D&D is For Nerds - Barovia IV #24 Prisoner Dilemma

Episode Date: January 17, 2026

"It's just a castle," Pirrin mutters the mantra under his breath while scaling a wall, "living people don't guard ghosts," Pirrin whispers while slitting a knights throat. "Just a normal castle" Pirrin insists moving from shadow to shadow counting the steps between guard patrols."Hecktor would kill any ghosts if he saw them."Pirrin's breath catches in his throat as a long black cloak glides around a corner-- his mind wild and near panic. Feeling like he might throw up his own heart Pirrin's muttering slips between false prayer and genuine swearing as he catches a closing side door before it locks."Ghost's can't hurt--" Pirrin stops suddenly. Laughter and the smell of wine. "Is that a flipping dinner party?"If you're still wanting to pledge for the Jarren's Outpost Board Game you can right here! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oi, lads, did you miss out on the Jaron's Outpost Kickstarter and wish you weren't such a big doofus? Well, fear not. Late pledges are now open and they'll be open for a little while, so just head to Kickstarter search for D&D for Nerds or Jaron's Outpost and slam that late pledge button. I've known many evil places in my time, but this realm, called Borovia, is among the most dangerous. A man could drown here, though he wouldn't need any.

water to do so. This place is ruled by a man, no, more a creature, actually, known as Strad von Zarevich. It is said that anyone who can slay him will be set free if they don't die in the attempt, of course. Pipp, you recognize what this is. It's a force elemental. Oh, okay. It's following you. Fabulous. Can I pick up the corpse of Lady Watcher smash out the window and then climb, instead of leaping out, climb up the side of the house. As you slip out the window, Lady Watcher is a lot heavier than you imagine. I like go over and climb. You start sprinting over the roof?

Yeah. You're going to start climbing down the other side? Yeah, that's my plan. There's a chimney. Oh, I'll go down the chimney then. You slide down the chimney and get stuck. Come on. Halfway down.

Come on. Something grabs your feet. Muriel? Yes, it's me. Okay, pull me down, pull me down. With a huge wrench and starts trying to pull you down? The two of you...

You're sitting on a pile of ash and dust. You are in the master bedroom. Great. Okay, hey, I got it. She's outside, though. I tried to jump out of the window. She's outside. Yeah, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine.

It's fine. Come on, come on. All right. You can hear wailing and then something slams, not into the door, but to the wall. And you can tell that this wall's about to buckle. There are three exits. One is the door, which is right next to where that wall is buckling. There is a window and there's the chimney. Okay.

Muriel looks at the window, looks at you, and she says, I can fly. Yeah, that's, well, yeah, you're the one who needs to get to the body. Go. All right. goodbye. And then she grabs some furniture, throws it at the window, and then turns into a raven and flies out. Okay. Where are you going?

The wall buckles quite a lot. A couple bricks fall out of the wall, and then you see as the force elemental starts fitting itself through that hole. You have a moment. Can I climb my way back onto the roof? You absolutely can. Thank you. Why up? Why not climb down?

I don't know. This is crazy. Why is he climbing up? You climb back up onto the roof. Hise or lows? Hyes. Hyes? Hives.

It starts punching through the roof again. This time you're going to need to make a dexterity saving throw. God damn it, dude. What's your dex save? God fucking damn. Proficiency. Triple that shit, dude. Triple that shit.

All right, your proficiency bonus is where? Where did I write it? I've got it here. Oh, here it is. So, oh, four. Oh, that's really good for you. Yeah. All right.

So it becomes 12 plus three for your decks, plus the two that I... You, Pip, one of the fists explodes out from underneath your feet, but you manage to roll with it. You hit your shoulder, not hard, but gently enough that you can roll with it and land back on your feet. You keep sprinting. across the roof, where are you going? I would like to run, to get the force element away from Muriel so she can do it. All right. Run down the, if she's a...

All right, you can go to the north or south side then. I'll go... Because you're on the east side, and the west side is where the corpse is. South. You go south? All right. What do you do when you get to the south side? Can I climb down the other side of the wall?

You absolutely can. Thank you. All right. So do you want to go down to the floor or there are two windows on this side? side. I think going back in the house is stupid at this point, so I'll go on to the floor. You climb right down to the bottom. Okay.

You're at the front door. Okay. Is the elemental coming toward me? You can hear it thrashing and smashing upstairs, but it hasn't... High or lows? Loz? Loz? It hasn't left the house.

