Venture Forth: A D&D Podcast
Episode 1: No Rest at Coldcrest
Cast (in order of appearance):
Olma Marsk is played by Rebecca Hausman
Flynn Felloweave is played by Russ Bartek
Ceallach Gray is played by Shane O’Loughlin
March is played by Bridget Black
Shraya is played by Cameron Gregg
The DM is played by Ethan Ralphs
Olma: [bright, youthful, and feminine voice with American accent] Hi, I’m Olma.
Flynn: [enthusiastic tenor voice with American accent] Flynn.
Ceallach: [wry, musical male voice with Irish accent] Ceallach.
March: [matter-of-fact woman’s mezzo voice with American accent] March.
Shraya: [whispery, graveled male voice with American accent] Shraya.
Ethan: [calm, narrative baritone with American accent] And I’m your DM, Ethan. Welcome to Venture Forth.
[intro music begins: a spirited and optimistic orchestral tune in three, full of courage and adventure, with a propelling drum line]
[intro music fades out and background music begins, continuing under the narration: a light, ethereal variation on the intro theme]
Ethan: Our game begins in the warring world of Elbor, once a thriving landscape full of wonder and adventure, but for the last thirty years, a great war has raged, dividing the people of this land. The kingdom of Kaldur, lawful and resilient, has come to accept the New Gods, while the combined forces of Ondale and Gan Boldir fight to preserve the faith of the Old Gods.
Ethan: A flag flies high [1:00] over a commander’s tent, proudly waving the orange and gold colors of the nation of Ondale. The wind has picked up considerably in the last hour, rustling the canvases of the numerous tents that have been set up here. A few men and women of half-orc, dwarvish, and human descent litter the camp, attempting to keep the campfires ablaze amidst the biting cold breeze of the early morning. All but those who remain have traveled north the night before, to assist in a skirmish that had broken out along the river. Those left behind are nursing injuries, from arcane burns, to broken bones, to mutilations much worse. The war has not been kind. The sun has just begun to rise, casting golden light and long shadows, bringing an end to another restless night. This is Coldcrest Outpost.
Ethan: A young half-drow stands at attention in the commander’s tent, across the table from a muscle-bound half-orc in a heavy set of knight’s armor. A battle map lays on the table between them. Shane, would you please [2:00] describe your character for us?
Shane: [wry, musical male voice with Irish accent] Right. He stands tall, wiry, and obstinate. He’s a slate grey-skinned pointy-eared humanoid in a tattered green short-sleeved shirt and an aged angular priestly mantle with a high collar. Secured with a rugged bronze sash over black slacks is the weathered gown of a once-ornamental robe. It falls just shy of hefty, well-traveled boots. Restin’ on his neck in a v-shape over his chest is an unusual-lookin’ trinket. It bears three warped metal rings in a triangle formation. His right arm is covered in recent bandages, from his hand all the way up to his shoulder. He squints about with the discerning green eyes that bear the wisdom of age, but not the wrinkles, and a youthful rage despite his salt-and-pepper hair.
Ethan: You had been zoned out for most of the conversation so far, your thoughts preoccupied with the events of the previous evening, [3:00] but Commander Vash, the half-orc that you’ve been speaking to, quickly regains your attention.
Commander Vash: [gruff American Southern accent with a drill sergeant cadence] Ceallach! You are done here. Do you understand me? What is the point of having a cleric who cannot heal anybody? Please tell me that, son.
Ceallach: Let me answer your question with another question, Commander. [begins shouting] What’s the point of having a commander who can’t command a force, who can’t keep his men alive long enough for me to repair them?
Commander Vash: It is not my job to heal people and keep them out of danger, son. It is my job to win, and we have been doing so successfully for the past three months here, and you are the one who cannot do your job.
Ceallach: Ah, yes, it appears very successful from all the wounds I see comin’ through these tents every day. Let me tell you somethin’. The deaths o’ these men weigh far more heavily on me conscience than yours. So don’t you dare [4:00] take that tone with me.
Commander Vash: The deaths of these men are casualties of war. They are in the front line to protect the innocents that are back at home—
Ceallach: [muttering under his breath while Commander Vash continues reprimanding him] The innocents.
Commander Vash: —I don’t think you quite understand that.
Ceallach: Oh, I understand perfectly. [pause] Where do you—Where do you intend to send me then, Commander? What’s your great plan here?
Commander Vash: Quite frankly—
Ceallach: [interrupting] Who—Who will you replace me with?
Commander Vash: Anyone. Quite frankly, I’m gonna send you anywhere but here.
Ceallach: Then I have one more question for you, Commander. What did you do to deserve this, mm? What did you do to the Church of Fimir? What did you do to earn such disfavor from the Old Gods, mm? What do you think it was? Because I can tell you somethin’: the Church didn’t send me here to help you, no. They sent me here for an explicit purpose. They sent me here to die. And you have somehow failed [5:00} to do that. Even though you let all these other men do. You let them go into battle and lose their lives, but not me—somehow you’ve failed to do the one thing that the Church wanted you to do to me. So. Does that seem like the Old Gods are really in charge here? Or is something else afoot?
Commander Vash: Despite your best efforts, I will not be dissuade from this battle by a young and arrogant drow. Now I do not wanna see your face around here again, do you understand me?
Ceallach: Where do you want me to go? I’m at your behest. If I leave here without a writ, then the Church will have me hunted.
Commander Vash: Where do I want you to go? Pick a direction.
Ceallach: …Good luck with your war then, Commander.
Shane: And I’ll knock over the figures on his battle map [6:00] and stride out of the room, out of the tent.
Ethan: And you leave without another word exchanged. You burst out from the tent, the cold air once again filling your lungs and creating goosebumps on your skin as you walk back towards the medical tent where all of your stuff is currently stationed.
Ceallach: This bloody place…
Shane: And I’d like to go through the tent. Is anyone in the tent? In the medical tent.
Ethan: You open up the tent—it’s one of the larger tents here in camp, as it houses a lot of stretchers, a lot of medical equipment here—it just needs more space than the rest of the tents. And as you walk inside there are five stretchers laid out. Two of them are occupied with humans who you’ve been in the process of attempting to heal from battle wounds. [7:00] And the other three stretchers, unfortunately, are occupied with deceased members of your company, members who you had tried to save, but unfortunately their wounds were just too great, and they have either bled out, or just succumbed to the wounds over time. You look around and you see your regular medical equipment that’s always been there, you see your station, which is filled with more arcane components, and then you look over to the opposite side of the room and you see the station of your assistant, Jarnen Frostthane, the dwarven man who is more into surgeries and more of a physical healing. You see his station filled with hacksaws and sutures and all of the components of surgery.
Shane: Jarnen’s there?
Ethan: He is not.
Shane: At his—Okay.
Ethan: His station is fully prepped and ready to go, but he is not there.
Shane: So I will glower [8:00] over at the corpses of the lives lost, and just somberly observe them, and take a moment to watch their essence, to watch their aura, so to speak, and… just tighten my fists so much that me fresh wound starts to bleed a bit, my right hand. And I will, grimacing, begin to pack my belongings in a kind of a brisk fashion making sure to take as many medical kits as I can muster. I’m not sure what kind of supplies are left—
Ethan: Yeah.
Shane: —but I have great use for those. And certainly will need them. [9:00]
Ethan: And as you are packing up all of your stuff, you look out the front of the medical tent, where the doorway, the flaps are open and out towards the rolling hills off to the east, and you look out for just a brief moment, and you spot two figures climbing over the hill off in the distance. And these two figures, you don’t recognize, but they’re walking closer and closer to the camp. Closer and closer to your medical tent. Russ, would you please describe your character for us?
Russ: [strong, warm voice] Yeah. So, over these hills, you see a younger halfling with an athletic build standing a mere three and a half feet tall. He looks to be around his early twenties, with brown hair, short on the sides and back and messy medium length on the top. He has blue eyes and the slight beginnings of a five o’clock shadow [10:00]. He’s adorned with studded leather armor and brown boots. Draped over his left shoulder, covering part of his back and left side of his body to around the calves, hangs a pine green cloak with a hood and a brown fur collar. He carries a wooden shield, a short bow, and a small quiver of arrows on his back overtop the cloak, and a short sword that hangs from his right hip, all of which seem to be… they look a little big for him. As he walks, he seems to absentmindedly keep his right hand on the hilt of the sword, to keep it from dragging on the floor.
Ethan: And walking beside him, Cameron, would you please describe your character?
Cameron: [expressive, rumbling voice] So right beside him, you see this tall, lanky, birdman-looking creature, a humanoid with a wingspan that is currently tucked back with two arms [11:00] and hands that emerge from under the wingspan, the wings coming out of the back, with each hand having about three fingers and a thumb. Two large talons continue to plod the earth as they walk up. The plumage of this birdman varies between burnt gold, brown, and outright gold in the accent spots. The beak has a tip that goes from brown to gold and the very tip of it seems to glow even without the light. There is armor coming off of this birdman in the areas like the torso that's gray with a bluish kind of sparkle and tint in some of the edges and accents. You see a walking stick in his hand that seems to glow slightly pinkish [12:00]. There are geometric patterns coming out of the staff that wind their way all the way up to the very top, where it seems, though, if a closer look reveals that it's not actually suspended in midair, it's being supported by the staff. There is a dully pink-purple glowing crystal at the very top, and the height of this birdman varies between about six feet and over six feet when his feathers are ruffled.
Ethan: So… you both are walking over this hill, and you guys are hit with that early morning daylight across your skin, and you crest the final hill, and you look out into the distance and see a grouping of tents. You see Coldcrest Outpost, your destination for this part of your journey. You guys look out, and you see one much larger tent that [13:00] eems to be much closer to you guys than the rest of the tents, a little bit further back, away from the front line. As you guys approach this grouping of tents, what would you guys like to do?
Flynn: Shraya, are you, uh… are you doing o—okay after that fight? It looks like we're almost here. Um, where do you think we should go for, um, to get some people?
Shraya: [birdlike squawk]
Flynn: That big tent?
Shraya: You can never be too sure about what comes up on the horizon line. If you'd like, as my offer before to scout ahead, I can do the same thing. We have no idea the status of this outpost, or if there are friends or foe remaining inside.
Flynn: Well, um, from my… experience and, and stuff from the castle, they, they kind of said that this is a good place to go? Um, maybe, uh, to get some, some people for, for the, the, the problem that you're having. So, um… I think we might be okay? Um… [14:00] maybe we should just go check out the big tent and see if there's anyone in there?
Russ: Do I see a tavern at all, DM?
Ethan: No, this isn't really a traditional town, this is more a makeshift army camp. A bunch of tents have been thrown together, just as sort of a place to hold position and to house troops. There are no real structures here, it's all just tents that have been thrown up. Looks like over the course of maybe a couple days.
Flynn: Well, um, I mean… I guess we just go, uh, to the, to the big tent. I mean, are you feeling okay, after—
Shraya: [whistles briefly, then speaks] Yes, you're probably right. I mustn't let my fear get the better of me.
Cameron: And even as I say that, I clutch the staff a little bit tighter, and the geometric patterns pulse a little bit in that pink-purple color.
Flynn: Don't worry, uh, Shraya, I'm, you know, I'm your... I'm here to solve your problem, [15:00] so… Don't worry— I, I got you covered, um, so don't you worry and don't you fear. Let's… Uh, let's, let's go ahead and do it.
Shraya: Yes—
Flynn: Let's head out.
Shraya: [dryly sarcastic] —The stature of you, you have me covered. Of course.
Flynn: Yeah. Hey… I know what you're doing. And… Yeah, I, I mean— I— it tracks, I get it. Okay, let's go.
Ethan: And you guys continue forward over the last rolling hill and down into this sort of valley that meets the camp just before a large river comes across your view. You guys walk down to the largest tent and you see a half-drow just furiously grabbing equipment, medical gear, and trying to just get whatever he can together. You guys walk up to the medical tent, open it up, and are greeted by Ceallach.
Flynn: Uh… Hey, uh, sir, do you… do you need help with that by chance?
Ceallach: Hel—help with [16:00] what? With…?
Flynn: With collecting stuff. It looks like you have, like, a, a place to be, and I don't know. If there's any help we could do here, uh, we would, we would be, be glad to help.
Shane: I look over at the corpses and the just [chuckles] wounded people strewn about the room, and I go:
Ceallach: There's not, uh, there's not much helpin’ to be done here. It's sort of beyond help, this place. Um, who—who are you?—
Flynn: [interjecting] Oh!
Ceallach: —What are you doin’ here?
Flynn: Oh, sorry, um, my name is Flynn Felloweave, and, uh, this is Shraya! Um… We've, we've kind of come here—he's, he's had some problems, and essentially I’m, I'm coming down here to, uh, see if I can maybe get a group together, uh, to help take care of his problem. Um, I'm, uh… I'm part of the Ironlight Collective, and this is my—woah, nope! Um… I'm, uh, I'm a seasoned, uh, member of the Ironlight Collective [17:00], and this is definitely not my first mission to prove myself. So, um, yeah! Uh…
Russ: And he kind of just like trails… [laughs to himself] trails off. And…
Ceallach: Right… Uh, well you seem… trustworthy enough there, Flynn? Uh, my name's, uh, Ceallach Gray.
