The Glass Cannon Podcast - Giantslayer Episode 61 - Mist Connections

Episode Date: July 26, 2016

A visit to the tent of a mysterious oracle unveils long-held secrets of the past, present and future. 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. In the mists, I can see many things. Everything is about to change. I've seen what you have done. I've seen you save Truman. I've seen your past. You lost a son. I've seen you in the Vault of Thorns.

Your father found your mother. You see your head moving back and forth like there's a battle going on. He was never yours to lose. I've seen what you have. I've seen your present. The Thin Man saw you. Where's my father? I've seen you live.

I've seen you die. What? How? When? And the Elders are true now. The guards. Guards that L How? When? And the elders are true now. The guards. Guards that Lork recognizes. And the elders are true now. Your family still lives. Tears start falling from her eyes. He just falls to the ground, clutching at an arm that just keeps withering away with his body.

Della just, like, can't speak. She doesn't even know what to say. You see Galabras in a darkness in his eyes. He even had glimpses of... He was my son. A possible future. The adventure continues. I jump up, grab the hammer off the table,

and I back up against the wall of the tent. Now. What's going on, everybody? It's your GM. It's your DM. It's your best friend, Troy LaVallee. Just like the T says, we have a game-changing episode of the GCP coming up in episode 61. Now, you might say to yourself, Troy, 61 isn't that special of a number. And you might be right.

Sure, Bob Dylan had an album called Highway 61 Revisited. And I think Billy Crystal directed a really shitty baseball movie about the worst team in all of professional sports, the New York Yankees, called 61. And that's it. Well, while 61 may not be a special number, our episode 61 is a very special episode. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's my favorite episode we've ever recorded. Troy, that's crazy talk. You don't know what you're saying.

I do know what I'm saying, and I'm sticking with it. And that's all I'm going to say about that. Last week, we did another giveaway contest that we launched on our Twitter account, at Glass Cannon Pod. We've been receiving some amazing entries so far, so just keep sending them in. You know what? Things went so well, we're going to do another one this week. Once again, you're going to have to follow us on Twitter, at Glass Cannon Pod,

if you want to find out the details on how to enter, what to enter, who to enter, when to enter, and we'll announce those details this Friday, July 29th, at 12pm Eastern Standard Time. Now, last week's prize was a Pathfinder cool rulebook. This week, we're going to mix it up and give away a brand spanking new copy of Pathfinder's Ultimate Intrigue, also signed by the whole GCB crew. Ultimate Intrigue is one of the newer source books that Pathfinder released. I don't even want to give it away, it's so beautiful, but you know what? I'm in a giving mood. First of all, it introduces a very cool new class called the Vigilante. It's kind of like a superhero. You have an alter ego by day, and you fight crime by night. Or if you're an evil character, you cause crime, I guess. I would love to see this class work its way into the Glass Cannon at some point.

Hey, maybe Baron will take a level in Vigilante sometime. Sure, right after his rogue level. Ah, I guess GMs can dream. In addition to the Vigilante class, there's also a bunch of new feats, magic items, spells, and a ton of new archetypes for the existing Pathfinder classes, as well as a whole system that I'm really going to look into magic items, spells, and a ton of new archetypes for the existing Pathfinder classes, as well as a whole system that I'm really going to look into that gives you rules for social combat and verbal dueling.

So diplomacy checks, bluff checks, those will be a thing of the past once this system blows up. A new addition to the Pathfinder pantheon, and we can't wait to give it away. So check out Twitter this Friday to find out how to get it, at Glass Cannon Pod. Follow us already. All right, I'm too excited to say any more, so let's just jump right in head first to episode 61, Missed Connections. I feel like it's, uh,

like some sort of 1950s TV host who just, like, fucking drinks as much whiskey as he wants before the show starts. Does a bump. Looks like a bear and is like, showtime. Standing at the window. Drawn on a 24 ounce butt. Gazing longingly out the window.

Sucking on a tall boy. This is what DMing does to you. Yep. When you people can't see at home, because right now I'm standing by the window, looking out at the street while these four players and their imaginary bear sit around a table.

I'm drinking a giant Bud Light lime. I'm just generally disgusted with everything. But we have a show to do. We do. Time to shape up. We ended on a bit of a, you know, I would say, we rarely end on cliffhangers,

but I feel like that was it. Oh, yeah. Rarely. For a nice change of pace. I just want to mix it up, you know. It was episode 60. Why not end on a cliffhanger? Um,

what, uh, what is going through everybody's head? I don't think we've checked in with the, with the team in a while. Uh, personally, just,

just very briefly. Uh, obviously Lork, this was a secret. No one knew you told the only person that knew that at least we know, in the canon of this show, is Shogg. Or Tog. Tog. Excuse me, Tog.

And he died, right? Was he the one that died? Yeah, he died. The secret died with him. We hardly knew him. Maybe he told Halrix. It's a little pillow talk. Oh, maybe.

But who knows? And now... Can you imagine that pillow talk? Everybody knows. And not only that, she said that it's your curse. Yeah, that's the thing that's bothering Lork the most. In the heartbeat since this has happened, he's starting to see all of the bad shit,

and then he's tracing it back, and he's thinking about, he's kind of thinking more in depth about the crime, which is what it was, it was a crime, than he has in many years. Right, and kind of going was, it was a crime than he has in many years. Right, and kind of going through like, Curse, what are you talking about? Obviously Jacinne died. Obviously Gormley died. Obviously Ben Vereen died. But like who else has been

cursed? I'm sure there's been people from your Black Arrow days. Oh, yeah. My whole party. My whole group. And I survived for some reason. Your whole unit? Injured. Bad I mean, injured. Badly, badly injured. Did you think, like, do you think Lork ever thought of it as a curse?

