High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #46 | What Remains Behind (Part 2)

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

The team flee the Heart of Dharuunax and start their journey out of the Ash Hills as they try to complete their quest! 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

Pickaxe. your keyboard, that's up to you. Reach out to TD Direct Investing today and make your investing steps count. Plus enjoy 1% cash back. Conditions apply, offer ends January 31st, 2025. Visit td.com slash DI offer to learn more. Hey folks, Mark here and I wanted to do a little podcast shout out for anyone looking for more funny D&D adventures. I've been listening to Tales from the Stinky Dragon recently and wanted to recommend it. It's a show full of humour and heart with

five amazing writers, comedians and voice actors like Gus Cirola from Red vs Blue and Barbara Dunkelman from RWBY, and it's very accessible for folks even if they aren't D&D experts. I love their immersive sound design and original score, which makes the podcast feel very epic and cinematic. In fact, you might have actually seen some of their animations and puppet videos on social media already. That's right, puppet videos. I think there's a lot of similar vibes between High Rollers and Tales from the Stinky Dragon, with goofy hijinks, emotional moments, Chaos Gremlin roleplay, and all the stuff I know you already love.

So why not check out Tales from the Stinky Dragon anywhere you listen to podcasts, or on youtube.com forward slash at Stinky Dragon Pod. Cheers! Thanks everybody. Welcome back to part two of Althea the Dragon Empire. Our heroes have emerged from the heart of Daranax, the fortress of the Reclaimer Cult, where they battled and recovered Sir Eldrach Ignis, rescued Lady Verafira, and now have emerged out into a bizarre village that was above the underground lake,

seemingly dedicated for the cult's purposes. Meals were attempted but quickly abandoned by most, fearing the Crownsteel influence. Conversations have been had as our party bedded down for the night for a long rest. Xanthius. Hi there. With everything that has happened, the dream is not, is not as vivid and intense as usual.

But you sleep fitfully, always on the cusp of a deeper dream. Okay. Skirting its edges, glimpsing the figure in the ragged cloak and the golden skin. Give in. Flashes of a pool of liquid gold. A throne of metal resting within it.

Yourself blazing with power and fire, corpses at your feet. But these are fleeting. You wake, you stir, you drift back into the black void that is comfort at this point. Are you awake? Your corruption has not spread further. Ah, okay. But. Yes? There is within you now two things. I think I told you this last time, you do now have, you possess the ability

to consume raw crown time. You do now have, you possess the ability to consume raw crown steel. You have consumed an amount. I'm not gonna tell you how much. I'm gonna keep that secret from you. But you know that mere sips of golden water or even stew is not gonna be enough. or even stew is not going to be enough. In a few days that feeling is going to fade. The only thing that is going to satiate it is more crown steel. Food that you taste will never ever taste as good.

It can still taste fantastic. You can drink the finest wines and find them enjoyable, but it's always gonna be part of you that knows it won't compare. The rest of you finish a long rest without issue. Cool. Can I, being an early riser, is it okay if I have gotten up

and I would like to search the village for clothing for Xanthias? Yeah, give me an investigation check. Let's just see how good at searching and finding things you are. 10, not very. A 10, still average. I would say the best you can find is,

and it takes you a while, going through each house, pulling out drawers. Most of it looks like it's been taken. The things that you do find obviously aren't gonna be suitable. Some of the stuff you find is just not suitable for Xanthias. It's too small, it's too big. Items of clothing that aren't gonna help,

your lost sock and things like that. But eventually tucked away in a drawer at the bottom of a wardrobe in one of the more ramshackle houses, you find a kind of just a very simple farmer's white shirt. It's a little worn, it's maybe got a stain, like a kind of big food stain down the side, maybe why it was left behind, not in the best condition,

but it's enough to like cover him and like cover the chest basically. Santhea Spoil. Yes, Gruff? It's not much, but I found you this. What is it? Shirt. Oh.

Thank you. I will definitely replace this mess that I made here. Well, you always said from your part of the world you put a lot of stock in how you look, so how about we change for something that doesn't look like it's held together by threads in a dream? No, yes, this is falling apart. But that will do. That reminds me a lot, actually, of some of my clothes in Rust End. I, aside from the stain, we can wash it. We can wash it. How are you feeling?

Felt worse, felt better. I haven't felt worse. I've felt much, much better. But no, I don't think, I don't think my arm is doing anything crazy right now. Yeah, not good. But good enough to carry on for now. What will make you feel better? Getting back to Ashen's Rest. Finding that Baranth and Percival are okay.

They made it here just fine. I don't suppose you've heard anything yet. But this place, this village, it's far away in the Ash Hills, sure. No one's likely to find it, but if they do, we don't want to instill the wrong ideas into people that don't know any better. And this church is spreading lies with its imagery. This well is still here.

I know Ophelia covered it up, but this place can't be here... for anyone to find. You want to tear it down? I want to burn it down. Let's go. I want to... Let's go. Let's do it. Now. You're... What? You... What?

You want to do that? You need it. I think it would help. As long as everyone else is ready to go, obviously we can't be here. Daisy would just be like, I don't want to be there when you do it. I can't be near a building burning like that. Understandable. I'll go wait maybe at the edge of the village

and wait for Rodri and Percival. Well, I was thinking that maybe we could go back that way and see if we can bump into them and head them off, at least may cut their journey time. But as we do, we burn it down. But keep the book? Yes. We can at least return that as some kind of evidence, but...

the rest of it has to go. No one else lives here, and no one should come back to it. So, if everyone's ready to leave... I'll be ready once Percival's done my... I'm ready. I'm ready. I miss Percival. ready. I'm disposable. We'll go find him. Rowan? God, I fancy going into that church.

I don't. I don't. Yes, absolutely. Whatever, Xanthas, if this feels like it's a wiping the slate clean and leaving no trace of this cult behind, then I'm for it. At least in this area, we know there's more. We know there's gonna be other places like this,

but it's a start. I'll go wait with Daisy while you do that. Just make sure she's okay. Okay. Verthera will summon her sort of bed of translucent, you know, spiritual kind of insects and things like that and take Ser Eldrach and follow with Ophelia and Penelope will go out with Daisy

to the outskirts of this village, basically. And yeah, Xanthias, you see this, you know, so much, this village reminds you a lot of Rust End. It's kind of tucked away, it's a lot more ramshackle, it's a lot more like, looks like it was once abandoned and then rebuilt back up, but just the location, the hills, the mountains, the woods, the sort of simple life, the little vegetable gardens,

the fields of wheat. But that church, painted with that imagery, stands out like a beacon. Yeah, I mean, I'm like looking around the village and trying to imagine like a life. I suppose I'm seeing ordinary buildings with ordinary trade and all of these things. As you take a step, your foot bounces off what appears to be like a very crudely made wooden doll of some child, painted with a little golden sun on a little tabard.

Yeah, that's the thing. Eyes painted yellow. I'm seeing ordinary, kind, regular people, but that church in the centre of it all just emanating this, in my mind, like evil, and corrupting and twisting these people, not necessarily with Crown Steel itself, but just their minds. But yeah, I'd want to walk into the church and kind of look at this artwork again.

And just, I think it's that one image of the happy people amongst all of these things is almost the most like insulting to him. And I will, yeah, I will produce flame and yeah, just lazily sort of throw it into these individual things and stand there as long as I can just to watch these images at least be engulfed in flame. Begin creating this fire. Can you... Can I make a roll for you?

You absolutely can. Secretly. Would it be a secret roll? I would like it to be secret. Sure. What's your wisdom modifier again? Is it minus one, saving throw? It is, yeah.

