D&D is For Nerds - Vampire Infested Barovia I #17 CSI Barovia

Episode Date: January 7, 2023

Cribit the Amazing misses out on a very exciting and climatic scene which is very upsetting for him and by proxy, you. Hecktor has a big day out haggling for a new sword and investigating the mysterious disappearance of the tanner next door while Pip does his best to spy on the upper class.Want ad-free and even more bonus content? Just check out the Imagination Adventures show page on Apple podcasts! Music by the ever wonderful Lepidora, you can check out her music here. And head to peddlerspress.store to peruse our D&D themed merch store and help support the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ahem. Ahem. You're listening to the Sandspants Network. Though you see no water for miles around you, you are, like me, nonetheless maroon. We are castaways in this terrible bad dream somebody decided to name Barovia. To switch up the metaphor, we are imprisoned, and the fog is the bars of our cell, and our jailer is Baron von Strahd. As far as I can tell, there's no way to escape other than possibly by dying. Maybe by being eaten by a wolf, let's say.

Hector, you've had a few sips of the tea by the time you arrive. The smithy is not cold, but you can't see anyone there. It's very nice tea. Can I just barrel through the front door? Sure, yeah. You can see that the blinds are shuttered, and you can tell that there are people moving on the other side. Through the front door.

The front door explodes inwards, and Pip is standing there. Don't drink the tea. Actually, well, yeah, don't drink the tea. I dropped the tea. Dragomir and Magda stare at you Pip Dragomir says what is wrong

I have reason to believe Hector that Dragomir and Magda have been ensorcelled in the same way that the other people in town have been ensorcelled in fact I know for a fact they have somebody told me yeah have a look at who is closest to me dragon mirror he was the one probably setting the armor uh what the expression face what am i seeing

now with that information am i dragon mirror looks confused right you know what this can't hurt i'll take the grenade i got out and just slam it into the ground couldn't possibly how could that hurt? I was about to cast. Alright, cool. There's an explosion and a greenish powder settles upon you, Dragomir and Magda. Let me break this Gordian knot. Yeah, as the green dust

settles upon all of you first off, Hector you you feel, P feel Pena retreat. What is going... What did you do? Then Magda and Dragomir both blink, and they quite clearly...

It looks like they've just stood up too quickly. Magda sits down. Dragomir nearly collapses. He puts an arm out on a bench counter. I got to grab Dragomir so he stops Almost as instinct What was that? It deforms magic

It was a grenade that deformed magic I needed to get them out of there Whatever hidden source of their mind What? Where am I? You're in your blacksmithy, Dragomir And Magda Yes, What? Do you remember?

I remember the lake. Right. I remember. Oh. I remember. I get a little notebook. Something crawling from the lake. Big.

Large. It was like, he shakes his head. He doesn't seem to want to keep speaking. I'll get out maybe a manual to monster, flick through it and was like, he shakes his head. He doesn't seem to want to keep speaking. I'll get out. Maybe Emmanuel Demolster flick through and be like, would you describe it as a dark mess? He stopped shaking his head and just very tentatively, very briefly with a lot of fear, somehow nods. Watery, dark mess. I jab at Emmanuel with my finger.

All right. Well, identified. watery dark mess I jab at the Emmanuel with my finger alright well identified I want to guess like almost ignoring Pip in a attending to them to see if they're okay like he might be asking questions but I want to be just checking them to see if they are okay giving like you know like a once over

be like he's probably you right though are you okay do you need anything kind of being a bit more might need a glass of water or something a soothing balm to pips yeah like stab in the gut caring about their well-being i guess as opposed to pips questions both of them seem a little disorientated and dizzy but neither of them seem harmed in any way. When you are looking them over, you can see that around kind of like their upper torsos, maybe just as you're checking, maybe Dragomir is wearing kind of like a loose fitting shirt and so you're able to see it. There's like black, awful looking bruises around their upper torso.

Dragomir, you have a lot of bruising. Do you mind if you could just... Like a leather apron type thing. Sure, yeah, a leather apron and then like a shirt. Do you mind if you just unbutton and take off your... He, without really thinking, just does so. Maybe like step aside and just gesture to Pip to see like if this means anything.

Yeah, that looks like a dark mess. Yes. Is it eating people? I ask. Dragon Mirror continues to shake his head, but Magda nods. Yes, then I remember there were a few people there

at the lake. Yeah, Lake Sjärvård. Yes, there were a few people. I think perhaps Izek was there as well. Okay. You don't know that. That name is not familiar. No, actually, I guess that name is familiar to you.

Izek presumably refers to, but they are the Burgermaster's right-hand man. Okay. Izek is not really the leader of the town guard, but he does form, he is important to the town guard. If the town guard needs to rally around a leader, it would be Izek. That's very concerning, yeah. He is the most important assistant, most high-ranking assistant to the Burgermaster. The wounds that are on, are they open?

Are they just there? It's just bruises, massive bruises that wrap around them. Izek Stransny. Izek Stransny. Stransny. Stransny. Who is Izek Stransny? He's the right-hand man to the Bergemasters.

