Whispers in Wregate
Journey back in time with the Time Breakers as they infiltrate the Black Sun Festival, attempting to alter the fate of the city by thwarting a cataclysmic plot. But beware, for a greater threat looms that could overshadow even the consequences of their plane-shifting actions. Can this epic adventure be completed without too many rippling butterfly effects, or will they change the world for the better?? Come along and find out!
Whispers in Wregate
WiW 31: NoTa Breakfast Conspiracy
What if the truth behind an assassination attempt was hidden in the most unexpected places? Get ready for a thrilling ride as we follow the heroes of Timebreakers on a quest to uncover the secrets surrounding Lord Corvatash. Thaddeus delves deep into intricate blueprints, but an unsettling inner voice disrupts his focus, hinting at deeper conspiracies. Elise and Sarah join forces to piece together the chaotic scenes using minor illusions, revealing inconsistencies that challenge their understanding of the attack.
As the morning sun rises, Elise and Sarah's meticulous investigation continues, while Shimmer cleverly disguises herself to protect Corvatash and Seraphina. The Black Sun Festival casts an ominous shadow, yet our heroes remain undeterred. Shimmer transitions seamlessly between roles, planning a regroup at Thaddeus' house. They unravel the tangled web of political maneuvers and deception, questioning the true allegiances within the castle, and debating the strategic importance of the Starshard. Every revelation brings them closer to the heart of the conspiracy.
Join us as we explore the team's search for Dylan and their debates on using Speak With Dead. Thaddeus and Sarah's morning adventure leads them to the charming gnome Shortcake and his irresistible "Surprise Breakfast," adding a touch of humor and camaraderie to the investigation. Don't miss out on the fun and the intrigue—be part of the Breakers Time community on Discord and help us build the city from the inside. Your feedback is invaluable, and we're eager to hear your thoughts on this captivating journey!
Come join our discord, not only to meet the players but to join the City its-self and gain the opportunity to join the party as a guest on their adventures : <a href="https://discord.gg/Y7UNS7aErT">Discord</a>
This podcast uses many sounds from freesound.com, for the full list see here: https://eliselappan.wixsite.com/multimedia/general-5
Opening and closing music Composed by Ryan Muns, owner and operator of Eyes On The Moon Studios. For inquiries, please send an email to eyesonthemoonstudios@gmail.com. Eyes On The Moon Studios can be found on Spotify, Bandcamp, and most other major streaming services.
Hello and welcome back. I'm Baron Battlebred, your guide through the streets and whispers of regate Gather round ye lost folk as we spiral back to the Timebreakers, trying to rewrite history and change their fates.
Speaker 2:Timebreakers Time Timebreakers.
Speaker 1:When we last left off, the Timebreakers had managed to foil an assassination attempt, successfully resuscitate Lord Corvatash and managed to sneak him out of the castle without getting caught. After arriving back at Thaddeus's house, they formed a plan. Shimmer took Lord Corvatash back to his own house where they met Lady Serafina, and Shimmer laid out the whole thing of them traveling back in time, how they're friends in the future, how the cult is going to destroy everybody, all the information that she could give, and she decided to stay there overnight to help protect them. As Lord Corvitash recovers, thaddeus, elise and Sarah went to a seedy bar. They retrieved the gold that the assassin who was supposed to kill lord corvitash was meant to receive. They got in a small fight with the bodyguard of the man who paid them and they managed to make it back to thaddeus's house without much issue. Unfortunately, they've already taken a long rest for the day, so they have the night to themselves. Uh, thaddeus, sarah, elise, what?
Speaker 3:are you guys up to? Well, I've been studying my blueprints, not really paying much mind to whatever else is going on.
Speaker 1:Uh, let's see studying the blueprints. Um, why don't you give me a Tinker's check D20 plus your proficiency? Modifier.
Speaker 3:It's gonna be a 17, I believe I haven't logged into D&D Beyond yet. I'm gonna do that now. Well, what'd you roll? 15 plus a 2 is my proficiency modifier, I believe.
Speaker 1:Your proficiency is 3, so that is an 18. As you sit there studying your blueprints, you gain a greater understanding of it and in order to help you visualize things, you gather a bunch of random scrap materials that you have lying around as you put things into place. At building a mock-up of what you have on the blueprint, making marks of where certain situations would go, like oh, we could put a power source here, we can put a bolt trigger here. Uh, like this should be hollowed out could make a barrel, all those kind of things. As you study these blueprints, how long do you spend studying them?
Speaker 3:Good three to four hours probably.
Speaker 1:Thaddeus, as you're studying these blueprints, I need you to roll me a wisdom save. That would be a seven Thaddeus. After about two and a half hours of studying these blueprints, you realize that a lot of these things are how would I say this? It messes with your head a little bit, because the science behind this particular design is beyond the scope of what you, as a tinker, have dealt with in your past. And as you sit there reading these blueprints, putting together the mock-up, trying to figure out how these parts could all go together to make what it says they make, uh, you hear a tiny voice inside your head going we could take over the world with this steve no, that's jeremy jeremy, the voice does not respond to being called names.
Speaker 5:Weird.
Speaker 2:Whatever Ryan's salting the voice, see if they respond to insults.
Speaker 1:Elise Thaddeus is studying his blueprints off at his work table. What are you up to Elise?
Speaker 2:is sitting at a table that's mostly cleaned off I'm sure Daddy says some gadgets and gizmos on the table.
