D&D is For Nerds - Barovia IV #34 Death of an Unknown Adventurer

Episode Date: March 28, 2026

We gather in your light to release this soul from shadow. You who walked this mortal road have earned your rest. Your deeds are written not in stone, but in the warmth of those you sheltered, in the fires you kindled against the dark, in the lives that burned brighter for your presence.Adventurer, your curiosity got the better of you, but you can now lay down you arms. Your burdens are finished. Your quest complete. The long night that comes for us all now comes for you. But know this: the light of the Sun does not abandon what it loves. As it sets, so too shall it rise, and in that rising, you shall be found.Walk into that Golden Light. Let Penia receive you with welcome arms. Not as a soldier. Not as a servant. But as a child come home.The Dawn remembers its own.Rest, now. You have earned the light. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The fog that surrounds us are the bars of our dungeon, and Baron von Strade is out jailer. As far as I can tell, there is only one way out, and that is to kill Devil Strad. As you're heading up towards the church, you see, as you approach to this building, there are two children. Are the kids singing a song because, la-di-da-da-da-da. Is that what happening? Adam? And they see what is it, an innocent nursery rhyme? The shorter one has a bunch of little dolls and teddies sitting at a table and is doing like a little tea party with them.

Pop quiz for my friend Gretchen here. What do you think is the next move? We go to the church. That is correct. We leave. We close the door and we leave. Help! What if one of us deals with this, the other one goes to the church.

gets help. No. That's a bad idea. Gretchen, what do you think? Gretchen, we need to really... You get a clue, Gretchen. Think. Oh, Gretchen, we need to get your head on straight, Gretchen. You need to think, okay? We spit up. What if there is a ghost house and there is a ghost church? Huh? You ever think about this? Now we're spit up and we're being eaten by two buildings. What if there is someone in danger? Then let's go together then. Do not spit up. Okay. Okay. All right. Let's go into...

Let's go in. Let's go in. I kick open the door. They kick open the other door. And I'm like, right. Monster, we're here to help. So, are you going up the stairs? Yeah.

Rather annoyed. I'm sounds of Gratian now, dude. Check for pinpricks. You climb up the circular stairs. As you climb up, you see at the top, there's two sets of double doors, one to the left, one to the right. There's a fireplace directly in front of you with a fire crackling inside of it. And then on either side of the double doors, there's a set of armor. So four sets of armor in total in this room.

From the door on the right, you hear another sound, like another thing has fallen over and crashed. And you hear someone call out, upstairs, the baby's in trouble. This is definitely a Willow Whispy, an urban Willow Whispy, fine. Again, I'm summoning, like, you know, the spear. Like, I'd also, like, if it's dark in here, I am casting light, like, you wouldn't believe that. Light that place. It's light on the tip of the spear, whatever. No, thank you.

Right, of course, I can be a baby, okay. I head, like, which direction? Or I follow the sound, or I follow the crash. The monsters in the basement! You get to those double doors? The basement. You said it was upstairs. Hmm.

Well, we hit towards the crash. Because it upstairs, wasn't it? You are upstairs, but you know. from the outside of the building, there's more upstairs to this. But this is where... But when we heard the crash upstairs. Yeah, you are up a set of stairs and then you heard a second crash. And then it's like it's in the basement.

We didn't hear the thing from the basement. No, you... Someone just said the monsters in the basement. No. No, no. Nice try, little. Nice try, ghosts. Okay.

I go towards the crash of the sound of that kind of stuff. I also am like looking at the suit of arm. I tip the suit of arms. I tip the suit of arms. smart. You tip both of them over? Just a case. Nothing happens. Whatever, I don't care. All four of them, Adam, as we're passing all four.

Tip, tip, tip, tip. You open the double doors on your right. It opens up into a library. It's a decadent room. There's red velvet drapes covering the windows. A beautiful, gorgeous fireplace with framed pictures above it. And a exquisite mahogany desk with matching high-back chair, you can see that clearly some sort of struggle took place here, but it happened a while

ago. One of the, sorry, several of the bookshelves have been toppled over and are broken lying on the ground, but there is dust covering them. Definitely goes. I have a look at, can I scan the library very quickly? Is there a manual de monster here? No, you can't find one in the library. Damn. God, that would be kind of, well, not useful. As you scan the library, though, you find a secret door behind one of the untoppled bookshel. Oh, look, a secret door, I just, I open it. Look, a secret door, yeah. What is this place?

What are we doing? What are you doing? It looks like an addition to the library. There's more bookshelves here. And you can see there is another desk here, but smaller and less elaborate and expensive. looking. It looks more functional than anything else. Okay. There is, finally,

in the chair in front of the desk, slumped over the desk, a skeleton. This is the ghost again. Okay, they've been here for a while. All right. Okay, okay. What were they working? Like, writing or reading, like the last thing they were looking at? You wander over, grab

them, and move them. You can see three darts stuck into their rib cage, and you can tell that this is not a member of the house hold but an adventurer, someone who came before you. They were slumped over a little chest that was on the desk. It's closed. Oh, right.

Trapped. Each strapped. I point at the chest. See, look, and look at the dot, point the dots, I didn't direct, like, he just point directly to the chest. Is there three little holes for the chest? It got thunk. Looks like.

