High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #48 | Downtime Decisions (Part 2)

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

The crew meets with Duke Ignarius to tell every detail of their recent quest. Well, not *every* detail! The floor plan for Tyrea's Rest is available for free on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/120436217 _______________ 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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Don't worry, you can handle it. Visit airtransat.com for details, conditions apply. Air Transat, travel moves us. Welcome back to part two of Altair the Dragon Empire. Our heroes are wrapping up some business in the town of Ashen's Rest as we have a bit of downtime on our hands. Two weeks of time will pass in between which the events of the Volant Vault, our special live show episode, will take place, allowing new magic items to be discovered,

as well as perhaps new focuses for certain characters to think about in the future. Painting supplies have been bought, a little tiny outfit for Stuart the Dachshund has been bought, and perhaps some people are being mysteriously followed around the town, but we jump back in as one thing you all wanted to do was go and speak with Duke Ignarius.

Shall we get that done? Sure, yeah. We fob him off. Let's just, yeah, that'll ghost him. Just ghost him, yeah. You could. I spent too long in Mystiques. You could.

Look at the time. Oh god. Oh god. No, we go. Okay. On time. Sure. Maybe even the 10 minutes.

This would be like the first day, like, you know, of this downtime anyway, so. You guys make your way to the appointment that you had made with Consider Orgrim, making your way back up to the Dominus Ignorm. Night time, so the Dominus is lit up like this beautiful golden ruby jewel that sits on the top of this large hill

overlooking the rest of Ashen Rest. You make your way back up there, you are easily let in by the guards, a few customary checks just to make sure you're not people in disguise or shape change or anything like that, but without incident you are led inside. And you are not led into the audience chamber this time.

You are taken through the audience chamber, up a spiraling human-sized staircase to the upper floors of the central part of the Dominus Ignarum, where you are led into a enormous chamber. Upon the wall you can see relics of battles and historical suits of armor very similar to what Lady Embarissa's collection was, but there is immediately a more sense of a personal history here. These are not just a more sense of a personal history here. These are not just any soldier's suit of armor

from history, these are the duke's personal sets of armor. In fact, hung up from the ceiling is an enormous set of draconic barding, which is scorched and scarred and deeply battered in places. An immense set of draconic plate armor that would be, you know, probably would take teams of people to place upon the duke and have him equipped properly with it. Culminating in a sort of large, draconic-shaped helm

with holes for his horns, of which there is a giant rent where his broken horn is on Duke Ignorius. There's a huge rent and split in the armor. Looks like it was torn out by some powerful blow or hung up in a beautiful display setting. But also within this chamber, you can see that there is an enormous draconic sized sort of sleeping area,

just a flat area of space with some sort of heated steaming plate, probably hit from coals or something underneath. This is like, I'm staying here. I wish that was me. You know, enormous, the size for a huge dragon to sleep upon. But there is also a smaller area off to one side

with a large hearthed fireplace, which is roaring with fire. Even though this is sort of late spring, early summer, so it's already kind of warm outside, but this, it's sweltering. And sat there in an enormous chair, you know, is the Duke Ignorius himself in his humanoid form. Seems to be that this is maybe an area

where he entertains human guests, or Ilkir, non-dragon guests. You can see that the fight, he's got a large goblet of some sort of deep colored liquid, probably like a brandy or a whiskey or something like that, clutched in his enormous clawed hand. He still sits nine feet tall, scars covering his body, his large broken horn, his dark skin He still sits nine feet tall, scars covering his body,

his large broken horn, his dark skin, with his black, dread-like sort of tendril hair falling around his shoulders. He's wearing a sort of loose shirt, maybe with a very relaxed, you know, this is sort of his, not quite a smoking jacket, but he's in that sort of, I'm relaxing now, this is my personal time. And you can see that he's maybe deep in thought

reading through a few letters and things like that, but as you come in, he's just like, ah, my friends, please come, take a seat. He gestures as a scurry of cobbled butlers and maids come in. Would you care for a drink, anyone? Would anyone care for a drink or refreshment scurrying around you? I'd love a glass of cauldron red if you have any. Of course, yes, of course. We'll find our finest vintage, madame, our finest vintage.

And it's like three cobalts per human job. So it's like a job that one person would do is like three cobalts working together to do it. So they like scurry over to the drinks cabinet, climb on each other to get the bottle down, bring it down, two of them pour it into a glass that one's holding, then they scurry up and put it back on the, and then bring it over to you.

And you can tell immediately that this isn't just a cauldron red wine, this is some luxurious vintage that the Duke has probably had for some time. And you had it in this beautiful, crystal decanted wine glass. It's a little- A grumpy hog.

Two little cobble maids and a cobble butler are just like, bam, and they sort of bow to you. Thank you very much. You're most welcome, madam, you're most welcome. Anybody else, would anyone else like drinks or refreshments whilst you're- Yeah, can I ask what the Duke is drinking? Oh, yeah, yeah, certainly.

It's a fine brandy from the Suncrest Isles, a particular favourite of mine. Well, I simply must try it out. Of course, of course, my boy, please. And then you see the two cobbled bottles, and they fetch a bottle, but it's quite a small bottle. So one couple can pour it. It's probably only enough, it looks like the Duke's glass is a whole one of these bottles. But for you, they pour a chunk of it out

into a more ill-girt, human-sized glass. I want one that! It's pretty big. I want it having. But they give it to you a flat, round, crystal-ed, classic whiskey kind of glass. They put, would Sir Care for ice in his beverage, or? I look over to the Duke, what does the Duke have?

The Duke's drinking it neat. Then I would drink it neat. All right, okay, yeah. And they say, of course, very good, sir, very good. And you, probably one of these cobbolds is like a little mixologist, like he's got like at the drinks cart, like he can sort of make you whatever you want really.

Like if there's cocktails or things like that that you would like. But yeah, like anything else for anyone else? Do you do egg and crust sandwiches? They look around, they say, like we can go and ask the chef to have some made for you, sir. Yeah.

Very well. And one of the little cobble maids claps her hands and a few of them scurry off. It will just take a moment, sir. We'll need to get that from the kitchen, if that's all right. Yes. And they just nod their head.

Everything for everyone. I really want an egg and a sandwich right now. Like in real life, like Kim, not rough, Kim. That's all I can think about, it's in my head. It's in my head. I've just thought, I've got eggs at home and no might have been. That's so hungry. Oh, they would...

Would Sir like crust on or off? Oh, never been asked that before. On. Are you good, Sir? On. On the side. Perhaps would Sir like both? You could do that? Yes, of course, Sir.

Yeah? Yes. They're like that? Yes, of course sir. Yeah? Yes, they like looking up at Roman. Thank you. They don't like nod their head, dash off to let the kitchen staff know. But yeah. How are they on but off?

They're probably gonna make you two sandwiches. Oh yeah. One way to one way time. Yep. Or they cut them off and then they lay them back on. Mm. Wow. That's amazing. But you then they lay them back on. Mm, wow. That's amazing. But you take a moment, you gather your refreshments,

and the Duke will gesture. The Cobolds, again, teams of six Cobolds push chairs. It takes four to six of them, but they will push a chair over until there are five chairs laid around the fire with the duke. And he's like, please come and sit, there's no need for us to sit in formalities.

You're to come, oh. Oh yeah, it's definitely like that, he still is like, he nods his head, still pleased that you're referring to him in his titles. But this is definitely a much more relaxed, this is not a formal meeting, a formal sort of like audience. So he's like, please come and sit. much more relaxed, this is not a formal meeting, a formal sort of like audience.

So he's like, please, come and sit. I have had some word of your recent endeavors. I've been speaking with that marvelous young green dragon woman, Verithera. She has told me a little of her goals in the Ash Hills. And of course, I've heard that you were able to assist Sir Eldrake and Embarissa. I'm hoping that his wounds will recover soon.

He's a very tough young knight, I'm sure it will not take him too long. It sounds like he had quite the injury that he must recover from. But yeah, he liked gestures for you all to sit down. Nice, I'll take a sip of this thing. Yeah, I was gonna say, do give me a Constitution saving throw for this.

