Timothy (DM)

Welcome to Shadows of Prophecy, a D&D real play podcast where we will find out what it takes to become a hero, face our darkest fears and pull ourselves out of a pit of despair. Shadows of Prophecy is a Dungeons and Dragons podcast with violent themes and adult language. Listener discretion is advised.

Timothy (DM)

With us today to traverse through adventures of loss and tragedy, we have Dan, as our ambivalent DM; Chris, as are sad and lonely Salvador Saltrose; and myself, Timothy, as the always comforting Desmond Calderos. Join us as we enter the Shadows of Prophecy. Prologue: A World Unravels. Chapter Five - The Experiments

Timothy (DM)

[in an unplaceable foreign accent] Would you all, like the water rat, scramble about the maze of futility? How easy it is to lord over them with just the little bit of cheese. But, that is what gives us such pleasure. Me, demonstrating an ounce of my power, and you? Holding out hope, so that you may feel inspired, that one day you may overcome trials of your own. [with a twisted smile] How quaint.

Dan (DM)

Flames scorch the battlefield. The sound of screams and cries are drowned out by the explosions of rock and earth crumbling down on either side of the crevice the enemy army pinned your battalion in. The visions of explosions burn into your eyes as the scorching flames sear your flesh. Your lungs fill with smoke, and your entire body courses with agonizing pain, your vision blurs, and your voice fades. You awake to find yourself stiff and sore, lying on cold hard stone of a prison cell. Your wrists are bound with sturdy manacles, and the clangs of heavy metal alerts you to the chain securing you to the wall.

Chris (Sal)

Well, I guess this is only slightly worse than the cots they give us.

Dan (DM)

[cheerfully] Welcome to prison!

Chris (Sal)

Oh well! This is... Salvador thinks to himself "Well. This is... this is not a great spot to be. I'm bound. To a wall. By chains."

Dan (DM)

Yeah, so you have a pair of manacles on your wrists, I guess not a pair of manacles, it's just manacles that and then chains from those manacles to the wall. Also, all of your armor, weapons, equipment has been taken from you, and you are... just have simple linen clothes, which are very dirty, clearly have been worn by other prisoners.

Chris (Sal)

[sigh] This is, uh, not great. And there's little to nothing in my cell besides me?

Dan (DM)

Yeah, so... your cell's maybe about 10 by 10 feet, so, like, you could get up and pace but that's about it. There is a pot in the corner for... you could probably guess why. And, I guess, steel bars. The rest of it's uh... just stone walls.

Chris (Sal)

Okay, well can I shuffle over to the... to the door and see if I can see anything from the doorway?

Dan (DM)

Sure. Yeah. Once you get to the door, you can kind of peer out through the bars. Outside of your cell, it seems like there are doors to other cells down the hall, and then you see a wooden table with the chair, and the... in the chair sits a guard.

Chris (Sal)

And I'm totally new to this situation...

Dan (DM)

Yeah you just woke out from being captured.

Chris (Sal)

So I, um...Wow. [laughs] I say through, sort of like a dry throat, "Can I get some water in here?"

Dan (Gerald)

"Hey, hey! Sit back down." He... the guard gets up and comes over to you and takes his, like, club I guess? and bangs on the the metal door.

Chris (Sal)

Oh, geez!

Dan (Gerald)

"Yeah, you sit down, stay away from the door." and he goes back to his seat.

Chris (Sal)

[whistle] I am going to try to create some water.

Dan (DM)

Okay. Since you don't have a focus or anything, what kind of components would you need to create water?

Chris (Sal)

I would need a drop of water. So, can I... sweat is partially water...

Dan (DM)

[confidently] Sweat is water. Yeah, sweat is water.

Chris (Sal)

Okay, so I'm going to try to sweat.

Dan (DM)

Okay. [surpressing a giggle] How would you like to try to sweat? [laughs]

Chris (Sal)

Well, can I try to, like, move my arms to, sort of like, build up a sweat?

Dan (DM)

Sure. After some, like, I guess jogging in place?--

Chris (Sal)

Yeah.

Dan (DM)

--in a way. You, uh, start to sweat. It is hot because it is... you're still in the desert. You can feel the heat, like, emanating off of the stone. It's obviously cooler than if you were directly in the sun, but it's not cool per se.

Chris (Sal)

Oh, okay. I'm going to subtley cast Create Water, using my hands as an open container.

Dan (DM)

Okay, as you cast your spell, you notice that the manacles, in a sense, almost activate and hold any magical power that you are trying to create in your body. So, nothing happens.

Chris (Sal)

Oh, well! [to himself] Good to know. I guess. Well, Sal...

Timothy (Desmond)

[in a whisper] Hey, can you hear me over here?

Dan (DM)

You hear a voice from behind you.

Chris (Sal)

I turn around.

Dan (DM)

Give me a Perception check.

Chris (Sal)

I imagine I did not notice this person in my cell.

Dan (DM)

It's true.

Chris (Sal)

Dan (DM)

With an 11, it takes you a little bit of time, but you eventually find a small crack between two stones that seem to lead over to another cell.

Chris (Sal)

I scurry over to the opening, and I whisper "Hello there?"

Timothy (Desmond)

Oh, thank goodness. I've been here for like weeks, and you're like the only voice I've heard. What's your... what's your name?

Chris (Sal)

My name is Salvador Saltrose. What's your name?

Timothy (Desmond)

Salvador. Nice to meetcha. The name's Desmond.

Chris (Sal)

Well, I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but it's good to have somebody to talk to that isn't that guy, and I hook my thumb to the guard.

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah, that's That's true. He's kind of an ass. The other guards are a bit nicer. Hopefully, we get to see them tomorra'.

Chris (Sal)

Do you know where we are? I kind of got blacked out during the battle.

Timothy (Desmond)

I mean, I know we're somewhere in Galadia. That's about it. Got knocked out and woke up here a couple of weeks ago. How about yourself? Well, what were you doing before you got here?

Chris (Sal)

Well, we were doing another... what's it called? Whenever you do a mission like you're going out to do a mission. You're um... not an excavation, but expedition. Yeah, it's like a scouting expedition. And we got ambushed. I'm a healer by sorts. So I was trying to heal some folks, and then we got blindsided.

