Wayward Expeditions - Rise of the Runelords - Episode 17
Intro: For much of written history world events followed chartered routes. Oracles and seers mapped out the future in the stars above and their prophecies always gave a reliable view of the ages to come. Until a god died a century ago. No one saw that coming. And now the old prophecies are failing, oracles go mad and seers desperately tried to account for the loss of the future. While some cry out that the world is at an end, they've been doing so for a hundred years now and the world is still here, it's just unclear where things are going. The future of Golarian is open, ready to receive the triumphs and failures of a new generation of heroes. Welcome to Rise of the Runelords!

GM: Alright. We left off with you coming just back up out of the catacombs, having cleared it entirely and taking the time to map it out for Brodert. What is your guys plan? What are you thinking of doing right now as you return to the surface?

Taury: Not because we're so good at plans.

Loyal: What time of day is it?

Taury: It was like lunchtime or something, wasn't it? We went down like first thing.

Loyal: Yeah, went down like first thing in the morning.

GM: Yeah, it took about three to four hours for you to clear everything out for as far as you could go down.

Taury: Except for the roar that we heard.

GM: You did hear some- some howls.

Loyal: That's behind the collapsed corridor. It's fine.

Taury: Yeah. What I remember was me rolling Detect evil and Furtive saying, "Yeah, I mean, I'm going to just tell you this now, you don't have the range, but yeah, there's definitely something evil down there." That's what I remember. [Laughs]

GM: Something along those lines right? Yeah.

Taury: Yeah, "You don't have the range, but yeah, there's bad shit down there."

Markus: Uh huh. Yeah, yeah.

Taury: Oh, yeah, and then Markus did the thing with the room with all the floaty things.

Loyal: Yeah he jumped into the room.

Taury: So he picked up all the stuff.

GM: Most of it was identified, you picked up everything but the dead bird.

Markus: Yeah, so a couple of scrolls, a wand and-

Loyal: It was like a super dope book in there.

Markus: Yeah, a book that hmm, we need to work out what it is.

Taury: Is that you indicating that's what Markus is going to be doing?

Markus: At some point, yes. But right now? This very minute, not necessarily.

Taury: Did we go anywhere after we came out? Or did we just we just had surfaced and that was it?

GM: You surfaced, and that was it.

Markus: So we're basically back in Sandpoint at this point.

GM: Yep.

Taury: Wonderful town, that it is.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Loyal: Nothing weird at all.

Taury: No, it's a great town, insert Beauty and the Beast, "Quiet Town" song.

Loyal: "Well, what now? Suppose we cleared out everything down there that we can."

Markus: "We've made it as safe as we can, at least for the moment. Maybe we should let the sheriff know, perhaps."

Loyal: "Wouldn't be a bad idea to tell him that he doesn't need to post guards down here, at least not as many."

Markus: "But there still needs to be some guards, at least on the entrances."

Loyal: "Yeah, at least that the Runewell's still there, it could send more of those things."

Markus: "Yes. Yeah, so making sure people can't, you know, sneak back down there, would definitely not be a bad idea."

Loyal: "Agreed."

Markus: "Otherwise, do we have any major plans for the rest of the day?"

Loyal: "For the rest of the day, I suppose we should figure out what we're going to do about Thistletop, because that seems to be the other issue to deal with."

Markus: "Yes, I had some ideas in that regard."

Loyal: "Why don't we report to the sheriff and then go get lunch, and then we can talk about what to do with Thistletop."

Markus: Markus will glance around the group and see if everyone's in agreement, or if anyone else wants to speak up.

Fenwarin: "Sounds like a plan."

Taury: You get a shrug from Taury.

Morana: "I'm fine with that."

Markus: "Well, we have a plan then, to the sheriff."

GM: Where are you going to seek him out at?

Loyal: Probably the sheriff's office, can't remember the name of the actual place, but.

Taury: Barracks, isn't it? No?

Loyal: Yeah, that. That word.

Fenwarin: Was that 10?

GM: It was, or rather it is.

Taury: [Laughs] It's just magically changed since!

Fenwarin: [Laughs] Foreshadowing! 

Loyal: [Laughs] It's gone!

Fenwarin: Foreshadowing, it WAS! No!

Taury: Yeah, well, there was kind of like a storm. So what is this? Fuckin Wizard of Oz? The sheriff's just in a fucking dust cloud?

Loyal: Tornado.

Taury: Rip!

Fenwarin: And no one liked him anyway.

Loyal: Yeah was about to say, its like good riddance.

Taury: Yeah, I mean, I don't know if he'll be missed, we'll pour one out for him anyway.

GM: All right, you arrive at the barracks, there's a few guards milling around, but the sheriff doesn't seem to be here.

Loyal: "Of course, he's not. I might might have an idea where he is."

Markus: "Well, perhaps we should start by asking?"

Loyal: "That could work." 

Markus: Markus will try to get the attention of one of the guards nearby.

GM: "Hmm. Yeah? What do you need?"

Markus: "We were looking for the sheriff. Do you know where we might find him?"

GM: "I think he was across the street, talking with the mayor." 

Markus: "Ah good. Thank you."

GM:  Points over at the town hall.

Markus: "Well, next destination?"

Taury: And Taury rolls her eyes.

GM: Alright, you enter the town hall and see clerks buzzing about, lots of paperwork being carried around, it's rather noisy in here.

Markus: We know where the mayor's office is. So unless someone's going to intercept, Markus will just head in that general direction.

Loyal: Not knowing where the mayor's office is, I'll follow. Looking around, is it kind of like, really busy, like something's going on? Or is it more of just general hustle and bustle?

GM: Give me a Sense motive.

Loyal: Ok, first roll back.

Taury: I was going to say, should we all do it? But with a 25, I don't think we need to.

GM: It seems a little bit more busy than normal. Something might be going on, you're not sure what it would be though. There does seem to be a little bit hurried pace about the clerks, some added urgency.

Morana: I'm gonna try a Perception, see if I overhear anything.

Markus: Yeah, I'm going to try that as well.

Taury: Hmm.

Morana: Rofl! 

Loyal: Oof!

Taury: Wow.

Morana: Morana looks down at her doll, "Quiet. I was trying to listen to things."

GM: Alright, you get up to the line for the mayor's office. There's four people in front of you.

Markus: Sorry, I was trying to listen in. I was just a little slow rolling there.

GM: Ah.

Taury: A fucking 30? Jesus Christ! Can he hear our inner thoughts with that?

GM: No.

All: [Laugh]

Taury: Fuck sake!

GM: All right, you only catch a little bit here and there. As you're going up the stairs, some of the clerks are mentioning something about Egan's wood.

Markus: Right ok.

GM: And also, there's a lot of discussion about shifting ownership of the Glassworks over to Ameiko.

Markus: Ok, yeah, Ok. Yeah, and the queue of people?

GM: Yeah, yeah, there are four people in front of you.

Taury: Do we recognize the four people?

GM: Knowledge local.

Taury: Oh, man, I'm so bad at those checks.

Loyal: I'm not even going to attempt the roll because I'm not from around here.

Taury: I am, but I don't have any fucking skills in it.

Morana: That dude back with his damn chicken?! 

GM: No.

Morana: Good.

Taury: Ah the fucking chicken! [Laughs] I forgot about the chicken.

GM: Morana and Taury, you both recognize the proprietor of the theater is in line here, but that's the only person you really recognize.

Taury: And the other folks, they look like they're just they're from the town?

GM: Yeah, they're either villagers or farmers from just outside.

Taury: Yeah, they don't look like outsiders.

Markus: Is there someone who's basically monitoring the queue or is it just people standing in line waiting?

GM: People standing in line waiting outside her door. The general habit is when the person who's in there leaves, the next person goes in.

Taury: I sense Markus wants to skip the queue.

Markus: Markus wanted to find out if the mayor was actually in conversation with the sheriff, or if the sheriff is somewhere else. But there's only one way to find out.

GM: So you're waiting in line?

Markus: Apparently so, yes.

GM: Ok. After a few moments of waiting, the proprietor of the theater turns around and notices your group.

Taury: For reference, Taury's at the very back.

GM: That's fine, his name is Crydak. So Crydak turns to you, introduces himself, "Oh! Just the people I've been looking for! Would you by any chance be interested in performing a play on your heroic deeds in town?"

Loyal: Loyal just kind of immediately glances over to see Taury's reaction to that.

Taury: Oh, I don't even know what her reaction would be. She probably isn't even listening to him. She's probably staring through him like he wasn't even speaking.

Morana: Morana just kind of blinks, "Uh what?"

GM: "Oh, yes, I'm working on a new arrangement, complete with score to be played by bards. While we perform out the heroic deeds of the heroes of Sandpoint, but it would be an added selling point if the actual heroes performed. Yes? You agree? Yes?"

Loyal: Loyal is just kind of like looking at him like doesn't know really what to say.

GM: "It would be an exciting new production!"

Markus: "I think we can all understand the nature of such a draw, however, unless I am very much mistaken, I don't believe any of us naturally gravitate towards the stage of our own volition, shall we say."

Loyal: "Yeah we're not really trained in the theatrical arts, I guess."

Fenwarin: "No, that's true, and we're far too busy right now."

GM: "Too busy? Ah. Well, when I finish my script, I will give you a copy and send you front row tickets. Uh?"

Morana: "Uh, sure?"

Loyal: "Sounds good. Thank you."

Markus: "Yes, I look forward to seeing it."

GM: "Oh so do I! It shall be most magnificent!" All of you give me Perception checks. 

Taury: Oh god!

Markus: Perception or Sense motive?

GM: Perception.

Taury: Why not both? All those 21s. 

Loyal: Oh, my god! A natural 20 again Markus?!

Taury: Wow!

GM: Alright.

Taury: Markus is Broken.

Fenwarin: [Laughs] He's broken in a good way.

Loyal: Markus can stare through your souls. Jesus!

GM: Runty and Morana do not notice, but the rest of you do. In the middle of this conversation, Sheriff Hemlock exits the mayor's office and walks by you just as you're ending this conversation with Crydak.

