Venture Forth: A D&D Podcast
Episode 2: Down to the River

Cast (in order of appearance):
Olma Marsk is played by Rebecca Hausman
Flynn Felloweave is played by Russ Bartek
Shraya is played by Cameron Gregg
March is played by Bridget Black
Ceallach Gray is played by Shane O’Loughlin
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.

Shraya: [whispery, graveled male voice with American accent] Shraya.

March: [matter-of-fact woman’s mezzo voice with American accent] March.

Ceallach: [wry, musical male voice with Irish accent] Ceallach.

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: Previously, you guys had set out from your different locations to complete your different missions that you all had, and you had all found yourself in one location, within the medical tent of Coldcrest Outpost. Some of you had been employed there as a soldier, some of you coming to complete a mission, and others just there by happenstance. 

Ethan: You guys had all come together and gotten your brief introductions together, but not before a strange crystal that was pulled out of March’s shoulder suddenly came to life and resurrected a half-orc man from death. As he was laying there, huge hole in his chest, he burst forth with life, and a strange woman’s voice emanated from his mouth, obviously not the voice of this half-orc. This woman seemed confused and almost delighted at her reawakening and decided to set some zombies upon you guys. She stepped out through a Dimension Door, exiting the tent, got away as far you guys know, and left you guys to fend for yourselves. You guys quickly dispatched the zombies, you guys really just kicked ass against these things, taking heads off left and right, and after that, you guys inspected these crystals from which the energy came forth, and determined that the two crystals that remained are still pretty dormant as far as you can tell. After a bit of discussion about where you guys wanna go from here and what you guys should do with the bodies, you guys decided to leave the tent and go into the wilderness to help Shraya with whatever ails his commune up there. 

Ethan: So, we pick up once again with you guys leaving the medical tent at Coldcrest Outpost and ready to face the world. So as you guys are leaving the tent, you guys see once again the rolling hills of Ondale, and you guys see up to the north a river that scoops up into the Shadow Timberland, a forest, a dense, thick forest to the north where Shraya’s commune is. So looking forth into the world now, what would you guys like to do?

Russ: [strong, warm voice] I think that Flynn’s kinda walking happily with his map, happy to be on an adventure, [someone chuckles] and he’s just kinda walking behind Shraya, following him, just lookin’ at the map, just lookin’ up and making sure we’re goin’ the right way.

Shane: [wry, musical male voice with Irish accent] I’m kind of wringing my hands and tracin’ the rings on my necklace, and I turn to Shraya.

Ceallach: Shraya, ah, can you tell us a bit more? Divulge a bit about what your village is goin’ through, so that we might better prepare ourselves?

Shraya: There is a strange, dark energy. It seems to emanate from different sources and is very… As soon as you think you’re going into a larger concentration of it, it seems to escape away from you all at once, and yet its presence is somehow strangely felt all over.

Ceallach: What is it doin’ to the people of your village? What kind of effect is it having?

Shraya: It manifests in different ways. In some people it causes terrors in the night. In other ways, the livestock and the small children see visions, terrifying visions, and there are anecdotal reports that it’s driving some people to the brink of their own sanity.

Ceallach: And is your village… Are they all like you? Or is it more… people?

Shraya: Oh, no, it’s a commune of elves. An elven group I’ve grown rather fond of, lately.

Ceallach: Right.

Shraya: Just keep coming into the forest with me. We’ll start to see more and more concentrations of elven wards and we’ll know that we’re on the right track. I know somewhat where I’m going.

Shane: And we’re just on the hilly path right now, is it basically plains in front of us, DM?

Ethan: Yes. So, if you look to the east, there is a path that is going directly back towards Addersfeld. This is a path that Flynn and Shraya know well; this was the path that they came into Coldcrest Outpost on. It winds through rolling hills and fields, and then to your north, there is a river in between yourself and the forest before the river bends north and actually goes into the forest.

Shraya: And there’s one more thing I must tell you about this energy that’s been manifesting. I shudder to even speak it out loud. There are shadow creatures that have been spotted in the outskirts of the commune. They… they have sometimes been attacking members of the commune. They are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, but they are concentrations of shadow energy and I… I—I—I cannot even describe them without breaking out into a cold sweat.

Flynn: Also, very big spiders.

Shraya: We did encounter a couple of larger spiders on our way to you.

Bridget: [steady, clear voice] Are we all hearing this, DM? Or is this exclusively…

Ethan: Yeah, you guys are all traveling in the group, yeah.

Bridget: Okay.

Rebecca: [soft and warm voice] So I just share a look—I mean, I tilt my head very, very far up, but I just tilt my head to look at March, and furrow my brows a little bit and just whisper to her:

Olma: [incredulous and apprehensive] Large? Spiders??

March: I—I can deal with shadow creatures, and, you know… But a spider comes near me? No. We go the other way.

Olma: Just burn the whole forest down, right? I mean…

March: Yeah, just… burn the house. Leave it, it’s done. Rebuild it later, but like… a hundred miles from there.

Shane: Is that a private conversation? [Bridget and Shane laughing]

Rebecca: [amused] Yeah, I said I whispered it up to—

Shane: Alright, sure.

Flynn: Shraya, on the map I have… Are we goin’ the right way? Should we… Should we head into the forest now? Or is there a better entrance?

Shraya: [overlapping with Flynn] Well, there’s no time to lose, and I-- [birdlike squawk] I think time is of the essence in a situation like this.

Shane: About how far of a journey is it to get to just the edge of the forest from the path that we’re on?

Ethan: It’s gonna be about two hours to get to the edge of the forest to the north, but there is a river between you and the forest.

[Russ “ohh”s in understanding]

Shane: And is there a bridge or path over the river, or is it just a river cuttin’ straight through?

Ethan: Make a Perception check for me.

Shane: Alright. And this is also the river that goes straight into Coldcrest, is that right? Or am I confused?

Ethan: Yeah, there’s a series of rivers that sort of culminate into a marshland that Coldcrest is sort of right on the outskirts of, and then that all culminates into one large river that goes out to the ocean.

Bridget: Is this—

Shane: [overlapping with Bridget] Alright. That’s a 16—Oh, go ahead, March, sorry.

Bridget: Sorry, go ahead, I’m just curious if this is the same river that we, March and Olma, were found on.

Ethan: Yeah, so the river that you guys were found on was part of this little series of rivers that culminates into the boggy swamp area, so yeah, it’s sort of part of the same river system.

Bridget: Sorry for interrupting, sorry about that.

Shane: No, it’s alright.

Ethan: It’s okay. Ceallach, what did you get?

Shane: A 16.

Ethan: A 16. You, looking at the land ahead, you don’t really see any sort of bridge to cross this river.

Shane: Mm, alright. Can I tell sort of loosely how wide it is? How large the gap?

Ethan: Yeah, looking at the river, it’s actually still just a little ways away, but you can actually get a sense of the river. It looks to be about a half a mile across.

Shraya: [with a groan] Oh, I hadn’t anticipated this. It will be quite more difficult for you earth-walkers to surmount this river. 

Ceallach: Did you just carry him when you came this way in the first place?

Shane: I point to Flynn.

Shraya: We actually came along a different path.

Ceallach: Right, um…

Flynn: [slowly, trying to recall] Um… what about the… the boat…? Are we too far away to get that boat? Wasn’t there a boat next to Olma and March when we picked them up? Should we go back and get that, or, um, am I misremembering that…?

Ceallach: Don’ know if it was any shape to sail.

Flynn: Um… Can we…?

Olma: Yeah, it was more like a raft… I mean, pieces of wood tied together…

Flynn: Well a raft is… better than nothin’…

March: Also, if it’s possible for us to avoid boats, for… Can you just give us a day to just not be on the river?

Flynn: Oh, you guys have a thing? Okay. Yeah, no worries! Um…

March: I mean, if we gotta cross it, we will, but… shit happened.

Flynn: Well, I have an idea? Um… If…

Ceallach: Let’s hear it.

Flynn: So, Shraya, can you… can you do that thing again where you fly? I dunno if you do it well?

Shraya: It might not be so well [birdlike squawk] crack—er, excuse me— [another squawk] It might not be so practical for me to carry each and every one of us across, especially that one.

Cameron: [expressive, rumbling voice] And I point at March, the hulking goliath.

[Shane laughs]

Flynn: Right… Um…

March: [sounding genuinely flattered] Oh, well thank you!

Flynn: So, my idea is… Can you just get over there once?

Shraya: Of course! I can fly myself across at will.

Flynn: Cool! So my idea is to hand you one end of a rope and hand March the other end of the rope once you fly over, and maybe we can… use that to get across? You can anchor it over there and March can hold the other end, and… we can slowly one by one use the rope to get ourselves over?

Ceallach: Are we tight-walkin’? Or are we expected to— I mean, how high can we suspend the rope? 

Flynn: Uh, I dunno.

Ceallach: Yeah…

Olma: Or like, walk through the water?

Flynn: Yeah.

[party talking over each other; only Olma is intelligible]

Olma: Or like, holding onto the rope so that you can drag yourself through?

Ceallach: But the river’s gotta be deeper than that, no? At this… At this stretch of it?

Russ: Sorry, DM, you probably mentioned this, but did Ceallach figure out how far across the river was, again?

Shane: It’s half a mile wide. Half a mile distance.

Russ: [to himself] Shit, we won’t be able to do that… And is it running really fast?

Shane: Yeah, are we getting closer to it?

Ethan: Yeah, it’s a pretty flowing river. At this point, you guys have been traveling for [Russ hums thoughtfully in the background] about half an hour, forty-five minutes, and you guys are just comin’ up on the river. You hear the sound of the river before you actually see it, and once you come upon it, it is a massive, flowing river.

Rebecca: Could we have doubled back and crossed it before it became a river?

Ethan: You guys would have to travel further east where the river actually starts—

Russ: Yeah…

Ethan: —in order to get to the start of the river.

Rebecca: I see.

Ceallach: [humming thoughtfully] Well, uh… I guess worst case scenario, we could try just havin’ Shraya fly everyone across, and see how long that’d take…

Flynn: Hmm…

Ceallach: But, ah… I dunno. We could do two ropes and try to create some sort of a bridge?

Flynn: Well, I mean, we could all go in at once and just kind of tie ropes to each other, so that—

Ceallach: [still musing] Swim…

Flynn: —if anyone does lose their footing, they get swept away, the rope will hold onto them, so, I mean, that could be an option. We just kind of tie ropes to everyone and go in as a group?

Ceallach: Right.

Rebecca: Is the water flowing towards the Timberland or away from the Timberland?

Ethan: The water is flowing away from the Timberland.

Rebecca: [disappointed] Oh…

Russ: The water is going to the west?

Ethan: Yes, the water is flowing to the west.

Russ: Cool, okay.

Ceallach: Alright, yeah so that's…

Olma: So we would still want there to be one rope that we're kind of following though, ‘cuz we would… otherwise we'd go back that way, so…

Flynn: Right. 

Olma: So we still would want, I mean, this is just a suggestion, right—but I'm very small… Shraya could fly me over, and then I’ll be on dry land, and I’ll have the rope with him, and then there's only three people that have to do the whole tied-together thing, and we'll just kind of keep dragging you along with the rope! We'll pull the rope that's tied around all of you and you'll swim and we'll pull and you'll swim and we'll pull… And maybe together we can make that work?

Flynn: Well, the one time that we did fly, it seemed like… Um… I dunno, I, I mean… I dunno if he can pull all of us on the rope?

Olma: Oh, I don’t mean pull us all on the rope flying, I mean he’ll land with me on the other side, and then we’ll be earth-walkers and [Russ laughs] we’ll drag!

Ceallach: She’s sayin’ we’ll rely on the strength of two child-sized creatures and a birdman— 

Olma: Um…

March: [amused] It’s gonna be great. This is…

Ceallach: [talking inaudibly to himself now] …a flowin’ river.

Olma: One child-sized creature.

Flynn: I think he’s talking about me, too.

Olma: Ohhh! I didn’t think of that.

Flynn: It’s okay, I’m used to it. [the party chuckles] Um, do we have enough rope to do that?

Ceallach: I’m just suggestin’ the practicality—

Flynn: I don’t think we do, it’s like half a mile long. We don’t have the ability to pull someone—I don't know— I guess maybe I’m confused.

Olma: I guess that's true.

Ceallach: Right.

Olma: We probably don't have half a mile worth of rope…

Flynn: Yeah, I mean, yeah… I really think we should go get that raft. I mean… 

Ceallach: I mean it's a two-hour walk, three-hour walk back to Coldcrest?

Flynn: Yeah. that's true…

Olma: So why don't we just keep walking east to the shorter part of the river? Here, look on your map!

Flynn: Sure!

Olma: See, the river—

Ceallach: [interrupting] Well, we’re tryin’ to go northwest.

Olma: Yeah, I know—

Flynn: [at the same time as Olma, conceding] That’s a good point…

Olma: —but sometimes you gotta go east to go north!

Ceallach: Hold on, does the river continue on into the forest once we get there?

Flynn: Yeah, it looks likes it on the map! If you look, so there’s part of the river that goes into the forest kind of, and then there’s another part that kind of goes down south…

Ceallach: Right, but once it hits the forest, does it become, maybe, a stream or somethin’? Somethin’ easier to cross? Maybe we just follow the river all the way to the forest.

Flynn: That might be a question for Shraya, but also it looks like it’s flowing away from the forest, so it might be hard to swim in it towards that way.

Ceallach: No, I’m not saying we swim in it, I just think we follow along the coast, and then we can…

Flynn: Oh! So we just cross the smaller half and then we just follow the other one in.

Shraya: That may be the best idea.

