High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #9 | The Duke's Favour (Part 1)

Episode Date: January 23, 2024

Everyone's ready to head to the Duke's Palace in Ashen Rest to plan a meeting with Duke Ignarius himself! 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) 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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Deal so good, everyone approves. Only at HomeSense. Welcome back to Alfea the Dragon Empire. Our heroes have arrived in the prosperous town of Ashenrest, home of the local draconic noble, Duke Ignarius. The town is large, with a myriad of interesting sights to see and places to visit. Our yet unnamed party have visited the local bathhouse, a shrine to the divine saint of love, and cleansed it of some

malignant magic, as well as had their fortunes told by a strange machine at the Grumpy Toad Inn, as well as encountering a powerful and mysterious elf in an unusual tower. Clever Toad. It's the Grumpy Hog. Please get it right. I could have waited until I'd finished the intro. The Clever Toad. It's the grumpy hog. Please get it right.

I could have waited until I'd finished the intro. The clever Toad. I did confuse the two. As the sun begins to set, casting the cauldron town in golden amber light, our adventures continue. And I want to begin

with somebody who was not present with you last time, for they had been drinking. Make a constitution check. Oh, no. Can I? I mean, you can, but I thought you just wanted to go in. Yeah. I mean, I was happy for this just to, you know, there's no role necessary.

True, true, yeah. As Ophelia, having been sat in the Grumpy Hog tavern, you have consumed an entire bottle of wine. Beautiful. As your companions have been running around investigating other places to stay, you have booked yourself a room, a lovely sort of not quite sweet,

but a more exclusive and luxurious room with a bath. And I've just been enjoying the ambience and the atmosphere. And the sun, as it's passed through the sky, is now beginning to set. And that wonderful golden amber light that I mentioned is beginning to filter in through the windows. And you can see that the Grumpy Hog, the restaurant begins to sort of not die down,

but the bar and the tavern element to it begins to liven up um and more people begin filtering in enjoying drinks um there is another musician here um a halfling woman who just has a uh fiddle and it's just playing a very kind of light kind of jaunty tune um just to kind of keep everyone entertained um as you've enjoyed spending the time here. But you do, it is approaching the time that you were arranged to meet with your allies. You had arranged to meet them, I believe, on the road up to the Dominus Ignarum,

the Ducal Palace is where you had set to arrange. And it is getting close to that time. Sunset, sundown. So what is Ophelia doing? Where do we find Ophelia? What state is she in? What does she look like? She's probably just...

I feel like she's quite like a happy drunk, you know? Just like she's just chilling, just having a good time by herself. But I think there's a bit of a niggling doubt in the back of her mind, ever so slightly. And I think she'll sit at her table and sort of just have a ponderous moment on her own for a minute and just summon Percival.

Percival, can you sit down? Just sit down for a minute. I need to get something off my chest. Percival will sit down, silently as always, sit down next to you, hood up, long friar-like robes covering their skeletal form, hiding them from anybody perceiving their true form. But yeah, they shuffle, sit down next to you.

But Percival, I'm having a crisis. Just a little crisis. I feel odd, strange. I can, everybody who walks in, they're so full of life, such delectable, wonderful life. And I wish to feast upon them so urgently. But I feel torn, I feel plagued. I just helped those people in the bathhouse.

I need to repent. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm supposed to be learning. Person will probably just reach out, put a bony, kind of hidden by the folds of their long fry robes, and will just gently pat the shoulder. Thank you, thank you. Unable to speak, unable to really the shoulder. Thank you, thank you.

Unable to speak, unable to really do anything to help you in this scenario, but will happily kind of offer a comforting pat. Thank you, Percival, thank you. It's just, I know that what was given to me was, it's a gracious gift from the House of Blood, and I'm honored to be able to spread the word and share the joy,

but it is causing me so much pain and a hunger I've never felt before. And I don't know if this is a test, are the house testing me? Is this something that I need to overcome so that when I finally ascend, I can appreciate the eternal gift I have been given? Or is this just...

Am I just being plagued? Is this something I need to solve? The empty skeletal cowl will just stare back and there's almost like looking into darkness, into a void. You see your own doubts and your own fears sort of almost reflected back at you as Percival is unable to offer any sort of guidance or assistance. You probably would...

They'd probably be in all of this. As you're kind of ranting, raving, there are like flashes of memories, right? You're thinking about the gift you've been given. You remember the one who gave it to you, the Baroness and many of the other things. You remember those times when after you were given the gift, whenever you wanted a drink, you simply had to ask one of the house staff and a carafe of delicious red liquid would be brought to you. Never really wondering where it came from or how it was,

you know, acquired. Certainly the gamey, bestial blood that you drank on the journey in to the town tasted nothing alike. This had the taste that you remember from back home in Osseous, amongst the house of the blood, within the great manor and the church and the cathedrals that you lived in had such more of a robust, refined flavour. And this was very not that. You see that as the outside, you're sat by one of these windows looking out onto the plaza and sort of as you're kind of lost in thought and ranting

raving at Percival you can't help but notice that as the sun begins to set here in Ashenrest you notice a little bit of a curious ceremony taking place and you're familiar with ceremony and that sort of thing you see robed figures beginning to walk through the plaza and in fact going out into the streets. Probably from the plaza you could see several of them moving down different side streets and things like that. You witness robed figures in ornate, not hooded, but robed with hats, all emblazoned with sort of symbols and filigree and very ornate.

They have a silver chain around their waist and from it hangs the symbol of a lantern. And they carry with them these long, tall staves tipped with a crystal that almost resembles a flame. And then also hanging from the staff is like a collection box, like a reinforced wooden reliquary looking kind of box. And you see them move up to several iron lanterns and lampposts throughout the city. And they speak some sort of incantation. The crystal at the top of their staff lights up. They touch the lampposts and a magical

flame springs to life in these lampposts. And you begin to see that as the sun is beginning to set, they're preparing the city for nighttime, and they are lighting these lanterns and lampposts throughout the city. And as they do, you watch one moving down like a little side residential street, and these lanterns are everywhere. It clearly illuminates the whole city. As they go about it, you see this figure with the staff, and they have a, I should mention as well,

they have a bodyguard with them. So they travel and you can see a very well-armed, private looking mercenary or bodyguard is following them as they go as well. But as the figure makes their way down and they light these lampposts and lanterns, people that live in the buildings of that street or the businesses come out. They seem to speak with the figure and they are putting silver coins in the collections box. A silver coin each for each person that seems to live on that street. And they sort of have a conversation with the person

and they carry on as they go about their business. And as you see that, to kind of set up the group here as well, we see a similar scene with the rest of the party. So if we imagine the camera kind of pulling away from Ophelia from a bit, watching this strange ritual, the camera kind of pulls away and drifts over Ash and Rest back towards the tower, the Ravenstall Spire

that you guys had, the rest of the party had been at. You guys are making your way back into the plaza, making your way, preparing to head up to the Dominus Ignorum, maybe to meet with Ophelia, and you likewise see the same scene. You see this figure dressed in ceremonial robes and hats with these staves and bodyguards making their way down a street. What are their hats like, sorry?

They're like wide-brimmed. I'm imagining almost witch hunter hats like this. Yeah, no, they are. They're kind of those witch hunter pilgrim hats. They are very much like that, and they have that same silver lantern symbol on the hat, like on a band. It would probably be a white band around the rim of the hat,

kind of like a... So there's one road figure. Yes, and then a bodyguard. The rest is with the brim. Who had the brim? You see multiple of these. Yeah. So throughout all down different streets,

there are a bunch of them. They're all dressed in the same robes. They all have the same staff. You guys, on your way, as you pass through, you would pass, like, several streets, and you would actually see one who's making his way down a long, curving street, and then you see another one going down the main street.

The one going down the main street, you see that actually there's maybe a little bit more ornamentation to what they're wearing. And they even have a pair of the dark, round, shaded glasses like Amelia has. It's almost an identical-looking pair, and they seem to be wearing that. But they have more charms and elaborate jewels and

things like that hanging off the silver chain around their bed their starves are gold rather than wooden and they seem to be a bit maybe more of a senior or maybe some some sort of more important figure but you see a dozen of these kind of figures making their way down and each one has a bodyguard a very well armed wellarmed, well-trained looking bodyguard. So is it that everyone that comes out of the room, out of the building, sorry, is everybody giving them like this silver piece? Yeah, so imagine like you've got like a long street, right? And there's one of these robed figures with a staff

making their way down the street. And as they make their way down the street and they're lighting several of these lampposts, every building, a family and a shop owner comes out, they put a silver coin in the thing. And then they make their way down. I know why the bodyguard's there. Yeah, I mean, Xanthius, do you want to make a, like...

