Hello and welcome to Roll Bravely, a live play
Pathfinder second edition podcast. I am your
game master, Charles Renaud, and before we get
started, let's introduce the table. Hello, I'm
Kenny. I play Amaris, a Nephilim ranger guy.
I'm Zach. I play Taldir, who is a Nephilim champion.
I'm Sammy. I play Tez, who's an alchemist. My
name is Michelle. I play Wesley Nixon, an elf
damn fear investigator. How's the Western going?
It's good. I don't think she understands what
a Western is, though. Makes sense. She should
watch Legend. Legends? I think it's Legend. Legend
is an old school movie with Tom Cruise. What's
Tombstone? No, I think the one I'm thinking of
is the one with Tom Hardy where he's like plays
between gangsters. Yeah, I think that's Legends.
It's just weird. Like Western! It's just weird
that we're listing Western movies and leaving
out the greatest of all time, Unforgiven. It's
just... Which one's Unforgiven? Unforgiven. Yeah.
Yeah. I haven't seen that since I was a child,
believe it or not. But probably time for a rewatch.
It's so good. Probably hits a lot different in
adulthood. I'm surprised I had TVs when you were
a child. Yes, so is my son. He asked me not only
if TVs were... He didn't ask me if TVs were black
and white. He just asked if we had them when
we were kids. And it kind of hurt. Hurt a little?
Just a little? My son consistently cannot conceive
of a world without smartphones. He's just like,
why didn't you just call your mom? And I'm like,
I didn't have a phone for the 400th time. It's
not that easy. Yeah, the payphone that was nearby,
you couldn't touch that one. He also literally
does not understand that the primary purpose
of a phone is to make calls. Like, he just considers
that a feature. Yeah, that's pretty wild, actually.
I mean, I get it, but it's kind of wild to think
that. That's kind of true nowadays, though, I
think. Oh, absolutely. I mean, but now it's a
cellular device, not a telephone anymore. All
right. Yeah. That just was the oldest thing we
could say, so we'll move on. It's a cellular
device. It goes to space. It's a series of tubes.
No, I got it. Yeah. Good one, man. Thank you.
Where we left off last time, the party had done
some scouting of the Ember headquarters, had
devised this plan to trap the furnace chimney
thing and create a kind of fire hazard within,
forcing the building to evacuate, whereupon they
would then infiltrate the building disguised
as firefighters. Sexy firefighters. Yeah. I feel
like they're wearing assless chips. Well, now
you just look like strippers, so I think. Just
wearing the overall straps, but nothing. Just
super oily. Yeah. Or like one of those banana
hammocks that has the overall straps on it. Wesley's
still wearing her new gray shirt, and she's making
sure, like, the collar. is sticking out of the
uniform. Just to make sure. Is there anything
you guys would like to do? I kind of assumed
that at the end of setting this up, you've returned
to the inn and are going to rest, but is there
anything you would like to do in preparation
or further plan before moving on? I was just
going to say, right before we go to sleep, I
just want to talk with everybody again and get
it real detailed. Just make sure we're all on
the same page. One thing I want to know is any
kind of little bit of information that a firefighter
might have. Like where the fucking thing is and
where we get water. Guys, guys, guys. We're going
in with real firefighters. So like the actual
work is getting done by other people. We're just
there to infiltrate the compound. We're going
to look like dicks, though, you know? Yeah, that's
fine. We can look like dicks. They're going to
look at me like I'm the new guy and I'm not doing
anything. Yeah, that's okay. I don't want to
be the new guy, you know? If they look at you
funny, just be like, I got to get out of safety.
I'm not talking about the people. I'm talking
about the other firefighters. I want to pull
my weight. They don't matter. Oh, firefighters
matter. Wait, really quickly. Won't the real
firefighters figure out pretty quickly that there
is no fire? Yeah, but they're in on it. And they're
still going to have to solve the problem. Just
because there's no fire doesn't mean that there's
not a hazard that we've created. They still got
to solve it. Wait, and also, if these people
are in on it, who's to say that they don't have
connections in Ember? And we go in there into
a trap. Well, I don't think they're in on it.
How about when we run in, we say like, I smell
gas this way. And we just keep yelling stuff.
So everyone's just like, wait, what? Everyone
gets confused and everyone just starts going
off. It just looks like mayhem. I feel like that's
the best. Yeah, there won't be enough chaos with
the building filling with smoke. We gotta also
shout random other hazards that could exist.
There's a snake! There's water over here. Am
I doing it right? I think somebody spilled their
jamba juice. I mean, yeah, we'll look like new
guys, but I think... I feel like now we're thinking
about it, too. We're over -engineering this.
We just gotta show up with real firefighters
and infiltrate the building. And if you gotta
look busy, look busy. But, like, ultimately,
like, we're stealing. Like, that's, you know.
I guess if we don't have to think about it, I
can do that. Yeah, I don't think we do. Alright,
no thinking. Just, you know, stick together.
Wesley, probably the most, uh... diplomatic among
us can handle conversations. Hopefully. Oh, actually,
before we go to sleep, I want to use the last
of my lesser fire potions that I have and make
a charge and then try to throw it over the wall
at the... Where were those stacks at? Oh, where
the gunpowder and stuff was? Where those barrels
are at. Yeah, I think we can... We can kind of
retcon that a la heist film. Just cut to. Wait,
are you just trying to put them in there? They
last 24 hours, so I can just throw that shit.
Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah. And the shit
goes south. Kaboom. You know what I mean? Smart.
Yeah. I think introducing explosives to the mix
is always a good idea. It's the best distraction.