Yeah. Greedy. That's your problem, see? What is in the chest? Gretchen. What are you doing? Okay. I pick up the chest, I throw it.

You smash it. Inside is a letter. Letter, that is it. All right. I pick up the letter. I read it that loud. My most pathetic servant, I am not a Messiah sent to you by the dark powers of this land. I have not come to lead you on a path to immortality. However, many souls you have bled on your hidden altar.

However many visitors you have tortured in your dungeon, know that you are not the ones who brought me to this beautiful land. You are but worms writhing in my earth. You say that you are cursed, your fortune spent. You abandoned love for madness, took solace in the bosom of another woman, and sired a stillborn son. Cursed by darkness, of that I have no doubt. Save you from your wretchedness?

I think not. I much prefer you as you are. Is it like... Not signs by anyone. Addressed to someone to somebody? It's to my most pathetic servant. Okay. I like a hold dot up.

Happy about this, Gretchen? I gesture to the dead adventure. I dress you to the chest. That is, I don't think that was worth the three dots to the chest. Gretchen nods. Do I recognize the handwriting? I have suspicions. It looks like Pyrrins.

Pyrrins? Yeah. Huh? That is not what I was expecting. No. Right. Okay. I tuck the letter in.

I was like, I'm like, appearance. This fucking house, dude, you got to get out of here. Yeah. But it was... Have we stated curiosity? Gretchen, as you look back at her, she looks over at the dead adventurer slumped forward. And you can see all the, like, the energy she had a moment ago

just like drains out of her. Okay. Yeah. She says, let's go. Yeah. Maybe it's about the little. I just look at the dead adventure and I will just say like the last funeral, like a funeral prayer, like a very quick one under my breath.

Okay. Just to be like, you know, almost to be like, I'm sorry that it came to this. And I'm sorry I just, you know, smashed over. Smack you around. Again, to have a bit more like deference and do like a last rights kind of thing. And then just, right, rest well as well as you can. and we hit out. All right.

You exit the building without incident. Right, to the church. Yeah, she says. Yeah. You march up the hill towards... Ride. We're riding. Ride.

You ride. I'm not leaving them alone, Adam. The horses will get eaten, dude. You trudge, with your horses, you trudge up the hill towards the church. As you do so, rain buffets you both. Come on, let this kind of galloping up. Come on, come on, come on. you get up to the top and you can see that the lights of the church are on and that the doors to the chapel are open.

Past that, you can see the cemetery stretching before you. At this distance now, you can see it plain as day. There are several mass graves in the process of being finalized, but it looks like it's taken quite, looks like there's been some sort of delay in finishing the mass graves. There's part of a hole has been dug, and then there's heaps of bodies, but the bodies have quite clearly been left there for a while. That's grim. That's sad. Brov you's sad.

Yeah. That is sad. I wonder what happened to you. Start. Yeah. Heading towards the church. Gretchen's very quiet. She just looks at the very obviously sinister building in front of you.

But it's a... It's a church. Church, though. It's so good place. Yeah, Gretchen, when you... Wrenge in your mouth earlier? Why don't you flap on your gums earlier, Gretchen? How this is secret?

You're fucking moron. You're fucking idiot. Your head on. Right, question. Right. Again, yeah. So, I guess, rather forlorn. Like, ah.

The church... I'm not. Move our horses towards the church. There's a place. to tie them up as well here, I'm assuming, in front of the church? No, there isn't, actually. There's no place. The horse is the doors of a horse.

The doors of a horse. The doors are big enough for you to ride the horse in. It feels a little psychologous. I'm not going to ride the horse in. I'm going to dismount, but I'm going to hold the horse as we go into the church. Okay. Still feels a little psychologist, but all right. You can have a horse.

You can have a horse. We're paladins, or at least one of us is, therefore it's a holy horse. When God looks upon this. Earth is the horse not part of his creation? Exactly. You can see quite obviously that this place is styled after, it would be the morning lord, but it bears striking resemblance to Pena as well. It would have like a motif of sun and of brightness.

The building exterior would have once been painted like a bright, vibrant blue and yellow, but yellow like of suns and then blue of the sky. But it looks like that paint was applied maybe like two decades ago. No, longer. Like six decades ago and has not been looked after since. So it's all flecked and worn. It looks like specifically the exterior of this building, it looks like a year ago is way too recent for this to have happened.

This is probably how Pip knows this building, at least in the exterior. Okay. In the interior, you can see it's one. large room with four sub-rooms off at the sides. So there's the entryway, and then there's two doors on your right, two doors on your left, and then it spills into the church proper with pews and with an altar. And you can see that there is behind the altar a rope, which you presume, because there's a bell tower attached to this, you can assume that the rope attaches to the bell tower.

As you enter... Not a rope to swing to get someone to... No. I mean, you get the town's attention. Oh, not a little ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Oh, priest. Oh, priest. Okay. All right. As you enter, are you, like, calling out or anything like that? Of course. You're like, hello.

