D&D is For Nerds - Fall from Grace: The City #3 A Dangerous Double Cross

Episode Date: September 19, 2020

Sign up to our newsletter here. Join our facebook group here.You can now physically send us stuff to PO BOX 7127, Reservoir East, Victoria, 3073.Want to help support the show?Sanspants+ | Shop | TeesWant to get in contact with us?Email | Twitter | Website | Facebook | RedditOr individually at;Adam | Cass | Tom | Jackson | ZammitTheme music by the wonderfully talented Mia (AtomicCupcakes). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sandspans Radio, Australia's only five-thumbed podcast network. where you can get a heap of bonus D&D campaigns and a bunch more. To enter, what we want is your best art inspired by D&D is for Nerds. That's any campaign, any NPC, any character, even any setting, we don't care. We want you to tag your creation with hashtag D&D Nerds Art. That's hashtag D&D N-E-R-D S-A-R-T. And then we'll find them. Or for those that want to avoid social media,

you can always email us at SantsPantsRadio at gmail.com Entries close September 30th And the winners will be announced October 9th Also, our most handsomest member Handsome Tom Went and adapted one of our early campaigns The Auticus

Where I play a griffon hungry sky maniac Into a novel Which is available to purchase on our merch store on our website sanspantsradio.com you can order a physical copy you can grab the ebook you can get both in a bundle it's incredible stocks are limited though so get in before they're sold out once again just head to our merch store on our website sanspantsradio.com dig but a bing but a boom enjoy the episode, cowboy. Cowboy. Once, many years ago, when the sun still shone brightly, there lived a brave and cunning adventurer named Sir Jordan Grace.

Having just saved the town of Ampwick from the great and terrible Necro Wizard, he decided to celebrate with his good friends and companions. But, unbeknownst to him, something terrible was awakening deep beneath the earth, and his time in Ampwick was far from over. Welcome to episode 3 of Fall from Grace, part 2, The City. Previously. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to get up.

I'm going to go take my break. You can stay here if you want. Be my guest. Looks like you've been working hard. If these strangulations, if they are all connected, they've been going on consistently for about a month. Have they been getting worse? No, it seems pretty consistent. Okay.

One every few days. Maybe Ware is leaning over you while you write that. I'm like, Druid, and he's leaning over, and I'm like, slash Goblin Charmin. This library has no real sense of organization to it. It's just books stacked upon books stacked upon books all over the place. It's an absolute mess. Navigating through it, though, you see an absolute airiest human being you've ever imagined. The smoke begins to form into the figure of a human, and then it begins to take on color and aspects, and then it becomes like a smoky facsimile of presumably a...

Gary. A Gary, yeah. A great deal of many rats in the basement. Okay, we can help you with rats. I'd like to turn to the wall and be like, rats, yeah. A great deal of many rats in the basement. Okay, we can help you with rats. I'd like to turn to them all and be like, rats, guys. Every single one of these rats has its brain exposed, and the exposed brain is shedding light. So Richard Ware, huffing and puffing,

kills the last of these strange rats. Having just slain the strange brain rats and calming the regular rats, Sir Grace, what's going through your mind? So, these rats... Good to be gesturing with one of the rats. These rats have some kind of effect on those rats.

I point to the rats in the cages. Voodoo pipes up. What does Emmanuel DeMonster say about them? That's a great question. That's a great question. I'd like to put the Ukrainian wrap in my top pocket and pull it out. Ugh, gross.

I'm going to come back to it later. All right. I pull out my Emmanuel DeMonster. You're not sure whether to look under R for rat, V for vermin. B for brains. B for brains or D for domination monsters that can cast. Oh, Emanuel de Monster.

Please make a coherent book. I'll start with R for rats. Under r you find rat and then rat comma dire so you you know a bit about dire rats you probably fought them maybe even as a squire yeah i would say as a squire your your your knight the knight you squired under he would have taken you aside and then shown you in a pen they have like examples of monsters that you commonly fight and dire rats would have been they would have bred dire rats for training purposes even that's so great imagine like you get like in a fucking like a field they've got a big slime and you've got your arms crossed as your squire like tries to attack it with his dagger or his sword that just gets sucked in

and you're like, try again. These oozes have been neutrified. They add flakes into the top that the ooze eats and it neutralizes the acid of the ooze. Don't be scared of it. You give it a big slap and wobble like jelly. These boys are harmless. Yeah, so you have a very intimate understanding of dire rats.

You know these are not related to dire rats in any way. Okay, well, time to go to... Oh, and then rat, comma, legendary. What the... That's another nice look. I don't think these are legendary rats. You can read about legendary rats if you want. I'll give it a brief skim.

In nature, thine can find of all types of beast, animal, and other critter, big, small, vermin, and insectoid otherwise and also. You will then thine discover that of the each creature, Will then thine discover that of the each creature, there is one creature that is bigger, smarter, and as some have put it in brackets, legendary. That just can't be true. A legendary rat is the king of rats. Like, you know, when you're reading a book,

I'll show you the motion where you like. Where you look up in bafflement. You look up in bafflement into the middle distance. No expression on your face and then go back. I'll go to V for vermin. Under vermin, you find. Under vermin, you find. See tiny beasts.

Oh, the tiny beasts oh the tiny beasts in t for tiny beasts it's it are it there's a question do you mean tiny beast or do you mean tiny beasts how do i answer it's got like a page reference for if you mean i guess you mean tiny beasts? How do I answer? It's got like a page reference for if you mean tiny beasts. I guess I mean tiny beasts. All right. That's a good thing to say under my breath. Like, I guess I mean tiny beasts. Flick through to the page for tiny beasts. You flick through to swarms.