Yeah, ba -boom. Ba -boom? Especially when, would
you still need to remind you guys? There's no
actual fire. You guys. Yeah, but it'll seem like
there's a fire. Like, nobody's going to see the
building filling with smoke and be like, oh,
you know what? I bet it's an inverted tent and
a chimney. No, no. This isn't a fire. I'll just
say. I bet you there's four fucking creatures
trying to steal documents. I'm just saying you
don't have to try to learn how to fight a fire
because there isn't one. Until Sammy explodes
the fucking gunpowder. And then there will certainly
be a fire. Alright, when you guys, when I save
everybody from detonating that thing, you know,
Remember this. Remember it. Thank you, Tez. The
only question I was going to say is, like, how
early do we have to get up? Because, like, you
know, presumably we got to be up pretty much
before, like, Ember starts. Like, before we would
expect them to start working in the forge. We
need to be ready to, you know, move. We can't
really afford to be late. Yeah, that's a really
excellent point. You probably are going to want
to figure out what the rest rules are because
you're going to be up very early. Yeah, I would
assume you're going to want to get up relatively
early, probably before sunrise. I mean, I imagine
that this work starts pretty early in the day
and you want to be in place by the time you're
needed. Yeah, I think probably just before dawn,
the party would awaken, gather their items, complete
whatever daily preparations you need to do for
the day, and just let me know when you're ready
to head out. Who was your friend out there that
we met last night that was just really weird
and just came up to you? Bon Bon. Jerry Bon Bon.
You guys go way back? No, I don't even actually
know him. He was part of the caravan and he tried
talking to me one night while I was doing a watch.
That's weird. Nobody's ever smacked my butt like
he smacked yours. I thought you guys were really
close. No, he's a weird guy. Alright, so if you
guys are ready to go, just let me know. Or is
there anything you want to do before taking off
from the inn? I think that's it. I'm going to
show Amaris the progress that I've made on the
tattoo so far. It hasn't gotten any better. Wow,
that's looking pretty good, man. That looks way
better than the last time I saw it. Is that the
last time it was good? Yeah, but I mean, everything
can get better, right? Yeah. What is that supposed
to be? Those are his feet. What is the whole
thing supposed to be? Everest's eyes just get
wide and looks at everybody except for Tess.
This is like... I thought it'd be cool if I gave
him a tattoo of the first time we met. So this
is kind of like the scenery. I love it, buddy.
I love it. Oh, okay. I was just looking at it
upside down, I think, so I didn't... No, you're
looking at it the right way. It's the right way.
Oh, okay. Do you think it's like... Do you think
it might be tacky to, like, tattoo himself on
him? Maybe? No, because it's, like, the story,
you know? It's, like, how we met. It's, like,
through my point of view, you know? Yeah. I just
feel like maybe you should just do, like, just
your face, you know? Like, just a big... Oh,
just me? Yeah. On him? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah. I'm going to start scribbling. I'm going
to start sketching on a piece of paper. Ah. Thanks
for that, Teldir. Don't we have somewhere to
be right now? Yeah. We got to go fucking steal
some stuff. For good. Put the date that you guys
met as well. What was that? Put the date that
you guys met as well. I think that's really important.
Oh, I'll never forget something like that. I
got a memory. I'll be honest. I don't remember
the date. I don't remember if it was a Tuesday
or a Wednesday. It was a wild day, so I'm sorry
about that. The 11th of Moontag. Yeah, so you
guys gather together, admire this. I am almost
certain it's going to end up being a remarkable
tattoo. And as you exit the inn, you see there's
like a wagon out front and two horses. connected
to it. Sorry, they miraculously have their heads
on and are not on fire. You can see the stitch
marks around their neck. And there's a variety
of tools. It's really more of a civil peacekeeping,
engineering kind of fix -it service. There's
no real dedicated fire force you know firefighting
force uh but it's kind of like this program designed
to like go around fix things help people out
maintain the city uh do general kind of maintenance
in the area and so driving this uh white cart
is a a dwarven man that you've never seen before
and standing against it is uh a familiar face
And he's going to wave to you and be like, hey,
Taldea, it's me, Jerry. Jerry. I'm going to fucking
elbow him hard on the side and be like, hey,
your buddy. Yeah, hey, Jerry. Maybe you can get
a tattoo of him. Yeah, maybe. We'll see. We'll
see. I can do that. I can definitely do that.
Yeah, I just, the thing is my body is a temple,
you know? My body is a temple for Milani, so
I can't really get tattoos without her consent.
And she is hard to get on the phone, let me tell
you. So I guess you're part of the fire crew,
Jerry, huh? Roy, yeah, I just volunteer a few
times a month. You said you had somewhere to
be in the morning, and I thought, oh, I bet they're
going to do this. It's a good thing. If you want
to tattoo his face on me, I'd be. happy to let
you. He is my oldest and best friend. My body
is, it's not a temple. It's a real garbage dump.
Oh, perfect. Right. Yeah, so anyway, I think
we should get going if that's good for you. Yeah,
I just, I feel like this just isn't really the
right mission for you, Jerry, is the thing. I
just think we're going to be so crowded. Someone's
got to stay here in case other calls come in
while we're out, you know? So I just feel like
maybe you should stay. You're making a very good
point. He turns around, points at the dwarf,
and he's like, right, fuck off. Taldea doesn't
want you here. He's my man. The dwarf just cut
out. I like the way this guy takes charge. Yeah.
Yeah. That's impressive. Are you the captain?
Oh, Captain Bon Bon now. Look at me. Yeah, I'm
the captain. Fuck off. I'm the captain. You're
not even supposed to be here today. Salute your
captain. Yeah. I just, Jerry, I'm trying to be
delicate with this, but we don't want you to
come along. I mean, I don't mind it. Not yet.
Guys, trust me, we do not want him to come along.
I want to push past him and introduce myself.