Olma: Mhm, yeah.

Ceallach: Right.

Flynn: I like that idea. Um…

Russ: Can we see, DM, where the split is?

[music shifts to an adventurous strings tune driven by a spirited percussion line]

Ethan: Yeah, so if you guys had traveled north from Coldcrest Outpost, you goes would be right where the two rivers come together to make the major river.

Russ: And can we get a sense of how wide the smaller river is? The first one we have to cross.

Shane: That sort of lower prong.

Ethan: Yeah! Two of you guys make a Perception check for me.

Russ: Surely.

Ethan: Who’s going to be making that?

Shane: Me and Flynn? I will.

Russ: I don’t know if I will. I might ask Shraya to kind of use his eagle eye and take a look. But I guess I was saying it, I’ll do it. I was saying I looked, so… 

Ethan: Okay.

Russ: It’s still a +4, so that’s good. [rolls dice] 15.

Ceallach: And that’s a 16 for me. 

Russ: Cool.

Ethan: 15 and a 16. Yeah, so you guys could see that this main river sort of begins as two smaller rivers, and the smaller one to the south, it doesn’t look as wide, and you can tell that as it is traveling more and more east, you can tell it gets a little bit smaller and smaller, it’s not as wide. So it just depends on where you guys wanna meet it. It does get a little bit smaller as it goes east.

Russ: Probably, I don’t know…

Ceallach: I mean, even if we want to do some sort of tomfoolery to get across, it’ll be easier at a smaller portion of it.

Flynn: Yeah, let’s just go that way and take a look at it, I guess.

Ceallach: Right.

Shraya: Down the banks of the river it is.

Flynn: Yup, let’s head east!

Russ: And I’ll start—

Ceallach: Sorry, Shraya, I’m sure you’re used to travelin’ faster than this.

Shraya: It’s quite alright. It is an issue I’ve discovered with my elven friends as well, though some of them are quite light of foot and can swim, but that is not the case with all beings.

Flynn: Yeah, I know… I have a little leg-span. I know!

[music becomes confident and fuller, characterized by a theme-and-variation string line with steady, industrious drums]

Ethan: So as you guys travel east, the river does begin to get less and less wide. It gets narrower and narrower. You guys travel for another half an hour before, over one of the rolling hills, you begin to see, not really a town or anything, but just a couple of buildings laid out next to the river. They look a little bit run down. It’s just a couple of shacks that have been put together. You look out onto the river, however, and you see rafts. You see several rafts, five or six of them, that are the size of a house, that have structures on top of them, and they’re tied to the shore. You guys look, and as you’re getting closer, you can see about half a dozen people moving on these rafts. And you can see they’ve got fishing equipment, and they’re beginning to throw ropes and nets out into the river. It looks like these are fishermen out on rafts on the river. As you guys approach, they don’t seem to notice you. They’re just sort of doin’ their own work. And that’s what you guys see as you’re approaching.

Shane: They’re on the rafts? They’re currently usin’ ‘em?

Ethan: Yeah, they’re currently on these rafts.

Shane: Alright.

Flynn: Maybe they’ll let us borrow one, or take us across.

Ceallach: Right, certainly they might be willing to ferry us.

Olma: I mean, yeah, maybe they could ferry us.

Flynn: Yeah!

Olma: Especially if we gave them something?

Flynn: Yeah, I mean, I’ve… we could give them money, I guess? Um…

Ceallach: Flynn, you seem harmless, maybe it’s best you approach them?

Flynn: [offended] Hey! [then conceding] Yeah… Okay!

[Shane and Ethan laugh]

Shane: I sort of look at the varied people in our group.

Russ: Yeah, I’ll kinda take the lead and stroll up.

Ethan: Alright, so as you walk up, one of the fishermen actually catches your eye. Looks human, and like a very old man. Looks very weathered, and just like a very old fisherman. He’s sort of hunched over, and he’s reeling in a line that’s leading out towards one of these rafts. He looks over, and he waves at you, not sure if you’re passing by or actually coming over to talk to him.

Russ: Yeah, when he notices me and starts waving, I’ll start waving too. How close am I to him, again?

Ethan: You’re still a couple hundred feet away.

Russ: Okay.

Ethan: You’re walking up, approaching.

Russ: Yeah, I’ll just wave, and then once I get within earshot—I’ll wait to say something until then—I’ll walk up, get closer:

Flynn: Hello!

Fisherman: [labored, elderly voice] Oh! Good day! How are you?

Flynn: I’m, you know, I am just great! I’m just out here doin’… doin’ some cool stuff. Hey, catch anything… catch anything tasty yet?

Fisherman: Unfortunately, today has been a… [strained exhale as he searches for words] A little on the light side. But I’m hoping for some more luck later in the day.

Flynn: Yeah, yeah! I mean, I hope so too! You seem like a swell guy. Um, do you… Do you have any fish yet? Did you catch anything? Or nothing so far? I mean, not even one little fish?

Fisherman: Oh, nothing yet today. I’m not—not quite the fisherman that I used to be.

Flynn: Hey, don’t say that! I’m sure you’re great. Um, sidenote, we really need to get across the river, and we say that you have these raft-things, they’re super cool looking, and I was wondering, do you think you could possibly take us across? Just the small part of the river, that’s all we really need. 

[music shifts to an adventurous strings tune driven by a spirited percussion line]

Fisherman: Oh, I, um… I’m sure I could find some way for you to get across the river, but unfortunately I don’t have much say in what happens with the rafts out here. But I could lend you a boat to get across? It’s not much, but it might help?

Flynn: Well, normally I would say yes to that, but I think some of our… my party members are um… boat-aphobic? [someone snickers in the background] Or scared? Um, I don’t know, it’s been a weird day. [Shane laughs] Lemme ask. 

Russ: [laughing] And I’ll run back to the group. [he imitates Flynn panting as he runs]

Flynn: Hey.

Ceallach: How’d it go?

Flynn: I mean, he’s super cool. He hasn’t caught anything yet, um, he thinks it’s a pretty slow day for fishing, um, but he’s hoping that it’ll kind of—

Ceallach: The raft. The raft.

March: What? Yeah, was there something about a raft? Did you become best friends with this guy?

Flynn: Oh, right! Sorry, yeah. He’s, sorry, yup! The raft is… He thinks he can take us across, but from what I’m understanding, is, I think the raft will just go down-river? He doesn’t really have control over it, or at least that’s what he was saying. He did say that he had a boat, and I knoooow how we feel about boats, but it might—

Olma: How is a raft any different than a boat? I think we just didn’t wanna be on the water—

March: Yeahhhh.

Olma: But like, whatever, we clearly have to get across, so…

Flynn: Yeah…

March: We gotta get across, so we’ll deal with it.

Flynn: Would love to hear that story later.

Olma: It’s okay, March, you can hold my hand.

March: Oh, thank you so much, Olma! At least, you know, there’s some comforting factor there. Let’s go.

Shraya: If he is feeling a little bit of a lack in his own fishing ability, I would love to help him out in some way. It’s been a while since I felt the thrill of hunting the aquatic creatures.

Cameron: And my eyes sorta get big.

Flynn: Man, Shraya, I love the way you talk. Alright, let’s go!

[someone laughs]

Ethan: Alright, so—

Flynn: I’ll head back to the fisherman.

Ethan: As a group, you guys head back to the fisherman, and he sees Flynn, and he waves again.

Fisherman: Oh! Are these your friends?

Flynn: Yeah! Did you catch anything yet while I was gone!

Fisherman: No, it was only like, five minutes, so I didn’t.

[Bridget laughs]

Flynn: Hey man, you never know! Least expect it, least expect it. So, about that boat. How do we set that up?

Fisherman: Um… I have it over in my shack over there. Um, I don’t have the strength to carry it, but it looks like a couple of your friends might have the strength to do that.

Rebecca: Olma looks at her muscles and she does a flex, because clearly I’m the one who’s strong.

March: Olma’s got it. She’s got it.

Ceallach: Right, we’ll just let Olma take care of it on her own, then.

Flynn: Olma, me and you, we got this?

Olma: Oh, yeah.

Flynn: Let’s go! Lead the way, Mister… Fisher… Uh, man?

Shane: [laughing as he speaks] I just shake my head at no one in particular. I’m just lookin’ for a sympathetic mind and I just look at a bird and a giant lady, and I just shake my head at an invisible third person.

Cameron: I walk up next to him as we’re heading over, and I bow and in as muffled a tone as I can—or not muffled, but just hushed—I approach and say:

Shraya: [birdlike squawk] I hear you have a little bit of a… fishing problem. I’d be happy to help you out in that affair, if you’d like.

Fisherman: Oh, I, sure. It’s mostly about patience, I’ve found, and in my old age, I’ve found lots of patience. But if you want to help, then you are more than welcome to.

Shraya: Oh, pure of earth… For me, patience has nothing to do with it.

[music becomes more rustic and slightly slower, but still confident, led by plucked strings and steel drums]

Cameron: And I take off into the sky and I start scanning the river, and start huntin’ for some fish for this guy.

Russ: Nice.

Fisherman: Oho! He can fly! I’ve never seen that before.

[Shane and Ethan laugh]

Ethan: As he continues to lead you guys on towards his little shack that he’s got set up, you can tell this is just a real makeshift thing. It’s probably been here for years, just… absolutely reeking with the smell of fish. You can see there are fishing poles and nets and equipment leaned up outside the shack, and as he opens it up, you guys get that deep, ocean, fish smell that’s just caked into everything here. He opens up the shed door and you guys can see, you can hardly call it a boat. It’s just a little dingy in there that he’s got. He says:

Fisherman: I haven’t used this in quite some time, but you’re more than welcome to take it out for a spin, if you would like.

Ceallach: Uh… I don’t know how easily we’ll be able to return this to you. Do you think we could take it off your hands for a fair price?

Fisherman: Oh, sure, for a fair price.

Olma: How much do boats go for these days?

Fisherman: I bought this one back in the day for about 50 gold pieces, it served me for many years, and I would be able to part with it for… oh, I’ll say, 35 gold?

Russ: Could I go up to the boat—

Olma: Wow!

Russ: —and inspect it, and just look for stuff that I could bring up to maybe drive the price down a little bit? Like paint chips, broken parts…

Ethan: Yeah! Yeah, make an Investigation check.

Russ: ‘Kay. Would any of my background help with this? Make it advantage?

Ethan: No, I don’t think so.

Russ: [sheepish] Okay, no worries. You know what I’m talkin’ about, though?

Ethan: Yeah.

Russ: Okay. [he rolls] Ohh, but it’s such a good roll guys. 19! So I guess I’m looking for things to use.

Ethan: It’s not pretty, but it’ll definitely get the job done. You don’t see any holes in the boat or anything. It seems pretty sturdy, but yeah, the paint is definitely chipping off of it, and there’s a little bit of splintering in some areas.

Russ: Alright, so I’ll kind of…

Flynn: Mister Fisher—Um, what’s your name, Mister Fisherman?

Fisherman: Oh, my name’s James.

Flynn: James. Hey, it’s great to meet you, James. Um, I really think that we could make some kinda deal here. You said 35, which I already know is super low, but I did notice that there’s some paint chipping, I mean, you’ve had this thing for a very long time, newer models have come out, there’s some stains, some splintering in the wood, this portion has some stain on it—

James: [talking over Flynn] Newer models of boat?

[Bridget laughs]

Flynn: —fish guts, it smells like fish guts, too… I was wondering, I think the highest that maybe we could go is probably 20 gold. I don’t know if we can go any higher than that.

Olma: I mean, here’s the thing. This river is a beast, you know? It’s so strong and powerful. And I just… I don’t know! I mean, I—You’ve lived a whole lot longer than me, and so maybe you’ve better ways to use this boat in your later years, but it seems to me like you’re not gonna get a whole lot of use of it right now, or for the foreseeable future, so you might as well have, like, 25 gold in your pocket?

Flynn: Yeah!

Olma: Buy yourself a nice… gift?

Flynn: Or fish?

James: Um… Well, I—

Olma: A net?

Flynn: Yeah!

Ethan: Either of both of you guys make a Persuasion check, or one of you can do it with advantage.

Rebecca: I would like to do it, if possible. Persuasion?

Russ: Lemme see what mine is, I might just give you advantage.

Rebecca: Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. My Charisma is my spell modifier, so.

Russ: I’ll give you advantage.

Rebecca: Okay.

Russ: Flynn is not persuasive.

Rebecca: [she rolls] That is 21.

Ethan: A 21.

James: Oh, it would be nice to have some money to go buy fish when I don’t have that great of luck. I’ll take 25.

Ethan: And he reaches his hand out.

Rebecca: Yeah, I shake his hand.

Russ: While they’re shakin’ hands, I’ll switch my backpack over and dig through it, then find a little pouch inside my backack, pull out 25 gold, close it up, put it in my pack, and just whenever they’re done shakin’ hands, I’ll hold my hand out.

James: Oh, thank you.

Rebecca: And I say to him as I’m shaking his hand, like, aggressively shaking it—

James: Woah! Gah.

Olma: Pleasure doing business!

James: The pleasure is all mine.

Flynn: Uh, James, I was wondering. Could we also maybe throw in a fishing pole or two? ‘Cuz I did say 20, and we brought it up to 25… Maybe one fishing pole would be… Just so we can catch fish, and maybe give them to you, when we come back!

James: Well, I’ve got five here, and uh… I would prefer to keep three, just in case, because this is how I live…

Flynn: Sure.

James: So I would be able to sell you two. We could say… a silver piece each seems fair.

Flynn: Sure, I’ll definitely do that, that’s totally fine. 

