The Glass Cannon Podcast - Giantslayer Episode 4 - The Neutral Evil Milk Hotel

Episode Date: June 23, 2015

The Ramblehouse loses a whole star from their Yelp review as the party's night turns deadly and the investigation shifts to a sexy blacksmith and a former fiancee! For more podcasts and livestreams, visit glasscannonnetwork.com. To become an official member of the Naish, subscribe today at http://www.jointhenaish.com. Want to be a part of Glass Cannon Nation? Follow us at twitter.com/glasscannonpod instagram.com/theglasscannon facebook.com/glasscannonnetwork tiktok.com/@glasscannonnetwork Get the best apparel and gaming accessories in the biz at https://glasscannonnetwork.com/store If you enjoyed this, we have several other series featuring Call of Cthulhu - Time For Chaos Delta Green - Get in the Trunk Pathfinder 2E - Glass Cannon Live! Strange Aeons Pathfinder 1E - Legacy of the Ancients Traveller - Voyagers of the Jump and so much more! Join us every Thursday night for Campaign Two of The Glass Cannon Podcast – a playthrough of the Pathfinder 2E Gatewalkers Adventure Path! Videos premiere on YouTube Thursday nights at 8PM ET with a companion podcast available at midnight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on the Glass Cannon Podcast, the murder investigation reveals new suspects. We're just trying to eliminate these, you know, it's just a matter of eliminating options. We're just killing every possible suspect. You have a right to a half-orc attorney. And finally leads to the victim's fiancé. If Brenya never married Roderick, is she still a widow? Or is she, like, is there a term for... Yeah, she...

There is a term. It's called single. A hit is put out on the heroes. Roll for initiative! What, really? Yep. I rolled perception. Is that gonna matter?

Nope. And the fight may prove fatal. Jesus Christ. This is a serious assassination attempt. It's like they're trying to kill us. What do these assassins think they're trying to do? Kill us? The adventure continues now. Hi everyone, this is Matthew from the Glass Cannon Podcast, aka Gormley the Mountain Witch,

and on occasion Howie the illustrious green sting scorpion familiar the show's MVP I just want to thank you all for listening we've got a pretty fun episode coming up right now interesting encounter I happen to leave halfway through and no one notices but that's the way it goes anyway yeah if you like what you're hearing please

subscribe, download on iTunes, leave a rating if you like us if you don't like us, either way. And, you know, we're trying to get our Twitter set up, so follow us at at glasscanonpod. We've got a Tumblr, glasscanonpodcast.tumblr.com, and a Gmail, glasscanonpodcast.gmail.com. Feel free to follow us on there.

Send us what your thoughts, feelings, comments. Anyway, enjoy the episode. Just when you thought it was safe to sleep at your room in the Ramble House. It wasn't. Oh no, it's not. Roll for initiative!

Oh god. Really? Yep. Oh my god. I rolled a perception. Is that going to matter? Nope. Awesome. Oh my god. Tell me about people over 20. 20s?

Wow. First level jerks. 19, 18? Oof. 17, 16? 15, 14? 15 right here. 14, 15.

All right, all right. It's like a reverse auction. Who got the 15? Galabras? Yes, Galabras. The disaffected cler a reverse auction who got the 15? Galabras? yes Galabras the disaffected cleric yes 14 was Gormley

Gormley Gormley the witch of the mountains oh you Gormley you have an awesome initiative bonus uh Lork what'd you get?

uh that would be a 5 solid 5 Baron Von Dwarf again showing Lork what it's all about i got an eight suck it orc wowza your mother's a whore and once again uh who do we have playing with us today uh i'm joe o'brien i'm playing the half orc uh much discriminated against ranger, uh, Lork, iron tusk. I'm Matthew Capodacasa and I'm playing Gormley call,

which of the mountains and her familiar scorpion. Howie. There really needs to be an Howie episode coming up. You need to know more about Howie's perspective. Howie centric episode. Yeah. Uh, I'm Grant Berger and I'm playing Baron,

the dwarven gunslinger I'm Skid Mara and I'm playing Galabras Finn the uh cleric alright

alright so the first thing that happens is um this fucking thing comes in this

assassin in the night that looks like some kind of vampire thing Troy's put on the map as we lie in our beds. It is this weird little assassin and it attacks

Baron. While he sleeps? Well, just as he's waking up. Okay. 13 to hit. My AC is... It should be flat-footed AC, by the way. Yeah, that'd be your flat-footed AC. 13 to hit my AC should be flat footed AC by the way yeah that'd be your flat footed AC

so what do I subtract from my AC for flat footed dex your dexterity bonus ok so it's 13 that's a hit how does it attack him it basically as you're waking up, you see it take this canister.

It has this glowing blue blade coming out of a canister, like a liquid blade coming out of this canister it's holding in its hand that's acting as the hilt of the blade. And it just... It's a melee attack, not a ranged attack? It is a melee attack.

And it hits Baron for three points of damage. And then roll a Fortitude save. All these goddamn fortitude saves. Ten. So fortitude save, you got a ten. Failed. So you take one dex damage.

Oh. No. No. And now, combat begins. And it swings at you again. Oh, shit. Oh, my God. The fuck?

Now, this is against, actually, no, it's still against your touch. It hits again. For three points of damage. And you're already poisoned, so... I don't think I can re-poison you, right?

That would be great. Well, it depends on the poison, but... Yeah, not this particular poison. Okay, it is Galavris' turn. Okay. So he's standing next to the window, right? This guy had just come through the window, yes. Okay.

I am going to use my command spell. Curious. And tell him to jump. Like pointing at the window. Okay. So that is a probably a will save right it is a will save

I'll tell you what it is under your command it failed the will save alright awesome I rolled a two I can't imagine it's a DC someone insert Van Halen's jump after this. You might as well jump.

So it jumps out the window and rolls a reflex save to try and hang from the window. And fails. It jumps out the window. Fall damage? Yeah. And it takes the window. Fall damage?

Yeah. And it takes fall damage. Is anybody else awake? We all woke up. We all woke up to the stab. Yeah, you're all awake, but you're still laying down. We all woke to the girlish scream of Baron. Typical Baron.

Typical dwarf. This is just a perfect like what happens in D&D I actually just was not expecting in a million years that you'd make one of my enemies jump out the window

and take falling damage but here we are alright it is downstairs on the ground and prone just took damage

it is now Gormley's turn Gormley looks out the window next to her bed, which she always sleeps with open, by the way. And sees another assassin climbing up the wall. Motherfucker.

Where's Gormley? I'm Gormley. I'm going to cast Ear-Piercing Scream. Okay. As it's climbing. As it's climbing. It's a DC-14. DC-14,

what are we talking about? Is that targeted, or is it like the whole area? It's targeted. Oh, okay. What is that, Fortitude, or Will's Hand Sheaf? I believe it's Will. I'm trying to find out. Do I know it? Should be Will. Fortitude, yeah. DC-14 Fortitude Partial,

it says. Oh, nice. Okay. It passes, so it's still going to do damage. And then... What is it, half? I think it's half. It's 1d8. Nice spell.

