High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #46 | What Remains Behind (Part 1)

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

The party look upon their gruesome work as they escape from the Heart of Dharuunax! We're now using the 2024 edition of D&D 5e! You can support us on patreon/twitch/youtube to gain access to our update video talking about our thoughts on the new system and the changes you will see in our game! _______________ Boost your Charisma with some HR merch! https://highrollersdnd.teemill.com/ Add official High Rollers Minis to your TTRPG collection here: https://only-games.co/collections/high-rollers Bless your table with the Clever Toad Dice Set: https://dispeldice.com/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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please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Bet MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Welcome back everybody, it's 2025! 2025! Can you believe it, it's 2025. 2025! Wow! 2025! Wow! Can you believe it? It's 2025.

2025. 2025 years since the event. Since the birth of Jesus. Praise him. Welcome back everybody. This is who we are now. We're now a Christian Dungeons and Dragons channel. No swearing.

I've been reborn again. No, that's re. You're very faithful. That's actually re, reborn. Reborn. Reborn. It'm being reborn again. No, that's Ree. That's actually Ree. Ree-born. I'm reborn. Ree-born. It's in the name. It's in the name. I renounce my faith. May Kim Richards learn it now. There can't be a God if Kim Richards exists.

It literally doesn't exist. No Katie this week. She's unfortunately not feeling very well. We were supposed to have everybody back today. We were going to have everybody back to kick it all off, but yeah, unfortunately got very sick coming back from Scotland, so was unable to join us, which is very sad. So please send all your well wishes to Katie. Get better nice and soon.

We are jumping back in. It's a full-on old fair, baby. Today is the official, we are officially switching over to the new 2024 D&D rules. It probably won't be, what? Sorry, I farted. Oh. I thought like I said something controversial

and you were like, whoa! I wanted to say wow, but it came out just, whoa, whoa, whoa. I almost threw up on stream, which as a reminder, is my like, New Year's resolution. Wow. New Year's resolution? Yeah.

I, it's my long time Twitch dream to throw up on stream. Should I buy a bucket or something? Oh my god. It's either that or die on stream. I always had that, I bagsy'd that one, so yeah. As you can see, it's gonna be a classic year of Hyrule's chaos. No, we are switching over to the 24 D&D rules.

We're not gonna talk about it too much. It probably isn't gonna come up too much today. I think today's gonna be a bit of a sort of, you know, catching up and finalizing some story bits and things like that. But we are gonna have a members video. We just recorded this before this episode, where we're gonna go over all of the changes

in a bit more detail, talk a little bit about the nitty gritty stuff that's changed, our thoughts on stuff, and things like that. We've not been paid to move over to 2024 rules. We are doing it because I think that in general, they are a bit better. They're like a patch notes, it's like having a patched game.

It just is a bit better. It's a bit more balanced and stuff like that. A lot of it, we're not gonna worry about. It's mainly like the classes and the new spells and stuff like that. So if you're watching and you're worried like, oh, I don't know what the new rules, you're not gonna need to worry about it.

It'll all get explained. Generally speaking, the characters are still, well the characters are identical. Exactly the same. But mechanically there are some very, very small changes that shouldn't affect too much and we'll go over them as they come up. Apart from Tom, he's totally different.

Apart from me, who is now. He's got all the new spells. He's a goblin now. Yeah, I am now a goblin. A fighter. I'm not even called Xanthius anymore. He died off screen. Can you imagine?

We come back after a four week break and we're like, yes, Xanthius is dead, he died off screen. Crap, still poisoning. He's just dead. He's just dead. Also, we're now playing Call of Cthulhu. Yeah, it'll be a bit of a change though. So it's not too much to worry about, please don't worry. Likewise, if you don't like the new rules, that's fine.

That's okay. I think they're better. We all think they're better. But that's all right. If you don't agree, that's fine. Majority better. Yeah, majority better. Yeah, true, it's majority better. And the ones that aren't better, I'm not gonna use.

Exactly, everybody's gonna brew the rest. The beauty of it, so don't worry about it, it's still gonna be the same old classic high rollers, Mark Hulme's D&D that y'all love, so. Apart from Xanthus, he's dead. He's dead, so dead. He's long dead. Long, long dead, yeah.

But with that, I don't have anything else to really mention apart from all the usual, please don't forget, if you go and become a sub-op on Twitch, you become a YouTube member, you go to the Patreon, all the brilliant ways to support us. You get access to a ton of stuff, like early access to the videos and things like that, and podcasts, all of that kind of good stuff.

Link up to Discord, you get access to a new channel where all of those get posted. There you go. Access everywhere on Discord. And it massively helps us as well, like having that sort of regular support and income get posted. There you go. Access everywhere on Discord. And it massively helps us as well, like having that sort of regular support and income as well. Also don't forget to leave a review on things like the podcast.

Yeah. Do all the usual stuff. I read them all. I don't often talk about it, but it's a nice thing to remind people to do because it really does help us. Same with like spreading word of mouth as well. Tell your mates it's a great time to jump in

and catch back up with your favorite D&D pounds. That's us. That's us. That's us, by the way. Cool, with that, if everybody's good, we will run the intro and get cracking. Get cracking. Get cracking. Cracking cheese, grommet.

Cracking rum. Because we're playing Call of Cthulhu now. Yeah, exactly. No, we're not. Run the intro, thanks Sam. Enjoy. No, we're not. Running intro, thanks Sam. ["The Star-Spangled Banner"] Hello and welcome back to Ulthaya, the Dragon Empire. Approximately ten days ago, our party of heroes set out from Ash and Rest on a quest for Lady

Emberissa, Red Dragon noble and daughter of Duke Ignarius. Their quest was to seek out a missing knight of the realm, Ser Eldrake Ignis, who had travelled to a place called the Ash Hills in search of a lost relic, a magical shield called the Heart Warden. Their adventure saw them travelling across the landscape of Kul'dra into the magically blighted Ash Hills. Along the way, they encountered a strange cult called the Reclaimers, who revered the corrupted metal crownsteel and had taken prisoner two servants of the Green Dragon noble Lady Verrethira, who had come to the hills to try and heal its strange sickness. The party, along with these new companions Penelope and Baranth,

journeyed on and investigated a mine where they had last seen Ser Eldrake. One of the mine's owners was revealed to be a cultist of Belayne, the hungering worm, and nearly killed Rowan. However, by connecting with some mysterious power, Rowan survived and gained insight that led the party to Sir Eldrach's location and the heart of the Reclaimer cult, a vast underground lake in which a massive pile of crown steel had been collected. The party assaulted this base, fighting the cult members there, as well as a crown steel corrupted Sir Eldrach, who had been forced to consume the magical enhancing metal. During this battle,

Xanthius' Oregon was also drawn to the strange eldritch material and temporarily lost control as well, but with encouragement from Daisy and Gruffydd, was pulled away from its madness. With the aid of the Green Dragon Lady Verethera, the party were able to win the day, subduing Ser Eldritch and defeating the Reclaimers, but now many matters still remain unresolved. You stand in the heart of Darunex, this fortified island on this vast underground lake. The only light coming from these dull magical spheres scattered across the island and lanterns left discarded,

casting everything in half-light and shadow. At your feet, slumbering, thanks to the effect of Lady Verithera's powerful magic, is Ser Eldrach. Still clad in his full knightly armour but with one arm, the gross mutated appendage laying on the floor next to him. There are still traces of crownsteel corruption on Ser Eldrake. One of his dragonborn horns is far too jagged and twisted. Black lined with red and gold. You can see his eyes are closed, but you remember they bore the same sort of colorations as well. Lady Verithera in her immense green draconic form, still decorated with jewelry and bones,

bone necklaces and charms, wooden bracelets and things like that, hovers over him watching him cautiously but also protectively. Penelope at her side, the small little goblin druid, attempting, you know, looking after him, maybe perhaps bandaging the wound where the arm had been severed and attending to him in that regard. The rest of you stand scattered around this previous battlefield. Gruffydd and Daisy stand to the side of the Great Pool where this large pile of crown still remains, Xanthius holding on to the both of you,

off to the side. Ophelia, you were the one to sever that mutated arm from Ser Eldrach, and you now stand, I believe, with Rowan nearby, obscene this scene, as it lays before you, and scattered around are the corpses of the Reclaimer Cult. Not all of them dead, some of them entrapped in vines and now slumbering peacefully, entrapped there

by Lady Verethira's draconic magic once she freed her from her imprisonment. That is where we stand currently. Boy howdy. Boy howdy. Boy howdy. The vast underground lake, you know, because you had seen this, you had scouted it out previously. You are on this fortified island

and there are like stone walls and barricades and things like that around it. But you do remember seeing off in the distance in the sort of northeastern corner of the lake, there was some sort of north-eastern corner of the lake, there was some sort of wooden platform with ladders leading up to some sort of entrance above, as well. As the way you had come here had been

through these underground rivers that you had been following, and it was very tight, you did have the water breathing spell had been cast upon you by Gruffydd, but going back that way is going to be significantly difficult. Especially with the people that you've rescued here. Not really knowing what condition Ser Eldrach is in, where his mind might rest.

But it may also be pressing matters for you to deal with currently. We will roll fate, as it is, you know, beginning of an adventure. Hashtag do you knew me. So that is a D6 from everybody, this is a, anybody knew this is a custom thing we do here. It gives the players and myself a pool of points to spend on cool things.

Let's start with Tom, what did you get Tom? I rolled a two. That is a dice. Which stands for 20, Tom? I rolled a two, which stands for 2025. For me. A dice for me. Great. Rhiannon? Two.

A dice for me. I rolled a cinco. A cinco. Cinco de Mayo. That's five from 2025. Did you roll a zero? I rolled a five. Yay! It's a dice? I rolled a five. Yay!