Speaker 2:She's using cards as kind of reference points, but she's not playing any card game. She places the cards at various points and uses minor illusion to recreate the images of these characters that she has come to interface with, such as the man who hired the assassin, such as lord corvites, such as the bodyguard and such as the other assassins that were in league with the assassin we had already killed. Um, she is creating like figures in front of her, planning out different angles of attack in different angles of approach towards determining why Lord Corvus Ash was being assassinated, how she knows, or if she knows any of the characters that are involved, and at the same time, there's also a minor illusion of the rooms in question. So we have she's got a small minor illusion of the meeting place, of the uh, the lizard's room or their, their chamber. The lizard themself is one of the figures. She's sort of piecing it all together with her illusions and her cards okay, okay, um, roll me an intelligence check first.
Speaker 1:We'll start with that 14. Okay, that's not bad. Um, so you're? You're a pretty smart person. You're able to keep a lot of the details of what you expect. But as you start piecing things together, roll me a perception if you're looking for clues or an insight, if you're looking for clues in the people that you have interacted with. Yeah, let's do. Perception 13. As you look around at the situation that you have laid out in front of you through your minor illusions and your cards and your people, a couple of things come to mind. First, lord Corvatash said that the four guards that he brought with him had turned on him. He said that he was struck in the side with a halberd, but the wound was piercing.
Speaker 2:We see is like the illusion focuses in on where he was attacked and the type of weapons that could have made this puncture wound.
Speaker 1:You would know as somebody who has gotten into fights before, that in the fray of a melee like that, especially with multiple combatants, it's easy to lose track of what did or did not happen. So it is unclear as to whether he was misremembering or if he was telling it a purposeful deception.
Speaker 2:At least says to no one in particular.
Speaker 1:But those are the only new clues that you get out of re-looking at this through your illusions.
Speaker 4:Sarah comes up, starts looking at all your stuff and says what's so interesting?
Speaker 2:Lord Kovatesh's wound was not created in the manner he had described. It should be a more piercing weapon rather than one that is used to slash at somebody. Did it not stab with a halberd? It would create a different wound. See, here we have a small puncture. A halberd would make a much larger impact.
Speaker 4:You think maybe a spear did it.
Speaker 1:No, you would know that it was a much smaller wound than a spear would be capable of.
Speaker 4:Looks at my rapier.
Speaker 2:Probably a bolt.
Speaker 4:Then A rapier did it.
Speaker 1:Something closer to a rapier or a bolt? Yes, and if that's the case, you do remember that the bolts that the assassin used were poisoned.
Speaker 2:We cannot rule out poison Corvitash may very well still be in danger. If the poison isn't particularly fast acting, this could have longer term ramifications.
Speaker 5:Didn't we give him anti-poison, anti-venom?
Speaker 1:You gave him an antidote potion or what you believed to be an antidote potion?
Speaker 2:Yes, so rewind that Instead Thanks to Arcana. Thanks to Arcana, elise will instead say it seems the assassins could have been in the room. Well, that's obvious too. Yeah, I got nothing.
Speaker 1:We didn't quite meet the gear cap to get a piece together from the GM, so we're going to move on to Sarah, sarah.
Speaker 4:I'm looking at the table.
Speaker 1:You are looking at the table. Would you like to attempt to aid in the investigation? I guess?
Speaker 4:Yes, do you want me to roll investigation or insight?
Speaker 1:Uh, roll me. Perception if you are looking at the physical clues, or an insight if you want to look into the people who you have dealt with.
Speaker 4:Perception or insight.
Speaker 1:Well, they're the same roll, but Eh, you know, sometimes you have like proficiencies in one or the other Nine.
Speaker 4:Sarah you haven't dealt with enough I presume that there were five people in this room out of the six.
Speaker 1:Well, out of the at least seven If you include the assassin, because the lizard was there the four guards and corvatash and at least one assassin case in point yeah, no, unfortunately, uh not much from you.
Speaker 2:Uh, how long do you guys spend studying these illusions? Probably a solid few hours, hours of just she's like. It's almost like she's creating a repeat of like a video footage, three dimensional video footage in a sense, of just different elements. She's going through all of the faces, recreating faces, giving them 360, you know, bringing in different figures. It's almost like a video montage of just facts that she knows, things that she's seen and the layouts that they've come across, even including the little thieves then that they'd broken into so like what would it look like if this person was here with the dagger, versus if the person was still in the corner, shot and then hid again yeah, and trying to figure out if there's any connection between any of these scenes that they've come across, because we've got the thieves then working with the cultists, we've got the assassins going after korvitesh, we have so-and-so unnamed noble trying to vie for power and create a power vacuum for themselves.
Speaker 1:I will say, elise, that you have lived in this city for a while and I don't remember if we covered it, but you did not recognize this particular noble. Like you're pretty sure you know most of the upper hierarchy, you did not recognize this individual.
Speaker 2:This man is a new player in town. I don't recognize his face from all of my life in Regate.
Speaker 1:Shimmer, mm-hmm. You are currently staying the night at Lord Corvitash and Lady Artman's house. What are you up to?
Speaker 5:I don't really have anything other than to make sure that they aren't killed.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you're standing watch then.
Speaker 5:Basically.
Speaker 1:How would you go about doing that? Describe how you would handle this.
