High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #16 | Possession of a Dhampyr (Part 2)

Episode Date: March 21, 2024

Ophelia is struggling to fight against possession while the team are struggling to battle the evolving ghost of the Scarred Lady! 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. Protect that lead. That's like 2FA on Kraken. A surefire way to keep what you already have safe and sound. Go to kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Not 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. Last time on our fair, the Dragon Empire, our heroes are engaged in a sort of battle. In some cases, a physical contest in other cases

perhaps more of a spiritual or mental uh contest as they are in the enticing devil inn currently dealing with a possessed ophelia possessed by the spirit of the scarred lady whom our heroes have come to believe is tyria Mendrick or Tyria Adler, one of the former inn owners. That is where we stand. Some hefty injuries around the team. The spirit of Ophelia's body looking badly hurt, but still up. And yeah, definitely displaying some powerful you know abilities and magic this spirit perhaps

more than just a normal fight uh with a an undead creature might be um and yeah that is where we jump back in at the top of the round uh it is daisy followed by gruff then rowan however just a reminder i do have fake points to spend and I can use them in place of things like legendary actions. Currently three and three. Currently three and three. How rough is Rowan looking at the moment? Pretty rough. Okay.

I think like, I mean, Xanthius has just been healed, but he's still looking pretty bad. His back looks incredible. Yeah. His front. Yeah, he turns around and, fuck. It's a mess. There's probably quite a lot of blood

from that last wound of this kind of blood knife that was thrown at you. That really does seem to damage. Like, his skin hardened and absorbed the blow of the whip crack, but it left, like, a portion of his shoulder exposed for this dagger to strike. Yeah.

Rough. Ooh, G to strike. Yeah. Rough. Okay. Nice. Can I... I would like to move up in front of Rowan. 15, 20, 25. You can get next to Rowan. Okay. I can dash? 25, you can get next to Rowan. Oh, okay.

I can dash? Yeah, dash is a bonus action. I want to get in front. Between them. And I want to use my physical dagger and not my radiant blade to take a little slash to try and well, I'm trying to knock her out. So, I don't know.

Well, she recklessly attacks. The spirit used to feed its body recklessly attacks, so you have advantage. And if you hit, you can try and deal non-level damage. It's a little bit trickier to do with a dagger, but like a pommel of the dagger, you can uh try and deal um non-level damage it's a little bit trickier to do with like a dagger but like a pommel of the dagger you can try oh that's two 19s oh two 19s will hit uh so 19 plus five um so and rowan's within five feet of me so not within five feet of the enemy though so no

sneak attack but no you have advantage so, you do have sneak attack, yeah, because advantage from the reckless. This is going to be halved because of Ophelia's rage. Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen damage. Thirteen, so twelve, so six points of damage in the end. You're going for non-lethal, yeah? Yeah. Yeah, non-lethal.

Unfortunately, in the blood rage, Ophelia's rage ability reducing that by half, it is not quite enough to knock her out. You slam the pommel of the dagger into her ribs, hoping to wind her and knock her unconscious, but somehow Ophelia's body is still going. Damn it. That will also- Stop it, stop it, stop it,

stop it, stop it! stop it, stop it! That will, you damaged her, so it will gain her a blood fury point. Okay. That is all I can do, and I will say in my head to Rowan and Xanthias, if we could just knock her out just now, I think it'll be okay.

Oh, I don't know how. I don't know what I can do. At the end of your turn, Daisy, I'm going to spend one of my fate points to take legendary action, and she is just going to take a... You're looking pretty hurt, Rowan, right? Oh, yeah, I'm messed up. Actually, no. She's looking at you, Daisy.

She can feel that her body is injured, and now realizing these teeth, she's gonna try and bite you. Okay, that is gonna be a 18 to hit. Yep. Let me just get up abilities here. Brain attack is a D4. I will spend a blood free point to add another d6. And I will also... your empowered abitability, it doesn't add damage, it just converts any damage

dealt by it to HP. That's right. Directly. Okay. And then I will spend another fate point to add another d6. Puts you up to five fate, though. Lots of fate to spend. Yay.

Make sure you don't miss with those attacks. Oh, very low damage roll, though. I whiffed this. So that is only gonna be four eight points of damage. Wow, you really. I rolled one one two. Ooh. Happy there. But that does mean I get to heal up half of that.

Okay. Yep. So she sinks, so she grabs your arm, Daisy, and I imagine for Daisy, quite harrowing, because you've long feared Ophelia biting you, and just bites into the hand, pulls some of the blood away. Not quite able to get a full strike, but that is the end of your turn. But she's going to know that it's not Ophelia, and she'll go, it's not you, I know it's not you, it's her, it's her, stop it. Leave me alone.

Let me do something. At the start of your turn, I'm afraid you are in darkness daisy has moved forward and you are just outside yeah and i am underneath uh can you roll a d3 you can roll a d6 for me if you don't want to roll tom's horrible dice i think it's perfect if you want to roll a three four so two i mean that puts us down what three and three three and three again it's not bad. Even Steve. But that's just for the start of your turn. Nothing else happens to you?

No one has lights. I'm 35 away from her, right? 10, 15, 20, 25. 30. Yeah, you're actually 25. Okay. I'm going to stride up, and as I'm striding up, I'm tapping my staff on the floor, and as I tap, tap, tap, Saren explodes outwards in a green light.

Flavor. Does that produce light? No, flavor. Okay, flavor. And I am. It's quite creative, Bonfire. He's muttering, he's grumbling, he's being a little bitch.

Advantage against her? Yeah, yeah, until I take a turn again all attacks have advantage okay uh i'm gonna roll to attack uh 15 to hit would normally hit ophelia what a squeaky sneeze would normally hit ophelia but this ghost seems to enhance her agility and just manages to duck underneath it can i belatedly fate dice it you can't it has to be done beforehand so eager fate so so eager to roll i just you know it's been a long been a criticism that i need to speed up my turns i speed them up too fast my brain doesn't think this is what happens this is what you get um everyone's forget your time please yeah well also

none of us have ever felt that you need to speed up your turn. So, fuck any other criticism. I think as the staff kind of goes by... Yeah, she ducks underneath it. ...and maybe slams into the wall, he's going to say a command word, and Seren's going to come out and attack Ophelia. Okay, you're going to use the attack option this time. Yeah.

Okay. So does Seren get... So it should be on the item, I believe it's a spell spell attack you make it as if it's a spell attack so does she get advantage yeah all attacks against against Ophelia's body at the moment yeah yeah yeah 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 is a big hit big big win wallet we can I use a fate dice on the attack damage? You guys can't add to damage, I can. So it's a way of balancing it, because it's more exciting for me to damage you guys,

but you guys always make sure you hit me. It's the way it's designed. Eight points of damage. What type of damage is this? I believe it's force. You've not specified. I've not specified. For the future reference, it's force. I've not specified. What kind of damage is spurred? For the future reference it is force damage, which is good because she's not resistant to force damage.

