Fry's
Last time you were playing, y'all had a bombshell dropped on you when you faced what you thought
was the Kobold King Merlocrep.
After you defeated them in single combat, you instead find that they were an imposter.
The Kobold Queen?
Not the Kobold Queen, the court magician Jekka Jack.
Which, yeah, just a sorcerer.
Who informed you that unbeknownst to apparently everyone else, that the king had absconded
further into the dungeon, retreating deep below, further into the crag, and leaving
her to imitate his presence in his place.
After defeating her, you quickly wound her up in a sort of yarn ball situation in which
you couldn't move, and then interrogated her, and then you sent her about her merry way.
And yeah, here you are.
Still in the throne room.
To the east there appear to be two chambers, one that splits off a little more in the southern
direction and another that goes in the more northern direction.
The southern of the two caves has a beaded curtain and a warm glow coming from beyond
it, and the one to the north is a very dark tunnel that seems to emanate some kind of
ominous energy.
An energy, you say?
Is it a light?
Is it colored?
More like a feeling.
You get the heebie-jeebies looking that way.
Don't like the heebie-jeebies.
Rudemore, I think there's something down that way.
Quickly, check this other.
Check the other direction.
You first!
Rudemore's gonna walk up to the fork and just peek left and right to see if there's anything
else we can see.
So to your left is that northern passage, which seems to be rather dark.
You can see almost like a faint reddish glow coming from deep within a long and narrow
hallway.
And then the one on your right, the southernmost chamber, you can't see much further than
where that line currently is.
There's a beaded curtain that softly sways and tinkles, and there's a warm golden light
coming from the other side of it.
Could Skirrib hear anything?
Through focusing on the other direction with the beaded curtain.
Okay, so focusing to the right.
Give me a perception check.
Let's see.
Massive.
24?
Wow.
That's big.
It sounds like there's someone or something in there.
You can hear something that almost sounds like rummaging.
The soft tinkling of like maybe metals tapping against each other.
You can hear the rustling of fabric.
Something going on in that room for sure.
The witch's room!
Yeah, as Rudemore is like walking past Skirrib will quietly shout to him, Rudemore, someone's
in here, quietly shouting.
The spot with the curtain in front, that's the north passageway?
No, it's the south.
Yeah.
I wanna go south!
The shorter of the two passageways widens up to a beaded curtain.
Rudemore's gonna tiptoe up to it.
Monet is close behind.
No!
Hovering over his shoulders with her hands because she's excited.
As you move a bit closer it becomes a little easier to see.
The first thing you notice is the beaded curtain itself appears to have been made from small
fragments of that same obsidian stone that you've been seeing around down here.
Not unlike the polished discs or the obsidian statue of Droskar very early on at the beginning
of this floor.
Same chips of it kind of woven together loosely with fibrous... fiber, for lack of a better
word.
Form this beaded curtain.
You can kind of vaguely see through it now as you're getting closer, although it's kind
of hard to make out details with its obfuscation.
But behind it you can kind of make out a small bluish looking figure that seems to be hurriedly
moving around the room and kind of like returning to the same spot.
So it's like moving to a spot.
It seems to be doing something a little rummaging.
You can hear again the tinkling of metal, the ruffling of cloth, and then moving back
to that spot and then to another.
It seems somewhat frantic but also measured in calm in its motions.
Only Gretra in the room?
From what you can see from behind the curtain.
Lady Vragma, whatever her name is, I don't remember.
Vragma!
Vregma!
I have V-R-G-G-M-A.
Well you're missing some vowels.
Two E's.
V-R-E-G-G-M-A.
Just wait a minute, I figured that would be one.
Ritmar will push the curtain out of the way with his hammer.
Get a better look at this person.
And Monet will push the top of the curtain away with her fist.
Metal fist.
I'm gonna hold on, I'm polygon revealing around the text that just happened to be there
perfectly.
No hasty moves, Ritmar.
So dark.
Was that Emon?
Somebody wrote it just in the dark.
Okay.
So dark.
As you pull back the beaded curtain, immediately your senses are assaulted by a thick perfumed
smoke that fills the top part of the room.
Looking around you can see a stack of old mold ridden incense.
Some of them are a light that are letting off this wafty thick perfumed smoke that is
filling the top of the chamber.
It gives the room a sense of warm calm.
And as you look around the room you can see a large wolfskin bed on the far side of it.
It's a very, well, you imagine it would have been a rather regal looking room given the
environment.
For a cobalt room it would be the most regal looking.
There are several haphazardly made shelves and dressers and such that all seem to have
had their drawers removed.
Everything looks almost like it's been ransacked.
There are several shoddily made jewelry holders that are knocked over and devoid of whatever
glistening prize would have been displayed on them.
And in the middle of the room you see this blue cobalt that is hunched over a small trunk.
She doesn't seem to notice you at first and she's kind of moving throughout the room and
grabbing things and placing them.
She looks like she's packing.
And from what you can see from your view of her from behind, she is a little tall for
a cobalt.
Not by much, but tall by cobalt standards.
And she has these bright azure glistening blue scales and she has golden accents both
in her scale work and then also adorned with jewelry and some modifications like golden
inlay.
And then there's a moment as she's moving around that she turns to grab something and
she sees you, Rootmore and Monet, holding open the curtain.
And there's a moment where it looks like she's surprised, but she doesn't jump.
She just her eyebrows raise for a moment and then they fall to a sort of discerning look
like she's kind of sizing you up for a moment.
Good evening, blue one.
My name is Rootmore Redmayne.
Your captors are slain.
Captors were slain.
I'm Monet.
Yes, this is Monet.
Are you a prisoner here?
Well, don't just stand there.
Come in.
You're letting out the smoke.
It's giving me a headache.
Rootmore steps in.
Monet follows closely behind.
I'll go into more of it.
Monet is doing that thing when you walk behind someone and you follow their footsteps.
You know what I mean?
So like you take a step and she puts you.
Oh, just right on the heel?
At any moment she could step on your.
Scarab is going to hop off of Tricky, leaving Tricky in the hall.
And he's going to mask up as he walks into this room.
Yeah, Monet is going to wave her fist around with the smoke.
You need some better ventilation in here.
Hard to find in a cave, my dear.
So what's going on in here?
You seem like you're in a hurry.
Well, seeing as how you've worked your way through our lair and slaughtered our finest
warriors, I thought it would be pertinent to leave.
Are you the lady?
Lady Vrygma.
Scarab?
The so-called Kobold Queen, as it were.
Scarab, it's her.
Look.
Yes, yes, Rootmore.
Vrygma, is it?
I am Scarab, Chancellor of the Hungry Mountains of the Kobold King.
You seem to be digging for strange stones.
Might I, as a representative of my king, ask you why you're digging in these caves?
Strange stones.
Do you mean these?
And she turns around and gestures.
