Cursebreaker | 26 - Is Donkey?
Last time on Cursebreaker. Tonberry is goneberry, and the city of Kildaree is better for it. Jesus.
John / Doran:The end.
Tim / GM:In the dead of night, in the basement of the Tower of Knowledge, Uli, Holly, and Tibia were sworn in as curse breakers. After catching up with their friends at a celebratory barbecue, the party received a message from Emery telling them to head east. Looks like we're about to get back on the road. So the barbecue is wrapping up, Margo is, pulling some tarps off of tables and, stuffing all the garbage into big bins. The grill has been turned off.
Tim / GM:The last ear of corn has been eaten. Dave left the party early to head out east by himself. He's eager to find Buster. As you're leaving, Margo invites you all to be a part of a service for Veronica Venus tomorrow, before you all head out of town.
Maggie / Poppy:That sounds good, Margo. We'll be there.
Speaker 4:Yes. We would like to pay our respects.
Tim / GM:Before, Tandy parts ways from the barbecue, she gives the group a final gift, to no one in particular. It's kind of the hallmark of lamplight actually. She gives you a weatherproof lantern called a stormlight. It's a simple flame that doesn't go out under any conditions. You can even burn it underwater.
Thomas / Guy:Wait. You should get one?
Tim / GM:No. It's just one for the party. For just to guide your travels. It's a symbolic gesture.
Maggie / Poppy:You said it looks like a lantern?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Your, your guildmates did more than repair your house, Holly. It's, it's better and more functional than it's ever been. They took the opportunity to expand the place a little little bit and give you, an under the stairs, sort of hideaway for more storage. Cute.
Tim / GM:And, finally, they made a tiny little bridge over a pit that had been dug in the backyard.
Maggie / Poppy:Good safety measures indeed.
Tara / Journey:So when is the service?
Tim / GM:Supposed to be tomorrow morning.
Tara / Journey:Okay. Bright and early.
Speaker 4:It was a long week? Month?
Maggie / Poppy:It was. It was a crazy week. Week?
Speaker 4:And There
Thomas / Guy:were 3 days in there that were kinda blurry. But,
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. Yeah. It's been a little crazy. I can make everyone a cup of tea before bed. Little sleepy time chamomile.
Speaker 4:That would be wonderful.
Thomas / Guy:That would
Tim / GM:be lovely.
Maggie / Poppy:Holly makes everyone a cup of tea except for snack because he doesn't, he's not here. I don't know. He hasn't said anything.
John / Doran:I'll try something. Snek is, going up to the tower of knowledge.
Tim / GM:Okay.
John / Doran:Oh, and, wearing his, tabard proudly.
Tim / GM:Sure. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, you can see off in the distance, the tower of magic is still about a third shorter than the other towers as it's kind of, split, in the upper third there.
Tim / GM:On on your way, people who don't even know you or recognize you kind of move out of your way, and a lot of them will, like, put one fist over their chest as they look at you.
John / Doran:Snack flinches the first couple of times this happens. They and they're about to attack, and then, starts to recognize it for what it is and goes up and touches their forehead as he walks by.
Tim / GM:They're not at all anticipating that.
John / Doran:Is the door unlocked?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. It's totally open.
John / Doran:Okay. I walk in and stand in the middle area, proudly.
Tim / GM:You are, right next to this fountain, like a regular fountain, depicting a enormous woman with long hair holding this book. The pages of this book are, like, in the middle of being turned. It's really elegant stonework.
John / Doran:Snack steps onto the fountain and starts lapping up the water. Okay. He rushes off his chin and looks at it, squints a little. Who can direct me to where the books are here?
Tim / GM:Somebody walking by looks at you and goes and walks away. I follow them. Okay. Give me a, are you trying to be noticed or no?
John / Doran:Yes. Okay.
Tim / GM:They don't notice you, until they get into, the archives they were, they were headed for. And then you follow them to a section called anatomy. And, they are looking at a book.
John / Doran:Mhmm. Civilian.
Tim / GM:He closes the book real quick. Turns around and goes, What?
John / Doran:What? What is it that you are looking at?
Tim / GM:Nothing. And he, like, shuffles a book back into the shelves.
John / Doran:I don't believe you. You are looking at a book. No. What are the pictures? And I try to grab it.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. You grab a book and it's a bunch of, it just shows, like, the heights and body types of different humans.
John / Doran:What is this? Are you going to make a human?
Tim / GM:His eyes just go absolutely wide and you can see him kind of sweating and just,
Speaker 7:what do you want from me?
John / Doran:It is a simple thing I want from you. I have an a friend who is very much interested in skeletons and bones and dead things. Do you have a friend like this?
Tim / GM:Sure. I guess.
John / Doran:Wonderful. Then you must come with me and I grab his hand. Snack is very much curious and this Tibio is, very secretive with his culture. I want to learn about their bones and why they why they collect them.
Tim / GM:Okay. Is he like a necromancer?
John / Doran:I believe so, yes. Okay.
Tim / GM:And he needs bones?
John / Doran:Yes. He collects them bones and, I want to learn of
Speaker 7:the beans.
John / Doran:I don't want your bones. I want the books, please.
Tim / GM:He takes you to the floor just beneath, the archives of history where that big bone display was.
Maggie / Poppy:There are
John / Doran:cats in these libraries.
Speaker 7:They're allowed to be here.
Tim / GM:Yeah. He he kind of brings you in the middle of this, dark marble floor, with all of these octagonal patterns and, light white trim around everything. And he kinda gestures and he says, well, this is as close to necromancy as you'll find out in the open. It's a lot of history about bones, but also a lot of history about dark energy.
John / Doran:Wonderful. And I, lean in close. You will not speak of this to Bert, will you?
Tim / GM:He shakes his head side to side slowly, and he says, are you gonna kill me? I don't think so. He says, I won't tell anyone.
John / Doran:You're a wonderful human and I hope I hope you good luck. I wish you guys just
Maggie / Poppy:I like that. I hope you good luck with this sensory snack.
John / Doran:I hope you good luck with your people making.
Tim / GM:I hope you good luck with your bone making.
John / Doran:Alright. And I stare at him until he leaves, And then I look around, and I'm going to based purely upon covers and pictures, I'm going to, rifle through and grab a bunch of books and stick them in a lamp.
Tim / GM:Okay. Give me 3, d 20 rolls. Okay. 13,
John / Doran:17, and 3. Snack will try to, fly out a window or, you know, stealthily leave the tower of knowledge.
Tim / GM:Sure. Yeah. You fly out, a window on the floor that you're on, and, a bunch of bridges come up underneath you and just sort of follow you. They look very concerned about you.
Maggie / Poppy:Concerned Britches? Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 8:But
Tim / GM:then you kind of get out of their range and they go back home. Snack.
John / Doran:So I I try to sneak into Holly's house as if I had never left.
Tim / GM:Sure. Give me a stealth check.
Thomas / Guy:20. Yeah. Wow.
Tim / GM:You you sail in like Peter Pan. Like, noiselessly through a window and set down into the kitchen. Boom.
John / Doran:Sorry, Tibeo.
