High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois | #27 - The Land of Roving Storm (Part 2)

Episode Date: March 14, 2019

After encountering some of the locals of this new land the party get to know their new ally! Thanks to our sponsors D&D Beyond and Displate! Displate offer durable, steel, high quality canvases with a huge choice of artwork from a wide selection of artists! The High Rollers have a collection that you can view here: http://bit.ly/displatehighrollers 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

Pickaxe. Add your team to your Uber account today. Shop Best Buy's ultimate smartphone sale today. Get a Best Buy gift card of up to $200 on select phone activations with major carriers. Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to High Rollers, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast in the world of Erois. Run by Dungeon Master Mark Sherlock-Humes, with me, Tom, playing Keelakad Kalad, bard slash cleric. I am Chris Trott, I am 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. We're sponsored by D&D Beyond. Use the code WARMPLATE to get 15% off the legendary bundle. We're also sponsored by Displate. Use the code HYROLLERS15 to get 15% off your order. Check both of them out with the links in the episode description. Anyway, on to the episode. After a fight with some crocodile-riding lizards, the team are getting to know their new ally.

Welcome back, friends. The party have just rushed to the aid for Half-Orc. They didn't know who it was. But what heroes they are to rush to their aid. Could be a total asshole. Who knows? Who knows? Whilst they are on the new continent of Voxar,

trying to find some assistance in resurrecting Sentry. Quill knows the area a little well and has decided to head inland following the paths leading from the beach. And you have encountered en route along these paths, near a swamp, near a large fen, this mysterious half-formed woman. And yeah, we watch as the crocodiles, which you know are storm scales, rush off into the swamp and the various bodies of the lizard men are left behind. Yeah.

Oh, what a shame, those storm scales, they're delicious. Oh, well. Can I loot the corpses? Oh, well. Can I loot the corpses? Yeah, the wild elf just moves over towards these scaled humanoids, these lizard folk. Most of them, their weapons are very primitive.

You know, bone-made battle axes, shells, kind of like large turtle shells, sculpted into shields. The shaman had like a gnarled wooden staff, a necklace made of bones with small ornate beads on it. Take that necklace, that's a little trophy there. Yeah, sure, yeah, absolutely.

Are any of them still alive? Nope, pretty dead. Damn it, Nova, you could understand them, right? We could have got the other side of things, you know, weighed up what's right and what's wrong, and now we're just kind of going with our instincts. I think they pretty much just wanted to kill us all, and with that, I'm just gonna go back to Sentry's body

and sit down next to it. Depressed Nova. Yeah. Yeah, I was actually gonna just go back up to, like walk past, go hi, just a minute and go back up to where Sentry is and just pick up Sentry and be like, Noah, yeah, I'm taking my carrying duty seriously. I don't want to leave her. I'll talk to her. Yeah, it's tiring. It's definitely tiring lugging her around. Don't bring sentry near!

Um, hello? Uh, hello, hello, um... Thank you very much, I'd like to offer my thanks for you helping me. You didn't have to do that, it's, uh... Thank you, thank you. Uh, you said these were delicious. Was this just hunting? Oh no, I was sent out by, uh... By the good townspeople of Karku.

They sent me out to go and investigate the area. There's been some strange goings-on, and I found myself out of my depth. If it wasn't for you, I would surely be fooled for them, as they are fooled for me. So thank you. Well, I mean, Ayla kind of smashed one down there, so there might be some pieces.

No, I don't like to drink my food. Thank you, thank you. I kind of have to. It's all right. I don't like to drink my food Thank you. Thank you Covered in grime. Whoa She was sent by a town to kill these things. What's your name? Oh, you can come down. Hello It's a bit slippy. I don't want to. Please try. I want to watch. Nova? Yeah? Let's go down the

slippy hill. Don't worry. Just hold onto my shoulder and I'll start walking down. Yeah, I mean, it's not that bad. You're not just going to go... Well, I don't know. It is Lucius. You can walk up and down a hill. Well.

Thank you. You can make your way down. But as soon as you get to the bottom of the hill, like your boots sink into this spongy, mossy ground and this kind of layer of stagnant rainwater just like. Can't we just meet back up at the hill? It is gross down here. Sorry, I spat everywhere.

You notice that there are bugs just flying around like these little kind of water flies. How do you live in these conditions? I suppose you have to be a lizard person. I live quite well. It's not that bad. So introductions, I assume. So why don't you all start? I live quite well. It's not that bad. So, introductions, I assume. So, why don't you all start? I've never seen your kind here before. You're a very strange group to be in these lands.

Well, actually, could you start? Sure. For 10 gold, I can start. 10 gold for an introduction? 10 gold if you want to know about me, yes. Well, it's 15 gold to find out about this glistening fellow right here. Very expensive. Shall we make a trade? How about we just give our names to each other? Because honestly, I'm sick of this.

Okay, sure. Sure, it's just a funny jest, I suppose. We've been through hell. It looks like you have. I wasn't going to say I thought it might be rude funny jest, I suppose. We've been through hell. It looks like you have. I wasn't going to say I thought it might be rude, but you look weary. Oh, yes. We've traveled very, very far in a very quick space of time.

Personally, I find smashing some crocodiles in the face very therapeutic. Yes, you're very good at that. I can see that you would do very well here. Excellent to know. I would do well here. Someone didn't look at me and go, uh, Wilder, uh, this is new.

This is better here. This isn't Siverna. You all did very well, though. I think all your skills would be greatly appreciated around here, actually. Well, I mean, I saw what you did to that one. I point at the slash bro guy. It's nothing.

Really? It looked like something. It's just my job. I just do this. It's no mean feat for me to do that kind of thing all the time. It's fine.

I get paid for it. It's a good life. Good? Look at this one for my dirty boots. It's something. But anyway, I'm Araya. Araya the swamp floor. My dirty boots. It's something. But anyway, I'm Oriah.

Oriah? Oriah, captain of the Goldtooth. Goldtooth? Captain? Yes. Do you own an airship? How do you spell that? It's a O-R-I-Y-A. Spell that real wrong. I think you asked that in character. Nope. How do you spell that? So you own an think of a last that in character how do you spell that

so you own an airship we can go owned and not quite an airship more like the water vessel oh a boaty sorry I didn't mean to be offensive it's ok I was just really looking forward to an airship

it's your sky elf yes yes yes hoping to go back home any time now. Interesting. I don't see your kind very often. A half-orc with a boat on the eastern side. Are you part of the... I can't remember. Wide kings?

Oh, no, no, no. The gold tooth is more like... Wait, it's not wide. Something. Something like that. I know what you mean. The gold tooth is more like a trade vessel. We sail around and trade bits here and there,

go out looking for treasure, and then my bastard brother stole my ship and my crew and ruined everything! Okay, okay. But it's a good life. But it's a good life. Life is good right now. Until I get my gold, then I will get my ship.

Right. So you're being paid for this specific... But this, yes, I'm paying very well for this. It's very good work. You are, are you? Yes, it's very good. And then when I get enough gold, I can buy a boat, go find my bastard brother and get my ship back. That is the plan.

Right. Shit. Okay. Well, we just helped you. You did? Well, we just helped you. You did? So do you mind helping us get to this town that you got this mission from?