Or Lork was just like, no, just unlucky. People die. Yeah, exactly. Life is hard. Yeah, he had a tough youth, so people die. They didn't call you Lork the Natural One in the barracks? I doubt they. The Natural One. The Natural One. You thought it was a compliment? Yeah. A lork the natural one In the barracks I doubt they The natural one The natural one

Yeah the natural one You thought it was a compliment Yeah They really like me Like the natural Right Lork the natural one Man you're really a natural one

At that bow lork Thanks fellas Well you are kind of like The natural because You know you were You were a soldier You were effective early You had a bad injury,

and you didn't come back until like 20 years later. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. For an unlikely rise to fame or power or whatever. Yeah. And then Galabras, Clutch,

spelled two bottle caps last game. Right? Two bottle caps or in the last couple episodes, two bottle caps? Two bottle caps. That's a first. In one episode. In one episode in one app

uh silence so clutch so galabras obviously coming more in you know sort of in tune with his powers he's now taken that extra level of cleric he was a little bit behind and now sort of his powers are catching up with him what's happening with with galab well i mean we were talking about the kind of restoration of his faith uh before two episodes ago i guess um but also i was talking with matthew about how how nice it must be for him to have della around now because like she's the only person of of a comparable age even though she's in reality like many hundred years older than him but like in uh uh mentally she's they're about their peers and you know baron is you know in his 50s and you know lork is in his 40s and and so i think that they have a very special connection i don't think it's like romantic

because i think glabrous is was kind of uh smitten by uh calran blicks when they met i don't think he has eyes for anyone else at the moment. But they shared a lot because I'm teaching her languages, I'm teaching her about the world, and it's so nice for me. And so, yeah, I think that that's really special for him. Yeah, and I get that sense as well. And then you have Della, who, and this is what I wonder about Della, you've obviously fell in tow with this group of people. Everything's exciting. Every moment is a new experience. But you had a mission, ultimately, to reconnect with your father, who was trying to find your mother, with you. with you.

And like, is there a part of you that sees what's going on? It's like, I want to get the hell out of here and go find my dad. Or are you more in love with this experience right now? And just going with this? I think, I mean, I think the,

I mean, the big thing is I think Della doesn't think she has the power that her father had. So like wherever he is lost, she does not necessarily have the ability to find him. And I think between that and again, yeah, exactly. Like everything is new. and, again, yeah, exactly.

Everything is new. Literally everything is new to her. And now this connection with these other people, especially Galabras, who is kind of being the conduit to this world, I think she's more concerned with just kind of being there for them. Sure. Whatever their mission is.

Because Del doesn't really have skin in the game here. Yeah. And maybe this is, you know, you lost your father who was looking for the mother. You're looking to reconnect this family. And now you're sort of creating a new family in a way. You've got this father figure in Lork, this brotherly figure in Galabras, and then an ornery uncle.

Are you okay putting your life on the line For all these relative strangers? What are you motivated by? Because death could be around any corner I don't think Della particularly fears death I think because she's been trained for battle From such a young age It's just kind of like That's what she'd do

That's what she does She's killed a lot of people I imagine her kind of like a circus performer But with the most positive view on it She's got to be of people. I imagine her kind of like a circus performer, but with the most positive view on it. She's got to be fearless in so many ways because she's incredibly acrobatic and well-trained, and she's obviously fought a lot of different odd things. She's moved through much crazier planes than the material plane.

So I would think that there's a boldness of youth to her. I think to step up, step outside of the character for a minute, I think that she's, she's had to do some things at the behest of her father that she is now in the context of all of these people starting to realize we're not exactly on the up and up. Oh,

really? Yeah. So, so you think maybe dad had some dirty dealings, some dirty dealings or, you know or his own kind of vengeance mission. And was he human or he was shadow people? He was human. He was human.

So presumably mom is the shadow person. Very interesting. Always good to check back in once in a while and see where everybody's at because here comes Ingrahild. I'm gonna check back in once in a while and see where everybody's at, because here comes Ingrahild. You guys just dispatched of these ogrekin, these mutated, malformed freaks.

You come here, you know there's gonna be orcs, you assume there's gonna be some sort of giants, and the first creatures beyond the gray oozes that you fight are ogrekin? Ingrahild comes up, says you need to come with me. You all agree to go see her who Amlo's

beaten but safe and here you are she starts walking back the way you came towards the latrine but like waiting for you guys

to follow did we do a sense motive on her for why she was bringing us there did that happen we've done A sense motive on her For why she was bringing us there Did that happen We've done several sense motive checks on her Right But not for that

Yeah I just I guess I just wanted to see If she was under a spell Or something like that You know if she Met with some sort of witch You know she could have like Been like

You know Go get your friends And bring them back to talk to me A little charmed person or something. Sure. I'm going to get this. Actually, I mean, the only. After we saw what happened with what Malira did to the boat crew, I think it's totally well within reason for us to be suspicious.

And then here we go. Yeah. 17 cents motive. 17 cents motive. Her eyes are bloodshot red from crying. And you sense that she is telling the truth. She's overwhelmed. She's in her right mind, though. She seems to be in her right mind.

And you've seen her in her wrong mind. When you met her, you've seen her in her wrong mind. She seems to be in her right mind. Like, whatever's behind the eyes is still driving the car. But she's puffy-eyed and like you can tell the reunion with umlo was an emotional one so yeah lork is gonna follow her and he is he's he had a certain level of confidence going in here he had his idea he had the plan the plan was get to the sewer grate we climbed the wall wall. We executed a good SWAT team move over the wall into the grate.

