Cursebreaker | 1 - Fishy Plight at Lamplight
Hello dear listener. What you're about to listen to is an adventure told by 6 friends at a kitchen table. The game we're playing is Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition, but the story we're telling is something that we create together every week. Each person at the table plays one main character in the story except for me. I play the supporting characters and villains that the real players deal with.
Tim / GM:The things we say and the choices we make are improvised. Our audio quality, editing, and music get way better over time and our priority is always to have fun at the table. We also sometimes get creative with the rules, so this is by no means a guide on how to play D and D the right way. Whatever that means. Our campaign story starts out in an ocean side city called Lamplight Landing.
Tim / GM:The main characters in our story starting from my left are Holly Hyacinth, a hardworking witch and business owner who makes enchanted shoes, Engelbert FF Wisherspoon, a gnome journalist and cleric of knowledge at the Great Libraryum, Tibio, a young gnome necromancer riding a human skeleton, A kobold warlock named Snack who owns a genie and a magic lamp. And Uli, a half orc sorcerer who pretty much only uses her magic to punch. Just a note for new listeners, the players had a chance to buy some minor magic items before we started recording so be on the lookout for those. Thank you for spending your time with us. We fully understand that you could be listening to anything else right now and it means a lot to us.
Tim / GM:Thanks again, and enjoy the show. We find ourselves in the port town of Lamplight Landing. The 5 of you, for one reason or another, have decided that your fate is to become a volunteer deputy sheriff under Sheriff Tandy. Your duty is to find the Nightmare Wizard. You have 3 days, during which this town is under full lockdown.
Tim / GM:You've each been given special badges that allow you special privileges and exceptions within the city limits. Your mark is a wizard who only comes out at night, causes uneasy feelings and fear, anxiety, causes people to have bad dreams, and those bad dreams have been manifesting at night into, damaging and terrifying events that are happening in real life. So, over the last couple days, you guys have each taken, a little paper strip off of the bulletin board that was looking for, volunteers. You have passed a not so difficult screening process. And the 5 of you and one other, have been selected as volunteer deputy sheriffs.
Tim / GM:You are all standing on the docks of Lamplight Landing. Sheriff Tandy stands before you. At the end of the row, is a man who introduces himself as Emery Gray. He is a, human in his early thirties with wavy blonde hair and a long sword strapped to his back. He stands with the posture of a hero, but doesn't have the scars to prove it.
Speaker 2:Is he attractive?
Tim / GM:He is conventionally attractive and well muscled.
Speaker 3:He's a 6.
Tim / GM:Fair enough.
Hannah / Eryn:Are we, like, all just kinda meeting for the first time? Like
Tim / GM:Yeah. So let's see here. I let's everybody roll initiative.
Speaker 2:14.
John / Doran:7. A dirty 20.
Speaker 2:Dirty 20.
Speaker 3:19.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly got a 15.
Tim / GM:Okay. So that would be Snack with a 7 is the last one to arrive, to this lineup. So the, the 5 of you, including Emery, are standing at the docks and, snack. Why don't you give a description of yourself and a little bit of what you're about?
John / Doran:What time of day is it?
Tim / GM:It is early morning.
John / Doran:Okay. So Snack, walks up, very cautiously and has his hood, well over his face. And it's kind of like holding it with his hand to, like, lift it so he can kind of peek and, flinches at the bright, morning light, and, walks up to the rest
Thomas / Guy:of the party here. Soon to be party.
Tim / GM:And so Snack is a Kobold. Correct? Yes. Yes. So, you stand up in line and, sheriff Tandy, kind of takes a few loud steps on the boardwalk over to you and, grabs the top of your cloak and, pulls your hood back a little bit.
Tim / GM:She says, good evening. Good morning.
Thomas / Guy:I'm new to the surface world, and I have this straightened out better than you. How dare you? How dare you do this to snack?
Tim / GM:You're the last one to arrive and typically that would mean that I wouldn't need your services at all.
John / Doran:You would be quite foolish.
Tim / GM:And why is that little one?
John / Doran:Because I am powerful.
Tim / GM:So powerful you can't even stand the sun, and she, pulls back your hood a little bit more.
John / Doran:Alright. I, I jump
Hannah / Eryn:back. Leave him alone. You know, lizards are very sensitive to the light, and Holly's gonna step between them and try to like protect snack a little bit. And then she's gonna like pet her chameleon and the chameleon on her shoulder just like nods like, yeah. You back off.
Tim / GM:Holly, why don't you describe yourself a little bit?
Hannah / Eryn:So Holly is a human, a medium build, probably like 5, 5, 6, 57. And she is, has short pink blonde hair and a little chameleon familiar named Henri on her shoulder, and kinda is wearing, like, worker like, I guess early 1800 if you kind of imagine. Like, a high neck, dress with long sleeves and little puff shoulders and then a worker's apron and some nice boots. So she's kinda just in her plain worker's clothes for today, which is what she wears most days.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Sheriff Tandy takes a look at the chameleon on your shoulder and says, I've got a couple of little lizard people here.
Thomas / Guy:How dare you? Oh. Lizard people. We soon to be dragons are not to be compared with these belly dragging ingrate creatures.
Tim / GM:Are you talking about the chameleon or the the rest of your friends?
Speaker 2:Are dragons not lizards?
Thomas / Guy:What? Dragons? Lizards? No. I we dude dude Hey, let's not get caught up in all this taxonomy.
Thomas / Guy:Who's a lizard? Who's not a lizard?
Speaker 2:I mean, they've got scales.
John / Doran:I agree.
Tim / GM:Okay. Let's have just a little bit of order here. Little gnome fellow, what's your name?
Thomas / Guy:Me, the little gnome fellow.
Tim / GM:You, the little gnome fellow.
Thomas / Guy:You can call me Bert, Engelbert FF Wicherspoon. At your service.
Tim / GM:Didn't I read something?
John / Doran:Thank you for
Thomas / Guy:your suggestion. Did it.
Tim / GM:Was it the
Thomas / Guy:Maybe in the Tildrey Times?
Tim / GM:No. It was a a short report. The Snapdragon incident. Was that you?
Thomas / Guy:Oh, that's one of my favorites.
Tim / GM:Indeed. So we have some a little bit of notoriety among us. And, who else have we? You there, little man. Scrawny fellow.
Speaker 3:Hello.
Tim / GM:Hello. What's your name, youngster?
Speaker 3:My name is Thivio Fermer. I'm so happy to be able to help you all.
Tim / GM:You you certainly sound like it. And, what is it, Tibia, that you're, would you say bringing to the table?
Speaker 3:I'm a necromancer, so I can help with the night wizard.
Tim / GM:There's a little bit of a long silence as she just kind of does a long nod. Okay. So
Speaker 7:Tibia was, like, nodding like, I can I can help?
Tim / GM:2 lizard people, a report, and a necromancer. And, okay. The only one I'm familiar with is, Uli. Good to see you. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Same. So you're going to help with the investigation?
Speaker 2:Do you have a problem with that?
Tim / GM:I just want to clarify. This doesn't mean you can punch everyone in town who you think might be
Speaker 2:You gave me a badge.
Tim / GM:Oh, that's not what the badge is for, Olivia.
Speaker 2:I mean, if it solves your problem, why?
Tim / GM:We had an understanding. Mhmm. And you are not
Speaker 2:We had an understanding.
Tim / GM:You are not to harass my other guards while you have that badge.
Speaker 2:Fine.
Tim / GM:Fine. And, I hope you all met Emery. He's a charming lad. Met him just, earlier this morning. He, showed up early, and we had a bit of tea, before we all gathered.
Tim / GM:I I hope you're all as excited as he is to, to make some progress here. To get the day started and to make sure that you don't just wander off and accomplish nothing, I've, gathered just a couple leads, that you could investigate for me. I've other things to attend to. I am also a nautical captain and not a wizard catcher, as it were. So here they are.
Tim / GM:First of all, as you might suspect, Todd Pohl, Uli, you might have heard of him.
Speaker 3:Todd Pohl?
Tim / GM:Todd Pohl. Correct. Todd has been known to use a little bit of wizardry to improve his fishing. You might find him at the docks a little later today. He's a bit skittish.
Hannah / Eryn:It's cheating.
Tim / GM:It is cheating. You're right. It's, it's an unfair advantage amongst all the other fishermen. He'll need to be investigated. My feeling is it's not Todd, but one never can be too sure and he might have a little inkling as to the wizardly happenings around here.
Tim / GM:Secondly, I've, not yet come to trust a, new face in town. Her name is Veronica Venus. She lives up the hill in a little cottage by herself. She's a fortune teller and a a prophet or a mystic or something. Oh, and, it would also behoove you to, interrogate a few folks along, Blackwater Row.
Tim / GM:That's our market here. You see, just last night, we saw a school of fish in Blackwater Row. But they were they were flying, which is why it was different than seeing normal fish. I think a lot of people bore witness to that, but just certainly the doings of the Nightmare Wizard, Something we should look into.
John / Doran:No? Is this not normal for fish to fly?
Tim / GM:Not not out here, little one.
Speaker 3:Were the fish dangerous?
Tim / GM:I don't think they were dangerous, but they gave everybody quite a fright.
Speaker 2:I wasn't scared. Sounds like
Tim / GM:You weren't there, Uli.
Speaker 7:Just categorically was not.
Speaker 2:I wasn't scared.