This is very strong, and it's not normally designed for non-dragons to drink. I rolled a six, Constitution save you say? Constitution saving throw? 13. 13. 13. You can keep it down, you're not throwing up, but it's like one of those,

pfft, mm, ugh, like you get the judders, it's like, whoo, that's strong. You can see Xanthius' pride that they got him through it. He's like, do not, that's gross. Squishy. You know when you have a drink, but you don't wanna look like a wimp, so you resist the judder and like the,

oh god. Well yeah, I'm definitely like, anytime I take a sip now that looks like a bigger sip, I'm like only letting a tiny bit in. It is beautifully flavorful. There are strong sort of cinnamon, smoky notes in here. There is a sweetness to it,

but a very strong alcoholic hit as well. And you can tell, Xantheus, that there is also, this isn't just you digesting it. Your draconic blood is burning some of this off. This is almost like an accelerant. Right. So this is, you feel heat spreading through your body as soon as this kind of hits.

This is a fire dragon's drink, basically. Rocket fuel. It kind of is a little bit. But it's been mixed with some sort of brandy and you can, you can tell, like, the duke is like glugging this stuff back. But for Xanthus, it's a bit of a punch to it. Right or die. The wine is exquisite, Ophelia. It is absolutely, this is high vintage.

There is elements here of sort of berries, floral notes that you can tell, no earthiness to it at all, very crisp, fullbodied kind of, and the aroma is just, ah, just reminds you of the hills and the trees and the outside, you know, very floral and sort of fresh, and just beautiful, excellent wine, excellent, excellent wine.

That's delicious. Yeah. How's that egg and crest, though? As you, well, that's gonna take a little bit of time. But the duke gestures for you all to sit. What do you guys, how you guys approaching this? Riker style. The chairs, yeah, I think for Rowan,

like, cause these are designed for like humans and elves and things like that. So for Rowan, like, this is a little small for you, so you could totally riker this. I don't think I'd be brave enough in front of the Duke to spin the chair around. But I will awkwardly sit on it with my knees a bit too high. Yeah, yeah.

I'm waiting for my tiny plate of egg and creme sandwiches. Daisy's feet don't quite touch the ground. Yeah, it's the opposite kind of thing. The opposite problem. I mean, if this is an evening of relaxation, then if there's like a, what, what? No. Okay. If there's like a, almost a two person,

Shazlong. Shazlong. Then I would almost not recline fully onto that, but like relax on this. Yeah, I think that there would be like a Sheslong, like, as part of this, like, yeah. Maybe they're expecting two people to sit on it, so when they see you lounging, three cobalts go and get another chair,

and like, and drag it over, which the duke finds quite amusing. He's like, oh. He's not very good, but. It's not literally like, laying down or anything. No, but you're clearly like, taking up the whole space. It's like a Jeff, he's not very good. It's not literally like laying down. No, but you're clearly like taking up the whole space. It's like a Jeff Goldblum lean. Just crossed legs, but horizontally.

Shirt, flat shirt. Yeah, shirt. Oops. A little blow of Cram Steel. My bad. I'm assuming you're just trying to flash nip. I'm assuming you have your bandages back on. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's very warm in here. It starts getting naked. It's quite warm, it's quite warm. Cranstil just right there. Probably a little uncomfortably warm for Gruff. You're not used to this kind of temperature. This is stuffy for you. What is Gruff doing in this kind of scenario?

He did that. Uh, he's pretty awkward. He doesn't know how... Would he stay standing or...? He'd probably take his cue from everybody else and then when he sits in the chair he's just a bit awkward in it because he's trying to resist the urge to like,

I don't know, sit on the floor or, you know, thinking back to in his village in Iceheart, a big fireplace like that, everyone would gather on furs in front of it and just tell stories and be casual, but this chair's fancy. They're very well made, very plush. And yeah, the duke will say, so, Orgrim tells me that you wish to speak with me.

What was it concerning your endeavors? I am assuming out in the Ash Hills. Okay, what were we not supposed to say to him? I think we were supposed to not say the telly ones. Oh, Grust, why are you, why do you, why? No, the voice, the voice is not, the voice is Kim. Game time has paused. I think you say we dealt with a threat.

I am not doing role, I am not doing role play right now. We role play? No, we are not role playing right now. Do you want me to set up a call? No, I just want to know from the last episode. We can't say anything about the cult. Will you say we dealt with a threat, but not say that it was reclamers or Crownsteel related?

I think they didn't want us to say that the threat was ongoing. I think I'd like to- Yeah, that we dealt with it, it's over. I have a question. Why are we here? Get our reward money. We want the 500 Gs. Each. Okay.

Yeah. I think it was fine to say that there was a threat. Yeah, it was fine to say there was a threat. That we'll need seeing to at some point, but it's not, there's not a load of crowns still there, basically. Yeah. So on that, I say, I think that's enough

metarosey conversation. Because part of the fun of this is that like, you're all like, oh fuck, what are we saying? We weren't supposed to say anything about Eldrake consuming the Prime Star. So are we roleplaying? Yeah, can you please officially announce that we are roleplaying again, please? Roleplay begins now.

Yes, Orgrim mentioned that you wish to speak with me. That is. Perhaps you have some more information on what happened there. My children have been rather tight lipped about the whole matter. Said that you would come and speak with me. Oh, yes, my lord.

There was a threat that was dealt with within the Ash Hills by ourselves. We do have evidence of that threat. What is the nature of this threat, sister? Are we speaking of vaultspawn or? Verithera mentioned that there were some, she called them unwell individuals, the ones who kidnapped her, who captured her.

Although I find it rather ridiculous that she did not choose to fight them, she would have easily been able to crush any such assailants. She doesn't like violence. This is against- Green dragons, very strange. Strange folk. But still, so, yeah, so is it related to these,

what are they, bandits? That's a kind of madness. I don't know. Yes, so I don't, I'm not, I don't know what kind, but they were- Some sort of madness had taken them. Yes. They were very violent, but they were dealt with swiftly.

I think- And not that I distrust you, but is there, do you have any proof of these individuals? Were they organized? There was a book. A book, you say, Rowan? You gotta say it not in character otherwise... I know, alright. Rowan laughs a lot.

Yeah. I gave it to Obsidius and Luke but he gave it back to Gruff. Oh he did. Because he read it cover to cover instantly. He's a little nerd speed reader. You get a little voice in your head. I'm gonna set cover to cover instantly. Yeah. Yeah. It's a little nerd speed reader. You get a little voice in your head. I'm gonna set up a call. Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing.

Who do I leave out the call? I need to leave one person out. Decide quick. Make a decision. I literally have no control over this power of yours. Xanthias. I'll leave Xanthias out. Okay.

So what they were dealing with was Cramsteel. I don't say. Gruff starts like, his eyes like twitching. We struggled with evidence to be honest because they kind of came at us. We weren't expecting them to be even in this place of ruin. But we, like Ophelia says, dispatched them. They were kind of dirty and unclean and unkempt, so taking...

Living out in the hills. Yes. Bandits, most likely, or some ruffians, some scoundrels. That's right, and so they didn't really have anything of worth on them to bring back. Well, except Heart Warden, of course. That's right. I would still very much like a deception check

from Rowan, please. Because they didn't have anything of worth on them to bring back is quite a different matter to what is. This giant book that every person's name. But also, Crownsteel. Of course. I feel like Gruff as well is kind of reaching towards his satchel and he's like, wait no. Oh yeah, it's been a fake point.

Excellent. Oh yeah. Oh no. Eleven. Eleven. Okay. There's, I mean yeah, you said character. Seven. Okay. There's, I mean, yeah, you, so carry on, sorry, Rowan. You say there was nothing of worth for us to bring back,

and then I think Xanthius was gonna jump in and say something. Except Heart Warden, of course, which we did recover there. That's right. Yes, yes, my late spouse's relic. I am very grateful you're returning that. Yes, my late spouse's relic. I am very grateful you're returning that. I know it means an awful lot to Ambrisa and to myself as well. Oh, it's much better at being in-

I find it strange. A place for it. These, so what were these mad individuals doing out there then? You said that they had nothing of value to them. Why were they there? They were not ambushing caravans. They were not, why would they take Lady Verithera?

