High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #13 | Heralds of Doom (Part 1)

Episode Date: February 27, 2024

The team turn to an ancient master of arcane arts for assistance with the Lamplighter's plot! ANNOUNCEMENTS: NEW ONESHOT! We're playing RuneScape Kingdoms on Twitch on Thursday 29th with Podcast episodes shortly after! ANOTHER NEW ONESHOT! We're also going to be playing the new DUNE TTRPG! Catch that on the 8th of March! We're going to Insomnia 72 in Birmingham! Join us Saturday March 30th for a meet & greet and a special LIVE SHOW! Check it out here: https://www.insomniagamingfestival.com/ It's Rhi's BIRTHDAAAAAAAAAY! Love the podcast? Give us a glittering 5 star review! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/high-rollers-dnd/id1401508198?see-all=reviews --------- Support the High Rollers on Patreon and get early access to Podcast episodes, vods and more: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound, TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters), Monument Studios and Jolene Khor! Check out Jolene Khor and all her wonderful work on High Rollers on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1WX3ICiTmf4GpHwImnQMs6 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. Pick from over 190 assets and start with the 10 bucks in your pocket. Easy. Go to Kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Non-investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. See Kraken.com slash legal slash CA dash PRU dash disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. Now you're all going to be in trouble with daddy if you don't be careful. Oh shit, we're live!

I got trot with that one. Daddy! Daddy! Hello everybody, welcome to a brand new episode of High Rollers D&D! I got trot with that one. Daddy. Daddy. Daddy. Hello, everybody. Welcome to a brand new episode of High Rollers D&D. Welcome. It's us. It's the High Rollies gang.

I'm your dungeon master, Mark Sherlock Humes. This week I am joined by Gotri and Trot. But Kim's out of the day with Katie. I'm being Tom. That's not what Tom does. But, well, hold on a minute, guys. I just, we need to take a minute here. Okay, yeah.

Because he has very rarely missed an episode. In fact, I think this may be one of the few episodes he has missed. This is the second. Tom. I will remember you. He's not dead. He's not dead. He's visiting family. He's visiting family. Yes. But we've got no Tommy Wombus this week. It's not dead. He's not dead. He's visiting family.

He's visiting family. But we've got no Tommy Wombus this week. It's very strange. I'm going to fart in his chair. Please do it. So we've got that. We've got a couple of announcements just to reiterate some of the stuff

that we've been talking about recently. And then we'll jump into our recap and crack on with today's episode. First things first, I want to mention that don't forget coming up this week, in fact, on Thursday the 29th at 5pm here on our Twitch channel, we will

be streaming our RuneScape Kingdoms one-shot. This is a brand new, just come out, RuneScape tabletop role-playing game. That's right, the web-based Java MMORPG game that you remember from your childhood. We played a tabletop version of it.

Woohoo! Ree's very excited. He's got a very excited face on. Tom's not here to make the whoops. So you've got to bring in the whoops. I've got to bring in the whoops! But yes, that is coming on the 29th,

this Thursday, 5pm, RuneScape Kingdoms OneShot, sponsored by Jagex and Steamforged Games who created the system as well. And yeah, we're going to be showing that off with some guests. Yeah, we've got some folks coming from Jagex and Steamforged Games, who created the system as well. And, yeah, we're going to be showing that off.

With some lovely guests. With some guests, yeah. We've got some folks coming from Jagex, some J-Mods. And I used to be one of those long ago. But, yeah, it's going to be fun. It's a very silly little one-shot. Come and check that out on Thursday. Speaking of other one-shots as well,

coming up on the 8th of March, we will also be playing through the Dune TTRPG. Yes! Dune! The Sons of Arrakaskal! But yeah, we're going to be playing that. That is from our good friends at Modiphius, who have sponsored us to do a playthrough of Dune.

So that is going to be on the 8th of March. And we're being constantly told that we don't tell you enough about what we're doing, so that's why we're going to tell you all about it. Thank you so much! Speaking of other things to tell you about, the 30th of March, we've mentioned it a few times, but Insomnia 72. We are going to be there on the Saturday. We'll be doing a meet and greet on the show itself. But also in the evening, we have a special live show like we did a long time ago. It's going to be great.

It's going to be a cool stage show. like we did a long time ago. It's going to be great. It's going to be a cool stage show. The tickets of which are going to be going live on the 28th for ticket holders. If you are currently a ticket holder, you will get a whole 24 hours early to get tickets to the live show.

Otherwise, it will be the 29th at 1pm for everybody else. So if you'd like to come and meet us in person, Insomnia is a great fun show. You can have a blast. There's going to be a ton of other people there. We've been there many a time. We've been there many a time. We've been there many a time. I used to work there.

It's been a jolly good time. So come and check that out on 30th of March and get your tickets. You can get tickets for the show now. A big thank you to Dispel Dice

for sending us a lot of tickets. Huge thank you. And then lastly, and I didn't mention it last week because it was weirdly in the middle of the week, but happy birthday, Rihanna! Happy birthday, Rihanna! Happy birthday Rihanna!

Happy birthday! It is aged. I have gone around the sun. No, you've levelled up. I've levelled up. Ding, yeah, ding. I've had 30. 30's enough.

I've stopped counting. Yes. Yes. Rih's birthday fell in the middle of the week so I'm saying it today. Thank you. A happy birthday Rihanna. Happy birthday.

Thank you. And unless there's anything I've forgotten that is it for it today. Thank you. Happy birthday, Green. Thank you. And unless there's anything I've forgotten, that is it for my announcements. In that case, Sam, let's run that intro and we'll start today's episode. Hello and welcome back to Erois, Althea, not Erois. Oh! I actually, it was not Althea that I replaced, it was Hyrolers I just called Erois then. Welcome back to Hyrolers, Althea, I replaced. It was High Rollers. I just called her Rois then. Welcome back to

High Rollers, Althea the Dragon Empire. Last time, our heroes had taken on a job for the Lamplighters Guild of Ashen Rest to protect Illuminator Theresa Lavendale as she repaired some of the guild's magical everlights in a rough part of the Riverside District.

