The Glass Cannon Podcast - Giantslayer Episode 5 - Sixth Sense Motive

Episode Date: June 30, 2015

The crew don't see dead people, but they do use their keen powers of insight to track down a spirit-haunted seer who may be the key to the whole investigation! 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. Uh, is Catresra about? Uh, no, actually. He disappeared a few nights ago without telling anyone. Oh, great. Son of a bitch. God damn it. This is like a mystery. The leads grow cold, and frustration sets in.

I didn't read the journal. Because I'm reading the journal. I can read, you know. Please, why? You know I can read. Why do all of you keep yelling? Uh, shut up. What was your question? We're asking the questions here.

But a thorough room search. And is that it in the room? Is there furniture? Is there books? There's a chamber pot. I searched that thoroughly. And a few well-timed sense motives. Can I sense motive?

I'm also going to try to sense motive. I'll turn the party. Sense motive. Oh, I rolled a 20. 23. Will lead to the biggest break in the case. Shut up. Shut the front door.

Whoa. Oh, it's awesome sauce. The adventure continues now. Hey guys, this is Grant, aka Baron the Gunslinging Dwarf. We're going to learn a lot more about the situation surrounding Roderick's death today. more about the situation surrounding roderick's death today uh if you'd like the pod please subscribe at itunes and follow us at glass cannon podcast tumblr.com and follow us on twitter at glass cannon pod without further ado here's our episode all right so you uh have pretty much asked everything you wanted to ask of brinja. So what do you want to do next? Well, we're going to the sanctuary, right?

To, uh, what's his face? Catrezra? Catrezra. So you're going to go look for Catrezra at the sanctuary. Right. Cool. Yes. Sounds like a plan. Alright, so you show up at the sanctuary. It is True Now's Church of Yomedai.

And so what are your main orders of business right now? You're trying to find Kortresra. Well, he's got a journal. Supposedly, he's got a journal. Okay. Or knows about Roderick's journal. Right. And I guess we just realized that Roderick is a writer of some kind.

He writes plays and shit. Poems, too, right? Poems. Yeah, plays and poems. So maybe this guy knows a little bit about it. I don't know. Okay. I mean, basically, I'm trying to piece together the connection between Roderick being an artist,

Roderick investigating this situation, how maybe they cross paths to him getting on the wrong side of the wrong people and getting himself killed. Yeah, so a good first step is just getting the journal, I guess. I mean, you always want a murder victim's journal. You're never like, no, I'm not interested in that. We'll move on. Oh, somebody just walked into the room and... He was a white male, about 6'10", and he has a knife and he's about to step.

And it just sort of trails off here there's no more after that that's it what a mystery mystery now there's new handwriting it's to the murderer

I killed Roderick signed my name and address is alright so you're at the sanctuary and you guys walk in I'm assuming now don't you know kick the sanctuary and you guys walk in

I'm assuming kick the door down doesn't Galabras don't you know your way around here I work here and what do you do at the sanctuary I'm a healer like I tend to the wounded are you afraid that you're going to get sick yourself by touching their sores

no I'm not like a superstitious like I'm not like a superstitious like a, I'm not a bushman You're not a doctor without borders? I'm a train dealer But the gaps must be crazy

Yeah, I'm like doctors without borders Alright, so you know most of the people that work and live here, so when you guys come in you're greeted immediately by a woman, a young woman named Tayari Varvedos. And Galabras, you know that she is the cleric of Yom Adai, like the high priestess here at the sanctuary.

And she's originally from Lastwall, which is sort of a more happening town. Yeah, I know Lastwall. You're familiar with Last Wall. Yeah. And she's like, ah, Galabras, welcome. Hello. As you know, as you may know,

we are investigating Roderick's murder. Yes, very sad, very sad. Oh, sad indeed. And we have reason to believe that his journal is on the premises, which you'd be able to direct us to said journal. I don't know anything about Roderick keeping a journal. My only sort of memories of him, of the patrol captain,

is coming in here to meet with Kretrezra. You know Kretrezra, a long- longtime half-orc resident of the Sanctuary. And he's been here frequently in the past few weeks meeting with Kretrezra. I would occasionally overhear them muttering about ghosts and half-orcs and hope knives and white swords, but I wasn't able to parse out any of the information, more meaningful details. When you say white swords, you're talking about the graffiti, right? Again, I just sort of overheard those sort of things.

You're useless. Calabras says, no reason to yell. I'm stage yelling. Is Catrezra about? No, actually He disappeared a few nights ago without telling anyone Son of a bitch

God damn it This is like a mystery This is like some sort of mystery But I will tell you this He has a journal? He did leave It was rather strange of him to leave because normally he lets us know

of his comings and goings if he's going to be gone for a while I will say he left his bed neatly made so I don't suspect any strangeness, any foul play he wasn't kidnapped you mean? I don't think so unless the kidnapper made his bed

on his way out now that you mention it, though, it was rather odd of Cotreza to leave on the same day that Roderick's body was discovered. Has he left the sanctuary often before, and for how long? He'll come and go, but you know he has a crippling condition which causes him great, considerable physical pain and drastically limits his mobility, so he never goes far. Syphilis.

Is that what it is? Let's stop beating around the bush. Nothing worse than syphilis in the bush. So, what does Catresra do here? I'm glad you asked. Let me just find it here in my notes. He's a seer. People will come to him.

