D&D is For Nerds - Barovia V #13 The Wait

Episode Date: October 24, 2026

As you might already be aware, war is mostly waiting. The fighting takes less than an afternoon. But the waiting? That takes weeks. And it gets into everything. The bread. The boots. The tempers. So we pass the time as we can. Dice, mostly. Some play cards. Others prefer the monotonous task of whittling.Young Torbin has written three letters home and posted none. However, it's music that keeps us human. Corporal Belmont plays a weathered and poorly strung fiddle. And he plays it badly. Yet the entire camp pretends otherwise. Last night several of the dragoons sang an old folk song. No one in key. Yet for several verses no one was thinking about the river. Or the cold. Or if the person next to them won't be here tomorrow to join in our songs of victory or defeat.I do not know when we will pick up our swords and spears and defend this land with our very lives. But until we do, I will wait and insist Belmont to keep playing.- Recovered from the Field Journal of Captain Morrow Longacre. Dated eleven days before the Massacre at Greywater River.If you supported the Jarren's Outpost Board Game, check your emails to manage your pledge manager! Of course you can still grab a copy right here and we insist you do xx o. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oh, you see no water for miles around? Fool! They've heard this before. Quiet, you don't. A wizard supreme has many things to tell about this nightmare, Borovia. Wizard Supreme? In this place, your pointless titles mean nothing. For the only way to escape is to slay Strad in the manner of a true warrior or die in the attempt. The wraith points at you.

Pip, it feels as if the grave itself is calling for you. Oh, God. Gung! Gung! Gung! Gung! Gung! Oh, God. Your heart is under so much immense pressure that it just gives out. It's crazy to have a heart attack in the middle of combat.

You take 62 points of damage. And... Mm-hmm. You also age. Sorry? What? What? Adam, what did I do?

What did you do? What have you done? What have you done to our boy? The target also ages to the point where it has 30 days left before it dies of old age. What? It reaches out, Pip. No. Can't have a double heart attack.

At that exact moment. Yeah. The wraith lifts up into the air and then. Oh, thank God. Exploers. My bad eyes. Look out into the swamp for Hector. All right.

Hector. Yeah. Yes, Edith. Hey, what, how? What is my terrible eye see? You are, the ethereal begins to fade from your vision. You can hear, as I said, off to the west as someone is singing, and you appear to be in the rubble, the ruins of a town surrounded by scarecrow's.

You can notice that the mist, the fog, that the wraiths. that the wraith conjured, that fog still clings, but is slowly fading away. It looks like two separate entities were creating fog here. That's good. Which is very funny. I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often. Yeah, to be honest. Especially Borovir, I mean, come on.

As the wraith's fog fades a little bit, you can tell that the fog that remains has a distinct yellow tinge. Oh, that'd be the guy singing in the thing. That'd be hag fog, my friend. As you eloquently said earlier. Yeah, it'd be the hag fog. That'd be a hang fog. That's a hag fog. You'd likely to find a hag.

Oh, I wonder if it's a, uh, is that a different hair? I'm guessing it might be the different hag than the other. Uh, okay, uh, okay, I'm guessing haest is wear off or at least that's wear off on me. I would say it's long worn off by now. Yeah. I need to run, Adam, away from this and I need to go back to where I, where I... Are you going back the way you came or along the road? Where I came it was like

iced river, right? Yeah. But quicker. Quicker, yeah. By a lot. You definitely know that you've made a huge... You have to be ahead of the Druids now. That's not good.

So the Mondo defenders. They've clocked me? Don't seem to have. I would like to as quietly as I can. Go back the way I came. But maybe I'll do the thing where I disperse my weight. Over the river, frozen river, and hump my way back to party.

Okay. It's going to take you a while as you are stelting it. You ran and with haste, I guess, last time, so. Fuck, fuck, fuck. You, like, action-surged fucking hate when you didn't action-sage. But you were, you were, you were, uh, uh, Hermes that, is Hermes the right god? Yeah. Yeah.

I forget which one's... Hermes, Apollo. I forget which one's the foot fetish god of whatever you got a feat. whatever he is. Is that funny? Is it? Got a feat. You slink back

into the marsh. You can see you are in a forest of arms stuck out of the mud. They're not moving anymore. They're dead, dead. Yeah. But it's kind of unpleasant to look at. And I guess walking through it is like walking through like

reeds made of arms. Like you can't not touch them. Oh, it's like the, yeah, it's like the Lord of the Rings. Yeah. I want you to be like, hello, hello, shake all the hands. Nice to meet you. Hello, nice to me, sorry. How are you doing?

Oh, did we just step on you? Yeah, all the zombies that it's summoned, I'm assuming. They're still now. They're good, good, good, great. And I very slowly, I guess. The bog, Ben, if you will. Yeah. Hector slowly slinks back to your party.

