Welcome, adventurers, to Probability of Demise, the podcast where critical fumbles
meet critical facepalms. Join us as we delve into the darkest dungeons, slay the stupidest gremlins,
and roll enough ones to make a beholder weep. Forget epic storylines and heroic deeds,
here we celebrate the chaotic beauty of bad rolls, questionable decisions,
and characters with more charisma than sense. We'll be your dungeon masters of disappointment.
Guiding you through campaigns where the only guaranteed treasure is a mountain of laughter,
and maybe some psychic scarring. So grab your Nat 1 dice, strap on your anxiety helmets,
and prepare to witness the glorious trainwreck that is our D& D journey.
Because In the end, even if your character dies face first into a pile of pudding,
at least you'll have the Dice God's permission to laugh your ass off.
Welcome to Probability of Demise, episode two, and we're sticking to format.
Jess, what is the word of the day? That's me! All right, friends and families and travelers alike,
let us see what the word of the day has in store for us today.
That rhymed. Look at me. Excuse me one moment. The number is a 26. Today's word of the day is
ubiquitous, which means, where's my list? There's my list. Okay. Present, appearing,
or found somewhere. So used in a sentence, technology has become ubiquitous
in our daily lives, influencing every aspect.
Thank you. Thank you. And that my friends is, uh, the word of the day. You've learned something new.
And I don't think we used the word of the day last time. At least I didn't catch it. So maybe
we'll be ubiquitous in our use of the word of the day from here on out. So that takes us to
our recap. And last time you were introduced to the glittering yet seedy underbelly of the
Skyway Strip in Overton, our rumpled Kenku P.I. Stickybeak brought the three of you together
with a desperate plea for help. The famed soprano Celeste Nightingale was killed on
stage clutching a half-eaten fortune cookie. With the Ascended Council up to something,
and the Hollow Council up to something, Stickybeak threw the dice and asked you, an unlikely trio of
strangers, to unravel the murderous melody. Intrigued by the whispers of blackmail and
secrets, you plunged into the Skylark's backstage world. Each troop member Possibly has veiled
motives and reasons. A jealous rival with a hunger for the spotlight. A debt ridden costume designer
with a talent for poisoned embroidery and a ledger hinting at financial shadows within the theater.
The suspects were many, the truth elusive, but you have centered your sights on the missing
stage manager. And amidst it all, you, Serafina, gesund und schniffel. And Ulua, Ulua, are meeting
for the first time, navigating a chorus of ratty lies and sharp clues to find the killer, before
the final curtain falls on artistic freedom. As we dive back in, we are just outside the
theater. I'm gonna move us forward in time a little bit. Trying to figure
out where this stage manager has gone. What are the three of you up to? Are
you going to try to find clues to track him? Are you going to ask people if they've seen
this individual or are you have your own ways of discovering the whereabouts? Snitches and other
such shenanigans. I mean, um, I have an address. Or at least a building. Uh, I, don't have any.
Inquisitor's house, I think was the, that was not the full name of it. I got it, hang on. To,
um, Did we, did we want to go there? Uh, I did know, uh, Stickybeak did ask, uh,
for us to meet him at my brother's office, uh, all of us, if, if, uh, we wanted to just go ahead and
update them or we could, you know, do that after. I think we could certainly check in. Um,
Stickybeak may be able to provide some insights, maybe, I don't know, um,
employ some other means to assist us in finding this Grundon.
Perhaps we should, uh, check and see if he is home and then go from
there this evening. Oh, yes. Yeah. All right. Um, in terms of approach,
uh, you have to knock first. Yes, of course. I understand. I simply mean, it may be if he
if he is involved somehow, uh, of the three of us, it may look the least It's just intimidating
for me to approach the door at first and, and inquire rather than, um,
one of our City Watch's, uh, retirees, I believe. I, your, your name is familiar, but we've never
met in person. Yeah, you look super familiar, but not either. I, I do, or he does. Yeah,
he does. Sorry. Sorry. Uh, no, it's okay. I was a homicide investigator for many years.
Homicide investigator. With the, with the, with the shitty watch. With the sh With the City Watch.
Ah, thank you. City Watch. Well, well. Yes, it, uh, Vestigator. I mean, I'm, I'm certainly, this
is certainly my first foray into, um, this type of situation. I, I must admit I'm a little out of my
depth. This isn't, isn't my usual, uh... Assignment. Were you, like, famous? Yes. Yes. I
believe she's caught up, sort of, but like a while ago, I gained some renown for my career for I
think, I think you're the guy that my brother really liked, like really liked you, you know,
he became a detective because I think, because I think because of you think, Oh, well, that's,
that's nice to hear, I suppose it's going to be really awkward if it's not you. But I think,
I think it's you. I don't remember the name of the investigator.
I didn't really care that much, but he, he loved you. Well, I was probably a younger gnome then.
Yeah. He has this picture of you, but young, not one for tax. Maybe are you, Oh, for what? Oh,
it's, it's no secret that I'm no spring chicken anymore. Yes. But, Oh, cause I'm calling them
old. I mean, you're not old. You're just, you know, older. Oldish. Well, you look
great. I think you look just well. Thank you. Uh, so wait, uh, I actually, did I know your
names yet? I don't know if I know your names yet. Uh, my name. I know you're famous. My name is,
but I should know your name. The gun didn't gun, didn't call me. Gus. Gus Guss. Okay,
good. Guss. That, that I can say Guss, uh, and. Yes. Lady y uh, your name? Oh, I'm Ulua
What? Lua. Ulua ua. Ooh, ulua. So good. Name the X, the accents on the lu. So Ulua like
a melody. Hulu. Yes. Well done. Nice, nice. Okay, cool. And Lula? Yes. Mine? Mine? Yes.
Your name. Right. Didn't tell you that. Works both ways. Uh, Seraphina. What a lovely name.
Yes. Fits a lovely creature like yourself. She's like trying to get all her hair out of her
horns, you know, try to appear presentable, like, yeah, yeah. I'm very attractive. Extra, extra,
read all about it. Skylark Theater, shutting down. Extra, extra, read all about it. That
didn't take long. Shutting down? Like permanently? Rick, is this like a, like a newspaper salesman?
It's a newsie. Newsie? Okay. I'm gonna go over to the newsie and buy a paper. You buy a paper,
um, it's a couple of silver coins. Uh, he, he kind of like first tries
to haggle with you for a moment, then kind of looks you up and down and goes, Locals,
um, you see printed on the headline that the Skylark Theater has, um, met its match and is
going under the financial woes are too great. And as you're reading through it, you're reading all
sorts of things about how the, um, the theater was never doing well financially anyways, that
there were problems with it, uh, that there were. poor management practices going on. And what's
interesting, if you would like, you can roll a, um, investigation check as you're reading
some of this information. I'm a crappy detective. Eight. Or are you? It's surprising that they could
actually print something this quickly. Suspiciously. That's why I bought one,
because it's Um, do you share it with the
others? Yeah, I'll bring it over and hand it to or hold it up to the both of them if one of them
wants to take it. That's very sudden. I want to take it and read the article.
I assumeshe's a very quick read unlike I am. So she like gives it in like two seconds and
then she starts reading all the other things. Um, yeah, you read, you start reading it and this is,
um, especially as you're reading the other things on it, you realize that these other articles are,
um, stories that seem a little spectacular, a little outlandish.
I'm going to, um, approach the Newsy and ask, by chance, can you tell me about how long ago these,
these papers were, were delivered to you? Ma'am? What, what, what, what do you want
to know? Just how long they've been in your possession. I'm, I'm, I'm curious as to how,
how fresh the news is. Oh, well, yeah, uh, we pick these up, uh, every hour on the hour.
Um, and, um, you know, this is, it's not that great. How do you mean? You're really pretty. Oh,
thank you. You're quite handsome. Well, you know, like stories like, you know, three headed goat on
stilts. Exactly. Incredible, right? Oh, well, everybody loves, I'm an entertainer myself,
and everybody loves a form of entertainment, whether it be in written form or, you know.
Oh, maybe you want to buy a paper. There's a great article here about the Singing Mountain.
It's like a bard with a voice like gravel is climbing a summit and just started singing.
And then the village got hiccups. I don't actually follow some of these articles.
They don't make a lot of sense. That's all right. Uh, I would love one. Thank you. Oh, yeah. Here
you go. Uh, And who One silver for the pretty lady. Oh, that's very sweet of you. I, I'll be
back again to make up for it. Uh oh. Not my forte! Definitely not my forte. Six. Um, you don't notice
it now, but later on, sometime during the evening, you'll realize that your purse was just a little
bit heavier earlier. That little shit. He grabbed two gold coins. Oh, rude. Total little shit. Well.
Or his partner in crime was a total little shit. And, and who, who was your printer?
Uh, well, I think, uh, old Benji down the street. They're the printer and then, um,
I think they work for go to his guild and I think they work for the menagerie scale. And I think
that they work for, uh, the businessman, um, 1 of those types down South in the Alchemist alley.