Markus: I think I'll call after the sheriff, and a quiet comment to Crydak, "Sorry, please excuse us."

GM: "Oh, certainly, yeah, I'm sure you're very busy." He turns back to wait in line.

Markus: "Sheriff! A word please."

GM: "Hmm, what do you want?"

Loyal: Asshole I hate him.

GM: "You're not going to cause me more problems, are you?"

Markus: "No, we're here to tell you that one of them has been dealt with, at least for now. Perhaps somewhere more discreet?"

GM: He takes a second try to figure out why you want to go somewhere more discreet and then notices Crydak standing beside you, he nods and points to a side room.

Markus: Markus will nod and lead the way.

Loyal: I follow him, I assume everyone else is following?

Taury: Yeah, definitely, Taury wants to avoid hanging out with Crydak for sure.

All: [Laugh]

GM: Alright. He enters into a side meeting room, once you're all in he closes the door. He leans against the wall beside it, "So, you've solved a problem?"

Markus: "The threat underneath the town has been dealt with for now, it would be wise to make sure no one can get down there again, but you should not have problems with those Creatures." 

GM: "Fantastic." 

Markus: "There are still things down there that we don't yet understand how to get rid of, so caution and prudence would be advised."

Loyal: "Powerful things." 

GM: "Uh huh."

Markus: "But the main threat is dealt with. Since you asked us to look into that, I thought it appropriate that we let you know."

GM: "Great. Is that all?"

Loyal: "Personally, as someone who would defend the town if the need be, I want to know what the status is on Thistletop and dealing with that."

GM: "Thistletop? If anyone's going to know anything about Thistletop, it'll be Shalelu."

Loyal: "Has she been sent out to deal with it or."

GM: "You don't send Shalelu anywhere. Shalelu does what she wants." 

Loyal: "Fair enough." 

GM: "If you head out of town, you might run into her, you probably won't. Are you heading out of town?"

Loyal: "Not-"

GM: "Are you going up that direction?"

Markus: "Maybe"

Loyal: "We are currently not planned, perhaps we will, we're not sure yet."

Morana: "We don't know yet. What is the activity here in city hall? Seems to be something going on."

GM: "Oh, you're talking about all the clerks running around, they do that from time to time."

Loyal: I want to Sense motive that.

Taury: I'm also going to Sense motive that.

Markus: I'm Sense motiving his general attitude and the way he's being brusk about things.

GM: Yeah.

Fenwarin: And basically, same here.

Morana: Morana is not Sense motiving shit. She's going to lean forward and say, "And as the leading law person of the town, it would behoove you to know why. And which is what I'm asking you as we are the ones that have been running around doing these things for you!"

GM: "Are you trying to confess something? Are you saying all the running around is because of you? What did you do?" 

Morana: "Oh you-"

GM: Markus, your Sense motive, you get the idea that he never witnessed anything happen from down below, you keep bringing him problems, but he never sees any evidence of the problems. And then you solve the problems, he thinks you're just trying to bolster your own repertoire in the city. Giving yourself "we're the heroes" type, you know, stuff. He doesn't care for you. He doesn't believe you. All that. Taury gets a sense that he just does not care for your group. Was there anything specific you were trying to sense out of him?

Loyal: Feeling's mutual.

Taury: No I think that was just it.

GM: Yeah, yeah, he doesn't care for your group, he thinks you're a nuisance to the town and that if you left and never came back, that'd be fine for the town.

Morana: Wow!

Taury: But little does he know that Taury has mutual feelings about the whole thing.

Loyal: I was about to say, it's like feeling's fuckin mutual asshole! Jeez.

Taury: [Laughs] Do you want to leave Sandpoint? So do I, it's shit.

Markus: Furtive. Thinking back, because originally the sheriff was very much our fan, as it were-

GM: Was he?

Markus: Well he appeared to be because he... hmm.

Morana: You know what I want to Sense-

Markus: He-

Morana: Oh go ahead.

Markus: I was going to say he gave the impression that he was very much in favor of us as being heros of the town. 

GM: Ok.

Markus: Do I get the sense that...  am I completely misremembering that or.

GM: No.

Loyal: I just remember him as kind of being an asshole.

Taury: I mean he just wants to make money off us. I don't know that he cares.

GM: No, you're not misremembering anything, you might be assigning a little more meaning to certain interactions than others, but ok.

Markus: Yeah, ok.

GM: I can see where you've derived to that conclusion.

Taury: Watch him fuckin stab us in our beds in the night. [Laughs] For the art! For theater!

Morana: I'd like to Sense motive on his last statement about whether or not Morana is confessing to something real quick.

GM: Sure.

Morana: Ok, so she can't tell if it's a threat or not.

GM: No.

Morana: " So yes, apparently I'm confessing to dealing with a moron who doesn't know what's going on in their own town!" And she stands up and walks out.

Loyal: Loyal kind of like covers his mouth, stifling a laugh.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Morana: And she's going to go speak to one of the clerks directly.

GM: As you're standing up to walk towards the door, he just kind of puts a leg as he's leaning right next to it. He just puts a leg in front of the doors. "We're not done here yet."

Morana: "With you? I am!"

GM: "No, you're trying to report something, so finish the report."

Morana: "We've reported everything we need to at the moment, and it'll probably be our last report to you."

GM: He looks around the rest of the room, "Is this accurate?"

Markus: "Do you really care about the nature of particular artifacts that are underneath this town?"

Loyal: "Particular evil artifacts."

GM: "Not in the least."

Markus: "Given their magical nature is-"

GM: "Not in the least! If they're under the town, that's fine, we live above the town." 

Markus: "Fine."

GM: "We are ground level. We are the town, if it's underneath of us, it's not bothering anybody. It's not a concern."

Morana: "Then get your leg out of my way!"

GM: "You shut up."

Morana: "You get bent!"

Markus: "Then I don't believe there is anything further we need to report is there?"

Loyal: "Apparently not."

GM: "I guess not. Now feel free to find me if you have anything to report that's not a waste of my time." And he opens the door for you, Morana, and moves his leg out of the way.

Morana: "I don't think you have the presence of mind for anything to not be a waste of anyone's time!" And she walks out.

Loyal: Loyal follows her.

Fenwarin: Yeah Fenwarin to.

GM: Alright, that leaves Taury as the last one out. Yes?

Taury: Yeah, you get a very delayed exit.

GM: Or is Markus trying to hang back?

Markus: Markus is hanging back to see if the sheriff is going to leave or not.

GM: He's waiting for you all to exit the room.

Markus: Ok, then Markus will leave.

Taury: Well, Taury will be the last person to leave.

GM: Ok, give me a Perception check, Taury.

Taury: Fuck.

GM: You exit the room, the sheriff exits behind you and closes the door.

Taury: She would have eye'd him up as she was leaving.

GM: Yeah. Alright.

Taury: Does that- that doesn't warrant me getting a Sense motive?

GM: Feel free to throw one.

Taury: Fuck it.

GM: Let's see how you do.

Taury: Watch this be a crit fucking fail as well.

Loyal: Hmm.

Taury: Meh.

Loyal: Could be worse.

GM: Alright. You're eyeing him up and down, and he is just giving you a stone blank poker face right back.

Morana: Give him one of those chest hits just to see if he flinches.

Taury: Chest what?

Morana: One of those little jumps like "Do something!"

Taury: I want to do that, but Taury just wouldn't. [Laughs] But I Want that to be a thing. No she'd just basically stare through him as she was leaving.

GM: Alright. Yeah he leaves as well. First one down the stairs, Morana, what are you doing?

Morana: Morana was going to go talk to one of the clerks and see if she could find out what all of the the hustle was about in here today. 

GM: Alright.

Loyal: Loyal kind of looks at Markus and says, "Well if he's not going to be any help maybe we can report the issue straight to the mayor?"

Morana: Was he saying that within earshot of Morana?

Loyal: Yeah, probably.

Morana: Morana will kind of look over his shoulder for a second, "Or the priest considering what that thing is."

Loyal: "Yes, that's true, that's troubling, maybe he might know a way to destroy it."

Taury: Out of character, we did, we told Father Zantus about the thing.

Morana: Yeah, but we didn't know exactly what it was yet.

Taury: Ah right. No because, I just remember him kind of giving us the same "What the fuck are you doing here? Please go away." kind of vibe.

Loyal: The priest I think it was more like he was kind of overwhelmed.

Taury: He's not a fan of Taury at this point,

Loyal: I mean yeah.

Taury: So it could just be that he's not a fan of Taury. [Laughs]

Loyal: Who- like which NPC is at this point?

Taury: Hey, hey now. Were you just going to say "who is?" Come on now.

Loyal: I was going to say which NPC at this point is.

Taury: We still have Aldern in camp Taury.

Loyal: True we do have Aldern in camp Taury. [Laughs]

Taury: That's about it. [Laughs] He's the only one not wanted and he is there.

Markus: I don't know. I think we might have an admirer at the theater for Taury.

Taury: Oh, I don't know about that.

Loyal: That's true.

Markus: Well, at the very least, he's enamored of the story. "So where now?"

Loyal: "We are in the mayor's office. We could report things to her if she is more willing to listen."

Markus: "At this point, do we need to?"

Loyal: "Well, she might want to know the nature of the artifacts underneath the town."

Markus: "Do we?"

Loyal: "Well we know to an extent what they can do."

Markus: "And such has already been reported, has it not?" 

Loyal: "I guess not." 

Markus: "At least the most pertinent part of that, yes?"

Loyal: "Just don't feel comfortable just leaving it in the sheriff's hands, 'cause it's very clear he's not going to do anything about it."

Taury: "Well, perhaps that's just what we should do, just wait until something comes to the surface, and then he'll call for us."

Markus: "That's one way to deal with it."

Taury: "And perhaps he needs to see it for himself."

Fenwarin: "I doubt he will call for us if that happens."

Taury: "He might need to."

