D&D is For Nerds - Barovia IV #6 Broken
Episode Date: September 13, 2025...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....
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                                        No water anywhere.
                                         
                                        Still, we are arooned, stranded in Borovia.
                                         
                                        Mists around us.
                                         
    
                                        like prison bars.
                                         
                                        Strad are jailer.
                                         
                                        We must escape.
                                         
                                        We must kill.
                                         
                                        Strad must die.
                                         
                                        I want to turn onto the other werewolf.
                                         
                                        Maybe I'll just like either stow or like drop the spear and pick up the silver shield.
                                         
                                        And I want to start just walking towards the werewolf that is fighting Rahadun.
                                         
    
                                        And I get under, maybe he's under my.
                                         
                                        breath, just like, just not muttering. Like, if they do not bend, you must break them.
                                         
                                        Behind you, you feel those two knights that you freed? Or actually, they maybe think that
                                         
                                        you've got this. They're going to go try and free their other friend. You hear them rattling
                                         
                                        around on that cage. These cages, dude. They break it open immediately.
                                         
                                        The middle cage was the weak one. That was the solution to the puzzle.
                                         
                                        Then it is Gorob and Lushin
                                         
                                        Gorob Lushin and Tarpos's turn
                                         
    
                                        They use this momentary lapse
                                         
                                        Tarpos puts both of her hands
                                         
                                        She drops, or she doesn't drop
                                         
                                        She stabs the blood spear
                                         
                                        Into the ground next to her
                                         
                                        And then puts both of her hands into the mud
                                         
                                        You see as a huge
                                         
                                        Thornbush erupts in front of her
                                         
    
                                        In a wave
                                         
                                        She demolishes a ton of twigblites
                                         
                                        Doing that
                                         
                                        You see as the twigblites are destroyed
                                         
                                        they get added to the huge bush
                                         
                                        coming out, radiating out like a fucking shockwave from her
                                         
                                        and every twig blight that is destroyed
                                         
                                        increases the size of this attack.
                                         
    
                                        Awesome.
                                         
                                        And then it is Gorob and Lushin's turn.
                                         
                                        Gorob and Lushin, what do they have left?
                                         
                                        They...
                                         
                                        Okay, actually, a lot more spoles than I thought they had left.
                                         
                                        Go Gorob and Lushin.
                                         
                                        Good for that.
                                         
                                        Go go Gorob and Loshin.
                                         
    
                                        you hear both of them bellow
                                         
                                        and then they start
                                         
                                        charging off
                                         
                                        wading their way through the
                                         
                                        many many twig blights
                                         
                                        the ones that have been confused and dazed
                                         
                                        now that another druid has been downed
                                         
                                        and they start
                                         
    
                                        massacring
                                         
                                        Gorob swings his sword one-handed
                                         
                                        and punches with the other hand
                                         
                                        and Loshin as both hands are swinging
                                         
                                        you can see him muttering under his breath,
                                         
                                        not under his breath, sorry.
                                         
                                        Akas, Nora!
                                         
                                        And then a huge ball of snow
                                         
    
                                        forms around the fist,
                                         
                                        and as it strikes one of the twig blights,
                                         
                                        it explodes, sending a wave of snow and ice
                                         
                                        all in that direction.
                                         
                                        Shards, jagged shards,
                                         
                                        embed themselves in these twig blights,
                                         
                                        ripping them, tearing them asunder.
                                         
                                        And it is the engineer's turn.
                                         
    
                                        The engineer
                                         
                                        How are you doing, Pip?
                                         
                                        Not good.
                                         
                                        You're on six minutes.
                                         
                                        I died twice in this combat account, I'm pretty sure.
                                         
                                        Let me quickly chickadee check to see.
                                         
                                        Thinks Amon had to good boy card resurrect me, so
                                         
                                        I can't imagine I'm doing too hard.
                                         
    
                                        I don't know why, but I thought he might be able to heal you.
                                         
                                        He can't.
                                         
                                        That's not his powers.
                                         
                                        Damn.
                                         
                                        All right, the engineer looks over at John Cavendish,
                                         
                                        and you see Cavendish point at you, Pip,
                                         
                                        and then the engineer moves in his mech over to you,
                                         
                                        and then kind of just takes a defensive posture next to you.
                                         
    
                                        You can see he's prepared to batter away any blow that might come your way.
                                         
                                        And there is, I believe, one druid still cowering, hiding from Gora of the Luschen's wrath.
                                         
                                        Let me quickly check.
                                         
                                        I think they're just going to stay hidden.
                                         
                                        It's probably for the best.
                                         
                                        A little mouse
                                         
                                        The last druid continues hiding
                                         
                                        And Pip, it's your turn
                                         
    
                                        What's the battlefield looking like?
                                         
                                        The twig blights after one of the druids was killed
                                         
                                        The twig blights are in a bit of chaos
                                         
                                        You can see not all of them have been confused
                                         
                                        Some of them, there's maybe like six
                                         
                                        Still kind of cognizant being controlled by that last druid
                                         
                                        Tarpos seems to have them covered
                                         
                                        Tarpos and John Cavendish
                                         
    
                                        Can I see
                                         
                                        by where those more
                                         
                                        like competent
                                         
                                        blights are, can I like
                                         
                                        triangulate the position of the druid?
                                         
                                        Do you have anything for a perception check?
                                         
                                        Is you rolled poorly?
                                         
                                        I don't.
                                         
    
                                        No?
                                         
                                        What am Iona doing as well?
                                         
                                        Yeah.
                                         
                                        Iona is also standing near you
                                         
                                        but it's not her turn right now.
                                         
                                        Yeah.
                                         
                                        She, yeah, sorry, forgive me.
                                         
                                        Iona is standing near you.
                                         
    
                                        Actually, she could try healing you
                                         
                                        after she's kind of done
                                         
                                        unfuckling her own situation.
                                         
                                        Yeah, yeah, yeah.
                                         
                                        But, yeah, she's standing near you.
                                         
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        Yeah, actually, that's probably, the engineer is defending you and Diana right now.
                                         
                                        Yeah, okay. Well, can I, having Whiffed trying to triangulate where the druid is?
                                         
    
                                        Because the next thing we'll need to do after defeating this druid is find wherever Kolova's layer is.
                                         
                                        Yeah.
                                         
                                        Can I...
                                         
                                        I guess I can't really see or figure out where she can.
                                         
                                        We'd have to talk to people.
                                         
                                        That's okay.
                                         
                                        I'll just fire off two shots at the more competent...
                                         
                                        twig blights
                                         
    
                                        that are still standing
                                         
                                        ice then fire
                                         
                                        yeah that's true
                                         
                                        what are you set
                                         
                                        ice
                                         
                                        ice
                                         
                                        or cold
                                         
                                        let me check
                                         
    
                                        something really quick
                                         
                                        are these twig blights
                                         
                                        the special ones
                                         
                                        special ones
                                         
                                        huh
                                         
                                        what's he done
                                         
                                        bum bum bum bum bum
                                         
                                        bum
                                         
    
                                        your first shot
                                         
                                        strikes true
                                         
                                        in one of the twig blights
                                         
                                        what's he doing
                                         
                                        what's special
                                         
                                        it doesn't
                                         
                                        down the twig blitz
                                         
                                        blight, but you see the, that icicles form around the wound.
                                         
    
                                        Your second shot on the same twig blight, oh, oofa doofa.
                                         
                                        Your second shot hits right where the first one did, and you didn't, you don't even need
                                         
                                        a switch to fire.
                                         
                                        It expands the ice enough.
                                         
                                        Twig blights are naturally immune to ice, though the rapid switching from cold to fire does
                                         
                                        fuckle their day.
                                         
                                        Yeah.
                                         
                                        But this ice is enough.
                                         
    
                                        It shatters.
                                         
                                        It explodes, and the twig blights very center becomes.
                                         
                                        mush. It falls over.
                                         
                                        Another one bites the dust.
                                         
                                        I'm just waiting
                                         
                                        for the bad. Yeah, me too. I don't
                                         
                                        why they're special. I'm like, uh-huh.
                                         
                                        Okay, it froze. That's odd.
                                         
    
                                        Uh-huh. Yeah.
                                         
                                        And then...
                                         
                                        Is it going to get really big?
                                         
