Last time on Crown of the Kobold King, Scarab woke up to a surprise visit from Blood Eye,
the leader of the Red Rocks.
He warned Scarab not to interfere with the creeds.
Later, the party met with the sheriff and started making plans to overthrow the creeds.
The group decided to speak to Blood Eye at his establishment, but first they gambled
and came out on top.
After the merriment, Blood Eye summoned Scarab to his office.
Our story continues now!
Blood Eye steps in front of you Scarab, puts a hand on the brass doorknob and gives it
a slow turn, and as the door squeaks open and he leans inward, he flashes you a dangerous
smile and gestures softly for you to enter.
After you.
It is a rather, not small, but compact office that has a very tasteful decor.
The floor is red velvet, the desk is a dark oak polished to a sheen that seems to reflect
the torchlight in the room.
Several hanging sconces made of a shimmering almost golden looking brass dance light across
the room, and above the desk is a rather grandiose chandelier, far too large for the space.
It barely fits in the office and takes up much of the ceiling space.
The walls themselves are made of a similar dark oak polished to a fine sheen, and between
the pillars are several bookshelves, laden with a number of medical texts and references.
The desk itself spots a green felt lining on its top, much like a card table of those
below.
After you enter, he shuts the door behind him before walking over to his desk, in front
of which are two rather large and comfy looking leather chairs.
Behind the desk is a swiveling chair made of the same polished oak.
He stops at a small cart near one of the bookshelves, with a large decanter full of a shimmering
brown liquid.
May I offer you a drink?
Please take a seat.
Yes please, whatever you got.
I like them spicy, I can take it.
He pours two small tumblers of this deep amber liquid before walking over to the side of
his desk, placing one down in front of you.
Do you take a seat?
Yes.
He places one in front of you, and he sits on the edge of his desk, crossing one leg
over the other.
You get the sense that this is a posturing, an obvious power play.
There's a cat.
Take me!
This man.
He takes a sip of his drink and just kind of stares at you, and even though you can
hear the dull throng of what's going on on the floor below, much of the sound is muted,
and so the two of you are sitting here in silence, only punctuated by the soft whistling
coming from his brass nose.
So when is it?
Do you bring me here to kill me?
Or because you don't want your workers to hear what you have to say?
Please, scarab right.
Yes!
Shabunga krizoa buffon dad!
The first!
Yes!
The very same.
No, scarab.
I shed no blood in this room.
I'm a man of business.
Thank goodness!
There are other rooms for that.
Scarab looks around for any doorways.
Any extra doorways.
You only see the one behind you.
What?
No, no.
You're here because I get the feeling that the message wasn't clear.
So allow me to elucidate.
Why are you here?
Good.
Thank you for asking.
Because I wish for no problems.
But I've noticed one.
Granted, things probably would have been fine had I not been taken personally.
You know, were you there when I was stripped from my own bed?
I had a good view from the window.
Gestures behind you and you can see a large set of almost like French double doors that
open up to a balcony.
Damn.
Outside.
And look, man.
I have no fears.
If I die, I die.
But between the two of us, I don't think that's what's meant for me.
No, there's more that I must do.
But I do see a town in which I frequent, or at least I was trying to, a town in distress.
And though they pay you, maybe first, by what I've gathered, you and I both know it's not
sustainable.
They're gonna suck this place dry and then what's left for you.
I wish to make this town and its consortium of which I disagree with.
What's to a lumber town if you cut every damn tree, what is the point?
That's a different story.
I think you should plant some more trees in their place, but that's something else.
The scarab scratches at the back of his neck and he pulls down on his sleeve.
Romeo persuasion.
Scarab turned into a hippie.
Growing trees on him.
Let's see here.
I respect that.
I'm not here.
Seventeen.
Not a big one.
You can see he starts to get agitated at the end of that.
Almost like he's saying some stuff that he doesn't truly believe in.
Yeah, something that just kind of came out of left field for him.
Yeah, yeah.
And though he may not believe in it, maybe some of these things might fall true.
Like, damn, what do you do without trees?
Come on, Orc, you dumb.
Kidding you, brother, they have a high intelligence higher than me.
I'm small, little brain.
Sets his glass down with a small tap on his desk before he slides off the corner, hands
behind his back, and he kind of walks around his desk back to the other side before pulling
out his chair and sitting down.
All transactions have a cost.
A price, if you will.
And let's be blunt.
Yes, I am in the pocket of the Lumber Consortium.
When the trees are gone, I imagine the town will dissipate and they will do as I have
done.
Seek their fortunes elsewhere, for there will always be more trees, more coin, and more
blood split between hands.
Evinc, what are your plans?
And where do you see me fitting in them?
Look bro, 100%.
You weren't even on my radar.
Far as I see it, this place is outskirts.
It's outside the wall.
Much like that manor.
You and I both know that the people inside these walls aren't being treated as fairly.
I want a place where I can sell and not be picked up.
Where some other cobalt comes in.
It's falling apart man.
And those people that pay you, have you met them face to face?
You don't need to tell me this or that, but I'm here with you face to face.
Have you ever met them face to face?
No.
My dealings with the consortium are circumstantial.
Let's say they have a problem.
I make the problem disappear, and then my pockets grow fat as a result.
And they make their money from the consortium as well?
Or a different pool?
From the number of course.
We are a resource to them.
Just a well waiting to go dry.
Look man, to be 100%.
To be so honest with you right now, you're gonna keep it a buck fifty.
Hundred.
No cap!
I was talking shit about you earlier.
Talking shit about your nose.
For real for real.
FRFR my friend.
Dang.
And it's because I'm worried.
I'm worried about my ability to be here.
And you come into my window at night.
That's a different story and I will put it in the past.
At the end of the day, there's no reason you can't still get paid.
My hundred, outside of telling you that I was talking shit, just recently about you
and your nose with my friends.
The other hundred is, there's no reason you shouldn't still get paid.
There are people, undesirable, that come into this town.
Those cobots?
Different than me.
We need people like you to take care of that shit.
So me and your own sheriff, don't get put behind bars.
Their focus for you is not for the town, it's for them.
They could care less about you or the town.
Your words are honeyed, young kobold.
I've been drinking.
You got good stuff here.
I'm surprised.
Tell me.
Do you think that this town could match the payment of the Lumber Consortium?
We got some friends.
The scurv's just drinking.
I got some friends over at the consortium.
There's no reason we shouldn't work things out.
I've got different ideas for this town.
Not that I should have any power.
Do you have friends at the consortium?
We have friends at the lumber camp.
At the lumber camp?
He's talking at his ass.
I can roll in deception.
I know a guy.
Totally.
Looks good.
31.
Oh yeah, I know a guy.
Big, big strong guy.
He's awesome.
He gives pause.
He seems to regardless for a moment.
And these undesirables, these kobolds, these nerdwells who wander into town, you say they
would need disposing of?
Anyone who would cause disruption.
Anyone?
Look.
And you?
I take it from great.
Well, maybe not great.
But General Fronzac of the Kobolds in the Hungry Mountains once said, you can do anything
you want in life.
Just don't be a fucking bitch.
And I take those words seriously.
And so did the men.
And what these people do is they make it harder for everyone else.
And I take that as being a bitch.
Don't persuasion.
It's a good song.
18.
He's swaying.
Small man.
Very small man.
Let's say that I believe you.
Let's say you swayed me to your cause.
What do you need of me?
What can I do for you to ensure this beautiful utopia you speak of?
Number one is the belief that it could be so.
Who's to say that that mansion that is outside of these walls makes the call whether or not
people here can live?
Who's to say these people you haven't even seen?
What I need from you is the belief that this town can keep working without some invisible
name behind it.
And perhaps some help if things get hairy.
I want to get in there.
I want to put a stop to this.
And I need all the help I can get.
You are getting to the part where you talk about what you need from me.
I need an inn.
We need those doors open so we can see the people who have yet to show their face to
you.
I like you, Scarab.
You've got some...pluck to you.
Let's say you remind me of...a younger, more ambitious me.
So you need a way in.
Well, first things first.
You'll find none of these faceless consortium thugs inside of Creed Manor.
No, there you'll just find the last remnants of a long-lost family clinging to the last
clutches of their pearls of power.
