People Being Other People - DnD Actual Play

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Cloudfall | 4 - A La Cart

/ 01:25:39/S2:E4
The party gets called to the principals office, then goes thrifting for magic items to prepare for the flight ahead.
Tim / GM:

Last time on Cloudfall. Guy and Doran finally hit the ground or should I say the water? They survived, but whether they're going to be okay is a different question. They ended up meeting phenom Green, although at first he appeared as a marshal for the city. Turns out he and his friend Roland are very close with Libera Nimbus, the leader of the free city itself.

Tim / GM:

The party played nice and ended up back at Clara's sharing information with phenom and Roland. For their own safety, the party agreed to set sail today on one of the city's sky ships. They're going to a nearby skyline where they should be safe from retaliation by the blight. Should be.

Hannah / Eryn:

Good morning, everyone.

Thomas / Guy:

Good morning, puppy. What's popping?

Hannah / Eryn:

What's popping? I've been up since 4 AM.

Tim / GM:

It is a bright, sunny morning. Phenom seems eager to start shopping for the day.

Hannah / Eryn:

I certainly like shopping. Hey. Before we go, I have some cookies to dole out if who's afraid of falling? Aaron is, like, you know, in a blanket wrapped around their head. I'm barely awake.

Hannah / Eryn:

Not Aaron then. Okay.

Thomas / Guy:

I recently had an incident involving falling.

John / Doran:

Yeah. Same over here.

Thomas / Guy:

Dora, you were there.

John / Doran:

Right. Yeah. That was not not my favorite part of yesterday.

Hannah / Eryn:

Do you guys wanna play rock, paper, scissors? Or guy, here's a proper puff.

Thomas / Guy:

Thank you, Bobby.

Hannah / Eryn:

Do not eat this one right away.

Tim / GM:

Yes. Pulling it out of his mouth.

Speaker 5:

Hello?

Tim / GM:

Phenom sees you all kind of getting your stuff together and getting ready for the day, and he says, we're going to have to make a quick, pit stop, if that's okay. There's somebody I want you to meet. It it it's Libera. She wanted to meet you after what happened last night.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh. Wow. Like, the the leader of the free city, Libera.

Tim / GM:

One and the same.

Hannah / Eryn:

I don't have anything better than oh, gosh. I'm covered in flour.

Tim / GM:

She's not much of a morning person. She'll be more relaxed the earlier we get there.

Thomas / Guy:

What is proper protocol for meeting this leader?

Tim / GM:

What do you mean?

Thomas / Guy:

Do we bow or curtsy?

Tim / GM:

She might get a kick out of that. Yeah. Do that. Perfect.

Thomas / Guy:

Bow then curtsy. Yes.

Tim / GM:

She's actually fairly relaxed as leaders go. It's not what you'd expect if you've ever been a visitor to a king. It's nothing like that. She's down to Earth for as much as

Hannah / Eryn:

she loves the clouds. Do we have to go? I'd rather just lay low.

Tim / GM:

Have to is a strong word around these parts, but

Hannah / Eryn:

yeah. Okay.

Tim / GM:

I appreciate it. I understand it might not be comfortable, but again, you're not under arrest, any of you. We'd release you back into the city. We just don't wanna clean up the bodies.

Hannah / Eryn:

What exactly does Liberia know about us?

Tim / GM:

She knows about last night. We had a little conference after we dropped you off yesterday. She knows what you told us. Basically, that there are some shenanigans with the bismite and that shadow creature that came from the fae friend.

Speaker 6:

I call them buds, but you can call them whatever you want.

Tim / GM:

So she knows a little bit. She knows about Diver and she knows about Aaron. She knows that you worked

Hannah / Eryn:

with the Blight. What does she know about me? She has

Tim / GM:

current information. That means she knows that you worked for the Blight and that you no longer do. That's the important part.

Hannah / Eryn:

Mhmm. Aaron looks unhappy.

Tim / GM:

Phenom kinda leans into you, Aaron, and he says, if it comes down to it, we can do an official pardon. Is that what you're looking for?

Hannah / Eryn:

I've done a a lot of things, you know, to survive in the city. So meeting the person in charge probably is a little

Tim / GM:

Roland is in the hallway, and he kinda steps in, and he says, Aaron, I've been meaning to talk to you a little bit. I mentioned yesterday I've been watching the Blight for a good while, and part of that means I was watching you too. And, I know about you, and I know what you can do. And I think it's incredible. And we don't wanna use you for anything.

Tim / GM:

We we want you to be who you are, and we just don't want the blight to have you.

Hannah / Eryn:

Erin looks down at their feet for a minute while they think about this.

Tim / GM:

I know you're not the same person you were last night. It's not a surprise to me.

Hannah / Eryn:

What I can do, it has only gotten me into bad places. Erin looks up as they say this to the rest of the group and says, I'm sorry. You guys have been pretty pretty nice so far. It's it's just been a lot of there's been a lot of, Erin kinda trails off and just looks really sad. I think what you can do is really cool.

Hannah / Eryn:

I was could you turn into me if you want? Yeah. I I could if you really wanted me to. Wow. Oh my that's, like, way, way cool.

Hannah / Eryn:

I just have to be really careful. The more people that find out about me, the more danger we get. Count on me. I keep secrets all the time. Right, Guy?

Thomas / Guy:

That's right. If it is any consolation, Erin, I do not wish to hunt you.

Hannah / Eryn:

Thanks, Guy.

Speaker 6:

You're also not tied to us. If we all get on this airship and you decide that you're better off going your own way, there's nothing stopping you, but none of us is safe here.

Hannah / Eryn:

Erin just nods. Like last night, we said the blight's coming for us. They know me. Most of them know what I can do, which makes it a little trickier to hide. I think for now, my plan is to go with you.

Tim / GM:

You hear phenom and Roland both go?

Hannah / Eryn:

Just keeping things on the down low. And I guess we'll go meet the leader of the city. Yeah.

Thomas / Guy:

They don't exactly go hand in hand, do they? I dropped my pencil.

John / Doran:

You're saying there's no catch here. I'm sure she wants something from us.

Tim / GM:

They look at each other for a second, Phenom says. Well, yeah. She wanted to ask you her own questions, but mostly she just wanted to meet you, to get to know you in case she met you again.

Hannah / Eryn:

Everyone always wants something. Keep that in mind.

Thomas / Guy:

Phenom, must we wear one of your false images when we meet, Libera?

Tim / GM:

Not for this. In fact, you should probably come as you are. Well, not completely as you are, looking at Doran in his pajamas.

John / Doran:

Just need one minute. We can head out.

Hannah / Eryn:

Nice bunny slippers.

John / Doran:

They take up a lot of pack space, but it's worth it.

Hannah / Eryn:

They're very comfortable.

Tim / GM:

Roland's like, Poppy, it smells so good in here. Are we gonna get these cookies, or do we have to wait until we

Hannah / Eryn:

Those legit. Sorry. They're just I put a lot of effort in these are for my friends. You get me to my shop safely and in one piece, and I will whip some up.

Speaker 5:

We can do that.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. Pleasure doing business with you. She made those in the coffee maker this morning, so I don't know how sanitary they are. I washed it.

Speaker 5:

That is impressive.

Hannah / Eryn:

Also, I'm pulling out one of the other cookies and handing it to Doran.

John / Doran:

Thank you.

Hannah / Eryn:

Don't eat this yet either.

John / Doran:

I really hope I don't eat it today.

Hannah / Eryn:

I give him a toffee temptation.

Speaker 5:

Okay.

Tim / GM:

Roland is watching with puppy dog eyes.

Hannah / Eryn:

Sorry. Gotta be part of the gang.

Tim / GM:

In a moment, you are all ascending yet another flight of stairs going further up the winged spire to Libera's office. What are you all wearing?

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron only has one set of clothing. Mhmm. Just really simple black kinda tight trousers, black boots that are flat soled, grippy on the bottom, good for climbing. And then, kind of a long sleeve black tunic with a cowl, but everything is is very worn out. Nothing nothing fancy.

Hannah / Eryn:

Nothing to draw attention.

Speaker 6:

Journey is wearing mostly homespun clothes, that she clearly made herself

Tim / GM:

Mhmm.

Speaker 6:

Some time ago. It's just basically, like, rectangles of homemade fabric that are tied to her. She's not super covered, but it's enough to be more like armor. She doesn't really get cold.

Tim / GM:

And Guy clinking up the stairs?

Thomas / Guy:

Guy is wearing his usual, chain mail armor with the green cloak. And, what do you think happens to armor when you crash through a building and land in a pool of water?

Tim / GM:

Probably polished but scuffed.

Thomas / Guy:

Okay. Yeah. Looking polished but scuffed from the events the day before.

John / Doran:

Dorn, is wearing just as, gambeson, which is very it's it's form fitted and wearing some nice pants.

Tim / GM:

That's it. The pants are nice.

Hannah / Eryn:

I was worried there weren't pants. I was, like, waiting.

Tim / GM:

So it is armor or

John / Doran:

It's a Under Armour for

Speaker 6:

when you put this under armor. It's very medieval.

Tim / GM:

It's medieval Under Armour. Right. Yeah.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. Exactly.

Tim / GM:

Poppy?

Hannah / Eryn:

Poppy has, like, a poofy little yellow dress that she normally wears, but she has taken off her apron and hat and, like, tucked them away because they're well used and covered in flower and little blue glasses.

Tim / GM:

Suffice to say a motley crew, ranging from actual solid armor to literal rags.

Speaker 6:

Hey. Hey. Hey.

Tim / GM:

As you take these hundreds of stairs going up to Libera's office, you understand how she's earned her reputation for taking bridges and lifts and, flying inventions to go up and down the tower on the daily.

Hannah / Eryn:

Was this where we stayed? The same building? Same building. Yep.

Tim / GM:

Okay. The winged spire.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. Thank you. That's awful lot of stairs.

Tim / GM:

On your way up, you can see out the window. There's these enormous canvas wings on the side of this tower. Literally, the the wings on the spire. These things catch air as it blows and indicate the direction and speed of wind to kind of give a little heads up to all the airship people in this city of, like, how rough it is out there today. So pretty much a giant weather vane on a colossal scale.

Speaker 6:

Cool.

