High Rollers DnD - The House of ir'Nae'uith (Part 1) | Altheya: The Dragon Empire #86

Episode Date: December 2, 2025

The heroes race through Blackwing's residence in the Tapestry as Blood the Conquerer marches his forces towards them! Altheya: The Dragon Empire Campaign Setting begins in Q1 2026! Register interest and support the journey to release here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rollandplaypress/high-rollers-altheya-the-dragon-empire Can't wait for Part 2 of each episode? Join our Patreon to get early access EVERY week (+ a few other bonuses)! www.patreon.com/HighRollers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ _______________ Boost your Charisma with some HR merch! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://highrollersdnd.teemill.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Add official High Rollers Minis to your TTRPG collection here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://only-games.co/collections/high-rollers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bless your table with the Clever Toad Dice Set: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://dispeldice.com/collections/high-rollers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Enhance your bath time experience with the official Altheya themed DiceBombs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://geekyclean.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.highrollersdnd.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for all the latest HR News! Love the podcast? Give us a glittering 5 star review! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/high-rollers-dnd/id1401508198?see-all=reviews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound, TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters), Monument Studios and Jolene Khor! Check out Jolene Khor and all her wonderful work on High Rollers on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/1WX3ICiTmf4GpHwImnQMs6⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠v Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You'll see that your vacation isn't really over until your flight is over. Fly Emirates, fly better. Welcome back to Althea, the Dragon Emmer. Last time we saw our heroes, they had entered Vathalian, the former elven city in the Faywield, but now under the iron claw of one of the hag queens and their unsealy allies. They have come to recover some personal effects of their ally Blackwing, as well as find a plainer essence that could help Xanthius forge a way to help block sovereign's influence over him. A little out of their depth, the heroes sought this

of an elven survivor and resistance fighter called the Harlequin, who helped them get inside the tapestry, a district that once belonged to the mages of Vathalian, but was then abandoned, now patrolled, and protected by the arcane guardians left behind. Encountering several such magical protectors, the party fought through and have eventually arrived at Blackwing's estate, the House of Irneweth.

And that is where we find ourselves once again today. You had approached the doors with Daisy holding up the token that Blackwing had given you, allowing you entry into the sealed magical estate. It led into a long corridor as this beautiful elven home leading to a sort of various doors and pathways leading off in different directions, a great stairwell heading up to a second floor, but also a large central round chamber in which grows a strange but beautiful willow-like tree. Its bark rose gold in colour and its leaves teal and pink, making it look very bright and saturated in this otherwise quite calm blues and grays and silvers environment.

the silks that were draped all along this hallway had detached and formed into a sort of elven visage of an elderly elven gentleman that bowed with the kind of soft flapping of fabrics almost as if caught in a wind as you entered. And unseen by your eyes, but by the audiences, we did see that on the outskirts of this district, the Queen's enforcer, Blood the Conqueror,

a Formian, a Formorian, has begun to make their way inside, seeking to reclaim this district. Something that you were told was in process. But we already know we're in a rush anyway, right? We were fleeing from guards. You had drawn the attention of several guards. You knew that Blood, you had heard that this Blood the Conqueror was making a concentrated effort to break into the tapestry today,

and disable many of these guardians and protectors and ransack the places here. And yeah, you had thankfully, I believe Daisy had managed to sort of lead you down twisting corridors and twisting alleyways and have thrown off your pursuers, but you are limited on time. How much time, hard to say. Not sure. When we were hunting down the tower,

we all used our different abilities and stuff to get a, to speed up the process. I was using Detect Magic. Mm-hmm. That was before the fight, though, wasn't it? It would have been part of the fight, yeah. Okay, so I've probably not got to take magic currently. I would say you don't have it currently on there. Okay.

Because also it's probably taken longer than 10 minutes to make your way through this district. But I wouldn't mind just reactivating it now in prep for hunting down. What I imagine are probably some magical items. Could very well be. Could very well be. No, we need to find magical essence anyway. It's probably useful either way. Yeah.

Well, like I said, you are all currently stood in this long hallway. There are various doors and archways leading off. There is a stairwell heading up to a second floor. You can see this large atrium, which is at the center of the lower floor. And this strange fabric-like figure, this is sort of a seen servant, rather than an unseen servant has manifested itself.

Not unseenly. or unseely. Not unseely. Unseal, but seen. It's like an unseen servant, but you can see it. And it's not unseemly. That's too true. Yes, crucially.

But yeah, so where do we, let's just do a quick, you know, we've had a little break because we were off the previous week. What are you guys, what is each character sort of doing in this moment, basically? That's a great thing. Okay. Sure.

Ruff is off in the corner, rolling a dice. Just get some dice out. What is our destiny today? Well remembered. We got a four. Sometimes you need a player to be on top of our ADHD GMs. Four is a dice for you. It is. I too got a four.

A dice for you. I did got four. I did go four. Doss. Oh, a dice for me. Thank you, Kim. Four. Oh, nice for you.

Lots of fours today. A five. Oh, stacked up. We are up. A two. A two. A door in China. This is death, so death and it's over over all that fire.

That's interesting you got a load of fire there. No, that's just for me. No, that's just because Tom had it on his death. It's like I have this circle for a fireball. Yes, radius. He just has it on hand. I'm not gonna use it. He said he'd use it on me IRL earlier, so.

Oh my God. Yeah, I don't like that. Blest you. You never know. So yeah, let's just go around. So what is like Daisy in this movie? You've just sort of entered this place. What do you think Daisy is sort of immediately doing in this moment?

Probably just, I don't know, I've just got this raven statue that's opened the way for us. And if I see the unseen servant, I'll probably be going, no, friend, friend. Friend, see, we have the key. It bows its head very quietly in your direction. It's not going to hurry us, okay. Okay, we're fine, we're fine.

Everything's fine. What's Zanthias doing? So you're casting Detach Magic. I will, yeah, I will activate Deteg Magic. I'm kind of, I know that we are being pursued, but I don't know how close or how much, but I'm almost looking at the door that we just, I guess, came through, kind of.

The doors have shut behind you when you enter as well. Okay. Is it like they've locked? Is it they are big, secure things? Have bars gone across, lock them in place? They have not. There's no bars that have appeared.

They have, you can, they'll see them, the doors are present, but they glow with abjuration magic. If you detect magic, you can tell that they glow with a strong abjuration effect. I think we're safe in here, I think we have some time, but we probably need to gather the things quickly. And then we can just get on out of here,

back to Althea. Perfect. Yeah, we need to call when we're finished. We can do the thing that let him know that we need to go back. Yes, sure. What is Gruff doing in this moment? Bleeding on the floor.

Oh, God, yeah. Oh, you're right. He died. You are conscious, but just very badly. I'm messy. I think Romer will be tending to gruff. Oh, thank you, boy, oh. But also, probably getting ready to ask the seen-unseen servant

where the study bedroom sitting room are. Okay, but you're not doing that right now. Yeah, just... Bleeding. I'm too bleeding. Too bloody. And then, Roe, you're attending to gruff, so is this like, are you casting magic?

Are you just trying to attend to the wounds? I will be casting magic. Okay. I am also gruffers. You're both bleeding on the film. He looks so well. What? I hope a lung.

Oh, you don't look too good either, boy, oh. That was a lot, wasn't it? No, oh, oh, oh, no, I can help, I can help. I'll help you, you can't help. I'm useless, actually. We just touch. Two of you are going to heal each other in this moment, okay. It works better that way.

Just high five. They don't have the energy to high five. I have kill wounds. We clearly went at level one. That's all I got left is a level one. Doesn't it show kill wounds at high levels? Is it because it's a magic initiate thing? You can cast at high levels, yes, but you'll just have to do it manually.

Righty. May I use a fate to do enhanced healing on Rowan? Yes. Oh, good. Because I only have level ones left. Oh, yes. So using your ampule of Saint-Tilan. That means I add nine to it.

10. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 points of healing for you. From a level one. And a level one. And a roller. Well, yeah, and a magic writer as well, yeah. But still, even without that. And how much do you heal?

19. 19 for gruff, perfect. So the two of you are pretending to each other. What is Ophelia doing in this moment? I think Ophelia's sort of feigning interest in Black Wings, Dossomile, but her hat, Dossimile? No, Dossimile.

No, Dossimis. This is my Dossomile, though, will not be harassed, bitch. But I think her fingers are kind of hovering over the hill of veracity and, like, feeling this new, enhanced power from her sword. Having drained some of the energy of recent foe. Feeling affirmed, yeah, by that power at the minute. Perfect. Well, yeah, you stand in this hallway.

Like I said, you have the various directions that you can head in. The gold sign eye for you, Xantheus, by the way. Yes. There are strong presences of magic all around. There's not going to be like any glowing trails, but if you go up to something and examine it, you'll be able to tell if something is inherently magical or if it is just suffused with magic here.

Because you get the very distinct impression that there is a lot of magic in this place. Some of it, enchantment, some of it illusions, some of it abjuration, but almost suffused through a thing. But if you have this impression, if you find an object and it is, concentrated magic you'll be able to tell. Sure.

