High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #36 | The Long Road Ahead (Part 1)

Episode Date: September 17, 2024

A new dawn days and the team prepare for a new journey... but Xantheus has some juicy updates for the party! _______________ Boost your Charisma with some HR merch! https://highrollersdnd.teemill.com/ Add the Heroes of Altheya Minis to your TTRPG collection here: https://only-games.co/collections/high-rollers Enhance your bath time experience with the official Altheya themed DiceBombs at https://geekyclean.com/! Check out https://www.highrollersdnd.com/ for all the latest HR News! 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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Hello everybody! Welcome to High Rollers. Hi! Hey everybody, we're glad to be back. We apologize for missing. I think we missed last week. We had some unexpected stuff come up. Sorry.

Sorry. But we're back. So that's all to shout out this week. Oh had some unexpected stuff come up. Sorry. Sorry, but we're back. So that's all to shout out this week. Oh no, Tom wanted to do something. I have a very YouTuber-y update. Did you know that 90% of the people watching this video right now on YouTube are not subscribed? What? That is insane.

Look around the room right now. One in 10 of you are subscribed. If you're subscribed, that means nine other people next to you are not subscribed. You don't know that. I don't know that, they could be. But if you're watching this and you're not subscribed. Actually they can't be.

Why? Because that would only count as one view. That would only count as one view. Well, okay, fine. Either way, subscribe. A really weird stat that 90% of the people watching this are not subscribed to the channel right now. And if you like eye rollers or D&D adjacent content

or Baldur's Gate 3, then you should subscribe to the channel, let YouTube know that you like that stuff. And it will let YouTube know that you like us too. Does that mean our subscriber count could be 90 times higher? It could actually, yeah, it could be. What are you waiting for? So whatever 90% of 200, I don't know, I can't do maths.

Yeah, it has a million subs to play immediately. Yeah, so just sub up. Why not, why not? But yeah, that is pretty much it for announcements, I think. In which case, let's play some D&D. Wee! Subscribe! And yeah, let's roll. ["The Dragon Empire Theme"]

Welcome back to Althea, the Dragon Empire. Hi. After learning of a ritual to send the ghost Tyria to the necrotic theocracy of Osseus, our heroes sought out Tyria's remains and learned they were buried beneath an apple tree in the garden of the enticing Devil Inn. However, as they began to dig,

the tree became empowered with necrotic energy in the malign haunting aura and attacked. Creating graves to try and bury some of the party alive, summoning apple-like creatures, and with powerful blows from its enhanced form, the party fought a desperate battle against this haunted tree,

but eventually managed to win the day, though some calls were closer than others. Having recovered Tyria's remains, they decided to rest and gather the remaining supplies managed to win the day, though some calls were closer than others. Having recovered Tyria's remains, they decided to rest and gather the remaining supplies and perform the ritual before heading off on a new adventure outside of Ashenrest the following day. But to her dismay, Sister Ophelia forgot that she had arranged a dinner date with the elite artisan, Mistress Ilana Vidante, and her apology attempt was not successful.

Now the party gathered back at the inn, ready to perform the ritual and send Tyria's spirit onwards. And that, my friends, is where we pick back up today. Oh, Ophelia, do you want to talk about it, or should we just leave you to? Um, what's there to talk about? I don't know what you mean, it or should we just leave you to? I don't know.

What's there to talk about? I don't know what you mean. It was fine. I think it was fine. Well, it's just- I was there, it wasn't fine. It was fine. We all listened through the window, I'm sorry to say.

It's just, are you okay? Are you? I'm fine, I'm fine, dear. It's just... It's blood under the bridge. That's not what people say here. Is it not? What is the expression here? Well, we don't have rivers of blood, we have rivers of just water.

It's blood in the bath. In the bath? Oh! I'd love a blood bath. Where can I have a blood bath? See, she's already better, it's fine. So all we have to do is mention blood and she's fine. What kind of baths are you having? Blood bath.

No, I don't know. Just trying to sound like Ophelia to make her feel better. That's all. Oh, thank you, darling. No, I do feel a little bit better. It was just, it was my mistake, I'll admit that. I'd completely forgotten. I double-boot myself. We did find a tree. Yes, well, yes, it was my mistake, I'll admit that. I'd completely forgotten. I double-booked myself. We did find a tree.

Yes, well, yes, the tree. We didn't plan for that one. No, no. I should have maybe booked it the following night, perhaps. We did kind of, almost. Yeah. I think if she was there and saw what we had managed to achieve in that same time,

I think she would have been more forgiving. You know what? This is on her. Yeah, actually, I agree. It is on her. No, you know what? You can do better. You know, I bought her gifts. I bought her many gifts. You bought her many gifts. You know? I spent all my gold. I spent all of my gold.

Wait, all of it? How much? About 25 gold. Oh, well... And it's all gone. I wasted it on her. I'm grateful. This doesn't seem like a healthy conversation. Should we let them continue? You know what, fuck her. I think that was the idea.

How much wine have you both had? Pass the wines, Andrus. No, no, no. You have, I'm gonna be, you do not have any wine. You have not bought wine. No, I'm poor. There is no wine here. You are poor.

A destitute! A couple of other things I want to clarify. So, Graf currently is carrying the piece of the necrotic-infused wood that you recovered, which could be used to create an item in the future. I did not think about what we could turn that into. No, I know you didn't. Ophelia, did you pay for the onyx that you needed to buy for the ritual? Because basically we've had the day for you to go out and do any kind of stuff that you need to do.

I've got it written down that we acquired the ritual items and a studded leather for Rowan. Yes, that's right. You acquit your studded leather. It's on. Donned. That was plus one to your AC, right? That's right. It's now astonishing twelve. Fuck yeah, I can't believe you're on 11 before. One might make the difference.

One better, isn't it? Yeah, you have to fire all the 11 now. It's a miss now. You have got the damage negation stuff as well. You've got some backups. So I was thinking of this. Yes. We could make something that has like a death ward on it

or something like that. Like one of those spells that's like, if you get knocked down, you get up to one. I feel like on it or something like that. Like one of those spells that's like if you get knocked out you get up to one. I feel like putting it on a roll and we attach it to him. We staple it to him. Staple it. So for something like that, what I would probably say

is you would be able to create a number of one use things. So they would be like little amulets or things that you would tie onto. And basically, I'd say maybe, depending on the skill of the person making it, I would see how many you can make out of it. But once they basically, when you would go to zero hit points, it would burn it away and you'd go to one instead.

Like the spell Death Ward, basically. Oh, cool. I think Death Ward might give you some other effects, but it would be that kind of thing. So a vandal of death points. It would be like, yeah, but you'd only have one at a time, basically. Like you could be given one and it would count. But it would only put you at one HP. The other thing you could do is, like, yeah, but you would only have one at a time, basically. You could be given one and it would count.

But it would only put you at one HP. The other thing you could do is, like I said, shield that is necrotic resistance, or you can make a weapon that deals necrotic damage, or something else that you can think of. I know the live show is just in two days, but I think whatever there should be should be a really ostentatious character illustration

altering kind of equipment. Yeah, it could be. Trunk head helmet. Yeah, I mean you could make a very cool like shield or like a weapon or something out of it or something like that. You still got money to spend on a costume, right? So. Yeah.

Yeah, that's true. Um. With that in mind, so you have everything you need to perform this ritual. I believe the ritual needs to be done at night. So we can skip ahead, as need be. If there is anything you would like to do in the town beforehand.

Yeah, how much time has it been since we spoke to... This will be the second day. So at the end of today, that will be two days since you spoke to Dame Cassandra and Embarissa about the quests that you wanted to potentially look into. I know as well, like, Tom, you also mentioned about going and checking the bounty board again for any other minor things that you could.

Oh, we could pick up on the way maybe. Yeah, you could definitely pick that up. So we believe, we believe. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there's the gnoll thing that's like, whatever, however many gnoll heads you bring, you get money, right? Open season or not.

It is, yeah, essentially. If they haven't changed it, they might have taken notes, it's down and stuff like that. But yeah, so that's also a thing to check out. But that would be, so tomorrow would be the day you were kind of expected to let them know what you were thinking of doing. They could delay, they can delay if they need to,

if you've got like a reason to like, you know, need an extra day or two. But yeah, tomorrow is the day that Dame Cassandra was planning on leaving, so. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't mind seeing if there's any little minor things we can pick up along the way. Do you wanna do that before the ritual?

Yeah, if it's not like time's good. I mean, we've got the day until the night, yeah. We should do it. Let's fill up that log. Unless it's like, you know, I need you to herd six sheep back into my pen, and I'm like, fuck off. Well, do it yourself. We'll find out. I need you to speak to this guy five meters away from me.

Why don't we go and speak to an obsidius? That'd be fun. Before we do that, I think we should. It is time though, before a certain roll. Time. Eight. Time the crucible, Mr. Freeman.

Good one. A four. A four, a dice for you. I got a four. A dice for you. I got a six. A dice for you. Yes, I got a one.

A dice for me. A three. A dice for me. Yes, I got a one. A dice for me. A three. A dice for me. Yay. And Mark's roll. Is a. A two, a dice for me. Three even.

Three and three. Fate is balanced this day. But yeah. No chakras. Yeah. Yeah, no, I don't mind. Does anyone else want to come with me? I'm just gonna see the Barents' Court.

I'll come with you. Yeah. See if there's any just things we can pick up along the way. It's a long journey after all. We can practice in, like, as well, like, you know, if you... You wanna come with me? Come get snacks. We're going past. We can go buy latte fun.

We're going past latte fun, so. I just feel like there's been a lot going on. We have been there 12 times a day since we moved in. I know, but I feel like I'm running low. We had a big fight. Wait, hold on. I'm wondering if we're coming to a pendant. Rowan digs into his little pouch, gets out some of the snacks from that tournament.

