High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #14 | His Draconic Majesty (Part 2)

Episode Date: March 7, 2024

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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. Welcome back to part two of Ulfea the Dragon Empire, episode 14, His Draconic Majesty. Our heroes have finally attended the public audience with Duke Ignarius, and they have presented their duke's favour, and in return they have been given deeds to land and maybe a building we don't

know uh here in ashen's rest to call their own uh with no tithe uh it will be theirs to keep and do with as they wish uh they also got to meet his draconic majesty duke ignarius as well as his two children uh emberissa and obsidius. And perhaps further the ongoing politics and endeavours going on here in Ashen's Rest as well. But as you guys leave Dominus Ignarum, you are back out onto the streets. The public audience, the queue is, there is a lot of people to speak to the Duke today.

This is probably going to be most of the Duke's day. So there is a kind of long trailing town. Duke today. This is probably going to be most of the Duke's day. So there is a kind of long trailing town. You can see that people are going to be filtering in and out of the audience throughout the day as well. But the town is still going about its business, just a little quieter than normal, giving you plenty of time to go about and do anything you wish to do. I guess like the authorities and all of those people,

they're going to be in there all day as well, right? Yeah, well, I mean, they'll be, again, probably coming, going, going out and doing bits and bobs I'm going to commit some crimes There is still town's guard and things like that around, yeah, it's not like the streets are empty it's just that, you know, it's like when you have a big event

Pile into the dome That's when you have a big event on So, yeah, what do you guys want to do? In terms of, like, the formalities of us receiving a deed, we were just told we have a deed. Yeah, it will probably be, like, it will take, like, a couple of days to have, like, paperwork drafted up to be inputted into records

and things like that. But the fact that the Duke himself, in front of all those witnesses, basically said it, it's as good as yours now anyway. It's just it's not been formalized, formalized property. But the fact is, is that when he marked that there was no tithe to pay, basically means that like you're not paying like rent or tax on it. So a big thing in this world is every like twice a year,

there is the hoarding, which is when the dragons and the draconic lords take their tithe, their tax basically. And that can be in the form of gold, it can be form of military service,, it can be form of military service, or it can be form of goods like we... They want gold, let's be honest. Well, not all modes.

Some dragons, you know, they don't hoard gold in the same way that like Smaug does. Like some dragons hoard art. Art is actually more common than gold pieces and jewelry. Dragons love objects of worth, like art, jewelry, expensive clothing, rare materials, beautifully made weapons and armor. They prefer that than to just money.

Money doesn't really mean anything to them. But the thing is, because you've called it the hoardings, I just have this image of my mind of whatever it is, they're still rolling around in it. Yeah, I mean, well, all they... Rolling around on the art. Yeah, for me, it's like they just fill it in a room and they're just like, I love it.

They're just touching everything. But the thing is, is they take it, but they then also pass it on to, they would have once passed it on to the Empress and the infrastructure for the Empire. Dead now. Well, now there is the question of like, what is that? Blasphemy. Once we're out of the dome. Yes, out of Dominus Ignorum.

Back onto the street. Rowan is just, just group hugging everyone. Oh, we have a home! A home where we can all live together forever. And die together. We should go and see it, we should go and look at it. My eyes might have something to say about that. What about the rumors?

You can bring it. Did you catch that? The rumors? Yeah, we need to find out what the rumors are, but I think we should go and look at it, because we're close anyway. Let's go look at the place, we may as well. I'm seeing it now, it's haunted. I don't want haunted.

We can deal with haunted, right? We can get rid of haunted, Ophelia. You can deal with haunted, right? Oh, what you consider to be haunted may be considered friends to myself, so. You can deal with them. It'll be fine, it'll be fine. Hopefully we can put haunted into just one room

and then you can deal with haunted and the rest of us can have a lovely, nice house, right? That we operate from, we come back to, oh, we might have to say goodbye to the Tarics. We can visit, though. Well, yes. That's fine. Because I paid for an amount of days. I believe that that's now ended.

I believe you paid for two nights or something like that. Oh, we did, because we, yeah, we weren't sure what the favour would get us. We need to decorate, get furnishings and all sorts of paintings. It would be delightful. Earthy greens. Dark reds and velvet. Okay, well, there's an in-between colour there.

We could have a section, a rowing section. I'll have an Obetween colour there. We could have a section, like Rowan's section. They'll have an Ophelia section. We could divide it up. How big do you think their house is? It's got to be massive. The Duke and we sell. South of the town, close to Yggdaram. It's in the heart.

Start walking towards that way. I'll start walking. Sure. You guys make your way. We're not stood still. T-posing talking. We are moving. Is that how you talk to people normally?

Yeah. You make your way out back onto one of the main streets that leads to the south gate of Ashen Rest, into an area called the Heartsway, which is kind of a big area of commerce and business. You pass the Coil of the Empress, and you begin making your way, following the loose you know you probably would have been told by somebody on the way out like oh yeah it's here blah blah um and you begin making your way to on the map is

point 14 what you see as you approach um you can see that there are rows of houses it's kind of tucked away but it's quite close to the southern gate and you can see that the houses and businesses here are quite flourishing. You're looking at kind of like middle class, like kind of, you know, busy commerce kind of looking area. Well, these houses are lovely. And you see that on the corner, it's a substantial amount of space. And it's one building that is surrounded by a sort of iron fence. It has like a garden area

and it seems to have like a secondary building. But it is actually what appears to have once been a tavern. However, it does not seem to be in the best condition. The fence that surrounds it is rusted and a bit dilapidated. The gardens are overgrown, ivy spilling out. The buildings themselves, The gardens are overgrown, ivy spilling out. The buildings themselves, you can see that the large main tavern building has broken windows,

maybe looks like pieces, a part of the roof. It looks like it's been abandoned for a while and it looks like it's just suffered some structural damage because of that. But it is a considerable amount of land here. The tavern building itself is a large building. You could easily... It doesn't have to remain a tavern.

You can do what you want with it. But there is also a secondary outbuilding, which is beside it, which has its own entrance that could be used, and it has stone foundations. Again, it's all kind of fallen in the upper floors, but it could be turned into whatever you want it to be, really. And then it has a large garden area as well that could, again, be done with what you wish.

But it's not terrible. It's not like next to this, I guess, the next door house. Well, it is right by the tournament grounds, in fact. You can actually see there that it's quite close to the tourney grounds. There's some noise in there. On a tournament day, yes. We can see the tournament from the upstairs window. It does look like if you were on the top floor,

it looks like it's three floors. Or if you were set on the roof, for example, you could easily look into the tournament field. Oh, wow. Hell yeah. Yeah, and you can see that there are... It's mainly surrounded by homes or small businesses, like little local butchers and grocers and things like that.

But it's all fairly unmarked. But this place does look pretty abandoned. There is a guild everlight outside, but it's broken. Good Lord. Stay that way. Yeah. Someone's trying to fix it. No, my land!

You see that there is kind of a whole area surrounded by this iron, like like rusted kind of fence but there is a set of stone steps that lead up to what would have been the entrance to the tavern and there is just this very broken like hanging by one chain sign and it's very faded and kind of looks worn out that shows

a succubus like figure drinking and kind of almost beckoning with a finger. And in faint writing, it says the Enticing Devil. Keeping it. Keeping it. The Enticing Devil.

I don't really like that name, personally. I love it. It's, I mean, there's work to be done. It's cozy. But, I mean, it's... It brings the outdoors. The size of the land, this would easily be worth, like,

tens of thousands of gold, by the way. Like, in such a prominent location as well, like, this is valuable. This has a value to it, you know? Is there anyone on the roads or, like, local businesses outside wandering around at the moment? Yeah, there's definitely some people.

