High Rollers DnD - Baldur's Gate 3 Cast play D&D #1 (Part 2) | High Rollers Presents: Shadows of Athkatla

Episode Date: September 24, 2023

The Origin Characters from Baldur's Gate 3 make their way to Athkatla to uncover the mystery of the powerful curse cast on Tav! BING BONG! HUGE thanks to Larian Studios for making this possible! Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes and more on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Dungeon Master - Mark Hulmes Gale Dekarios - Tim Downie Astarion - Neil Newbon Lae'zel - Devora Wilde Shadowheart - Jennifer English Karlach - Samantha Béart Wyll - Theo Solomon Narrator - Amelia Tyler Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe of adventurers awoke somewhere in the wilds of the Sword Coast. Their companion, the champion commonly called Tav, seemed to be afflicted by some sort of strange magical spell taking over their body, changing them, warping them. Knowledge from Gale of Waterdeep revealed that this spell was being channeled from far away and was a very powerful and ancient magic. And just as Will and Kallak were beginning to discern that there may be something else afoot, attackers, strange magical spirits, glass knights appeared from portals and tried to attack the companions.

Fending them off with a little help from Elminster of Shadowdale at the very end, the party now find themselves in the camp but with a badly injured Will on the ground bleeding out and that is where we're going to jump back in my friends with this little adventure of ours so we'll do it as a quick round table as yeah what do you guys want to do I'm gonna have it Will you've just made that failed death saving throw so you've got one of your check marks towards death basically

if you get two more you are dead and we don't want that to happen so ideally so yeah what is everybody doing the battlefield is cleared Val minster is kind of banished the remainder of these spirits the portals seem to have closed but you are still sort of in that sort of like moment of like there is still some sense of danger as Will is down. What would people like to do? I'll start the eulogy, shall I? Dear Will.

Sorry. I've got pure wounds. I'd like to cure his wounds. Yeah, absolutely. So, Shannon Hart, you're going to go over to Will's body. He's kind of on the ground. What does this look like? Can you tell me?

I'm going over his body and beautiful golden light is full is filling his wounds pretty uh so when you cast if you want to read out on your card oh i see yeah uh a creature you touch and a creature uh regains a number of hit points equal to one gains a number of hit points equal to 1d8 and your spellcasting ability modifier. This spell has no effect on undead or constructs. Good to know. Good to know. Sorry baby. Yeah, that's something. Oh baby!

So your spellcasting is your wisdom, so you're going to get a d8, which is the little prism, the diamond-shaped kind of dice. Not the tiny, tiny pyramid, but the diamond-shaped one. This one? Yeah, that's the right one. And then what's your wisdom? So if you look on your catch sheet, that might be your saving throw.

What's your wisdom? So the big box. Three. Three, there you go. So it's a d8 plus three. And then this is how many hit points will is gonna get back three three plus three six six so you start from zero as well so if you're down you start from zero you get six hit points back so you're on six hit points currently well and you you that life

kind of flutters into you I like to rule that you're not unconscious to you or kind of but you feel your strength regain you can move under your own power and you can speak and everything else like what's it and you see shadow heart like literally weaving this magic looking over you pleasure will pleasure don't do it again carlack rolls her eyes and starts looking for a magic potion sure um you kind of glance around and now that there's no real threat, you know, Tav's body is suspended, but you can see that Elminster is doing something and it seems to have calmed the spasms and things like that. So you kind of have a little minute here and you begin kind of searching around the camp, looking through supplies. You definitely know that, like, you have things like potions and stuff like that, but Tav keeps it all in their backpack for some reason. Can we do the thing that I may have mentioned have mentioned earlier oh which what what was that thing sort

of rooting around a little bit oh yeah maybe moving around so so carl i can and uh i'm sort of whispering yeah um so you guys are like you're looking for a potion you're just looking um will you kind of fight your eyes for a uc show what what about Lays Ellen get what are you guys up to at this point? I'm I think I'm gonna go to Elminster and ask him To get on with the mission absolutely no time for any of this this business Okay, sure I think very similar i think yeah we'll probably go over to all this i had that no yes thanks for that but i haven't wanted to help elminster will elements that regards you both as like other things he's just

like oh gail my friend yes i'm quite certain you did i detected a very powerful magical presence somewhere in the air and i did wonder if something may have he sort of taps his chest a little bit there was a bit of concern for a moment but thank you I I'm sure that you had everything under control I guess it seemed he kind of glances over a will who's like bleeding and everything don't look over there oh yeah and my dear you Laysel I believe I've heard the others call you is that correct Laysel of Kreshkalir to you Laysel of and my dear Lae'zel I believe I've heard the others call you is that correct? Lae'zel of Kreshk'alir to you

Lae'zel of Kreshk'alir of course an honour to speak with one of the Githyanki people he's just sort of like he smiles a little bit when you say that and he says like well I'm beginning to understand a little of what is happening here but I'm afraid that your companion is in no state to

travel or move this is there is a far greater force of work in this I'm afraid can you hear them and quickly the answer is no I'm afraid but perhaps we should wait for your companions for the full story and he'll kind of glance towards everyone else's gaming I will say for Carlock and Sterian as you guys are searching around You managed to find you both and I like the visual if you will You both eventually like glance over and sort of like nestled under the table

You see tabs bag and you both kind of put a hand on it from either side kind of glancing at each other but you both have the bag what happens next I would like to disarm the bag from her grip okay so by using a small strength using like a sort of like a wrist movement thingy which I learned on the streets of boulder's gate outdo people uh when they were trying to get and it's kind of like are you gonna resist do you wanna like let him have the bag or are you like nope he's not surprised what are you doing nothing look over there and then i'm gonna try and like just show it out well how about you both how about how about you give me a sleight of hand check asterion and how about carl it gives me an athletics check to see if you can just iron grip this bag he's like holding it

but let's see let's see who wins uh so this is a d20 plus your skill so sleight of hand for asterion and athletics for carl that uh that is i'll let neil Neil reveal his roll first. So that's a 16 plus my sleight of hand of 7. Oh! 23. 23. You've won. So it makes a... 9.

Is this more like Carlex like, yeah, whatever. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's have a bet. In my head I'm like, I completely outmaneuvered her. Sure, yeah, absolutely. I'm going to tell you, the group, what you get, but obviously a 7 has it. In Tabs Bank, you find a lot of odds and ends. You find like a pot, you know, very many books, like a surprising amount of books.

An unnecessary amount of books. Cups. Yeah, cups, bottles, candles. But what you do find that is useful, maybe not especially to a staring because some of it is scrolls and magic, but you do find a number of items. You find two potions of healing. If you want, you can pop it on the back of your character sheet as well and write it down. Anyway. Oh, yeah, actually, I forget that.