With that blow, Saren bursts out of the staff, flies into Ophelia and knocks into her body. knocks into her body. You watch as Ophelia's body goes to crumple, almost falls off, but as it does, can you roll another d6 for me? This is a d3, this is a positive d3. You want to roll high. Watch me roll low. Oh, ha, ha, use my rigged dice.

It's my dice. No! I bet your rigged dice whiffs it. Yeah. I want a five or a six here. It kind of rolled really weird and ended up in my dice tray. Did it roll land flat?

It's a two. It's a one. Oh, it brings down the ghost tracker. You watch as that blow that would normally knock Ophelia unconscious, it's like she goes to almost fly off the edge, but as her body limply goes over, as the feet scrape and just hit the edge of the balustrade, Ophelia, with her wall climbing, spider climb, dampir ability,

is just stood on the edge. That's cool, that's cool, bro. And you just watch, almost like the body is now, almost being more directly marionetted, very awkwardly. She's still, oh God, okay. Stands back up. Oh, that's cool. Do it again.

Do it again. Keep punching. Bring it down, back up again. You watch as, yeah, like the ghost almost kind of filling Ophelia's body with vitality is gonna keep it fighting a little bit longer until the ghost is forced out, perhaps. That's cool.

But yeah, but it does seem to weaken it. And in fact, Ophelia, in your place in this kind of spirit realm, if you want to think of it as that, that process, you feel something change, and you watch Tyria, the spirit of Tyria, her clothing goes back to her clothing, and you are now in your clothing, and the inn is dramatically more yours now. spirit of Tyria, her clothing goes back to her clothing and you are now in your clothing.

And the inn is dramatically more yours now. Like this is not the inn. This is a place that is sacred and powerful to you. And you suddenly feel more in control. Not there yet, but on the cusp of it. And you can almost hear kind of the cries of Gruff and Daisy outside whatever is being said you can vaguely hear it now as you feel Tyria's grip on your body weakening and weakening all right cool but that is Gruff at the end of your turn all right then we And we go to Rowan. Rowan's gonna go past Daisy up to Ophelia. And is going to grab Ophelia.

15. Yep. And throw her off the balcony. Yeah. So this is gonna be. I've just gone up to her mate. This is athletics check and opposed athletics check. Fake please.

Do you know what? I'm also going to spend a fake and that will burn them for the rest of the session. Both spend them on ability checks. They're gone. Athletics. Yeah, so you get a d6 and I get a d6. So you still get to add the d6 to it. Did you roll a nat 20? I said it in a minute I got a 19 I rolled a nat 20

and then a 6 on the DC Oh my god So with Ophelia's athletics that would be Plus I think you've got Plus 2 Plus 2

So that's 28 Yeah I think that might beat it You go to grab Ophelia and just with this kind of spirit infused strength. But I've had advantage as well because it's danger sense. You're raging. I would have had advantage because of raging. You just watch with ghost-fueled strength this giant arm you go to grab her and just one-handed she just grabs your arm and is holding you back.

She doesn't grapple you in return, but you fail to grapple her. Okay. But yeah, fortunately. Damn. you back she doesn't grapple you in return but you fail to grapple her okay that's like that unfortunately um i'm going to whilst i'm held like this yeah you're not being held she's not grappling you you're like she's like pushing you away yeah yeah yeah i will uh bardic inspire yeah it is if you would like to know i I was going to say Xanthius, then it would be Daisy, then Gruffydd. Or maybe Xanthius.

Xanthius. Because that's obviously useful to you guys. You're going to have Bardic Inspiration. Yes. Xanthius, I need help. Yeah, okay. You see Rowan try and grab Ophelia and just gets rebuffed easily. You also have a little note spinning around your head which adds stuff.

Stuff. As and when you need Stuff. I like stuff. Can it give me like a big old hammer? No. It can enhance an ability, check, an attack roll or a saving throw. Okay, well, once you think on that, at the end of your turn, Rowan, if you're done. I'm done. I'm going to spend a legendary action. You guys get a fate point back. Okay.

As I spend one of mine. And I'm just going to try and shank Rowan with a knife. Oh, get shanky, straight up shanky. Get shanked, bro. I'd be on two blood fury points now. Interesting, interesting, interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's gonna go with it. I don't have reckless again yet, so that's just normal.

That is gonna be a 19 to hit, though. That will hit, yeah. All right, in that case, I will spend a blood fury point to add a d6. Oh, good. And then I'll spend another fake dice. You guys can have up blood fury point to add a d6. Oh good. And then I'll spend another fate dice. You guys can have up to three and have another d6. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That is gonna be 10 points of piercing damage, Rowan. Spend those dice. I'm going to use my last stubborn endurance. Okay, great, let's get a roll. Ooh, it's a nine. Probably gonna reduce that to zero. One, two, eleven. Yeah, so 11. Oh, amazing.

So where the rusted knife goes to stab, it just hardens into stone and the knife is deflected. Off my abs. Yeah, off your abs. Stone abs. Dream. You know, rips apart the clothing, but does not do it. That is it. Oh no, my abs. End of Romans go. They're all revealed now.

Ophelia, you. Stop. Ophelia, you... Stop. Oh, they're all foiled up. Ophelia, you find yourself now in this space which resembles the court that you have come to love so much that you know, but stood on this balcony, you see, like, looking around in terror and fear, the spirit of Tyria Adler, Tyria Medrick.

This spirit that you have, you know who she is, like, you kind of feel like you have a greater sense of who she is, and you see that she's just weeping. She's kind of sat on these stairs, like, just softly weeping, like, it's not fair. I just want, I want to make him pay. And, yeah, she, just softly weeping, like, it's not fair. I just want, I want to make him pay. And, yeah, she's just crying there. I think Ophelia will reach out a hand and just say to her,

you said you wanted my strength, you wanted what I have. You fought for yourself every day. Every day you got out of bed, every day you breathed, despite him, was an act of strength and defiance. Let's take him down together. You will get your revenge. She says to you, He wasn't always like it. It's like something changed.

It's like he became possessed or something. Like, things were bad, but... just... Just... The more... The more his depression grew, the more violent and angry he became. He wasn't the man I loved. Thank you.

You don't need to roll. That was really good. Oh, you go down two. Yeah. Kind of connecting with these values that in this space, there is no barbarian rage to fuel her. In this space, you're talking directly to the real spirit here, and you've connected with points that are important to her. Like, you've mentioned things that are relevant to her,

who she is, and that connects with her. You feel that essence of control is just about to break but that is all the time we have in that kind of that's that's happening while all this is happening right but it's still there the possession is still there but you feel that tyria is is real willing to let go of the of your body at least for now but not quite there yet nice one one, Rui. Yeah. Good job. For those of you who are near the spirit, with the rage has been knocked out. She was technically knocked out, so is not fully raging anymore, right?

