Thank you. And welcome back to Beginner's Luck.
I am Larry, the GM for this D &D podcast. The
only D &D podcast where the opening is always
as inconsistent as ever. That's because of me.
Again, I am the host, the GM, Larry. Let's just
go ahead and introduce our players. So first
up, straight from the top. Hi, it's Bella. I'm
the one that plays Annie, the Goliath Artificer.
Next. Hello, my name is Robert and I play Gordar
Sevrok. The Draconic Sorcerer. Hi, my name's
Avia, and I play Rainer, the elf bard. And before
we do begin, not as always, Bella, let me just
say, you don't get to say next. That is my job.
Okay? Do not take that away from me. Thank you.
Middle finger. Listen, don't you shame me like
this. But, as always... They're coming for everything
you do, Larry. One by one. One bit by one bit.
Soon we will be the ones DMing. Oh no! And you
will be the player. Wait, this is a great idea!
I get to be a player? Wait, no, you weren't supposed
to like it. Yeah. Don't threaten me with a good
time! It would just be Jeremy the entire time.
No! Yes! I should actually... What would he be?
That's an interesting question. But that's not
the question for today. Today's question is going
to be asked by none other than Gimbal to the
three of you. So let's get Gimbal on in here.
Gimbal! Yes? Do you have a question for the three
as always? Yes, yes. I do have a question for
them, but I think it'd be great for my notes.
So what is the best advice someone has ever given
to you? The best advice ever given to me would
be be safe. And if you can't be safe, don't be
stupid. Who gave you this advice? My dad. You
have a dad? Oh, okay. Hey, that was a on -brand
Gimbal response. What about you, Godard? Probably
the best advice I ever got was from my father,
in that if one wants to be an important businessman,
all they need to do is just get out there and
take the world by exactly what they need. So
I put my hand into the family vault, bought my
first business, and have been successful ever
since. But you got arrested. Well, yes, but that
was some... Some of the people I hired messed
things up, that's all it is. Oh. It can't be
that all successful if you're here now. I mean...
Have you made half a million gold in your first
year? Point taken. Okay, and I guess lastly,
Rainer, what's the best advice someone has ever
given you? Why are you asking this? It's for
my notes. Okay, well, it's better to be the villain
in their story than a nobody in none. That is
interesting, and who told you this? That is none
of your business. Oh, and you're a villain in
whose story? I'll be a villain in your story
if you keep asking. And with that, let's jump
straight into the recap. Entering the mansion,
the three adjust themselves to the new establishment.
To their surprise, this place was not like the
others. well maintained clean and well lit and
there at the foyer standing before them a man
a man who greeted our intrepid coterie with a
soft smile and gracious bow the house butler
introduces himself as hamlet and informed them
that he were here to provide assistance this
place is to be used for rest and respite with
any other services they would require costing
a fee A group is directed to a set of three doors.
Some took immediate control over the interior,
while others are struck with immediate vulnerability.
Godard, taking the initiative and requesting
that his room is the epitome of luxury, with
marble flooring and a glimmering chandelier,
relishes in a space to call his own. Raynor,
having created his ideal penthouse with a view
of high prestige outside his window, raged and
thrashed everything inside. The room adorned
with features beyond riches and power, now accessorized
with frustration and indignation. Annie, having
simply prepared her space for practicality instead
of glamour, is mildly content. With an odd feeling
of seeing the current view of Edgewater, she
requests a nostalgic view of 30 years ago with
the music of the very same street. The library
welcomes Goddard. His studies on magic and understanding
his skill as a sorcerer are assisted by Hamlet.
With time, his magical capabilities will only
grow to be more powerful and lethal. An underground
workshop of one metal man resides, his stuttering
voice offering Annie the means to access the
Delacroix Vault. Tink, the inventor of the camera,
swiftly asks for photographs of a dragon as a
favor. After spending the afternoon depositing
the remaining barrel of the dragon coin into
the vault and visiting Sasha Blackburn, the night
soon approached. Godara experiences the ideal
peaceful slumber. The hours pass for Annie as
she single -handedly tinkers about, but visions
of the unconscious mind plague Rainer. a golden
spectre with red silk adorned, coercing the bard
into its ignoble bidding. And we return once
more to Briar Rose as Annie returns to the manor
after having her prosthetic arm worked on. What
are the rest of you doing for the rest of the
day? How do you unwind for the night? Gorda is
probably going to retreat into whatever quarters
we have. Is it the same tent? No, you can retreat
into the manor itself. Oh, that's right. We have
the manor, yeah. Yes. Gorda is probably, yeah,
going to retreat into his room and he's going
to sit down on the bed and kind of let things
wash over for a second and he's going to pull
out this little glass orb that he's kept in his
pocket. And inside it, you see, like, it's a
liquid. And there's a little clockwork fish that's
just swimming around. And he kind of just holds
that and just stares at it. And then just holds
it to his chest and kind of stays there all night.
Rainer, how would you spend the rest of the night?
Last we left you, you were heading back to the
manor itself to get... F'd up. On booze and cigarettes.
So I think he would have come back, kind of looked
at the stairs and gone, you know what? Nah. As
he kind of goes towards like any living room
or dining room. And then he just kind of lays
on the couch there. So it takes you a while to
sort of circumvent, or sorry, not circumvent,
navigate this manor itself, like with its twisting
halls. never -ending rows of doors till eventually
you find a um a sitting room uh there you'll
see uh several throw pillows just in a huge pile
uh there is a sofa there's some reading material
just off to the side wall and a window looking
out to the uh to a garden you make yourself comfortable
in this room and you spend most of the evening
here. Annie's going to pull an all -nighter.
She's going to work on modifying her rifle. You
know, making adjustments to it. And she's going
to try and create a means of aiming with her
rifle using a piece of wood. um so she's just
going to make designs for that how it looks how
it will fit how it will slide on essentially
okay so for your return you retire to your room
uh your own little space and you spend the night
working on uh making these modifications on on
the rifle itself as the old familiar street music
plays in the room you occasionally look out the
window and you see the snowy streets that you
were very familiar with 30 years ago Rainer you
must have fallen asleep in this reading room
but You do not find yourself there. You adjust
your eyes. Your eyes adjust, sorry. Your eyes
adjust for a brief moment, taking in the light.
And you are unsure on where you are. The entire
place is just white. Almost never -ending. Oh,
God. What was his name? Name, um... Guy who works
here. Um... Butler guy. Jeeves. Anyone? There's
no response for the call for Hamlet. Uh, you
look around and... It is just... Uh, what's the
word here? almost an infinite space of just white.
You look one way and then you look and turn around
once more and you now see a sheet, a sheet, a
satin sheet, cloth, very vast, almost like an
ocean for you. A red satin sheet. And you begin
to slowly see it rise. And from the tip of this
satin cloth, you see a form that begins to manifest.
And you see a visage of a woman with golden hair
that seems to... flow just as much as this satin
sheet. It has now become part of this woman's
dress. Wow. It is almost time. You mean freeing
you? Yes. Oh, how smart and clever you are. I
knew I chose correctly. You will free me, won't
you? And... Then you'll give me what I want?
Yes. You free me, and you can have all the riches
that you desire. He's gonna, like, tug at his
collar as well, and he's like, what about this?
As you reach towards your neck for the collar,
you find that it is not there. Oh, okay. Find
me at the City of Gold. Once there, free me.
Fine. Okay. Do we have an accord? We have an
understanding for now. And as you say, we have
an understanding, you can see the red satin cloth
that is part of her dress begin to swirl and
spin and engulf you and almost feeding, not feeding,
sorry. consuming you and as that last moment
you think that you are out of breath you wake
up is everything all right sir uh where are the
rest of them what time is it it is early morning
sir i do believe that they're still in their
quarters um i believe i heard you call me in
your sleep Yeah, it's nothing. Very good, sir.
And you see Hamlet just disappear before your
eyes. Wait. Hamlet. And then reappears once more.
Sir. What does the city of gold mean to you?
It is nothing that I've heard of. Though I imagine
it is a city made of gold. Gordar mentioned a
library. Is there such a place? A library? Yes,
there is certainly such a place, sir. Okay. Can
I head there? Of course. You'll find the library
on the west wing, sir. On the second floor. You'll
find the huge double door and ensure that you
make the payment for access. God, payment. Okay,
fine. Fine, fine. Will there be anything else,
sir? Nope. That's just it. Thank you. It is...
