Episode Transcript
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Welcome to carrots and suffering a DND odyssey. I am Nate, your dungeon master and riddler of riddles. We are in Sternheim, a town originally authored by John Terra in the 1990s. Don't forget to give us a rating or review. We're going to get straight into it today. Last time on carrots and suffering, our hero, Rose, agreed to help a wolf woman cure her father's lycanthropy.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Creedon digs through her bag and pulls out a scroll that probably has something from her bag spilled on it, but it still works.
[00:01:02] Speaker A: If you would follow me, then we will need to cast it on another wolf. But you need to give me a head start because they are not friendly.
[00:01:11] Speaker C: This is not something you want for yourself.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: No. I was born this way. This is not a curse. My father, on the other hand, is cursed. The healing of plague enthropy did not go as planned.
[00:01:23] Speaker C: All right.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: I will try to cast hex on this wolf, and I am going to choose strength checks that it has disadvantage on.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Excellent.
[00:01:32] Speaker D: And I will rush it and attempt a grapple.
[00:01:35] Speaker C: I am going to cast sacred flame on it from our distance.
[00:01:39] Speaker A: And then, in the debrief interview with our former werewolf, the heroes decided the people they just helped were simply too criminal to survive. We only lure strangers. Killing locals is what we know them.
[00:01:54] Speaker D: All right, that's strike three. A rage and attack.
[00:01:58] Speaker B: Okay, we used our scroll for this?
[00:02:03] Speaker D: You tried.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: And lastly, there was a detective montage as our heroes investigate two murders, a missing person and a nearby band of centaurs causing trouble.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: What exactly is the cause of conflict here between the centaurs and your town?
[00:02:20] Speaker A: I don't know. They normally come by here, but this time they came by here and there was some sort of fight with the farmers, and I'd like to look at the blacksmith shop.
[00:02:30] Speaker C: Can I hire two strapping people to dig up these bodies?
[00:02:35] Speaker B: Perhaps we should look at the epothuri's shop so there's some shield and sword of importance.
[00:02:42] Speaker D: Certainly seems that way.
[00:02:44] Speaker B: Can we go look at the maritza?
[00:02:46] Speaker C: I was going to say. Yeah, can we go examine this? Val's quarters?
[00:02:50] Speaker B: I will flip through that town record and just see any information that I can see on poot and, I guess, fowl himself.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: Let's get into it.
Hi, I'm Nate, and I will be your dungeon master.
[00:03:12] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Mandy. I play boulain, the grave domain death cleric.
[00:03:16] Speaker B: Hi, I'm Claire, and I play Creedon, the warlock of love.
[00:03:19] Speaker D: Hi, I'm Robert, and I play Xeris the wolf pain.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: Xeris, what's your middle of the night move?
[00:03:28] Speaker D: So what I'm actually going to do is sometime in the evening, when we break out of being social in the tavern, I'm going to go to the.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: Barracks to go to bed in the barracks.
[00:03:37] Speaker D: I'm going to look for someone who's a blacksmith apprentice.
[00:03:41] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, you can find a Smith person.
[00:03:44] Speaker D: I'm going to pull whatever kind of rank I can, and I'm going to take them to the blacksmith shop and have them help me fire up the smelter.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: Yep, he can do that easily.
[00:03:52] Speaker D: And I smelt some coins.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: As you're smelting those coins down, he says, so just let me know if you spot anything weird here. Poot had a bit of a reputation. For what? Well, so when he was young, he would make a lot of weapons and armor and stuff, but apparently everything he made was cursed. So now they just let him do like, bucket handles and things. But we don't know if that was poot or his stuff. But no one's willing to come touch anything in here, really. But, I mean, as I'm looking at it, it's just a normal forge.
[00:04:23] Speaker D: That's interesting. All right, we can turn this forge off now.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. He winds it down and says, you know, I'm not really afraid of this place. Maybe I'll start up work here.
[00:04:33] Speaker D: I think they could use a blacksmith.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: All right, thanks.
[00:04:37] Speaker D: And you know what? To get you started, here's five gold.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: He says, wow, this will get me started. Thank you.
[00:04:43] Speaker D: I think it's a good service you're going to do for this place.
[00:04:46] Speaker A: All equipment repairs are on the house.
[00:04:48] Speaker D: And I don't know what the material was. I don't know what that alloy was that we just made, but you're welcome to it, too.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: He nods and says, it's definitely a strange metal. It's not from this world, but we'll see what I can do.
[00:05:00] Speaker D: Does it melt down?
[00:05:01] Speaker A: It does.
[00:05:02] Speaker D: Great. That's all I cared about.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: Okay, I'll go back to the barracks.
[00:05:06] Speaker D: And take care of those coins.
[00:05:09] Speaker C: Boulain will get her 4 hours of rest, and then she will go to the apothecary and clear space for these bodies that they're digging up for her.
[00:05:16] Speaker A: Okay? Yep. They arrive around three in the morning.
[00:05:19] Speaker C: Okay. And she will ask them to stay with a promise of more gold because she's going to need help reinterring these people.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: They look tired, but they nod and they're up for it. You're paying well.
[00:05:29] Speaker C: She is paying very well. So she is going to do an autopsy, such as she can, on these weak old corpses. And what she's looking for in particular, she wants to try to see if she can figure out what kind of weapon was used to kill them, if it was the same weapon on both of them. And she's also looking for brutality versus efficiency. Were they killed quick and easy, or were they killed with a vengeance?
[00:05:53] Speaker A: Got you. Roll me medicine.
[00:05:55] Speaker C: Okay, and with the weapon type, she wants to know if this was an assassin, if this was a paladin.
She wants to try to figure out what kind of weapon was used here.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:06:07] Speaker C: That'S a 24. Okay.
[00:06:10] Speaker A: They were both killed by short swords. You're pretty sure. A piercing and slashing weapon of not terribly large size. From where the wounds are, you would imagine it was someone slightly taller than both of these people. So probably human sized, since one of them is a little bit shorter as an elf, and one of them is significantly shorter as a gnome. It looks like they were stabbed repeatedly. So poot was killed by three stabs, and autumn Vale was killed by four.
[00:06:41] Speaker C: So more than.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: Yeah, a little bit more than probably necessary.
[00:06:46] Speaker C: Was there sign of a struggle on their part?
[00:06:48] Speaker A: You don't see struggle on autumn Vale. You do see a little bit of signs of struggle from poop. Looks like he might have survived the first stab.
[00:06:57] Speaker C: Okay, so short swords, common military issue.
[00:07:01] Speaker A: Short swords are the most common weapon around, and you have seen every person in the militia carrying one.
[00:07:08] Speaker C: Okay. However, were they killed on the same day? I guess we probably know that the.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: Bodies appear to be in about the same level of decay.
[00:07:17] Speaker C: Okay, anything else that that lovely role gave me?
[00:07:21] Speaker A: No. Okay, you're pretty sure. So far, everything you've been told sort of checks out. You can confirm that this was not a centaur, who would have been much higher up and not using a short sword.
[00:07:33] Speaker C: Right? It's not a centaur, and it wasn't an assassin, because an assassin would have been quick and clean.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Yeah. You don't get the impression that this was a professional? It is someone who apparently snuck in and got in the first hit and then kept going.
[00:07:46] Speaker C: All right, she will accompany the paladins back to the. Or whoever was it. Two paladins.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: Your grave diggers are just local farmers who are good at digging.
[00:07:56] Speaker C: She will accompany the farmers back to the graveyard to rebury these bodies, and she will re bless the graves.
[00:08:03] Speaker D: That's around, what, 08:00 that's probably about.
[00:08:05] Speaker C: The time you all are getting up.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:08:07] Speaker D: Well, I had an early morning thing that I think we just met because I'm in the graveyard.