So the kind of, the spirit, Ophelia's face is looking around scared, being surrounded, weapons drawn, like suddenly almost realizing where she is, like she wasn't really aware of what was happening before and just like crouches down, holds her hands over her head and just lets out another one of those horrifying screams. That's going to be her only action this turn. So that is for everybody but Daisy,

because I believe we didn't roll concentration checks for you. I didn't roll concentration checks. you should we do a couple now let's just say the dc's 10 do two for me 19. okay 11. all right so yeah we'll say that the heroism is still up do i get temporary hit points from this um so if you lost if you took damage you would have gained three at the start of your turn yeah yeah three ten so everybody but daisy just give me that wisdom dc saving throw again you do have three points of faith i have to i have to spend a fate i mean i if i were you guys this potentially could be the end of the encounter i would 100 do it yeah well all right so i'll get three back. Okie doke. Oh, God. Oh, God. Seven.

Seven. 22. 22, success. Seven is also important to note because that is less than five under. Seven. Again. Tom's failed quite a bit. I failed every...

I have... Yeah. Just got bad rolls. Not a good day for all. Even with the fake dice. Even with the fake dice, yeah. Well, I'm sad to say that both Rowan and Xanthius are gonna take ten psychic damage if you take five down Oh, damn. Oh my god. Oh, I was still frightened as well. Yeah, I guess you're frightened now, too

Yes, Rowan is now fighting for you. Rowan is down. Yeah So gruff and Daisy, okay looking at and she's's just on the ground clutching her face, holding her hands over ears, and just this screaming kind of finishes. I'm going to treat her as prone, so attacks against her of advantage, but also the rage is no longer there. So you actually, you know,

this is not the sort of frightened animal at this point. This is a more rational person. It would have been Xanthius' go. Xanthius, I need a death saving throw from you. frightened animal at this point. This is a more rational person. It would have been Xanthius's go. Xanthius, I need a death saving throw from you, I am afraid. Oh, God, okay, yeah. What is wrong with me? I got a five. There's one failure. One failure.

There are no more lair actions, so we go to the top of a brand new round, and it is Daisy's turn. Um, can I... Um... Just reach out to Rowan, and can I use Healing Hands? Oh, you certainly can.

Absolutely, yeah. Roll it for us. And then we'll describe what happens. Ooh, full damage. Full damage? Full damage. I finish him. That's eight. Eight points of healing.

So this is like glowing golden light from the hands, right? So Daisy kind of reaches down, places a hand on Rowan, and we watch as this mysterious golden light, normally the ones that she forms into blades, goes into his body, and we see some of the wounds knit back together as Rowan, you come to consciousness. Frightened still, but conscious.

And can I, so that's my action. Can I just, can I sit down on the floor in front of the spirit? Just not, no more offensive, like just sit down.

And just hold my hand out to her. Okay, yeah, you do. Alright. It's not an action, so not gonna make a check just yet, but yeah, you are there, very clean, long confrontational. Yeah. Like I want to speak and not harm her anymore, because she's now not raging. Sure. In that case, we go to gruff uh i will uh level one

cure wounds on who did you just heal i healed her own i'll heal her uh i'll heal yes you move back i need to touch so yeah well yeah so does so does uh uh career wins this touch as well yeah um so our level one here wins there's a momentary panic as you move. Ophelia's body looks up and is brandishing this knife, but clearly sees that you're moving away, does not take an opportunity attack. Uh... Six points.

Six, thank you very much. So Xanthar, your eyes kind of flutter to you once again. Yes. But Gruff, that's your action. I will turn back to face Ophelia Ghost. And I think taking a cue from Daisy, I'm gonna kneel. Okay, she's taking a knee. I'll kneel down. Sure. Yeah.

Do you still have your armor active? It would be, yeah. Yeah. Because of everything that's going on. Just because, if you think of it as an outsider, it's not necessarily scary, but it shows that you are armed. Do you know what I mean? It's like having somebody in full armour kind of like kneeling.

Still, obviously, you're kneeling. It's very non-confrontational, but just for my benefit, trying to think from the character's perspective. I think he'd bow his head as well, so he's not making eye contact. He's not really looking. All right. In that case, we then go to rowan i will say at the end of the turn there's a chance the spirit might try and you know if anything like happens to scare her or frighten her she might fly off the handle again but for now it's just kind of like shaking looking terrified at all of you but rowan it's your turn

shaking, looking terrified at all of you, but Rowan, it's your turn. Now, Rowan's frightened, and he just woke up. I felt like he'd scramble away. Sure. So you just kind of panic. But it wouldn't be in, like, a calm way. It would be, like, a panicked way. A panicked way.

So you have to move away from her, so you'd probably go this way, five. Yeah, almost like crawling away. So back downstairs. Yeah, you could crawl if you don't want to get up. I'll crawl. I'll just say that you're crawling prone. Yeah, you scrabble away.

You're not taking offensive action against her, so she doesn't panic or anything like that, but you do scrabble in fear. All right, awesome. That's your movement. Is there any action you would like to take? Or bonus action? I'll give Stinky D3 back, by the way.

Caught it. Classy. Nice. Um... I'll give Stinky D3 back, by the way. Ooh! Caught it. That's nice. And I'm going to forego my action. Sure, I mean, that makes sense. It sounds like Rowan's pretty scared at this point. Do I do a roll at the end or the start? For the fear, in this instance, you don't make any roll.

You're still frightened. Oh. It lasts until certain conditions apply. All right. Ophelia. So you are just sat there on these stairs. Tyria kind of looking at you. And you can see that, like, what... The difference between that spirit that you saw

with just this carved-up face, like, one eye barely still functioning, the broken windpipe, the tattered clothes. Like, now she just looks like a normal woman, just a regular everyday person, just going about their lives. And she will look at you and say... "..Promise me. Promise me.

The ones responsible for this will pay. I will. Thank you. The last possession token is removed from the spirit, and Ophelia, everything goes white. And then suddenly, you are sat on the ground, Daisy holding your hand, a few of your friends scattered. Rowan and Xanthius, the fear leaves immediately

as you watch as Ophelia's head droops. And then when she breathes, it is Ophelia. And that supernatural fear is gone. The lights all come back on. Ophelia, is that you? Is it over? Is that this? Daisy, Gruff, Rowan, are you all okay?

Are you going to bite me again? I bit you? Daisy, I'm so sorry, I bit you! It's you! She's back! It's Ophelia! Where's the Scarred Lady? You see, hovering just behind Ophelia,

kind of pushed out of the body, you see the much more frightening visage of the Scarred lady, Tyria, whatever you want to refer to her as. But now once again, the horrid sort of slash marks across the face, the bruised windpipe. Come on. Promise. Yeah.

I was gonna say, can I use one of the charges of my ability and so that she can talk to me in my head and she can communicate and she doesn't need to struggle? You can certainly try. Can I try? I don't know what... Roll your die. I don't know what, there's not a check to do it.