Timothy (Desmond)

Damn, well, that sucks. So, you're you're a soldier then?

Chris (Sal)

Of sorts, though. It's not my primary expertise. Yeah. I am a cleric of sorts.

Timothy (Desmond)

Oh, cleric. Damn. Well, have you tried... tried castin' any spells to get us outta here?

Chris (Sal)

I tried making some water, but somehow [OOC] I rattle my shackles, so somehow I feel like these things are keeping it in.

Timothy (Desmond)

Aw shit. Of course, they thought about that. Ain't used to that in Neverfear.

Chris (Sal)

Well, short of you having some explosives in your pocket, I don't know how we're gonna get out of here.

Timothy (Desmond)

[sigh] Yeah, I mean, I've tried to coax the guards into giving me shit, but never seems to land my way. They don't even give me utensils.

Chris (Sal)

So, you're just eaten out of a bowl

Timothy (Desmond)

Eating out a bowl of with my hands. We're like rats down here.

Chris (Sal)

Hm. Well, if I were able to get my hands out of these manacles, maybe we'd have a chance of doing something.

Timothy (Desmond)

There ain't much in my cell. What about yours?

Chris (Sal)

I look over my very gaunt or scarce lodgings. I mean, I just have a pot, which could be a blunt instrument, but that's about it.

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah, I don't know if you're going to be using that as no instrument soon.

Dan (DM)

Yeah, it's like a s--.

Chris (Sal)

Is it like a spittoon?

Dan (DM)

It's not made out of... well, I guess it would be made out of metal. Yeah, it's made out of like a... like a metal, but you could tell that the metal is like very thin. So, if you'd hit somebody with it, it would just collapse.

Chris (Sal)

Oh! But on the flip side, it could be sharp implement. You get a jagged edge.

Dan (DM)

You could you could break it up. With bound hands. We'll see.

Chris (Sal)

Hey, I mean, you can make a pretty deadly weapon out of a tin can. So...

Dan (DM)

That's very true.

Timothy (Desmond)

It's true.

Chris (Sal)

Maybe Salvador's... His cogs are spinning.

Dan (DM)

Give me a Perception check as you kind of look around the room.

Chris (Sal)

I walk around the perimeter. Is it a dark cell? Well, I guess I have dark vision. Perception is 12

Dan (DM)

12.

Timothy (Desmond)

I also rolled it 12.

Dan (DM)

Neither of you notice anything out of the ordinary. I mean, Desmond had been there for a while now. And yeah, he hasn't noticed anything since, but Sal, you don't... notice anything that you didn't notice before.

Chris (Sal)

Hmm. Well, I'm sure I'll become very familiar!

Dan (DM)

Over then, you probably will.

Chris (Sal)

Yeah.

Timothy (Desmond)

So, you say you're a cleric?

Chris (Sal)

Yeah, I know some healing spells, and I'm a disciple of Tao. So...

Timothy (Desmond)

Oh, damn. Tao. Don't see much of you.

Chris (Sal)

To be honest, I was not aware of this god until they were giving the training. So.

Timothy (Desmond)

Ah, I see. Impressionable folk.

Chris (Sal)

I guess so. They're just trying to fill up checkboxes like "Oh, you got Tao? You got..." Well, I forget the names of the other ones, but there there are a lot of them to keep track of.

Timothy (Desmond)

That's for sure. Ain't never been much of a religious man myself.

Chris (Sal)

What's your story?

Timothy (Desmond)

[sigh] Well, I have been on ships pretty much my whole life. Grew up on a ship. My dad was a ship person? [laughs] Worked on a ship. Just kind of doing odd jobs. Not really much of a title there. I grew up in that, and... and the rest is history.

Chris (Sal)

I had a very odd experience on a ship recently. Have you ever been attacked by monsters or...

Timothy (Desmond)

By a monster? I mean, there's tons of monsters on the sea, but, um, usually they're the people.

Chris (Sal)

Isn't that the truth? Honestly. Yeah, for some reason, there was a giant squid that tore our boat to smithereens.

Timothy (Desmond)

Damn! You saw Kraken?

Chris (Sal)

[energetically] Is that what they're called? Yeah.

Timothy (Desmond)

Wow, I ain't never seen one of those, and I hope I never do.

Chris (Sal)

Definitely a scary experience I would not wish on on anyone.

Timothy (Desmond)

And you survived?

Chris (Sal)

[astonished] Somehow! I... I blacked out at that event too, um [laughs]. I guess I have that [stutters] unfortunate habit.

Timothy (Desmond)

Damn, maybe I gotta get me one of these gods. They seem to be doing you quite well.

Chris (Sal)

Yeah, well, we'll see how that turns out.

Timothy (Desmond)

Although, yeah, under our current circumstances, maybe not so much. [heavy exhale] Well, damn. Yeah, I don't... I don't know how much longer we want to stick around here. Just to give you a heads-up. No one seems to stay for very long.

Chris (Sal)

Hmm. I imagine they uh... there's not a lot to sustain you in a desert region. So.

Timothy (Desmond)

While they ain't going peacefully either. A lotta kickin' and screamin'. I'm not completely honest. I don't fucking want I know what they're doing to 'em.

Chris (Sal)

Yeah, 'cause I imagine it's either getting information or some... some other nefarious action...

Dan (DM)

You hear from down the hall. [as Gerald] "All right. All right. It's food time, boys!" and the guard, Desmond, you would know this guard to be named Gerald.

Timothy (Desmond)

[as Tim] Gerald!

Dan (DM)

You have... you have, at least in passing, heard him called "Gerald". He comes down and sets a bowl of gruel and slides it under Desmond's door, and then comes over to Sal's door. [as Gerald] "All right, boy, get over here."

Chris (Sal)

[casually] I walk over to the door.

Dan (DM)

As you get close to the door, he reaches through, grabs you by your collar, and slams you up against the bars.

Dan (DM)

[in Southern prison warden accent] "You don't talk to him. You hear me?"

Chris (Sal)

Oof!

Dan (DM)

Sure.