Tim / GM:

That is the last thing you see before you get to Libera's office. Large violet double doors that open up, And when they do, you see another huge floor to ceiling bay window that looks out over the clouds from an even higher vantage. Turning around, you can see the windows actually continue around the entire room, and when you spin around, you can see the entire city of farewell laid out behind you. Libera herself is facing you. She is kind of half sitting on the front of her desk, but she's speaking with an old man with white hair.

Tim / GM:

She's wearing common looking workers clothes. It's like a canvas jacket, and then she's got red and violet official garb underneath that, and she's got long black hair tied into a braid. She says, I know it doesn't feel good, but it was the right decision. Of course, they're upset right now. They're disappointed.

Tim / GM:

The violet dragon flight means a lot to them. You hear, You are very kind with your words. The old man goes, and kind of looks behind him. Your your words about the violet dragonflight, if I meet one of them, a violet dragon, I will tell them that you said this, that people are upset and disappointed. What I meant is that this will pass.

Tim / GM:

Don't worry. Libera kind of looks up and sees all of you enter the room at the same time. She goes, I apologize. My meetings are overlapping with each other. My friends, please, may I introduce you to Farewell, the man himself, every bit the founder of the city as I am?

Thomas / Guy:

Your highness and guy bows and curtsies.

John / Doran:

Darn Darn does as well.

Hannah / Eryn:

Bows and curtsies? What does that look like exactly? Like a bob At

Tim / GM:

the same time? Yep.

Hannah / Eryn:

A bend and then the arms go out with no skirt? Okay.

Tim / GM:

The, white haired man bows and curtsies to you as well with a big smile. He says, yes. Greetings to you all. It's true. I found this city at the same time as Liberia.

Hannah / Eryn:

I found this city?

Tim / GM:

Though it was not really a city back then.

Thomas / Guy:

What was it?

Tim / GM:

It was merely a plot of land that Libera found, and then I found it as well. And, we are both here, and we own it together. What is that? Ah. Very good.

Tim / GM:

Yes. Time is of the essence. What? Time to go. I have to go.

Tim / GM:

Farewell.

Thomas / Guy:

Farewell.

Speaker 6:

Farewell.

John / Doran:

Nice to meet you, farewell.

Tim / GM:

As he's walking away, every time you say farewell, he turns back to you and, just kind of nods to you.

Hannah / Eryn:

That was a little bit weird.

Tim / GM:

Libera says, I'm sorry about that.

Hannah / Eryn:

Uh-huh.

Tim / GM:

So you're the group that faced down Diver. Is that right?

Hannah / Eryn:

Define facedown. He got away.

John / Doran:

He did escape.

Hannah / Eryn:

I didn't personally face him down.

Thomas / Guy:

Oh, there's a bit of facing and definitely some down.

Tim / GM:

Yes. And he's gone now? Dead? What is the situation? Definitely not dead.

John / Doran:

He flew away in his own airship.

Tim / GM:

Mhmm. I don't

John / Doran:

even think he necessarily needed to retreat. It was not going as planned. I could have had him.

Hannah / Eryn:

Definitely.

Tim / GM:

She seems to be kind of sizing you up, kind of assessing your injuries to see if you really could have taken him. Well, let's start in a proper position. I am Libera Cambrianimbus, and I'm not sure I've met any of you before.

Hannah / Eryn:

Well, it's really nice to meet you, and I curtsy. I'm Poppy Kenmore and I own cookies. I mean, the the cookie shot the rolling pin. That's me.

Tim / GM:

I have heard whisperings of the rolling pin.

Hannah / Eryn:

Good ones, I hope.

Tim / GM:

Always good. Yes. Absolutely. Yes. Proud to have you and farewell.

Hannah / Eryn:

Thank you so much. You're very welcome. I mean, I'm welcome. I mean, you're very nervous.

John / Doran:

It's quite an accusation, Poppy.

Tim / GM:

No. She's right. And who are you?

John / Doran:

I'm Doran. Just a humble, Blight Hunter. I've been hearing farewell.

Tim / GM:

Blight Hunter. Brilliant. She kind of, like, looks you up and down. She says, Dawn's Edge.

John / Doran:

What gave me away?

Tim / GM:

Hair, clothes,

John / Doran:

the

Tim / GM:

way you're standing.

John / Doran:

You kind of have a little bit of that too.

Tim / GM:

You'd be right. That's good, though. You'll be in good company.

John / Doran:

Wait. Is that where we're headed with the airships?

Tim / GM:

Not exactly. You're going with Dawn's Edge, not to Dawn's Edge. Let's finish our introductions. Who do we have here?

Thomas / Guy:

I am Guy.

Tim / GM:

And who is this?

Speaker 6:

You can call me Journey. My name wouldn't we don't really do names where I'm from, but Journey will

Tim / GM:

work. Firbolg. Am I correct?

Speaker 6:

Indeed you are.

Tim / GM:

Interesting. I have met very few fear bog in my days. If I make a mistake, please let me know.

Speaker 6:

I don't take offense very easily.

Speaker 5:

What do

Tim / GM:

you think my fair ball game would be?

Speaker 6:

Journey looks absolutely panicked by that.

Tim / GM:

She's, like, beaming at you though, smiling.

Speaker 6:

Well, you lead the city, so maybe it would be leads the city from above.

Tim / GM:

Oh, I'd rather like that.

John / Doran:

That's shorter than your actual name.

Speaker 6:

Good job.

Hannah / Eryn:

Poppy Pat's Journey on there

Tim / GM:

when he goes,

Hannah / Eryn:

that was a great name.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Libera is, like, reeling from the burn, like, and refuses to acknowledge how great it was. She says You

Hannah / Eryn:

heard Tim in that in that joke, John.

Tim / GM:

And then she lands on Aaron and says, and we have Aaron. Am I correct?

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron looks unhappy that Libera already knows their name and says, yeah. I'm Aaron.

Tim / GM:

Very good. Erin, I'm sorry for all that you've gone through to be here now, but trust me when I say there's no bad blood between us. Do you trust me, Erin? And she's, like, leaning into you.

Hannah / Eryn:

I mean, I just met you, so no.

Tim / GM:

Good answer. First things first. I brought you in to talk, but also to thank you. Justice moves slowly, especially when you're doing things correctly. But a lot of people are going to have a much easier time now that they're gone.

Tim / GM:

Well, not all of them, but now the diver's gone. I also heard that you were in it for the biz mite. No.

Hannah / Eryn:

Who? What? Who? What's that? I don't know anything about whatever that is.

John / Doran:

Our our motives were multifaceted.

Speaker 6:

Just like this one.

John / Doran:

Just by just like this one.

Tim / GM:

She says, well, the city's always prepared to help in that way. She, goes back to her desk and flips over a small beautiful canvas and beneath it there's a large bismite crystal, about half the size of Diver's whole collection.

Hannah / Eryn:

Woah. Right here? Right here? Right here? Right now?

Hannah / Eryn:

That's, like, as big as me.

Tim / GM:

She gives it a little tap to unlock it and then gently kind of floats it over towards your group. This is, well, it's pretty substantial and it's high quality. Note the color. She turns it around and you can see this nice blue violet in it. She says, I'm prepared to give this to you for what you've done so far.

Tim / GM:

We appreciate it.

Hannah / Eryn:

That would be, too good to be true, I think. And say we don't actually need it anymore.

John / Doran:

Say we do need it, Poppy. Let's let's hear this out.

Tim / GM:

If you don't need it, then

Hannah / Eryn:

No. No. No. I didn't say that. I it was merely hypothetical.

Tim / GM:

Then you can take the cash value.

Thomas / Guy:

Usually, that's in gift cards, Poppy. I don't think it's a good deal.

Tim / GM:

I think that more or less makes us even.

Hannah / Eryn:

I mean, we could probably actually use the bismite. I'm sorry.

Thomas / Guy:

It's true, miss Nimbus. We were after the bismite the whole time. I'm sorry for this deception.

Tim / GM:

No. It's it's fine. You chose a good target. I'm sorry. It's okay.

Tim / GM:

You can be sorry. As part of this deal though, I'm going to ask that none of you ask too many questions. I hope that's not too much to ask.

Hannah / Eryn:

That's gonna be really hard for Guy, I think.

Speaker 6:

Questions about what?

Tim / GM:

She kinda gives you a frown, Journey. She says, about what happened last night. We we don't need everybody knowing before we know how to handle it.

Speaker 6:

But you are gonna handle it?

Tim / GM:

Yes. The right way.

John / Doran:

I'm a little lost.

Tim / GM:

I'll be specific this one time and never again. Last night, you witnessed a few things. You witnessed a fake creature becoming something else. You witnessed Bismite gaining power instead of expending it, and you witnessed an airship that functions without a spark engine. Three curious difficult things, not to mention divers' abilities.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. I won't ask any questions even though I have a lot. But you're looking into Diver and what what he can do?

Tim / GM:

We're looking into getting rid of him however we can, but he's quick.

John / Doran:

How can I help find him?

Tim / GM:

We're not asking you to do that.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron looks relieved.

Tim / GM:

We'll take care of him on our own. I've got good resources in Phenom and Roland. They've got friends.

Hannah / Eryn:

So you're just giving us this giant chunk of bismite to be quiet about it.

Tim / GM:

She smirks a little bit and says, yeah.

Hannah / Eryn:

Good enough for me. Okay. Let's go.

Thomas / Guy:

Let us know if we can ever be quiet about any other matter.

Tim / GM:

She, approaches Doran and gives him a big pat on the shoulder, and she says, I knew I could trust you. Doran, make a perception check, please.

John / Doran:

How's a 9?

Tim / GM:

Fantastic. K.

Hannah / Eryn:

Great.

Speaker 6:

Journey is starting to walk around the room a little bit.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Libera kind of tracks you as you're moving about the room. She sees you, like, looking out over the clouds and out over the city. She says, we've got 3 ships that are headed out today. We've arranged for one of them to take you out.

Tim / GM:

You'll be sailing with the TAC. They're from Dawn's Edge, Doran. You might, be in good company there. Maybe some people you know.

John / Doran:

Perfect. Out of the game, do I know anything about the TAC?