No, in fact, you're a gold dragon. You understand, you come from a gold dragon line. You understand trade and things like that. You probably would have a little bit of knowledge about this. Yeah, I mean, just looking at the... Because also remember, here in Ashen Rest, the buildings are multi-storied, right? So like one building, a family of four lives in the bottom floor.

And then actually there's a tailor shop with two people in the next one. And then there's another family of four at the top. That's like 10 gold or like 11 silver, sorry, they're silver coins. Yeah, it's a mining business. And that's one street. That's just one house on one street. And so, yeah, you're estimating that they're probably pulling in

a substantial amount of money every day. Obviously, it's silver, not gold, so ten silver to one gold coin, but... Sorry, do I know, like, who these... like, what this organisation is, or...? Um, you are not from here, and you said that you don't... Did you visit Ashenrest before,

or have you been here before? No, I've always just been like the... On the outskirts. Very edge of Caldra. Sure. Caldra in Gilderland, yeah. Can you give me a history check then, just to see if you've kind of heard the rumours of it

or anything like that? I've been to Kelskaris, so... I don't know if that's... Maybe. I'm not going to give you... I'm not going to say. Yeah, I didn't know if I'd just seen them there. So, sorry.

History check. History, I think. And then the same would go for Daisy. You said you've never been to Ashenrest before, have you? But you can make a history check. History, I think. And then the same would go for Daisy. You said you've never been to Ashenrest before, have you? But you can make a history check. You come from more of a rural type of area, so I'd say with disadvantage. I don't think mine's going to matter.

You never know. Might roll a 20. That's not Tom. No. So I got a natural 20 for Twain. All right, sure. So Daisy, you don't know what this is, but Xanthius, you've heard of this.

Sure. Not in Kelsgaris. This seems to be something which is just here in Ashen Rest. But there's a couple of... First of all, you realise this is a guild. This service, judging by the nature of their work, I will tell you that it is the Lamplighters Guild. And most big towns or big cities,

their guilds will be almost independent to that city. There's no, like, empire-wide Lamplighters Guild. Okay. Here in Ashenrest, they've clearly formed a business and formed a union or a guild specifically for this service, right? Okay. And you have heard of them uh they made they made themselves pretty known normally lamplighter you know in a town having these sort of like torches and lanterns it's not that common the fact that there are these magical lampposts throughout ashen rest is kind of a unique thing yeah um and they

have clearly made a very solid business here and they're very well known here in ashen ashen rest is kind of a unique thing yeah um and they have clearly made a very solid business here and they're very well known here in ashen ashen rest the lamp lighters guild is one of them the most influential and wealthy guilds here um they provide the magical lights on the the city walls oh sorry the town walls the big magical braziers um and uh yeah they provide so comparatively to how it's done in kel scaris um i know that's obviously a much much bigger city um is is it literally like torchlight in kel scaris whereas this is these kel scaris would depend so like cheaper area like you know if you had like a more common sort of like cheaper street in kel scaris it'd probably be a physical torch

and lantern kind of like a um uh enclosed sort of like you know fiery lantern that gets re-lit and done every day in the more expensive areas especially in the central district of kel scaris uh it would be magical lights like these um but that doesn't necessarily mean that might be done by Wizards or like private citizens they might have paid for it and things like that yeah it seems that this guild have come in and said we're gonna illuminate this city we're gonna provide this service and in exchange you're gonna pay us this fee to keep it lit okay um so i'd say that with a natural 20 you've heard enough that you know that that's how they operate yeah that they basically provide these magical lights as a way of and it's probably sold as like a safety

thing right like oh well a well-lit street less likely for crime less likely for trouble you need you want to pay us to keep these lights going. And the fact that they're magical lights, you don't see anybody else with not like, you wouldn't, you don't know how to make these lights glow. So it's not mechanically the light spell. No, doesn't seem to be. No, doesn't seem to be. So these are

literally, it's, what I'm trying to understand Because the light spell only lasts like an hour I think. Sure. That's what I'm trying to, I was trying to understand why people are not like... I'll just use a lantern. These are literally like wider aura, much brighter. Yeah, I'd say it's like torchlight, but there's no flickering.

It's much brighter. And it looks like it's going to last until dawn, until, you know, the day. Damn, okay. Yeah. Yeah, I think if I... I guess i'm aware of how not necessarily unknown this gilder is i know of them but only by chance i suppose i might you probably yeah you've probably heard about it as part in passing on your way here or maybe like overheard about there's this really

rich influential guild um here in ashen rest um would, yeah, be sort of talking it through with people like, oh, the lamplighters are out. They're responsible for all of these lights that you see up and down the road, along the walls, and they'll last until morning. The other thing as well is you would know, I'd say with that natural 20, and you guys can all see this, there is one building here in Ashen Rest that glows brighter than any um i think i described it briefly but there is a tower marked at number

five on your map um where is it number five is here oh i think we might have gone past that one yeah on the way to the um i described it as a massive stone tower with a kind of large crystal built on the top and almost like a lighthouse, that thing radiates light. Yeah. And it looks very well built. It looks very majestic. Do I know, because I don't want to necessarily have a lamplighter come towards us expecting some silver,

and we're like, we don't know your customs. Are the travellers also donating? No, no. This seems to be a citizen's thing. It seems like travellers, you are not expected to pay this. customs are the travelers also like donating no no this seems to be a citizen's thing it seems like travelers you are not expected to pay this um you pay your you pay probably higher prices for goods here in the city yeah citizens probably get things a lot cheaper um they get free prophecies from that dude yeah I would free no it's never free no it with ZZ. I would probably also advise the group that's with me,

which is, I guess, everyone but Ophelia, like to... Like a Pavlovian response with you, isn't it? It's fine. Huh? Just having a mental breakdown in the pub. Okay. It's fine.

Yeah, that's, yeah. Just a little mentee being in the pub. It's fine. I'd probably be advising to not go too close to them, because I'm wary of the guards almost reacting unkindly to an unknown going close to the person carrying, what, like 20 golds worth of donations. Sure.

Just in case the guards get all tetchy. You do see that they're very familial with people. Like, the people come up and speak to them, have conversations with them and things like that. They pay their money and then they have a conversation, they move on and things like that. The guard is definitely keeping a wary eye on things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

But yeah, it's just something that you see as it goes about. Ophelia, you kind of see this in the main plaza and I'm assuming you guys are walking your way back towards that street that leads to Dominus Ignorum. I could not remember exactly the notions of how you're going to meet up with Ophelia, but we can say that you made plans well, prearranged plans. I do believe I had notes this time, so.

Okay. Wow. We had a few needs. But I think we should probably meet up with Ophelia first. Yeah. Before we make decisions. That didn't answer the question. Oh, the answer to the question was there a question? we wanted to go to

Bright Shadow Cathedral speak to the knights yeah I wanted to go to the cathedral we wanted to see Kiva the Oracle of the Empress at Talos

and there's Aquila's Alchemical with weapon oils we can ask about potions as well there's ten I think yeah and also going and seeing the Duke or trying to book an appointment

yeah try and book an appointment with the Duke. Book an appointment was priority, because we need to know when we're actually meant to go and see this guy, right? Yeah. The Duke. The Duke. If we make an appointment, we can then do other things.

Yeah, sure. While we wait for a set of appointments. But yeah, we will head back, because we had no way of actually contacting Ophelia and seeing her. That's why I'm saying that you probably had some like, at sundown, let's meet here. Yeah, let's just split the party for the whole episode

while we get all our shit done. And Ophelia just has a breakdown and probably will murder someone. Yeah, that's true, actually. You leave Ophelia on her own for too long. She's way too fidgety. She's come back just covered in blood and bodies. She's got a murder bar that's like...

Getting redder and redder and redder. Before we do that, there's one thing we need to do. Before that was just kind of saying things like... Ah, la crucibelle! Who's on painkiller today? Who's on hair care? Um, acidity sticks from everybody, please. Chris Trott, you are right on it.

Wait, have you failed every time, right? Yeah, every single time. I need to know. Do it. Three. You lost it again. All right. What's up with four? Oh, no.

Okay, I got two. That's two in my pool currently. I got a two. A two? My streak has failed. Yeah, two. Oh! Mark is four in mine.

A four? Oh! One in your pool. One! Our side has never done, like, a full failure. No. We've always had at least one. Mark. Oh, it's a five. One! Our side has never done, like, a full failure. No. We've always had at least one. And Mark's...

Oh, it's a five! Thank you. So it's two luck, four bad luck. Is that the right phrasing? No, it's just... Luck and bad luck? Fate. It's just fate, isn't it?

