Wayward Expeditions - Rise of the Runelords - Episode 19

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 try 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: When we left off, you had just entered a decrepit crypt and the party is split in attempting to climb a wall with much difficulty. Fenwarin it is your turn.

Fenwarin: Oh man. Out a character question, if I back up from the cliff, can I get a better view of the monsters up there and maybe take a shot?

GM: If you have dark vision, yes.

All: [Laugh]

Fenwarin: Ah!

GM: However, you don't and there's no light up there, so no.

Fenwarin: Yeah, no, of course.

Taury: Also, rather rude of you to call Taury a monster, but ok.

Fenwarin: [Laughs] Yeah, you soak that up if you want to. Sure.

Taury: Oh that dark vision thing is going to be so endlessly funny every time it becomes relevant.

Fenwarin: It's completely relevant now. Yeah.

Taury: Ok, well, if you really want to see anything, maybe do the thing you were going to do last session.

Fenwarin: “Someone drop a light up there!”

Taury: “You know, someone up here is kind of busy, so maybe do that yourself. “

Fenwarin: “No.”

Taury: Throw one of your torches up.

Fenwarin: Can I? 

Loyal: Yeah.

GM: Roll for it, it will be a ranged attack. So that's dex based.

Fenwarin: Oh, dammit. Ok, well, let's see.

Taury: Man, if you set Taury on fire, this is just going to be such an overwhelming-

Loyal: It'll be funny.

Fenwarin: I'll be glad.

Fenwarin: Very funny.

Taury: Hey, don't take you shit against me out on Taury.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Loyal: Could be worse.

GM: All right.

Taury: 14's not bad.

Fenwarin: So how did that 14 work? I mean, it's 20 feet up.

GM: Yeah, that will succeed. I'm setting up the torch right now.

Fenwarin: Oh cool.

Taury: Is Taury on fire?

GM: No.

Taury: Good

Fenwarin: Damit!

Taury: Bastard!

Loyal: Son of a bitch!

Taury: Listen Quiet. Don't type it in the Discord, say it out loud. Hide your sass in Discord where no one can hear it?

Fenwarin: Just enjoy the derails! [Laughs]

Markus: What? You mean the comment I was deliberately putting in text so it wouldn't derail us, which was about derailing the session?!

All: [Laugh]

Taury: You should know that that would derail me like-

Loyal: We're in such a mood today, its great!

Markus: Yes, but you had the opportunity to reply in text.

Fenwarin: Don't type it then, don't type it then... Hey, I can see stuff. Nice.

GM: Alright Fenwarin, that was a standard action, what else are you doing, if anything?

Fenwarin: I'd like to shoot one of the skeletons.

GM: Alright, you can just barely see the tops of their heads over this ledge.

Fenwarin: Hmmm, would that be a minus to anything?

GM: It is considered advanced cover or superior cover, I forget the actual term of it. It works out as a +8 to their AC.

Taury: Ooh.

Fenwarin: Ah.

Taury: That's rude.

Loyal: Magic missile, always hits.

Taury: Do you want me to throw one of them down?

GM: Improved cover, that's the term.

Taury: Because I could throw one of them down. I think that's what I was going to do last session. I was thinking about it.

Fenwarin: I mean, that's a solution too, yeah.

Taury: But then I didn't want to throw it down and then you all die. 

Fenwarin: [Laughs] Squash Markus. Boomp!

Taury: Yeah, well, no, just because your health is looking a bit unhealthy.

Fenwarin: Yeah, yeah, it is, yeah, I'm going to use my cursed magic missile wand to make sure I maybe hit.

GM: Alright, roll that percentile.

Fenwarin: Yeah. Oh ho ho. Oh yeah, it hits.

GM: 1D4 force damage, which one are you targeting?

Fenwarin: The one on the right. Hey!

GM: Felled it.

Taury: Hey!

GM: Yes. 3D4+3 force damage to the skeleton, no need to roll it. They don't have that much HP. 

Fenwarin: Ok.

Taury: Oh man, way to dent our ego.

GM: If you rolled all ones it'd be enough.

Taury: Here we were thinking we were badass.

Markus: Oh, I thought it was a first level wand?

Fenwarin: No, it's a third level wand. 

Markus: Oh! Nice!

GM: Yeah. Alright, Taury, your turn.

Taury: I mean, I had my scythe out. And I was swinging, so I'll probably do that again. Again with the low rolls and the high damage, goddamnit.

Loyal: Yup. Typical Taury, low attack roll, hgh damage roll.

GM: Doing anything else?

Taury: Eh no, I don't think so. Not really much to do, really.

GM: Alright, it swings at you twice, hitting once for 5 damage.

Taury: Sure.

GM: It takes us to Morana.

Morana: I still don't have- Hmmm, let's see if I move over this way can I get a line of sight. So would I be able to see that from there?

GM: Yes.

Morana: All right, it can go ahead and... Well, actually I don't know if-

GM: I believe you're out of range for that.

Morana: Yeah probably would be. And if I got up against the wall I wouldn't be able to see it would I?

GM: Nope.

Morana: Well, doesn't leave me a whole lot of choice. You know what? Fuck it, I'm going to try to climb the rope.

GM: Alright.

Loyal: Do it!

GM: Climb check. Alright, Morana, you scale the rope very easily.

Morana: Nice. That would be 10 feet too. I probably wouldn't be able to get to the top in one turn, would I?

GM: No. 

Morana: OK, well that's it for me then.

GM: All right, Markus. Morana is begun climbing the rope, about halfway up right now.

Markus: ... Uh no that's touch range, so that's not going to help.

Taury: Put it this way, at least you're climbing up the rope, and not succeeding, as opposed to trying to climb down and failing. 

Loyal: That's fair. 

Taury: Which, you know, has happened in campaigns I've watched where people have fallen to their death by failing a climb check on a rope.

Loyal: Yeah, yeah.

Taury: While succeeding on catching another person, and still then failing another climb Roll! [Laughs]

Markus: Yeah, I don't want to risk interfering with Morana when she's climbing. I need to step back to actually be able to see those things wouldn't I?

GM: Correct. 

Markus: OK, I'm assuming standing there they'd still have a reasonable cover. 

GM: Yes. 

Markus: But there's probably not a better place for me to stand where they wouldn't have cover, is there? 

GM: No. 

Markus: Yeah, yeah, OK.

GM: No, this is not a tactically advantageous spot for you.

Loyal: Yeah not at all. He has the high ground.

Markus: Oh, did we do identifying these things previously?

GM: No.

Markus: Ok, nobody's identified them? Ok, yeah.

Taury: We were too busy going to get attacked buy them.

Loyal: I can't see them right now.

Markus: Ok, well, there's a torch up there, so, yeah, you're too close.

Loyal: Yeah I'm up against the wall right now.

Markus: Yeah, what knowledge skill to identify these things? Religion.

GM: Religion.

Loyal: First nat 1!

GM: Even though you rolled a nat 1, you still identify a humanoid skeleton.

Taury: But he's questioning it.

GM: And you get one question about this creature.

Loyal: Is that a skeleton? 

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Markus: Resistances and immunities? I know it has some I can't remember exactly what.

GM: They are resistant to everything but bludgeoning damage, and are immune to cold.

Markus: All right, yeah. Sorry, when you say everything but bludgeoning damage, I take it you mean conventional damaging types like piercing, slashing rather than everything but. Or are you talking about DR/ bludgeoning?

GM: DR/ bludge.

Markus: Right. Ok. So, like, fire would still potentially affect them, just not any, like, physical attacks, unless it's bludgeoning?

GM: Right.

Markus: Yeah, yeah, that's what I meant to say, OK. In which case... Yeah, no, I don't think there's anything I can do.

GM: All right, that takes us to Loyal.

Loyal: Cool. Seeing as Morana is there. Isn't delaying a turn a thing?

GM: Yeah.

Loyal: OK, I'll just delay until after Morana to try and climb up once Morana is like actually up.

GM: Ok, Fenwarin.

Fenwarin: Yeah, let's shoot the wand at the third guy as well. Oh, yeah!

Loyal: We haven't had your wand fail yet.

Taury: I like to imagine if his wand did fail, he'd just throw it at them and do like a very small portion of damage anyway.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Loyal: One.

Taury: Yeah.

GM: And that ends combat.

Fenwarin: Wooh.

Morana: We'll take 10 to get the rest of the way up the rope.

Loyal: I will also take 10 to climb up,

Taury: 

Fenwarin: Yeah.

Taury: Oh, no! I want a half an hour of us trying to get up a rope.

Loyal: [Laughs] Trying to climb up.

Taury: Why would you steal my joy? [Laughs]

GM: Alright, taking 10 will be fine, there's no risk anymore.

Taury: There's still a risk of, like, you know, embarrassment.

Loyal: How injured does Runty look? No, not Runty, Taury rather.

Taury: Considerably uncomfortable.

GM: Little battered, starting to form some bruises, maybe a couple of scratches with some dried blood.

Fenwarin: I'll take my torch back as well.

Loyal: I'll look at Taury, "Do you need Healing?"

Taury: You get a nod and a grunt.

Loyal: I'll hand her my cure wounds extract. Cure light wounds extract rather. Have 6 points of healing.

Markus: Were these skeletons carrying anything with them?

GM: They've got, like, really old stuff like moth eaten, and just ancient clothes that are disintegrating off of them, maybe like some really rusted, like chainmail or studded leather. Any weapons that they would have carried were still sheathed and are piece bound by all the rust. You can't even draw them out of their scabbards.

Markus: "Hmmm, I wonder how the goblins got past these things."

Loyal: "I feel that they probably didn't."

Markus: "They were talking about somebody just sending someone to see the dragon, and the dragon was through the crypt, I'm assuming that undead came from a crypt, so?"

Loyal: "Yeah, goblins can be sneaky. So that's probably what happened?

Fenwarin: "Maybe they had a secret tunnel."

Loyal: "I guess, or maybe these these creatures came out recently before they last visited the dragon, or after rather."

Markus: "Maybe, but wouldn't that sort of thing imply that somebody had made them then?"

Loyal: "It would or they were just they were here already and previously undisturbed."

Markus: "And something else triggered them to become active. Yeah OK." Furtive, can we have a description of this area again? Is there anything else up here beyond these things?

GM: The chamber at the top of the cliff looks like it was once some sort of ceremonial burial chamber, but is now just a ruin with bones and cobwebs littering the place. A gentle wind blows through, carrying with it the faint sound of something shuffling in the darkness. That shuffling has stopped because you have dealt with the skeletons.

Taury: Dealt with them. Asked them ever so politely to stop being undead. 

Loyal: [Chuckles] Please stop.

GM: Aggressive diplomacy.

Taury: Yeah.

Markus: Yeah, does it look like there's anything other than like its used as a crypt, does it look like there's any signs of people having been up here recently or anything like that?

GM: No, but you can give me a Perception or a Survival. No, you don't notice anything out of the ordinary.

Markus: Ok. "Well, if this is the crypt, I think we should be careful about how we advance."

Loyal: "That would probably be smart, yes."

Morana: Can we tell if this crypt is dedicated to any particular belief?

GM: Knowledge Religion. It appears that everyone buried here was a Desnite. But you don't see the butterfly insignia. This is a very ancient version of the Desnan holy symbol and it is of a star instead.

Fenwarin: Ok. Would Fenwarin know the ancient symbol for the Desnites?

GM: A knowledge Religion. 

Fenwarin: Alright.

Markus: Yeah, I'm going to.

Loyal: Ooh!

GM: No, Fenwarin, you are not familiar with this Desnan symbology, Markus you are aware that this symbol was last commonly used over a thousand years ago?

Markus: Ok, so really ancient.

Loyal: Old ass crypt.

Taury: [Laughs] That's what it says on the doorway, "Old ass crypt."

