High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #131 | Hunters of Hearts and Heads (Part 1)

Episode Date: November 25, 2021

The team catch up with Rosemeadow in a moving tavern travelling across the swamp of Yon Fen! 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 Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes (and Studio updates!!!) on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Grab some High Rollers merch: https://freshmerch.fm/collections/high-rollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Still no. What about hello, handsome? Who knew you could give yourself the ick? Hello, welcome back to High Rollers, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast in the world of Erois. We're sponsored by D&D Beyond, the ultimate online D&D toolset for both players and DMs. Make your dungeon-delving life a million times easier with D&D Beyond using the link in the episode description. Hello, and welcome back to Aroes. Our adventurers continue their travels through the swamp of Yon Fenn in the Feywild. After fending off an attack by several swamp creatures in the foggy darkness and an uncomfortable but safe night's sleep, the party desperately slogged on for the final leg of their journey. However, a moment of respite came to them as they spied a worn-looking inn

walking across the swamp on dozens of large feet. Judging through the forest offered the promise of comfortable travel for these last few miles. Chasing after the inn as it walked, literally walked away from them, there was some manic spellcasting and chasing and had everybody get inside safely. Right? Right. That's where we're going to start today. With you guys all in.

The 50 feet in. The very, and to kind of describe it again, it has that very old English country pub. You know, the seats are a little bit worn. They've been fixed up with patches of different matching cloth and fabric it's got that slightly kind of dusty worn woody smell um that you might get from like a proper sort of like village pub kind of thing is it everything is clean but it's just worn um and a little bit tired uh There are these floral curtains over the windows. There's a heavy scent of freshly cooked stew and bread

kind of wafting through the air. You can see rows of glasses all sort of stacked on top of another behind the bar. And in one section is all of you, and then sort of off to the side, facing the corner with her face buried in her hands is her hair in a tangled

mess of blonde curls is Rosemead of the centaur the very reason that you are in these these swamps as a whole just making these very odd noises I mean it was invisible. I feel dreadful.

How could we allow this to happen? Is there a ghost in my house? Is there like a muffle sort of like? Yeah, Sentry ran over, by the way. Okay. Basically, like, she's there, like, stroking her hair and sort of like patting her back. Yeah. What's your favourite food?

I'll make you your favourite snack. Anything. Let me know. No, I'm not hungry. It's okay. I'm not causing you any trouble. You're not causing any trouble. It's fine. It's fine. Don't worry. Nova has stomped her way over to the bartender and is just leaning over the bar like really heavily

I need all the cake you have all of it now yeah the the bar lady who I think only Lucius has actually formally been introduced to um uh she appears to be appears to be a normal looking human woman

in sort of her middle years has like a messy brown hair tied up in a bun wears like a kind of very traditional sort of like bar bar lady outfit um apron that sort of thing uh and she just looks she's like well i can i think i'll see what i have i might i i don't know if i have any like full cakes but i've probably got some sweets and you know things anything anything sweet sure sugar anything with sugar sugar hot sugar sugar all the sugar just give me some sugar i will find something and she backs off into the kitchen leaving you all there um wow century yeah i mean, Sentry, I mean, like, Sentry,

you're, like, saying all these things, and, like, Rosemallow is obviously very visibly upset, but, like, it's always, like, she thinks that she is, like, a massive burden, and, like, you know, it's just like, no, it's okay, it's my fault, I should have said something. No, it's not your fault. I don't want you to ever think that this was your fault.

This was not your fault. Just a misunderstanding, just a mistake. But you're here. We're all here. We're all safe. It's okay. It's okay, okay? It won't happen again.

You just hear like whimpering noises. You just get like whimpering noises. And maybe she sort of presses her face into your chest and there's like wet, snotty of all over your chest over the matrix kind of she doesn't mind century doesn't mind yeah it's okay i'll see if i can get you something a blanket she's like holding you like like don't leave me okay okay i'll stay here i'll stay here it's okay it's okay what are the rest of you doing while sentry is very much like at this point like rosemary has like a grip on century and it's like do not leave me lucia just sat at the the table looking over and like holding

a mug and like going to sit and be like just never actually taking a sip. Just wincing. Just that awkward sort of like, ugh. Yeah. Nova's just like, at the bar, kind of just like, really, like, tapping her fingers really hard on the bar, looking at where the barkeeper went,

like, looking around, looking at Thalia, just looking at everything. Just like, where is it? Yeah, it's like, this time stretches out painfully slow for Nova, but it has only been like a few moments. Chewing her fingers. Thinking about teleporting into the kitchen. Sure.

I want to put my tiny ornate chest and enlarge it, the one full of money. Nova, whatever money you need, it's in this chest. Lucius, Ayla, Sentry, I think this might be goodbye. Do you want a hug, Rosemeadow? Yeah, like, I think that she kind of like, so you, this face that's been smushed up against Sentry. You just see, like, and you probably hear, like, squeaking as, like, the face kind of, like, kind of turns around. And it's, like, you know, just cheeks completely sodden,

snot dribbling out of her nose. Rosemeadow just looks and, like, just reaches out and just grabs Quill and then just, like, pulls him in as tight as possible. It's just, like like feathers kind of like... Like holding on to both Sentry and Quill now and sort of just burying her face between the two of them. Like Quill. I...

That seems taken care of. Yeah, Aayla, as far as you're concerned. You know, Aayla, I think like you were kind of leaving all of this to the others. You see that Big Cat has completely ignored this whole situation, has gone to the fireplace and has basically curled up in front of it and is just sleeping in front of the fire. Kairi and Thalia have, like, awkwardly sort of, like, just kind of tried to make themselves distant to the whole thing.

Kairi's just inspecting these like floral curtains, like with one talent hand. And Thalia is just sort of like awkwardly like making faces as she looks around. Where's the Bucky? Aayla is not going to get involved in it. Yeah. She was invisible.

More than 60 seconds. I was the only one who was visible. I flew to the door. That's all I could do you know Thalia just shrugs Thalia mimes I'm not getting involved and just puts her hands up I'm just gonna have a drink I'm gonna look out the window we're moving pretty fast pretty fun yeah 50 pairs of legs

when you you kind of go over to the window where kairi is in and looking out you can see that this inn is moving pretty rapidly um it's not like super fast it's not like speeding past but it's just not slowed by the swamp and it's consistently moving you can actually see that the environment outside is like bobbing and rising as if somebody was walking along like it's not a smooth journey but here in the inn you don't feel any of that it feels completely stable as if you were just in a normal inn on on land basically um it doesn't take long for the the bar lady to come sort of back uh she has like a big plate of probably um what are those things called that

you had like your grandparents probably like uh like rock cakes or like scones or like not scones but like rock cakes with like the raisins and the sugar in and stuff like that did they have a name eccles cakes sure let's go with that it's just like a bunch of like little kind of like small pastry cakes not like a big sort of like fluffy sponge cake or anything like that but like uh these kind of like little little sugar coated uh with bits of fruit in them sort of little cakes um she has like a plate of those she's probably found some like fruit and things like that but she doesn't you know she brings out whatever she can um it's just like well i mean i've got this uh it'd probably be let's call it

sort of four gold i guess, for all of this. Nova, just in a panic, just scoops her hand into the chest, dumps whatever on the table, grabs all the stuff. Sure, roll 3d10. 3d10. Two, three. I rolled a nine, a five, and, three. I rolled... A nine, a five, and a ten.