Not even tiny beasts. Swarms or in brackets, tiny beasts Swarms or in brackets tiny beasts Under there you find a bunch of different types of swarms You just go to rats So there are two listed here Swarm of rats For which the entry says sea rats And then you have swarm of cranium rats. This is sounding right.

This is sounding like what I'm looking for. The cranium ratted are no more clever than thine house or garden rat. This fucking book however if enough of thine cranium wraps cone or come together into what is referred to by scholars and learned knowledgeable elves alike, swarms, they may merge their cleverer minds together to form a single such intelligence or hive mind

of accumulated memories and simulacra of life of all the swarms constituents. Nine Rattaths become smarts as a result. And they retain a heightened intelligence for as long as their swarm-like nature exists. Okay. This swarm may also awaken latent psionic abilities implanted within cranium rateths by mind flayer creators who are whom

are their normal masters and owners a mind flayeth or otherwise known as lithiths may create cranium rats by bombarding regular rat, and then it has a page reference for regular rats, with psionic energies. Okay. A single low-intelligence craniobirthus rat may use its natural telepathy abilities to communicate hungeth, feareth,

and other batheth emotions. I feel like I'm going to regret this, but I'll try to find illilith. It asks, did you mean illithids? I possibly... How is there a page

for illilith? This is more evidence to my Emmanuel the Monster was written by 50 people over years. By the way, the swarm of cranium rats has certain powers listed, which include domination. Okay. Somehow, the swarm of cranium rats, when they come together, are able to pool their psionic energy. And while individually a cranium rat cannot really harness its psionic abilities, together they can pool and then basically cast spells. Okay.

They are also immune to any effect that would sense their emotion, read their thoughts, or divine their locations or abilities. It says that they illuminate in a five-foot radius, so that makes sense. And it also says that they can kind of just control regular rats. You look up illithids. Yeah. As I'm, like, scrolling through, scrolling through, as I'm flicking through trying to find the page on the Lyrfids,

I think I'll turn up to the rest of the party and be like, there is a chance, a small chance, that we may just be dealing with some very clever rats. That seems crazy, I know, but open up the Immanuel de Monster.

I like to think I've opened it up to the wrong page. Doggoth. White. There's the wrong page. Doggoth. White. There's a separate entry for Doggoth. Of all thine furry friends, the Doggoth is known as the only and best friend. This tells me nothing. One may patteth the dog as such.

And there's an illustration of how to pat a dog. It's a man with a hand going up and down. There is no picture of a dog. Fuck. Somehow the description in the book could be describing a mimic. Not quite a dog.

So mind flayers, also called illithids, or thine illithids, who calls them that, are the scourge of sentient creatures across countless worlds. Psionic tyrants, slavers, and interdimensional voyagers. They are insidious masterminds

that harvest entire races for their own twisted ends. Four tentacles snake from their octopus-like heads, flexing in hungry anticipation when sentient creatures come near. Okay. They possess psionic powers that enable them to control the minds of weaker-willed creatures or even affect the minds of smarter creatures. They live in hive mind colonies.

So all the lithids share like a hive a hive mind sometimes referred to as a it's a physical entity sometimes referred to as the elder brain okay they're kind of like bees almost well yeah bees but they do literally share minds they are each individual mind flayer is its own person yeah Yeah. Like, they do have a concept of separation, but it's, like, kind of... Skew-iff. Yeah, it's a bit, like, muddled, where Mind Flayers, as communication, would, like, literally talk into each other's minds. Do I think that the existence of cranium rats sort of begats the existence of illithids,

or do I think that you could just have cranium rats kind of on their own? Cranium rats are created by illithids. These cranium rats might not, like the illithid might not be anywhere here. These cranium rats could have made their way up. But cranium rats literally need an illithid to be created. They are, illithids on purpose create cranium rats they use them as like spies basically possibly i say to the rest of the team i assume we've found somewhere to sit at this point possibly we could be dealing with uh illithids i've never personally had any

encounter with anything from the from the far realms what of the three of you zinwilin and richard weir who adventured together before they met you both give you dark looks zinwilin says uh we have encountered a mind flayer before once it was um all mind flayers i should say it is well the parts of it we remember are unpleasant i'm sure sure. They are powerful creatures. But it would be very strange to imagine an illithid that had any understanding of divination magic. That is true. Although, didn't it say, I flip back to the cranium rat entry,

didn't it say that they could not be divined? The cranium rats cannot. You look at the entry for mind flayer, and you can see that they have no such ability. Huh. That is interesting. It also seems as though this would be a strange way if an illithid were trying to do what illithids try to do,

which is to take over a town. It would be strange to begin by just killing people with rats. And you said there was anger behind it. Hmm. How many victims do I know there have been of rat attacks? How many victims do you know have been? So there's been Earp, Paul, and Gary. Oh, yeah, there've been maybe, I would say, like, 10 attacks in total.

Okay. If you're, like, kind of connecting all of them. Yeah, I'm just trying to see if there's any coherent thread through them all. Some of them have rat prints and some don't. But just trying to see if they're, like, between the people. If you're looking at it,

you notice that the most public ones have rat marks. The ones where there was the most chance of other people being there. now that's interesting i write down i go back to my very first entry of rats and circle it harder do you think it'd be worthwhile checking out the um second rat catcher i say to the party are we just going to find more of the same thudu says maybe if only to make sure

they're all right that's a good point actually thudu yeah let's head there now we'll make our way to the other uh rat catcher on your way north you pass through uh i would suppose the nobles village again that area and the grand market the grand market is just south of the nobles village it's a massive it's of the three markets in ampwick it is the largest and the most impressive it's big it's very big it basically sprawls out like to walk from one end of the grand market to the other would take you in itself an hour just from how thick with traffic and busy it is. Sure. You notice, though, that the Grand Market looks very shockingly still right now. There's not a lot of activity going on, and you see a lot of town guard walking about.

