High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #20 | Child of the Grave (Part 1)

Episode Date: April 23, 2024

The party, reeling from an unexpected and demonic ambush, must now come to terms with the aftermath! ANNOUNCEMENTS: NEW MERCH! We teamed up with GeekyClean to deliver official Altheya themed DiceBombs to enhance your bath time experience! Each bomb is based on our characters and the Dragon Empress with unique scents. They all contain a themed dice set, too! The fun doesn't end there - use the code EXFOLIATE now to get 10% off on checkout when you get the Official Altheya DiceBombs at https://geekyclean.com/! ---------------------- HIGH ROLLERS LIVE in LONDON! We're hosting our first ever High Rollers show in the Adelphi Theatre in London on the 17th September 2024! Tickets live now: https://www.aegpresents.co.uk/event/high-rollers/ Add the Heroes of Altheya Minis to your TTRPG collection here: https://only-games.co/collections/high-rollers A massive thank you to DM Stash for sculpting our incredible models. Browse their catalogue and join the community here: https://dmstash.com/patreon 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

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Is this an episode of High Rollers? It's High Rollers Day, baby! Starting off with a brand new, very exciting thing to announce. Kim! Take it away, Kim! Hi! Do you like smelling clean? I do.

I like smelling clean. You like smelling clean. So we have a very exciting merch collaboration to announce with all of you. We are collaborating with Geeky Clean. Here we are! Who make amazing bath-based products, including giant bath bombs that are filled with dice. Dice!

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and then you come out with some dice. Isn't that nice? So there's a whole range of smells there as well. So Xanthius is spiced leather and cedar. Daisy is mandarin, peach and vanilla.

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I shared them with the team. We all loved them. We're like, yeah, let's definitely do something with these guys. These smell absolutely gorgeous. They smell so good. Also, as a point, everything that they make

is vegan and cruelty-free, so if that's something that you needed to know, yeah, you're all good. You're all good. But that is going to be it. I am going to do... No, I will save that

for later in the episode. Let's run the intro. And then we'll see you there. What was that? Okay. What's going on? What's going on? In the streets of Ashen Rest, returning from the great stone tower called the Pharos, our heroes were ambushed. From the glowing everlights of the Lamplighters Guild,

demonic smoke creatures appeared with the intent to kill. A battle took place, and whilst the party quickly dispatched the lesser soldiers and minions, a demonic mage and assassin caused havoc, and things seemed tense. Eventually, only one foe remained, and Ophelia charged in to take them down. But with a sudden and powerful blow took her by surprise, and with smoke pouring into her body, Sister Ophelia de la Rosa, the House of Blood, the Kingdom of Osseous, was slain. You all stand out on the quiet back street of Action Rest.

and out on the quiet back street of Action Rest. You can hear in the distance sounds of footsteps, people running away, perhaps people running closer, you're not quite sure. You can hear the murmurings in the buildings of civilians who have been witnessing this battle. But all of that seems far and distant. For laying on the stones is the dead body of Ophelia. Her skin, discoloured, black veins crawling up her neck and along her arms,

her eyes almost blackish in colour, the last remnants of demonic smoke leaving her mouth. All that remains of the creatures that did this, the ones that you fought, are piles of essence, magical essence, dust, sometimes left behind by magical creatures. There is no other evidence that they were here. What do you do? It was rowing down. You were stabilised.

Stabilised. Stabilised, yeah. I think we described you seeing it through kind of bleary eyes. I'm conscious, but... Yeah, I don't like you being fully unconscious, but you just couldn't act at this time. You know, there's more than enough time for your team to come and get you up on a hit point or something like that.

So we can say that you are up now, but just heavily injured at this point. I think unless anyone else, of course, would do this, Rowan would use his first bit of strength to scoop up Ophelia and just be kneeling down with everyone else and just- Cradling the body kind of thing. Crying, kind of rocking back and forth,

probably pumping in my last remaining spells as like an attempt to do a healing word or anything like that you find rowan well for rowan magic we know that your magic kind of connects with the earth and stones and things like that but also music what does it what what does it look like when rowan is using this magic like how does that manifest itself what kind kind of, what things is he drawing on or what kind of effects might it be causing around as you try and pump this magic in?

I imagine it would be frequencies and vibrations, not anything like an earthquake, but little bits of dust would be flittering just above the surface, vibrating enough just to be raised and creating geometric patterns around me and Ophelia. Is there a rhythm, like a melody to it? Yeah, there would be humming coming from the lute itself

and an energy and a tone, which is multiple notes all blended together in a harmony. The healing has no effect. Whatever damage has been done internally or externally to Ophelia, it's too severe for magic to heal. But can you make a performance check for me, please? 17, no, 18. Write that song down.

Write that one down. That's a good one. Okay. The vibrations pulse. The melody hangs in the air. But nothing changes. Rowan just kind of looks up at the sky. but nothing changes. Rowan just kind of looks up at the sky, just beads of tears streaming down both of his eyes,

just unable and feeling futile. Almost a moment of poetic karma. Rowan's tears begin, the nighttime sky, clouded as it is, a few droplets of rain just begin to fall. Gruff, what do we do? I was gonna say, does anybody else have anything they would like to do as Rowan is holding the body? I don't know, lad.

I don't know. There's got to be something, right? We could go to the cathedral or... There must be something. We can, but I don't think... I don't think our gods will listen. Why? They're not hers.

But she respected ours. They'd understand. She did. Maybe. Maybe we have to think about things on her terms. Oh, blast, I wish I'd asked her more questions. Maybe... Out in the woods.

And Gruff is going to... Kind of tip her head back. And with a claw, slice across his arm and try and just, as the blood wells and falls, hold it to her mouth. You cut yourself and the blood, you know, begins as really a trickle from such a shallow cut with a claw. A few drops kind of go in. My question here, Gruff,

is how much blood are you willing to spend? As much. He saw in the woods how much she drank. Well, I'll leave this as a decision to you, Kim, the player. I would like you to deal damage to Gruff to what you think that would be. So, currently on 26 hit points, I'd take it down to...

Do you know what? I have Cure Wounds and still I have spell slots, so he would maybe take it down to the point that he needs to heal, like do a Cure Wounds. Like one HP, basically. So, say 25 points down to one HP, and then a Cure Wounds. OK. And then, I don't know if you want me to roll for that,

I would probably take it down again to, say, six. Six health points. a lot, basically. Rhonda's looking at this like very conflicted because obviously we want the Mophila to be alive, but also watching Gruff do this is quite harrowing. Shall we say about 30 hit points then? With the Cure Wounds spent? Yeah, and I'll spend Cure Wounds.