Cool, it's about 24 gold you just put on the counter. The bar lady looks at it and is like, oh, that's very kind of you, thank you, and scoops it into her hand. And the gold vanishes. It's the one time I roll high. It's the one time I roll really nice and high, though. The least I can do is...

I'm just seeing this in the distance. Nova! Nova! You didn't just put the chest on the floor. No, Nova's not even noticing this because she's just...

It's literally one movement. As soon as she comes out with all this scoop, dump, grab. Rose meadow. Rose meadow. It's just like in

between a hug and like you hear like and I think that like the crying has stopped and now there is just a sort of like please don't leave me again that was so scary like she's just sort of like more pleading now and then when you sort of come over like she looks very sheepishly at you Nova and sort of

does kind of like let go of Sentry and takes a cake and just shoves it in her mouth and starts eating them yeah there we go cake will fix everything cake will fix all things there we go have all the sweets all the sweets just they're all yours they're all yours it's fine it's fine it's fine it's fine it's fine century we just like grab one just like It's fine. It's fine. If I just say it's fine. Just like... Just mush it across the face.

Yeah, just like... Crumbles down. There's this wonderful little moment of you guys sharing all of this. It's fine. Shuffling in her face. It's fine. The woman, Sue, will come up to you

and say well now I'm assuming that this is all of your friends gathered now yes oh I hope so I certainly hope we don't have any more people left behind were you are you going to be staying

long are you do you require anything else is there anything else i can do for any of you uh we're saying the night the night you have that well i suppose it is the morning but you think you'll be here for very long well we're hoping to head in the direction that the house is moving right now um and as soon as it starts deviating from that path we're gonna have to hop off unfortunately that's absolutely fine that's the way of things oh really where are you adventure it's actually for that dear centaur friend of ours um yes it's quite unusual to see uh seer centaur out in these parts hasn't been one in these parts for a very

long time and they don't tend to like the swamp very much. I'm surprised, though, because you said you're not from Lunaria, not from the Feywild, are you? We're not, and neither is Rosemeadow, our centaur friend. Well, she originally was, but she was transported to our plane at a very early age. And we're bringing

her home to her family. Well, hoping to, at least. I don't think I've ever heard. What world are you from? We are from... You don't look angelic. I don't think you're from Elysium or from any of those places. Well, I mean, you still look like you come from here.

You look like a noble of Lunaria, personally. But your companions certainly don't. The metal lady, I mean, I don't know where she might be from. You obviously travel with the Ganas, so I'm assuming you seem to be from all over. I would have picked you as some sort of, maybe from Gideon Prime.

You look sort of a mixture of all different types. We visited. No, we're actually from Erois. Have you heard of it? Erois. Erois. Have you heard of it? Erois. Erois. Siaska. Thanks for the moment.

Cradle. No, I've not. It's very odd. I've never heard of it before. Oh, yes. I mean, I've never had a formal education, so I suppose I don't know about all the different worlds, but I've had a few travels here.

You must come visit. Well, I mean, I sort of have a duty here to the inn, really. I can't really leave. Well, we can give you coordinates if you have a teleportation ability. Oh, it's more that I can't really leave the inn. I have to keep it running. I am not really sort of... I see. Understandable.

Quite powerful magic teleportation, being able to traverse worlds. It's quite impressive. Well, we're on the cusp of an invasion, actually, from Starbane's forces. Oh, my God! Yes? Who's Starbane? Uh... I've had, like, a little bit to drink. Drink your drink, have a cake!

Instead of it affecting an elf in the normal way, it's just like I've become a bit more... Sorry. One second. What's the matter? Stopping. Stop doing this. Every time.

Every time, Lucius. What? Conversing with a patron. Every time, Lucius. What, conversing with a patron? Just talk about lighter subjects. Lighter subjects. Honestly, people come in here and talk about all sorts of things. Nothing phases me anymore.

It sounds awful if there's an invasion, some sort of war. Who's the starbane? Quill, help me uh thalia has a curse as well which is actually why we're really here um but rosemary is an thalia is like shooting a death glare at lucius like like her eyes are narrowed and like features quite sharp thalia thalia thalia why is that, there's something about that name. Do I know you, girl?

And she kind of like gestures to Thalia, and Thalia's like, you don't know me. And she's like, oh, Thalia, though, that's a name. Something's triggering there. You're all quite an odd bunch, aren't you? Yeah, the very common name in a row is Thalia. I'm going to come over. I'm like trying to put my feathers back.

No, you're not. You're making a strength check. I'm trying to put my feathers back into place. No, you're not. You're making a strength check. I'm still great. If you want to break free of Rosemallow. She was eating. The hand that was holding Sentry is like she's shoving cakes in her mouth. And she's like a cuddly toy. Nova's feeding her as well.

You can try and break away from her, but you either have to tell Rosemallow to let you go or you have to like physically separate if i'm keeping her comfort i'm gonna just cry from the distance okay sure well anyway we're looking for rosemeadow's family. It might actually be useful if you know the area somewhat. Well, I'll tell you this. Information about places, I offer for free. Not a problem. I'm always happy to give people directions, give people warnings about any places around here.

Things about people, I do tend to... Well, I have to ask for a little bit of recompense for that. Information is... You know, people like to keep their secrets. People like to, you know, keep things about them personal. So I make sure that there's an exchange of some sort of value in exchange for that. But places, certainly. Whereabouts are you trying to get to? We are trying to get to...

I've got it written right in front of me. trying to get to......... ... I've got it written right in front of me. If you wouldn't mind, we could speak about this in a hushed tone because Rosemeadow doesn't know all the details. It's very vulnerable right now. Oh yes, of course. Absolutely.

What? She's busy. ... We are heading to the Oh, just... She's busy. You're heading to the forest of... Lots of forests around here. Forest of evil? Don't know if I know that one. Don't show him your notes.

