D&D is For Nerds - Stories of The Greyhill Free Company I #9 Draconic Encounters
Episode Date: July 3, 2021Grab your tickets to see Plumbing the Death Star Live at the Melbourne Podcast Fest August 1st here and Live at the Comedy Republic on July 10th here!Sign up to our newsletter here. Join our facebook ...group here or join our Discord here.You can now physically send us stuff to PO BOX 7127, Reservoir East, Victoria, 3073.Want to help support the show?Sanspants+ | Shop | TeesWant to get in contact with us? Email | Twitter | Website | Facebook | RedditOr individually at;Adam | Cass | Tom | Jackson | ZammitTheme music by the wonderfully talented Mia (AtomicCupcakes). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Sants Pants Radio, Australia's most American podcast network. And on August the 1st, we're part of the Melbourne Podcast Festival. Against all better judgment, we're going to be asking the question,
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The last time we attempted that question,
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So if you want to be part of history where three idiots with bad brains
get banned from a festival, links to the tickets are in the show notes. Previously on Stories of the Greyhill Free Company.
You're ready to, like, roll out of the way of some sort of, like, ground-based attack,
but then tiny tendrils of thorny vines shoot out and scratch at you.
Natty won.
Hey, hey.
Hey.
She kills herself on purpose.
The beast within.
Make a DC 18 wisdom saving throw on a failed save.
You are subject to the polymorph spell.
Come on, come on, come on.
Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit.
Come on.
Right now in the camp, you think it's just you.
Say what?
Here's all our equipment back. Let's just quickly put that on if you need rabbit, rabbit, rabbit. Come on. Right now in the camp, you think it's just you. Say what? Here's all our equipment back.
Let's just quickly put that on if you need it.
Oh, good.
You're a dice player, are you?
Oh, yes.
I don't mind to throw a bit of dice.
Yeah, yeah.
Do you want?
I challenge you later.
Oh, let's play.
When we get back to camp, maybe we'll have a couple of rounds of dice, shall we say.
All of these people's money will go to their next of kin.
Dice, shall we say, yes.
All of these people's money will go to their next of kin,
and you will actually still be indebted to give the money that they would have been owed on this mission.
Okay.
The idea is that it's kind of like a pension or a buy-in scheme
where if you were to fail, these people would do it for you,
and then you are going in search of that wyvern creature?
Yes, why do we go in search of that wyvern tree? Why do we go in search of that wyvern tree?
If we mark the tree and we think we heard it,
hopefully it doesn't notice us.
You spend a day walking westward.
You know you're travelling westward,
and you know you're getting in...
Well, actually, no, you get in among the ironwood forest
trees here, but you can't find
the big tree that you're looking for.
Tell you what, I'm just going to wait a second.
I'm going to... I think I've seen
one of my
clan do this before.
I remember seeing a hawk.
They're very good at eyesight.
What I'm going to do here is I'm going to concentrate
very hard. I'm going to turn into a hawk.
But don't worry,
I'll be right back.
You're going to watch me do it. It's just me.
I can't really communicate
with you
but I can nod
and do some scratches
so
what do the scratches mean?
so let's say
I'll tap my one foot
so one tap
is yes
two taps
is no
what if you're trying
to make up your mind
and I don't know
if it's a slow no
okay
I'll do
three quick taps
if I'm
it was a maybe like a that was two that was two I fucked up I'll do three quick taps if it's a maybe.
That was two.
That was two.
I fucked up.
I'll do three taps for a maybe.
Okay.
Three taps for a maybe, one for yes, two for no.
How long should they wait to know it's just you finished?
Let's say like six seconds.
Okay.
Yes.
Yes.
Okay.
Okay.
Why don't you stay put?
Okay.
And I will quickly, I will turn into a hawk. Or like maybe an eagle. Yes. Yes. Okay. Okay. Why don't you stay put? Okay. And I will quickly, I will turn into a hawk.
Or like maybe an eagle.
Yes.
What's got a better eyesight?
Well, eagle eye is a common phrase, but hawk eye is that fucking guy.
Yeah, he is that fucking guy.
And he was very astute.