Hannah / Eryn:Excuse me sheriff
Tim / GM:Holly, yes,
Hannah / Eryn:so I was just wondering, you know being from the librarian, how used are the people to magic in this town? You you make it sound like using magic to fish is not is not looked greatly upon?
Tim / GM:I mean In that case, most fishermen don't have the wizardly gift. It's a little, uncouth of him to be so flagrant about his magical advantages.
Hannah / Eryn:You know, in in tradesmanship, I mean, I definitely have offered my services as a witch, and cobbler to many, many, happy customers. So I just think that like using magic to improve your your status or your level of workmanship, no matter what you do is a worthy worthy cause.
Tim / GM:Well, they may do things one way in Tildry, but that's not how they're done here.
Speaker 3:Magic is just another tool. I agree, Holly.
Tim / GM:This is too philosophical for 8
Hannah / Eryn:AM. Shit.
Speaker 2:I disagree.
Hannah / Eryn:So what you're telling me is the people, they don't look happily upon magic usage just to kind of in the normal day.
Speaker 2:I don't just weak.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I they well, not weak. I believe they, It's weak.
Hannah / Eryn:They're just mundane is what you're telling us.
Tim / GM:Most of them. Yes. And Okay. And it's not that they've not heard of magic or not seen it, but, they're a bit skittish. Yes.
Tim / GM:And, especially with things that have been happening lately, everyone's sort of suspecting everyone.
Hannah / Eryn:Has anyone been hurt in the Nightmare Wizards, shows?
Tim / GM:A few people have been tossed from the docks. A few splinters here and there, twisted ankle, but nobody's been killed.
John / Doran:Okay.
Tim / GM:It's mostly property damage and anxiety.
Hannah / Eryn:Bert, I feel like I'm as a reporter, you should be asking these questions, but I was just trying to help.
Thomas / Guy:That's right. So it's really just, flying fish. That's kind of the extent of the crimes we're seeing here.
Tim / GM:Well, that was just last night, but there have been reports of tentacles breaking through the boardwalk and crates gone missing and, boats being, capsized just out of out of the water here.
Speaker 3:How do you know it is a wizard?
Tim / GM:Oh, these are magical effects. Of course, it's a wizard.
Speaker 2:I mean, other people can have magic, I guess.
John / Doran:We will kill these fish for you. Yes.
Tim / GM:Someone's gonna have to fill him in. I unfortunately have to go. It was great meeting all of you. Emery, I I trust you to, do some good here and help lead these people.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.
Hannah / Eryn:One more question. Yes, Charlie. It wasn't on the it wasn't on the posting, but, what is the pay for the job if succeed if we succeed in catching the nightmare wizard?
Tim / GM:Well, it did say volunteer.
Hannah / Eryn:Yes. Yes. But I think we're all here because we assume there would be a reward of some kind.
Tim / GM:Let's talk reward upon your success and not get hung up on it now. How's that?
Hannah / Eryn:I need to know the business terms before I can agree.
Thomas / Guy:That means there's no reward.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, yes. I know. But, is there, like, a recognition of some kind, a plaque? Anything.
Tim / GM:Of course. She's from Tildry. Well, how about this? Meet me back tonight at the Tangled Jib Tavern. That's where we can discuss your findings for the day.
Tim / GM:I'd be happy to buy you a round of drinks. I can give you a stipend. We'll say 10 gold pieces for your work today.
Hannah / Eryn:Each.
Tim / GM:Each? Or a piece. Each.
Hannah / Eryn:K. Very good. These are agreeable terms.
Tim / GM:And, if it if it happens that you catch the nightmare wizard, then we can talk terms.
Hannah / Eryn:Sounds good.
Tim / GM:I might have a little more leverage with the, town governance.
Hannah / Eryn:Alright. Let's do it. The chameleon, like, nods on her shoulder.
Tim / GM:Tandy pull out pulls out a little, pocket watch and, barely glances at it before she looks up at you and gives you a curt nod and says, I've I've got to be going. I I hope to see you all tonight, in good health and good spirits. Good luck out there.
Speaker 3:Messy.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. Sharice, what better time to search for a wizard that works at night than 8 o'clock in the morning?
Tim / GM:Just it's getting early. Start on
Speaker 2:the day.
Tim / GM:Well, if, none of you are going to take the lead here, I think I might.
Speaker 2:Oh, no. I've got this.
Tim / GM:Oh, you've got this?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I've got this.
Tim / GM:Okay. Can't help but notice, little thing. You didn't bring a weapon.
Speaker 2:Little thing?
Tim / GM:Yeah. You've got about 3 to 4 inches on Emery Gray.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I'm 65. Yeah. And really buff.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. He's just talking down.
Speaker 2:Uh-huh. Well, I'm going to stand over him and glower. Yeah. Yeah. That's the right word.
Tim / GM:Do you wanna try to intimidate?
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah.
Tim / GM:Let's see how that goes.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. I do. 30 20.
Tim / GM:Oh, okay. He, you can see his jaw muscles kind of flex as he closes his mouth tight. And he just meets your eyes, and he just gives you a nod. He can't think of anything else to say to you.
Speaker 3:That's what I thought.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. I think we've heard enough from you, smart guy. Where do you think we should start, Arly?
Speaker 2:Let's go to Blackwater Row. Check out where these fish were that I definitely wasn't there for or scared of.
Thomas / Guy:I think we, sounds good. I think we should check out this Todd Pohl fellow afterwards.
Speaker 7:Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:See if we can match some fish to his description.
Hannah / Eryn:Or I could take the the little what's your name again? Little guy?
Thomas / Guy:Snack.
Hannah / Eryn:Snack. Maybe Snack and I can head down, you know, just to save time to see if we can find Todd Pohl, and then you guys can head we'll meet you over at Blackwater Row after we try to find him. Does that sound good? Yeah.
Speaker 2:Can I ask a clarifying question? What is Blackwater Row?
Tim / GM:It's just it's a market. So it's just kind of a long boardwalk that's split into 2 lanes of traffic that has, like, shacks and and kiosks and vendors on either side.
Speaker 2:Okay. Is it like like your typical fare?
Tim / GM:Yeah. It's also got kind of, like, things from far off lands being that it's like a port town here. They've got a good handful of magic items, rarities, expensive things, but also your daily necessities.
Speaker 2:Okay. And I because I'm from this town, I would know that.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Alright.
Tim / GM:You step down onto a long straight boardwalk with shops lining either side. Down the middle of the boardwalk is a gap of open water protected by a wooden railing, which divides the row into 2 lanes of traffic. So if you can can picture that in your mind's eye, but there's sort of a water hazard running down the middle of this whole row. So it does kind of force people to flow in one direction on either side of the boardwalk. I mean, there's a fence there, so you're not just gonna, like, back up and fall into the water, but there is, like, a a 5 foot open gap between these two rows.
Tim / GM:So, stepping down into Blackwater Row, we've got, Tibio, Uli, and Bert. Tibio is taking the lead here. Why don't you give us a little description of yourself as you walk into the Blackwater Row?
Speaker 7:Yeah. I am a young gnome man, loaded up into a skeleton that I'm riding and covering up with a trench cloak so I don't scare the locals. I'm pale with dark hair and I'm very shy and I'm very kind and I'm very much looking to be as helpful as possible and not scare anybody.
Tim / GM:Yeah. As you as you kind of rattle your way down the boardwalk. Mhmm.
Speaker 7:And I'm wearing shoes, so it's just skeleton feet hanging out there.
Tim / GM:Oh, great. So just clackity clackity
Speaker 7:clackity clack.
Tim / GM:And then, right behind you, with all the intimidation in the world is Uli. Uli, tell us about yourself.
Speaker 2:I am very tall, 6 5, and very buff, if I do say so myself.
Tim / GM:How many buff?
Speaker 2:12?
Tim / GM:Twelve buff. Holy shit. Okay.
Speaker 2:I have like greenish gray skin and white hair and ton of tattoos and scars and piercings and stuff. I look pretty scary. I'm a half orc and I am very confident in myself.
Tim / GM:It's a big, big, big old stride coming down those steps.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Stompy.
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah. Okay.
Speaker 2:Like the boardwalk is shaking.
Tim / GM:Yeah. And you just hear people kind of muttering like, oh, Uli's here. Like, Uli's back. And, bringing up the rear, skid scattering behind is Bert.
Thomas / Guy:Bert is a young man. I'm, I've got a big mustache, wearing pretty normal clothes, not too fancy, but not grungy. And I am, writing in a large book, which is why I'm kind of, straggling behind as I'm writing as I walk and just trying to look at where I'm going.
Tim / GM:Are you, taking notes about the area or drawing maps? Or what's your deal?
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. I'm taking notes.
Tim / GM:Okay. Have you ever been to Lamplight Landing before?
Thomas / Guy:I have not. I guess I've been in town for a couple of days Okay. Because of the
Tim / GM:the NW. Yes. The Nightmare Wizard. So you guys, actually notice, in the grain of the boardwalk, is a fine white powder. There's little bits and chunks of it in some places, but a lot of it's been reduced and crushed down into a powder.
Speaker 2:And that's not normal?
Tim / GM:Not normal at all. It's it's kind of, scattered everywhere as as if somebody threw a handful of something and then stomped all over them.
Speaker 3:That's strange.
Tim / GM:It's like a white chalky, very lightweight crumbly substance.