You can see that, like I said, there are small businesses, like a little butcher's and grocer's, and maybe a little bakery down the street. Just very small places, places that I've not named yet, because I was like, adventurers probably aren't going to worry too much about where a small bakery selling fresh bread is. Yeah, okay, I regret my decision now. Think again, motherfucker.

But they're also opposite the tavern, there is a row of homes, people's houses, homes. Yeah, there are people. Well, I was gonna suggest, would we want to meet some of our, I guess, neighbors now and find out what these rumors? We could have such lovely neighbors that look after us. They could.

And we look after them. Exactly, we should make ourselves known. So Gruff's gonna step up to the door and he's making that noise. The door of the tavern or like an adjacent? Our tavern, yeah. Like, he'll just be like. Knocks on the door, knocks on the frame.

The door swings open, It's not locked. I tell you now, I bet the foundations are rotten. Shingles up there are cracked. Drain's definitely not been cleaned in ages. OK. Grass overgrown. We can cut the grass. We can re-shingle the shingles.

State of this. Do you want me to actually give you the exact kind of like, yeah, all of the things Gruff says is true, but you can identify the clear points that will take time and money to repair on this building as well. I'm being a dad about it. Yeah. You know when dads go into a house and just knock on everything?

But also, that has a valuable... But that has a response. I'm actually right in this case. Yeah, yeah, you are very right. Things like the shit the roof and stuff like yeah okay they're not the best shingles but they'll hold right they're fine like they don't need to be fixed good storm that's coming off yeah by all means like they could be upgraded but they they will be okay for now leaky um you should say more stuff all of this is coming

true there is a million gold in the basement there's a million gold in the basement um the roof itself is collapsed in a section um in the main. There's a million gold in the basement. There's not a million gold in the basement. The roof itself is collapsed in a section in the main area of the building. I have numbers and stats here if you want to examine it or speak to somebody about what it would cost to get it repaired. All of the windows are broken. That's one thing you notice. Every single window is broken.

Thrafty. From downstairs, there's the downstairs, the second floor, which seems to have been guest rooms for the tavern, and then there is a room at the very top on a third floor, like a single large room that probably would have belonged to the tavern's owners, right? And that's got windows broken.

It's all broken. The garden as well is incredibly overgrown. Like, it is in a bad way. It's rotten. So many deflated footballs in here. And Bumble. Frisbees. Lots of Bumble.

We're not staying here. We are going somewhere else. Wrong climate for Bumble. Fantasy Bumble. Not Fambu. Fambu Weed, it's called. Gruff, don't go in just yet, remember? Could be haunted. I'd like to see bamboo. Yeah. Not famboo. Yeah. Famboo. Famboo weed, it's called, yeah. Well, Gruff, don't go in just yet, remember? Could be haunted.

Could be haunted. I is haunted by the spirit of whatever cowboy builder built this and left. Now, what's a cowboy? I don't know. Charlatan, a charlatan builder. Okay. Wait, isn't Osseous to the west?

Yeah. I don't think so. Yeah. Is Ophelia a cowboy? It's eastern. It's to the east of Osseous. Rootin' tootin'. Rootin' tootin', suckin' blood. Suckin' blood.

Have you seen that? There's a poem of somebody describing that cowboys are just like they're alternative witches because they have a lot of similarities and stuff. Somebody took the Toil and Bubble poem, and they did it so it's about cowboy witches instead. Oh hell yeah. It's very good.

I can't remember it word for word, but it's very good. Excuse me, I now need to write a book about cowboy witches. Episode over for a second. Let's go speak to someone who might know about this place. Yeah, if there's any rumors, the neighbors would know. Well, let's go speak to someone who might know about this place. Yeah, if there's any rumors, the neighbors would know. Oh, there's a bakery down there.

A bakery down the road. We could ask them, I suppose. There is a sign on the side of the bakery. Fuck you. I will point as well, because you did go up to the door and it opened. Inside the tavern, there are some remnants of furniture. A lot of it is broken.

It was being damaged. Shotty. Looks like most anything of value has kind of long been stripped lot of it is broken. It's been damaged. Looks like most anything of value has kind of long been stripped out of this place. But there are like tables and chairs, some of which are broken, some of which are still intact. There are shelves, there's the bar. You can see that there appears to be like a little room out the back for

like maybe a kitchen or something like that. Stairs that go up to the second floor, that kind of stuff. But yeah, it's all kind of a little bit broken down. Rowan will go into the main tavern area. I'm going to stay here for a moment and feel what the tavern is feeling. Okay.

You can do that with wood? Yes. Okay. Just give me 10 minutes. Keep a watch of him, mate, just in case he gets... He sits down on the squeaky floorboards and does Harmonious Recall, which is his ability to attune himself with the... Would you read out what it does for us, please?

I spend ten minutes listening to the music of either a natural location or an object made of wood, metal, or stone that is no larger than a five-foot cube. So I'm going to look for something that's... The door. Well, keep in mind that a building is not a natural place. You would have to probably go out into the garden to do that.

This is the wrong place. Yeah, like... Stand up. As a point, like, this place will work on, like, natural terrain, like a building or a city or something like that. Okay, the plot of land that I'm in, I'll go into the overgrown garden and attune to it. Okay.

Give me a minute. You can have ten. Was it the enticing devil? No, it was the original name. You don't have to keep that name, it's just what it used to be called. Now, what do we feel about the name? Are we keeping... Is this a... What do we think about the pillars? Not in love with that. So it's the name of the place and Is this a tab? What do we think about the pillars? Not enough.

So it's the name of the place and potentially us as a group? The pillars of what was it, destiny? Pillars of fortune, destiny, wisdom, power. So you just take ten minutes and you do have to concentrate. So any conversation is happening before you start doing this, by the way. This is like concentrating on a spell like you're silently kind of like focusing right um so are you the rest of you going to go to like this little bakery whilst rowan does that because it's going to take him 10 minutes it's going to take him some time if there are people like on the road nearby uh businesses and things just anyone that might know yeah of this place

sure are people like recoiling in horror away from it? Well, on the street, you definitely, the few people that you see, you guys, who's going, by the way? So, Xanthius and Daisy. I'm going to stay with Rowan. And I'm just tutting at everything. I'm just going around tutting.

Yeah, sure, sure, sure, sure. What about Ophelia? I think she'll stay with Rowan. She'll stay with Rowan as well? Yeah. All right. Well, in that case, yeah, so Xanthias and Daisy, you guys go out onto the street,

and you don't see anybody recalling a fear, but there's definitely a few people, like, looking at you like, what are you doing? Like, why are they at that building? And you see a couple of, like, a little gang of kids, like, on the street. They're, like, kicking a ball around, and they, like, see you going in,

and they're, like, excitedly talking to each other, and they're pointing at you ball around and they like see you going in and they're like excitedly talking to each other and they're pointing at you and then they do that childish thing where they like when you look at them they run away and then they're like peering from like an alleyway like watching what you're doing um down the street uh the nearest place is this little bakery little cafe actually i'm gonna slightly it's a little cafe and it is called I googled I did a random D&D shop name generator it's called a latte fun but what if it had

a different name no no no that is the name of the little bakery slash cafe. It is called a Latte Fun. So you are confirming that lattes exist in this world. It's just coffee and milk.

It's just milk. Frothy. Latte is just milk. Magic froth milk. This is Milk Fun. Milk Fun. No, it's not. No, you've given me an idea, Chris Trott.