He was quite astute.
He knew what was going on.
He knew a thing or two about a thing or two.
I'll turn into an eagle, Adam.
Okay.
You turn into an eagle.
Even in the form of an eagle, doing a little or two. I'll turn into an eagle, Adam. Okay, you turn into an eagle. Even in the form of an eagle, doing
a little circle around. How long
can you be an eagle? An hour.
You spend an hour searching. Obviously
you also need to try not to get too
far away from Big T.
So you are
I'll go up a tree.
The trees are quite large.
Well, you don't know that he's doing that unless you say something to that effect before you transform.
No, I said you wait here and guard the items.
Okay.
I'll be right back.
The second possum gets higher than my head height, I feel sick.
I still don't get that.
No one's allowed to be up higher than my head.
Still don't get that.
No one's allowed to be up higher than my head.
The hour you spend, unfortunately, reveals no extra information,
and you land, or maybe just as night is falling, still not sure.
You know you're in the right area.
You'll just have to either search through the night if you want it to be a bit dangerous, or continue this tomorrow.
Right, I think I wasn't quite sure.
I couldn't quite
find it.
I'll do a quick cast
with Speak with Animals again. See if I
can find another hooter.
Or anything
kind of, perhaps even something bigger,
like a deer, or something
that's a bit more...
What do you want to find? Initially I want to
find some kind of of winged creature.
Well, you can.
You find, let's say, a...
Well, actually, name a specific type of bird.
You did quite well.
Name the type of bird you'd like to find.
I'd like to find...
I guess I get a...
What other kind of night birds are there,
apart from owl?
All I can think of is owl.
Bring the same one back.
Bring him back.
It's not a podcast.
Oh, yeah.
There's nightingales?
Possum.
That's not a bird.
Yeah, it's not a bird.
I'll find, yeah, like a nightingale.
Go with that.
Nightingale?
Sure.
Ah!
Hello.
Hi.
Hi!
Hang on, wait.
Timer start. Hi! Hey, wait Timer Start
Hi
Hey, hello there, Mr.
Miss
Miss
Miss Nightingale
Miss Nightingale
Nice to meet you
Hi, my name is
Well, it's a pleasure to meet you
I'm Globble
Hi
Yes, yes, hi
I'm just wondering
Have you seen a big creature
It flies around here Hi! Yes, yes, hi. I'm just wondering, have you seen a big creature?
It flies around here.
Or even a very, very, very big tree.
We're after the biggest tree in the area.
You wouldn't happen to know where it was. Hazelos?
Hives.
Is that a yes or no?
That was their response.
Okay, I'm sorry.
Did you know where it was?
What?
Do you know where this very large tree is by any chance?
The largest.
Do you know where the...
Have you used it?
This is big.
And they hop on the tree they're on.
Yes, and I'm looking for something a bit bigger.
They look so confused.
They fly to another tree that is slightly bigger nearby.
This is big!
Yes, I think I'm looking for a bit bigger.
Do you usually hunt around these areas,
or is it a bit further south or north or west?
I stay local!
Okay. Have you seen a very
big, like
a dragon type of
worm? You know a bit of dragon?
Yes!
You know what a dragon is? Yes!
What's a dragon?
No!
No!
Never mind. no never mind will you have a good night
good night
I'll have a look around
for maybe like a shrew
or perhaps a rat
a shroom
shrew
you sit around
spending a bit of time
I'm going to drop it by 5 minutes
Yes
Probably like a medium creature
Like a fox
Well
You unfortunately cannot find any further animals
Also I get a bad boy card
1 to 29
Let's go with 3
Suddenly a dragon attacks.
The PCs are ambushed by a creature.
I won't use it now.
Oh.
Yeah.
Yes, well, I couldn't really find anything in the dark.
I'll tell you what.
Shall we...
Does this look quite safe for us to kind of rest for the night?
Maybe we'll kind of find a bit of a nice camping area.
I'll dig a hole.
Did you find somewhere good?
Actually, no, I need to find some water, Adam.
You what?
Water, water, water.
Yes, you want to look for water, I see.