Okay. Gruff and Rowan are kind of stuck behind. You watch Xanthias walk into the building, he like looks around, and then his hands become engulfed in fire. One blast to the pews, one blast to the wall, incinerating these offending images. And as you do, Xanthias, like again,

that fire begins burning in you, and you feel that fire throughout your body And yeah, you want to see this place torn down this insult this these lies and you Feel this this anger Swelling in you as the fire rages and you're a gold dragonborn This fire doesn't bother you in the slightest. You were born from this, this is in your soul, and you stand there as the beams begin to crack and snap and come crashing down as this place becomes an inferno, you still just unbothered by it all. And then sight of them in the fire. You see outlines,

reclaimers in their shadowed hoods, the Chosen, Eldrak, all sort of taunting you and you blast more, blast them to the side. You let out a wave, a roiling wave of fire out from you and then stood behind that altar where that book would have been, the figure in the ragged cloak and gold skin. Yes, burn it all. You are so much greater than this.

Ha ha ha ha ha! And then the fire explodes and they're gone. And you catch yourself because you hear like snapping as the roof begins to collapse. And it almost, you manage to pull yourself out of this mania just in time. What do you do? Yeah, I would realize I'd be there for far too long

and in catching some side of me that I wasn't necessarily expecting, I would then try to flee from the building and towards everyone else, who I don't know if they were watching or whatever. Oh, yeah. Xanthias emerges, like this is full on Sephiroth in,

but never, I'm like the fire just raging behind him and he just walks out of the fire, like kind of coalescing behind him. And yeah, Gruff has been watching and waiting and ready to step in if needed. And I think, I mean, are you gonna stop or are you gonna keep walking? I think I'm like, there's still the fire on my hands

that produce flames on either side that is like almost reaching up at the arm as well at this point. And as I'm like walking towards you, I'm trying to shake it free to remove it. Like, I think it's pretty clear it's Sathius again. Mm-hmm. But it was just lines of fire and walls of fire,

almost probably literally, while I was in there. But I think it's more... It's clear that it's me now coming out of this place. I think Gruff will kind of extend a paw forward and catch your hand that's engulfed in fire. He's going to look in the eye and he's going to say, Xanthius. Come on, son, It's time to go.

And as he says it, he's gonna cast Elementalism and just have cool water kind of brush over your arm. He knows it's probably more symbolic than... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hear the hiss and the sizzle as the water and fire and the residual heat meet. And the arm itself would be, from all of this casting, even if it's cantrips or whatever,

the entire thing was probably heated up. Right, hot. Yeah. Would have an effect, but yeah, I would head with you out of the village, as I guess the church, and I suppose it's close enough to other buildings at this point. This thing is an inferno. And the grass here is like dry grass, like it will spread.

It will burn this place down. Yeah, and we leave the fridge. You make your way out, you rejoin the others, Daisy trembling a little bit, not looking back. Unable to look back at this now burning inferno behind her. Just looking forward like, trying to like keep herself distracted as you set out. There is a trail that leads out of this village

back in the direction that you are pretty sure you came from Rowan. Like you're pretty sure you know the direction that Roger and that should be coming from and you make your way out trying to head out there. It takes you a couple of hours navigating this kind of not really trail like you're really out in the wilds here. There's no road. There's no path. Like this was such a secluded self-sufficient community. But eventually you see the slightest movement through the next set of hills as you see a trundling wagon

and a large beast pulling it on top, a plant-like mixture of vines and wood, you know, sinewed, sewn together by their own sort of leaves and vines, figure on top, very gently just holding the Rodri's reins, as Baranth does so, trundling their way towards you. Hell yeah, hell yeah, the bunny-gobbler made it. They made, well, they're both there, yeah?

Visibly? You don't see Bertholdt. You just see Beranthe. Right. Where's Percy? Where's he at? Look! Hello!

The wagon! Rodri! Rodri! They made it! Oh my god! Beranthe nods his head. Lady Verithera, that's our wagon. Baranth and she sort of like,

you just lift it into the air and hovers towards them. You will rush over as Baranth sort of brings Rogerie to a stop and he steps down and as you make your approach, Ophelia, like, Percival's not like, sat at the front, he's not walking alongside the wagon, and your heart catches for a moment. Percival?

Until you hear the back door of the wagon open, and he, in his chainmail. Percival! I think, did you give it, you gave him, he's a whip. Yeah, like a whip, yeah. He's like holding the whip, but holding it so like stiffly and vigilantly. Oh, my wonderful Percy, I missed you so much.

I missed you so much. Give him a big hug. Daisy will connect the three of you with Percival. I have encountered no life form. He had like a kind of sort of accent, Latino kind. I did not encounter any dangers. Oh, thank the great father. Oh, you say, finger back.

The plant creature did not seem to appreciate my company, so I remained in the back, I remained in the back, making it more Russian now. His accent moves around a lot. Are you well? I am sufficient. You look well. I am still Percival. Your bones are there?

Yes, I have not lost any bones. Oh, good, good, good, good, good, good, good. Offers the whip back. Oh, thank you. Oh, I'm so happy. It's been... Oh, it's been trying a couple of days, Percy. And my hair is a mess, and my makeup's a mess,

and I need a bath. I smell so bad. Your hair has not been, you have not done your hair properly, mistress. Allow me, and he will take you into the back and start doing your makeup and doing your hair. I feel like my self. Stinks.

I didn't want to say in front of a lady, but you know. I thought she knew the small stink cloud. Right. I feel like myself again, I feel whole. Oh, what a relief, what a relief. Baranth will nod in all of your direction. We encounter no difficulties on the road here. Lady Varithera, I am honored to be in your presence

once more. Bows deeply. Ah, Baranth, it is good to see you well again. And she kind of goes over, and you see that as Lady Verithera gets closer to him, all the little vines on Baranth begin to bloom, just naturally. So he quickly becomes covered in like pinks and orange and red and blue flowers that just sprout all over him,

over his toga, just by her presence. And then when she moves away, they sort of retract back in. So it's whenever she's close. And he looks, your friend, Rodri, is quite sturdy. And he looks, your friend, Rodri, is quite sturdy. He is a good boy, he's a good boy. He's a great boy. He's the best boy. He travels well. Yes.

Thank you for rescuing Lady Varithira and looking after Penelope. Penelope's just like, brr! Just like scrambappy's just like, brr! Just like, scrambling up, like, brr! Like, wraps herself around him. But yeah, you reunite with the Wagons that I did make journey rolls for and they succeeded and no events occurred.

It was the easiest travel ever. It was just like, literally nothing happened. The difference between Mark rolling versus us rolling. I was like, and that was with Berent having penalties because he was doing all of the checks basically. And it was just like 18, 17, 15, 16, like, oh fine. I was like, yeah. I rolled on the events.

I was like, no, literally no event happens. I was like, great. These two have just been like, do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Yeah. Well, it's time for us to take over. Yeah, I don't believe it. Wagon breaks immediately.

Three seasons worth. Sure, if Rowan wants to believe that, you absolutely can, but yeah, the canonical is that nothing happens. We don't really know what happened down there. No. He's saying. There's nothing beautiful about that. Yeah. Sure. What don't really know what happened down there. He's saying. There's nothing beautiful about that. Yeah.

Sure. What happens on the wagon stays on the wagon. Stays on the wagon, yeah. Proventure. But yeah, so you go reunite with the wagon. Excuse me. What? That was a really sharp one.

Oh my God. You're not even drinking Coke or anything. No, that's the thing, I'm just talking. Oh dear. Audrey's eating something a bit funny. No joke, it was sharp. Like I can't, yeah, it was like, ugh. Gotta stop eating nut tacks, man.

Yeah. But yes, so you meet back up with the wagon. Okay, cool. You are, so if you pass me the map, and I will... Yes. Err. Err.

