Episode Transcript
[00:00:29] Speaker A: Welcome to carrots and suffering A-D-D Odyssey. I am Nate, your dungeon master and weaver of tails ish. I mean, I try to weave tails. Players do what players do. Don't forget to leave us a rating and review. Let's just jump right into it. Last time on carrots and suffering.
Our heroes met instant, an ancient elf at the end of her life, supposedly in town to cover for Boulain's unplanned sabbatical as the local death priest. But in Boulain's absence, the remains of the dead have been desecrated.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: If we thought what was happening in Palmville was a violation of my order, this is up there. With that.
[00:01:12] Speaker C: We will definitely have another conversation with Emston on the way out.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: I am concerned about influence on her. Did you see her eyes?
[00:01:22] Speaker A: Our heroes return from their investigation to the crypt to find instant and her guards have fled. You step through the big curtain, and there is no magic and no people here. And the front door has been closed and locked with few leads to go on. Our heroes ahead out to investigate the strange buoys around the dragon turtle and discover the location of the missing human remains being used to set up for some kind of nefarious magic ritual.
[00:01:49] Speaker C: So, yeah, I do think that we should somehow remove all these. I don't know if that's us. I don't know if that's the admiral, but I don't know if I want the admiral to know we've done this.
[00:01:59] Speaker B: Do you suspect the admiral?
[00:02:01] Speaker C: I don't. But I think if someone thinks this is done, they should keep thinking that. And the fewer people who know it's not is better.
[00:02:09] Speaker B: That is a good point. So do you think the 20 that you have pulled up is enough to interrupt it, or should we get the rest of it? I would like to reinter all the bone dust because this is a problem for me.
[00:02:22] Speaker C: Right. So we have to get the rest of it.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: Somewhat unprompted and assuming the worst, our heroes nearly kill three workers who show up to continue the setup of the nefarious ritual.
[00:02:32] Speaker B: Okay, I think we're going to tie up the person that we have hold person on so that we can free his mouth so he can talk.
[00:02:39] Speaker C: Okay, we should tie up both captives.
[00:02:41] Speaker B: Yeah, both of them.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: I assume someone's going to stabilize the guy who's been chopped up real bad.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Boulaino cast.
[00:02:47] Speaker A: All right, let's get into it.
Hi, I'm Nate, and I will be your dungeon master.
[00:03:03] Speaker B: Hi, I'm Mandy. I play boulain the grave domain death cleric who didn't think of an intro.
[00:03:08] Speaker D: Hi, I'm Claire, and I play Creedin, the warlock of love.
[00:03:12] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Robert. I play Zerus, the opulent barbarian.
[00:03:16] Speaker D: Ooh, I like it.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: Yeah, such a change.
[00:03:20] Speaker D: Oh, we should have talked about our hats in the intro. That's. Oh, yeah.
[00:03:24] Speaker C: Next intro.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: You folks had assaulted, captured three individuals who had been out on these boats in the dark, sinking things to the bottom of the bay.
[00:03:37] Speaker D: I guess they didn't start it, did they? We started it.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: They opened the door to the lighthouse, at which point, I believe you shot them and stabbed them.
[00:03:48] Speaker C: Someone instigated it. We don't need to get into detail everything differently.
[00:03:52] Speaker B: Who could have done that? Not us.
We don't start fights. We just finish them.
[00:03:59] Speaker C: We just end them.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: Two of them were captured, mostly nonviolently. One of them nearly died. Boulain, you have saved them. They are at zero hit points, but they are stable.
[00:04:10] Speaker C: Drag them back into the lighthouse.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: You have one person suggested he is under a compulsion.
[00:04:17] Speaker D: I believe that it was essentially, do not fight us and tell us what you are doing here, or something along those lines.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: This guy says, my name is ref, and I'm a nighttime mercenary, daytime pearl diver, and my job was to come out on the boats and supervise the diving and placement of some, I don't know, water skins full of stuff.
[00:04:45] Speaker C: Who is the contract with?
[00:04:47] Speaker A: Well, it's a sort of day labor middleman. So, one of the coin lords.
[00:04:52] Speaker B: Which one?
[00:04:54] Speaker A: I don't know. It changes every week, man.
[00:04:57] Speaker B: Can you give us the name of one middleman?
[00:04:59] Speaker A: I mean, you could ask. Jamud's my boss at the mercenary guild.
[00:05:07] Speaker D: And your other companions here are also.
[00:05:11] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, they were the other sort of, I guess, shift supervisors.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: Rhetth, were you aware what was in these?
[00:05:19] Speaker A: Um. I mean, we opened.
You know, they're just full of dust, and the ones from tonight are full of herbs, dried herbs.
[00:05:32] Speaker B: And do you know what this was for?
[00:05:35] Speaker A: I mean. No.
[00:05:36] Speaker B: I'm going to roll an inside to see if he's lying.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: He's under a compulsion. So you're pretty sure he's not lying. You're also pretty sure he doesn't know a lot. I don't know, but so I know the lighthouse is magic, like the fire is magic, and it rotates magically, and someone renews it every day, and I figure they're just trying to take control of the lighthouse.
Whoever controls the lighthouse could probably make some real good money.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: Can I roll a history to see what Boulain knows? About the lighthouse?
[00:06:06] Speaker A: Yeah, you can have advantage here. Spent 60 years in Turtle Bay.
[00:06:10] Speaker B: I rolled a 19, so I don't think I need it.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: No, you don't.
[00:06:14] Speaker D: That's a twitter crit.
[00:06:17] Speaker B: That's true. I could crit.
[00:06:19] Speaker D: I did not.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: The lighthouse has been through several instantiations. It's been rebuilt a couple of times. There has been a lighthouse on this dragon turtle for almost 1000 years. You think this lighthouse had substantial renovations done on it? Probably three times in the last hundred years while you were living in this region.
[00:06:40] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: The lighthouse is technically property of the empire, but it is subcontracted to a coin lord who bids on it every year.
[00:06:50] Speaker B: And that changes?
[00:06:51] Speaker A: Not always every year, but most years.
[00:06:54] Speaker D: What would the benefit of owning the lighthouse be, exactly?
[00:06:58] Speaker A: A portion of the taxes collected in the harbor goes to the lighthouse, and it's usually more than it costs to run the lighthouse.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: Would she know who currently is in charge of which coin Lord is currently in charge of it?
[00:07:10] Speaker A: You're not.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Right. Okay, so she looks at Rhett and she says, do you know which coin Lord is currently monitoring the lighthouse?
[00:07:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I think last I knew, it was the Sharretzkis, the northern ocean shipping and Trading company. So it's probably fair to say that I am not working for that one this week.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: You are not working for that one this week.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: Seems like we're trying to undermine whoever owns the lighthouse right now.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: Good point.
[00:07:42] Speaker D: Maybe I should try to get in on this lighthouse biding.
