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The Naturolls is your seat at the table for a Daggerheart TTRPG actual play. Listen in as a group of friends from around the world tells campfire stories (and puns) in The Shatterlands, a once-divided kingdom whose 100 years of peace is unexpectedly ended by a dangerous threat.
[Music] Even the brightest stars die out. Some fade away while others go out in an explosion, and so did it happen with Toko Stormclaw, who shall be remembered and missed. We return to our party in mourning as they defeated Virek's Ashmen, but with the great sacrifice of Toko. Svetlana had started the fight by throwing her axe as Vyrex identified himself as a member of the Scorch-born Colt, devotees of Kor who seek to bathe the world in flames. Then he brought about creatures of flame right up on top of the ship. Sal in true Sal fashion quickly cut down many of them to size while Sal, Yriel, and then Toko all jumped into the fray as Toko suddenly ran off from the battle. Boga was confronted by a giant firewraith who, through scorch-borne spells, surfaced that which Boga is most afraid of. Virek seemed to barely notice being attacked while the battle unfolded before him. Toko eventually returns and tosses a bucket of water at one of the flame wraiths successfully, putting out the final flame wraith. And then Hilo steps back in to attack Virek's, but instead of using weapons, he lifts Virek's right off the ship and attempts to drop him off the side. Toko, seeing the opportunity, starts dashing across the entire ship, and with a practice hand, he runs, jumps, and climbs over every obstacle in his way. As though they were always connected, Svetlana knows that he needs her help, as though maybe Toko has a place in Kor's warm heart, and she places her axe flat out in the air as the final platform for Toko to jump off of. And as he leaps, suddenly everyone in the party realizes what is coming next. Toko would bring Vyrex down, drowning the flames in the sea, but he too would not make it out of the stormy waters. Toko's stormclaw, with a screaming fury, brought Vyrex down to the depths of the sea, where neither of them would be seen again. The storm continued to stir, thunder crashing and lightning striking as the sea itself stirred with the anger of Toko's sacrifice, and suddenly all the Wraiths aboard disappeared and darkness settled in on the party as the moon retreated behind the clouds. Thunder crashed and the very heavens themselves cried as rain started to fall upon the ship. The party spoke with Captain Dothmir angry in mourning, Sal declaring "How could this happen?" Each mourning in their own way. Svetlana blaming herself, questioning that which she believes as she made Virex what he was, how could Kor allow this and how could he take his power from the warmth of Kor's light? Rockies. Hey, no. We should just stop now. But that peak, we peaked. That's it. Peaked. I'm going to go ahead and mark one of my new stress slots. Got plenty. Salimboga let the rain fall upon them before joining the rest of the party in the galley. Captain Dothmere offered them all the best they had on board the ship while the remembrances of Toko were shared. Sharing memories of Toko while they were in the dungeon when they met him as a loot goblin, a-hem, monkey. The great bomb that was immediately felled between Sevetlana and Toko as though the light of core had brought them together. Eventually, the party goes off to find sleep but not rest. Hilo continues to write in the galley while the rest of the party lays in the crew quarters and waits for the sun to rise. While the loss will always be with them, the sun never ceases to rise and a new day will bring the party not just closer together but closer towards getting revenge on those scorch-born who took something away from us all. As the sun rises over the Ashen crown, the party suddenly finds themselves nearing the shore of the endless forest. The Ashen crown docks near the harbor in the verdant cove, a piece of the endless forest, and of course on these large ships for those who not have experience of these things. You can't just usually bring it right into port because those ships need an awful lot of water. So there's, you know, a little ship or a little boat, I would say, that then brings them up to the dock. Captain Dothmere and some of the other folks on the crew are, you know, doing all the stuff they have to do to maintain the ship. While there's another boat coming out to start to unload, you know, some of the goods that they are bringing over to the the verdant Cove to complete their trade mission. Meanwhile, the party finds themselves coming right to the verdant Cove and getting off on the dock and they start to work their way onto the shore. And, you know, Hilo happens to be, you know, slightly in the lead, you know, sort of I feel like, and correct me if I'm wrong, in a sort of curious fashion, you know, looking around, trying to learn more about what's going on, you know, around him to, I think, understand a bit more. And then suddenly, as Hilo is kind of looking off in different directions, a guard, or looks like a guard, right? Walks right up to Hilo and hoax him in the chest with a sword just like clink, clink, clink, clink. Hey, what business do you have here? - As the guard asked this question, Hilo was obviously somewhere else and has no clue what their current quest is at the moment, like it fled from his mind as the moment the guards started speaking. So he defaults to his standard and ignoring the poking holds out his hand. Hello. - Hello to you too, sir, I asked you a question. - Oh, nope, my name is Hylo. Greetings. My friends and I are here to meet up with a friend. And how did you get here? He points to the boat behind them. Ah, I see now saying all those people back behind you. They're with you too. Indeed. Sal would kind of take us a step up and like just seeing the sword on Hilo's chest. I think Sal would would take a step up and try to make himself a little bit bigger. You know, he's he's still very small, but he's just kind of like shoulders out a little bit. and just looks at the guard. - So you just know that when you're around these parts, we don't put up with any riff-raff when they come off these ships. We have expectations and laws and rules in this place. Say now, go about your day. - Hylu looks horribly offended. Like just like, Gap mouthed, and he actually like flashes his, he like gives a bow and flashes his cloak and it's like, good sir, I am a storyteller of note. I have no inclination for lawlessness whatsoever. - And we are his entourage. - Do I look like a giraffe? (laughing) - We have followed the great Hilo to these shores in order to hear more of his tales. And you know what, Hilo, why don't you tell him a story right now? He's gonna love, oh, you're gonna love this one, trust me. Tell him the good one. You know what I'm talking about. - And of course, immediately, Hilo goes to the story of the fairy that woke the sleeping bear. - Yes, ma'am. (both laughing) - You know, what starts as a uneventful walk through the forest and ends in the poor bear being chased away through no fault of its own. Highlighting, of course, the foolishness of the friend they're coming to find. - Can, give me a presence roll? - Oh, what? Dice in this economy? - Yeah, we have dice. - Okay, okay. That is a 15 with hope. Oh wait, I'm sorry, I didn't add my presence. A 18 with hope. So make sure you take a hope. And you see him, you know, look at you, and he has this kind of like stern face. And you're just like, very clearly this guy just seems to just like be somehow cranky 24/7, although that's not actually possible for a person to be cranky 24/7. If anybody can do it, it's this dude. And he looks at you, kind of like Cox's head. And he cracks just a little smile. I like that one. Have a good day. And then you see him walk back off over towards. You can see there's a number of guards just standing watch. They're not doing anything in particular, just keeping an eye on things. And you can look around. And Hilo is sort of up on this platform right now, where he was sort of confronting the guard. I know that we said Sal had kind of stepped up. So I'll just move kind of like Sal a little bit closer to him. And you can see that there's a dock. You can see some people, you know, kind of milling about, seems to be going about on their regular business. You've got even folks like fishing. You can hear a little bit of music coming from kind of one direction in the background. And, you know, otherwise the verdant Cove is yours. - Can I ask a little backstory question for you that I don't know that you and I have discussed, but it seems important for Sal. So, Sal is from the Endless Forest. So, presumably, he would have left at this dock when he went to the main island. The guard presence and things that are here, would this have been true when Sal left? Sal has not been to the Endless Forest in a while. So, would he have experienced this previously? Yeah. Yeah, I would say that my impression would be, and obviously feel free to adjust this appropriately, that it's more or less seems right now similar to how things were when Sal had left it. It doesn't seem like there's any significant changes. Think of these guys, it's not like a big old kingdom or something like that is taken over. They're just paying people to make sure that nonsense doesn't happen. This is a trading port, right? So you want somebody there keeping order. You could assume that they're even employed maybe by the municipality or somebody, even business people. want some sort of protection because you need protection for trade. Okay. I just want to see if this was like, if Sal would be like, why are there so many extra guards here versus this looks normal? So, okay. I would say treat it like it looks normal. Okay. I'm comfortable. Yeah. With that, I just want to make sure that I wasn't like, shouldn't be suspicious. Remind me, party. Did we have a contact we were going to here or did we just get a word that that Maz was going this way, which is what my recollection is. Our plan has been very vague. We've been on a boat for a while. I. Hmm. I left Skyland with the attention of tracking down Maz and kicking her in the shins. OK, right. Did we did we have a plan for finding Maz once we got here is I think I think I just assumed there would be a trail of outraged people. Starting with this guard. Oh, that's interesting. Right. Right. I was actually wondering if I could ask the guard if the story about the fairy and the bear reminds him of anybody. But but he wandered off. Well, he's you can wander after. Right there. You can certainly wander. Yeah. Yeah, you guys can, you know. OK. So, yeah. Ariel would like to question the same guard that Hilo managed to control out of his eternal crankiness. [chuckle] CB; Yeah. It's just like that story about the fairy and the bear. It's almost unbelievable, right? Almost. Unless you happen to know a fairy that might do something like that. It's just about five feet tall. Five feet? Is that right? I can't remember how big she is. Yeah. Yeah, about five feet tall. Wines about her toe all the time. Any of this sound familiar to you? The guard looks over at you and, you know, kind of looks back and sees that, you know, you kind of walked, you know, from that whole group and thinks, man, I can see who the storyteller is. And it's definitely not. He says, no, no, that's the first I've heard of that one. But I don't know. I was gonna say, you know, but I do love a good story as much as the next one, you know, sometimes you know, I've been working double shifts lately and, you know, it certainly gets to me when, you know, I've only get paid so much, but, you know, so I've been here for, for, I haven't had a day off in weeks. And so I come off a little bit gruff sometimes. But no, I've never heard of that one before. Okay, so you have been here day in day out for several weeks. So you would have seen anybody who was coming through this entry, this port. Yeah, yeah, no. Anything going through this port, certainly. We would be seeing it, but I don't know if it's your first time over here at the Verden Cove? Personally, no. I travel a lot. We just got some new people in our group, kind of wandering around. We were trying to find a friend of ours. We thought she might have passed this way. You know, a lot of people come in and out of these parts, but I'll say, you know, you've been here before, you know that not everyone comes through the Verdenko from the comeback to the endless forest. You know, there's definitely other ways in and out, depending on how you're, you know, what you're up to and, you know, what your intentions are. Aureal kind of pauses and looks around, makes sure nobody's looking too closely. Say a goblin, for example, was interested in finding out more about other avenues of access? Is that something you could help me out with? He kind of like does the same thing, sort of looks around, sees the fellow guards that are somewhat nearby, and then you kind