Wait, what's that? And when you see inside, it is this beautiful, and it's like a little cozy core, little cottage core, little cafe. It's got a little patio outside. And it's just down the street. It's at the very end of the sort of corner. So it is this little building right on the corner here. Okay, yeah.

Right? Yeah, off next to you. So there's a building between it on the corner here. Okay, yeah. Right? Yeah, okay. Yeah, off next to you. So there's a building between it and your new building. Okay. And it's this little dainty cottage called thing. There's like little flowers and little flower boxes and things like that. And it's almost done up to look a little bit like a barn.

And when you look inside, there is a very retuned, lovely lady who is a cow wild heart. Okay. Okay, okay. And she's there. Oh, hello there, dearie, how you doing? No, wait, I want to do like a, what's like a Midwestern kind of American accent, like, oh, hey there, yeah, is she going to be like this? That's Canadian.

Yeah, she's Canadian now, eh? Oh, hello, hey, how you doing there? Oh, hello, I'm... Welcome to a latte fun. A latte fun? A latte fun, yeah. That is a lovely name. Oh, thank! Hey, how you doing there? Oh, hello. Welcome to a latte fun. A latte fun? A latte fun, yeah. That is a lovely name. Oh, thank you very much.

We, um... You can see that she's got, like, big, like, cow, like, bovine ears. She's got, like, little horns. Big kind of, like, you know, like, housewife bouffant haircut. Oh, no, just... Oh, no, just, no, no, it just sucked in, no, no! She's always pregnant. I didn't say that. I did not say that.

I was thinking something else, okay? I just took the next step. Yeah, sure. In this building, like, if Daisy stands in front of it, she's invisible. This is basically like, Oh, dang it. A cottage core, like, that kind of building, right? This cat gets around.

Lot of fun. That whole side of the table is gone. They're gone. We're new to Ashen's rest But we are going to be We're going to be moving in Just down the road Oh that's great And I thought it would make sense

For us to meet the neighbours And get to know the area Oh that's really sweet of you Well only fair that you get in nice And she goes Would you like a drink? And a little snack? Yes, I would love to try. Why are you Irish?

I'm going to keep changing. I think I'm going to stick with the Irish, because I can do that a lot more consistently. Yes, I think I'll stick with the Irish now, I think. You went really Irish. I went really Irish, didn't I? Been watching Jacksepticeye play Dark Souls 3. Top of the morning to you.

Okay, okay. Yeah, I heard that, yeah. He has a coffee company as well. I'll get him to sponsor. Oh, my God. Jacksepticeye, I'm going to get him as a guest. He's actually the guy who owns this cafe. He's going to play a cow man.

How should I get? Jock. Ashtag ads. Jock. Yeah, I would love some drinks, actually, yes. How much would they be? Well, no, your guests, your new neighbours, I'll do it for free.

Wouldn't that be nice? It would be lovely. Do you drink coffee? Drink it. Yeah. Admit I... Is coffee like a... Coffee's a thing, right? Coffee's a thing, yeah.

Yeah, it's not an uncommon, like... No. Wow, a rarity. Coffee. No, no, no, no. It's a common thing. Yeah. I would love one.

And there's a few more of us, actually. No. Three more. We're moving into the old tavern. They're not here, but you are. That's a lot of coffees. I was just going to do it for the two of you. That's fine.

But we just wondered if you could tell us anything about the old tavern? They're not here, but you are. That's a lot of coffees. I was just going to do it for the two of you. That's fine. But we just wondered if you could tell us anything about the old tavern. The old tavern? Why do you want to know about the devil? Well, that's the land that has been bequeathed to us, so to speak. Maybe not quite the right word. Oh, I'm so sorry.

Well, we heard there were rumours and she like shuffles around I'll get you some extra lovely cakes you know what coffee's for all of your friends as well I'll do that

oh and she begins making we heard there were rumours oh by the saints and scions oh bless bless these souls bless these hearts what's wrong with the place what's happened

oh it's a dreadful thing dreadful thing you know no no we don't know no we don't we're new here it Oh, it's a dreadful thing. Dreadful thing, you know. No. No, we don't know. No, we don't. We're new here. It's haunted. It's haunted. It's haunted. See, we had an inclination that it might have been.

As in ghosts. Ghosts. Right? Ghosts. We're talking ghosts. Oh, most terrible spirit. Oh, you should hear wailing away some nights. And I've never seen her, but a few of the children and a few of the braver adults who have been around at night, they've seen her. The Scarred Lady. Scarred. Scarred Lady.

Hey, write that down for me. Yeah? Write that down in your little diary. Oh, is it in there? In the journal. When was the last time anyone stayed in this place, in this tavern? Oh, goodness me.

Goodness me, it's been a while. I've got to find my details. I got lots of notes and they're all spread out. I just want to see her make this coffee. I just want Danthea to drink the coffee. There's a big jug of milk on the side. And she just pours it. Just ready to go.

Ready to froth it up, yeah. Adds it to the coffee. It's a lovely little brew thing. They've got those filters, like paper filters, because obviously, you know, they don't have machines for paper ones. Oh, can I have a little bit of cinnamon dusting? Very good.

I can do a bit of cinnamon, I've got some honey and things like that as well, yeah, if you'd like. And we've got fresh bread and we've got fresh pastries. You know, you can have, oh, a lovely little platter. I'll do a little box, I'll do a lovely little box for you. And she begins like, gets like a little kind of box, like a little wooden box and fills it with cupcakes and little, like, you know, a fresh little

sourdough and fills it all up with things. Have you seen this God lady? Oh, goodness, no! Oh, by the gods, no. No, no. No, no, no. I'd faint. I'd, I'd, I'd. Me soul would come right out of me body.

Right, okay. If I did. Oh, a terrible, terrible thing. She will tell you that, well, I think it's, oh, it's been at least a sort of a few years, maybe close to a decade, maybe 10 years, nine, 10, nine, eight years. It was a lot, it was such a sad time. I was a lot younger back then,

but there was a lovely couple, and they came and they bought, and they had great hopes for that place. But, you know, I think that, well, the owner, the gentleman, he made a very poor decision calling it that name, the Enticing Devil. Oh, once people started hearing it and the church got involved and they advised people not to go, saying it was a place of all sorts of bad behavior and corrupting things, calling it a name like that. Said that he'd made deals with devils and other planar powers and such. And so business sort of dried up and then his wife left him and he just had to

close the whole thing up. He closed it when the Scarred Lady, she started appearing shortly after that. Oh, right. Okay, sorry, that story didn't go exactly how I was expecting it to go. I was expecting one of those two to have passed away and become the ghost. But if the Scarred Lady is something entirely different... Well, we believe it might be somebody who was somebody who was murdered there after it had been abandoned.

Murdered after, okay. Yes, she appeared sort of, you know, very, not long after the gentleman had left. What was his name again? Ah, Kavon. Kavon was his name, was the man who owned it. Kavon. Damien. Um, okay, so...

Your advice then is to not keep the name. Oh, if you want to run it as a tavern, certainly not. No, I mean, you know, we're all good children of the saints and scions here, and you know, invoking a name like that, a devil at play in our power, that's a terrible thing. It is indeed. Well, we haven't really got any plans.

Today is the first we've heard about this place, and today is the first time seeing it. And you've bought it, you've owned it, and you didn't know anything about it. Oh, well, no, we... We were given it... Oh. Oh, well. A bit of a double-edged sword, I think, there, then.