                                        Meanwhile, it's the werewolves who's turn.
                                         
                                        Well, we'rewolf.
                                         
                                        Yeah.
                                         
                                        That last werewolf,
                                         
                                        let me quickly check to see.
                                         
    
                                        Glances over its shoulder
                                         
                                        and realizes it is alone.
                                         
                                        That wherewolf,
                                         
                                        Wolf. Eyes or lows, Joel?
                                         
                                        Hise. Hyes? Are you sure
                                         
                                        about that? Lows. Lose? Yeah.
                                         
                                        You want to keep lows? Yes, Adam.
                                         
                                        Yes, he does. And would you be happy if it ran or stayed and fought?
                                         
    
                                        I think I'd be happy if it stayed and fought.
                                         
                                        Okay, so, and you're going lows? Yes.
                                         
                                        Okay, maybe switch back to highs. Okay, I'll go with highs, Adam.
                                         
                                        Good idea. It turns tail and runs.
                                         
                                        Adam, you. He got you, dude. He fucked you.
                                         
                                        The last World Wolf attempts to beat a hasty retreat.
                                         
                                        It gets...
                                         
                                        How far are werewolves again?
                                         
    
                                        How far? I mean, how fast...
                                         
                                        What? You know, how far are werewolves?
                                         
                                        Yeah, pretty far, I think.
                                         
                                        The werewolf moves 80 feet in total, spending its entire action.
                                         
                                        It sprints for the exit.
                                         
                                        You see...
                                         
                                        Does anybody get an attack of Op on it?
                                         
                                        No, they're coming from...
                                         
    
                                        So, it's moving north to south.
                                         
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        And they're moving east to west.
                                         
                                        So you aren't able to intercept it on your...
                                         
                                        Well, now.
                                         
                                        Okay, okay.
                                         
                                        It's Iona's turn.
                                         
                                        Mm-hmm.
                                         
    
                                        Iona...
                                         
                                        How is she doing?
                                         
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        Could be worse.
                                         
                                        I think you're doing worse, though.
                                         
                                        Yeah, dude.
                                         
                                        I'm struggling.
                                         
                                        Iona's going to cast.
                                         
    
                                        Are you...
                                         
                                        You're not affected by any negative conditions right now.
                                         
                                        I don't believe so.
                                         
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        Well, then she's going to do a serious upcasting of cure wounds.
                                         
                                        Oh, hell yeah.
                                         
                                        Oops, that should be muted.
                                         
                                        One, two, three, four, five.
                                         
    
                                        Pipp.
                                         
                                        You recover 10, 24, 25 plus 5, you recover 30 hit points.
                                         
                                        Hell yeah, that's huge.
                                         
                                        Yes, it is.
                                         
                                        My max is tiny, though.
                                         
                                        My max is from memory, like, under 50, so...
                                         
                                        You're at your max, 39.
                                         
                                        Jesus Christ, dude.
                                         
    
                                        All right, that will be Iona's action.
                                         
                                        Then she's going to use a bonus action to Pip She,
                                         
                                        as she's healing you, you hear her whispering a lullaby to you as well.
                                         
                                        The lullaby itself is not particularly relaxing, but you do recognize it as being one,
                                         
                                        you don't know if she did this on purpose, but you recognize it as, it like triggers a memory,
                                         
                                        a happy memory in you, Pip, potentially a memory from before the monastery.
                                         
                                        Whoa, from before the monastery.
                                         
                                        Yeah, you realize she's singing it in draconic as well?
                                         
    
                                        That's crazy.
                                         
                                        You have a brief flashback Pip Mandarin
                                         
                                        to a time where you felt safe and secure.
                                         
                                        That's very sad.
                                         
                                        You gained Bartic Inspiration.
                                         
                                        Oh, my God.
                                         
                                        You can, in the next 10 minutes,
                                         
                                        you can use Bartic Inspiration to approve any D20 role.
                                         
    
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        Then it is Cavendish's turn.
                                         
                                        Cavendish is going to do the same thing that you did, Pip,
                                         
                                        and he does it.
                                         
                                        He whiffs it too?
                                         
                                        No, he doesn't better.
                                         
                                        Well, hey, at least, you know what?
                                         
                                        I don't even care.
                                         
    
                                        You see Cavendish
                                         
                                        He scans around where those twig blights are
                                         
                                        And maybe it's because you burst one of them
                                         
                                        You see it now as well
                                         
                                        There's just a slight lump in the dirt
                                         
                                        Cavendish spotting the lump
                                         
                                        Takes a knee
                                         
                                        Ames his rifle very carefully
                                         
    
                                        And then
                                         
                                        Boom
                                         
                                        You hear a single shot
                                         
                                        And then a bunch of dirt
                                         
                                        And blood gets kicked up into the air
                                         
                                        Nice
                                         
                                        Those last group of twig blights
                                         
                                        Start freaking out as well
                                         
    
                                        And that was Cavendish.
                                         
                                        All of the Twigblites are befuddled, so none of them can act.
                                         
                                        Hector.
                                         
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        Can I, so how far away are they from me, Adam then?
                                         
                                        They are 60 feet from you.
                                         
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        All right, I want to move 30 feet, and I want to cast Compel Jewel.
                                         
    
                                        Uh-huh.
                                         
                                        No, you do not get to run.
                                         
                                        The werewolf rounds on you, Hector, and you recognize that, well, you got what you wanted for better or worse.
                                         
                                        That Weirwolf has eyes, magically has eyes for only you.
                                         
                                        Fantastic.
                                         
                                        30 feet.
                                         
                                        That was a bonus action.
                                         
                                        Can I electric blast him?
                                         
    
                                        Absolutely.
                                         
                                        Fantastic.
                                         
                                        Do you know how many blasts you get at this level?
                                         
                                        Dos.
                                         
                                        Two?
                                         
                                        Hit.
                                         
                                        Hit.
                                         
                                        All right.
                                         
    
                                        You fire off two bolts of pure arcane energy.
                                         
                                        They deal a total of seven points of damage.
                                         
                                        The Weirwolf is already wounded.
                                         
                                        You're not sure by how much.
                                         
                                        but you can see that it takes some damage
                                         
                                        in addition to any damage that it already had.
                                         
                                        Yep.
                                         
                                        And then, yeah, get my shield ready, spear ready,
                                         
    
                                        and just kind of like slam it into the shield.
                                         
                                        Hell yeah.
                                         
                                        It's Gorob and Lushin's turn.
                                         
                                        I'm really not going to roll.
                                         
                                        The twig blights are not resisting this right now.
                                         
                                        Gorob and Lushin, one by one,
                                         
                                        walk from twig blight to twig blight,
                                         
                                        quote unquote, replanting.
                                         
    
                                        They put a hand on top of their head and push them into the ground.
                                         
                                        You hear the noise of a bundle of sticks being broken, shattered.
                                         
                                        And that was Gorvan Lushin's turn.
                                         
                                        It's, oh, and Tarpos, sorry, does similar.
                                         
                                        She, instead of just pushing them into the dirt, though, you see just jab after jab, after jab with her blood spear.
                                         
                                        Both of the three of them, I should say, are systematically making their way through whatever twig blights remain.
                                         
                                        It's the engineer's turn.
                                         
                                        The engineer, seeing that this is probably the right thing to do,
                                         
    
                                        also wades in and starts smashing them with the mech arms.
                                         
                                        Nice.
                                         
                                        And honestly, actually, I think we can end that combat there.
                                         
                                        The twig blight, you can get the twigblites faster than they are going to be able to recover from this.
                                         
                                        So it's the werewolves' turn again.
                                         
                                        The werewolf charges you.
                                         
                                        Did Rahaddin or like my...
                                         
                                        Oh, I forgot.
                                         
    
                                        I'll do anything.
                                         
                                        They get in line with you, but they're not able to actually make it to the werewolf.
                                         
                                        And they're going to let you take the brunt of this.
                                         
                                        That is understandable.
                                         
                                        You asked for it, so you're getting it.
                                         
                                        Miss, hit.
                                         
                                        You know what, shield.
                                         
                                        Shield?
                                         
    
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        Miss, miss.
                                         
                                        Nice.
                                         
                                        All right.
                                         
                                        And going down the list, Hector, it's your turn.
                                         
                                        I would love to stab at him.
                                         