I'm going to tell him. Four. Four damage? So two. So two. So two altogether. So I guess when it passes, it's supposed to deal sonic damage

and dazes the target, but if it passes the save, I guess it's not dazed? That's what I would assume. We'll look it up. I'll look it up right now. Probably it's half damage and not dazed is what I would assume,

being a nerd and knowing the system. But that being said... My turn? Whose turn is it? Up the window here, excuse me, from here. Is that another one? Another one climbs up. Oh my god.

And goes to, with this liquid blue blade, and attacks Lork. And misses. Oh, yeah. She's standing between Galabras and Morse's beds. By the way, that is accurate on the ear-piercing scream. Half damage, no days.

See, guys, when you read the books... Shut up. You don't know anything. Baron's turn. So this assassin is in the room. The one to the far left. This is terrible. We should probably take a picture of this for people.

And that one is still climbing up? That one is, yeah. So there's one on the ground that jumped out the window. There's one who's climbing up the building that Gormley just hexed. And then there's one that's in the room standing between Galabras and Lork's bed. So I'm going to let... That's with you now. I'm going to...

Is the assassin in the room considered in melee combat with Lork? Will I take a subtraction to my ranged attack? No, if it's not standing up, I'm not going to call that in melee combat. If once Lork stands up, then you take the minus four. I want to shoot the guy closest to me. But I feel like... I think he's the... If he's on the ground, I can look out the window.

And if he's 20 feet away, I can shoot him. Yeah, that's true. But I trust my party to take care of me, because I'm not feeling great. But, so, because of this, I'm going to shoot at the assassin, standing above Lork. I'm saving a goddamn orc.

What's happened to you? I don't know who I am. That is a 21 to hit. Oh, sorry, sorry. It's the same thing I'm doing. Up close and deadly. Oh, wait, is he 20 squares away from me? Or is he further?

No, he's 20. Exactly. Okay, so I'm going to do up close and deadly, which is a gunslinger deed, which will let me do another 1d6 to my 1d8. 1d6. I think that's his last one of the day. No, I gain back for both.

Oh, that's right. Because you said what I did was fucking awesome, and then I killed... Well, I killed two dudes, so I definitely got my... Not the reason. Gunslinger is the best class ever. I do four damage. Four damage to the guy that just swung a lork? Yep. Okay.

Speaking of lork, lork's up. No, no, no. If he wasn't awake before when he got stabbed, that is awake now because of the insane concussive explosion of that freaking boomstick. Everyone in the game is up. Yeah, in a small room. Oh! So what do I see what is this thing

what's it wearing is it a human it appears to be a human it looks like this is it a woman oh yeah alright so it's a woman

dreadlocks yeah woman dreadlocks with this bluish yeah with a lightsaber how tall oh it's human it's normal human size what's her charisma 5'10 oh it's Yeah, woman dreadlocks with this bluish blue. Yeah, with a lightsaber. How tall?

Oh, it's normal human size. What's her charisma? 5'10". Oh, it's... Okay. What's her strength modifier? Is she single? You can ask after the fight. Okay.

Being old and paranoid, Lork always sleeps with a long spear nearby, and he will stab at this chick. Let's see here. And miss. It's funny to see Lork just trying. He's still trying to figure out getting back into battle. Lork stood up as he did that, right? He can.

I'll provoke an attack of opportunity. Oh. So he's just kind of in bed, turned around, and stabbed, and missed. And that's kind of all he can do. Okay. This guy here is going to try and climb up and pass through

Gormley's space. So it is an acrobatics check to move through an enemy's space. So it is an acrobatics check to move through an enemy's space. So it's your CMD. Plus five. So if you fail this... What's your CMD? Minus one. So you have a four

CMD. No, your CMD is not minus one. Twelve. Alright, so then it's seventeen. Sixteen. I thought you said plus four. Plus five. Oh. Well, you guys done the discussion because it made it through. It swung through the window, acrobatics through, and now it's

got its blue liquid blade out and it swings at Gormley. So if it had failed, it would have been subject to an attack of opportunity from Loric because it passed through a square right here. You mean Gormley? Or from

Gormley. And would have been left hanging from the ledge. Or both of you, honestly, right? Not while he's laying down. He probably couldn't reach out through that window if you're looking at it like him laying down on a bed. No, whatever. Either way, he made it.

She swings through, makes it through, and hits. Hits me? Yeah. Well, you let me know. Is a 19 a hit? Yes. Jerk. Sorry, I just checked. Does three points of damage and roll a fortitude save?

DC 11. Five. DC 11 5 Take 1 Dextual damage Time to get Dextual 3 from the hit and 1 from the poison 3 from the hit and then your dex actually goes down

1 Like your actual dex number But that's temporary until it's cured So actual dex number. But that's a temporary tool. It's cured. So your dex is what? What was it? I had a plus three modifier, so now it's plus two. Yes, so now your modifier is plus two,

which means your AC goes down one and your ranged attack goes down one because they all use your dex. So your crossbow to hit goes down one. Your dexterity is not something you want to lose points in. And you're poisoned. And then out of this window comes another one. Wait, so is that the one that jumped out before, or is this a new one?

This is a new one. Jesus Christ! This is a serious assassination attempt. It's like they're trying to kill us! What do these assassins think they're trying to do? Kill us? And this one climbs through and also attacks Gormley.

Critical threat. No. Does not confirm. Three points of damage and that's that. All right. New round. The one that three points of damage and that's that alright new round the one that

is outside the one that's outside and it's trying to climb up oh come on god oh my god and now it is Galavris' turn

how does command work? I mean do you just give it one command one command and it has a DC, and if it understands you, it fails us and follows you. So once it heard itself, it was like,

I'm not listening to that guy anymore. Yeah, yeah. It's not like charm person or anything. It's just like one. Before you go, Galabras, just because I'm going to forget, Gormley and Baron roll a second fortitude save to try and cure this fort poison.

DC 11. Ooh, I made it. You made and cure this fort poison. DC 11. Ooh, I made it. You made it. I made it. All right, so you are cured. We're cured. You won't take any more dex damage this round. But we still retain our one point of dex damage?

No, you are... I'm totally cured. You're cured of it, yeah. You would have taken another point of dex damage at that point, but instead, you're back to normal. You get the dex back. Yeah, you get the dex back. Oh, well, isn't that nice? You're cured. point. But instead, you're back to normal. You get the dex back. Yeah, you get the dex back.

Oh, well, isn't that nice? You're cured. Once you're cured, you're cured. Nope. Joe disagrees. I disagree. Respectfully. But I'll take it from my teammates.

Calabras. Makes sense of this nonsense. Wow. I am going to... We're just getting swarmed up in this room yeah i am just gonna i'm gonna like grab my mace inside of my bed and just like spray it and just like get out of here fellas uh and i'm gonna i'm gonna just kind of back away. Back away, like, into the corner of the room.

Okay. So I think that should incur an attack of opportunity from the guy next to me. You can just... Oh, that's not a full withdraw because you're drawing a weapon? Yeah, I mean, it's up to you, but... Which guy? Where were you laying? I was at...

No, no, no. You can draw as part of a move action. Then, yeah, I'm just doing a full withdrawal. Yeah, no, that's okay. No attack of opportunity. Okay. Gormley. And I'm assuming that we're not armored.

Right, I'm assuming I'm not armored. I took my armor away from my AC. Yeah, that's what I'm... Yeah, because you can't sleep in armor. No, you can't. Yeah. You guys didn't leave a watch out. away from my AC. Yeah, that's what I'm... Yeah, because you can't sleep in armor. No, you can't. Yeah. You guys didn't leave a watch out.

