High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois | #18 - Eternal Rest (Part 1)

Episode Date: January 7, 2019

The party have some time to reflect and discover Nightfrost is more than a simple bow! D&D Beyond is the official digital toolset for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Create your FREE account now and start digitising your campaigns here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/ Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Terms and conditions apply. Hello, welcome back to High Rollers. Welcome back to Aroas for the first episode of 2019. I hope you all had a great New Year's and Christmas with all the one-shots we played throughout December. We had a great time with those and managed to raise over $ million dollars for charity in the Yogscast Jingle Jam, so congratulations all round for such an amazing achievement. We are sponsored by D&D Beyond. Make sure you check them out with the link in the description. Create a free account, start exploring everything it has to offer. We simply cannot live without it at this point. We also have some exciting new things planned for

the future of this sponsorship, so watch this space. Anyway, I won't delay any longer. Welcome back to the world of Erois, run by Dungeon Master Mark Sherlock-Humes, with me, Tom, playing Kila Kad-Kalad, Bard slash Cleric. I am Chris Trott, I'm playing Lucius Viren, Elowin Elanastio, and I am a High Elf Sorcerer. Hi, I'm Rhiannon, I'm playing Sentry, I am a Guardian Paladin. Hi, I'm Katie, I'm playing Ayla, a Wild Elf Barbarian. And I'm Kim. I'm playing Nova, who is an Air Ganassi, and she is a Hexblade Warlock.

After the events in the derelict Remnant ship, the party have time to reflect and discover that Night Frost is a lot more than just a simple bow. Hello and welcome to Arois. A little recap on our adventures so far. Our party were once a bunch of strangers whose airship crash-landed in a hostile, frozen area on the southern tip of the continent of Savona. The party travelled through the dangerous Bitterwood

and rescued several civilians that had travelled with them to the small town of Rosehall. After a few peaceful days exploring nearby dungeons and healing their various injuries, the party had to deal with loss and rescued a young girl called Vala after she was kidnapped. After a brief encounter with a ruined elven palace Yes. its waters buried in the earth was a star ship that once belonged to an advanced empire that attempted to invade eros long ago the remnant a group of cult-like followers of the ancient invading empire had taken over the ship and were experimenting with a power source a sentient being

of energy an eterna called night frost after defeating the villains and freeing the eterna the party escaped before the ship collapsed. They retreated to a log cabin that was owned by the now-deceased Galen Sands, a mage-wright from the city of Goldthrone. They began to rest for the evening, where Lucius Eluin Elinasto, a high-elf sorcerer from the sky city of Gusthaven,

spoke with the Eterna Nightfrost and made an agreement. The log cabin that Galen had rented is quiet. The village of Ironwick has lost all of the homely charm it had when you first entered. Now it is a cold and eerie ghost of a town.

Mist from the lake clings to the foundations of the cabins like tendrils, winding their way around the stones to choke the life from them. There is no starlight, and the foundations of the cabins like tendrils, winding their way around the stones to choke the life from them. There is no starlight, and the sound of heavy falling rain against the roof drowns out the occasional shuffle or noise from the rest of the house. In one room we see a lean, strong wild elf woman, with hair the same shade of red as her tunic, and rough tattoos across her face and arms

as she listens to the rhythmic drum of the heavy rain slender fingers of one hand curl around a torn and tattered piece of tartan fabric whilst the other rests on the grip of a large hammer ayla what is currently going through ayla's head what is she thinking about in this time and place it is late in the evening and the rest of the house is sleeping i think she is she thinking about in this time and place it's late in the evening and the rest of the house is sleeping i think she is she's probably thinking about the spirit in the house that we were in and how she was so close to finding out some information about her family but also I think she's starting to given the recent happenings I think appreciate how much this group needs her to be around and she she's starting to be like well maybe there's something maybe there's something bigger

and she's worried about Vala a lot, I think. She's feeling a lot of sympathy towards Vala and her situation. Great. So as you think on that, we see tucked up beneath a cloak and blankets, stuffed into a large, comfortable chair in the corner of another room is an Arakokra, an avian features like many of his kin,

but only one wing can be seen One eye is closed Whilst the other is hidden by a leather eye patch The howling wind Outside seems to cause The slightest shiver Quill, are you sleeping? Trying to sleep?

I think what goes through Quill's mind Struggling to sleep I feel like he's Every town he's visited and every place he's been, even though as an Arakokra he'd be exploring the world and seeing all these things,

I think he's getting more and more disheartened by every place he's going to there seems to be traitors and evil and bad things going on. And I think it's slowly getting to him

that he's starting to question who's the good people, who's the bad people where does he stand yeah there's plague through your mind in another chair beside the Arakokra a feminine figure made of woods metal and stone is waiting quietly a guardian soldiers built in another time and spoken of in revered tones. Her eyes are like purple jewels that let out a faint glow that casts the room in a hazy, almost mystical light. Century, as the rest of the house sleeps or tries to, you stare into the darkness. What are you currently thinking about? What's on your mind um i think sentry would be holding echo and you know the

remains of him and being worried about the relic and why why they're here why are they still here um she'd be thinking about who else could possibly be in danger like are there are they anywhere else where could they be who are they hurting who have they taken she wants she's deeply concerned about the party she wants everybody to be safe because as far as they know they're the you know closest thing to family she's had since solving so okay she wants to keep everybody safe so as you're looking through into the darkness in the bed before uh near century and quill a young girl with dark black hair and dressed in simple leather tunic sleeps beneath blankets. She murmurs in her sleep, the faint name of Yusuf escapes her lips,

followed by a quiet sleepy sob. Her grip tightens on the blankets as sparks of purple magic dance across her knuckles. From downstairs, a naked feminine form is sprawled out beneath a blanket and drunken snores occasionally can be heard over the heavy rain. A pair of elongated white furred ears poke out from beneath a cushion. Standing at the window beside her is a dwarven man who drinks an amber liquid from a short glass. His eyes are dark and lips drawn thin as he watches I think that even when Nova's sleeping, close to her nova you're currently sleeping but what dreams or thoughts run through your mind what plagues your subconscious i think that even when nova sleeps her brain is just processing everything frantically and especially um given our recent adventures aboard the um lake ship she's just got so many questions just buzzing around her head it's like you know how did the

ship get there and processing how it's powered what night frost is about what night frost could be and then the information night frost gave about the Eterna and what Tiangong is and she's just thinking all these many many questions but probably the the one that's that's going through her head is I need to I need to put Tiangong back together. Now that she's discovered that Tiangong is fragment, she has a fragment of Tiangong, and there are so many, however many others, she needs to find out more and put them back together. No idea what that would do, but she wants to do it. This comes to you in the form of dreams.

but she wants to do it. And this comes to you in the form of dreams. You know, you have dreams imagining various shards in various locations and this kind of broken figure that you're slowly assembling and all these questions racing around you. Beside Nova's bed sat cross-legged on the floor is a blonde-haired high elf. His bright clothing and various gemstones

catch the faint light of the low-burning lantern, and his eyes go wide and his skin pales as a dark shape rises from his elongated shadow. A hunched, vaguely humanoid shape of pure darkness with a pair of glowing blue eyes emerges from Lucius's shadow. Is this more comfortable Master Elinasto? and a scream pierces through the house I can't do it again I know you can't do it but people can imagine it

and yeah, Lucius the cloak has evaporated from your shoulders and now this previously had been a cloak or a bow you're not quite sure what this thing is appears this kind of hunched, very thin, humanoid, but distorted.