Sorry about the two extra centimes you had to reach there. You fucking should be. I've got a pen, here, a pen. I've got one of K's. Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba. So yes. Finish it. So you are approximately gonna be,

you're gonna have to travel through, so the question I have for you is, what are you gonna do? Are you basically gonna try and get onto the road as quickly as possible, and then follow the road back to Ashen West, or are you gonna go as the crow flies, like, diagonal across the land?

So it's a day and a half across un-road travel, isn't it? Across difficult terrain, so if it's open field, you're fine. So right now, you are approximately a minimum, I would say, of three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. You're about 10 days away from Ashen West. God damn. As a minimum amount of travel. I think in order to make travel safer,

it makes sense to go on the road, right? Yeah, I think, I feel like, yeah, we're probably a little bit frayed and a bit frantic. So you'd sort of travel north, north west, like, for like three days through the hills, and then you'd go north up to the road, and then you would follow the broken road all the way to Ashen's Rest.

The Broken Road is a fairly well-traveled road. It's a trade road between Gildi and Caldre, so it is probably going to have, it'll be well-patrolled. So that's probably the easiest thing for you guys to do. Sounds like a plan. Yeah, up not too far from Rust End. Yeah, yeah, not too far at all. We are currently here.

Yeah, I think that makes sense to go that way. And Baranth, Penelope, and Varithera. Mm-hmm. What were their plans again? Were they heading back to Ashen's Rest, right? So I think that now that you've reunited with Baranth and Penelope with the wagon, Lady Varithera will say, I'm so glad to be reunited with both of them.

But I do not think it's, I, there is more work for me to do here. You have removed the crown steel from the water. That will aid, but I need to purify. There are rituals that can be done to help purify the water. I don't... In the same way that I was able to remove some of Ser Eldorak's corruption, but I cannot do that again, not without vast amounts of diamond dust. But there are rituals that I can perform over the days, the weeks, months, to slowly begin purifying the water. That will then in turn help purify the land, the animals.

But it must be gentle and gradual. The animals will suffer if we take away the crown still too quickly. They will likely have withdrawal from it. So I do not wish to remain here because I'm still afraid of the crown still that is down there. If I am around it too long, it will corrupt me regardless. But Sir Eldrake needs... I do not know what to do with him. He is very clearly corrupted and mutated.

If people see him like this, it would be bad. I do not know what to do next. I don't think that traveling with you is the right idea, but I do not know what to do next. I don't think that traveling with you is the right idea, but I do not know, and I wish to see that crown still destroyed. I don't think that it should be kept by anyone. It should be destroyed. Agreed, I think we all agree with that.

Yes. Totally. Where are you going to go to then? Well... Are you going to stay in one place? My instinct would have been to remain close by to the lake so that I can go and perform the rituals. But now that the village has been destroyed,

I mean, I can clear out the entrance and make my way down there to perform the rituals, but I don't wish to leave it unguarded. I don't in case the reclaimers come back or things like that. I could go back to the Mistwald and tell my mother what has occurred here, but I fear that there would be political elements at work there that I don't wish to get involved with. If the Green Archdragon learns that there is this blighted crownsteel land in Caldera, that there's this pile of crownsteel... My mother is very shrewd and I'm not sure if that is the wisest course of action. Well, we're heading back to Ashen's Rest.

And we're going... It is the realm of Duke Ignarius. Yes, I have heard of him. A warrior, a great warrior. We are speaking specifically with Emberissa, the daughter of the Duke. And I have seen her, I believe, at a gala, at a ball. If you were to come with us,

maybe we could arrange some sort of assistance or aid from Ashen's Rest to go out with you. Um... Yes, that would be better, I think, to send people. Yes. Now that we know where it is, but... It's in their best interests as well. But do you think that the Emberisher and the Duke will be okay with what has happened here,

with the Crownsteel and... Not at all. Oh. And hopefully... So we cannot tell them? I'm confused. They want to put it right, I believe. I see, okay.

But we'll handle that side of things. Very well, okay. But we'll handle that side of things. Very well, okay. But we should be able to get you some assistance with at least your projects, you're not alone out here. Oh, I mean, yes, I mean, forgive me, but Kaldra is not known for those who are in tune with the natural world. That is what is needed here to cleanse the water.

But if there are those who have those magics and abilities, if you know of anyone who is primal magic or magic that can help cleanse the land, that would be very useful. But perhaps guards could be useful to make sure that it's safe until the crown still can be destroyed, until the water can be cleansed. But that would be a big ask. It may take me months to clean the land of the corruption. Well, I think some of us here are very good at speaking with the people there, and I think we could come

to a decent agreement, which would benefit both them and you, to make sure they don't just come and burn everything down, as cauldrons like to do. They are very passionate people, they call them, and their passions are very strong. But very well, I will accompany you then to Ashenrest, and if you think that speaking to Lady Emberissa and Duke Ignarious is the right cause of action, I will come with you, and I can give them my account of what happened, but... Please understand that... Crownsteel is such a difficult subject for dragons,

merely being in the presence of it, that could condemn me, and so Eldrak as well. I mean... I cannot hide what has been done to him. You were a prisoner. You were held hostage and forced against your will. The church, I think, that may be the case,

but they will be afraid of the consequences more than the circumstances. Again, I think we've got some people here that are good at speaking. If you think you can, if you can convince them that all is well, then yes, I'm happy to trust you. I suggest, you're right, you should probably lay low until we give you the all clear.

Very well. Very well, I'm happy to do so. Well, 10 days. Yeah, so is the plan just to basically make the long trip back, basically? Yeah. I think so. I think away from Baratheira as well, I would ask everyone else, I suppose,

if we should maybe speak to Obsidius first about Eldraac before taking him straight back to Emberissa. Yeah, there's gonna be an emotional weight to seeing him in this. Yeah, I wonder if, because Obsidius, we all know Obsidius, he's totally chill with him. He's pragmatic.

He's fine, he loves the stuff. Not in that way, he loves people that have him, he understands it. And is not immediately, I'm gonna kill this person, unlike Duke Ignarius would be. Passionate. Or maybe even Emberissa. That's what I was thinking.

I was thinking we take him to Emberissa first because she clearly has some sort of relationship with him and then therefore would protect him from her father. I just don't know how she would react to Crownsteel though. And what it's done to him. Or at least like. And be reactionary and do like. Revenge mode. Salt the earth kind of revenge, yeah.

So maybe we go to Obsidius first. I think that's a good idea. Cause he might just say, yeah, take him to Amarisa. Not my problem, bye. So I think that would be the idea. Oh no, Mark's making a face. I do think Obsidius has also had certain feelings about Crownsteel.

He does, but if we took him back to Ignarius, for example. He's aware of his antheists. Eldrax dead. Right? Or at least we assume he has extremely strong feelings about Crownsteel. But then we've also got Lady Vera'Fera to back up our case and he was a prisoner, as Rowan said.

It's more that he's just a dude who has been corrupted by Crownsteel. But he's also part of the Red Dragon's court, so he's their responsibility, in a way. So this is kind of their mess to clean up. So they wouldn't want to kill a knight, surely. Quick way to clean up a mess though, isn't it? It's also less killing the knight,

and more so what they're gonna do with the lands as well, because you want to make sure Lady Verithera can cleanse them, and if they just want to go and burn it all. Yeah, true. We know for certain Obsidius is at least less unchill. He'll listen. With Crownsteel. And would give us the correct advice

on how to proceed with Eldrake in regards to Emberissa. It's a steady stone. Yeah, okay, yeah. It's an in. Yeah, all right. And if he says, don't do that, then I've got a gun. He does have a gun. He does have a gun. He's got a gun.

We just give him you, and while he's busy with you, we go and get someone else. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And also he has been... That's a fucking good point. I didn't even think about his track. He's been tracking you. Yeah, yeah.