I hastily don my armor. You can hastily don. Is that like Tom Exposition? There's hastily don? He peeks his head in during this attack. Hey, if you hastily don your armor,

it's a minus four to attack. All right, Gormley. Gormley's going to do a full withdraw. Full withdraw, where are you going to go? Over into that corner. Move me as far as I can go.

Like near the door? Near the door, yeah. Okay. Maybe on the other side, by the side that's not a window. There's another side. Okay, the one near Lork swings down, sweet chariot,

and misses Lork. Lork is just deflecting. Because he's a badass. Can't attack worth a shit, but man does he deflect. Yeah, he can't attack worth a shit. Baron. Can I move without incurring an attack of opportunity?

You can do a five foot step. Can I do a five foot step towards our keeler? Okay. And as a swift action, I am going to reload my pistol with an alchemical paper cartridge. Let me just mark that off. The man likes to fight alchemical with alchemical.

Okay. Okay. I don't mean to piss off the DM, but I don't know if that worked. Set a fire with fire. Okay. Oh, I get it. Thanks. Nice, kid. Oh, okay.

So I rolled a 17. That's a hit. Now, which one was this? This guy. Okay. What? Yeah. Two points of damage.

Jesus. It turns out the gunslinger is human. By human I mean dwarf. I believe you grazed him. Alright, Lork, what do you got? Lork is also going to full withdraw. by human I mean dwarves. I believe you grazed him. Her. Alright, Lork, what do you got? Lork is also going to full withdrawal get into spear stance.

So he's going to move to the back of the room near Gormley and set for anyone coming at him with the spear. Okay. Shit, I should have full withdrawn. Yeah, I should have full withdrawn yeah I should have I should have done

how are you at stabilizing people skid yeah I can do it instantly I'm pretty low yeah I can just do

I can channel I can channel positive energy that'll cure cure everybody yeah after all of the assassins take a turn I'm gonna love it

I'm at two hit points right now seriously? okay this one's going to attack sorry this one's going to attack Baron and this one's going to attack Lork the one that's attacking me

has to roll acrobatics to not incur an attack of opportunity from who? from me because I have reach okay it doesn't know that so first let me resolve the Baron attack to not incur an attack of opportunity. From who? From me. Because he's got reach. Because I have reach. Oh, okay. It doesn't know that. So first let me resolve the Baron attack. So it attacks Baron,

and it is a 15. Oh, yes. I'm not wearing my armor, right? Yeah, exactly. That's the tough part. All right, five points of damage. I am knocked unconscious. And you've got to roll another

fortitude save. What did I roll? Eight. Twelve. Succeeded. That's good. That is good. But you are unconscious. And then the other one, attack of opportunity from

Lork. That is what Lorks do. Bitch. 21. Let me just check my papers. Yeah, that's it. Four points of damage. I'm sorry, five points of damage.

Five points of damage. And then it attacks Lork. 15. That's a attacks Lork. 15. That's a hit. Jesus. 15 hits. 5 points of damage. Roll a fort save. 5! I don't believe you.

Lork mad! He's not retarded. You're just as racist as the rest of them. He's not mentally challenged. And I failed the Fortitude save. One dex damage. Oh boy. Round the next.

I knew I should have full drawn to Gormley. Or Calabras. Okay. It's a new round. So before I forget, L lork roll another fortitude suit okay uh past all right so you are cured the reason i said you're cured when maybe that's not totally a rule it's like when it's all over you can do your heel check and then you're cured

it's that kind of poison so this guy here that uh came up window, was thrown out the window, comes up, and now it has a crossbow. And it takes a round to load it. So it's Galavris' turn. It provokes an attack of opportunity. From who? I'm unconscious.

Oh, that's right. Let's lay him down there. No, I'm very stout, and I just spread my legs apart, and I'm standing. Oh, so you're doing the splits. Good thing it's Galabras' turn. Yeah. Galabras. Oh, man.

Sweet baby. Galabras is going to move through a threatened square towards the back of the room to join Gormley. So, attack of opportunity from assassiny. Okay.

Hits. Six points of damage. Jesus. You're still muted, Troy. Sorry, I, uh, that was a hit for six points of damage you're still muted Troy sorry I uh that was a hit for six points of damage and roll a fortitude save DC 11 okay pass fortitude um so now I'm going to

channel positive energy to try to heal party thank literally five the gods so what happens and let's talk about this everyone now that I'm unconscious do I get five points back

yeah and you come right back what were you at were you at zero or were you at negative I was at exactly zero oh yeah so you're back up to five you're just on your back

but you're back to life and you've done most of your good work in the back like a local truenawen whore no like Roderick he's so unnecessary Roderick's really into ass play, if you listened

to the last episode. Yeah, we did establish that. Big... Definitively. Big move by Galabras. Took damage, but still healed everybody. Gormley! Time to shine. Gormley's going to cast Mage Armor. Self-serving bitch.

That's kind of fucked up. That's kind of weak, but hey, it's all about you. It's all about you. I can't help anyone if I'm dead. I was going to

full withdraw. It's all about that gorm. About that gorm. About that gorm. About that gorm. Okay, so Johnny Come Lately is going to come here.

Attack of a top. Attack of a top. Attack of opportunity from the Lord. Attack of opportunity. Dude, that's crazy. So your spear, anyone within 10 feet, just attack of opportunity.. Attack of opportunity from the Lord. Attack of opportunity from the Lord. Dude, that's crazy. So your spear,

anyone within 10 feet, just attack of opportunity. Yeah, well, if they take a five-foot step, they don't provoke it. Sure. But if they're farther than that, they do,

and I totally hit them. 20 to hit. Let me just check. Yeah, that's it. Kill him, please. There we go. Seven points of damage. Dead. Oh, yes! Oh, please. There we go. Seven points of damage. Dead.

Oh, yes! God. So it's... His training is coming back to him, Troy. Yeah. His intense long spear training. The old muscle memory. Afterwards, he's like...

They used the long spear in the old days, you know? When men were men. Perhaps you would remember your old strength better if you grasped your spear. Copyright violation. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean it.

Baron. Excuse me. Yeah, no, Baron. So I'm currently prone. You are. And I can full retreat without doing an attack of opportunity?

You can stand up and walk away Okay, so I'm going to stand in the corner Directly adjacent to the witch Yes Right there? Shielding him slightly So now Gormley and Baron Oh no, that's everything

And Galabras Are all in the back of the room Out in front With all three guys surrounding him It's lork And Galabras are all in the back of the room. Counting in front. With all three guys surrounding him. It's Lork. Fucking old ass Orc. The grizzle event.

I'm just going to keep channeling positive energy. No, no, it's great. It's great. Like every round. Do you have three left? No, no, I've got... Because I thought you used one earlier. So you haven't fully used it yet. Oh, no, that's true, yeah.

Okay, so I've got... Yeah, I do have three left. Yeah, you're right. Okay, it is Lork. Lork the Grizzled Vet. All right, Lork is going to... Let's see. He will take a five-foot step back

towards everybody, trying to protect, and he will attack the assassin that's directly in front of him. Has that assassin been damaged? Yeah. They've all been hit. Plus point hit. 15 to hit.

