D&D is For Nerds - State of Grace #11 Ser Grace Provoked

Episode Date: July 19, 2025

In the dungeons beneath Fairburn Point Ser Grace, the realms most celebrated adventurer, was forcefully bonded with an entity beyond mortal comprehension. For some such an incident would spell tragedy, for Ser Grace, however, he saw only opportunity. Now the wheels are in motion for something big, something terrifying. A thousand plans, two thousand eyes, and all requiring a personal touch.Such is the State of Grace.To find out how Ser Grace bonded with the Inky Black check out Search for A’Helm. To learn the history of Ser Grace you can listen to the Fall from Grace Trilogy: The Hag, The City, The Dungeon as well as the Tieffany and Pop campaign Return to Grace. Ser Grace last appeared in The Adventures of the Greyhill Free Company and to hear more about the happenings on at Fairburn Point you can listen to Cult & Worship and The Lonely Tower. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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everybody's ally. Blink, Sir Grace the fisherman, watching the coast with a weathered eye, marking the colors, all swell. Blink, 2,000 eyes, 1,000 plans, and all requiring a personal touch. This is the state of grace. As we approach his private quarters,

I would like to jump into the fisherman that me and the High Priest have been using. What are we to do if things go wrong? There's a chance that he's clued in to what's happening. I don't like our odds either. I don't think we're going to be fighting our way out, but certainly my magic's enough that the two of us can escape, maybe just not unskeathed.

If more luck brushes to die, so be it. Papa? Go back to bed! Ratten sits down at a... well, no, it's not a desk. No, it's all designed for dragons. There's a pile of huge cushions that he lays upon like a kind of like a reclining cat It looks almost too Yeah, it looks almost too relaxed. Okay. It's a yeah

Does it's not a very formal sit that he's giving is there like a place for us to sit or we to stand? Okay, some cobbles come out with chairs and place. We'll sit down on them Forgive me, but I have a favor to ask Anything I would know how familiar you are with sir grace Well as captain of the gate guard fairly familiar, right? I could get an audience with him if that's what you're implying An audience would not be necessary yet, but we are curious. There is some truth to what the Necro Wizard said. Versin Jeterix did speak of worries around Sir Grace before he disappeared. Worries? Yes.

Disturbances within the weave of magic. Fairburn Point is a place where the planes become thin. Reality falls apart somewhere, sometime around Fairburn Point and we worry that this may have affected Sir Grace. I see, this quite serious. Yes, nothing yet to worry about and we don't know many specifics but well I just was curious as to your take upon this Hmm. Well, I lived for some time in Fairburn Point prior to Sir Grace taking over as um Regent you understand. Yes, and as a child one of the many things that I feared

Were the myriad And I lean forward conspiratorially cults. You understand. Yes. It's an open secret, I believe, that Fairburn Point was beset by many people hoping to harness this thinness between the planes. But I must say, Sir Grace, upon taking over as regent, has done a great deal to rid the city of many of these cults. And I find that fairly admirable. His behavior I couldn't speak to, but I believe that he is a good man.

Of course, Sir Grace has always been, perhaps a friend of the dragons is too strong a term, but certainly not an enemy. Regardless, this is something that I think would be worth at least inquiring about. Now that a question has been asked, I'm afraid I have a request as well. Or rather, Ratten the Shameful gives a kind of a sour look. Sour look to you, but not for you. Yeah, yeah, sure. Just like what he's about to say is distasteful in some way. The Necro Wizard, after some conversation,

the Necro Wizard has refused to elaborate further on what he does or does not know or claims to know about Sir Grace. I see. In exchange for a testimony, though, he has requested an audience alone with you. With me? Yes. I think he is aware that you are a representative of Sir Grace. I see.

I think perhaps he wishes to send Sir Grace a message. Certainly and then this look becomes very sour. Certainly he said that he has a bone to pick with Sir Grace. I try not to let the distaste that crosses Sir Grace's face make its way to Morelock Brush's mouth. Now you are aware, I have no doubt, of the history, the sordid history between Sir Grace and the Necro Wizard. And it just occurs to me that if the Necro Wizard believes me to be some kind of representative of Sir Grace rather than the truth, which is that I am a representative of Fairburn

Point first and foremost, that he might perhaps try to attack me in some way. Would it be possible to be provided with some kind of bodyguard? Unfortunately, I do not think the Necro Wizard would allow a bodyguard. But I can offer you this. A protective spell preventing magical intrusions upon you. That's probably not great they have done to me, hey. No, it's fine, though I thank you. Are you certain? Yes, I think, thinking on it some, if the Necro Wizard sees me trying to defend myself then he might become

suspicious a protective spell might be to his eyes the same as bodyguard or some kind of defense I see I do not pretend to understand the machinations of you. You see as a few words that he realizes you might find offensive. You see as a few of those words kind of like cross his mind and then he finally settles on smaller folk. Yes. I do not pretend to understand your machinations and politics, but certainly even amongst you the Necro Wizard is an oddity. Yes on that I can agree. Very well at the very least please be assured that I am confident the Necro Wizard's magic is null. Okay. He has been neutered magically.