Dan (DM)

"You just sit here quiet and keep to yourself." and then he throws you back. And then he sets the bowl on the floor and kicks it into you. The bowl tips over, and your food, your porridge, like, splatters across the floor.

Chris (Sal)

Oh, well. I try to scoop up the dirty... floor. Is it a stone floor or a dirt floor?

Dan (DM)

Stone floor.

Chris (Sal)

Okay, so I try to feebly scoop it and put it back into the bowl.

Dan (DM)

I mean, it's still very dirty.

Chris (Sal)

[dejectedly] Well, okay.

Timothy (Desmond)

Gerald, I'm a friendly folk. Why don't you got to be nice to me?

Dan (DM)

"Shut your mouth, Desmond!" and he bangs his club on the bars of your cell and walks back to his seat.

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah, go eat a rat's ass.

Chris (Sal)

I whispered through the crack, "Well, at least he knows your name, I guess that's slightly above being just any old prisoner".

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah, I'll although he's probably pretty serious about the "no talkin'" rule. This one's such a hard ass.

Chris (Sal)

[in solidarity] Hm.

Timothy (Desmond)

[frustrated] Not like we're gonna do anything, stuck in here, in these little fucking cells and ain't got nothing but a pot to shit in.

Chris (Sal)

Well, I'll try to think of something. I'm sure there's got to be some flaw somewhere. If it's the people or the actual cell...

Timothy (Desmond)

My bet's on the people.

Chris (Sal)

How many guards are there? There's Gerald. There's grumpy guard.

Timothy (Desmond)

I've seen about three. They... they rotate every day. Gosh, who's tomorra'? [to Dan] Do I know the schedule? Have I been here to suss it out?

Dan (DM)

There are three regular guards, sometimes there are like, substitution guards. Yeah, that come in, but for the most part, it's three regulars: Gerald, Helen, and Vince. They typically appear in that order, and those are the day shifts. There are night shift guards, but those don't never seem to be the same. And typically, you're trying to get some sleep. So you don't have to...

Timothy (Desmond)

Get whatever we can.

Dan (DM)

Yeah.

Timothy (Desmond)

Well, we might have better luck with Helen tomorrow.

Dan (DM)

Yeah, Helen's a bit nicer. You've talked with her a little bit.

Timothy (Desmond)

It's still a hard ass, but at least holds a conversation.

Chris (Sal)

Well, I appreciate you being here. Makes it a little less... terrifying.

Timothy (Desmond)

[laughs] I can't say I agree with ya', but glad to hear it nonetheless.

Dan (DM)

So, y'all probably, I mean, there ain't much to do.

Timothy (Desmond)

Naw.

Dan (DM)

So, ya'll probably sit around, chatting to each other through this little crack. And the crack's not really big enough to see each other. You can see, like, slivers of each other's faces as you kind of peer through. That's about it. It's maybe like, a quarter of an inch wide, just enough to, like, get... let sound through.

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah.

Dan (DM)

And yeah, unless there's anything else you wanted to do specifically today, which, again, there ain't much

Chris (Sal)

What... what is the... can I investigate these shackles?

Dan (DM)

Sure.

Chris (Sal)

They're just bracelets with a chain? Is there like a gemstone that's powering it? Or...

Dan (DM)

There's no gemstone that's visibly seeable from, like, when you flip it over and whatnot, but pretty much, it's two circular clamps that go around your wrist that are connected by a chain link and then attach that chain link is a longer chain that is attached to the wall.

Chris (Sal)

So, there's no bolt that's like holding the two halves of the bracelet together.

Dan (DM)

No.

Chris (Sal)

Just a full circle?

Dan (DM)

Yeah. And then on the wall, there is, it's like, what is that called? Like a handle? And then and yeah, and then it has like four really big bolts that go. You probably guess pretty deep into the wall because the bolts themselves are like, maybe an inch, two inches thick.

Chris (Sal)

Salvador frowns.

Dan (DM)

You're pretty secure.

Chris (Sal)

Yeah, I look at the... I look at the diameter of my wrists. And I think "Hm, 'cause... is there some way I could contort my hands out of these?" Probably not.

Dan (DM)

They're pretty sized well to you. I mean, they probably have had people with smaller wrists before--

Chris (Sal)

Exact--. Yeah.

Dan (DM)

They need a diverse set of manacles.

Chris (Sal)

It's yeah, it's, uh, like, they pull out... the you know, the shoe sizer at shoe stores? It is like they have a calipers for your wrist and you're like, "Oh, you are seven,"

Dan (DM)

Yeah. Exactly. So, you're pretty secure in there. There wouldn't be a way for you to like shimmy your wrists out.

Chris (Sal)

Yeah, I got--

Dan (DM)

Not at the current state at least.

Chris (Sal)

I got a plan some surfeit and some deception. I whisper that to, uh, Desmond. [Dan laughs] It's like, "Have you ever thought about overpowering one of these things, one of the guards?"

Timothy (Desmond)

I mean, I don't know how far I'd get in these shackles, but I thought about it. I'd love to wring Gerald's neck.

Chris (Sal)

I mean, I'm thinking the shackles could provide some leverage on that.

Timothy (Desmond)

Fair. [with childlike glee] Y'wanna try?

Chris (Sal)

Well, I don't know how... Yeah, I think we're gonna have to... we're gonna have to brainstorm how to get them in this cell.

Timothy (Desmond)

That's fair, and uh...they don't seem to fall for much. One of us could feign illness, but I don't think they'd give no shit.

Chris (Sal)

In fact, they probably be happier that they don't have to give us food.

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah. Damn. Hmm. I'll have to sleep on that.

Chris (Sal)

Okay, I'll think about it too.

Dan (DM)

Just as some extra information: the way that the chain and shackles are set up, is that you can't bring your hands fully to the bars. Your body can make it to the bars, but your hands are like, just far... like the chain stops you from touching the bars.

Chris (Sal)

Gotcha, but I can reach the pot in the corner.

Dan (DM)

Yeah!

Chris (Sal)

Okay.

Dan (DM)

Nothing's stopping you from using the pot in the corner.