Tim / GM:

So, yes, the tech, they've existed for a long time. They're kind of like the first air sailors. They they used non Bismite methods of flying, so they had, like, personal flyer things. That's what the TAC used to be. And now that they've made, like, these sailing ships, the TAC is now, like, a Skyship Guild, essentially.

John / Doran:

That'll be, a fun group, I think.

Tim / GM:

I thought so. Vacation might be nice after, kicking the hornet's nest.

Hannah / Eryn:

What's a vacation?

Speaker 5:

Oh oh,

Tim / GM:

Aaron. She just kinda looks at Aaron. It's like, oh, and looks at Dorn like, too bad. Mhmm.

Speaker 6:

And where are we going?

Tim / GM:

They're going to bring you to a skyline known as Lor.

Hannah / Eryn:

I was told they like cookies there probably. So Yeah.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Yeah. I'm

Speaker 5:

sure they would.

Hannah / Eryn:

Perfect. I'm always looking to expand my horizons and my, clients.

Tim / GM:

I'm glad to hear it. You've got a whole new client base to work with there. I want you to understand, after today, unfortunately, I can't offer you my protection. It's not feasible. I only have a few people I can trust.

Tim / GM:

Roland and Phenom are chief among them, I can't have them watching you all the time. Once you're out of Farewell today, you're not my responsibility.

Speaker 6:

I thought we were coming back in 2 weeks.

Tim / GM:

We will get you back in 2 weeks.

Hannah / Eryn:

But don't come crawling back to you ever.

Tim / GM:

I'm afraid that's the truth, Poppy.

Hannah / Eryn:

Once you leave the nest, that's what my mom always said.

Speaker 6:

Don't don't come crawling back? Yeah. That's what your mother told you?

Hannah / Eryn:

She was a big, she she just really believed in in working hard for yourself and picking yourself up by your bootstraps and and doing it on your own.

Speaker 6:

How can you pick yourself up by your bootstraps that are attached to your boots?

Hannah / Eryn:

You know?

John / Doran:

Have you ever tried this?

Thomas / Guy:

We have witnessed the power of flight with this bismite.

Speaker 6:

That's true. That's magic, though. That's not straps to your boots.

Hannah / Eryn:

But you just but once you're on your own, you you make it on your own or you're a failure. That's what everyone knows. Right? Journey looks horrified. It's all it's semantics.

Tim / GM:

You know what's out there? You all realize, kind of during this little aside that you've been having that Liberia, her vision's just been caught by the clouds again, and she's got her hands behind her back just staring out over the clouds.

Speaker 6:

Clouds?

Tim / GM:

Everything, everything is out there. The city's out there, the cultures, the knowledge, the magic. You wouldn't fucking believe you would not believe me if I told you what I've seen out there.

Hannah / Eryn:

You've been to these places?

Tim / GM:

She kind of throws her expression up, like almost surprised. She says, it's not new. God no. It bewilders me that common folk know nothing about the clouds. When I learned about it, I was a kid.

Tim / GM:

It shattered me. It ruined every other part of my life. Everything else lived in the shadow of something so much better, so much more fun, so much more interesting than the disaster of a world I was born into. I've been taking trips out there ever since. I can hardly stand to be here.

Tim / GM:

She whips around and looks at all of you kind of understanding what she just said.

John / Doran:

It's a strange thing for a leader of a city to say. Don't don't,

Tim / GM:

don't get me wrong. I I love my city. I do.

Hannah / Eryn:

Everyone's got dreams.

Tim / GM:

She looks outside again. She just says, I just wish it was out there. It belongs out there. We're just like them.

Hannah / Eryn:

Well, you know what they say, the the clouds are always fluffier. I made that one up. My mom my mom never said that.

Tim / GM:

Anyway, Isle of Lore. Yes. It's a great place. You'll learn a lot. You'll meet some great people.

Tim / GM:

You're lucky to be with the tech. They're the only ones I know of that I really trust. They're the only ones who know what they're doing. And that's not hometown pride speaking. If anything, I'm more critical of them than anybody else.

Thomas / Guy:

Will the attack be accommodating to those of us who may not be experienced sky sailors?

Tim / GM:

Yes, actually. The way it stands, there's almost nobody aboard the TAC who isn't, scientist or a wizard or a scholar, so you're effectively the only passengers. Guests of honor, actually. Wow.

Hannah / Eryn:

Who do they think we are?

Tim / GM:

I've just told them you're honored guests and to treat you as such. I hope that works for you.

Hannah / Eryn:

Royal treatment.

Thomas / Guy:

Thank you, miss Nimbus. This sounds like a lovely arrangement.

Tim / GM:

I'm glad you are all cooperative. This is going about as good as it could have.

John / Doran:

We all do like living. Yes.

Tim / GM:

Phenom and Roland are gonna take you out to get some provisions, then you should be on your way. You've got a few hours before the ship sets sail.

Hannah / Eryn:

Just imagining, the Titanic music. You know, it's like where he's like he's yeah. And he's, like, playing the car game. He's like, I got the tickets. And then they, like, run into the ship.

Hannah / Eryn:

That's us right now. I

Speaker 6:

don't wanna die.

Tim / GM:

Phenom and Roland are kind of leading your group as you're leaving. You take the stairs down, which is much easier, but similarly exhausting. When you get to the ground floor and out into broad daylight there's a sudden panic and you all realize you're not supposed to be out here looking the way that you are and then you look up at each other and realize that you're not. You don't look like you at all. As soon as you had crossed the threshold, you had all been turned into schoolchildren.

Hannah / Eryn:

So nothing changed for me?

Tim / GM:

For you. No. Okay. You're all somewhat the same size, but you're all smooth skinned, very young, bright shiny faces, and some school robes. Roland is walking backwards, kind of holding his hands in the air, and he says, this way, class.

Tim / GM:

We're headed down to Lake Orthea to buy some supplies. Come on.

Speaker 6:

Are we our height?

Tim / GM:

Relatively. Maybe a little shorter.

Speaker 6:

Because I'm like 6 something.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You'll just be like a beanpole kid.

Speaker 6:

Okay. Just tall child.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yep. So we look like the young versions of ourselves.

Speaker 5:

Yes.

Hannah / Eryn:

Awesome. Yep.

Speaker 6:

That's fun.

Tim / GM:

But all wearing the same robe.

Speaker 6:

Okay. I don't understand what this is.

Thomas / Guy:

I believe we are meant to be in an educational environment.

Speaker 6:

You don't just have your family teach you everything?

Hannah / Eryn:

Not generally. I mean, your parents should instill wisdom on you, but you go to school.

Speaker 6:

Like the bootstraps?

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. That's not a school thing.

Speaker 6:

Okay.

Hannah / Eryn:

That's just a street smarts thing.

Speaker 6:

Street smarts.

John / Doran:

Okay.

Tim / GM:

So where do we need to go? What do you guys need before you head out?

John / Doran:

Like any small child, I think I wanna look at some weapons.

Tim / GM:

I had a feeling that was coming. Sure. Anything else?

Thomas / Guy:

Guess weapons, please.

Tim / GM:

Okay. 2 for weapons, strangely enough.

Hannah / Eryn:

I wanna pick up my shop before we go.

Thomas / Guy:

I will pick up the shop.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Ah, the wagon.

Hannah / Eryn:

Just don't forget. It's like my whole life. So

Tim / GM:

Sure. Well, Lake Ortheor sounds like the place we need to be then. Let's head that direction. The 5 of you, plus Roland, plus Phenom, have arrived at Lake Ortheor. It's the giant central marketplace for Farewell.

Tim / GM:

It's actually kind of off center of most of the town. Farewell is based off of industry, not commerce necessarily. So the manufacturing is actually the heart of the city. You've taken a little stroll out to the suburbs to find yourself in Lake Ortheor. The market of Ortheor is actually an island in the middle of the lake, and there's a bunch of shops that run all around this giant lake, on on a single street and a big loop.

Tim / GM:

This is where we would find magic items.

Speaker 5:

I'm

Hannah / Eryn:

really getting sick of this place.

Thomas / Guy:

No. There is that sword here I've had my eye on, but we've never been able to afford it.

Hannah / Eryn:

You know I don't touch my special secret cash of savings.

Thomas / Guy:

Oh, no. I'm not blaming you. It's just it'd be a shame to leave without it.

Hannah / Eryn:

True. I did see a really cute pair of boots.

Tim / GM:

Are you sure you can all afford this place? It's kind of the high end.

Hannah / Eryn:

I I've only ever well, Erin looks kind of embarrassed. I've only ever stolen things from this place And it kinda looks over at Poppy and, like, wide eyed. Like, I'm sorry. Hear you. I didn't hear you.

Hannah / Eryn:

I mean, it was not really my choice, kind of.

Tim / GM:

You know, his eyes go big, and he goes, they hurt people here. I wouldn't do that if I were you.

Hannah / Eryn:

They never caught me.

Tim / GM:

Clearly.

Speaker 6:

Well, how much does it cost?

Tim / GM:

I'd say their low end magic items are gonna run between 812100. Is that what kind of change you're working with? Gold?

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. No. I don't actually

Speaker 6:

know how much is in this.

Hannah / Eryn:

I don't even have that much money on me.

Tim / GM:

He looks up at Roland. Hold on. Let's take a second. How much money do each of you have?

Hannah / Eryn:

Well, if pressed and that it was like an emergency or it was really cute pair of boots, I do have about 200 gold saved up that I'm not supposed to touch. It's for emergencies.

John / Doran:

Okay. About the same over here. So

Tim / GM:

200. Okay.

John / Doran:

And, 15 150. Yeah.

Tim / GM:

Mister Guy?

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, he doesn't have any. We share. He works for me.

Tim / GM:

Okay. I

Thomas / Guy:

have some silver pieces.

Tim / GM:

Yeah.

Speaker 5:

Just as

Thomas / Guy:

good as gold, really.

Hannah / Eryn:

Well

Speaker 6:

Journey is digging in her little bag and

Tim / GM:

Oh, wow. You're yeah. That's that's pretty good.

Speaker 6:

About 370. I don't know what that's worth, though. I've just been kinda spending it.

Hannah / Eryn:

How did you even get

Tim / GM:

So we've got money bags over here, and then you're sharing, and Aaron's got nothing. Okay. Well

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron puts, the 6 copper back in their pocket. Oh, no.