It has like a face, but no hair. It has no features, just kind of black shape with these glowing eyes, and it kind of hunches in front of you. What do you want? Get away from me! Very well, Master Alinasto, yes. Yes, I can get away. And it backs off into the corner.

And you can see that its legs have taken form. So scared. It moves up, backs up, and it goes, It's me, Knife Frost, the Eterna. The what? Nova, you probably are woken up by the scream as well. In fact, everybody else

would hear it. It's shrill, it was high-pitched. It was probably going to go running with the hammer through the door. I think we would charge up as well. So you kind of begin throwing off the blankets and in the time you guys get to the stairs and make your way up, Nova you're

kind of coming to and you can see this thing is looking at Lucius and yeah, it looks at you as like it is me, a knife for us. Yes, I can take this form if this makes you more comfortable would you prefer another dial back just maybe a few millennia what's happening you're just

a cloud of shadow with eyes this is are you here to kill me no no are you a remnant no cloak of shadows as soon as you Are you a remnant? No Cloak of Shadows You're a shadow As soon as you say the word remnant And cloak of shadows

It's alarmed It's like No, no Are they here? They cannot be here They cannot take me back Master Lucius They cannot take me back

I will not go back He crawls up onto the ceiling And is now clutched at the ceiling Looking down Wait Our roles are reversed I'm meant to be the shit scared one Not you

Nova Why is everyone in my room? There is a looking down. No, wait. I meant to be the shit-scared one. Not you. Nova? Why is everyone in my room? There is a as the door is burst open as Sentry and Aayla are stood there with weapons drawn, Quill looming behind them. Pig over. I heard a really womanly scream. What's happened?

It was definitely Lucius. It wasn't me. Oh, I know. Are you okay? What's going on? Shush. And then you look up and you can now see this shadowy form with these bright blue glowing eyes looking down at everybody. And he's kind of hunched into a ball. What is that? I'm like raising a hand and ready to...

The cloak around my neck is now on the ceiling with blue eyes and it's calling me master. What? What cloak? You attuned to me, Master Lucius, as per the agreement. I don't know the tune. What tune?

What cloak? That one. That's not a cloak. You didn't have a cloak. What? Can I? Should I hit it? I'm going to hit it.

Wait. Should I? Wait. Don't hit things. I mean, it's usually the best solution. You saw it. It was a bow. Then it became a cloak. And now it's a person

Is this Nightfrost? So when it speaks by the way It doesn't have a mouth, you're just hearing it in your heads When it speaks It's just like a disembodied voice Yes, Nightfrost, yes That is me, the Eterna, you saved me Saved me from the darkness

Don't let me go back. Must not go back. I mean, you're already pretty dark. Like, you are darkness embodied. Can I try and prod it with my hammer on the ceiling? So you kind of like, like a spidey or try to like brush it away. There's a form there. You can push it, but it kind of scurries out of the way.

It moves around. Master Lucius, the wild elf woman, what should I do? Yes, she's barbaric. It's fine. Come on down and sit down. And it crawls down, like almost reverses and climbs down. Don't get too close. You're controlling it. As it gets closer to Lucius, its legs meld into his shadow.

Okay, that's strange. But it's kind of still like half of its form is loomed out. That's so cool. Oh, just that you would say that. Is it in me? No, I mean... I think it's in me. So wait, that's the bow...

The cloak. What's the cloak? It changes and you see the shadow just melts into Lucius's shadow and then around his neck it coils this black mist And then it becomes this black cloak Kind of tinted blue That trails an icy mist That kind of just drapes behind him

This is fine How long has it been able to do that? How long have you been able to do that? Since I had it When did you have it? Since when did you Why do you have it? You're creeping in my room.

It's from the ship. Yeah, but we agreed no one was going to touch the thing because it was speaking, you know, speaking in our heads, freaking everyone out. It's a bit weird. As you guys talk, three more figures appear at the door. You can see Arval Dagus, the dwarven merchant that's been traveling with you, his crossbow Evangeline in his hands, kind of locked and ready and ready and he's kind of like what's going on as he appears um and then next

to him kind of like kind of like not linking arms but clearly close to him is vala one of her knives kind of like held out in front of her defensively and quill i think you're the only one that would really spot this behind them just standing and staring at all of you is um a girl a girl that you rescued from the ship estelle you can see this kind of like dark hair she looks very similar to vala but she's just kind of stood there looking into the room century didn't you yeah saved her santa does not appear she's passed out she's passed out Arvel I know how you are With um Spectral Things

Don't worry Don't worry I think we've got it Under control Vala Maybe It's very late Maybe now's a good time

To go to bed And maybe I was sleeping And then I heard The screaming And all the shouting Womanly scream I'm not gonna get to sleep

Quill What's going on? Aayla, Sentry, what's happening? Lúthias has a new friend by the lips. When I put it down and let go, what happens? It just goes wherever. It's like fabric, but it does seem to kind of flow behind you

in its own momentum and movement. I'm going to pick it up and start pulling it out as if it is fabric and seeing what happens it just drops is this pleasing to you master? I'm going to walk up to a mirror is there a mirror? no not really not commonly available

a polished like light there'd probably be one in like a bathroom you'd probably get a vague idea but it's late at night there's no starlight it's the clouds you can hear this heavy rain drumming. Dancing lights.