No good if he's been corrupted as well. What do I know about fighting a dark mass? Do you know what? No, but I mean like in terms of the level of difficulty there. Oh, I see what you're saying. Yes, you... All right. So obviously Pip would not know this exact thing,

but this is giving Pip an idea of the threat you are currently facing. So to give Pip an idea of the threat you are currently facing, I'm letting you know, Jackson, you're what, level seven right now? This is like a CR 12 encounter. Oh boy. Maybe even as high as a CR15 encounter. So Jackson can take that information and I'll filter it down to Pip.

Alright. Fuck. Do they need to get you food? It's probably good to get them something. I don't know if they need to Do you have anything around here? Like something like a tea? Something Probably not that tea. Maybe I grab the tea.

If you didn't drop it, I'd just tip it out on the floor. I'll be back. Maybe you see when you go to the tea, there's like a back area. This blacksmithy is also their house. So kind of like how you would with a milk bar or a, what are the other terms for it? Like a bodega. Corner store.

Yeah, corner store. There is the house section at the back. Oh, yeah, yeah. So you go where the tea was prepared and you spot immediately a sleeping solution next to the tea. Maybe I tip that down the... Actually, maybe I grab that.

Yeah. Okay. Could probably come in handy. You can add beholder Dreams to your inventory. Oh, hell yeah. Can I, I will leave, I'll button up my shirt, I assume. Yeah, that's right. Just put clothes on as I am buttoning up and then try and find like a food stall sort of thing, like a street vendor, something like that.

So I can just grab like just some basic just food, water, something like that, drink, so I can just be like... Yeah, sure, spend I don't know, like five silver, and you... Oh, no, actually, you can't find any food prepared. It's not that sort of a market. You don't think they get that sort of traffic. It's food that you would take home and prepare.

If you wanted to make a meal. No, urgency right now. Is there anything like a drink, or something like that? Apples? Fruit, maybe? No, no. Urgency right now. Yeah, no, you would not. Is there anything like a drink or something like that? Apples? Fruit, maybe? Oh, no, what am I saying? Turnips?

Yeah, anything that is edible, like, off the... You could probably get some vegetables, like cabbage. Cabbage is good. A drink? Looking around this place, you see that a lot of it is really understocked as well. That's maybe just something you file away in the back of your mind. You maybe remember having a conversation with Yender last night about, obviously, the town of Barovia has been devastated. The town of Barovia was the rest of this place's breadbasket.

And now that that town has been devastated, there is widespread food shortages. Okay. Okay. Cool, cool, cool, there is widespread food shortages. Okay. Cool. Classic Barothia. It's all cooking meal stuff, but is there like a baker with some bread or, again, anything to drink? If I can't see that, I'm going to head back in. Nah, you head back in empty-handed. He's fairly bare out there. Yeah. in because I just Nah you head back in empty handed It is not it is fairly

bare out there Yeah Anyway Right So So then we're going to They were going to

drug you it looks like and then probably take you to the lake and then so so you see a dark mess trick of a dark mess I want to kind of look at the two

and be like Oh But also dark mess What What's kind of Cribbit arrives on scene. What did this one miss?

Tell! Well, these two were, I was here to get fitted for that armor over there, but they were about to drug me into sleeping to a little bit. Well, I mean, the Dark, it is unknown if our dark mass open parentheses watery close parentheses is creating such worship on purpose or by accident but in either case the result is the same cults the dark mass open parentheses close parentheses watery is quite large and as such it is competent in physical combat as a good indicator of strength though its fearsome attacks comes after thy is struck, thy shall be pulled into the maw

for which the dark mass, open parenthesis, close parenthesis, watery is named. Probably to eat you. Right. Or to generate more people to be eaten. Although the fact that Isaac is involved makes me wonder if there's some, not, if there's not some ulterior motive happening.

Thank you. Oh, that's alright. I just want to, maybe how close I came. Okay. What is, what are like, like the green powder is on like everything. That's just a little concoction.

It should deform magic. And protect you from magic as well. Or resist, is resistant to magic. It should have been un-insourced with them, which it did. Okay, I see.

And that makes sense for me why the light of Pennywood drew. Yeah, you have basically an anti-magic effect on you. All right. Okay, all right. Should go after a while. Let's hope it's not permanent. It's strong enough to get rid of this ensorcellment. Surely it's not strong enough to sever someone's connection to God.

I wipe the green dust on something. Possibly worth having a shower. If you spend a little while dusting yourself off, you're not sure if it's the time that slowly weakened it or getting the dust off, but eventually you feel Pena return. Is there anything in their l's good is anything in the larder or anything that is not perhaps drug

I should imagine that there probably most Dragomir stands up properly now there will be much that is not drugged he walks he and Magda are walking into the back of their house now. What

happened? You, I believe, possibly by Izek, were taken to Lake Zarevich, where a creature known as the Darkmass, watery, ensorcelled your mind in some way. I remember Izek, and

perhaps a member of the town guard that would have been uh stannis that would have been uh yes stannis they were there at he looks from one of you to the other one of you and he says church i was at church and they took me as we left uh yeah i mean like the being took by stannis and isek sounds correct but he said he's a bit evasive when he says church that would have been saint andrews uh yes saint andrews uh vivor uh at mass yeah that's not true you think he's being evasive about where he was. I don't care where you've been or what you've been doing. And it might be beneficial to stopping this from happening to anyone else.