Tim / GM:

Well, we certainly shouldn't be shopping at, fancy Frannie's. I mean, if

John / Doran:

Because of what Frannie did

Speaker 5:

last week.

Tim / GM:

Like I said, yes. Yeah. I don't support the business anyway. What about, a little farther down the street? There's that really, humble place.

Tim / GM:

Jason Calzone?

Hannah / Eryn:

I mean, if if you guys need me to, I I can get whatever you need.

Tim / GM:

How about ask me first if you really need something, and let's try not to steal anything today. How's that sound?

Hannah / Eryn:

That sounds great, Erin. Erin? Aaron already stole something from our vendor when he walked by. Can I, like, roll to see what it was?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Are you trying to hide it or you're letting Phenom see it?

Hannah / Eryn:

No. I'm trying to hide

Tim / GM:

it. Okay.

Hannah / Eryn:

Like, literally seconds ago.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Yeah. Roll a stealth check to hide that thing. Or sorry. Sleight of hand, not stealth.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. 17.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Phenom's got no idea. Nobody does.

Hannah / Eryn:

What did I get, Tim?

Tim / GM:

Good question. Rolle a d 20.

Hannah / Eryn:

Mhmm. A real tiny d. 3.

Tim / GM:

A 3? Okay. I think you stole a copper bangle with, like, a turquoise gem in it. It looked like it might have been a magic item, but it's not. It's worth 25 gold.

Speaker 6:

Wow. Can I roll perception to see if I saw? Sure.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Anybody can, actually.

Speaker 6:

I did not see.

Thomas / Guy:

I'm not even gonna

Speaker 5:

bother. Mhmm.

John / Doran:

Dorn assumes.

Tim / GM:

You all come up to a, a very humble looking shop, but well kept. The windows are bright and clean. The signage is very well maintained. It says, Jason Calzone's Discount Magic Items. This is a secondhand store that should be much more in your price range.

John / Doran:

I always thought this was a pizza place.

Tim / GM:

I thought the same thing, and I think they lose a lot of business for that. He opens the door to kind of let you all in, and behind the counter there is a massive tiefling deep red crimson skin he's got muscles like bulging out of his shirt and one of those like cross stitch tunics and he's got these huge horns that are practically scraping the ceiling. In fact, you can see little grooves where he has hit the ceiling a couple times. He looks at you all coming in and just says,

Speaker 5:

oh, new customers. Hello.

Hannah / Eryn:

Hello. How

Speaker 5:

can I help each of you?

John / Doran:

I look over at Roland and give a nod.

Tim / GM:

When you look back, you actually notice you are not schoolchildren. You see Roland and Poppy standing next to each other. Poppy is a tall, lithe elf with a bow strapped on her back, and Roland is a half orc with a giant greataxe.

John / Doran:

And what I meant by schoolchildren is, schoolchildren in in the ways of magic items, and this is a lovely shop.

Tim / GM:

You look around at your party, and, as soon as you entered this store, he turned you all into, like, a classic adventuring party. And so you've just got, like, rogue wizard fighter, you know?

John / Doran:

Phenom, you gotta give me some sort of cue here.

Tim / GM:

Sorry. I'm just that good.

Hannah / Eryn:

Hello. I have come Hello. Hello. I have come to purchase things.

Speaker 5:

Very good. What can I help you with?

Hannah / Eryn:

I don't

Speaker 5:

know. What

Thomas / Guy:

I have been eyeing the sword in the window. It seems familiar to me somehow.

Speaker 5:

Oh, an excellent choice. This is a great blade of Lotem.

Thomas / Guy:

Of Lotem, you say?

Speaker 5:

It's not easy to use. I'll grant you that.

Thomas / Guy:

Perhaps I am up for the challenge.

Speaker 5:

Are you sure? It's quite unwieldy. Without the proper training, it might not be possible.

John / Doran:

Why is that? Doran walks over to it and, like, takes it off the stand.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. As soon as you pick it up off the mantle, it's got the weirdest weight to it where it's like incredibly, incredibly, like, end heavy. And so it doesn't look that heavy, but it feels like 3 times heavier than it is.

John / Doran:

Jeez. I think I twisted my wrist. Why would you wanna buy this?

Thomas / Guy:

Well, it does seem a little awkward to use. Let me just give it a whirl.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You pass it over to Guy. And as soon as it falls into his hand, instead of trying to, like, lift it kind of over your shoulder, like you had done, Doran, He just lets the weight of it swing down, and it turns into a kind of rolling motion instead. And he uses the weight of the sword to kind of correct itself, and it flies up to his shoulder like it was meant to be there.

Thomas / Guy:

Oh, no. See, Dorn. You just do it like this.

John / Doran:

Yeah. Like, you've never held this sword before,

Thomas / Guy:

well, no. It was here in the window. Right.

Speaker 5:

You have got to buy it. I've never seen such a good fit.

Hannah / Eryn:

It does look great on you.

Thomas / Guy:

How does 50 silver sound, Michael Mann?

Tim / GM:

He stares down at the desk and just starts nodding. He goes, yeah.

Speaker 5:

Well, that's that's not gonna work, I'm afraid.

Thomas / Guy:

Oh, I have a few more silver I could probably spare with.

Hannah / Eryn:

How much is it?

Speaker 5:

The asking price on such an incredible piece of work.

Tim / GM:

Yes. He gets in close and smells the blade.

Speaker 5:

He says, I can't go under 250 gold pieces.

Hannah / Eryn:

That's quite a lot.

Thomas / Guy:

What does the blade smell like?

Tim / GM:

He looks up at you

Speaker 5:

and he goes, blood.

Hannah / Eryn:

You know what smells great? These cookies. Do you wanna try them? I just baked them this morning.

Speaker 6:

Journey walks over to Aaron and says, I I can see now why the sniffing thing was weird, and I I won't do it again.

Tim / GM:

He leans over to you and he just does these tiny little plucking fingers and he goes

Speaker 5:

For me?

Hannah / Eryn:

Yes. I thought I'd be generous and give them out today.

Tim / GM:

He plucks it out of your hand and goes to pop it in his mouth.

Hannah / Eryn:

And it is a one melt in your mouth honeycomb toffee bite. Okay. Consuming these causes an immediate sensation of well-being, warmth, and gratitude Well, I'm gonna say that they

Speaker 5:

fail. K.

Hannah / Eryn:

Well, I'm gonna say that they fail.

Speaker 5:

K.

Hannah / Eryn:

If they fail the save, their demeanor becomes relaxed and friendly, and they become highly suggestible, eagerly acting on the next nonviolent favor I ask of them.

Speaker 5:

K.

Hannah / Eryn:

And I will say, I think this sword looks like it costs about 50 gold and

Tim / GM:

and Oh, a 100.

Hannah / Eryn:

50 gold and a 100 silver, which by my calculations is about 60 gold.

Speaker 5:

That is correct. Your math is good. Yes. As far as the profit margin, not as good. But

Hannah / Eryn:

But it was the best cookie you've ever had?

Speaker 5:

Yeah. That's what I'm struggling with right now. It was just okay. Let's do let's do 50 gold plus 50 gold

Hannah / Eryn:

A 100 gold.

Speaker 5:

And a 100 silver.

Hannah / Eryn:

And a 100 silver.

Thomas / Guy:

I could finance 1 third of that, the silver.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yes. That sounds that sounds agreeable. Thank you.

Thomas / Guy:

Not Phenom. Are you able to help us out here?

Speaker 5:

Yeah. What what's up?

Thomas / Guy:

With with the 50 gold?

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, I have that.

Thomas / Guy:

Oh, thank you, Bobby.

Hannah / Eryn:

You've just done so much for me.

Thomas / Guy:

Well, only because you've done so much for me.

Hannah / Eryn:

Don't make me blush.

Thomas / Guy:

Oh, I'm blushing.

Hannah / Eryn:

I hand over a 100 people.

Thomas / Guy:

Of blushing.

Tim / GM:

Jason Calzone is holding out the sword and he keeps kind of, like, like, holding it to Poppy and then holding it to Guy. And he's just like,

Speaker 5:

okay, who who actually wants this thing?

Hannah / Eryn:

I'm purchasing it, but he will carry it for me.

Speaker 5:

Very good. That's that's what I was hoping for. Okay. Thank you. Enjoy.

Tim / GM:

It suits you. Can I

Speaker 5:

do anything else for anyone?

Speaker 6:

Are there any bows in here?

Speaker 5:

There are 2 bows.

Tim / GM:

He turns around and gestures broadly above him. There are 2 bows kind of stacked over each other.

Speaker 6:

I am holding my own bow in my hands. Do you do you do trades at all?

Speaker 5:

I can take a trade in. He

Tim / GM:

takes your bow, and he kind of, like, flexes it to see the the tensile strength of the string. You know, it does a little squish to see that there's no cracks in it. He says,

Speaker 5:

best I can do is 5 silver.

Speaker 6:

5 silver? I don't know what anything is worth.

John / Doran:

Had a good negotiating tactic journey to say that out loud. That seems, for a trade in, not too bad.

Speaker 6:

Can can you give me one second, sir?

Speaker 5:

Of course.

Speaker 6:

And I go over to Doren. I'm I'm not used to buying anything at all. I Yeah. Most of my stuff I made myself or someone in my family made it. Would you I hope it wouldn't be too much trouble, but could you could you help me?

John / Doran:

Yeah. Yeah. Of course.

Speaker 6:

You seem to be at ease here, and I'm not at all. So

John / Doran:

Right. Yeah. Just, let's figure out which one you want, and then we can get some numbers flying.

Speaker 6:

Alright. And I go back up to the counter.

Speaker 5:

Oh, have we made a decision?

John / Doran:

We wanna see the bows you have, and then then we could talk about that trade in.

Speaker 5:

Very good. Well, white mate or

Tim / GM:

dark mate? And he holds out both bows.

Speaker 6:

They're made of wood, though, rat.

Speaker 5:

Oh, yes. They're both wood. This one is a springy u. Not u. It's sorry.

Speaker 5:

U is a type of tree.

Speaker 6:

It's a tree. I know what a tree is.

Speaker 5:

Oh, good. We know trees.

Speaker 6:

I know every tree.

Speaker 5:

Good. You've heard of trees. Okay. This one is, well, it's got black walnut here, but that's that's quite easy to break. So it's got this ebony on the inside.