I'm comforted by that. Is the audience to happen promptly? Whenever you are ready. I'm ready. Very well. Rat in the Shameful leads you back to the, not the auditorium, I don't know what you call it, the stadium, the field, whatever you want to call it. The Cobolds move back to a respectful distance so that they couldn't overhear a conversation

Ratten the shameful stands sits by the entrance sits as a cat would The front yeah, yeah, yeah, and The high priest stands next to him as you captain more lock brush approach the cage Hmm. I approach the cage still full in the Morloc brush sort of guise. Necro wizard, I've been informed by Rat and the shameful you wish to speak to me. You know, ha ha ha ha ha, you know Sir Grace, when I said you and I are not so different, this isn't exactly what I meant. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Can I, do I think the dragons can hear us? No, everyone's at a respectful distance, you cannot be overheard. This isn't exactly what I meant. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha cage? He begins, he can't point at you but he's gesturing with his balled up fists and you get the impression he'd be pointing if he could. Quiet! Quiet you moron! For the love of God shut up! What's happening at home right now? At home? At home, at home, at home home and home. There are many things occurring right now at Fairburn Point. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Grace Manor. What? Does he not know?

Did he not know? Are you not aware? Of what? Of what? Of what? Yes, of what? Blood of Grace. Blood of Grace.

I start shaking the cage. It pilfers. It steals from you, from Grace. Talk to me! Speak plainly! Your daughter steals from you! I'd like to sort of stumble back away from the cage. What's wrong, Captain Morlock?

Are you worried? Worried that Tiffany might steal from Sir Grace? What has she taken? What has she taken? Cinder, cinder, cinder, cinder, cinder, cinder, cinder. Sir Grace and cinder. She took what I could not. She took it, took it from right under your nose. Ha ha ha.

I would like to place my hands on either side of the cage so that I'm kind of holding it like Though I'm about to lift it up, and then I would like to cast Thunder wave oh Fuck yes, dude fuck you Necro wizard. I say fuck you. I'm guessing we're thunder waving at a third level Okay, you Blast him with Thunder Wave He actually he willingly fails the save You deal 32 points of damage without any magical protections to keep him safe the Necro Wizards body is destroyed It hits the other side of the cage in shards.

How dare she touch it. How dare she. Captain Morlock, there is a brief moment, a beat, because everyone is so shocked by what just happened. And then Pandemonium erupts. Now, because everyone was out of earshot, no one knows, well first off, obviously no one knows exactly why this happened. All they could see is that you got very agitated,

and well, and then the consequences of that. But as a function of them being, as an additional function I should say, of them being so far away, Captain Morlock, I'm gonna say you have, let's say an entire round, I'll still roll initiative, but you've got an entire round before anyone is in range to do anything. Okay. If you have any special powers or doohickeys. If I've got anything up my sleeve, I truly don't think I do, Adam. Well, you're actually gonna get two turns

because you're only first in an initiative. So please, if in two turns, there's anything you'd like to do. I immediately, Adam, use my wild shape to become like some kind of oily eel. I wanna become, I know this is not like a traditional animal, but I'm not a traditional druid. So I'd like to become some kind of small,

slimy eel type creature. All right, you are in a field. You- Well then I will become a sort of centipede like creature. Okay, all right. So some kind of slick centipede like creature to try and get away. I'm thinking they're big, if I get little, slick Centipede like creature to try and get away I'm thinking they're big if I get little maybe it'll be harder for them, you know real mouse and elephant situation

Yeah, and then I would like to also use my bonus action of wrath of the sea Where I create like a an amination of let's make it oily, slick, inky black around me instead of ocean spray that surrounds me and affects the people around me and makes it hard for them to chase after. Okay. So, let me quickly check because this emanation is about to be tested pretty immediately. By 316 dragons. So... No, there's only one dragon in your immediate area. There's a bunch of cobbles actually that you're gonna have to deal with.