Tim / GM:Tibeo is scared from upstairs in his room.
Speaker 4:I was
Speaker 7:just like, that now.
Tara / Journey:I was meditating in silence.
Speaker 8:What time is it?
Tim / GM:It's, like, it's way light.
John / Doran:It's, like, I
Tim / GM:don't know
Speaker 7:what time We're all
Maggie / Poppy:in bed, except if you're always meditating.
Speaker 8:And the house is expanded now, so I'm not sleeping outside.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah.
John / Doran:Yeah. We've
Tim / GM:got a room for you. You can sleep under the stairs.
Speaker 8:No. Mhmm.
Tara / Journey:Tibia goes to bed.
Maggie / Poppy:You're not concerned about the noise. You're just like, well, I
Tara / Journey:didn't realize it's snack, and I moved on with my life.
Speaker 8:Under the stairs Mhmm. Ollie is tossing and turning and trying to sleep and pulls out the mirror and says, what if I were you? And then just starts bawling because she's now sad, Uli.
Tim / GM:Okay. Had to happen sometime.
Speaker 8:It did. I think I bottled it up.
John / Doran:Alright. Awake while this is happening?
Tim / GM:I'm sure, like, Snack who had just come home and Tibio who had just woken up hear some light sobbing under the stairs.
John / Doran:Okay. I destroyed
Speaker 8:the whole tower.
John / Doran:His neck comes, towards the Ollie.
Speaker 8:Yeah. Yeah. What's up?
John / Doran:You're being really loud, and I think people are trying to sleep.
Speaker 8:I'm sorry.
Tara / Journey:I come down the stairs,
Maggie / Poppy:and I
Speaker 4:say, snack. What? That is so rude.
John / Doran:It's rude that she's been so loud and people are trying to sleep.
Speaker 8:Can the whole house hear me crying?
Maggie / Poppy:Holly, like, hears the commotion and comes down the stairs in her pajamas and slippers and robe shorts.
Tara / Journey:Peeking in the door like a child.
Speaker 8:What's going on? I pull the blankets up over my face and roll towards the wall.
John / Doran:Holly, really is crying about something.
Maggie / Poppy:Well, sometimes, you guys, you just gotta cry under the stairs. Let's go back to bed. Uli, you okay? Yeah. I'm good.
Maggie / Poppy:Alright. Good night. It's not brunch time yet, you guys.
Speaker 4:Okay. Uli, if you need anything, I am right upstairs. It is going to be okay.
John / Doran:Yeah. Bye, Tibio. Bye, Holly.
Maggie / Poppy:Good night.
Speaker 4:Good night.
John / Doran:Good night. And Snack sits under the stairs with Ollie.
Speaker 8:No. Snack Snack, I'm okay.
John / Doran:I know.
Speaker 8:I was just gonna I'm gonna go to bed.
John / Doran:I see. Okay. Sorry.
Tim / GM:Are you
John / Doran:a sleep bully?
Speaker 8:No. Not not yet.
John / Doran:Holly says it's sometimes okay to cry on the stairs.
Speaker 8:Yeah. If you need to cry, it's okay.
John / Doran:I will wait here until I do.
Speaker 8:Okay.
John / Doran:Good night.
Speaker 8:Good night, Snack.
Tim / GM:The next morning, Uli looks like she cried herself to sleep. You're all getting ready for the, funeral service. And, when you show up there, Margo is dressed the way she's always dressed, battle ready and, about to, run this service for Veronica.
Maggie / Poppy:Holly is, wearing a black dress that looks exactly like her regular dress that she always wears. And it's got a long full skirt that goes out, but at the edge of the skirt in honor of Veronica, she has sewn little crystals all along the edge of her skirt that, like, tinkle together, and they're like a purply clear color that, like, reflect the light and tinkle as she walks because Veronica was her crystal sister. I don't know. And then, she's got the crystal recorder, and she's going to record one of the speeches.
Tara / Journey:Tibia is wearing Veronica's robe.
Speaker 8:Oh, fully is wearing clothing.
Thomas / Guy:It's just black hats.
Speaker 8:Sorry.
John / Doran:Oh, no. Zack washes his loincloth, for the soak season. Wow. Oh, boy. Oh, wow.
Tara / Journey:Did we get you a larger loincloth?
Tim / GM:No. It's a it's a fairly small gathering. You see familiar faces from Lamplight. You see other curse breakers in the mix. But it's a small gathering and it's a short service.
Tim / GM:Margo concludes by saying, many of you will never know the real extent of her sacrifice. Some of us gave part of our lives to ridding the world of curses, And she gestures to the group of curse breakers before her and she says, Veronica gave her whole life. We need to honor that. And, they have a closed casket of of, Veronica's gathered remains, that they that kind of speak before. But that's that's all that, remains of hers, her her memory and her legacy onto the rest of you.
Maggie / Poppy:It was a beautiful service, Margo. Thank you. And Holly has a big giant white handkerchief that she's delicately dabbing her face with.
Tim / GM:I need to take some time. Holly, you may not hear from me for a good while, but I'm around.
Maggie / Poppy:I I understand, Margo. Take as much time as you need, but don't be afraid to reach out. And then pulls Margo in for just a nice hug.
Tim / GM:Margo's not a whole lot of a hugger, but she really leans into it this time. And, she holds you a little longer.
Tara / Journey:Tibia walks up to the coffin and just places his hands on it for a while and just muses on Veronica and everything she did and who she was and all that stuff and her sacrifice.
Tim / GM:Tibia, you place your hands on this coffin and you can definitely feel the presence of the bones inside of it. You close your eyes, and when you open them again, you are not in the same place that you just were. And it scares you, and you back away, and you blink, and suddenly you're back at the funeral.
Tara / Journey:I look around and see if anybody's looking at me or anybody saw what happened at all.
Tim / GM:You just hear a quiet conversation that didn't seem to skip a beat?
Tara / Journey:I walk back to the coffin and haltingly kind of hesitantly place my hands back on it and close my eyes again.
Tim / GM:For a split second, you feel yourself in a gray stone room surrounded by archways at every angle. But it's kind of like remembering something from a long time ago, where you can't hold it in your mind. You can't stay there long enough to look at the bricks in the wall or to look down any specific pathway, and then you're back again?
Tara / Journey:I look at my hands and I blink a few times just to make sure I'm really back. And then I say,
Speaker 4:I will see you in the next life. And I walk
Tim / GM:away. So you have a long road ahead of you. You're going to go farther than Lamplight back east. It's more than double your journey from lamplight.
Thomas / Guy:Should we buy food this time?
John / Doran:Why do that? Then we'd have to start buying armor.
Tim / GM:Good point.
Maggie / Poppy:Can we just say we're prepared for this long journey? Is that fine? Do you guys want to do it?
Tara / Journey:We get all the leftovers from the barbecue.
John / Doran:Snack can provide provisions for this journey. We do not need water or food.
Speaker 8:Snack, we can't just live on hot cocoa.
John / Doran:It's not well, that is debatable, Lily, but I I can provide food for us. We do not need to burden these beasts. I'm assuming we're taking the horses.