They have no consequence on my coin, aside from the fact that they hold the sole deed
to the woods surrounding here, i.e. the very rights the consortium has bought to work here.
If someone else were to hold those rights, well, let's just say it would be no blood
off of my beak.
Someone else supplying the consortium with woods changes very little, aside from how
that person chooses to treat the town.
Now, if you seek beyond that to cut out the consortium itself, well, I'm afraid that's
far bigger a plate than for you or me.
The power of this town should go to the consortium, and not the Creed family.
Interesting.
You know, originally when I found myself on your windowsill watching you squirm in your
sleep, the original idea was to send a message but the temptation, oh, the temptation, to
just slit that little throat helplessly there.
Well that would have ended a lot of problems for the Lumber Consortium.
You see, they are more a vacuum in the face of a loss of power.
But you are very interesting.
If, and this is a big if, you can replace that power, if you can replace the Creed's
with something else that endures cooperation with the consortium.
Well, then I don't see why we couldn't be friends.
At least for now.
Coin is not lost, but maybe to be gained.
And what better than a town with coin and people who aren't sick and poor?
We move the money, it goes forward, and you have the greatest living experience anyone
has had in Galarian.
We do things differently.
Screw their royalty, or whatever they have in their house.
They don't deserve this.
Alright Scarab, thanks for your time.
You have a deal, and he unfurls his green skin hand to you.
Scarab puts a large cobalt hand towards this man.
My red rocks.
You may have seen them stationed.
Along the walls, the snipers employed by Creed.
They are ultimately under my command.
But the time is right if you should find a way inside, past the walls and past the guard.
Perhaps there will be a slight delay in that change of shift.
Maybe then you can find another way inside.
And hear me, I wish for your men not to lose their lives.
Because this town, we'll still need them.
Is that understood?
He stands up from his chair, and with a devilish grin he gestures you towards the door.
Oh, I understand.
But fret not young Scarab.
Everything has a price.
These men who took their job, well they know.
And if anyone doesn't get the memo, well, blood will pay just fine.
Thank you, Squeaky.
Scarab puts a finger gun, throws a finger gun up at the man.
He pulls out an actual gun.
Put it down, put it down!
Alright, anything else for you?
Or are you going to make your way out?
I wish to go enjoy more festivities.
Thank you for your time and understanding.
Everything against you, or your people.
I just want a town I can sell in and have an honest night's sleep in.
You understand?
Oh, if there's anything I understand.
And he stands up, facing out towards the windows overlooking the town square, laces his hands
behind his back.
It's what a man with a need for coin needs most.
Good luck, Scarab.
I hope we do not meet again.
Best wishes for you and those tree cutters.
Have a nice day!
Scarab walks out to meet the others.
Oh yeah, nice job, Matthew.
That was good.
Pat ourselves on the dick real quick, I'm going to give you a pee pee for that, sir.
Thank you.
Oh, that was a bad throw, but you still almost got it.
And then I've got two more to hand out.
This is for last episode as well.
Bonaise, you get one for being real fucking lucky.
That was nuts.
Walking away with 20 plus gold on a 50-50 odds.
And Emma, this one is for you for making the pretty lady behind the bar blush.
That was fun.
Thank you.
And we got a bonus pee pee this up.
We're starting off with two great role play going through.
All right, moving on.
As you move your way back through, Scarab, anything you want to do on the way back to
the others or are you just going to head straight back to the table?
Oh, what an interesting question.
Exactly.
I'm so curious about these doors on the opposite side.
Is there anyone else around here?
It seems like at the moment there's still a few people around, but they're either busy
applying makeup or changing clothes.
They don't seem to be paying you any mind, but no, nobody directly around.
Scarab throws up a cloak and he just like he works here.
He just walks through.
And go walk to the door?
All right.
He's going to throw his head up and in a form of sneaking, try to just stay out of sight
and catch some vibes here.
Oot.
21.
Okay.
You don't feel any eyes on you.
You get to the door and you go to push through them and they are locked.
Damn.
And they are locked with a rather strange looking keyhole.
You think that it may be possible to pick it, but it would take time and someone of
great skill.
What the heck, man?
Why you gonna throw this at me?
Okay.
He's going to look at it.
Take it or leave it.
It's there.
Cards on the table.
Dang.
What?
He's getting all alone again.
He can't wait to be all alone again.
I don't have any picking tools or anything.
So he's going to shove on the door a little bit, make sure that it is in fact locked.
He'll walk back to his homies and if allowed, first thing he'll say when he sits down is
there's a weird door up there with kind of strange lock.
So here's all this.
They're on our side.
You called him squeaky.
And he didn't do shit.
Understand?
You got to find out where people are with you.
That's how Rootmore got out of it.
You made fun of him?
He didn't try to intimidate you.
No, no, no.
It's kind of, it's in the way that like a friend would.
I was trying to see if he was cool with me and at the end of it all, it is what it is.
Oh yes, I mean mercenaries.
Cause I'm not trying to run this town.
No.
But this dude, if he wants to get paid, he's going to have to put in the work as well.
He might get more work after all this is said and done, but he's got a team, you know?
Oh yes, oh yes.
So I had to make fun of him to see if he was strong enough to have a whole team and like
do it himself.
See if he wouldn't get upset at a silly joke.
He's fine.
You wouldn't be offended at all if you were an amputee and somebody was making amputee
jokes to your face.
Absolutely not, especially if the person saying it's really small.
Yeah, how do you feel now?
You're talking about yourself, right Scarra?
Of course, I'm like three feet tall.
Good, cause I'm medium sized.
I was about to get very upset.
How could you do that, make in front of someone's appearance?
I can't help that, that's very rude.
I made no mention about the amounts of hair you have on your head, Rude Maw.
There's no hair.
Clean as a whistle.
Yeah, clean.
Awesome.
Perfect.
All about the beard.
So what do you guys want to do now?
You're at the table here, show's still going.
Having a good time?
Any more gambling?
And you're heading out.
And, or you're heading out.
And and and and, or and, or and you're heading out.
You're going to gamble or you're going to gamble and leave?
I feel like we should travel out to the lumber camp.
Yeah, is that what you're feeling?
We have an ally, guaranteed, we just have to let him know.
Yeah, and go out and talk to Yalbrin.
Something I was definitely thinking, especially after talking to him, if we go to Yalbrin,
as far as, let me put you where Scarab's at.
Like this town runs off of the lumber.
Correct.
He should have a huge say in it.
And I know he's working for them as well.
Order of power here, the way it always goes, right?
You've got the people that actually produce the value and then you have the people that
quote unquote assume the risk.
And then they, like even though they're the ones collecting the lumber, it's lumber owned
by the Creeds because the Creeds have the deed and the consortium only profits because
the Creeds allow them to forest on their land.
So in effect, the loggers of the town are citizens of the town, but under the employee
of the consortium, which means they are under two thumbs simultaneously.
Yeah.
As well as the sheriff.
I think we should get the sheriff and heads of the consortium with the sheriff.
Sounds good.
Because it's one thing to like try to set up a coup against this town's micro government.
But like, what if we have the sheriff in the, they're there too.
I'm not saying we should give all power to the consortium and this man, but like, I don't
know.
I mean, the city council is better than some mansion.
Yeah.
What are you thinking on this, Monet?
I mean, I think we should go to the lumber consortium.
I think that's the next.
So the consortium itself does not have a, I mean, not the consortium, the, I think we
should, we should go to the lumber camps.
Yeah.
I feel like that's the most logical next step.
And do either you or Monet have any feelings on like the general direction that this should
go?
Yeah.
Just for full, for full party transparency, Scarab, if not obvious, he did come down.
He told you guys everything that was said and that like, I mean, makes sense.
This guy's, he and his people aren't necessarily going to storm the castle with us, but they
have our back.
Is that too, sorry to interrupt, but is there anything you want to omit from that?
Or is it full Scarab tells everything on the table?
Cause we do have to separate player and character.
Yeah.
I think he's fairly straightforward with it.
He just wants people to have his back.
Really?
And how do, so I guess then the question for you too is how do you feel about Scarab agreeing
to, to back the consortium in this case?