Loyal: [Laughs] That's the name of the dungeon.

Markus: "Well, does anybody have any preparations they want to take care of before we potentially meet a dragon?"

Loyal: "Not really. I'm out of my extracts, but they were mainly used for healing, so I think that's fine."

Fenwarin: "Does anyone have healing for me, perhaps?"

Morana: "I could use a little as well."

Loyal: "Markus, that wand we found earlier."

Markus: "That was one of the things I was thinking of, yes. Do you have any healing extracts left?"

Loyal: "I'm out."

Markus: "Completely. OK. Yes, let's let's use some of this wand then, and he'll approach Fenwarin first."

Dragon: "I smell you."

Loyal: Ah fuck!

Fenwarin: Oh shit!

Taury: Do not like!

Loyal: Fuck!

All: [Laugh]

Fenwarin: Shit.

Loyal: Was that in Draconic or Common?

GM: It was in Common.

Taury: Great.

Morana: "Well that's polite at least."

Taury: Great!

Fenwarin: Oh man!

Loyal: I just exhale.

Dragon: "Why do you come here?"

Loyal: "That's a good question, actually."

GM: This voice is echoing throughout the cave, the crypt, rather.

Loyal: "Well there goes any form of possible surprise."

Markus: Markus will have completed because he was he was basically mid casting from the wand, so Fenwarin have 8 points of healing.

Fenwarin: "Thank you Markus. Now where's that voice coming from?"

Morana: "Everywhere, apparently."

Markus: "Well. Should we be polite?"

Morana: "That would be my suggestion in this case."

Loyal: "There would be no harm in being polite."

Morana: "I'd still like just a touch of healing before we do anything further." 

Markus: "OK." And Markus will cast another cure light wounds out of the wand for Morana.

Dragon: "Show yourselves."

Morana: "Thank you." And Morana starts moving forward.

Taury: Where's the noise coming from?

GM: You can clearly tell it's echoing from the passageway around this corner.

Taury: Great.

Loyal: Brilliant amazing

Taury: I'm excited. What a day to die. And Taruy is trudging along that way.

Morana: Have most of Fenwarin's wounds closed up or is he still looking a bad way?

Fenwarin: Yeah, I'm looking great now.

Taury: Yeah he swishes his hair! [Laughs] It's like a L'oreal ad with that fuckin elven hair.

GM: You might want to wait for the rest of the group Morana.

Loyal: Yeah.

Morana: I'm on the stairs.

GM: Ok, just checking.

Loyal: Oh boy. Single-file hallways, I love Single-file hallways.

Taury: Ah. We have such good experience with those.

Fenwarin: Especially last time.

Morana: Yes, we do.

Taury: Wow, this is a supertight halllway. That I don't like this at all.

Dragon: "Ah, there you are."

Loyal: Oh boy.

Fenwarin: Great.

Dragon: "Welcome."

Morana: Morana's calmly make her way down the rest of the stairs. "Yes, yes, hello."

Taury: Yeah, Taury has sheathed her, the blade on her staff.

Loyal: Yeah, I have no weapons out currently.

Fenwarin: Yeah same.

GM: Alright. You work your way down the stairs, the winding passageway ends at the bottom of the staircase in the back of the ancient warren, set inside this hillside. Open to the sky above, this crumbling ruins is littered with debris. On the far side of the chamber, a pile of glittering gold and sparkling trinkets is piled up into a sizable hoard. The view of the treasure, however, is obscured as a terrible winged dragon swoops into view, landing in front of you. As it snarls its black fangs drip with green acid that burn the floor where it lands.

Fenwarin: Oh Man.

Dragon: "Supplicants. Why have you entered my den?"

Taury: Taury is just staring at it, like directly at it's eyes.

GM: Give me a Perception check Taury. 

Taury: Great.

Morana: I will be looking as well.

Taury: Oh, this is like an unbroken stare.

Morana: Is everyone afraid to make this perception roll?

GM: Sure.

Taury: Oh, what a fucking roll?! What a time to roll high!

GM: All right, all of you that rolled 10 or better notice that scattered around this room are piles of bones, but they all appear to be livestock or wild animals. No humanoid skeletons are here.

Loyal: Ok. So it's not killing people yet.

GM: Taury and Markus, both of you notice one of its fangs is missing.

Loyal: From the Adventure Board, it's Black Fang.

Taury: Missing like it was just fell out or missing, like it was like torn out?

GM: Like it has been broken off.

Taury: Yeah, so it doesn't like people.

GM: Well you're assuming how it broke, but maybe?

Taury: Yeah. No, that's what I mean, that's my assumption.

Loyal: According to the board, it was in an animal corpse.

Taury: Oh man. Doesn't brush his teeth.

GM: When your teeth drip acid, do you need to brush them?

Taury: Fair, that's very fair.

Loyal: Kills off the bacteria. I kind of look at every one, if someone's going to take the the lead on this.

GM: They all seem to be about as dumbstruck as you at the moment.

Taury: For reference, Taury doesn't look dumbstruck, she looks badass, but is totally dumbstruck but doesn't look like it. [Laugha]

Morana: Morana finally speaks up and says, "Well, we were actually intending to deal with giant spiders, but we ended up in the wrong place, and there were goblins here which have been giving us some issue. And this is not where we expected to end up."

Dragon: "Hmmm. You hunt the Mutterer."

Morana: "I'm sorry the what? I didn't quite catch that."

Dragon: "The Mutterer?"

Loyal: "Do you know what's causing these spiders to leave the forest?"

Dragon: "Do you doubt the knowledge I hold for my own domain?"

Loyal: "Just curious."

Morana: Is there a knowledge check I could make on that? 

Markus: On the name, yeah. 

Morana: Yeah.

GM: Local.

Markus: Is there any point making an untrained check on that?

Taury: I mean.

Loyal: Well, there's a natural 20!

Morana: Shazam!

GM: Absolutely not! Nat 20. No, you can't make this untrained. Alright, so the Mutterer is something that was mentioned by one of the Sczarni who came back from Egan's Wood about a month or so ago. Apparently a group of them had gone in there to try to make a hideout or something. And he was the only survivor that managed to escape the forest alive. The encounter that they had has sent the man insane, and he's currently residing at Habe's Sanatorium, and just keeps referring to this creature or this thing called the mutterer that was stalking them and taunting them the entire time. A few of the local kids have started making up like ghost stories about the Mutterer and how he will creep into town and get you. But until this mention, it was just a one off story.

Morana: Right, it was just considered a rumor, and the rantings of a madman.

GM: Exactly.

Morana: I assume none of us would have heard that at all. We just literally don't recall that name at all. 

GM: Yeah. 

Taury: Cool.

Morana: "Hmm, I see." Morana looks lost in thought for a minute.

Dragon: "What gifts have you brought your Lord today?"

Morana: Well out of character the goblins are saying that the dragon really loved that statue the one was carrying, right?

Loyal: The little toy?

Markus: That doll. Yeah.

Loyal: I gave that to someone I think.

Morana: Yeah, I have it.

Loyal: Ok. You have it, that's what I thought.

Taury: Also, we forgot to bring the corpse with us. Shit. [Laughs]

Morana: "Well, we had heard that you were rather fond of this." And Morana will pull the doll out of her robes.

Dragon: "A magnificent craftsmanship of my regal visage."

Morana: "Well, if I were able to approach, I would leave it with you."

GM: It nods.

Morana: Morana will step forward and... 

Markus: Before Morana steps forward SENSE MOTIVE!

All: [Laugh]

Taury: The instant, instant sense motive!

Loyal: Rolled it!

Morana: You go ahead, Morana will step forward and lay it on the hoard in front of it.

GM: The hoard is actually behind the dragon-

Morana: Ok.

GM: -more back in this area.

Morana: Ok, well, so she'll set it on the ground in front of it and step back.

Dragon: "This pleases me." Looking at the others, "And your gifts?"

Loyal: I will take out one of those pearls that I found earlier, hold it up.

GM: Ok. Taury and Markus, you've never really encountered a dragon before, but if a dragon could smile, this is probably what it's doing right now. It seems to enjoy your presence.

Taury: As in like it's getting off on terror? Or it's just having the time of its life?

GM: It seems to be enjoying having people to talk to and yeah.

Taury: Oh, no, canonically, it's a lonely dragon.

Loyal: Most dragons are.

Taury: No! Don't make it sad!

Loyal: Dragons usually don't live with each other.

Markus: Yeah. All dragons are typically lonely other than the ones that have like minions like goblins or kobolds.

Loyal: I guess they had, but they're dead now.

Taury: Well alone is not lonely, right? Are we saying he's a lonely dragon or are we saying he's alone? [Laughs]

GM: An important distinction.

Markus: Fair point.

Loyal: So with that pearl I will step forward and lay it at his feet.

GM: He accepts it.

Markus: What skill is it again for knowledge of dragons?

GM: Arcana.

Taury: Is that just to know anything about them?

GM: Yes.

Loyal: Well, OK.

GM: Ok. Markus and Loyal, this is your first time seeing a dragon, it exceeds everything you ever heard or expected. Runty you identify a black dragon. It appears to be adult in figure, Fenwarin you notice this as well. But it doesn't seem to have all of the adult characteristics yet. It seems to be right on the cusp of going from adolescence into adulthood. Morana, you identify a black dragon and are fully convinced this is an adult black dragon, Taury and Fenwarin both get two questions. Morana gets one about what you know about these creatures.

Taury: It's not common, right, to see dragons around the place?

Loyal: Generally, not I don't think.

Taury: Like, even at the distance kind of thing, you just don't see him, right? You just hear about them maybe.

GM: It would be a Knowledge local.

Taury: Ok, I'll do that with my lack of local knowledge.

GM: Ok, Taury, you grew up in this region, you know that pretty much every year there is a dragon sighting right around this time of year, flying from about where you are now, from the Devil's Platter over Sandpoint out to the Dragon's Punchbowl and then after a few days, returns.

Taury: Would Tuary know anything about the Dragon's Punch Bowl?

GM: Yes, you would know that it is a roosting spot and haven for a colony of wyvern.

Taury: Ok, so it's going to get its dragon freak on, right?

GM: You can assume what you want.

Taury: I don't want to think about that, honestly. Ok.

Morana: I'm gonna go with ecology for my one question.

GM: Alright, lording over darkness, swamps and marshes, black dragons are the undisturbed masters of their domains, ruling through cruelty and intimidation. Those who dwell within a Black Dragons reach live in fear. Typically, black dragons tend to make their lairs in remote parts of swamps, preferably in caves at the bottom of dark and fetid pools, inside which they pile up their filthy treasures and sleep amid the roots and muck. Black Dragons prefer their food a bit rotten and will often allow a meal to sit in a pool for days before consuming it. Black Dragons prefer treasures that do not rot or decay, making their hoard full of coins, gemstones, jewelry and other objects made from stone or metal. Hissing green acid drips from the fangs and maws of these black scaled horned dragons.

Loyal: Fun.

Fenwarin: I'd like to know resistance's and immunity's then.

GM: Alright, it is immune to acid, paralysis and sleep, it is resistant to all damage types that are not magical.

Loyal: Oh, nice.

Taury: Oh, fucking great!

Fenwarin: Oh.

Loyal: Fuck, nice, brilliant.

Taury: So I guess Taury is just going to sit there and sharpen her scythe.

Loyal: Maybe sharpen it enough before it becomes magical.

Taury: Yeah, Jesus.

GM: All right, Taury, you've got two questions, what would you like to know?

Taury: Yeah. Well then what's its weaknesses?

GM: It it has no weakness.

Fenwarin: Of course.

Taury: Of course it doesn't. Of course it doesn't. Ok.

Fenwarin: I'll use my final question to ask what kind of attacks it has.

GM: Do you want to know about normal attacks or special attacks? 

Fenwarin: Special.

GM: Or spell-like abilities?

