D&D is For Nerds - Cult & Worship #2 The Council

Episode Date: December 16, 2023

Our heroes get the lay of the land and decide they cannot trust a single person they have met. Longing de LosAngeles fanboys hard over a hero from the past, Pom Penny Farthing reminisces with the same hero about his dead great aunt, and Drifting Snowflake is deeply unimpressed.Keep up to date with the Jarren's Outpost Board Game by heading to jarrensoutpost.com or checking out all the links here!Want ad-free and even more bonus content? Just check out Imagination Adventures+ on our website or on Apple Podcasts! Music by the ever wonderful Lepidora, you can check out her music here. And head to peddlerspress.store to peruse our D&D themed merch store and help support the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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A very hurried and frantic letter has been sent to the Knights of Carcerate begging for assistance in a place called Fairburn Point. This letter insists that there is a corruption affecting the highest members of society, an inky black evil worshipped at the fringes of where people dare to look. Ah, there you are then! Knights of Carcery, eh?

Is he the oldest man in the world? No, he's about 30s-ish. Someone's been hitting that pipe too hard, if you ask me. Colonel of the Matrix Revolutions, he says. This is Tanya Gideon, he says, gesturing to the half-elf standing beside him. Anyway, let's get the three of you over to the keep. Greeting you at the gates to the castle, entering the building proper,

is an ancient-looking elf, full-blooded. So this person must be nearly a millennium old. building proper, is an ancient-looking elf. Full-blooded. So this person must be nearly a millennium old. Very ancient. Holy shit, like a thousand years old. Yeah. This guy's seen civilizations rise and fall. He wears it well, though you can nonetheless see his age. He's wearing beautiful, resplendent elven armor,

stamped a very thin but strong metal, stamped with his house crest on it, which has an elven rider on a horse attacking a rearing dragon. As you approach, he bows deeply and... Oh Adam, if he's bowing deeply, you know

what I'm doing. I'm bowing deeper. Giving a bow off. Yeah. With perfect respect, my name is Sir Laika Silverymoon. A pleasure to meet the three of you. Knights of Carson. Laika Silverymoon. Laika Silverymoon. Okay.

The three of you, there's no role required. This man is famous. He is a very famous adventurer, part of a group, a very famous group called Sir Grace's Roses or by many other names. It's essentially like meeting a knight in King Arthur's court. Right. And very, very famous. It's like Lancelot, baby. Yeah, a little bit like Lancelot. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Is he as horny as Lancelot? No. So like a silvery moon in all of the tales, and you definitely would have read tales about him, in all of the tales he is described as a very prim, proper, very powerfully lawful creature. He is the tactician within Sir Grace's Roses. No dick.

Big virgin. The reason he's so old, never come. Not even once. I would not be shocked if that was some schoolyard rumor that spread about him. He has never done a come. I do a very deep bow, and then immediately I've read every one of these adventures, Adam. Sure. Because if there's one thing you're learning at Muscle Beach, it's about adventures.

And the way you learn about adventures is you read about them. And then you act them out together. And you do your own stunts. Where is this going? I fanboy real hard, Adam. Okay. Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Silverman, it's a pleasure to meet you all. I'm a big fan.

I'm a big fan. I've read all of your books. Please. Every one of your tales. Titles are not important right now. We're working together on a very important project. You can just call me Lyca, if you will. You can just call me Yarn.

All my friends do. Certainly. Yarn, then... Oh, hello there. I'm Pom Penny Farthing. Tell me, did you ever once fight with my great aunt, Sue the Serial Killer? I feel like maybe she mentioned you one time. Right. The Serial Killer? I believe so.

That sounds familiar. Reminiscent. Atop a mountain in a snowstorm? Yeah, that's it. She killed 40 people that day. She was only meant to kill one, but she really went on a rampage. Yes, that's what she was saying. Screamed, rather, as she fell off the cliff. That's my great aunt for sure.

Lovely to meet you. Hang on. Canonically, did Lyca kill a member of your family? Did she die? I think seriously injured but not killed. Okay. Incredible. But to be fair, she 100% had it coming.

I heard she was only seriously injured in that incident. That's right. She did get up. She did manage to keep killing folks. God bless her soul. Right. Interesting. And then you, Strapper Hillman.

I'm Drifting Snowflake. I know all of Hillman. I'm drifting snowflake. I know all of your adventures. I'm deeply unimpressed. There is no reaction in Sir Like a Silvery Moon's face. He could either be furious or he could not care. It's impossible to tell. I respect that. Well, anyway, the council is assembling.

Please follow me. His voice is incredible. Is Colonel still here, Matrix Revolutions? And all the knights and stuff? No, they stay outside. Get that address, Tom. Yes. Colonel, Matrix Revolutions.