He pulled it off. Everything was looking good. And now all of a sudden this bomb gets dropped. And I think that his confidence is gone. His stomach is in knots. He's trying to figure it. He's seeing every death that has been around him his entire life flash before his eyes as he's walking. You know what I mean?

So I don't think he's thinking too, too much about what he's about to see. He's just like, I got to go to the next step and follow her, you know, even though it seems such a terrible idea. Right. I tell her in Dwarvish as we approach her that if she runs off on her own again, there's no guarantee that we can come and save her and that she's putting everyone's life at risk and it's irresponsible yeah and and in dwarven back to you she's just like i understand and i i all i can say is i'm sorry i know that this has

happened before but um i i feel like this this is going to be okay and i really i don't know where we're going now, but I really want to see what looks like a church underneath where we are now on that map as I'm looking at it at some point. Oh, interesting. You mean below the bell tower? Yeah, looks like an altar or something.

The bell tower. The belfry. The belfry. Back to the belfry. Now, as I recall, we hid the bodies of the Ogrekin just in case there was another patrol, right? I can't remember. If not, we should do that.

Yeah, we talked about it, but I don't think we actually did it. You know, there's the room full of bunks. Maybe you could do something in there. Yeah, tuck them in. Oh, man, these guys are really sleeping over there. Watch. We could do like a Ferris Bueller thing, where they open the door and it's like...

Does anybody have 50 feet of rope? And you roll and synthesize her. Is it worth searching the bodies? Do they seem to have anything on them by the way?

No, just their ogre hooks. Lurk is going to kind of shakily ask Ingerhild who as we're walking you said she who who is she and who else is out there? shakily ask Ingerhild, who, as we're walking,

you said she, who? Who is she, and who else is out there? Her name is Droja. That's how she introduced herself to me. She looks to be like you, and is talking to you, Lork. A half-orc. A half-orc.

She didn't tell me too much. She just told me things about my past that only a seer would know. And no one else is out there? No, just she's with Umlo. Evidently, they bring Umlo to her every day after the bear baiting to heal him back up so they can cart him back out there into the fray. But right now, all of the other orcs in the army

are on the other side towards the east, where all the huts are that Galabras saw when he was flying. So now is the good time to go and speak with her. She would not lure you directly into danger. All right, lead on. This is the second seer we've, half-orc seer we've encountered. Yeah.

Right, Ketrezra. Ketrezra. Old Ketrezra. See episode five. Five. Hey. Does Ingerhild mention what actor is playing Droja? She doesn't.

She doesn't, but if I go from the Matthew school of casting, I'll give you a name in 20 episodes. I was like, Matthew, why did you open that door? Touche. All right, so you go down the spiral staircase. You come back into that room with all the bunks. I remember Lork and Baron both opened the doors at the same time. You saw the feet, the footprints going back and forth just from the left and right.

To the right, Baron saw more hallway that you assume is just going along the curtain wall of the palisade. You come back down the long hallway into the lat latrine, and one by one, go down the hole. Steal yourself. Steal yourself against the... We drop ourselves off at the pool? Yeah, just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Oh, God. It's pretty gross.

Everybody roll fortitude, say. Yeah, no, now you guys know what's going on, so I don't know. You can cover your mouths. You can do whatever you want to do, but basically you all saved, as far as you guys know what's going on, so I don't know, you can cover your mouths, you can do whatever you want to do, but basically you all saved, as far as you know, against that, and once you save, you're good for 24 hours.

Gotcha. So you go back down the poop chute, out the grate, and now you're surrounded by those strangely empty huts. You go up to the north, turn the corner, couple more empty huts. You go up to the north, turn the corner, couple more empty huts, and then the slightly larger hut that was covered in colored animal pelts. Now that you're close up, Galabras had an aerial view when he was flying, but you can see from, you know, 25 feet away, there are animal skeletons and mummified entrails dangling from the posts of this large, brightly dyed tent.

In the middle of the tent is a smoke hole, and pale blue smoke is just wafting from out the smoke hole in the middle of the tent. And you smell herbs, sweat, and death. Whoa. Smoke holes and poop shoots. Smoke holes and poop shoots.

There's the episode. Coming soon to an episode near you. What do you do? Galavis is kind of looking at Lork for a cue on this one. This is his deal. Del is pretty suspicious.

This doesn't seem like smart. Ingrid is like, she's... Does she go in the tent? She's right this way. Or does she stand aside? Having listened to Baron, she doesn't want to move out of turn now, but she says she's inside the tent with him.

All right, Lork is going to come to the tent, stop, turn back, look at Calabrus, get a nod. He turns and opens up the tent, pulls back the flap, opens up the tent. You see a dwarf lying on the ground, covered in blood, bald head with just patches of hair, red hair left to it, and a beard that's been shaved in all weird places,

so there's just little chunks of hair left. I'll put this up on the Tumblr, but he looks like this. That's disgraceful for a dwarf. That is. Oh, yeah, totally. And the orcs knew what they were doing when they decided to humiliate him. They broke him. Covered in scratches. Humiliated him. You can tell bear paw scratches. He's just

lying there, and he is, you can tell, in and out of consciousness. And towards the back of the tent, and now that you've opened the flap, just the smell of incense and all these other crazy herbs, stranger than the Vault of Thorns, it's not those floral scents,

it's these like mystical scents come wafting at you, and you see in the back of the tent the small stature of a female body looking down at some sort of cauldron with smoke wafting up from it. And as you open the tent, she turns around and she looks like this. Oh.

Oh. Wow. Uh-oh. And she's played by Dame Judi Dench. Oh. And she says, The True Now Three. Welcome. Welcome.