I mean, it's a beautiful spot, and it's such a... You know, it's a grand place, and it's a big bit of land, and if it wasn't for the scarred lady, you know, it's a grand place and it's a big bit of land and if it wasn't for the scarred lady, you'd have a right treat. You'd have a right treat there, I reckon. Okay, so we have to, I mean, we intend to fix it up as best we can and also, I suppose, find a way to deal with this scarred lady.

Oh yes, you better get in a priest and holy water, douse the whole place in holy water and hope that you scare her away, I reckon. I was going to say douse it in oil. Burn it, burn it! Burn it all. Get a father down and get him to bless the whole thing. Would you like a cup of tea?

But now she will. Go on, go on then. Go on, go on then go on go on tell the rest of my friends the story of this place but do you know anyone

who might have seen the scarred lady oh well I mean some of the houses who live opposite they say that sometimes they see her

in the windows and things like that glancing down I think that they're you know and I tell the children not to do it. It's a dangerous thing,

but the children play games where they try and dare, because, you know, it's not locked up or anything. They can, children climb over the fence and get in and things like that, but they dare each other to go inside and try and bring things out. It's a bit of a game for them, but I know that there have been a couple of instances

where they've had a right fright, a right shock to the system. Now, silence forbid, has the Scarred Lady hurt anyone? I think most people are often... She's got a bad one. Most people are too scared to go in and too scared to confront the ghost.

But they... No, I mean, but, you know, she breaks the windows. You know, I've heard that she breaks the windows. And she's the one who broke the light outside. She broke that light outside. I see. But no, as far as I know, nobody's been hurt. Because any who have seen her just run away. They're so frightened.

Okay, no, that's good to know. Well, as I said, we'll be just down the road. Oh, well, saints and science bless you, and I wish you all the best of luck with it, my dears. We'll do our best. Of course, of course. And thank you for the coffees and the...

Thank you. Oh, you're more than welcome. You're most welcome. I'm Maeve, by the way. Maeve, you. Oh, you're more than welcome. You're most welcome. I'm Maeve, by the way. Maeve. Yes. Sorry, Maeve, I did not ask your name. That is... I did ask yours, sir.

No, not a problem. I'm sure we'll get... Not telling you. I'm sure we'll get to know each other just fine over the coming time. And, you know, you're always welcome. Come down here in the morning and have yourself a lovely coffee and a pastry

and all sorts of loveliness. I'll have a little sip. How good's the coffee? It's pretty good. It's pretty good coffee. It's pretty good, yeah. Nice, great. It's got the cinnamon in it, just like you asked. It's wonderful. I will definitely be coming back.

I'm glad. Consider this a welcome to the neighbourhood gift. Oh, well, I must get you a gift as well, too. I don't know how this works. A pasteuriser. But thank you very much. I will go inform the others of the story, and hopefully we can deal with this problem.

I hope so too. Oh, I hope so too, my dear. Saints and science bless you. And you as well. Just imagining him with a milk moustache. Daisy? Yes? Oh, your coffee.

Thank you. Drink up. Drink it, Daisy. I will. Good. Delicious. Delicious coffee. Delicious latte. Daisy shouldn't be given caffeine, Delicious, delicious coffee. Delicious latte.

Daisy shouldn't be given caffeine though, so she's like jittery as hell. Okay, it's haunted. Exactly what we thought. Yep. Somehow. It's the fact you guys didn't miss a beat when I was like, here, have a house,

and immediately you went, it's probably haunted. And I just looked at my notes where it's just like, the haunting of the enticing devil in, and I was just like, nice. You said there might be some rumors. Haunted. I mean, we said this weeks ago, didn't we, though, that gifting land isn't necessarily a great thing.

It will be. Eventually. Who knows? Maybe it's not true. Maybe these are all just rumors, right? You don't know. This is all just rumors. Just a person with a

spooky sheet over their head could be a Scooby Doo maybe there's a gang of thieves pretending to be a ghost it's Old Man Willikers no it's Duke Ignorius so I stay off of it

god damn it no it wouldn't be the do that's too much in a Scooby Doo it would be like it would be the considerate right it would be the considerate, right? It would be Maeve.

She started to boost her business sales because she didn't want to competition. Oh, yeah, there you go. I knew it was you. Me? If this ghost says Moo, you know you're onto something. I nearly called it like muella or moolah but i was like no i'm gonna call them too much too close yeah um i have to come up with a good

pun name for a surname though we have to be delicate when we go back to the others especially with rowan may have grasped it but no one's been hurt there no one's been hurt there by this this god lady so how bad can it really be? We can handle wailing at night. We can handle window smashing, right? I don't want to live in a house that's called something about the devil. That can change. We can take the sign down.

If all it takes is to take the sign down, that solves the problem. We can take the sign down. I don't like the name. We change the name. We don't deal with the ghost. I don't want to deal with the ghost. It seems like you're getting a bit overwhelmed i don't know what ghosts can do ophelia will know ophelia speaking of ophelia um so rowan ophelia and gruff have all

stayed behind rowan yeah over 10 minutes um you trying to tune to like the natural earth and land here the garden has been sort of un you know been left it's it's you know part of the when the city was built it was probably left as like natural terrain um the music that you hear is one of sorrow it speaks of a sadness of a bitterness a bitterness that kind of lingers in your mind. There is a hint of pain and suffering here. And you know that the land itself, there is a darkness about it as well. And as you communicate, Rowan and Ophelia,

Rowan is kind of lost in a meditative state. Are you guys actively watching him? Are you going around the building? What are you guys doing? Groff is 100% going around, tutting at everything. Yeah, sure. So just fully doing a full...

I'm just gonna toss. Sure, sure, sure. Putting his foot through things. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, great. I'll come back to you in a minute with that then. Tapping everything. What about Ophelia? Ophelia's going to be watching over Rowan,

just kind of out of interest as well. Okay, okay. Can Ophelia make a perception check for me, please? Okie dokie, interesting. We're going to get jump scares. Perception. Ophelia is the jump scare, it's fine. Seven.

Seven. You tell me, like, what would, something maybe like Ophelia is the jump scare, it's fine. Seven. Seven. You tell me, like, what would, something maybe like Ophelia's distracted, like, or something like that. Like, is there a reason that you are not doing a great job of looking over Roman? Is it that you're distracted? Is it that you've, you know, you're thinking in your mind, or?

She's probably, like, humming a little tune in her head, like, thinking about, like, her vision with the Greyfather and how well today has gone. She's becoming humming a little tune in her head, like thinking about her vision with the Greyfather and how well today has gone. She's becoming overwhelmed with the sensation of wanting to dance with Percival and just feeling that joy overwhelm her again. Amazing. So as you kind of almost imagine that,

you almost like spin and sort of like turn and your attention is driven away from Rowan. One thing you do notice is that next to the tavern building, kind of separate in the garden, is a large, you know, other structure. And you could almost imagine that, like, that's probably about the right size for, like, maybe a small shrine or something like that. Like, if one were so inclined, it could be built into something else, right?

Like a place to conduct, you know, services or, like, you know, very similar to, you can almost picture the churches and shrines of Osseous there. You unfortunately mean you don't notice that as Rowan has been sat there in a meditative state, these kind of thorny vines have almost begun to shuffle and move, and Rowan, I need you to make a dexterity saving throw

with disadvantage. Figured. You have so much stuff in your dice tray. Yeah. I don't know how you do that. Picture of myself. He really does. I just took a picture of you.

Yeah, he's looking at it now. Listen, we love self-love. You know, self-love is a great thing. Ooh, it's a 12. A 12? As you are sat there, you feel something wrap around your leg. And one of these bushes, you don't remember sitting that close to a bush, but now there is almost this like thorny rose bush that is right next to you.