He came here to seek sanctuary long ago and has become a devout follower of the inheritor, Yomadai. But his life story, he has not shared much with me perhaps Brantos would know more. Can you explain to me who Iomedi is? She is the goddess of this sanctuary. Is she good?

She's a good god yeah. She's great. She's great. Goddess good? She's like a more militant version of Desna That's how I kind of see her Yeah, like her symbol is a white sword

She's all about fighting for the faith Yes, a crusader if you will Does this Ty Tyvari? Tyari Does Tyari carry weapons and wear armor and stuff like that?

She is a... Does she look like a fighting cleric? No, I mean... A fighting cleric. I'm sure she can swing a mace with the best of them. But yeah, she looks like she's been around. But right now, her main duties are in healing and in keeping the faith. Do you have you cast her with an actress?

I haven't. I should, though. I cast all the other NPCs you guys have met. But, yeah, no, I don't know who she is. She's pretty attractive for a... I suggest Margot Kidder. I said attractive. Oh, right. Oh, yeah, sorry. And she'sder. I said attractive. Oh, right.

Oh, yeah, sorry. And she's young. Miss Varvatos. Please, call me Miss Varvatos. I'm also a militant feminist. Senorita Varvatos. I see. Have you noticed an influx of orcs coming on through the sanctuary lately?

I haven't noticed them in the sanctuary, per se, but there has been a large number of half-orcs in the city. It's funny you mention that. I mean, this is a place where they should feel safe, but yes, it's a good observation. Do any of them come in here injured, looking for help? No. No, they do not. May we have access to Catrezra's room, take a look around?

Sure, just see Brantos. He can take you there. Who? So, Galabras knows Brantos, right? Yeah, he's probably the only other prominent character at the sanctuary. His name is Brantos Calderon. He's a human male paladin. And he came with High Priestess Varvatos from Lastwall when they migrated here. After unsuccessfully trying to murder Sonny Crockett. I don't get that joke.

That's a Miami Vice joke. All right. Is Calderon the bad guy? Calderon was the bad guy. That's the reason that Tubbs came down from New York, because he was having trouble. Oh, Jesus Christ. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Wow. I'm sorry. A little something for all ages. I said I'm old. I'm sorry. Wow. I'm sorry. A little something for all ages. I said I'm old. I have a tango and cash reference. Save that up for later. Keep it in the chamber.

They came over. You know that they came from the castle, Castle Farine in Lastwall. They were previously working there. How do you spell Farine? Farine. F- f-i-r-r-i-n-e and they came there uh to trinow from there to trinow how long ago uh a few years ago okay yeah uh where where is brantos at the moment? Oh, he should be down the hallway. Hmm. All right, so here we go.

I'm going down the hallway. Down that creepy hallway that's dimly lit. You have dark vision, I'm assuming. I have 40 feet dark vision. Oh. No, I don't. Then all should be fine. I have 60 foot.

That's pretty sweet. Is it actually dark? It's not the size of your dark vision. I'm going to mosey on that one there. Yeah, I will also. As will I. I will saunter, not mosey. I'm going to keep an eye.

Lork's going to keep an eye on our back just because. Even though it's a sanctuary, it's a safe place. We did have an attempted assassination last night. So I think he's going to be keeping an eye out for anybody trying to follow us in here. That might've might be tracking us. It's smart. Um, how he emerges from Grumley's roads and just purchase on top of her head. Classic Lorca to stay away from the action,

by the way, at a stupid desk doing. Hey, he's trying to keep you safe. I don't know why. Tyree says to Grumley, uh, please no,

no pets in the sanctuary We have a strict no pets policy At the sanctuary But you're cool with horrifying witches All are welcome Hey look man I wish I had more insight into your investigation Yomadai's light shines on those

Who seek the truth however And you are always welcome at this sanctuary. Be you witch or halfie. Son of a bitch! Should you need healing or any other assistance, Yomidai be with you. Alright, so we'll

talk to this Brantos fella. This Brantos cat. So you walk down the sanctuary. The sanctuary's not big, but it's decent size. And you walk down the sanctuary. The sanctuary's not big, but it's decent size. And you walk down this hallway, and there's sort of stained glass windows streaming in colored light with the white sword of

Yomadai. Other pictures of what you would assume would be Yomadai holding a sword high in the air. It's very pretty. And you see Brantos just sort of leaning on a pillar at the end of the hallway. He's a pretty buff looking dude and he's got, you know,

full plate on with the sword of Yomidai on his chest. Chest plate. Hello, Brantos. Hello there, Gattle. How you doing? I'm so creepy. Gormley is creepy as shit. I was thinking about it.

I think Galabras is particularly kind of skeeved out, at least at this point, by Gormley. You know what that means? You guys are going to end up lovers. That's right. By season six. I'm excited about that. She'll take off her witch hat. I'm excited to role play to role play that well we're gonna work through all the pairings and then eventually it'll just have to be

end up being grumbling glamorous all you shippers out there get get ready um for your slash fiction we look forward to reading it uh okay so brantos uh soos, so we're looking for Catresra. Could you let us into his room? Sure, I mean, there's not much to see. He leads you down the hallway, and it's kind of like a straw pallet. Very simple.

