Hello and welcome to Roll Bravely, a Pathfinder
2nd Edition live play podcast where five friends
bravely roll dice, battle imaginary monsters,
and solve pretend problems. I am your Game Master
Charles Reno. Before we get started, let's introduce
the table. Hey everybody, my name is Kenny Whittington.
I play Amaris. He is a tiefling. Ranger, Nephilim
Ranger, you know, tomato, potato, as my DM says.
My name's Zach. I play Taldir, who is Nephilim.
Champion? Is that a question? No, I can't. I've
completely forgotten. I cannot remember. Yeah,
Champion. No, yeah, but I can't remember if Champion...
He's a Liberator. Champion is the base class.
He's a Liberator. Champion is essentially the
base for the new Paladin, but it changes based
on your alignment. Anyways, he's a Liberator.
Remember, everybody, learning new systems is
fun. You know, it might help, actually, if there
was, like, a sheet and you could keep all your
character information on it. Yeah, my sheet says
champion, dude. That's why I was confused, dude.
I'm looking at it. I think it would be helpful.
That's all I'm saying. Jesus. Some of us prep,
Charles. I just want to state, for the record,
that is a lie. Nobody preps. I was like, is some
of us me? I don't... My name is Sammy. I play
Taz. He's a goblin. Goblin, he's nuts. Alchemist.
Whoa. Got him. I'm about to get you. My name
is Michelle. I play Wesley Nixon, an elf damn
fear investigator. I just finished my Western.
And I picked up a new book at the inn called
Passion of the Christ the Musical. The book was
called Passion of the Christ the Musical? Yeah.
We'll see where it goes. That's fantastic. It's
just got like pitch and keys and Christ. Yeah.
Full choice in a world where gods demonstrably
exist. Just looking over the shoulder like, no,
that's not Christ, that's Christ. I think it's
a girl. I like it because it ties directly back
to the initial book reading that Wesley did,
which is like, she got into fantasy novels, but
we could not figure out what a fantasy novel
looks like in this world. Apparently it's just
religious stories from the real world. That makes
sense. Oh. Well. Way to alienate half our audience,
Charles. Half? Where we left off last time, the
party had just committed genocide, I believe,
by destroying the Ember headquarters. That was
the episode before that? True. Also, it was like
30 people. Calling that genocide is a little
overselling. There were a few survivors. There
were. It was more of a massacre. I didn't see
any of them. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. It was a
massacre. Yeah. Relax. I remember because Amorous
killed one with a jagged piece of wood. That
wasn't me. That was natural. That was natural.
He is a ranger. He's got something in his neck.
He's a ranger. You had returned to the blushing
goldfinch where you encountered... Jericho Thorne,
who you may or may not recall having heard about
a couple of times around town. He was looking
for some satisfaction regarding the embarrassment
and defeat of his associates, the Kenwick brothers.
One of which, I believe, Brad, you had driven
completely mad. Kenwick. Taldir was able to intervene,
and thinking better of the direct confrontation,
Jericho removed himself from the inn, having
apologized to Taz for his frankly insensitive
remarks. The party from there more or less determined
to go to sleep for the evening, see what the
world looked like under a new sun, and prepare
for where to go next. The table, as a side note,
roundly refusing to provide me with any insight,
clues, or hints as to what I should prepare in
regards for that. So this will be... Well, how
about we try it this way? What have you prepared?
Because I'm pretty sure that's the direction
we were going. I'm prepared to have a bad time.
Just personally, that's... Cowabunga, dude. That's
my take. But we'll see how it goes. Following
everyone else falling asleep for the evening,
Wesley was alarmed by a crow pecking at the window
outside of their room. When she eventually opened
it and spoke to the crow, the voice of her mother
came forth from it and said, Wesley, I believe
it's time for you to report in. So we will pick
up there with Wesley standing before the window.
The night sky above her, this crow kind of dancing
on the windowsill, its head kind of turning,
looking at you with its weird reptilian crow
eye, which is not strange. It's just a normal
crow eye. I just think they look weird. And as
it opens its beak, the voice of your mother comes
out. Wesley, I think it's time for you to report
in. Mother? Yes. Meet me on the roof. And the
crow takes off and flies up. Okay. Everyone's
still asleep, right? I think the best... I'll
just go through the door. I was thinking about
going through the window, but I was like, that's
just... I don't need to do that. Okay, I go through
the door, but when I'm walking... I'm walking,
like, super, like, on my tiptoes, like, being
very stealthy. Walking like a villain in a 1970s
cartoon? Yeah. Just like you're, yeah, cartoons,
just sneaking around. Somebody's trying to sneak
away from Scooby -Doo. I'll say, go ahead. With
a knife in my mouth. Go ahead and roll a stealth
check. Oh, no. Where are you? I forgot to open
Demi Point. Stealth. Stealth. Eight. Eight total.
So I would say as you sneak through the room
quietly, get to the other end, and as you pull
the door open, it's just like an old fucking
bed and breakfast. It's like... And the light
from the hallway just kind of pours in. I would
say that... I don't know how to do this. So I
guess everybody else go ahead and roll. It should
probably be against your perception, DC. But
because you're asleep, I want to do a roll instead
at disadvantage. A disadvantage or at a minus?
Are we playing Pathfinder or D &D, Charles? We're
playing whatever I say we're playing. So disadvantage?
Fine. Fine. We'll say not disadvantage. We'll
say... What's your perception bonus, Michelle?
My what? Your perception bonus. Seven. Okay,
so... Here's what we'll do. We'll make it a...
Yeah, DC 20 check. I hope you all fail. With
advantage or? No, just DC 20. I got a 24. I got
a 16. Hey, I got a 17. 17. So Amorous, as this
door opens, Wesley's kind of like gliding it.
back shut, all of a sudden you just kind of hear
this noise and wake up. Everyone else is asleep.
I'm going to sneak to the door and put my ear
against it to see what I could hear. Okay. I
would say you kind of like, now that you're listening,
you follow a little bit behind and you hear,
you just hear Wesley, I think, tiptoeing down
the hallway. She's very quiet, but I don't want
to roll again, so I'm going to say you can kind
of, like, pick up some general sounds that she's
making. Okay. I want to follow stealthily. Roll
stealth against... Michelle, what is your base
perception DC? That would be 10 plus your bonus,
so I think 17? Is that right? Yeah. Yeah, okay.