Yes. I would like to write a letter of apology to the man that I ran into while we were walking Yeah, but that one, he's one of the militia out there I described him perfectly, Adam, because I committed his face to memory Why exactly do you think you need to do that? Because I have offended him deeply If you want, I can just... I'll tell him No, it will not be the same

It needs to come from here You can't take here from you. That's not how it works. I don't know if he has an address, but I can get a letter to him. Wonderful. What is his name? Ratten, I believe. Ratten, that's the whole name?

He laughs a little bit. Ratten the Shameful. Ratten the Shameful. What a title. Why the shameful? Well, that's between him and the rest of the men, I suppose. All right, then. Rat on the shameful.

I will ask the rest of the men this. Thank you, Colonel. Much appreciated. All right. If you want, I could deliver the letter to him. I need to compose it first. I will find you with the letter. All right, then.

Will he be just with the barracks? Are the two of you listening to this conversation at all? Yeah, very intently. Eavesdropping, if you will? Yeah. I want that address. I want that thing around his neck. All three of you are suspicious now of the Colonel. Seems like he's on purpose.

He wants the letter. He doesn't want you to deliver it. Oh yeah, yeah. Cool. I got that very quickly when he's like, I'll do it. Weirdo, man. Cool. Great. Suspicious. Good. Can I deliver the letter? Well, I mean, it'd be

the same trouble for you. What I'm saying is the three of you are very important work to be done in Fairburn Point. Should I deliver the letter then? Well, now the suspicion is turning to, are you idiots? Well, I think the problem would be the same for you as it would be for your two friends. Oh, I see, I see, yes.

Yes. I'm trying to save you time. We just need address. I don't know the man's address. Does he live in the barracks with the rest of the militia? He might. I might drop the letter off there. I don't want to trouble you.

You're a colonel. You're very busy, Man-Matrix Revolutions. Thank you for your time. We will not take any more of it. Gentlemen, we must continue to the council. Right you are. Let's go then. I do not trust that colonel at all.

Oh, definitely not. No. The council, there is a large table that has been set out with, you can see there's, like how in a business meeting there might be a little box

of scrolls or something like that. Delicious. Scones, if you will. They've got some food. It's a lot fancier than that. But yeah, they have some food

set out for you to nibble on, just little hors d'oeuvres and whatnot. Beautiful. There's some papers in front of everyone which have some just basic, if you quickly flip through it, there's just some very basic reports, nothing of particular interest, nothing that you note at least. Who sits at the head of the table? They're sitting at the head of the table is, oh well, no one as you

enter. Awesome, can I take that seat? You can take that seat if you want. There are chairs for nine people and sitting down at the table, obviously, the three of you, Colonel the Matrix Revolutions, Tanya Gideon, Sir Lycus Silverymoon,

and then two other people you haven't been introduced to yet. Both of them wear regalia indicating that they are knights. One of them has just a crown with beneath it a symbol of a castle, which you recognize as being the symbol of Hydael, the capital of Kandor, which probably means that this person is a knight of the crown. Not our friend. No, don't trust this beer. She is an Aesimar. Aesimar are sometimes referred to as angel-touched,

so she has angelic blood running through her veins. She herself is not an angel, though. No, no, no. The other one is a dwarf. Her tabard has a sun on it. You're a hill dwarf? I'm a hill sun on it. You're a hill dwarf? I'm a hill dwarf, yeah. You're a hill folk. Alright, that was simply a score.

So, once all of you have been seated, there is still one chair remaining. No one is initially addressing this. Instead, you are introduced to these two knights. The colonel probably does it. These are Sir Majula the Bold, he says, gesturing to the aesimar. She gives you a curt nod. Big bow.

She has taken a vow of silence, so I introduce for her. Oh, how does that work? Do you not talk at all then, I ask her directly. She nods. Fascinating. Look, she's doing it. She is in a period of mourning. The Lord of Fairburn Point fell not too long ago.

Who was this Lord? Well, Lord Fairburn himself. The point is named after a man. This is good information to have. He died suddenly, unexplainably. Like unexplainably like,, unexplainably like, or unexplainably like, Well, he had been suffering for some time

of an illness, a malady of the mind, if you will. Oh, he was sick. I thought he fell from a ladder or something. No, but what ultimately done him in, done him in, what ultimately did him in was an assassin's blade. Well, okay, so you're talking, oh, he's got a madness of the mind, but he's definitely, yes.

Yes. Anyway, Majula has taken a vow of silence until she finds his killer. Sir Dabold, I am very, very sad for your loss. Deep apologies. And I know you cannot say anything, and I respect your commitment to your lord. And then here is Sir Gertrude Stonehand, a knight of Penia.

Out of the cloth. She could be our friend, but also don't trust. No, no, not you. I know that you don't trust a soul, so I'm directing this to Damo. I think she's quite lovely, though. I think they are all very beautiful. Yes, you and me.