Good fate, bad fate. It's not even good fate and bad fate. Just duality of fate. Two up, four down. I don't know. Life is a roller coaster, and I want to ride it all night long. All night long. Life is a highway.

Yes, it is. Life is a highway. Life is a rollercoaster, and a highway. Life is a rollercoaster. It's awful. There you go. Just gotta ride it. All night long.

No, I'm... Anyway. No. Just stop. Stop. I'm still mixing them. There's murder on the dance floor. You're not long. No, I'm... Anyway. No. Just stop. Stop. I'm still mixing them. There's murder on the dance floor. You're not even one of the infected people today.

Don't give spoilers. So, as you guys make your way, Ophelia, having witnessed this sign, you do see your companions moving into the plaza at the designated meeting point and time. What do you want to do? What's the plan? Do you want to go meet her?

I'm going to give you the option. I'm going to give you the option. No, I think Ophelia will just pour out her last little bit of wine in a glass. Final glug. And then I guess, yeah, she'll make her way to the plaza. One thing you do notice as you're beginning to leave,

it looked like there were quite a few people in the bar that were keeping an eye to see when you were gonna leave your table, but were too intimidated to come over and say anything. So as you get up, there's this race to try and grab the table. Did you have a huge table? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because you had a booth, because they had Ruff and Nester. You'd never manage to dig in with the booth to themselves. Yeah, just you and your one skeleton. Yeah. That nobody knows. You put like your coat on one of the seats, your bag on another one.

I don't think she'd even need to do that. She could sit completely on one edge of it, really contained and people would go, nope. But yeah, you see that, so as you get up and leave, there is a sort of race between a couple of groups of travellers and locals who are racing to try and get that booth, the window booth. It's a really good seat, because it looks out on the plaza, so everyone's been waiting to get it.

But everyone was too scared to approach the weird-looking lady, so they leave it to you. But yeah, the rest of you see the familiar shape of Ophelia and Percival make their way over to you. How drunk is she looking? I leave that to Rhiannon. Is there a sway in the thing? Do you want to make a constitution roll? How do the dampiers react?

Ten. Ten? She's okay. I mean, you move with like... She's giddy-hacked. It's just a floating grace, wasn't it? What's that of Percival? Percival is like a float. She can't see his feet. That's okay. I mean, you move with like... She's giddy-hack. It's just a floating grace, wasn't it? Or was that Percival? Percival is like a float...

She can't see his feet. That's terrible. Percival is a floater. He tends to float. Yeah, Ophelia is very graceful, like cat-like. She walks very pre-meditated. Definitely no wobbling or anything like that. Probably like a little colour in the cheeks

because you're not fully... You are still partially human. So, yeah, there is... Sorry. But first of all, classically, Can't See His Feet just looks like a shadow, like a 3D shadow almost. Ophelia, good news.

We've found where we're staying tonight. And it's not here. Not here. Oh, you found where you're staying. I know where I'm staying. How have you? It's not here. Oh, you found where you're staying. I know where I'm staying. Well, you should see the other place. It's quite delightful. There's a magical toad!

Magical toad, tells you fortune. There's a load of kobolds that run the place and they are very delightful. 24 I counted. 24. And they attend to your every needs. Or most of your needs. It's very loud. Quite loud.

It sounds very loud. But we've bought a room. Okay. Oh wait, we bought a room for four people. You're right. You need to find a place to stay. I'm fine. I've booked my room.

I'm in the Grumpy Hog. Isn't that what we were going to decide on? Well, me and Rowan went to see the place. And then things happened. Magical town. It's so magical. Okay. It has several premonitions of our future.

Is it like an oracle? Is it? Yes. If I'm like standing behind Rowan, you look at me, I'm kind of doing like the handshake, like. Yeah, Gruff's on the other side shaking his head as well. We need to beware the shadow of noon tomorrow. We also need to worry about the full moon beneath.

Beneath the full moon there is a stone arch or something. When the maiden cries, which I've been looking out for. I cried a little bit. Oh. I did cry a little bit. Then we need to worry about the shadow of the spire lingering. There wasn't a shadow. There's more, Daisy, you had two premonitions.

I did, I did, I did. We'll find luck beneath the arch on Midday Sun, which could be a very similar arch. I don't know. The very same arch. Why don't you keep an eye out, and then you tell me if any of these things come up. I'm very anxious about all of them.

Yes? The knight shall overcome the maiden in the Forest of Dreams. Okay. Okay, I don't know what that means, but keep an eye out, I suppose. Yes, but we, I believe, are thinking of heading to get an appointment with the Duke, if you would like to come with. Sounds like a good idea.

I am refreshed and rested. You smell like wine. I'm very refreshed. Right. And hungry, but we'll leave that for another day. Uh-oh. Rowan stands. Yeah.

Sidesteps. I just thought I would just, in the interest of trust, I shall just tell you when I'm feeling hungry and then you know what to expect. How much of that supply do you have left? Um, a little jiggle. Yeah, a little slotch. About a quarter, I'd say. I've got about another day.

Okay, do we need to go hunting again? Potentially, yes. It might be on the cards. Hunting? What do you mean? Well, we just went hunting. We were on the road one night. We just went for a hunt, that's all. I had to resupply. And this supply, is it keeping you happy?

For now. It's not doing the same job as, say, a certain powerful woman that was under a mine would do, but we'll get there, I'm sure, or not. Maybe, did I just say that out loud? I'm loving this confidence. I am confident, thank you, Xanthias, I am very confident.

Rowan digs into a satchel and brings out some dried fruit and nuts. No! If you're hungry. No, no, no, no, no. Sorry, my dear. It's not that kind of hungry. Or more meat.

Fish. Meat-esque, yes. Meat-adjacent. Meat-adjacent hunger, yes. The stuff that kind of embroils the meat, I suppose. I'm sure the grumpy hog could sort you out. I'm sure they could. You've been there all after you.

Yes, there are plenty of people that could help me in the grumpy hog. Do you need money? Good, yes. The staffing, I will say. They seem very friendly in there, I'm sure. The clever toad has a lot of staff that could help you as well. Oh, do they now? Yes.

Well, all kobolds. I've never really had kobold before, I don't think. What, serve you? Yes, yes, yes, yes. Daisy, wait a bit, the pen will drop. Daisy's just gonna like. I think it will. Daisy's gonna stand closer to Rowan

and just take the end of his scarf and just try and rotate and wrap it around. Where are we going? As Rowan asks such a poignantly appropriate question, you see the road leading off from the plaza passing the great stone tower that you now know is called the Coil of the Empress, beautifully sculpted from stone, spiral tower, rises multiple floors up into the air, and it has almost like illusory dragons flying around it. But the road continues

past that, past the bathhouse, the House of the Rose, the beautiful gardens, the walled fence, the beautiful stone building of that, and it begins to slope upwards as it crests to a hill upon which sits a vast estate. Secluded behind its own interior wall, the vast estate looms up and you can see the glittering ruby dome that sits atop the Ducal Palace, the Duke's Palace itself, the Dominus Ignarum, the host, the domain of the Ignarum, of the Ignarius line. The buildings are made from sort of polished white ash stone, gilded in gold and painted red, sort of almost glistening ruby-like paint uh that sculpts it and you see this great crystal dome at the very top uh there are guards uh elite royal uh not royal but um uh elite guards dressed in much better armor than you've seen the town's infantry wearing we are talking breastplate

chainmail full plate um uh they are on towers which surround the interior wall. And you can see that there is a large portcullis gate at the very end of this street, that kind of sloped street leading up to the Dominus Ignarum, set into the wall itself. And there is a small guardhouse. And you can also see that it's not just the Duke's Palace inside this wall. There are other buildings and, you know,

maybe four humanoid servants and courtiers and that kind of thing. Okay. The lamplighters, are they still roaming these roads? And also, are they going up and into this? Well, you can see that the Dominus Ignorum, the actual Ducal Palace, is lit from within. It's lit.

Almost, yes, it's lit. But there is no need for... There do not appear to be any of the Lamplighter Guild's lights around the Ducal Palace. Right. It has its own magical lights. The street leading up to it, though, yeah, you see that there are all these lampposts are all over.

Probably the Lamplighters would have done these kind of main streets first. You get the impression that certain streets get sort of like, make sure those are done first, and then you go out and you do all the side streets. And like I said, you did notice that there were different types of lamplighter as well. There were ones who looked a bit more richly dressed, and then there were the others as well.