I'll pick up the right woven blanket. Sure. Wouldn't that be so embarrassing if we went back and we're like, here you go, and he's like, what's the wrong one? I got this one from like Ikea. What if he has a blanket basket? Like a basket filled with them,

we'd be like, I'd be ruined. I've got multiple blankets somewhere. I do too, yeah, I have loads. So hallway, doors along the hallway, end of the hallway, Adrian. Yeah, so there's like a big round atrium with this tree inside of it. We've got a long hallway, which has at least like two doors,

and then it looks like there's something else attached to the atrium as well, like another sort of archway that leads off from there. And then there is a grand staircase that goes up as well. Can I turn to the unseen, scene, not unseely servant? This sort of fabric caretaker, yes. Greetings, we're here on Blackwing's behalf. Are you able to guide us around the house or communicate with us? It bows, it shakes its head with that last question.

but it bows and gestures to the house. Fantastic. We are looking for the study, the bedroom and the sitting hall in this place. Can you take me to the study, perhaps? Bows and we'll gesture up the stairs for you. Fantastic. I might just head up there

because I'm also on the hunt for some essence and I feel like the study would be the best place for that. Do you guys want to... I'll come with you if you want. Yes? I feel like we should maybe just not split up because I just don't trust anything in the face. wheeled right now because you know people are trying to take over the whole district and it's a bit weird

and there's a guy called blood it's a good it's generally a good uh i will say if you are pressed for time you can absolutely stay together if you are if you are concerned about time splitting up we'll let you cover more ground quickly but you can stay together if you like the most generic information you're going to oh wow it's a gentle reminder wow did you know that if you put one foot in front of the other oh my god okay i feel like it was a fair thing to remind you But then what's next? Yeah. You put one foot in front of the other and then what?

And then you just fall throughout in your face. So there's hair that like goes into my lungs. What happens after that? You then try and exhale. We're going to be punished. Don't worry, I love you, thank you. I'm not going to promise you. I'm going to go with...

That is to study. I'll look for the artwork and you look for what you need. Yes, the artwork's in the study. You're probably the best to find that anyway. Okay. And if I see anything magical, I'll shout down to you guys. Is that good?

We comfortable with that? Also, you guys do not look well. There's blood on this carpet now, I don't know what to do. Is it red wine or white wine? Wait, I don't think wine works on blood. Just use red wine and then pretend it's red wine instead of blood. I can give you a little bit more healing if anyone needs it. Oh, it'll be okay, Daisy.

We're fine, we're okay. Are you sure? Tento Rowan. Tent to Groh. Tent to Rowan. Oh, okay, I'm confused. Tent to me. I'm fine.

Fine. He's a beacon of half. The seen-unseen servant pointed upstairs for... Not Unsealing. For you to go to the study. I'm going to start mosing about looking for a sitting room because I believe a sitting room would be downstairs. Okay.

Because you wouldn't want to go upstairs to sit. Are you just going to pick a random direction like a random door or... I'll use my Rowan intuition. So you're going to randomly pick it. Yes, it's going to run. Okay, perfect. Do you roll a D6 when you drop? You could ask the...

D6. Yeah, roll a D6 for him. Can I ask a question? After he's raised a D6. Five. Five. So. He's timing us.

Okay. Hello. He's timing us. Why has the DM added a D-10 to the fake pool? I don't need to answer that question. I don't have to answer that question. Wait, what? Why haven't you done that?

For podcast listeners, Mark has added a D-10. To the bad side of the fate pool. Yeah. That's never happened before. That's not where the food dice. He's lost his mind. He's just don't go there. It's a rather pretty detail.

It is. That's one of my dagger-heart ones. I am not threatened by this. Everything is fine. It looks lovely. It looks really decorative. So Rowan, are you just going to just wander off as they go upstairs? Gruffith, I'm going to go that way.

So Rowan, you begin making your way towards the atrium where there's a, you can see a third room is split off from there. If I was a... an elf? Where would I sit? I start like squatting in places. Okay. Feeling it out. Feeling it out. What are Xanthea, sorry, what a gruff and Ophelia doing?

I'll probably follow after Rowan just a bit unsteadily. Follow my blood trail. Mm. And add to the blood trail. Okay. Um, I think Ophelia will then start looking for... Lapping it up. Where this...

What a waste. Jewelry boxes. So maybe Ophelia will ask, excuse me, where is Blackwing's bedroom? Is that off court? Is that private? Just as gestures upstairs. Easy is that?

Okay. And I'll just start looking upstairs. The figure seeing you kind of split off will follow the group going upstairs, probably because the majority of you are going that way, as you guys make your way upstairs, will linger a little bit with Gruff and Rowan. As Daisy, Xantheus and Ophelia begin making their way upstairs, you walk along this hallway. You do pass one doorway that seems to live. that seems to lead into a, you briefly glance in,

there appears to be some sort of kitchen. You don't spend too long looking in there, but you do see rows and rows of like herbs and flowers hung from the ceiling. Maybe you catch a glimpse of some sort of alchemy station or something in there, but... Are the herbs rotten? No, no, the herbs and flowers are all perfectly preserved.

That's all good drugs for fairies. How are they preserved? Wonderful. Hey, wait. No, no, this is in a brief glance. You continue on, you pass another doorway which seems to lead into almost a curved room and you glance beautiful portraits,

you glance a couple of pedestals with strange objects on them, maybe looks like a bit of a gallery, and then you enter into the atrium. When you enter the atrium, the tree in its very center seems to almost glow for a brief moment, and you, you hear this very excited sort of voice, my friend, as this figure emerges from the tree.

Holy. Her skin is rose gold. Gruffly, that canonically, that sound. Her skin is rose gold like the tree's bark and her hair is almost like leaves and ivied vines of the same pink and teal as she kind of steps from the tree itself. Blackwing, my, you are not my friend. Oh, yes, sorry.

Oh, we were sent by Blackwing. Where is, my friend? It has not, it's been so long. It has been such a long time since he has been here. I've never known him to be gone this long. Where is he? Oh, we met them in Ashenrest. In Althea.

Look, just this creature, it doesn't they or she doesn't really have a face. It's kind of, just a pair of eye sockets. It's like they're glowing with the sort of pinkish energy. There is no mouth or anything like that. The voice is almost emanating from this creature. Gruff, I think being a druid, you don't really need to make a check that you've probably heard or would have some sort of instinctual knowledge that this is a dryad, and they are connected to the tree within the atrium itself.

Nice? Yeah. The stories, that would require maybe an arcana or nature check, I think, to know anything more. Goody. A row one could make this as well because you would have heard stories as a bard if you'd like.

I rolled an actual one. Oh, perfect. I have a minus one to both. Perfect. Yeah, dude. Zero. I roll the three. The two of it, you have no idea.

This is some sort of Faye being. It could be dangerous. It could try and trick you. You've heard stories of the Faye who can allure an L. and creatures that came from the Faye-Wield that can ensorsel and enchant. Hello, lovely tree-person.

It's a pleasure to meet you. A friend of Blackwing is a friend of ours, right, gruffles? Oh, absolutely. Oh, wonderful, yes. He's a bit cold at the moment, so we're going to find his blankie. Do you know where that is? I don't know where Blackwing keeps his things.

Sitting room. He sits in, they sit in many places. They sit... I thought, I knew it. I've been sitting everywhere, Just looks, I'm sorry, I don't know where. Do you leave the tree often? When Blackwing is here, I will come and speak with him

and greet him and things like that, but I don't go very far these days. I sort of enter, I sleep a lot. I've been sleeping a very long time. I don't remember the last time I was awake. Really? It's been very long. Did we wake you up?

Sorry about that. We're bleeding everywhere. You're hurt, oh no. And we'll reach like a... And I say... Come back, David! But it's easy prey! It's like bowed branches that end in a sort of facsimile of a hand.

She reaches it up and she will cast cure wounds on you both. No, she doesn't touch you. She seems to have the ability to do this at a slight range. That will be four. I technically will be at second level. Quite good. That would be at 27 hit points each. Thank you.

That felt so lovely. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Of course, it does not benefit you to be hurt. Why are you so hurt? Was that a contract? You did not get hurt fighting, my friend, did you? No.

No, we're fighting to get his things back. Oh, that's good. Yes, I can see it now. You both have strange energy about you, but I don't think you are enemies. You need to be careful, though, because there are bad people coming to this town. No.

And you should stay hidden if possible. Oh, I can hide in my tree, of course. And is there any way you can protect your tree? Uh, yes, I suppose. And she gestures, she says, my friend, come, my friend, wake up. And the tree itself. Oh, it's the tree. Kind of stretches its branches and almost,

yawns and stretches and it's, you know, leaves kind of scatter from it. What's Christmas tree? Very nice running man reference, very good. Come over here, come on, Christmas tree! But yeah, it sort of stretches. It doesn't speak, but it sort of begins to sway and move. Well, my friend can fight and protect myself. I wish trees in Althea did that.