[00:08:11] Speaker C: Oh.
[00:08:13] Speaker D: I wanted to get up a little early, grab a day's worth of rations and toss them to the father.
[00:08:18] Speaker C: Feed the father. That is a good plan.
[00:08:20] Speaker D: And then close the door. Like I'm just opening the door, tossing the rations and closing the door.
[00:08:25] Speaker A: Yeah, he throws himself at the door, but you have closed. I mean, he's tied up, and you're way stronger than him.
[00:08:32] Speaker C: As they go back to the inn, she will talk to Xeris about the autopsy that she did, and she said they were murdered a bit excessively. Not super excessively, but somebody wanted them dead, not just because of what they had.
[00:08:47] Speaker D: What types of wounds?
[00:08:48] Speaker C: Short swords. Three in poot and four in autumn.
[00:08:51] Speaker D: What weapon would the case have been for under autumn's bed?
[00:08:56] Speaker A: A broadsword.
[00:08:57] Speaker D: Turns out poot made cursed weapons, and that's why he didn't do much work.
[00:09:01] Speaker C: Oh, well, so that probably explains the nature of the objects that are missing, potentially.
[00:09:08] Speaker D: I mean, we don't know what autumn's was, but if there was a shield in putt's shop, it may have some malevolent magic on it.
[00:09:15] Speaker C: Well, I determined it was likely a human who killed both of them. It was somebody bigger than both of them, but not big enough that I would suspect a centaur. So that lines up. Putt looks like he struggled. Autumn looks like she did not.
[00:09:29] Speaker D: Should we cluck Creedon and make a plan for the centaurs?
[00:09:32] Speaker C: I think that would be wise. Creedon, wake up. Wake up, Creden.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: Creedon, as you wake up, you have a vague memory of what you were dreaming about, and it was just numerous couples on the streets of Hilock. Just hooking up on the streets of Hilock. I mean, they were meeting, there was flirtations.
[00:09:56] Speaker B: I love a good meet cute dream. That's a great dream.
[00:09:59] Speaker C: And then there was frivolous fucking right in the streets. It's a good thing there was, isn't there, to see?
Oh. Hooked up, everyone.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: Creedon will never tell about how spicy her dreams get.
[00:10:14] Speaker C: Wow. Creedon doing her job everywhere she goes.
[00:10:20] Speaker B: It doesn't mean that they happened. I might just be dreaming of actually being good at what I try to do.
[00:10:25] Speaker C: Oh, side note, completely unrelated, my mom found my old care bears, and she's totally sending them to me. It made me think of that meme the other day. So I'm getting my care bears back. My original care bears.
[00:10:37] Speaker A: Get in, losers. We're going caring.
[00:10:40] Speaker C: I'm so excited.
[00:10:48] Speaker A: It is morning. You have all had a nice sleep in the Sternheim Inn barracks. You sleep in a little bit, mostly because you were up really late doing autopsies and exploring different murder scenes. Which brings us to a dewy morning in Sternheim. There's a little chill on the air, just a little mist in the distance as you tromp out across the grass. Before you get too far from town, you can see in the distance a camp that has been set up. It appears to be mostly some lean to shelters. And you can see sort of a campfire rising, a couple campfire smokes rising in the distance. And you know that that is probably the Centaur camp.
[00:11:37] Speaker C: I could send Sadie to listen to them where they think they're unobserved.
[00:11:43] Speaker D: I'm good for starting there.
[00:11:45] Speaker B: Our main goal is just to find out why they're attacking the town. Because the town doesn't seem to understand why. But perhaps Eve's dropping can answer that for us without putting ourselves in danger.
[00:11:57] Speaker C: Are there trees around their camp?
[00:11:58] Speaker A: A few, but not many.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: There's one Zerus sized tree, one creedon sized tree, one boulain size tree.
[00:12:07] Speaker C: Boulain will send Sadie. She will say, perch in one of the trees and see if you can't hear their conversation.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: Okay, roll for Sadie. A perception check.
[00:12:19] Speaker C: Okay, that's a 17.
[00:12:22] Speaker A: Sadie lands in a tree near the camp. Clee realizes that there's no one nearby and will have to swoop in. But there are other birds in the area that are just unmolested. So there's no reason to believe that another crow will be an issue.
[00:12:37] Speaker C: Raven. Raven. She'll be very insulted if you call her a crow.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: Okay, that's true.
A very large looking corvid will not be too out of the ordinary. Conversation is in the common tongue for the most part. Occasionally, the sylvan tongue, the language of fairies, does come up, because centaurs are a fairy race in this setting. There's some baby cults.
[00:13:02] Speaker C: Are they all floppy headed like in the drawing? The oatmeal?
[00:13:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, they are.
They have horse strength on the bottom, but people strength on the top as they grow up. So their human grippers are real strong. Sadie hears conversations like, will the humans come again today? If they do, we'll be ready. Go ahead and practice your stabbing with your spears. You see the little horses with little sticks? They are getting ready for war. They are expecting an assault at any moment.
[00:13:32] Speaker C: But they're expecting an assault from the humans.
[00:13:35] Speaker B: They are interesting.
[00:13:37] Speaker C: All right. Belaine will put her head on one side. And she says they seem to be under the impression that the humans are attacking them.
[00:13:46] Speaker D: And here we are.
[00:13:48] Speaker C: We are not here to attack them.
[00:13:50] Speaker B: Maybe it would behoove us to watch and see what happens if they are attacked. Yeah, but. And see what faction, which humans might.
[00:14:00] Speaker C: Be doing it or who might be deceiving. Both of them.
[00:14:05] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm fine for camping.
[00:14:07] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: We'll probably have to be careful because I do imagine they have some patrols.
[00:14:11] Speaker C: Is there any cover, Nate, where we could set up a camp?
[00:14:14] Speaker A: Very tall prairie grasses and occasional trees are out here, so you can find lots of places to lie low. Not a lot of places to lay high, though.
[00:14:24] Speaker C: I would suggest we do that. We lie low and let Sadie continue to eavesdrop on them.
[00:14:29] Speaker D: Easy enough.
[00:14:30] Speaker A: How long are you planning on doing this? Until you learn something interesting.
[00:14:34] Speaker C: We need to see if somebody comes and goes or if something attacks them or if they move on the town.
[00:14:41] Speaker B: Creedon would probably get incredibly bored and begin complaining after about 4 hours.
[00:14:45] Speaker C: 4 hours or four minutes?
[00:14:49] Speaker B: 4 hours is the maximum at the point which would become unbearable. The complaining would start within five minutes, but it'd only be occasional for a little bit. It's exponential.
[00:14:58] Speaker D: It's remarkably restrained.
[00:15:00] Speaker A: Roll me an insight roll for Sadie.
[00:15:03] Speaker C: Oh, that's not great. Nine.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: There are patrols. They seem to be doing circles out from the main camp. 4 hours go by.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: Oh, I can't do this anymore.
[00:15:17] Speaker D: It's what, noon?
[00:15:18] Speaker B: Yeah, a snail tried to crawl on me a few minutes ago. I feel like we're becoming one with the earth here. I can't do it.
[00:15:27] Speaker D: Can we have Sadie do a larger circle to see if there's anything else interesting in this area? Billing.
[00:15:35] Speaker C: Sure. This nice sunny day, Brulain thinks as much to Sadie.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: Investigate, please.
[00:15:45] Speaker C: That's better. 19.
[00:15:47] Speaker A: Yeah. So Sadie does some circles and discovers that behind the centaur camp, near where the thorns are, there's a little cave. And the centaurs appear to have a group of two centaur guards posted at this cave. In front of the cave is a little statue of. Looks like a human warrior of some kind. It has sort of like the stone sword and shield in hand and looks old.