You look into this reading room and you see at
the war clock, this old handmade war clock, it
is roughly around 4 .30am. Okay. I have time.
As you leave this reading room, you make yourself
to the main hall and you ascend the curved staircase
and head to the west wing. You follow this corridor
straight on and... In times as you're progressing,
you could swear that new hallways have appeared
just behind you that were not there before. Till
eventually you find yourself face to face with
this huge green double door with a open book
engraved on it. And you can see a little payment
box just by the side. He kind of like digs into
his pockets and he's like looking at the cold
coin as he's just like. He's like, oh, I don't
really want to. Then he just kind of deposits
it in. Clink of the coin into the machine. Oh,
into the payment box. And as the final ding is
heard, the double door opens before you. And
as you step in, you find an expansive library.
just in the middle of this place there's this
huge uh column that has a spiraling staircase
that wraps around it and along this column itself
is lined with insurmountable uh books uh the
ceiling is high at least 20 foot and the shelves
are like from you know floor to ceiling just
all lined with books he's gonna be looking for
a librarian Or someone who can kind of help.
As he's just like, hello? Anyone? As you say
hello, Hamlet appears before you. Sir? Okay,
could you help me with finding a book? Because
obviously I can't traverse all this. That would
be wise, sir. And what particular book are you
looking for? Anything with city of gold and a
woman of golden hair, either or. City of gold
and a woman with golden hair. Yeah. Very vague,
but I'll see what I can muster. And you see him
disappear. And no more of them. 20 seconds just
by one of the reading tables he has reappeared
and the along with him these piles of books at
least a hundred of them are now uh splayed on
this um on this uh study table uh stacks upon
stacks there are several different references
with a woman with golden hair Though not exactly
the words of City of Gold, there are some references
to here of cities that could possibly be of reference
to a city of gold. Could you cross -reference
them with the place that I'm going to and also
remove anything that seems extremely vague or
inconsequential? And where exactly are you going,
sir? That is a great question. Medusia, I think?
We are currently in Medusia, sir. Great. Oh,
God. I should have been listening. Why aren't
they here? Can you call that Rat Gimble? He was
probably listening. Very good, sir. You see him
just almost at a standstill. And in like... 10
seconds. He responds, he will be here in a moment.
And you wait for about 5 to 10 minutes and then
the double door opens and you see Gimble walk
in in jammies in those one suit pajamas that
is just like all red with the backside open so
his tail can be out. It's too early. What do
you want? Where are we heading, Gimble? We're
heading southwest to an explosion site. We should
have known this. We should have, but I didn't,
so that's fine. Look, I need your help. Do you
know how to read? I know how to look at letters.
Isn't reading looking at letters? Amul, it's
way too early for this. I'll say. Can we just
work on this, please? I'm asking. Please. Okay,
but what do you want me to do? Read? There's
too many books in here for me to just read. He
kind of turns back to the butler. His name I'm
still forgetting. Hamlet. Hamlet. And he's like...
Could you cross -reference that with the southwest
place we're going to? Specifically southwest.
Let's see. Yes. And he takes a moment, waves
his hand, and states, there are no mentions of
Matusha or anything of City of Gold. Nothing
in Matusha with a golden -haired woman. So, unfortunately,
we are left with this. As he waves his hand,
there are no books left. Okay. Give me back the
hundred book, or whatever. He waves his hands
once more. Gimbo, do you have any ideas? I don't
exactly know what you're trying to find out.
Looks like we're going to read all of these books
as much as we can. Okay, but what if... I'm so
confused. What are we trying to learn? There
is someone who's trapped. Oh, trapped. That's
one. Trapped? Can you cross -reference that with
any containment trap situation? In terms of the
blonde woman? Yes. Golden -haired woman? He waves
his hands once more and you are left behind with
children's stories. Okay. That's good enough,
I guess, for the moment. So a lot of these children's
books are in similar vein of like Rapunzel, where
a golden haired princess is trapped in a tower
or in a cave or in a dragon's den. uh anything
um it is always that uh golden head woman is
and is also guarded by a great monster be it
a dragon a minotaur some great evil knight and
but along with these uh stories you still find
no reference of city of gold so Where, if there
were a connect - You cannot find a connection
with a golden -haired woman and a - Can you send
a letter to Gordar when he wakes up? Very good,
sir. And you're going to spend the next few hours
in here. Roughly what time does Gordar wake up?
Gordar is... It's not the early wake -up, but
it's probably like 6 .30, 7 o 'clock kind of
wake -up person. The moment you wake up and your
eyes adjust, you hear a voice from across the
room towards the door. Sir. The snakes are just...
just like all like at attention yeah hissing
um what do you want uh forgive the intrusion
but i believe that one of your companions requests
your presence at the library why he did not rightly
say but they are doing some sort of research
sir in some city of gold and a golden haired
woman okay well i'll Get there eventually. Floor's
back down. Okay. Hamlet disappears. How long
more are you going to stay in bed for? Probably
another hour or so. Okay. You spend another hour
in bed and you make yourself decent, which is
probably another hour. And you make your way
to the library at the west wing until eventually
you're faced with the familiar double door, the
open book engraving, and the payment box. Thump,
thump, thump. There is no response. Bang, bang,
even harder. There is no response. Man, he must
have gone elsewhere. And you leave. At this point,
Reyna, you are now arguing. With Gimble. I don't
understand. I don't see anything. The City of
Gold, it's just some kid's stories. Yeah, but
you thought the dragon was a kid's story. No,
I said that the only references that we have
about dragons was from a children's book, which
is different. Oh my god, I can't really deal
with you. Where is Godar? I don't know. You know
I had to pay to get in here, right? You owe me
five gold. Oh my god. Yeah, sure. Whatever. Custer
Gorda just sitting in the sunshine in a little,
like, reedy nook just having a coffee. Where
is everyone? Speaking of everyone, Annie, you
have been working all night. Do you think that
you have perfected? Well, not perfected, but
you have single -armed made this modification
as well as you could. So I want you to go ahead
and give me a level of exhaustion. I have not
done that in a while. You inspect your rifle
with the only available... hand that you do have,
and you're certain that with these modifications
you have done a fairly good job. Not bad for
someone who's been stuck in a grey cell for most
of her life. You know that you would meet with
Sasha sometime soon to retrieve your new arm.
Well, your old arm, but modified as well. And
you know that... this today is the day that you
depart with the rest to head uh southwest of
briar roads to inspect uh and investigate the
old explosion site i guess it's time to have
some breakfast and she's going to make her way
out of her room and go down to the dining area
you head to the dining area you see an open uh
open planned room where you see Godar looking
out the window having was it tea? Coffee. Coffee.
And you make your way towards the dining and
you already find the table has been spread with
breakfast. You took your time. What are you talking
about? I've been up for hours. Apparently Reina
wanted me but he's been ignoring me. I don't
know where he is. What do you mean you don't
know where he is? Well, I was told to meet him
at the library. I banged on the door, and no
one came to. You didn't think to enter the library?
Well, no, I had to pay for that, and I wasn't
getting any services for that, so there was no
need to pay. Wait, you'd have to pay? Yes. I
just thought I'd knock on the door, he'd hear
it, and open it up, but I guess not. Ugh, whatever.
I doubt they're doing anything important anyway.
I still don't see anything about a gold made
of - Where are you even getting this information?
That almost sounds so impossible to have an entire
city made of gold. It might not be made of gold.
It might just be said it's made of gold. It could
be like a specific material. Oh, what material?
Maybe Annie would know. Oh god. I don't know,
maybe gold? But it could be some sort of alloy
or something. Or like, it could be painted on.
Or it could have been the way the sun struck
it that made it look like it was from gold. Oh
my god, how did you become valedictorian? I will
never understand. We have been at this for hours.
And you have all these books just opened up,
stacks and stacks of books. You both have gone
beyond the children's books that was left behind.
And in the past several hours, you have requested
Hamlet to bring out all these other books. Give
me an intelligence check. Make that an advantage,
since Gimbel is also here helping you. Okay.
Has he been much help, though? We'll find out
soon enough. I got a 15. 15 in total. Okay, so
during this few hours, while you find no reference,
well, connection between a golden -haired woman
and a city of gold or... made of gold uh you
do the only closest reference that you found
when you've would you have described to gimbal
the woman i don't think he would he would just
say like hey like i'm asking you politely can
you help or not i don't think he would have given
him him a lot of descriptions he would have probably
just said well no one well no wonder he's struggling
yeah okay um You did, like, pouring through all
these books, you find a reference of not exactly
a woman, a woman with golden hair, but you find
a reference to a being with golden hair. And
it speaks also as well of sheets of red satin.