You create light. It's all around my head. Yeah, and with the light from there, you can probably use Sentry's polished metal armour. Sentry, hold still, hold still. Can we just... Yes, this works, yes. Not quite the fashion I'm used to But yes

Very lacking in colour Night Frost I'm afraid that I do not know much of colour Look underneath Look at these beautiful robes Strange robes I lift them up

It's like this Yes I can see The fabric that you wear Where's your eyes by the way In this form I do not need them You're not looking at me are you I can see all things Wait what I me are you I can see all things

Wait what I can see you I can see the others I can see this room And everything around you I can see into your mind as well master I can hear your thoughts You can

Get out of my head I can't I can't I'm sorry I'm sorry Please Yes The cloak disappears again And the shadowy form kind of rises

And it scuttles into the corner. Bad magic away. I'm sorry. Get out of my head. I'll put a hand on Arvel's book crossbow. He starts trembling, and you kind of push it down. He's like, what the hell is that? That, that, that is, that's Night Frost.

The bow? From behind Arvel, you just hear this kind of girl's voice. That's the thing that tried to kill me. Well, when? Wait, what? When I was being held in the ship. They brought me before it. It nearly drained the life out of me like it did the others.

And then it's just she stares, completely flat expression. Yeah, remember the four shadow girls that you fought in the shop? Nightfrost? Yeah. He looks up. Did you try and drain this poor woman? I didn't mean to. They made me Master Lucius. Explain yourself.

Or others. Their deaths are on me. I killed them. I drained them of everything. It gave me my thoughts. It gave me strength. But I didn't want it. I didn't want it.

No, not at all. No, enough. Enough. It holds its kind of clawed heads up to its hand and it just turns into the bow again. And it goes silent. Everybody, enough. Okay? Enough.

You've spawned in here. It's the middle of the night. We're all really tired. This is not the time for discussion. Why were you in my room anyway? Just going through my things. We're bunking. Oh, apparently.

Well, look, it's clear that Night Frost has several different forms. I don't know why that's so freaky, but you shouldn't bully him. Deimos made him do this to these girls. You know he's traumatized by it. And you're pushing him into a corner, threatening him, leave him alone. I mean, this is the first time we've spoken to a weapon, to be fair. Like Tiangong, we haven't to a weapon to be fair like Tiangong we haven't actually been able to communicate that with that with ourselves, but

This thing this thing seems to be able to do more it can turn into a clone. It's got a history of draining poor children Because it was made to do it by Deimos Remember bad guy fought under the lake. Well, if you hadn't screamed, then we wouldn't all be here to... Lucius, we know it's you. What? Oh yeah, no, that was

very clearly you. Right. Remember when you sport the cows? You screamed like that then as well. Nova would have a... Anyway, Night Frost bad, isn't he? Really bad. What do you think, Century? Valor kind of looks up to you. It's strange.

It's all very strange, but I don't think Night Frost is bad. I just think he was, you know, he was just following orders, but he was doing things that he wasn't, he was doing things that he was being made to do. He's clearly in distress over what happened. When Daddy used to sit me down

and read me bedtime stories all of the baddies used to be shadows evil things like that with blue eyes Lucius it said you attuned to it or something like that yes and you attune of some kind

but I know a few tunes from Gusthaven and honestly I don't think Night Frost would really go for the melodic vibe that I most aware. Well listen, I'm going to try and get some sleep. We should maybe, Lucia, she should. How can I sleep with this in me? It's in me. It can read my mind. It's not, it's a bow, it's on the floor, it's right there.

Yeah, it can read my mind. It's been in Night Frost. That must be quite a dull conversation. It doesn't my mind. It's not, it's a bow. It's on the floor. It's right there. It can read my mind. It's been in. Well. Nightfrost. That must be quite a dull conversation. It doesn't say anything. Are you going up and picking it up? Yes. Yeah, you pick it up.

It's a short bow. You can see it's almost made like from jagged ice and it has like a black bowstring that's almost like made of mist. Nightfrost. I'm going to go into the corner. Mm-hmm. Do you know the colour of pyjamas I wear?

You just hear, if you think of them, Master Lucius, yes? I'm thinking of them now, yes. And what colour are they? They're multicoloured. There are many colours. I don't mean to. I can't help it. It's just, it's nice to hear others' thoughts, not just my own.

Do you know my memories? Everything. Only if you think of them. God, it's hard not to now. Stop tricking me into thinking. Anything you think of. I'm thinking of horrible, traumatic, like, getting bullied. Yeah. As a kid. Dude, listen!

I can't help it. Oh, no! If you want to, you can unattune. You could break our bond. I'm going to sleep on it. Very good, master. Lucius? He looks like he's in pain. You can see he's literally in the corner, like, whispering to the ground.

He looks like his head's going to explode or something. Tell the bow I'm sorry. I think... I can hear him. Yes. I can hear you. Thank you, Master Quill.

Can he read our minds? He can read every... Well, assume the person... I can hear them if they speak. That's the tune. If they speak, I can hear them. Right. He can just hear you as if a normal person would.

Okay. It only reads my mind. Those are pajamas I've been wearing. Well, I think Nova's got a point. Let's all get out of her room. Yep. Try and get some sleep. We've got to travel to Kaylee's rest tomorrow.

Oh, yes. We've got to take the body back with us and he gestures behind him to where this girl is still just staring into the room. Yep, thanks, Arable. Father's body. Yep. I'll put the girls to bed and make sure they're okay. I was like, it's fine, I can take care of myself, but yeah, maybe take the other one.

I don't know how to deal with her. And yeah, you guys can go back and try and get some sleep now if you want I'll stay behind with Nova while everyone else leaves okay do you want me to stay with it's fine it's just Lucius I know like that's why I'm like I'm right here

I can hear everything I know just letting you know he's talking to a bow at the moment. It's a bit weird. I talk to a dagger. Yeah, I know. You're both a bit weird.

Just asking. If any sentient weapons try and kill you, just make the same noise and I'll come through. I'll go back to that. It's shot my voice, but yes, I'll try my best. Yeah, the scream ruined the voice. It was quite, quite piercing. Didn't I pick up the arcane pistol as well?

I believe you did, yeah. Hello? Hello? It's this kind of ruined, flintlock-like pistol. You can see that it's engraved with various symbols. It has a chamber for four rounds at a time. Okay. Almost like a revolver.

Nothing. Damn it. Okay. Almost like a revolver. Nothing. Damn it. Okay. So everybody leaves. Century, are you going to try and take Estelle to a room? Yeah. Okay. She just looks up at you and she just kind of nods and just follows you.

