High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #39 | Embers Between Friends (Part 2)

Episode Date: October 17, 2024

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these cultists, perhaps calling themselves the Reclaimers. No association to the modern band. They have finished the battle, none. Modern band? Well, like they're kind of, yeah. Like they're not fantasy ye oldie band, are they? No, you're right. They have finished their battle against them.

One of the number of these Reclaimers tried to descend into some, an area beneath the ruins, but was caught by Ophelia, who has devoured him, in a feast, leaving the rest of the party upstairs with the released prisoners, a strange goblin woman who seems to have some juridic powers, as well as a sentient tree-like person. And that, my friends, is where we jump back in today.

What about if you just raise the ladder, Rowan? Just raise the ladder. Trust me. Trust you, it is quite a long fall. Come on. I don't know about this. It's gonna be okay. Are you sure? Just raise the ladder. Okay. Wink.

What do you, what's the wink? Come on. Come to papa. Oh, I hate this. I'm gonna try and fall off the tower to get to Rowan's arms. All right. Okay, are you gonna try and catch off the tower towards Rowan's arms. All right. Okay, are you gonna try and catch him?

No. Okay. I roll the fall damage. Please say yes. Gruff is watching this and he's just starting to dial up a cure wounds or something like that. Okay. Are you gonna catch me? He's jumping. I've jumped.

He's jumped. Have a fall. Oh. Oh. I knew it. He's jumping? I've jumped. He's jumped. Peddle fall. Oh.

Oh. I knew it. So yeah, you watch as you begin to slowly descend and you float back down towards him. Oh, good one, good one. Well, you did catch me, so thank you for that. Is everyone okay? Is every, all of the, what were they calling themselves?

Reclaimers, are they gone? Yes. You see. Wait, I haven't really seen. Oh, oh, oh my God, are they gone? Yes. You see... Wait, I haven't really seen... Oh! Oh my God, what's happened? What's that over there? Is that a chart body? Oh! Oh! Oh my God! Oh, you're looking inside the building.

Yeah, there's a smell coming from the building where Gruff and Xanthias were. Daisy comes out of there looking quite horrified, like, I've seen things. What happened? Huh? Yeah, what the bloody hells was that about, Santhius? I was fighting. Surviving.

They were attacking us, I attacked them. That's how it goes. There's self-defense, and then there's whatever the bloody hell this was. Well, we're safe now. This guy's got a dagger in his back. As you guys have like these, like this discussion, you just see a very nervous looking goblin woman

sort of like, and her friend like, she's sort of like, just leave them to it, just let them have their, and finish. I have like a crumpled body on the floor next to me with a dagger in its back, like, we've done worse. Oh boy. Like, we've done worse. Oh boy.

I've never seen such fury in your fire. I'm sorry? Are you though? I, well, I mean, I did what had to be done. I get that, but what was it about this? That your magic... One second, Penelope. You don't know her name yet. One second.

Be right with you. That's fine, that's fine. I mean, my eyes are like flickering over to the corpse of the... The sacred. The sacred over there. This was very different. It was a lot more potent. They were fighting us and I helped to defend ourselves.

Was it aggressive? Maybe. Was it effective? No, I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about the fact that there was something different about this one. I was right there. I finished my whiskers. I'm sorry about that. Why was this so... furious? I can't tell you. I don't know.

I... There was... Something just took over, okay? Wha... I glance at... our new company. They are... So when you glance over the little, you know, and to you guys, you would just see this,

you know, about the size of a halfling or a gnome, but she has quite prominent green skin, yellow eyes, big ears, stretching out. She has this, you know, turquoise, very vibrant sort of cyan turquoisey hair that kind of spills out from underneath her big hat. She's got like, you know, turquoise, very vibrant sort of cyan turquoisey hair that kind of spills out from underneath her big hat. She's got like, you know, like I said, a sort of almost pear like figure, it's very kind of chunky legs, like with these thigh highlight,

like kind of boots. But then she's got a very tiny sort of like little upper body, very big head. And she's sort of like looking around, looking a bit nervous. But she's tending to the tall, very sturdy looking tree person. And even like their torso, it's not complete. Like there's sections of it that, not skeletal, but it doesn't, it looks humanoid roughly,

but you couldn't ever mistake this as a person. You can see through bits and stuff like that. Yeah, like the shape of the tree. You know how like sometimes trees have like chunks of it missing or something, you know, where it's been blasted or had damage and it hasn that, yeah, like the shape of the tree. You know how sometimes trees have chunks of it missing or something where it's been blasted or had damage and it hasn't fully repaired, or sometimes they just grow in weird ways? It kind of looks a little bit like that.

They've got little knobs in them. No, they have eyes and a mouth, but no facial expression. It's just like a line of a mouth and then these big glowing orb-like eyes. It looks very sturdy, very tall, very bulky, top heavy, big thick arms. May I insight check Xanthius on his last line on me? I can't tell if it was Xanthius who was shady or Tom who was shady or Tom being shady.

That's probably me, I'm just, I'm sus. You can certainly make an insight check. Natural 20, plus four. I mean, I'm like edging towards this, you've seen this guy, right? He has like crown steel around his forehead. You see it around his forehead. Like the eyes keep flicking to the crown steel.

Xanthius is like, whenever he can, he's like, and you don't even know if it's conscious he's doing it, but he's moving towards it. And there is definitely a look in his eyes. And there was, there is, and I think, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, Tom, but there seems to be a bit of a sort of smugness and a joy, like yes, I overcame them.

I am powerful. Even beyond this insight check, I'm still talking of like, I know I'm your charge, Gruff. I know you consider me to be, you call it me, confirm and vulnerable. I consider it to be weak. I just stepped up is all.

I don't. This is Kim saying this. I don't like your tone. That is a real dead, I don't like your tone. But he's not gonna say it out loud because there's polite company. That's the thing, I think even from my tone, it's almost like a hushed anger, I suppose.

I think what I did was right. Yeah, no, yeah, I get that. Like, I'm real, I'm, I get that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're all playing here. But Groff is like worried because the stuff that Obsidius said about Crownsteel, and then like we're five minutes in,

and you've just fucking incinerated a room of people, it's like, um, I didn't expect it to be this fast. So sensing almost a bit of a lull in that moment where like Xanthias says this, and there's this awkward silence, this little figure sort of chirps up with a little voice, and at this point, I feel like you are snacking away. This is like, you are gonna be there for a little bit

or you drain this body. But you just hear this voice like, and I have to remember it because I always have to get my voices right. Hello, New York, I got you. Well, if I can, I just kind of want to say thank you so much for freeing me and my friend. I thank you so much for helping us.

I really wish it hadn't come to violence and that you didn't have to kill those guys, but thank you so much. I take a knee next to her. She awkwardly takes her hat off and is holding it up next to her chest and she sort of bows her head. I get to as much head height as I can.

For you, it's like you are down on like one knee and even then you're having to like lean forward. Like she is like maybe three foot tall. She is tiny. Oh, well. Oh, no. Your friend. They didn't hurt me, but Berant,

they hurt him in the initial attack. But you know, he's real tough. He's kind of hard to kill, but I couldn't wake him up because I didn't have my staff and I didn't have my reagents and my magic. But yeah, no, we're okay. Are you okay, Barenten? You just see this tall figure like, I have suffered injury,

but I am recovering now. Thank you, strange travelers, for helping us. I'm still staring daggers at Xanthias. We're very happy to have helped you. You seem lovely. I'm Rowan. Oh, a pleasure to meet you. Oh, I'm so sorry I didn't introduce myself.

I'm Penelope Petrova. I'm the assistant of, sorry, I'm kidding. Don't tell me. Is it a green dragon? Yes, yes it is. I knew it when you did the flowers on the floor and I felt tingly bits all over me. Oh, yeah, that's right.

You're reclaiming the land. Well, we're trying to, yes. I'm Lady Vererythia's assistant. I'm sort of her apprentice. And so I've been learning magic and things like that and learning from the green dragons. But yeah, that's right. No, she's our lady.

She's the one who we came here with. Have you seen her? Do you know where they've taken her? Oh, I'm afraid not. You're the first we've seen out in these harsh places. Oh, Grant, what are we gonna do? We got, they've taken her? Oh, I'm afraid not. You're the first we've seen out in these harsh places. Oh, Grant, what are we gonna do? We got what they'd taken her because of us. Hey. Yes?

Don't you worry, because together, we're gonna do this. We're gonna reclaim this ashen wasteland. You mean it? Oh, that's not so nice of you. Yes, how can we help? What can we do? Do you need anything? Are you hurt? Are you hurt, is anyone hurt?