[00:16:13] Speaker C: Is it something that I recognize?
[00:16:16] Speaker A: Roll me history.
[00:16:18] Speaker C: Eleven.
[00:16:19] Speaker A: No.
[00:16:20] Speaker C: Okay. Lin says they are guarding a cave near the thorns.
There's a statue of a human warrior. I do not recognize the statue.
[00:16:33] Speaker D: Do you think that's where the mayor is?
[00:16:36] Speaker C: I think that would probably be a good guess. Perhaps we could circle around and go explore this cave.
[00:16:42] Speaker D: How does the path to it look.
[00:16:44] Speaker A: I mean, mostly clear after 4 hours. You have a real sense of these patrols. You could probably get there with a relatively low dc.
[00:16:51] Speaker D: I'm up for trying and exploring that to see if it'll get creed and stop complaining.
[00:17:01] Speaker A: Three stealth rolls, please. One from each.
[00:17:03] Speaker B: Oh, boy. If only I could disguise myself as a scientar, but I can't add that much.
[00:17:08] Speaker C: But I rolled a one.
[00:17:11] Speaker B: I rolled a two. Yay.
[00:17:14] Speaker C: Great.
[00:17:15] Speaker B: I should have tried to disguise myself.
[00:17:17] Speaker C: As a sin, but falls asleep and she stumbles into Boulain, who just falls on her face, flattening all this prairie grass.
[00:17:25] Speaker D: I've rolled a 17 for what it matters.
[00:17:27] Speaker A: Okay, so the good news is the least stealthy person here is actually the most stealthy. At this moment, you are tromping along in unexpected patrol. It is not at the time that you thought it was going to be starts heading in your direction. They are much taller than you in this tall grass because they are centaurs. Boulain, you spot them multulate as you look up over the grass. You are making direct eye contact with one of them, who's about 80ft away from you.
[00:18:01] Speaker C: Delane mutters and a curse under her breath.
[00:18:03] Speaker B: And Elvish, we running or fighting with that?
[00:18:06] Speaker A: There is the noise of horse galloping towards you. Two centaurs are headed towards you. They have spears and bows. Right now they have the bow strung across their back and the spears in hand.
[00:18:19] Speaker B: Oh, good. No, it's those bloodthirsty centaurs that keep attacking our town.
I'm hoping that the misunderstanding could show up.
[00:18:37] Speaker A: Roll me a persuasion roll.
[00:18:39] Speaker B: Oh, I didn't even think you'd let me roll for that one. That is a 21.
[00:18:44] Speaker A: They actually draw up sharp as they are approaching you. Like Bolaine, you thought you were in serious danger of being stabbed.
[00:18:52] Speaker C: I think Boulain tried to hold up her hands to be like, hey, we're not armed. And they got closer and closer and her eyes got wider and wider. So when they finally stop, she's like, nosed a belly button with one of these centaurs.
[00:19:07] Speaker A: One of the centaurs says, you are not the ones who have been attacking us. Why are you here?
[00:19:15] Speaker C: Well, we have some questions.
[00:19:17] Speaker A: We do not answer questions.
[00:19:20] Speaker C: All right, how about a statement? The town is under the impression that you are attacking them unprovoked.
[00:19:28] Speaker A: Roll me a persuasion roll.
[00:19:33] Speaker C: That's a 13.
[00:19:36] Speaker B: Can I help with this?
[00:19:39] Speaker A: How do you help?
[00:19:40] Speaker B: I speak up and I say, yes, it's true. They say that you've been attacking us and we just wanted to come and find out why. I suppose ambassadors, we mean no harm.
[00:19:53] Speaker A: Blaine, you know, have advantage from the assist. Go ahead and roll again.
[00:19:57] Speaker C: Oh, that's better. That's a 15.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: A little better.
[00:20:02] Speaker A: You see a noticeable look of concern come over both of their faces, and one of them says, that is not true. That is not true at all.
Who is telling them this?
[00:20:14] Speaker C: They all just seem to be under the impression that this is what is happening. They all have a story about you all coming into town and attacking people for no reason.
[00:20:26] Speaker A: The other Centaur says it's that mayor. He is spreading these lies.
[00:20:32] Speaker C: He is missing again. You all are suspected, but I think you can understand why.
[00:20:37] Speaker A: He has wandered into a cave. We cannot follow him and has not come back yet.
[00:20:42] Speaker C: Why can you not go into the cave?
[00:20:44] Speaker A: We are horses.
[00:20:46] Speaker B: Well, understood.
[00:20:48] Speaker C: Well, we are not horses, so we could go into this cave.
[00:20:52] Speaker B: What is your relationship with the mare?
Has he been antagonistic to you?
[00:20:59] Speaker A: The truth is hard to know. We were not there when hostilities started. Wait here. I will fetch our shaman to speak with you.
[00:21:09] Speaker C: All right.
In the meantime, Boulain will call Sadie back to her.
[00:21:15] Speaker D: So we're just standing in the woods alone?
[00:21:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Them just leaving us alone is a pretty wild move, but we'll take it.
[00:21:22] Speaker A: One of them turns and begins galloping away. The other one actually gets to about a nice, safe 40 foot distance and is just waiting.
[00:21:30] Speaker B: Well, that went okay.
[00:21:32] Speaker D: Do you think they only have one shaman?
[00:21:35] Speaker C: I have no idea.
[00:21:36] Speaker D: One elder.
[00:21:37] Speaker C: Is it normal for communities of centaurs to have one shaman apiece?
[00:21:42] Speaker A: Roll history. I'll try this one.
[00:21:45] Speaker C: That's pretty good. 1616 less.
[00:21:51] Speaker D: Twelve.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: Two of you did roll sufficiently to know something. Xeris, you only know that centaurs are nomadic and their leadership structure is confusing.
There is at any one time appointed for life Shaman and an appointed for life war chief. One of them is the spiritual leader and the diplomat. That's the shaman. And the other one is there for times of war and hunting, and that is the war chief. They are usually the oldest members of the herd.
[00:22:21] Speaker C: My understanding of centaur political structure is there would be only one shaman.
[00:22:27] Speaker D: So I'm just going to put it out there. It's a strong tactical advantage if just the shaman and that other guy come back.
[00:22:36] Speaker C: Zuris.
[00:22:37] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh.
[00:22:38] Speaker C: If we can get through a day without killing people who do not need to be killed, that would be lovely.
[00:22:44] Speaker D: These Faye creatures mean nothing to me.
But if they can help me find the mayor, then we're going to do that first. I'm simply saying the Faye creatures do.
[00:22:55] Speaker C: Not mean nothing to me.
[00:22:56] Speaker B: Their existence is legal, I believe, and valid. And it sounds like perhaps they are not the ones actually causing problems. There appears to be a big misunderstanding.
[00:23:09] Speaker D: But would they be a problem if they weren't in these woods?
[00:23:13] Speaker B: What are they guilty of?
[00:23:14] Speaker D: I'm simply pointing out a tactical advantage. I see. That's all I intended to do.
[00:23:21] Speaker C: I strongly suspect we have no reason to attack these centaurs.
[00:23:26] Speaker D: I'm going to guess that, too.
[00:23:27] Speaker C: Nate, what is Astragar's attitude on Faye creatures in this world?
[00:23:33] Speaker A: The Faye creatures are just like everybody else. They're normal citizens of the kingdom, but they are required to convert to the gods that are active on this side of the world.
[00:23:43] Speaker C: Gotcha.
[00:23:44] Speaker A: The church acknowledges that there are two gods in the Fay realm for Faye creatures, but they are not allowed to be worshipped here.
[00:23:51] Speaker C: Okay. As far as we know, they have committed no crimes.
[00:23:55] Speaker D: They don't seem all that civilized.
