High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #129 | Rock the Boat (Part 1)

Episode Date: November 8, 2021

The team are given directions to help Rosemeadow in the Feywild and encounter a ton of natural problems along the way! We're sponsored by D&D Beyond! The ultimate Dungeons and Dragons toolset. Clean up your dungeon delving life and speed up your games here: http://bit.ly/HRDNDBeyond2021 Grab some High Rollers merch: https://freshmerch.fm/collections/high-rollers Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes (and more) on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Make your dungeon-delving life a million times easier with D&D Beyond using the both players and DMs. Make your dungeon delving life a million times easier with D&D Beyond using the link in the episode description. Welcome back to Erois. Our party of heroes have travelled to the Feywild, also called Lunaria, to save the life of their ally Thalia, an astral ship captain who has been cursed by a powerful sorceress. To reach the Feywild, the party have brought a kind-hearted and energetic centaur woman, not native to Oroes, called Rosemeadow with them. On arrival, the party travelled through expansive, strange woods and encountered a band of knights

and soldiers attempting to fight a huge, powerful manticore. After defeating the creature, the knights offered to escort the party and take them to a nearby resting point, a camp of nomadic centaurs who may be able to give them more information. The Fairmeadow centaurs welcomed them openly, and gave them much information about the city-state of Heartspyre, Thalia's former home, and the location of the sorceress responsible for her curse. The centaur commodore Ulstus Fairmeadow also shared with them the tragic tale of the Rosemeadow family, a branch family of the meadow-roam them the tragic tale of the rose meadow family a branch

family of the meadow roamers telling them how they were blessed with a unicorn centaur child but zarkira came to take her away seeking the aid of a witch in a place called black stallion woods the rose meadows are now trapped there as zarkira set two relentless spirits to hunt anyone who enters those woods we left things with the party deciding what they were going to do next after having a beautiful, very peaceful, calm, and very picturesque long rest under the stars here in the Feywild on the edges of a place called Everclear Lake

amongst the Femino Centaur clan. And that is where we're going to pick up. We're just going to start. Yeah. You guys let me know what the plan is, what you want to do. I believe people wanted to buy a lot of things from this guy. He's about to get rich. Well, we can kind of have, you know,

retcon that you kind of put these requests in last night. Ulstus is particularly magical and can create certain items, only a limited number of things in a much shorter space of time. But yeah, what do people want to grab? You fire off so the audience knows what you're picking up. I put the chest down, I open it up, I walk away, I close my eyes. Okay. Nice.

Nova's rummaging for a long old time and she would like to buy I think it was goggles of night, the gloves of thievery and a headband of comprehending languages none of those require attunements you have the list of the money I can't remember exactly what it is

I've got it somewhere 1400 gold sure there you go he ulfus like will easily make those he probably has some of those things kind of already made uh the um the headband of comprehend languages is probably something he has several kind of pre-made ones done um the other ones he constructs over the night just can hear him sort of like as you guys are trying to fall asleep you do hear like the soft kind of sound of cutting leather um kind of being pressed and and uh stiffened um you kind of get these strange floral aromas coming from this uh large kind of bedouin

tent that he seems to be working in um throughout the night but yeah easily you can buy all of those things add them to your inventory just google like search for them in dnd beyond google search them search them in dnd beyond and add them to your inventory. The only thing is to keep in mind, Kim, is if you have obviously you can't wear two head items, so your helm of telepathy, you can't wear it and the headband of comprehend languages

at the same time. That's a really good point. But you could just take you can just take it off and then put the other one on. It just requires you to do that because you don't need to unattune to the headband of telepathy. You just need to physically take it off your head and put the headband on. But you just need to remember that you need to physically switch them. I had this idea that the goggles of night as well would just be like extra little lenses that I can just slip over

because they've already got scrying lenses on my goggles. So I just had this idea of little like extra kind of steampunky type lenses that you could just slip over because they've already got scrying lenses on my goggles, so I just had this idea of little extra kind of steampunky type lenses that you could just rotate down just as an aesthetic. No? Sure, but you still have to spend an action to swap them. An action?

Yeah. An action to swap the kind of lenses. Sure. Like little night vision goggles. You kind of slap them on. You're like, you have to turn them and then turn them on. It's pretty cool. Yeah. It's pretty cool. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. And then same. I don't think you have any items for gloves. You don't have like any glove based items. No, I got nothing. Yeah, sure. Easily done.

You give the money. Ulstas doesn't really negotiate. He basically said that those are his prices because that's what it costs to make the items. So there's no sort of bargaining here. Anybody else picking up anything else Lucius has his hands behind his back and he's like glancing at the wares in front and he's doing the casual like

yes very nice lovely very nice craftsmanship I'm not interested sorry and just walks away. Okay. Just an absolute put-down, but sure. Pointless offering.

I wanted it to be like, you know when you go into someone that's really passionate about their own work, and you kind of walk in and then you have this awkward moment of like so are you interested in anything and Lucius is clearly not interested in buying anything but he's just being nice about it it's like when you walk into like a little like you know a craft shop or somebody

takes you in there and you look around and you leave without buying anything he inspects everything and like wow it's lovely this is lovely um I'll be back bye He inspects everything and like, wow, it's lovely. This is lovely. I'll be back. You did get your Cloak of Billowing, though. Yes, I did have that.

You bought that last time. I do have that. Rhi, I know you had stuff on the list. Yeah. I think Sentry would be nervously glancing over at Rosamado's tent with like the story that's been told ringing in her head, the danger of Zarkera. And she's going to buy a ring of protection and the horseshoes of speed,

but she's going to give those to Rosemallow in the morning. Okay, yeah. So the horseshoes of speed, Ulstas looks at you and he kind of sees sees what you know he knows that you're obviously not buying them for yourself um and he just kind of gives you a nod he's like we can do that i'll uh i'll have her fitted for them when she wakes up and we can do that and we can make sure they're fitted and in terms of the ring he displays you a very beautiful the ring isn't made from metal it's actually from carved gemstone so the ring is like made purely

from um probably something like rose quartz. And it has like inscribed elven runes kind of written all over it. But it's not like a metal gemstone ring. It's more like a cut gemstone ring purely from the stone itself. And yeah, it's like delicately engraved. The lettering is all kind of with silver

sort of like markings that indicate the elvish runes. And he puts that in your hand. A rose medal will need to to attune to that ring you'll need to give it to her and she'll need to physically attune to it but yeah um you do watch as like as people are kind of you know you guys are getting ready to make leave um res meadow comes rose meadow probably wakes up quite early um and you can see her returning with a bunch of like the other centaurs and they've gathered things like firewood and stuff like that and she's been helping them um and ulster's calls her over and he starts taking her to like his leather working station and sort of he's like yeah your friend has you know paid for you to have these uh have some new shoes and things like that and uh rosemary's just like oh she just thinks that they're normal horseshoes

right so she's just like yep she like brings her hoof up like she's getting a manicure like she brings her hoof up and also starts working away at it and stuff like that. How much is that manicure? 2,000 gold. 3,000 gold total with the ring included. For the ring as well. Hey, we're not paying rent anywhere. It's fine. Yeah.