Innocence.
Yeah.
Scarab literally just wants the creeds.
He doesn't think they deserve shit.
That's like it.
As, as a merchant, not necessarily good guy stuff, not necessarily bad guy stuff.
It's just like, there's no reason that they should be running this.
Yeah.
Change of power without creating a vacuum.
Consortium still gets their lumber.
They still make money, which means they don't give a shit what happens.
And it's not like these, it's not like the blood rock gang is a rough housing people.
They're doing it for the, for the save the creeds and that sucks.
Like you should be protecting the town.
You should be the army.
If you ask me.
The consortium.
Have we met anybody in the consortium?
Payday.
It was payday.
Well, payday works.
So payday heads the lumber yard, but he works for the creeds.
Yeah.
He works for the creeds.
He's the money man.
If you owe money, he shows up and he collects.
He's not related.
No blood.
He's not part of the consortium.
He is strictly an employee of the creeds.
He ensures the creeds make money by ensuring that those who are supposed to be making money
for the consortium and by extension for the creeds are making money for the creeds.
Are there any representatives of the consortium here?
Uh, not that you know of.
There's no like consortium building.
You imagine that there's probably somebody that confers with the creeds periodically,
collects payments if they're not just straight up sent to them.
Right.
They're bigger than all this.
Way bigger.
They're a huge thing.
There's so they're, I believe, uh, and I correct me in the comments if I'm wrong, but like
there is a consortium for each of the trades that is essentially like a, uh, like a land
wide guild.
Do all roads lead to Absalom?
Absalom is like the main trade hub.
That's like one of the, one of the big ones.
There are others that are also big, but Absalom is like, you know, the crown jewel.
That's the big boy.
And so it's like sometimes they will have representatives or their overseers will be
members of the consortium or they will have political figures on a council that represent
their interests.
Think of like a corporate lobbyist.
Yeah.
So at the end of the day, it's a, it's a faceless thing.
It's a corporate entity, baby.
Yeah.
A company that makes money and they basically strong arm small logging operations into being
a part of them, offering like benefits and protection, heavier quotes, uh, in order to
guarantee that their trade is competitive and fair.
I think in the grand scheme of, of the world, it is one of those necessary evil type things,
a business that got too big.
I mean, that's probably the best they can get right now.
Cut out the middle man, which is preets.
That's the thing.
That's the stupid argument that happens in these things.
At the end of the day, if we have our way, I, if things happen the way that I see them,
the consortium may end up making a little less money.
Why?
Because the workers won't be dying under these conditions.
They may make less money, but in the long run, it will continue and they can do more.
It won't be as much upfront, but the people will live.
Something else you guys might've forgotten because it happened kind of early.
You remember the sheriff Belson told you the reason he smashed paid his face was because
he bought the acts and he had to buy the acts with log bucks.
I think we talked about, I think I called them log bucks.
Where is a horrible transition from gold to that, to buy it anyway.
And then he bought it and payday tried to collect the acts tax on him.
And this, these like log bucks or whatever are not consortium sanctioned.
This is a creed implementation to squeeze more money from people so that they can still
pay the consortium, you know, whatever fees or whatever they need to do while still collecting
a tidy sum from people who are already being squeezed by the consortium.
I'm still waiting for somebody to tell Monet that all of her extra winnings only go towards
drinks and plushies at the, at the establishment.
To cash those gold coins out into tickets that are only redeemable today.
Yeah.
Jacques remember bought like a bag of...
You have 420 beers today.
God damn it.
Jacques bought a bag of petals from payday with that money, I think.
I think I remember that too, a bag of rocks.
I don't know if he bought it from payday or payday just happened.
I don't remember if he was the one running the store or if he was just in the store.
I don't remember anybody else in the store.
Was that not a big boy at the, at the lumber shop?
Because that wasn't payday.
That was payday.
Payday was, I think payday was there.
Yeah.
Was he running?
I really don't remember.
I'm tripping.
There's nobody else.
That was like episode one or two.
That was real early.
Cause you guys hadn't even left town yet.
That was about episode five or six.
Okay.
Yeah.
When we were just, you guys were still just running around town at that point and left
yet?
No, we left early.
Yeah, we left and came back real quick, I think.
Okay.
So it might've been when you came back after the birds.
It might've been that one when we were talking about Monet and Rue Moore being introduced.
I don't remember.
It was real early either way, at least 20 something episodes ago.
We went out, we saw the wolves, big wolves, and then we left.
We came back to town.
We were like, maybe we should talk to people in town.
Yeah.
Okay.
So it was before the bird change, but that's right.
Gajok was the one who bought the pebbles.
So it was before the character swap.
Big ups to the birds.
Super early on.
You call it character swap.
I call it character death.
Potato, potat-o.
I call it potat-o.
Potato, tomato.
It's all the same.
Yeah.
You say tomato, I say tomato.
To the lumber camp?
Yeah.
It's about, at this point, we'll say it is early afternoon.
You're talking like one, two o'clock.
Still pretty early.
We had a good amount of time gambling and hanging out at this place.
That's something else to think about too.
We got the casino in the midday.
Had pretty good shows, good action.
There were a number, like a decent number of people here.
You can't help but wonder what this place has to be like at night.
Like when it's really thumping, especially end of the week when consortium is paying
out its payday for everybody.
You imagine this place is pretty happening.
Maybe.
We came here during the senior discounts.
Maybe there will even be more games later on during the week.
If you come back.
Oh, wonderful.
Homework for Cody.
Anyway, what the fuck are you all doing?
Get it together.
What are you doing?
Lumber.
Yes, the lumber camp.
It's right there or picking up Sheriff on the way.
I would like to bring the Sheriff.
Yeah, fuck it.
Sorry, Cody.
Not sorry.
I just want...
If I didn't want you to, I wouldn't have brought it up.
I want the town to be fucking connected in this.
And if they're not, then maybe we're doing the wrong thing.
But it does not seem like that's the case.
Okay.
So you pop by the Sheriff's office and I guess you're going to just tell them everything
that happened.
Hey man.
Yeah.
So this bot militia that's not of the town but is of the town.
They're cool with this.
We want to make things move.
Get that power out of the mansion's hands and into the town.
And the Sheriff is going to put a calloused hand on your shoulder and say, Scarab look,
I trust you.
I owe you my life in no small part.
But trusting a man like Bloodeye now, you should be careful.
He's a man whose only two modes of pressure.
Our pleasure through torture and through coin.
Trust me, I understand this.
Two things you should know.
I also like torture.
Number one, if he's getting paid, all things are good.
And I think at the end of the day, pay really just equates to being able to live and not
be in fear of that living.
So if he's allowed to live and his people work and protect the town, protection.
And number two, if things go south, I can leave.
I'm doing this for you.
But 50% chance I can just go.
Do you believe in this?
That's what I'm here for.
I believe in these people and I'm choosing to believe in you.
And I mean that.
Heck yeah.
I just hope I hope we don't do something that we can't undo.
What are the grades, witches?
That's good.
So what now?
I giggle because there's a chance that they could be like a thousand years old.
I would have no idea.
Why there hasn't been a witch in these parts in over 30 years.
Matter of fact, today's the anniversary.
Sorry.
Last time we saw the witch.
It's too good.
It's pretty obvious they're all hags.
Pretty obvious.
Nobody's seen them, hags.
That's where I was going next, Sheriff.
Have you ever met them?
Have you seen them face to face?
No, they make appearances here and there.
Okay.
They don't flaunt their wealth or assert their power.
Now Thuldrin, he likes to make a prominent point that he owns each and every person in
this town.
Most of the times he stays hiding away, but he's well guarded even when he decides to
venture out.
Don't tell him when that will be though.
That's something that's very curious.
Something I haven't thought about for a town like this.
Sure we have the high market.
Prices get boosted a little bit.
It's the only place you can buy food that isn't sort of rotting.
And it's in bulk.
You have to have a membership.
We all know this.
It's true.
It's how they make their money.
In all honesty, everything else is so cheap they're basically loss leaders to sucker you
in.
100% they just want you to buy there.
It's a smart model.
You should do something like that.
I gotta get a new cart.
That would help.
But...