They are very crumbly and moldy at this point. I've got some left if you want some. Moldy? It's been like three, four days. Oh, are those still good? Just in his pocket. You should have those. I should.

I am not. Okay. No. You are part Dale Giant, so I'm gonna not make you roll anything, but it's not the nicest thing. Can we just hear, you know when your stomach just roars and you just hear it. That was a mistake.

That's me when I eat too many starbursts. I get the old rumbly stomach. You can literally hear the whiskers. It's the old rumbly tummy. You can literally hear the whiskers. Because it happened the other night. Oh, fresh in my mind. Anyway, so. Okay, Mark.

No. So yeah, you guys can stop by a Latte Fun, easily enough, if you want to pick up some things. Like, you know, it costs you like a silver piece to get like some little pastries and stuff like that. Someone else can pick that off. If you want to. Please, on me.

You. I wave my fooder in hand. On me. Okay. I drop a silver. Okay, maybe. Oh, thank you very much, love. Yeah, no problem.

What can I get you? A little pastries, I've got some cupcakes. What would you like? Can we get a cup of that? We'll take the lot. We'll take the lot. Well, it'd be quite a lot more silver, it'd probably be quite a bit of money if you wanted everything.

We'll take only some of it. Can we go for your picnic bundle that you got up there? You could, yeah, you can have the picnic bundle, that'll be, that's seven silver for the picnic. Oh, well. Yep. And if you bring the basket back, I give you, you get two silver back. If you bring the basket back. Yep. And if you bring the basket back, I give you, you get two silver back.

If you bring the basket back. Wow. All right, mate, keep the basket. Keep the basket if you like, absolutely. Absolutely, no problem. I think it looks quite fetching. Not a problem, and she's, you know, a little, you know, cow horns and.

I could use the basket. And I can go and do runs for pastries in the morning, and I can take the basket, and then we can use the pastry basket. The Latte Fun Picnic Combo, it comes with, you know, it's a wicker basket. It doesn't have plates and things like that in it, but it does probably have some little wooden cups

and things like that, a little thermos of coffee that's put in there. And then it has, I imagine something like scones with like a local produced jam from like the vineyards. Like they take some of the grapes and you know, it's like a grape jelly and strawberries and things like that. Straight to cup.

Straight to cup. From cow to cup. Yeah, like scones. Free cutters. Oh! Sorry. I mean there is cream, there is cream. I was gonna ask if there's cloud cream. Of. Oh! I mean, there is cream. There is cream, man.

I was gonna ask if there's collard cream. Of course there is. Of course there's cream. How fresh is it? Very fresh. From cows in a farm near Caldre. Like, where? Oh, hang on a second.

Where else would it come from? Shh. That does exercise in the morning. Does like jumping jacks and like aerobics. Maeve actually runs an aerobics class in the morning. There's like jumping jacks and aerobics. Maeve actually runs an aerobics class in the morning. It doubles up her time. She just stands on a vibrating plate. Today's special, milkshake.

Listen, you guys are making those jokes, not me. That's all on you. That's on them. Yeah. Fetish, fetish. Don't laugh at me, please. But yeah, so you can buy, it's got like scones, it's maybe got some like little sandwiches, little triangle cut sandwiches.

Little blanket? No, it's just the food. That's expensive. Yeah, that's like, you've got to pay a lot more for that. Fine. Yeah, like little cucumber and crust sandwiches and stuff like that, little cheese sandwiches, little plowmans in there. It's lovely, it's a little cucumber and cress sandwiches and stuff like that, little cheese sandwiches,

little plowmans in there. Very nice, very nice. Cute. It's lovely, it's a little, and you get the basket, and you can have that. And do you make the baskets, or do you get, do you buy the baskets? Oh no, I buy them from the local craftsmen, yeah.

We all try and support each other here in Ash and Rest, you know, I go to the local weavers to buy the baskets, and you know, I go to the local farmers for all the fresh produce and things like that. I've got a lovely supplier for my jams and things like that that I go to. Wow, you'd love the House of Blood. We have a very similar setup.

Oh, oh, really? Yes, yes, we all like to support artisanal crafts. In the House of Blood? Yes. Right, right. Mm-hmm. Yes, well, you'll have to tell me about it sometime. I'd love to.

Oh, I probably shouldn't have said that. Oh, but we are short on time, Ophelia. Let's get out of here. Just take the picnic bundle. I don't think she wants to be converted. Why not? She sells cupcakes. Cupcakes. Cupcakes.

She hasn't had enough. Look at her face. Oh, sorry. Full of terror. Was there anything else that you'd like? I've got the picnic here and it's got everything in it. Is there anything else that you'd like while you're here? No, I think that's everything, thank you.

He's got the mic. Can I ask a question? Oh, yes. Do you think that you're gonna have any more nights of those spooky noises and lights? Oh. Screams and shouts and things like that. Hopefully not.

We're so sorry about that. No, no, it's all right, it's all right. I think this might be the last of it. Okay, good. That would be a relief, I think, for me and some of the people on the street, the neighbors, you know. Yes, and us too. Well, there will be some repair work

over the next coming weeks, but... Oh, that's fine, yeah, that's not a problem, no. I mean, that won't be at midnight, I imagine. No, well, no. Well, you know the ghost thing that... Oh, yeah, we know the ghost thing. Yeah, we've been dealing with that, and we think that tonight will be the last night

that that's gonna be a problem. Oh, that would be a right relief, that would, my dear. That would be lovely to not have to worry about the scarred lady roaming around and peeking out the window. You know, a few of us have seen her and it's quite a frightening sight, I've got to say. She is quite lovely.

Oh, I'm sure that she is just, you know, the idea of an undead, unquiet spirit haunting in the area. It's a little off-putting for a few folks, is all I'm saying. It's a little unnerving, I think, for some of us. Yeah, you start. Well, don't worry. She's moving home, and Ophelia's found her a new place.

Oh, that would be brilliant. That's lovely, lovely to hear. Wonderful, absolutely magic. All right, well, if that's all, I've got everything laid out there, and paint the silver, and yep, all good. Okay, well if that's all, I've got everything laid out there and paid the silver and yep, all good. Okay, well let's go check the bounty board.

Yeah, sure, you guys make your way out. This is how I count, please say it. Are you, and you're just kind of like, we can say that you're doing this as you're gonna go by like the onyx and any other supplies that you need and things like that as well. So you pass the forge, which is the name of the large kind of fortified barracks here in Ashenrest.

You can see soldiers coming and going. Ashenrest is still in a sort of heightened state of security following the events of the Lamplighter's Guild and the Demon. You can see that scouts have a sort of almost, you know, as you're moving up there, you see groups of scouts coming in, weary and dusty from the road, likely trying to report on things

that have been going on in several places. You can see a few guards, and you see that there are several bounties posted on the board. Here you go. Now, of course, depending on where we're actually deciding to set out, we really should plan for which of the missions we do intend to take, of course, but, I mean, it doesn't hurt to see what's happening along the way.

I think we could do as many as possible, ideally. As many as possible? I mean, my pockets need lining. I imagine some of these might be in different directions, I'm afraid. If you would be so kind as to read them out, please. Well, we have one. Ten seconds.

We have a bounty that says here, Citizens of Kul'dra, Herdriconic Majesty, Archdragon Infernia, issues an open bounty on gnolls. Oh, we know about this one. We know about this. It's good to know about it, because if we come across them on the phone, we'll know.

Any brave citizen or mercy, blah, blah, blah. 25 GP per? Per gnoll? Per, yes. And we have to just present evidence of, I don't know if that means like, takes gnolls, heads, fingers, that kind of, we could say one gnoll, take off a finger and a toe each

from one gnoll, and say the, And then hand them in as a separate, that's just, that's rough, as they're reading this, with your past perception, you do see that there is some fine print at the bottom of that one. Fine print. So, oh, here you go, take a look at that while I check out the other ones. There's one for Il'kara.

I just forgot my form already. There's one for finding Il'kara and bringing her back captured alive. So. Oh wait, there's a bounty on Il'kara? Yeah. From Duke Ignarius. Well, of course, I expected, but it's just.

She's believed to be traveling with acolytes and followers. A lesser reward will also be paid for their capture or proof of death. So. More fingers and toes then. Maybe we could have had that one in multiple times. Well, it's just that she has a twin. We killed six Il'Karans.

It's just my witch. Well, she's wanted dead or alive. It's a bigger reward if she's alive. Okay. Well, that's good to know, but that does mean that we might, well, if we intend to bring her back alive, there might be other groups that intend to just go out there and.

Yeah, these bounties will be known, not just by you, but by mercenaries and such as well. Please read them out. Mark wrote them all out by hand. I would very, please don't blah, blah, blah them. No, it was literally like, two lines. It was fine. It don't blah, blah, blah them. No, it was literally like... I know, the novel is fine. It was in character, blah, blah.

Also, Gruff is... Sorry, what? Two very important lines on the end here that you've missed off some of this. Sorry, did I? Really? Yes. Oh, those lines are tiny, sorry. Authoritores and marshals may refuse payment

on reasonable doubt of evidence of deed. Disputes may be raised in feros within 28 days. So we have to... Oh. How did they know? That's... You know what? That's... Well played.

LAUGHTER You can only applaud the authorities, Mark. LAUGHTER Well done. The authorities are like... People coming in with dog ear. They're like, I killed a gnoll. They're like, I don't think it's gnoll.

This is a dog ear. You already got me. They're like, I don't think it's a gnoll. This is a dog ear. You already got me. They're killing the dogs. No! Not on this table. No. Gross.