Hi, my name is Wesley. Was it Jerry? Jerry. Okay,
I'm going to call you Jer -Bear. I've got a title,
a last name, and a nickname now. I like this
lot. Captain Jerry Jer -Bear Bon -Bon. I jump
in the wagon. I'm going to walk up to him like,
Hi, I'm... Ah, me. Nice to meet you. Amnesia.
I'm going to throw a weak back like, ah, I remembered
not to use my name. Nice to meet you. Ah, me.
Hey, you got it right. All right. Taldeer, I
understand your apprehension. You don't want
me to come along with you. You need me to. I
get it. I'm important. Integral to this, really.
No. And he, like, climbs up in the pilot seat.
Actually, the thing, Jerry, is that this is kind
of, you know, I don't know, like... Just please
don't come, Jerry. You're killing me. Hey, Jerry,
I think he's worried about you, and he... I don't
know, I think he's scared that you might get
hurt. You must really care about him. Yeah, that's
exactly right, Amris. Thank you for being strong
enough to say what I could. Who? Well, just like
me family doctor used to say, this is happening
whether you want it to or not, so get on board.
All right. That's weird, but all right. I didn't
like injections. I had to get shots when I was
a kid. Uh -huh. It's just weird how you've ingratiated
yourself into my life. It's almost like, I don't
know, divine intervention of some kind. It's
crazy. It's like God is playing tricks on me.
This is insane. Maybe God knows that you needed
a new friend. No, I don't think she cares. I
too believe. Hey, maybe you're next, Wesley.
No, thanks. I too believe God has brought us
together. That's exactly what I meant. He's like,
hey! And the cartels start to roll. You guys
move into the section of town that Ember's located
in. And let's just say you kind of fuck around,
putz around a little bit, do a couple little
chores, tacking up a sign, dusting off a statue
of some kind. But before long, you see a plume.
of dark smoke start to kind of like rise from
that central hilltop and when you make your way
there you you are allowed past the uh guard towers
that are currently manned and you see like a
small congregation of dwarves standing out front
um jerry's gonna like climb out of the driver's
seat and uh turn back to you guys and be like
right looks like we got A fire. Or at least the
beginnings of one. I don't know. We might want
to check it out. Yeah. Might want to. Where there's
smoke, there's fire, as they say. Definitely.
Definitely. So you stay here and watch the cart,
Jerry. We got this. Okay. I'll stay right here.
I'll watch the cart. I'll do my duty. Thank you.
And then we'll proceed forward. Just out of game,
I just realized all the smoke they would be seeing,
it's not black, right? Well, we clogged the chimney,
so it should just be filling up smoke inside
of the building. Oh, I thought you said that
we saw smoke building up. Yeah. Well, I think
it's just, like, coming out. Yeah, it's just,
like, as they've opened doors and windows to
try to, like, air it out, the building is just,
like, filling up with smoke, and you see it kind
of pluming out. It does appear to be tracing
off, and as you approach, you see, like, a short
but strong -looking kind of elderly dwarf. He's
got, like, white hair that's just, like, slicked
back. He's got... He kind of smiles when he approaches
you, and you see all of his fingers have rings
on them. His teeth, he's got like a gold tooth,
like an iron tooth, like a couple of other off
-colored teeth that you can't quite place. And
he puts his hand out to whichever one of you
is in the lead. Wesley, do you want to be in
the lead? Yeah, I'll just push past everyone
and go shake his hand. He kind of looks at you
and when he looks at you, you can see that one
of his eyes doesn't move and it's actually just
like a marble rock in his head. And he just says,
no need. We've got things under control. Please
give the governor my regards, but kindly exit
my facility. I want to try to turn directly at
his. Bad eye? I understand, but I'm sorry. We
do have a job that we have to do, so please just
step aside and let us handle it. Okay, depending
on what you're doing and how you're doing it.
It sounded like a diplomacy test, but you can
do intimidation or diplomacy, whichever vibe
you're giving off. While she's doing that, I
want to go, psst. Either Taldi or Amaris, and
then just kind of, like, show them the charge.
Make a signal. Taldi will signal, like, wait,
like, just a second. Just give us one second.
I got my hand, like, on the acme. I got 21. 21.
And it's going to be diplomacy. Kind of looks
at you, kind of lingers for a moment, and then
finally turns around, calls out to the other
assembled dwarves. Right. We're going to take
two hours. Go. Have your lunch, whatever you
need, or breakfast. Then be back here. Two hours,
promptly. I need to turn back to you, Wesley,
and say... You've got one hour to do what it
is you need to do. Didn't he just say two? Well,
I'm giving my guys some time to, you know...
Don't fucking correct me. Oh, that was really
nice of you. You're a good boss, man. I'm gonna
walk away before he says anything to me. Damn
it. Could we... Could we know what level, like,
the offices and stuff... Like, basically the
points... of interest to us. What level of the
building they would be on based on the Spymaster?
Yeah, he wasn't able to give you a lot of information
about them in detail, but he would have shared
that the basement floor is like a artisanal forge
where they create prototypes and things like
that for show to various adventuring groups,
the governor herself, whatever. The first floor
is more like a... public space kind of like think
of a like a bank almost there's like a lobby
with a couple of areas where people you know
sign contracts review documents things like that
um and then the second floor is like the executive
business offices okay so we should you know start
our inspection from the top down standard firefighter
stuff Yeah, standard. Standard, yeah. Standard.
Right. Well, do what you need to do to maintain
public safety. And he puts a lot of mustard on
it. He does not believe in your competence at
all. Not necessarily suspicious. He's just dismissive
of your abilities. And he's like, just make sure
you don't go poking around too far. We've got,
as he does it. Sorry, I was going to open the
door and just start fucking coughing because
of all the smoke and walk in. You open the door
and it's like entering my grandmother's house,
which you don't have context for, but it's miserable.