So if you weren't at St. Andrew's Church, this is the time to tell me. He looks at the two of you again. And Hector, yeah, Hector. No, you both pick up on this. He seems hesitant to say it in front of hector i'm not going to judge you again we're just wanting to help the town i don't he give dragging me across to you will look like he's the one judging you actually i i shrug i don't know what that's about i was rather he goes into the other room? It is not important, I suppose. But I was coming from a different church.

More personal gathering. Okay. We worship a different deity. Right. If it makes you more comfortable, I will happily step out. Very well. I step out. I give you a look like, no.

Is there a symbol for like horns,, like devil worshipper kind of thing. You could do little surreptitious devil horns. I'll probably nod like, yeah, that's probably what's going on here. Yeah, I can't really do much else. I can't really, you know, make my own armor. I'll just sit in the forge, have a look around, see what's going on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. See what's cribbit's doing.

Devil worship, I say, once he's gone. Yes. Fair enough. An entity that has made many promises, most of which have come true. Well, that's nice. Magda shakes her head like she doesn't really approve of this. Either way, Pip doesn't care. Is Izek and Stannis part of the same church?

Yes, Izek. Well, yes, they are higher ranking members than me right but they all serve the burgeon master bearing in mind that obviously i don't even really want to talk to the burgeon master because it's not going to be a pleasant conversation for me or any of the time who else is in the church is my question he shakes his. That is not for me to say. Right. Okay. That's, yeah, I'm just curious if the other members of the church are also the people taken to the dark mess, comma watery.

It is possible. I do not know. Most of the town, many in the town are part of the same church. Yes. Right. in the town are part of the same church yes right

it is kind of well if you do not worship at Setandrols you worship with us

the devil or whatever do you got anything to do with Lake Zarevich that's not part of any of the rituals or ceremonies

no we have never gone to Lake Zarevich okay probably can't tell me this but I'd kick myself if I didn't ask. Who's in charge?

Who's the highest ranking member? The Burj Master. Okay. Right. That makes sense. Yeah. I would recommend probably just staying in, not going out unless you have to, just for the next while. You don't want it to happen to you again.

I must pray on this for strength. Sure. Yeah. Next while. He nods slowly. You don't want it to happen to you again. I must pray on this for strength. Sure, yeah. You better get on that. Anything else you can tell me about Lake Zarevich and your abduction? About my abduction? No. It is still foggy for me. I remember Vivo leaving and Isaac and Stannis

pulled me aside. I thought to speak to me at first, but then I do not know. I think they might have knocked me out. Sure, and then taken to the The next thing I know I was at Lake Sarovic. Right. Do you remember how many people were there at Lake Sarovic

with you? Are we talking a crowd, we're talking a small gathering. More than ten. Okay. Alright, well yeah, thanks for everything that you could, that you've told us. Hopefully we'll deal with it. I say not very convincingly. It's just, it's

kind of a big deal, a dark mass. If you, yes, you did not want to talk to the Burj Master. I mean mean I will if I have to do you think it would be useful he shrugs it is disconcerting to hear of corruption within the church

I can imagine this is the devil worship is attacking devil worshipers you know makes it what happened to this? What happened to this country? What happened to this country? We used to make steel. The Inky Mass, sorry, the Inky Mass, the Watery Mass is not a type of devil.

No, no, no, I know, but I was just like, oh, it seems interesting that a lot of people connected to the devil worshiping church are also being taken by the Watery Mass. Okay. Before I go, Dragomir, before all of this happened and people got insulted, I mean, I don't know if you have a timeline or whatever, but was there anybody that was spending a lot of time at Lake Zarevich?

A patient zero, as it were? Most of the fishermen spent their days there. This might be a stupid question, but do you know where I could talk to them? The markets would be the first place. I thought you might be going to say the lake, and where I could talk to them the markets would be the first place I thought you might be going to say the lake and then I would have been like well yeah well I suppose you could also go to the lake

but no no I'll go to the market the markets are right outside alright well thank you very much Dragomir rest up drink plenty of water well alright I'll leave and go into the room with Hector and Kribbit. Dragomir.

Oh, no. Kribbit probably is dead with you. He just here like furious. I looked down and noticed that he's been with me the whole time. Oh. Dragomir steps out with you as well. Did you want the suit of Amras, Phil? Of course.

Yes, I would appreciate that very much. I do not recall what price we decided upon. You mentioned... But I think it would cost at least... You think you're about to get the real price. Yes, I said, you mentioned 50 gold for that in the... You should have drunk the tea, then you could have gotten some more. Arm it up and fed to a giant fish.

Damn. Been so protected. Too bad. Oh, no. Yeah, about 100 gold, actually. No. Yeah. Okay.

Well, you mentioned, well, you said it was 50 gold for that and the sword is what I say before he mentions anything. He shakes his head slowly. I could not give it away for anything less than... I could give it to you for 50, But I cannot give you the sword for free Of course We'll do the suit of armor And I might come back for the sword Very well then

50 gold for the armor Of course Money up front he says It is why I have it with me I hand over 50 gold Did they do the measurements on me? Or was I just a lie? Well now they'll do it for real this time It is why I have it with me. I hand over 50 gold. Did they do the measurements on me, or was I just a lie? Yeah, did you get fitted? Well, now they'll do it for real this time.