Hmm. That's a really good question. They also attacked a mining camp, the Shiroka Earthworks. Ah, oh, they attacked a mining company. Mm. I'm not really sure what their objective was. I strangled Belial. That was pretty big.

Belain. Belain. Sorry, what? Yes, when did this happen? When did what? Excuse me, what? Oh, yes, Your Draconic Majesty, there was a period of time where some of these miners, there was a level of corruption from Belayne. The Emberd?

Yes, because they were digging too deep. Perhaps you do think that the Emberd might be involved in the ones who captured it. I wish you'd told us this, Rowan. That would have explained the madness that we were seeing from, maybe they were all operatives for Belayne. Deception check, please.

Yep. Yep. Ha ha ha. Deception. Yes, please. Proficiency, again. That's not good. You didn't even fate.

I didn't fate, ten. Ten. You did not know of this encounter with Rowan. No, you went into the mines. I know that you were in trouble and we saved you from that, but you never told us about if you were anything late. Can everyone make an insight check for me, please?

He can't be made. Insights. 18. 18. 15. Shall I make one as well? Unnatural 20. Everyone can. Unnatural 20.

21. 21. Very high all around. 15. I would say all of you, I'll come to the 20 and 21 in a moment, all of you... He... There's like, you can see his eyes slightly squinting, like he's listening to the story and he's nodding. And there is a... He's definitely listening and there's a respect here, but he's also like... You'll get the impression that the Duke's kind of like,

something's not adding up here. You kind of get the sense of this thing. Those who got the 20 and 21, he's got a gun. He's, yeah, you can, this is like, he's adding up. They're like, hang on a minute. You'll get the sense that he's like, they're keeping something back,

like they're not telling me everything here. And so he's like, he leans in his body language, changes to a bit more inquisitorial. And he's like, well, so you believe, if I understand this correctly, you believe that the ones who captured Lady Verithera were infected by this madness of Belaine, one of the ember, isn't it?

Well, it's obviously a fresh new theory. You have to understand Rowan, after leaving the mines, was shaken. We didn't know too much about what had happened down there, so it's the first we've heard of this. So it could be that these other individuals, these maddened bandits or whatever they are, they were not affected by this.

This could have been a separate incident. It could be, but I mean two very, very similar incidents right next to each other. One of them was affected directly by Belaine. Her face was malformed. One of the ones that captured Lady Verithera, it's a Eldrake. One of the ones that tried to kill Rowan.

So they possess powerful abilities. In your heads here, Daisy, say, people look for crown steel in the ash hills all the time. Crown steels poison some of the water there. I don't think that's, can we say that? He knows. Rowan's looking up, listening. Where are my aggro crest amateurs?

And you fought these maddened individuals when you rescued Sir Eldritch. Embarissa was very brief. She mentioned that his injuries were very severe, that he could not return to Ashen's Rest. She was taking him to seek healing elsewhere. We have plenty of healers here. I mean, how bad were these wounds?

Severe. Severe, I feared that if we were delayed on the road any longer, then we would be in a very different situation right now. It was all Emberis's choice, of course. She was distraught to see him in such a state. And did Emberissa tell you of her connection with Eldrake? Yes.

Yeah, we heard. Mm-hmm. That is not common knowledge, and I would ask of you, my friends, if it could remain a family matter for the night being. We assumed as much. Thank you, Daisy, I appreciate that. It was, I think a little foolish of my daughter

to send him after Heart Warden alone. He is a good knight, but still has a long way to go to be at his prime, I feel. Still, he's recovered, he's well. That's more of a question. Oh, he did, he did have quite a severe injury in that he did lose an arm. So I think... Emberissa did not mention that. Quite severe.

That is beyond any healer in Ashenrest. Perhaps she has taken him to see a more powerful one in the city, or in Feroz, perhaps. I think it is quite difficult for a parent to see their son in quite distress and pain. So she is perhaps, that perhaps explains why she was not so talkative with you. Yes.

Her mind is absolutely occupied. And very. By her son. Embarissa and I have disagreements about many things and I think that this likely has drawn up some ill feelings but that is another matter entirely. But these bandits, these maddened bandits, do you think that there are any more of them

out in the hills? Potentially, yes. That's what Lady Varithera has been looking into, that's what her and her people have been looking for. Varithera said that she was trying to heal the Ash Hills. She knew of the history of the battle over there and that much of the land. She told me that because her theory is that the land

is sickened by trace amounts of that accursed metal that has infected the land there. and by trace amounts of that accursed metal that has infected the land there. Her hope is that in time she will be able to purify it. I wonder. A most fitting and honorable goal, I would say. Unless of that foul, disgusting metal in the world, the better. Hence why we prioritized her retrieval

along with Ser Eldrek, of course. I wonder, perhaps, if these bandits that we encountered were driven mad by the water and the crown steel in the ground, and therefore were, you know, that contributed to their madness. And when they found out that Lady Vierithira was trying to heal the land,

well, they didn't want her to, so they tried to stop her. Can I get a... It's still deception, I'm afraid, because it's twisting the truth of what you know. It's closer to the truth. It is close. I will give you advantage on it,

because it's, you're twisting the truth. You're not outright lying. But he's already a little sort of like, I feel like they're not telling me everything here. There is a point of fate left. I will take that. All right. Deception.

A big stack. 23. Oh, 23. He takes that in your stride, like he doesn't, and I think it's coming from Gruff. He's like, ah, a knight, a knight would never lie to me. Gruff is dying inside a little bit. He's like, he just nods his head, ah, excellent deduction.

Knight Errant Gruff, that is very wise. We did save Lady Verythira from them as well. They captured her in a cage. Perhaps when she did not fight, they felt it best a way to prevent her from stopping whatever she was trying to do. Yes, if they were sickened by that, by it, it would perhaps lead them to do something so desperate.

Indeed. But yeah, he is like fully like, that explains everything to him. He's like, ah, yeah, perfect. Completely reasonable what happened. It's like, well, you think that there are still more of these cultists out there. I may have to send some guards

to assist Lady Verithera in her matters. Well, we came across a sort of rudimentary settlement where it's clear that they were living there, but there were recent sightings of it being lived in, embers that were still somewhat. Settlement? Just like a makeshift village. I see.

Of sorts. And we couldn't find anyone there, looked like they left in a hurry. Maybe having seen us come nearby to save Lady Verethira. Yes, yes. Cowardly sort vagabonds and bandits and these sorts of people, yes, if they saw you coming or they heard of battle, perhaps they have fled. Something that my soldiers can deal with.

We can send soldiers out there to find them and root them out. I believe that's Obsidius. Sounds like they are just crazed bandits, nothing too serious. Oh, good. I think Obsidius was already handling that sort of thing. Yes, I have a question about that.

My son is not one to care about these sorts of matters, usually. He is too busy with his studies and research and studies into magic. I find it odd that he took such an interest. He has had no great love for Eldrac or Emberissa in the past, yet he flew out of here in quite a hurry when word came through that you may have been

in need of assistance. What do you make of that? Did he speak with you? Did he come to aid you in some way? It's quite the honor, honestly. He flew all the way out just for us. Perhaps for Amrita as well. The thoughts and the minds of your draconic family

are beyond us. I do not know, isn't it? Such cheek hearts. Give me a persuasion roll with advantage, because that, you are playing on his pride and like his, like, he's not a bad guy, Duking Norris, but he's still a red dragon, so he can be quite arrogant. So flattery like works wonders.

23. Yeah, he's just like, that's it. He's like, yeah, of course. Why am I asking? What's silly of me to ask you? He's like, yes, yes, I will speak with Obsidius. I will ask him directly. It is unfair of me to ask that question of you, yes.