I gave you a double-sided one. So two potions. Two potions of healing, which will do 2d4 plus two hit points when you drink them. 2d4 plus two. Plus two, yes, please. In fact, if I may have an assistant somewhere bring me one of the potions from the the amazing from the thing which i'd completely forgotten um i will summon it to my hand while i reveal other things um thank you very much assistance so i will pass that to

you i only have the one but that's okay double um you also find two other things um no sorry many other things actually no sorry many other things actually uh you find a number of scrolls yeah a scroll of detect thoughts okay and a scroll of counter spell oh and then the last thing you find are two arrows of fire so these are like arrows with like kind of wool and tinder and things wrapped around the head and soaked in oil uh that you can fire as well and they deal deal an extra D4 of fire damage to the creature, and any creatures within 10 feet have to make a save, or they take additional fire damage.

Okay. So it's kind of like a little burst arrow, basically. So it counterspells detect thoughts. Yes, and then two arrows of fire. Okay. I'm in a hand car, like I find a yo-yo, so I find these things, put them together. Oh, look what I found! In like I find a yo-yo so I find these things brilliant oh look what I found in the hand of my yo-yo that's what I was looking for

it's one of those really cool yo-yos it's a spinny thing with light look it breaks up it's made of crystal as I'm putting the other stuff in my bag yeah yeah yeah sure sure sure sure no honestly you take it you take it alright guys so while that's and you guys are kind of filling in the atmosphere and filling these things, like shout out Heart and Will. So like yeah you've helped Will up and like the two of you there. What do you do?

Do you want to join Lae'zel and Gael? Like is there anything you guys want to do or say or anything at all? Yeah I want to eavesdrop on the whole. I just want to muscle in on the elements to conversation before Lae'zel pisses them off. You easily pick in on the yeah here we go elements to conversation before lazel pisses them i mean yeah you easily pick up on the eye rolls and size as you begin to approach yeah um yeah sure sure and you can see like um elements that kind of turns and sort of like nods his head and

sort of like greeting and respect as you approach uh what about will what's Will? I'm still pretty weak. I want to say to my party that I need to be looked after. And if anybody has anything that could possibly help me. Well, I will say as well that because you're not in any danger and this is probably gonna be a bit chat and what we can do is we can count this as a short rest okay um so short rest some of you will get things you get all your spell slots back because you're a warlock so your your darkness spell slot you get that back so you'll back up the two spell slots um you can also for example gail you have a special ability called arcane recovery where you can regain spell slots if you

like as well um uh your action surge comes back later for example the other thing you can do on a short rest is you can heal yourselves as well you have you have these things called hit dice you have three of them because you're level three and the type is determined by your class so for will it's a d8 uh for carl it's a d12 because they're a barbarian i think shadow heart is a d8 laizel is a d10 d8 for the rogue and d6 for the poor wizard and you can spend those dice you roll it you add your constitution and you get that many hit points back but you only have a certain amount of these hit dice per day that you can spend right so you have three of them currently you can roll them one at

a time so you can be like right i'm gonna see how many hit points are back oh i got max hp that's pretty good i'm gonna just spend the one so you can choose if any of you i think that will was literally oh no gail took a little bit i took a little bit yeah so feel free to spend those as you wish um so yeah like you just mark those off you've got three of them so many as many as you want to as well and that's to kind of represent like you taking a breather getting your energy back you know it's not always hit points represent your physical injuries but it can be your energy your like health and your like your mentality and stuff as well all right yeah cool I'm gonna roll for that all right cool so you get the diet the d8 the little diamond uh that's it that you had the first one that's the one yeah and then what's your constitution uh plus two plus two

so every every time you roll that you add a plus two so you roll it once get plus two and that's how many hit points you get back that's three hit points you get back so you get to add three hit points you spend one hit dice now you can spend another hit dice if you want and gain some more HP back if you like do it yeah why not right like okay three three so you six you get six hit points back now. Okay. The math. This is the math time of hit points. So you're probably feeling pretty good at this point.

Maybe you're still bruised. You're probably aching a little bit, but you're feeling a lot, lot better. And things like potions can be used in battle, but also if you want to top up your hit points and things like that as well. I'll do the same, actually. Yeah, sure. So for you, it's a D6,

because you're a little squishy wizard, I'm afraid, Gale um so it's a d6 plus your constitution which is plus two plus two so d6 plus two a three so five five yeah i'll take a five all right you take a five i'll take a five take a nice five i'd love to i'd love to get a five back after sitting down for an hour but yeah so like lazy and shell heart you're sort of like talking to Elminster and Gael kind of listening in. People are beginning to filter in now. And he says, Well, I can tell that whatever is affecting this champion is very

old and powerful magic. There is something unnatural about it. It is... Gael, have you had time to examine this effect? What could you tell me? What did you learn of it? Well... Yeah, have you had time to examine this effect? What could you tell me? What did you learn of it? well How much are you remembering?

It's very old and it's from far away You picked up on that I did pick up on that With my stealth. Yes, very good. Um, you're welcome. I think that I could pinpoint That this one I've never seen a spell channeled from such a great distance You're welcome. I think that I could pinpoint that this... I've never seen a spell channeled from such a great distance. It is being channeled from a city far to the south, beyond the Sword Coast. A place called Athkatla in the nation of Arm. Question. I've been around for 250 years, 3G or something like that.

Have I, before I became a vampire, would... I was a Baldurian. Baldurian, would have i was a boulder yeah boulder magistrate i'm not sure how widely traveled i may have been could i see if i've actually been to armond yeah you absolutely can in fact i would say everybody with the exception of carlac and lazelle because carlick you've been in avernus for many many years and stuff like that right actually you would have been around before then actually yeah so i'd say carl i can also make this lazel lives on the astro you you probably aren't going to be familiar with human cities and things like that but everybody else you can all make history checks um and this will be to see how much you might know of this place called africa well

so this is a detail i was rather drunk when i went there i can't remember much about remember much there might be like just generic information you all know anyway five yeah there'll be stuff you know but it'll be generic I got 13 13 for sure great okay so two for car and then what it was that 60 16 for well 14 14 okay I'd say um most of you know sort of like the generic stuff. Very strong whiskeys. Yeah. And then, Will, you might know a little bit more as well because you kind of got the highest.

You got above a 15. You all know that Athcatla is commonly called the City of Coin. It is a big trade city far, far to the south in this place called Arm, which is a very mercantile nation. this place called arm which is a very mercantile nation um it's kind of the it's like a neighboring nation to the what's called the sword coast where baldur's gate neverwinter water deep all of these kind of cities are laid along the coast um it's beyond a group of mountains i think called the cloud spire mountains um and it perhaps uh there's something about it in carlack you know you're like oh i know that i know that i know that like there's something triggering it in Carlec you know you're like I know that I know that I know that like there's something triggering the back of your mind because

I know that you have a car has a particular love of like stories of heroes and things like that and would certainly remember certain heroes that were involved in something there but it's will that you kind of remember you're like yeah ath catler about a century ago uh there was this big event that happened there um there was this mage uh who apparently attacked the the place um and it like killed a bunch of people and it was the beginning of a figure uh who became like a hero of balder's gate and the sword coast um who's called the balsporn um and this figure was an ally of Minsk and Jahira, the Druid of the Harpers, and many, many others.