All right, cool. Well, yeah, I'll get measured up and depart for the 50 gold. You'll be done at about 9. Pip, it's still 8.30-ish. What do you want to do? It's probably worth going to talk to the Berger master, isn't it? There's the fishmongers right there. Yeah, well, I'll do the fishmongers first, but I'm going to eventually

have to talk to the Berger Master. That sucks. Alright, I'm going to go speak to the, while you get suited up, I'm going to go speak to the fishmongers outside. I'll nip out the door and go try and find someone selling fish in the market. As you step outside, you see someone in a nearby street, a quieter, maybe almost an alleyway street, who has kind of like a hood drawn close over their face, obscuring their features.

They clock you and then turn around and walk away. You realize that this person has been eavesdropping. Oh. Hmm. Alright, I'll follow them at a distance. Okay. Maybe I'll nip back in. Suspicious character outside. It's gonna see where they go. Good luck. Okay. No worries.

Alright, are you trying to be surreptitious? Yeah. Okay. Well, oh. Yeah, alright. You follow after them, and Hector, that's gonna take longer than you follow after them and Hector that's going to take longer than half an hour so Hector you're kitted out where are you heading to next I was being like what a small talk always been

playing for the other side shall we say yes yes small talk with the in this town I would say that you are playing for the other side oh yes of course I mean from me not in terms of general. I came to the church through my father, who was a worshipper himself. And how did you come into blacksmithing?

My father also was a blacksmith. My father was a farmer. It is the family business and the family church. Ah, right. And notice the tanners. Are they also part of your wall? Magda, who is maybe within earshot, shakes her head. No, my wife, she is not very religious herself,

but within Valachai it is foolish to not be religious at all. Yes, of course. You need to find some solace somewhere. A form of protection is important. And, well, some churches have a better track record than others within Valachai. I can't blame him for this. Fair enough. It checks out.

I mean, yeah. Honestly. If I grew up here, going for the light, you're like, well, it's perpetually dusk. Yeah, yeah. Honestly. If I grew up here, going for the light, you're like, well, it's perpetually dusk. Yeah, exactly. Hey, if the devil's listening. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So your wife owns the tanning.

So she works with leather. No, she is Fletcher. Tanner is next door, adjacent to us. Ah, right. I noticed they were closed. Are they opening up any time or have they been closed for a while? I don't recall.

My last memory is that it is open. Was it closed? It was closed when I walked up here. That is unusual. What day is it? He maybe checks a calendar over on a desk. He comes back and he shakes his head. It should be open.

Yeah. Do you have a, I guess you only share a wall, yes? Yes, we share a wall. You don't have like keys or anything like that to look in? He looks you up and down. You can see he doesn't trust you much. Look, I understand that we are,

we're playing for opposite sides, but I mean you no harm. What is your persuasion? All right, that's pretty decent. He begrudgingly gives you a set of keys. It's very funny that he does that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just a funny...

Worship of angels. Thank you very much. I understand. It's just, look, I don't... I just want no harm to happen to... Oh, I am aware of the desires of such people. These guys love harm. They love harm on other people.

So that, the sword, so how much was for the sword? It will set you back eight gold. And then with your repairing, because I noticed it was a little bit of the... Well, with the fitting as well, let us round it up to 60 gold, and I will repair it to the best of my ability. Ah, fantastic. Well, I would appreciate that. So while you sort that out, I might have a look at your leather-making friend.

He finishes sizing you up, and then he starts working on the sword while you step out, and with the keys you open the tannery. You open the bottom door, bottom floor, sorry, and you are immediately assailed by the stench. It wasn't great when the door was closed and then when the door is open, it's like it was holding back a wall of stench which just floods upon you.

This is not great. You look in. I get a bad boy card And you miss something That rolls Is Cribbit with me? Or is Cribbit with No Cribbit No Cribbit would probably

You're just getting fitted for armor So Cribbit's kind of staying with the action Yeah Alright So Yeah you are buffeted by the stench it just absolutely reeks

in here you can see massive wooden I don't know if you'd call them buckets or troughs but just massive wooden containers open for the refuse yeah the refuse the pierced end shit

there is also just hanging up on hooks partially finished pieces of leather not really a lot of armor more just other leather things like you would you would probably see leather clothing but it'd be like a leather tunic or leather gloves or something like that i um try to breathe through my mouthire that anybody would want to work with this There is a set of stairs going up And apart from that it is just the work floor here I want to look at the leather Adam Yeah

Great point Would not have considered that Okay so it looks like there's predominantly Looks like cow leather. Okay. Looks like cow hide. That's nice. Do you see some types of leathers that are a bit more foreign to you?

But it looks like they are other leather items that have been broken down and reused. Do you think maybe more salvage from adventurers? Okay. Do you encounter no human flesh? Oh, right, right, right, right. It's always in the back of my mind when dealing with any leather worker. Even the phrase salvage from adventurers could have a dark connotation, depending. Well, again, I tried not to spend too much time here because it does stink.

But even just like a quick almost like a once over to be like, has anyone been around here? How long has it been? Is there like a layer of dust that has gathered up like basically if uh dragomir is like oh it should be open and like i don't know how long they were sourced for but if it's been a long long time like hair is it just hair like a day's worth of dust or we're talking like you know oh it's you know a month of dust unfortunately i have already rolled for that and i got a bad boy card so yeah you look around you have no idea i mean there's no dust okay you know that much but you beyond that like you've got no idea yeah okay cool well then i'll um yeah just uh if nothing's out of the ordinary nothing like pushed over

chairs i'll walk upstairs all right and i'll call out okay well there's no response what do you say though uh hello is uh you leather today i didn't get the Hello, is the leather worker around? No response. I then walk upstairs. You head upstairs. There is a landing. The landing has some tables and some vases, just decorative sort of things. And there are four doors from this landing.