I don't know. Where would it be? So what's your
perception bonus, your plus to perception? Seven.
Okay, yeah, so it's just 10 plus that. Okay,
so yeah, 17. All right, go ahead. But she's wearing
the loud bolo, so she gets a negative two, right?
A loud bolo? It's not a loud bolo. I remember
it has the clickers at the end, and it fucking
clicks when you walk in. It's hidden under my
lace blouse. I got a 16. It's just stylistically
loud. Wesley, you become aware that Amaris has
followed you down the hallway. Okay, I want to
hide behind a corner with the dagger. Once he
comes close and I can sense that he's about to
turn the corner, I pin him against the wall.
Okay. Contested. Oh no, I guess that would be
just against his... Probably a grapple trick.
Yeah, let's do that. Against my reflex? It's
athletics. Yeah, against your athletics DC. Or
we can just do my reflex DC. Grapple. You attempt
to grab a creature or object with your free hand.
Attempt an athletics check against the target's
fortitude DC. All right, so what's your fortitude
bonus, Amaris? 18. Oh, total. Eight. Oh, 18 total.
Okay. So go ahead and roll a grapple check, Wesley.
So you have a plus and a quarter team? Fuck.
Yeah. I need a new dice. Yeah, pick a good one.
I'm trying. I need a 20. Better try to find that
weighted one. You go down. Just get the one that
has all 20 on it. Yeah. Oh. Come on, 20. Oh,
16. 16 plus. What is it? Athletics. Oh, so you're
going to be fine. I'm not athletic. That's a
17. My athletics is plus one. That's a 17 total?
Because it's a strength. Athletics is strength.
Okay, so I would say that... I have charisma.
Amber, she kind of... She moves to pin you against
the wall, but you feel like you could probably
get free at any moment. You're kind of like,
she kind of got you on the side of the rib or
something. You're like, I really just have to
step to the right, and I'm fine. So I'm just
going to... Hey, where are we going? Kind of
trying to pretend that I don't even notice the
knife there. Just... I just had to go to the
bathroom. Oh, okay, cool. I'll go with you to
make sure nothing weird happens. I'll stand outside,
of course. This is that weird thing happening.
Where? Where? He's gonna just snap his head back
and forth like this. Like, where? Help me. I
got this. You gotta do a weird thing. Oh, me?
Yeah. It's just kind of like a woman thing. Woman
vampire. Oh, okay. Yeah. I don't want to put
any more detail into it, but I prefer to just
go along. Please. Yeah. Sorry. And then if you
could just go back and watch the room just to
make sure, because you know how. I just want
to make sure that the... Who did we fight? Goblins?
Yeah. Whoa. Hey. Nope. You've only fought as
I push the knife away from my ribs now. No, I'm
asking for clarification, not... You defended
a goblin, two people. Who did we just... Dwarves.
And abominations. Dwarves. Yeah. Okay. Yeah,
because we just, you know, the whole dwarf situation.
Let's go back to the room just to make sure everything
is... Are you okay? Oh, yeah. Okay. Gotcha. I'll
be back in a few minutes. Yeah. I'm going to
go back to the room. Okay. I thought about checking
to see where the bathroom was, but I'm going
to leave it alone. All right. So go ahead, Amaris,
just for your own edification. It doesn't have
to necessarily affect how you act, but go ahead
and roll a... Deception. Oh, no, sorry. Michelle,
go ahead and roll a deception check against Amaris'
perception DC. So that would be 10 plus whatever
your perception bonus is. 17 plus. His? Mine?
Yeah, 17 plus. What is your deception bonus?
Deception is 6. So 17 plus 6 is 20. I guess unless
you happen to have some kind of specialization
in lying, which is a confusion on Michelle's
face when she did that math. Oh, man. That's
not 20. It's 17. 22. 17. And you still got a
room. Three. 23. 23. Nice. Oh, I put five. It's
17. Fucking, you know, skip back to the room,
but like head all fucking. Real stupid like.
It is unreal. I can't remember the last time
Michelle rolled below 15. It's unreal. It's the
level of luck. No, I just finished listening
to the first three again, and it happens, but
it is shockingly rare. I think, honestly, Michelle
and Zach just have the other half of each other's
dice. Well, to be fair, I just rolled a 17. And
the one before that was 16. But before that,
it was a 2. Oh, you're working your way down.
When it's bad, it's really bad. All right, so
you are able to sneak from the inn, having fooled
Amrys, sending him back to the room. I would
say, like, for purposes of executing this scene,
there's really no reason to roll anything else.
So, however, you make your way to the roof. You
are able to find the crow that your mother's
voice came out of. It's the only bird on the
roof, so... And as you approach, it once more
opens its mouth, and the voice comes out again
and just says, Well, it took you longer than
I hoped, but I'm glad to see you and see that
you are well. I have... I received startling
transmissions from some of my other spies, and
I was worried. The worst had happened. How are
things going? Well, I just had to shake somebody
off on my trail, which is why it took a little
bit longer, but should we hug it out? Sure, you
can hug the bird. I believe it is safe. Spread
its little crow wings. Yeah, just like you put
your arms around it, it's just flapping. I've
missed you. Yes, I mean, I can sense the mental
confusion from the crow. It doesn't actually,
it isn't really me. I'm just using it as a messenger.
Yeah, no, I understand. It's just, it's been
so long. So things have been good. Um. The governor.
I heard. Yeah. There was an incident. There was
an incident. We're safe. Me and my group of people.
I couldn't care less about them, to be honest,
but it's good to hear. Hurtful. I'm happy. Taz
is like, Taz is like, rude. I had the weirdest
dream that somebody's mother was badmouthing
me. Well. What has been happening, please? I
want to hear from you. I gotta look through our
notes. Oh, now? Keep on all the information now.
It doesn't have to be exhausting. I just... Okay.
So we did get some information. We found like
a map. So our next thing that we're going to
do... Hold on. Let me bring this back. What do
you know from all the people that have reached
out to you? Well, I heard that you have arrived
in town and have begun to ingratiate yourself
to the governor, which is excellent. Really,
the whole point of having you there, but I'd
heard you risked exposure and danger and were
involved in some kind of corporate sabotage,
or... I'm confused on the detail. Yeah, that's
about all right. Oh. Crow's just like... We are...
I'm not sure if I should trust the governor or
her lackey. Yes. Lackey, who? That's a good question.