Fenwarin: "Then he's made his own bed too."

Markus: "I get the sense the times he's called us in before perhaps haven't been his choice."

Loyal: "I was about to say, he's probably instructed by the mayor."

Taury: "You may be correct."

Fenwarin: "So do we report to the mayor instead?"

Loyal: "From now on, I think so."

Markus: "Does the mayor want to know the details? Last time we spoke she didn't seem to."

Loyal: "I've never spoke with her so you would know better."

Markus: "She just wanted to know that it would be taken care of."

Taury: "Perhaps it might be worth writing to the ranger."

Loyal: "Yes, she seems to be more involved with these things, so she might be worth at least trying to contact."

Taury: "She has the mayor's ear."

Markus: "Last time she stayed at the Dragon, did she not? She was friends with Ameiko I believe. So we know a place we can leave a message for her when she comes back to town."

Loyal: "Might be a good idea."

Markus: "In the meantime, I believe we were going to go get some lunch."

Loyal: "Yes, talking to that, that man made me hungry."

Taury: "Yes, I'm quite sure Fenwarin is quite peckish as well."

Fenwarin: "How did you know that?"

Taury: "Intuition." She smirks.

Fenwarin: "Well, I wouldn't say no to that."

Taury: "Someday Fenwarin, you might surprise us all, today is not that day."

Markus: "Well, shall we go?" 

Loyal: "No harm in it." 

Markus: "I'm assuming we'd head to Rusty Dragon for lunch."

Taury: "Probably, don't we have like free food there?"

Loyal: "Pretty much yeah."

Markus: "Yeah."

Loyal: "Free room and board."

Markus: "Hence the assumption, yeah."

Taury: "Yeah, yeah, we ain't paying for shit in this town son."

Loyal: Next time, if the sheriff tells us to report, we'll just bring a fucking body. Like "Hey look, I found it."

Taury: Oh, now I kind of wish Taury had carried the demon to the fuckin sheriff's office instead.

Loyal: [Laughs]

Taury: That would have been a good idea.

Loyal: That would have been good.

Fenwarin: Yeah just thrown that at him.

Loyal: You deal with this now.

Taury: She'd probably just really awkwardly put it like in the center of the floor, [Laughs] just say nothing. Leave.

GM: All right, as you all are exiting the town hall, you see Morana speaking with one of the clerks.

Taury: Taury would keep walking.

Loyal: Kind of walk by and say, "Have you found out anything interesting?"

Morana: So Morana finishes up talking to the clerk and says, "Alright well, thanks for the information and we'll see if we can get a chance to look into it." And in response to the group, she says "Potentially a problem, might be something worth looking into. I'll give you the details once we're elsewhere.

Loyal: Alright, we'll talk about it over lunch like usual.

GM: Ok. Your couple blocks walk to the Rusty Dragon is uneventful, and as you sit down and order your lunch, nothing is out of the ordinary there either. You do notice Bethana go over to the adventuring board and remove a notice.

Markus: Which one?

Taury: What one does she remove?

Loyal: It's probably 'Night thieves'.

Taury: I love that we all want to do the one that she's taking away.

Loyal: Give it! No we want it.

Taury: [Laughs] I want that one.

GM: She is removing a notice that it had been up for about a week from the mayor about going to find the Dwarven brothers in the gold mine.

Morana: Morana sees that and says, "Well, that makes sense."

Markus: Oh. 

Loyal: "They're probably dead."

Morana: "They are."

Taury: [Laughs] He said it with such joy.

Morana: "That was what I was speaking with the clerk about. They were found in their tunnels, and preliminary reports say that they were killed by some kind of giant spiders that are for some reason leaving Egan's wood where they naturally stay."

Loyal: "I didn't notice that on the board that request to deal with the spiders."

Morana: "Well, this is new information. After they discovered with the dwarves being found dead. And it's looking as though, some people believe, it seems that they're being controlled."

Loyal: "Controlled? By what?

Morana: "That's what we don't know yet. I was trying to determine if there was something that could be naturally driving them from their nesting place, but it doesn't seem natural that they would be behaving this way."

Markus: "There could be any number of reasons, but, yeah, if they are being controlled, then that needs dealing with sooner rather than later."

Loyal: "Yeah, that's for sure. Already got enough on our plate with having to deal with Thistletop."

Morana: "This if they're coming this close to the town, though, I don't believe the gold mine was that far. This could be a problem from another direction that could end up being more pressing if they start breaking the edge of town."

GM: Knowledge geography, to remember where the gold mine's at.

Morana: That's one of my weaker ones.

Taury: Should Taury roll that as well.

GM: If you wish.

Loyal: I'll try to roll that as well.

GM: I guess Knowledge local would also work.

Morana: Oh, good local.

Taury: Look, look, listen, I have nothing in either of them.

GM: Alright.

Morana: Morana is still lost in thought trying to figure out what it could be.

GM: All of you, meaning Loyal, Morana and Taury, you all remember that the gold mine was on the westernmost edge of the Devil's Platter.

Loyal: Ok, that's pretty fucking close to town.

GM: Yeah, it's maybe two miles outside of town and a mile north of Egan's Wood.

Taury: I'm going to have to look at this other map because.

Markus: Yeah, look at the Hinterlands map yeah.

Taury: Where where is that, is that in handouts?

Markus: Yeah appendix 2.

Taury: Oh, wait, Ok.

GM: You know what, I can actually move you guys over to the Hinterlands map.

Taury: Oh hell yeah man!

Markus: Yeah, that works.

GM: There we go.

Taury: Just as I found it, nice.

GM: There's the Hinterlands map. All right, so Sandpoint is right here, the Devil's Platter, the gold mine was somewhere around this area. And Egan's wood is-

Loyal: Fuckin close.

GM: ...down just east of Ashen Rise, which is south of Devil's Platter,

Taury: It's not that close though.

Loyal: It's like two miles, two miles is not a lot

GM: It's not far.

Loyal: You can walk that in like a little under an hour.

Morana: "And if they are ranging that far from their nesting place, that is a cause for concern to begin with."

GM: Fenwarin, you've actually been out in that area once before when you went down to the Sanatorium. 

Fenwarin: Ok yeah.

GM: Sanatorium is right here on the map.

Fenwarin: Right next to the river?

Loyal: Do you mind if we draw on this map? I can just just like, start putting little dots?

Fenwarin: That was the place me and Bilbo when right?

GM: Yes.

Fenwarin: Ok, yeah.

Taury: Yeah where you smuggled a body.

Fenwarin: Hey!

Taury: I remember. [Laughs]

Fenwarin: You remember.

Taury: Fucking bodysnatchers.

GM: That was the Sanatorium, which was right there, Ashen Rise is the cliff right below it, and Egan's wood is just east of the Ashen Rise.

Fenwarin: Ah! Ok, yeah.

Taury: You're getting flashbacks, PTSD.

GM: You did not pass by the gold mine, you took the road that was by the shore.

Fenwarin: Yeah, we did, yeah.

Loyal: "Well, do we see ourselves dealing with Thistletop in the near future?"

GM: Thistletop, so you know, is right here.

Taury: That's also not that far away then. 

GM: It is not.

Loyal: It's probably like what a day's travel? About.

GM: Yeah. Most of the goblin sightings that your goblin destroying quest mentioned were in the Raven Roost Mountains, which are these here? They are the closest goblin tribe to Sandpoint.

Loyal: Those are the Bird Crunchers yeah? 

GM: Yes. 

Loyal: I'll just kind of put like a dot down and then put the name of the adventure from the adventure board next to it.

Fenwarin: Were they a threat at this moment?

Taury: Well, we ran them out.

Fenwarin: Oh yeah.

Taury: Because weren't they- They were the same ones that were hanging out with Tsuto?

GM: Well, the ones that were hanging out with Tsuto were all the goblin tribes. It was a mix of everybody.

Taury: Ok. It was a mixture of them, right.

GM: Yeah,

Taury: Ok.

GM: This is just the tribe that lives the closest to Sandpoint.

Morana: "Personally, by my calculations, I would say that this new information about these tunnels in Egan's Wood should take precedence at the moment." 

Loyal: "I would agree." 

Morana: "The situation with the goblins, while pressing, is relatively under control. We've eliminated most of the threat under the town, but we don't need these things coming into town and adding a third problem."

Loyal: "Agreed."

Morana: "Or fourth problem or whatever number it is on the list."

Fenwarin: "Yeah."

Morana: "We need to know why they're coming out of these woods, especially if there's any chance that these tunnels could end up being dug to connect to the town, because something that large could be tunneling itself."

Taury: "Yes, that is quite the concern, but we have those horses, don't we?"

Morana: "As far as I know."

Taury: "Perhaps we should ride out later?"

Loyal: "I would agree, perhaps we'll get payment for it and be able to actually prepare for Thistletop."

Taury: "Fenwarin, you still have that receipt, yes?"

Fenwarin: Fenwarin just searches his pockets

Taury: "No, no, no, don't, don't. Don't take it out, leave it where it is."

Loyal: "Just make sure it's there."

Fenwarin: "I just wanted to make sure it was still there."

Taury: "And it is?"

Fenwarin: Do I roll for it or do I just say yes?

GM: You can just say yes.

Taury: Oh, thank god!

Loyal: Fucking inhale.

Fenwarin: Ok,

Taury: Thank god! If you got fucking pickpocketed!

Fenwarin: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's right here, it's right here.

Morana: Now, speaking logically, this is Furtive, he says, you can just say yes, but did you actually check or are you just saying yes?

Taury: That's a fair point.

Fenwarin: I did check.

Morana: Ok.

GM: That's an important distinction to make.

Morana: That's why I said it.

Taury: I swear to god, if you take that Receipt off- [Laughs]

Fenwarin: Yes. That was the first thing I did, I searched my pockets for the receipt.

Loyal: [Laughs]

GM: I see how it is. You don't trust your GM, I get it.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Morana: I've played with you before, I have reasons.

GM: I'm not saying you're wrong for distrusting me.