I rolled a zero. For you, 2255. Oh my God. Oh, 101. That's a dice for me. So three for you. Three for bad fate, two for good fate. Swap them around, please.

Swap them around, you psychopath. Wow. You nasty little boy. I don't like things to be the same. My brain wants things to be. I don't like things to be the same. My brain wants things to be different. My brain needs things to be the same. I hate change. Okay, so, got some faith.

I hand it over to one of you. Is there anybody who has any pressing business or things that they wish to attend to immediately? I will make a point. You have not had a time for a long rest or anything like that. You are in the state you are in post battle. However, two levels higher.

You are two levels higher. I feel stronger. I think we should start with Xanthias, Gruff and Daisy. Okay, well for Xanthias specifically, I think he has just come out of a haze. The last 30 minutes or whatever, he was someone else trapped in his own body, watching in on this hazy, blurry vision

of the things that was happening in that moment. And almost like Gruff and Daisy shaking him out of him, out of that, it's like ice down his spine. Like his entire body suddenly feeling this cold and this horrible feeling of realizing the power that is now coursing through him horrible feeling of realizing the power that is now coursing through him and almost wanting to eject it in some way, reject it from himself.

When you think of that, Xanthius, because you did consume a piece of crown steel in that haze, and your body is flooded with this burning power. You cannot be frightened. You are immune to any sort of frightening effect or anything that would frighten you. And that feeling of greatness is in heart.

Like any kind of feelings you have of power or strength, the crown still is in a narcotic-esque way, is enhancing that. Now it's not, you're not undermined control, you can still think and feel and do more. But there is this, it's like you have that icy cold of realization of what you're doing, and that's meeting this inner fire of power

that's running through your body. I do need you to make another wisdom saving throw as you are still in the presence of the Crownsteel, but I will give you advantage on the saving throw. You are currently being held by Daisy and Gruffuth. You have this realization of what's been going on. Yeah, I believe that your words in the last episode, because we had that three save system, right?

I think it pushed me back to the first one. So I technically can't move away from the Crown Steel right now, and I think everyone knows that. But Wisdom, minus one. With advantage. With advantage, okay. 11. Okay.

You want to move closer. Like you still feel this urge, like it is calling to you. This siren song. Maybe just a bit more, maybe if you just have a bit more, it will be okay. Like there's this almost this part of you like, no, no, just a little bit more and then I can back away,

then I can leave. I just need a bit more. I think Xanthias, to be honest, would almost, if his hands are on arms or hands of other people. Daisy's holding your hand. We finished in a hug, didn't we? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, maybe separate,

Daisy's holding onto your hands. So I think I would almost fall to my knees and try to throw up, to be honest. Like I would do whatever I can to get this thing out of me. I know I've just devoured this thing. I know it was a while ago, but like I can't think of any other way to get it out of me.

So is this you just trying to like wretch and heave and try and force yourself to grow up? Yeah, just. Give me a constitution saving. I thought you could ask him to do it. Use his resolution. Use his resolution. If you want this to work, you have to do it on the table.

If you miss the table, you have to do it again. Not on the table. It's a new dice rolling system we have. Knots on the table. You swallow the table. If you miss the table, you have to do it again. Not on the table. It's a new dice rolling system we have. Not on the table. You swallow the dice and then you bomb it. Everyone at the start of the year swallowed some dice. Constitution save. Yes, please.

I got a plus seven. So 14. 14. You are like dry heaving, trying to force yourself to throw up, and you do puke, but it is water and bile. There is no substance there. Yeah, I know. Whatever it is, it's like it's been incinerated

in the fire of your body, and it's just gone immediately into your blood and into your bones, into your skin. Like, it's like tingling power throughout your whole form and you try and throw up desperate to like get it out. And there are probably even like, not necessarily blasts of magic, but like your fingers are steaming with like arcane power, trying to just burn off this energy, but.

I think in that, like if my clawed crown steel hand is literally clawing into the ground almost, if it's stone, I guess, maybe not, but just almost tearing into it as well. I know it's a gross start for Zantius in this year, but I mean. It's a better world of time. What else would you do?

Until maybe eight hours from now? I shit that out. Seems to be that there is nothing, like it is already just being absorbed by you. There is, it's instantaneous. I think seeing this, like Gruff is gonna kind of try and, you know, like soothing, like kind of, I guess dad stuff, like rub it back and try and help.

Hold my hair back. Hold your hair back. Your beautiful curly hair. Yeah, yeah. But I think Kim, the player, knows that this isn't gonna work, but I would try anyway. It doesn't matter whether you think it will work. Do what you want.

So while he's kind of rubbing Xanthias' back, Gruff is gonna cast Lesser Restoration. I will say, you cast Lesser Restoration, which is a lesser form of the spell that Lady Verythira's just used on the Sareldrak, and I would say that's enough to remove those kind of failed saving states. Okay.

And, because also with the knowledge of you now know what you've done, and you've seen everything, and you desperately don't want to give in to this, you can resist the lure of that crown still for now. You're not sure how long, but that spell is gonna give you the sort of, it's gonna take away that narcotic drive,

that urge, that craving that's there. I think I'm- It takes that away, or it suppresses it, is the better term. I think I'm... It takes that away or it suppresses it, is the better term. I think with everything I'm doing as well, with it slowly, like a physical pull towards this thing, the moment that's released, I would almost throw myself back away

from this thing as well. And not actively trying to get out of the grip of Daisy or Graff, but if that does remove their grasp of Xanthius, I'm tempted to say I would literally just go. Just like move as far away from it as you possibly can. Yeah, like I'm outy. You scrabble away on your hands and feet at first,

then you stumble to your feet, and Xanthius is just moving as far away from that thing as possible. Daisy, like, holding your hand, runs with you, like, just like, it's okay, it's okay. And I'll see Art Warden on the table as I go past it. Oh yeah! That is, it is a thing, yeah.

Don't worry, I do have that in my notes, don't forget Art Warden. But no, I think I will just run away from this island, run away from this building, run away from the center of the arena. You get to the very edge where Rowan and the water laps up against the edge of this island. And as soon as you get to that edge,

that's really where you feel far enough away that you don't hear this siren call. And it's not a physical, you're not hearing anything. You look at, you're like, before you got to this edge, when you looked at that pile, it glowed brighter than anything you've ever seen. You could taste it. And when you ate that crown steed, it was like,

it tasted of your favorite things that you can possibly imagine. It had the most sublime, luxurious taste, and there's that craving, but now, out of its grasp, that dies down, and you see it for just a cold lump of discarded metal. Yeah, it's just like, Ophelia described it as a scrap metal. I'm like looking back and I'm seeing the battlefield for the first time,

like as it actually is. There are bodies everywhere, that pile is like, it's like pieces of raw metal, scraps of armor, a broken hilt of a sword, like just cabled together. Yeah, and also, yeah, just all the bodies as well. Like, I don't think Xanthias necessarily, like, killed a lot of people in that fight, but you can almost see the effects of it. Like, there's chars of fire all over the place.

There's burning probably bits around, there's Ser Eldraac on the floor. There's probably like a lot of blood from him. Huge amount, a pile of blood underneath his body and arm. Like this entire thing is just making me feel just... You glance over and like Ophelia is like covered, like head to toe, completely splashed in it because you just cut through that arm

and it just coated you in this blood. Like stood there, Verasty in hand, over the body, dripping and stood in the pool. You see that several of the cultists were burnt alive, like incinerated by Sereldrak. You see several of them are like wrapped up and now sleeping in the vines. You know, Gruff and Daisy move back with you.

How, what's Rowan doing at this point when Xantheus looks over this scene? Where does he see Rowan and what's Rowan doing? Rowan is obviously focused heavily on what Xantheus is doing, so him running towards Rowan's direction kind of would be like, hey, slow down, it's okay. I feel like I'm just like, not locked in another day as such, but there's just a terror.

Like there's, I just, everything about this environment right now is just making him feel just so disgusting. Like it's just, he hates it. He hates every part of this tableau that has just been painted here. That, yeah, I think I would just be like wide-eyed stunned terror, horror. I don't know if I would just collapse

at the edge of this aura or... I think like you don't know, if I would just collapse at the edge of this aura, or? I think, like, you don't necessarily fall unconscious, but maybe the exhaustion just hits you, slump to your feet, you sit down on the stone, just feeling just your body go cold and numb, and you don't fall unconscious, but just into that sort of disassociated state, where you're just, vwoom,

and you all see just the emotion fall out of Xanthias, and he just, I'll like instinctively grab a shoulder to make sure you don't fall into the water, so you feel that on your shoulder, and I'm like, okay, I think it's time we leave. Everybody, can we go now? I think we's time we leave. Uh, everybody, can we go now? I think we're done here.

Ugh, well it looks like it's all over. And Ophelia will kind of look to set Eldrax and look at Xanthias. And initially when Xanthias, when he starts moving, Ophelia will kind of flinch at the prospect of not being able to entirely predict what Xanthius is gonna do. She's not sure whether he's still in that state or not, and whether to recoil from him or not. And she'll kind of snap herself out of it.

I feel like I was wrong. I was making light of Crownsteel and its effects and thinking it was some... just some magic, some strange effect. Now seeing all this, this is bad. This is very bad. And that ginormous arm that you've severed almost twitches and you see like a spike of this black jagged material

just jut out of the flesh completely on its own. I think Ophelia would take the vials of Crownsteel water and just smash them on the ground. The arm drags itself towards that puddle of the Crownsteel. Oh no you don't! And she'll take Veracity and just stab it into the arm drags itself towards that puddle of the crown steel. Oh, no, you don't. And she'll take Verasity and just stab it into the arm. Stop it moving. Spasms and then goes. You are going nowhere.