Okay, great. It sounds like it's trying to make its way to you through the house, but it loses track of you. That's kind of what I wanted. You could just hear it. now making noise in the house. I kind of wanted to trap it in there. Can I then, like, wheel to the right side of the...

Where was Lady Watch's body? What side of the house did it left? The west side. Okay. Then I'd like to wheel to the west side of the Watcher House and, like, look down to see if I can see Muriel. You see the Raven land, and as it lands, it turned into Muriel, and she rushes over to something that you can't see, presumably the corpse. I've got to make sure she does it right.

I'll head down the side of the building. to where she's at the corpse. You see, when you get there, Muriel is wildly just stabbing at Lady Watcher's chest. Can I, like, put my arms around her very gently and then bring it up and do it in, like, the appropriate way? You bring it up, and you bring it down with her hands, stabbing, piercing straight through Lady Watcher's heart.

Almost instantly, the corpse jerks a little bit up into the dagger, and then as it falls down, you notice the storm is still happening, but that fog begins to recede. Hearts are hard to find. I get it. Takes a bit of practice. We have to go, Muriel says.

You can still hear the elemental thrashing about. Let's head for the blacksmith. They're so fucked, dude. As Stratt steers you gently, but insistently, away from the party. One figure who you had at this point not specifically, spotted, not because you hadn't been looking, but because they had been hiding. A member of the Kandinese delegation stands up and moves to follow you, unbeknownst to the rest of the party, with one exception.

That diplomat who you'd been speaking to. As he moves away from the Kandinese delegation, he is the only person to properly clock and see as a disguise is being slowly removed. Wait, do I know you? Pyrryn, turning back to the diplomat, says, you don't know shit. Sit down. All right. Okay.

Silently. As silent as the many graves that dot their way throughout Borovia, Pyrrion follows you. Okay. Okay. Cool, cool. Hector. Yes. Strad takes you back upstairs, back to that.

those doors with the sun inscribed upon them that you saw when you first arrived at Castle Ravenloft. Right, yes. The sun god, like the Morning Lord. Is that correct? This is the...

Because it does look like the sigil of the Morning Lord. It's pretty similar to a penny as sigil. Like, honestly, kind of identical in some ways. But when you say the Morning Lord, Strad... He's like, oh, if I noticed that, it'd be like, oh, I... I first saw it, I thought this was a sigil of a penia,

but I believe it is this castle would predate her, or you'd have the morning lord. God of the sun, Lord of light, antithesis to the wakeful dead. These gods go by many names, and there are some. Strad gently places his hand upon the, the door and as he does so, that chain with the lock unlocks and hits the ground neatly. The guard goes by many names and some may say they are all the same. Strah gently pushes upon the door and the two doors neat.

The sun neatly parts in half and the two doors open to reveal a very dusty but beautiful chapel. Yes, back when I was, I guess, cloistered away in... You stepped inside? Yeah. Okay. A, I would have long debates with a friend about the nature of gods and if they were the same or different to different faiths. I look at around at all the different iconography and all the different shoes. Yeah, it could be a chapel dedicated to Penny.

just in a sect that you are unfamiliar with? My friend would often say that the elves have something that they call the guardian of disguise, which is very similar to Peña. He would often wonder if it's not the same being, the same entity, the same thing, many different cultures and different parts around. They all have a death god.

He would often get into long, debates of again the sun is the iconography the design is I'm just babbling the design of the morning Lord

is very I mean similar to the sun how many strad from the doorway says this is the only holy place within Castle Ravenloft

I had made especially You had it made? Yes. It is an old memory of mine. Right. Hector, it is. He, the corners of his mouth curl into a smile.

Like he understands what he is about to say, but almost as if he feels compelled to say it anyway. There is much connecting us. We are. And now it breaks into a full smile. Once again, he knows exactly what he's saying. But it's like he's compelled to say it. We are not so different, you and I.

I was once a paladin of the morning lord. Oh. I was general in a great army that fought a terrible necromancer. Not far from these lands, the battle was indecisive, but I was wounded greatly. I fled to the town of Belovia. He strad, as he's been saying this, he has like a vest as part of his elaborate clothing. He unbuttons the vest and pulls back his shirt enough

to show you a terrible, on his chest, a terrible sky. And he's fit. Whoa! We're talking eight-pack, dude. Holy man. How good of them cum gutters? Oh, you are good enough to eat out of. Damn.

