High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #65 | Dance with the Devil (Part 1)

Episode Date: March 30, 2020

The bird man has a network to build with the "Clear Skies" initiative while the rest of the team explore Porto Suvrano! Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes (and more) on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Thanks to our sponsors D&D Beyond! D&D Beyond is the official digital toolset for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Create your FREE account now and start digitising your campaigns here: www.dndbeyond.com/ Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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That's why Bumble is changing how you start conversations. You can now make the first move or not. With opening moves, you simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your matches. Then sit back and let your matches start the chat. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. 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 Kelek Adkalad, Cleric Wizard. I am Chris Trott, I am playing Lucius Viren, Elowen Elinastio. 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 Aela, a wild elf barbarian. And I'm Kim.

I'm playing Nova, who is an air ganassi, and she is a hexblade warlock. Thanks to our regular sponsor, D&D Beyond, the official Dungeons & Dragons

toolset. Create your free account and speed up your campaigns today. Hello, welcome back to Erois Hyrule's D&D. Last time, our party of adventurers had just finished escaping from the research facility of Volcanos, where Sentry has ascended to become Sentinel Prime, the new prime of the Guardian race. On the way back, looking for safe harbor, Quill encountered a strange

dream where he was visited by Valor, a young girl that they had rescued long ago and revealed to be the daughter of Calus Valkyrian Starbane. In the dream, Valor presented Quill with a teleportation circle and the runes needed to

access Calus' flagship, the Tassadar. Quill briefly a teleportation circle and the runes needed to access Kallus' flagship, the Tassadar. Quill briefly spoke with Valor, and rough plans were made for a future escape attempt, and they promised to basically keep each other in touch and in contact to let them know what everybody was up to.

Party then travelled to the Hawksdawn Archipelago, a series of islands, basically run by a number of free city-states, where they arrived in Porta Sovrano, where they sought safe harbor and rest, getting repairs and supplies for their airship, the Stormchaser, as well as a little bit of much-needed downtime, followed by a couple of visits to some locations, such as the Dale Girl Trading Company and the Silk Maiden Inn. Lucius got a haircut. He will now tell us what that haircut entailed.

Yes, we've been waiting a week for this. Do you want me to roleplay it? Because I've got three hours. Well, not the whole, like, you just come, like, what does it look like when you return to the others? What does Lucius look like? Lucius looks like he's had some extensions and some bleaching done.

That's amazing. You're back to the long blonde. I'm back to exactly how I am in the image in the middle of the screen if you're watching the video. I am back to the official artwork. There it is. There it is.

I like some rainbow shit there. Like, something crazy. I guess your clothes are kind of bright enough, I suppose. It's not necessarily even extensions as well. There's probably like lotions and magical ointments that they can use to make hair grow.

So it can just be your hair. Okay. Nice. I'm happy with that. Long blonde hair. Legit, Lucius, back to his as you remember first meeting him. Long blonde. There will be a sentimental moment with the barber where

it gets too personal. It gets too close to home because you've been with them for so long. And he mentions that I feel I have to represent my family in the best possible light going forward. Aye.

So I will be as close to me as they remember me. Aye. And that's the only sentimental thing I'll be saying today. And he just nods. Aye. And that's the only sentimental thing I'll be saying today. And he just nods. Aye. Just runs the oil and lotion. I feel like I connect with you.

Thank you. It means a lot to me. Runs the lotion through the hair as it grows in between his fingers. Chops off some dead ends and things like that and just neatens it up. You're there for hours waiting for the bleach to settle in to pull out all the hair coloring um not much of a conversationalist this barber um thrusts like a newspaper in your

hands while you wait and just nods and smiles occasionally as you just let it all down yeah yeah obviously nothing about starving yeah um there's two kinds of people at the hairdressers there's a kind of person who goes in and just wants a relaxing time and to sit and quiet and then there's then there's lucius you won't believe it that's 100 me in the hairdresser as well i'm 100 lucius um so you return to the others at the Silk Maiden, a very fine establishment in the upper part of Porto Sovrano. It is a lively... Well, no,

it's quite a calm place, actually. Everything is very distinguished and calm. You have your own rooms, but a booth is set aside for you down in the kind of like... It's less of a tavern and more like a very high class bar. You have

a booth, you go down there, whatever you need arrives and I'm assuming that eventually you guys pass or you retire for the evening, unless there's something else you guys want to do. This is really over to you guys now. Yes, I do. So I have

seven slots of sending to use right seven spell slots okay and i've got 15 people i want to send a message to oh my god you can do seven of them uh but could i do it all 15 over like the because we're here for three days right could i do well let's see what if you want to do anything tomorrow let's's wait. Yeah, exactly. So you can do seven now, and then tomorrow you can decide the other seven. And then you've got one left. Okay, in that case, I'd like to send a message to Arvel, Sky Prince Aradan, Drexia, Johan... Well, let's do it one by one, please, Thomas,

because I'm going to need to think of responses to these. Oh, no, I've got, like, a blanket message for every single one. Right, okay. I have to come up with responses for the NPCs, thank you. So let's do Arvel first. I'm not even listening, to be honest. So, alright, okay. Arvel. Do I have to read this message

like 15 times then? Yes, potentially. Oh my god, okay. So seven times because you've got seven spell slots. Okay. Alright, well to Arvelvel i'm saying this to everyone like i'm literally just fine all right read it once and then i will try and come up with the responses okay so what i'm saying is mistrust is spreading stay faithful in the storm chaser

listen for the code clear skies informationKIES. Information is vital. Knowledge is power. Give us your strength. Hang on. Say faithful in the storm, Jason. Listen for the code CLEARSKIES. CLEARSKIES. CLEARSKIES.

What was the rest? Because I'm going to write this out, so I got it. Information is vital. Knowledge is power. Give us your strength. Give us your strength. Okay. So Arvold's the first person you send this to, and

you get the response of I'm not entirely sure what all this means, but you know you can trust me, Quill. I'll be there when you need me. Cool. That's basically it. He didn't give the code.

He didn't give the code. That's like the entire point of this arvel. But the spell works where the response is immediate and you know it's from him. Okay. As long as he also assuming that they I'm assuming the code is is more for like written communication because most of these people can't use sending so they're gonna have to like literally

send you physical messages okay that's fine should I send it to a person sure yep who's the next one sky prince sky prince sky prince aradam okay so there is there is a a slight pause um and you hear nothing no you do hear something i'm just trying to think yeah he no he wouldn't remember quill not very well but he would remember well he remembers lucius mainly he doesn't remember his assistant new phone yeah new phone who dis no he says uh you are right to be careful my friend things are swiftly. I will listen for the code. And hopefully we will meet soon.

Is the message back. That works. All right, next one. Drexia. This is Boof's character. This was a guest character we had join us. Drexia, but she's a triton. Oh, I've got to try and do

Boof voice now. Oh, no. You don't have to do that. No, I don't, and I'm not going to. So, Drexia's just like, yeah, she basically just, I'm not going to roleplay this because I don't want to speak for another person's character, but I'm guessing

there would be a general response of okay, yes yes you can trust me and and you know i'll do what i can with the tritons basically um okay um rose that's not my character johan same thing this was rav's guest character yeah i'm not gonna i'm not gonna mock him by trying to do a voice um but he say something along the lines of, well maybe I will because he's right, I can get away with it you get a response along the lines of like

I'll be waiting for you Quilek the storm wall is still growing stronger, but I will listen for clear skies will contact you when I can perfect perfect Johan. It was a good Johan voice.