And they had these grand adventures, and they were known as heroes along the coast. But you remember a big part of their story took place in Athacala. But the details are kind of murky. Are we discussing that, or is that just something that you know? That is up to Will. Will can say, like, would you tell that to the group? I would tell that to the group. Thank you. so i was in boulder's gate 200 years ago when these events

took place so you would have known about savor arc and the first boss exactly yeah is it possible i can make to added any gaps that he may not know from my own experience as i was present in the city when it happened yeah well i think with your history check i think you were present for the first you were president for that first part with Savorock and Baldur's Gate, which is, for those who are wondering, this is the events of the previous games, Baldur's Gate 1 and Baldur's Gate 2. So you were aware of that. But then the Balspawn

vanished from Baldur's Gate, and that's where your memory is like, ah, but Will's like, yeah, then something happened in this place called Arm. And, Kallak, I'm very happy for, like, you to be like, yeah, oh, yeah, Mins oh yeah mince kids you hear like that kind of triggers the memory of like yeah yeah you remember that I was all attached to that and stuff like that right so yes you know that you know I would say Gail you got high enough and

it's kind of related to your kind of air of expertise you know that there is a group in an athcala called the cowled wizards and they kind of control magic in the city and actually if you use magic without their permission and a license you can actually get in trouble you can actually be arrested it's illegal to use magic in the city without permission from them if you get caught that's why i don't go that much exactly but it's if you get caught like if you get seen out on the street casting magic they'll come after you but like you can surreptitiously get away with it but you've got to be careful and then for shadow heart because it ties the masses of religion and faith um you certainly would know that there are any shah presence in uh afkala

is probably not huge but it might be underground you know that there is a great temple district with many of the other deities of the sword Coast. Not Saloon, there are no temples to Saloon there, but generally they tend to worship Joaquin, who's like a goddess of coin, Sune, which is the goddess of beauty and love, gods like Helm and Laflander, these kind of protective, noble kind of god spirits. Those kind of deities tend to be very, very popular, but Sune and Joaquin especially are very prominent in that in that place being religious you know knowing a lot about religion and being faithful um and so yeah elements kind of says like i believe that the magic of this spell whatever it is is originating from from our from athcabla unfortunately it is taking much of my

magical might to sort of shield whatever has happened to your friend i've managed to delay the process but something is infecting their mind infecting their body trying to almost use it for their own what i can do is if you are if you wish to save this individual this champion of which you are connected. I could send you temporarily to athcapler You should be protected by the relic that you bear and this spell Whatever it is is shielding your companion from the the tadpole's influence So you would be free to travel to this place and then return but do not have much time a few days at best and then return but you do not have much time a few days at best uh you need to find the source of this spell and stop it disrupt it whatever it is otherwise i fear that your companion will be

lost uh question man the pointy hat yes my dear boy so you want us to well we could theoretically turn into gail and turn into... Turn into Gael. So... We theoretically could go to this arm place, but it's leagues away. How on earth are we going to get there as soon as possible with that? And pointing up to Tav's situation. Magic. Oh. A starry influence.

Yes. A magical man. Indeed. Are you not? I am indeed then do your magic I can spare a teleportation spell

it is a place I'm very familiar with I can send you there and he will hand Gael because Gael is a good friend of his and he knows him

he will hand you I know how this works he hands you touch it touch it touch it it's like a stone slate and you know that this is basically it's like a stone slate and you know that this is

basically it's like a slate of spell storing Elminster has probably cast a teleport spell into this and if you break it it will activate and bring you back here and he will hand that to you Gael and say you could use this to return to me and when your

mission is complete and it will return you here safely don't eat it he doesn't say me and when your mission is complete and it will return you here safely. Don't eat it. He doesn't say. I promise nothing. But he says, yes, I can send you there,

but this slate will bring you back. But yes, you do not have much time. If I can offer you one piece of advice, find connections within the city, powerful factions factions people that may know what's happening Whatever this is whatever this sort of the spell is I have a feeling and he kind of taps his nose like I know a rotten Cheese when I smell one and there is something afoot this spell will likely cause other problems. I'm certain of it Yes, if you are prepared make a note cheesy foot got it you understand me completely too long have we traveled together that you understand my ramblings and we're just but he will look around and say when you are ready I will cast the spell my apologies my dear I've

not introduced myself I am Elminster of Shadowdale Arch Archmage, Chosen of Mystra. I'm very well versed. Perhaps you've heard of some of my tales and stories? No, I haven't. Oh, well. I've got no memories. Can we go- Can you give me some insight? Yeah, yeah.

So there's a skill called Insight, which is like reading people's body language and things. Anybody's welcome to make one. Yeah. Because he makes like a weird face. I rolled two plus one, so I have no idea what a weird face is you're like oh he's totally pleased he's very very chill very happy I've got a 4 plus 5 9 plus 5

I rolled a 19 14 19 I think we've got less than 10s all over here 5, 8, 7 7 that was very unsure I think we've got less than tens all over here five eight seven seven you're always all friends very unsure yeah yeah Mr you all heard Mr and son

what? drifted off um yeah Shadowheart well yeah he's genuinely quite insulted that Shadowheart hasn't had a bit of peace there's definitely a sort of like oh well yes i suppose do you perhaps you've not read much very very well known across the region it doesn't matter it doesn't matter at all no no it's fine it's definitely fine anyway teleportation spell ready to go um we're all concentrating so hard on keeping your friend alive and he sort of like gestures but he's like oh yeah willing to answer questions if you have

them are we bringing the dog No, no, no, no, no. You can hold it to scratch. Oh, dog sitting duty again, I see. Very well. Perhaps you would be interested in my tour guide of Athkatla, though, if you're heading there. And he pulls into his book. I wrote it several years ago.

It should still be good. Yes, please. Yes, yes, yes. And he'll hand it to Will. He gives you a copy. It's like a little, it's quite a small little kind of like A5 bound book. It's like a fold-out map. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It has like a little fold-out map in it and things like that makes it it's very localized to districts so you can see that like it's broken down but yeah he kind of hands that to you he's like oh would you like me to sign it boy yeah yes oh yes of course he pulls up and got a quill ready I'm the master author of the realms! There you are! And... Do take your time well. I'm gonna go to Gael's grandfather.