Thomas / Guy:Hey. What are you looking at there?
Speaker 3:I think it might be chalk.
Speaker 2:I'll pick some up and sniff it.
Speaker 3:Does it seem like chalk?
Tim / GM:No. It doesn't seem like chalk.
Speaker 3:Is it a bad idea to sniff it?
Speaker 2:I said I did it.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. So you sniff it and, you get a couple, like, flakes up your nose. It, man. It's kind of bready.
Tim / GM:Bready? A little bready.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. Careful, Lily. I tried a little bit of that when I was studying for finals. But
Speaker 3:Is it, flour? Flour for bread? It could be.
Speaker 2:Is does it seem like floury?
Thomas / Guy:Is there a baker near here?
Tim / GM:You guys hear, from one of the kiosks. Somebody says, are you the, investigation team?
Speaker 2:Who's asking?
Speaker 3:We, madame. We are the investigation team.
Tim / GM:Well, I, got a little, information I could send your way.
Speaker 3:Did you see the fish?
Tim / GM:I did.
Speaker 2:We'll take that information now.
Tim / GM:So last night I was just about to lock up the shutters. I don't stay open after sunset. And in the twilight, I saw what I thought was a flock of birds, but it was just fish. Hundreds of them, I think, swimming like they had no idea they were out of water right down the middle of the lane here. See?
Tim / GM:Right over the water.
Thomas / Guy:Were they local fish?
Tim / GM:Didn't look like any kind of fish I had ever seen.
Speaker 2:What color were they?
Tim / GM:Dark. They were dark fish.
Speaker 2:But it was dark out.
Tim / GM:It was it was twilight. I caught them in the in the glow of the sunset.
Thomas / Guy:Did you see anyone else out here looking at the fish?
Tim / GM:No. No. I I shuttered up and I just kinda hid until it was all over.
Speaker 3:And what is your name?
Tim / GM:Oh, my name is Donna Clark. But, I wasn't the only one here. Joe across the way, he was also here. I saw him shutter up just when I did.
Speaker 2:What shop does she run? What shop do you run?
Tim / GM:I sell bobbers. I sell bobbers.
Thomas / Guy:So you know fish?
Speaker 2:Lucrative business.
Tim / GM:I know fish, and that's no fish I've ever seen.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. Well, is there anyone you know in town who might know more about these fish? Like, where what kind of fish they were? Where they might have come from?
Tim / GM:I don't think they came from the sea. So I think you'd be better off asking people in Telgi where they came from.
Speaker 2:Right. Thank you.
Speaker 3:K. Thank you for your time. Mhmm. Did you have anything else?
Tim / GM:Nope. Nothing else to say. Just just happy to happy to freely offer up my advice.
Speaker 2:We appreciate it.
Thomas / Guy:You've been a great help, Donna.
Tim / GM:Okay. Well, have a great day. Before we move on to the next, interrogation, let's jump over to, the other docs. On the other docs, we have Snack, the kobold, Holly Hyacinth, the human, and Emri, the jerk.
John / Doran:Good. Glad to get away from those gnomes. They look like they were going to murder me.
Tim / GM:Take your hood off. You look like a cretin.
Thomas / Guy:Excuse me?
Tim / GM:How do you expect anyone to trust you if you won't show them your face?
John / Doran:They do not need trust. They need to,
Tim / GM:give us information. What? You're just gonna bite them?
John / Doran:Maybe.
Hannah / Eryn:They're not gonna trust him more if he takes his hood off, and Kobalts can see in the daylight. That's why he's wearing it.
Thomas / Guy:How's it getting brighter
John / Doran:as we walk this way? Because we're walking
Tim / GM:out on the open docks.
Thomas / Guy:Is this is this as bright as it gets?
Tim / GM:Oh. Oh, I think that's him. I think that's Todd Pohl. A man wearing a long rugged coat and short red beard is untying their fishing boat from the dock and loading it with supplies. He, looks up at you approaching, and, he seems to, increase in haste and, loads a few more things more quickly and, seems to kind of call it good and just starts untying his boat so he can leave with what he's got.
Hannah / Eryn:Wait. Wait. Good, sir. No. And then Holly's gonna run and, jump on his boat.
Tim / GM:Okay. Emery is gonna pick up speed, right behind you and try to keep up with you, Holly. Snack, what do you do?
John / Doran:I jump on the boat too.
Tim / GM:Okay. So the 3 of you, jump onto the boat. Let's all make, acrobatics checks Do not capsize this tiny fishing boat. Oh, boy. Alright.
Tim / GM:So Todd is the saving grace there. Managed to, balance out, your guys' terrible sense of balance, but you do actually kind of launch yourself off the docks inadvertently. So this boat is actually taking to water a little bit. You guys are about 15 feet, away from the docks now, kind of face to face on this tiny shipping boat. And he just says, sit down, god.
Tim / GM:Sit down.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly Holly sits. Just sit down.
John / Doran:I am sitting.
Hannah / Eryn:Sit down, and she's gonna pull on, what's my guy's name? Emery? She's gonna pull on him to, like, make him sit down too.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Emery's got his hands on his hips, and then you pull him, and he just kinda does, like, a backwards jerk and, and then sits down like a scolded child. He he is facing Todd Pohl directly, and, he's pretty much just, like, mean mugging him right off the bat, just, like, grilling him, staring into his eyes.
Hannah / Eryn:You're Todd. Right?
Tim / GM:Yeah. I'm I'm Todd.
Hannah / Eryn:Todd, my name is Holly. It's it's very nice to meet you. I'm I'm sorry we we wanted to jump in your boat, but I just didn't wanna miss you. It's so it's of the utmost importance for your town.
Tim / GM:Are you looking for work for the what do you need?
Hannah / Eryn:No. No. Nothing like that. We are part of an investigation force, trying to help the townspeople with the nightmare wizard. Have you heard of him?
Tim / GM:Did Dandy put you up to this?
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. I found a a note and we tore we tore off the little tab and Okay. You know, I'm doing it for money, of course, but, I do
Tim / GM:Every time something comes up, it's always Todd Pohl. Tandy's got it out for me.
Hannah / Eryn:Why do you say that?
Tim / GM:I mean, because I'm a local hero, and she hates it. She hates anybody else getting attention.
Hannah / Eryn:You're a hero. That's so wonderful. What did you what did you hero?
Tim / GM:Well, 2 years back, we had a couple of pirates that didn't even try to steal from the fish market up in near Blackwater. Yeah. But I I didn't let him get away. You know, I saw him doing it, and I said, hey. I said, hey.
Tim / GM:Nobody takes fish out of this here, harbor, like, except except, for me. And I used, well, I'm telling you, I I use a little magic missile on their sails, and I shredded them up good.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, you're a wizard.
Tim / GM:Hey. Shush. Shush. Yeah. I am a wizard.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm a witch. It's so great to meet you. Holly's gonna, like, give him a big old, like, handshake, like, oh, it's so wonderful.
Tim / GM:Can we get a few more feet away from the docks before you start in with all the magic Tildry stuff? You are from Tildry, aren't you? Of course.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Look at
Tim / GM:your dress. Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:I mean, magic is, you know, it's the heart of magic in our country. So I really just I mean, it's so different here. I'm just not used to it. I'm sorry.
Tim / GM:Oh, no. It's it's it's fine. But let me clear the air. I've I've got nothing to do with this nightmare wizard crap. Number 1, I ain't that powerful.
Tim / GM:Number 2, I don't stay up late. Number 3, I'm thinking of leaving lamplight. I mean, he's they're causing so much trouble around here, and I just I don't wanna deal with it.
Hannah / Eryn:What why do you think this wizard is doing this to the town or the their nightmares? Like, what's the point of it all?
Tim / GM:I don't know. It could if it were me, I'd be a whole hell of a lot more direct about it. If he's trying to cause mayhem, he's doing kind of a shitty job.
John / Doran:Have you ever caught a flying fish before, Todd?
Tim / GM:I have. But that's, probably not the story you're looking for. This was when I was a teenager and, there were some illicit substances involved. We're on the outskirts of Tildrey. It was just me and my then girlfriend.
Tim / GM:Sorry. What were you asking about?
John / Doran:Is your we need better information, Todd, or this might not end well. And I take out my badge, and then I hand it to him.
Tim / GM:Thanks. He takes the badge.
John / Doran:I, pull out from my, satchel. I have a a white bud.
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah.
John / Doran:And I look at it squarely. I'm not paying attention to Todd now. Yeah. I stare at it and then glance back up at Todd back and forth.
Tim / GM:Todd Todd hands the badge to Holly and it grows a petal.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly takes the badge. What's the badge look like? Sorry.
Tim / GM:It's the same one that you've got. Each of you were just given a a sheriff's deputy badge.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, I didn't
Tim / GM:flash if he needed to.
Hannah / Eryn:I didn't realize we got one of those. Sorry. But, yeah,
Tim / GM:he he he kinda understands that the snack doesn't really get it and just kinda hands it off to you.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly pins the badge on her chameleon. She's got a little
Tim / GM:Oh, gosh.
Hannah / Eryn:The chameleon no. The chameleon has a little handkerchief on today Okay. Cool. And she just puts on the handkerchief.
Tim / GM:Okay. Sheriff Henri, deputy Henri.
Thomas / Guy:Todd?
John / Doran:The the other human we spoke with said you casted other spells to help your fishing.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I got a little, little, you know, hunter gatherer magic going on, but, it's not illegal.