It's not bad. It's not bad. I wasn't going to make a mockery because Johan's a cool character and Rousey's a good boy. You're a wee bastard. No. You're a wee bastard, Quill.

What are you doing? Get off my phone. I didn't want to be hearing you. I'm on the shit. Right. Tell the Scottish person shit right let's just stand it down hello dearies

Malika Dawnblest the field warden in Kali's Rest the field warden of Kali's Rest yes she was an ASMR I think she was an ASMR Christ I've got to think about what their current position is.

No pressure. Quilek, it's been a long time. The last I heard, we investigated the Abbey and found no trace of you. I'm glad to hear that you are alive. If you can send us more information when you can, please do.

Kaylee's Rest... will assist. But yeah, she didn't seem to remember that you were... didn't seem to know you were all alive. She also doesn't know anything about the storm chaser, but... No. I put a little pin in it. More info required.

Yep, okay. Okay. Now, Santa. So that's one, two, three, four, five. So you've got two left today. Santa Long Ears. Okay, yeah. Santa, yep, okay.

Hi, Santa. Santa is a beast walker. He's a bunny beast walker. Quill, good to Santa, yep. Hi, Santa. Santa is a beast walker. He's a bunny beast walker. Quill, good to hear from you. You know me. Always up for fighting stuff. Tell me when, tell me where. I'll kick stuff in the face.

Yes. Didn't use the code Clear Skies, but that's fine. That's fine. You said listen for the code Clear Skies. You've not implied that they need to say it. That's actually. That's fine. You said listen for the code, Clear Skies. You've not implied that they need to say it. That's actually very true. I'm looking at the message you sent. Starban agents, the lot of them.

Alright, alright. Paranoia. Final one. Final one. I'm going to send this to Nanny Norfair. And the message I'm sending is mistrust is spreading, stay faithful in the Stormchaser. Use the code Clear Skies. Information is vital, knowledge is power. Give us your strength.

You get a reply Clear Skies in Gusthaven for now. Pirates. Still a mystery. Things didn't die with Iron Star. We'll keep a lookout. Nanny.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Interesting. All right, well, there's my seven. Well, she's like a spy assassin so she's used to using codes like this and you know knows to send

certain pieces of information so okay so Marvel um Marvel who else was it Aradan Drexia, Johan, Sana Long ears uh i've still got eight left to go now well we'll deal with those later malika and then that last one was nanny okay yeah yep i'm

making a note of all of this because i'm gonna do it okay yeah so you send those messages um over the course of the evening and guess you retreat to your room and then just do a shitload of casting sendings. What's everyone else doing? You just enjoying the atmosphere of the bar? Or is there anything you guys want to do in particular? Any spells to be cast? You're going to write a letter, Sentry. I'm going to write a letter to send, yeah.

Okay, lovely. Look how happy she is about it too. Aww. I love Rhiannon. Well, I think coming into Porta Sovrano, you would have noticed there is a messenger guild tower here, so there are Arakoka messengers that

are stationed here. So if you want to send any physical letters, you can also go to the station to send them. I need to talk to Quill at some point to get an idea of stuff before I send it. Cool. Sure.

Stuff. I need an aviation officer. Okay, nice. Ayla Lucius Nova, anything from you guys? Probably just going to be having a few drinks, to be honest. Okay. This is the kind of place where the drinks are expensive and they are very, they're watered down.

You can tell that, like, any spirits are, like, purposely, like, kept quite weak. Lots of ice added to them. Things like the ales are, like, you know, what are they, micro-brews? They're like, oh, yes yes this comes from the fields of uh savona this is the the hipster ales gold yeah they're very like it's hipster beers um it's uh yeah this is not a kind of drinking establishment this is more of a kind of like

polite conversation and good food um with some drinks i think I would have attended that as well. With the sole intention of trying to get attention on my new hair and seeing how people react to it. Just kind of posing on the bar. Not expecting, not asking for it. Is he really going for it

with flicking his hair over his shoulder? I'm flicking my hair and stuff. I'm telling Ayla and stuff over drinks that it was conditioned for at least an hour. You can tell, right? What does that mean? It feels so soft. It's unbelievable. But it's still retaining its volume.

I'm not touching your hair. I'll have another of those tiny half pints if you wouldn't mind. It's certainly sad. And they kind of bring some more. And I think that Lucius. Smaller glass? Yes, we can do it in a smaller glass if you wish. A smaller glass.

No, no. If you get in a smaller glass, you're paying less for it. No, these glasses are tiny, Lucius. Tiny. Yes, but like the barkeep said, he was telling me for a good 20 minutes, the smaller it is, the more distilled the taste. And that's why the price is so high.

Yes, that is correct. Oh, my God. Lucius, no. No. Give him the normal size. And then give me two small glasses. How about that? Fine, okay, yes. And then I'll pour it into the tiniest glass.

Careful, you're getting it in my hair. Let me tie it up. It's nowhere near his hair. But I think the thing is, is during this, there are definitely, you can see the upper classes of Porta Sovrano definitely do pay attention to Lucius. And you hear, hear like whispers like oh look at that elf over there

and there's kind of like whispered murmurs nobody's really going to probably approach you necessarily they're all in their own business but Lucius you can tell that they are looking at you and kind of like I wonder where he got it done and the kind of like classic whispered murmurs. I'm kind of talking

through Aayla by saying i got this hair done recently and did you know i'm gust haven ayla i grew this hair myself but honestly uh my hair etc okay uh, you absolutely do that. And the knowledge that a very blonde high elf who came in on an airship from Gusthaven, wearing very distinct

colours with distinct eye colours circulates around the tavern without a doubt. I'm going to point out a little bit. Is that a little bit of brown that they left in there, Lucius?

No, no, it's the light. I need the latrine. One second. You just rush off to the bathroom to go and check. My question for Ayla is how much are you drinking and how much do you want to get drunk? Are you like looking to get Bev

to the max or just like having a couple of drinks? She's going to get a bit tipsy because of the ridiculous nature of the tiny stupid beers. So she's just going to get annoyed and give up and probably go

to her room and do a little bit of working out again. Okay. Instead. Spend like two gold. Yeah, bevved up to the max. Because I need to know if I need to make a carousing check. I need to know if we're making checks.

So spend about two gold for the round of drinks throughout the evening. Nova, what are you doing? Is there a library in this port? There is not a library per se, but there is a hall of records which has navigational charts, and it does have some tomes and things like that. If you're looking for somewhere to do research,

that is the place you would go. But it is not like an arcane library. I don't want to do research. I just want to go and be surrounded by books and just smell them and just be comforted. Yeah, to reach the Hall of Records, the Hall of Records is actually in

the lower part of the port, in Porto Sovrano, which is colour uh colorfully called i just need to check my notes the barrels the lower district is called um it's quite tight streets um all the buildings are kind of like smashed together in a very eclectic manner um and there is a kind of sense of like, oh, this place is full of interesting types. As you see sailors, you see smugglers, you see salvagers, you see people of all sorts kind of coming and going, basically. But you make your way down and you have to pass a very busy looking inn. You can see that there is a very large crowd.

a very busy looking inn. You can see that there is a very large crowd. There is glowing and cheering and what sounds like the sounds of fighting coming from the inside, but it's not like fighting as in causing trouble, but like everyone's cheering along and things like that. And outside there is

just the sign of a very thin looking red devil dancing on top of two poles, and it has a little jester's hat on, and it's called the Dancing Devil. But you make your way past that to the Hall of Records,

which is basically run by the dockmaster of the port. There are not so much books here as there are dozens of scrolls, all kind of shelved on these tall shelves in a big semicircular building. And they're categorized not by topic, but by continent.