It's like a shady casino in Prim, Nevada. I want
to be like, is there anywhere specific you don't
want us to go? I don't want you to go anywhere.
No, but, you know. Stay out of locked doors.
Stay out of the forge. Even if there's someone
screaming behind the locked door, you want us
to just not open the door? The information behind
those doors is proprietary and belongs to the
Ember Corporation. I want to head back to the
fire truck and get an axe. Okay. I'm going to
get a bucket of water. While I walk past him,
I go to shake his hand to make sure. What was
his name again? Did he introduce himself? He
did not. Okay. I'll just introduce myself then.
My name is Leslie Lipton. I couldn't care less.
One hour. Do what you have to do. You got it.
You see him like mutter to himself, Leslie Lipton.
And he like talks to somebody else. He's like,
write that down. they kind of, like, begin to,
like, just kind of migrate from the inner courtyard
away from the door. I want to say really loudly,
like, to the group, like, all right, guys, whatever
he said, just don't help anyone behind a locked
door. Let's go. All right, so as you enter, let's
see, we'll go to roll 20. The way that Wesley's
holding the axe, she's never wielded an axe in
her life. You're holding it at the very, very,
very, very top? Yeah. Just... Doing practice
swings, but a little... All right, there we go.
If you are in roll 20, you should be able to
see the map now. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to run
in and just start pulling documents out of everywhere.
So you walk in just to set the scene for, you
know, the radio aspect of the show. You walk
in and the floor is made of smooth stone. The
walls equally kind of like. antiseptic and clean.
It really has the feeling of being in a nice
bank or something. You see to the east and the
west, there are doors leading into separate chambers.
Before you is a large, older desk with a single
book on top of it. Behind it, staircases going
up and kind of a trap door situation that you
would imagine leads to the basement but you obviously
can't see. There are several display cases scattered
around the room, as well as suits of armor that
are set out on display. On the wall are painted
murals that have a variety of corporate sayings
and slogans. One of them is a dwarf smashing
a... pickaxe into a rock and it's like prosperity
through profits and there's another one that's
like two like a farmer and like a dwarf in like
a three piece suit shaking hands and it's like
contracted equality and there are like several
other of these like kind of images kind of painted
onto the walls around the room and I thought
I would give you guys the opportunity to fill
in some of those gaps And, uh, if you've got
some corporate jargon, some kind of corporate,
uh, you know, teamwork poster or whatever that
you think would be fun, then, uh, just let us
know. And, uh, you know, I'll give you a hero
point. Uh, I'm going to walk up to this thing
over here. I'm like for the good of tomorrow.
And then look, it says for us really small. Dicks.
I like it. I like it. I'm just going to go to
the nearest water cooler. Okay, yeah. That's
it. That's all I got. It's just that there's
a water cooler. Fantasy water cooler. I'll read
off a poster. It's like, another day in paradise.
Another day in paradise. What's good for one
is good for all. There you go. It's just like...
dwarves tending bees or something. Yeah. Alright,
yeah. So go ahead and... A cat hanging from a
branch that says hang in there. It's just a hat
or a cat with a suit and a briefcase that's like,
I love Mondays. Fucking live for them. It's a
weird poster that they would have two lines.
Um... I just want to look for anything that looks
locked. What was that, Michelle? Yeah. Teamwork
makes the dream work. All right, there we go.
We all got hero points. I think we got to get
upstairs as soon as possible. We're on a time
limit and the executive stuff is upstairs. Okay.
You guys going to just move straight upstairs?
Can I roll perception and see if I see anything
that just looks... like there's a safe behind
a picture. Yeah, go ahead and roll a perception
in the room. Yeah, I want to hang... Can I look
at the... the weapons to see if there's anything
cool? Yeah, anyone roll a perception and just
let me know what you're looking at. 24. 24. So
you do, as you're kind of looking around, you
don't see anything hidden necessarily in this
room. You do notice that these two doors... near
the entryway are locked. The two up here don't,
or sorry, the doors that are kind of like to
the southwest and the southeast do not appear
to be locked. They're just kind of like almost
like you could push them open. This is a kind
of public space, the common ground where Ember
sees outsiders and others that they're interested
in. What were you looking at, Amaris? Okay. I
got a 10. Does it have any cool weapons in it?
Yeah, actually, pretty low DC, so as you're kind
of looking at the weapons, you see that these
are all, like, they're designed to be impressive,
but they're not functional weapons. They're,
like, almost costume material. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Anybody else searching down here? Yeah, because
I want to... If it seems like anything of value,
like if these doors are locked, I want to stay
down here for a bit and try to open them. Yeah,
yeah. Go ahead and make a thievery check to try
to unlock. Which, are you doing the eastern door
or the western door down here that's locked?
So it's these two near the entrance that are
locked. Oh, these... Yeah, you just open these
if you want to. I'll do the other one that he's
not in front of. Okay. Yeah, I'll be quick about
it. Can I do... Engineering. Okay. Yeah, I was
going to say engineering lore. Or engineering.
Yeah, I'll let you roll an engineering lore check
on it to then lower the DC of the thievery. Pick
lock. 19. All right. Yeah. So go ahead and you
kind of examine it. You gain a pretty decent
understanding of how this lock functions. Picking
locks isn't necessarily your thing, but you feel
pretty good about it. So go ahead and make that
thievery check. Okay. That is a 14 total. 14
total. Yeah. You moved it from a 15 to a 12.
Ooh. So as you unlock the door and open it, there
are no traps. However, you enter into this kind
of smaller room. It's full of books and other
documents. As you kind of begin to look around,
they appear to be kind of legal in nature. This,
sitting at this desk. is this clockwork creature.
