D&D is For Nerds - Barovia V #8 To Test a Theory

Episode Date: September 5, 2026

There is no formal name given to worship of the One Above and the One Below. It is a strange religion and one not well known outside of the small pockets of the multiverse where people practise it. Those who believe see themselves as part of a grander cosmic food chain with the One Below being the source of their power. They feed on one One Below to power their minds and bodies and souls and spells. In this way the One Below is seen as a creator god, a fertility god, or a god of harvest depending on the context. The One Below is conceptualized as different entities depending on the context such as a worm, a deer, or a chicken. Adherents then see the One Above as feeding upon them when they die to fuel its own power; the One Above acting as a god of judgement, true death, or even renewal. While similarly to the One Below there is no definitive depiction of the One Above by far the most common form is a giant bird. This is observed through works made by the Grung people who are the most prevalent, but certainly not the only, adherents to the faith. Common death rites involve exposing the corpse to the elements and scavengers so that the soul can pass seamlessly up the cosmic food chain.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.

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since puntradia forward slash and then a backslash why not our friend's an idiot let this one tell that one a tale the story of great heroes Maroon without a sea, stranded in a place of nightmares called Barovia, the antagonist, a creature known as Strad von Zarovich.

As all great epics, someone must die. Either Strad or are heroes. It's not until like the morning that you finally leave. Before I leave, the sticks that they see your men have. The muskets, rifles, yes. How quickly can you teach me how to use them and how many can you spare? Well, how many can I spare is, you know, it, he gives you that wiry smile and he says, I am officially not allowed to state property.

I am officially not allowed to give you any, but, you know, things happen. Things can fall off the back of a cart, you know, that sort of thing. I could supply as many, depending on how much you're willing to pay, I suppose. But as for how long it takes to train, that would be some time. It is a difficult weapon for people who have never experienced it. Okay. Well, show me anyway. In this time, I guess, because I, Pyrrion is not needed as my lawyer.

But at some point, during the, like, the chatting of like druids or that kind of jazz about learning, like, I was like, one moment. I want to go to, just to take period aside, just to be like, always explain, because he's very familiar with all the whole, uh, boucher stuff and the device, just to explain very quickly that I'm trying to get the engineer to build something, to shut that down as humanely as possible, to try to kill anyone that's going to do that kind of stuff. Pyrrin, as you describe, blah, blah, blah, blah, yes, that's a great idea, a great idea. You get to humanely, he's like, uh.

Yeah, well, all right. He's just added, like, yes, like, extra layers of complex. actor. They're not sentient. Just the ones that are. Do you care of a three dies? How many people is that? Yeah, from memory quite a lot.

Well. Tiren, just, anyway, I need you as whatever else you've been doing. It can catch me up in a minute, but just look after him. I can do that. I can babysit. Do you have any idea how easy it is to baby? They're, heck, a gun tears a werewolf apart. It's crazy.

Huh. It really is. Whatever they're firing, it does not care about magic. Like, huh. So it more powerful than what Cavendish has been doing? It feels so, perhaps. Do you know how to use these things? It's a little complicated.

I know how to use it, but something keeps going wrong. How so? Well, he produces from his pocket a pistol. You, I mean, obviously you wouldn't. No, you wouldn't use this word necessarily. But you've seen Cavendish wielding one of these. And you've seen some of the soldiers here have them. He puts it underneath his chin and then obviously, he's pretty confident he knows what's about to happen.

But you freak out as he pulls the trigger, it clicks and nothing happens. Right. It's loaded. Obviously, I don't know what that means, so I have no reaction. He explains to you the purpose. the point, or he explains to you, maybe not so in enough detail that you can necessarily do it, but it gives you the basic

idea of gunpowder, a musket ball, and then you pull the trigger, and, you know, kind of like the mechanical way, it makes a little flint, strike a little piece of steel, which causes the gunpowder, yadda, yadda, yadda, yada, yada, yada, yeah. It doesn't work when I do it, though. It's like I'm cursed.