Oh, Karkool? Sure, sure, I can take you to Karkool, yes. But please, would you introduce yourselves to me? Because you are strangers and I would like to know if I can trust you. Of course. How rude. I'm Lucius Virion Eloan Elanasto of Gusthaven. Pleasure to meet you. I'm sure you've heard Elowin Elanasto of Gusthaven. Pleasure to meet you. I'm sure you've heard of the Elanastos on your trips. Not really, no. No, but it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Skyel.

Pleasure is all mine, I'm sure. You really haven't heard of the Elanastos? Not really, no. At this point, who has heard of them? Sorry, I'm really distracted because Trot's biscuit just disintegrated into his tea. It just probably just sunk and fell in

and I can't do this anymore. I want to zoom in on his cup of tea. Tom, do that. Okay. It was a disaster. You don't know how much I held that in. I want to zoom in on the cup of tea. I can't see it.

Hello, darkness. It's bad. It's real bad. That's like half a biscuit. Aw. Anyway. Sorry. Carry on.

Wildelfius yes Ayla Lovely to meet you You too Strong woman Yes Fantastic Capable fighter I like those

Fantastic I love it Beautiful He's a bird I'm Kila Kadkala Yes I healed you in the fight I'm doing that now

I'm doing that now Is this the most awkward introduction to people ever? Most likely, yes. I'm just going to clean my hammer and just zone out a little bit now. So are you with the messenger guild? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be up there? Oh god, it's getting more awkward. Oh god!

Well, up there is Nova. She's an ally. And also we have another... Eganessi! We're down next. Oh, over there is Nova. Hello, Eganessi! Hi, I'm Nova. I'll probably get you killed, so you might want to stay away from me. I very much doubt that, my young one. Your magic spells are amazing to witness. Yeah, the ones that hit. But still.

She's going through a bit of a rough patch. She's sucked all the life out of the conversation. We're all going through a bit of a rough patch. You can probably see... Nope, it's fine. We're on a bit of a mission. Okay, what are you carrying? What is this? This is the body of Sentry. I got her killed.

That's not correct, but this is the body of our friend. We may have the power to bring her back to life, so we need to go to a town where someone can do this. But she's still covered, so she still can't really see that it's a guardian.

Okay, no problem. She's a guardian. Thanks, Lucius! A guardian a guardian. Thanks, Lucius. A guardian? Yes, and we got this star. If you hadn't said it was covered up, he wouldn't have said it. He was too busy eating biscuits.

Well, that's very interesting. I hope every biscuit you eat falls into his mind. It's a bloodbath back there. That is a horrible threat. You cannot make that. Pretty bad. Especially the British people. Nothing but terrible, soggy, disgusting things. Everyone's screaming.

How dare you. Lucius has said that now. Great. Kate, you should be careful carrying those things around. Yes, this is why she's covered up. Thanks Lucius. Not those things around. Yes, this is why she's covered up. Thanks, Lucius. Not those things. But, anyway,

how far is Karku Kul? A couple of hours travel from here. Karku is maybe two, two, three hours. Oh, that's well, through this kind of what is this? Mud? This is like a swamp.

It's just water and mud. Why does this surprise you? Have you not seen water and mud? Technically, it's peach. It's peach! I'm out. I did a lot of research on wetlands. Last week was so serious, and now this. This is happening.

I think you guys needed this. Anyway. Fuck me. Yes. So, Oriya, for your information, yeah, Karkool is, yeah, like a couple of hours. It's not travelling through the swamp. You'd actually go back out into the hills and up and around. Then you know that this particular swamp is, they call it the Witchmoor.

That's what they call this area. But yeah, yeah, it's a couple of hours, but not in this territory. You can move away from this ground. You've done your job. You've come and find out what's going on. Excellent. Can you help us avoid this?

And also, you're worried about some storms of some kind? I mean, I guess there's storms all over the place. Like over the place like me. No, I haven't checked to see if the songs will get to you today. You're welcome I'm just waiting for so you're worried about storms Okay, cool. 25 to 10. Okay. Can I keep an E right for Storm? I guess Aayla would usually pick up on that anyway.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's just what this place is. It's filled with Storms. It was just so distracted by biscuits. It's just a way of life. People just get used to it and we deal with it however we can. People get used to it. They get used to it and we deal with it however we can. People get used to it! They get used to it Lucius! If we go to Gusthaven we have full control of the weather and it's insanity that anyone lives like this. And people, do they, does anyone ever choose a thunderstorm?

No! Does thunderstorms make crops grow? I don't know. Do they? And why aren't we in Gusthaven? Oh wait, I remember. I just remembered very vividly everything that's happened in the last 12 hours. Can we not? Can we not go back?

Let's just keep moving forward like you say. Okay. Okay. Weather is just character building. That's what it is. I like this one. This one is good. She talks a lot of sense.

You hear that? It's character building. The locals like me here. I'm staying forever. It makes you tough. It makes you tough. Lightning makes you tough, Ayla. It makes you tough.

I'm like pointing at my shoulder. I realize that this is an awkward moment for you, but, and I'll just like crackle lightning in my fingers. Sometimes it kind of does, but don't worry. Okay. I'm not going to, but don't worry. Okay. I'm not going to go near you with it. Good. You have to admit that it has helped us in battles.

It makes you tough, Araya. Excellent. So, Kaku, shall we go? It seems like you're pretty keen to make a move, yes? Moving forward, whatever you keep saying. Yes, it's... Yep pretty keen to make a move, yes? Moving forward, whatever you keep saying. Yes, it's...

While we move, I've got a few questions about the town, if you wouldn't mind. Okay, no problem. So while you start travelling, again, you have to slow down. You can immediately tell that there isn't the birdman has an injury and can't move very fast. And Aayla, although

she's strong, you have to keep stopping to rest because carrying a super heavy robot woman is exhausting. So you have to take rest. So it's very slow going. The weather does seem to be getting worse. There are clouds gathering overhead. And Aayla, you notice here in this country, you don't really get a sense of that there's a storm coming,

even though you can look around and notice the same symbols. You don't get get a sense of that there's a storm coming. Even though you can look around and notice the same symbols, you don't get that supernatural sense of a storm coming. You don't think these are natural storms. Interesting. These are magical storms. Interesting. But yeah, so when you start traveling, it does start to rain. It gets windy.

It's not pleasant traveling conditions. But if you want to ask questions, you absolutely can. Are there beds? Are there beds? There are beds in people's houses, yes. You, Araya, you would know Kaku. It doesn't have an inn, per se. It has a drinking hall.

It has a blacksmith. And it has people's cottages. And a couple of crafting halls, a windmill. That's it's not it's kind of in the middle of nowhere it's a bit of a you know middle of the sticks kind of place um if these guys want to rest there then you're either gonna you're gonna probably need to either try and cram them all into your like little cottage that you have for yourself that they gave you or you're gonna have to find locals that will let them put them up in their houses. Okie dokie. What's the cuisine like?

Delicious. Very good. At least there's something. I thought to that after this long day. Are there any clerics or healers or anything like that? Not in Karkul. There's a local healer, but she isn't, you know, she's more like, you know, medicine and like, you know,

It's another centaur lady, isn't it? Not even that level. Like, she's not a potion maker. She's like the local wise woman that people go to, like, and they've got an ache or a cough. You know, she has like ointments for cuts and bruises, but she's a doctor, not a medical, like a magical healer. Could she heal his ribs?