Speaker 5:I guess I would stay outside their bedroom area with permission, disguised as a guard. Probably a masculine guard, because no one which a guard. Probably a masculine guard, because no one which is fixed. This shiver would be male.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you're going to be in the hallway then and protecting their bedroom door.
Speaker 5:Yep. And listening in.
Speaker 1:Got it. Keeping an ear out, okay, yeah, okay, give me a perception roll to keep an eye out for the night and that's terrible it's not the best, but it's not the worst. And would you want to use deception, performance or stealth uh, to keep up your disguise?
Speaker 5:Deception.
Speaker 1:Alright, go for it.
Speaker 5:That would be 23.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, no, easy enough. You are definitely not Shimmer anymore, but you go through the night and I assume you spend all night here.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 1:As everyone spends the night working on their respective things. Elise and Sarah are looking through previous situations, thaddeus is studying his blueprints, shimmer is guarding Lord Corvatash and Lady Seraphina. And the night drags on. The hours drag on. Everything comes and goes. And the night drags on. The hours drag on. Everything comes and goes. It's surprisingly quiet after so much excitement over the last few days. Dawn starts to break, with nothing having happened to any of you In the early morning hours. As dawn breaks on day three of the Black Sun Festival, from two different windows of the same building, a tiny paper bird starts fluttering. One immediately burns to ash, followed by a stifled shriek. The other streaks across the city to land in a gnarled hand before being crushed and ignited, a wry grin crossing the face of a cloaked figure. We are currently at 120 hours until the sacrifice. What would you guys like to do on this fine morning?
Speaker 4:Did we notice any of that happening?
Speaker 5:No, Once Lord Corvatash and Lady Seraphina get up, Shimmer will become Shimmer again and join them for breakfast, I assume.
Speaker 1:Yeah, easy enough, she'll make sure he's healing. Well, he is. Corvitash gets up and he comes out of the room and he's like ah, basically back to tip-top shape. Probably would have been dead on the ground behind that wall if you guys hadn't come along.
Speaker 5:I'm glad we did.
Speaker 1:I'm glad you did too. Lady Serafina will also step out of the room, quite happy to see that her fiancé is alive and kicking and back in top form. All right, the day is yours. What would you guys like to do out here?
Speaker 5:After breakfast, Shimmer is going to have to sneak out and head back to Thaddeus' house to meet up with the rest of the group out of here. After breakfast, the Shimmer is gonna have to sneak out and head back to Thaddeus' house to meet up with the rest of the group.
Speaker 1:You wanna sneak out?
Speaker 5:Servant's entrance disguised as a servant.
Speaker 1:Uh, okay, go ahead, and uh, roll me stealth.
Speaker 5:I should. I was just gonna disguise myself as one of their known servants.
Speaker 4:If she's doing this, she has advantage.
Speaker 1:I mean, if she's just going to disguise herself as somebody who already exists, then it's not really a problem.
Speaker 5:I am a changeling, I can do that.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, you can.
Speaker 1:Okay, then you won't need to roll the stealth. You can just walk out of the servant's entrance dressed as one of their house people. Not a problem, you're headed back to Thaddeus' house. Yep, alright, it's still pretty early in the morning. When you arrive, you find that everyone else is also awake staring at their, you know, respective research moments.
Speaker 5:I'd like to duck in an alleyway and change appearances halfway through there.
Speaker 1:Okay, easy enough.
Speaker 5:Probably just back to being Shimmer.
Speaker 1:Cool.
Speaker 5:She is not happy about having to be in a servant's uniform.
Speaker 1:That was your choice.
Speaker 5:She is very grumbly about it when she walks. She's like she's going to complain about it as soon as she walks in Thaddeus' front door Easy enough.
Speaker 1:You guys just barely notice that the sun is coming up as the front door pops in and Shimmer steps inside grumbling.
Speaker 4:I love that you're pissed off about something that none of us have any idea about.
Speaker 3:Thaddeus just has a bewildered look on his face like what?
Speaker 2:At least he'll be still holding the illusion. But look over quizzically.
Speaker 5:Yeah, shimmer will then go somewhere and change back into a regular outfit.
Speaker 4:Just imagine walking through the door. I fucking hate these goddamn clothes. That is exactly what happened.
Speaker 3:I see that Seed as shivers complaining about the clothing. Then throws her necklace towards Elise while diving into it to go change.
Speaker 5:That is what I was imagining basically.
Speaker 3:And Elise just nonchalantly catches it Like it's no big thing at this point.
Speaker 2:And sets it on the table next to one of the cards. And now that represents. That represents Shimmer on her battlefield situation. Here there's a situation report.
Speaker 4:Of course it does. Now that there's a new piece in play, I think I should, you know, make another insight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you think so. Yeah, okay, uh, but you've been up all night, so it will be a disadvantage.
Speaker 4:That's an eight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, even without the disadvantage, neither of those uh, neither of those would have given you any new information. I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:Uh, now that Thaddeus is kind of like done with his blueprints and he's off doing something else, can he roll an insight to see what's going on with the Lisa's battlefield thing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you would like, you can also step up and take a look at it with a fresh pair of eyes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm going to take a look, fresh pair of eyes to it, with insight, all right, with insight.
Speaker 2:Interestingly enough, he has my same bonus as arcana, so you're secretly rolling arcana, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:Oh no, I can see it here. If it says insight, we're good. If it says arcana, someone's in trouble, that's going to be a 15.