Interesting. Well, look after the engineer for me. I'll be back later. All right. Anything else to, I guess, film in on? It'll take a while, but I have more, yes. I guess, like, yeah, in the proceedings with this chat to be like, he needs to go often, you know, find some information, or he needs to go and, like, you know, check on some things,

as in the captain. Yeah, speak with, with Perrin to be like, what's been happening? Peron explains to you just the process of, He was like inspecting Fort Sand. He watched as they drilled down. He saw as they extracted oil. He tells you a bunch of stuff.

He's been through the portal a few times now. All right. Whoa. He explains to you what they're doing with the oil, but that's nothing new to you. You like yada yada your way through that. He explains that like the military seems to be working really closely with this Borovian electric company. It's very obvious that Cap the man, Admiral. sorry, not captain.

The man that you spoke with at Castle Ravenloft, Admiral Cutter, is the, the owner of the Barovian Electric Company, with some split-off people, some other trustees and whatnot. But he's also very powerful within the Kandini's military. And it looks like maybe he is the Greece that is letting these two corporations, these two entities work together. Okay, okay. It looks like you get the distinct impression that Kandor, the king in Kandor, is no longer really in charge.

Okay. It looks like it's fallen to just people with power. Interesting. Yeah, very, very foreign concept. I worked for decades to do what corporations finally succeeded at, supplanting the power and candle. Hydale is no longer the seat of Cantonese power. Well, I suppose it is.

The crown is no longer. Who is? Well, Parliament, he says. This is crazy. The people kind of rule themselves, but only if you're rich, and he seems really like he's liking it. That makes sense to him.

It does. That's how they should have been this whole time. People, vote. Rich, if you own land. You vote. Right. So the landowners vote for them.

They vote for representatives who go and... And then he does big quote marks, represent them in Parliament. And of course it is all above board and no one's greasing anybody's hands with... Well, you see, here's the amazing thing. They make it legal by passing laws to say it is. It's amazing.

So you're telling me in the future They commit a crime And then they just write it to be legal So you're telling me In the future They legalize crime Oh yeah So no one is committing a crime

Something like that I suppose If you're rich enough You can yeah Oh right right So the crime Great if you're poor You're still Well you know

The poor gets some justice I suppose You know A poor person kills another poor person There'll be arrested and charged for murder and whatnot. There is still crime, I suppose. But yeah, if you're powerful, you can avoid a lot of it.

What you're describing is, it doesn't feel like a utopia. He kind of stares into the middle distance, I guess. I don't think I want to live in a utopia. Be out of a job. many poor? I suppose, yes. Name a point in history and a place in time where there aren't poor

people, Hector. I just... I just thought you were saying it... You're only rich when you're in comparison. That is fair. And so I guess with this oil and I guess the poorer are at least somewhat better off than

the richer now time? I suppose it depends. There are amenities available to these people that the kings could not have in our time. They're certainly cleaner, probably. I wouldn't say that. I guess it's the industrial revolution.

They're certainly sicker. I guess you can't stop progress. Did you find out what they wanted to do with my blood? Oh, no. That doesn't seem to have any business interest that I've been able to deduce that spa. That, so everyone within the little cadre trust that the Barovian Electric Company, they wanted this oil stuff, but the blood doesn't, it seems to be perhaps a pet project of Admiral Carter. Okay. Do you know what the oil is?

Yes, it gets turned into like a coal, not like a hard, like coal, it's a fuel. Yeah, yes, but you know what it is made from? No. I tell him. He laughs. That makes sense. Enough idiots have died in this land Sure have, huh

Well, let's not join them If you could, I just gesture back to Arnold Just I'll look after him Make sure he doesn't do anything to World-changing Pyrrin nods slowly There's a significance, but you don't know what

And then I guess, yeah, wait Or when the captain gets back And then be like, yes, Please show me how to use this Pistol You very quickly discover that whatever curse is afflicting Pyrin is afflicting you as well. It's something Captain Fawcite seems very genuinely shocked by. He runs you through, he tells you everything that Pyrrin told you.