Unlikely. But you would know that the next town over, Stenhill, probably has enough. Stenhill. Yeah. Okay. Lovely. My local doctor will assess you

and see the nature of your injuries. You might be able to heal, you might not, but there are ways if you can't. There are ways? Yeah, there are other people around who might be able to help. How far around? Sten Hill's probably about a day's travel from Cockhall. One day? Yeah.

About another day, day and a half. Two days at the speed Birdman goes. Why'd they take his damn wing? I could fly there. You could have broken ribs. Did you just hear that? No, no. Is there anything else you want to ask? Or we can just jump ahead?

Yeah, I think... There's no major encounters up until this point. You're travelling through the valleys and the hills. With Oriya to guide you, you can kind of stay out of the worst of it. With the wind building up, Oriya, you notice, keeps to pass. Even though you think it would be quicker to just go this way, she keeps you in the bottom of the valleys. And here you can see plants have clung to the sides of hills and they bend in the in the direction that the wind would blow

stormlight it's massively stormlight very roshar stormlight inspired and in fact you can see the plants themselves as the wind and the rain begins to build up a lot of these kind of colorful plants they shrink down and they kind of get sucked inside the body of the plant itself. The trees, their bark is incredibly thick and tough. It looks like you'd have to really work to pull it away from the body itself. But you have a few hours of traveling and you left very early,

so perhaps it's around midday. What are your rations like and where are they stored? How would you know? I don't know. I guess. Are they visible in a pocket? They're probably hanging from my belt, yeah, like in a little bag.

A bag. Yeah, on my belt. You try to steal food. I'm just gonna try and dip in and take a little bit. Like sleight of hand style? As I'm just like, hello Nova, how's things going? Pocket eat. Do you actually say pocket eat? No. Pocket eat.

Num num. Oh no, so I'll just... It's checking in, everything's okay. Yeah, like everyone says, just got to keep moving forward. You've got to get century Do you know what's fascinating? I considered birdie my rock and he almost broke and that almost absolutely destroyed me and I was moments away from absolute breakdown anyway pocket eat

You went your way through the hills and eventually in the distance, you begin making your way. We're just glossing over that. Yeah, I am. It's not my job. You said pocket eat at the end of the conversation.

Yeah, that was clearly done. How many of my rations have you eaten? Two or is that just one? Just a few little moussels. Okay, so that's one. Yeah, that's one. Like these are trail rations, it's not a lot. I like how you've picked the person who's most depressed to steal from yeah i've been anyone else that's because that's she's not she's not gonna fight back that's true

um lucius doesn't consider it stealing he just he's always been given food yeah so he's just like no just hasn't given it to you yet that's you're just you're you're. You're taking it so she doesn't have to give it to you. Skipping the process. She doesn't have to deal with it. This is how we do it. It's all right. I'll just starve to death later. You see a village.

The stone cottages are built into the bases of tall hills in like a slow, not a valley, rather on the side of a number of hills rolling down towards where the swamp you just came from. So kind of like these north facing hills and the cottages are built into them. And on the hills above them, a lot of them have wind turbines, some of them like windmills, some of them more vertical with kind of like vertical slides. And you can see people milling around. They wear, unlike wear unlike savona these they're not dressed

in anything like close to savona these people have um thick woolen kind of tunics that look very waterproof waxed hoods um that are like down their clothes are all tight they're kind of wrapped around like there's no loose flaps of clothing everything is wrapped quite tightly um thick boots that come up nearly to their knees so they can wade through the bogs and things like that. And they all have a stern look, but they're all quite pale, lots of fair hair, blue eyes, very Scandinavian, the humans that you see. But you also notice that this place is full of different races.

This isn't like Sivona where it was mainly humans and dwarves. You see goliaths, you see rock g gnomes you see halflings um you see tieflings you even actually at one point glance uh um a wild elf carrying a big barrel into a larger looking cottage kind of uh there's like a small uh symbol of like a flagon outside of it you see this like wild of carrying it in there covered in tattoos and things i guess no high elves um no no high elves uh no arakokra um maybe a couple of ganassi yeah like maybe like one earth ganassi but not many still rare but not many um and it's a small village there's maybe like 10 buildings 12 buildings not many at all okay um and as you approach there's kind of a path leading in

and you see you didn't you wouldn't have spotted it, but there is a kind of shallow guard post dug into one of these smaller hills, and a man from inside looks up and is like, Who's there? No, even I didn't spot that one. Oh, it's you, Oriah. Hello. I've picked up a few travelers along the way.

Travelers? Where did you all come from? Ha, well, uh... Good question. Where did you come from? I don't think I asked you. The coast. The coast?

Are you a shipwrecked or something? Sure. Yes. You can see that the coinus, his eye is narrow. We don't. He looks to you, Oriah. Be careful with these ones. They're not. You can just see that there's this suspicion. Strangers.

They seem trustworthy enough. They've just had a hard time. They just need some rest. Well, you can go to the drinking hall and take them there. Just be careful. We think there may be a storm coming pretty quick. No problem. So get inside while you can.

Did you find what was causing the trouble? Oh, yes, yes. It was a lizard folk riding... Ah! Yes. Storms damn those lizards. They're always causing trouble. Taken care of now. Thanks to these folk here, they helped me, they assisted me.

Oh, well then perhaps... My apologies. I was wrong to judge you so harshly. If you've helped Oriah in fighting the lizards, then you can't just be some foreign sops coming to... Not this again. ...gloat at these small people.

Yeah. They're quite capable. They're very strong, actually, in combat. They might be quite useful. Oh, good, good. We don't normally have a lot of attacks from the witchmoor, but it's a tough land around here. You should be careful.

Who do you follow in terms of, know who do you pray and all the gods of the starborn children but it depends when there's a funeral we pray to killara when there is a storm we pray to hesper and zephyr no thanks yes when it is on the stars we pray to Sjæske. It is... Why? What do you think? You are a sky elf, no doubt, sure. If anything, who do you pray to? Sjæske.

We are obviously the first race from Sjæske. And this human just... he doesn't even seem bothered by that. He's just like, well, you'll find life a little bit harder down here, Skyalf. What's yourself? I've been on the lowlands for a long time now. Ah, well, if you've been anywhere that wasn't Mirskir, good luck. Yeah. He gives you a nod.

Good job. Just kind of gives you a nod. We'll make sure that you get the money and you're delivered to your cottage for your work. Thank you, no problem. No problem. He just goes back to his guard post. Move along, storm's coming. It's getting nice.

We'll be here for a few hours, but. Hours? Plenty of time to, did you have a cottage here? I have a cottage, there is also a tavern if you fancy a drink, somewhere warm to sit. Is that where the good food is? There's also food, yeah. Yeah, there's good food there

or you can, or like, like the Amar Krokus said, you can come to my cottage. Do they accept this kind of currency and I hold out silvers and coppers?

Yeah, yes, yes, that's fair amount. Silvers? Yeah. Lucius, you're doing it again. You're showing all your gold

to everyone again. I don't have any gold. Look, it's all silver pieces and copper. Wow. Oh yeah, I forgot he... Nova's got all your gold to everyone again. I don't have any gold. Look, it's all silver pieces and copper. Wow. Oh yeah, I forgot he- Nova's got all the gold. Like at least 200 or something like that.