Help me out here, guys. Aayla's the only one next to you. Busy feeding a centaur cake. Yeah. It's a forest with a... I know exactly where we're going. I have it written in front of me too. It's not a forest. Ayla's there. Yeah, Ayla's with you. It'd be very useful to know... Get more information about where we're going, Ayla. If you can think of it.

Are we just going to the other side of the swamp. Please. In the north direction. I mean, there's a lot of places from there. Do you know more specifically where you're going from there? I mean, you could

go in all directions. We were given a name. Going to the Gazing hills first of all that's our gazing hills stop gazing hills i mean you shouldn't you there's nothing really to worry too much about the gazing hills there you occasionally get a few critters and things roaming around but if you've made your way through yon fenn i don't think anything can in the gazing hills would give you too much trouble. It's relatively safe, so it's not too much of a problem from there. The old King's Road travels sort of when you reach the top of those,

but the old King's Road connects a bunch of old provinces and city-states together. It travels quite far across Lunaria, really. It's disused now. Nobody really runs the old the old magic trains anymore oh yes the magic trains what are these things sort of like i guess they're not too dissimilar to the inn really the 50 foot in they they are big metal boxes which are kind of like inns on the inside they have seats and and restaurants

and places to drink and dine and that sort of thing um but they run on wheels like a wagon uh along a sort of track of metal and wood and that is powered by by magic it sort of runs along connecting it used to be the old hundreds of years ago now there used to be a bigger thing connecting all of the different provinces and city states but they sort of sort of fell out of fashion really in a lot of the old tracks and they're disused. But they're a good way of sort of keeping your footing and knowing where you're going. A lot of people use them almost like roads really, sort of like little pathways. Hmm, that novel. Hmm.

There was a forest though, a deep, cursed forest with a big wall. Cursed forest. I mean, now you're getting a bit more specific, sir. A bit more specific. Lots of cursed forests, but the Old King's Road, Old King's Road. Well, the closest cursed wood I can think of to that is Black Stallion Woods. Black Stallion Woods is pretty close to that. You do have the Petrified woods though as well

that's not too far um let's have a think here what else uh dark crystal woad that's nearby that's pretty cursed too yeah that one that sounds right dark crystal work that's over going that one that sounds right stop crystal work that's over going oh well yes if you're going into there you need to that's all where we're going oh you remember nothing there you know great that one you want your friends are you sure you know where you're going do you need to ask your friends where you're going or I've been trying they're all seem to be preoccupied there with cakes and hugs and whatnot we're going to the black stallion woods lucius black stallion i knew it from the moment you said it that's exactly where we're going you're right aloe well done black stallion

her expression does darken she She's like, oh, like stallion woods. Do you want more drinks? Do you need, is there anything you'd like to eat? You know, anything that you've always wanted to have before, you know, in your life? You know, is there anything that you would have sort of a last meal? Anything that I can do to sort of provide that? Well, yes, of course. I'd have a three-tier cheesecake i've already thought about this yes we'd have a normal cheesecake on top then strawberry in the middle and then a huge victorian sponge at the bottom uh and then drizzled in chocolate yeah i can i'll see if i can put that

together i might need to get what would you have i might get some of the fairies out to uh to make that happen but yeah i think we i think i can make that work and what about you my dear anything you would want to you elven warrior lady would you and i think you would have sort of a last meal or is there any regrets in your life you want to get off your chest no just regrets about meeting lucius occasionally when he does things can't help you with that one, unfortunately. No. Just, uh, we'll be fine. We'll be fine. We have faced many terrible, awful

things, so it's all good. We've heard a little bit about it. We're not entirely unprepared. You know, well, if you go in and you come out again, please do come and let me know, because that's a story

I definitely want to be able to share. I've heard a few stories about Black Standing Woods, but it'd be great to be able to tell one of some people that survived. So definitely come and tell me for sure. Well, I mean, should I get that?

Nova! Nova! Nova! Yes! Do you want to talk about the cursed woods? And how it might be our last day on Earth? I mean, maybe not for all

of you, but just make sure that everybody's ready. Make sure that everyone's said their goodbyes. Make sure everybody but, you know, just make sure that everybody's ready. Make sure that everyone said their goodbyes. Make sure everybody's, you know, had the last meal, something that they really enjoy. Is this something we really want to talk about right now? She's nodding towards, you know, Rosie. Just, you know, have some more sweets. Have some more sweets.

Have some more sweets. It's your business, not mine. it's your business not mine it's your business not mine i think we could benefit from all the information we can garner nova and uh we're going there anyway aren't we just you know insert from a certain people who may or may not be in a fragile state of mind right now precious rose meadow um it was all my fault precious written she's pretty i'm going between two like you know just yeah the thing is is rose meadow doesn't she's not the smartest uh cookie in the jar but she's pretty

observant and i think that she's sort of like what are you talking about um we're just talking about how you're the bravest and you're the smartest and you're the best friend and lucky person that you can ever have. It's bad enough that you left me there but now you're lying to me. I know that you're talking about something horrible. At that, Nova drops her head, takes a real deep breath,

starts going purple, and you can see her hair that's normally this kind of drifty, wavy hair just starts to just droop and sag. Yeah. You're dealing with somebody with a pretty high wisdom. Even if her intelligence isn't high,

she can still pick up on you guys talking about stuff. I didn't mean to leave you behind. It was a mistake. I'm sorry. Well, then tell me what's happening. I understand that the mistake, I was invisible and you told me to be quiet and that's fine. I tried my best to keep up, but you've all been acting so strangely. We went through that horrid swamp and i know that you keep talking about things when you think i'm asleep and something's going on and i haven't said

anything because you were being really nice and you yeah i was very excited but now this is all happened now it's all just sort of spinning out rosemary rosemary rosemary please before i Please. Before I start crying as well. No, you can cry more. I'm going to cry too. Let's just both take a deep breath. We can't. Calm down. Everybody calm down. Everybody. I'm going to shuffle a bit in the grass.

She's telling us that we might die and nobody's come out of this woods. So, I think. Everybody please stop right now. Stop. It's stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.

I think we should have this conversation. I just want people to calm down first. I'm casting calm emotions. Sure. People can choose whether they want to resist it or not. Rosemallow doesn't. She fails. Thalia absolutely would. I try and breathe in as much of that magic as possible.