[00:23:58] Speaker C: What are you calling civilized? They have organization. They have structure. They move around a lot.
They are not your version of civilized. But there is more than one version of that.
[00:24:13] Speaker B: Is there a military version of human resources that I can report zeros to?
[00:24:19] Speaker A: Well, I believe that would be Tanglebeard, whose cousin is currently in prison because of us.
[00:24:29] Speaker D: The mission is the mayor. We will start things.
[00:24:32] Speaker C: I mean, you have a habit of attacking before you ask any questions. I would call that pretty uncivilized.
[00:24:39] Speaker D: I just asked a question. You answered it.
[00:24:42] Speaker C: I'm just saying your version of civilized is very different than some other people's versions of civilized.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: Three centaurs are visible, galloping back in this direction. They meet the fourth one, who has been standing here waiting, and the four of them very cautiously approach. They get within about 10ft or so.
[00:25:04] Speaker C: What are your names, if I may ask?
[00:25:07] Speaker A: You may not yet ask our names.
[00:25:10] Speaker C: I withdraw the question.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: You still hold to the fairy traditions of not offering names to those we do not yet trust.
[00:25:19] Speaker C: I understand.
[00:25:20] Speaker A: One of them steps forward and says, I am the shaman of this tribe. The newly appointed spiritual leader.
Those of you who rolled a 16 know that shamans of these tribes usually have a horse hair bracer. This one does not.
So they are missing their symbol of office.
[00:25:44] Speaker C: Boo. Length has newly appointed. What happened to the previous shaman?
Murdered by humans.
[00:25:52] Speaker A: You believe they are the only ones in this area who fight with axes? To my knowledge.
[00:26:00] Speaker D: So the previous shaman and anyone else?
[00:26:05] Speaker A: Yes. The warlord was also killed.
[00:26:08] Speaker D: Not surprised.
[00:26:10] Speaker A: As well as his son, the next in line for the position of warlord.
[00:26:16] Speaker C: Were these three among many deaths or were they single?
[00:26:20] Speaker A: These are the three deaths that we have to date.
Two of them died very early. They disappeared one day while trying to trade with the humans. As we were debating what to do next, someone assassinated the warlord's son.
[00:26:35] Speaker D: Let's talk for a minute.
What happened when another trio of individuals came to talk with you some month or so back?
[00:26:48] Speaker A: Yes, I remember them. Unfortunately, there was no shaman for them to discuss with.
They spoke only with the son of the war chief.
[00:26:59] Speaker D: The one who's now dead?
[00:27:00] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:27:01] Speaker D: Did any resolution or changes happen after that conversation?
[00:27:06] Speaker A: No. They came, they talked, they left. The next day, we found the warchief's body outside of camp. Alone, dead.
[00:27:14] Speaker D: And that's when hostilities resumed?
[00:27:17] Speaker A: No. Then we fled. But after appointing a new war chief. This war chief is of the opinion that there is a leader in this town who is responsible for the deaths of our tribe members.
We have returned to try to seek justice.
[00:27:36] Speaker C: Can I roll inspite on this, dude?
[00:27:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:41] Speaker C: No, that's an eight.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: Yes. Talking to a horse man.
[00:27:46] Speaker C: Your comrades here have said that the mayor, who they are reporting is missing, has gone into this cave that you cannot go into.
[00:27:58] Speaker A: She nods.
He was seen entering the cave as we returned.
We are waiting for him to come back, but several humans have made an attempt to perhaps rescue him.
We have seen them shooting at us at a distance.
[00:28:17] Speaker D: Well, we would like to go into that cave and retrieve him and figure out who has what I assume is actually, what. Five bodies on their hands.
[00:28:28] Speaker C: Five that we know of, yes. Two humans, three centaurs.
[00:28:32] Speaker D: Well, a gnome, I believe. An owl.
[00:28:37] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
Two humanoids, three centaurs.
[00:28:41] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:28:43] Speaker A: The village has had two deaths as well, you say?
[00:28:45] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:28:47] Speaker C: The blacksmith and the apothecary were both murdered with short swords.
[00:28:52] Speaker A: Our people do not use short swords.
[00:28:55] Speaker C: We know. We had no suspicion that you were responsible for their murders.
[00:29:01] Speaker A: I appreciate that.
All right. I need a persuasion role with advantage from one person who is taking the lead on this.
[00:29:11] Speaker C: I get a four on persuasion.
[00:29:13] Speaker D: Go ahead.
[00:29:13] Speaker B: I get a six. Although I have not been speaking as much. But I was about to pipe up and say that our aim is to cease the hostilities between the human and centaur communities and get to the bottom of what actually started this disagreement. Because there is clearly something being concealed. A conspiracy.
[00:29:42] Speaker A: Take it anyway.
[00:29:43] Speaker C: Could I do it?
[00:29:44] Speaker A: Yes. Give us the rule.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: It's going to be a 23.
[00:29:47] Speaker A: Jeez. Okay. The person standing next to this shaman steps forward and says, I am Niha. I am the new war chief.
[00:29:58] Speaker B: I am Creedon.
[00:29:59] Speaker A: Thank you, Creedon.
[00:30:00] Speaker C: Say it. Say it. The warlock of love.
[00:30:05] Speaker B: I am Creedon, an emissary of divine mercy.
[00:30:10] Speaker A: Divine mercy is always welcome in our tribe.
[00:30:13] Speaker C: I am Boulain. I am a priest of the silent judge.
[00:30:18] Speaker A: The shaman here is Athalos.
[00:30:21] Speaker D: I'm Zirus.
[00:30:26] Speaker A: Now that we are acquainted, I believe we can trust these individuals. And the shaman says it is true we've never seen them before.
They have done us no wrong. And Nia says. All right, follow me. I will walk you to this cave entrance and get you past our guards.
[00:30:47] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:30:48] Speaker A: We would like to arrest this man when he emerges from the cave.
If you can ascertain his guilt or innocence, it would please the tribe.
[00:31:02] Speaker B: That is what we intend to do. Why exactly do you believe that he's the one responsible? Do you have any evidence?
[00:31:10] Speaker A: Even if it's circumstantial, the ones who attack us wear armor, like those who guard the city.
But they are not the guards of the city.
[00:31:21] Speaker C: How do you know?
[00:31:22] Speaker A: They are? Farmers, as best as we can tell. From around the area. Hired hands.
Someone must be funding them. Equipping.
[00:31:32] Speaker D: What is their number?
[00:31:34] Speaker A: We're not positive. We generally don't see them in groups of more than six. I remember at least dozen.
[00:31:42] Speaker C: When we first passed through Sternheim, there were those farmers that were waiting outside of town. Do you remember that?
[00:31:49] Speaker B: Yes. They were looking out for centaurs.
[00:31:51] Speaker C: They were looking out for centaurs? Yeah. And they didn't truck with us because we weren't centaurs. But I think Boulain frowns and says, why would he send farmers to attack centaurs when he has a military force at his disposal?
[00:32:09] Speaker D: Bodies are good for creating conflict.
[00:32:12] Speaker B: It's also possible that the farmers want access to the land and are agreeing to do this willingly, but don't want to be held accountable or easily found.
[00:32:24] Speaker C: Or they are being coerced.
[00:32:26] Speaker A: Unfortunately, we know very little.
All of those who are in the know have been killed.
[00:32:34] Speaker C: Ulain says, niha, it would help things considerably if there was no conflict while we are in the cave. Could we prevail upon you to just run away? If the humans show themselves, we will.
[00:32:51] Speaker A: Take this under advisement. But battle is battle.
[00:32:57] Speaker C: I understand, but the less this escalates, the easier it will be to resolve, since clearly there is some force playing your side against theirs needlessly.