This brought the attention of other guilds, the Carpenters and Blacksmiths, who seemed to be feuding with the Lamplighters, but showed an unnatural aggression towards them. The party managed to engage in parlay with a member of the Blacksmiths Guild, Grayson Grimhammer, who informed them that recently,

people in the district had been acting strangely after the installation of new Everlights. Seeking to protect their turf as well as learn more they had come to abduct the illuminator and stop them from working having felt a strange presence and influence themselves the party agreed to stop and investigate only to realize too late that the terrified teresa had been exposed to the influence and seemed to suddenly become possessed by some otherworldly influence dispatching this strange And that is where we come back in today. It is approximately 9pm. The night has fallen over Ashen Rest,

and much of the town is illuminated by these magical lights. And so even in this plaza, you still have the ambient light coming from the buildings nearby, from other parts of the town, enough to clearly see by, although the shadows are lengthened and darkened. You can see the stars twinkle above, and you can hear the sounds of the city at night time, of the town at night time. I believe that a few, I believe Gruff and Daisy had been sort of

collecting some reports and sort of statements from the witnesses who were here, most of which seem to be focused on this appearance of this fog, this green smoke that came out of Teresa's mouth and eyes and attacked and caused damage, like created this acidic kind of like spray and cloud and vomit that has damaged the plaza. Very little of these witnesses can report too much on what happened previously or what had happened,

you know, the conversations and things that you had. They were literally just watching, and so they've only got partial experiences. Necessarily demonic, right? They just saw some sort of weird fog and magic and a fight. They don't really know anything about it. The other thing that was discovered is the broken Everlight that Teresa had repaired, you had taken apart

and found a strange metal disc in. And thanks to a very high roll, I believe from Xanthius, you determined that it could actually be split open to reveal some sort of powerful enchantment inscribed within with a strange symbol in the centre of it. Unable to determine what this is itself, you are left with this kind of lead to potentially follow. And that is pretty much where we stand now.

Ashen Rest, bustling still a little bit, but quieting down as night falls. Xanthius is going to basically tell you that he is going to investigate this, that he's going to go and rest, mainly because Thomas here, I don't want to give away anything, especially with Xanthius, who I know, I think we all know at this point, has got some secrets to hide. Just tell us what it is.

That is what I want. This is what I want to avoid. When he comes back next week, we'll just pretend we'll be like, oh man, like, what's going on, bro? So to avoid me accidentally giving anything away, Xanthius is going to, maybe he slips away a little bit unseen, but does kind of, or at least lets you know that he has some things he is going to look into and that he will find you all in the morning ready to meet with the Duke. Does he let us know about the disc that he found? Yes, he will pass.

I believe, in fact, I believe he intentionally gave the Everlight and the disc to somebody. I believe, Rowan, you actually have Teresa, kind of like an unconscious Teresa with you that you're carrying currently, this little halfling woman, sort of like pale, purple, pinkish hair, big spectacles and these kind of overalls

and things like that. So it sounds like if Gruffud and Daisy were going around collecting these statements, Ophelia, Xanthias probably gives you this broken lantern and the disc. Uh-oh. And it's just like, look, just, he'll say, look, just go and speak to,

the others know where this elf, this blackwing is. Go and speak to them. They seem to know a lot about magic. There are just some things I need to check in on. And I'll go back, I want to go back to the clever toad and just make sure everything's all right. I will meet you in the morning before you go and speak with the duke.

But there's just some things I wanna check out, and I need to do that on my own. All right? And he'll pass you the broken information, and then set out. Yeah. I'll let you guys think about it. I forgot, I haven't got the town map.

I'm just gonna grab that. You guys can have a think about what you would like to do. Yeah, so I think at the end of it, it was pretty much Gruff trying to orchestrate, like Rowan looks after Theresa, and Ophelia and Xanthias originally go to Blackwing to talk about maybe take the broken lamp, Everlight, and invest, and also, Blackwing wanted to meet Ophelia.

Yeah. And then we were gonna take witness statements for everyone, so depending on how that's kind of worked out, I feel like, because I don't know if we can go with you to Blackwing. I think we probably should. Yeah, because it feels weird to send you on your own. Yeah.

I feel his tensions are up here at the minute. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a bit freaking out about what's going on. Yeah. Also, did we send Percy out to queue? Percy's queuing. Yeah, Percy's queuing. Yeah.

He's just. He was on a timer, and he just, oh. Percy's queuing. Percy's queuing, okay. He's just. He was on a timer and he just, oh. Thank you, girls. 9 p.m. He was doing other tasks and then just something clicked and he went, dropped it and just walked to the queue. That's it. He's cleaning his room probably just.

Oh, well, and also he would have, any tasks would have been done well before the appointed time. Oh, yeah, he's very efficient. He's very efficient because he is programmed to just do these things. He doesn't get distracted, he doesn't, yeah, he's very efficient. He's very efficient because he is programmed to just do these things. He doesn't get distracted, he doesn't get hungry, he just does it until it's done and then he moves on.

But Percival is basically queuing for your audience with the Duke at 10 o'clock at night and he's going to wait there all night. Is that the understanding? I believe so. All right, okay. I think he might check in on the way. Sure. Yeah, he could check in on the way. Sure.

It could check in. Make sure no one's graffitied him or something. Do you have any gloves? Just in case somebody peeks us in. No, it's fine, yeah. If you do not have gloves, then you can go, tomorrow you could try and purchase some gloves, but if you don't have any, dispense.

Xanthius has gloves, but he ain't giving those up. Oh, I can imagine. Little mittens for Percy. You don't have any mittens, but you can certainly get some made. We've got some in real life, though. But I think that Percival would probably have a kind of not programming, but has

a kind of ongoing order of don't let people touch you or look under your robes and things like that, has like a kind of default, like we'll back away. If somebody tries to try and like disrobe him, he like backs away and we'll run away if he has to. Like there is like some semblance of self-preservation. Like he has like default commands,

probably long before you acquired Percival, his previous, the person who animated him probably gave him set commands that would be very common in Osseous to give a skeletal servant. Nice. Which is also what enables him to do certain jobs without you even having to ask him.

He looks after what things that you need. Awesome. They're very particular about their undead in Osseous. But yeah. So, and we can say that the statements have been gathered, like you guys can, like you are all together and you don't need to worry about splitting up if you don't want to,

but if you do, what's the plan? I think Rowan would be asking the locals, where's a good place to take someone that needs medical attention? I mean, normally, like, there are healers, I mean, if somebody's really really sick we take them to the the Cathedral and if they're if they've if they're unwell I mean if somebody gets into a fight I mean normally people just take care of it themselves they bandage their wounds and things like that

you know generally people just get into fist fights so it's very rare that anybody needs help of that level unless it's a disease or an illness or something like that. Then they go up to the cathedral or they go to... They go to the House of the Heron, by the river, the House of the Heron. It's a temple devoted to Talan. Thank you. Saint Talan.

I think we should go to the cathedral. They did say that we should tell the people at the cathedral what we saw. Yes. So we should maybe just go there anyway. Sorry, I'm just... You were about to say something, Gruff. Hello, my name is Gruff. Where are you from?

From a village called Thremorro. Aye, I think that's a good idea. It'd be also good to ask the saints, not the saints, the priests, if they know about this demon. Should we warn the town? There are lights everywhere. Who knows how many of these demons are in these lights?

How do we warn people? I think there's something of a bigger plot going on here. Maybe we need to gather more evidence. Clearly, from what the carpenters and the blacksmiths were saying, the lamplighters were silencing them to the duke. So if we go around causing alarm, it might invite more trouble to us at the moment.

Okay. So stay calm. I will stay calm. Yes, nice and calm. I agree. The people of this city need telling. They need protecting. We can't have demons running around willy-nilly.

Oh, no. No. But right now, we need to get more evidence to present directly to the Duke. Okay. One thing we need to get more evidence to present directly to the Duke. Okay. One thing we need to do before we continue. Crucible. Crucible of Fate.