This mansion, these people, their wealth.
They're not buying here are they?
No.
They must go to other towns.
Most likely.
I'm not saying you should add this to your plans of which we should infiltrate or, you
know, figure this whole mess out, but...
God, these guys suck.
Aye, I do have a plan to get you in the gate.
And even though I may not agree with your choice of allies, if Blood Eye can remove
the snipers from their nests, that will make getting in just that much easier.
At the very least, your old friend Colrin Javs has agreed you're to hide in a cart as a meat
delivery.
If you're able to hide in, you can at least get past the main gate.
Suppose a few pawns of grease extra well, then you'll probably make it as far as the
back door.
And now, at the very least, there's no worries of you being shot as soon as you get out.
Of course.
Next, we'll just need to find a way to actually get you in undetected.
Hmm, as far as that goes...
Ahhhh.
I've seen a few horses.
It usually brings carts this way.
Hmm, normally, depending on how much they order, assuming it's a bulk order, it would
be a cart drawn by maybe a small nag or a donkey, mule maybe.
Hopefully a large sized boar won't cause too much problems.
Well, it would be strange, but not completely out of the question.
Good.
Hmm, knowing who you are, you may even be able to drive the caravan in yourself.
If you could procure your own cart.
I think I've been pretty loud about how much I dislike these people.
You're right, it was a terrible idea I've been drinking.
Could be, but I think our friend Monet, she's got pretty good luck.
People seem to like her.
She could drive it in.
I only have one hand.
It's kind of funny.
I've never driven a cart.
It's just an idea.
Saviors have the town and all, but I don't think they want to see me.
I've been too vocal about this.
I'll say, especially if you've had a would-be assassin at your window and now bedfellows.
The friends.
Who knows, maybe I'll make friends with the creeds and they can just go away.
I'll make them go away by talking to them.
I've had a lot to drink.
I can tell if that's your line of thought.
We should go to the consortium and someone else should talk to the people.
In the lumber camps?
Scarabs walking towards the consortium.
No, Scarab, this way.
Stop him, he's heading down the salon.
Get him quickly, I've had too much to drink.
After you, my wobbly scaled friend.
All right, you see you guys make yourselves scarce here and known at the lumber camps.
Saved it.
That was a good save, dude.
That was an awesome save.
Maybe since we're already in town.
He just dove in and threw that ball to the next guy.
I'm sorry, what were you saying, Bob?
Maybe since we're already in town, we should go talk to Carthana in the Temple of Iomide
to see if he'll be...
Yeah, was there any...
Hell yeah.
There are other people in town too.
You could see...
I've been...
I've been to the temple of Iomide.
There's a tower.
Where?
To the bottom right.
There was a great tower along by the sea.
Have we not been there?
Stavros Tower we haven't been to.
Let's go to Stavros.
I would love for you to have us on your podcast, Stavros.
How stupid.
If Stavros Palkius had us on his podcast, it wouldn't last.
I still have no idea who that is.
He's the, he's Greek.
He's Greek, glasses.
Oh, he's the comedian.
Yeah, yeah.
Funny.
Very, very funny.
He is a very funny man.
I'd love to talk to him.
TBA.
But yes, good idea, Fee.
I'm so glad you brought that up because I wanted that to happen.
It's just, it wasn't going to happen with Scarab.
So yes, thousand percent down to talk to other people who on this map of this town.
Who are here also.
Have a letter number location.
That's all I'm talking about.
They could be good.
It could be helpful.
There it is.
Okay.
Yeah, I guess Scarab, you would be, well, you and the sheriff are the only ones who
would know that the tower at the southern edge of town, this like tall, twisted blackstone
tower, rather out of place and ominous compared to the rest of town, is home to Sharvaros
Vade.
Let me see a picture.
There is not one.
Unless, if I made a separate one, there's not one in the book.
Fee, let me work, let me, let me work this for you.
Do I know anything else about this Sharvaros Vade?
Does he show himself ever?
Ooh, there is a picture of Sharvaros Vade.
It's not flattering.
Damn.
So I'm not in love with him.
Unlikely.
Can this, can you make this picture smaller?
Do you just care about how people look or?
Yeah.
Typically.
What do you think we're married?
Oh, got the magnet in this tray.
Okay.
It's not very good looking.
I don't know.
If he took a bath, if he, you know, maybe didn't have his eyes open so wide and didn't
curl his lips as he spoke.
And I'm taking no offense, Cody, but that's kind of how I see myself in the mirror.
I thought you were going to say that's how I see you.
Cause you said take no offense.
No, no, no.
And yeah, I get what you're saying now, but I thought you were like, yeah, no offense,
Cody, but.
My own, uh.
I don't know.
I guess what I was saying was I'm not saying this as offense to me.
Like, oh, that's what I look like, Cody.
No, no, no.
I think that's my own.
My own brain is like, ah, I look like that.
You have a similar chin.
You have a much nicer nose and your forehead is nowhere near as long as this guy.
I feel like I have a long forehead, but thank you so much.
That's one of those things that you think that you have, but you have a normal forehead.
This guy's got a six head.
This guy, like literally this guy has, if I could count the wrinkles on his forehead.
Hold on.
Let's see.
One, two, three, four, five, six wrinkles going up his forehead.
He has a six head.
I can find that.
I can find six.
And also his hair is just straight slick back.
Anybody who is listening, feel free to Google Charvarose Vade.
And it's one of the first results in Google images.
He's not hurt.
Like he's not unfortunate looking.
He just looks like a old man.
Do I know any, does Scarab know anything about?
You know that he's an oddball in the town.
He rarely makes himself known.
If anything, he might go out to the market on occasion to buy things, usually by himself.
And if he does, it's a very rare thing.
Most often he will.
Has he ever bought anything from Scarab?
No, no, he doesn't.
He seemingly goes out for very specific things, mostly over to Jack and Apes to buy things
from the Alchemist or very rarely to buy provisions from the lower market.
But he is very rarely seen around town, mostly keeps to his tower, a bit of a hermit.
And the only weird thing you know about him is he does have a daughter who lives there
with him, but she is almost never seen outside of the tower.
She's been seen out of the tower a handful of times total and almost never during the
day.
Somebody makes Scarab tell them about this tower.
There's a rumor that you guys, when you were gathering information yesterday, you probably
would have picked up, not relevant to your thing, but you probably would have heard just
from people around town.
There's a rumor that his daughter is actually not even alive anymore, as she's most often
seen gazing from one of the many tower windows, but she is ghostly pale and looking out over
the town.
So some people think that Shavros might have murdered his daughter and that he hides this
fact.
Scarab says all of this to Monet as they walk, as they're walking to the lumber yard and
Monet looks towards the tower.
Scarab takes a moment and pauses and wonders if this might be of help to our entire town
situation.
You also know that he is a man who seems at least somewhat, I guess, arcanically would
not be a word, arcanely inclined.
He seems to be some kind of individual of, he is odd in the way of mystique.
So people speculate, very few know, and the only people who have ever or could have ever
been close to Shavros would have been his daughter, who people never see.
Him?
He's come to me once.
Of course, I didn't have what he wanted.
Only my shop carries weapons or armor or amulets.
Special things I find when I'm cave diving.
But him, I don't know what he does for the town.
Also you're welcome to, if you want to spend some time gathering information on that, you're
welcome to do that.
Whether now or in the future, I'm just throwing it out there.
Might as well, right?
Could be of help.
Spend like an hour or so gathering some rumors.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sure.
His daughter's a vampire.
Scared of him to spend his time looking for his daughter.
Where is she?
Uh, society.
Theodora.
I'm sorry, what'd you get?
Society.
Uh, for gathering information, yes.
I think you could also maybe make a case for diplomacy.
I would take that if you can.
Society be like if you're gathering little bits, diplomacy if you want to try to schmooze
with some people and see if you can coax them to give you some info.
Well, it's a two or a 12.
Okay.
Pretty bad.
I don't know that Monet has either of those things.
The bad rolls cometh.
Uh.
I mean, better now than in the room with blood eye.
13.
13, okay.
Okay, so society, nothing.
Diplomacy, nothing.
Okay.
You're not able to get a whole lot.
She does have underworld lore.