Fuck's sake. And you've just fucking blew up the church. I've changed my mind. Yeah, you've been off the fucking chain, laddo. He's gonna be pissed at you. He's already on his way. Maybe we don't go to Obsidian. He's gonna meet you at the gates and be like, I'm gonna fucking tell you.

God, he's gonna be so not angry, just disappointed. No, that's me. He's gonna be pissed. He's gonna choke you out, kinda sexy style again. He's gonna slam you against a wall. He's gonna punish you. I think Emberissa. Eggman on Eggman style.

You think Emberissa, just straight up Emberissa. I don't know about that. Think the power of love. It's gonna drive her to... Power of love is a curious thing. It makes a one man weep, it makes another man sing. There you go. Yeah.

So it could make the woman... It's too passionate, I think. It's gonna make her be like, oh my god. Yeah, gonna be fueled by rage. It's a cluster of two evils, though. It's either Lady Love... True Rollerfruit. Or...

Mandragon destroying this little kid who's gone off the rails. Look, either way, Obsidius is gonna find me. I may as well go speak to him. How about we just double danger it and Em and obsidious at the same time? Why not just ignore us? Triple threat. Get them all together, put the body in the wrong. Alternatively, I have a gun now.

Just shoot yourself. Wait, purple. How about this? The fence just ruined. We need to vote for it then, democratically. Oh, God. How about this? The We need to vote for it then. Oh God. It's time to put this to a vote.

I think Rodger should get a vote. Rodger, Hothwood and Percy get to vote. Baranth gets a vote. No, Baranth doesn't get a vote because the reason I'm saying this away from Vera Thera, and I should clarify this, is we don't necessarily want to let the green province know that within the red province, there is a dragon that has some kind of ties to Crownsteel. Oh, God!

That is a specific that I wanted to separate from Verrethera for. So not Baranth. Fair. Or Rodri, frankly, I don't trust that guy. What the hell? What the hell? Where's he been these few days?

Where's he been? Narkin. Is that still our Rodri? Yeah. How are we to know? It's been a whole season of events. Exactly. This year.

HBO Max. A whole season of the spin-off. Is Jim Carrey gonna come out of his ass? Yeah. All right. Is Jim Carrey gonna come out of his ass? Ha ha ha ha! Alright! That movie is probably older than some of our audience.

Oh my god! And that's the second one. Yeah! The first one is also a little transforming. A little bit. Movie of its time. Alright, my question is, so you are just gonna start making your journey back, right?

So what that means is I need to know who is going to, who's doing what on this journey? I shoot Rowan. Well, no, no, no, I want, so the way I did last time is, you tell me what you are doing and I'm going to assign you a role. You tell me what your character, so we, you know, keep it a bit more role play.

What would your character, in this circumstance, with the circumstances you have, what are your characters doing on this journey? Looking after Rodri. Looking after Rodri. All right. It's gonna be one day where Rowan isn't scouting ahead. Okay.

And I'll get to that after we've made our rules. Okay. One day? Are we doing all 10 days now? No, no, no. Okay. Okay. And I'll get to that after we've made our rules. Okay, one day, are we doing all 10 days now? No, no, no. Okay. Okay. First leg, yes, Rowan will be. First, yeah. Okay, so you're like the one navigating and guiding.

Using the geography to figure out where to go. You're the one who knew how to get here, so you're definitely the best. I'm not taking this route back. No, but when you used your sense, you got an idea of the rivers and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It doesn't mean I give you advantage

on the first roll you make to navigate. So how much of this journey we're actually doing here? Is it just one toss and then? It will depend on how good the guide is when you make a roll. This is now, if we're heading north out of this area, I know this area specifically I don't know much about, but we are heading towards Rust End, right?

So I imagine that's more terrain that I recognize a little bit more. Maybe not super far, but like, if I saw Rust End in the distance, I'd know, okay, the road is absolutely this way or whatever. Feels a bit redundant to say, going the right way. When you get to the road,

you don't have to worry about navigating it. It's Well, when you get to the road, you don't have to worry about navigating it. It's that way. You just follow the road. You know where you're going. Right now, the difficulty is you are out in the middle of nowhere in the hills. And all I need to know,

because it depends on the roles and everything else, what everybody is doing as you travel. Don't think about, oh, for three days I'm gonna do this, or two days I'm gonna do that. What is, until something happens, what do you think your characters would do? Yeah. Catching up with Roger, giving him a brush down,

making sure he's well-fed, checking his hooves. Are you the one steering Roger, like, actually on the wagon guiding Roger, or are you just checking after him and looking after him in that way? Both. Okay. Both.

I'm doing all the... Three days! Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm doing all this. Three days. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think Ophelia would be sort of inspecting like some of the plant life and like looking out at the animal life, seeing if we've passed sort of the crown steely threshold. Okay.

So like then she'll know like that it's safe to hunt. Go get meat for the party and stuff. Okay, okay, okay. Yes, the party. I like that, I like that, that's fine. All right, good. I think I'd walk occasionally outside of the wagon, kind of trying to keep an eye on threats,

if we head into like deeper forests or whatever. Great. To try and, I know my perception is in the Terralit, but. I know. The embassies, by the way, so Lady Verithur is basically keeping Ser Eldrach asleep. So anytime he looks like he's gonna stir, she puts him back into a slumber.

She's gonna also be just medically attending to Ser Eldrach. I'm assuming that he would be loaded up into the back of the wagon. Means that you're not gonna be able to sleep or use the wagon, because Ser Eldrach is a pretty big dude, and he's basically recuperating in there. Maybe a couple of you can go in there to sleep at night and stuff like that.

Well, the lady there, she's large as well, right? Well, she's a dragon, she'll just, and she'll make this clear that she can just sleep out in the woods, she will literally go and find a bunch of trees, go dragon form, and sleep there. And she's very happy to do that. He's not gonna wake up overnight and try and kill her. He should not, no.

His body is exhausted. I am magically keeping him asleep, because I feel I can sense that his mind is still greatly troubled, and the corruption still has a grip upon him. I think for our safety, it is best that, and his safety as well, I am keeping him asleep. But no, he should not awaken.

Every few hours, I give him a touch of my magic and he falls asleep. But yes, I will be fine in the evening, but I'm afraid I will not be up there with navigation too much. I need to attend to Eldrake. That's fine. But Boranth and Penelope can provide assistance

to those who need it. Great. So two of you can have advantage. You can get help from whatever your tasks are. So maybe like if you want to have Penelope, for example, can help you with Rodri. Or for example, Boranth could like help you like check the wildlife, whatever.

You choose who's helping who and who's doing what. You will already have advantage for this role, Rowan. Cool, so in that case, what I would like is Rowan will be making a survival check with advantage. Ophelia will be making an arcana or nature check. And you may have advantage if you use one of the two NPCs to aid you. Animal handling for Gruff,

and then Perception for Xanthias. I know what I'm doing. I will have Daisy stealth and she will scout and see if she can alert you of any upcoming danger. Who wants NPC help? Probably you. I was gonna say Baranth can help Rowan, but you've already got like...

He's already got advantage. What's that for? And I'm happy for you to gain it. Cause he, when he used his scents, he got an idea of the layout of like this landscape. Ah, okay. I had visions. Yes, all right.

Yeah, I guess I could, Baranth is like a, he's got an archer, right? He's an archer. Yeah, he's very good for perceptions. I would mind his assistance with that, I suppose. It's just advantage. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

I'll have Penelope help me then, I freeze already. Yeah, yeah, good. Ooh. Hoo hoo. So what are we looking at for? 18. 18, success. Just about, for our guide. I didn't actually roll that well.