You are quite right, Rowan. You are quite right indeed. Well, it sounds like you have done a great deed for Dragonkind in rescuing that young dragon. She is only a child after all. Quite a heroic feat, I must say, to rescue her and of course Ser Eldrach as well. And to recover Hardwater.

And it sounds like these bandits, mad as they may be, may still pose something of a threat to Ashen's Rest. So I feel that a reward is due. Of course it's a shame that you wish that you had some sort of something that you could give me a proof of their danger or threat, but I will take you on your word. Unfortunately, we got rid of the Tower of Crownsteel.

I don't say that. I ate it all. It's in my belly, yum yum yum. In fact, your son is going out there now to eat it all. Yum yum yum. But yes, you say, but a reward, most certainly. I believe, I promised you 500 gold each in return for some sort of evidence of threat out there. But I'm willing to take you at your word,

but would you accept 300 gold each? Oh my. Well the quest was to bring back evidence of threat. Gruff in the voice chat. Now is now when I give the tome. I mean, Rowan. Who are we supposed to give the tome. I mean, Rowan mentions the group in the community. That's gonna show that there's much bigger problem

than there is. I think it doesn't, I can't remember if it mentions Crownsteel or if it just mentions Daronax. It mentions Crownsteel, but it's very vague. It's very religious, it's very vague. There's nothing in there like, big pile of Crownsteel gathered. Like, Fed to Dragon, there's no reports of that.

But it's definitely like, it would implicate that this cult is actively pursuing Crownsteel. What do you think, Xander? I feel like we need to give him, I don't think that we can, this is not in the chat, but I feel like we need to give him, I don't think that we can, this is not in the chat, but I feel like, not giving him any inclination of the threat is gonna come back on us badly.

Yeah. So I think we should give him. It's called the Prophecy of Darynx, it's hundreds of years old, it goes from being more of a manual to more religious. This is mortal animal. But I think that old. It goes from being more of a manual to more religious. But I think that like- It's gonna anger him so much.

No, but this is Darinax, not Galvisar. Yeah. Darinax was the one that he fought. Oh, it was the one he fought, yeah. And probably the one that he did that scar on his head. It is the parable of an empire being stolen. I just feel like- It does have names in it.

It doesn't mean he'll be angry with you. I think that he... If he finds out that we've kept that, like, the knowledge of Daronax from him, he'll be pissed off. And I think that it's probably better to have the Duke on our side than... Gruff's the one with the book. I don't know, but we haven't... But it's not saying, hey, there was a big pile of crownsteel and Eldrake and Zanthias chomped on it.

I do think Gruff would be struggling to, because he's already told a big old whopper, and I think he would be, a mini whopper. It was a small one. But Gruff would still be uncomfortable. He's clearly fidgeting, like he's a bit like. I think we should give it to him. Yeah.

Well, I'm not in this chat. 300 gold is very generous of Duke, but I mean, the journey we went on, the trials and tributes. But I am meant to understand, Xanthius, my daughter has rewarded you quite handsomely for many of your endeavors already. Oh, yes, but I mean.

I show off my chainmail. Ah, yes, yes, from her collection. So light. Did you meet with the young Cobald who looks after the... Yes, so much knowledge. Interesting little fellow. I mean, I agree, I'm afraid we didn't bring you much tangible evidence, but hopefully our word

should count enough as evidence for the journey that we took and the things that we saw, Duke. Make a persuasion check. Hide these seats. I... High DC. I'm not in this chat, my guy. This is true. This is true. I'm also not gonna say how I feel about giving him the book.

Sorry, persuasion. Persuasion. It's not about the money, it's about... Don't have faith. High DC. High DC, you say? How does a 10 sit, my guy? Whoa!

A 10? Whoa! He is... We got him! Immovable. How does a 10 sit, my guy? A 10? Whoa! We got him! Immovable is like, I feel that you have been very fairly compensated by my daughter, and I feel that 300 gold each is quite a princely sum for your endeavors in fighting these bandits. Damn, yes, yes, I think 300.

How much is a carton of milk? Duke Innos is like, what about eggs? What, 100 hundred gold? Eggs for the crest, it's a sandwich. As you are having this conversation, maybe giving Gruff time to think about his actions, you hear a scurrying of little clawed feet as several cobbles bring in various plates of food,

one of which is piled high with an equal split of egg and crust sandwiches with crusts on and egg and crust sandwiches with crusts cut off. What kind of egg? What do you mean? Oh, how big are the eggs? Well, they've made it for, they're not made it for dragons.

Like chicken eggs? Yeah, they'd be like chicken eggs. Chicken eggs, okay. They'd be chicken eggs. Oh, they're in the sandwiches, aren't they? So ambushed up. Yeah, they're in the sandwiches. If they were making a sandwich for Duke Ignarious,

they probably wouldn't use chicken eggs. It'd be like a triple stuffed Oreo. Yeah. It's like a shaggy sandwich. So much egg mayo. So much mayo. Is it smelly? I think that the chefs here would be good enough

where they know how to mask the scent a little bit. So maybe there's like, We are in a very warm room. There is a very warm room. It's like opening an egg sandwich on a fire. So yeah, there is like a pungent aroma. But they bring it out to you like, sirs, sirs sandwiches. Oh, thank you so much.

You're more than welcome, sir. And she gives a little curtsy. And the duke is like, Nah, rake sandwiches, my favorite. Do you like one? You're just like, no, Rowan, it's fine. Those are far too small for me. Oh, yeah, true.

Help yourself, please, my chefs are, the chefs of the Kikshi family are very, very well, very good. Cross off, I don't know which to go for. You could have some of each. I'm having... He finishes the brandy. There's crust on one side?

No crust, it's like a number of sandwiches, it's like six sandwiches, or 12 sandwiches, six of which I've crusted, six of which I've no crusted. But the one Sam's crusted, did they keep the crust on the side? No. And that was requested. I know it was a plain to the manager.

No, it was a back and forth. Oh yeah, you're right. Back and forth. I take the top half of the crusts on on this side and swap them for the crusts off on this side. Okay. So the top is crusts on and underneath is crusts off. Okay.

With this egg in the middle. Very fancy. Right, okay, so you actually mix and match them. I'm trying things out. Everyone's watching you a little oddly, but yeah, they're happy to let you enjoy your sandwiches. You should see some of the delightful meals that Rowan mixes up for us, especially on the road.

Qued the chef yourself, Rowan. Fish stew, stewy fish, big stew, small stew. Stew is a soldier's meal. My soldiers on parade, like soldiers when they're on the march. Stu is quite a common favorite. Good social dinner, get around the campfire, keeps my morale, my soldier's morale high.

Yes. Warms your bones. Very good, yes. Especially campaigning in the winter. I think he's a soldier, like this guy's like, ah, good soldier's meal, yes. Especially campaigning in the winter. I think he's a soldier, like this guy's like, I have good soldiers, me or Stu. Mm, he's kind of got that like old British, like army dad kind of vibe, or old British colonel.

Sort of like, he is an old soldier. Like he is in politics now, but definitely is like, ugh, don't really wanna deal with that. But yeah, so what is Gruff going to do? When there is an opportune break in the conversation. Yeah, the sandwich is a nice distraction as he's having this barter with Xanthias. And then the sandwiches come along,

sort of interrupt everything, and then the conversation egg-stills again for a moment. Sip of the drink. Morning, Arius. Night-heron graph, yes. I say the following with the greatest of sensitivity. We have been wrestling over a bit of a quandary of whether or not to tell you of this

since we have arrived back from the hills. Brow furrows. Given your personal history with the hills, the Ash Hills, I did find something. You did? What did you find? I would just ask you, please, we did not mention this at first,

for consideration of your temperament, we did not want to upset you. I'm sure there is very little that you could do to upset me, Knight Herod. I found this, and I will take out the prophecy of Daronax. Takes in his giant- Where did Xanthias go? And immediately, on the cover of this holy book,

it's very tattered, it's worn down, but on the cover is an embellish of a gold dragon being broken up, but it's very clear, and it's a crown- emblem of a gold dragon being broken up. But it's very clear, and it's a crown-steel-corrupted gold dragon right on the front. And he sees this, and his draconic reptilian eyes blink. You hear this rumbling coming from his chest as he begins to flick through the pages.