The Scythe of the Night. Did they call him Night
of the Night? Scythe of the night. Scythe of
the night. Scythe of the night. And at this,
the crow's mouth closes for a moment. Its head
shifts back and forth. It opens again, and she
says, Be careful. It sounds as though you've
managed to find yourself in quite a bit of trouble
already. I knew you were precocious. This is
dangerous. It's your first time away from home.
I hope you're taking care of yourself. I am.
I show her my blouse and my new bow tie. And
my Leafs gloves. Again, I'm not actually the
crow. I'm just speaking through it, Ty. But you
can't see through the crow? Oh, um... Yes, of
course. And you see the crow's eyes just like
light up blue and it's like... Head's all tilted.
Oh. Oh, wonderful. Bring? What is that? It's
a bolo tie. Oh. I read it in a book. A bolo tie.
What a delightful name. Would you bring one home
for me? I will. I would like it, yeah. You'll
have to tell me all about it when you return.
But now, if you are in fact dealing with the
Scythe of the Night, then you cannot trust him.
He serves his own master, and it is not the governor
of any town. I worry about the situation, but
we shall let it go on a little longer. What is
this business with Ember? I heard you were in
some trouble already, that you were able to leverage
to ingratiate yourself. Again, fantastic, but
I'd like to know more of the situation. I don't
think I have that information. Well, when you
do, try to reach out. I'll keep elements nearby,
but the Ituneric court has taken unexplainable
interest in whatever's going on out there. At
first, I assumed they were merely looking to
get their fingers into the wealth and power of
a new region still ripe for... Manipulation and
infiltration. There's something more in their
interest here. Please, be careful and on the
lookout. Well, if there's nothing else, I suppose
I should let you rest. Um, no, I'll keep you
updated. We should be heading out of the town
shortly, within a day. Wonderful. And then...
The crow's eyes turn back to black and it like...
And then its body just starts moving and it approaches
you again and starts beating its wings against
you. I snap its neck. It just rolls off of the
lion. Down onto the ground below. Crow's a liability.
He is a liability. Burn after eating. Taz. I'm
on a mission. I must buy. Taz, you smell fire
and blood. You can smell the burning cotton leather.
You can smell the steel and flint in the air.
The black powder of the explosion laid before
you are two dozen corpses. Some of them... Ripped
and mottled with debris that has blasted through
their bodies. Others burned. Others incinerated.
Some simply blown into pieces. Among them, walking,
you see the figure of, or you see several goblin
kin. Your brothers, sisters, fellow clansmen.
Each of them alight. Skin melted. Blistered.
Burned. They're dragging the pieces of these
bodies back together. Behind you, you hear a
voice that just says, Oh, Taz. Putting them back
together again. Isn't there... Anything else
you know how to do. And when you turn, it is
a young goblin woman. A light and flame smiling
at you. Her hand resting on your shoulder. What
are you going to do? Do I recognize the goblin
female? You do. It is... The image of your former
wife. I'm dreaming, obviously. Do I realize I'm
in a dream? I would say probably at this point.
If you want, why don't you roll a will save?
10 total. 10 total? You have no idea you're in
a dream. It is like, what is happening here?
There's some obvious supernatural element to
it that you can't quite figure out, but in the
case of many dream states, you don't immediately
put together that what is occurring is not real
and the creation of your own mind. Yeah, so I
think I probably... be a little confused and
just I'll ask her like where am I you're where
you've always been in your own head Taz and she
turns you then pushing on your shoulder so that
you return your gaze toward the crowd all of
the body that were dead and destroyed begin to
rise and approach you I'm going to start freaking
the fuck out, watching zombies basically come
at me, and I'm going to start reaching for something,
a knife or a bomb, something, and do I have anything
on me? When you reach down for the... I believe
you said you have a dagger made from some creature's
tooth, and you reach to find it, and at your
feet, about... Middle of your thigh is a small
goblin girl, again, on fire, her hand reaching
up toward you. I'm gonna scream and, like, push
her off. Make a will save. 14? You wake up just
before dawn. The skyline... orange with a new
day, and you are just screaming surrounding you.
Taldir, Amrys, Wesley, who is already rested,
is probably awake. The others instantly pop up
from their places in bed. Yeah, I'm screaming,
reaching for something, sweating, kicking whatever
over, knocking shit over. Taldir's gonna... immediately
reach for his weapon. I'm gonna rush to... Sorry.
Oh, no, go ahead. I was just... Yeah, go ahead.
So I'm gonna rush to his side, grab his flask,
and hand it to him. Like, it's okay, buddy. Here.
I'm gonna smack the flask and just grab my shit
and go downstairs. What was that about? I don't
know. That's about as bad as I've ever seen.
Dusty. Yeah, I guess, I mean, Taldir, I don't
think is really, I don't think that's the first
time he's been woken up by some guy screaming
in the middle of the night from a nightmare.
So I think he'll take it surprisingly in stride
and then just go back to sleep. A lot of bad
dates. Great dates for him. Timestamp. 102 .40.
Oh, didn't see that one coming. Wow, that was
bad. That's what she said. Just kidding. Just
kidding. It was a guy. It was Jerry Barton. That's
why he's so attached. Oh, shit. Jer -bear. You
just go to lay down and you see Jerry snuggled
in bed. And then you wake up screaming. No, uh,
okay, yeah. I would say at this point you probably,
uh, you know, you return to the bed, but you've
probably achieved a rest at this point, given
the where the place was at night, so. Oh, so,
like, what time of the day would you say it is?
Again, I would say like just before dawn, so
I'm not an early out of bed guy. What's that,
like seven usually? Like five. Yeah, I think.
Stop. Depends on the time of year, but yeah,
usually five. Yeah. I should also say I've been
relatively equatorial for the past few years,
so time zones don't change all that much. Yeah,
so I'd say probably early, 6, 6 .30 in the morning,
something like that. Oh, okay. Yeah, I mean,
if it's... Basically, if he's already gotten
a long rest, then he'll just start getting ready
for the day, putting on his armor, getting his
shit together, getting ready to maybe do some
morning exercises. He'll just do some push -ups
and some sit -ups or something. And then he'll
go downstairs to get breakfast because he wants
to go and start the day. He wants to chase the
guy he's chasing. I like it. That could be our
theme song. Okay. Amorous. Wesley. I just started
dancing to his song that he sang. It's stuck
in my head all day. I'm just going to clear the
room. I'm walking downstairs. Taldeer does like...
daily affirmations, but in the song, like, you
are good enough for them. I was doing fucking
push -ups. Yeah. You deserve love and professional
respect. I'm just going to clear the room and
make sure nobody left anything. You have to ask.