And there's kind of like this collection along the back wall of the self-same, polished,
rounded obsidian in a sort of like a haphazard menagerie forming a mirror on the wall.
It's currently incomplete.
And as you say so, she gestures towards them and approaches them slowly and gives one a
like a caress, admiring her reflection in them as they go before she turns back.
They are ultimately meaningless.
A gift from my husband.
Something to occupy my time while I'm here.
Sense motive on them being meaningless?
Sure.
Uh, hang on.
What is my thing?
Because I get a plus two.
Yeah, Scarab would as well.
Sure.
Do you want me to roll and then give me modifiers or do you want to do your own?
Yeah, I'm going to give you my modifier.
I think I get a plus two on it.
I think you could...
I don't know.
What's the modifier?
Perception?
Yes.
You think what?
I want to do a perception after they're done.
Okay.
On something else.
Yeah.
Scarab doesn't trust her, but he also wants to test her, but I guess he would.
Sure.
What's your perception modifier?
Twelve.
But I do...
Let me see if...
Plus 15 for me.
Plus 15.
Okay.
Both of you get a sense that she says this, that while you find it hard to believe that
they're meaningless, given how much effort it seems was gone or put into collecting these,
at least in her name, you do both feel sure that at least she doesn't feel like there's
any significance to them.
Okay.
So whether or not she's correct, you're not really sure, but how she feels about it, you're
sure about that.
Mm-hmm.
Moni would like to do a perception just to see what weapons she has, if she has any weapons
in here that could be...
Sure.
Or like any traps, anything that seems...
Trying to give her a once-over to see if she's hiding anything.
See if she's hiding something within reach that she can grab to attack us.
Sure.
There's a 21.
If she is hiding anything, it's not apparent.
Both her hands are out.
She's not hovering them towards anything.
One is limply at her side, and the other one is touching this obsidian stone on the wall.
So truly, Lady Vragma, if I may.
And Scarab has his gun out, and he's just using it to point at this large great mirror.
Like you do.
As he would.
And he takes it, and he points at it.
Would you allow him to get pretty close to it?
Sure.
Yeah, she doesn't...
You can walk up pretty close to it, and he gives it a little tap with his gun.
So this.
Great thing.
For nothing?
Just to look cool?
The only value my husband ever placed in me was my beauty, and so he thought foolishly
that I placed the same value.
Polished stone to a mirror, reflective, fragile.
So this was his idea?
A way to appease me, I imagine she rolls her eyes.
Uh, we're talking about the Cobold King, correct?
So he claims.
Where did he go, and what is he doing?
Monet's gonna step back to the entrance of this area, just to block it.
Sure.
Tricky is there.
Oh, okay.
In the tunnel, yeah.
I see, I see.
Around the corner, big honker.
I mean, I may just still keep her there, just so there's two...
She tries to skedaddle under Tricky's legs or something.
I don't suppose you would just let a woman pack her things and leave?
No, not necessarily.
Not when your people are stealing people from the town that I was residing in.
And I have reason to believe you were perhaps your husband.
He's really the one I have problems with.
I'm gonna say that and Scarab like slowly points a golden finger at her.
Your husband.
Wiggles it around in her face a little bit.
Your husband, he's the one I want to see.
Because you see, zombies.
You may have noticed they're popping up around town.
And I believe they started popping up around here.
Your people.
Had you not noticed?
Or are you running just because?
I try very hard not to be wrapped up in the foolishness of my husband.
She lets out a long sigh.
If you insist, could I at the very least introduce interest any of you in a cup of tea?
Ah, see, I thought you were about to summon something.
No, no, just a foolish mistake from a foolish man pretending to be a lizard woman.
She moves over towards the incense bricks.
To where you can see a rather nice looking squat bronze kettle is resting on one, roasting
something over the heat.
And she removes it and produces a series of small glasses.
She pours herself one and then gestures towards each of you.
How would somebody look into the tea?
More of a savory kind of, do you have any salt?
Is there any sausage?
I imagine it be rafting, right?
Like he took it and like sniffed at it.
Oh, if you're trying to like identify poison.
Identify alchemy.
Yeah, I think that would be a crafting check.
I ain't got nothing crafting.
You got any ice for this?
See, I burnt my tongue a few years ago and now it's real sensitive.
No ice in the volcanic cave, I'm afraid.
I'll just chill on it, I'll blow on it for a while.
Is this made out of the same stuff that's giving me a headache that's smelling here?
No, that's incense, my dear.
Okay.
Rude more.
Old, but quite nice.
You're being so rude.
Yes, ma'am, I'll take a small, I'll take a tea.
Fine, I'll take one.
Okay, she pours each of you a small cup of tea.
Thank you.
She replaces the kettle back on the coals and then she takes her little cup and plods
over to that wolfskin bed in the middle and just kind of plops onto it with a huff.
She takes a moment staring down into the cup, kind of distantly, before bringing it up to
her lizard lips and taking a long draw from it before she lets out a small, contented
sigh.
All right.
Ask away.
Now, you see, you can't slip this one by me.
Us kobald, we have big eyes and I've seen you rolling yours every time you mention his
name.
Myrtle crap.
Close enough.
You got problems with him?
Come on, be honest.
I've seen him.
Big old ball eyes.
You got them.
They look like blueberries in your head.
Look, ma'am, if you'd like a chance to get a cup of tea, I'll take a cup of tea.
I'll take a cup of tea.
If you'd like a chance to actually pack up your stuff and leave, I think you should just
answer my friend's questions.
That's a good one, Moni.
Have you ever been in love, Scarab?
That's not answering.
That's asking a question.
I wasn't asking you, tall lady.
Okay.
Talking to my kind right now.
Yes, I have.
It makes you stupid, weak.
Scarab looks down at his pistol.
Maybe.
There was a time.
Are you banging your gun?
Hold on, we need to get to the bottom of this.
Rootmore, look at that.
Let's get to the rootmore of the problem.
When we get back to some semblance of Camp Rootmore, I'm going to talk to you about love
and sex and the differences there in between.
I know everything about all that.
Continue, you beautiful blue lady.
There was a time.
I was young.
Three days ago.
No, just kidding, sorry.
There was a time where.
I'm 30, thou by 11th.
I'll walk away if I need to.
No, just kidding, not trying to bang, just trying to kill your husband.
And maybe you.
There was a time in which.
There was a time.
Sips more tea.
There was a time in which.
Which?
I'm so sorry.
So glad I put poison in the tea.
She's sewer slides.
The cheese slides away.
Okay, so anyway.
Continue.
There was a time in which I held a great deal of respect for Merle Krepp.
He was strong, stronger than the rest of us, although ruthless and cunning.
You probably don't know, but he killed 18 of his siblings to gain his position.
That's bad.
Very bad.
My brother gave me a crazy title.
Some people would say the act is heartless, but.
The amount of sacrifice necessary to follow one's dreams.