Speaker 6:

I pulled up my hands.

Tim / GM:

He lays both of them down.

Speaker 6:

I wanna pick up the light one first. K. I look around to see if he has a target anywhere.

Tim / GM:

He points to a straw mannequin in the back of the

Speaker 6:

shop. Yeah. I eye it a little bit, and I, like, feel the bow and kinda look it over. And then I just, like, quick draw, like, and shoot an arrow at the target.

Tim / GM:

Okay. You notice when you quick draw and pull the string all the way back, when you're holding it, like the like, as you're holding it, it starts to get warmer and it starts to glow the longer you hold it at full stretch.

Speaker 5:

Okay.

Tim / GM:

When you let go it streaks across the room and you can see this kind of luminous radiant burst once it hits the target. Interesting.

Speaker 6:

And then I check the other one and do the same thing.

Tim / GM:

With the second one, you just shoot an arrow and you hit the target.

Speaker 5:

You hear, well, that one you've actually got a miss to see how good it is.

Speaker 6:

So there's nothing special about it unless I miss?

Speaker 5:

Right.

John / Doran:

Journey, try shooting that one again, but miss.

Speaker 6:

Can you nudge the bow?

John / Doran:

Sure.

Speaker 6:

And I, shoot again and nod at Doran.

John / Doran:

I elbow it.

Tim / GM:

When you do, though, you miss and you hear a sharp whistle come from behind you, and it's Jason. He has kind of activated the item for you to show what it does. You hear this? And, the room kind of goes quiet. Journey, you turn back to him to see what happened, and he says,

Speaker 5:

are you ready?

Speaker 6:

I'm ready.

Tim / GM:

He whistles again, and you see the arrow kind of come out of a different area and shoot straight into the target. He looks at you, and he goes,

Speaker 5:

2 chances for every shot.

Speaker 6:

Interesting. I don't know. It's it's a tough decision.

Thomas / Guy:

What if you held a bow in each hand? That looks pretty cool.

Speaker 6:

Then I wouldn't have the arms to pull back the strings.

Tim / GM:

Oh, right. Right. Right.

Speaker 6:

It's a good thought. But

Tim / GM:

Going back to 4 armed puppy from last second.

Hannah / Eryn:

Which one looks cooler?

Tim / GM:

I I'm sorry. This is this is hard to watch.

John / Doran:

Who said that?

Tim / GM:

Phenom. He looks at the exit again. He looks over at Roland. He says, you can each get one thing. Okay?

Tim / GM:

Don't ever mention it to Libera. You can each have

John / Doran:

one thing. Don't take this away from us. We're we're practicing. We we gotta get this haggling thing figured

Tim / GM:

out. It's just, I mean, look at you. You're struggling. You're poor.

John / Doran:

We're having fun.

Hannah / Eryn:

Well, I'm sorry that I didn't grow up with tons of money like Doran might have.

John / Doran:

What?

Hannah / Eryn:

I don't know. Your clothes look nice.

John / Doran:

I I do wash them. Washing.

Tim / GM:

Phenom leans into you, Doreen. He says, I happen to know exactly how much money you all have to work with, and you can't spend it all here right now.

Hannah / Eryn:

Why didn't you step in earlier when I did the haggling? I'm down a 100 of my savings.

Tim / GM:

I'll reimburse it. That can be your thing.

Hannah / Eryn:

Wait. Paying me back is my thing?

Tim / GM:

Fine. You can get something else.

Hannah / Eryn:

Thank you.

Tim / GM:

Just go. Pick something out. Phenom, just

John / Doran:

just let us get through this with Journey, though, and then we can

Thomas / Guy:

square up.

Tim / GM:

Of course. Yes.

John / Doran:

Good ex exercise.

Tim / GM:

Doran, that's all of her money.

Speaker 6:

So I'm I'm not gonna be spending my money then. I'm gonna be spending your money, but I'm pretending I'm spending my money for the experience.

John / Doran:

Right. That's what I'm thinking.

Tim / GM:

You're right, Doreen. This is good experience. I can see it's needed.

John / Doran:

Shopkeep. Respectfully, can I speak with, Journey real quick?

Speaker 5:

Of course. Journey.

Speaker 6:

Yeah,

John / Doran:

Doran. Your bow, the one the trade in one Uh-huh. Was it made by your people?

Speaker 6:

Well, of course. It was I I made it myself with the the help of my family.

John / Doran:

Handmade by by Fear Books?

Speaker 6:

Well, of course. And and we use it for hunting. It's

John / Doran:

Yeah. Play that up. You know, it's a novelty. Artisanal. Right?

Speaker 6:

Artisanal? Right. Artisanal bow?

Speaker 5:

I don't know. I Is

John / Doran:

that not the right word?

Speaker 6:

I can try. Mister mister Shawkeep.

John / Doran:

We're not quite ready yet. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 6:

Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I wasn't Couple

John / Doran:

of things, Journey. Sure. So yeah. That'll be a selling point. It's made by Fear Bulgs.

John / Doran:

Not very common around here. Second thing is doing a trade in, he's gonna get profit both times. So whatever number he says, drop it by 50.

Speaker 6:

Alright. I guess I'll try. And I'd frown and I nod at him and then I walk over back to the counter.

Speaker 5:

Oh, have we made a decision?

Speaker 6:

Okay. So my bow is artisanal, and it deserves more because it is artisanal and made by furbolgs. And we're rare because we're not here, but we are everywhere else. Just you don't see us very often and we don't give our bows to people in the cities because we use them. I'm gonna give you this bow and it's gonna for the I want the the one that glows.

Speaker 6:

I I want the one that glows, and I look back at Doran.

John / Doran:

Thumbs up. Both thumbs.

Tim / GM:

Jason, like, slowly follows your gaze, like, out to Doran, and then he looks at Doran and just kinda slowly tilts

Speaker 5:

his head. And

Speaker 6:

I don't look like a fur bulb right

Tim / GM:

now. True. I'm gonna have you make a persuasion with disadvantage. Dope.

Thomas / Guy:

I feel like I just witnessed John purchasing a guitar.

Speaker 6:

This is this is the exact shit that happens when we go shopping for anything.

John / Doran:

Can I say that I am helping with the action, though?

Tim / GM:

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Thomas / Guy:

Yeah. It's

Speaker 6:

capsulate this

Tim / GM:

man. Yeah. Roll normally.

Speaker 6:

That's a

Speaker 5:

7. He says, your people crafted this.

John / Doran:

What what she meant to say was, people that she knew fear bulgs. You can tell by the way it's crafted here. Like, look, classic fear bulk design. Yep. Don't see them like this in the city.

Speaker 5:

That could be accurate. How does, 15 gold pieces sound?

John / Doran:

That's a great start for that trade in. Yeah. So okay. We got that. And then what was the both?

John / Doran:

300, you were saying?

Speaker 5:

Correct. So 285 gold pieces.

John / Doran:

Nice job, Journey.

Speaker 6:

I'll I'll take it. It is it is a furball. I'm a furball, but I don't look like it right now because this

John / Doran:

We're we're working on a lot of things with this one. So thank you for being such a good, happy

Speaker 6:

to be. Money.

Tim / GM:

Like the whole bag?

Speaker 6:

I hand over the money and then dig my money out of it.

Speaker 5:

And 285. Thank you for your business.

Speaker 6:

Thank you as well for your business.

John / Doran:

Nice job, Jurnia. Killed it.

Speaker 6:

I didn't kill him.

John / Doran:

Right. Killed the deal. Good job.

Speaker 6:

Alright. Thanks, Dorn.

Speaker 5:

Does anybody else need anything today?

Hannah / Eryn:

These boots over here are very cool.

Speaker 5:

What boots would those be?

Tim / GM:

He strides across the store to you, Poppy.

Hannah / Eryn:

The ones that seem like they aren't touching the ground.

Speaker 5:

Oh, that's because they're not.

Tim / GM:

And he, kind of wipes a hand underneath the boots.

Speaker 5:

These are loafers of levitation.

Hannah / Eryn:

Woah. Really? Really? That's very interesting. How much are they?

Speaker 5:

A little shoddy. I'll admit.

Tim / GM:

He, shows that one of the soul is kind of coming out

Speaker 5:

of one of them. Eighty 5 gold pieces.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yes. And and they would make me levitate?

Speaker 5:

Yes. If you were to wear them, you could levitate yourself whenever

Tim / GM:

you need to and sometimes when you don't need to.

Speaker 6:

Great.

Hannah / Eryn:

That sounds wonderful.

Speaker 5:

Have we got a sail?

Hannah / Eryn:

Yes, please. And I'm, like, holding out my hand behind me.

Tim / GM:

Oh, now.

Hannah / Eryn:

I'm sorry. I just I, you know, you said I could, and then

Tim / GM:

Phenom's just yeah. I I know. I I did say that. Yeah. I'm just give me a second.

Tim / GM:

He, digs out 85 gold and hands them to, to Jaesung.

Hannah / Eryn:

Thank you.

Speaker 5:

Are you going to try them on?

Hannah / Eryn:

Should I?

Tim / GM:

Yes. You, pull on the loafers and, you feel yourself lighter in general. We'll talk about this later, but any effect that would knock you back or knock you prone are enhanced against you. You're very light on your feet.

Hannah / Eryn:

They can just, like, blast me across the sky. Yep. Cool.

Speaker 5:

Do I have any other business?

John / Doran:

Yeah. I definitely want something.

Speaker 5:

Very well.

John / Doran:

Mhmm. Weapons. Weapons. Weapons. And I'm kinda rummaging through what he's got on display.

Speaker 5:

Just a few left. Are you a dagger guy or a saber guy?

John / Doran:

Got a pretty good sword here. How about a dagger?

Speaker 5:

Very well. This clever little guy should get you far.

Tim / GM:

He, shows you a small silvery cylinder. A hilt, but it's got a blade on it, of course.

Speaker 5:

Says, this is a lock stock dagger. It, it gets stuck. Places. He picks it up,

Tim / GM:

and he goes, and he just kinda, like, sticks it into thin air and leaves it there.

John / Doran:

Neat. Neat. Can I try something real quick?

Speaker 5:

Be my guest.

John / Doran:

I I grab it. And how do I get it out of the air?