Oh, that's a hit. Five points of damage. You have a plus four? You really have a plus four? wait wait wait you really have a plus four? yeah four points of damage you know what I keep forgetting is two handed bonus? power attack I have a power attack

you're full is your spear a two handed weapon and that's why you're getting four points bonus? yes I have a plus three You fool! Is your spear a two-headed weapon, and that's why you're getting four points bonus? Yes. Okay. Yes. I have a plus three to strength. And you get half of that.

And I get half of that rounded down. So I get one more point. Okay, so one guy takes a five-foot step and attacks you. The other guy came rushing at you and will incur an attack of opportunity. But first, the guy who took the five-foot step doesn't incur an attack of opportunity. But first, the guy who took the five-foot step doesn't incur attack of opportunity and hits you.

For three points of damage. No. And you get to roll another 40 McFort save. I made it. Yeah, you made it. 14. Awesome. The other guy came...

13, I'm sorry, 13. Still made it. The other guy came rushing at you. They still made it the other guy came rushing at you they still haven't learned their lesson attack of opportunity uh 18

that's a hit and fucking awesome orc orc love this guy there we go

10 damage dead fuck you assassin wow he's just standing up in this room and just stabbing him down one after another

so he's dead uh nice we got our Fuck you, assassin! He's just standing up in this room and just stabbing him down one after another. Gah! So he's dead. Nice. We got our cleaning deposit back. Well, yeah, Lork says once again, I don't clean. I don't clean up after meself. Make a good mess, but I don't clean. Such a weird statement for Lork to make. All right, the guy that jumped out the window is back

and he fires his crossbow at Galabras. No. Actually it wouldn't be minus four right because they're all just

huddled there as allies. It is not. Yeah. So he's not shooting into melee. He's shooting

into. Shooting into cowards. Cowards. He's shooting into cowards Critical threat This is our healer It's not allowed Dead

14? Yeah Jeepers creepers We're going to the cards Well no Does he have a name? He has not Okay we should explain

This thing here So I bought two decks. I bought a deck of critical cards and a deck of fumble cards from Paizo. And so when you are a named character, so like one of the PCs or like a boss, if you critical, you can draw one of the critical cards. If you fumble, you draw one of the fumble cards, and you have to take the result that it gives you. But since these guys are not named,

they're just like random enemies, nameless assassins, they get, is it double or double? It's triple damage for a crossbow? Triple damage for a crossbow. Oh, my God. So I'm going to die. It's a light crossbow, so it's just double damage. Okay, well.

It would say X3 if it was triple. It would. It doesn't? Nope. It says X2? It was triple. It would. It doesn't? Nope. It says X2? It doesn't. It just... It doesn't say. It's assumed to be X2. Okay. So you take

instead of using your fun critical cards which I can't use because this is an unnamed character, you instead take four points. Oh my god. Thank Christ. Are you still up? yeah thank christ awesome barely barely barely and now we all remember why the crossbow is such a shitty weapon

uh all right so it is uh speak of the devil it's galabra sister all right channel positive energy yes oh my god six don't ever go into an adventure without a cleric everybody gets six hit points back hey is everybody having fun everybody gets six

six six six this is awesome man this is a lot of fun yep I hope nobody dies in the second encounter

alright okay Gormley Gormley is going to evil eye the one that jumped out of the window the one that jumped out of the window the one that jumped out of the window

yeah fuck that guy so you're just going to look at him weird I'm just going to look Gormley's just going to be like look look look look look and the assassin's like don't look at me like that

TC 13 will save come on come on failed yes so that is minus two to your attack roll. And he's dazed?

And he's dazed. Right? Aren't they? No, that was... Oh, no, no, no. That was a shaker. No, no, no. She picked one thing, and you picked saves, right?

No, I picked attack roll. Oh, I'm sorry. Attack roll. Okay. Minus two to attack is... Might as well be dazed. All right. You can save of life.

Baron Gunslinger. Baron, as a swift action with rapid reload and his point and craft alchemy, is going to... No, no, I'm sorry. Just with rapid reload and my paper alchemical cartridge is going to, as a swift action, reload my gun. and my paper alchemical cartridge is going to, as a swift action, reload my gun. And with my last point of grit for the day, I am going to take it. And it's first thing in the morning.

That's right. It's the middle of the night. Oh, that's right. We haven't rested fully. This is not our wake-up call. This place, terrible wake-ups. I'm going to take an aim at the guy that came out of the window with his

up-close-and-deadly deed as well. So, here we go. Against touch AC. There you go. 21. Hit. So,

thank you. For my pistol damage four for my up close and deadly damage six ten points of damage dead

oh yeah flies right back out the window like something out of an old western I just fell out this window a moment ago! Flat. Nice. And a point of grit is returned. And a point of grit is returned.

Lork. Lorkenstein. Lork is gonna This guy is standing there in front of you like This girl you mean, yeah. A girl rather. Lork is gonna attempt using his old man policeman wisdom, is going to attempt to grapple this woman because he wants to know where she came from. Okay.

Whose center. Okay, roll a grapple check. 17, grapple. She is grappled. Yeah! Let me go! Let me go! All right, so he grabs her, and he's like, stop fighting!

All right. All your friends are dead. Yeah. And so can we question her? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can we drop out of combat? There's one left. Yeah, that was, as far as you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can we drop out of combat? There's one left. Yeah, that was, as far as you know.

Yeah, no, that was the last one. She's like, let me go, let me go, please. Don't kill me. Who are you? Where'd you come from? I was hired. Hired by who? I was hired by a half-orc.

That's all I know. Was it Locke? I was hired by a half-orc. That's all I know. Was it Locke? It was. They all look the same to me. Why does everybody say that? When were you hired? When? Last night? This morning. When? Stop yelling. I was hired this morning.

All I know is a half-orc that had significant facial tattoos. I don't know his name. He never told me. He just gave me the money. Where did you meet him? Who's this crew you're rolling with? You go out assassinating people. I'm out of Freedom Town.

I was called here. Freedom Town? Freedom Town. That's a made-up name. If I've ever heard one I don't buy it it's right next to Independence Village

I'm Freedom Town can I do a knowledge local to see if I've heard of that or where it is or

yeah I mean you Lork would know that Freedom Town is within the holds of Belkson and it's a couple days journey or nearby?

It's not too far away. Okay. So are you just a freelancer or are you a part of an organization? I'm an assassin, you halfy. Oh, my God. Son of a bitch. Dumb halfy, I'm an assassin. Look at me. I'm just remor of a bitch. You dumb halfie. I'm an assassin.

Look at me. Just remorseless with all this orc racism. Even when they're grappled. Did you know these assassins that came with you, were your friends before you came, tried to kill us? We're all mercenaries. We're guns for hire.

We're beautiful liquid blade for hire. All right. All right. What kind of magic was that dwarf using against us? Call it a thunder, thunder thing. I don't know.

He says we'll find out in good time. Regardless, with this man who hired you, what did he look like? I told you, he was just a half-orc and the only thing

that made him different than any other half-orc I've seen is he had significant facial tattoos. What did the tattoos look like? They were just all, if I didn't know any better, they looked like scars. Just lines and covering his face. How much was the contract for? What did he promise to pay you?