And the scrolls contain different things from things like trading logs, maps, but there are also some pieces of lore there. You know, resources, interesting locations, that sort of thing. So this place would be, if you were ever wanting to find, if you ever wanted

to research a place, coming here would be a great benefit to do that. Okay. Something that Nova, I think, would know for the future is that if you're ever looking for a place, or you're trying to find some obscure information about

travel or physical geography, this is a great place to come and do it. As opposed to Gusthaven, which is more tailored towards magical lore, religious lore, historical lore, that sort of thing. This is a more practical place to do research. The smell of vellum and ink fills the fills the air there is a very crusty looking dwarf uh who kind of mans the dot of the hall of records an old sailor type he's kind of got like

a horn pipe in his mouth graying beard and hair and just kind of like what are you looking for kind of greets you as you kind of enter um in the pipe it smokes but it doesn't create any sort of like horrible smell it's almost just seems to be just smoke and then the faint smell of probably something like cinnamon kind of comes out of it um he vaping um i'm not gonna keep doing the voice draft so you can cut off me me but yeah that's pretty much it unless there's anything specific you want to talk or do I think Nova just wants to be somewhere quiet

and orderly and just I think after the events like all the explosive events and all the noise and you know everything on the airship she just wants to be somewhere quiet where she can just be reading and you know just yeah enjoying the smells of the vellum and all that and yeah just it's a comfortable space i

think yeah it's it's not entirely quiet it's not as quiet as the libraries you're probably used to because the barrels is a very loud district and even though it's late at night it doesn't seem to show sign of anything stopping like ships are still unloading and loading cargo the shops are all still open and by shops i mean these are like little rinky dink stalls built out of like half of a building where it's probably supposed to be a house and then they've converted the front bit of it into a crappy little shop and they sell garbage. And so it's very loud, it's very noisy and it's very compact, but this Hall of Records

is probably the quietest place amongst it and nobody seems to come in here. You and this crusty dwarf, the records keeper, are the only people in here and he just seems to be reading a book and he's just got his feet up on a little stool, he's got a little fireplace and he's just got his feet up on a little stool um he's got like a little fireplace and yeah he's just reading basically sounds perfect yeah and the evening passes as

you wish it to um nothing nothing particular happens this evening um you stay the night and you awake in the morning to a fresh new day cool sweet safe nice lovely yeah I mean like yeah nobody has any dreams nobody has any visions it's it's a moment of

peace moment of peace Rianna did you say that you wanted to go to Quill for something yes okay

yes so I think I'll do that now then. And I'll come and see you. Nice. Quill. Hello? Hello. Hi. Morning. Morning. I need your help. You're good with maps and stuff, aren't you? Kind of.

I mean, I haven't got the best tools for it, but sure. What do you need? Okay. We might need to go back to the ship, I suppose, then, for this. I need to find a place that's easy to get to on foot, but

is hard to find. Is this... Is this a... Did you buy a treasure map? No, no, no. I need to... For... For my prime thing, I want to get as many guardians in one place as I can. And I want to be able to do that in a place

that they're not going to be found and aren't going to be in any danger. Okay. What about, I mean, isn't the City of Glass, isn't that now empty? Isn't that ruins? It's not empty?

I mean, you know there were still Feral Guardians there when you were leaving. They just weren't attacking you at the time. But there were like, there were hundreds maybe thousands of feral guardians there. Yeah, that places them right off. It's gone. This might take

some research. But now that you're the Prime, are you able to reverse feral guardians back to their previous state? Are they beyond the point? No, it's not feral guardians. I want to restore ones that have

already passed. Okay, okay. Okay, so we need to find a place that everyone can get to quickly and easily. Maybe not one of the Sky Cities, because they're probably too difficult to get onto, especially as a guardian. Maybe...

Hmm. Okay, we can have a look. We can definitely look at the map and try and find a place the most connected place that's still safe callie's rest was safe for the guardians but it might not be easy to get to no well i will tell you um just because the this would be more for quill's knowledge than Sentry's knowledge. The problem with the Rois is it is a number of continents all spread out quite badly. The main route of travel is either sea or air travel.

So airship or sailing ship. There's no... There are five continents and a series of bunches of islands and things like that. The Sky Cities, out of all the Sky Cities, Gusthaven is a little bit more careful with who can arrive there. But I think Quill would know that the Sky City of Horizon

is much more open. Horizon was basically... The history of Horizon was that there was an uprising by a human woman who gained some sort of strange powers over fire, and she overthrew the high elves who were basically going to let everybody starve to death on the Sky City. So this human woman and the other races

rose up and overthrew the high elves and basically have turned it into a everyone is welcome, we will find a way to make it work it's not a utopia it's still a it's a city but it's a lot more open than other places and it has such a wide range of people that go there

it wouldn't necessarily be hard to find but it is a place that would be the easiest to get to of cross a row is horizon and gust haven cover the most ground in terms of Cross Arois. Horizon and Gusthaven cover the most ground in terms of continents they fly over. Okay. Well, in that case, yeah.

Horizon is probably the place. If it is easiest to get to, it flies over the most continents. Everyone is welcome. Gusthaven is the same. However, it's stricter. It's harder to get into. We don't want people to be turned away

in their time of need. It get sad it might go sacks yeah yeah okay this horizon sounds good okay horizon but of course we've never been there no that was where we were going at the very start of the campaign it was and it's also where the meeting of the leaders is taking place. Hmm. Okay. Might not be such a safe place after all, then. Airstrike!

Cool. Alright. Anything else, Century and Quill? I think that's it. I've got my letter. I'm scared. Letter? I want to send a letter to Kelly's Rest, and I want to help the Guardians revive Tracker.

And hopefully they can bring more if they if they see us if they see what we can do we could amass guardians to fight with us we could have some help you know i mean that's what the prime is meant to do isn't it it's it's bringing every Guardian possibly to one place and saving them all at once. Or coasting the land and just finding each one one by one. But that could take decades. With Herald, it will be a lot easier. If I can get Herald to tell everybody to just come to Horizon,

then it should be easier, right? If she's able to send a message out, then yes, absolutely. But just be wary. We don't know exactly how safe Horizon is yet. No, I won't. I'll buy time. I won't send it now. I'll see what it's like first.

Okay. But it's a good idea. It's exactly the steps you need to make. Okay. Just hope I'm doing the right thing. You absolutely are. Okay. Well, as long as you're okay,

as long as everybody's okay with it, then I'll speak to Lucius as well and make sure he's okay with it. And then... Ah. Ah. You've got this. I believe in you. It'll be fine.

Okay. Do you guys all meet up after this conversation, or what do you guys want to do? Yeah, you guys all meet up? I think so. Easily enough. I think you're paid for three nights, so you have your rooms for three nights at the Silk Maiden.

But you still have two days before the airship is fully restocked and resupplied. What would you like to do? I think I have a hangover. What were you drinking last night? You had like a thimble worth of alcohol.