He maybe goes into a bit more detail, but it is terribly... Oh, no, actually, it's not that complicated. You get a basic rundown of how it works. Like a mechanism, an elastic band, essentially, wound up inside. the mechanism. When you pull the trigger, a flint strikes steel, which ignites gunpowder, which propels a bullet forwards. He runs you through that and then shows you how to load the weapon and use the weapon. And then when he runs you through it, he stands like hands you the musket, takes a couple steps back, puts his fingers in his ears, and then as you pull the trigger,

click, click, nothing happens. Huh. I just click, click, click, no matter what, like, click, click, click, head it back to him Does he fire it? He, yeah, he's like Oh, there must be something wrong, I apologize. He hands it over to like an armourer and he's like, get me another one. And the armourer being waxedaisical with the weapon,

it goes off in his hands. You quickly work out, if you're holding the gun, it won't fire. Yeah. So I can't fire it. Neither can my lawyer. Has anybody From around

This is strange I have never known I was better as a question Which is like Has it you know anyone from Barov Like anyone like not part of your army Used it but I guess

Why would they Why would they So it's like Have you had any Interaction with any of the Locals Anything like that Some as I said

With I bought them from going To the town After wild stories Came back I'm curious Do you mind loading? Can I, yeah, do you mind just, um, you could just load one for me? He loads one for you. Thank you. And I sort of, I want to take it with, and like, just, um, well, I want to take it, basically.

Sure. Just to be like, all right. Well, uh, thank you very much for all your, um, hospitality. Was there anything else that we need to discuss? Uh, not, it's a moment. Well, um, thank you very much for everything. Uh, it's one moment with my lawyer. Just go over the period and just being like, actually, probably would have informed the, the captain to be prepared for going to war with war. Yeah. I mean, that theoretically could happen within the next couple of days, if not 24 hours.

Completely forgot about that one. Well, you actually don't even really need to tell Forsyth. The understanding that you had with Carter is, I believe, that he was supplying you troops. So Captain Forsyth is like, oh, I have Buzanasi permissions that we needed to be combat ready. I have 2,000 soldiers. within the fort, ready to march out upon your odors. Is there a way to get message to

either Pyrr and this guy that I am probably through Tarpos or something like that? Probably, maybe, anyway. It should happen any day now. So be prepared if... We are maintaining combat readiness. We will be good to go whenever you wish. Good. Pleasure to meet you.

The pleasure was all mine. He takes off his hat and gives you a deep bow. I give him a curt nod. I guess, yeah, save by either... Save my pleasantries to appear in or have already done so, and I just open up a portal and then walk through it. And this is like, we're morning time. Or we still haven't really hit morning. Sweet. Open up the portal and walk through.

Okay. Back to where I left. I hope. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Unless Pip, you have been basically the, well, Hector's been gone the entire night. Is there anything you would have done special? I think I would have told people. I don't know who the fuck.

I think the entire camp has heard your argument. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so. Well, then... Maybe, yeah, you know what, after Hector leaves. Yeah. Who, I guess Cavendish wonders over. I'm just like looking at the space where he was. I just, you know, these are the kinds of things we should be discussing,

not just sort of gallivanting off and making these big decisions. I mean, the engineer is, you know, an individual of such power. and just put him in the hands of people that Hector kind of trusts? I don't, you know, I'm not being crazy, right, Cavendish? Well, I will admit, having gotten to know the engineer, Arnold, for a little while. Yeah. I suppose I trust him to make rational decisions, but that's kind of it. Yeah, well, that's what I mean.