Hey, well done, I say. I just. Pip, you. Pip isn't here. Some old dragon. Yeah, very elderly dragon born greets you. Pip, what do you look like 30 days from death? I imagine it's like the scales that are normally golden are like faded to like gray

with like very little like it. Yeah, like just at the edge is maybe like the remnants of gold tinge. I imagine that I have like in my joint like where the skin is like because it looks quite loose on me now because I'm quite frail where the skin is bunched up. You can also see like, you know, like. like when a snake or a lizard sheds its skin wrong? And there's like kind of like peeled bits in those kind of like folds and stuff. Yeah, that's all like kind of full of peeled skin.

And I've hunched quite a bit and yeah, like very frail with the skins hanging very loosely off me. Was there another one? Another. You, you sacrificed your age? No, it's just a really annoying thing that the rates can do. My eyes just what age is. They can do that? I'm 30 days from death.

But I've sent off a message. It'll be fine. To who? I don't know. As Hector gets closer, you realize the mist has hidden what has happened to him. The form that resolves the being you see is shaped like Hector. And because it is shaped so similar to Hector, you realize it must be Hector, but it does not look like Hector anymore. The once smooth purple skin is now mottled and flayed.

In between the cracks, you can see as negative energy spills out, like steam or magma might spill out in between the cracks of the earth. So it's a question, I guess, now that I guess someone else is observing me, the cracks and that, that's just from like, so the large majority of what I am isn't really hector, right? The large majority, that's still what it is. Yeah? Yeah. It's just those parts of me that were once Hector. Hector, yeah. That's all mottled and cracked and gray and dry and I'm assuming itchy.

Painful. Painful. Oh, chapped. Yeah. Okay. So what is in my, I guess, because I ripped out the eye. What's in the socket? In the empty socket, Pipp.

Yeah. Burns the hateful light of the naked. negative energy plane. Does he look malicious? Like, I know it looks malicious, but does he look like he's basically, you know, because I think it would be very reasonable for Pip to assume he's done something. Now he's finally come back evil. There is a malice now to Hector. There's like an inherent evil hanging about him. Yeah. Is it, there's an inherent evil, but I guess my expression is more Forloin and... Yeah.

Yeah. Are you... Forlorn. Forlorn. Forlorn. Forlorn. You know how... What color is the negative...

I got curiosity. What color is the negative energy? Your eye would be like a dull red, but the actual light issuing forth from between your cracked skin would be like some... Like a black light almost in appearance. Or maybe... Cool. ...grossed. Or maybe like a grey light.

Am I getting in... Am I going to get advantage in intimidation checks? I think sometimes, yeah. Depending, context specific. So, like, you know. Someone looks at you and they're like, that can't be scarier than distra. Yeah, yeah. I guess I have.

But, no, context specific, I think absolutely you should. You extrude evil now. Yeah. It's, uh, yeah. Well, I have to my crossbow, like, with my old bones. Yeah. And, like, aim it at you as you approach. I look at you.

Pip? Yeah. Right, you've gotten... Don't worry about me. Yes, I had to make a genuine sacrifice. I look down at the remaining, like, you know, my necklace that I sacrificed when I did the same thing. God damn, I got off light. You look like shit. Is it that bad?

Yes. It's honestly worse. How noticeable is it to the rest of me? It's noticeable. Hector, you see your, I was about to say former, still allies. You see your allies are visibly uncomfortable in your presence. I stopped the wraith. Well, I'm glad you did.

I mean, I'm sorry you did, but I'm thankful. And then I'll sit down because I'm tired. I don't know if I'm in any position to help with what's coming. How do we get your... I need Thestrial. That's the unicorn, right? Yeah. I tried to talk to a tree before, but I'm afraid I don't really know how.

Berez is not that far from here. Okay. And looking good? I shake my head. I think there is another hag. Right. What makes you say that? You know the hag fog?

Oh, yeah. Okay. Right. Alice and Mondo, defenders. Okay. Defend many? Like.

Yeah. That's really bad. At least six. That's really bad. And singing, a voice singing in the middle, I think that's probably the hag.

Yeah. Plus you've also got the, you know, the mother of. Anyways. Yeah. Okay. Look, we're not.

We're not doing it tonight. That's just. How is I look around the others? Like everyone's basically healthy. Ironer is. lying very still, but alive. You can see her chest rises and falls slowly. Elaniel has gently moved her to the side of the road and has constructed a small fire.

You can see there's a definite chill to Iona that Elaniel is probably quite concerned about. Concerned enough to light a fire even in this dangerous area. You should check on the children. They're in the reeds. Right. Yes. Yes. I do that. You turn around and both of you watch as Tiny wades back. through the thick marsh with both kids on its shoulders. That's good.

Tiny, gently deposits both of them on the ground in front of you. Yeah, they're on like, you know, their level. You kids are right? They seem quite shocked by your broken appearance, but you have already established a rapport with them, so they don't recoil. They seem more, well, the kids maybe, like, both hug you. They're quite, both of you.