That has to do with criminology, right?
Monet just walks straight to the tower and is like, hey, who are you?
Yeah, I mean, that's what she would do.
Yeah, underworld lore.
Then I say you can do that.
You could just like go hang out around the tower if it's interesting to you.
Is, is like, yeah, like criminal gang, whatever.
You could have rolled that earlier on, on the Red Rock Guild.
Yeah, didn't think about it then.
That's okay.
Right now you can't.
Okay.
Monet's just going to go to the tower.
As they're, as they're walking towards the lumber camps and, and Scarab's just talking
about what he's heard.
And then.
So instead of heading north from the sheriff's office, you're just going to figure out.
She stops and then just turns as soon as she hears on arcane Lee inclined.
She's like, ah, magic this way.
And she will go there.
It's my turn to play the idiot, Amon.
Okay.
Oh yeah.
The two of you, when kind of asking around on the way there, aren't able to get much.
You hear the same rumor that like his daughter, if she's even still alive, some people think
that she's dead and that her, her ghost haunts the tower.
Other people say that a chavros slept with a corpse and produced like an undead, unholy
child.
E.
Um, other people swear that, uh, this, the tower itself is like mostly plain, but it
seems a tall thing, tall and spindly tower.
It's warped from time.
The stones have cracked and partially collapsed, so it tilts on an edge and the top of the
very Tim Burton looking tower.
And on the top of it on the parapets are a stone gargoyles that seem to guard it menacingly.
And one of the rumors you hear is that people swear the gargoyles change positions.
This man's normal.
You're about to walk into a dark souls boss fight.
No, this guy's so normal.
I can tell based on what everyone's saying.
I don't believe a single thing they're saying.
It's a building within the walls.
That's fine.
Okay.
Monet's going to walk up to the tower.
Is there a door?
There is.
Yeah.
That's a short stone staircase.
Just there's a door seven feet up short.
It's like three, four steps leading up to a small round stone edifice that then has
the large wood double doors.
Very like a count Dracula looking tower.
That'd be so awesome.
Monet is just character at stairs with Monet.
Monet is going to step up, kind of like jog up the steps and then lift her hand or her
fist, her stone fist to knock and then be like, and then lift her other hand.
That isn't made of stone or metal.
Metal.
That isn't made of metal and gently knock.
Gently click her tongue against you.
Okay.
You wait for a few moments and nothing happens.
She'll use her other fist.
And then much louder just donk, donk, donk.
And once again, nothing happens.
She's going to take a step back and look up at the tower.
Are there any windows?
Several on this tower.
They're just kind of like the small arched windows.
It would be difficult for somebody to get in and out of them.
You would think you'd have to turn sideways and just shut yourself out.
But yeah, they're like a bunch of small windows circling around this tower as it goes up.
What is the tower made of?
Old worn cracked stone.
Most of it is largely a very dark looking stone.
Just cracked and worn, lightly mossed over with lichen.
Are there like handholds?
It's old and craggy.
You might be able to try to climb.
Do you think a cat could climb it?
With stone, that might be a little tricky.
But I mean, cats can climb a lot of stuff.
A cat could try.
If it's worn shit, there might be handholds for a kitty.
I mean, even for a person, you've only got one hand.
Also, if you were, not saying you would, but if you have the ability to wild shape and
wild shape, I think you still have the iron hand.
Yeah, but like.
I'm just throwing it out there.
So don't turn into a small bird or anything because you're not going anywhere.
Someone free this.
You're not a druid.
I'm just throwing it out there.
I just want to know where you're going from.
Then we find out that Monet actually is multi classes of druid.
I know.
I get wild shaped the entire time.
Is there a ticket booth anywhere nearby?
I mean, you want a coin slot for the door, perhaps.
It's also.
You could keep knocking.
I mean, I think you should keep knocking.
Also, I mean, I'm I'm not trying to weigh you in a direction.
It's just there's multiple things you could do.
Could be there's nobody home.
So, yes, you can climb up to this window and you can hop in.
There's nobody home.
Are you breaking and entering?
Yes.
In a town that has rules with the sheriff standing right behind you.
Yeah, that's kind of a crime.
We're all there, right?
So did Monet just go off on her own?
Just hypothetically, if Monet were to have some sort of ability that would let her turn
into a cat, she would just have a human fist attached to her.
There would be a or a metal cat.
The gauntlet will not change is what I'm getting at.
So if you change in some way, shape or form, that gauntlet is on your thing.
But the gauntlet does shrink to the size of.
So she just correct.
She just have a tiny, tiny.
Yeah, because otherwise it's like otherwise you can just be like, I'm going to turn into
a fly.
I'm out of the gauntlet now.
And that's clever.
But it'd be a fly gauntlet, which might weigh more.
It would probably weigh more than the fly.
It will even though it will change size.
I think it's more dense.
I think magically.
So we're defying physics.
It does not change weight.
So yeah, I think it's a density.
I mean, I can, but now I feel like it's a waste to even have that.
Maybe you should go to the.
You still have three.
Come on, let it shrink down into a cat paw.
Cat paw.
Well, yeah, Cody said it would be a little cat gauntlet, but it still weighs.
It's still going to be a closed fist on the end of that cat arm.
Yeah, but.
But it wouldn't weigh the amount it would weigh as a human being though.
Unless it became more dense.
I don't know.
You roll for it?
Well, then can I change my thing?
Is there a way in town that we can get rid of your fist?
It's my fey influence.
Can we get rid of your fist?
Could you go into the doctor as a cat with a giant metal fist and be like, meh?
It's not like this thing weighs a million pounds either.
It's not.
It's a gauntlet.
Was there a weight?
I thought there was a weight.
When you said skinny windows, I'm like, oh, she just turned into a little cat and slither
on in there.
Totally.
Because she can turn into a cat.
And again.
If anything, it would put it would go against your roll, right?
Your climb roll.
Yeah, only a little bit.
It's not.
I'm not saying it's like you're going to turn into a cat and it's a lead weight holding
you to the ground.
It's like a minus one.
This is a gauntlet.
You're not being the only inhibition it gives you is not that it weighs more than a metal
glove.
It's the fact that it's basically fused shut with your hand inside.
So it's going to weigh what a gauntlet does proportionally to a cat.
To a cat, it would probably be heavy, but not like debilitatingly heavy.
What if the cat is Lilith sized?
Then then yeah, for that little squeaker.
Let her speak.
Lilith says that it's a good.
Okay, so you want to change into a cat, obviously.
And those are the tiny noises you make.
Because she was planning on yelling up to the windows, but her brain was moving too
fast and she was like thinking, I'll yell up to the windows and just say hello.
But as she was thinking that, she was also like, oh, I can turn into a cat.
So she turned into a cat and she's like.
In all fairness of separation from player and character, I have told you reasons that
it might not be a good idea, but this being a Monet thing, I'm not going to stop you.
I'm not stopping you.
This being a Monet thing, all of the possibilities should be known, but it should be allowed
to just like screw it.
Does the cat have a climb speed?
Bro.
Up until this very moment, I wasn't even sure if I'd be able to use my cat, so I don't know
yet.
And or do you have combat climber?
No.
Because if you get combat climber, you can climb with one hand.
Here's the thing.
I don't even I figured I was going to like have to do a climb check.
I didn't even think that I would make it up there because of like I was thinking that
she would still have metal cat paw.
But I but then the discussion of metal cat paw still weighing like a pound.
I was like, well, fuck, there's no point in her even turning into a cat ever.
No, that's not true.
I've seen you've seen cats haul away some heavies.
I saw a cat steal a whole chicken from a from a grocery store on a video.
I used to watch that was like every day before school when I was a little kid.
A chicken easily weighs as much if not more than a cat like and I've watched them walk
away with a whole one.
I've seen a kitchen or a kitchen.
I've seen a cat steal a duck from a Chinese restaurant.
On my South Texas, people know what the hell I'm talking about.
So that pause.
Tony with the spinny hat.
He was my he was my music teacher in real life.
Dog.
Somebody knows what I'm talking about.
Somebody out there.
Nobody at the table.
Somebody knows cat paws.
Cat paws.
It was like Zoom, but it was it was very localized.