Speaker 8:Are we?
Maggie / Poppy:I think we should get a wagon for this journey. It's gonna be pretty far.
Thomas / Guy:Wagon sounds great.
Speaker 7:Did somebody say they needed a wagon? Oh. Yay. Danny. Who's Danny?
Speaker 7:My name is Ricky Radwagon.
Thomas / Guy:I'm sorry. You sound like a friend of ours.
Maggie / Poppy:Wait. Are you related to Danny Deeppockets?
Speaker 7:Don't know the guy. Ricky Radwagon, in here to sell you a used or new vehicle.
Speaker 8:Oh, nice.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. We need something that can get us to Vindorn and back.
Speaker 7:How about this beauty?
Tim / GM:And, he raises a garage door that you didn't really see there before at all and there is a dilapidated 3 wheeled wagon with a bunch of flies coming out of it and a torn, like, canvas top. And he says,
Speaker 7:what do you think? 250 gold pieces.
Thomas / Guy:Well, this is the more practical option.
Speaker 4:Would it be practical to drive something that would fall apart?
John / Doran:It's like a trap butt for us.
Speaker 7:That it is.
Maggie / Poppy:I think we'll look somewhere else. Thanks, anyways.
Speaker 7:Hold on. I got more options. It's it's probably better you didn't go for this one. It goes through horses like nobody's business. Behind door number 2, you've got the economy model.
Tim / GM:And, pulls up another garage door, and you see a, not much better looking wagon, but this one's at least painted red. It's got an intact canvas, 4 wheels, and a sickly looking donkey at the front of it.
Speaker 8:What does it mean goes through horses? Like like, literally?
John / Doran:All of these stickers say 2 horsepower. What is this? They're all the same.
Maggie / Poppy:Is it trail worthy? Holly's, like, looking around at the wheels and, like, she, like, touches 1 and it, like, wiggles a little bit. And he she's just, like
Speaker 4:Tibio's petting the donkey.
Tim / GM:The donkey, looks up at you with these huge cataracts in its eyes and goes
Speaker 4:I I can can we keep him?
Maggie / Poppy:I I feel like we really should look somewhere else, you guys. I just don't know if this is gonna help us.
Speaker 7:Wait. Wait. Wait. Don't leave. Don't leave.
Speaker 7:I got one more option for you.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, lucky ass.
Speaker 7:This one's gonna blow your hairs back.
Tim / GM:And he, runs out, grabs the last drawstring and pulls up another garage door and you see an elegant ornate double level, 6 wheeled wagon.
Thomas / Guy:Now, that's a wagon.
Speaker 7:This is a top of the line model. Two floors, sleeping on the 2nd floor. Amphibious uses summoned steed 12 hours a day. Can't beat that.
Maggie / Poppy:I like the magic pieces.
Speaker 7:Oh, this guy couldn't give it away for less than 3,000 gold pieces. No.
Thomas / Guy:Not even to the heroes of Tildry?
Speaker 4:Yes. Did you see that our friend here wears the Dabird of Tildry?
Speaker 7:Oh, the hero of Tildry. That's 2,999 gold pieces 99.
John / Doran:Wow.
Speaker 8:No. Yes. No. Um-mm.
John / Doran:Oli, you always argue with people on these points.
Speaker 8:Snack. You
John / Doran:wouldn't holly
Speaker 7:get lost.
Thomas / Guy:Snack, it sounds less, but it's really not that much less.
Speaker 8:This is not worth that much.
Maggie / Poppy:Ricky, I really appreciate you showing us your wares, but honestly, I feel like Tommy down the street sells a wagon just as good for half the price.
Speaker 7:I need you to level with me.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay.
Speaker 7:You and I both know there's no Tommy. I need you to stop pulling my leg and make a straight deal with me. I am sick of dealing with you and your 2 timing crew. Not that I've ever met you before.
Speaker 4:Yes. Two timing.
John / Doran:I've never cheated on you in my life.
Maggie / Poppy:Well, now you've really offended me. I will take my business elsewhere.
Speaker 7:And Holly It's 25100 gold pieces. Did I mention that?
Maggie / Poppy:Holly stomps away and she's, like, angry. She won't talk to him anymore.
Speaker 4:Snick, how much you don't know?
John / Doran:I have no idea.
Speaker 4:You don't know how to count. Can I see the, some of the money, please?
John / Doran:I will be back. I set the lamp down and I crawl in, and I'm throwing coins up. I can't turn it out. I can't turn the lamp upside down anymore. Just very sad.
Thomas / Guy:How many more of us had to walk away in frustration before we get that final discount?
Speaker 7:At least 2 of you.
Tara / Journey:I walk up to Ricky Radwagon, and I say,
Speaker 4:please, sir, we do not mean to offend you. We are just trying to be on our way. You see, we have just taken upon ourselves a very dangerous quest, and we want to be as safe as possible on our way there. And we hope that, you will see it in your heart to help us out because we we do not have much in the way of provisions or transportation, and we don't really know where we're going either.
Speaker 8:And our friend just died.
Speaker 4:Did you know Verano Cavinis?
Speaker 7:Nope. But it sounds like you're, hero types.
Speaker 4:We do our best. I don't know how successful we have been, but we did help Tiltri.
Speaker 7:Might have heard about that. Tell you what, if you don't got the coin, I can take other types of collateral. Such as? Valuable objects, small magical trinkets, you know, your abilities, your name.
Speaker 4:Excuse? Kiss Gucci?
Tim / GM:Tibia, make a perception check.
Tara / Journey:That is a yucky 21.
Tim / GM:There's something about Ricky Rad Wagon. Something you have learned to be suspicious of. Something that puts you on edge that you grew up with.
Speaker 8:He's made of bones.
Maggie / Poppy:Grew up with. Meanwhile, Holly is looking for another wagon bender.
Tara / Journey:Just stomping around town looking for wagons.
Maggie / Poppy:I mean, she knows this town.
Tim / GM:Yeah. There are some other places. You see, serviceable models for travel. There's nothing as ornate or exciting as the $3,000 model.
Tara / Journey:Can I sense if Ricky Radwagon is evil?
Maggie / Poppy:Don't you have a spell for that?
Tara / Journey:It's my Ronnie's radius.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. I don't no. Not evil.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Thomas / Guy:Yep. Alright. I didn't wanna have to do this. I channeled divinity to read his thoughts. He has to make a wisdom saving throw.
Tim / GM:Oh, that's a 13.
Thomas / Guy:I think that's not good enough.
Tim / GM:Okay. He fails.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. Give me those surface thoughts, baby.
Speaker 7:Oh, I hope they give me their names. Oh, I hope they give me their names.
Thomas / Guy:Well, my anonymous nameless friends, I think this is not the right vendor for us. At this juncture, I think we should all go and not say anything else to each other or to him.
Speaker 4:There is something familiar about you, but, I hope you have a good day.
Speaker 8:We're just gonna not get a wagon and make me walk the whole way?
Speaker 4:I think we are going to find another wagon somewhere else.