of see him like do this thing where he sticks out his arm, kind of like motions you over towards, you know, a little bit further down the dock, and he kind of walks just like a little bit further down to kind of signaling to you to, you know, get a little bit of distance to talk. I say, "Well, you know, I'm, you know, I'm known to have some information, you know, and again, but around these parts a long time is anything you can do to, you know, help me out and work in long shifts. I'll say every day this is tough. Eriel is trying to think of how she could persuade the guard. And to be clear, sorry, I'll meta just a little bit for a moment is that we We talked about this a little bit, like we are not nickel and diamond gold. Everybody has some gold. So I mean, if you wanted to, you know, you certainly have some. Obviously you have other things at your disposal, like, you know, intimidation, charm, things like that. And certainly take your pick for what you're feeling. But everyone's got, you know, some gold. Would it be okay? This doesn't have to interrupt. Uriel's thing, because I don't want to do that, but I have a little bit of a plan. If, if I could help, is that, is that okay? Are you okay with that, Uriel? Sure. So Sal would would go over to Hilo and pull out his forgery kit. And so he'd hand Hilo a piece of paper and a pen and he would just go, hey, Hilo, sign this as myself as the story teller. That's you. OK. And could you could you write could you write? To our favorite guard, may your emotional bears always stay sleeping. Hilo. Hilo makes a little face at that. I mean, you can reword it. You're the storyteller. I'm just, I just. But actually, it's like he makes a little face at it, but he gets the just of it. And he actually doesn't have a better like when you sign something, inscription, doesn't have a better inscription. So he just, you know, quickly with like lots of flourishes and whirls, it's legible, but barely and hands it back. So I look at it and goes, I can't read this at all. It's perfect. And he kind of he walks over to Uriel and and the guard and just kind of is going to stand there quietly. And he's just going to have the piece of paper ready. So Uriel asks the guard, You've been working a lot of long hours. Is it, you know, is it something going on at home? Is it something there's a shortage of staff? What's going on? I got to be honest that may have a little bit of a hard time with the with the card games a bit now and then. And so, you know, it's hard to, you know, maybe keep up with, you know, some of the payments and things like that. And, you know, so I got to got to keep at it just to make sure that, you know, I keep everything above board. Understandable. Understandable. You seem like a hardworking person. We all appreciate that. Is there anything we could do to maybe ease your burden a little bit? You see him just kind of like, again, like, shifty eyes, like looking like one way than like the other. And then sort of like, you know, put that his hand and sort of like, shakes it a little bit, like, imitating as though, you know, you had like a little, You know, some gold in it, some coin. Sal would like to set the letter from Hilo in that open hand. He looks down at the letter and. Looks at Uriel, looks at Sal. It's like, uh, what? What? What? What is this? That's an autograph from Hilo the storyteller. That's, I'm sorry to interrupt. I just, I was talking to Hilo after you, after you walked away and he's, he mentioned never having a fairer audience. And so he wanted to write you a little note and I'm going to be honest with you. If you are looking to make a little extra money, think about how far this would go. In the autograph circles. I think I'm gonna definitely want a presence role on that one. Unless your real got something. Can I help? I mean, I am willing to lean in and sell the autograph collectors perspective. of, you know, Hilo is a one of a kind storyteller and bard, the likes of which the world has never seen at the autograph, the sole autograph that we know of in existence. We've been following him for weeks and he won't sign anything for us, so you must have really left an impression. As a way to help, Bogey is going to cast, going to create a minor illusion of herself with slightly different colours and she's going to act in tandem with this illusion to run up to, run up to Hilo and say, "Oh my god, is that Hilo the storyteller in our lands?" - And Atlanta will join as well. Social act, like she's part of this group, this throng of fans for Hilo. Oh my gosh, it is him. - Did my presence role just become a group role? Feel like-- - Oh yeah, yeah, that's very much a, yeah, it's very much a group role. So who would like to lead the group role? - I mean, I don't have to, but I definitely started this. So it definitely would make the most sense. All right, so everybody else rolls, and then if they succeed, they add one to my result, and if they fail, they subtract one, is that correct? Is that how, that's how group role works. Okay, just wanna make sure. - That's how it works. - It's been a bit, we haven't done one in a little bit, so. - And while this is happening, because I feel like this is somewhat apropos, I'm going to use my Barred Hope feature to make a scene here, which would also give a minus two penalty to their difficulty on making this role. Okay. Yeah. Well, thank God. Fancy. I hope. Pray it to be. What do I roll? Group roll. You, everybody rolls their 2D12. And basically you share the number. And if you succeed on whatever the difficulty is, you add one to my roll. So please succeed because I did not roll well. Uh-oh. And do I add my presence? The group role requires no hope. That's a tag team role. Oh, OK. OK. Does everybody add their presence to the result? I would assume so, right? It's a group presence role. So-- Yeah, so you're going to roll, then add whatever your presence modifier is to it. And then essentially, if you meet or meet the difficulty that was set, minus 2, then you add plus 1 to the great role that Sal got. Because obviously, Sal got a very high role of-- - That's nine, no, sorry, 11. 11. - That's not so bad. - It was, I mean, it was a one on the hope die. So that part was discouraging. So yeah, that's 11 with fear. - Okay. - Eight for me. - Ooh, ooh. - Okay. That's six for me. - Wow. All right, let's just keep it going. - Why don't you let me lead this? - Thank you. Mine is 16 with fear. - Okay. - Mine is a 15 with fear. - All right, so just make sure it was at everybody. So. - I think that was everybody. - Okay. So I said, by the way, just 'cause I don't know how we share, but it's kind of fun in this one. I said a difficulty of 15, 15 minus two going to 13. You rolled an 11. We had two not beat it, right? - The nine. - So that got us down to a nine. Then we had to make it, which got us back up to an 11. Definitely did not beat that one. - Wow. - Sal would like to follow up. Follow up the note, sensing that it's not working, just placing gold in the hand on top of the-- (all laughing) - Oh, I forgot this part. - Oh, oh, whoops. Yeah, oh, and then you see it, as all of this happens around him, you see him just like look at this note, he looks up, you can see him start to almost like close his hand as though he's gonna start to crumple it up, but then your gold falls into it just before he closes his grip. And then his grip closes around the gold, you just dropped in, you hear like a little clink, clink, clink. And you see him smile a little bit, he says, hey, you know, there's all kinds of ways in and out of this island. Say, Verdenco is one of them. I'll say it, but I see ships come off the shore. I've seen, you know, there's pirates that go in and out. There's little coves here and there. There's, I don't know, and this one, as started happening more and more in the last, you know, few weeks and especially the last month is that we see no fire but smoke coming up from different parts of, or from one part of the forest, you know, far off in the distance. And, you know, so there's a lot of ways on and off the island. But I'll tell you, if you also want more information, you know, there's plenty of people who you can go talk to right here in the Verden Cove. - Do they like signatures? - I can't speak for them on that. Yeah, you know, there's a fortune teller locally, and there's also, you know, a nice little shop to sell some weapons and armor that you could go to. It's got a, you know, great name. It's called Tots This and That. I like the sound of that. Thank you for talking with us and providing some more information for our search. Good luck with the signature. I don't know if you're going to sell it. I mean, he did, he did, you know, kind of address it specifically to you. So if you want to keep it, probably going to be worse something someday, but it's up to you really, you know, it's up to you. You see him slide the gold into like a little paltron aside. And then he kind of like looked at the signature and then he, uh, you know, his like, um, kind of looks at it for a second. His furrows his brow, like he's kind of thinking and then he hear him just go, hmm, nods his head up and down. And then he slides it delicately into another pocket so as to not like crinkle it too much. And then, you know, you see him, you know, walk over back towards, you know, what his post was with the other, you know, guards, just keep them watch over the dock. So watches as he walks away, considering taking his gold back. But. Looks around, sees all the guards on the dock, decides against it. Certainly something you can do or try, I should say. I'm going to be good for now, I think, based on my role for what I just tried, trying to hand someone a signature. I feel like I'm going to chill. Yeah. So, I mean, you feel the breeze blowing, the smell of salt from the water in the air. Again, there's music being played somewhere further along the dock. You see, you know, people passing, you know, to and from, if you go in one direction, you could go further down the dock. You go in another direction, you could start to kind of, you know, explore what is available in the Cove. You heard two different options. You heard at least two different options, I should say. One as some sort of fortune teller. Another one as a shop, really, you know, sell different wares and things like that. And the shop he said is called Tots This and That. Did we get the name of the fortune teller? Nope. >>Svetlana just makes her way over to the area where there is a person playing what looks like a lute and some people gathered around that. And she's just going to sit there quietly in contemplation. She's still not feeling the best, still grieving, I think, the loss of Toko. And so she's just kind of quietly reflecting there while also kind of people watching a little bit, seeing if she notices anybody acting unusual for, you know, a dock area. Actually, she's probably going to sit on this bench here listening to the music and watching. Does she notice any unusual activity? No, on the contrary, literally what you're witnessing is warms your heart in a way because it is actually completely wholesome of it seems like a person who is out there simply playing music. They do have like a little hat there for people to, you know, throw coin in and you actually see two children sitting there and enjoying it, sort of like laughing and giggling as, you know, the lead player continues along, both playing and singing and just kind of going through songs. Some of them may resonate with you, maybe you've heard them in other places, other ones not so much, but they're all just sitting there enjoying the time as they bask in the light of the sun and the smell of the salt in the air. I will say that as I kind of, I had to pass Uriel and Sal a little bit as I walked down the the dock towards this loot player. So I would have kind of motioned to them like, I'm just going to go be over here for a bit. And I think they kind of know me well enough to know like, I just kind of need some space right now. Is there any vendors on this dock? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You see some vendors on there. There's, you know, you see different things there. It's mostly fishing themed. You smell some fish that certainly seem like they've been caught and are there to buy. Another one that you see nearby appears to be selling more like fishing equipment. Just like knives, things like that, lures, fishing rods, stuff along those lines. Where is the tauts, this and that, tauts, this and that? Tauts, this and that. I was really proud of that name, by the way. I was going to say, I was like all the alliteration. You didn't ask where it was. You just said it was nearby. Is it thoughts this and that? I don't know. Sorry. Cheap thoughts in your area. But I mean, he implied that it's not very far away, though, that it's relatively close by. I mean, there's certainly people. You could certainly ask and try to get a little more information. I take it we can't see the thoughts of this and that? Like if I look around-- Now, there's no signs currently present, no. Okay. I don't know about everybody else, but Ariel and Pazu have had enough of salty sea air and fresh ocean beaches, or breezes, either one. So I would like to make my way off the dock and towards blessed land. While we're walking, Sal would kind of like to walk up beside Uriel and just say quietly, Hey, Uriel, you had a speaking orb before everything, right? Did I? Yes. Okay. Yes. Yes, I did. Could I have that back? I thought about taking it since it's mine and you wouldn't have noticed, but I don't I'm trying to be... Of course. Of course you can have it back. I forgot that I was carrying it even. That's why I wouldn't have felt too bad taking it. But I thought it was better to ask. It is better to ask because, you know, it's not that the orb is not yours, but the satchel that it's being carried in is mine. And so we have to work together to make each other's possessions feel respected. So I'll think about it for a minute. I never really thought about it that way. But I could have gotten my gold back from that guy for sure. And it takes the orb. When you... I believe you. play that you could. When Uriel hands it, he takes it and just kind of looks at it for a second and puts it in his back. Seeing that people are leaving the dock now, at the end of the current song that the busker is doing, Svetlana will walk up to him and drop a small piece of, I don't know, gold, I think probably a piece of gold in his hat. and just say thank you very much. That was exactly what I needed to hear today. Your music really brought me some peace during a difficult time, so I just wanted to say thank you. And while I have you, have you happened to notice anybody, any cloaked figures maybe coming through this dock? I imagine you're probably here often doing your music? Have you noticed anybody like that? Like a group of them? The person playing the music continues to sort of, you know, pluck on the loot as, you know, a student musician can talk and play, you know, and sing at the same time. Then first looks at you with a gratitude and a warmth and joy and sort of like smiles and You almost see sort of like a light glimmer off of one of his eyes and like a kind of like a beautiful kind of sort of wonderful way. You know, the reason that I always come out here is because being in the sun and the warmth and the music together just, you know, brings us closer together and that's what many of us need. And I try not to speak of anyone I see in any cloaks, you know, for fear of my own safety and those around me. But they do pass through this area from time to time. But I appreciate your generosity, but I'd prefer to say no more. I understand. And thank you for letting me know that they have at least passed through here. I will not ask you to betray your family by telling me more, but I do appreciate you a lot. And brings us a lot of joy and I hope that you can feel the light of core for the rest of your day and for the rest of your days forever. And she put the hand on his shoulder not doing anything to him but just kind of like showing him you know some warmth and some caring and then she'll make her way back to the others kind of slowly trailing behind, not immediately catching up with them, still kind of pensive and lost in thought, keeping an eye on her surroundings, all of that. And you get the impression that that was entirely genuine on his part and that he definitely feels that connection, both with you and the folks around him through the music. And that this, you know, he feels that this is his purpose. And that's why he's here. That is very sweet. Hilo, do you know where we're going? Hilo does not and will be following. He was there when he heard the, what you call it, right? The descriptions of the two places we could go to. But since there was no directions given, And he's just going to assume that Pazu knows where they're going and we can follow them. Of course we can follow Pazu. He always leads us right. And as once the group is back together, he kind of chuckles a little embarrassed at this notoriety that they've ascribed to him, but is reminded of a story. And so as they're going, he rallies everybody by describing the time the another famous bard, now famous bard, anonymously snuck into a place to basically do the exact same thing to another bard where they were like, the one bard was really famous. We'll call him Elton. Elton was very famous and he hit himself to lift up a fellow Bard, whose name I now need to make up. (laughs) There's another Bard. Franny. Franny. Sure, Franny, who was very nervous and had a bad case of stage fright. But because the other bard was out there, actually in the audience, hyping up the crowd, that started chanting Franny's name. And that gave her the gumption to get out there and give the best performance of her life. And I expect nothing less than that from us. We're gonna be awesome. - I love that. And by the way, I forgot to do this at the top of the session, but I will roll my paradise now. Which actually, I think I get four now. Yeah. You have four, yeah. So everyone gets a d6 rally die. Just so you know. Thank you, Kailu. Wow. I got one, two, three, four. Nice. That's amazing. So many options. Yeah. I'll say that the time she spent sitting on the bench watching the busker, she was also praying. We'll say that. I think, I don't know about everybody else, but Sal is just following Uriel. Maybe like walking beside Uriel, but also not leading anywhere. And we're all headed which direction? There's kind of a pathway working your way through the verdant COVID, you know, as a not a city But definitely larger town and so there's you know different buildings different residences on different sides and you know so you're just kind of walking, you know along that path and As you you know start to walk along that path There's definitely, you know some signs for some different places What are they saying? I don't know if anyone was looking for those signs I would be Sal would be big-eyed looking around and I mean I guess is is to Sal remember Tots this Tots this and that From you can if you want I Didn't want to put it on you, but if you would like a hundred percent hmm and just the point of order does that one I see Boca following us Boca's just gonna How crowded like is this a kind of crowded area? Or is it like an, an, an, an, a quieter street going down? - Yeah, there's, somewhere in between I would say, you know, it's not a giant city. So it's not like countless people everywhere, but definitely there's folks going about their business, people taking strolls, kind of people walking, you know, here and there. So I mean, there's definitely folks around, you know, you're talking, there's, you know, you see various people. There's, you know, humans around, there's, you know, dwarves around, you know, in furnace even, And now you see folks from all kind of ancestries and walks of life kind of, you know, doing different things. Boga's just gonna pull her cloak tight and just head down, keep walking. Try follow the group. Try avoid any gaises. Yeah. Being a Stude's Vettelana, we'll see that Boga is feeling a little bit anxious, maybe, and she will hang back with Boga and offer her her hands to hold. Boga will will reach up and just lightly grasp like the tips of your fingers. There's quite a bit of height difference. So we're kind of, yeah, like I'm stooping a little bit. You're like just grabbing the tips of my fingers. It's it's pretty cute. Hila will mention that he does want to stop by the fortune teller if they get a chance since they're on the way. I don't know which is closer. Sorry. Yeah. I think that there are a lot of shops that Sal doesn't recognize. It's been quite a few years since he was here, but I do think that at least in my mind, Tots, this and that is kind of like the mainstay, like the really old, like this is the place that's been around since the dock was here type stuff. And so he does, he does remember, but he also kind of wants to let everybody else experience the process of just getting to know the area. So he's, he's still following along. not leading, but there. And if people get really far off track, I think he would guide people, but he's, in my opinion, he would know where it is, but not leading anybody to it yet. - Yeah, so then that means, so I guess you guys are all, you know, sort of walking along. At one point you see a kind of like a bend in the road. And there's, you know, buildings going that direction, but you see kind of like a makeshift sort of sign, like stuck into the ground and it says Larry's libations and in. Then as you know, there's that right there kind of like directly across the street. There's you know, kind of a rundown looking little place and says Rene's revelations right over there on a sign. And then there's also another path kind of just going directly ahead sort of where you know, Sal probably, you know, remembers if Sal chooses the share where Tots this and that would be that staple of Vertenkov? - So, it kind of shakes his head as he walks, remembering that everybody on this dock had a iteration in their title for their shop. I'll start it with toss this and that. - As we look around, do we see, is this more of a commercial district? Is it a mix of commercial and residential? Do we see any like shady buildings, like as in unkempt and just kind of like, there's no like label on them, like telling what they're for? - I would describe it as improvised almost, right? Like you see businesses, you see residences. When you see some, they look more like, kind of like not as nice. It doesn't necessarily give the feeling that it is, you know, sort of like something... - Sinister. - Suspect. Like it doesn't feel that way, just more like that is a person who does not have means. Like they're just trying to get by and this is probably the best they could kind of afford. You can see some people kind of like hanging out in their like, you know, front of their house, you know, if you could barely call it a house, more of like a shack. Meanwhile, there's some businesses that look, you know, better and nicer, like Rini's Revelations looks like, you know, okay, doesn't look mega fancy. the Larry's Libations sign seems to suggest maybe this is a little bit nicer. But you definitely see some stuff that, you know, certainly looks, you know, I wouldn't say. I guess I'm a lavish, but yeah, you know, I'm looking specifically for buildings that maybe have like boarded up windows or that would be some place that somebody could hide out necessarily, like not a residential house, per se, but just like a where like an empty warehouse type of building. Is there anything like that around here? OK, no, nothing. Nothing is that big. It is more like I would think of it as almost like. Like a kind of crowded sort of like, you know, smaller village environment, even though it's not tiny village. But, you know, things have definitely just kind of been like jammed in this little spot and this little spot and this little spot to make like residences where they could fit and where people could like, you know, afford them. And, you know, it's a Cove, right? It's a port and there's ships coming in and out. So there's going to be a lot of business and trade coming in and out of this area. So you would get the feeling, I guess that, you know, people may come and go, but that folks are also trying to make a living here, then get in, maybe get out once they make some money, stuff like that. Okay. Alright, thank you. Um, as we're walking through, Bugga spots the sign for Rini's revelations and she's like, hmm, we should go there. She's like, "Friends, Fetlana, can we, can we go visit, um, can we go have a look at the revelations?" That sounds like a good idea. I'll go with you. Thank you. So you just kind of navigate the street. What was the outside of Renee's revelations look? What does it look like? I would describe it as there's like a hunk of wood and there's like a nail in it, but like the nail is not even driven all the way in. Like part of it's kind of like sticking out And it's just like just barely kind of hanging there. It's like somebody just hand painted it on there And then on the door though You've got kind of like a curtain like draped around it to try to like you know give a little bit of a different You know feel and vibe and then on top of that you see just kind of like a hand painted like Circle thing that you kind of look at and it looks a little confusing. You're like what is that? And then it slowly sort of comes to you that that was somebody's poor attempt at drawing Or painting rather a crystal ball like to be you know kind of like on there And you know hinting that you know, there's a you know fortune teller type person, you know inside Is there a rock or a brick anywhere? near the building a Rock or a brick? Yeah, I mean it's made of wood primarily, but the street is made of stone Can I pick up a stone that's like a heavier stone and take it and hammer the nail all the way in? Yeah, yeah, no, you're very strong You are large