I knew. I knew you would come. What? And she's looking at you like you are celebrities, and she is an interviewer on the red carpet. Galabras Finn, as I live and breathe, I've seen your exploits, and you have come so far. Baron Redheart, with your great power that you hold one of the rarest items in all of Galarian welcome

it is truly an honor and look, Iron Tusk the cursed one I am so terribly sorry that I had to have Ingrahild reveal something about your past that perhaps you were not,

that you were loath to share with the group, but I needed to get you here, because time is of the essence, and right now is a good time for me to talk to you. I see that the mists were true, and Gormley is no longer with you. I saw her fall, but sometimes the mists don't always tell the truth. You must be Della, Della Narn.

Welcome, young lady. Della has her scimitar at the ready. She's a little suspicious of this. There is no need for suspicion, but I understand. Did she say that out loud? Yes. No, no, I mean Della.

To Dahlia. Della's like, get out of my head. There's no need to be weird. Everything's cool, baby. I would pay good money to hear Judi Dench say the words, everything's cool, baby. I understand

you're all under great mental duress, stress, and fear as to why you are here and what this fort holds. But all I can say is I welcome you with open arms because I've seen what you have done. I've seen you save true now. I've seen you in the Vault of Thorns. I've seen you live. I've seen you die. And seen you die and now you stand before me and I truly believe

that you four could be the architects of my freedom as well How? How did you see it? I am an oracle and in the mists of my cauldron, I can see many things. I have been here for longer than I can remember, as a concubine, if you will, to the general,

the leader of the orc tribe here. He fashions himself a general, but he is a vile, despicable man. His name is Karguk. And he has treated me as horribly as any one of his enemies. But here I am, still alive. And I have been waiting for you to come

I've seen so many things about you, I've seen your past I've seen your present and I've even had glimpses of a possible future Where are you from? My family migrated here from far north. They were wiped out in a siege and I was taken at a young age and taught the mystical arts. I became an oracle just to survive, to be useful to the tribe.

Many battles, many wins and many losses later, I've been tossed around like an old doll, and here I am now at Red Lake Fort. What do you know of this place? I have seen it from above. We have a map. Yes. Blix. You have the map from Blix?

Yes. She closes her eyes and wanders over to her cauldron. And you can tell that the cauldron is full of some sort of bubbling hot liquid. And she just places her hands right on the cauldron. And you don't see her cry out in pain or anything. But you would assume that it's searing her skin. And she's like, I saw you at the way station. Speak with her.

She is looking for her ancestor. Where are you? And I have had communion with him here. His ghost. We are not entirely on amicable terms, but that's, in my estimation, more because he is in a different plane than I am right now, and trying to reach out across those planes is not my strong point.

But I have told him about you. I've told him that you would come to save me, and he believes that if you truly are the heroes that I spoke of, that you would be able to save him as well, albeit in a different way. Why is his spirit still here? Don't most spirits leave for another plane?

Why does he remain in a place where you can speak with him? I've asked him the same exact thing. Evidently, from what I gather from my communion with him, something just abominable happened here at the fort when it fell. And those ghosts still haunt the fort. In order for his spirit to be free, those ghosts need to be exorcised.

She still has her back to you, hands on the cauldron, and she releases the cauldron and turns around to you, and you can see her flesh is not even seared on her hands. She just says, from what I understand, he is in the bell tower on the first floor.

And that is why I've had such a close communion with him because proximity-wise, he's right near me, yet so far, because on the other side of this fort is where the ogres and the giants make their home. Who's normally in the bell tower that's alive, that is? Inside the bell tower?

Yes. It is my understanding that it is empty except for the spirit of this Blix. Will we be able to commune with him without your powers? Perhaps. I'm not sure. I don't know about all this nonsense. I want to know where this orc leader is.

Where does he sleep? What about the giant leader? Where does she sleep? Gren about the giant leader? Where does she sleep? Grenseldek? Yes. Oh, Grenseldek. That foolish, foolish woman. She could have had everything. And she threw it all away,

trying to amass some large dowry to impress someone called the Storm Tyrant. And that orc attack on Trunau that you defeated, that was her doing not only to gain the wealth left in the tomb beneath the town, but more importantly to retrieve half of a strange stone treasure map. I don't know where the other half is, but I believe she has it. Where did the map lead?

I do not know. I only sense her intentions. But what happened to her when True Now fell has left the entire fort in upheaval. What happened to her? Just her failure? Or something more?

I do not know. I know the General has more communication with her as he is her general. He is stationed on the south side of what used to be the moat. He has a very secure camp. He calls for me whenever he wants to use me as his plaything.

I could introduce you to him, and perhaps you could convince him that you are here to take down this Grensel deck, because it is my belief that their relations are no longer good. It wouldn't surprise me. We saw a giant killed by a group of half orcs out on patrol. With several swords sticking out of him. It was gruesome, a gruesome scene.

You will need. You couldn't even make this stuff up. You will need. Lying to an oracle. Always a good strategy. You will need better untruths than that to get past Kargak if you choose to speak with him. He is heavily guarded, but he would receive an audience.

You will have to be very diplomatic to change his mind, but that is a possibility. Does he trust you enough to listen to reason from us? He trusts me enough that I could gain audience with him. But I don't know if I could protect you. He is... he is not right. The orcs, under his command, are fractured, and were it not for this bear baiting, who knows what they would do.

The ogrekin that live within the fort are basically at war with the orcs. They stand upon the barricade taking pot shots down at them with their bows and arrows. If left to their own devices, there'd be an all out war. This is why he makes such a scene out of the spare baiting. This is why he brings me this dwarf, Umlo, to keep him alive, because that's the only distraction

they have from the fractured tribe that Grenseldeck has left to ruin. It's like Roman times with bread and games. Grenseldeck left. Is she not here? Oh, she's here. Somewhere in there. And she motions with her hand towards the fort. Point on this map where she sleeps. I know not the exact location. Plus, that would not be any fun for you as players.