John / Doran:Where'd you get your powers, Todd, the wizard perhaps?
Tim / GM:No. From my dad. From your what? My your dad? My father.
Tim / GM:My my what do you call it? Brood mother? I don't know.
Thomas / Guy:Excuse me?
Tim / GM:I Kristen up
John / Doran:on the boat.
Thomas / Guy:You're not
Hannah / Eryn:any taller
Tim / GM:with this one. Yeah. Okay. So here's the deal. I didn't wanna incriminate myself because this is only gonna put me in hotter water than I am now.
Tim / GM:I was in Blackwater Row last night, okay, and I saw the fish, but I had nothing to do with it. Okay? And I'm telling you this because you gotta trust me that if I would give you this, why would I why would I make myself look closer to the crime? Okay? I'm telling you.
Tim / GM:I was there, but it wasn't me.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, what else did you see besides the fish?
Tim / GM:I mean, I didn't see anybody, but those fish were not fish. I'm telling you. They were it looked like a bad drawing of a fish, like, goofy, y'all. You know? It's, like, not real.
Hannah / Eryn:Did it smell like fish?
Tim / GM:No. Nothing like that. It smelled like, you know, like a thunderstorm. You know, like when wizards are waving around big magic, that kind of stuff.
Hannah / Eryn:Are there any big wizards in town?
Tim / GM:No. I'm about as big as it gets around here.
Hannah / Eryn:What about Veronica Venus?
Tim / GM:Not a wizard. Is your dad a genie?
Hannah / Eryn:Snack, that's not an appropriate question right
Thomas / Guy:now. Your dad gave you powers. Yes.
Tim / GM:My dad taught me some fishing magic. Yes.
John / Doran:I look at, Holly. I think we'll let you live for now, but can you take us back to the the the sturdy ground?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Hey there, big guy. Why don't you, make yourself useful here? And, Emery, like, without taking his eyes off of Todd, just like grabs both oars and starts throwing them back to shore a little bit.
John / Doran:Snack, hops down and, sit next to Holly and, leans in and says, should we let him live though?
Hannah / Eryn:I I think it's safe to let him live for now. But we'll revisit tonight.
John / Doran:It seems that Todd and Emery do not. They see eye to eye a lot.
Hannah / Eryn:We can't start killing things. We're just deputies right now.
John / Doran:Right.
Tim / GM:You see Emery kind of, still glaring at Todd a little bit, reaches into, what you might assume to be Todd's kind of lunch pack and, grabs an apple out of it, takes a bite, and throws it under the water. He says, don't make us come back.
Hannah / Eryn:I hate him. Boo.
Speaker 7:Memory sucks.
Hannah / Eryn:Can we, get back to shore and then go try to black go Blackwater Row to find the others?
Tim / GM:Yep. Okay. So you guys get back on the boardwalk and start heading there. Back at Blackwater Row, you guys have been told to go visit, Joe, the elixir salesman.
Thomas / Guy:What do we think, folks?
Speaker 3:Uli, I did not understand. Did the woman don't know did she want money from us?
Speaker 2:Yeah. They all do.
Speaker 3:But why?
Speaker 2:Because she thinks that she gave us something expensive. I don't know. Okay. I it's fine. Okay.
Speaker 2:Don't feel bad about it.
Speaker 3:Should I go back?
Speaker 2:No. Okay. Do not.
Thomas / Guy:I think so. Don't go back. It's free information.
Speaker 2:There. If she didn't ask for a price right away.
Tim / GM:Elixirs. Anybody?
Speaker 2:Hey, Joe.
Tim / GM:Hey there. Hey, you.
Speaker 2:Hey. How's it going?
Tim / GM:Good. Good. Need a little pep in your step today?
Speaker 2:Nah. Not today. Sorry. We need to talk to you about the fish.
Tim / GM:Oh, absolutely. I heard so much about that and I saw so much.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Thomas / Guy:Why don't you tell us
Tim / GM:what you saw first? Absolutely.
Speaker 2:For an old friend.
Tim / GM:Sure. Sure. You know, guys, I'd love to help you, but, it's been a slow morning. You know what I mean? No.
Tim / GM:Look at my shelves. Haven't moved a single elixir.
Speaker 2:It's only 8 AM.
Tim / GM:It's a darn shame, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Yep.
Thomas / Guy:Fine. What kind of elixirs you got?
Tim / GM:Uli, why don't you tell him?
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, okay. Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:Fishing elixirs?
Speaker 2:No. It's usually for the the
Speaker 3:intimate kind secret
Tim / GM:elixirs. We got some other stuff.
Speaker 3:What do you what do you mean by intimate?
Thomas / Guy:We don't have to get into this right now.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Tim / GM:You there, skinny little thing. Come here.
Speaker 3:Hello.
Tim / GM:Yeah. What's your name, friend?
Speaker 3:My name is Thibio. It's it's nice to meet a friend of Uli.
Tim / GM:Thibio. That's a fantastic name. Thibio, I feel like you could use a little more confidence.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. I'm pretty com Thibio.
Tim / GM:Here, why don't you take a little sample of this?
Speaker 2:No. No. No. Hey. Leave leave off him.
Speaker 3:What is the sample?
Tim / GM:Hey. You could let your friend make their own decisions. Right?
Speaker 2:Tib Tibbs?
Hannah / Eryn:Can I
Speaker 2:call you Tibbs?
Tim / GM:Here you go. Doesn't that smell nice? Take a look at this.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna smell very good. Don't take potions from strangers.
Speaker 3:He is your friend.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Friend.
Tim / GM:Here. I'll take a little bit myself,
Hannah / Eryn:and then you can take some.
Thomas / Guy:Look, pal. We're here on official sheriff business. You can see the badges. Hey. Shiny.
Tim / GM:What's the rush with the conversation? Okay?
Speaker 2:I could have you arrested for obstructing justice.
Tim / GM:Oh, Uli.
Speaker 2:I the badge says it all.
Tim / GM:Oh, they did give you badges,
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Thomas / Guy:Gotta respect the badge, pal.
Speaker 7:I take out my badge and I show him.
Tim / GM:Alright. Alright.
Speaker 3:I have one too.
Thomas / Guy:Look. We got a lot of people to talk to today. So
Speaker 2:just tell us what you thought was this.
Tim / GM:Well, send some people this way to make up for it. But here's the long and short of it. Saw somebody last night, at the end of this row right here, right about the time the fish came around. I was looking across the street at Donna, you know, trying to see what she was gonna make of the whole thing. She shuttered up right away, and I kind of expected that.
Tim / GM:But, a second later, in this light of the sunset and all the fish flying by, There is someone standing here, a a cloaked figure, definitely a wizard, definitely from Tildrey, had a wand in each hand. I don't know what he was planning to do with those, but, I've never seen somebody use 2 wands at once before.
Speaker 2:How do you, how do you know they were from Tilderie?
Tim / GM:Oh, nobody's got robes like that outside of Tilderie.
Thomas / Guy:This was, from your own home that you saw this?
Tim / GM:That was from right here.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. So you were still out, selling elixirs?
Tim / GM:Trying to.
Thomas / Guy:Was there were there many other people out on the street?
Tim / GM:It was pretty close to closing. And, you know, at first sight of the fish, most people fled every which way.
Thomas / Guy:It seems like everyone in this town is pretty quick to, retire to their homes. Maybe they're scared of this nightmare wizard?
Tim / GM:They've been at it for a couple weeks now. It's, standard protocol to clear out when things get weird.
Speaker 3:Monsieur, do you know fish very well?
Tim / GM:I'd like to think so.
Speaker 3:Were they the were they local fish?
Tim / GM:No. Now that you mentioned it, they were weird fish, Like, like a dream. You know?
Speaker 3:Like a dream.
Tim / GM:Like big weird eyes.
Speaker 3:Madame Donna said they were dark and not from here.
Tim / GM:Yeah. That's, that's about it.
Speaker 2:Very helpful. Thank you. Do you has anyone shown up wearing robes recently?
Tim / GM:I think I saw somebody in a really nice robe earlier today. Not a robe, but definitely clothes from Tilderie, you know, kind of like fresh off the boat. Like she'd never been to a harbor before. Actually oh, holy crap. That's her right there.
Tim / GM:And, Holly Hyacinth, walks up with her crew.
Speaker 3:Oh, no. She is another deputy.
Hannah / Eryn:There you are hello hello everyone. We had a lovely talk with our friend Todd Pohl And, yes, he's a great wizard, doing his thing, trying to live his best life and really didn't have a ton of information for us, but we can talk we can, you know, swap stories later. Hi. I'm Holly. Pleasure to meet you.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, what are you selling here?
Tim / GM:Holly, let me tell you. We've got elixirs of every shape and color. What's your ailment, Holly?
Hannah / Eryn:Holly's, like, nodding and, like, very enthusiastic, and she's also, like, sizing up his shop like with a very critical eye because she's part of a guild that also is craftsman and sells out of her shop and she's like oh, you got the shelf 1,00424. Shelf 1,000. Shelf 1,000. Yes.
Tim / GM:So, yeah. You can tell that, that he he keeps a deceptively small stock of elixirs, on display and that he quickly swaps them out when they sell to create an illusion of scarcity. You you actually caught a peek behind, and he's literally just got a bin full of all these little glass vials that are just lazily lumped together.