She doesn't really say anything but she seems to be aware that whatever's happened is finished. She does look back into the room one last time at the bow in Lucius's hand, and then she just turns back to you and is like, yes, I should sleep, and then just follows you. But there's very little emotion there, just kind of follows you, and you gently lift her up into a bed, and she just lies down and just stares up at the ceiling. Doesn't seem to really sleep, but doesn't

resist in any way. I just say to her, it'll all be okay. Don't worry. I'm fine now. I look forward to I hope that my mother as well. And then just staring. Very little reaction. Lucius, you stay behind with Nova. Luke, I have to be honest with you because someone

else is reading my mind now, and he could tell you anyway. Yes, I may have snuck in i'm not bunking and i had i had just an inkling okay about this this night frost thingy making sure you're okay and the tiangong you know you talk about tiangong a lot and and then it started talking to me and then then it all made sense. And then some sort of tune happened. I didn't hear it. And now it's in me. It's fine. I just...

Look. What you have now, if it's similar to what I have with Tiangong, it's a gift. Don't worry about it. I mean, it's a gift in the sense that there is an ethereal, dark shadow with blue eyes in me. But isn't it exciting? A little. Lifeform has bonded with you.

It will fight for you. It will protect you. You're not filling me with much joy, unfortunately. That's not optimistic. Look, we don't know what's going on, but Night Frost needs our help, and Tiangong needs our help, and according to Night Frost,

their whole race of the Eterna needs our help. They could help us against Calus, if he's coming, he really is coming back. And look, I know it's scary, but we'll figure this out okay we'll figure this out my one concern is this thing was powering the remnant ship so was tiangong and we are just walking around aimlessly without a clue in the world no offense to you i haven't got a clue in the world about this powerful artifact that I'm holding, and

who wants to say that I'm not going to use it, without me even knowing, for bad? Like I'm just powering it up, ready for the remnant. It's a valid point, but from what Nightfrost has said so far, I trust him.

I trust that he doesn't want to be used by the Corps of Shadows. Look at him. What gives you that trust? Icy bow of black evil strength. It's not evil. It's just a feeling, okay? Tiangong is scared of the Court of Shadows.

When I found the shard in the Remnant ship, it spoke to me and it was scared and it wanted me to take it from there and every time the court of shadows are near i feel that same scared feeling again if you just you know the brief conversation we've had with night frost he's been the same he didn't want to be used by deimos he's traumatized by it i will say one thing this is a very powerful ancient thing right yes so it's very clever mmm they clever a bit more clever than you no offense there he knows more things mm-hmm so here's the story when I was a little boy and I was sleeping my nanny Norfya was very lovely very lovely lady

they did to me I love her so much. Anyway, she's lovely. And sometimes she's very, very strict. And she wouldn't give me my hot cocoa at night. So what I used to do was I used to play pretend. I used to really, really pretend to be scared. I wasn't scared because I was a big boy. Anyway, I was super pretending to be scared so that Nanny Norfair would give me what I wanted.

But you are fundamentally a good person, Lucius. Yes. If push came to shove, you wouldn't harm your nanny, would you? Though I am questioning my entire moral compass on this very trip. Yes, I'll try to aim to be good. Yes. But with you by Night Frost's side, guiding him and and helping him you can be a good influence on him my worry is who is guiding who well look just keep an eye on things and talk to me and talk to the others and if you have any doubts and worries we'll deal with that when we get to

them but for now be a friend night frost needs kindness and i think you can give that to him and who knows with a little bit of kindness what he might give back to you yes uh maybe overthrow the arrows or something i'm joking uh anyway good night good night yes so as you guys head to bed, Ayla, as you're kind of resting there, can you give me a nature check for something? Roll an ant nature bonus.

Eleven. Eleven. I'd say with your background, the heaviness of the rain, the strength of the wind blowing outside and the fact that there's no starlight must mean it's overly clouded you think that there's a storm coming and this is something you've always been quite susceptible to with your background and your powers you've always kind of had a nose for when a storm is coming you think there might be one on its way maybe a couple

of days out maybe a you know a day or two days three days you're not quite sure but the weather's turning and the storm's on its way do i know how long is it does it take us to travel to our next um from what you've spoken to with arvel and the others kaylee's rest is around a day's travel like almost every kind of township is about a day leading up to gold throne it's kind of they're all separated because they're all on this golden road which is like the main trade road um and kaylee's rest you know you've heard is it's quite a big town it's got a proper wall defense fortifications it's you know it's the biggest settlement outside of uh gold throne in the area so um yeah it's about a day so you you

suspect that worst case scenario the weather will be bad tomorrow but you'll be in the in throne in the area. So, yeah, it's about a day. So you suspect that worst-case scenario, the weather will be bad tomorrow, but you'll be in the city before the storm hits. But you're not quite sure exactly how long it will take. You just know that the winds have changed and a storm is blowing this way. Okay. With that, the rest of you complete a long rest

You can go to sleep Oh yes, very good The morning is not much better It is dark, it is cold rainy, windy It is a miserable morning and there is not much warmth or joy

in the cabin when you awake either. There is this kind of permeating sense that a lot of bad stuff has happened around here. It's broken quite early with a knock at the door. So who would like to get it? You hear grunts and groans from Santa as she's pulling herself awake unwelcomingly. I think the people that are downstairs would probably be Aayla, Quill, and Sentry. Yeah. So, yeah, you hear a knock at the door.

Yeah, so Aayla gets up, you open the door. Outside, you see a dwarven woman with grey hair, spectacles. You can see that she's got various cuts and bruises bandaged up. You can see her short sword at her side, but she's not really armed or armed. She's got a sword, but she hasn't got any armor on. You recognize her as Missy Steeleye. This is the field warden of the town, basically,

the local sheriff meets mayor. And she's just, well, good morning to you. I'm sorry to trouble you so early, but I wanted to come and speak with you after last night's events and say thank you as well, to you especially, miss. If it wasn't for you and your companions, I think me and some of the other townsfolk, we would have been in a whole heap of trouble.

Yeah, see, wild elves, not so bad. I've never had a problem with your kind But I can't say the rest for the town Would you mind if I come in? Sure Thank you very much Do you want me to go and gather the rest of them? They're not quite emerged yet

I would certainly like to speak to some folks That weren't here last night As I understand it, there was some Shenanigans in the town With the general store I'd just like to find out what happened in the town with the general store. I'd just like to find out what happened. I'll run with the troops.

She comes in and she tips her head to the others and takes a seat. You can see she starts pulling out little rolled cigarettes, strikes a match, starts smoking while she waits for everyone else to be gathered. We heard about what happened while we were away. Sorry that you had

to be involved in that. Oh, well, thank you very much, Mr. Quill, was it, I believe? That's the one, yeah. Thank you very much, sir. No, it was not a

it was a heroine time, obviously. Very sad, but it certainly does show that, well, there was more going on than I realized, and that's my mistake. But I'd like to ask, whilst your friend goes,

probably, what happened last night? I mean, I'm aware of what happened here. Spirits attacked, but what provoked them? Where were you? There's been a lot of mysteries going on. I'd appreciate a straight talker. Yourself and Miss Guardian here as well. Well, I think it would be best if we Yourself and Miss Guardian here as well.