They seem quite like... Oh, careful. Old pips, bits are sore out now. Old pips, bones aren't what they used to be. I hobble over to the fire. Yeah, we gather the kids. Maybe just kind of like holding the kids, trying to get them to, I guess,

hold them, rock them back to sleep or something like that, give them a sense of warmth and comfort. Just to be like, you know, I guess we rest now, we shouldn't be too far away from Tarpos. Yeah, they'll be on the way. Hey, maybe Tarpos can do a greater restoration. I don't really remember.

Tapos can at least she could be able to talk to the trees Talk to the trees Yeah Or in, I mean like Tomorrow I mean I can probably take you to Thastiel if you need What?

It's like a month away Yes It's sort of what I did with Arnold Oh I appreciate the offer Hector But I think I'm good He said to see how fast you can get to you quicker

Yeah Hey if it doesn't work out Maybe we'll think about it, but... It's there if you... Yeah, no, no. We've got 30 days. Exactly. We've got plenty of time.

I like lie back on my bed roll. I kind of maybe like, you know, like take your hands and just kind of like try to comfort you a bit. You're like on your shoulder. Yeah. Thank you. It's going to be okay, Pippi. Oh. It's going to be okay.

Yeah. I say it. And I kind of like, do you gently. recoiling you sort of move out of your touch. I think... You go to sleep. It's okay. You rest.

You rest. I don't want to die. I've got shit to do, I say. We've always got shit to do, Pip. That's life in Borovia. God damn it. And then I'll lie down on my bed roll. Go to sleep.

Your rest goes by largely uneventfully. Thank goodness. You, um... No, it goes by uneventfully. No, it's an annoying thing happened to me, Adam. It's fine, you're fine, you're fine. The night goes by uneventfully. Don't worry, I wouldn't do that to you.

Wink. But yes, you are still a little bit behind the host, the horde, should we say, of druids, making their way south towards Beres. You know that you will move at a faster clip. them just by the fact that you're a smaller group, you can move. Pip, you'd know this better than anyone. With your years of wisdom. With your ancient...

And it must be stressed. Venerable ways. Yeah. It's the age category you're in now. Venerable? Yeah. There you go. Four age categories.

Young, adult, old and venerable at the age categories. I'm like physically just thought, right? Like I can't fight. Any physical action, you will take a basically disadvantage to any physical action. I get up and I go and take a massively enlarged prostate piss against a tree. That's funny because normally you'd get advantages to intelligence or to mental things, because you haven't actually lived. No, I've not lived those years.

I'm just physically weak. And as I do so, I would like to... It's all downside. Look for Ravens, I guess, to see if maybe I'm getting a... response, but also as I piss against the tree, I hope that's not disrespectful, I put my forehead to it and try and access tree realm to see how if anybody's got my message or if anybody can come help me. I get a bad boycott. Oh, no. Tree realm proves elusive to you, Pip. You're pretty sure, you don't need to roll for this. You're pretty sure it takes longer than a day for a raven to

reach Valar guy. Okay. So you, you, you, you know, you. You're pretty sure. You're pretty sure it takes longer than a day for a raven to reach about a guy. So you think, unfortunately, it might be a couple days before you, before the Raven even gets there to give you a response. Right. Well, after I assume a long and very interrupted piss, I come back to the... Although I don't know if a lizard has a prostate, really. But anyway, I rejoin the camp. Well, you're not really like a lizard lizard.

Yeah, but I'm not a human. You know, I got different guts. That's true. I'll, yeah, I guess I'll rejoin the camp and see how everyone else is doing. During the night, Adam, I guess, could I have, like, try to fashion myself some sort of, like, hood?

Just, like... I'm sure you've got a hood. Like a mask, a cover-up. Oh, hood. Yeah, just... You said it weird, so I heard it weird. I thought you said hood. Yeah, hood.

Hood. Wood is what I was doing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I don't think you'd need to roll for that. Yeah, you probably got a hood. I've got winter clothes. You know you will still extrude evil, right? You can't cover that up with clothing.

So I'm just letting you know what you look like now. Hood, extruding evil. Hood's not good, dude. Yeah, who's not good. Just letting you know that is how you're... Oh, annual. Just letting you know this is how you're coming across. Okay, okay, all right, the hood is a bad day.

Maybe during the watch, I'm like, perhaps a hood and I put it on, like, mm-mm, no, no. No, no. Like a smiley face with some lipstick. That's what the joke looks like. He's a bad dude. Right, right, try, try, right, right. What about a festive eye patch? Yeah.

A festive eye patch. Now, that's funny. You can, yeah, you can put it on an eye patch if you want. But I mean, what do you have the... That does impede your vision, though. Oh, I can see out of it. Yeah, oh, you have vision out of it. Oh, I can see out of it.