And then I think that they work for somebody else, but maybe that was one of these articles.
You know, there's an article about the teacup alchemist Mildred. She's a tea
maker. She discovered that her teaspoons possess the power to transmute water into
any beverage imaginable. And sorry, I'm realizing I'm rambling here. That's all right. It's your,
it's your, you know, it's in your nature. That's why you're so very good at your job.
Oh yeah, I am. I'm really good. Okay. I'm really good. I should go in too. So you said Ben Benji
down the street? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Can you just just point me in the right direction,
please? Okay. Well, it's right over the end. They gesture and they gesture over towards the,
um, uh, Outside, like an alley that leads outside of the strip, and there's
a little shop right there on the corner. Um, fairly dark except for a single lantern
lit within one of the windows on the, uh, ground level. Perfect. Thank you for all your help, for
the very helpful information, and for the deal. Oh, no problem at all. Rejoin my yeah, my group
here off in the distance as he starts shouting out again extra extra pretty lady touch my hand
I'll hand you a paper if you hand me a coin Quite the opportunist gotta make a buck gotta
make a living and we're outside the theater now, right? You're in the street. Can I just quickly
as she was maybe talking to the boy? I'd love to Look around for any other maybe tracks or blood
splats of like someone leaving, you know, because they obviously didn't have the dagger anymore.
Roll a perception check. Perception. Perception. Oh, only plus one. Okay. Got to roll good.
Eep. That's going to be 12. Uh, yeah, you look around and. Um,
it's difficult to find things on these streets that these are well traveled streets. This this,
uh, being right in front of here. A lot of people were leaving out of here. You know,
there were a lot of things going on and so it's difficult. Um, what is your passive perception?
It's a good question. Um, that would be passive perception.
Passive and perception 13. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, you just see that there's a lot of,
um, than anything I've rolled today. That's what we just started. Okay. Other than a single digit
on a perception check, that would be awesome. So yeah, I was just going to look while she
talked to the boy and then when she was done, I'd walk back over. So the three of, you're there, Gus
are you all headed towards the And My rat. The rat. I always end up with a rat. Gus the rat Lu
Seina. Where are you headed to? The, uh, house of, uh, inquiries? Um. But as we, as we walk there,
I'm going to pick up on what I was saying before us and, um, so I, what I was trying to say
earlier is, um, it might be less conspicuous if I approach the building, um, and at least, you know,
um, inquire whether or not Grunden is there. Um, if, if, especially you. And she gestures
to Gus, if, if you come to the door, that might be a little, um, might tip him off. Oh,
cause you're famous. Famous detective. That would scare him. Yeah. Yes. So, um, so why don't I,
uh, attempt to ascertain whether or not, uh, Grundon is in fact in the building and If that
is the case, then I will try to get us entry, or at least maybe get him to come to the door.
Yeah, yeah, you take the lead. Woo! Support you from over here. Is that alright with you? Yes,
that works fine for me. In fact, I'm going to put a hand on my chest and
cast invisibility on myself. Like, before we go up to the door. Alright. Did you see
him leave? Still here. Is he gonna murder someone? He has the, he has the dagger.
No, no, I'm, I have a spell for invisibility. I'll be quiet. He's, he's, I'm sorry, just like,
reaching out, trying to find him. Maybe we, maybe we just assume But of course, like, way above him.
Tacked, tacked, tacked. Alright, stay here, I'll be right back. Uh, and I go to approach the door.
Okay, you go and approach the door. Uh, there is a person stationed outside in a bit of heraldry,
uh, a fairly large, uh, staff as there usually is in residences of this sort that are on the surface
of Overton. They, they need, um, or they presumed to need some sort of foot person at the door, uh,
protecting the interests of a household and, uh, they see you approach and step forward into the,
out of the shadow of the eve of the building, uh, ma'am.
Yes. Alua. Ma'am Alua. Um, I, uh, I don't know if you've heard of me, but I am, I am,
I am Kumshere. Uh, and I am currently seeking Did someone seek your services tonight? I don't
have an appointment. No, I'm actually seeking new clients. And I, uh, recently was visiting
an old performance space of mine. And I'd heard that Uh, one of the members there might possibly
be interested in my service, and so I came to possibly have a discussion about whether or not
he would be interested in my companionship. Uh, your card, please, ma'am. Of course,
and I take out Standard business card, um, scented faintly, uh, with a citrus, but, um,
also like warm flavor, scent, flavor. He turns and, and, and withdraws within the
building and you can hear a lock click, and uh, takes a bit before he returns. But in that time,
I would like Those who are standing back to roll perception checks.
Um, can I possibly, um, cast, uh, I, do I need to touch someone for bardic inspiration? No,
I can just cast it from. Okay. Um, I'm just going to glance over my shoulder at Serafina because
I can see her, um, and let me double check. I want to see. Oh, my God. What do you do to me?
She casts death. No, I just, I'm interested to see how she casts bardic inspiration from a distance.
Um, I just, I look and I just can't remember, is it just, is it just verbal or is it verbal and
semantic? Uh, I don't remember, but I think there needs to be like a song or you play
an instrument. Like there has to be some kind of sound. Right. I just mean, is there also, so I'm
just wondering if there's a hand gesture or not. I just think it's just the audio. Um, I mean,
you can add a hand gesture. Yes. Oh, I'm going to, um, yeah, it's just, uh, I, I just, you know, I,
I peek a quick glance and I go best of luck to you. And I just kind of blow a kiss, uh,
to Serafina, uh, just goes, oh, thank She can't necessarily hear it, but, um,
she sees the, it like comes on the wind. I know. I mean, it's like you, you project your voice in
such a way that it gets to her. Yeah. It's kind of like a whisper on the wind. Kind of, uh, volume.
And what is this? A plus what? Six. D6. Whoa! For your, for your perception. Gus, what did you get?
Uh, 15. 15? Okay. 24! 24. Um. Thanks to that six,
I rolled a six. Both of you here and see just because of where you're at, at the angle of
where the roof line is, it's 6 stories up, but you see at that 6th floor where it becomes shingles,
there's a couple of windows and you see one of those, because the sound draws your attention up
there, you see one of those Close a little harder than maybe was intended by the person who was,
uh, slipping out because Serafina, you can make out that there is, um, three figures
crawling out of a window and, uh, Gus, you can see that the window did open and close.
You can't quite figure out what is going on up there. Um,
but you can tell that somebody has slipped out. Could I move to, like, follow them around to see,
like, where they go? Definitely. I assume, like, on the outside of the fence, or whatever? Yeah,
um, and, and are you just trying to, like, shadow them? Yeah, I just want to see, like, where the
people that came out the window are going. Or, I guess if I can get eyes on them, if I didn't,
like, like, specifically see how many there were. Yeah, you, you can kind of follow the shadows
and everything and, and kind of track them that way. Why don't you just go
ahead and roll with or a survival check to see how successful you are at that
13. Awesome. You're able to track them pretty well. You're, you're doing pretty well at seeing
where they're going. They keep making noises as they're doing it. Um, but you can tell that
if they get too much further, you're gonna have to actually leave Sarafina and Lua to continue
tracking them. I am going to point my finger at Serafina and send a message that says follow
these people that came out the window. I'll meet up with you in a minute and
then I'm going to continue to follow them. Uh, telepathic. I can send something back,
right? Uh, for message, I don't think so, no. Just kidding. Got it. Oh, here's the message
and can reply in a whisper. Okay, yeah. I go, who is this? Oh, Gus. Oh, limited words. Right.
I know how to do this. No, not the message. Not sending. Oh, just kidding. I have unlimited words.
Okay, go. Okay, I'll go. All right. Come back here, though. Gus, Santra's off following them,
trying to keep, split the range here. Um, it takes a while before the door is going to be
opened. Do you continue waiting? Mm hmm. Um, what's the weather like outside? It's grim,
but it's, it's been threatening rain all day, but it hasn't yet rained.
And the, the temperature, is it chilly or is it? It's, we're, we're moving from the cool seasons
into the spring. So it's, you know, your cloak and your clothing, they keep you fairly well. Uh, but
they've left you out here. Longer than you would have expected for this type of call, they either
would have gotten rid of you fairly quickly, or they would have, um, invited you inside.
So, this delay here is suspicious. Okay, um, I'm just going to take a quick look
around. Is there any sort of, like, tavern, coffee shop,
anything nearby that I can, or anywhere with outdoor seating that I can possibly just go and
Rest. Go ahead and roll a perception check. Ugh. Six. Nothing that you can see that you could
surveil the location you're at now. You can hear and you can see light off around
an alleyway and that might be a decent place to go, but, um, not right here. I'm going to,
um, just knock back on the door, um, and just say, sorry, is there, is there
somewhere I can maybe perhaps sit while I wait? I, I, either inside or nearby, I'm, my, uh, it,
it's, it's not common to leave a kom, kom shah standing this way. You don't hear anything from
within. How rude. And there's no response. Well. They're certainly not interested
in my services. I guess. I wish I could take my card back.