Well, I think it would be best if we give the full account when everyone is here. I'd like to hear from both of you first, please. It's all very strange. Well, we're investigating a disappearance. And we discovered that one of the shops in the town was linked to a ship that had been in the lake. A ship in the lake? The green glow you were seeing at night that seemed to have been coming from a reactivated ship of some kind. She nods, and you can see there's a pained expression there.

Why don't you give me an insight check? Okay. You can do as well, Century, as well, if you want. Holy piles. 12. 12. 13. 13. a pained expression when you give me an insight check okay you can do as well century as well if you want probably piles 12 12 13 so century you kind of

pick up on the breathe on me she's kind of pained because obviously she kind of knew there was something about the lake about this globe

but she wasn't you get the impression that she wasn't sure what but she didn't really want anybody else to know so when you kind of mentioned the green globe was caused by the ship you can see her kind of wince a little bit and she's like really want anybody else to know. So when you kind of mentioned the Green Globe was caused by the ship,

you can see her kind of wince a little bit. And she's like, really? I mean, I had... It's good to know what was causing it, at least. So you discover this ship. It was connected to the General Star, you say? I mean, we knew that there were some problems there. Some of the towns where there was a break-in.

Oh, and some thefts as well, I believe. Some thefts. Well, even more so, last night it was broken into again. Several trade suppliers had been taken, traveling gear, that sort of thing. Enough for three people. Oh, were there? Right. Well, we followed our trail to the general store,

and it seems like the people working there, the three young girls, I think, they had some things in the back room that were odd, to say the least. Such as? Well, the owner of the shop was tied up and they were going to sacrifice him. Interesting.

I spoke to... He tried to do that so delicately. I spoke to... Just a little human sacrifice, you know? The owner of the store, he doesn't have a lot of... He doesn't have a good recollection of the evening. He remembers having a late drink, falling asleep,

waking up tired up in a basement. Well, I have the, I can see magical things, and in his drink when we examined the place, there was definitely something there. So someone was spiking his drink in hopes to... You're rolling dice. In hopes to take him to the back room.

So I believe we came to a conclusion on that one. So you go down, you find this sacrifice. What then? Why didn't you come find me? found this sacrifice. What then? Why didn't you come find me? Well, because we... It was a very harrowing time.

We were panicked, to be honest. We discovered a tunnel under the store. Yes. So where the sacrifice was being taken place, behind it was a tunnel, and we went down the tunnel to see if there was anything else we could investigate, especially since there was a disappearance. And it led to the ship that was in the lake. Ship? I'm assuming we don't mean a sailing ship here.

No. You're referring to the old ships of the Starbane Empire. Well, yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes something to use against you. I just want to know what happened. Okay. So you go into the ship. Well, after following the trail of the missing girl, and there was some stuff down there. Please do elaborate, sir. Well, there were some, the people,

there were people working on some things down there. They were old worshippers. Worshippers? Old worshippers of the Remnant. Indeed. And so... But they had kidnapped the girl that we were looking for. Galen's daughter.

That's correct. So we rescued her and brought her back. I see. And you fought these cultists? Yeah. Yes, we did. That's correct. Mr. Quill,

when somebody is trying to get the truth and asks you to tell them, try and not skeet around the issue. Oh, no. I've been truthful with people before many times, and it's worked against me, actually. Well, I'm sorry to hear that. Thank you, Century, for your honesty. I wanted to know because I was aware that something strange was going on,

but this town, it's small, and we don't have much trade. We rely on the lake. It's the only way that people can make money around here. I've been worried that if people start talking, if there's strange goings-on, people are going to start coming to Ironwick, and then I've got a lot of people who can't support themselves. It's my mistake. After those spirits attacked, it was clear that something worse was going on and I believe that I've got you all to thank for preventing any problems.

You're welcome! At this point, yeah, you're probably coming back with everybody. I know it's not ideal, but at least you're safe. Indeed, and that's why I came. For not only Miss Ayla's services, but from what you've told me, you've done I am Wick a great deal. And she kind of reaches into a pouch and she pulls out a small sack of gold coins. Oh, I'm relieved.

It's not much. It's 200 gold that I put aside for investigative services. It's all I can spare, but it's a thank you, a reward for helping out the town and looking after its people. Well, it's much appreciated. Thank you. I would ask that the sooner you can be out of Ironwick, the better. Oh, wow. Your presence is kind of off-putting for some folks. It's a reminder of some

of the bad things that have happened. So if you can be on your way, I've secured a wagon to take Galen's body back to Kelly's Rest. A horse for you to take. Just leave it at the stables in the city. They'll bring it back. I wanted to come by and

find out exactly what happened. Yes, Ergonessi. Question! Yes, please. What happened to the three girls? You know, it's funny. I was always... Something was always off about them girls,

but they were sweet, they were kind, and the village liked them, so I let them be. And after... Well, after the break-in, I went down into the basement and did some looking around myself. I found traces of a partially erased circle, a magic circle used in rituals. I found a few ingredients to make poisons and sleeping potions that might explain a few things going on. Turns out the girls are missing. Nobody's seen them since last night. There's a

number of things taken from the general store, though. Boots, cloaks, tents, traveling gear. Enough for three girls? Enough for three girls to survive out in the wilderness for a while, anyway. They worshiped Zahkira. Zahkira. Starbane's in command. Lady. Yes, that's right.

I remember the old legends. She was a commander of military forces. Interesting. I'd be careful in case they come back and, like, smite you. Yeah. I'll need to send out a few people. I'll request some additional forces. Maybe see if anybody from Rose Hall or Kali's Rest can be spared.

Are we going to prison? No, no, Master Lucius. Whilst I don't approve of y'all getting up to business in my town without telling me, I do appreciate what you did, and you obviously had

the best interests at heart, so no prison, no prison, no punishment, payment for your services, and a thank you from me, but I wouldn't expect a hero's welcome from the rest of the town. She adjusts her little glasses.

I never do. I'm sure you don't, man. The amount of traveling gear they had, is it enough to get to Katie's rest? I don't think so. I think they'll, if I was them, they'd probably know that that's where you're heading.

They don't want to have any more trouble, I suspect. They'll probably find somewhere, maybe go into the Iron Wheel to the big forest, camp out for a few nights, and then double back somewhere else. I see. I'd suspect that y'all are the ones that need to watch your backs.