Four gold pieces? Give us your money. Come on! Come on. At least let me keep my money. Thanks! If you, we'll make you a deal. If you give us your money that you were paid to do this assassination job,

we'll take you away and send you to jail forever. What's the other option? That's it. Or we'll murder you. Oh, I see. So murder is death, or lose all my gold and go to prison. I'd say you're between a rock

and a hard place, Missy. I'm between a rock and a half place, Missy. I'm between a rock and a halfie. All right, so that's, come on, man. Lord just like tightens his grip. All right, all right. Just take me to jail. Or kill me. I don't care.

Even Baron is turned off by this racism. Now, where's, when were you hired? When exactly? This morning. I don't wear a watch. I don't know when. Where? In Freedom Town. You were hired in Freedom watch. I don't know when. Where? In Freedom Town.

You were hired in Freedom? So it's a day away. No, I'm from Freedom Town. Wait. I came here and I was told to take you out. And paid Hansumi for it. For dinner. But I misinterpreted it.

I was hired by an orc with significant facial tattoos. I've said this before. I'm from the underground. Where? Just outside of town. Just outside of the city walls. All right, was it an orc or a half orc? My God, it was a half orc.

What's the difference? Oh, my God. About 50%. They're all animals. Oh, my God. About 50%. They're all animals. Oh, my. All right. Should we tie her up and take her to prison? Yeah.

Yeah, we should tie her up and, yeah, definitely. Yeah, tie her up. All right. We'll tie her up and get the rest of our good night's sleep. Curse you. Curse you. Can I check the bodies for loot? Sure.

Your first loot search here. Yeah. Loot, loot, loot. You find four potions. 23 perception, if that helps. Yeah, you find four potions, one smoke stick, some leather armor, find four potions, one smoke stick, some

leather armor, a light crossbow, a short sword, thieves tools, and a barrel. B-E-R-Y-L. Oh,

okay. Well, it's a barrel. It's a gem. Oh, nice. And, it's a barrel. It's a gem. Oh, nice. And then you also find this sort of tube that you know was the tube that they were holding for their liquid blade. So it is the... It's like some sort of sterno? What the fuck is it it's like a little cylindrical tube that you can with a with a move action activate and you throw it out and a liquid blade it's a it's a lightsaber it's a fucking lightsaber they wrote a lightsaber into this

well it's basically a lightsaber it's just an alchemical weapon it's a liquid blade and it's clear to us how to use it. We don't need any special training. If we whip it out, we have the blade. You may have to be proficient in that. Craft alchemy? Alchemical weapon or craft alchemy. So I have craft alchemy.

Can I see if I can use it? Or is it also an exotic weapon? It's probably something we have to look up. I would guess it's an exotic weapon. But it's called a liquid blade, and it's in Ultimate Equipment. And we got four of them? No, just one. Oh, just, oh. Basically, once you activate it,

it only lasts ten rounds. That's it. Or until it's not used. It is like a sterno. It totally is. Clearly they were doing some catering. You've been doing catering on the side. No, it's not like that, see?

Nothing more nefarious than catering. Yeah, clearly assassins... Do you know where to get cocaine? Okay, so... Do we know... I'm sorry, so to identify the potions, is that an appraise? Spellcraft.

That's Spellcraft, okay. Yeah. Which I don't have. Yeah, I don't think we have that. Oh, wait, no. Yeah. We can... Gormley can roll for it,

and they are four potions of cure light wounds oh oh great well we'll each take one well whatever are you gonna jot down all the all the loot there yeah skid all right yeah um all right so now a new lead comes to light a half orc tattooed, which really narrows it down, by the way. Well, facial, it's the Mike Tyson tattoo, might, I mean,

that's a quick visual cue that if you see it. Well, Lork makes it pretty clear that half-orcs have an obsession with getting tattooed, so it's not exactly narrowing it down. But, you know, she also said it could look like scars.

I think that, I don't know. I don't know if Troy is being deliberately vague or just stupid. So is it a tattoo or is it scars? I said it is a ton of facial tattoos. But you could almost mistake them for scars. It covers her face. That's why I think it's... Her face?

His face or its face. It was a man. It was a man. That's why I think it's... Her face? His face or its face. No, it was a man. It was a man. Yeah. There's so many women in this adventure. So... It covers his face. What is a smoke stick?

I don't know. I believe that it does like a fog cloud. Really? Yeah, like essentially acts as a fog cloud for like a certain amount of rounds. That seems like something a rogue would carry.

So we have Sarah at the blacksmith to ask about this half-orc, not that they all know each other, but perhaps. And we have

Catrezra? Calestra? Catrezra, yeah. Catrezra, the half-orc prophet by the Temple of Yomadai. That was a friend of Roderick's that you still don't know about that.

Oh, yeah, Omaft had told you that. And there's also Brynja, his fiancée. Can I do a take 20 appraise on the barrel? Sure. How much is that sucker worth? 50 gold pieces. Oh, damn. That is one nice barrel it's a barrel full of monkeys and and then we still need to rest right like the remainder of the night this is the middle

of the night yeah so you can like bring her down call up some militia buddies and be like take her in yeah to the uh bake her away toys to the freedom time assassin yeah uh lork will happily kind of like walk her down uh you know let these guys rest and walk her down to the to the jail and just kind of be like check her in yeah you don't have to go. You don't have to go far. You don't have to go far before you see some, uh, I love like Lork, like walks her down there and it's like,

all right, we had this one, uh, back at the end booker. And like the, the human behind the counter is like 20 years younger than him. And it's like, hooker yourself, Lork.

You mean leave the paperwork on your desk? exactly sure thing lork what about uh what are the dead bodies in our hotel room um should we address you can either burn or eat them uh let's just dump them i guess burn i mean those are the only options can we slip their wrists and poison them with an oil of some sort? Oh, that's a great idea. And have the militia investigating a serial killer. That's a great idea. Cham opens the door for the wake-up call.

Hey, guys, oh, my God! Oh, no, it happened again! What has happened to my head? Okay, so you bring Lork, you bring her down. You don't have to go far before you see a patrolman. And he's like, I'll take it from here. Good job bring Lork you bring her down you don't have to go far before you see like a patrol man and he's like I'll take it from here

good job Lork and then you go back upstairs go to bed and you guys sleep through the night and you wake up and it's a new day it's day two

the day after Roderick's death ka-kung one day after Roderick's death well we have a lot to do. Talk it out. What are your leads you still have left to do? Well, we have to go back. We can go back to the Morning Hawk blacksmith.

That's top of my list. Yep, me too. So let's go. And then what else, though, you have? We have Ketrezna, the prophet half-orc. Ketrezna. Ketrezna Ketrezna The prophet half-orc Ketrezra Ketrezra That's under the sanctuary

Who apparently Roderick was Boys with Friendly with Yeah Yeah Much to Omast's

Dismay Well yeah I guess much to Dismay of anyone Over 40 in this Fucking city Who just hates Half-orcs

For no reason. No reason other than they have half-orc blood. Or that they have orc blood. And, wait, we have one more, don't we? Yeah, we have the girlfriend-fiance. His fiance. Yeah. Right, right, right.

I mean, one more. Brenya. No, I guess the new lead was the orc with the facial tattoo. Which we'll ask everyone about. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, so Curse told you to go Ramble House to do stuff, to talk to Brynja, his fiancée, and to talk to Omast. And then you also got directed towards Clamor, the smithy, Sarah Morninghawk.