If you want. Wait. You have to ask. What'd you
do, Ambrose? I'm just clearing the room to make
sure nobody forgot anything in there. And then
I'm going to go downstairs. Sounds like snooping,
kind of. Kind of is what that sounds like. Are
we keeping the room another day? I don't know.
Yeah, nobody fucking knows, do they? We'll make
sure nobody has something in the corner. It's
going to be weird, like traveling with his dad.
He's going to be like, oh, has anybody seen my
second pair of socks? I'm like, yeah. Yeah, you
left them in the room. Like an asshole. Two pairs
of socks? Who in this party has the money for
two pairs of socks other than maybe Wesley? I
do now. I have lace socks. That's like... Oh
my god, that sounds like a nightmare. Oh my god.
I instantly regret it. I don't have them. Letting
your toes would be ruining my life. Like water.
Like a boat on top of water. Feet just slide
around your shoes all day. just blisters oh man
that is my wife's favorite game to play when
we are on like a road trip or traveling where
like boat on top of water we'll leave a hotel
and like three hours later she'll be like so
do you know where your amex is i assume it's
with you because you must have found it somewhere
Why do you ever take it out of your wallet? Don't
ask questions you don't need to know the answer
to. No, I'm really bad about, for some reason,
just putting things in my pocket, even when they
belong in a wallet. At the drive -thru, get dinner,
and then just shove it in my pocket. You're the
worst type of person. My thing is at the gas
station, I do that because I'll get my card out
of my wallet because I never keep it in my pants.
episode 10 cold open and then when i get back
in the car you know i take my receipt and i put
that in the spot and i put the card just down
and that's psychopath yeah i do that too when
i take well because my wallet's like this big
so i leave it in my purse and i take my card
out go put in gas and usually put in my pocket
Right? See? And then clean, like, the windshield.
Yeah. I just put that bitch back. Clean the windshield?
Thank you. Sorry about Mr. Perfect. Are you an
adult? Thank you, Sam. You take care of your
stuff, or what is this? For some reason, the
truck windows get dirty so quick. Mm -hmm. Well,
it's because we park it right next to where the
sprinkler... I gotta pee, like, so bad, guys.
Yeah, I gotta let my puppies out. William burst.
All right. This episode's gotten loose. All right,
everybody. Take two or whatever. Everyone is
downstairs at this point. The morning having
begun. Breakfast is served by Mrs. Um, the intaker
here at the Blushing Goldfinch. I think the group
has to make some decisions. I think there's a...
How are we going to proceed? First, let's all
get on the same page in terms of where we are
in this adventure, right? So, you have arrived
in town. You were hired to investigate this strange
occurrence, which you were a part of. This dwarf
turning into a monster before your very eyes.
The governor of the city, Victoria Crew. Connected
it to other events that sounded similarly strange.
Rumors of an incident at a mining site. Rumors
of an incident at the Arcanum's bathhouse. You
investigated the mining, or Ember headquarters,
who owns the mine. And were able to identify
documents which implicated Hilda Onyxfist. Who
shared a last name. with the dwarf who had been
transformed into a monster in front of you. There
was also documentation indicating that she and
her sister survived whatever event occurred inside
the mine. So, did you meet Hilda? Did you meet
her sister? We're not certain at this point.
I think there are a number of directions you
can choose to go. You can continue looking for
Vale. You can hunt down... The surviving Onyx
Fist, assuming there is one. You can go straight
to the mine site if you'd like. I mean, what's
the group's kind of thought here? Well, I mean,
so we know there's three unaccounted dwarves.
Unless you just told us that one of them was
the one who was transformed. All right. Thank
you for showing us your pumpkin spice latte cup,
Charles. candle oh oh that's worse um yeah yeah
so real quick on the subject of candles so i
bought a couple candles one time uh just pumpkin
spice only time no whatever no i buy candles
and i use candles because i think they smell
good and but anyways i bought some candles and
like Two people, one of whom was my girlfriend,
were just like, oh, you're a candle guy? I was
like, just because you buy candles doesn't make
you a candle guy. Like, I don't... How many candles
are we talking about? Well, I mean, I bought,
like, because they were on sale, so I bought,
like, five of them at once. You know, just buy
them all, burn through them. But it's like, you
know, like, oh, you're a car guy because you
own a car? Like, no, I'm not a car guy. I just
have a car. It's like a utility thing. Anyways,
that was just my little rant. TED Talk. Welcome
to my TED Talk. Let me teach you to buy five
cars. Zach is a candle guy. It's okay. There's
nothing wrong with being a candle guy. I agree.
There's nothing wrong with being a candle guy.
I'm just saying my purchase of candles does not
define me. You know? I don't think it's a definition.
I think it's a subclass. It's not who I am, okay?
Your class is nerd. Your subclass is candle guy.
Did you rub your finger on the candle to warm
up the wax so you could smell it? No, that'd
be weird. That's a good idea. That's not a good
idea. That's weird. I used to work at Bath and
Body Works. Yeah, if you are smelling too many
candles, you can't get the actual scent. You...
Warm up the wax. Can you just do that motion
again? Yeah. You've got to use two fingers and
just really warm up that fucking wax. It's really
going off the rails. I believe Michelle was going
to defend her position as a candle person. No,
I actually don't have candles. We fucking hate
candles over here. No, I don't mind candles.
I just don't have a place to put them where I'm
too worried about the dogs bumping them and shit
falling. That whole deal. But I don't think that...
I mean, what's the alternative? Do you like your
house smells? Just clean it. That's... Don't
be absurd. There's like an ambiance. Don't be
absurd. It's true. It's true. Have a little soap.
There is an ambiance. I'm going to have to go
back and buy nine more of these because this
is my ambiance for the next six months. Do you
like when your house smells like shit? The only
time I do like to have candles or something,
if I do crave the vibe of candles, is during
the fall because the smell, the coziness. We've
got to get back on track here, but I'm a big
candles and Christmas guy. I love, like, the
pine and, like, the sugar cookie and, like, all
that stuff. See, a couple of them I like, but
they get to be too fast. Like, for me, I like,
like, lemon and, like, fresh linen. And those
are, like, or citrus. But... Sorry, did you just
say lemon and fresh lemon? Fresh linen. Oh, linen.