Morana: Exactly.

Taury: He's just personally hurt. [Laughs]

Fenwarin: I love it, reasons because reasons.

GM: So what's the plan?

Loyal: "I suppose, first place to start would be that goldmine, yes?"

Taury: "Perhaps we should speak to some locals near Egan's Wood, see if they've seen anything or heard anything."

Loyal: "Not a bad idea."

Morana: Can I Knowledge local Egan's Wood, see what I know about it?

GM: Sure.

Taury: Watch it be an 8.

GM: Not an 8.

Morana: Ah, I have done better.

GM: [Chuckles] All right, let's see here... Egan's Wood: this small copse of trees grows along the lea of Ashen Rise, a thick tangle of pine trees once owned by local eccentric man named Egan, who forbade any clearing of the land for farming or the lumber trade. His shack lies hidden somewhere in the woods. Although Egan died a while ago, the giant spiders that infest his beloved woods remain very much alive.

Taury: Why do I feel like Egan caused these fucking spiders?

GM: Are you going to grab the notice from the board?

Loyal: No reason not to, I guess.

Morana: Yeah. 

Taury: Sure.

Loyal: "Would it- while we're out dealing with this issue, would it be worth grabbing or leaving a note for this ranger Shalelu in case she comes back?"

Taury: "Yes, I think that would be wise."

Loyal: "Also I guess when do we plan to head out to deal with the issue?"

Taury: "I might suggest as soon as possible. We have nothing else to do."

Loyal: "I guess the question is, do we want to go to the mine of the woods first?"

Morana: "We should probably check the woods first, or the mines first rather, make sure there not any still in there."

Markus: "Is everyone feeling up to the task today? Nobody is too tired?

Loyal: "I'd agree with that. I'm not exactly in my, well my best state after the ordeal with that evil shrine thing, but I can make do."

Morana: "You should probably see if you can get healed first."

Loyal: "I have a feeling that Father Zantus probably doesn't want us taking any more free healing."

Morana: "Then make a donation."

Loyal: He pulls out a coin pouch and pours out the 9 silver that's in there.

Morana: "It's a church, they'll take what you can give."

Loyal: "Yes, well, it's fine, I can make do-|"

Morana: Morana puts three gold on the table, says, "Go. Get. Healed!"

Loyal: "All right, fine."

Taury: And Taury is going to join Loyal.

Morana: Morana is going to stay there and order a glass of wine.

Fenwarin: Fenwarin is ordering lunch.

Taury: We already got delivered lunch didn't we?

Loyal: I assumed we were eating during the midst of this.

Taury: Yeah.

Fenwarin: Then it's second lunch yup?

Morana: "And while you're there, tell them the new information we figured out about that alter."

Loyal: "That's a good idea. I'll do that." And I'll take the coins and head off towards the church.

GM: All right, you get healed up, you need to have a lesser restoration cast or a restoration, which one do you want?

Loyal: Currently, I just have like a -1 in dex and a-1 in int, just damage, pretty much all I need gone.

GM: All right, a lesser restoration will cure one of those, a restoration will cure both.

Loyal: Let's do a restoration, both would be nice. 'Cause I need both of those skills.

GM: Alright. You do not have enough money.

Loyal: Ok. Let's just do lesser Restoration, we'll cure the int because that's more important.

GM: Ok.

Loyal: And is Father Zantus around there? 

GM: Sure.

Loyal: Right I'll kind of like call him over.

Morana: Meanwhile Morana excuses herself and says, "I'll be back in 15 to 20 minutes."

Loyal: "Father Zantus, we have a few things to report about the ruins underneath here, things I think you might be interested in."

GM: "Oh? What might that be?"

Loyal: "Well, the first- and pretty much the only one that you might have expertize in. There is a shrine to an evil god underneath there, specifically Lamashtu, it's quite powerful." And I'll take out kind of a sample that's probably decayed into unholy water by now because it decays in like an hour but, "This was the substance I identified as Waters of Lamashtu, if you're familiar with that? And we weren't really sure how to destroy the shrine, if possible. Just thought we'd let you know, in case, you know of any way to get rid of it."

GM: "A shrine?"

Loyal: "Yes."

GM: "No, I'm afraid I don't have good knowledge on how to destroy shrines, I might be able to consecrate one, but I don't know much more about that."

Loyal: "Alright, just keep an eye out for things that might come out of down there, do what you can to make sure that people don't head down into those ruins."

GM: "Sure, sure. Wouldn't the sheriff be a better person to talk about preventing people from going places?"

Loyal: "Well, he doesn't seem very interested in anything we have to say. However, we have gone to him about this, doesn't seem to care."

GM: "Shame."

Loyal: "Well if that's all, well we'll be off. Unless you came here for a reason, Taury?"

Taury: "So I'm assuming Taury got healed when Loyal got healed."

GM: Sure.

Loyal: And with that, I'll head back to the inn.

GM: All right, Morana, you've gotten up to leave. When the two of you, Loyal and Taury return to the inn, Morana has gotten up to leave. She's not there any longer.

Loyal: "Morana say where she was going or no?"

Markus: "What do you think?"

Loyal: "That's a good point. I'll go with no."

Markus: "She did say she'd only be 15, 20 minutes, so."

Morana: Furtive that was 48, right?

GM: 4d8?

Morana: No, 48, a building number.

GM: Oh, yes. I was like why are you rolling that many d8s? What's happening? [Laughs]

Morana: [Sighs loudly]

Taury: [Laughs] Jesus we're so not good with numbers!

GM: Sorry.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Morana: Oh god!

Taury: My God.

GM: Ok. Location 48, Scarnetti Manor. What are you doing, Morana? [Laughs]

Morana: Knocking on the door.

Taury: Yeah with your 4d8.

Morana: Yep, 48 knock damage.

GM: The door opens, you see the butler. "Yes?"

Morana: "Is Mr. Scarnetti available?"

GM: "Mm hmm. And what business do you have?"

Morana: "I'm talking to him about one of his business transactions."

GM: "Hmm. And who shall I say is calling?" 

Morana: "Morana." 

GM: "One moment." Shuts the door... Several moments pass. The door opens again. "Yes, you may follow me." Shuts the door behind you and then leads you into a sitting room, "Would you like any tea?"

Morana: "No, thank you."

GM: "Coffee, perhaps?"

Morana: "No, thank you. I'm only here for a moment."

GM: "Very well." He totters off. Scarnetti walks into the room, "Morana."

Morana: "Yes, good to see you."

GM: "I hear you've become mixed up with those heroes that came into town."

Morana: "Well, things happen, you can't plan for every eventuality can you?"

GM: "No, but we try."

Morana: "Huh! I had some information on that matter you asked me to look into."

GM: "Mm."

Morana: "I'm sure you've probably heard some of it by now with your ear as close to the ground as you keep it."

GM: "Yes."

Morana: "Well, I wanted to let you know that we're going to have a look and see if we can figure out what the cause of the problem is, maybe take care of it before, you know, control changes hands."

GM: "Oh, you're working with the boys on this one?"

Morana: "No, but you hadn't given me information on what you wanted looked into. We're trying to determine why things are leaving the location."

GM: "You keep using this 'we' word, but you're not referring to the boys, so I'm assuming that means you're referring to those heroes?"

Morana: "Well, you have resources available to you, you use them."

GM: "Hmmm. Make sure you use them at an arm's distance. Heroes can be dangerous."

Morana: "What do you think I've been doing?

GM: "What with those pesky morals and all."

Morana: "Do you think I'm a fool?"

GM: "No, no. Cautionary reminder only."

Morana: "Oh, Ok, I'm just making sure. You can never tell."

GM: "Well."

Morana: "We'll be leaving shortly. I'll let you know when I get back what we find."

GM: "Be careful, the Sczarni are already checking up on this."

Morana: "We'll try and stay out of each other's way."

GM: "That would be for the best."

Morana: "Of course, and good day to you. I just wanted to let you know." She'll stand up to leave.

GM: "Very well, thank you, it's good to see you again."

Morana: "Of course, I'll try to be in more often when things calm down."

GM: "Please do. All this business with the goblin raids and then Tsuto and Lonjiku both, it's not been good for business."

Morana: "I would imagine. It hasn't been good for my state of exhaustion either. Thank you very much. Oh, god. Alright."

GM: "Oh, one more thing. Perhaps... No, never mind, I'm sure you'll take care of it anyway, no need to say."

Morana: Morana just raises an eyebrow.

GM: He gives you a smile.

Morana: Shrugs and turns to leave.

GM: The butler appears around the corner and leads you towards the door, and then shuts it behind you as you exit.

Morana: And she will head back to the Rusty Dragon.

GM: Ok. When you return everyone's there waiting.

Morana: "Oh, good, you're back. How did the father handle the information? Did he have any suggestions?"

Loyal: "No, he did not unfortunately, does not know how to deal with those types of things."

Morana: "Yeah that's about what I figured, considering how well people in this town seem to deal with things. So are we ready to get started or were we going to wait until Morning so that everybody was all fully rested and everything?"

Taury: "Well, I had assumed we were going to head rather about now. We have another more pressing to do."

Fenwarin: "Yeah, same with me. I think we should go."

GM: So you guys are heading out of town. Where are you going specifically?

Morana: I believe we were going to check the mines first.

Fenwarin: Yeah, the gold mine.

Taury: Well, Taury had suggested seeing if there were local people to visit on the way out there.

Loyal: That too, as well. There's those farms.

Taury: And then Loyal had suggested the mines, so probably either or.

GM: All right, the farmlands, which would be the only people besides Habes Sanatorium to talk to, are actually past the wood.

Morana: So the only place between town and the wood would be the mine.

Taury: The mine.

Loyal: Is the mine yeah. So might as well hit the mine first.

Taury: Or the Sanatorium.

Morana: Oh Sanatorium is past the mines too.

GM: It's past the mind, but before the wood.

Taury: Let's just go to the fucking mines, why not? 

Markus: Yeah

Taury: Right? It's closer.