All right, you can find enough water to submerge yourself.
It always creeps up on me, you know.
Anyway, we'll camp here for the eve.
Do you want to first shift or should I take first shift?
I think that would be good.
I'm staring at you being like, maybe my problem is that I'm not wet enough
because every time you get in the water, you seem much better.
Yeah, well, if you'd like to hop on in.
I'll stand with my feet in the end.
Yeah.
I'll keep watch.
You go to sleep.
Yeah, you're as good as you go to sleep Yes, good
Yes, well wake me up when a few hours
has passed and I'll take on watching
Okay
I sit in like when you're sitting on the edge of a spa
and you just want to dip your feet in
I don't feel better
but I do feel wetter
After a little while
Globble, you are looking you'd like submerged looking just like relaxing but kind
of like staring off into space and you see like the the many rocks and pebbles that make the stream
that feeds the little i don't even know what you'd call it like the little puddle that you are lying in and where Big T has their feet in.
And you see two of the little stones look almost like eyes.
And you amuse yourself imagining that you can see the shape of like a snout and a head within the rocks.
Look at that.
Blink, blink.
Blink, blink.
Wink, wink.
Hey, hey.
Splish, splash.
The two rock eyes. Blink, blink. Hey. Hey. Blink, blink, a-wick, wick. Eh, eh, it's a hard splishy-splash. The two rock eyes.
Blink, blink.
Eh.
Eh.
Blink, blink.
I'm cashing in that card now.
You are ambushed.
Oh, I can...
Oh, no.
Oh, no.
A colossal-looking creature launches itself.
Actually, it's not that big.
It's about the size of maybe...
It's about the size of...
It's about the size of a big dog. Yeah, it's not that big it's about the size of maybe it's about the size of it's about the size
of a big dog
oh yeah
it's pretty big
like a big big dog
though like imagine
the biggest dog you can
oh I'm
so good
big dogs are the best
yes
such a thick neck
it launches itself
out of
out of the rocks
and underwater
at you
it lands on you and it bites down into you.
You take 11 points of damage.
Holy shit.
Then its tail whips around and slams you in the side of the head, Big T.
And you take six points of damage.
No, that's not good.
And then it's its turn again because it had a surprise round.
It continues to attack.
It hits you again.
Okay.
You take a further
eight point,
no, nine points of damage.
I'm down.
And then Big D,
it slams you again
with its tail.
You get hit again.
You take four,
no, five points of damage.
Globble,
can you make your saving throw?
This is rude, Adam.
Nineteen.
Nineteen? One successful saving throw and Big T? Okay. I would like to This is rude, Adam. 19. 19?
One successful saving throw.
And big T?
Okay, I would like to go in with my glaive.
All right.
I'm a slave to the glaive!
You awkwardly unsling your glaive and swing at the creature.
The old unsling and swing.
You hit it.
You strike it dealing 12 points of damage.
It growls at you like a dog might.
Bad.
Bad.
It whips around and tries to bite you.
No.
Bop it on the nose.
It bites.
Oh.
You take nine points of damage.
Can I do my half and half for this one, please?
So that nine points of damage is reduced by five.
So you take four points of damage instead.
It tries to slam its tail into you.
Jesus.
Your armor class prevents it, though.
Its tail slams into your side, but you manage to tank the blow.
Then it is Globble.
Can you make another saving throw?
It kills you again.
18.
18, another successful saving throw.
Big T, your turn.
I would like to ride.
All right.
You begin foaming at the mouth.
You swing your glaive again.
Absolutely, Adam.
You strike. this time you do
nine points of damage that's less than last time but you are now resistant to its damage it's its
turn you're also still hurting it that was a miss uh that's a miss and then its second attack is a
hit when it tries to bite you you grab its snout and shove it into the dirt.
Then when its tail whips around,
you cop it full in the chin.
You take half of that,
so you take two points of damage.
Globble.
Another saving throw.
That is a...
nine.
Nine.
One failed saving throw.
Big T.
I would like to glaive again.
Glaive!
Glaive.
And you strike it again, dealing 10 points of damage.
Good.
The creature turns around and sprints into the forest.