Can I have you all roll a d6, please? She's done it! The curse has been lifted! It took me sitting on your side of the table. Lucky number 13! It's a four! A four, that is a dice for you. How's it?

Kim? One. A dice for me! Not so, that is a dice for you! How's it? One! A dice for me! Not so good, guys. Or, a dice for you! Two! A dice for me!

Do you get a roll for pot? No, for myself. No, he's not here. It's only you at present. A four, so one dice for you. So we are three and two today. Sweet. All right.

I have a lovely little thing coming soon, so the dice will be visible. Oh! Yeah. It's finished. I'm also going to use this d4 just to represent where you guys currently are. You guys are basically down here. Probably here, actually. In Riverside.

I'd like to lift it a little. I don't want to lift it because then the dice will slide off but i can i got a lump of blue tack no it's fine um this is more for your benefit because the you know audience aren't gonna be able to see too clearly anyway in the podcast this is this anyway so um but yeah you guys are currently down in the riverside district um so yeah where if you wanted to head up to bright shadow cathedral you absolutely could do um it's probably long past the cathedral is probably probably closing as it's they've probably had their nighttime service now so it will be you know kind

of waking the priests up or like getting them to come and open the doors to you there's also Blackwing's tower Ravenstarr Spire is on the way or you could go about any other business you see fit I reckon if Blackwing's on the way will pop in because maybe he can they can they can discern some magic on Theresa or something like that. They are old. Residual magic. Sure.

Demonic. Demonic. So is that the plan? On the way, just kind of see what's going on in the town? Yeah, boy. You guys make your way. There is some... You probably would notice that you guys have been here

after the fight for a fair while now. None of the town guard have come here. Like, nobody's gone. The town guard haven't come running, anything like that. It seems that whatever happened here, either they have purposely avoided it or nobody has gone to fetch them. Certainly the fight didn't make enough noise

to really attract attention from too far away, but there definitely wasn't, you don't see any sign that the town guard are coming, the duke's guard. I mean, if they've already had fights with these people in this area trying to fix these lights, they probably are still just ignoring it, right? Yeah. Yeah.

But yeah, you make your way through the streets of Ashen Rest. And being about sort of like 9 p.m., you know, closing in on 10 p.m., most of the streets are empty. But you immediately start passing by other Everlights that are lit and glowing. I mean, what do you guys do? Do you avoid them? Daisy's going to walk in, basically try and avoid all of the light. And she's gonna have...

You can try to. She's gonna have light on her dagger as well. Sure. You... So to do that will probably slow you down because you'll have to, like,

pick routes where these lights aren't present if you want to try and avoid them. Or if we have to go through them, she's gonna do that. She's gonna wait and just, like, run through it

really, really quickly and then walk normally and then run through the light really, really quickly. Like... Yeah and then run through the light really, really quickly. Yeah, they are frequent enough that there are gaps without them, but they are pretty common. They illuminate most of the town.

One thing you would all notice, especially those of you who did get kind of touched by the influence in that fight, you don't feel anything like that moving through these other lights. Don't know if it was these are different or if it's, maybe you're aware of it, you don't feel anything like that moving through these other lights. I don't know if these are different or if it's, you know, maybe you're aware of it, you don't know, but you don't feel the same, you don't feel those negative emotions kind of like welling up in you

when you kind of move through. You make your way through, you pass by, you know, some stragglers, people going to or coming from taverns, people heading home after a long day, maybe working in an artisan's workshop or in a shop. You see the occasional duke's guard, but they're in small patrols, like normally teams of two or three, just kind of doing the rounds. Because most of the streets here are very quiet and, you know, this is a town where people live right um you make your way to the tall imposing structure of raven star spire you see that strange um material the stone

that it's constructed from and at night the tower looks it's almost invisible against the night sky it's so dark in the stone it is only through the occasional bit of kind of silver texture in the material itself or the glint of the pale blue tiles of the roof that you can really make it out. And as you approach, for you, Ophelia, initially you see no sort of entrance to this tower. It just looks like perfectly smooth stone

you can see windows very high up sort of you know 30 40 50 feet up but you don't see any sort of doorway as you draw closer and the other three seem to be moving towards a part of the tower you begin to see a silver outline of a door kind kind of like the Mines of Moria, the kind of moon door, right? It begins to take the shape and come into view. This doorway appears before your eyes. And the rest of you can clearly see that, yeah, the door that you remember there being there is still there. I shot Teresa through that door.

Okay. You would probably notice that there is, Gruff would notice this with your passive perception, there is a raven that is just perched on the building opposite the tower, and it's watching you the whole time that you kind of come near the tower, it starts watching you.

I give it a nod. You nod, and then it flies into one of those upper windows. And yeah, I'm assuming you go up and open the door, step inside. The interior is the same as the three of you once saw it, but for Ophelia's benefit, you feel a sensation of you... They open the door and you step in,

but it is almost like crossing a threshold. You step into a shadowed room but it is almost like crossing a threshold. Like you step into a shadowed room and then suddenly it's like your air is kind of pulled from you, almost for yourself pulled forward. And then there is no more door. The door is already shut behind you, but you don't remember it being shut. And you stand in a room

that is in this kind of soft, gentle moonlight. This kind of white, gentle moonlight. This kind of white pearlescent glow falls upon a rather comfortable looking lounge setup. You can see a kind of couch, small table laden with fruit and some, you know, a decanter, glass decanter of what looks maybe to be wine. You can see that there is this table covered

with unusual plants that you've never seen before, either here in... whether back in Osseous or here in Ilmera. You also notice that there is a large brass stand upon which three corvids, three crows, sit watching the whole group with these beady eyes, their little beaks just watching every movement, completely silent. And a spiral staircase leads to rooms above.

A voice sort of echoes out through the chamber. Please be seated. I will join you presently. I am finishing some work. Help yourself. Partake in drink and food. I ask for nothing in return. It's kind of very delicate voice just drifts through the chamber.

Is it somewhere comfortable to put Theresa down? Yeah, one of these sofas, they look pretty, kind of almost like chaise longue, almost, with rich dark black velvet cushions, the heavy floral scent as you place her down, and

she's just dreamily kind of passed out from the events that have taken place. Yeah, I'm taking a breath and a pulse. She is sleeping. She's unconscious and has drifted sort'm taking a breath. Yeah, she is sleeping. She's unconscious and has drifted into a sort of now. Exhausted. Yeah, an exhausted type of sleep.

No traces of the green smoke or anything like that that you can see. I feel you will go to sit down. It's very comfortable. You sit down, very soft, plush cushions. The smell of the wine is quite strong and potent. You can see that there are other sort of like little pastries kind of on a small plate next to the fruits

and things like that. It's very welcoming kind of atmosphere. It reminds you of some of the sort of parlors that the other members, the more senior members of the House of Blood, would often have guests wait in. It was that kind of waiting area. Yeah, I think that's where she'd go to sit down.