Rare, epic. Shiny. Yeah, purple, gold, orange. Legendary lamplighter. It's's shiny. I've got that one. Sorry, yeah, no, it's just, if there were, I was going to ask if there was a way in particular

that we could see the more official-looking guards sort of interacting with people, or if they were like, fucking sit back off. I would say that as you draw closer and closer, you can see... So flanking the Portcullis Gate, there are these two guard towers. The guard towers have archers,

you know, full proper archers with very ornate masterwork-looking longbows. And they are peering out, kind of keeping watch. At the base of the gate, there are three soldiers all dressed in fine, not full plate, probably more like breastplate or half plate armor, keeping to attention. There is also what appears to be a more sort of scholarly steward-looking figure who is sat at a desk in a sort of sheltered little nook as part of the barracks house

that outlooks onto the Portcullis Gate as well. And they seem to be looking at several ledgers and things like that. People draw near the gate, but yeah, like there is definitely a big stretch of road that there is completely clear. Like for defensive purposes, there are no buildings or anything like that

right pressed up against the inner wall. You would be very obvious if you were to approach the gate. Okay, cool. But yeah, the steward is probably the place to go. Do you still have the scroll, Ruff? You've kept it safe. Good. I do.

Very good. I think the steward over there should be the one to speak to. I believe that was where we meant to go. Before we go. Okay. Everyone looking good? I feel exfoliated. Exfoliated.

I always look good, darling. Carry on. I can't deny that, no. Thank you. Do my braids still look good? Oh, um... You look magnificent. Oh, thank you, mistress.

Resplendent. Thank you. My beard, braids good? Oh, thank you, mistress. Resplendent. Thank you. Beard, my beard, braids good? Oh, very good, very good. Yeah. Oh, what do you think of the hair? I like it. Scales buffed?

Very buffed. I can see myself in them. Can you? Xanthius, Ophelia, and Daisy, can you guys give me... Not us. Insight checks, please. Insight. If it goes in the corner, we won't see anything.

Ophelia's lying. Oh, no. Six. There's something wrong with us. Fourteen. Fourteen. I've got toilet paper stuck on my pocket. Ophelia and Xanthius.

You know, Gruff's asking, like, how's he look and everything else, and he's right, like, you know, having been cleaned in the bath and everything else, they definitely look more presentable. The two of you, Ophelia and Xanthius, you do notice that they are still wearing their traveling clothes. They've been cleaned, but they are patchy. They are certainly not refined clothing. Even Xanthius, yours is quite simple,

but you have these ornate flourishes and things like that, and it's well kept. It is cauldron clothing. Daisy looks like a cauldron citizen, like a, you know, a fairy woman. And Ophelia looks quite resplendent in this kind of, like, foreign looking garb. Gruff and Rowan definitely do stand

out as maybe not necessarily bad, but just not as refined as the rest of you. They look a bit homely. They look a bit homely. They look a bit homely. Not so much their actual appearance, but their clothing and their equipment. Gruff, if you could, perhaps it would make more sense,

and no insult to you, of course, but... Gruff, you look fantastic. Oh, you do. Thank you, Rowan. Oh, you do. I agree. I think you're ready to meet all the kings, queens, and monarchs. I think the same of you too, Rowan.

No kings and queens. No kings and queens. All dukes. And d well, same of you too, Rowan. No kings and queens. No kings and queens. All dukes. And duchesses. And duchesses of the land. You too, Rowan. I love the color coordination on your outfit. Thank you.

This is my favorite meeting important people outfit. Just on that, me and Daisy, we've been in Kodra a while. We understand the customs, how to interact with people, and so on and so forth. Maybe we take that scroll and we take the lead on this one, just in case we come across any... Can I have a scroll? Is this because I'm a foreigner?

No, no, no, no, not at all. I'm originally from Gildite, so technically speaking. Sounds like it. Daisy's nodding. Well, it sounds like that's what you're trying to do. No, that is not at all what I'm saying. Do you think that'll do better? I don't know. If you think that's for the best,

then you should have a stroke. I'm just saying, certain places in Cauldron might react in a certain more kindly to Cauldron people. Not that I am. I'm from Gilday. I don't wanna take the lead. But the lady, the lady at the spa,

she said that Ashen's rest, folk, respect when you have a certain pride about who you are and where you're from. Okay. Gruffydd is very proud. Very proud. He has braids. I have braids. Look how he's holding that writ.

Very confident. Nobly. As they're having that conversation, it's like, you're listening to what Gruff's saying and then you're noticing that the stitching on his tunic is kind of falling apart a little bit and the knees where he's been walking for a long time, the knees are quite worn and threadbare and it's like... I see that. I look to Ophelia? Is there like any... Maybe some finishing touches would be in order

just to really bolster our whole appeal as a group. Now, finishing touches. That might be exactly what I'm talking about. Watch this. Okay. Hello. I am Duke Ignarius. And who is this?

Duke Ignarius, the Crimson Bastion. That's me. I am honored to be in your presence. I am Gruffydd of Tremorro. Oh, it's such an honor to meet someone. Where are you from, Tremorro? Aye, it is a little village all the way up in Iceheart. Out of interest, this character you're playing, Rowan, what do you imagine that outfit to be?

Oh, uh, like a shiny... Well, this is common garb of Tremorro. I'm representing my village. Your character, you are playing Gruff in this scene. I am Gruff, yes. You are Gruff. You're Xanthius. I'm playing the Duke. This is the Duke. I didn't know that you could act, too. Thank you, yes. You are Graff. You're Xanthius. I'm playing the Duke. This is the Duke.

I didn't know that you could act, too. Thank you, yes. You should do a whole stage show. I should. Can he sing, too? Can you dance? I've never tried. Oh my gosh, we should try. We should absolutely try that.

Okay. Now? In Osseous, we very much take pride in the creative arts, so it would do me a great honour to see a performance. I could try something. At some point, at some point. I tried doing the worm. Give me a performance check. Hang on. Could you demonstrate that live in the studio?

Hell no at this point. 14 plus my performance of 4. 18. 18. It is the worm. It's exceptionally good. The worm. It's loud, though.

Well, also, you are throwing yourself onto hard cobblestone. In Althea, it's W-Y-R-M. This immediately, yeah. It's the worm. This is a draconic dance. I'm going to pinch outside the balance. Apparently. It's not like the worm like this.

It's you pretend to have wings and you do like a dragon dance. This immediately captures the attention of pretty much everybody, including the guards who are like looking at you on the street, on the approach to the dominating arm, kind of very curiously watching you, but also citizens who are just like, they're like, what's that? It's pretty good.

They're commenting on the dance, like, oh, he knows how to move, doesn't he? But why is he doing it in the street? There is like, you earn three silver coins. It's like people think it in the street? There is like... You earn three silver coins. As like people think it's a street performance, and so they're like, oh, well done, and they throw you a silver coin.

Thank you so much. Triple threat. This is the most wonderful, most wonderful ruin. Thank you, I've barely done, I should have done some flexes beforehand. I don't think it was necessary. The House of Blood would have been honored to have witnessed that as a collective.

I didn't do the big finale, which is where the worm breathes fire. Wow, that would have been amazing. Which I can't do, but I do the hand gestures. I can't believe you can't do that. That is the hand gesture of breathing fire. Part of the dance is this. Do the worm.

It's a big thing. I take Tark. You know, I don't have to do the hand gestures with the whole breathing fire thing. Maybe you could help. We could team up. We could team up. I'm no good at the actual dance piece myself now.

She's gonna have to sit in front of me. She can't get comfy. I don't have to do anything for her. I'm now more covered in actual dance piece myself now. I'm just going to get comfy. I don't have to do anything for you. I'm now more covered in ground dirt than I was before. Oh, yeah, you know, and it's like, you know, definitely mud, you know, not muddy, but like dirty and dusty from the cobblestones. Oh, see, now we need to get you all cleaned up, though, see? Now we need to go and get you something a little different.

The worm would 100% of some, like, minor form of twerking for the tail as well. There would be a little kind of like, like a little butt wiggle. May have heard a couple of deep slaps as well. It's very cultural. I took 10 thunder damage. Very cultural indeed. Stop this, my hands, cheeks keep cramping.

One, two, ten thunder damage. She rolled it off. Oh my indeed. Stop this, my hands, cheeks keep cramping. One, two, ten, fun, don't it? She rolled it out late. Oh my god. Rowan is so fit, anyway. How are you touching the tequila man? Or a kobold. I'm not twerking. Do not perform this anywhere.

Find another kobold. You get like Thanos-ed. I feel so good, Mr. Stark. You just get dusted. Just twerking in the background, sending out shock waves. I was thinking like an anime where it cracks things around. It goes black and white. ZIMPACK FREEMS! Oh my god. It goes black and white. Impact frames!