Speaker 2:He rolls arcana. You say, yep, this is an illusion spell, Yep.
Speaker 1:Alright Thaddeus with a 15,. Who are you focused on? Which part of the battlefields that Elise has shared are you focusing on?
Speaker 3:Considering that I had a close look at Corvatash's wounds because I spent the most time with him, you know, helping him out and everything like that, along with Shimmer- that's probably what I'm focusing on. Okay Seeing, if anything stands out that you know I didn't catch the first time.
Speaker 1:Okay, you, you stare at this, and Elise. You heard Elise voice her her concern earlier that Corvitash's wound was too small and puncture-like to be made by a halberd. And as you stare at it, you realize something else. That was the only wound he had, despite being jumped by at least four other guards in the middle of the fight, Like he was blindsided by his own people turning on him, and yet he only took one small wound before being trapped in the corner. That just seems highly unlikely.
Speaker 3:Thaddeus turns to Elise. I just realized that was the only wound he had. Are you suggesting he was lying about the entire fight? Well, he did seem pretty bad off, but I don't know.
Speaker 1:Oh he was. He was definitely bad off, he was near death, but he only had the one physical mark on him.
Speaker 3:Unless there's some kind of magic that something's going on that I don't know about.
Speaker 5:We did also before we got, I think before we even got close to him. I think we healed him as well. I'd like to point that out, because as soon as we broke through the wall, I think that's the very first thing I did was heal word, healing word, right Before we even approached him.
Speaker 1:But the you know, seven or so hit points that he would have gotten back would not have been enough to remove what should have been several large slashing wounds.
Speaker 2:So we are. We are, in theory, expecting that him being jumped by four people means that they would have gotten an attack on him, because that's not necessarily like I know. This is a bit like. This is D&D. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Based on the damage of the room that you were in. Right, it's not like how would I say this? It's not like it was a short battle. The entire room was trashed. To the best of your knowledge, there were weapon strikes on almost all surfaces of some kind or another, Some made by swords, which were not mentioned, Some made by halberds, some piercing items. Obviously you assumed previously that those sword strikes were made by Lord Corvatash's weapon, but if he swung so many times, then surely others would have swung at him at least four times as many times.
Speaker 3:Huh, Either Lord Corvatash is a really, really skilled warrior or I don't know. Something doesn't add up, Elise.
Speaker 1:Thaddeus, while you're thinking on this, why don't you go ahead and roll me, arcana, to see what you can figure out about magic 15 as well? Thinking hard on it, thaddeus, you do know that there are magics, um, that can mess with your interpretation of reality. Um, illusions can be dealt with. Uh, there are strong enough magic casters can modify memories of situations. There are lots of things that mess with the mind. None of them are pleasant to think about.
Speaker 3:You mean like thinking about being ripped in half.
Speaker 4:Oh, goddammit.
Speaker 1:Why don't you give me a wisdom save Thaddeus.
Speaker 4:Of course you did that to yourself 17.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You wince a little, thinking about your own poor memories that you wish that you could get rid of. But you don't have to roll anything else on that, woohoo. But you are correct in that, situationally, something about that fight is not adding up. Hmm, well, if that fight's not adding up.
Speaker 3:Hmm, well, if that fight's not adding up, right then maybe when I pricked him with my bolt and everything like that and I saw red blood, that might not have been real red blood.
Speaker 4:That's what you got from that?
Speaker 5:Yeah, I have two directions that could go. I don't like either of them.
Speaker 2:Either Corvatash is not the good guy.
Speaker 5:Or the lizard isn't.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 5:Lord Corvatash was being held behind a wall that was being maintained concentration on and there was an assassin waiting for it to go down. So like they wanted Corvatash dead, like someone wanted him dead, oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:By the way, Shimmer's still in her locket, or did Shimmer pop out already?
Speaker 5:I imagine Shimmer popped out midway through this conversation.
Speaker 3:Got it. That explains why I was hearing Shimmer, because before I thought I was like hearing the locket, like rattle or something like that, and the muffling sound of shimmer speaking through it but I'm actually talking as I'm talking as noelle.
Speaker 5:Actually I'm not talking as shimmer, but like there was an assassin waiting outside that wall to kill corvintash. Like, regardless of whatever was happening with the guards and the lizard, someone wanted Corvatash dead. So, which makes me think? So that bit makes me think that the lizard is the one that's not on our side. That, including the fact that Gregory left with the uh, that one day, when he was supposed to take the Starshard or whatever it is, and he went out the front door rather than going towards the vault and left in a carriage, possibly on the Lizard's orders.
Speaker 4:Do we know where the uh and?
Speaker 5:now both Gregory and the Starshard and the lizard are all gone.
Speaker 4:Hear me out. What if we go to Lord Corvatash and we ask him where the vault is, and we go there to see if the star is there?
Speaker 5:We know that it's not there. We know that the cult has it currently.
Speaker 4:Do we know that? Yes, where is our confirmation of that?
Speaker 5:We didn't. We've never thought to be fair. Last time we saw it was in the Lizzo's room, but we were informed. They have it.
Speaker 3:Well, I have a thought, but I probably want to roll. Uh, what would it be Like? Insight or something like that?
Speaker 1:Uh, well, that depends. Because I have a thought as a player, but I want to see if I can translate it to uh, that is having the thought. Oh, I mean you, just you could have this thought. You could, yeah, you can have a thought. You don't have to roll for a thought that you, as a player, have.