Or G, later on. Do not threaten me with a good time. Gertrude, she says. Deep bow. You're sitting at a table. Adam. Deep. I push the chair back,

bow, sit back in the chair again. Okay. It's ridiculous, but I do it for both of them. I am yearning de Los Angeles, but my friends call me yearn, so you may call me yearn. You too, the bold one, you find your voice. She nods. Both of them nod, though Gertrude is the only one who says anything. Yearning, pleasure to meet ya. I've done my

introduction. And who's this strapping young man? I blush to the very tips of my hair. I say, well, hello. That's a lovely thing to say. I'm actually Pom. Lovely to meet you, Gertrude. Where does your family hail from then? Mine are from Stone Beach, he says.

That's the capital city of the Nation of stone. A very heavily dwarven nation. Oh, some lovely stone in that area, I hear. I've not been there myself. Only the best stone for us. Well, stone as lovely as you are from the sounds of it. Did you say pom? Yeah, that's right. Wouldn't be pom penny farthing, would you?

Hey, that's me. You've heard of me then. I don't mean to say? I don't mean to say I don't mean to give the game away too much, but I was good friends with your aunt. Oh, which aunt would that? That wouldn't be Sue, would it?

Because she knew lots of people. They didn't last long, but she did know them. Oh, yeah, it was Sue. Good friends until you know, it all happened. Yeah, I know. Don't get me wrong. I know plenty, yeah, it was Sue. Good friends until, you know, it all happened. Yeah, I know. Don't get me wrong. I know plenty, yeah.

The poor thing. Rock hit me on the head like that. Anyone might go into a bit of a rage. Tell me about it. You know, we love her at home. Yes, she definitely murdered. There is the whole murdering thing that she done. You know, the best of us can go down that road if, like you say, get hit in the head.

So thank you very much for your lovely condolences. No worries whatsoever. Well, I look forward to working with you as well. Oh, you and me both. And then, of course, she says, Hello, I am Drifting Snowflake. Do you carry knife? She pats herself down.

Yeah, I think I have one here. How sharp is it? She pulls a knife out of her boot. Well, I like to keep all of my equipment in tip-top order. A hidden knife. I do not trust this one. Just say that out loud. Yeah, cool.

Good. Oh, you're being ridiculous. She's lovely. Oh, look. They eye my spots. I give Drifting Snowflake a wink. We're on the same page. I do not trust a single person in this room.

Is your eye doing that thing again? He doesn't understand winks, though, I think. Who, Snowflake? Any eye activity is very suspicious. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm trying to wink to you and be like, I am a spy. I also do not trust a single person we have met today, not even the two of you completely.

Also, you're a lizard. Your eyes are constantly doing crazy shit. In a perfect world. Your tongue is licking on fire. I don't have eyelids. I lick my eyes. In a perfect world, my teammates are blind men, just a team of blind men.

Now, so Gertrude Stonehand doesn't properly pick up on how serious you're being. So she does something that is presumably going to cause problems down the line. But she pulls part of her, she's wearing armor, and she pulls the armor open just a little bit, just enough so that you can see it's got a fur lining to it. Oh no.

And she says, oh, don't worry about that, dear. I wouldn't be interested in you. I've already skinned a tabaxi. Oh, Gertrude. She's joking.ned a tabaxi. She's joking. Yes. Yeah, okay. Now, the two of you, Pom and Yearning,

no role required. She's clearly joking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But Drifting Snowflake, I leave it up to you. Yeah, it's rabbit fur. Drifting Snowflake, I leave it up to you to decide how serious you're taking this. Do we immediately hold him back? How worried are we right now? Not necessary, but may I?

Yes. Pull out my sword and put it down on the table in front of me. All right. That is probably a bad thing to do, simply because Gertrude takes that as, oh, yeah, he's getting the joke. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She is not seriously thinking that you- But I don't think, I don't get that. She thinks you're just joining in on the joke. Yeah. She is not seriously thinking. I don't think I don't get that.

She thinks that she thinks you're just joining in on the joke. She doesn't realize that you will cut her head off. If she continues sword on the table, the Colonel stands up. Well, uh, as we're only waiting for one, I think it might be fine if we just begin at this point.

Or is this one? Oh, we're still missing. Is that chair further away from the pelt lady? The empty chair? Yeah. Sure, yeah. Yeah, can I walk up and take that seat?

Okay, yeah. Thanks. Have you left your sword where it is? No, I have to carry it. Now it's over my shoulder. Okay. The one we're missing is our master of masks, a spy master, if you will.

Her form's kind of the same job that you might do as an informatore. I'm a researcher. What are you talking about? I'm not sure exactly why she's late, though you will still meet her eventually. I look at him and I'm like about this being broad

yes so you have met he is interrupted by Radora Galleus Remus the largest woman you have ever seen steps into the room oh man I want to marry this big woman.