Yeah, it's not great, brother. It's not great. I guess what you need is like a full suit of armor with faceplate. Yeah. Because if you add that... Then I'm going to look like... We can look evil no matter what. Yeah, no, but it exude evil, so it'll be like an evil knife.

Yeah. No matter what you do, you're an evil that. Yeah. And I guess, is there... What would you recommend? Yeah. Yeah. I don't take this out.

I'll put it up. Anyone on watch that wakes up. At least... Ideally, so I don't get attacked on sight. At least a mask might hide your physical appearance. Which is horrible. Yeah, like a mask with like a... Like one of those...

Again, a smile. Like a happy... I would go blank. I would go blank. I wouldn't put a smile on it. Not a friendly... I don't think... I think that will make you appear...

Take it from me! In the night, at a certain point, Horn guard returns. Oh, he reformed. Yeah, at a certain point, in the night, Horn Guard returns. You see, it's a different body, but from his voice, you can tell, and maybe also he announces himself as Horn Guard.

It looks, he is now inhabiting the body of a slightly dumpy old man who looks like he died drowning in a bog. Nice. Everybody's getting old. Yeah, yes. I guess in the morning, I'll explain, I mean, you can continue on to Bray's, but I think if I come with you, I will, like, I'm 30 days from death, but if I enter any kind of fight, I'll...

No, you're... You rest. Yeah. What was Horn Guard going to say, sorry? We interrupted you by... There is no way to conceal your nature. You must embrace it or destroy yourself. Really seems only one option.

Horn Guard kicks over his old corpse, or what's left of it, I should say, and starts stripping it for past. That's funny. It's not going to fit him. The armor does indeed not correctly fit his new form. Well, yes. You're... I mean, we can stay here until we get a message from the Raven. How's everybody looking? Your party's pretty beat up. Elaniel's pretty badly wounded.

Elaniel is cut up, bruised, battered. She also looks like she's been aged. maybe. Oh, like a little bit? A little bit, yeah. Honestly, your entire party looks like it's been aged a little bit. Iona is hurt.

She's a bit bruised and beaten as well, but she looks mostly fine. Tiny's a bit cracked, I know. Tiny has been healed almost completely by Iona. Okay. I mean, Tiny has that huge split in its armor, but aside from that, Tiny isn't bleeding, isn't bruised.

It just looks like an all. battle scar now at this point. That's it. So it's Elaniel looks the worst by far. I mean, you know, sorry. Well, Hector is almost impossible to quantify. Excluding Hector, Elaniel looks the worst. Then Iona, then Tyne. How far away would we estimate the hostess?

You'd catch them today. Okay. Yeah. Again, I start like kind of repeating, I guess, what I saw in the battlefield of like the Mondo defenders, the hag and. Mondo Defender's God Monde defender there was like There were multiple of them you were saying

Yeah Yeah that's bad All right let me have a little Singing hag or something On those lines Yeah As you As you pack up and leave

It begins raining It begins monsoon It's so heavy That to move today Will exhaust you Cool Before, I guess, the giant monsoon, unless it's a surprise monsoon, was there any like buildings that have standing? Because I don't think we would be moving much today.

Given Pip's, I guess, fragile bodies. I think the idea would be to hunker down. Hunker down. ...hold up in some kind of... Partly because I'm worried that, you know, the Raven will take too long. so I just don't really want to leave Pip because I am a bit of a last resort for him right now. From memory, I believe I described some ruins

at the side of the road where you put the two kids, but aside from that, there's no standing buildings here. Okay. Could we make something out of those ruins? You could make a lean-to. You could try making a shelter. Are you just making it, for lack of a better word, are you making it normal style?

What does that mean? Well, you've got hours. You control. the world. You could make it not monsoon, maybe. Yeah? Normal style? Normal style? No, no worries. Let's just go with normal style. What's your survival? Heck. That's probably something we've never rolled before.

That can't be true. That can't be true. That's no way that's true. Your survival is neat amazing. But you got a Nat 20. Get a good boy card? Yes. And Hector, I'm going to say, Pip, do you have survival? Yeah. Pip, you're pretty good at survival. Yeah. Pip, not only, you're pretty good at survival. Pip, you. Pip coaches you through making, not just a lean to, but making a proper shelter. A lean two would be just enough for you to... Get a month.

You got a door, but... Right, right, right, right, right. It'd be like using my, like, the weapon that I could summon, like, changing into a shovel, changing it to a... To a trail. Yeah. Elaniel is able to create, through magic, a bonfire, which the rain keeps trying to put it out, and she keeps recreating it.