It's wrong, I know, but there was a moment.
Where it just struck such awe in me.
I was overjoyed the day that they named that I would be his queen.
I can remember now walking into those very halls just out there, gestures beyond the
beaded door.
There he was standing so regal.
So menacing and I holding his crown to be.
As I approached the dais, I.
Am ashamed to admit that I slipped.
And that pointed crown gouged one of his eyes.
Whoa.
It was in that moment that I realized that the illusion was shattered that this was no
great dragon to be, no king.
Merle Krepp, what?
Just a sad man flying for power, an angry man, a ball of malice.
And as he found that new crown, the one he wears on his head now.
Well, it's only made him braver and more stupid than ever before.
His cruelty came thus full that first I blame myself.
Mayhaps I had damaged his image when I gouged his eye.
Or maybe it was already there all along.
It doesn't matter.
The point being he became more and more cruel, more sadistic even than he was before.
And by the time I'd realized exactly who it was I married, it was already too late.
So instead I distance myself.
I remain here only only to come out when it is politically necessary.
Nothing more than a figurehead, nothing more than these shining rocks he seemed to placate
me with.
Gaze is at the mirror once again.
Rootmore, could you check that mirror for magic?
I've seen something like it before.
Maybe it's my own fears, but.
Rootmore wiggles his sausage fingers.
Detect magic.
Detect.
I am not high enough level to find exact things.
Just a thirty foot burst.
As you gaze upon this mirror, for lack of a better word, you can see it's definitely
unfinished.
It's like a sandwich cut in half diagonally where there are bits and pieces missing from
it and along the floor at its base are several of those polished stones kind of like stacked
together.
Like it was a work in progress that they just didn't quite have enough parts for.
And as you wave your little sausage fingers over it, you detect no magic.
Seems purely to be an aesthetic piece.
No runes, no runage.
No runes.
Good, good.
Good, good, good to know.
For that matter, you also do not detect any sources of magic in the room with your burst,
aside from your companions and their various objects, you know.
There's a hand over there that's glowing real fucking bright on Monet.
She can't do a peace sign, so she just throws up a face.
Harambe.
Okay, oh, nothing.
As for where he's gone, he...well, you can see by the state of the room she gestures
around you.
He and a small cohort of other kobolds fled to the lower levels.
They took, well, ransacked our room, taking with them many valuables, as well as any of
the artifacts or weapons that Merlacrap had gathered from among these dwarven halls.
You'll find there's very little left aside from my personal effects.
Her eyebrow raises for a moment.
If it would ease my exodus from this place, there are still a number of jewels and finery
I would be happy to part with.
What?
What is your role with this ragtag group of kobolds terrorizing the town?
What is your role here?
Well, I'm afraid it's not so grandiose as you might imagine.
He proclaims himself the Kobold King.
His actions are his own, and by extension, the rest of the warren.
I am but a figurehead, Trinket.
She's a trophy.
Yeah, I figure.
For a man wishes to be king and has a woman on his arm, which is pretty rare for my kind,
as they are killed and or just don't want to be with us because we're insufferable.
I still want to sense motive on that answer.
Sure.
Just to see if she's playing a bigger role or not.
Plus 15.
You don't think you believe that.
So Rootmore's eyes kind of narrow and he looks at the two of you.
It's really smoky in here, I agree.
Before we make a decision on what to do with you, mind if we poke around a bit?
We'll happily take those jewels.
I love a good gem.
Please, I have very little choice in the matter it seems.
You'll find my suitcase over there rather light.
Many of them just personal effects, clothing, some rations.
But as you will continue.
You know, your husband's bringing about death upon the earth.
A Galarian, whatever we call this place.
So I'm going to take whatever gems I want.
Well, I don't really agree with your rationale.
I can't argue with the facts.
He, so it's true, has become more bold and more brazen than ever before.
His ambition seeks beyond what our kind normally wants.
He no longer seeks to be in reverence or like the dragons amassing a horde.
No, he would be more content with power.
I warn you, if you do not kill Merlacrep, he will extend far beyond this veil.
I have a question.
Why did you not go with him?
Nope.
I would not.
He would not either.
At this point, I shouldn't be surprised he would be more willing to sacrifice me than
he would to treasure me.
I was to remain behind to aid in the illusion of Jekka Jak, that foul sorceress.
As she played her role, pretending to be him, I would make appearances, further solidifying
the illusion.
After everything that we've gone through, I feel mayhap even Merlacrep has not forgiven
me for his eye.
Maybe he views me as a source of his shame, or maybe he felt nothing for me for the get-go.
Why didn't he kill you then?
To maintain the illusion.
Couldn't you just take another queen?
Perhaps.
Jekka Jak?
If his cruelty had truly gone so far as to say that I meant absolutely nothing, he could
have.
Though my role is quite symbolic.
Perhaps losing me would have made him look weak, even if he were the one who chose to
lose me.
For who would want to be queen to a man who kills his queen so easily?
I think I've seen this in real life before.
I figure we'll do a little light ransacking of this room and uh...
Just rough it up a bit.
Search your...
Pass me the kettle while you're up.
Alright.
And Monet, you mind searching her person?
Yeah, if you wouldn't mind just putting your arms out and spreading your legs, I'll...
Do you mind if I touch you?
Could you do it instead?
points at Scarab.
I don't have the big ball hand!
I think that would make it easier for you to search.
And if I were to be frisked, better it be by my own kind.
The indignities can only stretch so far.
If you want I can turn into a cat instead.
That sounds kind of nice actually.
I'm willing to work with you.
Okay, yes.
That would be amenable, thank you.
Okay.
Scarable watch.
I might need you to sit down for this.
She's already sitting.
Oh perfect.
Rootmoor's tossing the bed.
Sitting on the bed.
She's on the bed, just toss her.
Okay, Monet will turn into a cat.
Roughly pulling the sheet out from under her.
And just like rub up against her.
Uh, yeah.
All over.
She actually...
There's like a look of peace that falls over her and she can't help but pet you as you
scramble around.
You feel a dagger.
Monet does biscuits on her lap.
Does she feel anything?
Yeah, there's a moment where you actually feel like you forget what you're supposed
to be doing because she's petting you and you're just like, oh this is nice.
Nice.
But while doing biscuits does she find anything?
Go ahead and roll me a perception check.
But while doing biscuits.
That's a 15.
You don't really feel anything on her.
Okay, well, uh.
Hold on.
As your little paw pads are pressing around she's wearing like a long black flowy dress
with more gold accents.
And yeah, you don't feel anything hiding beneath it.
I say long.
It's long by Kobold standards.
It'd barely be a tunic on somebody like you, Monet.
I mean, I think that she should take like one point of damage from the biscuits.
You know what I mean?
No, no.
Just a little claw in the thigh.
From one hand?
Three actually.
You can't sell biscuits with her back legs.
Well she climbed up onto her lap.
Check this out.