Chris (Sal)

Well, I can't do magic. And I can't.... Oh, this is a rough spot. Okay.

Timothy (Desmond)

Well, it's been nice talking to you, but I think I'm gonna get some shut-eye and try to conserve my energy. These days have been taken more out of me than I'd like.

Chris (Sal)

Well, I can definitely appreciate that. Sleep tight.

Timothy (Desmond)

Alright, you too, Sal.

Dan (DM)

So, you both get some sleep, or at least the best sleep that you can get when you're sleeping on a st- uneven stone floors. So, it's not like you're... not like you're comfortable, but you wake up the next morning, and nothing has changed. You can tell it's hotter because you imagine... Desmond, you know that last when you were speaking with Sal, it was kind of closer to nighttime, so the sun was down. But now that the sun is high, it's like a hot box in there. It's very warm.

Timothy (Desmond)

What's our, like, light source situation in the rooms?

Dan (DM)

There are torches on the outsides of the cells. So, through the bars, you get some light. Does Desmond have dark vision?

Timothy (Desmond)

I do.

Dan (DM)

Okay--

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah.

Dan (DM)

So, you can see things... you can, I mean, you could see things just fine, even in the shadow, more shadowy spots of your cell, but there's some light coming in through the bars.

Timothy (Desmond)

Is there any like source of natural light that we can notice or see? Like, at, if we look down the hall? Like, do we see any slivers of natural light or whatnot?

Dan (DM)

No, you don't know. Yeah, there are no windows, at least in this section of the prison.

Chris (Sal)

Now, that it's a new day, can I do a deeper investigation of my cell?

Dan (DM)

Sure. Give me either a Perception or Investigation check.

Chris (Sal)

Okay, it's times like these, I wish I would put more points into my Intelligence.

Timothy (Desmond)

We can't all be geniuses.

Chris (Sal)

That's...that's a 17 Investigation or a 20 Perception.

Dan (DM)

That's pretty good. But you don't find anything out of the ordinary. Just as you did before, everything's just kind of stone room, pot, and some bars to keep you in. You do though... in the very, it's like very muted it's sorta... it seems like in the distance, you hear screams. Desmond, you would have heard these screams before. Having been here for a few weeks now. You've definitely heard these. You don't know where they come from or who is screaming, but yeah. The guards seemed unbothered by that.

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah, so Desmond's gonna call over from the other cell, "Good morning, kiddo. I guess you've heard the morning rooster?"

Chris (Sal)

And by rooster I--, you mean screaming person?

Timothy (Desmond)

It's the best we're gonna get.

Chris (Sal)

Oh, well... Yes, I am now awake. [Tim laughs] I did another sweep of this cell. I can't find anything particularly useful.

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah, I mean, I've been sweeping the cell every day. All day. Gettin' really familiar with these cracks on the wall. Mm hmm. Maybe they tell a story. Naw, that's nonsense. [Chris and Tim laugh] Just trying and let my mind wander. Takes the edge off. How you holding up?

Chris (Sal)

Well, it is been a rough night. Not particularly comfortable. But I'm still coming to grips with the whole "being a captive". I can't say that it's a fun thing to be, but that's just something I'm gettin' use to. I try thinking about how we get out, but I really didn't come up with anything.

Timothy (Desmond)

Hmm. What kind of spells do you know that like... Well, no. Damn the manacles. I forgot about that one. Not something I normally consider. [sighs]

Chris (Sal)

Do you know what they use us for? Is there a way that we could convince them to get us out of the cell? So, we'd have at least some access to escape?

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah, I mean, all I know about it is the screams. And nothing's really drivin' me in that direction.

Dan (DM)

[to Tim] Yeah, since you've been here, you have not left your cell. They don't take you out for anything. But, you do know that other prisoners have come and gone, but when a prisoner is gone, [ominously] they don't come back.

Chris (Sal)

How did you find yourself to be in this position?

Timothy (Desmond)

Well, I was working on a merchant ship, just off the coast, and I guess they thought that we were, uh, trainsportin' soldiers, and they attacked, and that's how I found myself here. And once you're here, they don't care where you're from, what you're doin', who you are.

Chris (Sal)

Well, I guess we can't play up their compassionate side. If they have one...

Timothy (Desmond)

We can try! [chuckles] Ain't nothing gonna stop me from trying?

Chris (Sal)

Yeah, well, I guess it's good to have options. I try to wrangle these chains to sort of try to find a weakness in them.

Dan (DM)

Okay, give me an Athletics check.

Chris (Sal)

Oh man, let's see how that goes... That's a 12.

Dan (DM)

[dryly] You unfortunately don't have the strength to break metal chains.

Chris (Sal)

[dejected, to Dan] I...yeah.

Timothy (Desmond)

Hey, what are you doin' over there?

Chris (Sal)

[nonchallant] Oh, just stretching...

Timothy (Desmond)

I mean, these chains are real strong. I tried myself quite some time... usually ends up in getting beat up by the guards, so... careful.

Chris (Sal)

Is Helen on duty? I walked to the door to look out.

Dan (DM)

At the end of the hall, you see a woman guard sitting at the table. She has bright red hair pulled back up into kind of a braided ponytail, and just sits there reading a book.

Timothy (Desmond)

Hey, Helen!

Dan (Helen)

[in a twee Scottish accent] Oh, yes darlin', what would ye' like?

Timothy (Desmond)

How about we get some some breakfast this morning?

Dan (Helen)

Oh, darling, ye' know that breakfast isn't served here. Ye' know better than that.

Timothy (Desmond)

Oh, I thought this was a state-of-the-art Airbnb. [laughter] Bed and Breakfast.

Dan (Helen)

"Oh, you silly man." Helen puts down her book and gets up and walks to your cell. "Oh, yes, and what can I get ye': eggs, toast, maybe some sausage?

Timothy (Desmond)

Oh, yeah. And some maple syrup on the side would be splendid.

Dan (Helen)

Oh, gosh. If ye' weren't such a charmer, I'd beat the shit out ye'.

Timothy (Desmond)

Well, Helen, you know what I'm here for?

Dan (Helen)

I'm actually not quite sure. They don't really tell us what people are in for. They just they say "Keep 'em in". Is there something that you actually needed?