Fenwarin: Yeah, special and stuff like that.

GM: Special attacks. All right, it has a breath weapon

Loyal: Well.

GM: And can corrupt water.

Loyal: Oh, fun. Nice.

Fenwarin: There we go! Water.

Taury: Our worst enemy yet!

Loyal: Fucking water.

Taury: It's going to drown us.

Fenwarin: In corrupt water. 

Taury: Yeah. Or give us so much PTSD just by conjuring water.

Fenwarin: [Laughs] Yup, those were my two questions.

Markus: If you're struggling to think of a question, AC hit dice, hit points, anything along those lines?

Taury: Yeah, I'm just trying to think of something clever. This is the thing. We'll go with hit dice.

GM: Ok, you wanna know hit dice.

Taury: Yeah.

GM: Alright, you know that a normal adult black dragon has 14 hit dice.

Loyal: Ha! Nice.

GM: You're also aware that this particular dragon is not actually that tough because it is not a full adult yet.

Taury: Yeah, it's a teenager.

Loyal: You don't understand Mom!

Taury: [Laughs] Yeah, it's basically doing the teenage dragon equivalent of sulking in its cave, listening to only heavy metal exclusively. Dragon metal as it's called.

GM: Yeah, you you estimate this dragon has roughly 7 hit dice, maybe 8. Not the full 14.

Taury: Alrighty.

Morana: Ok, leaps of logic are a flat intelligence check right?

GM: Yes.

Morana: Ok, so from what we've been told, this dragon has been here a while now, as in years, up to possibly decades, because of the stories you mentioned about flying back and forth every year.

GM: Uh huh.

Morana: OK, and what we're seeing here from those bones that you mentioned, there were livestock, they were wild animals, game, things like that. So a leap of logic from in the time that it has been here, if it were a danger to the people living in the town and the surrounding areas, there would be human bones in here or humanoid bones in here.

Loyal: Yeah, it's not killing people.

Taury: Mm hmm. Or maybe he just likes the taste of human bones, so it just needs the bones.

Loyal: Possible.

Taury: It doesn't like animal bones, so it doesn't need those.

Loyal: It's probably smart, and knows that if it attacked people, then people would be set after it.

Morana: Dragons ain't dumb.

Loyal: They're smart yea, they're very intelligent creatures.

Morana: Right, so it's made a logical conclusion that being a danger to the people here would endanger its safety as well.

Loyal: Yeah. 

Markus: Maybe.

Morana: Well, from the evidence we're seeing, it doesn't do that, so. 

Markus: Maybe it's just waiting until it reaches the right age to, you know, make everyone cower in fear?

Taury: Yeah, but wasn't that also part of like that breed, is they like fear and cruelty and such?

Morana: Yeah a little bit of fear makes life worth living.

Taury: Well, what I'm saying is that the fact that they're all afraid of it is enough, it doesn't have to kill them. They're already terrified of it.

Morana: Yeah, I see no reason to think of this thing as a threat to the town.

Taury: I don't either.

GM: Alright, while you all have been having these mental thought processes, remembering what you know of dragons and trying to identify this thing, it has still asked for. You know, what you've brought it as a gift for it to, you know, make you worth it's time to converse with, more or less. Right? Two of you have offered shinies. What about the rest of you?

Taury: Is it looking to anywhere specific? Or is it just kind of looking at everybody?

GM: It seems to be waiting patiently.

Fenwarin: Out of character, what else did we loot that could be offered?

Loyal: I've got two more pearls, but they're pretty valuable, I have a small ruby?

Markus: Which is also pretty valuable.

Loyal: It's about 50. It's not as valuable as the pearls, but.

GM: Various amounts of gold. You got a lot of gold and platinum.

Markus: Yeah.

GM: Yeah.

Markus: And of course, you offered the pearl rather than the ruby, but anyway.

Loyal: Loot variety. 

Taury: [Laughs]

Loyal: I like having varieties.

Taury: Loot variety?!

Loyal: Yeah, I like having a variety of loot.

Fenwarin: Yeah, Fenwarin takes a handful of gold coins and offers it to the dragon to add to its pile.

GM: When you say a handful of coins, how many? Are you counting or are you just grabbing some?

Fenwarin: I'm grabbing some, like say like 20 coins in my hand and walk up to him and you know.

Taury: Is your hand shaking when you do that?

Fenwarin: Yeah! [Laughs]

Taury: I like to imagine they're all falling out of his hands as he's handing it to him.

Fenwarin: This is not a calm situation for Fenwarin. [Laughs]

Taury: [Laughs] Yeah.

Fenwarin: Yeah, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink! [Laughs]

Dragon: "Ha ha ha ha ha."

Fenwarin: "Please accept this offer."

Dragon: "I do."

Fenwarin: Fenwarin steps back, still shaking.

GM: "And you?" looking between Markus and Taury.

Taury: Taury is not reaching for anything.

Loyal: Oh, no! [Laughs] Fuck!

Markus: Yeah, I know.

Loyal: We're dead, we're going to die!

All: [Laugh]

Markus: "I would offer a weapon of fine craftsmanship. I say this because I would not want the gesture of reaching for a weapon to be misinterpreted." And he will slowly and carefully reach and hold out the masterwork ranseur that he still currently carrying.

GM: The one from the catacombs? 

Markus: Yes.

GM: Ah. 

Dragon: "Hmmm... Approach."

Markus: Markus will slowly, carefully approach.

Loyal: And stab the dragon in the neck.

Markus: No, no.

Taury: Listen, you did that to a demon, so, look, it's very possible.

Markus: Oh yeah, that. That's conversation for another time. Markus will approach the dragon, slowly lay the ranseur at the feet of the dragon and then back away again.

Loyal: Everyone's looking at Taury.

Fenwarin: Yeah.

Loyal: "Come on."

Taury: Taury's still staring at the dragon.

Dragon: "I see that my presence unnerves you."

Taury: "Then you assume."

Dragon: "You have no gifts for your Lord?"

Taury: "I have nothing to give."

Dragon: "Hmmm... Perhaps your companions will pay your price."

Loyal: Hearing that, I will pull out the small ruby, "Please accept this gift in her in her stead." And I'll way the ruby down at the feet, then step back.

Dragon: "Hmmm... I will accept this offer even to my greatness."

GM: He then puts his clawed hand down on top of all the treasures you've just laid before him, swipes it back and then with a flick of the tail, sweeps them all back in to the side of the hoard behind him.

Dragon: "Now, what business do you have with me? I will hear your supplications."

Morana: "Well, since it seems you know more than we do of what's going on in the forest, what can you tell us about this, Mutterer? I had heard whispers, rumors, but this is the first direct reference that I've heard that can be believed."

Dragon: The Mutterer, a coward, but a crafty adversary for ones like you. He controls the wood and commands the spiders. If you, enter Egan's Wood expect death. For he has ensured that that domain remains his through guile and subterfuge."

Morana: "Ensured that through his own actions or does he served some higher power?"

Dragon: "If you wish to know that, find him and speak to them if you can."

Morana: Morana just gets a look on her face like, "hmm that makes sense."

Loyal: Loyal is keeping an eye on Taury. Worried about what she might do.

Morana: Out of character, I can't think of anything else off the top of my head to ask about, unless uh well.

Loyal: I have something I want to ask. Loyal will say "You've been attacking livestock, but not people, it's probably smart, but you might want to be careful because even livestock tend to worry the people around here."

Dragon: "Hmmm"

GM: Roll a Persuasion. [Laughs]

Loyal: Ah ha!

GM: Basic diplomacy, sir.

Taury: Also, did you just threaten a fucking dragon?

Loyal: No, I just said you might want to be careful.

Taury: Yeah, but in one way, that's like "You might want to be careful"- pointy sword.

Loyal: No. I'm just saying-

Taury: I don't know man. [Laughs]

Markus: Yeah, just don't miss-roll this persuasion.

Taury: I'm just saying, if I was-

Loyal: Oh, I have an 8 charisma so-

Taury: If I was the lord of my domain and someone told me to be "careful".

Loyal: Ok. Could have been a lot worse. Could have been a zero.

GM: [Laughs]

Taury: As is thematic for our party.

GM: It could have.

Markus: Yeah.

Dragon: "Know your place human, but there are nuggets of wisdom to what you say. Be my vessel, serve me and help smooth this perceived transgression."

Loyal: Alright.

GM: Are you saying, all right, out loud,

Loyal: I'll say, "Yeah, Ok. Alright."

GM: Ok.

Morana: "Now, to that end, could there be the possibility that we could work out an arrangement where, say, some of the local farms set aside some livestock specifically for you, in exchange for peace between us?" Don't know if that would require diplomacy or not.

GM: Yes.

Loyal: Good suggestion though.

Taury: It is, but he sees it at his as his domain.

Loyal: I mean yes it's like all of it's mine anyway, so why the fuck should I care?

Taury: Yeah.

Morana: Another 17.

Dragon: "Interesting. I will agree, if, you aid me."

Morana: "In what?"

Dragon: "I seek to overthrow my sister."

Loyal: Oh, no.

Dragon: "I have gone out to the Devil's Punchbowl every year to challenge her for her control of the coasts. Every year I am defeated. Help me thwart her and I will agree to your poultry terms."

Markus: "If I may? You are obviously a mighty creature. How could we aid you in such a task if it is beyond someone such as yourself? Surely we are far less than you?"

GM: All right, good question.

Loyal: Well phrased.

GM: And I will need a diplomacy with that, you will get a +4 because of how well that was phrased.

Loyal: Very well phrased.

GM: And because you have been actually succeeding there diplomacies, he is actually friendly towards you right now.

Loyal: Ok, yeah.

GM: You offered treasure to him. You've placated his ego very well. So, yeah, +4 to this. Taury you are sensing motive. What are you trying to drive specifically?

Taury: His story about his sister. And wanting us to help him. Is that actually why he wants us to help them? Does he actually want help? Or what's-?

GM: You sense he is being completely serious and sincere about this request. Very nice diplomacy role.

Loyal: Woo.

Markus: That's including the +4 bonus.

GM: Alright.

Taury: 29. Nice.

Dragon: "I've procured a trinket, but am ill suited for its use. If you rid the area of her, I will look favorably on you and the town you represent."

GM: Yeah, his tail flicks back into the hoard and reveals a sword, and then flicks it forward, it slides across the ground to in front of him.

Markus: Can we identify that from where it is? Or would we need to actually be examining it properly?

GM: You can identify with the use of Detect magic, or you can request to grab it and do normal Spellcraft and whatnot to try to identify it.

Morana: I mean, Morana would Detect magic out of reflex.

GM: Yeah. It's a magic sword.

Morana: All right.

GM: The longer you stare at it, the the more you realize that this is moderate evocation.

Morana: Ok. Spellcraft, I guess.

GM: You could also make a Perception check on this Loyal.

Loyal: Ok. Roll of 4, that's like a 12.

GM: That is still good enough, you recognize the outline of this blade as the indentation that was in that chest where you found the potions.

Loyal: Oh, gotcha.

GM: All right, Morana, you identify a +1 dragon bane longsword.

Loyal: Ooh!

Fenwarin: Ooh.

Loyal: I like it.

Morana: Well then.

Taury: So the dragon just handed you like an anti dragon sword?

Markus: Yup. "Such a task would likely take a degree of planning, it may take us time."

Dragon: "Time, I can grant you. I must have revenge eventually. It will still be revenge no matter when it is dealt out."

Morana: "The best vengeance does come when, and from where, someone is least expecting it.”

Taury: Out of character, did he specifically say we would kill her? Or did he imply we as a team, including the Dragon, would be killing his sister?

GM: Intelligence check. All right. It wasn't super clear, but it was implied that, you know, there'd be assistance, you'd be working together. Morana you're pretty sure you're in this alone.