Shane: And I'll reach out and shake his hand with my bandaged hand.
Russ: I'll reach up to shake his— How tall are you again?
Shane: I'm 6’1”. [laughs]
Russ: [laughing] Yeah, so, I definitely reach up. Probably get on my tippy toes to reach your hand.
Flynn: Well it's great to meet you! Um, I…
Ceallach: [interrupting] If you—If you don' mind, I, ah, I gotta, I gotta grab some things, uh, from, from the other—uh, just a, just a couple steps away here.
Shane: And I'll sort of meander back toward one of the patients that didn't quite make it, and there's just some bandages and leftover stuff there that I’m gonna pick up, and with it, I’ll grab a little sickle that I use for lots of various tasks, but it's just a kind of small hand-sickle. And I’ll put that away, and also, he's [18:00] a soldier—this dead body—so, he has a shield next to him that I'll also throw over me back, and I'll take a moment there and sort of look at my hand, and take a look down at the necklace on my chest, and I'll whisper:
Ceallach: What is this? What are you doin’?
Shane: And then I'll turn back to Flynn—
Ceallach: Right! Uh… You have a plan, then? You're, you're going somewhere, doing something?
Flynn: Yes, I, I have a plan… Um, where—But, but first where else could we go—um, it seems like you've been here for a while—where, where else could we go to… find more people? Um…
Ceallach: You want to find—
Flynn: [over Ceallach] Is there like a, a gathering place? I saw a bigger tent earlier, is that where we should go to get a few more folk?
Ceallach: Uh… S—Sure? I mean, there's folk around here, but most of them are… are taking part in the—I don't know if you know this—there's a war going on?
Flynn: I—I do, I do… Um… [19:00] And, and yeah, I—I mean, so… yeah, I’m, I’m, I’m just here to… to try and get some people, because, you know, okay, I’ll level with ya. I’m, I’m an Ironlight Collective member, and… we… uh, uh, this is my first test to… you know, see if I can… hack it, I guess. And, um, just, the, the scuttlebutt around the other group of, you know, people—recruits, I guess—is to, to get a few people to help you, um, on your mission. So, I’m, I’m—
Ceallach: …Right…
Flynn: —I—I thought it would be a good idea to go where the soldiers were, because soldiers are… strong, and, um… bigger than me, so I thought maybe that’d be a good place to start. Um…
Ceallach: Yeah, uh…
Flynn: —This tent doesn’t look like it has anyone that could help, though, unfortunately.
Ceallach: This is kind of, uh, we’re, we’re on a tough time here [laughs wryly] at—
Flynn: [overlapping with Ceallach] I—I’m realizing that… more and more each second.
Ceallach: —this particular strong soldier encampment. Uh, who’s your, uh, your friend here, [20:00] again?
Flynn: Oh yeah!
Ceallach: He’s, he’s a…
Flynn: This is Shraya. And um, he’s the one that has the problem! Um, his town, I believe has some kind of weird magical… problem. I think we passed by it, and it was kinda creepy. Um, Shraya, if you wanna explain it more, uh… it, it seems like—Kerrick, it was?—wants to help?
Ceallach: C—Ceallach.
Flynn: KAYlick! Wants to help.
Shraya: Greetings, pure of earth. You have good energy wrapping your features. I can tell that you are an enemy of the dark energies of this world. Yes?
Ceallach: Ah… I, ah… Sure. I like to think so. These days, I… It’s hard to say.
Shraya: Yes, I have a problem combatting dark energy myself. However, right now it appears that you have your hands full. I am also practiced in herbal medicine. If you need, I can lend a hand in the interim.
Ceallach: Well, uh, [21:00] I just got fired, so… Uh… Don’ worry about it. Lettem rot, aye?
[party laughing in the background]
Flynn: You got fired? Wha—What happened?
Ceallach: Well, uh…
Shane: I sorta gesture to the dead people. [Shane laughs and party laughs in the background]
Ceallach: I wasn’t uh, I wasn’t cuttin’ it, or…
Russ: When you gesture to them, I’ll kinda walk up, put my hand on—I’ll try and get it on your shoulder, but I probably get to about your hip? [Shane laughs] And I just kinda give you a sincere look—
Flynn: Hey man, it’s not your fault, you know? I’m sure you tried your best, and… you know, that’s all you can really do at the end of the day. But… um, yeah, it, it sucks that you got fired, but, hey! Now you’re hired!
Ceallach: Right… What kinda services will you be needin’ from me? And, I—just! You said the Iron-what Collective? Is, is this, is this a cult? That’s really my main—
[party laughs]
Russ: When he says the Ironlight Collective, he kinda straightens his little coat and gets all proper lookin’, he’s like:
Flynn: Well! The uh, Ironlight Collective is a— [interrupting himself] You don’t know? About the Ironlight Collective? [22:00]
Shane: DM, do I know?
Ethan: You would not know, no.
Shane: Okay.
Flynn: They’re uh…
Shane: I just stare at him blankly.
Flynn: They’re pretty great. Um, it’s, uh, without divulging too much, uh, they’re kind of like a… a monster-hunting group, and they… they keep people safe. And… I’m just, you know, I’m just tryna become part of that, because… you know, I, I wanna, I wanna adventure, and I wanna do cool stuff! And, you know, yeah!
Shraya: I don’t blame you, earth-walker, I thought the same thing when he described it to me.
Ceallach: …Yeah… So Shraya, you’re not part of this… this thing? You’re not a monster-hunter?
Shraya: I have been enlisted, in my own way.
Ceallach: —Keeper of…
Shraya: I am from a land very, very far from here. Cross many mountain ranges and oceans and valley fords. But I am here to combat as much dark energy as I can. The only problem is, [23:00] with what currently ails the lands that I come from and the lands here, it appears, we’re having trouble even identifying or tracking down the source of this… dark energy, and this… seemingly haunted creatures of these lands. We… It appears you might be able to help us perhaps identify, and perhaps you might know a thing or two about what these origins of this energy might be.
[music fades to a low drone with occasional six-note strains reminiscent of the previous theme]
Ceallach: I been… fightin’ darkness all me life. So, ah… that does appeal to me.
Flynn: That’s sad.
Ceallach: Ehhh… It, eh, wasn’t always. [Ceallach laughs wryly] It wasn’t always as sad as it is now. Achh, right. Ah, well!
Shane: DM, do I know of anywhere people do gather [24:00] to find… Are there places where travelers stop, here?
Ethan: In the time that you’ve been here, at this camp, you haven’t seen too many travelers come through. Most of the travelers who have come by have mostly just lost their way, and you guys have to sort of show them back to the path—
Shane: Right.
Ethan: —Back to civilization. This is right on the warfront, and not really a place where adventurers come, necessarily. This is a place for soldiers and for battle.
Ceallach: Well, uh… Y’know… All I know is I need to get out of here before I’m… further… reprimanded.
Flynn: Right.
Ceallach: So… Perhaps it’s best we… make our way out?
Ethan: And as you say that, off in the distance, a little bit towards the river, you hear—you don’t see Jarnen, [25:00] but you hear his voice as he is making his way towards the tent with quite a bit of haste. And you hear:
Jarnen: [earnest and direct, slightly more clipped than Ethan’s speaking voice] Ceallach! Ceallach! Ceallach! I need your help!
Ceallach: Ach… Eh, Ja—Uh, wh—ahh—I’m… happy to oblige, Jarnen. Wh—What can I do for yeh?
Ethan: And he runs up and he bursts through the tent, and you see him now covered in sweat, and he’s got his distinctive sort of medical robes, very white, but stained with blood and almost brown at this point from just, all of the dirt and blood and muck that he’s been through. He comes through, and there’s sweat on his brow, and he says:
Jarnen: [exhales heavily] I uh—I just found two bodies down by the river. I—I tried to gettem on stretchers, and I, I dragged ‘em sort of up here, but I, I just can’t do it myself. I need you to help me bring ‘em up. They’re—they’re not in, in good shape. And they’re not soldiers. I don’t know who they are, but I, [26:00] I need your help to bring them back.
Ceallach: Of course.
Jarnen: Can you come help me?
Ceallach: Of course, Jarnen.
Flynn: [talking over Ceallach] Hi, I’m Flynn Felloweave. Can I help as well?
Jarnen: Hi, Flynn. Uhh—the more the merrier. Uh, can—
Flynn: Let’s go!
Jarnen: Yeah, as many hands as possible.
Ceallach: Oh, boy.
Ethan: And then he runs back out the tent with quite a bit of haste.
Ceallach: [exasperated] Alright.
[party chuckles in the background]
Russ: I try to keep up. With my little legs.
[party laughs in the background]
Ethan: Okay.
Shane: Yeah…
[Russ imitates Flynn’s rapid breathing as he runs]
Ethan: He’s a dwarf, so your stride is sort of keeping with his stride.
Russ: Perfect. Great.
Shane: I’m definitely gonna be matching slightly ahead. I’m— [Russ laughs] I wanna get there first. [Shane laughs]
Ethan: For sure.
Russ: Cool.
Ethan: Okay. Shraya, are you coming along too?
Cameron: I sort of hesitantly look the guy up and down, shrug, and follow at a little bit of a back-pace—a little bit of a couple lengths of people back.
Ethan: Okay. You guys all run through the mess of tents and the ground is muddy and mucky from the river that’s nearby.
[someone imitates the sound of stepping through mud]
[the party laughs]
Ethan: [laughing] Yeah, for sure, your feet are definitely getting stuck [27:00] every once in a while. But he leads you up to just off of the riverbank, and you guys could see a boat that has been washed ashore there. And you can see Jarnen has already brought out two stretchers and has put these two bodies onto the stretchers. These two bodies are very different in their sizes. And, as you guys run up and attempt to grab one of these stretchers, Rebecca, would you please describe your character?
Rebecca: [soft and warm voice] You see on the stretcher, a slight, small woman, you think maybe if she were standing, she’d reach about 4’5”. She’s not very tall. She’s got tangled, dirty, long brown hair tied in a plat that’s thrown over her shoulder. She wears a faded yellow hooded cloak that ends at about her waist, held together by a leather knot under her neck. Below that, are [28:00] simple, tied pants, worn boots. Her wrists are wrapped like that of a fighter, but nothing she wears appears to be of any value, especially now that it is tattered and burnt. Below the leather tie of her cloak, you can sometimes catch the glimpse of a red gem, but upon closer inspection, even through the dirt and grime and smoke and fiery soot, you see a rosiness and softness to her features that is uncommon in someone who should be out here. In fact, she looks far too young to be out in a place like this, looking like this. You notice that this pale, short human is actually just a child.
Ethan: And… she lays there, unconscious, on the stretcher next to another unconscious body much larger than hers. Bridget, would you please [29:00] describe your character?
Bridget: [steady, clear voice] In the adjoining stretcher, sort of directly next to what appears to be a child, there is what is, no mistake, a goliath. She is roughly 6’5”, 6’6”? She’s incredibly pale, and through all the muck and guck of her hair, you can tell that it is this striking forest green color that is all the way twisted down to her back, with this white streak that is just caked with mud and blood. She’s got these pale, pale runes that through the mud and the guck you can kinda see on her skin, and that skin again is so pale that if she wasn’t— [Bridget inhales and exhales audibly for emphasis] –breathing every once in a while, you wouldn’t be able to tell if she was actually still alive. She’s got this chainmail that you can tell she has not taken off [30:00] in quite some time, with a necklace that you just can’t make out cuz it’s tucked in on the other side. Her clothing, even through all this muck and this guck and everything, you can kinda tell that she wears it to try and blend in? To hope that you can’t really tell exactly what it is. And she’s got a strap around her, carrying weapons, and she’s got javelins kinda hanging out to either side and a warhammer as well as a shield. And over the top of her chainmail is a dark, weather-torn leather jacket, and just boots below. And she kind of has obviously recently-healed wounds that are clearly underneath the even more recent wounds.
Ethan: And Jarnen looks over at Ceallach, and he says:
Jarnen: Ceallach, could you—why don’t you help me with the big one, [31:00] and you two—can you guys take the other stretcher, and we can just gettem back up to the tent?
Shane: Is there anything—as we look at them here—is there anything urgently in need of…
Ethan: Make a Medicine check for me as the first roll of the campaign.
[Russ cheers]
Russ: I was wondering if I could help him? If not, that's totally cool. I was gonna run up and help him, alongside him, and ask if there’s anything to do.
Ethan: Do you have proficiency in Medicine?
Russ: I’m not proficient in Medicine, I just have a +2.
Ethan: Yeah, so, it would just be him to do it.