You watch as Gruffeth, this few drops from this claw mark aren't gonna be enough, and with a ragged claw, you tear the flesh and squeeze your arm until you watch as Gruffydd kind of blinks, nearly passing out, surges with magic, and then more, gives more, all of it gushing down, some of it staining Ophelia's chin, not all of it going in her mouth,

staining the front of her clothes, onto the armour, clearly going down the throat. There is no change. Xanthius and Daisy. I think for Xanthius, at least, being... I was quite far away in the arena, I guess, when this happened. And also in the fight, something took over for a while there. A visage of pride and anger and rage sort of overtook a little bit.

Maybe that's why he was making some questionable decisions with his own health. But now that the fight has ended and Xantius kind of returns to himself and sees he's still standing in this battle pose, but his right hand, the glove burning away, ash and ember sort of dripping off that arm, Ash and Ember sort of dripping off that arm, kind of finally taking in the scene and seeing everyone across, just sort of surrounding Ophelia. Where's Daisy right now, out of interest? I'm over by the other, the furthest away. I just smashed that.

So I'm probably over smashed that. So I'm probably over by that. So I'd sort of spend some time just sort of not confused, but kind of stunned, like, as far as I was concerned. Everything was going just fine for old Zanny. No, I mean, like, he was killing. He was, like, doing a lot of damage. He was, like, it was not going great, but for all of you,

that last attack on Ophelia was so sudden. And, like, you have been in fights. You have seen her take far, you know, you've seen her take deadly blows and then be healed and get back up. For all of you, it would have been a very stunning and surprising thing that this one strike just snuffed her life force out like that.

And then to watch the very creature that did it just turn to smoke after it was destroyed and vanish. Its last words, one down, four to go. Kind of maybe lingering in those of you who were nearby. And then it was only a couple of turns after that that we, everyone's like demolished that thing. Can I hear any, you said there were people running either away or closer. Yeah, you take a few minutes, Antheus,

like with everyone else kind of focusing on Ophelia's body. You move and look down the street and in the distance you can see sort of armored, tabarded figures making their way to you. I mean, keep in mind that that battle probably took about 30 seconds. But there does look like that, yeah, some people maybe went off to get help, maybe call the guards, and it looks like maybe some of the Duke's guard are coming. But they're like minutes away. Like like you're looking at them far down the street like it's going to take them a while to get here or at least a few minutes at least um i also the other thing sorry is you would notice that there are people beginning to like look out their windows scared like checking to see if

things are happening you hear like somebody maybe at a doorway opens it, a crack, almost speaking to you, Xanthius. Like, are all the demons gone? Like, is everything all right? And you're like kind of calling out, like unsure of exactly what just happened. I am trying to find a place to hide my arm inside a cloak or something.

I know everyone here has seen it at this point. But... Can you give me a sleight of hand roll to see how well you can like, how quickly you can find something to disguise your hand with. That is an unnatural 20. Okay, great.

Yeah, you with your cloak maybe, or you tuck it into your tunic like you've hurt your arm, like you've broken your arm or something, tuck your hand into there, you can still feel the heat pressing against your scales from the hand. And yeah, I'll say to the people inside the house, just stay inside, we don't know what's happened here,

but guards are on the way. Yeah, he's like, you hear him shut it and bolt the door, basically. While Zan's doing that, Daisy. I think Daisy will just, she'll probably be frozen for a while, but then she'll probably just go over to Ophelia and sit down and just take her hand. Because if Rowan's already tried to heal, Daisy doesn't have anything left that she can do,

so she'll just take Ophelia's hand and maybe in her head say to Nim, what can we do for her? She doesn't... I don't know what her god would want. You hear, well, firstly, as you hold Ophelia's hand, I'm not sure how many dead bodies that Daisy has ever really touched before, but there's a coldness that you're not used to.

You're so used to the warming touch of other people, and Daisy often, you know, you find that you are filled with life, and this is, you are touching, there is maybe a magical sense here, maybe it is the connection with Nim, but you are touching a creature that you know is dead. Nim's voice, very gently, I am sorry, little one, but I know,

I believe that your friend was dedicated to the Grave Emperor and likely will call her soul to him. If she has pledged herself to a power, he will take her, make her into a soldier within his army. That is the nature of those who have made these agreements. I am sorry. She was kind. I think a little misguided in her beliefs, but she was a good person, I think. But there is nothing more you can do now. She's with the god that she had. She's with the being that she felt was her god, her champion. You should tell Percy.

With that little, we should tell Percy, you know, enough, maybe a minute, two minutes of just that kind of silence and momentary stuff as Gruff is pouring the blood in. Rowan, you're trying to push the healing into it. Xanthius, you're just stunned looking around. Daisy holding the hand. It doesn't take long before you see this squadron

of the Duke's Guard arrive. Maybe it took them about two, three minutes since the battle began to get to you. One of them is riding on a drake, like a mounted land-based bestial-like dragon, kind of like a horse, you know, draconic horse kind of creature. And they rush up with a squad kind of following up close behind. And you actually see that the man on the drake is actually somebody you recognize it's sergeant guy yoro who you actually traveled with from burnell just a bald human like you know fairly older kind of military figure and he rides up and he's just like by science and

science what happened here uh and he looks around he's like you two and he points to two of the guards former cordon let's make sure that nothing else is lurking around looks around, he's like, you two, and he points to two of the guards, former cordon, let's make sure that nothing else is lurking around the area. And he's like, he gets off the drake, like, what happened, are you all right? Do you need a medic? And he is calling over for another guard, who you can see is wearing a white sash over their tabard,

and you can see they've got like a leather satchel with healer's kits and things like that. And he's like, Ophelia needs attention, and like he calls them over. You need to stop switching on every ever light in this city. He like looks at you like, sorry, what are you talking about, Daisy? I don't, what do you mean?

Creatures appeared from these lights. Creatures? Like the thing that happened in Riverside? Exactly like that, but more of them. And they came without anyone summoning them. All right, okay, okay. He'll call over. He blows a whistle.

You know, whistles in his mouth. I can't do it. One of the soldiers runs over, and he hands them the reins to his drake. He's like, ride back to the forge. Tell the Lord Marshal what's happened. Tell them that we need to get the lamplighters to disable all the Everlights in the city.

Go and tell the author to what's happened. You said creatures like the, they said it was a demon in Riverside. Is that what this was? More than one. Tell them that demons have attacked Ashen's rest. And you see this like soldier who's this young, probably a halfling. It's like, demon sergeant.

And he's just like, just tell them I trust these people. Halfling jumps on and rides off. The medic like has a look at Ophelia and just says, sergeant, I'm sorry, this one's gone. But sees your injuries. Cause I think Rowan, you're pretty heavily injured. Xanthius as well, and Gruff. The medic is just like, please let me attend to your own wounds,

and comes up. And unless you reject them, they will offer to try and heal you. Rowan won't necessarily reject it, but he's just staring at Ophelia. He's just allowing stuff to be done to him. Well, there's a little bit of magical healing here, so you see the medic comes over

and begins praying to the Scions, touches you, Rowan. That's going to be 10 hit points back. Gruff, they would do the same thing to you. That is going to be 12 hit points back. Xanthius. It's okay. Just give all your healing to Ophelia.