Combat zone.
Oh, well.
Global saving throw.
11. 11. 11. Finally, you are stabilized. Combat zone Oh well Global Saving throw Eleven Eleven
Finally you are stabilized
You can like
Barely speak if you want
I'll allow you to like
Interact
I'd stay out
Big
Big
Yeah big T
Do you just call out
After it
Yeah
Alright
I'll call that combat over
The creature was not gonna fight to the death
It was
Not the comeback.
What was it?
What was that?
What was that?
That was a surprise.
Both of you can now make a, I guess I'd call it,
nature check to know what that creature was.
Somehow Big T knows what this creature is.
Oh, no, I know.
It's a black guard drake.
It's a black guard drake.
They're a type of dragon, actually. They're a type of dragon, actually.
It's a type of dragon, actually.
They're a flightless dragon.
Often they're...
Please.
No, no, no.
They're a type of flightless dragon.
They can't fly.
Right, yeah.
And they are typically...
They're intelligent but can't speak.
They don't know how to speak.
They're not very clever.
This drake was probably hunting you for food?
Oh, he's just hungry.
They are an ambush predator.
They sneak up.
Yes, they do.
They wait.
They often, black guard drakes specifically,
often just naturally start appearing in areas where black dragons live.
They're usually just where black dragons are.
Right.
Oh, no.
Yeah.
Oh, no.
Perhaps that's the whim we're looking for, the worm, sorry.
Is it a black dragon?
That's good to know because we are in that area.
Well, this is perhaps very…
This doesn't feel like good news.
Yeah.
All right.
Number between one and two.
You're not wrong. Two. You're not wrong.
You're not wrong there.
Ready for anything.
Roll initiative with advantage.
I'm just going to quickly double tap heal myself,
or at least just heal myself.
Yes, can we go to sleep again?
And then we'll finish our rest.
You recover ten hit points.
Yes, just in case.
Can we finish our rest, Adam?
Well, you haven't really started your rest.
Oh, so we've got a whole rest ahead of us.
You probably don't need to heal yourself.
Well, it's just in case another thing
jumps on us. Okay, that's pretty fair, actually.
I'm going to be a little bit prepared.
Anyway, do you mind if you take
the rest of the watch?
Yes.
Well, it's just first watch,
to be honest.
If you're taking first watch, can be honest. Okay, well, I'm going to have another.
If you're taking first watch, can I get you to roll the encounter die?
Nine.
No encounter?
Are you taking a watch or are you just not?
No, I'll take a watch.
Okay, cool.
Can you roll the encounter die?
Eight.
Your sleep goes by uneventfully.
Both of you get a long rest.
Tree stump, when you wake up the next day, you still feel sick,
and your exhaustion level has increased to two.
Huh.
I was going to be like, hey, do I recover any of that exhaustion?
That was my question, and you said a different thing.
Mm-hmm.
I'll have a look at you.
All right.
I feel worse.
They still feel cold and clammy.
Cold and clammy which is
perfect really
Now to be fair
you are aware that something is wrong
with tree stump
but you can't say what
You actually don't even know
if it's poison or disease
It could be either
If you're still feeling a bit sick tonight
let me know
and I'll make sure that I'm
preparing something
to get to the bottom of this
I keep feeling sick every night Yes you do and I'll make sure that I'm preparing something to get to the bottom of this.
Anyway.
I keep feeling sick every night.
Yes, you do.
Anyway.
Now I feel worse.
Yeah. Yeah.
Well, look, let's just – I'm going to cast a good berry to get to ten good berries.
And so I'm like, look, these
will, just in case we
need them, here's five Goodberries.
Don't eat them yet.
Oh, fuck's sake.
Do you really just eat the Goodberry?
I mean, like, I think it's fine.
Does my character know what they do?
There's a new spell, so probably not.
I don't, okay.
Well, here's... Do I feel better? You's a new spell, so probably not. I don't. Okay. Okay. All right. Well, here's.
I don't feel.
Do I feel better?
You've just eaten the equivalent of five meals.
So well done.
I feel worse.
Wait, how many do you eat?