If the Cantonese say, oh, actually, Arnold, we'd rather you do this. It's not like he has loyalty to us. No, it isn't. Truly just on a whim, you know. Hector has an idea. Off he goes. Let's enact it straight away. I guess, you know, some part of me, Cavendish, has this fear, this internal fear that

Hector is changing, you know, but the more I think about it, God, I don't know if that's true. I think it's hard to state he hasn't changed. And I mean beyond physical appearances. Yeah. His time and bouchers obviously affected him quite deeply. Yeah, I suppose. I suppose so. I suppose the question is just not how deeply,

because it's clearly very, but did Hector return is the question, I suppose? Well, I think that's a good question, Cavendish. And look, he might have a couple more scars and a little less hair but to be honest Kevin is he still seems like Hector to me disappearing on a whim

with the sort of express goal of helping people but without thinking much about it I don't know it strikes me very Hector it's a strange mix I suppose I would assume if I were in Hector's position

I would assume a level of distrust perhaps he's been betrayed and certainly many people in this party and Cavendish very briefly his eyes focus past you to maybe Tarpos in particular and then come back to you there are people in this party who I suppose we could be said to have a common goal at the moment but that's kind of it

so I guess he has justifiable reason to distrust members of the party but that being said you can't rule without the consent of the governed. Yeah. Well. Not for long, at least. Yeah.

I don't know about that, Kevin Dish. I don't know if we've ever really had the same goal. I think maybe in so many. You mean you and Hector? I mean, all of us. Well, we're heading in the same direction. Some of us have aligned directions. Yeah, but the same goal, that I don't know.

Well, look, at the very least, I would like to know when he's coming back. if he's not back by morning we head off without him there's no question of that I would concur with that Hector is an important ally but I don't know if this is something you need

to roll for Cavendish but I think that when he says that to Pip there's an expression however briefly on Pip's face where he's like I don't know if that's true but sure he looking at your face you can't tell if Cavendish notices your expression

or not but either way when he says an important ally, you have a very quizzical expression. And then Cavendish continues. Rude. An important ally, but not an essential one. No one within this party would... What we've set in motion at this point isn't stopping. Oh, no.

It's do or die for pretty much everyone here now. Yeah. And that's why, you know, ideally, if they're not important or necessary, they're at least reliable. You know? Yes, he says. I suppose that's more my thinking. Anyway, look, we should sleep because we're heading off in the morning. It's just, I'd like gesture at the space where Hector once was. Just a little warning, you know?

That's all I'm asking. All right. Do you do anything else? Unless anybody approaches me, like, to talk about Hector disappearing or anything like that. Probably not. No, I don't think so. Iona and... They're like asleep. Yeah, they're asleep in each other's arms right now.

No one else is really like up, you know. I guess maybe I go to Cribut actually if Cribut's awake. Yeah, you find him the same way Hector found him, prodding at his own face. How are you doing Crivet? This one, he says through a burp, is finding that this one's Tommy hurts. I sit down in his tent and what have you been eating? egg Right

Another egg Only eggs Not only eggs Primarily eggs Primarily eggs Yeah I don't know if you know this Cribut

But the digestive system That you currently have Is not designed to eat whole eggs Frankly I don't know If your grung digestive system Was designed to eat whole eggs But it's only held up better than this one Oh

Maybe cut down on egg you think I would say so and cook your food is probably another idea. You might have salmonella at the moment. Oh. Salmon. He writes that one down, egg. Yeah. Like, because I ate egg.

Yeah, I mean, raw chicken does it too. What about raw fly? How many you eating? Yeah, one. I mean, like, okay. Well, I mean, you swallow the occasional fly, and you're right, but I imagine. Probably anything more than 10 is going to upset your stomach. More than 10.

Yes, I would say so. That might be it then. Maybe raw egg fine. No. It isn't. It isn't. It's catching the flies. Damn, he's quick.

It isn't. You've got a whole new digestive system to think about cribbed. You've got a whole new body. You know? This one, no, have new body. No, no, I know. I'm just saying that's the package. Yeah.

Yeah. This one, did this one know much about, he points at you when he says this one and then the second time does this one know much about this one's new body? Well it's hector's old body

right I know that much this one is starting to think that protagonist is not trait of body but trait of hector the yes I would imagine I mean

slash pip obviously well maybe I don't know about that But yes, I think, I think from what I understand, protagonist to meme, that's all Hector, no matter what body he's inhabiting. As he says, gesturing at you. Sure. This one has arc. Yeah. This one learning.

Yeah. I guess. But I mean, the same. Welcome back, General Mandarin. But surely the same could be said of you, Kribert. Learning difference. Yeah. Different learning.