Lucius. I would like a drink, please. Yes? Do we have time? We need to shelter from this storm anyway, and we need to assess where we're gonna go from here. We still don't know where we are. Well, I don't. There could be someone in town that could help Sentry. Or at least give us directions to the nearest place.

So this tavern or your cottage, strong roof? Yes, strong enough. Strong enough for? For the storms, yes. Definitely. Yes. 100%? Yes. Then storms, yes. Definitely. Yes.

100%. Yes. Then we go there. Now. Okay. If we go to the tavern, is that where we might be able to ask around, see if anyone can help us? Yeah.

Pretty much it's the only place to go in this village. It's like everybody will go there at some point today. So is it just houses and taverns? It's not an inn. There are no rooms to rent. There is a place where and taverns? It's not an inn. There are no rooms to rent. It is a place where you go and drink. It's midday. Yeah. That's fine. Sure. Yeah. Yeah, you make your

way over there. You can see it's a long cottage. There is a like a sideways chimney where smoke is kind of billowing out from it and there is a pungent earthy smell from that smoke. And when you step inside, it is a lowungent earthy smell from that smoke um and when you step inside it is a low ceiling wooden floor wooden tables um maybe flagstones beneath the wooden floor just to kind

of help keep moisture out uh there is a bar with dirty clay cups um bottles various bottles kind of around there smell of something cooking in the back. And then there's a large fire, but instead of wood logs, it's like a earthy peat moss that's being burnt, and it lets off this very fragrant, earthy smell. Not 100% pleasant, but not foul. And you kind of step in there. You're used to the smell in here. You know that this place is run by a wild elf called Amald.

Amald. Amald! And you hear this kind of like, ah! to the smell in here um you know that this place is run by a wild elf called armald armald armald and you hear this kind of like and then you notice this kind of tall he kind of has to kind of hunch his neck a little bit um fair-skinned elf long blonde hair in various different braids all down his back kind of comes down to the middle of his back. All sorts of bones and beads woven into it. Blue tattoos of various knots and lightning bolts kind of all over his arms. But no tartan and dressed very differently to Aayla. He wears clothing more like Meerskier,

kind of tightly wrapped, bound to his wrists, bound to his calves, loose kind of gray tunic. And he kind of looks up with these piercing blue eyes. He's like, ah, Aurea, good to see you. Come in, come in. I brought a few friends. Is it okay if they grab a drink, something warm to eat? He looks around.

He's like, that depends. You got some coin? The high elf said he had plenty of coin. That's good enough for me, then. Come in, sit down. The fire's just going. Sit where you like. Not that anybody's here yet.

They'll all be in later. Could you provide us a menu of some sort? What is menu? What kind of food do you serve? Oh, why didn't you just ask? Strange elven word. Main thing I've got cooking right now, I've got some frulbosk, some piranha.

I've got a few hot knots left over from the morning. There's a bit of clack meat, spiced, it's good. It's very good, the clack meat. And then for drink, well, there's Perona. What's good? I bring you out some of everything. How about this? How much would that cost?

I don't know. You want drinks? Yes. What do you want to drink? Alcohol. All right, good. Same for everyone? I think everyone needs one.

All right, good. I bring you a bottle of piranha. Sure. It's good. You want it spiced? Why not? Sure. Not too spicy, please.

He just laughs. Okay. One, please. He just laughs. Okay, one, two. I'll take some fantastic cluckbeet, please. Okay, I bring everything out, I just do it together. No problem, I'll have some. Your friend's paying, yes? Yes, yes, yes. Okay.

Can't be that expensive. Three gold. That's quite expensive. That's quite expensive. For all of us, Never have you got the- And you can stay here as long as you like. Oh. Until tonight when I have to sleep, then you get out.

Oh, is there no rooms? No, it's not some inn, we don't get travelers. How long do the storms usually last? Few hours. Where can we stay? Shrugs. You can stay at my place. Yes, you have...

It's cozy, but... Five beds? I don't have five beds. I have one chair, but... You have, like, a bed, a chair, and floor. Yeah. Oh. But it's shelter, at least, and you'll need it.

Yes, I guess so. Very well. Not a lot of folks come all this way down south. What are you, some kind of treasure hunters or something? Quietly counted out three golden put them on the bar he kind of gives you a nod and he just scrapes in Like rubs his nose, spits on the floor. So what was the question again? Why are you here?

Why have you come so far south? I asked if you were treasure hunters. Okay. No, we're seeking new fortunes, but not treasure. Miners or something? They don't look like miners. Don't make me look. We're trying to resurrect your friend.

I wondered why you were carrying a corpse. Thought maybe you'd come to bury them out in the swamp in the Witchmoor. Is that where we just were, the witchmoor? I don't know. Where were you? It looks like... You were in the witchmoor. You've been out in the witchmoor. You get eaten by any of the

hags or the lizard folk. Or smashed a few of their heads in. Yeah? Yeah. He looks at you like, you seem like the type who can crush a few storm scales. Yes. Very good.

If you go back, you should be careful. A lot of dark talk about the witch moors. They say the woman of the night stalks those moors at night. We don't intend to go out at night at all. If anything, I'd much rather not go in the boggy place.

No, I don't think we're planning on heading back. More moving forwards. Nearby towns. What was there again? Nearby towns? Yes. Well, Stenhills, about a day's travel from here to the north. You'll need to make your way through the valleys to avoid the storms, though. The valleys? It's just a pathway that leads to Stenhill.

Not that valley. No, there's normally hills above it, and then it's a path underneath. Orion knows the way. She's made her way up to Stonehill before. If you're looking for a guide, we'd recommend hiring her. She's been doing great work here in the village for a while. Okay. We're trying to get somewhere that

has some people who might be able to resurrect our friend. This will require magic. Do you know? I like. I'll tell you what. Why don't I get your food, sit down, and then I'll tell you what I know. I've heard a few stories. Lived a bit longer around here than some of these

humans and gnomes can anyway. And he kind of gives you a nod like, lol, we're elves. He doesn't look at you though you're not one of his people. Oh wow. You can see but the thing you notice is there's no indication of a clan or a tribe to this guy like he's obviously living here. But he's got lightning bolt tattoos. Yeah, but it doesn't seem to be like clan markings or anything. It's almost just he's done them himself because of the environment he's in.

Yeah. But he comes back, and he comes back with a selection of steaming plates and bowls. He puts a bowl down in the middle, which has got a white, like a tuber, not like a tuber, a long, thin, firm... Root vegetable.

Root vegetable, yeah, basically. Which has been fried and sprinkled... Yeah, not a brass instrument. Which has been... Wurt, wurt. Wurt, wurt. Along with that, there is... A big root vegetable. But it's like spiced.

It's like fried. It's like deep fried. And it's had like things... Yeah, cut up, basically. Almost like squid rings. Like calamari rings. He also puts down a plate with about five like thin, doughy looking breads

and then a bowl of like steamed crabs like little crabs and they're like steamed crabs and he points and he's like, points at the tuber, frullbosk points at the breads

loops, clacks it looks very nice actually points at the breads, loops, clacks. It looks very nice, actually. Thank you. It's pretty good. Compliments to the chef. I don't have many. We haven't had any good fishing luck lately.