[00:33:11] Speaker A: I cannot promise you that. If they attack us, we will simply stand down. But I can promise you, we will avoid them.
[00:33:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I feel like that request may need a little more trust than we've earned yet.
[00:33:28] Speaker A: If another of my kind is injured, choices will be limited.
[00:33:34] Speaker C: I understand.
[00:33:36] Speaker D: I completely understand.
[00:33:43] Speaker A: Follow me, please.
We follow them and the warlord says, lead on, men. And the horses sort of charge ahead of you with their backs to you. They seem to be treating you as guests thanks to your rather high persuasion role and not as hostiles.
[00:34:00] Speaker C: Great.
[00:34:02] Speaker B: Love that for us, prison is no fun.
[00:34:06] Speaker A: You arrive at a cave. The centaurs have arrived ahead of you and are explaining the situation to their Centaur guard brethren. So when you arrive, they give you suspicious looks, these people who have not been talking to you, but they nod their heads and step out of the way, revealing this somewhat hidden cave entrance sort of built into the side of this overhang. So you can see the side of this, not quite a cliff because it only goes up about six, 7ft. But there's a cave that a horse would definitely struggle to. Certainly a centaur would not be able to stand upright in any way, shape or form. To get in here, a human would probably have to crouch. And at the front of this cave is this statue, which has a sword and a shield in its hand. Xeris, your passive investigation is high enough that you can notice that the statue is quite weathered. The sword and the shield is not.
[00:35:02] Speaker D: Is this about the same size as the blank we saw in the blacksmith?
[00:35:06] Speaker A: Yes, it is.
[00:35:09] Speaker B: Well, now we know for sure that the mare did indeed visit the apothecary and the blacksmith.
[00:35:15] Speaker C: These are likely the stolen objects that we. Yes, or the things that we realize were missing. Okay.
[00:35:23] Speaker B: Yes. The shield was in the blacksmith's house and the sword was in the. Was under the bed.
[00:35:31] Speaker C: Elaine says, I'm curious why.
I mean, the blacksmith became known for making cursed items, so that would explain why he would have shield, a suspect Shield. Why would the apothecary have the sword?
[00:35:48] Speaker B: I believe that the answer to that is why they are no longer here.
[00:35:51] Speaker D: I'm going to look past the statue for a door.
More specifically, I'm going to look for.
[00:35:57] Speaker A: An open door, gazing into this cave. It's not a very deep cave. It only goes back a little ways, but it drops down a little bit. And you realize that no centaur is going to get in here without breaking a leg. But at the bottom of the drop down there is a door and the door is currently open.
[00:36:14] Speaker D: I think those two items are keys to this door.
Does it look like the kind of door that would be heavy and open with a mechanism?
[00:36:22] Speaker A: Yes, it does.
[00:36:24] Speaker C: I mean, is this cave oriented such that going into it and then going through that door would take us towards the thorns.
[00:36:30] Speaker A: Yes, it would.
[00:36:32] Speaker C: Boulain looked at the statue and says, is there any reason we should not just remove the sword and shield and close the door?
[00:36:39] Speaker A: We need to find the we self.
[00:36:44] Speaker D: I was going to suggest as well that maybe the answer is to remove the sword and shield and break them. Say, the mayor won't be returning, so it won't be your problem anymore.
[00:36:55] Speaker B: But we don't know for sure that the mayor is guilty necessarily.
[00:37:01] Speaker C: She has a point.
[00:37:02] Speaker D: There is a preponderance of evidence.
So the mayor is the only person we have established had access to these two items post mortem of two villagers.
[00:37:18] Speaker C: He does seem very suspect, but we cannot know for sure.
And healing the relationship between the centaurs and Sternheim is going to take some more certainty than what we have.
[00:37:34] Speaker B: Besides, there might be another exit to this cave. That's reasonably normal. That ceiling. It does not mean that justice has been dealt necessarily.
[00:37:43] Speaker D: The other side of this cave seems to be on the other side of the thorns, is my guess.
But I am happy, which, frankly, makes.
[00:37:53] Speaker C: Me a bit curious to take a.
[00:37:55] Speaker D: Step in and see where it leads.
[00:37:58] Speaker C: All right. She looks at Nihan, says, we will go into the cave and see what we can find.
[00:38:04] Speaker A: Very well. We will stay here.
[00:38:07] Speaker D: I search for traps.
[00:38:10] Speaker C: Okay, good call for checking for traps, right?
[00:38:15] Speaker D: Woof. That's in that.
[00:38:17] Speaker A: Help.
[00:38:17] Speaker C: I will help. I will look because I have dark vision. I can see very well. I can help you look for traps.
[00:38:23] Speaker B: Creed. And just standing there going, why didn't.
[00:38:25] Speaker A: I learn light Zerus that you step in, take a looks around, and you immediately begin to hear this echo coming down the hallway. It is a song. Roll me a saving throw, please.
[00:38:42] Speaker D: Which form of saving throw would you like? Or just any. My choice. Dealership.
[00:38:46] Speaker C: Wait, did he not get to roll that again?
[00:38:49] Speaker A: No.
[00:38:52] Speaker B: Wait. Why would he get to roll?
[00:38:54] Speaker C: Because I helped him.
[00:38:54] Speaker D: She's trying to post facts.
[00:38:56] Speaker A: Help me.
[00:38:57] Speaker C: No, I said help before you. Oh, well, okay.
[00:39:00] Speaker A: No, you said help after he rolled that one.
[00:39:02] Speaker B: Unfortunately.
[00:39:03] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:39:04] Speaker A: There is a thing here that is not a trap. Well, not a physical trap. This is a wisdom saving throw.
[00:39:10] Speaker D: Technically not a trap.
My wisdom saving throw is going to be a nine.
[00:39:17] Speaker A: Yeah. There's a beautiful song just rolling softly through this cave, echoing down, and you realize that there's nothing dangerous here. There is actually a beautiful singer on the other side of this cave, and perhaps you'd like to meet them.
[00:39:32] Speaker D: Great. I'm going to keep this information to myself and more quickly than I should be.
Start heading that direction.
[00:39:41] Speaker B: I'm going to touch Boulain, I guess because I see Boulain kind of looking around as well and give guidance.
[00:39:48] Speaker C: Excellent. Thank you.
[00:39:50] Speaker B: You got a minute?
[00:39:51] Speaker C: Boulain will look in through this doorway and she has dark vision, so she should be able to see 60ft.
[00:39:58] Speaker A: Yes. You can see Xeris walking down the tunnel away from you.
[00:40:03] Speaker B: Does Xeris have dark vision?
[00:40:05] Speaker D: No.
[00:40:06] Speaker B: Did you light a torch then?
[00:40:08] Speaker D: I don't think I have yet.
[00:40:09] Speaker A: Okay, you can see Xeris stumbling with one hand on a stone wall. So this is worked stone. This is some sort of escape tunnel? You would from some sort of castle, maybe.
[00:40:26] Speaker B: Zerus, you have all my torches.
Where are you going?
[00:40:29] Speaker C: Xeris, light a torch.
[00:40:32] Speaker D: That's a good idea, actually. I will. I'll light a torch.
[00:40:35] Speaker A: Okay, you take a second. Light a torch, maybe.
[00:40:38] Speaker C: Wait a moment.
[00:40:40] Speaker D: Why would I wait? There's no danger. It's fine.
[00:40:43] Speaker B: Creedon will jog up behind him once he lights the torch. Just because she likes being where she can see.
[00:40:48] Speaker A: Creighton, I need a wisdom saving throw. As you get into the cave, there's this beautiful, haunting, echoey song, maybe almost like an opera song.
[00:40:57] Speaker B: All right, how does a tin sound to you?