Security system, I. What is this Althea? Is that a glade or a grove? It's a plane of existence that we're from. This figure just sort of tilts their head in your direction. A plane of what? A what, of what? Imagine the fay is a rock.

Yes? And then you have other rocks. Okay. They don't, you bash them next to each other. You're not, and she gets very defensive suddenly, and she sort of backs herself up to the tree. You're not from the grey lands, are you? Oh, no.

No, no, no, no. from Althea. That's not the gray, that's not in the gray lens. That's not in the gray. Shut the fuck up, Ophelia. She's not here. I know she's not here. But in his head, he's not.

She jumps through the door, you bitch! Oh, thank goodness. So the planes are like the other realms. Yes, Altheir is another realm. I have not heard of this before. And it's really difficult to go between them. The Blackwing found a way. and sent as you.

May I ask your name? Oh, of course. Blackwing calls me Springheart. Springheart. Springheart, that's a beautiful name. Springheart, yes. I'm afraid my grove was destroyed. It was burned by the soldiers of the Greylands.

That is why I was very scared that you were from there. Why would they do that? They hate, they hate us. They hate the fay. They send their soldiers to burn our trees and to kill my friends. Well, that's not on, is it? No, no, they hate life.

They hate, they hate creatures like me. They wish to destroy, they destroyed all of my brothers and sisters in the grove. It was Blackwing who rescued me. He managed to rescue me. I was the last one. You don't happen to know what house that was. Do you? House?

So they have, never mind, it's fine. Did they have any insignias on them, any symbols? No, they have, it is a dark memory. to remember. Oh, you don't have to go back, it's okay. They were the dead, the dead that marched. They wore rusted metal and carried axes and torches and horrible things.

Oh, well, we're not... Any blood, any blood at all? We're not from the grey lands, no. No, you are too full of life. I can see that about you. I'm sorry for thinking that you were of them. But you are not of the fay? No, we're just visiting,

gathering some bits for... Are you from... You are not from the Isles, from the Primal Isles? Oh, am I? But you have, you have magic of the stone. Oh, yes, I've got a bit of giant in me, a bit of Yotnir. I don't know what that is. Okay.

I have limited knowledge about them as well. So they may have come from the Primal Isles? Is that another place? It is like the Greylands, but different. They do not hate life, but they are greedy and trade and... seek many things. She's very honest. I'm gonna say I'm not.

You do not, but you carry some of their magic. I can see it in you. Rowan is one of the most generous people I know. Oh, that means a lot. I can see that you are. Stop it. You carry the magic of life. You I like very much, sir.

And she kind of like, she beams it. Wouldn't it be crazy if there was someone from the grave lands in this house right now? Oh, I would not stand it. I would make, I would, I would make sure that They could not harm, my good friend. Okay. I think she's Formasius, which is all fair.

Yeah, they're not from one ground. Oh, we would not, you would, I'm sure, you would not stand by as such a wicked and foul creature would putter my friend's home. Nope. So my name is Grafus. Hello, Graffet. Much tomorrow, pleasure to meet you.

Let's go back to the bit where you liked me. Yeah, she's like, has, well, you are sent you, my friend, since you're here to gather some of his, their things? Yes, he wanted some of his belongings. A woven blanket from a sitting room. I don't suppose, and also a jewelry box in the shape of an everbloom and a folio of artwork. Well, I know that my friend does all of their artwork up in their study,

which I think is above. I don't, a blanket. Yes, I think, oh, perhaps in here, and she gestures to that adjoining room. Yes, I... Long, well, it has been some time, but in there, Blackwing will, they go to sit and sleep and read and play music. And I've seen them wearing a strange cloak of many colors and hues.

And I know it means a lot to them. It was woven by their, what is the word for it, mate? It was theirs. It reminds them of. of a long time ago. Oh, right. That sounds like what they've asked for. That's really important.

It's just in there. Well, let's get it for them. Thank you for your help. Heart, spring, spring, heart spring. Of course, I will remain here until you need me, I suppose. Yes. Is there anything you'd like us to tell Blackwing?

Only that I miss them and that I hope that they come back soon. It's been so very long. there many of their, yes, as far as I know, the caretaker has been looking after the place. Halothin has been doing a great job, I can sense them. Oh, the fabrics, yes, that is the caretaker. Halethin means caretaker in Blackwing's speech.

Halifin, thank you. But yes, just pass on that I miss my friend, and it has been so very long. It would be our pleasure. Thank you for your help. And the healing. That was lovely. I feel tingly.

You would see that, obviously, Springheart's taken your immediate sort of attention as you were sort of making your way through this space. As you're making your way towards this archway, she doesn't disappear. She sort of seems to linger. And you see she begins to kind of move around the room. And there are these curved work benches with things like sacks of soil, tools, other pieces of, like, gardening equipment,

along with lots of strange plants, some that have been housed in pots, some in troughs that have been sort of built. Others are suspended in like hanging baskets, like magical baskets that are sort of draped around the atrium, all full of these strange, vibrant, quite saturated plants that you've seen scattered around the Faywield. It's kind of like a little bit of an interior sort of greenhouse.

One of them, you would notice on one of the benches, as you go to pass it. It strikes you as odd because it's very different to everything else in here. It's a metal cube, quite a large metal cube, made of like a lattice, like a framework.

And inside it, gruff, especially with your perception, you would spot this quite easily, is a quite large, probably bigger than a tarantula, bright green and black spider. And it's woven this, like, beautiful network of like threads and silver,

in amongst this cube. It's almost like it's a cage and this creature has been kept inside. And it just, it's very vibrant and very undifferent to everything else that's in here. Oh, sorry Springard. Before we heard. Can you tell me about this?

We'll be steal video. Oh, that is a goblinsbane spider. Blackwing found it and the caretaker and I keep it to nurture it and have been keeping it. The box that it is in is, you know, goblin, bane, spiders are very dangerous. But it is a rarity here in the Fayield, in our home. It is quite magical.

The threads that it spins, the silk that it makes, Blackwing once said it is as strong as metal. It takes a long time for it to produce much of it, but... I was just wondering whether or not we could maybe take it with us as well and reunite it with Blackwing. You are free to, if you are friends of Blackwing, and I do not see how you could not be in here if you are not, but if you are friends of Blackwing, take what you wish.

I would just caution you to be cautious. Even through the cage, it can still bite. Oh, okay. We'll be careful and hopefully, I don't know, I just feel like I want to, I don't know, remind Blackwing of home. Yes, take what you need, my friends. If you are friends of Blackwing, you are friends of mine.

I don't suppose you'd want to come as well. Oh, I cannot leave my tree. If I am separated from my tree for too long, I would wither and die. I don't know that. So unless you have a way to take my tree back with you, I'm sorry. Maybe we'll talk to Blackwing and see, like, I don't know how easy it is for them to... They're in their holiday home right now, so... Of course, yes, please, mention it.

But yeah, this is just something that you saw on the way out. Shall I pick it up? Okay. Is our group chat still up? I don't know. I think that was a daisy thing. You did it a while ago. If it's not, I was going to say, as I'm going up the stairs,

I will just look around at everyone and strike up a group chat. I'll just use a thing. I don't mind. In which case, as we go into the sitting room, I would just be like, sister Raphaelia. Yes. Do me a favor? Stay away from a tree in the central atrium, okay?

Let me guess. I'll have a fake tree that I hated me and wants me to die. Yes, absolutely. Okay. How did you know? Wait, can you hear me your feet out? So, I'm just aware of where we are. As you say that, there's a perfect segue as you guys go to step into the sitting room,

leaving behind Springhart on the atrium. We head upstairs. And you would see, you are led, as you're led, as you're, you head up the stairs to a sort of upper hallway. Again, these beautiful drapes of like silver and blue. There are no doors, there are just archways with these drapes, these kind of heavy silk drapes that you part like curtains to enter into the different rooms.

But you can see that there are three sort of rooms attached to this upper hallway, you know, furthest to closest, basically. Okay. Servant, which of these rooms is the study? And, Ophelia, are you hoping to go into his private Dossomile? Yes. Okay. I heard it.

Which one is the study? Points to the first door. First door. Okay. Ophelia? I'll go in here and try and find the art then. Yes, fantastic. And which one is the bedroom?

Points to the furthest door. Further door. We'll see you in a second, Ophelia. Call out if you see anything. There's a great. Your time. Group chat. Good chat.

Thank you. Okay. The Halifin, the caretaker, will probably stay with the two of you, because again, it seems to stick with who I like the majority each time. I think he really likes me. We'll stick with Ophelia for a second then. As Ophelia makes your way down the corridor,

you kind of part these curtains as you step into a beautiful bedroom. Everything is this kind of these dark blues, blacks and silvers and things like that. But as you went to this room, you realize that this is sort of one of the taller towers that you saw from the outside. As you step into this large circular room,

The bed is actually on sort of a large, tall pedestal at the center of the room with a staircase that sort of leads up to it. And then the roof of the whole bedroom is made of interwoven wooden branches that seem to form a canopy from which dangle strings filled with like crystal and pieces of glass that sort of, and a magical light seems to emanate within all of it, sort of scattering snowflakes of light almost or like petals of light across the entire room.