One of them doesn't have a door in it. It's just a doorway, and you can see through to a kitchen area. Then. You can't see. Very well into the kitchen. You'd have to enter. To get a proper lay of the space. But there are then.

Three closed doors. I would like to. Cast. Divine sense. You cast divine sense. You do not detect the presence. Of devils. Demons.

Angels. Or undead. But. That is something. While you are scanning around. You do not detect the presence of devils, demons, angels, or undead. That is something. But while you are scanning around, you hear from behind one of the doors. Okay. Just like a consistent panting. Oh, like a dog. Not like someone's huffed out.

I want to... It's a little unsettling. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hello, anybody around? Hello? You hear behind that door, the panting continues, and then a little shuffling sound, like something or someone moving.

I knock on the door. No response. I open the door. As soon as the door is open, even just a crack. I'm worried. From about knee height, a little nose pokes through the door. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank God.

You look down. There is a beagle in the room. Hello, little one. The beagle walks out, kind of like trots out, and starts looking around. I give it a bit of a scratch on its head. The beagle accepts the scratch. I look for a collar. Is there a name or anything?

Yeah, there's a collar. On it says dog. So I guess you are dog. Nice to meet you, dog. Can you sit? Bad boy card for me. He attacks. I'm doing garbage He wanders off into the kitchen

I'll follow to the kitchen I'm assuming the dog wants food I go to the kitchen It checks a food bowl which is there The food bowl is empty Is there anywhere obvious what the food would be? You can have a look around if you wanted to. I'm now taking responsibility

for this dog. Nice. Cool. Get some food for the dog. You find meat cut-offs or just like meat that is obviously been kept for the dog. You give it to him. He tucks in.

He seems quite hungry. There you go, dog. Very hungry. in he seems quite hungry there you go dog very hungry yeah does he look he doesn't look emaciated alright that's good he probably also has a big drink of water

yeah like his water and that's like that right right boy right do you have do you know where

your master is by any chance hmm asking the dog yeah well more like asking out loud. Huff, huff.

Yes, what's your... Huff, huff, huff. It barks. It's quite clearly like it's a full-bodied bark, but that's all the noise that comes out. Oh. Okay. With a practiced eye,

you can see that the dog has a really old wound around its neck. Oh, poor thing. Right, well, I give him some more food, make sure the water is filled up, you can see that the dog has a really old wound around its neck. Oh, poor thing. Right. Well, I give him some more food, make sure the water is filled up. And I'm like, is it a nice bark? He's not like an aggressive bark. He's just kind of like. It doesn't seem aggressive.

Is it a bark of I want more food? I mean, it starts eating if you give it more food. But you can't tell. It just seems a little distressed to be honest, actually. Okay, never mind. Okay, well I go to one of the other doors that the dog didn't come

from, and I open one of them. It's the first one that comes across. What's Raven's? Even's. It's a bedroom. The bedroom is a mess. The bed, all of the sheets have been kind of dragged off, and the mattress has been overturned and kind of thrown around the room. There's a chair, which has been thrown up against the wall.

There's a dresser that has been thrown over. There's a vanity, which the mirror in the vanity has been smashed, and there's bits and pieces all over the place. It looks like a fight happened here. The window to this room is open and the curtains are half hanging out the window. Okay, so I guess whatever happened here

went left via the window. I want to go towards the window and stick my head out. What do I see? As an assailant exiting, where am I going towards you look out the window you see nothing except too far off to the north you see lake zarovich meanwhile pibb you're following the shadowy figure how well do you know valakai i think i spent some time here yeah okay yeah well in that case you you know, well, first off, hang on. Let me check which direction you need to head.

You are heading in a roughly, it's a roundabout way, but you're going north. Okay. Kind of towards the orphanage and towards the Blue Water Inn. Eventually, you pass the Blue Water Inn. You start heading a little bit further east, kind of to the northeastern edges of valakai yeah you watch as the figure walks up to a it's a nice enough manor out the front on a big sign it says watch your house which you know okay is the manner of lady watcher the figure walks in okay so lady watcher what do i know about lady watcher and and her uh her followers do i think basically you know that keening suspected her of being in league with strad i just don't want to have basically i don't want to have found

myself in the middle of a war between lady watcher's goons and the devil-worshipping goons. I don't know. I mean, you do know that Lady Watcher is vying for control of Valakai against the Burgermaster. Okay. Going inside there, that's a pretty stupid move. Do I think that the person who I was following at any point realized I was following them? You think you did a pretty good job of hiding yourself. You think you didn't.

You were not noticed. Maybe I turn down to Kribbit. What do you think, Kribbit? That's enough information for now? Don't have to go into the belly of the beast there? Kribbit thinks upon it, and he's staring at the sign. Watch her house. Yeah, that's right.

Lady Watcher is bad woman you've encountered her previously i bards talk to bards oh yeah i know of lady watcher yeah no good no good this is disconcerting yeah but perhaps it is a problem not for right now. What do you think? I think this would be good to investigate further,

but I do not think you walk in front door if you know what this one means. Yeah, Kribbit, I suppose. Maybe what we'll do... This one can be distraction for that one.