Hannah / Eryn:What is the, origin of your licks elixirs?
Tim / GM:Well, I'm glad you asked. I set up this shop in in Lamplight Harbor about 15 years ago. You know, some of my, ancestors used to run shops around here, and so we've got real roots. And, I gather, magical things from all across the land that come in on these trade ships, and I extract their essences and distill them down into these elixirs that'll give you insane magical powers.
Thomas / Guy:Who is your son?
Tim / GM:Hi there. What was that? Who is my son?
Thomas / Guy:Who is your son?
Tim / GM:I don't have a son. Okay. Is it are you my son?
John / Doran:I don't think so.
Tim / GM:Okay. Sorry. I thought that was gonna be a really different day for a second.
Thomas / Guy:I know someone's son. They
Tim / GM:Right.
Thomas / Guy:They taught their son magic powers. Yes. They must be powerful
John / Doran:to have done so.
Thomas / Guy:Do you know any wizards here
John / Doran:that could do such a thing?
Tim / GM:You're looking to learn magic? Is that what I'm well, I mean, Todd Todd Pohl, he can do his stuff.
Thomas / Guy:Who is his father?
Tim / GM:Garth
Hannah / Eryn:Tim was not prepared to do the family trees of every town.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I knew Garth.
John / Doran:That's just all I have for questions.
Thomas / Guy:You want me to write that down for you, Snack? Yes.
John / Doran:I watch, I watch, I try to look over, sorry. Snack tries to look over Bart's shoulder, but cannot see. So he, awkwardly tries to grab onto his pants and pull up to look at his writing. Go. Hey.
Thomas / Guy:What other notes have you gathered? Do we know this nightmare wizard yet? We haven't quite cracked the case yet. It it looks like a lot of details about fish so far. Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:Plus, this guy talked about elixirs for, like, a page and a half. Okay.
Tim / GM:Hey. Have I got a sale back there? Fellow gnome. Could you use a little pick me up?
Speaker 2:Don't. Just don't.
Thomas / Guy:I'm plenty picked up. Thank you.
Tim / GM:Whatever. You're all useless. You're all deputies, aren't you? What is the point? Get out of here.
Hannah / Eryn:Wait.
Speaker 2:Thanks for the hospitality, Joe.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly's gonna pull out her, book pocketbook and she's gonna say, can you just draw a little sketch of what you saw last night here for me?
Tim / GM:I'm not much of an artist, but, yeah. Sure.
Hannah / Eryn:Just a rough draft would be totally fine.
Tim / GM:Yeah. He, scribbles up a sort of silhouette, with 2 wands, kind of at the ready, at the end of the market with the the fish flying in midair.
Hannah / Eryn:Was Was it like a humanoid in the image? Yeah.
Tim / GM:It it's definitely a human. Yep. Okay. As you guys continue down Blackwater Road together, you, hear a bard, that sings, a couple notes about fish flying and kinda grabs your attention. And, when you when you get close, she kind of stops singing and smiles at each of you.
Tim / GM:And she says, are you all looking for a song?
Thomas / Guy:If it's about flying fish.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yes. I know a song about flying fish.
Speaker 2:Please tell me you wrote a song.
Tim / GM:Well, I well, I'm more of a poet. But, yeah, of course, you know, everybody's gotta eat. Right?
Speaker 3:Uli, I I think this is like before where she's asking for money.
Thomas / Guy:This is fine. She's a performer. I'll
Speaker 2:Usually, you tip.
Thomas / Guy:Up a few a few points here.
Speaker 2:Usually, we tip after the performance.
Tim / GM:So, Bert, kind of offers up a paw with or a a little gnome hand with 2 gold coins in it. And, she takes them. She says, she actually puts them on her hat and then puts her hat back on. And you can't really tell where the coins went. She strums an air lute.
Tim / GM:She has no instrument and says, when the daytime crowd departed, that was when it started. A cloud of gills and scales and fins, A man in robes, tall and thin, fleeing folk like panicked fodder, stampeding, receding down black water. Oh, lost my voice there for a moment. I think I need a breather. You'll all have to give me a few minutes, unless, you know, we can speed things along here.
Speaker 7:Tibio ruffles in his trench coat cloak pockets and pulls out another 2 coins. Like, it's in twos. Right?
Tim / GM:And she's, oh, there it is. And, she grabs onto the coin, puts them in her hat, and the coins disappear. And she says, when the violet sun had finally set, the lonely wizard stood there yet, a wand in each hand, arms akimbo. I watched with bated breath in limbo. A twisting wrist flew fast as hell and produced a most peculiar spell.
Tim / GM:I just gotta catch my breath for one moment. You know what? That might be all I've got for you.
Speaker 2:You're not a very talented bard.
Tim / GM:Oh, it just comes in waves and, you know, nothing's more inspiring than having a full belly at the end of the day.
Thomas / Guy:Is there an end to this poem that's gonna tell us something we don't already know?
Tim / GM:Oh, I think I've got one more verse left in me.
Speaker 2:I will give her one coin.
Tim / GM:Well, yeah. One coin that helps.
Speaker 2:Oh, God. I hate I hate bards so much.
Tim / GM:Going once, going twice.
Hannah / Eryn:Fine. You sell a hard sell, but here you are. And then she flips her the other last coin. Oh, it flips her the last coin.
Tim / GM:They conjured with a quiet roar, a rippling wave like foggy shores, and so ended the aquatic attack because all the fish were turned to snacks.
Speaker 3:We have a snack.
John / Doran:How do you know about me?
Thomas / Guy:What? I think it's a different snack snack. Oh. But what's this about the fish becoming
Tim / GM:snacks? Right. Last night, the, wizard person I was, just sort of watching. It's pretty entertaining, actually. But, yeah, he just sort of turned them all into cookie crackers, and they just fell to the ground.
Tim / GM:It was the weirdest thing. There. See, you can actually see them. They're all smashed up all over the place. You see those?
Speaker 3:Only the powder we found before.
Speaker 2:That makes a lot of sense. So this person conjured fish and then got rid of them?
Tim / GM:Oh, no. He didn't conjure them. Definitely. He seemed a little alarmed and pretty eager to get rid of him.
Thomas / Guy:Interesting.
Speaker 3:So you did not see who who summoned the fish?
Tim / GM:No. I didn't see who summoned the fish. I just saw the guy that turned them all into crackers.
Hannah / Eryn:Did you eat one of the crackers?
Tim / GM:Yes. I thought somebody was gonna ask. I did eat some.
Hannah / Eryn:What did it taste like?
Tim / GM:They're unsalted. So pretty bad. But
Hannah / Eryn:They're unsalted and they came from the sea.
Tim / GM:Isn't that crazy? I don't think they came from the sea though.
Speaker 2:Where did this wizard guy go?
Tim / GM:I that I didn't catch. I, was looking at the ground and it just sort of was gone.
Thomas / Guy:Are there any of these crackers snacks still around?
Tim / GM:She looks up and down the lane and says none intact.
Speaker 2:Where was this guy standing?
Tim / GM:Just there at the, beginning of the lane or the end, however you look at it.
Hannah / Eryn:Does anyone know what this black water in the middle of the lane? Is this part of the sea from under the docks, or is it, from a different source?
Tim / GM:Yes. That's just the ocean. Yes.
Speaker 3:Okay. It's
Hannah / Eryn:very black water. That's why I was wondering.
Tim / GM:Oh, wait. Here. Here. She opens up her case and there's a little compartment. She does have a couple, cookie crackers tucked away.
Tim / GM:She says, I was gonna eat these later, but, here. Here's one for your investigation. And, you see it's a really it's like a child's depiction of a fish.
Thomas / Guy:Nobody eat this.
Speaker 2:Does it look like a goldfish?
Tim / GM:Pretty much. Yeah.
Speaker 7:Okay. I was picturing, like, some sort of, like, anime fish cake cookie. Oh. Like, probably about this big in the shape of a fish with, like, little squigglies.
Tim / GM:It's like it's like the size of, like, a Swedish fish, but it is a goldfish cracker.
Speaker 7:Okay. So very small.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 7:With minnows.
Speaker 2:Yep. Can I go to the spot where she saw the guy and can investigate?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Go ahead.
Hannah / Eryn:I think Holly's gonna be just, like, have her hands kinda behind her back as she walks around the boardwalk and just checking out all the stalls. And, like, she's just kinda taking mental notes of, like, good stalls and bad stalls and always, like, comparing, like, business to her own business. And so, yeah.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You can see that, the fashion industry is picking up here pretty quick actually.
Thomas / Guy:Are there
Hannah / Eryn:any cobbler stalls?
Tim / GM:I don't think so. There's a lot of places that have to do with, like, repairing sales Yeah. And, like, tailoring and that kind of stuff. But no cobblers.
John / Doran:So do I have this wrong where there's basically, like, a trench of water
Tim / GM:Correct.
John / Doran:In the middle?
Tim / GM:Yep.
John / Doran:So Snack is going to try to catch a fish while this is all going on.
Tim / GM:Just to, like, grab 1?
John / Doran:Yeah.
Tim / GM:Okay. So, yeah, you can climb over the fence and, and sort of, like, you know, hang low and dangle yourself and try to, like, scoop 1 out of the water. K. Yeah. Give me a survival check.
Tim / GM:And so for the investigation, you definitely see where this guy was standing. It seems, the impact of the magic was actually pretty forceful. You can see a little, like, bit of splinters around where he dug his feet in.