And, uh, you find it in this book called Maleficorum
Infernum. Jackpot. And it, it references a, um,
it references a being that, uh, that pedals and
deals with greed. Mm -hmm. Gimble, I think we
found it. Found what? found enough for you to
head off and he just kind of like like opens
his pockets and then gives you five gold uh gives
gimbal five gold your services have been appreciated
thank you and he walks out i'm gonna have some
breakfast we have to head out soon yep yep yep
whatever but you see gimbal walk out and The
Maleficorum Infernum, as you read it, it's not
that it's hard to read. It is hard to understand.
It is written in a way where it's almost like
in Shakespearean sonnets. Of course, it can't
be easy. It's never easy. But it does make reference
to this being with golden hair. And in the sonnet
itself, it speaks of a long red satin dress.
And this is the closest reference that you found
that relates to your dreams. Okay. He kind of
like calls out again towards Hamlet and says,
Hamlet, are you around? Hamlet appears before
you. Sir. Can I take this book or does it need
to stay here? Unfortunately, you will not be
able to remove any books from the library. Okay.
Would it be fine if I copied a paragraph or so?
From it? Yes. There will be no problem with that.
Would you require some writing materials, sir?
If I pay you, can you write it for me? Which
exactly are you... Which passage are you trying
to recreate, sir? The sonnet? Or whatever? Specifically
to do with the red velvet? He looks over the
book and the page that you have open. and you
see him glide his hands across the book, and
he taps his hand onto the table, and you see
five pages have appeared, a copy of the son.
How much is that? This is a simple task, sir.
There would be no charge for this. Thank God.
Okay. All right. Thank you. Very good, sir. Will
there be anything else? Where is everyone? I
believe that they're at the, uh, they're having
breakfast right now. They're having breakfast,
even though I asked. I'm, I'm, I'm heading down.
Very good, sir. As Hamlet disappears, you leave
the library and you hear the loud thud of the
closing of the double doors behind you as you
head downstairs to the dining room where you
find Godard. Annie and Gimble having breakfast.
Oh, there you are. Where were you? I got told
to come meet you at the library, but you never
answered. That's because I didn't hear you. What?
What do you mean? I hit that door as hard as
I could. No offence to you, Gordar, but I don't
think you're that strong. Well, all offence taken.
But still. What do you mean? Were you in the
library this entire time? Yeah, Gimbal, did you
hear him? No, we were poring over those books.
And there was no... There was no knocking on
the door. Well, I can assure you that I did.
Okay, whatever. No use. What was it that you
needed my help with? What did I need your help
with? Um... He kind of, like... Puts down like
the pages in front of Gordar. And he's like,
maybe this will mean more to you than it does
right now to me. Gordar has a look over the pages.
Yep. You look over the pages and it's a sonnet.
It is a sonnet about a creature of golden hair
and of a red satin dress. And the reader. Seems
like some kind of. Little fairy tale story. Do
you need me to read this to you? No. Remember
when you guys told me to tell you if I had a
dream? Yes. Well, this was the dream. I met this
person. So you had a dream. I met this person.
And you had a scenario play out in your head.
A scenario? And it was a fairy tale. Is this
one of those kinky dreams? Shut up, Gimbal. Why
is it always sexual? Is he stuffing his mouth
with, like, fruits? Oh. Have you read this before?
Is this just something that you read and then
you materialized it in your mind? You know, I
can't read that well, so obviously not. Nor will
I be interested in fairy tale. Look, I'm... I'm
uncertain of why I thought you dreamt it, but
I know I had gone through it. What do you think,
Annie? She's sipping on a little espresso cup.
What? About this. Did you not hear any of this?
Well, no, no, no. I was listening. I just don't
care. Oh. Well. What is it that you think, Reina?
What do you think about this, then? I think it's
related to where we're going. They mentioned
City of Gold. And... I think that... It's going
to be something we're going to find ourselves
in danger with. When you said City of Gold, you
see Annie's eyebrow perch up in curiosity. What's
this now? I thought you weren't interested. Well,
now I am. I don't care what goes on in your mind,
but I do care about a city of gold. Yeah, well,
that's what it was. That's what they said. They?
Yes, they. Give me that, and she's going to try
and grab that piece of paper with the sunnet
on it. Godar isn't even trying to hold it back.
She's like, okay, you take it. Has Annie read
something like this before? Thank you. Give me
a history check. Goddard, if you'd like to also
make a history check, please do so. 10. It's
a 15 for Goddard. Would Raynor have mentioned
the title of the book? I think, yeah, he would
have. Annie... This is all very much too theatrical
for you. It's in a form of a play, and it is
not something exactly that you revel yourself
in. Gordar, however, with the mention of the
book Maleficorum Infernum, you know that this
particular book, while not having read it yourself,
proposes the ideas of devils and demons. Oh.
What's this? As, like, gets hand over and...
This is a story about devils and demons and such.
It's... But those aren't real, so it's just a
fairy tale. It's something to scare children
of such. I had the nanny read various stories
like these throughout my younger years. This...
Are you saying that you think this is real? I
think they also said dragons were fairy tales.
And that they went there and we saw a skeleton
-like dragon. We saw visages of the past. We
saw a person create a full illusion of a town.
Why can't this be real? I'm not inherently saying
it's not. I'm just letting you know what I know.
You ask my opinion and I'm telling you. We have
seen wondrous and terrifying things. Honestly,
at this point, I would not be surprised whatever
we come up against. I just want to make sure
that you're correct and you're sure. Because...
If we come across another town and we start thinking
that they're demons and they're not, that could
be an issue. As a chair slides across the floor
and Gimbal gets up, I'm going to get ready as
he leaves and breaks the silence. Yes, we have
to prepare for demons and devils and whatnot.
She snags an apple from the table and takes a
big bite out of it. You all enjoy your breakfast
and sit in quiet contemplation and prepare for
the trek ahead of you as you all meet in the
foyer or the main hall of this manor. Gimbal
arriving. now all with his huge backpack uh and
wearing a priest attire all black with the little
white collar and you can see like bottles uh
that is strapped to his belt and it's just got
all these and it's all labeled like holy water
and okay i'm ready to fight demons gimbal what
the hell are you wearing I'm a holy man. The
things that demons and devils are afraid of.
I... Well, it didn't take a lot to persuade you,
did it? Well, better safe than dead. That is
a very nice Halloween costume, but I don't think
that's necessary. Demons and devils aren't real.
How is Raynor sort of like looking? Does he give
away any... Yeah, just generally how is his current
disposition to all this? He is a little bit more
like he kind of looks like a little bit of a
wreck in a sense that he was up a bit at night.
He hasn't had a great sleep. He's kind of quietly
annoyed at the group and he's looking at Gimbal
right now and he's just like you're just dressing
up. that doesn't work. Are you making fun of
that kind of mentality? He looks at you in response
to Annie. Well, it's real enough for him and
I don't want that to happen to me. He's a mess.
He woke me up so early this morning to read books
and if he's being haunted or troubled by some
sort of demon or devil. I want no part of it,
and I'm prepared. Well, in that case, good job,
Gimble. And Annie's going to, like, pat him on
the head. You're playing the part. Bless you,
my child. What the fuck? He does this, the bell.
Bless you, my child. Gible's bowing to, like,
Annie's knees. Yeah, basically. Yeah. Thanks.
could explain why is sending him on his on a
death mission but okay yes but we die too why
do we have to deal with that before leaving i
would like everybody to give me a d100 why oh
no i got a five is that good or bad i don't know
I got a 77. I got a 50. Hey, 77, double lucky
number. 50, right down the middle. And a 5. Alright,
thank you for that. Why? Annie, did you add that
level of exhaustion? Very good. I think Reina
would also have a level of exhaustion. Okay,
if you want to give that to yourself, sure. Yeah,
may as well. Name of the game. Yes, he most certainly
did. Gorda had a wonderful night's sleep. Damn
you, Gorda. The four of you leave the manor,
and before leaving, Annie, you head towards Sasha's
workshop. Alright. Sasha. You see Sasha, just,
she's barking orders to all these porters, assigning
their tasks for the day. And when you call out
to her, she looks over to you. Oh, good, you're
here, as she takes a drag of her cigarette. And
she directs you towards the table. I've managed
to make the modifications that you wanted. You'll
find here that it now has this new aluminium
lining, as you requested. You can see here and
then she turns the arm itself and then she shows
you the palm and then you see her flip the switch.