It was too much. Even for my elven stature, that was far too potent. Ayla, did you buy him a drink? I didn't get him drunk. He bought his own drinks and it was about this size. He's literally not hungover. It's all in his head. It's fine.

It's totally fine. Everyone was commenting on my hair. It's very nice. Thank you. It is nice. You noticed us. Thank you, Quill. It's hard on my hair it's very nice thank you you noticed oh thank you quill it's hard not to it's very different colors it is glamorous anyway it smells amazing wow wow thank you thank you um so what century what do you think of my hair it's very nice lucius it's nice to see you back to your old self again i feel revitalized honestly ready to hit the streets and do something productive so what are we doing today

um well um i've thought about it you're right sequester it's too valuable a spell to sell apparently so Quill's in agreement but we do need more money we need to gain money somehow there was a bounty board there was a couple of things there.

If we want to spend our holiday... The nuns needed some help. What better way to spend your holiday than knocking off some sahogun heads from the bodies and handing them into nuns for money? Nulls, firstly,

but secondly... What's a nuls? It says sahogun. It was nnolls. Who knows? I wrote that Haugen was the Haugen. It was the Haugen for the other one, I think. Because there were two. Oh!

I just wrote nuns need help. And then I wrote the nuns had the gnolls. And then the other one had the duke. Duke leon i'm not fussy about what thing i kill it'll be fun either way so i say we should do that if that's how you want to spend your holiday hitting stuff hard then maybe the fighting pit's a place to be for you and that'll make us so much money. Is this a holiday? Working holiday? This is a working holiday.

But, I feel like I can really let some anger out by killing things. And also we can actually help people that way. That's true. I'm not ruling out the fight pits. As long as you don't kill someone. I just

maybe tomorrow like I'm not ruling it out we'll see how we get on but apparently the nuns need help and they might have some good money whereas the other one is a betting system and I don't know maybe they'll have like

statistically speaking we're more likely to lose money than win money statistically speaking we've got Ayla that is true I don't know. Maybe they'll have like... Statistically speaking, we are more likely to lose money than win money. Statistically speaking, we've got Ayla. That is true. Yeah, but that means that you're relying on me and only me and I'm not comfortable with that. Whereas this is a team effort. And if we all fail, it's fine. But if I...

No, I just... I'm feeling a bit weird right now, okay? All right, okay. Nightmare fuel situation recently it was the not feeling at full strength i think it's more ale fine but sure um but i thought that i'd that shall we go help out the nuns with the nolsen no nuns i guess so just to stay fighting fit and ready for you know invasions and destruction and sudden turns

where people that you used to know die instantly yes okay in that case let's let Oriah know so all of the crew know where we are at least they're fine

they're having a day off they're having fun they should at least know where we are have we seen any of the crew like round about since we've been in the time well if you guys head out if you go are you guys heading out like to like get more information because right now you're like let's go help the nuns where are the nuns do you know do you guys know where the nuns are? They're on the monastery. Probably going to go to... Yeah.

Okay. Was there any point of contact on that bounty board for this? Yeah, it said the abbottess of the Vintare Solorense, which is the sisterhood of the vine, which is the monastery. But yeah, you guys don't know the area. I showed you guys the map, but you don't necessarily know where that is yet. You guys, you know, Quill might,

I don't think Quill would know this area in detail. So you might want to go and get some information about it. Would Nova maybe have spotted it in the Hall of Records? Like just fiddling around? You didn't say you were looking into it, so no. I'm going to say no on that one. But you can go look it up again. Or you could just ask around, like,

who's putting these posters up? Where do we find the Vintares Lorenze? You could just ask, like, who's put these posters up? Hello! Let's get to know the local cops and put some info. But when you guys set out anyway, heading out into the city streets, I think that you probably would bump

into maybe a couple of the crew um you'd probably bump into lancean and howard went out yesterday so you'd probably bump into penny and gray lano who are out um getting supplies so you can see penny your kind of human marksman archer who mans the ballista um is carrying bundles of arrows like she just has like stacks of them on her shoulders for the cruise um and gray lano is out buying um medical supplies um when they you bump into them in sort of like the city streets uh they can agree you gray lano is very tall compared to a lot of everybody else around here like she's tall and thin um but still has quite an athletic build um penny is actually quite tall as well but next to gray lano she looks short so anybody like nova

is tiny compared to both of them um and they kind of like greet you uh penny kind of like offers an awkward i don't have any hands salute which is like she raises like one of the things up towards lucius like captain, and she kind of hoists them up like this. Grey Lano nods her head, like, ah, how are you all feeling? Nova, are you feeling rested? I'm fine,

thank you. I actually had eight hours of sleep and no visions, no interruptions, no explosions. That is very good. I am very pleased to hear that. Well, I don't know what you are doing, but this evening, most of the Wolfpack and a few of us from the ship are going to go to...

We've heard about this place called the Devil's Dance. It's supposed to be a lively place, but some of the Wolfpack have heard that there's a fighting match there, and they want to participate. I bet they do. Yes, so I think that Fayeth and a few of the wolf pack are going.

Howard, Lansian, myself and Penny are all going to go down there tonight. So if you wanted to join us, I know perhaps socialising with the crew might be not quite suitable for the captain, but for the rest of you, it would be... I'll be there. Oh, good. Excellent. We are going to be there then. Okay.

I think of all of us, Lucius is the one who socializes the most. Watch out for Aayla. We'll head down there this evening, effectively. I've heard, and we stopped by, it looks a little rough, but everything we keep hearing is that actually the food and drink is quite nice, and it's quite safe. They have bouncers and that sort of thing to keep out any of the ruffians.

So it looks like quite the fun little outing, really. So I'm glad. I hope that you can join us. And she kind of looks around and smiles at everyone, and Penny is just sort of like, great, I'm carrying like a hundred arrows here. Can we go back to the ship now, please? I need to drop these off. And Grey's just sort of like, Great, I'm carrying like a hundred arrows here. Can we go back to the ship now, please? I need to drop these off.

And Grey's like, yes, yes, come on then. Let's head back. Well, we'll see you at the Devil's Dance. And she kind of waves goodbye as you guys make your way out. Man, I have the worst quartermaster. You are. Evening plans, then. I'm assuming that Quill has done a lot of this beforehand,

which is like, he has logs of like, right, this is the shopping list. Okay, minions, go and buy it. You know, I'm not, you know, you don't have to role play that stuff. If you want to engage more, yeah, if you want to engage more, then maybe that earns benefits for the crew.

But I will always assume that you have a default level of like, I have done my basic job. Okay. But the more effort you put in the better better response from the crew um fair enough on the if you go looking for the bounty board um yeah you you find the same thing that you found before which is um around the city there are message boards these big large wooden boards where people post like requests, job offerings. Most of it is quite mundane, but there are a few bounty ones posted.

The two main ones on there is, yes, a bounty on Sahogun heads. Duke Leon offers a bounty of 10 gold per Sahogun head and 500 gold for the bounty of the head of a particularly nasty Sahogun, which is bigger and has scars and that sort of thing. Then the other one is, the nuns

of the solorenze ventari have requested aid from able-bodied and well-armed mercenaries to deal with a group of gnolls that have been ransacking the vineyards and injured um some of the guards uh large reward details discussed in person but i think written on it uh you can see manually that's been written on it um uh come see sister meredith at the devil's dance has been written in like uh like charcoal basically everything goes there all roads lead to the devil's dance i don't know you don't know what you're talking about it's not like the gm you know spent some time on it so where should we go let's go to gusty sure you can do that you can do whatever you want let's go to let's go to starbane's big old ship Let's go to Gustavion. Sure, you can do that.