All: [Laugh]

Loyal: Yeah.

Taury: I was going to say is there like a check that Taury could do to Sense motive or some bullshit?

GM: Nope.

Taury: Literally just assuming. Sure, this dragon I already don't like, totally is going to help?

Markus: I'm fairly certain there was a specific wording in the conversation, but.

Taury: No, he said he wanted us to aid him. He didn't specifically say in what context.

Markus: No, I'm talking about a different point. Furtive, do you want me to roll something?

GM: Roll the intelligence yeah.

Taury: Man, I'd love it if Markus also doesn't know.

Markus: Oh shit.

Taury: Yeah! [Laughs]

GM: Yeah, whatever you as a player have picked up on, your character missed it. That's- sorry.

Markus: Yeah. No that's fine.

GM: Yep.

Markus: I tend to spot particular uses of words because I tend to be pedantic about what words I use myself, so.

GM: Yep, understood.

Morana: Morana is staring at the sword still. Looking again, briefly lost in thought.

Loyal: "Well, if your sister is as powerful as we're led to believe, what can you tell us that would help us in our task?"

Dragon: "She commands a clutch of wyverns. They serve her. She spends her time beneath the seas, wrecking ships and stealing their treasures. She will be difficult to encounter. She is also a clutch, my senior. She took control of her domain when she slew our mother. That is what I wish revenge for, claiming her territory is an added bonus."

Markus: "Well, there might be magics that can help us, but I don't think anyone here is powerful enough to have mastered those yet. So at least with time, that should change."

Dragon: "I've heard rumors of another dragon in the area who also opposes my sister, a wretched brass dragon. Perhaps if you encounter him, he could tell you more. Apparently, they've been at odds for centuries."

Morana: It was arcana to know something about dragons right? 

GM: Yeah.

Taury: I was literally about to as that. Or like specifically this guy that he's mentioned, would we roll anything different?

Morana: Local, maybe, I guess.

Loyal: Oooh!

Markus: So, yeah, Knowledge checks for knowing about brass dragons.

Loyal: Yup.

GM: Alright, brass dragons are metallic dragons, they're good dragons. Unlike chromatics.

Loyal: Yay.

GM: They are also the most sociable of the dragon types and the most likely to have friendly relations with humans on a somewhat regular basis. If I'm recalling correctly, they breathe lightning in lines, not cones. And if what he's saying is true, that'd be pretty cool.

Loyal: Yeah, it'd be nice help if they were willing to help us.

Markus: And Knowledge local, have I heard anything about this one in particular?

GM: Sure.

Taury: Yeah, I want to know that as well.

Loyal: Oh man! Fucking nat 20s! Holy shit,

Fenwarin: Oh!

Taury: Wow!

Morana: Those rolls!

Loyal: So many knowledge check nat 20s god!

Markus: Also, what's the general opinion of brass dragons versus black dragons? I'm assuming they really don't get on?

GM: Yeah, they don't get along as much as any metallic versus chromatic. That would be a Knowledge religion to know more about that though. 

Markus: Ok.

Loyal: Ah.

Taury: Oh boy.

Loyal: Well, for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction.

Taury: Just.

GM: Yeah.

Taury: Yeah.

Loyal: For every nat 20, there's a nat 1.

GM: Markus knows nothing about the religion and whatnot of dragons.

Markus: Yeah, yeah.

GM: You know that all dragons have something to do with Apsu and there's a religion around that, but it's not been one of the things of your study.

Markus: Fair enough.

Taury: Fuck it, I'll do a religion check as well. Oh fuck that's even worse! Oh, great.

Fenwarin: Wow!

Loyal: [Laughs] Like I said for every natural 20 there is a natural one.

GM: Yeah, Taury, you aren't even aware of the the name of Apsu.

Taury: Yeah, cool.

Fenwarin: I'll try too goddammit.

Markus: Yeah. Basically what I was trying to get at. There isn't anything in particular that makes brass dragons and black dragons in particular rivals of each other? Because I know certain dragon types really don't like certain other dragon types sometimes. Depending on the lore of the world. It's just a general thing that chromatic versus metallic?

GM: Yeah.

Markus: Yeah. Ok.

GM: To your understanding, it's just a general chromatic versus metallic rivalry, for whatever reason. It's just how it's always been.

Markus: Ok cool.

GM: Alright, Morana. Remember that rumors and whispers thing I mentioned.

Morana: Yes.

GM: Yeah, we're going to use that.

Morana: Alright.

GM: Ok, Morana.

Morana: Yes.

GM: Yes, we are alone in a private chat.

Morana: Indeed.

GM: The others could be saying anything at this moment. We don't know what they're saying because we are isolated. You managed to befriend Ameiko enough where one night she was drunk and just got talking about something, and you know that she is notoriously tight lipped about her adventuring days. She went out with a crew. She came back alone. No one knows what happened. But after coming back, she had massive amounts of wealth and purchase the inn, the Rusty Dragon. This one particular night, you managed to get just a little bit of info from her. After her party had been essentially annihilated or whatever happened to them, she encountered a man on the road. And befriending him through her bardic songs and charms. He revealed himself to be a bronze or brass dragon. There are different types of dragons, I'm just I'm blanking right now in which type he is.

Morana: Yeah, that's understandable.

GM: Yeah, about once every three years or so. It's not yearly, but it's also not on the like a set schedule or anything. He visits the Rusty Dragon in the form of an adventurer, and checks in on her. They've established a friendship and they maintain it.

Morana: Mm hmm.

GM: She named the tavern the Rusty Dragon in his honor.

Morana: Hmm, interesting.

GM: That is the only rumor or confirmation that you remotely remember of there being such a dragon in the area. There are red dragons out on the Storval Plains, there's green dragons in the forests up to the north. There's black dragons around here and in the marshes further south. Some of the mountains, the snow picked ones along the Storval Ridge might even have white dragons, but Varisia is strangely devoid of metallic dragons. So to even learn that one actually is here-

Morana: It's kind of a big deal.

GM: Yeah, and knowing that he might be the only one in all of Varisia. That explains his reluctance to be known.

Morana: Right.

GM: All right, I think we can rejoin the others now.

Morana: Before we do, I will want a private talk with Ameiko when we get back to town.

GM: Ok. And we return. Ok. So.

Taury: Morana is leaving us for a dragon. That's what's happening.

Fenwarin: New romantic interest. Ok.

GM: [Laughs]

Morana: And you're welcome to think that.

Taury: Yeah.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

GM: So what are you guys doing? The sword is still laying on the ground in front of you all.

Fenwarin: Who's taking it?

Markus: No one yet. I think.

Taury: What was the last thing said? It was?

Loyal: It mentioned the brass dragon.

Markus: It mentioned, yeah, the brass.

Taury: Right, I kind of want a Sense motive that about the brass dragon. Wow, that was harder to say than I expected.

GM: Right. In recounting this telling of this other dragon, he didn't seem convinced that this dragon actually exists.

Taury: Oh right, so he just heard it through the grapevine.

Markus: "Well, that certainly seems like it might be helpful. If there aren't any other questions about this particular matter, I was hoping you might be willing to answer another question about your domain?"

Dragon: "What is it?"

Markus: "There is a place called Thistletop. I know it is on the coast, but it is some way down, is that within your domain?"

Dragon: "Yes."

Markus: "We have reason to believe that some of the people residing there are planning to act against the community we represent, would you have any knowledge about that, that could aid us?"

Dragon: "Yes. But it is of none of my concern."

Markus: "Would you be willing to share that knowledge?"

Dragon: "After my sister is dealt with."

Markus: "I see. And is there not some way I could convince you to perhaps share that knowledge now, as a gesture of good faith for us, assisting you in getting your revenge?"

Dragon: "Hmmm... No. No, I think not."

Markus: "I see, well, thank you for being gracious enough to listen to the request."

Dragon: "If you have nothing further, be gone."

Markus: "Given how small, insignificant and unknowledgable we are, just to avoid any potential future misunderstandings, what is the extent of your domain? I think if we can communicate that clearly to others who were obviously unaware, we can avoid potential misunderstandings in the future."

Dragon: "My domain is what I say it is."

Loyal: Yup.

Markus: "Ah. My apologies if I offered offense. I suppose I was trying to ascertain where you consider your domain ends and where, for example, your sister's domain begins? 

Dragon: [Growls]

GM: Sense motive.

Loyal: Didn't like that, he didn't like that!

Markus: Yeah. Oh no he didn't!

All: [Laugh]

Taury: Can we all Sense motive that? Or just Markus?

GM: Yeah, sure. [Laughs]

Taury: Yeah.

GM: That's that's an open fair one. [Laughs]

Markus: Yeah, so, yeah, this dragon really isn't being receptive to the idea of, "Can you mark the borders for your territory on the map please?" 

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Loyal: Yeah, I see what you're going to get out of that. But I dont think he likes that, he's like "it's all mine."

Taury: I don't know if any dragon is like, "Well this bit is mine and this bit is Trisha's."

All: [Laugh]

Taury: Like, I don't think that's a dragon thing that they do!

Markus: No, it really isn't. But.

Taury: Yeah.

Fenwarin: Wow! That impression of the dragon there!

GM: Alright Morana, you don't pick up on any of this, you're distracted with other thoughts, the rest of you are all fairly convinced that if Markus continues this line of discussion, things are not going to continue as amicably as they've been. 

Loyal: [Laughs]

Markus: Yeah.

Fenwarin: Uh huh.

GM: Loyal and Fenwarin, you both are especially picking up on that the Australian might not actually have a domain.

Loyal: Oh, shit! He wants to take it.

Fenwarin: Ooh! He was bluffing.

Markus: Does Markus catch that or not?

GM: No.

Markus: No, ok.

Loyal: I just kind of like nudge Markus and be like, "Perhaps it's best to leave his magnificence alone for now and go perform our task." Then I guess I'd like. "Let's get the fuck out of here!"

Markus: "Of course, my apologies again."

GM: The dragon snarls at you, but doesn't do anything other than that.

Taury: "Why would you enlist the help of humans rather than other dragons?"

Dragon: "You seem resourceful and I also being resourceful will make use of tools as I find them. You serve a purpose for me. Do not disappoint me."

Taury: Wow, everything I'm thinking of I'm like, no, Tauric shouldn't say that, she definitely shouldn't say that! 

All: [Laugh] 

Taury: How to phrase these things without getting killed?

Fenwarin: I'm just imagining, what if you had an 18 and sensed that he doesn't even have a domain too? 

Taury: Oh dude!

Fenwarin: What Taury would have done then?

Taury: You're so lucky.

Fenwarin: Yeah, I guess so.

Markus: Yeah.

Taury: "And why haven't you sought out this other dragon you spoke of?"

Fenwarin: Oh, shit!

Markus: "Taury, he already answered that."

Taury: And she's not listening to Markus, she's watching the Dragon. She heard you by the way, but she's just listening to the dragon.

GM: The dragon's glare snaps from Markus to Taury as this, the current subject of his -what's the word I'm looking for?- antagonization?

Taury: I was hoping you'd just say conversation! [Laughs]

GM: Yes, his displeasure. He's not answering you by the way.

Taury: Oh, she's waiting for the answer.

Loyal: Just kind of like grab Taury, "Let's go!"

GM: After several moments, it becomes clear you're not going to get one.

Taury: Yeah, ok.

Markus: "Well, we should be leaving now. Yes."

Fenwarin: "Yes, please, can we please leave now?"

Morana: Morana's already starting for the stairs.

Loyal: Loyal took a step and is like, "Lets go."

Markus: Is someone taking a step forward for the sword or not?

Loyal: [Laughs] Oh yeah! The sword's still there.

Taury: [Laughs] Where is the sword? Just out of curiosity.

Loyal: It's like therish or there.

Fenwarin: yeah, he pushed it forward to toward us.