Loyal: Let's do it

Morana: Might as well.

Markus: Well, people have already been there, so.

Taury: Yeah, because that worked so well for us usually.

GM: Yes, so all those squares out past Egan's wood are the farmlands.

Markus: Ok.

Taury: That's where the local people do be, I refrained from saying peasants.

GM: Yeah.

GM: Let me grab all these titles here.

Morana: And then drop them past the map layer?

GM: Silence you! 

All: [Laugh]

Taury: No, he's going to delete them by accident, permanently.

Loyal: To be fair in roll 20, if you were to delete something like that, I don't think you could get it back. Unless you like reloaded the entire fucking module.

Taury: Yeah, no, it's gone.

GM: Alright, there's some more things.

Taury: More things for Quiet's internet to choke on.

Markus: Yeah, no they've actually shown up. Some words, yeah.

GM: I'm loading in a few at a time to try to help him out.

Loyal: Some words.

Fenwarin: Some woods?

Taury: Shanks Wood, Jesus! [Laughs] Does everyone just get stabbed there?

GM: Well, maybe

Taury: I'm just thinking that the trees are ents and they're just really knify ents.

Loyal: Knify ents?!

Taury: Yeah.

Loyal: They've sharpened their arms and just slight stake them.

Fenwarin: [Laughs] sharpened twigs.

Taury: Yeah, yeah, because they're not allowed weapons in prison, you know, so they've just turned their bodies into like-

Fenwarin: [Laughs] They're prison ents?!

Taury: Yeah, [Laughs] prison ents! It's canonical.

Fenwarin: Oh, my god.

Taury: After their war crimes that they committed. [Laughs]

Loyal: Right.

GM: Ok, now you should have all the labels on your map.

Loyal: Yes.

Morana: Yes.

Taury: The homesteads aren't labeled but I assume they don't have labels.

Loyal: I don't think the have labels.

GM: It's just called farmlands.

Taury: Yeah, so otherwise we should have everything. oh, look, Foxglove Manor! let's go there! Let's ask him what's up!

Fenwarin: Ok, sure! [Laughs] If you want.

Taury: Dear god no!

Fenwarin: I thought so.

Taury: No thank you.

GM: You don't want to go see Aldern.

Taury: No.

Loyal: That's so far away, Jesus. He was far out of town.

Taury: And yet I can still smell his cologne from here.

All: [Laugh]

Morana: That's just your happy memories.

Loyal: Carried on the wind.

Taury: Just my what now?

Morana: Your happy memories.

Taury: Mmm, yeah, he's not a Harvey Weinstein.

Loyal: Didn't we have to go to him to get the horses or something?

Morana: Yes.

Taury: No,

Markus: No,

Taury: He left them in somewhere, didn't he?

Markus: He left them at the stables.

GM: The Goblin Squash Stables.

Loyal: There we go.

GM: In town,

Taury: Yeah, yeah, he wanted us to go hunting with him. We were like, "well, no"

GM: Yeah. He wanted to take you to the Tickwood. To go boar hunting.

Taury: He wanted to take Taury somewhere. I don't know where it was.

All: [Laugh]

Morana: He wanted to check you for ticks, uh hmm.

Loyal: Oh. [Laughs]

Taury: Oh, that's so disturbing! Why would you phrase it like that? That's a horrible way to phrase it! 

Morana: [Laughs] Because I can!

GM: All right, Back in the mindset. Come on. I will put one token...

Taury: Dragon's Punch Bowl? That is such a great name for a place.

GM: I like it. 

Taury: Yeah it's a fucking sick name for a place.

GM: Alright, so one horse to represent you guys, that is gigantic, holy crap!

Taury: That's a big fucking horse.

Markus: Hey, if you want to give us a horse on that scale, I'll gladly accept and, you know, use it to trample entire tribes of goblins to death.

GM: All right, so there's a horse to mark you guys, where you're at on this map. All of you should be able to control it. Nope none of you can.

All: [Laugh]

Loyal: No.

GM: You can give me a moment.

Taury: Insert elevator music.

GM: It's a horse. Its name is Horse, that's fine.

Loyal: Dun.

GM: 

Taury: No, we can get a better name than that. Jesus. Horse, the horse.

GM: Where's the controls?

Fenwarin: How about Roach?

Taury: Roach I'll except that, thematically.

Loyal: Yeah its' not bad, I'll take that.

Taury: Or Gwent

Loyal: Gwent! [Laughs]

Fenwarin: Yeah.

Morana: Mr. Ed.

Taury: I knew, I knew someone was going to say that!

Fenwarin: Yeah. [Laughs]

Taury: I was going to say that, I nearly said it and I didn't.

GM: Alright, now you should be able to all move it.

Taury: If we kill the horse, I'm gonna be so upset.

Loyal: Multiple horses.

Fenwarin: Yeah, we have on each.

Taury: We do. I vote that Fenwarin has a Shetland pony.

Fenwarin: He's not small enough for that.

GM: All right.

Taury: He's an elf, he weighs like nothing.

GM: Where are you guys headed out to?

Loyal: I thnk we're headed to the mine yeah?

Taury: To the mines.

Loyal: Which is like hereish.

Fenwarin: Yup.

GM: Ok, let's have...

Taury: Are we going to have to make ride checks?

GM: No, I will let you all take 10.

Taury: Good so we don't all die in a horse accident?

GM: Yeah, nothing's too difficult yet. Yeah.

Fenwarin: What a way to fail a campaign, we died falling off a horse!

Taury: Yeah. [Laughs]

Fenwarin: Goblins, monsters, demons, no problem. Falling off a horse? Nope!

Taury: Big issue.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

GM: [Laughs] I have sadly had a character die of that before.

Taury: Oh, wow.

GM: Ok, so you're all riding out to that area. I need Survival checks as you're headed out here to not get lost slash find the right cave.

Morana: Damn! Can't be a local?

GM: Nope.

Taury: I'll take it, I'm not happy about it, but I'll take it.

Fenwarin: Oh my god! 

Markus: Were we meant to be rolling this individually or as a group?

Taury: Yeah, we all have-

GM: Individually.

Taury: Uh huh. As usual, Fenwarin has no idea where he's going.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Taury: Yeah, these rolls man. This is this is where it starts, they get progressively worse.

Loyal: Yeah, mine's pretty good.

GM: All right, Morana, you have a pretty good idea of where you're headed, Taury and Markus, both are just kind of following your lead. They know the direction and that's about it. Fenwarin you don't have a fucking clue where you're headed.

Fenwarin: No, I don't have a clue. [Laughs]

GM: You are just following them at this point. Loyal, however, has the best idea of where to find this place at. As you're riding along the edge of the devil's platter, you come to a cave opening, that looks rather dilapidated, there's a curtain of moss that parts a pair of small cave opening area, like you see the recess where it would be, and then there's just moss hanging in front of it, blocking what would be the entrance. And standing in front of the entrance here is a menacing old stone statue of a warrior.

Loyal: Can I try and identify who this warrior is?

Morana: And I'd like to try and do the same.

Fenwarin: Same here, yup. 

Taury: Same.

GM: All right, I'm just setting your tokens, and it seems that none of you have the ability to see anything. That's great.

Taury: But if it's dark in there, we all have dark vision except for Fenwarin, because we're all human.

Morana: It's true.

Fenwarin: Shoosh! [Laughs]

Taury: We should see everything. [Chuckles]

GM: Yes, I am setting your sights so you can see everything, because you're human.

Taury: Mm hmm.

Fenwarin: Totally.

Taury: One hundred percent human.

GM: Alright. There you go, now you're on a map. All right, so you're looking at a statue trying to determine who this person is. Go ahead and give me History.

Loyal: History.

Fenwarin: Yes. Oh my god!

Loyal: Wow!

Loyal: We both back to fucking back we did that.

Fenwarin: Wow!

Taury: Oh my god!

Fenwarin: What is this?!

Taury: That's three 5s, two of them being natural 1s!

Taury: That's insane!

Loyal: What the fuck?!

GM: Alright, Morana, you were the second highest, meaning you were one of the only people not to Roll a 5.

All: [Laugh]

Taury: That's insane.

GM: You don't know who this person is depicting or is a depiction of. Markus, you're trying to rack your brain on who this person might be and you just can't figure it out. It's to whether worn over the ages for you to get clear features to precisely identify. But this is an old statue. It has been here for a long time.

Markus: Ok. 

GM: As you all are trying to figure out who this person might be...

Loyal: Oh.

Taury: Oh, my God.

GM: The moss curtain parts.

Taury: Oh, great.

GM: As the little goblins behind it rush out toward you.

Taury: Bastards!

Loyal: Little shits!

Taury: Fuckin bastards.

Fenwarin: Oh, Jesus.

Taury: And they're commandos too.

GM: And their first attack is on Fenwarin.

Taury: Oh what-

Fenwarin: Oh shit!

GM: Does a 15 hit you, Fenwarin?

Fenwarin: Yes.

GM: All right, you will take 8 points of slashing damage.

Taury: Rude.

Fenwarin: Ow!

GM: And the second attack is on Markus. And that will miss, correct?

Markus: Yeah.

Taury: Oh no it's a horse Chopper.

GM: Alright, now we have initiative.

Fenwarin: That's a long range right?

Taury: We're not on horses now though, right?

GM: No.

Taury: Good.

Loyal: Yeah, 21! Fuck you goblin commando!

GM: Well, animals in this game, you know how it goes? Goblins will try to or succeed in killing them.

Taury: I sure as shit know that. You leave those horses alone! 

GM: [Laughs]

Taury: No, stop murdering all the animals.

GM: It's part of the script, dammit.

Morana: Alright. Well, Markus and I both rolled a 4 and we both have a 2 dex modifier.

GM: So who would you like to go first?

Morana: I guess Markus can.

GM: Alright.

Markus: How kind of you.

Taury: Fuck! They rolled an 18 and a 16.

GM: We'll put Markus first. All right, Loyal.

Loyal: Quick on the draw, I will move around to right here and I will throw a bomb at this one.