Priest? From one of the rooms on your left, a door opens. And a priest, once again, this is actually themed for the morning lord, but it bears a lot of resemblance to Penny. a old man steps out. He has would have once had quite dark, maybe jet black, even hair, but he has since gone completely white at the temple, streaking back on either side. You can see his appearance, he's maybe in his like 50s,

and his appearance gives you the impression that he could burst into tears at any moment. Hello, it's all right, their horses are here. We just didn't want them to be eaten. He looks at the horses, looks back at you and he says, you may bring the horses in if you wish. Thank you. It's raining quite heavily.

Yes. There is no accommodations for them to stay. Yes, yes. Thank you very much. Sorry. Donovich, he says, puts his hand on his chest. Hector, I say. Ah, he nods.

You are. come to repent? I don't know what is going on. What do you mean? I just, if we've just, we came into the tavern. They recognize me. I've never been here before. They recognize me.

They accuse me of many things. Despise me. I do not know why. I'm not exactly sure what I have done to cause such an outburst. Oh, perhaps. they misunderstood. Perhaps have you... Sorry, when you said Hector

and from your appearance, I assumed you meant... He goes by many names. Hector, Dragonsbane, Hector de Beautiful. Yes. Some of me is him, yes. Have you climbed down off the horse? Are you still on it?

I've climbed down off the horse. Oh, that's right. No, you were never on the horse. Sorry, I'm so sorry. You would have noticed this immediately. I, for some reason, forgot you got off the horse. he reeks of alcohol Oh that's Hey

Hey Of the things you could reek of in Borovia And maybe like He'll be You know Maybe a fun drunk So that's fine No no no

That is I mean Part of me is Is that I gesture to like You know The top of my jaw I've

But you are hector no longer I'm not sure I was Put back together By many different things. What did he do? Hector? Yes. He is, please, he gestures into the

main part of the church and the three of you wander in. He sits down, the pews are kind of in disarray. They're not broken or anything like that. They've just been, you could quite clearly see that they've been moved and moved again for various reasons and no one's bothered to set them straight as they should be. So you sit down at Maybe once again One of the pews gets moved

So you can sit down And face each other as you talk He you can see is drinking from There's a like a craft For the communion wine He is just drinking Yeah Someone's got her

He pours you That maybe This would I mean once again It's a morning board Relic So it might not necessarily Be important to you

But he is essentially Just drinking from the chalice that they would normally use for church. Hey, needs mass man. He passes one to you if you'd like some wine. I put my hand out. No, thank you. Gretchen also declined.

Yes, Hector in life, he came to this place. I know not for what purpose, but he sowed the seeds of chaos and destruction in his wake. into this turn or? No, well, he has done no favors to Borovia. His carelessness destroyed the wizards of wines and now he gestures with the craft

this is all I have left. It has certainly harmed the taverns business as well. Carelessness, what did he do? No, not the specifics, but he told or slipped up and the druids found, learned the location of the Wizards of Wines. They raised the place. Right.

Well, not the location. It's connection to the resistance. How do you know it was Hector's fault? He shrugs. News came as news comes. Word of mouth. One person tells another who tells another. Was it his fault?

I look like, again, I go back to viewers. Like the conversation with Muriel. I'm like, was it my fault? You didn't ask her. She didn't say. I didn't even know. So, but the druids, they were summoning a giant, it was a trient, I believe, from what I've was told. Plet of cool.

I know not the specifics of this. There was, I have heard, the three that was summoned. And Hector failed to stop it from crushing the limit. of Valachi he attacked religious celebrations within Valachi as well disrupting the natural course of events killing people disrupting a religious celebration at the lake

a ceremony a celebration to starve off the devil to protect the town right he killed many people within the town right right right the god that is sleeping the burgomaster's hand to summon forth another devil from somewhere else entirely. Same devil. The Berger master did not want to, but lost control. And then Valachi happened.

He caused the rebellion in Cuchery, where many people died. Yes, but now that they're free. If you call that freedom, I suppose. They could call themselves three, but now who knows what they were. will happen to them now that they are out free of strad's protection. And many died in the resistance. Yes. Many call that not worth it.

And now meat no longer flows from Couture. And with Borovia's lands salted, we will all starve eventually. They are saying this will be the last generation. And this is all because of Hector. So they say. There's a lot of blame to put on one person. I suppose. But we've blamed one person before.

Strad? Him too. Pip? Him too. Are you sure you will not drink? Are there other names you want to blame? Oh, a myriad of adventurers, one after another, have come to these lands, made them worse. Keening?

Right. Grace? Gribut? I know not this person. He can do no wrong. It seems that maybe the adventures were trying to do their best. I wish they would stop. Maybe they do too.

But I guess they will have no choice when we are all dead. It matters not whose fault it is. There is no meat, there is no grain, there is not even going to be wine to forget our troubles. Eventually we will die. Like all men. The masquerives. What happened there? That was my responsibility.

dead from last year. What happened last year? No, sorry, you misunderstand me. Since last year, that is everyone who has died. From disease, murder, the dead. The dead. They walk within Borovia. Is that why there is no one on these streets?

They fear the dead, but they have been contained. It is maybe superstition now that people remain. off the streets. We're content. They are being fed. Mary. He nods. Mad Mary.

She is, you could say, an ether of sin. She protects the town by feeding the dead. And if I was to stay at her, I would be food, yes? I do not know.