He starts skipping huge chunks of it. You see steam rising from his body. Flames coiling in the corners of his mouth. Darenax. You. How is this possible? We should have slaughtered all of those that were left behind. I thought it a mercy to let his soldiers retreat to their homes,

and yet they would continue to hoard and revere this foul creature, traitor! And you can see his eyes just glow with menace. And as he's gripping the book, it begins to scorch and sear as it begins to burn in his hands. And eventually he just, Raaargh! And he throws it in the fire.

That went well. It went. You should leave. I will award you the promised amount. You have done well. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. He just stands and stares into the flames. Okay.

What do I put my plate? I'm gonna put this down here on this table if you want to finish that. Yeah, quickly, well I quickly get up and scuffle away. Little Codic Majesty. As you, well. As you go to say things to him, he doesn't even register you. And as you are leaving, all of the kobolds are just like,

they're scurrying you along, like, yes, please come with us, we'll see you the way out. We can fetch you things, and they're literally like, leave the master alone, like, leave him alone, like, just get out. As you are just leaving, the kobolds start shutting the doors, and you see him. As you are just leaving, the cobbled start shutting the doors and you see him transform from that humanoid form

as he turns into this enormous dragon and just you hear this brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Gather round the stone, gather round the stone. I'm taking us home. Let's go. To a place like home. No, it's absolutely fine. No, it's absolutely fine. Lord Ignorius just needs to... Why? We just need to give him a bit of moment's peace. You're actually using this stone. Does this happen regularly?

No, no, no, no, no, no. It has not happened in some time. Oh, okay, that's good to know, that's good to know. Okay, it's good to know. It is. The Keesha family, many generations ago, our great, great, great, great forebears who were present here after the Battle of the Ash Hills and Gald-Vasar's betrayal in the Oriat Instruction, they spoke of a Duke Ignoris' wrath was severe. Not to any innocence, but the girl dragon, Daranax, it took our lord's wife, it killed

many of his friends and servants. There was a deeper betrayal. Daranax and Lord Ignarious were friends when they were younger. Close friends. They grew up, they were warriors, they trained together. Very ambitious, but yes, very personal. You can see this Cobalt is terrified. But there seems to be this understanding of like,

if we leave him alone, he'll be okay. Like, you are just ushered very quickly out. Consider it, Orgrim. The cobbleds back up and tell, consider it, Orgrim. Like, oh, the duke has authorized a payment of 500 gold to these adventurers, and consider it. It seems to be aware that this is a thing

that was a potentiality, and so you receive a payment of 500 gold each. Yay! Okay. Um, if the Duke does wish to talk further about this, let us know, I'm sure this will be in some time. Yes, of course, I'm sure. Well, the Duke will send for you, I'm sure.

Absolutely. And oh, can you let me know of the drink that I was drinking as well? That was very good. Yes, yes, of course. Yes, yes, of course. yes, yes, of course. They would tell you that it would be a, it's a drink in Feroz, which is the sort of capital

of Kaldra, that is beloved by red dragons. It has made its way into Gildi, there are exports of it to Gildi, because again, fire breathing, you know, gold dragons have a fiery theme to them as well, and it would, I will come up with a name for it. It's okay, you breathing, you know, gold dragons have a fiery theme to them as well. And it would, I will come up with a name for it. Sure, it's okay, you can let me know. Obviously we need to be, I think,

what is it, fleeing? Fleeing, we're fleeing the place? I think we're going back to the inn, yes. Yes, we're gonna go back to the inn, quickly, quietly. So we don't get stuff thrown at us or burned alive or? But yeah, you guys make your way back to Tyria's Wrath. Okay, so what happened there? That didn't go so well, did it?

No, but if we didn't tell him and then he found out, then it would have been worse. Oh, so we just told him. That's how it works. We either have the opportunity to hide it and incur his wrath later on down the line, or we just tell him outright and incur his wrath straight on down the line, or we just tell him outright and incur his wrath straight away.

Yes, but the thing is his wrath is targeted at Daranak's tonight and not at us. Would you have rather been on the receiving end of that if he eventually found out that we hid it? I don't want to be on the receiving end of Ignarius in any situation ever at all, at all ever. The thing is, he would have eventually found out. Yep.

And that rage would have been targeted at us. Because we knew and we didn't say. As what, people did? We didn't say that you and Eldrake were near a big pile of crown steel. We didn't tell them that. No, true. I don't think he needed to know that

because that threat has been dealt with. But he does need to know if there's rumors. I was rough on this one. he does need to know if there's rumors. I would gruff on this one. He does need to know if there's rumors of things going on that threaten him. Him. Okay. I agree.

It would have been wrong to keep it from him. This is his kingdom. Good luck, reclamers. Am I right? Yeah, I think it's specifically as well, maybe thinking on it when you have some time, not in that intense moment. But you know that that book, basically, from when you read it before, it implicates that this cult of reclaimers believe that it is their duty to gather this stuff up,

or that Crownsteel is some sort of key to a greater goal, basically, to unlocking a vessel. And I think it's that, suddenly there's a whole bunch of things that are going on in the book, and it's like, oh some sort of key to a greater goal basically, to unlocking a vessel. And I think it's that suddenly there's obviously, for Duke Ignar is probably reminders there of what sparked off the Oria Insurrection. And you know, it's hard because none of you were really there, but this is a thing

that happened hundreds of years ago, but it shook Dragon Society to the core. And as somebody who was on the front lines of it and probably lost many friends and family members and everything else, just that sort of, yeah, the idea that mortals, that Il'Kir are like, revering this corrupted dragon, not his favorite thing.

But yeah, I mean, mean, in terms of your decisions and why you did what you did, that's you guys free to do as you wish. Neat. It's what Gruff would have done, being a knight, you know, it went against his honesty thing. Yeah. To just keep that. Absolutely, it makes sense that Gruff would have done, like, being a knight, you know, it went against his, like, honesty thing. Yeah.

To just keep that. Absolutely it makes sense that Gruff would be, and also, I think Gruff is like, those reclaimers were a serious threat. They weren't just bandits, like, they had powers and they were pretty well organized. And they're a threat, like, you know, and part of your thing is to protect people, right?

And also, if anything, he kinda disagreed with Obsidius, saying that we shouldn't tell Father. Don't tell Father. And he was kinda pissy with Obsidius for, one, shouting at him, and two, threatening Xanthias. So, I'm not gonna do everything that Obsidius tells me to do. That's my role. Also, we didn't tell them the key point,

which is that Eldrake had eaten Crownsteel and everything about Xanthias eating it, or there's a big pile of it. We didn't tell them that stuff, but I think he needed to know about the rest. Know about the cult. Yeah, because that poses a threat. Very interesting.

Xanthias feels differently, I must say. Okay, there's, I suppose, a historical significance, I suppose, to Zantheus' distaste of this idea, in that in Kaldra, gold dragons aren't massively well-liked, or at least well-trusted. There's a sort of a hidden secret, kind of like you were the people that devoured Crownsteel and almost destroyed the land, right?

Which is an idea that I suppose has, over the years, been eradicated, right? It's been eradicated, but it's like old wounds, right? Like there are older dragon... Like you've met Duke Ignarius, he has no problem with Xanthius. He's like, you are a young dragonborn, you would have had nothing to do with that. Like, I trust you, like, you're fine.

If only he knew. Maybe if Duke Ignarius met, like, an older gold dragon, he might be a bit like, mm, hello. Like, it's that kind of, like, there's a bit of a mistrust there, and also old wounds, but it wasn't just the gold dragons that were corrupted. Like, the bronze dragons, some red dragons were corrupted as well.