Are you hurt inside? I'm hurt on the inside. Oh, that's okay, big guy. And she kind of like leans up and pats you on the shoulder. I just feel like I can talk so openly to you. Oh, that's real sweet, that's what a sweetheart. We have some issues internally amongst our friend group, but we do love each other.

While they're having that conversation, and Gruff is staring daggers at me, I've almost turned my back on Gruff. I'm like, the body next to me, I'm turning them over to see the sigil, to almost loot the body, I suppose. Which body? The sacred?

Not the sacred, no, the one that fell off the... Yeah, okay, so we'll say the one fell off down, so the one right next to you. Oh, sorry, if he did, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fine. Yeah, so you flip the body over, Xanthias, and you can see that these guys, all of these are called, men and women, mainly human. Well, actually, no, it would be a mix,

because, yeah, it would be a mixture of, like, one of them's a dwarf, one of them's human, one maybe looks like they've got some elven blood in them. You can see that they don't necessarily, they have this kind of symbol of a kind of draconic style claw holding a very familiar looking piece of like metal shaped with the same colors. Or like tabards and symbols or tattoos.

They've painted parts of their arms, parts of their face, parts of their body with this black and red gold paint that almost looks identical to Crown Steel Corruption. They've painted it on themselves. You can see that they wear pieces of gold jewelry or bronze jewelry, or they have symbols, but a lot of it looks quite old and tarnished. Even their armor looks like it isn't new,

but it's been well maintained. Everything is a bit ragged, but more from wear rather than from it being ill-kept. Yeah, I think, as Tom apologizing to Kim, but as Xanthius, I realize I'm playing an asshole here. I like consider, Xanthius considers the conversation with Gruff over. Yeah, absolutely.

And yes, that's what Xan's playing. You know, that's absolutely fine. And I'm always, yeah, I'm always like rifling through this guy's, I don't expect necessarily to find anything, but... So each of the Acolytes and the Scouts, they pretty much have what they had. So they have chainmail armor.

The Scouts have a bayonet crossbow, so it's a heavy crossbow with a short sword on it, basically, built into it. They have daggers. The sort of minions had things like axes and flails and swords, kind of just generic melee weapons. None of them seem to be carrying any coin. They have things like bandages, simple equipment,

like kind of things that you expect soldiers to carry on them. Yeah. But nothing else. Even with like, if Gruff is still eyeing me, like I guess you would, you've got 20 before, like I'm not even necessarily, I'm not like disrespecting the body as such,

but I'm not being delicate with them. Just like turn it over. And in my head I'm like, these fucking pretenders. Sure. Yeah, yeah. I think while you're, like Gruff will watch you and make sure you're kind of, you know, over there, like, kind of doing that. Keeping an eye on.

Because he saw you with the Nat 20, like, looking at the circlet, once your back is turned, he's gonna actually remove the circlet from the sacred. But he's gonna, like, maybe wrap his, like, he doesn't know really what he's doing, But he's gonna maybe wrap his, he doesn't know really what he's doing, so he's gonna wrap his paw, he's gonna maybe use his staff to try and,

It is a circlet fixed around the head, so the staff's not gonna help you. You will physically have to take it off his, Can I use Saren as my mage hand? Yes, you could. Xanthius has a pretty poor wisdom and a pretty poor passive perception, right? I, yeah, it's rough.

So I am gonna ask for a slight of hand check from Gruff. Just because, obviously this is something Xanthias cares about, but I know he's already, it's gonna go against your passive perception, which I believe is nine. It's nine, yeah. So as long as you beat a nine, otherwise Xantheus will just, he'll hear that you summoned Saren.

He won't necessarily know what you've done, but he'll be aware that like, you've maybe moved a body or something like that. But I do wanna make it as fair as I can. Sure. Can I add a fate to this? You may add a fate to this, yes. I'm gonna add a fate to this.

10 plus three plus one. Yeah, that's plenty. So you are distracted, you're like going through, you're rifling through, do they have more crowns still? Do they have any information, like notes or anything that you could use, you're rifling through the bodies? Also I'm like running through all the stuff that Gruff just said.

It's like, it's just, the lingering sort of anger from this fight and what Gruff has just said is like just. You were trying to help. I was doing fine. You were doing fine. Why so suspicious? We're okay. I feel like it's that classic miscommunication as well, that Gruff wasn't like, he was concerned because what Obsidius said

and you're immediately using very overpowered... But he never actually said it, right? He never actually said it to you. It's more that we just came out of a fight in which I... Dominated. Yeah, and I didn't immediately get a thank you. And that is enough for Xanthius to be like... Well that's especially his pride, right?

It's a big thing. And I feel like this is classic dad-kid miscommunication. Like, Gruff has not actually said what he really was trying to get at. Yeah, yeah. Like, yeah. Xanthius hasn't heard what he wants to hear. Mm-hmm. Yeah, very interesting.

But yeah, so you go over there. I do need to check one thing in a minute. I'm not gonna check it now. And Rowan's just in his safe space. I'm gonna come back, I'm gonna come through it. I'm gonna jump to Ophelia in a minute, actually. Yeah. Um...

Ophelia's just like in a kind of... You know, when you eat loads and you're like... I remember Ophelia needs healing and there's like a blood trail going down a trap door and then spurts of blood coming out of it. Is it mine? I'm just trying to remember where I put certain pieces of information I need. Ooh! Gruff is now like Xanthius. Depends how delicate you're being with it, right? I'm just trying to remember where I put certain pieces of information I need. Oh! Gruff is now like Xanthius.

Depends how delicate you're being with it, right? Like, you've had a lot of warnings for it. I think he just knows not to... He doesn't really... He's like, I'm not going to touch it. Yeah, and you know proximity is bad, right? So, like, yeah. Yeah, I don't know where I've put my crown steel information. Still have a lot of proximity.

Sorry? We learned another word for proximity. Do you want? Sorry? We learned another word for proximity. We learned another word for proximity. Yes, it is. We did. We went on a Word of the Day binge the other day. Mm. And we learned none of them.

Clearly. I learned a word. What's the word? What was it? Sinny? No, it was... It was like a whole new thing. It was a whole new thing. It was a whole new thing.

Kim. Hello. Can you roll a d20 and a d4? No, actually no, I'm not gonna have you roll for this. I'm gonna just determine it. Never mind, sorry, my apologies. That's even scarier somehow. Can you roll a d4 for me?

One minute there. Sorry, a d8. Which one's a d4? I'm so confused! A d8, a d One minute there. Sorry, a d8. Which one's a d4? I'm so confused! A d8, a d8, a d8. Two. Okay. Am I dead now? Contiguousness?

Propinquity. Propinquity? What? Propinquity. Do you have to make that sound with it? Yeah, you do, yeah, trust us. Propquity. What? Propingquity. Mmm. Propingquity. Do you have to make that sound with it? Yeah, you do, yeah, trust us. Propingquity. How are you smelling it? Can you roll a D4 for me, please? Uh-oh.

A 1. Ow, that stabbed me. That's not a good sign. It's really sharp. Oh, this festering wound, this D4 just gave me. Uh... Ow. Okay.

Proping... Proping... Propingquity. Proping... D. Verily. That's not just proximity, but proximity in terms of relationships as well. Yeah. It's like an extra meaning.

So how would you, like... Tom is propinquity-ing me. We are very propinquitous. Where do you place it? Where do you, it's like a circle, so it has like a symbol, it has this kind of clawed, the actual metal itself has been worked into a disc upon which a piece of sort of tarnished gold

has been overlaid on top of the ground steel in the symbol of this like draconic claw holding some sort of shard of like a silvery metal on the inside. But the disc behind it is ground steel. It has that black metal. It's the same as Xanthias' chest. It's only a small piece. It's about the size of like a large coin.

Where do you place it? On my head. No. Is there any feeling like when... You feel nothing. Okay. I think for now, he's gonna place it, like he's got little pouches on his belt.

So get the mage hand, the Seren mage hand to place it in a pouch. And his intention for now is to dispose of it, so that Xanthias can't get his little mitts on it. All right, okay. Meanwhile, Ophelia. You sort of come out of a haze, the rage ends, the form of dread ends, and you look down,

and there is this dissected corpse, like just this withered, nearly not mummified, but just drained corpse at your feet, and you feel fantastic. It has been a long time since you felt this full, this sated, but also this strong and this empowered. Is this what it's like? Is this when you fully ascend and become a true vampire?