But well-made. But well-made, yes. A well-made straw pallet. It's very neat. Everything's, but it's very humble. Is Catresia kind of an ascetic, like a Siddhartha character? I don't know what those words mean. Like a monk. I don't know.

I don't know. I think there was Baron. What do those words mean? He said monkish yeah monkish they lose all their worldly possessions to be kind of spiritual reaching nirvana type of

stuff I know that Catrezra's past was very painful and while the half-orc has no love for his full blooded kin the seer is a benevolent man who has a soft spot for his fellow half-orcs. And he has proved himself a loyal defender of True Now on multiple occasions, has many friends in town,

but I do not know where the seer has vanished to. When is the last time you saw him? It would be Two days ago So the day of Roderick's body was discovered I see And you don't remember anything Noteworthy

In his manner Or anything he said Before he left? No, I mean I know Roderick had been here More frequently as of late I didn't I had Roderick had been here more frequently as of late. I had some dealings with him, but mostly it was just friendly.

Hello, hello, that kind of stuff. Ketrezra always seemed happy to see him. Do you like Ketrezra? Oh, he's great. He's wonderful. He's a wonderful old man. He's had a very hard past, but he still maintains a pleasant demeanor. Has Ketreza met with any other people besides Roderick recently? Not

to my knowledge. Do people come to the Sanctuary to see him for any specific reason? It's possible people come to the Sanctuary for all manner of reasons. I'm here as a defender of the faith. I don't pry into people's doings. Does seer mean he's some sort of like a fortune teller?

Could he tell people's fortunes? Oracle? That's what my question is. Do people come to him for prophecy? For like readings? He, you know, I don't like to speak too much about other people, but I know he was raised among orcs and suffers from painful afflictions and weeping sores

that were gained from his time at the brimstone Haruspex, which you may know as an orc temple in the caldera of a smoking volcano in the Kodar Mountains. Oh, yeah. I totally knew that. Oh, yeah. It's said that the fumes of those volcanoes

supposedly grant insight into the future, but the gases, the sulfurous gases, maimed him, and symptoms of his overexposure to these elements still trouble him. At the same time, he's gained minor oracular powers from inhaling the fumes, and he left the barbarous orcs to seek sanctuary here. Did Ketresha ever do any type of community outreach?

Did he ever leave sanctuary to spend time with kind of an orc section of True Now or anything like that? To my knowledge, no. He's in considerable pain. He can't get very far. Which is all the more strange that he would leave. Can I do a perception check on the room? Sure. I also shall do this.

As will I. Galabros at 15. 21 for gormley 22 for baron 18 for lork uh gormley and uh baron just find like residue of weeping sores come on ew ew so there's there's a straw palette I'm glad I rolled low so there's a straw palette

in the room there's no is there a night desk or a candle there is a neatly made

straw palette yeah sorry neatly made straw palette and is that it in the room or is there furniture

is there books there's a chamber pot and I searched that thoroughly I stick my head all the way

in just to make sure I don't miss anything oh boy all right roll a fortitude save stink cloud i have a plus six bonus against chambers uh pots on fortitude so it is basically uh it's kind of like a prison cell yeah it's just so why would he leave it's like cell yeah it's just so why would he leave it's like it's like living at the ymca type of thing uh no it's it's just very very humble i mean this guy was anything on the walls is there any uh there's a poster of bridget bardo check check under it he tunneled out So, Brantos, what is it exactly you do? Yeah.

Where were you two days ago? You're a defender of the faith. Well, how do I put this in layman's terms? I'm basically your average lawful good male human paladin who happens to be fourth level. All right. Attack. Does that answer

your question? Let me ask you this. No, I'm just trying to ascertain who the hell he actually knows. He, you know, he doesn't work for the militia. I mean, he works as a defender of Iomedi. Now, that being said,

it's not like people are coming like, turn down the temple! But, he's not like people are coming like, tear down the temple! But, He's like a security guard. He's basically a security guard. A church security guard. He's like the Swiss guards in Vatican City. Yeah! Those guys are badasses. Are they really?

Yeah, they're like super well trained. The ones with the crazy outfits are a little different. But yeah. Okay. God, man. So here's what we understand. He left the morning. Wait.

Was it the day Roderick was found dead in his room that day? He was here that morning and then left? I saw him the night before and I'm up throughout the night and I saw him, but the next morning he had left. But you didn't actually see him leave? I did not.

And this is the morning, not of the Hope Night Ceremony, but the morning we woke up and found Roderick dead. Right, so the following day. Is there any chance that somebody else here could have seen him leave? Is there anybody else that was here at the time? Is anybody resting or recovering? There are always supplicants and visitors, but I know everyone that comes and goes. Let me ask you a question.

Does the name Melira ring a bell with you? No, I don't know that name. All right, let's go to the House of Wonders. Thanks for nothing. Huge, huge waste of time thanks and uh clean that fucking chamber pot and get this sore residue we need sore residue out of here we we find you just leaning against a wall in a hallway and there's sore residue like well I didn't roll as high a perception check. I had no way of seeing those sores. Listen, fuck you, Brantos.

I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. One more thing, Brantos. Yes. Don't leave town. Seriously, don't.