Like, you know, it was really only the green and silver that didn't turn. Most of the other dragons had dragons that joined Galvasar and joined the other side. It was a civil war, it was a full on civil war. Yeah, I guess. But yeah, there is definitely still like, that lingering like,

Yeah, if there's like a reignited fury from the Duke, then he turns to bolster troops into investigations in the Ash Hills or whatever, and the idea of this Crownsteel threat re-emerging is gonna sort of lead to this undercurrent of this feeling against gold dragons again. And I guess that's a kind of, a thought process is going through Xanthias' mind as well. Absolutely.

Is this gonna put you in danger? Yeah, the idea of Crownsteel for Xamthius, he doesn't want anyone talking about it. Maybe where you and Obsidius align, even though perhaps you recently disagreed on some things, perhaps you and Obsidius align. In that case, I changed my mind. That's how you get Tommy.

Just make sure like, Obsidius would love to do it, and he's like, I don't want to do that, and then I'm going to do the exact opposite. But yeah, so we make our way back to the end. Perhaps it's your walk back is almost silent, as some of you are still sort of reeling in shock and horror at what happened, maybe Xanthius, and a little bit of an anger or a fury bubbling away in there

of like, fuck, like, this could fuck things up for me kind of thing. Yeah. But you make your way back to Tyria's rest where you would find Parsifal happily tidying things up, cleaning things up maybe. Penelope sat there, sort of just reading through some books downstairs. Sort of Chipoli's just sort of like, hey, are you okay?

Like, sort of seeingoli's just sort of like, hey, are you okay? Like, instead of seeing everyone coming in like, oh, well, we went to go see the Duke, and we had a tiny bit to drink. I had three sips. It burned my soul. Really? It was hot, it was so hot. I still feel a little flushed, I'm gonna be honest.

Whoa, just three sips? Oh, you should have tried it. It was, I don't know the name of the drink, but it would have ignited all of your souls. Seems to be, yeah. But yeah, so you guys make your way back. This would probably be in the evening, so, you know, it'd probably be quite late by the time you guys get back.

Yeah. Well, I think I'm going to go do some writing, I suppose, so that it's been thought together. Read both the stuff? Yes, yes. Good. I'm going to do some pamphlets as well, design some pamphlets.

Daisy, would you like to help me design some pamphlets? Yes. Yay! I can't write any of the words though, because they're scary. You have some really good ideas about drawings and everything. I'd like to see what you come up with.

I can design the cover for you for sure. And pamphlets. Yes! I'm luring the words, because they're creepy. That's okay, that's okay. I'll do all the words. All right, so Ophelia and Daisy perhaps go and work on some designs and sketches and typing up some, jotting down some ideas

for future things. We'll roll that into a big downtime roll for the first week. But yeah, anything else for this evening or the first week of downtime people would like to do? Well, I know one thing we wanna do is you wanna go to speak to Norrie Kell. I do feel like we maybe need to check in with Rowan

after the revelation to the group that he was, you know, having a hangout with the... Do that if you wish. Lane. Nothing to do with me, pal. I was, I'm sitting out by my big rock and little rock, just drumming away on my guitar. So I don't know who wants to be involved, everyone wants to be involved in this.

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. I feel like there would almost be like a natural sort of drifting together, like maybe Gruff is sort of trying to figure out, you know, he's sitting by his trond and he's figuring out like what he's doing there and maybe, you know, at an opportune moment,

you know, maybe we've started having, enjoying lunches outside, you know, we gather. I just fell off the roof. Yeah, that just fell off the roof. I fell off the roof. David's taking Stuart for a poop, like, you know, that kind of, we all just sort of, you know, maybe we've been having lunches in the garden together

because it's been nice pastry supplied by a Latte Fun hashtag sponsored. Use the code highrollers on checkout. What if that company actually exists? A latte farm. Yeah. Almost a quick Google. Then I'm gonna send them an invoice.

Yeah. Anyway. Um, yeah. So Rowan. Oh, hello. Oh, you come to bask in the glory of rock. Mm. How you doing there, big fella?

Good. I'm trying to figure out lyrics to a story. Is it about a rock? About this rock, yes. Oh! Because obviously Ophelia went to see the tomb and cove. Tomb and cove, yes.

And it reminded me that they needed stories, so this is a great story, this one. The big rock. Well, what have you got so far for your song? Rock... is how I'm gonna kick things off. Right, okay, it starts with rock. Yeah. Does the lute come into this at all, or is it just...?

Oh, yeah. Yeah? The whole melody is done. And it is. I really struggle with the lyrics. Okay. It's a real struggle, but also how am I gonna put the song into the book?

I don't understand, so I'm at a loss. We just perform it, right? No, because it's gotta go into a book. You write it down. Stories. Write down the lyrics? Yeah, but I've got the, how does the, nevermind. It's all right. Okay. Do you want me to write it down?

If you tell me what you want to say, I can write it down. I've got rock. I can write rock down and then we can come back to it when we have more. And then leave a lot of space. Okay. And I'll come back to that. I'll write rock at the top of a page and then just leave the rest. Keep going. No, I've just got a really dumb dad joke.

But it's really bad. Unfortunately, I think the joke just started. You're gonna have to finish it. Yeah. And it is. She's dying. You could talk about how you rolled the rock home and therefore, if you put it to a song,

you've got rock and roll music. Oh, I thought you would say rolling stones. Yeah, actually that makes a lot of sense. Oh, rolling stones. That's Rolling Stones. Yeah, actually that makes a lot of sense. Oh, Rolling Stones. That's the second part of that joke. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha If it's not canonical, it is in Iceland. Kim just says it's in Iceland. Oh, is that how it works? Okay. So there's tiny village. That's what Ruff thinks is in Iceland.

Well, back where I'm from. Oh yeah. You know our little village, we used to listen to Dubstep. Yeah. No, it's Blam. Azarstep. Azarstep. Yeah.

Azarstep. Anyway. Well, speaking of stories, Rowan. Yes, have you got one? No, but I think you have more to tell about another one of yours. I do? Yes, this whole Belaine situation.

Oh, yes, yeah, no, you kept that one hush hush. I swore I told you all about what happened. Really? Did I not? Not properly, no. We arrived. Yes. You look like you've seen the twin pits of El, and then you said, I need to get out of here.

Which we did, as quickly as we could. So we got you out of there as soon as possible, but then by the time we got back up to the surface, there was the whole business with the brother. It was scary, right, for everybody? Well, yes, we were trying to rush down into this place to try and save you. I ruined my clothes. And Jason, we said, bit their mouth. It was the worst right, for everybody? Well, yes, we were trying to rush down into this place to try and save you. I ruined my clothes.

And Jason, with the mouth. It was the worst day of my life. Scary. She tried to kill me. So I defended myself. Great. In a way that I didn't expect myself to defend myself. I formed a cocoon.

Like a butterfly. Like a butterfly? Like a butterfly? Yeah, it kind of came out from the earth itself and surrounded me as like a defense. Well, you've never done that before. Nope. You've been hit a lot. You've been on the ground a lot.

Yes. I wish you knew that. Yeah, it would have been nice to have this ability beyond that, but it kind of jumped in when my life was on the line, I guess, and it put me in a strange place. Wait, for how long were you down there? Because that would explain how we were able to get there

quick enough to escape. Time was, it was all a blur. Right. Wait, where's Belaine come into this? I mean, obviously. When I was in this state of sorts, I felt like I was between worlds. It was bizarre, and Belaine was around me.

Present, close. Because of what they've been digging up, I assume, his attention grew towards me. And I, uh, struck out. and his attention grew towards me, and I struck out. And strangled. I reached out of my cocoon and I felt a primal earthly instinct to protect the earth itself, the rock,

act on its behalf on this corruption. Is that where the, there was that rock golem thing? Do you remember when we went down into the caves? Yes, that was a manifestation of the planet, the earth, defending itself, the magic of the land. And I felt more connected to it than ever. And it channeled through me in some way, and it allowed me to strangle a deity or whatever this thing, Belayne, is.

And as this deity... He wasn't very happy with it, but it ran away. And so it stopped the shaking and all the belaying stuff that was happening. Did you speak to it at all? Or did it speak to you? Yeah. And what sort of conversation did you have?