Very rude. Um, uh, I am going to make my way back to Serafina Serafina. You're standing there. Um,
Gus has been gone for a little bit now. Um, I'm I'm going to speak to her. And Gus,
because I wouldn't know that he had left and I'll say, okay, um, I don't know where are you still?
Where do you last were Gus? Yeah. Right. Oh, Gus, Gus. Oh, Gus not here. I don't think he's here.
And I start going like this. Can we can we just maybe be a little less conspicuous about that?
Just in case anyone's watching us. Um, Right. Uh, he, he said there were three guys came out of the
top and I like points where they came out of. Again, three guys came out of that. Just,
just use your eyes to show. Okay. Okay. Okay. Perfect. Perfect. Oh, no, no, no. That was very
well done. Um, just he, he, anyone's watching again. Right. Right. Right. Right. I swear I've
done this before. I believe you. I just, um, because we're right in front of the place where
we're trying to get into it, there may be people watching, so just something to keep in mind.
Right. Uh, and I, like, put my hands, like, very, in, like, a pocket of my pants and,
like, keep them there and just, like, stand still and, like, a weird whisper, just like,
Gus went to go look for three men. I told him to come back here. I don't know if he has returned.
I'm sure he would probably tell us. Um, all right. Well, um, I guess that makes sense as to why they
left me literally standing out. Can I put my hands in my pocket? I'm holding a rat.
I pulled the rat tighter. Oh, oh, um, is he okay? He, his eyes are bulging a little. Well, I'm just
holding the cage. I took the cage with me. Sorry. I thought you were like just squeezing this rat.
Having like the cage. Homeward bound moment at like, ugh, I can't breathe. Yes. Do you know of
anywhere nearby that maybe we could just wait? It seems, it's just, it's, it's a chillier day
that it, and it, It looks like it's going to rain at any minute, so I would rather not get caught
outside. Uh, I mean, yeah, I definitely know of some places, but I told Gus to come back here.
How will he know to go somewhere else? Um, maybe we could somehow leave him a message or a note.
First, Rurik, uh, do I actually know of any places nearby? I would assume I'm fairly
familiar with the area just from, like, walking around. Just outside of your area,
because this is north of, uh, The strip and north of, I mean,
the whispering bazaar is south of the strip. So this is actually not exactly a familiar area.
You're kind of on the borderlands between the strip and, um, those more expensive houses,
including this one that are just up there. Um, but go ahead and roll a perception check to see
if you can spot a place to hang out. So, are we technically in the Crystal Cliffs? Is that
where we are? Where are we? No, um, you are in the, uh, so if you look at where the Strip is,
and then between the Strip and the Hollow Council, you're in the area right around that zone.
Ah, okay, okay, okay. Oh, I fell. Oh, and that's a worse roll. I mean, anywhere that, you know,
maybe this place is still within eyesight, and that way if he pops up, seemingly out of thin air,
as it were, then we can, you know, run out and flag him down. I'm doing perception. No,
I'm doing history. What am I doing? Perception. Perception. So that's a
whole nine. Okay. Um, it takes the two of you quite a bit to find a cozy spot that's
still within a recent decent, um, range of this building, you end up actually having to
go down a little bit of an alley that has an oblique angle on the space where, um,
that this building is, but it still works out. You still are able to get to a good spot, um,
and you're able to kind of figure things out. Cozy, outdoor, a little bit of a magical heat
lamp over the top, self cleaning plates. It's a nicer area of town, um, but not that nice that
they actually hand wash these dishes, you know. There's a difference between cheap, shoddy cutlery
and high end cutlery, and this is the mid range. But nicer midrange. Um, Gus, you have been tailing
these three individuals. Um, they first, you kind of, you see them slipping along the roof
lines for a while, and you have a choice. You could try to blend in with the shadows below,
or you could make your way up to the rooftops as well. Which would you choose to do?
I'll probably stay below. Okay, can you go ahead and roll a stealth
check with advantage because you are invisible? Well, awesome. Um, with a 12,
you're able to make out some, um, you're able to make out some of the, uh, Locations
that they're hopping from to and from. Um, and you, uh, get the sense that they're kind of making
their way around the square to a location where they can surveil those who are outside of the,
um, the building itself. Um, as you make your way over there, go ahead and roll a perception check.
A little bit nine. Um, continuing to follow them around, it's, it's a little confusing
that they're still circling and, uh, they make their way around and then you see them kind of
like settle in for a moment and then they start coming back your way. They still seem to have
their eyes on someone and they're tracking them, but they're coming back towards you.
What do you do? Okay. Is it possible for me to like, get up to where they are,
uh, to climb up to the rooftop? Yeah. Uh, go ahead and roll, uh, uh, some sort of dexterity
based method of getting up there or strength based. If you're just muscling your way up,
I'm going to say acrobatics because of My small statue, I probably have to, like, jump and, like,
grab a lot of things, and, like, Oh, yeah. You're an agile climber. You've scaled,
uh, walls and fences and other things while chasing down suspects in the past. So, yeah,
go ahead and use an acrobatics check. Ooh, 30 20. Awesome. You're able to slip up there
really quickly, and Okay. Uh, this gives you an even better view of what they're looking at
and what they're trying to check out. Um, you have a better sense of what
they're, they, they don't seem to see you. Um, but go ahead and roll another perception
check or actually I think this time insight check. Ooh, another dirty 20. Keeping that dice out. Uh,
you. Oh, good. Because now they've triangulated for you by their gaze and how they've moved and
you've been able to slip around behind them, uh, or, or alongside them at some points,
you realize that where they're looking and they're looking over at this outdoor space
for this cafe and you recognize and see Ulua and Serafina sitting at that spot.
I want to point at. Ulua. Invisible finger. Oh, shit! 120 feet. You're within range. Does that
count as casting a spell? Yes. It's a cantrip, so I don't know. Um, that means I technically
would have become un invisible. Yeah, but you are stealthing very well. Okay, so I guess I'm just
hiding now. I'm not invisible anymore because I don't have spells to re invisible myself.
So I will cast a pointer finger at, um, Ulua and just be like, They're watching you. From the top
of the, whatever building we're on. Zulu, you hear this whisper in your head. And I need to be able
to see him to whisper back? No. Okay. Noted. Um, Mmm, I, They seem to have left me out in the
cold. Shall we reconvene at Sticky Beaks? Or do you want to keep following them? Um,
Sticky Beaks? No, uh, oh, we're supposed to meet at her brother's office, right? Yeah. That's what
I meant, sorry. Okay, um, point my finger again, but like, where's the, where's her brother's
office? Serafina, darling, where's your brother's office? Oh, uh, yeah, yeah, it's, um, uh,
it's in the place called, uh, Cobblestone Commons. Um, it's, I proceed to explain the cross streets
and I proceed to relay the cross streets, take a look at the blue house. Yes, there's a blue house
and across from a deli it's right next to the cobbler. But if you go to the tailor, you've gone
too far, uh, As that is being shared with you, Gus, you overhear something because you're close
enough to them now to overhear their conversation. Um, you overhear, follow them, kill them.
I'm going to point at Alou and be like, oh, they're going to try to kill you. Interesting.
Well, a lady is always prepared. Um, and I say, uh, you stay on them. Let's give
them the long way to her. Shall we see if we can't trip them up as it were. Stay in touch.
As Alua and Serafina go around a corner, two of the figures up on the rooftop continue to
follow them, and one It starts to slip down a different direction down the,
down the rooftops towards a back alley. Uh, Gus, do you follow the lone individual or
the two that are following Ulua and Serafina? Uh, I feel like I don't know them well enough
to know if they can like handle themselves yet. So I'm just going to like, in case they need help,
I'm going to go with follow the two, I guess. Okay. Uh, as you head down following them,
the other individuals slips off into the alleyways. As you continue following, you take
note of the figures a little bit more, especially as you continue this, this, uh, search and, and.
One appears to be feminine and the other appears to be masculine in their presentation. Um,
both are intent and you can see them as, uh, Alua and Serafina turn into a darker alleyway,
taking the long way, so to speak. You see them both pull out small crossbows.
I will point at her again and be like, They have crossbows? Be careful. What's, where
are they? I will tell her again, like, what our location is. Okay, just to help things out here,
I am going to share something, so give me a hot second. As you're doing that, I'm just going to,
um, I'm going to take Serafina's arm in mine and kind of do like a, like a scoop and like
a hand over her arm and just, you know, uh, lean in as if I'm putting my head on her
shoulder and say, um, do you have any sort of. protection for yourself, or, uh, it seems we're
about to get in a bit of a scuffle. I am not great in fights, but I have things to protect
myself. Okay, well, uh, when I, when I, let's see, um, when I stop, uh, and turn to face you,
find a hiding place, all right? Um, I'll do my best to Distract them both. No, no, no, no, no.
I don't, I don't need to like hide. I could, I could fight. I'm just, you know, I mean,
I can protect you. You, you don't need to protect me. I can definitely protect you. Well,
we just, you know, they have crossbows. So. Oh, I have a crossbow. Okay. Well,
don't take it out now. Just. Right. You ready? So you have turned into this shadow area right here.