John / Doran:Tibeo and Snacks throwing up more coins. I think I should clean up the lamp and just get this all organized. I wanna Still more coins.
Thomas / Guy:I wanna put my finger in the lamp opening.
John / Doran:The coins fall back down on me.
Tim / GM:It gets a little muffled pussy in there. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:Holly comes back, from her expedition down the street looking at other wagon benders. It's just like a car dealership town where all the car dealerships are just on one street.
Thomas / Guy:Yep. Miracle Mile.
Maggie / Poppy:Yep. And she comes back and she says, hey, guys, I I think I found a fine wagon. We don't need this fancy pants, double decker business. I'm good sleeping under the stars. Let's just save some of our gold, and I found a vendor just down here that I think will work.
Thomas / Guy:I think this lady's right. We should go.
Speaker 7:This lady
Thomas / Guy:Let's go.
Speaker 7:Final offer, 2,000 gold pieces, and I'll throw in automatic pie maker once a day. Oh.
Maggie / Poppy:Now You guys
Thomas / Guy:What kind of pies?
Speaker 8:Pie. Rhubarb and
Speaker 4:Beach?
Maggie / Poppy:Maybe for 200 gold pieces.
Tara / Journey:200 drink. Don't You're terrible at handling.
Speaker 7:That's not worth the wood.
Maggie / Poppy:Alright, Ben. Thank you for your time. Beep.
Tim / GM:And he closes all 3 garage doors at once.
Thomas / Guy:This was the worst transaction I've ever been a part of. My name's not Jason.
Maggie / Poppy:What is it up with you, Bert? Come on. Let's go. Really? We, go to another wagon vendor.
Tim / GM:The other wagon vendor. Yes.
Maggie / Poppy:Tommy.
Tim / GM:Well, no. Tommy doesn't exist.
Thomas / Guy:It's established.
Tim / GM:So you you meet with Jaren.
Maggie / Poppy:Jaren. Sorry.
Tara / Journey:Jaren.
Tim / GM:Jaren says, we will
John / Doran:pay no more than 2,000 gold for your wagon. Snack? No. That is the top.
Tim / GM:Okay. Great. It's great that we've got a ceiling. Now, let's talk about your floor. What do you have to spend today?
Maggie / Poppy:What can we get for a 1000 gold pieces?
Tim / GM:1,000 gold pieces can get you a pretty serviceable vehicle. Let me show you my green lineup. And, he shows you 3 wagons that have a green sticker on them each. It says, these each have something kind of neat about them, if you will. This one, it's quite a bit bigger on the inside and you can see it's got some extra dimensional space.
Tim / GM:This one, it's amphibious. And, you see the wheels have paddles on them and can go into the water.
Speaker 8:Don't don't take the one with
Tim / GM:extra dimensional space. And, he shows you the third one, and he says
Thomas / Guy:Please just get in the way. I can't fucking pull this
Speaker 7:up here.
Tim / GM:And this third one, aside from being the most stylish, uses a summoned steed instead of real livestock. Do any of these catch your fancy, or would you like to take a
Speaker 8:I like the one with the steed.
Maggie / Poppy:We could probably get a real life steed, but if we just don't want the hassle. They're kinda cute though.
John / Doran:Do we go over water on our journey?
Tim / GM:Bert and Holly knows that there's a river to cross.
Tara / Journey:There's probably a boat.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. We gotta fjord that river.
Maggie / Poppy:Fjord. I got a boat. We'll be fine. I have a paper dinghy.
John / Doran:That will carry this wagon?
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. Will it hold the wagon? Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:It's a boat.
Speaker 7:All out.
Maggie / Poppy:I don't know what a dinghy is. I just assumed it would forward a gust
Speaker 8:of small
Tim / GM:We're gonna put the whole Oregon trail in a canoe.
Speaker 8:It's like a rowboat. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:It's good.
Tim / GM:It's good.
Speaker 4:I I think that the one with the, magic steed would be a good idea because we don't know what the land in terrain will be like.
Tim / GM:That's very considerate. Can I get a down payment from you?
Speaker 4:You can have the whole payment.
Tim / GM:So this is fantastic. Could I just get someone to sign for this?
Thomas / Guy:With our name?
Tim / GM:Or just an x on the line?
Maggie / Poppy:Holly takes the quill and puts an x on the line.
Tim / GM:Thank you. I think we're all squared up. No more paperwork than that. Thanks for your
Maggie / Poppy:business. How do we summon the steed?
Tim / GM:He gives the reins a hiyah and the steed shows up. You see 4 glorious hooves, a chiseled torso, and a pleasant face. And he says, hi. I'm Carl.
Speaker 7:Oh, is he
Speaker 8:a Sensors.
Tara / Journey:Is it Carl with a c or a k?
Tim / GM:With a k.
Speaker 8:Oh, the q.
Maggie / Poppy:Holly's, like, wide eyed, just like, wow.
Tim / GM:He says giddy up. Right?
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. Giddy up.
Tim / GM:Carl, throws back his his mane in the sunlight and, gives a little, smile and wink. He's got the whitest teeth, Holly.
Maggie / Poppy:Does he have a is he ripped?
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah. I mean, like, you see him kind of, like, turn his torso to look at you, and it's just all typography.
Tara / Journey:Alright, Carl.
Maggie / Poppy:We just need to make a quick pit stop back at my house, grab the supplies, and we can get out of here.
Tim / GM:Sounds great. Hey, just one little heads up. If you encounter any kind of combat, I will disappear entirely. So don't expect me to get you out of a pinch. Got it?
Maggie / Poppy:Got it. Sounds good.
Thomas / Guy:We can handle ourselves.
Maggie / Poppy:We just need to ride you.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Maggie / Poppy:You said,
Tim / GM:done. Well, this relationship is gonna get strange. Call me when you need me.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, God. Okay. We get loaded up with supplies. Yeah.
Tim / GM:You are all of a sudden on the road. You are leaving Tildry through the main gate.
John / Doran:I was going to throw in one thing. So as as the transaction's being finalized, Snack is gone. I go up to the original wagon vendor.
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah.
John / Doran:I pull on his, shirt. Mhmm. I
Speaker 7:I thought our dealings were done with.
John / Doran:It is with them, but I have coin.
Speaker 7:Oh, What do you have, little roguish rebel?
John / Doran:Door number 2, please. He opens the
Tim / GM:one with the, dying donkey in it. He kinda, like, taps the donkey a couple times. He goes,
Speaker 7:hey, get up. Hey, come on. We got people.
John / Doran:I want this one. And I point at the donkey.
Tim / GM:And he goes
Speaker 7:Get up, pal.
Tim / GM:And he keeps tapping the donkey and the donkey won't get up.
Speaker 7:Oh. Oh.
John / Doran:Yes. I want to buy this one.
Speaker 7:Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Sure. That's, 500 gold pieces.
John / Doran:I'm starting to reach in the lamp and pull out some coins. Is the donkey actually dead, or is it just laying there?
Tim / GM:It's not moving. Okay.
John / Doran:I go up to the donkey If
Thomas / Guy:only your cleric was there.