                                        Much as I can.
                                         
                                        With my spear.
                                         
    
                                        No, I have silver.
                                         
                                        stops the healing, right?
                                         
                                        Adam, what is...
                                         
                                        I guess, what would I be doing
                                         
                                        if I was to just kind of like try to get the shield?
                                         
                                        And I guess John Walker, Captain America, this werewolf.
                                         
                                        It would be at disadvantage
                                         
                                        because it's not intended as a weapon,
                                         
    
                                        but aside from that, you can use it.
                                         
                                        Well, I got a good boy card to give you
                                         
                                        an automatic critical with minimum damage
                                         
                                        if you want to get in on that, dude.
                                         
                                        I would say the shield does a D6.
                                         
                                        damage. Okay, I would like to, um, using my, using the, the, the silver shield, is to try and
                                         
                                        bring it down on the well as hard as I can. And I'll use my good boy cut. Do you want me to use this?
                                         
                                        Yeah, dude. Pinpoint accuracy, automatically critical hit on the weapon attack, but do
                                         
    
                                        minimum damage. All right. Well, both attacks will be a hit. We'll resolve that critical
                                         
                                        hit first. Thank you, Jackson. Anytime. My beautiful boy. Anytime. I want to see what
                                         
                                        happens. All right. Are we calling this slashing or bludgeoning, perhaps? How sharp is the shield,
                                         
                                        That's not that sharp.
                                         
                                        I guess it would be bludgeoning.
                                         
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        Your options are 90-night or soften them up.
                                         
                                        99.
                                         
    
                                        99?
                                         
                                        99. That's the selection.
                                         
                                        Quadruple damage and the target must make a DC-16 constitution saving throw on a failed save.
                                         
                                        The target is knocked unconscious.
                                         
                                        Hell yeah.
                                         
                                        They fail the saving throw.
                                         
                                        So you deal.
                                         
                                        Well, that second attack will then also be immediately a critical hit.
                                         
    
                                        We'll resolve that in just a moment.
                                         
                                        So, a D6 plus your strength modifier of three is four, quadruple that is 12.
                                         
                                        No, 16, forgive me.
                                         
                                        You, with your first blow, rather than stabbing it into the werewolf, you just don't, you gonged it right on top of its head.
                                         
                                        It falls unconscious, and your second attack, which is also immediately a critical hit, you can pick either low blow or something slipped.
                                         
                                        Oh no
                                         
                                        Something slip sounds bad
                                         
                                        Something slipped
                                         
    
                                        With that
                                         
                                        Maximum damage
                                         
                                        And the target's AC is reduced by
                                         
                                        4 until the end of its next turn
                                         
                                        I don't think that's going to matter much
                                         
                                        You deal maximum damage
                                         
                                        Which will be a D6
                                         
                                        6 plus your strength of 3
                                         
    
                                        You deal another 9 points of damage
                                         
                                        That is enough
                                         
                                        After knocking the whale wolf out
                                         
                                        You lift the shield up
                                         
                                        And you bring it down
                                         
                                        its face.
                                         
                                        Blood.
                                         
                                        All over you.
                                         
    
                                        Yeah.
                                         
                                        I just take a big, deep breath.
                                         
                                        And I guess wipe the blood off my face, flick it down.
                                         
                                        And I guess turn around to the three, four compatriots, I guess, in this fight.
                                         
                                        The two women who have freed very easily just remembering how they got it on the first try for him.
                                         
                                        the two knights
                                         
                                        you can see that both of them
                                         
                                        are kind of
                                         
    
                                        helping their companion
                                         
                                        that halfling limp over
                                         
                                        to the rest of your group
                                         
                                        Raha Dyn
                                         
                                        you can see he's sporting
                                         
                                        kind of like a nasty cut on one
                                         
                                        of his arms he softly
                                         
                                        puts his short sword away
                                         
    
                                        and you can see that he is
                                         
                                        gently providing himself first aid
                                         
                                        I'm terribly sorry
                                         
                                        that this had to
                                         
                                        happen
                                         
                                        It was most regrettable.
                                         
                                        Are you bitten?
                                         
                                        I was not bitten.
                                         
    
                                        No.
                                         
                                        I go ahead towards the three, two nights in there.
                                         
                                        What would he be like the third one?
                                         
                                        He's just like a halfling.
                                         
                                        Yeah.
                                         
                                        Just some guy.
                                         
                                        Is he like in like a wizard robe or is he in like?
                                         
                                        He's dressed like a merchant, like a upper middle class person.
                                         
    
                                        Right.
                                         
                                        Not barovian clothes.
                                         
                                        He looks like he's from part of him.
                                         
                                        It's unknown.
                                         
                                        I head towards them and I start.
                                         
                                        How is everybody?
                                         
                                        One of the knights turns to you and as she does so, she takes like a knee and bows to you.
                                         
                                        She says, I am Sir Philhart.
                                         
    
                                        This is my apprentice, Sir Gretchen and our charge, Bobbitt.
                                         
                                        We are in your debt.
                                         
                                        How did you come to be captured?
                                         
                                        We, it was a cold, Derek.
                                         
                                        that we were making our way from Appleville down south
                                         
                                        and a part of a merchant caravan.
                                         
                                        We were the lead caravan,
                                         
                                        and there was a mist, a strange fog rolling out ahead of us,
                                         
    
                                        unseason like weather.
                                         
                                        And in the unseasonable weather,
                                         
                                        we became lost, separated from the rest of the group.
                                         
                                        Ah, yes.
                                         
                                        It was quite quickly apparent that we had left Kandor entirely.
                                         
                                        Aye. And then you were...
                                         
                                        The wagon came down the road,
                                         
                                        a ways east.
                                         
    
                                        We were traveling, searching for a way to escape,
                                         
                                        went through at several towns, Borovia, Valakai.
                                         
                                        And then we were heading here.
                                         
                                        We'd heard that there was perhaps exit west of Creswick.
                                         
                                        Right, yes.
                                         
                                        I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but there is not.
                                         
                                        What do you mean?
                                         
                                        Although there is no water for miles around, you are, like us, moorant, stranded in this sad and lonely place called Borovia.
                                         
    
                                        We are incarcerated.
                                         
                                        We are jailed.
                                         
                                        The fog that surrounds us are the bars of a dungeon, and Baron von Strade, I don't know if you've heard of him yet, but he is apparently...
                                         
                                        Do you say the name?
                                         
                                        Yep.
                                         
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        Our jailer and, I guess, co-prisoner.
                                         
                                        As far as I can tell, there is only one way out.
                                         
    
                                        That is if Strad lets you.
                                         
                                        This is disconcerning.
                                         
                                        This strad, he is the lord of this land, is what I'm hearing?
                                         
                                        Yes, in any way.
                                         
                                        Perhaps he could be petitioned?
                                         
                                        Perhaps.
                                         
                                        I have heard he is not the most accommodating of men,
                                         
                                        but I am on my way to...
                                         
    
                                        See him actually.
                                         
                                        Well, then we will come with you.
                                         
                                        Perhaps.
                                         
                                        We shall fail or succeed together.
                                         
                                        Are you, um, have you, did you get bitten?
                                         
                                        You can see, she's the one of the two knights.
                                         
                                        She is, uh, Sir, Felhardt is the one who has been wounded.
                                         
                                        And you can see she's still kind of nursing that arm.
                                         
    
                                        She looks down at it and she says, tis, uh, not much more than a, uh, a, uh, a scratch, perhaps.
                                         
                                        Uh, have you ever?
                                         
                                        She shows you the arm and you can see.
                                         
                                        There is, quite clearly, a huge bite mark.
                                         
                                        She quite clearly does not understand the implication of that.
                                         
                                        Have you ever dealt with any werewolves or lycanthrobes before?
                                         
                                        I know the name werewolf, but not lycanthrope.
                                         
                                        I haven't encountered them much.
                                         
    
                                        A sickness of sorts.
                                         
                                        In a way.
                                         
                                        Your apprentice and your charge.
                                         
                                        Sir, were you two, were you bitten by any chance?
                                         
                                        Sir Gretchen shakes her head.
                                         
                                        Sir Felhardt, you wouldn't necessarily call her
                                         
                                        old or grizzled, but she's definitely like
                                         
                                        maybe mid-40s, definitely the way more experienced one.
                                         