I mean, come on. Tom Hazel, your exact words were, I open the chest, walk away, and close my eyes. I close my eyes, but my perception extends to hearing there's just anything how much money are you taking i was um i was maybe gonna get some uh some boots of elven kind they don't require attunement they just i do not yep they're just 500 gold that's okay silent yeah and it's um advantage on stealth checks when moving around so like not to do with like so it's like if you're moving through a place then they help you if you're just trying to hide it won't always give

you the benefit but for things like moving around natural terrain and stuff they help you on that um and yeah like ulsis uh probably looks at your own boots uh and he says help you on that um and yeah like ulster's uh probably looks at your own boots uh and he says before you before you go to sleep last give me give me your boots and i'll fix them up because he sees that you're wearing leather boots and he'll just take your own ones and he'll like repair them and fix them up and you know probably clean them so when you get them back they are like noticeably less stinky they've been cleaned they've been tidied all the leather work's been patched up but they now have bands of leather kind of like wrapped around the boots and each band has the same sort of

sylvan script written around it and they sort of bend around each of the straps of the boots, couple over the toe and the heel and stuff like that as well. Cool. I come back to the chest, I look inside, I breathe in, I look up at the sky,

a single tear, and then I turn it tiny and put it back in my pocket. Sure. Okay. With that's done, yeah, Ulcest has all of this stuff prepared for you. You can see that the centaurs and things like that, Ulcest kind of, he says, so what's your plan? I know that you said that you were going to speak to your friend, Rosemeadow. Are you going to help her?

Or do you need directions towards Heartspire? I'd like to help her. I think, yes, I think we should come clean to her. We've brought her to a strange land that she is not used to. Surrounded by people she didn't even know existed that are just like her. And I think, well, she'll have some questions of her own. And I think we'll be honest with our answers. But I think we'll help her. Directions to Heartspire would be useful either way. Of course, of course. Yes, that's no problem at all.

I'll give you... He kind of thinks for a moment. He says, well, it's a few days to Black Stallion Woods, but we can make sure that you've got plenty of food and provisions and I can point you in the right direction. And we have boats for crossing the lake. I'll let you know more about how to get there when you've spoken to your friend. But when you're ready I'll let you know more about how to get there when you've spoken to your friend. But when you're ready, come let me know. I'll make sure that you've

got everything you need to get going." Thalia will come over to you all and just nod and say, Thank you. I'm glad that we can help Rosemeadow with this. I feel awful that we had to use her to come here for my benefit and to know that there was something we could do in return. I would have been disheartened if we'd left without fixing that as well. I thought as much. And don't worry as well. I've been taking measurements of the tattoo on your arm while you were sleeping, and I made some calculations, and I think we have enough time to help her and sort you out as well.

So tactically, it's a smart move. In terms of the briar, the kind of thorn that's weaving its way up Thalia's arm, this indication of the magic curse and when it's going to eventually kill her. The rate at which it's growing currently, Kim... No, I'm going to make it clear. It's progressing... You reckon that if it continues progressing at the same rate, as long as it doesn't increase in its spread, like the accelerate, it doesn't accelerate in its spread.

You reckon that there's maybe a week, two weeks between that time it's progressing. You've certainly got at least seven to ten days. Okay. Provided it doesn't accelerate or decelerate. If you can find ways to slow it, that could help as well. Yeah, no. I was going to say, like, is there anything like an Arcana check

or something I can make to see if Brainy Nova can think of any ways to slow it down? You can definitely make an Arcana check, yeah, for sure. Arcana. Here we go. Anybody proficient in Arcana can make that check as well, if you want to, like, ask the others if they can think of anything. I can absolutely.

Head empty. I also can, yeah. Head empty. If Nova asks. Not as good as you. I think Nova would ask. 17. Okay.

Quill's the one. Quill and Nova. Lucius, you can't think of anything. Most of your magic deals more with like elemental kind of structures like your chromatic vision is more about the magic elemental magic it's innate raw power more than anything um but quill and nova i think you guys would both kind of figure um something like greater, the spell Greater Restoration, might be able to slow down the rate. It might be able to pause it for a short period of time.

Probably not very long, but if you were desperate, it could probably do something. Otherwise, you would need any sort of extremely powerful healing magic. So things like the Heal spell, Greater Restoration, maybe the Regenerate spell. Maybe all of those things would slow it down, but they're not going to cure it. You don't think that based on this curse that they're going to actually get rid of the curse, but they should be able to prolong it for a little while.

Anything more than that would require somebody of an equivalent power to the person who put the curse in the first place. And considering that Sayana could barely the curse in the first place and considering that sayana could barely get rid of the first one like that's going to need to be somebody of an archfey or equivalent this is going to be need to be somebody who is the same level of power as mesmera um if you knew the if you could predict the pattern of the full design on the arm and you painted it on there would that speed things up what why maybe let's move on let's move on does the curse travel maybe the curse has traveled by paint i think is what he's asking

paint, I think is what he's asking. Maybe. With his 13, he doesn't know. That's what Lucius thinks. It's certainly an idea. We're keeping Lucius away from paint then. After this conversation happens as well, Nova is going to take out her energy crossbow that she's been lugging around in her pockets for ages and just dump it on Thalia and be like, here, by the way, I noticed you said something about your pistol's not working. So now you own this. Pointy end, not so pointy end. She holds it and she's like, that's very sweet.

And this is definitely a very useful, it's a very nice weapon. It's definitely got a bit more heft than my pistols. It's still Magitek, darling. And she looks at you like, and it's a Valkyrian energy. She's like, it's still Magitek, darling. looks at you like and it's a valkyrian energy she's like it's still magitek darling it's still going to have the same problem that my guns do um but but it does pack a bit more of a punch uh and it's always useful to have a backup uh so um well at the very least you could just hit someone with it it's quite certainly i can

certainly do that yes but uh no i will keep a hold of it i mean how are you holding it where did you get that out just slung on like nova's back i'm assuming she had it like there is like a strap on it yeah she never noticed she's had it for a long fucking time uh but yeah like thalia will kind of strap it over uh you know thalia doesn't have any armor but, but she does have her holsters with her two arcane pistols in. She does have a selection of magichels. And yeah, she's still got that, but she slings the crossbow over. She says, well, I'm better at terrain, so I'll try and keep my distance.

So even if the magitek is influenced by Lunaria's magic, hopefully I'll be at a distance where I won't be in too much trouble. I'll try and stay out of the way. Especially, I think, as Rosemallow and Kairi aren't really fighters, keeping us with them, making sure that somebody's watching over them is probably a

smart idea. But yes, we should get ready. The other thing I want to note as well is when you guys made your arcana checks, it's very obvious from your interactions when Sayana cured the Medusa curse and the vision that you saw in the book when you did Legend Lore Quill. Just to make it clear, this curse is not like a poison in her arm, right? You couldn't cut her arm off and then regenerate it.

The curse is bound to her spirit. It's a magical curse. It's like a, it's a magical curse. It's not like a chop off arm regrow arm situation. Okay. It's a visual representation. It's a visual representation of time running out. It's the briar kind of crawling up her arm. That's all it is.

It's just a visual reminder. The curse is a magical curse. So we need to cut out her soul and regenerate that. And that actually, you know, Quill, that would certainly work. How you would go about it, but the theory in Quill's, you know, magical knowledge, in theory, if you could find a way to cut out the cursed soul and somehow regenerate her normal soul, that would work.

White Borosite. Maybe. Maybe. Oh my god. What, you pull her into the matrix? Yeah, then plop her in a guardian. You've never tried to pull a non-guardian spirit into the matrix

like that before, but it could potentially be a thing. Because a guardian... It's a star guardian in the Feywild. That's the thing, is you don't know what effect this curse would have on a guardian's body. Obviously, this curse is tailored to Thalia. This is not like a normal mundane spell.