It just feels familiar in a really odd sense. Yeah. One of the crows from the brass stand flies over and lands on the sofa behind you, and you hear this very soft, sweet music as the bird is almost singing, but it's like music. It's like a bird song. And it's very gentle and very soothing, as they do.

Anybody else? Anything else anybody else is doing? I think Gruff would very tentatively sit next to, if there's a safe space on the sofa, like next to Ophelia, just kind of that kind of... Imagine like a table in the centre and it's two chairs long. It's like, you know, I imagine Teresa's being laid down on one and then Ophelia's

sat on the other one. And they're long enough for about three people to sit down to. Maybe Rowan would take up the space of two people because of his size. Daisy's going to sit on the floor cross-legged. Sure, yeah. In the middle, by the table. Just Groff tucks himself in, like trying not to touch anything. Because it's very fine.

He's not just very fine. No, it's actually Daisy, you'd probably know because you obviously pay more attention to the floor. You realise that it's not, the floor isn't wood or stone, it's like a blue grass material. It's almost like a carpet,

but you realise it's natural. It's kind of got this blue grass material. It's almost like a carpet, but you realise it's natural. It's kind of got this blue grass for a floor when you sit down. It's comfortable. It's very squishy and, you know, kind of feels very soft, but it is definitely sort of natural. Within a few moments, though, a figure descends down from the stairs, and the rest of you recognise this as Blackwing, this elf, but for Ophelia, a figure... Initially, you only see them sort of like their dress but it is like this long flowing black

robe made of these gossamer like flat black fabrics as they begin to descend further there is a cloak made of black feathers and you see these long slender hands draped with silver jewellery. But as more of their features come into place, what would Ophelia expect an elf to look like? Oh, interesting. Yeah, and this is Ophelia's, like, based on what she's heard or legends or things like that, or just what she might expect an elf to appear as. Very sort of regal and ethereal almost like

otherworldly like they're of another yeah just of another plane entirely well like could you imagine like like completely alien like features like physical like facial features and things as well or like because i can give you some ideas of like what that might look like obviously i i imagine like maybe something like, rather than normal eyes, they almost just have these giant black opals, right? And they have soft tendrils of translucent skin sort of hanging down their face. Their skin is pale but almost see-through.

You can see their veins and things like that. Very alien. Long ears. Kind of probably got to keep the things like that. Very alien. Long ears. Kind of probably got to keep the long ears, but very alien, very different. Trot's face. Trot's face. Like black in the zone.

That is exactly what Ophelia sees this person to be. They fit almost this idealistic expectation of what an elf called Blackwing you expect them to look like. They just look like that yeah um and they drift their way downstairs and obviously for the rest of you it is exactly as you remember what your characters would perceive an elf to be like um but blackwing kind of descends and looks at you all i did not expect to see you all again so soon please um and looking around who hasn't taken a seat i think rowan hasn't taken a seat yet, have you?

They will gesture and a chair sort of materializes out of nothing and slides next to the table. Oh, that's very kind, thank you. Of course, you are guests within my home. I wish you to be comfortable. What ails you? Well, um... You have brought this one.

Yes. Sorry, they weren't invited, but it's a little gnome, and they've been through a lot recently, and we think it's something strange and demonic is infesting the town. How curious. Looks over, Theresa. Yes. There is a trace

of something here. And you have sought me out why? Oh, well, to meet Ophelia, of course. Another one of your companions? Yes. Forgive me, sorry. I am Ophelia de la Rosa of the House of Blood. I believe you requested my presence?

Your companions and the Dragonborn told me of you all. I am curious. I enjoy meeting others and your travelling friends are unusual. I am Blackwing. My elven name is perhaps troublesome, but many have come to call me Blackwing here. I am a weaver, master of magic. I can create enchantments, I am a weaver, master of magic.

I can create enchantments and from time to time I have been known to help those who have needed my aid. Sister Ophelia de la Rosa. Yes. Of the House of Blood. Yes. How strange and curious. I must admit, I know very little of the material world beyond Ashen Rest. I know a little of the Dragon's Empire. I've heard of the Land of Ice, from which Gruffydd comes from.

I have seen others similar to Ro and Giant's Blood. Reminds me of my name. But the House of Blood, this is not something I know. Would you tell me of it? Yes, I am from Osseous. It is across the ocean. Ah.

The great sea. And this house of blood, is it... Is that a king, a queen, a noble home? It is our noble house, from which I have been raised in. Yes, you are royalty of your land. Well, I wish to be. Well, rise to that status, at least. But no, for the moment I am...

I am a lower rank, I must admit. But you are capable of achieving greatness. Oh, yes, I'd like to think so. How curious. It reminds me of the elven courts of my home. Such was very similar. Even an elf who was not born of noble lineage could rise to great heights within our culture.

How strange. I would like to learn more. I find, after many thousands of years, it is nice to be surprised by things. Thousands of years? You've been here for thousands of years? I have been within the material realm for, I believe, something close to 300 years. That's inspirational. But beyond that, where I am originally from, the Feywield, we do not measure time in years. I could not tell you how old or how long I was there,

but I have existed. I am of the third generation of my kind. The ravages of time are cruel. I would love to be somewhere where time is endless and unknowing. It is, and there's almost like this... ..mournful look on Blackwing's face. Yes. I have never contemplated what an end would be. But now I must, for mortal I have become.

It's almost this whimsical look. My dearest condolences. Thank you. None have expressed condolences. Thank you. None have expressed such a concern to me before. Many do not understand what it is like to lose out on immortality. Well, immortality is something great to aim for. I too long for an endless march to a great realm beyond this one.

Interesting. And what realm do you seek to enter? The Grey One. The Greylands? There's almost this excited tone. Keep in mind, I doubt any of the three of you have ever heard the term the Greylands before, because none of you are. Well, except you hear a voice in your head, Daisy. There is this almost like moment of shock.

You can feel Nym's shock when Ophelia says, well, when Blackwing says Greylands and Ophelia is like, yes, that one. Nym will say, the lands of the dead. Home of the Grave Emperor. How curious. Blackwing stares intently at you,

and now you watch the shadows in the room seem to pull into Blackwing's cloak, leaving this whole room without shadow. It's just light and all the shadow just vanishes, pulled into Blackwing. And their face becomes that of a skull. And they look at you. And they look at you. What do you know of the Greatlands?

Do you serve the Grave Emperor? Yes, I do. The shadows fill back into the room and Blackwing returns to the form that you saw. Rare is one of this realm who knows of this. Sorry, you are beautiful. Thank you. That was incredible. Ah, a small glamour. I find my magic has a mind of its own from time to time. There will be time for us to discuss this more,

for it is rare that I find one who is interested in the realms beyond. I'd love to know more about your realm, the Feywield. There is a very ironic smile. Give me insight checks. Actually, all of you can make an insight check, because there's a pause here. I want to see if you can read into this pause. Okay, good to know. Finally, the dice come up ready.