She's dragonborn, so she is part dragon, if you will. She looks like a dragon-human type hybrid almost. She steps in. You're shocked that you did not hear her coming. She is so loud. She is very good. She stands easily triple the height of you, Pom,

and maybe a head taller than you drifting, Snowflake. She's quite large, and with broad shoulders to match. I give the Adam. So my bowels were deep. My face is actually touching the floor of the council chamber. Does she have scaly skin? Yeah.

Damn. That's what you want. Hello, my name is Snowflake. I introduce myself to her. Ooh, straight a snowflake. Respect. You can't skin that. Pom, she says. Yearning. My friends call me Yearn, which you can too.

Yearning. I'm still bowed. Intuition, do we have any, because obviously we recognize her as a woman. Yeah, this is the woman I spotted. So is there any level of suspicion on any of, obviously you're very impressed over there, Yearning. My brain is more going, it's her job. Okay, right.

Again, I don't trust anybody in this room. Yearning's whole thing is that he makes a great spy because he's very friendly to everybody. He trusts not a single person. Okay, interesting. That's how it works. Radora sits at the open chair, I guess the head chair now. Head of the table.

Yeah, head of the table. She shifts a little uncomfortably, and you can tell that the chair is simply not made for someone of her stature. Was the one that Sean moved to made for someone of her stature? No, it wasn't. None of them here are built for me. It's so funny. It was like a proper chair built for a dragon.

Well, anyway, I suppose now that we're all here, we should get to business. So, first things first, the three of you obviously have been invited, though we know not by who. A knight. I raise my hand. Are we allowed to eat these sweets over here? The pastries and such that you'd set up.

The Colonel gestures. Sure, yes. I get out of my seat. I make a big deal about walking over and getting a pastry. Anyway. Could you pass me one of those? Yeah. Do you want the chocolatey one or the one with the shine on it?

Is everyone kind of paying attention to this? Yes. Great. I'm clocking to see if I can see any neck laces, anything that might be similar to what I saw outside. Anyone wearing anything that might have a similar symbol or pattern to what I saw outside. Anyone wearing anything that might have a similar symbol or pattern to what I saw outside? You can see there is quite clearly the, you don't see anyone's actual talisman that they might be wearing. Because a lot of people here are wearing armor.

The two knights, the knight of the cloth, the knight of the crown. The colonel. Like a silvery moon. Yes, like a silvery moon, correct. Like a silvery moon. Yes, like a silvery moon, correct. Even Radora Galleus Remus, the spy master, she would also be wearing light leather armor.

So even she, anything there would be concealed. You can tell both of the knights of the crown and the cloth, both of them are wearing talismans, but you can't see what they are. And it isn't unusual, especially if a knight of the cloth is wearing a talisman. Yeah, no one else, just the two knights. Just them, yes. Though, as business is being conducted, the colonel kind of gets into a little bit of conversation, just basically reviewing everything that's in front of you. Nothing necessarily of a lot of import.

Just a small investigation was done to find who it was that sent you the message and they can't figure out who it was. Just to figure out who has this evidence. Yeah, who they need to kill. Yeah, and then also some preliminary investigations have been done, but a lot of it is very inconclusive. That being said, while this is happening, Tanya Gideon, you can see as you're scanning, you can see that she has some tattoo that is partially hidden by her robes. It looks like black tendrils sticking out from underneath her robes.

Great. Okay. Time to make a fool of myself again. And then finally, so like a silvery moon, at one point runs his hands through his hair just to fix it up. And as he pushes his hair back, you can see that there is a black tattoo underneath his hair. Does it look like it looks similar?

You just see pokings of black, that's all. I'm cataloging all of this. And it's just you're the only one who's looking for this. Well, I'm looking for this while you guys are doing the pastries and everyone's kind of paying attention to you, and I'm using my very small, weird body. Good. So we have two.

You see the colonel is very hesitant to say two. Two possible leads that you could investigate. Unfortunately, both of them, well, they might be occurring tonight. So... What does this mean? I leave it up to you, the experts, to decide what might be best. Yes. Alright. The first one,

I have received word through my guardsmen that an unscheduled shipment or shipments have been made and are being made at the ports. One of the dock workers we interrogated over this. At first, we weren't sure this had anything to do with it,

but one of the dock workers we interrogated exploded during the interrogation. When you say, you mean, boom! Yes. The love blood. Yes. I wasn't there personally, but the soldier who did see it, who was interrogating, who is currently on administrative leave, said it was like a black mass was wearing skin.

This does not seem like what people do. The ship we have in question, the ship we are suspicious of, is a vessel called the Dirty Mistress. Has anyone else on that ship exploded then? Well, we thought it best to wait till you arrived. With your help and your ship, the gallant rider, we might be able to intercept the dirty mistress before it makes port again. It's scheduled to come in.