This spell is, I want to kill thalia whisper wind when this timer runs out basically um and that's what's going to happen so putting her in a guardian body might change that like that might fuck with the curse in some way it also might not it might just continue to like kill her um it's an interesting idea l It sounds a little bit litchy as well. It's pretty litchy. I'll tell you what though, if Nova wants to think of that, having read about things like legends of liches, that's another way that Thalia could survive.

If she was undead, this probably wouldn't affect her. Do I want a lich as a girlfriend? I'm about it. I'm about it. Be pretty strong. You could also become a Lich yourself. Yeah. Yeah? Why not? Why don't we all just become Liches? Why don't we all become Liches? And then there you go. Yeah, let's do it. I'm about it. I know a few people who want to do that. But then we'd have to fight you and I don't really want to smack my lich up

That is the question uh no no not after that tom don't bring it back to that when you just said something let me deflect terrible no don't worry i'm gonna i'm gonna deflect i'm gonna deflect for tom uh because as you are having these conversations and thoughts um ulsters finishes uh attaching the horseshoes to rosemeadow um and you see he you see ulsters you you understand ulsters facial expressions because you can clearly see he's trying to explain to rosemeadow what the horseshoes do and she just isn't quite grasping it like he's like you can see him like mouthing the words and he's saying something like quill who can read lips is like he's basically saying like so you do this and when you speak this word and it's like some Sylvan word,

like, you know, some, I don't know, some poem or something. When you recite this, you'll move very fast. And then Rosemary's just like, what do you mean? I can run. I can do that already. Like she's just completely like, you know, she eventually kind of like nods her head and she trots over and she's just like, Oh, hello everyone. Century, thank you so much for these nice new horseshoes.

Thank you so much. They're really nice. Oh, that's okay. How do they feel? You feeling all right? I mean, yeah, they feel great. They're very nice and comfortable and Ulster knows what he's doing. He said that they'll make me go really fast.

Yeah. So hopefully, I don't know what we're going to encounter while we're here, yeah so hopefully I don't know what we're going to encounter while we're here but my idea is that if anything happens you'll be able to get away okay yeah that sounds great and I also got you this

as well and I'll give her the ring of protection I need to make a roll I need to make a roll for something is it an intelligence roll yeah yeah that's a roll for something. More things to add to the list. Is it an intelligence roll? Yeah. Yeah. That's a six for Rosemeadow.

She looks at it. It's actually more of an insight. Actually, she's kind of good at insight. She looks at the ring and she looks at you, and there's a moment where, like, her cheeks go red, and she, like, looks and thinks, like, and then she's like, this is just a friend's ring, right?

This is just because we're friends. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Sorry, no, I shouldn't have blamed you. Okay, okay, okay. Yes, yes. No, that's fine. I had moments there for a second when I thought, just a friend's ring right this is just because we're friends yes yes yes yes sorry no okay okay okay yes yes no that's fine i i had moments there for a second when i thought this is also sorry century i don't know how i feel but but no it's a friend's friendship ring that's nice that's really lovely thank you so much oh it's so pretty um so this should also hopefully keep you protected as well i did i promised I'd protect you when you came here.

I want to make sure that you're safe and I want to do everything I can to make sure that I keep my promise. That's okay. I know you will. She's just like, you'll look after me. She just pats you on the arm and stuff. But thank you. It's lovely. It's another magic ring.

Okay. I just have to wear it. I don't have to speak a poem or a riddle or anything like that. I just wear it, right? You just wear it, right. Yeah, exactly. Well, hang on a century. Rosemary, are you aware of tapping into the magical properties of particular items that you're wearing?

Let me simplify that. Ring make strong? I'm not an idiot, silly. You don't have to talk to me like that. Okay, so it's magic ring. I just wear it, right? I just have to wear it and the magic will protect me.

That's how attunement works. Yes. Because, I mean, yeah, Rosemeadow will kind of, in an hour, she will be attuned to the ring, yes. Yes. No poems required. Okay, great.

Yay! Keep wearing it. So, where are we going now? Are we going to go, we've got to go help your friend. We've got to help, we've got to help Nova's special friend while they're having this conversation sentries giving the gifts i'm just gonna go over and shake ulster's hand and then thank him once again for the very hospitable uh night and and hope he does well that sort of thing and hope he looks down at you and like ulster's compared to you lucius like ul this is you know, he's a giant horse man

So I can't remember like, you know, the really big horses. I can't remember what they're called like the really big Mega horse mega So he's like the big kind of like big Shire horse and then he's a pretty muscular tall dude like torso wise So he's probably like 10 feet like you're like definitely like up shaking his hand but he kind of like bends down he like crouches his front legs um and he looks at you very seriously he's like not at all not at all my friend you know the uh we've all heard the tragedy of the rose meadows and to know that there's maybe a little bit of hope for them and

that you're willing to take on these risks a night's rest and a good meal is the least we can do before we leave i'll make sure that you've got provisions um and there's a few boats that we carry with us we've got a few little kayaks that will get you across the lake we'll leave those for you here as well very kind i shan't forget the generosity i hope i'll take that back to our home plane with us. Of course, please do. And I hope that one day you can return to Lunaria, perhaps with less dire need than you have. I hope so too. Well, he just big firm handshake joint. It's quite strong.

Well, we'll be on our way. I'll ask Quill to heal my hand. Thank you. Bye. He just nods. And you can see that him and his family, the Fairmeadows, they're loading up some big heavy knapsacks, and you can see them just stuffing them full of food and wineskins and waterskins. And a group of young male and female centaurs,

like young athletic male and female centaurs, they're carrying a long kayak, two long kayaks, a group of them. And they're taking them down to the edges of the lake basically what what lovely people as i say as i walk up to the rest of the group look at this isn't this just just a wonderful community just going out of their way to help strangers that they met only yesterday. If Erois could hold themselves to those kind of morals, we wouldn't be in a predicament at all. Thalia will probably look over actually when you say that and just say like, it's

nice. There's a few groups like this here in Lunaria, but unfortunately a lot of the rest of the Feywild is similar to Erois. If you go into the big cities, it's all politics and what people can do for you rather than what you can do for others. But I'm glad that there are still some folks who are, well, not necessarily keeping to the old ways, but still have that freedom, that sense of just living.

Reminds me of Rosehall. Remember Rosehall? I wonder how our charity is getting on there. That's where we set our charity up, remember? I wonder how it's gone. If they've managed to do anything with it. Well, I mean, we haven't put any money into that at all and uh didn't assist in any way so you know maybe not do well probably well i think the idea was that you were trying to set up something that other people would like contribute to help everybody else out right like the idea

was that like you were trying to create almost like a not like a like a charity but also sort of like a cooperative where like all the towns or help put their spare money to help each other yeah that was the kind of idea yeah rosemodo is now like this capital city this metropolis it's suddenly the best thing that's ever happened to a rose. I've only got laundered. Alright. Lucius is now just looking at Sentry and then glancing at Rosemeadow and nodding a little bit. Oh.

Rosemeadow, um... Yes? We're going to find your family, if that's okay. We know where they are. You do? I mean, I remember that you said when we were first coming here. Well, we might know.