Taury: I was hoping when I said that you weren't all terrified that Taury was about to reach for it.

Loyal: Yeah, I'm going to (before one of the people who have pissed him off grab it). I'll step forward and be like, "Thank you for the gift, we'll use it well." And I'll grab it.

GM: He's just watching you take the sword as your group begins to leave through the stairway.

Taury: And before we go, if we go,

Fenwarin: [Laughs] My God!

Taury: What does this room look like for the most part?

Loyal: Ok. [Laughs]

GM: The room he's occupying?

Taury: Yeah.

GM: Like some sort of caved in ruin.

Taury: And there's just gold and shit everywhere? 

GM: Yeah.

Loyal: There's a hoard back there.

Fenwarin: [Laughs] Gold and shit!?

Taury: Well, probably. I'd imagine there actually is dragon shit everywhere, probably.

GM: No.

Loyal: He keeps it clean.

Markus: In his hoard? No, he wouldn't do that.

Taury: Listen, Taury rolled an 11 or something on her intelligence check, she clearly doesn't know anything about dragons. [Laughs] Taury's just gonna like kind of scoff at the dragon.

Fenwarin: Oof! [Laughs]

Loyal: You are playing a dangerous game!

Taury: And turns around and walks up the stairs.

Fenwarin: That dragon is going to be stewing.

GM: Alright... Taury.

Taury: Mm hmm. I don't like how you said that.

GM: How long do you wait before you follow the others?

Taury: Well, I would imagine they were leaving as that kind of silence was happening, right?

Morana: Oh yeah!

GM: Morana definitely was, yes.

Taury: So probably, what, 30 seconds, 10 seconds, something like that, somewhere between 10 and 30 seconds.

GM: Alright, yeah.

Loyal: Loyal is probably waiting on the staircase, making sure everyone fucking leaves.

Markus: Yeah, well-

Taury: Well, she wouldn't have been there long enough for them all to be gone up the stairs, but long enough that she'd be the last one out, by a good few minutes, or seconds I should say. It's important I don't say minutes!

Fenwarin: A good few minutes. Oh shit!

Loyal: [Laughs]

Taury: Yeah. How roasted are you? Fully roasted, tender, raw, medium rare? Yeah.

GM: Ok, give me a Will save then, as you were the last one to leave.

Taury: Great!

Fenwarin: Ooh!

Taury: Gray.

Markus: Ok, yeah. There it is.

Loyal: Nice.

Taury: Oh, fuck yeah dude!

Loyal: Nice.

Taury: My saves are always so good. Everything else is always so shit.

GM: All right, Taury, as you turn and start up the stairs, you feel a wave of terror, assault your mind and you push it down, but you are well aware that this dragon has just affected you or attempted to. You can make a Spellcraft check to determine how.

Taury: I will do that. I was very concerned about the follow up words to "and you can".

GM: All right, you recognize the spell effects of fear. As this dragon is attempting to assert dominance and put you in your place.

Loyal: Its T-posing.

All: [Laugh]

GM: Would you like to make a Sense motive with this since you saved.

Taury: Yes, hell yeah! I had a whole lot of follow up questions there.

GM: All right, that is enough, given what you know that this dragon is not yet actually an adult, you now have the entire previous conversation in your mind, set as if this was a child bluffing his ass off.

Taury: That's good, that achieved then exactly what I wanted that to achieve, which was to figure that out. Cool.

Loyal: I feel like his sister is a bit older than him.

Markus: He's already said that.

Taury: He did, yeah.

Markus: He said she was the clutch before him.

Taury: Yeah,

Loyal: Gotcha. OK,

Taury: Yeah.

Loyal: So dragons do care about familial bonds. Interesting.

Taury: All right, so that didn't affect her? Basically she knew that he was trying to pull some crap. 

GM: Yeah. 

Taury: Cool, I'm now curious as to what the what the fail numbers for that would have been.

Morana: I would have been kind of hilarious if Morana had figured that out, and she just started team mom browbeating a dragon.

Loyal: Oh no! That wouldn't have ended well.

Taury: No, that would have ended so poorly.

Loyal: Alright he's a child, but as far as adventurers go, we're still children too. He's a bigger child.

Taury: So with that, she'd probably turn to like stare at it as whatever it was attempting to inflict fear. Probably would have just looked at it, with that kind of like look that says, "yeah, I know what you're doing and no, I'm not afraid of you" kind of thing. And then just walked up the stairs after the rest of the guys.

Loyal: Dangerous game. Boy! [Laughs nervously]

GM: Alright, so you make it back through the cavern, there's nothing left to explore here.

Loyal: Got a magic item level 2.

Markus: Yeah, we got some interesting things.

Loyal: I don't know how permanent we're going to be allowed to keep that sword, but.

GM: What are you guys doing? Are you leaving the cave entirely immediately? What's your plan now?

Morana: I see no reason to stay here.

Fenwarin: Me neither.

Loyal: Yes, theres no reason to stay here.

Taury: We're probably going to that wood aren't we? Isn't that where we were going to go?

Fenwarin: "I feel very tired."

Loyal: "As do I. Might I suggest that for now we leave the woods alone as that, whatever creature is in there doesn't seem to be leaving the woods, or it's domain over the woods, but it's not going anywhere. This dragon business may cause issues."

Morana: "Before we go to Egan's Wood, there's someone I'd like to attempt to talk to. Unfortunately, as reports have it, he is moderately insane.”

Markus: "Perhaps we should have this conversation further outside?"

Morana: No Morana's saying this as she's walking out.

Loyal: Yeah, I assume we're kind of walking and talking.

Taury: Yeah, we've left.

Loyal: I assume we're outside.

Markus: Are we still in the cave system or whatever, while we're having this conversation? Or are we actually outside?

GM: Yeah you're working your way out, or you're just at the mouth working your way, you know, before you decide which way you travel from the Hinterlands.

Markus: Ok.

GM: Yeah, because you're where the horse is that.

Markus: Yeah.

GM: So you have exited the place, but you have not yet decided which direction to travel, and that's what you are discussing.

Fenwarin: "Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I could certainly use some rest after all this."

Morana: "We should be able to possibly pay a few coins to one of the settlements to gain shelter for the night. I don't feel like going all the way back to town just to rest while we still have things to do. I'd like to make our next stop, actually the Sanatorium, to attempt to speak with the person I mentioned."

Loyal: "I see no issue with that."

Fenwarin: "Sounds good to me."

Taury: "Does the person have a name?"

Morana: Out of character Furtive, would she know the name or would you just have heard the rumor?

GM: You just know the rumor, you're not aware of the individual's name.

Morana: Ok. "I don't know a name in particular, but I know he was part of a group that went into Egan's Wood."

Markus: "Oh. Yes, someone to speak to definitely."

Morana: "Well attempt to. According to rumors, he's not all that conversational anymore."

Taury: "And you said that he is mad, was he mad before he entered Egan's Wood?"

Morana: "No, from what I hear, he went mad while he was in there." 

Taury: "Interesting."

Morana: "That was why the term 'the Mutterer' had sparked some kind of recognition in my mind, that was the rumors of him were where I first heard it, but I had passed it off as being superstition, maybe, or the stories you hear around town. It took me a back a little to hear that it was an actual thing." 

Markus: "I can imagine."

Morana: "And as I said, we should make our way to one of the nearby farms. Perhaps they will put us up for the night."

Loyal: "Hopefully."

Markus: "Yes, that."

Morana: "If not, we camp out somewhere."

Fenwarin: "Yeah, no problem."

Taury: "Well, we have cleared out the caverns. Might not be the worst idea to rest in there?"

Markus: "The caverns did you just say? The place that has a dragon living there?"

Taury: "Yes, a dragon which you're now best friends with. I wasn't suggesting we sleep next to him."

Loyal: "It didn't seem very fond of either you or Markus towards the end of that conversation. Probably best to leave it alone for now."

Markus: "That was my thinking."

Taury: "Well, I wasn't suggesting we sleep in his lair, I was suggesting we sleep just inside here where it's dry."

Markus: "Also known as, inside his lair."

Taury: "Well did you not hear him? Everything is his lair."

Morana: Morana is already climbing on her horses they discussed this.

Loyal: Yeah I'll get on my horse as well.

Markus: "Yeah, time to go."

Loyal: "I'm sure the local farms people can at least keep us for the night."

Morana: "It's not as though we're nobodies."

Fenwarin: "No, and I would prefer that over sleeping in a cave where that dragon thinks it's his domain."

Markus: "Yes."

Taury: Literal eye roll from Taury, as she just trudges over to her horse like, I can't describe it, but it's like-

Fenwarin: Yeah Fenwarin just sighs that your demeanor.

Taury: The reaction, like as if yeah, like you're all like sort of like the equivalent of, like, rich kids pouting. That's the reaction she's giving. It's like, "Oh my god! You're such pansies!" Right? Imagine that, but in bodily demeanor.

Morana: And she can watch all of the fucks Morana gives, blowing on the wind.

Taury: [Laughs] Listen she's not even watching Morana. It's the other three.

Morana: No, she's looking for the fucks on the wind. Keep watching, one will show up one day.

Taury: What direction does Morana start heading? North or south?

Fenwarin: Would be south right?

Morana: Yeah I would be riding south.

Taury: Right. Ok.

Markus: Those squares are the homestead's, if I remember correctly.

Loyal: Yeah.

Taury: Cool, cool.

GM: Yes. So are you headed to the first one or are you trying to make it all the way down to Habe's Sanatorium?

Morana: What time of day is it? 

Loyal: That is a question yeah.

GM: You went in right around 10:00 a.m. or so, because you left in the morning and it doesn't take too terribly long to get out here on horse.

Taury: Yeah it was before lunchtime.

Morana: Could we make the second homestead by nightfall or by evening?

GM: Oh, yeah. You can make it from Sandpoint to Habe's Sanatorium in like two hours.

Morana: Oh ok!

GM: On foot.

Loyal: Easy.

GM: Yeah.

Morana: Ok. Well we might as well just go for the Sanatorium today.

GM: Yeah, from where you are on horseback, it'll take you maybe a half hour to get to Habe's Sanatorium. And time wise I would think it would be somewhere around 2:00 p.m. or so.

Loyal: We got time.

Morana: All right, yeah, we got plenty of time.

Loyal: We could go back to Sandpoint honestly.

Taury: Oh, let's not. [Laughs]

Fenwarin: Nah.

Loyal: We've free room and board there.

Morana: No we got shit to do.

Loyal: We can also sell things.

Taury: If we go back to Sandpoint, we'll never get Fenwarin out of the fuckin kitchens!

All: [Laugh]

Fenwarin: What are you suggesting?

Taury: I ain't suggesting shit, I'm just saying it how it would be.

GM: Suggesting that there's been a meal missed and some terror of a dragon, and why would you ever leave a town?

Morana: Not second breakfast?!

Fenwarin: Oh my god. Are you insinuating that Fenwarin is hangry?

Taury: I'm insinuating that on the way back up, Fenwarin probably threw up his breakfast in sheer terror.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Taury: I'd imagine we'd go down to Habe's right?

Loyal: Yeah.

Markus: Yeah, Morana's leading us, so. Heading South.

GM: Alright, you arrive outside of Habe's Sanatorium.

Fenwarin: Oh back here.

GM: The saintly haven of respite, better known locally as Habe's Sanatorium, is run by Erin Habe, an expert on disease and mental derangement. Independently wealthy from his years as a doctor in Magnimar, he chose to build the Sanatorium in a remote dale south of Sandpoint because of its seclusion. He hoped that here his wards would find the peace of mind they needed to heal. As you all are riding up, you see Habe standing in the doorway with the door open, talking to a gentleman. Seeing the riders approach he wraps up your conversation and shuts the door.

Ishmael: "I'm here for a cup of sugar and, you know, pie recipes."