Russ: No problem. [in the background] You can do it!
Cameron: I could help him if need be, but I am kind of hanging back a little bit. I am a little bit distrustful right now.
Russ: Right.
Ethan: Okay, yeah.
Shane: That is a 15.
Russ: [appreciatively] Okay, okay!
Ethan: A 15, okay! You're looking over… Which body are you looking over?
[the six-note strains begin to come more frequently, the music building slowly up to a musing and mystical orchestral tune overlying the same drone]
Shane: I'm gonna look at the child first.
Ethan: The child first? Looking at the child, she looks to be mostly healthy, obviously breathing. You check her pulse. Everything seems [32:00] to be fine. She does seem to have a series of burns on the front of her body, not anything too deep, nothing too serious—something that could probably be healed fairly quickly, but it seems that they’re both unconscious due to probably exhaustion and not having these wounds treated recently.
Shane: Alright, okay. And how’s the goliath look?
Ethan: The goliath looks just about the same.
Shane: Alright.
Ethan: Looking over the goliath, though, you notice the burns aren’t quite as severe. The burns aren’t quite as deep, and it’s only just on one side of her. Looking over, you notice on her shoulder, on the side of her that’s burned, you notice three shards of something lodged deep into her shoulder.
Ceallach: Oh, my…
Shane: I kind of give Jarnen a look, and then I’ll look over to sort of where [33:00] he dragged them from, and I’d just be searchin’ for some kind of explosion, just really confused at the kind of wounds and where they’re comin’ from the river. And I’ll be like:
Ceallach: Alright, let’s hustle. Let’s get these back. Who’s gonna help—Jarnen, you’re gonna help me with the big one?
Jarnen: I can help you with this one, yeah, if the other two can get this one?
Ceallach: Flynn, can you handle a child?
Flynn: Yeah, um, that’s what I was gonna suggest. [Shane and Bridget laugh] Let's do it.
Ethan: [laughing slightly] Okay.
Flynn: Shraya, help me out with this!
Shraya: [sighs]
Cameron: Do I hear him calling over to me?
Ethan: Yes, yeah, you’re pretty close. You’re keeping your distance, but you’re still close enough, within earshot.
[the music returns to the drone punctuated by occasional six-note strains]
Cameron: Alright, my feathers are gonna just slightly [disgruntled bird noise] shift back a little bit, and I’m gonna smooth them back down. I’m gonna use my hands to grab the other side of the stretcher.
Ethan: Okay. Shraya, as you try to pick it up, it’s a little bit like a see-saw, it’s tilting a little bit up towards you [Shane laughs in the background] as Flynn [34:00] just can’t really get the height on it. But you guys are able to continue moving as the body that you are carrying is fairly light. Ceallach and Jarnen, however, are struggling a little bit with the muscle-bound goliath that you guys are carrying. But you guys, again, slosh through the mud back to the medical tent and are able to make it there within a couple minutes, and put the stretchers on top of tables.
[the music shifts to a melodic and ethereal arrangement that incorporates wordless vocals]
Shane: As we’re moving them, I’m hurriedly discussing with Jarnen the procedure that we’re going to be taking to address the shards stuck in her shoulder and stuff.
Ethan: And he looks to you, and he goes:
Jarnen: Ceallach, do you wanna—do you wanna take one of them and I can take the other? What… What do you think? These looks like arcane burns or some sort of fire, do you wanna take this or should I?
Shane: I kind of blanch and have to take a second.
Ceallach: I… I’ve got it. I’ll handle it. Um… I can handle this one. The girl seems slightly less [35:00] wounded, ah, so… Maybe you can look after her. The young one.
Jarnen: Yeah, I can look after them both… While I’m doing my work, just, remember we’ve got all of our supplies in there. I think we’ve got… we’ve got only four healing potions left, so use those sparingly in the tent, alright?
Ceallach: Of course. I mean, that’s a last resort.
Jarnen: Of course.
Ethan: And he sorta [strained voice, as if Jarnen is lifting the stretcher] helps you carry these stretchers back and put them on the table. And you now have these two bodies laid on your medical tables.
Shane: Alright. So I set about trying to remove the shards that in the shoulder, and then I will take a very, very deep breath [breathes deeply] and nervously exhale, and I will [36:00] place my hands on the shoulder… on the wounds, on the burns, and I will whisper:
Ceallach: Manere.
Shane: And attempt to cast Cure Wounds.
Ethan: Okay. Which order are you doing this in? Are you taking the shards out first, or are you healing first?
Shane: Taking them out first, so I can do this cleanly.
Ethan: Okay, I’m gonna have you make a Sleight of Hand check with some of your medical equipment to see if you can get these little shards out of her shoulder.
Russ: Nice.
Shane: Okay… [rolls dice] That’s good, that’s good!
Bridget: Appreciated.
[Rebecca laughs]
Shane: 24.
Ethan: 24, nice!
Shane: Oh wait, sorry, sorry. Sleight of Hand?
Ethan: Yes.
Shane: It’s just, uhh… Dirty 20.
Ethan: Okay, still very good. So yeah, you reach in and, very careful not to disrupt any of the blood flow or anything like that, trying not to make the wounds any worse than they currently are, you’re able to very [37:00] carefully pick out these three shards. And as you’re picking them out, they are covered in blood and obviously sort of tough to see, but as some of the blood drips off, you can see a faint white glow from within each of these shards. It’s very dull, even after you rub off some of the blood, and you take them out, and you’re able to put them onto the operating table next her.
Shane: Kinda like one of those little metal tins, you know… drop it in.
[Rebecca makes a metallic clinking sound, then others join in and laugh]
Ethan: For sure, and then after that you cast Cure Wounds, correct?
Shane: That’s right.
Ethan: Alright. You can go ahead and cast that.
[Shane rolls dice]
Shane: That is… you get 10— [pauses] Sorry, yes, 10 points of health back.
Russ: Yes!
Ethan: 10 points of health back!
Shane: And as it does, the wounds themselves almost appear to burn at the edges, [38:00] like they have a slight orange glow to them, like a dull orange glow, and almost as though… it’s like little black flecks of dust begin to assemble, coming out of the orange glow, and as they do, they reform the skin and the damaged areas, and flicker-flicker as they almost blow away like dust in the air.
Ethan: And as they do, all of the wounds close, all of the burns completely heal over, and March, you spring back to life with a breath in your chest, and you are now conscious.
March: [inhales deeply]
Shane: And I exhale with such great relief and—
Ceallach: [lets out two wordless victorious shouts, then continues shouting:] YES! YES!
March: [inhales deeply again] Who the—who—Who the hell are you guys? Where—Where—Where is Olma? Where—Where the hell—Where is Olma? [39:00] What did—Where is Olma? Where is she? Where—Where—?
Flynn: This one right here?
March: Where—
Ceallach: Olma, is this… she doesn’t happen to be a child, does she?
March: [wordless muttering, then speaking to herself] I mean, you could call her that… [unintelligible muttering] …like a fuckin’ child… [louder, to the others] Yeah, yeah, oh my God, oh my God, is she—Olma? Ah, Olma, what—What’s going on, Ol—What’s, what’s, what’s—She’s getting—
Ceallach: She’s not conscious yet. You were in some kind of accident.
Shane: I will gently, gently push her back down, and just be like:
Ceallach: Just take a moment, you’re going to be fine—
March: [interrupting, confused] Who the hell are you?
Ceallach: Uh... My name is Ceallach Gray, I’m a doctor. You’ve had some kind of accent, we’ve just now begun your treatment, so…
March: Oh…
Ceallach: I think you’re gonna be in fightin’ shape in no time—
March: [affirmative mumbling to herself] Oh yeah... We did.
Bridget: She’s kind of talking to herself, like:
March: Oh, fuck. Oh yeah. Uhh… okay, okay, okay.
Ceallach: Right…
March: Uh… How—How long have I been out?
[pause]
Ceallach: [uncertain noise] We don’ know. We—We found you on the riverbed. Uh—Jarnen here [40:00] probably saved your lives. Jarnen, how does the child look? Is she—Olma, I take it—is she doin’ alright?
Ethan: You look over and he is in the process of putting a mixture of herbs and looks like crushed up flowers on top of the burned areas of her skin, and then putting wet towels and cloths over those burns, and then he looks back at you and he says:
Jarnen: Well, I’m sort of doin’ more of a long-term solution here, but it looks pretty surface level, so this isn’t really my thing. I can—I’ll go over and grab one of the healing potions, I know you might be pretty drained after that.
Ethan: And he walks over to the medical counter where you can see there are four healing potions there, on the counter. He grabs one, uncorks it, and runs back over to the little girl on the table, and sorta tilts her head back, opens up her jaw, and pours the healing potion down her throat. And with that, [41:00] you see her burn marks begin to completely heal over. And with that, Olma, you burst back to life with a breath in your chest, and you are now conscious.
Olma: [gasps loudly and begins coughing, continuing for some time before calling out worriedly] March? March? Mar—
Rebecca: She sees dwarves and halflings and birds and pale elves—
March: Breathe. Breathe. Olma—
Olma: March—March, where’s—
March: I’m here, I’m here. I’m here.
Olma: [almost wailing] Where’s Ayer? Oh my gosh, he’s gonna be so mad at me—Oh no, what did I d—Oh no—Oh no, are they com—Are they okay? Did they get out? Oh, oh… [coughs more]
March: [sighs heavily] I… I don’t…
[music transitions to a swelling but muted melody in four, inspiring confidence and curiosity]
Ceallach: Were there—Were there others?
March: No…
Ceallach: Should we be lookin’ for other bodies?
March: I don’t—I don’t—I don’t think—
Ceallach: Was anybody with you?
March: I managed to get you and that was it, I don’t—
Olma: I don’t—I don’t know, [42:00] I don’t thi—If they were with us, they would have been there… [despairing] And if they weren’t with us, they’re gonna find us soon, so… March, March let’s go. We gotta go.
March: Yeah… If this—This has been great, I really appreciate you small beings, and uh, except—except the, what? Bird? He? Hey, what’s up, how ya doin’, you look great— [Shane laughs] Um, but uh, we should, yeah, thank you very, very much for all of the—of this assistance, um… Y—K—Kay? Kay—Kay—Kaylyn? Kaylick?
Ceallach: Kel-lach.
March: Kay—Kan—Kah—Kaylick. Thank you, sir. That was great. If there’s food? And water? We will grab it and be on our way.
Flynn: Hi! Uh… excuse me! My, uh, I’m Flynn, Flynn Felloweave. Did you guys say you—are you in trouble or something? Are you guys okay?
March: March. Marcheline, actually. The name’s Marcheline. If you ever call me that, I will step on you. Please call me March, thank you.
Flynn: …Not sure why you told me your full name if you don’t want me to call it, [43:00] but okay! Sure! March! Got it!
[Shane laughing in the background]
March: [confused noise, then with a slightly defensive tone] I thought you were a child, I’m sorry.
[Shane laughing even harder]
Flynn: [mostly unbothered] Oh yeah, that happens, I understand… Nope, nope, I’m a halfling, so… Similar, but different. Um, are you guys in trouble? Do you need help?
Olma: Ummm… Are we in trouble… is a difficult—
March: [in a warning sing-song] Don’t say anything—
Olma: Oh, you’re—yeah.
[March and Olma talking over each other, over-asserting that there are no issues and they don’t need Flynn’s help]
March: No, we’re fine—
Olma: Everything’s fine—We’re just gonna—
March: This has been great—
Olma: Yeah—
March: You look great, we should do this every Tuesday, um… and… I’ll bring—I’ll bring the wine next time. It’ll be fun.
Ceallach: Well… We’re not gonna stop you from leavin’, I mean, I don’—there’s no reason to detain you here, just… be careful. Don’ take part in any more explosions.
March: Great.
Olma: I have a question. Where exactly are we?
March: Yes.
Ceallach: This is Coldcrest, it’s a military encampment.
[March and Olma hesitate]
Ceallach: It’s—It’s a sort of a forward-facing base for [44:00] ongoin’ combat.
Olma: [speaking over Ceallach, and hesitant like she’s worried about the answer] But like—which side of the war? Could you be a little bit more specific about where we are?
Ethan: You guys are currently in Ondale.
Rebecca: Ondale. Greeaat.
[Shane laughs]
Shane: I was like: “Are we in Ondale or Gan Boldir?” I couldn’t remember.
[Shane and Rebecca both laugh]
Rebecca: Ondale.
Ceallach: Ondale.
Olma: [drawing out her words] Got it. Yeah… Um… March, I don’t really know how to get back where we were?
March: Do we wanna get back where we were, Olma?
Olma: Noooo.
March: [agreeing] Noooo.
Olma: Um, is there any— I mean, are you guys go— Is there towns nearby? Is there somewhere we can—
March: [interjecting] Preferably with alcohol.
Olma: I don’t wanna be with soldiers necessarily, but—
Ceallach: Not very near…
Shane: DM, where’s the closest town? Do I know— I’ve come from there, right?