Well, I don't know if I'm really looking forward to having an audience with an emotionally unstable Orc general. But perhaps it's our best bet. If it goes well, he may be able to aid you getting into the fort without the Orcs attacking you. If it goes poorly, you will most likely become prisoners. What does he

want? What can we offer him that he wants? It is my belief as I lay next to him after he has his way with me, listening to him muse upon his situation to himself. It is my

belief that he wants the fort for himself. What tribe is Karguk the general of? The Twisted Nails. He brought the Twisted Nails. Grenseldek brought the... Heart eaters. Heart eater tribe. Thank you, Grant.

You're welcome. And they are now the new twisted hearts. The ogrekin became subjugated by both of them. But when the tribe fell apart, now they're... everything's a mess. Do you know their history? We've heard about them teaming up before. I, in my travels from orc tribe to orc tribe,

I learned of the war. But this is a whole new beast. And it has to do with Grenseldeck's desire to impress this storm tyrant. And you don't know what the storm tyrant is? No. Is he a gnorc? It's a giant.

It must be a giant. Are you just saying that because the name of the adventure path is Giant Slayer? All right, Della. Getting a little too precocious for your bridges. A little weird shit there. I've seen so many things. But Grenseldeck Slayer. Except where Grenseldeach's lair is.

Let me tell you something. Normally, we're in the orc-killing business, and let me tell you, brother, business is booming. But I think that if we're here to kill someone, and we can help kill these giants off, maybe we can parlay with this guy. But I'm no good at talking, so we need someone with a high diplomacy score. I'll talk to him. Can you set up a meeting? And can you make it fast? I can set up a meeting.

They won't come for Umlo until tonight's festivities. They won't come for Umlo until tonight's festivities. So you're safe here for the time being. I will send word to the general about your presence. And when you are ready, assuming he will see you, I will escort you over there. Umlo is safe. I've taken care of him. He came here a mess. Schizophrenic. Not knowing where

he was or who he was. He was captured by a patrol as he wandered near the camp. I cured him of that ailment and they bring me to him all the time and I do my best, but he'll be expected to fight again tonight.

It's the impossible cruelty of what they've done to him. Yes. Well, there's something to be said. If we can disrupt the thing that's keeping the peace between the Ogrekin and the orcs and presumably the giants as well,

I mean, we might be in a stronger negotiating position. It's very true. I think Kargik's greatest fear is that they won't have something to distract them. I see much in the mist, but I do not see how this all turns out. Why hasn't he taken back the fort on his own accord up to this point?

Fear. Because they're big? He's greatly afraid of what lies within this fort, not only the ogres and the ogrekin, but spirits, spirits of Red Lake Fort's past. The same spirits that Blix

needs you to lay to rest in order to free him. What can be done to free these spirits? I would seek to untether the elder Blix from this plain. Only he can tell you. I've asked him the same thing, and he's loath to tell me too much.

Do we have time to speak, or try to visit him before we see the general, or is that too soon? I would think. Unfortunately, the entrance to the bell tower is within the courtyard. You almost certainly run into ogres and hawks.

And I would venture to say that if this nonsense about talking to spirits is true, then we might need to use it as a bargaining chip with this general. If we tell him that our own spiritual magic users can

clear the fort of the haunting, and he can have it, then we'll have him on our side. At least for a little while. And that's all I need. Ingrahil chimes in, and she says, Will you read their fortunes

as well as you did mine? Will you do that for them? And Drosha looks at Ingrahil and says, Perhaps they would not like to know such things. I do have powers of seeing. I could tell you things that maybe are true, maybe are not.

But if that's something you're interested in, it's something I do, it's something I did for her, it's something I did for her brother, to prove that I am good. I leave that up to you. I would know. I would know what you could tell me of my fate. Come.

Take my hand. And she sits down in front of like a, you know, a card table, a round, small table, and there's a little bowl there that has just rocks in it, no mist or anything, nothing from the cauldron, and she says some sort of incantation over it and puts her hands out on the table

to read you. I put my hands in hers. So she grabs Calabrus' hands and she's struggling. She's like shaking her head back and forth like wincing a little bit

and she lets go. And she says, I'm having, I'm having trouble reading your, reading your life. There's something or someone blocking this, someone or something far more powerful than us. I need great magic to break this barrier. And she puts her hands out,

and she says, your hammer. May I see it? I sort of cautiously pull it out and hand it to her. She lays it down on the table in between you. And she says says do you know what this is I know it as the hammer of Oskroth but I know little of the man

this is the symbol for Minderhall Minderhall was the god of the giants and some say he forged the first giant was the god of the giants. And some say he forged the first giant with a stone hammer. Not unlike this.

Minderhall was the maker and the unmaker. And I have never seen greater magic in my life than what's emanating from this hammer. What do you know of this hammer? I know it has a plus two bonus when I use it in combat. Yes, yes. It seems it grows with me. This armor affords me the power to grow in size,

and the hammer grows, too. Let's see if we can find out more. She lays her hand on the hilt, and beckons for you to lay your hand on the head of the hammer. Okay. The second your hands hit the head of the war hammer, both Drogia and Galabras's heads snap back.

Snap back, and their eyesras' heads snap back. Snap back. And their eyes go up in their head. Oh shit. And all of a sudden, from the little bowl of stones that's sitting between them, a mist rises into the air. And you guys see Lork, Baron, Della, Ingerhild, Umlo, even Barry Connick Jr. sees a scene unfolding. You see what looks like a beach, a shore. There's waves lapping against the sand.