And then you also discovered in your travels the Sanctuary. and then you also discovered in your travels the sanctuary. So what's left is sanctuary, clamor, and Brynja, the fiancée. And I'm going to interrupt just for a second to explain a smokestick. Okay. It is Fog Cloud. It works exactly like Fog Cloud, except it's just a 10-foot square, and it's for one minute. Okay.

That's a smokestack. And fog cloud is what? A 20% miss chance? When you're adjacent. Like if you're right next to someone, right next to them, you still can barely see them. If you're not right next to them,

they're basically just invisible. So that 10 foot square is 10 by 10, so like 100 square foot. That's right. Sorry, I'm a real estate agent on the side. No, it's a tiny little poof-a-cloud that you can't see in. So basically, it almost amounts like prestidigitation. It's like poof, and I disappear.

And you don't see where I went. Sometimes that's all you need to get out of there. Totally. All right, so blacksmith? Blacksmith. Yep. Let's do it. To the smithy maybe we can sell these uh suits of leather armor yeah yeah we didn't find any ball gags did we no okay all right so you're not going to speak to his fiancee seems like any investigation the first thing we do is speak to the wife.

Well, no. I mean, our thinking was we didn't want to go to her until we had all the information. No, I see where you're going. She also, since it's in secret, she has no reason to think she should leave. She's probably just grieving at home. Yeah, I mean, unless. Unless her house is on the way to Sarah's. I hope she's not just grieving at home. Yeah, I mean, unless her house is on the way to Sarah's.

Whatever. Alright, so you get up to clamor. Cling, cling, cling, cling. You hear it. It's open for business. And you guys walk inside and you see this butch woman just hammering away. Huge biceps. Deep voice.

Deep voice. Tats on her arm. She looks like Vin Diesel. If Vin Diesel was a green lady. Yep. That's exactly what she looks like. She's got neck tats, arm tats, like four earrings in each of her pointy, long, giant ears

and fangs. Alright. That's some good Smithy music. Sarah, good morning. It's Sarah Morninghawk. I get that a lot. I was just trying to... Good, never mind, never mind. We're, uh, we're...

What can I do for you? Hey, Tabadri, I know you're busy working, but we've got some evidence here that perhaps Roderick was getting a hope knife made here right out of your shop right before he was murdered. That's right. Murdered.

Murdered, you say? Huh? Well, I did hear about his untimely death. It's very sad, but murder? What have you found out? We found out that he was poisoned right before he was clearly

cut open and left to bleed to death to make it look like a suicide, but it clearly wasn't. We believe that the assassins used oil of Taggart. Ah, oil of Taggart, I know it well. Do you? You're under arrest.

You're under arrest. Just kidding. Just kidding, Sarah. You're not under arrest. It's just profiling every half-orc. We're just trying to eliminate. It's just a matter of eliminating options. We're just killing every possible suspect.

You have a right to a half-orc attorney. Anything you say. Can be half held against you. Guys, why are you here? Do you need a sword? What do you need? We'd like to sell you these four suits of leather armor. Well, that seems like the most pressing thing to do. Sarah, I'd like to show you this receipt.

Does it look like a legitimate receipt from your shop? It does come from this shop. Let me see. And she takes the receipt and looks at it. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Yes, I have it right here. Roderick came in, placed an order. And I actually, I can confirm that Roderick commissioned a new blade about a week ago.

I did the preliminary work on the knife, and then I handed it off to one of my apprentices. Earnsel. Yes, Earnsel, who I assumed finished the blade. Did you lay eyes on Roderick yourself when he made the order? I can't remember if I took the order or not. I mean, I know Roderick, and I have it here in my records. And I remember starting on the blade, but and I have it here in my records. And I remember starting on the blade, but then I handed it off to Ernstl.

I bet you that clumsy old Ernstl put it somewhere before she up and quit the other day. You know, it's so hard to get good help these days. Sorry, Ernstl quit. Yes, yes, yes. All right. When did she start working for you? How long ago? Ernstl, I'd say I took her on as an apprentice several weeks ago. About maybe a month and a half ago. But then that damn woman went missing.

Must have been, I don't know, about a couple days ago, actually. She was a recent arrival here to True Now and I took pity on the young half-orc and I gave her a job and then she just up and went

left I didn't think much of it to be honest Sarah what do you mean when you say she up and left you mean she just didn't show up for work one day

and you just didn't ask about it or yeah I just figured this work wasn't she wasn't cut out for it. So... So you're saying she's gone.

Yeah, that's... That's definitely what I'm saying. All right. Did she have a shifty look about her at all? Did she look a little, you know, tattooed in the face? Yeah. No about her at all? Did she look a little, you know, tattooed in the face? Yeah. No, not at all.

She was, looked like any half-orc. I mean, So hideous. We all looked hideous. Meanwhile, she looks nothing like the other half-orcs in town. Giant buff tattoos.

No, I mean, she was actually, you know, a bit shy and quiet, but I felt bad for her. She had no, you know, a bit shy and quiet, but I felt bad for her. She had no friends or family you knew of? No, according to her story, they were all killed. That's what brought her here in the first place.

Did you know where she was staying in town? I do not. No, no, no. I have a lot of work going on here, so if someone doesn't show up for work, there's plenty of other apprentices to take her place. And you clearly have an extensive screening process before you hire an apprentice. I wish that we lived in a time where background checks existed.

Sarah, I don't think... I think you understand what's going on here. I think you understand what I mean when I say it's really important that you tell us everything you could possibly say that might have been a little strange about this particular employee of yours. I mean, her name is on a receipt of a murdered man, a man we all knew and loved. I think that it's really important that you analyze exactly who she said she was, where she said she came from, why she said her family died. I mean, do you remember any specifics

at all? Because even the littlest thing that you might think doesn't matter at all might mean it might be the thing that helps us solve this case. I wish I could help you out. But like I said, she came here, she was looking for refuge, and I took pity on her. She was not good, but I thought through time I could train her. And it's funny, because just when I thought she was coming along well,

and I could hand off an important job like a hope knife for one of our top men, she up and disappeared. But to be honest, she up and disappeared. But to be honest, I feel foolish now. I guess I should have asked more about her. I just took pity on one of my own. It's all right, Sarah.

Don't beat yourself up about it. Well, now you're making me feel bad about it. But just to switch, let's switch line, question, and for a second. Why would a man like Roderick come in asking for a hope knife? I mean, the man already has his own hope knife, obviously. He's got no children. Why would he ask for a hope knife? It's very strange, you know.

I didn't ask too many questions, but I... Let me see that receipt again. She looked at it again and said, It's all the more strange why he would want one engraved to himself. Maybe he lost it. That's all I can think. So if, say, you know, he had been engaged to a woman, let's say. It's crazy. It doesn't make any sense at all, I know.