You want to fail as much as possible. What's the spell safety sequel? Charisma 21. Okay. Can I choose to fail it? Yeah. You can choose. Yeah, yeah. Can I choose to fail it? You can choose, yeah, yeah. I literally can't pass it. Ooh, actually,

Calm Emotions is an enchantment spell, isn't it, Quill? Yeah, so the elfies... It is. It doesn't work. You cast Calm Emotions and it has no effect in the inn. Oh, in the inn. The Barkeeper Lady slams the desk, and she doesn't hit it hard,

but this sound reverberates through the inn, like it is like a firm thud. I appreciate your friend's advice, and I do think you should all just take a moment, calm down, but I won't have any enchantment spells in my inn, sir. I'm sorry. I just wanted to diffuse. It's quieter now, though. It is quieter now.

Oh, a little bit looser, Rosemallow, a little bit looser. Please. I'm sorry, but I didn't... She kind of lets you go. I didn't mean to hurt you. She's calm. She's definitely like, you know, the shock of this moment has definitely

sapped the wind out of her sails kind of thing. Okay. Okay, look, we were not hiding things from you, but obfuscating, I think, is a good word for it, Rosebeddo. We were trying to go in the right direction for your benefit without terrifying you or scaring you or yes what does obfuscating mean it basically means hiding it's just a long word for it i honestly i shouldn't have just said obfuscation is stuck with hiding but you weren't hiding things from me but you were hiding things from me but but you were doing it to protect me to protect protect you, not to scare you. See, if we told you back in the last...

in the camp, we were worried you wouldn't come with us, but we think it's for your benefit that you come with us. It's for our benefit that you're here with us. So... we are going to a... potentially quite scary place, but all of us are here and we are all supporting each other, right, Nova? to a potentially quite scary place, but all of us are here

and we are all supporting each other, right, Nova? All supporting each other. And if we all support each other, we can get through it. Friendship, Rosemeadow. Nova takes her scarf and is trying to wipe the tears from Rosemeadow'sadow's face rose meadow is taking the other end of the scarf and is wiping your tears from your it's like you're both robbing each other and probably she'd be rose meadow would probably do like she'd probably be like i'm sorry i didn't mean to be mad at you no i didn't want to make

you cry and she's like hugging you and stuff like in know very sort of like i'm sorry i made you cry i'm so sorry pinky promise pinky promise i know you didn't mean it pinky promise pinky promise we'll look out for each other now and forever yes well i think it's about time we had some cheesecake and then once we've had that, we can discuss and explain everything to you, Rose Meadow, about where we're going and what we're hoping to achieve. How does that sound? Just nods. There is cheesecake, right? There's like three tiers with drizzle chocolate.

I will give me, I'm going to have to, this is going to have to be a custom order. Technically, the money that your the money that your friend over there gave me was from the sweets that you've already had the cheesecake i mean this is going to be a rush order this is going to be like 20 30 gold if that's okay i just oh yeah it's fine right i need to pay the fairies oh you just just take the gold out like ching ching well i'm just um waving my cheesecake gloved hand at quill we We don't need cheesecake-licious. But I just said to Resmeda,

I just said we shouldn't lie. You hear a very, very meek little harpy just kind of say, I would like cheesecake. Kairi's just like hiding behind Fahlia and just whispers it from around her. I'm like going towards the chest of money

in an attempt to shrink it back down so no one takes any more gold. But then Lucia says, and we just said we wouldn't lie. I'm like... How often do we get the chance to have cheesecake in a cozy moving tavern in the middle of a swamp in the Fae?

It will be delightful cheesecake, I will say this. This may never happen again. Quill, put the money away. No more. Cheesecake, and then that's it. Bucky? No, no, no. Excuse me?

Yes, hello, my dear? When you bring the cheesecake out, could you also bring out a warm plate, please? Just a plain one. A warm plate. Yes, I can do that. A plain warm plate. That's just a plain warm plate, please. Just a plain one. Yes, I can do that. That's just a plain warm plate. Yeah, no problem. 31 gold. So

for the cheesecake and the warm plate. One gold for a plate. It's a very rare request. I price my things based on how rare they are. It's quite rare, actually. One, two, three, four. Counts them out individually.

29, 30. 31. One, 31. Gold. Marvellous. Thank you very much. She scoops that gold out. It looks like she puts it in her pocket,

but there is no pockets on her outfit, and then her hand is empty. And she's like, right, I will go summon some of the pixies. We'll get working on that cake immediately. Thanks very much. Thank you. I'll be with you on play as well, miss, as well. And she goes and drops out.

Thank you. We just made a lot of money here. So much money. Well, in a moving tavern. We have to pay our dues in the Fae, do we not? I suppose. Okay, well, we have to wait for this cheesecake anyway. So now's a good time as ever.

Where we're going, what we're doing, why we're doing it. Nova. Well, I mean, you can't just say, we sit down and tell Rosemeadow what we know so far. You can just be like, we want to skip over this. If you want to. While this happens,

can I take a short rest? Is that alright? I mean, it's not been an hour yet. I mean, an hour is going to be, you know, that's saying you're going to wait here for an hour. But yeah, you can do. If you want to start taking a short rest now, you could all take a short rest, technically.

Everyone can take a short rest. I'm trying to remember, because I used the same sheet for the Battle Royale. And obviously I'm dead. I reset it. No, I'm out of spell slots. You were long rested, because you all had a long rest, then you found the tavern,

except Nova, who had to use all of her spell slots to fly everyone to get in here, basically. Okay, okay. But yeah, you should take a long rest, Lucius. You should be at max and full everything. Excellent. Yeah, sure. Yeah, it's the plan that you're...

The hut. Yeah, sorry. And then is the plan to just basically, yeah, give Rosemeader the rundown of what you've learned so far? Yeah, but what do we say? Yeah, that's a great question. Just to tell her that, I guess, just be as honest as we can. Just be super transparent.

All the information we've learned from the other centaurs. What is that information? Lucius and Sentry that Zarkira's got involved with her family and that her mother was a unicorn and she's no longer alive and

but before her mum died she teleported Rosemeadow to Eros and that's kind and that's kind of that's kind of it that's what all the bits century remembers unfortunately there is a curse upon your family who's

remaining in this black stallion forest and we don't know what's remaining of that family and whether they're safe or not there you go alright actually yeah between the two of you, you pretty much cover most of the points. You're all quite surprised.

There might be spirits. There might be trapped by spirits. Sorry about that. Just adding a little bit, you know. Sorry. Rose Meadow kind of takes it all in, but, you know, her expression has definitely returned more to her normal sort of happy state

and she just sort of like looks and she's like well i never knew my mom and i don't know who this family is but if you think that they might know more about me and and all this stuff then i'm happy to go and meet them. But I'm just worried about these woods and these spirits. It's an awful lot for something... Well, you only know me a little, and it's not like I'm some powerful warrior or anything like that. Like, why are you all doing this? Why are you all helping me? You've been a beacon of joy and hope to all of us since we first met you. Back in Kali's rest the first time. I just smell little lotions and crystals and things.