Linen. Linen, sorry. The smell of linen. Yeah,
it's just... Nobody ever called it that. Cleans
out the dryer, just starts burning it. This guy
really likes lemon. Oh, my God. But I just hear
bad. Okay. Anyways, yeah, so you said, wait,
I don't think we knew that the dwarf who transformed
was an Onyx Fist. Didn't you get her name tag
from somewhere? Yeah, I think we did. Did we?
But I didn't know that she might be her sister
or something like that, whatever you said. Well,
they have the same last name. They had the patch.
They had a patch that... That's it. Oh. But I
don't think we knew it was one of those two.
Let me see here. Is Onyx Fist not a last name?
Yeah. Well, yeah. Oh, shit. Onyx Fist is the
clan name under the Forge Flame. Or Onyx Fist
is the family name under the Forge Flame clan.
And the monster in the bar had the patch on it.
But I don't think we... Anyway, it doesn't matter.
What we do know is that there are three, now
two, unaccounted dwarves. Hilda Onyxfist, Thralessi
Onyxfist, and Basir Blackrock. And from... I
don't know how I didn't write this down, but
it's just like a part... We found a partial deed
for Vale, right? Yeah. So, I mean, I don't...
really see taldir having any desire to pursue
anything other than something related to ember
uh like he you know if it's only a partial deed
there's not like much i assume that he can get
out of it like he doesn't know like what mining
site was veils or whatever but he certainly wants
to keep pursuing ember and find out you know
like try to find people he can interrogate slash
ask about veil like that's his motivation um
and we do know that the surviving dwarves are
in danger uh due to the hr letter requesting
policy compliance unit So I would say I want
to make sure that this is accurate before I give
it to you, because I think the site number was
on the partially executed deed, but... Yeah,
616. No, that's where the... Yeah, different
one. That's where the mine... Yeah, but where
is this? Let me make sure real quick. I added
my notes from previous. I just put them at the
bottom. Yeah. Application for deed of land, mining
site 44. Partially executed in the name of Luis
Valle de la Venda. Oh, yeah, yeah, I forgot that.
Okay, yeah, so then... I mean, the only real
reason Teldir wouldn't immediately pursue that
is because he thinks the surviving dwarves are
in danger, so he's down to go after them. first
to try and protect them. Where's, uh, last time
we saw Taz, he was kind of running out of the
room, so where's his head at now? Oh, when you
guys come downstairs, I'm like, nothing happened.
Just eating breakfast and hanging out? Yeah.
Hey, guys. Yeah. I just toss him his flask. Hey,
you dropped this. I also pretend like nothing
happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thanks, thanks. And
then, yeah. Yeah, I'm down to... To go look for
these dwarves. These missing dwarves. I shrug
and just say, works for me? The first I want
to spend on is money. And I'm gonna... You know?
I got 15 gold to spend. Got some gold. What were
you saying, Michelle? Yeah, I'm down to follow
up on Ember. Okay. So, yeah, that raised a good
point. I think you guys got some money in your
pocket. So if you'd like to make some purchases,
like we kind of talked about at the top of one
of the earlier episodes, anything that's, you
know, your level or below, you can go ahead and
just buy. We don't have to take up. air time
doing it but uh if there's something like special
or higher level that you'd like to start working
for or looking toward you know you can always
just let me know and we can work that in as well
but uh yeah you guys will have some time to get
that done in the meantime what uh you guys are
looking to investigate these dwarves and continue
the rabbit hole that is ember uh How do you think
you'd proceed with that? Well, I'll let you guys
talk it out. I mean... Well, we have that map,
right? Yeah. Was it a map? So, we have a map
of Dunqazir, not a map to Dunqazir. And I believe
that we found a map that shows us where mining
site 616 is. So... Approximately. Yeah, so we
could go to... the 616 site but like we know
that there are survivors that are in danger we
don't know where they are um it seems like we
should try and find the survivors and for that
i mean well one charles like could we get a message
to the scythe of the night and or slash in our
conversation with him when we told him about
these dwarves did he tell us anything like here's
where i would look for them or anything like
that yeah so i think you know we can kind of
like flash back to the conversation where if
that's you kind of you're kind of interested
in hunting them down tell you that uh hilda and
basir have gone underground largely they're probably
hiding somewhere in the uh Five Minds District,
which is kind of a sub -district of where the
dwarves are. Their kind of area of town that
they control. The Five Minds are the oldest mines
in Hope's Embrace, and the only ones within the
city walls. And they're kind of home to the entire
Onyx Fist family. That's sort of where they are
from. So your best bet, in terms of just straightforward
advice from him, would be to attempt to gather
information in that part of town, see if there's
some way you can pry loose some tongues if you
want to go directly to them. Yeah, I mean, I
think that's what Taldir would be on board with
that. I can't tell if everybody was thinking
there. With that resounding ascent. Yeah, I was...
I was nodding. Nay, yay. Nay, yay. Oh. Yeah.
Resounding ascent. Okay. You would make your
way from Tarrytown again, entering the city streets,
probably now, early morning, but definitely alive
with activity. You are right along the main thoroughfare
in town. So once again, it is busy. All kinds
of like street barkers, other individuals, people
handing out pamphlets. You see small groups gathering,
chatting. You see mixed into these groups pockets
of men and women who wear kind of gambesons or
other military type uniforms. And each of them
have... You start to notice that a lot of them
have kind of a red armband tied around their
left arm. And that they tend to hang out in groups
of four or five. As you kind of like take note
of this, you move away from the city center and
it gets noticeably... poorer and more run down
until you arrive at the outskirts of uh five
mines there is a kind of trolley that you can
use as an elevator kind of an old wooden elevator
that they load people into that goes up and down
kind of continuously during the day as well as
a staircase that's built into the side of a kind
of small but steep hillside goes up about 90
feet. And you kind of see signage above indicating
that if you are attempting to get to Five Minds,
it is located on top of this hillside. I'm down
to take the elevator. Is it free? The elevator's
going to cost you a gold apiece. All right, we'll
walk. A gold? Yeah, we're walking. We're walking.
That's it? How many stories is it or whatever?