Okay, so you're proposing you cause a distraction and I sneak in the back of the house? Yes. To find what? Find Lady Watcher's room. This person work for Lady Watcher's room, this person work for Lady Watcher.

Snoop on her. I just wonder why we're getting involved at all. You know what? Maybe it's not a bad idea. Maybe she's somehow related. Why we get involved with this? This is where story is. That's what I'm concerned by.

Kribbit, that's what I'm concerned by. That's what I'm concerned by. I don't want to go with the stories. All right. He grabs the lower part of your tunic and looks you square in the face from down around your waist height. He looks up at you and he says, you think that you are little. You think that you are deuteragonist. Deuteragonist. Why me bother learn your language if you don't know your language?

You are not deuteragonist. You are protagonist. Okay, Krippit. All right. you are protagonist okay Kribbit alright maybe I like I like peel him off me alright you make the distraction

buddy and I'll he seems happy I'll sneak around the back and see how long this one want for distraction well maybe look at the building

how many stories is it it's oh good question. It is a two-story building. But you would know that most houses here have a basement. Okay. But Lady Watcher, probably, if she has any kind of office, it would be on the second story.

Yeah, it's not going to be in the basement, certainly. Call it 20 minutes. How's that sound? I will give you 20 minutes. Okay. I pat him on his sticky head. Slimy. Slimy, excuse me. He's not sticky excuse me gross that's grosser all right and then i'll i'll try and like make some distance so that when he starts playing or

whatever people will be distracted and i can sneak back in as you start stealthing your way around you hear a loud musical cue which is obviously crib Kribbit beginning his performance. It has kind of a booming effect to it and you can't help but he's singing a song, maybe a, I don't know, maybe he's singing like a love song and you can't, you really don't want to, but you can't

help singing along under your breath as you go. This is a song about love. I am singing a love song. This is my love song. love. I am singing a love song. This is my love song. Song, I am Gribbit the Frog. So catchy. It shouldn't be, but it's cool. The worst possible lyrics one could ever imagine.

And yet, and yet. Fucking slaps. You head round the back. There is a back door. Is there a an awning of any kind? For the back door, no. Okay. Could I climb up the wall and any windows that seem like they might be open on the...

I do have a climb speed is all I'm thinking. How's all those? Highs. Highs? No, all of them are closed. You can't tell if they're locked, but you can see that they are lockable. What kind of... Oh, there's also a...

Sorry, there's two. There's a back entrance and a side entrance. Oh, okay. Are there back windows? There are two back windows. You gaze through, and you see into what is quite obviously servant's quarters. Simple furnishings, bereft of imagination,

four beds with equally austere wooden chests. Well, if I sneak... I'm going to climb up the back of the building and I'm going to try those windows on the top floor. There's four windows. Let's call them one, two, three, and four. Which would you go with first? Actually, you can look through, sorry.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You gaze through. Oh, a second highs or lows to see how well this distraction is working. Okay. Fuck. I knew this was a bad idea. Oh, yeah. Why'd you listen to him? Why'd I listen to Krivo?

He just wants the story, man. He does. He just wants the story. He just wants drama. Fuck, conflict. Fuck, that's what story is. God damn it. Should never have listened to this frog.

Whatever, I can still bail. I'm not inside. Two of the windows lead to the same room. It's a library. The room is crawling with cats. Bookshelves hug the walls, but most of the shelves are bare. Other furnishings include a desk, a chair, a table, and a wine cabinet. The room has an irregular shape, and none of its angles seem quite right,

as though the shifting of the house has set the whole place on edge. Does the desk look like it's a very often used desk, or do I think there's probably an office for Lady Watcher somewhere? I'm so sorry. There's a maid in here

dusting some of the bookshelves? She turns and spots you. I... Fuck, what do I do? Well, I'm going to drop down. I'm not going in. All right. We've been compromised.

If she raises the alarm, she doesn't do it in a way that you notice. Yeah, okay. I'll basically drop... Not in a sort of comedic falling off this but i'll drop down from the second floor and steal off back into the i'm assuming i got here through like back alleys between the buildings yeah yeah yeah you would have didn't really have a signal to crib it to say that we were done snooping well maybe i'll just walk out of the back alleys, give Kribbit a look, and then just carry on. If Kribbit spots you,

you can see a few people from the house have come out to have a look at him. You probably only know Lady Watcher from description and the picture that you saw in the tower. Yeah, yeah, sure. So you've never actually physically met her, but she's not here. A few of the staff have come out to have a look at Krib you can see they're enjoying his performance yeah who wouldn't crib it sees you

gives like a big bow a big elaborate bow kind of dots he has a a like a little flat cap that he sometimes wears he takes that off his head and very obviously puts it out in front of him some of the staff put like a couple coins in the hat. He puts it back on his head and he jogs on after you. Surreptitiously. He's not making a beeline for you. He just moves in such a way that you reconnect. Eventually. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What did that one? Maid saw me. Maid saw me. No. Maid in sordid affair. No. Maid as in possibly we've been compromised. This one wrote a story with a maid once. Oh, I'm not listening. Cool.

He takes out his book and he starts scribbling in it. She was in an affair with a lord. Okay. Yeah. Great. with a load. Okay. Yeah.