But if he was engaged to a woman, let's say. It's crazy. It doesn't make any sense at all, I know. But if he was engaged to a woman and they had swapped knives, but he lost his, he might feel real bad about it, right? And have a knife made that said to Roderick, my love, to try to not get in trouble. Not be in the

York house, if you know what I mean. Was he engaged? Oh, it's a hypothetical. No, not at all. Not at all. Oh, his poor fiancé, if he was engaged. No, he wasn't engaged. Please. Have you spoken to her yet? But, uh, what? Who? I mean, what you're saying makes complete sense, but as far as I

know, Roderick wasn't engaged, but oh my God, yes, that would, that would... Oh. Don't go reading into it, Sarah. Don't go reading into it. It's just a hypothetical. just a hypothetical. Just a hypothetical. I mean, I hope that's not the case, but what you said,

that would be exactly why someone would do that. Okay. I think we're done here. We've been... Forget what we said about him being engaged. He's not engaged. He's not engaged oh right right right he's not engaged he's not engaged anymore anyway so it's not can I interest you

in some blood stained leather armor slightly damaged leather armor oh boy uh I'm that's fine

you know I make armor I don't buy it especially blood stained leather armor fine just throw it away uh I'm sure you to throw it away.

I'm sure you can fetch a price from that in the shop downtown. Can I ask a question out of the character? No, every question must be in the character. How long has this place been in business? Clamor? Yeah. You mean Morninghawk's fine steel? My question is, we have the blade that he was found with, that he was cut with.

I mean, was this blade made here? It's very possible. She makes a lot of the Hope Knives in town, like the majority of them, 90-something percent of them. But there's a ton of, like, she is a contemporary of Roderick's. Like, I don't think she would have been the one that made his blade. Do you know what I mean? And then a couple days ago, this employee of hers did not show up. It was a couple days, two days

roughly, right before he was killed, suspiciously enough. And she just, so I'm clear, she just didn't show up for work. And Sarah didn't ask any questions because she's like, oh, people burn out all the time in blacksmithing they just don't show up because they hate the work maybe she just didn't want to be

picked for tug of war it's very possible didn't want to run the risk you know what speaking of which I have an interesting question I think is it possible to like go back in time like go back into your own memory in that sense and like

see if you saw anyone suspicious like if you know after the fact that a crime occurred right like can you sort of like cycle through your memory and notice if there was anything suspicious at the festival if there was anyone i thought you're talking about real life yeah no you can't do that no then you cannot uh yeah i mean you can you can roll a perception check like I let you guys do that in other games it's like a like a memory

memory check yeah like a memory check let me roll something real quick I'll do that as well no I don't remember anything oh I rolled a

25 yeah I mean the thing is if it was a smaller group of people with a 25 you could probably start like

I don't remember this was that it was so so many smaller group of people, with the 25, you could probably start, like, I don't remember if this was that. It was so many throngs of people, like, you just couldn't have picked out anyone. Like, nothing suspicious. No. Based on what we've learned. No facial tattoos, no, like, shady-looking half-orc apprentice. All right.

I think we should go look to talk to the fiancé now. Yeah. Yeah. I think we should do that. Agreed. Okay. All fiancé now. Yeah. Yeah, I think we should do that. Agreed. Okay. All right, so, Sarah, thank you for your time, and I'm sorry to interrupt, but if we have any other questions, we'll be back. All right.

You've been a huge help. Thank you so much. Well, listen, any way I can help, if I'm not here, you're welcome to come visit me or my wife at home. Your wife? Yeah, is that okay? No, that's cool. That's totally cool. Sarah, can I ask you, how do you

shred your biceps exactly? What do you do to get that sort of... You got any tips? You got any tips? Any tips for the... What I do is... You just curls, or... I don't sit behind a desk all day. Oh, sweet bird.

I'm sorry, I didn't even know. Is that what you do for a living? Let's just go. You know how to cut deep, you know how to cut deep. I'm just joshing you. Happy to happy. Happy to happy, right?

Don't leave town. Don't leave town. Don't leave town. All right. So can we go talk to the fiance? Sure. Let's do it. Sure. I like how you tell all of your suspects.

Don't leave town. Yeah, because it's almost like they're already in Alcatraz. Right. It's like leaving the town at all is just going into a wasteland of murder in any direction. Right. It's like, oh no,

that's excellent advice for even anyone who's not involved in a murder investigation. It's like, don't leave town. Don't go beyond these walls. It's the only safe place

for hundreds of miles. Don't leave town. So if Brenya never married Roderick, is she still a widow? Or is she, like, is there a term for...

Yeah, she... There is a term. It's called single. No, I believe the term would be in mourning. Bereaved. Bereaved. She'd be bereaved.

Sarah, good morning. It's actually Sarah Morning Talk. Oh, you're good. You're awesome. You're bringing up your old joke and laughing at it.

Oh, just laughing. You can go back in're bringing up your old joke and laughing at it. Just laughing. You can go back in your memory. It turns out you can look back. You can go back. You can make things funny that weren't funny before. So do we know where this bereaved single woman is? Nope. Yeah, no, you do.

Curse told you when he said, hey, make sure you guys do these things. Okay. And then you just didn't so you get there and you see a dead half-orc female on the ground and her last words are you should have come

yesterday you should have come to me first and she's got a sterno sticking out of her chest she's like I've lost all my dexterity. Kirsten told you that she occupies a room in this boarding house just northwest of the Commons,

the amphitheater where Ruby's Hope Knife Ceremony was. Do we know the name of the place? It's just a boarding house okay yeah so let's go to the boarding house um all right that's just our logic off to the boarding house a little traveling music if you please maestro i don't have any traveling music i don't think brindletown it's tough it's tough man uh so is he looking for walking to bring yeah it's just tough to like walking through town let's go talk to a widow skipping along the road widow walk widow walk we're taking a widow walk. It's just your average walk through the streets of Trinow. It's as true now as it's ever been.

Okay, so you get there, and you walk in the room, and you see, well, you knock, and she answers the door, and her. So you barge into her place uninvited. Kick the door down. Standard RPG thing. Just walk in and start rifling. Look for loot. You, you know, you knock on the door and she answers and you just see this

really beautiful half-orc woman. She's got like the fangs coming up. But long... Dude, they're tusks, man. They're not fangs. They the fangs coming up. But long... Dude, they're tusks, man. They're not fangs. They're fangs. They're not fucking...

We're not wolves. We're not vampires. Beyond that, she's got like long, flowing red hair. Oh, so she looks like... Pristine green skin. Is she like the most beautiful

half-orc I've ever seen? She's pretty hot. She's like the princess in Shrek. Yes, yeah, yeah. Almost... So overweight. She's pretty hot. She's like the princess in Shrek. Yes, yeah, yeah. Almost. So overweight. No, she's like She-Hulk with red hair. Okay.

That's probably more. Jennifer Walters. She's no Sarah Morninghawk. And she is just, you see her face and it just looks dead. Like racked with grief. Her eyes are all puffy and swollen. All right, so when she and swollen. We have terrible news. Yes. Come on.

Come on. You have such a sick, sick British sense of humor. What? I just... It's just a dry... What's your name again? Glorm? Galabris. Galabris. You can call me Gel. Most people will call me Gel. Gel?

Gel. Sick sense of humor man Alright so she opens up the door And Yeah you know Lork will be like Brynja I'm My name is Is Lork

They call me the Iron Tusk This is Friends I've just made This is Gel and And Baron Calabrus Finn at your service I actually I call him Tusk. This is friends I've just made. This is Gal and Baron. Calabras Finn at your service. I actually, I call him Paper Pusher, but that's neither here

nor there. He sucks it in deep because, you know, he's heard enough insults in his life. He's used to it. But yeah, but no, he's just like sorry to intrude on you on such a tough day, but we'd like to ask you a few questions. We're investigating the murder of Roderick and...