Is this what it will be like? You know, it's that kind of like, mm, excitedness. And you find yourself in this corridor. You can see the ladder, like it's just a simple wooden ladder that goes back up. And you can hear the sounds of conversations, but you can't make out the words. But behind you, the corridor continues on,

and you can see that there are three rooms. With your dark vision, you can see perfectly within it. You can see that there is one larger room that had probably once had, it looks like it maybe would have once been a prison, like somewhere for prisoners to be stored. But the bars have all been removed, and the door that would have once been there

has been replaced with a kind of crude wooden one instead. Further down, there is another room you can't quite see into. And then opposite these on the other side of the corridor appears to be like a larger room, which again you can't see into due to the angle. It looks like this would have extended, this underground area would have gone on further, but it's collapsed down at the far end of the corridor,

and there are some other side chambers that have all collapsed in as well. This corridor and these three rooms are all that remains of whatever the second level, or the sub-level of this citadel would have once been. So what would you like to do? Yeah, I think Ophelia would just, she wouldn't even wipe her mouth.

She would just be so just full of joy. Mm-hmm. She would just stand up. Hello? Anybody left inside? You can come out. Sort of echoes down the stone corridor. I won't hurt you. No response.

Oh. And then Ophelia would just gleefully start exploring, down the stone corridor. I won't hurt you. No response. Oh. And then Ophelia will just gleefully start exploring, just in a haze, just. Sure. All right, I'll give you a quick description of each thing. She's high. Did you heal as well from drinking?

No, so it doesn't. So there's a difference between, so when she uses her vampire, because you've only got limited use of those. Okay. So that is like the healing version of like your sucking and regaining your health, but then there is also just the generic

dampier vampire I'm eating basically. It's like the difference between drinking a potion and eating a chicken sandwich, right? Sure, well I've had a chicken sandwich but I haven't drunk a potion in real life. So yeah, so now I get you. Big difference, right? I just love the idea that there is someone down there

and they've just seen this bloodied woman just be like that and they're just like this bloodied woman just be like that. They would have just heard like 30 seconds of just vampire ASMR. Well, they also would have heard the fight against this guy, like, you'll never know, and then... Oh! There's just someone down the corridor being like, nope. No.

I would hurt you, as she says. It sounds like a slosh puppy out there. A quick scan reveal there are three rooms. One is just, it looks like they've turned it into a storeroom down here. You can see things like sacks of grain, a water barrel. It's just like a generic storeroom. It looks like the guys who were,

whoever these cultists were, they were storing things down here. There's some backup camping equipment, some spare bedrolls. Just looks like this place is quite watertight and dry, so it looks like they've been storing things down here to keep them out of bad weather. Nothing too, you kind of rifle through it a little bit,

there's nothing much more to it, just some basic equipment. Might be good to replenish your supplies for traveling. The other room on the same side is this former prison, and it looks like it's been converted actually into a set of private quarters. Better than the campsite upstairs, there is like an actual bed in here, there is a small kind of a trunk,

like a wooden storage trunk, and also what appears to be a simple alchemy station, and you can see that there are some reagents and ingredients scattered around, as well as two vials that have been left out on the side. You can also, yeah, and this looks like it was maybe, yeah, like a private chamber for somebody more important. The other room, which you briefly glance into, you get the sense was maybe once an old armory,

because there's a lot of rotten or rusted weapon racks and display stands, all empty, nothing's left. There's no armor or weapons or anything left. It's an interesting room as well because on the walls are three different murals, like painted murals, and it's kind of faded and chipped, but it's still fairly good. The murals depict a battle against a Chimera of Altsborn,

like all these different knights of Caldre fighting a Voltsborn. There is a feast in a dragon's great hall with knights and dragons and nobles and all that kind of business in this very stately, beautiful manor house. And then the third one is of a knightly joust, and it shows two riders on drakes about to clash, basically.

They're also in this room, one thing that notices you, because there are some things that don't have rust or sign of wear on them, there are four iron sconces that would have once held torches with dragon heads, or like stylized dragon heads on them. The dragons all look slightly different, but there's these four dragon heads. And then on the walls there are also four shields

that bear the sign of North Cauldre, and they also have extra painted designs on them. It looks like ranks of soldiers on each of the shields. Can I make a history check or anything to see if I would know anything about them? Yeah, you absolutely can. Nine. You rack your brains,

it's, you know, there's so many of these little regions here in Ilmera, you know, you read up on some of the major things like the Orient Insurrection and stuff like that, but yeah, these, I mean, the vaults, it's probably just the works of celebration and, you know, Caldra loves artists. They probably just hired somebody to celebration and you know, Caldra loves artists. They probably just hired somebody to come and decorate their armory.

There's something niggles at the back of your mind, maybe something that you were told before you came here, but you can't remember what it is. You're full and tasty, yum, yum, yum. And there's other exciting things in this place for you to investigate. So, what do you wanna do? Do you wanna stay down here for a minute?

Do you wanna head back upstairs? Do you wanna go check out those, the room with the potions and the storage container? Yeah, I want to go to the little, yeah, the little potion room, yeah. Yeah, sure, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So like I said, it looks like it's a private chamber.

There's a bed. At the end of the bed is like a wooden storage chest. There is the alchemy table, and then there's like a rack with ingredients and, you know, bottles and jars and bits and bobs on it. And then on the alchemy table there are two potions. Yeah, can I have a look at the potions? Yeah.

One appears to be a deep green, almost like moss-like color, and there are flecks of gold floating inside it. And then the other one is a beautiful cerulean blue. Reminds you of the ocean. and then the other one is a beautiful cerulean blue. Reminds you of the ocean. And it almost has like foamy sea bubbles on the top of it as you move it around. And as you kind of turn the bottle, it's almost like makes waves as you turn the bottle

like you can see. It's like looking at a little miniature ocean. There's a little ship in there as well. It's just a ship in a bottle. Can I do like an arcana check? Yes, you can. Six. Six.

You have, like, just looking at them, you can't tell what these things do. You have no idea. Yeah, I think Ophelia will put them in a little satchel. See if she can get someone else to help her find out what they are. Okay. And then the storage chest at the bottom of the bed. Can I have a look inside that please?

Yeah, so you go to open it, and when you open it, as you flip the lid, there is some sort of wire that was connected on the inside. Oh no! And you see that in the chest there is a bunch of documents and a scroll. No! But the lid of the chest contains some sort of like sack and this alchemist's fire spills out.

It explodes, incinerating what was inside and I need a dexterity saving throw from you please. Danger sense does trigger so you have advantage. The secrets. If it helps none of us win this pot. Did they get damp from the tidal wave? No, the water disappeared. You managed to take half damage.

You can take half fire damage. Shit! That's, oh, seven fire damage, half to three points of fire damage. Ah! However, the scroll and the documents inside are incinerated. No!

So those of you who are up top side, you hear a, no! From the trap door. Of course, we hear the burst as well, an explosion. You do hear an explosion as well. Yeah. Oh. Oh.

And that in my notes, I was like, well. Don't feel bad about it. I think the only person who would have spotted something like that was Daisy. I was just like, in my head I was like, oh it's like Skyrim, and then Skyrim's full of travel. Do do do. Yeah, yeah.

And it's like. Well it's also like, if you've got a thing, like somebody who was staying here probably wanted to protect what was ever in there. Yeah, that's true, yeah, yeah, yeah. Make sure nobody else could get it. God damn. There might be remnants, like they're like,

you could probably have enough time, like, as you dodge back, like, to go in and like, pat some of the documents out and try and salvage as much as you can. So I'll try and salvage what I can, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so you recover some fragments of, it looks to me like it was maybe, the magic scroll, completely gone.

That just goes up in flames, absolutely incinerated. No loot for you. But there is some sort of notebook, and a lot of it is charred, but you manage to find some pages that you can still make out and read. It looks like there might have been some sort of hastily sketched map,

but it's not like a map of a region. It's just lines. It almost looks like veins in the blood or something like that. And it's like these wiggly lines that go all over the place and there was like Xs, but half of it's now been destroyed and like a lot of it, and it's like you're wiping it off and you've only got like the first half of it now.

Yeah. Interesting. Dang. You burned off the place with a lost city. Yeah. That's true. So that was that room. Can I take any of the place with the Lost City! So that was that room. Can I take any of the alchemy ingredients as well? Yeah, so you estimate that there's about 50 golds worth of alchemy ingredients. If you gather them all up and put them in a little bag or something like that, you could easily sell them for about 50 gold.

Cool. Or you could use them, maybe. Find an alchemist who can use them for you. That was the last time we ever saw those ingredients again. Yeah. Oh, don't forget the two potions in there as well. Yeah. Yeah.