At least you own three cats.
I know I do.
And cowboy did that with one hand?
Well, he hasn't been groomed.
She can groom herself.
Or you groom yourself.
I don't know.
He's also done this with one hand.
I got three, four scratches on me.
Okay, she takes one point of damage and then her eyes flare red.
She grows ten times in size.
She whips out a broadsword and says, finally you've revealed the true evil within.
I'm just, you know.
To what end?
To make you feel better?
Yeah, for my immersion.
Your cat claws on her scales deal one point of damage.
She says ow and slaps you on the ass.
Pretty bitch is what she says.
Okay, well if Monty isn't finding anything then she will...
Stay there.
Curl up.
...dismiss her past form.
Okay.
You're just doing a search around the room?
Yes.
What was your perception check?
I didn't roll it.
Nope, didn't.
Seventeen.
And pictures of Rootmore under her pillow.
Okay as you're looking around, you don't find anything incriminating.
If anything, everything that you find kind of backs up what she said.
As you're going through things, walking around the room, going through drawers, it does look
like somebody haphazardly kind of ransacked the place.
In a few drawers you can even find bits that were kind of left behind in a hurry.
You're able to find eight bracelets, as well as three necklaces, and a bent tiara.
If anybody wanted to appraise those, I can give you prices on them as well.
Yeah, what is it, crafting?
Yeah.
I ain't got none of that.
Twenty-two.
Twenty-six.
Yeah, looking them over as you're showing Scarab, you imagine each of the bracelets
could probably fetch a silver piece each.
So eight silver pieces worth of bracelets.
The necklaces you imagine are worth about two gold pieces a peach?
A peach.
And there's three peaches there, so yeah, so there'd be six gold worth of necklaces.
And the bent tiara you imagine you could get, even in its damaged state, probably at least
eight gold pieces.
Wow.
You got all that, Steve?
No.
I forgot that I do that.
I love this idea that Rue Mourn is just like, you know, both arms in front of him cross,
just holding necklaces, bracelets, and he's got a bent tiara on his head, and he's like,
I didn't find anything bad.
Sorry, can you say that one more time, Bob?
Yes.
Eight bracelets worth one silver each.
Three necklaces worth two gold each.
And a bent tiara worth eight gold.
Listen, I'm going to be real with you.
I don't believe you didn't play a part in the nonsense that's happening.
All the jewelry jingling on you as you say this.
I do find it hard to believe that there would be digging and digging and digging for this
to mean nothing.
Strange, really.
What do you mean digging?
Mining away in these caves.
Were they perhaps mining for obsidian?
Are you referring to these gestures towards the mirror again?
Yes, and other things.
And gold.
Well, that would be no surprise.
The obsidian is used to placate me, a gift to keep me entertained, I suppose, in my pseudo
imprisonment here.
As for the gold, well, it's gold.
Well then that's a herring of some sort.
What is it they're truly doing here then?
Well, I'm not privy to the king's innermost plans.
I do hear horrific sounds every once in a while coming from the chamber north of us.
Does that lead further below?
I don't believe so.
I believe when I first came it was just a small chamber, an unremarkable chamber, but
I haven't been there in I don't even know how long.
Could you describe the sounds?
Maybe reenact them.
No.
Screams.
I got excited for a second.
The horrible sounds of suffering.
I heard something like, Fragma help!
Help!
Fragma help!
Help me!
I need your help!
We ran into a group of kobolds just in the other room and they seemed to be very afraid
of you.
I don't understand.
Well, our scarab showed them the obsidian and they were frightful.
They had fear in their hearts at the thought of disappointing you?
At disappointing me?
That's what it seemed like, yeah.
I think you might be misled, my dear.
I think if anything they would have been afraid of disappointing Merloc Rep.
Perhaps in an act of disrespecting me would be seen as a direct attack on the king himself,
or at the very least a disobedience of his will and his prize.
Now perhaps we're just chasing shadows, but I too, Monet, felt like you might be some
sort of big figure here.
And though the queen is a big figure, the queen that I have now come to bow to does
quite a lot and would never be found alone like this.
Perhaps it is my own fault.
Had I not clumsily taken out my king's eye at his coronation, perhaps then maybe I would
have been valued more.
Maybe I would have been involved more in his plans, but no, I'm afraid I sealed my fate,
underlying the way I was to the possibility of redemption, for surely an accident even
committed by one you love is still committed by the one you love.
But I, again, was foolishly mistaken.
Scarab leans in real quick, one of his eyes leaning in a little bit further than the other.
So what's the secret?
He said you tripped and that's how you got his eye.
Think I could do that to get the other one?
I slipped.
Same thing.
Really?
Maybe you could try to marry him and then when he gets a new hat, you could bring that
hat and then maybe you could trip?
All right.
No, it would never work.
He never takes that hat off now.
The one he's got, he'd never take a new one.
Of course.
So audacious is he.
Well, I guess it's not that audacious.
He attached the skull of our previous king to the crown.
It's tradition, at least in the true scales, to show that, you know, from power before
comes power anew.
Respect.
I think it's pretty cool.
I think that's pretty rad.
Kind of badass.
I think it's cool.
What is he?
He's not just running away.
What is he doing?
Why did he leave?
He's been feeding.
I imagine that the noises that I heard were whatever efforts to feed the crown, as he
used to say.
Feed the crown?
What does that mean?
He says it gives him power in exchange for offering its sacrifice.
Where's its mouth?
It doesn't have one.
It's a crown, my dear.
I, well, I didn't...
Oh, you said feed.
I'm sorry.
I don't know if the king has gone crazy, but he says that it speaks to him.
So either our mad king, who is, I remind you, our king still, has truly gone mad, or he
is right in that the crown speaks to him and asks of him unspeakable deeds.
Chances are he's telling the truth.
So it feeds and it speaks, but it has no mouth.
Your feet smell, but they don't have a nose.
This is some sort of riddle.
I have no mouth, so I need to scream.
You know, as the brother of a king myself, I always thought in a foolish game, what power?
One man, all this power, all these things.
And then my queen came about and my king changed, and he started talking different, and the
people started acting different.
This sucks.
And here we are.
Don't you long for the simple days where a kobold clan could just nestle up in a cave
somewhere and live their whole lives without conflict, except for the occasional cave rat
or bat or whatever, but...
Sounds glorious.
...nothing of world conquest or domination, sacrifice.
These are not our ways.
That's what it was until people started playing kings.
And now here we are on the verge of apparently, and Scarab points at his head, an apparent
overthrowing of all living life and just to be replaced by the dead.
And that's what we're going through because of our kings.
So I'm sorry, lady.
Maybe you're bad, but I have every inkling to just go find your husband and kill him.
Me too.
I kind of feel bad holding you here for so long.
I don't know, you guys.
I really feel like that those kobolds we ran into before were afraid of her.
Girl fight!
Are you good in a fight?