Speaker 2:Is there a visible footprint?
Tim / GM:Yes.
Speaker 2:Hey, Holly. Hello? Yes? Will you come over here for a second?
Hannah / Eryn:Yes. Holly, trots back down the dock towards Oui. What's happening?
Speaker 2:Think you could figure out what kind of shoes made this?
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, a shoe print?
Tim / GM:Holly, give me, investigation with Advantage.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. I was just checking to see if I have any spells that help with this. Hold on a second.
Speaker 7:So while they're investigating, Tibio is has noticed that snack has climbed down and is starting to try and catch fish fish and is very concerned and so, is getting closer to try and grab him if he falls in.
Tim / GM:And Snack, how did that role go?
John / Doran:What what Snack does is he makes a minor illusion of a small fish floating in the water Okay. To try to get a fish to come up close and try to grab it. My survival survival role was an 11.
Tim / GM:Okay. So you excitedly grabbed the illusion and you were just like, ah, ah, damn it. Okay. So, yeah, with a 21, you can identify that these are a size 10
Hannah / Eryn:Yes. Size 10.
Tim / GM:Skeckers.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, Skeckers. Well, I haven't seen an old Skeck of this model in 10 years.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So this is this is like old Tildry fashion and it's like this is what, like, like, comfortable wizarding males would wear.
Hannah / Eryn:Definitely well worn. She like touches it, and then like licks her finger and she's like magic was here. Not boots of my making.
Tim / GM:Yeah. That's one thing you recognize for damn sure that there's no, holly hyacinth mark on there. You guys have one more lead to investigate tonight, and that is Veronica Venus.
Hannah / Eryn:So we know it's a male size 10 shoe.
Tim / GM:Yes.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly's gonna be, looking at all the people's feet that we meet for the next. She's like, and even if they're, like, sitting or under their feet on our table, she's gonna be very awkwardly just be, like, leaning. Yeah. Like, making sure she's, like, oh, I gotta pick something up. Just, like, bend down.
Hannah / Eryn:She does this now with everyone that we meet the rest of the evening. Okay. Special foot knowledge. She'll, like, send her chameleon under the table and then, like, come back and whisper in her ear. Yeah.
Speaker 7:Are we all going together to Veronica Venus?
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Veronica I wanna know.
Tim / GM:You all approach a small hovel at the end of the bridge. Light from inside shows clear activity and smoke billows from the chimney. As soon as you near, a curtain is drawn over the one window and then another. So you guys have happened upon a, a cozy little cottage with somebody that does not want to interact with you.
Speaker 2:I bang on the door repeatedly.
Tim / GM:Alright. So Uli kind of pushes her way to the front. You all see, Emery kind of break away from the group and go around the back of the cottage, without a word. And, Uli, just as you knock on the door, you see the light inside go off.
Speaker 2:Good enough for me. I forced the door open.
Tim / GM:Give me a strength check.
Speaker 3:Oh, not that's not good. That's 5.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. You cannot get the door open.
Speaker 2:This makes me angry.
Tim / GM:You guys hear a loud, like, kathunk, from the other side of the house.
Speaker 3:What was that?
Thomas / Guy:And what's that idiot doing now?
Tim / GM:And then you hear kind of a small whimper from inside the house.
Thomas / Guy:I run around to the other side of the house.
Tim / GM:UC Emery is likewise frustrated and had exactly as poor attempted opening the door as as Uli did.
John / Doran:Oh, Snack reaches into his lamp and pulls out a
Tim / GM:crowbar Okay. And,
John / Doran:sticks into the door. And then with both my feet on the door frame, try to, like
Tim / GM:Yeah.
John / Doran:Wrench at the door.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. Give me a a strength check for that.
John / Doran:15.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. The, you can see splinters and and the door is sort of old, and so it's kind of like prying apart as as much as it is actually opening. And then a woman from inside, you see her hands kind of scramble to undo some of the locks, and then she just says, okay, okay. Just don't break the door.
Tim / GM:Fine. So, crowbar is still kind of wedged in the door, but she undoes all the locks, opens the doors, and it just bang, bang, bang, falls to the ground.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, dear. So sorry about that. After as everyone's walking in, Holly, picks up the door or, like, tries to lift it, and she's like, can you Awesome. And then I'm gonna amend it with transmutation mending, and I cast it on the door to fix it.
Tim / GM:You see, yeah, all the the splinters and and, little cracks that she had caused in the door and some of the damage that they had just done to the hinges. You see her immediately, reversed to the the additionally, the brass is all shiny and the paint job is kinda refreshed a little bit.
Hannah / Eryn:And she takes her apron and just polishes the door handle a little and then walks in.
Tim / GM:And, she actually is kind of standing there with her hands on her hips staring at the door as you all walk in, and she just goes, I did not see that coming.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, I I'm very sorry about my friends here, but you really should have just let us in.
Tim / GM:Yes. And, I'm I'm sorry I didn't. I've just been a little fearful. I I figured this was coming all day.
Speaker 2:Why is that?
Tim / GM:You hear another, like, super loud, like, ka chung ka chung ka chung at the back door.
Speaker 2:Someone just let Emery in, please.
Tim / GM:She says, please. Doors are expensive.
Speaker 7:Tibia goes to the back door and fusses with all the locks and, opens the door and says,
Speaker 3:Salut, Emery, come inside now.
Tim / GM:Emery actually kind of forces the door on you and sort of, like, pushes you back and you you stumble a little bit. Why don't you give me a yeah. Just give me a a dexterity general check so we can keep your balance here.
Speaker 3:19.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. You just kind of, like, take a very unsettling, kind of motion.
Speaker 7:My skeleton does a little, like, whoop, hop.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Speaker 7:And, like, the legs go up separately and, like, don't look quite right.
Tim / GM:Right. And your range of motion is also a little advanced.
Speaker 3:Woah. Wacky.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. So you just do some kind of, marionette motion, to get out of the way of the door. And he just gives you kind of a strange, like, up and down, like, he wasn't the person you're he was expecting to see. And he just goes, where is she?
Speaker 7:Excuse moi.
Tim / GM:Oh. Oh. We're not fighting her? No, sir. No.
Tim / GM:Alright. Just give me a second to switch gears here. I was I was ready to go.
Speaker 7:Tibia is offended and walks away.
Tim / GM:So you guys just hear from the the back of the cottage just like, fortune teller, get in here. And, Veronica is standing before all of you in the other room, and she just kind of sighs and says, so what's what's the rub?
John / Doran:You tell us you are the fortune teller.
Tim / GM:Well, yes. I'm a fortune teller. Doesn't mean I can see the future. I I knew you were coming, of course, but, I don't know what you want.
Thomas / Guy:We don't wanna have to pay her too, Zach. You probably do know why we're here though, Veronica.
Tim / GM:Because you wanna pin every tragedy that happens around here on the old witch that lives out in the hut?
Speaker 2:No. No. We just want answers.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I I haven't got answers for you because I wasn't anywhere near whatever happened in Blackwater, and I haven't been down in town much even these last few days. So you can put it out of your minds that I'm the nightmare wizard.
Speaker 2:What kind of fortune telling do you do? I do I do
Tim / GM:tarot and I I do minor interpretations of people's near future and misfortune and fortune.
Thomas / Guy:Any, weird fortunes lately?
Tim / GM:1. And, I suspect this is why you're here. I don't want to get anyone in trouble. You see? And, she actually kind of, like, does a little stumble forward as, Emery, comes out from the other room and just grabs her by their shoulder and turns her around.
Tim / GM:And she's just like, listen.
Speaker 2:No. No. No. I grab him by the wrist, and I make him back up.
Tim / GM:He is gonna try to resist you a little bit.
Speaker 2:Woah. What kind of role is this?
Tim / GM:Let's make a grapple. Alright.
Hannah / Eryn:So that's
Tim / GM:a it can be, he's gonna use his athletics.
Speaker 2:19?
Tim / GM:Yeah. He ended up with a 12. So you kinda grab his wrist and turn it like a scolded child and he's just like
Speaker 2:I said I was in charge.
Tim / GM:Yeah. What did you have to show for it?
Hannah / Eryn:Answers.
Tim / GM:You've got something about, what, crackers and and some guy, some old wizard fisherman? Those aren't answers.
Speaker 2:Do you know how an investigation works?
Tim / GM:Well, it's almost nightfall.
Speaker 2:Back off.
Thomas / Guy:Is it?
Speaker 2:What time is it?
Tim / GM:He's exaggerating a little bit, but it's like getting close to dinner time.
Speaker 2:Okay. Great. Veronica?
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. You were saying about the strange virgin?
Tim / GM:Yes. His name was Henry, Henry Muldrift. He he had a crisis in his future. He, was wearing dark robes. I have no doubt he was at one point a student at the library, in Tildrey, by the looks of it.
Tim / GM:I've seen him around town too. He seems awfully paranoid. He keeps a lots of a lot of wands with him at all times.
Hannah / Eryn:Henry. Henry. Does, Holly know Henry at all or have seen him around?
Tim / GM:Yeah. You you've heard the name Muldrifft before, the family name anyway. You're not sure if you have ever heard of Henry Muldrift. But, yeah, they're they're kind of like mid level working wizards, of some renown. Henry, you think at one point was actually an investigator himself.
Hannah / Eryn:For, like, the court system? Yep.