Sorry. It's 90 feet up. It's about 90 feet up
on old stone stairs, so probably the equivalent
of what, eight stories? Let's hoof it. Yeah,
that's fine. Yeah. You guys are adventurers.
You'll be fine. You ascend the stairwell. And
as you reach the top, you can see the structure
still surrounding these five older, smaller mines
that are spread across the hilltop. Intermixed
in them are a variety of kind of shops, saloons,
taverns. other indices of industry on the outskirts
of the hill built around kind of where you just
came up are small neighborhoods um you find yourself
in the middle of one now although it does open
into the main thoroughfare that kind of creates
a loop around the top of this hill uh where would
you like start looking like what kind of places
or people are you trying to find uh i mean You
wake up in a tavern. Everybody always talks to
the barkeep. Gotta go to taverns. Alright. Who
wants to lead the group? Whoever's leading the
group. Let me make sure I get the name for this
right. Is gonna do the... Where is gather information?
It's a diplomacy check. It's a diplomacy check,
right. Okay. So whoever's leading is going to
do the diplomacy check. Everyone else can roll
for help if they would like. Eight. Eight, sorry.
Who has the best diplomacy? I assume Leslie.
Yes. How? There's no map? I have to use my imagination?
Yep. Flame. What is this? Playing pretend? It
is. Yeah. My diplomacy is plus six. Oh yeah,
your diplomacy is way better. So, you should
do the roll. And... An aid is generally a what?
Flat check? No, not a flat check. You just have
to describe slash agree with the GM on what a
relevant skill roll would be. I believe it's
DC 15. Standard, yeah? Yeah. But perhaps it could
be DC 10, depending on if the GM wanted to be
nice. Yeah, so here's what I'll say. I'll set
it at DC 15, but offer a bonus or increase the
DC based on how you would like to assist Wesley
in this initial search. I mean, Taldir is definitely
going to let her be the diplomatic one, but primarily,
well, one, I want to roll intimidation for it,
not because I'm actually going to, like, threaten
anyone necessarily, but, like, I like to think
he cuts a pretty imposing figure and, like, will,
you know, be, like, a strong, silent bodyguard
type. Just, like... If someone were to not be
helpful, that would not go well for them, is
what he's trying to imply. Maybe roughing people
up if he needs to or whatever. Not like hurting,
but, you know, like pushing it, telling them
to sit down and listen or whatever, you know.
He stops me from killing him. Okay. And I'll
be behind Taldeer just putting my fist in my
hand like, you know. I like to think you're actually
completely behind Taldir so they can't even see
you. They just hear my fist hitting my hand.
Okay. I like that. You can roll intimidation
for that. We'll give you a plus one situational.
We'll give Taldir a plus two and we'll give Taz
a plus one. Is Amrys going to do anything to
aid? No. I'm just going to look around all aloof.
Just kind of taking it in. I rolled legit. I've
never been in a mind before. I tell everybody.
What'd you roll? 14, but plus 6. 20. Best math.
Best math! No aid for me. I didn't aid. I was
one off. I needed you to give me a plus three.
Did anybody critically fail? Nah. That's the
only... I rolled an eight. That's not a critical
failure. Yeah. Okay. You spend... You spend several
hours kind of roaming the... Five Minds area,
moving from tavern to tavern, trying to find...
At first, listening to see if there's much discussion.
A lot of the chatter is in regards to the attack
on Ember the previous day. Who did that? Dwarves.
Very distrustful of outsiders at the moment.
seemingly in mourning although the ember corporation
does not belong to the onyx fist family nor the
forge flame clan they are heavily involved in
its operations and so you get this sense that
some of those who died the day before probably
lived here were part members of this community
so there's an air of like mourning and longing
as the afternoon rolls on you begin to approach
people and eventually You find one guy just kind
of grumbling to himself in the back of a bar,
and Wesley, you kind of overhear him mentioning
that, just like talking to himself over an ale,
like, Hilda reached too far. I told her. I told
her it'd be a disaster. A ruin. I lean further.
Am I sitting down? You tell me. Yeah, I'm sitting
down drinking. I'll lean my chair further back.
Just to see if I can get more, if I can hear
more. As you do, you see he just kind of continues
to sip at his beer, shaking his head. Another
kind of associate of his eventually returns a
couple of beers in his hand, and he's just like,
You can't take it so hard. She's a good girl.
I'm sure she's fine wherever she's at. No. When
they find her, That'll be the end of her. And
they just kind of go on this way. Not a lot of,
like, direct information, but it's pretty clear
that they're talking about, uh, or it's likely,
it seems, Hilda Onyx Fist. Hmm. Am I by myself,
or am I with my group? You're with your group.
When the fuck did we get in this bar? Did you
guys hear this? Yeah, did we hear it from? Um,
I would say, yeah, I would say, well, even if
you didn't hear it, Wesley could easily communicate
it to you if she's so inclined. I'm inclined.
Taladir's going to encourage her to go talk to
them. Sounds like the first thing we've had that's
even remotely close to a lead. I'm going to make
it very obvious. I'm going to look over my shoulder.
She's like, oh, I think that's a look over my
shoulder. Don't look, bud. I dropped my beer
on his lap to get him to make it obvious. As
you do that, you see... I start sucking on my
shirt. No alcohol abuse in here. As you do that,
several people turn towards you and start to
pay attention. You see the two dwarves who you
heard talking. Are you a little bit suspicious?
Yeah, because it's some loud sucking, you know.
I'm getting it out of my head. You can like see
the moisture wicking from the edges. Is that
a fucking grapefruit? My cheeks are caving in
and I have veins on my forehead. Just a blood
vessel bursts in your eye. Taldeer's gonna try
and get Wesley's attention and be like, move
now. Like, we gotta, like, get him. We gotta
start talking to him now. Make sure they can't
leave. Like, before this gets out of hand with,
like, noticing the bar kind of stopping to look
and Taz making a scene. I'm making a scene. Do
you want to make one? What information am I looking
to? I want to know where Hilda's at. Or anything
about her, where she might be, etc. As they're
trying to do the quiet conversation, I'm like,
hand up, trying to get the barmaid to bring some
more beer. Yeah, and while this is going on,
Sheila kind of rounds about. She was maybe the
one who, based on your check, indicated that
these two individuals might have some information
on Hilda in your conversation with her. And as
she kind of returns, she drops off a fresh round
of beers, tells you, you know, that'll be five
copper each. Leave it on the table. I'll collect
it when I'm back. I assume you'll want another
round. Yeah. All right. I get up and I go to
walk over to go talk to the two dwarves. Okay.