Do you want to throw dukes?
Any evidence of her being a spellcaster while Ruttemore was messing around in her stuff?
You detected no magic.
Okay, that's right.
A queen does not fight.
She orders others to fight.
But what were you before you were a queen?
Just another kobold.
And kobolds fight.
I did not.
Oh, a lot of us run away.
My particular complexion, she kind of gestures on herself.
And again, it draws attention to her pale Azure skills, the gold inlay is regarded as
somewhat rare, especially in these parts.
So when I was born, it was decided that I would be married to someone of import.
I have never lifted a hand for anything.
Save tea.
Wow.
I...
I'm done here.
I say we just let you go.
You want to go back to the town?
Turn yourself in?
You can try the town.
You can try the hungry mountains if you want.
But as a queen, and with all of this going on, it might be a hard in, but they're looking
for people because our war is not against true scales.
It's against some oncoming threat that I can't get out of my dreams.
I'm afraid a journey very far indeed would not realistically be feasible for me.
I am unarmed, incapable of defending myself for any extended period of time.
I mean, she's just going to get poached.
I could run, and I'm clever enough to know where to hide.
But no, I don't think I could make it all the way to the hungry mountains on my own.
You could hide...
You could hide further...
Not further up.
Go further to the entrance.
You could hide there for a while until we make our way back.
We could take you to town.
We could figure out a life for you after that.
Tell me of this town.
What is their disposition towards our kind?
We're working on it!
They were privy, they were cool with us.
Up until about a week ago.
And then your people kind of screwed up.
And I got dragged into it, so they're really going after anybody.
I'm the sheriff, and they hate me.
We could lie and say that you're part of our group.
Or you could become a part of our group.
I'm afraid I don't have any skills.
Can you sing?
No.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, we need a singer, man.
I miss Edwin.
I mean, you make tea.
So, what, I just hang out at camp all day and make tea?
Yeah, basically, yes.
But you know, you'd be a part of our group, so then you'd have like that going for you,
because we're helping the town.
I've got a lot going for me.
I don't know if you know.
We got badges, so we could go talk to the sheriff and say, hey, this one's also part
of our group, and you'd maybe be better.
Roll persuasion.
Can you do that when you're not?
You get a bonus for being nice.
I have nothing in diplomacy.
He tells Cody.
I have nothing.
I have nothing in diplomacy.
I have nothing in deception.
You can roll a regular.
Monet said all those nice things, but she was standing way too close and spitting every
time she spoke.
So, regardless, it's like, oh, no, I'm okay.
I'm okay.
Matthew, is this cocked?
Doesn't look cocked from here.
Is it?
If you can press it and it weighs flat.
It was.
It was a 15.
I didn't think that looked cocked, but okay.
Cocked is normally when it's like between two numbers, not when it's slightly offset
from the one that's obviously facing the top.
Well, from where I was looking, it was kind of between 15 and five.
It was diagonal.
I think it's because you were looking at the 15 from the angle.
So it looks straight from here across the table.
That's a 13.
A 13, okay.
But the nice bonus.
A life of adventure.
No.
Adjacent.
I mean, what's the alternative?
Just waiting for your husband to come back and what kind of crazy state?
Root my life.
Let her speak.
Full of holes.
I will not be around when my husband returns.
If he returns, I will be.
Oh, he's not gonna return.
Then why did you say that he would return?
That would mean that we're dead.
I'm a little man.
You're not very good at this talking thing.
I'm trying.
You say one thing and then you say the opposite after I've responded to the first one.
That's hardly how conversation goes.
Right.
It's just nonsense.
It's just letting words flap out of the adorbin map.
We don't need her.
She gave me the group.
I don't like it.
I mean, it'd be adventuring adjacent.
You know, you could, we could tell you of our adventures and you'd be safe in the town
making tea.
Maybe you could sell tea.
Ooh, exotic tea.
Not saying that you're exotic, but I think that that's what they'd think.
Well, I mean, you're blue.
I don't have a lot of tea left.
Okay.
Well, we could find you some tea, I'm sure.
And then you could.
You're doing a pimp my ride thing.
Or somebody says, I like bowling and what's his name?
That's like your whole identity bowling.
Yeah.
What's his name makes a car just about bowling.
You, well, I'm trying to, she has one skill and I'm trying to nurture it.
That's funny.
I'm trying to nurture her.
I'm the world's only teabag artist.
Yeah.
You get the impression that at least, you know, she's in a very vulnerable position.
Obviously she's uprooting her entire life and she's just going to go wander out in the
wilds and she has no idea what she's doing or how to survive.
But at the same time, she's like kind of maybe open to ideas if you got a good enough idea
to persuade her.
Here's, here's my thoughts.
All right.
Picture this.
What level are you?
A two.
Okay.
Here are my thoughts, right?
So we'll have to tip if you decide to come with us, which you don't have to, I'm not
going to force you to, you can just go, but I do feel like you will be poached.
But if you do decide to come with us, then we go to the town and we say, Hey sheriff,
this one's with us.
Maybe put her in a cell.
Now it's not because we're arresting you.
It's to keep you safe.
Witness protection.
Yeah.
Because we've got an issue in these caves, we've got an issue in town as well.
But it'd be to keep you safe.
The sheriff's a good man.
And then, you know, we'd, you're just trying to arrest me.
I'm not trying to arrest you.
I'm not that clever.
No, I've seen through your ruse.
You're not clever or arresting you.
I'm not arresting you.
I'm confused.
If we wanted to arrest you, it would have happened by now.
I would have waved my gun in your face much harder than I already have been.
As he's waving his gun.
He speaks truth.
I just think that if you came to town with us, then we could maybe set you up in a position
where you wouldn't be immediately killed on sight.
It's not the worst plan.
Thank you.
It's probably better odds than wandering the wilderness alone.
You're very blue.
I kind of stand out.
Yeah.
Okay, so we just find you a room here somewhere where the king won't find you.
Here's one.
He comes back.
Oh, the king can't find you.
That's fair.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Some more different.
What's going on in this little cave?
Have you been to the listening chamber?
Is that the one that has like the horns that can let you hear from everywhere?
The very same.
Okay, yes.
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
I will wait for a time there.
Unless you take too long and then I get impatient.
What time?
I decide to go die in the wilds.
So I'll be there.
And maybe I do go with you.
At the very least, if you could lead me to the town's edge, then I could let my anxiety
decide what I do with the rest of my life.
That's what I do.
But at the very least, you would get me away from the veil.
And the majority of the danger would be gone.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll pick you up from that room.
We're gonna pick her up.
Yeah.
She's got legs.
She can walk.
Oh, monad, so she can't walk, so she doesn't get away from us.
Oh, okay.
She's also level two.
She doesn't have good legs.
I see.
Okay, yes, I'll pick you up.
All right, well, I'll take my suitcase and my shitty legs and wait for you there, I guess.