Well, sorry, there's no schedule. We suspect it will be arriving sometime tonight. Alternatively, the colonel says, looking at Tanya Gideon. Tanya stands up. This is the lead she was talking about that she doesn't want to go directly to. Tanya stands up. The colonel sits down. As I have already informed the knights, I have been detecting strange magical fluctuations from the coal storage warehouses in town.

I believe someone is conducting a ritual there at night. These fluctuations, whatever they are, I cannot tell the specifics. All I know is that they are reaching a crescendo, which I believe, again, is to be happening tonight. Very interesting. Can we have

a quick huddle? Are we allowed to have a little chat? Do you want to have a private conversation away from the rest of the council? That's allowed, yeah. Obviously. The knights just need to have a wee little chinwag. Are there any other

strange going on that you'd like to discuss? Everyone at the table is quiet for a while looking around at each other. Can I tell that they are but they don't want

to share them? Is that painfully obvious or are they just trying to think of it? It looks like people are just trying to rack their minds. Yeah, it doesn't look like anything necessarily untoward. So like a silvery moon leans forward and says, I haven't anything unusual that I've encountered,

but that is not in itself unusual. My reputation means that not many people are willing to come forward to me with information or suspicions. Information because they're afraid my... Because of all of the daring do. Well, they're afraid I might wrap them up in it. Guilty by association, that sort of stuff. And then people don't like to come with me with suspicions because I don't like suspicions. I like facts. Redora Gaius Remus says,

I have encountered nothing untoward, but my network is limited. I am new. The attack that claimed the life of Lord Fairburn also killed my predecessor. Everyone at the table looks around and there's a little murmur that goes through. You get the impression this is a fringe

belief. No one else is backing her on this. Do they think she did it Adam Alright so Sir Majula the Bold Is staring at her With a hatred that you Know what that must mean

Yeah yeah yeah Oh okay I don't think she Did it but that's too obvious That's too easy Sir Gertrude just pipes up and says well I haven't got anything specific that I'm worried about but obviously this isn't

my area of expertise while I find myself in opposition to such forces I I don't have the expertise the three of you do so I'll follow in your lead on anything fabulous yeah alright well I think we're going to yes yes the three of you do, so I'll follow in your lead on anything. Fabulous. Alright, well, thank you. We're going to... Yes.

Un momento, por favor. Alright, so we had a lot. So I don't know about this Tania. Did you boys get a whiff of maybe kind of looking down on us a bit when we were waking our way over here? What, she has tattoos? What was that? She has tattoos. She has were waking our way over here. What, she has tattoos? What is that?

She has tattoos. She has tattoos. She has tattoos. Just on wrists here. I don't really know. It could be tentacles. Oh, more tentacles, you say. Also, I think maybe

the two knights are wearing symbols similar to my friend, but I cannot prove this. They could just be wearing holy relics. It is hard to check. And also,

the elf, who I do not think we should fuck with just quietly. But if we have to, no one is above suspicion. Even the great legendary Hirmo elf who I do not think we should fuck with just quietly but if we have to no one is above suspicion even the great legendary Hirmo who I love

Hirmo hero whom I love he is not above suspicion he also has tattoos do you suspect him as well then big time that one

you suspect everybody should we kill them all no I think we might need a few facts before we go off and do that. I also think that the silent one, she thinks that the dragonborn killed the lord. Oh, now that is interesting.

I don't think the dragonborn killed the lord. Why is that then? I don't know. It seems too easy. Okay. I know Adam. He's not easy. For this ship, right, all the way or warehouse, we've got one of two options.

I think the ship. I don't know if I trust her or not. I would like to go to a ritual. I just think a ritual is very spicy, you know. Come on, lots of good stuff. I would like to read something to you, Damon. Okay. Just to explain why I'm going to vote really hard for the ritual.

So the ritual is the warehouse one. Yeah. So there's nothing I like more than a good mystery. Yep. I love a mystery. A man exploding is enough of a mystery for you? Yes, but however, most people scream and run when they see a demon.

I stop and I take notes. I want to know what they're summoning because that sounds very interesting to me. I just remember that my ideal is beauty. I love all things beautiful. And I think everyone is beautiful. I like to know my enemy's capabilities before rushing in. So I think we should go to the warehouse and study what's going on.

Yeah. I think it's a bit easier to go to the warehouse and get an idea of what's happening rather than get onto that boat. Yeah. I also think that perhaps- Can we do both? Well, no. So the boat- Our boat can go to the boat.

Because he's the gilded- What's that boat called? The Gallant Rider. Gallant Rider. Gallant Rider. Ken, what's it called? The gallant rider. Gallant rider. So our captain, we can get word to our captain. You investigate the boat. Okay. There are sailors on board.