I'll say sure you can take that thing and like bang bang bang bang if you'd like yes I will do that. Do I need to roll for that? No, no you've not to roll for that you are like six and a half feet tall like I mean good Lord you can bang it in a now. Okay. Yeah. I bang it in. I dropped the rock and then I just act like nothing happened. Can Sal seeing the the poor attempt at a crystal ball allowed his forgery kit and try to do a better version of it? Can he like kind of climb up there and try to try to draw forgery kit, I assume, includes like a lot of tools for like, you know, redoing writing and things like that. So he would try to add some shading and maybe more of a defined base for the crystal ball and those types of things. The aerial sees Sal climbing around and says, "Hey, remember when we just talked about respecting what belongs to other people?" Well, so stops and limestone puts his forgery get away. I think it's nice that you want to help, but maybe you should ask first. OK, as all this happens, you hear somebody on the inside sort of shout like, hey, what are you all doing out there? Because because they heard the hammering for sure. Yeah. But we'll just get startled by this. Don't worry, Boca, I will tell them. And I just, I say to the shopkeeper, I'm sorry, ma'am, but I was brought up to leave the world better than I found it. And I saw that you had a nail here that was not poked all the way in, and I thought it might be a safety liability. So I hammered it in for you. I hope that's okay. So as you because of this, you didn't see the person quite yet. They kind of shouted that. So they you see a person sort of walk out. I'm sorry, a figure, I should say, walk out up toward the door. And the figure, which is kind of like in shadow, like originally, like it's not super well lit on the inside begins to walk out. And as it emerges, it is a dwarf figure. So, you know, only like a few feet tall. So, you know, gonna be kind of seeing eye to eye with all of our, you know, rivet friends and goblin friends and looking up at, you know, the giant furbog in front, but not a tiny bit of intimidation or fear or anything and looks up and says, "I've had it that way for years. Say I like it that way. Say, 'Well, business do you have here? If you don't have any business, I'll say, 'Please move on.'" I will take my fingers and attempt to pull the nail back out. - I mean, roll forward. No, no, no, you don't need to roll forward. (laughing) I'd say, you know, this is a place of business. Let's say if you wanna, you know, know more about what has yet to happen and you hear like a little like change in her voice like a little bit, say, come on in. And if not, please be on your way. - If you knew I was coming and was going to hammer in the nail that you didn't want hammered in. Why didn't you stop me? Or maybe that's exactly what I wanted. I say, come on in and sit down and let's talk. And then you see her just sort of walk back into the little kind of like, you know, ship shot little, you know, building. I look down at Boga. What do you think, Boga? I think this fortune teller has knowledge that we could use. Can we go in? I will follow your lead, yes. Hilo points is like, yes, this is what we want. This will help us find Maz. So Hilo believes. So sorry, you guys walk in. Uriel would kind of linger in the doorway to keep an eye out, but also still be able to listen in. just putting off the aura of disbelief. Like, oh, okay, we've been around. We've seen we've seen some things, but sure, go ahead and sell them your your fortunes. We. Fortuneteller. We need to know if we'll find one of our friends. We we we've we've misplaced them and. Please tell our future. The dwarf, you know, woman, right? Kind of was walking back in here as you speak. And then sits down at a table and it is literally like the most stereotypical fortune teller set up. you could possibly imagine. There's like incense burning. There's some sort of playing cards with little images on the table. There is a beautiful looking crystal ball smack dab in the middle. The fortune teller sits down at the table, kind of looks and then hears your question, tilts her head and is like, and puts her hand out, open palm. And Sal would go, "Hilo, I think she wants a signature." Amazing. "Hilo, who has actually been to the legitimate fortune tellers before, shakes his head and just puts a coin out, just slides it across the table very discreetly." The Dwarven woman, she slaps the hand down on the table and picks up the coin. seeing, you know, kind of eyeing it up like, hmm, you know, kind of disappointed that it's only one. And then, you know, puts it in a pocket says, well, let me tell you, say what I can see about your friend. But first, what is your friend's name? Uh, her name is Maz. Maz, oh yes, maz, maz. Then you see her start to move her hands around the orb and it's there and says, oh, hmm, yes, I see now. It says, yes, your friend, Maz is missing. And then put your hands down on the table. Sal turns to Uriel. She's good. Arielle's trying to be nice. Yes. What a clever fortune that is. So surprising that she came to that conclusion. What with asking where somebody was. We know she's missing physically, but what do you mean? Do you fortune teller? Well, you know, Cristaval only goes so far with, you know, only that much payment. Here, I think my... And Boogers fumbling around in a bag, producing her own crystal ball. Like, "Yeah, this one works without payments. Join this one, it's getting a special reception." You see the fortune teller kind of looks at it and is like, "No, no, no, no, this one's fine, I was gonna say, I need more money. I need money. That's how I gotta make a living. I have to eat, so I have to maintain this place." And you kind of sort of break the character that maybe she was trying to keep for like a second and just speak to you honestly. Sweetie, her crystal ball runs on gold. And, and, and Hilo just, just shakes his head at this, this exchange. Just like, he's so embarrassed right now. Spitalna has pretty good instincts. Does she get a sense that this person is putting on airs? Um, can you give me an instinct role? Yes. That is a, let's see, is that a nine or six? nine. Oh, that's pretty good. 19 plus two. So 21 with hope. Take a hope. And through all of the things you hear this individual talk and you see the crystal ball and the crystal ball to you is plainly obvious as day that it is nonsense. It has nothing to do with anything related to fortune telling. But you get this sense that this person is definitely money definitely swindles some people. However, also has connections that maybe resonate with you. I do not mean any disrespect. This is, is this a woman or? Yes, woman, female, dwarf. I mean no disrespect ma'am. I see that you have a business here and you need to make your money I'm willing to pay you some money, but you do not need to put on airs with me. I can see this ball is not magic. And I think you know more information than you are letting on. And I will put two gold pieces on the table. It's the gold clinks on the table and you see Rene grab the gold, putting her hand over top of it and sort of like drumming her fingers over it so that there's a little clink clink as the pieces kind of like hit themselves together. And you see a sort of change in her face. And then she looks up at Svetlana and looks down at the crystal ball. She pauses. Well done, dear. Then she takes the crystal ball, pushes it off to the side, slides it under the table, reaches on the other side of the table, and then picks up a stone kind of dish. In the stone dish you see, you know, kind of like different things, a little bit of like wood, a little bit of like wood, sort of like shavings, what looks to be some sort of maybe like incense or things like that. And then in front of you, she says, you know, kind of like, "Well, dear, I think you mean something more like this." And she, there's nothing in her hands right now. And then all of a sudden, you just see here kind of like take one hand up in the air raised and then points the hand towards the with like kind of like fingers, like a couple fingers pointing downward at the dish. And then suddenly there is a little spark that appears in the middle of the dish. And then suddenly the spark starts to grow. There's a little bit of smoke. And then before you see it, you feel heat emerge from it. And then, hoof, a little bit of flame emerges on the table in front of her. She says, "Well, dear, there's other ways "to really see what's happening and what will be. "Is this what you were hoping for?" - Do I get the feeling this is a flame of scorch born? - No. Okay. But she's asking if I can, if I can tell whether this is true magic or not. - Yeah, I guess you get the sense more so that she's like, kind of like, okay, you called me out of my nonsense. - Yeah. - This is the real deal. Is this what you really want? - I will bend down to Boga and whisper in her ear. Can you detect if that is actually magic or not? Hilo's going to pretend he didn't hear that even if he did because it was directly to Boga because otherwise he would be horribly offended on behalf of this fortune teller and is just kind of waiting anxiously nodding as, you know, she gets rid of the trappings that were for the the rooms. But we kind of nods quickly to Svetlana and she just kind of she extends her palm under the table, tries to use detect magic or whatever it is. Right. Your arcane sense. Arcane sense. There you go. Yeah. Yes. You get the distinct feeling that there was no magic. I know my character. Right. Yeah. place before and suddenly you're like, oh, like that that that now suddenly like it is a visceral feeling that goes in the palm of your hand and just like kind of shoots through your body of like, like, that's that's the stuff. Now it's oh, oh, oh, it's magic. You know, but we just gasps as she feels this and she's like, I take that as a yes. nods, nods quickly. Very energetically, like, this is real stuff. This is real stuff. Yes, we are impressed. So she looks up then at Svetlana, and then she looks over at, you know, Boga, and it's like, you really want to know what may happen with Mass? Da. Please. So you see her do some sort of like arm motions, but again, you get the distinct impression that whereas some of the stuff before was all for show, these ones seem much more practiced and sort of like deliberate. And then Boga gets a distinct impression that the kind of presence of magic is growing within this small little kind of like house. So then you see the look on her face sort of goes from more neutral concentrating. And then suddenly her face looks distorted, sort of in, you know, both disgust and pain. And you hear like, oh, like, ah, and like starts breathing a little bit more heavily and goes, oh, no, no. And then within the flames itself before Boga and Spetlana, because I believe those are the only two who are really looking at the flames. Stop me if I'm wrong. Sal would not be looking at the flames. So I was looking all around at the rest of the room. So yeah, Hilo is 100 percent into whatever is going on here. He's standing up not at the table, but you know, he he's kind of. OK, so let's say so Hilo, Svetlana and Boga are really looking at the flames of what's kind of going on the table. And it's really interesting because it's like each one of them actually ends up kind of like seeing something a little bit different as it goes, right? And so each one of you sees like a little, you know, sort of vision, let's say, of, you know, mass. And if you check in your, I guess, I don't know what you call it. In the journal. Yes. I have a fortune teller note. This is a cool use of roll 20. I just thought of it right now, so good. I was like, wait a second, I can do this thing. I get people like little individual notes. Yeah. All right. And I think that Svetlana should have one now as well. And Bogas is coming. So each one of you should have gotten your own note, kind of describing what you see in the flames. And then as, you know, those visions both come to you and then recede, it's like not that you see them in the flames, but you see them more in your, you know, kind of like mine's eye. then suddenly you all unite on this one vision in your mind's eye of, you know, Maz looking and looking around her and saying, you know, like, I never asked for this. But maybe it's what I needed. And then it poops out. Sorry, was that Maz saying that or was that the shopkeeper saying that? In your mind's eye, you saw and heard Maz saying it. And when you saw it in your mind's eye, I would describe it as Maz is saying that in a dimly lit room surrounded by stone and you see a hooded, robed figure near her side. So this comes after our vision that we had in the flame. There's this other. So it's like you guys all got your individual one and then this one united. And then the fortune teller looks up and says. Well, I think you know more than what you started with. Boga is so close to crying right now. This can't be true. Is there any way to change the