Let's get some framework for this conversation.
Roll another diplomacy check. Drats. A nine plus
six. A nine plus six. Okay. Fifteen. Fifteen.
Oh, you were wrong. I was right. My, my, my.
I have a table. Have heard. You approach them
and they're both kind of like scowling. The one
who you heard speaking originally is just kind
of like, what do you need? You don't look like
you belong around here. No, I'm not from here,
but I did hear about the whole explosion that
happened at the You just seemed really sad about
the whole situation. I just wanted to give my
condolences. See if you knew anybody that was
involved. You're damn right I'm sad. It was a
fucking tragedy. Dozens of my friends and family
were blown to bits by some savage animals, I
assume. Yeah, savages. I bet the elves are so...
fucking jealous all the time i'm an elf can you
tell that oh shit i mean you know not the good
ones they are let's say they're kind of at like
uh it it's like wooden and like old like taverny
but it's constructed like a mid -century los
angeles like naga hide half moon like booth just
in the corner yeah high backs like it's a good
thing we're all from california and understood
that um so you don't know what a nagahide booth
is fair actually but like is there a place that
like taldeer could like pull up a chair and like
sit down Oh, yeah, I would say the table that
they're seated at probably has room for several
more individuals. Okay, yeah, I mean, so, kind
of in keeping with the fact that I rolled an
intimidation check, tell your will, pull up a
chair and just, like, sit down and, like, put
his drink and his, like, you know, fists on the
table, kind of. Not really saying anything, but
just there to, like, obviously back Wesley up.
I'm going to see Tyler get up. And as he walks
away, I'm going to be like, Zammers, I think
we're moving tables. I'm going to keep sucking
on my shirt. And I was like, we're moving tables.
Come on, grab the beers. All right, I'm going
to grab all four beers and clumsily take them
over. I walk over, and my shirt is still in my
mouth as I'm sucking it, so you see my belly
button? Now, what does the goblin belly button
look like? It's an outie. A question I never
thought I needed to know. It's an outie. It's
an outie. It's not just, like, hastily tied off,
like, cut with, like, a rock knife. Just Google,
like, shirtless goblins or something. I'm sure
you'll find what you're looking for, Kenny. Oh,
God. Yeah. Yeah. But we don't get to the table
immediately when, you know, Taldir sits down
and maybe a few minutes later, then we kind of
just start scooting in. I'll set the beers down,
though, also, so it's kind of, like, open to
anybody. Assuming that the dwarves might, you
know, appreciate that. Yeah. Go ahead and roll
a... Friendliness check. What's a friendliness
trick? Yeah, we're not trying to be, like, rude
or anything. Like, not intentionally rude. I
mean, I know. Oh, we're moving tables. Let's
call it a performance check. Diplomacy has to
make an impression with at least one minute of
conversation cringe. Uh, yeah. I mean, survival,
though? Because, like, you gotta learn how to
adapt to your surroundings. This is in New York
City, sir. You're not learning how to get by
with the locals. Yeah, just roll a performance
check. Performance? I'm going to go in and make
an impression here. Yeah. All right. Better than
I thought it could be. That's a five. Hey. Plus
my modifier, which is nothing. Okay. I have zero
to my modifier. Hey, me too, buddy. Rolled a
16. People love us. Or they hate us. Wesley,
given that you have been speaking with these
dwarves for a moment, you can make an impression
or performance if you would like. Talbot, you
as well can refocus on an intimidation check
if that's your bag. That is my bag. And I'm hoping
you'll be cool about it. I got a 5, but I have
a 6 in performance, so 11. You have a hero point,
right? Do you have any? Yeah, we got one on the
start of the session, right? No, we don't do
them at the start. Just when you roll a 20 right
now, or I hand them out, which I have been loathe
to do, but I should. So, you know what? Michelle
doesn't need the help. She should fail for once.
Well, I'm going to use the one that I had on
my sheet. I don't know if I actually have it,
but it was there, it was checked, and I never
break the rules. So... And I... Except when it
really helps me out. Did it, though? And I forget.
Well, I technically did. I got a 23. Okay. Nice.
Dwarf. His eyes pass up between each of you.
He reaches forward, takes one of the beers, and
begins to drink it. His friend seems more nervous,
doesn't make a lot of movement. He looks at you,
Wesley, and says, Your well wishes are well received,
but I don't believe that's what you're here for,
so... Have it out. What do you want? A lot of
you. And then he's going to just start drinking
his beer like... He's way better at drinking
than those other guys. Same with Taz. Um, so...
Yeah, you're right. I'm not here. Well, I do
offer my condolences because that was a tragedy.
Those poor dwarves. Um... Can you tell that I'm
sincere? Sounded venomous. I'm going to just
start drinking my beer slowly so I don't have
to talk because I don't want to. I just don't
want to talk. Okay. Give your... Go on, Wes.
Oh, so... Yeah, I was hoping you can actually
give me some information about Hilda Onyx Fist.
Hilda. And he's gonna kind of glance towards
the barmaid who's been making the rounds. She's
a cousin of mine. She had nothing to do with
it. She's been in hiding. What do you want her
for? Pause. Can I pause the game? Pause. Pause.
T. T. What do we want with her, guys? I mean,
basically, we're no friends of Ember, but...
Radio edit. We're no... Oh, yeah, I'll edit.
We're no friends of Ember, but... And... We know
that Hilda's in trouble with them. We got some
information that she's in trouble with them.
And we are looking to ensure her safety and the
safety of anyone... that she's like with or whatever
like this year black rock um because we need
more information about ember uh yeah i mean that's
basically we're trying to help we're trying to
help her so that way she can give us more information
on ember yeah okay all right game on pause okay
so we actually got word that she's in trouble.
So we actually want to help her. So we're looking
for her to help her. And anyone that she's involved
with. Roll a diplomacy check. One more. Oh, for
fuck's sake. My rolls have the bin. She's awaited
one again. Does my intimidation check roll over
for aid on this or no? I'll give you aid, yeah,
because you crushed it. So, plus two. Plus one.
Plus one. Sorry. You gotta go left -handed. He
just keeps slowly jumping. Oh, for fuck's sake.