Speaker 3:Maybe I want to roll, maybe you know, I feel like I want to roll insight now what, what you choose, what the difficulty is, why? Don't you tell me the basis of your thought and I will give you something to roll for it okay, so the basis of the thought is is that, uh, corvitash said that they took the lizard and gregory, but we know for a fact that gregory left the castle. So what is corvitash up to?
Speaker 5:we, we know that he left the castle, but it had been like a day since then, right, like it had been a day since he left, so he could have come back.
Speaker 3:Possibly, but it still stands to reason that Just the whole thing doesn't add up. Allow me to roll for tinfoil hat Roll for tinfoil hat roll roll for tinfoil hat okay, okay, you want to roll for tinfoil hat? I don't want to roll for tinfoil hat, I'm just saying you're trying to roll conspiracy.
Speaker 1:It does roll like, it does sound like a big conspiracy. So tell you what, just for the fun of it. Um, you can give me insight or you can give me survival.
Speaker 3:We're going to go with insight, because I get a plus seven. Survival is a plus four 17.
Speaker 1:Okay, pieces start coming together for you. Thaddeus, just a little bit. You know that the lizard has been doing his best to help you right? The lizard is the one keeping an eye on the star in the jar. The lizard is the one who has been handling looking for cultists within the castle's people. And the lizard is the one who spends the most correspondence with Prince Vernor. Gregory is the lizard's personal assistant, the guard who's most often outside of his room, the one with whom the lizard gives the most delicate tasks to. So anything that Gregory does falls on the lizard's command. But you also don't know if you can trust what Lord Corvatash said about the situation in the room, whether malicious or otherwise, right, whether it was malicious, whether his memory has been scrambled by magic, whether what he saw was even real. You don't even know if the lizard was actually taken.
Speaker 2:If you can't trust what Lord Corvatash said, hmm, Like the cult itself, is a faction, but with the rippling ramifications of our own actions and the fact that there are entities in play that didn't exist the first time around.
Speaker 1:This means we have a secondary, smaller faction, almost by necessity, elise, you were the one who went into the room to deal with the assassins. They weren't acting on part of a cult, they were acting politically. So they might not even be part of the Siricists.
Speaker 2:It's just that convenient alliance. Well, not even necessarily an alliance, but a convenient alignment of two different factions. That is true.
Speaker 5:Shimmer is a noble and she has been within the city for a little while at this point, but she isn't from Reigate, so she is within the nobility circle of Reigate and she is involved with some form of the castle hierarchy in our time, I believe. Would she know where the vault is herself?
Speaker 1:In Regeit's castle.
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 1:She wouldn't know where the vault is herself, as this is not her. This is not a castle that she has spent much time in, At least not as far as going to look at the vault is concerned. Normally when Shimmer is dealt with, the royalty inside the castle. Any items were procured and brought to her. But you are technically nobility and thus could probably convince any remaining guard to take you to it with little issue so if we can't trust anyone, including Lord Corvatash, then take matters into our own hands.
Speaker 5:And also uh, I don't want to interrupt the current conversation, but before we even touch on that subject, I want to have a conversation with Elise about the whole thing that happened at the bar and such.
Speaker 3:Elise. Yes, darius, can you uh the object that you said you can track? Is it nearby?
Speaker 2:I can't be sure. It's a very short time limit on that spell.
Speaker 1:What's the range on the spell? It's like a thousand feet, thousand feet.
Speaker 2:Red gate's pretty big, it's a ten minute spell.
Speaker 1:Uh, roll me an intelligence check, Elise 24. With a 24, you're 99% certain that the person who is currently holding onto said item is not in the eastern village. They're somewhere else within the city, but it's highly unlikely that they're here in the suburbs.
Speaker 2:It's probably more high class, high society than this or, alternatively, maybe it's a merchant class.
Speaker 3:The reason I ask is because I feel like the only people we can trust right now are the people that are trying to politically gain advantage.
Speaker 2:What makes?
Speaker 4:you say that, are you implying that we should manipulate their desire for power to turn them to our goals?
Speaker 3:Yes or our goals rather Okay, so follow my logic here If they're trying to just attain power and they don't know what the seerists are doing, or chaos, people, cultists, those jerks that basically dropped us into limbo, then it stands to reason that that alliance is just a temporary one and that they really can be swayed to uh, inadvertently help us out. So I don't know, I build things. I'm not good at this kind of plans.
Speaker 4:I fight things, neither am I.
Speaker 5:That gave me a very stupid idea. I think we should go back like three plans Okay. And go back to our speak with dead plan with the fucking assassin.
Speaker 1:Um, where's the assassin's body?
Speaker 3:Well, it was in the castle. It was in the lizard's room, because Sarah dragged the body out, uh-huh.
Speaker 1:So, in order to go back to your speak with dead plan, you'd have to sneak back into the castle. Well, I guess you wouldn't have to sneak back into the castle, but you would have to sneak back into the lizard's room.
Speaker 5:I think, I know a guy who can get us into the castle and we have to bring someone who can speak with dead. I would like, can I bring Lindsay?
Speaker 4:into this. I was gonna say this city's filled with fucking wizards and stuff. Who's to say that we can't just go find any generic wizard?