And I, he tips the glass. I do not care. It's very bleak. I just, or I point towards maybe the head. house we were just in. And that house is ghosts? Abandoned

for as long as I am aware. Okay. I look at Gretchen. Some people say they hear the tormented souls who once lived within. What is the population of this town? Alive. I know

not. I am afraid. Are we talking in the hundreds or in the tens? I know not. Could be 50, could be a hundred. Why don't you leave? Head to Castle Ravenloft. My son, he says. Um, yeah, he fucks, he whiffs this lie pretty badly.

Um, you immediately don't feel safe. Uh-oh. Right. Right. What happened to your son? I cannot bear to tell this story sober, and I cannot bear to have a listener sober. Please, he says. He offers you the, the chalices again. Please, I do not wish to see judgment in your eyes. I can't get drunk, kind of.

Not that you're aware of, no. That's funny. I'm like, sure. I grab the drink. And I drink by my... You and Gretchen... I don't tell... No, I try to, like, Gretchen...

Please, he says, if Gretchen isn't drinking. Gretchen looks at you. She gives a shrug. No, I'm like, Gretchen... Step outside for a moment. I would not. Donovich turns back to you and he says, the price of my tail is you must drink with me. Make me feel like a normal man again.

I would drink, but please, not my squire. Then he sits back down. No tail. Know that my reasons are my own. Fair enough. I will not pry. The rapier on fireman. Who is he?

I think you must mean Ismark the lesser He is the son Was the son of the Birgimaster The burgomaster of this town Was killed in the uprising a year ago Oh right Right His body lies somewhere in the pile

Is there any place for To stay? You can stay here the night if you wish You will not be comfortable But it will be out of the rain I must ask you to leave tomorrow though. He says standing up should the town find out you are

here, they will raise this place and I cannot have that. Okay. I am sorry, but even if Hector is dead, his body is no longer welcome in this place. Evidently. Well, thank you for your hospitality.

Good night. Good night. He walks back to his room and closes the door. Gretchen, if you want to catch some get some sleep, I will Stangard. Gretchen nods and then she starts unpacking her kit.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I just remain, I guess, uh, vigilant. Mm-hmm. And, and while Gretchen sleeps. At some point in the night, you hear...

Here it is. Here it comes. I hear not my problem is what that is, yes. At some point in the night, you hear scratching somewhere in this building. Right. I'm starting to figure out some things. You can hear, it sounds like it's in the walls, a scratching noise.

Some sort of like, I don't know, hard undead. Perhaps. Could be. Flexing. A muscle. Can I be aware of presence? Sure. Can I...

What are you searching for? What the fuck is happening in this town? I guess... In this town or this building? Both. I guess initially. Again, I just... Curiosity is getting the better of me.

And I want to know maybe how safe we actually are here. So, I'm assuming not very. But, again, entering a sort of meditative trance just to be like, I want my awareness to be like, what is in this church? Mm-hmm. And then... And then if the answer is okay, then to expand out, to expand out to like, you know, the haunted house, the rest of Barovia, Mad Mary's house. But just to kind of get a bit of a sit rep of like, what is this place?

What's happening in Borovia? You begin at the church and you're expanding your awareness like this. It makes it difficult. Your knowledge and your comprehension are two kind of like competing ideas here. It's like, what's that? It's like a thing in physics where we can either know like where a particle is or where it's going, I think or something like that. I forget these specifics. But the more you know about one, the less you know about another.

So if we know exactly where a particle is, it's just some quirk of how particles work. If we know exactly where one is, we have no idea what direction it's going. If we know exactly where it's going, we have no idea where it is. So there is between knowledge and comprehension, or sight and comprehension, let's say. There's kind of this balancing, pushing backwards and forths because your mind can only take so much. Okay. So you begin with by expanding your awareness out into your immediate area just around you. And you immediately realize that the church is sitting upon a huge, empty, cavernous space.

There is nothing beneath this church. But then, as you keep expanding it, you feel there is an entity at the bottom of this empty expanse underneath the church. That is what that scratching noise is. You feel it has, this entity beneath you, you don't understand what it is, but you understand it's connected to you. There's like a direct line from it to you. you feel like you share an energy. And then you keep expanding. Oh, and it is, by the way, hungry.

You immediately gain like a, oh, this thing is starving. Okay. You extend it out further. You hit that house that you passed before. And you feel another connection. It's tenuous, different. different. The entity beneath, it's like, it feels like a brother to you. But this entity within the house feels more like some sort of distant relatives, a connection, but quite different and

less concrete. This entity within the house, actually, no, sorry, there's several entities. There's two entities within the house. Both of them are in anguish and agony. You can tell whatever dwells within this place is scared and wants help. And then... Yeah, sorry, mate. Okay. Oh, that's funny. And then in addition, you can see that they are trapped by something else.

This thing has no connection to you. Whatever dwells within that house, whatever is trapping these two entities, you can tell that it is other than Borovia. It is not of Barovia. Okay. You extend out into the town and you feel tons of tiny little pinpricks of connections even more distant. Like not a distant relative, but like a friend of a friend of a distant relative. There's like a connection there, but it's very faint.