I could pay two people if whatever.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: Trouble they are causing comes to pass. I think he would not want to be in charge of the lighthouse that year. Have there been any more rounds of diving and placement than the two. The bags of dust and the bags of herbs?
[00:08:02] Speaker A: Yeah. No. We've been slowly building this operation up for, like, two months now.
It's been a big deal. Yeah, every night a different group comes out and sinks a few more bags. Tonight was a big run. For some reason, somebody decided we needed to hurry. We were supposed to have, like, two more weeks of this.
[00:08:22] Speaker B: Out of character. Is two weeks the full moon?
[00:08:25] Speaker A: No, two weeks is when the whole navy is supposed to be back reassembling in order to go after a dragon in the right.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: Yep, yep, yep. Okay.
[00:08:34] Speaker D: I also just discovered the NPC tracker spreadsheet, and I feel like an absolute dumbass.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: I hope it's updated.
[00:08:42] Speaker D: This would have been so helpful for me so many times.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Like during the trial.
[00:08:47] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:08:49] Speaker A: I feel obligated to warn you guys because, you know, capable. No one's interrupted mercenary work from the coin lords in a long time. I don't think they're going to respond. Well.
[00:09:04] Speaker D: Then you should not tell him.
[00:09:05] Speaker A: He looks at his two unconscious, one nearly dead companion.
[00:09:09] Speaker B: I think there were 30 boats worth of people out there who realized something was up.
[00:09:14] Speaker D: I'm not that recognizable, she says in.
[00:09:17] Speaker C: Her it was also knight. I don't know how much they know it was us, but.
[00:09:22] Speaker B: Yeah, well, Boulain looks at Zuris and says, I do not understand military strategy very well, but are we at any kind of advantage trying to defend this island?
[00:09:33] Speaker C: I was thinking we're done here.
[00:09:35] Speaker B: There could be a reception party for us waiting on shore.
[00:09:39] Speaker C: We have a pretty small boat that we can send back to the dock.
We literally can just land anywhere on a shore.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: The guy you're talking to, wrath, basically says, oh, none of those people are paid to think much.
You won't. And though the coin lords are asleep, probably, except for the elf.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: Which one's the elf?
[00:10:04] Speaker A: Trefarin beach crown is.
[00:10:07] Speaker D: That's a good last name. I like it.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: You do not think, even given the dull brains involved with the operation tonight, that they will not consider this an emergency and wake up a.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: Here's. Here's the like. They'll go back, they'll report to my boss, Jerude. And Jerud will probably take a letter over to the coin Lord's house, and the coin Lord may or may not care. It depends on how many intermediaries they work through. I mean, the downside of this espionage, mercenary work shit is like it takes them days to do anything pays.
[00:10:50] Speaker C: Okay, my thought is we wait for them to make the next move, and then hopefully that gets us a little further along on this.
[00:10:58] Speaker D: My thought is that we go speak with Jerud.
[00:11:02] Speaker C: Well, that as well, yes.
[00:11:03] Speaker D: It would be good to know which coin Lord is coming for us, if one is.
[00:11:06] Speaker C: I don't know that Jerude will know. But Jerud will know a guy.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: He'll know a guy.
[00:11:09] Speaker B: Is it wise to announce ourselves up the chain?
[00:11:12] Speaker D: I could possibly disguise myself as one of these moocs.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: That is not a bad idea, but I would be hesitant to start before we are ready to tell them exactly who we are and that we are snooping in their business.
What is the other mercenary?
[00:11:31] Speaker D: Yeah. Whatever we do, we need to do it soon because I got to tell you, it is very difficult to keep concentration on this, and I am very tired.
[00:11:39] Speaker B: We could go back to shore and regroup and decide what our next steps are.
Do we let these folks go or do we leave them here.
[00:11:53] Speaker C: I think we let them go with their boat. If we're letting them go, I mean.
[00:11:57] Speaker D: The lighthouse keeper will be back. We wouldn't be marooning them.
[00:12:02] Speaker A: The people with boats did flee.
[00:12:05] Speaker C: Okay, so all the boats that they.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: Oh, even the ones who brought them to these three to the island.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: You only have your boat here.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: I mean, the advantage of leaving them here, at least overnight, is we know nobody will announce us before morning or know who we are. He has seen our faces, so he can describe us.
[00:12:26] Speaker C: But you're not going to tell anyone that, right?
[00:12:29] Speaker A: No, of course not.
[00:12:30] Speaker B: Insight.
Natural 20.
[00:12:34] Speaker A: You think he believes that thing he said and has no ability to guarantee it in any way, shape, or form?
[00:12:41] Speaker B: Wish I had a spell to make people forget.
[00:12:48] Speaker A: I believe it's called incessant concussion.
[00:12:51] Speaker B: Incessant concussion?
Is that actually a spell, Nate?
[00:12:56] Speaker A: No.
[00:12:57] Speaker C: Okay. It's hitting the description.
It's brain damage.
[00:13:05] Speaker D: Well, we can bring them back with us. As long as I don't have to carry anybody.
[00:13:09] Speaker B: No, I think we should leave them here and let the lighthouse keeper collect them in the morning.
[00:13:14] Speaker C: I think that's what we need to do. Our boat won't have enough room.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: We're also already laden. The boat's laden with bags of dust, so.
[00:13:20] Speaker D: That's true.
[00:13:21] Speaker B: Yeah, we've already got a pretty full load.
[00:13:23] Speaker D: Sorry, Jin's. We're too full of bone bags. No more room.
[00:13:28] Speaker B: Zuris, would you like to vocally reassure our friend about what would happen if he told anybody about us?
Vocally, yes.
[00:13:42] Speaker C: As my friend insinuates. I'll make clear if we do find out that you or your compatriots discussed us with someone else, we'll steal the money you paid for it. I'll eat it while you watch.
And then I will disembowel you.
[00:14:05] Speaker D: Creedon looks at Boulay and raises her eyebrows.
[00:14:12] Speaker A: That works for me.
[00:14:14] Speaker C: Excellent. That works for me, too.
[00:14:17] Speaker B: You're going to do an intimidate role on that?
[00:14:21] Speaker C: I think I succeeded.
[00:14:22] Speaker A: Okay.
All right.
So you could climb in the boat and head back to shore when you get there. There are a lot of little boats, some of which you kind of think might have been the ones that were out. But there's no people around.
[00:14:37] Speaker D: As soon as we get in the boat and it leaves the shore. Creed. And breaks our concentration and falls asleep on Dread's shoulder.
[00:14:44] Speaker A: Aww. Dredd tries really hard not to move for the entire boat ride back, which is really quite difficult, but he turns out to be pretty good at it. Let's call it a night and regroup in the morning. You think?
[00:14:57] Speaker B: Yeah, I guess. The lane will take everyone back to her house.