Markus: "Uh huh, yeah, yeah, we sure believe that."

Taury: What are you talking about? I believe it 100 percent.

Ishmael: Yeah, of course, why wouldn't you? I am totally trustworthy. I am human too.

Taury: Nobody here-

Loyal: Are you also a human with dark vision?

Ishmael: I am also- [Laughs]

All: [Laugh]

Taury: Yes, that's the sanity question we really need to know.

Loyal: The best part would be if he's an actual human with-

Taury: With dark vision.

Loyal: Dark vision somehow.

Taury: I would not accept him. We would have to kill him. He'd have to make a new character.

Ishmael: Oof!

Markus: There are traits that allow that.

Loyal: Nice.

Taury: I would not accept that. Halfway there is not fully there. No.

Ishmael: Yeah, that is fair, that is fair.

Taury: Yeah. You have to be naturally born with human dark vision.

Ishmael: Yeah, out of character, yes, I am a human who has dark vision. Yes. 

Taury: As we all are.

GM: [Laughs

Ishmael: And I guess when the door is, you know, shut in my face and they turn to see everybody else, I go, "Hmm..." Awkward, I guess.

GM: A group of five individuals ride up on horseback.

Ishmael: I'll let them pass I guess. I guess I should describe what my character looks like, so. Yeah?

GM: Alright.

Ishmael: Yeah, my Character is a relatively tall human of average size, I guess, very thin, wearing a wide brimmed hat and a scarf that, you know, is pulled up. With an overcoat covering over his armor and just a backpack, an adventurer backpack. He turns to see you guys, and just takes a step to the side.

GM: You will have recognized Taury from the description you had been given.

Ishmael: Right. Well, I wait to see what they do I guess, because they're still approaching.

GM: All right, the rest of you, this man has turned, and making room for you but waiting patiently, what do you all do?

Loyal: Is it possible to get the like, the idea of why he kind of just slammed the door on him? Like if there is like an argument going on or something?

Taury: Would we have seen that?

Loyal: That also.

GM: You wouldn't have known if it was slammed or not, but it looks like they were wrapping up a conversation as you approached. You're not sure if it's because you were approaching or not.

Taury: Do we know much about this place?

GM: No, not really, Morana has been in the area the longest since it was constructed, this is a new building since Taury left the area, and Fenwarin has been here once before.

Taury: Of course he has. [Laughs]

GM: How about the rest of you describe your characters to our new companion?

Loyal: Cool

Ishmael: Companion, huh? I guess that's the word.

GM: Preemptive term.

Taury: Yeah, jumping the gun there. We could kill him where he stands.

Ishmael: Yeah. Whoa hold up there friend!

Taury: So, I mean, Taury is built like a brick shit house. She's like wide shoulders. Looks like she would be kind of tall, probably considerably tall, comparatively, to the people that she's riding alongside. She'd look like a- probably close to like what you think a viking would look like, right with like the warpaint and the long-ass braid at the back of her hair, and to like shaved sides. And her eyes looked like she might be blind, like one of them is like, might have been blue, but the other one is completely bloodshot and looks like it's blind. And she's got like a big black cloak with fluff on the hood and she's got a walking stick sort of staff.

Morana: Morana is average height, thin, she's got a hood up on her cloak, but you can see along the edges you can see just a little bit of her hair and it's kind of a metallic orange. And her eyes are a very deep, almost ruby red. And she has kind of this kind of a wide eyed, innocent look about her. And she's holding the reins of the horse in one hand, and in the other arm, she has a doll crooked in her elbow. That is- it looks a lot like her.

Fenwarin: Fenwarin is very gaunt, just looks, very slimming, and he's 5'7, blond hair, green eyes. Looks very disheveled, the clothes are tattered. He has a brown cloak. You can just see that he's experienced some some stuff, but it doesn't really tell you anything else. And walking around with a quarterstaff.

Markus: Markus is human, approximately 5'7, black hair, thin, generally fairly lithe figure, sharp, angular face, sort of like bluish purple eyes and a skin complexion that's like a light bronze, I think it is. He's wearing a wide brimmed hat and a fairly heavy duty coat, with a pack and various items of equipment, including a shield strapped to his back and carrying a longsword and battleaxe.

Loyal: Cool. Loyal is a human, looks human-ish, but it's kind of hard to tell underneath the multiple layers of clothing that he has on. Has a very, very large backpack with several like potion ingredients etcetra strapped to it. A satchel on one side. You see some bandages wrapping across one side of his robe. He has a hood which is pulled over, pretty tightly over his head. And actually a scarf that right now as he's traveling, he's probably has covering essentially his mouth and nose. But when approaching, he pulls it down and you can see he has green skin. His eyes are orange-red, and you can see a little bit of like black hair underneath the hood. But the hood's pretty tightly over his head for the most part. And don't worry about it I'm a human.

Ishmael: Yeah, totally, totally. I mean, I believe you.

Loyal: We're all human except Fenwarin.

Taury: Listen, A green human an orange human, a blind human- 

Loyal: And a human with purple eyes.

Taury: A human with purple eyes.

Fenwarin: Yeah, I'm traveling with a bunch of humans.

Loyal: Then an elf yeah! [Laughs] Then an elf.

Taury: The elf without dark vision! And all of us humans with our dark vision

Fenwarin: I'm also a human I swear.

Loyal: With pointy ears

Fenwarin: With knife ears yeah.

GM: Alright, so you've all approached. Are any of you going to say anything, or are you ignoring this stranger on the side of this path? What's going on?

Taury: Taury's probably stay on her horse. I doubt she's expecting to enter the place, probably waiting for Morana to enter.

Loyal: I'm probably kind of looking around for somewhere to put the horses, hitch them.

GM: There's a hitching post outside there.

Loyal: I probably move to hitch my horse.

Morana: Yeah, Morana rides up looking at this stranger. Just kind of dismounts, ties the horse off, looks back at him again and says, "Is the, I guess the head doctor busy or is he available? Do you know?" They were talking to somebody, I couldn't really tell who.

Ishmael: "That's who I was talking to earlier, I was talking to Habe. Yeah, he's not busy, he's here he's in."

Morana: "Excellent." And she'll turn and knock on the door a couple of times.

Markus: Markus will give a polite nod to the stranger, but he's not actually gonna say anything.

Loyal: Loyal  after hitching his horse, probably just look and say "Good day."

Fenwarin: Fenwarin will do something in the same way.

Morana: Morana looks down for a second, looks like she's kind of muttering something to herself. Then after doing that she kind of glances back up again.

Ishmael: "So patient? Or here to see a patient?"

Morana: Morana's gaze changes, she still has that kind of wide eyed, innocent look, but she looks a bit thoughtful. "Here to talk to one. And what brings you here?"

Ishmael: "Here checking in with- getting information on a person that I am acquainted with. His condition."

Morana: "That's troubling. What condition is he in?"

Ishmael: "Well, I'd have to get him here to find out more, but yeah."

Morana: "Oh, so he's not here yet."

Ishmael: "No." Ishmael will reach over and knock on the door, roughly, trying to speed this along.

Morana: She's still watching him.

Ishmael: Yeah, right under closer inspection, I guess you guys being this close yopu'd notice that he is fairly thin, you know, gaunt like Fenwarin. We have decoder rings and everything.

Taury: Yeah! [Laughs] Starvy boys unite! You have a club.

Loyal: Starvy boys.

Taury: Sorry, I'm a terrible person, let's move on.

GM: The door opens slowly, "Yes, umm.. What can I do for you?"

Ishmael: "You have people here to see a patient, I guess. I guess I'm going this way." and like he'll start to try and walk away, try avoid this awkward situation that he's found himself in with these strange fucking people. 

Morana: Eventually, she turns to look at the one of the door and says, "Yes, we'd like to try to speak to one of your patients, the one who had gone into Egan's Wood. I heard he was admitted here."

GM: "Oh, yes. He is not in a condition to speak with anyone, however, maybe I can be of assistance and attempt to answer your questions."

Markus: Morana kind of blinks and shakes her head for a second. "[Clears throat] Excuse me." She kind of mutters something down at yourself again.

GM: Ishmael, you are rolling Knowledge local on?

Ishmael: The woods that she was referring to.

GM: Egan's Wood: It is a copse of trees just on the other side of the Ashen Ridge, which is right next to the Sanatorium here. So it's like around back the hillside that you're next to.

Ishmael: Gotcha.

Morana: "I figured he wouldn't be in a condition to speak." She kind of looks over her shoulder at the stranger and says, "I , hold on. What? There's so many things happening at once! Sorry. Give me a second. Mind needs to organize."

GM: "Hmmm, perhaps I can be of service to you in that regard."

Morana: "No, I'm quite capable of dealing with it myself."

GM: "Mmm. If you say so."

Morana: "I do."

GM: "I'm very good at my profession."

Morana: "I'm sure you are. How long ago was he admitted?"

GM: "Oh, maybe a month and a half ago or so."

Morana: "And has he said anything of note? I've heard he rambles things."

GM: "Hmmm..." His eyes narrow. Without even needing to make a Sense motive roll, you can tell he's trying to decide what or how much of what he knows he can or should relay. "I don't really know for sure what you're trying to learn about. Could you be more specific? Maybe."

Morana: "Well, we are tasked to try to ascertain what is happening in those woods, and considering the things we've heard he's speaking of, any information would be helpful before we go in there."

GM: He looks at you all a little shiftily and then recognizes Fenwarin and goes, "Oh, right. Would you like to come in?"

Fenwarin: "Yes sure."

Loyal: "I don't see why not." 

Markus: "Yes."

GM: "Hmm, very well." He opens the door and ushers you all in.

Taury: Yeah, Taury will get off the horse and go in as well.

GM: Ok, are you entering with them Ishmael?

Ishmael: For the time being, yes.

GM: Ok, he looks at you a little strangely when you enter with the rest of these, but he shuts the door and lets you in fine. He shuts the door behind you all. "So seeing as you are here on behalf of our mutual benefactor, he's not mentioned anything about the attacks, if that's what you are concerned of. And I will be sure to keep that delicate information discreet."

Morana: "Then what has he been speaking of?"

GM: "Oh, terrible, terrible things. Something about a shadow in the trees that stalked them and mocked them, muttering and whispering in their ears as they slept, laying traps and sicing giant spiders on them. One by one, killing them off. Using the corpses as marionettes to lure others into traps. Quite terrible things."

Morana: "Did he know if this was a physical being, some kind of spirit?"

GM: "He seemed to believe that it was physical, but he could never actually see it. He felt that it chased him all through the woods as he made his escape."

Ishmael: Is there a roll that I can make to try and figure out what kind of creature this would be?

Morana: That's what I was going to ask too.

GM: Yes, Dungeoneering.

Loyal: That's something we need to be trained in? Or no?

GM: Yes.

Ishmael: Ah these roles man, oof.

Loyal: Ok, I'm not trained.

Ishmael: So good.

Loyal: 23 is pretty good.

Morana: Yes!

GM: Ok. Those of you that rolled identify from the description the behavioral tendencies of a monster you've heard referred to as an ettercap.

Loyal: Ah! Heard of those.

GM: They're hideous purple Creatures that walk upright like men, but their face is that of a spider and their hands are sickle shaped claws.

Morana: Hmm. Does 23 give me questions at all?

GM: Yes, you will get five questions. Everyone else gets two.

Morana: Oh shit!

Markus: Oh!

Morana: Let them ask theirs first I guess.

GM: Sure.

Ishmael: So ecology?

GM: Yeah. 

Ishmael: Yeah, I'd like that please.