Okay. These connections you can all place as you kind of get a, because you're able to comprehend them all as a unit. you get the impression that there are many corpses walking about in Borovia centered almost entirely on Mary's townhouse. The building is filled with the dead. And then you feel a sudden sharp sensation, and you realize Hector just got hit on the back of the head. No, sorry, consciousness gone

Oh no Oh no Someone just knocked you out Because you were the only person on watch Oh no Fuck dude Good luck You hear what sounds distantly

Like a thunking noise Thunk Thunk, thunk A steady rhythm And you realize it's not happening distantly, but happening to you as your legs are dragged down one step after another, after another. The second thing you hear as you come in and out of consciousness is, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. And the third thing that you hear, this time actually distantly, is the rain outside, heavy drops of water, lashing again. your brow and snout hip.

You're standing outside Valakai. Okay, am I with Elaniel and Iona? Yeah, you're with Elaniel, Iona, Keening, Krippets here as well. You're with pretty much your entire crew, save Claudia, who has stayed behind. As someone needs to look after the home front. As you're walking, as you're trudging, I should say, the mud is beginning to get thick. You are having a very unpleasant conversation with Keening. Keening has got a little book open

and he's writing down names for people that you're going to have a meeting with about the future of Valachi Well There's not a lot of Not a lot of leadership left in Valachi But there are a few names Worth bandying about

There's the toy maker Oh yeah Blinsky Blinsky yeah Toymaker Blinsky yeah right Toymaker Blinsky he he's going to want, well, he's going to need a bend your ear, and he's a big enough, well, he's one of the last remaining forces in town, so we're going to have to put him on the list of people to talk to. He holds a lot more influence than you might think. Yeah, then somebody who just is a toy makeup, frankly should.

Yeah. We're going to have to talk with the dusk elves. Okay. Yeah. They're pretty unavoidable, both in the short term and in the long term. Short term, obviously, you've just getting them to work with Valacab, but then in the long term, obviously, re-homeing them. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm imagining as well, Bigfoot pole and the Birchimaster of...

Well, that's future planning. Okay. There's a couple of brothers, I suppose, hunters, Soldar and Yevgeny. They're not actual brothers, I'm given to tell. like a brothers in blood, well, not brothers in blood, but like... Yeah, like, yeah, sure, sure. Brothers are the way sometimes halflings are brothers. Sure, yeah, yeah.

But they're prominent hunters in the area. Don't know if you've met them before, but... Maybe once or twice, yeah. They'll be important to speak to as well. Okay. No one left in the Modicov family. You might want to talk to Isaac. I don't know if you remember Isaac.

Isaac, he was the right-hand man of the previous Burgomaster. Yeah, yeah. Hell, he's the, I'd maybe mean that I said that. He had that, like, possessed arm. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. You definitely would know, Pip, you would know him by reputation. Yeah, if nothing else. Okay.

You would know him as, like, a thug, essentially. He's, uh, yeah, not a very pleasant person. Put him on the list. he's on the list don't worry about that I suppose further than that the coffin maker Henrik okay

yeah he's probably someone to speak to and well that's all I got so far I don't know if there's going to be many more than that and maybe we'll be getting a meeting from the leader or we'll be getting a visit rather from the leader of Kreswick at some point as well yeah the Burjamaester

yeah or an envoy of theirs or something you'll want to talk to them soon as possible, but you'll need to talk to the locals first. Get an idea, get a lay of the land, see what they want, what their needs are. That sort of stuff. Is there anyone you want to talk to? Oh, and Claudia, of course. Well, yeah.

In terms of the Muriel's a Mardikov, yeah? Muriel, yeah. There's not, you know, there's Muriel as well. There's not many Mardikov's left, but... Danica, I don't know if she can claim... Well, like I said, Danicaer and Claudia... of, I'm happy to give them the, at least while we're away,

they can take over running Valichai. That would be part of the meeting. Yeah, right. Right. Other than that, I mean, I don't, you know, I wasn't in Valachi that much, you know. Right, right.

During my time here, I don't know. Like you said, most of the old god are pretty much dead at this point, so. Muriel's on our way back. Hopefully by the time we get back, it's going to be one meeting after another, I suppose. Yeah.

I'm in, for a, yeah, I'm in for a lot of talking. Yeah. Cribut makes a little harrumphing noise from up the back. You can tell he's, he's not entertaining enough for him. Yeah, it's not, it's not dramatic. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No drama.

Oh, well, I mean, for, what, you know what? Yeah, no drama, Crivet, I'm sorry. What are we going to do? So we're on our way to fast real, yeah? Yeah, yeah, cool. You can see, as you get closer to the treeline, you can see a white light making its way closer and closer towards you. It'll be them.

Also, you can immediately tell that this is not... I mean, there's an aura that the white light gives off. You can tell it's not a Willie Whispy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, for sure, absolutely. But then it almost immediately resolves itself into Thastriel's figure. As you get the impression that Thastriel traveled not as hoarse, but as light. Yeah, cool. And then the light turns into her as it gets close enough.

As soon as Thastriol's form reveals itself to you, Elaniel, and then... followed quickly after Iona both kneel before. You get the impression that Iona's kneeling because... For Eleniel's kneeling. Iona is kneeling because Elaniel is kneeling. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pip briefly is like, should I kneel? But then he's like, well, I didn't want to sort of Thastrow the first time.