This one learning, egg and fly, maybe not good. That one learning maybe found family can be good. Maybe I should rescue sister. Maybe brother. Don't think I'm learning that. He laughs. Maybe brother good ally. Maybe.

My past messed me up not in the way I thought, but in different way. This one learning, and he puts a hand on your chest, maybe love exists. Thank you, Krivet. I like take his hand off my chest. But I think it's also pretty rich for you to say that your experience is different to mine. You're in a whole new body. If that's not a threshold, Krippett, I don't know what is. Ah, don't quote my own inventions back at me.

Exactly. Anyway, I just thought, you know, I hadn't had a chance to check on you since you came back, and I just wanted to make sure you were okay. This one, this one, strange, new body weird. Yeah. Being dead, strange. Are you, and I know this is maybe a strange question, but are you happy you're back? He thinks of that for a while

You know, I kept thinking What I would have done in Hector's place And I don't know I don't know if It's so right to mess with those forces But of course, in doing so, he brought you back And, you know, despite everything, Krivet, you know, I am fond of you

So I'm glad you are here But, you know, some other part of me wonders Should you be? I don't know Death was bad, awful place. Cribut suffered when died. Many spirits mean could argue much suffering is fine to stop other suffering, I suppose. Yeah.

But I don't know. One could argue my story had finished. Yeah, well, that's, I suppose, what I was thinking in so many words. but then it is Borovia. You know, it's not like you're going to go to grung heaven. Grong heaven is to be eaten. Yeah, right, but that's not going to happen. I become the bird.

Right. But that's not going to happen here. You know, that you'll just get trapped in the sieve. No, bird can't find me here, as Ribbitt found out. Anyway, that's just been on my mind, I suppose. Glad you're okay. He nods. we head off in the morning

with or without Hector I don't know all right I'll turn around and leave the tent and then I guess I'll go back to my tent with Tiny and I'll lie down next to him unless Tiny was with me that whole time Tiny was waiting outside the tent yeah okay all right buddy

like pat him on the back let's get some sleep tiny stands up and wanders over yeah all right and sometime near the morning you have a very fitful sleep you hear within the camp as a bit of commotion occurs as you, Hector, arrive back. Pip, that would probably wake you up.

Well, I get up and I start packing up. I'm getting ready to head off. I don't say anything. Tarpos might be the first person to greet you. Gorob and Lushin, in their little, in their little, in their bark armor, you see, they have like a clipboard and pen, and it's quite clear that Tarpos was dictating to them, and they were writing stuff down.

Okay. I glance at the board is it of just like Do you read or write Dwarven? Oh, they speak it in Dwarven. They wrote, well, they made notes in Dwarven. No, no, I do not. They're not literate in any other language.

That makes sense to me. Awesome. Tarpos is the probably the first person at least to greet you. Tarpos. Actually, no, Tarpos probably was already walking in your direction like she knew this was going to happen.

Tapos. Speak. at place? Yes. They stop? I shake my head. No. She turns and walks away.

Fair enough. First Pip. I'm packing up. You can see Pip packing up near Tiny. Put my backpack back on. You see the huge silhouette of Tiny and you assume Pip is nearby. I walk over. Pip, do me a favor.

Hand you a gun? Yeah. Can you... Did you take this from Cavendish? No. Oh, I guess the Cantonese. Yes. Can you fire it.

at a tree basically like not at a person Can you kill tiny Pointed at this This bug man You slided me Just gesture like Like a clearing

Where there's like no one around Do you mind Could you just try to fire this At the tree here? I quite of briefly Explain how it How it kind of works You use a crossbow

It's probably gonna have A lot more kick than you're used to But the process is similar I'm testing the theory All right I like yeah Find some space Where I'm not gonna hurt

anybody and I... A bunch of the druids... Oh, sorry. You say what you were saying. Or maybe... Can we get Cavendish for this as well? You could call him over. All right. And hang on. Yeah, I want to call Cavendish if I can find him.