[00:15:01] Speaker D: Oh, how many beds are there? Can I have my own?
[00:15:03] Speaker B: You may have the bed.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:15:05] Speaker B: So we're also lugging all this bone dust with us, too, right?
[00:15:10] Speaker A: Unless you leave it in the canoe.
[00:15:12] Speaker B: Not leaving that in the canoe. So I guess we're going to spend a little bit of the night toting that to the house.
[00:15:18] Speaker C: Yes. They need to be reinterred.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: They do indeed.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: It is late in the morning when you all have recovered enough to function, there is a knock at the front door.
[00:15:39] Speaker B: She will twitch a curtain to peek out at the front door before she opens it.
[00:15:45] Speaker A: Some sort of official courier in a uniform.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: All right.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: She opens the door, and he says, boulain Kulema.
[00:15:51] Speaker B: Yes, that is me.
[00:15:53] Speaker A: And he hands you a note.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: She takes the note and gives him.
[00:15:57] Speaker A: A tip, says, thank you, ma'am. And he turns on a heel and marches off down the street with a bag of letters. You have a little letter. It says, I am in need of a priestess of death to administer Latt's rights to myself. Please come alone. Please come to the sleeping cinnamon pub.
[00:16:19] Speaker D: We know who's there.
[00:16:21] Speaker B: Is it signed?
[00:16:22] Speaker A: No.
[00:16:23] Speaker B: Does she recognize the handwriting?
[00:16:24] Speaker A: No.
[00:16:25] Speaker C: Who's there? Creedon.
[00:16:27] Speaker D: Oh. Boulain had told us that her old flame, that she does not particularly wish to see again. Is there Taemin.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: But this is definitely not Taemin's handwriting.
[00:16:37] Speaker A: No. You would recognize his writing.
[00:16:40] Speaker D: Do you think that they sell cinnamon rolls at this pub? It sounds like they would.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: I never got the impression that cinnamon was literal.
[00:16:48] Speaker D: No.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: She picks up a candle and burns the note.
[00:16:53] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: And says, I would like to know who is there asking for me. But I have no intention of following these directions.
[00:16:59] Speaker A: Xeris, there's a whisper. All right, you recognize. Is probably your glave trying to get your attention?
[00:17:06] Speaker C: I'll listen.
[00:17:07] Speaker A: I have an idea. Xeris. I don't recognize this exact ritual, but it is possible we modify it some with the right herbs. I know someone who would know everything there is to know about this opportunity.
If you wish.
[00:17:30] Speaker C: I'm interested in the name you're talking.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: About, my dear friend.
Trafford beach crown. Yes, and tell him that Nodig is here to visit.
[00:17:43] Speaker C: I will pass along your message and see what we can learn from that.
[00:17:48] Speaker A: Very well.
[00:17:49] Speaker C: All right. Where are we heading? To the tavern.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: Would one of you be willing to go in my place?
[00:17:55] Speaker C: Sure, I'd be happy to.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: I could set about the process of reinterring all these bones.
[00:18:02] Speaker D: I can change myself to dress like you, too, so that perhaps the person approaches us. But then it can just be a case of mistaken identity.
Although I don't know if there's like religious significance to what you wear, so only with your permission.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: Well, you do not have the religious symbol. I think we can simulate everything else.
If you're willing to do that, Creedin, you should know there might be some danger here.
[00:18:27] Speaker D: Well, yes, I assumed that perhaps Xeris may be can, you know, go in as strangers.
[00:18:35] Speaker C: I'm sure I can find something to do at the tavern that's innocuous enough.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: All right.
[00:18:41] Speaker D: Perhaps Max and Dredd could also come as strangers.
[00:18:44] Speaker B: Excellent idea. I will also send Sadie with you.
[00:18:47] Speaker A: Okay. To the tavern. Max is wearing a second hawaiian shirt that he bought. None of the buttons buttoned, exposing his chest, which is still somehow seems perpetually sweaty.
[00:19:02] Speaker D: Fine oils he's got.
[00:19:04] Speaker A: Dred is wearing the new cloak and hat that his prospective girlfriend got him is almost strutting in an awkward way.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: Like he's trying to show off, but he doesn't know how.
[00:19:17] Speaker A: Creedon, are you disguising yourself in any way?
[00:19:20] Speaker D: So I'm going to maintain my appearance, but I'm going to essentially use disguise self to change my clothing to match what Boulain would wear and I suppose change my height. I want to look as much like her as possible.
[00:19:32] Speaker A: You're going to look close, but not perfect. Yes.
[00:19:35] Speaker B: I mean, if it's daylight, she'd have her veil on.
[00:19:38] Speaker D: I would have the veil on, which is how I'm thinking we can pull this off.
[00:19:42] Speaker A: Xeros. Any attempts to disguise yourself?
[00:19:45] Speaker C: Not at all.
[00:19:46] Speaker A: Are you armored?
[00:19:47] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:19:48] Speaker A: All right. You stroll into the sleeping cinnamon pub, probably separately. The sleeping cinnamon pub is hopping all day long. There are day and night workers all around this city. And so the pub runs 24/7 behind the bar is obviously some kind of fairy creature. They appear to be a birdman with sort of black feathers from head to toe, wearing a little bandana around their neck, but they seem to have fingers at the end of their wing like appendages, so they're trending. The bar. The bar is full of all kinds of people, so the world here is generally split into humans and the fayetouched, which are descendants of fairy creatures. There are gnomes and dwarves and elves and it's an odd mix. But the other half is humans, who look just like dock workers doing dock things. Creedon, roll me a deception roll.
[00:20:44] Speaker D: All right, I'm using my mask of many faces.
[00:20:48] Speaker B: So I just want to double check.
[00:20:49] Speaker A: You don't look like yourself at all.
[00:20:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:51] Speaker A: It's just a question of do you pass enough as a boulain to get the attention of the person who was looking?
[00:20:58] Speaker D: Oh, no, it was a bad role. That's an eleven.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: There is a rakeish half elf playing cards in the back corner that just keeps looking at you.
[00:21:09] Speaker D: Strawberry blonde.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: Yeah. And he just looks at you and stares for a little bit, and then looks away and shakes his head. And then you'll see him look back again and look away and shake his head. But there's a guy at the bar who actually kind of walks over and you, uh, you, boulain.
[00:21:24] Speaker D: I suppose at this point I would lift my veil and say, I'm sorry, I'm not sure who it is that you're looking.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: Oh, well, forget about it.
[00:21:33] Speaker D: But I clock who that is.
[00:21:35] Speaker B: I'm looking through sadie's eyes.
[00:21:37] Speaker A: So sadie spots taemin, who is, in fact, hanging out here playing cards.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:21:41] Speaker A: Give me an insight roll.
[00:21:44] Speaker D: Oh, my God. This dice is going to jail. I've rolled two fours.