Speaker 5:It's a wizard with a name tag that says hello, my name is Generic Wizard my logic for my logic for explanation for why lindsey specifically, is that she works for someone, she lives in reggae and works with someone and lives with and is very close to someone who works for the, not with the, not a company, and so that's not a cultist so hear me out, right.
Speaker 4:We go to a cleric who has one of the helmets on and we tell them that a dead guy knows where Dylan is. We need to speak with dead.
Speaker 3:I like that idea.
Speaker 2:So how are you going to make sure they ask the right questions if they have the helmet on?
Speaker 1:Wouldn't the first question they ask be where's Dylan?
Speaker 5:Yeah, like I think it's not. We're not going to get the right questions from someone like that.
Speaker 3:I could see it now. He just constantly is asking where's Dylan, where's Dylan, where's Dylan, where's Dylan?
Speaker 2:I still don't know, I still don't know. Oh, five questions are up.
Speaker 4:So can I ask them a question?
Speaker 2:It says you, as in the caster.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 1:May I offer a suggestion as a GM? Yeah, yes, you did recently procure about 10,000 gold. You could attempt to purchase an item capable of casting said spell.
Speaker 5:No.
Speaker 2:Why is there a no?
Speaker 5:I think Thaddeus and Talon would know each other because Artificers with the Nata Company.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, okay, that sounds like a connection?
Speaker 5:Yeah, we have a connection Thaddeus.
Speaker 1:Sorry, shimmer, you said Talon right.
Speaker 5:Talon. He doesn't know Speak With Dead, but he is very good friends with someone who does.
Speaker 1:Okay, who is currently?
Speaker 5:in reggae.
Speaker 1:Then I will allow Thaddeus, if he so wishes, to make an intelligence roll to see if he knows Talon who knows Lindsay.
Speaker 3:That's going to be a six.
Speaker 4:That's not enough.
Speaker 1:Thaddeus does not remember that Talon exists right now also keep in mind.
Speaker 3:Thaddeus would usually keep to himself do his work, and then that's about it.
Speaker 1:Talon would probably also be working from home most of the time as well, so like it was a stretch, but like I tried okay any other plans we can wander around till we happen upon them I figure, uh, you guys have probably spent like maybe two hours of uh this morning, uh, talking about this, looking at things, going through this information. After shimmer arrives, arrives Shimmer having the talk with Elise and gathering that information.
Speaker 5:I would like. The part I specifically wanted to talk about is I want to see the appearance of this noble bitch.
Speaker 3:Two hours. You say yeah, thaddeus is While they're continuing the talk and everything like that. Thaddeus would like to leave. To go, try to track down that gnome soup vendor.
Speaker 1:Okay, shimmer and Elise can have the conversation while Thaddeus goes out to find breakfast Easy enough.
Speaker 4:I follow Thaddeus.
Speaker 1:All right, Thaddeus and Sarah are going to go out to find breakfast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that sounds about right.
Speaker 1:Okay, Right so Shimmer. What information did you want from Elise? Right, so shimmer. What information did you want from elise?
Speaker 5:I want to know what the maybe through a minor illusion, what the uh noble who hired them looks like. So to know if shimmer knows what they look like the face is still there.
Speaker 2:Okay, her screen. You can zoom and enhance zoom and can zoom and enhance Zoom and enhance.
Speaker 5:Does she know him or in any way?
Speaker 1:Roll me perception or a flat intelligence roll.
Speaker 5:I wonder if I get anything from being a noble.
Speaker 1:I will give you advantage.
Speaker 5:Background Position of privilege. Nope, that is specific. What is it?
Speaker 1:You can roll a perception or a flat intelligence roll, but I will give you advantage because you are closer to the circle than Elise is.
Speaker 5:I'll do perception 23.
Speaker 1:Yes, you do have a minor recognition of this character. You recognize that this particular individual is not necessarily a noble themselves, but they are noble adjacent in the sense that they are from like a branch family of nobles that aren't inherently Regatian.
Speaker 5:Timur will reglay that to Elise An outsider.
Speaker 1:You don't remember his first name, but you're fairly certain that his last name is Blackthorn.
Speaker 5:I will also tell that to Elise.
Speaker 2:Does that name mean anything? It's not like in our time, the Siricists' identities were mysteries, or at least not all of them will be. So if there's any ties to a specific Sirius, we would we could possibly know what that is.
Speaker 1:It does not ring any bells towards what you know of the cultists, so it's most likely that this is a third entity vying for something, vying for some type of power, completely unrelated to the cultists themselves. Uh, seeing as this information was not come to, was not brought to light, uh, either they didn't succeed previously or their whatever they did was so underwhelming in the end that it was completely overlooked as something the cultists may have handled.
Speaker 2:The way I see it, our best bet is to either go back and speak to Corvatash attempt to find the lizard or speak to this unknown noble.
Speaker 5:We could buy a scroll of speak with dead. Not an item, but a scroll. Yes, I believe so.
Speaker 2:They're bound to have some scrolls for purchase.
Speaker 5:We could just do it our damn selves, talk into it, corpse, our damn selves.
Speaker 4:We could Hear me out. We go find a cleric. We say we need a scroll of speak with dead Because we know someone. We go find a cleric. We say we need a scroll of speak with dead because we know someone who may know where Helen is.
Speaker 5:No, damn it.