Seven plus six. Plus seven. What? Okay. Plus...
So, 14, right? Because of the plus one? Yeah.
Yep. So, as you say this, he's kind of like eyeing
you and he nods and he says... You don't have
to spill your secret if you don't want, but...
If the governor sends you and she's looking for
dirt on Ember, build a hazard. If you can guarantee
getting her out of the city safely, I can lead
you to her. I can guarantee that we'll do our
best. We've done this a few times before and
we've helped a few people. When? Yeah. Like literally
the mission before this, bro. What happened?
I say that to him. Did you do something cool?
What was it? Yeah, we saved a goblin. He was
wrongfully accused of murder. Oh. How did you
get him off? His other friend kind of jumps in.
We found the actual murderer. Killed the actual
murderer. We solved the... Killed the actual
murderer. And defended the goblin in the process.
But we did find him. Yeah. And then he went to
go live off a merry life. Well, I don't know
how merry it was, but... He was a little weirdo.
Alright. He was kind of... Wait, I don't know
him. Never mind. He's a goblin. I believe you.
If your little friend is any indication, I understand.
I haven't known many goblins, but please get
your shirt out of your mouth. There's a fresh
beer right there. I'm sorry. Okay. I can take
you to him. Do your best. Get her out of town
alive. She can go stay with family. Once she's
out of Elmira and hopes embrace, I think she
can take care of herself, but I'm choosing to
trust you. Follow me. And he's gonna slide up,
slide out of the booth, his friend kind of following
behind him, and he's like, are you sure this
is a good idea? Just what choice do we have?
Come on, you lot! Gonna exit the tavern. Does
he dine and dash? I... I'm a store of credit.
I'll pay for his drinks. Okay. Uh, yeah. Sorry,
go ahead. Oh, yeah, ours too. Yours too. So what's
that, probably come out to like half a... gold
total. So, you know, five silver or... They drank
a lot, these dwarves. Okay. So, as you enter
the full daylight sky of the out... We're just
gonna start that over. As you exit the tavern,
the noon sky is high above you. the sun bright,
the sky cloudless. It's warm. Even for this time
of year. The dwarf that you were following is
maybe a hundred yards ahead of you and he looks
back to see that you followed him out of the
tavern and proceeds to continue walking kind
of down a pathway leading towards one of the
older mines. A hundred yards? Isn't our dwarves
short? Yeah, it took a little bit to get the
coins and then the lady, she didn't have an exact
change right away. He didn't wait outside the
tavern for us. He just said, you know what? I'm
going to walk a football field away. They'll
find us. Exactly one football field. He wanted
to test your vision and see if you were dwarfist.
That's 4 .3 whales for those of you that don't
know. Of which variety? You figure that shit
out yourself. That was for the listeners. It's
like a thousand dogs. What kind of dog? Figure
it out. At least 15 cans of soup. Here's what
you gotta do. Poison a thousand Rottweilers and
a thousand Chihuahuas. And then see if you need
to go bigger or smaller. Poison them? Yeah. You
gotta get a thousand dogs to sit still somehow.
Training them. Oh, yeah. So you gotta train a
thousand dogs. Get them all to sit. No, you gotta
train two thousand dogs because you need a thousand
chihuahuas. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And a thousand
Rottweilers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now they're 125
yards away. Shit. That's our right now. How much
do we drink? They're fucking talking about dogs
and whales. Hey, guys! Just follow me! No, you
can just follow me! Fucking idiot, dude. Fucking
so stupid. I'm like 1 ,200 dogs away already.
They probably eat each other with breadcrumbs.
1 ,275! Do we have horses? No. It's insane that
he didn't wait outside the freaking tavern. He
wants us to follow him. We're paying for his
drinks. I'm just going to take off. I think it
was just like a cool move. Maybe he didn't want
to be seen with us. Does he slow down after I
say that? He turns around, stops walking, and
as you approach, he's like, I was just hoping
to put some distance between us. You stand out
a little bit. Me? And then my eyes turn black?
Well, there are like two of us. Six foot two.
Are there like only dwarves right here? It's
like, not only, but I would say it is probably
80 % dwarves in this district. There are some
humans walking around, a few other more exotic
peoples. It's not necessarily like... Like, strictly
dwarves only or whatever, but it is predominantly
dwarves in this area of town. Let's follow them.
You continue to follow them until you arrive
at a kind of really what is functionally just
a hole in the ground. There's a... couple of
rope ladders kind of staked to the earth. He
kind of descends onto one, his friend onto the
other, and he looks up and just says, this will
go down about 50 feet. Once we're in the shaft,
then we can take a path to the main mining tunnel.
That'll let out onto the city below. And from
there, hopefully you all can make your escape.
She's waiting in one of the old holding rooms.
And he's going to begin to descend. We follow.
Alright, who's first? Taldir. Taldir. Taldir
descends in the lead. Are you taking one ladder
down or both? Both, I guess. I mean, he'll go
on the ladder that the dwarf isn't on. So each
of the dwarves took a ladder. There's two that
go down, one on each. So you're following the
guy that you're talking to or the other one.
Okay. Who's going to go? I'm going to follow
the guy that was nervous. Okay. Follow the nervous
guy. Who's behind Taldir? I'll go. Okay. And
I'll just go where Amrys is. Yeah. Okay. So you
begin to descend. And as you do, it becomes...
You enter into the main tunnel. You can see perfectly
carved wooden scaffolding holding it together.
You walk 1 ,000 feet, 2 ,000 feet. The dwarf
stops suddenly. Everybody roll a perception check.
19. Ooh, another natty 18. For 23. 21. Yeah,
14. 21. Who can see in the dark? Uh, I can. I
can. I can. Close. Everybody. So, when the dwarf
stops, he kind of puts a hand up and is like,
shh. And you hear just like, t -t -t. Like 8,
10, 12 little nails clacking against the stone.
It appears to be approaching. He continues to
hold the hand up. And then, after a couple moments,
the echo of these things begins to resonate such
that you lose count of what is movement and what
is the phantom of it. All of a sudden, he screams,
it's too late. Get out. Get out. And starts to
run in the direction that you originally came.
That's where we'll call it today. Please join
us next time while we roll bravely on. Good night.
Good night. Good night, everybody. Thanks, everybody.
Good night. Good night. I want to fight it.