[00:21:48] Speaker A: Oh, bummer.
[00:21:49] Speaker D: That's a seven.
[00:21:50] Speaker A: Creedon. You don't recognize this man at all? Boulain, you think this is one of the guards who was outside the catacombs.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: Yesterday when emston was.
[00:21:59] Speaker A: Yeah, when you came. Visited Emston.
[00:22:01] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:22:02] Speaker A: You've indicated that you were not boulane. And so he goes back to sitting.
[00:22:05] Speaker D: At the bar, and creedon orders herself a drink.
[00:22:08] Speaker A: A drink comes. The bartender is a kenku. Every sentence they say is spoken like in a different voice, in a way like a parrot might mimic different people. And I'm not going to do it for you.
But just imagine he will lean in and say, death priest.
[00:22:26] Speaker D: Yes, yes. I feel like if I'm wearing the vestments, it would be awful to say, no.
[00:22:32] Speaker A: There's another death priest. Two death priests?
[00:22:37] Speaker D: Yes. There's one that's been working here for a few months. Correct.
[00:22:42] Speaker A: Your room is upstairs.
[00:22:44] Speaker D: Oh. Perhaps I will go pay a visit.
[00:22:47] Speaker A: Second door on the right.
[00:22:51] Speaker D: All right.
[00:22:52] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:22:55] Speaker C: After her and Sadie head upstairs, I'll ask the kenku.
[00:23:01] Speaker D: I was going to try to flag you down and get you to come with me.
[00:23:04] Speaker C: Oh, all right. I'll nod at you like I'm going to head right after. After she leaves eyesight, I'll ask the bartender. Taffy around.
[00:23:16] Speaker A: He says, this is not a person who visits here regularly. I recommend checking his house.
[00:23:23] Speaker C: All right.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: He's not able to give you directions because no one has ever given him directions to Trafford and Beach Crown's house. But he gives you some really kind of vague, disjointed directions as if three people were giving you directions.
[00:23:40] Speaker D: Make an intelligence check.
[00:23:45] Speaker C: And then I'll go ahead and I'll fall after Creedon. I'll just get up to the floor where I can hear into the rooms.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: Creedon, you get to the floor. There are just a couple of rooms up here. They actually are not barely look like in rooms. You would guess they're too small for anything other than, like, maybe crashing. You suspect they might actually be like table and chairs and not actually beds. There is an armed and armored guard leaning against one of the doors. It happens to be the second door on the right.
He looks at you and says, death priest. Are you here for last rites?
[00:24:18] Speaker D: Oh, God.
Creighton's regretting everything that she's done.
Yes.
[00:24:24] Speaker A: All right, in here. Opens the door to let you in. Inside, it's like a little booth with sort of a cushioned chair, a small table and a little kind of wraparound booth. And sitting in the cushioned chair is someone you recognize, an extremely bent over figure covered in sort of a cloak and hood. And as its face looks up, you can see the sort of crescent moons in their incredibly old elven eyes.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: Well, this is what I wanted, Sirius.
[00:24:53] Speaker A: And she says, boulain, please come in. And the guy says, I'll wait out here for you. Just let me know if you need anything.
[00:24:59] Speaker D: I guess.
[00:24:59] Speaker A: Creedon comes in, he closes the door behind you.
[00:25:02] Speaker D: Does he let Zerus come in, too?
[00:25:04] Speaker C: I'm not going in.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: Xeris comes up the stairs a little later and there's an armed guard in the hallway.
[00:25:09] Speaker D: All right. Well, I'm in now. I helped once with some last rites. I'm perfectly equipped for this situation. Little.
[00:25:16] Speaker B: You're actually at least rudimentally versed in this, so you could probably wing it. Although she'll know if you're bullshitting.
[00:25:23] Speaker D: I buried so many bodies in Sternheim.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: So many.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: She says, boulain, please. I'm happy you accepted my invitation. I knew someone of your caliber could not turn down their duty. And she sort of gestures with one shaky hand at the booth where you could sit.
[00:25:44] Speaker D: She sits. Credence sits.
[00:25:46] Speaker A: I wanted to ask you. No, I wanted to tell you I feel I owe you an explanation and that you would understand.
You are old enough, older than these humans. It may give you the perspective you need to understand why I do what I do with my last days.
[00:26:11] Speaker D: Creedon is going to talk as little as possible, because she is not boolain.
[00:26:16] Speaker A: You let out a grunt.
[00:26:19] Speaker D: Yes, I like, nod and hope that she can see me nodding.
[00:26:24] Speaker A: You see her eyes squint and she says, yes. I suppose you're upset with me. You wouldn't speak to someone you were upset with? I must explain myself.
Before the empire, this was known as the land of a thousand gods.
Every race and tribe of man and elf and dwarf and dragon and anything had its own little pantheon. Every single one of them. Two gods, three gods, ten gods, 30 gods. They called this place the land of a thousand gods. And I was a death priest, and I worshipped one was the God of secrets taken to the grave.
A lesser deity, not known by many tribes. But when the elves first came to this world, they started to age, and they knew true fear for the first time.
And from that fear came forth several gods. The God of youthful beauty lost. The God of secrets, taken to the grave, never to be known by the living again. Along with the other gods, you know, the moon God, the God of the hunt, the God of the Wilds, things brought over from the fairylands.
And then Astragarian Contessa did something I wasn't important enough then to know.
But all of the gods went silent. All but ten.
They killed our gods, Boulain.
They literally killed our gods.
So you may not think much of me, and I am certainly derelict in my duty, but my God has returned.
And while he is not communicating with me directly, while he is not giving me his power, another creature has given me just enough.
Just enough that I am able to function.
And with my last breath, two weeks from now, I will call forth a ritual forgotten for millennia, forgotten by elves and fairy, forgotten by dragons, truly lost and forgotten. And then Turtle Bay will survive, but it will do so without the empire.
And it will do so with the knowledge of an 11th God. I've gotten very old, Boulain. I cannot fight you. If there is a scuffle, I will surely die.
But I have put into motion something that perhaps cannot be stopped. And so I felt I owed you an explanation. Because regardless of what you do, the outcome will be the same. I guess I understand from your silence that this did not ingratiate you to me. But I hope you understand my perspective.
Where would you be if one day they just decided to kill off your God's like, eh?
[00:29:51] Speaker B: My God didn't want me?
[00:29:54] Speaker D: No, Cretan would definitely care. I don't know.
[00:29:58] Speaker C: For those not in the room, Claire's role playing through facial expression behind her.
[00:30:04] Speaker A: Veil she says, well, I've wasted enough of your time on a crazy old coot.
[00:30:12] Speaker B: Crazy?
[00:30:13] Speaker A: I will assume from your silence that you disagree with my pursuit. But I want you to know, if I am successful, if I break this iron monopoly of the ten gods, if I introduce the 11th, you are welcome. Because when I met you, I could sense that you had a deep secret.