Yes. I'm gonna point to the map. Yeah. And I'm gonna say, can you teleport us to where you think we need to go? Well, that is the thing, my boy. I'm not exact- I know that the spell is originating in the city, but it's a large city and I'm not sure where. I mean, if you would like me to send you to a specific area, I can. I was going to send you to the city gates, likely the best place to start and explore the city, but I'm not sure exactly where this spell is taking place.

How about a nice brothel? No. You can see how minstrelstein I think! I know a few! But, uh, I will say this. It is the city of coin, my boy. Do keep that in mind. Everything within Athcatla has a cost

and you get what you pay for, as they say. I do have a question. Yeah. Can I whisper it into his ear? Because I'm a bit embarrassed. Yeah. So, um... I may know a few thieving

skilled things. Is there anyone I would like to contact that brings the broth to the table? Don't tell them, I'm supposed to be there. He nods and says like, he whispers like, if you have such contacts, then I would certainly recommend you, they would likely have information about

if anything is happening in the city. Do a little bit he returns it with an even bigger yeah uh look we've seen that nobody's seen that look right yeah can carl yeah of course like the magic that we were so unfamiliar you were so unfamiliar with um is would that be... Oh, Gael. But would that be something we could easily identify the person casting that? Is that so unusual that we could pick up a word from it

and follow that? Gael, you examined the spell. You would recognise it again if you were to locate the source of it. Let's hope so. I'm almost certain. But I also believe, my dear, quite honestly, this level of magic and the nature of it,

there is, as I said, something unsavoury, something unnatural about it. I am certain that you will find some sort of trail, look for things out of place or nefarious deeds afoot, and I'm sure that there will be some sort of connection, or at least it will lead you to a clue or some such. But yes, I don't think the simple sort of spells to detect magic and things like that likely won't help you until you are closer to the source you need to find them and I suspect that they will likely be hidden somewhere in the city I'm gonna sort of do a little coughing, I may have a lead of sorts when we get there all right

let's go then it seems that your friend is getting rather impatient I don't really understand we just wanted you up there we did alright make sure we've got everything we go

I have a question what does Laysa look like when she's getting impatient? like what's her like does she have like habits or like you know what I mean how people like tap their foots or something yeah what's the idle animation what's the idle animal? What's the idle animation? Flicking her ears, poking Gale with them.

With the ears, like actual hands like complete control. Most likely just hand on sword. Slow. Ready, slow. Hurry the fuck up. With that with that last threat from Lae'zel one hand sort of channeling this energy into Tav, almost kind of forming an oval barrier around them

but with the other we'll reach out and you see this old man who just looks like this kindly wizardly grandfather, very sort of Gandalf, fellowship of the ring his eyes become prisms of light and you watch as the wrinkles almost seem to melt away and this is not a man stood before you but magic manifest as light spills

off of his body he raises a hand and speaking in an ancient tongue vos mar candal elsketh ancient tongue both mark and doll and Kev as cut blah and you feel your body ripped and you are suddenly sailing through the air light and vision and sound blurring around you in a swirling mist and that's where I'm gonna have to ask out good narrator friends to step in once once more. Yeah! Oh! Should be on them, I think. Oh, okay.

Enjoy your sight reading. Oh, thanks. Hi. Hi. Hi. What's she been up? Will! Everybody's live!

Will! Okay, good. As the swirling mists of Elminster's spell fades, you are engulfed in the sounds of a vibrant, bustling city. A far cry from the relative quiet of the wilds you have recently been exploring. The sounds of merchants selling their wares, city dwellers in frantic and passionate conversation. The shouts and clanking armour of patrolling guards. the shouts and clanking armour of patrolling guards.

These sounds bombard your ears as the smell of sweat and sickly perfume, coffee beans and the salty brine of the sea assail your nose. Before you stands a city much like Baldur's Gate, a metropolis of homes and traders divided into several districts. The buildings are built from cream colored stone and have roofs with brightly painted tiles and slates. An enormous bridge large enough to feature temples and buildings of its own spans a wide and deep river and connects the city divided across it.

This is Athcapla, the city of coin. It's great having that. It's like saving my voice. It's lovely. So yes, you arrive in Athcatla, the city of coin, and this is a pretty big, vast city. To kind of break it down, to make your travel across it easier, Athcatla is divided, or I have divided it mainly into districts. You are currently in the city gates. The city gates stand at the foot of the city. And you can see that there are bazaars and merchants and traders here, but it's mainly to do with the thorough track of the city you see residential homes that sort of thing there other the other places that you can visit within the city are the bridge of six songs which is the

very uh ponte pontifecchio kind of style bridge with all the buildings and stuff attached to the side the river district uh which kind of occupies the bulk of the what they call the lower city the southern half of the city uh joaquin's promenade which is a giant open-air marketplace and bazaar the docks there is a temple district and a government district and i can repeat all of this whenever you guys want as well there was also once a graveyard district uh but that seems to have been sort of uh turned into a more pastoral gardens and the graveyards have been moved outside of the city's walls after an incident with a lot of undead almost a century ago they sort of transferred the city to be outside of the city's walls in case of any other issues um but yeah those are the kind

of districts of the city uh you guys have already made some history checks so you know a little bit about the city and that's probably as much as you're going to know like we can't you're not going to be able to make another check to be like oh do i know any more do i know any more you guys kind of have the information that you have um and really this is the point now where it's kind of over to you and how you want to investigate this matter really uh this is you have an idea that there is some sort of nefarious spell and the source of it is somewhere within the city and you need to try and shut it down.

How you get there, how you find it, that is entirely now down to you guys doing that. Mr Moneybags over here is bearing dinner for everybody. I was going to suggest we go to a tavern. It would be going to have a roof over our house for once maybe i've got that we could do that and then we could also do something else afterwards i mean yes we're going to the brothel at starry i wasn't going to say the brothel why does everybody automatically assume it's all about sex we need to go to the

marketplace i'm actually with lazelle i know i know disgusting but what were you going well i've actually in all seriousness i do have maybe possibly certain connections to let's say the more underworld kind of people and i believe docks or tavern might be a good starting place to uh spread some coin and ask some uh information lead the way also brothels work yeah well I'm also gonna make the point that this is a point where I'm gonna say that the protection of the Reich is enough that you can split up because we want you guys to is that the number one cause of party death lots of information quickly so if you want to go to different parts like say you Laisel

and show how want to go to believe that the marketplace is the best place to go they could have the spiciest funniest funniest, you know, shopping trip ever. They could absolutely do that whilst everyone else goes to the docks or if people want to split off and do things like that as well. The way that the city works is you will have to pass through at least the river district to get to the rest of the city. From the city gates, the river district is almost the entire lower section of the city. So you'll move through that and then you can kind of go to other places that you want to go to um the temple and government

district are across the bridge so you would have to pass across the bridge to get to those areas as well question we don't have any way to keep in touch with each other when we do split unless we make it up what's apples I don't know how far they work yeah it doesn't work I would say I would say the temple you've never you've never been able to experience how far it would work it will certainly give you a distance you can still telepathically communicate but you've never tested it's like a great distance we just agree to meet yeah I may need some muscle where I'm going. I figured we'd be a good pair.