When you manifest, you can choose another creature. Alright, so let's say you just pick the nearest cobble. Absolutely. So the cobbles swoop in and each of them leveling halberds at a centipede attempt to rain blows upon you, but the first one, they take 4d6 cold damage. Yeah, that kobold is fucked. So the first kobold, as it sprints towards you, leveling its halberd, it has a set of

wings which unfurl behind it, not so much in a more of a like an intimidation Tag yeah, yeah, what's trying to make itself look as big as possible? Yeah, you're nice it lunges at you with the halberd, but as it gets close the emanation around you Throws itself into this cobalt who is then picked up thrown and lands in a heap 15 feet away from you Crumpled and possibly dying. Fantastic. Then, another three kobolds, sorry, four kobolds do the same. But the emanation can only target one entity at a time. Okay, that is... Wow.

They, three of the kobolds, trip and stumble over each other in a very comical way. You hear, AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH hear, as all three of them scream out loud, maybe as they unfold their wings, they get their wings caught in each other. Unfortunately, one of the kobolds from behind you slams that halberd into your back, little centipede. As you are but tiny tiny you have only but one hit point okay well you are immediately forced out of your wild shape as you take nine points of slashing damage eight points transfer over to your current form leaving you on

20 hit points yes then it is rotten turn. Okay. Actually, I was about to say Rat in the Shameful will kill you, but I don't think Rat in the Shameful is going to kill you. Okay. Rat in the Shameful is swoops down over you, Morlock, and you are bathed in a gas attack, a breath gas attack, as with a... ... ... ... gas seeps covering most of this field. You need to make a Constitution saving throw. You fail the Constitution saving throw, Captain Morlock.

You are rendered unconscious. Oh, fuck. Okay. God damn it. Captain Morlock, you awaken within the cage that they were keeping. The Necro Wizard. Yeah, the Necro Wizard in. You are bound in a similar manner. You feel around your neck there is like a collar, which experimentally if you shift your head, it doesn't full on electrocute you, but there's an awful static electrical charge that seeps into your skin, which you feel will prevent any sort of maybe

magical mishaps, shall we say. Okay. Do I get the sense that they have found me out for what I am? You don't... Like, as in, like putting the collar on me and in the time that I was unconscious, did they basically get a chance to run some tests? Or are they like, we just, I'm kind of in here while they figure out what's going on. As you awaken, you're not given a lot of time to think, really.

Rat in the Shameful is right there, as are several other dragons. Probably the notable figures within the court case who have all assembled for this. The, as I said, Rat in the Shameful, the Judge, or Kiffy. There's also the Ipgus, the Enforcer, the Tysstok, the Scribe, and the Gisfem, the Herald. They're all here. Ancient, very powerful dragons you in the cage This is for them obviously this would appear to be a very inescapable situation. Yeah, but for Sir grace There is a very easy way to absolutely remove yourself from this situation for sure rather than the shameful as you awake ah

He awakens We need an account I the moment rat and begins talking I rob myself of sentience okay you like withdraw I guess yeah I take every bit of sir grace's consciousness that was inside more like brush and every bit of inky black that can come with me and I remove them to the best of my ability. I don't know if that means, and if this is the case, maybe so be it, that physically the inky black that is in him will be visible to the dragons? I don't know.

But it seems like it would be impossible to get out of this situation any other way. You withdraw. The figure that was once Captain Morlock Brush half deflates and then with a wet noise hits the ground of the cage. So Grace, that part of you, that consciousness, the inky black, whips back and hits yourself in Fairburn Point, the version of you in Fairburn Point, it hits you with a physicality that causes your body to stumble backwards a few steps. Okay. That's gonna be a problem. Can I send somebody new in the direction of that, just somebody, some kind of- It'll take a little while for someone to arrive.

Some kind of spy that I can send to find out what the fallout of that incident is. Yeah, okay. Who would you like to send the person closest or- Any cobbles I have in my employ. There's none. How did I not get a single cobble? Get me a cobble. You just don't have any. Sorry?

Get me a cobbled and then send them to the... Unfortunately, pretty much any cobbled in the area is already there. I just will, I will have to, yeah, whatever human then or not a draganoid that I have as close as possible, I will send out to investigate the fallout, yeah. The closest possible, Yeah, okay.

There is maybe a moment of contemplation for Sir Grace as, I don't know if you'd really thought about this previously. I don't know if, well first off, I don't know if Sir Grace is the sort who would be like, oh yeah, I need to spy among the goblins or I need to spy among the kobolds. Probably not. Or if, yeah, yeah. I mean, it might have partially then been a function of like, well, why would I need a spy in the cobbles? But there is maybe a moment of contemplation as Sir Grace is like, there was never even an opportunity to inspect a cobble. Yeah.