Yeah. We go the ritual. What I suggest we also do at some point is go to the nearest tavern and see if we can get in touch with Latham. Right. Oh, yeah. Well, wasn't our boss getting in touch with Latham? Wasn't that the deal?

Latham apparently knows to go to the Gallant Rider. Okay. Do you have paper and do you have parchment and ink on you? Always, yeah. When we go back, we are going to play a game. You are very suspicious and you are very watchful. I'm going to need your eyes drifting. Okay.

It's called drifting twice. Wait, what the fuck? Anything for you yeah no no retracted yeah it explodes yeah just come I'm dead

I'm dead there you go Adam make a new character so my my theory is what we're gonna do is we're gonna have a discussion

we'll go back and we'll I explain all this my plan is and we don't have to do this if you guys don't want to. Okay. We'll go back. We'll discuss the pros and cons with everyone.

I think we want to go ritual and instruct the boat to intercept the boat. Yep. While we're doing that. And then we'll, we'll, we go question them once they've caught the boat. Like we'll just like, well, you don't need to stare at that. We'll, we'll suss the ritual out. I'm going to just doodle while you're talking. Okay.

Okay. And I'm going to, while I'm doodling, draw the tentacles that I saw on the pendant. Then I'm going to see what everyone else's reaction is to my drawing. Okay.

Okay. That's what I'm doing. Have you told us this plan? I'm telling you this plan. I need you to, you know, I need you to be watching. Yes.

And I need you to be explaining pros and cons why we have come to this decision. Yes. All right. All right. We are a good team. Okay. We are a very good team. why we have come to this decision. Yes? All right. All right. We are a good team. Okay.

We are a very good team. Let's go. Let's go. Yes. What would doodling be as a check, Adam, or are you just going to give it to me? What do you mean? Like artistic ability. Oh, um.

Sleight of hand? No. I think you can just do it. Okay. I'm not going to make it a roll. The plan is to return to the table. Pom, you're going to distract people by just yammering, basically. Explaining the plan, yeah, just talking away.

Meanwhile, Yearning is going to draw a picture. I'm just going to be sketching, and then it's slowly going to morph into that tentacle thing just while I'm thinking through the plan. Is your plan to hold it up and shock everyone with it, or can people see it while you're doing it? It's like I'm on the table, and I'm just kind of drawing absently. And it's clearly a symbol.

And I just want to gauge if people are like, what the fuck is he drawing? Yeah, okay. So here's how it's going to work. Okay. Now, obviously, Yearning, you're kind of going to be engaged pretty much in this little piece of art that you're making. Pom and Drifting Snowflake. The two of you are going to be the ones Surveying the crowd

But Pom Because you're on purpose trying to keep People's attention and engagement You're going to be rolling a disadvantage Which just means I roll twice And take the worst result Not a guaranteed failure but Not doing necessarily

The best you could be Drifting Snowflake as the person person who can just focus on the crowd, you've got the best chance, basically, of reading these people. Juicy. So good luck to you. Thank you, sir. And then I'm just going to say, Pom, you're chatting about, well, give me some examples of some things that you're saying.

So, yeah, thank you, everyone. We had a little huddle. We've come up with a bit of a plan here. What we're going to do is we're going to go check out that warehouse, see what that ritual's all about. So that's what the three of us knights will be doing. And then our boat, right, it will go after this other boat and hopefully no more explosions.

But they'll be out there on the water. You know how boats go. They go on water, and they'll try to get ahead of them and all that sort of stuff. Meanwhile, we'll be over in the warehouse, like I said, sort of sussing it out

and seeing if the magic flow was all skew-iff, like the young lass said over there. Pom and drifting. First, you focus on Colonel The Matrix Revolutions. And you see... Sorry, fuck you, Adam. I just... You see from his sitting position his eyes briefly,

casually glance over at the drawing, register what's happening, and then turn back nonchalantly. Interesting. Not phased at all. Yeah, you can see Colonel Revolutions doesn't seem to be terribly off-put. He's like, okay, he's just doodling whatever. That's surprising to me. Anyway, yeah, good. Tanya

Gideon, at one point you both spot Tanya Gideon as she also registers what's being drawn. She has a very, what the hell? Confused and maybe a little worried. She doesn't understand properly what's happening here. And now it's made her a little bit on edge. Radora Gaius Remus. She's probably going to want to arrest you, babe.

I've been arrested before Alright, at this point Pom, you She's harder to read So you can't pay enough attention To really get a look in But Drifting Snowflake, you see She looks over, clocks what's happening

And immediately you see Gears are working in the back of her mind. She's registering this is a very strange and unusual drawing and a strange thing to do generally, and you can see suspicion raising in her. She's very, very torn up by this. It seems like she is now suspicious of you. Of me? Well, of you, the royal you, if you will. Sure, sure, sure. So Majula the Bold, Drifting Snowflake, you're too busy focusing on Redora now and her, like, clear suspicion towards yearning.