Russ: And I’ll take my backpack off again, go in there, dig through it, open the pouch, get two silver, [dismissively, reducing the rest of the list to sounds] da-da-da-da-da—And I’ll add it to the thing, and just:

Flynn: Okay, here you go! 25 gold and 2 silver.

James: Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Russ: And I’ll walk over to the fishing poles, or where they’re all at—

Ethan: They’re just leaned up against the edge of the shed.

Russ: Can I discern which ones are the two… best ones? The two newer models? The ones that are—

[party laughing]

Rebecca: So rude!

Rebecca: —Cleaner? We paid for ‘em!

Shane: [laughing] Newer models...

[Bridget laughs]

Ethan: Yeah, make a… What kind of check would this be?

Rebecca: This is his livelihood, this is his livelihood!

Russ: Can I like, investigate?

Ethan: Make a Survival check.

Russ: Ach, dammit. Okay.

Rebecca: While he’s doing that, DM…

Ethan: Yeah?

Rebecca: Olma would like to have clocked what he had in his pouch of goodies. Just kinda how heavy it seemed… Cuz she’s got, she got some change to toss around, and she was gonna buy the boat, but now she realizes that she’s also traveling with some high-rollers, so, did the pouch seem heavy?

Russ: My pouch?

Rebecca: Mhm. Did it seem like maybe his Collective sent him off with some good—some good…?

Russ: So I didn’t take it out of my backpack. I just went into my backpack and basically dug around and pulled out the money.

Rebecca: Okay.

Ethan: So if you didn’t want everyone to see how much gold you’ve got, Flynn, you could make a Sleight of Hand check? If you want? Just because, as you’re reaching in there, the coins are going to make a little bit of noise.

Russ: Sure!

Ethan: So you could make a Sleight of Hand check against Olma’s Perception.

Russ: Just before I forget and roll again, I rolled an 18, plus 4 for my Survival. So 22 for the Survival check for the rods, but I’ll roll a—what’d you say, a Sleight of Hand?

Ethan: Yeah, to see if you could hide how much gold you’ve gold.

Russ: Oh, I wasn’t hiding it? So she can hear what she hears.

Ethan: Oh, okay!

Russ: So I dunno what she hears.

Ethan: Okay, yeah. What was that Perception check, Olma?

Rebecca: 15.

Ethan: 15? There is… this was not a majority of his gold. That’s sort of the sense that you get, is—

Rebecca: [while Ethan continues talking] Woooowwwww.

Ethan: —when he was picking this out, there was still quite a bit left.

Rebecca: Okay, okay! So Olma clocks that. She’s— [clicks her tongue slyly]

Ethan: Okay.

Russ: [intensely curious, but also slightly on edge] Oh, what are you plannin’?

Rebecca: I’m not planning anything! [the party laughs] I just like to know things, I like to have an understanding.

Ethan: Flynn—

Russ: Yeah, so I’m just over looking at the fishing poles.

Ethan: Looking at the fishing poles, okay. There are three of them that are definitely in better condition. Two of them have definitely seen better days.

Russ: Mhm.

Ethan: But yeah, you discern which two are the best ones.

Russ: I’ll take one of the nice ones, and one of the okay ones.

Ethan: Okay. And he doesn’t even look at you takin’ those, so you can take those just fine.

Russ: Yeah, so I’ll take one nice one, and just be like “Oh, I don’t wanna take two,” so I’ll take one of the other ones, and I’ll just put ‘em together and put them on the boat.

James: Oh, can I ask why you are all trying to cross the river here?

Flynn: Yeah! Um… Our friend Shraya over here has some problems in his village—

[the music shifts to a melodic and ethereal arrangement that incorporates wordless vocals]

Ceallach: [interrupting and talking over Flynn] Yeah, we’re just a couple of—We’re just some travellin’, uh…

Flynn: Right.

Ceallach: We’re a band of, uh, friends, who are just uhh… on a journal just uh, sightseein’! We heard there’s some beautiful… foliage… in the nearby forest, so we’re just…

Flynn: Right.

Olma: I really do love trees! Also! I love boats.

James: Oh, that’s great! You guys are going up into the forest?

Ceallach: That’s right.

James: Oh. Uh, that’s… very good for you? You must all be very brave. I… I would not go there myself, as I don’t know how to live off of the land like that. That’s a skill I haven’t been able to acquire, but the forest has served me pretty well. The forest brings down nutrients through the river, and nourishes the fish down here, so, it’s all sort of this… this little ecosystem down here! That we get nutrients and the good energies from the forest that flow down here and replenish the fish.

[Rebecca laughs]

Ceallach: You say you don’t live off the land, but you seem to understand it very well.

James: I understand the river, not the forest.

Ceallach: What strikes such fear in you about the forest? I mean, we heard it was just a nice place to take a look.

James: The fact that there’s not other people there, the fact that there’s no beds, or, uh, pillows… [Bridget laughs] The fact that there’s no walls, or ceilings, um, and the fact that I can’t purchase food or purchase water, or defend myself from wild animals, would you like me to keep going? Or…

[the party laughs]

Ceallach: That’s satisfactory.

Olma: [at the same time as Ceallach] Oh, we’re not going to live there, mister, we’re just going to—

March: [cutting in] We’re taking family portraits.

Olma: —explore. 

March: We’re just taking family portraits, it’s fine, everything’s good. You know, Shraya, our friend, is hunting for us, so there you go.

Ceallach: Yes, ah, Flynn here is something of an artist, so when she says “taking family portraits,” what she means is he’s going to draw us—

Flynn: I’m real good!

Ceallach: —In front of the trees.

Flynn: Would you like me to draw your portrait?

James: Oh, yes! I was just gonna ask!

March: Augh, dammit, Flynn.

Flynn: Of course! Definitely!

Russ: And I’ll set my back down again, pull out a little notebook that I have— [Shane laughs] —my little journal that I have, and I’ll flip to the back where there’s—I’ll just rip out a piece, put the piece of paper on top—

Flynn: Sit in… sit in the boat! 

[Bridget laughs]

James: Okay!

Ethan: And he just sorta waddles over to the boat—

Russ: Yes!

Ethan: —and he’s gotta, just like… He takes his hands and he grabs his leg, and he— [his voice becomes strained, imitating James’ effort] —picks up his leg and puts it over the side of the boat, and he puts it into the boat, and then he does the same thing with his other leg—

Flynn: [interjecting] Do you need help?

Ethan: He’s gotta—

James: [strained] Oh, I’ve got it! I’m good. 

Ethan: And he sits down in the boat.

Ceallach: Oh, please don’t let him pull anything. I don’t wanna do any work today.

Russ: I’ll walk over, and I’ll hand him one of the fishing rods that I—I’ll hand him the nicer one so it looks good, ‘cuz I wanna be able to draw it—

Flynn: Okay, pretend like you’re fishing!

Ethan: And he takes it and he stands there, he’s got the fishing rod in front of him, pretending like he’s fishing.

James: How’s this? Does this look okay?

Flynn: It looks great. Now look off into the distance like you’re really concentrating tryin’ to find that fish!

James: [distantly, determined] Ohhh, I’m gonna get that fish.

[Bridget laughs]

Flynn: Yeah you are, yeah you are.

Russ: And I’ll start sketching.

[Shane laughs]

Flynn: You’re doin’ great.

James: How long do I have to stand here? Or sit?

Flynn: Shush shush shush, you’re doin’ great!

[Bridget chuckles]

James: I have arthritis and I can’t sit for too long.

[the party bursts out laughing]

Shane: I turn to March, and I’m like—

Ceallach: I didn’t, I didn’t think he was gonna… I just, I… I don’t—I can’t be held responsible for this, is all I want to say.

March: [sighs in exasperation] I’m holding you solely responsible for this.

Ceallach: Ah, geez…

Russ: I really would like to try to do this well.

Olma: I mean March, you did bring up the portrait first… It’s kind of… [March makes inarticulate defensive noises] How much have I told you to just let me do the talking? You know? Like…

March: Ach… I… I just—[sighs heavily] I should probably just listen to the child more…

Shane: I reach into my bag to pull out just some basic balms, some sort of rubs basically, for any sort of muscle strain or any sort of damage this poor man inflicts on himself by posin’ for this.

[Ethan chuckles]

March: You got anything to make him go to sleep? Just, you know, forget we were ever here?

Ceallach: There’s certain roots you can put into tea that we could boil up, but I don’ know that that’ll be necessarily.

James: How does it look? Am I doing okay?

[Russ imitates sketching noises]

Flynn: Almost done!

[Russ continues imitating sketching noises]

Flynn: You can do it man, just hold out! You look strong—

James: I’m envisioning the fish in my head.

Flynn: Yeahhh! What kind of fish are you envisioning?

[Bridget laughs]

James: I can see myself catching the fish. It’s a big fish!

Flynn: Big fish, got it.

James: Biggest one I’ve ever caught.

Bridget: [still laughing] While all this is going on, can we clarify that Shraya is, in fact, still hunting?

Ethan: [laughing] Yeah, Shraya, you’ve been up there tryin’ to catch some fish. Are you actually like, going down and trying to catch food?

Cameron: Oh yeah! Yeah, I’m going to keep my promise to this guy.

[Bridget chuckles]

Russ: Nice.

Ethan: Nice, okay, make a Survival check to see if you can actually catch some of these fish.

Cameron: Alright.

Ethan: And how are you attempting to do it without a fishing rod?

Cameron: So, a combination of spearing them with my talons, like going in when they’re right about to break the water, or if I miss them with my talons, then scooping them up with my beak, and each one that I catch, I end up throwing somewhere on the shore, I dunno, are there any rocky areas of the shore at all? Or is it just muddy riverbank?

Ethan: Yeah! The shore’s got some areas that are more mud and sand, but there are definitely patches where it’s littered with rocks.

Cameron: Yeah, so that’s where I’m sort of piling my kill, among the rocks. You said Survival check, right?

Ethan: Yes, a Survival check.

Cameron: Okay. [he rolls] That is… a 22. Dirty 22.

Ethan: 22, nice! You, after swooping down a couple times, you are able to catch three decent-sized fish. This’ll be enough rations for you for probably a couple days.

Russ: Heck yeah.

Cameron: Great. So I’m going to take my kill one by one and I dunno at what point in the process of this sketch it’s happening, but I’m sorta gonna pile two of these fish at the foot of the fisherman. I dunno when this would play out in the process of him being sketched, but…

Ethan: Are you dropping them from overhead?

Cameron: [confidently] Yes.

Bridget: [laughing] Oh, God.

Ceallach: Just don’ drop them onto the drawings! Be conscientious!

Russ: We’re in the shack right now, right?

Ethan: You guys have dragged the boat outside of the shack at this point.

Russ: Oh, okay.

Ethan: He’s sitting outside on the boat, and as he’s sitting there, he’s got his fishing rod in hand, he begins to close his eyes a little bit, and he says back what Flynn told him, and he says:

James: [chanting to himself] Envision the fish. Envision the fish.

Russ: [quietly] Yes!

James: Envision catching the fish.

Ethan: And this fish thuds at his feet and goes:

James: Oh! Woah!

Flynn: You did it!

James: Wha—What have I done?

[Shane and Bridget laughing]

Flynn: You caught a fish! It’s all mindset, man. All mindset.

James: Oh, my God.

Flynn: Yeah!

Ethan: And he lets go of the fishing rod and he looks down at his hands. And he goes:

James: Wha—What am I?

[Shane laugh-wheezing in the background]

Flynn: A fisherman.

Bridget: Can I just loudly go:

March: You’re a human, James. Remember our bird-friend, he’s up there flying around—

Flynn: [exhales disappointedly at March ruining his fun]

James: Oh…

March: Keep posing, keep posing, you’re doing great.

Ceallach: [reproachfully] March!

Flynn: [grumbling] March… 

Ceallach: Where’s your spirit o’ generosity, what’re you doin’?

Flynn: C’mon…

James: That makes— That makes much more sense. Ah, well.

[the party laughing in the background]

Ceallach: You’re gonna kill the man of a broken heart! 

Flynn: Geez…

James: That’s kind of disappointing…

March: I don’t know if I’m gonna do that, but uh… who wants to, I dunno, cross the river?

Flynn: You’re right. Aaaaaaand, done! Alright, um, Shraya, do you wanna help him out of the boat? It seems like he had trouble getting into it.

Shraya: I… Sure. I wouldn’t mind at all doing… doing that, with this one.

Cameron: And I sorta awkwardly fumble my wingspan back into place and attempt to steady this old man on his way out of the boat. I’m not used to being in a boat.

[Shane and Russ chuckle]

Ethan: So you sorta take him and you help him outta the boat, and he lands one foot after the other.

James: Oh, how did the drawing turn out?

Flynn: I think it looks perfect! It really accents, you know, your stature, the strength, that determination to catch that fish. And I mean, I dunno, tell me what you think!

Russ: I wanted to try and do really well, do you want me to roll?

Ethan: Yeah! So, make a Sleight of Hand check.

Russ: [excited, audibly grinning, and speaking quickly] Okay, yeah yeah yeah! [Shane laughing in the background] This may be a thing that I do now.

Bridget: [laughing] Oh my God.

Russ: [he rolls, then speaks, disbelieving] Oh my God. [laughing delightedly, his voice coming out high-pitched] I got a natural 20!!

[the party laughs and celebrates, someone claps, Russ lets out an exhilarated little scream]

Rebecca: That’s amazing.

Russ: Yeah!! So a 24 total!

Ethan: Nice! He looks at this drawing and he doesn’t say anything at first. And there’s a second of “Oh my God, does he hate it?” and then you look over at him, and a couple tears begin to form in his eyes, and one tear falls down his face and he looks at you, and he goes:

James: It’s… beautiful. Thank you.

Flynn: Glad I could help, man.

Ceallach: Well, uh… Shall we be on our way, then?

Flynn: I think so.

Ceallach: James, you stay safe out here, yeah?

James: I will. Um… [inarticulate sound as he searches for words] Give me one second. And he hobbles back over to his shed, and you can hear sort of some rummaging around, and he comes back out and he presents you guys with a couple of oars, like rowing oars for the boat itself, and he also comes out with his little pouch of gold that he collected form Flynn. And he begins picking out the gold that Flynn had gave him and attempts to try and give it back to Flynn.

James: Ah, the drawing is payment enough. You can have this back.

Flynn: It’s okay, sir. We paid, and it’s—

James: No, I—I insist.

Flynn: [he gives a small sigh] Well, at least let me pay you for the fishing poles. 

James: Are you sure?

Flynn: Yeah, you can give—

Russ: And this—let me know— [suddenly incredulous] He’s giving me back all of the money?

Ethan: He’s attempting to, yeah.

Russ: Okay, I’ll take… So I’ll take back the money, and just pull out 4 gold. I’ll pull out 5 gold and give him that.

Flynn: This is for the fishing poles. I really appreciate it. I’m glad you like the painting, but I—I feel like I still need to pay you for somethin’, so here’s 5 gold for the fishing poles. Man, I hope we see you again! We’ll have to come back this way and maybe get you another portrait drawn!

James: Oh, I would appreciate that! And if I could bring back my grandchildren, I’m sure they would love to get their portrait drawn as well.

Flynn: James, where do you live?

James: I live over in Addersfeld.

Flynn: No way! We’re gonna be heading over that way. Maybe we’ll see you there!

James: Oh, yes, that would be amazing if we come across each other! I’m sure the grandchildren would love a drawing.

Flynn: Well, I’d love to meet ‘em! We’ll look you up.

Ceallach: What part of Addersfeld are you from? What part do you live in?

James: I live in the market district.

Ceallach: Right.

James: We’ve got, well, obviously, a fish stand there, and, ah, you can come find me there if you’re around.

Flynn: Oh, definitely. 

Ceallach: We’ll make a point of it.

Flynn: Whenever we go there, we’ll have to look and see if you’ve got any fish we can buy.

James: I would love that.

Flynn: Alright, so… Are we all ready? Shraya, are you done fishing?

Shraya: [birdlike squawk] I’ve got my fix in for the day.

Flynn: Alright! Let’s load up.

Russ: I’m gonna make sure we have all our stuff. Are we taking those fish? I’ll make sure the two fishing poles are on the boat and all that stuff. I’ll start getting ready, essentially.

Rebecca: Are we leaving two of the fish for him?

Ceallach: Should we take the fish?

Rebecca: Are we leaving any fish for him?

Russ: I can’t remember. I would.

Cameron: I left two fish at his feet and then I kept one.

Shane: Alright, good.

Rebecca: Got it, good.

Ethan: Okay. Nice! So you guys are able to all drag this boat out to the edge of the water. You guys find sort of a sandy area where it’s easy to push the boat out into the water. Now that you guys have the oars that he gave you, after the beautiful drawing was given to him, the difficulty of crossing this river is gonna be decreased by quite a bit—

Russ: Nice.

Ethan: —because you guys are gonna be able to steer a little bit better and actually get some power into it. So with that, I’m gonna need two people to sort of be helming the rowing and taking you guys across the river.

Russ: My vote’s for March and Shraya, what do you guys think?

Bridget: I’m good with that.

Ceallach: Shraya, are you uh, are you a strong bird?

Shraya: Oh, I am quite agile, but unfortunately my strength is, ah—

Flynn: Oh…

Shraya: —Very dependent on forces outside of my control, like momentum and wind.

Ceallach: Right. I mean, I’m stringy, but I have done a lot of manual labor, so I am able to also helm it, depending on…

Flynn: Yeah!

Ceallach: —You know, the roughness of the waters.

Shraya: How about this? If the boat starts to come into trouble, I can remain above and spot the boat, try to swoop down and steer it in a better direction. [birdlike squawk]

Ceallach: Alright. That’s a fair deal.

Flynn: I like it. Let’s go!

Ethan: Okay. So you guys actually all hop in, you guys push the boat out onto the water, and immediately are swept away by the current of this river. It’s a little bit jolting at first, but after a couple seconds, you guys are able to get the oars in the water, and actually begin to steer yourselves. So, I’m sorry, March is taking one of the oars, who’s taking the other one?

[music becomes strong, striking strings accented with mordents and turns, inspiring boldness and adventurous spirit]

Russ: Ceallach?

Bridget: [at the same time as Russ] I am.

Ethan: Ceallach?

Flynn: Ceallach.

Ethan: Perfect. So, both of you guys, I’m gonna need both of you guys to make Athletics checks for me, to see if you guys can hold the oars against the current of the river.

Flynn: You got this, guys!

Shane: A 17 for me.

[Bridget rolls]

Ethan: Nice.

Bridget: [humming as she calculates] 19. 

Rebecca: Olma’s like, reaching her hand off the boat, dragging it across the water as we go.

Ethan: Nice, nice. So, the first portion of the river that you guys are getting across, it’s easy. You guys are rowing perfectly fine, you guys are finding each little current to take you guys further and further across the river. You guys are gonna have to make two more checks in order to successfully get across the river. With that, you guys run up into a little bit of a trickier patch of the river, where there’s a little bit more turbulence, so I’m gonna have you guys both make another Athletics check.

Cameron: And DM, I’m gonna do, as I’m above the boat, kinda treading air— [someone rolls in the background] —I’m gonna look over at the place where we’re headed on the riverbank and just take a look and see if there’s anything awaiting us on the other side.

Ethan: Yeah.

Cameron: Great.

Ethan: Make a Perception check for me. [Cameron rolls] What were those two checks?

Shane: That’s a 9 for me.

Bridget: 17.

Ethan: A 17? So you guys begin to rotate just a little bit, with Ceallach’s side sort of falling behind—

Ceallach: [grunts from the exertion]

Ethan: —and March really digging in and propelling her side forward. You guys begin to rotate a little bit, but— [his voice becomes briefly strained, imitating the labor of rowing] sort of still stay on course and you guys are able to stay fine. Shraya, what was that Perception check?

Cameron: That was a 14 for me.

Ethan: A 14. So, you can see on the other side of the river, it seems to be pretty clear. It is sort of rough waters ahead for them—

Cameron: Oof.

Ethan: —but you can see on the bank, there’s nothing out there right now.

Cameron: Great.

Ethan: So with that, you guys are hitting another rough patch of water. I’m gonna need you guys to make one last Athletics check to see if you can keep the boat goin’.

[Bridget and Shane roll]

Shane: It’s a 16 for me.

Ethan: A 16 for Ceallach?

Cameron: [quietly] Great!

Bridget: 20.

Ethan: And a 20, nice! [chuckling slightly as he continues] So you guys are able to navigate these waters, no problem.

Russ: Nice.

[Shane sighs in relief]

Ethan: On some of the parts where it’s a little bit more difficult— [briefly straining his voice again, demonstrating the intensity of the rowing] —you sort of dig in, and slip through a little bit better, but before you know it, the boat hits the bank on the opposite side, and you guys are successfully across the river without any problems whatsoever!

Flynn: Good job, guys! Um, are we… tying this up? How are we gonna…?

Shane: I sorta tap my oar against March’s oar.

[Bridget laughs softly]

Rebecca: What time is it, roughly? What time of day are we?

Ethan: You guys are approaching about two o’clock. After you guys left the tent and walked for a little bit, it’s approaching the afternoon.

Rebecca: Okay. I wanna turn—

Olma: Uh, Shraya? How deep into the forest is your… your… [uncertain, reaching for the right word] …commune? Because it’s gonna start getting dark fairly soon, and in a forest it’s gonna be even more dark, so I guess, like, would we be able to get there before the end of the night, do you think? Before nightfall?

Cameron: Do I have a sense of that, DM?

Ethan: You know once you actually get to the edge of the forest, it’s a couple miles in, but definitely within a day’s travel.

Shraya: It may take us a little bit of time into the night to actually find the gathering of the elves. The good thing is that they have… They’ve kept elven wards of light etched into certain trees that I can identify, and the larger the concentration of those wards— [squawking inhale] —it means the closer we’re getting to the center of the commune.

Olma: Okay! Yeah, let’s just— let’s just do it then, huh?

Flynn: Is the village… safe? For us to… go to? I know that there’s problems… Once we get to the village, are we going to have refuge there? Or is it going to be dangerous?

Shraya: [lets out a short, dry laugh]

Cameron: I sort of chuckle to myself a little bit.

Shraya: [squawking inhale] I wish I could tell you that.

[the party pauses, then talks at the same time, all generally less than thrilled]

Flynn: Alright, well!

March: That sounds cryptic...

Olma: That seems really helpful.

Flynn: [after the group settles down] Let’s start goin’ against the water… What are we doing with this boat, guys?

March: Perhaps we should tie it along the coastline and try to hide it as much as possible? It could be useful to us at some point.

Ceallach: Maybe you could tuck in that bag o’ yers? [Bridget chuckles] Seems a kind of large piece of fabric. 

Russ: Is there foliage around the riverbank at all?

Ethan: There is. It’s mostly a continuation of the fields on the previous side.

Russ: Uh huh.

Ethan: There are just a smattering of bushes here and there, but nothing super dense.

Flynn: Well let’s, um, I mean, there’s nothing much, but it’s better to put it up against those bushes over there, I guess. We can just put it over there and leave it, and hopefully nobody takes it… I mean, I’m kinda worried that someone’s gonna take our boat that we… [trailing off] paid for…

[party talking all at once]

Olma: Paid 5 whole gold for?

March: That you paid for? That you had to draw a beautiful, beautiful portrait?

Ceallach: You barely— you barely paid for it.

Flynn: [defensive] Hey.

March: Sorry about that, thought you did great.

Ceallach: Not that you shouldn’t value your talent, I mean, clearly you’ve… you’ve missed your calling.

Flynn: [somewhat dreamily, half-joking] I’m an artist. I’m going to change everything!

Cameron: I’m gonna look at the map again, ‘cuz it looks like there’ sone more leg of river that we have to cross before we get into the forest proper.

Flynn: Yeah, I mean, that’s a… We could cross the other river, if you guys want to. But I thought the plan originally was we were gonna follow the southern side of that other river into the forest?

Cameron: Oh, that’s right.

Ceallach: Right, where within the forest is— I mean, I know you can’t, you can’t really say exactly, but is there… an “alright, that’s where we’re goin’”?

Flynn: Here, Shraya, if you wanna point it out on the map.

Olma: So, yeah! Why don’t we cross the river then, since we have such a nice boat.

Flynn: I think that’s a good idea.

Shraya: The real question is, how difficult will it be to carry this boat over land to the other section of the river?

Rebecca: Well how far is it? Can we see it, DM? It looks fairly close to me, but maybe I’m wrong?

Ethan: Yeah, it actually is. It’s probably no more than a mile away.

Rebecca: So we could potentially drag it for a mile?

[music becomes a steady series of strummed chords with an ethereal descant over the top]

Ethan: Yeah! It wouldn’t be too difficult to do it.

Ceallach: I’m sure. I’ve done harder things, so let’s go for it. Let’s do it.

Olma: Yeah!

Rebecca: I’ll get behind and start pushing, if somebody wants to pull.

Russ: Yeah, same. I’ll get up right on the other side of Olma and I’ll just push the other side of it, too.

Ethan: Okay.

Bridget: March is just gonna go:

March: [sighs deeply]

Bridget: And just go straight up to the front and just… full-on, one-handedly just kinda shift it up, pull it up, and start draggin’ while sort of shimmying all of her weapons to be along her back.

Shane: So on one side of us, we have on sort of tree line, right? And then we’re pushin’-slash-pullin’ this boat over to the other section o’ the river?

Ethan: Yes.

Shane: And there’s just a sea of forest in front of us, is that right?

Ethan: That is correct.

Cameron: I’m gonna hover fifteen feet or so above, because they seem to be just a little bit compromised in pushing the boat forward, so I’m just gonna be scanning the area they’re headed and around us as I sort of circle overhead.

Ethan: Okay.

Shane: I imagine I’m at the front of it, sort of pullin’ from the front.

Ethan: Yeah, for sure. As you guys move closer and closer to the edge of this forest, you look out and Flynn and Shraya, this is a familiar feeling to you guys. You guys have felt this in the last couple days. But as you look out into the forest, you just get chills and sort of an uneasy feeling within the pit of your stomach. [Russ hums thoughtfully] It’s nothing that would, you know, outright deter you from approaching the forest, but there’s just something that feels sort of unnatural as you approach the forest.

Russ: And we’ve felt this feeling.

Ethan: Over the next couple of minutes, you guys are able to drag this boat over to the edge of the other river. Now as you guys approach the edge of the other river, you guys sort of bring the boat up and push it, and as you’re about to push it into the water, you all notice that the river is flowing in the opposite direction.

Bridget: [intrigued and puzzled] Oh.

Ethan: It’s not flowing out towards Coldcrest and then out towards the ocean, it’s flowing in towards the Shadow Timberland, which is not the direction that it should be flowing. 

Russ: Uhh… hold up.

Ethan: It should be flowing, you know, out towards the major body of water. This one is not. It is in the complete opposite direction.

Bridget: Seems legit.

Flynn: Hold on, guys. This seems… This seems off. 

Russ: Can I look down to the west of the river, does it look like anything? I kinda wanna get a sense if this is natural, or if this is like a magical thing changing the trajectory of the water.

[music becomes strong, striking strings accented with mordents and turns, inspiring boldness and adventurous spirit

Ethan: You look down the river to the west. You don’t see anything unnatural. There’s just a little bit of river that goes on, and then it’s mostly rolling hills from there. You don’t see any structures or anything.

Shane: Can we sort of pin-point where the change starts, where the river sort of shifts flow? Is there like, a hair-part of where the river shifts?

[Shane and Ethan both chuckle]

Ethan: Make a Perception check for me.

Shane: [he rolls] Uhhh…. It’s a 10.

Ethan: A 10. You can’t really see. You’re looking out— There’s sort of some, not like waves, but some of the water is churning, just like in a normal river, so you can’t really get a sense of where that directional change actually is.

Olma: That’s so weird! Didn’t James say that the nutrients were coming from the forest to feed the fish? I mean, it doesn’t really seem like that can happen if the water’s going the wrong direction…

Flynn: Yeah, Shraya, do you know anything about this? Do you know anything about this river? You live around here. Does it flow into the… Does it normally flow into the forest?

Shraya: The last time I would’ve encountered this, would it have been different?

Ethan: The last time that you would’ve encountered this, it would’ve been flowing in the normal direction, out towards the ocean.

[Russ hums thoughtfully]

Shraya: No, this is strange. I have no idea why the river might be behaving this way. [birdlike click]

Shane: I sorta shake my hand out, ‘cos I’ve got sort of a tingle in me arm from all this— [Russ laughs] —proximity to water, and I say:

Ceallach: Well, it could be the reason why he can’t catch any fish? I mean, well… I guess Shraya was able to, but if there’s, there’s less, I dunno, nutrients—I’m unfamiliar with how that would work in the first place—but if he’s relyin’ on that, then it might be hurtin’ the ecosystem of the river there.

Flynn: Yeah. Maybe once we—

Shraya: Well, whatever it is, it’s unnatural, and I don’t trust it.

Flynn: Yeah… On the other hand, it would probably make our travel a lot faster, and we’d probably get there well before nightfall. What do you guys think, should we…?

[the music shifts to a melodic and ethereal arrangement that incorporates wordless vocals]

Ceallach: Assumin’ the river flows straight to Shraya’s village and not some place particularly strange.

Flynn: I mean, yeah, from where he pointed it out, it looks like it’s goin’ right to it, so… Group vote! Who wants to jump in the river with the boat and use it to travel down the—up the river? Or who wants to just cross and walk it?

March: I’m gonna cross and walk that.

Ceallach: It’s probably safer to take the boat.

Olma: I think so.

Ceallach: I mean, just think of it as time. If the forest is dangerous on its own, then the time spent in the forest is shortened by a faster trip to the…

Flynn: All good points.

Shraya: Also…

Olma: I think we should use—

March: …But a river that’s flowing the wrong way?

Olma: I mean… We can use it to our advantage? There’s—We’ve been in worse situations, you know?

Shraya: I wouldn’t mind giving my wings a break.

March: [with a sigh, conceding] Yes, yes.

Russ: Does the water look more rapid than the last? Does it look like it’s super treacherous? Or does it look like the last river we crossed? Does it look like just about the same type of flow?

Ethan: It looks just about the same.

Russ: Okay.

Flynn: Yeah, I mean, I say we give it a shot! Worst case scenario, we just… get out and go on the land.

Olma: Yeah!

Flynn: If it starts lookin’ dangerous, we just go to the side and that’s all we’ve got. But I think it’s worth trying!

Olma: I agree, let’s do it!

Shraya: Alright, let’s pile in.

Flynn: Alright.

Ceallach: Just—Just to give March’s thoughts a fair chance here, I mean… Could this force that’s hauntin’ your village be inviting us by puttin’ this flow into the river? Is it some sort of… shadow-nefarious trap of sorts?

Shraya: If the shadow has infected the forest, then it would appear that my brethren might be in need, and if it takes us faster to where that need arises, then I would hope to get there as quickly as possible.

Ceallach: Can’t argue with that. Let’s go.

Flynn: Let’s get goin’, let’s do this!

Ethan: Okay.

Russ: And I’ll help to load the boat out into the water and stabilize it so everyone can get it.

Ethan: Okay, fantastic. Yeah! You’re able to once again launch the boat back into the water, but this time you guys aren’t— Are you guys crossing the river? Or are you taking the river in?

[everyone chimes in to say they’re taking it in]

Ethan: Gotcha. Okay, just wanted to make that clear. So this time, since you guys aren’t crossing the river, the checks are gonna be a little bit easier. This is just sort of to keep the boat from tipping. 

Russ: Mhm.

Ethan: So as you guys are now floating along this river, taking it down—

Rebecca: Um…

Ethan: Yes?

Rebecca: I just wanted to say:

Olma: Shraya, keep an eye out for those glowing trees, so we know when to stop?

Flynn: Yeah, whenever we need to get out, wherever we need to go.

Olma: Just let us know!

Shraya: Yes, the wards of light will reveal themselves. I should be able to pick them out rather easily.

Olma: Great!

Flynn: Cool. We don’t wanna take this too far.

Ceallach: Are these elvish wards, is there somethin’ special that makes you able to see them? ‘Cos if not, then I can read Elvish, I can help you.

Shraya: It’s just my own experience with the commune and the way they mark the trees—

Ceallach: Understood.

Shraya: —It just looks like something that stands out from the forest, and unless there are other inhabitants here that are organized that I don’t know a thing about…

[awkward pause]

Ceallach: Well that inspired confidence. [the party snickers] Ehh… Let’s go?

Flynn: Onward!

Ethan: Alright.

Russ: And I point! [Russ makes a noise that sounds like he’s just dramatically pointed ahead of him, then laughs lightly]

Ethan: So as you guys are flowing down this river, you guys actually make it to the entrance of the forest where the tree line actually starts. It’s a pretty abrupt start. It’s a little unusual, where the trees sort of comes up to— It’s dense, dense forest until all of a sudden there’s no trees. But you guys cross that threshold past the tree line, and then all of a sudden, you guys are in a dense forest. The trees come up right up to the edges of the river.

Shane: And do the branches arc over it? Is it like a spooky archway?

Russ: That’s cool.

Ethan: [to Shane] It is. It is, definitely. The river is still pretty wide here, so it doesn’t completely cover the river, but there are tree branches that reach out almost like hands and arms over the river.

[Bridget shudders]

Russ: Can I do a Spooky Vibe check?

[Rebecca and Bridget laugh]

Ethan: [amused and in anticipation] Yeah! You wanna do a Spooky Vibes check?

[the party buzzes with excitement]

Russ: Yeah I wanna do one of them— [dramatically, like an announcer] Spooky Vibes Checks!

Shane: The forest of spooky vibes!

Bridget: Fully needs Spooky Vibes.

Shane: This river definitely warrants it.

Ethan: Yeah!

Russ: [marveling] These branches… [he lets out a short, delightedly disbelieving laugh]

Ethan: For Spooky Vibes checks, it’s just rollin’ a d20 and then adding your Wisdom modifier—

Russ: [enjoying himself, but sarcastic] Oh great, that’s gonna be great—

Ethan: —to see if there’s any sort of spooky things that… It’s not quite Perception, it’s more like the hair standing up on the back of your neck.

Russ: [audibly grinning again, thrilled to be making this roll] Sure! So just a straight Wisdom check, essentially?

Ethan: Yeah, just a straight Wisdom check.

Russ: Okay.

[Russ rolls]

Rebecca: It’s a Spooky Vibes check.

Russ: [in a silly, epic voice] Spooky Viiiibes!

Ethan: It’s a Spooky Vibes check!

Shane: Spooky Vibes!

Russ: I got a 15 on my Spooky Viiiibes.

Ethan: [matter-of-fact, but barely containing his own grin] You are lookin’ around; you are detecting some serious spooky vibes.

Russ: [fake devastated] Oh, no! [he starts laughing]

[the party wailing and bemoaning the spooky vibes, talking all at once with lots of “Oh no!” and “Oh, shit!”, all the while laughing and sounding genuinely thrilled with the outcome]

Shane: [still laughing through his words] The question will become: are Spooky Vibes checks always successful?

Russ: Yeah, right!

[the party laughs harder]

Ethan: Yeah! You’re getting’ some sort of ominous presence around you! There’s sort of a breeze flowing through these trees, and you can see the branches that are hanging out over the water—they look like arms and hands—

[the party winces and sharply inhales together, then a chorus of happy “NOPE” and long, drawn out “Oh no”s breaks out]

Russ: Nope, turnin’ around!

Ethan: —these long fingers that are reaching out over the water.

Russ: [softly, tinged with dread] Noooo.

Rebecca: Ohhhh, God.

Bridget: If this is a spider, I will lose my mind.

[the party laughs nervously]

Ethan: And it continues along the river for the length that you guys are going, and lookin’ around, you just can’t shake these chills, and this spooky vibe that you’re getting.

Cameron: I have a quick question.

Ethan: Yeah!

Cameron: Have I encountered these spooky vibes before, in my time here previously? [Bridget and Shane laugh] Or are they very strong? 

[music turns slow, dark, and ominous with an underlying drone]

Ethan: [he laughs, then gets serious] Yes. This is—it’s actually not as strong as it was when you were in the commune itself, but you’re just starting to get sort of that tingling feeling that is very familiar to you.

Cameron: Then I’m just gonna say:

Shraya: [he grumbles, displeased] Yes, just like how we left it.

Cameron: And then I’m gonna burrow my head into my feathers.

Shraya: If you all don’t mind, I can’t imagine that we’ll be there imminently— I’m going to try to nod off a bit. The feeling of the waves rocking this boat is very… is very comforting to me.

Olma: I’m sorry, you’re gonna go to sleep right now? Is that what you just said?

Ceallach: In so many words, it seems like that’s what he was getting’ at.

March: I think that’s what he said.

Olma: I’m just gonna start translating everything you say— [Ceallach laughs] —‘cuz I just wanna make sure I get it, ‘cuz you use so. Many. Words. And I use a lot of words, but my words are very small.

[Bridget and Shane burst into laughter]

Flynn: That’s like part of his charm though, right?

Cameron: And with that, my head kinda like falls over to the side of my wings. [the party chuckles] I’m going to—your call, DM—but I’m gonna try to see if I can eek out a short rest here.

[Shane and Rebecca laugh]

Ethan: Yeah! We’ll see if you’re able to get that short rest.

Rebecca: You’re gonna wake up in like, two minutes!

Russ: With the spooky vibes, after that check, could I actively be looking in these trees on either side of the river, just constantly keeping an eye out while my party members are rowing through the river? I’ll just keep an eye, left and right, just keep an eye out for anything creepy or spooky.

Ethan: Yeah! Make a Perception check for me.

Russ: [he rolls] Uhhhh… [he idly sings a little tune while calculating]

Rebecca: Is it pretty dark?

Ethan: Yeah! So, as you guys are flowing down this river, you all start to notice that it’s getting dark a lot quicker than the normal daytime would constitute.

Rebecca: Okay, I would like to light a torch then.

Ethan: Okay.

Shane: I was going to also do a thing with that. So as she’s doin’ that, I’ll whisper:

Ceallach: Vow Keeper, show us a little bit more than we can gather with our feeble eyes.

Shane: And I’ll cast Light on the oar that I’m usin’.

Ethan: Okay.

Shane: And I’ll say:

Ceallach: Ostende nobis.

Shane: And the oar glows with 20 feet of bright light, and then 20 feet of dim light beyond that.

Ethan: Nice.

Olma: [gasping loudly] Wow!

Russ: Nice.

Bridget: I’m gonna look over and be like:

March: What about my— What about my oar? Just, just you? You just get the fancy light? The rest of us, just, no? Okay, thank you, yeah.

Ceallach: Yes, some of us are just blessed, I suppose.

Olma: [suddenly effervescently excited] I can do something like that! I can do! I can do something like that!

Rebecca: And I—

Ceallach: [apprehensive and tense] Oh, maybe not, Olma—

March: [equal parts apprehensive and nervous] Oh God— Here we go, here we go.

Rebecca: [sheepish] No, I just double— I just double the light that’s cast from my torch, so that it doubles the light that comes from it, and it’s gonna last for an hour.

Russ: Oo!

Ethan: Nice.

Rebecca: I also change its color to like a bright green.

Russ: Great, super spooky.

[the party laughs]

Shane: The light from my oar—

Rebecca: [cutting in, struck by another idea] Or no! No, I’m sorry, your thing is more of a yellow? ‘Cuz it’s like, light?

Shane: It’s a pale white light, it’s not—

Rebecca: Okay. I change mine to match yours.

Shane: Alright.

[general snickering]

Russ: That’s better.

Ethan: Nice.

Shane: We could, we kinda go back and forth—

Ceallach: I mean, I can do yours, if you want, I don’t mind— if you’ve a preference on the color?

March: No, no, it’s fine. Let’s just go.

Olma: [interrupting, rapid-fire] No no no no! It’s cool! We can do this color.

Ceallach: I think it’s kinda the thing for…

Olma: Yeah, no no, this color makes so much more sense, green doesn’t really give off that much light, I just— sometimes I like to make them fun colors!

Rebecca: And so it’s now doubled the light, and it’s the same shade as Ceallach’s.

Ceallach: I kinda just leave it to the, y’know, to the source of it, and—

Olma: [bewildered] Wha—?

Ceallach: —and go from there.

Olma: The source of what?

Ceallach: Oh, like… my… magic. Comes from… something beyond me. Y’know.

Olma: [softly, in awe] Riiiight…

Ceallach: Something outside of meself. So I let… sorta let him decide.

Olma: Riiight… Okay!

Ceallach: R— Right.

Shane: As we’re rowin’, does the light reveal anything? Can we sort of see how deep it is, or murky the water is, or if there’s any life, aquatic life around it?

Russ: Does that help my Perception check?

Ethan: Yeah, so, how about… Flynn and Ceallach both do Perception checks, as Flynn’s looking out more into the forest and Ceallach is looking down into the water.

Russ: So I already rolled, do you want me to roll again?

Ethan: Oh, no no no, this was that roll.

Russ: Okay.

Rebecca: We just added light to it.

Russ: Yeah, my roll was a 14.

Ethan: A 14?

Shane: My roll is a critical fail.

[Rebecca winces]

Russ: [quietly in the background] Noooooo!

Ethan: Okay. So. Flynn, you’re lookin’ out into the forest, and you don’t notice anything. The trees are sort of moving in an eerie way, but nothing that’s coming at you, coming towards you. Every once in a while, you’ll think that you’ll see something, but it was just a shadow that was moving over one of the trees.

Russ: Eughhhh. Spooky.

Ethan: Ceallach. You hold your oar out over the water and are attempting to sort of look in and see where the bottom of this river is. You’re looking in, and you can’t really see too deep into the water, and you lean closer and closer to try and see it, and you don’t notice a shift in the water beneath you. 

[Rebecca gasps] 

Bridget: Nope!

Ethan: You don’t notice the water begin to form—

Shane: [horrified] No!

Ethan: —Until it forms into a beautiful face—

Shane: Don’t do this!

Russ: Nooooo!

Ethan: —A beautiful face that sort of matches your own—

Bridget: Oh, no…

Shane: [slyly] Matches my own beauty.

[Rebecca laughs]

Ethan: —As you are looking in close to the surface of the water, it sort of smooths out ‘til the features of a face form, and not long after you notice it—

[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]

Ethan: —A tentacle—

[Rebecca gasps again]

Russ: No!

Ethan: —Of water bursts forth from the river and attempts to hit you. We are going to roll Initiative with this—

[the party erupts into nervous but enthusiastic shouting]

Russ: No, no!

Ethan: —As something in the water is attempting to attack Ceallach.

Russ: No! And I rolled a 2! No! [Bridget and Ethan laugh] The worst thing I can roll! I got a 6.

Rebecca: …And Shraya is asleep.

[the party laughing]

Cameron: I mean, how long—

Russ: [laughing] Yeah! He’s about to wake up!

Rebecca: Probably you miss one round, probably.

Cameron: Well, yeah… My goal was to try to recover a spell slot, but we’ll see.

Shane: Yup, but we have to wait.

Rebecca: Yeah, we have to until—I guess we have to wait.

Cameron: Yeah.

Russ: Hey, it’s worth tryin’, man.

Rebecca: It’s a good effort!

Ethan: If you wanna keep resting, that is… your prerogative?

Cameron: I mean, the question is can I, if the violence— 

Russ: This might wake him up.

Cameron: —Since these tentacles just burst through the water.

Russ: [laughing] Yeah.

Ethan: Okay, let me get this… Okay. Has everyone—

Bridget: Initiative dance.

Russ: [with a chuckle] Yeah, the initiative dance.

Ethan: Has everyone rolled initiative?

Rebecca: Yes, sir.

Russ: Yup.

Ethan: Perfect! Olma, what’s your initiative?

Rebecca: 13!

Ethan: Okay. Flynn, what’s your initiative?

Russ: 6!

Ethan: Shraya?

Cameron: 11.

Ethan: Alright, March, what is your initiative?

Bridget: 12.

Ethan: And Ceallach?

Shane: 12 as well.

Ethan: 12 as well… Who wants to go first, March or Ceallach?

Shane: You can go, March. It’s all the same.

Ethan: Okay. So this thing, a tentacle made of water bursts from the edge of the boat and attempts to strike out at Ceallach, so it is going to make an attack roll towards him, as you’re completely caught off-guard by this thing. [he rolls] That is gonna be a 21 to hit.

[Rebecca gasps]

Bridget: Oh…

Shane: That… definitely hits.

Ethan: Okay.

Shane: [laughing wryly to himself] That’ll do it.

Russ: Uh oh… Hopefully it doesn’t like, pull him under…

Ethan: That is gonna be 6 points of bludgeoning damage—

Shane: Oof. Oof.

Ethan: —As this tentacle bursts up and just hits you in the face with a force of water.

Shane: That level 1 HP, man…

Russ: I know.

Shane: That’s rough.

Bridget: Yeah, seriously!

Shane: That’s rough.

Ethan: Okay. And then the tentacle is going to retract back into the water and, yeah! It’ll just retract its arm.

Ceallach: [cries out in pain]

Ethan: Next up in the initiative is Olma. Olma, you see Ceallach be thrown back by this attack.

Rebecca: And we’re all on a boat…

Ethan: And you’re all on a boat!

Rebecca: I’m gonna yell:

Olma: [worried] Ceallach?

Rebecca: And then I’m gonna, I guess walk? I guess I’ll look over the side of the boat. Can I see a face at all? Do I see what attacked him?

Ethan: Make a Perception check.

Rebecca: [she rolls] Uh… 15.

Ethan: 15, yes. So there is a little patch of the water that doesn’t seem to be flowing with the current around it.

Rebecca: Okay.

Russ: Hmm…

Rebecca: Um… Okay… Water. Water demon of some kind? [Russ and Bridget laugh] My guess is fire does nothing to it, so… [Rebecca trails off laughing]

Ethan: [smug] I dunno! That’s an interesting thought.

[Rebecca laughs harder]

Russ: I dunno where you’re getting that idea, but.

Rebecca: Oh, y’know! [Russ laughs] Um… Soooooo… I’m gonna… freak out! And throw my hands up, and when I yelled “Ceallach” and—

Olma: Watch out!

Rebecca: —You see once again the warbling ball of energy come from me, going towards that face, or that piece of water that’s not moving in the same direction.

Ethan: Okay, make an attack roll.

[Rebecca rolls]

Russ: Gettem!

Rebecca: Actually really good. 21.

Russ: Nice.

Ethan: Yeah, 21 hits, for sure.

Bridget: Yes.

Ethan: Roll your damage.

Rebecca: [she rolls, then gives a relieved laugh] Oh man, that was almost fire damage. [Ethan laughs] Okay! Coolcoolcoolcoolcool. Not a lot. 8 points of force damage.

Ethan: [confirming] 8 points of force damage.

Rebecca: So it warbles and warbles and warbles and warbles and turns… like, silver?

Russ: Nice.

Rebecca: At the end? As it’s changing and rotating through colors, and it becomes sort of this silver mass that hits the piece of water.

Ethan: Okay. Nice. And as it hits, you can see where the force hit the creature, it sort of dispersed a little bit and then came back and formed back together—

Rebecca: Oh, no.

Ethan: —Into this form, you can’t really tell exactly what it is.

Rebecca: Did it seem to do anything to it?

Ethan: It definitely did.

Rebecca: Okay.

Ethan: It just seemed to disperse it for a moment before it formed back.

Rebecca: Reformed? Okay, and that was a spell slot.

Ethan: Okay, so I’m gonna have you roll your Wild Magic surge.

Cameron: Uh oh… Uh oh.

Rebecca: [she rolls, then gasps] Guys.

Bridget: No…

Ethan: It’s either a 1 or a 2.

Cameron: Here we go!

Ethan: …Is that a 1?

Russ: [with dawning realization] Oh, no.

Rebecca: …That is a 1.

Bridget: Oh no… Oh my God.

Rebecca: That is a 1…

[someone slow-claps in the background, Russ is half-laughing, half-making generally apprehensive sounds]

Bridget: Oh my God, okay!

Rebecca: This is so early… This is so early. Oh no…

Russ: Oh, boy.

Ethan: So! Something is gonna happen. [Rebecca lets out a wry laugh] I’m gonna roll a d100, and I’ve got this great little table in front of me that’s gonna tell me what’s gonna happen.

Cameron: Episode 2, everybody!

Russ: Oh, boy…

Rebecca: Oh no…

Bridget: I’m so scared.

Ethan: So if you’d all just give me a second, I’m gonna roll that! And…

Russ: Yeah, yeah, yeah, double 1! 

[Shane laughs, Rebecca sighs apprehensively]

Rebecca: It happened so fast…

Shane: Hot dog!

Bridget: I feel like I should honestly crack open a beer right now.

Cameron: Crack open somethin’—

[the party laughs]

Russ: You might need to, after this!

Cameron: The shortest podcast ever!

Russ: Yeah…

Rebecca: We might all die.

Russ: Yeah! [pauses, recovering from laughing] Guys, we’ll be fine. It’ll be great! We’ll be fine— 

[Shane and Bridget burst into laughter again]

Bridget: We’re gonna introduce new characters next episode, great.

Shane: [in a dramatic voiceover tone] And they were never heard from again!

Flynn: It’s gonna make like, fireworks! Or immediately teleport us to the village. I’m sure it’ll be great.

Ethan: Okay! So.

Bridget: It’s gonna be fine, everything’s fine.

Ethan: You guys all look as Olma bursts forth this energy and hits the creature, and all of sudden— [he snaps] —Blinks out of existence.

Rebecca: Olma blinks out of existence?!

Russ: What.

Ethan: To the rest of the party? No longer there.

Bridget: What?!

[Rebecca and Bridget start laughing in disbelief]

Ethan: Olma, you still see everybody, everybody is still there. To everyone else, Olma just completely disappears.

[Rebecca is still laughing uproariously in the background]

Bridget: Holy— Oh my God!

Russ: Where did she go??

Rebecca: That’s amazing.

Russ: Olma!!

Ethan: And that is the end of Olma’s turn!

Rebecca: [still laughing] Man, I’m so glad this happened the second episode. It’s so great when this happens.

[the party starts laughing again]

Bridget: Oh my God.

Russ: Oh, boy.

Shane: Oh, geez.

Ethan: Next up is March! March, you see Olma completely blink out of existence.

Bridget: [sarcastically cavalier] She handles that totally fine! [dropping into a serious tone] Yeah, no, she’s gonna fucking freak out. [the party and Ethan laugh] Because, yeah— March is— Her initial, immediate— Well, my immediate reaction was on Ceallach, to sort of say:

March: Kaylick [note: Ceallach]—

Bridget: March wants to sort of go:

March: Kaylick, you oka— OLMA! OLMA! Oh my fucking God, oh my fucking God, what the fuck was that?! Where is it? What is happening?? Kaylick, are you okay? Does anyone have eyes on Olma? Anybody? Anybody, anybody? Does she— No?

[everyone laughing softly in the background]

Bridget: She’s so infuriated that her— My immediate reaction is going to be to just scream for like, about, 30, 35 seconds?

[everyone laughs harder, continues laughing over the following conversation]

Shane: Well, you only have six seconds.

Ethan: Six second round, so—

Shane: Six second round.

Russ: There you go.

Shane: You could use your action to scream!

Rebecca: So you’re gonna waste five rounds—

Ethan: You’re gonna spend the next five rounds—

Russ: Do it!

[the laughter slowly dies down]

Bridget: I would like to then pull out a javelin and throw it where I was able to see that something had happened.

Ethan: Okay.

Bridget: Well, am I able to see exactly what Olma had seen, which was this area?

Ethan: You’re gonna have to make a Perception check to see if you can spot it.

Bridget: Okay, I will do that. She’s very stressed out right now. [Rebecca laughs softly, and Bridget rolls] 16.

Ethan: On a 16, you do see the patch of water that’s a little bit different from everything else.

Bridget: Okay.

Ethan: So yeah, you’re able to throw a javelin. So make an attack.

Bridget: I’m just gonna throw a javelin at it, like—

Ethan: Okay, cool.

Bridget: —No concept of what is going on right now, just— [she rolls] —That’s 18.

Ethan: 18! That definitely hits. Roll your damage.

Bridget: Okay. [she rolls] Oh, that’s a regular one. [she rolls again] That is 7 points of bludgeoning.

Ethan: Nice! Okay.

Bridget: And that’s pretty much it on my end, except to continue to sort of almost like, wander around the boat screaming Olma’s name out— [Russ and Rebecca chuckle] —wondering where the hell she is and what the heck just happened.

Ethan: Okay! Next up is Ceallach. Ceallach, what would you like to do?

Shane: Right, so I’ve seen this child just disappear next to me—

[the party laughs again]

Ethan: Yup!

Shane: [clearly stressed about the disappearance] That’s just a thing that happened, I’m not gonna sweat that right now, I’m gonna focus— I just got— [his voice wavers uneasily] —nearly all my life taken from a single blow from this creature, so I’m going to—

Ceallach: [takes several short, intentional breaths]

Shane: —Draw upon my resolve, and I will begin to chant under my breath, and look at my hand and clench the muscles in it, and just… just hope that the power that I’ve been given will remain, and I say, for the first time:

Ceallach: [calling out loudly] By the Keeper, I bind my oath to your destruction! Iuro!

Shane: And I cast Guiding Bolt at the creature below.

Ethan: Okay, very cool!

Russ: Gettim!

Shane: And that is a 16 to hit.

Ethan: That hits!

Russ: Nice!

Shane: [exhales, then chuckles in relief] Oh, thank goodness.

Russ: Nice! Gettim.

Shane: [barks out a disbelieving laugh and temporarily falls back into his American accent, which is an equally musical tenor with a hint of gravel] Holy crap! That’s so much damage. I’m like, double-checking my math ‘cus it’s so much! [slipping back into the Irish accent] That’s 20 points of radiant damage.

[the party erupts in awed gaps and surprised laughter]

Russ: Oh my gosh!

Shane: I rolled two 6’s and two 4’s.

Russ: Geeeez!

Ethan: Wow.

Cameron: That’s a lot of dice!

Shane: Yeah!

Ethan: That. Is. Crazy.

Shane: I mean, it’s my last spell slot.

Rebecca: For a first level—

Russ: Oh, no.

Shane: [laughs, then becomes serious] Yeah, so, the next attack on the creature gets advantage as a result.

Russ: Nice.

Ethan: Oh, wow!

Shane: So from my hand, a swarm of burning orange ash, as like a ribbon, my bandage unfolds from my arm. My hand glows with a bright orange light and ash swirls around it in a spiral and pours upward and then dives down into the water, glowing. Almost like the parting of the sea, the water just pulls away as the Guiding Bolt travels through it to the creature.

Ethan: Nice.

Russ: Sick.

Ethan: Alright, is that the end of your turn?

Shane: That is.

Ethan: Okay. Next up we have Shraya.

Cameron: With all that rustling and parting of the water, do I… do I wake up? Can I? Can I wake up?

[Shane laughs]

Ethan: Yes! You do. You do wake up. You look around, and you see… Chaos. [the party bursts into laughter] You have no idea what’s going on.

Bridget: Good morning!

Shraya: Gahh… How long was I out for?

Cameron: And I:

Shraya: What is going on??

Cameron: I sorta get my bearings and I’m gonna attempt to just survey what’s happening.

Ethan: Okay. Make an Insight check to see if you can discern from the people who are on the boat what’s going on.

Cameron: Alright.

[scattered laughter in the background]

Rebecca: It’s missing a person!

Ethan: Yeah.

Cameron: 16.

Ethan: Uh, yeah! Someone in the party is missing! [Russ and Bridget laugh] And Ceallach looks like he’s taken a punch to the face.

[[music changes to a trilling, tense, violin-driven tune with a steady drum beat]]

Cameron: My first reaction is going to be to try to help him. I don’t have any healing spells, per se, but I am proficient in Medicine, is there any way I could utilize my herbalism skills to heal him in the moment? Or is that just something that would happen outside of the context of battle?

Ethan: Yeah, that has sort of a different use, there. You wouldn’t be able to do an immediate healing.

Cameron: Okay. In that case, I’m gonna go over to Ceallach and say:

Shraya: What’s happening? What’s going on?

Shane: Can I use my reaction to respond?

Ethan: Yeah, yeah definitely.

Shane: I’ll just say:

Ceallach: There’s a beast in the water, some sort of… monster!

Shane: Probably all the time that I have.

Cameron: Is it within— Can I see anything out in the river?

Shane: It’s probably glowing.

Cameron: It’s glowing at this point?

Shane: Spectral ash is flowing around it from the Guiding Bolt? I don’t know, DM, that’s up to you.

Ethan: Yeah, you can see sort of a portion of the water that’s kinda glowing.

Russ: Nice.

Cameron: If I were to attempt to attack it with my quarterstaff, is it close enough to do that? Or is it out in the, you know, the larger mass of the river further away from the boat?

Ethan: It’s 5 feet away from the boat, so you’d be able to reach your staff out, yeah.

Cameron: Okay. So that was my movement, out to the edge. I’m gonna mutter under my breath:

Shraya: Senseless forces of darkness.

Cameron: And I’m gonna hold up my quarterstaff into the air, tap the pink-purple crystal against my forehead, and as I do, the geometric patterns in the staff sort of glow in this purple-pink crystalline fashion, and the energy rushes up into the crystal towards the top. It seems to glow with this aura as I cast Shillelagh on it and attempt to drive the quarterstaff into this creature.

Ethan: Okay, and that’s at advantage, correct, Ceallach?

Shane: That’s right. Lemme make sure, just to be certain.

Ethan: Yeah, for sure.

Shane: But yeah, I think it’s the next attack. [he pauses while he looks, then reads off the spell description] “The next attack roll made against the target before the end of your next turn has advantage.”

Ethan: Perfect. Yeah, Shraya, roll that attack at advantage.

Cameron: Two, and that is… [he rolls] The first one’s 13, I may need to use that second dice roll?

Ethan: 13 hits!

Cameron: Oh! Okay, great!

Ethan: Well, you could roll that second one anyways to see if it’s a crit.

Cameron: Yeah, good idea. [he rolls again]

Shane: And DM, just for clarification, is it just an amorphous thing? Now that it’s kind of lit, can we see it’s makeup a little better? Is there a clear shape to it?

Ethan: You can see, sort of like the outline of… sort of a torso? With these weird tentacle-like arms—

[Rebecca groans, grossed-out]

Ethan: It is sort of amorphous besides that.

Shane: Right, thank you.

Ethan: How did that second roll go, Shraya?

Cameron: Oh, it’s a dirty 20. It doesn’t crit.

Ethan: Okay, yeah, still hits. Yeah! So make that damage roll.

Cameron: Alright! [he rolls] Yes! Max damage.

Russ: Nice!

Cameron: And the damage does become magical after I cast Shillelagh on that, so—

Rebecca: Nice.

Ethan: Oh, okay!

Rebecca: —So that becomes 12 points of arcane damage, I believe.

Russ: Oh, it changes the magic type?

Ethan: Okay! Is that the end of your turn?

Cameron: Yes, as the tip of the energy around the crystal makes contact with the water, there’s this… The energy that flows from the crystal sort of enwraps the beast in the water. For a second, it goes out completely, and then slowly it’s silhouetted in that color again as the energy from the crystal explodes onto it.

Ethan: Nice. Okay, next up is Flynn.

Russ: Oh, boy. Um… Does it look like we can— Are we pulling away from this? Or, no one’s rowing, so we’re slowing down?

Ethan: Yeah, you guys are pretty much at a stand-still at this point.

Russ: How close are we to the northern bank of the river?

Ethan: I’m gonna say you guys are pretty much in the middle of the river, yeah.

Russ: Mhm. Um… Seeing someone being disappeared, that kinda freaks him out, but kinda, y’know… I dunno, I don’t think he thinks that he can do anything to this thing, ‘cuz it’s water. I don’t even know if he saw it? So he’s gonna pull off his bag, and take out his rope. And can he… Can he tie it? This might be stupid, but like, can he tie it to the front of the boat? As a, I don’t know what they’re called in boating terms, but is there like a… anchor point that he can tie it onto a piece of metal or something at the front of the boat? And then let it go to the back, so that if anyone starts to fall, they have a rope to grab onto?

Ethan: I mean, yeah, there’s a little—

Russ: I can’t remember what’s they’re called, but you know at like, the edge of ‘em—

Ethan: Yeah, hooks, hooks and stuff like that.

Russ: Yeah yeah yeah!

Ethan: Yeah, you can definitely tie it onto one of those.

Russ: Alright, I’ll go up to the front of the boat, I’ll tie it—

Ethan: That is gonna be your action, to tie it.

Russ: Sure! I’ll tie it up on the front of the boat, and then I’ll take it… Screw it. I’m just gonna throw it behind me, so it trails…

Ethan: Okay.

Russ: In case somebody falls of the boat, they can grab the rope—

Ethan: Nice.

Russ: —And we can pull them along. So I’ll do that. I’ll tie it up on the front, I’ll turn around, I’ll throw it off the edge of the boat so it’s kinda just dragging behind us. I dunno if that’s stupid, but hopefully it helps secure us. And I’ll be like:

Flynn: Guys, if there’s any problems, just grab the rope! We’ll be totally fine. Umm…. Where’d Olma go?

[Bridget snickers]

Russ: And that’s my turn.

March: I don’t know!

Ethan: Okay! With that, we are back at the top of the initiative, as this water creature begins to extend its tentacle-like appendage up over the boat again, and it is gonna make a swing at… It’s gonna try and attack Flynn.

Russ: Cool.

Ethan: So, Flynn, does a… 19 hit?

Russ: Just hits, yes.

Ethan: Okay. 19… That is gonna be… 7 points of bludgeoning damage.

Flynn: [cries out in pain]

[Bridget groans sympathetically]

Russ: Okay.

Ethan: And along with that, you feel this water tentacle-appendage hit you, and it sticks. It’s not like normal water, it sticks to you, and can feel it begin to tug and pull at you.

Russ: Mhm?

Ethan: And it pulls you off the side of the boat.

[Rebecca gasps]

Russ: Oh, so I’m not— the rope, I’m not holding onto that or anything?

Ethan: I’m gonna say you can use a reaction to see if you can hold onto the thing.

Russ: Okay!

Ethan: So, make just a straight Dexterity check.

Russ: Sure. Alright, hopefullyyyyy [singing his words] that’s a good thing that I did, is throw the rope! [he rolls] Yeah! 21. Just my Dex mod, 21.

Ethan: …This thing rolled a 22…

[the party gasps collectively]

Russ: No way! Ahhh, bye guys! 

Bridget: [laughing incredulously] Oh my God.

Russ: [making the sound effects of being pulled in] Whoop! Sploosh.

Shane: We’ve already lost two!

[the party laughs]

Ethan: So you are pulled into the water—

Russ: Sure.

Ethan: —And you can feel this thing’s tentacles wrap around you. As you look down, it’s tough to see, because it’s this water creature within water— [Russ laughs] —so it’s tough to see, but you can feel yourself being restricted.

[crosstalk and laughter as the party takes in the situation, both amused and incredulous]

Shane: I love that he was just like, “Guys, don’t worry, it’s gonna be fine, there’s a rope”—

Russ: Yeah!

Shane: —And now like, what?! 

Russ: Flynn’s like, “Hey guys, I put this rope here! If you need it, just grab it— wOAH!”

Bridget: I love that it attacked the one person who was just trying to set us up to like—

Russ: Yeah!

Bridget: —actually be okay. I’m just like, “What’s that? You hit me? You gave me damage? I don’t care, give me the little one.”

Russ: Here we go! [getting serious again] Alright, so I’m in the water next to the boat? Under?

Ethan: Next to the boat, and your head is fully submerged in the water.

Russ: Okay.

Bridget: [gasping] No!

Flynn: [gurgles]

Shane: Geez…

Ethan: So, that is its turn.

Russ: Love it. Here we go!

Ethan: Next up—

Shane: Right.

Ethan: Olma, what would you like to do? [Bridget bursts into laughter again] You can see everyone, you’re still here.

Olma: Why are you all screaming?

Rebecca: I first shout.

Olma: I’m right here, come on!

Ethan: No one can hear that.

Rebecca: Nobody can hear me?? [she screams in surprise]

Ethan: No one can hear that.

Russ: No way…

Bridget: [laughing still] Oh, no.

Russ: What happened?

[Shane cackles]

Bridget: What did you do, Olma?

Ethan: Other creatures cannot hear you.

Rebecca: [laughing, equal parts delighted and dismayed] Okay!

Shane: I love Wild Magic. So fun.

Rebecca: Well, I would still say it, so. I don’t know that.

Olma: What are you all yelling at? I’m right here.

Rebecca: And I’m gonna, oh man…

Russ: She can see us, right?

Rebecca: Yeah, can I see— Can I see Flynn off the side of the boat?

Ethan: Yeah, you can see him just under the water.

Rebecca: Okay, can I try to reach for him and pull him in?

Ethan: Sure!

Rebecca: Onto the boat?

Ethan: Yeah, sure, if you wanna reach out—

Rebecca: Ooooo! I know what I wanna do.

Ethan: Yeah?

Rebecca: Tell me if I can do this. Can I… power up some energy inside of my soul to have some shocking hands, and reach into the water and see if it releases him from its grasp, with Shocking Grasp?

Ethan: You can—

Rebecca: Try?

Ethan: —Definitely try that, yeah.

Rebecca: Okay, I would like to try.

Ethan: For sure.

[Rebecca and Shane laugh, and Russ imitates the cartoony sound of Flynn getting electrocuted]

Rebecca: I might shock you, I’m sorry!

Shane: She’s gonna totally electrocute—!

[music becomes a swift, spirited string line with a swinging rhythm over an evenly struck bass line]

Ethan: That’s an attack roll on your part, right, Olma?

Rebecca: Uh huh. No, no. Yeah yeah yeah, yeah.

Ethan: Yeah, okay. So make an attack roll.

Russ: Gettim!

Rebecca: So… Olma is going to… She’s walked over and she goes:

Olma: Oh God! Oh gosh! Ah, ah!

Rebecca: And she reaches her hands into the water to try and get her friend out. Unknowingly, her “Oh God!” and freaking out has mixed with the arcane energy that’s wildly spinning around her, causes this reaction, this action of Shocking Grasp. [Russ laughs, and Rebecca rolls] Which is a… [sheepishly] 21 to hit.

Ethan: Yeah, that hits. For sure. You reach out and you reach your hand through the water, and all of a sudden, you can feel it’s, like… a lot warmer water. It still feels like water, but you hit this patch that feels a lot warmer as you let your Shocking Grasp go. So, roll that damage.

Rebecca: [she rolls] Almost max damage! That was—

Russ: Did I pee in the water?

[everyone stops short, processing Russ’ comment, then bursts into laughter]

Ethan: No, nobody— Flynn did not pee in the water.

Russ: Okay, good!

Ethan: This is the creature—

Russ: I just wanted to make sure that’s not canon!

Bridget: Is that like, a natural reaction that Flynn has? You’re so scared you just pee?

Shane: [good naturedly, still laughing] It seems kinda like Flynn.

Russ: [indignant] Shut up, Ceallach!

[everyone laughs harder]

Rebecca: Yeah! So that’s 7 points of lightning damage.

Ethan: Ohh, okay. Okay! Yeah! It did not like that, but, yeah, it still holds on.

Rebecca: It can’t take reactions until the start of its next turn, also.

Ethan: Oh, okay, cool! But it still does keep its grapple on Flynn.

[Bridget and Rebecca both let out disappointed sighs]

Flynn: I’m okay?

Ethan: But you did a pretty decent chunk of damage to it. Flynn, you’re okay!

Russ: [relieved] Okay. Cool!

Ethan: Her Shocking Grasp did not affect you.

Bridget: Aside from being underwater and being drowned, you’re totally fine!

Shane: [laughing] You’re doin’ great!

Russ: I didn’t even see that, so all of a sudden I just see the thing that’s holding me get shocked, so I’m like:

Flynn: [gargles and bubbles in surprise, as if trying to speak and being immediately reminded that he’s underwater]

[Rebecca and Bridget laugh]

Russ: I don’t even see her try to help me!

Ethan: Next up is March.

Rebecca: Oh, could they feel me? Could they feel me when I walked over from one side to the other side of the boat?

Ethan: [suddenly remembering] Oh! Another thing to note, as soon as you cast this, you pop back into existence.

[the party whoops and shouts in celebration]

Rebecca: It’s not a spell, though, it’s a cantrip. Is it still the same?

Ethan: Yeah, as soon as you take an action.

Rebecca: Oh, okay.

Bridget: That was gonna be my question, was could we see this shock happening?

Russ: Flynn underwater:

Flynn: [extremely muffled by the water] Olma!

Rebecca: You just see me with my hands in the water as I pop back into existence.

[the party starts laughing]

Russ: Yeah! And I’m like:

Flynn: [still muffled by the water] Olma!

Rebecca: I pop back into existence, like, reaching over the side of the boat with my hands in the water—

[the laughter peters out]

Rebecca: Oh, that’s funny…

Ethan: Yeah, if you attack or cast a spell, the effect ends.

Russ: Cool.

Rebecca: Aw, that’s a bummer.

Ethan: March!

Bridget: So March is gonna be like:

March: Oh!

Bridget: She does a little jump as she sees Olma.

March: Where the hell did you g— You know, explain later.

Bridget: And she is going to walk over and to Ceallach and just look at Ceallach, and even though she is very worried about the fact that Flynn is underwater, she is going to— or rather, I am going to do Lay on Hands on Ceallach.

[Rebecca gasps]

Russ: Nice, nice.

Ethan: Okay! How many points of healing are you gonna give him?

Bridget: Um… 3? I have like, none.

[the rest of the party chimes in with “Level 1!” over the top of each other]

Bridget: Level 1 is brutal. Yeah, 3.

Ethan: Okay! Ceallach, you get 3 points of healing.

Shane: The skin that’s been flayed off me face from the tentacle draggin’ across it begins to re-piece itself back together.

Russ: Nice.

Shane: I give a grateful nod.

Ethan: Okay. March, is that your turn?

Bridget: Uh… Yeah, ‘cuz that’s an action.

Ethan: Yeah.

Bridget: So that’s pretty much it.

Ethan: Okay!

Bridget: So…

Ethan: Newly-healed Ceallach, what would you like to do?

Ceallach: Right, ah… Well. I will… Takin’ that as a kindness, give a firm nod so that I might continue to do destructive acts instead of healin’ meself.

Bridget: Really quickly, March is just gonna be like:

March: Flynn is overboard, he’s underwater. We should probably do something about that.

Shane: [laughing] I look back to where I thought Flynn was—

Flynn: [making comical bubbling sounds]

[the party laughs]

Ceallach: I thought he said we were gonna be—! Alright. 

March: I told everybody we should have taken the shoreline and walked along, but no, we wanted to take the boat!

[Russ laughs]

Ceallach: We’ll talk about it later!

Shane: And I will cast Toll the Dead at the creature. It’s got to make a saving throw, a Wisdom saving throw.

Ethan: A Wisdom saving throw, alright. That’s an 11.

Ceallach: 11 fails.

Rebecca: Yayyyy!

Shane: So that’s a d12, ‘cuz it’s already been damaged.

Russ: Yeahhh, gettim.

[Shane rolls]

Rebecca: Kill it!

Bridget: Make it go away.

Shane: Alright, it takes… 8 necrotic damage, and wherever it’s already been wounded, the things start to peel away. The orange embers glow and peel further from where it was.

Ethan: Alright. Flynn, you are struggling in the water, you’re movin’ around, and you feel the creature release, and slowly lose tension as you’re able to get your head back about the water.

Flynn: [gasping and gulping down air]

Ethan: The creature, you can feel, floats off of you and disperses within the water, as the creature is dead and we are now out of initiative.

Rebecca: [gasping] Woah!

[a victorious reprise of the intro theme plays]

[music becomes a slow, muted piano theme, the relieved calm after the intensity of combat]

Russ: Can I sort of doggy-paddle over to the rope that I have now draped over the boat?

Ethan: Yeah, yeah.

Russ: I’ll grab onto it and just start—

Flynn: Hoo!

Russ: One hand over the other, pullin’ myself up to the back and I’ll hop over.

Flynn: Hoo. Man, that was exciting, guys! Good job. We’re, we’re— [he breathes deeply] Hoo!

[Bridget laughs]

Flynn: Gimme a minute.

Ceallach: That was pretty close, there.

Rebecca: I slowly take my hands out of the water and just shake them off.

Russ: Can I Second Wind?

Ethan: Yeah, for sure!

Russ: While I’m sitting on the edge of the boat, on the back, I’m just like:

Flynn: [breathing deeply]

Russ: You guys see me take a few deep breaths and close my eyes, and just calm my breathing. And I open ‘em back up. And I look more relaxed and calm. I’ll roll my… [he trails off]

Shane: Out of curiosity, DM, while he’s rollin’. How many healin’ kits would I have left the camp with? How many might I have collected before we left?

Ethan: Like, full healing kits?

Shane: Like medical kits. Yeah, I guess.

Ethan: You would have the equipment of two fully stocked med kits, yeah.

Shane: Two, great.

Olma: How’s everyone doin’?

Russ: Yo, I love Second Wind, guys. I’m back up to full now.

Shane: Second Wind is rad.

Olma: Everybody’s good? Anybody…?

Flynn: Yeah, I’m good.

March: What just happened?

Ceallach: I’m still hurt, but I don’t… I’m gonna need a minute.

Olma: Like, how hurt?

Ceallach: Oh, just a bit.

Shane: You can there’s still damage to my face.

Rebecca: Uh huh.

Flynn: Should we pull over and take a minute?

Rebecca: I can pull out a little vial from my pocket.

Olma: I just found this—

[Bridget laughs]

Olma: —Maybe it could help?

Ceallach: Don’… Don’ bother.

Shane: I sort of hold up my bag.

Ceallach: I’ve got a lot of practice puttin’ wounds back together, so I can just take a second if somebody wants to row the boat, I can probably do it right here.

Olma: I would love to row the boat.

Shraya: I could also help with ails you, I have—

Cameron: And I open up a little leather-bound pouch under my wing.

Shraya: I have some skills with some herbs that might be able to help what ails you.

Olma: Okay, okay, we get it, everybody’s a healer, nobody needs any potions. Fine…

Ceallach: Yeah, makes a doctor feel kinda useless!

Olma: Also, March, I’m so proud of you! You made—you helped Ceallach! And you never do that, even for yourself! I’m so proud of you!

March: [embarrassed] Why are you talk— Why are you, shhh! Why are you bringing it up?

Olma: I’m sorry.

Bridget: And then March is just gonna take a second, and I’m gonna just look, and immediately just engulf Olma in just a big ol’ bear hug—

Olma: [has the air squeezed out of her]

March: Please don’t ever disappear like that again! That was very stressful, I didn’t where you went, I thought you had drowned or just evaporated into thin air. What the hell was that.

Olma: What are you talking about?

March: You… disappeared.

Olma: No, I was here the whole time.

Shraya: Wait, where did she go?

Ceallach: There was a moment there you blipped.

Flynn: Yeah, you were gone.

March: Yeah, yeah, that was a… You were bye-bye.

Olma: Like… you couldn’t hear me, you couldn’t see me, you couldn’t nothing?

March: Correct.

Ceallach: No, we thought you’d gone overboard.

Flynn: Yeah.

Shraya: I don’t think she went overboard, she looks very dry.

Olma: Yeah I didn’t go anywhere… I was here the whole time.

Flynn: Yeah, that’s why I jumped overboard!

[the party starts laughing]

Flynn: I thought maybe you, uhh… I thought maybe you went overboard, so I figured I would jump over after doin’ the rope— That’s why I did the rope, too, you know? Just to make sure everyone’s okay.

Ceallach: [entertaining him] Ohh, is that what it was?

Flynn: But then you appeared on the boat! So I was like, “Okay, I guess I’ll come back up.”

Olma: Oh! Well that’s really nice of you, Flynn!

March: Flynn was worried.

Flynn: Hey, you know…

Olma: I didn’t— I was here the whole time.

Flynn: Yeah…

Olma: Just, just me! But, you know, sometimes that happens… I’m sure it happens to Ceallach all the time.

March: Sometimes that happens?

Olma: You know? I’m sure it happens to him when he’s got all his… what’s-it-dib-a-doobles that he’s throwin’ out, you know? It just happens sometimes.

Ceallach: You know—

Flynn: [unsure] Oh…

Ceallach: You know, I can’t really argue with that logic. It fairly tracks with my experience these days, so…

Olma: Huh!

Ceallach: Y’know, things happen when you use magic, it’s not unheard of for there to be… side effects.

Olma: Yeah. Side effects is a great word. Yeah, they’re all just side effects. Nothin’ to worry about.

Ceallach: Well…

Russ: DM, can I— Would I know what’s goin’ on? Just from my training? I dunno if that’s been brought up in anything that I’ve been taught at the Collective. Would I know what’s goin’ on?

Ethan: So yeah, are you thinking back to your training?

Russ: Yeah, I’m just thinking about, like, I’m sure they at some point taught us a little bit of magic just for what’s to come, and so would I know if this is, like… normal?

Ethan: Yeah, so you can either make a History check or a Nature check.

Russ: Sure. [sing-song while he reads his character sheet] Which one is better, that’s what I’ll do. Oh, they’re both the same. [he rolls] Uh… Man, I am rollin’ so good. 19 either way. Yeah.

Ethan: 19 either way. You would know that this creature is called a water weird, and you’ve heard about this in some of your previous lessons. Normally it’s a creature that comes from the Plane of Water. So, a little bit strange to see one here; the ones that you’ve heard of hhave usually been pulled through or have been brought through by something else, so to see one out here, in sort of the wild, is a little bit strange to you.

Russ: While I’m sitting on the edge of the boat, recovering, I’ll go into my bag and I’ll pull out my tome, a book that I have, and I’ll just kinda open it up and start writing in it.

Rebecca: Mhm.

Russ: Just gonna jot down stuff about this creature we just fought.

Rebecca: And I’ll take down the oars. Is the oar still glowing, one of them?

Ethan: How long does that last?

Shane: It lasts, I think it’s an hour.

Ethan: An hour?

Shane: It’s an hour of light, yeah. Yes, one hour.

Ethan: One hour. Okay, yeah! It’s definitely still glowing.

Rebecca: Okay, my guess is that my torch probably went overboard? When Ceallach got attacked, ‘cuz it’s not like we have a stand or anything in the boat. So if I’m using my hands, I wouldn’t have been able to hold it, so I would have tossed it overboard. So I’ll take the oar that’s glowing, and I will help whoever assists me to kind of keep rowing to just kind of try to get out to the north bank of the river, to get to the end of it.

Bridget: I’m still gonna be on the other side, rowing.

Ceallach: Shraya, do you see your runes anywhere? Your symbols.

Cameron: I gonna look out across the trees and see if I see any of the carvings that I’d be used to seeing as the elvish wards or directions.

Ethan: Yeah, make a Perception check.

Cameron: [he rolls] Oh, where’d it go? Oh, that’s not very good. That is a 7.

Ethan: A 7. You’re lookin’ out into the trees, you’re trying to sort of concentrate and focus your eyes. You’re not able to see any of the runes that you’ve become accustomed to seeing around these parts, but looking out amongst the trees, after looking, you notice the shadows from the trees begin to move in strange ways. And they begin to flow in ways that aren’t natural and aren’t coming from the direction of the sun. And these shadows begin to inch out and creep towards the water on the bank that you guys are heading towards. And with that, we are gonna end today’s session right there.

[the party gasps and wails at the cliffhanger]

Rebecca: Oh, no!

Russ: The spooky vibes are comin’ to kill us!

Bridget: Oh my God.

Ethan: I had a lot of fun with that one! I hope you guys did, too.

Russ: Oh, so much fun.

Shane: I wanna keep playing.

Ethan: So, with that, we’re gonna call it right there. I hope you guys had a great time listening, and we can’t wait to see you guys again next week!

[pause]

Shane: Hey guys, this is Shane! I play Ceallach on Venture Forth, and I wrote all the music for the podcast. If you like what you’re hearing, and you wanna check us out on other social media platforms, you can. We are VentureForthDnD on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. We’re also on Patreon if you wanna throw some dolla dolla bills our way. And we’re on Club House as well, in D&D. Not D&D Club, just D&D on Club House, and we host a lot of discussions and a couple ongoing games in our sort of extended universe called the Savage Isles. If you wanna give us a holler on any of those platforms, we’d be happy to hear from you. Thanks so much for listening.

[outro music: plucky harpsichord and strings reprise of the intro theme]

Transcript by faeknuckle.