And through that, do you remember Joel Zammett? Yes. Do you remember that video that made you feel like a weak, effeminate city boy? It made us all feel like weak of feminine city boys. That man who made a mud hut from scratch. Hector makes that hut from scratch. With Elaniel's help, creating the bonfire,

maybe Tiny gets in on it as well. Iona just sits near you, Pip, and you are quite infirm. Iona just tends to any need that you might have. Thank you, yeah. But your group creates an actual mud hut that you can all sit inside and remain dry. That's crazy. There's a little fireplace incorporated as part of it, which Elaniel creates that bonfire in there. So we can dry out.

Yeah. It's a little, this is the nicest. A little slice of paradise. Yeah. nice little slice of paradise you got going. All right. Go team. Does anybody have a blade that's never touched blood?

Iona and Elaniel mock pat themselves down. Just checking. I start to think like... Um, um... What for? It has been known that a bladed weapon which has never seen blood or known blood or ever worked with blood in the past

would make a sufficient weapon and overcomeeth any defences that a Mondo Defender should defend itself with defensive. Otherwise, it can, Mondo defenders, I assume no one will go for this, but can be satiated by consuming but a single personage.

So we don't want to enter the fight and willing to sacrifice people, but not. They need to give them one person. And you've got two kids. That's true. The, where the Mondo Defenders were, that's where the Druids ideally are going, right? That is where they're

going, yeah. Okay, cool. All right. You might not need to be involved in that. You don't know, but the host of druids might be strong enough on their own. And then Tarpos is the only one who's needed to actually cleanse the stone. Both of you need to make insight checks. Okay. Remember, you're both pretty good at this. Yeah, brother, I'd love to make an inside check.

Pip! Look at the two kids. Myrtle and Freak? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Great names. Yeah, I know. Freak and Myrtle. Looking at the two kids, you can see Myrtle shifts a little uncomfortably when you're asking.

No, Freak, the boy. Shifts a little uncomfortably when you're asking about a knife. Oh, hey, if you've got a knife, that's okay. You're not going to get in trouble. That'll be very helpful. Persuasion. Little boy. Get a good boy card. Holy shit. Yeah, you're doing well. That's rare. Yeah. Rarely pip to persuade well. Freak produces from one of his pockets a, it's like a...

pocket knife. It's tiny, but it is a knife. And you've not stabbed anyone with this? He shakes his head. Okay. You promise? Because if you have, I'm lying to me now, you could get any of us killed. So, just looking at you being like, I exude evil and I'm like, tacked. I'm like, tacked. You managed not to freak him out by saying that. It's okay, freak. Don't worry. It's a pocket knife, guess. Well, it's important to figure out. because if we attack the Mondo Defender

and it's not bad. The blades. What about a, say, a steak? Like a branch that we've sharpened? It needs to be bladed. It needs to be bladed. Yeah. I take the pocket knife from Freak

and I guess probably handed the hack, though. That's going to overcome the defenses of the Mondo Defender. And it's mostly defenses, so that's good. Okay. Well, there was... Did I count how many they were? Or I just like, there's numerous. I have five in my head, but...

You didn't get a count. Yeah. There was a bunch. Yeah. I look. Hopefully the, the way we're heading, do we think that the Druids will pass us or are we... Well, we're in a mud cabin. Well, as in like the way that we came from.

You are... They have to take a longer... Oh, that's a good question, actually. It's like we took a detour. Yeah, you did. Heise or lows, I guess. Let's go with eyes. Hise?

Yeah? Yeah? Yeah. Jack? Yeah, dude. You concur? I concur. Indubidably.

They would technically be behind you at this point, actually. The fact that even though, obviously, they are druids, but it's such a large, it's druids plus a baggage train as well. There are, you might call them acolytes or priests or something like that. There are people with no actual magical power, and there are pack animals and such. They can move faster over land than maybe a normal group there's something. could, but they have to take proper roads, less the animals sink into the mud. You do not necessarily have that problem. As a smaller group, you're able to move faster

and you're able to not take the larger roads. You can take smaller roads. As a result, you are currently ahead. Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, um, like, uh, so we are, like, you're asking if they have to pass you on their way. Yeah, yeah. I knew we were, I knew we were, I knew we beat them here. Yeah. But I just didn't know if we were like came from, say, like, the west and they're coming from the south or something like that. Well, I meant, sorry, I meant that as in to say they will be passing you. They'll be coming from your north. Okay, cool. Okay.

Well, we'll probably just hang out to the host arrives. Yeah. I mean, this information is great. Perhaps when the host arrives, we can let them know. Yeah. And perhaps maybe Tarpos could help you out or at least be able to communicate with. At least talk to the astrial. and then

or maybe the raven will get back to me God you do it all right yeah I mean I'm doing as well as somebody who might die in 29 days is doing

I don't know rough to get a window into what it's going to be like at this age I guess when I am this age the fact that I'm going to die in 29 days will sort of come as a blessing

I suppose everything's aching yeah everything's aching my vision is terrible my bones Can't piss for shit. Imagine if you got this effect 30 days from dying and it actually de-aged you a little bit.