And as you sit across from me now, I know you still have one. Perhaps you'll tell it to maybe not me, but someone else in the clergy when it is reformed.
Kay, thanks. Bye.
[00:31:00] Speaker D: Thanks.
[00:31:00] Speaker B: Bye. Get out.
[00:31:02] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, I'm just trying to think, like if Creedon would attempt to mimic Boulain and say anything, but it's probably best if I just don't try.
Given how I've been rolling, I think that Creedon will stand up and kind of nod her head a little and then just make her way out as regally as possible. And I would have brought Sadie in with me on my shoulder. So I assume that Boulain has seen all.
[00:31:29] Speaker B: Boulain, witness all that. Also now knows that Creedon has some secrets.
[00:31:34] Speaker D: Sorry, I assumed that she was talking about you.
[00:31:50] Speaker A: Welcome, apprentices. Gather again for a story.
The mask is a God of youthful rebellion, change, dreams, and the sole agent of chaos in our divinely created universe.
Of course, we all understand the need for such a God. There is a time when children must be allowed to make their own mistakes. A time when we must be less harsh with those mistakes. To forge youth into wisdom.
Each generation brings new changes from this process.
There must be a God for all of the phases of life.
But of course, legend says the mask was not born a God as all of the others, but instead stole divine power, becoming the last God. Whereafter the mask, the gods learn their power must be guarded while the mask watches over children. This enigmatic God or goddess doesn't choose children to represent them. Generally, all children are idealistic. It's a special kind of person who holds that idealism into their later years and weaponizes it for change.
Let me illustrate.
In the largest city of the day, before the empire and the kingdoms we know, there was born a child who believed how their parents had and grandparents did before them. That the world worked a certain way and certain rites and rituals would bring success for sure.
A sheltered thing to be a child who thinks as they are told, but is as important to give the youth some grace.
But in time, this child grew to an adult and took a merchant job and began to travel.
Such certainty cannot survive the world, for it is a wild and vibrant place. The rituals and rites this child knew failed for others who tried the same and often did not provide right answers and even fewer truths. You see, the world has few right answers. Like most adults, this one might have concluded that perhaps they were special, unique in the world, worthy where others had failed. A sheltered opinion to be sure and wrong in every instance.
Instead, this person began to muddle through life, as we all must do in the end, finding their own truths and philosophies, finding the answers that fit the self or the moment. Finding the people that share passions and giving to them parts of their soul that we might thrive as friends or lovers.
Then came the moment to return home.
The adult had matured, had grown, had learned, and it now was impossible to ignore that people and home had not changed.
Even in a big city, they had turned blind eyes to the ways of other people who didn't agree with them. They discovered the greatest of divine sins. In their estimation, they found hypocrisy.
And in that moment, they gave to themselves the resolve to change the world around them, to open the eyes of the people, and to shift the politics of a time. They vowed to agitate, to lead others to brighter futures, and to forever change themselves.
This is a champion of mask. You see, what matters to mask when it comes to patronage is not that you have power or want it. Not that you are young or old, not that you agree with some person, priest or politician. The mask exists to fight the hypocrisy of stagnation by any means necessary, and lends their power to those who refuse to be told what to do, how to think, or how to feel.
The mask forever dreams of better tomorrows.
You may not fit in this life you were handed, apprentice. You might think the world a mess.
You might make mistakes and grow. The mask will watch over you.
But if you commit yourself to the destruction of hypocrisy by your own two hands, and change hearts and minds, that is the power of a God to manage the phases of life.
On that note, go forth with fresh eyes this day, see the world for its flaws, and dream of a better future.
Such things are encouraged in our faith.
Back to work.
So, yeah, when you step out, I mean the hallways, just as you left it, the guard nods at you and says, probably not going to be here much longer. There's some suspicious new people in town, so.
I hope you said your piece. We won't be here again anytime.
[00:37:08] Speaker D: Yes, I said my piece. This guy doesn't know Boulain.
[00:37:13] Speaker A: He doesn't seem to recognize you at all.
[00:37:16] Speaker D: All right, I guess I meet up with Xeris in the hallway.
[00:37:19] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:37:19] Speaker D: And I guess go back to Boulain's house to meet back up with her.
[00:37:24] Speaker B: Boulain headed to the funeral home to start the process of reinterring all the bone dust.
[00:37:29] Speaker D: Okay, yeah, whatever our meeting place was.
[00:37:32] Speaker A: Creedon, as you're leaving the sleeping cinnamon pub, a half elf with strawberry blonde hair kind of walks up to you and says, excuse me, do you have a sister?
[00:37:41] Speaker D: No.
[00:37:42] Speaker A: Okay, my mistake.
[00:37:45] Speaker D: I've got one of those faces.
[00:37:47] Speaker A: Yeah, it happens. It happens. And he spins around, says, hey, you want to get coffee?
[00:37:52] Speaker D: I'm not interested.
[00:37:54] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Well, it's cool. Got to shoot my shot when I see one. All right.
You're just my type.
[00:38:08] Speaker D: Creighton gets incredibly awkward, manages not to.
[00:38:13] Speaker B: Tell Sadie to claw his eyes out.
[00:38:18] Speaker D: Creighton stands up, sticks straight and is incredibly awkward and just walks away.
[00:38:22] Speaker A: So you can get back to the funeral home. Necropolis, catacombs. The big arena of death. That is the church of the silent judge here in Turtle Bay.
[00:38:33] Speaker C: One stop shop.
[00:38:34] Speaker B: Yeah, when she gets there, she will ask the guards we posted if anybody tried to get back into the home.
[00:38:39] Speaker A: No, I mean, there's been some looky lose, but there aren't usually guards here, so, I mean, surprise, surprise.
[00:38:46] Speaker B: All right, well, she will put the very correct key into the lock and let herself in.
[00:38:52] Speaker D: Yeah, I guess we wouldn't have from the lighthouse heard the thunder clap somebody had.
[00:38:57] Speaker A: So you folks have an eventful and ritualistic afternoon.
[00:39:02] Speaker B: I think what she does is she. Because these are bags of bones and she doesn't know who's who. So what she does is she picks two or three niches and she inters all of them into these niches. And then she collects the names from all of the empty niches and puts them in these three because that's the best she can do. As far as she can't sort them out. There's no way to sort them out.
[00:39:32] Speaker A: It works.
[00:39:33] Speaker B: And as we're working, she says, well, here is my question on how much we want to meddle and interfere. If they do not have the bone dust, the ritual that they want to do will not work.
[00:39:48] Speaker D: I am fearful that we are leaving this bone dust still here. I mean, even with our little trap that we've laid, it could still be gotten. I understand the desire to attempt to right these wrongs, but we are still leaving this big pile of reagents exactly where they would expect to find it.