Great. Yeah, sort of regretting going after that person. Ah, he's fine. If Lady Watcher wanted to kill you, you would be dead. Yeah, yes, but previously Lady Watcher

wasn't aware that I knew that they were watching us. Now, presumably she is. Yes, good. So now next start of story can continue yeah yes as a sure group sure i've got to go chat to the fishmongers i know it's not going to be as exciting but it's probably going to be more worthwhile character development very exciting exciting. Okay. You are like Noah Detective. Maybe Pip picks up the pace.

You know, just to be a little bit ahead of Kribbit and his psychoanalyzing. Meanwhile, you are... Oh, yeah, what are you doing? Hector? What are you doing, Hector? What are you doing, Hector?

What's going on? Well, looking through the... See if I can either recreate what I think might have happened in that bedroom, turning things over to see if there's anything very obviously out of place, and then once I've gone through there, go to the other rooms that I haven't been to. You can see in this room that there was some sort of, obviously, a fight. It looks like people came in through the window. So people more than one? Probably no more than three.

But at least two people came in through the window attacked the tanner. She presumably lives alone. You see the characteristic bed pushed up against the wall for someone who lives on their own oh yeah there's no other evidence of a like a second set of anyone's clothes or or personal effects or anything like that so she obviously was attacked in bed and you can see that she was presumably abducted and then dragged out the window as well right well i guess she was abducted oh i then dragged out the window as well. Right, well, I guess she was abducted. Oh, I should also say, the room that the dog came out of is quite clearly the dog's room.

There's, like, well, maybe it's kind of like an odds and ends room as well. So you can see that this is where some just general broad stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else in the house gets stored, Just general broad stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else in the house gets stored. But there is also space for the dog, a little bed and some toys and stuff like that. This is just where the dog lives. The third and final room is a bathroom of sorts. It's got a space, just a big metal tub, and then some hygiene, personal effects.

Right. Okay, and then those rooms haven't really been ramshackled or anything. It's just... The bathroom, the tub of water is currently full. You're not sure what to make of that. Very cold, I can only assume. Do you approach it? Yeah. Wait.

Watery. I don't think it can travel through water, but maybe it can. Look, with that in mind, I do approach it, but like with trepidation. Sore down. As it were. You approach and you look down into it. You can see in the water there is a body. Oh.

Right. What kind of body are we looking at here? It's a man's body. He is fully clothed, and you can see just glassy, dead, open eyes. I did the, so it's not like a zombie going to come back and bite me, because I did the sense thing, didn't I? Yeah, you would know that it's not that. Good.

That would have been scary's not that. Good. That would have been scary. That would have been. Although Adam's got this little cheeky smug little look on his face. It's not important what I said and you all didn't hear it. I did not hear what he said. Me neither. Look, I will... What's the dog doing?

What's the dog doing? Hey, what's the dog doing? Hey, what's that dog doing? Dog following? The dog's chilling with you. That's good. Right. I'd like gesture to the dead body.

I don't think a dog understands that. I don't understand the bark. We're both here being like, what's going on? This is, well, I go and reach in and pull out the plug because I'm assuming it's full of water yet? Yeah. I pull out the plug because I'm assuming it's full of water yet? Yeah. I pull out the plug. The water slowly drains and there is now a sodden corpse in the bathtub. Is it bloated?

Probably not, no. Okay, well, let's see who you are. Try and see if there's anything on the person to see what they might have been or who they might have been. Inspecting the body, you find that several things. First off, you open the mouth and you see that there is a rose that has been stuffed into their mouth. Pulling the rose out, you see that they are missing a tongue. Great.

Okay. In addition to that, you can see that there are bruises around their neck, around that area. It doesn't look like the bruising on Dragomir or Magda. It looks like hands. I put my hands over the bruises like of the hands. Are mine larger?

Like the bruising. It's probably smaller. Smaller? Yeah, hard to tell. Really, this is not a scientific... I know. I'm not some kind of dead bruise science man. Who is?

But if I was to talk, would I be like, okay, these are not the hands of, say, someone of my stature. We're looking at someone maybe a bit more, say, slender. Yeah, it looks like probably someone smaller than you. Perhaps maybe, I don't know, some kind of Lady Tanner. Potentially possible. In addition, you can see that the man is in a state of undress. Can I look at the dogs? Tom, can I look at the dogs?

I go to pat the dog. You open the dogs. He doesn't resist too much. He quite obviously doesn't want to open his mouth. In a gentle way, I'm trying to be like. Actually be like actually you know what he really come to think of it no actually i'm completely wrong yeah he doesn't want to open his mouth yeah you can't make him i'm gonna do it again it's uh like patting the dog being really nice with it getting a bit of meat or something like that and then like you know giving it to the dog so i can you know

and then like, you know, giving it to the dog so I can, you know, see what's... Good thing you've got a decent charisma. Is that animal handling? No, no, no. Yeah, you can't. The dog really just doesn't want to open its mouth. Not even for food. You can... All right.

Yeah, not even... Like for food, yes, but not so that you can see. Oh, you know what? Actually, I could make this a perception check as well. All right. Okay, yes. So rather Actually, I could make this a perception check as well. All right. Okay, yes. So rather than forcing the dog to open its mouth. Yeah, I'm not going to try and force a dog open.