Everything is very opulent. It definitely, I would say for Ophelia, there is a sort of strange nostalgia of remembering the countess's bedchambers. This sort of grand opulence, this majesty, a bit larger than life, but obviously in a different hue and with a different vibe to it.

There are no golden chalices or opulent reds or things like that here. Everything here is made of wood, but this strange, beautiful, silvery wood. It gives it a much cooler tone to everything. You see that, yeah, this large, raised-up bed dominates. But around the room there are also large dresses. There is a vanity-like desk with an enormous crystalline mirror set against it.

And you can see that there are little boxes, little sort of hanging pieces of wood with jewelry. and, you know, rings all sort of scattered around it, you know, in different places. A little stool tucked into the vanity as if somebody could use it to get ready in the morning. There is also what appears to be a, I guess, like a tailor's dummy or like a clothing stand, like an upright clothing stand, upon which is this incredible thing that you see, a cape made of silvery mist that sort of flows down the back. and it seems the mist is created by these two silvery wooden clasps

with a gentle chain between them and it creates this, yeah, billowing cape of mist behind it and it just has been left there. Yeah, I think Ophelia walks in, she'll sort of tap the back of the nape of her neck and let the beetle armor fall away. And she'll just sort of casually rummage around, thumbing all the jewelry, like just,

like feeling the quality, just like, hmm. It is exceptionally well made. Like this is, it's all silver. You don't really find a lot of gold here, or at least you think it's silver. It has the color and the consistency of silver, but I think that it would feel almost cool to the touch, and there would be a much more resonant melodic sound

when you sort of tap it and things like that. There is something innately, otherworldly about this. This is not just mundane silver, probably similar to the coins that you found, Faye silver, and it's exceptionally made, beautiful. But a little more rustic, a little bit more, not crude, but natural. This has all been hand-shaped, you know, this has not been made in a forge or melted down and put into a mould. This is all hand-woven, hand-forged, with great care,

preserving as much of the natural material and natural qualities as it can do. There are gemstones, but they are not the gemstones that you would know. They almost sparkle with strange otherworldly colors or resemble creatures' eyes and things like that as you kind of thumb through them. You notice that there are also the jewelry boxes

on the desk, but are you thumbing through those or just the stuff that's available? I think she'll also be just keeping an eye out for this jewelry box, so it had the Everbloom jewelry box. I don't think Affiliwood would know one Everbloom really looks like. Oh, but you could make an educated guess. If you roll me a nature roll,

to see if you can pick out from the various boxes, one that looks like a flower or looks like a... She has no idea. You just start rummaging through whatever and everything. Sort of having a frenzy, just like, oh, lovely. Like anything sparkly, shiny, just... This looks important enough. You don't have the Raven figurine, do you?

I have it. Daisy has the Raven figurine. Okay. Can you make a dexterity roll for me, please? You do see this coming, so you do get dangerous sense. Beautiful. We did send the Greylands representative on our own. Yeah.

18. 18. You leap back as you go to touch. It looks vaguely like a, well, it could be a flower, you suppose, but you're not really sure. You maybe pick up some of the smaller ones first, and you go to reach for this one, and as you go to open it, you sense.

It's like a flare of magic, and you leap back, you throw your hands off of it. As for the briefest instant, your mind is filled with visions of fear and pain, things that would frighten Ophelia, things that maybe visions of something that you're afraid of, but they don't take a halt. Like you get this kind of flash,

as if you've, and you know, Ophelia's seen this is some sort of magical trap that's been placed upon it, basically. Less of a frenzy, more careful. Okay, um, Everbloom, Everbloom. So you can take some time to find the everbloom, it will just take a little bit of time to do.

Yeah, I can actually kind of get distracted by the big bed. Okay. And maybe just... Goes up there. Goes up there. Just sort of has a little... Just... Starfish on it for a little bit.

Sure. Dangles her feet off the edge. Yeah. It's so comfortable. It's like what you imagine. A cloud feels like to lay upon. That kind of like childish sort of joy, I guess, with like overwhelmer.

Just having this big bed. It's like being a little kid in a big bed. Just feeling like the world is... massive and just like, she sort of giggles kicking her feet a little bit. When you lay in the bed and you start doing this and you're looking up all these sort of dangling jewels and charms, you begin to hear almost triggered by you laying in the bed this beautiful elven music that sort of just very gently and softly is sort of playing around you. Can you give me a wisdom, save the ground goes? Interesting. Eleven. You just, you

can't help it. You yawn and your eyes close and you drifted to sleep. It's Percival there as well. I guess Percy followed you. Well, yeah, I suppose Percival would have followed you. But Percival's like, he's still downstairs and sort of like he wouldn't have just come up and look over, you know. I guess even if he did, like, he's not going to stop her.

Yeah. Well, Percival, when he's not given orders, he just defaults to his natural thing, which is protect and help Sister Ophelia. And to him, Sister Ophelia, fall in sleep, he's like, oh, okay, Sister Ophelia is taking an app. He just takes guard, just readies himself, like, yep, if anybody comes and causes trouble. So he takes that. So, yeah, unfortunately, Sistrophia, you, oh, I just, you find yourself drifting off to peaceful sleep. Cutting, veracity.

Yeah. What? That's not a good idea. Meanwhile, Xanthius and Daisy, you step into the study. Yes. This, you get the feeling that it sits on the back of the rear of the estate, because immediately you see curtains drawn grand arched windows that look out onto a beautiful garden at the back of the estate. This is another very tall room with these grand, you know, windows letting in gorgeous

amounts of, and it seems to face towards the sun side of the city. So it actually gets like the dusk light and then the dawn light coming in at the same time. And you would find that this is very clearly a, like an artist's study. There is a great, a massive easel covered in fabric. whatever painting was being worked on hidden by this shroud. There is a stool with various artist supplies and things next to it. You can see that there are work benches around the study with tools for carving and sculpting, calligraphy, as well as various cabinets filled with beautiful carved and painted statuettes

of elven figures and creatures, illustrations and paintings on smaller canvases, as well as glass containers of different colors, shapes, sizes. All of them are exquisite works of art. There is also things like folded up leather folios and scroll cases and that decorated scattered around the place as well. One of the cabinets has a large chunk almost sort of like on one of those display devices that holds up like a large object. A piece of bark, like a bark from a tree, but it's covered in glowing ruins. green glowing rooms. That's what you see when you enter.

Daisy, that place is fantastic. Can we take everything back? Can we take this entire building back? I know he said that we could take things that we wanted because he doesn't need any of it, but like, I want all of his anthesis is great. I don't have any kind of, I can't carry everything, but we can carry as much as we can, right?

Look for some essences. I'll look through some artwork. What about that thing? That thing seems promising. The bark is, under your detect magic, you know that that is a plain art essence of the Fay wield. I would say that because you've been doing work in your arcane, like, forge as well,

or at your arcane laboratory, you would know that this is, it's basically a major essence, which is like a real proper essence. It has the elements of Fay, but also, like, endurance or resilience are the two sort of things that it's connected to. So it can be used to create magic items

that are connected to resilient, endurance, that sort of thing. It could be ground down. It could be shaped. It could be carved. You don't know what it is. The set magic doesn't tell you that. You'd have to make a nature or a carna check to figure that out.

But you do know it is a potential essence. I mean, I think this thing is exactly what I'm looking for. And on top of that, it seems to exhibit the exact properties that I would be looking for to, you know, you know, protect. Stop. Well, that's good. This mess. Oh, we can check that. I don't think this cabinet is, there's no, like, is it magic on the cabinet?

Can I have a look at the cabinet and see if it's got any locks on it or anything, or if it's just, is it just open? So it is locked, and I think that between the two of you, you know, taking the time to examine it, it is definitely, there is, you know, glyphs like small runes of warding and things on that. But because Daisy are holding the raven figurine, when you approach those runes no longer illuminate, and also you hear the lock open, like it unlocked.

It's like it wants you to take it. Wait, hang on. Everyone, just be aware that a ruin just sort of vanished the moment Daisy went near it with the thing. What's it called? Raven statue. Raven statue, you just said that. The raven statue. So be aware there might be some small traps dotted around the place that will only deactivate.

Anyone? Oh, they're all dead. You don't hear snoring. You can't mentally project snoring. Can't imagine if you could. We can't hear anything on this call anymore. You just get honkshoe me-me-me-me-me. I can hear Athenia's dreams.

Oh, me-me-me-me-me-me. Oh, no. So far, no traps here for me and Griffith. Okay, wonderful. Oh, okay. Be aware. Okay. Can I uncover the painting that's on the easel?

Yeah, you pull the shroud down, and kind of, whoff, it kind of pulls down dramatically as fine, silk and shawl. shroud. And it is a half-finished piece. It looks, but it looks like it's been unfinished for a long time. You know, it's been 300 years since it was here, but there's something about it.