Ethan: Yeah! You come from there. You would know that the closest town is actually Addersfeld, just to the east. It’s about—
Shane: Right.
Ethan: —A day and a half travel. [45:00] But there is a main road that goes from Coldcrest to Addersfeld.
Ceallach: Yeah, uh, I mean… You could go to Addersfeld. There’s a good—decent community there, decent group of folks. I dunno what you’re running from, but whatever you need, you could probably find it in Addersfeld.
March: Great!
Ceallach: I’ve spent a lot of time there.
March: Did you wanna go back? Are you— I mean, if you’re bored—
Olma: Do you know how to get there?
March: Yeah!
Flynn: [interjecting] I do!
Olma: Oh, you do? Who are you?
Flynn: Yes. I am Flynn Felloweave—I think I may have said that already—um, but, but I’m part of the Ironlight Collective, and their castle is in Addersfeld, and I was actually sent with the bird-friend here, Shraya, and I’m helping him with… a problem… and, um, I— I mean, I’ve been looking for people to help me— help me with his problem, and… um… Ceallach’s helping.
March: What’s the problem…? [46:00]
Rebecca: DM— [realizing she might have cut off Bridget] Sorry— DM, would we have heard of Ironlight Collective in relation to the Hollowguard?
[music turns slow, mysterious, and beckoning]
Ethan: You guys can make a History check for me.
Shane: [laughing as he talks] Does anyone know what the Ironlight Collective—
[party laughing]
Russ: [in a raspy, hushed voice] It’s so secret.
Cameron: [in Shraya’s voice] You may not know, but he never lets you forget.
Shane: [still laughing] That’s right.
Bridget: DM, am I okay to make a check as well?
Ethan: Yes, you’re good to make that.
Rebecca: Ahh… I got a 10…
Ethan: A 10?
Bridget: I got a 19.
[Ethan, Rebecca, and Russ speaking at the same time]
Ethan: Oh, nice!
Rebecca: Oh, there you go!
Russ: There we go.
Ethan: Olma, you would not have heard of the Ironlight Collective. March would have! You would know that there’s just a scatter—a smattering of members here and there—it’s not a very big organization. You’ve come across one or two in your day. They just seem to be very distant, sort of lone wolf types, but pretty good hunters and trackers.
[pause]
March: Oh, um, okay… You’re, uh… You know what? Let’s— [47:00] Let’s back up for just a second. You were saying that the uh… the uh— the man in the corner with the feathers, he’s got a problem? What is this problem—
Flynn: Yeah—
March: —that you’re talking about?
Flynn: So, apparently there’s some kind of magical essence or… problem, in his hometown? And I’ve been tasked, as definitely not my first mission, to help him fix that problem—
March: [muttering to herself as Flynn continues] Sounds like your first mission.
Flynn: —and I know that you guys said that you’re running, I guess, from someone? Or maybe someone’s after you? I can protect you, if, uh, if you come with us! And help us with the problem! And then I can help escort you back to Addersfeld once we finish.
Ceallach: Where—Where is this hometown o’yers, Shraya?
Shraya: [inhales deeply with a half-squawk] My hometown is not very—my ancient home is very far from here, but where I’ve been spending my recent days is not far from here at all. But before we get into my troubles—
Cameron: I look over, and I look at March.
Shraya: Those items that you have on your back, those [48:00]— [birdlike squawk] those javelins, I would very much like to examine them a little bit more closely, if I could.
Ceallach: Shraya’s got a thing about auras n’ such, so… You might just wanna… oblige him.
Olma: Yeah, but… March doesn’t really… [trails off]
March: You want me to just hand you— hand you a javelin?
Olma: [continuing where she left off] …give her items to people? Especially her weapons. She kind of has a thing about that… Um… They’re really personal.
Shraya: I’ve been studying them very closely. Since— I even took a closer look while she was unconscious, so I hope that’s not a problem—
March: You did what??
Ceallach: Don’ say things like that, Shraya, don’ just— just don’.
March: [indignant] I’m sorry, you did what while I was unconscious? What is happening? You wanna look at my javelins? You just want me to give you weapons?
[a light piano descant joins the music, eventually incorporating into the piece as a whole]
Shraya: I only saw the top part of them poking out, and I’ve seen very similar ones before—I’ve even made them before—and I… I always have an eye toward decent craftsmanship.
March: Yeah, you really should’ve led with that. I would’ve gladly been like, “Yeah, take a look at this,” [49:00] but now I wanna—
Shraya: I do apologize. [March hums in acknowledgement] Some of the customs you earth-walkers have are… a bit lost on me, and the order of operations is something I’m— [birdlike squawk] —still learning.
Olma: What’s an earth-walker? I’m so sorry. I— I don’t understand.
Shraya: The creatures like yourselves who primarily walk the earth on two legs and two feet.
Olma: Mmmm. Aren’t you standing on the earth right now? So aren’t you technically an earth-walker right now? Like, in this moment, aren’t you technically earth-walking?
Flynn: Shraya, show ‘em!
Russ: And I’ll do this [makes an unknown gesture] with my hands.
[Shane laughs]
Shraya: Well, it is not my preferred mode of getting around…
Cameron: And are we still inside a tent?
Shane: We’re inside, yeah.
[the party laughs]
Cameron: Yeah, so, I’m just gonna leave it at that.
Shane: I kinda give Jarnen a long look, like:
Ceallach: So, just so y’know, I [50:00] uh… I have to leave here… Uh, yeah, Commander Vash took some issue with, uh… my work, as of late, and so, um, you’re gonna be on your own here for a spell.
Jarnen: No…
Ceallach: Not sure—
Jarnen: You can tough it out.
Ceallach: [hesitates] He was pretty adamant, and I may have said a few things that might not have, um, endeared me to him for much longer anyway, even if he came—
Jarnen: [in sudden understanding] Oh yeah, that’ll do it.
Ceallach: Yeah, he’s a pretty short-tempered, uh, guy…
Jarnen: Hey, uh, listen… You’ve been amazing to work with. Um… I know you’ve sort of been hitting a rough patch here, but… I’ve really enjoyed working with you. You’ve got a good heart, and, um… It’s gonna be tough without you. I’m gonna have a tough time finding a replacement, so uh… If this is really it, I wish you luck on your travels, [51:00] but… You’ve been amazing to work with, so thank you.
Ceallach: I’m so thankful to have met you, Jarnen. I hope our paths cross again. Please be safe out here.
Jarnen: I will. And don’t let the last couple days and couple weeks keep you from thinking of all the lives that you’ve saved before. Just because you lose a few—and in this line of work, you do lose a few, you will lose a few—don’t let those keep you from thinking of all of the people that you’ve saved. That’s it. That’s all I got.
Ceallach: That’s… That’s all I need, and I appreciate it. [sighs] And uh… be careful with those other clerics, you know? They’re not all good eggs.
Jarnen: Yeah. I’ll… I’ll be hard-pressed to find one as good as you.
Ethan: And he turns around and sorta goes back to [52:00] mixing some herbs and some concoctions.
Shane: We do a very masculine shoulder pat goodbye.
[the party laughs]
Rebecca: DM—
Ethan: Yes?
Rebecca: Do I see, like, if I take a look around the area, do I see anything that seems like it would be helpful to me in the future? Like health potions or things like that? Do I see anything that looks unmanned?
Ethan: Yeah! Make a Perception check.
[Rebecca rolls]
Russ: Could I also do one for like—
Rebecca: [upon seeing her roll] Oh noooo…
Russ: —any type of thing that would signify where we are? Something that has “Coldcrest” on it, maybe a piece of paper that’s a medical piece of paper in the trash, or a utensil that has the name on it, any type of souvenir, I guess?
Ethan: Yeah! You can make a Perception check, too.
Russ: Okay.
Rebecca: That’s a 9 for me… Sir…
Ethan: You see some [53:00] medical equipment everywhere. You do actually see the three remaining healing potions, those are just sort of laid out right on the front table there, those are not hard to spot.
Rebecca: ‘Kay.
Ethan: Anything beyond that, you don’t really know what it is, even.
Rebecca: Are there a lot of people by the health potions?
Ethan: Everyone is sort of in the middle of the room right now, and the healing potions are off in the corner.
Rebecca: Got it.
Ethan: So… No one’s really anywhere near.
Rebecca: Okay, so I’m making a plan in my head. I’m formulating it. So while people are talking and figuring out the next move, I have that series of numbers going on in my head— [Shane chuckles] —of trying to assess whether I can get away with this. But as we leave, or as I know I’m about to leave soon, we don’t tend to stay in places long, so I would like to be calculating the best chances of me swiping some healing potions as I exit.
Ethan: Okay. [Russ laughs in the background] So, as everyone begins to leave, [54:00] when that happens, we can get to that.
Rebecca: When that happens, yeah.
Ethan: What was that—
Rebecca: I’m planning it in my head.
Ethan: [smilingly] Alright. What was the souvenir check for Flynn?
Russ: So I only got a 6… So, I guess maybe… What I do see?
Rebecca: You find some trash.
[Rebecca and Russ both laugh]
Russ: In general? What’s on the table?
Ethan: You… see an apple from Jarnen’s lunch. Yeah, you look around and it’s mostly medical equipment, nothing that is necessarily stamped with a Coldcrest crest.
Russ: What’s the name of the dwarf, again?
Ethan: Jarnen Frostthane.
Russ: I’ll just walk up to Jarnen and, whenever he’s not busy talking to Ceallach or anyone else, I’ll just kinda—
Flynn: Um, excuse me, sir?
Jarnen: Yeah?
Flynn: Um… This sounds weird, and it probably is, but I’m kinda of a bit of a collector? And um, I’m just curious, do you guys— I dunno, is there anything here that I could maybe… take? That sounds bad… [55:00]
Shane: I facepalm.
Flynn: I’m looking for anything that’s kind of like… a souvenir! Um… Just to kinda like… commemorate my travels, as, you know, as like a remembrance, for my first, you know, time going out! Is there anything you guys have that, I dunno, like a… pincer-thing? Or like, forceps? Or something? I dunno. Does this sound dumb?
Rebecca: Are you trying to be quiet, Russ? Or are you, like, just shouting?
Russ: I’m just talkin’ to him.
[Shane laughs in the background]
Rebecca: Can we all hear this?
Russ: Yeah, probably.
Rebecca: Cuz I wanna—while I hear that—I wanna turn to March and say:
Olma: I thought he said this wasn’t his first mission…
March: I’m pretty sure he’s full of shit. [Russ and Shane laugh] He looks younger than you, Olma, c’mon now.
Shane: I kinda just shrug at Jarnen, like:
Ceallach: Give the lad a pair o’ pliers? I dunno. There’s gotta be somethin’ we don’t need anymore, right?
Ethan: And he looks around, and he’s searching for something, then his eyebrows go up.
Jarnen: Oh! I’ve got the perfect thing, you’re gonna love this.
Ethan: And he runs over, and he opens up a drawer, and he’s got three little [56:00] stamps, like when you stamp—
Russ: Oh, no way!
Ethan: —wax into a letter to seal it up. He’s got three stamps, and they’ve all got sort of a military crest on it that symbolizes Coldcrest Outpost.
Russ: Yeah!
Ethan: And he’s got three of them. He hands you one of them, and it looks a lot older, the imprint of the bottom where you’d press it into the wax looks a little bit warped and is probably not as deep as it once was. And he goes:
Jarnen: Here, you can have this! I was actually just gonna throw this one out, I got a new one this morning. I use this to stamp all of my medical documents and send those back up to the main fort. You can take this, if you want.
Flynn: [yelling excitedly] This is PERFECT!
Russ: And I take it!
Flynn: Thank you so much! This is perfect!
Russ: And I’ll pull my bag off, all happy and excited that I was successful, and I’ll open it up and just… doot! Chuck it in the bag, close it, tie it up, throw it on my back.
Shane: Lookin’ at Flynn, can I tell—
Flynn: Thanks!
Shane: —how old he is? [57:00] Does he seem like… very young? Or just very… exuberant?
Russ: He’s in like, his early twenties.
Shane: Okay.
Russ: Maybe like, 21, 22ish? Maybe 20.
Cameron: DM—
Ethan: Yeah?
Cameron: Can I retroactively make a “while this has been happening”?
Ethan: Yeah! Yeah, what would you like to do?
Cameron: While this has been happening, I will have been getting increasingly uncomfortable and uncomfortable. They may or may not have seen me slip out of the tent and fly down to the river to wash off the mud and muck off my talons and lower ring of feathers. But for those who haven’t noticed, I do this and then come back, slightly dripping on my way back. I dunno how long it took for this to transpire, but my flight speed is pretty—I have a feeling I might have been able to take care of this while this exchange happened.