So you don't register this, but Pom, you see as Majula glances over at the drawing and then a serene expression appears on her face. What's this angelic bitch up to? What's crazy is if you were like, Tom, I'd like you to describe for me a serene expression. I can't. Tom, I'd like you to describe for me a serene expression.

I can't. Gertrude looks at it briefly, looks away. Both of you can't tell if she actually saw it. Like a silvery moon. Like a silvery moon is looking at Pom, focusing only on the person speaking and does not. If he notices, it's impossible to tell. He's giving me full attention while I crap on about how boats work. He is participating in what the kids are calling active listening.

Yeah, wonderful. What a boss. As I'm drawing, it becomes less tentacles and now turns into segmented orange. Okay, interesting. So I've turned it into fruit. Okay. Has Regina seen this? Probably doesn't matter. It's probably too late. She probably already suspicious. And then I sort of like fold a bit of paper up. Redora, sorry. So I've turned it into fruit. Okay. Has Regina seen this? Probably doesn't matter.

It's probably too late. She probably already suspicious. And then I sort of like fold a bit of paper up. Redora, sorry, yeah. Chuck it under my hat. Okay. Okay. All right. Well, I guess actually you, as a drifting snowflake,

I'm not going to make you roll again. When it gets turned into an orange, a peeled orange, you can see a weight has been lifted off her. She almost literally breathes a sigh of relief. Okay. Okay, so she is either in on it and got stressed or doesn't want to have to arrest us because maybe we're the only people who can help her.

First one, I reckon. Oh, I think second. I think second. Really? Yeah, but that's what Tom thinks. Yearning trusts no one. I think we should kill her. I think we're going to have to Really? Yeah, but that's what Tom thinks. Yearning trusts no one. I think we should kill it. I think we're going to have to kill all of them.

Is that what Sean thinks? I'm excited for us to fight a hero of legend and get our asses kicked. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Are you talking about Like a Silvery Moon? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a Silvery Moon is as spry as the day he began adventuring. Yeah.

Could take all three of you in a fight. Oh, so he's a legit hero. Oh, yeah. I just took him for a bit of a Gilderoy Lockhart bullshit guy. No, no, no. He's John Wick. Oh, man.

I offended him. Yes. I fought him back. You were only just realizing? I didn't realize he was legit. I thought, you know. I didn't know he was the boogeyman. He's a real deal, my friend.

All right. Well, I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. If it's your time to go, it's your time to go. All right. So, after your distraction, you have explained do what you got to do. If it's your time to go, it's your time to go. All right. So after your distraction, you have explained also your plan tonight, which is to go after these mysterious fluctuations

while sending the gallant rider off to intercept this ship. Anybody at the table want to jump in? Assist? Radora jumps in and says, I knew she would. It would be important to make sure that this council is split evenly, doing both of these activities. Who should go on which mission?

Well, I believe the wizard. You have, you know, this was your... Tanya Gideon nods. This was your hunch. No one else can track the magic, so I must go on the fluctuations mission. So these three of you will be accompanying me on this. And then what is the accompaniment of your ship how many people should go on that

all everyone in the room looks at the three of you how well defended is your ship oh shit that is what she's asking okay i think lyca should go on it then if he's our john wick yeah i don't fucking trust him though. That's the only problem. I don't trust anybody. No, no, no. You misunderstand. They're asking you. You are being asked how many soldiers are on the ship. Yeah, because if.

Yes. So we have to lie. Oh. You don't have to. You can if you want. Question to the lads. Yes. Should we be telling them we're going to check out this giant but lie to them and go to the boat?

Oh, one of us could. One of us should, I think. One of us who can disguise himself. I will also say this. Splitting the party, traditionally, famously, horrendous idea. But this time, look, right now what we are, we are the- It doesn't work for anybody else but it might work for us That's exactly it

We had Tobias from K and we're going to open our relationship Let's just lie to them about the ship Just very quickly the longer you delay saying anything the more suspicious any answer is going to look This isn't even a verbal conversation

Are we just thinking this? Obviously I know your characters aren't having this conversation I like the idea of one We're all know your characters aren't having this conversation. I like the idea of one of us. We're looking at each other mentally having this conversation. Your characters can't be having this conversation. I like the idea of one of us sneaking off to the boat, though. I think that's not a bad idea.

I think it needs to be whoever can disguise themselves. I fucked up before, but I could try it again. Yep. And then reconvene back in the warehouse. You're going to go on the ship and then meet us at the- Well, I might sneak off and go on the ship. I'm going to repeat. Yes.

They are waiting for an answer. They can keep waiting. Maybe this early in the day, keep the group together. Okay. Lie about the ship. You know, there's people could help. So how many of this council should go on this ship?