How stressful would that be? That would be scary. Yeah. That would be scary. Do we have any, like, food, I guess? Or, like, I guess we've got, like, rations. Yeah. You've got rations.

Yeah. I was like, I'll go, like, make a soup or something. Yeah, I was going to, like, go have a look for food, but I'm like, yeah. You do that if you were? Oh, you could even get Elaniel to do that. She's pretty good at it. Yeah. Well, I guess, yeah, myself, an elaniel.

will go and look for food. As you step out, if you're like myself and Elaniel, as you step out of the hut, Elaniel looks at you and says, I work better on my own. I figured you'd do your thing. I'd do my thing. Okay, she says.

All right. Can you, she pauses for a second, can you not just call them? Yeah, I suppose. I prefer not to. I rely on that. well it's just you would know

I assume by at this point it is dangerous in the forest if you can have them come to us so long as it is not too uncomfortable good point yes sure let's take a step away from the

you are just letting you know maybe this is like a kind of outside thing Elaniel isn't aware how big a deal it is for you to tap into this power. So she doesn't know that you could, you could go if you access it, just letting you know. So you as Hector can make a more informed decision rather than being without a role actually bullied into this.

Well, no again, I think I have my own plan of ideally, see, I want to do something nice. I was wanting to try and I understand that Brovere is a shit heap. but the idea would be to try to like maybe summon something sweet. Like again, maybe like a, like a, like a, or try and find or summon like strawberries. Okay. For an old man, Pip is what I was trying to do. But I guess in doing that, can I also maybe try and either at least see where a couple of deer are? Sure, you can if you'd like.

Search as you might, it doesn't feel like, it feels like a search for strawberries would come back redacted to you. Fair enough. Fair enough. It's not really something Borovia does. Okay. You might, you didn't roll amazing, but you rolled enough to understand at least that. You might even go so far as to assume that there are currently in the entirety of Borovia no strawberries. That is actually plausible.

Well, they are an outside. They are outside. They are pests. Invasive species. In addition to that, you go searching for deep. and you, it's like your eyes are at a strange angle where you can see a huge swath of the forest, of the slavish woods. And you spot, it's like a little highlighted little pips, if you will, a little deer spotted around the place, and then kind of like a larger herd of deer. You watch very briefly as one and another and another are just slowly taken.

That doesn't feel unusual. That feels like how the Slavich Woods work. That makes sense. Sometimes it's by like a wolf, and when that happens, you're very aware of it. Sometimes it's by a person, and while you can't see, seeing a person is a little bit more difficult, they're not of Borovia in the same way. Yeah. And then sometimes it's like the lights are just turned off. And sometimes it looks like something that should be a deer, isn't a deer, and eats another.

deer. Yeah, I was kind of probably assume other, like, dears are eating deers. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, okay, okay. All right. Well, are there any close by? There are some, not too far away that you could call to. Okay. I'll retract and just tell Elaniel that... Elaniel's gone when you retract. If you, from the sun, you get the impression it's been an hour or so. Huh, I thought she was going to... Look around. Right, well, they were that way. I walk that way, I guess.

All right, you head in the direction of the deer. And I change my, yeah, the hex weapon into a long bow. Pip, is there anything you'd like to do while Hector's doing that? Not really. Probably just rest, honestly, and, like, keep an eye out for any ravens that might be coming our way. Iona takes out a fiddle and stringing it, strums, and you get the impression she's kind of idly playing, but maybe without meaning to, she plays that song that you always play? I'll pull out my fiddle as well and I'll play along. My lover, he is a sailor man, and he gives his heart to the sea,

but after his ship at a strong, steady clip, there's not much love left for me. And we'll just do that, and then I'll probably drift off to sleep. Halfly through. Hector, in among the trees, it's raining, that's monsoonally raining, by the way, as a reminder. In among the trees, every now and then, you see ghostly figures walking in through the trees. There's a malevolence to their nature, but they at no point interact with you. Right, we're in Bres. I'm stupid.

Okay, yeah, okay. Are you making an effort to be hidden as you approach? the deer when you get close? Yeah. Yeah? All right. You unfortunately don't do a great job. You, as you get close to the deer...

I roll it with advantage. You can spend the card. You get close to the deer such that they're in some dense foliage, but you know that they're there. You can see kind of like the outline vaguely through the leaves of one, of a deer. It's eating. and is unaware of you. Excellent.

All right. Well, then have a clear shot? No, you do not. Okay, I'll try and stealthily into a position where I have a much clearer shot. All right, you do so successfully. You flank around to one of the sides such that you get a better view of the deer,

but it's like in the bush. So you still, it's the shot. is still slightly spoiled. You can try getting closer, or you could try another angle. Getting closer means kind of like a guaranteed better shot, but it's a lot harder. Yeah. Let's go for a different angle. Bad boycott, unless you have something for this.