We might be a good idea to do that. And much as it pains me to say it, Shadowheart, I suppose we should head to the marketplace. We'll have a lovely time together, baby. Gael? Did he have a montage of them, like, picking up, like, doing coconut shells and getting on it and having, like, candy for us and having a rest time don't clear out that one all right so it sounds like we've got Lysel and Shadowheart want to go to and Watkins Promenade

the big open-air market right you guys want to head there okay and then we've got uh uh Asterion and Kalec going to the docks did you say all right and then where do you there's taverns over there yeah yeah oh yeah where will uh galen what would galen will like to go is there any kind of like area or thing that you might think to fit and you can ask me questions by the way because obviously i appreciate you know nothing about this city in this world so you can always be like mark would we you know would we know anything about this or can i make a check somehow to like figure out where we could go can i check my map yeah yeah absolutely like you want to read through volo's guide to afghan absolutely you can do that it's a page i want to i think i want to turn it really quick

energy this magic is coming from do a detect magic okay sense where oh okay there's a particularly large amount okay a great negative energy Okay. In a sense where, oh, okay, there's a particularly large amount of negative energy coming from a certain place. Okay.

That would be a good place. So I just want to, I want to, in my head, the way that I see this working, and tell me if you guys disagree, because obviously it's your choice. At this point,

like, you've all split off, right? You guys have made a decision. So Will and Gail have stood there kind of like, you know, Will's flicking through his book, you find like a bench, you're kind of like,

kind of flicking through to find information, and that's when Gail's going to cast his spell you two have gone off towards the docks and everything else we didn't arrange a time to beat up no we didn't that's that's very true come back if you want to do that i will if you want to do that we can establish that now how many hours do you think a couple of hours yeah two hours two hours yeah it takes a while to get everywhere as well yeah and probably the easiest place to meet up is in the river district there is a famous in

called the copper coronet and that's like a famous in in the city it's like an easy landmark for you guys four hours enough time to use have a montage with the coconut shine what time is it now it would be so you're that fight by the way it took like 13 seconds really quick so it was really early in the morning when this will happen with elements to rival the chats the investigation searching for the gear it's really not any later than like 9 a.m. it's like the beginning of the day that's happens on open yeah well they might be has been looking forward to Frosty Pike for a very long time. This is a pretty rough and tumble city.

They love money. This might be the, I mean, almost think of this almost like a bit of a fancy New York. It is kind of like a city that doesn't sleep. Like they want to make, like they'll 100% still be open. That's a very good point. Gael, old buddy, old pal, old chum, as I put my arm around her. Oh, hang on. Now listen here, darling.

I sense where this is going. Yes. So here's the thing. The people that I'm going to see are very interesting people. However, they do sometimes need persuading. It's money, isn't it? It might be cash. I thought so. Yes, any cash. Could you spare, I mean, give it to her if you don't, you know, trust me. Melty McMetalhands over there. Fair enough.

Give me a hand. Maybe, hold on. Just a little bit, just so I can grease some palms. That's a good point. I think we might have to canonize that you have some sort of heat safe pouch for your money. My clothes haven't burnt off yet, have they? That's true, yeah, yeah, that's true.

The pockets still taste about to survive, yeah. It's almost like calm. It's all right. Would that be okay, just to get a little payday loan thing? Sucks to Gael and Sam, how much would you like to give him? I don't have a drop so it's, I don't know, I mean, I don't know 20? No, what? Call it 10 and I won't change

How about I see you at 15 Dan? 15, fine 15, done Alright so you've got 15 so you're probably sure you'll go by 15 and Gael can, and are you gonna hand out any of the goods that you recovered Astarion? What goods? Yeah okay yeah that's fine I just wanted to make sure you had the opportunity. That's absolutely fine.

Actually I am gonna do one thing. As you do that I say thank you. Now listen here's the thing. Don't tell the others my med kit's in last hit. I'm gonna pass him the counter spell scroll. Okay. Because I think of like it could be useful'm gonna pass him the counter spell scroll. Okay. So I think of, it could be useful for me, but to be honest with you,

Yeah. Magic. Yeah. Yawn. So I think it's probably a better point to use it. Sure, sure, sure. He's gonna be able to use it better than I would. So I'm gonna give him the counter spell.

Okay, I'm gonna give you this. This is the spell card, counter spell, but it is on scroll. When you use a scroll, once you've cast it, it's gone. So it's permanently gone, but it works exactly the same as casting a spell you don't use your spell slots you just burn the spell but i'm still going to keep the detects yeah sure sure yeah can he as a wizard learn the spell he could inscribe it into his spell book yeah absolutely gail can't cast third level spells yet but he could inscribe it into his spell book as well so but uh for a one-shot don't worry about it yeah use the scroll voice of god yeah basically

i've played with too many dnd players who hoard scrolls and potions and never use them and i'm like i put them there for you to use use them um but anyway uh so yeah so you guys arrange the time to meet up you kind of split off the city is bustling it is morning everyone is rushing around ready to get to market to trade um and as you make your way to your various destinations there was one thing which was really interesting and i just want to ask how it's going to go down gail how are you casting the tech magic how am i doing yeah like what are you going to like are you will sat there on the bench are you just going to kind of you know cast the spell. I might wander off into an alley.

Ah, good. I'm glad I asked. Wander off into an alley. Yeah, just wander off into an alley. That's suspicious. One that smells least of piss. Where are you going? One I'll go to. So I'd like you to do two things for me.

One is going to be a stealth check. Yeah. So this is to see how well you slip off. It's been lovely knowing you, darling. I'll be I'll be fine don't worry what could possibly possibly go wrong this is the way to play baby this is the way to play so yeah this is d20 yeah and then your stealth is a skill so it's a skill called stealth ah yes plus two plus two ten all right so a total of I'm going to make a note of that. Oh.

That's very serious. That's quite high enough. And then, yeah, you cast the detect magic spell. Now, detect magic, do you want to read it out for us and for the folks at home as well? Yeah. For the duration, you sense the presence of magic within 30 feet of you. If you sense magic in this way,

you can use your action to see a faint aura around any visible creature or object in the area that bears magic and you learn its school of magic if any okay and how long does it last and say it should have a duration duration 10 minutes 10 minutes okay cool so we'll say that that's active um you feel what does this look like actually forget like does this change your eyes or is this just like an internal sense what do you think that this might look like as a spell being cast a spell being cast i would see it as like a wave so it's almost invisible but it kind of just warps out you almost like sound waves almost like a sound wave exactly i like that visual that's very cool um all right so you kind of return from your... You kind of sneak into the alley. You cast your spell.