I don't think they'll come back here. We treated them right. If anything, y'all are to blame for their current circumstance. You're making friends. You've made one, if nothing else. If there's anything else I can do, please let me know, but just wanted to come by, check

what went happened. Yes, Mr. Lucius? Are you interested in establishing a charity? For what end? I mean, if you're offering a donation, then certainly that would be most welcome. We established this in Rosehall. Yes.

And it's going superbly. Very well. And someone of your caliber could be very good at moderating such. And you could commune with our beautiful lady

from Rosehall who is doing a fantastic job right now. People make donations and there's a little pool of funding if things need doing in Ironwick.

There'll be a little deposit there and then people just contribute what they can. I mean we don't have a pool of money or donations or anything like that. Oh you could probably take that 200 you gave us to start with I will let you discuss that with your team first. Oh yes

obviously. Yes the team bank fund that's right. Obviously that gold would help a lot for the people in Ionwick, but I do believe it is deserved. You worked for it, but it's your choice. If you do wish to return it, my office is on the way out of the city. You can drop it off with me there. But I'll speak to the folks from Rosehall. It's an interesting idea, but Ionwick doesn't get the trade that Rosehall does. If you had a trade route, it's stylish.

We do. Sadly, we don't have anything much to trade. A little bit of lumber, but our mines died out years ago, so. What about scraps from an ancient remnant ship? Well, now, that is the interesting question. Now, do you think that it was... It must be... The lake is very deep. I'm assuming... Was it at the bottom?

Submerged? That tunnel was very, very flooded. It kind of maybe sunk a little bit when we left. It's interesting. Remnant technology does have a lot of value, and things like even the raw metals and things and crystal is extremely valuable. The Dragonborn always buy up remnant tech.

Yeah. It'll make it harder for cultists to get back into it anyway. Certainly something I'll look into. It could be something to put some folks to work at. You could also not break it down. You could make it maybe a tourist attraction of some kind. Come see the old ancient remnant ship where we faced off against

cultists. It's not actually a terrible idea, but I do feel that salvaging it would be more profitable. Yes, but once you've got rid of it, it's gone. Salvage it? Then no one can, like, do that again. Plus, you can make money from the lake

because it's no longer a creepy, green, weird thing. Yeah. Well, I'm assuming it can be used. It must be a derelict. There's no power on it anymore. It got flooded. Anymore? It was glowing green.

She looks at Nova. What do you mean? Huh? You said that it doesn't have power anymore, implying that it did. Well, when we rescued the girls, the power got knocked out. I see. And it sunk.

Give me a... You're not lying. Give me a persuasion check. You're trying to move the conversation along I'm persuasion-y 20 okay yeah she kind of like you managed to kind of just be like oh yeah yeah yeah it was when we did this

and it kind of covers it up enough that she doesn't question it but there was a minute where she was like hmm but yeah you think you might have dissuaded her from inquiring further. Got some clever engineers or something I'm sure they could get it back and running again. Possibly. The Dragonborn are the ones who understand those ships best.

They match their own. Yeah, the DBs. Sentry, do you not think it would be best to just, you know, tear it to shreds so no one ever did it again, ever? I'd like to see it gone. Guardian knows better. Tear it up. Well, we'll see what we can do.

But I am not of the persuasion to keep something dangerous around If we can scrap it and sell it So we're saying no to the Starbane theme park thing What's it? You're a very funny man Mr Quillock Good idea I like that one Thank you Well I'll take my leave of you

Mum said no She kind of takes it out nothing park and she kind of steps out the door she takes up another little kind of like rolled up paper cigarette lights a match and start smoking she leaves um and then you just hear from like a sofa behind where it's just like as this half-naked bunny woman just pulls herself up. Hair, like this white hair just everywhere. She kind of like looks up groggily, her kind of like little flat like nose, kind of like, I smell gross. You look amazing.

Thanks. Thanks, honey. And she like just groans. Do you have any clothes? Oh, shit. And she like looks down. And she, like, just picks up, like, a top, but just drapes it over, like, her top half.

She's still wearing, like, underwear and, like, a little kind of, like, flap of cloth, but her tail sticks out the back, and she's just like, that'll do. No, it won't. It's very lewd. And blushy. Oh, bless you.

Aren't you sweet? All right. she just like gets up she's like i need to water face it's raining it's raining outside she does she like literally gets up and like goes out around the back and just strips off and gets her clothes and starts like like washing her hair and stuff out in the rain. Okay. Yeah, weather's really gross. There's a storm coming, by the way. So those winter supplies that we got, you know. Would our cowboy hats and all that fancy traveling gear we got? It'll certainly help, yeah.

You got winter clothes, and winter clothes will be prepared for storm weather. And cowboy hats. You did get cowboy hats and tents. Who has those written down by the way i know people are carrying different things oh i think i do hang on i think everyone as long as you've got them written down we divvied them up we divvied them up white fur coat and huge white stetson yes that's that is your winter gear lucius i think i was teamed up with bedroll

you do have bedrolls i don't have anything anything. I've got bedrolls, but I think Sentry took the tent. Sentry's got one tent, I think. Shopping list, five bedrolls, five warm air lights, four tents. So you've got a tent. Well, Nova can't carry them by herself. You were going to carry it because I'm tiny. Yes. Yeah, I've got a tent.

So you, we were going to pair up. There's a two person tent. Sentry has one of the tents, Kim, so you can mark one of them off. Okay. Add item. Four tents. And five bedrolls. With Nightfrost, I've wrapped up the bow form blankets because it looks

quite intimidating. So, with the bow form, this is something you'll know through the attunement process. I think I've already attuned you to the cloak form on your sheet anyway. Yes. So you get all the benefits from that. As a bonus action, you can ask Nightfrost to change his form. So if you prefer him to be the cloak, he can just...

All the forms look kind of intimidating and evil, though, right? The cloak, I would say, is the least intimidating. But it's got, like, ice trails. It kind of has like a... It's like a cold mist kind of flows off of it. But lots of enchanted items have similar vibes. Sentry's eyes glow, you know. Tiangong glows.

Tiangong glows. Tiangong looks very weird. It looks very alien. Glow squad. Yeah. It doesn't really glow. Like, Night Frost is just like, it's like a black cloak with like a faint mist. Are there any patrons in this establishment right now?

You're in like a private cabin. You're in like a log cabin. Oh, yeah. I'll go cloak form then. Okay, so you ask him. He's just like, yes, yes, of course. Master Lucius, yes, I can become a cloak. Yes, very good.

Very good, yes, yes. Yes, yes, yes. Sorry, sorry. Yes. Just do it next time, honestly. My apologies, my apologies. I'm so sorry. It's all right.