And eventually you see detritus, wood, debris. Very clearly some sort of shipwreck, because you also see corpses, bloated bodies, laying in the sand. More and more corpses, and then all of a sudden, one of the corpses starts coughing up seawater. You look, and it's pretty clear that it is a much younger Galabras

laying on the sand. He comes to, he looks around, weeping as he realizes maybe joy, maybe happiness at what the situation is. And then all of a sudden it flashes forward, maybe in time, and you see a bunch of burly, bearded men disembark from a ship, a badass ship,

one of those like a Viking ship, tons of oars. A long ship. Yeah, a long ship. And they grab young Galabras and throw him on board. This is followed by just like rapid fire scenes of you see Galabras being beaten. You see Galabras being worked to the bone. You start to see scenes that you have to look away. Maybe Della

is the only one that's looking, and you wish you didn't see what you see. Then it flashes forward in time, and you see Galabras maybe a couple years older and a darkness in his eyes, a beaten down look on his face, and it pans out, and he's in a busy port town. All those Viking reavers are still there around him,

and you see that a man, a thin man, dressed all in black, is coming up to sort of the head reaver of the group and bargaining for Galavris' life. And all the reavers and this captain of the ship are just laughing at this thin old man, thinking, well, there's no way you're gonna, you're gonna take this boy from us.

He's ours. And the old man, you get the sense that he's challenging the captain to an arm wrestling match. Which makes these reavers laugh even louder. They're uproarious. But the captain, no longer laughing. Because if he doesn't take the challenge, even though he knows he could destroy this guy, he'll look like a coward.

So they sit down, everyone smiling, thinking it's funny, and they wrap arms. Someone counts it off, and right when the match begins, the Viking captain's arm shrivels away and burns to dust in the wind. As the thin man stands triumphantly, all the Reavers back up 10, 20 feet at what they just saw. Sure, they've seen magic before, but nothing like this.

And their captain just falls to the ground, clutching at an arm that just keeps withering away with his body. And the thin man walks away with Galabras. Galabras is now in a cart, just rolling through Avastan. You don't know if Galabras is in a better place or a worse place now, belonging to this man. You see knights of Galabras just thinking, plotting how he can get out of there.

And then you see Galabras come to True Now, and Galabras pleading to the elders of True Now to set him free from this life of servitude, this life of being a thrall, a slave. If only they'll let him be a healer. And the elders of True Now, the guards, guards that Lork recognizes, they stand up for Galabras and agree. guards that Lork recognizes.

They stand up for Galabras and agree. And the thin man just says to Galabras, well, aren't you a clever boy? Very well. Enjoy your time here in this blasted place while you can, for we will meet again. And the mist coalesces, and for a moment, you see two eyes peering at you through the mist,

and then it goes out, and she kind of crumbles, and Galabras flips back in his chair and falls to the floor. I jump up, and I grab the hammer off the table and I back up like against the wall of the tent. I was breathing. And during this whole thing, Galabras, you saw all these images and they obviously meant a lot more to you because you saw your past unfolding.

But the one thing that you know that maybe the rest of them don't know is at the end of that vision, the thin man saw you and knows exactly where you are. Yeah. Oh, that's so great. Oh,

well, that was a terrible decision, huh? Wow, man. Della is just like in shock having seen i mean she i think she's known some of glabrous's story obviously but never the and i'm looking around like kind of embarrassed you know that people saw like stuff that i was never really willing to talk about. They saw it happen. And I feel exposed.

And I'm just gripping the hammer tight, tight, tight in my hand. So it hurts. And you notice a stronger aura of magic coming off it that you can visibly see now. magic coming off it that you can visibly see now and through this concert this experience with droja uh you now know more powers of this hammer oh well just from a mechanic's standpoint handy dandy the sort of communion between the thin man, Drogia, Galabros, and this artifact all happening together. This hammer, once per day, is a full round action.

You can use the hammer to cast a heightened enlarged person on someone. Oh, wow. That effect lasts for 20 minutes. Oh, shit. Heightened enlarged person? Heightened enlarged person? Heightened enlarged person. Whenever the wielder of said hammer

confirms a crit against a creature of the humanoid type, confirms a crit against a humanoid, that creature has to roll a fortitude save with a DC 23. Otherwise, it shrinks by one size category. That lasts for 20 minutes. Oh my god. Wow, little doggy. Droja looks at you and says,

that hammer has many more powers lying dormant within it. If you ever find the seat of Minderhall, I believe that you will unlock one of the greatest items in all of Golarion. And I'm just staring at her, I'm like, I look at her and I just kind of nod a little bit, shaking, I lower the hammer down to my side. Della goes over to Calabras

and very tentatively lays a hand on his shoulder. I jump for a second when I look at her and let it happen. Who's next? Yeah. Oh my god.

Dudes, it's awesome. I should tell you that was not how these experiences go. Ingrahild can tell you that's not normal. There is this man who has been seeking you out ever since you left him, interfering with this. That's why it became such a violent experience. But if there's things you wish to know, I could briefly tell you. You said I was cursed.

What does that mean? He's like showing his teeth, his tusks. She still, she kind of writes herself in her chair and puts her hands out on the table. You just tell me. You know what it means. You just tell me.

You know what it means. He's like nervous. I kind of... Galabras goes up and I put my hand on his shoulder. Snap. Yeah. I just nodded him. He sits down, looks at her very suspiciously. Rule of sense motive.

Fail. And he'll put his hands out. He'll say, Baron, watch the door. No violent motion. He'll say, Baron, watch the door. No violent motion whatsoever this time. But she closes her eyes and you see her moving her head back and forth like she's struggling to see things. You bear the murderer's curse.