Something amiss, I say to the town guard. The member of the town guard stutters a little bit and then says, I've been ordered not to say anything. I'm a friend of a nerd. The order comes straight from him, I'm'm afraid do you know where he is um you can tell it took you a little while of chatting with this guy yeah you can tell he doesn't he feels very uncomfortable about it but he doesn't want to talk to you uh if i look into his eyes can i see any evidence of domination yeah if the rats got to this guy no he uh you a domination spell is very evident upon a person

and you can tell that this person has no like mental control exerted over him okay um can i see anywhere in the grand market like a congregation congregation of guards where possibly and dead might be? You can definitely see where a group of guards are trying to keep people out. Okay. I'll head over there. Two of the guards stop you. No progress through, sir, I'm afraid. We're friends of a guard.

Sorry? No, you go first. Captain and Ned's orders. And Ed's orders. I'm fairly sure Captain and Dad would like to see me. No, sir. I'm sorry. I can't let you through.

I'd like to turn back to the rest of the party. We could try sneaking, maybe, Zinwulan says. I turn back to the guard. And Ed's orders, were they general to everyone or specific to me? The guard looks like he's sweating bullets when he says, Nothing. And not specific to me, then, I see. I'd like to fix him with a very dirty look.

Like a look like, oh, you fucked up. Let's make that an intimidation check then. Oh, get a good boy card. And the guard, both of the guards in your way look at each other. You see they do that classic like, you know, they don't move their heads. Just their eyes like look at each other. In a way that you, in real life, you must assume they can't look at each other in a way that you in real life you must assume they can't actually see each other when they do it and then the guard you were talking

to says uh just don't tell him i sent you through i wouldn't they step aside all right i'll kind of gesture with my head for everybody to follow me in the center about the center of the market stalls, you can see that a couple of guards and the town coroner are kneeling over a body. Also here is the town captain, Captain Anded. Hello, Sir Grace. It's nice to see you again, he says, in a manner that you know is not nice to see you again. I should think so. I'm trying to save this town. Yes, of course.

Of course. What have we got? Well, it's another body. Strangulation, I suppose. He turns around and you can see that the coroner is slowly lifting the man onto a stretcher to take him away. And the man around his neck has like a tight red looking mark. You can see that there is red marks around his nose in around his eyes and around his mouth and ears.

I'd like to turn. You can expect the body at the gardeners. Do I? It's a bit busy here. Is it? It isn't busy, but you can tell that's because the guards have cleared everyone away. Okay.

I'd like to turn to Zin and Dickie and be like, um, the red marks on the neck, anything you recognize? Basically trying to subtly ask if, does this look like an illithid put its squid face on a guy? Zinwulin in a hush tone, says illithids eat brains. They extract them by putting their tentacles into people's orifices. Have we checked any of these people for brains? I guess we wouldn't think to. No, you haven't? I know you wouldn't.

Well, now it's on my mind. Okay. The corpse is being taken away. Well, I'll follow it, I say. All right. You walk behind it. Thudu and Sir Ware peel off. Thudu looks at you and says, I'll look for...

And then she makes, like, tiny little rat gesture. I nod. Sounds good. So you and Zinwilin follow the corpse with the coroner and several guards and Captain and Ed back to the city morgue. It's underneath the guardhouse, basically. Cool. So in the basement of the guardhouse, there are several stretches or several tables set out for corpses,

and there are a bunch of corpses here that are kind of in the middle of their autopsies. You see what looks to be probably a lot of drunks who got themselves into trouble and maybe one or two suspicious looking poisonings then the body of the the person found in the market is laid out on one of the slabs and you are left alone with the city coroner and captain and it and dead okay can you tell what the cause of death is? He says to the coroner. The coroner shakes his head. It's too late now, or it's too early now.

We'll have to look. At least a day it'll take me to figure this out. Got to assume strangulation, I say. That's what, well, it's good to double check, you know. This is going to be a strange thing to say, but check this one for a brain. Everyone gives you, well, everyone except Zinmalin, fixes you with a strange look.

And the coroner says, illithids? Is it odd that he would even know of illithids? Well, you would take him as a man of learning. Okay. So you would think it's not impossible that he could have read about it in a book. Cool. We got to exhaust every possibility, I say. All right, then.

He gets out a pair. He gets out like a long scraping looking tool. And no, actually, he wouldn't have that. He has to crack the head open to find that out. Yeah. So with a meat cleaver and a hammer, he does so. Yeah, wow. Sure enough, when the man's head is opened, there is no brain.

Okay. Alrighty. We were on the track now. What does this mean? I'm not sure yet. You know Captain Anded knows exactly what that means you also know when the when the head is cracked open the city coroner looks shocked even zin willin you feel a bit of shock zin willin even looks a little shocked just aghast, maybe even. Captain Anded shows no emotion.

Suspiciously so. Not only does it look like he expected this, it looks like this is just not shocking to him. I would like to, in quick as a flash, slam him up against a wall. Be like, how long have you known? The city coroner cries out in surprise. I'd like to click it long have you known? The city coroner cries out in surprise. I'd like to click at Zinwilin to hold that guy down. Maybe the city coroner, like, his eyes dart towards the exit,

and Zinwilin stands in the way of the exit, and, like, a globe of acid is in her hand. All right. You shove the captain up against the wall He's way off his He's a halfling I was thinking that I've got to go down and up He's the size of a toddler

Oh fuck That's scary for a halfling They just see a forearm coming from the sky Not sure what you're talking about there mate Not sure what I'm talking about You know it's really dangerous What is? I? Not sure what I'm talking about. You know, it's really dangerous. What is? I know what's coming.