Sluice some milk down those bare boys Yeah, tell you what He pulls back his shirt to reveal a terrible scar Connected, three lines connected at one jagged point You can see had Strad or when Strad was mortal This wound probably could have been the end of him I fled to the township of Borovia There the people tended to me

saved my life and the vistasani of these lands helped me escape I sorry he starts takes a he had never entered the chapel but he takes a step back he says I am

lost in memories this happens often please Hector walk with me Are we walking away from the chapel? Yeah he has not entered the chapel I sort of look around.

I'll, um, yeah, I'll, uh, say like a little, like, not even a silent, but like a muttered, half-muttered prayer to, to Peñaer and, uh, trying like, just cast light, just like at the tips of my fingers. I just want to just cast light as a little prayer to Penia. Just kind of feel what's out there. Haltingly, at first, it slowly comes. to you. Not easily like it used to be. Not with your every word as you were once able. But after a moment, the light of an incandescent bulb harsh, but nonetheless illuminating, spreads out through the chapel.

It is a lot harder than it used to be. I hope I'm doing the right thing. I turn and follow Stroud. Strzad leads you deeper into the castle. He takes you down, at first it looks like you're maybe going back to your room, but then Strad takes an abrupt turn, and you find yourself somewhere else entirely in the castle. You are, for a moment, struck dumb at how large this place is. You understood from a distance that it was a large castle, but to know that on an intellectual level and then to experience it,

are two separate things entirely. And it's staffed. It's fully staffed. You cross paths with many people, guards, servants, others, and all of whom give Strad, not a wide berth, but a lot of respect. People stop and wait for him to pass. And it doesn't feel like anyone's being befuddled or, like, under my group. That's the thing that's like, yeah.

Yeah. People hear willingly. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah, it's just. No one's not. seems befrily it. Yeah, yeah. As Strad continues, as Strad leads you, he continues his story. I, after the battle, the war continued, but I vowed to return to these lands, this place that

had given me a home, and in time, I did so. But while things were good for a time, while, I made this place, Castle Ravenloft, named after my mother in honor, after then in honor of my mother. Things eventually grew dark. I fell in love with a woman, a local in the town, and my brother, Sergey. he had always been jealous and jealous of my prowess in battle jealous of my looks compared to his and jealous of my connection to the morning lord

right sergey plotted and schemed to take everything from me and in his hatred he turned many within this castle against me on the day of my wedding to my beloved he slew me struck me down with a mortal blow far greater and more hurtful on every level than the one I had been dealt in these lands

and he took strad stops places a hand on the wall and you could see for a moment it looks like strad's about to fall over topple but he stops writes himself and then continues. He took my beloved in his name, forcefully. When she resisted on their wedding night,

Strad turns to you, and you can see that he's crying silently. He killed her. I am sorry that happened to you. He nods. I was lost, as lost as I could be. I called out in pain and fear for the morning Lord, but the night would not recede,

and instead a different voice came to me. This I know, Hector, you are familiar with. The voice of a friend. Strade gives you a very bitter smile and says, yes, the voice of a friend. It said that it would save me. Keep me alive. Bring life back to my beloved.

All I had to do in exchange was act as its emissary. It's warden within the lands of Borovia. I agreed not understanding the deal I was making. I smile at that, but not a happy smile. Just like a... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Sergei had turned half the castle against me, but when I returned what I had done turned the other half against me. What did you do? The only thing I could do, I took my mantle as warden of these lands, and who would not bend? You broke. Stradnod. It is faster that way.

As much suffering as it causes, it is the lesser of two evils, Hector. Strad takes you down now. You realize you're deep in the bowels of Castle Ravenloft, in the dungeons of Castle Ravenloft. Perhaps that is where you and I differ. Perhaps, Straud says. You see, you've come to one of the cells a bit different than the others. The cells here are not luxurious, but bigger than maybe a cell that you might be used to. This cell, though, the one that you're standing in front of, is even bigger than that.

You can see that there is a spider's web of chains, wicked red chains with bobs sticking out of them all throughout the cell. And in the center of this spider nest, wrapped and pierced with the bobs quite clearly in agony. you recognize Escher. Escher, one of your grooms? He, at his name, Escher shifts to look at you and some of the barbs tear through his flesh. He cries in pain. Strad puts a hand on the bars, turns to you and says, yes, that is the name that has been given to them, is it not?