How many berries?
Hang on.
I don't know.
What do good berries do?
It's fine.
No.
How many good berries did you give?
Five.
Five.
And you ate all five?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
That's fine.
You aren't missing any hit points, so you don't recover any hit points.
You feel very full.
Okay, so this is what I was going to say.
It's a bit of just in case we were separated or anything.
We hope we're not.
You feel a bit bloated.
No, no, no, no.
They've been consumed.
It doesn't really matter, though, because they lose their potency after a day anyway.
Yeah, it's true.
So that was all just to hear.
Well, look here.
Take three.
I don't want any more.
Put them in your pocket just in case.
During the day, if you're feeling a bit quite low.
This is a home rule, by the way.
It's not going to come up realistically, but maybe it will because this is a little bit of a sandbox game.
So you could potentially find yourselves place in a place, you could potentially
find yourselves in a place without berries
but I make being able to
find berries a prerequisite
of this spell. Ah, right.
You are fine, you're in a forest, I won't even make you check
for it, it's fine, but
on the off chance that you find yourself
in not wilderness or
uninhabitable wilderness, you
can't cast Goodberry without berries.
That's fear.
So does Goodberry just recover health points?
It just recovers one hit point and it feeds you for a day.
Yeah.
So if you're very, very quite low in health,
which we are often where we find ourselves,
it's a quick way of topping ourselves up on the fly.
Just if we need to.
And if we're hungry.
So anyway, you're full.
Here's three. You have them in your pocket if you need them and if we're hungry so anyway your food here's three
you have them
in your pocket
if you need them
they're there
so anyway
let's
be a bit wary
of
Ashley
can I have a look
at those
footprints
maybe
of
I'm terrible at this
but those footprints
of
the drake
the drake
did you
maybe have a look
at big T here?
The footprints.
Do you know perhaps you can see maybe where it stalked off to?
Oh, let's have a look.
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Are you assisting their role?
Yeah.
All right.
Yeah, I think I'm better at it, aren't I?
Well, it's a survival check, so technically Globble is better.
Okay, I won't assist Globble then because I'm a neg one.
Oh, you're not going to assist?
You search around, but it's hard.
It happened yesterday.
There's maybe been rain since then.
Yes, right.
There's other things that have come through in the meantime.
You can find, like, where it starts, but you almost immediately lose it.
Oh, okay.
Well, I know we're heading in the right direction for where that tree was.
Let's just be on the lookout and just be a bit wary of that particular creature and perhaps some of its ilk.
I'll get you to roll the encounter dice twice.
Six.
Six, you're fine.
Nine.
Nine?
All right. Nice. You see, you're fine. Nine. Nine, all right.
Nice.
You see, hide no hair.
All right, so you need to make a survival check to track down this tree.
One of you can assist the other one.
Would you like to?
You're still not going to assist?
Could I maybe ask a deer or something like that?
I don't know, a cast speak down, ask them like deer or something like that
to try and help with that survival check
to get a bit of a direction.
I'll give you a plus one bonus.
Okay, cool.
You spend the day searching
and then after some time,
maybe you also, yeah, you talk to a deer
and the deer's like,
What?
We went in that way.
He points a hoof in the way. It points a wolf
in the direction.
Doing animal voices is pretty good.
Here's a good berry, Mr. Bear.
Thank you.
See you later.
Bye.
I'm okay.
Wait.
I was trying to find a deer pun.
It's not important. The deer points you in the right direction.
Thank you. Without you, I would have no idea a deer pun. Look, it's not important. The deer points you in the right direction. Yes, thank you.
Without you, I would have no idea.
Good work.
Thank you.
Yes, it's good work.
That deer loved its R's.
You, with the assistance of the deer,
are finally able to locate what you imagine must be the tree.
It is stupefyingly large.
It would take you maybe 15 to 20
minutes to do the circumference, to walk around it.
Wow, this is very impressive. It's a big
fucking tree. At first you think it's not a tree.
You're like, it can't, it must be some sort of rock formation.
It's probably kind of a wall of some kind.