I know, it's great then. 4 plus 8. Great, so yeah, you got an 18. So yeah, though this is you are out in the middle of nowhere, there are no trails, you are going by your own ability to navigate, but you do succeed, which means you'll have a certain amount of days before you encounter any sort of event, right? So that's the success of that, is you make good progress,

and then we're gonna roll for the event. What did Ophelia get? Nine. Nine? You struggle to keep track of beasts and things like that just immediately scatter before this party, they don't linger around for you to get a good enough look at them or examine them.

Plant life, none of these look like plants you're familiar with, so you see a red plant and you're like, oh, Crownsteel, it could also just be a red plant. You're not really sure. I've also got a feeling that whenever Xanthius and Ophelia are in close proximity, Ophelia will kind of hang back just a little further. Okay. A little bit of distance.

Or she'll kind of skirt around him just a little bit. So that's kind of making her lose her focus because she's also keeping tabs on him. I love that. Love that. All right, what did Xanthus get on Perception? Tom loves that. I am a huge fan of that.

So I've got minus one to Perception. With advantage, I got one. I rolled two twice. I think that, Baranth is keeping an eye out. You, however, are so focused on the events of the last few days. Yeah, I mean the first day, there's a burning village behind us.

You can still, you see the smoke for a long time. Your mind perhaps a bit distracted. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Daisy did succeed on her stealth, so she will get to like alert you if there is anything up ahead. What did Griffith get? I got a little Gengar on my Gengar dice,

so that means I got enough. That's 20. Woo! Gengar. Plus seven. Plus seven. 27. You do an excellent job of looking after Rodri.

He is happy and healthy. You keep him well fed, and he plods on without too much issue. He doesn't wander off. You know, you keep him on the trail that Rowan's setting out for you, and he's happy as Larry. Yeah, happy little guy.

I will make the journey easier for such a happy lad. Oh, 27, he's a very happy boy. He's a very happy man. I'm getting squeeches. Um, would you like me to roll, or would one of you like to roll a d20? How about you roll? You haven't had much this week.

Public roll, please. A 19. Fuck me. Oh, you know what that means. The gods come down from the heavens and bless us all. Obsidius. Oh god, I've gotta do a bit of real improv here. Just try and remember what Obsidius' voice is.

Ha ha ha. Want us to talk amongst ourselves for a bit? Yes. So, what's the vote we democratically decide? Obsidious. I vote obsidious. We take... Daisy votes obsidious.

I just think it's pointless because I think we'll get to the gate and he's just there. Sure. And he's just gonna fly down. Well, okay, there's a sub vote. So far Obsidius is winning, but we'll table that for now. Sub vote, do we take Eldraac into the city? That's a tricky one.

Yeah, that's a good one. That's a good one. Yeah. And bring them to investigate. Okay, so we stop short of the city. Not too far. And we bring him to the tavern. Tavern. You have to go into the city to do that.

Oh yeah, but I don't. Which is not too far into the city to be fair, but it is past checkpoints and stuff. We put a sheet over him, you know. Yeah, we could. He's just goods. But he might sense crowds still there, right? If it's like that strong.

We could hold him up in the Ashen Citadel. That's pretty far from it. Yeah, it's like a week away. I think we just stopped short of the city. But either way, who do we get first? Obsidius has currently got three votes thanks to Rowan raising- I think Rowan just raised a poor as well.

He wouldn't. I got a 27 on that, boy. Rowan has raised both Daisy's hand and Rodri's hand. Rowan is raising Rodri's leg. Man, Ruff makes a secret command, he just stomps it. Oh, so strong. Remember that not voting is a vote for obsidian. Yeah, it is.

That's true, and you should have read the subtext. Also, I don't make the rules, there's a time limit on have read the subtext. Also, and I make the rules, there's a time limit on the vote. And it already ended. It's not ended, sorry. It already ended. So, Obsidius then, yes? Great.

I kind of think Ignarius might be a good shout. Okay, okay. Oh, she wants to go for the heart issue. She's been drinking wine again. It'd be interesting for honesty and being like, you know, dude, you're the big head honcho. You're the wine again. You're being interested in honesty, and being like, you know, dude, you're the big head honcho. You're the big cheese.

You're the big cheese. We're really cool, super honest, wouldn't keep secrets from you kind of guys. We're the heroes of Ashen's Wrath. Exactly. There is a huge secret amongst this pie. He's consumed a lot of crap. It's staying on the sand, though.

Like, Eldritch, it'd you like, here's your guy. We found him. It's not his guy though. Embrison is the one that sent us on this quest. It is one of his knights. It is one of his knights. It's one of his knights and like, I don't know. I just think Igarius is a sure way

for getting you dissected under a microscope. Exactly, you want me dissected by a microscope? You're the one voting for, no wait, no I mean Obsidius. Obsidius? Why, why? Because he's already pissed off with you and you've got to guzzle a bunch of Crown Steel. I don't have to be there when Ignorist,

I'm getting the names mixed up too. When Obsidius shows up I don't have to be there. He'll find me anyway, either way. Obsidius knew that you were going off and doing this, knowing that Crown Steel was present. And I've come back. Okay, so you're saying Obsidius, but without you there. Obsidius, he's gonna find me anyway,

so Obsidius and I'm there. No, he's gonna- Either way he's gonna find me. If he's gonna kill me, then I'm already dead. Ha ha ha. Are you happy with your discussion? No. No.

No, no. Me and Rowan affirm Obsidius. Rowan, me and Rowan are firm obsidious. Rowan lifted Daisy and Rodry's hand. Rodry stomped his foot down. Rodry did stomp back down. Yeah. All right. And I sense shenanigans on that vote.

I sense, yeah. We have a bond. That's corruption. We have a Gengar 27 bond. Oh, so it's just a popularity contest, is that it? Yeah. I'm definitely voting for you. Do I see you giving him scratches?

No. I, I'm not voting for you. Do I see you giving him scratches? No. I... I'm not gonna finish that sentence. I'm gonna say I tickle the balls. How do you go? You shouldn't do that. Why is Roger voting for Ember Ristle all of a sudden? And staying away from Xanthius.

There's no way, okay. There's no way we take him to... Duke Ignaris is a throne vote. That's a throne vote. And the democracy takes offense. You are just spoiling the ballot, I can tell you that much. Your chat is hanging.

I just wanna be honest with the big guy. I just think Emberys is the one who sent us on the mission. I'm just saying we take him to Obsidius first, just to see whether we should take him to Emberisa. In his current state. Why are we, okay. It's the state that he's in and ups. She's made of tough stuff. She is tough. She is a dragon.

She ain't the world's flounder. She is a dragon. She is a dragon. She knows, she's not, she knows what life's like. I vote for Duke Ignaris. Well now I'm paying for Obsidius. Shit man, we're not going to vote this time. Doesn't matter, we're all going to get thrown in jail as soon as we get there. I'll just stop the magic mirror in my little temple of blood and we'll just push Eldrake

through that and then Ossius can have it. House of Rok can have it. Yeah they can have it. Can we just post him? We could. Just post him? We could. Do do do do do. Just post him to the vehicle balance.

Just put an address on Rodri and just send him on his way. Yeah. Yeah. I guess we'll see, we haven't reached a decision. We're ready now. Okay. We've got seven more days. Just send this, send this.

What's that in the sky? Black wings descending on us. All three this. We've got seven more days. What's that in the sky? Black wings descending on us! All three sets! Well two days, like you travel for two days before, in the evening, late one evening, as you are just coming out of the hills, night kind of falls, and you are thinking about making camp.

When you hear a very soft voice calling from across the next hill. Beautiful voice of someone singing. There is a haunting melody to it. And Gruff, it's a melody you know quite well. You just hear, So, Isabel was a valiant knight, Fa la la la dun dilly,

She took up a bow and she went to fight, Fa la la la dun dilly, She sat out from her forest vale, she had not even a coat of mail, but still she went on her quest and sang, fowler, lulladun, dilly. It continues, there's various verses and things like that. But it's beautiful, but there is a sort of,

yeah, someone's singing, plucking, and you can hear, Rowan, you hear the strings of, maybe not a harp, you hear a harp accompaniment to it. And you see a very soft, gentle, white glow. What's happening? Did anyone else hear that music, or was it just? She traveled far and traveled wide.