[00:40:05] Speaker C: I mean, how much do you think this bone dust is worth?
[00:40:12] Speaker B: I mean, I do not know if you can put a price on human remains or humanoid remains, Cirrus.
[00:40:19] Speaker C: You know what? I agree. They're pretty priceless.
[00:40:21] Speaker D: I mean, when I've bought bone.
[00:40:25] Speaker B: The last time I sold bone dust, which I'm not allowed to do.
[00:40:31] Speaker C: There is, if they're properly interred, a way to remove their ability to be used by removing the value of the object.
I'll let you determine if that's desecration or not.
[00:40:45] Speaker B: All right, Nate. Is it desecration? I can roll religion.
[00:40:48] Speaker A: Oh, God. Is that even the right skill? Give me Arcana.
[00:40:52] Speaker B: Arcana?
That's not great. That's a ten.
[00:40:59] Speaker A: Okay, you have no idea what Zerus is talking about. But you do think if it lost its value, it probably couldn't be used as a spell component.
[00:41:08] Speaker B: She says, what are you talking about?
[00:41:12] Speaker C: I'm talking about a ritual I happen to have learned that can remove the value of an object, usually rendering it inert for any purpose other than being the object.
[00:41:28] Speaker B: Wait here just a moment. And she will go to her office, where she has tombs and volumes of silent judge rituals and protocols to the texts.
[00:41:41] Speaker D: We got to look through the erada.
[00:41:43] Speaker B: She's going to look up specifically what qualifies as desecration.
[00:41:48] Speaker A: This is religion for sure.
[00:41:50] Speaker B: Okay. Do I get advantage? Because this is my religion.
[00:41:53] Speaker A: Actually, just roll it without advantage first because.
[00:41:56] Speaker B: Right, well, I rolled a 14, which is an 18. Religion.
[00:41:59] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, an 18. You find a couple of definitions. So, desecration is about preserving the sanctity of death. And there are several different definitions of what is sanctity of death and what is not. Of course, you do know that you are perfectly allowed, if you are concerned about undeath, which is definitely not sanctifying death, to take extreme measures in any case you deem fit. So it was not technically desecration based on the justification that they were concerned about undead to do what they did in here. Although you don't think they were actually concerned about undead.
[00:42:41] Speaker B: Right.
[00:42:42] Speaker A: You, on the other hand, are.
[00:42:45] Speaker B: Yes, I am. And there is nothing in here about removing the value from the physical object of remains.
[00:42:54] Speaker A: It's as if the texts never assumed that there would be a black market for bone dust.
[00:42:59] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:43:01] Speaker A: Such a thing seemed so outlandish. It was not in the text.
[00:43:05] Speaker D: When you're at the head of the church, you will write a new book that outlines the things that you've learned along the way.
[00:43:12] Speaker A: It turns out that in Turtle Bay, you can put a price on fucking anything.
[00:43:22] Speaker B: All right. She will bring the book back with her. And she says, well, I have good news. This gives me leeway for some interpretation surrounding undead, which indirectly we are quite worried about. So I think this is all right, what you are suggesting.
[00:43:41] Speaker C: All right.
[00:43:42] Speaker B: She did fully sanctify these remains and laid them completely to rest. So she says, I think as far as the material is concerned, we are in the clear.
[00:43:53] Speaker D: Creedon crosses her arms and says, oh, how very zirus. You love sleeping on hard ground. And the one spell you learn is to remove the value from objects.
[00:44:07] Speaker C: Unfortunately, this only really works on things with value. So we will soon find out if the magics think these are valuable or not.
[00:44:16] Speaker B: Does it matter that I think they are priceless and you think they are priceless?
[00:44:23] Speaker C: We're about to find out.
[00:44:24] Speaker B: We are in some very subjective territory here.
[00:44:27] Speaker D: I imagine that there are places that sell this as a reagent as well. So there probably is actually a market value on this.
[00:44:35] Speaker B: This is quite true.
And somebody is placing a great deal of value on this bone dust in particular for this ritual.
[00:44:43] Speaker A: So, xeris, I need you to give me a history roll.
And this is actually essentially the skill check to determine if this ritual works.
[00:44:53] Speaker C: All right?
Sure.
Rolled an 18. That's 23.
[00:44:58] Speaker A: So it occurs to you as you're doing this ritual that you've never seen a dragon horde with bone dust in it. And the ritual starts off and you can hear some grumbling from nodig and it's like, what?
This isn't value add. And then you're kind of like, well, yeah, but it's real valuable to somebody. And the dragon's like, and they're not going to have it and just drains the value added energy out of it. You think it's inert now? You think it is of no arcane or spiritual significance other than dust.
[00:45:37] Speaker D: Did you do this in front of us or did you ask us to leave?
[00:45:40] Speaker C: What I will do as the theatrics of it is take out, no, dig and wave it around like it's an oversized thame, and draw a circle. Like, scratch a circle in the floor a little bit with it. Hopefully it gets a little flamy. So it's like a little red light. And then we ask the magic to remove the ability for this bone dust to be used for anything and for its value and essence to be consumed. Just value to be consumed. And then I touch it to one of each. Right?
[00:46:18] Speaker A: Roll me. Deception with advantage.
[00:46:20] Speaker B: Can I roll?
[00:46:20] Speaker D: What books are you reading? That was a weird spellcast.
[00:46:24] Speaker A: Yeah, you can roll insight or Arcana. Actually, I'm going to go for Arcana.
[00:46:30] Speaker B: I'm better at insight. I want to know if he's full of shit with what he's doing.
[00:46:33] Speaker C: Not 20 on advantage. It's a 20 and a five.
[00:46:37] Speaker B: I rolled a two. Doesn't matter.
Belain is like, man, you barbarians learned some strange things.
[00:46:44] Speaker A: Not a spell you've ever seen.
[00:46:46] Speaker D: Cretan still doesn't. Well, she wants to have a drink with Zerus. She doesn't really not trust him yet, so I would be more just interested in like, ooh, what spell is this?
I want to learn. Actually, I don't. I don't want to take value away from things. That's stupid.
[00:47:04] Speaker C: There is actually a spell in the book for this too, but it's not the one I'm using. I contemplated taking it just.
[00:47:10] Speaker A: It's called wreck shit.
[00:47:12] Speaker C: No, there's an illusion spell that you can devalue or overvalue an item by half for like 8 hours.
[00:47:17] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, I've seen that use. Been like haggling for stuff in campaign.
[00:47:25] Speaker A: Nobody notices anything odd. Actually, I should probably roll. Frankly, there is one person who could notice something odd about this.
He doesn't say anything.
[00:47:34] Speaker C: Is there someone else in the room?
[00:47:36] Speaker B: Max and Max and dreader with us?