Hey, this just legs half full.
You know, while you're there, maybe you could practice singing.
But who would listen?
Well, then maybe when we're back to town, you could sing.
Well, and in that room, there's higher chances for more people to hear you based on whether
or not they're walking through some other room.
And then they'll find me.
Oh.
And they could be saved.
We don't think there's an evil wraith in that room anymore.
I'm not keen on staying, but there's something about you three oddballs that maybe makes
me think I might wait.
If I'm gone by the time you get back, well, good luck, I guess.
I guess we'll find out then.
Yeah.
We'll get going, hit the road, you know, to the listening chamber and then just wait there.
Don't hit the road yet.
Not the road.
I hit the tunnels to the listening chamber and then okey dokey.
Good luck to you, more walks outside.
Scoots off the bed and grabs a couple of those moldy bricks of incense and hucks them in
the suitcase and shuts it and yeah, just sort of trudges out.
Well, that was weird.
I'm sure we'll be seeing her again.
Probably.
Maybe.
I don't really care.
What's down this hallway?
Not too worried about her.
I don't think.
You hear an evil cackle coming from down the hallway where she just went.
Just kidding.
So you guys are going to make your way down the other way?
Hell yeah.
Okay.
This tunnel is a little narrow and a little short, so you kind of have to scrunch down
a bit.
Even you, Rootmore, have to duck your head a bit as you move through this tight tunnel.
Wow, this is very tight.
And as you slowly make your way down this narrow crevasse, you can't help but feel this
kind of suppressive weight building the closer you get.
Like a looming sense of dread.
Like your heart is high in your chest.
Your breaths are shorter.
Okay, I have to poo poo.
Not now, Rootmore.
The big ol' poo poo come out.
It's like, I know there aren't blockbusters anymore, but every time I went into a blockbuster,
I always had to poop.
That is a phenomenon.
It's a phenomenon.
Yeah, I've heard other people have that too.
It's weird.
It's, uh, because usually it happens to people with libraries or bookstores.
Yes.
It happens to me anytime I go to Recycled Books, I walk in and I'm like, gotta poo.
As you make your way to the edge of this tunnel, it opens up into a craggy semi-circular room.
Ooh.
A moment.
Little head peeking around the corner.
As you peek in, this chamber emanates an oppressive weight that you physically feel as you enter.
It's like everything has just gotten heavier.
The dank stone walls are lined with chains, well rusted with use, and the stonework behind
the chains is long since stained.
The circular room culminates with a sunken dais on the far southern side of the room,
surrounded by crudely carved glyphs and capped by a macabre looking altar.
As you take it all in, the centerpiece seems to radiate anguish and suffering in rhythmic
pulses that align with each of your heartbeats, thumping an ominous and foreboding march.
Dark burgundy stains radiate from its center, flashing out like some gruesome sunrise, and
a fresh flow of crimson eicher shimmers in the dim light.
Following the altar are several torches lit with an otherworldly looking deep red flame
that flicker menacingly.
You bear witness now to a sacrificial chamber, which apparently has seen recent use.
Hello?
Get in there, Rootmore.
Rootmore duck walks.
The kind of walk you do when you have to take a shit.
He walks into the room.
Tears at the table.
Don't shit on the dais.
Poopoo on the dais.
Summon demon.
Summon dais, demon, poopoo.
Perception for, I guess, clues to see.
Sure.
It was recently used for what purpose?
Cakes and tea.
28.
For, okay, so just kind of looking around with your perception check.
The thing that kind of stands out most is from the base of this sacrificial altar, there
are deep grooves cut into it that kind of spread outward in a circular fashion from
its center, each of them ending in a crudely carved rune.
The blood seems to have flowed down into a collection pool that then runs through these
narrow channels to each of these runes.
Sounds like, what is it, Indiana Jones?
Calima.
Yeah.
I want blood.
Ritual, guys, it's for rituals.
Can you do some holy stuff on it and make it not work anymore?
What you got?
You got any holy water?
No holy water on the table, man.
I don't have holy water.
If you guys want, investigation-wise, you can give me a recall knowledge for arcana
or a cult or for religion.
I'm doing arcana.
Let's see, let's figure this thingy out.
23 religion.
Okay, we'll start with you since you got yours first.
It appears that this chamber was in fact a sacrificial chamber.
Looking over the runes, you kind of vaguely recognize them as symbols in regards to the
archdevils of hell.
So you almost think that the altar was perhaps used for some kind of worship, maybe, to the
archdevils themselves.
What'd you get, Matthew?
21.
For arcana.
Felicia, what'd you get?
24 occultism.
Okay.
Coming at it at all sides.
Hell yeah.
Scarab.
Piecing all of this together with your knowledge of arcana, it seems that the blood was meant
to be used as a catalyst to fuel some kind of ritual here, though what kind of ritual
you're not quite sure.
And Monet, you have a little bit of a better idea with your occultism background, and you
believe that this kind of vaguely resembles other rituals in which one would feed power
to magic items.
The one that requires the aid of the archdevils, blood as the catalyst, would have to be a
very old ancient magical item.
So if we were nasty, nasty boys with bad gods, we could like possibly do up our items pretty
good by sacrificing somebody on this?
Unceivably.
If you had an item of magic ability, perhaps you could embolden it.
Hey, Rune-Morr.
Scarab slaps Rune-Morr.
Scarab, what's that crazy look in your eyes?
Rune-Morr, cut yourself.
No, no, delete, delete, delete, delete, delete.
It looks like it has been used for that.
Rune-Morr, you want a stronger hammer?
You want a magical item, Rune-Morr?
Blast from me.
Telling God to look away, Rune-Morr.
What kind of books you got in there, Rune-Morr?
What kind of names are in those books?
Stupid room, I don't like it in here.
Me either, this is nasty.
Yeah, not a whole lot in here aside from that altar itself.
Does it look like anyone has been in here recently?
The only indication of a recent visit would be the semi-fresh blood still in the sluice.
Ah, they forgot something as they were on their way out.
Oh, let me, I gotta upgrade my keys real quick.
Or perhaps it was one more ritual before Merlocret fled.
Yeah.
Oh, there's a way we didn't go.
There's a route south.
South right above the green.
It's right above the green, yes.
That's the one.
That's the way we didn't go.
Ah, let's go back, this room sucks.
There's nothing.
I mean, we know that it's the archdemons, we've heard that he's working with them.
There's not really anything we can.
Yeah, the last time you guys heard anything about archdevils was actually when you made
your way into the church portion on the second level, I believe, or the first level, sorry.
And yes, they were a group of kobolds that no longer worship dragons, but instead pledge
their allegiance to Lor'kon, the archdevil.
They want to be vampire people now.
Okay.
Devil God.
I'm curious if there's anything cool we could do in here, but I ain't about that evil life.
Spirit's happy to move on.
Yeah, screw that.