Be weird to do it now. So I stay standing. Thastriel approaches Elaniel and bows her head so that it touches the top of Elaniel's head as well. Well, so that her snout touches the top of Elaniel's head. You get the impression that perhaps some conversation has happened there. And Elaniel, if she could get more bowed, she would. But she can't.

So she kind of just remains as she is. And then Thastriel looks past at you. Is it time to speak to the dust calves? I mean, are there any other dust elves other than Elaniel? around. Not present. No, you haven't organized any sort of meeting yet. No, I just thought it would be good for you two to meet. I mean, we're kind of waiting for mural. I mean, we could. We could do it now, I suppose. I look at Keenning, get that meeting out of the way.

Well, if you want to sort that meeting out, I can head into town, sort that out, a lickety split, I suppose. We'll need to find for Fast Rail here. We'll need to find some place outside of town where everyone can meet. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, don't know if we can provide a furnishings, I suppose. He says he hunches himself a little bit in. It is raining right now. It's not a very pleasant place to be here. How many people can you fit in your temple, I say, Dathastro?

I can fit enough for a meeting. Well, that's what happens. I mean, we can do it in there. You just get the heads of the dusk elves and yourself and maybe Elaniel, and we hash it out that way. All right, then. Then we're out of the rain. And maybe let's get.

Danica are in there as well as a representative of Valakai. Keening makes a... Keening makes a... What do you call it? A list. Classic. Keening and his list.

Keening and his... Least. He's writing down in his little notebook. Yeah, so for this meeting, for the meeting with the Dusk Elves, we'll get the leader of the Dusk Elves, Elaniel, myself, Danica.

And... that's probably all that's relevant really. It's kind of like a secondary consideration to what's happening in Valachi. Elaniel gives a sudden outburst. She turns around, it is not for the people of Valachi to meet Thastriol. Oh, okay. Thestriel gives you a look, Pip, like...

There's no bother to me. Honestly, Elenial, it could just be yourself. myself and the leader of the dusk elves and Festriel or honestly I don't even have to be there you just come out and you tell me where you want to go and I guess I'll try and make it happen Thestriel looks at you and says No it is important that you are there

I suppose it's got to be my decision right In some way Yeah so we'll just Elaniel myself Festriel and Casimir if I remember correctly Is that acceptable to you Elenial Elenial nods

and Thastriel nods. Keening gives a noise, which partially to begin talking, but then also you spot that he spotted, Cribbett has like, in a trance wandered over to Thastriel and was about to put

a hand on her? I don't... Cribut, pal. I don't think you're a... I mean, I look at Elaniel. Elaniel's not looking at you anymore. She's bowing her head again. One little pet. I need to look at Elaniel or not Thastriel

Yeah Krivet with yours For Pipp, I don't know if this is racist But Pipps like horse first He can't unthink that You know Kribert gives Thastriel a little part Who seems not

Perthulbs Perth is perhaps a good Yeah is a good phrasing on that I'll take this Motley crew we'll go assemble. And then I'll have a meeting in, yeah, Valikai when I get back with all of the Velikai heads and we'll figure out what to do there. But let's sort out the dusk elves, you know, while we're young.

And let me know when Muriel gets back. Keening turns the head off, but Kribut and Iona linger. Elaniel standing up, finally, you get the impression that, from a glance that Fastriel gave, you get the impression to Thastriel silently telepathically communicated to Elaniel, please stop bowing

and Elaniel stopped bowing. But now standing up, Elaniel reaches out and wraps her hand around Iona's hand as if she is also invited. Yeah.

And then gives Krippett a withering look that Krivet smiles and nods and response to. I look at Elenial like, is this, I'm trying to silently communicate with her.

Like, is this meeting not going to happen? Cribbitt's there as well? She looks back at Cribbitt. Cribbett looks up at her. Gives her like a thumbs up maybe. And then she gives a big...

And her blunts. Okay. All right. All right. You know, he'd be kind of lingering. He gives a nod. And he and... the rest of the... to talk to me about something, or I'm meant to know something?

He wants something from me. Anyway, yes. That's Trail, you could see, has a faraway look as she stares at tiny, at his retreating form. And she just gives a, hmm. Yeah, he's some kind of beetle.

Shall we, yeah, let's convene. Let's figure it out. You turn back, well, it has decided that Eleni, and Iona will head over to the Dusk Elf camp, grab Kazimir and head back. And Thastriol takes you back to her

temple. With Kribut, I guess. With, yeah, Kripp. Cool. All right, yeah, well, we go back to the temple and Pip, Thastriel, and Kribut hanging out. The dream team. Kripp, plop, plop, plop, runs a little bit ahead of you, Pip,

so that he's in line with Thastriel and begins asking her many questions. Okay, great. I laps into a silence and try and think of places that the dusk elves could conceivably go. And I'll just watch the two of them, a horse and the frog, walk ahead of me until we get to the temple. You arrive at the temple. Inside, it's like Thastriel maybe planned to this, or maybe it's the magic of the place.