Sir, I would, but she's gone. There's nothing I can do at this point. I'm so sorry. I need to look after those who I can still help. She's fine. Heal her. I'm so sorry. I know it's quite difficult to accept, but she is gone. There's nothing more I can do. No healing will help her. She's gone. Okay, then we'll take her elsewhere. We can take her somewhere if you'd like. Yes, we can do. No healing will help her. She's gone. Okay, then we'll take her elsewhere. We can take her somewhere if you'd like, yes, we can do that. There's rituals where we can help preserve the body and things like that, but if there's somewhere you would like us

to take her, we can make sure of that. The sergeant, like the medic looks towards the sergeant and he's like, uh, sergeant, and he just says, let's just give them a minute and like kind of ushers the medic away, like make sure that there's no civilians injured nearby, go and check everything else out. And Sergeant Guy Yoro will just kind of sit down, like on his, kind of squats down on his haunches

and just says like, what do you want to do? just says like, what do you want to do? Sergeant Yoro, I need you to tell all of your superiors that a diplomatic envoy has died in this city because of the inaction against the lamplighters. We told them of these demons and it happened again. Not a good look that a diplomatic envoy has died. I hear what you're saying Gruff. I will do what I can but this is above, this is well beyond me. That's why I want you to shout it to everyone. We'll bring them down. I've sent word to the Lord Marshal. He'll probably bring the High Authorita with him. We'll look into this.

But right now, what do you want to do? And he gestures to Ophelia's body. Do you want to wait here? The Lord Marshal will probably come here. They'll need to speak to you. Do you want us to take her body somewhere? We can't leave it here. I don't... I don't know. I don't know.

She's a dampier. She might come back. I fed her. I fed her the life. It might take time. Right. You were given the inn, right? Can we take her back there? Yes. She... She was making... She was trying to make a shrine in the to her god Percy's there and Tyria oh she's she she doesn't she knew she was Percy she

doesn't worship our gods we can't take her to the church that's not where she would want to go you see that a couple of the civilians have kind of come out and they're like trying to look at what's happening, you know, kind of spectator horror, right? And Guy Yorah is just like, Private, get those people, get those civilians back in their room. And like kind of just gestures them out because you're beginning to attract a crowd.

Like people can see that it's safe. The guard have arrived and now they want to know what's happening. And Ophelia's body is not a good look. It's blood covered from Gruff's blood, but has all this horrid defamation of her skin and things like that. And the sergeant is just like, we need to move her now. Can I go over to maybe like someone, like a house nearby of someone who looks like they're in the doorway?

Yeah, you see a dwarven couple, like a young pair of male dwarves, kind of holding each other's hands, like worriedly, kind of like, what's going on? Excuse me. Hello? Do you have a blanket or a sheet that I could have? Yes, yes, of course, yes. And they'll rush in and he just calls back. He's like, Hagram, yes, we've got one in the upstairs bedroom, in the chest, we've got some spares up there.

He's like, yes, yes, and he goes up. A few minutes later he comes back down and it's like a cheap wool blanket, something that you would have for guests or something like that, and he's just like, here you are, dear, here you are. Don't worry about it. Is everything all right?

Can I give them some gold as just like, I don't know. You go to offer them gold and he's like, no, no, no, don't, just rejects it. Thank you. Just like, no. It's just a blanket, it's just a blanket. Just to, just while we take care of things. We saw what you did.

We saw that you fought those things. That was very brave. Would you tell people what happened? Of course, of course. If any guards, if anyone from the city asks you, can you just be honest with them? There's something going on, and I don't want it to be covered up,

because then this would have been for nothing. Make a persuasion check for me. They've listened to what you said. I just want to see how much of an impact you kind of leave on them. You can have advantage on this as well. Yay. Natural 20.

Ooh. 22. For a point, I'm purposely not rolling fate yet, because this is like a set thing, and then we're going to reset the fate again. It's beyond fate now. Ooh. 22. For a point, I'm purposely not rolling fate yet because this is like a set thing and then we're going to reset the fate again. Yeah. So 20 persuasion. That was a nat 20, right?

Nat 20, 22 total. So 22 total. 22. Nat 20. Witnesses. Great. Perfect. Yeah, you get the sense

that you have left a striking impression on these pair of dwarves, Hargrim and his partner. And yeah, they just are like, of course, of course, go, go. And they kind of like ush you back. Maybe they bring out like water skins and things like that. Like, you know, anything that's sort of like, you know how some people do that thing of like, they don't know how to help.

So they just do the generic things that they used to? Copper tea or bringing out the blanket, making sure they start going and speaking to their neighbours and things like that. They go over and start whispering to a couple that live next door and start talking to them about stuff. You bring the blanket back, Daisy. Yeah, I guess I just want to cover up Ophelia's body as much as possible to stop people looking at it.

But I think after she's covered it up, she will still hold Ophelia's hand, like, underneath the blanket. Okay. I think Rowan will stand up and take Ophelia. I will take her back to our place. All right, Guy's like, all right, I will come with you. I'm gonna leave some of my men here to let them know.

I think you should all come back to the inn and then I'll have the High Marshal and the authority come and speak to us. I think as this happens, Gruff is gonna, as Rowan stands up and this is kind of, you know, moving, Gruff just, like, gets a sense of, like, he just moves quickly and suddenly and just goes to the nearest Everlight

that was smashed by Daisy and just, like, goes, sees if he can find the thing, the disc. There were three of them. Which one do you go to? There's middle. Let's just break it down to left, middle, and right. I think the one the smoky guy came from. The mage?

Yeah, the mage. Or the assassin? I think that was the... Northern side was the mage. The mage came from the middle. Mage came from the middle. Assassin came from the right. And then the minions all came out of the two on the left and right.

The one the assassin came from. The assassin's the one that killed Ophelia, right? Yes, it was, yeah. Yeah, that one. I think Daisy will also go to the other ones because it was something I was going to do. Middle or left? Middle.

Middle, all right. All right, so while you two do that, Rowan is picking up the bodies. Xanthius, what's Xanthius doing? I'll come back to that in a minute for Daisy and Gruffydd. I think amongst everyone kind of taking action around him, What's Xanthius doing? I'll come back to that in a minute for Daisy and Gruffydd. I think amongst everyone kind of taking action around him, I think Xanthius is still kind of trying to just understand what is happening here,

what is truly happening here. Like, it's like a wave of denial, obviously. But he's currently trying to hide his hand. He's trying to come to the idea that something really bad has happened, but he doesn't quite know how he fits in in this situation. Like, people are doing things, he doesn't know how he can help. People are running around looking at Everlights, he doesn't know how he can help. People are running around looking at Everlights, he doesn't know how he can help.