What does that mean? With the Viscount dealt with, you have only to deal with John Cutter and Ada. Yes. Okay. The patrician, Vailen Ottvos, is in his quarters right now. I don't... Well, he's... I still guess...

I guess he's still fabricating evidence and whatnot. You've got him doing that. Yeah, he's still got many plans. I still need him to begin in some way encouraging the pirates of the Union and stuff to attack Blue Beach, and I still need him to start building bandit camps at the edges of our territory and stuff like that. So he's got a lot of work to do. And I've locked down, to the best of my ability, the city and the castle.

So it's really a matter of seeking out Ada. John Cutter has John Cutter, well, I think Otvar said that he would inform John Cutter of his men's failure to get Ada and their death. You presume that has happened at this point? I should probably talk to him. But I also constantly now within the city as best I can and within the keep, I'm kind of distracted because I imagine every sort of second I am on the lookout for Ada with my,

you know, hundreds of eyes. Yeah. Yeah. I'll go try and find John Carter. You find him, he's removed himself from his quarters at the castle and he, I don't want to say forwarding address, but he informs or a, he has informed someone else who he thinks will pass the message on, but secretly he's just outright telling you. Yeah.

There's a, by the docks, there's a building that is a holding company of a holding company. I am there to meet some, or I will be there for the next day, for the majority of this day, to discuss some finances with a, what you might say, a business partner of mine. John Cutter, something you can tell that he's being duplicitous somehow. That stammering and stuttering is there. He is a lie, he is formed a lie. You're not sure what or why.

And then as a gate guard, you watch him leave the castle and make his way towards the docks. He goes to where he's saying he was going to and that building you would know maybe once it was a very surreptitious operation, but with your, shall we say, connections throughout the city, you are now aware of it being a kind of a holding company for a shell company for something, for some operations that the Cutter family owns in Blue Beach.

Yeah. Okay. Interesting. He is, he is being truthful when he says where he's going. Yeah, but what he's doing there. I just don't know. Okay Obviously it would be suspicious if somebody was just kind of following him to act as God like that would be he has his own Yeah, he's moving with his retinue Hmm, I suppose I'll head in that direction Like if he assumes I am to eventually get that message, then it's not out of the realm of possibility that if I need to speak to him,

I'll go to the same place. Through your many eyes, you watch him enter that building, and you see there's guards posted kind of all around. A lot of his retinue goes in with him as well. And then his movements and actions are kind of invisible to you. You're not sure what's going on inside the building. As you approach the building, the two guards stationed at the front door watch you approach. If you get any closer, they don't look like they're going to bar you.

I say I'd like to speak to John Carter. One of them turns around and opens the door for you. Thank you. I step inside. In the first room, there's a, you'd call it like an atrium, a greeting room. There's a desk where a receptionist or a secretary might sit at. It's currently unattended. There's a door onwards and that door leads to some sort of back area where, you know, kind of like a business meeting.

Yeah, sure, sure, sure. There's a big table there, you can see some water and snacks are laid out, but the water and snacks have not been touched. And in that room, you can see John Cutter and some of his officers are sitting having a conversation. I vented basically the room they're in, or are they there in the room beyond?

Okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you can see and like hear a little bit. The conversation dies down. Your presence is not secretive. It's yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not trying to make it secretive, yeah. Their conversation kind of dies down a little naturally, and then one of them gestures for you

to come in closer if you want. Thank you, I do. All right, you sit in. John Cutter, as I said, is sitting there. He's sitting there with some business associates from here at Fairburn Point, and then also he's sitting with his operational and officers and some retinue of guards here as well. He just just, oh, please, I was hoping to see you.

Please have a seat. I hope I didn't interrupt. No, nothing at all. The meeting had largely finished, to be honest. We were just discussing pleasantries at this point. Once again, you can detect a fabricated lie. There's a tension in the room as you enter. What do you want any good to lie to me, Jon?

And I take a seat. I'm not sure to what you're referring. He interrupts before you can continue. Yeah. Though on the topic of lies, I have a question for you. This, uh, aider, this accountant, may I ask, is that her only profession? I don't think so, John. No.