I can't be that important, Sentry. You're so much more important to us than I think you realize, Rosemeadow. You mean so much to all of us, and we would do anything for you. Just take Senshi's hand. Hold your hands. I appreciate it. We want to reunite you with your family. I just don't want any of you to be in danger because of this.

Like I said, it's not like i know these people or i know anything i mean i'm not a unicorn i know that much maybe maybe it's maybe it's just a coincidence this story that you heard or no you're special we believe that a hundred percent you deserve to know where you come from and well as long as i'm with all of you, I feel safe. I'm not worried. You know, I know that you all will do your best to protect us, but just, yeah, I just didn't really understand why you're putting yourselves at so much risk. I suppose it's just what we do you are heroes and she just sort of like holds sentry's hands

like I said on a rowis we are going up against starbane potentially hadar why are we doing it? to protect to save what we have. You're part of that, Rosemeadow. Oh, but that's so much bigger

and it's not just me. It's all of Arois. This is just for me. It just feels like so much. We're here. I don't know if I can ever repay you for this. I don't know if I can ever be of help or do anything for you it's just i believe you already are helping

so lucius let us we've chosen our path let us see it through and we also have you that brought us here in the first place which is helping thalia i was gonna say it's not about you doing anything for us you've already done something for us you opened the gateway for us to come here to lenaria so that we can we can save thalia you don't owe us anything but that was just I didn't have to do anything for that. No, that was, I didn't even know I could do that. That's just, I guess I'm just, I am saying thank you for all of this. I just, I don't want any of you to regret it.

If anything awful happens, I don't, I don't, I don't want to have that responsibility. I would feel awful if anything bad happened to any of you you have to promise me that you'll you'll you'll look after yourselves if if you know if anything bad happens just I just want you all to be safe we promise okay well I'm not scared I'm not I'm not worried as as long as you're not worried it's probably about then that big cheesecake comes out right well uh a little bit of a little bit of pixie dust we managed to make it happen but here we are one three tier uh cake two cheesecakes one victorian sponge frosted delightfully flavored wonderful one warm plate for the tall armored lady and

i've got i've got forks i've got spoons uh whatever people prefer really um here we are lovely thank you so much thank you. Thanks to Pixies as well. Oh, don't worry. They're paid, so don't worry about that. Your crockery is beautiful. This is amazing. One of the old plates we've had around here for a few hundred years. We have all sorts, really. It's all a bit eclectic.

Sorry, there's no matching sets. All the forks and spoons are a little bit different. And when she says different, like some of the forks are like pixie size. So they are like tiny, tiny forks. And then some of them are like clearly designed for like ogres. Like there's a spoon that is probably as big as like a hammer. You know, it's massive. Or like a little like garden trowel.

But it's like a big spoon. Like a high spoon. Some of them them are bent some of them are like engraved like all sorts what was that i'd like a weaponized spoon please a weaponized spoon you can probably that shovel one you could probably use as like uh yeah like a very rudimentary weapon lucius gets the cheesecake and then puts it on the Victoria sponge and starts cutting out. It's already, it's already placed. It's already on top. Yeah, yeah, of course.

It's all presented beautifully. I start cutting into that thing and start distributing. Sure. Segments. An amazing, magical cake for everyone. It's delicious. The combination is exquisite. I used to steal it from our family's chef all the time.

And it works. They never used to make it for me. Cheeky bugger I was. Incredibly cheeky, yes. Yeah. The bar lady, who none of you know the name of except for Lucius, says, well, if you're still planning on going to Black Stallion Woods, if there's any questions, I can try and offer you what I have, what knowledge I have. Seems like it's pretty set on your course from what I overheard. Indeed. Yes, if you could impart any bit of knowledge,

that would assist us greatly. Yes, if you could impart any bit of knowledge, that would assist us greatly. I can't promise that this is factual knowledge. I can really only just sort of tell you stories that I've heard. That's really sort of it. A long time ago, Black Talion Woods was a beautiful place. It was fully populated with all different sorts of creatures from all across Lunaria. And then, oh, a hundred years or so ago, something like that, the Empire came here.

Quite a large battalion of forces. They were rounding people up from all over Lunaria. Sort of seeking, they were rounding people up from all over Lunaria. Sort of seeking... They were seeking talented and gifted individuals, individuals who had rare magics, that sort of thing. And they were in the area, and there was some group, some group of rebels or something

came running through and hid themselves in Black Stallion Woods. And there was a fierce battle, a terrible battle that took place all over the place. So bad that a lot of imperial soldiers died. The forest is littered with their bodies and corpses and things like that. But the commander of these forces was so enraged by it that her rage and her own powerful magics created these two spirits uh that haunt the woods now seeking for these these lost rebels um never never stopping always always pursuing them uh with uh further a lot of knights a lot of free knights of lunaria

have come by here um fearing that these spirits might attack people on the road or anybody who gets too close to the woods. Only a very small number have ever emerged from Black Stallion Woods still alive, all of them haunted, all of them telling tales of how the rest of their group were slaughtered. I remember there was one brave young woman. She fled. The instant they became under attack, she just felt this unnatural fear take over her, and she ran.

When she glanced back to see what was befalling her companions, she watched. How did she describe it? It was as if the wind had come alive. Great black ribbons dashed through in the blink of an eye faster than I could track and with a flash of silver she watched as one of the heads of her fellow Knights was just cut clean off the head tumbled to the ground uh and vanished nobody I've I've I've known a lot of travelers

that have gone near those woods and I've never seen any of them again. And the people that I do know who are smart enough avoid the place like the plague. That is a useful story to tell. Actually, while we, I mean, I can't necessarily identify black wisps on the wind or a flash of silver well I might be able to identify that a little

bit I can at least say that some magical effect may have may have taken over these people and we can prepare for that in some way it's just a question of how do we stop the wind cutting one of our heads off you know i can't help you on that one but uh yeah unfortunately that's that's what i know about black stallion woods anyway pretty pretty dangerous place pretty scary place but if there's answers to be felt i mean, those rebels went into those woods for a reason, apparently. Kind of rebelling against it. And I know that something was protecting them in there. I don't know what, but some other force was fending off this sorceress commander.

I try and keep my head out of all the politics. I don't try and get involved in the empire or the the noble courts my my job is just here in the inn walking around the swamp making sure that people have a nice place to sleep and get a good meal how long ago was the story told to you me i mean would have been sort of what 70 60 70 years ago something like that. People come by. You know, you hear tales of travelers going near Blackstanding Woods and disappearing all the time. But yeah, I've been here for about sort of 300 years.