Tim / GM:

Oh, he gestures to a little button on the end of the hilt.

John / Doran:

Very cool. I step up on his counter

Tim / GM:

Okay.

John / Doran:

And tumble off a little bit, and I press the button.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Give me a dexterity save.

John / Doran:

Natural 20.

Tim / GM:

Wow. Doran, you are, like, leaning off the counter, holding the stagger. And as you're leaning, you click it, and you leaned a little farther than you intended to, and you actually fall off the counter, and you swing forward holding this dagger that's stuck in midair now, and you swing off of it like a monkey bar and do like a little backflip and land.

John / Doran:

Yes. Yes. I want this.

Tim / GM:

The dagger is unfortunately a little too high up for you to reach anymore.

John / Doran:

Can you, can you get it for me, though?

Speaker 5:

Of of course.

Tim / GM:

And he walks over and, like, clicks it out of the sky and hands it back to you.

John / Doran:

How much for it?

Speaker 5:

550 gold pieces.

John / Doran:

Could we do that? I glanced over at Phenom.

Tim / GM:

550?

John / Doran:

I'm not very good at negotiating. So

Tim / GM:

He walks over to Jason, and he is, like, grabbing a pouch out of his bag. And he says, as long as it's under 550,000, we're fine. And he, like, throws it on the counter.

Speaker 6:

Damn. Nice.

John / Doran:

We got cool friends.

Speaker 5:

Have I satisfied the 5 of you?

Speaker 6:

Erin, you gotta get something.

Hannah / Eryn:

Erin goes over to Phenom and says, what do you what do you want from us? You're just giving us these? I don't buy that.

Tim / GM:

What do you mean what do we want?

Hannah / Eryn:

Why would you do

Tim / GM:

this? It's no skin off my back, really. I mean, the city's got quite a bit of money.

Hannah / Eryn:

Do they?

Tim / GM:

Yes. You might not always see it used in ways that you would use it if you were in Libera's position, but we've got enough reserves to fund something like this. Don't worry about it.

Hannah / Eryn:

Not enough money to feed poor kids, though,

Tim / GM:

If you'd like, I could match the price of something here to go feed children.

Hannah / Eryn:

That's not what I meant. Why give us these things? We've done nothing to deserve it, and I think you're just gonna call in a favor later. And I wanna know if that's what you intend.

Tim / GM:

Phenom leans down to you, Aaron, and he gives one glance up to the rest of the party seeing that they're far enough away, and he says, there's no favor you could do for us that we would need from you, not when she's got Roland and me. We don't need you. You understand?

Hannah / Eryn:

Sure. But I I can't help but feel like you're buying us off again.

Tim / GM:

It's like said. Just don't ask too many questions. What you've seen, keep it to yourself. And that way, yes, we are buying you off. We're buying your silence.

Hannah / Eryn:

No strings attached besides that?

Tim / GM:

Do you see any strings?

Hannah / Eryn:

Erin wants to roll an inside check.

Tim / GM:

Sure.

Speaker 6:

Hannah wants to roll an inside check.

Hannah / Eryn:

14.

Tim / GM:

You suddenly get the idea that Phenom is irked that you are looking a gift horse in the mouth. He's like, why does this urchin have to, like, question a good thing? You can tell a little bit that Phenom probably did have, like, a privileged upbringing and that he doesn't understand you really.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron kinda looks back at everyone as they're kinda looking over their new items and sees guy, like, playing with a sword. Well, do you have something for getting out of tight places?

Speaker 5:

Perhaps. What's your waist size?

Hannah / Eryn:

It's flexible.

Speaker 5:

Okay. How about your shoe size?

Hannah / Eryn:

Also flexible.

Tim / GM:

That doesn't help. He's, like, walking away. He comes back with 2 items. He's got a belt and a pair of slippers. He says,

Speaker 5:

this could get you out of

Tim / GM:

a bind. He holds up the belt.

Speaker 5:

You just pull this string here.

Tim / GM:

It'll create a ton of smoke,

Speaker 5:

a bunch of loud cracking flashy whiz bangers, and it'll get you out of trouble, probably, if you make good use of it. And these here.

Tim / GM:

He holds up a pair of slippers. He says, not good for

Speaker 5:

walking, but good for hiding, good for sneaking.

Hannah / Eryn:

Are they like pajama slippers, or are they more like, kind of ballet slipper flat type things?

Tim / GM:

In between, they're actually like, it's almost like socks with a leather sole kind of thing. Yep. Yeah.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yep. More like dancer shoes. Okay. Aaron slips on the slippers real quick and tries on the belt and asks, is the belt one time use?

Speaker 5:

No. They're both, repeatable.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron's gonna go find a place to hide with the slippers and see

Tim / GM:

if they help. K.

Hannah / Eryn:

Just trying them on. Like, walking up and down the aisles and, like Yeah. Hiding around a corner.

Tim / GM:

You noticed 2 things, that these are incredibly quiet. Not only do your footsteps not make noise, but you seem to not trigger things like squeaking floorboards, which makes no sense. You do notice, however, that they're pretty intensely uncomfortable to be in for an extended amount of time and that walking in these outside or literally for any other purpose than sneaking around would be untenable misery.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron comes back up. I think the belt is fine and takes the slippers off.

Speaker 5:

A fine choice.

Hannah / Eryn:

And she turns to Phenom and says, thank you, I guess.

Tim / GM:

He, gives you kinda narrowed eyes and says, you're so welcome.

John / Doran:

I also, that owl thing there, is that for sale?

Speaker 5:

Oh, owly? Yeah. Owly.

Tim / GM:

Takes it off the shelf.

Speaker 6:

What are

Speaker 5:

you getting me for him?

John / Doran:

If you're too attached to it, you already got a name and everything?

Speaker 5:

No. Owly is just, well, it's Owly. 20 gold.

John / Doran:

20 gold? Yep. Yeah. Sure.

Tim / GM:

Can't say I

Speaker 5:

heard her really gotten it to work correctly, but supposed to turn into a big ol' owl.

John / Doran:

Can we, 15 gold?

Speaker 5:

Yeah. Given the information I shared just now yeah. That's fine.

Speaker 6:

Play yourselves.

John / Doran:

It's still very nice looking, but, yeah.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Gold. Okay. Yeah. Done.

Tim / GM:

He, hands you the little owl statuette. You can see that it's not as nice up close. It's got, like, a little chip in it.

Hannah / Eryn:

Someone definitely hit it on something trying to get it to work.

Speaker 5:

Not me though. I wouldn't I wouldn't do that.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, this is very productive. Thank you so much.

Speaker 5:

Can I make one more offer for you? I got these on sale. 25 gold pieces, usually 75. He holds up a belt.

Thomas / Guy:

Okay. Whoops are these for? Oops.

Speaker 5:

Anyone it could fit, which, we could probably get it to fit any of you.

Hannah / Eryn:

What does it do?

Speaker 5:

It makes you huge.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, wait. Guy.

Speaker 5:

Yes? What if? What if.

Hannah / Eryn:

I mean, like, I'm tiny. Right?

Thomas / Guy:

You are usually tiny.

Hannah / Eryn:

What if I didn't have to be?

Thomas / Guy:

What if Poppy big?

Hannah / Eryn:

Like, okay. How huge are we talking?

Speaker 5:

You could be as big as him. And points to Guy.

Tim / GM:

Oh, how much? Normally

Speaker 5:

a 100 and, 2 normally 400 gold. Today, it's, 50 gold pieces.

Speaker 6:

Didn't you just say 25 gold? Brand new numbers.

Speaker 5:

That's what I said. 25 gold pieces.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. Sure.

Speaker 5:

It's a deal.

Thomas / Guy:

I like being this big. I think this is a good buy.

Speaker 5:

Everyone enjoy your purchases.

Hannah / Eryn:

I'll use my own money for this one.

Speaker 5:

Oh, okay.

Tim / GM:

Jason is counting all of his coins, as you all head out. You have been turned into a dance troupe. You are all, again, young, attractive, slender Elven dancers. Are we in leotards? Yep.

Tim / GM:

Leotards.

Hannah / Eryn:

Sexy.

Tim / GM:

You are all getting some sun on your buns walking down the road on Ortheer.

Hannah / Eryn:

We have to go pick up my shop.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Making your way to the rolling pin. Who did you leave it with?

Hannah / Eryn:

It was parked in the market. Locked up with a sorry we're closed sign.

Tim / GM:

Sure. Okay.

Hannah / Eryn:

There's I mean, apart from it being my entire life and, like, having a top of the line kitchen and and all of my savings, there's not much to steal. Maybe don't say that out loud in the market. Sorry. Well and Erin's looking kinda over her shoulder. Can Erin do a perception check?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Go ahead.

Hannah / Eryn:

There's just a lot of people you you gotta watch out for around here. Well, I mean, they're my fellow vendors.

Thomas / Guy:

The vendor's code, Bobby calls it.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yes. I got a 13. Not great.

Tim / GM:

Erin, just taking a glance around here, you do see Blight members.

Hannah / Eryn:

Are they looking at us?

Tim / GM:

No. You see Derringer, who was at the shop the day before. He was the Weasley southern accented guy. Mhmm. And you also see a woman named Mercy, who was the one person you were hoping not to see today.

Speaker 6:

She's gonna be so cool with a name like that. Come on. Mhmm. She's probably named after her Mercy Kills, like

Tim / GM:

no. Her name is Brunhilda Flann.

Hannah / Eryn:

What? Did you change it just now? Because you

Tim / GM:

No. Sorry. Mercy is the name she insists people call her.

Speaker 5:

Oh. Oh.

Tim / GM:

In fact, she forces people to say Mercy quite often. Oh.

Hannah / Eryn:

Erin spots a few of the the blight members and says, you just, you really have to, be careful and kinda just, like, pushes Poppy forward as we're walking, to kinda speed them up. And then Aaron's gonna go to Phenom right up next to him and say, does thieves can't okay. I don't know how this actually works. Is it

Tim / GM:

Thieves can't is actually doublespeak. So, like, thieves can't would be, like, walking up to Phenom and saying, like, a lot

Speaker 5:

of birds out today.

John / Doran:

Okay.

Tim / GM:

And he'd be like, yeah. Like, we better get out of here, you know?