Maybe it's because you're an artist as well, Daisy. This looks like it's been an unfinished piece for longer than that, potentially. It depicts Blackwing, half-finished, but very clearly and obviously Blackwing themselves in that regal form. more of the avian features though um the other figure is barely started it's sketched uh there is an outline of hair there is an outline of a slender figure impossible to tell male or female or non-binary but you can see that black wing is very tenderly holding like their shoulder um but they have not been filled in and the space around them you can see is the city of vathalian you recognize the

great tree you recognize some of the beautiful sights from uh the tapestry and things and things like that. In fact, actually looking at it now through the great windows, it almost looks like it's in the garden, which has the city as the backdrop. But yeah, you can just see that there's an unfinished self-portrait and portrait of someone else. Oh. Can I look at some of the, you said there's folios. There's like, yeah, brown folded folios, there's scroll cases and things like that. Yeah, they're all in the cabinets and on the workbenchers and things like that. Okay. Did anyone remember what they said about the folio of artwork?

Was there anything distinctive? Because there's a few. Quite a few, yeah. They have a folio of their artwork. Maybe open some of them out there might be... Yeah, I'll take a look at some of the folios. So some of the folios are writing, and so you're like, oh, okay, it's not this. When you eventually you find, and it's huge, it's sort of leaned up against the wall,

and it's a large sort of leather, piece of leather that's been folded in half. It's probably about, nearly comes up to sort of like your chest, Daisy. It's massive. It's like three foot tall, four foot tall. And you open it up and inside are just single, like, pieces of artwork in between fine sheets of like this gossamer thin material. But the thing that strikes you is these paintings move slightly.

There's like a slight movement and illusion to them. So as you look at them, the silver sap-like river, it's a beautiful portrait of one of the bridges out in the city. And the actual liquid seems to shimmer and move along the page. And in a sort of very stop motion, like very erratic way, you see like people crossing the bridge, like little couples of elves and satyrs and centaurs and things like that coming and going. You flick through, you find a portrait of a centaur guard. It looks like who's just very idly sort of leaning on their spear. kind of lets out their ears kind of twitching a little bit

as they stood on the wall looking out onto the canopy. And you flick through and there's all these beautiful, and they are absolutely stunning. Not only because they're magical nature, but the artistry involved is clearly that of a great master of their craft. And this does seem to be the thing that you were looking for. In fact, actually, yes, when you touch this and when you begin flicking through it, Xanthias, you would notice this before Daisy.

But as Daisy touches this object, the Raven statue glows ever so slightly. And you see this almost translucent specter of Blackwing stood in front of the easel painting. And then moving up and fetching things and going about their business. You see them turn towards the doorway

and you see them smile and they begin speaking but you hear no words as if conversing with somebody that's not there. Yeah, if I look at the door. doorway. No one there. But you see Black Wing, like, is delighted. You've never seen this figure so full of joy.

And then they sort of gesture back to the portrait. But then the image flicks, and now it's Blackwing stood at the window, looking solemn, looking dejected. They pull up great silk cough and throw it over the easel, and then they walk out the room. That's it. And then the little vision of that ends. of that ends. Awesome.

So while... I love story. What else are you doing? Do you want to try and take this thing out of the cabinet? Oh, yes. So was it unlockable, sorry. Yeah. As soon as Daisy approached it with a statue,

it unlocked and disabled whatever trap was there. I mean, I'll delicately... I mean, how big is this thing? Is it like... It's pretty big. You know, it's, you know, I would say, you know, maybe a foot square. Okay.

When you touch it, I do need you to make a Constitution saving throw for me, please. Okay, doke, that's okay. Constitution is my... Don't... My bread, my butter, my jam, and my jelly.

My Marmite. Oh, 11 plus 8, 19. 19. So you begin holding this thing and you immediately can feel some sort of presence. How would you... I guess your...

Runeic magic, you watch as pieces of your good hand, your non-corrupted hand, begin to be covered in like a thick bark, but the runes flare and like break it away before it can take hold. And it's as soon as you touch this thing and you can see that as long as you're holding it, it keeps trying to cover your body and bark and it's like breaking it away.

Okay, okay, I mean I've got a hold on this thing, but I think I can resist it for a while. Can I take the sheet that was over the easel and try to wrap it around, like drape it over it and say maybe don't touch it directly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you go, drop it. I don't want to touch it. You, you touch it.

Catch. I'm not going to, I'm not. I don't throw it. You have the raven statue, right? But it's not the statue that's doing it, it's the item itself. Yeah. If you drops the drape, the fabric over it,

does anything happen to the fabric? I would say it doesn't happen to the fabric, no. Okay. So can you hold it as long as you're not touching it directly? Seems to be. And then hold it like a sack. Okay. Yeah, that's it.

The bark like effect no longer seems to be affecting your hand. Oh, okay. Wow. Tinkly. Ooh. Did you get the artwork? Yeah, artwork here. Do you reckon he might want some of the writings?

I don't know if I should take. He didn't ask for any of the writing, but I wonder if we should take the unfinished painting. Maybe he won't finish it one day. It's very big. It's like one of these enormous kind of, royal portraits, kinds of things. But, I mean, Daisy, you know that you could cut it from the canvas,

roll it up and carry it that way. I'll do that. Yeah, you could do that. And then if Black Wing is clearly the artist would know how to really put it on a new canvas and stuff like that. Yeah, if you'd like to do that, yeah. Can I look for any fancy schmense art supplies?

Yeah, there's literally lying right next to the easel. It's this beautiful, like, yeah, and it's expensive stuff. You really, like, you open it and the paint's all fresh, even though it's been 300 years or something since by... Everlasting paint, yes. Potentially could be something like that. It's like a long wooden box made of some beautiful,

like the same silvery wood that a lot of the things here are made of. With sections for these beautiful, very pigmented, vibrant paints. There are three brushes of small, medium, and large, a little section for like a little pot of water or something to go. and then a mixing plate as well, which you can gather up. These would basically be masterwork painting supplies, and they are indeed...

They're not maybe everlasting, but they will never go dry, basically. They're sort of... Once you run out, they've run out, but there's plenty in there, basically. But yeah, they are masterwork painting supplies, so these will give you bonuses to whenever you do art-based checks.

Before the paintings are cut down as well. Scene-unseen server... Hello. Do you know who... this painting represents, obviously, Blackwing, but could you lead me somewhere to? It lowers the caretaker lowers their face. And it's strange to see fabric look sad,

because you can't ever see like an actual emotion, but it's very clearly like the sort of thin line of a mouth because it just sags a little bit, and it shakes its head at your question. You can't show me something that might identify More pictures, perhaps, or... It would think that it shakes its head. Okay.

They must have meant a lot to Blackwing. Nods its head. Did something happen to them? Nods its head. I see. Is there something perhaps of theirs that we might be able to take back to Blackwing? Nods and gestures for you to follow.

Okay, Daisy, do you want to... Do you... Does there anything else in this? from this like magic that you wanna? Oh, you've got the thing. Yes. Nothing that would register as a magical item in here. No, you've gathered up the strange bark.

You've gathered up the painting supplies. Even though they're not magical, they're just exceptionally made of strange materials, it looks like. I'm guessing the writings are also undecipherable. It's all in self-in, you can't read it, yeah. No, I think just the artwork and cutting down, obviously, this one. It doesn't take long for Daisy to do that. and the supplies.

Sure. Make sure you write down like you've got the unfinished painting as well. Perfect. Well, yeah, the caretaker will lead you out and begins leading you to the bedroom. But we'll cut back to our friends below as you enter, as Rowan and Graf enter into the sitting room. Attached to the atrium, this is a sort of, you know, it seems to dominate sort of one half of the house. It's an enormous room. beautiful hearth set into one wall, magical doesn't seem to emit any sort of smoke,

but heat and warmth and light seem to emerge from it. It crackles blue rather than red fire, casting this entire sitting room into that cool sort of ghostly ethereal blue that seems to linger. There is a very large, long, plush couch that sits in front of that hearth beneath which is a vibrant beautiful rug covering the floor below it strong sense of wood smoke and tea seem to almost emanate from that section of the room there is one half of the room is dominated by a large harp carved from wood and strung with gossamer strings it has various you know a little stand for music a stool to accompany it and you can see that on the wall there are actually various other instruments or strung up or like a hip hop on like little display pieces and in fact

Rowan you would recognize that there is parchment with song notation and stuff on there as well and the other half of the room there is a large bay window that looks out onto the garden as well at the back of the estate there is you know shelves around it with books but these wouldn't be like thick leather-bound tomes. They're almost all, like, paper, sort of woven together, hand-bound books and things like that. And they're sort of scattered amongst with little trinkets and mugs and glass jars and things like that all around it. And by that, an large armchair, sorry, it's like a cushioned bay window seat, not an armchair, it's like a cushioned seat in the window. And below that seat, sort of almost left there absently, as if somebody had taken them off

whilst they were sat there reading, is a pair of beautiful green leather boots, very like Tom Bombadil or like Elven-style boots. Probably would be like thigh, like, or knee-high, or thigh-high boots. And they definitely seem to be embossed, but at a distance you can't tell by what with, but they are, they are, you know, very well made. And yeah, that's what you see in the sitting room.