I think, has Ophelia ever seen an alchemy table before? Yes. Yes. Yeah. The House of Rot and the House of Runes, mainly the House of Rot, though, they do a lot of alchemy. Oh, very cool. OK.

Very well known for their alchemy in fact. It's one of the few things where they're sort of allowed in the culture of Osseous to sort of interact and engage with the other houses, because otherwise they are quite repulsive often and they are very smelly and people struggle to be around them. But they are very good doctors and they're very good alchemists as well.

Because they obviously understand things like diseases and illnesses and infections the best. very good doctors and they're very good alchemists as well. Because they obviously understand things like diseases and illnesses and infections the best. Like they, many of the most powerful, infect themselves with diseases for fun. Because it makes them feel things. They're like, oh, that feels tingly. That's how they get their high.

That's pretty cool. It's kind of like a thing where they're like, oh, that's a fun one, bubonic plague, what's that like? Oh, yeah, oh, look at that. Oh, he's boiled, what? Oh, I've got to chop me arm off. I've got a new one, I'll put Stitcher new one on. I'm gonna get off my teeth.

Because even other undead are often immune to diseases, so it just doesn't affect them, whereas with the House of Rot, they feel the effects, but they don't necessarily get the detriments of it, they're just like, oh, I've got a bit of a flemmy cough, they're very Nergal-esque. Good. That's really cool, I love that. bit of a flemmy cough. They're very Nergal-esque. Good.

That's really cool, I love that. I could do with some of that. That's awesome. Just being okay with it. Papa Nergal's blessing, you'd be great. Yeah, so I could keep going, even if I am gross. Yeah, you're gross and covered in balls and you infect everyone around you,

but you feel great. I'd be my true trash self. Yeah. Hell yeah. Final form. Yeah, so I've looked in the storage room a second. Have I looked in the large room? Yeah, so the large room, so you can go in there,

the ones with the murals and the sconces and stuff like that. You heard this explosion, right? Yes, you've already heard this explosion. Alright, I think after that then, Ophelia will go back to the desiccated corpse. Okay. Have a little rummage around for any fun little trinkets and things and identifiers. Nothing you can find.

It's very similar to the other guys. Like he had a knife on him. He dropped his crossbow. He's wearing a suit of chainmail. Can I take the chainmail? You can pull the chainmail off his body. Yeah, it's quite heavy, but you can definitely carry it. I'm gonna grab that.

All right, sure. You've got a suit of like sort of, it's black stain, like it's been painted like stained black. I was kind of wearing it. As a barbarian, you could wear it. You would lose your unarmored defense ability, but Chainmail gives you an AC of 16 base. Oh, that's kind of good. I need that. You could even probably put like your clothes, like your dress and your armor on top of it. Yeah, I'll put it on. Okay, so you start stripping this guy off, stripping yourself off

and putting the chainmail on and then putting your armor on top of it. Yeah. You've sucked this guy dry and he's nude. Yeah, I'm taking him for everything he's got. Yep, yeah, you can put the chainmail. So it's just normal chainmail. So you can add it in Dindi Beyond and you should be able to just add it. I think there might, I think it's just your unarmored

defense ability that you lose. I'll have another look at it, if you're honest. I think it's just your unarmored defense ability that you lose. Okay, I'll have another look at it, if you're on and see if it changes anything. I think so, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, what's the rest of upstairs? What's everyone else doing? Upstairs crew.

Rowan will obviously engage in conversation with Penelope. Yeah, yeah. But also he'll mention the land here. I know that horrible things happened in this place, specifically, this is like the last stand of the Draconic Empire. There's a lot of history here is what I'm saying. Is that of value to you?

Oh, well, you know, I'm not, I don't know that much about your history and things like that, you know. I'm not actually from the Dragon Empire. I'm not from Inlerra. I came here a long time ago. Where are you from? I'm from a place called Stridia.

Oh, wow. It's another land. Stridia. I don't know much about it. I was very little when we came here, but I'm the apprentice of Lady Varithera, and she said that it was, it was something to do with the dragons who fell here.

They had a sickness. She said that they had a sickness in them. And when they died, a lot of that sickness, well, it kind of, I gotta try and remember to get more of her New York in there. It went, when they died, when they died, their bodies were sort of ransacked for this sickness, people came to take the sickness away, but some of the sickness, what's that?

That's what we call it at least. Oh, the sickness called crown steel? Yes. Well, yeah, so this crown steel thing, it got into the land and pieces of it, you know, around, and somehow it's spread and it's affecting all the plants and the animals, and Lady Verithera, you know, she cares about the land very, very much. And she heard about all of this and she wanted to come here and help find a way to restore it.

You know, like she said that this place without life, without animals and plants, it would lose hope. And so she wanted to try and fix that. And I don't suppose your mission was to recover any of this sickness, was it? Oh, no, I can't imagine Lady Verithera would want to do that. She'd want to cure it. That's what she's all about. She wants to help heal the land. And she kept saying about that. That's why she didn't want to fight these guys when they ambushed us.

You know, she's a she's a young dragon. She's only she's quite young, but she's powerful. She's still a dragon, but she doesn't like fighting. She doesn't like fighting at all. And she felt sorry for them. She said that they had a sickness in them. They had sickness, and so she wanted to help them. So she agreed.

She said, if they kept us alive, if they didn't hurt me and Berant anymore, she'd go with them. They were calling her a vessel or something. They were real excited about her being here. She's been taken away. Yeah, they took her away a few days ago. Whereabouts, too?

I don't know, that's the thing. They just took him away. I don't know, there was a bunch of these other guys here, these reclaimers, and they were real excited about her. They said that they, what was it, Baranth, what did they say? Baranth sort of straightens up. They said something about a second vessel, that they were blessed that the prophecy spoke.

The prophecy would come true or some such. They agreed to keep us alive and to not harm us. Lady Verithera went with them. agreed to keep us alive and to not harm us. Lady Verithera went with them. He wouldn't say Lady Verithera, he would just say Verithera. You look quite injured when we arrived. Did they help you? I tried to fend them off at a distance,

but their archers were also very skilled. I took some injuries, and that is when Varithera agreed to make a deal. This doesn't sound good at all. Well, I've been trying to find some things on these bodies, but there might be something downstairs. Pfft. No!

What was that? Yeah, that's when the leader um, the, the, the leader guy, he, he, he lives down there. They, he only came up here to, to have, uh, to do something in that building over there, but uh, uh, yeah. Didn't Ophelia go down there? There's a blood trail, so yes. Oh goodness.

Maybe Ophelia, she might have found something. She's lovely. Well is it all right if I stay up here? I'm gonna fix up a rant as best as I can. I'm gonna say I have an ability to connect with the land around me. You're blessed with the primal powers too? I don't know if it's the same.

I don't make flowers like you do, but I can learn about what's happened recently. Oh, that could be useful, yeah. That's a real smart idea. Maybe we can find out where they went. Yeah, that would be great. They're gonna go all the way back to the other side. I know a ritual.

I mean, I can try and contact Lady Verithera, but you know, when you get into the Ash Hills, magic doesn't work quite. Some of the magic doesn't work right. You can't use certain spells, but I have a spell called Sending. I can try and send her a message. That might be worth a shot. Okay, well I'll try and do that while you do your thing.

I'm gonna sit. Are you okay, Baranth? You're gonna be okay? Do you need me to fix you or anything? I will be fine, little one. Have a little healing word for me. No, please, friend. I will repair it.

No, I insist. You may need your magic in the time to come. Okay. I will be fine, that is kind of you, child of giants. This is Daisy, she's small. Hi! She like waves, hello. She's very good, nice, friendly.

We're all friendly here, aren't we, Xanthius? Oh yes. Especially Gruff, he's a knight errant. Baranth looks at you and sort of inclines his head. I can feel that this one is blessed by the progenitor. You channel great power within you. Oh, well hello, I'm Griffith. Boranth of the Oaken Circle.

Oh, I'm er, from Tremoril. The Oaken Circle? I haven't heard of that. It is the name of my kind. The kind of Sylvaran that I am. I must say I am. You're probably one of the first people I've met that has similar powers to my own. I've never really understood where it comes from,

if I'm honest. It comes, it gestures to the land, from Ulthay, the primal progenitor, creator of life. I had a feeling that was the case. It is an honor to meet you. The honor is mine, Wildheart. The honor is mine, Wildheart. This sickness that you both are curing here, do you know how to neutralize it, cure it? No, I'm just an apprentice. I don't know much about that kind of thing. It was Lady Verithyrish. Even she didn't really know until we got here.