Maybe, Rosemadow. Let's set expectations. We wanna try. Well, you know, I wanna make it clear. I don't have any expectations. You folks told me that you might know, I don't, I want to make it clear. I don't have any expectations. You folks told me that you might know where I came from. And I didn't even think I did have any family. I thought that I was alone and just, you know, in Kaylie's rest. And then I met all of you.

I didn't, I don't really know anything. I don't know what to expect. I'm, I'm just so happy to see this wonderful place that you've brought me to. It's so magical and so beautiful. And just, I'm so glad you brought me, but I don't want to take any time away. I mean, and she gestures at Thalia like, Nova's girlfriend.

We need to help her. You can see that she kind of like, yeah, like the word girlfriend is like, she kind of says like, oh my goodness. But I mean, if you want to help me find somebody or if you think you know where I may come from, that would be lovely. We've all discussed it.

We've all looked at the options and we think helping you next would be the best course of action. So we're going to do that. Okay. But. Oh, that sounds lovely! I'm not very good at the sad stuff. But, um, there might be a bit of a problem. Uh-huh?

Uh, so your family might be in a bit of trouble and we just need to get them out of the trouble first. Well, that's what you're all so good at doing! You're heroes! You can do that! I completely fa- I have complete trust that you can do that. That's good. Should I elaborate? If you turn around to me, I'm like 10 feet away. I'm backing up slowly away from this conversation. I do not up slowly away from this conversation. I do not want to start speaking.

I don't know how sad I am. We're just going to see how it goes. I'm still here. We're going to go this way. Might come across some bad things. We'll see how it goes. Ayla, you can smash any bad thing that comes in the way i'm sure yes even if it's spectral yes yes we'll see how it goes

rosemary we we need you to know this is going to be dangerous. Really dangerous. Really dangerous. Okay. But you're going to protect me, right? I don't have to do it on my own. Well, then I'm not worried. I have Nova, my dear, and she kind of comes over and she takes your hand and she's like There is not, there are nobody in eros or

in this world or anywhere else that i trust more than you she looks around at everybody oh lord if you say that i'm gonna be be fine, if you're going to protect me, well, then I just know everything's going to work out fine. We're going to see how it goes. Yep. Okay. And Neil's going to walk away. Yeah.

Yep. And Rosemidow just kind of like hugs Nova and is like really happy and smiley and just like trots along. Not a worry along not a worry in the world about anything that's going to happen because she has her heroes to protect her

yeah we need to oh oh god we have a journey ahead of us let's divulge bits of information We have a journey ahead of us. Let's divulge bits of

information as we go. She deserves to be prepared for what's ahead and not be hit by it. Also, maybe just say that we're not entirely sure that she is the Rose Meadow that people talk about. Could be. Could also

very much not be. and if it turns out that it's not her it would really suck if we told her all this really tragic stuff because she'll probably cry and i can't really deal with that if it's unnecessary if she starts crying i'm gone but if she goes again and it's unnecessary because she's the wrong person then that's not good i don't i don't want to see that again you know as a point rose meadow wasn't getting that choked up i just can't do any sappy emotion without it hitting me that's that's purely mark hume's like any emotional moment hits me harder the npc not not crying at all npc just really happy has complete like it was said in a

way that is just like you are literally she idolizes you five like she she thinks you are the greatest heroes like she just genuinely believes that as long as she's with you she's no harm's gonna come to her oh that makes it so much worse let's yeah i know yeah it's funny that let's let's aim for no crying because I don't think my ribs can take it. She's a hugger when she's happy. I do not want to experience crying, Rosemeadow. She'll crush me. I'm dead. But we can carry on the way that we're going

and the moment things get too dangerous, if they do, we leave leave we just leave and we go elsewhere and try and find an alternate solution to this problem um we can figure it out as we go i'm sure farlier uh you know she's like i think i can see that rose meadow is obviously very ignorant to some of the dangers here. You're right, it will be dangerous. Just reaching this place, I imagine that we'll be traveling through the Wildlands. We're not going to be traveling through some known province here

under the protection of a lord or a household. I mean, that's good in some ways and bad in others. There will be natural threats. There will be monsters, creatures, all sorts of things. If we need to, there will be places we can try and go for help. There are, I mean, the archfey themselves, the lords and the ladies who rule the provinces and the city-states, there are numerous of them,

and I'm sure that we can find one near these woods, and we may be able to petition them for aid. We may even be able to rely upon them for some sort of assistance if we desperately need it. I'd recommend we try and avoid that because that will be a political game, one of favors and navigating political situations and the courts of the Fae are never as easy as they may appear. But as Mr. Quill says, we can find another way,

find another route if need be. Very well. That could sound good, everyone. Sounds good. Sounds good to me. Ready to go. Okay. Well, gather Rosemeadow, Kairi, Big Cat, Talia.

Let's go. Yeah, Big Cat just kind of lets out a big like, yawns and starts stretching because he's just been asleep on the floor. Kairi definitely, like, Kairi lurks either behind Thalia or near Quill. Like, if you see Kairi, she's either like peering from behind Thalia

or she's like hovering sort of around Quill's area just like but kind of in a weird kind of creepy teenage girl sort of like I don't know what I'm doing with myself way um just sort of lurking in strange places um but yeah big cat kind of like just nozzles up against her feathered wing and then just you know begins following after everyone else yes we long rested right we had a very nice sleep. Okay, you'd have a nice lovely long rest So make sure you knock down On the wire guys When you guys show signs that you're ready to go all this will come up

Well, my friends we've got we've got some packs and things ready for you the kayaks are down by the river By the lake and I can give you directions We can I'm afraid that it's a far way away out of our, it's out of our way basically. We're not going to be traveling there. We'll probably pack up from here in a day or two, but we won't be traveling into the deeper wild lands. But I'll tell you this now,

travel across the Everclear Lake by the boats, get to the far edge that shore and he points and you can see that in the distance there is like a far side um you can see that there is a kind of the land begins to you know it kind of carries on in the far distance there's a mountain range and things like that uh but also says once you're across the river uh you need to follow the follow the river that flows into the lake follow the the river until it starts becoming marshy and swampy. That's called, we call that place Yonfen. Yonfen stretches out a good few miles.

It's probably 20, 30 miles. On the other side of the swamp, you'll reach the Gazing Hills. Once you get up into the Gazing Hills, you'll find the Old King's Way. It's a sort of... You'll know it. I'm supposing you're not from Lunaria, so you probably don't know what a train is. But it's a series of metal bars and tracks

that go in a certain direction. It's not used anymore. It's old, overgrown. But if you follow the tracks, if you follow the old king's way, I'll take you right to Black Stallion Woods. Okay. I reckon it's about two and a half, three days' travel, all told. Three days, okay.

And do you know of any sort of threats we might face out there? I mean, Yon Fenn. You should be fine until you reach Yon Fenn. Yon Fenn's a swamp. I mean, we avoid it. There's all sorts of creatures and critters and bandits and all sorts that plague that area. Because the knights don't tend to go there. The knights of the various provinces and cities, even the free knights like Lady Penelope, they tend to avoid the swamps. It's hard for them to fight in.

But there's not just creatures, but the swamp itself is dangerous. Mudpits, razor vine, marsh gas, all things to be wary of. Okay, we can try and figure out some way of, well, levitating

across it if possible, or flying. Yeah, or find like a raft, if you can find a raft, that will help you get across some of it, but if you're on foot it will be hard going, for sure. Okay. Good to know. Everyone ready and excited?