Yes, I believe so. We killed him once back in Veracai Yes, but a vampire must be killed twice So I'm led to believe Why if you chained him up? Why are you torturing him? Strad seems to ignore your answer And instead he continues

The uprising of a year ago Is not the first of its kind, Hector I'm aware It is difficult to keep a grip on these lands. They resist, struggle. I try to keep as gentle a hand as possible, you understand, Hector. But you know, he says. And you can see, from the tone of his voice,

you can tell that Strad is trying to make you understand. He, Strad, you don't know why, but he cares about what you think. And he is trying to explain himself to you. I try to use as gentle a hand as possible, but these people, they resist, they fight among themselves when there is a greater threat.

Yeah, looking at Escher, I then look and pivot and look at Strad, who has been our greatest threat for the longest time, and yet we still squabble amongst ourselves. And I understand maybe that I don't fully believe what I'm about to say, but I say it anyway. Perhaps the reason why they squabble is that they don't know about the threats that are out there. I did not know about the threats upon you.

I mean, yes, granted, I am not from you, but I have talked to lots of people who live here. And they are unaware of the army that is coming soon. They are not the army. They are unaware of the threats of the other realms knocking on their doors. They don't know how bad it can be. They don't know. And if they did, they should come together for the greater threat.

I think back. Maybe thinking back specifically to the Malian Council that kicked up this season. I think back to Creswick. I think back to Coochery. I think back to just all the different members in our party who are just constantly at each other's throat. Are there any members in our beautiful anti-found family that are aligned? Goroblushin and Tapos. Yes, that's true.

As long as you have a bizarre fanatical devotion to one another, you can make it out. I mean, like, even the common goal of us leaving is not a thing that binds us. Absolutely. We are bound by nothing. We're bound by a Toroka deck. That's what we're bound by. By fate, I guess it is. Oh, yeah, well.

Surely if people knew the officer, perhaps a unified goal would help people stop seeing the differences. And then I look back at Escher and not really believing what I'm saying. Because if you don't break them, you give them the choice, they fuck it up. Strad nods. Escher is here because he failed me. The deaths he inflicted too great, his hand too tight,

and through a myriad of smaller infractions. As to the method, Strad says, of his incarceration, I understand Hector. it seems inhumane. Yeah, it is not that different to what... I looked out at my own stitched corpse, injured. You understand, Hector. If I let him go, he would work against you,

against me, against anyone but himself. Isn't, unfortunately, the human condition. Then why do you not sentence him to death? Are you keeping him here forever? No, Hector. You say we are different. Strat takes a step back.

Let us see how different. What would you do? I guess for Statt is I wouldn't have him pierced with chains. Can you talk, Escher? Yes. Can you remove some of the chains? I can. I warn you.

These chains prevent his escape. I do not think he would attempt under my eye. But to loosen the chains, to loosen the grip, to stop bending and breaking. There are. Strad nonetheless gestures a hand and the chains you see visibly loosen upon him. Escher's feet, which up until this point had been suspended in the air, slowly make their way down until the tips of his toes, then the balls of his feet, then he is properly standing.

Still somewhat bound, but you can see in a lot less pain. I mean, if you were to punish him for the... his wrongdoings surely you don't need to chain him up and torture him. Leave him like, I've got an ornament. How many people

did he kill? Strad produces a book, which I don't know if you've seen it before, but it's Esher's book. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll stopwatch. You recognize, yeah, the book, there's maybe a little chain wrapped around the spine of the book, and you can see Escher's stopwatch is on the end of that chain.

Stroud opens the book, flips through it. He says, 1,275 deaths about as many casualties. How many of those deaths were under your command? Escher was not under my command directly, Hector. I raise my eyebrows at that. I was like, oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. I see. I, Hector, my hand, my grip is not as iron as you think it is. So, in Cuchery, you're one of your brides. Did you not have command of what she was doing to the people that were there? No, Hector. She had instruction to keep Couturey from revolt, from hurting,

themselves. I gave her as much leeway as I felt safe. I think you didn't do a very good job there. Perhaps, he says, you could do better. Escher, why did you kill all those people? Dold! Esher looks at Strad with like fear, revulsion, and maybe also in a pleading way. Dold, Alachi, what revolt needed to assert control. Is that what you told him to do?