I think she would. She would. Is the brazier, is that still on fire? Yeah, there's brazier. I think she would rage and pick up some of the hot coals from the brazier and walk over to the crown steel pile and just start trying to burn it. Okay, you are gonna take six points of fire damage as just with hands, like even your gauntleted armor

kind of protects you a little bit, but the pure heat, you scoop these up and in your rage, just stalk over and scatter them over the arm. And you watch as that arm struggles to burn. Like the flesh is resistant to fire, and it's not scorching properly. Given time, it will burn, but like it's resisting that heat in itself.

But it does seem that whatever, it is burning and it's no longer a threat. Good. As you see all of this, what do we see Gruff doing? So Gruff kind of watches Xanthias walk away, just make sure he's not gonna do something stupid, and seeing Rowan kind of sit down with him. Okay.

And then listening to Ophelia, I think he's gonna do two things. One thing is he is going to go up over and pick up Heart Warden that he spotted on the side. Beautiful shield. You know, this is not Crownsteel. This is made of, you can see that it's been built on an enormous red dragon scale.

Like maybe a central chest scale that would have once belonged to a red dragon. And it's been studded, gilded with like golden plates and metal reinforcements on the back. The most beautiful like imprinted leather work on the grips and the handles of the shield behind it. Beautiful piece of work. And the front design, not in a cheesy way,

but it has these, like, star markings enough to form a vague heart shape, but it's not like a cartoon-y-like. A constellation of one. It's like a constellation of one, right? And that's, but it's not like a cartoon. A constellation of one. It's like a constellation of one, right? And that's like studded on the front. And you can tell immediately that this is a pretty significant magical relic.

You don't have time to attune to it or learn more about it, but I will tell you that it is a relic. So this is like a powerful magic item that can be enhanced through usage and stuff like that. Oh. Oh yeah? Oh yeah? Yeah, what is that?

Yeah. How they tell me more about that? So very similar to Verasti, there will be elements to this item, a shield, that if you unlock it, like by achieving certain accomplishments or performing certain deeds or actions, it will grow in power, basically.

Some of them are supplementary, some of them are optional ones that you can do. Generally, they follow, you have to follow the path of the unlock. So those little, you can see that they're tiny gemstones, and they are the kind of key to unlocking these powers, basically. Very similar to Verasti, it has the three gems along the blade and stuff like that.

My heart rate just went... I got real sweaty then. Oh, boy. But you will need proper analysis and time to adjust to it and things like that. It does function as a perfectly great shield. It is a normal shield, in the meantime, a Masterwork shield. But yeah, you pick that up. And there is a... shield in the meantime, a Masterwork shield. But yeah, you pick that up. And there is a, when you touch it, you feel...

You imagine, and for Gruff especially, there's this feeling when you pick up the shield and you hold it close. You know, you kind of put your arm through the grip and the brace and you hold it and you bring it close to your body and there is this strange sensation, your mind just immediately goes back

to your wife in Ice Heart and that hug, especially when you were younger, like first young love, there's that sense of that special kind of feeling, do you know what I mean? It reminds you strongly, like you just get that sudden, like it just, you almost like get caught up

in the memory of it and you're like, oh wait, and you have to remind yourself, no, that happened years ago, you know, but it has that immediate kind of sensation for you as you pick it up. So yeah. So yeah, I'll have that moment and I guess, you know, mentally say thanks for such a beautiful memory and all this fucking mess.

And then the second thing I'm just gonna do is, as I walk towards the group, I'm gonna take out the Crownsteel Cerclet that I took from the Reclaimer at Ashen Citadel. Yes, you've been carrying. And I'm just gonna throwlaimer at Ashen Citadel. And I'm just gonna throw it on the pile. Okay. Lady Verithera watches this quite intently.

She seems to be comfortable. You can see Ser Eldraac is breathing, heavily, but breathing and Penelope has finished bandaging the bloodied stump that was his shoulder. Lady Verithera kind of watches you curiously and watches you throw the crown still. And in your mind-gruff, she doesn't project this to every bit of it, in your mind-gruff you would hear,

that is very wise. We cannot, we cannot leave all of it there. It must either be destroyed or taken away. That is what is making the land so sick. It cannot stay here. I do not know how to destroy it. I do not know what to do with it, but it cannot remain. I never intended to keep that, by the way.

I just needed to get it away from the boy. For now, we need to get to the surface. We need help. How long have you carried that circlet? A couple of days. It's been more than a couple. Is it? Yeah. It's been, yeah, maybe Gruff doesn't like,

Gruff is like, oh yeah, it's been a while, but doesn't know exactly how long, yeah. You should be cautious, Knight. Crownsteel, it radiates its sickness. If it is not stored in proper materials, it affects everyone around it. I hope that you have not carried it too long. Perhaps you are safe, but be cautious. Even just its proximity is dangerous. But yes, go and we must attend to these. Get them

somewhere safe. I believe that there is an entrance to somewhere above over there. They use the reclaimers. They use it to come and go. I remember seeing them coming from that direction. And yes, we must go and get help and everything else. But we cannot leave that matter here. We must do something about it. Destroy it. Ideally destroy it, or at least not leave it in their water. That is what is polluting these lands. This is what is making everything so sick. So looking around, is it possible to move it

at least out of the water? Yeah, like you could, like, it's a big pile of, like, metal scrap. You know, you can go up there and just physically start pulling it out onto the stone. Absolutely, you could do that. Um, uh, you you could do that. You could totally do that. I'm just thinking like, yeah, I'm just thinking how to do it safely.

Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, she will say, I will carry Sir Eldrack once we know a place to go, but I will follow your lead. I'm afraid that this is... I do not know too much of where we are or what to do here. I am a healer. I don't know too much more.

Is there anything you can do to protect me while I move the crowns? I'm going to move it out of the water. I maybe can offer you some protection, but I do not know if it will protect you from the corrupting influence. Do you have, or do any of your companions have a way to move things from a distance, magical things that can move things or the like? It will be better if non-living things move it as far away as possible. Let me gather my companions.

Sure. Have a blue sky moment, you know, group think. She will transform back into a humanoid form, so still sort of eight to nine feet tall, plumper, dressed in a sort of very cottage-corey, very witchy kind of vibe, and then she sort of nestles down to Settledrack, and just is literally like, you know, pulling his helmet off, and you can see

a very handsome dragonborn, red dragonborn. And Gruff, you've got a pretty decent insight, right? And perception. I do. Plus four insight. Perception, passive perception is 17. Yeah. There's something oddly familiar about Soreldrak. Cause he's a Draconic Dragonborn,

so he has more of a Draconic face. And like, yeah, it's like you've seen him, or you've maybe seen him, like somebody, yeah, it's just something familiar about him. But he does obviously still have one of his eyes and one of his horns is now fully crowned, still corrupted. You can see the black and gold veins up into his neck and things like that.

But he's very handsome, he has sort of dark, thick, black hair strands coming out from behind his ears and his horns. And you can see they're tipped, capped with gold, studded jewel ends and things like that, woven into thick braids behind him. What's that side then? What was that? That's just a snout? Just a whiskle.

Just lost it. Just thinking. But yeah, but you would, oddly familiar for some reason. But yeah, and she kind of removes the helmet and she's, you hear her, she's singing like a lullaby to him and just sort of stroking his hair

and sort of tending to him softly. And you can see that Penelope is like checking the bandages, like kind of falls back into that apprentice role. The two of them may be conversing telepathically about what to do. But yeah, you go over to your companions. I will gather the troops. Yeah, I'll try and arouse Xanthius.

Come on. I know something is affecting you, and it's definitely the Crown still, we all know this, but... Come on, it's definitely the Crown still. We all know this. But... Come on. It's okay. I think I would just, yeah, like... I'd stand and move and all of that stuff, but there's still just this faraway...

Catatonia, kind of like catatonic, kind of... Moving in the motions. Not really there. But distant and not... Yeah. But, yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, for him a little bit. A bit of positivity, I think. What? I can't wheel away. She's like, knowing Daisy, she's probably like, I think I've got some snacks, and then she's like, she's in a bag, pulling out like a two day old cupcake and things like that.

That's wet. Yeah, it's all wet. Oh yeah, oh, you're cute. You want some? Like doing things like that, or like, you know, try like showing you her sketchbook and her paintings and stuff like that. Right.

Yeah, I think I would get absorbed in some of the illustrations of different lands and all the places we've been and the people we've seen and whatever else is in there. So maybe Daisy leads Antheus over to a little short stone wall and sits with him and is literally just showing him the sketchbook. We're leaving the three of you to converse freely.

What's the plan? So we need to get out of here, but we need to get this crown seal out of the water before we do, because it's infecting all the rivers and water, well you know Rowan, it's infecting everything in this land. So we cannot leave it here. If we can destroy it, great. The dragon lady, she doesn't know how.

Okay. So at least maybe we can move it, great. The dragon lady, she doesn't know how. Okay. But so at least maybe we can move it. But if we touch it, it can be bad for us. The lady, she says if something inanimate can move it, great. I see. I have a gift from the Grey Father that might help. I can cast a Spectral Hand, just to help move things around.

That's pretty much all it can do, but... Same, I can do the same with Seren. Oh, brilliant, oh, brilliant. Okay, so that's a good start. So the two of you using Mage Hand could basically, it would be slower with Mage Hand because it can only lift, and it can only lift light things. So you could start with that.

I feel like you've seen like the Countess and things like, you know there's a spell called Unseen Servant and things like that that could help move stuff as well. You've seen that, but I don't know if you know that spell, but that sort of thing. Yeah, I don't have that one. You figure that that sort of thing would be perfectly safe to go and interact with the ground still.