I failed you like all the others. Oh no, it's fine. And the thing is, is it becomes very clear that, like, once he starts, it rambles on in your mind. Not audibly enough, but it's there. It's like somebody constantly talking in your ear. And even if you're asking him to be quiet, he just apologizes and carries on for a bit,

and then he goes quiet. Hey, got a little plan. So when we speak, let's just say one sentence and then stop. Let's try that. Very good. I will try that, Master Lucius. Yes, I will try. And stop.

Okay. And stop. Very well. See? You're already getting it. That's perfect. Yep. You just go silent.

Lovely. Okay. So in the morning, the weather is terrible outside. Santa, after washing and very hungover uh does put on clothes her armor and stuff like that and she kind of goes a bit quiet and once she starts sobering up as she begins prepping the wagon with the body of galen sands father of estelle and the one who initially hired santa to find his daughter who sadly died when the ghosts attacked spirits attacked um so she goes a bit

quiet um she's still you know polite and friendly but um she kind of is focused on that um she kind of comes in at one point kind of holding estelle like kind of holding her by the hand and just kind of puts her in the room with you and is i need to go take care of the wagon can you just watch her for a minute uh yeah century you could watch her do you want some help uh sure yeah come and give me a hand if you want um yeah century if you don't mind yeah and the girl just kind of just stands there and like looks at century very well and just stands next to century hello hello How did you sleep? Feeling better? I didn't sleep. You didn't sleep? No.

Why not? I did not feel tired. Are you okay? I believe I am uninjured. I'm not hurt. Have you eaten? Do you want any food? I'm not hungry.

I haven't felt hungry for a while. Try some food. I'll get some like, some rations and... Okay. Yeah, she like takes a little bit of food, she looks at it, like, just eats it. Does that feel better? It doesn't feel any different. And you can just see that...

Ooh! Ooy! Jeez! Seems... I mean, she eats it, she finishes it, thank you, she just hands it back. Nightfrost, you're seeing this, right? So when you start speaking to Night Frost, it's like, I did that to her.

That's my fault. One sentence. I took part of it. One sentence. I can't help. And then you just, you begin hearing, like, sobbing in your mind. Okay, it's all right. There, there.

I start patting myself. You start patting my clothes. It's okay. And then just, she's like, no, it's not. And then just goes quiet. So we can't give back what you've taken. No response.

Oh dear. So, Quill, anything you would like to do? Arval is going over some like little notes. He's made like a kind of partial map

of the road and he's just kind of going over a few things. He's made like a kind of partial map of the road. Okay. He's just kind of going over a few things while everyone else is getting ready. He's packing up everyone's gear.

He's packing up like Valor's gear. I mean, if he's got a map, that's where I am. Okay. Yeah, he's kind of showing Valor

he's just like, well, it's a few days, hours out. We'll follow Alana for us. Ah, Quill! He's going over the

way to get to Kali's Rest. So how long will it take us to get to Callie's Rest, on the wagon anyway? I mean, with the wagon, it's only one pony, and then the wagon itself, it's still going to take us about a day. It's not going to speed us up.

Most folks are going to have to walk, or we'll have to get some horses of our own. Oh, okay. If we go on foot, it'll take us about a day. Okay. Because Ayla was mentioning a storm. I guess we. If we go on foot, it'll take us about a day. Okay. Because Ayla was mentioning a storm. I guess we've got some form of protection,

but is there anything we should be worried about on this road? Do you know? I mean, it's close to the Ironweald. There's points where it comes pretty close to the edge

of the forest. Well, you've seen what that's like. It can be a bit dangerous. That's where a giant elk... Yeah, well, there's worse things in there, trust me. So there's a few monsters we should be aware of. You occasionally

get bandits, that sort of thing. But, I mean, Cali's Rest is a big town. They patrol the roads pretty well. They've got a big group of folks specialized in the Iron Wheel. They go out and make sure there's monsters nearby and stuff like that. We should be

okay. We won't have to run too far if we do get... No, if we need to get in trouble, then I think making a run for Kali's Rest, I mean, it'd be a long run, but we could do it. Okay. What about Kali's Rest itself? Is there anything we should expect? What kind of... Yeah, for sure. It's a big city, full stone walls, probably way bigger than Rosehall. It's a pretty big town.

Biggest outside of Goldthrone in this area. Temples to all the gods. There's a spell clash arena there. There is musicians. Not quite stadiums, but little theaters and lots of stores that you can buy from, traders. Do expect the prices to be a bit higher. They know that they can charge it there. So I can try and work my magic, but they know that

they can charge a premium. Do you have any business in Kelly's Rest? I don't own anything. Most of my businesses are in Goldthrone. I mainly deal in export and import. So a lot of my business is done elsewhere and then comes into the main city and then gets sold out to the smaller merchants, but I know the owner of the Dale Gale company there, Arturius, he's a

good dwarf, a fine fellow, loves his weapons and armor. Big history buff, too. Oh, I think we need to visit them anyway. I think we have something in the way. I think that spending a couple of days in Kellyaeli's Rest could be a good idea. I mean, we could do with a little bit of comfort. There's great inns, there's good food.

It's a place to stock up and resupply. Well, I think there's quite a few folks that wouldn't mind a little bit of a chance to find out a few things. Libraries? There's a temple, the Hesper. That's probably the closest thing they have to a library. Oh, okay. Hey. You, me.

Yeah. Temple to Hesper. Yeah, getting our read on. Nice. Yep. I'm a very slow reader. That's okay. Anything else?

Oh, I mean, I guess Sana will know where we need to go with the... I think Sana said that she's going to take Estelle and the body to Galen's and then said that she'll just part ways with us at the gates. Oh, okay. I guess that's everything then, as long as we have everything here. Good to go. As soon as everyone's ready, we can be on our way. Okay. And with that, is everybody

ready? Or is there anything anybody would like to do? I'm ready. Is there anything you can buy to help with storms? You kind of already have. You bought winter gear and stuff like that. I bought an umbrella. That's going to get blown away. It's like a little visor. It's a cowboy hat, but

my spikes just tangle. So it's a robot lady with a cowboy hat on away. It's like a little visor. It's a cowboy hat, but because my spikes just tear. So it's a robot lady with a cowboy hat on, but it's like torn through, like thorns and vines sticking out of it. Nice. Okay. I'm going to tap Sentry, making that metallic sound. Ting, ting, ting, ting. Yeah, Sentry.