It's a really good impression. Gross. Well, I mean, if we encounter any gnolls or Ilkara along our road, then perhaps we can hand those ones in. There's another one here. Skins, pelts, and hides needed. The animals that roam the lands around the Ash Hills,

which is pretty convenient. Need a good skinning. Exactly that, have exceptional hides. I would like to acquire some for my work. Eight, oh they need exactly, oh my God, they need eight wolf pelts for deer stag, or deer or stag hides, or one bent bear skin. No, no, no, they need eight wolf pelts, four deer stag, or deer or stag hides, or one bent bear skin.

No, no, no, it's not or, it's all of those. We need to hand in exactly eight wolf pelts, four deer or stag hides, and one bear skin. Can't hear you. Please only bring good quality, complete pelts, ruined hides, or normal skins will not do. Yes. Oh, if you, So I'm gonna say,

because I want to explain in a gang of this, if you fight wolves, deer or bear, I'm gonna roll to see if their belts are good enough. Oh my god. Exactly the kind of quest that would be under the mini map for like days. As you're in an area leveling up. Oh, there's another wolf there.

Oh, I didn't drop a, that's not drop a pelt, it's gone. If we leave the area and go back in and then we spawn. How does a wolf have 12 gold on it? Where was this magic sword? This one had two uncommon pelts on it. That doesn't make sense. Do any of you have any actual experience skinning an animal?

No, none at all. It also says here, there's a reward on completion. We don't actually know how much this will pay this month for cellios atrasi in the House of Making. So this one might not even be worth it. We might turn up there after 12 full days of grinding. It's very messy business, I'll tell you that for now. This one has swear words and stuff on it.

Really? Let me have that one. Yeah, you want that? You do have quite the potty mouth. Potty mouth. I don't say canonically. You sound like my wife. Paid work for honest, and honest is underlined several times. Oh, that's me after.

Needs professional and honest people who will do the job, unlike the piss-drinker Apollo and his shit-stained brothers. By the science. Recovery of goods and supplies from historical dig sites south of Hearth. 350 gold or a selection, that's underlined as well, selection of magical scrolls. Oh! Payment after, that's all caps, delivery, that's underlined as well, selection of magical scrolls. Oh! Payment after, that's all caps, delivery,

no, underlined, exceptions. Learned by fucking less than there, didn't I, Apollo? You snot-stained, you snot-scaled weasel. Professor Lily Juniper Meadow's song of Red Gate. Well, that doesn't seem that loaded. You know... It's a very characterful letter. Yeah, it's... I'm feeling this one. It's a very characterful letter. Yeah, it's...

I'm feeling this one. It's hard to tell exactly what your employer is going to be like before you meet them, but I've got every... I've got a great idea, yeah. Do you? Did you hear the name? Who posted that? Professor Lily Juniper Meadow Song. It's quite a sweet name.

Oh, she sounds delightful. She sounds lovely. But, I mean... It's great. The language... A temper she sounds delightful. She sounds lovely. Yes. But, I mean, the language. A temper, but delightful. A temper, but anyway. Well, so. But who doesn't have a temper, let's be honest.

Pistrinker, that's wonderful. I'm gonna use that one. That's good, it is good, yeah. Pistrinker. What are the other ones? Shitstain. Shitstain's good. That's a good one.

That's new. Snot scale. Snot scaled weasel. Oh. Nice. Fissel. Anyway. That's to the south. Yes, scaled weasel. Ooh. Nice. Thistle. Anyway. That's to the south.

Yes, well you have your local region map. Let's. South of Hearth. Our little bounties down here next to the map. But we also need to discuss of course what main quest we need to pick up. What one we intend to go towards because they all go in different directions.

We obviously can't do all of them at once, unless we split up, of course, but that would be insane. You know what we should do? Okay. Over there, you see there, a small patch of grass underneath a tree. Yeah. I'll arrange a picnic,

and we can have a little discussion about what we want to do. That is such a small patch of grass. I know, it's in the middle of the camp. Surrounded by concrete. Rowan goes and starts laying everything out very neatly in this tiny patch of grass. Okay.

I'm not sure there's space for all of us, Rowan, but I mean, we can try. Are you tying them from the tree? Sideways. Yes. What are the orientations? You'll be like our canopy. Yes, maybe.

No, I don't know, that sounds too much like Percival's job. Percival's with you. Oh yeah, hopefully he'll come with you. Yeah, so like, Percival's getting ready. He's already beginning to like stretch his arms. Aw, Percival. Provide like a windbreak. Aw.

Well of course, now I'd love to have a picnic. Let's just have one right here and we can discuss our plans and which of these we intend to complete as well. Does anyone have any, who wants to start? What are the options for starters? Which one pays the most? I mean, really, it should be a case of justice

and what we can bring to the civilians in the area. Well, no, money isn't the only reward, of course. There is also good feelings. Oh, well, this... What is more than good feelings is making sure injustice is not carried out and that innocent civilians aren't suffering. Emberista's task pays a thousand gold.

Well, then. Well, they're sorted. Daisy! Everyone shut up and listen to Daisy! She hasn't said anything to you. I'm sorry, I didn't see your hand up there. I've been my hand up for so long, Zantheus! The longest I've ever been in the air. I'm sorry, I didn't see your hand up there. I've been my hand up for so long, Xantheus. Blondess has never been in the air.

Yes, sorry, go ahead. Lady Ambrose is actually quite time-sensitive and she seemed very upset, so I think we should go for that one because if she's really upset about it, and I mean, they've done a lot for us and she was horribly injured trying to defend the people of Ashenrest and I think she just deserves

nice things, so we should do that. That's true. Yes, think she just deserves nice things, so we should do that. That's true. Yes, every woman does deserve nice things. Including me. Now you sound like my wife. Oh, just like we get along like a house on fire. Yes. Sorry, Daisy.

A house on fire? Sorry, I was just expecting you to say a house on fire. What a great idea. Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah, yeah, do you not, yeah. I picked up on it, I've picked up on it now. I think Ree didn't pick up on it, so she was setting it.

That was just out of your face, and then you were like, oh. Wow! It really picks up everyone's day, aren't ya? Really cool. What's Ophelia's charisma, by the way? Oh, just plain old charisma? Yeah.

Uh, 14. Okay, I like the idea that that's like her regal physical beauty because when she opens her mouth, it's just in her foot immediately. It's just trash. She speaks too much, no ink, Malfoy. It's like barbarians have reckless attack, Ophelia has reckless talk.

Yeah. Yeah. Yes, that's what I knew it was like. It's like there's no filter. It's just words come into brain, words are said. Say the words. Oh my gosh. So I mean that one of course pays the most.

There is someone that is in need of saving and it would also be repaying a debt that I feel like we all owe to Ambrisa. However, there is a slight hitch in that plan, so to speak, and it does kind of... Triangle sandwich. Triangle sandwich. Triangle sandwich. Let's just cut in a different way.

Okay, no thank you. Yeah, but it tastes so much better because it's fancy. I'm also going to clarify, because I think some of your notes might be not quite fully correct. Lady Ambrista's... What? If you do Lady Imbirista's thing, she said that if you can rescue Sir Eljak, she will offer you a magical relic from her collection.

If there is proof of any danger to Northvale that you stop, it's a payment of 500 gold each. And if you can find it and recover Heart Warden, which is the missing shield, she will pay you 1000 gold and offer another magical reddit from her collection. So there's actually multiple elements to it. Yeah, so it's not just the 1000 gold. So it's profitable in general.

Yes. But as Xantheus is about to explain. But it's in the Ash Hills, right? I want a drink here. Thank you, no, this is too much. I'll pick out as I go. The ash hill. I want some nuts.

Nuts? There were nuts in the picnic pocket. There's a couple of them. That's enough from my pocket. Oh, I can tell. They're not actually, they are just tiny pebbles. Here you go, take them back. Okay, the ash hill.

You're getting crumbs on yourself. You have another. Food is being shoved into my mouth. Here's a napkin. Yeah. Okay, thank you, thank you. Stab yourself out. Yeah food is being shoved into my mouth. Here's a napkin. Yeah. Thank you, thank you. Soak yourself out. I'll tuck that into my...

Okay, the Ash Hills. The Ash Hills. I'll play a song. I'm not going to sing along. Oh, it's the background music. I'm like looking around. How busy is this thoroughfare? You are like...

So if you... Because you were at the Forge. So you've basically crossed the street. You're looking at the massive, so you've basically crossed the street, you're looking at the massive armored, defended military barracks. You have found like a tiny, it's where two streets meet, but just before where the next house is, there's like a triangle of grass

with like some rose bushes and a tree. And it's like enough where they were like, well, there's nothing else we can put there, let's put a nice bit of greenery, make it look a bit nicer. It's not even big enough for a toilet. It's barely big enough for the five of you to sit with this blanket, and everybody's looking at you as they move down these very busy streets.

The heroes of action rest. They're like, why are they doing that? But we look so fucking quaint. Kind of, but they're also looking over towards the house of the rose, the baths, which have these beautiful gardens all around them, which is maybe like five, 10 minutes walk down the road.

And we're in light, not even in the sunlight, we're in total shade. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. The buildings nearby have shaded it off, and there's just like, nobody's saying anything, but there's definitely the occasional like, and then they walk on. Okay, if there's definitely the occasional like, mm, and then they walk on. Okay, if there are quite a few people walking around,

then there would be a couple of like hushed words in that case. The Ash Hills, where this is taking place, where Embrysir is sent us to go, is filled with quite a lot of, you know, CS. What? You know, points at chest.

You know, the points at crown. Oh. Oh. Yikes. A wuga. Oh. Wow. What are you gonna say about that, you know,

it's a crown seal. Oh. But it might be there, but it's probably gone by now. Well, extremely likely, but I mean, I have been informed from a reliable source, so to speak, that if I was to get close to it, then it might enhance my transformation or be detrimental to me.

However, there is a reasonable argument that I could theoretically track it using that ability, but either way, it could potentially be extremely dangerous for me specifically. So I could hold back a little bit. Maybe you guys scout ahead and just see how things are, but I'd have to be extra careful if this is the avenue we choose to follow.