It immediately surrounds you within 30 feet. There's the tracest amounts of magic, but you know as a wizard that that's kind of the weave that's present in most things, and you don't detect anything immediately. But that spell's concentration for 10 minutes. You can keep that up while you explore around. And it's also a ritual spell.

Now, this is a thing that you can do as a wizard a ritual spell if you take ten minutes to cast it doesn't cost a spell slot so you can actually cast that and keep casting it as long as you spend longer to actually do the magic to cast it all right so and then so you can keep casting it if you like it means you save your spell slots for other things so don't mark off a spell slot unless you would like to do it quickly. No, I'll take the time. All right.

In that time, Will, you've been flicking through your book, trying to kind of find out anything, and you do actually find some useful information in here from Vodafone. You learn that within Athkatla, there are three major power factions. And Volo kind of talks about them having worked with them and sort of spent time with all three of them. And it's kind of controversial because the first one is called the Merchant Houses.

And these are the nobility. But they're not like born nobles. This is whoever has the most money can buy a seat on the council. And they become the heads heads of they become these nobles houses basically um it's called the council of six and you basically buy a seat on it uh the other powerful another power faction is the cowled wizards which uh gail knew about and these are basically magicians who control the use of arcane magic so this would also affect you because you use arcane magic as a warlock

divine magic like shadow heart uses is actually totally okay in the city and it's ruled by the the temples but arcane magic is basically illegal unless you have a license um and the cow cow Wizards are powerful they're very powerful they're very influential they control at least one of the merchant houses um and all that the law sorry god so you wouldn't like me using it in this city if they catch you doing it no you're that will probably be grounds for being arrested okay um it's weird you're reading this as gail slides off into an alley but you just like the idea that you're reading it out loud and they'll do it the day today and you sort of come back and come back

uh the last one is probably the most interesting because it's like oh wow you know volo is surprising that volo wrote about it apparently there is a faction in the city called the shadow thieves and this is a uh criminal organization like a powerful syndicate we're talking like mafia kind of gangsters and they control one of the merchant houses and they're basically at war that all three of these factions are bickering and trying to control each other um and all three of them have spies and contacts all over the city you are almost certain that one of them that all three of them could probably help you find the source of this whatever is going on they've probably been investigating it

and all that kind of stuff as well all right um and you kind of discover that as you're reading through the book so that's that's the information you gave it to those of you who leave uh the city gates so at this point that's going to be uh assyrian carlack show heart lazel uh you guys pass through the wither district um as you're traveling through you witness a large gathering. Like a huge amount of civilians have gathered around a kind of stone stage, like a kind of raised up stone platform where it looks like there's an official almost message board. And there's trumpeters dressed in like red and white. And they've got these kind of blaring trumpets. And you see three wizards in hoods with masks stood on top of it and they seem to

be kind of giving out like a general statement but the crowd is in an uproar and you begin to hear like the little little snippets of what's being said you hear stuff like what are you doing about all the kidnappings and then you hear like another just like those gangsters are running rampart in the city the guards are useless are you going to put a stop to them? My daughter went missing five days ago. Vanished right from her room. You magic bastards are supposed to protect us. You're kind of hearing like these voices of dissent and things like that.

And you see this main mage who seems to be the sort of leader, the more superior one, steps forward wearing vermilion robes, an ornate gold mask mask kind of just throws his hands up in this wave of force like not enough to do damage but enough to make everyone sort of go quiet and still and you almost swear that the voice must be magically enhanced because from behind a mask there's no muffling and you can hear it even from far away and you hear citizens many of the order of the cowled wizards are indisposed with important business for the merchant houses. We are doing everything we can and are working with the Golden Guard to investigate these missing persons and the recent abductions.

Everything is in order. You are safe. Go back to your homes. You will not be warned again. And you see that there's some grumblings and then the other mages slam their staffs and they begin to see like you know magic begins to swirl around them and the common folk and laborers and the merchants all kind of grumble and begin to make their way out you see a couple of them linger and kind of talk to each other but they will basically disperse eventually the wizards look at each other and then they vanish they sort of almost just teleport away um and a few guards are kind of left to like walk around basically. I mean, it's just something you see as you pass. Yeah.

We're all four because we all have to pass this. So you probably like see it from different angles, right? Like Karnak and Sarah, you're on one side towards the docks, but the two of you are heading south. So you're maybe on a slightly, you will see it from these different angles, but it's such a big crowd. And that voice was so loud, like magically amplified. You all heard um will and gail you probably won't because they've gone by

the time you've you reach there so you guys probably wouldn't hear about that but you would see posters um you begin to spot like posters like missing uh you know my my my tiefling daughter is missing blah blah blah seen last uh seen three days ago on the, on the Sol, blah, blah, blah. You see like posters for, almost like gossip posters of like, of newspapers basically passed it up. Rumors, cowed wizards afflicted with magical disease. True, question mark kind of thing. Like, is our city safe?

Merchant princes say everything is fine. You know, that kind of stuff, you know, that kind of thing like is our city safe merchant princes say everything is fine you know that kind of stuff you know that kind of scattered around the place you can definitely see that there is an edge to this city um for the most part people are going about their business and trading but there's this underlying level of paranoia oppression there's definitely um you can immediately tell that there is a big wealth divide here like the rich who are in charge are extravagantly rich and then you have like the middle classes who are kind of like you know average and then you have a lower class which are the laborers and things like that speaking of the extravagantly rich and as this thing happens with a large crowd uh could i accidentally sort of nudge Kallak into an extravagantly

rich person let's say and then use that bump to then maybe find something in my hands that wasn't there before well what I'd say with this is there probably isn't anybody extravagantly wealthy in this crowd but you can definitely target some rich looking

merchants like kind of upper middle class I would prepare to slum my values down yeah that's fine yeah so i would say that like if you want to nudge carlack uh i don't know do you like kind of like you know how would carlack react to that like a second to work out what's going on yeah but it's not even i don't need her to come with me i just need to bump into an object i'll be like careful you're gonna burn yourself that's also a possibility yeah that's probably true I might say if you bump into someone you take a point of fire damage like aah

yeah but worth it but yeah you bump into you cause a bit of commotion cause also people when you bump into them they're like oh my god that's kind of the point I want to bump into the person that will also get potentially fire damage so then i go yeah i'm gonna roll these 20. yeah if i get under a nine they might