But in this day and age, aren't we all murderers to survive in this world? You lost a son, but in truth, he was never yours to lose. He belonged to someone else. She winces. But somewhere out there is a true-born son.

Whoa. That is yours. Oh, wow. And she opens her eyes and looks at you. Holy shit. Oh, Jesus. Congratulations. Lord just pulls his hands away.

It's a boy! It's a boy! My favorite cigar brand. It's a boy. Oh, my God. Yeah Yeah he snaps his hands away Stands up Out of the chair Hits her with Gorham's thorn Yeah

Attack roll What's her AC No yeah He stands up out of the chair Looks at her Shakes his head It can't be The myths are not always stands up out of the chair, looks at her, shakes his head. It can't be.

The myths are not always true, but you were a young man when you were in the Black Arrows, yes? Aye. You stayed in towns on your way through the mountains. You would stop and be treated

probably like kings if you were protecting small villages. Oh, God. There was a night. Somewhere, someone bore you a son. All right, are we done with this nonsense or what? We need to keep moving. Della would like to do it. By the way, Lork had a fleet week, baby. It's true. It's true.

It's true. It doesn't make it any less true, boy. She looks at Della and she says, you're perhaps too young to deal with such things. Where's my father? That's what I want to know. I can show you things,

but again, what I see is only what I see. The future is not written in stone. Del sits down in the chair. Droja reluctantly puts her hands forward. Does Della grab the hands? Immediately. Again, she closes her eyes, winces,

and says, your father and says, Your father found your mother. I see her long black hair, but I can't make out her features. There is great pain in their reunion. And your father has died. What? What?

She snaps out. I'm sorry, I... How? When? I... That's all, I... How? When? I, uh... That's... That's all that I... That's all that I see.

He... He's looking for you. She... Is looking for you here in Galarian. She knows... That you live. She knows that you live. She knows that you're hers. Your father is no more, but hope lies in a mother. Della doesn't like can't speak

I mean she doesn't even know what to say I can see Della like just sitting down on a pile of furs I walk over to her and I mean I want to say like it may not be true but like after knowing what I saw

and knowing how totally true it was feeling it i can't say that so i just i put my hands on her shoulders and um i offered a hugger della slips away to like a dark corner of the of the tent where it's kind of shadowy and you can see she kind of like half fades away in the shadow it's very like so emo I love it Lord has a perception check outside the tent fell Aaron Baron says well looks like there's only one left and he pulls out a bottle that you've never seen him pull out of his duster before

that has the Five Kings Mountain sigil on it. Uncorks it. And you can just smell this strong, like, 120 proof. Just whiskey. Just go through the whole room. And you can smell it above all the incense and everything else that's burning in here. And he takes a massive gulp. You see adam's apple protrude swallows it caps it whistles at galabras tosses it at him and i said i think you need a drink and then i mosey on up to the

stool and pull it under my legs and i just stand there because i'm already so short she looks you know like she's already given some news she's resigned to this as a part of her you can probably tell that she wishes she never even said she could do this she's seeing some heavy shit this is like this is a tough room. By the way, there's ownership in every prophecy. He belonged to people. That son didn't belong to him. You said that the mother knew that she belonged to her. Like, all this ownership stuff about, like, lives is really kind of creepy.

Her hands lay outstretched on the table between the bowl of rocks. Her hands lay outstretched on the table between the bowl of rocks. Beren extends his hands and puts them into hers. Sways back and forth, Stevie Wonder style. Something Beren would understand. I was hoping she was more like Zelda Rubinstein From the Poltergeist These spirits are in the house She's

You see her head moving back and forth Like there's a battle going on In her sights Tears start falling from her eyes As she Is just like grimacing in pain from what she's seeing. You, of the Five Kings Mountains, are the last of the Red Heart Clan.

When you left, the remaining Red Hots migrated, perhaps in search of you, perhaps in search of something else. They migrated to the Mindspin Mountains, and Mine spin mountains. And they are all killed. You are the last of the Red Heart clan. But your family still lives. For you are not a true red heart. What? And she opens her eyes. And you swear you see like a trickle of blood

coming out of her left eye. Oh, shit. And she like, she sees you're looking and she just kind of wipes her tears away. looking and she just kind of wipes her tears away. Sometimes there's good news. God. What's her mystery?

Just like, not from the character standpoint, but like, metagaming standpoint. What's her oracle mystery? You'll probably, maybe you'll find out. All right. All right. She's pretty shook up from all of this.

Like she wanted. She shook up? Oh my God. Like she, the look that you've got from her before she started reading you was that she has been waiting for you literally every second of every day

because she truly believed that you would be her saviors. And so she was so excited to read your past, your present, your future because she was assuming it would be full of great hope since she thinks that you're her great hope. But unfortunately, you guys are all shrouded in despair. That doesn't mean that there isn't hope out there, but in reading you. True Now 3, disappointing oracles everywhere.

1984. Make that T-shirt. No, we step from darkness into darkness. She says, I, if any of you need healing, I can take care of you. But in the meantime, if you still wish to speak with Karguk, I will set up the meeting. Where will you set up the meeting? At his tent.

What time? Whenever you're ready. They'll come asking for Umlo within three or four hours. Can I help you with Umlo? Umlo within three or four hours. Can I help you with Umlo? You can, but you should reserve your strength in case the meeting doesn't go well. In that case, Della could probably use some healing.

Yeah, I think we all could. Yeah, so she can cast cure. I'll take my healing from him, thanks. And he points to Calabrus. Oh, she's mad at Droja. Don't shoot the messenger, Lork. I agree. I like...