No, that's not even a joke. Don't leave town. Don't leave town. I wish I had more useful information, but the only impression I had from Roderick

is that he was investigating something. I have no idea what the focus of his investigation might have been, but he seemed to enjoy his work. I'm just imagining how horrible it would be if you were in a situation where real cops, like detectives, were asking you if you do something about a crime but just because you didn't no no no a person like and they asked you about you know

did you see this person you're like no i didn't see them and you're not lying you just like didn't and they're like you know what fuck you detectives are just like go fucking fuck yourself man and they leave because they're just pissed that their jobs aren't going well. How much would that suck? We'll be back. Well, it's kind of like the Law and Order thing. Like, why are these people moving boxes so angry? Right. Are we talking about this?

Right. All right. Okay. You guys want to go to the House of Wonders? Meet Agrit? I mean, that's our only remaining lead, isn't it, at the moment? Okay, so, well, I just feel like there... If you're telling us there's no way anybody that is still here saw him leave,

because I think it matters if he left in the middle of the night or if he left in the morning, or because he easily could have left in the morning to just go about his day and then been kidnapped outside of the sanctuary. left in the morning to just go about his day and then been kidnapped outside of the sanctuary you know or he could have paid you know tidied everything up and left purposefully in the middle of the night i mean if he was going to see the future could he see this coming could he see something like this happened did he try to stop it these are all great questions all good questions for katrista uh i i think we go to the house of wonders because there's only uh varvedos and calderon here and uh if we still don't have any leads we can head over to the House of Wonders because there's only Varvatos and Calderon here.

And if we still don't have any leads, we can head over to the local drinking hall. Yeah. Sounds good. Now. We can always cycle back to the sanctuary because they're not leaving town. Yeah. I mean, you can revisit. You guys can revisit places as well.

Right now, you're on the. We're sorry. That level is closed now you cannot go back we also haven't talked to Halgra oh no we haven't she might be a tough one to get an audience have we talked to Roderick's father? Nope

haven't talked to him either, yeah there's lots of leads you're in the northern part of town right now I don't think we should talk to Roderick's father until we have some more info he might be just totally in the dark. Yeah. I mean, we can definitely bring up Brynja to him and see

how the hell he reacts. Roderick's father lives at the Longhouse and Roderick lived there as well. He just stayed in this inn for a night. But he lived there, right? Yeah, he lives at the Longhouse. Yeah, so maybe there's a journal there of some kind. We haven't been there. Have we been there? No? Yeah, he lives at the loan house. Yeah, so maybe there's a journal there of some kind. We haven't been there.

Have we been there? No. Well, I think we were at the door. No, we visited Curse there. Yeah. Okay. So what do you know right now about Ketrezra? We know that he was a seer of some kind.

He was meeting with Roderick somewhat regularly and even at a higher frequency just before his murder. And he seems to be a good dude who had a hard life and he tries to help people out mostly. I don't know that that was a lie. I doubt it. And then he disappeared the day Roderick got murdered. And they may have talked about ghosts with each other according to Varvatos. Ghosts? Yeah.

I must have missed that. Yeah, she said ghosts, half-orcs, hope knives, and white swords. Ghosts. Ghosts? Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts.

Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts.

Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts.

Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts.

Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts.

Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts.

Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts.

Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Ghosts. Why would Roderick talk to Catrezra about a hope knife? Right. Yeah. That is fishy. Catrezra, because of the half-orc ancestry,

might be a good person to confide in about his secret love with Brynja. Sure. True. They were probably talking about that hope knife. He went to see her to ask if she'd give it up. You guys also see there's a cliff face behind the sanctuary that you guys can see out the window. And behind it, there's a giant white sword, one of those white sword cross things painted on it.

And it kind of overlooks the sanctuary, more graffiti. Wow. But yeah, you know, he's, Catrezza was here, left the day of the murder, he's all fucked up, he can't, couldn't have got far wherever he went. Sorry, so this part of town, the southern, we're in the southern part of town?

Northern part of town. Oh, no, I see, okay. So, like, the southern part of town is like on a big plateau, right? Basically, like, you see the city walls there that that area that's the inner ward i think it's called that's raised okay and so uh where you would the where you guys are all leads up to that the area you're in is you're near the ramble house and you're near clamor right okay um and like yeah the house of wonders and all that shit right well let's i mean yeah

let's go to the house of wonders sure what is the house of wonders it's a magical place actually that's exactly what it is what is this getting it's a magic store oh yeah yeah so you got like like potions and stuff fake dog dog poo. Can of snakes. Card tricks. It's like a Spencer's Gifts. Yeah. There's a Criss Angel specialty set you can get there. Run by a really creepy old guy.

Let's go. Let's go. Okay. So you show up there and it's later in the afternoon. Evening is approaching. And it's, you know, later in the afternoon, evening is approaching. And you walk inside and you see this really attractive woman that's kind of good. She's got a lot of piercings and colored hair.

Actress? Damn it, I should prepare these ahead of time. God damn it. God damn it. I don't know. She time. God damn it. God damn it. I don't know. She's a dwarf, though. Oh. Oh.

Sarah Morninghawk's wife is a dwarf? A hot dwarf. What's wrong with that? This is an inter... Nothing. An interspecies lesbian couple? Interracial interspecies lesbian couple. Interspatial. Interspatial. Interspatial.