It took three sets! Thank you, Dispel Dice. Thank you, Dispel Dice. Thank you, Dispel. These are the ones. We are blessed. So, we know we've got a nat 20 over on Rhi. What about six? Six.

Sixteen. Sixteen. Nine. Nine. What's the total with your insight, Bess? Twenty-three. Twenty-three? Okay, good to know. Gruff, you pick up a little bit on this, and I'm going to give Ophelia a bit more information.

There is not a discomfort, but there is something about Blackwing's expression where you sense the Feywield and the Greylands have history. Ophelia, you have spent enough time around courtiers and you've been amongst people who've been having these kind of diplomatic conversations that you've learned to pick up on a few things here and there. You can immediately tell Blackwing has a sort of innate distaste

for the Great Lands. Like, you can immediately go, ah, I don't think this person is actually a big fan of this. But there is also this kind of disconnect. and you go, ah, I don't think this person is actually a big fan of this, but there is also this kind of disconnect, and you get the sense that there's almost a slight smile of irony, or perhaps bemusement at this conversation.

You do not know of the Feywild, and yet you serve the Grave Emperor. How curious. I suppose the Feywild is no longer my home, and its fate is no longer my concern. For a long time, the warriors of the Feywild, and grave Emperor's endless hordes we waged war for eternity we are opposite ends of the realms life within the Feywild death within the Greylands what do you think the Greylands are? How would you describe them? Endless glory. Just the most beautiful thing I will ever witness.

I hope that it lives up to your expectation. Still, we did not come here to reminisce of Myrel or others. You spoke of something with this one. What has come to pass? Rowan is unnerved

by this whole encounter, and is probably tugging on Gruff when it does the whole skull thing. It's like, where should we go? Gruff puts a reassuring paw on your hand. Nym is very much in your head, by the way, Daisy, saying, I do not trust this elf. I do not trust Ophelia.

Daisy is just gonna head desk on the coffee table, and in her head say to Nim, just when I think everything's going fine and we're making friends, then the skull thing happens and the dead lands and I just don't know what to think anymore. She's just having a little existential crisis with her head on the coffee table.

Yep. So Gruff, say anything more? Right. I guess Gruff would give a kind of brief appraisal of everything that happened that evening, of the lights, the, a kind of a rough thing of like the things with the Carpenter's Guild, the Blacksmith's Guild, the Lamplighter's Guild,

the lights leadingenter's Guild, the Blacksmith's Guild, the Lamplighter's Guild, the lights leading to this effect and then summoning this demon that possessed Theresa. And then I'd encourage Ophelia to show the kind of broken shards of the Everlight and the disc that Xanthius found inside. I'll keep your previous insights, by the way, for Gruff and Ophelia. You can immediately tell Blackwing

does not care about the politics of the guilds. Like, literally could not be less interested in it. But he's very interested in the, when you get to the point of, like, this smoke and Teresa seemingly becoming possessed and the magical enchantment, all of this, much more interested. And it's like, oh, yes, of course.

And begins to examine the disc. I'm curious. Yeah. and begins to examine the disc. Curious. Takes them a while. They are going to ritual cast some spells, detect magic being one of them, but also some other spells, some divination spells. Takes about half an hour. And you guys are just sat there.

At one point, Blackwing will basically suspend the broken light and the disc in the air and call one of the crows to its hand, to their hand. The crow then basically becomes almost like an orrery, like a series of bands made of this silvery wood. The crow just morphs into it and it kind of surrounds the light with it and begins examining it,

and casting strange spells to examine it, and eventually the orrery becomes a crow again, and then they pass the lantern back to you, Ophelia. This is the work of mages here within your realm, so some of the details are unfamiliar to me. But the magic, I know. First, this symbol, a gesture to this symbol in the middle of the disc,

which shows, like, a dot with a rune and then series of, like, interlinked, like an orrery itself with runes kind of dotted around it. This symbol represents the planar realms beyond your world of Althea. Each of these runes belongs to a different realm. This one is of my realm, my former realm, the Feywield. This, and on the opposite end of that same centric ring, this rune is the Grey Lan. These two points to another ring with two symbols on it.

The Lucent Peaks. When Blackwing says this, you feel Nym tense up, having not heard that term for a long time. The Lucent Peaks are the realms of celestials, angelic beings. It's a place of law, order, duty and justice. Oh, yeah. Opposing it, the twin pits. The pit Abaddon, the pit of chains,

and Diablos, the pit of suffering. And above them both, the Black Palace and the Helian Throne, realm of fiends, devils, and demons. This, they point to a ring which encircles all of them with four rings on it. These four are the Primal Isles, home of the djinn, elemental creatures. And then finally, kind of threaded through them all is a kind of long, thin line.

The Precept Coil, strange city of metal twisted into a spire. Home of the axiom constructs of law, probability, precision, logic. And although there is no rune for it, surrounding all of it is the howling sea, the sea of chaos, pandemonium, a realm of energy pure and simple. As I have come to understand it,

this is a representation that was taught to your earliest ancestors by the Sovereign. A representation of the planar realms beyond your world. The enchantment. Now this is interesting. It functions in two ways, hence the two discs split in half. split in half. In one way the enchantment feeds on negative emotions such as fear, anger, jealousy, paranoia and it converts them to magical energy that is sent back through a current of power. The opposite end or the other part of the enchantment is it feeds energy back

into the people that it has drawn those emotions from that power to my understanding comes from a planar realm and if what you described gruffeth of Tremora, I believe it to be a fiend, a creature of the Twin Pits. So this light is linked to a specific creature?

The realm itself, I believe. Specifically, if I... My knowledge of fiends is limited, but I do not believe that this enchantment would feed both Abaddon and Diablos. It would be one of the two pits. They are opposed to one another, as likely to fight amongst themselves as they are the other realms. Ah, when the smoky demon boyo came out, he said... Now, before you ask, you say demon, are you sure? Because there is a distinction. Fiends come as demon and devil. Demons come from Diablos, pit of suffering. They are creatures of violence, anguish, pain. Well, what I'm about to say next might answer your question,

because they said the barrier weakens, the Hellion throne will never see this coming. Unfortunately, it does not answer the questions I hoped. The Helion Throne. Blackwing brings their hand and conjures an illusory image. And you see almost like a 3D render, like a kind of old-school Star Wars hologram, of a flat plane with two enormous cylinder-like pits

next to one another. But in the middle, suspended above them both, bound to the perfectly flat wasteland above the pits that the pits are dug into, but suspended The Helion throne, it is the ruler of both the pits. They rule over both demon and devil. ascend to the top of its own pit and claim the throne within the Black Palace. When they do so, they become a creature of both demon and devil, a fiend, pure as it can be, and a ruler of both. There is a great competition amongst the demons and devils.

All of them wish to sit within the Helian throne and rule over all the others, for it is their nature, power, greed, ambition. So it is curious that the creature you spoke of said this. Likely they perhaps have a destiny to claim the throne for themselves. But unfortunately I do not believe it will tell us whether they are demon or devil.