Also, just a real quick one, a couple days ago at the party. Oh, do you want a sandwich? Oh yes, please! What's this one? Sorry, I had enough. No, I mean, if everyone else wants, I've finished mine by the way,

can I have another one? Ralph, would you like another sandwich? Oh yes, delectable. Just one minute. Clowman's. No, go ahead. I can't imagine it's tiny in his hand. Like his big paw.

Oh, there's like herring sandwiches. That one, on it. Macrol paste. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, don't worry about it, Rowan. It has, after all, been 25 seconds since someone last had a bite of sandwich. True, exactly. Exactly.

Yeah, exactly. Okay, so you know I- There's still a cappuccino left, if anyone's- Hmm? Unclaimed, is there? There we go. Oh no, I've got mine. I've got my one, see?

You know I have that, oh. Yeah, see, yours is good. Anyway. Anyway, so, I've got mine, I've got my ones here. Neither, oh, really good. Anyway. Anyway, so you know at the party I went missing for a little while. Yeah, you almost missed the, oh! I almost missed it by then. The reason was is because I was indisposed, so to speak.

You have bad tummy, isn't it? No, that was just you. Obsidious. Turns out, now this is a surprise to me and I'm sure to all of you, he managed to notice me casting a particular spell at the tournament, insane, so stealthy of me. Sorry, were you trying to make that subtle?

Were you trying to make it subtle? Because I thought you were trying to be really, really, really, really obvious with it. Everyone else saw that? From the other side of the field. Yes, yes. Well okay, but you know what to look for. So, obviously, no one else. No, yes. Okay, but you know what to look for, so. Yes.

No one else. No, it was very, it was really obvious. Dramatic. I don't think it was dramatic or obvious. Short eye catching. No. That he just applauded you. He, no, he identified it as, you know, the big thing.

Did you kiss? What? Well, because you pulled you away, you were indisposed, you were gone for a while. Oh my. He knows about, Oh, oh sorry. As in, Obsidius, son of the Duke,

the one who forgot us all. You're the one who forgot us all. Ah, what? Yes. You're going to have to use your words then, because you don't understand. Tom at the table can say it, and we can just say something.

No, that's exactly how I say it, as awkwardly as that. Okay. Duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh. So that, and he, I was indisposed, because he kind of threatened me. He what? You be quiet, calm, we're in a very secluded, obvious area. Did he lay hands on you?

So, well, he, yes, he, yes. What did you do? What did I do? Yeah, why did he threaten you? Did you talk mean to him? Because I hold the very thing that his father fought against. Oh no.

Exactly. I'm going to go and have a word with him. No, do not have a word with him. He does not threaten my Xanthius. Well, he didn't threaten your Xanthius. Anyway, he threatened the Crownsteel, the CS. Stop abbreviating, it's really weird. I haven't, I can't.

I'm going to the palace right now. No, you don't need to. Did he touch you? He had a hand on my shoulder. Right, that's threatening. Well, he also did use a spell on me, but to be fair, What spell did, what spell?

I made the mistake of trying to blackmail him. I made, it was a heated moment. Yes, yes! Yes! You didn't say that! What? I was about to go to the castle and look like an ice creep.

I know, look. This is why I think you must have done something. Look, it was a, oh, well I did! It was a heated moment, things happened, it was too quick, I was about to go to the castle and look like a nice prick. I know. This is why I think you must have done something. Look, it was a, oh, well I did it. It was a heated moment, things happened, it was too quick. I was panicked, I was scared. He's going to run around the sun. Do you know how to love? He's a dragon.

He's a dragon. I know, exactly. He knows that I can practice my religion here. I, I, I've orphaned it. What does this word mean? You do not canonically say, I bothered it. Morphe does not exist in the lexicon of Ulthaea. I panicked, I was scared, I was terrified,

I thought he was going to kill me. He had every right to, he had every right to. I'm sorry, you thought he was gonna kill you, so you decided to blackmail the dragon. You know what? In the heat of the moment, things happen. I'm spending a freight point. Oh.

I'm saying stuff a little bit quieter now. But okay, the good news is, I'm alive. But obviously he knows, he intends to keep it secret, but he is also researching this and a way to get it out of me, and is going to assist us in finding a proto-magi. Oh, that sounds great. Exactly, the only downside, he did cast a spell on me, sort of a snake-like thing around my neck,

you can't see it now, it fades into nothing, I presume, like, yeah. But he now is tracking me. What did you say? A lot of stuff happened, we kind of left the party. This was a while ago now. We left the party and then there was the sermon, I didn't feel like it was right then.

Could he hear it, hello? I don't believe, I think it was literally just, because I remember I did an arcana check on it. I think he only is able to sense irregularities in magic. I cannot cast that kind of spell anymore in the way that I used to, which yes, admittedly is good. Well, you could. anymore in the way that I used to, which yes, admittedly is good. But... Well, you could.

I could, it's just he would know about it. And what would he do if he found out? Yeah, what was the tone? Not great. It's kind of a... So if you do that again... He made a demand of me not to cast spells like that anymore in Ashen's Rest.

In. So it's nice to just keep it that way. Yes. Yes, but there might be a chance that in me going to the Ash Hills and encountering something like that, that might be considered an irregularity, and a black and red dragon would descend upon us

with the fiery flames of a bit. Well, why don't you tell him that you're going, because you're going on Lady Ambrose's quest, and then he'll know where you're going, so if there is an irregularity, because you're not gonna cast it again. Because you're not. No, I just, not in Ashen Thrust.

Xanthius. What? What were the exact words that he used as the terms? What I said. Be honest with me. I'm being honest. It was a couple days ago. It was, don't use spells like that in Ashen's Rest. And did he specifically say Ashen's Rest?

He actually did. I feel like it might have been implied, Samtheus, that you just shouldn't use it ever. No, yeah, I mean, obviously, but. Especially if it's making you worse. If he's tracking you, why would, he obviously is gonna track you wherever you go, not just in Ashen's Rest. I see this as a benefit.

I don't understand why you do. Well, if something goes wrong, I'm as scared of it as, well, as he is. It's a part of me, sure, but if something is to go wrong, then you have no way to defend yourself against me, except by obviously yourselves. But if something does happen to me, and it could well happen,

then at least Obsidius will be there to also stop me. So I think we should take him with us now. What, Obsidius? No, I'm worried that you're gonna turn against us. I'm not going to. You're not near the things. Yeah, I didn't know that could happen. That's brand new information, my friend.

What, you're gonna transform? Brand new to me as well. I know, I just don't mean. Are you gonna take us? We have a home. I don't intend to, I don't intend to. And I don't think I would. I don't think I would.

But you're toying with the idea. I'm not toying with it. Cheekily. I'm not toying with it. It's just from what people have said. Not in a sense, right? Well, I'm not, no, that's, I'm just saying, that's what he said. Don't do that. That's just what he said.

I'm not toying with it. You're finding loopholes, Xantheus. I'm not finding loopholes. You are. You are. He's raising an eyebrow every time he says it doesn't mean. I'm just trying to, I'm just telling you what was said to me. Xantheus, I think we don't want to run the risk

of losing you, as you are. Exactly. I don't want to lose you. And you saying these things make it feel like you don't feel like your life is precious. Because you're willing to throw it all away for this thing, this power. No, I...

It sounds like you are, you're willing to test it, to experiment with it, and we all care about you. You used it frivolously in a tournament. You kind of did. I lost a little bit of control, I admit. I, looking back now, I realize how stupid it was. In the moment, though, I felt it correct. I felt it right.

It's obviously having some effect on me and I'm aware of this now. I am trying to get more of a control of it than I had before. Do you need us to help you? If you notice something and it completely slips my mind, then absolutely bring it up to me. If something is worrying you,

if I do something that scares you, if you need to stand up to me, do so, I'm just warning you that that's a thing that is happening. Although Obsidius did say that this, the thing that's protecting it, the runic magic, is unusual. It's holding it back more than reasonably should. So I do have a little bit of a protection in that regard. So it might be acting differently with me than it would for someone else. But either way, he's now tracking me both to, I suppose, put a target on my back

in case anything goes wrong, but also as a protection for anyone else around him and me, around me, if something goes wrong. So for you guys, you should feel safer for it than scared of it. Does Duke Bignari know? No, no, no, if he knew, I mean you know what would happen. Just Obsidius. But what if he finds out?

Then I'm dead. Frankly, he would not be nearly so forgiving. We need to get this out of you, urgently. Well, that's hopefully what he will assist with. And I agree with Daisy, we should let Obsidius know if we're gonna go to the Ash Fountains. I intended to. If that was where we intended to go,

then I intended to let him know. He can follow me anyway, but I just wanted to forewarn him. I don't know about this. Going there that's gonna affect his Crown Steel? That seems like the worst thing that we could possibly do. But it might not. It's the only argument I have for that.

Maybe. It just trails off. But again, I could be extra careful. If I start to feel something strange, then I know what's ahead of us. And I can back out and retreat from it. And we can plan a different route. But I'm worried the decisions that are made in the heat of the moment aren't you making them. retreat from it, and we can plan a different route. But...

I'm worried the decisions that are made in the heat of the moment aren't you making them, and that you can rationally make these, gosh, I'm so smart, make these decisions now, ahead of time, but when it comes to the crown still, who's making the decision then, in the Ash Hills, when there's lots of it? Hopefully still...

Samthias. But... Well there's potentially lots of it, might just not be there anymore. Probably won't be there. Likely. There's always teams going there to uncover it, destroy it as best they can to get rid of it, but there could be some lingering threat there. You're always welcome to ask me for checks and if you guys want to know stuff,

there's things that you want to know. But Obsidius has said that he will assist me in... He is on the same belief that the current working solution is to open a, or find a, as yet unscavenged, proto-Magi-Vault. And I know, sounds ridiculous, they are hard to encounter and unlikely to find unscavenged or unlooted or whatever, but he will let me know the moment one comes about. And then we can go there and try to find a solution for this, hopefully.