Ethan: Yeah, for sure, while all of this has been happening, you have plenty of time. The river isn’t too far away. You’ve been able to go down, sort of wash off, and then come back. [58:00] And right as you step back through the flaps of the tent, Ceallach, you—with your passive perception—begin to hear just a slight rattling of metal. And it’s almost like something’s vibrating two pieces of metal together.
[music turns slow, dark, and ominous]
Ethan: You sort of look around, and you look back to the little tin that you put those crystals in that you took out of March, and you can see one of them—two of them look just about like they did, with the dull white glow—one of them, however, is beginning to vibrate, and beginning to glow a little bit brighter and brighter. As it is, you notice that this one is cracked, unlike the other two, this one has a slight crack running through it. And it begins to glow brighter and brighter and brighter, and then it shatters within the tray.
Ethan: And from the tray, a whisp of white smoke comes up [59:00] from where the crystal was, and it whisps around the room, and at this point, everyone begins to notice this ghostly whisp flying around the room, almost searching. And it makes its way over to one of the dead bodies that’s on the tables. And it makes its way over, and it hovers above a smaller human who is deceased, and it moves over to the next one, and it moves to a pretty well-built elf, and then it moves over to the next one, to a massive half-orc that is laying dead on the table. And then it rushes towards his face, fills his nostrils and his mouth as the half-orc— [Ethan does a loud, gasping inhale] —springs back to life.
Ethan: You can see a hole in his chest, where the wound was that he’d died. About half a foot across, six inches, hole straight through his chest as he bursts back to life. [1:00:00] And he sits up on the table, grabbing everyone’s attention. And he looks down at his hands, and he looks back and forth as he opens his hands and closes his hands, getting refamiliarized with the muscles and how they work. And he looks over to all of you. And he looks confused, and he looks over each one of you guys, and he opens his mouth to speak, but… the voice that comes out is not that of a massive half-orc. It’s that of… a woman! And the voice emanates as they’re looking down at their hands, and goes:
Gem Spirit: [airy, lilting, and sinisterly unbothered voice with an upward cadence] Oh! This is interesting. [brief, satisfied laugh] This is very interesting. Wow, this is new… Where am I?
Ethan: As she looks to the group.
Ceallach: Uh…
Shane: [1:01:00] I sorta look around like, “anybody wanna take this?” [he laughs nervously]
Shraya: What sort of mis-matched creature is this?
Olma: Was—
March: Olma…
Olma: [sounding scared] Was that body unconscious? Like, did it just wake up, maybe?
Ceallach: Uh… What manner o’ spirit are ye?
Russ: I just point to the hole when Olma says that, in his chest…
Flynn: I don’t… I don’t know—
Ethan: And she looks down at her chest now, and she sees the massive hole that has begun to rot from the death that has occurred. And she goes:
Gem Spirit: Oh! Well… Wasn’t expecting that. It’s not ideal, but, you know. You work with what you get. Now I’ll ask again: where am I?
Ceallach: You’re in… Coldcrest. In Ondale.
Gem Spirit: Ondale…
Ceallach: W—Why did you come here? Wh—What manner o’ creature are you?
Gem Spirit: Ondale… I can make that work.
Olma: [frightened] What are you?? [1:02:00]
Gem Spirit: Well, I’m obviously not what I once was, but… I don’t think I can stay like this. I, ah—I’m gonna take my leave. Unfortunately, I can’t have any of you knowing that this has transpired, so, I will leave you with goodbye, and, ah… good luck.
Ethan: And she waves her hand as some magical energy emanates from the half-orc fingers, and a spark of yellow energy bursts the other three unconscious bodies back to life as well, as you hear— [Ethan imitates the labored groaning of the unconscious bodies awakening] — And you can see the three unconscious bodies that were previously dead or unconscious, limbs begin to pop back into place— [Russ makes an uneasy sound] —and wounds begin to slightly heal over, but with a necrotic look to ‘em, and they— [Ethan makes the same groaning sounds again] —gargle and wake up and hop off the tables. And she looks to the rest of you, and she says:
Gem Spirit: Goodbye! [1:03:00] And good luck.
Ethan: And she hops off of the table and steps back through a Dimension Door that sucks her body away.
[disbelieving laughter and unsettled groans from the party]
Cameron: [in Shraya’s voice] Can I prep Shillelagh?
[Ethan laughs at the party’s reactions]
Ethan: As you are just about to prep it, we are going to begin initiative.
Bridget: Shit!
[Rebecca gasps]
Ethan: So everyone roll initiative as you guys are staring down three zombies—
[Russ whoops excitedly, Shane lets out a sustained apprehensive yell]
Rebecca: NOOOO—
Bridget: [chanting to herself] I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine—
Ethan: —in this medical tent.
[music changes to a trilling, tense, violin-driven tune with a steady drum beat]
Russ: Um…
Ethan: Yes?
Russ: DM, while she was kind of chatting, could I have looked in that tin where the shard energy-magic came out of— Are the others ones, are they vibrating? I just kinda wanted to take a look over as she was talking to Ceallach, were they moving?
Ethan: Yeah, it’s not tough to see the other two are dormant, it seems. A slight white glow to them, but that’s the same as when Ceallach took them out of March.
Russ: This may be too much, but as they were talking, could I have like, taken a clipboard, or a piece of wood, and just slooowly [1:04:00] as she was talking, lift it up, and place it on top of the tin to cover it? Thinking— [Ethan laughs] —that that’s gonna help?
Ethan: Yeah! You can make a… Make a Stealth check to see if you can get over.
Russ: Sure. Yeah, just, as they’re talkin’, I’ll just like… “What the fuck is this??” and I’m like, trying to cover it up with something, [Rebecca laughs] thinking that’s gonna stop it from coming out. [rolls dice] Oo! That’s actually really good! You said what, Stealth? Sleight of Hand?
Ethan: Stealth.
Russ: Stealth, hold on.
Ethan: Yeah, Stealth, because you’re actually gonna have to move over, grab an item, and then put it over there.
Russ: Yeah. 21!
Rebecca: Nice!
Ethan: A 21. You’re able to grab a little plank of wood and put it over the table.
Russ: Cool!
Ethan: So, with that, I am going to be taking initiatives. Olma, what’s your initiative?
Rebecca: 8. [she laughs wryly]
Ethan: 8! Nice. Flynn, what’s your initiative?
[the music picks up with the flare of a flute and becomes dominated by a rapid and intense percussion section with a piercing string line over-top]
Russ: [rolls dice] 17.
Ethan: 17! Shraya, what’s your initiative?
Cameron: 5. [1:05:00]
Ethan: March, what you got?
Bridget: 15.
Ethan: What was that?
Bridget: 15.
Ethan: 15. And Ceallach?
Shane: 22.
Ethan: 22, nice.
Shane: Yeah, it was a natural 20.
Russ: Nice.
[Shane chuckles]
Rebecca: You did it too early.
Shane: [laughing] I know, I know, it’s useless in initiative.
[party laughs]
Ethan: Okay! So, with these three zombified corpses now hopping off of the table, you guys are all about 10 feet away from these zombies. Ceallach, what would you like to do? You are first in the initiative.
Shane: Aw, man… I had to be first! Alright…
Rebecca: That’s definitely not where you want the cleric.
Ethan: Yeah…
Shane: I will, uh… Yeah, I’m going to… clench my right hand around my amulet, and I’ll begin to mutter under my breath:
Ceallach: Excoquo.
Shane: And I [1:06:00] will cast Toll the Dead—
Ethan: Okay!
Russ: Nice.
Shane: —with my newfound strength.
Ethan: Nice.
Shane: And that… is! A Wisdom save.
Ethan: A Wisdom save?
Shane: That they have to make. How are there?
Ethan: There are three.
Shane: There’s the elf, the… human… and one more?
Ethan: There’s an elf and two humans, yes.
Shane: Elf and two humans, alright. So… Yeah, I’ll use it on the elf, cuz why not?
Ethan: Okay.
Shane: Why not discriminate?
[party chuckles]
Rebecca: I mean, you’re an elf, so, yeah!
Ethan: Okay, a Wisdom save… That is gonna be a 4 for their Wisdom.
Shane: Alright, that is a fail. So that’s… [rolls dice] Nice. I got maximum. That’s 8 necrotic damage. The wounds that he has already that have sort of healed slightly, they begin to sort of like… glow [1:07:00] with that same orange color, with flecks of white light as well. It almost looks like he’s cooking? Like steam is coming off, and from those dusty flecks, ashes begin to blow out from them, and those wounds begin to pull even further apart from where they were before as he takes that damage, the 8 necrotic damage.
Ethan: [imitates the zombie’s pained groans] He does not seem to be enjoying that, as his now newly corporal form again is beginning to be torn apart. Is that the end of your turn?
Ceallach: Back to the hells with you.
Shane: I turn to Jarnen and I just say:
Ceallach: Now they get up! Now they start to heal. Course.
Shane: And that is my turn.
Ethan: Alright. Jarnen looks back and he gives you— he doesn’t say anything, but he just gives you one of those shrugs, like “hey man, what’re you gonna do.” [Shane laughs] Next up on initiative is Flynn. What would you like to do? [1:08:00]
Russ: Oooo… Um… Hm, so there’s three kind of like— How far away are they?
Ethan: They’re all 10 feet away from you.
Russ: 10 feet… And he just damaged one of them, I saw that happen?
Ethan: Yeah.
Russ: Well, I’ll pull out my shortsword, and I’ll take my shield out, and I’ll run up and hit the one that Ceallach hit!
Ethan: Nice, okay!
Flynn: [battle cry]
Ethan: Make an attack roll.
Russ: Sure. [rolls dice] Oh, that’s not bad. With my [saying “short sword” in a silly voice] showart sward, it’s a… oh! 21!
Ethan: 21 definitely hits.
Russ: Cool! Alright, I’ll come up to it. These things look undead..? Or… Do these other bodies seem to have been risen from the dead?
Ethan: Yeah, very clearly they were dead, now they are not.
Russ: Okay, I just wanna make sure that I’m not attacking like… an innocent civilian. Okay! [saying “damage” in a silly voice] Dermage. Is… 11 points [1:09:00] of piercing damage as I run up and just—
Flynn: Hoo-ah!
Russ: —and just thrust it into the chest.
Ethan: Nice. And it— [he makes pained zombie noises] —really did not enjoy that, as you stab it through the chest.
Russ: [he laughs] And can I position myself so that I’m— Are they next to each other? Or are they spread out?
Ethan: They’re almost right next to each other, yeah.
Russ: I’ll kind of position myself, pull my shield up, put my sword on it—kind of like 300 where they put their shields up and put the spear right on top of it and get into a phalanx—
Ethan: Nice.
Russ: And I’ll do that right in front of the one I just attacked and pivot so that I’m in melee with at least two of them. And I’ll just— You see Flynn kinda gets serious, like “alright, fun time’s gonna have to wait,” and he gets ready. He’s like:
Flynn: [determined] Alright!
Russ: And that’s his turn.
Ethan: Okay. And as you get ready, the zombie that you just attacked and pulled your sword out of is gonna lunge forward and attempt to [1:10:00] claw at you with its hands.
Russ: Go for it.
Ethan: That is gonna be… a 11 to hit.
Russ: Nope.
Ethan: [agreeing] No…
Russ: I’m gonna try to block it with my shield.
Ethan: Alright. He reaches out with both of his hands and you’re able to deflect his attack with your shield. That is gonna be his turn. Next up, March, what are you gonna do? You got three zombies in front of you.
Bridget: March… Okay, just to clarify, have we identified which zombie just attempted to attack Flynn?
Ethan: Yes.
Bridget: You said there was one elf and two humans, correct?
Ethan: Yes, the elven zombie is the one that has been damaged and tried to attack Flynn.
Bridget: Okay, and that’s one that Ceallach has also damaged. The other two have not in any way?
Ethan: That is correct.
Bridget: Okay, so I am going to whip out my war hammer and briefly look over at Shraya and say:
March: This is why I don’t just… hand over weapons to people. Why are you all wet?
[the party laughs in the background]
Bridget: And then run over towards [1:11:00] one of the human zombies and attempt to just… gettem.
Ethan: Okay, make an attack roll.
Russ: [still laughing] I forgot that he went to the river to clean off.
[Bridget rolls her attack]
Bridget: That is a natural 20.
[the party cheers]
Bridget: [laughing] That comes to 26.
Ethan: Nice!
Shane: Let’s fucking go!
Ethan: So that is a critical hit.
Rebecca: [still cheering] NEW DICE!
Ethan: New dice!
Bridget: I’m really into this!
Shane: New dice, new me!
Ethan: So I’ll explain real quick our critical hit rule. So, in order to have a little bit more oomph to the critical hits, we are taking the maximum amount of damage on the dice, just maxing that out for the first roll, and then the second roll, you actually roll the dice and add the modifiers. So that is going to be… What’s the die that you’re rolling now, March?
Bridget: It is a 1d8+4, so you’re saying automatically, max damage is 12? [1:12:00]
Ethan: Automatically, max damage is 12, yes, and then you are adding your rolled damage.