She said that we needed to try and find the root of it. She said that there must be something which is causing it to spread throughout the land. She said, normally it shouldn't affect a big area like this, but something's gotta be different here. And we came here to try and find out what that was, to try and get clues or answer questions, that sort of thing.

But it's too far beyond my power. I'm so sorry, I'm just an apprentice. That's okay, little one. You know, we don't always have the answers to everything. No, Lady Verithair, she's real wise, though. She knows so much about this kind of thing. You know, even though she's only young, she's really dedicated her life to studying the world and life

and the plants and animals and all that sort of stuff. She's real swell. The first clue at least is that this sickness is... And you see when you sort of more engage, like Penelope's only just sort of really picked up. Like Penelope like bows her head because obviously you're a Dragonborn. Right. So, oh my lord, sorry, I didn't realize. I think while I'm talking I'm also idly walking over to the...

Sacred. The sacred. The first clue at least is that the sickness you're talking about comes from Crownsteel. And I'll use a boot to turn over this guy. Yeah. Which this guy had. It's not that. It twists the environment around them.

I think a sickness is a good name for it. Yeah. But I don't know if there's a way to neutralize the Crown Steel itself. Maybe a way to kill the land, but not the source. Gosh. Well, you seem to know a lot more about it than I do. Lady Verithera, you know, normally she's real open about this kind of stuff,

but she kept saying to me that I didn't need to know the details, that it's probably better I didn't know too much about it. You know, and if Lady Verithera says that, then it's got to be true. You know, I know that she would have my best interests at heart. So... So, meanwhile... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You've finished stripping this body.

I'm all done, yeah. What do you want to do next, Ophelia? Nobody's come down, like, you know, having a lovely conversation upstairs, it sounds like. Yeah, I think Ophelia will just start making her way back up. Sauntering up. She's all done, yeah. Yep. Ophelia emerges from downstairs, seems to be clad

in some black armor. Okay, you're in your 10 minute ritual. Yes. Yeah, Ophelia emerges from upstairs. Slowly lift the trap door, just have a look, make sure the coast is clear. Coast is clear. Friends!

Ophelia is covered in blood. What happened then? Penelope like freaks out, like scurries behind Baranth. Baranth like immediately like straightens up. Don't worry, this is another one of our group. I'm fine, I'm fine. Hello? Are we all finished fighting? You've got a little, um, a little red on.

Oh, oh, sorry, sorry, my goodness. Are you okay? Are you hurt? No, no, no, I'm quite, sorry, my goodness. Are you okay? Are you hurt? No, no, no, I'm quite the opposite, my dear. I'm feeling wonderful. Oh, okay. Sorry, sorry, what's your name? Sorry. Oh, hello, I'm Penelope Petrova. I'm the apprentice of Lady Verithera.

Oh, the green dragon. Yes, yeah, oh, you guys seem to know about her. Well, we're looking for her, aren't we? Looking for her, looking for clues. Yeah, I mean, what brought you guys here? I mean, it sounds like you know about this crown steal stuff, but what made you come to the Ashen Citadel? It's kind of off the beaten path, right?

Were you sent to find us? Were you sent to rescue us? Oh no, no, no, we were sent here. I'm terribly sorry, but you seem delightful. Thanks. No, we were here. She is terrified of us being here, by the way. Just like, oh.

You still have form of dread up, do you? No, no. Okay, yeah. We dread up, do you? No, no. Okay, yeah. We're looking, well, we were sent here by Lord Ignarius and his children. Oh, oh, right, okay. From Caldra, right? From North Vale.

From Ashen Rest, yes, just down, a few days away down the road there. Is that the same, that's the same place that the other night was from, right, Baranth? Yes, I believe so. Did you meet this knight? No, we didn't meet him exactly, but we met the... There was a bunch of... There's a mining company.

They were doing a lot of surveying in this area. They're the ones who kind of... We were liaising, trying to get information from, and they said that they'd met up with a knight from Caldra, a red knight, a red dragon knight, and he had come here and he was looking for something, and they were trying to help him find that, but we haven't heard from them in days. We thought that maybe something had happened to him.

Do you remember his name? Was it Sir Eldrake Ignis? Oh gosh, but my, yeah, no, it was, yeah, that's rightrake Ignis? Oh, gosh, I... Yeah, no, it was, yeah. That's right, Sir Ignis. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what the dwarf said his name was, yeah. Real nice guy, apparently. Oh. So he came here? I don't know if he came to the Ashen Citadel.

We came here because we thought maybe we could use it as a campsite or maybe there might be some information here, maybe some records or something. But then that's when we got ambushed by these cultists. But no, we met with the dwarves like out in the hills when we were, you know, starting to investigate and we did some of our initial research into the land and we met them out there and they were all over the place, you know, and apparently there's all these tunnels and caves and stuff all scattered through the hills. And they said that they'd met him because he wanted to ask about they'd found some armor

or one of their other teams had found some armor in some cave. He was asking where they found it and all that kind of stuff. But I don't know anything more than that. I'm sorry. That's a good start, I think. It's exactly that. We're looking for Eldrak Ignis. Okay. We didn't actually know exactly where he may have gone, but do you know where this cave might be, perhaps?

The dwarves would know. I can take you to where we met them, but I don't know if they'll still be there. They had a little excavation... They had a campsite out in the hills that they were using as a little base. Me and Baranth could take you there, but I don't know anything more than that. How far away is it? Oh, it's a couple of days into the hills, like maybe a day and a half, two days, something like that. But you know, me and Baranth, we're pretty good at navigating these kind of places.

We could probably help you. Because we want to find Lady Verithera. We're happy to help you if you're Because we want to find Lady Varithera. Like, we're happy to help you if you're gonna help us find Lady Varithera. Like, we can't let these, whatever these guys were doing, it was bad news. We can't let them do whatever they were doing to the lady. Yes.

Do you need supplies, by the way? Are you hungry, are you famished? Oh yeah, I've not eaten in a few days. I mean, Baranth doesn't need to eat. He just needs sunlight and some water, but I've not eaten in a few days. So yeah, I'm kind of getting a bit peckish over here. Okay, you wait there, I'll be right back,

and I feel it will scar you down the trap door again. Yeah, you run off, yeah. And if you come back up, with just like arms full, here's some supplies. Yeah, so it's like salted meats and nuts and things like that and bread. Penelope starts picking through, she's like, oh, I can't have that, I'm a vegetarian,

I can't eat that meat, but I can have this bread and this, oh, okay, some cheese. Oh, please, go ahead, it'll all just rot, I assume, and since there's nobody now here to look after it. Yeah, there's like hard cheese, breads, like fruit and things like that. Like, it looks like some of it isn't the freshest, but some of it looks actually fairly fresh,

and you, it does raise the question of when did they get this stuff? But yeah, Penelope starts immediately eating. You can see that she's really hungry and she starts drinking from the water, water skin barrels and stuff. Well, that's a good find, Ophelia. We can transport some of this back to the wagon.

We have a wagon, by the way, just outside the Citadel. Great, that's wonderful. I found other things. Okay. Explosions. Yes, we did hear something. Yes, there was a trapped chest down there. Scrolls and information and the like were inside and I didn't know it was trapped

and I opened it and it exploded. So all of the scrolls and maps and information? Gone apart from this and I take out the sword. Okay, great. This is all I could salvage from the explosion, but there's some kind of, I think it's a map, of squiggles and things all over it. How much of a mess is this pile?

Is it, I've got a map mixed with a note, mixed with another piece of map. It's like, the map is like a piece of parchment and like half of it's burnt away, leaving just like, like I said, like a vein system almost. But the way that it's spread out, it almost looks like, make a survival check or a nature check for me, Xantheus. Survival or nature, survival or nature.

Okay, well this is gonna be nature 15. 15. Immediately you're like, well, there's not much detail to this. It looks like it's purposely kept vague, so only those in the know would be able to use it. But looking at the lines, the way they're drawn, they are like veins, true, from a human body,

but they could also look a lot like rivers, like tributaries of a river delta or something like that. Like the way that they flow and move, and there are parts where they pool, which could almost be like lakes. It almost looks like a river system. Like holding this up against, I guess, we have a map that we were traveling by, right?

Like holding it next to that. You hold it up next to that? Yeah. When you overlay it, you match up a point, like there's a point that starts and it's like a line out and then it joins up and it moves around that. You move that and you place that dot over the Ashen Citadel.

OK. And when you look at it, it seems to lead. And obviously half of it's burnt away, so you don't see where it eventually leads. But it lines up and it perfectly leads into the ash hills and leads throughout like a system through the ash hills. OK. But I guess I could still follow the river on the map, right? No, half of it is burnt away.