Good for them. Once I see this, I'm already aware that Agrit is the wife and Baron is circumspect at seeing a dwarf in a relationship with a half-orc. There's the subtext. Okay, so you see she's behind the counter, just kind of mulling about. The counter's very low. It's a very low counter. You want to take the lead on this there, Baron?

Do you fellas come here for some fake gum? I'm going to be nosy enough to. I say, howdy, ma'am. Are you Miss Stargrinder? Stag and Star? I get that a lot. No, it's Stag and Star. Stargrinder? Staggenstar? I get that a lot. No, it's Staggenstar. Staggrinder.

Agrit Staggenstar. I'm surprised a fellow dwarf wouldn't know how to pronounce a dwarven name. I come from a long line of Staggenstars. We were just coming by here. We just spoke with your wife Sarah ah Sarah we're currently

congrats on the biceps by the way oh we're a muscular couple we're currently investigating the recent unfortunate death of Roderick yes very tragic he was a wonderful man and an important citizen of True Now unfortunate death of Roderick. Yes, very tragic.

He was a wonderful man and an important citizen of True Now. Do you happen to have much relations with him? I don't go that way. No, no, no, no. Oh. Friendly discussion. Oh, friendly discussion. I mean, I knew of him. Everyone knew Roderick, but nothing beyond pleasantries.

Did he ever buy anything from you? Did he ever buy anything from you? He loved Joy Buzzers. This huge thing for Joy Buzzers. No, I can't particularly remember. Maybe when he was younger, this was more of his thing, but he was a man. He had no time for magic. So you haven't talked to Roger Cattell recently?

I haven't. Can I sense motive? Sure. Don't trust her. She's a dwarf. I am also going to try to sense her motive. I'll turn the party. 11.

16. Damn it. Oh, 19. 19. Oh. Gormley, you get the sense that she's, it's not that she's lying, but there's something maybe she's not saying

so uh agrit did you say yes if that's your real name uh it it is i didn't say that oh it's rather rude tell me who does come into this kind of shop? I mean, people who are... If not men. Interested in magic. You know, I'm a wizard, so I can teach them whatever I can in my own search for greater knowledge. But, you know, it's... There have been a lot of half-works around town recently.

There have? Have they come in? I haven't seen them in here, no. And I'm here every day. How about Gatrezra? Have you seen him recently? No, no, I haven't. Who's he?

Sense motive. Sense motive. Oh, I rolled a 23. She definitely knows about Kortresra. Pardon me, I don't mean to be rude. But I feel like you may not be telling us the entire truth. What interest do you have in Kretrezra? He's a friend of the deceased,

and we feel that he may have valuable information. And he has recently disappeared, which is also quite curious. Perhaps you should come with me Okay Arl Wallace took a nice turn Alright I'm not really Hey maybe Catrisha's downstairs

Oh yeah She leads you outside And locks up the store Switches it to like Back in 15 Out to lunch Out to lunch Go on And she walks you walks up the store, switches it to like, back in 15. Out to lunch. Out to lunch.

Go on, Fisher. And she walks you across town back to Clamor. Ooh. Whoa. And you guys walk in and see Oh, they're gonna make out. Sarah Mourninghott, yeah, they just start scissoring. Oh, jeez.

Sorry, we haven't seen each other in a few hours. Just can't help themselves. Wait, just to be clear, a half-orc and a dwarf the mechanics are mind-boggling. She's a blacksmith. She can make all sorts of swings and whatnot for them. Yeah, they start violently scissoring

on the floor of the smithy oh sorry we haven't seen each other in a few hours uh gormley you want to get in on that wait let me get out my sketchbook. Why do you assume? She takes you in and says, Sarah. I can't get the image out. Now I'm like, how is she just talking to us? She's violently scissoring on the floor.

Pull yourself together, Hagrid. I'm sorry. Now, mind you, I did cast Sarah Morninghawk. She's played by a bald Serena Williams. Yes, right. Okay. Okay. Is she wearing a purple tennis skirt right now too?

Okay. Excellent smithy uniform. She's ripped, tatted up, pierced like multiple piercings in her ear. Okay. And Agret says, Sarah, they they are asking about Catrezra. And Sarah says,

lock the door. Ooh. So Agrit goes over and locks the door. And she says, I'll be right back. Sarah walks to the back of the smithy and then comes back with an old, frail half-orc. Who kinda looks like a green Edward James Olmos.

I knew it was behind me, Vyse! I knew it! Oh, what a callback. I knew it was behind me, Vice! I knew it! Oh, what a callback. I knew it! Fucking, where's Calderon? He's at the sanctuary. Oh, right. I'm sorry.

Never mind. Carry on. Oh my God. And Sarah says, Gentlemen, I'm sorry I wasn't able to tell you this before, but now I know that your motives are just, and I'd like to introduce you to Catresra. Oh.

Refer to the Tumblr, everybody. That is a weird old-looking dude. He's got some Aztec kind of styled uh garb yeah like an inca sort of thing going and he's his eyes is he blind he's got those kind of like blindy looking eyes milky cataracts what we cannot um white hair uh uh does he have sores man yeah? Yeah, all over his arms. Can I do a quick heel check just to see if I recognize? So you're not like walking up to him like, let me see those sores. No, no, no. Just like looking at him.