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. Got it. Aaron's gonna walk up to Phenom right next to him and say, the clouds are looking a little green. Don't you think?

Tim / GM:

He, looks up with, like, a puzzled kind of quizzical face, and then he looks down at you, and then he starts scanning the crowd. And he goes, yeah. You'd be right. We're fine, though. Just, stay out of the shade.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron nods and kind of starts to flank the group from the other side, sort of like, shepherd dogs almost, like, trying to just keep people safe.

Tim / GM:

Should give Roland the forecast too. I'm not sure if he knows.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. Aaron goes over and says the same phrase to Roland.

Tim / GM:

Roland's looking at you like, what?

Hannah / Eryn:

Never mind.

Tim / GM:

Hey, Phenom. And they, like, talk for a second. You see Phenom. Nope. God.

Tim / GM:

And he, like, smacks him on the back of the head.

Speaker 5:

He's, like, oh, oh, oh.

Tim / GM:

You're continuing down, Orthea or Poppy, you're kind of, like, spouting off about, the rolling pin. And, there's a bunch of, like, hawkers and, like, food sellers as you're kind of going down this, like, food court area.

Hannah / Eryn:

I'm also, like, nodding and greeting all of the vendors as we pass, like, I'm not in disguise.

Speaker 5:

Oh, I see. Okay. Of course. Yes.

Tim / GM:

So, yeah, you're greeting everybody.

Hannah / Eryn:

Good morning. Hello.

Tim / GM:

And they're all just like, hi.

Hannah / Eryn:

Your bread's looking fresh today.

Tim / GM:

Thank you. Thanks. Journey. Walking down this lane in the food area, you see some familiar faces, 2 Firbolg, who have made their way into Farewell. You see some old friends of yours.

Tim / GM:

Their names are Nureshall and Goodlook.

Speaker 6:

Hey hey, Phenom? Yeah. Can I not be this?

Tim / GM:

He takes a look around. Yeah. I think we're good for now. Yeah. Just for a second, though.

Tim / GM:

I assume you wanna talk to

Speaker 6:

Absolutely. Yeah. I do.

Tim / GM:

Sure. Give me a hug.

Speaker 6:

Okay.

Tim / GM:

He kinda, like, goes in to hug you. When he does, he covers you a little bit, and then when you unhug, you look like yourself

Speaker 6:

get tall as I as I unhug.

Tim / GM:

He's just trying to shroud you a little bit. Also, Nurishall goes,

Speaker 6:

hey. What what are you doing here?

Tim / GM:

Journey's to find new home. How's it going?

Speaker 6:

It's it's going great. I I haven't expected to see any anyone from the family anywhere.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. We're just trying to make a little bit of money. We had to come into the town to do it.

Speaker 6:

Oh, alright. Are you you all are living nearby?

Tim / GM:

Some of us. There's a small encampment not far outside of Farewell.

Speaker 6:

Oh, sure. A little closer to civilization than the normal.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. It's tough to find food, but we can buy food sometimes. Do Do you know about money?

Speaker 6:

I do. I have some. It you can use it, and they trade it for stuff that you might need. And, also, it seems to be worth however much you say it's worth.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. So

Speaker 6:

if they're asking you to pay a certain amount, you can always say less and try and see if they'll let you pay less.

Tim / GM:

NourishAll looks, like, very confused, And they're kind of, like, staring at the desk on their kiosk. You kind of, like, zoom out and take a look at where they're standing. They're in a little fry bread shack out here in Orthier. Nourishal says, the problem is people don't always give us money for the bread. Is that should we be always taking money from everyone?

Speaker 6:

If you want to get money, then you you gotta take the money for the bread.

Tim / GM:

But how many money? We don't know how many they have when they come to us.

Speaker 6:

Well, you tell them what the bread is worth and they decide if they want the bread and then they give you money for the bread.

Tim / GM:

He kinda shakes his head side to side.

Speaker 6:

It's not like at home. Like, when we're at home, everybody gets food from each other.

Tim / GM:

They're both like, yes.

Speaker 6:

But here, they can get food from anybody. It doesn't need to be you.

Tim / GM:

They they've lost the plot. They don't know.

Hannah / Eryn:

I couldn't help but overhear.

Speaker 6:

Yeah. Poppy, I'm I'm having trouble explaining how to buy bread well, how to sell bread.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, that I'm an expert at that. So, do you mind if I try one of these?

Speaker 6:

I look at Nirushal. Can my friend try one of the breads?

Tim / GM:

Yes. But I can't sell them. I just make them. Oh, Journey, I've changed my name. My function has changed in the tribe, so I'm no longer nourish all since I don't nourish all anymore, just these people.

Tim / GM:

You may call me Frydough.

Speaker 6:

Frydough. Alright. And because you're frying the dough. Yes. It makes sense.

Tim / GM:

Good Look has changed his name to Sellum.

Speaker 6:

Sellum. Because you're selling them. No. I think that's good. Those are good.

Tim / GM:

That's correct. I sell them now.

Speaker 6:

That's very good. It's good to be true to your nature.

Tim / GM:

Here. I I may I sell you a fry dough?

Hannah / Eryn:

I would like that very much.

Tim / GM:

Very good. Here you are. And he just gives it to you.

Hannah / Eryn:

Thank you. Give me one second and I, smell it. I, like, test the crumb.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. It is it is a little underdone on the top. It's pretty, like, greasy. It is burnt on the bottom.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh. Poppy's doing the Paul Hollywood where she rips it open and presses the inside of under their thumb. Oh, yes. Undapproved. Massively undapproved.

Tim / GM:

Pinch is popping out and he's like

Hannah / Eryn:

I'll take a bite. Try and, like, breathe it. Do, like, smellier stuff, but, like Yeah.

Tim / GM:

It it like, the parts that are done well taste pretty good, but

Hannah / Eryn:

Yes. This is lovely. I mean, I think that it is very nourishing.

Speaker 6:

Is it supposed to be black on the bottom?

Hannah / Eryn:

Probably not. I mean, maybe a little bit less time in the in the fryer.

Speaker 6:

Frodo, do you have a lot of practice with the

Tim / GM:

Almost none.

Speaker 6:

Poppy, would you be able to can you teach them? Yeah. Of course.

Tim / GM:

I'm not sure if we have time to role play learning how to bake.

Speaker 6:

But, Poppy, if you if you can help

Hannah / Eryn:

here, I'll just write down some instructions. Can you read? Sorry. Is that rude? I didn't I don't I don't mean to assume.

Tim / GM:

It's not rude. I can't read.

Speaker 6:

Can you read? I can I can read a little?

Tim / GM:

I can read as well.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, perfect. Okay. So I'll just write down my mother's recipe for bread. Fried dough to be exact. And this is just what I do.

Hannah / Eryn:

The trick is really you just wanna make sure you flip it so that it doesn't crisp up. Okay. And then I think you should ask for 3 gold.

Speaker 5:

3 gold?

Tim / GM:

Yes. That's quite a bit. I don't know if we can ask for 3 gold.

Speaker 6:

Why not why not try for 1 one gold?

Tim / GM:

One gold sounds

Hannah / Eryn:

I'll never make a profit that way. Oh, it's not about the profit. Okay.

Tim / GM:

You feel a strong pat on your back journey, and you can sense that you have changed your look again, and you just kind of hear in your ear, sorry about that, but we actually need to get moving.

Speaker 6:

Well, it's I'm I'm still Journey, but I'm looking different because we're kinda leaving town. But

Tim / GM:

journeying to find a new home for us.

Speaker 6:

Yep. And, gotta gotta look someplace new. I'm I'm checking the clouds.

Tim / GM:

They both look at each other. Wow. Wow. The clouds. Impressive.

Speaker 6:

Wouldn't that be amazing?

Tim / GM:

They just nod excitedly at you and then kind of like gesture shoot you off. They, they're, like, reading over the, like, notes that Poppy had written down

Hannah / Eryn:

Yes.

Tim / GM:

And they say, Poppy, if you are going to the clouds, is that right?

Hannah / Eryn:

For now, yeah.

Tim / GM:

You should visit Saffron.

Hannah / Eryn:

Saffron. Saffron. I've heard of that.

Tim / GM:

It's a beautiful place, I've heard. They have food like no others.

Hannah / Eryn:

That is that is my life goal, actually.

Tim / GM:

Seek it out. Saffron.

Hannah / Eryn:

Thank you. Thank you so much. I will do my best to find saffron, and, hopefully, I'll see you again.

Tim / GM:

Very good. And they begin to hand you a bunch of gold?

Hannah / Eryn:

No. No. No.

Tim / GM:

Very good. Yes.

Hannah / Eryn:

No. This is you keep this.

Tim / GM:

Yes.

Speaker 6:

As they're as they're giving poppy gold, I'm putting gold on their side.

Tim / GM:

You, the lot of you continue to the actual rolling pin. You find it just where you left it, unmarred and unharmed.

Hannah / Eryn:

Well, this is, home sweet home.

Speaker 6:

You live you live in this box?

Hannah / Eryn:

Well yeah.

John / Doran:

She lives in

Tim / GM:

the box.

Thomas / Guy:

I live on the box.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. Guy sleeps on the top.

Tim / GM:

It's a fairly humble sized wagon, done in a sort of burnt orange and, turquoise and, like, a teal

Hannah / Eryn:

And gold.

Tim / GM:

And gold trim.

Hannah / Eryn:

Not actual gold. I can't afford that.

Tim / GM:

Of course. It looks like this wagon has, like, a yoke to it, but not really. It's not really built for being dragged by a horse. Guy can move the shop when he needs to, but it actually runs on a levitator, a kind of precursor to the spark engine that uses bismide to float around.

Hannah / Eryn:

So you see the predicament we were in, but now we're good. We guy, you don't have to pull it anymore.

Thomas / Guy:

I must admit this is a relief.

Speaker 6:

So are are we using the bismat right now to move it?

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, that might attract attention.

Thomas / Guy:

But how far is it to the docks?

Tim / GM:

Phenom, like, looks over at the winged tower in the great distance, and he's like, a long way. Can we please use the bismite?

Hannah / Eryn:

As long as you think that that's acceptable, and we won't get murdered.