Speaker 3:Why can't we just buy a scroll like a normal thing, Just throwing it out there? When Thaddeus left with Sarah to go find the gnome soup vendor, he still had the bag of holding with the 10,000 gold on him.
Speaker 1:That he does.
Speaker 4:Specifically. I don't think Elise would let that out of her sight.
Speaker 1:I'll be honest with you I don't think she would have let that out of her sight. No.
Speaker 2:No, I don't Like. If she saw him grab that bag of holding again and start carrying it up, you'd probably uh be like hey, where are you going with that money?
Speaker 3:well, he never took it off.
Speaker 2:That's the thing so he's just like has a bag while he's looking at the blueprints. He just has that bag on his back. Yeah, I can see that happening, like bag while he's looking at the blueprints.
Speaker 5:He just has that bag on his back. Yeah, I can see that happening, that's not unusual.
Speaker 2:That's like wearing your backpack while you're sitting at your desk.
Speaker 1:Okay. So let's say Okay. So let's go back all the way to the beginning. When Thaddeus and Sarah are leaving the house, elise and Shimmer set down to have a conversation. Elise, roll me a perception. See, if you notice that Thaddeus has the bag on him, it's only an eight. I'm going to say that I guess it didn't cross your mind. He wasn't necessarily being stealthy with it, but you were distracted by staring at your illusions and the fact that Shimmer came up to have a conversation with you.
Speaker 4:And you're trying to concentrate on said illusions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, alright, so Shimmer and Elise are having that conversation about Blackthorn, thaddeus and Sarah, you guys have stepped out to go find a gnome soup vendor in an attempt to procure breakfast.
Speaker 3:Yes, so I'm retracing the steps that we took last time that led us to the area where the soup vendor was, and then I'm going to follow my nose.
Speaker 1:Okay, you boy. Where was the soup vendor last time? Was it the seaworld?
Speaker 3:or was it in the Bazaar Bazaar in upper ward area?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what I thought. Okay, so you head out from your home, you're headed towards the Bazaar anyway, because that's where you would get breakfast. If you can't find the vendor, and you travel through the upper ward and you walk up into Watcher's Row and, around the corner, into the bazaar, go ahead and roll me a perception or investigation check 20, dirty 20. Yeah, okay, sarah, you watch as Thaddeus is walking towards a row of delicious smelling breakfast stalls when suddenly he stops and he sniffs the air and he turns in a circle, sniffing the air again and he turns back and he just he takes off running while saying surprise, swiftly making his way down around the court, out of watchers row down, down past the corner, out of Watcher's Row, down past the Apothecary building and closer to the river than you expected, you can hear a tiny voice somewhere in the distance shouting.
Speaker 3:Surprise, surprise. Thaddeus will beeline to that voice as best he can without knocking people over uh, yeah, sarah, are you following?
Speaker 4:yeah, I'm teething up. Okay, are you concerned about knocking people over?
Speaker 1:not really yeah, I didn't think so. Thaddeus is bobbing and weaving through the early morning crowd. It's not as packed as it could be, but he's sidestepping, he's spitting, he's working his way through. Thaddeus, roll me a dex check 17. Nice, you managed to make it pretty deep into this crowd without injuring anybody. Sarah, roll me a strength check because you are not as concerned about dodging through people.
Speaker 4:So just straight strength, yep Three.
Speaker 1:Sarah, you attempt to push the first person in your way, just push past them, but they are much larger than you and unfortunately they do not move the way that you expect them to, and instead you end up pushing yourself basically off the street and onto the sidewalk, where it is far less dense, and you realize that it's a much shorter walk this way.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'll keep going that way.
Speaker 1:Great, you keep following Thaddeus, you guys. You make your way through and after two or three blocks you turn a corner and there, standing in front of a parked stall, is a small gnome in a very large chef hat yelling out Surprise Breakfast, Surprise.
Speaker 4:Raging's like a zoomed out scene and then like there's like a white stick of just this guy's hat just towering over all the buildings.
Speaker 1:Not quite that tall, but his hat does make him the tallest person on the street.
Speaker 4:That is funny, but um, yeah, no, I was talking about like the, the, uh, what's his name from? Like, uh, not Jimita John, but like Fairly Oddparents.
Speaker 1:Uh, the Dibidome. Yeah, yeah okay, so imagine that but with a chef's hat.
Speaker 4:You can never see the top of his hat, no matter how zoomed out the camera is.
Speaker 1:Thaddeus, you arrive in front of Surprise, out of breath, having run this far, sarah, you walk up behind him. Ah, surprise, you here for Surprise, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yes, yeah, whoa, whoa, whoa. My good friend, you run too fast for surprise. Yeah, no, you must. Surprise is good, but you must take a seat. Okay, three, no Four, I'm really hungry.
Speaker 3:Four Surprise, four surprise. Huh yeah, I'm really hungry. Four surprise.
Speaker 1:Four surprise. Huh, hey, you are hungry. Hey, that uh.
Speaker 3:Three, uh, two are for friends and the other two are for me.
Speaker 4:Yeah, okay, well, I wouldn't necessarily call them friends, but I know them. Hey damn.
Speaker 3:Oh, a.
Speaker 4:Quentin surprise.
Speaker 1:Uh, tell you what you buy so many.
Speaker 5:We've come to calling us friends. Progress.
Speaker 1:Tell you what you buy so many, I give you a discount. Eh, six silver for four.