Yeah. Well, we know what the affliction is, right? It's from the fumes from the volcanoes. Yes. Yeah. Okay. You would just verify that with your roll. I don't.

Unless you roll the one, you'd be like, ah, he was attacked by a bear. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. You survived the bear. Excuse me. It is Ivan Herzog, and we're here today with Grizzly Man 2. I look into his milky eyes and see nothing but pain.

All right. All right. All right. He says, hello. I'm assuming you're here about Roderick. Yes, that is correct. Yeah. Wow.

Wow, you really are a seer. He puts his hand to his head, a card to his head. How may I assist you? When was the last time you talked to Roderick? It was just probably two nights ago. The, the, the night of Ruby's Hope Knife ceremony. The very night he was murdered.

Yes. Now, uh, we've, uh, been poking around, you know, for good reasons to figure out what happened to him. Uh, we heard you had a bit of a relationship and you might have been discussing Hope Knives together. What was all that about? Well, it's no great secret that I was cursed with preternatural visions many years ago during my time with the Empty Hand. That's a orc tribe that Lork would know very well, or know of, a bunch of dicks. Since I left those savages, those dicks, many have sought my counsel into matters

ranging from the mundane to the dire, but I am afraid the omens that assault my dreams are nigh indecipherable, even to me, and I have no means of directing them. Roderick originally approached me to ask for advice while courting Brynja Kelvar. Ah, the lovestruck fool. Bless his soul.

Thought I might have some special insights into the traditions of her people or visions of the couple's everlasting happiness. But come now, do I look like the romantic type? What with these sores and all? He smiles and shakes his head, and he's like, I couldn't help him with his relationship, but we gradually became close friends. I'd been experiencing vivid hallucinations

of white swords or crosses and dreams of the plague house outside town. When I told him of them, he seemed to think my dreams might help him with his investigation. I told him about my, he seemed to think my dreams might help him with his investigation. I told him about my visions as best I could, but the muse of my nightmares is as abstruse as she is unkind. And what exactly was the investigation about? To be truthful, I don't even think he knew what he was looking for.

I don't even think he knew what he was looking for. Basically, Roderick had run afoul of a flood troll at the plague house not long ago, and the poor fellow was convinced it was not just an isolated incident. He came to me seeking guidance, and his curiosity was piqued by my visions, because I had kept seeing the plague house along with these swords and crosses. I told him that the flood trolls are native to Beltson, but they rarely roam this far south of the flood road. Since learning of his investigation, though,

I have had nightmares unlike any before, and I fear that some greater evil may be at play within Trunau's walls. So he, so basically Roderick was, he had a run-in with a flood troll at the plague house and he and roderick thought that it was not a random encounter he thought that it was suspicious of something not an isolated event is what you said right right okay and catreza basically while not trying to make him more worked up was was like, well, it is strange for a flood troll to be this far south. Okay. And can you tell us a little bit more

about the Plague House? I have seen many visions of the Plague House these past few weeks. And though I can't say with any certainty what these divinations might mean, I believe there is more beneath the ashes of that burned church than soot and rubble.

Everybody roll a knowledge local check. Or knowledge history. Okay. 19, knowledge history. 19 for me as well, on history. Gormley's very knowledgeable. Six. Well, you know, she hangs out

in the mountains. What's she gonna do? My girl's wicked smart. I don't have either knowledge local or knowledge history, so how do you... Well, luckily... What do you do? You should have knowledge local. You're a cop.

Yeah, I just don't have it. I'm a good cop! Shitty cop. You don't have knowledge local. Luckily, Gormley and Galabras and Gal... I'm not like a field cop. That's the thing. You're behind a desk reading papers all the time.

How did you not learn about anything? He's doing like shift changes. I don't know anything about the town I grew up in. Listen, Lork, it's okay. He knows how much time Roderick, how much vacation time Roderick had left this year. That's about it. So sad.

I guess that's going unpaid. Roderick, you didn't log your sick days, Roderick. It's me, so sad. I guess that's going unpaid. You didn't log your sick days, Roger. It's me, Lorne. It's me, Lorne. I've been sent over about your sick days. About your paid time off. I've got to go buy more post-it notes for the office.

I'm doing an order. Anybody need anything? Who needs highlighters? Somebody need more highlighters? Did you see the Belks and Staples just opened up around the corner? It's made my life a lot easier. So what is the Plague House? So Galabros and Gormley know that the Plague House,

some people call it the Burn Church, was actually True Now's original church of Yomadai, who didn't shut off their phone? Oh, you motherfucker. Yeah, so it was True Now's original church of Yomadai. And you guys rolled high enough to know that back in the day, orc raiders

burned the building down and killed all the priests within. And then they went and built the new church of Yom Adai inside the city walls, and that's the sanctuary that you guys have been to. In the meantime, what was left of the church became known as the Plague House because following a tragedy about 50 years ago

when True Now was afflicted with a plague, and so the authorities hastily rebuilt the structure and used it to quarantine all of the plague victims. They take them out of True Now and put them in this quarantine facility. Yeah, it's outside of the city walls. That's why. So they put all the plague victims there. But then a mysterious fire consumed the building a few days later, killing everyone inside. Patients, healers, everyone.