You can do whatever you want. Let's go to Starbane's big old ship. Let's go to the Tassadar. Let's do that. Let's forget the double stance. Whatever you want. No, I want to go to double stance. That's what I'm saying to Ayla.

We just might be like, right, okay. Level 20 encounters. Right, here we go. Wait, what? It's like Skyrim, right? When you go to a zone to beyond your level, like, run away. No!

Yeah. Just launched by a giant. Okay. We'll go there then. So you guys just kill time, basically, until the evening, and then make your way to this inn, basically? Yeah, I think so.

Could I get like... Could I, to pass time, could I get another leatherworking check for Project Fox together? Cool. I don't know your codename. It depends. Yeah, it's such a good one.

Depends. What kind of skilled... Are you looking for a... Are you going to go for a very skilled artisan or a average artisan or what a very skilled one nothing for the best but the best so they will charge they'll charge you 25 gold to basically do the work for you but it means that I'm not going to bother

making a check they're skilled enough that they can do exactly what you need to so you get another success fantastic so Nova goes off for most of the afternoon um century uh can you have an um i did have an um can i can i see if i can find like somewhere to buy a notebook or like a little diary or something yeah absolutely yeah yeah yeah oh absolutely yeah you can buy like a little leather journal like without like and it costs you like a silver piece or something like that um but yeah like um there's obviously for writing um you can either get like a little kind of like charcoal

pencil uh which will like you can just replenish those they're like you know nothing they're basically like copper pieces at this point or if you wanted to have like an actual proper ink and quill that's a little bit more expensive but it's also a bit more tricky you've already got a quill just use your laser arm to write stuff i need a diary i'm gonna get very Yeah. You need like an actual organizer. Yeah. Yeah. You need an organizer.

Yeah. You can buy that. Yeah. No, it's like a silver piece for like a little leather journal full of like nice parchment. It's quite simple. It's quite plain, but yeah, it will suit your purposes easily enough. I've got 67 gold. Oh, yes.

What? 10 silver is one gold. So. Okay. So you can stock up on, like, a bunch of, like, charcoal pencils and a leather journal. Perfect. Yes. That'll be amazing. Perfect. Yeah, lovely. All right. Thank you.

Yeah, and it's like, you find, like, a little place. You'd probably go to, like, the middle section of Porto Savano, and you find this very little quaint, tiny little shop tucked around on a corner. And it's run by this very, very old-looking forest gnome. He's got bright green hair that kind of spirals out like moss.

And it's kind of like patchy and white in sections. Super wrinkled face. But inside is just dozens of, you know, handmade or hand bound books, but like journals, you find things like ink pots and quills. There are little like painting, you know,

painting supplies, like little paints and things like that for people to buy little stationary things like letter openers and stuff, little stuff like that. And he's just like, and he little stuff like that and he's just like and he like looks at you and he can barely see he's like oh what do we have here uh yeah and his his name is probably something like moss topper or something like that. He's just like, Yes, welcome to Moss Topper's manuscript.

Recruit him. And this he's clearly like ancient. He's so old. But he still kind of moves around quite spryly. And he's got like a little step ladder that he has to carry around to get anywhere

in his shop. It's clearly a shop that was built for a human that he's either inherited or bought, and he can't reach most things. So he has this little ladder and he's like... I have two different steps in my house now. I've got like a one-step stool, and then I've got like one step stool and then I've got one with two steps because the one wasn't high enough for me to reach the top of my cupboards

so I have two steps do you have little steps in your house Kim? I have a children's stepping stool for the kitchen Mark I don't know why you're trying to take this because I'm very proud of it that's basically this is what this little guy what more stoppers like he's just like and yeah and he like as you

buy it he like gets ribbon and he wraps like a bow around it and like things yeah and he takes like he doesn't even seem to notice you're a guardian. He just keeps calling you, like, Armored Lady or something like that. He just doesn't even seem to recognize that you're not a person in armor. He's just like, oh, yes. You must be very hot in that armor. Yes, it's very warm here. It's very warm.

Yes, I like good for the joints. And he does, like a little little jig on the i agree it's so so nice on the old on the old bones that you have i have yes perfect awesome thank you very much you are most welcome where am I he's so cute alright

anything else no so evening comes and as evening the upper and middle parts of Porto Savano are busy during the day. Packed markets, shops, trade, all manner of scholars and assistants running to and fro. But night, the upper and middle sections turn quiet, and the barrels come to life. Little hooded oil lanterns are outside every shop

the little cobblestone streets tucked between everywhere are packed with sailors and visitors people out drinking people trading it's a busy busy place and nova can actually lead you to the devil's dance having walked past it previously um and yeah you can see that it is it is packed like the bar itself um is just chock-a-block with people you meet up with the wolf pack uh there's faith and then about three of the others with her um you've got lancean howard penny and gray lano from the crew you all meet up in a big group and you can see that out the front there are these two armoured dwarves. They're wearing, like, leather jerkins. They've got thick cudgels.

And they kind of look at you as you kind of approach, and they kind of see that some of you have weapons and armour, and they kind of just give you an eye, and one of them is like, Now no trouble once you're inside. We'll be dealing with you. And they kind of them is like now no trouble once you're inside we'll be dealing and they kind

of look at ayla specifically i'm a delight i would never i'm sure you don't if you've got any uh you want to get any fighting done speak to speak to taker and they kind of like jostle you inside now go have fun and they kind of send you inside and you can see that inside One of these dwarves comes out so a third one joins them and he's dragging like this nasty looking sailor He's got like like teeth like half his teeth are falling out. He stinks of booze He just drags him out and throws him out onto the street And he's like come on You've been bothering people for too long he kicks him and kicks him in the bum and sends him down the street. And this old sailor kind of goes like,

But yeah, you make your way inside. You kind of have to do the bar shimmy where you're kind of like squeezing between other people. And it's full of an eclectic bunch of races. You see humans, dwarves, a few wild elves are in here. You see halflings. You see a couple wild elves are in here. You see halflings. You see a couple of tieflings and an Aesimar. Some of them are like playing dice games at these tiny tables where they're kind of like jammed together.

Some of them are drinking. But a lot of the attention is around the bar. And when you arrive and you start squeezing your way in, behind the bar is something that I don't think any of you have seen before. You guys can tell me if this is the other way around. But you see a six foot wide as a car, as wide as a wagon, turtle. This turtle man, you can see the back of him first,

and he has this dark blue shell that's just scarred. It's got gouges in it. It's got parts of it broken. But the most interesting thing is it still has weapons embedded in the shell. It looks like there are daggers and arrows.

A sword has been jabbed in. The blade of an axe head is all still stuck in his shell. And the shell has grown around them, so it looks like they'll never come free, basically. And he turns around, and you see this scarred, beaten up, nasty-looking turtle. I mean, he looks vicious this big sort of wide scarred lips like over his eyes and he turns around and he's like glaring around and he's giving out drinks everybody he talks to starts laughing you can't really make out what he's saying but when he talks to people they laugh or they cheer or they like slide him extra gold and tip him and he just kind

Of pockets it quietly into like something behind the bar And you can see behind the bar. There is a giant greatsword, which is mounted up behind the bar as well And yeah, you guys you guys arrive and the wolf pack alike Kind of just like why is that a turtle man? Amazing Oh, look at that guy! And they're kind of just like, wow, is that a turtle man? Amazing. Where's the fighting? Where's the fighting? They're like looking around.