But then Rowan's there. Rowan is around for large objects of like pallet quality, something that can... There's a large table actually nearby. It has like a keg on it and some food, like, you know, earthen cups and pots and things like that. The cultists were using it to store things for when they eat and stuff like that. But that table is like perfect for something like that. Rowan thinks for a minute, ponders and walks over to the table, is stroking his chin,

looks at it from different angles. Good hard wood, looks quite well made actually. Well made. Home made. Home made. Grabs a leg, snaps it, takes all the legs off. Yes, nice flat. Puts his fingers through his temples. Yes, nice flat.

Puts his fingers through his temples. Yes, up. And the whole thing lifts up. Okay. Okay. In Rowan, like to Rowan, cause I think that like, the idea is that you are bringing this to life in some way, right?

Is this like a song you humming? Are you singing? Is this like, song you're humming? Are you singing? Is this like, are you playing the lute to like, you know, give it this motive force? What are you doing to actually make this thing come alive? In Rowan's mind, he's visualizing, almost like a Disney musical, this thing forming a personality,

coming alive before him and becoming his friend. Okay, so the rest of you see this table with its leg-stamped tops so it's flat on the ground. It ripples like a little wave and then it kind of sproingingly bounces onto one end and it walks by tipping and it sort of bows to the... Hey buddy, it's good to meet you. And it sort of, because it doesn't have legs

or anything like that, so it just like tips one corner. There's almost an elastic-y kind of quality to it now. It's like the rug from Aladdin. Like the rug from Aladdin, exactly. Hey Rowan, why'd you break my fucking legs? My legs! Oh, everything is pain! Ow!

You can't talk to it. Ow! But yeah, this table like. Right. This is new to me, but it's great to meet you. Love what you're doing. Do you mind helping scoop some of this metal? Oh, look at him.

Oh, he's so cute. Now scoop, go scoopy. It flips up and begins hovering and it kind of flies like a magic, like a stiff magic carpet, because it has a fly speed, right? It does, it can fly. So it hovers off the ground and

whoo, flies and directs as you wish. So it goes to the huge pile of crown steel and scoops a huge chunk of it onto its back and then hovers back onto dry land, tips itself over. Okay. As it starts taking some of the larger piece of the top, as it gets to the stuff that's in the water,

the table's actually struggling, it'll be able to get some of the finer items. So maybe that's where the two mage hands, you come in this, I imagine like a skeletal. Skeleton hand, yeah. Yeah, spectral skeletal hand, Seren dives in. Seren, you've got the loops three, Seren.

Like picks something up with the claws and you begin like loading it onto the table, which then yeah, is levitating and hovering and tipping stuff over onto this pile now out of the water and on the hard stone itself. And it would take a little bit of time, I'd say. It maybe takes about like 10 minutes to like eventually move all this stuff over.

How long does your thing last? Does it say how long it remains? It lasts for one hour. Okay, great. Oh, wow. Or it's reduced to zero hit points, or I die. Okay, nice. One hour table friend. Yep, so yeah, so after about 10 minutes with all of you worked together, reduced to zero hit points, or I die. Okay, nice. One-hour table friend. Yep.

So, yeah, after about 10 minutes, with all of you worked together, all of the crown steel is pulled out of the pool and moved onto the side, the hard stone. Maybe on a slightly elevated part as well, to make sure that it doesn't slip back in or anything like that. And yeah, you pull it from the water. Weirdly, this table's doing it rhythmically.

Almost as if it's doing it to a tempo. Yeah. And you can see Rowan tapping his feet along to said rhythm. Float, float, scoop, move, scoop, scoop, drop. There is, like the Fantasia kind of brimsticks, there's this kind of like tempoed movement, like maybe it bounces up and down as it's flying as well. There is this kind of like tempoed movement, like maybe it like bounces up and down as it's flying as well. There is this kind of tempo and tune to it.

You would also, all three of you notice, and it maybe wasn't as noticeable in the battle, probably because there was a lot going on, but when your spells are near that big pile of Crown Steel, and this isn't a magical force that you're animating it with. The hands can lift more, they appear bigger. The table seems stronger than it should be when it's near the huge pile of crown steel,

as if the very magic was being enhanced by it all. But it seems that all these different types of crown steel and all these different pieces, their auras are kind of bouncing off one of each other and diminishing the effect, but there is still a general kind of magic enhancing aura around the pile, basically. Has anyone else noticed that table's fucking ripped?

Yeah. It's collapsed. It doesn't have legs, so it can't flex. It just... The grain gets a bit tighter. Yeah. Whilst this 10 minutes is going on, is everybody okay? I understand that that was a lot. I think I might need a bath, but I think I'm okay.

I can offer some healing if anyone is injured. I can help a little with healing magic. I'm surprisingly unscathed, but thank you. That's all right. What about the rest of you? She did the big, big heal. I feel better because of your heal previously. That's almost like a year ago that it happened. What about...

That's not how the joke works. It's not a year ago. It's last year. It's last year. It's last year. It's not been a whole, like, 360 days. Anyway. Could you imagine?

Does anybody look badly injured? Fea looks a bit under the blood. I mean... There's quite a few, like, wounds and things like that. Yeah, under the blood. She was basically there's quite a few like, gave like, you know, wounds and things like that. Yeah, under the blood. She will basically go toe to toe with her Eldritch for a while. Lady Verethia will come up to you,

and she will reach out, and you know, she's nine feet tall, she like reaches down, and she does look, there's a look of youth to her. You know, you've met like Lady Ambrisa and she looks young and beautiful, but there is a, not childlike, but just a sort of eternal youthness to this. Wicked.

Yeah, there's an innocence in the eyes. Her eyes are maybe a little bit bigger and wider and her cheeks suffer softer around her, but she will lean in close and she breathes out and you see this kind of multicolored spectral breath full of lights and rainbows and little butterflies, illusory things that envelops you. And you feel wounds begin to heal.

Oh, isn't this delightful? Very cheerful. Oh, it's Butterfly. Oh, hello. Oh, what the? Yeah. That's God. That's... That's... That's...

That's... That's... That's... That's... That's... That's... That's... That's...

That's... That's... That's... That's... That's... That's... That's... That's...

That's... That's... That's... That's... That's... That's... That's... That's... That's... That's... I'd be like... I'm crunch. Yeah, those intrusive thoughts, they win out sometimes. But yeah, you... And as it... There's this feeling of like...

You know that really blissful feeling when you've woken up from a really good sleep and you're in the duvet and it's warm and you just feel good for that sleep? That feeling washes over Ophelia. Mmm, it's like being back at home. Oh, I'm very glad to hear that. That is what I, yes,

that is the hopeful feeling from such matters. Oh, hopeful, that's what that is. Oh. Yes, of course. I feel like I need a little bit of that. That was very much appreciated. Of course, of course. Thank you for coming to my rescue once again, and you said that Boranth is,

you rescued Boranth as well, he is well, they are well. Fingers crossed. They're waiting for us at the surface. Oh, good. Just above, so. Good. And you said, I overheard earlier you speaking to Gruff. Or was that him?

It was my brain. It was in my brain. Well, nevermind then. You heard nothing. I heard nothing. Excluded. We should probably make our way to the surface. Yes, I would like to leave. Are we ready to swim?

Oh, not more swimming. We might not have to. Oh, yes. Lady Verithera pointed out an entrance over. What? This whole time? Well that was the point, we came here rather quickly. Rather than using- Stealthily.

Yes, rather than using their entrance and exit. Thank you for removing the crown steel from the water. It will take a long time, and I will need to come back here to help purify the waters, but my hope is that within a few decades or generations, the water will be completely purified and this land will begin to heal. I do not know what we do about the metal now, but at least it is not polluting the water.

But yes, I think the best if we leave this place as best we can, Penelope come and she will gather up. She walks over to Ser Eldraak and she lifts out a beautiful sort of slender arm, not slender arm, but a scaled arm, sorry. And you watch as sort of loads of like illusory insects and butterflies and little critters kind of form like a little bed, like a cloud underneath him.

And he lifts up into the air and she dresses it as like a floating disk basically. And she like brings that to carry his body with her as he sort of lifted up by all these little critters and insects and things like that. Kind of gross. Yeah, they're all glowing and translucent. They're not actually real bugs and things like that. They have the appearance of them, but they...

Yuck. There's Disney princess in it. You can fly on your table. Do you want to go up? Table? I think Dave wants to go up. You can actually just sit on it. What's the table strength?

What's the dancing item strength? The strength is 18. 18, yeah. So like, literally you can climb on this thing. 70 hit points too. So this is a 70? What? Wait, 10 plus five times the bottle.

So you should be 45, because it's 35. Seven times your level. That's pretty good. So this is a new Bard ability. It's got an AC of 16. That's higher than mine! 45 HP. You too, it seems, but...

Listen, take it up with Wizards. Does it do damage? Yeah, can attack. Can attack, yes. 12d8 of damage. Bonus action. What? Do I need to replace y'all with tables? 1d10.

The true TTRPG. Plus efficiency. Plus. With tables. I think it should be 3. Tabletop table. Oh my god, yes. Oh, the TTTT RPG.

Yeah. Don't say TTT. No, no, no. I become Xanthius. Can I fit someone else on here? It's a large creature, so I'd say, you know, it's like the size of a horse. You can fit two people on there.

There's no room, sorry. It's like Titanic. Well, it's okay, I can just walk up, so don't worry. No, I've got space here. I would like to put Xanthius on the table. Yes, that's fine, yes. In fact, I could just walk, it's fine. I can command the table to go up

if anyone else would like to. I just dangle my legs over it. Maybe Daisy and Xanthius could go on the table? Yeah, I'll sit on, yeah, I want to ride the table. Yeah, I wanna go on the table. It's kind of bendy, it's fun. Well, I imagine it goes like rigid, like when it's like got people on it.