Strad nods. And you thought the best way to do that is to summon a swarm of bats. Asher looks at you, his face snarls and fills with hatred. You could do better! The last words, with the last words, blood spittles from him onto you. Did you not care about the people you kill? Did you not think of the lives that were lost? Did you not think of the toll that it would take?

Escher, in the most self-serving way possible, in the most woe is me tone that he can muster right now, looks back at you Hector and says I made no mistakes I summon yes torture this man yes

I don't think it's torture out of okay I summon a spear in my hand and I like just looking looking at Escher by right he is a murderer of a scale that is hard to comprehend. He should be put to death.

I'm not in execution. Send him to the front lines. The war is coming. An army is coming. I've seen him on the battlefield. Send him to the front lines. Strad nods. An interesting choice, Hector.

Perhaps he will flee to be a problem later, but perhaps his skill will be useful against an army that has no mind to suffer. Pyrrion, watching from the shadows, closes as quietly as he can his little book, wraps it up and stuffs it into his tunic. Then, Pyrrhen very suddenly wraps his hand around his mouth to gag himself and stop himself from screaming as a figure who he had not seen walks past him. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Hector, out of the darkness, a figure approaches. You see, she's short, wearing leather armor very clearly from her appearance. You can tell immediately.

she's a vampire not a vampire spawn a full-fledged, full-blooded vampire as Strad as Escher as all the others that you have seen before powerful extruding

confidence she has a very you would say maybe cheeky smile like she just played a very good joke on someone she as she as she she approaches, bows deeply before Strad, and standing back up, you see she goes through a, she was in life, you could see she was once long ago a drow. And she goes through a rapid series

of, you would know, drow sign. Drow sign is a particular form of sign language that drow developed to use to communicate with each other in places where sound is dangerous to make. Of course. Strad nods, and with a flick of the wrist he sends her away. Another one of your brides, generals. Strad winces a little bit. He says, I prefer the term assistance. Right. Brides, grooms.

It is terribly, he says, possessive. I think, yeah, after hearing the story of what happened, I don't know if Hector has it in him to mention brides again. Yeah, that's fair. I feel. So, yeah, I guess let's renege any time I have said that since then

and I think, oh, general. I beg another one of your generals? General is a good term. A bit too militaristic for my liking, but better than the previous ones.

Please, Hector. Would you like to return to the party, or would you prefer perhaps a quieter dining situation? Perhaps a quieter dining situation would be nice, not to think of. Much to think on. Please, he says, follow me. Pip, yeah. You lean into the billowing snow and force one boot in front of the other until you reach the black

Smithy. The joined buildings of the blacksmithy and the tanner show obvious signs of bloodshed. Lots of bloodshed. Bodies lay strewn around half buried in the snow. Their faces peering out and the pains of death throws still frozen into them. Whatever crimson red blood that should be here has long since frozen and been washed away by the biting wind and falling cold, a battlefield of bodies who could easily be sleeping beneath white blankets. Gods, mutters Danica, this must be near all of the Bergermasters' soldiers. Glancing down, she sees the half-frozen face of Izzick, the Bergermaster's right-hand man. Iona glances behind the group, and with very understandable,

worry in her voice, she calls out over the wind. We must press on, or we may as well lie down next to them. The interior of the smithy offers little more comfort. While most of the walls still stand, huge holes blown through every surface let the cold in. Here, the corpses are piled just as high, but now their blood forms a thin sheet of ice to slip on. Shuddering, from more than the intruding chill, Erwin,

speaks next. Was this friend? He looks up at half a corpse dangling through a hole to the floor above. Or a go-gash. Iona, glancing at a dozen thorns sticking out from walls, doors, furniture, and corpses, replies, probably both. The three of them carefully pick their way through the rubbish and bodies to the upper floor, and while they do so, Danica speaks, continuing an earlier conversation. This engineer describe him. With hushed tones, Iona explains Couture to Danica, who, until now, was hungry for more than Pips version. Fair enough.

Her expression growing darker and darker, as she hears of Esmeralda's departure, and Hector's deals with the engineer and the Berger master Alina Tomac. Pyrin, I could tolerate. Owen's voice is tired, the ache of someone who has seen this before and cannot endure it again. But these new ones, Hector, has strayed far from the path we last saw him on. His strained voice turns hopeful, though.