Oh, my God. That was the burn. That was a big killer. To me, I'm going to be fair. I came up with the twerking bit. That's it. Trot. I kind of like, I set him up for trot. Normally you shut this down,

but you're just like adding to it. I can't wait for the thumbnail for this episode. Oh! Can't wait for the fan, I want the animation. I want that impact frame animation of Rowan's ass cheeks just clapping and a kobold being annihilated in black and white. All the lanterns, they've just been lit.

Wiped out. It might be a random thing, but you know that hat film's animation of us doing the Star Wars noise? There's an expression where they do the black and white. That's exactly as I imagined it. Anyway. So anyway, what do we do? I getting at, Ruff and Rowan,

is now we have had the baths, but our clothing is not that ours is finer than yours. Not what I'm getting at at all. It's just ours is more cauldron and appropriate. Santhius, be straightforward in what you're saying. You're saying all these pretty things, but I'd rather you were just straightforward. You have beautiful fur.

You have a wonderful beard. You smell fantastic, and you have been recently cleaned. It's great. I love to see and smell it. It's leathers and furs and pelts just strapped together with bits of string and rope and stuff. It's hopes and dreams. Hopes and dreams.

Whatever that means. It keeps me warm in the frigid and dangerous temperatures. It's very practical, yes. If you were not to wear this in Iceheart, you'd freeze to death. It's just not very. It's less that it's not cauldron, it's more that it's like worn.

It's like really worn and tired. It's not, you know, it's practical,. It's not, you know, it's practical, but it's not, you know, it's been quite heavily used. Like maybe it's, you know, that kind of vibe. Cauldrons don't necessarily need it to be cauldron. They just need it to be well cared for. I don't have fancy clothes for fancy things, like fancy places like you go to.

You're very fancy. Thank you, thank you, I am. Well, yes, I mean, you know. I've got another sash and a belt. But it's very fancy to me. It's very fancy to me, too. I imagine you live a life of, you know, being in a library or, no?

Some kind of gentle work or something like that. Is the library closed? Is this what this is? I mean, I've never been to one, but I imagine. Indoors, I imagine you work indoors. As you guys are having this conversation, one of those guards has made their way down. And he's just kind of walking towards you, kind of calmly,

not like weapons or anything like that. And as they get closer, they'll just say, Hey, old travellers, is there something, do you need something or are you here for a reason? This is the road to the Duke's Palace, so we just want to make sure that... Oh, apologies, we didn't intend to delay for so long. Yes, I just noticed that you've been stood here for a while.

Your friend did a bit of a sort of dance performance. Impromptu. You've just sort of been loitering, and I just want to make sure that, you know, if you've got business here or... Oh, so sorry. We could back off. Oh, no, no.

We actually have... We were hoping to meet with... Not servant, was it? It was... The fucking character I played in the one shot. Oh, what? You need to tell me. His name was...

Not specifically the character. Not specifically that one. That's not who it was. It was what they do. Conscious. Conscientious. Concierge. Con.

No, hang on. Considerate. We're hoping to meet with a considerate. You would like to speak with the Duke's considerate? Well, we have been blessed with the Duke's favour. Oh, well, he will look at it and say, it's not for me to check that. I will summon Considerate Orgrim,

and he will come and speak with you. We obviously can't let you through the gates, but you're more than welcome to come and wait up in the gatehouse while you wait. Thank you very much. Yes, come with me. And the guard will lead you up. He will say something to that scholar

who was working the ledger. They're not going to be too secretive about it. They'll just say, could you send for Considerate Orgrim, please? Apparently apparently we have some travelers here who bear a duke's favor um and i think that he and they would like to speak with the with the considerate and the scholar will kind of look up and say like oh certainly yes of course uh and they will kind of scurry off and the guard will lead you in the gatehouse has like basically a large room set aside for people who are waiting to go into the Ducal Palace, basically. So it's kind of like a comfortable lounge. There are sofas.

They are not the fanciest sofas. They're well cushioned, but they are not like gilded or anything like that. They're kind of wooden benches with soft cushions built into them. There's a low table. There's a pitcher of water and some dried fruit and nuts and things like that just waiting for people. And you're not waiting,

you're not waiting very long. You're maybe here about sort of like five, ten minutes. So what I should say is it's not necessarily very practical clothing, very useful clothing, but just people in Caldra

tend to judge by the cover very quickly. Get to the point. What? What do you want to do? Do you want to go clothes shopping with me? I tend to judge by the cover very quickly. Get to the point. What? What do you want to do? Do you want to go clothes shopping with me? Oh.

Yay. Okay. But I feel like you're fishing for something right now. Oh no, I mean, it's too late now, I suppose, but we could get you a big shirt. You want a shirt? A belt? With buttons. Maybe want a shirt? A belt? With buttons.

Maybe like, what color would suit? Maybe some more blue? Blue does, you've got blue now, we can go for more blue. Maybe some greens. Would greens do? Would you like greens? You're staring at me, but. This is a whole world I have no idea about,

so I'll just take your lead, Lord Xanthias. We're going shopping. Go, careful. Yay! You wanna go Ophelia? I love to go shopping! Great, we'll get you some nice cauldron clothes. Is Rowan going shopping?

Rowan would you like to go shopping? I'll go shopping for Gruffydd. Oh I really hate shopping. Rowan would you like a nice- Not me too! Yes! I get an outfit. Yay!

Daisy? But I already look ready. I need your help. You can look even more ready. True. Like double ready. What, you get an outfit. But I already look ready. I need your help. You can look even more ready. True. Like double ready. What would you add, Ophelia? Maybe like a nice cravat, or like a,

What's that? Like a fancy silk neckchief that can be done up all nice, that look lovely. It'll extenuate your collarbones, you've got nice strong collarbones, good shoulders. Something like that, a nice vest. Oh, three quarter sleeves, that's a wonderful one.

Oh, it's a wonderful vest. Yeah, yeah. Like a cuffed thing, maybe quite large cuffs. Oh, that'd be nice, yeah. Could we get something that goes the whole way? Yes. Oh, yes, I mean, probably. Can I tie little ribbons in the end of the braids

and Gruff's beard? Oh, yes. Yes, yes. What color? Blue. Blue, I mean, yeah, we'll just go with blue for you for now. Sounds very fussy. Well. And restrictive.

How expensive is this all going to be? Because I have got a little bit. I just got two silver just then. Well, for Graf, maybe a reasonable, ordinary clothing amount. For you, hmm. Might be more. Lot of fabric.

Yeah, much more fabric. That two silver take me up to 90 gold exactly. Two silver? Damn. You have to keep it in three silver, but two silver's fine. I did say three. Whatever I put in.

Well, you've put in two silver. He's dropped one. There's a silver piece out. Somebody's taken that. That's gone. Penny. Silver coin. Take that.

I walked past, flicked it into the air. It's like half a day's wages. I'll take that. It's like finding like 200 quid on the ground. I'm rich! It's not quite that. It's like finding a fiver.

Oh, that's nice. Anyway, that's our five-minute conversation. Yeah, five-minute conversation as you guys have that. Well, I'm glad that you're up to 90 gold exactly. That's lovely. Gruff is horrified during this whole conversation. As Gruff is horrified. Take whole conversation. As Gruff is horrified... Take pride in yourself.

There is... The guard stands to attention as a dwarven figure enters. They are very well dressed. You can see that they are dressed in a fine sort of red vest, kind of tailcoat. They have a very elegant shirt. You can see that they have almost like a

cape or a cloak that's kind of almost like a mantle more than anything with a uh a chain with a large ruby set into it uh their graying beards kind of brown with stripes of gray and streaks of gray into it very neatly oiled and braided into a single long braid that kind of falls down to the middle of their chest. And you can see that on their, sort of around their cheekbones, there are these perfect gold studs that you can tell are their earth skin. It's not like embedded, they are, but it's been shaped into these perfect round studs, sort of all along their cheekbones like this, going up,

and then it begins to curl around their eyes, almost like dragon scales. There is an element there of it almost being styled like golden dragon scales. A little bit older, so kind of looking at sort of maybe 40s, 50s, if they were a human. So it's greying in the beard,

a bald of head, and they kind of see you. You are the ones who have wanted to see me and have brought forth a duke's favor? Oh, yes, yes. You may have heard of the struggles in the village of Burnell, not too far away. I can't say that I have,

but we've yet to receive the report from the captain. I am Considerate Eddarth Orgrim, to your pleasure. I serve Duke Ignarius and the host of Ignarum. Well, let us have a seat, if you don't mind. Have you had water, refreshment and that sort of thing? We have been in the city a while, but I certainly wouldn't say no to...