[00:47:39] Speaker A: I'll give you a hint. It's not Max.
[00:47:41] Speaker D: Don't forget our resident timbos.
[00:47:46] Speaker A: You end another long day. It takes a while to intern these things.
[00:47:49] Speaker B: Yeah. I think when we get back to the house, Boulain will say, do we need to do anything else? If we have taken away the bone dust and they cannot get into the funeral home to get more, I mean, their ritual will not work.
[00:48:02] Speaker D: Well, I still think that we need to go speak with that one dude's manager, Giroud.
[00:48:08] Speaker C: What ritual?
[00:48:09] Speaker B: Whatever they are doing around the.
[00:48:11] Speaker C: Right. Right, yeah, yeah.
[00:48:13] Speaker B: I mean, do we need to make ourselves more known or interfere anymore at this point? I mean, it will not work.
[00:48:20] Speaker C: I don't know. It sounds to me like that's correct. But it's a lot of planning to go through just to fall short of a few bone dust that they know are missing now.
[00:48:27] Speaker B: True. And I suppose they could just kill 100 people and make more bone dust. There is something I could try, but I would need to wait four or five days before I do it. Probably five days, maybe six. I could wait six days and then do it, but there is no guarantee that it will work.
[00:48:47] Speaker C: They'll be strong enough. Yeah.
[00:48:49] Speaker B: Well, perhaps we should talk to this.
[00:48:50] Speaker A: Jamud, it's not going to be too hard to find this place. I think. Boulain, it's a popular enough location.
[00:48:55] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:48:56] Speaker A: There are several labor guilds. One of you did recognize the wizards uniform from the 30 boats the night before. So you do know which mercenary company to go bother. Okay, so you arrive at this longhouse made of logs, and inside is this massive long table, a bar and a couple of desks in the back. It's pretty empty at the moment. There's like a couple of workers who are just sitting at the long tables chatting like they're on a smoke break. And you see like two or three clerks in the back. One of the clerks stands up and waves you over. Come on, come on, this way. I can help you. What do you need? Day labor, night labor? We've got both.
[00:49:35] Speaker C: I need Jamud.
[00:49:37] Speaker A: Well, Jamud is a night shift individual, but hold on, let me look at the time. And he glances out a little side window and says, he should be here any minute. If you just want to sit down, I'll send him over to you immediately.
[00:49:50] Speaker C: Great.
[00:49:51] Speaker A: So a tall, skinny man walks in and a clerk waves him over and then points at you and he walks over and sits down and says, hello, I'm Jamud.
How may I be of service?
[00:50:05] Speaker C: We need to know where you're getting the jobs that are assigned out to the bay. Large groups of mercenaries sent out into the bay to go to the lighthouse.
[00:50:16] Speaker A: I have that information. Can you give me a little bit more? Like whose authority?
[00:50:22] Speaker C: Yeah, Admiral Brightwind, as well as sister truth. And we also have a high level ranking representative of the silent judge.
[00:50:34] Speaker A: Okay? I mean, that's a lot of authority. Go ahead and give me either a history or persuasion role.
[00:50:40] Speaker C: Persuasion role.
And score a ten.
[00:50:45] Speaker A: I'm not supposed to know who's hiring what contracts per se, but I can tell you from where I pick up the payroll when I drop it off.
Who owns that warehouse.
[00:51:01] Speaker C: Great.
[00:51:02] Speaker A: And presumably that's your person. But it's potentially really bad for business for me to give out that information to anybody. And, well, you have name dropped, all the right names.
[00:51:17] Speaker D: Creighton just puts five gold on the table and slides it over. Maybe that'll.
[00:51:22] Speaker A: He scoops up five gold and says, all right, you didn't hear it from me, though. For five gold, you didn't hear it from me. There's a warehouse. I'll give you directions. And he pulls out a piece of paper and says, this is where I go to pick up the pay every night and I distribute it every evening. And he hands it to you and says, my understanding is that this warehouse is managed by the Zestildes, which is the Southern Ocean Trading Company, known for their access to the jungle. Sugar, tobacco, exotic pets, other strange things, exotic herbs, exotic ungents.
[00:52:03] Speaker C: And you have jobs, basically, for the next two weeks doing this?
[00:52:07] Speaker A: Yeah, basically. Different set of orders. Arrives every couple of days. There was some sort of rush order that arrived last night, so I sent out a much larger than usual group, pretty much all hands on deck. There was some sort of incident.
They weren't able to complete the job. They'll be going out to try again tonight, of course.
[00:52:26] Speaker C: All right, well, thank you. I don't have any other questions, y'all.
[00:52:30] Speaker A: If you need anything, remember us for your mercenary needs.
[00:52:36] Speaker B: Billeen does say, jamud, do you know who is giving you the orders every day?
Do you have a name?
[00:52:43] Speaker A: It's a different person, but it's always someone I meet at that warehouse when I pick up the.
You know, it's a big, fully functioning import export warehouse, so different person every time.
[00:52:55] Speaker B: All right, thank you.
[00:52:56] Speaker C: All right, I'm ready to head out.
[00:52:58] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:52:59] Speaker C: I don't know what our funds are like or what it would actually run. Boulain, you'd probably know better, but we could always just hire a small team.
[00:53:08] Speaker B: To dig up all the components in a week and a half.
[00:53:13] Speaker C: I was actually thinking, to prevent mercenaries from getting back on the lighthouse, your way is probably cheaper.
[00:53:22] Speaker A: They don't have to be good at fighting.
[00:53:23] Speaker B: If we raise suspicion to the admiral that there is mischief happening surrounding the lighthouse, he could just send a garrison.
[00:53:30] Speaker D: There that is free.
[00:53:33] Speaker C: That is a much better and cheaper man. That's great on all accounts. Let's do that.
[00:53:39] Speaker D: Good thinking.
[00:53:40] Speaker B: She goes. I think it might be better to do that in person rather than send a courier.
[00:53:45] Speaker C: I would agree.
[00:53:46] Speaker D: It is a very strange ask.
[00:53:48] Speaker B: Do you want to also see about maybe digging up all the components in about a week? That is another full day of labor.
[00:53:56] Speaker C: Hopefully we can have some mariners take care of that and we'll go check it out. And if it needs to happen in a week, then, yeah.
[00:54:02] Speaker B: All right.
[00:54:03] Speaker D: I am definitely interested in hiring other people to do that work.
[00:54:14] Speaker B: Well, what shall we do tonight? I could take you to some of my favorite haunts.
[00:54:18] Speaker D: You know, serious. I've been wanting to invite you to play out. What is it? Dragon chess. That you play?
[00:54:23] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:54:24] Speaker D: Yeah. Want to hit a tavern and, I don't know, teach me how to play.
[00:54:29] Speaker B: It a bit better.
[00:54:30] Speaker C: That sounds great. Yeah. Where do we go?