Yeah. But
if you crane your neck upwards
and look as high as possible, you can see
right up the top, there is like a splayed out section
where something is quite obviously made a nest of sorts.
Right.
I think it's made a nest.
Right.
Well, we'll get on the map and we'll mark that where it is.
All right.
That's 100 gold.
Yes.
Do you think there's no creature around right now?
No, it's not here now. You could stake this place out. It surely must come by here sometime. Yes. Do you think I might... Is there no creature around right now? No, it's not here now.
You could stake this place out.
It surely must come by here sometime.
Yes, right.
Well, why don't you go and hide in the forest here?
Up a tree?
Not an up a tree.
I'm going to quickly turn into that eagle again.
I'm just going to have a quick look up there to see what's going on.
Perhaps we might get a bit of a bonus if we were to describe what is in this tree.
You know know maybe kind
of uh an add-on if you will okay okay so i'll turn into an owl no an eagle and i'll fly up
all right you fly up until you get to the top and you can see sure enough there is a a nest of sorts
it's not really like a bird's nest or not entirely. Imagine a tree house, like a proper
constructed tree house scaled for a giant. It's a big fucking tree house. The doorway would be
large enough to admit a horse and carriage. Probably more. It's pretty big. Then inside,
it's, uh, yeah, no, it's, uh, yeah, no, it's actually a one room dwelling. So there's not a
lot of complicated stuff here, but you can see a small pile of gold actually a one-room dwelling. So there's not a lot of complicated stuff here,
but you can see a small pile of gold in the middle of that dwelling.
All around here as well, there are sticks and leaves and twigs and shit
that have been piled up.
So imagine like a bird came along to a treehouse and then turned it into a nest.
You also see on top of that
pile of gold, lying with
its back along it, with
its arms and
legs all stretched out, is
a dragon, a black dragon.
This black dragon is about the size
of an elephant, and its chest has been
torn open. There are
around the dragon and its
horde inside that room. What?
There are six eggs. Speckled eggs.
They look like bird's eggs, but each one of them is about
half the size of this dragon. Adam, what?
So there's eggs around the dragon. They're not dragon eggs.
No, they're bird eggs Actually you know what
Your knowledge of nature is iffy
You don't know what sort of eggs these are
They literally look like
They literally look like bird's eggs
But big
Is there anything else around that area
Like
There's like the split open dragon
Like an adolescent dragon
i assume it would be adult probably adult black dragons don't tend to get as big as regular
dragons okay what i know about black dragons are they the good kind of bad kind bad kind
uh yeah you actually fair point no you do know a little bit about black dragons you know that
they're evil yeah you know that black dragons typically prefer flooded areas,
like watery areas,
though this is not necessarily incredibly unusual
for a black dragon to live here.
Yeah, of course.
You know that they breathe acid.
You know that they are, of the chromatic dragons,
of the evil dragons, the black, white, blue, red,
they are among the weakest and among the smallest,
but they're dragons nonetheless. The one you were looking at is
definitely an adult dragon.
So it's a fully grown dragon. Well, fully grown.
Beyond adult is the most powerful that a dragon gets.
Something I love about a dragon is the most powerful a dragon will be is the day it dies.
They just keep getting stronger until they die.
Gotcha. Until the gods are like,
enough! None of this.
Right, well, do I know what could
have done something like this? Who would have done a dog dragon?
You have no idea what this is. This is something new. I've never heard
of this before. So, it's quite obvious that this
treehouse was the dragon's lair,
because it's got its horde here,
and it is here. And then something
has killed it, and used its treehouse as a nest for its eggs.
Because those eggs are not dragon eggs.
They're not dragon eggs.
Okay.
Right.
Well.
They're too big.
The eggs themselves are about as big as the dragon.
This is insane.
I'll kind of land.
Do a quick bird look around.
Like, what is this?
Hey, Cass, can you roll the encounter die?
Oh, fuck.
Eight.
All right.
Just like, hump.
Wouldn't have even noticed you, to be honest.
Yes, that's a good point.
I do a bit of a bird look around,
peering at the thing in my eyes,
being like, what is this?
You can see on the other side of the dragon,
you hop into this place,
and you're immediately like,
oh, the stench.