See, roll the die to see how long it lasts, first of all. Okay. Five hours. If I want it to. to do it see roll the dice see how long it lasts first of all okay five hours if i wanted to it is a creature yeah there is no reason an undead couldn't telepathically communicate um so yeah you feel daisy nim nim will say to you, Little one, I have not tried something of this like before, but I have established contact with magical things before. It may be possible. I will try. And you feel this kind of ribbon of light out of your mind,

and it touches the spirit. The spirit almost shies away, very slow motion, like trying to pull away from it. But as it touches, spirit. The spirit almost shies away, very slow motion, like trying to pull away from it, but as it touches, you feel something connect. Hi, I don't want you to have to struggle to speak to us. How is this, I can, I'm hearing you, but you are not speaking, you can hear me. Yes.

You can, hi, and you can see the ghost almost it's like yeah you don't need to you don't need to strain to to speak this way if it's more comfortable for you you're some sort of wizard or something um it's just an ability that i have um but i just wanted you to know that we're not, we're not gonna hurt you. We want to help. Others have come before. They, clerics from the church and others, they have tried, they tried to banish me

or hurt me like he did. I didn't... I thought you were like them. I didn't like people being in my inn. I'm sorry. That's okay. The rest of you,

Daisy's just like locked eyes. This thing is just looking... Did ours just look one quiver? I don't know if it... I think it ends. I think we hear a disconnect sound. Yeah. I could have chosen two people to do it to,

so I could technically. If you'd like to have somebody included. I could include Ophelia, because I think she's connected to Ophelia before, so I would probably include Ophelia so that she could hear. Sure. Okay.

The conversation. Yeah, absolutely. I just, we were given this inn for just doing some good deeds around and we would really like to fix it up for you but we don't want to harm you, we want to help and we found out that there's probably something horrible happened here. I am trapped.

I want to leave, but I can't. What happened? He killed me. He became so cruel. He became so violent. It wasn't like Kevon. He was so sweet. He had such dreams.

But the church, they made everyone hate us. And it made him hate everyone. But there was something. It was like he was possessed. Something made him angrier, more hateful. And then he turned on me. He was jealous that other men looked at me, talked to me. He cut my face and strangled me. I don't know what happened after that, but I can't leave here.

Something is stopping me. We would like to find out what that is so that we can help you. But if it's OK with you, if we can just be around the inn, we mean no harm, but we would like to try and make it look pretty again, like it used to. but we would like to try and make it look pretty again, like it used to. And we would like to just use it as a place to rest for now, and then we can go out and we can look for a solution for this. She thinks to you in the scarred face.

She almost zooms in closer now to Daisy, kind of coming alongside Ophelia, almost like leaning around Ophelia, and the scarred face, she almost zooms in closer now to Daisy, kind of coming alongside Ophelia, almost like leaning around Ophelia, and you can sense this ghostly shape, kind of almost protect, not protectively, but using you to protect her, like having formed this kind of bond with Ophelia,

but looks at you, Daisy, and it's not a pleasant sight. It's quite discomforting to have this very disfigured face, but also knowing the gruesome truth behind it. And in your mind, you hear, Please, no reflections, no windows or mirrors. or mirrors. I cannot promise that my mind will not become unstable

but I will try. It has been a long time and I am cold and alone and I want to be at peace. We can do that. No reflections.

We can talk to you if you want. If you ever want someone to talk to, then I can do this, which I guess. Please do not bring others here. Okay. I trust. And she kind of almost puts a hand around Ophelia's shoulders and reaches out her hand for you, Daisy. And does kind of almost puts a hand around Ophelia's shoulders

and reaches out a hand for you, Daisy. And, like, doesn't look at the other three, but obviously isn't communicating with them, right? Find the ones responsible. And I feel that there is something else that stops me from passing on. But I do not know. I am sorry.

You begin to see that she's kind of almost beginning to fade, kind of dissipating. Begins floating back. I'll try, if you ever do need to talk, you can talk to me. Thank you. And with that, she vanishes into the ethereal plane. There is a moment of stillness.

Bloodied, battered, bruised, but you all look to one another. Were you speaking out loud during that for everyone else to hear? No. No. Has to be in, it has to be telepathic. Okay. Roan has had his hands over his eyes

so he couldn't look at the spirit that whole time. Okay. I will tell the group what the conversation was so that they know. Sure, absolutely. Okay, okay, no mirrors, no reflections, no windows. We can do that. Don't bring anyone else in.

Okay. So we need to just figure this out ourselves, how we can... Well... She's gone, it's okay, Rowan. I learned that, well, I told you all this. There's something that probably keeps her here. If she's going to manifest again,

we need to find the source. Not the knife. No. Of what it is. But we need to find Tavon, or Kavon at least. Well, I'd like to. Well, apparently Kelskaris, but. But nobody's ever looked, so we don't know if that's true. Yeah, can't be certain.

We need to research it, really. Okay. But we could look around, I mean, we have the rest of the night. We could look around the rest of the house. I think we should probably rest. I think that might be best. You'd love to.

Given the situation, and I'm terribly sorry for what happened. What for? Well, look at you! That wasn't you. Rowan, I know, I know. But I was the one that did it to you. I know, not mentally, but physically, yes. Ah!

I'm sorry! Ah, it's Percy. Yes, Percy. Percy also makes his way up. He can see that your outfit's been a bit sort of tattered. Oh, thank you, Percival. Beginning to amend it, amend your hair. Like, you know, sense that things are not as they should be.

No, they are not as they should be. His default orders come into play. Thank you, Percival. It was scary having Ophelia coming at us, but like Xanthias says, it wasn't you behind those eyes. No, it might have hurt you back a little bit to sort of speed up the process of getting you back.

Yeah, as a point of Ophelia, you are technically at one hit point. Oh, wow. You are very badly injured. You have stab wounds and broken bone. You've been beaten up. Okay. We should be apologising for this,

but also, we didn't help in any way. I don't know where you went, but we didn't know what to do. I didn't know what I was doing either, I was just trying to talk to it, or her, I suppose, since this is sort of in my wheelhouse, I suppose, I was just trying to appeal to it as a friend. I think it worked.

I think it worked with what you did as well. I will tell you, mechanically, the spirit is kind of going to be friendly for a period of time. And this is a case of, like, not intentionally, but as the spirits are in a kind of bad way and their madness and the nature of their deaths and things can twist their mind, it may become that Tyria becomes unstable in the future. So this isn't like a, she's never going to attack anybody again or anything like that, but you have definitely bought yourself time. You've got a window.

You have a window of time where she's friendly and she is going to be, you're going to treat her as a friendly creature. She will be present at nighttime, but she will not attack any of you. at night time. But she will not attack any of you. If you bring other people to the inn, that may go out the window, but she is at least for the moment. Yeah, window.

Yeah, likewise. Yeah, things like reflections and windows might also trigger her to basically become unstable, you know, and lash out. And the windows currently... There's none. Well, there are. There are wooden shutters, yes. They were being magically held closed.

Like, without the ghost power to keep them closed, they kind of swing open and they're not very secure. But not that anybody seems to be really sneaking into this place late at night. It's night time. And it's also, like, it's haunted and everyone's terrified of this place. Do we have any indication of how much time it's necessarily bought us? I mean, it's not like an hour. No, but you don't know how long.