    
                                        So Gretchen is young.
                                         
                                        You imagine that she's maybe
                                         
                                        like just, she's like very recently
                                         
                                        become an apprentice.
                                         
                                        And Bobbitt, the Halfling,
                                         
                                        you can see that he,
                                         
                                        Halfing's show age a little differently,
                                         
                                        so it's harder to tell, but you think he's,
                                         
    
                                        Maybe quite old, potentially.
                                         
                                        Gretchen looks quite clearly terrified.
                                         
                                        Her face is stricken.
                                         
                                        She looks like she's moments away from a panic attack.
                                         
                                        Fell heart seems despite, well, not despite the fact,
                                         
                                        because maybe the fact that she doesn't understand the danger of being bitten.
                                         
                                        She seems, you might even call her gung-ho right now.
                                         
                                        Bobbitt is just quietly sitting there.
                                         
    
                                        He's not actually interacted with you at all.
                                         
                                        He's staring off into space.
                                         
                                        Bobbitt, you get bit as well.
                                         
                                        Bobbitt nods slowly.
                                         
                                        And what's your insight?
                                         
                                        Natural 20.
                                         
                                        It doesn't matter.
                                         
                                        Get a good boy card.
                                         
    
                                        Nice.
                                         
                                        You see Bobbitt.
                                         
                                        He's been bitten, and Bobbitt knows the implications.
                                         
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        Rip, Bob.
                                         
                                        When, the wound on Falhart, was that the, is that most recently, as in, like, on this
                                         
                                        current fight?
                                         
                                        No.
                                         
    
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        It looks to be, well, actually.
                                         
                                        So, no, one of them are...
                                         
                                        Another good boy, Carl.
                                         
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        Hell of the heck is killing.
                                         
                                        Yeah, wow, that was crazy.
                                         
                                        You know that the part of the way that you tell if someone is infected, that a bite was infected, is that a bite was infected, is that it doesn't heal properly.
                                         
    
                                        Yep.
                                         
                                        You can see that despite the fact that this wound was quite clearly several days old, it is still bleeding, openly weeping.
                                         
                                        And that was Gretchen.
                                         
                                        Sorry, that was...
                                         
                                        That was fell hot.
                                         
                                        Yep.
                                         
                                        And Bobbitt, his wound is also, they're both, they're both probably from a couple days ago.
                                         
                                        Yeah.
                                         
    
                                        And I, you can see Bobbitt's wound is similar.
                                         
                                        And I know enough to know that it's like, if I was to get them within hours, we're fine.
                                         
                                        It's as difficult as picking a plant.
                                         
                                        Whereas, a day, lesser restoration could have helped them.
                                         
                                        Yes.
                                         
                                        And I do not have that.
                                         
                                        You're in the realm right now of powers greater than pennyers may be able to offer to the
                                         
                                        people of Barovia.
                                         
    
                                        So you don't know much about
                                         
                                        Werewolves to you, Sir Felhardt,
                                         
                                        but I can imagine...
                                         
                                        Never tussled with them myself, no.
                                         
                                        Sir Gretchen, Bobbitt, you too.
                                         
                                        Sir Gretchen shakes her head as well.
                                         
                                        Um, no, no.
                                         
                                        I've never...
                                         
    
                                        Sir Felhardt finishes for her.
                                         
                                        The lass, uh, this was to be her first mission.
                                         
                                        Bobbitt, he nods.
                                         
                                        And he says,
                                         
                                        I know.
                                         
                                        I know.
                                         
                                        Oh, Gretchen, I remember when I was in your similar, I guess, position.
                                         
                                        Sir Felhardt, I am not going to sugarcoat this.
                                         
    
                                        You are going to turn into a werewolf.
                                         
                                        It is an affliction.
                                         
                                        It is a disease.
                                         
                                        I cannot stop it, short of a miracle.
                                         
                                        Sir Felhard shakes her head.
                                         
                                        She says there was a cleric in the town of Barovia.
                                         
                                        Maybe we had there and he can help us.
                                         
                                        Maybe, but Borovia is several days away, at least.
                                         
    
                                        The longer you wait, and it already might be too late, you will turn.
                                         
                                        You and Bob it both.
                                         
                                        Sir Felha shakes her head again.
                                         
                                        She refuses to believe this.
                                         
                                        This is not necessarily a bad thing.
                                         
                                        I want to, like...
                                         
                                        Maybe just close my eyes for a brief moment.
                                         
                                        The werewolves of Borovia...
                                         
    
                                        have a deal with Stratt.
                                         
                                        They can come and go from these lands.
                                         
                                        But doing so, you need to do something for him.
                                         
                                        It is a working relationship.
                                         
                                        The previous pack, a kind of gesture.
                                         
                                        They weren't really receptive of the offer we put forward.
                                         
                                        I'm not going to pretend that if I was in your position,
                                         
                                        I would be trying to do anything that I could.
                                         
    
                                        to get out of it.
                                         
                                        But sometimes, unfortunately, those are not the cards we are dealt.
                                         
                                        Currently, looking around.
                                         
                                        Yeah.
                                         
                                        Currently, this werewolf pack is all but destroyed.
                                         
                                        There might be some stragglers out there hunting.
                                         
                                        And right now, I have an offer for you.
                                         
                                        Was there like a table or chairs or something like that
                                         
    
                                        that we were having a chat with with a meal?
                                         
                                        Or is there something like that that we could kind of like sit?
                                         
                                        There's, yeah, like a from your first time here,
                                         
                                        you know, there is like a,
                                         
                                        communal area with tables and stuff like that but sir fell heart is not accepting that answer
                                         
                                        as you start calmly explaining this to her you see she gets more and more upset she's shaking her head
                                         
                                        and she's pacing back and forth you can see she's skipped denial and has gone straight to anger
                                         
                                        strad is a strad is the vampire have you heard of them i i i maybe there's like a shitty wooden chair
                                         
    
                                        that was leaning up against a rock
                                         
                                        she's picked that up
                                         
                                        and you can see she's holding it
                                         
                                        like she means to break it
                                         
                                        like she wants to do something
                                         
                                        she wants to break something anything
                                         
                                        the chair is just what's nearby
                                         
                                        she keeps stammering
                                         
    
                                        you can break the chair
                                         
                                        throws against the wall
                                         
                                        she slams it into the wall
                                         
                                        and it shatters
                                         
                                        she winces when she does that
                                         
                                        with her wounded arm
                                         
                                        you can see that pained her to do
                                         
                                        she starts picking up the pieces
                                         
    
                                        of the wooden chair and throwing them.
                                         
                                        There's there, the cleric
                                         
                                        in Barovia, we can
                                         
                                        consult them.
                                         
                                        He might know more.
                                         
                                        You, she says, looking at you,
                                         
                                        are a knight, a paladin
                                         
                                        of the gods.
                                         
    
                                        Pena has powers,
                                         
                                        but her powers may not be
                                         
                                        too much here, wherever we
                                         
                                        may be. And perhaps this
                                         
                                        man might know more.
                                         
                                        How long have you been here?
                                         
                                        Last than a week?
                                         
                                        We've been here for about a week and a half, yes.
                                         
    
                                        Have you noticed that...
                                         
                                        Our horses have bolted, but Creswick isn't far.
                                         
                                        We can get more horses there.
                                         
                                        And then we can ride swiftly.
                                         
                                        No, we can ride swiftly to Borovia.
                                         
                                        It is okay.
                                         
                                        The moment you get to the gates of Creswick,
                                         
                                        they will apply wolf spain, the plant to you.
                                         
    
                                        And they will realize that you are a werewolf.
                                         
                                        And then they will spear you.
                                         
                                        I'll wear a long time.
                                         
                                        shirt or something or I'll talk
                                         
                                        my way in. I'm like shaking
                                         
                                        my head. Just, no. We'll do it.
                                         
                                        We'll do it. You watch.
                                         
                                        They're human, right? They're not elves? Yeah, okay.
                                         
    
                                        Good to check.
                                         
                                        Yeah, just good check. I'm sorry.
                                         
                                        You've been here for over a week.
                                         
                                        You do know, have you noticed that
                                         
                                        their wounds, they do not
                                         
                                        heal as well as they used to?
                                         
                                        The general sense of lethargy.
                                         