future? Or is this set in stone? Halo answers for fortune teller. This is a glimpse of possibilities always. How long do we have before the like, how far did you in the future did you cast? You see what originally just briefly ago looked like a total swindler trying to get money out of you look, you know, kind of deathly serious that it went very quickly seeing a connection with some other, you know, magical, you know, kind of folks with her that it's It's hard to say, but this one I believe is coming to pass soon. Sometime in the next days or weeks, no more than that. The lights of High Elow's eyes dim and then brighten, kind of like the blink that he does as he takes this in and just like, he's speechless. Eriel sees the change in the demeanor of Rini and her producing actual tools of magical actions. respects that more than the shill. But she's like not wanting to interrupt Rene, but wants to know what what they saw. You're asking the fortune teller, Rene. No, I'm asking my my party. What did you see? What's. Do you know that we saw anything? I mean, I think you're seeing Boga. Boga is suddenly crying. Okay, that's true. Probably did get away. Yeah. And there was, I would assume, you know, kind of a moment of silence as the people close to the table were receiving the vision and processing it. So I feel like I would have noticed that there was something happening. That makes sense. It's these big ears. (laughing) - I saw Maz, but she was shackled and just like Yorgon Clay told us, she was surrounded by people in robes. But the difference here is there was smoke coming off of their body and her eyes were glowing red. They were in some sort of forested area, but I mean, this is the endless forest. So there's endless possibilities of where she could be. And then once that vision ended, I saw a room made of stone. There was a hooded figure in the background. similar, I think, GM can tell me if I'm wrong, similar, I think, to the hooded figures that were in my first vision. Yes. Okay. Yes. Good connections. Good job. Gold star. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Did you both see the same thing? I say the high low in Boga. I wish I didn't. The Scorch-Porn. The Scorch-Porn. How could... how could... Maz become... no, I can't. I can't accept this. What did you see? I saw paths. The skin become the skin black. They look like scordbone. I can't. I'm sorry. She's just kind of hugs her crystal orb, tied her chest. Svetlana bends down next to her and places an arm around Boga, kind of squeezing a little bit. I-I died. But we're just going to turn into that and just start crying onto Svetlana's arm. There, there. We don't- we don't know the context. We don't know if Maz chose this. She was shackled in my vision. she was forced to become something like this. And maybe it's changed her, I don't know, but we don't know the whole story. So we cannot judge her actions by this vision alone. But we have to find her. We have to stop this from happening if we can. Hello, what did you see? Can I just clarify it? Sorry. I'll make sure I'm understanding what Boca is saying that she saw Maz as a scorchborne. Mm-hmm. Yep. Okay. And I'm pretty sure that matches my vision as well because I saw smoke coming off of them. Eyes were glowing red. So that would kind of indicate similarly, yeah. -Hilo, per usual, it doesn't show as much emotion because his face is a little more fixed. And he asks a question first. Did she have both wings in your visions? -I didn't see them. -Wings? No. No. No, I don't know. It was too much. - I suppose I should ask the GM. Did I see that? It wasn't in my notes, so I assume I didn't see it, but no. - You didn't see any wings. - Okay. - Yeah. So, so Hilo like literally taps against his chin thinking is-- - Clink, clink, clink. - Clink, clink, clink. I saw Maz being tortured, her wing removed. I think that means my vision is first in the sequence, then perhaps Fetlana's, then Volga's. - Oh my gosh. - We may be able to stop this, but we are on a timer. Did you see that last vision of her in a stone, or of a figure in a stone room? I don't, gosh. There's so many racing thoughts in my head. I don't know where to start. I mean, like I said, this is an endless forest. How are we supposed to find her in here? - So, kind of quietly walks up to Boga And that's around the shoulder and just says, did you did you see the forest in your vision? So I'm going to have to consult the DM here. GM even. Is that something I saw or is it? You saw that happen in a room that looked exactly the same as the final vision in which Mass was nearby a hooded figure. So indoors in some sort of stone room, room built of stone. Yeah. No forest. Okay. Cool. No forest. Just cold, cold stone. GM, you said that in the surrounding areas, most of the buildings are made of wood, right? And the the floors are made of stone. So, so I wonder if the the stone building can be a guiding point that we could ask people if there is a known stone building somewhere in the forest cell. Do you have any idea? Do you remember any stone building? Hey, GM, quick question for you. Do I do I know of any stone buildings in the surrounding forest? (laughing) - So, you reflect in Think Back and right before you left the Endless Forest for reasons that you're not maybe disclosing right now, you remember hearing more about a new presence in the Endless Forest. And the only pieces that you would kind of really heard were seen is that outside of the verdant cove further and deeper into the forest that if you saw smoke and you followed that smoke you would come upon a building built of stone and the smell coming from outside the building was that of burning flesh. And you could share that if you want. So that seems pertinent. And the smoke we've heard about a few times now. So yes, I would kind of turn, turn back to Boga. Well, I guess I wouldn't have turned away because I was just asking you a question. So anyway, you stared up at the ceiling and talked to some person who wasn't turned back to Boga. Full 360. Yeah, I just get it turns in a circle. I just I just stared off into the distance thinking for a minute recalling. And when I was leaving, there was talk of a place in the woods that you didn't want to go. It was, I thought they just told it to kids to kind of keep them in line. Everybody's got their bogeymen that they use to tell kids to stay inside and don't talk to strangers and things like that. And I thought that's what it was, but I mean, a stone building in the woods, I've been in the endless forest for a lot of my life. I don't know of any others. It might be worth checking out. Sal would kind of make eye contact with Rene and set another gold coin down on the table and say, "Thank you. We care about this person and your help might save her." Is would it be possible for Sal to for you to go on top of the building and look and see if you can see smoke in the distance? And of course, with your permission, that is she directs to the shopkeeper. Rene looks up at the group, Solem, and, you know, she's great in the sense she's done this for a long time and doesn't often see things quite to this caliber. All the things that you experienced, she did as well. Suddenly you realize looking at the seriousness on her face, she puts her hand on the gold coin and slides it back across to Sal. And says, please feel free to go up on the roof, you will see the way. Keep your gold and help your friend. I'll kind of look at it, but Lonan's like. Throw me. Well, it depends on how how tall the building is, but I'm pretty tall. You could maybe stand on my shoulders and easily get up. And that way I wouldn't risk throwing you over the building. Highly sell. - Yeah, I thought Sal You put your hand like this and then you put your other hand like this on my arm and they make a little mesh for him to stand in and then we throw it together. So I'll take this gold coin back by the way just to be clear. (laughing) - Hello, hello, Canon nods. It's like, I could just levitate him. - Well, you are a little bit smarter than me, Hello, I will admit. Sometimes I get a little too eager to show off my strength, but yes, you may. - If we're- - If it depends. If we're levitating someone should, I don't know that I'm the most, the best at seeing things. - Perceptive. - Why, I mean, we've got an kind of-- - I mean, can I, I don't want to stop you too much, but like if there is smoke coming from somewhere in the forest and you go on this roof, it is not going to be difficult to see. I would not over, you know. - Also, any of us bigger characters might fall through the roof because we're pretty heavy. If only there was somebody with keen senses who could fly, teleported by a friend. Oh, there's that too. No, no, we're only doing throwing and bouncing. Sorry. I see. Right. Boga is in a is emotionally devastated. She tells you you'll end up in the hall. I will say that the one I think I gave to Boga was probably the among the rougher ones. So just, you know, if if only someone had just taken some type of aerial attack ability that would allow them to get Skyward. A lot to think about. That's why I added bouncing. I have to think about these things. Yeah. All right. So we, Sal Wood, Sal Wood, as he took his gold coin, tellerini, thank you. I, the blessing of the forest with you. And you would leave out the front door. And then as he opened the door, he'd be like, "Can I fix your sign?" (laughing) - No, leave the sign. But you kind of see her like, you know, she looks up and things like, "Ah, they're here into the forest, huh?" And then, you know, allows them to obviously like, kind of walk out and then as that happens, You see her just kind of like put both hands or some of you who would still be in the room like right on the flame. It goes out really quick. And you see her slide that back onto the table and then she brings back up like the, you know, kind of fake, you know, showy orb that she uses for most of her, you know, customers. Suspiciously scuffed orb. It's the name of my next band. At least they're not speaker orbs. Yeah, suspiciously scuffed speaker orbs. - I'm pretty sure Suspiciously scuffed orb is the guy who's playing on the busker on the dock. That's his. - So I'll assume obviously, I mean, we're out of combat and stuff like that. I mean, you can certainly work your way up into the roof and you know, Sal, feel free to add in any flare you would like here. I'll kind of start off then if you want to, you don't have to, I'll take anything else. But you look on top of this and I mean, the buildings are, you know, tall, But they're not giant. They're not gigantic buildings. They're not skyscrapers or anything like that. But then as soon as you get to the roof, you see the sun kind of like beaming over what is a staggeringly large canopy of trees and forest. And as you look out, you know, you are transported back to, you know, any number of things that you may, you know, think about or reflect upon from years past. And initially you don't really see much of, you know, kind of anything. Your eyes are still adjusting to the light. There's maybe like a ship kind of off towards the side. You can still see the, you know, kind of coastline. You see the ship kind of going in towards the island like a relatively large ship. You also see like a smaller sort of like more rowboat size boat kind of going into what you're assuming is maybe a little bit of a cove because it's sort of like the forest is maybe cut out along that edge of the coastline. And then you sort of get a feeling of being discouraged. Like maybe you've somehow failed and that you are not going to meet this task and thinking about what that means with what you've learned as the potential outcomes from this fortune teller. And you begin to climb your way down from the top and suddenly stop as out of the corner of UI, you or I, you notice kind of like a, not a glint, but just like something slightly off amongst the canopy of trees. And then suddenly you almost think, how did I not see it in the first place? you notice a trail of smoke coming up from the forest. And it is directly out of the Virgin Cove and a path that you know well. - As Sal is climbing down, taking extra care of where he's stepping and things like that, I think he sees a, like two Katari, a mother and a child Katari, kind of walking along, maybe near Tats this and that or something like that. And for a moment, the sense of failing that he felt well-ming as he remembers another person that he's failed. But by the time he gets back down to the party, he is back to his normal self. If that's what they know. And he tells, he's, "Hey, I think I saw the smoke." I, we need to stop, we need to stop at, we need to stop at the store, maybe supply. And then we got to go. I, I, I don't want to waste any time. - I agree. - Yeah. Yeah. And if we, we don't have to stop at the store, but the, I don't know what we're going to face. I, the endless forest is dangerous already. And the more we can take with us, the better. - Yeah, Ariel agrees they should stock up on what they can, what seems