Tim / GM:Exactly. Yeah. He's kind of like a a finder. You know? He goes out to grab people for court dates.
Speaker 3:Bert Bert, do you
Hannah / Eryn:remember the mole the moel drifts?
Speaker 3:I think I think this Henry might have been part
Hannah / Eryn:of a quartz from Tildry.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. I've seen that name come up in some, registries, I think. And this Henry is this Henry, he a young kid? He an old guy?
Tim / GM:He's in his early forties, I'd say. Only came around in the last few days, but, he's, he's looking for someone.
Speaker 2:What kind of crisis did you, see with your, magic stuff?
Tim / GM:Well, please, this is the last bit of information I can give you. And like I said, I don't want anyone to get hurt, but he showed a family crisis. And I I don't think it's him. Okay? I don't think he's the nightmare wizard, but I think he might know who is.
Thomas / Guy:I gotta say this checks a lot of boxes. Dark robes, multiple wands.
Speaker 3:Do you think that he is the one who turned the fish into cookies?
Tim / GM:I don't think so. That doesn't sound like Henry.
Speaker 2:Well, he matches the description.
Tim / GM:I mean, if you find him, just, you know, do your due diligence. Don't have to go waving swords around. And she just gestures down at Emory who grunts.
Hannah / Eryn:I wonder if there were 2 wizards because 2 wands is just very unusual. I mean, you wouldn't wanna hold 2 wands normally. So maybe Henry was trying to stop someone from casting a spell and that's what people were seeing with the 2 wands in the air. Maybe if we can find this Henry do you know do you know where he went or where he lives?
Tim / GM:I don't know where he's staying, and the town is on lockdown. So nobody can get in or out, but I have seen him. He walks nightly.
Hannah / Eryn:Do you have any totems or, anything he touched while he was here?
Tim / GM:I have things I can sell you.
Hannah / Eryn:How much?
Tim / GM:Well, he, he touched this tarot deck, which I could have, of course, part with for
Speaker 3:Oh.
Tim / GM:5 gold pieces.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Hannah / Eryn:Hold on. I forgot how much money I have. Maybe we can pool our resources.
Thomas / Guy:We have badges. We do not need to pay for this.
John / Doran:I go to snatch the tarot cards. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:That is how these badges work, is it not?
Tim / GM:She just kind of watches you, grab the deck and she says, badges? Are you Yes. Deputies?
Hannah / Eryn:Yes. That's right.
John / Doran:Come come here, Lissid. And I point at Holly's lizard who has my badge currently. And I actually, so a snack actually says in liz like, he, I have, speak with animals at will,
Tim / GM:basically. Yeah.
John / Doran:So I actually say to the lizard, come here, essentially. Okay. What's the lizard's name again?
Hannah / Eryn:Anri.
Tim / GM:Anri?
Hannah / Eryn:The lizard doesn't respond to you,
Speaker 3:the chameleon.
John / Doran:I suppose it is a deputy.
Tim / GM:Yeah. It's above your rank for sure. So it doesn't owe you an explanation.
Thomas / Guy:You said, Henry was looking for somebody?
Tim / GM:Yes. I believe a family member. Here. Here.
Hannah / Eryn:As everyone's talking, Holly kinda edges closer to snack, and she is going to, either, like, just kinda push him really hard with her foot, like, the tip of her boot. Okay. So he sort of stumbles and, drops the, drops the deck of tarot cards on the floor.
Tim / GM:Okay. Snack holds fast onto the deck and sort of, like, hides it closer into his form, and keeps it away from you.
Thomas / Guy:How dare you, Holly? I trusted you. Why would you push me?
Tim / GM:You're gonna have to pay for those if you want those, dearie.
John / Doran:How many badges do these cost?
Tim / GM:How many you got?
John / Doran:0.
Tim / GM:I'd settle for 35 gold pieces or a 100 badges.
Speaker 2:Is this something we need to actually keep to perform whatever we're trying
Hannah / Eryn:to do? Well, now that the cat's out of the bag, I was just trying to perform, you know, a a little spell where I could use an item he's touched as a talisman to try to locate this person, but everyone is just against me, so fuck it. And Holly just Holly just walks off and she's, like, mad.
Tim / GM:Oh, I understand. I didn't mean to ruffle feathers. Here. She takes a card out of the deck, and then she says, never mind. The deck's no good missing a card.
Tim / GM:Here, just take this. But return it if you could.
Thomas / Guy:Thank you, Veronica. That's very helpful. Sorry we weren't very forthcoming with you.
Tim / GM:Right. And, I just I hope this, you know, sheds a little light that, you know, not all of us, diviners are out to get you out to get you in the wallet maybe.
Speaker 7:Tibeo, takes the deck and brings it to Holly because Holly has stopped away. Holly,
Speaker 3:I have, I have the deck of cards for you. She said we could use them.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, well finally someone with some sense. Can't try to get anything done around here. Thank you. And she takes the tarot deck. So we have to wait one day because I did not I need to just do some research on the spells.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm pretty sure there's a spell where you can locate creatures.
Thomas / Guy:Like 3rd or 4th level.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, it might need a couple of days then. I'm sorry. I just was trying to prepare for the future.
Speaker 2:You said you see him walking at night?
Tim / GM:Yes. He seems to be looking for someone.
Speaker 2:Where does he frequent?
Tim / GM:Well, I I don't make a lot of day trips out of my hut myself, but I I've seen him in the alleys a few times. He's, always darts out of sight when he's seen.
Thomas / Guy:I think we should stick to where folks saw that, robed guy earlier yesterday.
Tim / GM:Out on Blackwater?
Speaker 2:Yeah. How do you know about that?
Tim / GM:I mean, word travels.
Speaker 2:But you don't leave your hut?
Tim / GM:No. But plenty of people come here.
Speaker 2:Do I happen to know if the bar we're supposed to meet at is near Blackwater?
Tim / GM:It's, yeah. It's like fairly close to Blackwater row. Okay.
John / Doran:One last question, Veronica. Snack hops up into the chair at her table.
Tim / GM:Yes. Dear creature, what was your name again?
John / Doran:Snack. I will forgive you the slight.
Tim / GM:Okay. Snack, how can I help you?
John / Doran:Veronica, what was it that Henry came to seek? Why was he concerned with fortunes?
Tim / GM:He wanted to know if he would have success finding his family.
John / Doran:And you saw? Crisis. Crisis with his family. Yes. I apologize for your loss of tarot cards, and I hop back down.
Tim / GM:I did ask you to return them when you're finished with your rituals.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, I see. We shall see. Okay.
Speaker 7:Tibio goes up to each of the party members individually because he doesn't like to be loud. And he says,
Speaker 3:should we find a stake out? Should we wait for the man in the alleys?
Thomas / Guy:I think that's a great idea, Divio.
Speaker 2:We do have to check-in
Hannah / Eryn:with Tandy. I have one errand I need to run first. I need to go back to Todd Pohl. I think he can help us.
Tim / GM:Out on the docks, it is just about sunset now. And, Holly, you are approaching Todd Pohl as he's pulling in for the evening. So he's got a couple barrel fulls full of, you know, ocean fish. And, he is now tying up his fishing boat and getting ready to to, hike back to the market for the rest of the evening.
Hannah / Eryn:Hail, Todd. Holly calls across the water to him as he's coming up. Or wait. Is he back on land? Back on the docks.
Tim / GM:He's back on the docks. Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:She comes up and, kind of just is, like, nodding and points out his catch and he's like, oh, decent haul today?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Not so bad. Sure. Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:You're very talented fishermen, Todd. I I applaud you for your use of magic for, being able to do such a fine, proud work.
Tim / GM:Okay. What do you want?
Hannah / Eryn:Okay, so there is something I need. You're not one to be fooled. I should have known better. Todd, I know I think you've been finding these fish through a spell. Am I am I right with you know, you've caught one species and you try to use your spells to see where they are.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I got me.
Hannah / Eryn:So I have a proposition for you to help clear your name even further of being the nightmare witch. Can you cast the same spell on these tarot cards for me to locate?
Tim / GM:Tarot cards?
Hannah / Eryn:Yes. And she pulls them out of her pocket and, holds the deck up to him.
Tim / GM:Are are you asking me to locate more tarot cards for you?
Hannah / Eryn:No. No. No. I need you to cast your locate spell on these cards to find, Henry we think Henry Modriff. I don't know how to say his last name.
Tim / GM:Uh-huh. It's it's not exactly the the spell you see. It actually works by triangulating the spawning grounds of the fish that you used in the ritual. And I'm not sure if these tarot cards have spawning grounds. But, hey.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Let's give it a try.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. Thank you. Maybe just think of, Henry spawning. I think I think he's a human.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. I've got that in my mind's eye. Listen. I'm, I'm all tapped out for the day, and he gestures to the full barrels.
Tim / GM:Why don't you meet me tomorrow morning? And, I'll see what I can do about this, this spawning Henry guy.
Hannah / Eryn:Very good. Very good. And Holly is going to, just give him a kind of gesture towards a handful of coins. She's gonna offer him 5 gold voice pieces just like as a as a promise for tomorrow.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Takes the coins and goes, well, shit. Why did I even work today?
Hannah / Eryn:She laughs and then, she says, see you tomorrow morning bright and early.
Tim / GM:He goes, wow. And then your your instructions were to meet at the Tangled Jib. Anybody else, have errands before that?