Gus, you're standing on this, on this side of the pinnacle here of this parapet. And just to the
other side of it is the two crossbow wielders. So the two snackers walked from this cafe,
Down this way and then down this alleyway. So you see the pathway that they've taken and you've been
kind of like tailing these 2 as they come up over here and you're just right behind them and they're
both stationed on either side here taking aim at the 2 and waiting until they come into sight.
And as soon as they come into sight, they've aimed and they pull the trigger.
Uh, they think that they are getting a sneak attack, but you are aware of what is going on
with the communication that you have with Gus and everything else like that. So what I would like to
do as they shoot is I would like the two of you to roll two prepare to dexterity saving throws.
Okay. One for each of us or two each? One for each of you. Sorry. Okay. And
then everybody will roll initiative deck save deck save. Okay. Uh,
16 for me. Okay. 18. Okay. Gus, you watch as the two. Nope. Nope. And fire. And you see the
quarrels were targeted correctly. But Seraphina and Ulaea just seem to, through your support and
guidance as well, know how to move in such a way as to dodge both quarrels before they even hit,
and they, you just hear the skittering of the crossbow bolts hitting the cobbles below.
And in that moment, they both cuss a lot. Quietly to each other and seek to re-arm their crossbows.
I would like everybody to roll initiative. Woo. Oh no. 18. 18. Awesome. 14.
One. I said 14. Oh, I, oh no. Crossbo, jingly, jangle. I go and pick up the cross bows for myself
and I put 'em in my pocket. . I'm like, oh, I have a crossbo. I can't use these.
Uh, yeah, picking up the damaged corals is what distracts you for
this. Uh, so, Jason, you're first. I would, um, like to point my finger
like this at the closest, or whichever one of them is closest to the edge. That would be
the feminine figure. That I would like to say. Boom. And then I'm going to Eldritch Blaster.
Nice. Jesus. Go ahead and roll that attack. A heck of a wake up call. Good morning. Maybe.
It's an 11. Uh, that includes your hit DC and everything? Yeah. Total. Um,
an 11 misses. And what does your Eldritch Blast look like? Oh, things I've not thought about. Um,
I think it looks Let's see, given my patron, I'm going to say it looks like
a rainbow. Okay, so there's a rainbow fires from your finger gun and it misses and there to anyone
in the world knowing that it was just about to rain, it was getting gloomy and dark. It
looks like a rainbow has just. Shown up and then it quickly fades away. Um, a momentary
rainbow. Uh, anything, wait, wait a section. Wait, any chance I have advantage as a surprise
attack since they didn't know I was here. You know, yeah. Yeah. You're sneaky. Let's try again.
Go with advantage. You don't get the rogues. Same thing. Nevermind. Okay. Yeah. I'm going
to hex the closest one to me. Oh. Okay. This is a creature that you can see within range.
Choose one ability when you cast a spell. The target has disadvantage on ability
checks made with the chosen ability. So does the crossbow count as an ability or no? Uh,
what powers it does, but this would be for ability checks. So that would be. You know,
things like, uh, intimidation, wisdom, uh, religion, sleight of hand.
I will disable a stealth or give them disadvantage on stealth. So for stealth, that would be,
you're going to disadvantage their dexterity. Okay. So any dexterity checks they make will now
be with disadvantage for dexterity. Awesome. Um, and at the end of your turn, are you yep. That's
all I got. Actually, I'm going to move back as far as I can away from them because I probably
too squishy to, like, stand here and fight them. Yeah, you can only really move at half speed
on these rooftops just because of how precarious they are. So you're able to get to, like, kind of,
uh, point of being able to jump over to the next build. Okay. Uh, yeah. That takes us to Larissa,
uh, Ulua. Um. You've just been shot at. You saw a rainbow fly over the top of that, the roof line.
Um, I am also going to, uh, look at the, uh, feminine creature that's closest to the edge
of the roof. Um, I'm going to use my bonus action and, uh, cast Unsettling Words. Uh, which means,
um, oh, I need to roll. I need to roll Bardic Inspiration die. Uh, and they must subtract
three from the next saving throw that they make. Okay. Uh, and then I am going to cast, uh, wait,
no, no. Yes. I'm going to cast mockery. Right? Okay. Because I cast a spell is a cantrip and then
I can cast a bonus action spell. Was the other one a bonus action spell? Yes. Yes. And then you,
yes, you can basically, it's like the negative version of bardic inspiration,
which is a bonus action as well. Yeah. Um, and I'm going to say, uh,
I'm going to cast vicious mockery and say, uh, or I'm going to sing rather, let's see,
uh, this is not prepared because I was going to cast a different spell
that I remembered. It had to be a cantrip. Um, let's see. Your aim is as lovely as your face. Um,
and that will be maybe some sort of psychic damage, uh, two points of psychic damage. You see,
see them kind of like they have to grip their head as that. Uh, and Gus, you can't see them
anymore because you're down the peak of the roof, so you can't see that figure, but,
uh, they definitely have the, um, huge headache that comes with being mocked by a talented bard.
Yeah, huge headache. Two points. Um, and then for my movement, uh, remind me which roof they're on.
They're on the purple, uh, parapet that's up higher. And we are in the shadow area,
right? Uh, I would like to just duck, uh, Into like a doorway doorframe somewhere
that is out of line of sight for the crossbows. Yeah, there's 2 barrels here. There's a bench. You
could run closer to them and get hidden behind the roof line of this building here. Or yeah,
I'll do the I'll do the roof or the corner there. The green, so you dart over into that corner,
you will have full cover because you can make it all the way over there.
Basically, they can't shoot you. Uh, Seeing reaction, I'm going to say, come out and play,
uh, seeing that their, their compatriot has, that is reeling from whatever is just hit them between
the hex and the, um, and the, uh, the, the psychic damage there, that, that feminine individual is
reeling a little bit. The other person shouts at them, RELOAD! RELOAD! As they take aim again,
but this time they're taking aim at Serafina because she's the only one visible to them.
And they are going to Does Serafina does That sucks.
Does a 10 hit. No! Wah! Awesome. Uh, so you see
another bolt. skitter across the cobbles and seeing their partner engage in this way. The
other person who's kind of been wobbly a little bit, uh, races up the roof line
to try to find who shot the rainbow. Um, just trying to figure out where that came from. Uh,
and they kind of scan around and look, um, Should my verbal component be, you've stolen
my lucky charms and I didn't bring them. They do not see Gus in the shadows, in the
darkness. So Gus, while you're not technically stealthed, they rolled a 20. Terrible perception
check, standing at the peak of this roof line, and they turn back away, assuming that it was just a
fluke of something, and they shoot back towards you again, Serafina. Ah, this is much better.
That's a 20 hit. Yes. Okay. You are going to take five points of piercing damage. Five. Uh oh. Uh
oh. Uh, the action has been pretty quick and intense. Serafina, you've been scrabbling around
picking up these two crossbow bolts, and then you get hit by this crossbow bolt, and it's, uh, and
you look up and it's your turn. You have a crossbow coral sticking out of your body. And
two in your hands, and your own crossbow. What are you going to do? Um,
I want to, do do do do. It doesn't take an action to pull out my,
like, crossbow and stuff. No, I assume from the conversation that you were, like, surreptitiously
getting it ready. Yeah, okay, perfect. Um, so I'm going to drop the two crossbows that
I just grabbed and fire at the closest one. Whether that be the more masculine or feminine.
Perfect. Go ahead and roll the attack. Alright, plus 5. Okay, uh, 14, 15, 16, 17,
18, 19. Oh, why didn't I just know that? 19. The hit. That hits. Roll the damage,
please. Okay. I gotta remember which one's an 8. Are you an 8? I think you're 8. Yeah! Plus 3.
Nice. Nine. Uh, you hit them with this crossbow bolt. They bend over. How do you want this to end
for them? Um, uh, they're on the pointy house. They're not near us. They're on this purple roof
right here. Uh, just to maybe collapse over. Nothing too crazy. But then I want to whisper,
yell over to them. Alua. And be like, I got one! Stay where you are, I will protect you! Uh,
they hit and tumble and then because of the pitch of the roof, they slide off the edge of
the roof and onto the roof of the other building across and you hear a k funk and then nothing.
Uh, Gus! It's your turn. What are you doing? So the one that's left is the one that I hexed,
right? Yes. Okay. They are hexed. They are psychically damaged. So now I'm going to
Eldritch Blast them again. Okay, roll the attack. Am I still sneaky? Do I still get advantage? Uh,
yeah, they didn't spot you. So you still have fuck sake. Are you kidding me? I missed again
with advantage for twice. I missed that's ridiculous. Can you roll an intimidation check?
Oh yeah. Uh, 15. All right. With that brightly colored rainbow, you see them sway uncertainly on
their feet a little bit and. Regain their balance, but it was 10 years at best. They are on the peak
of this rooftop. You have your bonus action and your movement. What are you going to do? Uh,
I will move back, hopefully into cover. So they still don't see me. I guess. Okay.