                                        It's thick here.
                                         
    
                                        There's a miasma in the air.
                                         
                                        I won't deny that. But it's,
                                         
                                        Nothing I haven't handled before.
                                         
                                        I've fought undead.
                                         
                                        I know that.
                                         
                                        And I know a fast horse when I see one,
                                         
                                        and I don't think I need to know more about this place than that.
                                         
                                        I have fought undead.
                                         
    
                                        I have fought things beyond your imagination.
                                         
                                        You watch.
                                         
                                        I have fought a headless dragon.
                                         
                                        I have, there is fell magic here, old magic here, blood magic.
                                         
                                        There are, we do.
                                         
                                        discovered, perhaps, well, maybe the first undead one. And I am not trying to sway you one way
                                         
                                        or the other. But I would like to see you alive. I would like to see you not be taken too much
                                         
                                        by this place because it will take everything. But it doesn't need to. It doesn't have to. We can
                                         
    
                                        work together. Please, I'm pleading now. You can see. You could see. So. You could see.
                                         
                                        fell hard, she's
                                         
                                        stopping.
                                         
                                        You see the fire
                                         
                                        if anything, your
                                         
                                        insistence, you can see she's
                                         
                                        digging her heels in now. You don't think
                                         
                                        you can move her from this
                                         
    
                                        position. She takes a couple
                                         
                                        steps towards you. You don't think she's going to
                                         
                                        hit you or anything like that, but she gets real close
                                         
                                        and then she starts angrily kind of
                                         
                                        with her finger
                                         
                                        stabbing you in your
                                         
                                        chest. Once again, there's
                                         
                                        like an aggression, a physicality,
                                         
    
                                        to it. You don't think she's going to hit you.
                                         
                                        She's just doing it for emphasis. And she says,
                                         
                                        you watch... How far away is Barovia?
                                         
                                        Barovia? You've actually not been to the city.
                                         
                                        No, no, but how far away is it from where we are?
                                         
                                        It's probably like roughly a week
                                         
                                        by horse.
                                         
                                        Roughly a week.
                                         
    
                                        Thereabouts. It's, you know, depending on how much
                                         
                                        you might get waylaid.
                                         
                                        Krezik, they'll just absolutely just spear
                                         
                                        them down. Kresik's not letting
                                         
                                        werewolves. That's what I mean. They'll do
                                         
                                        a test. They'll spear them down.
                                         
                                        The nearest town from here is, what, Valachi, I'm like, well, Villagall is not
                                         
                                        Coochuri, almost. Coochery is closer as the crow flies, but they know Valakai exists.
                                         
    
                                        Yeah, getting there. And it's also easier.
                                         
                                        And the thing is like, so to cure them, basically, to cure them a werewolfism, there is
                                         
                                        nothing. You think it's impossible at this point?
                                         
                                        Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I just, I'm like, there is no way.
                                         
                                        Oh.
                                         
                                        and like also if there's a full moon as well
                                         
                                        yeah so um after the full moon transformation happens
                                         
                                        there's no cure i know the next full moon is in three days
                                         
    
                                        yeah okay so i know that there's like three days at the most
                                         
                                        and that's if we find a very powerful cleric there is no one i've been to
                                         
                                        even if we got to kutri in three days there is
                                         
                                        no one there right like right
                                         
                                        kutri no one in kutri can help and in in
                                         
                                        Creswick, like, if they could help, they, they would, and they,
                                         
                                        funnily enough, the angel might have had that power, but he certainly doesn't anymore.
                                         
                                        Okay, okay, okay. I just want to know how sure I am in about, what I'm about to do.
                                         
    
                                        Okay. Um, so as they, as, as, as, um, as Felhardt, so Felhardt is coming towards me,
                                         
                                        just pointing at me. Yeah, she's right in front of you. She's pointing at you. She's saying,
                                         
                                        you just, I jab, I just, the spear through her, who,
                                         
                                        it through her jaw into her head.
                                         
                                        You, she's pretty
                                         
                                        weak already as well. I know. You jam
                                         
                                        the spear up.
                                         
                                        Oh, dude. She, actually,
                                         
    
                                        I'll roll up for advantage. She really wasn't
                                         
                                        expecting this. You don't
                                         
                                        get a critical hit.
                                         
                                        But, yeah, you
                                         
                                        pierce the underside of her
                                         
                                        jaw and your spear comes out
                                         
                                        the back of her head. She
                                         
                                        jerks once, which causes her to
                                         
    
                                        tap your breastplate one more time,
                                         
                                        and then covered in
                                         
                                        werewolf and Sir
                                         
                                        Felhart's blood. Which is
                                         
                                        werewolf blood. That's true, it's all
                                         
                                        werewolf blood. You withdraw
                                         
                                        the spear.
                                         
                                        I just, I want it all, just be
                                         
    
                                        like, yeah. She collapses to the
                                         
                                        ground, and
                                         
                                        you hear a scream behind you.
                                         
                                        I'm just in, like,
                                         
                                        I'm so sorry.
                                         
                                        I'm so sorry.
                                         
                                        Before you're able to turn around,
                                         
                                        a second chair hits
                                         
    
                                        you from behind. That's fine.
                                         
                                        You take, it's a chair, it's not going to do with punna damage.
                                         
                                        It does four points of damage.
                                         
                                        The force behind it is enough to hurt you a bit.
                                         
                                        Like, okay.
                                         
                                        Sorry.
                                         
                                        So sorry.
                                         
                                        And let's go to initiative again.
                                         
    
                                        Oh, fuck.
                                         
                                        That's awesome.
                                         
                                        All right.
                                         
                                        You wheel around.
                                         
                                        It's her turn.
                                         
                                        So Gretchen is there.
                                         
                                        The chair is broken.
                                         
                                        She...
                                         
    
                                        I want it like, I'm not even...
                                         
                                        Like, as I turn around, what she will see is, it's not someone who is preparing to fight.
                                         
                                        Maybe a little broken, a very broken man, a very, very broken Asimir to be like, I'm not, I'm not saying to fight you.
                                         
                                        Hector, she, the breaching on panic mode has hit panic mode and her body has chosen fight.
                                         
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        She, chairbroken, she starts swinging at you with hailmakers.
                                         
                                        She, donk, don't, don't,
                                         
                                        start, foolishly, starts punching your,
                                         
    
                                        the biggest target on you, the breastplate that you wear,
                                         
                                        and she's unable to score a hit.
                                         
                                        It's your turn.
                                         
                                        Can I bring her in for a grapple that is basically a hug?
                                         
                                        I'm sorry.
                                         
                                        I'm sorry.
                                         
                                        I'm sorry.
                                         
                                        But you fail.
                                         
    
                                        You attempt to grab one of her fists.
                                         
                                        Yeah, I just want to play as defensively as possible.
                                         
                                        That's fine.
                                         
                                        You grab one of her fists and she swings again.
                                         
                                        This time her fist does collide with your jaw, but it just bruises your jaw.
                                         
                                        There's not enough power.
                                         
                                        You've kind of knocked her off balance by grabbing whatever wrists.
                                         
                                        You could try to grapple her again if you want.
                                         
    
                                        You rolled particularly pool.
                                         
                                        Okay, I'll try and just...
                                         
                                        I'm sorry.
                                         
                                        All right, that's better.
                                         
                                        You grab both of her fists.
                                         
                                        You give like a jerk and you drag her into a bear hug.
                                         
                                        It's her turn.
                                         
                                        she starts struggling to get free
                                         
    
                                        I don't think she's able to
                                         
                                        no she can't get free
                                         
                                        you hear Bobbitt
                                         
                                        stand up
                                         
                                        he looks at the two of you
                                         
                                        lass
                                         
                                        last it's over
                                         
                                        it's over
                                         
    
                                        he and you
                                         
                                        manage to calm Gretchen down
                                         
                                        she stops trying
                                         
                                        she stops struggling
                                         
                                        she's just sobbing into your shoulder
                                         
                                        I am so sorry
                                         
                                        Bobbitt looking at you
                                         
                                        you're sad though
                                         
    
                                        is a deal that could be made.
                                         
                                        You know exactly what he's going to happen to you.
                                         
                                        I get an inkling.
                                         
                                        I gesture to maybe the seat,
                                         
                                        but the non-broken seats, I guess,
                                         
                                        to be like, shall we have a discussion?
                                         