Bridget: Got it.
Russ: That’s so huge. That’s gonna—
[Bridget rolls damage]
Shane: Just gonna blast it—
Russ: Yeah!
Bridget: 9 plus 12… 21.
Ethan: [laughing incredulously] 21 points of damage!
[Rebecca laughs in the background]
Ethan: How are you swinging at this thing with your war hammer?
Bridget: Essentially, I basically just wanted to pull it out, have my shield up, make my sassy remark to Shraya, and then just come up on the right side of it, trying to go straight towards his cheek, thinking to myself, “Don’t you have to hit zombies in the head to kill them?” [Russ laughs] And that’s sort of my mentality, is that I wanna go right for the cheek-teeth area.
Ethan: Nice. So you get down and you swing from low to high, and your war hammer makes perfect contact with his chin. And as it does, the chin completely shatters, [1:13:00] and half its face and most of its forehead go flying off, and you can actually see into this thing’s head and you can see its brain still a little bit there as its writhing around, as most of its face and head is gone and it’s just barely hanging on. [Flynn and Bridget let out disappointed groans] Just barely hanging on. Is that gonna be your full turn?
Bridget: How far away is Flynn from me, at this point?
Russ: I’m right next to her, right?
Ethan: Yeah.
Bridget: Yeah, wouldn’t we be kinda—
Ethan: You are right next to him, yeah.
Bridget: I’m just gonna look at Flynn and be like—
March: Do you see its brain? That’s just gross.
Flynn: Yeah… That was good. I’m gonna try that next time.
Bridget: Just puttin’ that out, and also at the same time, kinda tryin’ my eyesight to look for where Olma is, but that’s all I’m gonna do.
Ethan: Okay, and with that—
Flynn: Focus up, March, me and you!
[music shifts, embodied by a confident and upbeat steel drum]
Ethan: And with that, it is Olma’s turn. What would you like to do?
Rebecca: So Olma’s still on the bed that she was healed on, [the party chuckles] she’s just sitting up and [1:14:00] staring at everything—
Shane: [amidst his own and the party’s laughter] Little glass of water—
Rebecca: And she’s just thinking how before the zombies started, she was thinking “How am I gonna steal this health potion,” and now she’s like… She’s— I’m gonna use my movement to get onto my knees on the bed.
Ethan: Okay.
Rebecca: So I’m just crouched on the bed. [Ethan hums affirmatively] And I wanna take in the scene, I wanna see March in melee with two of them, Flynn in melee with… the other two? Is that…? Is that like a…?
Ethan: Yeah, that’s… That’s sort of how it is, it’s Flynn and March right up against these three zombies.
Rebecca: Okay, so, I know what just happened to myself, so I put my hand on my burns that have mostly healed, and I… I kind of call out in a worrying voice. [1:15:00]
Olma: March—
Rebecca: And I rub my hands together, and I say:
Olma: Duck?!
Rebecca: And I throw this warbling mass of energy that’s multi-colored, it’s changing color regularly, it’s going from blues to reds to greens and sickly greens and browns and… and… it’s been thrown.
Ethan: Okay, awesome. So, are you gonna need somethin’ from me on that?
Rebecca: No, I need to roll to hit.
Ethan: So roll that damage. Er, roll to hit, sorry.
[Rebecca rolls]
Rebecca: So, to hit, that is… 23.
Ethan: Oh yeah, 23 definitely hits.
Russ: Nice.
Rebecca: And it is a spell, so I need to roll for Wild Magic…
Ethan: [agreeing] Roll for Wild Magic.
[Russ audibly winces in the background]
Ethan: This spell, [1:16:00] can you target multiple creatures or is it just one creature?
[instrumentation expands to a full orchestra, but remains confident and energetic]
Rebecca: You can, if you roll the damage right, but right now it’s just one creature.
Ethan: Okay. Gotcha.
Rebecca: But it… can potentially hit multiple.
Ethan: Okay.
Russ: That’s so cool.
Ethan: Okay, yeah, so, roll that damage first, and then we’ll do Wild Magic after everything is done.
Rebecca: Great.
Russ: Is this on the last-leg elf guy that we’ve been attacking? Or is it—
Rebecca: Um! I didn’t aim.
[Russ bursts out laughing, the rest of the party follows]
Rebecca: I mean I threw it! I threw it at zombies! And they’re all kind of clumped together, so I was just kind of like, “hit zombie.”
Russ: I love it.
Rebecca: I aimed away from March, obviously, cuz I said her name.
Russ: Yeah.
Bridget: Can I scream, like:
March: Everybody down!
Rebecca: My eyes— You can tell that my eyes close a little bit when I’m casting a spell, if you’re looking, sooo… Yeah.
Ethan: Okay, so do you want me to just choose which zombie this is gonna go for?
Rebecca: Yes, you can choose which zombie.
Ethan: Okay, I will roll for that.
Russ: Nice. [1:17:00]
Rebecca: That is 13 points of… I will tell you what type of damage… That is 13 points of— As the whirling ball goes color to color to color just switching, switching, switching, it settles on this purple, this dusky purple color, as it hits the zombie and does 13 points of psychic damage.
Ethan: Ooo, okay. So this ball bursts forward and, not really seeing where it’s going, it ends up hitting the zombie that March just made contact with.
Rebecca: Awww.
Ethan: And March, you’re lookin’ at this zombie, you’re getting ready to attack one more, and you can see this ball. And this psychic energy blows up its brain, and its exposed brain that you had just, you know, hit the face off of, explodes, [1:18:00] and it sort of—
Bridget: Is it gonna get all over me?
[Rebecca laughs]
Ethan: Yeah, a little bit. A little bit of brain gets on you—
Russ: [laughing] I hold my shield as I try and protect from it.
Ethan: The head completely explodes, and it falls to its knees and drops dead once more.
Russ: Nice. First kill.
Bridget: Ew.
Ethan: Okay, I’m gonna have you roll your Wild Magic surge now, Olma.
Russ: [apprehensively] Oh, boy.
Rebecca: What do I need to roll above?
Ethan: Roll a d20. Since this is your first one, as long as you don’t roll a natural 1—
Rebecca: We’re not counting session zero?
Ethan: No.
Rebecca: Okay.
[Rebecca rolls]
[Rebecca is silent. The cast breaks out in disbelieving remarks.]
Russ: No way.
Bridget: Shut up.
Russ: No way.
Shane: Oh, no.
Rebecca: …I rolled a 2.
[Rebecca laughs heartily, and the rest of the cast is overcome with relief.]
Bridget: Oh my God. Oh my God.
Russ: Geeeeez.
Shane: Wow.
Bridget: We all just, honestly, held our breath.
Russ: That could have been very bad.
Rebecca: Or very good, you don’t know!
Russ: [agreeing] Yeah.
Ethan: So, the Wild Magic within you almost sparks to life, but you’re able to keep it at bay. Is that the [1:19:00] end of your turn?
Rebecca: That is the end of my turn.
Ethan: Perfect.
Rebecca: I’m shaking a little bit, I’m still kneeling.
Ethan: Okay. Next up in the initiative is Shraya. You have two zombies in front of you. One of them, the elven zombie, is pretty hurt, and the other one has been untouched. What would you like to do?
Cameron: The other one, you mentioned the one that’s still standing but damaged is elven in its original lifeform, what’s the other one in its original lifeform?
Ethan: Human.
Cameron: Human, okay. How large this human?
Ethan: Pretty well built, but looks like it’s been dead for a couple days, so the muscle have begun to decay and wither down.
Cameron: This may require a lot of successful rolls, but I’m gonna try it. So I sorta lurch low, pull out my wings, and I mutter under my breath:
Shraya: Find your eternal rest [1:20:00] in the Elemental Plane of Air.
Cameron: And I sort of explore forward with my talons outstretched, and I’m going to attempt to plunge them into this human zombie and carry it up as far into the air as I can.
Russ: Yes, that’s cool!
Ethan: Oh, okay! Sure!
Bridget: Shit…
Ethan: So what we’re gonna do here: you’re just gonna make a regular talon attack—
Cameron: Okay.
Ethan: —because aarakocras have those talon attacks. If you are successful in that attack, then—actually, no, this is just gonna be a grapple attack. This is just gonna be a straight grapple attack, and then you’re gonna see if you can carry him off. So, that’s gonna be a contested Athletics check, so why don’t you make an Atheltics check for me. It’s actually your Athletics versus his Dexterity.
Cameron: Gotcha, okay.
[Cameron rolls]
Rebecca: Zombies [1:21:00] shouldn’t be very dexterous.
Ethan: He rolled a 15 for his Dexterity.
Cameron: Ahh, I rolled an 18.
Ethan: Oho, nice.
Russ: Nice.
Ethan: So you have him grappled, and you are able to keep him in the air for one round before you have to start making Strength checks to see if you can keep him up in the air. So! Yeah, you’ve successfully grappled this zombie. You’re still in a tent, so you’re only able to take him up about 15 feet, but you guys are now 15 feet above the ground.
Cameron: Alright, that is—Yeah, I don’t have an bonus actions or extra movement that could take me any higher, so I’m just gonna keep on that trajectory and end my turn.
Ethan: Okay, very cool. Very surprised at what’s happening, and very confused, the zombie that you are currently holding [Russ chuckles] onto is going to try to break free of your grapple. So I’m going to need another Athlethics check from you to see if you can hold that grapple.
[Ethan rolls]
Ethan: Oh, he rolled pretty well again. [1:22:00] He got a 15.
Cameron: Dammit. I got a 14.
[the party groans sympathetically in the background]
Russ: So close.
Ethan: A 14, okay.
Cameron: Wait, do I add anything to Athletics? That’s Strength, right?
Ethan: Yes.
Cameron: Nope, my Strength is shit, so…
[Russ chuckles]
Ethan: Well, but the benefit is, for you, he is 15 feet up in the air, so he’s gonna take a little bit of fall damage here as he plummets back towards the floor.
Russ: Yeah he is, nice.
Rebecca: [jokingly covering for Shraya] You meant to do that! You meant to bring him up and drop him.
Shane: That was the goal.
Rebecca: That was the goal.
[Rebecca laughs]
Ethan: As he drops, he drops vertical and he drops onto his feet, in a standing position, but as he makes contact with the ground with a thud, you can see his knees sorta buckle in… [Russ makes a disgusted sound] And his legs break a little bit, as he takes…
Russ: Is he still standing now?
Ethan: 7 points of fall damage.
Bridget: So much…
Ethan: He is still standing.
Russ: Okay.
Bridget: So much ow…
Russ: Very ow. [1:23:00]
Ethan: Okay, and then with that, we’re at the top of the initiative, so Ceallach, what would you like to do?
Shane: Right, so… Are any of them dead yet? Or is it just—
Ethan: Yeah, so, one of the humans is dead, and then you’ve got the elven zombie and the other human zombie who have both taken damage at this point.
Shane: Right, well, I will go for the elven zombie. I’m just gonna step up and try… Where are his preexisting wounds?
Ethan: So it looks like the wound that originally killed him went from about his left shoulder down through his torso. It looks like either a sword or an ax sort of cut him through his chest, and he’s got the stab wound from where Flynn originally stabbed him.
Shane: So I’m just gonna try and take my sickle and just like… pull whichever side looks thinner apart from the center of the thing. [1:24:00]
Ethan: [slightly incredulous laugh] Okay!
Shane: I’m just gonna grab it. So I’m gonna make an attack roll.
Ethan: Nice, make an attack roll.
[Shane rolls]
Shane: So that’s a 19 to hit.
Ethan: [with a laugh] Yeah, for sure.
Shane: And it’s a 1d4, baby!
Ethan: Okay!
Shane: 5! 5 points of slashin’ damage.
Ethan: Nice, so you run up and you’re using your sickle, correct?
Shane: Right.
Ethan: You dig your sickle into where the original wound ends, and you rip! And you continue to rip that wound straight through as the two halves of him now slide off of each other as it collapses to the ground, dead.
Ceallach: [lets out a relieved breath] That paid off.
Ethan: Okay! Is that the end of your turn?
Shane: That will be, yes.
Ethan: Nice. Okay, Flynn, you are up next. Ceallach just ran up and sliced the zombie that was right in front of you in half. There’s one more zombie that appears to have his legs broken.
Russ: So there’s only one, [1:25:00] that’s it? One left?
Ethan: There’s one left, yes.
Russ: Yeah! I’ll change my angle and just run up to that one, and then I’ll call out to March and just be like:
Flynn: Let’s go! This one right here!
Russ: And I’ll thrust—just get a stab at his chest, because I can’t aim for its head [sheepishly] cuz he’s too high.
Shane: Ha! Nice.
Ethan: [amused] Make an attack roll.
Russ: [rolls] That is… oh! …10?
Ethan: A 10 hits, yeah!
Russ: Ayyy! Let’s go! Okay, I’ll get some damage here.