Yeah. You can move, um, up along or just move to the building next door to you and
just be below the eve of the building that they're on. So they can't see you. Yeah.
I'm gonna like hide underneath the. Okay. Yeah. So you're tucked away a bit, um, harder to see.
They still know vaguely where you are because of the rainbows, but you are currently tucked
away. And then Alua, you are currently tucked around the corner. You just heard that, uh,
Serafina got one, whatever that means. And you heard a thud, you can't see the enemies
right now from where you are, but I would love. To peek back around the corner, uh, and do my best
to, um, try to spot the other one, um, and then I would like to cast, uh, dissonant whispers at
the first level. Okay, can I first have you roll a perception check to see if you're able to figure
out where they are? It is not a very high DC, but you did not have eyes on them in the interim.
Yep, that's fair. That's cocked. Oh, look at that. Double digits. All right. Uh, 15. Yes,
you step back and you're able to see them. You have to move yourself just towards where the
cobbles start getting rough. But once you get there, you see them very clearly. Okay. And I'm
going to, uh, cast Dissonant Whispers. It's a, uh, wisdom saving throw,
I believe. Okay. Yeah. Uh, 13. Okay. They got a 10 total. Woo. Okay.
They take, uh, nine points of psychic damage. They're clutching their head. Tell me,
what does this look like as their brief time in Overton comes to an end? Uh, essentially, uh,
like you said, they're clutching their head and then they just kind of do one of those, like their
eyes roll back and they just kind of crumple. Uh, uh, maybe a little, uh, trickle of blood
comes out of their nose and their, uh, eardrums, uh, As they start to fall,
they crumple and can you just roll a d6 one, they crumple and fall falling to the
southern end of the pinnacle landing with a thump on the same rooftop, but just below,
not too far from Gus splayed out and because of the fact that they fell in that direction, they're
stuck up there. They didn't slide any further. And with that, combat, our first combat, is over.
Ba ba ba ba. Dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee. I'm gonna go over to the um, one that fell by
me. And, like, look through their pockets or whatever, just to see if they have anything
that identifies them, or who they are, or Uh, roll an investigation check. He invest,
you're fired. Dice. Let's see. Um, I guess not 13. That's so bad. Uh, could have been voice. But the
13, you find a couple of interesting items in their pockets. Uh, they are, um, they must be
working for a casino because they have. Uh, a lot of, uh, chips and, and, but it's not like
they just have the chips that they would have. They have those that others would have, uh,
uh, they have dice, um, and you, as you kind of heft them, you, you definitely think that they're
probably weighted dice, like very obviously weighted. These are not sneaky. This is definitely
a casino that's illicitly doing things. Um, and they also have a few, um, Coins in their pockets.
So you, you pick up about 12 gold coins and they also have a, um, a little sketch of the Skylark
cafe or the Skylark theater. I'm going to drag them like.
It's somewhere like try to just sort of hide the body so that they're just missing for an
unforeseeable amount of time Like being where they are right now given how? Protected they can't be
seen from the ground at least They you're in a good spot right where they are. Okay. That was a
very lucky role that Larissa made to get that one And then like being a former homicide detective,
I guess I will like try to like obfuscate Any investigation that eventually happens, like clean
up after myself, like maybe misdirect if I can. Yeah. Go ahead and just roll. This is kind of
like a, um, a survival check, but also kind of like a slight of hand check. Should I like just
mess things up? But it's more of a wisdom thing. So let's go with the survival check.
Eight. God, you're dumb. You're fired, Dice. I pulled out all new dice sets to roll and none
of them are treating me very well. All right. It's cause you haven't rolled them yet. I don't
actually believe in any of that. Gotta feed them. Give them kisses. The Karen feeding of dice. Uh,
you're all here. Are you getting together? Gus? Gus? Yeah, I will work my way down. Actually,
I'll probably go check the other body too. As long as I'm up on the roofs already. Yeah. As you,
uh, kind of clamber up and over, uh, Lula and Serafina, you see another
shadow up on the rooftops briefly and then it disappears from sight.
Um, okay. Uh, Kios, can I have you roll a, um, I think this is going to be going back to the
same thing. It's, it's a bit of a, like you're looking for the trail of blood and such of,
of the person who fell. Um, although there wasn't blood at the first hit, but you're
just trying to track down where their body did. So I think we can call this another wisdom check.
Um, you choose what you think it would be for you. I guess the survival count for knowing
where a dead body falls. Yeah, sure. I'm really just looking for like your perceptive skills as
applied to knowing how you're trying to figure out how they've pachinkoed down the 16 on survival.
Okay. Uh, you make your way down and you find the them crumpled in the alley. They've actually
bounced a bit and they're crumpled up in the alley. Just another body lying
there. There's nobody currently looking down here. Um, they felt quite a ways,
so they're a bit more mangled than they were when they were just hit with the crossbow bolt.
But you can see the broken crossbow bolt in their chest.
I am going to go through the pockets again, and I will also take the crossbow bolt with me. Um,
similar to the, to the other one, they have a lot of gambling paraphernalia on them. And they
also have some, uh, some just things on their person of various sorts, another ten gold, uh,
There's a note and it looks like it's written in a language. I don't know. Do you speak
under common? I do. Oh, so you start reading through it. It's like an encoded under common,
and what you pick up from it is Stop the revolution. Take out Celeste. Oh,
protect the council. Okay, and then I will go back over to them.
Uh, do you share any of your findings with them? I will, um, share all of my findings with them. Uh,
Allua, when you read through that particular Undercommon note, uh, do you speak Undercommon?
I do not. Well, when you get Gus's interpretation of what it says, it rings a bell. And you
know there's a certain council member who is famed for paying people off to keep secrets.
It's one of those contracts that's been offered your way before, but due to your
choices in life, you've never partaken of that particular bribe.
We should, we should probably regroup. We've obtained a lot of information
and it may be best To, take a look at. Oh we can go peek Squeaky Peek.
No, no. Did you just say Squeaky Peek? I wasn't sure if that was in character or
not! I couldn't tell either, I was like, Squeaky Peek, Squeaky Peek. Yes, totally,
totally in character. Um, that was so it character, um, uh, I was so confident
to, uh, he didn't used to be my informant. So he does, he does have a squeaky beak.
I don't know. Oh, so good. Um, I didn't send him a note, have him meet us. I can walk us to the,
to the, my office, my brother's office. We should get off the streets before. The watch
finds one of these bodies. Uh, Oh, here you go. I'm going to hand her back her crossbow bolt
that was in his chest. Oh, thank you. Wipe it off. Leave that in the body.
Noted. Okay. Y'all making your way to the cobblestone commons. I would have
quickly wrote a note, folded it into a bird, chucked it. Oh, whispered to who it goes to,
chuck it. Okay. What does the note say? Okay. It says, lots of information,
I want to tell you all about it, we'll meet you at the office, comma, my brother's office,
the one that I'm using right now. And some other, some other Kenku named
Squeaky Beak gets his weird note from nowhere. Uh, so yeah, you all make your way over the,
to the office. It takes quite a while because it is crossing a lot of the city. Um, you're
all familiar with the various public transit, various public transit options. There's Quick
flights that are fairly expensive. There's the cart boards down below, just sub level of Overton.
And there are a variety of, you know, slower magic tech carts that can make their way along
the street or just simply walking. Um, how do you choose to make this journey?
How much is there one? And go ahead. Oh, how much are the flights? Like the quick flights,
flights generally go for two to three gold and it can go up and down depending on, uh,
availability and rush. Okay, so this is like a cab. Yeah. Okay. Would there be a particular way
like me and my brother would have traveled? I think that's related to you and your
brother and the costs you would have put in. I think early on in his career he definitely
would have walked a ton, but also taken the carpool services. As they're more affordable,
um, but it does mean going into the enders, it gets stinky down there and it's hot. I would,
I'll suggest that to the group, um, just because that would be what I was used to. I would be like,
I'll pay for, uh, quick flight, courtesy of our most recent friends back there.
Oh. Sweet. I just hold up like a handful of gold coins. Uh, summoning a, uh, a flying vehicle is
fairly ubiquitous. Um, everybody does it their own special way. Quick whistle, a hand raise,
whatever it is. Uh, they have the magic sensory equipment to find a fare. And it's happens to be
a night of very little traffic right now. Um, I actually just used an app. As far
as you know, the, uh, the, the Grands Brand Gala must be in full swing because there's
a lot of free flying vehicles available, usually the purview of those with wealth,
but they're all at one location having a great old time, as far as you know, and you are quickly
able to summon one and make your way to it. To the cobblestone commons. It is maybe not
the most robust of machineries, but it is quick. It is efficient. And the skyways are often the
most direct ways, uh, upon arrival, it lands in an open square area in the cobblestone commons,
a little loud, a little ostentatious, the, the Omnitheumter makes a ton of noise as it gets
over there, but you eventually arrive and. Serafina, you're able to take the other two
to your brother's office. How much does that cost? A second total? Uh,
that one costs you three gold without tip. Okay. I would do five gold. Big spender.