It's not, you know, I'm not going to, you're not going to have like an hour. I imagine we might see signs of like, you know, more spritins. You'll be able to tell. Yeah. We'll definitely rest, I think. But it's somewhere for us to rest just now that we don't need to pay for. But maybe we should... If we could somewhat close the shutters and...

Yeah. It is not a comfortable place to rest, but you can rest here. It's free. It's free. Which is what Daisy would be thinking. There are beds up in the inn room, so the big double bed in Tyria's room,

and then you have these three bedrooms that are like in-rooms. They have beds. They're so dusty. They're like dusty. The bed, like the straw mattresses are like completely ruined. It's not going to be the most pleasant night's day. Anyone got pressed to ditch? But also you guys have got things like your own bedrolls

and stuff that you've brought with you. You can lay those guys down. Basically, what this is going to be is going to be as if you were camping out in the wilderness with no benefits so all you can do is rest here um you won't get all of your hit points back but you will get most of them back yeah i got a better and also a two-person tent yeah uh in case you want to block out the light for anyone yeah there is a massive hole in the roof like over here here for temporarily you could stretch the tarp over

because it is kind of raining a little bit and stuff. Okay. I'll spend my time doing that and set up a bedroll. I think it would be a good idea if you're spending your time doing that.

I think we should maybe go around the house to try and buy as much time as we can. Find anything that can reflect, try to cover it up, hide it, or something. Actually, there's one good point I need to go back to. Not a retcon necessarily,

but I want to go back to almost a flashback. Rowan, when you fell the saving throw against the frightening scream, the terrifying visage, what do you think Rowan would have seen? And it has to be something almost like a very primal fear for Rowan. This could be like seeing Ophelia killing one of your new friends.

This could be seeing your loot breaking apart or something, you know, you tell me what this could be. I have a good idea for Xanthias because I created his demons, literally. I think it would be Rowan similarly losing control of his own body and hurting someone else. Becoming the kind of big bruiser, raging

bully, basically, and causing harm that he doesn't wish to see her done to others. Yeah, great. So you see yourself almost as this red-eyed, murderous rage kind of thing. Yeah, so that's what we see with that. Okay.

Nice. Well, I want to check in with Gruff as well. Kim, anything that you want Gruff to do or say or anything going through Gruff's mind? Are you okay as a player? I think I'm dying slightly as a player. But I also just got my hearing back in one ear, so that's cool. Mm-hmm.

Swings and roundabouts in this corner. I think Gruff, like, as he kind of sees, you know, everything calming down, everything going back to normal, he's just going to quietly start sweeping one of the rooms while everyone's still chatting, because he wants to go to bed. He's getting into it, yeah. He got thrown off a balcony.

He's very tired and very sore. And while they're all talking about all the nice things and all that, and I'm like, no one's in any immediate danger. She's pissed off upstairs. I'm just going to sweep one of these rooms and get my bed roll out. Absolutely.

So you begin prepping one of the rooms. You guys can take a long rest here. Before you hit the button, there'll need to be a little bit of manual stuff. Daisy, Gruff, and Ophelia, you guys can restore half your hit points. So if you've lost any, basically, rather than going up to full, you will regain half of what you could normally...

You can go up to half HP basically, you can recover enough HP to half. So I've got 22 out of 27, so. So you can't gain any more from a long rest, because the conditions here are not comfortable, right? So like. So if we're already at half, we can't. If you can't go above half HP, yeah,

because the resting here is very unpleasant, it's very uncomfortable, you've got like no food, the beds are really gross like it's all damp it is not a pleasant stay you can spend hit dice as if it was a short rest if you want to spend your hit dice you can um and you'll regain half of your hit dice like as normal okay you get all your spells back you get all your class abilities back rowan and xanthius Rowan and Xanthius, you both failed the saving throw. Yes. You, sleep does not come nicely for either of you.

You cannot get out of your minds when you try and rest the horrifying twisted visage of Tyria of the things that you saw in that moment of fear. And there is almost like a cold clinging to you that you cannot shake. No matter how much fire or warmth or blankets you try and find, you find no comfort in rest. You do not regain any hit points from a long rest.

And also, I need you both to reduce your constitution you do not regain any hit points from a long rest and also I need you both to reduce your constitution and wisdom by one each oh my god sick constitution and wisdom oh my god my wisdom is so this is

you don't know if this is permanent if this is temporary you don't know what this is but you are aware that when you wake up, you do not feel rested. You feel worn. You feel very tired. Your mind is kind of feeling a bit scattered, like you do not feel good.

You feel as if a supernatural force. You feel very unwell. Something is draining feel very unwound. Something that's drained. Yeah, like drained and unwound, basically. Kim's gonna say, feels like me every day. I come here to escape, man! Out of character purposes, obviously your characters don't know this, I'm gonna trust you guys with this knowledge.

You are under a supernatural effect. You will need to find out what that is and what you can do about it but i will tell you it is not it is not necessarily permanent but it is ongoing it does not go away yeah now does that have because it hit me twice no so you it's just one thing now if that if that did reduce your, like, say your con was 12 and you've gone down to 11, you lose four hit points as well, don't forget. Because you lose a point of constitution, so your hit point maximum...

Sorry, three points, because you're only level three. Three hit points. So your maximum HP is reduced by three if you lost a modifier. So I didn't lose a modifier on con. I did lose a modifier on wisdom. That will only apply for saving throws and stuff. But my wisdom is bad.

Seven. Yeah. So for you, and I think that's very apt, because for you, even in your waking moments, you cannot shift that. Like, you're gonna become that. That visage. That's your future.

Like, that is, you're on become that. That's your future. Like, that is... You're on borrowed time, man. For Rowan, yeah. I don't know if it did knock you down on modifier on con. Yeah, it did. So, yeah, minus three maximum HP. So do we actually, like, as characters, recognise that we are...

You know that you feel bad. Like, you're like, I don't feel good. I feel bad. And you're aware that you're like, you just can't get these horror movies. And that cold, you can't get warm. Things are not good. Things are not right.

You are very much aware of that. Even with the fire inside? Even with the fire inside, it's like it's clinging. Maybe it's even worse. It's like having's clinging it's like it's what maybe it's even worse it's like having a hot inside but your outside is so cold like a poorly cooked baked potato like a poorly cooked potato oh very nothing worse that is an in reverse it's like a reverse cook potato where it's really hot in the middle but it's cold on the middle i don't know an englishman's curse upon you.

Don't you cook them by heating up a knife and then just shoving it in the kitchen? It's like getting a frozen dinner and it's still frozen in the middle, and you're like, oh, outside. I'm sorry, everybody, that's how I feel right now. Okay, yeah, that sucks, bro. So, yeah, I would have wanted to, I guess,

well, if people were setting up tents or having some time, like, if I do wander around the tavern into some of the rooms we haven't been in to cover up reflections or whatever. There is none remaining. Like, every window has been broken. Any mirror that existed has been broken. There is nothing left that can cause a reflection. That's why it's trashed, yeah.