All right. You call for Cavendish. He is probably... He comes over. He's got like... He has his own like metal traveling utensils. He's got like a little bowl with some porridge in it. And he's kind of casually eating the porridge as this is happening. Just try to... All right. I say to Cavendish,

cockback the hammer. pull the trigger. He nods. Okay. You pull the trigger and click. Nothing happens. Is it broken? It's broken.

It's broken. It's broken. It's broken. Right. Cavendish, full mouth of porridge says, it could possibly be the water. He says,

gesturing around. If it gets wet, it can be stuffy. Right. Cavendish, do you mind trying? He... I hold, like,

yeah. Yeah, we do it as a porridge or that kind of stuff. Do a bit of a switchover. He takes the weapon. He clears it out. to make sure there's no wet material. And then with all, like, all of his own stuff, he loads it, aims, and then bang, it explodes and a bit of the tree is broken away. Yeah. I'm almost like,

don't clear it out. I just, I didn't want him to do it. I just wanted him to grab it and shoot. I don't want him to, like, do anything with it. I really want to test this to see if it's, uh, if he goes to clean, I'm like, no, no, no, no, I just want you to point to shoot. So, well, you hand it to him. and he makes like he's about to start clearing it out. No, no, no, no, no, no, sorry. If I just need you to just, with everything that is there, it is loaded, trust me. All right, but if it didn't fire for him, it's probably wet. Maybe.

He aims it at the tree, pulls the trigger, bang! It explodes and a part of the tree is demolished by his shot. Huh, you probably just had a misfire then. You're lucky you didn't blow your own hands off. I shake my head. No, no, no, no, no. It is, there's something about the mechanism that, I guess, people from our time cannot use it. I cannot use it.

Pyrin cannot use it. He puts the, or he leans, like having the weapon now standing in front of him, he leans against it. And he has a very quizzical expression when he says, no, that's very strange. Try, oh, no. One by one. Cannot? I was like, actually, load up a little. of your guns. Can I use...

He loads his gun and hands it to you. I try, shoot it. Click. Hmm. Pipp? Yeah, I'm sure it's going to click. Click, click. Right. Try a Ono. I mean, you're a war and Asimier. I'm a dragon born.

Pyrrins a Tifling. None of us are human, but Cavendish and Cantonese. That is a good point. Sorry, who's next? I know. Iona. I know. Click. Yeah. Well, there goes that theory. Where's a theory?

Yeah. By now, everyone's, there's like a small crowd has formed around you out of the druids and then also your traveling companions. Like, Ioia is not the only person here. Elaniel. Hector. It's not Hector. Cribut. You want Cribut to fire it next? Yeah. Click. Yeah. Well, again, get the gang in. Get everyone just trying to like become a bit of a puzzle. Gorub and Lushin, as Iona was the last person to fire it, as she hands it to Gorman Lushin, when they take a hold of it. Ah! They scream and drop the weapon.

You can see their hands are smoldering a little bit. They start blowing their hands. You fool! You devil! You idiot! They start yelling at each other. I guess they're kind of druids now, sort of. Presumably then it's got to be something to do with the time Cavendish came from, right?

I would assume. I mean, that's the common denominator. Cavendish shrugs. I simply have no answer for that. Yeah, I don't... It's strange. I don't know. Some element of the mechanism, you know?

things from that time, not working in this time. Maybe it's because we're in the past. I don't know. You see, with it in the mud, Tarpos stares daggers at it. Like, it's done her a slight. Cavendish, I guess. Add another one of rifles, yes?

This would be a musket, he says, holding it up. It's not important, the difference. It's an older weapon for me. Well, you can add a musket to your... He slings it over his shoulder. Let's... Shall we... On to the lodestone.

On to the lodestone. Arnold is designing, hopefully, something to... Stop watch his device. We have a parent overseeing him. Good choice. A choice. Good choice. All right.