I know, man. I hear you. And I wand you. She can cast... Depending on what you need, Delos, she can cast Cure Serious. She can cast Cure Moderate. She'll give you whatever you need.

I'm only down 11, so... All right, so she'll cast Cure Moderate. Do you need healing? Oh, yeah. Okay. I'm down 40. Wow.. All right, so she'll cast Cure Moderate. Do you need healing? Oh, yeah. Okay. I'm down 40. Wow. Is that right?

Mm-hmm. Della, you're back at full. Four. Awesome. Thank you. Baron, are you okay? I'd like a Moderate. Two.

Oh, no. Baron, you go up 12 hit points. So she's just laying hands on Della. And kind of like when she lays hands on you, Della, she it's as much of an embrace as you'll allow with this creepy looking half-orc woman. With no

pupils. With no pupils. Now her pupils are back now. I don't have pupils either. But she lays hands on you and is kind of trying to be motherly but she doesn't quite know because she gave you the bad news. And then with Baron, it's just a firm touch as she lays the hands on. She sees Lork giving her the dirty eye.

I'm assuming, Joe, you're giving me the dirty eye because you're doing Lork to Droja. Yeah, I'm doing Lork to Droja. You haven't done anything yet to earn the stink eye. I don't like the way you're looking at me. You haven't done anything yet to earn the stink eye from me. I like the way you look at me. She says, so I will, when you want me to, I will go and set up the meeting.

So what's, I want to, I'm worried about Umlo. Yeah. Can we, in good conscience, in good conscience, send him back to the bear pits? Ingrailed is just like, I don't know what to do. He's survived this long with her help, but for how long? And Rose is like, he's strong. He's a strong man, and he always told me that you would come save him.

He knew that you were alive once I cured him of his schizophrenia. I'm sure now, knowing that you're alive, he'll fight even harder, but one wrong move from these bears and he's dead. Is there no way to set him free? Setting him free means my death. I think there's a way that we can save all of us. If things go well, if you're diplomatic enough with this vile man,

perhaps things will be quelled for the time being. Perhaps you can get these orcs on your side. If it goes poorly, you may join Umlo in the bear pits. When I say we move quick, let's make this meeting as soon as possible. If we can spare Umlo the fight tonight, we do. If we can't, we don't. Either way, we have to make some sort of arrangement here to take the fort and get rid of Grinseldek. Umlo sits up, like starts to sit up

and kind of goes back down on his elbow. It's the first time you've seen him stir. He's like, I... I don't know what's going on, but if you need me to fight, I'll keep fighting. If it means saving me, if it means saving my sister, I'll keep fighting. If it means saving me, if it means saving my sister, I'll do it. And he goes back down to his back,

but his eyes are open now. You don't know how long he's been listening, but long enough. Droja leaves the tent. I ask him in. As she leaves, Lord follows her out of the tent, and he grabs her. Okay.

Kind of roughly. Like her cloth, not her skin, but like the cloth of her clothes. Her boob. He grabs her and he... My boob! No, he grabs her like from the back of her collar or something, and he pulls her close to him, and he goes into her ear, tusks out, you you know lower jaw exposed and he's just and

he's right up in her ear and he's just like i don't know where you pull where you get this clever trick that you pull on people making them think all kinds of dark crazy things but i'll tell you two things I've known a lot of murderers that lived by no curse. And he was my son. And he pushes her away and walks back into the tent. She just kind of watches you.

Doesn't break eye contact, backing away slowly, and then goes around the corner back to the western side of the wall where the sewer grate was. So she's walking along all those empty tents, you would assume, and then she gets to the bottom, bangs a left, and goes to the southern side of the moat. Fifteen, twenty minutes later,

maybe it feels like an eternity, she comes back. He has agreed to see you he is not pleased with your infiltration of the fort i'm sure that's not a surprise he is a powerful man He is a strangely pious man. Be careful. He is heavily guarded. Just good luck. I will go with you. I'll leave the dwarves here.

Ingrid says, no, I want to go with them. No, you stay. Watch after your brother. He won't like seeing a dwarf. Do you mean all the dwarves? Just Zumblo and Ingrid. I'm afraid I must insist that Beren come with us.

I, as we begin to leave, ask in Dwarvish, and I try to make it look as, ask in Dwarvish, and I try to make it look as much as a Dwarvish goodbye as possible. I ask in Dwarvish to Umlo if he trusts her. By Drogia? Yeah. Umlo looks at you and says, in Dwarvish, Dwarven, with my life.

With my life. That's good. Literally. He has. Dwarven, with my life. With my life. That's good. Literally. He has. Dwarven, goodbye. More like a true now hello. You guys exit the colorful, pelted tent. Bones of animals creaking like a wind chime as you're walking out.

Take a right. You walk past the sewer grate. I'm sure Lork left it looking like it's still in place. All these eerily empty tents still. You walk by. You turn the corner, and now you're on the southern side of the moat. Up ahead you see six, seven, eight orcs guarding a raised outcropping of a tent that's built directly into the wall of the fort itself. So not the log palisade, but like the wall of the fort itself

is a tent. If you look on your map, it's like middle south. You'll see it, sort of circular thing jutting out. Well, well, well. What have we got here? Androja says,

stand aside. Karguk knows they're coming, and he's decided to receive them peacefully. Oh, really? Oh, really, Droja? He's decided to receive them peacefully. General, you have some guests. And out walks this pockmarked beefy orc

with a cape and like a Skyrim horned helm. Oh, awesome. So, woman, you brought these infiltrators to me to talk, eh? All right.

We'll talk. He turns back into his flap. He's like, let them in. But take their weapons. We'll see you next week. Oh, no, no, no, don't take them. It just got new powers at once. Thanks for watching!