Somebody knows what I'm talking about.
Hopefully my mother.
I'm so sorry.
I'm sorry.
All right.
What were you saying, Bob?
Yeah, Monet turns into a cat.
She's going to try and climb the wall.
How do you guys react to that?
Go ahead and roll me that climb jack.
Which you walk up to the tower, watch Monet knock daintily on the large doors, then bang
heavily on the large doors and then looking up at a window, turn it to a cat and turn
it to a cat, boop, boop a couple of times and then jump up to climb the wall.
Monet, you're a cat.
Why?
Very honest man.
What did you get on that check?
Sorry, I'm trying to.
Yeah, once per day.
You have cat like features and can appear like a mundane cat in pest form.
Cat only.
OK, so it's a spell pest form.
A cat would have a plus two to strength by the by.
What did you get on your normal check with your normal stats?
And then I'll just base it off of that with an adjustment for being a cat.
You were looking for athletics.
Athletics modifier minus four.
OK, nice.
Where?
On the cat thing?
Pest form.
Oh, pest form.
Yeah.
OK.
OK, so.
Nice job, Benmon.
That would be.
I ended up a cat animal companion.
I couldn't find cat.
It was just like lion.
And that that had the the pluses and minuses to base stats, but not the.
I have cat in pest form.
Twelve.
Twelve total.
That's with the minus four to your check plus your roll.
OK.
Twelve.
OK, you can dismiss the spell because I didn't even look that up.
I was just like, maybe I'm just cat now.
Once per day, you will forever be a cat.
Well, once per day.
I wasn't sure if it would just be like for the rest of the day, I'm a cat.
Yeah, I got you.
Why is it not a climb DC?
You know what?
It says requirements.
You have two hands free.
Yeah.
But you you're a cat right now.
You have technically three free.
So, yeah, I'll say you make the climb.
The two of you watch as your companion shifts into a cat leaping up onto the wall, sprawled
in seems to struggle with the front paw for a moment before doing this awkward shimmying
between the remaining three paws.
And you climb up 10 feet to the first window, just off to the left of the front door.
And you pull yourself up onto the ledge and you are now looking down into the foyer foyer
of this tower.
Scarab look at her tiny metal paw.
This is crazy.
Oh no.
She just meows down at you.
On the stopper interior of this building that I don't have a map for.
So you're just going to have to theater the mind it.
You can see from your perch to the right, you see the edge of the doors that you were
just standing on the other side of in front of that is a very long and thick red carpet
that has been worn by dust and time.
It is graded heavily on the walls.
You see several portraits, one of which depicts a it's well for you guys.
It's a picture of chavros.
There's a portrait of him, a large one on the wall, although you don't know what he
looks like.
So you just see a portrait of a man with greased back hair and a rather grim looking expression
on his face, very stern and serious.
And you can see what looks to be a hall at the end of this.
The room is like circular nature.
I'm sorry, I'm doing a terrible job of explaining this in order is a almost like a rotunda.
And as you follow the eastern most wall past the doors, you see that portrait on the wall.
You can also see several tapestries hanging from the wall that continues along until there
is a break as if it goes down a hallway.
Then the remainder of the wall on the northwest part of the room has another portrait, this
one of a rather young and pale looking girl whose skin is almost snow white and whose
hair is a platinum blonde, long and straight.
And she looks solemnly forward with her hands crossed.
And then just beyond that, you can see on your left a staircase that seems to spiral
upwards.
Can she climb more on the outside to look in other windows?
If you'd like to try?
Yeah.
Ritmore sees a kitty cat coming out of the window and he runs under it.
Careful.
Holding her hands up for a pick.
Preparing to catch.
Yes.
Because he sees a little paw just like, tink, tink, against the wall.
That's a 27.
Beautiful.
Oh, shit.
Yep.
So you have to climb up and over a bit until you reach another window, much less to see
here.
You are now following the circular staircase.
And so you can just see into the stairwell.
Not much to see here.
You can see to your left goes up, to your right goes back down.
Is there more?
Yeah, you can keep going.
You're 20 feet up right now.
Natural one.
For a total of?
For a total of nine.
Okay.
Not, not a quick fail.
You leap from your spot on the window to grab onto the wall again and your metal paw slips
on the rock and you feel like you begin to fall, but you catch yourself and instead you
just remain in place hanging onto the wall.
Rue Moore begins to sweat.
Slowly circling this.
Oh, they all catch you, but keep your claws inside.
Just like meows down, like flopping her little metal paw.
You're like a firefighter and you're just circling around the bottom of this thing.
Okay.
Give me another, if you want to go again.
Yep.
13.
Okay.
You make your way after finding your footing all the way up to another window.
And as you reach the edge of it, still a bit shaken by your near miss, you pull yourself
up and you are greeted by a face.
There is a small girl, no more than maybe eight or nine.
And her skin is ghostly pale.
Her lips a twinge of blue and pink and her eyes are wide and blue is a clear lake.
She has long platinum blonde hair that falls on either side of her face parted in the middle.
And she seems surprised at first, but then immediately delighted.
Oh, hello you.
What's that you making all the noise on the wall?
When they will meow, just like, like, like she's trying to talk.
And she immediately just like a kid just starts as a kid, starts petting you and touching
you and she just seems thrilled that you're here.
What happened to you poor little one?
Will you hurt?
Monet responds.
Her expression shifts from surprise and glee to more of a somber expression.
You shouldn't be here.
Father doesn't like visitors.
She questions.
Are you hungry?
Her expression changes to joy again and she scoops you up.
She picks you up from your perch on the window and she cradles you and she begins throwing
you out the window.
She begins to walk back down the staircase with you in tow.
Can't have you climbing back down again.
You might fall.
I'll just get you a quick snack.
Father won't mind.
And then it's off you go.
You are being carried.
The rest of you from outside you see Monet disappear through a window.
Oh, this is great.
Monet, you are led down the stairs before she turns to the left down that hallway that
you could barely make out before.
And as you go through, there's two hallways going on either side and she takes an immediate
veer to the right.
And as she leads you that way, you can see behind you the rest of the hallway going the
opposite direction, which seems to very shortly just go to his left.
And then it looks like there is a rather ominous looking archway that leads downstairs.
And there is while there's lighting throughout the hall, there is no lighting on that door
and it seems dark and menacing.
She leads you down the hall, cradling you as she goes.
And she's kind of like, it's worth fawning over you and Monet makes biscuits.
Well, biscuit.
Just the one biscuit.
The other one just thunks lightly.
She leads you into the kitchen and she sets you on a counter before opening up the larder.
I think we have some somewhere maybe.
And she's kind of rummaging around.
She has to stretch a little bit and almost drops a few things before she produces a small
bottle of what appears to be chilled milk and a dried fish.
And she puts a small saucer on the counter next to you, pours out a little bit of milk
and then offers the fish.
Yeah, Monet will eat it.
And as you do, she kind of like rests her her little head on her hands, resting her
elbows on the counter, just staring at you.
And she seems like in this kind of trance of like childlike wonder, just like watching
you be.
It's like, well, let's do a sense motive.
What's your modifier for perception?
For perception?
Plus nine.
You have the feeling that she doesn't see many living things.
Like this is new-ish for her, exciting to see something moving around.
Father never let me have any animals.
Said that he was all the company I'd need.
I wish you could stay.
It's ever so lonely.
Monet will stop eating.
And she'll sit down and stare at the girl.
And she'll nod.
It's almost like you understood me for a moment.
She'll nod again.
You can understand me.
And again.
Are you magic?
She'll nod again.
Father does magic.
Lots of magic.
Will you be my friend?
Oh, but you can't stay.
I want you to stay, but you can't.
Father will get so angry, ever so angry.
What's around in the kitchen?
Not a whole lot.
It's rather plain.
There's not even really anywhere to sit and eat.
It seems very bare bones, very spartan.
It's just the larder, an area for preparation, and then like a small area for cookware, it
seems like.
Is there like a large pot?
Yeah.
Yeah, I think so.
Hanging up behind her along the wall, there's a rack with several cooking implements.
Is there like, is there a shelf below those maybe?
Is there something that Monet can hide behind?
Not really.