It's been a long time since we've done some multi-day travelling. Mmm. I need to do some stretches. Lucius does some very elaborate, elegant yoga. I'm excited for this. It feels like old times.

Feels like we're going back to where it all began, in a way. Oh yes, the good old days. Oh, yes. The good old days. Can you not die and have me carry you for several days? Because those old times sucked.

Yeah, no, it does make me think of Einwig. For all of us. That was pretty bad. You remember Firebear Nova? That was fun. That was fun, and then the reality of walking through the wilderness with very little, and Arvel with a broken leg,

that settled in for a while. Very little food, quite cold. I remember Ayla fell in the river. Yes, a very good moment, Quill, thank you. Sleeping under the trees, and meeting people. I remember when Quill died whoa and when Quill lost an eye

to that Goliath remember that yeah I remember that yeah and then his jaw got broken in Gusthaven that was

oh look we have to go memories good times I remember a lot of these things yes normally when I'm asleep trying to sleep until the dark oblivion takes me I still hear the screams

oh my god you picked the wrong heroes Rosemeadow we're all broken. Yeah, you're fine now. You're fine now. Well, we'll find out. When you make your way down to the lakeside, there are two kayaks.

You're not all going to fit in one. You're going to need to divide up and decide who goes with who. They're quite big. They are designed so that the centaurs themselves can basically go... Two centaurs can fit in them. And yeah, they're like long kayaksaks they have oars and paddles you're gonna need to somebody's gonna need to paddle you know them across the river as well across the lake sorry to the other side um so yeah who wants to go in what i nom means ayla and century will both

be in separate kayaks um who wants to go where i'm gonna see what happens when they both sit in their kayaks is century gonna sink the kayak? It's certainly gonna be it dips a lot lower in the water than Ayla's one does. Sentry's one definitely dips down lower by the extra weight. Maybe I should take Sentry's and you guys

with Ayla. Yeah. Makes sense. I should probably I think maybe i should go with alice one because i am a little bit heavier um you know i understand and uh she kind of like like and yeah like rose meadow is a centaur so she's gonna take up you know two people's space how does that look now so i think that like yeah i mean rose meadow puzzle game it lowers it a little bit it's not really a puzzle game but you definitely looking at it you need

to decide who is going in what because heavier people are going to weigh a boat down and you're going to need higher strength to to keep that up and you know going it's going to be more exhausting to kind of transport them so quill i think with rose meadow and century uh rose meadows in ayla's boat oh sorry you've got a century boat in ayla boat quill with century then yeah rosemary with ayla wait no put quill with me nory needs more weight. I've got Rosemeadow now. Fuck off. It balances out. It balances. You and Rosemeadow. Aayla's currently getting all of the heavy people.

No, you're not sentry. All the bones, get in. Fine. I'll get in Aayla's one. Now, I've been doing some push-ups, so I can can help with the strength aspect if anyone's struggling a little bit. And also, I'm pretending to fall into the water, and then I walk on the water with my Stormcaller's chain. That's true, yeah. You don't even need to row.

Do you really want to do more walking? I'm not walking. I'm just saying that if I go overboard, it's not such a big deal. I can fly. Keep in mind, Lucius, you could still be dragged under the water. It's true. It's like, if you get pulled under,

the water walking effect basically doesn't count. It's only when you walk on top of the surface. It's a conscious choice. In theory, if he was dragged underwater and then was let go but he was under the water could he go boots take me to the surface and would they just like he would have he would have to swim to the surface and then he would be able to like basically like climb up onto the surface of the water as long as he can kind of like get his feet

up there basically yeah um He needs to swim up close to the surface and then the boots will take effect. Oh, that won't happen though. He won't get pulled underwater. It's fine. Look at it. Thalia will make a point of, well, Kairi's very light. I'm fairly

light. Big Cat's obviously going to be a bit heavy. Oh. Also, Big Cat's obviously going to be a bit heavy. Oh. Wow. Also, Big Cat really doesn't like water. Well, let's have a look at our heavy. We've got Sentry, Big Cat, and Rosemeadow are the heavy ones. Yes?

Anyone else heavy? Yes, lads. Nova, she probably weighs more than Lucius does because Nova's got like armor and gear on, whereas Lucius doesn't. Gadgets, okay. Well, you've got like the breastplate as well, don't you? You've got like breastplate armor on, don't you, Nova?

I've got stuff. So Nova's definitely weighed down by more stuff, whereas Lucius and Thalia are lighter because they don't really have as much gear. You know what? So Lucius and Thalia doesn't matter. Me and Kairi... No. Lucius and Thalia doesn't matter. No. Lucius and Thalia don't matter. Kairi and Quill doesn't matter.

We can fly. Me and Kairi will fly and we can keep an eye out on what's ahead of us and ideally below us while we're in the sky. Okay. Sounds good. I'll hop in whoever's who wants Lucius I think if Quill and Kairi are gonna come in my boat if Quill and Kairi are gonna fly then yeah you can just divide everybody up

if Aayla has Rose Meadow Thalia and Nova and then Sentry has Lucius and Big Cat and I think that's everyone yes yeah that's everyone uh yes yeah yeah yeah that's everyone that works um and then you and kairi are gonna fly are you are you tom yeah and then when we get to the other

side where they're going to take the boat back to pick up the fox and then go back to pick up the sheep i i was very close to only doing one kayak and trying to come up with that puzzle. And then I went, nah. I just went, nah, not going to do that. It's complicated enough already. Cool. So when you guys set off, those of you who are in the boats, so the two rowers, I need you both to make athletics checks for the first half of the journey.

One other person in each boat will need to make a perception check. Quill and Kyra, you can also both make perception checks. Okay. 26 athletics. So you and Sensual... Plus 12, baby! Well, it's got the same. I got an 8.

A perception check. Nice. Fine. I got an 8 for perception. Nice. Fine. We're having a nice time. Can Thalia make a perception check? Yes. Because Nova's got minus 1. Yeah, Thalia can make perception.

So Thalia's got plus 4. Let's just do a d20. d20. d20 plus 4. I'd like to imagine my 8. Oh, big cat's perception. 19, 20, 21, 22. You can roll big cat's perception.

22 for Thalia and then big cat. I like to think that Lucius literally can't see because he's got a big cat. Oh, he's got a big cat. Oh, he's got a big cat. Oh, he's got a big cat. Oh, he's got a big cat. Oh, he's got a big cat. Oh, he's got a big cat. Oh, 22 You can roll big cat's perception 22 for Thalia and then big cat I like to think that Lucius literally can't see Because he's got big cat's butt

Like right up pushed up against it In this kayak Just fluff Got 15 for big cat Okay 15 And Quill you're kind of spotting everything From up above I stare into everyone's souls with my 28 perception.

28 perception. So Aayla and Sentry, rowing, you're fine. You're both physically very strong. You have lots of endurance and stamina. Even with these increased weights, you're rowing across the lake and you get about halfway across, so far without any real strain or tiredness or anything else like that i mean it's it's tiring work but nothing more than what you're

prepared for or expecting um for thalia and quill um big cat becomes unnerved by something like you can see big cat is kind of troubled by something and he's growing uncomfortable in the boat lucius and is like doing like this is a cat in a boat in the middle of a lake and he's growing uncomfortable in the boat lucius and is like doing like this is a cat in a boat in the middle of a lake and he's like it's okay it's all right don't worry about it moving is gonna make it worse and then it's like water splashes up and he's like and like freaking out but thalia and quill um quill you would probably be the first one to spot this um there you see shapes underneath the boats in the lake and at first you would think that this is one enormous shape this dark shadow kind of looming up but quill with that 28 you actually realize it's not one big thing it's multiple

smaller things this is like a school of and these fish must be the size of horses. Like these are like giant kind of like river trout, but they're enormous. They're like huge. And there's multiples of them, like a school of them. And they're clearly attracted by the boats, but you don't think that they're necessarily hostile.