Ethan: Yeah, roll your damage.
[Russ rolls]
Russ: 8 points of piercing. [imitates the sound of Flynn attacking]
Ethan: Oooo, nice. Another great hit on this guy. He is still standing.
Russ: Um… Yeah, I mean, that’s all I can do at the moment, so I’ll just turn over to Ceallach, give him a nod and a smile and a wink, and just kinda do my phalanx with my shield on this last guy. [1:26:00]
Shane: I just look at him blankly, just complete stone-faced, [Shane laughs, the party joins] just confusion.
Ethan: Alright. With the end of Flynn’s turn, next up is March.
Bridget: How far away are Flynn and this, the last remaining zombie, now?
Ethan: Right now they’re 10 feet in front of you.
Bridget: 10 feet… Okay, so March has not moved. When Flynn said “March, this one!” March did nothing. She didn’t—She didn’t even—She was like, “Yeah, no, have fun.” [Shane laughs] But now she’s gonna kind of— [sighs in-character] —do a quick sigh. She would like to run up to this guy and try and do the same thing, cuz she saw that Flynn was basically going towards the hips, like: [She makes high-pitched attacking noises, imitating Flynn. Russ laughs.] She’s just gonna try and actually hit in the head—
Ethan: Nice.
Bridget: And she felt that the last hit was somewhat effective, so perhaps she’ll try the same thing again.
Ethan: Okay, make an attack roll. [1:27:00]
[Bridget makes an apprehensive noise while rolling]
Bridget: I have to do math now? 22.
Ethan: Yeah, 22 for sure hits. Roll your damage.
[Bridget rolls again]
Bridget: 7.
Ethan: [laughing incredulously] 7 points was exactly what you needed.
[the party laughs and congratulates her]
Ethan: So you swing your hammer around, aiming for its head once again. Your hammer meets no resistance as it hits thing’s temple and completely takes its head off of its shoulders. It collapses to the ground, dead once more. And we are now out of initiative as you guys have three re-dead zombies laying in front of you.
[a victorious reprise of the intro theme plays]
[the music starts as occasional plucked strings, but builds into a light, unbothered, tune]
Flynn: Damn, March, that was awesome!
March: Do you think we sh— Do you think we should have talked to them first? There was a lady, and a body, and I don’t really like it when things that are dead start talking to me. [1:28:00]
Flynn: Yeah… I mean, I think cuz they were dead, that means we stab them. At least, that’s what I think? But… I mean, maybe we can talk to them still? I don’t really know how this works? I mean, we could try—
March: No no no, I meant alive. I just— I may have overreacted. [seeming to come back to herself suddenly] Olma! Where are you? Olma, are you okay? Where are you? How are you feeling, you good?
Olma: I’m over here! I’m good! I was further back, you know. I stay a little further back than you guys.
[March and Flynn trying to find words]
Olma: But March! How many times do I have to tell you, don’t get right in front of me! It makes it so. Hard. We have this conversation almost every day!
Flynn: Olma, what was that? That was—
March: [whispering] That’s what she does.
Flynn: What did you do? That was crazy.
Olma: Ummmm… Yeah, that happens sometimes…
Flynn: Cool.
Russ: And I’ll turn to Ceallach and just be like:
Flynn: Hey! ‘Sup man! [1:29:00] That was a good job!
Ceallach: [uncertain] Yeah, you… you, too. Uh… Well done.
Flynn: Thanks, man. I think we make a pretty good team!
Ceallach: Yeah, especially for your not-first adventure, that was quite a good show.
Flynn: Yeah, it’s uh… They train you up good in the Ironlight Collective.
Rebecca: I kind of move my head up about 15 feet and to the ceiling.
Olma: Ohhhhh! That’s what he meant by earth-walker.
Flynn: Yeah, he can fly.
Olma: I get it. [suddenly excited] Can you carry people??
Russ: I’ll hold my arms out— [Rebecca and Bridget laugh] —and I look up at him. I dunno if he can do it, but I hold my arms out and be like—
Flynn: Yeah! We did it once!
Olma: I know you can like, pick them up and drop them, but like… can you take them places?
March: Like us?
Cameron: Can I hear them? I’m gonna imagine that I didn’t mean to drop the zombie as I was continuing to go higher.
Ethan: Yeah, well, you’re still within the tent, [1:30:00] and the tent is only about 15 feet tall, so—
Cameron: Okay, gotcha.
Ethan: So yeah, you’re hovering right at about the top of the tent.
Cameron: Okay, great.
Shraya: I’m practicing with greater and greater weights to carry. Right now I think I would only be able to carry the smaller ones.
Olma: I’m pretty small!
Flynn: Me, too!
Olma: Yeah, but I’m even smaller than you. I mean I know I’m taller, but like…
Russ: Yeah, as I look up at you.
Flynn: Well, we did it once, while we were on our way here. Um… It worked out pretty good! He actually pulled me out of danger, so…
Olma: That seems like fun!
Flynn: It was pretty fun! Maybe he’ll do it with you sometime.
Olma: [conspiratorily] Oh my gosh, do you think he could do it when we— Are you guys going that village that we’re going to? Cuz like, oh my God, that would be so fun if I could like… fly a little bit of the way there? I’ve never flown!
Flynn: I think— It was pretty— It was pretty magical.
[Olma squeals excitedly]
Cameron: I think as I sort of calm down and fan my way into a landing, I turn my head [1:31:00] with a renewed sense of purpose, and I say:
Shraya: But first we must make sure that no more of these creatures come at us out of surprise.
Ceallach: I agree.
Olma: Right.
Cameron: And I turn to Ceallach and I say:
Shraya: Do we have any means of burning the rest of these bodies? I can call forth some flame if necessary, but probably not the amount required to take care of this entire mass of bodies.
Rebecca: I look at the table between March and I where the rest of the shards are now covered by a piece of—[she laughs]—wood. And I say:
Olma: Umm… Should we be worried about these?
Flynn: Yeah, that’s why I put the…
Shane: I will take this moment to, as I’m takin’ the cue from Shaya and Olma, to sort of mumble to myself:
Ceallach: Vow-Keeper, let me see what you see. Give me your eyes. Cedo occulos.
Shane: And I will use Eyes of the Grave [1:32:00] and look at the crystals and see what I can see.
Ethan: Could you read out for me exactly what Eyes of the Grave does? [Russ “ooo”s in the background] Because that might depend.
Shane: Okay. Yeah, I’m curious. [reading off Eyes of the Grave] As an action, you can open your awareness to magically detect undead. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any undead within 60 feet of you that isn’t behind total cover and isn’t protected from Divination magic.
Ethan: Okay. No, you do not see any source of undead from these crystals.
Shane: Alright.
Ethan: Nor do you see undead remaining within this room.
Shane: In any of the bodies?
Ethan: Yes.
Russ: Could I turn to Shraya?
[Ethan hums his affirmation]
Flynn: Uh, Shraya, does this look familiar to any of the stuff that’s in the forest, er, town that you’re from? Is this, uh… [1:33:00] Is this what it was?
Cameron: DM? Based on my experience of what I’ve seen with the dark haunting energy of what me and my group of elves have encountered before?
Ethan: Based on your experience, no. This was like… zombies physically came to life and there was a physical presence there, whereas you’ve experienced something that wasn’t as physical or wasn’t as present in the Material Plane.
Shraya: Not to my knowledge. This is an entirely new type of undead energy.
Flynn: Interesting. Uh… New mystery!
Shane: I turn to March, and I:
Ceallach: How did you come upon these crystals stuck—embedded in your arm? That might be the place we start, here.
Russ: While he’s saying that, can I walk over to the tin and pick it up, that has the crystals in it?
Ethan: Yeah, for sure.
Russ: Can I just take a look? Like, swish around, like I’m swooshing a drink, and just switch [1:34:00] it around and look at them and roll them around? Can I see if there’s any type of magical essence to these things? Do I know what this is?
Ethan: Yeah, as you’re doing that, we’ll let March continue talking to Ceallach here, just finish that.
Russ: Sure.
Shane: As we have this conversation as well, my eyes are still, like… They’re smoking ashen swirls of just white and orange.
March: I don’t—I don’t… There’s not… there’s not a straightforward answer to that, if I can be completely honest with you there.
Olma: March, we got a little separated. W—Was that—Was that… What Ayer was looking for?
March: I don’t know. I think it might have been. All I know is just that a box was opened, [1:35:00] I forget who opened it—I think maybe Kurr opened the box? Or Ayer? Or… Somebody opened the box. The next thing I know was they were arguing about it, and then I was waking up to fire everywhere. That’s all I remember.
Ceallach: Right. Well, I’m in agreement with Shraya that we should burn the bodies. Jarnen, do you think we could, uh… take these to the pit?
Ethan: You see Jarnen is very shaken up. He hasn’t seen anything like this. He was sort of cowering in the corner.
[Shane laughs]
Ethan: And he goes:
Jarnen: Um… Yeah. I—I mean, let’s get these things out of here as soon as we can. We can take ‘em over to the pit, um, I—I would prefer not to touch them, though.
Ceallach: I got it.
Cameron: DM, were there any bodies laying dead outside the tent as well, [1:36:00] when we first walked up?
Ethan: On your approach? No.
Cameron: Okay.
Rebecca: And she Dimension Doored right out of the tent, right?
Ethan: Yes.
Rebecca: Okay.
Bridget: How many bodies roughly are around us?
Ethan: Right now there are three. There were five originally, three of them were made into zombies, one of them was taken over by the essence, and then one of them is still laying unconscious from their wounds. The one laying unconscious is a dwarven man, for your reference.
Russ: Okay. I’ll keep lookin’.
Ethan: As you are looking at these things, sort of swirling them around in the tin, make an Arcana check for me.
[Russ rolls, then groans]
Russ: It was like… on 20? And then it rolled off of 20… Uh… 7.
[Shane laughs]
Ethan: 7?
Russ: Yeah…
Ethan: It looks like these things have some sort of magical essence inherently to them, but you can’t really tell if they’re active [1:37:00] or dangerous or really what.
Russ: So do I get the sense that it’s more of an arcanic nature and less of an undead-type of force? It seems like magic and not, like, I dunno.
Ethan: It’s some sort of magic. You can’t tell if it’s necrotic or not, undead in nature, though.
Russ: Okay. I’ll put it back in the table and put the clipboard back on it that was there, cuz I think it worked.
Ceallach: Uh… It’s safe to say we shouldn’t leave those lyin’ around, yea? We don’ want ‘em crackin’ and releasin’ any more…
Olma: Yeah, no… Do you think—Do you think there’ll be anybody in the next town over that might be able to investigate them a little further? I mean, if Xavier were here, he could do it, but he’s not here, and I dunno where he is, so…
Flynn: I don’t know who that is, but if we take them to Ironlight Collective, I’m sure somebody there will know.
Ceallach: Ahh… All my contacts there are useless to me, now, so I… There’s places you could take it, maybe, but I couldn’t go with you.
Olma: I mean… Our contacts know what they are? But… [1:38:00] Considering where we came from, I… I…
March: They will kill us.
Olma: Yeahhh…. Yeah.
Flynn: If we could just get a little insight…?
March: Let’s just be honest, Olma, they—they seem fine. You know, they did bring us back and then, you know, the—the wet bird flew up in the air and dropped a zombie, and, and, this Flynn, shor—you know, what’re we— [trails off inarticulately]
Olma: You wanna go with them?
March: We should probably, we should probably just be honest, and say that if these people find us, they potentially will kill us. And by “potentially,” I mean “absolutely will.”
Olma: I mean… they’re probably looking for this. Let’s be honest. If this is what was in the box…
March: Yeah…
Olma: And I dunno, cuz I wasn’t there, but if… if this is that, then they’re definitely looking for us. Unless they’re dead. Maybe they’re dead!
March: Wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t that be lovely to think about. Um… who wants to leave? [1:39:00] Now.
Shane: As they’re havin’ this conversation, I think maybe I’ve solicited Jarnen’s help in just loadin’ the bodies onto a wheelbarrow. [laughs]
Ethan: Yeah, you guys have a couple of wheelbarrows at your disposal and are able to load the bodies.
Shane: [laughs again] We’ve done this. We’ve done a lot of practice burnin’ bodies.
Russ: Aw, geez.
Ethan: Unfortunately, yeah.
Russ: Oh, that’s sad.
Ethan: You guys have done this before.
Russ: As they were talking there, we were all in the room, so we were hearing them talk and discuss, right?
Ethan: Yes.
Flynn: Um… So… Are you gonna tell us? Um, you mentioned you guys were gonna be honest, and then now we’re leaving— Um… Do we need to know anything? To help protect you? Or… I’m confused.
Olma: I don’t think we need protection, I think we’re fine.
Flynn: You guys were both unconscious, um…
[Shane laughs]
Olma: Yeah, but they didn’t do that to us, don’t be silly.
Flynn: Um… okay?