Basically, it's a slight curve. Yeah, like just like, yeah. What? I can show like, yeah. What? I can show you the world. What? What? Nothing. Oh boy.

Nothing. Goes rigid. Goes rigid when people are on it, yeah. Yeah. What's wrong with that? Same. Ha ha ha ha ha. Bonus.

Ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha. Right. They're funny. They're funny, they are funny. They are funny. They are funny. Ha ha ha ha. Yeah, Daisy and Xanthius, the table sort of lowers down,

they can sit on it, you know, like a little magic carpet, and it flies off. Up to an hour, you can easily, so you make your way to the northeast corner of the island fortress, and there is like a very crude wooden rope bridge that extends from this corner of the island and there is like a very crude wooden rope bridge that extends from this corner of the island

to a sort of wooden platform built into the corner of the cavern itself, this enormous underground lake cavern. And you can see that some of the guard reinforcements that came into the battle late, you would think that they must have come from here. You can see like weapon racks and armor stands, defensive positions and things like that here,

but there are no guards currently here whatsoever. What there is is there is a large ladder that leads up to a trap door set into the ceiling. So this is why we went in the back room. I don't wanna deal with that. You all go first. I would like to just make sure all the entrances are destroyed

just to make sure that nobody else can get down here. At least ones that don't have the powers to get down without help. One question actually before you go, one other thing which I should have mentioned is because Ser Raldrak would have dropped it when he was fallen unconscious, is his halberd. This very clearly ornately made magical halberd

would have been on the ground, so. I feel like you got it. Yeah, I think someone's pretty gremlin-ed it. All right, good. Add that to your little tiny little loot bag. Yep, you can put that in. There's a whole halberd in here. Well, it's, again, you don't have bags of holding,

so it's like you're currently carrying it, like Verasti in one hand, you know, this thing on your shoulder. There is, as you hold it, it has this incredibly warm, like being sat near a fire, like pleasant, like not like, oh my god, so hot, but like that pleasant warmth of a fire radiates through the whole thing.

And it's got etched, runes etched into the blade along the handle, it's very clearly a magic weapon. Very clearly. It's warm etched runes etched into the blade and along the handle, it's very clearly a magic weapon. Very clearly. It's warm and rigid. It's that pumping hot metal. Metal. It's made of metal. Okay.

So you make your way up there, so Ophelia wants to hang back and destroy entrances and things like that. Who's going up the ladder? Like, you know, what's the plan here? I guess I'll Gruff will go first to make sure there's no baddies and stuff. You make your way up to it and you can see

that this thing is latched from the inside. So you have to like, it's a heavy, big, thick latch built into the stone. As you pull it free and lower it down, you look up and there is more ladder that extends, so the trapdoor folds down and then you can use that to pull yourself up into what is clearly the inside of a long well, like a stone village well.

And you can see that there is sunlight up above as you begin climbing. Gruff, you make your way all up to the top. Are you trying to be quiet just in case there's guards up there or are you just gonna make, just get up there as quickly as possible? I think just get up as quickly as possible. I think, yeah, I think in, in saner times he would be more cautious, but I think exhausted the few days we've had, like, yeah, we're just like, get out.

You emerge into a rather rustic, simple village, basically. This is like the village well. And you can see that there is, there's no false bottom or anything like that. There's no like winch to send a bucket down, looks like it wasn't being used as a well. But you make your way up to the top, and yeah, like you climb out.

And you can see around you that there are buildings here. Some of them are dilapidated and collapsed, but some of them look like they've been repaired. You can see discarded tools laying around. You can, yeah, that's what you see when you look around. No people when you look around. OK. Yeah, I mean, how far did people follow me, or did I go? I would have followed you.

Yeah. I will say the table won't be able to fit through the gap up into the well. In which case, if you guys arrive, I guess Rowan will catch up to table. You guys go ahead. Yeah, slide off the table. I've gotta say goodbye to my table.

This is gonna happen every time he uses this ability. I know, I know, and I wanna see it every time. Yeah. You be strong. Okay, you've been so useful to me. And I hope you live a good life down here. Now, get up. I can't look at you anymore. You just walk, okay, wait.

It just pivots and flies off. It takes that command. Yeah, but the last command it's given is go away basically, so it just flies off into the darkness. You turn away, you're still speaking, he's long gone. Need to work on that. But yeah, Daisy and Xanthias, you climb your way up. Lady Verethira will come up.

She's still a dragon, so she's still quite strong. She's not the strongest of her kind, but she's strong enough to, she basically takes Ser Eldrack under an arm, and she barely fits, because she's quite big, she barely fits through the tunnel. But she basically holds Ser Eldregg below her and slowly makes her way up,

and then eventually emerges out from the tunnel itself. Joining you, so leaving Ophelia is the last one, so you want to destroy the way in or like? Yeah, destroy the rope bridges, like break the ladder so no one can get down, and then maybe when we get to the surface, like find like a big rock and just put it over the trap door just to make sure no one can access it.

Okay. Just to completely seal it off. You probably couldn't find like a big enough rock. There's two choices. You could either, there's definitely like some wooden barrels and things like that that you could try and block it with. Could I collapse the well? That's what my other option is gonna be,

is you can basically spend some time just kicking the stones in and basically collapsing the well in on itself, which will block that tunnel leading up. Yeah, I'll do that. Absolutely. Yeah, it could be recovered, if somebody spent a lot of time digging it out, but it would take a lot of effort and time to do that.

But yeah, the quickest thing you can do right now is just collapse the well in on itself and that will block up some of the entrance. Yeah. Cool, great. Yeah, the rest of you emerge into this village. I can't wait. The reclaimers must have been using this village as a... Makes sense.

So there might still be reclaimers up here, guarding the entrance down there. See, they're very thorough, sort of scanning around, smelling the air. Yeah, can I do a perception check? Yeah, absolutely, anybody can, yeah, do what you want. I will use my new dice that you guys got me for my birthday. Yee!

He's got a Gengar on it. Gengar! It rolls like shit. I roll a three plus seven is a 10. 10? Ophelia. Yes? Do you have a connection with Percy? Can you sense him nearby or?

No, I wish I did, but no, I can't. The closest connection I had was when I could speak to him and he could speak to me. Well, hopefully we can find him. Maybe he's around this village somewhere. I hope so. When you think about that journey, what I would say is you would remember

that using the Underground Rivers, you estimated it would take you about a day to get to the hideout, whereas if you went overland, it was gonna take two days. Oh, so there might be a day out. They're probably still traveling at this point. Anybody else did perception, apart from Gruff? I can do it.

Oh, is my 10 not good enough? I'll have a go at one. 11. 11, I rolled a two for Daisy. 18. 18. Looking around, it's very quiet. Very, very quiet.

By the time you finished the battle, by the time you moved all the crown still, took a few moments, it's probably been about 30 minutes since that battle. There are no sounds of people moving around up here, but you do notice a few things, Rowan. Like as you're looking around through one of the windows, you can see that there is a still steaming pot of stew over a campfire in one of the buildings. There are plates set out.

There are farming, you can see fields. Just outside the village, you glimpse like very rudimentary like root vegetable gardens and fields with tools still scattered around them and things like that. Doors are all open. None of them have been locked or anything like that. You might even see like a few scattered pieces of clothing or like dropped belongings out in the street.

longings out in the street. I'm gonna go investigate one of these houses that has things, seemingly, in them. Do you want me to come with you? Yeah, I'll have my some backup. I'll come with you. Thank you. Yeah, I tentatively walk up to the front door of one of them and then do a gentle knock.

Knock, knock, knock. Hello? No response. Any non-reclaimers in there? No response. Like a creak. Can I like scale up the side of the building if there's an upstairs, like look in the windows? Yeah, when you get to like the upper floor,

your foot goes through a rotten board. Like as you step on it, then you have to like catch yourself. You can see that some of these buildings have been repaired, but parts of them definitely haven't been, and they look like they're pretty worn. But yeah, you look through, there's like a very dirty glass window

that you can kind of peer through. You see cupboards open, like a wardrobe, just hanging open and like things have been pulled out of it in haste, but you don't see any living people inside. I don't think there's anybody inside Rowan. I've put my foot through the building. Oh. Sorry, I've put my foot through your building

if you're inside. I think they might have abandoned this place when the reclaimers took it over, or worse. Hmm. Keep an eye out. Are there any signs of violence? Like fighting? Giving you an investigation check.

Yeah, after a good start. Four. You're looking around, you can't see anything out. Like I said, there's like, you know, maybe like the bedsheets have been pulled off, the cupboard doors are open, but you don't, you know, you don't see anything. Hard to tell.

The window's really smudged and dirty as well. You're like, you're pulling your foot out the bit that you've broken through, and yeah, hard to tell. I think you're right. Yeah, I think people left in a hurry. Yes, I would have if a cult came demanding to use the well. Yes. For whatever reason. Okay, well, I think we're safe.

I think maybe we've been here long enough that there would be people coming to see us if we were here. What's the sunlight like right now? Well, I would say it is like sundown, like it's sunset. So there is light, but it's fading. It might be worth us taking refuge in one of these buildings, one that maybe doesn't have a hole in it.

Yes, yes, we'll find a better one. And then hopefully tomorrow our ride will arrive. Here's hoping! That might be nice. That might be no idea. Just rest tonight. Yes. Get our strength back for the journey back. Let's go see the others. Okay, yeah, when you make your way back,

you can easily pick out that one building has had more, extensively more work done to repair it than others. And it reminds you of a little temple, like a wooden church, basically. And it looks like it's been heavily repaired, beautifully painted. When you see the paintings though,

there are symbols of this great golden dragon, golden sun, you see like fields of gold, like wheat, golden wheat all around it, the sky is brilliant, people happily working, like it's like a beautiful mural, but you can't shake off this feeling of like, this golden, almost like the sun is an egg and the gold dragon is being born from it basically.