You can see that there is also the compartment
that you requested to have particular tools set
inside here. And she's now showing you that it's
nice and new and shiny. Porcelain has now been
removed and has been replaced with all varying
metals such as iron and aluminum. Good. Thank
you. Good. I'm glad it is to your liking. Perhaps
take a seat and we can put this back on you.
Indeed. Thank you. And he takes a seat. As you
take your seat, you see... You see Sasha take
the arm and she adjusts it and lines it up onto
the sockets that you have for this on your bare
shoulder. Now, this will hurt for just a brief
moment, but I'm sure you're well aware of this.
And she pushes it right in as it clicks into
place. And you can feel that sharp pain that
you normally feel when putting in this prosthetic
arm. You can feel now the metal piece that's
on your shoulder. You can feel the clamps that
is now beginning to clamp onto the prosthetic
arm. And you feel now this magical essence that
begin to weave its way through your shoulder
into the arm. And you have that feeling once
more of having an arm back. That feels better.
Good. Now, is there anything that you guys need
for your trip before leaving? I do have a big
day ahead of me, so perhaps it's best now to
tell me now if you need anything. Bit of an odd
request. Do you have a spare plank of wood? Any
wood would be fine. Scrap wood? Sure. Size? Medium.
Measurements, I mean. Ah, sorry. About four feet.
That's fairly large, but I'll see what I can
do. Gonna need a lot of scrap material. And...
She goes off to the other side of the workshop
and you can see her going through some, not refuse,
but some off cuts and such. So she finds a piece
of oak plank that is roughly four feet in length.
And will this do? Perfect. Thank you. What about
you boys? Anything? I don't think you can do
anything for me, unfortunately. What a shame.
And you, little man. Nah, I'm good. Gimble speaks
up. Oh, could I please have some steaks? What
do you mean, steaks? Wooden steaks. Okay. And
you see Sasha just put, how many do you want,
kid? I think five is good. And she pulls out
like these five wooden stakes, normally what
they would use to put the tents down. Uh, here?
Yes, I need these to fight the demons. Hey, idiot.
That's for vampires. Demons are silver. I'm not
going to ask. You have your stakes. You have
your arm. I have a big day ahead of me. Enjoy
your trip. As you see her leave the workshop
and she's now barking orders to other porters
that are waiting. All the best. I'm pretty sure
Stace will work on Dean. That's... Gimble, no.
Better safe than dead, as he puts them in his
backpack. Oh, now he thinks like that. You'll
make your way out to Briar Rose and begin to
venture out. southwest uh everybody give who's
gonna be taking the lead i feel like annie after
being told so many times that she's a leader
it's just ingrained in her now she takes the
first step why not okay all right uh give me
a what is it uh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
survival check please whoa that was a lot already
has the uh the rope tied into like a mini noose
and it's like sliding over his arm and just yeah
okay survival check that is a unnatural 20 okay
so uh 30 20 uh you're fairly certain that you
are heading towards the right direction uh traveling
southwest uh as you leave briar rose uh as always
here where you are the color is very muted even
your companions uh you get the full spectrum
of colors when inside the manor but outside of
it it is very dull and you're finding these bits
of crystals along the way uh that is just uh
along the walls of the briar rose and as you
continue on you can see uh areas where crystals,
huge crystals have formed from concentrated magic,
magical energy. And I want you to go ahead, since
you're taking the lead, go give me a d20 roll,
please, for the first day of travel. Now roll
me a d8. So that d20 was a nat 1, and the d8
was a 5. Okay. So you, the four of you, have
spent the majority of the day marching towards
southwest. While there are no roads, at points
there are roads that you come across, but because
you're taking a direct route southwest, sometimes
you go off -road. Until eventually you find your...
find not too far off you a crater uh probably
about uh 20 feet in diameter and then just outside
the crater there's these huge sort of formations
of these crystals uh and the way that these crystals
are arranged essentially it's a like a point
of explosion So it is coming out from the crater
itself. And as you're getting closer and closer,
you find that more color is beginning to return
to the general area. You're all beginning to
feel a magical tinge of raw magic around you.
It prickles on your skin. I don't like it. Does
anyone else feel a little tingly? The girls are
not having a good time right now. You see snakes
just like huddled in together like a nest on
his head. Something is in the air here. You see
Gimble sort of like raise his arms up. I'm getting
a lot of... And you're now seeing the furs on
his arms and also on his head are like raising
over like static electricity. I'm getting pins
and needles as well. Do you think it's worth
investigating? I don't know. If it's having this
kind of effect on us here, it could be dangerous
if we go too close. Well, I'm curious enough.
And Annie's going to get closer to the cradle.
Okay. You move closer to examine this. And you
can see... this crystal formation just around
this crater. And now that you're closer, you're
seeing scorch marks that have come out of this
crater itself as well. And you look deep into
this crater and there's this huge spiraling crystal,
almost like a tip of a spear. And you feel it
radiating with magical energy. Around it as well,
you can see the black scorch marks that have
burned across the ground. And the colors here
are now beginning to be far more vibrant. The
crystal itself, iridescent, like it sparkles
from like... gold to green, and it swims with
all these different colors. Rainer, from where
you're standing, you're beginning to notice as
well, like, just as tired as you are, you're
noticing also flecks of gold that you notice,
oh, that the grass over there, it's almost encrusted
in gold. Annie, as you're looking closer, I want
you to go give me an Arcana check. I was just
about to ask if I can. Okay, perfect. Eleven.
With eleven, you're looking at these crystals
here. You think it's possible to harvest these
and use these in any sort of tinkering. You pretty
much know that a lot of tech... that is used
in the city is powered by uh magically infused
crystals and these crystals here uh while very
raw could possibly uh be far more potent in comparison
on what you would find in the cities so imagine
like a overcharged battery uh i also so yes that's
what you Oh, this is going to be great. And she
goes straight into the crater towards the crystals,
opening her bag of holding. Okay. Come to mother.
Do you have any tools with you that could perhaps,
I imagine that you're harvesting this thing.
Before we get to that, the rest of you, what
are you both doing? uh goro is just watching
her half expecting her to mutate into some crazy
monster and just die while holding the rope rainer
rainer is looking at the flecks of gold on the
grass give me for you give me an investigation
check and then i'll come back to you just roll
that and then i'll come back to you uh annie
um you're going to begin to harvest uh now this
this crystal that is in the center of the crater
it is huge right it is uh because this crater
it's uh the depth of it is twice your height
and this uh this crystal in itself is about two
three feet taller than you you do find smaller
crystals uh of similar magical properties okay
But before anything else, give me a d100, please.
Mm -hmm. 43. As you slide down this crater and
you're like, oh boy, ooey mama sort of thing,
right? Like, understanding on what you have here
at your hand. As you descend and reach the most
central crystal, you fall to your knees. And
you begin to puke. The rest of you... Godar,
Rainer, you're hearing Annie puking. That doesn't
sound good. That doesn't sound good at all. Get
out of there! Let's go back to Rainer. What did
you get for your investigation? I got an 18.
So the pattern of this gold, um, not mimic, or
I guess you could say it's similar to, uh, the
pattern of the crystal that has, uh, formed around
this crater. Uh, it almost as if, uh, looking
at this, what, uh, things have turned to gold
as this thing had land. So you're now seeing
like these blades of grass have become gold and
then there's. There's sections on the ground
where the dirt is gold. And it all comes outwards
from the crater itself. That's not good. Annie,
get out of there! Annie, what are you doing?
I feel like she's going to try and go backwards
while still also trying to clutch at the small
crystals, trying to pack them into her bag. While
puking. Yeah, you are puking. Not uncontrollably,
but there's moments where you're trying to hold
it in, but then it would come out. Give me a
dexterity check as you're climbing out and trying
to collect some of the crystals. Damn, straight
turn. straight 10 flat 10 okay so you did manage
to claw your way out of this crater the rest
of you see annie arise from this uh the crater
uh annie you are covered in sick you only managed
to snag me about two crystals uh in in a single
hand and you're holding these two smaller crystals
uh those who are at least 10 feet away you can
see annie rise and she's just like covered in
sick annie i also like you to add another level
of exhaustion, please. Are you okay? I would
take that as a no. Shut up. Gimbal, do you need
anything medical stuff? Pepto -Bismol? What is
that? It will help with your upset stomach. Why
would that? I don't know. This is not something
that we've experienced before. Is this the magical
sickness? He's like panicking now and he's thrown
his bag on the floor. And it's just like, have
some water. And he's like tossing a bottle of
water towards you, Annie. And he ate the Pepto
Bismol and he also tosses Pepto Bismol. No, God,
stop throwing this at me. All right. You can't
use names. Is it a name product? I don't know.