GM: Ok. That does hit.

Loyal: And this guy gets to make a reflex save, take half I believe.

GM: That will make the save.

Loyal: Ok takes 3.

GM: So this guy takes 16 points of damage and the other guy takes 6, or half of that, so 3.

Loyal: When I hit them directly are they also affected by the splash damage? Or is that-

GM: No, but your bonus to damage is that already factored in?

Loyal: It's already factored in.

GM: Ok. So it's just 10?

Loyal: Yes, it's just 10.

GM: Ok. That's fine then. -10.

Fenwarin: 10 is still good.

Loyal: It survived through 10 damage. I don't like that.

GM: All right, his turn to answer you.

Loyal: Hi, hello. Does not hit..

GM: He swings and misses.

Loyal: This thing's got reach.

GM: Horse choppers are a reach weapon, and the next guy is going to attack Fenwarin again, because that worked out well last time.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

GM: Yep, and it works out well again.

Loyal: Ooh! Max damage. Oof.

Fenwarin: Yeah it does.

Taury: Jesus.

GM: How are you doing, Fenwarin? You still up?

Fenwarin: Still up, I'm down on 4.

Loyal: Oh.

Taury: Ok.

GM: All right, Taury, it's your turn.

Taury: Oh good. Ok. I mean, should I heal Fen or just stab the thing?

Loyal: Fen will be able to move away.

GM: That is entirely up to you.

Taury: I want to stab the thing. Which one took a huge amount of damage?

Loyal: This one.

GM: The one in front of you.

Taury: So I'll probably leave that one for you then. And attack the one at the bottom. So I want to move in there and I'm going to stab them with my scythe.

GM: And your rolls are consistently terrible.

Loyal: Pretty-

Fenwarin: Ooh.

Taury: Yeah, but look at that damage though. [Laughs]

GM: It would have been nice.

Loyal: Consistent low attack roll, high damage. Consistency.

Fenwarin: [Laughs] Yes it's always the thing.

Taury: Would have been so nice! Oh man.

GM: Alright, Fenwarin's turn to consistently miss.

Fenwarin: Not lately though, not with the wand at least.

GM: That's because there's no hit chance with a wand, or at least your wand.

Fenwarin: Yeah. Ok I'll move over here.

GM: How are you doing that? You're doing that as a 5 foot? Or are you moving? 

Fenwarin: A 5 foot.

GM: Alright. There you go. Yeah.

Fenwarin: And then I'm going to use the wand on the one next to Taury.

GM: Ok

Fenwarin: So anything but 1 to 33.

Loyal: Hey, it works.

Fenwarin: There you go.

GM: Yeah, Markus, it is your turn.

Loyal: Just killed it. Didn't even roll damage.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Loyal: They have 1 health.

Markus: Ok. 5 foot step west of where I am, that should put me out of reach range I believe.

GM: To hear? 

Markus: Yes.

GM: You would still be in reach.

Markus: Oh, I'd need to be where Morana is because it's the two diagonals, yeah,

GM: Yep.

Markus: Ok.

GM: You're not currently in reach.

Markus: So that means if I provoke, he can't do anything.

Taury: Mm hmm.

Markus: Oh, that makes life easier.

Taury: The only reason it screwed us over with the Sinspawn is because they have melee attacks as well. They have fucking claws and teeth.

GM: Claws and bite.

Taury: Yeah. So every time we were within range of the fucking other thing that they had, they used to bite and fucking scratch us.

Loyal: Statues blocking vision for me, so like when Fenwarin said "I'm going to 5 foot ste" he just disappeared into the darkness

GM: Uh huh.

Loyal: Great.

GM: Yeah, people on the other side of the statue should be blocked from your line of sight.

Loyal: They are.

Markus: Let me just double check something.

Taury: I don't like this sassy tone that he's got right now. He needs to put that back.

Markus: Great. Remind me again do spell-like abilities have spell failure chance.

GM: Yes. 

Markus: Ok 

GM: But like behaves like a spell in all regards, except it doesn't require material components. All right, you've made your Concentration check.

Markus: Ok, yeah, Markus will do the thing of casting shadows at this goblin.

GM: All right, it is entwined in shadows and anchored to its spot. Yes?

Markus: Yeah, it's the one that needs the range touch to hit.

GM: Cool. Morana.

Morana: Dc 15 Will save.

GM: On? Oh, the other one's dead, never mind.

Morana: -2 AC one round.

Markus: Ok, so it's entangled and it's -2 AC, so, yeah, it's having a bad day.

Loyal: Yeah,

Taury: Hey ain't we all?

Loyal: Yeah, much like us.

Taury: Fucking ain't we all?

GM: Loyal, it is your turn.

Loyal: I will just- I just don't want to melee with it but it's like restrained and shit, so I'll just fire a crossbow at it.

GM: That hits.

Loyal: 8 points piercing.

GM: All right.

Loyal: Move action, reload.

GM: That one is dead, and this one will swing at Taury. This will have a -2 on it, so that will be a 14 to hit you, which I believe misses. Yes, it does. Yes.

Taury: Yeah it does.

GM: All right, Taury. It is your turn.

Taury: I moving in my 5 foot in here, or actually should- bah! It doesn't matter Fuck it. Swing at it.

GM: That misses.

Taury: Of course it does. It doesn't have minuses to it's AC does it? It still does and I still miss right?

GM: It is -4 on it's AC right now.

Taury: Yeah, and I still fucking missed.

GM: Yup.

Taury: Hate it.

Loyal: High AC jeez!

GM: Fenwarin.

Fenwarin: Yup, let's just try the wand again, why not? Still a hit.

GM: And that kills the goblin. Ok.

Morana: "Well, not what we are expecting to see out here."

Markus: "No, certainly not."

Loyal: "I was hoping it would at least be something other than fucking goblins again." Seeing Fenwarin's injured, I will hand him a cure wounds extract.

Fenwarin: "Thank you Loyal." I just swig it right away.

Loyal: Have 3 points of healing!

Fenwarin: And that's something!

All: [Laugh]

Taury: Oh boy.

GM: The moss curtain has parted to reveal a small cave with a low ceiling. On the far side of the cave, you can see a pair of straw mats with battered treasure chest sitting between them. Off to one side, a passage leads to a pair of stone doors, which is up this passage, you can't actually see the stone doors yet.

Loyal: Fun. What do these goblins have on them? Anything look particularly interesting?

GM: They had horse choppers, a short sword, a dead lizard.

Taury: [Chuckles] Just 'cause, you know.

GM: An empty jug of wine and a belt pouch containing two gold pieces.

Loyal: Just pick it up, "Payback for the healing I guess."

Taury: You said there was a chest in here?

GM: Yes.

Taury: Is it closed?

GM: It is.

Taury: Can I try and open it?

GM: Describe what you're doing.

Taury: I mean, how- is it locked looking? Is there like a lock on it? Or is it just-?

GM: It does have a lock. Yes.

Taury: Can I try just by sheer force, just pull the lock apart? Like is it an old looking kind of lock?

GM: Give me a Strength check.

Taury: Yeah... Wow.

GM: Yeah, you try to like wrench, crush, twist, none of it works.

Taury: Of course, because today is the worst day ever.

Loyal: Anything special about the horse choppers or just general horse choppers?

GM: They're just general horse choppers.

Loyal: Ok.

GM: Made of normal goblin trash construction.

Loyal: Yup, moving on. Seeing Taury struggle with- "I might be able to take apart the lock."

Taury: She looks at you skeptically, but steps away for you to do that.

Loyal: First, check it for traps.

Markus: Yeah, I was about to say.

Morana: Oh, good. That's why Morana was standing back here.

All: [Laugh]

Morana: I was waiting to see if one of you decided to figure that out.

Taury: Because Morana is a team player.

Loyal: That Perception to check for traps I assume?

GM: Yes. 

Loyal: Cool cool.

GM: All right, you don't believe this is a trapped chest, but you do know that it is locked.

Loyal: Well, I guess I'll take out my masterwork thieves tools and attempt to disable device, I assume it's Disable device yeah?

GM: Yeah

Loyal: Cool

GM: Disable device.

Loyal: Boink! Also 18..

GM: All right, you deftly pick the lock.

Loyal: I'll open the chest, what's in there?

GM: All right, the chest contains a small sack of what sounds like coins, a fairly nice looking dagger, a small ruby and a glass potion vial of some orange liquid.

Loyal: "Oh! It's quite a few things in here."

Taury: That orange liquid doesn't look anything like the previous orange liquid, does it?

GM: No.

Taury: Cool.

Loyal: Am I able to identify this potion?

GM: Yes, you can use Craft alchemy...

Loyal: I'm good at that.

GM: ...to identify or a Spellcraft.

Loyal: Craft alchemy it is. +10

GM: Alright, you don't identify it from its color, but as soon as you unstop it and take a whiff, you know that potion, that smell. A couple of the ingredients are different than what you know, and the color is definitely off. But this is obviously a potion of cure light wounds.

Loyal: I don't like that you said "obviously".

Taury: Yeah, I don't like that either. It's got weird ingredients in it, probably cocaine or something, but it's fine.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Loyal: "Well there's a healing potion here."

GM: This potion of cure light wounds will heal you 1d8 +1.

Fenwarin: Ok.

Markus: You mentioned the dagger was fine looking. 

GM: Yes. 

Markus: Detect magic, is it magical?

GM: It is not magical. It just looks really well-made.

Loyal: Can I attempt to Appraise it?

GM: Sure.

Taury: Another dagger that can get stolen from us.

GM: Alright, this is a masterwork dagger.

Loyal: "Nice. Anyone want this dagger? It's pretty nice."

GM: A reminders that masterwork daggers add +1 to your attack rolls, but not damage.

Loyal: Mm hmm. "And I don't tend to use daggers, I'm not sure if anyone else wants it though."

Morana: "I'll take it if nobody else will."

Taury: Yeah, Taury has no interest in it.

Fenwarin: "Go ahead."