Unless there is something you can think of. Can I ask Nim in my head? What would you like to ask Nim? If they got a sense of it being a devil or a demon. Nym, being very quiet. I just worry that that, I worry that this elf can hear me. Well, you can tell me later then. We don't have to talk about it right now.

The truth is, I don't know. My senses are so limited within you, little one. I could sense that it was a fiend. I know it was from the Twin Pits. My company, my legion, we... We fought them countless times. I fought them for millennia, centuries. I... I don't know how long,

but I fought their kind and their foul machinery and their weapons. but I have fought their kind and their foul machinery and their weapons. I know it was from the Twin Pits, but I could not tell you which kind it was. I will say this. Demons, when I have fought them, they are creatures of cruelty and aggression, hunger, desperation. The devils of Abaddon are different. They are clever, cunning.

They manipulate. They can appear as an emissary of peace and then stab you in the back, or make a deal that favors them. It's called the Pit of Chains for a reason, as Diablos is called the Pit of Suffering for another. Which one's the chains? Abaddon, Abaddon.

Which is the? Devils, yeah. Devils come from Abaddon, the Pit of Chains. Demons come from Diablos, the Pit of Suffering. Sound like lovely places. But they're quite competitive for their tourist rates. Funny how that creature looked at Xanthias, though, and was like, what the fuck? Great.

Blackwing will kind of consult the disc. I can also tell you that magic has been used to disguise this aura, this enchantment. A detection spell will not reveal it to be enchanted in this way. It has been carefully hidden. This particular light, the one you have brought me, must have been perhaps damaged,

or perhaps incorrectly used. I do not believe, I believe it is not finished, or something is different about this one. I do not believe the enchantment is correct. He shot it. More than just that, more than just the physical damage. This was damaged before it was activated. It was broken. Or perhaps broken

or correctly installed. Well, Theresa was trying to repair it, it was broken. When the little one wakes up, perhaps I'd as a question to ask them. If you don't mind, this is all very... this is a lot. But I am worried about this poor little halfling. I am no healer. Maybe I should go look for a healer.

If you wish. We were going to go to the cathedral afterwards. Maybe the priests will be able to help, especially if there's something demonic or devilish still left in her. We'll see to her, don't worry. Those who have not encountered the planar powers before, I can imagine it would be quite a stress upon the body. It is best to keep an eye on them.

I will say... one more thing. I could create something that would be able to detect this enchantment. But it would require a rather unusual object. If you were able to acquire a piece of a metal called Felite, a type of metal mined within the Twin Pits by the fiends. It is used in their weapons and machinery.

It would need to be from the correct pit, whichever one this power is drawn from. I would be able to create an object that would allow you to find or identify this enchantment, or perhaps give you more information. But you would need to acquire this felite for me to do so. There was one other thing. Someone mentioned something about ley lines,

and these lights being on the ley lines. I believe that these everlights... I have seen the Lamblighters. They have asked me to pay for their services, which I find quite amusing, to think that one would pay for light. What a curious idea. Their Everlights are drawn from a current of power

that flows through the city. I'm aware of it, of course. Flows all throughout the city, from the large beacons upon the wall. So we believe the lights aren't necessarily connected to this disc, and that the disc could be some sort of sabotage, or some other party involving themselves with these lights

to cause these things to come out and do bad stuff to people. Is there a question? I'm thinking out loud. Am I on the right lines? That is not for me to decide. From what Teresa said, the lamplighters were the ones who make these.

And from what the blacksmith said, because the blacksmith could be involved in making the casing and all of that, I don't know. But they make it in their own workshops, right? So that says to me that someone in the Lamplighters Guild is complicit. But this disc itself, was this created with Althaean materials? Is this an Althaean creation, this disc? I believe so.

So it is okay. So this wasn't crafted in the pit and taken? Okay. But it would be very difficult for one of your kind to create this sort of enchantment, one that feeds power back to a planar realm and indeed creates a two-way connection. For remember, part of this enchantment,

it draws the negative emotions of those within the light and sends it to the Twin Pit, but in return, something else is sent back along the path. It would be almost impossible for an Ulthaean to do this without assistance on the other side. Yes, Rowan. So with the light, do they need the bad energy to make light,

or is it separate from light? These lights have been here for decades, and I have never heard of this effect taking place before. I do not believe the lights themselves, or even the power that it draws from, was intended for this, but it is possible that it has been transformed or changed recently. But I have been here for at least a century or more, and I have never heard of this situation occurring before. And in fact, I believe that were this...

I believe that because this particular disc was wrong or broken before it was installed, that is what caused your friend to become possessed. This was too powerful. It was drawing too much and giving too much in return. Could be that the other lights are far more subtle, their use of this power. And fortune upon you that you have encountered one broken enough to draw your attention to it.

Oh, this is all too much. We're just trying to do a nice job, and now there's demons and devils. Well, you could simply forget about it all and continue your business. I'm going to have nightmares now. Would you like something to help you sleep? What would it be? You see Blackwing goes over to the plants, pulls a few leaves, scrapes some seeds from one's stem,

takes it over to a little alchemy of mortal and pestle and starts grinding and making some sort of poultice. And Rowan does not wake up for the audience with the Duke. Sleeping Beauty. Takes them maybe about 10 minutes and they come back with a little sort of night quell. This will provide you with sleep. Oh, it's so very kind of you, thank you.

You are welcome. It's just, he's shaking, his hand's shaking. It's just, none of you have been involved in things like this before, right? Would it make you feel better if we went and visited the clever toad on the way back? He did warn us of the shadows. I should have listened. The Church of the Scions

could also provide you with a blessing. That's true. Yes. See, Blackwing is kind of smirking when Grom says that, like, yes, yes, go to your little priests. Like, I'm talking about great plain old powers, but sure, go to Father What's-His-Name.

No, I know. This one, we believe in. Exactly, and Gruff's totally valid to believe in it. Blackwing is just like, lol, mortal shit. Like, oh, I'm mortal now, Sag. Yeah, this is what you have to believe in. Do you want to come as well, Blackwing?

Get a little blessing? Confess your secrets? The elves actually have their own gods. Yeah, yeah. We won't take up too much more of your time. My time, I have plenty to give. Have you met the Duke before? Yes.

Duke, you know. I have provided counsel to the Duke Ignorius. We want to present this case to him tomorrow, but we've heard he can be a bit dismissive. Have you got any advice on how to catch his attention on this? Because innocent people are going to be hurt by this. I will tell you this. I will speak of what I know of Duke Ignarius.

For his manner is not for me to assume or infer. I believe him to care deeply about the people of his lands. He is regarded as a great hero who suffered great personal cost to defend these lands from the arch-gold dragon Galdvassar. I believe him to be honourable, but proud, and like all dragons, his trust often falls to that which he knows. If I were you, Gruffydd of Tremorow, I would not question this guild without substantial proof of their foul doing. For you are but a stranger in these lands,

and the Duke has known their grandfathers and their grandfathers before them. Dragons, their trust is often placed greatly upon those who live a long time. Those who do not becomes generational trust. An elf such as myself, I have, well, I have known Duke Ignarius for nearly 300 years. I believe that I have his trust as he has mine. A dwarf of this Lamplighter's guild who has lived 200 years would have likely known the Duke for much of their adult life. Great trust would be born between them.