The other side of the dragon,
on the far side of the hoard,
it's like an abattoir.
There are...
Creatures have been brought here,
and they've been torn apart and left here.
You can see there's a small pile of flesh
being made next to the hoard. The hoard is not
as big as the flesh, but it is certainly
getting there.
The corpses
are... The smallest creature is a
horse. Okay. Does it look like
it's being butchered, the meat? Does it look like it's being
butchered with tools? Or just
with claws?
Like what an animal would do? It looks like
a big creature has just grabbed a horse, flown it here, probably alive, dropped
it here, stood above it, and then with talons torn into it.
Right.
Well, that's something I've never even heard of before, right?
I want to look over to the hoard.
Has it been, looks like it's been disturbed or is it just like-
The hoard looks largely left alone. Something's been
walking over it. Something big has been walking over
it, but has been ignoring it for the most part.
You see several of those drakes
here, torn up as well.
Like, they're probably
the most plentiful creature, but there are
horses, bears,
deer maybe even,
moose, other animals.
Maybe a few people
But nothing smaller than like a human
Right
Actually yeah
Sorry I said horse before
Maybe human actually
It's the smallest
Okay well I want to do a quick cursory look at the hoard
To see like
Anything good?
While I'm here
There's a lot of gold
There are some items
But you are a eagle
And will have trouble carrying most things You could grab a piece of jewell There are some items, but you are an eagle. Yes, I am. And you'll have trouble carrying most things.
You could grab a piece of jewelry if you wanted.
I was thinking back.
This is some kind of good weapon for my good friend.
You don't think you could carry a weapon?
An eagle.
Grab a sword.
A bar of metal?
Yeah.
Eagles are fucking...
They can basically carry a toddler.
Yeah.
A sword is heavier than a toddler.
That's fair.
Hang on.
Eagles are small, so you're about the size of a halfling.
Your strength is six.
So you could carry
still carry a bit actually with six,
but you'd need to stay quite unencumbered.
If there's anything like
hums with a magical energy,
I'll be like, alright, we'll just
grab that. Other than that, I'll be like,
well, I'm getting out of here.
So you want to search the hoard for something?
Not too long.
Well, you're either searching or not.
Less than an hour.
Less than an hour.
No, that's not how I'm working it now.
Because you're sitting in its nest.
It could come back at any time.
Okay.
Well, then I literally a cursory look.
Okay.
Like a glance.
Well, you can just name.
You can't spend enough time to tell if it's magical or not.
You can specify what type of object you'd like to grab. Actually, you can just name, you can't spend enough time to tell if it's magical or not. You can specify what type of object you'd like to grab.
Actually, you know what?
I reckon you could get a sword to the edge
and then just drop it off if you want to.
If they're close, they'll see.
But no, I was thinking that too.
I'm like, piff it out.
Just piff it out, but then like a sword,
you'd be like, what's that?
And you'd get impaled.
Whoa, don't put it past him.
Just a bit of jewelry.
Just a bit of jewelry?
And I'll be like, I'll grab that and shove one off and glide down.
Okay.
You grab a piece of jewelry and you leave.
Land.
Right.
Highs or lows?
Highs or lows?
Highs.
Highs.
I'm sorry.
You come back with a ring.
And as soon as you, it's not magical. I'm sorry. You come back with a ring. And as soon...
It's not magical.
Basically, this was just what you got.
I rolled a 10, so I was like,
it could be quite good.
Unfortunately, it's just a ring.
I'm trying to explain the situation to Big T here.
I pick up the ring and put it in my mouth.
I wouldn't do it.
Okay.
You'd really like eating jewelry, huh?
Tastes of ring.
It's probably made of brass as well.
It's not even that nice a ring.
Nah, damn.
It'd be worth maybe two gold.
This one's not rotten.
Yeah, this one is.
Look.
I thought in the sunlight it was a bit more gold.
It looked like it could have been rose gold maybe when you first grabbed it.
Anyway.
I just flick it away.
Can you roll the encounter die, please?
If we wanted this quickly.
One.
One?
Everyone leaves us alone.