Normally, I like to make some loot fish, but I couldn't do it recently. So clacks I picked from the beach. Clacks. Clacks. Not like riding clacks. These are the beach hmm clacks clacks not like riding clacks these are the little ones good to know that you can ride on some of these the big ones here we use them to pull the wagons when and you wait you have wagons here not here not here no business I mean sure yeah People will not...

Traders have them and things of the like. Mainly, once you get to Stenhill, you'll see more of them. Do you think we might be able to rent one there? I don't think we... Rent one in Stenhill? Yeah, sure. But to get there, there's none here?

No. Right. You're far out in the wilderness here, friends. Rhyre, she's the newest one to come to the village in a long time. She's been here a year. I felt that, yes. Found her washed up on the shore. I've been hiring her as a monster slayer for the last year.

But don't get a lot of travelers. Not this far south. I've done a little traveling myself, but I came and settled here a long time ago. Well, I'll give the lutz a go. The loop, loops. Ah, that's good, have some. It's bread. Feels like bread.

That's like doughy, it's not doughy, like there's a bit of firmness to it, almost like little rubbery, but it smells like a dough. It's like being baked like bread. I assume it's whole grain. You eat some. It's like, no, it's mushrooms, loops. Oh, what?

Mushrooms? Yes, yes, loops bread. Yeah. We call it loops slapper. Loops is mushroom. Does anybody want this? Sure, why not? It's delicious.

I mean, Quill would like it, but I, as Tom, hate it. Yeah. It's horrible. We grind up the mushrooms, mix with nuts, makes a good bread. As Kim, I suddenly understand a thousand tweets I've seen this week. Loops bread. Delicious. And frillbosk.

Try frillbosk. Very good. What is that? Like from ground. A vegetable. I was taking a handful. Yeah, crunch. Once the rice go into town.

Spiced. Amazing. Yeah, so it's actually all pretty good. It's the clacks. the crab is basically very salty And seafood-y But it's good, it's like steamed with some sort of garlic Is this all totally alien to Quill? The thing is you didn't travel out of the store more

No, I just wonder if that sort of They probably would have traded it Yeah, like I think you have seen a lot of this stuff before. Delivered something. But maybe you didn't know the names of it. Okay. Arakokra Deliveroo. They'd be the ones doing the delivering, though.

So I think that, like... Because, like, if you travel to, like... I've only ever smelled this before. Anywhere where the Arakokra did business with the humans of Murskir, I think, yeah, you would have seen people eating, like, lupsvara. Does it travel well? What's it called?

Lupsvara. It gets cold very quickly. That's the bread. When it's baked into a bread, it's called lupsvara. Lupsvara. Lupsvara. So, once you eat my delicious food, eat up, Sky Elf. Come on.

Yes, yes. You need your strength. I have a tiny mouth. He is right. You are. You need your strength. I have a tiny mouth. He is right. You are going to need your strength. We need to eat while we can. Hot meals. That goes for all of you.

So, you wanted to know magic, ways to get friends, yes? Yeah. I don't know much, but I'll tell you what I know. Stenhill is a bigger town than this. Oriah's been there, she knows. There's a priestess of Killara there. Whenever we have the dead, we go and speak to her. But I've heard that she can mend bones, cure diseases.

That happens sometimes in the swamp, especially with the damn lizards and the frogmen. You get their diseases and their poison. You didn't fight the frogmen? I didn't see those, no. They're normally fighting with the lizards over territory, and they sometimes come and fight us as well. Always fighting over the old dragon's bones or the mirror, the ruin. They're feisty. The mirror?

Very feisty. The mirror? Very feisty. It's called something. An old historian came by once. It used to be part of Siaska's domain back before the Sundering. It's called the Mirror of Twilight. The frogmen protect it like crazy. We can't get close.

Guessing there must be something valuable there, treasures or magic or something. And then the lizards or the old dragon's bones out in the swamp won't let us anywhere near the damn things, but you hear stories. You hear stories about the ghost

of the dragon coming alive. Nope. Quite done with ghosts. So you want to tell the children that one. They love it. Do they? Yeah, they do. They like, people around here, we like our stories.

Now there is old tales. The Witchmoor got its name because people have always said that there's always been a witch in the Moors. She said that she might occasionally grant boons to people that come and find her, but normally it involves a quest or a task or something. A witch giving boons and not curses? Well, that's the thing. I think that the way the stories go is that if you don't complete the task, the boon becomes a curse.

Right. So only the greatest heroes can get what they require. But there's a priestess of Killar up in Stenhill who can heal some injuries. Don't know about bringing back the dead. Can't imagine a priestess of the Goddess of Death would be kind on that. Well, the only other places I know is,

well, Katavag, a big city up to the north. It's where the shepherd lives. He's a powerful spellcaster. He's the one that looks after this region. No doubt I'm sure that he would be strong enough to, well, bring someone back to life. I've heard of such miracles, never seen it done though. And there is the old midwife's forge. It was a temple to Valena long ago,

before the Sundering. There's always been rumors about miracles happening there. Miracles of life, specifically. Women who desire to have children but can't get pregnant, they visit and suddenly they're fine. People that are sick and dying travel to the forge, come back healthy as anything. Maybe something like that could have the power to restore life to your friend. The goddess of the forge, the forge mistress herself,

said she can reshape life, like Smith reshapes a blade or an axe. Something like that, maybe. And then the last thing I would know is your people. Crazy bird men. Yeah, that's us. Powerful shamans up in the storm wall. People that can speak to the dead

and fly on the winds. Speak to the gods. People like that surely must know something about bringing back the dead. If you ask me, though, they're all crazy. Once a year, flying off into the worst of the storms from their tower.

Mad men. Mad birds. What could go wrong? Anyway. I guess that's how you lost your arm, then. Oh, you spot it. Yes, actually. It's not hard. True.

That was it. Yes, actually. It's not hard. It's true. I thought you saw that. That was it. Not how I broke this entire... So, Karkool. Karkool, that's where you are now. We're in Karkool. Yes. So if we go to Stenhill,

and we manage to rent a wagon, how long would it take us to get to anywhere else? Any of these places you've mentioned? Count of Vag's still a good three days, two, three days on the wagon. It's provided that you don't get into any trouble along the way. There's always storm griffins or bullets. Ankeg Soraya knows about those.

Gets a lot of work. Okay. You'll need a good guide and a protector, I imagine. There's also Kusthal. You know about that place, right? Kusthal, yes. You go there quite often. Yes.

Love Kusthal. The orcs, Oriah's people, they have shamans and clerics, but they all live out in the Dorn's archipelago. But Kustal's a port town, so if you wanted a ship, you could try there. That's a bit closer, not much closer, though. Good place for drinking.

Yes, that too. Fantastic place for drinking. Great place for drinking or getting your hands on something that you shouldn't. No. Getting your hands on something you shouldn't. No. Can you go hands on something you shouldn't? You know, like treasures and relics from beneath the waves,

or, you know, the little bit of something to give you a little eh? I don't get it. Does anyone get it? I honestly... The accent's really difficult for me and I haven't got much of what he's been saying.

So I'm really hoping that you'll translate it later. It's a good time. If you want to relax and wind, it's a good place to go for that sense. Or if you want to get a ship. A ship? You were looking for a ship? I was looking for my ship.