And one of its vines is wrapped around your leg, and its thorns begin to pierce into you. And I'm going to spend one of my fate die to boost the damage roll. Oh. You take 11 points of piercing damage as this thing constricts like a snake, and it grabs your leg. You are also grappled by this thing.

Yeah, like Ophelia, you hear Rowan kind of make this noise and you see this vine is like crushing Rowan's leg and its thorns are like digging into his skin. Badland! Stop it! Can the two of you

and Gruff actually roll initiative? Oh, cool. That's a nice coffee, though. It's really nice. Really good to have just so close by. I should've got some cinnamon macaroons. I didn't get low this time. Maybe next time.

Maybe next time, maybe next time. 21! So, Ophelia with 21. Yes. What a nice day. What do we get for Rowan? Oh my goodness, the cakes are delightful. Eight.

Eight. And Gruff? Five. Five, cool. That makes sense. Gruff, I'm going to just come with you briefly and then we'll come back to that. I just wanted to get that initiative down.

Gruff, you have been going around this building. You find out that it does have a basement. The basement is... Full of rats. It's not full of rats. It has a horrible, like, dank smell is full of rats. It's not full of rats. It has a horrible dank smell. There's mold, there's rust. It's been abandoned for

a while. There's a bit of stagnant water. Maybe a leak from above has caused rainwater to seep in. It's become very damp and mucky and moldy. But it's a sizable basement. You could easily fit things down here. It looks like it once would have held kegs and things like that. The main ground floor of the tavern is

very spacious. Again, the roof's collapsed in and a part of it, they were broken the windows, but it's all kind of like fixable. You go up to the second floor and I believe there are three guest rooms of a fairly good size on the second floor. and it has a balcony that looks down onto the ground floor the main floor there is a then a third floor at the very top which is kind of like a singular grand bedroom but it does have its own attached bathroom um it's kind of like a living space up there and you notice that a lot of that has been the furniture still there but it's all trashed like there is a four poster bed completely smashed to pieces. There is what would have once been a desk with a vanity on it smashed,

mirror smashed, the desk is smashed, the wardrobe's smashed. There's, like, strips of clothing that have been abandoned. The windows are broken. Everything's broken or smashed, right? And, yeah, and then, sorry, and on the ground level, there is also a kitchen that has a back door that leads out into the garden. Smashed.

Yeah, and pretty much everything is all broken, yeah. In terms of repairs, repairing the roof will cost about 600 gold of materials and take about seven days of work. Oh, sorry. The materials for the roof will cost 300 gold, and then it will cost about, if you wanted to hire

somebody to come and do the work, is a 300 gold labor fee. Right? Replacing the windows will cost 20 gold per window, and there are 14 of them in total. Not double glazed, clearly. the windows will cost 20 gold per window and there are 14 of them in total not double glazed clearly and then when you think about the garden and the state that you saw it in

um that will probably take about seven days of manual labor um and that will cost about 200 gold uh to to do if you were to hire people to do it. Okay, okay. In a second. I don't like doing nothing. This guy's making me do adult things in my D&D. We need a mortgage. But as you were going around that, and as you were examining the kitchen and things like that, you hear the kind of, uh! That took a second.

He knew what he was doing. Ugh, scientist, Ray Warren. Yay, that's a single sound. Ugh! Ugh! Is that Rowan's ugh? It was the same noise that Rowan made earlier, I believe. It was very similar, right?

It was very similar. But yeah, so when you kind of go there, you hear that. We're going to have you go at the end of the initiative, which makes perfect sense, right? But Ophelia, you are actually like that you hear that I'm out that's and that we're gonna have you go at the end of the initiative Which makes perfect sense, right? I'm but a feeler you are actually like you snap back into action and you see this tight vine wrapped around Rowan's leg things come alive my leg What do you do? I will feel you will use her whip to try and pull the Vine off of Rowan's leg to try and look loosen it. Yeah, so you basically want to try

and free him from the grapple, basically. Yeah, sure. So basically you can do the action to try and free Rowan. Can I rage, please? Yeah, you certainly can. You kind of, you know that as your heart begins to beat, the vision goes red, the whip wraps around this vine, and you tug.

This is going to be an athletics check for you, opposed by the vine's athletics. All right. To try and break free. He gets really pissed off by gardening. It was manual labor. I feel hated. He's been there, yeah.

14. 14. You tug and tug, but this thing is, like, latched on. Unfortunately, I rolled a 16. So you are trying to free this thing, but it is just wrapped around Rowan's leg tightly. It's your action to try and do that, by the way. Anything, you've used your bonus action.

Can you call out for Gruff? Yeah, yeah. Free actions just be like, you know, help, Gruff, help, that kind of stuff. Yeah, absolutely. The vine, unfortunately, goes next. It has you grappled, so I make this attack with advantage. That is going to be 13 run. That does hit.

I'm going to spend another one on my fate dice. Oh, you minx. That is going to be seven points of piercing damage because it is the thornsorns kind of piercing your skin um and yeah you've there's this kind of like numbness this cold that this whole vine is emanating and you still connected to the land in that way this is like almost like vengeance and bitterness and sort of sadness and sorrow. These plants are almost lashing out on behalf of that darkness. Do you know what I mean?

It's infected by it. Yeah, and you are still grappled, unfortunately. And then we go to Rowan. Rowan's going to try and equip his longsword and try and cut this vine. Try and chop down. Yeah, Sean, go for it. Basically just try and get out of grapple. Yep, absolutely.

Well, I mean, so there's two different things here because you can use your action to try and break the grapple, which is to, like, physically pull this thing off you. Or if you want, you can just attack the vine and try and just kill it, and then that would stop it. Yeah, I think his natural reaction would be to try and slice it. Sure, all right. So it's an attack roll then.

Natural 20. Oh! 23. All righty, so give me the damage roll. I will also tell you, so it's maximized. We're going to use our crunchy crits. So whatever is the, what is it, D? It's a D10.

So 10. 10 plus a 5, so 16 total. Is that with your strength bonus as well? Yeah, the plus 1. Oh, okay, so 16 total. I will also tell you that this vine is vulnerable to slashing damage. So it's doubled. So 32 points of damage.

With one fell chop, the vine is sliced. I am not your enemy. The dead bit of the vine that was wrapped around your leg just relaxes and lets go as soon as it's separated. And you almost, the two of you watch as this bush almost kind of like shuffles backwards and recoils from Rowan temporarily. Are you okay?

It's my new clothes. Oh, he's got that patch. He's torn those trousers up. The land is quiet. Gruff, that's the point you were coming. We do come out and they see the vine is destroyed, but you would then burst out like, oh, you've heard Ophelia call for your help, and you see the last remnants.

You wouldn't see the bush move. You just see like Rowan's torn leg blood. You see the dead vine, and you see the last remnants. You wouldn't see the bush move, you just see Rowan's torn leg blood, you see the dead vine, and that's what you see. Just what we need. The shrubbery is alive. I knew it. I've never seen shrubbery move like that before, no. There's something wrong with this land,

it's got a darkness to it. As you say that, you hear the front door open. He's jammed. There's some jam in this cake. It is wonderful. Oh, it's sneaky. Carrie comes back. Very pink, wooden box with a little bow wrapped around it.

Hi, everyone. That's so sneaky. What's the? Oh! Oh, shit's haunted. Why? Yeah. Don't say shit's haunted. Oh yeah, the house is definitely haunted. Tavern's haunted. Tavern's haunted. Why? Yeah. Don't say shit's haunted. Oh yeah, the house is definitely haunted.