That's money. I just took it off my head body. Uh, yeah, you are able to make that happen. Um,
Serafina, can you describe the entryway to this office? Um. Yeah, so, uh, you walk in,
and it's a, not a huge entry, like, way, um, but still spacious enough that no one feels cramped by
any means. Um, there's like a, like a receptionist desk that's, you know, Currently empty, um,
you know, some pictures on the wall of, like, news articles of things that he had solved, uh,
and then there's like a door off to the right, and if you go inside the door, that's where the
mess is, just books upon books upon files upon. And somewhere in this place there's a painting.
There is. So, when you walk into the actual office, behind the desk,
the only clean, well kept thing in the space is a huge wall sized portrait of young Gus
from a poster that was released in his prime. And I walk in, totally forgetting about that,
and I sit right in the desk, just like, Alright, this is my brother's office. We're here. Welcome.
What are you looking at? And I like, turn around. I go, Oh yeah! I told you he liked you. It's you,
right? Yes, that's, that's me. He likes you. Big fan. I, I see that. Where, where is your
brother? Ah, very good question. Don't know. Yeah, I don't know. Is he missing or? Yeah.
Run away? Yeah. Nope. I, well, I hope he didn't run away. Uh, he went out on a case, uh, and has
not come back. There's no info. Um, so I'm, I'm running the agency now. Yay. Um, yeah, And looking
for him when I can, but, uh, it's not going great. Yeah, I, uh, about, you know, not too long,
12, 13 months. Yeah, it, at first it was fine because you know,
he, he would go away for a while. So for like, I don't know, four or five months, none of us really
thought much of it. Cause you know, he would go away for things. Yeah. Yeah. And then it like,
you know. Seven months, we started questioning. By month eighth, I, yeah, I'm not the best detective.
I'm really good at like people telling me what to do in that sense of like investigationing,
like he would take me with him on a lot of the cases. Cause I'm, I'm really good at like,
you know, like I, like I create things. I pull out my little box that I was working on, like,
like this, like I'm working, I'm building this. I'm almost done with this. It's gonna do, um,
things. There's a spring that doesn't work right now. But, uh, yeah, so, just looking for him.
Not the best where was I? Oh, right, uh, not the best, uh, investigator. So, I'm losing out on a
lot of his cases. You don't give yourself enough credit. I would agree, you did very well today.
the rat. Oh yeah, that's true. Well, I talk to a lot of the rats in the basement that I do stuff
in. I can get bored down there sometimes. Do they,
this is going to sound uninformed, because it is. Do they, is there a social system? Oh yeah, yeah,
yeah, for sure, for sure. I mean, I only know about it within the basement. I don't
know much about, you know, the outside of the basement hierarchy. I also only have, you know,
very limited time that I can talk to them until like, I have to like, you know, I basically have
to go to sleep and I can talk to them again. But then by then, you know, the kids come down
and I hang out with them, so. See if they're kids or rats. The kids? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Did I miss something? No, not my kids. My brother struck a deal with the guy who owns the shop. I
use his basement. He has like a thousand kids. No, it's like, I don't know, five kids, I think.
They come down a lot and bug me. Gotcha. Okay. I understand. I thought maybe we were talking about
the rat's children. I just wanted to make sure. You know, I bet they have kids. I just assume
they're a new rat. Oh, I'm sure they do. They're usually quite big. They're usually quite, um,
They procreate a lot. Yes. They have a high propensity for procreation. Um, anyways, um,
well, now that we're here, Oh, are you thirsty? While we wait, I could, I could, I could make a
drink. Well, do we, do either of you have a way to get in touch with Sticky Beak? Oh, I already
did it. I sent a letter when we were walking. Oh, um, I got paper and I pull out one of the
two that I've left and I'm like, yeah, Ah, ah, I see. Yes, you're well prepared. Perfect. Um,
oh, well, he gave it to me. He told me to send it to him. Oh, the, the letter that you got, it
probably came as a bird. Yeah. That, that's this. Yes, at one leg of its journey, yes, certainly.
Um, so, uh, yes, as long as we're waiting, I would love a refreshment. Um, perhaps Perfect,
I know what you will like. I know. Gus, big man, I point up to the picture.
What do you want? Sure, sure. Whatever you have is fine. Got it. And I was like, don't worry. I
got a great selection. I know exactly what to make you. And I go to a closet and open up the closet.
Inside check. Is she lying or is it bravado? Or is she truly believing that's an at one? Never
mind. Oh, you totally believe everything she says. You are captivated. As she goes to the
big closet and. And I open it up and there's one bottle of like the brown liquid with cups,
pour it out, give it to him. It's like higher end, you know, liquor, but it's still just
the one. It's her brother's one celebratory drink when he closes the case and she's just,
she never opened it. It's his desk bottle. Yeah. Exactly. Uh, Gus, as she moves over
in that direction, you make out another, uh, object on the wall, something more recent.
Somebody has kept up with your work. There's an atrocious picture of a paint of a maybe a
tree or a bush. You don't remember what you're painting that day, but you know,
you painted that. So, so your brother's the one. The one what? The one. I mean,
he's the one brother. I only have one brother. One person who ever bought one of my paintings.
He bought one of your paintings? Come back and I look. Oh, that thing. Yeah,
it's a seal, right? Seal? Yes. That's, that's, well done. That's exactly what it is. I'm just
gonna sit down with my little drink. He told me it was a tree. I think it's a seal. Tree seal.
Very rare. Oh, okay. Nice. You know, if you wanna paint some more, I'll bet he'd buy it.
Um. I mean, I gotta find him first. But then he'd buy it. No, I'm not what you would call
a professional artist. It's more of a hobby. Maybe. Maybe. But he, you got money for it.
Doesn't that make you professional? He'd give you more money for it too. Actually,
didn't get money for it. I gave it to someone who sold it to your brother.
It was a gift. Ooh, awkward. Yeah, that's okay. Ernesto, the bartender sold it to him. Ernesto.
I'm going to say that. Gus probably just never tries to sell his paintings because
he's fully aware they're not good. Like, he just enjoys doing it. Like, it's a hobby of
joy for him. Well, if you ever decide to pursue a commission on your paintings, my friend Celia,
Her tavern is essentially a gallery and she only takes a small commission on any, any sale, every,
everything in, in the tavern is artwork of some form, whether it be, uh, carpentry or
the glassware, or it's, it's all local artisans. And so I'm sure she would be happy to feature some
of your work. Um, there's also a collective of artists who meet there on occasion to, um,
to share their work and speak about their work and, um, to talk about, um, uh, you know, various
artists and techniques. Um, you might enjoy it. Um, but I certainly wouldn't pressure anyone, but.
I'm happy to connect you should you feel inclined. I appreciate that. I will let you know to do that.
He's very uncomfortable. This is like his private ish hobby that he just
like paints in the woods by himself. I take a sip of the liquid and I go,
It's a little harsh. Mine's already gone. For my tastes, but quite warming. So thank
you. It's definitely working to keep away the chill of the day. Mm. I will pass your
notes on to my brother when he comes back. He's back! He's arrived! Uh, your office chimes ring. I
was going to try to knock, but uh, you hear a loud doorbell as you are knocked on the door. Charmed
by the door. That's canon. Now that's Oh, he's here. He's here. I'm going to run
in. You open the door and there's a very tall figure. Um, feminine in appearance.
Uh, is this the offices of, uh, I think I'm looking for you. Uh, Serafita. Yes. Yes, indeed.
That is who I'm looking for. Uh, I have a problem that could use your intervention. Oh, um, uh,
uh, come on in, come on in, come in from the cold. Oh, thank you very much. They begin taking off
their cloak and their overcoat and then the scarf and then a hat. They reveal a very beautiful, uh,
but older aristocratic looking woman, a little worn, uh, with care, crow's feet, uh, Slight point
to her ears. Um, so, uh, you'd be Serafina. Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's me. And
you've recently picked up some associate. I, I have. Uh, well, if my information is true,
you have. I, uh, surprised to see you, but it's splendid. I'm glad you're well. Uh, associate,
associate. I mean, I used to work with my brother and I over here, um, I don't think you can hear
from the back to the front in this type of space with her volume. Um, you just know that she went
over to, to invite somebody at this point. I think, so I think this is a little bit of a,
if you want to, you can roll up a set perception check. Like if you're like here to the door,
I would have actually come out of the space that we were in. And. And I would have left
the door open. Okay. Yeah, just because I would have been thinking it was sticky beard.
Beard. Oh my God. Beak. Oh, I see that you're both here. That's absolutely all that I needed to know.
And as she says, all I needed to know. Uh, I'm going to cast Hold Person. Mist rises
up. What? I'm going to cast Hold Person. Uh, what are you, how are you doing this? Uh, as,
as the mist starts to rise up, I'm going to go, uh. You're not going anywhere.