GM: Ettercaps are typically five feet tall and weigh about 200 pounds. They're solitary Creatures and rarely group with others of their kind even to mate. When they do group, they tend to attract a variety of different spiders, like they just start bringing in all these different breeds and stuff, forming a strange collective of ettercaps and arachnids. Ettercaps are known for building cunning traps out of webs and other natural materials, using them to trap their prey. They build shelters out of webs, often high up in the trees, away from any ground based predators, and use monstrous spiders as lookouts and guardians. Ettercaps are not brave creatures, but their traps often ensure that their enemy never draws a weapon. When an ettercap does engage its enemies, it attacks with its claws and venomous bites. Usually refuses to come within melee reach of any foe that is still able to move, and will flee if an opponent is able to escape their traps and webs.

Taury: So what we're learning here is that they suck.

Markus: No. We're learning that we need someone who can disable traps.

Taury: Or, the same person that disables traps shouldn't walk directly into the webbing.

Loyal: I don't know what you're talking about.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Markus: Yeah, that will probably be a bad thing.

Taury: I'm just- look, I'm not saying we've been in that situation before-

Loyal: I don't know what you're talking about.

Taury: I'm just saying that for future reference maybe don't walk into the webbing.

GM: [Laughs] So one question down.

Ishmael: I guess next one: weaknesses? I guess?

GM: None.

Ishmael: That's what I figured.

Loyal: Of course.

Taury: Everything in this campaign, nothing has a weakness.

GM: Alright. Next person. Who we got? We got Quiet. Markus, what would you like to know?

Markus: Resistances and immunities, I think.

GM: Alright, no resistances, no immunities. Ok, two more questions down. Alright, Morana, what would you like to know?

Morana: I'll start with hit dice.

GM: Right. 4.

Morana: That's not bad. Special attacks?

GM: Traps and webs. There are traps, they like to do deadfalls, nooses and spear traps.

Taury: Wow, those sound so unpleasant.

GM: And their webs. Yeah, they can wrap you in it, entangle you and then drag you around with it.

Loyal: Nice.

Taury: That sounded more fun than I think it was meant to sound

GM: Yeah, yeah.

Loyal: [Laughs] Can beat you over the head and beat you-

Taury: With your teammates.

Loyal: Yeah.

Markus: Ok. Also noted certain proclivities in regards to Runty.

Taury: I'm sorry, what?

Markus: You like being tied up, and dragged around.

Loyal: Oh boy.

Taury: That's not what I said at all!

Loyal: [Laughs] Oh, boy!

Taury: That's not at all what I said!

Morana: Hmm... so.

GM: Moving along! [Laughs] Glazing right by that,

Markus: Sorry! [Laughs]

Morana: So no kinds of poisons, anything like that? Natural?

GM: Oh, Ok, you want to know about special qualities?

Morana: Well, yeah.

GM: Ok? Yeah, they have spider empathy, and poison.

Loyal: Yup. Fucking poison again.

GM: Their spider empathy lets them essentially be the same as like a druid wild empathy, but only with spiders and other arachnids. And their poison, it's on injury, it recurs once per round for 10 rounds, requiring two consecutive saves to negate if you're affected and the effect is 1D2 dex damage.

Loyal: No god!

Morana: All right.

Fenwarin: The fucking state damages.

Loyal: I'm just about to get rid of my dex damage!

Fenwarin: Nope.

Taury: Well it's almost like it doesn't want you to use weapons on it or something.

Fenwarin: What could give you that idea?

Taury: I don't know just the, it runs away if you escape its web and you usually don't get to draw your weapon. [Laughs] Those were mild hints.

Morana: Trying to think if there's anything else. So judging by the amount of spiders in Egan's Wood. Would a logical calculation be made if there's one or more than one in there.

GM: You're guessing that there's more than one.

Morana: Ok, that's kind of what I thought.

GM: Their organization is if they're not solitary, they could be a mating pair, or a nest of 3 to 6, with an additional 2 to 8 giant spiders under their direct control, let alone all the ones that they just attract.

Morana: Mm hmm.

Markus: Regular attacks or AC maybe? If you're struggling to think of stuff.

GM: There's also senses, languages, highest save.

Morana: Yeah, actually highest save.

GM: Alright. I'm not going to give you a highest save, I'm going to give you lowest save. Reflex. Reflex is their lowest save.

Morana: Ok.

Loyal: Good. My bombs can hurt them well then.

Morana: And that's it for my questions then. I think, yeah, it should be.

Loyal: Next person, what's their next lowest save?

GM: Alright. As you all take a moment and ponder over this information, Habe addresses you all again, "Do you need to see the patient for any reason? You're not here to kill him, are you?"

Morana: "No! No! God, no!"

GM: "Oh, good. Good. Progress is being made."

Morana: "I mean, seeing him, I suppose, could potentially yield some kind of information that might be beneficial. I can't say equivocally that it wouldn't be."

GM: "Hmm..." give me a Diplomacy check.

Morana: Oh, boy.

GM: "Hmm, interesting. Right this way." He leads you upstairs to a hallway, the old floorboards creak underneath each step as you all make your way through the building. Dusty tailoring supplies, including bolts of cloth and boxes of sewing supplies, vie space in cluttered rooms along with food and other water stores. He leads you over to a central part where, this obviously like common room for the patients. Currently, there's only two guests spending time here outside of their cells, one appears to be blind and is doing a cross stitch all by feeling, and the other is sitting with a blanket covering him, looking out the window, just like rocking back and forth slightly. Habe points at the man sitting rocking, "There's the gentlemen you are seeking." Fenwarin. Give me a Perception check. 

Fenwarin: Ok.

Taury: Oh man.

GM: Ok. Continue.

Taury: Jesus, he's so bad at Perception.

Fenwarin: I know.

Taury: For an elf.

Fenwarin: I know it's funny-

Taury: It's the most comical thing ever!

Fenwarin: It's like my best thing, Perception versus your combat rolls.

Taury: Oh, man, it's worse, honestly.

Fenwarin: I don't know. 

GM: Proceed.

Morana: Do I see anything unusual about this guy? Trying to think what specifically I could be looking for?

GM: Roll Perception.

Ishmael: Can I just give, like, a casual glance around the room and see if anything is off. 

GM: Sure. 

Ishmael: Cool.

Fenwarin: That's a good one.

GM: Morana, I will now need a Knowledge local, as you notice tattoos on the man's neck. 

Morana: Oh my god.

GM: And Ishmael you notice that there are not enough people here for how many supplies- And like this common room could sit almost 20 people in it. But there's only two here. That's a little unusual. Morana you recognize the tattoos of the Sczarni.

Ishmael: Ishmael will be like, "So not a lot of patients out of their cells, it seems huh?"

GM: "No, no. Many of them have been turning violent lately, so we've had to keep them secured for their and our safety."

Ishmael: Can I Sense motive on that?

GM: Sure. It's definitely plausible. Sure.

Ishmael: That's all I got.

Morana: Hmm.

GM: Alright, what are you guys doing now?

Ishmael: I've just been kind of wrapped up with these guys, so.

Markus: Following Morana's lead. 

Morana: I need to DM you something real quick.

GM: Ok, I like DMs.

Taury: Of course you would you are one. Ay!

Ishmael: Ay!

All: [Laugh]

Loyal: Man.

GM: Thank you. Thank you.

Taury: God damn welcome

Ishmael: I give that a-

Taury: Listen, we don't rate puns, ok? All puns are acceptable.

Ishmael: [Laughs] I mean, you might not, but I do.

Taury: Listen. It got a reaction.

Morana: Hmm.

GM: So Morana, what's happening since everyone else is off track? 

All: [Laugh]

Loyal: When are we not off track?

Taury: This is what happens when you mention secret DMs, the rest of us just aren't allowed to know what's happening.

Morana: He didn't give me any information I didn't already have.

GM: Yeah. Just because the information's secret doesn't mean it's worthwhile. [Laughs]

Morana: Yeah no. I don't know, drop a Detect magic, looking at em, for whatever.

GM: Oh, ok.

Morana: Anything magic around him? Any kind of aura maybe?

GM: He seems clean of all magical uaras.

Taury: Clean like it's a drug or something.

GM: Hey, for some people, it might be.

Taury: True.

GM: Got to get those buffs man!

Ishmael: Yeah, and while you can!

Taury: All those psychotic wizards

GM: Yeah. Why else would we keep the bard around? He's gotta buff us man. Gotta get the buffs!

Ishmael: Look, I just need one more, I just need a bump. Just give me, give me a bump man!

GM: Yeah just a little haste. A taste of haste.

Taury: Just to take the edge off!

Ishmael: Come on, I'll stop. I'll stop tomorrow man! Come on! Just I can stop any time. Just one more. Just-

Markus: Aha, yeah, sure.

Fenwarin: Sounds like a weird version of breaking bad.

Taury: I've got a buddy, he's got a spell for that!

GM: Yeah, I know a guy he can take care of all your problems.

Ishmael: Yeah.

GM: Little heroism? Yeah.

Ishmael: Yeah.

GM: Put a little hero in eh?

Taury: Ah!

Loyal: Oh, my god.

Ishmael: Heisenberg

Taury: It's so good it's bad though.

GM: [Laughs]

Loyal: So is everyone kind of like sharing that information you guys have figured out about the the Mutterer? Have we kind of like conferred, like huddle?

Ishmael: Mm, yeah, I suppose so. Right. So what are we doing?

Loyal: I kind of look at him, "Well we know what we're dealing with now, so that's a plus. Is There any other reason we need to be here?"

Ishmael: Ishmael shrugs.

Morana: "Well this was all Morana's idea."

GM: "Hmm, what? I was lost in thought. Sorry.

Ishmael: "Quit muttering with your doll. What are we doing?"

Morana: She just stares at you for a second. "Anyway. I don't think there's anything else we're going to get here, unfortunately, aside from what we've already got. Now that we know potentially we're dealing with, there's not much more we can learn from him. So, no, I think we're done here."

GM: "Then shall we step outside?"

Loyal: "Seems like a good thing to do. Yes."

Morana: "Indeed."

GM: Fenwarin, give me another Perception check.

Fenwarin: Ah No.

Loyal: Here we go.

Taury: Oh boy. Let's go.

Fenwarin: Here we go...

GM: Give you another chance at this.

Loyal: Let's do it!

Fenwarin: [Laughs] Herecomes the nat one... 

Ishmael: We believe in you, man.

Fenwarin: No.

GM: Roll the fail,

Taury: I'd love if he got dark vision and it made his vision worse.

All: [Laugh]

Ishmael: Now I'm rolling -5's on Perception! What?

Taury: Yeah.

Fenwarin: What?!

Loyal: Hey, there you go.

Fenwarin: I did not expect that at all.

GM: Alright.

[typing]

Loyal: Secret typings.

GM: Yeah, have a little bit of that fun, spread it all around for everyone.

Ishmael: Well boy, don't we all love secret DMs?

Taury: I'm sorry, spread what around?

Morana: I like fun.

GM: Secrets.

Fenwarin: I should spread this to my team?

GM: No, no. You can if you wish.

Fenwarin: Ok.

GM: That information was just, hey, you recognize this guy.

Fenwarin: Those that are even- that might be looking at Fenwarin right now, just see that he's gone a little paler in the face than usual.

Morana: Raises the question of do we notice a difference?

Fenwarin: Yeah.

GM: Sense motive.

Taury: How obvious would it be that he's getting super pale?

GM: Well, Ishmael notices.

Taury: Is he being shifty too?

GM: So does Morana.

Taury: Are these Perception checks?

GM: No this is Sense motive.

Taury: Oh, well, I'm kind of wondering, like.

GM: Loyal does not.

Loyal: And I'm doing my own thing.

GM: Markus does, Taury does not.

Taury: Great.

Ishmael: "So right. Elf, you look kind of unwell."

Ishmael: "What? No, it's nothing."

GM: "Are you not feeling well? I am a doctor, I can assist you if-"

Fenwarin: "No-"

GM: "If you wish?"

Fenwarin: "-that's- No, that's fine. No, I don't I don't need assistance, everything's good."