Well, I wish you had have divulged something like that before you contracted my assistance in this matter. I thought I was killing an accountant. I just hope that your men were capable enough of taking out an assassin, which is what I suppose are a spy, which is what I suppose she turned out to be. Some of the officers in this room bristle. John Cutter doesn't seem to be terribly affected by what you just said, but you can see, yeah, a few of the officers at the mention of, I thought your men could have handled

something like this. Some of them seem to take that quite personally. You know Blue Beach. They're very, a lot of Blue Beachians are very proud, proud people, prideful. And you can see that you've insulted their honor, their competency, and it has not gone well with some of the people in this room. Maybe one of them, one of the officers looks like he's about to say something, and John Cutter puts a hand up to quieten him,

and John Cutter keeps talking. Well, I'm going to assure you that myself and my retinue are up to the task. I just probably would have dealt with it differently, given it a bit of a slightly higher priority, slightly, slightly would have devoted more men to it had I known the full extent. And he says, giving you a wiry smile and kind of like a, like you got me yeah but you got me fair and square sort of thing I probably would have asked for more money as well but anyway yes well

there's still time I mean you're still here yes of course I by all means I mean to accomplish the task I just is it a matter of more money? You recognize this time John Cutter wasn't gonna bring up more money, but that you brought it up. You've accidentally opened the door. You see you've made a slight tactical error, I suppose. Well, more money means I could devote more people to the assignment. So I suppose, I mean obviously

more money it gets the task done better and faster often, yes. Perhaps wouldn't need to be that much more, another million. There's plenty at Grace Manor, the coffers are full there. I... Here atburn Point, of course, obviously, we are under something of duress. So, plus you've already taken five million gold from our vaults, but Grace Mano, I haven't been there in a long time, but the vault would be open to you if you could complete this task. Terribly sorry, Sir Grace, but as I've previously stated, I'm not an adventurer. I'm a businessman. If you cannot assure the delivery of the gold yourself, I'm not going to get it.

And I'm certainly not going to send agents deep into Kandor to get it. It could be sent here. Well, I guess you should see that that is done. You're a parasite, John Cutter. He smiles at that. He thinks I he He has nothing to say to that other than to be pleased with himself a petty tiny Parasite

Million gold will be delivered here Within the next couple of days I can assure that at least well Then perhaps we could talk. Talk turkey as they say. Anyway, well, at the very least, I'm going to be, please don't take this the wrong way. I will remain as will... What were you talking about before I got here? We were making plans.

Yeah, what plans? Well, Ada, as her current instance is, changes matters. I need to think of my own protection as well. Yeah. And so I plan on leaving a host, a cadre of some of my higher ranking officers, in addition to a non-insubstantial amount of guards. I will be taking the ship and leaving,

and the other ship that we have docked will be taking its place. That ship shall collect the full one million, and then the retinue on that ship, in addition to the officers here, will coordinate and deal with this ADA situation. I, however, am needed back at Blue Beach. I can't be gone for too long.

Otherwise, things may look suspicious, you understand. Do I trust him? I mean, I don't trust him, but do I think he's telling the truth here? You think he's telling the truth. You think he's just entered into a very lucrative business deal with you concerning coal and fishing around Fairburn Point. That deal, while it has been hammered out

and cemented in place, if he makes an enemy of you, you can at any point kind of violently take that back from him. He doesn't care if you're happy, but he doesn't want to make an enemy out of you. And what if you don't kill Ada? What if you send man after man after man and she doesn't die, they die instead? There's a uncomfortable shuffling through some of the offices here. I understand obviously you're a get paid first type of person, but you have five million gold currently sitting in your ship and I have an assassin and the spy running rampant

through the cape. You understand how this as a deal, John, it's currently not in my favor. Shall we say that? So Grace, Jordan, Jordan, Jordan, Jordan, you should relax. You look so heavy. This weight, it's dragging you down.

Please. I've always been a firm believer that any man who speaks out of both sides of his mouth ought to have it shut permanently. I've been paid to achieve a goal. I'll make sure the goal is achieved come hell or high water If I need to drain The garrison at Blue Beach, I'll put aiders head on a pike for you. I promise that I stand up see that you do I

Step outside of the small building in the docks Then I suppose I'll head back to the throne room really I Don't trust him at all. I kind of don't trust anyone I suppose but That is a man who will go where the money is. Mm-hmm, and that's not loyalty. So I Don't trust him at all. Well, you have the money He's loyal exactly. Yeah currently he's a means to an end by by the token of John cutter is only as loyal as the money you're paying him ensures him to be while you don't necessarily know What he's ever?