Literally, you get like the opening bit, you get it from the Ashen Citadel into the Ash Hills, and then all of the other like where it would have led, and if there was anything on it is sadly now burnt away. That's fine. Also, Gruff, I found this, it reminds me of you a little bit, so I thought maybe you can have a look at it. It's the vial with the blue... The ocean waves, yeah.

So it's a potion with this very beautiful little ocean wave-like liquid inside. I don't know what it does, but you seem good with magic and things, so maybe it's, maybe you can figure it out. Thank you. It's okay. And Rowan, Rowan, there's one here as well.

It's a green and, sorry. Rowan, Rowan, there's a green. Maybe give him another two, five minutes. Five minutes, okay, I'll be back in five minutes. Well, maybe Penelope could look at that or Pirell. Oh yes, oh yeah, I mean, I'm sure to help her as much as I can, yeah, what this potion does. Yes, please.

Okay, yeah, I mean, and she'll like look at it. Look at it, I'm gonna catch her. Natural 20. Oh, she's like, oh yeah, no, I've seen, I've seen alchemists make stuff like this. Natural 20. Oh! She's like, oh yeah, no, I've seen, I've seen alchemists make stuff like this. They, you know, it's inspired, they call it a potion of Dale Giant strength.

So it makes you as strong as a giant. Only temporarily, only briefly, but it makes you as strong as a giant, basically. So this is basically, yeah, a potion that makes you, it's Hill Giant strength, but, it's Dale Giant strength in this one. I think that's 24, it sets your strength at for an hour. Shit, very cool.

So potion of hill giant strength. You can just add that straight from D&D Beyond. What do you mean? She'll do the same thing for the potion and she'll be like, yeah, so I think that this is a potion of breathing water. So it lets you for, I think it's for an hour, you can breathe water as if it's air.

Oh, that's very handy. If you want, you can keep it, Gruff, if you want. Oh, you sure? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Oh, fuck you, Fiona. You bring me really nice things. That's okay. I like to bring people nice things.

Carved in blood. Yeah. And then there's you. I couldn't find anything for you. I mean, the maps, I suppose. No, I mean, it's a start. I certainly wish it was a complete map, the maps I suppose. No, I mean it's a start, I certainly wish it was a complete map, but it's something.

Any other, you say there were notes and things as well? Charred notebook, like a charred notebook, most of it is unreadable, but you can flip through it and like the fragments that you can find, you can piece together this information, like no full quotes or anything like that, but you can piece together information. This group, this sacred one,

it was blessed by Crownsteel. And they call themselves the Reclaimers. Yeah. And there is mentions of a prophecy, and that they are the descendants who have upheld some sort of legacy or some sort of old vow that they're maintaining. They speak very highly of Galvasar and Daranax,

these corrupted dragons. They speak of them reverently, the true emperor they call Galvasar. They speak of... Sorry, I'm just going through my own notes here. Yeah, they speak of a prophecy that refers to a vessel, an inherit, some sort of sacred will. But that's pretty much what you can gather. The other thing it would say is that

you get the impression that there is, this is, they were here to like, basically keep a lookout for anything. Yeah. The, out in the Ash Hills, you think there are more of these, it seems that there are more of these reclaimers, or maybe senior members of this cult,

and that they have some sort of base or like sacred location or temple hidden out there somewhere, but it's all very vague. The only other thing you can pick up on is something called the Veins of Darunax. Veins of Darunax? Yeah, vein like blood vein, likein of Or, of Darunax. I'm trying to remember the name Darunax, if I've heard it before. But I can't recall. Can I do some kind of a...

history? Yeah, history would be a good one. I think that's what I'd also be... like, while reading it. If possible. Yeah. I think, yeah, that's why I'd also be, like, while reading it, if possible. Yeah. I'm gonna fate it. Yeah. I don't need to, watch this.

What's this drive? Natural one. Cool. 13 plus three plus two. 18. 18. Darinx, yeah, it immediately comes to mind, Gruff, because you were told about it not too long ago.

Darynx was the corrupted bronze dragon that fought here in the Ash Hills and killed Emberis's mother, and was like the leader of the force. It was a very, Darynx was a very, very powerful, heavily corrupted bronze dragon who led all of the other corrupted dragons here, and was the main adversary of Duke Ignaris.

He was the one who broke Duke Ignaris' horn and gave him many of his scars. He killed his lover in Flaria, and was also the one who destroyed the Ashen Citadel. Yeah. With that, I don't know if this is pushing my check, but do we know how he died, presumably? He died in battle, yeah. He died in battle. Yeah, Duke Ignarius. And the ash.

And he crashed into the ash hills. You know, Duke Ignarius was wounded, they had to pull back, they, you know, so the bodies were left here for a time. But yeah, Daranax crashed here in the ash hills along, and all of the other dragons who were slain, basically their bodies fell down into the ash hills. Some of them were like, you know, picked apart. Veins spread. Well, I was just thinking like, are the veins on this map vaguely dragon shaped?

Like, or, you know, the rivers form a sort of... They don't form any sort of shape, no. They look too erratic and random. They are vein-shaped. Yes, they are. They remind you of veins, you know, or like something like that. Or is it like, you know, do the rivers match

like where he fell or, you know, something like that? From the map, it looks like they spread throughout the whole of the Ash Hills, which is way too big an area. Like, Daranax was a powerful, like an ancient dragon, so it was massive, but it wasn't that massive. It wasn't like Eclipse, the whole land, like, kind of massive. Okay. Yeah? Yeah.

But perhaps this is... This map would have led us to... Daranax? Maybe to this sacred place, I don't know. I'm not even sure if this is necessarily where this Heart Warden is that we're looking for. So Rowan... Eldrake?

Your ritual comes to an end. Just remind me what it does and what you're hoping to gain out of this for me, please. With this, I can do the following. Listen to the music of either a natural location or an object made of wood, metal or stone that is no longer larger than a five foot cube. The information learns typically of a significant past event that took place in or near the target. Information could be cryptic or useless. Significant event. You get flashes. The rhythms here is the drums of war. Destruction. Crumbling stone. Stone being melted by dragonfire. So much death took place here. So much death took place here. And you, those war drums, they eventually become like a heartbeat.

Bum bum. Bum bum. Bum bum. You feel that death and evil hatred flowing like a river from this place beyond, out into the hills. Or perhaps coming from the hills to here, but almost like as if there was a river, a river of this hatred beneath your very feet, flowing in that direction. You get another flash, this one much more recent, that's old. That's built over centuries of time, from that initial war and death. And then a new flash, violence.

And then you get a peaceful beat, so light and beautiful and full of purity that it's like a bright light in the darkness, like the rhythms in your mind, it's like a clear, pure note in a cacophony of madness. It shines for a moment and it's enveloped, not snuffed out, but enveloped and pulled away in that direction, the same direction as the hate flowing away from this place.

That's what you get. Cool. Eyes will snap open. Cross-eyed. Wow. Awful. Sorry? Awful. Sorry? Awful.

What we were saying? No, no. The land and what it's been through. And the things that have been through. Yes. You feel it, do you not? Yes. I went back to the battle, the dragon battle.

I went back to the battle, the dragon battle. And that corrupted dragon, the fought against Ser Juke Ignaris, fell here and his corrupting influences spread from here or from the hills, created rivers underneath, probably of crown steel. What does that line up with this map here, do you think? Oh, does that look similar? It does.

I think that's, yes, that's underneath this land itself, and you can seeping from the corpse of the dragon. I mean, we have, unfortunately, only half a map. Maybe if we continue to follow this, we'll be able to, you'll be able to sense it. The map that you have, most of it's burnt away. You can see that one big tributary, if you want to think of it like a river,

flows from here or to here. And then as you get closer into the main hills themselves, you're just on the outskirts of the ash hills. As you get into the hills themselves, there is just barely, coming from the burnt section, another line that has almost like a dot or like a small pooling or like something like that, almost like a node, and that seems to be there

on your map in the hills itself. That's the only other kind of like similar point to this one where it had like a little node that has another one, and that's maybe two or three days. node that has another one and that's you know maybe two or three days. But that's not all. More recently something pure, beautiful. That's got to be my lady, that's got to be Lady Verithera. Enveloped by darkness and corrupting influence and taken away that way. That's what they're doing. It's got to be.