Speaker 2:I kinda wanna put Emery in his place.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. Let's do that.
Speaker 7:Leave Emery behind? I don't like him.
Tim / GM:So you all have a couple minutes to, not minutes, a little time before, the tangled jib to, eat dinner and kind of, you know you know, relax a little bit, and then you'll all meet up later in the evening. Uli, Emery is kind of lurking around you most of the evening. He chose to eat around the same spot that you did, and he, you know, he'll keep, like, walking up to you and, you know, just kind of sizing you up all the time, but not really starting conversation. Can I help you? It's just, you know, to, strong creatures like us, you can't help but wonder, you know, like, where it would really end up, you know, if we
Thomas / Guy:had to.
Speaker 2:Why did I No.
Tim / GM:You got me all wrong creature. I'm talking if we had, you know, fisticuffs.
Speaker 2:Yes. I can tell you right now I would win.
Tim / GM:Yeah? With that whole, lack of weaponry you got going on there?
Speaker 2:I am a weapon.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. You wanna you wanna put that weapon on this blade and see what happens?
Speaker 2:I don't like your innuendo, but sure.
Tim / GM:Here. He, in a very non threatening way, he, unclasps his long sword off of his back. And, it's it's a really broad blade. And it's like it's actually like like The blade might be 4 and a half to 5 feet long. It's a monstrous weapon.
Tim / GM:And, he just shows it to it, and he's like, alright, So this is gonna cut you clean in half.
Speaker 2:Ruling cracks her knuckles to cast blade board.
Tim / GM:Okay. He, his eyes kind of like flick up as he sees like a little ripple, a little sheen, form like tight against your body. And he says, yeah. Yeah. Like I was saying, this is gonna cut you straight in half.
Speaker 2:Right. As he's talking, I'm gonna, like, duck under the blade and pop, pop, pop right in the face. Okay. Magic missile.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. So, just roll some damage on that.
Speaker 2:Alright. So that's 3 darts.
Tim / GM:And so where a normal sorcerer might cast magic missile at a great safe distance, Willy chooses to cast magic missile on the ends of her knuckles as she drives them into people's faces. Cool. So you can see a little, white streak of force and a little ripple on the top of her fist as she just, pounds Emery a couple times.
Speaker 2:Are we
Speaker 7:all in the tavern?
Tim / GM:Not in the tavern. You're all kind of, drifting about in, like, the food court areas near Blackwater, and these 2 happen to be near each other. Any of you could have witnessed this.
Speaker 7:Okay. I've followed them, and I'm now ducked behind some sort of killer or stall or something, but watching intently and, like, very excited.
Tim / GM:Mhmm. K.
Speaker 2:So this is, 9 damage to his face.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. You you can hear him, like, gasp for breath, as he kind of takes a a few stumbling steps forward. And, he kind of, like, straightens out, and you can see him, like, feeling around to check if there is any permanent damage done to his body. Mhmm.
Tim / GM:And then he takes, like, a he's kind of, like, quaking a little bit back and forth, and he's, like, oh, you just messed up. And, you can see him muttering something. And, you see, a little bit of golden glow start to pick up, the hair around his arms, and, his hair starts to billow a little bit on his head.
John / Doran:He's a saiyan.
Speaker 2:Alright.
Tim / GM:And you can see that his sword is sort of vibrating with a a righteous glow.
Speaker 2:Okay. So what I would like to do is to, punch him in the stomach as an action. But as my bonus action, I wanna cast thunder wave.
Tim / GM:So, as the thunder wave, ripples out from you, you see the boardwalk beneath your feet start to vibrate and then explode into splinters, and you both fall into the water beneath. Emery is unconscious and drowning to death.
Speaker 2:I will not let him die. Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So you're kind of like holding on to him underneath the docks and you see this kind of like crazy world underneath Lamplight Harbor, but it's just rows of stilts that seem to stretch on for miles in either direction. Okay. But there's this whole, like, underside to Lamplight. And you can actually see there there are some lower docks and a few lights under here.
Tim / GM:And there are actually some things, like, underneath the docks.
Speaker 2:Filing that away for later. Gonna save Emery.
Tim / GM:But, yeah, Emery's got a good bit of metal armor, and it's really tough for you to stay afloat with him in your arms and keep his head above water. You can you can kind of feel him taking big gulps of water.
Speaker 2:Okay. How close am I to, like, anywhere to climb out?
Tim / GM:So the thing is because you destroyed the ground directly beneath your feet, the best you could do is like, grab onto a stilt and hold yourself there, but you can't get up anywhere.
Speaker 7:Was that I saw Henri
Tim / GM:was Yeah.
Speaker 2:Or not Henri. Wow. You're not a chameleon.
Speaker 7:So I saw what happened and trying to think of I
Thomas / Guy:think everybody probably heard what happened.
Tim / GM:Yeah. There's a there's a pretty large crowd gathering around the gaping hole in the boardwalk. Snack
John / Doran:was, actually, while this was going on, was going around to find the free food that Sure. Most pubs and places have on the outside of the building in large cans.
Tim / GM:Uh-huh.
John / Doran:So I happen to notice this and I I see a a Tibio looking over
Tim / GM:Yeah.
John / Doran:And I pull out a rope from my, lamp Mhmm. And I run over.
Thomas / Guy:Pia, use this. What are we
Speaker 3:doing? We are saving we
Speaker 7:are saving our friends. And, Tibio takes the rope and ties it onto the nearest pole and then throws it over the
Speaker 3:edge and says, Oodie, catch. I'll
Speaker 2:tie up Emery.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 2:But I just want you to know that I rolled for a surge
Tim / GM:Oh.
Speaker 2:And I rolled a one.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 7:So
Speaker 2:This might do something.
Tim / GM:So, you guys are being assisted by a lot of the village villagers there, and they're helping you pull him out. So you guys are able to extract Emery, who is unconscious.
Thomas / Guy:Holy smokes. What happened here?
Speaker 3:Uli and the mean man got into a fight.
Tim / GM:Pull. Help. Pull. Everybody, come on.
Hannah / Eryn:I can't remember.
Tim / GM:He's he's being heaved out of the water, and the weight increases dramatically as he is lifted out of the water.
Speaker 2:I got a fireball on myself.
Tim / GM:Oh my god.
Speaker 2:Oh, no. I'm not trying
Tim / GM:to kill
Speaker 2:the guy.
Tim / GM:Okay. So you'll both take half damage for being submerged. So Emery fails a couple death saving throws. But when you guys pull him up onto the water, you can see that, half of his, like, beautiful formerly beautiful face is now pretty badly burned, and he's missing a lot of hair. And you guys kind of, like, pull him smoldering over onto the edge of the dock.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, Emery.
Tim / GM:He's, like, barely breathing.
Speaker 3:Oh, no.
Thomas / Guy:I can just I can take care of him.
Tim / GM:Alright.
Thomas / Guy:You cast a healing word on him.
Tim / GM:Okay. So, yeah, you see him kind of take a deep breath and start to sputter water, and, he kind of grabs at his face. What's the actual healing on
John / Doran:it?
Tim / GM:6. And so someone like you, who is not what you would call a holy man, what is the healing word and kind of what's the action here?
Thomas / Guy:Oh, geez. I guess it's more of a biological, like, nature type
Tim / GM:spell. Like actual medicine kind of thing? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Okay. So I would think that Bert, you know, he's got all of this knowledge, all of the truth of the situation. He can really accurately Yes. Sum up his
Thomas / Guy:It's like Holly's mending spell, kind of.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:Just
Tim / GM:so, yeah. You see, some of the the life, come back into him a little bit and, yeah. He's got a whole new paint job a little bit. I mean, he's still a little bit deformed and still missing a good bit of hair, from the burns.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, Emery.
Tim / GM:But he's gonna make it.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, what happened, bud?
Tim / GM:Before he has a chance to speak, you hear, clear away, clear away. I need to see what's happening. Clear away, everyone. Clear away one of my deputies. What happened here?
Tim / GM:Emery, what happened? And,
Speaker 2:Oh, don't worry about me. I'm fine.
Tim / GM:Emery just kind of coughs and sputters, and he points into the hole. And, you see, Sheriff Tandy, like, look over the hole into the water and sees Uli floating there covered in char and having destroyed the boardwalk. She sees you floating there and she goes, badge, now.
Speaker 2:Shit.
Tim / GM:I know we're on lockdown, but you are out of this city tonight. You are not a part of this group.
Speaker 2:Can we talk about this?
Tim / GM:No. This is worse than the nightmare wizard.
John / Doran:Who is this? You are
Tim / GM:exiled from lamplight landing. It's your sheriff Tandy.
Speaker 2:Cool. Just take my livelihood and my home from me.
Tim / GM:You almost killed a fellow deputy.
Speaker 2:But I didn't.
Tim / GM:You're out. End of story. And she storms off.
Thomas / Guy:There's gotta be more to the story than this. Right? Right, Uli?
Tim / GM:You see hear somebody say, who started the fight?
Speaker 2:It's the sword guy. Somebody else goes,
Tim / GM:I saw her punch the crap out of him. They were just talking.
Speaker 3:Mister mister Henri threatened her. He threatened her with a sword. He said he would cut her in half.
Tim / GM:Yeah. That's what I saw too. Definitely.
Thomas / Guy:He has been itching for a fight all day.
Speaker 3:He was very rude. He pushed me.
Thomas / Guy:