I'm just goofing. To be this close to someone armed. All right, and we're going to go to initiative as he draws a dagger and tries to ram it into your ribcage. Cool. Cool beans. You feel the dagger being drawn, Sir Grace. You go first. Hell yeah.

Can I... I think it was a different kind of fighter. Can I disarm him? Or is it just... Oh, no, you can disarm him, yeah. Okay, I'd like to... Feeling the dagger come out, I'd like to just slam him further into the wall

in an attempt to make him drop the dagger onto the floor. Okay. You grab his hand, I'd like to just slam him further into the wall in an attempt to make him drop the dagger onto the floor. Okay. You grab his hand and I think, yep, no, all right. You grab his hand and you manage to wrest control of the dagger from him. Yeah. You drop the dagger. And it is his turn. I'd like to, when I do that and make him drop it, be like, too fucking right.

Get a good boy, Kyle. Fuck yeah, that's great. When you do that, he opens his mouth and you hear it in your brain, a screeching sound. You need to make a wisdom saving, charisma saving throw. Shit. When that happens, you feel your movements become sluggish. It feels like you've been drugged anytime you move or try to do anything you can see like like there's an effect of like your hand when you move

your arm trials yeah yeah like trails it leaves weird like like images after images behind it you are stunned you are treated basically you can't you can't really act. You still get a bonus action, technically, because it takes every action except your bonus action from you. But you can't move. You can't take reactions or regular actions. And you can only speak faultingly. What a funny point to have an action search. You let go of him.

He is free. It's Xin Wa Lin's turn. Xin Wa Lin hisses of him. He is free. It's Zinwalin's turn. Zinwalin hisses at him. Not so fast. She peppers him with magic missiles. Good. That'll be five magic missiles. Fuck.

Boofed him up. It's going to be rough when he is dead and you have to explain why. Yes, that is not going to be easy. Boof, boof, boof, boof, boof. Five magic missiles strike him, doing 19 points of damage and fucking up his day. He staggers backwards with each one, but with each one, you see that he, he like keeps himself righted.

He is not out of this fight. Not by a long shot. That was, uh, Zinmalin's turn. Grace, it's your turn. You need to make another set.

Well, you have a bonus action. If you can really do anything with it. I could second wind, but that's it. Yeah. You at the end of your turn, you need to make another saving throw. You're still stunned,

unfortunately. Captain Anded draws a short sword and charges at Zinwilin. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Wait, can I... I've got so many good boy cards. Yeah. That was a saving throw. Yeah, 26 after making a saving throw.

Alright. Unfortunately, you still fail. 1d8. Let's go. What's a d8? Yeah. All right. Well, you only needed one more, so you pass. Cool.

You spend two good boy cards, but that is at the end of your turn, unfortunately. Okay, that's fine. But now he has to target you because if he tries to charge past you- Yeah, I'll get an attack of op. Yeah, you'll get an attack of op. So instead, he targets you. You feel the first attack, actually, you manage to deflect with your gauntleted hand.

It skips off your hand. You feel a knuckle break, but it does not affect you. Well, not with the adrenaline pumping through you. The second blow, however, catches you in the gut. You feel the sword pierce through your leather armor. Yeah. Leather armor and cut you in the belly. You take nine points of damage, Sir Grace.

And then it is Xenualyn's turn. Xenualyn weaves a complicated spell. As she does so, she reaches into a component pouch and pulls out some dripping molasses, which she, as part of the spell consumes and then spits in the face of captain and dead grody with a flourish he gets a one this boy failed oh fuck when the spell finishes you can see that that like slowing effect on captain and dead but it is not the feeling of you being drugged it is and dead being magically slow fantastic his speed is halved he takes a negative two to his ac

and dexterity saving throws he can't use his reactions on his turn he can use an action or a bonus action not both and regardless of his abilities or magical items, he can't make use of more than one melee or ranged attack during his turn. If he attempts to cast a spell with a time of one action, he needs to roll a d20 and on an 11 or higher, the spell doesn't take effect until his next turn. Oh, man. Cool.

All right, good. So that was Zinwulin's turn so grace it's your turn i would like to non-lethal damage whop him in the back of the head with the butt of my spear all right just trying to knock him out at this point you take a step behind him spin around and then try to wallop the back of his head with the blunt end of your spear unfortunately even though oh actually let me see. But he's... It's his armor.

It's just his armor. 1d8 after making an attack roll? Sure. You spend that. Even then. Fuck. Oh, wait, no. Negative two to his AC.

Oh, hey, true. You do hit him once. Are you using two hands? Yes. You deal seven points of non-lethal damage to him. If I were to use my maximum amount of damage on this attack... You would have done six more points of non-lethal damage to him if i were to use my maximum amount of damage on this attack you would have done six more points of damage do i reckon that would knock him out no he looks really hardy even with the slow spell on him i might as well use it all right

yeah so you do an extra six points of damage you've done 32 damage in total for the man you hear like his head crack forward and the metal helmet that he's wearing crumples inwards, but you can tell that his armor protected him. It's his turn. He turns around and swings at you, but it's all in slow

motion. So, Grace, you dodge it without too much effort. Then, Zinwilin's turn. Has she picked up that I'm trying to hurt him non-lethally? She probably has. She, that would be very funny. Yeah, she does the exact same spell, except this time she pulls out some licorice root

and then swallows that and spits it on you. You begin to speed up. Hell yeah yeah you are under the effect of it uh of a oh no she couldn't cut she unfortunately couldn't cast that because she spent yeah she spent too much spells on other things oh well um that would be very funny though i'd be so quick he'd be so slow she moves in and attacks with her uh quarter staff then to deal non-lethal damage she uh she unfortunately misses she swings and strikes him in the side but it doesn't deal him any damage it's your turn grace i'll try and do the same again knock him out you hit him twice fuck yeah go to sleep go to sleep times you strike him you're battering him around the head and body

and arms you deal 10 16 23 points of damage and he goes out. A lot just happened then, Zen. But the coroner is gone. That is going to be a problem. Fuck. Fuck. What do we do? Well, he's clearly working for whoever. The illithids, I guess.