[00:41:01] Speaker A: You know, it occurs to you that it'd be really great to meet whoever is singing this song. They're probably a really awesome person.
[00:41:09] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:41:10] Speaker C: Can I tell that they're hearing something?
[00:41:15] Speaker A: Roll me. Insight.
[00:41:21] Speaker C: Eleven.
[00:41:22] Speaker D: That's okay, because I'm actively hiding this fact. My deception is a seven.
[00:41:29] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, I mean, they're cracking their head. They see something, villain will think for.
[00:41:35] Speaker C: A moment before she steps in and then she will go. Is it reasonable to assume she'd have some wax, like ceiling wax for letter writing?
[00:41:42] Speaker A: You can put something in your ears.
[00:41:45] Speaker C: She is going to plug her ears before she speaks in.
[00:41:48] Speaker B: Oh, does my concentration endwin? Charmed? Probably.
No. Okay, so you still have your guidance for the minute. I don't know if that's passed.
[00:41:57] Speaker A: Resistance is the one you'll need for saving throws. Guidance is for skills. But you can roll me an advantaged wisdom saving throw.
[00:42:10] Speaker B: Uhoh.
Let's all go to siren song.
[00:42:15] Speaker C: And a three.
Great.
[00:42:18] Speaker A: Yeah. As you step into the cave, you're like, yeah, I got this, actually. That is really beautiful.
[00:42:23] Speaker B: What a box.
[00:42:24] Speaker A: Why is there wax in my.
[00:42:25] Speaker C: Wax out of my ears?
[00:42:27] Speaker A: Yeah, like you want to hear it more. Oh, my God, this person must be really talented.
[00:42:33] Speaker D: Off we go.
[00:42:34] Speaker C: We're hosed.
[00:42:35] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:42:35] Speaker C: All right.
[00:42:36] Speaker B: I haven't been to a concert in ages.
[00:42:41] Speaker A: So, yeah, you wander in and just sort of slowly arrive at the end of this is an opening. And when you step in, you see something fascinating. So it's as if someone picked up a castle and dropped it.
So this opens just into an opening, and then there's just stone rubble everywhere, with half standing stone walls kind of forming a mostly circle around you. And you can see the thorns wrapping up around the edge of this stonework, but have not sort of come down into this bowl that is being formed here. And while most of the masonry is just rubble in all directions, there is a gigantic dragon skeleton just lying sort of discarded in the middle of this rubble. It fell on top of it, maybe.
[00:43:44] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:43:46] Speaker A: Jutting out of the middle of this thing is one bit of, like, left standing chunk of building masonry. And sitting on top of it are two winged women with sort of bird clawed feet and hands, and one of them is singing a beautiful song.
It's time for the midroll, aka your DND tip. Today's topic, types of storywriting. So imagine, if you will, a four quadrant box, one of those rectangles that's been split twice to make four smaller rectangles. The middle vertical line is labeled railroad versus sandbox. The middle horizontal line is labeled character driven versus plot. I personally recommend having a philosophy, a position, a stance on this rectangle when you write your DND story. A railroad is a game on rails, which is all a metaphor for no matter what the players or characters do, you are going to arrive where the dungeon master wants to go on the other end. With sandbox, the world exists and you are only going to go where the players want to go. There is no dungeon master pushing an agenda. The extremes of both end require a special kind of agreement because nobody wants to be deprived of all choices in a railroad, and very few people want to fight out what a plot is with four other people lacking all direction from a dungeon master, the middle ground is best. But know which side of the dividing line you're on. Are you more sandbox where the players drive? Or are you more railroad where the paths are somewhat determined and you will take actions to get people back onto those paths? The other line we discuss has plot on one side and characters on the other. Plot, in this case, is the story the dungeon master has in mind, and characters is the story you create based entirely on what the players bring to the table. Again, the extremes are tricky to manage because if players bring nothing to the table, well, that's a boring table, and if all of the plot is just what your players offered, then there's no larger, coherent story at work to provide a sense of accomplishment. Again, the middle is best, but you should know which side of the dividing line you're on. If a character has a backstory that directly contradicts with the events of plot history, do you modify the character's story, or do you modify the plot you wrote? If your characters decide that they're not motivated to solve your plot, but instead want to join the big bad and end the world, do you let them make their choices and see where it goes, or do you get them back on track for a great ending? Railroads and plot oriented dms have climactic battles, exciting endings. It's a fun show when everybody's on board with that style. Sandbox dms and character driven plots are intensely rewarding at moments when characters make personal decisions. But the ending, frankly, may just not even happen. Your characters might settle down and run a store, train other heroes to go fight bad guys. Who knows what they'll do? I sure don't. Carrots and suffering the Fenbir story was just to the sandbox side of the line and just to the character plot driven side of the line. We had whole episodes where characters went on dates and they wrote the ending. Not me. I didn't even know where we were going at the end of that story. Carrots and suffering Astragar is just to the sandbox side of the line. Players still have quite a bit of choice, but it's also just to the plot side of the line. I have a stronger sense of where we're going and how we'll get there. As the DM, no quadrant is wrong. In this model, you know what side you're on and try to be consistent. And as a player, if you don't like the quadrant you're in, here's your vocabulary for a mature conversation about the next game you want to play in. Okay, let's get to the game.
[00:47:44] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I want to get to know them. This is awesome.
[00:47:47] Speaker C: Are we still in the cave? Like, this isn't open to the sky.
[00:47:51] Speaker A: No, it's open to the sky once you get out of this.
[00:47:53] Speaker C: Oh, it is open to the sky. Okay, so we're outside again.
[00:47:58] Speaker D: Sounds like we're in, like, a sinkhole.
[00:47:59] Speaker A: You are kind of in a big crater. Think of it more like a crater. Like someone picked up a castle and then dropped it.
[00:48:07] Speaker B: Just like that? Yeah, just like that.
[00:48:10] Speaker C: It looks like the last dropped castle.
[00:48:12] Speaker B: I came across how long did we walk to get to where we are now?
[00:48:19] Speaker A: Oh, man, that's the thing about that song. I mean, it really is.
[00:48:23] Speaker B: I have no idea.
[00:48:24] Speaker A: You lost time. It's just so beautiful.
[00:48:29] Speaker C: Is there any sign of the mayor?
[00:48:32] Speaker A: Like, none.
[00:48:33] Speaker C: Footsteps, any footprints, anything?
[00:48:35] Speaker A: You can roll, but roll at disadvantage. An inspection roll.
[00:48:41] Speaker B: How could you focus on anything else?
[00:48:43] Speaker A: Investigation.
[00:48:43] Speaker C: That's a nine.
[00:48:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Gosh, man, that song is so good. Why would you look at the ground?
[00:48:49] Speaker D: I'm going to guess that Xeris's disgust of creatures of this sort does not give me the ability to save again, not immediately.
[00:49:03] Speaker C: Do we know what these are? What would we roll to know what these are?
[00:49:06] Speaker A: A nature roll would be appropriate.
[00:49:09] Speaker C: Okay. Still a disadvantage.
[00:49:12] Speaker A: Yes, well, that's a 213. A 13. Yeah, the word harpy comes to you. You know, there's a fairy called a harpy, and they are good singers, and, you know, they like to collect trinkets.
[00:49:30] Speaker D: So I'm going to work my way up to them.
[00:49:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm right behind zeros.
[00:49:37] Speaker A: One of them hops down and says, oh, you hear us singing the song of my sister?
[00:49:45] Speaker D: I do.
[00:49:46] Speaker A: You are not as strong willed as the ones who came before you.
Tell me, do you have a gift in exchange for our song?
[00:49:59] Speaker D: Sure, I will pull out the.
Oh, no, that's right, I don't have it. I left it in the smelter.
[00:50:06] Speaker B: Would I want to pull out the nicest thing?