And there's a set of stairs that leads down. There's like a long spiral staircase that leads down. I guess that's what they did. I'm not sure about this. Need some air. Why not? I mean, look at that. Just everything.

Everything around us right now is not Lucius. I'll see you in a second. Wait, come on, Captain. It's not that bad and Howard's tugging on your sleeve. There's a lot of us here with you, though, so you'll be fine. There's loads of us us here with you, though, so you'll be fine.

There's loads of us. We were going to meet a nun here. Yes. Yeah. If you look around for her, you don't see a nun immediately, but I think Quill, with your perception of gods,

would notice that over in the corner, near the stairs leading down, you can see what looks to be a pair of tieflings and this Aesimar are talking to a very short-looking dwarven woman in very clearly a traditional black-and-white nun's habit with a wimple on her head. And you overhear them just

like uh the tieflings are like oh yeah yeah we'll definitely come and help you out but we would need some gold in advance uh before we can do anything sister i mean we will need to do that and you kind of hear like this like oh well i'm not sure if i've got enough on me but i can have a look and see if that's... And she's, like, patting her pockets down and things like that. Right, okay. I guess I'll start heading over that way to... Yeah, I'm going to head over.

...giving out some gold. Okay. What's everyone else doing? You're still going as a group? Yeah, I'm staying with the group. Yeah, same. Howard, Lansian, Grey Lan gray lano and penny like go up to the bar and the wolf pack faith would probably come with lucius like faith basically just like

comes up like gently holds onto your arm and will follow you but the wolf pack are just like well the wolf pack actually go for the stairs and just go down they're just like fighting fighting fighting but like the others all go to the bar and they're gray lano is just like, fighting, fighting, fighting. But the others all go to the bar and Grey Lano is just like, shall we get your drinks? She calls out and is like, you're making your way over. Water. Water.

Okay. Filtered. I'll try, Captain. As you're crawling out over the bar. I turn to Fayeth and say, why on earth, why on Eros would you ever come to an establishment like this? You brought me here. Yes, look at it, Lucius. It's fun.

Look at all these people. Look at what a good time they're having. And you look around and everybody's actually having a good time. It's true, but I have an overwhelming sense of body odor. And that's really diminishing my visual. That might be me, sorry. Not everywhere can be like the Sky Cities. It probably is, Ayla, but not everywhere can be like the Sky Cities.

This is what most of Erois is like. I'm going to need a nose plug. She just kind of rolls her eyes and half-laughes, but just gently tugs you along with the rest. You guys make your way over, just as you see this dwarven nun, basically, pulling out a small sack of coins, like, Well, I've probably got a little here that I can give you.

You need to come as soon as you can, though, please. These gnolls are causing such a problem. And the tieflings are like, yes. And you just see the Azimar. Okay, so Aayla, you make your way up as this Azimar man who's with them just puts his hand to stop them taking the gold. He's like, sorry, sister, we're not going to help you

despite what these two charlatans say. And he just kind of puts their hands down and they're like, oh, come on. And they're like shoving the Azimar around. And she's like, oh, but I need someone. And then that's as you step up basically. Here you need someone to take care of some gnolls. She turns around

and the Azamar kind of looks at you like, seems to kind of be trying to judge you if you're also going to try and con this poor sister as his friends have. And she turns up and she looks up at you. And she has to look up at you, right? Because she's a dwarf and you're tall um and she turns up and she looks up and she has to look up at you right because she's a dwarf and you're tall and she looks up and you can see that she has these like really rosy cheeks she looks very young she can't be older than sort of

um you know like just beyond adulthood so like 17 18 in human years um bright red hair like super gingery hair and like a little bob um but it's mostly being hidden by the wimple and she kind of looks up and she has a holy symbol of a heart-shaped lyre, which is the holy symbol of Sayana, which is one of the gods of Eros. The song heart she's known as. And she looks

up and she's just like, oh thank goodness I've been asking around in this place for days and everybody's just either too busy. Yes, we need some people, some mercenaries or some fighters to come and just deal with these buggers. I've got

a crew of people right here and we're not accepting payments up front. We'll do it when we've done the job well. Oh, even better. Oh, the Abbotess will be so pleased to hear that. I'm Sister Meredith. And she offers out like a little hand. I mean, you can see she has these very delicately painted nails

as she holds her hand out. I'm Ayla. Nice to meet you. This is my crew. Ayla. Hello, everyone. Oh, bless Sayana. The Songheart bless your souls. Thank you so much. We've got a guardian with us. Oh my goodness.

She's pretty great. She looks up and is just like, oh. Well, I couldn't ask for anyone better. I mean, I'm guessing you'll want to go in the morning when there's light to be sailing by. Sailing? Sailing.

Oh, yes. Sorry. You must be new to the Hawkstone. Yes, the monastery and the vineyards, they're on another island. We need to sail to get there. It's Isle Rosa del Goya. It's the third island from Porta Sovrano, second island from Porta Sovrano. Just on the northwest coast. I've got a

little ship, like a coastal ship that we can take. How long are you expecting this to take? I mean, how much are we to deal with? Well, I mean, the gnolls have been... We've had the occasional

raids from them in the past, but they've just been a bit more, not even aggressive, they've just been a bit more ballsy. Sorry, I shouldn't say that. They've been a bit more reckless, maybe. They've been attacking more recently and just stealing whatever they can get their hands on, the grapes mainly, and buggering off back to their hidey holes in the mountains and the hills. But yeah, just recently

they've just been up and at it a bit more. And look at you! It won't take you more than a few hours. And then sailing there and back, maybe a day. Oh, I'm sorry, sir. I don't know. I mean these adventurers.

And she points at Lucius, not thinking he's with you. Oh, that's our captain. He's with us. She goes bright red. He's actually very good with magic. Oh, my goodness, sir. I'm so sorry. Oh, please. Bless you.

I'm so sorry, sir. You look such a fine gentleman. I thought that maybe you were just a merchant from the city or something. You did? What else did you think? I thought that your hair looks very nice. Oh, yes. Thank you so much.

This is exactly what you're welcome. We'll do anything to help this poor lady. Of course, won't we, team? Well, I mean, we are on a tight schedule and we do need money.

I mean, obviously that's why we would do it. Oh, yes, of course. No, the Abates has very specifically told me that there is a substantial payment. I don't know the details, she said that she'd discuss it with you when you

come to the monastery. But I'm... We're very wealthy, so I'm sure it will be a good amount, a good sum. Okay, well, I mean, do you have any idea of how many gnolls there may be?

Oh, um... Well, the guards said, I think there was like five or six, but I don't know. I've been gone for a few days. I don't know if that's... I don't know. I'm sorry.

I've just been sent to try and hire people. That's okay. That's okay. At the very least, do you have any idea of when their attacks got a little bit more ferocious? I mean, maybe about ten days or so ago. It started off with just a little raid on the wagon when we were taking it to a nearby village. And then a few days later, they came over the walls of the vineyard and they grabbed a bunch of grapes and the guards tried to stop them,

but they jumped back over and then they ran off. And then a few days after that, they came again, but there was more of them. So, I mean, they're just gnolls. The guards can normally deal with them, but they're just being such a pain in the bum, you know, and they've hurt a couple of our guards, so they can't really fight anymore, and, oh, I

don't, I, oh. And she kind of, like, looks a bit flustered. That's okay. Your information has been very valuable, at least enough for us to make an informed decision on, you know, will we help? Well, come and speak to the Abbotess, and then she can discuss payment and give you more information, I'm sure.