So Gruff will probably move over to the fireplace and just have a moment, warming his paws. Forgive me as well. On the back of the couch, there is this woven blanket as well. It's made of all sort. It's kind of raggedy.

It's not, it kind of is out of place with this place because it looks very sort of badly made, as if somebody who didn't really know what they were doing like sewed it or like wove it or crocheted it, crocheted. Crocheted. Crochet it.

And that's been draped over the back of the sofa. Also probably on the way towards that probably just take a moment to warm his paws by the fireplace. Yeah, beautiful lovely warmth kind of spreads through your paws. Strange, considering it's such a blue flame, you almost expect it to be cold,

but there is this kind of very delicate, pleasant warmth and that really strong wood smoke and tea, maybe a little jasmine, kind of like mixes all together in this area. Well, perfect room for you there, boyo. Look at all those instruments. Rowan's already there.

looking at the wall of things. Gruff just his. The hugest, like, rumble in Roman's stomach. Oh, God, it's the perfect place to sit, isn't it? And I'm hungry as hell. I'm really hungry. The pits of hellie. Well, I'd probably have a...

I'd like my bowels right now. Endless. I probably have a snack or some rations or something for you. Deprived of food. What beautiful instrument. I have no... idea what's written here. Can't read music. Why don't you, you know.

That's interesting, so you can't read like noted music. Doesn't need to. It doesn't need to. It doesn't need to. Plays it naturally, yeah. Plays it by ear. Why don't you take one down? Oh, I couldn't.

Okay. What do you, what do you go for? So I would imagine that most of the instruments here, there is a lot of, you know, some that look like flutes, you know, liars, Maybe a violin, but it's not a violin. It's like a weird-looking violin. It's not, you don't really know how it would work. See you for lately.

So, Griffith, if you were to picture Ice Heart, the music that comes from Ice Heart, would it be stringed, would it be a wind instrument? There are some drums and things as well. Would it be percussive? Oh, well, we have a mixture. I can only play one at a time. Okay, I'm trying to think,

because I used to have all Welsh music. teacher and he would I can't remember the name like there was a specific drum and stringed instrument that he would play also it can be ice heart so you can be its own thing I think I think it just work that I've got that style of music in my head but like that kind of you can have like drum like percussion percussive and strings and things like that so that it was like a drum like a single one that you held in your hand with one side that had the skin on it and you kind of strike with a drumstick but with

the two sides of the drumsteen it like that and almost like I guess like almost like a banjo but not a banjo but that kind of long style that kind of Rowan's never banjo sorry the vision of Rowan playing the banjo he would be so delightfully happy while he did it let's say a banjo so like a loop and like things like that

would you know come close or something like that please take a seat pleasure take a look off, Gruffeth. You've had a long day. Yeah, when Groff sits down on the couch, he's just like, oh, yes. Ronald walk over to the bay window where Gruff is and take off Sustanuto that you can watch too,

and nestle Sustanuto next to Gruffeth. Okay. And, yeah, gets a percussive instrument that's closely resembling to what... Gras described. ...and also tries to play a string instrument with the other hand. Okay. So give me a performance check with disadvantage,

Trying to play two instruments at once, I think it's definitely disadvantage. Yes. 17. Total. Even with disadvantage. It takes a bit of getting used to. The drum is easy enough. You can sort of nestle it under one arm and sort of tap out a basic rhythm with it,

and you kind of get that going. Playing the stringed instrument one-handed is pretty hard. But you manage to find a way to do that. Maybe it's using, like, a pause between the beats to strike a note and then holding that note and changing it, you know, by bending the string and things like that. But you begin to play, and the, the drum sounds deeper than it should. Like, this tiny little elven drum.

It has this real resonance to it. 7.1. The stringed instrument almost, it feels like the wind is, like, calling you. and it has this lightness and this airiness to it as you begin to play it. And what kind of tone or beat or rhythm do? What do you sort of go for you, Roan? You play it not exceptionally well, but you play pretty well. Rowan's going to try and just connect with everything he knows about Gruffeth.

Okay. And try and instill an instinctive vibe out of what Ice Heart means. What do you think that is? Now I could stereotype here. Go with your heart. I think it would be quite peaceful, slow tempo, almost like a distant drum, not sounding like a war or anything like that,

but just keeping the rhythm of life. And the strings would be almost like an ambient string which sounds like wind or the chill of a fishing lake, that sort of thing, or the lapping waves. There's a coolness to it all with the thing. The drum, doesn't sound like war drums. It sounds more like the crash of a wave against the shore.

Kind of has this reverberation to it. And the strings become wind, and they become sea birds, and they become the sharp ice and the cold. But there is a pleasantness. There is a warmth at the heart of it all. And it takes you back, Graf. It takes you back to sitting around the campfire when the snow's howling outside

and the family and the village all come together in, you know, sort of the hall. to tell stories, your wife, you hear her telling her stories, you feel the kids kind of pressed up against you. It kind of takes you back to that little village moment as you hear all this music begin to play. Yeah. You feel this soft, rather eclectic shroud,

this, you know, this blanket behind you. As you're hearing this music and sort of as you're, you know, your pause or something, you inadvertently touch it, place your hand against it. And as you do, unknown to you, the raven figurine that Daisy's holding glows ever so softly. And you see this spectral image. And next to you sort of sat there listening is Blackwing, just looking in the direction of the harp.

And beside Rowan, you see their face, again, quite shrouded. You just see a sort of mass of hair, really, and this beautiful, elegant gown facing away from you playing the harp, this enormous beautiful harp, but again, there's no sound to it. And you see the contentness and the calmness on Black Wing as they are having this. And then, I don't think, Rowan, you kind of see this happening as well. This kind of figure takes place, and you sort of stop for a moment. And as the music stills, the spectral images begin to shift, and suddenly Black Queen, like, looks towards the door where they've come from. They stand up in a panic. they sort of reach their arm out.

There is confusion, there is emotion, and something seems to happen, and the vision briefly ends. But I very daintily put that instrument back. Sure. That was a possessed instrument. Did you see that? I think that's a rather sad tale here.

Yeah. I get the feeling that these things that we're gathering, you know, well as Spring Arts says, that this blanket was woven by Black Queen's partner. Hmm, yeah. I think that's what we're seeing here, isn't it? The after image of their memories.

The fake does manifest things in a very visceral way. Emotion, yeah, emotion seemed to manifest here. Speaking of, thank you, Rowan. Thank you for... For the healing, Kilwins. For the gift of music. Oh. That's all right.

I tried to do ice-hearty kind of stuff. I haven't been to ice-heart. No. But I can sometimes get a little vibe from the people. You did a beautiful job, boy. Oh, I'm not fishing. Absolutely beautiful. Thank you, Gruffuth.

Okay, so we're careful with our emotions, just in case they attack. I will gently, reverentially pick up the blanket. And just, you know, fold it up. carefully as I can. And, yeah, if we have a moment, you know, I'd want to go out to Spring Hart and ask her a couple of questions. We'll cut back to that, I think.

So we'll jump back upstairs. As Daisy and Xanthias, you are led by the caretaker as you enter into this opulent bedroom that I described before, this kind of raised central pillar. You can see there is bed. Percival is stood at the bottom of this, like, curling stair,

case and you can see maybe a sort of hand drait, like, you know, and you can hear this kind of coming from our ponds the bed. Hello, Percival. She fell asleep. Hello, Susan. I believe that Sister Ophelia has, she was laying on the bed, yes. Did she find the jewelry box? I believe she touched something on there and then something did something and she leapt away at the last second.

And she's up there right. Up there, right, okay. Yes, she went up there and she laid down. Head up and check on Aphelia Daisy, if you... I'll have a look for the jewelry box, I guess. Interesting. The two of you as well, on the Xanthius, because you have to take magic up,

the cloak of mist, very clearly a magical item. Check that out, check that out. I'm going to go check out. The cloak of mist. Yeah. Yeah, it's just on this sort of clothing dummy, this kind of, you know, like a tailor's dummy, like a mannequin,

next to dresses and a little part of the bedroom. And yeah, it's these two wooden brooches connected by a chain, and then just silver mist kind of is being created from it and spills down the back like a cape. It's not a full cloak. It doesn't have a hood. It doesn't cover the shoulders.

It's just purely down the back like a cape. Noy. Yeah. You grab the item until it is identified. You don't know what it is, but it is... Cape of mist. Fab, and yeah, can I go over to the jewelry box

and can I kind of similar, seeing what the Raven statue did when we went up to that thing, it got locked. I kind of want to hold the Raven statue and see if it does anything to any of the boxes. Yeah, again, because you sort of take the time to examine them, having seen what that's happening. Most of these boxes do have small enchantments

like protective wards and things on them as well. And as you pass the stone, one of them, which I think that for Daisy like you kind of pick up on that yeah there is this strange flowery shape to it but it's not obvious it's like you would have to know what this flower is to recognize it but the the runes dim and you hear this kind of almost like a popping sound as if like a bubble has been burst and you have a sensation that that's what you're looking for basically is scoop when you when you touch it again the Raven statue glows momentarily and you turn as you see these two figures sort of entering, you know, holding each other in a romantic embrace. They sort of kind of spin into the room as Blackwing leads this, you know, quite featureless figure. You know, you're really only seeing an outline of this person that sort of leads them up the stairs to the bed and things like that. They sort of take a brief moment.