Yes. Okay, not that. It's like Chucks and stuff
like that. Windex, like they are the brands.
Not that brand, but. Sir. That brand adjacent.
Okay. A similar product. I can't think of what
it is. What are they? Stomach. Stomach medicine.
Stomach medicine. That's what it is. I'm so sorry,
but a lot of my knowledge comes from things that
are heavily referenced in real life. My mistake.
Do we even have Pepto -Bismol in Australia? No,
but it's a common thing on Western media. Just
in America. Which I consume of a lot of American
media, so. He's tossing you all these things,
Annie. Stop! So Gimbal is throwing these things
at you. Water skin and some form of medicinal
to help your upset stomach. But you feel as you're
still puking or trying to prevent yourself from
puking, your insides are almost feeling like
they... You feel very hot inside. You can feel
your prosthetic arm jitter and jerk as you're
crawling your way out of this crater. What the...
God, I'm sweating. God, stop. Throwing things
at me. God. Stop it. He's like panicking. What
do we do? What do we do? She doesn't look too
good. Throwing items at her is not going to fix
it. Annie, throw the crystals to the side. Fine.
And she does. So you, to which direction do you
throw the crystals? Coming up from the crater,
she will have thrown them to her right. Okay.
You toss these crystals aside, and as you're
now beginning to move away from the crater, you
no longer feel this heat inside you. Your arm
seems to cease jerking here and there, and you
seem to have full control. God. I think that
was a trap of some kind. It doesn't look like
a trap. It looks more like just a magically volatile
area. I mean, a trap for you, yes, but we were
not drawn towards it in any way. Man. Did you
stand still for a minute? He kind of like...
Are you feeling better now that they're no longer
near you? I feel fine. Um... As Gordaro's, like,
crouching next to you, um, see the green tattoo,
kind of snake tattoo, like, run up his arm and
come out over his palm, and I'm going to cast
Detect Poison and Disease. Um... So, for the
duration, you sense the location of poisons,
poisonous or venomous creatures, and magical
contagions within 30 feet of yourself. You sense
the kind of poison, creature, or contagion in
each case. The spell's blocked by one foot of
stone, dirt, or whatever, but she's right in
front of me. You... You can detect... As you
place your hands towards Annie, So you detect
all those things within a radius from a point,
correct? Yeah, so a 30 -foot sphere from pretty
much right where exactly we are, because I'm
casting it on ourselves. I can cast it at a distance,
but it's from us. You are detecting a particular
illness that akin to cancer from all of you.
Rainer is... Rainer's one is... Pardon me. Almost
like in those early stages, yours are a few,
you begin to detect particular growths upon yourself.
Annie's is a bit more severe than yours. So I
sense this as like, not a magical illness, but
similar to cancerous cells kind of thing. You...
It is similar to cancer, but you suspect it has
something to do with the magical illness. You
also detect it on our gimbal as well. So, um,
I have good news and very bad news. Oh, well,
out with it. Good news is I know exactly what
is happening. The bad news is it is very bad.
This... The side effects of being out here are
starting to fester within us. Us. In all of us.
But most in you, Annie, at this point. It is
similar to a parasite or a cancerous cell. It
is eating away at us and just steadily growing.
Ah, great. So we're dying. Soon we can find either...
potentially if we could find a cure of some kind
that would be good but i think it it could be
irreparable i have no idea oh well that's just
great and she'll but i think we should stay away
from glowing things from now on speak for yourself
and she's still gonna open up her bag of holding
worse annie unless you want to die then i'm already
old Might as well do the thing that I like doing
most. And she shoves the crystals into her bag
of holding. Your personal bag of holding, correct?
Yes. Not the safe one. You go and retrieve those
two pieces of crystals that you tossed, and you
have now placed it upon your bag of holding.
Do you continue the march? Yes. Before we leave.
And Rainer's kind of like very invisibly kind
of like, oh, we're dying. Oh no. And he's just
like, he kind of points to the grass of the gold.
And he's like, city of gold. What? As Rainer
says this, the both, and points it out, the both
of you take a look and you're now noticing certain
sections of the ground are now, uh coated with
gold or has become gold itself uh there are particular
blades of grass that is just entirely gold a
a leaf and there's a parts of the tree just very
um subtly as um is uh covered in gold if a city
is made out of gold similar to what happened
here with this impact i don't know if that city
will be safe for us If Annie got so sick very
quickly compared to the rest of us by touching
it, that is going to be a very magically radiated
zone. A meteor of that size, or whatever it was,
the explosion, to turn a city into gold? That's
impossible. Yes, it has happened. Nothing is
impossible, Annie. At least it proves so that
I wasn't making it up. That is true. But I don't
know if I want to go into a city like that. We
might not even make three steps in before we
die. Well, I guess we need to figure out who
the next leader is, since Annie's pretty much
dead. Oh please, I'm not dead yet. I vote Gordar.
Gimel? Ah, you see Gimble already like halfway
putting on his, what do you call it, his diver
suit. I am not getting magical sickness as he
just puts on the helmet. Sorry to say this, but
apparently you do have it. Well, anyway, it's
not like we're going to be separated by hundreds
of feet. We're walking as a group. Doesn't really
matter on who takes full lead. Hopefully that
little shit Samson will have it too. Here's hoping.
You continue your travel southwest. And... Twilight
is upon the four of you. As the sky... Well,
you feel as if it is twilight. It is getting
dark, but the colors are still muted. you look
up and the sky is beginning to darken uh no stars
no nothing of great note something that could
signify the sky but it is getting darker should
probably make camp perhaps all right and any
realizing that she's still covered in her own
sick She's going to click her fingers and cast
Prestidigitation to clean herself. You are very
clean, my dear. Yuck. Alright, so just here then?
You could have done that the whole time. I may
have forgotten. My goodness. You're saying that
I have been walking in this filth this entire
time and you could have just been able to clean
me whenever. Alright, alright. And Annie's going
to go over to Gordar and flick her fingers. There,
now you're extra clean. Oh, thank you. I feel
so refreshed. Holding up her hand, she looks
towards Raynor. Nah, I'm good. And he just kind
of snaps his finger on himself to clean it with
his hand for seducitation. Alright. Are you kidding?
Everyone! What about you? You little rat, are
you able to do it too? Yeah. He snaps his fingers
and you can see his suit nice and clean. His
diver suit. We have been out here for so long
and not a single one of you has decided to do
this. I never needed to clean myself. Do you
all like smelling filth around you? I take regular
baths. Where? We are in the wilderness. And he
pulls out water. How much water do you carry
to take a bath? You realize how heavy that is,
right? You see, at least a quarter of his pack
is just bottled water. My goodness. God, I can't
just like, just slumps down, just like, I cannot
believe any of this. Careful where you sit, you
might dirty yourself again. Well, that's fine,
because it seems like the rest of this group
is able to just magic it away. The dog crashing
out, just about being clean, perfect. So what
now? Well, we try and rest, hopefully not get
eaten by some weird... dog -like creatures during
the night and hopefully get back on the road
as soon as possible. And you see Gimbal beginning
to unpack his sleeping bag. Right. Do the rest
of us have sleeping bags? Or bedrolls? If you
recall, you would have given a basic pack by
Sasha a while ago. So you would have a sleeping
pack as well. Oh, right. And she takes off her
third bag. And she puts it to the ground and
unfurls her bedroll. Okay. Who is... Right. Anyone
going to take watch? Well, who would like to
take the first watch? I assume some need to...
You know what? I slept pretty well last night.
I'll take first as long as someone is able to
take over for me. Yeah, yeah. I can take second.
Gimbal is already also tucked in. So the three
of them are taking their rest. Would Godard even
try to attempt to build a fire of any sort? I
don't think he'd know. So he would probably attempt
to. And then kind of like half an hour, an hour
of trying and then kind of, I am kind of like
put these hands together and then just ends up
like grabbing the pieces of wood, walking to
the edge and just throwing it away. So it doesn't
look. Okay. So you're not even leaving a remnant
of like an attempt of a campfire. No. Okay. Doesn't
want to look, doesn't want to show he failed.