I'm making a big show of counting a big number, Adam. Okay, none of them. We don't trust any of them. Let's not let them on the ship. While he's making a big show of counting, Pom, you clock Radora Gaius Remus, the spymaster, you clock her

looking over with no confidence in what he's doing, she knows that he's bullshitting. Oh shit. Because she went to the ship. Yeah, right. She's not saying anything though. So how many do we actually have? Maybe one? You have one. You have Panete Ico, your commanding officer, that's it.

And the sailors. The sailors are not combatants. They will not. In a fight, they will melt. Maybe one. Yeah, I do believe it is just the one. There's a representative from the council. Yeah, that's right. That's right.

Yeah, that's a good idea. That's a good idea. Who wants to go to the boat? We answer instantly. So like a silvery... Shut up! So like a silvery moon. Shut up. So like a silvery moon stands up.

Well, I've always been, not always, sorry. I've been meaning to take a little sea change, as it were. I'll take the ship. All right. Fuck. We do. We've got ourselves a quarter. That's good, yeah. That would be grand.

Everyone else come with us. No, no, no. I think we need to ask the wizard, should anyone else come with us from this council? Well, I do not know the nature of what this ritual is going to be. It will depend on the tactic, I suppose, that the three of you wish to take. The more people that we bring with us, obviously, the higher chance of detection. But it means that should a fight happen, we have a better chance of winning that fight.

The fewer people that you take means that you might be able to witness something that you might not have seen otherwise. But, should things come to the clashing of steel, if it is just the three of you plus me,

or even plus only one or two other people, then we would be in trouble. We clearly need to bring some. I reckon we need to, so yeah, we need to clearly bring some. I think we should bring Gertrude, because she's,

because I think she's hot, but also. She's a silent one. No. We should not bring the silent one. Majula's the silent one. Gertrude is a cloth, knight of the cloth.

So we trust him a bit more than that. All right. Crown. Bring Gertrude. And I think we should bring the dragonborn. Oh, yeah. That's a good call. She'll probably want to enter because she clearly doesn't trust us now.

She doesn't trust us, so she'll probably offer to come. Yeah. And the rest can just stay here. Is that what you say? Yes. All right. Well, so Gertrude Stonehand slaps her knee and says, A pleasure to come with you, aye.

I'd love to see how you lot work oh that would be fine yeah I'd like to get a very intimate details of how the three of you work I just start spluttering I can't even talk as soon as you use the word intimate I was done

trust nobody have the three of you given thought to where you will be staying? I believe there's a local tavern we could, you know. The castle here has lodgings. I can guarantee it's comfortable in here. I stay here myself. We are not fucking staying in this castle.

No way. We have to suss it right out. I'm not sure if we have enough spare rooms for all three of you, though. Oh, because for all day. One of you might have to bunk. I'm offering my room. I just fight. I pass out.

It is a pastry. They're too robust for here, Sophica. If you pass out, an attendant, and Likey Silvery Moon rush over to you. Sir Likey Silvery Moon sends the attendant off. Get some smelling salts. This poor man, terrible nosebleed. Does he get these often? Sometimes.

You know how nosebleeds work. You know how nosebleeds work. Sir know, you know how nosebleeds work. So like the silvery moon is possibly the most sexless creature you have ever seen. He definitely does not know what you mean. I pivot to the silent one. And I'm like, you know how nosebleeds work. Majula, so Majula the Bold looks at you offended. She's very upset.

She's angelic, mate. Good. I don't want her to be serene about tentacles. Ruffles and feathers. Tentacles. As she's staring at you, you see for a brief moment a halo flares around her head, almost like just an angry affect, like she's burning off a bit of steam at you almost. I'm going to keep going

through everybody. I point to the dragonborn. You know about the Nothblitz. Maybe Redora had been going through the notes again and when you pointed out she looks hot. She knows about the Nothblitz. Well then, it's settled.

The three of you plus Redora and Tanya and Gertrude will investigate the coal warehouses while the rest of us board your ship. Am I awake if the smelling salts come? Yeah. Yes. I sort of step and go, You're just coming down.

Bunking? Someone said something about bunking with someone. You need to focus on the task before you focus on the task. Right, right, right. There are two tasks here. You'll get this one. You'll definitely get this one. I'm about to faint again.

Yearning knows how these things work. Was your plan that the rest of them would go on the ship? Because they're assuming that's what your plan is. Oh, I thought we were only sending one guy on the ship. Yeah, I thought we were sending one. So how many others do we have? Oh, well, okay. That's fine.

That's just a clarification thing then. All right, then. Well, the rest of us will stay here. Collate any plans, any information. It comes our way. If you need anything, let me know But until sundown, you have, uh I suppose time to roam Thank you. To be continued... Hey there, fellow adventurer. If you're picking up what we're putting down and want more D&D content, we have just what you need to scratch that itch.

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