Thalia can tell she's like, there's something under the water here. I don't know what it is and like you can see her like readying one of her pistols looking down the sides and you can see this giant shadowy shape um is looming um coil what do you want to do because uh you've got i mean yeah uh how many are there did you say how many shapes there's like a dozen like this is like a dozen but they're massive so it creates creates this enormous gargantuan shadow. And they're aggressively coming towards us, I assume.

No, that's the thing. I mean, you don't think that they're trying to attack the boats, but they're being drawn to the boats for sure. And they're so big that their movement is affecting the water around the boats and stuff like that. Yeah, I'll yell down to everyone. We have a slight problem. There's something I think maybe coming towards us about 12 shapes in the water.

They're big. This is Quiller shouting this while he's flying. You say it's like, well, and then he swings back around. Is there some way we can form some sort of distraction or an illusion underwater to scare them away? That would help. I could create a huge ball of light. I can create me and go for a swim.

Where is it? It's going to be scary, Nova. Are you going to be scary? I'm scary. Look at me. Whoa. She's not scary. She's not going to do it. Needs to be scarier, Nova. Something big.

I need everybody in the boat to make an acrobatics check as the school is coming up close to the surface, the water becomes distorted, and you can see it beginning to adjust. I'm also going to just turn off a ton of internet things here. Try and stabilize my... 21.

Turn it a little bit. So they're actually shaking around the boat now. Yeah, and you can see it's because as they're swinging around, Tom, they're very excitedly swimming around the boats. And because their size and the number of them, it's kind of disturbing the water significantly to the point where even these heavy boats, it's kind of rocking them slightly to the side.

Did anybody get under a 10? No. Just Lucius? Thalia did. Thalia and Lucius? Actually, sorry. Can you make a roll for Big Cat with disadvantage as well, Centuryalia and Lucius. Actually, sorry. Can you make a roll for Big Cat with disadvantage as well, Century, please? Okay, disadvantage, okay.

Yeah, because he's unnerved. While that's happening, so I just rolled a d20 and got nine, but just reading the NPC stat sheet, do I add like a plus three because she's got dex plus three? Yeah, that's it. Yeah, exactly that. Okay, cool. She doesn't have, I don't think she has training acrobatics 12. right okay in which case she got 12. yeah so she's fine what a big cat 14 for big cat that was the lowest one yeah yeah yeah so big

cat's fine you can see that big cat is like freaking out by the water but is kind of now gone perfectly still and it's like watching these shapes you can see his eyes darting to and fro uh kairi kind of flying next to coil it's like oh oh she can she's kind of freaking out but kind of just following you quill as she flies through the air um but yeah most of you so lucius because this was a group check so um as like your- What's going on? You're like peering over the sides of the boat, but like Aayla and like Thalia and Nova are like, and they're like, you know,

Century and Big Cat are like keeping it stable enough that you don't go overboard. Not enough people failed. But yeah, like this is only probably going to get worse the longer these fish schools, and like maybe one of them swims up and it like touches the boat and it bumps the boat And sends you all sprawling. They don't care does not like this tool

As a reaction to big cat gang Angory I'm gonna cast mislead and so yeah, I'll Do something So Nova is going to turn invisible and an illusory double of her will appear. And I can use my action to move it up to twice my speed to gesture, speak and behave in a way I choose. I can see through its eyes and ears as if I was located where it was.

And I can switch between both of us using a bonus action. So I would just use it to immediately dive into the water and just be big splashy, like lots of splashing, lots of kicking, shouting, screaming, like just making a bit, like as if I'd fallen overboard and I was making a big noise. Sure. Out of interest, what do we see?

You see Nova go, you see Nova jump into the water. All of you see Nova jump into the water and start splashing around making noise. I did say beforehand, I said... He casts a spell and then jumps in, yeah. No, I said in reaction to Big Cat, I would have said something like, you know, like, we got to do something and then it would happen.

Yeah, we got to do something and then she jumps in the water and splashes around. She's sacrificing herself! I mean, that's what they see, Nova. Nova! I can just see fluff. I see a big cat. Bumhole.

Fluffy bumhole. First thing first is I want to make a roll for these giant fishies. Do we have a i want to make a roll for these uh giant fishies um do we have a stat is there a stat for a giant fish oh sea eel maybe that'll do lightning eel much better um oh marvelous what is your sir bell save dc nova vija 18 18 minus four wow this type of saving throw uh so i think that certainly a number of the fish would scarper like as soon as they see noise and like something like some creature diving in the water and splashing around um they definitely immediately swim away and panic there's still plenty of them who you know this you are a medium-sized creature.

There are these two big kayaks, and there are like half a dozen large creatures. There are a number of them scatter, but not all of them. One singular medium creature illusion is not gonna be enough to throw these guys off. But they are now in a panic, and you do see like several of them start whipping around. I need everyone to make another acrobatics check that's in the boats.

Okay. Oh. Okay. Is Big Cat a disadvantage still? Big Cat still is a disadvantage. He hates being near water, so he's always at a disadvantage. Alrighty. He is a big big kitty so this time it's a 13 or lower all right a big cat got 30 plus dex is 16 so he's gonna succeed yeah I got an 8 for Nova and a 7 for Thalia so yep so you're both gonna fail

and that is and in that boat you have Rose meadow and a light row for Rose meadow who's in this Oh marvelous and nine so a la your boat like you're mentioning to keep your balance but who was lower out of nova and uh thalia there thalia thalia thalia gets knocked over so like as the boat is being tussled to the side nova you're like invisible like clutching onto like the seats the boat is rocking to and fro and thalia just loses her balance like trying to like hold on um and she's also like are you all right i think you cast a spell like she's also like, are you all right? I think you cast a spell. Like she's trying to find you. And then she just splashes into the water and begins sinking down. What do you guys think?

Sentry's just going to like hold out her roar and be like, grab on, grab on to the oar and try not to just reach as far as she can. Sure, make an acrobatics check for me, Sentry, because that's going to potentially tip over your boat as well if you're reaching over if you're reaching heavily to one side that's easily 19 so you managed to just balance your weight like kind of keeping like your heavy shield and the lance starbreaker on one side to try and counterbalance you reach out with the oar uh i'll make a do you want to a just make a Strength check for Thalia see if she can grab the grab the ore. Okay

On 80 oh Sorry, this is for Thalia to make. Oh sorry. Yeah, so that she can grab. Oh, sorry She's like trying to swim so just strength so you 24 strength So just strength. D20 plus strength. D20. She's got zero strength. And that's a 10.

That's enough. Like she splashes over and manages to grab onto the oar before anything else happens. It's just a lake. She's just, you know. Thalia's like, I can swim. But it's holding onto the oar sort of thing. Hold on tight. Hold on tight.

I've got you. Have we got an action at the moment? Like a free action? Yeah, like at the moment. Unless you guys are doing something in particular. I think considering Big Cat is getting more and more unnerved and could potentially cause serious problems, I'm going to cast Fly on me and Big Cat.