Until then, I just need to be careful. Otherwise Obsidius will, like I said, descend on us with the flames and fires of the pits and burn us all to ash. You say all of us. Really just you though, right? Oh, ultimately. Okay, just want to make sure.

Like I said, this is a protection for you more than it is for me. Well... The thing is, we know and we've hidden it, essentially, from them by being your friend. So we are as much a part of this as you are, I think, and Obsidius will think that too,

because we are privy to this information, I won't lie to him. He already knows. I thought. Um, so we're already a part of this. I'm sorry. Well, in that case, I think we should all go to Obsidius and we should talk to him as a group.

Because if we're involved in it in some way, then I just want to make sure everyone's on the same page. Agreed. And if he knows things that we don't know about this stuff, then... I could ask him about the Ash Hills. Yeah. I mean, it's worth, yeah.

It's just, I'm sure Obsidius would want to keep his knowledge of it as secret as possible as well, especially from the duke and others. But I mean, yes, I'm happy to go speak to Obsidius and let him know our potential ideas, our plans. Yep. It's the only thing you haven't told us. No, that's it. So far.

What is said in the picnic remains in the picnic. The picnic is our safe space. No judgements are... Look around at all the traffic around us. You're a bit of traffic. I'm sorry, it just, there was so much happening between then and now. And there was so much table RP. There was too much table RP. There was too much happening. There was the whole sermon and the Tyria and the tree and...

But I mean, we did ask, didn't we? Didn't we ask you what happened at the party? You seemed distant and strange and we asked you. Yes, and then we ended the, and the episode started with, you've gone to bed, so it was like, oh. As I recall. That's not on me. I have still a very valid question from Ophelia. Santheus did somehow avoid talking about it.

Just not Tom's decision, I guess. He has to live with the consequences. Sure. Yeah. But I've talked to you now. I figured it would be best to tell you He has to live with the consequences. Sure. Um, yeah. Well, I've talked to you now. I figured it would be best to tell you when we were talking about what mission we were talking about anyway. But we can talk to Obsidius and try to get a full gauge on this

so you are all on the same understanding as us. So if we hadn't have come to the Bounty Board, would you have never have told us? No, I would have. Because when we were spoken about the, what, the moment we spoke about the Ash Hills, I would have told you. I didn't intend to hide this from you, not at all.

I was intending to tell you, it's just, there was a lot happening and people's focus was on different things at a time. Um... Okay, well, we know now. We have a goal. We have one of these big objectives ahead of us. Yes.

And we're kind of swaying towards helping Emberissa considering she seems like she really needs the help right now and urgently. But there is a crux in the plan. I would be slightly more, not indisposed, but if in certain situations I might have to retreat, so to speak.

But if you're comfortable, we can still go ahead with this plan to go and help Emberissa and head to the Ash Hills. If it's what everyone else thinks is the most important saving someone and obviously the bigger award is probably some other people's thinking but I believe that we can all make wise and sound decisions to ensure that nothing goes wrong with me. What do you think, Gruff? I'm rather conflicted, to be honest. I think, given this task, you know,

when I left Tremoro, my goal was to become a knight. I didn't envisage joining a group of strangers who would become friends, who would become my ward. I didn't envisage fighting in a knight's tournament. And now here we are, and I have this task. Find a place that has lost hope and restore it by sword, hand, and word. Bring me the story of triumph and proof indeed in heart.

I won't lie, the Umberista mission is not one that I thought would fulfill this goal, but there is a woman in the middle of this who perhaps has lost hope And needs help and a night that needs finding So if that's where we want to go that's where we go Okay, I Think we should talk to obsidious before we decide anything

I think we should talk to Obsidius before we decide anything. Because if he says, that's a stupid idea, don't go there. I'm kind of going to listen to the dragon who's saying, no, don't do that thing. And we can go and help someone else. But it feels like it's important to ask him if that's a really stupid thing to do. I'd also like to have a word. What a stupid thing to do. I'd also like to have a word.

Be light with your words, as if he was aggressive, it was out of fear, more than anything. An understandable fear. I, if I was him, well. How much did you wind him up? You did say that you tried to blackmail him. Better mind, I've been traveling with you for a while now. I got some army. Right.

Right, right, right. Um, but I don't blame him. I don't. I'd do the same if I was him. Don't worry. I have't. I'd do the same if I was him. Don't worry. I have my disappointments in you two. Oh, shit. Fucking blow?

Dad's mad at you. Brutal. I'm gonna sob into my triangle sandwich. So, as you guys finish up the last of your picnic throughout this conversation, what is next on the agenda? We can skip ahead, or if you would like to go and try and speak to him, you'll have to head up to the Ducal Palace and see what happens.

Get an appointment. Maybe get an appointment with him. Maybe get a private word with him. Do we also intend to speak to... Emberissa. Well, I guess Emberissa as well to say whether or not yet if we do accept this one. But there's also... Would you like the map?

The map's down here. Oh, the Ashram Rest map. Oh, right. The Sisters... Melodachta and... Melodachta? Benedictine. I just fused them together into one.

Sisters Melodachta. Sisters Melodachta, yeah. That's my ship name. Because they were heading off, I can't remember what direction they were going. No, they're staying in Kelskaris. Oh, they were getting to Kelskaris. Damesandre is the one who was going off in different directions.

Like, she was the one who was going to do it. But also, Malady also seems to know a little bit about Crownsteel. Could be a person of interest or somebody who might have knowledge that might be beneficial. Yeah, well, I think she was the one that told me that proximity could enhance the transformation or maybe it was Obsidius. I leave that to you.

But yeah, they are a source of information if you would like to go to it. They're staying here in Kelskaris. If everybody was saying to go see Obsidius. In Ashenrest. Yes, sorry, yeah, in Ashenrest, thank you. Now we could try to go see Obsidius. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. in Ashenrest, thank you. Now we could try to go see Obsidius? Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, you've got a few hours still of the day. You guys make your way to the Dominus Ignarum, heading up the slightly raised street that leads up to the Duke's Palace. You know, Ashenrest is returning to a semblance of normality. People are conducting their business as normal. The events of the Lamplighters Guild still lingering.

There's definitely still a few forlorn faces of people that maybe lost people in that time, but generally life is trying to get back to normal. When you make your way there, the duke's guards do recognize you enough to not be alarmed by your presence, but they still pay attention. And when you make your way to the front gate,

you would meet considerate Edath Orgrim, the dwarf. Very finely dressed, his golden, metallic protrusions, very neatly carved into elegant jewelry and studs into his skin. Ah, yes, hello. May I help you, adventurers? Oh, we were hoping to make an appointment with Obsidius, if he's available.

Lord Obsidius. Lord Obsidius. Is. Sorry. Busy, but I can inquire with him if he has time to meet with you. Yes, if possible, just let him know. It's a matter of urgency in terms of,

we're adding on an important mission for Emberissa. He writes all this down, important mission for Lady Emberissa. Oh! Lady Emberissa. It is quite, even it might sound jokey, it's a very stern look he gives you when he corrects you.

It's a very sort of like, lady Emberissa. He writes down, on urgent duty, he's like, very well, I will speak with Lord Obsidius, and I will send for a courier to your domicile to inform you of an appropriate meeting time. That may be today, it may be tomorrow, it may be in the future. I will have to inquire and see how urgent

Lord Obsidius concerns it. Oh, okay. Thank you, Lord, Duke, Eddath, Orgrim. Considerate. Considerate. Yeah, yeah. Orgrim. So sorry. He's humps. Considerate. Considerate. Yeah, yeah. All-Gren. So sorry.

He's humps. So sorry. Okay, well, appreciate you. Angrily. I think he might have used the piss-strinker on that note. Couple of piss-strinkers outside the, yeah. But yeah, he takes a note down. Is that all?

Do you have any other business at the Donnas? Well, depending on how that meeting goes, we might intend to have a meeting with Lady Embarissa as well. Yes, I will send word to her as well that you are inquiring. Very well. Okay. Good well. Okay.

Good day, citizens. Good day to you, saints and saints. Okay. Well, you're ready. Thank you, Considerate. Yes, thank you, young lady. I bough that one. And you think I'm a grumpy old windbag.

Bough is now canonically the name of a foolish jester that served one of the archdragons and people throughout Orphea use the term Borth-ditt to represent one of his foolish antics. Are you really cracking on this? I ain't gonna crack on it. Huge applause all around everyone, we did it. Borth-in.

Borth is a canonical character. What a good day. Borth Borthensen. Son of Borth. Son of Borth, a canonical character. What a good day. Borth Borthensen. Son of Borth. Son of Borth. A famous jester. A court jester for one of the Archdrakers. Borth Jorkensen.

No? Okay, too far? We'll get him next time. No. I will allow Borth Jorkensen. Or maybe a twin brother. What a great day. No, no, no, because now he can't have more. This is it now.

Okay, that's a lot. But that's it. Two in one. It's all in one character. And he died hundreds of years ago. Brutally. But he was known to be comedically inept. And yeah, he died in an accident of his own making.

Did he run down a wrestling ramp before? Why would he run down a wrestling ramp? It wasn't a wrestling ramp. He ran down a ramp to present, and he tripped and fell. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. It is used as a rather crude way of saying that someone, it's like saying someone fucked up. Who was dead? Oh, they both. I'm gonna need Fanner of Borth Jorkinson.

They're kind of weird. It's a whole thing. I need to know what he looks like. I think there's already artwork of a Borth Jorkinson. Can it just be Tom's face? Yeah. No, it's Zanthius's, it's someone else. Oh, it's not a mustache.