He just feels extremely helpless right now. I mean, yeah, and in that kind of sensation, I think we've all had those moments where you just kind of follow, and you're just kind of like a child who doesn't really know what to do. You just follow the people that you know. If someone runs past, he kind of turns to go after them, but they get a little bit too far away, then something else distracts him, he turns past, he kind of turns to go after them, but they get a little bit too far away. Then something else distracts him, he turns around.

He's just trying to do something, but he can't really get to do anything. This is all taking a bit of time as well. Rowan Guy is going to start accompanying you back as the others rush off to get things. Gruffydd, you search through the broken Everlight that Daisy destroyed, and there is no disc. Daisy, you do find a disc in the light that you search.

The one the mage came from? Yeah, middle one. Could I say to Xanthias, can you check the last one? See if there's a disc in it? Which one? The last one? Yeah. The one that was furthest on this side.

The way that you came. Oh, yes. Did you find anything? I got one, yeah. I just, I feel like we should just try and, we gave all of the ones that we had for evidence, so we should just try and make sure that we... Yeah, okay.

Yes, I'll go check that one out. Sorry, did you find something? You found something? Yeah. Okay. Does it look the same as the other ones? Yes. It does look the same as the other ones? Yes. It does look the same as the other ones.

It would look like the more recent ones. So it would look like the one that you had in Riverside, but this one obviously is functional. Okay. Xanthius, yeah, did you want to say something to Gruff? I was... He's so distracted. Yeah. He's so distracted. He, like... Would Xanthius eventually...

Would Xanthius go over and search around? I think being told explicitly, here is something for you to do. Someone has made a decision for you. Yeah. Okay, I can focus on that. If it's something someone else wants from me, then yes, I can do that.

Cool. So I will eventually give it a go. Well, you're also the one who discovered, knew how to search for these things and did a lot of Arcana around the discs. You searched the left-hand side and that light did not have a disc either. Okay.

Can you make an Arcana check with me? But I am going to say, because you are so distracted and distraught, make it with disadvantage for me. Sure, absolutely. I think that that's fitting for the situation you're roleplaying. Oh, a 16 still. Still a 16.

Maybe it's that element of focus that being given something to do and finally realising this is how I can help. It's like your mind clicks in and you would find out from daisy daisy

found one in the middle you didn't find one maybe you look over at gruff and gruff is like shaking his head or showing that he doesn't have one or something like that you suspect that the even though only one of the lights had the disc in, maybe it would likely be something to do with that ley line of power that these Everlights draw on. And these creatures were able to use that to appear from nearby lights, not just the one that had the disc. They were almost able to use any of the lights within a radius to appear out of, basically.

Which would imply that it's not just the disks which are a danger, but the whole network as itself could potentially be used. But only to a certain degree, like only within a certain range of a corrupted Everlight. Right. We can sort of call them corrupted or sabotaged Everlights, right? Yes. Mechanically, you now know that those discs

allow these creatures to appear from any adjacent Everlights. Right. So if we don't find one in an event, we could also search the adjacent ones. You think that that ley line of power, because you were the one who worked out that the flow was two-way. Like, these lights were drawing negative emotions in. They were also sending something back.

And now you're like, they clearly have the ability to send a whole creature back. I mean, it's after potential years of sucking bad energy out of the place. You don't know. But yeah, so that's something, information that you're able to kind of figure out as you're examining these lights. And sort of an epiphany moment as you're like,

well, why don't they have these, all of them and stuff. Yeah, yeah. Rowan, you begin taking Ophelia back to the inn. The rest of you would be able to follow, but it would take you some time because you're dealing with these lights and stuff as well. Ron is humming deep within his lungs an old comforting nursery rhyme from his old village

that his mum used to sing to him when he used to have nightmares, things like that. Kind of half for him and also half to just pass something comforting to Ophelia as well. It feels like the right thing to do. nightmares, things like that. Kind of half for him and also half to just pass something comforting to Ophelia as well. Feels like the right thing to do. As you are humming that, and maybe as you sort of get to the main verse

of that lullaby or that main melody, you appear at the enticing devil. And as you begin bringing Ophelia inside, Gaioro is just coming with you and follows. And when Guy Yorro steps in the inn, you sense a sort of shadow kind of falls a bit on the inn, and you hear a door slam upstairs, and Guy, like, looks up in a bit of an alarm.

Can I hurry back? You guys are a little bit of an alarm. Can I hurry back? You guys are a little bit behind, yeah. Because I think Daisy would have realized, uh-oh, we can't let people into the inn. Oh no. So I think Daisy would hurry as much as possible to get there, and as soon as I get in, I would like to probably go upstairs

to the main bedroom and use one of my, use a charge to connect to Tyria. Let me describe what happens, because when you arrive, Rowan and Guy, like, Guy doesn't seem to notice. He, like, looks up and he's just like, oh, is somebody else here? And he, like, moves in and starts clearing a space for you to lay the body down on one of these broken tables um and when he does a chair slides across the room and that's when he kind of turns he's like uh and at the top on the balcony you see a spectral visage

because it is night time and you see tyria the scar scarred lady, stood there, the disfigured face, looking down towards Guy and he is like slowly glancing up. Guy, please leave. Yep, yep. Thank you. He starts backing out. Daisy, you arrive and you see the windows kind of shutting. You burst in and you see the Scarred Lady drifts down through the balcony, down towards the thing. Guy is like slowly backing out and that's when Daisy and the rest of you arrive. Can I use one of my charges and connect to Tyria?

Absolutely, you can, yeah. I'm so sorry. We didn't have time to warn you, but we've had something horrible's happened. and connect to Tyria. I can, yeah. I'm so sorry. We didn't have time to warn you, but we've had something horrible's happened. He's just trying to help us. Please make him leave. We will. He's leaving just now.

Who killed her? Demons. It wasn't anyone in the town, it was demons. You see she locks eyes with you, that one good eye from the scarred face. And she's just like... She would say to you... I am sorry. I will... let her rest for now.

And she vanishes slowly. Thank you. And Guy is, like, backing out. I'm gonna just watch Guy as he goes out. Yeah, he, like, he leaves. He 100% leaves. And you can see he's, like, not frightened, but he's like what the

hells was that like welcome to our crib once he's past the threshold once he gets past the fence basically the iron fence

out onto the street I will then lay Ophelia gently down on the table that he cleared yeah yeah you lay down a body there

and then look around to see if there's Percy here at all Percy is was sweeping he's been tidying up he moves over and he just stands next to a feel his body i'll just let them be like that and stand back i think there is almost no movement and you can make insight checks.