But say a human who lives perhaps only 50, 60 years, his name will be forgotten by the Duke, but his family name will be remembered, and so great trust may be put upon their son or daughter or grandson or granddaughter. Keep this in mind. Would you vouch for us if we mentioned we had you investigate? Look at this disc.

I will tell the Duke the exact nature of what this enchantment does, but I could not speak to, for all I know, and please understand that I say this not in any distrust of any of you, but as a matter of truth, for all I know. He gestures at Teresa. This halfling here is the one responsible. She was the one who repaired the lantern, did she not? I agree. If she is responsible, she must be brought to justice.

But just... In trying to present this to the Duke, in trying to ensure the safety of the innocent people of this town, you say he wouldn't trust us because we're strangers, I agree. But saying that you have investigated the... You have examined the disc, could at least be enough to start something, plant a seed.

I think that you... Let's understand this. I will tell the Duke what this disc does and that it has some connection to the planar realm of the Twin Pits. I will tell him exactly the nature of this enchantment. But that is all. I will not lay an accusation, or will I make an assumption. And I believe the Duke himself.

I do not believe that my examination of this disc would be enough. I suspect that he would be concerned, but... It would be very easy for one to suggest that it is the work of even perhaps yourselves, or this halfling, or perhaps an unforeseen force within the city. The Guild has existed for centuries. To lay blame at them, that is where evidence will be needed. But yes, call upon me if you wish for me to tell him to confirm that this device does indeed channel power to and from the planar realms.

Perhaps that will be enough, but I could not tell you for sure. I thank you for that. Of course. If I may, and I hope that you will not judge me, for remember, I am not of your culture or your world. My heart still lies within the Feywield. I care very little for the lives of the people here. I enjoy the beauty and the life that blossoms,

but I could simply move, find that elsewhere. I lost my home. I lost my world. I lost something which you cannot begin to understand what happens to ash and rest is of little consequence to me said with just the most placid face just so honestly true you don't even need insight checks. Like, there's no deception in this face. Blackwing just is pleasant but doesn't care. Just has no... is so apathetic to, like, your world, basically.

Um... I think that's the thing, is, like, Gruff would... ..take a deep breath to try and start saying something. But I think being older and coming from quite a harsh climate, he sees the measure of Blackwing and just wouldn't bother. It's a waste of his time.

Sure. He can see that this creature has just such a firm conviction. There is just... Yeah, firm conviction is also just so ancient. Like, it's just hard to even begin to understand. Out of character character by the way because the planar realms are basically have existed since the dawn of time they don't track

things like years because they don't have like a calendar or anything like that and when he said that or when black when when they said that they were third generation what that means is the very first elves at the beginning of time are first generation, so he's like two lifetimes after the beginning of time is their sort of... That's how long they've been around, right? That could be anything. Like, it's...

The Planar Realms are this whole alien thing of, like, they are eternal, you know? But, yeah. But Blackwing will just sort of smile and say, please make sure you enjoy food and drink before you go. It is late, you should rest. I hope that this will help you sleep, Rowan, of Giant's blood. He's got such big hands and such a little mug.

It's like a little tiny... He's struggling to like see it. It's like almost like a few drops of dew off of a leaf like in a tiny little thimble of a cup. He's worried about crushing it. And yeah and then Black Worm will turn to Ophelia.

I have greatly enjoyed meeting you sister Ophelia de la Rosa. The Greylands. You are clearly convicted and have great faith. I will give you the choice. I have seen them. I could tell you what I saw there, if you wanted to know. But I will warn you

now. Can anything live up to what you have imagined? Okay, I think Ophelia will be thinking about the tarot reading right now and how she's, in her mind, is engraved the phrase about her journey not having an end. And I think she would, I think she'd want to know what that end looks like so she has some kind of clarity. Yeah, I feel you wanna know. Okay.

Black one will glide, doesn't walk, just glides. And looms is like seven feet tall, like very, very tall. Looms down. Will reach out with a slender and to Ophelia, translucent skin, like veins visible underneath their skin. And a long finger just reaches out to touch your forehead. Do you stop him? No. When the finger touches your head,

your mind becomes full of visions. You find yourself in another person's body in their perspective. A warrior, a mage. A slender rapier made of twisted silvery wood and in a blade like a huge thorn from some great plant, but strong as steel in one hand. In the other, a carved wooden rod engraved with feathers

and tipped with almost like a crow's head. You see underneath glimmering silvery male black feathers as you are fighting against wave after wave of skeletal warriors that are just seemingly never-ending. The figure that you inhabit blasts them away with a great blast of wind, summons up this swirling storm of like twisted vines and roots and suddenly a blast of thousands of ravens as they clear a path and then they fly up into the air and you look out and you see a grey plane of dust that stretches out as far as it can be seen. A void-like sky with no stars of endless black stretches above. In the far distance, you can see the remnants of crumbled necropolises and ziggurats long abandoned by any sort of life.

You can see a still lake with not even a single ripple. and ziggurats long abandoned by any sort of life. You can see a still lake with not even a single ripple reflecting that dark, void sky. And in the far distance, as this horde beneath you is being demolished by elven warriors sent forth from the Feywild to do battle, you can see rows and rows and rows of silent, stood warriors waiting for their next orders. Blackwing pulls their finger away, and suddenly you are back in the tower.

Ophelia looks up, kind of like a wild panic flashes in her eyes for a second and she kind of just looks... ..dejected for a second, but then just brushes it away like nothing happened. It's been wonderful to meet you. Thank you so much for hosting us. You are most welcome.

Your presence, your home has made me feel so much at home. I am glad to hear it. You are always welcome here and my offer stands. Bring me things, and I can forge or weave items of power, enchantments, scrolls and the like. And if you are able to locate the Felite, I can create something to help you in your investigation. But you would need to source it. It would need to be from the Twin Pits.

It need not be much, a small piece. I do not know how you would acquire such a thing here, but there may be ways. In Gruff's head, I've just got this really sarcastic, oh, aye, I'll just stroll on down to the shops and ask them for some hell metal, that's fine, yeah. Just in his head, he's grumbling to himself. Sure.

Like... Yeah, Blackwing will sort of nod their head. Be well. And then just leave when you wish. And goes to the stairs and just glides back up them, going about their business like, yeah, just leave you down here, doesn't really care what you do very very distant oddly alienly distant um um rowan goes to gently pick up theresa yeah

flaps her out like a duvet yeah um yeah you pick her up she's just at this point she's not like she's alive but she's just sleeping yeah

do we want to go to the cathedral probably I think it's getting quite late it's going to be some pissed off priests yeah it's a matter of

they do they do night time services and stuff like that so it might not be too I guess it's like did they not say it was like open pretty much it might not be too... I'm guessing it's like... Did they not say it was open pretty much? It's open up until a point and then it will close down, yeah. So generally once the nighttime service to Maelia is done,

the cathedral will kind of close down and lock the doors and things like that. Isn't there a weird time thing when we're in this spire? It can be. It's actually Blackwing chooses whether or not... And it's... This is out of game knowledge. They can't do like a, you spend a day.