It's not Zanthius. So someone has drawn a Borth Jorkinson and it's Zantius' face but with a mustache. That is not the canonical. That's not the actual canonical Borth Jorkinson. I'm going to keep that. I'm keeping that in my little secret bank so I can reveal it, because maybe one day,

Borth Jorkinson will come up. Maybe the spirit of Borth Jorkinson. Maybe you will. Who knows? But I'm keeping that open. it's in, I close, I lock, the key is mine. I wonder if this is like when an old person uses like Gen X slang, not Gen X, Gen Z, Zuma slang and it's like, oh that's not cool anymore.

Now it's canonical, I'm not gonna say it anymore. Does that mean Skibbidi-Wuss can be a character? No, no. Right. So with that, yeah, you will be sent a courier if slash when Lord Obsidius wishes to meet with you, which is likely to happen, given the conversation that Xanthius has said, this is not me fobbing you off,

it's just, you can't, as generous citizens, you can't just walk up and be like, wanna talk to the prince? Hey, consider it real quick, can you just say Xanthius Oragon that says, I'm gonna cast a spell? And then he's immediately like, Where is he?

Don't worry, I've got a way to summon him. Where is he? I'm gonna steal magic. Blast it into the sky. Sure, I mean, that's one way to get his attention. Yeah. So with that, you still have plenty of time before the evening.

Anything else anybody would like to. We can just go, no, nothing really we want to do. We're just going to hang out and just chill. Can we start out actually having supplies that we need to camp comfortably? That's a very good idea. You will potentially be traveling. Can we do that?

I feel like we should do that. Yeah, so actually, how many days of travel is it to the place where it's? Where it went to the Ash Hills. Each hex. You have a map. Each hex is one day. Yep, hills and other terrain adds an extra half a day. So there's one across the bridge,

which is the Ruby Bridge. Southeast, that's another one, another one, along the broken road. Do we go through the Ashen Citadel? Like where do we actually say we're gonna meet? You choose where you're going, so those hexes, it's up to you. You don't know, you know that Sir Eldrack went to the Ashes.

Rough estimate. And then vanished. Yeah, well it's at least one, two, three. And we have to come back to four. It's four days to the Ashen Citadel. And that's like on the edge. We don't know if that's like... But that's like right next to the Ashen.

Five days, there and 10 days. 10 days. 10 days of rations. But we need enough to get back as well. We should get back. Yeah, okay, yeah. We could get, let's say 12. Let's say two months worth.

Two weeks. 20 days. 20 days. Two weeks. It could go wrong. Now the question I have for you is do you want to buy like kind of pre-done sort of day rations? They can last up to a week,

but they are not the most nice thing to eat. They're quite bland, it's like trail food and stuff like that. Or do you want to buy ingredients to try and cook and forage and things like that as you go? Because you will also, like when you rest, you'll be able to go and try and hunt game and things like that as you go? Because you will also, when you rest, you'll be able to go and try and hunt game and stuff like that as well.

I feel like we could half and half it. I could help hunt. There's not many, just remember, Animals, right? When you, the way I'm gonna do this, by the way, is when you take a long rest, each of you will have to expend an amount of rations or supplies,

otherwise you get no benefit from resting. And then the quality of your rest will determine on things like, what the weather is, do you have shelter, do you have bedrolls and things like that. If you don't, if you're just like, I sleep on rock out in the rain, you're not getting fucking anything back.

It's gonna suck hardcore. You're gonna have to make constitution checks, you're gonna get exhaustion, all of that stuff. So think about your traveling. We could follow the river-ish down, and then on the third day we'll still be by a river. Fishing. Fishing, right?

I can make a good fish stew. I'm good at fishing. Do you think there'd be good fish in the river there? I'd like to think I'm good at fishing. But do you think there'd be fish there? I don't know so much this area. You could certainly fish. It's a big enough river. It's a massive river.

There will be fish to catch. Might take a while, but you can definitely fish. So we could treat that like the halfway point, just in case we're running low on supplies or whatever. We might be able to forage something there three days in, and then obviously three days until we get back. So remember, hills do add extra time. Don't think we cross any major hills there.

And also as soon as you step off the road as well, the traveling rules that I'm using, it is harder to travel off roads, and there's more chance of encounters and things like that as well. So just factor those in. I am gonna be doing things like random encounters and stuff like that. They might be interesting, stuff like that, like they might be interesting,

they might be good, they might be bad, we don't know. But yeah, definitely think about things like supplies. You are not gonna have a town around for some time. So have a think about stuff. I've got a tarpaulin and a bedroll. I have a two person tent. I'm really bad at putting tents up. Can I share a tent?

I'm only small, I only take up a little amount of space. Two person tent fits two people, doesn't matter how big you canonically, but that also works for Rowan, in that he only occupies one person space in a tent. I should probably buy a tent. Let's go. I have a blanket. Ta'paulin is not gonna be the best, you know, to stay.

I remember from the first travels. You could also, like, if you wanted to really go to town, you could hire, like, a beast of burden and have a wagon. A wagon? It is significantly more. We could call him Rowan. We only have a Rowan.

That would be really confusing. It would be easy to remember for me. Well, for you it would be, but for us, if we call out for Rowan, you wouldn't know who we're talking to. If Rowan runs away, and we're shouting, Rowan, Rowan, come back, it would be very confusing for you.

Wait, you're talking to me? No, no, see, this is exactly the problem. We don't even have the thing yet. Right. And you're still, you're already, we can't call it Rowan is what I'm saying. Imagine if it was called Xanthias. Wouldn't that be confusing for you?

If the animal was called Xanthius, just like me, I'm Xanthius by the way, would that be confusing if we were both called Xanthius? No, because it's called Rowan. No, if we called it Xanthius instead of Rowan. Forget Rowan, not you. Why would you think that? No, forget that we called it Rowan. Not you. No, don't, no. Forget that we called it Rowan.

That, we, okay. That, Rowan the animal, that's gone. We get a separate one, that's called Xanthius. Is that confusing? Why did Rowan have to go? He didn't, he's still, Rowan's still, Xanthius is just here now. The animal Xanthius, the animal Xanthius. Hang on now. The animal's Xanthius, the animal's Xanthius.

Hang on, Daisy's got a hand up. Daisy? If we get a horse, can we name him Henry? What? Sure. Who's Henry? The horse. We should get a fine horse.

It has to be H for horse. We can get a pig. The horse. Pigs won't care very much. No, but I've heard that their blood is very close to human. No, no. Can't eat the pets. Four are fair, by the way.

Horses, quite rare, very expensive. Thunder beasts, thunder lizards and things like that are more common, which are the dinosaurs. Thunder lizard. Drakes and things like that are also very, very rare. They're more expensive. Beginning with the T. Thunderbeasts are very slow,

but they obviously just pull, like an ox and something like that. Oxens as well, also not very common. It's mainly. Thierry Henry, the Thunderlizard. Terence, Terence. Terence. Terence is a good name.

Terence is okay. All those in favor of calling the Rowan? Sorry, who? Calling the Rowan, did you say? Them Rowan? Wait, are we getting a Thunder Lizard now? I'd love to get a Thunder Lizard. Kim looks how I feel.

You want a Thunder Lizard, Grog? That would help. It would lighten the load. It would lighten the load. You can probably speed up. We need to know how much a thunder lizard costs. Yes, I'll go find out. If we approve the cost of a thunder lizard, Terrence.

What's the budget? This is like actually being Kim in real life and charge for the high rollers budget. I'm really stressed out right now. This is not escapism for me. I know where it is. If someone says VAT, I'm going to scream. No, don't, don't.

Excuse me, do you charge VAT or? Ah! Ah! Ah! Um, it's DH, dragon annual tax. Ah! Dat tax. Dat. Dat.

Um, I will go to a vendor of thunder lizards. I'll ask around. I'll ask around for beasts of burden. So. By grabbing people that have crowds, do you have any thunder lizards? Inside action rest, no vendors for beasts of burden. So, inside Ashenrest, no vendors for beasts of burden. There is a large stable and farm outside of Ashenrest that does sell pack lizards and things like that as well. They have not too much, it's mainly for wagons and horses.

They have a few riding drakes, which are like riding horses. In terms of like an actual beast that could pull a wagon or a carriage, they have a very kind of docile, dopey looking, not quite a stegosaurus. It's the size of a stegosaurus, but it doesn't have the spikes or anything like that. It doesn't have any armored plates.

It's just like this kind of big dopey, like a big armadillo. Like a Komodo dragon, but like wax. No, a Kodo. The tauren Kodo. Yeah, like a Kodo. Yeah, kind of big, dopey, like a big armadillo. Like a Komodo dragon, but like waxed. No, a Kodo. A taurine Kodo. Yeah, like a Kodo. Yeah, kind of like that. With no spines or anything like that. Kind of dopey, they're vegetarian. They just eat grasses and plants and stuff like that,

but they normally have feed bags because they have to eat a lot. They have teeth, but they're like big, flat teeth. They're like crunchy teeth. They eat a lot of vegetables and stuff like that. You will need to feed them as you go as well. Like, exclusively vegetables or? They don't eat meat, they're not, they're vegetarian.

What's it, herbivore? Herbivore. They will cost you 50 gold for one of those. Per day? No, no, no, it's starting to buy permanently. But then you will need to feed it and house it. And also keep it. You run up to sellit when you come back.

You might get to, like the owner is a short old gnome. So I go outside of Ashenrest to. It's just outside the city. It's like a little farm on the outside, on the road. And it's like a, yeah, like a little chocobo farm. And there's a little old gnome called Terrence Gnome. No, that's the name of the lizard. Skibbity Riz.

That's a very good name. No! No! I will strike you, Riz. Oh, Skibby. His name is Nadir. Skibby Riz. He runs Nadir's farm.