[00:54:33] Speaker B: Boulain Bolaine will take them to.
She will take them to the ghost ship tavern, place that is clearly capitalized on the myth of the ghost ship. But it's actually a pretty upscale bar.
[00:54:44] Speaker D: It's not like haunted themed. I mean, it is my type of place.
[00:54:55] Speaker A: Okay, the ghost ship. There's a bunch of old wood that's been had. The word endurance, which is the famous name of the ghost ship, just like burnt into it.
[00:55:06] Speaker C: Indifference.
[00:55:07] Speaker A: They like to do kind of like a wood smoked alcohol as their thing.
Give everything that extra flavor profile. Your folks are enjoying a game of dragon chess, taking in the atmosphere. It's a little bit upscale. When in walks what is obviously a gem merchant, a man who is not only wearing the uniform of the western lands and mining trade company, but is clearly decked out in sort of like Tinkerer's equipment. He's got sort of like extra eye magnifying glass, sort of gizmos on his face. And behind this.
[00:55:44] Speaker D: So not the max type of Jim.
[00:55:45] Speaker A: Yes, the gem merchant.
[00:55:49] Speaker B: Gem. Gem.
[00:55:51] Speaker A: And behind him is a real badass looking guy. Giant scar over his face, massive splint, male armor, a huge maul. The gem merchant walks up to you and says, excuse me, are you Zerus?
[00:56:05] Speaker C: I am. You care for a game?
[00:56:08] Speaker A: Oh, dragon chess. I haven't played that in a while. I mean, I don't mean to interrupt your play, but sure, I'd love a game if you are willing.
[00:56:16] Speaker C: Creedon.
[00:56:17] Speaker D: Creedon fellks a little bit because she wanted to talk to Sirius, but she will surrender her seat.
[00:56:21] Speaker A: I'll be done in just a moment, dear.
[00:56:23] Speaker C: I'll reset the board.
Why don't we make this interesting while we play?
[00:56:27] Speaker A: All right.
[00:56:29] Speaker C: I put 50 gold on the table.
[00:56:31] Speaker A: He puts down an emerald.
[00:56:33] Speaker C: Outstanding.
Yes? I'm Zirus. How can I help? And I start playing.
[00:56:39] Speaker A: So, first off, let's see how this chess game goes. He rolls a seven in his toolkit.
[00:56:45] Speaker C: I've rolled a five, which gives me a ten.
[00:56:47] Speaker A: It's a tough game. He's sort of matching you, but in the end, you are more skilled than him. He obviously knows the good patterns, but is missing the real skill during the course of the game, he says. So, I've been asked to speak with you about a little issue that's been going on in town. I'm here, of course, representing Master Ogden Sasks, coin lord of the Western Landing and Mining trade Company.
[00:57:16] Speaker C: And you are?
[00:57:17] Speaker A: Maybe don't take my name just yet. Let's see where this goes. And then I'll hand it over if we end on more amicable terms.
[00:57:24] Speaker C: What's your initial? Just something to call you.
[00:57:28] Speaker A: Well, for now, just call me Mr. Emerald.
[00:57:30] Speaker C: All right, emerald.
So I'm looking forward to grabbing your namesake, but what else can I do for you?
[00:57:37] Speaker A: Yes, well, you'll have to win it fair and square. But before we get that far, Mr. Sasks has taken an interesting notice to your recent work involving some mercenaries in bay. He would like to know to what nature those mercenaries were attempting to act. What were they after? What was the nature of their actions?
[00:58:02] Speaker C: They seemed to be planting seeds around the island.
[00:58:05] Speaker A: Seeds, you say? Interesting. Do you know to what end they plant these seeds?
[00:58:11] Speaker C: I don't know their real end goal. No?
[00:58:13] Speaker A: Well, Mr. Sasks is interested in winning the next contract for control of the lighthouse, and it would seem. And he topples his king and slides a little emerald across to you. You would have beaten him in a few moves anyway, but he seems too relented. It would seem that you could be an ally in ensuring that whichever one of the houses is planting seeds is discounted from future negotiations.
[00:58:47] Speaker C: I'm open to that. For the right information and the right.
[00:58:52] Speaker A: Compensation, you've won fair and square. This is the beginning of a potentially beautiful relationship.
Let's say that if you were to provide me the name of the house and perhaps the nature of their transgression near the lighthouse, I would provide with you a ruby of triple the value of this emerald that you've taken from me.
[00:59:22] Speaker C: Well, I have a small team, so one ruby is a little difficult to split, so maybe two.
[00:59:31] Speaker D: I just get to fight for.
[00:59:34] Speaker A: It might be a little smaller, but I can arrange a commiserate value of rupees.
[00:59:40] Speaker C: Great. That sounds excellent. I quickly glance around the bar, looking to Boulain and Creedon, who I think are listening in at this point for any kind of head motion real quick of indication of approval or disapproval.
[00:59:56] Speaker B: Boulain gives a very slight shrug to her shoulder.
[01:00:00] Speaker D: Creedon clearly wasn't paying attention.
[01:00:02] Speaker C: All right, I think we can make that work. Where do I find you? Just the guildco.
[01:00:07] Speaker A: The trading hall for the western landing and mining trade operation. Yes, I work with the gem cutters. I'll be in that area.
[01:00:15] Speaker C: Understood.
[01:00:16] Speaker A: And he stands up and says, lady, your seat. And as you sit down, I assume.
[01:00:21] Speaker D: Yeah. I wander back over.
[01:00:23] Speaker A: He says, it's an honor to meet a bright wind, and she frowns.
[01:00:29] Speaker B: How does everybody know who we are?
[01:00:32] Speaker D: I don't like that guy. However, if he's in with one of the coin lords. I mean, we do need some allies if we're going to go up against another one of them that is trying to mess up this whole island and cast a spell that will wreak havoc.
[01:00:50] Speaker C: Yeah, it seemed pretty advantageous to pretty much what we're already doing.
[01:00:56] Speaker B: Yes, he is engaging in the coin lord politics and wants to put somebody at a disadvantage. I honestly do not see any harm in providing him the information he is looking for.
[01:01:09] Speaker D: Clearly, he's already got plenty of information already, but yeah. Yes.
[01:01:13] Speaker B: I wonder who told him who we are. We have only told our names to the admiral, to Emstone.
[01:01:22] Speaker D: I have a feeling that if you make it to be a coin lord in this town, that you have a pretty thorough information network.
[01:01:29] Speaker B: Yes, that is true.
[01:01:41] Speaker A: And that is our show today. Special thanks to Tod Ferguson of my pet machine for our tunes, Juliet, elaborate flight of fancy for our logo, and of course, all the people who remember to leave us a rating and review.
Big town justice is proven to be more elusive than little town justice was. Tune in next time to meet some pirates on carrots and suffering a DND odyssey.