But there is already a table laid out. The table is carved beautifully out of a solid stone chunk. there is a marble inlay which looks like it's part of the stone like streaked through it and sitting on top of that you don't know where she got this is a map of Ognot

the entirety of Who am Maybe this is a stupid question Thestrial is there like a place to sit down Yeah there's little stone seats I'll sit on one of the stone seats To Elaniel you're like sort of an angel I suppose you are an angel in a way

Or sort of some kind of like spiritual being But I don't remember there being dusk elves in Ognot. For all elves, I don't know much of elven religion or, you know. I know you know not of the plains. No. You know of Ognot? I do.

Well, yeah, I'm from there. There are no dusk elves, as far as I'm aware either, in Ognot. No. And it is time now for them to make the sojourn there for the first time in the history. of the dusk elves. Okay. All right. Cool.

Are you known to the elves in Ognot? Like in the Elven Wilds and... Not by name. I believe the seven of steps, maybe. Okay. I start pouring over the map and just kind of like looking at all of the different places. Kind of, it's probably been a while since I've seen a map of Ognod. Yeah.

What are you considering, Pip, as you look at the map? Well, I'm thinking about the Elven Wilds because there's already elves there. Yeah, it's inhabited. And so that seems easy. Also, from what Hector's told me, something bad is happening in Candoor and Fairbun Point, and that whole area is kind of a no-go right now. I don't know how well the dusk elves would do in like the, the, the, the, the halflings live, what's that place called?

That desert? The Teigli. The Teiglii. Yeah. Dry steps is the other desert. Yeah, I don't know how well the, the Dufflings live. Dust elves would do like around Teagulli and stuff because they don't seem like they're dead. This would be quite a change of environment and I, and the dry steps kind of likewise.

What environment in Ognot is the most like Borovia? The most like Barovia? Yeah. The, I mean. Like northern Elven Wilde? Yeah. Like the Fort Rock Isles and stuff? That kind of area.

No, not out that way. that's actually a little too far south. It would be more, it would be more, not like tropical, but it would be a lot warmer there. So Borovia has a very similar, it's a wooded, heavily forested, but also very cold climate. You would know that those parts near the Forge Rock Isles, it's actually a lot of warm water space.

Yeah, fair. The place in the Elven Wilds that would be most similar to Borovia, would probably be somewhere a bit further east and north near Hussferma in that area. You do know that that area is also... To describe it as warthorn, would be pretty... Well, yeah, it would be an understatement. Right.

Well, I guess as well as picking a place, I'm doing in my head, like, what will the dusk elves tolerate and what will they not tolerate? My next question is, which culture in Ognot is the most likely, or which country or which province is the most likely to take in refugees. Get a good boycott.

Yes. You, Pip, know that the elves of the elven wilds are incredibly hostile to outcomers settling in their lands. Even other types of elves. You have heard of people called Eladron, who sometimes are referred to as like the first elves, or they're sometimes, well, they're often more associated with Faye than they are with elves, but you, God, you did pretty well on this, anthropologically speaking, okay. The Eladron exists as an inter, as a point in between Faye and elves.

So the Faye are peoples from the Faye Wild, obviously, and Eladron were like a proto-Elf that first came. to the material realm. Okay. So the Eladron is like a fay that has acclimatized to the material and then eventually became modern alves. But Eladron still exist as a people. They're still out there. They're sometimes referred to as people trapped in time as well because of this.

Yeah. Because a lot of Eladron, they're like, you could say evolution was like frozen in place. Or those who still exist, they're developed frozen in place. But nonetheless, for people outside of the Elven Wilds, elves and Eladron often just like the same thing. The elves of the Elven Wilds don't see it like that. Okay. And they are hostile to Eladron who try to settle in their realms.

Okay. God damn. You think they're trying to resettle the Dusk Elves in the Elven Wilds would lead to inevitable conflict as if you picked a place where they would be used to, like that line between where how? Hussferma meets the Elven Wilds. The people of Hussfermo would see them as elves. Yeah. And the people of the Elven Wilds would see them as Eladrin basically.

Okay. Okay. Cool. All right. Now, places that are very hospitable to newcomers would be Zemjada, the gnomes. I was thinking Zemjada. Zemjada, they would be, I mean, Zemjada takes pretty much all comers. They're very, like, you would say, what's the word I'm looking for?

Accommodating. No, no, no. No, no, no, no. I can't remember the word I'm looking for, but they're very... Welcoming? No, no, no, it's like a... I'm thinking it's a political word, but I can't remember it. But they're very... Yeah, they would be very welcoming.

In Zemjada, they would be welcomed. But Zemjada, while it has some forested areas, is actually mostly mountainous. Yeah, right. It's dominated by one huge mountain ridge, one huge mountain line. Other places, I mean, Kandor is also... very cosmopolitan. Canthor accepts many people. Can Do you're about to go through some shit.

Candor also has the Ironwood forests, which they would find very accommodating. The Ironwood Forest and Candor would be pretty much like a it would be very similar especially, unfortunately places around Fairburn

Point and around North Hallow. Those areas are very similar to Barovia. Okay. With the Ford Rock Isles? The Ford Rock Isles, it would take a while, but they might be patient enough for that. But the Ford Rock Isles... The problem there would be just dealing with the bureaucracy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

The Ford Rock Isles are also basically completely devoid of trees. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Then anywhere else would be very hot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What about... What do I always forget? get its name.