Once you step foot inside the door, it stands
and just says, this area is protected by attorney
-client privilege. Please exit the area. What
the fuck? I'm going to step out and then just
close the door. Are we looking for that stuff?
That was fucking weird. We might be, but I think
the stuff on the ground floor is more about people
signing contracts and this, that, and the other
thing. It's where visitors come to get that shit
signed. But it sounds like the important stuff
that we're very interested in would be upstairs
in the executive offices. So if we check there
and we don't find it, then we can fight these
clockwork things. Okay, this store is pretty
secure anyway, so. Harris is like, I'm not even
going to try. Oh, I tried. Where's the stairs?
Right here. So one thing the radio audience will
never have to know is that I am a master map
maker. They are all just. Out of this world fantastic.
And that is in no way, shape, or form sarcasm.
Don't worry, we're going to add some... We'll
get some of this stuff publicized. Crazy. For
Patreon, of course. Crazy thing, these are pre
-made assets and I put them on the map and it's
always still just like, I don't know, it doesn't
look like a desk when you do it. Yeah. So you
guys are moving up to the next floor? Yeah. Okay.
I don't know why this is giving me trouble moving,
but there we go. Oh, yeah. This is the stuff.
We need a thief on our team. I'm going to try...
I'm going to just start trying doors. I'm going
to try the one immediately behind the staircase.
Yeah. So as you kind of ascend the step for the
people listening, you come up and this floor
is much nicer, still very Spartan and kind of
has that like bank hospital kind of like antiseptic
feel, but elevated to the immediate right. of
the staircase. Well, depending on how you're
facing, I guess I'm better off giving cardinal
directions. Immediately to the west of the staircase
is a smaller office. To the east is another one.
You can see down the hallway there are a total
of five doors. Three on the west, two on the
east, and then a sixth door directly south of
the staircase. Amaris, you go to check on the
door to... the immediate west of the staircase,
and you find that it is unlocked. Cool. I'm going
to take a peek inside without stepping in. You
kind of like... Taldeer is going to go to the
next door and do the same. Or try it, just to
see if it's locked. Okay. Yeah, I'll check. Yeah,
I'll just stand at one, and then I'll check this
one. That's at the very end of the far left.
Awesome. So... I'm going to go in and just check
to see if there's any hidden locks, false bottom,
anything like that. One second. I am. When you
open this door and you look in, you see there's
a small desk. It's a very small office. Yeah,
you open the door and you see just like a small
windowless office. There is a old kind of, not
necessarily poor, but just... badly taken care
of desk the walls are spare nothing is hanging
on them there are two areas for torches to be
held but currently nothing lights up the room
there's just an old dwarf sitting at his desk
kind of like muttering to himself like scribbling
in this notebook um i'm gonna call wesley wesley
we've got a A straggler here. We need to get
him out for safety. And I'm going to wink, like,
super hard. What? Leslie? Leslie? Yes, of course,
I'll go. I tell them, and then I'm... My name's
Leslie, if anybody asks. Is there a Wesley here?
Is there a... Leslie? Leslie, sorry, you must...
Yeah, you misunderstood. Leslie, yes, very...
What are you doing in here? This is my office.
Hi, sir. You have to come with me really quickly.
There's a fire and we need to get everyone out
of this building right now. And I just grab him
and just start ushering him out really carefully
because he's old and he looks fragile. But like
with haste, like, come on. Yeah, he is old and
he is very fragile. And as you're kind of like
tugging on him, he's like with a disrespect and
slights never end. I tell you, as you get him
closer to the staircase, he's like. I... I...
I'm the director of this operation. Please take
your hands off of me. I can walk myself. And...
I pick him up and I walk him down stairs. He's
just done disrespect. Kicking his little door.
No one throws a door. How strong are you, by
the way? Oh, man. I struggle. Am I looking at
strength? Yeah. Where are you? Oh. Where's strength
at? Am I? It's at the top. Just as an attribute.
Zach, I can't hear you at all. Yeah, I was muted
that whole time. Got him. All right, yeah, I
say, like, he's very old. He's got those old
people, like, bird bones. You know, like, when
you're so old, your skin feels like a dry sponge,
and it, like, just... It's not even... There
goes our old audience. Yeah, well, they can't
figure it out. Do you spend a lot of time feeling
up old people? Whoa, dude. Whoa. I've seen two.
Let's not poke too many holes in this. Oh, why
are you poking holes in skin? Oh, God, okay.
And old people's skin would probably be, like,
the worst for that. Yeah, it's like paper. They
can't even notice. It just moves around their
body like a separate entity. Oh, man. I'm really
careful when I'm taking him downstairs because
I know about his skin. Yeah, you're holding him.
And as you are holding him, he just slowly turns
into bat wings where you're just holding up flaps
of flesh. Can I just pass it? I want to pass
him to the nearest firefighter that I see. It's
just you guys and Jerry, and you made Jerry stay
outside. Oh, dang. Okay. But as you get to the...
base of the steps. It is still hazy and smoky
inside the, uh, first floor. Second floor, remarkably,
seems to be more or less cleared out, but he's
gonna tell you, uh, put me down. I'll leave.
I'll leave. It's fine. Anyway, I... Yes, well,
I will be back. Believe me, I'm the... Supposed
to be the director of this whole operation. You'll
be hearing from me. What was your name again?
Sassy? Sabrina. Leslie. Leslie. I had a daughter
named Leslie. She disappointed me greatly. Her
and I have that in common. Thank you. Okay. And
then it's... We're back upstairs. We could feed
birds together. Okay. All right. You're already
gone. All right. Oh, he wants to feed birds together.
I want an old person to come out of my door and
start shaking the door. Start shaking the door.
Come on. So, Taz, the door you are in front of
is, I mean, not overly large, but very much has
the construction of, like, Vault door. Okay.