It has to be. So that what they're doing. It's got to be. It has to be. So that's our best lead. Okay, this camp that you were intending to take us to, is that over in this direction by this node here? No, it's more south than that. The camp that I know of, it's in the bit that's born off. It wouldn't show up there. But maybe that's like, I don't know. I don't know what this map is, but... Well, I'm just wondering, you'll at least be able to guide us once we get beyond this part of the map. I have to sit down for 10 minutes

and then hope that interesting, useful things come to me. I don't really know if it's gonna be specific guidance, but I roam. Right. I frolic. Yes. Remember, it also has to be significant events that took place. So like, if you go to a place and just hope like,

can I use this to sense that thing? You might not pick up on it if nothing major has happened in that area. Yeah, that's kind of what I'm trying to tell you. Yeah, well no, it's better than a burnt off. We have a direction. Yes, exactly. I say we follow the light that has been taken

from this place, Lady Verithera. Is there anything else you wish to do here? I believe they may have had more supplies here. There is also the powerful one. He came from below often. Did you seem to discover anything else other than a trap chest and explosions? I didn't find a whole much else.

I found supplies, alchemy tables, ingredients. Just all manner of just very mundane things, unless you want to have a look yourself and see if you can find more, but. Well, there was that. You know, the tail, the treasure. Oh yes, there was the treasure. So it doesn't hurt to look.

I couldn't find any down there. Okay. Who's got passive insight of 15 or higher? Hello. So when Xanthea says the word treasure, Penelope makes almost an involuntary, like, her ears go up and her eyes kind of like, she looks over and then she just sort of goes like, no, no, no, and she pulls her hat down more on her head.

So it certainly doesn't hurt to look to see if there's anything you might not have spotted down there. I think there's more barrels and things as well. I can see over there that we haven't checked out yet. So there's probably plenty more. Well, it certainly doesn't hurt to get more supplies for the journey. Especially if we're now heading down this way and... We should.

I presume Penelope and Barenthe, you'll intend to join us on our travels? Well, we'll do what we can. I mean, Barenthe, he's a very good archer and he can help you. And, you know, I know a little magic here and there, but I'm not much of a... I'm not a good fighter. I can try and support you as I can, but Barenthe, you know, I know a little magic here and there, but I'm not much of a... I'm not a good fighter. I can try and support you as I can, but Berenth, he's real good with a bow, so... Yeah, I mean, if you're going to save Lady Varithera, of course we'll help you, of course. Well, I think we have enough supplies to cover that journey.

I mean, I can help with that a little bit. I've got magic that can help supply. Like, it can certainly feed me and it can, you know, help Berenth. I can keep us okay. Okay. We're used to traveling around in these kind of places. My nudge gruff. Ow. We should go get, sorry. Oh, my ribs.

Oh, oh, you got really, you don't know you are a strength boy, oh. Did I hurt you? Oh, no, no. Oh. It's okay. Go remember who you're talking to. We should go get Rodri. I was just thinking to. We should go get Rodri.

I was just thinking that. You're gonna love Rodri. Is he another friend of yours? Yeah. Okay, I mean, yeah. He's a very good friend. Oh great, I mean, I'd love to meet him. Let's go get Rodri.

Oh, and Percival. The wagon and Percival. No pots and pans are being clattered, so that's a good sign. That's a good sign. And we can load up the wagon with the supplies here, because it's always good to stock up, especially now we've got extra mouths to feed. Yes. Well, we can continue to look around,

if anyone wants to come with. Maybe Daisy would be good to... Skulldog. Oh, yeah, sure. I'm trying not to play Daisy too much, but she's like, yeah, come along. Just to avoid any more... Yes, we should avoid... Yes, absolutely. But yeah, we'll avoid, yes, absolutely. But yeah, we'll, I guess...

get a loot and... Sure! Getting Brodery and the supplies, no problem. Yeah, yeah. Like, literally Gruff and Rowan, if you guys are gonna go and do that, you can do that easily enough, no problem. I guess Ophelia, you would show Xanthias and Daisy what you found downstairs. So it is like I described earlier, you see the smoking, smoldering remains of the chest,

the alchemy and the alchemy table that's been looted at this point. Ignore him, don't worry about him. There is a storeroom that Ophelia's already kind of pulled anything useful out of. What happened to this guy? Oh yeah, you walk past the... Did you...

Did I what? I can tell from the smile. I'm not looking. La la la la la. Yes, it's, okay. He was delicious. Oh good, okay, maybe let's take the body, just in case the other two come down here.

I'm not sure they will want to see this. Um, they've seen worse. They saw the bodies in the, in that horrible ogre place. No, I mean Penelope and Varenthe. Oh, they might have seen worse. Okay, fine, it's up to you on this one. The only other thing, apart from that stuff, is the room I described earlier, the former armory.

There are these remnants of rotted or rusted weapon racks and things like that, but there is these sconces with dragon heads on them and these shields on the wall and these beautiful murals. And it does like, there's, you walk in and it's just like, wow, this is a really fancy armory. Like, this is a really fancy room,

and this is the only one where there is still some element of anything left. The rest of this complex has been buried under stone. Like, it has been collapsed, collapsed tunnels, and stuff like that. That's what you find. Obviously, you guys have only had a cursory look right now. I've not described anything in detail,

because you've not said you're looking at anything specifically. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I also just... I'll wait until everyone else is here. It's just getting a lay of the place for now. We can just jump ahead and have you guys come down and we'll go back and flash back to Roger E.L. We'll jump back into that in the next episode. Okay.

Because I do want to play that out, but I also want to wrap this bit up. I am staring intently at these dragon head sconces. Okay. You notice they're made of iron, they would have once held torches. They do, one thing you pick up on is that they all have different numbers of horns.

One has one horn, the other one is broken. One has two horns, one has four, so like two sets. And then one has six, so two, and then two smaller ones. But they're very obviously like the horns are like the feature point of these sconces. I am now staring intently at the murals. The murals, as I said, the murals feature a battle against a Chimera Voltspawn, a feast in a dragon's great hall,

big long table knights and nobles and things Chimera, Volt Spawn, a feast in a dragon's great hall. You know, big long table, knights and nobles and things all gathered around in this gorgeous kind of interior. And then a nightly joust with two knights on drakes clashing together. Daisy, do you see any? When you look at the mirrors, can you give me a perception check, please, Gruff?

I'm gonna do that, I'm good at perception. I like perception. Uh... here we go. Eight plus seven. 15. You do notice one thing, which is on the mural with the feast, there is a vague door... You can see in the background of the painting, there is a vague door, you can see in the background of the painting,

there is a large door, which, because of the perspective of the painting, would be about the size of a normal size door in the room, and on the door is a very faint symbol that has been sort of designed to blend in when you first glance at it, but now you're looking at it, you can make out very clear character.

But do you speak Draconic? You don't, I don't think. Druid? No. No. Oh, I speak Goblin! You speak Goblin, there, there you go. I don't know how you've learnt that, but we'll figure that out. Where the fuck?

Maybe there was one in Iceheart. Probably from being a merchant, poor... Or like fishers or something. Well, merchant trading doesn't happen between continents, but there are very occasional travelers like refugees and expats and stuff that come over. So Iceheart clearly has a goblin in Tremoro. But Draconic, you don't recognize this symbol.

You would know it is dragon writing. You would know it is Draconic, you just can't read it yourself. Right. Does anyone here know how to speak Draconic? Hello. Oh, of course. LAUGHTER Yeah. I mean, it's impressive that you do it. I didn't realise.

Oh, really? Oh! LAUGHTER That is not what Draconic sounds like, just so people know. Are you both feeling all right? We're just having a polite conversation. It's like Skyrim Dragon Language. Vaughn, Vorth, Gartmore, it's that kind of stuff. Just so people know. Are you both feeling all right? No, we're just having a polite conversation. Oh. It's like Skyrim Dragon language.

Vaughn, Vorth, Godmourn, it's that kind of stuff. What's wrong, darling? Ophelia's being a real... Pfft. Pfft. Do Gruff. Do Gruff. What does it say?

Well, so the two of you, once Gruff points it out, because again, your eye's kind of glanced over it because it looks like it's just part of the shadows. Once Gruff points it out, it is the draconic symbol for the number 20. 20. 20. What's his strike? 20. 19. Close.

That was close. It's a 20. Right. Wait, how many horns did these things have again? One, two, four and six. Four and six? One, two, didn't, yeah, no, One, two, four and six. One, two, didn't, yeah, no, one, two, three. 23.

13. Is there anything between the sconces? There are the shields set onto the wall as well. In between all of the sconces? So they're not in between the, so the sconces are kind of in the corners of the rooms, and then the shields have been placed so they kind of, you know, on the murals, where a shield, like a knight's shield, is an actual physical shield, like on the wall.