And it won't take more than a day, I'm sure. I'm sure it won't. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. We've got a day. Yeah, we can do that, at the very least. Can I ask a small favour? Absolutely.

Can I just stay with you? There's a lot of Very, there's a lot of noisy people In this place It's rough isn't it? Yes I have a small room and it's just It's so loud I can't even get to sleep Most nights

So would you mind? I won't be no bother I promise I mean the only thing is you're very obvious And your name was posted on the bounty board. Mercenaries might be looking for you. We did. Those last guys did. If you want less trouble, maybe that's the problem. I didn't think of that.

I just thought that I should put my name on it so that more people would come because I wasn't getting a lot of responses. I think most people don't want to travel to the island to find out what... Oh, I didn't think. I'm so sorry. I mean, how about this? You said that you were a nun in The Devil's Dance,

and you look like a nun in The Devil's Dance. Maybe... Do you have anything else to change into? Nothing at all? Can we put a cloak over top, maybe? Just to make you blend in a little bit more. Well, we put a cloak over top, maybe? Just to make you blend in a little bit more. Well, I guess a cloak is fine, but

no, this is my habit. I have to wear it. It's part of my order. I'm sure it'll be fine if she's with us. Yeah. We'll fend people off. She kind of, like, deviates. She deviates towards Aayla and Sentry and standing between you and looking around

we'll look out for you yeah you hear from the bar you hear your crew cheering and toasting to the big tortle behind the bar who just kind of like glowers at them all and raises a tiny little kind of shot glass

and is just... Does he look like he's enjoying any of this? No, he looks like permanently grumpy. He has like this permanent kind of like... But for some reason, everyone loves him. Everyone loves him. Yeah, it's really weird. But you can't hear what they're saying.

You just hear like the cheers. And then you watch as he kind of goes over, um, no, sorry. Somebody comes up, like a young boy comes up from the stairs leading down, goes over to the bar,

ducks under the, the little kind of lever bit, speaks something like whispers, like gets on his tiptoes and like, which says something to the, the, the total. Total plods over to a big bar,

a bell by the bar. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding big bar uh bell by the bar ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding and the bar goes silent and you just hear him he kind of like looks around looks like we've got some challengers for the devil's dance tonight so if you want to be seeing some fighting get downstairs but make sure you order a drink first you bunch of fucking idiots

and then everyone laughs everyone's just like and then there's a big rush for the bar he diligently starts serving drinks. Okay, okay. But he means it. He genuinely thinks we're all a bunch of fucking idiots.

Maybe. You don't know. You can go talk to him if you want, but, like, yeah, you don't know. I mean, we've got a day now. Like, tomorrow is when we're doing the heading off on the boat, right? Maybe. now like tomorrow is when we're doing the uh uh heading off on the boat right maybe now we enroll ayla in the fighting pits yeah well you'll need to go and talk to uh the total if that's what you want to do i'm gonna go because you'll need to sign her up i'm blue he's blue i'm gonna go okay yeah so nova makes your way over and howard is like miss nova you've got to

come and he like like drags you over and he's like, Miss Nova, you've got to come in! And he drags you over and he's like, oh, come in! And you can see he's been drinking. He's already several cups into sight. He's got like four ciders that he's drunk. He's like, come on! Come with me! He's too funny, this turtle!

He's brilliant! What's his name, Howard? What's his name? He pushes you and he's like, Taker! Taker, this is our engineer! She's dead clever, she is! This is Nova! And you see the turtle kind of, like, turn slowly.

This really slow turn from where he's been getting drinks. And he leans in close. And you can see just all the different scars. He looks like a Krogan from Mass Effect. Like, he's so, like, scarred. He's, like, shells all, like, beaten up. And he leans in and he's just like,

Engineer, huh? Means you mend stuff, right? Uh, yes. I mean, half the time I break it, but then I fix it afterwards, yes. Ah, sounds like you're in the right business then. You break it, you fix it, you get paid. Oh, I don't know about getting paid.

I wish I got paid. That would be nice. I'd like to get paid. Lucius, can I get paid? Don't you have all our money? Oh, yeah. Sounds like you can do your own set of fixing. What can I get you, little lady?

Sorry, what's your name, sir? Taker. Taker, wow. Are you aware that you have a lot of stabby things in your back? He slaps the bar. It's the first time you've heard him laugh and everybody around, like, everybody at the bar starts laughing as well.

He's just like, am I aware? Hell yeah, I am. Let's see. Count seven times some scumbags have tried to kill me and they've all failed. Reminds me of the've all failed. Wow.

Reminds me of the good old days. And he like cricks his neck and like this big. You can see he's got these giant claws for hands. He doesn't have like fists. His hands are like giant turtle claws. Each one looks like it could just shred through you. He's just like, yeah. Yeah, each one was some idiot who tried to stab me in the back

quite literally fucking idiots didn't realize he just points i'm a turtle yeah everyone laughs around him except him why would why would someone want to try and kill you? Tom's gun. Well, because I used to kill people. I used to enforce. I used to run protection rackets. I used to be a, what do they call it, enforcer. Basically, I made a lot of enemies, little lady. Sounds fair.

Yeah, I've got nothing to add to that a sweet little girl like you wouldn't no sweet yeah been a long time since someone's called me that what's going on downstairs what's the shouting

what's this devil's dancing it's the challenge of the devil's dance. It's a little bit of entertainment we put on here. A little bit of fun, you know what I'm saying? People enter, they fight, people bet, people win,

people lose. It's a good way for me to make extra coin and people get to have a good show. How do people win? Oh, what's this? A messenger or a... He's looking at you.

Oh, uh... Something else. Something else. Something different, yes. Fair enough. I was just wondering, how do people... When do you decide that someone has won the fight? That's pretty easy. You'll see if you go and watch any fights.

Basically, if you want to, if you, I doubt you, he looks at Aayla, looks at Sentry, maybe them, want to enter, it's pretty easy. If you enter, you pay gold up front, you win, you take 75% of the pot plus 20% of any bets placed during the year if you lose you get 20% of the bets so

you get to make some money but either way yeah is it is it a dead pool is it to death or? Is it to death? Or is it just to like... Well, I can't say that accidents don't happen.

But I've got a healer downstairs. If you do get that bloodied, then they can patch you up. But no. The devil's dance is a test of skill. Not necessarily of stamina. But it's a fight, right? You'll see. We can add some modifiers.

I normally pay more because it makes the match more exciting. It gets more people better. So we can add some extra challenges to it, shall we say. And also, if you and your opponent want to up the ante, you can always

wage war. And are you allowed to take your weapons in? You know, hammer, big prickly sword, that sort of thing? Sure. Okay. Are spellcasters allowed, or is it just fisticuffs?

No, just fisticuffs. Magic is... Magic is... I've had some bad experiences know that an errant spell can wipe out some of your buddies next to you and stuff like that so no magic yeah that's fair okay fists blades and i think physical but money to be made anyway. Looks like you've got a sword there, little egg. And I see what? You don't know how to use it? I do. I just, you know.