Well, hmm.
Like a curtain or like in cat form?
In cat form.
You could probably slink behind the cookware shelf.
It's more like a rack with a bunch of hanging pots.
So while you might not be like completely concealed, you'd be obscured for sure.
Really this is just for Monet trying to communicate with the child as a cat.
Okay.
Late on me.
So Monet would like to stand up, lift a paw like this, like, hold on.
And then she's going to turn around and look for something to like hide behind.
Go away behind.
So she will turn, see like one of those pots or whatever.
Or is there a window in here?
There is.
Yeah, so Monet will meow at her, like turn, look at the window, meow at her and just give
her like another nod.
She'll hop into the window and kind of like walk out onto the ledge and then peek back
in and then come back in.
Basically saying like she can leave and she can come back.
I'll take nature.
Okay.
I think we'll go on that and see if you can cat gesture well enough to get the point across.
A 12.
Okay.
We're not talking crazy or DC's here.
So you can hide.
You'll have to be better than before.
I found you in the window.
But well, I want a friend.
I really do.
Father says that people won't like me.
They won't understand.
Father says that people are scary and that it's dangerous out there.
But maybe it'll just be our little secret.
Monet will talk her head in confusion.
You can keep a secret.
Can't you?
Monet will nod.
My name's Savram.
What's your name?
Brr?
I'm gonna call you.
Brr?
I'll call you.
I'll call you Tintin.
Because of your glove.
Do you like it?
Monet will nod.
Oh, I'm so happy Tintin.
I can feel like we're gonna be the best of friends.
I know it.
But you have to go.
Monet will nod.
Bye.
I'll see you later Tintin.
Picks up a bar and waves it.
Monet will go into the window and look down and just kind of like meow.
You can hear from somewhere far off in the tower.
Savram!
Who are you talking to?
You have to go.
Bye friend.
I'll see you soon.
Savram!
Uh yeah, Monet will.
Coming father!
Does she see Roomer?
You're on the back part of the tower now.
Okay.
You're only 10 feet up.
I'm only 10 feet up?
Yeah.
Probably a little less.
Probably like 8.
Yeah, she'll just jump.
When you back down the stairs, first floor, you're only up as high as the 4 or 5 steps
or whatever.
Plus a little height for the window.
Yeah, she'll just jump down.
Do the cat thing run down the wall.
And she has cat fall.
Trip on the metal arm, face first into the ground.
20 points of damage.
I don't have it here.
No, you're okay.
It's everything over 5.
You take cat fall, you treat cat fall as if it's 10 less.
So yeah, you just nimbly slam face first into the ground.
I'm sorry.
No, you get down.
No problem.
Do you want to walk back around the tower?
Yeah.
I'm going to stand at the rest of you.
You see her disappear for a minute.
And then after a few moments of being left worried, afraid, angry, confused, a little
full, you see her come around the corner.
Cat!
Monet!
What's happening?
Are you a witch?
I don't speak cat!
I'm a cat!
Umm, I'm a cat.
Umm, Monet will turn back into a Kyle.
Sorry.
Bloody boiling.
That was pretty cool.
What did you see in there?
I met a little girl.
Her dad doesn't seem very nice.
The ghost?
She's not a ghost!
She was holding me.
She gave me fish and milk.
I didn't drink any of the milk.
But I did have some fish.
That was nice.
Her dad sounded angry though.
She was saying that...
She said some things.
She said her name...
Savrin?
She named me Tintin?
Savrin. R-A-M.
Savrin.
And her dad's not nice.
I didn't meet him.
But she said...
That she wants a friend.
But that father says people won't like her.
Understand.
And that I couldn't be there.
And that her father does magic.
She seemed surprised to see me.
I guess...
I did turn into a cat.
So most people would probably be surprised to see me as a cat.
I mean that sucks for her and all.
But we've got bigger problems.
I don't know how this is relevant.
I know. I just wonder what the hell she has to do with this whole...
Yeah, I know there's something obviously.
But like on surface level it's like...
I think too far in. I skip beats.
Yeah, it is important to also remember that...
While things are normally presented to you in a game sense...
Then it's like this is a thing and pertinent.
It's also important to remember that this is a world.
And there exist things whether or not they're...
No, but as a person playing in the world this is our one chance to find out what it is.
Unlock all the quests!
Who knows maybe some other playthrough we pass by this town and find out what the girl in the tower is about.
That's impossible.
Beauty of Pathfinder, baby.
This game is what you make of it.
She seemed sad that I had to go.
Scarab wonders what does the tower provide to this town.
He's assuming that the mansion on the outskirts has made this town every little bit of it worth something.
They can only imagine.
What's the wizard bring to the mansion?
And I guess we...
I don't know.
Is it a gold lighthouse?
No, it doesn't seem like it.
It seems like the top and it's not rigged up to be a lighthouse.
It taps off in a crooked old roof that's surrounded by gargoyle statues.
It's literally the opposite end of the town.
Is he just the oldest squatter?
Are they just waiting for that dude to die?
What's the deal?
You're not really sure.
You guys, you've only even scarab as much as you've been here.
You only know the rumors.
He doesn't interact with people.
He keeps to himself.
And I mean, even the manor itself, like that was the home to whoever the ruling member of the founding families was.
But even they acted as like...
Not even by the creeds?
No, they even acted as like a pseudo council once upon a time until one of them lost their lives during the Goblin blood war.
And then...
See, that's the thing.
I think we got to bring the council back.
Another of them had been killed in a riot before the the Hag rebellion.
And so they just kind of died off.
And now the only ones in the manor are the creeds.
I wonder if he knows anything about the Hag.
This little girl is a Hag.
You think so?
Yes.
Daughter of a Hag?
Yeah, daughter of a Hag or a Hag.
She just doesn't know it.
She doesn't understand what she is.
How old is she?
How long has she been this age?
Type beat.
I don't know.
She looked like she was like eight, is what Coyote said.
Eight or nine, yeah.
And I don't remember if you said any things about how long she's been a little girl.
The building doesn't match the rest of the town.
It's been here longer than the town.
Yeah, this is clearly...
I don't know.
For me, Matthew, it's definitely intriguing.
I don't know how...
I don't know if it would touch Scarab.
But like...
As far as the whole Hag Wars things go...
I feel like this weirdo might have the info.
That was also the tragic thing about that whole ordeal.
So there was the whole point with Ulys Milla, which you guys bumped into the remnants of her rotted cottage in the woods, right?
Ulys Milla at one point had waged war against the town, and that was the Hag Wars.
Or it might have been called something else.
Forgive me.
Did they do it from the outside?
They ultimately...
We're assuming?
So there was a whole slew of bad things that happened that came from that.
There were...
Apparently, the Hag's introduced something known as the Attic Wanderer
that basically would creep into people's homes and steal their children.
Eww.
Real bad.
Attic Wanderer? Eww.
And they were losing the battle, because a battle against magic is not your standard,
let's send and fight the evil.
This shit comes from the shadows and wisps you away, and you don't even know they're gone until it's too late.
And so ultimately, the town realizing that they faced potential destruction by losing their youth
sought peace with Ulys Milla, and the only way they were able to barter peace,
and Scarab, you know this, we talked about this briefly,
is that one of the founding families offered their son to marry a daughter of Ulys Milla.
And it is from this marriage that gave the town peace
that the town began to fester with horrible rumors that that entire family had become horrid feyfolk or Hag people.
And this led to the Hag Rebellion, which caused the town to kill one of the founding families.
So two of the three families-
As far as we know, Hag's, we don't know if they're- we don't have a sheet with their faces crossed off.
No, we don't.
As far as you know, Ulys Milla is still alive, although not in her hut any longer.
Aw, it's super obvious.
Creed's are Hag's, this little girl's a Hag, she doesn't know it.
But this, the Ulys Milla, is it them, or is it the other Hag's?
So Ulys Milla was the Hag.
She had innumerable, they say, innumerable daughters.
And that's the thing-
So they themselves were Hag's.
Are all the daughters gone? Are they the remnants?
Did they want to just defect from their mother?
What is this town?
It's a town that's not had an easy time.
Again, even though the Creed's are in control, the Creed's, you know, are-
Clearly can't be trusted.