set on fire all right 15 they're fine so they could have bumped into you like oh and he's kind of like he's like watch where you're going tiefling and he kind of like looks at you kind of a bit shocked and astounded like very scared as well because you are very clearly towering above him um but he kind of looks around very wealthy looking merchant and I'm guessing you would like to sneak into the pocket so give me a sleight of hand check as far as I get any kind of bonus I'd say you have advantage yeah I'd say that with this big crowd like it's only because the big crowd was assembled here really bumping into car like on normally on a normal street wouldn't help you but in this environment definitely definitely helps I got got slice of hand seven okay so uh roll

twice take the higher that's 20 um seven seven twenty four okay and that is yeah it's lower so 24. and like the biggest eating grid on my face sure and you do you say anything to them sort of is this like a i'm so sorry oh i'm so sorry that awful uncouth tiefling i saw everything happen let me see if you're okay let me pat you down make sure there's nothing smoldering on you nasty stuff and obviously like asterion dresses but so you're a you're a quarter as your background you're dressed very well and you see this man immediately responds to that like you're wearing these burnt like leathers you look kind of in the like you kind of look closer to the labels and things like that staring looks more like this guy's kind of and he's just like oh thank you my dear oh thank you so much yes oh she didn't did she burn my clench

he's like turning around there is my cloak okay you grab like a silk purse basically like no you look absolutely dashing darling absolutely fine he's just like oh thank you he's like oh I do I know many of the people who are you wearing? and he sort of like engaged you in a bit of conversation oh well uh today currently and I start like rifting on some bullshit name yeah like do you say somebody from Baldur's Gate or just making a name out of it

no no I say specifically are you familiar with Baldur's Gate? oh of course my dear we import many things from all across the this is from Neverwinter so oh yes yes and there's an element of like oh i've not heard them very good well if you ever fancy it uh something um the the temple of sunni is having something of a bit of a fashion show this weekend we're celebrating at the tailors and things in the city you should stop by i think you

would appreciate it anybody you could recommend specifically? Oh they'll all be on display you'll see all of their works in the And your name is? My name is Brennan, Brennan Quint And yours my boy? I'm Astarion Astarion what a delightful name Um yes make a persuasion check for me

Yes please darling Yeah I know I can know uh at this point like whatever eleven yeah are we actually gonna go and find out what this is with my with my bonus 13. 13. yeah it will say in your persuasion he sort of has that sort of like there's a mild interest but he's not so super taken it would take a bit it's like a slow burn like he would probably he's definitely sort of like oh well perhaps i will see you i planted the seed yeah you planted the seed all right um when you check that purse by the way there is uh there is about 20 gold in it all right um but with that go on since we're scrumping yeah do you want to give

me half of that maybe i don't know what you're talking about, it's for the greater good. I feel like you've cornered me, it was terrible. Well, now that you mention it. Alright, what I'm trying to explain to you is that I'm going to use this as bribe money. Oh, I'm sure you will. Fine, here you go, don't spend all at once. You're ten. Nice. It reminds me of

the old days all right nice and then lastly i just want to do something uh because we're gonna have to wrap up our first episode here in a minute but i want to do something with a z on the show so you guys make your way after hearing this kind of big uh you know you see this big you see this big announcement the cow wizard and all this kind of stuff, and then you make your way. And Joaquin's Promenade, immediately you notice it because it is almost like the Colosseum. These big, huge walls, tiered kind of levels, but it is an entirely enormous open market, and then there are physical shops built into the stands.

It looks like this was an old fighting arena. I think, like, Laezel, 100%, you would be like, oh, this looks like a fighting arena that you would have trained in, that you would have seen many great, battles the gift probably reenacting famous historical battles and things like that for entertainment and sports but this has been turned into a traders like market basically um and you can see that there are dozens of traders and and merchants with stands and stalls but there's one in particular at the far end and as you're making your way down and it stands out because everywhere else is like very traditional fantasy stores right forge hammers arms and things

like that and there's a dwarf and you know the moon weavers rest and it's this beautiful elven inn you kind of all these things and then there's this place right at the end of the promenade and it's big it's clearly like very um. And it's got this bright kind of blue logo of an A and an M. And it's called the Adventurer's Mart. And you can almost see that there are these glass windows. And there's, like, this little imp. And as he sees people approach, he slides the doors and goes, Bing, bong!

And he slides them open. And you see that there are there are like rows like stalls and it's like discount potions of healing you know 20 gold and there's like rows of them and things like that and then there's like uh magical or like it will say something like true steel swords totally magical and then there's like a rack of them on like a weapons rack at the back. And you see that he's got like a little hat on, like a little fastener. And he's got like a little bow tie and he just opens the door. He does bing bong and then he shuts the door.

And then he's like got a little stool and he just sits there. And that's his job. Yeah. And this place stands out amongst all of them. Like as it's totally out of them like as it's totally out of place like it's so out of place I think we should talk to the ask him yeah I feel like the imp has seen it and did you say it's like at the back so I said the very back of the problem of the Coliseum basically so imagine this yeah so like yeah I mean like yeah he like would absolutely and like he's like right on the door they're glass doors he looks out onto this huge like open plaza marketplace right and

another thing shadow heart i must say after seeing those wizards at the bridge if there's any powerful magic and i don't think gail will be able to tell you this because he's having a one of those days but if there's anything happening it would be happening from those three magical wizards yeah don't you agree I absolutely agree but let's talk to the end yeah once yeah and I've got passive wisdom perception what does that mean can I use that so that basically is like rather than me you having to constantly be like mark can I make a perception check to see if i spot a trap mark can i make a perception see if someone's following us uh passive is basically like i you can just tell me your passive score and then if anybody would say like was trying to sneak up on you and they rolled lower than that

i would just say you can you feel like somebody approaching you or you see them it's like a way of rather than constantly rolling dice basically um it cuz I'm right. I wanna I want to make sure that there's no one else in the shop Yeah, I mean like yeah So like you can make it at you you can say like I'd like to actively search and that would be you making a perception Check yeah, I'd like to I'd like to scout out the place Let's make a perception check so this is d20 yeah, and then your skill perception and you're gonna add your bonus So skills are on the far side, on the far left side. Far left side.

What am I looking at? Perception. Perception. Where's that? There's five. Okay, plus five. Really good. You've got really good perception.

Fingers crossed you roll. Ten. Ten total? So 15. Oh, 15. 15. So you look around, and you're looking around this place, and there are, like, wannabe adventurers in here like you see like kids that are like 16 and 17 and

like maybe one of them's got like a leather jacket on and it's like leather armor you know it's like like looking at all the business like maybe they're examining the swords like yeah it's a good one like blah blah blah like kind of like you know teenagers who are getting excited um and they're sort of in there there's a shopkeeper at the back you can see he's this old gnome and he's got these eyebrows that grow out so long they curl around like spirals and he's he's got a bright blue beard like a pointed almost like a spike of hair um but he's got like glasses and he's reading what is very clearly an absolutely filthy pornographic book.