That's why, and you can begin to see that it's so trashed. It looks like basically there is like an area, like you look into the garden, like anything there. Even out in the street, like that lamppost, one of the Everlights is broken. And that's the only thing within the radius of the street, basically, that seems to be affected. Indeed.

Indeed. How far? What if we can investigate that? You can do whatever you like. One other thing before we jump back into a little bit more of gameplay. This now sets up, because you've encountered Tyria and you kind of have a clearer idea of what's going on. This is basically a quest.

Quest unlocked. If you can lay Tyria to rest, you will level up. So if you can find the source of Tyrot's causing Tyria, if you can lay her to rest, which might not be one thing, it might be multiple things. If you lay Tyria to rest, you will gain a level. So if you gain another level and you come back and you lay Tyria to rest, you'll gain two.

That's another level, baby. But also there might also be another reward. If you can get, if you can discover the secret, there might be another reward to this as well. Write that down, put it in the quest log. Give it a catchy name. You think Kim's not writing that down? I know she is.

Well, surely the quest title is Tyria's Rest. Oh, that's good. Don't lose ghost-cus. Don't lose Ghost-cus. Don't lose Ghost-cus. That's not one of your better ones. No, that's better than that. Okay, and that involves... Get justice.

Find Kavon. Lay Tyria to rest is the quest objective. Kill Kavon. I'm hearing kill Kavon. Kill Kavon. Yeah. Could be Kavon. Kill Kavon. Yeah. Could be part of it. That's part one.

Part one, kill Kavon. Draw the rest of the owl. Yeah. Lay a spirit to rest. Peacefully. Peacefully. Or just lay a spirit to rest. Do we have to?

Is it morning now? Yeah, by this point, yeah, we can say that it gets... Unless there's anything you guys want to do during the night, but like I said, I think it's with everything that's gone on, it's probably a quick pass out and... Pass out, yeah. Okay, you want to stay for the lights. It is morning.

The sun comes up. You do not encounter Tyria the rest of the night and when sun is up, there is this kind of, there is that feeling of being in a place that's abandoned and quiet and now you know she is still here but is not able to necessarily manifest

in the same way during the day. But that presence does not go away. Like you might occasionally see like down on the bar like these broken cups and broken tankards that have been left get like moved. Like one of them just kind of moves to the side as if somebody's pulling it across or shifting out the way maybe that thing where you pick up a shot of glass and just in the reflection of your shoulder you just see the scar you just said

reflection bro you did yeah but yes in this case it's more than if i read about it but yeah like you i like you put it down again. That's cool. Nice. Rowan is not good. Ah, Haunted Home. No, I am also. In the morning. Oh, could we have spent hit dice?

You and Rowan, you can take a short rest now if you wanna spend hit dice, and you regain hit dice, but you don't, no hit points when you take a long rest. I see okay I need to go back to eight bad it's real bad

so for the case mechanics you can also be healed like so like Gruff can cast cure wounds on you if he wants if he wants is that a fighting condition

still there no oh no that'll just go on when that's gone remind me about prepping spells again I can prep them you can change

any spells you want yeah so when you when you wake up you can choose what spells you prep protection Yeah, so when you wake up, you can choose what spells you prep. What does that look like for Gruff, though? I'd be interested to know, like, what is the ritual that Gruff does to change the magic that he has access to?

Because he's a druid. Gruff's a druid, but not in a traditional druidic sense, right, in a lot of ways. Yeah, it's kind of a complicated thing. Is this, like, going through martial practice? Is this, like, training to be a knight? Is this reflecting on ballads and songs of knights?

I have a really dorky idea. Sure. You're going to hate it. I kind of almost have this image of him in the kitchen prepping the fish, but just the ritual of prepping the fish, like that very methodical, he's very skilled at it, something he's done for a long time. Yeah. And that is almost meditative for him. Again, it's something he knows. He

grants it. This is within his realm of control. And maybe that. No, I think that works. Like, fishing is one of your connections to nature is fishing, right? And ice and cold and things like that. I think that definitely is like there's probably an element here of like as you're doing it, you're going through these mantras and things like that. I think that, you know, definitely is like, there's probably an element here of like,

as you're doing it, you're going through these mantras and things like that in your mind that you've been taught of like, ways to connect to the earth. And although it's you, you know, preparing fish for a morning breakfast or whatever, it's also like feeling the garden outside,

feeling the wood beneath your feet, beneath your paws. Extending that. Extending your senses out into the world. But it is this calming, a thing you have done 100,000 times before and it just brings you that calm, like, yep, I know what I'm doing and that puts you in that mindset. I love it.

Yeah. So, yeah, you can change any spells you know. I think you have a number of spells you can prepare per day. It's normally wisdom plus level. You take Shalali out, you put Cure Wave back in. I was wondering if you were going to have to say that. Yeah, yeah. I's normally wisdom plus level. You take shalala out, you put cure in back. I was wondering if you were going to say that. You take shalala out. Life goes in,

guts come out. Life goes in, I was thinking of that, yeah. He would probably be singing sea shanties under his breath. Yeah. He would be,

you know, singing songs of home and of the water. Oh, hi, icy boy. Yeah. Oh,

hi, that kind of stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, great. I love that. Oh, hi, that kind of stuff. Yeah. Yeah, great, I love that. See, I think it's normally your wisdom modifier plus your level is how many spells you can prep, and then you can prep spells from whatever levels you can cast from.

Three. So it'd be three plus three. Three plus six. Six. Well, that's been decided. Yeah. Rowan will, if anyone's stirred. Ophelia's in the outbuilding.

Okay, oh no. Yeah, so Ophelia's outside, you've gone out into the garden. I think she slept in the outbuilding. Okay, yeah, sure. Just because she's still wary of the possession and stuff and doesn't want to get possessed again. Yeah, no, so you went outside.

The garden does not attack you. You make your way out into the little shed. It's kind of like a shed at the moment, like a barn. It's in about as good condition as the rest of the tavern. And yeah, you sleep peacefully in there. And then, yeah, you wake up the next morning looking around. It's a fairly usable space, like I said but yeah what's rowan doing don't have to wake in here i i mean i imagine we probably wake at a very similar time having the same amount of sleep yeah um i think

that i guess pretty much i'm i'm stumbling out of my room he gr gruffs at me up. He's doing fishing in the kitchen. Daisy's not an early riser. Daisy's dead, Ben. Uncomfortable as it is, she has wrapped herself in as many blankets as she can. I think if I hear any noise... That blanket I brought in Burnell, that blanket is paying off, buddy. Like, I would have got almost exactly zero sleep,

where it feels like if I was ever asleep, it was for, like like one minute every hour. Oh, I hate that. It's exactly that kind of feeling. You close your eyes, it feels like... Imagine that with the supernatural coldness, and just, yeah, and like your mind being plagued by these horrible, frightening visions.