And leaving this infamous site once again in ruins uh since then people were like well clearly this place is cursed and we're not gonna attempt to rebuild it katrezra you're a seer do you believe that spirits walk this earth i believe that in everything there is more than what seems. We heard Tayari mentioned that you were discussing ghosts with Catresra. She overheard. What is the meaning of this? Why are you yelling?

Answer me, damn it! Smack. I mean, I see ghosts in my visions, but I don't remember speaking specifically about ghosts. Ghosts of what? Ghosts of Christmas past. Oh, no. No, I don't remember specifically mentioning ghosts, but I, I believe in ghosts and I see them in my dreams.

I just don't know what connection they have to anything. Did you ever have a conversation with Roderick about his journal? About him keeping a journal? I did. basically Roderick had plans to go back to the plague house but because of the unease I felt from my visions I suggested he leave his journal with me which he did

shut up shut the front door and he pulls out the journal whoa oh it Oh, thank you. And he says, the night of his death, my visions were even more terrible than usual, though still completely indecipherable. When news of Roderick's death reached me that morning, I knew it must have been foul play, so I fled the sanctuary, fearful that whoever targeted Roderick would come after me as well.

His death grieves me to no end, but at least my efforts brought me enough time to share this information with you. And he hands you Roderick's journal. Troy has just handed Joe an actual physical piece of paper. Look at that preparation.

Oh, it looks like a little book. That's very, very nice. I put effort into these, even though no one can see this. Yes, I appreciate it. I can see it. Maybe it speaks to art. Here's what it says. Apparently, he's also a good artist, because there's sketchings in here.

I drew that. No, I'm kidding. Okay, so, how I wish I could divulge my fears and hopes to my beloved Brynja. The risk is too great, of course. I would hate to implicate her in the dire scheme I've only just started to unravel. Not to mention

how much I fear her ire over my loss of the hope knife she gifted me. What a fool I have been these past few weeks. And then there's a looks like another entry. I still haven't found the hope knife and whoever's making the replacement at clamor is certainly taking her time

catrez catrez was oddly quiet when i met with him today when asked for his thoughts he told me to leave him be and to give up my foolish investigation altogether i give like a inquisitive eye at catrezza. He was so supportive of my mission until now. What could have changed his heart so? And then there's one more. Catrezza's visions of the plague house have been getting more frequent as the days go on.

He claims, quote, something wicked lurks beneath the ashes of the past, unquote. I'm fearful of what his strange dreams portend, but i must investigate the plague house ruins once again tonight is ruby's hope hope knife ceremony tomorrow i will search the ashes once more catrezra has recommended he hold onto my journal for safekeeping while i am hesitant to part with it and while i am hesitant to part with it for my writings even for a moment,

I know his logic is sound. That was a great decision Roderick made. Yeah. And there's pictures there. Yeah, so there's a, it looks like a hope knife, it looks like Brynja,

and maybe the, the plague house, possibly. Little sketchings of them in the book. Shagung, gung, gung. So ask him, ask Ketrezra what his deal was.

Okay, so why did you insist that Roderick give up the investigation all of a sudden? He says, why didn't Galadros just ask me? Why did he ask you this? I didn't read the journal. Because I'm reading the journal. I can read, you know.

Please, why? You know I can read. Why do all of you keep yelling? Shut up. What was your question? We're asking the questions here. Why did you... It says right here that Roderick said you told him to give up the investigation.

Why'd you do that? Because I knew that the plague house was evil and would only come to bad things. I just hoped he would just start writing a new play and leave that be, whatever was going on there. So your method of getting him to not go was to tell him it was a foolish investigation that would lead to nothing? Yes. Shows you how much he'd listen to me. Did anyone else help him with this investigation? Jagren or Kirst or even maybe Halgr? I would almost 100% say no. This was something he...

A rogue type of thing? He wanted to do on his own. He was prone to these sort of things. He, I think he thought... He didn't log it in his paid time off. Now is not the time, Lork. Yes, Lork, we know you can read. A level 10 pencil pusher.

You know, Roderick was motivated by his courage to protect the town as he was thinking that this would lead to another great adventure that he could write about. So it was something he would do on his own.

So he's a foolish asshole then. Okay, so he doesn't... Don't speak so ill of the dead. But he didn't know what he was looking for at the plague house. He just knew. Right? Yes. Why did he go to

the plague house first? Why did he have... At the time he had the run-in with the flood troll, why was he there at all? It's interesting. I asked him that too and he wouldn't tell me. Do you know anything else about this flood troll?

No. I know that they travel usually in pairs, but they're rarely seen around here. Do I know what a flood troll is? Could you tell us? Have we ever seen one before? it i think it rolls from that

region you could roll a knowledge uh nature yeah knowledge nature for that uh i don't have that i do have that one 16 and you're a very knowledgeable uh 18 um yeah all right so Lork it makes sense where Lork used to be an adventurer yeah Lork was out when he was younger out and about they're like the they're not like rare but they're also not

you don't see them all the time they're not very common trolls they're like mutated mutated runts of other type of trolls. They lurk mainly among the craggy hills of Belkson, Varesia and other wild lands of northern Avistan. They're totally not indigenous to this

area which gave good reason why Roderick would be like what the fuck? And it saw Roderick and took off. I don't have anything. Now at the Ramble House, we had a chance to look at the guest log. Yes. And we saw that a nameless man had checked in right before Roderick had and were a bit

suspicious of this. Do you... As well you should be. Did Roderick mention anything about a man on his tail? No, no. Never said anything like that. Does the name Melira ring a bell? No.