So what happened? Oh, my cursed brother. Staged in a mutiny. Nearly tried to kill me. Getting me off my own ship. I washed up here, and I've been here for a year. What has it got against you? What did you do?

Oh, it did nothing. My crew were perfectly happy and healthy. We were living very well, crew were perfectly happy and healthy. We were living very well, but he wanted fame and fortune. He wanted to make a name for himself and turn my ship into a godforsaken pirate vessel, pillaging villages and stealing from

people. That's not how I work. That's how he wanted it. He wanted the gold tooth to become this infamous pirate vessel. Hmm. And is it capable of doing so? Of doing? Is the gold tooth to become this infamous pirate vessel. Hmm. And is it capable of doing so? Of doing... Is the gold tooth capable of becoming a powerful... Oh, I hear that it is.

It's getting there. Okay. But I need to get my ship back and dispatch of my disgusting brother. Dispatch? Yeah, well, an eye for an eye. Okay. Ship for a brother. Well, that sounds like pirate talk to me.

It is what it is. He's a bastard. I don't care. He sounds like it. So what's your actual plan to get the ship back? My plan? Get the gold, buy a ship, go find my... I spit on the ground... brother. Right. Then I'll get my ship back and I'll be perfectly happy. And how much for a ship capable of taking on the gold tooth? A lot.

A lot. I don't have the exact sum to hand, but a lot. That's why I've been working here. So how close are you? Quite far away. About half. I'd say about half. Yeah, I'm getting there.

I mean, let's put it on average. Like, I might change this. Chat, don't get mad if I change this. Let's say 10,000 gold. Yeah. And you've got like 5 000. cool saved up just give me another year or two why are we talking about ships when we need to heal sentry oh uh well i mean we've i mean we've got to stay here until the storm passes anyway we can't leave when that's over here decide which option we want to follow. Oh, actually, could you mark all of these places on my map?

Sure. I mean, I don't know everything, but sure. I can't give you my map because it's got other stuff on there that he doesn't know about. Fine. But I will mark it on your map. Thank you. I love that map. So, was it like a good five or six different potential places we could go.

Well, which would be a witch from the bog place. Well, it does boons and curses that gives me a boon and a miracle place. I'm sorry to sound skeptical, but I think I believe more in the other ones, the cities. Yeah. But then again we have seen some very mysterious things on our travels. There's smoke without fire. True.

But in Stenhill there is a Priestess of Calara. I don't have access to it but I know some magical powers that might be able to extend centuries time. I imagine a Priestess of Calara. What do you mean? You think that someone who is a priestess of the goddess of death would want to prolong a chance of reviving someone. I don't know exactly how it works, but it might work.

There's a spell called Gentle Repose. It extends the period that you can resurrect someone. I read it in a book somewhere. See, that's useful. That came from a book too. Who might be able to cast that kind of thing? Is there any god that it would be more likely? I mean, Nova would know that the Gentle Reposers

is the ritual spell. Its main use is preventing bodies being raised as undead. It just has the side effect of the, if somebody were to be brought back to life, it extends that duration. And Kallara is very opposed to undead, and so the ritual is normally cast on bodies before they're interred, so they don't become undead.

It's a taxidermy. More like magical protection against necromancy. And bone. Oh, okay. It's using necromantic arts to protect against other necromancy. How is Sentry looking at the moment? I don't think that we should look and judge that. I think we just need to keep going.

And if that's something that... Nova, I'm not going to let you. Because honestly, right now, I don't think you should. Well, I've got a spell, and I think you do as well, that could potentially preserve some parts of her. At least make her look like old Sentry. I don't know if mending would work on a body that has no soul in it anymore.

No, it fixes things. I've done it on things that aren't... that are inanimate before. Sanchry healed the same way that we did. I don't think it would. I've mended her before. Yeah, you've mended her armor and stuff, yeah. Well, it seems like you've got some pretty deep conversation. I'll leave you to it, but if you've got any questions, me or Raya can definitely answer them. Sounds like you've got a lot on your mind, strangers. Is he safe?

One thing I will say is if you're heading up to somewhere like Kattewag, it's more like four days traveling on foot. If you're slowed down, that'll get longer, and the roads are dangerous. There's a lot of creatures out there we don't tend to travel much where we're settled that's where we're settled right so just be aware there's a lot of stories but and I can't tell you if any of them are any good but they're closer he just shrugs what would you say is your best bet? I don't know, friend Never even had to think about bringing somebody back from the dead to us

Once someone's gone, we say our final goodbyes We say our prayers and bury them in the swamps But, I don't know, it's tricky I've never, I've heard the stories about the witch I've heard the stories about the witch I've heard the stories about the midwife's Forge The only thing I know for sure is that the old dromar dromar the Shepherd I

Mean he's he's our leader, and he's got powerful magics if that magic can bring your friend back. I don't know I don't know. I don't know if it necessarily brings them back as they were, or if it just conjures a spirit or something like that. I can't say. I've never seen it done. So it's a gamble, I guess. Maybe the priestess in Stenhill would know more. Stenhill, I heard that.

Sounds like a good start, right? Especially if that person can extend The period of time that we have You're going to be pretty much pass and throw it Anyway if you want to head north We could get a wagon from there and get to places faster We definitely need a way to travel faster Yes

And we need you patched up so that you don't Get hurt anymore Yep, it's rattling around The thunder is directly overhead and you hear it when there is a flash of light through the tiny windows

in the earthen floor and you feel the vibrations in the ground itself. Armold and Oriad, it's nothing to those guys, but you feel it's like the lightning just hit outside this tavern. Um, and he, do you see that the ink kind of look up and he's just like, must have hit old, uh, must have hit Blarna's lightning, lightning rod. Sounds like it.

It's a close one. Um. This is not going to set us on fire. Sentry, sentry, sentry. And I like clasp onto Aayla's arm. Yeah. Oh. Yeah, there is a burst of thunder and the rain outside.

The wind is howling. The shutters are like, you know, slamming. In fact, I don't even think there would be shutters. They probably have like an interior kind of thing. But you can hear the wind whipping outside. A few shouts and cries. He's just like, oh, that's a bad one. The storms here, they don't

seem natural. Oh, they're not. The shepherds have been looking for a way to stop the storms for centuries now, but haven't found anything how to stop them. They're all from the valley, the valley of storms. Hesper, he created the storms, he created them. When the sundering happened, we suspect it's because he was angry with the people of Rois for not protecting his mother. But we just learned to deal with them now,

and the shepherds, well, they argue on whether they should be stopped. But most of them, I think, want to try and stop them. But they ain't natural, that's for sure. Do they happen at the same kind of times, or are they irregular? Irregular? Don't know, can never predict them.

Once you've lived here long enough, you tend to get a sense of roughly when they're going to hit. You start to see the signs, but they're pretty quick. They move across the land supernaturally fast when they hit hard. You don't want to be caught outside when there's a storm, I'll tell you that. It's dangerous living.