Oh, please. And he will gesture. And you can see that out of nowhere, a kobold, a red, kind of red, and there's almost a blue, kind of like purple in between the scales, kobold, who has been following silently, quietly kind of appeared from the shadows behind Orgrim,

of course considerate. And they begin like pouring out all the drinks and things like that. And they kind of set everything up and seem to almost be their assistant or something like that. And considerate Orgrim will say, so you bear a duke's favor, is it?

And what is your intention with all of this? You wish to, what brings you to my good draconic lord? Rowan tries to sit in one of these chairs. It's pretty small for you. I mean, it's human size. So it's just awkward and making squeaks and stuff. You fit in it, but it's awkward. He doesn't feel like he belongs

so he's trying to keep to himself and keep very stiff uh orgram seems to take in yeah what so like roman's kind of sat there awkwardly how's everyone else saying because this figure is definitely taking you all in like taking time to sort of look you up and down and look over so we've got like rowan's awkwardly like trying not to make much noise you're gonna sit there quietly. How's everyone else reacting to this scenario? What about Daisy? She's smiling politely, but just sitting.

Just smiling awkwardly. Yeah. Okay. She just doesn't really know. She doesn't quite know what to do, but she's like... Just doing that thing of nodding and smiling and yeah. Okay, sure. Pretty much. What about Ophelia? She's sitting very know what to do, but she's like... Just doing that thing of nodding and smiling. Yeah, pretty much. What about Ophelia?

She's sitting very straight, very tall, looking very chin-up, very presentable, with Percival just looming behind her, stood up behind her. Like her shadow, she's looking very prim. Okay. And drunk. And a little bit... Tanked.

Absolutely tanked. What about Gruffydd? I think he's probably, he's in kind of like trying to be a knight mode or like, you know, he's trying to imitate what he's seen of knights on watch. So he's stood up, like perhaps kind of a little bit behind Daisy

or something like that, trying to carry himself in like a good, like knightmanly posture. Absolutely. In a knightly manner. Present a strong, confident, bold kind of persona. Yeah, because I think that's... Yeah, he's trying to be... Sure.

He's trying to manifest what he... Manifest knight. Yeah. And then finally, Xanthius. I think I'm attempting a sort of relaxed nobility almost type deal. So putting on a relaxed air. Seems like you're the one sort of directly engaging with the considerate,

like, you know, maybe that initial speaker that you get in a... Yeah, almost like a... I want to be a cauldron in this situation, I suppose, and reflect that back onto them. So what I would say is anybody who feels that their character is kind of putting on a bit of an act or is trying to impress the considerate in some form of way, which to me sounds mostly like Ophelia, Gruff, and Xanthius,

with Rowan and Daisy being just a bit more like not knowing what to do with themselves kind of thing. Anybody who wants to kind of put forward a persona, you can roll your choice of any charisma-based skill. So depending on what you want. So for Ophelia, if you're trying to be very regal and prominent, it could be intimidate or it could be persuasion. Because intimidate is also being quite forceful with your personality, right?

For Gruff, again, it could be intimidate or it could be, like, if you think that this is more of a performance, like he's trying to play the role of a knight. Because he doesn't know yet. Then I would say maybe more of a performance, like imagining how it is in a story. For Xanthius, it sounds more like either deception or a persuasion. Yeah. But I think that you're kind of putting off more of a... That's the thing. It's not strictly, technically a deception, I suppose. It's not, but there is definitely an element of trickery to it. Yeah. Like you're trying to play something that you are not.

Yeah. Well, I am a gold dragonborn. You are. But you have not lived as one. No, no, no, no. So I'll give you a choice. It would either be performance or deception, I think. Yeah, okay.

In that case, deception would be fine. Cool. Actually, all of mine are identical. And you are welcome to use your pool of Crucible Fate as well. Good point. But yeah, Rowan and Daisy, you guys I'm going to basically have as like a... So what is your charisma modifier?

So imagine you get 10 and then add your charisma modifier. You're not trying to like put on a certain act here, so you're not going gonna be able to like, in kind of create a persona. So 13 is a default for you. My charisma is 14. So plus two, so 12. Okay, all right.

So Xanthius. Natural 20, 22. 22. Two natural 20s, first two rolls. Gruffydd. All the gear and no idea, natural one. It kind of fits. Plus one. Yeah, plus one, these first two rolls. Gruffydd? Yeah. All the gear and no idea, natural one. Natural one. It kind of fits.

Plus one. Yeah, plus one, yeah, so two. But yeah, it fits. It kind of fits. He doesn't know what he's doing. Four intimidation. Four intimidation. Okay, I'm actually gonna make an insight roll for Orgrim.

Okay. And I am gonna spend one of my Crucible dice. Sure. Because this is an ability check, so I can add that to this. Yeah. Okay. Um, Orgrim, I'm gonna, so the way I'm gonna do this is,

I'm just gonna describe like what you guys see and things like that. I'm gonna be tracking some stuff though throughout this conversation. Just to see how this interaction goes. No one say twerking, please. We don't know the word. We don't know what that means.

It's the final act of the worm. Looks you all in, kind of takes you all in in these kind of introductions. He waits for his cobble assistant to provide the drinks and probably makes some small chatter with you. Like, how are you finding Ashen Rest? You are traveling here. You do not appear to be citizens, although I see some cauldrons,

or those who are familiar with cauldron. But how are you finding the town? Very hospitable, I might say. It's been quite welcoming. Everyone's been very friendly. Have you managed to see, what have you seen in the town so far? Have you managed to explore much,

or have you come straight here? We went to the House of the Rose, which was beautiful. Very well, very well kept. And we enjoyed some of the offerings they had there, had the spa. It is wonderful. I must admit the waters make me feel 10 years younger.

You're very blessed to have such a place in your fine city. It's very, very wonderful indeed. Made us feel very at home. Good, good, excellent. Anything about the rest of you? How do you feel about Ashenrest? Oh, well, we hope to stay here maybe a few days longer, at the very least, at least to take more of a tour

of all of the wonderful towers here as well. Yes, it has become something of a competition amongst some of the more wealthy and influential to see who can rise up above the walls. Of course, none will reach as high as my Lord Dragon's Palace, but the others are allowed to compete as they see fit. Of course, such a beautiful sight along the skyline. It is, yes.

As fitting for a noble hero of the Empire. He kind of looks around. He kind of sees you being a little bit quiet and will kind of like loom in on you, Daisy. You there, my dear, you are Cauldron. Yes. Where are you from? Are you from Northvale?

Good, fine. Ah, in the Heartdales, Her Majesty Infernia's realm. Well, I hope that you enjoy your time here in my duke's lands. Have you been to Ashenrest before? No, this is the biggest place I've ever been. Ah, Goodvine is a smaller village then.

Yes, yes, yes. Oh, I see, very good. There's so much happening. There's so many shops and places to eat and drink. Yes, we are very fortunate to be very prosperous and the duke is very proud of the town. Very good. You kind of look over to Rowan.

The two of you seem you have travelled from quite far, trudging by, and you notice that his eyes linger upon the slightly threadbare knees and the loose stitching and the dust of the cobblestone streets that Rowan has acquired upon himself. Well travelled. Aye, I am Gruffydd from a little village called Tremorro in Iceheart. I've been on the road now for some time.

Good. Iceheart. Quite a long way to come. And you, my tall fellow. Greetings. It is a real honour to be here. I travel too. Yes, I can see that. I can see. We do not have many Yotnia who visit us here, being quite far from the coast. But it's always a pleasure to have many citizens of the Empire visit our place,

and I'm sure that there are a few of you around. He sort of finishes up making the small talk. You have a favor. I. Who gave it to you? Fuck. Inquisitor Tekis. Inquisitor Tekis does not have the authority to provide any information.

It was on authority of his superior, Captain Lucas Vaccaro. Ah, Captain Vaccaro, that makes sense. May I see the favor? Aye, here it is. You will hold it out and... May I see the favour? Aye, here it is. Here we are. Hold it out and... Just gentle, just a gentle tug.

For podcast listeners, I'm going to... Do you have a scroll case? A real writ. That's what he does. So he kind of pulls it out. He reads it out. I'll show it off to the camera there. I did it.

Kim did the writing. There is a bit more on the top as well. No, no, no. There's not. Yeah, there is. There is. Just a little bit. Just a little fancy bit that says Root of Favour at the top.

Yeah, I can't. I don't want to break it. But yes, he will read that out. I'm just going to leave that as it is for now. Yep. Lovely. He analyses the favour, agonisingly, slowly. Kind of casts his eyes over.