On? Oh, I see. With disadvantage on Percival. On Percival? Because he is skeleton, he's very hard to read. He's also not following a previous order, I suppose. 20. 20, 15.

Seven. Seven, 15. Oh my god, I am rolling like a king, 17. 17, anybody who got 15 or above, is this tragic realization that he's waiting for his mistress to tell him what to do. Oh, there's just nothing, yeah. And he just... It's just waiting.

Yeah. Just stands there, sort of in default waiting orders. And just nothing happens. And Gruff is going to... He doesn't see this, but he'll be like, Percival, help me clean her, will you? Ooh. Would just stand still.

You're not... It's not designed to take orders from you, unfortunately. I think that there would be, after some time, Percival would start doing things like adjusting her hair, like doing the things that Percival knows to do and just goes about it as if she's alive, like begins sorting out her hair, cleaning the blood, like would start doing that stuff.

I was going to say Gruff was going to start doing that anyway, especially because there's now a lot of blood. Percival doesn't stop you, but also doesn't, like, if you go to reach and clean the same spot, Percival doesn't stop because you are. Do you know what I mean? It doesn't have that social concept of, like, oh, sorry, you're going to do that. It just keeps trying

to do it and doesn't let you interfere, but also won't stop you interfering. Do you know what I mean? So you eventually learn, like, okay, he's working, like, on cleaning up her armour. Okay, I'm going to start, like, okay, he's working on cleaning up her armor, okay, I'm gonna start cleaning the blood off her hands and stuff like that, but yeah, you can start doing that process for sure.

Yeah. I think I'll slowly sort of sit at the end of the table and rest that hand on Ophelia's, I guess, leg or whatever it is, whatever side of the table I'm on, if they're cleaning cleaning top and everything yeah I'd say like you know her like her left hand would be exposed like if they're on the right side you could

sit on the hand and put your sort of which yeah everyone it's no longer hidden like you can see this the blackened sort of like scales the lines of molten lava or gold or light, embers just trickling on the fingertips

as if they were still smouldering, as if the coals of a campfire are still lit, but they're just glowing. There's no actual heat. How far up the arm is it? It's about... So just halfway up the forearm. What is it at that point?

It starts merging back. It's not like a hard line. No, it's not a hard line, but it begins to blend in. It's very natural, as if it was naturally spreading. It's not like a hard line or anything like that. It's merging with your own scales. And I've got to say, Xanthius, this is the first time you've really examined it.

You don't remember it being that far up your arm the last time you looked. It was closer to your wrist. Now it's more up your forearm. And you notice that it has extended. I think I need some bandages. Does it hurt? Quite a lot, yes, actually.

Do you need healing? Healing won't help. Just bandages to cover it up. It's what the glove was for. Daisy will go and get some bandages probably. You've got a healer's kit, haven't you? I've got a healer's kit. Yeah, I'd will go and get some bandages probably. You've got a healer's kit, haven't you? I've got a healer's kit.

Yeah, so you can pull some bandages out. She'll probably put her hand out to Xanthias saying, do you want me to help you put them on? Please, yes. And she'll, she's a bit apprehensive because it looks terrifying to her, but she's conscious that Xanthius is also suffering. Like, he's a bit overwhelmed by Ophelia, and she's just trying to do... I'm, like, still looking straight at Ophelia.

Like, if I move my hand out to you, it's so... When Daisy reaches out, as your hand is drawn near Xanthius's, there is a sort of spark of golden light, as if, you know, lightning kind of sparks between them, and you hear Nym in your head, that is not right. I do not know what this young man has done, but that does...

This is... This is not good. It's not, but... It's not the time just now. We will figure it out. Be cautious, little one. There is... There is something of the celestial

and something of the demonic and something far worse that has taken root in this young man. Be careful. Yeah, she'll just really delicately try and wrap up the arm without hurting Xanthias, and smile at him, and try and just...

You can almost feel like it's not hot or fiery, but there is a heat emanating from it. But yeah, you wrap the bandages up. It's quite painful, Xanthius, but yeah. Rowan, did you have something? Yeah, he's looking puzzled at Gruff and kind of pointing at the hand, because he's not seen this before.

But he was kind of processing in his mind he must have been hurt by the demons in this fight before, but then he mentioned that's what the glove is for, so he's looking, like, at Gruff and just... Confused. Confused. I mean, Gruff, while, like,

Zan and Daisy are kind of you know engaged at each other Gruff will look briefly up at Rowan and kind of make a signal of not now he does a big old sigh this process cleaning Ophelia's body, bandaging the hand

like Rowan maybe you busy yourself with something else like around the place, like move that chair back that Tyria moved or something like that. You hear rapid, not hoofs, like horses, you would hear claws, armored claws, as you hear a contingent of riders appear outside. Sergeant Guy will say, friends, we need you out here.

And he's like, Lord Marshal, you can't go in there, Lord Marshal. And you hear this authoritative voice like, Sergeant, what do you mean I can't go in there? Please, there's some, we really shouldn't go in there, sir. They'll come out and speak to you and you hear the little shrill voice of Eremina Willethorn the High Authoritor

just like perhaps we should listen to the Sergeant Lord Marshall I do believe that there are some truths to the rumour of this place being haunted by some spirit perhaps we would not be very welcome and you hear this sort of authoritative voice just like, I fear no

spirit, I, authoritative, but for the matter of hand, yes, fine. Please, come out when you are ready. I imagine hearing that muffled noises, we would probably all look at each other. Yeah, provided the banishing is complete for me. Yeah, I think

I will... Did Tyria go back up to the bedroom area? She vanished. She just kind of dissipated, yeah. I think I will just shout out loud, Tyria, we're going outside so that people don't have to come in. We're going to leave Ophelia with you for now. Sorry again for scaring you.

We'll be right back. Love you, bye. I think as people start to walk out, Gruff is going to walk over to Zan. Because you've got a kind of like a cloak. Yes. Yeah. And underneath that bandages as well.

Yeah, so Gruff would start fussing, kind of trying to be casual, fussing with Xanthius' cloak, but shifting it so that it's over his arm, like snapping it and going, you know, smut yourself up, boyo. I will, thank you, Gruff. Are you okay?

I am as I always will be. You go with the tide. Xan, look at me. Yes? Is everything okay? I'm all, I am as I always will be. You go with the tide. Zan, look at me. Yes? Everything's going to be okay. It better be, because it's not looking that way. At this point, I'm gonna ask you all to roll your Crucible of Fate dice now.

Yes. As things begin to settle, fate begins to settle. What's the Lord Marshal's name? Logan Gray. Logan Gray. I did it. All right, what do we got? Five.

So five, that is a dice for you. A one, a dice for you. A dice for me. A four. A dice for you. A five. A five, a dice for you. And also I rolled a five, so it, a dice for you! And also I rolled a five, so it's another dice for you.