[00:50:08] Speaker A: I have the best song you have ever heard, sung by. Perhaps your best friend in the world has asked you for a gift.
[00:50:17] Speaker B: All right, well, I pull out that beautiful golden jimmed bird statue, worth a thousand gold, and offer it to them.
[00:50:26] Speaker A: Oh, it's beautiful.
You are so sweet. Oh, a gift for such a beautiful song. This for sure covers your gratitude.
We will cherish this forever.
Now tell me, friends, what brings you to such a secluded place?
[00:50:50] Speaker B: We're looking for a man. Have you seen one come through here?
[00:50:55] Speaker A: Yes, he was disagreeable.
[00:51:01] Speaker D: I'm not surprised.
[00:51:03] Speaker A: He did not like our songs. He did not wish to leave a gift. He simply threatened us.
Like some sort of uncivilized barbarian.
[00:51:20] Speaker C: Funny you should say that. We were just talking about.
[00:51:25] Speaker A: And then he climbed down the chamber hole.
[00:51:28] Speaker C: The chamber hole?
[00:51:30] Speaker A: Yes, right there at the top of that bit of building, there is a hole that we use as a chamber pot.
[00:51:39] Speaker B: Did he say what he was going to do?
[00:51:43] Speaker A: He would not speak with us.
He found our beauty repulsive.
[00:51:50] Speaker D: He said, you are repulsive in a beautiful way.
[00:51:56] Speaker B: He was so rude. You are both queens thank you.
[00:52:03] Speaker A: It's so difficult to find people who appreciate true beauty. Interesting that you chose to come through the back door. Will you also be going down the chamber hole?
[00:52:15] Speaker D: If you'll let us.
[00:52:16] Speaker C: Where is the front door?
[00:52:18] Speaker A: Well, the front door is what happens when you have wings, silly.
You fly in and land. But no one's been through this door in decades. Except for that one man who was here a few days ago.
[00:52:31] Speaker B: I mean, I think I would maybe rather hang out here and listen to your song than go down the chamber pot.
[00:52:39] Speaker D: Isn't that what prestigation is for?
[00:52:43] Speaker B: Yeah, but I have to cast a lottle. Get kind of tired.
Got to take care of my skin. I get so dehydrated when I cast president too many times.
Yes, but it still takes its toll.
[00:52:56] Speaker A: Everybody, roll me a new wisdom saving throw.
[00:53:01] Speaker B: Oh, but 20 non net 1330.
[00:53:05] Speaker D: So, one.
[00:53:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Zeros. I mean, you'd like to go down the crap hole, but it really occurs to you that the song is really compelling.
Boulain Creighton, the song sort of. You're still hearing it, it's still pretty, but it's no longer drawing your attention. And you're kind of wondering, why did you give this creature such a expensive item?
[00:53:34] Speaker D: I. Sit down.
[00:53:35] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I think I kind of know what effects of charm are like a little bit, but I don't think I'm going to push the issue, although I'm very upset.
[00:53:45] Speaker D: Just listening. Absorbing the ambiance of the crater, Oolane.
[00:53:52] Speaker C: Puts one hand on his back and the other hand. She touches the raven tattoo and she whispers in his ear the spell for protection from good and evil.
[00:54:01] Speaker A: As you cast a spell, these two creatures are just watching you.
They will both sort of flap along and land on the dragon skeleton. Now, putting them probably 15ft off the ground.
[00:54:15] Speaker C: He has advantage on his next saving throw.
[00:54:17] Speaker A: Zerus, roll a new saving throw with advantage.
[00:54:19] Speaker D: I would love to.
Thought you'd know.
[00:54:23] Speaker B: I'm guessing that they took my sweet bird statue up there with them.
[00:54:27] Speaker A: They did, yeah. Wow.
[00:54:29] Speaker D: That new role is a 19.
[00:54:31] Speaker C: It's okay. We're about to have a fight.
[00:54:33] Speaker A: You are not charmed anymore. They actually seem to stop singing as well as they see you. Probably stand up.
[00:54:41] Speaker D: That's a lovely question. I don't know if I'm standing up yet and getting all frisky quite yet.
[00:54:47] Speaker B: He's not. What is this hesitation?
[00:54:50] Speaker D: There's no hesitation. I just need to understand something first.
[00:54:54] Speaker B: Crayden's very angry about her.
[00:54:56] Speaker C: You could ask for it back her.
[00:54:58] Speaker B: Stuff, but I don't think that'll work.
[00:55:00] Speaker D: High jump.
[00:55:01] Speaker B: That's true. High jump.
[00:55:04] Speaker D: A number of feet equal to three plus your strength modifier. So that's 21. Yeah. Okay, cool. So we're just going to do it right away.
As soon as I'm out and I can see these creatures for what they are, I'm going to take a full action movement and make a high jump to get into combat with them. Okay.
[00:55:29] Speaker A: Go ahead and give me an athletics role.
[00:55:31] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:55:31] Speaker D: So I'm raging.
[00:55:33] Speaker A: We know how rare. Go ahead and take advantage.
[00:55:37] Speaker D: So rare.
[00:55:42] Speaker B: They took my bird.
[00:55:43] Speaker D: We did get a 14 on the advantage roll.
[00:55:47] Speaker A: All right, let me double check the height you can come up with here.
[00:55:53] Speaker D: It says three plus your strength. It says strength modifier.
Strength modifier. So that's only 7ft. Never mind.
[00:56:02] Speaker A: I thought you're 6ft tall.
[00:56:04] Speaker D: Oh, yeah.
[00:56:05] Speaker A: And then you get a bonus for jumping.
[00:56:09] Speaker B: Do you think you could just add your strength score?
[00:56:11] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:56:12] Speaker B: And jump 20ft. That's a lot.
[00:56:14] Speaker D: I told us I thought it was 21ft. I was like, all right, yeah, we can do that.
[00:56:17] Speaker A: So I'm going to give you a choice here. If you would like an attack this round, you can swing at one of their feet before you will fall to the ground below them with a roll of a 14. Or you may not attack this turn and climb up next to them.
[00:56:31] Speaker D: I'm going to climb up next to them and not attack this turn.
[00:56:33] Speaker A: Okay. So you jump and your distance is good enough that you can sort of grab onto one of these draconic rib bones and yank yourself up.
[00:56:43] Speaker D: Great.
[00:56:44] Speaker A: Anyway, at the top of that, I need an initiative roll from everybody because these guys are not thrilled.
[00:56:52] Speaker C: Oh, my God.
[00:56:53] Speaker D: 714.
[00:56:55] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I get advantage.
Wow. I rolled two tens, so that is twelve.
[00:57:02] Speaker A: How terribly.
[00:57:03] Speaker B: Statistically, even I am just so average.
[00:57:06] Speaker A: Okay, how'd you do, Belaine?
[00:57:08] Speaker C: Seven.
[00:57:09] Speaker A: Seven. What's your decks? Mod one. What is your intelligence?
[00:57:14] Speaker C: Mod one.
[00:57:17] Speaker A: Okay. You're smarter than the bird.
[00:57:19] Speaker C: Oh, good.
[00:57:20] Speaker A: Creedon, would you roll twelve times two and zeros. How did you do?
[00:57:27] Speaker D: My score is a 14.
[00:57:29] Speaker A: One of these harpies immediately kicks off. It will use its action to withdraw. So it is now disengaged, rather so you do not get a swing in it. And it is floating kind of 30 more feet. If it didn't fly straight up, it took an angle. So it's probably 15ft up and 15ft away. But that's its whole turn and that's going to bring us to Ziris. So you are here. There is one harpy looking at you. What are you doing?
[00:57:56] Speaker D: Yeah, I think we're just going to chop this harpy.