Timothy (Desmond)

Ah, now just just want to say "good morning".

Dan (Helen)

"All right. Well, don't make me get up again." I mean, she heads back to the table.

Timothy (Desmond)

Drats.

Chris (Sal)

Oh, well.

Timothy (Desmond)

I've been working on that one for ages. She's a tough cookie to crack.

Chris (Sal)

It definitely seems that way. Although, she is miles nicer than the other.

Timothy (Desmond)

That's for sure. If I tried that stuff with Gerald, I'd have a black eye right now.

Chris (Sal)

I try to cast another spell.

Dan (DM)

Okay, what spell would you like to try and cast?

Chris (Sal)

I want to cast Thunder Wave.

Dan (DM)

Okay, what are the components that you would need for Thunder Wave?

Chris (Sal)

It's just verbal and somatic.

Dan (DM)

Okay. So, where do you cast them away from: is that your hands? Is it your chest?

Chris (Sal)

It sweeps out from me.

Dan (DM)

Okay. [radly] It's just like a body spell.

Chris (Sal)

Yeah, it's... it's a body spell.

Dan (DM)

So, you would charge this thunderous energy inside of you, and as you go to release it, you feel this, like, slight bit of air push out from you, but the manacles are still suppressing your casting ability. So, you can feel it magically stop you. Yeah, from channeling your magics.

Chris (Sal)

[whispers to himself] Dang it.

Dan (Helen)

[shouting down the hall] Don't think I didn't hear that!

Chris (Sal)

What?

Dan (Helen)

Yer not the first person to try and cast somethin' in here.

Chris (Sal)

I-uh...

Dan (Helen)

"Mutterin' in yer silly words to yerself." And you hear Helen get up and walk over to your cell.

Chris (Sal)

I don't know if we've been properly introduced. My name is Salvador.

Dan (Helen)

No, we haven't, and I don't so much care either way. Well, it doesn't hurt--

Timothy (Desmond)

Aw, Helen, he's a good kid.

Dan (Helen)

Desmond, shut yer face. [Chris laughs]

Timothy (Desmond)

[sighs] Yes, ma'am.

Dan (Helen)

Alright, if ye'... both weren't such lookers, I'd be more mad at ye'. But keep it down, all right? I don't want to have to beat the shit out ye'.

Chris (Sal)

I don't want that either.

Dan (Helen)

I'm glad we're on the same page then.

Timothy (Desmond)

Hey, Helen.

Dan (Helen)

[exasperated] What do you want?

Timothy (Desmond)

Is that why you've kept me around so long?

Dan (Helen)

You'd better... you better shut yer face again. [Chris and Tim laugh] Ye' hear me?

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah, I knew

Dan (Helen)

Hey, I don't have nothing to do if yew stayin' around as long as this. Yew just happen to be lucky.

Timothy (Desmond)

I knew it. You like me, dont'cha?

Dan (Helen)

[crouching down] If we weren't in a war, I'd ravage ye' and throw ye' out the window. [Chris and Tim laugh]

Timothy (Desmond)

[rakishly] Well, can't say I'd say no...

Dan (DM)

She doesn't say anything. Just gives you a look as she walks past your cell.

Chris (Sal)

Well, that was a impressive display. Desmond, I, uh, don't know what to say.

Timothy (Desmond)

Well, it's not my first rodeo. One does have to keep themselves busy when they're going port to port. You know?

Dan (DM)

[judingly] Slut.

Timothy (Desmond)

What??? Have you seen this man? He's gor-geous.

Chris (Sal)

Look at the photo.

Dan (DM)

Oh, yeah, what does Desmond look like? Give me a short description.

Timothy (Desmond)

So...

Dan (DM)

I mean, not that Sal can tell.

Chris (Sal)

Yeah, I just I hear a voice.

Timothy (Desmond)

Desmond is probably 6'2" very broad chest. Shoulders. Just all around, very well built from working on the ships. Just lifting boxes, doing all the random ship shit. He has medium blonde hair, and sideburns that kind of go down into his chin.

Dan (DM)

Gotcha. Cool. So Daddy? Sorry.

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah. And like the most chiseled square jaw.

Dan (DM)

All right, well, you've had your interaction with Helen. Anything you want to either investigate or try and do during the day? Desmond, you would know that you do get a midday meal and, like, an end-of-day meal. They're the same thing: they are just porridge. In the past, Helen has given you bread, but it's very sparingly. Just like a piece of bread to go with your meal. Seems like she pulls it off of her own plate to give it to you, too.

Chris (Sal)

I guess short of looking at my chains again, I'll go over to the pot and investigate it for craftsmanship.

Dan (DM)

It is an old, dented, tin, I guess tin probably, pot that on closer inspection hasn't been thoroughly cleaned. It's been emptied, but that's probably the most that this pot has been cleaned, and given what other prisoners have used this pot for, that isn't a pleasant thing to find.

Chris (Sal)

I shuffle over to the crack again, and I say Desmond, is... "If we got sick, would they take us to some sort of sick bay? Or like how do they deal with sick prisoners?"

Timothy (Desmond)

Well, in my experience, they pretty much do the bare minimum to keep us alive. So, as long as you ain't dead, they're happy.

Chris (Sal)

Hmm. Maybe we can act like we're dead... Although, I'm sure there are multiple ways of confirming that.

Timothy (Desmond)

It's worth a shot, but what are you going to do after that?

Chris (Sal)

I dunno, ambush them? I guess there's not too much I can do while shackled, but the shackles themselves can be effective if we can move our hands around.

Timothy (Desmond)

Well, maybe we try not pissin' Helen off.

Chris (Sal)

Yeah, we can wait til, uh, Vince gets back.

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah, that sounds like a good plan, actually.

Dan (DM)

Yeah, Vince is set for, to come tomorrow, assuming that the schedule stays.

Chris (Sal)

Yeah. It's like, "Oh, no, my wife is getting her feet replaced." Uh, sorry. You can't get your--

Timothy (Desmond)

She's getting her feet replaced?