Hello, Nadir. Hello there, youngin'. Hey! Run all this way. You're looking to buy one of me pack lizards? Yes, we're looking for one that can carry a load of supplies for at least 10 days. Well, I got this old fella here you can buy. Oh, I love him. 50 gold. And if you want, I'll buy him back from you when you come back.

But it won't be at 50 gold, I'll tell you that. I'll be paying a lot less. How much less? Well, probably 25 gold. Do you want to see I'll buy him back from you when you come back, but it won't be at 50 gold I'll tell you that I'll be paying a lot less how much less Well, probably 25 gold. Do you have a pen? I? Got a piece of it. It got like a charcoal stick. That'll do okay. I start writing this down on my wrist Oh, okay information like 50 gold. We'll set it back. It's my phone called He will also sell you like feet and things like that. If you don't want to sell it. Yeah, how much?

One gold a day for the feet. Oh boy. So I need 10 gold in order to make sure he's fine. Is it a he? Is it a boy? Yeah, it's a boy. Boy. Boylism.

Terrence is a good name though. I don't name him. I sell him. Oh good, Terrence. Terrence? I say Terrence loudly and good name. I don't name him. I sell him. Oh, good. Terrence. Terrence? I say Terrence loudly and see how this drag, this lizard reacts. Make a just general charisma check. Not animal handling? Oh yeah, you can do animal handling.

The rare animal handling check. Yeah. I'm great animal handling. Plus two. I'm plus seven. Holy shit. It's good I have to handle myself. Nine. I'm great animal, I'm plus seven. Holy shit. It's good I have to handle myself. Nine.

He doesn't like Terence. Terence. He does not like Terence. He just like turns away. He hates Terence. Turns away, he starts munching the grass. Doesn't really. Rowan?

No. Hmm. Not even a check for that one. Yeah, I'm not having him called Rowan. I'm just DM Fiat in there. I'm like, nope, that's too confusing for me. Try some more names. Nope, that's all I have.

Theodore. Theodore. Make an animal handling check. Five. We're really gonna like that one. He does not like Theodore Yeah, he shits. That's what he thinks of that. We're gonna find a good name for you, buddy.

I'll figure this out. Okay, I don't have the money. Can I have another? Why are you here? Why are you wasting my time? We're gonna come back. Yeah, too thin up there? Where?

Oh, me? Yeah, why you bringing him? Is that because I'm tall? Yeah, you're wasting my time. Oh. Sweet goodness, boy. I got things to do. I'm sorry.

Good. I'll see you. If you've got business, you're coming back. I'm sorry. Good. I'll see you. If you've got business, you come back. I'm gonna mess up. I should have come with somebody. Yeah. You come to a business man without money. You ask how much his products are, and you're like,

oh, but I'm not gonna buy any of them. I'm just browsing. I was just so excited to get our first beast of burden. Well you go get some money and then you can have a beast of burden. Okay, what if he's gone? Look at him. He looks around and nobody else is like nearby.

He must be snapped up. You better hurry, he might get snapped up. Go get that gold quick. I'll be back. All right. Na-dee-um, goodbye. Na-dee-um, that's my name. There it is.

Mark forgot for a second. Mark's making a note, because he now has to add an extra location to Ash and Rest. Oh my god, that really got me, that insult. I don't know why, but that just really got me. Well, I figured, because he's a gnome, he's so small, he's like, he's a freak. No, no, no, no, no, no. Essek Loland but that just really got me. Well I figured because he's a gnome, he's so small, he's like, you're crazy.

Essek Lolan, it just really got me. Essek Highlander, I guess. Not enough air up there. Yeah. All right, yep. I didn't take any money. But he doesn't sell wagons or anything like that, but he just has the animals.

How did it go? Did you find? Really bad. Really bad? Well, we have one, but I didn't take any money. It's 25 gold. I've got it all on my wrist. That is extremely smudged from sweat.

And you rubbed it against your arms as you were running. I had an itch. Okay, well what did it say? 25 gold for the lizard. He's wonderful, you're going to love him. He doesn't like terrorists. 25 gold for the lizard. Okay, I'll do that. He's wonderful, you're gonna love him. Let's go there with 25 gold then, shall we? I think it was 25.

I will go there with exactly 25 gold pieces, no more, no less. And that's for the fiend as well? It might have been 50. 50? That's a very different amount of runes. I think that's a smudge there. As in like 25 on the way out, 25 on the way back? No, I think it's 50. Right.

But we can sell him back. For 25. He said it would be much less. To sell back? Also, it's a gold a day for feed. So, 10 days is 10 gold. And what are they just out of interest? Just in case we run out. Feed.

They said there's a bag. Right. That says feed on it, so I don't know. That's pretty self explanatory then. Right, did they sell wagons as well? No, but I figured we could just load them up with bags. Bridles or saddles for loading up the bags. Yeah, did it have like a pack or?

Oh yeah, he'll do like saddles and bridles and stuff like that, yeah, they'll be that included. But an actual wagon you'd probably have to go to like the Carpentry Guild, which there is one here. Like you go to the Woodworkers Guild and they'll probably have something. Right, I'll go to this, where is it, what is it called? Nadir is the vendor, they're a gnome,

and they're just south. Just out the south gate, yeah. Just that way. So they're actually not far away from us? No, not from the inn. Why did we send him on his own? I got excited. Look, he did great work.

You did, yeah. Do you wanna come back and get him? Yeah. Yeah? I wanna come over to you. Did he look, you know, strong, sturdy, healthy? So strong. Yeah?

So healthy. Okay. He doesn't like Terrence or Rowan, so we need a new name. Oh, you know we didn't like it. Because I said it to him, and he... Did you say it, or did you shout it? For Rowan, he poked.

Shh. That's a bad sign, I think. For Terrence, he just kinda snorted at me. So we're off on a bad foot. But he's a nice guy and I think in time, he'll learn to love me. Oh, look at that one. There's the way he turned it again.

I said what? He said he pooped. For some reason, that really caught me. He started my way. Oh, God. It was just the boop. It was like. We're rolling here?

Right. Oh, that just got me the right way. I've done some quick planning on various things. Wait, so save me having a fully role play. Yeah. Because I'm going to die. 50 gold to buy the beast, the lizard, the pack lizard, the thunder lizard.

So Gruff, you can find out that he's a herbivore, but he needs to consume a lot of food, so you can leave him during a long rest, as long as you've got areas of grassland or flowers and things like that, he can graze, but you also probably will need some feed of vegetables and more nutritious and substantial food as well.

You probably don't need a day, every day of travel, but he'll probably need a little bit to go in with the grazing. And if you go to an area where he can't graze, he needs that food every day. How strong and sturdy does he look? He make a animal hand look check to see what you know. Very little.

Yeah, anyone can make this. 10. 10? That's with a plus seven. Wow. 16. 16? With a minus one.

Between the two of you, I mean you've worked around Farms, Anthea, so you've seen like Beast of Burning before and stuff like that. He looks pretty good, like is he like, this is a classic Beast of Burden. This is not gonna win any races. He's probably not gonna do well if you get into a fight. Like, he'll, most of the Thunder Lizards that you know,

they're pretty docile and dopey. Like, unless they're physically attacked, they just sort of stop. Unless they're being goaded to move, they'll just do nothing. They'll just graze and be happy to just sit in the sun. So yeah. Slaps top of thunder.

Yeah, if you goad them, they'll move. And if they're attacked, they'll try and defend themselves, but they're normally quite defensive. They'll just only have fight to defend themselves. But he looks pretty strong, he looks pretty healthy, doesn't look sick or anything like that. This isn't like a scam. You don't think that he's trying to sell you off

some like dodgy old, maybe he's a bit older than, he's not in his prime this lizard, he's a bit older. Isn't he great? No, he is, he's, yeah, looks, I know. The other thing I'll tell you now, just to save some time, a covered wagon or carriage more like, like a kind of covered wagon, will cost you about 200 gold, like, buy.

Like, and again, you can do the same thing, if you bring it back in good condition, a kind of covered wagon will cost you about 200 gold to buy. And again, you can do the same thing. If you bring it back in good condition, they'll buy it back off you, depending on how good the condition is. They don't have any here. You can buy one at the Carpentry Guild, just not at Nadir's.

Nadir doesn't sell them on the stable. But the Carpentry Guild has some basic covered wagons that you could buy. The covered wagon, you can sleep in it. Four of you can sleep inside it, and it's pretty good. It's quite tight with four people, but you can sleep in it, and it's covered. It's sheltered from the wind, the rain, that sort of thing.

Obviously, it is made of wood. It can be damaged, it can be destroyed. Could be crown-stealed. Yeah, it does slow, so because you can just move in it, it doesn't slow or affect your movement. You can't move faster with it, but you also don't move slower because it's a very consistent rate of travel.

You just have to keep in mind that like, yeah, both the lizard and the carriage, if you get into a random encounter, or if you, I don't know, you need to cross a ravine or something like that, you might not be able to take it with you. Sure. Right? So just those kind of factors, keep in mind. It also has like storage on the outside, so it has like trunks and things like that you might not be able to take it with you, right? So just those kind of factors keep in mind.

It also has like storage on the outside, so it has like trunks and things like that for you to put additional equipment in so you're not carrying it yourself. But again, if you're separated from it or you're not with it, you can't access anything that's stored in the wagon, right? This is more of a game mechanics question, I guess.

Yeah, sure, yeah, that's good though. I wanna talk about that stuff as well. If we do literally walk the entire way ourselves, aside from camping and stuff, would we get levels of exhaustion more than we were today? So we're gonna use the same travel rules I think we used before. So the idea of the way that travel will work

is you pick, there's four roles, you have the guide, the scout, the lookout, and the quartermaster. You assign who's gonna be leading it, who's gonna be the guide, who's gonna be each of those roles. And then on an overland journey, the guide makes a check.