He's like reading it openly. Why have we gone to this place? I don't think he'll be of much help. But they're the only ones in the store, apart from this imp, who sat on a stall and hasn't really said or looked in your direction, just like is waiting for people to approach the door and then does his job um but nobody else the only other thing you see in this place is you see a poster up on the wall um and it basically the poster says presenting the adventurer mart bald spawn experience a guided and narrative tour of afkatler's history and it's basically like a

poster like and it has like this big ominous door and it has like this silhouetted figure like heroically standing against it like choose your own adventure understand the story be a part of history it's like the slogan um that's the only other thing you kind of notice in that it's yeah very weird this place i think we need to talk to the talk to the end sure I will do the talking I think that's a wise choice yes so you want to approach the imp the imp looks very confused and sort of like glances over to you and then looks back towards the door and then notices that you haven't left yet and like looks up and like terrified like, what's happening?

So we ask him about... Yeah, what do you say? I say, okay, speak. Bing bong! Lays out, lays out. He slides to the door quickly, bing bong! Sorry friend, I'm sorry for my uh if my companion scared you um we're investigating some very dark magic that uh you see like the little imp his ears actually like tighten up when you say dark

matches uh that has uh that's hurt our dear friend and i was wondering darling imp if why when you say darling darling sweet imp where they might have heard something that darling imp. If, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if,

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if, if, if, if, if, if, his tongue come down do you like draw the blade slightly yeah he looks there and he begins like and speaking in some language do either of you speak infernal no he's like he's like gets on his knees and he's groveling like putting his hands over his head do you speak the common tongue imp bing bong oh right i'm going to try a different tack can you just investigate something in the back of the shop thank you i crouch down to comfort the poor he like brings his hands up like he wants a little hug okay he like brings his hands up like he wants a little hug wings can call he's like yeah like about this big he's you know very small I quite like him I like animals I don't know whether this counts as an animal. He's not an animal.

He's a living sentient being. Okay, but still. He's quite cute. Now, calmly, can you help us? No. No. Oh, man. Only bing-bong he's like speaking in this strange devil tongue to you do you know anyone else who can help us he points to the back of the room, and you see LaSalle. No, Michael, do it. He looks up like you're a customer.

Hello there. Welcome to Adventures, Mars. Can I help you? Yes. Yes, you can, but only if you put down that filthy book first. Oh, my apologies. I put it with my collection. Hello.

Good to know. My name is Akim. How can I help you today? I will be brief. Akim, is it? Can you see me behind those spectacles? Actually, I do not care. I will be straight with you.

Do not speak we are under a bit of time pressure okay we are looking for some dark magic it's affected one of our friends i'd rather we didn't rescue him but it appears that we need to to get this tadpole out of our heads understood do you know anything about it dark magic aisle five and he points down to the adventure oh do you know anything about dark magic in this case somebody that might be controlling it oh you're looking looking for someone to cast dark man understand time I might have to get out my weapon and make you understand give me an intimidation check with advantage this is a skill called intimidation what do I

do so this is a d20 so the big dice and then look for your skill called intimidation so it's just a plus one but you're gonna have advantage you roll twice you take the highest result on the dice Because you are very intimidating. It's a five. Okay, not great. Let's see what the other one is It's is that six or nine? That's a nine nine nine. So plus one so ten. It's enough that he's just like Yeah, I would love it. Let me understand you are what exactly do you want? I will happily tell you please Please don't kill me. But I don't understand. You are looking for a specific magic?

The source of the dark magic is coming from this place, not from this shop. Oh, I see. From this city, if I must be specific. You're sure it's not coming from this... I'm very limited in my knowledge. I mainly know about things here, but... But, but, but, but but but I mean magic in the city I mean that would be the work of the cowed wizards and I I Have my license and I don't want to risk getting it revoked my dears, but um the cowed wizards would know about it

I I'm not I'm not a mage. I am a very minor mage. I'm not a prolific major I am very small I create magical items Where can we find these wizards? Where are they based? If you wish to go speak with them, the government district across the bridge, but they are very powerful and busy and I've heard that they are not receiving visitors. They refuse visitors of late. I mean, if you want to learn more about dark magic here in Athcatla, you could always try the Adventurers Mart Balsborn Experience,

a narrative journey and adventure in the history of our city that way it was about a very famous evil mage called Irenicus John Irenicus he was quite the villain I mean him and they had a fight there's ruins and we've built a whole thing in the ruins of his old laboratory it's like a like a little adventure and you learn about the history of what happened I'm not much for tourist activities Oh, I suppose this sounds like it might be useful. How long does it last? Oh, well, it's it's a guided tour It takes about 60 minutes Can we make it 30?

Well, you could if you if I guess if you didn't read all the plaques and you didn't listen to all the clockwork Well, then I guess if you you could do it in 30 minutes didn't read all the plaques and you didn't listen to all the clockwork puppets. I won't be reading the plaques. Well then I guess you could do it in 30 minutes, yeah. There's a fun slide at the end. No. No fun slides. Just the brief abridged version. Oh, okay. Well two tickets for the Balsborn experience. That's ten gold, five gold each. Should we do it for five altogether oh we don't really do a family discount but and he looks at lays up I'll make an exception and yeah you guys buy two tickets to the ath catler adventurous mark for the boss born experience a narrative journey through the history of the false porn heroes. Good luck.

And that is actually, we're going to have to call our first episode to a close on that bombshell. I also want to point out, Bing Bong, the imp, his name is Bing Bong by the way, he's still holding up to that hug. You didn't stop hugging him. So he's just like clutched on to it. He's mine now. He's at least like, you know, following you around for now.

But that is going to be it for our first thing. Just before we wrap up, this has obviously been, for some of you, your first D&D experience. And I just want to have a quick, how have you found it? How have you enjoyed it? We kind of had a little bit of everything, a bit of combat, a bit of role-playing, a bit of world-building. How did you guys find it?

I'd love to know. In a huge way. Oh, God, no. What have I done? I've ruined it. No, good, yeah, yeah, you guys have had fun? Yes. I'm very, very pleased to hear that. I've got loot.

You've got loot, wonderful, and yeah, things will happen and we've got imps and terrible consequences that are soon to catch up on people. But yeah, if you would like to see the conclusion to this adventure, please come back for episode two. You can follow us here on High Rollers to catch the stream when it goes live,

but also catch up on YouTube or follow us and watch and listen to our podcast as well. And you can also find all these wonderful people on their social media and you can go follow them and learn about all their things if they are on there. And we will throw links and stuff in the description below and yeah, follow them on their various channels and I know that so we have some stream people doing streams of the game and things like that as well

and once again a big thank you to larian studios for helping make this happen because yeah we will see you for episode 2 of our Baldur's Gate 3 cast play D&D bye our Baldur's Gate 3 cast play D&D. Bye!