I believe it's an orc name, but it sounds orcish, but I don't know him and Roderick never spoke of any other people besides his love, Brynja. Have you ever had any dealings with anyone from Freedom Town or ever been to Freedom

Town? No, when I escaped the tribe, I came straight here and have never left. As you can see, I have many sores. And that's... What do you know about Brynja? I know she must be

completely heartbroken. They were in love and now her life is over and she must start anew. But I know he loved her dearly. You know, just because she doesn't have a man in her life doesn't mean her life is over. You're right, I guess I'm just old-fashioned. I like that, Gormley.

I also don't like being corrected by a woman! How do you like being corrected by a scorpion? Oh, jeez. All right, we attack. Sarah's like, no pets in the clamber. How long do you plan on staying low for, Catrezra? What is your game plan? It's funny you should ask that.

I don't have a game plan. I was hoping that something like this would happen where someone would take the charge because until you guys came along, everyone just assumed suicide. But I knew. I knew it wasn't. Why here? Why did you flee to Klamath? I knew I could be safe here with my half-orc brethren or sistren. Is there anything else Roderick might have said to you that seemed out of character,

suspicious the day before he died? No. All right. Well, off to the plague house. Cue plague house music. I think we should we check in with Halgra or

Jagren or anything before we head there or see if we can get any intel I know Lork doesn't trust Jagren I'm not opposed to going to the to the long house and I don't know

looking at Roderick's room or something but the guy is he's a dick Jagren so yeah i just don't know i mean it could be worth talking how far i'll keep my mouth shut how far out is the plague house do we need to have any type of rations or uh traveling supplies or is it pretty close just outside the walls uh it's it's not too far you can you can definitely get there before nightfall um but But if there's any indication that there's some shit going on there,

you guys want to make sure you're fully stocked just in case shit goes down, like healing potions or whatever you need. Now, I'm slightly suspicious of Jagren, and I would like to know more what he knew about Brynja and if he might be complicit in this. And I don't really see anything coming out of Jagrin besides anger, if we bring up Brynja. Lies.

Anger and lies. But it could be worth talking to him. He might slip up. It's up to you guys. I'm also cool with going to the play cast. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I'm all for moving this forward and getting some action. Getting out of town.

Yeah, I mean, well, okay. Before we had this huge break and this lead on the Plague House, what were the other leads that we talked about? We talked about Jagrin, and I feel like there was one other one that I'm, like, forgetting right now. We didn't have anything. Well, we have the journal. We talked about Hologra, but we don't know what she would have to offer us

yeah so I guess it's either talk to Jigrin who I don't know I'm starting to feel it with you that we should go see what was up at the plague house and then we can come back to Jigrin yeah I mean one way to think about it is

well I guess somebody already knows we're looking into it because they already tried to have us assassinated. So they could easily follow us to the plague house and know that we're onto them. Yeah, but I don't think we want to. Assuming that's related. I don't think we want to. It might be worth not tipping anyone off unnecessarily that that's what we're doing. Right. And that's what I'm thinking.

Like, we might not want to. If Jagrin is somehow, like you said, complicit in this or, I mean, I'm not certain that the guy would sell out his whole, his family and his town and his firstborn son, but it just seems like, why alert anyone to it? Well, let's get ready up to saddle up and ride in the sunset. Regulators. Regulators! Well, I don't really have any gold.

I mean, I'm not like a rich man. I can't just like buy healing potions. Are you rich in love? No. I got some news for you. I'm a rich girl. I have some money. I can get us ready.

I think we should buy fire supplies or acid or something to kill a troll in case we run across a flood troll. Yeah. We also have to worry about disease um yeah well i can you know what well we can if you want to like set out in the morning i can like prepare spells to help can you would you be able to prepare like a removed disease is that a low level spell yeah I think I have some

kind of disease thing maybe this podcast isn't the right time oh I have diagnosed disease so if you do get a disease I can tell you what it is he's sick you have the flu oh jeez

well because right now I have command and bless prepared okay well yeah I mean I think we should definitely well you know resting up is always a good idea you guys could rest up

go and then tomorrow morning go out do your shopping do everything you need to do and be at the plague house by you know the next day afternoon early evening or saturday morning depending on how much stuff you want to do yeah i don't think we need to do anything right no in town no so we could just get up and go at dawn to to the plague house can we um the only thing is you know well i guess we we really did fight back that assassination attempt last night, which would lead you to believe they're not going to have another one ready for tonight.

Right? You could all sleep in your armor. No. Nope, that's impossible. No. Again, I think there's a rule that, like... You cannot sleep in armor. Right.

You can sleep in light armor, I think. Oh, I can? Oh, excellent. But then you still wake up, like, fatigued or something. Yeah, you wake up fatigued. It's kind of absurd to, like, lay down in, like, a full set of, like, steel armor. So I think we should get ready to, you know, maybe stop by a store and then get some rest and have, uh, prepare some spells.

But I think before we leave, we all have something to say to Catrezra. I trust this guy. Who's going to take the lead on this one? Catrezra, don't leave town. You look over, Catrezra's shaking his head, and meanwhile,

Sarah and a grid are scissoring again. Outro Music