Ishmael: "You sure?"

Fenwarin: "Yeah. Yeah." 

Ishmael: If there was a place to get help, wouldn't this be it?"

Fenwarin: "Yeah, I think I might need some rest or something. I don't know. It's no problem."

GM: "What better place for rest than here?"

Fenwarin: "Nothing against you, but I prefer not to."

Loyal: Seeing this, "Oh I think we have free room and board back at the inn in Sandpoint, so I think it's fine."

Fenwarin: "I'll get some fresh air, so I'll just step out."

Taury: Can we do a further Sense motive on him?

Loyal: Yeah.

Taury: He's being so, like, shifty as hell?

GM: On Fenwarin or?

Taury: Yeah, Fenwarin!

Loyal: No I'm doing it on the other motherfucker!

All: [Laugh]

Taury: No, the other motherfucker definitely wants to eat him.

All: [Laugh]

Taury: Or something.

Loyal: Some people here are convinced that they're cannibals.

Ishmael: All right, so that 22 is for Fenwarin and then that 15 is on Habe.

GM: All right, um.

Morana: Yeah mine, the 18 was just on Habe, I know Fenwarin is full of shit.

Loyal: Yeah, I mean, Yeah.

Markus: Yeah, I'm definitely on Habe about this being a good place to sleep. Yeah.

Loyal: It's weird.

GM: All right, yeah, all of you that are checking on Habe, he is fishy as fuck! Those of you checking on Fenwarin, which I think was just Loyal.

Ishmael: No, no, I did.

Taury: It's me its Taury.

GM: Oh Ishmael, OK.

Ishmael: I rolled a 22.

GM: Yeah, all of you, then.

Taury: Everyone except Morana cares about him.

GM: Yeah, he seems to- almost like he's seen a ghost, he's reliving like some sort of trauma and is very distressed.

Ishmael: "Yes, I take it it's best for you to get some air, and relax, and not freak out here." 

Fenwarin: As he says that I just 180 and walk out. 

GM: "Fascinating"

Ishmael: Right.

GM: "Hmm, can I study your friend? I've never had anyone react adversely to my services before. It would be fabulous to conduct some research."

Loyal: Sense fucking motive! What the fuck?!

Taury: At that point, Taury turns around and follows Fenwarin. She kind of like, I would imagine she does it in a way where you don't even notice she's leaving like it's just.

Loyal: I just walk out, I'm like, I'm sure everyone fucking leaves now.

GM: "Where are you all going?"

Loyal: "We have other business to attend to."

GM: "Oh, very well."

Ishmael: "It's appreciated, but I'll take my leave." And Ishmael like nods his head and tips his hat, and just leave.

GM: "Yes, about that matter, if you can bring him here, do so."

Ishmael: "Yeah, sure, if I can get him here, I definitely will try."

GM: "We will take the utmost care of him."

Ishmael: "I bet you will."

GM: "I look forward to it."

Ishmael: "Yep, I gonna leave now, you're kind of creeping me out a little bit. You should work on that."

Loyal: Straight up. Creepy mother fucker.

GM: "Hmmm... Perhaps, perhaps I've been affected by the isolation, I'll have to take notes on this."

Ishmael: "I wish you luck." Just like finger guns, I guess, and then just kinda leave.

Taury: [Laughs]

Fenwarin: Finger guns?! [Laughs]

Taury: Can we kill him? I want to kill him. He's definitely doing some bad shit man.

Morana: Yeah, we're leaving.

Fenwarin: Yeah.

GM: "Very well." He escorts you all out and shuts the door after you've left.

Ishmael: "Please don't touch me."

Taury: Exit stage left.

Ishmael: Ishmael like visibly shudders after the door closes, "Like, yeah, wow."

Morana: "So do you still want to see if your friend can be admitted?"

Ishmael: "Part of it's tempting, but no, I guess not."

Loyal: I kind of look at Fenwarin like "Who the hell was that?"

Morana: "Yes, that is a fair question as well."

Fenwarin: "Just someone I wasn't expecting to find here at all."

GM: There's some truth there, but that's not the whole story. There's something else going on, Loyal.

Loyal: Clearly.

GM: Yeah, you remember Fenwarin has mentioned looking for someone.

Loyal: For now, I just go "ok." Drops the conversation.

Taury: "You will have to give us more than that Fenwarin."

Fenwarin: "I will I just..."

Ishmael: "Wouldn't it be best to press them when not outside of the place that has spooked him this much?"

Taury: "What do you think the building's going to attack him or something?"

Ishmael: "In his mind, maybe."

Markus: "Interesting idea, from a person who has somehow injected themselves into our business without even properly introducing themselves?"

Loyal: "I guess he does have a point. We don't know your name, at the very least."

Ishmael: "I mean, you guys haven't really introduced yourselves either, so, you know, but my name is Ishmael." He will extend a hand, like to one of them.

Taury: Which one of them?

Ishmael: Any of you, whichever one decides to shake the hand first I suppose.

Loyal: Loyal will probably shake his hand.

GM: Loyal, give me Will save.

Loyal: Oh? Ok.

Taury: I love it! The friendliness Loyal has gets him bitten in the ass every time.

GM: All right, now give me a Perception check.

Fenwarin: What the hell s going on?

Taury: [Laughs]

GM: DMs incoming.

All: [Laughs]

Fenwarin: The hell?

Taury: All human with dark vision.

Loyal: Yeah.

Taury: That's what's going on.

Ishmael: What? Humans don't naturally have dark vision? Hmm.

Taury: No, they do. I don't know what you're talking about.

Loyal: I don't know what you're talking about. We're all humans and have dark vision, so clearly humans have dark vision.

Taury: Exactly.

Ishmael: Sure.

Loyal: Loyal kind of gives him like a very slight like, "Ok." sort of look and then continues on.

Ishmael: Can I Sense motive on that?

GM: Yeah. Ok, one moment.

Ishmael: Yep. 

Taury: [Laughs] I love how already the tone of this party is seeping in.

Loyal: Yeah.

Taury: No one trusts anyone.

Ishmael: It's just mistrust and paranoia.

Taury: And this this exact moment is just the definition of our entire party.

Loyal: Yeah. Honestly.

Taury: I shake your hand. I'm skeptical about it. Sense Motive.

All: [Laugh]

Ishmael: I'm skeptical that you're skeptical.

Taury: Yeah, I Sense motive on that too. I Sense motive on your Sense motive.

Ishmael: Wait, you can't do that! Yeah double Sense Motive! Shit!

Taury: [Laughs] Oh, boy.

Ishmael: Oof! Got ya.

GM: Yep, oof is correct.

Ishmael: Ishmael will give Loyal just a head tilt. "Interesting. Anyway. So Loyal and the rest of you?"

Markus: I'm Markus and he'll offer a hand.

Ishmael: Right.

GM: Do you shake this one's hand, Ishmael?

Ishmael: I give him a pat on the shoulder.

Taury: [Laughs] Yeah.

Loyal: Bud!

Taury: That makes me so happy! Oh if only you read the letter that Tauy received.

Loyal: No idea. Also, a common theme, apparently, in this party is letter writing.

Taury: Yeah, right? Next thing, he'll write a letter of hate mail to Loyal.

Ishmael: [Laughs]

GM: About water.

Taury: Yeah.

Loyal: Yeah.

Fenwarin: Oh god!

Morana: "I am Morana, Morana Mallory."

Ishmael: "Gotcha." Does she offer a handshake or anything? 

Morana: No. 

Ishmael: Good.

Taury: Classic Morana. [Laughs] Denied!

Loyal: No.

Ishmael: "The shifty looking one is?"

Taury: "Fenwarin."

Ishmael: "Gotcha. And you are?"

Taury: "Taury Warborne."

Ishmael: "Yeah, gotcha. Yeah, anyway. So you were heading back to Sandpoint then?"

Loyal: "It's an idea brought up, I don't know if that's what everyone intends to do."

Morana: "I'm not entirely sure. One of those things might not have been too difficult to deal with, but if there are multiple, we may need more supplies for attempting to do something about it."

Markus: "You thinking of antitoxins or something more specific?"

Morana: "Well I mean, those would definitely help."

Loyal: "I can certainly make more, I've only got one left, but when I go to town, I could buy the supplies to make more."

Morana: "Possibly something that would be able to burn webs before we get caught in them without lighting the entire woods on fire."

Markus: "Does such a thing actually exist? Because, you know, fire tends to spread?"

GM: Intelligence check.

Markus: Ok.

GM: Acid flasks come to mind.

Loyal: I also have those.

Markus: Would that actually have the same effect of removing the web as burning it?

GM: Yes, it would eat through the cords and whatnot, it wouldn't spread like the fire would, which is good for not burning down a forest, but you would potentially need considerably more of them.

Markus: Yeah, as opposed to one torch that you can use to light multiple points of different webbing.

GM: Yeah, in your intelligence, you're also remembering that there were swarms of spiderlings, that splash weapons such as acid flasks or alchemist's fire could be useful against, as well as the webs.

Markus: Yeah, definitely. "Hmm. Well returning to town isn't the worst option, but."

Morana: "I mean, I don't see where else we would acquire these things."

Markus: "Yeah it also means we get to sleep in a comfortable inn. So there's that."

Loyal: "There's also that yes. I can also buy supplies for planning to make more antitoxin."

Ishmael: "That would definitely be a good thing, yes."

Loyal: "So I guess Sandpoint it is? Is that good with everyone?"

Morana: "That sounds like the plan for the immediate moment."

Markus: "Is there anything else while we're out here, that we ought to visit?"

Morana: Out of character I'm trying to think if there was anything else in this direction.

Taury: I'm not sure there was.

Loyal: Apart from the Woods, I don't think so.

Morana: Yeah, I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

Loyal: There was the haunted Moors thing, which was, seeing skeletons, zombies and ghouls at Whisperwood Moor.

Markus: Yeah, we probably want to prep for that as well.

Loyal: Yeah, I think regardless we want to prep. The Moors are also all the way over here, so.

Taury: We could stay with this lovely psychopath. 

Loyal: Yeah?

Markus: Is he really a psychopath or is he not a sociopath?

Taury: He's a psychopath. A hundred percent! [Laughs]

Markus: Do you want to actually make a start of speaking to people and finding out about the stuff on the moors? Or is that too many things going on at once?

Taury: What was the moors thing again, because I had forgot. Is that on the adventure board?

Loyal: There's undead. Yeah, it's Haunted Moors.

Markus: And some of the farms have basically, no one's heard from them in well days, possibly weeks now.

Taury: Yeah, no. We probably should attempt that when we're not half dying.

Markus: "Well, if nobody's suggesting a better alternative?"

Morana: "I can't think of any right now."

Markus: "Were you planning on taking along Ishmael?"

Ishmael: "I mean, were you guys planning on going back to Sandpoint? Because that was my next location."

Morana: "For the moment, yes."

Ishmael: "I don't see why not I guess. I suppose."

Markus: "Well then."

Taury: "You mind sharing Loyal's horse seeing as you're so well acquainted? Unless you plan to walk?"

Loyal: "I don't mind."

Ishmael: "I mean, sure I suppose. I have no problem with that."

Loyal: I'll go and start unhitching my horse.

Ishmael: So out of character, right, so Ishmael is sharing a horse with, you know, Loyal?

Loyal: Yeah.

Ishmael: Gotcha.

Taury: Yeah, because you both agreed to it for some reason.

Ishmael: I mean.

Loyal: You said it and I'm like I have no issues.

Ishmael: I suppose I have no problems with it either.

Loyal: Even though I will have an issue- even though he will have an issue with that. But.

Ishmael: What?! Yeah, you're just imagining things. Shhh.

Loyal: I don't know what you're talking about.

GM: Alright, and I think that's where we'll call this session. As you make it back to Sandpoint as dusk falls.

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/ .