Tavern's haunted. Tavern's haunted. Moon's haunted, gun. Shit. We spoke with... Maeve. Maeve from Latte Fun. A latte fun.

It's a cafe just down the road, Latte Fun. You know what, her cafe is a latte fun. Yeah, the strawberry came alive and attacked Rowan. We've got some more pressing deeds right here, right now. I've got to stop the bleeding. Oh, stop the bleeding, stop the bleeding. I just wanted to say, we were right. Haunted.

Scarred lady, that's what they're calling it, the ghost? Scarred lady. Brilliant. Scarred lady. Scarred lady. A ghost. A ghost? Yeah. Yes, I wanted to ask you about this. Can you speak with ghosts? Can you deal with ghosts? You said you were friends. Can you tell your friend to leave?

It depends what you mean by... It depends what kind of friend they are, I suppose. Omasya says the House of Shadows and their wraiths and their spectral, but their main purpose is espionage. They spy on the other houses, give us juicy details of information. Is there anything that would smash windows? Because she smashes all the windows.

So you would know, for Ophelia's benefit, that the House of Shadows, the actual undead members of the House of Shadows, they are still thinking conscious beings, like wraiths. They maintain most of their personality and things like that. Ghosts, Wraiths, similar spirits like that. There are a lot of spectral undead

that the House of Shadows commands, but they are almost like Percival and skeletons. They aren't really thinking of their own. They kind of follow orders or they are acting, they sometimes can act just on pure emotion so sometimes they'll be summoned for like a purpose or a battle and they'll just attack and do things um but in terms of like yeah one that like smashes things and things like that like you know that think there are poltergeists like ghosts that are able to telekinetically control the environment

around them um make a Arcana check for me. Let's see how much you actually know about, specifically about these types of undead and what their capabilities and information about them. Okay. Nine. Nine. I'm going to remind you as well,

don't forget you've got these to spend, but you have to do it before the roll. With a nine, yeah, Ophelia, you were focused on the House of Blood, and you just didn't study, really, the other types of undead. You know that a poltergeist is a ghost that can move objects. You don't really know anything more about them. Sure.

I could at least try and speak to them on some level, I suppose, but my knowledge is fairly limited. Possibly, but I mean, from the stories we heard, no one has been hurt by this, so this... Ow! Are you okay, Rowan? Ow, it's just the thorns went in. Right. Do you want a coffee cake? We've got coffee and cake for everybody.

The cakes are really nice. They are very nice. You've really cheered up very quickly. I would love that. There you go. Please can I have would love that. There you go. Please can I have that? Yes, there you go. Don't think about your leg. Just take the cake.

That really hurts. Don't think about it. Just enjoy your cake. There's little bits of jam inside the cake as well. It's very nice. That sounds wonderful. I had cinnamon on my coffee as well. Stop looking at the leg! I ate the cake. Apparently the church was not too happy with this place being called I ate the cake. Apparently there was, so,

apparently the church was not too happy with this place being called the Enticing Devil. And the previous owners had trouble because of that. And apparently someone was murdered here. Excuse me, what now? What was that? Nobody was murdered. That's what they said after it was abandoned,

someone was murdered. I said what I said. I can't remember that part. I was writing notes. You can make an intelligence check if you want to try and remember. No, it's fine. You literally said someone was murdered

after it was abandoned. Did I? Okay. Dude, I'm going to edit the podcast. You'd think I'd remember more generally. I'm not saying you're wrong, Tom. Cut to Tom. I'm not saying you're wrong, Tom. I'm not saying you're wrong.

I'm saying I said what I said. Oh, can you put that in the VOD? That'd be so funny. Can you please make a TikTok where it's like 36 minutes earlier? Oh, yeah, sure. I'll make an intelligence check. Boom. Well, I was kind of joking because I can't remember everything.

I said what I said. Maybe it happened. I didn't say he was wrong. I just said I said what I said. Maybe it happened. If you make notes on what I say, then that's fine. All I know for certain, I'll be honest. Oh, spicy. I stopped listening for a second around that time.

They were laughing too much. I was distracted. No, I mean, this They were laughing too much. It was distracting. No, I mean, this is Anzeedus talking. Maybe it happened, maybe it didn't happen. Maybe next time we'll have for certain whether or not this happened. Little kids have been scared by it a lot. They hear wailing at night.

Wailing. You know, ghosts. There is a darkness. They see the scarred lady, so. Scarred lady. Yeah, she breaks allred lady, so... Scarred lady? Yeah. She breaks all the windows, so that's why there's none of them. Right.

Okay. Let me tell you what you really should be scared about, and that is the fact that the Chronic Majesty, Duke Inarius, has given us a money sink. Technically, we don't have to do anything with it. Why a money sink? Oh, let me tell you, Xanthius. The roof itself is going to take 600 gold to fix. 600?

Every single window in this place, 20 gold. Do we need the roof? 14 windows. Do we need windows? 14 windows. I hope we're working on that. Basement full of damp. Now, think about it.

Full of damp. If we replace the windows, Scarlet Lady will smash them. Garden going to take 200 gold in seven days. And now that we know that the shrubbery is enchanted, that's probably going to be even more. Yeah, we need to figure that one out as well. I mean, yes, it's what it is. It's a fixer-upper.

It's a fixer-upper and a ghost. And how much gold do we have right now? Well, not much now, but like I mentioned when we were speaking with the Duke, we've been doing good work for people. We've been stitched up. No, well. Stitched up we have.

This could be the second time we've been stitched up, actually, because the Lamblighters Guild was not a straightforward deal. No, we didn't get money. They made stitches. Oh my leg! I'm sorry!

No. Yes, it's... Take a seat. I mean, but think... Okay, close your eyes. Imagine this place. Gruff just has his eyes open, staring at his envious... Last time I did that I was attacked by a vine.

Okay, don't close your eyes. Someone keep their... I'm going to keep my eyes open, staring at his amphias. Last time I did that I was attacked by a vine. Okay, don't close your eyes. Someone keep the... I'm going to keep my eyes open. And you're not following? Okay, fine. But just imagine what this place could be. Imagine if that pole wasn't 45 degrees to the left. Imagine if this fence wasn't on the ground and broken into several pieces.

You see that hole there? That's where my foot went through. I mean, you have a heavy foot. Rotten termites. Now we walk through this place slightly lightly for a while. Woodworm, we can... I'm trying to stay positive here. This could be a lovely place.

Could be. You just need to pay the right person. Pay the right people. With what money? The money we get from all of our jobs. We are... Don't say that word. All of our...

Oh, okay, so we should go to the Lamplighters Guild and cash in on the job that we got. What was it? 200 for every lamp installed. The one lamp that we did get installed, we broke. Well, that was for very good reason in our defense. Oh, let's go tell them that. A very good reason, aye. 200 gold, that can fix like what? A couple of lights? Oh, the garden.

You could do a couple of windows. Ten windows. But, but. Daisy's gonna go up to Gruff with the nice pink cake. He just smushes it in his claw. Like he's gonna eat it, but like he's so wound up. It's not finessed. It's just a big smush into mouth.

Crunching. Crumbs everywhere. But keep in mind where we were before. Angry eating. mouth, crunching, crumbs everywhere. But keep in mind where we were. Angry eating. Oh, you when you're hungry. Yeah. Angry eating is happening. But before, we were paying for...