Chris (Sal)

I was trying to think... I was gonna say "my wife is getting married", but that is also very...uh, "My wife is going--

Timothy (Desmond)

It could be happenin'

Chris (Sal)

"She's getting her prescription filled." Uh, or "her eyes checked". [Tim laughs]

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah, I mean, probably don't want to wait til Gerald, although I really would like to give that fucker sumpn', but he ain't gonna fall for it. So, Vince is probably our best bet for a stunt like that.

Chris (Sal)

Alright. Well...

Timothy (Desmond)

Only gonna fall for it once.

Chris (Sal)

True. I wonder... What is his relationship to you? Does he like you? Does he not like you?

Timothy (Desmond)

What do I think Vince thinks of me?

Dan (DM)

Vince doesn't give a shit about any of you. Half the time, he doesn't serve you your food; he won't even get up.

Timothy (Desmond)

Great. Okay. [laughs]

Dan (DM)

Sal, you're at the end of the hall, so you can see down the hall to where the table is. Desmond, though, because of the angle that your door is at, you can't see the table where people sit, so you only see the guards when they come over to you, and you've barely ever seen Vince. You've heard people talk to him. He's yelled out to you on some occasions, but the only time you like actually see what he looks like is when he decides to grace you with food.

Chris (Sal)

And how are they armored as guards?

Dan (DM)

Pretty heavily armored--

Chris (Sal)

Like they've got?

Dan (DM)

--like chainmail. It varies by guard, but it's like chainmail or plate mail.

Chris (Sal)

Is there anything around their necks?

Dan (DM)

Like a cape? No, not really.

Chris (Sal)

Or like, are they having... like, do they have a gorget or gorjay, which protects their throat?

Dan (DM)

No, they don't.

Chris (Sal)

Okay.

Dan (DM)

Not that you've seen on the two guards that you've seen, at least.

Chris (Sal)

What I'm thinking is that one of us bellyaches until they come into our cell, and we somehow spring an attack on them trying to wrap the chains around them, particularly around their necks as leverage.

Timothy (Desmond)

Sounds like a plan. [sighs] I mean, at this point, I'm coming up to my deadline; ain't got much to lose.

Chris (Sal)

Yeah, I guess faced with this sort of situation. Doesn't seem a lot to wait around for.

Dan (DM)

All right, then the day passes. You chat. You talk more about yourselves, have little conversations. Helen does bring both of your meals to you. Neither of which has bread for Desmond today. And yeah, when night falls, she goes off and the other guards come. And you guys try again to get some sleep, but again, it's not very comfortable place to sleep. It gets surprisingly cold at night as well and you don't have blankets or anything because in the desert, y'know, the desert things get... it gets like really cold. And you wake the next morning.

Chris (Sal)

Dawn of the Second Day,

Dan (DM)

Dawn of... eh, Second and a Half Day

Chris (Sal)

Okay.

Dan (DM)

Technically, it's been two nights since you've arrived.

Chris (Sal)

[baleful moaning] Whoooooa. Ahhhhhhhhhh.

Timothy (Desmond)

Sal, what's going on over there?

Chris (Sal)

Oh, my stomach. Don't you feel it?

Timothy (Desmond)

Sal, I was gonna do that stunt.

Chris (Sal)

[abashedly] Okay. [weakly] I'm feeling much better now.

Timothy (Desmond)

[long pause and laughter] No. All right. Here it goes. Uhhhhhhh-ahhhhh-eerrrrr [panting]

Chris (Sal)

[shouting to the guard] Hey, he sounds pretty bad in there.

Dan (DM)

Sal, as you look down the hall to the table and chairs, you see a guard, but they have... seem to have their feet up on the chairs, and their helmet is pulled over their eyes. They're, like, leaning back in a very, like, relaxed position,

Chris (Sal)

I lean towards the door and I say, "Hey, he sounds like he's dying in there."

Dan (DM)

He does not stir.

Timothy (Desmond)

Hey, rattle your chains

Chris (Sal)

Rattle rattle rattle.

Dan (DM)

He still does not stir

Timothy (Desmond)

Oh no. Well, huh, maybe we change our tactics. Ain't nothing's seems to be wakin' that guy up. So...

Chris (Sal)

What is his deepest fear?

Timothy (Desmond)

And Desmond is going to try to just bash his chains about to see if he can loosen them from the wall.

Dan (DM)

Give me an Athletics check

Timothy (Desmond)

That's a nat one.

Dan (DM)

Oh, well. You, uh, don't get anywhere you whip your chains around, but the plate that holds your chain to the wall is stuck tight.

Chris (Sal)

Maybe if we annoy him he'll get so mad that he'll come into this room. [Tim laughs] Do you know any songs? Any really annoying songs?

Timothy (Desmond)

Oh, I mean, I do. [laughs] Desmond is going to start singing like the most obnoxious sea chanteys that he can think of. He cannot carry a tune for the life of him, and he is just going to be belting it. "Look ahead, look astern, look the weather and the lee. Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we. I see a wreck to windward and a lofty ship to lee. A-sailin' down along the coast of High Barbary. "Oh, are you a pirate or man-o-war" cried we? Blow high, blow low, and so we say away. "Oh no, I'm not a pirate but a man a walk at sea. A-sailin' down along the coast of High Barbary. Well, back up your top sails and heave your vessel, too. Blow high, blow low, and so we sailed way. For we have got some letters to be carried home by you. A-sailin' down along the coast of High Barbary. [laughs]

Dan (Vince)

After some time, Sal, you see the guard's feet come down from the table, and he, like, tilts his helmet up and kind of like rubs his eyes and be, like, and you hear, "You've got to be kidding me." He stands up and then walks down the hall out of your view for a moment and comes back with a crossbow, and its head starts heading down the hall.

Timothy (Desmond)

[fearful] Oh shit!

Chris (Sal)

I whisper over to Desmond "Stop, he's got a crossbow with him!"

Dan (DM)

It's like a heavy... it's a big crossbow.

Timothy (Desmond)

Do I hear Salvador?

Dan (DM)

Give me a Perception check. [Chris laughs]

Timothy (Desmond)

A 7?