It has like these rays, everyone's so happy and smiling. There's a sort of slightly sinister vibe to it. When you get inside, you can see the church itself. There are pews, there's a little altar with a very crudely, roughly made, no, no, it wouldn't be roughly made, but it would be very old book that's still open on the thing.

It looks quite heavy, like attached to the pedestal itself. Like all the other buildings, things have been taken out of here very rapidly. It looks like there was maybe something else on the altar behind the book. There's shelving space and you can see there's dust outlines that there were several objects here. They're all gone It looks like the books that only there because it's heavily changed to the altar and it's currently open

It's like one of those beautiful sort of like illustrated like, you know manuscripts maybe too heavy or too cumbersome to take away quickly Valuables have gone. You said that like there were stew pots going cold, right? Still what some of them are still steaming You said that there were stew pots going cold, right? Still, well, some of them are still steaming. Still steaming. You know, the fires are there, so the stew's still... But there's fires in some of these hearths that are still glowing. So I think it's more likely that this entire place was taken over by reclaimers, and they've left.

Presumably some alarm went off when we were fighting their companions in the caverns. And maybe the more civilian types have just gone and abandoned. So there are still reclaimers out there. Well, let's hope this influence slowly ebbs away. Varithera will say, I believe that you are right. They spoke of others that were not here. Other, what did they call them?

Chosen and sacred ones that they called them. They said that there were others that they would send for them to come and meet the vessels. That's what they called Ser Eldrach and I. I do not believe that these reclaimers are just in this one place. I fear that they may be all across the Empire. Can I start reading the book that's chained on the...

Yeah, you can, yeah. You find out that it is called... The book has a title, it is The Prophecies of Daranax. The Prophecy of Daranax. And flicking through title, it is The Prophecies of Darynx, The Prophecy of Darynx, and flicking through it, it is a religious textbook. It starts off more technical and more guidelines and guidance. It refers to basically bringing

the gift of the true emperor to safe places. You know, your mission is to reclaim the rightful belongings of the gold emperor, to protect them, do not let the heretics find them, that sort of thing. And then you see the handwriting style changes, you know, generationally, basically. This book is hundreds of years old.

And it becomes more religious. It becomes more vague and esoteric. It begins speaking about a prophecy that the chosen vessel will come, you know, the golden emperor will be reborn. It is the duty of those who reclaim the birthright to protect the legacy and things like that. Very kind of vague, you know, references.

A lot of parables, you know, kind of little stories to teach children. There are instructions here of like how to keep the heart of Daronax alive, instructional, and I'd say that, yeah, it doesn't take you very much to realize that this is the heart of the Reclaimers' beliefs, and very much hints that there was perhaps some sort of community here. Maybe, I would also say that like some of the parables,

they're not overt, they don't ever refer to crown steal. They don't talk about like trying to overthrow the empire. A lot of it's about like we want to live in peace, we want to live in prosperity, you know, we're away from the sins of the false gods and it's very cult brainwash-y stuff. Sure. You know, being free to choose,

not under the tyranny of the dragons and things like that. All being equal here and yeah. Does it kind of like, no I guess it wouldn't. I was just wondering if it would kind of go against other religious doctrine or something like that. I mean it heavily implies that the Sion Church, like it doesn't say them specifically, but it refers to pretty much everything else

as being like heretical or like, or not true. It says that it's lies. Like there's definitely a parable here of the Empire being stolen. That the dragon empress wasn't, was a liar. You know, this is the kind of thing that if it was found and given to the wrong people, like it would be a lot of trouble for whoever had this.

You know? The kind of thing that like you imagine your friends, if you want to call them that, or allies of the ecliptic order, this is the kind of thing they try and find, basically. This entire settlement or just a book? Probably this entire settlement. Book's good evidence, though. It is good evidence.

If we can take that with us. Yeah, I mean, with time, it's easy to break the chains, free the book. It's got a heavy chain to the it's easy to break the chains, like free the book. It's got a heavy chain to the corner that leads down to the altar, just so that it couldn't be taken, and it's kept closed. It has a lock on the front,

but it was never locked and sealed. It was just left here. Luckily, not magical in any way. You don't see any runes or anything on it. It is just a pass through through the generations holy book basically. You would find maybe a list of names, the authors and the people that have been the custodians of this book.

And most of them you are very quick to realize are probably hundreds of years old, not very relevant. The last name, which you imagine is the person who was leading this congregation or this little community, is the name Sacred Alonso Mett. How are we spelling this? Sacred, write the word sacred,

Alonso, A-L-O-N-S-O, Mett, M-E-T-T. Sacred Alonso Mett. A-L-O-N-S-O, met, M-E-T-T. Sacred Alonso met. And sacred seems to be a title given to all the predecessors, kind of like father or priest. What was the name of the book again, sorry? The Prophecies of Daranax. I think while Gruff is just reading, just anecdotally while everyone's writing,

as Gruff is reading this, he just keeps muttering, blasphemy under his breath. Yeah, this is a full-on blasphemous text. Blasphemous. Not like an evil, like necronomicon kind of thing, but like this is actively saying the Empress is a liar, shouldn't rule the Empire, the gods aren't real,

or they're not true gods, they're thieves, they're killers. It would probably not ever state Malir and Pyrrhus, but it talks about the daughters who betrayed their father and things like that. And you're a fairly religious guy, you can see parables here. Although sovereign's never been gendered or referred to as a father,

you can kind of see that it talks about the sun and the moon betraying the creator and things like that, and you're like, you can kind of see that, like, it talks about the sun and the moon betraying the creator and things like that, you know, and you're like, well, I know who that is, like, you know, it's not particularly cryptic or, you know, in code or anything like that. There is some heavy tutton going on. Just really heavy tutton.

What's that sound? Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. Oh! Taps are running. Hefe. Hefe. Blasphemous. Blasphemous. Blasphemous.

Rowan's gonna try and make the most of the utensils he's got on him to create some rationing food, stew. Looking through these houses, so much stuff has been left behind. There are spices, there are herbs. I'm gonna reclaim the reclaimer's food. Yeah, yeah, the fields have got like, you go out, like, you could,

you even like pop out into the vegetable patch and there's like, marrows and like, pumpkins. I'm gonna heavily inspect these. Actually, no, pumpkins is like an autumn thing. Oh, you inspect them today? Yes. Oh, give me a arcana or nature check. Shout out.

Arcana's plus zero, nature's plus zero. Would you like to spend a fate? Oh, never mind. Net one. Oh. That's great mind. Net one. Oh my. Great, these look beautiful. Like a big marrow. Oh my sions. Cucumbers, tomatoes, they're so ripe.

They're massive as well, they're huge. These are so juicy. Yum, yum. I get an excessive amount. Yeah, but there's a pot with water. Something to juggle back. There's a pot already boiling with water in it, there's spice racks, you.

We've got everything we could ever need, we could move in. Roll, because you've gotten some proficient training in cooking, you did like some proficiency, didn't you? That's specific. Yeah, but you've been training in cooking. Roll a d20 plus proficiency, which will be three, and then plus your either intelligence or wisdom.

I'm gonna go with wisdom. Okay. So that's 11 plus three plus two, five, 16. 16. You make a lovely vegetable stew. No meat, you find that there's no meat here. There's no processed chicken or anything like that, but you find loads of veggies, loads of spices,

and yeah, you make this... I get really stuck into it. It's a good distraction from everything that's going on right now. It smells wonderful. And it's funny, you put all the vegetables in, but the stew is this really rich, kind of like golden yellow color to it. Lovely. Lovely.

God, that's a lovely color. And it smells so good. Yum, yum. I'm constantly sipping, tasting the food to make sure it's seasoned well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yum, yum. Lovely.

Tastes so good. Foods up, everybody. You get a really similar, because you were under the withdrawal effects, weren't you? Yes. That just goes away. God, I've already been wasting dead food. And you feel great. You can have you? Yes. That just goes away. God, I've already been quizzing you, Tatefood. And you feel great.

You can have inspiration. Yes. Right, how metagamey can we be at this? None of you have gone out and checked these vegetables. None of you have seen them. Rowan comes out, he's like, you come out with a stew? Like, there's bowls and plates. We have our, that's right.

And like, where did you get this? There was a lot on the wagon. We took a lot on us, right? And like where did you get it? There was a lot on the wagon. We took a lot on the wagon. But we didn't take it from the wagon. No, you didn't. We slimmed down to get through. You have maybe like a day's worth of rations yourselves. So would it be a bit sussy as to where suddenly

all this food is from? Also, those of us who have a bite. With your passive perception, you can see that like Roman's gone into a house and he's like pulling spices off the rack. He's adding to it. He went into a little vegetable patch. He like can see that like, Roman's gone into a house, and he's like pulling spices off the rack, he's adding to it, he went into a little vegetable patch, he like came out with like, oh, we've got marrows and cucumbers and tamales,

he's like putting it all in a thing. And those of us who imbibed the golden water, would perhaps recognize certain signs. Give me a perception check. Or investigation. No, sorry, arcana on nature, that's why I made you roll, didn't I? Yes. Yeah, arcana on nature. Nature. Can I not do perception? No, arcana or nature, that's why I made you roll, didn't I? Yes.

Yeah, arcana or nature. Nature. Can I not do perception? No, arcana or nature. Natural 20. Natural 20. But because it's arcana or nature, it's a minus one. He's not book learned, but he's got good wits.