Intending or planning on doing you can at least understand his motive yes absolutely absolutely that's some small Comfort I suppose yes soldiers his his sailors. However, yeah, you're uncertain You can tell that there is some of these Soldiers and sailors are with him because they're paid to be with him. But some of them are die-hard blue beach loyalists and they're only here because they're maybe afraid of consequences at the alternative. The Cutters are, like I said, a powerful family.

So, on the deck of the Constant Craving, Tendril Grace... Oh, wait. Would you... Surely, actually, I was just kind of assuming Tendril Grace is supervising this ship, but maybe that would be too confusing I guess they can't well, so grace. Mm-hmm. I give you the option So the constant craving is the ship that John cutter is giving to you to intercept the gallant rider Yeah, you could

Send tendril grace. Yeah a level five entity. Mm-hmm Yeah, it's an identical copy of your tendril that is... Currently in the Lonely Tower. Yeah, currently in the Lonely Tower. Sure. That, because that's easy for you to do. Yeah. Or, you could send a randomly leveled entity that you have control of.

Which would you prefer? Okay, yeah. I will send my consciousness into, I mean, I've already got this person, but I'll, you know, possess them more fully, the adventurer Ogden Tyne. Alright. The Eldritch Knight. In the middle of a very immediate contract that had appeared, the Greyhill Free Company had gotten a very urgent, very immediate contract to search for kobolds.

Not kill, just search and report back on any cobalt's here They could find Ogden time stand stands ramrod straight next to let's say hot longs and Pino Grisio. Yeah, the Minotaur wizard and hot longs the cobbled fighter. Yeah, okay Kyle Well, they didn't really know that they're you're looking for a You were looking for a cobbled encampment. Not just a single

Pinot grisio and hot longs call out toden tine as he turns around and starts just randomly walking away After a couple of hours Ogden tine finds the Encampment at the on the the the on the beach where the constant craving was docked with the other blue beach ship Which is already since left to be replaced with John cutters ship. Yep. Nice or to replace Sorry, I should say John cutters ship The constant craving is the one still left behind cool, which is being controlled not by a captain But by a lieutenant de Vauley lieutenant de Vauley who has been expecting a representative of Sir Grace and greets you as you approach you can see there's a cadre a representative of Sir Grace, greets you as you approach. You can see there's a cadre, a host of blue beach marines and sailors here as well. There's a kind of a

standoffish nature to them. And like I said, through going through technically Ogden Tine's mind, but in reality, it's more Sir Grace's mind, is that like a lot of the people here, certainly the officer Lieutenant Davoli, he would be a probably, more likely than not, he would be a loyal to the money that he has been paid by John Carter. But some of the crew, you just couldn't say, yeah. Alright, I'll instruct John Carter's cadre here to basically, what do you call it, mount up? Mount up a ship. Ship off to set sail.

To set sail to try and intercept the gallant rider. Okay. Well, at the same time with my cadre of true faithful in the mirror realm, still trying to find entrance to the mirror that Punchinello is in front of. You, oh, that cadre searching the mirror that Punchinella is in front of. You, oh, that cadre, searching the mirror realm. Searching both in the material and in the mirror, you slowly begin closing in on both sides.

Nice. You feel like, wandering the mirror verse, you're the tendril self that is controlling these, controlling that host. You are being picked at from sides by mirror entities, see your presence here, with hostility. There's a malevolence, a sentience to these attacks. And you feel, from the mirror entities, you feel like you're not getting the full brunt.

You don't feel like at any point you've been getting the full brunt of the mirror defense, you should say. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. It feels like this entity, this mirror creature, because it's one entity that has many tendrils, kind of like how you have many, you are one entity with many tendrils. You feel like this entity is hostile to your incursion, but doesn't see you as the greatest threat

that it's currently facing. Okay, interesting. Yeah, it feels distracted, almost. By what you're uncertain. Yeah. Huh. Well, that's of no concern to me. Getting Punchinello out is currently, for these entities at least, these true faithful,

that's priority number one. You're not sure if it's a function of you are somehow successfully Navigating this place or the place just reflects back things like thoughts upon you Yeah, but in mirrors you sometimes feel like you catch snippets of Punchinello Distantly it feels like you are closing in on him and So grace you could trick yourself if you wanted to you could trick yourself into believing that you are successfully navigating this, or you could accept the fact that it's very possible that your intention here is being shown to you. Yeah, I very specifically don't act unless I'm completely sure.