Uh, and I just, I just, I do one of these. Um, succeed on a wisdom saving throw, uh,
wisdom save of 13. Wisdom save of 13. The mist continues to rise, even as
your taunting finger is in front of them. Oh no. And as it reaches the top of their head,
they say, Ugh, better luck next time. And the mist starts swirling away, and in her place,
is a large, fanged monstrosity. Ahh! I need you all to roll initiative. I let in a monster!
That's five. Seventeen. I rolled poorly. Well, these new dice also suck.
I'm going away. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, Jason, you got a five? Yup. Larissa, Jess? 17. Jess got a 17.
And Larissa? Are those listening at home? One. Whee.
Oh. Ooty. Yep. Yep. Yep. Uh huh. Uh, okay. I love that.
So, um, okay. That's awesome. And let me just really quickly roll this one. Oh,
even better. Okay. Yeah. Did the monster roll a nat 20?
No, not much different from that, but,
uh, okay. So, this. Okay. Okay. This is, it's,
it's good. This is fine. It's all fine. Um, in your surprise,
you, uh, and I think this like contributes to, uh, Lua's momentary befuddlement,
maybe that's the way to describe this. Um, a large amount of Uh, dust and rust, red dust
rises up out of this creature and you can see that it's mostly composed of ferrous metals and
it's got this body covered in just thick, lumpy armor and a tail that ends in a bony protrusion.
With two little featherly, feathery looking antennae sprouting from an insectile head.
It doesn't belong up here. You've heard about these down in the Underton area,
making raids and, and taking materials from smithies and other places. And it sniffs.
And it is going to reach out and try to attack Ulua, who has just come through. 20. It's its
first attack. Yeah, that hits us. It zips up with its tail, pokes into you briefly,
and pulls back out. You're going to take 5 points of piercing damage. And it
Okay. It's, you see its antenna shake at the same time, and, uh, next to you, Serafina,
one of your brother's, uh, discarded older metal utensils corrodes in front of your eyes
as the antenna kind of points in that direction, and you can see the rust flow towards its maw.
Uh, Jess, it's your turn. Alright, um,
I am going to, uh, run up and hit
it with my sickle. Okay. So it's gonna be actions and, okay. So plus four. Oh, okay. 19. To hit that
hits, roll the damage and plus two. Nice. Four, five, six.
Okay. Yeah. Great. Six points of damage. You see part of its armor gets a little
dented from your hit. And I need you to roll a dexterity saving throw. Dexterity saving throw.
Dexterity saving throw. Okay. Nine. You are, you swing, you hit, and you have caused damage.
You can see that the, um, rust mark monster has a bit of a dent, but as you pull back your sickle,
you can see that the blade of your sickle is rusted and beginning to dissolve, and it has taken
a minus one to its, uh, damage capabilities. Gosh. Uh, bonus actions or anything else
like that? Um, bonus action. Oh, I think I actually have bonus actions.
I guess I don't. Can't I use a, no, cause wait, a cantrip. Oh no, a cantrip is only a bonus action
if it says bonus action. So no, I don't. That's, that's all I do. Awesome. Uh, Jason. Awesome.
Hello. What does Gus do back in the back room, but hearing the monstrous noises happening and
seeing the clouds of rust floating through the air, uh, as a member of the deeper darks
beneath Overton and Underton, you've probably heard about, if not encountered these things.
Given that Gus grew up in the Underdark, maybe he would know like what that sound is. Yes. Okay.
Very likely. So, I'm going to Do you want to roll a history check to get more information, or are
you good? Sure. Let's do it. That is Ooh! 21. Oh yeah, you know actually quite a bit, and you
know that your people would rather fight a squad of other monsters than confront a single one of
these creatures, which are called Rust Monsters. They are normally left to their own devices,
fairly low key and docile. Uh, just They just destroy metals and they gobble up
things that they eat, but upset or noticing creatures that have such metals as they like,
they become very aggressive, especially to those with steel weapons and armor. They can
smell that food at a distance and just go for it, corrode and consume every object of that sort.
They don't care if the rust is from a spike or a sword, they're just after metal.
Um, I'm gonna run to the open door,
and then I'm gonna cast Chill Touch.
Okay. Does a My attack rolls! Oh my god! Does a five No, does a ten hit? No,
a ten does not hit. Um Alright, everybody have a nice day, I'm done. Your chill touch goes
out and it just disperses a bit. The rust has interfered with your spell in some way
and caused it to not fizzle, but just not be able to hit the rust monster in this moment.
Um, that's pretty much all I can do.
You watch Seraphina as the, um, small chair near you that was one of the few metal chairs
in the space begins to dissolve a bit as it goes to Alua's turn. Um, as a pre action,
I'm going to say, boy, are you ugly. And, um, I'm gonna, uh, reach out, uh, and, uh,
And just wiggle my fingers again, uh, and cast, uh, Dissonant Whispers, uh, at the first level.
Uh, it's a wisdom save of 13. I don't even know. Does this creature even have wisdom? Oh,
it does. That's a decent one. Uh, it got a 13. Dammit. Means it beats it. Is that
half damage? Yeah. Um, and doesn't have to move. Uh, four. I rolled an eight total,
so four points of psychic damage. Thank you. Uh, yeah, that there's a bit of a shiver across its
scales as it takes that four points of damage. And, um, you can see that it's relatively
undisturbed still. It's still an intent on gathering the metals, but you can see that
there has been that one gash in its armor. And now that like, whatever that shiver meant for
the life of this creature. Um, and then I'm going to use my last, uh, bardic inspiration.
Um, Uh, to cast on, uh, Gus and be like, good luck to you and missing everything,
the hit that you did to its dammit to its armor, Seraphine is what stood out to it most so far. So
it's the tension has centered to you. Also it got a delicious taste of your scythe and it reaches up
again towards you. It's two antenna furling and it is going to attack you. And it's also going
to add another negative to your scythe. That just happens automatically, um,
if you can't make this deck saving throw. So why don't you go ahead and roll a deck saving throw?
Threw the dice back into their bin. How did I do that? It's like the best. Plus three, right?
Twenty two. You keep your weapon out of its reach just in time, and it goes in for the bite. Uh,
does a twelve hit? No. Ayy! Distracted by your quick shifting of your scythe out of the way, it
misses its lunge at you, and you both protect your weapon and manage to not be hit in this moment.
Uh, that takes us to Jason, Gus. You're muted, maybe, or something,
I don't know. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay, I'm going to try another Eldritch Blast and we'll see if I can
hit anything eight feet away from me. Merrick Inspiration. Probably going to need it. Uh,
does a 12 hit with the inspiration I got all the way to 12. It does not hit a,
another rainbow blasts out. And now that you all know the source of the rainbows, um,
but you see that it's just ricochets, Around and creates a bit of light and color, but fades out
show out of practice. I love that. This is like Gus's coming out of retirement space.
And just like, I feel like he probably has not used his fighting magic at all in like 10 years
or something. Maybe it makes a little sense. Like RP wise, why he keeps missing everything.
Okay. So where his patrons like, Oh, you're still alive. It's like, Oh, Oh, I got it. Start paying
attention to that creature. Is that it? Uh, yeah, I don't have much for bonus actions. So,
yep. Okay, that takes us to Larissa. Uh, I'm going to, uh, cast Dissonant Whispers again. DC
13 save. It only made an 11. Hey,
alright. So, that means, uh, it takes, uh, Seven points of psychic damage and, uh, where is it? Um,
must immediately use its reaction if available to move as far as its speed allows away from me. Uh,
it doesn't move into obviously dangerous ground. Um, it skitters backwards and hits the door,
but can't get any further than that in this space. Okay. Uh, that takes us to It's turned it's
skittered back against the the door trying to adjust and figure out where it's supposed
to be going It's unsure of why it Did that move and you can see that there's a bit of
confusion and it centers its target on, it's going to be between the two of you
because you two most messing with it. It is going to go for you, Lua. And so
it's racing. Not me, who's the largest threat. Yeah. Um, you're just a happy rainbow factory
right now. Worst things to be. Uh, and as it, as it skitters towards you, uh, let's see,
that's a natural 20. So that's a total of 10 points of piercing damage.
All right. Okay. Uh, Jess. Me? Yes. Okay. I'm going to
This might be a very bad idea, but I'm gonna Essentially I have to touch this creature. So I'm
gonna essentially punch him and try to inflict wounds Okay, roll the attack. I think yeah 16
that hits. Oh, this is why I wanted to do this because I can't 3 T10s! Get em! 20 points! 20
points of damage? Yeah. Describe the end of this creature. 9 plus 6 plus 5? Yes, ma'am!
Describe the end of this creature in your office. I just yelled, Don't mess up my
brother's office! And I punched it in the gut. And then I imbue pain that shimmers out from my punch,
makes him rust. This creature of rust, punched by you, cracks all over its armor as
a rusty creature rusts itself and corrodes away. And Then there's a shimmer, and the
shimmer collapses and coalesces, and the creature collapses on itself, and then it disappears.