If you succeed, you travel X amount of days before you have an event. And the higher the check, the more days you get to progress without any problems. When you have an event, one of the other roles will maybe have to decide what to do, depending on what I roll. That might be a random encounter,

it might be a good encounter, it might be a shortcut or something like that. You make a check, if you pass the check, generally you do the thing okay. If you fail the check, there's normally a consequence. Every day that you travel and the events that you get basically cost stamina and then at the end of the journey, you make one constitution saving throw

with the DC based on how much stamina it took to get there. And if you fail that, then you get X amount of exhaustion levels and stuff, right? Okay, so it would be pretty beneficial then to have those wagons do all the walking for us then. Yeah, well what I would say with a wagon is that would basically make it, so if you were say camping out,

because also I'm gonna roll for like weather and stuff like that as well, if you were camping out and you had like no tents and like no shelter or anything like that, and you camp out like for a night, I'm gonna add extra exhaustion checks. I'm gonna add more to your exhaustion as you're traveling. If you're inside the wagon,

you might not even need to make a check to just get a normal night's rest. You can still make checks to try and improve morale and have food, and that might give you boons and benefits and stuff like that as well. Think of it as when you take these rests, they should be impactful, right? But you're not necessarily gonna be,

we're not gonna be doing that check every night, for example. We'll probably only do it after an event or something like that. Cool. Okay. Yeah. Well, I think for what is potentially like... It's quite a big journey.

Could theoretically be seven weeks out, seven days out, seven days back, like at most, maybe. Also, we could stay out and like do these bounties. Yeah. And, or move to another area. So it makes sense to have like a full Yeah. And or move to another area. So it makes sense to have like a full thing. And I guess if there's, is there stuff we could do

to ensure that this beast, as yet unnamed, doesn't just run away? It's unlikely he will run away unless he's directly attacked. Okay. He's not just gonna run off because like you forgot to like hitch him to something or something like that. Or if you don't feed him, it's the kind of thing of like, if you don't feed him, he'll just wander off to go find food.

Because his instincts will take him. So if we left him at the edge of Ash Hills? These beasts are like trained, where basically it's like elephants and stuff. Like if you put a rope around him and put it around a tree, he'll just be like, well, I can't move, even though he could probably pull it over.

He'll just be like, I gotta stay here. That's me now. Yeah, unless he's attacked, in which case he'll just be like, well, I can't move. Even though he can probably pull it over. He'll just be like, I gotta stay here. That's who I am now. Yeah, unless he's attacked, in which case he'll just naturally strike. Extremely docile. Yeah, they're very docile, these creatures. Okay, that's cool. I've got a name suggestion.

Do you wanna try out some names to see if they like it? Workshop it, aye, yeah. You didn't workshop it as a name? Workshop it is a good name. That is good, yes. I'm traveling with morons. What about Reese? Make an animal handling check for me.

Reese. Jesus Christ, that is a 10. 10, no, no real reaction. What about beef? Make an animal handling check. If you say it in character near the creature, I want to see if it reacts. Oh, seven.

Has anyone else got any suggestions? Yes? Daffod? No. I'm going to veto that one. I'm going to veto that one immediately. Too close to Daffod who we know. What about Rodri?

Rodri? Make an animal handling check. That What about Rodri? Rodri? Rodri. Make an ammo hunting check. That's even Rodri. That's even Rodri. Natural 20, plus seven, 27. Like you see the creatures' little ears

kind of move around, and it kind of picks up its head when it hears the name Rodri. As in Rodri. And it moves over to Gruff. R-H-O-D-R-I. R-H-O-D-R-Y. It comes over, there's like a little sort of like fence and it like plods over towards you.

And that kind of snuffs like looking towards you. I think that might be the one. Aren't you a good boy, oh eh? Roger E. Like rubs its like big, big Jurassic Park style like Triceratops kind of face. You're gonna be on your friend. Okay, I think it's Rogerie. I think this one.

Rogerie, I'm sorry you didn't get it. It's just beautiful. I love him. Yeah. Rogerie, I'm sorry I got your name wrong. Yeah, just kind of makes these huffing kind of like, being a Ramesses. I've got a finger in his nostril.

It's like my finger's the same size as his nostril. Anyway, let's... You've got... Let's pay 50 plus, let's say... What was it? Ten days worth of feed or more? How... How long is this... Well, let's see. Looking at the map, which is available on the Discord or the Wiki. We can see on the screen right now. Or you can see on the screen right now.

Or you can see on the screen right now for podcast listeners. You are so fucking welcome. You can head south from Ashen Rest, southeast across, that's two. You have to head south from Ashen Rest by the lake, because that's where the gate is. If we decide to go south again,

we'll be by the river for foraging, or we can stay on the Broken Road even more. But to actually get to the ash hills, we would do at the very minimum one, two, three, through the Ashen Citadel, another one, five, and then six to actually be in the ash hills. So 12. I think we should stay by the river if that is good. 20 days feed, please.

20 gold. So 70 gold fee, please. 20 gold. So 70 gold up front for lizard and feed. And then are you going to buy a wagon? Yeah, we'll get the wagon. 200 gold for the wagon. I'm doing the math, don't worry. We should get some locks from the blacksmith guild. Locks.

Oh, what's a secure? Locked out wagon. Our cargon. Yes. Unless the wagon comes with it. You can, but no, it doesn't come with locks, so you're gonna have to buy some. It's just like storage containers, but yeah, you can buy a couple. How many do you want?

There's enough like for two, like drawers basically that you can put on the wagon. So. The main door into the wagon. Oh, you want one for the door as well? Or do you want one for the little side bats? Oh, yeah, I guess they're on the outside, aren't they? Yeah, they're on the outside, yeah.

How many to cover all of them? 30 gold. Locks are kind of expensive, because they're tricky to make. We have 30 gold, Gruffydd, for the locks. It's priceless if we lose everything. Yes, we do. All right, so currently you're at 300 gold total. Thank you.

How are the blacksmiths doing now, post-Lamblighters? Yes. You would actually, I tell you what, you meet a dwarven figure, a dwarven man that you met before, Grayson, who is the one that you actually nearly had that fight with. And he's sort of like working with a bunch of the blacksmiths when you pop over and you start asking these questions.

He's just like, we're doing all right, not too bad. Just trying to recover. It's nice that the lamp lighters are out of business. They've got less sway on the duke, so we've managed to claw back some things. But we're also quite happy with where we are now, trying to make up to it. Yeah, I figured it might be good for the other guilds.

Yeah, it's been all right, not too bad. Less of a monopoly. Yep, yeah, we're gonna be replacing all of their lights. We're gonna be replacing them with old school oil lancets and things like that. With some nice metal casings, I'm sure. Exactly that, yeah, exactly that. And the woodworkers are providing the posts

and things like that, so we're teaming up on this one. Do these come with keys, because I've locked this one to my finger. Yeah. Shhh. Don't know how you did that. You could literally just take it off. Oh yeah. Yeah.

But yeah, they give you keys. It would be like probably, yeah, like one key for the door and then one key for both of the side containers. Thank you. Inside, the wagon isn't furnished, but it's large space inside. And also two people can ride on it

while it's being pulled as well. So you can have two people ride, set up on the riding thing. At least one person has to ride it to control the, to control Rodri. Fucking good food for us, so. Natural 20 days, man. 20 days you'll be out there, three meals a day, I presume, we'll be having three meals a day?

Yeah, likely. I mean, we also, like I said, we can be having three meals a day? Yeah, likely. I mean, also, like I said, we can scourge along the way. We can stay by the river to potentially get some more fish. We know that Gruff makes some great fish meals. Yes, and me and Gruff are also well-traveled, and I'm used to going and finding my own food out and about. Okay, what about you, affiliate? Will you need some additional provisions?

Uh, I could probably find some from some beasts, some animals around, oh, where we hunted before. Yeah, well, it's worth knowing, around the Ash Hills, the entire area is kind of Dead there's I mean not I could fill up a skin. I have my water skin. Okay, it's just Don't touch Ophelia's watch skin. Yes, do not ever it's been very empty the last Two three. I just don't want to accidentally try and take a drink of water and it know me water Well Well what if you like it? I don't think that's possible. That could be.

Two things, mechanics thing, traveling along the road is always better because it's easier, you don't have to make certain checks, it's automatic successes on certain things. There are still chances for like encounters and stuff like that. When you come off the road, it's a bit trickier, you have to make checks and there's more chances

for encounters and stuff like that. My second question, and just before we go to break, is how does Ophelia plan on filling said water skin? Uh. With blood. Take some kind of animal, with some blood in it, maybe a pig or a hog. Okay, so go and try and find some livestock

and gut that and drain it of blood. String it from a tree, a hog. Okay, so go and try and find some livestock and gut that and drain it of blood. String it from a tree, hang it upside down, stick it back, hold a bottle underneath. You're just gonna stand there. You're just gonna stand there. Rogerie, no! Rogerie, although he's probably,

no, he's very filling. He could probably lose a couple, you could probably add a little nibble. Just take a little force on it. He's not gonna lose that much. Yeah, it's... Fosset, little glass. He's the nibble. Just take a little force on it. Don't wanna lose that much. Yeah. A little faucet, a little glass. He's the blood boy. Would you be able to look gruff in the eye?

Seeing gruff bonding with this animal? Could you do that? Bonds are very strong, yes. With that, I'll let you have a think about that. We are gonna take our break, because it is time, it's actually overtime, but we're gonna take a break here. We will see you in five minutes, everybody.

Bye. We'll be back, try and get back at ASAP, but yeah, we'll carry on in part two. Bye-bye. Hell yeah, see you in a bit. Bye. Bye-bye. See you next time. Bye. Hey, do you like role-playing games?

Well, you should check out Mystery Quest. It's an actual play podcast where we focus on all kinds of indie TTRPGs with a rolling cast of special guests. You can find us anywhere where you get your podcasts. I'll see you there.