Loyal: I hand her the dagger.

Morana: She adds it to the belt across her chest.

GM: Alright.

Loyal: That's all that was in there? Or is there-?

Taury: There was money.

Loyal: There was the potion, the da- yeah there's money.

Taury: And a ruby.

Loyal: Oh! A ruby. Right. How much money is there?

GM: You open the small sack and see 20 gold pieces within.

Loyal: I'll hand 4 to everyone.

Morana: Morana pockets em.

GM: And would you like to appraise the ruby?

Loyal: Yeah, I was about to say I'm going to kind of like pick up Ruby, look at the light, see how much it might be worth.

Taury: Damn these rolls though! Jesus!

Fenwarin: Nice! Nice!

Loyal: My out of combat roles are fucking- my rolls today are just good in general.

Taury: Like 18, 18, 22, 24, 25! Fucking hell!

Loyal: Yeah,

GM: This small ruby is worth 50 gold.

Loyal: "Not bad."

Fenwarin: "Yeah."

Loyal: I will add that to my inventory, ruby.

GM: Up ahead of you is a pair of wooden doors, double doors.

Loyal: "Well considering there's goblin's in here, we might want to be a bit careful.”

Morana: That's north of us?

Fenwarin: "If anyone could actually heal me, I would appreciate that."

Loyal: "Well there's this potion I found."

Fenwarin: "All right, what was that?"

Loyal: "Uh it should be cure light wounds. The ingredients are a bit different than usual, but I'm sure it'll cure you."

Fenwarin: "Well, if you're sure?"

Loyal: "Well, I'm never really sure, but sure as I can be."

Fenwarin: "Ok, I trust you Loyal."

Loyal: I don't like you said that right before you drink this!

All: [Laugh]

Taury: I love it! He's like, "I trust you Loyal," and I'm like, "I fucking don't!"

Loyal: I had a hand him the potion.

Fenwarin: Ok, I drink it.

Taury: Roll a Con save![Laughs]

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

GM: All right, go ahead and heal 1d8 +1 points of damage.

Taury: And note that you are now cursed.

Markus: No.

Loyal: Hey! That's pretty good,

Taury: Hey nice!

Fenwarin: And that's good. 8. Yup.

GM: That is a decent roll. Well done.

Taury: Got to be like, are you max HP now?

Fenwarin: Ah no, but "I feel much better."

Markus: Meanwhile Markus is approaching the doors and trying to listen at them to see if he can hear anything beyond. 

GM: Alright.

Fenwarin: No sneaking allowed Loyal.

Loyal: That's the reason why I haven't walked up there yet.

GM: Through the doors Markus, you can hear a faint, burbling sound, which is somewhere between a gurgle and a bubble. You also can see underneath the door, light.

Markus: No sign of movement or activity or anything?

GM: The noise you're hearing is constant.

Markus: And it could be enough to mask other sounds potentially? Or is it too quiet?

GM: Maybe. It's hard to tell from this side of the door.

Markus: Ok. He'll speak quietly. "Seems safe enough. No signs of activity I can hear."

Loyal: "Alright then."

Markus: "Onwards?"

GM: Ok. So you're opening the door?

Markus: Is anyone else stepping forward to open the door or not?

Taury: Well, no, you were up there, so Taury is not going to open if you were up there.

Markus: Ok, yeah, then Markus will carefully open the door.

Loyal: I just got my crossbow ready.

GM: All right, you open the door. The stone doors swing open, revealing a room bathed in a shimmering golden radiance like sunlight reflecting off the ocean, the light emanates from a rune covered fountain in the center of the room. Faint talking noises can be heard echoing in this chamber over the gurgling sounds of the fountain.

Markus: Echoing from which direction? Or can't we tell?

GM: Echoing. That would be a Perception check to identify.

Loyal: Since I've moved up, I'll probably try as well...Ooh! 

Fenwarin: Woah!

GM: All right, you're fairly positive they're coming from this pathway, considering the other entrance to this door is blocked with a door?

Taury: Taury is going to cast Detect fiendish presence.

GM: All right, you do not detect any fiends nearby, and then you get a faint detection of a fiend behind you.

Taury: Mm hmm. It's totally not Morana?

GM: Are you turning to look?

Taury: Oh, I don't like that you said that! [Laughs]

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

GM: Yes? I need an answer, yes or no?

Taury: Oh I hate this, but yeah.

GM: All right,

Markus: Do it!

GM: You turn thinking that you're going to find Morana is some sort of fiend, and Morana is not.

Taury: But who is?

GM: Morana does not ping in your fiendish detection. Loyal does.

Taury: Ok.

Markus: Ok.

Fenwarin: Ooh!

Markus: Yeah, theory confirmed.

Taury: Fair enough.

Loyal: I think Quiet has figured out my race now! [Laughs]

Markus: Oh I was fairly confident, I just yeah. But that's all out of character. So.

Loyal: When this happened, does Taury give him like any weird looks or anything.

Taury: I mean, she's looking at you, but it'll be really hard to tell what exactly kind of look you're getting.

Loyal: It's just kind of like, "Yes? You want something?"

Taury: It's a like a very brief glance.

Loyal: Ok.

Taury: What was that Perception check?

GM: It was to identify what direction the echoing voices, that sound like they're talking, are coming from.

Taury: And it was up the top left yeah>

GM: Yeah.

Taury: And anything about the voices? They sound like people, they sound like Creatures?

GM: They sound very familiar to goblin voices.

Taury: Almost like they are goblins one could assume.

GM: You've heard it enough, you're pretty sure it might be goblins. High probability.

Taury: And Markus and Loyal heard that as well yeah?

GM: Yes, and they also detected which direction correctly.

Taury: Yeah cool.

Markus: If they're talking in Goblin, is it distinct enough to actually get a sense of what they're saying?

GM: Ah, let me check.

Taury: Sounds super evil, but they're just asking about their wife and kids.

Morana: Or, you know, if anybody speaks Goblin? 

Markus: Or tribal gossip. You never know.

Taury: Nobody. We're all human here and nobody speaks Goblin.

Fenwarin: Yeah, right. Yeah. [Laughs]

Taury: Especially the fiends, the fiends among us are definitely human.

Loyal: I don't know- yeah I'm human, I don't know what you're talking about.

Taury: Uh huh. Well, Taury is going to drw her bow.

GM: You can't make out what they're saying specifically, but it sounds like you need to make a Sense motive.

Markus: Ok.

GM: 22 Ok. You can tell by the pitches and what few syllables you're picking up here and there, that there's some sort of argument going on, but you don't know the context of it or what's being said specifically.

Markus: Ok, I will turn to face most of the party, so my voice is carrying away from the goblins. "Sounds like an argument, we might catch them off guard?"

Loyal: "Sounds good to me."

Taury: You get a nod from Taury. Does this mean we have to Stealth checks?

Markus: I assume so, yes.

Taury: I have succeeded one Stealth check. [Laughs] Once.

Loyal: I have rolled two natural 1s on stealth checks so.

Taury: And you even have proficiency in that, don't you?

Loyal: Stealth? No.

Taury: Oh, because I don't.

Loyal: Hey! Here we go!

Taury: Oh it doesn't matter because Taury is going to get you all killed with that 8! [Laughs]

Fenwarin: [Laughs] Clanking.

Taury: Look, she's big boned right?

Loyal: Normally it's me.

Fenwarin: Big boned?! [Laughs]

Loyal: The bones make the noise.

Taury: Alright. Well, just to save your asses, Taury will look at the water instead of going gung-ho.

GM: All right, Taury, as you step forward, you twist your ankle a little bit on a rock, and as you fall forward, you slam your staff down to the ground to stabilize yourself and catch you.

Taury: Yeah, and they'll-

GM: And that echoes-

Taury: Uh hmm. Fool of a Took! Next time throw yourself instead!

Fenwarin: [Laughs] Nice!

Loyal: Has that has the arguing stopped?

GM: It stops immediately.

Taury: Oh, God.

Loyal: Ok, I'm going to back up and aim my crossbow at the corridor.

GM: And you hear a voice echo from the chamber beyond, "Who you!"

Taury: And Taury's drawing her bow at the corridor.

Loyal:  My crossbow's aimed at the corridor as well.

GM: "Hello?!"

Loyal: I look at everyone and I'm just like, "Shhh."

Taury: I'd imagine we're all like frozen, just trying to be as quiet as humanly possible

Loyal: [Laughs] Not moving, yeah. You can't see us if we don't move.

Fenwarin: Just weapons ready.

Taury: Yeah, like a toddler and they're hiding in plain site like "You can't see me!"

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

GM: You have a feeling that that's what they're doing on the other side of this wall as well.

Loyal: [Laughs]

Taury: [Laughs] Amazing.

GM: What would you all like to do?

Taury: Perception, pretty much. Taury is going to be listening to try and hear them until they carry on doing whatever they're doing.

Markus: If I wanted to move forward further, would I need to roll another Stealtj check or would the existing roll suffice?

Taury: That's a tough question.

GM: Can you rephrase that?

Markus: Ok, if I wanted to- well the the whole point was that we were sneaking forward, obviously Taury's disrupted that. But if I wanted to try and get a glimpse into the other room and try and work out where they are visually, would I need to be rolling Perception and Stealth or could I just use my existing Stealth and just look around the corner kind of thing?

GM: You would need a new Stealth roll.

Markus: Ok.

Taury: But maybe if you have a glance over to the water, Furtive might change his mind.

GM: I do like water.

Loyal: As he sips from like Dasani and starts doing an ad role for Dasani.

Taury: [Laughs] Do you like water?

Markus: Stealth followed by Perception, I'm assuming.

GM: Yeah, Stealth and then Perception, if you wind up going somewhere where you could see something. All right, let's see here. What is their Perception checks?

Taury: Watch them fucking crit on their Perception checks.

GM: Ok, so we have a Perception check.

Taury: Oh, fuck! Fuck!

Loyal: Wow!

Taury: Fuck those guys and that those other two guys!