John / Doran:And tap it. Okay. Is it
Tim / GM:as soon as you get close to the donkey, it goes
Maggie / Poppy:pow. And
Tim / GM:it stands up.
John / Doran:Alright. I shrug and then I grab out 500 gold coins. Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. He opens a bag underneath you and he goes, quick quick quick quick with the money. Quick.
John / Doran:Yes, of course. And you just
Tim / GM:kind of transfer it bag to bag and he, like, ties his up and pulls it tight and he kinda looks side to side and he goes,
Speaker 7:go on. Go ahead. Get
John / Doran:Yeah. Come on. What is his name? Or name? Its name.
Speaker 7:What do you want its name to be?
John / Doran:I look at it for a long moment.
Speaker 7:I don't have much time, kid.
John / Doran:I will think on this. Come. Come, donkey.
Tim / GM:He kind of incredulously watches you walk away with this train wreck of a train. And, he just shakes his head side to side and he says,
Speaker 7:lucky me.
Tim / GM:And he give me a perception check.
John / Doran:13.
Tim / GM:He takes a step backwards and fades away.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. Sure.
John / Doran:Alright. I stand proudly waiting for my, friends to come with their way again. Okay.
Tim / GM:Eventually, your group was starting to look for you, and they come plotting down the street in their fully loaded caravan wagon. And they see you standing with a ramshackle wagon with a ramshackle donkey.
Tara / Journey:He just wanted the donkey.
John / Doran:Oh, yeah. I I left the wagon there, but I Yeah. So I tethered the donkey. In
Tim / GM:way better. Okay.
John / Doran:I'm trying to, like, make Coco, and the donkey's not eating it. And he's Snack is getting a little frustrated. K. What is wrong with you creature?
Tim / GM:It just kinda, like, looks up at you with its big blind eyes.
Maggie / Poppy:You can speak to it.
John / Doran:That's right. Yeah. So I do thank you for the reminder. I almost forgot. So I I, I do say in peace, speech, why do you not like this offering?
Tara / Journey:Did you think you'd have
Speaker 4:to voice a dying donkey today?
Tim / GM:Well, I hate to mention it, but I'm diabetic. Trying to watch my sugar intake.
Tara / Journey:He's got the itty bitty donkey diabetes.
John / Doran:Not familiar with this spell casting class. What needs do you have? I am now your caretaker.
Speaker 4:What's his name?
John / Doran:I don't know yet. Voice in my head. What what is your name?
Tim / GM:The way these things go, I think you got all the right switches to name me.
John / Doran:Oh. Snack feels bad. I will think on this
Tim / GM:creature. No. It's true. You can name me whatever you want. I'm effectively property of yours.
Tim / GM:Moreover, I'm okay with it.
Tara / Journey:Oh my god.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. Fire beware.
Speaker 8:It's so dark.
John / Doran:Do you want to get in this other wagon?
Tim / GM:No. I'll walk. But if we encounter some kind of desperate cold night, it's okay if you need to slit me open and sleep inside me for warmth.
Speaker 7:What the heck? So I
John / Doran:will consider this creature.
Tim / GM:Wouldn't be such a bad thing.
Tara / Journey:Have we come up upon this scene yet?
Tim / GM:You see the donkey looking up on snack and snack. He's
Maggie / Poppy:going, hee hee.
Tara / Journey:I get excited and I jump off of our totally adequate wagon. And I run over and I say, oh, the the
John / Doran:Tibio, yes. You cannot have these bones quite yet.
Speaker 4:No. No. I I am just excited. Oh. Le Bode.
John / Doran:It is a creature.
Thomas / Guy:That's his name?
Speaker 4:What?
Thomas / Guy:Laborde.
Speaker 4:I he he is he's a donkey.
John / Doran:Do you want to say something to him? I I can translate.
Speaker 4:Is donkey how you say it?
John / Doran:I ask him the speech. Is donkey?
Thomas / Guy:Is donkey?
Tim / GM:I've heard donkey.
Thomas / Guy:Can this episode name be Is Donkey?
John / Doran:When you're getting the hog wilds,
Tim / GM:the donkey says, blah, bode is fine.
Speaker 4:Bode. Bode. Bode.
Maggie / Poppy:Bode. Bode.
Tim / GM:You can call me Bode.
John / Doran:I see. Welcome, Bode.
Maggie / Poppy:Alright. So good day.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So you are all leaving Tildry through the front gates. Heroes I'm gonna do it again. Jason Pigeon is waving a handkerchief at you.
Maggie / Poppy:He's the gatekeeper guy? Yeah. Okay. Man, I'm glad we always go out Jason's gate.
Thomas / Guy:Busy guy.
Tim / GM:On the way out, you pass by, the farm area. You pass by that farm.
Speaker 8:That farm.
Tim / GM:Bluericks farm, which is vacant most of the time now that he has a lot more to do in this city. He and Margo have kind of taken up running the political interim. On your way out, Tibeo, make a perception check.
Tara / Journey:10.
Tim / GM:Nothing to worry about at all. Right. As you pass by, Ulrich's farm, you see a large cluster of kids, that is actually being headed up by, Ulrich himself and, actually a few of Ulrich's, triathlon team or his would be triathlon team, they're actually training some of the kids in different ways of magic. You can see that, in the wake of the events in Tilderie, they've they've left the multi magic triathlon to the children, while the adults rebuild. You can see, 2 students are about to duel to the best of their ability.
Tim / GM:You see them standing up onto wooden boxes out in this field with a big white circle painted around it. Standing up on one crate is Nook, and standing up onto the other is Maisie.
Maggie / Poppy:Hey. Aren't those the 2 kids we know?
Speaker 8:It's Maisie. I'm gonna miss her.
Maggie / Poppy:It's okay. Don't worry. And Holly takes away a very wet handkerchief from Uli and hands her a new dry one because she's been crying the entire time since we've watched. You're welcome.
Tim / GM:You're passing directly by them when you see Nook, first cast a spell, and he says, roots from mother nature deep below. Bring her to the ground. And you see these little, yellow bands of energy drag, Mayzie towards the ground. But just as they reach her ankles, Mayzie raises a hand into the air and points at Nook and says, object show. And uses, counterspell, a third level magic
Speaker 8:Damn, Maisie. To Wow.
Tim / GM:Counter Nook's earthbind. And, Borik immediately just starts clapping along with the rest of his, assistants and says, now that is some fine casting. Come here, Maisie. And, she steps down off the box, and they all do a little celebration.
Tara / Journey:Tibia walks up and is clapping and says, oh,
Speaker 4:well done. Anchor. Anchor.
Tim / GM:She takes a bow. You all leaving again?
Speaker 4:Yes. We are going on an adventure again, but we will be back.
Maggie / Poppy:We're on the open road. Don't worry about her. She's fine.
Thomas / Guy:She's really gonna miss you, I think.
Tim / GM:Lily, don't cry. I don't have a tracking ring, but I'll be thinking of you.
Speaker 8:I grab her up and do a big hug.
Tim / GM:She seems a little distressed at the sudden closeness, but she hugs you back a little bit.