Eat a Snickers cup. Eat a Snickers cup. Do you remember when Ree shot me a tire, mince pie in her mouth? That. That was great. That was great. But before this, we were paying for a place in,

with the Taric, Taric, the place, name I've already forgotten. We were paying for a place and we're not gonna- The Clever Toad, how dare you. Clever Toad. Would you like, out of character knowledge, there is a great benefit that if you do fix this place up, there are great benefits to it as well.

Yes. You will be able to- No, you can run a pub and get as well. You will be able to... You can get passive income if you set up as a tavern, or if you wanted it to be a kind of like, you have it more as a home, but you could have things like an alchemy lab maybe built here, or you could have things like

an enchanting room, or you could have a shrine, you could have really comfortable furniture if you spend that money and bring that stuff in. You might be able to get inspiration every time you rest here and stuff like that. It's up to you. You will have a property that you can tell me

what you wanna do with and then there'll be benefits to it. Yes, we don't have money right now, and no, we don't have the ability to fix this place, and maybe we can't get rid of the ghost that might kill us on our sleeps, but... We don't have to sleep here until the ghost is dealt with, because I refuse. Well, we'll get to the bottom of that one straight away.

That feels like priority number one. But consider that we managed to find a job with a potentially corrupt guild that would pay us 200 per lamp, and that was before we had any story. We weren't anybody. We just came to this town and we picked up a job on a board. Now we're speaking with the Duke,

hailed us as heroes, and everyone in the town saw that. Yes. They might come to us. The pillars of peace will prosper. The pillars of prosperity will have our home. The pillar home. The pillars of power.

I think we can still workshop it. I'm sure workshopping it just works. We'll get there, it will happen. That seems locked in, and yet that seems like the word I'm having the most trouble with. Yeah, same. Yeah. Let's deal with this scarred lady. Before it rips off a leg.

Graf? What? What? Think about how nice it would be to live here and look over the tournament grounds. It's right next to the tournament grounds. The tournament is in nine days. Eight days now.

Eight days now. No, but... And this is not getting fixed now. Eight days now. No, but- And this is not getting fixed up. I'm thinking long term, Gruff, long term. All the tournaments. Lady Daisy, I appreciate what you're saying, but it was never my intention to settle down. I have a home.

I have a wife. I have a family. I love what's going on here, but I am not fixing new roads anywhere. You have a wife? You heard about this a couple of days ago. Yes, you responded the exact same way. You did.

I still have a wife. What color is her fur? She still calls me a miser, aye. I think she'd be rather upset if I suddenly sent her a letter. Oh, darling wife, I've got a new house. It's a bit haunted. There's no windows. It's down south.

Well, to be fair, we didn't buy it. Who's everyone? What? Bring everyone? Would you bring, like, your whole village here? Could you bring everyone here? Could they fix the house? Do the fishermen know how to fix things well? We are a hardy and practical people.

You have contacts. Solution! The only problem is they are quite far away. It will take a few months, I. And also, it means the village is abandoned and all the commerce is gone because there's no one to fish. Your wife could live with us. Also, not necessarily a home.

We don't have to call this a home. It could be... A base of operations. A base of operations. We could turn it into a tavern. It's a different name. I think that's recommended. This is our home.

My only worry is I have things I would like to accomplish and spending time fixing this up as lovely as it could potentially be It's our home. My only worry is I have things I would like to accomplish and spending time fixing this up, as lovely as it could potentially be, is taking away from my time working on those things. I'll do the lawn. Well, you have already started, yes.

Magnificent job you did. Well, they worked on me. Yes. Well, I'm willing to put the time in and to make this as good as I hope it can be. I have stuff to do as well. Yes. Like I said, it's definitely a case of...

I'm trying to jump up to it. You can pay people to do the work. You don't necessarily have to do stuff. If you make some gold, you can pay people to do the work. I will tell you, knowing what you know, it will be very difficult to get people to work on this building whilst it is haunted. No.

Yeah, I know. You don't say. But it is definitely doable. Like I said, if you guys want to turn it into a tavern, if you guys want to do it into a base of operations or a little guild, you can do whatever you want with it. House of worship. Yeah, absolutely.

I'm not saying that you cannot, I'm not saying no to working with it. House of worship. Yeah, absolutely. I'm not saying that you cannot, I'm not saying no to working on it, I'm not saying no to you staying here and doing whatever you do, but I just want to make it clear, I'm not moving in here permanently. You'll always have a room here. I appreciate that, Rowan, I appreciate it greatly.

Why must you leave? So, what is your plan? It is about sort of 10, 11-ish a.m. You have a whole day. Do as you wish. The coffee, did you bring cup? Like, what kind of cup is it in? It's like a little wooden cup.

Wooden cup. There is a kind of expectation that you bring the cup back. Normally if you pay for it, you basically hire a cup, or you can bring your own. But with this one, I think maybe they were included as a part of the welcoming gift. They're like little wooden cups. They have a little symbol of a cow's bell,

and it just has written above it, a latte, fun. But it's like the symbol of like a cow's bell on a little meadow, like a little grassy meadow. It's like a little emblem. Could I experiment with something with the cup? Sure. I haven't finished. Hang on.

Ah, hot! I actually know you're a gold dragon. Ah, delicious. It's a bit cold. Can I take the cup and just put it on the bar? Like, and then just step back and stare at it? Yeah, you stare at it. What's the plan?

What are you thinking? Nothing happens. I want the ghost to come out and smash this cup. I mean, it's a wooden cup. I'm watching. Where all the wooden furniture is smashed. We sit in a throne of smashed furniture. True.

Velia, how would we communicate to call upon the ghost to try and figure out how to, I guess, deal with it? Hmm. Interesting, interesting. I suppose, well, she had a name, didn't she? I only know her as the Scarred Lady. Scarred Lady? Well, I guess just call her by her name, I suppose,

if she has a name. We could find out. Scarred Lady, come out. Smash this cup. Present for you. Well, the previous owner was called Kavon? Kavon? Did you say that out loud?

Yeah. You hear a kind of hissing wind. Like, oh, the wind picks up and through the hole in the building, the kind of... And the rafters of the kind of wooden boards that you normally close at night on the tavern, a bunch of them kind of...

Like move. Oh. Scary things don't happen in the daytime. Scary things don't happen in the daytime. Scary things don't happen in the daytime. Cav on. The intensity now, it's like... The shutters really begin to violently slam. The cup on the bar goes flying off.

Shadow Shifter, make your presence known to us. She's really quite good. She's good at this. Shadow Shifter, make your presence known to us. She's really quite good. She's good at this. You... I would like to leave. There is, you do not see any sort of figure appear. Make an arcana check for me, Ophelia. Daisy, you're backing out the door at this point, I'm assuming.

The boards all go still. After a moment. 15. 15. When you say that, obviously you've provoked some sort of response, but a lot of spirits and spectres struggle to manifest in daylight, and with the damage to the building, it of hard for it to be enshrouded in you know like there's no shadows really for it for anything to be here um maybe the basement

which would be dark enough um but yeah most a lot of spirits can't manifest in bright daylight in this way like they can do things like obviously they have some power over this place um and you suspect that that is not the things that happen to the windows and the cup that was not the spirit moving them the spirit has a kind of mastery over this building because it's been cemented here it kind of has power i'll reveal to you that this is basically like a lair action it has the ability to, this is the poltergeist's lair. This means it has power over the environment. Now, we should not anger this wonderful lady

because it's going to up the cost of repairs. Bloody hell, don't say that. That's the scariest thing I've heard all day. The shutters were going, they were coming off the hinges, I saw it that. That's the scariest thing I've heard all day. The shutters were going. They were coming off the hinges. I saw it. I swear to the science. From rusted hinges.