So I took over from my aunt. Right. Hmm. Well, thank you, Sue. You're welcome. Thank you. Lucius, wasn't it, you said, Sue. You're welcome. Thank you. Lucius, wasn't it, you said? Yes.

Excellent. Yes, what a wonderful group of people. It's been very interesting to meet you all and hear your stories and things like that. And you're welcome to stay in the inn until it verges off course. This has been a new experience for us as well. A multi-legged tavern, it's a first for

I imagine a lot of people that see this oh but do you have any idea of where we currently are or how close to the edge of the swamp we may be we're still heading north, it's been give it another sort of like 20 30 minutes we'll

be approaching the hour mark the in tends to sort of uh every hour it stops for about 10 minutes um yeah changing direction and things like that i really can't even predict it but i'll know i'll know if it changes course i'll let you know uh i'll begin to feel feel it turning so i'll be able to kind of give you a heads up if it going to go too far off where you want to go. But if you're heading into the Gazing Hills, then I know exactly where you want to get off and can make the easiest transition out of Yon Fenn. Okay.

I guess we should relax for a time and wait for this, well, I guess time to either jump off or walk off. Hopefully it stops in the right place. Yeah. Sounds like a good plan. Make sure you eat, everyone. Eat up. She's really enjoying the plate.

I'm surprised it's still warm. It's almost completely gone. Oh, I can warm that up for you, my dear. Oh, could you? Yeah, Sue just touches the plate and it warms up again. Oh, Andrew! I've got to say, I've never encountered a woman like you who enjoys a warm plate quite like that. It sustains her.

Really? Unique comfort. warm plate quite like that. It sustains her. Really? It's a unique comfort. I love seeing new things like that. Cooking new foods and giving people new ways to rest and find a little bit of joy in the swamp is always exciting.

So I'm more than happy to do it. Thank you for providing it, Sue. You are wonderful. More than welcome. Well, I will leave you to enjoy your cake and to enjoy your rest. I'll let you know if the inn moves. She just pops off back to the kitchen. Pops off back to the kitchen.

Cool. I'll look out the window and pass the time with, like, small talk. Sure. Nova, you can complete a short rest. Nothing else is going to happen in that time, so you can complete a short rest. Nothing else is going to happen in that time, so you can have a short rest.

Spell slots. Unless there is anything else you want to do or talk about, the inn, at about 2 hours 20 minutes, Sue comes and says, oh, inn's turning. I think you might want to head off. It's going to start heading due west momentarily.

Right. Thank you so much for your hospitality sir the cheesecake and victoria sponge combination was exquisite more than welcome uh the inn is still moving unfortunately we is about 20 minutes ago it last stopped so you're gonna have to get off while it's moving but if you just sort of time it you should be okay right so it's only about it it's only like a 10 foot drop and the ground is soft so you should be fine okay are we ready i'm i can fly you can yep all right yes you can yes okay good yeah uh you guys jump off i'm not, there's no rolls or anything like that. This is, there's no consequences to failure here. And you are only, you are a few miles.

Like you can complete this in like less than an hour. You can travel and be out of this swamp. With the time you've been on the inn, it's probably approaching sort of afternoon, sort of midday. But yeah, you jump off and continue your journey. And eventually you begin to see in the distance, sort of rolling green hills. You begin to see in the distance sort of rolling green hills you can see mountains in the distance and the ground becomes much firmer much less boggy uh

the grass begins to have less there's less of that stagnant water smell you begin to see more flowers brightly colored in all different shades and hues until eventually you find yourself fully standing on solid earth once more. Looking back, you can see the stretching out brackish water of Yon Fenn. But ahead of you, rolling green hills. Finally. We did it. We did it. We made it. Is everyone here? Everyone's here. Okay, good. Head count. One, two, three, four. Yes, we need to do this more. A count off. Yes.

Everyone say that you're here. And those who are not here, say that you're not here. Okay. Everyone here? Here. Here. Here. Here. Here.

Wow. Wow. Right, is anyone not here? Quill. I didn't hear Ayla. Okay. Quill. Yeah? You are the only one who would spot this.

You see Thalia wincing. You can see Thalia gripping her forearm and she's hiding a grimace. And then it passes and she goes back to normal. But you see her... Whilst Nova's distracted counting everyone. I mean, there was a line that was drawn on her arm, right? Yeah, Nova marked like sections and stuff like that. Has it progressed significantly beyond that?

Well, that's what you caught on your passive perception. If you want to do that, that's probably an actual perception check. So that was what you caught on your passive uh okay 21. yeah 21. i mean you would know like keeping track mentally you've probably been traveling for like 34 hours 32 hours uh and yeah it's progressed like the when you kind of glance at the tattoo you see it just before she starts rolling her sleeves down um actually no she wouldn't roll her sleeves down but she's like height she's kind of like holding her wrist um the briar thorn which is growing up thalia's wrist is like extended now and is almost sort of fully way down where it was like up here before it's now sort of progressed is nearly to the elbow

joint and she actually for the first like and you saw her like in pain like she was like for the first like and you saw her like in pain like she was like i think um hiding it if she uh like looks up at me i kind of want to give her like a a knowing comforting nod and almost gesture towards nova like a should i tell her and okay i mean i know about it that's fine um I mean, I know about it. That's fine. I mean, we know the time's ticking anyway. It's just... That's the thing. Yeah, like, you kind of, like, you see... And the pain does pass.

Like, she kind of, like, shakes her wrist a little bit, and then she kind of, like, just nods at you. But, yeah, like, you've definitely... I think it's more that, like, you knew it was progressing, but, like, that's the first time you've seen her react to it. Like, ow, this is actually... There was a reaction to something there. Okay.

Okay. It's good to know. For me, alone. Sure. Yeah, and I guess we can carry on with some... Can we see any sort of destination in the distance at all, or is this literally just Windows XP wallpaper? Rolling green hills?