Speaker 4:K.
Tim / GM:And Snack, Nook looks up at you.
John / Doran:What is it, Nook?
Tim / GM:Do you think you'll ever be back sometime?
John / Doran:This whole world will be my domain at some point. So so yes. But I don't know, when.
Tim / GM:Well, I I hope you come back someday and I hope I get a genie of my own and I hope someday I grow up like you, you know, overnight.
John / Doran:It was quite painful, actually. I you will grow. You will be tall as well.
Tim / GM:Oh.
John / Doran:What's your name again?
Tim / GM:It's Nook. Nook. Yes.
John / Doran:God, of course.
Tim / GM:Painful doesn't sound good. Maybe I'll just grow the normal way.
John / Doran:If you do what I did, which is every morning and every night stretch real big like this, and I reach up towards the sky, and then just see yourself as a fire breathing dragon looking over the town and crushing all the just make sure you stretch and and think think, powerful thoughts. Look.
Tim / GM:He, stretches his arms up towards the sky and he says, like this? Yes.
John / Doran:And you
Tim / GM:see little blades of grass sprout all around his feet.
John / Doran:Wonderful, Luke. I have a gift for you.
Tim / GM:Oh. What is it?
John / Doran:Holly. Holly, please. Can can you come here?
Maggie / Poppy:I'm a little busy, and she's holding the reins of the centaur, sitting up on the wagon. Okay. And she's like, what do you need?
John / Doran:No bother. And I fly over and I try to reach into her pockets to find the hot rock.
Speaker 7:Ouch. Snack? No. Where's the rock? What what are you doing?
Speaker 7:Get off
Maggie / Poppy:of me. Holly punches Snack in the face. Ouch.
Tim / GM:Roll the hit. Roll the hit. You don't get to punch him.
Tara / Journey:You don't just get to hit people. 10?
John / Doran:My AC is higher than that.
Tim / GM:You hit his tough scales and Snack doesn't even feel it.
Maggie / Poppy:Ow. Snack. What do you need?
John / Doran:Holly, I that little human child over there, I can't remember his name, but I was going to give him a hot rock. Do you have it still?
Speaker 4:What's a hot rock?
John / Doran:The rock that you stole from me during barbecue night.
Maggie / Poppy:Holly looks super confused, and then she she remembers. She's like, oh, you mean this rock? And she pulls it out of her pocket. Yes. She's like, it was just really pretty.
Maggie / Poppy:I found it at the barbecue.
John / Doran:Thank you. And I I I go snack goes to seal it. Holly, may I please have this rock back, please?
Maggie / Poppy:What will you give me?
John / Doran:A joyful human child.
Maggie / Poppy:Gross.
John / Doran:Everything is with money I see. I reach in and I grab out a handful of gold coins.
Maggie / Poppy:How about an interview with the genie?
John / Doran:I get to be in the room.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay.
John / Doran:Okay.
Maggie / Poppy:Here you go. Alright. Here you go.
John / Doran:Okay. I head over to Nook, and Nook, I told you to explore dark places and seek out powers and seek out genies.
Tim / GM:Oh, I have been. Wonderful.
John / Doran:Should you ever be surrounded by kobolds, they may want to murder you. You may negotiate your escape by playing horcrux. Yes. Here is the perfect horcrux. And I drop it
Tim / GM:into his, hand. He's got both hands kind of cupped and he catches it and says, I think I understand.
John / Doran:This rock will never miss, Nook. You may use it to win hawkrocks and always escape the kobolds and use them to do your bidding.
Tim / GM:He, holds it in front of his eyes and he says, is this from the genie?
John / Doran:I think so. Wow. Yes. Also, you can use it to be petty. When Maisie beats you with counter spell, you can throw this rocket it will always hit.
John / Doran:And I give him a slow wink with my sideways closing eyeballs.
Tim / GM:He grimaces a little bit at the sideways eyeballs,
Speaker 7:and
Tim / GM:he says, well, I'm not much of a thrower at people or up. I'm not much of a well, evil.
John / Doran:On the shoulder. Yes. Yes. Yes. Of course.
John / Doran:Wouldn't want to say that out loud.
Tim / GM:Ulurek kind of, looks your way and, also, like, references the rest of the party like, is it okay for a snack to be talking to kids?
Maggie / Poppy:Alright, guys. Time to go.
John / Doran:Good.
Tim / GM:Yeah. And with that, you, get out on the open road. The first evening out of Tildry, you stumble upon the first in a series. You see a campsite that has been abandoned. Not too far off the road, you are able to spot some of the canvas tents just from where you are walking.
Tim / GM:But you see 2 tents that are set up. You see some old food in a metal pot that is over a fire. It looks like a full meal that was never eaten. And you see a sword sticking up out of the ground not far from the fire pit. You've all been walking all day.
Tim / GM:It's, pretty close to where you'd want to make camp. This looks like it might be a good site, might not be.
Thomas / Guy:Well, this camp, looks lived in, but it's just me or is this a little creepy?
Speaker 8:Can you vibe check a nonliving thing?
Tim / GM:You can make a perception check to learn more about the surroundings, or you can investigate something specific about surroundings for more information?
Speaker 8:They are the same modifier. 7.
Tara / Journey:Do you
Tim / GM:wanna learn more about the area, or do you wanna investigate one thing in particular?
Speaker 8:The area.
Tim / GM:Okay. You see nothing of note with the 7?
Speaker 8:I'm I think it's hard to see with eyes blurry with tears.
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah. You've been crying all day, and you're just, like, exhausted
Speaker 8:and And dehydrated. Yeah. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:I would like to check for any dark magic vibes.
Speaker 7:14.
Tim / GM:You do sense dark magic coming from that sword.
Speaker 4:Bert, do you know anything about, magic swords?
Thomas / Guy:Do I? Which one do you wanna know about?
Tara / Journey:That one? And I point at the sword, sticking out of the ground.
Speaker 4:There is some severe dark magic emanating from it.
Thomas / Guy:Very dangerous.
Speaker 4:I do not think that it is safe to stay here tonight.
Thomas / Guy:Well well, let me see. Do I know if I could touch the sword without getting cursed
Tim / GM:You know
Thomas / Guy:that. I don't know that. Well, I have to touch it to identify it. So
Maggie / Poppy:Maybe we should just find somewhere else to camp tonight. We still got a little bit of time.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. But magic sword.
John / Doran:Isn't it Emory's sword maybe?
Tim / GM:This is a short Gladius type sword, not similar to Emrys.
Thomas / Guy:I'm with 3 curse breakers. I'm gonna identify it. Boop.
Speaker 7:Okay.
Tim / GM:You touch the sword and you feel a good deal of levity. You feel like, a weight's been taken off your shoulders.
Thomas / Guy:I get nothing but good vibes from this sword.
Speaker 4:It is definitely dark magic. But you feel okay?
Thomas / Guy:Yeah.
John / Doran:Congrats on the new sword, Bert.
Maggie / Poppy:Wait. What does your spell do that you're trying to do?