Okay. Because I think that this is the kind of area that will absolutely play tricks on my mind, I guess. Sure. So, Grace, you're kind of jumping from point to point to point. The mirror, the constant craving, and just every now and then little blips of redora as she floats in the ocean. The ballista bolt was not enough to outright kill her, and so she is slowly making her

way back to shore. But you also use her as a... As like another kind of triangulate what a gallant rider is, yeah. You're slowly closing in. Oh, and that fishing droller, which I guess you've already sent out. Oh yeah, I probably wouldn't stop it.

The more things they can get in the way of the gallant rider, the better. You're using these points of reference to slowly close in, honing in on the Gallant Rider. Lieutenant Devoli is very perhaps perturbed and shocked at Ogden Tyne's knowledge. He, I mean, Lieutenant Devoli could believe that Ogden Tyne is a fair sailor and knows where to go.

But Ogden Tyne just looks like an adventurer, I imagine. Well, that is probably part of it. But Ogden Tyne isn't saying, isn't speaking in the manner of a experienced sailor who knows where to, who might know where to search. Ogden Tyne is speaking as if he can see the Gallant Rider right now. Which that is impossible. For sure.

Closing in on the Gallant Rider rider you can see now something that has you a little bit of a little wary Okay, the gallant rider is not alone. There's a second ship, huh? Now the fishing trawler hasn't facilities to see at distance like this Mm-hmm, but lieutenant Davoli is looking through an eyepiece and you can tell he's getting a pretty good Look at this other ship. I go over to him and I take it off him and I look you just snatched it from him. Yeah. Yeah You Ogden time Some words are exchanged between the Blue Beach sailors. Oh and time is truly No, Santy. It's a tool. Okay. Tine is purely a tool for Sir Grace right now.

Okay. Well, maybe out of the corner of your eye, you can see that something happens. I don't care if they're pissed off. That's fine. Yeah, that's fine. You see, you recognize it. It's the Stormcaller is next to the Gallant Rider. Okay.

Well, that makes sense, I guess, of course, because what's his-face yearning to Los Angeles is on it so cool. Okay that checks out that just means we're gonna fight two ships That's fine. All right as you get closer you see on the deck of the gallant rider Someone is throwing flag signals. Okay, what are they are trying to communicate to you? What are the flag signals mean? They are jump into a sailor if I have to to find out the Semaphore they're indicating maybe lieutenant of Olli is Reading this out to you, but you've already kind of deciphered it as he's reading it out. They're asking us for our intentions We are very obviously on the course to intercept what we are doing looks very suspicious and they seem to have already been suspicious There's no point hiding anymore intercepts what we are doing looks very suspicious and they seem to have already been suspicious

There's no point hiding anymore Alright, the members of the Blue Beach Marines and sailor core on the deck of the ship just begin arming themselves Combat we're basically playing chicken with them. It's not planned. Okay get out of the way or die They do the same thing to the fishing trawler Not that the fishing trawler can actually even respond, but they do throw flag signals their way as well, basically asking the same thing. Yeah, we've got no way of responding,

so we just keep full steam ahead. As you begin getting closer and closer, highs or lows? Highs. The fishing trawler is closer, so it is going to get there first. Well, the aim of the fishing trawler was to get in front. Yeah. Well that's what it's angling itself to do. All I'm saying is there will be an engagement with the fishing trawler first,

which will probably resolve before the constant craving arrives. So the fishing trawler's not going to slow down the constant craving? Well it could slow down the constant craving. All I'm saying is that the fishing trawler's not gonna slow down the constant craving? Well, it could slow down the constant craving. All I'm saying is that the fishing trawler will be dealt with. You won't be able to attack in full force if you do it like that. That's okay. I mean, the fishing trawler is not even really a vessel of war. The fishing trawler is just designed to slow them down. Alright.

My two fronts at the moment really are the Constant Craving and the Mirror Man. The Stormcaller and the Gallant Rider both start firing on the fishing troller with the Ballista. You see, it's very obvious, the first few shots are warning shots. Yeah. They're trying to tell the fishing troller to stay out of the way. Obviously, you don't do that. No. When you don't do that, the gloves come off.

Your plan to, or maybe they won't engage the fishing troller, unfortunately, they are now seeing the very obvious attempt of what the fishing troller is trying to do. So now they're, instead of trying to warn them away, they're now actively engaging. Do I think, I mean, I guess the answer is yes, but the people on the fishing trawler just look like fishermen. Yeah. Do they, do I think that the crew of the Gallant Rider and the Stormcaller, do I think that they think that the fishermen are combatants?