My dad. I hear it. I hear it. Followed her always at her side. Fa la la la dun dee lee. Have a singing. We wept, we laughed, we fought, we lied. Her tests, my fate, our hearts in swine.

One of my favorite ballads. Still she went on her quest and sang. Fa la la la dun dee lee. We stick with. Is this a Crown still thing? Are we hallucinating? Well Rowan, give me a performance check. Let's see if you know this song.

Plus eight. He knows the dubstep remix. 10. No, this isn't actually a song that you have used in your repertoire. La la la la dilly. You're getting a crumb, lad. Filly. Is it Filly?

Tis the ballad of Sir Isabelle. One of my favorite ballads. What's it about? Sir Isabelle. And why is it so haunting? And why is it being sung here and there? Oh, it doesn't sound haunting to me. Yeah, it's... When I say haunting, it's because there's like a slight reverberation to it. It's like bouncing off the hills. It's like somebody's singing out late at night,

out in the hills. That is weird. With just a little bit of a harp playing to it. I mean, lovely and all, but why is it being sung out of the middle of nowhere? So, shot of cyclops in the eye. It could be you're wearing us in. It could be. Could be a shot of cyclops in the eye. Could be you're worrying us in. It could be, could be travelers having a rest

and singing a song. Haven't you heard me sing a song at the fireplace? Can I see a campfire or smoke coming from a campfire? No campfire or smoke. But we see a glow. White effervescence. I don't think that's a campfire. That's weird.

But each time she won her trophy prize, my darling showed herself aside. I mean, maybe we just go slightly closer just to see what's happening over there. And then if we see some people that we don't like the look of, we just go. Maybe Daisy. There is a lot of us. Daisy's quite stealthy.

Daisy, would you mind? I mean, I can if you really want me to. Well, I mean, I'm pretty good at... What if it's a ghost? It does look ghostly. Is anyone able to send something forward to take a look? And maybe your hand thing. Why? I could...

Percival also stands there. No, I've just seen... No, we've just met up, Percival. I don't want to lose you again. You're too precious to me. Well, I can't really see through this hand. Anymore. No, not anymore.

I mean, for the sake of it, if you want to say for like now, until the magic changes, which will be not today, if you want to say that you just can still use that spell, yeah, it's fine. Okay. Oh, okay, I do. Well, the hand. It's so much blood.

Right, and you think that is scarier. I'm pointing at the white light. That is scarier. Well, true. The hand crawls up and crests over the hill and makes its way down. And down at the bottom of the hill, kind of nestled in, not quite a valley,

but like a little dip. There's little cups of trees. And you would see with your darkvision, because you have darkvision as a valley, but like a little dip. There's a little copse of trees, and you would see with your darkvision, because you have darkvision as a vampire, because it is like, there is this glow. You see that there is a figure who is sat on like a little rocky outcropping near this copse of trees. But around, like the whole area,

you can see that this was the site of a battlefield long ago. Probably the conflict that created the Ash Hills, like, you know, it's old, old battlefield. Like, you can see like rusted weapons sort of still plunged in the ground. You can see marks where the earth was scorched and has never recovered, you know, never regrown from,

magical fire and stuff like that. Maybe even like a couple of dragon bones, maybe, like sticking up out of the ground. And the figure that you see sat on this little rock outcome, they are not a spirit, you would know, a ghost, were you to see one. They look alive, but their whole body radiates

this sort of soft moonlight glow. They have long elven ears, black wing long, and you can see that in the light of the moon that's shining down on them, they have a sort of moth-like appearance. They have these large eyes, sort of soft downing that falls around their shoulders like hair. Male, you think, you don't see the sort of hint of a bosom

or anything like that, they're quite broad shoulders, and they're playing this beautiful lute, sorry, not lute, harp, which is very ornate elven design. You've, it looks like the kind of stuff Blackwing had in their tower. Very similar in the sort of like flowing nature of it all, made from a beautiful silver, like a moonlight silver. And they're wearing a sort of troubadours outfit,

like a bard or a performance. They have this wonderful shirt, like a silvery gossamer shirt, almost see-through. You can actually see the sort of muscled body underneath it. They have a sash draped over one side, like a leather backpack that's down on the rock beside them, a pair of leather trousers, big, tall, walker, proper travelers boots.

And they've got it up and they're just, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, proper travelers boots. And they've got it up and they're just, do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do. Do they have a moth's head? They have like the antenna and their eyes are big black, like they're, but they're not a moth's head. It's not Mothman. All right. But there is a moth-like quality to them.

And their hair has got like this kind this fuzzy down kind of vibe to it. But you can also see elven features. And you've seen Blackwing, when they are in between light and moonlight in that shot, their appearance changes, right? And you think that this is probably a proper Feywilled elf, you know, an old elf, and you're seeing their true form. You know, you're seeing their true non-gossamer,

like non-glamored version of themselves. Because as far as they know, they're alone out here, so. But there's also maybe like a little cock of the ear in the direction that your party is, as if maybe they may have heard some commotion as you've been discussing things and things like that. But they've just got their boots and they're plucking away singing this song.

They stop singing this particular song, they finish that particular song, and then they start singing this one in a sort of deeper, deeper bassier sort of tone and language that is still about a night but you don't quite pick up on all the words to it and things like that. It might be a regional dialect like you know Ilmerin as like a general language like common but this is maybe like something that somebody from another province there you you know,

like when somebody's speaking like a heavy dialected sort of language, you know. Ancient Ilmeran, basically. Yeah, I feel you, we'll send the hand back. What do you think, what is it? Like Blackwing, they're like Blackwing. But they look like a moth, almost. They have the antenna, but the long ears.

It's an elf. Just one? Just one elf. A glowy, resplendent, muffy elf. Extremely, magically powerful, yes. Mimandorimond. I also don't know this one. Do you want the war?

LAUGHTER Boom, boom. I also don't know this one. Do you want the wall? Oh dear. Do we approach? It seems somewhat safe enough. His black wing is, well, actually. I mean, they're on their own. They seem perfectly content just to be out here on their own. I mean, do we say hi?

It's a risk. Would you have Ser Eldrake Ignis and Lady Verethera? You do not need to worry about me. I can hide myself and Ser Eldrake if need be. Do you know much about fae creatures? I know about the elves, yes. The refugees, they first came to Mistwald after all. I was not born yet.

They came 300 years ago, 400 years ago, something like that. But my older sisters met them. They were part of the first talks with them, to negotiate them, becoming part of the Empire under the Dragon Empress. Sad people, very tragic what happened to them. to negotiate them becoming part of the Empire under the Dragon Emperors. A sad people, very tragic what happened to them. Can't go back. Very sorry, yes. And the stories and the songs, you know, that they told

and they shared with my sisters and the early people of Mistwald, they were beautiful. The way they spoke of their homeland, of this Feywild, the place, it sounds magical, and there was a home for them in Mistwold. They said that it was the most like where they had come from. Beautiful people.

All right, well, if we want to stop here, we're gonna be stopping anyway soon. Yeah, like you could push on and camp somewhere else. But the place where this musician is, is a perfect camping spot. Because you have the hills to protect you from the wind, the woods give you a little bit of cover to your back and a little bit of shelter if you wanted a fire to hide the presence of a fire and things like that.

But you will have to approach this person if you want to use that space. Maybe you could learn some new songs? No offense, I love your songs, but... You don't? Oh, I'll be... There's a lot of songs about rocks. Well, I was thinking of a saga, but let's not get into it. Oh, okay.