Do I see any hinges or somewhere where the key
is at? I want to inspect this door. Go ahead
and make an engineering check. Engineering lore.
Engineering lore, baby. I was just thinking we
could have tried to pickpocket that one guy.
He's probably the one with the keys. 24 total
loot. The first one. The one that didn't want
us to come in. Oh well. More fun this way. We
don't necessarily need to be particularly stealthy
now that we're already in here. We're going to
be taking stuff. They're going to know they were
robbed. And they're going to know it was us.
No matter what. Now that we're in here, we don't
necessarily need to maintain stealthy ruse. So,
like, if we have to break down something, we
can break down something. But we should be able
to walk out before they know what happened, at
the very least. I'm listening to Talgir say this,
and I start to, like, slowly craft the bomb.
Hold on, hold on, hold on. I just give him my
axe. Yeah, let's try the subtle method first,
Taz. Alright. Here, Taz, and I just give him
my axe. I think it's a metal door. It's like
a voltage door. Is it connected to wood? No,
actually, this whole building is made from various
stone elements. The first floor was polished
stone. This floor, the floor itself is marble,
but the walls are still limestone. Oh, so this
place can't really catch fire. We gotta get quick
before they realize that this is a... The place
made of stone. The people that built it realized
that it was made of stone? I got a 24 on my engineering,
by the way. 24 on your engineering. Yeah, so
to create context on why they would have even
let you into this place, because this is knowledge
that your characters may not have, but it makes
the world make sense to anyone listening to this.
So one of the rare exceptions to their independent
charter is the idea of like public safety and
good health. So in the event of, you know, items
or incidents that could threaten public safety,
the governor has the right to kind of supersede
their independent charter. And I, you know, in
his mind, he's just kind of like, well. Whatever.
I'll give them an hour. They won't go into secure
spaces. And then this will be done rather than
trying to complain to the governor and taking
all day. So that's the secret logic to him making
that decision. 24 on your check. You do think
you could pick this lock. It is significantly
more challenging than the one downstairs, however.
Do I see anything specifically what I was trying
to look for is like... Points of weakness. Points
of weakness that could be corroded. Oh, certainly.
Yeah. Oh, nice. So then... Who wants to take
a crack at this door before I try to melt the
hinges off? I do. You're from the hallway. Whoever
wants to take a crack at it, go ahead. I come
running around the corner. Fucking Scooby -Doo.
Blighting and shit. Which one? Kind of spinning
in a circle. Alright, cool. I'm going to take
a crack at it. I'm going to get really close
to the side of your face as you're trying to
focus. 17, but I'm guessing that's not good enough.
17 total? Yeah, that is not going to be good
enough. Even with Taz's help, this is an incredibly
intricate lock. You think you could get there
with enough time? You were close, but... I'm
going to try again. Can I use my air poet still?
Or is it too late? I'll let you use it. Dicer.
You have a dice tray? It's right next to where
he's throwing the dice on his table. It actually
was. It's work system. Okay, yeah. Step aside,
step aside. I'll do it. All right. All right,
all right. I was just looking. That was a nat
20. Are you serious? I swear, I swear. It's not
even real, dude. There we go. We got. So for
the listening audience, Zach is just a home run
hitter when it comes to rolling dice. Zach can't
roll anything higher than like a 10. If that.
That's with this modifier. And Michelle can't
roll anything lower than a 20. That's just pretty
crazy. It's insane. Felt the need to give us
visual confirmation because the level of excellence
on these rolls has been. Out of control. But
there it is. Natural 20 on the rock. Who'd you
piss off? Some DM has just put a curse on you.
Charles is the only DM I've ever played with.
Maybe he's just mad at me for standing him up
one too many times. Dude, he's got the Wil Wheaton
curse. Again, not rolling your dice for you.
You put some kind of hex on him. Not like rolling
it and being like, you know what? Fuck that guy.
It's a six. It's like he's doing this himself.
Yeah. Somehow you get in there and maybe between...
She just phases through the wall. You get into
that lock and you really key it in. You just...
took a half dozen Adderall and chased it with
a Red Bull. I started doing the Matthew McConaughey.
And this door just pops open. And when it opens,
you see just a narrow hallway about five feet
wide, about six feet tall. You would have to
duck to go in. And at the very end of it, is
a safe. Cool. You guys, come in. Ooh, a safe.
It doesn't look like there's really enough space
in there for all of us to come in. You guys are
all huddled around it. Just suck your stomach
in, man. I want to try to... open all these other
doors while they fuck with the safe. Does anybody
else want to try and fail at opening this before
Wesley opens it? Or do we need to... Yeah, is
Wesley going to let me push by and try it, or
is he going to kind of give me the fucking adult
woman to get back? You can try it. Oh, I get
another hero point, right? You do. Yeah, you
do. So, I pulled out a different die. Hopefully
this one has better results. Oh, yeah. Dice tray
this time. It popped out. Well, don't pitch it
at your dice tray. Dude, you drop it in the eye
hole. Okay. And it just jumped out the mouth.
But it was better. I got a 12 for a total of
19 this time. 19 will do. I feel like you took
six Adderall in a Red Bull. 19 will do it. You
are able to work the... safe open and as it like
just pops open there are not a ton of things
in there. There are a hundred gold pieces in
a little coin pouch. There is a necklace made
of black pearls. That's mine. There is a rune
shield family dagger. There is a deed to mine
number seven. And there is the personal journal
of the Overmaster. Oh, surely that won't have
any relevant information. I blow past all of
that and I just get the pearl. Ooh, it goes perfectly
with my shirt. Black on gray. What was after
the pearl necklace? A dagger. Yeah, a runeshield
family dagger. So typically, like, in dwarven
communities... At an age of maturity, they are
tasked with crafting their own dagger, and it's
kind of emblazoned with their family crest. Cool,
cool, cool. All right, well, I'm going to just
put all this stuff into a bag, and I'm going
to snatch the pearls back out of Wesley's hand
and put it in the bag. That makes sense. We'll
take care of this later. Trying to fucking put
it on her neck to walk out as a fireman. Already
has the collared shirt poking out of it. We didn't
take anything. Why are you trying to put it on
over the shirt? Tuck that back in. My sleeves
come out because I have those fancy sleeves.