It's not just a sword. It's a living being. Sure it is, sweetheart. So, any takers? Any of you want to get on the challenge? I got three folks waiting to fight. What?

Never mind. Are you making fun of my name? No, I wasn't. Sorry. I thought it was... I thought everybody was laughing, and I was trying to integrate. Never mind.

I'll have a water. He starts laughing. He's just like, Yeah, you're a funny one. I like you. So, I got three challenges, plus all those beast walkers that just came in.

Any of you want to get in on the action? Yeah. Guardian. Never got one of your kind already fighting down there. Guardian versus Guardian. That would one of your kind already fighting down there. Guardian versus Guardian. That would be a match. That would be a match. I need to practice

my sword fighting skills anyway. Got a new weapon I've got to play with. Do you do team matches? No, it's 1v1. You'll see. Should we have a watch? Should we watch one? Yeah. Yes. When did entry run out? Well, should we have a watch should we watch one yeah yes sure when

when does entry run out well I'll let you watch one match after that you've got to decide what you do okay

if you want in or not alright okay sounds good sure you just come up and speak to me in between the round

after the first round okay nice alright any drinks you want drinks who wants drinks Sure, you just come up and speak to me in between the round, after the first round. Okay. Nice. Any drinks? You want drinks? Who wants drinks? What do you want, Elf? Filtered water? Filtered whiskey, coming right up.

That's absolutely not what I said. Am I climbing down a building? No, he slides it over to you. Oh, right. Now it's him pouring it. Is it coming out? Right, okay. What about you, wild elf? Not for now. I'm going to watch this fight and then

see how it goes. I see you with a Dutch courage. Knew a man called Dutch once. Ugly bastard. Didn't like him. Okay. I have to ask. Yeah.

Why hasn't anyone tried to stab you in the front? Idiots, that's why. People are stupid. Also, hard to stab me in the front when I'm swinging that thing. He points up at the greatsword. Oh. They try and go for the back.

Okay. Yeah. Used to be an old one. That's a nice sword. Ah, it's a piece of shit. But it did me well. Did me okay. Has it got a name?

Nah, are you kidding? Only people that name their weapons are people that have got magic ones or idiots. Idiots. A lot of idiots out there. Magic. Magic. It's fine. It's totally legit, not an idiot. Nice.

What about you, Birdman? Drink. What about... What the last person said? Whiskey. Oh, what the last person said. Whiskey. Oh. That's what he heard Lucius ask for. Slide you a whiskey.

What about you, little ganassi? Oh, me. Do you have anything non-alcoholic? Not so good with the old alcohol. He kind of looks. You see him thinking. Water. I'll have some water. That's

wonderful. Thank you. Rolls his eyes. Goes over to like a little stink, like a faucet. Fills up with glass. Never can have a sip. Oh, yes, Lucius. Oh, your breath stinks. What are you talking about?

You're going to drink right there. Do Quill and Lucius drink their shots of fine whiskey? Sure. Politeness. Yeah. Quill doesn't... Politeness, yeah. Yeah, Quill doesn't hate alcohol, it's just he doesn't know about it. He just doesn't... Yeah, so it burns going down.

It definitely is like a... kind of drink. Okay. But the total taker seems pretty pleased that you drink here, and he kind of nods. Yeah, good stuff. Alright, get down and watch the first match. I think it's a couple of these,

a couple of those Beast Walkers you came in with. Oh. Warm the room up a little. Well, like I said, I've got a medic down there. I'll be fine. All right. Wonderful. Well, yeah, let's watch them fight.

Okay. You guys make your way down um and what you see when you get down there uh you see a large circular arena with a kind of amphitheater built around it and the arena is a probably about a 30 foot drop down into water. Dark water. It looks like it actually is seawater down there. The arena's like old stone. A very thin, no wider than about six inches, wooden board stretches across the pit with three ropes hanging down from it that are tied around the board itself.

You can see on one side, one of your Wolfpack crew members is waiting at a little gate, and on the other side is another one of the Wolfpack members. Both of them are wielding like, um, starves, like long sticks, and they're both kind of positioned on it, and they're both

bouncing, looking at each other. One of them's calling over like, I'm gonna put you in that water! The other one's just like, ah, fuck off. No, I'm going to put you in. And they're bouncing, ready to go. And there's a small kind of there's a crowd. Most people are still upstairs drinking. They're not particularly excited by this fight. But there's a group of people

including the airship crew watching on the kind of like stairs which act like seating, like a little amphitheater seating looking down into the pit. And yeah, they basically open the gates. There is a very deep baritone voice, dark skinned man who stands to the side. He's like, welcome, ladies and gentlemen. So the devils dance and the lights kind of dim.

And you can see that magical lights above the pit kind of illuminate the pit itself. The lights kind of dim and you can see that magical lights above the pit kind of illuminate the pit itself. And the two Wolfpack members enter on either side of the board and you can see them both desperately trying to keep their balance and hold their weapons. A test of skill and of dexterity, but also of strength and power. The winner is simply the one who stays out of the water. Let us hear it for our first match! And the two Wolfpack members start edging towards each other and they try

and swipe at each other's legs, they're trying to knock each other over as they're kind of bashing against one another, and eventually one of them sweeps under there into their legs, knocks the other one prone who hits the board and then flops down. He manages to grab the rope and starts trying to claw

his way back up, but you see the other Wolfpack member hurriedly rush over to it and starts undoing the rope, trying to loosen it. Just as the other one is just about to reach up, the Wolfpack member still standing gets the last bit of the rope and you watch it uncoil and the Wolfpack member just goes

into the water. He kind of swims over to a side where there is some sort of passage and he's pulled out dripping wet and a medic seems to tend to him. I can hear them. There is a

small smattering of applause. The airship crew is cheering for both of them but it doesn't look like there was a lot of money invested in this. Watching from the sidelines, you do see three unique looking contenders who are waiting for a challenge. One is a wild elf woman with a spear and a shield. And she's kind of looking around. looking around um she has like dark blue tattoos mixed with like a green kind of green and blue tabard uh tartan tabard kind of thing going on um stretched across her body she's got like all kinds of swirling animalistic tattoos down her arms uh the other one is a tiny little rock gnome

in a very overblown musketeer's hat with a giant feather. And he's got the most fancy-looking pair of boots you've ever seen. Like, these really nice, big, wide carved boots. And he's got a whip in one hand, and he's got a little axe in the other. And he's just kind of like, looking around. Kind of like, peering down. And then the last

one is a guardian. A very lithe-looking guardian that is doing all these sorts of like stretches i mean you can see it kind of bending its arms in unusual ways and kind of stretching its body and it has no weapons it's just literally got fists um and that's it doesn't seem to be wearing any armor um but its fingers are almost elongated its toes are elongated and it seems to be able to control them and almost wrap them around stone

and stuff like that. Seems to be extremely dexterous and very well built. Grippy. One grippy boy. Is there anyone taking bets around as well? Yes, there is, absolutely. There are a couple of members of the tavern itself who are taking bets. They seem

to honour basically any bet. So we'll come back. You guys can decide. We're going to take a break. You guys can decide what you want to do. I will tell you now that the bets are always two to one. So it's basically if you bet, you double your earnings or you lose it all. Easy. Easy.

Well, we'll take a break and then we'll come back to that. Wonderful. We'll see you in a bit then woo