I'll, uh... I'm going to go stand next to tiny. Move away from Hector over to tiny and walk alongside him as we march to the lodestone. In such a large group, you're not really harried by anything. The lands of Borovia, actually, and in addition with Hector at your side, the lands of Borovia don't bother you much. Yeah, okay. And moving in such a large group, in addition, it is not hard for a lone rider on horse.

horseback to follow you, unbeknownst to any of you. It could be so many guys. One of us is going to get a dagger in the back. It feels like, you know. Yeah, it was only a matter of time. On your travels, you eventually reach a giant set of gates, you would say. A pip, you already know what these are. And Hector, you have never actually, I think, seen these.

but you kind of spiritually know what they are. These gates, it's not an actual wall, but imagine if a wall, imagine the set of gates that you would find in a city wall. There's those two towers with like a portcullis in between. If the portcullis was down, you could very easily go around. But this gate marks the beginning of the township of Borovia, or the area of Borovia known for the city. These gates, past these gates, the Slavich Woods kind of thins out a little bit, and it becomes a lot of lowlands, a lot of grass, a lot of what was once really great farmland, but is no longer.

You passing through the gates, every one of you feels, well, with one exception, every one of your party feels a, like a weight settles upon you, which is Strad's eye. If you were to mention his name outside of these gates, he would be aware. And if he wanted to, he could focus his attention anywhere outside these gates, anywhere within the lands of Borovia. But past these gates, he is aware of you. And that weight is his eye forever upon you. There is nothing that can happen past these gates that he is not intimately aware of. Hector, for you, it feels like coming home. Yeah, you just stand a little tall.

Yeah, as everyone else hunches. Yeah. And not long after you pass through those gates, you begin also heading steadily south towards the city of, where once stood the city of Berez, where you know the final lodestone is. Do I have a chance as we march to try and get any ingredients, giving it a plum out?

Or is it like that would slow us down. No, the procession moves slowly enough that you could if you wanted to. Yeah. You also know there is, it wouldn't even be a huge deal if you wanted to, Pip, you could divert from the main group to

the old bone grinder, where you know a trio of hags live, who would have if you had, if you were interested in trade, they could give you a slew of ingredients. It would be a real paradise of ingredients. What do they want in return?

That's the question, yeah. I've dealt with hags enough. You could also kill them for their ingredients. You've also dealt with that bone grinder, but I think, for memories, maybe where you left a certain bigfoot pole. Yeah. Yeah, maybe not a place I want to return to so much. Well, you know, it would have a wealth of things there.

Yeah, well. You got a host. Huh? Yeah, we have a host. A host? Yeah, an army. Oh, that's true. If the army diverted there, it would add quite a lot of fewer.

This is already going to take a while. I don't want to force the army to do my bidding like that, but I would like some ingredients. Yes, I could just go with tiny. How much time would it take for me to divert out of the... You would not slow down... Like, you would be able to catch up without too much difficulty. Maybe I will then.

Yeah? I let everybody know. Okay, as we march, I say, hey, um, Pop. Sort of cleaned me out of materials, and I, for the fight that's coming, I'm going to need them. So if you don't, me and Tiny, if you'll accompany me, obviously this Tiny just stands to me. We're going to divert.

The old bone grinder's wealth of material. And we'll catch up with you in a couple of days. What are you doing in the boat, Grender? Well, there's hags there, and we'll try and maybe kill them or just try to make some kind of exchange of some variety, just so I can replenish. Well, probably not. I mean, that's not the ideal route.

How many other? There's three. But we might be able to steal from them. Look, we've got options. Did you need any assistance? I don't want to divert too much of the army for this. I mean, this is a small thing. Hopefully two, three days.

It's fair. I mean, they can accompany you. I don't know if, I mean, again, it's sort of nothing, Hector. I think it's better for you to stay here. We've been up against the hags before, and it was hot. enough, I think just they won. Are these hags particularly difficult to deal with? Yeah, you would be dealing with some pretty tough hags.

Honestly, then I probably wouldn't do this. If they're that intense of fight, then... Well, maybe intense for just you and tiny, but if you brought more members, it probably wouldn't be too hard. But I don't want to divert everyone. So probably, again, if it's something me and tiny could do, or I could do by myself, I'd do it, but otherwise... Just you and tiny if you weren't caught, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Again, if there are hags here, I mean, not we deal with them? You're welcome to come along, Hector. It's up to you. I mean, I just, I don't want anything to happen to you. I appreciate your concern.