The understanding is real bad, but remember that there were three founding families,
one of which ended up marrying two of the Hag's and then burned for being a Hag.
The second one, Goblin Blood War, that happened, that affected a lot of places.
That person got shot in the back by a hobgoblin.
Although, and I mentioned this before and you'll remember,
somebody said that the bolt that had pierced the back of the last surviving member of that family
looked suspiciously like a bolt of the Creed family,
as if they saw a moment to take power and seized it,
because they went from three to two families and then from two to one.
Which, of course, and as I feel, sorry bros, you got caught.
You got caught!
I love hearing this though.
Damn, it's, yeah, it's just crazy.
I love witches and the idea that like this could all still be underhand by witches and we,
like, the hell do we know?
One way or the other.
It's not like every person we talk to is touched by witch magic.
No, they just all have-
Necessarily.
They just all have the tickles.
Or is it the twinkles? Sorry.
Twinkles, yeah.
I almost forgot my-
Have we, uh, has that seemed about the same?
Oh yeah, you still, even earlier when you were going out gathering rumors,
you still heard people maybe speculating that
Shavros had placed a curse on the town causing the twinkles.
Yeah, right.
Does it feel like people are more sick?
It's like, ah.
Like more people are sick or does it feel like it's dying down?
Uh, no, it seems about the same.
Yeah, Monet, I think we need to-
And that too, you haven't, um-
Tying that in, I feel like that's more reason to be like,
okay, maybe Shavros Tower is the way to go.
You also haven't been back to, um, Jack and Apes to talk to, uh,
oh my gosh, what's her name?
See how the-
To, uh-
How the cure works?
Uh, Laurel Gabri to see, you know,
she was the one who asked you guys for the mushrooms for the cure
for something that's affecting people,
then you guys name that thing the twinkles.
Yeah.
Um, but yeah, the town has had mysterious illnesses, uh,
and it seems like not only are the symptoms unlinked to specific diseases,
you know, normally it'd be like, oh, well you have, you know,
oh, you've got the chills, you've got aches, you've got a fever.
It's like, oh, you've got this.
And in this one it's like, well, you've got this and this,
but you don't have this and you have this and this,
but you don't have that.
And so people have been showing up with strange symptoms
and they have not been able to treat any disease per se,
only the symptoms.
Uh, and that hasn't gotten much better.
Granted, it's only been, what, two days since you talked,
so it's not like, you know,
it's not like everybody's at a commission or anything like that.
It's still the same amount of-
See, I totally forgot that, but if you would allow, yeah, if-
I guess Scarab would have been the only one that heard that
about Shavar's Tower and them rumoring that to be the connection of the Twinkles.
It is also funny to think about the idea that like,
you know, people were talking about people getting sick.
The only thing that spiked up more is the reference Twinkles.
People are now, everybody's calling it the Twinkles.
Yeah, but regardless, this thing is still about-
Yeah.
It's not, wasn't just a passing thing a few days ago.
It's still here the week that we've been here.
Yeah.
It's not about this.
But the law-
It's been a long ass week.
Mm-hmm.
To think a sickness would start on a Monday and still be here by Saturday.
That's crazy.
But no, because I totally forgot, but now that totally rings a bell.
Monet coming back, Scarab would bring up that people have blamed the sickness on him,
but there's no evidence one way or the other.
No, not that you know of.
They're just throwing the name out and the fact that it's his tower.
And he's like, yeah, that it is kind of weird.
And Scarab in these recent talks would be like, what does his tower bring to this town?
What the hell is going on?
It's really hard to know when, you know, separating fact from fiction.
All you really know is that there's a man with his daughter who live in a tower
and they don't come out.
So how true are rumors of what people will make of that?
Oh, he's cursing the town or oh, he slept with a corpse
or his daughter's a ghost that he murdered long ago.
It seems weird that the creeds and that's the only reason this is super weird
is that the creeds being who they are and who they've shown themselves to be
in the small amount of time, why are they allowing him to stay here?
Yeah.
Well, you know, you never know.
If it could be he pays a tithe to them, it could be that maybe they don't want to deal with a magic man.
It sounds that he's of an arcane inclination means that maybe he's more powerful than the creeds want to deal with,
especially for a man that wants to keep to himself.
It seems that sometimes maybe it's just better enough to leave well enough alone.
Perhaps he's tied to his daughter and his daughter is the reason for the sickness.
And he has no choice one way or the other.
Mm hmm.
I was laughing 10 minutes ago just because it sounds like me in my house
and a group of adventurers comes to my house.
What's your deal? You never come outside. It's weird.
It's basically what happened.
Basically what happened.
Just let me live my life.
You just lived that right now.
You have a sign.
When I moved here, it was much smaller. Things were simpler. You were in my way.
Looking up now, actually next to the door, there's a little sign that says no solicitation. Don't make it weird.
Yeah.
And yeah.
Now all these kids with motorcycles drive up and down the road.
Fucking.
Yeah.
They wanted to race their horses on my street.
You want to have a conversation within 10 blocks? Fuck you.
Yeah. Scarab is.
Scarab is 100 percent on board to go back there.
Yeah. Monet wants to also because she wants to help the little girl.
Does Monet feel one way or the other with all of this info?
Because Scarab's not afraid to say everything that he knows.
So whatever he heard before, you guys know now.
And he does think, oh, yeah, like with what you guys have said, assuming your characters said that, there's a big chance that her blood is tied into all of this.
That's interesting as hell.
I don't know that Monet would have any thoughts on that.
I do think that she would think a powerful, potentially wizard would be of use to us.
For damn sure. Yeah.
That's definitely.
Scarab is looking at the map of this place and he's just looking at points of power.
And if any of these want to take hold and just be a strong point of power against this one guy that's outside of the walls, then yes.
And this tower could be a great point of power.
Yeah, I'm just curious if he's a bad guy or not. I ain't trying to trying to work for no absolute sleazes.
Homeboys at the gambling ring, they're just getting paid.
They're going to do what they as long as they get paid, they're doing like good or bad, whatever.
But you can pay them for good and they're going to do good.
Now, Tower Man, we don't know what his deal is. Spooky.
I'm way into figuring that out. I'm interested.
Yeah. So what are we doing?
OK, yeah, we should continue to the to the lumber yard.
Sounds good. But definitely, definitely want to keep.
OK, I'm just curious if like going back up there as a cat is the way to go or if there's some way to get in there.
As ourselves, Monet being a cat would be a way to get in there.
She won't be able to do it again today. Yeah, for sure.
I figured this is like getting the first window. This is like an unlock the front door.
Exactly. Getting the getting the first window, go inside, turn into Monet and open the door.
We just jump this guy. We just fucking break in.
Just break the hell in. Just tackle him, tie him up.
Monet goes in there calling the girl's name.
Saveram. It's tinting.
Tink, tink, tink.
It's either that or just hang out until he eventually has to come out.
Was she scared of her dad or she was scared of us to her dad?
She seemed kind of scared for her dad to find Monet.
She was scared for us. For you. Yeah.
And that's all the time we have for this week.
What? Am I?
No! It kicked me out again!
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On YouTube, we got a comment on our Baldur's Gate playthrough by Nurse Ratchet.
Hey Ratchet. They said, I like how you brought back this group.
The Orcs. Oh yeah, that was so good. Probably talking about the Call of the Expanse group that we played as.
Fun campaign, fun characters. Glad we got to use them again.
Pretty good group of Orcs.
And maybe, heavy, heavy maybe, we'll get to see them again at some point.
Big heavy maybe. Hope he can hold it.
Yeah, I'd like to continue playing this game.
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That's really the reason we started this whole show. Just to make M.O.D. happy.
And now he's crying.
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I experience constant white guilt even when it's not about race.
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I'm trying not to be white anymore, but it's not working.
I just burned.
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
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And cut.
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Bye. Thank you. Bye bye.
First try.
I rolled a four.
I mean, a climb is a DC 10, right?
I have to look this up every fucking time because I'm a bad DM.
I also just spelled climb with an E because I'm a fucking idiot who's been drinking.
Clem-y. Cleam.
No B. It was just C-L-I-M-E.
Climb.