Okay, yeah. And I'm going to grip his fur. Yeah. And then just make sure he doesn't do anything crazy, like fly off directly upwards. Well, I make an animal handling check, because when you cast it, you reach over and touch Big Cat. Because Big Cat's smart.

Like, Big Cat's got, like, an intelligence of eight. I think he's as smart as Sentry. He knows, and he's like, I can fly. And then he's immediately going to want to go into the air so that he's away from the water. I'm literally just going to say, I can fly. And then he's immediately going to want to go into the air so that he's away from the water. I'm literally going to say, you can fly now. Are you holding on to Big Cat Lucius? Yes, that's what I said.

The two of you fly up into the air. Big Cat, what are you doing? Bad idea. Lucius, what have you done? That's a very good point. The big cat is a crag cat and they have a thing when you target them with spells. What? Yeah, non-detection. No, it's another thing sentry. It's the spell reflection.

Spell turning. The cat has advantage on any saving throws against any spell that targets only the cat if the cat saving throws to see so it's only on House a thanks room. Yeah, it's not harmful effects. So like big cat knows that you're not trying to hurt it And so yeah, you fly up into the air. That's fine Yeah, I'm fine I put herself into centuries boat now that the two of you have left big cat and looters have left far layer can pull herself up into centuries Oh, what are you to do about these fish

though? They're not shifting. Half of them all got scared away by Nova illusion. You can try and just out-row them but they're big fish. They're going to be able to swim pretty fast. Seeing that we are rocking the boat and that Nova

splashing scared some of them off, I want to fire some Wand of Magic Missile into the water near them to kind of disperse them and send them outwards away from the boats. How many missiles? It's force damage, but I want to do five missiles.

So a third level. So like two charges, basically. Yeah, just to like, in a kind of a circle around it, just to disperse them. Like if I see a group of them heading towards a boat, I fire in front of them as they turn around and leave. Well, they're kind of all underneath the boat at the moment. But yeah, when you kind of fire the five, you know,

these five missiles of energy kind of slam into the water and they make big like, you know, splashes and like the energy would pass through the water partially as well. Like these are like, you know, throwing like magic rocks basically into the water it's enough that the fish are like whoa and then they just they will just leave they will just disperse um there whatever interest they had in the boat with the splashing woman that's like splashing around and like you know doing crazy stuff in the water to their mind um and these magic things dropping out of the air like that's enough that these fish are like whatever you're you are they're not interested in anymore they're like they swim off uh they're

just interested what this thing was yeah a big big cat is just flying towards land he's just like i'm going that way land is that way um forwards or bankwards uh he's smart enough he would be going forwards he'd be going in the direction you were rowing excellent good also nice episode title tom said it rock in the boat rock in the boat don't rock let's see what else happens in the episode first um but yeah nothing else end it here everyone everyone else rock the boat let's see what else happens in the episode first um but yeah nothing else end it here everyone everyone else in the boat everything is fine uh the the you know the the rocking the water stops splashing and rocking the boats it kind of settles and calms once more um and you can just continue i just need an athletics check for both century and ala for

the second half of the journey okay Okay. Significantly lower DC for Sentry now. Oh, huge. Nice. 25. Oh, huge. You both managed to complete the journey. A little tired, arms a little sore. For Sentry, you'd feel more like a draining of energy

kind of through your body a little bit. Ayla just feeling a bit tired and a bit sore from all of that rowing But yeah, you managed to get the boats to the side with the flying speed of the spell Because it lasts an hour right fly the spell minutes. Oh That's different So what does it give you a 60-foot flying speed? Yeah. Yes So if they dashed you would be able to go 120 feet, which is,

yeah, no, I'd say 10 minutes would be, I'm going to be, I'll say that's enough. Like Lucius and you basically reach like big cat reaches the shore just as the spells about to land. And he probably lands in the water,

like maybe sort of 15 feet from the edge. And then just furious cat paddles to the shore itself. You just go plummeting into the water and have to just swim, basically, to the shore. If you chase after him, yeah. Quill and Kairi. I really like

to imagine the sound that Big Cat and Lucius make as they plummet into the water. Very similar noises. Ah! Ah! Quill, Kairi's not going to, like, when she realizes she can't keep up with them, you can see Kairi's getting tired. But do you want to try and chase after Quill and Lucius?

Like, just, you know, burn rubber? No, I'm good to stick with the group flying above the boat and watching out for anything else. Yeah, because you can kind of rely a bit more on sort of like glides and dips to kind of ease off on some of the stress and strenuousness of the journey. You can also land in the boats

now that there's a bit more space. If you or Kairi need a rest, you can kind of sort of like fly down. It maybe takes about 30, 40 minutes for the crew on the boats to reach the other shore, by which time you can see Big Cat is drying himself. He's like curled up on the far banks of this valley. I don't know what Lucius has managed to accomplish.

I'm trying to reason with Big Cat. It's like, look, I panicked, okay? And I thought this would be a good idea. Look, we're on land now, see? Here, let me dry you out. And I try and use the digitation on it. Yeah, it's like a little blow dryer. See, isn't that nice?

It could be even fluffier. Yeah, he turns like his mane and he's like. This is the nicest you've been to me, Big Cat. I appreciate that. Thank you. I think like after you finish drawing him, you get like a big lick on the face and he kind of like nozzles up against you. I subtly pressed to digitate my face. No, I was going to say, Big Cat would like, he sort of gently

takes your hand and then points at yourself. Like he kind of pushes his paw against your chest kind of thing. Yes, yes. And I'll press to digitate myself. Big Cat sort of like behind you trying to catch a little after wind.

Trying to catch it in his face like, I like it. I'll just point them out in the distance. Look, they're coming now. Bow. Just goes back to like preening himself. But yeah, the boat's going to skid up onto the shore of the lake and you can pull them up out of the water. And you find yourselves in like a,

there is like a river that still continues on it feeds into the lake but the current is coming into the lake so you would be traveling upstream um but there is you know hills grassland all kind of going back to a natural green what you would expect in a rowis um grassland and hills that seem to stretch on for a little bit. Cool. Ground is maybe a little soggy. Super quickly before we get to the shore, because my double is still active and can see and hear while it's swimming around. Do I see anything in the lake? Is there anything or just more fish?

Fish? Yeah, you see fish. You probably see some like... I'm trying to think of like lake dwelling, maybe like some underwater insects, that kind of stuff. You can see that there are plants. The bottom of the lake is covered in these giant flora. It's got giant seaweed beds and formations and things like that.

Not seaweed, because obviously you don't get those in a lake, but like lake water plants. You know what I mean? uh that sort of stuff um but no no like no no dangers or creatures or anything like that um as the double sort of like no uh no ancient swords lost by a forgotten king that can you know cure a curse by an archfey or anything like that just right seemingly not um those of you traveling on the boats um you do notice some fish not as big as or anything like that. Oh, look at that. Just right there. Oh, look, shiny. Seemingly not. Those of you travelling on the boats, you do notice some fish,

not as big as the ones that were harassing the boat, but you actually see some fish with wings. They actually kind of come up out of the water. They fly up and then there are these, I described them in the last episode, but above the lake, there are these like floating rocks with like waterfalls, like a kind of like endless river coming out of them.