But you can see happiness. You don't hear laughter, but you can see their bodies laughing. You see Blackwing smiling. Zanthius, you've already kind of gone up the stairs past Percival I'm guessing the figures go right through me I imagine this is like Daisy's just got the bag so you've got a little second before this happens

but you go up the top and yeah sprawled out her hair sort of spilled out looking like a Disney princess so in the middle of this massive mattress like blue velvet bedspread like silver like draped silks like hanging from the corners and just like sleeping like Aurora herself

just sleeping I will, she's in the middle. I need to climb onto the mattress in order to nudge her, right? Yes. Okay, Ophelia, Ophelia, what do you? So when you step in and you kind of hear you begin to hear this, like, beautiful elven music.

I begin to think, can I get a wisdom saving throw from you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can, yeah. That's what wise. Holy shit! Minus two? 17. No! Your eyes feel really heavy, Xanthus,

but yeah, you snap out of it. Oh, Ophelia, wake up. If you spend an action, you can wait your feet, I don't like this. Ophelia, you're sort of brought out of yourself. And Zanthus is sort of leaning over you, like, Oshaky. Is that this?

There's something wrong with it. There's magic music playing here. We need to get out of you quickly. You're asleep, you fell asleep very quickly. This bed is, So as you, as this happens, this is the point where the figures sort of come up this, like, curling staircase,

and you see Xanthius, like, pulls this figure into the bed and sort of overlays over you guys. Oh, what is happening? As they just hold each other, they sort of press their foreheads next to each other, and it's this beautiful kind of scene of intimacy. Nothing explicit, but, like, this romantic sort of pressing their foreheads against each other and sort of cupping each other's faces.

Do you do it? No, you don't see that, no, no, no. I feel like I'm in the middle of something important. I will just... No, it's okay. The specters kind of vanish, and then Daisy, down by you. It's not here, too. You see...

I give it a minute. No, did you not hear? No, I didn't hear, no. That's good. Yeah, no, it's fine. You now see those two figures in the throes of an intense argument. You see this furious, like pointing, Blackwing is furious and livid.

This other figure stood back to Blackwing in the door in looking like as if they are about to leave as this furious argument comes to a close. Has this been happening? Yeah. Oh, a few of these, yes, memories of Blackwing and a mysterious, well. Oh, I guess, is this the thing

that you were gonna tell us was important? to that person? The jewelry box, the caretaker knots. Okay, so this is the thing they were gonna ask. Have you opened it or are you just holding the box? Can I open it? Yeah, you can, yeah. Inside you would see, it's like segmented

and you see two rings both placed inside of it. And in the very middle there is a beautiful locket, silver chain, but the pendant isn't silver. The pendant is carved wood, inlaid with a beautiful sparkling gemstone. It's not a diamond. It's almost like, it's like a star in the sky has been sort of plucked and placed within. It glitters and glows with a luminanceness that, you know, a diamond could never hope to capture.

I was going to say, be careful opening things because there's, Obviously, enchantments on things. You mentioned this over the voice chat. If you don't quick, get up, come on, please get up quickly. Don't close your eyes. I need to get out of this. Yeah, once you're awake and you're resistant to it, like, it's easy enough to pull.

I mean, still, you can feel like a... Did you enjoy your rest, Sister Ophelia? I wasn't aware that I rested, so it must have been good. You seemed very at peace. It was lovely. It almost got me, but it didn't. It didn't, somehow. Can I look at some of the other jewelry as well

and see if there's anything that stands out as orange. Is it anything? Is anything? Doing things, because there was some little protection things over here. I can look for things. There's nice rings and things.

Nothing magical, but it is all finally made, you know, jewelry. Like, you know, different day-to-day pieces, like some earrings, some bracelets. Tasty air real quick. Yeah. I mean, it's definitely... Yeah, I was going to say, can we take something to do them?

You can take some every day. It's hard to put a price on it because these are not from Althea, and I think that your draconic senses don't really know how to value, like, Fane materials. It's all worth as crap. I think that you're like, for the first time,

Xantheists, you're like, oh, you don't know how much this is worth. And it's gonna be worth something for someone, right? Eventually, it all looks, you know, like it should be. Yeah, but also I think that we should maybe take some more to Blackwing and see if you want something else. These are easy enough to carry, so, I probably shouldn't put it in this bag.

Yeah, you can put like a, you know, jewelry, recover jewelry. Yeah, take a little collection. Ophelia, I think you should carry all of it. I've already, I would be delighted to. There's some jewels as well, they're very unusual. There's things that look like eyes. I will write a sorted jewelry.

Elven jewelry. But yes, that's, I couldn't really find anything else until. And it's cloak. Oh, that cloak? Yeah, it's misty. It's very misty. It's extraordinarily misty. Do I get like a school of magic off of it?

Off the cloak. I think the closest, kind of like a lot of magic items, there is a mixture of schools at work here. But I would say there is a strong conjuration element. Okay. Probably, and I think I'll give you a little bit more than that because conjuration's a weird school where it does lots of different things. The more teleportation side of conjuration.

Oh, baby. Yeah. I can't identify because that's part of the gold site and I don't have any charges. Yeah. I'll have to be wait for another day. Yes, definitely, definitely grab that. It looks great on you.

Perfect. Wait, are you wearing it? Sure, why not? You put the cloak on? Sure. Okay, good tonight. Oh dear. It means you take your cloak of many things off, right?

I don't have, it's not magical. The coat, the multiple item coat is. No, it's not. It doesn't require a tumour, but it would be the same slot. Because it's like wearing a coat and then wearing a cape. The cape has to go in the same slot. You can't wear a coat and a cape.

Well, no, winter. In terms of magical items, no. I'll keep the coat on there. I'll just put the cape in. Sure. Yeah, you can put it in. And I'll put it with everything else. We'll identify it.

I will check that, but I will check if you can do this. I know certain items you can only have certain numbers of them equipped, but I will check it. Okay, so that's the jewelry box and the folio. Oh, you found the folio too? We did, yes. Oh, well done. You see, I've just got this giant folder

that's like up to here. So we'll be out of here in no time. Oh, we need to see it. Gruff and Rowan have the blanket because, yeah, we didn't know where the sitting room was. Rowland, Gruff. Hello. Hello.

What are you gonna, oh, this is in voice chat communication, yeah. You should try the boots on. You found boots? What about a boot each? Well, Gruff stepped out to speak to Springhart. How about you try on the boots, Oyo? I'm wearing sandals.

Just touch them. Okay. You want to have a look? Well, like, you go over and examine them, Rowan, and these are, yeah, I'd say that these are probably, like, knee high on most people. Elves are quite tall, so, like, probably on Rowan they'd be a little shorter than that. They're beautifully made green leather boots. They have an embossed design of fairy wings at the heels, and then they have, like, patterns of vines of. and thorns and other little sprites and fairies

kind of flying all around them. They're very Peter Pan-esque, I would say. I would describe them as being a little. But they have this like embossing design of fairies and sprites and thorns and vines spread all around there. Yeah, they are a lovely pair of boots. Unless you have an ability to detect any sort of magical energies, that's what you know.

I'm just going to pick them up and put them in my satchel. Great. You now have a pair of fine green elephant boots. When we saw the memories in this sitting room, were they wearing some boots like that, Blackwing or their partner? I would say Blackwing would have been wearing them, yeah. All right, which case?

I need to be another item to return. No. But yeah, Rowan all. Great. Does he feel some sort of magic? You don't feel magic, no. As I said, unless you have an ability to detect magical energies, There is no...

They're just a great pair of boots. Lovely pair of boots. Lovely pair of boots. Put them in your bag. I put them in my bag. You said you put them in your bag. They're in my bag. Well, maybe Blackwing would like to see them again. Yeah.

All right, perfect. So as a point, so Graf, you're coming out to speak to Springhart. The three of you, are you heading downstairs? Oh, I would probably have seen, servant. Are there perhaps any other rooms that we might be able to go into? items that you think Blackwing might like recovered for them, memories perhaps. Does Blackwing have a belfry? A who?

A belfry. What is it a belfry? It turns its head towards both of you. To your question, it gestures down below. Downs downstairs. Okay. It just looks and feelier and sort of cocks its fabricy face. Hello.

Okay, I'm going to head back downstairs. back downstairs towards the atrium probably. What's in this room? One room we didn't enter upstairs. He gestures for you to go and invite you to go check it out. Oh, I should probably go, I have the thing. Okay, fine, I'm coming back. Well, it's worth a look, right?

