didn't see that with Oh, the m-the mind-altering elements of
it.

SPEAKER_16 (01:41:13):
No.
No one on board had anythinglike these people.

SPEAKER_01 (01:41:20):
Hmm.

SPEAKER_16 (01:41:21):
Or Obin.
But the description soundssimilar.

SPEAKER_04 (01:41:30):
But you did witness some creatures, no, in the
attack or um yes, they weretall, multiple limbs, kind of
like a big bug.
Really, really big bug.
Bigger than the um the on cakes.

(01:41:52):
No, not that big.

SPEAKER_16 (01:41:54):
They walked on two legs and by pedal lots of little
arms in their stomach area.
Uh and then arms.
Extra arms.

SPEAKER_04 (01:42:06):
Right, not in their stomach area.

SPEAKER_16 (01:42:08):
Correct.
Right.
I'm used to weird stuff, butthey were different.
I was saying something.

SPEAKER_04 (01:42:21):
And powerful.
Were you in limbo?

SPEAKER_16 (01:42:26):
No.
Moving from plane to plane,sometimes you want to go into a
plane between.
However, we weren't going home.

SPEAKER_04 (01:42:38):
You were taking the stone somewhere.

SPEAKER_16 (01:42:41):
Or looking for more.
I'm not sure.
Remember, I said that when I sawit and it was seen that I saw
it, I was told to act as if Ihad not.

SPEAKER_04 (01:42:59):
Right.
So some sort of clandestinemission run by your superiors
through the astral sea to locatethis crepuscular stone.
Lady has prolonged melisma.

SPEAKER_16 (01:43:18):
The one we found was here.

SPEAKER_04 (01:43:21):
Not here, but material plane.
Yes.
Elmore.
Flash Verestra.

SPEAKER_16 (01:43:30):
Verestra, yes.

SPEAKER_04 (01:43:34):
Right.
Hmm.
That should be so much moresimple if it was a werewolf.
Okay, well, um I think so.
I was just going to say so farwe've convinced them that uh
we're just stupid enough to wantto go down there without any

(01:43:55):
other reason.
Um But um we are going to findthem.

SPEAKER_16 (01:44:05):
I think the orders I was given are I'm here.

SPEAKER_04 (01:44:16):
Oh yes, but don't you your braces?
Do they do something if you, youknow, defy orders or something
like that?

SPEAKER_16 (01:44:26):
I got them for defying orders.
Right, so I am a bit worriedabout further I don't know.
I don't think they control themfrom here from there.

SPEAKER_04 (01:44:35):
Yes, but if they found out, would they like?
You know, now you have to wear ahelmet that does things.

SPEAKER_16 (01:44:40):
But if I find out and or if they find out, but I
was able to find them, then.

SPEAKER_04 (01:44:49):
You think they would balance out.
Um yes, um.

SPEAKER_16 (01:44:52):
And maybe I can solve what this.

SPEAKER_04 (01:44:55):
I think um I hear you.
Certainly.
Um and uh they're quite capable,despite um Ilya's sort of um,
you know, pants wetting theslightest uh problem.
Uh but the I am concerned thatwe are within a hair's breadth
of um them turning tail.

(01:45:16):
Except for Philippa, who's umhaven't quite figured out her
angle.

SPEAKER_01 (01:45:21):
Oh, I told Philippa that I saw something similar in
the autopsy.

SPEAKER_16 (01:45:31):
Right.
Okay.

SPEAKER_04 (01:45:35):
And so I mentioned Oh, grab I didn't Well, that's
fine.
Um Is that bad?
No, I don't know.
Hey, I don't know.
Um you know, you're talking to aman as uh all the time that I've
spent in the Freywood was hasbeen pretty much an old guard,
uh among drink and uh men andwomen and uh whatever bedchamber

(01:45:56):
I could find.
So with thought of that and theboonies here, I don't know
what's going on.
Um I just think it's importantto protect ourselves.

SPEAKER_16 (01:46:04):
What does that mean?
I've you have a looserelationship with the truth.
And I don't.
Well, I do take offense.

SPEAKER_04 (01:46:19):
Why?
Because the lies that I tell arethe quickest route to the real
truth.
You understand?
I this is what I've been tryingto explain to you all this time.
I know it's a bit complicated,right?
But a story isn't the truth.
It's better than the truth, it'smore powerful than the truth.