Four and one. That's some good fate. That's what we need. That's what we need right now. You all step outside and you see, accompanied by some rather more veteran and elite members of the Duke's Guard. You see a older, sort of quite tan skin, not dark, not like black skin, but like tan skin man, bald head, fine sort of goatee beard, very prim proper. He does look a little bit aged, maybe 50s or so. Still wearing dress.

He's more wearing a dress uniform rather than armor. You can see that he has a very nice looking sword like a saber at his side um and uh wears like riding boots and he kind of like gets down off of his mount um and sort of he nods in your direction next to him is high authorita uh aramina willithorn um and and also Sergeant Guy Morrow as well, Guy Yorre. The Lord Marshal will nod to you all and say like, good evening, apologies that we are meeting under these circumstances. I am High Marshal Logan Gray.

I have been speaking with the High Authoritor and I believe I'm aware of some of the events that you have been involved with over the last few days. What happened? Anything and everything you can remember. We were coming back from a dinner with Tobias from the Lamplighters Guild. When the lamps themselves in the street started to emanate a fog a green mist and that mist coalesced into the forms of creatures demons with blades and spells and they attacked us.

They seemed to know who we were. They recognized us, knew our names. They said that we were the ones that the Phosphorus wants dead. You see he kind of glances over to Eremina. Eremina, like, shakes her head, but then he says, please continue. I don't know what her head, but then he says, Please continue.

I don't know what that means, but... How did the emissary die? I don't know. One of them killed her. It was one blow. He nods, he looks, he shares. You guys can make insight checks, actually, because he is being quite steely-faced. Yep.

15. 15? Not one. Not one. Rowan, you pick up, like, there is definitely this man is concerned. Like, there's a genuine worry. He looks towards the High Authoritor,

and you see the face of a man who is deeply worried about the events taking place. He lets out a long sigh. He says, I do not mean, I have to ask, please do not take this as any insult. Are you sure that they were demonic? Could they have been magical creatures, created, summoned, elementals, some sort of, something a wizard might create? They came from the light specifically. They are not from this world. But are you sure that they were demons?

That is a very important matter we need to ascertain. It's the same as what happened before. Well, Eremina will say, well, before you said that they took possession of Teresa Lavendale, you saw an emanation, but they took over the body. This they manifested fully, yes? Completely. And this phosphorus, did they say anything about it or who or what it might be?

No. You see that they kind of share a look like... I must ask this because it is very different if these were creatures created by some mage, which we know is a possibility, that mages have the ability to create creatures of magical force and such, and that would be a very different matter to this being an incursion of the planes. He sighs and says, I am terribly sorry for sighs and says, I am terribly sorry for the loss of your companion.

We have sent soldiers to take witness statements from the civilians nearby. I was told that you asked to disable all of the Everlights in the city. That is... And he looks at Eremina, the High Authority, and she says, that is a, unfortunately, very difficult political situation, and it's that point when you hear the beating of wings. There we go.

And you look up, and in the night sky, the crown, the broken prison moon of Sovereign sort of illuminating the sky, the stars, and the very distant shadowed moon of sovereigns of illuminating the sky the stars and the very distant shadowed moon of melee and flying across the crown silhouetted by its sick kind of golden red light you see a draconic form and it begins to descend and then transforms mid-dissension into a man, softly followed by another younger man as Duke Ignarius and his son Obsidius arrive. What has happened?

And he lands with a thud and the stone cracks as he looks. Marshal, what has happened here? They just fall to their knees. You see the Duke, like the Lord Marshal, falls to a knee, salutes the Duke. Eremina does the same. Oh, boy. Your Majesty, your Draconic Majesty,

we are investigating the matter. We do believe that there has been attack. There is a possibility that it was demonic forces. They emerged from the guild's lights, and I want every Everlight in this city destroyed, if that is the case. I will not have my citizens endangered by this, this political game that is being played.

And you see that everybody is silent, like lights in nearby houses, like lanterns and candles are being lit as people are like, what the fuck is happening it is erimena everybody else is like stunned into a silence but it is erimena who says with the greatest of respect to your imperial majesty as high authorita you cannot do that and you you see Duke Ignarius, you know, his dark black skin, the sort of dreadlocked hair,

all the scars, the armor. He looks at this little old halfling woman and she stands tall and proud and she respects and salute, but she's like, I know that that is not what you want to hear, my lord, but it is my duty as High Authorita to represent

Imperial law. You gave the Lamplighters Guild permission to conduct their business in the city. Those lights are Guild property. If you destroy them, you will be breaking Imperial law, and you will owe the guild

incredible amounts of restitution I do not advise you do this and the duke politics I despise it so if I cannot destroy them, High Authorita, then go and find why these demonic creatures are peering from them and killing people

that I have given my protection to. And you see the High Authorita just bows at that point, knowing that her victory, if it would be called that, like she has done her job, and now she is being sort of reprimanded in a sense. And so she says, I am making it my absolute priority, your imperial majesty.

Please, I assure you, we are doing everything we can within the law to track this down. Thank you for your wise patience and consideration. I know this is frustrating. Thank you for your wise patience and consideration. I know this is frustrating. There may be a way for us to take action, but it would require sanction of the church. I want Tobias Lato, Janya Cooper,

and the deacons of the cathedral at my sanctum first light tomorrow. I wish to speak to them directly about this matter. I will not have my citizens threatened and killed. And he points towards the inn. That is not the land that I have created. It is not the wishes of our empress.

Can I? Sure. He, the duke at this point, has not really been talking to you guys. He is talking to his, like, Rowan has a folding chair out and a box of popcorn. We all do. Don't know where it came from.

Wow. Yeah. Daisy just wants to take out that disc that she just took from the Everlight. I want to give it to Obsidious. Yeah, so you see that throughout all of this, Obsidious has just been stood, and because he is half black, half red dragon,

he really merges into the shadows. Best colours. And he has just been watching this whole thing very calmly, and you sort of, little tiny Daisy approaches this eight-foot-tall dragon man, and you sort of, little tiny Daisy approaches this eight foot tall dragon man, and you hold out this little disc. Um, I hear that you're very good with magic and the like, and this was from the light that they appeared from.

We've seen several now. I thought that you should see it for yourself. He cocks his head towards you. You are a bold little one. He gingerly takes it in his kind of hand. You see that he has long fingernails, light claws. He delicately takes it. His nails are perfectly coloured, like black and red as well.

And he holds it up. He's like, I have already seen this. The High Authority has asked my expertise already. Oh, of course. Sorry, I just thought you might... This is the one... You say that these creatures appeared... No, he wouldn't say that because he knows that he hasn't been told. My father knows very little of the details so far.