Street smarts. A gruff, I mean, you look over and you like go and check out the vegetable patch and you look and you can see through these, you know, these vegetables that similar kind of gold, red, black kind of like patterning and coloring that you've seen in the animals. There's the smell reminds you of the golden pool with the water. And you know what Lady Verithera told you. Like, these vegetables have grown in land that is infused with crown steel.

So it is not hard to imagine that, yeah, consuming food made here is probably going to have a taint of crown steel to it. Same as drinking the water would. How close to nomen this down is, Anthius? I think I'm, in the duration of Rowan cooking this thing, I am looking at the imagery in this church. And just not to sort of, I guess,

reveal Xanthius' daytime plans when we decide to leave this place. Made of wood, this building? Yeah, yeah, it's all made of wood, yeah, yeah, yeah. I am just looking at the imagery of these happy people bathed in this golden light, and I'm tempted to just start tearing down the paintings and just like...

Well, it's painted onto the wood itself. They're all paintings. Oh yeah, of course, yeah. It's painted onto it, like it's mirrors on the outside, and then on the inside, the inside, the roof of the church is like this golden dragon in this like egg-like sun. And you can see that its rays are destroying the moon. I mean, it's destroying like a golden orb

and it's like, you know, doing all this. And then it's, you know, all the golden stars are falling down the walls, and it's beautiful. So you're, crucially, you're not eating the food? I'm not, no, I'm not eating the food. I think if I saw it, I, would I still need to make a check for it, if I saw it?

For what? The food. The food. So do, what was with the check before? Just see if I recognise it. I don't think I'm gonna. Anybody who's like, unless you get told, I'm assuming Gruff is gonna be like, don't fucking eat the soup.

I'm about to cause a scene. I'm just like, who needs an intervention first? Who needs to slap another hand? I would like to mention that at this point, Rowan, you have eaten enough of this soup while you've been making it that you're affected. Everybody else, you're coming out with bowls of this. You've, you know, it's taken him like 20 minutes,

like, you know, and you've left it cooking. It's probably been about an hour, but he comes out with like these stew bowls, and like macro shots of me just like delicately putting a little bit of spice. A little bit of spice. A little bit of spice on there. Rowan's made a delightful stew.

It's like we see him like chopping all the veg up, like ch-ch-ch-ch-ch. I think dungeon-meshy style. He comes out of the kitchen, and there's almost the veg up, like, ch-ch-ch-ch-ch. I think dungeon-meshy style. So he comes out of the kitchen, and there's almost like, that kind of like, see a quick, quick like cut of like, Gruss just looking at all the facts, like, the dug up ground.

The empty, the golden ground, he's like, stop what you're doing right now! What? Where did you get the ingredients for that? Ophelia's got a bowl in her mouth that he's getting. Don't eat it! I think that noise is enough to shake Xanthius out of a literal fire in his hand.

Put that down! Like ready to start burning this place down. But it's enough to sort of shock him. Yeah, you do hear Gruff go, put that down, and you think it's about, but he's not actually looking at any of it. I'm like off to the side here. Penelope's got one of these bowls of stew as well.

Is that big? Yeah, Penelope's got like both, she's like, oh, all right, it's like a big wine, it's like, what's wrong? There is crown steel in that food. No! Rowan! How much of that have you eaten?

Oh boy, oh. You've been tasting constantly. I've been watching you. I wanted to make sure it tasted good for everybody. So I had half of it. You had half? Oh Rowan. I didn't think.

It's been a long day. The vegetables, they were growing in the grass. You feel great though Rowan. I feel really good. Oh, Rowan. Now I know why. Oh. Where's Xanthias?

You better make sure that boy doesn't take any of this. I'm really sorry that I'm angry. I'm not angry, I'm just, I'm very overexcited. Ah, where is he? I don't know, I understand. I'm in the room with you. I'm not angry, I'm just, I'm very overexcited. Ah, where is he? I don't know, I don't understand. I'm in the room with you. I'm just like, oh. Please no, hi, Santhius.

How you feeling, boyo? Just trying a bit flamy. It's okay, it's okay. It's okay. I'm not gonna eat any of that, I know what it is. You shouldn't have eaten half of it, Rowan. It would taste pretty good. I'm sorry.

I didn't think, it's okay. I shouldn't have, I should have just used our rations or something, but I saw all this nice food and I was like, we deserve a good meal after what we've been through. I understand that, I understand. That's the problem with all of this, isn't it? It's insidious.

I should finish it so that Zephys can't have any more. No, slap! You're gonna feel terrible tomorrow, and so will I. I know, I'm still hangover. I had a lot of the liquid yellow, whatever the hell I was calling that stuff. Yeah. There is a moment, Graf,

where you're the one who's made this connection and you look around, and there's a good few village buildings here and looking out there are farms with smaller little, you can see tents and things like that. And it kind of dawns on you, if they've been eating this food and these vegetables and growing it here in this land,

they've been consuming this stuff for a long time. Meaning that pretty much most of those reclaimers that you fought probably had some touch of Crown Steel corruption. And you definitely did not fight all of the people that were here. Like there were a lot more potentially. Maybe not warriors, but pretty much like a good number of individuals have been surviving on this stuff for a very long time. I bet they all felt great. Yeah.

What can we bring together from our rations to eat something? Yeah, you've got enough. Like most of your trail rations will be like dry rations, nuts, dried jerkeys, dried fruits, maybe some, because you needed stuff that you could put in airtight containers, because you knew you were going to be in water and things like that. So really it's trail mix.

You're kind of at that, you're like, this is proper hiking ration. This is not going to be a hearty meal. This is enough to survive. You are not going to starve, but it's not going to be a nice meal, basically This is enough to survive. Like you are not gonna starve, but it's not gonna be a nice meal, basically. Even with all the cooking in the world, there's not much you can do.

Not without like fruit, vegetables, meats, grains, that kind of stuff. Like you've probably got in like a little stone oven, you were making it to go with the stew. You found like flour and like there's like a little flat rolls, you know, you were making flat bread in there and you can smell the wonderful bread.

When people aren't watching, I'm gonna quietly go over and just dump the bread. They don't need to know about this. Do you wanna dump the bread or nobody watches you go in there? Do you wanna... Should I make a roll for it? Yeah, make a wisdom saving throw for me.

How delicious is this bread? We've all been there. Five? You probably... My man! You probably like... How delicious is this bread? We've all been there. Five. My man! You probably like, you like, you really want to throw it out, you know you should, but it tasted so good. And like surely like a little bit of it's not going to hurt. I'm already under the influence.

In your bang. This is literally my brain when it comes to food and bread. I shouldn't eat bread, I'm not meant to be. But you can't resist it. No, it's so good. It's so fluffy. I've hoisted entire tubers of Pringles. Exactly.

No joke, quite often I will go to Little and buy their seeded sourdough loaf. I'll eat the whole thing in one meal. And that's a lot of bread. That's a lot of bread. But I'll eat the whole thing, just butter and like olives and chips. I'll eat the whole thing. And that and like olives and shit. I'll eat the whole thing.

And that's not good for you. So, are you eating that or you're keeping it? It's up to you. Like, for all jokes and side, if you think Rowan would be strong-willed enough to throw it away, you can throw it away. But also, like, it tasted so good and you worked really hard on it, it's up to you.

I'm gonna eat a mouthful now. Oh, so good. Throw most of it away. Sure. I've got a little bit. Okay, then. Like a little roll. Pick it up again. Like a little cob, like one little roll

of this golden, almost glittering bread. It's coming like Homer with the sandwich. Oh, the really horrible one. You shall be thrown out. Marge, the sandwich and I would like to be alone for a moment. I don't know, you're supposed to throw the thing out. Just like disgusting. So green.

Oh dear. All right, until we're gone. I think I guess we're on rations tonight. Oh, even the rats are tainted. I can't even have blood. Could you drink any blood from the people here? I don't think you- You're covered in it.

I'm covered in blood. I know that. I don't know if you drank any- I don't think I've supped from the people. You did in the Ashen Citadel. I did in the Ashen Citadel. I did in the Ashen Citadel. Oh yeah, that poor dude. I did drink that when I dry.

Basement man, shit I did. You felt really good. I did feel really good. I drank that one guy. I think, yes. Oh this is a... Lady Vera Theora has been listening in and watching it all.

It's very glad that Gruff spotted the food, because she didn't realise that you were cooking. And 100% it's like, yes, that was the right thing to do. You must not eat any of the food or animals here or drink the water. Please, I can create water if you need it. I can create... If you are unhappy with your food, I can create some food, but it is not very flavourful. It is very bland, but it is nutritious and good for you.

How much time did we save with our little shortcut? How long until? A day. So. Should roughly be tomorrow. Hopefully if the wagons are arriving. Oh my god, I just hope they haven't killed each other. So not long until more food arrives, at least.

Well, and Gruff, we sent that message with Captain Nathaniel. I mean, I don't know how long it will be. It might be a long time until they arrive, but we did try and send word, right, to Ash and the rest. But we did. He didn't seem hopeful, but. Yeah, and it's a long way as well. Like it would have, you know,

it's gonna take at least seven days, probably on foot to get to Ash and Rest for a message. So, you guys are a fair distance away as well. Lady Verithyr will turn to you, Ophelia, though. You drink blood. Oh, God. Yes. I sense that there is a touch of death about you.

You are... Oh, thank you, yes. It was not a compliment. Oh, sorry. I mean, why am I apologizing? I don't know. Why are you apologizing? I don't know. I...

If you need... If blood is what you need to live, to sustain, to... for nourishment? Uh... well... yes, in a way. It empowers me. It gives me strength. But you do not need it. I don't need it, but I do very much like it. Ah... I see, I see. If I don't have it, I get... well, I feel feeble and just, like, I'm sick. Ah, you feel sick?