Left behind are a few trinkets that drop to the ground,
and in that moment you hear another knock. Which, now that we're making
it canon Sounds a lot like some chimes. Do you Don't answer that door! Yeah,
I'm like, I'm essentially like I've got a gash across my chest and I'm like, do you uh happen
to have maybe like a peephole next time you can check and see who's outside before you just let
anybody in? I think there's a peephole. Yeah, let me go look. Uh, quickly, what are the trinkets?
Before I go peek, I, you see that there's a pile of uncorroded metals of various sorts,
and they all have a sheen to them, whatever was previously covering them, having been rusted away,
but these are metals that are not rustable. They're not of the steel family. They were
part of other things. And it seems that this creature, um, um, Although its disappearance
was a little strange, it still had the refined metals from its corroding, rusting thing.
I just quickly go, I assume y'all don't want any metal. You don't need any of metals. And I just
collect all of it, put it in one of my pockets. I'm like, metal. They're like fancy high end
metals that are great for smithing ore, in your case. Your tinkerings. Yeah, and then I'll go. Um,
I don't know. Does the door have a peep hole? Yes, it does. And as you're going up to it,
you just kind of hear in the back of your head Make sure you always check
before answering the door. Shit. It's a voice. It's a familiar voice. Where were you earlier?
Yeah, peeking through the hole you can see sticky beak patiently waiting outside
I want to say, through the door, If you are who you are, how do you know me?
Uh, Serafina? You know me? Uh, your brother was my protege. I'm trying to
help you out. Okay, okay, okay. Boost up your Open the door. Hey, just had to make sure. Is
everything okay? And he looks around and sees Uh, I see me bleeding over in the corner. Oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh. And he reaches into a pouch at his side and pulls out a healing potion. Here, drink this.
Thanks. Are you okay? I'm okay. You have a, you're here. It hands you another healing pot
in Sarafina. What? Where? Where's Gus Is Gus. Okay. Um, my pride is very injured. . He looks
in his pouch. It's a rough life and I don't have a tincture for that. That's okay. No,
you just missed, um. I just look up at the giant photo of young me on the wall and I'm
like, I wouldn't like to look back at this. I mean, it's sad, but it's also super funny.
You just missed a fun little, uh, this, uh, assassination attempt. So that was fun.
Uh, who tried to assassinate you? I described the lady I saw before she went up and missed.
Um, maybe these cases aren't that dissimilar. I don't know. I'm fairly certain she was at the
gala, based on your description. He describes back to you the same individual. She left in a
rush. Well, a lot of people are left in a rush. Things didn't go quite as I shouldn't have been
there in the first place. And I was there, well,
neither here nor there. Did you find out who or what or why? We're trying to find the stage
manager. We suspect he's at least involved in some way. And at that point, now that we are in a,
at least enclosed area amongst friends, I'm going to open the ledger and start leafing through it
to see if there's any personal information. It's actually the Necronomicon and now you're dead.
Uh, opening up the ledger, you, uh, read through and it is. Truly astounding the
information that's in here. Uh, it helps you put some of the pieces together. The,
the two individuals who followed you up on the rooftop were definitely mob stars,
card sharks of a bit of a sort. And this ledger details out the debts owed and the, um,
questionable spending expenditures of a lot of. Tangential to the Hollow Council and tangential
to some of the Ascendants, a lot of corruption and foul dealings, and it's all collected in kind
of a financial ledger, but also a blackmail list. And it is clear Who just leaves this
laying around? Well, it was hidden. You did investigate and find it tucked away,
but I would not leave this at my place of work. It does detail that there, beneath the stage,
is a hidden casino, a gambling space. Where all of these activities go down
and the stage manager just merely keeps the Skylark at the front. As you thumb through it,
a scrap of paper slips out. I grab it and read it. It's,
it, it much more clearly illuminates. Celeste knows too much. She stumbled into too many
moments where she shouldn't have been there. She needs to be taken care of and quickly.
Is there Is the note from anyone or is it just anonymous? It's a, it's clearly
written in a finer stationery, um, the type of stationery that those in the hollow council,
not, it's not ascendant levels, unless they're being a little bit less, um,
obvious in their things and trying to be a little bit more sneaky, which isn't really an ascendant.
Tendency, anyways, it's, this is definitely a much more hollow council sort of dealing,
but reading through it and putting it together, the pieces, um, there is this underground casino
with some very high stakes, both in terms of blackmail and in funds being laid out.
And there is also other things at play here. hints that Celeste may have been connected to
some rebellious group that was pushing against the counselor or the ascendant. And the stage hand may
be in play as a pawn to these other groups to frame the troop, get rid of Celeste.
You just like looking through this, the more damning it is, the more you look through it.
It could easily be used to either blackmail those in power, Or to frame
and vilify the members of the Skylark troop. Just depends on how it was used. And I think
the three of you have a choice. You could expose the council through this. You could play both
sides to your own advantage using this. Or you could continue to try to resolve this. Well,
we could expose the council, but I'm not confident that anything would really be done.
There's, there's too much nuance at work within the council. There's, I'm sure people have
mechanisms for this type of slander when it arises. Um, however, you have no idea
how correct you are. I might have more of an inkling than you think presumptuous of you. Uh,
however, um, we may be able to take instances described here. And use them to our advantage
to perhaps create situations that, um, may be used against certain people or organizations.
Um, I, uh, I am more of a procurer of information, um, but I do, you know, uh, once other people, uh,
such as, Our good friend sticky be here as well as my, uh, personal contact. Um,
they, they tend to analyze and, uh, facilitate. Those types of situations. So I am happy, um,
allowing them to take the lead as it were on that. Um, and I turned to Stickybeak and I say,
we aren't sure that the stage manager is the murderer, but all signs definitely. Indicate
he was involved. Um, do you have any resources that could help us perhaps locate him? Um,
and maybe once we've rested a bit and recuperated, we could seek him out and perhaps garnish it.
Uh, garnish. Might be right. Uh, not word. Not right word. Um, Garner, a confession.
Sleep. Ah, I don't know. I like garnish a confession. You know what? Uh, and that was,
that was, uh, Serafina be like, I like that way. No, no, she's more eloquent than that,
she would not make that mistake. She's literally from the college of eloquence. There's no way that
Alua would make that mistake. Not canon. Nope. If you're gonna make it canon,
then I'm gonna, I'm gonna cast Gift of Gab. That's how Alua has made it through so far. She
just Gift of Gab'd her way through everything. Let me look that up first. Uh, Gift of Gab.
Uh, well, I can say that any individual caught out in this way, knowing that Well,
whatever they tried to do here was unsuccessful. They're not going to be easy to spot. They're
going to go into hiding, and that's going to be a hunt we'll have to take quite seriously. But,
they're not going to return to the Skylark, and we can reassure the Skylark troop now
that at least one issue is out of the way. And I'm sure if you go and visit them,
they'll want to reward you handsomely, but this just happens. Do we have the funds to do that?
Let's just say that there's a benefactor in their lives that would have left quite a bit
or laid quite a bit by for a certain songbird and that benefactor will not let this go
easy and knows that she would not want the troupe to end their performances this early.
So they will be successful. It is certain. But for you, I owe you each a favor, and I need to
ask that perhaps you step a little deeper into the mire, because the woman you've described,
it's a certain situation that has come a brewing. But first, rest, give yourselves a
couple of weeks, and we'll gather together again. I mean, well, um, in the meantime, um As I said,
this, this ledger is yours. You know how to find me. Um, I give Serafina and, uh, Gus each, uh,
one of my cards, uh, and I say, uh, if either of you feel so inclined, you're more than welcome
to visit me, um, and, and stay in touch. Um, or I might catch you at, uh, Celia's.
And, uh. As you head out, Sticky Beak hands you a small pouch,
each of you, uh, but I'm going to wait for Gus to share Gus's,
how Gus is going to end and then Serafina. Well, it seems that the ubiquitous nature of
corruption in the council is, uh, going to cause us ongoing issues.
They may want us dead, so everyone be careful. I think we can use the information in this book to
our benefit, maybe to open some doors if we need to. But for now, I, we should keep our ears to
the ground and meet again in a couple of weeks. And you have some of the most tragic history
with this type of machination. I appreciate you coming out, old friend, and thank you.
And he hands you a pouch. Uh, Serafina, my dear, uh,
this isn't how I expected to help get the agency on its feet again,
but thank you. He hands you a pouch and heads out into the early twilight.
Thank you. All right. Thank you
all for joining us. This was our first arc with Stickybeak. Ulua, Gesundin Schniffel and Serafina
on our new campaign. Check in next week for even more ridiculousness and fun. Thank you so much
for joining us. We hope you find your pod. Thank you and goodbye. If you're watching, make sure to
click like and subscribe and if you're listening, also subscribe and we have a bunch of old episodes
that you can listen to from campaign one. Yeah. Okay. Bye. Bye. Bye. Byeeeeeeeeeee.