He's also the captain of the guard. There are a whole bunch of guards outside. He wasn't under any effect of mind control. No, no. I'm currently, my working theory is some kind of deal between the Illithids and maybe a certain section of the town. Maybe nobility, maybe just a certain group of people. I don't know.

We need to get out of here first. And we should probably, is it crazy to bring him? I don't think it's crazy. Okay. He is little. He is little. He is petite. Can we fit him in a backpack? Can we tie him up?

If you took his armor off him, you can fit him in a backpack. I'd like to tie him up first. All right. You bind him. Do you have rope? Yeah, I got hemp and rope. All right, cool. You bind him up.

You take his armor off. You tuck him in a backpack. And then you and Zin will in just casually leave as you get to the top of the as you're approaching the top of the stairs one level up so the bottom level is kind of like a uh the bottom level is uh that big like the they call it the pen yeah yeah where you saw all those people where you met the captain before then there's upper levels which are like barracks and stuff like that as you're coming up the basement to the bottom level coming from a level above you see two guards one of whom and maybe more guards behind you see one of the guards point at you and say halt rightALT! RIGHT THERE! And now, a word from our sponsors.

Also, hey, D&D is fun, but if you're wishing that you could hear actual comedians joke circles around us and actually be funny, then do I have news for you. BigSoftTitty.png is a show by Demi Lardner and Tom Walker, where they, as

my dad calls it, aren't as good as the TV show M.A.S.H., because they never swore. So, if you like the sound of that, or if you want to they as my dad calls it aren't as good as the tv show mash because they never swore so if you like the sound of that or if you want to know why my dad won't talk to any of my co-workers then head on down to sanspantsradio.com and search for bigsofttitty.png uh zinwilin looks at you the longer we stay here the more likely we are to be caught let's lag it all right you get to the first level before they do and you turn right and sprint for the exit we're just running we're just running stop just running god damn it god damn it as you're running for the exit there are several

there's like 10 guards at the exit and they look confusedly between you and the guards behind you calling for you to halt um zinwilin points ahead of you and says stop them stop them fuck that's why we got her on the team she makes the most important deception check of her life oh she does she does it with a plumb oh fantastic the 10 guards at the door look at the door and then look at you and then they open the door for you as you run out fuck fuck that's incredible and she deserves a good boycott i'll tell you what all right you're out the front door and you start sprinting off into you are in, right now, the Noble's Village. That's where the guard house is.

Cool. You start sprinting towards, I guess, the Grand Market? Yeah, I suppose so. We sprint through the Grand Market. Maybe we can... You are much better, you are a much better athlete than Xin Wulin. She is falling way behind you,

but she is, she's got the speed of an elf she is running faster than the the people chasing you so i think she'll be okay yeah zinwulin calls out to you split up okay we stand a better chance that way yep i just i give her like a hand gesture to indicate that i understand and i'm gonna start heading towards castle pier all right you are yeah you're legging it really well you lose your tail or you lose the guards chasing you then maybe you were heading south just to just to throw them off because ultimately you want to head west yeah when you lose sight of them you head west towards castle pier cool all right so i get yeah i'm gonna head toward the uh the uh Gnomish Training Company building.

All right. The one that's under construction. You approach the Gnomish. It's nearly sunset. Oh, no, it'd be after sunset by now. So as the last light in the sky dies out, and as workmen are going around lighting up the lanterns in town, you approach the- Does it seem occupied? There's no workmen are going around lighting up the lanterns in town you approach the the does it seem occupied

it there's no workmen here but there is a light on inside the building inside the walls okay well i guess that's where the gnomes will be um can i peer through a window you would so there's like a perimeter wall basically you can get inside because the wall isn't finished you can get inside yeah i kind of like climbing over an unfinished section. Sure. But the actual gate is closed. Okay. So I won't be able to get in.

You could get in without too much trouble. I'll give it a go. Yeah. I'll like clamber over. Yeah. And see if I can. Yeah. Without too much trouble, you clamber into the perimeter.

Yeah. As you're doing so, a member of the town guard says, Hail, who is there? It is I, Sir Grice. Oh, is everything okay, sir? Everything seems fine. I'm just coming to check this place out again.

You're like on the wall saying this? I'm just checking this place out again. I thought I heard a noise. Oh, do you need a hand? If you could help me down, that'd be great. Oh, he's's on the wrong side he's on like the side that you were climbing from oh if you could heft me over that'd be great yeah of course he gives you a leg up much appreciated give him a little salute and flomp down onto the other side hell yeah okay all right quiet as a mouse i'll sneak up to the building and have a look in. Stealth is not your forte. It sure isn't.

But luckily, circumstance favors you. Where you have found yourself on this side has a lot of construction equipment and bricks and stuff, and so there is plenty of opportunity for you to hide. You get to the building without being seen. There's a large double-g glazed window right in front of you that you can see through into like an office. Okay.

I feel like popping my big head in and having a look is going to be, but I want to have a see what's in. I want to see what's inside. Yeah. I'll peek in the window. You take your helmet off and peer through the window inside. You see a gnome. he's facing away from you and he's writing at a desk okay all right okay well nothing obviously the matter i just i just know

i get out my journal that five weeks ago gnomish vessels started arriving and one month ago this all started going down it's got to be somehow related or it's a red herring. But in my backpack, I guess I have the answer to that. I would like to get, maybe just walk to the gate and be to the guard and be like, it was a false alarm. Don't worry about it. Could you let me out? No, this guy, it's just a town guard.