Dragon's Peak, is that? Dragon's Peak, yeah. So, Reach Cliff is the city nearby. Reach Cliff is a slightly wooded location. It's mostly dominated by the one city, though. Yeah, it's not really... I'm trying to think of in our world, an island that is basically also a city.

I'm imagining it would be like some of the islands in like the kind of Indonesian peninsula. Yeah. Like where it's like just, you have an island and there is a bit of like kind of wilderness on it, but mostly everything's built up. Reachcliff is essentially a place

where sea hits rock, which immediately turns into city. Yeah, okay. So, as you're pouring over this map, Yeah. Thastriel says, I can perhaps either offer assistance or, unfortunately, I fear, complication.

Oh, yeah. I can tell you of the connection to the land. that the dust elves must have. That would be great, yeah. They require a place near, and then with a little gesture of her horned head, you can see fairy dust spreads over the page in front of you into a spider web of different lines all across Ognotch.

Right. Somewhere along one of these lines they must dwell. Their home, their heart must exist, lest their peoples fade forever. Okay. Is it the kind of thing where there's these lines existing kind of every place? You can find them in most places, yeah. There are a few places devoid of these lines.

You can see the dry steps are completely devoid. Save one section, actually. There's an island off the coast of the dry steps, Dinos, which you have never heard of, actually. Yeah, okay. Seeing it on this map is the first time you've ever heard of Dinos. Sure. It from the map looks arid.

Okay. Yeah, fair. You can also see Iron Tooth, which is as far north and as far east as you can get. Iron Tooth also is a gap in these lines. These are the heart lines of Ognot, the places where they have many names, the seed of the forest, the heart of the forest. All right, yeah. These are the lines that connect, like a... Like a series of organs throughout the world, these lines connect the organs together.

And the dust elves need to settle on one of these connections. They must settle on one of these connections. I'm sure we can do that. How many dust elves left are there? You can see that this spider web is densest in the elven wilds, specifically along the mountain range that goes through the elven wilds. It also is very tightly bunched around Tigalai. Oh, yeah.

It's very tightly bunched around Hasgra, which is a frozen block of ice in the south. And finally in the ironwood forest. Okay. Oh, and there's one place, I mean, I don't know why I mentioned holes in the map. But you also see a place called Mar-Gahn, which is a huge hole in the map as well. Okay. You've never heard of Mar-Gahn as well.

Well, where is Margonne in compete? It's as south and as west as you can get. Okay. I turned a thastrial. So perhaps the dusk elves themselves will have more requirements. I'll get their input, for sure. But so I say we pick a place, say we go, let's send them to Dragon's Peak to Reach Cliff. When Strad is defeated and we're able to leave, will you be able to guide them to this place?

If you can tell me of the land, I will guide them there, yes. Okay. Okay, that's good. That's good. Cribut is pouring over the map with you. And you can see, as the little web of lines line up or fall down onto the map, he's very curiously like copying that into his book. Maybe we've had this conversation, Crivet. We don't hang out as much. You're from Ognot, too? No, this one not from Ognot.

Right, right. This one come from... don't know name in common, but literal translate to hot, wet, dinosaur, eat you place. Right, right. Sounds bad. He shrugs.

Well, I guess you get used to it. I know this place, and I know Ognot. Yeah. So you've been to Ognot? No, Barovia. Sorry, Got Ognott on Brain was just writing name down. Yeah, just having a look. Right.

Of course. You know Ognot mean Oh no in Nomish, right? I didn't know that. That's very funny. Interesting. He writes that down. I turn to Tribut.

Hey, so when the elves come in here, there's going to be a lot of serious conversation. It's kind of a big deal. Maybe keep the noise to dull roar. Oh, Ognot. Oh, man. Really on brain. No, cribbit keep noise, Dan.

Do not worry. This one would not peep. This one inventing new type of story called documentary. Cribbit thinking documentary. The bookmaker does not get involved. Must be like fly on wall. Tasty and trying to run away. To flee from me.

Lost me there. Grimmitt a little bit, but more power to you. I look back at Ognot, and I guess I just pour over it until the elves arrive. They have one other need as well. Vestriel continues. Of course.

There is a pain within their heart. This place has stung them, harmed them. And their soul needs to be on a spiritual level. They must drink from the well of kindness. They need a cause, something holy good.

Okay. It can be small. Yeah. It can be as simple as replenishing the woods in a land or as complicated as defeating a great evil. Right. Okay. God.

That's even made things a little more complicated or perhaps a little simpler. I suppose whatever they're up for, you know. Yeah. I do not envy your decision. PEP. God, yeah. I mean, hopefully I can just give some of these suggestions to the dust

elves and we can talk it through and just come to some kind of conclusion. What I don't envy is when they arrive and inevitably whoever, you know, they've decided to, you know, it's all going to come back on. Oh, the gnomes. Who are these guys?

And I'm going to explain it and then. But yes. Yeah. Yes, it's a tough choice. But in a way, I owe it to them. So, you know, we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out.