defensive and protective, be even healing, anything that they can add to their supplies before they head out into something called the endless forest for a reason. So maybe that tauts this and that. - Yeah. - It would have provisions. - Sal would lead the party that way. - Okay, so Sal leads folks over to tauts this and that. This building certainly looks a little bit more well kept, a little bit better. Primarily again made out of wood. The road is made out of stone. It's a stone kind of pathway, probably we don't really call it a road, more of a pathway. And there's a sign out front that says, Tots, this and that. And you guys stop with the front. - I think Sal would just walk right in. I think Sal would just walk right in. - Okay. And by the way, you see people kind of mulling and going in and out. There's like, it's obviously, it's a busier store from what you've seen there. So Sal walks in, does anybody else follow? Oh yeah, shopping, I'm in. Let's go. And I'm kind of cognizant of Boca and how she's feeling. Um, so I'm going to kind of follow her lead, um, hold her hand or, you know, put an arm around her as needed, or I guess an arm on her shoulder since she's much shorter than I am. But Boca is very appreciative of that. She looks up at you and she nods her head slightly in appreciation. And then just, yeah, I suppose starts making her way to the store, into the store, I suppose. Is everyone we think kind of like going in? Yeah, I'm following in. I definitely want to see what's available. Okay, so everybody you know walks into tots this and that you see You know people kind of mulling about you walk in and there is a room full of really mostly like weapons and armor of Varying types you see some that seem just a bit more kind of like decorative You're assuming that these things are probably gonna be a little bit more for kind of like show maybe like ceremony You know you guys as a stooped, you know kind of adventurers definitely see other ones that you know start to immediately you know kind of like catch your eye as You know sort of like like oh Like this is a nice little something something that I'd like to have for a little you know And obviously means combat. It doesn't mean anything else. There's nothing else you can apply from that And I don't care what all the rest of you say, I'm talking about fighting. - What kind of leather harnesses are there here again? - Yeah. - Thank you, exactly. - Are there any massive rods? - I'm glad one of us can keep their-- - How does we feel about whips? - Any short stuff or even short stuff, pocket stuff, you know? - I mean, I kind of like walked right into that because I'm also the one who really leaned into the long rods anyway, right? Like I started it, I mean, I deserve it. - You brought it on yourself. - Yeah, it happens to me all the time. Wait, what? Okay, so you see all kinds of leather straps, rods, long, pokey things, different things of varying lengths, hardness, softness, short, long, everything in between. I can't say it with a straight face. But now there's many different wares and weapons and different things like that. And you see the person up sort of at the front behind like a little bit of a counter and it looks like a, sorry, you're assuming this must be taught. And it's a Katari female, probably about like five and a half feet tall standing up at the front, handing over a bit of armor to another patron who is a male in furnace, taking, you know, exchanging gold for this good and starting to walk his way out of the store. And, you know, there's, I mean, it's almost like a kid in a candy shop. Like, you're looking around like this is the place for me because this all looks, you know, fun and awesome. And you You can't wait just to get in with some of the stuff that you see here. Maybe you'll be able to pick something up or acquire it. You know, you guys have certainly some gold. You don't have like tons of gold to buy like maybe the best of the best. You certainly don't have too little gold to buy like, you know, just the common weapons that you already have. And so, you know, what do you do? Somebody has a lot of gold, but somebody. I mean, maybe not a lot, a lot, not like treasure boxes, But somebody won competitions way back when before Skylines blew up. Was it Svetlana, I think? I gave away my money to, I think, Sal, because I gave it to a hooded figure in Skyland. Sal only got like a bonus coin, though. I don't think it was. Oh, so I should have kept that handful. I don't think you gave a hand. Yeah, I don't think you gave it away to lots of people, including Sal. OK. Yeah. I guess I guess what I mean by that is, you know, nobody here has enough gold to come up here and buy, like, the best weapon you could possibly get for the best armor. But some of you may have enough to certainly get at least maybe a new weapon or new armor. Some of you may have enough to get both. But certainly, maybe you also want to talk to Todd and see if there's anything else that you could kind of like work out. Do I see any axes? Oh, definitely. Do they have the improved Halodax? Oh, yeah. How much does it cost? Exactly how much you have. All right. I put a handful of gold on the counter, plop it down. I, or actually before I do that, I'll say, do you take exchanges? Um, you see the female guitar, you kind of look up at you and it's like, hmm, exchanges? What kind of exchanges? What do you have? I have this Halodax here and it served me quite well, but I'm thinking I'm due for an upgrade. Um, I really like that nice shiny one you have there in the window. And I was kind of curious, you know, if, if I gave you my old Halodax, could I Get a health potion for free? Hmm. This is a relatively common weapon. I'll tell you what. Hey, you know what? I can take this in exchange. I'll tell you what, give me that couple handfuls of gold that you have right there, and I'll throw a health potion in with your Halid Axe. No problem. Great. Thank you. And then you see her kind of like take the axe, looks at it, like chucks in a giant pile of axes behind you. You're just like, holy crap. Like you've never seen that many axes like you know recently And then you know she slides a little health potion across and then you do see her actually It's like from under the counter because there was like the display improved hollow axe She picks one up places it like gingerly on the table in front of you And then she you go to reach for it She kind of puts your hand away and then she lance glances out the axe You see her grab a cloth over from her kind of like waist and polishes this one a little bit like And then slides it closer towards you and you can add an improved hollow axe and a health potion to your inventory Is it a minor health potion? I'm assuming yes, and I believe that means a good old Svetlana I believe now has two tier two weapons if I'm correct. I have the tier two shield and a tier two Yeah, Axe yep, Axe because you had found the shield on me. I found the shield Sounds no no it was a it was a it was a gift. Yeah, exactly clearly Sounds like you're you'll needs to have that talk with some other people But did they start it That's my that's my moral line. Did they start it? They deserved it Take it taken from a random room in the ship Did the random room on the ship started? Probably you know how rooms are OK, so Sal looks at Uriel's bag and like, is that bag starting something with me? Probably best to get. Yes, yes, it is. Roll for initiative. Wait, sorry, wrong game, wrong game, wrong game. Sal walks up to the counter and yeah, so I'll walk up to the counter and he's pretty small. So I assume you kind of like. Yeah, he you hear like his little his little feet And you don't see, like, Tot wouldn't see anything. So Sal would then go and find a box and you hear as he slides it all the way across. And then he hops up on top of the box so you can like barely see over top of the counter. He's like, hi. We're about to, I mean, I don't want to make this too big of a deal since you don't know us, but we're probably going to go die. And we would like to not do that. But what do you have in here that can help? I mean, I kind of leans in, leans over the counter a little bit, even though he can barely see over the top. He's leaning as far as he can. We're trying to save our friend and we think she's falling in with some pretty bad people. So anything you can, I mean, obviously we'll pay you, but what's going to help us? She looks kind of down at Sal, still kind of standing a little bit above him. And then she kind of looks down the end of the counter. And then Sal follows her gaze and then notices that there's like a slightly lower version of the counter, just like a little bit further down that Sal completely missed, that he could have just not boxed to stand on. Then she looks back at him and well, we have all kinds of wares here and we primarily operating gold, but I'm sorry, is there something else you have on offer? I'm sorry to hear about your friend, but I got operate on profits of all kinds in here. No, I didn't mean we wouldn't pay you. We need armor, we need weapons. What do you have that we need to save her and he gets very serious and somber and just kind of looks up at her and she's a good person and we're worried that someone is going to hurt her or worse if we don't stop her. So I personally work with daggers And as he says daggers, he remembers something and reaches into his bag and he pulls out the the dagger that he's calling Toko's vengeance and holds it out to her and says, do you know what this red gem does on this dagger? It does it does it have some kind of magical property? Can you tell me that? You you're placing this on the counter. Yeah, I would just place it in front of her. OK. You see her face suddenly shifts, you know, slightly. And she went from being this kind of like all business to, you know, the somber and serious. And she looks down at Sal and says, you know, where? Where did you get this? We took it from some bad people that I think they're the bad people that have our friend. And these are the people that you're. Going to fight. So picks up the blade and twirls it. And these these are the people we have to fight. I we need our friend back and they've they've already they've already taken somebody from us. What can you tell me about these people you took the blade from? So it looks up better and kind of pulls the blade back towards him. I can tell you that they they hurt people. They kill people. And then I'm going to stop them. You know, kind of see her look around the. The shop and, you know, there's all kinds of weapons of, you know, all, you know, kind of different, I guess I'd say like, you know, sizes and shapes and like, you know, you're you can certainly see that some of them are, you know, nicer than than some others. And, you know, she looks down at you and you see her kind of then glance over at the one wall. And, you know, you kind of follow her gaze to one of the blades. And it's a beautiful blade nicer than what you have now. And then she looks back down. You see her thinking reflective. And then she says, would you be willing to let me have that knife? The one with the gem. Why? I know the people you're talking about, and I'd like you. To go after them. They are not good at people. But why? Why do you want my knife for that? to show them that they cannot harm those on this island and in this town. And let's just say that I also have qualms with them. Would I get something and he looks back to what she was looking at? Now she says for this, you'll get better than what you think. And you kind of see her look up at the wall and it's a similar blade to what you have. But as you kind of follow her gaze, you can see it kind of shining in a way that indicates that it is a higher grade of metal. The curve makes it look like somehow even more, you know, kind of like sharp. It looks to be like, you know, not just a well-made weapon, but amongst the best that you've seen in a long time. Sal looks at the weapon on the wall and looks at her and then looks down at the the dagger that he had just to remind you, he had carved Toko's vengeance into at at the table on the ship. and he slides it across the counter to her and he says, "I'm worried that you're trying tricked me, but I am from here. I am a creature of this forest, and I believe that if you think that this is what I need to defend the people here, then I will trust you. But please, I don't know what that dagger does or what the gem means, but that dagger holds value to me as I was going to use it to kill the people that killed my friend. So please, if you keep it, keep it close. She slides the dagger over in front of you. Sorry in front of her sorry. And she sees the wording that was now carved into the hilt of the blade. And looks up at you and says, is this a friend of yours? I didn't know him very long, but he was. I don't think he even knew that he was a friend of everyone. I'll make sure you do right. Bye. To. Toku? No. - Toco? - For a moment sounds like mass. - And you see her walk over and it's