Your mind's gonna crawl on through.
You guys want to go to the route you hadn't taken yet?
Yeah.
Okay.
So you make your way out of the sacrificial chamber and immediately there's a feeling
of relief, even as you walk past the corpses of the kobolds you'd slain prior, it enacts
nowhere near the heavy feelings you just left behind.
In fact, you laugh a little bit seeing them.
Idiots, you think to yourselves.
Let's see.
And you make your way south and then east towards another hallway.
Oh my god, that line.
It's gonna take an hour.
Wow, we're gonna do a really lazy reveal here.
I'm not gonna follow exact lines.
That's not lazy, Cody.
That's good.
I just didn't.
Only I'm like right on the edges of the walls.
It's lazy for me.
I'm gonna look here.
That one is...
I like it because it makes me know that there's not a door.
Yeah, that's fair.
It's kind of nice.
It's too many times I'm like, what's that door?
It's not a door.
It's not a door at all.
It's just part of the wall.
Good perception for traps as we're walking down this corridor.
Sure.
Corridor?
Ooh, natural 20.
Okay.
As you begin moving down this corridor, it's still fairly narrow though.
Much wider than the narrow corridors it seems like the kobolds were using.
It's also taller.
It's about at Monet's height that it's been carved out.
And you can see that there seems to be, as you move further through, that there was almost
a sign of like, may have a cave-in or something that had blocked it out.
There's a bunch of loose stone, gravel, shards of obsidian all along the floor in this tunnel
that you're kind of kicking around.
And it's almost as if there was a cave-in that then was cleared away.
Do we think that this was dwarven make?
Or is it big because of the kobold king?
Well Rootmore, you looking over everything, you can notice that it seems like the ceiling
of this tunnel has more recent markings on it like it's been chipped away than the walls
in the floor.
So it's almost like something tunneled in here further, but whatever did it, for whatever
reason, chose to make it much taller than a dwarf or a kobold.
Yeah, so I wonder if that's-
For the devils.
Because he's bigger or if it's-
It's about like-
Because what other creatures?
We've got the big frogs.
Those dwarves like grand chambers.
It's about five and a half feet tall.
Yeah, it's just wondering if that's like that because it's older or because they're like
okay we gotta get some bigger fellas out of here now.
Either way, interesting.
As you move further and further, Cody stops to read.
Strange little nook.
I like it, it's cozy right here.
Little spot to take a break if you're tired of walking down a fifteen, twenty foot-
Rootmore don't poop.
Oh man, don't look at me!
Scare of Tren'Jolesa Rootmore can poop.
Don't look at me!
I'll block you.
It's like when you pull over on the highway, I got Tricky blocking you so no one can see
as they're walking by.
Pull over on the highway, open that door up and take a shit.
I've never done that.
I helped.
Helped with what?
Helped me never take a shit on the highway.
No, I helped it.
I cleaned up the- I make the fog of war go close.
No, thanks.
You're welcome.
Yeah, sorry.
As you near the end of this hallway, you actually go ahead and roll me a perception check.
Rootmore, I imagine you're in front.
Alright, alright.
Let's see.
Thirty.
And everybody's vision right now.
Dark vision?
Yep.
Okay.
It's kind of hard to make out as everything kind of melds together in this tunnel, but
as you're walking forward, kicking your way through the gravel and debris on the ground,
there comes a moment where you step forward and there is no more scattering of rocks and
you catch that for a second and you stop your foot only to realize that right in front of
you is a massive pit.
After a few moments you can hear down below the clack clack clattering of rocks bouncing
off walls as they fall further down, and you peer over the ledge looking down and it seems
to be, as far as your eyes can tell, a near 40 foot drop.
A lot of the stonework here is rough-hewn, though about ten feet down the pit it seems
that it's worked stone, meaning deliberately shaped stone about ten feet down, and it continues
that way the remainder of the 30 foot drop.
You can also see looking around the edges of this kind of circular pit, it seems like
there at one point may have been a staircase that has long since fallen into disrepair
and collapsed, leaving bare fragments a step here, a step there, and most prominently right
next to you is a ghost.
No sorry I gotta read this.
There seems to be the smashed remains of some kind of device.
Broken wood and tattered rope lay next to you, almost like maybe somebody was trying to rig
some kind of pulley or elevator system, but it has since been destroyed and remains next
to you at the edge of the pit.
It's destroyed.
Scarab falls to his knees and he starts building.
And crying.
Does it look like there's any way to put this pulley system back into repair?
I'm happy to roll some dice.
Yeah, give me a crafting check.
Just to see what you see.
To figure it out.
Would this be a stupid thing to use my daily peepee on?
Cause you're trying to see if we can bring tricky down right?
Yeah.
You're just trying to, right now you're just trying to see what you could maybe do with
it.
I would maybe save it for when you're trying to do it.
I'll save it.
Yeah.
Ah well.
13?
Lucky 13.
It's lucky.
22.
Alright pig.
Okay, we'll say you aid him on that.
As the two of you kind of huddle over this massive wooden rope, you kind of devise a
plan with what you have.
It does indeed look to have been a pulley or lift system before.
And you imagine that if you have about a hundred foot of rope between the three of you and
about an hour of work, you could probably rig together the remnants of it to form a
pseudo elevator that could at least raise and lower a medium sized creature up and down
one at a time.
These little 10 foot drops you mentioned, is Tricky able to use those to go down?
It's not stairs every 10 feet.
It's a rough hewn stone for the first 10 feet and then the 30 feet after that is a work
stone.
There's bits of stairs, although-
Was it a spiral stair?
That went down the chamber, but they've since fallen apart.
You could maybe conceivably attempt to traverse that, although there's a couple of risks because
one, the gaps are far apart in some places, near in others, and two, you have no idea
what state these stairs are in and if they could even support your weight.
Do I have any rope?
Monet has like a thousand feet.
I've only got one.
Two.
Yeah, let me, why don't you give me a perception check as well.
I actually, you did, what was your perception check?
30 before?
Yeah.
I'm going to roll that over.
Cool.
So, if you were to cover the stuff to see what you could do, you think you could rig
something up.
Again, 100 feet of rope in about an hour, you could get something that could raise or
lower somebody.
You imagine that looking over the edge at the stairs, as you were, that you could probably
climb down at least the first 10 feet using the craggy rough hewn stone to maneuver your
way down at least to where the masonry is and you could maybe get on some of the stairs
there.
But you imagine that once you get to the work stone beneath that, any climb checks would
probably be more difficult from there down.
So it could be traversed that way as well.
I'll take the rope.
Screw that.
It's the problem with Tricky though.
It's the trick with Tricky.
The tricky trick with Tricky.
Man, how are we going to get Tricky down?
Is there another roll?
Is he not medium?
No, he's large.
Big Porker.
Another crafting check to see if we can find a way to get Tricky down safely.