But perhaps this is just the night being darkest before the day. Iona, who clearly would rather not tolerate any of Hector's deals, and with a very similar tiredness, mutters, He has stared into the abyss, but not yet stepped in. Her last words catch in her throat, though. Owen and Danica have stopped and stand perfectly still, and now Iona sees why. Through a doorway lies the prone form of Elaniel, very motionless. Without thought, Iona rushes to reside.

The two Were Ravens think to stop her, but know they could do nothing. All stealth abandoned, Iona cradles Elaniel's form. No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Iona's gaze frantically searches Elaniel for signs of life. Relax. A new voice, dispassionate and not very relaxing, speaks. She is not dead.

Merely far gazing. Pip, you're outside the blacksmithian tannery. Okay, I kind of slowly open the door. Well, the windows are blown out, aren't they? Yeah, there's huge holes in the wall. Forget the windows, yeah. Well, I cautiously approach scanning for signs of life and then step over the threshold into the blacksmith. Crossbow out.

All right. Muriel behind you, you step in and manage to keep your feet. Okay. There is a thin sheet of ice made of blood all over the floor here. It is difficult terrain. You can see the Smithy itself, then some common rooms, well, not common rooms, but like a living room. There's bodies everywhere, piled upon each other, and you can see holes in the furniture, in the roof, in the walls. There's a hole into the basement below where you can see a pile of bodies has been knocked in there.

The bodies are frozen, yeah? Yeah, half frozen, if not entirely. Pretty much, well, not pretty much. All of them look like they're the Birgermasters men. Some of them bear obvious signs of cult-like insignia, that sort of stuff. You can see some of them are wearing like tongue necklaces, finger crowns, that sort of stuff. You know, the classics. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I like a lean-up against one to keep my footing and I say, you know, reckon we'd be lucky enough to find a health potion or something on any of these guys. I am on one hit point. Yes. Muriel shrugs and says, we could. Wishful thinking. Let's keep moving. Perhaps Ogo Gash has one. Muriel says with a smart.

I'll, yeah, move deeper into the blacksmithy. There's a set of stairs leading up, which you can take if you want. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll do that. You slowly climb the stairs, still keeping your footing. The blood pours down. There's little, like, icicles of blood from where one step hangs over the one below it, and blood has frozen as it's been dripping down. Something really bad happened here, Muriel.

Something really bad. As bad as the downstairs are, the upstairs are, the upstairs is. even worse. The place looks like Swiss cheese. You can see through to the tannery at several moments as well. You creeping through, hear a voice from up ahead. Oh, you arrived. Is he talking to me? Yeah. Pip. Yes. It's a go gosh, he says. You may not be able to hear me properly. Oh my God. The wind and what not. Yeah, we're coming. We're coming. All right, we'll try and slide our way not like

you ice skate your way yeah we'll try and slip our way yeah to a go gosh one of the rooms is both tannery and blacksmithy the wall basically

doesn't exist at this point you can see on the floor in the tannery section there is a sigil on the floor it bears a striking

resemblance to the one when you were here last it's not the same sigil it just has like a a vocate of that point.

Okay. You can tell that it's written in the same fell language. Pretty naive to think we could have gotten rid of it by just rubbing out the sigil, hey. That's just remembering back all those weeks ago. You can see in this room are Danica, Owen, and Iona, in addition to, well, over you go cash obviously as well, but in addition, you can see Cribut, Marquillet, Keening, and Elanio. Iona cradles Elaniel's form You can see it's the air of like an animal

With its beloved or young or something like that You get the impression that Iona might snarl and snap at you If you approached her right now I wouldn't dream of it I wouldn't dream of it Danica and Irwin are standing near Keening With worried expressions on their faces Keening, Elling

Elaniel and Mark Quillet are all seemingly unconscious. Cribbit is near Marquillet, and you can see Cribut has like a little sponge in his hand, which he's dabbing on Mark Quillett's head. Crivet. I approach Cribut. Well, well, well. Yeah. I put him a figure to be like, oh, shut up. If it is not this one with stories for his good frame.

You'll get your stories once you tell me what's going on, Cribut. Cribbit looks around. Everyone looks at Cribbit. Cribert looks at you. Okay, Cribbit will tell. This one, Cribut gestures to Keening, thought that these ones, and he does a big circle like us, would be able to put a person who people get mad when Cribbett says name.

Right, yes. Would be able to put back in box. someone maybe can tell in other place. People not explain this to cribbitt properly. You get the impression, actually, yeah, I don't need to roll for this. You get the impression of the cribbed family's part boring. Yeah, I can imagine. The metaphysical machinations are not interesting to cribbit.