What happened? The... It was green smoke came out of the lights and groups of creatures appeared, fully appeared. They didn't possess people, it was just the creatures. And this time there was a mage amongst them. You gather his interest when you say that there was a mage amongst them.

Mage, it could use magic? Yes. Curious. But there wasn't any disks in two of the lights that they appeared from. So. Then other two did not have this device? No, this was the only one. Xanthias, you looked and Gruff.

I think the mage summoned more demons from the other lights. Curious. He drew them forward. He... he drew them forward. Cast his hand over the disc. You see that the lines of the engraving, the one that represents the different planar realms, begins to glow, and he closes his eyes for a moment.

He hands it back to you, Daisy, and takes a knee so that he kind of leans in close. I must be truthful. This affair is a matter for my father's people to investigate. I have other matters I need to attend to, but if I were you... And he looks up, and on the walls around Ashen Rest you see these giant

braziers, magical lights. Oh no. I would investigate those. And then he takes a few steps back. The Duke goes, Obsidious! Yes, Father. I want you to help And then he takes a few steps back. The Duke goes, Obsidius!

Yes, Father. I want you to help the High Authoriter as best you can with your magic. And then he finally turns his attention back to you. Guests of my land. Citizens of Cauldron, I am sorry that this attack has taken place upon you. This is meant to be a safe place, a good town, good people. I have tried to instill in them values that I hold dear to my heart. I am deeply sorry. You have proven yourselves brave and capable. You have done a great service, not only in your matters in Burnell, but in also the River District.

I am sorry. He gestures the emissary of Osseous. She is inside. of Osseous. She is inside. Ophelia Della Rosa. Not just an emissary. Of the House of Blood.

He nods. Kind of holding your gaze for a minute, Xanthius. Very much like the authorita, it is very rare that people will stand up to a draconic lord or lady. Yeah, this is Ophelia. Yeah. Sister It's very rare that people will stand up to a Draconic lord or lady. Yeah, this is Ophelia. Yeah.

Sister Ophelia Delarosa of the House of Blood. I do not know Osseous well. I do not know their customs. But if there is anything I can do to hold an appropriate ceremony, we can make sure it happens. I will need to consult with my archdragon on how we proceed with informing her nation of this. I'm sure that you all understand this is a very significant political event. For a representative of a foreign power to die,

it is a disgrace on my name, but also it could cause problems between the Empire and Osseus. I ask only for some patience while I find the best way to resolve this. Your Draconic Majesty Duke Gnagius, you are a dragon of great power and magic. Is there anything you can do to restore life to her? Restoring life. I believe Gruffydd of Isart? Tremoro. Tremoro.

Restoring life is a great power bestowed only by the highest of clerics and priests. I know magic and there are many dragons who are powerful in its ways, but to restore a soul is quite a thing. And it is not in my power, nor do I believe it to be in the power of the deacons of our cathedral here. You would need an extremely powerful, divine magic wielder to do this. There are tales and legends of places, old places, in the Empire, and people with great power, but I'm afraid it is beyond me.

I can make sure that her rest is peaceful, that it is respectful. I could give her a place of honor here in Ashenrest. But it is not in my power to bring back the dead. Only to make sure that they are treated well and that their names are remembered. I am not your religions, your beliefs in gods. Us dragons do not follow. We have our own beliefs.

So it pains me to say that I do not know how to proceed with this. The death of a dragon is a different matter entirely to the death of an Ilkir like yourselves. But you have my sympathy, and I will make sure that the name Sister Ophelia Delarosa is remembered. Of the House of Blood. Of the House of Blood. She just really likes to say that part. A little whisper. Thank you.

Your Draconic God Majesty. Yes. You don't, with all due respect, you don't intend to go inside do you inside where to see her I did not intend to that's fine it's haunted

it's like he actually laughs like I fear no spirit small man I fear no I didn't mean that in any way. It's just more she... Is it truly haunted? My advisors had told me that there were rumors of it, but I did not believe it to be true. Your Draconic Majesty, we are so very grateful with our gift of land, but it's very dilapidated and haunted, and there's a lot of bad blood around this property. We've made friends with her for a night,

but she just doesn't like when people go in there. And these two are cursed now, by the way. We're cursed. Because of the ghost. Cursed? Because of this haunting on this building that I gifted you? It's not gone well. But have you dealt with the spirit?

Has the spirit been defeated, destroyed? We aim to put it to rest, and that requires further work on our part. We're working on it. We need to put it in justice. Brave and honorable service. He smiles like, good. I know I gave this to the right people.

This curse, what do you need to remove it? Obsidious, is this something you know of? Magic is not really my forte, I am a warrior. And Obsidious, the younger son, kind of is like, I know a little of curses, Father. But it is more the specialty of the elf who lives in the tower. He is, or they are more adept at dealing with curses. Or the deacons or many of the priests here.

What about those, uh, the guests that we have? Those sister inquisitors, what about them? Yes, they would be most adept at dealing with curses, in fact. Much of their work involves dealing with malignant energies from the planes. Undeath is one such thing. Well, if there is, if you require money or something like that, I'm sure it can be arranged that we can remove it. I'll look at the platinums.

Ah, then you are fine. I don't think so. Shit. Yes, if you speak, have you met the elf within the tower, Shit. Yes, if you speak, have you met the elf within the tower, Ravenspire Blackwing? Mm-hmm. We have. We have been summoned.

We haven't spoken since we gained this curse, but... They are quite reclusive. It is quite impressive if you have made their acquaintance. Speak with them. Tell them that you have my favor and consent in seeking help with this matter. And I'm sure that they will assist you. I will bow. We will see this right.

If Tobias has been a long friend and I have known his family a long time, same with Chief Illuminator Morris Goldside as well, if it has transpired that they have done this wickedness and invited these creatures here to slay my people, rest assured, there is no rock from which my flames will not burn them. But he looks back at Eremina. Even dragons are bound by the law of the Empress.

And he kind of leans in and whispers to the four of you. You have an ally in me, adventurers. I would always stand with the courageous. Those who oppose evil. Who oppose threats to my lands. I do not care for selfish, greedy desires. He gestures to his body. One must pay the price to defend what is right. I think it is only expectant to do so.

Take care. We will get to the bottom of this. Yeah. He turns. Lord Marshal, double the guards. I want to make sure that there are patrols. We will not have another incident of this nature. They did say just before you go, one down, four to go, so I'm slightly terrified, you know, for our lives right now. Have guards dispatched to protect these adventurers. Make sure that we have people on hand

ready to assist them if anything happens. No. The guard, Lord Marshal Logan Grey will say, Your Imperial Majesty, if you wish to double the guards, I will not have many men to spare for these individuals. Perhaps one of your knights of the realm? I will have Ser Gryhold. I will have Ser Gryhold and...