(01:46:42):
That's what I'm talking about.
We have to make sure that we arepositioned in the right place in
that story so that we do not getkilled.

SPEAKER_17 (01:46:58):
How does that lie?
No.
Very much so.

SPEAKER_04 (01:47:10):
Um but uh I I do uh I hear your compassion, and uh
I'm grateful for it.
Um we can tell them once we sortof sort of figure out what's
going on here.
Yes, once we get a littleclearer.
Um I it's either that or weventure down there by ourselves

(01:47:31):
when they all go back withoutus, and uh I don't know how good
our chances are if that happens.

SPEAKER_16 (01:47:38):
Okay.
I'm trying to understand you.
How about we tell them on theway back after we go down?

SPEAKER_04 (01:48:29):
I don't know anything to go wrong if for some
reason everyone wants to killme.

SPEAKER_16 (01:48:38):
You are my companion.

SPEAKER_17 (01:48:40):
And you have helped me.
Oh yes, I will help you.

SPEAKER_16 (01:48:53):
Do you have any berries?
You said you don't have anyberries left.

SPEAKER_04 (01:48:58):
Why did you eat them?
Yes, I'm sorry.
I don't know.
I got when I get nervous.
I uh snack.

SPEAKER_17 (01:49:15):
Don't do that.
Therefore life Yes.

SPEAKER_04 (01:49:20):
Yes, I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_16 (01:49:22):
I'll get you a stick.
Or something.

SPEAKER_04 (01:49:26):
Uh that's alright.
Okay.

SPEAKER_17 (01:49:33):
Um, there's thank you.

SPEAKER_01 (01:49:41):
Nothing.

SPEAKER_06 (01:49:46):
And I'll sort of like turn and just begin to look
out over the camp.

SPEAKER_16 (01:49:53):
As you turn, I'm bat your head.
And then I would turn the otherway.

SPEAKER_17 (01:50:02):
It's pretty out here.
Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_13 (01:50:10):
You look up and you see that the clouds and the mist
have cleared with the falling ofthe night.
And the stars are a riot ofsilver against a black sky.
See the moons hanging in the theether above.

SPEAKER_16 (01:50:35):
Just a small as I see the these are new
constellations for me.
Um, I'm going to try and look atthem and force my patterns into
some of these shapes.

SPEAKER_04 (01:50:50):
Cool as fuck.

SPEAKER_13 (01:50:51):
That's cool as fuck.
You look up and you see the theconstellations different than
the ones that you wereaccustomed to.
Ramsey, you see as faintly themotes of light around Vale shift
to mirror the sky above.
And I think that's a good timeto end.

SPEAKER_08 (01:51:18):
Oh boy.

SPEAKER_13 (01:51:21):
With the boys.

SPEAKER_01 (01:51:24):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 (01:51:26):
Vail, you turn and take your leave quietly.
Head down.

SPEAKER_15 (01:51:29):
Oh, I'm gonna stay.
Oh, you're staying?

SPEAKER_13 (01:51:31):
Oh, you stay.
Okay.
Then you stay together in thewatchtower.
And uh everybody else heads offto bed.
And yeah, we'll pick up in themorning, I suppose.
Next time we come back.
Hope you enjoyed playing orwatching as much as we did play.
You didn't play, we played.

SPEAKER_00 (01:51:48):
Hope you enjoyed it.
Hope you enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_05 (01:51:53):
Hey nerds, it's Shane.
Thanks so much for being herefor this episode.
We appreciate you very, verymuch.
If you haven't already, pleasedo hit that like button, that
subscribe button, that bellicon, leave us a five-star
review, give us uh some words ofkindness, leave a comment down
uh wherever you can and howeveryou can.
Uh, please help us out by justcontributing to that algorithm

(01:52:14):
so we can get the show out tomore people.
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Uh and we can just spread thatlove and it helps us, of course,
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And in that uh thought, if youhave the means, please do uh
consider supporting us onPatreon or YouTube memberships.
The benefits are ultimatelypretty similar or the same, so
no need to double dip.
Though those of you who do, wereally appreciate you.

(01:52:35):
Thank you very much for that.
It's it's awesome.
We're extremely, extremelygrateful.
And with that said, we'll seeyou in the next one, nerds.
May the light reflect from youreyes.

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C2 E9 | Courage Mounteth With Occasion

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}C2 E9 | Courage Mounteth With Occasion