The ruffles? Yeah, the ruffles at the very bottom.
Fantastic. Oh, but there is... Nothing else in
this room. Where are you guys going to go next?
I'm trying to open this one while that's going
on. Okay. Go ahead and let me make sure I think
that is locked as well. I'm going to head back
into the room I was and do the check that I was
going to do originally. When is your heart out,
Kenny? Still got about an hour. Are we cool taking
a quick little breaky break? Yeah, we can take
like two or three, whatever. Yeah, five. Okay,
cool. And we're back. Seamlessly. Anybody remember
where we were at? We just found everything and
we were leaving. Yeah. We still gotta search
all the other rooms, I think. We did that already.
We did that already. We did it already, right?
I'm just kidding. I was going to check the room
that I'm in to see if there's any hidden safe,
false drawers, anything that contains something.
Yeah, I want to open up this door. Or I at least
want to check if it's locked. So I'll just jiggle
the handle or pull or push, whatever kind of
door this is. And then... Yeah, does it open
in or out? We didn't go over that. Does it slide?
Is it like a sliding door? These doors just materialize
and dematerialize when you turn the handle. That's
how these ones work. No, the doors, you know,
they're dwarven construction, so they make fucking
sense. And the doors, the interior doors open
into the room. Yeah, so we'll kind of go in order
here. I have people's names written down, not
really based on initiative, just for if we were
to go into it later. So we'll kind of track that
since everybody's kind of doing independent things
at the moment. And we'll start with Taldeer.
What are you going to do right now? All I can
really do is check to see if the door is locked
or not. And if it is locked, then I just gotta
wait for other people. Okay, so you check to
see if the door is locked. The singular door
to the south. Yeah, you open that door, and it
opens without issue. It kind of opens up into
a large, spacious, well -appointed office. You
see a desk of... Remarkable craftsmanship and
quality at the center of the room. There are
a handful of candles on it. None of them are
lit because the daylight fills the space. Coming
through these rather large windows that surround
the exterior of the room. There's a large sofa
in the southwestern corner that kind of sits
in front of a small table. Looks like it would
be used for maybe eating lunch or... Just having
a beverage while you watch the world from this
couch. There are a couple of bookshelves. Just
a quick glance at these indicate that most of
them have titles in Dwarven. Do you speak Dwarven?
I do not. In the eastern side of the room, there's
a large marble table with six well -crafted leather
chairs. around it. Looks like the kind of place
where people would have kind of corporate meetings
or like things like that. Um, cool. Are we staying
on me or going? Yeah, let's move and then we'll
come back. Uh, Amaris, what are you doing? Uh,
I'm looking for hidden safes, uh, you know, secret
stash, anything like that in this room. Okay,
go ahead and, uh, Roll a perception check. It's
eight for a 16 total. Eight for a 16 total. You
don't find much. This room is kind of, again,
sparse. You open the desk drawer and there's
like writing utensils, paper. On the desk itself
is a letter that he was reading from his wife
back home. And it's, Basically just like, you
know, just remember you're the director. You're
the one in charge of the project. Right now,
mining may be the flavor of the month, but it's
not all Ember does. And once things cool and
return to normal, the king will recognize your
value and your importance and place the Overmaster
in his place. it kind of goes on like this you
can kind of get the sense that uh it's probably
like the equivalent of like you ever get home
from work and just have a shitty day and just
like really unload on your your partner like
not at them but just like about other people
does that ever no just me yeah pretty sure i
do that every day and that's not from work just
People drive like idiots. I hate the world. Everything
is stupid. Yeah, that is like three drinks and
I'm ready to talk about work. But yeah, you get
the sense that they're in that kind of communication
space. Wesley, you were next on the list. I'm
going to open this door. Yes, sir. Check it out.
One second. Yeah, you are able to open that door.
When you open it, you see that it is lined with
racks of weapons and kind of armaments of that
nature. Most of them appear to be intended for
dwarves, but there are some that would be usable
by larger creatures. Go ahead and roll a perception
check. Plus perception. Seven. 45. I was getting
there. I was at 26. I didn't mean to step on
your toes. It's okay. Wow. So that is exactly
a critical success, which changes the loot a
little bit. You do find four regular short swords,
four war hammers, one regular bow, but kind of...
Among the items, you find a small dagger. And
when you touch it, there's something intuitively
in you that knows it is valuable. Like, it kind
of resonates with you. And for purposes of the
game, I'll just give it to you. It is a fulmination
thing. What is that? Taz. Yeah, I'm going to
jiggle this door. And if it opens, awesome. Yeah.
And if not, I'll try to. It does open. And when
you open it, you look inside another desk against
the kind of Western wall placed underneath a
window. There are two bookshelves in it. As you
kind of like glance over at them, you walk in
and you see many of the books are in common and
you can tell that almost all of them are scientific
treatises, textbooks, reference materials of
one kind or another. Go ahead and roll a perception
check. 19. 19. Yeah. As you're kind of like walking
by one. book in particular catches your attention
and uh as you kind of like pull it from the shelf
open it up flip through it most of it appears
to be out of dated or out of date or information
that you're already aware of but you do you are
able to pull two pieces of information from it
and you gain access to the Tanglefoot Bag Lesser
and the Comprehension Elixir Lesser Alchemical
Formula. Yeah, I'll add that into my books because
it's so easy to do it on Demiflame. Yeah, no
worries. While you're doing that, we'll go back
to Taldir. Taldir, you're kind of in this large
office. What are you going to do now? Yeah, I
mean, first things first, I want to start with
a perception check on the desk to see, like,
basically he's going to, like, try and search
the desk, right? Like, search the drawers, looking
for hidden compartments, etc. Like, anything
that looks valuable in or on the desk. Right.