Is it a strength-based check? No, it's a dexterity-based check. No. Bad boycott for Adam. Step on a twig. Yeah. You step on its way. The deer's head bolts upright

and then in five swift leaps it is out of your sight and then you hear and you think something else got it. Maybe Eleniel has done her job. Maybe she has found something. I'll wait to see what that was.

That was a deer, not the thing that ate the deer. You're not sure. God. Barovia is scary. I'll wait a little bit, see what happens. Something big walks away. Mondo defenders don't eat. Deer do they?

I don't know. Not as far as I know, but I don't know all the rules. Okay. I'll just head back to camp. You make your way back. I think that's for the best. Yeah.

That's fair. You make your way back to camp and you would get back first. First, Elaniel wouldn't be too far behind you. She has successfully hunted a deer, which she dumps down in front of the hut and she Oh, no, she probably has to bring it inside, actually. She begins field stripping it for food. Nice.

It will need to be very soft for my old teeth. Give me the softest parts. Elaniel looking at you says, In my community, for those of us old enough, fresh meat is the softest. Right, well, my taste buds can't taste fucking anything anyways, so I'll take the... She takes some choice strips off the deer and offers them to you fresh. Thank you, Lanyl. And I'll eat the raw meat. It's probably still not a pleasant experience, even without taste.

But it's easier on your gums than cooked meat would be. Well, that's good. I feel like I imagine I have, like, very loose. What few teeth I have that remain are extremely loose. You got that thing with... Your teeth are currently underline. going that thing that like cats do where their body reabsorbs the truth. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. Thank you. And then I'll settle back into the mud hut and wait for the host. Another day passes, and just after the morning of the second day, you can hear in the distance the many marching feet. Any sign of a raven or anything? No sign of a raven yet. Okay. That's annoying.

28 days. Well, we'll greet the host when they arrive at our mud hut, so they know we're here. Leading the park, riding, maybe there's like a little, I don't know, I don't know, you can determine if this freaks you out a little bit. But riding, you will remember this, Sangor, the giant goat creature.

You see Goroban Lushin. Oh. Halt! Who goes there? Who goes there? You idiot. We know them. I'm too old for this.

I'm way to know them. Look at them. That one cannot be pip, that pathetic old piece of shit. Gross, disgusting, old man, Gorob points at you. Gross, gross, gross. I'm looking past Gorob to see if I can spite the harposs in the crown. It is a, it is a... Ah! Evil!

They both point at you. Evil! It's me. It's Hector. It's Hector. We fought their wraith. Where's Tarpos? As Horn Guard, by the way...

You dare speak to the arch druid? Sorry, who are you looking for? Would Hornguard have made themselves like Scarper, or are they going to like... He would only leave if you asked him to. He's not leaving otherwise. Okay, cool. Probably should have asked him questions for him, but... Yeah, it's for another day.

We can do that if you want. You had a whole day if you want to ask him something. I guess we would have been like, yeah, What is his, what was he doing? He was following us. I understand, he's like, he is an old, so he is a believer in Peña, because he had the medallion. Was once.

Yes. And so I guess I'll, engage him in conversation? Would have tried to engage him in conversation to figure out, yeah, what it is that he's after, what is that we could do? Why hasn't he decided? Why is he not trying to behead me, I guess, is something? thing that I'm curious about. My companions, my fellow knights of Argonvost, they have decreed that you are of strad.

But I know otherwise. I have heard your tales, your exploits. I know that sometimes to defeat the monster, you must steal some of its power. For the first time, finally someone is understanding. For the first time, I'm... I am sorry for my fellow knights's violence towards you. It was not just unwarranted. It is okay.

I find lots of everyone, especially here, is so quick to assume the worst and go straight to a violent solution. But there is so many things that we could, avenues to explore that we don't always have to. They have become consumed with their hatred, their anger. They have forgotten what the light of the morning, Lord, Pena, whatever you may call them.

They have forgotten what that light feels upon their face. Yes. I do not believe in the morning gods, the sun lords, anymore, but I do remember what love was like. That is good. I would assume you have been here for quite some time. He nods. It has been a very long time. Perhaps my order contains the only people who might account for the beginning of this place and its end. and it's Hopefully One day

God's wheeling But Ovia is unique Among the dark places As so Strad's will here Is stronger Than any other Before we came here

We had been to the others Some at least He lists a couple names of places That if you were Quite the Barfly in Valakai, in Kutri, you might have heard these names. He says Bortchre, which obviously you would already know, but he also says, Haslan, a place far from here to the west.

Right. Dementlyu, a place, well, I should say, lesser a lands and more a city, sometimes known as the Forever City. Far out, far out from here. But these places have their own dark lords who have dominion. But none have the power, Strad does. They are powerful, certainly, and more so within their lands. But Strad, he commands powers that they do not. They cannot control the wolves as he does.