Yeah, I mean, do you guys have anything on you that you maybe could try to make to expand
the seat or reinforce the pulley?
Grappling hook.
Bedroll?
I have two of those.
You could probably take your bedrolls and use those to extend the seat, make it more
like a hammock.
Big old harness or something.
Yeah, that would carry something down.
You would just maybe need to reinforce the rope that you have.
But maybe if you...
How much rope do you all have between y'all?
I have two rope.
I've got one.
So you have 100.
That's 150, right?
Because it's 50 feet of rope normally.
Yeah, 200.
So you have 200.
I bet if you doubled the amount of rope that you had, that would at least relieve the tension.
So if you use your two bedrolls and 200 feet of rope instead of 100, you could probably
rig together a sturdier pulley.
Oh yeah, I'm down.
Although with the extra modifications, you think it would probably take two hours of
time instead of one, but you would have a surefire way.
Worth it.
Monet empties her pockets, pulls off her pack and just pulls everything out.
I don't know.
Here's what I got.
Oh, this is perfect.
We can use it.
Let's see.
Yeah, I can attempt to repair it.
If you critically succeed, I'll cut your time in half.
All right.
Who's rolling it, Matt?
What's your crafting?
Eight.
I'll roll it.
I just haven't been getting good rolls.
You rolled the eight?
Yeah, I'll roll the eight.
Get a 15 to give a plus one.
Yeah, here we go.
Come on, baby.
I'm going to use my daily.
I don't remember which one the daily is.
Daily is the good way.
Huh?
Good way.
27 seconds.
27 is a crit, so it's a plus two.
Plus two.
All right, so add plus two to your roll.
27.
Yeah.
That's a crit.
Nice.
So you spend about an hour gathering your materials together and getting to work.
And before long, you've rigged together a mighty fine piece of equipment.
And now over this pit is this large hammock like harness.
You could now have two of you climb into it at a time or have Tricky climb into it.
You imagine that if you had Tricky go down, you could probably ride Tricky in the harness
and be okay.
Well, now you and I can go first.
Clear the floor.
Yeah.
Yo.
Okay.
So the two of you clamber into this pulley system and Scarab slowly begins to lower you.
Mono takes a nap.
And I'm going to need a second.
Dwarven innovation at its best.
My two points that I put into this.
What is it called?
Hmm?
What were you talking about?
Dwarven invasion?
No.
Innovation.
I also heard invasion.
Dwarven invasion.
Slowly being lowered.
Charged.
They were slowly by the hammock.
Move stone here.
We're coming.
We can smell you.
And you smell bad.
We're like a
We can smell you and you smell bad.
We're loud.
Saw your bloody shame room.
Oops, I dropped my pan.
Pants.
I thought the pan was sizzling.
This is a multifaceted joke.
You guys on a new map now?
Yeah.
It's dark.
Sure is good, bud.
Monet and Rootmore, as you slowly get lowered into this pit, both kind of just sitting there
looking around, going lower and lower.
Maybe one of you looks up just in time to see Scarab peering over the corner as he continues
to crank y'all further and further down.
And you go down for a while, almost agonizingly slow.
And as you begin to descend into the darkness, your eyes begin to adjust with their dark
vision ability.
And you can't help but notice that the walls themselves of the circular chamber, after
a certain point, begin to almost shimmer or shine slightly as if they're coated with
something slick.
If one of you would appear over the edge, you're not quite seeing a bottom, as it were.
20 feet down.
30 feet down.
And at 40 feet, as you near the end of the crank, there's a sudden stop from above and
it comes to a halt.
And looking over the edge down, you don't see a floor.
You can kind of make out faint shimmers rippling, some kind of liquid perhaps below you.
The large circular room smells strongly of earth and faintly of rot.
Old pieces of wood and patches of congealed muck seem to float on the surface of this
still liquid beneath you.
On the southern side of the room, you can see an opening, what looks to be a hallway
or pathway of carved stone.
It sits about a foot above this churning something below you.
And that's all the time we have.
I don't like it scary, all wet and dark.
I also see the end of the Pathfinder logo at the top left.
Move that there just for you.
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The Cursed Caravan theme music and the beat you're hearing now is written by our very
own Matthew.
You're welcome.
We would like to thank Michael Guelphi Studios, the world reference for tabletop RPG audio
for the music and ambiance that we use in most of our episodes.
Love Michael Guelphi, check them out.
All their stuff is real good.
You can find out more about them at michaelguelphi.com.
Check out their Patreon and YouTube links in the description.
Thank you Michael Guelphi.
Give us a comment and rate us five stars on your podcast app of choice, especially Apple
podcasts.
Spotify allows you to rate and leave comments also.
Also we have a YouTube channel.
Emad and Matthew also have YouTube channels.
That is bamboo trauma and-
I just want people to go to my TikTok.
Please.
Sweet boy toshio on YouTube and TikTok.
Please go to my TikTok.
Respectively.
My last video, I've just been drawing a lot.
I've been drawing stuff and I swear every time I put a lot of effort into a drawing,
my last one, 19 views.
19 views.
That's it.
It's disgusting.
You put so much effort in.
It's fine.
I'd do it for me, but please, please go look.
Yeah, they're good drawings.
Go look a lot.
Again, that is bamboo trauma for Emad and sweet boy toshio for Matthew.
YouTube and TikTok.
Respect.
I was going to say respectfully because that's what I was going to say the first time, but
then you said your thing and then I got messed up.
Yeah, definitely go check out Emad's bamboo traumas.
Yeah, leave us comments.
We will answer those on the podcast.
You can also send us any questions or I guess whatever you want at our email at thecursecaravan
at gmail.com.
Same, we'll answer those on the podcast.
Do we have any comments, Emad?
We do.
Episode 17 of Crown of the Cobalt King.
This is from Wal.
Wal said, I laughed so hard at this episode every time Rootmore said Edgren's name wrong
and I clapped my hands like an idiot.
Yay.
Yay, me too.
I clapped my hands like an idiot when the cobalts were shoved.
This is when we're pushing them down the well.
I don't know if you did this on purpose, regardless it made me laugh, but you spelled Edgren's
name wrong.
The way they wrote it was EGGDRIN.
E-G-D-R-I-N-S.
I like that.
I like that a lot.
I don't know if you did it on purpose or not, but it's great.
I love it.
Either way, it's funny.
It keeps it going.
All of our contact information is in the description.
Thank you for being a traveler on the Cursed Caravan.
Thank you.
Bye bye.
That's fun.
There's a couple of risks because one, the gaps are far apart in some places, near in
others, and two, you have no idea what state these stairs are in and if they could even
support your weight.
It's like the movie The Dark Knight when Bane was...
Really discovered the dark.
Yeah.
Born in it.
Molded by it.
I didn't see light until I was a man.
Just look up, stupid.
It's an open tunnel.
Light comes down, idiot.
Sean Connery ass.