It's not the hyperbolic time chamber, right? They can delay it by a certain amount, but not by too much. There's like a touch of the Feywield about this tower, which means that they can sort of make it extend a bit of time. Okay. But yeah. Ready to go. Sorry, what, what, sorry?

The cathedral. Oh, yes, okay. Great. I don't really want to spend much more time in this tower. No, thank you. All right, yeah. Rowan will lead the way, back out. Sure. Out of prying cr way. Sure. Back out. Sure.

Out of prying crows and ravens' ears. Yeah, yeah. You feel the same thing. You open the door, and there's like a shadowy void, and you step through it, and you feel that sensation of being pulled forward, and then you're outside. And the door's already shut behind you all. You know, there's...

This is clearly not a mundane door. Rowan starts pacing back and forth. Just like, okay, okay, okay. That was a bit weird, right? Everyone can agree that was strange. And we're in over our heads, and I'm panicking, and this poor little halfling needs some attention, and we saw a demon cloud, and there was a skull,

and a feeler. I don't know what's going on there, but I'm a little worried. Why are you worried? You seem like you got touched on the forehead, and you seem distant now. I'm, I'm. Did they cast a spell on you? No, no, no, no, no spells, no, I've had enough of spells and whatnot,

and it's fine. Everything is fine. Yes, I agree. Everything is not fine. No, everything is fine. Everything's terrible. Everything's on fire. Everything's the worst.

What do we do? I don't know. Everything is fine. Can I insight on Ophelia? Sure. I mean, I'd substitute. I think Rowan can read that something's not right. I mean, I don't think you need an insight check to know that something's not quite right.

But I'm not going to tell you any more. Rowan just thinks it's because of the terrible night we've had. Yeah. And, like, how weird Blackwing was. Sure. Like, he doesn't know what you saw. Yeah, none of you saw that. Only Ophelia did.

I think Gruff will just run a paw over his very tired face. Come on, Dad. At these clucking children. Deep breath. Everything will be okay eventually. But we need to hold it together. I know it's trying, but you can't fall apart now.

Can I fall apart tomorrow? Maybe, and if you can delay that to the next day, and then the next day, and then the next day, until everyone is safe, then okay. Okay. Okay. You do hear Nim in your mind, Daisy.

There's a sort of hesitation. You get the sense that Nim has thought of something but almost doesn't want to tell you it. Because you're so linked mentally, you kind of know that, but you don't know what Nim wants or is thinking or wants to say, because their thoughts are kind of always... You only hear them

when they are speaking directly to you. They are able to keep thoughts aside. That is none of that. Tell me. What are you thinking? The elf talked about obtaining Felite,

a medal of the Twin Pits. Now, we don't know which one we would need, but there are mortals of your realm who broker deals with the Planar Powers. You've met one. Okay. Not like you and I, our connection is different. But there are those who make deals with the Planar Powers for magic, for wealth,

and then there are those who help broker those trades. wealth, and then there are those who help broker those trades. May be possible to acquire some of that metal, or learn of somebody who could help us get some via such a person. I don't trust them, I don't like them, but it is possible. Who is it? Do you remember the Tiefling? No!

Yes. No! They claim to be a broker of the Elemental Planes, but if they can broker for one, they may be able to broker for another, or at least know someone who knows someone. I don't know how to reach them but it is worth keeping in mind. But also, I know a little of Felite. The fiends

of the Twin Pits, their weapons are unlike anything we have seen elsewhere. My legions, we can fight using steel, as you do, but also there is a substance called Luxin that we are able to recover and use to create weapons and magic and suchlike. The fiends mine this metal, felite, and they harvest something called Hell's Blood from their own dark, disgusting pits that they call home. And with it, they have created weapons unlike that we have seen, machines of metal and fire, arms that can shoot out bolts of hellfire or shards of metal at high speeds.

They are not as well trained as the Celestial Legions, but what they lack in skill and training they make up for in numbers and firepower. It is powerful. And their cunning and adaptability is considerable. Okay. Me and my squadron destroyed many stockpiles of these weapons long ago, but this was all done in the Planar Realms,

not on your world. Well, I didn't even want to entertain the fact about finding this thing in the first place, the metals. I just wanted to leave it be, because you said we don't trust Blackwing, so I was just going to not do the thing. Just no touchy pits of hell. I mean, I would prefer that as well.

But should we? If we can detect things? There are a lot of innocent people here. In my old life, it would have been my duty to try and save them. Now I have the choice, if I had the choice, because it's really your choice, little one. I would try and save them. Yeah, okay.

So annoying, though. Duty is not easy. Yeah, okay. So annoying though. Duty is not easy. Fine, fiery hell pits, rocks and metals from higher, I just don't wanna talk to that stupid tiefling. Okay, fine. There is a, you get that kind of smile, that sense of fondness. Choosing to do what is right, even though it is annoying and scary.

That brings me a comfort. Better to do it simply than because you must, or because others force you to. Well, I want to do it, I just don't want to do the things that make me have to do the... It's fine. We will be careful. Okay, well, I'll talk to the others.

Yes. But maybe they're gonna ask me how I know these things. That's the demon or the creature that came out of Theresa did know where I am from. It could sense me. So do I tell? That is your choice. Do I not?

Daisy's doing her thing where she's just staring at his face, but no. Yeah, Nim just says, it is your choice, little one. Okay. I'll think about it. I do not know how clever your companions are if they will put these things together. Do they?

If they do, they should, after what the elf told them, they will be able to know what I am. It's fine. Nothing can be as bad as whatever Xanthias is doing, because clearly he's messed up. That is very true, yes. That dragonborn, we really must get to the bottom of them. You're telling me, but that's fine.

I'll think about it, but thank you. That's all right. Thank you for your support. So, just before we go to break, where are you guys heading next? Do you want to try and head up to the Bright Shadow Cathedral? Is this a, we're going to, like, also keep in mind that, like, you guys are knackered. You've had a fight, like, you've not had a long rest.

It's like, you know, 11, it's probably like 11pm at night now. What do you guys want to do? I've got to get up in, like, four hours. Yeah, yeah. Rowan, despite being? I've got to get up in like four hours. Yeah, yeah. Rowan, despite being tired, is pushing to go to the cathedral. Sure. And it's kind of like restless and on the spot pacing. It needs to like help Teresa.

Sure. So, Phoebe, you want to go with them? Yeah. Yeah. It's a distraction. Yeah. Yep. Alrighty.

Pretty much. I think we're all just like. Sure. With that that then, we will, that will be the end of part one and we will see you in part two. Join us back for then.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.