Oh, right. He doesn't have a place. He's probably actually gone walking off in his patrol. Oh, well, I'll clam a town guard. Oh, right. He doesn't have a... He's probably actually gone, walking off in his patrol. Oh, well, I'll clamber back over then. All right. And I will try to head to, like, the Castle Pier docks. Do I think I'll be able to find an abandoned building in there? Not at Castle Pier.

It's the nicest one. They'll probably mostly be occupied. If you were at Dry Rust or at Kelsey Dock. Well, maybe I'll head to kelsey dock then at kelsey dock you can find well kind of anything you want i suppose yeah i'm just kind of looking for sort of like maybe an abandoned warehouse that i can go in and take and dead out of my get a good boy card you find exactly what you're looking for. Fantastic. A very nondescript building that is itself part of some very imposing looking buildings. And there's like a guard patrol nearby, so you don't think anyone's going to be breaking in anytime soon.

Okay, I'll get in there and I will open my pack and let Anded drop to the floor. When he drops, oh no, he'd still be unconscious. Okay. It's properly night by now cool can i check his body for like marks or anything uh where are you inspecting first neck and then chest and eyes maybe around his neck you don't really find any marking on his chest still no marking as well and then where did you say eyes around his eyes you can see like reddish no actually you wouldn't see any around his eyes no but while you're inspecting his eyes you do see that his ears look red and inflamed oh okay

okay i like prop him up and i'd like to just almost start talking to myself so whatever it was it's been going within people's orifices to get the brains out sure but it's pretty clear that and dead's brain is still here so maybe it's using one of its tentacles and putting that in his ears to addle his brain somewhat or or communicate with him perhaps although i can't imagine what unless i'd like to start like in the dust on the floor mapping something out like maybe maybe ampwick maybe it's political maybe the illithids you're giving them some kind of power or offering them some kind of power so that they don't have to fall under candanese rule or or blue beach's rule they can remain as they were captain and ed leans forward in his unconscious state and you hear you his mouth opens and he

makes that noise and then his ear begins to move and then swell and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger and then you notice something protruding out of the ear it is like he is giving birth to a purple slimy ball out of his ear i would like to aim my spear i guess at the side of his head preceding the slimy ball is green slime of some sort it falls onto the ground like and then this ball keeps keeps coming and coming and coming until it looks like his entire head must have been made up of just this ball and then with a wet it flops onto the ground it looks vaguely like a tadpole. And then it begins to, like a worm might, slither towards you. I would like to impale it, please. Well, are you going to need to make a quick saving throw on that?

Okay. All right. You fail your saving throw. Uh-oh. So... Oh, God, don't let it go in me. You are stunned again. Oh, no. It continues to slither towards you. Wait, advantage on a saving throw. All right. uh oh so oh god don't let it go in me you are stunned again oh no

it continues to slither wait advantage on a saving throw alright please good boy cards you pass oh thank god oh fuck you have one round

before that happens again what do you want to do I would like to impale it like you might have fish you drive your spear you drive cinder into the strange tadpole creature,

and one point of damage is enough. Okay. You twist it, jerk, and the creature dies on the end of Cinder. What the fuck? What the fuck? Captain Anded's body slumps forwards. You can see through his open, distorted ear into his empty skull. All right.

I'd like to go, does it seem inert? I know I've stabbed it, but does it seem inert? Yeah. It definitely looks dead. Okay. I'd like to go and pick it up. All right. So it really only has one object.

There's no hands legs head here there is slug creature okay turning it over it's gray and awful looking let me try and find you i actually might be able to find you a picture oh oh that's much smaller than i thought it was oh okay cool cool cool it's not very big it's maybe the size or dimensions of a grain of sand. Like a banana slug? Like a real slug? Yeah, yeah, like a banana slug. All right.

That's going to be hard. Okay, that's okay. Can I pick up the good sergeant? You pick up that good sergeant? Okay, well, I mean, I have evidence. Will people know? Well, whatever.

You're not 100% sure what it is. But I can make the larger conclusion that it was in some way addling him. Oh, yeah, yeah. I've been around the block enough at this point. Well, Zin can explain it to the people. I would like to try to reconvene. Leave the dock and try to reconvene. Okay. People need to know that the captain of the guard was

a slut he was yerked as it were all right so do you want to go and find the the tavern that you were all staying at yeah well that was our kind of meeting place so yeah all right are you making any effort as you head towards the axe of lightning to be stealthy well here's my thinking is that i i have proof so possibly not okay i would like to be you know no i'm not just dragging and dead by like his head or whatever are you taking the corpse with you yeah well i've got to show people all right hi's hello hi's okay at the first gate you were stomped by the guard All right. Hi, Zalos. Hi. Okay. At the first gate, you are stopped by the guard. They seem a bit sheepish, but one of the two soldiers, not soldiers, sorry, one of the two city watchmen says, I'm so sorry, sir, but you have to come with us.

That's totally, I totally understand. I have grave news. You're taken back to the guardhouse. Sure. And it's kind of just a very public building. So everyone sees you. Maybe as we're going, I'll be like, do you have a shroud to cover Andeddon?

Yes. Something we can hide his body with. The corpse is taken from. Yeah, that's fine. Maybe there's also a moment where one of the guard has a set of manacles, or picks up a set of manacles, looks at you, doesn't say anything, and then puts the manacles down. All right. You're brought into the guardhouse.

And in the guardhouse, there are three people. Lady Enel. There is Xin Hua Lin, who is looking quite sorry and worse for wear. Sure. She's got like a big shiner on one eye and she does have manacles on. I raise my eyebrows as we walk past like, that sucks. Sorry. And you also spot a female human.