Uh, go ahead and give me a, well, Give me first
a d20. That's a 16. Go ahead and give me a perception
for this evening. That's a 15. God, I was going
to spend a lot of the watch looking around, but
his hand in the pocket, just hand on that orb,
feeling it occasionally dink up against the glass.
The knight, or your first watch. goes relatively
undisturbed you'll occasionally hear uh cries
of wild beasts off the distance but nothing that
seems to get any closer uh and you just hear
the hums of the bugs that are around at the end
of your watch occasional snapping of snake jaws
trying to get one of them and that would be for
your watch Shit. We didn't decide on who was
taking over for me. I believe Raynor did. Yeah.
So Raynor is going to open his eyes from his
meditation because he's just like, guess it's
my time. You see Godda hunched over about to
shake you. Looks like he's going to murder you.
What are you doing? He goes, I was going to.
Wake you. Okay. It's, um, your time for the watch.
I see. Uh... You're doing this in darkness? Yes.
He's gonna use Prestidigitation to create a small
campfire. So you arrange... You arrange these
stones and then you somehow find, like, these
just... huge clumps of, like, wood and sticks
that seems to have been thrown haphazardly at
one part. Collect that and put it at the center
of the camp, and then you cast Prestidigitation
to light this campfire. Oh, well, you know, if
you need that, then that's fine. No worries at
all. Goddard's, like, visibly shivering. Sleep
out. I think I will. I'm just gonna just... You
know what? My legs are a bit tired from the walk.
I'm just going to sit down here next to the fire.
Rainer, go ahead and give me a perception check,
please. 16. Go ahead and give me a 1d20. 15.
As Godard makes himself comfortable as the best
as he can close to the campfire that you had
made. The rest of the night goes relatively peaceful.
Again, with the occasional cries of beasts off
the distance. There are times, though, where
you think you hear the clashing of metal. But
you're unsure. But it was very, very far off.
Almost like a little prick on your ear. But not
too long, you see that the environment around
you begins to gradually light up. The old familiar
muted colors once again returns. And it is the
first morn. Not first morn, but it's daybreak,
sorry. You remove one level of exhaustion. Yep.
And Annie, you go down one level of exhaustion.
So you should now be at level one. Everybody
take a long rest. Cool. We're awake now. God,
I still passed out in a weird angle and just
like arms outstretched, half out of the sleeping
bag. Uh -huh. as day breaks and everything has
returned to its or what passes as normal uh here
at the expanse in matushia uh we're going to
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our sponsor so thank you thank you thank you
for sponsoring us and uh the other players don't
know these these guys don't know it but they
have showered me with gold coins and i am rich
beyond i just have all this money this imaginary
money hey so can we get a raise Yeah. Where is
this? Don't worry about it. Let's just continue
on, shall we? Rude. Okay. So. It is now dawn.
And you are all packing camp, I suppose. And
you find Gimbal. He's now currently working on
his book. Konar is just getting ready for the
day. Kind of keeping to himself. one hand in
the pocket, just rolling that ball around and
that's kind of staring up to the distance. Um,
since the sun is only just now coming up, can
Annie determine if the gold has in fact grown
over where it currently is? Like, has it grown
in size? Or has it just remained the same? Well,
did you guys camp not too far from the crater?
Or did you continue on? Wait, what gold are you
referring to? The gold, like, speckled nature,
where it looked like the nature had turned into
gold. No, you've moved past that. Oh, oh shit,
okay. Yeah, I thought we moved on. Yeah, you've
moved on till nightfall. So, but from where you
are, you see no remnants of gold, apart from
the fact that, you know... The visage of this
place, you know, you've got your tree lines with
the same muted colors. Occasionally, you do see
that the trees themselves have crystallizations
on them. While not as vibrant as the ones that
you saw at the craters, these crystals in itself,
in terms of colorization, they seem to be rather
dull, much like everything else around you. Okay.
Can Annie properly observe the crystals that
she put into her bag? Yeah. From what you take
from previously, this is an overcharged battery,
and it could be used in some of your tinkering.
It is still just as vibrant as ever. You feel
the magical emanation from it, this raw, untapped
magic. Which could potentially be dangerous.
She doesn't feel sick? She doesn't feel like
throwing up at all? Hmm. That's good. You suspect
that whatever had made you ill was at the epicenter
of that crater, which was that towering crystal
that stood like, what was it? Two to three feet
taller than you. Alright. Let's... Let's get
ready to head out. I'll be finished in a moment.
As you see Gimbal continue to work on his book.
What's Raynor doing? I think Raynor is kind of
checking himself and then he's going to go to
Gordar and say So you're saying that we have
it too? Um, yes. Not as bad as Annie does, but
yes. What did Annie do that we didn't? Apart
from going into that death zone. Whenever she
finds anything of magical crystals or power,
she instantly goes towards it. We are normally
a bit more hesitant. I wonder if that's all it
is, though. Because... How much exposure... Well,
I think we were warned that just being out here
was detrimental to our health. I think it's just
an accumulation of just being in this area. Do
you know if there's any cures or any things that
would fix this? That is beyond what I can do.
I am no healer. I was just able to see it for
a brief second. Okay. You hear the closing of
a book. And Gimble. Gimble now is beginning to
pack his things. He's now rolling up his bedroll.
And you see him with a tin. and up at hand and
he is beginning to eat some rations i'm ready
all right let us get on shall we who's taking
the lead once more me okay go on ahead and give
me your survival check for the day please so
that's a two and annie not annie larry's grabbing
some dice And what looks like some notes. What
have I done? Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no. How could
you forsake us, Annie? We trusted in you. We
believed in you. You were the chosen one. So
you begin your trek. southwest or as best as
you know or what southwest is considering that
with even with the sky there is no sun to guide
you but to the best of your knowledge you're
you are heading southwest uh it has been several
hours on this trek uh thus far and it is now
reaching the afternoon and you are all now beginning
to feel uh that same tingly feeling that sensation
that magical uh intensity and it is it is permeating
that be the right word all around you and it
is god it is very uh it feels as if it's very
dense I'm getting that feeling again. Like the
crystal before. Everybody give me a constitution
save. Oh boy. There might be a bigger one near
us. Okay, Annie got a 10. Gorda got a 9. Raynor
got an 18. Okay, so with this area that you're
in, it's fairly barren you see a few trees along
along the way the same sort of crystallization
but as you trek on you're beginning to see just
off the distances a crater here and there and
with some of these craters you're you are seeing
just like almost like a point of crystals as
you're weaving your way through uh this uh this
area you're all beginning to see more of this
gold that is flecked on the ground or on the
tree or the blade of grass uh godar uh you don't
feel so hot well you do feel hot just being being
around this pure uh magical energy around you
And it is almost draining. So go ahead and take
a level of exhaustion from your fist. I, um...
Oh, I, uh, I don't... I don't feel that good.
Oh. Do you want water? Where's that non -branded
medicine you had? He already has it at the ready.
Glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug,
glug, glug. Ew. Is that supposed to be a strawberry
flavored? Yeah. That doesn't taste anything like
strawberry. Oh. Oh, the aftertaste. I think it's
kind of nice. As you continue on. Annie, you
find no other way to go, but you're fairly certain
that you are still heading southwest, to the
best of your knowledge. And as you pass this
area, this barren land, you're beginning to see,
again, a tree line. And you see amongst the tree
line an old road that seems to weave and snake
its way into the trees. As you approach the tree
line, the intensity of this magic seems to lessen.
And it does not feel as heavy or intense. All
right. I think this might be a safer way to go.
Just in here. I hope so. Okay. Make your way
through the woods and it's stark quiet. Almost,
the silence is almost deafening here. The trees,
as you go deeper into the woods, the trees are
all crystallized. And the ground before you is
crystal. Rainer, as you're making your way, you're
noticing also flecks of gold. Just here and there,
but not so much. Anytime you speak, you feel
as if your voice echoes, you feel that vibration,
but... Almost no sound as you continue on. What
the hell is this place? You find when you say
that, your voice is not muted, but several decibels
down in volume. I can't hear you two. What was
that, Annie? Same with you, good eye. I was trying
to determine what kind of place this is. It's
far too strange. What? As you raise your voice
to have this more sense of communication or to
be heard, the crystals, the crystal trees around
you slightly hums and rings the louder you raise
your voice. It's the, uh, almost like wind chimes.