So if I hear anyone getting up, I will also begrudgingly wake up. Did you have a rough night as well? I did. I... Awful, actually, Rowan. No sleep for me, unfortunately. Well, if you're like me, I've had a lot of time to think about how we can sort this out. OK. Sort the ghost out, sort... Yeah. OK.

If we want to keep this place, that is, I think it would be beneficial for the locals anyway to help. Okay, sort the ghost out, sort... Okay. If we want to keep this place, that is, I think it would be beneficial for the locals anyway to help. But... Mm-hm? ..I was thinking... Do you remember when we took that poor halfling to fix the lamplighter's light and they were possessed and it was all based on the negativity of the broken light.

Yes. You think it's related? Well, there's a broken light outside. Is that... It's on the road, though. Is that still within the control of...? I don't know, but... Do you think there's one of those devices in it? I don't know. But I've had so long to think about it.

Okay, my mind was elsewhere, in a completely different place, I think. But if you want me to have a look at this lantern, I've taken apart another one before. Well, maybe we could look at that. But also, I might ask, anyone that's been here longer than four years, when that broke,

was it because of the ghost smashing everything? Or was it broken prior to the enticing devil going under? It would mean that these lanterns have been like this for years, though. What effect this might have had on the entire city? It's a town, city. It's worth a check. Big town.

Big town. Small city. Big town. True. My mind is muddled. It may not be a good assessment. I will say, because you have done this before, you know what you're looking for to see if it had one of these discs in. assessment. I will say, because you have done this before, any, like,

you know what you're looking for to, like, see if it had one of these discs in. You don't need to make a check because you know what you're looking for now. I'll give Xanthius, like, a little boost.

A boost up to it. I mean, how awake are we right now? How actually willing are we to do this? Like, quite a zombie-esque. Yeah. But, also,

don't want to be haunted again. Yeah, that's true. I'm kind of pushing through it. I will. Does this wake, I think this wakes Ophelia up. You hear like scrambling outside on the stage. Three, two, one. I team rocket out of the gap.

There you go, animatics. To get the visual layout as well for you, Ophelia, the building you're in is within the fenced enclosure of the space. It's not on there. But the outbuilding is in the fenced enclosure of the inn's land and so you would have to go through the

inn to get onto the street. There's no direct access from the street to your little outbuilding. But yeah, you can kind of come out and stood in the garden through the iron fence that's all rusted and bent. You see these two by this broken streetlight with Xanthus being boosted up. Imagine you see us as we're walking over.

It's just... Like a shuffling foot. And then, yeah, you get boosted. I'm asleep on the lamppost because you just stood on my shoulder. Yeah, I will try to take apart. Like I said, you don't need to make a check because you've done this before. And if you were... Just glass shards bouncing off my face.

I don't even throw them, I just drop them. Sliding in glass and protect. I don't feel it. My little shards of rain falling down. Beautiful. Xanthius. Yes. If you had not found that disc in the Riverside District,

there's no way you would know. Okay. But knowing what you know, begin examining the Everlight, and sure enough, you find a very similar, but it looks less complete. Maybe like a prototype or a first attempt. Okay. But you find a near, not replica, but like, yeah, an earlier version of the same sort of disc that's inserted

into the base of this magical light with that same symbol and that same marking. I'm like examining it quite close to my face. I look down. Rowan, I kick down a couple of times. Rowan, Rowan, Rowan. You're not going to... I fall asleep on the floor.

I'm going to make a point. You guys are not gonna, look. I fall asleep on the lamp. I'm gonna make a point. You guys are not narcoleptic. Have a bad night's sleep. Ophelia comes out, I'm holding the thing. I'm asleep, sliding down a pole, standing on top of Rowan, also sliding down a pole. Put my sunglasses on, turn around, go back to town.

Grumpy hog. Let them have this. Grumpy hog. Let them have this. Grumpy hog. I'll let them have this. I'll give them wine. No, we're hamming it up a lot. Rowan, Rowan. So it's true. It's true.

A very old version of it, definitely different to the one we found. Now, if we can corroborate. Corroborate, yes. Did you guys keep the other disc? Did you give it? You did, yeah. I didn't think you gave it to the...

We showed it to you. You showed it to you. Oh, yeah? We wouldn't have. Okay. Yeah. Look. I've got the other one.

Okay, this is either true and these two specific lamps that we've investigated cause negative energy. Or every single lamp has it. And we need a third control. I mean, there's another lamp just down the street. Oh, that's tough. The bath has.

Or you can pick a random one like on anywhere else. We don't know the full effects of these lamps. Just enraging or negative emotions. It just seems suspicious to me that both this and the other one involved some form of possession and negative energy. But do you recall if the bathhouse also had these lanterns?

You could go by it, have a quick look. Because if that was manipulating the spirits there as well, that's another effect the lanterns could have. It's worth a check, I suppose. But, I mean, we can't go dismantling lanterns. No, there would be... No, it's only because this one's broken that really nobody cares that you're pulling it apart.

But you do have a feeling that if you were to do this on the big main streets, the guards would probably be like, what the hell are you doing? No, but you do have a feeling that if you were to do this on the big main streets, the guards would probably be like, what the hell are you doing? No, get down. We have to be very careful. It's technically their city property. It's technically guild property, but the city supports it. I'm going to go to a latte fun.

Please. Get us a couple of coffees. Yes, I would love one, thank you. We'll also speak to Maeve. Okay. And ask her if she knows anyone that's lived here for the last four years and knows how long this has been broken for.

Yeah, yeah. If you wanna skip past all that, that's fine. Yeah, we can do that. Unless anybody else has got something. Did you mention that you're going to the cafe? You'll hear, give me a cake! I'm gonna get many cakes. Many cakes, many coffees.

Because of last night. Yep. Sure. You make your way down the street, not far, to a Latte Fun. You see Maeve, sort of in there, bright and early. Hello, hello. Oh, hello there, Rowan. It's lovely to see you again.

Welcome. Morning. Oh, you've been, it's only been a day, and you've been in here, what, three times already? Somebody likes their coffee. I do. Of course. We also love our cake. Oh, well, we can do a big package of that, no problem. You'll have to pay this time, is that alright?

Oh, absolutely. Okay, no problem, we can put a couple of coffees and some cakes together, not a problem. Lovely. Did you stay in the inn? Yes, and it was a terrible idea. Well, I could have told you that, it's haunted, It's got that ghost. The ghost attacked, and it's okay. But you stayed the

night anyway. We stayed the night. Well, you're a brave soul, aren't you? I think we're onto something. Okay. And I think we can get to the bottom of this and let that poor spirit lay to rest. Well, that would be wonderful. I know, but it's going to take some time. Now, how long have you had a latte fun here?