I've got so much more to say about rocks. I wouldn't mind talking them for such a beautiful edition of one of my favorite ballads. Okay, sure. Sure. You make your way over there, the kind of creaking of the wagon wheels, and as soon as you sort of get within range, this person is clearly new that you were coming.

But they don't seem alarmed. They sort of put the harp on their hip, they're facing in your direction, and they don't seem alarmed. They sort of put the harp on their hip, they're facing in your direction, and they sort of, oh there, I mean you no harm, as long as you mean me none. You are not brigands or bandits, I trust. Absolutely not, I just want to thank you for such a beautiful rendition

of one of my favorite ballads. Ah, you are a fan of the ballad of Sir Isabel? Absolutely. Oh, there's also one of mine, a song I have learned since these coming to these lands. Her tale is... Her tale is an inspiring one, a little sad, but also full of love.

Beautiful thing. I collect stories like that, you see. Ah, well it's hearing such a ballad that inspired me to start my own journey. Oh, well there is no greater reward for a composer of a sonnet or a song to hear such words. I'm glad for it, and I'm glad you enjoyed my performance. What is your name, traveller?

My name is Griffith, Griffith of Tremoril. Gruffith of Tremoril, well, a pleasure to meet you. And he will stand up and he gives a very dramatic bow. And you see that as he bows and returns, that sort of moth-esque-like appearance is now gone. And he's activated the glamour of the Elven people, basically. And what you see is a very sort of traditionally handsome chap. You know, if I said to you, imagine like a Prince Charming type

with this sort of like white hair, short, cropped on like the back and sides, but sort of falling over one side, beautiful like eyes, like like shining very strong chin. Just cut to me. Cut to Tom, just imagine. Just Tom. Yeah, he bows his head,

it keeps that elven appearance, but yeah, he's very clearly activated this glamour and is now disguising himself. And yeah, he will sort of nod in all of your direction, and thank you. I forgot to look up a name for him. Oh, well, we've just been on a very long journey and we were looking for a place to stop, actually.

And we heard your songs. Well, you will find no better one than here, I think. The land around here, although the battlefield is something of a sad reminder of the conflicts of your land as well. But please, you're more than welcome to come and share the spot with me. I'd be welcome for a warm fire

and maybe a little something to eat and drink if you would share it. I'm glad to give you a song in exchange. I think we have more than enough rations, right? Oh, yes. We've got lots on the wagon now. Yeah. Unless you're a thief, in which case we have nothing. We have more than enough rations, right? Oh yes, we've got lots on the wagon now. Yeah. We'll happily share. Unless you're a thief, in which case we have nothing.

We've got some fresh meats that we've stored along with rations. I would be glad for anything you have to share. I do not need to eat much. Small morsel is more than enough for me, but I simply enjoy company more than anything else. Great, well. Yes.

And while we're resting, we'd love to hear some more of either your songs or your stories. Of course. Yes, I have many. I have many that I've collected over the time. I'm happy to tell you one. Perhaps you could inform me. I am not from your realm and I have traveled many parts of it, but I have not wandered these lands before, and yet I find, I've been traveling these hills, I find so many sites of battle, of great conflict, of terrible, terrible things here. Do you know much of it? Would you tell me its story? It's, well, it's the site of a battle many, many years ago, maybe 300 more, more, many, many years ago, maybe 300 more, more, a long time ago, between the gold dragon,

Galvasar, and his armies, as they tried to invade Kaldra. This figure, this Galvasar is a villain, a hero? A villain. Ah, very well. He was corrupted by an external force that corrupts his body and his minions, that worked for him, and unfortunately, scarred this land as well, with its corrupting influence.

So be careful with what you consume and eat from the lands here. Oh, really? And the water. Poison? Not so much poison, more of a... A dark influence. Ah, that I'm very familiar with.

We are taught from a young age not to eat and drink in the darker places of the Feywield. I will regard this place much the same. What brings you at least to Ilmera, or at least specifically to this place? Well, we were all brought to Ilmera. or at least specifically to this place? Well, we were all brought to Ilmira. Those of us who wished to live had very little choice.

But I have spent my years, my centuries now wandering. I search for stories. I search for tales, for songs. Very little else brings me much joy now. So I seek what I can. I find comfort listening to songs and stories I've traveled around. I was recently south of here, a place called Emberford,

a town, a beautiful place, a bridge crossing across the river sprouted up, a city of two halves, almost interestingly. There I met a few, a fellow like you, a big fellow. A Yotny? Yes, yes, another bard, another performer. No way. Yes, yes, he was less gray than you.

He was more, he was more skin tone, pinkish sort of skin tone, I suppose. Yes, I'm relatively unique. Yes, yes, I can see that. You're a stunning figure. I am. Yes, of course. Thank you. But, yes, you have blonde hair

and very, very loud and jovial, but he did a beautiful performance where every, so much alliteration in what he said, every word flowed from one another, the same beginnings, the same letters. It was fascinating. I'd never heard anything like it. That sounds amazing.

I'm afraid I can't do that. No, that's all right. Neither can I, but it was interesting to hear for the first time. But yes, I mean, gather round. I will gladly tell you. Forgive me, I did not give you my name either. My name is Volodar Rololen.

Okay. Now, Volodar Rololen, if you were to say that slower and with all the individual letters, spell it out. It is Volo, V-O-L-O, D-A-R, R-A-L-O-L-E-N. But please call me Volodar. Volodar. Volodar Ralloren. Volodar R. Voladar Ralloran. Voladar Ralloran.

Voladar Ralloran. Call me Voladar. Okay Voladar. Volalallallalin. Welcome to our little... Shalalallallalin. ... makeshift little group, I suppose. Shalalallallalin.

Voladar Ralloran. Well, let me... And he pulls out the harp again, and he plays. He plays without, unless you ask him, he will just keep playing, and he doesn't seem to get tired, his voice never cracks or breaks. He occasionally will stop for a drink of water or a bite to eat, give you a moment,

but he just, it's one song after another, or a poem, or a story, and when he tells stories, it's not just words, he uses the harp and conjures illusions, creating moving images of the story that he's telling, changes the landscape around you to match the setting of that particular story. And some of these stories you recognize, they are familiar ones, the Ballad of Sir Isabelle, about a knight of Mistwald, in fact, who goes out on her quest, but keeps, you know, every time she does a great deed,

she ends up giving the prize away, or helping the person, rather than like taking the glory for herself. And the whole time her scribe, her squire that's going with her, who is absolutely in love with her as well, tells this, recants this tale to the dragon, the archdragon noble, who eventually then makes her a knight and things like that. He tells you tales not of Ilmera, he tells you of a tale from the Feywield about a woman with seven fox tales, who's a trickster, and she tricks two lovers

into fighting against one another in a sword duel, which actually ends up saving an elven town because they both happen to be in the same place to fight a duel when a bunch of enemies attack and then they fight all the enemies off. And it's all because this trickster lady does all of this. And he tells you this story. He tells you a tale about the giants.