Perception. He doesn't see anything. What'd you
get? I'm going to use a hero point. That's what
I got. That's way better. 21. 21's great. You
notice several things. First, as you approach
the desk, there is just a missive letter that's
sitting on the desk. Looks like he had just received
it before they decided to evacuate the building.
And it's basically a note that confirms requests
sent to Human Resources Policy Compliance Division.
A unit should be able to conduct an evaluation
within 72 hours in regards to Hilda Onyx Fist.
Yeah, I mean, he's probably not going to spend
too much time reading stuff, but if it looks
important, he's just going to take it. yeah let's
see what else there was in there so you go to
open the drawer and inside the drawer are a couple
of things you know writing utensils paper things
like that sort of things you expect to see in
an office drawer sitting on top is like a bound
uh Scroll, kind of like a wrapped piece of paper
that's just been rolled up and sealed. There
is a letter attached to it as well, a short note
kind of like pinned onto it. When you look at
it, very short, it just says, Speculite seems
to be at play here with its energy transference
properties. For now, I suggest we continue to
keep this between ourselves. I've eliminated
your problem for you. Now you do as you promised,
and nothing can prevent us from succeeding. As
you kind of continue to shuffle through it, you
find in a folder at the bottom a partially executed
deed to mining site 44. And it has been endorsed
and executed. by Juan Luis Valle de la Venda.
Oh, all right. Yeah, certainly going to be taking
that. And he doesn't love that. Well, I mean,
I guess he does kind of love that. That's kind
of the whole reason he was doing this, is hoping
to find a connection to him. I suppose he does
kind of love that. Is there anything else? Is
it 21 enough to get any information on other
parts of the room as well, or would I need to
roll an additional perception check? Yeah, I
would say that as you kind of look around the
room with that perception check, the only other
things of real value that you would notice is
kind of hanging on a hook by the door is a bag
that looks like it's come from a launderer. Whoever,
you know, washes and presses clothes in this
town. In addition, inside the drawer, you do
find... I'm glad you brought it up because I
forgot this one. You do find a small vial. It
looks like a test tube size vial filled with,
like, this... It looks like sand, but it's, like,
violet. And it kind of has a faint, like, glow
to it. Pocket sand. Pocket sand. Yeah, I mean,
he'll take anything that looks even remotely
valuable he'll take. So he'll take the bag that
looks like it came from Wander and he'll definitely
take the vial. I think he's hoping that if he
takes things other than just important documents,
like, you know, various other things that could
be considered valuable, it'll kind of give the...
that this wasn't, like, corporate espionage like
it is. It was just, like, a normal, you know,
robbery, basically. So, yeah, but if he doesn't
see anything else after he's done that, he'll
kind of just walk out of the room and wait for
other people to finish up or see if anybody else
needs help. Okay, and then we will go back to
Amris. I'm just going to walk out of the room
and say, I didn't find much in here, guys. You
guys have any luck? Hello. I'm going to yell
louder from the hallway. I found a book. Sweet.
Yeah. Did... Why didn't you ask anybody to write
down what I got? Yeah, I did. Okay, perfect.
And... I got stuff. Oh. I would say, are you,
so the only person who really had anything left
to maybe check was Taz. Otherwise, your guys'
rooms have been fully kind of investigated. After
you find those formula, Taz, what are you going
to do? I mean, if there's nothing of value that
I could just throw in my bag or anything else,
I'll just leave. Or I'll do like a check, yeah,
because if that's okay. I just want to, you know.
Yeah. The book. Yeah. Make sure I don't miss
anything. I leave. I get out of here. There's
nothing else to value. You found the formula
and you are pumped. Woo! Yeah. I'll just come
out here. If there's a door that needs to be
opened or checked, I will fucking check it. So
I think you guys would know the only one you
have not checked is that top door to the northeast
by the staircase. I feel like there's going to
be a troll. It's the troll. It's just a troll.
I don't know what. Troll! There's a troll in
the castle. Just thought you should know. I'm
going to go ahead and give it a shot. Yeah, go
ahead. Go ahead and roll that check. 14. 14.
You kind of like jangle with the lock for a little
bit. But you aren't quite able to get it open.
I'm going to shrug and be like, I don't know.
These locks are pretty crazy. I'll go try. Doors,
eh? Brimming with confidence after success after
success, Wesley Nixon strides towards the door.
Oh, no. It's a one. But... Just use your hero
point and then get it back when you roll a natural
20 inevitably, dude. We all blow up. I'm going
to use a different die now. Let's go. Big money,
big money. A 15 plus, what am I? That's good.
Thievery. Yeah. Thievery plus six, so 21. It
was a DC 15 lock. So you are able to crack it
and you kind of push the door open. As you do,
you see the room is like filled with these stacks
of rolled up pieces of parchment. There's a large
work desk in the northern. center of the room
but what catches your eye is that the floor is
covered in these tiny glowing runes and the moment
that you step inside they come to light and shine
like intensely and as they do you see these purple
specters of begin to swirl and form in each of
the four corners of the room. And that's where
we'll pick up next time. Oh, shit. Thank you,
guys. Good luck, bro. Come back. Check us out
next time when we roll bravely on. Have a good
night. Good night, everybody. Good night. Good
night, guys. Thank you for listening. Or good
morning. Hasta luego.