But, I mean, ideally, me and tiny, in, out, steal the, you know, the materials of the hags, and then we rejoin the army later. Just going into steel, why don't you see if you can grab one of the druids? I'm sure they could transform into something small. get in and out. Tarpos wouldn't mind lending me some. Tarpos, if she's part of this conversation.

Yeah, for you she'll help. Okay. Hags are not like a good thing for the nature. What is the nature of, what is the nature of hags? Well, hags are fay folk. They naturally forming, I guess, in Borovia. Not really not. Is it kind of like you see a hag?

You should really deal with a hag. They're a pest. You wouldn't describe them as a pest No, hags are like a weird kind of cross Almost between the Shadowfell And the Fay Wild They are Faye

But they are also of the Shadowfell They are a bit They've got kind of like one foot In Borovia and one foot out of it You would say Also, how They are evil Yes

Hags, I mean not to a one You know, there are they are a diverse community, but you know the ones at the old bone grinder literally eat children. That is their food source. I guess I don't know that yet. The bones in the old bone grinder are those of children.

Yeah. That's what you were there with Bigfoot Paul about. Yeah, cool. How far away are we from the lodestone? From the lodestone? Your host would still be maybe, like a five-day march. Why don't

take myself Cavendish in the couple of Druids, we can break off and deal. If you and Tiny want to go into I just deal with to divert too much of the host. We're not that you wouldn't be diverting the host. Cavendish speaks up. He says, I think myself or Tarpos

could lead this group in one or the other's absence. You probably shouldn't take both of us. You could Tarpos might know the lay of the land better. I might be the better fighter. Beyond that, I really don't know if I could venture much of a assistance. Dustryals somewhere in the area, she might be able to help.

You just don't think... It's kind of a waste of resources if anyone dies on what is such a sort of... Yes, but if you die, I mean, if there's three hags, I mean, you can go in and out, but if so, there's trouble, at least you'll have, say, myself or a couple of people there just ready to come to your assistance. I don't want to. But I mean, just for me to acquire

a couple of ingredients? I mean, you just said it. You're a potent fighter, Pip. I think it would be tactically prudent for us to make this diversion. I would say, my suggestion is perhaps yourself, tiny.

Hector is undeniably useful and as you're As your little zipper trick proved, should you fall too far behind, Hector's a great way of catching up? And then perhaps myself or Tarpos, and then the rest to stay with the group. Cribut probably isn't, it needs to, Cavend just like looks over his shoulder and Cribut trying to climb a tree and then sliding down. Cribut probably needs to adjust to his body a little bit more. Or perhaps Elaniel, beyond it just being tactically clever,

Elaniel, he says, looking over his shoulder and over at Elaniel, who you can see has been, for the last couple days, all of you have noticed Elenial's been in a bit of a stage. You would describe her as being very fucking mad in the last couple of days. That's fair. Elaniel doesn't really get along with the dream. Druids. Their hatchet is buried, but it's still an eyesight. Maybe a few days away from the druids just might be good for it. I mean, if you want to stay here and we take Eleniel. Between myself and

Tarpos, we can keep things focused. And I'm assuming I owner is not going to separate from Elenial. She could be convinced to separate. I'm sure I could make an argument. I know I have that sort of a relationship with her. But if you want Iona, if you think she's useful, I mean, of course. She's always used to. Well, then, I think it should be Tiny, the two of you, Elaniel and I own. All right, yeah. Let's do it. Let's make haste.

Get in there. If it looks hairy, we bail. Again, I don't want to waste too many resources on, you know, something that might not even matter in the long run. Fair enough. All right. I like to say, as we're giving.

So what is this bone gride there again? It's like a... They call it that because it's full of children's bones. What? It's just the hard cut. Just like

just glaring at you and you just you didn't want to stop this. He tried. I gave it a crack. No, now. He tried. He tried.