Fenwarin: What?

Loyal: That's a lot!

Loyal: Two of them are nat fucking 20's.

GM: "Sister, that you?! Hello?!"... And they go back to arguing now. Markus, you can tell that they are arguing about who's going to go search for sister, something about a missing toy and they need to appease the dragon.

Loyal: Oh! I see.

Taury: I'm now incredibly invested.

GM: Sister Bucktooth is missing. She took the dragon toy, one voice is trying to command the other four to go find it, and they're all terrified.

Taury: They saying this in Goblin?

GM: Yes.

Loyal: Hmmm.

GM: The four terrified voices are referring to the one trying to command them as King. King Fatmouth.

Markus: Ok. Time to slowly, carefully retreat.

Loyal: So let's just walk this away and never come back.

Markus: Rejoin the group and very quiet towns, "Well they seem to be... Teir king is trying to command them to go looking for something, a dragon, a toy to appease a dragon. I may not be translating that correctly. I may be mixing up languages, but."

Loyal: "Alright, so there's a dragon here."

Markus: "Maybe. They're talking about a toy dagon as well, I think. To appease the Dragon. I... It's goblins and I'm not well versed in the language, and I may be mixing it up."

Loyal: "Oh, my god, it sounds like they're about to walk in here sometime soon. So-"

Markus: "They're terrified.”

Morana: "If there was a dragon this close to the town, I'm sure we would know."

Markus: "They are absolutely terrified. They don't want to go looking. They're arguing with their king right now."

Loyal: "How do we know what the sister looked like."

Markus: "But there are definitely a bunch of different voices. One, I think is the king, maybe, maybe two, three, perhaps four others.?

Taury: Furtive was any of the ones that we, the two we killed, were any of them female?

GM: No.

Taury: Cool.

GM: All of you can give me an Intelligence check now.

Loyal: General Intelligence check.

Fenwarin: Ooh, Ok.

Loyal: Hell yeah.

Morana: Fucking kidding me? My best stat? Really dice?!

All: [Laugh]

Loyal: Nice, nat 20.

Fenwarin: Finally.

Taury: Oh! That's so awkward

Loyal: Ooh! That feels bad.

Morana: Thank god somebody did worse than me, I would have been upset!

Taury: But thematically for like Markus to do worse than you, and you both to do worse that Taury is like, it's just very hysterical.

GM: All right, Taury, it dawns on you you're not in a mine, you guys were going to a mine.

Taury: Mm hmm.

GM: That's as far as you figured it out. Loyal, you're aware that you're not in a mine, you were looking for a mine, you've chosen the wrong cave. Based on the statue outside, this is a dungeon of some form. Fenwarin, you pieced all of that previous together, as well as you remember, back on the adventuring board, there was reports of something the locals were calling Black Fang.

Loyal: Oh!

Fenwarin: Ooh Ok!

GM: And the fang that was described was almost a foot long, maybe a little longer, and that was broken off in the corpse of a sheep.

Loyal: Mother fucking dragon.

GM: Mention of a dragon now has you going, there could be a dragon here.

Loyal: Hey, it was a 1000 gold piece reward for killing it!

Taury: [Laughs] If you survive!

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Taury: It's only if you survive!

Loyal: [Laughs]

GM: But you are damn near positive that you've wandered into the wrong cave than the one you were looking for because this ain't a mine.

Loyal: I mean, hey, there's a loot!

Taury: I mean, I love that he wasn't even paying attention, yet now he's like, "oh, no, wait, guys, this is the wrong place." When he finally started paying attention.

All: [Laugh]

Fenwarin: "Yeah, we're in the wrong place altogether."

Taury: "Yes, this is no mine."

Fenwarin: "I think we might have to turn back."

Loyal: "I mean, it might not be the worst idea to at least search the place for valuables."

GM: Yeah, Fenwarin you also, as you're saying this, your glance hits the water and you look up to see where the light that is reflecting off of it is coming from. There's no holes in the ceiling. There's no light coming in from the outside.

Taury: I don't like that.

GM: This water is producing its own golden radiance.

Fenwarin: Ok... Why did you have to do that?

GM: Because I like water.

Fenwarin: [Laughs] And now I'm curious.

Taury: I want overwhelmingly to touch the water now, like overwhelmingly.

Loyal: Is the water's color look similar to that of the healing potion we found earlier?

GM: It does

Loyal: Hmm.

GM: It looks almost identical in color.

Loyal: I'm going to step up and start kind of like examining it, poking around with it with a dagger, like seeing how it flows.

GM: Seems like regular water.

Loyal: "Well this stuff in here looks similar to that portion I found for you earlier, Fenwarin." Yeah, I'll see if I can identify what it is.

Fenwarin: "Sounds like a good idea."

Taury: Have the goblins started talking again?

GM: Oh, yeah, they're back to arguing.

Taury: Ok.

GM: Ok. Loyal is you're playing with this water and like shifting it around and stuff, it seems like normal water, but this glow seems to have no visible source. And any water that's like beading up and remaining on your dagger as you're raising it out of the water, doesn't glow when it's removed from the fountain.

Loyal: "Must be the fountain itself that had some sort of properties."

GM: A few beads stuck together might glow faintly for just a couple of seconds as they break up or drip off.

Loyal: I'll take a flask it.

GM: Alright.

Loyal: Something happen when I take a flask?

GM: No.

Loyal: Does it glow when I remove it?

GM: For a few moments, it glows almost with the intensity of like a candle and then fades to just being normal water.

Loyal: I kinda look at the rest of them, "Seems like the basin itself is magical, not really the water."

Markus: "The source of the enchantments perhaps?"

Fenwarin: "What do you think it is?"

Loyal: "I don't really know." Is there anything I could do to try to figure out what it is?

GM: You tell me.

Loyal: Perhaps maybe Spellcraft on the basin? 

GM: Ok. 

Loyal: Well, my luck had to run out eventually.

GM: You know there's some magic here, you just have no idea what.

Fenwarin: Yeah Fenwarin is curious too, so I want to check it too.

GM: Ok.

Morana: As will Morana.

GM: Ok. Both of you realize that the fountain is magical, but you don't know what the magic is or what it does, but it's the fountain itself that's magical, not the water. And yet part of that magic seems to be affecting the water, for as long as the water is in the fountain. And then briefly for a few moments after it's removed.

Fenwarin: "I seem to recall you Loyal, you tried out that water in the dungeon underneath Sandpoint."

Loyal: "Yeah, it didn't really end that well for me."

Fenwarin: "No, but you definitely took one for the team there."

Loyal: "Are you insinuating I should do it again?"

Fenwarin: "I was actually going to up offer myself as a test subject."

Loyal: "Well if you want drink it, it just seemed once you take it out, it seems like normal water. But I'm not sure."

Fenwarin: "But what if I drink directly from the basin?"

Loyal: "No idea what might happen then."

Fenwarin: I try a small sip from the basin.

GM: From the basin.

Loyal: Morana backed up one!

Taury: Rip!

All: [Laugh]

Fenwarin: That was excellent!

GM: Yeah, Morana backs up as you lean in to take a sip.

Fenwarin: It's going to explode.

GM: And the water passes your lips and it's clean and cool. It's like the best wellspring water you've ever tasted. And as it's still glowing magically as it passes your lips, Roll a D10.

Loyal: Oh, shit.

Fenwarin: Ok.

Taury: [Laughs] Another step!

GM: And Morana backs up again! 

All: [Laugh]. 

Fenwarin: This is so good! [Laughs]

GM: Right, a roll result of 9. Alright, you now have a +2 bonus on all attack rolls during your next combat.

Loyal: Oh shit! Nice!

Taury: Ah dude!

Fenwarin: Oh! Holy hell! Not shabby.

Loyal: "I got a feeling he got a good result."

GM: Yeah, so the magic, you feel the warmness inside as the glow subsides within you, and you feel a bit more confident in combat.

Fenwarin: "Well, that water was so good. And I feel a lot better too."

Loyal: "Well now you make me want to try it... Why not? I'll try it." Oh this is going to end poorly.

GM: All right, so you're doing the same thing, scooping up some water and drinking it.

Loyal: Yep.

All: [Laugh]

Loyal: We're playing with fucking fate here.

GM: Alright. Loyal, you drink in some of the golden, pure, clean water, it's delicious, crisp and cool. Roll a D10.

Loyal: 2.

GM: All right, as the the golden glow subsides within you and you feel that magical warmth subsiding, you feel a little stiff in the joints.

Taury: Oh, boy.

Fenwarin: Uh oh.

Loyal: I have bad track record.

GM: You will be taking a negative 2 penalty on all armor class during your next combat.

Loyal: Nice. Cool.

Taury: Wow.

Loyal: That didn't end- no, mmm mmm.

Fenwarin: Wow.

Loyal: "I don't see what you're talking about. I mean it tasted good, but afterwards? I don't feel great."

Fenwarin: "That's really odd."

Loyal: One of the roll results, like 3 is like a fireball is casted on where basin is.

Taury: [Laughs]  The whole thing implodes.

Fenwarin: [Laughs] Summon dragon!

Taury: I feel like Taury is going to drink too, if they're all drinking.

Loyal: Yeah! Do it.

Fenwarin: Chug, chug! No. [Laughs]

Taury: [Laughs] We're all going to die.

GM: Are you drinking?

Taury: Yeah, Fuck it!

GM: All right? Same thing, I need a D10 from you.

Taury: Alright.

GM: This is some of the best water you've ever tasted.

Taury: Wow.

GM: All right, you feel a little bit of like a mental fog.

Taury: Mm hmm. That's not good.

GM: As you taste this water, it's so good, it's all you can think about for the next combat, you take a negative 2 penalty on all saving throws.

Taury: Oh that's not the worst.

Loyal: Oh, could be worse yeah.

Fenwarin: Yeah.

Taury: Watch these guys we fight be fucking all about those saving throws.

That's all the time we have for now. To learn more about the show, the cast, etc. head over to http://wayward-expeditions.com/ .