No, you can see Lunaria is this kind of... It's a very alien landscape. You've kind of got this constantly shifting coloured sky drifting from blues to pinks, and then a section of it looks like it's almost in black and white, then a section seems almost like midnight blue. The sky is like an oil painting or like a watercolor painting all blended together sorry beautifully um the you can see forests and things like that the green hills do you're gonna need to go up so right now it's like you're mainly seeing sort of like the slow incline

of like these hills but once you get to the top of these hills you'll probably be able to see sort of regions a lot better and stuff like that. But it doesn't look particularly treacherous. These all look pretty, pretty safe-ish. Okay. Sure. Yeah, if we get to the top of a good viewpoint,

have a look around, see what we can see. Yeah, if everyone begins traveling, it probably takes you about another hour again just to kind of like traverse through the hills. You do see creatures. Unlike the creatures in the swamp, though, everything you see keeps its distance from you. And Quill and like those of you with a decent passive perception do notice you are being watched from like little caves hidden in the hills. You see goblins, you see hobgoblins, kind of a few of the hobgoblins

actually would probably be stood next to these, kind of almost like they look like mine entrances. And they just are watching you cautiously. They're not afraid, but they're just sort of like watching you pass. You do see in the distance what appears to be a group of six haranguans. So the bunny men,

but they're not like Viera bunny men they're like the anthra they're like bugs bunny bunny men yeah and uh they're wearing they almost look like bandits they're wearing like very rough looking leather armor they have like bows and you would spot them like they crest a hill and are spying on you and they seem to sort of take you in as a group and then they're like they shake their heads at each other and then they back off and they they run into like burrows and warrens and things like that and completely do not mess with you guys um you definitely have the look about you of people that yeah there's that's too much of a challenge that's too much of an effort for us nice yeah um yeah you reach the top of these hills into the gazing hills and yeah you see uh kind of stretching

around you all sorts of fields and farmland um big sort of like tall kind of shrub lands with thick grasses a number of forests off in the distance um but as you were given the directions you managed to locate overgrown uh no longer in functioning order but the strange set of metal rail tracks uh that run basically east to west and just completely stretch over and you were told that if you follow this, this appears to be the old King's Road this sort of magic train track and if you follow this, this will lead you and you do see in the

far distance, you begin to see the very far horizon, a thick wood seems to be in the distance. Oh no, the fence has fallen over. Probably like two hours of travel and you'll be at Black Stallion Woods from this point. It's about six miles, seven miles. Okay.

So this kind of like train technology hasn't been seen on a Rollis, has it? Well, it's not even technology. I think for like Nova, it would just appear to be metal rails set into the ground with wooden slats. And yeah, you guys don't know what this is. You wouldn't have seen anything like this. Like minecarts, sure, but I don't think Nova or Lucius would really have been involved with any of that stuff.

But yeah, mineshafts use tracks, but not to this scale. This is like a mega mega mega car people before mentioned train line like they said train and and the soothe innkeeper and the yeah yeah the people here in the fey wild yeah the people in the fey wild have mentioned it yeah yeah yeah they say train or magic train um because i think nova upon seeing it would just kind of look at it and be like is that is that it these train tracks is this is this it thalia is this what they're talking about these magical carriages traveling on on train tracks is this it yes i mean we we had one uh we didn't have one in hearts by i mean there was no magic train that connected hearts

Why we were quite? Quite separated from a lot of the other provinces, but yes, I know about them. I've read about them Thought they would be a bit more You know it sounds amazing technology of moving Going through this is just a track sweetheart. This isn't the actual Device itself the device itself is like a giant wagon, really, or like a giant carriage, but much bigger, you know, made from metal

and all sorts of things. And then it has a magical engine that drives it. The tracks are just for it to not run off all over the place. Keeps it moving at high speed. That's what I mean. I thought there would be more. I thought you'd need more for the stress and the tension and the weight and that's what handles by sort of handled by the

magical enchantments on the on the carriage itself and this allows travel across the entire planet no no not across the entire planet but over a greater distance it's it's more uh it's expensive you know it costs quite a lot of gold to keep the magical enchantments up and things like that but yeah people use it so it's more for um nobility and sort of uh creatures that can't move as quickly there's there'd be no reason for say the avian uh folk or the centaurs to use the Magitranes. They can just move faster. They're just more built for long-term travel, long endurance walks and things like that. But yes, for a lot of other individual races.

It's also something of a bit of a status symbol. You know, the Elven nobilities, the Eladrin nobilities, they like to ride in gilded carriages and have fine dining as they're traveling, sort of resting in comfort, really. You mentioned high speed. Exactly how fast and how close to this track should we be? Well, this isn't just... I mean, she points at it like,

this is overgrown, there's no way that this is still used. So I don't think we need to worry too much. But I remember reading, I mean, it was... You know, we're talking about a sort of faster than a riding horse, sort of maybe probably, I don't know, six, seven miles an hour, faster than we could travel. But the main benefit is that you can relax whilst you're traveling. Like an airship.

Yes, it's really not that different to an airship on a race, except this is, I mean, these are fixed. They'll probably be, from what I've seen of talking to Azaria and the people in Gusthaven, airships are quite expensive things to run and maintain. Once these are built, these are cheaper to run than an airship would be, but they also are limited. They can only go between two set points for the time being along these tracks.

Like a wagon on the... No, wait. Wagons can go off the road. I'm struggling to understand the point of it all. We're explaining trains. You thought two cars... They're the ones fucking asking me the questions. I've got to DM an answer. I don't want to do this.

Fucking Kim's like, trains! Imagine trains! I'm like, yep, they're just trains because i'm thinking about can we take this technology back to arois but then also make a joke about the prime directive but here we are now i can't make it now because i just said that was what i didn't think about the prime directive would not even remotely apply this isn't uh this is a an advanced civilization it's an advanced situation yeah it's but it's not the prime directive is to prevent like isn't that to prevent like

undeveloped civilizations from having technology that they shouldn't have. It's not to mess in a world's natural progress of evolution and technology. Whereas Erois absolutely has the technology, they just haven't had the idea yet. Well, it could be like in the Journey Home when the Enterprise came to visit Earth in the 19- Lucius walks through the Plextallian Forest alone. visit Earth in like the 19th I'm saying Erois and Lunaria are both equivalently developed in terms of magic and magitech

they are both about the same thank you Chris Trott, you make your way to the woods this is the argument Nova is having with Thalia as we are walking across right, that's fine convert it to a roleplay thing that's absolutely fine that's fine. You convert it to a roleplay thing, that's absolutely fine. That's the answer you get.

Anyway. Anyway. You guys travel along these, kind of keeping to these tracks as a waymark or a landmark to help keep yourself orientated. It takes you about two hours. Is there anything you want to, you know, are you prepping anything before you enter the woods?

Or are you just like, we are just going straight into those woods like bam let's go densely densely dark yeah this is it's not dark but it is um you know the the trees are thick uh it is old it's a very old wood so the trees are thick grown closely together there is a path uh when you get to the edges of the black standing woods you can see a very overgrown dirt path that seems to run through it um you also and this is the other thing you see as you're kind of like getting to the edges of this wood uh there are bodies lots of bodies sort of out in the open field um all very like you know 60, sort of 100 years old now. So, you know, bones, rusted armor, all very clearly Valkyrian soldiers. You do see a few sort of like other centaur bodies maybe as well, like skeletons and things like that.