Well, they look like fishermen, but they're very obviously on an intercept course. Yeah, okay Yeah, you think it doesn't matter what they look like, especially with what the With what they know so far. Yeah, you think you think they're not going to spare your life. That's fine I don't care they can they can kill those fishermen. That's okay. Yeah, no worries. I figured yeah So yeah, like I said they open fire with ballast a at first when that doesn't work the ballast They start well they start they start aiming to fire over the ship and they start firing into the ship So here's how it works. Mm-hmm ship to ship combat is broken down into three sections. Okay navigation

Mm-hmm combat if you have any weaponry, and then planning at the end. So you, well this would be easier with a map, but obviously the people at home won't be able to see that, so you'll have to make do with my best description. So the gallant rider and the stormcaller are side-by-side But the stormcaller is flagging something what behind basically it's not as fast a ship So yeah, basically if you can imagine it is the a Gallant rider and then right is where the gallant rider ends. That is the stormcaller to the right Yeah, of the gallant rider.

You are coming in from the left. So you're going to hit the gallant rider before you ever touch the storm caller. And you are on a, you're what in... Nautical? In nautical terms is called crossing the T. I see. So they are forming, they are sailing kind of directly east

where you are sailing directly south. So what's gonna happen is you are going to intercept each other in a T formation, where you are the top part of the T. Does that make sense? This would... If this fishing trawler had weapons, it does not. If this fishing trawler had weapons, this would be a devastating naval maneuver. Unfortunately, you really are not in a position to do anything about that. Absolutely, we've got nothing. So, your navigation section will be essentially just you making a roll to keep the navigation that you made last turn.

Your combat will be you throwing some javelins. Yes, yeah, yeah. That's kind of it. And then your navigation is, after you've learnt what movement they've done this turn, and what attack they've done this turn, you and them, without knowing the other's plan, I see. must then make your next move. That's very cool.

Does that make sense? Yep, yep, yep. Alright, so they get get to they rolled higher So first they you watch as they begin drifting a little bit a little bit northwards Mm-hmm. It looks like they might either be trying to force you to overshoot or it might be possible that They fully intend on just ramming straight through you. Okay, then you I assume Your stuff stay the course Your course was staying the course. You do a decent job, but you begin drifting eastward a little bit. It's just kind of slightly imperfect now.

They fire a ballista. One sails over you, as if it were one of those warning shots. Maybe a miscommunication between the two ships, you're unsure. But the other Ballista, it's pretty true. There are five fishermen on this boat. Highs or lows? Highs. The Ballista Bolt spears one of the fishermen, and it doesn't matter what damage it does,

they are thrown off the boat. You are down to four fishermen. One of them needs to be doing the navigation at least, but the fewer people who are rowing essentially. Yeah, yeah. It'll, we'll lose speed. Yeah, you'll lose speed. So how many people do you want to devote to Javelins, if any? Do I, I would love to know. Obviously I can't know the intentions of the crew of the Gallant Rider and stuff, but can I take a check based on their position and stuff like that as to whether they intend to ram me fully or whether they intend to try and make us overshoot? I know you said

that like those are the options, but can I make a check, you know, as Sir Grace looking through these fishermen and also connecting to any sailors that I have in my shall we say employ to try and figure out their what their plan of attack is. You think it looks like they're trying to force you to overshoot because if you miss this one shot you're out of a fight basically you aren't going to be able to catch up after you've had no no no after you've shot your shot here But that's good because that tells me they don't want to ram me. So I would like to Can I instead of attack devote my turn I guess that's the next turn isn't it? I was gonna say can I instead of attacking devote this turn to

Ensuring that like to correcting any kind of mistakes that we've made that of course is to drift or whatever So that we properly end up in the Way of the gallon rider. Yeah, if that's your if that's your cuz I don't really want to attack I don't think that's gonna do anything if I just throw some speed you would want to then choose to slow down Yes, they're trying to force you to have been too fast and miss Well, then I have all of those fishermen in one fluid movement Take their oars out of the out of the ocean so that they start to slow down.

Okay. Well, next turn. You successfully slow down, you readjust. So, Grace, you see that despite the fact that you are slowing down, they are continuing to turn north. They are, you are still, You're basically where you were before. You are still on a course to miss, unfortunately. That's a shame.

They fire a Ballista Bolt again. Highs or lows? Lowes this time. They hit the boat. Oh, no. They tear a hole in the boat. No, this is kind of good. Oh, I guess it slows us down. Yeah, you begin slowing down even further as well.

The boat is destroyed now, it's going to sink, but before it sinks, you might actually end up making them hit you. That's great, fantastic. I'm sorry. Thanks for watching!