And there's slight vibrations amongst the trees
around you as you raise your voice. I think the
trees are reacting to us. The more you raise
it around you. The trees are what? More vibrations.
Oh, okay. Okay. When Godar yells out that trees
are what? Everybody give me a dexterity saving
throw, please. Motherfucker. I mean, oh, damn
it. That's your one. That's a 19 for Godar. 10
for Rainer. 8 for Annie. Okay. So. Goddard, as
you raise your voice, the ringing of some of
the trees that are closer to you ring louder
as some of the branches begin to explode from
your screaming and shatters and shrapnel are
flying at all directions at this point. For the
most part, two of you... Well, let's think about
Gimbal as well, actually. Man. Hold on a second.
He's rolling a d4. Okay, so Godar, Raynor, as
you've raised your voice, there's the chimes
loudly ring as a musical explosion just happens
where you see the branches and some of the leaves
just blow in its place with all these shrapnel
flying all over the place as you duck and weave.
uh dodging all these sharp no uh go same for
you rainer where you're almost cut in certain
places in your arm on your face uh annie you
weren't so quick so you're uh as you find a lot
of these sharp no uh making purchase on your
person and go ahead and take uh four points of
damage Ah, what is happening? As Gimble slightly
panics and with his almost raised voice, the
ringing again happens around the tree. God, I
was going to walk up and just put his hand over
Gimble's mouth. Shh, you need to be quiet. When
I spoke up loud, the tree exploded. I don't think
you want to die either. So shut your face. Are
you going to be quiet? Mm -hmm. Is that a mm
-hmm yes or mm -hmm no? Mm -hmm. Slowly takes
the hand off. That's very interesting. That's
very, very interesting. Gimbal whispers, and
you see him just, like, look at these trees.
and even with his soft voice his soft mousy voice
even with that whisper there's that light ring
emanating from all the crystals around gimbal
whispers as best as he can as to not uh to not
add the effect of these trees we need to get
out god is gonna do the same Yes, let's just
continue onwards, which way you're walking, and
hopefully it doesn't explode again. Okay, Annie,
give me a survival check, please. Can I give
the help action? How are you helping, Annie?
I'm helping with figuring out if we're going
the right way. Okay. Go ahead. You will have
an advantage. That's a two. At two. With advantage.
You are all certain as best the best of the both
of you are trying to find a correct direction
to be out of these crystalline woods. You're
fairly certain that you are all lost. It is now
getting dark. And darker and vision is beginning
to be a lot uh it is a lot harder to now see
as night descends upon fort um i hate to say
this but uh are we lost i think i've seen that
tree a couple times now might be lost Definitely.
No, we're definitely lost. Oh, this is not good.
Gimble, you read? You know geography or how to
find yourself when you're lost? He continues
to whisper. I mean, we're not prepared to be
lost in a crystal. forest. I don't think anyone
prepares to be lost. Well, there's no telltale
sign of which is north, which is south. There's
very little I can do to actually try and figure
out how we could find our way out here. Hang
on, Gimble. Did Samson give us a map of any kind?
Or did he just show us? He pointed at his map.
that we were just supposed to head southwest
in the general area in hopes of we find the explosion
site explosion explosion site right um okay give
me a give me a second and uh and he's going to
lean not lean sorry she's going to kneel to the
ground and dust it off she opens her forearm
and takes out navigator's tools And she's going
to try and determine their current position by
stargazing if there's any stars in the sky right
now. Any that have come up. Generally, here,
there is a fog that permeates throughout the
sky, which prevents you from seeing... You don't
even see sun, but you know that it is getting
dark. Gimble is... You now see him adjusting
the lamp that he has hanging on his backpack.
And he has now... Sorry. He's now provided illumination
for you all. And... With your... Even with this
illumination that you do have, you pull out...
You've got your navigator's tools. I imagine
that you have a compass? Yeah. compass and a
um what do you call it this thing hang on one
of these except it has like the two pointed yes
so why don't you go ahead because you've been
lost for a few hours now and it is now night
uh And if you want to make your way out of the
woods, go ahead and just, as you check your compass,
you can see that it is going wild. Well, not
so wild, but it spins in a way where there's
some, the magnetic fields in this place is affecting
your compass in itself. But just give me an intelligence.
While this is happening, can Raynor do something?
Yeah, you can do what you'd like. Just let me
know. So he's going to use dancing lights. Perfect.
This adds furthermore illumination into the area
that you're in, correct? So pretty much four
torch -like kind of orbs that kind of hover from
his hands. he's kind of like just kind of putting
them into like a kind of like a grid like pattern
so there's like space between them okay so you
now all have uh great illumination so uh while
still uh intensely uh covered in these crystalline
trees uh you can't see you just which is a good
thing. Addie, what did you roll for your intelligence
check? That was a 16. Okay. You look at your
compass and you notice that as you move along
in certain areas, the pin of the compass will
go wild. And then you move to another, you take
a couple of steps elsewhere and you see that
the... speed of it has changed and in about 10
15 minutes you eventually find a spot where you
stand and you look at your compass and it is
uh as stable as uh as best it could be in your
current situation so you're now getting a rough
approximation of which southwest is okay um all
right i think we can go This way. But let's try
to be more quiet. Now, you have this, because
it is nightfall, do you decide to trek on during
the night? I think it's best that we get out
of this forest as soon as we can. I don't feel
like sleeping here. Go ahead and give me another
survival with advantage. Sixteen. Okay. You're
fairly certain that you are heading southwest.
Though the trek through this woods is a lot more
longer than you anticipated. And not long after,
you, the three of you, have been traveling all
night. You're seeing the darkness beginning to
lift. But you're still in the woods. And several
hours pass until eventually you make your way
out of... crystal forest you see you're beginning
to see some of these trees now only part crystal
till eventually it is just wood once more and
you make your way out of this forest into once
again just barren land uh being out here and
judging by the brightness of things you have
been trekking all night And as best as you can
tell, it is probably closer to midday at this
point. And he collapses to the floor. Gora does
the same. I guess I'm on first shift then. Nap
time. So are we taking a long rest or a short
rest? I'll say short rest. Alright. So the four
of you go ahead and take a short rest. As the
sound returns once more while taking your short
rest, the barren lands before you is as empty
as it was. You can see old faded roads off the
distance that has not been used in almost 100
years. You can see a few trees here and there,
but not as... not as thick as the forest behind
you. You see now, you look upon your compass,
Annie, and you see that the pin of the compass
itself has settled, and it is pointing at the...
And you now align yourself towards southwest.
Okay, we're going the right way. So you now have
your bearing of southwest, and with the barren
lands before you, uh you begin to continue your
trek as you continue your trek i'm going to take
your last survival check which was 16. it was
a 16. all right uh go ahead and just roll me
a d8 please one d8 that's a three okay so as
you travel along once more uh your Once again,
greeted with that same magical weight and intensity
all around you. And go ahead and everybody give
me a constitution saving throw. So that's a three.
Fourteen for Gorda. Fifteen for Raynor. I'm going
to go ahead and roll. That's actually a seven.
Sorry. Okay. With this magical intensity that
you're all feeling, Annie, you're feeling very
warm inside. Once again, it's almost as if you're
back close to that crystal previously. And with
this intensity, you feel your stomach churn,
but not to the point of expelling vomit. you
see gimbal as well almost down on his knees and
he's having great difficulty of continuing on
so i want you to go ahead and add a level of
exhaustion on yourself annie god damn it again
it's most certainly again so you continue on
yep we're gonna die from exhaustion yeah eventually
another few hours have passed and the the weight
of this area uh the magic in this area is now
dispelled well not dispelled but removed from
you and you don't feel that intensity again and
you continue to track uh closer to nightfall
and not too far ahead on your eyeline up ahead
southwest you're now beginning to see buildings
some of them tall almost several stories high
and as you're moving closer you see flecks of
gold more prominent on the ground the trees and
blades of grass all gold and as you're approaching
ever closer you see now the brilliance of the
buildings and you see them all golden as it shines
on your eyes And that's where we're going to
end. Ohhhhhh. Okay. Alright. Is this Reina's
heaven? Or is this his hell? We're all gonna
die from cancer. Oh my goodness. What a trick.
I like that. I hope you guys had fun. I'm terrified.