Hello. You're an eternal ray of optimism And happiness in the world You checked in on Valar recently I wonder if it's worth giving her a little Yeah, why not? Let's go see if she's alright Yeah

I'll leave it to it I've got to talk to my new fashion item Okay So yeah, you want to go find Valar? She's currently stood next to Quill and Arvel, and she's kind of... Arvel's trying to, like, go over the maps and stuff, but she's not really paying attention.

She's just kind of playing with her knife, like... She's got it, like, stuck into the table, and she's, like, twizzling it a little bit and, like, seeing how deep a hole she can make. She's just like, mm-hmm, yep. Yeah, we're going there, yep. And he's like, it's blah, blah, blah, and this road, and 20 years ago, I used to walk down this way,

and blah, blah, blah, just telling old stories. And she sees you, and she's like, oh, Century, hi. Hi, Valor, you all right? Yeah, I'm okay, yeah. And she kind of looks down a little bit. She's like, it's just been kind of crazy the last couple of days, kind of scary too. I know.

Those ghosts, I mean, I'm so glad ayla was here because if she hadn't been here i i don't know what we would have done they were gonna take me i don't know where i guess to the ship where you guys were but yeah i don't know um we're trying to think about it it's over now we've got new adventures ahead and it's gonna be yeah i'm looking forward to ahead. Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing the city. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I just, I just, I hope that, I hope that they don't come after me again. Because they found us in,

and then she goes quiet. But she doesn't say Rose Hall, but you can see she's about to, and then she goes quiet. I put my hand on her shoulder. We'll do our best to keep you safe, Valor, okay? I know you will. We'll always be looking out for you.

I know you will. Thank you, Century. Thank you so much. It's okay. And then she kind of nods. And then she seems to pay a bit more attention to Arvel again. She's like, he's been telling stories all day. And he's like, that's right.

I used to travel these roads, you know. Me and Evangeline, we got our first, we killed our first iron elk around here. The iron. They're dangerous beasts. Is that the big ones? The really big ones? Real big with their horns

Almost pure iron You can smelt those down And make a fine blade Blah blah blah blah blah And just carries on telling us Oh would you look at the sentry It's time to go Time to go

Yeah so with that We jump ahead So you guys take the wagon out of town The wagon can basically take two people on it and then the body kind of it's underneath like a covered top covered wrap kind of thing it's like a like almost like a trade wagon it's not like a big you know people wagon it's like something used more for trade but two people can sit on that there is one horse which is hitched up to the wagon itself an old gray pony with black mane

and then everybody else is kind of on foot but the road that leads out of uh ironwick and leads north towards kaylee's rest is pretty good um it's not like a stone road it's not paved or anything like that but it is a well-worn dirt track with the rain it has become quite muddy but you can something's been done to treat it so it isn't like thick slurry you can progress on it quite well and yeah you begin making your way to Kaylee's rest

most of the trip is uneventful you spend hours in the wagon you stop for a brief lunch and then when you're a few hours away at Kaylee's rests. Do not bust out the miniature mark. You see, on one side there is a hill with rocks,

and then a number of trees on the other. And as you begin approaching, you quill. You're the first to hear this with your passive perception. Something is breaking through the forest, something strong. And you begin to hear like, run, run! And like somebody calling out very faintly.

And then the rest of you begin seeing this as Quill starts pointing it out. Two figures. And they are unusual because they are both guardians. What? Two guardians come running out. One of them is, he's like a male human shape. He has six eyes, like two on his top head

and then sort of like one lower down. And you can see that he has got like, I think, I can't remember exactly what weapons he carries, but I should have it here somewhere. Not that this is particularly important, but he's got a longbow. So you can see like one big quiver on his back but he's got a long bow so you can see like one a big quiver on his back and he's carrying a long bow he's kind of much more lightly armored than

century he only has a few metal plates he's mainly wood um and then this then the one next to him is quite small it's almost like a halfling sized guardian um and you can see that this one has uh two eyes um but it's dark in color. All of the metal and wood has been stained, almost like dark browns, dark greens, like camouflage. And you can see that one of his hands is a crossbow. It's almost like completely a crossbow, his one arm. And then the other one that you can see is just like a normal hand with a short sword in it.

And they're running. They're running out of the woods. And when the taller one sees you, he just looks, he's like, get out of the woods. When the taller one sees you, he just looks. He's like, get out of here! Run! And then from behind him, you see...

No, no, he's moving! He's moving! So... Holy shit. What a big map. It's annoying that we don't have a better map for this. So we've got the wagon.

This is the wagon with Arvel and Valor in the wagon. Santa's walking alongside it. We'll say that Estella's in the back as well. So if you guys can place yourself got the wagon. This is the wagon with Arvel and Valor in the wagon. Santa's walking alongside it. We'll say that Estella's in the back as well. So if you guys can place yourself around the wagon. With our brand new minis. With your brand new minis. Thank you, Can't Think M.

And Russ for sculpting. And Russ Charles as well. Can someone move me to like the empty bit? Perfect thing there. We'll try and take a photo of it. And then from behind. No! Could someone move me

the other side? There you are. So chasing the two guardians, you see a creature. It is not a dragon. I have used a dragon miniature. Oh, okay. It is winged and it is flying.

You can see its large wings end in these huge claws but it only has, it doesn't have like four limbs as well as wings, it just has wings and then two big legs that end in claws. It's a wyvern, but it looks very different. Its

scales and its body is streaked with what appears to be like iron plates. wow and you can see that its claws have this jagged iron like texture to them its tail where wyverns normally quill i'd say that you know this quill is quite knowledgeable about the world wyverns normally have like barbed stingers this one it's almost just like a big lump of metal and bone kind of malformed. It's almost like a big club. Yeah.

And it's flying after them. As it's chasing after these guardians. What colour is it? It is kind of like iron coloured, so it's kind of got like grey metal mixed with green and tinges of bronze. And as it begins chasing after them, the guardians are like, get out of here, run! And I think that we'll take a break and then come back to this combat.

Okay, cool. Yeah, it's a little bit early, but why don't we do combat after the break, eh? Yeah. If that sounds right to me. Holy crap, can we run? Holy shit. No.

No. I mean, it is in front of you. Yeah. It would be difficult to, but you could. You could certainly try. We can go back. We're going to take a quick break. We can certainly try.

Big thank you once again to Ross Charles and M. Electric Eve. Yeah. They're incredible. We'll take some cool photos if you've not seen them. We'll see you in five minutes. See you in a bit. Don't go anywhere. Hey, thanks for listening to this episode.

Make sure you check out D&D Beyond with the links in the description. And we'll see you on Thursday for part two of this episode where we face off against a dangerous wyvern we'll see you then