I don't like feeling sick. You can see that there's like a const- const-entination about, like, her, like, the eye, like, that saying specifically, you feel sick, seems to, like, get her attention. And you can see that she's, she's agonizing with the decision. I do not want you to be sick. How sick do you get? I just get really like lethargic and I just I can feel like I'm losing myself. So that takes an intake of breath. I become driven by just hunger.

You know when you haven't eaten for like... Starvation is a terrible thing, it is awful. I become like a beast. Love of my usual resplendent self. Okay. And she will come over in humanoid form and she will offer her arm. But please, just a small, a small amount.

I do not want you to be sick. I cannot stand the idea of you being unwell if I can do something about it. Are you sure of this? Well, am I dreaming? I don't think you will hurt me. I am a dragon. Oh, no, no. But you must promise to only take a small amount.

I promise. By my, by the Grey Father. Yes. You have my word. Well, then it is my duty to help. I, of course, don't want you to be sick and I want you to be fed. And she will also use create food and create a bunch of sort of,

it's like a nourishing gruel. It's not very tasty, but it's very good for you. And so she sort of creates it in the empty stew bowls, basically. Pretend to eat. Yeah, sure, you don't have to. Hopefully, thank you. But she will come down.

So full. And offer her arms, she pulls up her sleeve and offers it to Ophelia. Ophelia will just wipe her mouth. If you insist, my dear. And she will, yeah, just take her wrist and just a little. You have to really, like you have to really press hard to puncture the skin.

Because whilst she is in a humanoid form, she still has the toughness of a dragon. So this is like, you're trying to bite through scale, even though it should just be flesh. But eventually, like... And you manage to bite in. And yeah, you feel this incredibly luxurious, rich, slightly earthy toned, you know,

if one were to liken it to a wine, this would have a sort of earthy aroma and taste to it. It's very deep and very rich. And even just a small amount of it feels you, leaves you feeling very full and satisfied. And there is this very strong, powerful, you've probably tasted the Countess, probably let you taste some more exotic bouquets,

shall we say, and magical creatures, creatures that possess a lot of natural magic, tend to have a sort of natural magic tend to have a sort of very strong taste to it. Not quite carbonation, but there is a sort of tingle. And this is, yeah, there's a lot of that in this draconic blood. As you sip on it, how much does Ophelia keep her promise? Oh, she'll keep her promise.

Okay, yeah. She wants to be in good standing with the dragons. So as soon as you feel full, you're like, and you just pull away, and Lady Vyrothir just pulls her hand back, like. My word, that was. Probably taking a couple of D6 points of hit points, but. You are delectable.

She like holds it. You see the wound quickly begins to heal. I do not want you to be sick, and as long as I am here, I want to make sure that you are well. Oh, that's very kind of you. Are you okay? Are you feeling, I mean, you're a dragon. You're fine.

That's not right. Just... Round two. But I must ask, what manner of thing are you that you are required to drink the blood? Like, there are some species of creature, I know. There are creatures that subside on blood and meats and things like that.

I have never seen a human or a humanoid who drinks of this, of blood, like this. Well, I'm a dump here, my dear. I come from Osseous. I do not know what that is. Oh, well, I must tell you all about it. Oh, my. Well, on Osseous, we celebrate all things beyond life.

It's a frown. So I am from the House of Blood, but there's also the House of Bone, you know, we don't really talk about them much. The House of Shadows, the House of Rot. I am from the House of Blood, where blood empowers me, imbues me with energy, and it's what I celebrate, it's what I live for. It saved me. And I owe my very life to it. Well, that is a good thing, I suppose, but... These things that you speak of, I've never learned of them in Mistwald.

I am not included in much of the greater political discussions, but I wish to learn more about not where you come from, but of you and how you work, if that makes sense. And she's... If you will take a moment. Of course. You see her eyes glitter like a detect magic spell and she starts sort of examining you. And probably for the rest of the evening, ask you a lot of questions about like,

what's it like to drink blood and like, you know, what happens if you don't have, how long until you start to feel unwell and like, always like a doctor like, oh, this and like fascinating. She's not making notes, but she's kind of asking more medical questions, like how it all works and stuff. I like ask her about like Mistwald and stuff

and like about her province and. Yeah, so she will ask her about Mistwald and stuff and about her province. Yeah, so she will tell you that Mistwald is the province of the Green Dragons. Green Dragons are deeply connected to living things, natural things, life, but as well, they are also connected to dreams and the life energy and the idea of hope and what dreams can mean and the secrets and the wisdom of them

and things like that as well. You know that it is a very heavily forested area where they live in harmony with nature. There are cities, there are like cities and cultures and things like that, but they are kind of made to coexist rather than to destroy and replace. Oh cool. The green dragons are quite numerous,

and they're renowned as healers, but also sort of mental health and therapy and things like that as well, because they use their powers to enter dreams, and they can help people deal with traumas and things like that through power of dreaming as well. And they tend to be very gifted in magic that heals and helps people and supports them

and things like that. And she is the, I believe the 14th daughter of the archdragon, is what Lady Verithyr would tell you. Goddamn. Yeah. Of 14, right? What? Of 14, right? She doesn't say, she just says she is the 14th daughter.

Specifically, the 14th daughter is what she refers to as well. Oh! So. Damn. You're getting down to it. Yeah. And you probably would pick up on, yeah, like being like the province of life and healing.

There is this idea of like procreation is a very good thing and they encourage it in both the natural world and in themselves and things like that. The other thing that Lady Verofyr would probably tell all of you, as I know that it was briefly discussed in the battle, she would say, I know that some of you may be worried about myself with the Crownsteel, but it is a curious trait of us Green Dragons,

and myself especially it seems, that we seem to have a sort of natural resistance to the lure of it. There were only, I think, one or two green dragons that joined with Galdvasar during the Civil War, it is something to do with the natures that Crownsteel speaks to. They are not common elements of green dragons. Crownsteel is said to feed on things such as ambition, greed, righteousness, lust or driving effort. Not caring and supporting, it is driven by certain things and green dragons just seem to not be inclined to those things. Obviously we are individuals and they can be, but I myself, I have no ambitions, I have no desire for wealth or power or trinkets and things like that. And I felt that when they were trying to make me eat it, I was storing it, hiding it in a false organ, a false stomach.

It just, it was speaking to me. I felt something in my mind, a voice, something in my body, but it just did not seem to connect with me. I could not tell you why. That's very good to know. Thank you for your honesty. That's of course, you came to my rescue, and I feel that we have become companions

in trying to resist this strange effect and these reclaimers, whatever they were trying to do. I'm very grateful and I am worried about Sir Eldrach, she looks and he's still sleeping. Like he is passed out, he's been out like barely stirred. He was there before me and he consumed it regularly and does not have the ability to hide it like I did. He is greatly affected.

I do not know much about Crownsteel. I thought I was coming here to heal a sickness, a disease of the plant life or some such. I did not know it would be crownsteel but I know a little, not too much, but I know a little of it what most dragons are taught. I've never seen anything like this. She just just sat down, sat down, sat down, sat down, sat down, sat down, sat down, sat down, sat down, sat down. Maybe her gaze is sort of avoiding Xanthias as well. Like not wanting, there's almost, in fact give me insight checks actually.

Sure. Eight. 15. 15. Nine. 21. 21. Xanthius and Rowan. Rowan, you get the impression that like, it's not that she dislikes Xanthius or she doesn't want to look at Xanthius. It's like she's trying to avoid him

to not complicate things. Like she's like avoiding looking at him, avoiding acknowledging what she knows. Because if she acknowledges it, then she'll have to talk about it. Like she's like avoiding looking at him or avoiding acknowledging what she knows. Because if she acknowledges it, then she has to maybe she'll have to answer talk about it. Like if she gets asked about it. Xanthias, yeah, you pick up on that and even more like there's a kindness to this.

She's trying to not acknowledge you being connected to the crowns deal so that she doesn't have to like, if she gets asked about it or things like that, but also to not make you aware of it as well. Like, just trying to just kind of gloss over it with you. I focus mainly on Ser Eldraak, is the impression you get. I think Xanthius, if that's the depth that he gets out of it, I think he appreciates almost like the Crownsteel

and Xantheus not in the same sentence for once. Yeah, there's an element of that. Yeah. Is there anything else or would you like to take a long rest? I think I- Find shelter. A long rest. Yeah, I'd say we don't rest in this building, but yeah, I'd like to avoid sleeping in this building.

Just in the church. Yeah, not intending to burn it down now. There's other buildings, yeah, yeah, yeah, but there's other buildings and stuff, absolutely. Yeah. But yeah, just to find another place to go. You can all- And then rest there. Before you all take a long rest,

everybody but Xantheus can take a long rest. Xantheus. Yes. I do need you to make a constitution saving throw because I'm afraid it is that time. I guess I recovered my, because I'm not wearing my usual Zantheus outfit and I haven't for a while since the mines, right?

I've been wearing like a, yeah, I burned that away. But I also ripped off the top layer. I guess I recovered the shirt, but. It's tatters. Yeah, I guess I can. You are shirtless, my friend. I guess I recovered the shirt, but. It's tatters. Yeah, I guess I can. You are shirtless, my friend. But I can see my arm, right? Yep.

Constitution, again, plus seven. Fate. I should have added fate to it. Should have done. Should have didn't. Unnatural 20. Unnatural 20, okay. We will find out what that all means after the break.

Hell yeah. A bit later on, but I want to talk to you about it. We will see you for part two. Join us then. Take care. Bye bye. All right, see you in a bit. Bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye.