Hi i'm Olma, Flynn, March, Ceallach, Shraya and i'm your DM Ethan welcome to Venture Forth
magic and light with the this is seeker and i'm your dm ethan welcome to venture
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forth [Music]
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so [Music]
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previously you all had been adventuring through the city of solaris a dwarven stronghold within the nation of caldor a
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very lawful city wary of anyone who does anything even remotely criminal
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leaving a dead guard in your wake alma trying to find xavier
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you guys fled back to the inn that you guys were staying at you guys rested the night alma seeing an
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owl perched on the buildings across from you during the night you guys woke the next morning and
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kellik along with thaddeus went downstairs to see if they could find this mysterious contact who would be able to help them
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sitting in the corner they saw a figure with an owl perched on their shoulder
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who introduced himself as seeker to the group he said that he had exactly what you
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guys needed a couple of necklaces that would protect you guys from any sort of magical detection but they were missing
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a key element something that could be found close to solaris but just outside the city and as you guys probably wanted
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to flee the city anyways this sort of lined up exactly with your intentions
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seeker showed you guys a secret path through the city down into the ground
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into some abandoned mines underneath the city and you guys begin began to flee
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you guys walk down this corridor and seeing these not so
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abandoned temples to the old gods just these little little altars
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that worship the old gods with campfires that were still warm to the touch indicating
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that probably the night previous some people had probably gathered down here in secret to
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pray to the old gods where above ground it is completely outlawed moving further down you guys had uh
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discovered carrion crawlers these strange and almost transparent warm light creatures
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that burrowed their way out of the ground and after some um some
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swift moves by flynn uh you guys had all managed to dispatch these crawlers
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and heel now with shraya in his new form of a direwolf
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and their new companion the seeker at their side you guys continue on down this
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tunnel you guys travel down for another mile and a half maybe two miles down this tunnel
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before a turn and the tunnel comes up it doesn't
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turn left or right but it begins to turn upward and as you guys begin climbing this slope
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a cave entrance appears in front of you and as you guys walk towards it you guys
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are greeted by the daylight hitting your face and sort of looking around you guys turn back towards the city of solaris
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and you can see the walls now in your rear view you are now out of the city so coming up out of the ground um
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seeing the daylight once again what would you guys like to do i'll never get used to this
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sting you okay kellick ah i'm fine i
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don't know why i i'll react this way now
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react you react how uh sunlight it
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hurts my eyes i don't know [Music] maybe it was the worm
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no i i i feel fine regarding that as just you know um might have been my eyes
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suggested yeah that's probably what yeah i i you know i see well in the dark so
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i you know it's uh probably just yeah we were down there for a while some biological and mechanical
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thing um how i'll turn to seeker how how far to this water
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it is not exactly water we are going to it is a temple i suggest we start walking unless
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you have something you need to do kelly do you want to take a minute take a breather let your eyes adjust
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no no that's fine all right it'll be fine it's all good uh
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seeker this temple what's it a temple too
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what do you all know of the old gods plenty not really a whole lot yeah about
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the same there maybe in between i could tell you knew some looking at
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kalec and the the winged one you seem to
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have some affinity but this temple it was a temple to the old gods
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not all that different from the place that we just passed through i didn't know the uh persecution
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of the worshipers went to such lengths he does
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is it not the aim of people here
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just enlightenment is it really done with such force you're talking about solaris
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solaris but also color would depend on who you come across
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i and i must know
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your robes seeker saw a man in the gallows solaris
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wearing similar colour i don't suppose there's a connection
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[Music] do not know who you speak of but it's possible
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he had a uh a label on him on his corpse spy
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[Music] i am no spy it's not an accusation
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we have no allegiance to either well i have no allegiance to either nation
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good then we will get along fine for i have no allegiance to the nations or any of the gods well mostly none of the gods
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um i don't have an allegiance either i don't know where i'm from so i i can't
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really pick a side i like you thank you
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anyway uh this temple has
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special water you need for this necklace because it's uh holy water perhaps you see that mountain
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range points off to the distance my followers and
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yes just south of us here that mountain range has this temple
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in the temple there is at least there was a spring
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and a fountain infused with light from let's just say
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an old god [Music] it will help with these necklaces
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[Music] no some say that this place is cursed if you believe in such things
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[Music] but that is where we must go if you want these necklaces
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i take a deep breath [Music]
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i can imagine why such a place might be cursed do you think there's anyone who still
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works there maybe um i only think because our friend here um
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has these weird things on him and and maybe a priest or something could help
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just abandoned long ago right okay that makes sense if they don't hurt
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homa it's it's fine we'll figure it out when you say these things are you
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talking about the horns um what no i don't have horns
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okay um when he torns to me i'll turn to him and when i say that is his sleeve still
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up do i get a better look at the tattoo now that we're in the in the daylight it's still up yeah what what is uh what
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do i glean from it if anything uh so
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if his arms down so you see a um a semi-circle and then
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a few inches from it you see just a straight line under it and it's a pretty thick
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emboldened uh black line back lines um i'm not gonna ask him about it but i don't know in my limited
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knowledge but i've ever seen this iconography or symbol anywhere
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um seeker are you showing it to the group or not actively showing it it's just his sleeve is up and his arm is down so
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yeah so i would definitely recognize that okay so flynn and caleb i'm gonna
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have you both make really i mean i'm probably not gonna but i figured it something peaks is interesting tattoos
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on the same spot [Music] religion
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[Music] natural 20 for 22. [Laughter]
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uh it's a 21 for kelly um yes you both would would immediately recognize this as the sigil of laoris um
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a a semi-circle um and a couple inches down completely
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disconnected a straight bold line across what do i know of this
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lao rest um lowris uh is an old god okay um okay you would
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know that um an old god oh well you've got a really high roll um so an old god of magic oh
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okay you know lauris um created sort of the lands of gamble deer and that's where a
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lot of the the magic in this world sort of springs from um lots of like natural
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born sorcerers there lots of um clerics paladins wizardry there so um
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yeah old god of magic oh i'm not gonna notice anything when i look down at it but i'll just uh
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block it and then all right well ready when you all are hi
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let's get a move on and as soon as he says that wolf version the direwolf version of triad just like perks up and
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just briarwolf
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[Laughter]
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um so it's basically half my level uh so it'll it's active for uh about two and a
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half hours hours yeah crap okay
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and i'm like [Laughter]
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uh and i'm only pausing every now and then to just like smell things like just stop and like just
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with enough time so that i can like keep my places in the front of the [Music]
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okay um try as you are bolting down this path um everyone else is like left in
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your dust you guys look out onto the horizon um and this journey down to the mountain
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you can just see it on the horizon um you look and you can see just the start
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of the bartok rise um a mountain range that spans um about half of kaldur
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heading south um so as you guys are are heading down that way you guys are on the path um you guys
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start to see a couple farms on either side of you um just on the outskirts of
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solaris um and as you guys pass one you can hear
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the sounds of animals off to one and then you look off the other side and you hear the the slow roll of wheat as the
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the breeze passes through it and soon enough you guys are
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in sort of like this this big farm area um as we're walking you said uh
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schweirl ran ahead with uh alma so they're kind of out far
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um as we're kind of walking flynn will kind of take this moment to go up to kellik
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um [Music] i don't know
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i don't really know how to start this but i'm
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kind of worried about alma yeah i think that's uh
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i think that's an understatement then are we a bad influence
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on on her
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this our fault you're referring to what happened the other night
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oh yeah and i'll take a look to see if uh seeker
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is eavesdropping and seeing that he's otherwise minding
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his own business uh engaged i will uh drop my voice
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then we're real life uh when the usurpation happened
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[Music] how old are you flynn
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22 right well
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you know the story 30 years ago the new gods dethroned the old gods yeah
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it's been muddied a bit since then but everyone's aware that that happened
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well around that time i became
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a uh the first rung on the ladder of the leader in aurora
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a devotee of vermeer okay and
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when the world's gone a certain way for hundreds of years and suddenly that changes
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and when power shifts you know a certain source of power is respected
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and then suddenly that power disappears well people panic
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right yeah so i came in to be an akagi
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and my first duty was to
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judge who was worthy who was worthy of receiving services
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healing treatment community organization money space time these things from the
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church you have to understand the temple uh was everywhere
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uh vermeer presided over all things so governments uh businesses these things revolved
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around the use of the temple and its resources so
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let's say you're a young father right and you've brought your
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sick daughter to my door [Music]
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i'd ask you a question [Music] simple question
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to prove that you were a believer that you're devote
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something like uh what did famer say to fenrir when asked what was just
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and i'll take a beat and look look at flynn's face
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i'll shake my head right you don't know no hell aren't you a
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follower of the old gods won't you fight in their wars [Music]
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nobody know the answers to these questions flynn they were buried in scriptures they were
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a game we stand in the light and suffer what we
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must so you turn these people away from your doors
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tell them to ask the new gods for help i must have done this
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countless times [Music] thinking i was taking them hardship so that they could return to the light
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return to the right way of thinking the good side
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i say this illustrator point right
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we all make mistakes then and when you have power
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[Music] the cost of those mistakes are grave
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almost a 12 year old girl who could fellow dragon
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the cause of her mistakes
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i just look off into the in this guy when he takes a beat
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yeah but should she be failing a dragon she's kid
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can you imagine if we tried to leave her somewhere for them i now can you think about how fast she'd
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be out the door of whichever well-intended individual we tried to saddle her with and then she'd be on her
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own well maybe which i i think she was on her own for some time and then she found
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i don't know this wizard fella and then she found march which was fortunate and the hologuard which is unfortunate so we
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have to decide which one we're gonna be was it lucky for her to encounter us
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i think [Music] you're right i don't think letting her go is
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the right choice because who knows what'll happen but i think that we also need to
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be more aware that our actions affect how
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she grows up why is that a pivotal time in her life
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clearly and i think [Music] we should be better at it
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she deserves that i agree
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she should be like this all the time i'll look up to her riding on the wolf
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that's how she should be not what happened yesterday
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that's my greatest wish finn promised i'd keep her safe
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want to keep my promises [Music]
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i'll keep mine
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keep walking a stoic nod and move forward okay
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um after walking for another couple minutes you come across another farmhouse um this one has a stable on
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the outside um it's got a couple horses there as well as a cart
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and give you guys the option to move on um at your current pace or
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choose to take some of these horses does it seem with his with speaker's point it seems
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like we have a ways to go i can't remember you guys okay then yeah i would probably point to the group and do you guys wanna
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point to the cards i suggest we take these horses is there
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a yeah comparison here we can buy them from not in the interest of
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robbing a farm if it's livestock one moment
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and you hear that uh [Music] not long till
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eldra appears and swoops down to
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seeker and he says he whispers something to her and hands her a bag
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i know this i know some of these people i will i will send payment
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with eltja and send her off also go please keep an eye
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watch the path to hit please okay okay and with with that instruction um
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uh eldra takes the coin and flies off in like a just a bee line to this farmhouse
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that's just off in the distance um as you guys all take some horses now um
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there's enough horses here each one of you could have your own individual horse or you could take the cart um there's
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pretty much options for you guys so what would you guys like to take the mountain range that we're trying to go to what's the do we do we know the
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geography of that like would it be beneficial for us to have a card or not have a cart yeah a cart would be
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you know we don't need it do we nothing to star yeah we have nothing really to carry it'd be easier probably
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on horseback yeah yeah we don't want to get the cart stuck or need okay um how many horses are any of you guys
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sharing i want to share a horse with somebody i don't i've never ridden a horse before all turned up
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firewolf oh every time
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uh look at him like well we don't need we don't need one for him anymore
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right now like look i'm confused um i don't know how long he can stay
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like this is it like forever or not i don't really know so should we take one just in case
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well he can fly oh right and i guess i could let's just do
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five four four four horses uh within alma riding
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we could double up on one yeah that makes sense let's do that okay
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um so you guys grab four horses um you guys each hop onto one and you guys
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continue going ulma uh who are you going with i'm still on tria
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oh you still try okay um all right so as long as he's good with me on him i
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weigh like 80 pounds he's a dire wolf i don't know okay okay
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all good all right um so you guys continue along this path and
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it's pretty much a straight shot to the the base of the bartok mountains um you guys pass again corn and wheat
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fields on either side of you and at some points you you can't even see
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off into the distance as the crops are just too high and you guys continue along this path
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and an hour passes two hours pass you guys have a while
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until you get to this mountain trey is no longer a wolf yeah yeah as short as that said
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about an hour into the journey you zap back into your bird form
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uh would she like be on my shoulders at that point
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while he changes i mean i don't know if you want me to do a check to see if i hang or fall oh my you as as he like as
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he just very suddenly shrinks back into his his bird form you find your arms wrapped around his neck and sort of your
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your legs sort of right around where his hips are hey hey
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you're alright you're a bird again i do have this like i suck i can speak again uh
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i was rather enjoying that could you understand us when you were like that
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yeah i found myself able to comprehend yet not be able to communicate back to you and how i
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can now crazy i like rotate my body to look at
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his face [Music] that was fun you're a fun wolf
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and i like pat i pet the next to his beak where where he originally had um where i pet his muzzle and i just like
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pat put my hand there thanks does he still have his ears uh no not at this point the furry ears are
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gone that were there this morning yes your ears are gone
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it's never happened to me before i it's something i don't quite understand but
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i noticed when i was down in the in the underground i did not have any of the fear i usually have in tight spaces
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and i quite enjoyed my newfound perception a broad smile goes across my face and i
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say so flynn all we got to do is turn you into a wolf and then turn your back and the horns will be gone you see him
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after mindingly tightening his his head dress noticing that triad is no longer how has
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to wear one yeah if only we knew how i'll um i'll hop
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down from shia's back can i ride with somebody
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come erica walk up to him
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reach up for a hand i'm old [Music]
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um oh look over there you wanna i would uh
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much rather fly ahead act as a sort of uh alarm if if anything is is happening uh
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and i do very much want to want to speak to the
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nice looking owl we might also well no problem with me more horse for
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me and i'll like kick up on one of the horses the other horse and i'll just kind of lay down on it and try and like nap on it while it rides
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it's chilling okay how long have you had your owl eldra
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for a long time she's very pretty thank you
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she's very special to me when i saw her last night i thought maybe
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maybe my friend sent her but i guess not as you guys continue on
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down the path um you guys have a couple hours until you get to the base of the mountain is there anything you guys want to do um during that time um
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yeah i just like lean on to um i don't know if i'm in front of or behind kellex but whichever one i am i
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was imagining in front great i lean back and i like take a nap
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[Music] i'll just shoulder her and keep keep uh hold of the reins seekers
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out in front or out front maybe with somebody but it would just kind of loudly
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say uh okay what are your names i know flynn fellow weave of the group
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and maybe i picked up another or two but what are your names
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i'm kellik you look grey that's tria over there
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and the the birdman the bird wolf right it is a new one for
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me and this is little alma hello
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she'll say hi when she wakes up is your name seeker my name
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is yidian but i go by seeker
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and we'll call you as you like [Music]
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you kellock these this reverence
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down below in these magics they are somewhat familiar to me
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how do you know them well i uh and i'll uh
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awkwardly produce the um the cloth wrap from my from my bag and
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unwrap it to reveal a a three-ringed sigil that is
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warped and burnt i uh been around the block a few times
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if you will [Music] um and yourself your uh your tattoo
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loris yes how's that treating you
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what do you mean oh uh
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it's a it's a complicated conversation to have it is a complicated conversation
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but i can tell you have you ever had the relationship
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and found something that you did not like but the relationship has left its mark
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on you one that you cannot shake you're not even sure if you want to
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shake it i but there's also been great harm done to others in
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evil it is as you say complicated i serve none
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but he uh gives his power freely stone what is free
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but let's just say i'm no longer part of the
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brotherhood actively hi [Music] we all bear these scars
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you've just inked yours they serve a purpose
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no yes uh a purpose i uh ponder
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every waking moment hmm does it not trouble you
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stay in here in this land while still uh pulling from the well flowers
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i don't find trouble in any land i move as i please
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[Music] maybe i don't always show this and he kind of rolls the sleeve down
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but they use what they need to survive pocket my my sigil
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i think i might have an idea
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why you call yourself seeker and i sort of just give a give a nod of
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[Music] trust approval uh i'm gonna lurch up toward the owl uh
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and concentrate uh as i catch up with the owl and uh my eyes
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sort of roll back in my head open again toward the owl and and i and i say to the owl
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what is your name [Music] rodney i don't want to put you on the
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spot but would you like to would you like to inhabit your owl do it
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yeah if you want why not
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um and and as as my how i hear this i i
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understand it i would presume yes yes so you can you can speak
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as the owl yeah um
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hi my name's uh ultra
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ultra under his name indeed
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what who who are you i they call me
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schreier and i uh have a
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very uh nice affinity toward uh i've always been very charmed by
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owls such as yourself oh you're big yes
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don't let my size be uh intimidating i i've been also told i have a soft heart
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oh [Laughter]
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that's nice it's it's nice having someone to fly with it's normally just me up here
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yes i quite agree it is nice nice companionship
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i have a question for you at night uh i thought i heard a being
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like an owl and it awoke something within me that very much uh
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seems to have altered how i comprehend the world tell me i
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the question what do you know of the moon what do you know of
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how light transforms and how beings of the night emerge do you have
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any familiarity with with beasts of many different kinds
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oh i can't say i do i mean i've seen lots of beasts and
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some times uh seeker will you know change kind of like
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how he looks but i don't know if the moon's involved i mean the moon's a big it's the big thing in the sky yeah
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yes hmm okay yeah i don't know
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you'd say uh primary companion is the ability to transform as well
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well i don't know if you i mean he can change how he looks sometimes i don't i've
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never seen him i've never seen him uh you you you were
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the the big furry thing earlier yes right the other big furry thing yes
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yes i found myself quite uh is that what i looked ver i looked very
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furry huh oh yeah like a big dog real big dog i don't actually hang out for those
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and uh i have my eyes go very wide and i i whisper
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[Music]
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and i say that must that's it
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thank you i you don't mind if i continue to fly with you and uh
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continue to lead the way do you no not at all
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we can uh compare what we see and keep them safe
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i would very much like that see i mean he's pretty lost without me
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[Music] well i i don't think uh
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well i sometimes give direction to fine folks in my group as well i
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sometimes even carry one of them which is kind of fun i i can't do that i'm too
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small well you're very small and very uh pleasing
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to the eye your own right at this uh eldridge just kind of
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bristles and kind of fluffs her feathers a little
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you you you you yourself you you are you yeah
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you too yeah thank you well that feels good to hear as well
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i am obsessed with this oh this is great oh my gosh
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all right and uh as as they continue sort of flying next to each other up in the air um they're a little ways away
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but everyone else who's down on the ground just sort of very softly hears some
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tweets and hoots going back and forth um between the two i had something real quick
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just while we were on the horses and i'm kind of like kicks back lane um over the course of that i'd pull out my one of my
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books that has the eye on it i open it up the bestiary and oh
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start writing down what i saw in the tunnel and document it and if i could i'd like to spend that hour or so adding
37:58
that beast to my bestiary
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was a carrion crawler oh yeah i'll write down like the poison
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stuff like what it looked like the colors um what kind of damage like i used to slay them and stuff and yeah
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i'll spend some time writing that down in my book just kind of do that awesome um normally would take you about an hour to do this but because you are on
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horseback it's it's taking you a little bit longer there are some bumps every once in a while but you're able to get all the information down um
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you're able to get all the information down just in time um to see the path
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before you split um one path continues south along the base of the mountain um sort of heading
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in a southward direction and then the other one goes directly up into the mountain and sort of begins an ascension
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um up into the mountain seeker you know this to be going up into the mountain the direction
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that you need to go this way up into the mountain look down both paths and see like
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if i recognize any of them like can i look down this [Music]
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um yeah make a make a perception check just to see what like maybe it's down the other one
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[Music]
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[Music] you look down the path that goes south sort of you can see it sort of
39:26
trails along the base of the mountain um but you can't really see any particular
39:32
identifying landmarks um it just seems like it continues on south um you look up the one that heads up into the
39:38
mountain and it definitely looks like a little bit more of um like a slightly more treacherous terrain but it's not like
39:44
insane the horses will definitely be able to get up into it um but pretty soon up into the mountain you can see um
39:52
trees and and sort of a mountainside forest begin to uh to appear
39:58
guys i can we go down this one and check it out
40:04
i know i know you said and i looked a secret i know you said that that's the way but like i'm just curious i want to see like
40:10
what's down here is this are you if are you asking me
40:16
well yeah i mean it just seems cool i mean i figured if it's not too much trouble i'd let's
40:22
go do a little bit of exploring then we're being pursued by an evil organization of thieves and assassins
40:30
they're gone they're saying we're gonna wait capture from them we're in the middle of nowhere
40:37
what if maybe you first
40:43
gathered what is needed to make these necklaces protect you
40:49
gave me something of equal or equitable trade
40:54
and then you come have fun do what you want this path will still be here whenever i
40:59
just like really and i'll start heading down that path like it's just right down here it's like
41:04
right here and i'll just start going down just go down that way and i'll just keep going guys just come
41:11
on it'll be like it's just right here let's check it out and i'll just start galloping down that way
41:16
um at that moment uh seeker would do a
41:22
he was kind of mutter under his breath um [Music]
41:28
tell me what he's done this way and send a message to um
41:33
send a message to eldra to see if she sees anything
41:39
okay um i'm gonna have you make a perception check for eldra could i give ildred
41:46
uh yeah you can let's go clean she's feeling she's feeling fun
41:54
so that first one was an 11 and the second was a 10. so i don't know if she has any that
42:09
[Music] oh yeah they get a
42:15
wisdom so it'd be a 12 total 12. oh sorry no no no no no that's
42:20
not true it's 14. plus 3. 14. nice um
42:25
yeah eldridge gets a pretty good look because it's like you've got a mountain on one side and then you got sort of these rolling hills um to the other side
42:33
and she sees pretty much nothing going down this path
42:40
um no houses no nothing it's just it the the path just continues on for miles and
42:45
miles as far as you can see i'm just going down it's like i'm starting to gallop down like guys come on
42:52
uh seeker will look over to kalec and say
42:59
i do not think anything is down there but this is a waste of time i just have an expression of just like incredulity
43:08
i thought we just had a discussion about this and uh i i'll uh
43:16
seeker we've got to get these necklaces sorted uh perhaps
43:22
try i can look after flynn and you and me and alma can head up and get this this water taken care of
43:33
okay and uh we'll send a message to shraya
43:38
uh and say can you look after this one we're going to head up to the temple
43:46
oh well i uh i suppose if we
43:52
must part company temporarily uh
43:57
poser yes the small one seems to be going off on his own i didn't want anything to happen to
44:04
him yeah i uh we'll see you again i'm sure
44:12
and as i i grunt and uh [Music] unwillingly
44:18
uh veer off uh towards flynn and uh and i say under my breath
44:25
better be a very good reason and in that in that i'm i'm used to
44:31
actually turn to go down that path and i'm like galloping back up guys what are you doing let's go come on it's going to
44:37
be cool well you're paying a full i went down there it's like it's got there's like a pool a pond there's no
44:42
time for this then it'll take five seconds come on to what to water to check out the
44:49
regular water that doesn't give us enchanted necklaces no one's telling us
44:55
in the nation that you refer to as an enemy flynn that's where we are yeah well maybe this has some answers i
45:01
just have a good feeling about it don't you ever just go off a gut feeling dm i'm looking at his face is he drunk like
45:06
can i wha i want to assess what's going on um yeah you could make an insight check
45:14
yeah [Music]
45:20
18. flynn are you drunk i've been drinking i'm just excited to
45:26
go down here insane or charmed or like can i can i read that from from anything like if
45:33
um i wouldn't be like no insanity no
45:40
guys it's like just quick just for me just like a little break from all this craziness let's just go check this area
45:46
out it'll be fine fine and then we can go right to the water and take care of it and i won't ask to do any more
45:51
diversions i just want to do this one [Music] you better be
45:58
if anything happens here flynn it's your head right horns of course
46:05
what would i know of the fauna of the mountains um
46:11
make a nature check for me
46:27
that is gonna be a 13.
46:32
um up here you're not too familiar with like anything abnormal
46:38
beyond the basics um up in mountains um lots of birds up here like a bunch of
46:44
different uh varieties of birds um there are deer there are um wolves up
46:51
here um you know that there are like every once in a while you'll come across like an area with a cave bear um
46:58
and uh but you have heard like rumors of
47:04
the fauna being a little bit stranger and a little bit more unique the closer you get to the temple itself
47:13
okay i will wait here i would recommend keeping your eyes open
47:19
you did see what attacked us recently right no hi
47:24
thanks for your patience i apologize for the interruption
47:29
and i'll we good can we go pull my horse over and
47:34
start heading in that direction i'll start leading the way back down the southern southern path
47:41
okay um is caleb the only one going
47:46
well almost on my horse or almost on your horse try it i should ask try it are you going oh yeah no i've
47:52
already split off and uh as soon as that message was uh given to me i went and found
47:59
lynn but my question is am i rejoined in the air or am i still solo flying above
48:08
um yeah you're joined and uh seeker would have sent a message to
48:14
eldridge to let him know if anything goes wrong
48:20
seeing you again sooner than i thought hi
48:27
okay so you guys um continue on this path southward i'm gonna have everyone who's there uh can make a
48:32
perception check i'm asleep as i cocked let's see [Music]
48:39
crappy crap that's a 21. my stats are so bizarre
48:44
yeah that's a uh 21 for me as well yeah 10 for flynn
48:51
20 24. 24. nice um yeah so you guys all um
48:57
continue heading south on this path for a couple minutes um not really a pond in sight um
49:04
you guys don't really see anything beyond these rolling hills in the mountain off to your your right
49:10
does it start to curve or anything up ahead to see like what's passion yeah so the path
49:17
sort of some of the mountain sort of comes down and juts out right in front of you and the path curves around that
49:23
so um in maybe about 100 feet in front of you the path turns around that curve and you can't
49:30
see the path continuing i'm looking around like well let's go check out no
49:36
let's go check it around the corner let's see if there's anything cool up there wandering the hills of caldor at a time like this
49:45
when are we ever gonna be back here you know we're stuck here
49:50
wait we have to hide from all kinds of evil forces pursuing us
49:56
we'll be fine and i just head over around go towards around the corner this is not the time for idol whimsy and i
50:03
continue following [Music] okay um you guys
50:09
make that turn around the corner um and sort of the the curve of the mountain then continues to
50:16
extend on for miles down south um with the the path leading right next to it
50:23
keep on heading down it's better have a point flynn
50:33
you guys keep heading south for another couple minutes path just continues on look at all the cool trees like this
50:41
is exciting like what could be down here [Music]
50:47
anything could be certain doom then that's even better i have some cool thing on me that seeker gave me so i'm
50:52
kind of looking for danger [Music] flynn we just talked about this
50:58
what kind of example are we setting by running off chasing danger when we could be looking for a solution to our problems
51:05
that involves no violence
51:13
maybe you're right i'm gonna look down the path
51:20
one more time there anything that looks exciting that pulls me down it and wants me to go
51:25
check it out more my am i i mean you see
51:30
some trees you see like some birds up in the trees um
51:36
you know i thought there was gonna be something down here but
51:43
maybe yeah maybe you're right maybe there isn't what are you after
51:48
i don't know i guess we can go back i just felt like this would be a
51:54
[Music] good place to check out but uh
52:00
doesn't seem that way anymore are you feeling all right that yeah
52:05
fine it's kind of bummed i thought this would be like a cool side adventure but i guess
52:13
i look around like i guess not
52:19
i just like stare at him like i'm inspecting the fine print
52:25
of a legal document [Music]
52:31
well thanks for coming with me i mean i appreciate it but see we're fine it was just a little
52:36
detour and what if we weren't we'd handle it it's not good enough then
52:43
you've seen how we handle things that we're not ready for
52:49
yeah now i believe it or not
52:54
i'm fond of your adventurous spirit [Music] but
53:00
a risk the risk is so great right now
53:07
um well i'll turn my horse around [Music] kind of start heading and back
53:16
and visible to no one except for eldre which i don't know if uh seeker can actually see through that as well uh
53:24
a glow that had started in the back of my staff up toward the crystal now just goes dim okay so after that um
53:32
let's call it a detour um the jaunt uh you guys all um head
53:38
back and you guys meet up with uh seeker once again at the base mountain secret you see um the
53:44
party once again coming back around the bend so as seeker sees them coming around they probably would have got tipped off they're coming
53:50
back but he's rolling up some scrolls and he's got a pack underneath his his cape
53:57
and he's putting them away and putting the pack back on and
54:03
mounting are you ready staring at flynn
54:09
always let's do it very effective in battle but not the wisest day
54:16
working on it [Music] we should go uh what time of day is it
54:22
at this point um you guys are just approaching
54:28
about two three in the afternoon
54:33
we should get as far as we can while we still have daylight great does anybody need the rest well
54:38
never mind we just took a rest oh i did [Laughter]
54:45
i sort of just like indicate all my stuff still napping
54:52
and the little one she's smart she is wise maybe you should follow her little one i mean i had fun there wasn't anything
54:58
down there but it was exciting um but yeah let's go
55:04
all right um so you guys uh still on horseback you guys begin to trot up the side of the mountain um
55:11
before long you guys are completely like surrounded on all sides by these
55:17
evergreen trees um and as you guys climb up higher and higher into the mountain um it takes a little while but you guys
55:24
almost if you feel in your lungs the air starting to get thinner and thinner as you guys climb and climb and climb in
55:31
altitude um shraya are you flying above the group yes
55:37
okay um because the trees are so dense and actually seeker how often do you
55:44
look through eldris view
55:50
as you're traveling along how long would you just like pop into elge review to check in on what's going on you know
55:57
probably every 15 20 minutes
56:02
okay perfect um so then yeah i'm gonna have shraya
56:08
and seeker through eldra um both make a perception check for me what kind of
56:14
everyone else you guys are looking around is this uh using their sites this is a site site
56:19
based perception check um everyone else you guys are just surrounded by this dense forest and you
56:24
guys are barely able to see on either side
56:31
yay 21. uh eight 20 y's um you guys are able to
56:38
look on either side and you guys are able to get sort of a better view of the trees surrounding the rest
56:45
of your party um shraya you are like sort of feeling a little bit more
56:50
comfortable here um you you sort of feel the altitude once again you feel the evergreen trees you
56:57
can see some of the the life you can see some squirrels hopping from one tree to the next um and you can see
57:05
uh just like a myriad of life happening in this forest um and in your comfort you
57:12
sort of lose your perception a little bit and aren't looking around as as as much um
57:18
eldra however spots um just a couple hundred feet off of the path um a
57:25
tree that is quite a bit bigger than all of the other trees and it doesn't look to be the same kind of tree it looks um
57:32
more like um it's not like got the the um it's not like a pine tree where it's
57:39
got those needles on it it's like a full flourishing tree with leaves lots of
57:44
branches extending out and the trunk of it looks a lot thicker as well
57:49
you can pretty much just see some of the major branches coming up over the tops of these other evergreens and the
57:56
flourish of leaves that are actually a much brighter green than everything else around it
58:02
[Music] uh is that hey whoo
58:10
hey handsome does that tree look normal to you
58:17
i'm not over there it looks of course i i think i can see it but uh
58:23
just in case i can't uh just what does it look like
58:29
it's it's silly it's bigger and it doesn't match the pattern it's
58:36
different can i uh re-look toward can i look for that uh after that
58:42
description yeah after the description and sort of after you sort of snap back into
58:49
your normal view um after pointing it out yeah you see it oh yeah that one i i
58:54
i saw it uh [Music] several minutes ago what about
58:59
[Music] isn't it odd don't
59:05
trees and forests normally have similar trees
59:11
all by itself it is quite strange
59:20
by experience in the woods in the forests and the mountains especially
59:25
odd-looking elements of the land are not always
59:32
things to be afraid of oh i mean i'm not scared but
59:40
it just seems strange should we take a closer look yeah let's
59:47
do it okay um as you guys both fly over there
59:54
um you guys would see as you approach the tree that this is very obviously not a
1:00:00
tree of this area this this was brought in from something else but over the years it has
1:00:06
grown um to be this huge flourishing tree um as you guys approach it you guys
1:00:12
can see the trunk of this tree is probably about
1:00:18
i'd say 20 feet wide as it sort of comes up and then branches
1:00:24
off at the top from the base of the tree you can see a doorway
1:00:30
at sort of the uh the base of this massive trunk surrounded by the roots that are sort of
1:00:37
coming down off of this base oh i wonder if that's the
1:00:43
how you get in i think in any case we should
1:00:50
tell the others about it hold on
1:00:57
and uh eldridge would communicate with secret
1:01:02
secret would probably have popped in around here and seen and uh cinema sing
1:01:11
hold there i think that's where we want to go but i'm not sure would seeker have any kind of
1:01:19
would he know what he's looking for for an entrance um
1:01:25
no not necessarily if you're looking specifically for the entrance i would have you make a
1:01:30
either nature or survival check i'll give you advantage because eldra pointed you to where the tree was ooh
1:01:37
that's good because the first one was a natty one we don't like that no thank you
1:01:43
um but it didn't get much better with the seven that's with that survival
1:01:49
oh [ __ ] yeah um i mean you see the tree but the
1:01:55
i mean eldris sort of sees it a little bit better where where the door is actually sort of like inlaid
1:02:02
into the tree and it's not like a you know it's not like wooden slats put up against a tree trunk it's more sort of
1:02:08
into the design of the tree i don't know what i'm seeing
1:02:13
the big tree maybe
1:02:19
um maybe we go check it out i don't know i don't know exactly what we're looking
1:02:24
for it's the what you've had word of this temple the existence of it yes
1:02:33
uh damn would i know of a temple of amir that was built into a tree
1:02:40
that's something i make a religion check [Music]
1:02:49
uh seventeen seventeen
1:02:54
no this is much more in line with you know if anything yeah um yeah if if if
1:03:02
anything it's it's in line with eldora are you certain we're looking for
1:03:07
uh temple to vermeer [Music] i did not say from here
1:03:14
but uh he would have been worshipped there yes also just a temple to the old gods
1:03:21
[Music] yes uh is the area we're in it's
1:03:29
how wild is it for lack of a better phrasing of that question is it unkempt
1:03:36
yes yeah unkempt unexplored beyond looks like unexplored beyond the
1:03:42
withering path beneath your feet um taking in all the uh foliage
1:03:49
well uh perhaps this is where eldoria uh would host
1:03:54
such a thing it would fit
1:04:00
it would fit with uh i don't know if you mentioned but try
1:04:06
is quite the fan uh so just something for you to be aware of i noticed back in the cave
1:04:14
in the mines right uh
1:04:20
let's catch the bottom of it and i'll with renewed vigor
1:04:25
move my horse into a steady trap as um as we're kind of twisting to go more towards the temple
1:04:32
almost starts to kind of like jerk and shake in in kellex arms
1:04:37
and her head is moving back and forth and she starts breathing really really heavy [Music]
1:04:45
and it's almost like her breathing starts to sound like she's crying
1:04:51
i'll slow the horses back
1:04:56
and she jerks awake [Music] looks around you're all right
1:05:02
girl caleb you're here with me we're fine we're just heading up the
1:05:07
mountain i think
1:05:12
i think i had a nightmare yeah yeah you seem shook
1:05:20
can't like i dreamt i jumped about that room [Music]
1:05:26
with the ring around the ground and i saw the dwarf's face
1:05:32
[Music] and then and then and then his face was crumpled
1:05:39
[Music] oh child [Music]
1:05:48
calic i just i just clutch i just embrace her
1:05:53
as as as clumsily as it it would be on the horse
1:06:02
caleb what happens now [Music] we move on homer
1:06:08
but you're not gonna like banish me or kick me out
1:06:14
oh my did you here didn't you listen to me
1:06:20
we just have to press on do good where we can
1:06:27
but i get to stay i'll not abandon you girl
1:06:33
[Music] never [Music]
1:06:40
i don't know what to do now
1:06:46
well you know what she did yes
1:06:52
[Music] and you know [Music]
1:06:58
why it was wrong
1:07:04
kinda [Music] i was just so mad
1:07:10
[Music] yes what's your rage on
1:07:15
[Music] can't be put to that use [Music]
1:07:22
we must be better than the things we're up against
1:07:27
or what's the point [Music]
1:07:34
do you understand we don't know what kind of man he was
1:07:40
the dwarf you killed we know a snippet a tiny moment of his
1:07:46
life but we have no other idea of him besides that he was a a guard doing his
1:07:51
duty [Music]
1:08:00
we must be intentional about how we use our might
1:08:08
i just can't always fix it i can't i can't always control it i know
1:08:13
i know [Music] it's not about fixing right
1:08:20
some things can't be undone [Music]
1:08:26
but finding the path when you come off it
1:08:33
[Music] getting back on that horse
1:08:39
we have a mission [Music] the red wolf right
1:08:45
most certainly right trying to end the world or something or whatever it is we know
1:08:51
of it right the red wolf so whatever you've done girl
1:08:58
you stop that and
1:09:04
your life here your power it matters
1:09:10
i'm not saying there's a ledger i'm not saying it's mathematics but you have no choice but to try
1:09:18
do good do you think if i do enough good
1:09:24
it'll overwhelm all the bad it's not for me to say alma
1:09:30
well who gets to say [Music] i
1:09:35
i take a long look at her you have to decide for yourself
1:09:41
oh but that's what daddy has said and i don't know what to say
1:09:48
why does it have to be up to me well you could ask the cots and i pull
1:09:53
out the the burned trying sigil and i and i unravel
1:10:00
the the bandage around my hand well i sort of pass all my other reins as i'm doing this and unravel the bandage on my
1:10:05
hand and i show her that on the center of my palm there is a deep
1:10:12
scar of three rings and i put the symbol
1:10:18
into the scar to show that it lines up exactly [Music]
1:10:24
but i don't have the answers either
1:10:33
can seeker hear this conversation is this a private conversation i woke up from a nightmare so um
1:10:40
yeah you can yeah you you could have uh i mean unless
1:10:46
okay like you are specifically trying to hide this from seeker i i'm going to say that secret i wouldn't be like broadcasting i'd be speaking in hush
1:10:52
towns but there's no hiding this kind of like animated moment yeah
1:10:59
um being he'd probably write up as the kerfuffle happen as as she's waking
1:11:05
and just listening and at that moment after you say that
1:11:10
he would say scars yeah and look at
1:11:16
alma and say yes you could ask the gods but
1:11:26
the way is right in front of you right and wrong are in front of you
1:11:32
what you are and who you are are in front of you
1:11:38
not behind keep your eyes open
1:11:43
keep your heart open you all
1:11:50
drew the ayah of this hollow god i don't care why but your hearts seem
1:11:56
pure as pure as they can be you especially little one
1:12:03
don't fret and he'll just kind of ride off or just
1:12:09
kind of start to to uh spur his horse to keep moving we should
1:12:15
keep moving [Music] so just keep
1:12:21
going in front of you
1:12:28
not behind eyes forward girl
1:12:33
eyes forward go in front
1:12:38
okay and at this moment you all approach the base of this tree
1:12:47
you guys all look ahead and seeker now at this point you can see sort of the outline of of where a
1:12:54
doorway would be um you couldn't really see it from the view before um but now
1:12:59
that you're sort of right in front of it it's it's much more clear it is closed
1:13:05
but looking up you can see two little window ports
1:13:11
that go inside um no light coming from within um just like little glass panes over
1:13:17
these windows would i see any signs of hidoria or anything that i recognize
1:13:24
from her iconography um
1:13:29
make a religion or nature check for me
1:13:36
yay uh religion oh yeah that's 15.
1:13:42
15. um yeah so you can see sort of growing around the base and up into
1:13:47
the trunk you can see these overgrown vines um
1:13:53
and you could tell probably at one point they were sort of like
1:13:59
ushered into place sort of making a design around the tree itself
1:14:04
but now ever however many years it's been that design has sort of been muddled by just the natural growth of
1:14:10
these vines but you can still sort of pick out that okay at one point these the the growth of these vines was sort
1:14:17
of directed so seeker would turn to the group and say
1:14:22
this seems like it may be where we need to go
1:14:29
and turn towards the door and just say
1:14:35
[Music] by the gods magic and light and make the symbol
1:14:42
of [Music] lars in the air and it almost lighting
1:14:47
with his finger as he does it in a purplish haze
1:14:53
and kind of over a shoulder towards caleb saying
1:14:58
old habits all right and [Music]
1:15:04
shall we proceed yeah sure this'll be fun huh
1:15:12
did we leave the horses out here
1:15:17
yes [Music] real quick can i get everyone's passive
1:15:23
perception um dimension of a dimension of the horses i'll
1:15:28
help tie them up to a tree or something like latch them around [Music]
1:15:36
13. 15 first one uh 16 for try [Music]
1:15:43
okay um shraya and kalik would be the only ones to notice this um as you're hopping off of your horse um and try you
1:15:50
coming down to land on the ground um in the grass right next to us this is
1:15:56
off of the the normal path this this area is just covered in grass and rocks and
1:16:02
off to calyx right you look down to the ground and you can see sort of
1:16:07
a form in the grass there and you look for a second and it seems to be just a pile of ash
1:16:16
try you notice this too is it moving
1:16:21
it is not still a little bit obscured by the the grass and the foliage that
1:16:28
covers the area
1:16:36
what happened to you i'm gonna go toward it
1:16:42
okay you look down onto the ground and you can see
1:16:48
face down into the dirt a humanoid figure
1:16:53
dead long ago but laying face down
1:16:59
the decay already very much underway of you know years and years but
1:17:05
you can see the ribs coming up from the ground
1:17:10
jutting out where there is a hole in their torso
1:17:16
that seems to have been just completely obliterated now in that whole a pile of
1:17:22
ash lays the does the ash seem connected to the
1:17:29
the the body is not burnt or the body is also burned
1:17:35
the hole around where the the hole in the torso is does seem
1:17:40
to be like scorched and scarred it looked like someone took a very powerful
1:17:45
flame and blasted it right through the torso of this person um and what remains there is then ash
1:17:53
i'll i'll lift some of the ash and run it between my fingers
1:18:00
does it seem connect can i if i track if i were to look into the in the near vicinity
1:18:05
can i see where this might have originated this
1:18:12
make an investigation check for me
1:18:18
natural one nothing
1:18:24
you can't even tell what direction the blast came from you can't tell really anything where they were standing
1:18:31
they could have been knocked back you got nothing and if i look at the corpse
1:18:37
uh does it look like a human or
1:18:42
like it's a medium-sized humanoid
1:18:47
it looks like a humanoid um um no you won't have to you would know
1:18:53
that this is probably an elf looking at their anatomy
1:19:01
what kind of magic makes that kind of mark
1:19:11
uh okay look what do you see there it's ugly shreya
1:19:17
it's an elf long dead elf and uh i
1:19:22
touch down and uh collect myself and look down deeply
1:19:28
into the into the corpse and uh see what i can see okay um i'm gonna
1:19:34
have you make either a medicine or a nature check uh that is a
1:19:41
15 on the medicine check okay um looking at this body um obviously dead long ago
1:19:48
but the curious thing that you notice is that while the flesh and the muscle and
1:19:55
everything has decayed over time not that much like
1:20:01
you would expect like some sort of like mushrooms or you would expect some sort of moss or some sort of
1:20:07
growth on this on the body itself it looks like the foliage around it has like
1:20:13
completely rejected this body and is not growing anything on top of it
1:20:19
[Music] nature's life cycles seem to be
1:20:26
perturbed and almost turn away from this being in disgust i wipe my hand
1:20:32
across my eyes eyes of the grave
1:20:38
uh is there on death around this corpse
1:20:44
um yes there is
1:20:50
that's not good [Music] there's some foul magic at work
1:20:58
here seeker it would seem the rumors of curse
1:21:05
may have some merit great
1:21:11
um and i will uh uh rub salt
1:21:17
uh over the body and cast gentle repose
1:21:24
and attempt to release this spirit
1:21:29
uh okay um as you do that uh what does that look like
1:21:36
actually your spell i will use uh i will use told the dead because i want to disintegrate it i
1:21:42
don't want to preserve it so i it will take the places where it was burnt and
1:21:49
grow them [Music] so that every bit of its material composition uh burns into ash
1:21:57
and uh goes from orange to flickering fluttering specks of uh would eventually
1:22:03
become blue dust before they vanish into the ether [Music] okay and as this is happening
1:22:10
just very quietly you hear
1:22:17
and then stillness and quiet please take the soul into your embrace
1:22:23
and let us be put to rest [Music]
1:22:32
prepare yourselves [Music] we've uh
1:22:38
nightmares ahead as well there will probably be more
1:22:45
this there was a slaughter many were killed here those that worshipped the old gods
1:22:54
started by those who worship the new i do not know who is
1:22:59
worse the gods or those who do this in their name
1:23:06
supposedly those slaughtered haunt this place well people do all
1:23:12
sorts of things if they need answers from those that would give them
1:23:18
so let's not pass judgment until we know that in the notes of the thing
1:23:25
you want to lead the way seeker don't mean to put you in harm's way but this is your mission
1:23:32
uh yeah secret we'll go over to the uh he'll nod head over to the door and see if he can find a way to
1:23:38
uh he will he will check the door to see if it's uh it seems safe for
1:23:43
entry okay nice um make an investigation check for me
1:23:51
nine [Music] wait maybe
1:23:57
[Music] you're looking if it's like booby trapped or anything yeah so i get a
1:24:02
double proficiency on no no that's i'm not using my tools so um
1:24:08
yeah nine okay um doesn't seem to be trapped in any way
1:24:14
will are you all ready i suggest preparing whatever it is you need to
1:24:20
prepare and at that he will pull out his almost apparate out of nowhere but
1:24:26
reaching his hands very quickly into uh the sides of his packs and pulling out two daggers
1:24:34
what else flynn alone i'll summon my my sword so you see the greens green misty smoke
1:24:41
i operate into my sword in my hand seeker will notice that and get the curl of a grin and just kind of say that is
1:24:49
impressive we want to talk to you about that can't wait
1:24:54
[Music] and as uh as they do that triumph pulls
1:25:00
out his staff and touches the crystal to his head and it glows uh in this pink
1:25:06
uh static electricity glow uh
1:25:11
come with me alma will stand between um flynn and
1:25:17
kellick she feels like that's the safest place to be it's just right in between them and pull out a torch
1:25:23
and light it up and then double up the light
1:25:28
okay um before we go so uh secret wood [Music] on me
1:25:35
and have eldra come to his shoulder and uh he would actually look over at
1:25:40
oma and say let's be as quiet as possible
1:25:46
um which of you have problems seeing in the dark
1:25:53
all but me oh well all right um then he will
1:26:00
say please if wait so oma
1:26:06
flynn and try you you you have problems with the dart
1:26:12
please come to me i would like i would like to suggest that we put it out don't worry i have
1:26:18
something for you and uh he asked that please come here and he bends down and starts to draw a
1:26:24
schedule of loris into the dirt it and his
1:26:30
his arm begin to glow and he raises his his arms out uh his
1:26:36
palms up near his head and he says
1:26:43
ah hayao me and um we'll
1:26:48
share with you three and get up to three willing creatures within 10 feet
1:26:54
uh lasting for one hour you now have dark grey dark vision out to a range of 300 feet
1:27:00
using eyes of night wow what is it what does it look like when
1:27:06
it uh changes so i just get to see farther out into the um your eye if anybody's well if i was
1:27:13
watching or anybody's watching your eyes would actually flicker with a purple energy and
1:27:19
uh you may not notice it now since we're outside and still daylight but trust me you will not need that torch i'll put it
1:27:26
out okay um so with now all of you guys
1:27:33
having dark vision um who is going to go up and open the door i'll do it see here we go
1:27:39
okay uh seeker you walk up to the door and um just as you approach the door
1:27:46
you can sort of see a handle that's flush with the door but you can
1:27:51
grip because there's sort of been this area carved out into the door um so you sort of reach your hand in there and
1:27:58
pull and the door swings open and as it swings open you can actually start to see you know the
1:28:04
hinges that were laid flush with the door on the other side and as you open it up um
1:28:11
you once again for the second time today you get the smell of decay um my eyes of the grave are still
1:28:19
active i believe okay what's the range on this 60 feet or something ridiculous
1:28:28
how long it doesn't really say how long it goes uh but i would be reactivating it if i
1:28:34
if it fainted uh so yeah it's 60 feet that is behind total cover and that isn't protected from divination magic
1:28:41
magic o k
1:28:46
so yeah as he opens this door i'll do it again rub the ashes across my eyes and can you also like can you pinpoint
1:28:53
targets um it is it like you get their exact location kids
1:28:58
yeah you know the location of any undead within 60 feet is the wording
1:29:04
okay
1:29:10
[Laughter]
1:29:18
um okay so with eyes of the grave um you would detect
1:29:26
you would detect sort of like higher up into this tree about 30 feet up
1:29:31
that there are currently
1:29:37
three undead presences um but they're up further into the top
1:29:44
of that and is the tree like as we as i peer in is it like just one open space of like
1:29:50
gnarled interior yeah so as you guys peek into the inside
1:29:56
of this tree the inside is completely hollowed out um but the tree itself is still very
1:30:03
much alive like there's not any dead wood or anything but the inside is completely hollowed out um
1:30:10
with about the room is like this 20 foot in diameter circle
1:30:15
um as you guys look in you can see another tree perfectly in the center of
1:30:21
this hollowed-out tree much smaller and much younger
1:30:26
but it sort of springs up and you can see like these little tiny points of light
1:30:31
where leaves and flowers would be up at the top of the tree not enough to illuminate
1:30:37
the room at all but just like these very dim dim spots of light
1:30:43
you guys look in and with now your dark vision um you can
1:30:48
immediately three see three bodies that are
1:30:54
in the in the room um you look across the room and on the other side you see um one body down on their knees sort of
1:31:01
slumped over and decay has completely taken them and the only reason that they're that their form
1:31:07
is still like this is the vines that have grown up out of the ground to hold their bones and whatever remaining um
1:31:16
body was still there you guys see another one very similar in
1:31:21
its decay across the room this one again fallen flat on their face
1:31:27
you see another one that is up against the wall arms spread out and it looks like there is a
1:31:34
spear driven through their chest that is pinning them to the wall and vines from the wall
1:31:40
have come and absorbed them on the other two bodies you notice on the first one that's sort of on their
1:31:46
knees and slumped over you can see a couple of arrows in their chests on the other body that's face down on
1:31:52
the floor you can see a sword that's in their back but all three of them have
1:31:58
vines completely covering them and their body is being absorbed back into the nature minus the bones and and whatever
1:32:04
else and i was like are those three the ones that i'm getting pings from from where's the
1:32:10
grave okay i do not but the earth uh
1:32:16
from what i understand looking in i think uh above us is the concern
1:32:22
so these ones down here i don't you know you never know with plays like
1:32:28
this but the dangers are both
1:32:33
and i'll start to settle into the
1:32:38
okay as you actually step in um you can see you see a little bit more as you step in you notice just because of the
1:32:44
angle that you were at you couldn't see before just immediately to your right and down on the floor you see uh another
1:32:51
figure that is sitting there head slumped down back up against the wall and you can see
1:32:58
a very similar scorch along their right shoulder that has completely blasted their shoulder and their arm out of
1:33:05
their body and ash pooling sort of in their chest this body does not have any
1:33:11
vines consuming it and as you look around the room even more you can now see
1:33:17
up and into this hollowed out tree a spiral staircase that goes up and around the outside of
1:33:24
the tree almost spiraling around this inner tree and you can see these
1:33:30
rooms that have been sectioned off by natural material up further into the tree
1:33:36
uh seeker will walk in and say if you wouldn't mind a moment
1:33:42
i could see i could check this room to see if i find anything of
1:33:50
magical importance and he will walk towards the
1:33:55
center yeah kind of towards the center of the other tree and if nobody says anything he will
1:34:02
get down on his knees and start casting a ritual
1:34:08
okay um what are you casting detect magic detect magic okay um
1:34:14
how long does that take for you 10 minutes that's original 10 minutes okay so that's taking 10 minutes um
1:34:21
is there anything else you guys want to do while he's doing that uh i wanted to ask dm rolling on this uh
1:34:29
protection from evil and good consumes the spell components but they have no price
1:34:34
uh how do you want to rule on that can i use that like is that a thing i need to
1:34:40
have purchased i'll say that at the current moment you have all spell
1:34:47
components that you need you just came from a major city um i will say for the next little bit you have all spell
1:34:52
components that you require well then i will take a special flask
1:34:58
uh from my medical bag and uh uh turn to flynn
1:35:04
and break the flask on my hands and uh uh spread the water across his
1:35:11
his head and horns and cast protection from good and evil on him
1:35:18
what was that uh just a just a safeguard don't want to be in a cursed place with
1:35:24
a possessed halfling you know oh
1:35:30
okay thank you of course
1:35:36
you're the uh the biggest threat anyway right so you know it got to make sure you're on
1:35:42
our site um so yeah you've got uh so i'll do that
1:35:48
toward the end of the ritual casting um so you have five to eight minutes of production from
1:35:54
good and evil still
1:36:00