Right, to return? Can't recall. I guess Rowan doesn't recall then. I'm pretty sure he does. It was kind of scary. Okay, oh yes. He's obviously, Belaine's always threatening to rise up to the surface.

What, I mean, what, second time now? Yeah, anyone, yeah, folks can make a religion check. Obviously you still remember, because you've encountered cultists of Belaine and stuff before. 13. 13. 13. Religion.

14. 15. I don't have religion anymore. 13, 14, 15. Makes sense. 13. 13. 13, 14, 15.

Pretty much all of you kind of are like, okay, well you know the basics of Belen. Belen is one of the embered, was a powerful deific-like being, is specifically not referred to as a god or a goddess or a deity by the church, by the Scion church, because that would, it's like equivalent, making them equivalent to the actual goddesses.

So they're referred to as the Embered. They are beings that came with Sovereign to help make this world, to make the material plane. And Belayne was supposed to be responsible for things deep in the earth, creating things like metals and jewels and creatures and things like that, but became corrupted, was killed by the proto-Majai

and then became corrupted by Sovereign and turned essentially into this horrific evil being. And now is known as, yeah as the worm who hungers, she who crawls, he who slumbers. They're generally gender neutral as well, like they interchange between male and female. For Daisy, and maybe it's Nim in your mind kind of talking about this to give you this knowledge,

what Rowan's describing, you don't think that Rowan actually grabbed this powerful being. Probably there was like, it was like grabbing a small piece of them, like a piece of them sent out into the earth, and Rowan just managed to grab that, and was enough to provide some sort of threat or power, but compared to Belaine itself, there's no way Rowan would be a threat.

So maybe it was like a Vestige or a smaller Avatar. Localized area. Yeah, exactly, something like that. But yeah. Yeah, you can see Rowan kind of recoiling in a little bit as he's telling this story. It's kind of getting to the point where visions came to Rowan,

and he's kind of bottling up a little bit. You can feel him, like, rub, see him rubbing his palms. I think, yeah. Daisy's gonna give you Stuart. Oh, hello, Stuart. I think I'm being delicate with the... Oh, that's steady. Almost the guiding, guiding your answers, I suppose,

or, like, trying to lead you into talking about the right things without necessarily saying, hey, remember when you were fucking stabbed in the caves? Yeah, I'm trying to be delicate with it. How do I do it? How do I guide? The questions I was asking. Oh, I see.

Yeah, like, did they speak to you? What sort of things did they say? Can you recall, you know, their mood and stuff like that? Like, I guess, leading you, rather than letting you lead the conversation, and therefore get, you lead yourself astray down a scary path, I suppose. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so far, he's been pretty open

and is responding to every question. But you can see him shriveling a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. Rowan, how do you feel now about it? It's a little scary. I didn't realize how much I kept from myself.

I didn't really remember what happened until it's kind of being relived right now. So I'm kind of feeling those feelings again. So it's not that nice, to be honest. I'd rather not feel these feelings. So. What's you need right now? Stuart's good, I like Stuart.

Would you like to talk to Stuart? He's very young, right? He's gonna be... He's not a puppy, he's like an adult dog. He's just small. He's just small. I thought he was a baby. He is also just two days old.

He is just a baby, he's just a baby. He is two days old, but he is also two days old that manifested as an adult dog. Very world-wise, I imagine. But we have, obviously we have your big rock here. We can think more about your song. Yes. You also, you know, we're on the ground.

Yes. Connected with nature. I like sitting on the ground. The moss is nice, because moss grows on rocks. Yes. Sometimes. Maybe we can put that in your song. Yeah, see?

Moss. Moss grows on rocks. It does. And then moss. Frogs jump on rocks. Frogs jump on rocks. Including frogs. There's a whole world of them.

Moss in the pond. Ponds have rocks. Rock them. Moss in the pond. Ponds have... Rocks. Rocks. This is all great. Everything, all roads lead to rocks. Roads are made of rocks. Roads are rocks.

Exactly. Oh wow. Rocks. Not all roads are rocks. Rocks. Are rocks. Mountains are huge rocks. It's the biggest rock of all.

Look how you're all talking to Ron like he's an idiot. Mountains are rocks. Oh It's the biggest rock of all. Look how you're all talking around like he's an idiot. Mountains are rocks! Oh yeah, it's true. Probably not that dumb, guys. This is all our artistic minds trying to come up with lyrics for a song rather than speak to rock like we used to. It's tough coming up with lyrics. Yeah, so it turns out I'm very good at it.

But now I've got moss, thank you, I've got some adjacent things. Yes. And, erm... I was stuck in rock, to be honest. Well, we're making progress on the song at least. Now let's get back to Belaine. No, I don't do that. You can rock on a rock. Rock on rock. As much as I enjoy the coming up with lyrics for our own song, one thing I definitely want to do before the episode ends

is let Gruff speak with Norah Kell as well. And I want to get that established. Unless you're like, no, save it for next week. No, it's okay. Because that's like an important thing I want to do before the episode ends is let Gruff speak with Norah Kell as well. And I want to get that established. Unless you're like, no, save it for next week. That's okay. Because that's an important thing I want to get covered before we do some downtimey stuff. Okay. So yeah, you guys have this conversation with Rowan.

Maybe some of you guys stick around, you come up with lyrics. And then at some point over that week, Gruff, you would go and seek out Sonora Kell. They would be staying at the Grumpy Hog Tavern. You make your way over there, maybe ask around, like if anybody's seen her, or ask around and you are pointed in the direction

of the Grumpy Hog Tavern. Other people can come with you, obviously, as well. But you make your way in, and in one of the ground floor rooms, she's currently staying. She's sat out in the main living space. Ho-Grimm, the innkeeper there, is happily serving drinks and doing food and lunches for people. Her wheelchair has been wheeled in

to a comfortable seat by the fire. She's got a blanket over her lap. She's looking a little bit more grandmotherly, but happily sipping a lovely china cup of tea, just looking around, observing everything, taking everything in when she spots you, and you see her just sort of nod her head very gently in your direction, very knowingly.

Yeah, what does the graph do? Yeah, so I'll nod back and head over. Is there like a sort of like, not a salute, but like any kind of gesture or greeting? Not that you know of. I mean, right now you're still in that initiation, like can you even become a member? Like you've not been taught any sort of things like that.

Generally, I guess Gruff would know that it would be obviously polite to bow or something like that. Like, you know, this is a knight, so it'd be like a bow or like a symbol of, you know, respect basically, some sort of generic sign of respect. Yeah, definitely bow in front of her. And yeah, um...

Synora Kell, it is wonderful to see you here today. Nya, it's Aaron Graff. Welcome, please. Would you care for a seat or a spot of lunch or something? I've found Hoegrim's hospitality quite pleasant. While I've been staying here. One of the first we saw when we first came here. So yes, I will join you in lunch. Wonderful, and she'll gesture over.

She orders whatever you want for lunch, whatever the local lunch is, it'll be like a set menu kind of thing. But she orders it, doesn't even quibble about paying or anything like that, just happily hands over some coins. You can see that she clearly carries some amount of wealth on her. You see no sign of her grandson, of Rakis,

but she's just on her own and she's like, so I hear that you had left Ashland Rest for, you've been gone for some time now. We went on a quest to the Ashills. I don't know if you've heard of them. I've heard of it. We were tasked by the Lady Ambarisa with various quests, of which we accomplished and returned.

And well, it is on that note that I wish to catch up with you. Yes, it sounds now, it is very important for a knight errant and a knight to always be in the service of people and completing such grand quests is one to build one's fame. But I ask, do you feel that this endeavor has met the requirements I set before you? So the task you set me, find a place that has lost hope

and restore it by sword and word. Bring me the story of your triumph and proof in deed and art. Well, we set out and we... Sorry, I'm just getting my thoughts together. It's all right, take a minute. You also, as a point, give me, you don't have to like recite the whole story.