He's not a Wikipedia guy. Maybe actually, he's like flipping through his, he's got like a big book in front of him. You can see he's like reading parts of the book to you. Yeah. And you, yeah, you can see he made no notes for how this work. Fabulous. Really good. This one, gesturing to Keening, went in, and I don't know. Bad stuff happened apparently.

Elaniel got the message saying that she need to go in. My quillet did not want her to go in alone. So those ones, gesturing to the two duskowls, went in together to save Keeneing. That was, Kribut counts in his head. six stones ago. Okay. You don't know what a stone is in a unit of time. No idea.

Well, how long ago did Keenan contact me? That would have been like... About 24 hours ago. Yeah, about a day, okay. Does Krippett have anything else to tell me? Krippett stops talking, but you can tell he's not gotten to the end. Carry on. Oh, question?

Well, what's a stone? Not question I expect Stone is how far Okay, no I've no question How far you throw stone, walk to pick up In time I've got no questions Carry on

Cribert makes a little note of You are He uses in his writing I don't know if you've ever really inspected his writing But he uses like a weird sort of free hand Like his own little language To write stories down quickly

Yeah You can see he makes one of those little notes looking at you very intently. Well, when these ones, gesturing to the dust girls, go in, they say, she gesturing to Elaniel, knew somehow you coming quick. And so told me that if any more help needed, if take longer than two stones to come back, then... God, and it's been six.

Yes. Hmm, you like this part He writes that down Go on Keep talking Keep talking Okay Well

This one was told That you might need to go in as well Okay, that was going to be my next question As Chris has been saying this I like to imagine I've been inching around To a Keening side And then I like get down on my knees

And take one of his hands Did they Tell you how to get me in there? Yes Krivet says Okay Let's do it Was boring

Kribit cut for time You don't remember Kribit would just jump to you Being in there Yeah right Of course In a story Yes

But so you don't know How I get in there Could have been no Okay A Gogh A Gagash offers helpfully Yeah I can get you in there

Great There is however One complication Sure, I'm not surprised. Only one? With the ethereal. If you are these lot, he says gesturing to the unconscious forms of the dusk elves and Keening, they are but far-gazing. If, well, they can still be trapped in the ethereal,

unable to return to their bodies, but they can't be killed. You would physically be coming with me into the ethereal. You can be killed. and there is much danger in the ethereal. And I fear to get to wherever they are, there will be two speeds. One, keeping up with me, and the other will almost certainly be death. Alec, look around. Do you see the blood waterfall out there and the stairs?

Can't be any worse than here. Very well. It's good. I think for you to embrace your mortality. Of course, a go guess. Indeed it is. I like look to, I'm kind of ignoring a go-gash. I look to Iona.

Iona looks at you. She looks down at Elaniel. I looks up at you. I will keep them safe while you are away. I will keep their bodies safe. You bring their minds back. I will. Pip, please.

I understand that you have skin in this game as well. But you have. You have to bring her back. God's willing, I will. I've got their minds. You look after. the meat. Okay. She nods. She seemingly has,

she's at a loss for words. Yeah, well, look, me too. I can only promise her that I'll try, you know? I turn to a Gogash. What do you need to do? What's the method here? A Gagash steps forward, and without asking, he just picks you up. He moves uncharacteristically

fast. There would have been, for a brief moment, you're like, he could have killed me. You wouldn't have had time to bring an arm up to defend yourself. All right. The rest of you remain here. From my cursory inspection

before I, before these lot arrived, I believe the Birger master will soon be here, or what has left of him. You will not be able to kill him, so I suppose by as much time as you can. Danica

has enough time to say, what? And then, and then, Pip, you are in the ethereal. Okay. A go gash steps forward, once again, as quickly as he had stepped forward to pick you up, and suddenly everything, it, you, well, there's no other way to describe it, you were in the ethereal plane. Things look similar, but different. The spirits of something are important in this place. You can see the sizes and shapes of things warp to accommodate these spirits.

There's, as well, another feature. There are many. And, you know, there are many. And, you know, you could not mark them as anything else. There are many, many, many adventurers. The ghosts of thousands, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, stands silently and morosely. You look out the window on this room to see Valakai is full of people who tried this before you and failed. Oh, it puts the pressure on. A go-gash puts you down.