Murder? Yeah, I'm sorry to tell you he was murdered, my dear. We have reason to believe he was murdered. Made to look like a suicide. Oh, please, please, come in. And she welcomes you in and you sit down and she doesn't offer you any food. She's crying. Yeah.

I know it's very upsetting and I'm sorry to barge in on you like this, but we need to find out all that we can about Roger's movements in the day before he died so that we can do our best to piece together what might have happened to him. We've been seeing each other for months. Roderick finally proposed using his mother's ring.

His dead mother's ring. But even once we were engaged, he was careful to keep our relationship hidden from his father, who wouldn't approve of the match. I grudgingly respected his wishes for privacy, but secretly I thought him a coward. And that made me annoyed and mad at him, and it was a source of contention between us. You thought he was a coward because he wouldn't tell his father he wanted to marry you?

Yes. If he loved me so much, why was he so afraid to let everyone know, to let the world know? If he loved me so much, why was he so afraid to let everyone know, to let the world know? Didn't help that Roderick soon became preoccupied with some sort of investigation, which he called, quote, quote, his greatest work, but he never told me anything about it. To make matters worse, his father, Jagrin, finally found out about our relationship and yelled at his son for betrothing himself to him. And she holds back sobs. A filthy half-orc! Brynja, I'll take her hand.

He was a beautiful writer, did you know that? He wrote poems and plays. He was one of the great writers of our town. He wasn't just a soldier. He was an artist. I'd like to read his work if I could. Oh,

of course I could let you borrow something, but you'd have to bring it back since it's all I have left of him. I can copy it. Do you have three hours? Yes. And a craft copying skill? Yes, I'll just sit here quietly. Well, we have the

Ballad of the Blood March, there's Hommel and Brecke, oh, that's his last play, which will be produced posthumously. Oh, and the other side of Contempt was one of his more controversial poems. I mean, he just, he was such a great man. How did you meet him? When was that?

Oh, you know, I've lived here my whole life. Everyone knew who Roderick was. And, you know, we just, as we got older, we started hanging out. And then we began to bone. Brynja. Yes. Yes, tiny fella. After you had your premarital sex, he callously proposed to you afterwards.

Well, we had had it for months. I've always thought you have to milk the cow before you buy it, but... Gross. But you already told us he gave you a ring as an engagement thing. Did you give him anything? Did you swap any type of presents to commemorate the engagement? commemorate the engagement. We swapped hope knives as is tradition. Do you have

this hope knife here with you? Well, of course. I have it right here. Can I look at it? Can I examine it? It's a hope knife and it says, For Brynja, my love. Now I'm going way out on a limb here but did did you perchance present him with a star knife that was engraved

with the phrase for roderick my love i did huh and if you were to have lost it, do you think you would have been angry or upset at this? I'm sure he would have never lost it. No. No. Never. What do you gentlemen know? Not a whole lot. Well, I'm going to be honest with you.

Tell me what you know. I'm going to be honest with you. You have been honest with us. I'm going to be honest with you. Tell me what you know. I'm going to be honest with you. You've been honest with us. I'm going to be honest with you.

He put in an order at the blacksmith for a knife engraved to Roderick, my love. We thought he might have lost the knife you gave him. The receipt was found in the very room where he was murdered. What was the murder weapon? It was a knife, but it wasn't the knife engraved. Where is this knife? Do you have it? Right here. Let me see this. I could tell you if this is the knife I grew up with.

So you whip out the knife and look at it. And her face suddenly grows very somber. That's not Roderick's hope knife, she says after examining the knife.ick's hope knife, she says, after examining the knife, because his hope knife was mine.

At least it used to be. When we got engaged, we traded hope knives to symbolize our union, and Sarah Morningcock herself engraved them with our love notes. She's pulling at her necklace. She reveals that her own hope knife is dangling from the chain,

the one you guys just looked at. See, this was Roderick's. I told you, for bringing you my love. I don't know where this hope knife is dangling from the chain, the one that you guys just looked at. See, this was Roderick's. I told you, for bringing you my love. I don't know where this hope knife came from, but that's not Roderick's. It's not the knife I grew up with. And so you people saying all this stuff about his hope knife, and she starts crying.

She's like, this is why I'm hating myself right now, because he told me that he lost his hope knife, my hope knife that I gave to him and inscribed. He told you he lost it? He told me he lost it and when I learned of that last night on the night of Ruby's hope knife ceremony

I became furious at him and told him that I didn't want to see him again until he found it or otherwise made things right. Did he say why he lost it? Did he just misplaced it or was it stolen? He said he misplaced it. But if I had known that night would be the last time I would see him,

I would have acted much differently. Don't beat yourself up. I blame myself for his death. Don't blame yourself. You're under arrest. Omos is already doing enough blaming for all of us. All right. So she knew the knife.

Okay, so if he truly did misplace the knife, then it makes perfect sense that he wanted to get another one made. But it doesn't lead to his murder at all. So here's what we need to ask. Brynja. Yes. What did he say about this investigation he was doing? This big case he was working on?

He wouldn't tell me anything. Nothing at all? It was one of these things. He had all his things If he wasn't writing poems and plays He was off doing this investigation But I will tell you this

He did keep a journal Oh And I think that perhaps In said journal He was always writing it That maybe you would find an entry in there from his final night that might provide insight into his murder or something. I don't know.

Where's the journal? Unfortunately, I have no idea where it might be. Obviously, there's his room in the Ramble House. Did you check there? I searched it thoroughly. He also frequently went to Trunau's sanctuary with his writing. He always told me he had some thoughtful muse there, but never elaborated beyond that.

Catresa. I always just assumed he was finding solace in his devotion to Yomadai, but now I wonder if... Have you ever heard the name Catresa? Catresa? No. heard the name Catresra? Catresra? No. Or the name Catresna? No, no, neither of those.

Do you know the name... Have you ever heard the name Melira? Melira? No, no. Doesn't ring a bell. Have you ever seen a half-orc with numerous facial tattoos that look like scars? Is this the beginning of some weird joke? No, no, wait.

So I have a hug with a bunch of facial tattoos and a man named Carrezra walking to a bar. A man named Carrezra, Marilla, and Carrezzo. We want to find the man that killed Roderick.

Now, we're just asking questions to help us get you the revenge you deserve, the justice you need. The justice you need. I wish I knew. I wish I could have seen him one more time to tell him how much I love him. But it's

clear now that he wasn't killed. I mean, he wasn't, didn't commit suicide. He was murdered. Which doesn't make it any better, but at least I know for sure he didn't take his life because that would have been horrible. No, for sure he didn't take his life because that would have been horrible. No, no, he didn't take his life, but it's easy to believe that he was murdered

by the very people he was investigating if it was this big thing he was looking into he didn't tell you about. I think that that's what's happening, and I think that if there's anything over the next couple of days that you think about, any little clue you might have heard him say, anything that might seem insignificant to you, but it might matter to us, you let us know.

But in the meantime, we're going to go to that sanctuary and see if we can find out about his journal. Yes, yes, find the journal. Find more about his muse, And maybe then you will find out what led to his untimely death. And Brenya, do us a favor. Don't leave town. Oh, God! It's for your own good. Outro Music Bye.