[00:58:00] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:58:01] Speaker D: We're going to chop her recklessly.
[00:58:02] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:58:03] Speaker B: Get her.
She took my bird.
[00:58:07] Speaker D: Is this the one that took the bird?
[00:58:10] Speaker B: No, they both collaborated to take my bird.
[00:58:13] Speaker C: Whatever. If we kill them, we get the bird back.
[00:58:17] Speaker D: 23 to hit.
[00:58:19] Speaker A: That'll hit.
[00:58:25] Speaker D: Oh, God. 17.
[00:58:28] Speaker A: Jesus.
[00:58:29] Speaker D: Flashing.
And three radiant.
[00:58:33] Speaker C: Good night.
[00:58:34] Speaker A: You hit it vigorously. It is injured badly. Creedon, what are you doing?
[00:58:42] Speaker B: I am going to on the one that is not horribly injured, cast hex and then do an eldritch blast.
[00:58:50] Speaker D: You have to do one or the other.
[00:58:51] Speaker B: No, because eldritch blast is a cantrip and I can cast a cantrip after.
[00:58:55] Speaker D: It, but they both take actions.
[00:58:57] Speaker B: Hex is a bonus action.
[00:58:58] Speaker D: Oh, never mind. I'm wrong. I apologize. I thought we'd.
[00:59:01] Speaker B: I've attempted other wombo combos that were not.
[00:59:03] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:59:03] Speaker B: But this is the kosher wombo combo.
[00:59:05] Speaker D: Got you. Okay. I apologize.
[00:59:10] Speaker B: I am going to choose strength to be the disadvantaged. Ability check. And they will take an extra one d six if I hit with this eldritch blast, which it probably does because that's a 22 that hits. All right. One D six. One D ten.
That is.
[00:59:28] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:59:29] Speaker B: 13 force damage and three necrotic damage.
[00:59:34] Speaker A: Whoa.
[00:59:35] Speaker B: Might say. Give me back my bird.
[00:59:39] Speaker A: Wow. Okay.
[00:59:41] Speaker C: Boulain Bolane is also going to do her wombo combo on the one that's been hurt. She's going to cast toll the dead.
[00:59:52] Speaker A: And then she will both have been hurt.
[00:59:54] Speaker D: So it's just the one flying.
[00:59:56] Speaker B: The one that Veris is fighting or the one that I'm fighting?
[00:59:58] Speaker D: Go for the one that's in the air.
[01:00:00] Speaker C: Okay. She goes for the one that's in the air. And then she's going to cast. And then it's a bonus action. She'll cast spiritual weapon on the other one.
All right. Red is toll the dead.
Well, the toll the dead, I got a 23.
[01:00:19] Speaker A: They roll.
The toll the dead saving throw.
[01:00:24] Speaker C: Oh, that's right. I'm sorry. Till the dead is a saving throw.
[01:00:26] Speaker A: Twelve which fails. But your spiritual weapon will hit with the roll you did make.
[01:00:30] Speaker C: Okay, great.
[01:00:30] Speaker A: So give me one roll and then the other.
[01:00:33] Speaker C: All right. The tilde dead does five necrotic damage, and spiritual weapon does five plus 510 force damage.
[01:00:45] Speaker A: Okay. Wow. They are in bad shape.
[01:00:50] Speaker C: Good.
[01:00:50] Speaker A: So the one that is next to Taziris is going to use its action to disengage. It will fly 40ft horizontally, basically out to the edge of the castle keep wall crater. The other one is going to dash, so it's going to fly 80ft. It is over the thorns and that's going to bring us to zeros.
[01:01:17] Speaker D: 40Ft away.
[01:01:19] Speaker A: It's 40ft away.
[01:01:21] Speaker D: Can I close with it and make it 20ft?
[01:01:25] Speaker A: You can run along the dragon skeleton with an acrobatics check.
[01:01:30] Speaker D: Yeah, I'll do that. Here's what. Fall on my face.
Yeah, that's a six.
[01:01:37] Speaker A: Okay. You fall on your face.
[01:01:40] Speaker D: I try to do athletic things when raging.
[01:01:42] Speaker A: Not acrobatic things, not acrobatic saving throw, please.
[01:01:49] Speaker D: Seven.
[01:01:50] Speaker A: Seven. Okay. Yes. You fall through the skeleton, try to grab the side, totally fail, and slam into the cobblestone floor for an exciting four damage, which you will then have, I believe.
[01:02:04] Speaker D: Yes. Silly question.
Can I both still see the Harpy and make the attack I was going to make?
[01:02:14] Speaker A: You can, although the distance is not within 20ft. That's a disadvantage for sure.
[01:02:20] Speaker D: Well, is that how firing at long range works?
[01:02:24] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:02:24] Speaker D: Okay, great.
I'm actually throwing a dagger.
[01:02:28] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:02:31] Speaker D: Ten.
[01:02:32] Speaker A: You just miss as this thing sails just a tiny bit below the claw of this harpy. Which brings us to Creedon.
[01:02:42] Speaker B: I'm gonna shoot the one that I was already shooting with. Eldritch blast.
[01:02:46] Speaker A: Believe that is the one that is over the thorns.
[01:02:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:02:50] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:02:51] Speaker B: Wait. Is she the one with my bird?
[01:02:53] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:02:54] Speaker B: Okay, definitely her.
[01:02:55] Speaker C: Definitely that one.
[01:02:57] Speaker B: That is a non nat 20.
[01:03:01] Speaker A: Okay. That definitely hits.
[01:03:03] Speaker B: All right.
And dropped me d ten. That's okay. That's why I have others.
Minimum damage. Dang. That's five force damage and four necrotic damage.
[01:03:19] Speaker C: If she dies over the thorns, the bird goes down with her into the thorns.
You got to yank her. Yank her with that mage hand or whatever.
[01:03:30] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I do have an open bonus action. She will have to make a strength saving throw. DC 13.
Or get pulled 5ft towards me.
[01:03:41] Speaker A: She is pulled 5ft towards you. She is still over the thorns. Just not as far over the thorns.
[01:03:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:03:47] Speaker B: Every little bit helps.
[01:03:48] Speaker A: Boulain, what's.
[01:03:50] Speaker C: How far away are each of them from me?
[01:03:53] Speaker A: You have one that is 40ft away.
[01:03:56] Speaker C: Okay.
[01:03:57] Speaker A: And 10ft up for whatever that's worth. And you have another one that is essentially 120ft away.
[01:04:04] Speaker C: Okay.
[01:04:05] Speaker A: Actually, 115.
Power of telepathy.
[01:04:11] Speaker C: I don't know if I want to blow another spell slot on this.
[01:04:15] Speaker B: I mean, she's at the end of my eldritch boss range. So if we don't get her, she's gone.
[01:04:19] Speaker C: She will cast guiding bolt on the one over the thorns. That is a 17.
That'll hit 40, 611 1517. Radiant damage.
[01:04:37] Speaker A: Blow it out of the sky.
[01:04:38] Speaker C: Great.
[01:04:39] Speaker A: A beam of light pierces it through the chest and it falls into the thorns.
[01:04:44] Speaker C: All right. And then with the spiritual weapon on the other, she'll move the spiritual weapon to the other one.
[01:04:49] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:04:54] Speaker C: And miss for its turn.
[01:04:58] Speaker A: It is going to screech and dive after its fallen sister, it disappears into the thorns.
And that is our show. Special thanks Tod Ferguson and my pet machine for our tunes. Juliet, elaborate flight of fancy for our logo, and John Tara, the original author of the town our heroes are in in the 1990s. Don't forget to leave a rating and review.
Will our heroes climb down the chamber pothole? Of course they will. The real question is if they'll clean it first. Next time on carrots and suffering, a Dnd odyssey.