He tells you a tale of their beliefs in the stars and he tells you a journey about their ships that are so great that they are said that they can sail across all of the oceans, you know, and they fend off these great beasts. He tells you of one ship that was laden when they were at war with the dragons. They sent one of their great warrior chieftains to come and attack the Dragon Empire, laden their ship with weapons engraved with runes that could kill dragons, you know, empowered their weapons to kill the dragons,

but it was sunk beneath the waves in a great storm and things like that. And just like all these different stories and tales. Chimes fought the dragons. Yeah, long ago they did, yeah. Okay. and things like that, and just like all these different stories and tales. Giant Fort, the dragons. Yeah, long ago they did, yeah. Okay. And just, yeah, but listening to all of these stories, even those of you who are perhaps, you know, wanting to stay alert,

wanting to be on watch, you just find your eyes grow so heavy, and it's so peaceful and relaxing, and the words of Aladar just seem to like waft over you like a blanket, and you all eventually find yourselves falling asleep. When you awake the next day, no trouble, no issues with guards or anything like that, you find yourselves invigorated,

and you all begin to, you all, until basically you take, until your next adventure or whatever it is, you'll have 10 temporary hit points. Oh, okay. As the memories of those songs, there is no sign of Volidar when you awaken. Oh. Just vanished completely. Lady Verithera, when you are, if any of you ask,

like if she fell asleep, she says like, no. She's like, no, I did not fall asleep. I spoke with the elf for some time, and then he left. Oh, what would it be? What would you talk about? What would you, how? Oh, he continued to tell me, he continued to tell me great stories.

He spoke a little of his journey here. You know, I was not born yet when they, but he's been alive for a very long time. I asked him advice, he's told me stories, but he said that he would rather slip away when the sun began to rise. I hope he wasn't offended by us falling asleep to his tones. I think Rowan, that was very much his intention.

He seemed to kindly sort, although a little odd. He said that the maiden of the moon had said to bless you with a good night's sleep. Well, that's very nice of both of them. Yes. Okay. But yeah, that was the chance encounter. Very cool. You- Bolarararararararararararblblblblblblblblblblblblblblbl

You reach out of the most dangerous of this terrain over the next couple of days. I'm not gonna have you make another travel roll because by this point you're getting super close to the road. Okay. Five days, about halfway through your journey to Ashenrest. Okay. No, it would be seven days after you leave to head to Ashenrest. Okay. No, it would be seven days after you leave

to head towards Ashenrest. So you're about three days away from Ashenrest, traveling along the Broken Road. You see something. Flying towards you from Ashenrest's two draconic figures. Two. Well, two, two. Two, both of them. Okay, two, two draconic figures. Two. Well, two, two.

Two, both of them. Okay, two, two. Both of them. All right. I vote do keep that recipe. This fucking scarf. Flying towards you. One sleek, graceful, powerful,

but like a dancer in the air. Silken cloths, glittering golden jewelry. You see Lady Embarrassed sort of flying towards you. And next to her, dark shapes, dark shadow blotting out the cloudy sky, streaks of red mixed with black, few ornate pieces of jewelry, heavily jagged horns and talons, you see Obsidius.

Why did you let us have that entire conversation? You could have interrupted at any point. Why would I? Just drop a real quick shut up. Let's do that, come on. I know. God damn it. The two dragons land.

Churning up huge chunks of the earth beside the road and then with a flash of magic you watch their bodies shrink, shrink back down to their humanoid, nine feet tall forms. Yeah, it's still smaller than a dargon. Lady Embrys's eyes scan very quickly amongst all of you, and then fall to the... There is panic.

She is very clearly looking for something that is not immediately present. She does notice heart warden on your back, but even that, her eyes register it and then her back to scanning falls upon the wagon. You can see her mind racing and she begins moving towards the wagon, the back of the wagon to open it. Lady Vera Thera sort of sees them, but she immediately bows and curtsies her age.

Lady Verethira is a much younger dragon, and she just doesn't know how to, she doesn't want to say anything to these older dragons, who she seems to almost revertly just be like, oh, and she sort of hunkers down. Penelope is just like, ah, and Varence doesn't know what to say. Obsidius, though, stalkant doesn't know what to say.

Obsidious, though, stalks immediately towards the group of you. His expression is dark, angry. He reaches into his robe and pulls out the letter that you sent him. Who sent this? Which of you sent this? I did.

What were you thinking? He opens it, and your wording when you sent this letter was, tell them everything. You speak of clown steel. It is by fortune that the guards who brought it were trustworthy enough not to read it and to deliver it to me. Orgrim, loyal, did not read it. If he had,

or would have been revealed. This was foolish, Gruffydd, foolish! You must be much more considerate. You cannot send word like this. At least encode it, crypt it. Do not speak of these things so openly. And he burns the letter in your face. With the greatest of respects, my lord. openly, and he burns the letter in your face.

With the greatest of respects, my lord, being out in the countryside, the secret is out. You speak of things you do not know. It is not out. If it were out, my father would be here tearing you apart. Not only that, that there, who knows who would be after this, this trove that you have uncovered. You do not understand how desperate people are to get what you have found. So with all due respect, know your place. Know who is superior in their knowledge. You are a child.

The foolish one at that. Now come off the road. There's much we must discuss. And with that we'll end this session. Oh fuck yeah. Lovely. Thank you, thanks. No Mark, having a go at you.

That is the character of Sidious being angry. I was absorbing it. I was swimming it. I was loving it. I just wanna make that clear. Oh my God. There's a load of understanding for gruff to who he did, but Sidious is like.

It's my chest. Oh my God. I'm like, oh my God. It's not finished yet. Someone's shouting at daddy. It's middle school again. I'm not on my my god. It's not finished yet. Someone's shouting at daddy. It's like it's middle school again. I'm like, oh my fucking god, what do I do? Well, let's just say that's the first bit with the letter.

There's a lot more still to come. Oh my god. You think Gruff's disappointed, oh shit. You're in trouble. Let's just say he's not in the best mood to begin with. No, no. Oh my god. At least he came.

And I will say as well, I made percentile rolls for that letter, where I was like, right, how long is it gonna take? How trustworthy are these scouts that have been sent with a letter? Let's make a roll. What have we done? The guards get to, do they read the letter?

When they get to the Duke's palace, they have to give it to Consider Orgrim, because he's not just gonna be like, yeah, go and see, he's like, give the letter to me, and I will take it to them. Will he read the letter? Roll to see. And you guys got so fucking lucky.

Like every time it was like, no, these guys are legit. They're fucking mega trustworthy. I was like, I can, I can do this one over real quick. We now know that the chain leading to Obsidius is clean. No, no, these two dudes delivered this. You like do not think no! You're so welcome. These two dudes delivered this, you do not think that. I trust them implicitly. Yeah, now you know.

Now you know you can trust them. You have to name these two random scouts. You're so welcome. So funny, I was literally there, all right, D100, ooh, there's like a 20% chance these guys don't read the letter. Yeah, okay, yeah, no, they don't. I guess they don't read it.

These are the most honorable fucking messengers ever. Okay, great, right, they get to bloody, consider Orgrim. All right, maybe a 50% chance he would read the letter because it's kind of, no, he doesn't, all right, yeah, fine, yeah. See, some of Gruff's, maybe some of Gruff's demeanor. Trust, yeah, maybe.

His honorableness, it's rubbed off, it's influence on others. Or maybe your handwriting was that bad. Was that even a case of indifference? It was pure luck that, because Nathaniel, sure, he wouldn't have read it. Yeah. But he was like, all right, here you go, scouts,

because he didn't know what was in it. Oh yeah. Take that, go to Ashton's Rest, deliver it to Lady of Liberty, he's like, okay. These two guys are like, very good, boss. Didn't even think about this fucking letter. Thing is that's Gruff though, Gruff Wooden.

Of course, yeah. He believes the best of everyone. But also you were panicked, you were like, we need to let them know now, we don't have any other means of doing it. But like, I- It's a crazy situation to be in. It's like-

And then I, but then when I came to do the prep, I was just like, I've got to check to see what happens with this fucking letter, man. Like, I'm just- Yeah, yeah, cause it could go really fucking badly. But anyway, that's it for today's episode. Yeah, holy shit. Consequences. Welcome back, a nice big RP episode.

Good to be back. Nice big RP episode. But yeah, we will be back next week for more Hyrollers. Hell yeah we will. Thanks a lot. See you then. Bye. See you next time.

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