like the walls almost set up and like gradations of better weapons. And she reaches up to one, goes to grab it, and you're kind of like, like, oh my God, get that one, get that one, get that one and she stops. And then she goes one above it and pulls that down, comes back over, places it in front of you, and you can add an advanced returning blade to your inventory, which is a tier three weapon. - Okay, Sal holds it and kind of tests the balance in his hand, flips it back and forth. He looks at her and kind of throws it over his shoulder. Like it's immediately back in his hand again without hitting anything. And he looks at her and may the blessing of the forest be with you. And then he steps down from his box and starts to push it before she starts talking. (laughing) - And she's like, "May the blessing of the forest." And then he kind of like walks off and she stops. And you see her slide, or actually not even slide. She takes the blade in two hands, gingerly and with care. And you see her walk towards the back. There's just like these like swinging doors. She just like pushes open like an old like like like tavern and like an old like western right and you just see her kind of go back there. You're assuming she's putting it down somewhere and then you hear them like like kick back open. And then she comes back up to the front. So I'll still push in the box. I was going to say it goes like like boxes don't make those sounds, but it's something like that. I don't know. And then she's kind of, you know, standing around like obviously monitoring customers, you know, people coming in and out, you know, things like that. Bogey's gonna kind of waddle up, I suppose. Just asks timidly, excuse me. Do you have any healing potions I can take? I can buy. She looks town towards Bogey's like, healing potions you can take. But you can definitely buy and you see her kind of like open up her arms and like she kind of like glances behind her and you see a number of them kind of like, you know, sitting up on the, you know, counter, you know, kind of or not counter like shelves, you know, behind her. Wonderful. Can I take two? Can I take two healing potions? Do you have any anything for fire? Hmm. Anything for fire. What do you mean? What are you looking for? Something to save. So something to. Protect from flame. Hmm. I got to be honest. Did you find something that is like that? Because now I'm frantically trying to find something and I'm like, OK, I'm not sure I'm not. I'm just so she looks bad. I just want to make sure I wasn't missing something in there. She looks around and it kind of says, you know, I mean, I've got armor of all kinds. Nothing that'll protect you just from flames, but she looks over and she you know, offers up, you know, two health potions if you would like to purchase those, which you definitely have enough money for. Yes, please. Tott, you know, then looks around and she says, well, you know, she's like, well, we have these health potions here that'll help you with, you know, anything that, you know, causes you harm. But we also have this and you see her kind of pull something out from underneath the counter and she plops this ring right in front of you and says, you know, you know, this this won't work all the time, but it will help you against anything that tries to harm you and plops the ring of resistance on the countertop and you could buy either one or the other. OK, now I have to make a choice. As as Boga is shopping, you start to hear the box sliding again. And so hops back up in the box and it's like, I realized. Probably. Do you have any better armor while I'm here? Anything that I could, I could give you this armor. I have a I have another blade I could give you and I have some gold. I'd like to. Not gonna lie to you. We somebody tried to hurt us before and they hurt and I almost didn't make it right off the bat. I need something light because I need to move around. And she kind of like looks all around and sort of indicates, you know, with both her eyes pointing with her arms that, you know, yeah, I've got all kinds of armor here and she looks over at you and sees, you know, I see like that You know something that still lets you you know move about so that way you're not going to get you know tied tied down and she points over to some armor Right there that is you know in front of you that is definitely better than what you have right now and Cost exactly the amount of gold that you happen to have Wow That's convenient This is definitely the part of the game where you start to notice you're getting a bunch of health potions and ammo Right before you go to a large room. I just want to point that out. Sorry wait a large room You think it's just a room that I'm just saying in video game part parlance. This is the this is the hmm Why am I getting so many health potions right now? That's weird. I don't know what's about to happen All right Could I buy also to be fair by the way to meta conversation We've gone through most of tier two and nobody has gotten tier two level stuff And I was like we probably should have tier two level stuff, right? Even though we're now one level away from three, but still that's true Yeah, I can we do is there an equipment restriction on based on tier could you clarify? What do you mean? I mean if we're at tier two, can we equip things that are tier three? Yes, as a matter of fact, Sal just got a tier three weapon due to his particular Wheeling and dealing with Todd good for sale Mm-hmm. Could sell his gambus and armor and his tier one returning blade for any gold, like exchange that for those two for anything. Just trying to, that's what he's trying to do. Yeah, you could exchange that and end up with still like a handful of gold left and get your improved armor. Yeah. I would, I would. I'm not trying to be nitpicky on it because I feel like we should all have upgraded stuff too. So I wanted to give us the opportunity to get that. So I would move to just improved gambas and armor then and I will get rid of my regular gambas and armor and my returning blade Perfect. Sorry. I realized that the level up gambas and armor would give me an extra armor slot and I was like, oh god, please I mean, I wasn't gonna tell you that but you know, I'm glad that you found it on your own um, you know, it would what might be helpful is um some water, like we could get some water bottles to carry with us because I remember on the boats when there was Scorchborne involved, Toko actually splashed them with water and actually did damage. So that would be a cheaper thing to get. I don't have any gold left, but I have one water bottle. Can I ask a weird out of game question? Please. Boga, your magic is water-based, right? Yes. Is that correct? Okay. So Sal would be like, "We already have a water bottle." And yeah, give Boga a little pat on the back. Boga, can you refill my water bottle? And I hand it to Boga. I don't know what you can do. So. I was just picturing Boga going and starting to spit. Fuck, too. This is going to take a while. No, I think I think I. Can shake this element into harmless facts, like feeling water bottle, probably. I think that's fine. I will certainly accept that. That is, yeah, especially we're also like it's not in the midst of combat. We're not under duress, right? Like you could certainly make that work. Yeah, so she starts using like her hands to like Pull the water in the air like a rope and direct it into the bottle just like hand-over-hand with Funneling the water. Oh So cool Once it's done. She's goes Here you go Thank you booger and then I'll screw the little cap on put it in my satchel That was amazing. I always knew you were talented. Boga blushes. Blushes and kinda... like, twists her... twists her leg like bashfully. Yeah, all shucks. And did you want to take your ring of resistance or your health potions? I will take my health potions, please. All right, excellent tacos, you know, she grabs the ring slides it back underneath the counter and goes health potions It is and slap someone the counter puts her hand out, you know for the gold How much gold? They're just like a handful you got enough again. Don't overthink it. It's fine Yay I mean if you want me to nickel and dime everybody hmm. I can I can nickel and dime everybody But I was like again just you know, I didn't want gold and you know You only have eight instead of nine to be the centerpiece of what we're doing right now. I think that's the kind of like getting real into the economy of things is what people listen for. So I... Oh, I'm sorry. We can cut this whole part of the episode. No, no, no. If we could really get into like politics and part of the parts of the lands that we haven't seen, I think that's... That would be... Yeah. That's awesome. No, absolutely. I can't wait for somebody to correct my math in the comments. Hmm. So add the two health potions to your inventory, Boga. Are they just regular health potions? Yeah. Yes, just regular health potions. Wait, regular or minor? Regular. Oh, regular. But I got a minor. Correct. Yes. Because yours was the toss in? Yes. Yes. Yours was kind of like, you know, I got some stuff. You already got another thing. This is all Boga's getting right now, right? As far as being negotiated. or you know, anybody else coming up to Todd? Oh, I am. Uriel has been browsing hardcore, looking through every item. But she does, you know, go up to the counter and talk to Todd to ask if she has any recommendations. Uriel is fairly small, slight, nimble, agile. currently I have two separate weapons I would upgrade a weapon I would upgrade armor this we're going to a place that that seems pretty nasty based on what we know so far and it's a friend a long time friend is in trouble and I want to be prepared for anything I have to do to get her out. You see Todd start to kind of look up and down, looking around your clothing and kind of your appearance and it's like, where are you from? Well, I wonder about a lot. I mean, my people are kind of nomadic, but we're from the desert originally. So your face kind of light up slightly and she says, you know, "Desert." She said, "Which area? Does it have a name? - Well, our gathering place is known as the Amphilos, where the various groups will meet up and share our information. And, you know, it's a bit of, I'm gonna say a party. There's not like wild music and dancing, but, you know, it's a social gathering after people have been on the road for a while. You suddenly see her affect kind of change overall and she glances towards her wall full of weapons and glances over at you and says, "Can you tell me of what's happening in Amfalos? What are things like there now? So I don't know much about that place." Well, it's been some time since I've been back. I wandered off to the 100-years peace celebration in Skylands and met up with this friend that I'm looking for now, actually, and all my other companions. So I haven't been back to Amphilis for a while, but it's always desert warm in the day, - Cold at night. - So let's say, 'cause I don't wanna put you on the spot, but let's say, is there something that maybe Uriel would be able to share that would maybe be a tidbit or something that, you know, Todd, who's in a store, talks to lots of people, right? Loves to acquire new information. Maybe you're getting the sense, doesn't know. Is there something that you'd be able to share? And again, you don't literally need to think of something right now, 'cause you'd have to probably improv it, But, you know, is there something that you, you know, you could even walk me through, yeah, I share this tidbit or something like that just to see what her reaction is. - I could tell you that in Anpheles, the writing implements or even parchment books are hard to come by for a people that are trying to gather information records of what goes on in the world and the history and the culture. The desert is a bad place for gathering those kinds of supplies. So if you know somebody that is invested in that sort of equipment, a gathering at the Ophilos could be very profitable. You see her face begin to again sort of like light up and suddenly like it dawns on you that it's like oh this person doesn't just like money. She also likes to know stuff and loves to know information as many people do because information is also very valuable. She looks at you and says you know I did not know that. Well I'll keep that in mind if I'm ever traveling that way and that should be very helpful information. So have you heard of the new iron deposits that they've discovered in Umfollos recently in the last, you know, few months? I have not heard that. Seems like you have more news of home than I do. Well, perhaps I don't know as much about the culture, but I do know about maybe recent economic concerns. You know what I've heard is that they not only found rich iron deposits in Amfalos, but that the kingdom of Farum was trying to start trade negotiations to begin to take advantage of these iron deposits. >>Corey>> Aerial squints can take advantage of. These are not. It found in our lands and other people are trying to get in on it. And then Tott kind of looks over and says, "Keep in mind, these are no friends of mine. The only thing I ever hear about these savages from the kingdom of Faram is they say they're starting negotiations, but it always ends in bloodshed for they try to take advantage of anything they can exploit." I thank you for that information. I will need to get in touch with cousins back home and see what I can find out about this situation. - Sorry, I'm just making a quick little notes to add to folks' journals. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. I'll do that for everybody 'cause I'll take advantage of that just to make everyone's life a little bit easier. I just added it to everybody. - Throughout all these conversations that I've kind of been back in the shadows, kind of watching the shopkeeper have with my compatriots, Do I get the feeling that she's being totally forthright? Like, it feels like she might be kind of manipulating them. I don't know why I just get this odd feeling about it. Do I-- can I sense anything sinister about her? I mean, I feel like we've been light on roles. So you can give me a little instinct role for that. OK. Oh, that's not good. (laughing) 10 plus two, 12 with fear. - Okay, so you do get the sense that she is being honest, but then she kind of notices you like looking at her in a way of kind of like suspicion. And then you see her where she was like kind of like reaching towards what was like an extra shiny, beautiful weapon that she was about to hand to Uriel. And then notices that you two are kind of like came in together and then suddenly shifts over to like a slightly lesser weapon and then says, you know, thanks for the information, there's no charge. I'll just take the information as payment and then hands Uriel what is still a nicer weapon, which is an improved broadsword that you can add to your inventory. Can I make it seem like I'm not with Uriel? Like... The damage is done. The damage is done. I have my eye on a lip. Uriel, you can make her re-roll, right? Oh, wait, make me re-roll, right? What? Don't you have the option of, like, re-rolling? Or is that high-low? Somebody has an option to re- That was... I used to have a one for a presence roll to negate, but they changed that feature in the full rhythms. So. - I'm sorry. I truly did not mean to step on your negotiation. - And I will say, so by the way, I can med it a little bit and I'm trying to just get better with like when people roll with fear, I'm trying to figure out how to make there be stuff. And so I was like, I think that makes kind of like sense, right? And it's like, you know, you're trying to figure it out. So like, if that feels like a step too far, feel free to let me know. I mean, you're still getting a tier two weapon. So I'm still giving you, instead of like an extra fancy, you know, you're still getting an upgraded weapon So if it makes you feel better, I also only got a teacher who happens. Yes or no charge For no charge for no charge. Yeah What about Any armor and any any good shiny armor here? I've got a little bit of gold she looks over and You know kind of like glances, you know over towards the section of armor and is like, yeah, you know right over here You know you've got because right now you were also rocking, you know kind of a lighter, you know sort of armor And she says yeah, that'll be just you know X amount of handfuls You have just enough to cover the armor as well So you got the exchange of information the weapon for free you can pay for the armor if you'd like Yeah, no that that's fair. I'm totally willing to pay for it. I'm thinking take the improved gambeson It's gambeson I guess gambeson armor which would also be your tier two so improved broadsword So basically a broadsword and gambeson that are both tier two Hilo sees that deal and places a handful of gold on the counter as well for the very, you know, much more correctly sized and probably more stylish version of what Ariel just picked up. For the armor. I don't know if I'll leave the shop, by the way. She doesn't want to have any say in this negotiation. She leaves. Boge is going to follow Svetlana. Yeah. So you're asking for a nicer looking armor, you mean? Or just like getting improved armor just to be sure. Just the I want to look for the improved gambeson since the the going rate seems to be that one handful. And yeah, so she looks up. She. Yeah. Period. Go grabs it, takes the gold, plops on the counter. Boom. There you go. He's just looking for one that's got better color on it. You know, looks nicer. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Sorry. So she takes that one. She puts it to the side and then she's like, you want this one? Oh, yeah. Yes, the flashy one. Yeah. Yeah, it takes it off and it's got some yeah, there go Yeah, it's got like clashing colors on it that he loves, you know, so Plops around the counter there you go. Yeah, you've got improved gambeson armor and Anyone else? I'm sorry, brother. I mean is high low still, you know trying to get anything else. Oh Yeah, uh, Hilo, um, pops down two more handfuls and says, "What can this get me?" [laughs] Um, he, uh, sorry, she, um, looks over and then kind of, you know, looks over at the wall and you see her kind of glancing over towards, you know, some rather nice-looking swords and, uh, r-r-r-piers? -R-piers? I guess what it's called, right? -Rapiers? Rapiers? Rapiers? Um, and, uh, it's like, you know, You could easily get one of those. Is there something else you're looking for? What are you hoping to get? Honestly. How about this bladed whip? Does that look like something you need, Hilo? Bladed whip. Let me take a look at that. Is that a primary weapon, you say? Yeah, it's a primary weapon for agility. That's what I was looking at. Oh, yeah, no, agility is no good. I'm looking for something with finesse or presence. So the rapier kind of looks nice. Which rapier is that? It'd be the tier two. be the improved because it gets your presence right. Presence is good for you because then you have plus two. So the improved right here is going to give you slightly better stats overall. So it's going to start with a D8 plus three, which then with your proficiency is going to be more. It's still the D8, but okay. But the plus three is the quarter. Okay. I see. He kind of taps his chin for a moment. Do you have anything a little more mystical? Mystical, you say. What do you mean by mystical? What are you looking for? And he kind of leans back and and I've heard tell of a of items that had, you know, in better properties. Oh, you know what he would really love? He kind of like, he says, perhaps that cloak over there with the, with the rapier would be what I'm looking for. And he points over to an arcane cloak hanging on a shelf over there. She looks over at him and is like, hmm, that's actually been up there for a long time. I'll tell you what, you got it, honey. And she, you know, places it down on the countertop, along with the improved rapier, so you can add the arcane cloak and improve rapier to your inventory. Excellent. Sorry, the arcane cloak has no real like just. Yes, to be clear for everybody. It's more flavor, right? Yeah, it doesn't give you any real benefit. I can just change its color, texture and size at will. So I'm going to be having some fun walking around. It'll probably be more of a silly thing than anything else. So I'm just like, let's do it. Rainbow. Good catch. Yeah. I think that's to be hit everybody. I was called taught back over, say, I will trade you my old gear for any empty glass bottles that you have. Oh, that's interesting. I think I can see where this is going. (laughing) Is that an actual item? Nope. (laughing) Okay. I'm just making sure I'm miscelling something. What is it, water bottle? Water bottle, I think. Yeah. So me can go to water bottle if you want it, but either way's fine. She looks over, she's like, glass bottle, she's like, I got plenty of those. She's like, I can always use a few common weapons. Sure. And he says here, just place like, you know, two glass bottles up on the countertop. And then she, you know, kind of opens her arms for, you know, the old stuff that you no longer want. It's a deal. I hand off my my old armor and broadsword. There you go. Hey, Boga. Hey, Boga, what you doing? Hello. I will ask Boga if she can also fill my new bottles with water. How many bottles is this? It's two bottles. It doesn't have to be like immediately, but you know, if I had something filled with a fire counteractor that I could throw and it would shatter and deliver the water. Can we just go back to our URLs like, "Boga, can you fill up my bottles please?" Just real quick. Make sure you clip that please, Michael, thank you. Boga's just like, "I'll see what I can do." She tries to do the same maneuver she did earlier with the wrangling of the water in the air. She only managed to... She's having a real issue with this now. She's feeling exhausted from the first time she did this. Okay, don't... It's okay, Boga. It's okay. I believe I also... She gets at least one of them done. ...saw a sign for libations. They're bound to have water in and in, right? I think that's a good assumption. Hello also points back to the water off the pier that we have. Nearby, there's a lot of water that way. Good call, Hilo. And his cloak changes color to be the color of water out in the bay, which is not blue. It's kind of a murky green, this close to shore. It's all those trees reflecting in it. The cloak or the water, either way. Okay, if we're all done here at Tots, anybody else? Yes, I think maybe we head to the libations really quick, grab some water and get on their way. I don't know that we should go back to the docks at this point since that would be backtracking. And then we can just quickly do that and keep running because I don't think we have any time to lose. Yeah, we don't, yeah, that's a good point, Svetlana. We don't want to backtrack at this point. Sal would step outside Tots and kind of pinpoint the direction that the smoke is in, and he would be focused there waiting for everybody to, I don't think he would go into the inn. I think he would just... Do you have a general idea of how far away it is? And how long it might take to walk there? No, to the smoke, sorry. - Jim, do I have a general idea? - Yeah, yeah, I would say it takes a little bit. I mean, you're talking, it's not, I would probably say this distance, like you're talking like maybe like a day's journey. And, you know, so I take like the bulk of the day to get there. Is it an actual path, like a road, or is it through the forest to the trees? It's a path known to Sal. Like I guess what I'm trying to ascertain is if we could use a cart and horse to get there faster or... No. Okay. Okay, thank you. So Sal looks over, gazes over towards the smoke while the part of the party goes to Larry's libations to fill up their water bottles with some water and anybody can read into that, whatever they would like. And as the smoke rises off in the distance, Sal thinks about the path that has yet ahead, knowing that he is confident in how to get there. that the journey there should be safe, but is not always. What time of day is it? Right now it'd be like mid-morning. So I mean, if you left now, you'd probably get there by nightfall. OK. So Sal is getting a little anxious to get on the road and he's fidgeting. He's basically dropping the returning blade and then it's returning just kind of over or as just kind of a way to stay moving while he waits for me? - Would it be fair to say that if I did not go into the libations place that I had enough time to do some mending on myself? If not-- - Do you mean like a short rest? - Yeah. - I mean, maybe we could take a short-- - I don't wanna take any extra time, but-- - A short rest here at the end and make sure all of our gear is equipped and prepared Yeah, if you need it. Ready to go. It's like all of you don't trust me. Not like we're staying out all night or anything. Yeah. I mean, I can either do a short rest while you guys are in there. If you guys need it as well, we can do that. Or I can just use one of my spells to try to get my HP down and then just take a little bit of hope. So I can do either. Yeah. I mean, I think most of you don't seem to have like a ton of damage because we did rest after the last, you know, battle. So certainly, you know, it's a bit long to take care of that. And then, you know, we could, you know, start to move forward from there because I'm thinking that this is probably also a pretty good breaking point just because I'm like, you know, before we get on the next journey. And you know, now we can go in for, know, a little while and we can look forward to going to discover hopefully where the smoke is coming from off in the distance and what that stony room looks like that it appears masses in and whether or not she's her. Scorchborn or something else. Don't don't don't. There it is. That's the end. Wrap it up. OK. Or something else. Wait a minute. OK. [MUSIC PLAYING]