I hope that everybody listening enjoyed. Not
so intense, but still intense. What do you mean
not intense? You're all tired, Larry. Sir, you're
making us all exhausted. Either we're going to
die from exhaustion or die from cancer. It's
going to be the most anticlimactic end to an
episode ever. We see the Golden City and we just
die. Well, we made it. Well, we can talk about
it later. Let's just go ahead and give our goodbyes
to everybody. I hope everybody has enjoyed. Thank
you for listening. So say goodbye, everyone.
Bye. Bye. Good night, Mrs. Akhmanic, wherever
you are. Who? And welcome back to Table Talk,
where we discuss the session, wind down, and
talk about all the little things that have occurred
on that last episode. How are you all feeling?
Scared. Worried. Like I should plan out my will.
I mean, does Godard really have anything to his
name? Wow. Wow. I can't believe Annie. That's
a low blow. You know what? I think Annie's going
to cock it before he does. You don't know that.
No, that is true. Actually, I do know that. I've
seen your cancer. Hey, unless... Shit, I dropped
it. Unless Annie gets an official diagnosis,
she does not have cancer. She just has arthritis.
just magical arthritis so that was i guess it
was fairly heavy uh look the whole exhaustion
thing it just so happens that on the random events
uh thing uh it rolled twice the the heavy uh
heavy magic in the air uh thing and so that was
what was sapping you guys and because it was
rolled twice i was just like oh well i have to
do it again you guys get another level of exhaustion
how dare you i was looking at the rolls i'm like
no way do we just roll pretty much the exact
same numbers back to back like reina and i 15
16 15 16 what Highlights? What are our highlights?
None. You gave us cancer. Yep. For real. You
all knew that coming in here. You knew of the
magical sickness. We thought that was a hoax.
I think for me, it would be Gorda crashing over,
crashing out over everyone else having Prestidigitation.
Yeah, that's good. That's so good. That was great.
That was so funny to me. Even Gimple could do
Prestidigitation. Oh, suck shit, Gorda. I'm pretty
sure I could have taken that cantrip too. And
I decided not to. And that's the funniest thing.
Everyone has it but him. I love the credit. You
could have done this the whole time. It's like
on the track. And he's like, do you want some?
And I'm like, nah, I'm good. And then he's like,
what? and then the campfire that was perfect
the timing campfire thing as well like man that
fucking cantrip is just i've hated it because
of how versatile it is like there are other cantrips
for the all the things that it does it is wild
oh out of just like a statement I never take
that cantrip wow it's my favourite spell it is
absolutely my favourite spell it's so good it's
got way too much versatility when there are other
cantrips which I just push to the side because
it does all of their jobs apart from the cleaning
thing the cleaning thing is it's unique thing
but I found in our games that it is a staple
that is picked up but I also have seen in different
games where uh outside of our uh our group our
friend group where it is not picked up at all
it's not even considered uh especially because
uh a lot of people don't have a heavy role play
group so a lot would be very it's combat focused
yeah yeah so You don't see it picked up quite
often, but I absolutely adore that spell. I love
just turning lights on and off and that sort
of stuff. Little sensory blow magical notes.
Sort of thing. It's such a fun spell for me in
a roleplay perspective. You just do so much with
it. That and Thaumaturgy, I think, are two...
great spells in terms of uh for role play like
thaumaturgy where you could use like booming
voice essentially uh increasing the volume of
your voice at speed kind of like uh gandalf when
uh where he says that you know i'm not trying
to take your ring or whatever it was i love how
specific thaumaturgy is though because it's like
you can make your eyes glow and you can open
unlock doors And, like, make them flash and boom
your voice. Like, it's such, like, a unique thing
of just... Yeah, this is when you just want to
yell into a room. Yeah! Like... Thaumaturgy,
bust that open! Thaumaturgy, increase my voice!
And make all the doors go... Like... I liked
the Crystal Forest. Yeah. Yeah, the Crystal Forest
is so good. it was pretty brief but i do like
that i thought that was a really cool thing it's
just like yeah you make noise everything starts
vibrating then like explodes i like how you guys
got lost yeah guys you're welcome your survival
what what was that what was happening this she
pulled an all nighter and she got very tired
okay leave her alone you're not fair fair That
advantage, what did you roll on that advantage?
You rolled a 1 and a 3, I think it was. But yeah,
because it was minus 1, you had to... Minus 2.
Yeah. I did also like the whole research thing
with Raynor. Yeah, that was really good. Trying
to piece together and how it's... connected to
this place that you're supposed well no you don't
know if this is the place that you're supposed
to go but in at just off the distance just seeing
this city of gold how it glistens and sparkles
and the closer you get the more of how everything
has just become gold like in my mind just like
seeing that it's it's so wild of just like having
everything be gold I love their reactions to
that. To Rainer saying like, hey, this is what
it is. And then Gorda was like, but I didn't
really want to pay. And like, I knocked. So like,
I tried. And then Anna's just sipping her drink.
She's like, yeah. You guys are talking. I didn't
really care. I was thinking about that. I'm like.
with gordo like he has to knock on the door every
time he enters a room because that was a very
formal thing that he drew into his childhood
so walking up and knocking on the door and there's
no answer it means there's no one in there or
they don't want to be disturbed so he kind of
just went oh okay um well like maybe he's not
there and searched the rest of the house and
couldn't find you and then end up just sitting
there as like well they're gonna come and have
breakfast eventually i'll talk to them then i
guess Because it's almost like a pocket dimension.
Whatever is happening outside there isn't present
in the library itself. I am hoping one day one
of you get lost in the house. Why are you hoping
for that? Thanks. Because it'll be fun. Fun for
you, maybe. You narcissist. I'm kidding. Not
narcissist. More of a sadist, if anything. That's
it. That was the word. You'll can't remember
that NPC's name. Hamlet. I just kept forgetting
it. I was like, yes, Hamlet. It's funny because
Larry was even saying Shakespearean. It's like
Shakespearean. So Hamlet is also another name
for a very small village. And Hamlet also means
home. And Hamlet is the house. The name is very
fitting. On the nose. So yes. vector i'm excited
to see yeah i know you do i'm very excited to
see where uh this is going to take you guys next
episode i'm so looking forward to playing this
out oh this is gonna be very interesting yeah
you have the golden city there and like what
the fuck is in there well gold just gold yeah
but just gold what about diamonds or silver or
bronze or copper no just gold or a devil who's
um who's uh making philosopher stones out here
what's what's happening good reference good reference
it was i appreciate you trying to find research
on that on any reference to city of gold and
uh the the figure in raynor's dream and you're
trying to find a connection there uh but i guess
i'll have to explain it later on in game as to
why there isn't i figured that like once you
couldn't find it then yes you it would be like
something that's not recorded better be i'm just
i'm i'm excited i'm very very excited for the
next episode just to see on uh how you guys play
this out and see what you guys are going to do
and next episode is episode 10 oh oh yeah wow
big one guys we did it be our 10th episode which
is crazy this is this is episode nine okay yes
all right cool cool cool cool uh do we have any
other comments or anything else that anybody
wants to say in regards to the session had a
lot of fun planning my next character, because
we're all going to die. Oh, yeah. And looking
to redo this all over again, going back here,
because they're just going to keep sending more
and more people here. That's right, we're going
back to the prison. Three new prisoners. God
damn it, no. Backtrack back to... Another one.
Another one. ...Briarville Manor will be annoying.
Because we'll be like, oh, not that forest again.
go through that same forest nah I feel like Annie
would try and figure out a way to just destroy
the whole forest all in one go I was like shatter
I have shatter we'll just make a blow up Yeah,
and he does too. And he also had shatter. I kind
of wish you guys did cast shatter in that forest.
I don't. You were in it. Yeah. Everyone's presentation
is shatter. So, with those shrapnels, it was
a 2d4 damage. Are you saying shrapnel? How am
I saying it? What am I mispronouncing this time?
You're saying shrapnels. What is the correct
pronunciation? Shrapnels. Okay. You can't correct
me because English is my second language. You
said it during the session. I was like, is he
just doing a D &D twist? Is that what he's saying?
I'm not listening to you. I don't speak English.
You never do. That's why we're divorced. That
is a heavy law that nobody needs to know about.
And that's where we're going to say goodbye.
Goodbye, everybody. Bye. Put comments. Yes. Comments.
Ask questions. Comment, like, and subscribe.
Bye.