                                        And I gesture.
                                         
                                        And I let go of Gretchen, to be like.
                                         
    
                                        Gretchen, as soon as you let go,
                                         
                                        she's stumbling back from you.
                                         
                                        Her face is wet.
                                         
                                        Her cheeks are red.
                                         
                                        You can see, like, puffy, exhausted.
                                         
                                        Uh, not wounded, puffy exhausted, but physically safe, but emotionally wrecked.
                                         
                                        As soon as you let go, she stumbles a bit and then starts sprinting away.
                                         
                                        If you move to follow, Bobbitt puts up a hand and says, I, I'm friends with her father.
                                         
    
                                        She, she'll be back.
                                         
                                        I know the last.
                                         
                                        You sit down with Bobbitt, and then Rahaddin gives the same offer to a mill to Bobbitt instead.
                                         
                                        Yeah, I just wanted, yeah, so before, I even,
                                         
                                        give the same deal
                                         
                                        emphasizing that he'll turn
                                         
                                        he was probably going to be turning in three days
                                         
                                        do I know enough about like
                                         
    
                                        the werewolfism that will
                                         
                                        change their like attitude
                                         
                                        their demeanor
                                         
                                        it's definitely something I've told you
                                         
                                        yeah like it's going to be
                                         
                                        yeah yeah yeah
                                         
                                        when I've justified the massacre
                                         
                                        of war wolves
                                         
    
                                        it's like there's no
                                         
                                        when they don't come back
                                         
                                        well when the change happens
                                         
                                        one of two things can occur
                                         
                                        Either they can embrace.
                                         
                                        Think of music.
                                         
                                        You recall one specific piece of law relevant to the current situation.
                                         
                                        Can I just know as much as like, if I examine it have a question about whales, can I know that?
                                         
    
                                        Yes.
                                         
                                        Fantastic.
                                         
                                        So, you spend that card and Hector, you understand, you recall that when the change happens, one of two things can occur.
                                         
                                        Either the person can embrace the change, at which point they gain control over their lycanthropy
                                         
                                        and their alignment becomes chaotic evil.
                                         
                                        Obviously, you wouldn't catch it as chaotic evil.
                                         
                                        But embracing this disease causes one's personality to radically shift in such a way that they become cold and cruel to the world and to the people around them.
                                         
                                        And they often, they knowingly seek out people to bite and infect and transform and more often feed as well.
                                         
    
                                        or they can resist the transformation
                                         
                                        in which case it becomes much more of a curse
                                         
                                        they have no control over it
                                         
                                        just at the full moon they transform
                                         
                                        and when they are transformed
                                         
                                        they become like a beast
                                         
                                        and the beast is way worse
                                         
                                        so it's a
                                         
    
                                        pick your poison of either
                                         
                                        you become inexplicably transformed
                                         
                                        into the animal but you retain
                                         
                                        some of your humanity
                                         
                                        or you retain all
                                         
                                        of your humanity, except for when
                                         
                                        you are the beast.
                                         
                                        Well, then I start explaining this to Bobbitt.
                                         
    
                                        I'll give you, you have
                                         
                                        two, well, actually, you have
                                         
                                        three choices. The first choice,
                                         
                                        if the full moon is going to be
                                         
                                        in three days, and you will transform
                                         
                                        from what you are now into,
                                         
                                        adjusted to the dead werewolves.
                                         
                                        Yeah.
                                         
    
                                        What they were. The corpses. They're not
                                         
                                        werewolves anymore? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the human corpses.
                                         
                                        That's the terrible thing about defending yourself
                                         
                                        against the whale's attack. It looks like you just
                                         
                                        kill the naked person.
                                         
                                        You will transform into, well, what they were.
                                         
                                        You will then have a choice to make.
                                         
                                        You either need to resist it.
                                         
    
                                        You will be living with a curse.
                                         
                                        You will, I guess, remain exactly as you are.
                                         
                                        But every time that there is a full moon,
                                         
                                        you will turn into one of them.
                                         
                                        You would also know that resisting the curse
                                         
                                        takes a tremendous amount of effort.
                                         
                                        many people try to but not everyone can and there is no guarantee that you will succeed you can resist
                                         
                                        as much as you want and it will take it's tall and it still might not work and you'll be living
                                         
    
                                        with a curse you cannot get rid of and when you do turn because you will every full moon and let me
                                         
                                        tell you in borovia there is a lot of full moons thing that you will turn into would be nothing
                                         
                                        compared to what they were or well you can give in embrace this affliction you will have more control
                                         
                                        the beast you will become can be reasoned with it will change you you might become crueler
                                         
                                        things that you used to bring you joy perhaps won't and you will want to feed and
                                         
                                        hunt. Sometimes you'll want to feed
                                         
                                        and hunt. And people.
                                         
                                        Those are your two choices.
                                         
    
                                        And I gesture
                                         
                                        to fell hard. That is the third
                                         
                                        choice. Bobbitt thinks
                                         
                                        about it for a while. You see
                                         
                                        there's no tears, just a
                                         
                                        incredible sadness etching the
                                         
                                        lines of his face.
                                         
                                        The lass, Gretchen, she
                                         
    
                                        wasn't bit.
                                         
                                        She was not. He nods.
                                         
                                        Here comes the problem.
                                         
                                        There is
                                         
                                        a question I suppose
                                         
                                        should I choose
                                         
                                        the third option
                                         
                                        what would come to her
                                         
    
                                        if she wants
                                         
                                        I could try to find her
                                         
                                        a safe place in Borovia
                                         
                                        I need you to know that there is not many safe places
                                         
                                        in Borovia she could go to Kresik
                                         
                                        I gesture to everyone around like
                                         
                                        they value the slaughtering of werewolves
                                         
                                        they might let her in
                                         
    
                                        it's not the safest place
                                         
                                        and well
                                         
                                        she wasn't born with pointy ears
                                         
                                        so she might be accepted
                                         
                                        she might be safe there
                                         
                                        I cannot guarantee it no
                                         
                                        how long have you been here
                                         
                                        I've been here long enough to know that nowhere here is safe
                                         
    
                                        another thing if you choose one of the other options
                                         
                                        is you will want a pack
                                         
                                        I was hoping
                                         
                                        a gesture to fell hard
                                         
                                        I was hoping that they would be more reasonable
                                         
                                        to be able to work together
                                         
                                        we could at least come to an agreement
                                         
                                        so Sir Gretchen
                                         
    
                                        right now you want to keep her safe
                                         
                                        and in a few days
                                         
                                        you might think the only way to keep her safe
                                         
                                        is for her to become like you
                                         
                                        and that is another option
                                         
                                        I
                                         
                                        or if you would like
                                         
                                        she can come travel with me
                                         
    
                                        as I said I am going to meet
                                         
                                        Strad personally
                                         
                                        perhaps he will let her go
                                         
                                        I think
                                         
                                        perhaps the girl
                                         
                                        if Kresik could be a safe place
                                         
                                        at least for a time
                                         
                                        that would be good
                                         
    
                                        I do not
                                         
                                        I have seen what this disease does
                                         
                                        I do not wish for her to see it
                                         
                                        come to me
                                         
                                        I do not know you
                                         
                                        but
                                         
                                        you're perhaps the first
                                         
                                        kind face
                                         
    
                                        I've come across in these lands
                                         
                                        well I smile at that
                                         
                                        just like bittersweetly almost
                                         
                                        if you would have the girl
                                         
                                        at Creswick and
                                         
                                        if you can escape take her with
                                         
                                        you. Of course. I will do that for you. I don't wish for her to suffer, if possible, with the
                                         
                                        affliction or with anything. Of course not. I will do. I will do everything in my power. You have my
                                         
    
                                        word as a knight of the cloth, and you have my word as a friendly face. I am very sorry. Truly I
                                         
                                        am. I did not once. I wish I could, if I knew if you had been beaten today, if we had more than
                                         
                                        three days, if Penae was more powerful here, we could have helped. But we have to deal the cards
                                         
                                        with help. I will do everything in my power to help her and protect her. I think, I fear that we
                                         
                                        have found ourselves in the belly of the beast when all we meant to do,
                                         
                                        look it in the mouth.
                                         