You can be like, I tell her what happened at Shills or whatever, you know, you can obviously alter it as you wish to, if you don't want to do the whole thing. So I would say by sword, I would talk of, thinking of how secret we're keeping things now, that's the trouble, isn't it? Perhaps I would tell it as if I was telling Lords Ignarius, these groups of crown-steel maddened people

who were causing problems in various locations around the Ash Hills, including the mines, the citadel, and how they had kidnapped Lady Verithera and Lord Eldraq, Ser Eldraq, and I would, for the sword, I would recount how we battled them in the heart of Daranax. And then by hand, I think it would be the act of freeing Lady Varithera. You know, kind of grabbing the two, working together.

And Baranth and Penelope as well. Oh, yes, and Baranth and Penelope as well. Oh, yes, and Baranth and Penelope as well. Um, and then, um, by word... ..um, I would say that I helped... ..I helped a friend who'd lost his way... ..and needed some words of encouragement to bring him back home to a safe place. Mm-hmm. And I would entrust that

if I were to speak with Lady Embarissa and Lady Veritha, they would obviously confirm these valorous deeds that you've done. And this friend, were I to ask, he would agree with what you have told me? I hope he would. Well, it is the test required proof. So I would ask that you bring this friend to me

so that I may verify it myself. For if there is not a physical, physical proof, then I must take it on the word of a witness, as is often the case in knightly quests. There have been many knights who have accomplished their tests and quests upon the word and deed of others. But I would ask, the draconic lord and lady, I can always ask, I do not doubt them, but this friend I would ask to speak with, bring them to me and I will make my decision. I will see what I can do.

In the meantime, I do have another form of proof. And I'll gently unwrap the Fjöla flower that Lady Fyrir gifted and unwrap that. Ah, now this is beautiful. And enchanted with green draconic magic, no doubt. I do not know much of the flowers here, but I know that this is cauldron, and I can see that there has been some foul magic

done to it that has been purified. This would back up the story that you have told me. Before I meet with this, she hands it back to you—before I meet with this friend to confirm this final part, I ask you—and you see there is a glimmer of magic she like brings up and she casts a spell. She looks deep into your eyes, Gruff. Do you, knight errant of the Circle of Loyal Hounds, Gruffeth of Tremorro, believe you have accomplished this quest? In your heart, in your soul, and upon your word? I sincerely believe, in my heart and my soul,

that more than anything I upheld the third tenet to bring hope and comfort to those in need, to walk beside them along paths we have already taken. She smiles. And I trust that that is truth. Gruff does genuinely believe that. She smiles. Then I would have no need for your friend to come and visit me, for it is

all part of the test. If you had refused, then that would be done and dusted, but to see, I see it in you, a purity of truth, that you truly believe you have accomplished that, and that is the true nature of what I tasked you with. To see if you could set upon a deed that had no specific direction and find within it a path that matches with the tenets of our circle. We are not prosperous as a knightly brotherhood and sisterhood. We are not wealthy or powerful. Many wish to join knights for gains, to have status. They wish to become famous. They want their name to be a legacy. But we are old. Our time of legacy has long passed, we use our remaining years to do what we can, in whatever small way that will be. Because it is not just grand deeds of slaying beasts or defeating armies or tricking evil mages that is the nature of a knight.

Sometimes it is in the small things, helping a friend find their way, curing sickness. Being there when someone is dying and needs comforting hand, these are knightly too. I accept your quest is completed, Nidarent. Now, I believe I told you that there would be two more quests, two more masters that I would like you to learn from, spend time with. And you and I will spend some time together as well. I will teach you a little of what I know.

and you and I will spend some time together as well. I will teach you a little of what I know. The two that I know of, one resides in the grand city of Kelskaris, and another in the city of Wavemeat, in the Suncrest Isles to the south of here, not too far. I do not, I would not wish to send you trekking all the way back to Iceheart or to the Azhar Steppe. These are the nearest members of my order that I know are nearby.

I will tell you of one of them. And when you have completed the quest for them, they will speak of the other. Does that sound agreeable? Most agreeable. I will let you think on which one you would prefer to go and see. We will have lessons in the meantime. I will teach you a little of what I know. Not much in the way of the sword. I will leave that to one of the other masters to teach you martial skill. I have a knowledge of magic, but also of history and a little of the natural world.

I will teach you of that. But also some of our orders, traditions, some of our gestures and deeds and words that we speak. Your knowledge will be gratefully received. That is a big part of the Circle of Lord of Hands, to pass on what we know to those who need it. But yes, you still have many years ahead of you, unlike someone like me. But I will teach you what I know. And in that way, I perform my nightly duties too. Now, I do believe it's time,

and she sees that lunch is being brought over with a fresh pot of tea. Also, I've introduced Hogan to an idea from my homeland. I call it bingo. All right. It's just like little scraps of paper and Hogram's got like a little, he's mad, like a little custom thing.

She's like, I find it quite enjoyable. Will you play a game with me? I'll definitely learn. Yep, and she will have, you will play a game of bingo with Norah, with Norah Gal. Of course, the circle. Morihan plays bingo. Yeah, of course, the circle. The one that plays pink. Yeah, of course, yeah.

It's a bunch of older knights, they love it. Keeps our brains sparkling. Exactly, they love it. Bestow upon you my stamper. But yes, you have Gruff completed part one. Yay! Woo! Part one of three.

Gruff, Gruff, Gruff, Gruff. Yeah, there are two options. You are happy to take some time to decide before you decide which one. One in Kelskaris and one in the city of Wavemeat in the Suncrest Isles. That is a very large city on the coast. Cool.

With that, I think that's gonna be it for today's episode. Yep. Very good. Hell yeah. Lovely stuff. So next time, week two of- Yes, we'll wrap up the downtime stuff,

and then I think it'll basically be a, that will be a like, right, we're next. What do you guys wanna do? What do we do next? Like, do we wanna follow some personal stuff? You know, I will see if maybe there are some external factors that might push you in certain directions. There are still some quests that you guys didn't take.

Maybe they've developed in a way that might need attention or might drop. There's also, there's still a big list of stuff to do. Brightsword, Ilkara is still out there somewhere. Wanted. I know there was that guy, hooded guy, watching YouTube at least. Nobody knows about it.

No one knows about it, no. You still need to go get your lovely clothes from the next list as well. I do, I do. Yeah. But yes, we will gather all of that. I think that will probably be the end of the interlude next week,

and then we'll hopefully get onto a new exciting quest. Hell yeah. Quest. But yeah, with that. I think K new exciting quest. Hell yeah. Quest! But yeah, with that. I want to do Kelskaris. Alright. Yeah, Kelskaris might be on the cards. I mean, like, Gruff's got a thing there and... Wave Meep sounds fun though. Wave Meep. Beach Break!

And I want to make it clear, both are totally viable. There will be things to do in both. Like, I'm not gonna be like... Because I know I made the point of Eldrax in Kelskaris and things like that, but I want to make it clear that I'm not pushing to there. because I know I made the point of Eldrax in Kelskaris and things like that, but I wanna make it clear that I'm not pushing to there. You can absolutely do what you want. Kelskaris is just one we keep hearing a lot about.

It's because it's the capital city, right? It would be kind of cool. But Wavemeet will have lots of cool stuff. It's a very cool location. I've actually got a bit of detail on it, so it will be a fun one to go to if you want to. That's what I call when I run down the stairs naked. Wavemeet.

Gross. With me. Gross. With that. That was such a lovely episode. Happy night's birthday. Happy night's birthday. I'm wrong. Come on. Why do you let the intrusive thoughts win?

You need to reign them in. I saw the thought happen in my head. Me too. But you need to, sometimes you tell the thoughts no. Okay, all right, I'll do that next time. need to, sometimes you tell the thought, no. Okay, all right, I'll do that next time. Until then, I still made that joke. You still made that joke.

With that, thanks very much, we'll see you next week. Take care everybody, bye bye. Bye, love ya. Bye. Bye. Bye. Love ya. Bye.

Bye.