Thomas / Guy:If it's a magic item or some other magic imbued object, you learn its properties and how to use them, whether it requires attunement to use and how many charges it has, if any.
Tim / GM:Okay. So, this sword is cursed with a transmutation spell. It is activated by touching the sword. Bert, you are actively becoming lighter. In fact, it only takes a few seconds to go by before you can sort of moon bounce.
Tim / GM:Oh, no.
Maggie / Poppy:I knew we should have just gone on.
Thomas / Guy:It also says I know if the item was created by a spell, you learn which spell created it. It. I guess that's not necessarily the same thing.
Tim / GM:Bert, you learn that this sword was once a mundane object that was willfully cursed by a person. Like, it was just a sword that somebody put a curse into.
Thomas / Guy:Woah. I'm kinda hopping back and forth a little bit after touching the sword. Mhmm. This sword has quite a history. First, it used to be just a normal sword, you know, for cutting and stabbing and slashing, but somebody purposefully put a curse into it.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. And then left it on the side of the road for dummies like us to find it. Holly's, like, so tired and so fed up with everything and she's been listening to Uli cry all day and she is just she is just, like, done. She's not helping. She's, like, shaking her head
Thomas / Guy:and having somersaults over Holly's head as she's talking.
Tim / GM:Let's have everybody roll a perception check.
Tara / Journey:Oh, lord.
Speaker 8:5.
John / Doran:17.
Maggie / Poppy:13.
Thomas / Guy:14.
Tim / GM:9. We'll have, 17. Snack. You notice, you're kind of, milling about the campsite as you often do when the group stops to look at anything. You see a tree that has a bunch of broken branches and at the bottom of those branches is a mangled corpse that looks like it fell an enormous distance and crashed into the earth.
John / Doran:Bert?
Thomas / Guy:What's up, Snack?
John / Doran:Snack is flying now. I'm kinda following, Bert around. Oh, hey. Looking concerned. Bert, I am afraid that, you will continue to float and eventually fall to your death.
Thomas / Guy:Why is that?
John / Doran:Snack points over to the corpse on the ground. Oh.
Tim / GM:Bert, you take another bounce to get a closer look and you feel yourself coming down very slowly.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. I think someone should grab on to me.
Speaker 4:Should I try to break the curse?
Thomas / Guy:It's kinda what we do.
Maggie / Poppy:Holly just crosses her arms and shrugs.
Speaker 4:Uli, are you able to help or are you too sad?
Maggie / Poppy:I guess I can try it out.
Thomas / Guy:And this is something every curse breaker probably deals with their first day on the job.
Tim / GM:Bert, you're no longer coming back down.
John / Doran:Snack, wraps
Thomas / Guy:Did anyone grab me?
John / Doran:Snack is going to wrap the rock rope around Bert
Speaker 7:Mhmm.
John / Doran:And try to tie it to the tree.
Tim / GM:Bert is in perfect equilibrium, floating next to the tree as you tie him up. And then slowly over time, you can see the rope being pulled taut as Bert is being pulled upward.
John / Doran:Bert, if you should die, is there anything you want me to share with anyone that you love or care for?
Thomas / Guy:Oh, you gotta get my story published.
Speaker 4:Hold on. Please What? Snack. Please pull him down to the ground.
John / Doran:He's fine. He's tied to
Tara / Journey:the trees. I need to
Speaker 4:I need to have access
Tara / Journey:to him. I'm trying to.
John / Doran:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. With with the knot's coming undone. One sec.
John / Doran:And I fly over to the tree and try to retie it. Okay. Well, Tibio, I I can try to pull, but he's it's quite heavier than me.
Speaker 4:Okay. I guess I'll just go for it. First, you do the manor flare, and I
Tara / Journey:hit the first circle.
Tim / GM:Mhmm. Yeah. You, feel that cold ignition and, the iciness races through your body again. You all see, Tibeo's skin go white with the the, droplets of energy fading away from him.
Thomas / Guy:Letting go, Tibeo.
Speaker 4:And then I do the, disenchant of, monsieur Blanc,
Tara / Journey:and I hit the second circle. Mhmm.
Tim / GM:So you're you're disenchanting an area of magic. What do you target with Oh,
Tara / Journey:I'm targeting this sword.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. When you do so, you see all the color disappear from the world in, a 5 foot circle around that sword. And instantly, Bert, descends and, kind of hits the bottom of the rope and then just, like, swings it. And, it feels like a half a loop as he's kind of falling around by his own weight.
Tara / Journey:Do I see any sort of specter at all?
Tim / GM:Nothing.
Tara / Journey:Okay. Small scale. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 4:And then I give it all I've got. And I, point at
Tara / Journey:the sword with both hands
Tim / GM:Okay.
Tara / Journey:In my Kamehameha pose.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. And, you all see, a swelling of white light in Tibia's hands, and then this needle thin line of energy races towards the sword and just kind of slices it directly in half carving a little line on the ground. And then you see it disintegrate from that cut and just kind of cease to be. And Tibio.
Tim / GM:I will say the speed at which you got that over with, you only lost a third of your health, and all of your spell slots are used up.
Speaker 8:So he didn't age?
Tim / GM:No. Correct. Cool. And aging normally won't happen unless you've got a curse, like, bleeding you.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. That's our first solo Kurtz break.
Speaker 4:I did it.
John / Doran:Very cool.
Speaker 7:Voila.
Maggie / Poppy:I guess we can set up camp here now. I'm tired. I'm exhausted.
Thomas / Guy:Hey, Tibio. Oh, can you untie me, Zach?
John / Doran:I suppose. This neck looks defeated and untie his bird.
Thomas / Guy:When I get untied, I just am making sure I don't float away
John / Doran:for a second.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You're solid.
Thomas / Guy:Tibio, maybe we should go, talk to that guy over there.
Speaker 4:What guy?
Thomas / Guy:The guy who died.
Speaker 4:Oh, the dead guy. I see. I thought you thought that there was another person here.
Thomas / Guy:No. No. No. It's my first time doing this, so maybe you can get me some pointers.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Tara / Journey:And I go over to the scaly on the ground.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. I can't speak with dead on this man. What?
Tim / GM:Okay. This, this crumpled corpse at the base of the tree, you see it, like, unwind its head a little bit from the cruel angle that it had landed at, and it kind of resets a few of its bones, to be able to at least speak to you. And, is still laying on the ground and looks up at you, Bert, and says
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. Yeah. I know. I know.
Tim / GM:I seem to have hit the ground, haven't I? I'm dead, aren't
Thomas / Guy:I? You did, bud. Sorry.
Tim / GM:What is this then? The afterlife.
Thomas / Guy:Not quite. If I remember right, I think I got 5 questions, then you hit the afterlife.
Tim / GM:That's right. It's 5 questions. Go ahead.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. Okay. Okay. Alright. Did you touch that sword over there?
Thomas / Guy:I did. Where did the sword come from?
Tim / GM:We purchased it.
Thomas / Guy:Whom did you purchase it from?
Tim / GM:A dark haired woman steering 2 black horses in a caravan. A Dodge Grand Caravan.
Thomas / Guy:Where was she?