                                        Well, he says, and he puts his hands on the table,
                                         
                                        I'll tell Gretchen, I'll tell her you're to look after her,
                                         
    
                                        keep her safe as best you can,
                                         
                                        and then, please, give an old man some time,
                                         
                                        and then I'll return and...
                                         
                                        How long would you like? We can make camp here.
                                         
                                        Perhaps the night would be nice.
                                         
                                        One last time.
                                         
                                        Even in the darkest of places,
                                         
                                        would be nice if they were singing
                                         
    
                                        even about the dark times.
                                         
                                        It would be nice to see
                                         
                                        one more beautiful thing.
                                         
                                        Well, I can't offer you that.
                                         
                                        I can offer you at least
                                         
                                        a Barovian sunrise.
                                         
                                        He gestures into the corner
                                         
                                        where the equipment of the prisoners
                                         
    
                                        was kept. You leave the music
                                         
                                        to me. Bobbitt leaves
                                         
                                        and after a little
                                         
                                        bit of silence, Hector, you hear
                                         
                                        Gretchen, wailing,
                                         
                                        howling, crying, and
                                         
                                        anguish and agony. You do not know the nature of their relationship, but they knew each other.
                                         
                                        Certainly, Bobbitt, who knew Gretchen's parents, is someone who was maybe close to her,
                                         
    
                                        and you hear the cries of someone who does not want this. She's screaming at one point.
                                         
                                        Please don't. Please don't. Please don't. Pipp, you and Cavendish slowly walk up to
                                         
                                        the last druid who Cavendish shot
                                         
                                        the musket ball
                                         
                                        clean through his neck
                                         
                                        tore out enough
                                         
                                        this druid is not long for this
                                         
                                        world but in
                                         
    
                                        in these last moments he is begging
                                         
                                        for those for those seconds
                                         
                                        if you do not rob them from him
                                         
                                        twang
                                         
                                        right who's
                                         
                                        poisoned and then I'll go around
                                         
                                        and check everyone everyone has been
                                         
                                        wounded and in the mad scrum
                                         
    
                                        No one really knows where every wound came from cannot be properly accounted for by each individual, so you're going to have to check everyone individually, including yourself. You're not 100% sure you weren't also hit.
                                         
                                        This is so annoying. Protection from poison is a spell I have, but it's like a second level spell. And I can only do it like. Yeah. It's very annoying. Yeah, that is so annoying.
                                         
                                        Is it like a ritual?
                                         
                                        Is it a...
                                         
                                        No, it's just a second level spell.
                                         
                                        How long is it lasts for?
                                         
                                        It lasts, but the way it works is I touch someone
                                         
                                        and then I can tell if they're poisoned or not,
                                         
    
                                        which is great for one person.
                                         
                                        And I can neutralize the poison.
                                         
                                        But I have detect poison and disease.
                                         
                                        Let's see if that is like just touch or...
                                         
                                        It shouldn't be touch.
                                         
                                        For the duration, you can sense the presence and location of poisons,
                                         
                                        poisonous creatures and diseases within 30 feet of you.
                                         
                                        You can also identify the kind of poison.
                                         
    
                                        Poisonous creatures or disease in each case.
                                         
                                        You cast in that spot?
                                         
                                        I'll test detect poison.
                                         
                                        Wow.
                                         
                                        PIP shows magic ability for the first time.
                                         
                                        Well, I was actually about to say, because I don't believe that for you, it is actually magic.
                                         
                                        I pluck a little bit of something out of my alchemy bag, just some plant or whatever.
                                         
                                        Thumb it into my mouth.
                                         
    
                                        And then I look around.
                                         
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        Well, no check required then.
                                         
                                        You detect that you have been poisoned.
                                         
                                        Oh, that's right.
                                         
                                        And you can detect that iona has also been poisoned.
                                         
                                        I believe that spell also gives you access or informs you what specific poison or I think disease, right?
                                         
                                        That you have been affected by.
                                         
    
                                        So let me quickly, you detect the presence of weeping poison.
                                         
                                        Oh, yeah.
                                         
                                        So you
                                         
                                        And I mean you could feel it kind of
                                         
                                        You have the poisoned condition
                                         
                                        As does Iona
                                         
                                        You can remove
                                         
                                        Oh you know the effects of weeping poison as well
                                         
    
                                        Even I'm gonna say even if detect poison does not tell you this sort of stuff
                                         
                                        I think you know
                                         
                                        Yeah absolutely
                                         
                                        I think you know what it does
                                         
                                        Until this poison condition is removed
                                         
                                        You take a D4 points of poison damage every minute
                                         
                                        Which reminds me
                                         
                                        Oh, no. I might be about to fall unconscious,
                                         
    
                                        although I did just get healed.
                                         
                                        You and Iona both take four points of poison damage.
                                         
                                        Oh, okay. That's fine.
                                         
                                        I'd like to squat down and make a potion at him.
                                         
                                        Okay, what's the potion?
                                         
                                        If you'd allow me.
                                         
                                        I'll combine a raven feather for radiant damage,
                                         
                                        just for radiant, you know, qualities.
                                         
    
                                        Then a quaggoth vein for immunity to poison.
                                         
                                        And then a...
                                         
                                        what are we got?
                                         
                                        Maybe I just use water
                                         
                                        because there's nothing necessarily here
                                         
                                        to make some kind of poison
                                         
                                        neutralizing
                                         
                                        elixes. I'll say
                                         
    
                                        you can make three doses.
                                         
                                        You don't need the third one, but you
                                         
                                        have a third one. Cool. Well, I'll hand one
                                         
                                        to Iona and I'll chug one myself.
                                         
                                        She gratefully takes it.
                                         
                                        Iona's sitting on a rock
                                         
                                        and you see she gratefully takes it and then
                                         
                                        drinks it down.
                                         
    
                                        The rain, incidentally,
                                         
                                        After the fight, the rain, well, during the fight, the rain had kind of stopped briefly.
                                         
                                        But now that the fight is over, the rain begins again, but it's not heavy like it was before.
                                         
                                        It's more, I don't know if this expression exists outside of Australia.
                                         
                                        Spitting.
                                         
                                        It's just spitting.
                                         
                                        Very light rain.
                                         
                                        As if, for those of you, if this term does not translate outside of Australia, a level of rain equivalent to a million people constantly spitting out of.
                                         
    
                                        of a cloud.
                                         
                                        Yeah, yeah, yeah, beautiful.
                                         
                                        Very light rain.
                                         
                                        Is everybody kind of gathered together?
                                         
                                        Yeah, vaguely, yeah.
                                         
                                        You can see Cavendish is speaking with Tarpos, Goroblushen, and the engineer.
                                         
                                        He's kind of directing them to form a perimeter around you, or at least to search the immediate
                                         
                                        area just to make sure that they, just to make sure it's clear, basically.
                                         
    
                                        And then he's, yeah, like I said, he's establishing a perimeter and also a watch of sorts.
                                         
                                        What time is it?
                                         
                                        It would be right now, it would be coming on sunset.
                                         
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        So we're probably going to camp, I would imagine.
                                         
                                        You can still, by the way, hear, I don't know if you remember this happening.
                                         
                                        The beginning of this fight feels like eons ago.
                                         
                                        Oh, yeah, you can hear the guy yelling.
                                         
    
                                        Yeah.
                                         
                                        Iona, you all good?
                                         
                                        Iona looks up at you from her sitting position on the rock.
                                         
                                        I do not think that all right would be an accurate assessment.
                                         
                                        of how I feel, but...
                                         
                                        You're no longer poisoned, at least.
                                         
                                        I would, yes.
                                         
                                        I would.
                                         
    
                                        I would concede that, yes, I am feeling better.
                                         
                                        Right.
                                         
                                        I'm going to go check on the yelling guy.
                                         
                                        I get up off the ground.
                                         
                                        She gets up as well.
                                         
                                        She's coming with.
                                         
                                        And I'll go over and check the guy yelling over.
                                         
                                        Is he still screaming the same stuff?
                                         
    
                                        Is his voice just like, ah, at this point?
                                         
                                        No, he's not screaming anymore.
                                         
                                        He's muttering, babbling under his breath.
                                         