Okay. You can see now there is a silvery line from every body in the material connected to an ethereal version of themselves. For the people who are not far-gazing, their ethereal form hovers just a little bit above them with that silvery line connected to them from navel to navel. But for those far-gazing, you can see there is a little line, a little silvery line, just lying on the ground trailing off. into Balakai. All right. And I imagine we follow this? Yes.

We follow this and we'll find their spirits. As I said, the spirits cannot be killed if they are, quote, unquote, slain. Yeah, they'll just go back to their bottom. They'll wake up. But he picks up the silvery thread. Yeah. If this is severed, they will be lost, perhaps forever. Oh, okay.

They shall not wake up. Just one big, glaring, weak spot on everybody. Yes. Be careful as well. well to not let yours be severed. And at this point, you realize you see there's one behind you. Oh, okay. You look back, and

you look, and then you immediately look forward, because your spirit version is your true self. Oh, no. And you don't need that. I don't need that right now. Agogash has no silver chain. Oh, okay. He's not connected to anything.

Well, I guess he's dead. So, that makes sense. He lost his spirit. Yeah. And you said that were going to be dangers, a gogash? There will be. There are, and entities that hunt within these lands consume spirits, but there are sometimes entities which consume beings as well. They are the far more dangerous ones. I like bring out my Emmanuel Demonstra and I flip to the few blank pages, or maybe not even blank pages, but blank spots that I have in the margins of the book.

You are currently in the Ethereum, which is not a dark place. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So with those blank spaces, I say to a go, gosh, look, I like to be prepared. What can you tell me? Well, I suppose anything that is not dead will have its own connection. And if I sever that, they're out of there?

Yes. But not any metal can sever this. Oh, of course. It must be a special magical metal or silver can sever it as well. I think I have a lot of silver arrows in here. Have I kept my equipment? Yeah, you're here with all your stuff. I got ghost arrows, cool.

Yeah. I've got silver arrowheads. How tough is ethereal tube? It should not take much to sever it. Okay. There are, among some species, a agreement. You don't harm their silver. They don't harm yours.

Okay. But whether or not you care is another thing. I doubt. Certainly nothing dead will have this weakness. This is their realm. But be aware that you will still need magic to touch a ghost here. They exist not just in the ethereal, but the material as well. It's just as hard to touch them.

Here it is as it is in the material. Okay, that makes sense. Aside from that... Physical creatures that eat beings? What of these? Oh, I don't know their names, but they exist. I have seen them before. Do they die like regular living creatures?

I've never had to fight them before. I usually just return to the material. Oh, yes. Well, we don't have that liberty right now. You don't. Yeah, okay. Am I... I fear a Gagash puts a hand on your shoulder.

Should this happen, you will have to fight on your own. Yeah, you will disappear straight away. Yeah. Yeah, that's not surprising. He nods. Well, good. Yeah. You know, Gogesh, in life, you know, you were very annoying.

and in death the same But I have to say you are a straight shooter So, you know, on some level I suppose I appreciate that In that way we are alike In life, you are annoying Perhaps death would make you a finer companion He moves past you I think death would just make me dead

I'll follow up Whatever You can see Marquilett Elaniel and Keening Their three threads seem to be going In roughly the same direction Cool as you step out of the building

you can see it gives you a heart attack for a second but you can see that there is something in the material which quite clearly can't see you and it is following back into the building it is you met him right the burgomaster you see what is left

of the Berger Master half of him is still mostly human but like you know how Plato can get that hard if it's old Plato it gets hard and then when you pull it apart, it comes apart like a stretch armstrong.

So most, about half, actually, of the Berger Master has come apart like that. And you can see a pink fleshy sack beneath. The pink fleshy sack is barbed. And you can see in gaps has teeth. Behind the Berger Master, there is presumably what is left of his entourage. Do I know what has happened to him? Yes. Surprisingly you do.

He's been possessed by Father Lemick. Oh, okay. He is, you are aware for gods of the concept of an avatar. The avatar is, for all intents and purposes, the God on Earth. Yes, sure. It is their physical embodiment. He has become the avatar of Father Lemmich, which makes him basically, to give you an idea, makes him as powerful as, and I'm sorry to use real world equivalent, as Jesus.

Okay Wow You know immediately An avatar can't be killed It is essentially the god In human form Right The avatar can't be killed

It has basically infinite power The lifetime Of your allies And the material Can now be measured in rounds Okay Adam Okay Okay

Okay