Right, so let's mark it down here.
And I explained to Big T there, there was a dragon there,
but it split open eggs.
That's not the good thing.
Do I know, does this ring any bells in my empty, empty cavern?
No, you have not heard of a creature like this.
You maybe just think big bird.
Yeah, perhaps a big bird.
It's like a very big bird.
Maybe as we're around the area, I'll cast detect, not detect animals,
I'll cast speak to animals.
Is there any animals, like anything in the area?
There are no animals around here.
Fuck.
Should we go away?
I tell you what, you're very astute there, Big T.
Let's leave quickly.
Would you like to return to camp?
Yes.
All right, cool.
So that's a three-day travel from here.
So for the first day, can I get two encounter rolls?
Four.
Four and?
Five.
Five.
Second day, two encounter rolls.
Do a long rest.
Six.
Yeah, you both get the benefit of a long rest.
And a two.
Two, all right.
And for the final day?
A ten.
That's fine.
You're too far away now.
Seven.
Seven?
Okay.
You get back to camp.
Oh, how was the poison in time?
Oh, fuck.
I forgot about that.
Thank you for reminding me that someone's dying.
Yes.
Okay.
So, first day into the journey.
So, yes.
That evening, I've asked if she was still a bit,
was she still feeling quite sick?
Yes.
Okay.
I still feel very bad.
Okay, okay.
Well, I would have cast, perhaps, instead of Woodberries,
Detect Poison and Disease.
Yeah, look, I think you're perfectly clammy
And lovely
I do feel more wet
That should be better
But I feel good
You detect the presence of a disease
Within Big T
Big T is being consumed from within
Oh god, that's bad
Yeah, you're diseased Big T is being consumed from within. Oh god, that's bad. Yeah, you're diseased.
Big T is being consumed from within
by something called hurling
sickness. Oh, you have a hurling
sickness. If not treated,
in a few days, Big T is going
to start vomiting until they die
from vomiting all the... Oh, yeah, sorry.
Your lungs are also completely...
Big T's lungs are probably
riddled with holes right now.
And they will either vomit blood themselves to death
or drown in their own lungs.
Oh, right.
Well, we need to get you out of here lickety-split.
Yes, please.
Yes.
So do I know how many days they have?
Because we've got a two-day journey.
Is that going to be okay to get back?
A two-day journey, they will probably survive.
So let me give you the...
So every day, you make a roll.
And if you...
A constitution check.
A constitution saving throw.
If you pass the constitution saving throw,
you do not gain a level of exhaustion.
You will die when you are at level six exhaustion.
Okay.
After that first night, you are at level three exhaustion
because you failed the saving throw again.
So you can fail the saving throw three more times.
Yes.
Okay.
So we'll be back in camp if you fail,
and we'll hopefully have someone there to really help us.
No, we have to try it.
You pass it on the second day.
Yay!
And then on the third day, you pass it again.
So you're still only at level three exhaustion, which is good.
Okay.
I can heal you, but that's about it.
I can't really do much.
Don't fix me.
No, I'm so sorry.
That's all right.
You're trying your best.
Yes.
I'll try to administer any kind of herbalism kit, even.
Anything to cool her down.
I will allow, if they fail the saving throw,
you can make a herbalism check,
which is basically just a d20 plus your wisdom modifier.
And they can substitute that as their saving throw
if they failed the saving throw.
At level three, you have disadvantage and ability checks.
Your speed is halved,
and you have disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws.
Also, the poisoned effect
ends. That's good. Yay!
I'm metabolized. I mean,
like, the poison's still... Level
3 exhaustion has the same... Technically, don't you?
Bigger word, I know.
Well, even I don't know that word.
Metabolize, you say. Are you sure you're not one
of those people that comb their hair?
Fancy Goliath. You think I look like a coma?
Yes, a little sometimes.
Thank you.
Will Big T succumb to hurling sickness
and leave behind a beautiful corpse?
Find out next time on
Stories of the Greyhill Free Company. I love ghouls and ghosts.
I unironically believe in Sasquatch.
I spend too much time reading about unsolved crime,
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