                                        you recognize what languages do you know
                                         
                                        I believe common
                                         
                                        dwarven
                                         
                                        that might be it
                                         
                                        you recognize something familiar
                                         
    
                                        about the language
                                         
                                        though you do not speak it
                                         
                                        you recognize it as
                                         
                                        a language spoken
                                         
                                        or a language communicated in
                                         
                                        kind of like a
                                         
                                        dialect of Sylvan
                                         
                                        the language of Fay
                                         
    
                                        you recognize it as kind of a dialect
                                         
                                        within that, but you don't know
                                         
                                        really what he's saying. Yeah, I can identify it,
                                         
                                        but I can't translate it. Yeah.
                                         
                                        Yeah, he's babbling it to himself
                                         
                                        now under his breath. I turn to Iona.
                                         
                                        Oh, actually.
                                         
                                        No, never mind.
                                         
    
                                        You identify nothing further.
                                         
                                        Oh, I turn to Iona.
                                         
                                        You don't know what he's saying, do you?
                                         
                                        She shakes
                                         
                                        her head slowly. It is
                                         
                                        a dialect, a specific,
                                         
                                        almost you could say regional
                                         
                                        one of Sylvan
                                         
    
                                        I believe that this language is
                                         
                                        common among Weirravens
                                         
                                        Right
                                         
                                        Does he look like a druid
                                         
                                        Or does he look more like a local
                                         
                                        Or possibly a member of the Wizards of Wines
                                         
                                        A little investigation check from you
                                         
                                        You
                                         
    
                                        I mean it's impossible to tell
                                         
                                        If he's local
                                         
                                        Because he's not wearing like a name badge
                                         
                                        Or his uniform
                                         
                                        But he doesn't look like a druid
                                         
                                        You assess that much
                                         
                                        Okay.
                                         
                                        You could make the logical leap that if he's not a druid,
                                         
    
                                        there's not a lot of people who come out here other than the Martikov family.
                                         
                                        Can I cast Detect Magic on him?
                                         
                                        Sure.
                                         
                                        You...
                                         
                                        Great question.
                                         
                                        Hang on.
                                         
                                        Chew a little something.
                                         
                                        Swish it around in my mouth.
                                         
    
                                        All right.
                                         
                                        You do detect a slight magical presence about him.
                                         
                                        It would be maybe...
                                         
                                        Hmm.
                                         
                                        You're not very skilled.
                                         
                                        In magic itself, you've got kind of a, better than a layperson's understanding of magic,
                                         
                                        but really you only know enough magic to do your job.
                                         
                                        Yeah, I know it as a component of monster hunting rather than as a sole focus.
                                         
    
                                        Yeah.
                                         
                                        This is, the magic upon him is not anything related to your area of expertise.
                                         
                                        So this has got nothing to do with monster hunting.
                                         
                                        That's all you're able to assess.
                                         
                                        There's a slight whiff of abjuration magic about him, which is a magic.
                                         
                                        of protection and alteration.
                                         
                                        So it changes the nature of things
                                         
                                        and it protects things.
                                         
    
                                        I say as much to Iono.
                                         
                                        I mean, there's something going on here.
                                         
                                        Some kind of abjuration magic, I'm thinking.
                                         
                                        Why, do you think this man is dangerous?
                                         
                                        I don't know.
                                         
                                        I guess we've got two options.
                                         
                                        The abduration magic makes me think
                                         
                                        perhaps he's something else transformed.
                                         
    
                                        I don't know.
                                         
                                        Or that he could just be a member of the Wizards of Wines.
                                         
                                        But his yelling previously,
                                         
                                        felt like a trap, so I don't know if he was compelled to do that or what, but it's probably
                                         
                                        best to, I mean, whoever's this person is, he is unfortunate. We should cut him down.
                                         
                                        Yeah, well, that's what I was going to say too. All right, the two of you untie and or cut
                                         
                                        the man down. Plus, there's like five of us and only one of him, if anything does go wrong.
                                         
                                        He falls limp. He, there's no strength to his body whatsoever. I don't know if I specified
                                         
    
                                        this before, but he's old.
                                         
                                        He's human, quite old, advanced age, like maybe in his 90s.
                                         
                                        This man is ancient.
                                         
                                        How are you doing?
                                         
                                        You speak common, I say?
                                         
                                        Well, I know you do.
                                         
                                        You're speaking it before.
                                         
                                        He continues to babble in that language.
                                         
    
                                        He, he, you can see some great trauma has happened to this person in the recent, very
                                         
                                        recently, and he, he's kind of withdrawn within himself.
                                         
                                        He's not processing information.
                                         
                                        You don't think you're going to get anything out of him today.
                                         
                                        Have people started to settle?
                                         
                                        up a camp? Yeah, you look back
                                         
                                        and Cavendish
                                         
                                        you're not sure where these
                                         
    
                                        came from, but you see that three
                                         
                                        neat and identical tents have
                                         
                                        been erected. Okay. You know, yeah,
                                         
                                        like I said, you're not a hundred such a sure where those
                                         
                                        tents came from, but they're there now.
                                         
                                        Does this guy see him like you'd need to be carried?
                                         
                                        Yeah, he's not moving under his own power.
                                         
                                        All right, I'll, you'll grab his legs,
                                         
    
                                        I say, and I'll grab him under the arms.
                                         
                                        Okay, you, with Iona,
                                         
                                        carry him back to the tents. You can
                                         
                                        see Corub and Lusher
                                         
                                        have been sent purposely possibly
                                         
                                        as far away as possible.
                                         
                                        Good to hear.
                                         
                                        Though distantly you can hear
                                         
    
                                        Wizard Supreme
                                         
                                        or like wizard
                                         
                                        piss. What could they be doing?
                                         
                                        What do they think they're doing?
                                         
                                        But whatever. Either Pipsch is glad they're not here.
                                         
                                        And I'll dump the guy down on the ground
                                         
                                        and be like, this is the fella that was
                                         
                                        sort of strapped down over the well.
                                         
    
                                        He's very traumatized.
                                         
                                        I can't get a word out of him, but maybe somebody else
                                         
                                        here will. I might go check the
                                         
                                        Well, I'm thinking.
                                         
                                        Iona kneels down.
                                         
                                        As soon as the two of you place this man on the ground,
                                         
                                        Iona maybe, like, with just her foot,
                                         
                                        kicks out a bed roll so that you're not just lying him down on the cold ground.
                                         
    
                                        Yeah.
                                         
                                        But as soon as the man is lying on the ground, she kneels down and she starts tending to him.
                                         
                                        Nice.
                                         
                                        Cavendish comes over.
                                         
                                        He's got his weapons slung over one shoulder.
                                         
                                        Would you like assistance with that?
                                         
                                        Yeah, probably.
                                         
                                        And also, I mean, we should stay here tonight because I don't want to, you know, be tramping through
                                         
    
                                        Well, I figured we would be, yeah.
                                         
                                        Yeah, but we're going to need to find wherever curlover is, you know, entombed and deal with that as well.
                                         
                                        My understanding with the vampires is that, yes, once you beat them outside, it's kind of a race for time, right?
                                         
                                        Step one, yeah.
                                         
                                        And we also need to make a stake from a tree in the forest around here to stab her, according to the flowchart.
                                         
                                        Right.
                                         
                                        Okay, well, if that's how it works, that's how it works.
                                         
                                        Yeah, that's how it works.
                                         
    
                                        In matters of shoemaking, I refer to the cobbler.
                                         
                                        Yeah, well, exactly.
                                         
                                        My name's Ryan, this is my best friend Tony,
                                         
                                        and together we do the Tony and Ryan podcast.
                                         
                                        Montreal, bonjue.
                                         
                                        People right across Canada are listening to our daily podcast, though,
                                         
                                        but don't just take our word for it.
                                         
                                        Jamie from Vancouver.
                                         
    
                                        I think people should listen to the Tony and Ryan podcast
                                         
                                        because they are hilarious.
                                         
                                        There's no better comedy than Australian comedy.
                                         
                                        They are unhinged.
                                         
                                        Thank you, Jamie.
                                         
                                        But just be warned if you're going up for a walk,
                                         
                                        you might laugh.
                                         
                                        your ass off in public, but it's worth it, trust me.
                                         
    
                                        Oh, yeah, be safe out there.
                                         
                                        Yeah, take it easy.
                                         
                                        Yeah, listen to Tony and Ryan every day.
                                         