March: The explosion did that to us…
Olma: Yeah, there was an explosion, which, you know, sometimes… sometimes buildings explode! For weird reasons! [1:40:00] Like, like, for no fault of our own. [getting defensive] Sometimes building just explode, okay?? Why are you—Why are you coming at me!
Flynn: I’m not, I’m not! Um… You okay?
[party bursts out laughing]
Shraya: I don’t think we should let them go. Man becomes an informer when they cannot be soldiers.
Flynn: Um… what he said. Also, I really think you guys could help us save Shraya’s village. I’d really like for you guys to come with us? And then we can head to Addersfeld right after, and get a lot of questions answered.
Olma: Right. Um… I’m sorry, I have a question. Uh… Shuh-raya? Shraya? Shuh-raya? Shahmamalama?
Shraya: The… second way you said it is correct.
Olma: Shraya. Okay. I have a question! Um… Well, we just saw a half-orc rise from the dead [1:41:00] with some type of wizard-woman inside of him, um, and he brought— she brought— he— they— they brought… they brought a bunch of bodies back to life. Now, I don’t know what’s happening at your village, but if you were to put those both on a scale… Which one would you do first? Because I don’t— I— That seems really crazy to me, like… something that should probably be fixed right away? Cuz who knows how many bodies she’s gonna bring back to life that are gonna start killing people? But like, maybe there’s something way worse happening at your village, because that’s also possible, so like… on the grand scheme of world-ending catastrophes, where do these fall?
Shraya: I’ll state my purpose again. I think we should burn what remains of these undead… beings. And then I—
Shane: As he says this, [1:42:00] me and Jarnen are bringing the wheelbarrow back and going out again.
[party laughing, unintelligible conversation]
Shraya: —And then I think I must report back to those who would find this turn of events very interesting indeed.
Olma: Okay. Okay so I’m gonna unpack that for a second. Um… Burn the bodies, and then find out what’s going on with the stones and find the girl, right? So village is… Did I unpack that right?
Shraya: Yes, I think my superiors must know of this as soon as possible.
Olma: Oh! Okay, so goin’ to the village, for your superiors, not going to— to this other guild.
Flynn: Do you think the villagers might have insight? Is that what you’re saying, Shraya? They… They might know what these crystals are?
Shraya: There is a chance. I have some… what experience, I haven’t examined these crystals yet myself.
Cameron: Could I take a look at them?
Ethan: Yeah, sure.
Russ: I’ll lift off the clipboard as he reaches, for him.
Ethan: For you, you can make either a [1:43:00] Nature or Arcana check on these crystals.
Russ: Nice.
Cameron: Nature’s gonna be better for me.
Russ: [in a silly voice] Get it.
Cameron: That is a… 18.
Ethan: 18. You look at these, and you’re looking in, and you really… You sort of know people’s auras and their essences, you’re really good at sort of seeing into people, and you look at these crystals, and you feel the same sort of aura of a person within this crystal. Some sort of essence is housed within these crystals.
Shraya: I can’t see far, but these crystals are housing a spirit of some sort. I think the elven brotherhood-sisterhood that I’ve come from might know more about how we can divine more about what they actually mean.
Russ: DM, I have a question.
Ethan: Yeah?
Russ: Would I know, [1:44:00] just from my map setup and everything, are we closer to Addersfeld or his village?
Ethan: You guys are a little bit closer to his village, up in the Shadow Timberland to the north. It’s gonna be a little ways of a journey into the forest, but it is a little bit of a shorter distance there.
Russ: ‘Kay.
Ethan: You know Addersfeld is directly to the east, and the commune within the forest is just about northeast.
Russ: Okay, so Flynn will pipe up after he says that.
Flynn: Um… Also, if— if we go to his village, it’s actually a little closer than Addersfeld, so we can actually potentially kill two birds with one stone— [guiltily] Sorry, Shraya, I didn’t mean it that way…
Shraya: I do not like that expression.
[party laughs]
Flynn: Sorry, I’m sorry… But we might be able to get answers about the crystals and save his village, and if they don’t have all the answers, then we can head to Addersfeld right afterwards. Um…
Shane: I put down the wheelbarrow [1:45:00] and I—
Ceallach: [clears his throat] Yeah, and besides, the— the creature’s village is in trouble, that takes precedent over some mysterious— We don’t have any idea what came outta those crystals. If Shraya’s got a need for help, then we should provide it. I… I hate the idea of him losin’ anything more of his home.
Flynn: If you want, I can sweeten the pot a little bit, and maybe if we successfully help him with his village… I can maybe give you guys a little bit of gold! If you guys want. I don’t have a lot, but…
Olma: [sounding satisfied] March and I are very used to doing tasks for gold. So I mean, if you want somebody to join you guys, we’re pretty good at it!
March: [dryly] She didn’t mean for that to come out the way it sounded.
Olma: Nah, I did!
Flynn: I like it.
[March sighs]
Olma: What are you talking about? [Shane chuckles] I meant exactly what I said.
Cameron: Am I still holding the crystals? Or was—
Ethan: They’re still within [1:46:00] this little tin.
Cameron: Okay. I’m gonna grab the tin very quickly and say:
Shraya: I can hold onto these, for safe keeping.
Cameron: As my eyes sorta get a little bit wider as I bring them toward my face, and I’m tucking them into my—
Russ: Before he tucks them, I’m gonna say:
Flynn: Maybe we should put a… a lid on them? Or encase them? So they are… safe?
Russ: And I’ll turn to the dwarf. [pause] Who I’ve forgotten his name already.
Ethan: Jarnen.
Shane: Jarnen.
Ethan: He goes:
Jarnen: I’ve got… I’ve got a box? You guys can use— I got a little trinket box that you guys could use.
Olma: [delighted] And it’s a souvenir, too!
Russ: What a good day!
[the party laughs]
Shraya: You can hold onto the dwarven-crafted vessel if you’d like. I have no need for that.
Russ: Can I take the box that he presents?
Ethan: Yeah! It’s just a simple little box to hold herbs.
Russ: And I’ll walk over—It’s empty, right? I’ll walk over to Shraya and I’ll just open it and kind of present it to him, and be like:
Flynn: Uh… You could… put the crystals in here? Shut the box, so then they don’t rummage around in your bag and potentially mess [1:47:00] with stuff. Also, I feel like containing them would be a good idea? And you can definitely hold onto them! It seems like you’re the one that might have the most understanding of what they are? But I’d feel a lot better if they were… ya know, encased in something, so… I kind of… want you to… take it.
Russ: And I kind of nudge him with it.
[the light, ethereal variation on the intro theme begins playing again]
Shraya: I have no need for dwarven-crafted boxes, I’ll say it again. I don’t even need to put them in my bag, I can keep them right here between my feathers. They will not move.
Flynn: So you want them to be pressed up against your body…? Um…
[the party breaks out laughing]
Flynn: Man, I didn’t really understand what they did when I looked at ‘em, but I just have a feeling that that’s probably not a good idea?
Shraya: I am more than willing to take that risk.
Flynn: Okay!
[the party continues laughing]
Flynn: Well, I’ll take the box, then!
Russ: And I’ll— [he starts laughing too] —take the box and put it in my bag.
[the party laughs harder]
Bridget: Before Shraya fully puts them, and hides them away, I just want to kind of take a couple steps forward and sort of glance down at them and, [1:48:00] sort of like… have almost a flicker of processing in my mind. Shake my head.
March: When— Ah— When are we goin’? Food? Water? Supplies, now? Great, awesome. Olma? Shall we?
Ceallach: We, ah, we can’t take any supplies from here.
Flynn: Yeah, Ceallach, we don’t— There’s nothin’ we can…
Ceallach: This camp’s already… I… I wouldn’t want to deprive the people here… It’s hard enough as it is.
Flynn: Right…
Olma: March, yeah, I think we’ve got stuff. And we can like… forage. I mean, we’ll be fine…
Shraya: If you are famished—
Cameron: And I sort of tap my forehead against the crystal in the top of my staff, lift my four-fingered hand up almost to where March is, because I can’t quite reach where she is, and these little seeds emerge in my hand, and one by one they—like a time-lapse—they speed up and start sprouting little bulbs, and sorta build and stack and stack and [1:49:00] stack and stack on each other until these berries are overflowing out of my hand, and I say:
Shraya: This could be… nourishing to you, if this is your taste.
March: That was pretty cool, I won’t lie about that. I haven’t seen that before.
Ceallach: [at the same time as March] That’s quite a trick there.
Russ: Do you hand them out to the group? Or just to someone in particular?
Bridget: Just gonna…
Cameron: Oh, I’m offering them toward March, since she mentioned that she was, you know, in need of supplies, or food, or what you.
Russ: Oh, gotcha.
March: These… Thank you.
Bridget: I’m gonna take some and just immediately, just instinctually, hand half to Olma.
Russ: Nice.
Bridget: Like:
March: Here, here you go. Eat, eat, I know you’re gonna tell me you don’t wanna eat, I know you’re gonna tell me you want meat, and I know that you’re tell me all this— I don’t really care. You were passed out on a stretcher. Because the last thing I remember, we were in a warehouse, so… [1:50:00] We should probably eat at least something.
Olma: Um… do these do something other than just feed you? Are they valuable?
Shraya: They are purely for nourishment. I… I do not know if you crave extra abilities or any types of altered states—
Olma: I’m just curious.
Shraya: —but these will only nourish you.
Olma: O—Okay. I was just curious. Cuz like… [slyly] I knew a guy once, who could like… make things like this… and they made you like… feel really good. These aren’t those though, right?
Shraya: Again, they only nourish you.
Shane: I’ll turn to Jarnen, and sorta gesture to the one remaining body, and just—
Ceallach: Make sure he makes it out alive, yanno? I’d— I’d appreciate if we get one out of five wounded people [laughing wryly] to safety, to successful recovery.
Jarnen: You have my word.
Ceallach: He’s a bit of an asshole, so… just be aware o’ that, but, uh…
Jarnen: [with a slight laugh] I will keep that in mind, but you have my word that I’ll do my best.
Ceallach: I know. Shraya, do you want to [1:51:00] lead the way?
Shraya: Onward to new horizons! [birdlike squawk]
Bridget: [sheepishly] Are we— Are we leaving the tent?
Shane: Oh— [snickers to himself]
Russ: [suddenly remembering] Oh, right!
[the party laughs together]
Ethan: Oh. Okay, yeah. Yeah! Okay, let’s do that.
Russ: Oh boy.
Bridget: Never gonna let it go.
Russ: Olma gets murdered…
Rebecca: [laughing] So, I do see a person dying, and I have kind of realized at this point that this is a place for healing, and that these people are in dire straights and they only have three potions left, but also… I just can’t help it! I just can’t stop it! I can’t! So… I am going to attempt to stealthily swipe it as I go by.
Ethan: Okay, make a Stealth check.
Rebecca: Stealth or Sleight of Hand? As we’re walking past.
Ethan: Uhhh… Make it Sleight of Hand.
Rebecca: Now, I’ve been planning it.
Ethan: Mhm.
Rebecca: So do I potentially get advantage…?
Ethan: Um, [1:52:00] the DC is gonna be a little bit lower, but… [Rebecca laughs mischievously] you do not get advantage.
Rebecca: [smiling through her words] I was just, you know! Just, give it a shot— [she rolls, and Bridget gasps delightedly] That is a 17 plus 5.
Ethan: A 17 plus 5. You successfully grab the healing potions.
Rebecca: I’m just gonna grab one.
Ethan: One, yeah.
Rebecca: Because like—
Ethan: You successfully grab one healing potion.
Rebecca: —I can’t stop it, but I also know that they have value, so…
Ethan: Nice, okay, you have one.
Shane: That was such a high roll.
Russ: Nice.
Ethan: Yeah, that was great. So, as you guys are leaving the medical tent with zombies defeated behind you and a world awaiting in front of you, that is where we’re gonna end our first session of Venture Forth.
Bridget: Snap!
Ethan: That was a lot of fun— [party cheering loudly] —I had a lot of fun with that, I hope you guys did, too.
Shane: Let’s GO!
Ethan: But that is where we’re gonna call it! We can’t wait to see you guys next week, and yeah! We’ll see you then! Bye.
Russ: Bye!
Shane: Bye!
[pause]
Cameron: Hey everybody, this is Cameron, I do the character of Shraya on Venture Forth. [1:53:00] Just wanted to take a moment and thank you for listening. You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, and YouTube, if you’re not already. Also, if you’d like, you can check us out of Patreon, and if you’d like to support what makes the podcast possible, please feel free to support. Also, we’re on Clubhouse! So if you’re on Clubhouse, feel free to drop in on Thursdays, where we do our weekly Dungeons & Dragons chat or one-shot, and those tend to be a lot of fun. So have a great week ahead, thanks again for listening, and see y’all again next week.
[outro music: plucky harpsichord and strings reprise of the intro theme]
Transcript by faeknuckle.