Ooh, I mean, I've been here about two years or so. Right, do you know anyone that comes in here that's been a local for a long time? Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. There's Hush, he comes in most mornings. In fact, you saw him yesterday, the old fella. Right. Yeah, he lives, and she points,

and she points, there's, like, down more towards the gate, there's, like, a little house wedged between these two tall kind of townhouses, and there's, like, this older-looking building that's just, like, wedged between them, and it's like a cobbler's, it's like a little cobbler's shop with, like, a little bedroom, like, second floor, and she's just like, yeah, it's just, you know,

Hush's shop's just down there. He lives just down there. But he normally comes in. If you give it a few minutes, he'll probably come by. I'll wait right here for my cakes and coffee. Yeah, it'll take me a minute to get those all sorted for you anyway. You've come in quite early, so the cakes I just need to

go and finish up. But if you don't mind waiting, I'll sort them all out. We're just round the corner anyway. the corner anyway of course do you want me to bring them over or no no all right no okay it's fine you wait a little bit and sure enough maybe within sort of like um 20 minutes uh this old kind of flat cap wearing bristly uh big mutton chops down his side. He looks like maybe he's got a little bit of dwarven blood in him, but he's not a full dwarf. He doesn't have the earth skin, but he's definitely short and quite well built. Very wiry.

He looks a bit like Andre from Dark Souls. He's kind of got a big shock of white hair under his black cap. But he's very muscular, and he kind of comes, he's wearing a pair of leather overalls and a white... Ah, morning, Maeve! My usual, please. Say in there. Whoa!

Hello there, big man, big boy! Could I... Ooh! Come tall, wherever you're from, I say! Good morning, Hush. I have your usual right here. You know my name? Yes. I've been speaking to Maeve. Oh, wherever you're from, I see. Good morning, Hush. I have your usual right here. You know my name? Yes.

I've been speaking to Maeve. Oh, you've been talking. Oh, all right. I have your usual for you. I've paid for it for you. That's why. Even better, son. It's wonderful.

Free, free, free black coffee. I'll take it any day. Do you mind a moment of your time? For a free coffee, you can have more than a moment. You can have a minute. Wonderful. I feel like a minute is less than a moment. I have a question for you.

You know the spooky tavern? Oh, sure do. Seen the scarred lady meself with me good eye. We've seen that. One of his eyes is wooden.elf with me good eye? We've seen her. One of his eyes is wooden. Okay, okay. Is that the good one?

No. Okay. This one, it's full of cataracts. We've seen her too. Ho ho, scary, eh? Now, do you know if the light that's outside, the lamplight is light, did the Scarred Lady destroy that?

Or was it destroyed before the Enticing Devil went under? Do you remember that area being in darkness? I mean, I remember lots of things. Hush has got a... My mind's like a fortress, you see. But I've got to root through it. Go through all the rooms and the chests and the things. Well, you see, now I remember. It's funny you mention it. It through all the rooms and the chests and the things. Well, you see, now I remember. It's

funny you mention it. It's been broken twice. Twice? Yeah. You see, back when that K'Von fella, he bought the Enticing Devil. He gave it that awful name. Terrible decision. Stupid idea. Don't know why he thought it was any good idea. But he bought the place, and then

you know, the light broke not long after he bought the place. And I remember him complaining that he paid the Lamplighters Guild. He gave them some money and said he wanted them to fix it and to make it better because he wanted to have a light outside his property that was newer and fancier. I think so. Yeah. And then the light broke again just when the scarred lady was around.

She can't... We think that she broke it. You know, she... If you... She breaks windows as well. Exactly. We said all the windows break, you know, you hear them.

I remember you could hear them in the night. Shattering glass and howling and screaming and all that business. That has been very enlightening. Well. Part of the pun. Oh, a light pun. That's very good, big boy.

Very good. Well, I hope that's been useful to you. I hope that's been useful to you. Very useful. You're so tall, Mark, you can't even hear me up there, can you? It's difficult. You're like you're on the top of a mountain. True.

Oh! Is that a howl? Yeah. Okay. Raise my wolves, I will. Lovely to meet you, Hush. Yeah, lovely to meet you, too. Thanks for the coffee, big boy.

You're welcome. He sips it like this. He goes... He doesn't drink it fully. He has to, like, sip it as he goes. It might burn his tongue. Yeah. Oh, good.

Thank you, my love to Maeve! She's right there. Love you, Maeve! She was in my bad eyes! Slightly cold. Yeah, yeah. She was in the proof of the bad eyes! Man, you really brushed past the raised by wolves part.

Not to it. We're going to unravel this hush. I now have to add hush. The cobbler. He's the rooftop assailant. Maybe. Could be anyone. It could be anyone.

It could be. I relayed this information back to whoever wishes to hear it with coffees and cake. Yeah. And it was fixed after being broken and enhanced. And soon after, the terror unfolded. Maybe that was when this device was placed inside it after it was repaired the first time.

In the... Because I've got the old and new one, right? Yep. Can I be examining that? I don't know what the runes or what necessarily this thing does, right? But is there... I mean, these guys were all told quite specifically

by Blackwing what it does. What it does, but I mean, like, I want to almost try to get an understanding of what the old version was compared to what the new version is. Sure, sure, sure, sure. To try and understand what the... I guess the process, the understanding of the process. What's the difference between the two?

Arcana. Watch this drive. You have no faith. I have no faith. I'm afraid not. You're fateless. Has my Arcana taken a hit? It has not. Fine. Kind of finally. 17. Finally. 17. I mean, this would be quite a high DC to get loads of information. I'll give you. Yeah. So what's your question exactly? I want to. I guess I want to try and understand what is wrong with this one

that they had to make this other one, the newer one. What did they tweak? What's improved? Why is this better? Yeah, so I think that from your rudimentary examination, you think that... Because you remember Blackwing telling you something about the newer one you found, that it was faultywing telling you something about the newer one

you found that it was faulty or it had something wrong with it looking at this one you think that there was a similar problem right that this older version was almost it was too highly tuned its effects were too strong

and it looks like in the newer one what they tried to do is make it more subtle and soften it, but obviously the one you have was malfunctioning. Like, it broke. But you have the feeling that the improvement they tried to make was to make it less intense.

Okay. It also had a bit of a bigger range as well, the old one. Okay. So it's like they've dampened it a little bit. Right, okay. With that role and that knowledge, because we do have to end a little bit early today, that is where we are going to end today's session.

Okay. Well, I mean, the lamplight is again shakes fist. Darn you. Seems somewhat connected to it. We're going to bring down that guild. Time to shut them down. Or at least the ones who might be involved in whatever plot this is. All of them.

Burn them all down. All of them, maybe. Maybe it is all of them. It's all of them. They're rotten to the core. Sure. I told you, you've burned the place to the ground. Huh?

I said it last week. I said it this week. Burn the place to the ground. Burn the place to the ground. We're not going to burn our place to the ground. Huh? I said it last week. I said it this week. Burned the place to the ground? Burned the place to the ground. We're not going to burn our place to the ground. No, we'll leave it one standing. Just one building. Rest of Ash and Rest.

It wasn't us. Promise. On that note, thank you very much, everybody. That is going to be it for today's episode of Thayer the Dragon Empire. Thank you so much for joining us. We hope you enjoyed that.

That was a fun little combat. Yeah. We will see you next week for a new episode yeah baby take care bye bye bye bye

bye bye