Dan (DM)

You do not--

Timothy (Desmond)

[dismayed] Oh noooo.

Dan (Vince)

--hear Sal trying to warn you, but eventually you see Vince, who you've met before, appear in your doorway with the crossbow. He, like, slams the crossbow down on some of the bars and aims at directly at you and he says "This is your one warning".

Timothy (Desmond)

Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Vince, settled down; I was just trying to have some fun. i've been stuck here for weeks. What do you expect?

Dan (Vince)

Sit down.

Chris (Sal)

He's obviously becoming delirious. You probably are not feeding him well enough.

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah. What? Wait, what's that over your shoulder? It's like purple and pink and it's fluffy and it's flying. [loopy] Wait, is your name Sally?

Dan (DM)

He just stares at you.

Timothy (Desmond)

You know what? I am the king of Galadia, and you must be getting me out of this cell right now.

Dan (Vince)

He leans the crossbow back up on his shoulder, and then walks over to Sal's cell and says to you "You don't get any warnings" and then walks back to the table.

Timothy (Desmond)

Oh, fuck.

Chris (Sal)

Well, you know, I whisper over to Desmond "That's slightly better because he likes you, and he didn't kill you on sight."

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah, "like", that's what you'd call that. If we get out of here, Sal, we need to talk about your relationship standards. [Chris and Dan laugh]

Chris (Sal)

Sal blushes, and he's like, "Oh, geez, what have I gotten myself into?" Okay, I... I'm really stuck up a tree. I don't know how... I can't cast magic. I don't have any weapons. They're not going to come into our cells, or they will kill us on sight. So, short of just acting dead, I don't see a way to get out.

Dan (DM)

Give me another Perception check, then.

Chris (Sal)

Okay, let's see if my... my fiendish eyes can detect anything. I got a nat 1.

Dan (DM)

You're a bit disheartened, and a bit, like, disturbed by the crossbow situation. But what did Desmond get?

Timothy (Desmond)

A 15.

Dan (DM)

Yeah, no such luck, unfortunately, um. Yeah, you guys, don't get food today. Um. You. You see, um, as your food arrives from wherever it arrives from, Vince makes a point to make sure that Sal is watching and tosses all of your food into an empty cell.

Chris (Sal)

Hmm.

Timothy (Desmond)

Best not to think about the stomach pains.

Chris (Sal)

Yeah.

Timothy (Desmond)

Oh, shit. I just start thinking about the stomach pains.

Dan (DM)

And you guys also haven't... you to this point, have not gotten any water. Any moisture you get is from the porridge that you have been eating, which you didn't get any today.

Chris (Sal)

No, well. You know, the... the body can survive for a few days without water. So, maybe... we'll have to wait for Gerald, who's slightly less grumpy than Vince.

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah, maybe we... we'll be nice to Gerald today, tomorra'. Today, tomorra', damn, I'm getting near my threshold.

Dan (DM)

Okay, so, is there any guard that you want to particularly participate in, like, talking to or any sort of days you'e particularly waiting for? We can kind of fast-forward to those days. We don't need to play out every single day.

Chris (Sal)

So, I feel like Helen is the most amenable, but she even said she doesn't know why we're here, and she doesn't really care too much.

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah. And while she'll flirt with us for some time, I don't know if that conviction is gonna get us very far, but she could be the easiest to coax to get us some sort of tools. What could we try to convince her to give us that sounds mundane, but we could use to our advantage. I'm going to... a spoon would be nice,

Chris (Sal)

A spoon?

Timothy (Desmond)

I don't know what I do with a spoon, but it's somethin'. [thinking] Hey, what if I cut myself really bad and needed stitches to prevent myself from bleeding out?

Chris (Sal)

I guess that depends on the, uh, the compassion of the guard of the day. If Helen gives you a knife, and you show that you can't use a knife, I'm guessing she would just take the knife away from you and not do anything particularly helpful.

Timothy (Desmond)

Well...

Chris (Sal)

[putting on a brave face] We can try it!

Timothy (Desmond)

We're runnin' out of options. So, don't want to do this, but that chamber pot. You mentioned it might be sharp if we bash into it.

Chris (Sal)

Yeah.

Timothy (Desmond)

That's an option.

Chris (Sal)

Oh!

Timothy (Desmond)

That's gonna get so fucking infected.

Chris (Sal)

Yeah. [Tim groans] No. Is there a point where you could injure yourself so bad that you need to have a healer? Or?

Timothy (Desmond)

I mean, bash my head against the wall?

Chris (Sal)

Is there a way that we can convince them that we have valuable information that we need to be interrogated with?

Timothy (Desmond)

Ooh, that's a good idea. Shit, what, what do they want?

Chris (Sal)

Well, you said that you they thought you were ferrying soldiers. If you somehow were able to tell them about "Oh, there's a secret base that I've been working out of..."

Timothy (Desmond)

All right, all right. This is something work with..hmm... but we need to give them something that is easy to leverage, but not too easy for them to suss out is fake. We don't want them to just go validate this information right away.

Chris (Sal)

Like we can decipher codes. We are code breakers of sort?

Timothy (Desmond)

Damn, do you know any, like any good patterns or things that sound like code?

Chris (Sal)

Uh, I don't have anything on me, but I imagine they gave us a rudimentary education on encoding messages. Like, if we just send something out.

Dan (DM)

Yeah, each army has their own, like, basic coding for, like, very basic messages--

Chris (Sal)

Yeah.

Dan (DM)

--and you probably wouldn't have been high enough rank to be sending those messages, but you know the code well enough to be able to decipher, like, the basis of a message and deliver it to someone who could probably glean more from it.

Timothy (Desmond)

How do we reveal that information enough so they know they need to interrogate us, but not too much that they, like, don't need to interrogate us? You know what I mean?

Chris (Sal)

Mmm...no.

Timothy (Desmond)

We'll, like, if we just go out here and start talkin' about the code patterns. They're not gonna listen to us, yeah, and they don't mean to interrogate us.

Chris (Sal)

We'll have to make it seem like we... we could decipher code if we had one in front of us, and paper and things of that nature.