But as you draw closer to the actual tree line, you see a body that stands out. It is fresher. It's maybe about 20 years old, so still decomposed. It is basically hanging from one of the trees, not by a rope, but it looks like to be a length of fabric, or maybe a tabard or something like that that's been cut into strips. And it is missing its head.

Its head is not there. Okay. And now, so, that's cool, but now these magically enhanced trains, do they have, like, a fuel source, or... They're pre-built, BC. They're pre-built. Yeah, we're going to need to get pre-built.

Is it pre-built trains? I mean, heading towards this... I'm not going to go back to train talk. Heading back towards this, I definitely want to do a spell I use all the time and every time forget the name of beacon of hope um okay as we're getting if i can feel some kind of magical enchantment or something taking place i want to so you're readying an action that if you feel a magical enchantment take place you're going to to cast Beacon of Hope. Is that what you're telling me, Tom Hazel? That sounds too late, doesn't it?

I don't know, is it? I'm asking you. You can't just be like, Mark, when me in danger, me cast spell. Like, when this happens, I do this. Like, also, I'm describing this as you approaching the tree line. You are

not in the woods yet. This is, you can see it's like open field. You've seen the fucking woods in like the English countryside. It's like open field and then thick woods like begin stretching out. And you are on the edges of that. There is definitely an ominous feeling. This place, the bodies kind of like, you can see like grass has grown around them,

but you clearly see like them half like in the dirt this has an ominous place there's no animal sounds it is deadly quiet you can hear just wind rustling through the leaves and the branches and that's it can i investigate these corpses and kind of distinguish like what what armies were here and like how the fight kind of played out. The fight was a pretty clear cut one. I mean, you don't need to make a check to identify the armies. It's Valkyrian soldiers and then it looks like a bunch of centaurs, some satyrs, like fey wild races basically.

So it's just a clash on the forest lining. Yeah, but it looks like the Valkyrians suffered a couple of losses, but it wasn't like a major battle. Yeah, it looks like this was like a skirmish, like a small skirmish of forces. Were there any corpses in the wood itself?

Or is it all out in this field? I mean, you can't, from this distance you can see the one body sort of hanging from this one tree, which is like right over the dirt path leading in. This is a warning. Like, this is a... Yeah, so Lucius is going to say that. That's purposefully placed there to ward off anyone from entering.

Would a spirit or a ghost go to such measures? Are they capable of that? Or is there someone inside warding us off? Well, I mean, if it was something raised by Zarkira, of course it's gross and evil and disgusting and murderous and horrible and torturous and going to murder us all. Yes. evil and disgusting and murderous and horrible and torturous and going to murder us all um yes is it a warning by people that don't want more people to die from beheadings placing that there as a warning rather than as a threat is what i'm suggesting it's a good sign in my view

that there could be people that may be willing to help in sight and thus Rosemeadow's family these possible rebels that disappeared or we don't know the potential of the spirits that this could be their work yeah it's hard to know

Rosemeadow just sort of squeezes Sentry's hand. Yeah, Sentry will squeeze Rosemeadow's hand back. Can I cast a Divine Sense? Just have a look around. What's the range on it? 60 feet. So it'll help me know the location of any Celestial,

Fiends or Undead within 60 feet that isn't behind total cover. Nothing within 60 feet. But I mean, this wood is pretty massive, and you're just on the very edges of it. Yeah, but the body hanging from the tree, the bodies in the ground, none of those are Undead. They are genuine just remains. They're not like creatures waiting to attack you.

Is that body Valkyrian or of the fey land? No, it's because it's also, as I mentioned, it's fresher. This is only about 20 years old. It looks to be like a kind of similar to the knights that you met, Lady Penelope's knights, but this one isn't avian. This appears to almost be like a lion man. You can almost see like some like bone structure elements and changes. Yeah, big sort of like big bulking strong looking knight but the head completely cut off could have been an

adventurer mercenary we don't know can i make some sort of nerd check like thinking about the line that sue told us from her the person who kind of escaped of um as if the wind has come alive black wisps and this this silver can i make like i guess uh history check or something what are you trying to what are you trying to know like i just like that will depend on whether or not uh is it a creature? Like, do you want... All the things... Yeah, all the things that Nova's read. Like, you know, does she know of a creature that fits this kind of wind and silver?

Yeah, that'd be an Arcana check, I think. Okay. It'd be a pretty hard one because it was a very loose, it was a very poetic, vague description. Yeah. 21. 21. I think even with a 21, there's too many things it could be you know lots of things like oh black wind maybe a shadow or a specter like an undead creature a wraith a

wraith kind of would fit that thing but then it's also like quick like the wind like the splash of silver like like so many things that it could be uh but none of it really matches together very well and you think that that's not nova's lack of knowledge it's more that the descriptions you gave was obviously somebody telling a story and being very poetic um but there's clearly something here the flash of silver the decapitated body i mean there's plenty of things that could be you know the gith yankee are very famous for you know you've read about these these planar creatures the gith yankee and the gith rosario uh the gith zari i think they're called um have these swords which can like their silver great swords which are supposed to be able to just like

cut off enemies heads and things like that you've read about uh you know creatures that maybe eat it it could be like a blade of annihilation or like a sphere of annihilation or something like that but again it's just like so much it could be um you know there's a lot of powerful magic out in the plains that eroes just doesn't know about because it's been secluded for so long um yeah I think it's probably safe to say that beheading is a common theme here. Maybe duck? Why? I don't know.

Well, there's also the fear that overtook them before they'd even seen anything. I still think we can ward that off in some way. Well, I can ward that off in some way. It's just a question of when. We've got no idea what attacked these people or how or when. Well, how we're heading. But there was also this protection that the previous group that entered the forest had. Is there anyone who has any idea of what that protection could have been? No. Not particularly, no. I guess all we can do is hope to meet them, right?

Hope to meet them first before the silver look for signs tracks any sort of movement in the forest i guess hiding places if they've been evading these spirits for so many years they've got to be good at their job or they found a way around it They've got to be good at their job. Or they found a way around it. Exactly. Something the spirits don't understand or are unable to reach. So, I guess we'll find... By doing.

By entering. Yeah, only way to find out. There's only one path forward. And yeah, there is a dirt road. Or you can just try and maneuver through the thick woods, as it were. But yeah, we'll come to that. We'll assume that you get on your way after the break. It's break time.

Nice. Nice. I am so ready for my beacon of hope to not ward off any fear and for someone to not have a head by the end of the next episode. Yay. Next part, even. We'll see. Maybe.

Just turn around and rose medal. Oh, God. No. But like 30 minutes later, we're like, wait, where's Rosemeadow? Again? There's her head. This time. Yeah.

For good. Sure.