He pulls out a small pair of reading glasses. He places them on, reads over it. Well, this is indeed one of the Duke's favour, given out to some of our captains to reward those who do great things in the Duke's name. May I ask the tale of how you came by it? What service did you provide, my Lord Ignorius? Why tell the tale when we could have this man sing it?

No, I don't say that. That's the internal roar. Screaming. I wait for literally anyone else to start the story, if anyone does. Yeah, so you don't have to fully tell the story because it's going to come down to how good of a storyteller you are. Whoever recites the tale of it will be making a performance check.

A long time ago. By all means, make the fact of Rowan is a bard. He is good at telling stories. So, Rowan, you begin to retell the tale of what happened in Burnell. Can you make a performance check? Is this a help situation at all? You can certainly attempt to provide help, yeah. I think I would attempt to...

I'm going to say you can only help if you're proficient in performance, because otherwise how could you help enhance the story? Almost, well... Well, you tell me, you tell me. My thinking is that how flowery is this story that you're telling? How much of an embellishment? No, he doesn't lie or embellish. Okay.

But he just tells it in a nice. An interesting way, like he's engaging. When Rowan becomes creative like that, the lute does make a sound in and of itself. Okay, so even though he's not. And he's glowing right now as well, with the blessing from Raven from Black Wolf. the lute does make a sound in and of itself. Okay, so even though there's not... And it's glowing right now as well, with the blessing from Raven from Blackpool.

Okay, well, all I was thinking in terms of help would be that if there was any, like, fact you were missing, but if you are telling the entire story and it is compelling, then I won't even assist. Yeah, I was going to say, so, like, yeah, maybe instead of performance, if you have proficiency in, like, deception and you wanted to, like, literally, to literally add lies about how impressive it was. Oh, no, no, not a lot. It was more to just if there was anything that Rowan's missing.

No, no. I think Rowan's just doing that thing of, yeah, you don't need to embellish because Rowan is such an engaging storyteller. He clearly is caught up in the memories and you paint such an evocative picture with your words. Give me the performance check and we'll see how good this can be no i was gonna say take a look it doesn't matter it's not yeah i thought it was a one uh but it is a performance so that's plus four eleven 11, okay. I'm fair. You see that Considerate Orgrim is not as engrossed in the story as perhaps we would hope to see.

He listens patiently, nodding along, but he does not seem to care for the narrative and the music and things like that. I think Rowan also focuses more on, like, the trees and plants and rivers that were alongside the things that we were doing. And I think Orgrim probably is like, if you could please focus on the actions, and he does that.

So you can see that, you know, his patience wanes a little bit with this storytelling, but he does get to the end and he says, well, it seems that you have done great service in the name of my Duke Ignarius, and I think that it is very appropriate that you have been given this favor. And I'm sure that at the public audience,

you could be permitted to present this to him, and a favor could be permitted to present this to him and a favour could be provided. The next public audience is quite busy, unfortunately. We've had many people who have asked to see the Duke on that day. I would recommend you come back at the next passing. That would literally be a month's time, is what he's saying right now. The next passing?

No, forgive me, I don't mean to heighten the powers of the Duke's favor, but would this not grant us an audience at the next? You see, kind of does that, like, make a persuasion check for me. Crucible. Crucible, Crucible, Crucible! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Give me one of those.

What was it, persuasion, sorry? Well, just use your own d6 and I'll just swap a dice out for now. Until we've got an easier way of sharing these around. Cool. I might buy another set, give you all one of each, and then we can just swap them out on the thing. It's not, I thought it was a one.

It's a seven. Plus three, plus. So I got 12. 12, okay. Might be, yeah, it's not bad. It's a seven. Plus three, plus... So I got 12. 12? Okay. Might be... Yeah, it's not bad. It's above average. That is.

But yeah, basically, like, would this allow us to meet with the Duke at the next... He kind of, like, looks you over, and there's probably more to it. It's not... You say those words, there's probably a bit of back and forth where he does this,

well, there's a lot of people to see the Duke, he's a very busy dragon. But you eventually think that you've kind of won him over. He's just like, well, it is a very bold and brave thing that you've done. I'm sure that you could come, and you're not asking for too much, you're just saying, could we not

come at the next passing? Which I think is in two days' time. He's like, well, the next public audience will be in two days' time. He's like, well, the next public audience will be in two days' time. I'm sure that we can make room for you to do that. Oh, that would be much appreciated. I promise not to take too much of his time. That would be

most appreciated. With that, can you just roll again? As if you had advantage on that persuasion check. Oh, yes. With the d6 as well, or? Just the d20 part of it. I remember the, what was it, three? Fucking natural 20 again.

Jesus! My fifth roll, I've got three. Holy crap. This dice is cooked. Fuck off. I've got a natural 20. I will say as well, at any point, if anybody wants to make any insight checks

to pick up on the considerate's, like, you know, why is he reacting this way, or, like, you know, what's going on with him, you are more than welcome to do that. Same way, if you want to jump in with spells or abilities or skill checks, please fill. Oh, am I doing this too? No, because you're engaging in the conversation. You can't read him at the same time in that way.

Six from me. Yeah, never mind. What'd you get? Yes, five. Okay. I'm rolling that poopoo today. 13 on inside. 13 on inside?

Anything better over here? Six. Six. All six. Rowan didn't roll. Daisy, with a 13, you can tell a couple of things. As soon as Xanthius is acting quite respectful towards the duke, I won't take too much of his time.

We know that his time is so important. Orgrim warms up to that. There's definitely a sense of like, he approves of that kind of interaction. You get the impression that if you're being respectful to the Duke, or being friendly and considerate of the Duke, he seems to appreciate that very much. You can also tell that his patience is starting to wane you see him like looking at his kobold assistant he like pulls out a notebook and he's like checking a timetable and a schedule

you know like when you're an impatient to like get going he's kind of doing those signs of like tapping his foot and sort of like making you know getting ready as if like you know i need to get on with other things like his patience is losing you're losing his patience the the well you're getting to that point um you're not sure how how close he is to that but you're definitely kind of losing his interest a little bit but he turns around and with that natural 20 he will say we can most certainly make sure that there is time in the next uh you know i i would love to be able to invite you to speak with the duke privately but he is a very busy dragon and there is many matters

that need to be looked into um and he does like sort of turn the favour over in his hands. And, of course, I'm led to believe that such fine citizens would never dream of forgery or anything of the like. This is a legitimate... I might need to check in with Captain Vakara that this is legitimate. Oh, please do, please. He should be back before the public audience, but we will need to verify it before... Will the Duke have received the...

Report? Report about what happened in Bernal? Provided that... Did Captain Vicaro send any of his men back with you to provide a report on it or any of the like? He sent Tekis with us. Yeah, Tekis and... Zarontekisis the Authoritor.

Oh, very well, I can send for Zarontekkis and we can ensure, we've not heard anything so far, but... Okay. Well, that would be much appreciated. And what sort of time would that be in two days, did you say? I would, I must say, I hope that it will be within the next two days, you know. Things change. Things change.

Things change. Are there any other matters that maybe we could help with while we're in town? There are likely many private citizens who would appreciate your assistance. There are always things to do for travelers and mercenaries and the like. I'm sure that there are various things

that you could attend to whilst you are here. We are a very prosperous and busy like. I'm sure that there are various things that you could attend to whilst you are here. We are a very prosperous and busy town. In terms of things that the Duke requires to be done, I think that that might be a matter to discuss after your audience, once the writ has been provided. There are some matters

that I think your skills that you've displayed in Burnell may be of use to His Draconic Majesty, but that will be for a post-ceremony, I think, discussion to have. But yes, by suddenly means, the more help you can do here in Ashenrest, the Duke would be greatly appreciative

of such matters for certain. Yes. Okay, well, I think we've got everything that we need then. Yes, you have been very useful. Thank you very much. Well, thank you for... This has been very pleasant, and I'm pleased to make your acquaintance,

and for being rather prompt with your business as well. And he will get up and he will shake your hands. He'll go around and he'll shake everyone's hands. He looks at Percival and goes to shake Percival's hand. Oh. Oh, sorry, no, he's, um... shake everyone's hands. He looks at Percival and goes to shake Percival's hand. Oh, sorry, no, he's under my command. He tends to, he keeps himself to himself. But you will bow, won't you, Percival,

for a considerate algorithm? Percival will absolutely bow, but I am going to need either a, you haven't technically lied, but there is definitely a kind of effort to dissuade him here, so this is probably gonna be a deception check from Ophelia. Can I have a dice, please? Yeah, you can absolutely spend one of your dice.

12. And then you get a d6 on top as well. 13 total. Is that with the d6?6 on top as well. 13 total. Is that with the D6? The D6. All right. I'm gonna spend one of mine. On an insight check.