I'll come back with... Well, it's like curtains that you kind of part and you step through. You look into an enormous, beautiful bathroom. Hello! It has a deep sea blue, tiles spread amongst everywhere. There is an enormous green glass

freestanding tub, partially transparent. There is no pipes or taps, but instead there is like a floating rock which almost has like a waterfall spilling, but it's almost frozen in place. And you get the impression that there will probably be some sort of magic to activate and reactivate it and things like that.

We should probably be careful in here just in case some more memories. For Xenthias, you also... So look around, you notice that there is no toilet, there is no throne. Ah, yeah, okay. There is, where one a throne would be, there is a very strange-looking plant with a sort of shelf next to it and three seashells. Oh, I knew you were going to say that.

I knew, as soon as you said, I knew you were going to go there. I don't get it. Picking up what you're putting down here. That's fine, you don't need to. You just, yeah, but there's no, like, toilet. Like, an outhouse toilet that you would know. You don't know. It's a weird-looking plant.

Oh, okay. But you don't see anything. There is maybe some lovely linen towels and things like that, but nothing of greater interest, I would say. Okay. A bathroom, I guess. It's lovely, but... Probably not much to recover here,

except maybe some, like... I don't know. Shampoo. Champo. I wonder how Black Queen keeps their hair so luscious. Probably just by existing as an elf. That's really annoying. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay, well I'll close the curtains again. Unless you want to go in again. Oh, I'm good. I'll close the curtains again. I'm going to go downstairs. I go down. As a point, Ophelia, are you going to follow Graf's advice and avoid the atrium?

Or... As you see Xantheus and Daisy, your head downstairs, and Gruff is sort of in there. It seems to be speaking with some sort of creature. You will see this incredible wood-like, feminine figure stood there. There are a couple more doors off of this hallway. But yeah, that is what you see. Hi, Graff.

Dragging this giant folio of artwork. I've already started. Yeah, so you can have a quick conversation, and we'll probably cut the break after that. Hi, Graf. I mainly wanted to see if Ophelia was going to go and talk to this thing so I could end there. And I was wondering how many questions I'd get in

before Ophelia turned out. Sure, sure. Yeah, what's at the time? You can just hear the first tips. Brick, break, break. So yeah, you emerge back into the atrium. Tell her to do something, not to do something, and you know she'll do it.

And you see Springheart, did you find what you were looking for? Hi, friends, things. Oh, yes, absolutely. I found the blanket. You mentioned that it was created, it was woven by Blackwing's partner. That is what I believe, yes. Can you tell me about them?

I was not here. This was before Brackwing rescued me, I'm afraid. I know that there was a deep sadness in my friend that seemed to be a little lighter when I was around. I tried to provide companionship and friendship, but they were very lonely. Their work kept them very busy. They worked for the king and queen of the city

as one of the weavers. So I did not, it was not, It was not uncommon for my friend to be gone for a long period of time, doing various things around the Faywheel, fighting against the forces of the grey lands and the other plainer realms, the other realms. But I did not see them often, but I do not know much about them. I would sometimes hear my friend, they would speak about someone.

They spoke of regrets and things that were unsaid. But I did not know much. The hearts of elves and non-dryads, the hearts of creatures like you are very strange to me. I do not understand. Well, the hearts is also, it can very easily be broken. And it sounds like poor Blackwing had a very broken arts. Yes, yes, I think so.

Their spirit was diminished. Is there anything else I can help you with? Oh, no, absolutely. You've been absolutely fantastic. Oh, good. But I'm thinking, like, yes, we'll head back to Blackwing now and I'll let them know that you miss them and you love to see them again. Okay, yes, please, yes.

Let them know that I would love to see them. It has been so long, but yes, that sounds good. And it's just sort of like, again, there's no smile or anything. It's just these like, the eyes sort of like glow. this pinkish glow, the bark on its face on her body sort of does seem to shift and maneuver, but it's like this, yeah, this rose gold willow tree is sort of just sort of put piece of itself off. Very sort of, yeah, sort of Guild Wars II plant person kind of thing. Yeah.

Very saturated colours. And yeah, at this point, yeah, you glance over and see Xanthius and Daisy and Aphelia making their way downstairs into the whole way. Big old folder of art is really good art. And here's Ophelia climbs loads down. So, yeah, when you see... Heart Spring is like looking at you. Well, even in the hallway, as you come down, you see Heart Spring sort of looks over

and you see the sort of eyes go from pinkish to this dark, sort of red, sort of blueish, dark, popply red as, it kind of, they crouch down and point the grey lands. The grey lands have sent one here as they point in the direction of a feeling of personal. Yes, I'm here. Thank you for the grand entrance. Well, I'm going to roll initiative, so...

Oh my God. Okay. Wait, just you or... Well, you can decide if you'd like to. It's up to you. No, I don't know what's happening yet. Yeah, great, okay. Let's see what happens.

Well, I'd like in the... I'd like Amelia to roll it for me, though. Percy as well? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like holding my sack. I got a giant's hard because I'm just cool like that. Cool. Mixing it around.

Spring hard. Not heart spring. So that's going to be. Oh, lovely. Oh, even better. It's going to be what do we get for Ophelia? 19. Oh, that's high.

What did Percy get? that's not so high perfect so you would all see sort of this moment as this dryad creature just looks and something changes and immediately there is

but it's it's a it's a cornered animal this is a scared frightened creature that backs itself up you see she backs herself up to the great tree whose branches have animated and are sort of swooping down almost into a

protective stance as she points as she points in the direction you are not welcome and you see as the wooden walls and floors of the room as she casts entangle so I will need a I believe a strength-saving throw from Aphelia Percival Aphelia will just let it happen

Okay great This probably would normally hit Xanthus and Daisy But she is purposely not like almost like careful spell She's like sculpting it around Would Percival resist or are you just going to be like You know don't resist kind of thing Can I tell Percy to get out of the way or is it just like an immediate thing or like at least warn Percy?

If you warn Percy, I still have him make a saving throw. Okay. Yeah, so make a deck saving throw for Percy actually. 17. Yeah, that's enough. So Percy manages to sort of like throw himself to the side, you know, almost against his instincts to protect you. As you are just engulfed, the walls and the floors grow like fresh little saplings. as these tendrils and branches,

these vines wrap around your legs and your arms kind of holding you in place as you are now restrained by the spell. And you see Springhart just sort of like backs herself up and it's sort of leaning up against the tree sort of gesturing in your direction. You brought them there, one has come in! And is pointing towards Ophelia.

Springhart, sister Ophelia is friends with Blackwing. That is not possible. He would never be friends. one of the soldiers of the Greylands. They burned my grove. I understand. Peace. Peace. Sister Aphelia, do you have the totem? Remember when Blackwyn gave us all gifts?

Do you still have yours? So, it would be Aphili's turn now. Is she by Friand's face? I guess even if you did, you are restrained. I don't even know if I was given a toe. Was I given a tote? Everyone was, yeah. Yeah, I got given a little bird.

Why do I have no memory? that at all. I'll be honest. It was one of the very first things that happened. Hang on, like episode 13. I don't remember this either. Yeah, we have a card. Oh, the ability thing.

Really? Wait, no. Oh, no. No, it was something else. So I know I had a raven thing for a fight. I got given a totin of bird speech. I don't know if everyone got one. I don't think everybody got one.

I think I ever got given. I don't think I ever got given. I mean, maybe you did. I don't know. I got given a bird totem. Certainly it doesn't spring to Ophelia's mind. Yeah. If it doesn't end up.

I mean, I can't reach it anyway. I mean, you could, you're restrained. You can still reach your objects, right? There's enough slack to, like, try and reach into your pocket or whatever. I am a friend of Blackwing, I suppose. Wow. You really don't help yourself. A friend of you?

Absolutely not. Blackwing has never mentioned you, so is Blackwing your friend? Can you give me a... Oh, my guess, persuasion with disadvantage. I guess. Ophelia. It's gonna be a very high DC. It's failed anyway, well?

Yeah. You lie, like all, like so many of the are dead. I can feel the dead energy in you. You are no friend to anyone. Blackwing would never be this creature's friend. This serves, this serves death, destruction. They came to my grove and burnt it just because they hate life.

There was no reason. They did not come for it. We were peaceful. and yet still their soldiers with their fire and their axes came, the stench of death and rot and decay. I have travelled all through Ilmera, and the only creatures who have had any animosity toward me whatsoever are the fay. Because you serve the great evil,

you serve that of which is against all life. How could you throw yourself in with the likes of the grey lands? Their stench is so thickable. on you, what have you done? Because the great father saved me from death itself. Fool. She sees like, she's like, said, the tree for its initiative is just gonna take a held action,

which is if you come anywhere near this dry, it's gonna attack you. In the middle of this mess. Do you wanna get hit by a tree again? Hmm? You wanna get hit by a tree? But yeah. With that though, it is time for a little breakie.

Okay. So we're gonna take our break there and figure out what we're gonna do. Phelia is so big with words. We'll take our fight remember there. We'll see you in part two, everybody. See you. Oh, see you next time.

Bye. Bye. Bye, in a bit. Bye. Bye, bye. Bye, bye. All my best friends. All my best friends are digital is a podcast about video games and the stories they tell.

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