She's wearing the guard or the same robes as the regular guard. You think you might know her, but you can't place her face. You just assume, maybe you assume she's someone who worked for Captain Anded. Yeah, sure. No worries. She has red hair and amber eyes.

She looks shockingly similar to Lady Enel, but it probably is just a coincidence. Yeah, I'm sure. As you walk up, Lady Enel rushes towards you. She doesn't embrace you, but you can see that for a moment she wants to.

What happened, she says. I have very grave news. This might go deeper than we first thought. Everybody gather round. Wow. Can I just say, wow. All right. So.

He's brimming with confidence, baby. I guess just. You know what? I'm going to make that roll with advantage as well. Thank you. Didn't help you. Oh, that's a shame. The woman who looks like Lady Enel steps forward.

She has just a very grim expression, and she says, you can explain it in maybe a more private setting, she says. I'd like to, like, not bail. That's a bit formal, but, like, of course. She's not royalty. You don't need a bail. Well, I just wanted, you know, to be like, I get it. Like, that's, you know what, totally fair.

There are quite a lot of onlookers. so you don't need a banner. Well, I just wanted to be like, I get it. You know what? Totally fair. There are quite a lot of onlookers. People are staring at you from the scaffolding above. Everything's kind of slowed down or stopped in the guardhouse as everyone just kind of has a gawk. For sure. You are led away into a smaller private room. It might actually be a cell, to be honest, a holding cell that is presumably used to hold wizards.

As soon as you enter the room, you can feel like the hairs on the back of your neck stand up for a moment as you feel yourself entering a zone of anti-magic. Sitting down there, they lay out Captain Anded's body on the cot in the prison, and the woman who introduces herself as Lieutenant Line, she asks you to explain yourself. I'd like to open, maybe I had my hand closed, and I open it to reveal the slug. So I suspected that Captain Anded was in some way addled or ensorcelled by whatever is occurring in this city.

And so I did my best to confront him about it, unfortunately. That ended in, well, fighting. I did my best to flee so that perhaps I could investigate this further, somewhere safer. And it was at that point that from the body of Captain Undead, this creature crawled out, leaving him, well, largely hollow. You can check his skull.

I believe that maybe not just Undead, but several people within the town may also be in some way addled or corrupted by this parasite. All right. So, first off, get a good boy card. Yeah. Actually get two good boy cards.

One was for rolling a 20. Another is for like a breakthrough in the case. We're doing it. So you explain yourself to Lieutenant Line and she nods. She seems very, very like receptive and understanding. When you finally finish, Xin Wulin, who's also been taken in here with you, very receptive and understanding. When you finally finish, Xin Wulin, who's also been taken in here

with you, pipes up and says, I think I know what that is. Fabulous. That's why I brought it back. Also, could we please uncuff my friend here? She's innocent. Lieutenant Line waves a hand and a guard uncuffs Xin Wulin. Very well. We will

inspect the corpse. You are obviously, obviously, if you are still amicable to us, we would still appreciate your help. Perhaps you can work with the coroner even. I know. I,

um, I would beg, please, uh, Madam, Madam Wulin. Now it's one word. Madam Zinwulin, please, what is this beast? Zinwilin says it's a creature, it's sometimes referred to as an illithid tadpole, a brain slug.

Crack open my lady's slipper journal and begin writing. They're part of a process typically a process called ceramorphous ceramorphous uh-huh the creatures mind flayers illithids they don't reproduce like a regular species what what they do instead is one of them or a creature among them might lay eggs that hatch into these tadpoles. And then these little tadpole creatures, they are inserted into the nose, mouth, or ears of a person where they consume the brain and attach themselves to the brain stem, becoming the creature's brain. Would we then be able to see if this had been done we have a lot of bodies in the morgue it would be very apparent if it had been

done i i would think that we would not recognize them as humans the process of seromorphous is is um well it's drastic you do not remain a human. I am surprised Captain Anded did. You're saying this came out of his head. Yeah. It would only come out of his head, my understanding is, if he were being converted. If he were being converted, he would be in no state to interact. Maybe it was fresh in his head?

If it had been put in within the last... No, that's not really how it works. Not to my knowledge. What does the book say? Yeah, maybe in my head I was like, I should open the Emmanuel the Monster, but then I'm like, but Zin will explain it so much more clearly. All right, maybe my pack or whatever,

I'll open up the book and flick it open in my hand. All right. Hook case. What are you looking up? Sorryid are you looking up mind flare i'm sorry i for illithid m for mind flare t for tadpole b for brain tadpole c for seromorphous sometimes instead of an animal you might need to look up the process i'm gonna take to take a stab and go T for Tadpole. T for Tadpole? All right. I'm going to regret this.

Under T for Tadpole, it lists Tadpole, common. Tadpole, swarm. Tadpole, brain slug oh oh fantastic i i'd like to not that much emotion but like look up to everybody briefly and conveying with my face how happy i am how quickly that went and look up the entry for tadpole mind flayer upon as it devours a humanoid or esk skull and brain and such, attaching itself or thine self upon the brainstem of thy humanoid, humanoid-like or other,

the cranium becomes filled, and over the course of one week or month or typically a week, or typically a week. Thine humanoid, humanoid-esque, humanoid-like creature or elf. Oh, that's good. His body changes form. And a neweth mind-flayer slash lithid and or like creature cometh into being.