I want to be gentle with this dog. You feed the dog and are paying more attention now. The dog does not have a tongue. Okay. What is that? Why would someone take tongues? Why would you have a tongue? Yeah, do I know anything about tanning

where tongues are good to lick leather? Oh no, I already rolled for your knowledge of tannery. No, unfortunately you know nothing about tannery and tongues. Alright, I look around the rooms now for something that maybe would Yeah, so why is this woman taking tongues? You find a box Okay. Yep. You find a box. Yep. Okay. Yep. You find a box in one of the cabinets.

Opening the box, you immediately, ah, oh, God, the box is full of tongues. At least she's not eating them. Yeah, or feeding them to the dog. Okay, what the hell? All right. Okay, so this person, let's say I start. This person, they are tanning. They go and they attack people, take their tongues. For what purpose?

Take your tongue. For what purpose? Then they get taken by people in the cult. Is it related or is it they were just taking people and wanting to feed it to the dark mass, comma, water, whatever it was the peep said. Right. Well, look, let's go find you a lead. I go back to the dog's room and grab a lead, maybe a toy of sorts.

Yeah, you find a lead in the dog's room and probably some toys, yeah. I squeak one of them and I'm like, come on. Let's go. Dog comes with. There was nothing else in the house. Again, not the murder weapon, the tongue-removing weapon, as it were. Where else are you searching? Kitchen. In the kitchen, you are unable to find anything suspicious.

I mean, there are knives here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But a lot A kitchen looking through now. The dog's room, like maybe under a dog bed or something like that where you might want to hide these things. In the dog's room, you find another box that is identical

to the one in the bathroom. Opening that on a little red velvet cushion is what looks like a circumcision or sacrificial knife, actually, maybe. Yeah, maybe it has more of a – it's got like a wicked curve to it, and it looks like a sacrificial knife. That would probably be the one. It's got little inscriptions written upon it in – what languages do you know?

Right, well, I know an abyssal celestial common and infernal it would be infernal the language of devils i read it oh i have seen the darkness in my dreams darkness beyond the understanding of man glorious evil in shadowed halls black beings trapped within the hearts of amber. Close your eyes with me, my congregation, and see. Dream of the rot within your own hearts. Let the ichor well within you like tar and burst forth from your mouth as you call their names. The dark ones are here to snuff out the tarnished light.

So there's a few things that jump out. There's amber. Am I like oh amber like the amber temple if Zamet can make that connection yes but I'm just wondering

is that like oh no no I'm saying if Zamet can make that connection Hector can make that connection okay cool well then alright

well then amber perhaps like the amber temple perhaps it's related to the temple what does that even mean then if that is is this a what is that even

hmm okay that was that that jumped out um what else what else jumped out fuck I was like oh remember it I forgot it oh I have seen the darkness in my dreams darkness beyond the understanding cool um so the

amber that jumped out uh dreams uh so we talked about dreams I know uh so there was the beholder's Dream Powder or whatever. Is there a connection there? Or is that just a point? You don't think there's a connection. There's a connection there. But I am focusing on like an amber thing.

And I'm like, there might be something there. And I'm like, oh, what? Okay, well, I'll grab that. Let's. What is this person doing? What have I stumbled onto? that let's what is this person doing what have i stumbled onto i i start now with a with a bit more i guess passion and a bit more kind of like okay now this is this isn't just like an abduction this isn't just like a murderer this is maybe related now to like an amber temple which is like

this is now very important i start like clearing everything out turning things over seeing if there's any like sigil signs or anything like that, being like, what is going on here? Who is this person? What can I find? What can I gleam from everything that I can lift up, moving their bed, seeing if there's anything underneath that. That kind of like really giving it a big one, like not even a one, really like going through it. And then if I can't, again, grabbing a lead or something like that with a dog dog going downstairs and doing the same thing downstairs. In the

bedroom you searching around you see the walls are covered in a wallpaper and while you're pulling furniture out you can see that one of the pieces of wallpaper it's kind of curled up at the edge

you grab at that oh yeah oh yeah what is you grab at that and you start pulling something is written on the wall underneath the wallpaper the wallpaper comes away really easily and you realize it's probably been put on in such a way so that it can come off really easily. There is on the wall, written in blood, an arcane sigil of some sort. You can tell. You don't know much about magic, but you can tell that it's not a completed sigil. It is a sigil that is still being worked on.

Does it look like it's been drawn in tongue blood? That's what I'm thinking too. Hard to kind of imagine what you're looking for. I'm guessing like the smudge of a tongue. You tear one of the pillows open and a set of paints comes out or like a paint case comes out. Opening it up, you can see that tongues are being stuffed into paint brushes and sure enough used to paint this wall.

Lick the wall into the shape of the sigil. And the sigil means nothing to me at all. Like I don't know what that means. It's not completed. There are some words in Infernal. You are able to read the words something of tongues. It's not completed, so you don't know what. Something of tongues, something of tongues.

You're right, something of tongues. I need to ask Pip. Something of tongues. What is he... Like, maybe again, really just... You were just like, oh, I'll just check on the tanner. Let me just check on the tanner. This poor dog.

I know. Right. Okay, something of tongues. Let's go downstairs into the... What were those letters? They were the... What did Adam say? Recycled adventures?

Yeah, that's right. It was recycled. Come on, boy. To be continued... 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.