Do you know of any other wild elf clans that might be around this continent? Oh, clans? We don't have clans here anymore. The people that were trapped on Voxar when, after the Sundering, they were from all over. They were people from all sorts of different armies and battalions. And when the wild elves came down, they gave up the sky cities well the people here were so mixed in that their tribes just didn't fit so after a few hundred years there's not really tribes or clans left anymore we're all just people of muraskir now and he kind of shows off his tattoos and you can see the lightning bolts you kind of when he shows it off the kind

of uh the knot works is older and then the lightning bolt stuff he kind of, when he shows it off, the kind of, the knot works, it's older, and then the lightning bolt stuff he's added on is newer. He's like, we're all people of Mirskir now. We all work together to survive, so I'm afraid not. But there's plenty of us around. You won't,

you won't be seeing a, you won't be afeard of not seeing a friendly face. But we're all part of the people here now. There's some elders, maybe know a little bit more. Maybe heard some stories. Not me, though. I'll keep an eye out for any of those, then.

Hmm. And say your prayers to Hesper. Make sure you do that before you travel. Or Zephir. Hmm? Or Zephir. Or Zephir. Oh, he kind of, like, smiles.

He's like, these storms ain't her. She's a feisty one, old Zephyr. And if we were traveling at sea, you'd want to offer a prayer, but these ain't her. This is the god of the sky. Zephyr wouldn't punish us like this. Not strong, brave folks like us. And he kind of like raises his drink. Take a swig along are we toasting yes by all means as soon as you drink this stuff by the way it's like vodka it's like straight

vodka it's made from like local stuff it's strong and gross burns the throat and he backs off he can happily leave if you don't have any more questions Zephir wouldn't punish you like this Yeah. Burns the throat. And he backs off. He can happily leave if you don't have any more questions for him. Zephir wouldn't punish you like this, you said.

Not like Hesper. Nope. This is sky magic. This isn't a natural storm. This isn't somebody... This isn't the work of a god who's punishing a coward. This is magic. This is

Hesper. And he kind of looks like, you dumb idiot. Mm-hmm. I'm dumb. Okay. I think as soon as like Nervous says, as soon as this storm passes we should get moving. Likely. I think as soon as, like Nova says, as soon as this storm passes, we should get moving. I think maybe even through the night.

How much time do we have this century? We should make the most of every day. Nine days. Nine and a half at the moment. We could just spend it travelling. Through this? If we find danger along the way it's also not gonna help us if we can get there and extend our time safely and get quill back on his

feet and I think that's a good start and then we can get a wagon and travel quicker it sounds like you guys have a plan. Okay. Sounds like we need a guide. Well I am more than happy to assist you if you'd be willing to assist me. Financially of course. What are you thinking? Well since you guys well you clearly have plenty of burdens on your shoulders already, I won't charge my usual rates. I'll maybe half it. Shall we say...

Let's do 20 gold from here to Stenhill. Okay. And then wherever else we go from there I'll just add on from that. We'll do it bit by bit. How about that?

I mean, we could use all the help. And you've got plenty of opportunity to find more gold along the way. Trust me, these roads they're busy.

I'll say that. It pays for itself. We're not pickpockets or anything like that we're not not necessarily but we may get rewarded for

helping out along the way right in regards to monsters and such we might not have time it's true

that's true but also you may not be able to help it well I mean we couldn't not help Araya, even

when we had no time. His rods are full of monsters and such. Right. We know our priorities. Well, let's rest, and as soon as this storm passes and we have

some sort of light, I assume we move on Yeah, so what's the plans you guys want to take a short rest and then as soon as the storm passed just get on the road I suppose that would make it evening wouldn't it you would be traveling into you'd start traveling early evening And then yeah, you would be traveling through the night towards Sten Hill And we've got we've got lanterns and things, haven't we, and dancing lights and... I mean, you have light sources, yeah. Can...

It's just whether we want to travel through the night or not. Sorry, can clerics swap spells on short rests? No. Long rests. Fair enough. I believe it has to be at dawn, technically. But I just say do it on long rest. Okay.

Fair enough. Can we buy rations from, what's his face? The sad answer is no. Like, there's no store here. He might sell you some food, but it won't be trail rations. It will probably only last a day. You might have enough to get you to Sten Hill. If you want to buy that, yeah, he'll sell you that.

Shroom bumps. Yeah, he'll basically make up a load of, like, servings of food, and you sell you that. He'll basically make up a load of servings of food, and you can take that. You'll probably have to put it into containers somehow. Or it'll be things just like bread and some hard mole cheese. Maybe some boiled snake eggs you can have. Oh, mole cheese. Yeah. Well, they don't have cows here.

Cows can't live on storm beds. So they keep underground moulds, yeah. Like large moulds. That they use for like meat and you know, milking. How much would it be for everyone? He's probably gonna charge you a premium because this is like his food supplies. I guess I've got some rations still, but how long do they last? Which is a normal ration.

Well I've only got two because someone ate them. I've got three. And if we're only going to Sten Hill, that's like a day away. Yeah, but your rations are old. Like that's what you cobbled together from the crap you had for days. This is like way past the expiration date. Yeah, like you're making your own shit, basically. Yeah, it's just the best before. It's good after.

You can actually hunt for food. You can hunt for food. You just scrape the mold off the top and it's all good. So I think he charged you a gold each for a ration. Each? Yeah. It's five silver normally, but this is his food supply. And so he's like, I've got to make up for what I lose here.

Sorry. There's only three gold for five meals. Huh? Yeah, because he's like already making food for everybody else. Like he's giving you... But we're clearing them out. Yeah. You're like buying like, hey, we want your stuff to take with us.

Okay. Fair enough. It's like the difference between like bulk buying, like bulk making a lasagna and then buying a ready meal lasagna, you know? You don't get as much. What a comparison. Where's the microwave? Where's the microwave?

Yeah. I've put a ration in my inventory, so I'm hoping that Nova pays for it. We just have to, it's fine. Yeah, I'll just pay him five gold. Okay, yeah, cool. Five gold. Yeah, I'll just pay him five gold. Okay, cool. Well technically you pay four gold and then Oriah has her own rations, so you would have

had trail rations. So this is actually, well at least my first time, I suppose, paying for a bodyguard? A scout? A guide. What are you? I, well, I just go around, I hunt monsters for Karkul, I keep the road safe, make sure no trouble gets too close to the village. As you can see, it's quite a small place, it's, you know, it's nice to make the town feel secure. And plus, I earn a little penny. It's good work.

Okay, so do we pay you now, or? Let's say we can do ten now, and then ten when we get to Stenhill. How's about that? In that case... Mm-hmm. And if the roads are good later on, I may even reduce my fee. How about that? If we have an easy time? Very generous. Well, you guys have had a hard time. It was where, you know, I still need to pay my way, but I want to make sure you guys are protected as well.

We appreciate that. Thank you. That's okay. No problem. These roads are not easy going, shall we say. You don't want to come across any bullies, that's for sure. Any? Bullies. Bullies. Bullies?

They come out of the ground and they bite your ankles. Why would they do that? You can't see them coming. Don't look at me. Why is the one telling you about this? Smirk on your face. Because I got to tell Rhiannon about cool monsters. That's why I'm smirking.