The emergent minded flayer, lithidith or other, often retainseth a dim view or memory. Or memories. Fucking Emmanuel the monster. Or memories from his previous life. These are vague, however, recollections and seldometh will ever have a bearing on the new life of the brain-eating monster. It has been known sometimes that a creature, that a lithid, a mindid mind flare if thine will those of who had spawned the tadpole nonetheless may transform

or transfigure or transmogrify their tadpole spawn into a similar looking but distinguishable Ethic creature that instead Thine they would use To infect and host upon

And sup and eat The brain and then take Control of the body of the creature Without a thank for me Don't ask me how it's spelt So is that saying that sometimes The tadpole itself will become a creature myth. Don't ask me how it's spelt. So is that saying that sometimes the tadpole itself will become a creature? No, it's saying that the tadpole can be converted into

it basically forms the same process, but instead of transforming the creature, it takes control of the creature. Okay, cool. Alright. This is typically done on an illithid that has ventured far from its home compound or place of worship. And then it says in brackets, though illithids don't worship. You just know that that part was written after the first part by a fifth person.

Such illithids, as said previously, may be home far from or wandering of. They are often considered, as the scholar quotes, lonely. Oh, my God. quotes lonely oh my god and may be outcast okay um all right do you need me to explain what i just no i think i understood so basically i'll say this to the group because i you know currently i have no reason to believe that anybody here is addled as well it seems like with what you said zen and with what emmanuel de monster i tried to convey is that we're dealing with possibly a single lone illithid maybe somebody lost or or or outcast separated outcast from the rest of the the illithids. I'm reading here in Emmanuel Demonstres

in that sometimes one of these brain slugs can, instead of transforming somebody, just take them over. So possibly, but why would it be trying to take over people? I still don't know what its ultimate goal is. Surely if it's lonely, maybe you would try to start a kind of new brood or or or a new

group of alerthans zinwilin says well if we are dealing with a mind flayer then we understand why we have been finding people yeah sans brain yes they feed upon brains as we might feed upon apples meat yes or such so that explains some of the dead. It explains, obviously, what happened to Captain and Ed. But yes, you're right. It does not explain why it hasn't been trying to convert or change anyone that we've seen. Yeah, that's true.

Or where it came from as well. Yes, true. Maybe to, what was her name? Sorry, the new lady. Lieutenant Lyne. Yes, true. Maybe to, what was her name? Sorry, the new lady? Lieutenant Line. So, Lieutenant Line, this all began about one month ago.

Can you recall anything, I don't know, anything notable that happened a month ago? I mean, obviously I'm not asking for something as dramatic as a portal from one of the Far Plains opening and nobody questioning it. But yeah, can you recall anything?

Yes. I would say anything notable. Well, that was when the Gnomish Merchant Company bought, broke ground and started construction. That was the only major event that I am aware of. It's worth, is there a, I don't know, I know there's the building that they're constructing, the Gnomish Trading Company,

but is there somebody in charge of that that it might be worthwhile talking to? Yes. You can speak with Eris Arell. Eris Arell. Eris Arell works in the Dock Ward. She's a priest. She works pretty closely with the gnomes, unless you wanted to speak to the gnomes themselves.

I'm just trying to get a picture of where this Illuthid might have come from. Without speaking with the gnomes themselves, Erisarell is probably or should be your first port of call. She is the harbormaster, basically. Well, what time is it? Is it worthwhile me probably maybe heading back to the HQ and touching base with the rest of the companions?

After all of this commotion, the sun is definitely getting low. All right, well, that'll be tomorrow's job. Until then, it has been a very exhausting day. All right. I'm sorry that it has to be marred by such tragedy. Zin, shall we? Zin Wulin gets up, dusts herself off, and you can see with like a haughty expression,

she leaves the guardhouse. Classic Zin. As we leave, I'd be like, mystery's heating up, Zin. It's getting pretty exciting. Zin Wulin nods. Yes, it definitely has an aura of adventure and excitement. I can feel my blood flowing finally.

Same. It's taken a bit to come in, but I'm feeling it now. So, Grace, Lady Annelle calls to you before you leave. Maybe I don't respond to something. Huh? What? Hi? I turn around. Excuse me a second,

sir. Yes? She moves in close. Once again, you can see that she wants to embrace you, but she's keeping herself restrained in this public setting. Yeah. She clutches your hands in her hands, and you feel her pass something into your hands. Okay, I take it.

Please, be careful. I will. I take it and head back to Zen. I'd like to open it up, maybe just down by my side, have a peek in my hand. It's a tiny glass rose. Aww. That's so nice.

Oh, and so delicate. Oh, no, my big clumsy hands. Maybe I'll put it somewhere as safely as I can. You know that the white rose is the symbol of Lady Anel's house. Okay. Your passive perception is not high enough to note something else. That's a shame. Don't worry, it'll come up later.

Oh, I'm sure. But it's good to jot down. Okay. You catch up to Zinwilin. Cool. I'll delicately secrete that somewhere on my body. It's on a, oh, I should say. It's on a chain.

It's on a fine chain. Oh, then I hang that around my neck. So you catch up to Xin Mulan. She looks at you and raises an eyebrow. What was that about? Just a, you know, a concerned member of nobility. Xin Mulan turns around and asks no further questions. I say that with exactly the same tone I said it then.

Will this gift from Lady Anel keep Sir Grace safe? Find out next time on Fall From Grace Part 2, The City. Thanks for listening. If you want to help support this show and all the other shows on the Sandspans Radio Network, just head to sandspansradio all the other shows on the Sandspans Radio Network, just head to sandspansradio.com and consider joining the Sandspans Plus community. There's over 20 bonus shows, a Sandspans Plus Discord, exclusive video content, and discounts on merch.

Just head to sandspansradio.com and follow the links. 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. D&D is for Nerds Plus, the symbol, not the word, where you can listen to select campaigns that were once only available to Sandspans Plus members, the further adventures of the Greyhill Free Company if you want shorter campaigns with beautiful guests,

and D&D is for Nerds, not Ognot, where all our non-canon D&D adventures go to rest. Just search for D&D is for Nerds on your favourite podcast app of choice and join us on this epic quest of D&D podcast discovery.