Tim / GM:

He looks around and there's, like, 2 or 3 other, like, Bismite powered vessels in the area, either small ships or similar kiosks or little wagons. He says, I think we'll be okay.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, yeah. Let's go.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Yeah. You open the door to the rolling pin, and you can all see inside. It's actually much bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. It looks like the size of a standard bakery.

Tim / GM:

It doesn't really have much, like, seating area for anyone, but it's a full kitchen, including 2 bunks stacked on top of each other in the corner. It's got a big wood burning fireplace in there. It's got a very different looking kind of furnace towards the back that is made of a gray steel. It's also got what I guess you could call a reverse fan on the ceiling where it sucks up smells from the oven and kind of distributes them around the bakery to attract business.

Hannah / Eryn:

This is where the magic happens, literally, sometimes.

Tim / GM:

And you hear a splat and you hear

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, pinch.

Tim / GM:

Pinch has kind of worked his way out of you, and he is, rushing his little bowl of olive oil. He does almost like a forward tumble handstand over the edge of the bowl and flops into it and just starts sliding around. And he's, like, rolling rolling in the bowl and somersaulting, and he is happy as can be.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. So make yourself, comfortable. I'll just put the Bismide over here, and we can get going. And and I, like, cover pinch up with a little dish towel Mhmm. And, like, pat him on the dough.

Speaker 6:

Butt butt or belly.

Hannah / Eryn:

Whatever. Butt or bell whatever is sticking out of the pan.

Tim / GM:

Let me

Thomas / Guy:

help you with that

Hannah / Eryn:

puppy. Thank you. It's a lot heavier when you're not touching it. It

Tim / GM:

Guy, you open up the levitator, the furnace that burns the bismide here, and you throw the crystal in, like, whole chunk. Once it lands in there, there's this kind of light blue glow. If you've ever seen a nuclear facility start up, it's that same kind of color. The bismite floats.

Hannah / Eryn:

No, Tim. I've never been in a nuclear facility.

Speaker 5:

I was

Tim / GM:

watching the Chernobyl videos.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, no. It's okay.

Speaker 5:

The,

Tim / GM:

the bismite floats, in midair, and you can see it being very slowly disintegrated by the energy in here as it begins to harness the power of the bismide. With the furnace closed, there's a little bit of blue light coming through the furnace grates, but you can feel the shop has begun to levitate.

Thomas / Guy:

She's working. I was a little worried after being out of commission so long.

Tim / GM:

I know.

Hannah / Eryn:

It feels good to be back.

Tim / GM:

And it's got a brand new paint job. Check it out. Okay.

John / Doran:

Uh-oh.

Tim / GM:

You step outside and Phenom, for reasons of secrecy and being hidden, has changed the physical look of the rolling pin. It is no longer the rolling pin. It is now the tough cookie. Yes. The paint job has been changed to red and black.

Tim / GM:

It has a witch hat on top, and there are chains hanging off the eaves.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh my god. It's like

Tim / GM:

There's a giant iron cookie on the front of it.

Hannah / Eryn:

The chocolate chips are spikes. Oh, I I can't say I love it, but this is great. Thank you.

Tim / GM:

Alright. Have we any other stops we need to make before we load up the ship and ship out?

Hannah / Eryn:

I'm assuming the ship will have food and water and

Tim / GM:

You'll be taken care of. No need to worry about that. And once you get to Lour, they've got plenty of provisions there. They've lived there for god knows how long.

John / Doran:

Say, gang, that other piece of bismite, do we have a intended use for that?

Hannah / Eryn:

Who has the one? Because we stole one from Diver. We have them both. Oh, you have them both. And then Liberia gave us one.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. Why?

John / Doran:

I have a friend who could maybe use it unless we wanna hang on to it.

Hannah / Eryn:

A friend?

John / Doran:

The one that gave us those, little shells.

Hannah / Eryn:

I mean, how much do you think the shells are okay. No. I feel really bad. We just, like

Thomas / Guy:

Perhaps Nimbus would supply us with more when we return.

Tim / GM:

Phenom kinda turns around and shrugs. I wouldn't count on it.

Thomas / Guy:

Well, okay. But we don't know if we're going to need to use the engine when we're on this Isle of Lore, do we?

Hannah / Eryn:

She said that she didn't want anything to do with us after we returned. I don't I don't mean to be selfish, but did he earn the biz mite?

John / Doran:

I suppose not, but most gifts aren't earned. I suppose it's not mine to give necessarily. Can you break it in half?

Speaker 6:

Journey goes up to the piece of bismide to see if there's a crystal that's just kinda like chunk.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Totally. You can break this stuff up.

Speaker 6:

I touch it and, like oh, would this be enough?

John / Doran:

That seems like a dorn sized chair. Is that fine, Poppy?

Hannah / Eryn:

I guess.

John / Doran:

Great.

Hannah / Eryn:

But don't come crying to me when we run out.

John / Doran:

I won't.

Speaker 6:

I tossed the trunk to Doran, and then I sit with the bismite for a minute.

John / Doran:

Yeah. You are most gracious, Poppy. Yes. Thank you, Poppy.

Tim / GM:

It's a single pound of bismite. Value is about a 150 gold.

Hannah / Eryn:

So much money.

John / Doran:

I toss it up and down nonchalantly and, step out of the tough cookie.

Speaker 5:

Mhmm.

John / Doran:

How close are we to where Rune was?

Tim / GM:

Not too far. It's like maybe a third of the way back to the tower, more towards the center of town.

John / Doran:

So will we just pass by

Tim / GM:

it? Yes.

John / Doran:

Okay. Alright. I'll nod and head back in and just sit down, like, at the door. Just kind of wait till we get about that area.

Tim / GM:

Okay. You, you can smell like burning metal as you're coming close to the fordring. This is where Rune's workshop is. You can see the kind of, like, empty derelict storefront that he has. He doesn't really run much of a store.

Tim / GM:

It's more of kind of a salvage yard, and he lives just in the basement, and he rarely comes up.

John / Doran:

Mhmm. What do I look like right now? I glance at my hands.

Tim / GM:

Nothing like yourself.

John / Doran:

Okay.

Speaker 5:

For a

Tim / GM:

little while, it was concerning because you were all gold clad dragonborn for a while. Mhmm. But the farther you got into this area, you've all turned into vagabonds, essentially.

John / Doran:

Perfect. Okay. Poppy, is it alright if we stop for just a moment?

Hannah / Eryn:

Why are you asking me?

John / Doran:

It's your

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, right. I'm controlling the thing. Okay. Yeah. Sorry.

John / Doran:

Alright. I hopped down and head on over to his and just kinda wrap my hand on the door.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Yeah. So going into his shop, this main floor is desolate. There's some salvage in there, literally just, like, junk on the ground. It looks like nobody lives here.

Tim / GM:

It looks like nobody's been here for a long time, but it's exactly as you remember. There is a downward set of stairs that goes into a basement, and that's where Rune lives. You knock on his door, and there's a metallic voice answering you. Who's there? How can I help you?

John / Doran:

Hi. Just dropping something off.

Tim / GM:

For who?

John / Doran:

For a Rune.

Tim / GM:

You can leave it at the door. Thank you.

John / Doran:

Okay. It's, from someone Doran? I don't know. Anyways, he says,

Tim / GM:

Is it still hot? Nope. Oh, that's that's okay. I'll I'll eat it anyway.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, no. Poor baby.

John / Doran:

Please don't eat it. But, yeah. He also said, take care of yourself.

Tim / GM:

Oh, okay. Thank you.

John / Doran:

See you. And then I leave. Looking for if I see on the way up.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Give me a perception check as you're leaving.

John / Doran:

Okay. 9.

Tim / GM:

Everyone who's not with Doran, give me a perception check.

Thomas / Guy:

We're, like, in the car. Right? Yeah.

Hannah / Eryn:

6 from Aaron.

Thomas / Guy:

17.

Hannah / Eryn:

14. 15.

Tim / GM:

Alright. 17, Guy. You are looking out the window of the rolling pin now the tough cookie and you see a small huddle of angry looking folk 3 of them It is definitely someone you saw last night, a young dragon born woman. Along with them are 2 others. They are holding a sort of crystal on a string a little pendulum and every now and then this pendulum bobs in a direction and then it centers itself again And then when it bobs, they kind of follow the direction of that movement, and every time it bobs, it's pointing towards the rolling pin.

Tim / GM:

As a huddle, they all take a step towards the rolling pin and wait for it to bob again.

John / Doran:

Doran still outside?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Still outside, still downstairs.

Thomas / Guy:

Alright. Poppy. Poppy, start the cart, please.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, but but doors are

Thomas / Guy:

Just start the cart. Oh, so Aaron. Mhmm. Do these look familiar to you, pointing to what I see?

Hannah / Eryn:

Shit.

Tim / GM:

Erin, you take one look and you see Ribbo, Derringer, and Mercy are together. They're using a divining stone. Something that you guys use to track out and snuff people who wrong you.

Hannah / Eryn:

Do I know they're tracking me?

Tim / GM:

By the looks of it, that's what they're doing.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron goes to Phenom and says, we have visitors right out back.

Tim / GM:

Oh, he takes a look out the window and says, time to go then?

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. Either go or, I mean, we could take them.

Tim / GM:

No. We're not doing that. Are we all together? Let's get ready.

Hannah / Eryn:

No. No. No. Doran's done.

Tim / GM:

Doran, miss god damn it. Somebody get him. We need to go now.

Speaker 6:

I can get him. I use one of my uses of hidden step. I'm in invisible. Invisible. I'm invisible.

Speaker 6:

Yeah. I sneak out of the tough cookie and head to where I saw Doran go.

Tim / GM:

As you're walking away from the tough cookie, you can see that group start to come close. They're looking suspiciously up at the tough cookie until Mercy points at it, and you hear her say, they're in there.

Hannah / Eryn:

Step on the gas. Thanks listening to Cloudfall. I'm Hannah playing Aaron.

Thomas / Guy:

I'm Thomas, and I am Guy.

Hannah / Eryn:

I'm Maggie, and I play puppy Kenmore.

Speaker 6:

I'm Tara, and I play Journey.

John / Doran:

Hey. I'm John, and I play Doran.

Tim / GM:

And I'm Tim, your GM and all the other people. See you in the next

Hannah / Eryn:

one.

Cloudfall | 4 - A La Cart

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