Natural one. Oh! I live! He looks a little put out, so I am going to note something. Apologies, it's purely a question from the House of Blood. I'm so sorry. Some custom. No, no, it is fine.

He nods towards Percival's bow, and he says, well, good day to you, travellers. Guards, if you can see them out, and then he will call over to, my apologies, I have to check the name of the... Blip-bop-bop. It's Cade 2. Kikshi.

Kikshi, please. And he calls to the kobold, and they will make their way out, and the guard will escort you out. Okay. But yes, so, you have an opportunity in two days' time to go to the public audience. This is basically, you've seen it probably in those kind of in fancy movies and TV shows,

when the king sits in the throne room and people come up and go, oh, king, I've got a problem, please help it. And then people come up. It's going to be one of those. With the draconic nobles in a town of this size, expect it to take a long time. Sure. But you didn't press for a private audience,

and so that seemed to be something that the considerate was far more likely to be like, okay. Hey, we got the one two days from now instead of a month from now, so we'll just pray that we get into the line of people that are like, please have shit myself. You know. I'm a mop. You'll probably, you know, just before he leaves, the considerate and the assistant will probably give you information

like, right, be here at, it will probably be very early, like get here at like 6 a.m. No. Yeah, it's like get here at like 6, 7 a.m. and queue up and you will be seen when you are seen. But there is a small benefit in that this is a public audience, so the public of the town will see you present the writ, and it will actually be something that people in the town

will know that you have earned this duke's favor. Okay. So that is maybe a small benefit. Is this like a public sort of thing like this? He said it might change. Is there like... It was more, that was more that if he does not get a report, like if he does not have the authenticity of your favor approved,

you aren't getting into that audience. Has he kept it now? No, he would have handed it back to you. Okay. But he's seen a record of it. But they need to know that Captain Vakaro genuinely did give this to you. So it will be examined.

Like, he examined it, and he seemed pretty happy with it. But you have a feeling that, like, if he wanted to, he could be like, no, no, no, we haven't had it approved. Right. Okay. So is it, like, if he wanted to, he could be like, no, no, no, we haven't had it approved. Right. Okay.

So is it, like, what I was asking is, are there, like, not flyers and stuff around, but almost, like, things to say? There wouldn't be flyers, because I imagine that the people of Ashenrest would know this is a regular thing. Sure, okay. This is, like, a thing that happens every month.

Anybody can go up and petition the Duke and say, oh, Duke, please do this thing. You guys, anybody can make a history check for me if you'd like to know a bit more about how that process might work. Anybody who comes from a big city, Fila, you'll have disadvantage on this because you are not from here. Anybody who is from a city or a town can have advantage on the roll. I think most of you are from villages, though.

I just need to get the stank out of these dice. Oh, my God. Hugeank out of these dice. We don't roll always. Oh my god. Huge stank in these dice. All right, I'm gonna roll. Did you roll a 20 again? 19. Jesus Christ.

I am 40. You're cooked. Truly, I am become high rollers, D&D. 13, eight. Eight. TM. 11. 11 for Gruff, Ophelia, Lowe,

and then Digpile and Ophelia Boy. No, sorry, 19. Zenthius and Rowan, yeah, you would probably pick up. You're thinking about this, like, okay, we've got this audience. And then you kind of remember what, Rowan, you would probably remember what Xanthius said about these guilds, these influential guilds and wealthy people. And you've seen that, like, you know what society is a bit like.

You've seen it maybe in places that you visited they might pay people to come and hold positions in the line so like they like the guilds can basically pay people to go like you go stand in the line and then we're going to swap out with you so we get to get to buy the duke's time right it's capitalism ruins everything um and so xanthius and you very like you were aware like you're like god yeah actually there's a high chance that like the guilds might basically try and flood the queue basically with their own people right and pay for the most amount of time to see the duke right um so there's this thing of like oh like maybe we're gonna have to kind of fight for

our position in this audience, basically. Okay. But I don't have, like, an understanding of almost the elevation of this writ of favour. Like, if we go into the line, 6am or whatever, we can't just say, like, sorry, writ of favour, guys. Sorry, excuse me. No, it won't mean anything to anybody else. The writ of favour is basically a case of, like, you've performed a service, a great service, a brave service, a heroic service.

Bangin' top-end service. Top-end service. You've been given this thing, and this basically entreats the Duke will reward you. This is basically a promise of, like, the Duke will give you a cool reward. Like, well done, you. Good on you.

Yeah! Are we, like, asking him for anything, or is it, like, he's just gonna reward us? You could certainly, yeah. I mean, like, the tradition is that with a draconic noble, if they give you a favor, you can ask for something. Sometimes that can be seen as maybe a bit presumptuous or rude. Often it is a, my glorious duke or duchess, I have a favor,

and they will tell you what the reward is, and you go, thank you very much. But if you were to say, my duke, we have this favour, we would like this, you could certainly try. Yeah, because I feel like... And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but depending on the dragon, they might be like, oh, bit of an upstart. You're not supposed to ask for something.

I give you something. And you like it. Yeah, and you like it. Like, they are nobles. They are used to a certain way, and they are these crazy, powerful, magical beings of, you know, especially here in Caldera where they're very proud, and they can be a little arrogant,

and they can be a little bit, you know, facetious and things like that. Five Parker pens. I present to you five Parker pens and a celebratory mug. Well done. Here's a t-shirt. I help the Duke and all I got was this lousy t-shirt. Duke Iggy's favorite. But I would say that it is tradition

that these writs of favors are normally significant. You are talking about a large amount of gold, a relic, like a magical weapon, or a very elaborate magical weapon, or even land. Like, sometimes the Duke will give you, like, hey, you now own this property, or like, hey, here's a chunk of land. It's yours now.

And that's generally seen as a pretty cool thing, like, to be given. Because you don't pay tithing tax. You don't pay the tithe on it. You are given it by the Duke himself. Is it the same as buying land in Scotland? Or, no, on the moon. It's like you get the Lord, blah, Lord Christos. Swear of June.

No, this is like how it used to be done back in the day. This is like a proper like, cool, this farm is now yours. I can't do anything about it. Like it's that kind of land in the village. It may have been blighted in the last war and like nothing grows there, but it's yours! And there is definitely... Gruff, perhaps the wisdom of Iceheart does remind you

that, like, they're not just going to give you the best lands. There's normally a bit of land. Here's this wonderful watchtower. It's a bit of a ruin and infested with oozes, but if you go and clear all the oozes out, it's yours! Yeah! You know, or they might be like, here's a magic sword, does have a bit of a curse,

but if you get rid of the curse, it's yours! Okay. So yeah, exactly. But also, with this writ, like this, it's granted to us as a group, right? Like, we can't necessarily individually. What it says is what it says. It says, the bearer of this writ.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Somebody could steal this. Somebody could absolutely steal this. And that is maybe a dawning moment that descends upon you. And we just gave it to him. You do have it back. Oh, we do have it back. Yeah, I'm going to say that you do give it back.

The considerate is like a very highly prized position. He could be corrupt. He absolutely could be, but this Orgrim seemed to be legitimate. Yeah. But what I mean is, when we go into this public hearing, I suppose, we can't just... Well, firstly, yeah, don't flash it about.

Secondly, when we're speaking to the Duke, we can't be like, well, I would like this. Rowan would like this thing. It would basically be you presenting it as a group. You would be treating yourselves as a single thing. A single unit. We get one Rowan-sized crown.

Enough to topple. And like I said, you can ask for something, but that doesn't mean the Duke is going to give it to you. The duke will decide what you get. But yeah. I just spat everywhere. That whole conversation, the waiting,

the conversation outside, maybe took about an hour's worth of game time, and it is now properly night time. And as you come out of the gatehouse, you see Ashen rest before you as you are up on the hill you're kind of like on the elevated part of it you see the city is illuminated by these all of these lanterns like imagine if you i don't know if you've been to a city where

you have like the old street lights you know and they have that dull kind of like nice amber glow and it just spills on the stones and in amongst everywhere and it does create these areas of shadows but there are so many of them it is like a kind of almost modern city right and you see that many of those elite towers the the larger towers the pharos the big tower with the illuminating the illusory dragons around the the coil of the empress even ravenstar spire itself has these other magical glows to it and it does create this kind of very unique visual image as you begin to make your way back down into Ashen Rest. And that is where we're going to take our

first break at the end of part one. Thank you very much. Thank you very much everybody at home. We're going to take a quick five minute break and we'll be back and we'll see you in part two. See you next time. Bye. minute break yeah we'll be back and we'll see you in part two see you next time bye