The fish fly up the waterfalls and into the pools at the tops of those rocks, and then they fly back down into the lake, and they seem to eat flies and stuff that are hovering above the lake itself. And they're like feathered wings. They're like birds' wings on fish, and they kind of go... I need to look at an image of that it's awesome fish with wings it's exactly what you think i think it's just a fish with pegasus wings kind of yeah more like pigeon wings um well we made it and uh and i think uh that's now And I think that's now everyone that has fallen into some water at some point in our journey.

So well done, everyone. A very damp-looking Thalia, who Thalia just literally is wearing a white shirt and a gun holster and some trousers, and she's just like, not shivering, but she's looking at you very sort of like, hmm, how fascinating. Excellent. It's just nice to not shivering, but she's looking at you very sort of like, hmm, how fascinating. Excellent.

It's just nice to keep track, you know, of our journeys and our foibles. Remember when Sentry fell into the water? You were talking about all my injuries earlier and I'm trying to get back and I can't, okay? I appreciate you too much. Great. So, we carry on you too okay where did you where did you go you just went we saw through the air we took in the majestic sights and we landed perfectly on this land

sorry for abandoning you all it was a lovely trip trip, wasn't it, big cat? See? Well, I'm glad you're both okay. You see big cat points a paw at the water and just goes... He may have dipped a little bit. Oh, I saw that in the distance. Yeah. You really slapped into the water there.

Quill sees everything. You saw that, huh? Yeah, also, I know the spell you were going to cast. That was longer than ten minutes, easily. Does anyone want drying off? Yes, I do, Lucius, please. Just put up my hand. You might want to avert your gaze, Lucius.

Oh, sorry. Yes. And then she kind want to avert your gaze Lucius Yes, and she kind of just stands in front of Lucius for a little bit and gets dry And then eventually like re buttons up and things like that You're finished Right happy I don't own any bras. I'm sorry. I didn't need to know that. I had no reason to know that. I mean, you saw what I was like on the ship. You should know me by now. Yes. I like the idea that as it

finishes and Lucius looks again, Nova's just stood in front of him where he thinks Thalia is, just glaring. I know. You okay? You want some drying off i'm great thank you good thank you for your help it's done it's great she's dry oh i've got something to see here nope uh lucius walks away uh kairi will kind of walk over to quinn be like ah that was that was really

good i haven't flown that long in ages. It was actually quite nice to get to fly that much. I haven't flown in a long time. You did great. You did amazing, in fact. As long as you stay high up above any floating shadows and mysterious, scary things, we're going to be fine. Yeah, I think I'm going to and um just stay out of the way i don't i don't want to cause any trouble and get in people's way so oh you won't get in the way uh

you're here to help and we welcome it um thanks and she goes over there she goes by okay bye then um she stills but she i think i described this when you first met Kairi. It is a little weird because she still wears, she basically has Shansara the Eladrin. She still wears a t-shirt basically with an image of Shansara on it. It's like you see this every time Kairi's around. She's like a little J-pop fangirl. So she has this little kind of Shansara t-shirt on. When you look over. When you reach the other side, youansara t-shirt on. Yeah, when you look over.

When you reach the other side, you see that the river continues on. The trees and the grassland seems... But you can already begin to smell the kind of stagnant water of the swamp. It's just on the air. You can kind of smell that very slightly brackish scent. Very woodsy and wet coming along. The ground seems fairly firm here, but you can see the trees begin to change and grow.

You see a lot more sort of willow trees that hang by water and stuff like that. You see more willow trees and mango trees in the distance kind of thing. Lovely. Okay. Mangoes. Jon Fenn is... My mangoes! One of the ways.

Follow the river. Uh, yeah, follow the river down, up, down. To the swamp. Aayla, Aayla, you're more attuned with, um, you know, land. This. Where we going? Can you smell the swamp? your snoot i can't it's that way follow the river it's that way you can smell the swamp that way we came across the

lake this way why would we travel it's that way it's that way okay okay that way towards the swamp smell that i can smell ayla you and quill would know this as well he's trained in survival yeah if you follow the river you'll come to a swamp like uh it's where the water can't drain properly and you know gets into the land and stuff so um yeah you guys continue on your journey uh and eventually following the river um maybe takes it kind of took you about half an hour to cross the lake you are probably traveling along this river for a few hours. So do you have like a marching order for this?

Is like Ayla leading the way, just kind of following the river? Are you sticking close to the water or do you want to move more into like the trees and the shrub land? What do you want to do? I'd say eyeshot of the river, but not right next to it because I don't think Big Cat will allow us certainly he doesn't like it

he'll go where you go but he doesn't like the water he won't go in it yeah I'll follow Ayla and Quill who I assume are scouting and tracking sure sounds good

so kind of keeping with an eye shot of the river but sticking more into the trees again yeah sure yeah you probably travel for a few hours like three or four hours this way the ground begins to sort of around the two hour three hour mark the ground certainly starts to become a lot more squishy and moist and wet um the trees begin to shape there is much more sort of humidity in the air uh it becomes much more wet and humid and sticky you can hear the droning of insects coming from up ahead somewhere and then almost immediately it's very strange here in the fey wild you are traveling through a kind of like very pleasant traditional woodsy rivery kind of

region and then it's almost like there is a line drawn in the earth because as you step through a bunch of trees it just becomes swamp um you see thick mangrove trees with big heavy canopies drooping vines trees that kind of extend these long tendril-like branches into the water and just this kind of muddy brown blackish water that just seems to spread out and this swamp looks huge very similar to the trees the blue woods that you arrived in when you first came here trees the blue woods that you arrived in when you first came here um and there is even like there is literally a little sign sort of like maybe about 100 meters ahead it's like a almost like a tall signpost that you would see on a road but rather than pointing in different directions it is just a single piece of wood um and it has the kind of scratched into it it just says Yon Fen

this is revolting what happened all of a sudden just hit every sense all at once well it's just the way this is the way that Lunaria can be I think I mentioned to you before that certain regions

are shaped they're warped by the people that control them um yonfen is one such place it's uh it's it's this land so the people the the creatures that sort of command this land this is the environment that they thrive in so this is what it becomes but their influence will only stretch until it meets resistance by another being, which is why you get these very strong borders, these very fine lines between places. It's grim. It's miserable and it will be miserable traveling too. Well, I mean, me and Airi, we can fly across it and you guys can fly 10 minutes at a time sure but there was also the

raft idea we could find some raft to get across this somehow maybe um how how far out does it stretch like as you can see specifically over 500 feet yeah Yeah. Okay. The swamp? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I think Ulster said this. I might be wrong. I think Ulster did say it's like 20, 30 miles.

This swamp. It stretches out for. 20 miles. I've literally written it in my notebook. It stretches out. So even like for Quill, Tom, you're not going to be able to fly over this whole thing like you you need to stop and rest you can't just continuously you know fly forever uh you need to take rests and stuff so um yeah it just stretches out uh looking around you can

see that there are several trees you don't see any kind of like settlements or or buildings or rafts or anything in the immediate vicinity but uh at the moment, you're kind of still on this firm ground, but you know that like within three steps, this looks like you are going to be in like water. You're going to be wading through the swamp. I think a raft of some sort is a good idea. Speaking of needing quick rests, could we take a quick rest? Oh yeah, it's break time.

While we ponder what to do. Because I won't lie, could we take a quick rest? Oh yeah, it's break time. Because I won't lie, my bladder's exploding right now. I just looked at the time and realised it was long past break. So yeah, we're going to take a quick break. That's it. You guys go. Go for your break. And when we're back, we're going to trudge through a swamp

on a rock. We're going to build ourselves. It's a crafting episode.