That sounds horrible. There's plenty more. There is plenty more. But if we can kill some of these monsters along the way, maybe when we get to Sten Hill, we can tell them the roads are safer and they might even be able to pay us on our way. We also know that if you cut them up,

people will buy parts of them. Exactly. Nothing goes to waste in Merse gear. Even Esau. Sten Hill, a wagon is crucial. I want my feet off the ground. I assume you all feel the same way well that and it'll be easier to transport

Santry's body that too absolutely so are we taking a short rest yeah sounds like you're taking a lot of short rest short rest so you can spend hit dice if you need to I've already used it the storm

doesn't abate for three four five hours um you kind of huddle in this drinking hall um and nobody else comes in during the storm nobody leaves their home they're not even like crossing the road to go to the most Most people, like you ask Arun and Amald, and he's just like, no, no, it's not worth the risk. If nothing else, people have their own supplies at home. They don't need to come here. The storm is so bad, they won't even... I mean, they could.

They'd get wet. Wind would blow them around. But there's always the risk. We have the lightning totems, the storm totems. They generally draw most of the lightning away, but there's no guarantees, especially if you're carrying weapons and armor and traveling around.

It'll jump to anything it can. But yeah, the storm is howling and terrible and thunderous and loud. But after several hours, it dies down, and then there is left with this unnatural calm. There are no animal sounds. The town slowly comes awake, the little village, but there is just this really quiet, there's no breeze. You're just left with this ever so slightly warm, damp air.

The ground is covered in water. It's like thick puddles everywhere you go. You can see that many of the buildings, like little tiles have flown off, like the little roofs are sticking out of the hills. But for the most part, they've adapted the way that they live here. roofs are sticking out of the hills. For the most part, they've adapted the way that they live here. Armald gives you rations and is like, well, I'll let the others know that you're going to be out of

town for a while, Oriah. Good luck. I hope you can find what you need. You've been very helpful, Armald. That's fine. You travelers need all the help you can get in a land like this. Well, not all of you. And he kind of looks at Aayla. Well, in that case, Stenhill.

Good luck. This way? May the storms pass you by. And he points north. That way. Follow the road. Orion knows where to go. Let's go, guys.

Cool. Let's go, guys. Let's go, guys. Yeah. And you begin travelling Yeah First thing I need Is I need Ayla To make a constitution saving throw

Because you're travelling Century And it is hard work Long travel Carrying a big heavy thing Nice No problems Oh my god

Kind of persevering through it You just don't slow down Oriya Are you pretty much following the roads or are you trying to take shortcuts? I think I know the path pretty well, but then I'd think I'd try and take some shortcuts here and there.

If you want to try and take some shortcuts, it's definitely a survival check. Yeah, let's do it. Okay. Oh, 18. 23. Okay, 23, yeah, you managed to cut down quite a lot of the traveling time. Yes.

By taking little shortcuts. Like, the road follows the deepest valleys it can. And although they're quite flooded, so the water is often at, like, you know, nearly up to the knees at some points. You take little cuts through areas where the hills aren't so deep. So if there was heavy winds, you'd be fighting against them, but you're kind of like looking up at the air, like, yeah, we can travel this way and you know, it's safe. Um, and you begin making your way across the plains. You also, when you go off the path, you don't see any like travelers or anything like that. You're kind of making your

way through rugged wilderness. Um, you can see these tall sloping hills with these jagged rocks, but also as you travel, you begin to notice scattered ruins, nothing more than maybe a short wall just sticking out of the ground or the rooftop of an ornate building buried under piles and piles of earth and hills. These ancient ruins just stick up every now and then. You pass a few and you actually pull the group away and say like, no, we're going to take the long way around because you glance in the distance. You can see the telltale signs of a fire and you can see some cloaked figures. And you know that out there in the roads in the wilderness, there's no way that's not bandits. That's not people that will just try and take what you have because they need it.

And so you take the long way around to avoid those guys. So it kind of makes up for the shortcuts you're taking at the same time. Cool. The dark night dominates the world. There are no natural lights. dominates the world. There are no natural lights. You only have dancing lights, torches, lanterns, whatever you happen to carry, which casts a dim glow over these sloping hills. There are no clouds to the cradle and its multicolored light and the stars beyond it to send down. But there is a strange unease about this country, so alien and the threat of these looming storms.

It is near midnight when you begin to sense, Oriah, something, a creature somewhere. You get the sense you see a slight raising of the ground like a And then nothing And you think that you're that there is something nearby Okay guys Something might be nearby need to stay close to me We move very slowly very quietly Only when I tell you to okay, okay?

Is this one of those bulloulets you were talking about? I suspect so. It may be, may not be, but anything could be anything out here, okay? Okay. Shall I get rid of the lights? No. We need those. Don't worry. I can see it moving. As long as I can see it moving. You also know that they can't see the lights. They detect tremors, basically.

Cool. Just be very quiet. Move very quietly. Light foot, light feet, okay? No big stompy feet. Light feet. Okay? We'll just keep moving forward nice and carefully. Okay. So stealth checks from everybody.

Ayla, you're at disadvantage. Fab. Because you're carrying a sentry. Ayla had disadvantage herself. Oh, I got the same roll twice. Oh, she's rolled now. I got the same one as well. Yeah.

You would have to push her. It's fine. She has no way to walk horizontally when she's levitated. 19. No, wait. Oh, levitate sentry. Yeah. Oh, I see.

Okay. And then Ayla holds it. I mean, to be honest, Ayla would still need to make the stealth checks herself anyway. 19. 19. 17. 17. 9.

9. 7. 7. 9. I got 17. 17. 9. 7. 7, 9. I got 17. You have advantage because these are your favourite enemy. 16. So you kind of follow in a close line.

Ayla has sentry-like ox-style over your shoulders because you're very delicately trying to step where you're told. Oriah, you begin leading them. And you can see at one point one gets dangerously close. You kind of take like a large rock off the ground and throw it as far as you can and then it kind of scatters over that way. And then you continue moving as best you can.

You try and move over towards a series of rocks where you can get up on them and try and wait and see what happens. And yeah, you watch as this large insectoid creature, these hands kind of push up the dirt and this large mandibled insect-like creature, these huge praying mantis claws kind of pulls itself free

and the mandibles and it's scanning around trying to find something. It noses somewhere but it can't quite detect. You recognise them as ankh eggs and you see at least

one of them potentially one more somewhere. But that's where we're going to end this episode. You guys are making your way

towards Thin Hill. In the darkness as well. Yes. Yeah, that's the thing. going to end this episode. You guys are making your way towards Fenhill. In the darkness as well. Yes. Yeah, that's the thing. It's travelling at night. There's not a lot of movement so these things would be kind of sensitive.

Rampant. Man. Very cool. Welcome to Mirskia. A whole different world. Mirskia is horrible. It's dangerous. I think it's better

than the Bitterwood. Thanks very much for joining us for another episode Big thank you to our sponsors D&D Beyond and Displate Don't forget to go check out the link And go check out our Displate collection Use the code HYBROLS15

Get 15% off And also get 25% off a legendary bottle on D&D Beyond By using the code WARMPLATES WARMPLATES WARMPLATES That's it from us We'll see you next week See you in Milskia

Goodbye friends Goodbye friends Treasure hunters Treasure hunters The Jarl of Skyrim Hey everyone Thanks for listening To this episode

Remember to check out D&D Beyond And Displate With the links In the episode description And we'll see you on Monday For the next episode Where we try to avoid

This Ankh egg And hopefully Get to Sten Hill safely We'll See you then.