Speaker 3:Six silver Great yeah. Alright, Thaddeus will hand over six sil-. Actually, you know what Thaddeus is feeling very generous right now. He's going to Thaddeus Hand over six. Actually, you know what Thaddeus is feeling very generous right now. He's going to hand the person eight silver.
Speaker 1:Oh, eight silver, you want five huh.
Speaker 3:No, but I want to give you this because your surprise just smells so amazing and I'm glad I found you.
Speaker 1:I'm glad I found you too. It's a very fruitful morning. Yes, yes, okay, thaddeus, you give eight silver for your fourth surprise. Go ahead and roll me four D6.
Speaker 3:Oh, oh, oh, oh, my Wow.
Speaker 1:All right. So you got a four, a three, a three and a three.
Speaker 3:Yes, I got a four, a three, a three and a three. Yes, I got a four a three, a three and a three.
Speaker 1:Okay, basically, middle of the road. So you are handed four red bowls with their tops on, each one individually wrapped in its own little carrying bag. Go ahead and roll me a D6, two D6s and we'll see which one you grab. If you end up with two, threes or three and a four, two and six excellent, um, you open your first bread bowl that you are consuming yourself. Are you opening it here or are you taking it back home first?
Speaker 3:yeah, I'm gonna open the first bowl here and then I'm taking the other bowl back and then being like look, I got us all three surprises. Excellent, not letting them know that I already had one.
Speaker 1:You open your first bread bowl and inside is a delicious looking beef stew. There's carrots and potatoes and surprisingly large chunks of a very stringy, fat-melted beef. Almost like you would prefer to find it on a skewer of a kebab rather than in a stew itself, but when you bite into it it just falls apart in your mouth into little tiny pieces and it's delicious.
Speaker 4:Mmm.
Speaker 3:Mmm, it's so good, it just melts in the mouth.
Speaker 1:Don't do that again, or it'll be poisoned.
Speaker 3:I swear to God.
Speaker 4:Such hostility.
Speaker 1:Oh man, Sarah, you watch as Thaddeus enjoys his breakfast beef stew, Are you? What are you up to here?
Speaker 4:I'm holding one of the three surprises, looking at it at the red cap longingly, as I still do not have the function to eat.
Speaker 1:You already got it. Okay, you guys get there and I guess you eat your delicious food. You thank the gnome for breakfast and you start heading home, I assume.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm, thank you. What's your name again?
Speaker 1:I am Shortcake.
Speaker 3:Thank you, shortcake, for this excellent breakfast. It was so amazing that you know I made sounds that apparently offended the universe.
Speaker 1:Hey, you do a great many things. Huh, I will not forget you. You are an excellent customer. I'm sure we will see each other again soon.
Speaker 3:Here's hoping.
Speaker 4:Watch the surprise has like fucking nicotine or something in it. The surprise isn't that you know? It's a random bowl of food. The surprise is that it's addictive.
Speaker 1:You guys make your way back. You guys make your way back to Thaddeus' house With the three Surprise bowls and right as Elise and Shimmer Are finishing their conversation, thaddeus, you make it to your front door. What do you do?
Speaker 3:Well, it's my front door. I'm going to walk in with the surprise bowls and I'm going to be like got breakfast, okay, excellence, much appreciated. Going to walk in with the surprise bowls and I'm gonna be like got breakfast, okay, excellent.
Speaker 2:Much appreciated. Wait, did you take all the coin with you?
Speaker 3:Oh wait, hang on. I check my uh back and I see that I still have the bag of holding and I'm like, oh yeah, sorry about that. And I take the pack off and just set it on the table.
Speaker 2:A look of anger crosses Elisa's face, but she's like she's holding it in. She's trying to keep that emotion from surfacing, okay, but is appreciative of the food.
Speaker 1:Thaddeus gives you and Shimmer both a surprise bowl. As you open yours, you find that they are both the same beef stew. Delicious, thaddeus. Yes, you have a. You have a bowl of your own. You sit down at the table, you pop it open and, seeing that your friends also got beef stew, you're a little disappointed, until you open your own and you find that your bowl is filled with, uh, cioppino, which is? It's a fish stew that is made from crab clams, shrimp, squid fish and mussels in a tomato-based broth. Well, it smells good.
Speaker 3:That definitely does not sound appealing, but it smells good.
Speaker 1:Apparently it comes from another continent.
Speaker 2:A French continent Italian. An another continent, a French continent Italian.
Speaker 1:An Italian continent.
Speaker 5:Italian continent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but as you guys sit down for breakfast, having learned what you have learned over the last couple of hours of talking with each other, going back over information that you had and trying to figure out a plan, did you come to a to figure out a plan? Did you come to a decision on what your plan was?
Speaker 2:I think we are buying a scroll of Speak With Dead at the very least.
Speaker 1:Okay, then you just have to find a way to get back into the castle.
Speaker 3:I think I know a guy. He's somebody who helps me find things that fell off the back of carts.
Speaker 4:Oh god damn it.
Speaker 1:And we'll find out who that is in the next session, because I'm cutting it here. We are way over time. That's all for now, but when we return next episode, I'm sure that the Time Breakers will continue to impress us.
Speaker 2:Breakers Time breakers.
Speaker 1:You can come join the Discord Link is in the description and help us build the city from the inside. Leave a rating we appreciate them. Leave a review we appreciate those even more. And just you know, let us know how you feel about it. Thanks for listening.