And they all have the symbol of North Vale, which is two fiery mountains and then a veil in the middle. And these ones also have depictions of armies or soldiers on the shields as well. And then so like on the other one, like the knight fighting the Volt Spawn, it's again another knight's got an actual physical shield and that's a physical shield on the wall. In the mural of the feasting hall, it's a shield mounted on a pillar

and that's like mounted on the thing. And then the next one is above the door as you look the way to reverse out. It's actually just above the doorway. Are these like artifacts? They look to be metal shields, painted metal shields. How old do they look? I'm an archeologist.

They look very, very old. They look like they would probably have been installed around the time the keep was built. So several hundred years old at least. Do they have any numbers on them? They don't have any numbers on them, They don't have any numbers on them, but they do have different numbers of soldiers on them. Oh.

These number of soldiers on them, one has three soldiers, one has five soldiers, one has seven soldiers, one has eight soldiers on it. Okay. So we've got different numbers of horns and different numbers of soldiers. Do the shields point to the sconces? No.

One, two. Can they? Can they move? Do you try and move one? Which one should I move? Move the eight. The seven. Either or.

I look around it for wires or transfer. Oh, Daisy, yeah, it might be worth... Do you want Daisy to do the investigation? Well, if anyone... Daisy, you're good at this. I'll spend a fate as Daisy. Oh, I rolled a five, so not very good. And in fact, her investigation isn't great

because she doesn't have a great intelligence. That's only a nine. Okay. Daisy looks, she's like, I mean have a great intelligence. That's only a nine. Daisy looks, she's like, I mean, it looks okay. She's like, okay. I trust you 100%. Yeah, great. Thank you so much.

I mean, it just looks like it's set into the wall. I can't see anything. All right, perfect, here we go. Can I send the Mage Hand Serenade? No, I think he's already done it. Yeah, he's already done it. You trust Daisy, right? Skulldog.

So you go to move it, and you like tug it, and you kind of lift it, and then you, oh, you can slide it down a little bit, like pull it down, like. It seems to be. What's your passive perception, Rowan? It is probably like a 14, I think. Oh no, 12.

12, yeah, you just pull it down, it moves slightly, and then it doesn't. Does it feel like it's restricted to vertical movement? Vertical movement, and you pull it down a little bit, and it won't go any further. Does it spring back up? It does naturally spring back up. Some sort of mechanism.

Was that eight or the seven you pulled? Seven, I think it was. Seven. Seven. Okay. It goes up and down, it's springy and it returns to its original point. Okay, well. Oh, actually, it doesn't return to its original point.

It stays locked down. Sorry, getting my own information. I say that in Draconic. Ah. Only Xantheus understands. He said it's locked in place now. Oh, it's locked in. So I'm thinking, because the awns, they add up to 13.

Which is not enough. But with a seven. Yes, well, I was thinking... That goes up to 20. Maybe the... I don't know if those sconces move, but we can make 20 with the shields. Should I try and move one of the sconces?

Just give that a little... I think Daisy, let's have a look at one of those sconces first again, just to be sure. But can I, I want to pull it. No, do, but. Looks fine to me. Looks fine to Daisy.

I can't see anything. I trust Daisy 100%. You know, she's like, taping it. Do you not trust me 100%? No, I'm just, I trust. What are you trying to say? You blew up a chest. I didn't know it was trapped, and now you know

that the chest was trapped, and now you're being extra cautious. Exactly. Would you have been so know that the chest was trapped, and now you're being extra cautious. Exactly. Would you have been so cautious had the chest not been trapped? Probably not, but now I know, and now I'm being cautious. Do you see a trap on the... It's gone.

No. What are you talking about? Can you tell me the number of the soldiers again? Is it three, five, seven, and eight? Also, add up to 20. Three, five, seven, eight. 7, and 8. Add up to 20. 3, 5, 7, and 8. Yeah, it does. Adds to 23, mate. Yeah.

3, 5, 7, and 8. No, not the 3. Ignore the 3. 5, 7, and 8. Okay. The 5, 7, and 8 makes 20. That's what I was going to say, sorry. She's just pulled a sconce as well.

Which one? The one nearest me. All right, I'll roll a d4. Find out which one is nearest you. Four, that would be six. I'm proving a point. Great, this is a good time for point proving. So it does the same thing.

You pull it, and it pulls down ever so slightly and locks in place. Okay, so wait, now seven, and how many horns are on that one? Right, if someone touches the shield with five soldiers and the sconce with two horns. Does that make 20? What have we got now?

What did you just do? Oh, whatever. I pulled a four. Daisy, do you have 11? No, I rolled a four, you pulled six. I pulled six. 17. 17.

Is the combination of these two. Two? Right, no, it's 13. 14. I'm so bad at this. A five of these two. Two? No, it's 13. 14. I'm so bad at math. Five and a two. Five soldiers, two on. What are you doing, Gruff?

Are you just saying that out loud? No, you put- Yeah, well, these are, I'm just saying, five soldiers, two on. All right, so we look for something with five soldiers on it. Okay, yeah, you find one of the shields has five soldiers on it.

Can I pull this one, Gruff? Wait, Daisy, do you maybe take a look? Just to be sure. Looks fine. Yeah, I mean like, do you think that there's the mechanism? I can see the mechanism, but I can't see anything else. There's no wires around it. Okay, pull this one, yeah, bring that one down. Hopefully it locks in place, go for it.

Locks in place. Okay, and now we're at 18, yes? Seven, six, and five. Yeah. So five. Yeah. 13 plus five. 18. Okay, 18, so two horns, where's the two horns one? Wait, you don't have any horns. I'm so sorry.

Should we put it together? Maybe not, well. Don't cross, Johnny. Daisy, you know what to do. Looks fine, looks fine. She rolled sixes across the board. I'm not telling you what to do. All right, you ready what to do. Looks fine. Looks fine. She rolled sixes across the board. I'm not telling you what to do. All right, you ready? So ready.

20. Show me 20. Locks in place. All four pop back up, and that door in the mural actually slides back in and opens up. There was a hidden seam in the painting, and that door now opens up,

revealing a small chamber behind it. Well, would you, look at that. We did it. We did it. That's it, we did it. High five, I miss, I knock over a lantern. I explode. Just before we end today's episode,

I will tell you what you find in said chamber. Inside you find a very well-kept storage room. It's slightly different. The walls are actually posh with a kind of like velvet drapes and things like that. There is a gilded chest. There is an ornate painting. It's like a beautiful landscape,

like a cauldron landscape in a painting, an ornate painting, it's like a beautiful landscape, like a cauldron landscape in a painting, an ornate painting. There are two obsidian statues with ruby knight riders on pedestals. Quite large, sizable obsidian statues. As well as a polished wooden stand with a dark gray military style coat that has a number of silver medals, charms, and buttons engraved with odd symbols on them.

Some of the symbols on the buttons include things like, one seems to show a ladder, one shows a dog, one shows like a wing, one shows a dog. One shows like a wing. One shows a horse. One shows an eye. Yep, all sorts of weird symbols on them. How big are these little symbols?

They're like little tiny buttons and charms. Some of them are charms hanging off the cuffs. Some of them are like buttons on the actual coat. Some of them are medals across the lapel, yeah. What a fanciful coat. What a strange creature on that button there. It's got four legs. Yes, you've never seen a horse.

Actually no, no yeah, we'll say for the joke that Ophelia doesn't know what horse is because in Ostius they're very rare as well. I guess even for me like horses. They're rare, like you've heard of them, but they are rare, they're more. I guess even for me, like, horses. They're rare, like, you've heard of them, but they are rare. They're more prominent in Stridier, actually, horses. It looks, its legs are too thin, its body's too big.

It's probably tiny, miniature. We've got that there, it's a ladder. With that, we are going to end today's episode. A lovely little treat for you there, well done. We got it. Little puzzle. We solved the puzzle. It wasn't too tricky, I figured you guys would pick it up.

I just like my approach of I am staring intently at the sponsors. That's it, like I'm not gonna tell you any details until I'm like, well, what are you specifically looking at, right? But that's it for today, excellent job, well done. Yes, very good. With that, that is it for today, excellent job, well done. Yeah. Yes, very good. With that, that is it for this week.

Thank you all so much for joining us. We hope you had a lovely time, we know we should. Yeah, we back baby, we back. Thank you for the fan art. We will see you next week as normal. Until then, take care, we love ya, bye bye. Bye. Nice, see you next time! potential launch lineup. We're asking why there are so many industry layoffs, or at least that's

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