Well, in that case, it might be best if we just take a step outside. Yeah. I'm already outside. Take a breather. Daisy's like, I'm here in the garden. We follow Daisy.

Daisy's doing the Scooby and Shaggy thing. I'm in the garden. Are you in the garden? I'm in... Can you make a in the garden? I'm in... Can you make a dexterity saving throw for me, please, Daisy? You said you're in the garden and the things were happening. Dexterity saving throw. Roll the dice.

Please. 12. 12 is not enough. Uh, seven, nine, nine, nine, 12. 12 is not enough. You take five points of piercing damage as one of these vines snakes out and wraps around your arm. As you're kind of on the door,

there's like a big overgrown thorny ivy that's crawling up the building, and it lashes around your arm and grabs on and you are now grappled. Can I get an initiative from everybody once again, please? Back in. Oh no. Uh-oh. No.

Nope. You're on your own, kid. Well, maybe, we'll see. Ophelia. Four. Four. Rowan. Four. Hey. Gruff. Seven. Ballsy. Xanthius. Ophelia. Four. Four, Rowan. Four. Hey. Gruff. Seven.

Ballsy. Xanthius. 14. So fast. Daisy. Seven. Seven. Xanthius, you are the first to react.

You hear like a yelp from Daisy. I'm also, I mean, I was looking out the door as it happens, I guess everyone else is shitting. The vines, no, I can't. They're on a wooden thing. What do I have to, like... What? Slash at them.

I want to just try and grab the vine and sort of pull it loose. Yeah, you can use an action to try and break the grapple. Yeah. So it's an athletics check to try and do that. Uh, athletics. Okay. I was thinking of using fire.

Oh, we can use fire on the vines. The vines are crawling up the wooden side of the building, basically. There definitely could be a risk of you... Build a new building cheaper than we can think of. That is not true. I will tell you that now. It would be considerably more money to try and build a whole new building. You're trying to give Gruff a heart attack here.

Come on. I got a five. A five. You pull and pull and pull and yeah unfortunately i'm not able to pull it free fair enough that's uh yeah that's me i don't want to yeah no uh gruff and daisy i think daisy has the high deck so daisy i will do a summon of a radiant blade and the vine yeah uh you're gonna throw it because it would be at disadvantage because it's within five feet. I can summon it in my hand.

Yeah, you can make a melee attack with it. I'll do that. But it's piercing damage, isn't it? Oh, no, it's radiant damage. Radiant damage. Yeah, okay. Good to know. Or I could do it with my knife. Well, piercing would be maybe not as effective.

Probably shit. It's only a 10 to hit, so... A 10 to hit is just barely not enough. It's actually more that you hit the vine, but the blade, the energy's just not able to cut through it and deep enough. It kind of glances off. 12 to hit.

12 hits. Rolling like garbage. You just hit it. Yeah, but... No sneak attack, unfortunately. Just normal. Why not? He did not...

Well, he moved up closer to it. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, no, I forgot that he moved up. Yeah, okay, so that would be sneak attack. What type of damage is sneak attack? It matches whatever you do with the attack. Okay. Annoyingly do with the attack. Okay. Sneaky.

Annoyingly. Sneaky attack. So with the radiant thing, it's, I believe, more radiant damage. Nice. Nine. Nine points of damage. The radiant energy cuts through.

It doesn't quite burn all the way through, but you burn a significant chunk and the vine kind of rides and it does stay attached, but it is badly, badly burnt, almost brittle enough to break away, but still holding just barely on. Okay.

Gruff. I'm going to come storming out and I'm just going to say, if you don't bloody behave, I'm going to set you on fire and burn you down to ash and then I'm going to attack it with my staff. Okay.

Oh, I'm using a fate dice, by the way. 17, I don't need to. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. Definitely hits, definitely hits, but it is bludgeoning with your staff, so it's going to be resistant because it is a vine. It's resistant to bludgeoning damage. Six points. Six points, so three.

Still enough. It was weakened enough by the radiant blade that with the bludgeoning, you kind points. Six points, so three. Still enough. It was weakened enough by the Radiant Blade that with the bludgeoning you kind of wedge it and pull it and it snaps away, breaks away from Daisy and is freed and it kind of scurries and moves. You've been told. Behave yourself. Thank you for help.

Beauty. I'm going to stand outside on the street. Okay. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I want to... If the garden's not safe, I'm going to go on the road. Right, I'm getting a priest, okay? That's what I'm doing. A priest.

They had priests come here before. An old priest and a young priest. They investigated with priests before. It didn't do anything. It was called the Enticing Devil. Yes, but now they'll have my wrath. Let me talk to it. Let me see if I can reason with it at least

before we get priests involved. Do you think it's the Scarred Lady is controlling the vines as well or is that a whole separate thing? It's hard to know. I said I can see if I can maybe reason with it to some degree. I don't know how well that will do. Ghosts can just be angry and that's it. Okay, well, we can try to find out more about this woman as well.

Like I said, the house was previously owned by someone called Kavon. Don't say the name again! We're far enough away. You guys did, yeah, Xanthius is out on the street now. Actually, when I say it, the entire house.

Does that thing in The Shining, you know, it just glows and then it disappears. God, bud. And apparently it was owned by him and... His wife. And his wife. And then she left him.

And then she left. Although, I mean, I guess not. Hmm? I don't know. She just said that she left him, because he named it really badly, and the church didn't like it, and it drove business away,

and then she left him because... I've heard horror stories like this. It's what we do in the evenings. We tell horror stories. Her body's probably in the wall or something. In the walls. The walls, which thankfully are... There's holes in the walls. If there's a body in there, we could find it.

If there's one in the basement, we can find it. Whatever we need to do to clear the ghost and then make this place safe. Safe, right? What's wrong? It's just that the whole thing, the haunting thing is just a little overwhelming. We met a dragon earlier today and now.

Yeah, what time is it? It's only 11. It's 11 in the morning. There's so much left of the day. Also, the fish stew isn't sitting well. Rowan, come here, my lad. And I'll put an arm around him. It glows. I cast Cure Wounds.

Thank you. At level... How the fuck do you look? He was hit real bad. The blood is spraying from my thigh already. Okay, level two then. Every pump of the heart just sprays forward. Luckily Rowan has a very low heart rate, so it's like once every 12 seconds.

13 points of healing. Ooh, thank you. It's that slow. Ophelia, behave yourself. I will, I will, I will. Oh yeah, there is blood all over my leg. You fed quite recently though, you fed the other night. I'm not too bad, I'm not too bad.

Oh, it's pulsing juicy blood down my big thigh. I'm in no mood for shenanigans. Oh, I can't rub it all over. Oh, it's just everywhere. Oh, it's all over my body. No mood for shenanigans. If you'd changed me to bite you, wouldn't you? Oh, it'd be awful.

I don't have a king. Or a character. Or, I don't know if this is real. But he's going into the knight's calendar. Rowing covered in blood. Rowan's going to go visit Maeve later as well. This one's for the vampires. Another one of his kinks. Milk for the big daddy.

No! And with that, we're going to end today's episode. Rh for the big daddy. No! And with that, we're going to end today's episode. Rhiannon's gone. Rhiannon's left. With that, that is where we're going to end episode 14, His Draconic Majesty. Thank you all so much for joining us. Why'd you throw mini-chadders

at me? We will see you next time. See you next time. Goodbye. Bye. Bye-bye-bye-bye. next time. Goodbye. Goodbye.