Tim / GM:Not far from here. Headed East. Shit.
Speaker 7:I got one more question.
Tara / Journey:Well, you should ask if there are any other people here. Oh. Who can we notify of their death?
Thomas / Guy:Was there anybody here with you?
Tim / GM:There was. My partner, she's gone now.
Thomas / Guy:I can't ask you to elaborate, but
Maggie / Poppy:Now he's dead.
Thomas / Guy:Perhaps you would like to?
Maggie / Poppy:Yes. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:Well, she's gone now. Damn.
Speaker 4:Bert, I think the caravan that this poor man was talking about was Joe's caravan.
Thomas / Guy:You're probably right, Tibio.
Speaker 4:And if they have a caravan full of cursed objects, there is every chance we will run into more.
Thomas / Guy:That's right. We just gotta be ready to break them.
Speaker 4:I guess.
Tim / GM:Are you going to camp here for the night or continue on?
Maggie / Poppy:Holly's already setting up the camp. She's ready for bed. I think
John / Doran:we're good here.
Maggie / Poppy:Done. We decursified it. It's good.
Speaker 8:Yeah. Go to sleep. No more sad Uli, please. I want to actually play.
Tara / Journey:Do I heal overnight?
Tim / GM:Yes. Yeah. Full HP over. Long wrist. Do you guys take watch
John / Doran:when you do this?
Tara / Journey:I set up my squirrel.
John / Doran:Snack will take watch. Okay. With a day.
Speaker 4:With a day. God.
John / Doran:Snack try has many different types of food to feed bidet.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Bidet. What do you try to eat?
John / Doran:Some leaves, some grass, some water, cocoa, crumbs that I found.
Tim / GM:Leaves, no. Grass, yes. Water, yes. Cocoa, no. Crumbs, hell yes.
Tim / GM:Turns out this donkey's favorite food is crumbs of any kind. Awesome. Little crumbs.
John / Doran:Many of these. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Snack while you're on watch. This area has become considerably smaller at night. You know, even though your dark vision helps you see in conditions like this, it still cuts down the amount of apparent world that's around you. In the middle of the night, a balding, old, dark skinned man with this short white beard is walking towards your camp with a long walking staff and you can hear him kind of jingle as he walks. It's one little ting and then he takes a step with the staff and then another ting.
John / Doran:Psst. Bidi. Bidi. Are you asleep or dead?
Tim / GM:No. Golden brace hasn't taken me yet. Excellent.
John / Doran:Can you walk towards that man and I will hide behind your flank?
Tim / GM:Sure thing. I just gotta get the whole machine started here. Here we go, but they stand on back up now. And, the donkey stands and begins to amble towards the figure approaching.
John / Doran:Okay. I'm not taking any actions. Just getting closer to here.
Tim / GM:Okay. Let's
John / Doran:see what he's up to.
Tim / GM:He stops kind of in front of the donkey and reaches out a hand to pet it on the head. You see what that jingling was. Though he's dressed in essentially rags, he's wearing a gold necklace with 3 gold coins and a short chain. Gold discs, rather.
John / Doran:This is my donkey. And I get up from behind, bidet. What are you doing?
Tim / GM:You were smaller last time.
John / Doran:What is this? Who are you?
Tim / GM:Last time we met, you were so much smaller. Have a seat, won't you? We should talk a bit.
John / Doran:Snack shifts his eyes back and forth, but sits down on the ground.
Tim / GM:He, sits cross legged on the other side of the, dim fire and says, how've you been?
John / Doran:I have been well. We have accrued much power. I do not remember you though.
Tim / GM:No? Then why do you cling to my scale? And you see, you catch a glint of light in his golden necklace.
John / Doran:Snack stands up, runs around in a circle and sits back down. I see.
Tim / GM:He says, shush, mustn't wake the friends.
John / Doran:Yes, of course.
Tim / GM:Now, tell me of your adventures.
John / Doran:What we have done so far is Bert has proven himself not to be a murderer. We, through several events have liberated Tildry of corrupt government and
Tim / GM:Mhmm.
John / Doran:Now we are headed to Hog Wild.
Tim / GM:Liberating our people. You have captured my interest, little one. Tell me, what is it you want? And kind of creeps into your mind. What is it that speaks to you?
John / Doran:All my life, all my 6 long years, I wanted I wanted power. To protect myself and to assert my will upon others. Now most of my friends I have met have become curse breakers. They give their own life to rid the world of of evils. To be honest I am quite torn at this point.
John / Doran:I do want to keep myself safe. I want to keep my friends safe. I know not how. What I have done now great dragon, I have purchased this donkey named Bede. From what I know, this creature is also wise and it can teach me many great things.
John / Doran:But I do seek guidance. I may look like a creature who has a plan, but I've really stumbled along these these many weeks now.
Tim / GM:It's good that you seek guidance. It's important. I'll tell you now that you are on the correct path. But I cannot tell you where to go from here. Only that you must always be honest with yourself, snack.
Tim / GM:It is the only path.
John / Doran:If Snack had the ability to have his heckles up, he would. His scales kind of, like, shift around a little bit, and he, stirs in his seat. Now,
Tim / GM:this meeting was just a quiet one. I'll see you again soon. And I look forward to it.
John / Doran:One question creature. Great dragon.
Tim / GM:It, it stands up and when it does, you see the sort of fiery red glint that you sometimes catch in the reflection of gold coming from his eyes. And he just seems so tall, impossibly huge. But he's just a normal person. You can catch all that is a golden dragon just by looking at him. He says, what is it?
John / Doran:Have you a name by which to be called?
Tim / GM:I do. And I believe soon, it will be known to you. Farewell. Thank you. He, turns around and just takes a little, as he begins to walk away.
John / Doran:Snack runs over to wherever Ollie's sleeping. K. Ollie. Ollie. Ollie.
John / Doran:And he's, like, shaking her leg.
Speaker 8:Snack. Snack.
John / Doran:Wake up. What? Wake up. Guess what?
Speaker 8:I don't I don't know. Snack, what?
John / Doran:Oh, you're not crying anymore. Is this is all well? You're no longer cursed with your tears.
Speaker 8:Snack, I was sleeping.
John / Doran:Yes. I could not let you sleep any longer, Uly. That that golden dragon from before. Yeah. It visited me yet again.
John / Doran:Here?
Speaker 7:Yes. You didn't wake me up.
John / Doran:I am waking you up right now. I was too scared to do anything. Oh,
Speaker 7:you want to see him again?
John / Doran:Yes. Well, he's just my friend, I think. Oh. He didn't say it too much, just that Ollie's cool and all but snack.
Speaker 8:He thinks I'm cool.
John / Doran:He didn't in so many words, maybe, but he was definitely like, I'm here to see you snack.
Speaker 8:Well, that's that's pretty cool anyway.
John / Doran:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I just wanted to let you know that, your watch isn't next or anything, but good night.
Tim / GM:Thanks so much for listening. I'm Tim, your DM and your genie.
Maggie / Poppy:I'm Hannah playing Holly Hyacinth.
Speaker 8:Ouli.