They do not have dominion over the druids as he does. His power is unique And I think perhaps His power has kept The other dark lords at bay They vie and fight with each other And sometimes triumph and win But no one has ever beaten Strad

Not in his domain And no one has the walls Spirovia has He gestures to the mists That you can see from From where you are currently It is these mists I think that keep his

opponents out. Do you know why he's more powerful than the others? He shakes his head. No, I fear, no, not I fear, I feel, I hope that this knowledge would be what could crush him, destroy his stranglehold. He has some extra connection. And if we were to learn what that was, perhaps we could smash his will, end his fiefdom. No, he has a connection to the land. Could that be it?

Surely that's not it. It's not all. The others would. They have a power, but it is not like this. I have been to these lands. I have fought their dark lords. Strad is the strongest of them all by far, and it is his connection to the land.

The other dark lords are not immortal as he is. They're not immortal? No. And the other dark lands, unlike here you can defeat the dark lords they can be slain forever there is the lodestones which they are is that why you are here these load stones yes if they are cleansed or destroyed his power weakens but he's also being possessed

by dark entity from the amber temple your order your order was protecting the amber temple yes i did not know He looks very confused for a moment. Oh, we could not have guessed. Strad has breached it already, perhaps, before we even arrived. There was another wraith guarding the Amber Temple. These things, I am not shocked to hear that there was a wraith there as well. That might have been created from the destruction of my order,

or it could have been long since, long before we even came. The wraith is not unusual. but Strad Well the Amber Temple is only in Borovia That's probably it then right It makes sense Perhaps unique to the place Yes

And unique to the man Strad has some connection to this land Perhaps it is in the Amber Temple My order we did not We protected the entrance But we dared not venture inside So he's got the connection to the land through the lodestones

and he has a connection to the amber temple in a way through the entity known as Vampier. He looks very darkly at both of you. Yes, perhaps. Perhaps Vampier has given him. Vampir is the only of these dark entities sealed within the Amber Temple

that is free? He looks kind of questioningly at you. Yeah. You only said, I don't know if, I can't remember if you did an exhaustive search, but the amber that's sealed vampire was the only one that you found shattered. Yeah, that was only one.

There was Father Limic, but that was also been sorted now, I believe. And whatever Eileen was. Well, Aline, you didn't break out. I lean is something else. Yeah, yeah. Yes, it was the only one that was shattered.

That was there. Well, perhaps it is Strad's bargain with Vampier that has done this. If you could sever that connection, Strad, he would become but another dark lord. That is... Kind of working on it. That is the plan.

One more lodestone and this shit with Bortcher and then we'll be on to it. Well, then... Then... Then... I... ...falls. I believe if Strad is the one

that is summoning the mist, keeping everything on at bay, with one more lodestone to go. I fear that that uh... The veil will become weak. Shattered completely, perhaps. And torture will come in.

They have amassed an army. I know that much. We will slay, strad, and then deal with what comes. Horn guard stands, draws his sword. For a brief moment, everyone gets tense. Uh-oh. But then he lays his sword in front of you, Hector. I pledge to you, my services.

May you use me as a sword. as a tool, a weapon against Strad. I will follow your orders to the latter, to your command. Use me, wield me against the devil. And then I may finally rest. Thank you, Horn Guard. I will. I will. Horn Guard stands again and sheathes his sword.

Okay. Few. Cool. Good to confirm. a few things, I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I kind of don't want to let him know about his, like, you know, the headless dragon. I feel's kind of rude.

I don't know. He seems like he might be over it at this point, you know? It's been a minute. It's up to you. I'm not going to let. Oh, I'm not going to let him. Give him that. No.

It's the ass. Why are you at? Yeah. Where's the head? You know what? That's not the middle. It's not our problem. A day part. Oh, sorry.

No, no, no, no. Do you have something else? No, no, no, no. No. Anyway, going, yes. Well, yeah, going back to the precar of a blotion. Yeah, yeah. You dare to speak to the arch druid?

I thought they'd both point and laugh. I start rubbing my snout. Yeah. Is Tarpos anywhere to be seen? No, Tarpos is not yet. Where's Tarpos? I say, for God's sakes. The arch druid only speaks to whom she deems wordsy.

Where's Cavendish? Is Kevin Dish with her? Can you get Kevin Dish? Pushing his way to the front of the crowd. Cavendish appears. Oh, thank God. You fucking idiots. Cavendish sets.

To us. No, to Gorb & Lushin. Though maybe he was mad at us for even engaging in conversation with Garvin Lushin, which would be fair enough. Well, to be fair. Actually, then he wheels around on the two of you. Why are you even talking to them? I don't know. They're the ones in front.

Don't worry about it. Gorlub, Lushin, your queen, archdued commands you. Continue scouting forward. Ah, queen! They ride forward.