You're welcome. If she returns, Dame Cassandra as well. But for now, Ser Gryhold will have to do. The others are away, absent. Very good, Your Imperial Majesty. I think that Ser Gryold will be a very appropriate protector for them. My guards will be needed to patrol the city,

patrol the town. Gruff has keeled over in delight. He's got nosebleed. Yeah. In an alternate universe, he is, but right now, the w words don't even touch him. Oh. Duke Ignarius, before you go,

just know that despite our current circumstances, our work is not done. If you call on us, we will assist you. He like looks at you. Right now, there is a threat to Ashenrest. If you wish to aid me, young Dragonborn, seek it out. Burn out the heart of this rot that exists within my lands.

Do that and you would be doing me a great service and freeing yourself of this burden and threat that looms over you. I ask no more than that. Yeah, burning out, Zan. I'll burn that shit out, right out the core. With that... I've got a lot of rot to burn. I'm actually going to ask you guys to head out for these last few minutes before we go to break.

And head outside and send someone in, please. Oh. Oh, OK. Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah? Very well. OK. Who's there?

All right. Shall I be done? All right, we'll just leave, shall we? All right, bye, everyone. All right. See you then. Just go. Yeah.

Who is it we're sending in, sir? Could you send Rhiannon in, please? Rhiannon. Rhiannon, OK. You're in trouble, Rhiannon. Oh, you've done it now, sister. Ummers. It's time to play Re&D.

It's time for your annual performance review. Oh, God. Trauma. Hello. Hi. How you doing? Doing all right. How are you doing? I'm all right. You're just trying to delay this as much as possible, aren't you?

I know, I'm all right. I'm not scared. The surging pain of the demonic creature's foul smoke tearing through your body suddenly stops and everything goes still. For a moment, you think that your new friends have come to your rescue and killed the creature. But then you see that the world around you is frozen in time, dulled in colour. The demonic thing, your allies and the buildings all have a strange glassy texture and appear almost see-through.

And your eyeline, standing behind the demon, its foul, smoky hand still held before you, is a being that was not there previously. You see a tall, feminine form dressed in ragged clothing with long flowing hair, but where a face should be, there is just a skull. The being raises a bow and draws a long arrow with a ribbon tied to the end and aims it towards you, and the entire world seems to pulse like a heartbeat. No, the figure speaks, and lowers the bow. You are one of his. I cannot bind you here. You have chosen another path. The figure turns and vanishes into shadow, and the world and the burning pain returns in an instant,

before being silenced yet again as everything turns black. When you next awaken, you are not in Ashen Rest. You are staring at a glittering sky of stars and feel tough grit and dust all around you. When you sit up, you see that you are on a vast plain of dust. In the distance, you can see a shattered ruin of a town or a city, and far beyond it, a jagged set of mountains reaching up into that opalescent sky. Before you, sat upon a great throne of black stone, sat upon a great throne of black stone,

being carried on the backs of a hundred skeletal figures, is the Gravefather. His muscular body clad in dark iron armour and tattered leather straps, and a weathered scepter and sword lay at his lap. His skeletal face looks down at you. You disappoint me, child. Brought down by the filth of the Helian throne. I expected better of you. Forgive me, father, forgive me!

I did not mean to disappoint you so. I did not know the danger that was facing us. I'm so sorry. The world is dangerous. Did you think that the sacred duty I placed upon you would be easy or without peril? Of course not, of course not. She's grovelling, she's on her hands and knees, clutching at the dirt. There was so much

more I wanted to do, you must understand your resplendence. My time was cut short. Perhaps you were simply not strong enough to hold on to it. No please, please take pity on me, please. Pity? Pity? As you did with the mortals before you. Please. Oh, child. Pity is not what drives my kindness, my mercy. Those mortals, your great, great forebears, they earned my mercy. They earned the gifts I gave them. They scrabbled and dug in the dirt and the filth to survive. Then I will do just that for you. Let me suffer for you. Please let me be the first drop that rises the tide. Let me be the ocean that brings Osseus closer to Althea.

Please, I will do this. I will die a thousand times for your greatness. Please, send me back. Your ambition is strong. Send me back. Your ambition is strong. Your will needs to be tested. Please, it would be an honour. It would be a great glory to be tested by you, my lord.

Please. He points to those far, far mountains. In those mountains, you will find a temple dedicated to me. Travel to this temple. Profess the lessons you learn. And the Countess and I will consider if you are worthy of a second chance.

He lowers his hand and gestures for you to approach. He sort of cups your head with his enormous hand. But be warned, child. We stand at the edges of my kingdom, and these wastelands are home to many dangers. The untethered roam here. They will hunger for your dwindling life force. And as he holds your hand, your head with his hand, he pulls it back and sort of gestures, and all of your armor, your whip,

your possessions that you have brought with you here as part of your physical body, it's as if time rapidly deteriorates them, as if they accelerate a thousand years in the blink of an eye, as they turn to dust and rust and just fade into nothing, leaving you in nothing but rags. You have squandered the gifts that you were given, the life that you were blessed with. The living are freed of their obligations and labors, but you are no longer among them. If you wish to survive, you must learn to work, to build,

to scrabble in the dust and the grit, to fend for yourself. You will find no food or water here. Your body will find no rest in sleep, but I am not without mercy. He reaches up with his other hand to the sky and he takes the star. As he brings his hand back down, it's glowing with an immense light. And he takes his other hand, and like crushing something, then begins to coalesce that light into a jagged, bottle-like shape.

He holds it to his mouth, a skeletal void where a mouth and tongue and teeth should be And he blows into it And you see this ghostly green and blue light fill it He snaps off a piece of bone from his throne and stoppers the bottle with it Very delicately hands it to you. I will give you my breath to sustain you. But be warned, there will be no more should you waste it. I will suffer so that those that come after me can prosper and live free as you intended, my lord.

Suffer so that you may gain wisdom. Suffer, learn. Remember this. My greatest admiration are for those who refuse to yield to enemies, to disease, to even death. Now go to the temple, should you make it, and if you feel that you have learned the lessons I wish to teach you, kind of like reaches down and gently kisses the top of your head like a father would, I will look after you. I will give you the chance you desire.

For am I not merciful? So merciful, my lord, thank you. Flesh for the mortal, blood for the eternal. In your eternal name. He just nods and smiles. And the skeletal figures

all stand up and they begin to walk him away. And he almost seems to fade and then vanish. And Ophelia, you are left on the endless dust plains of the Greylands. You can see the ruins and then the mountains beyond. You have no way of knowing how far you're going to have to travel. But maybe if you can, there'll be a second chance for you. Cool. And with that, we're going to have to travel. But maybe if you can,

there'll be a second chance for you. Cool. And with that, we're going to take our first break. Dope. We'll see you in five minutes, everybody. See you in five. Bye. Bye.