Timothy (Desmond)

All right. I mean, it's worth a shot. What we have on the table right now: we got... we got try to strangle Gerald; we got try convince Helen to give us a needle for stitches? or utensils for eatin'. And, uh, which one seems most amenable to tryna interrogate us? Well, that's probably Gerald, wouldn't it?

Chris (Sal)

Yeah. Because Vince'll kill us, and Helen will dismiss us. Barring, barring Vince telling Gerald, "Hey, these... these chuckleheads are up to something".

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah, but we've been up to stuff this whole time.

Chris (Sal)

Yeah.

Timothy (Desmond)

Ain't nothing changin' there, and honestly, that's kind of to our benefit. They think that they have us stuck, which I guess they kinda do, but pride will take down quite many powerful creatures.

Chris (Sal)

Hmm. So, our plan is to wait for Gerald, and then which of the three?: needle--

Timothy (Desmond)

I mean, we can... yeah, I mean, we could try one with Gerald, and if it doesn't work, hopefully we're alive for Helen!

Chris (Sal)

Timothy (Desmond)

Ack. All right, Gerald. I do want to strangle him, but that one seems risky.

Chris (Sal)

Yeah. Um, yeah. Let's wait for Gerald, and try to convince him that we have intel regarding Ever- was it Everfear?

Timothy (Desmond)

The Everfear

Chris (Sal)

Everfear.

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah. All right. All right. I think we can go with that one.

Dan (DM)

All right. So, you guys finish up your day. You go to sleep. Everybody give me a Constitution check.

Chris (Sal)

Oo!

Timothy (Desmond)

Chris (Sal)

I got a dirty 20.

Dan (DM)

Dirty 20. The dirty 20 will be fine. The 10, however, is not, given, like, the the lack of food you've received today. Sitting on the floor and sleeping on the floor, and not being really comfortable, not really getting enough sleep. You lose one point of your max health until you can find a proper healer.

Timothy (Desmond)

Lovely.

Dan (DM)

And you wake up feeling like garbage.

Timothy (Desmond)

Just like every day. [groan] Gosh, each morning is getting mighty tough, Sal. How, how you holding up?

Chris (Sal)

Well, that's, it's, uh, it's rough. I, uh... there's not a lot to do all day. It's mostly just thinking, and talking to you.

Timothy (Desmond)

Yeah, I think honestly, it's a good thing you came around because I was starting to lose it and talking to the cracks on the walls.

Chris (Sal)

Are there any other prisoners in this wing that we can hear?

Dan (DM)

Uh, nobody's been brought in to this area. As you look down the hall, you can maybe see like, the doors to like four or five other cells in this particular hallway, but that's about it, and none of them, at least from what you can hear none of them seem to be.... have other prisoners in them.

Chris (Sal)

Hmm.

Dan (DM)

But, give me a Perception check as you start your day. Or Investigation, as you kind of...

Chris (Sal)

Hopefully, it's better than my last rolls. No, that's a failure. 8

Timothy (Desmond)

Dan (DM)

Yeah, not so much. Things look the same as they ever did. And you see Gerald, sitting at the table, eating his breakfast.

Chris (Sal)

Good morning, Gerald.

Dan (Gerald)

[annoyed] Shut your face.

Timothy (Desmond)

Gerald, that's no way to treat a prisoner. Damn, naw, that's... that's definitely what you should be doing. Keep it up, Gerald!

Dan (DM)

He doesn't respond and continues to eat. You can smell sausage and potatoes wafting down the hall--

Timothy (Desmond)

[agonized groan]

Dan (DM)

--to your cells.

Timothy (Desmond)

Seriously, Gerald?

Dan (Gerald)

[rubbing it in] It's my favorite meal.

Timothy (Desmond)

Why you gotta be such an ass?

Dan (DM)

I'unno, in my blood.

Chris (Sal)

You know, that's not good for your cholesterol...

Dan (Gerald)

You know, what's not good for cholesterol? Well, I don't know, it's not good for cholesterol, but you know, what's not good for your health? Being in a cell! So, shut your faces, and maybe you'll get out.

Timothy (Desmond)

Well, Gerald..

Dan (Gerald)

What is it?

Timothy (Desmond)

I've been here for a while, right? I mean, how long has it been?

Dan (Gerald)

I don't keep track of how long they're here for.

Timothy (Desmond)

I lost track too. But, you know, I'm fixing to get out of here.

Dan (DM)

[sarcastically] I'm sure you are.

Timothy (Desmond)

You know, I really am.

Dan (DM)

Sal, you see this, but Desmond, you hear this. You hear his chair, like, scoot out from underneath him, and he starts to walk down the hall to you. Sal, you know that he has his breakfast knife in hand--

Chris (Sal)

[concerned] HMM.

Dan (DM)

Yeah, and he, like, shows up at your door, Desmond.

Timothy (Desmond)

Ah, Gerald. Nice to see your pretty face.

Dan (DM)

[as Gerald] "Yeah, come over here. Why don't you..." Give me a Perception check as he shows up in... at your door.

Timothy (Desmond)

Dan (DM)

18. You notice that he has one hand behind his back...

Timothy (DM)

And that is where we will put a pause on today's story. Thank you all for joining us for a plunge into the abyss. I hope you all enjoyed this episode of Shadows of Prophecy. Join us next time to find out what becomes our unfortunate players in this most dreadful act.

Timothy (Desmond)

Shout out to my brother, known as the chill electronic vapor soul artist LUSQ, for writing our chillingly epic theme song, editing by Scrubcast, and a big shout out to Syrinscape for some amazing atmosphere and music. Make sure you check them out at syrinscape.com I always use them at my game table, and it adds that little something special to bring your players into the story. Also, please follow us on Twitter at @ShadowsProphecy and Instagram at @shadows_of_prophecy. And hey, show us some support by becoming one of our fabulous patrons at patreon.com/shadowsofprophecy, where you can get access to bonus content like handouts, encounter maps, and even adventure guides to run your own horrific campaigns or one-shots. And at the very least, give us a five star review on your podcast platform of choice. This is how we get the word out about our podcast, and we love sharing it with you all. Thank you and tune in next time for more tales of dread and despair at Shadows of Prophecy.