okay um all right is there anything anyone else wants to do uh so while
1:36:05
uh the ritual is taking place uh i say to myself
1:36:12
perhaps we could use a sense of direction with this pool we're looking for
1:36:19
uh and as i say that uh i plant my staff in the ground i
1:36:24
touch the crystal to my head as i uh mutter
1:36:30
uh as my
1:36:36
arms stretch out and uh appear to become mis-like for a second
1:36:42
and i'm going to cast uh locate animals or plants in this case plants
1:36:47
but i'm going to specify algae okay uh what is the range on that
1:36:54
that's fun the range on that is five miles five miles
1:37:02
[Laughter]
1:37:18
um okay it's a forest of algae weird algae the whole everything actually
1:37:24
composed of the same chemical component and he is also algae
1:37:31
as far as the guy so um yeah so i would say you pick up a couple
1:37:37
of like little pings um from possibly where like little small pools
1:37:44
of water have collected um throughout the forest but just at the
1:37:50
at the range of your spell you detect a lot more
1:37:55
and you detect a lot of it just further up the mountain [Music]
1:38:00
just about five miles i do think we're on the right track
1:38:07
if this direction in this cave is any indication
1:38:13
as do we proceed further here sure
1:38:20
i can only say that we are a decent distance from
1:38:25
where i might imagine a large body of water could be but it seems to be when i
1:38:31
tilt my staff that way is that in and up on the tree like is it
1:38:42
it's like is it in in further in where we're going are we going in the right direction no it seems to be further up
1:38:47
the mountain not really not really within this tree so this tree has nothing to do with that
1:38:53
body of water doesn't well that's not where the algae is pooling okay
1:38:59
so perhaps in this space uh it might not be a direct route to it it might be further up in the elevation
1:39:06
of this land regardless and i sort of uh indicate with my head a nod toward uh seeker uh
1:39:14
working on his ritual uh we uh i have an investment in
1:39:22
freeing this place of whatever curses hovering a boat
1:39:27
now if we can free the energy of elduria from the clutches of death i
1:39:33
i will see that through as well for as long as it takes
1:39:41
seeker what'd you find uh so he's like wrapping up the rituals
1:39:48
eyes are pretty much purple the um his sleeves down but you can see a faint glow through the sleeve and he's
1:39:55
just like
1:40:03
and i don't know what do i see you uh detect a couple things um you detect uh just across the room um
1:40:12
there is a little table set up um and on that table you can see a teapot
1:40:20
sitting there um the teapot has like growth coming out from within it there's
1:40:26
probably some really old tea in there um that these mushrooms have sprouted up out of
1:40:32
um and the teapot itself is giving off a gentle magical glow
1:40:38
you also sense a couple magical
1:40:43
essences further up in the tree
1:40:50
this is uh what is it 30 foot sphere okay um
1:40:57
well the that pot over there it
1:41:03
seems magical and there happen to be a few more signatures
1:41:09
in this tree temple
1:41:16
we should search and he'll walk over to the to the teapot and
1:41:22
uh grab it yeah at the mention of like an interesting magical
1:41:27
item uh flynn will go with him um if
1:41:32
he's cool with that so oh hello yeah i mean you said there's
1:41:38
a teapot yes look at this yeah it's a maybe he should have searched for fungus
1:41:44
instead look at what is that growing there do you want to try it i want to see what this teapot does um
1:41:52
can i do any type of check i don't know if there's anything i can do with like
1:41:58
um unless you have a spell to that identifies what it is there is i'm just infatuated by it i guess you
1:42:04
can you can sense that off of off of me it's like i'm oh cool it's a nice little um
1:42:09
like a ceramic like a light green teapot
1:42:15
if you don't mind i have a lot of space in this year pack i will save it we can take a look at it later oh definitely
1:42:21
when we have our chat right yes yeah that sword speaking of which
1:42:27
my eyes right now we're gonna have to have to talk about that too
1:42:33
okay maybe we can teach each other sounds good while this is going on dm
1:42:38
i'd like to be um going to the various bodies in the on this floor of this thing and and
1:42:46
releasing them in the same way dissipating them into into dust i don't know if that's
1:42:52
okay um you go up to the which one are you starting with i'll say that um what's the closest
1:42:59
one to the door uh the one that's sitting right next to the door is the one that got its shoulder blasted off and is now being
1:43:04
absorbed yeah i'll start with that one okay um and as you do uh
1:43:09
as it disintegrates you hear
1:43:15
one more for the planes do all right play them all right
1:43:22
okay and then you move on to the next body yeah all right um you move on to the next body and you cast told the dead
1:43:29
um and as you do it has no effect on this body
1:43:38
it's almost as if you didn't even cast the spell
1:43:43
and which body is this what does it look like um this is the one that is face down and has vines and and growth
1:43:50
covering it try [Music]
1:43:56
yeah yes does it seem to you that hildaria
1:44:02
and i sort of like tap roughly on the vines
1:44:07
might want to keep this one i've never uh
1:44:14
she he's tethering the remnants of being to
1:44:19
preserve it perhaps i never thought that would be part of something el duria would uh engage in
1:44:29
or or would she eat uh you would actually know that um like
1:44:36
natural decay is is a pretty common practice with followers of real duria um
1:44:42
most of the time burial is involved but no caskets usually it's usually just like
1:44:47
you bury people directly into the dirt and then allow the nature to take over um but
1:44:53
this seems like um just like a natural decay of this body [Music]
1:45:00
yes i think nature is in the process of taking our course
1:45:08
sort of look crosslay at it with you guys inspecting this
1:45:13
strange body on the ground um with seeker and flynn looking at this
1:45:19
this teapot that is where we're going to end this week's episode we're going to call it right there at
1:45:25
this mysterious tree [Applause]
1:45:40
thank you all so much for listening and we can't wait to see you all again next week bye nerds bye next time nerds
1:45:46
banners hey guys it's me ethan the dm um thank you all so much for listening once again
1:45:53
we had a lot of fun making that episode so i hope you guys enjoyed it as well um just wanted to say uh we are on social
1:45:59
media instagram facebook twitter youtube we're on all of it um so be sure to go over and follow us there we're also on
1:46:05
patreon so if you guys want to support we've got some really cool tier options that you guys can actually uh
1:46:10
uh help out and participate directly in the campaign so um go over and check
1:46:15
that out if you would like it's also got a bunch of free stuff on there like some uh of the soundtrack as well as the
1:46:21
world map so you guys can follow along uh as the gang adventures across elbor
1:46:27
it's really cool so go check it out and thank you all so much once again for listening bye nerds
1:46:33
[Music]
1:46:50
oh
Venture Forth is a Dungeons and Dragons podcast. We play 5th edition (5e) Dungeons and Dragons in a home-brew D&D actual play setting. Our campaign takes place in the high fantasy realm of Elbor. A world of monsters, heroes and epic tales to be told. D&D is a TTRPG, a tabletop roleplaying game, also known as an RPG. Our gameplay is perfect for beginners to Dungeons and Dragons from episode 1.Olma, Flynn, March, Ceallach, Shraya
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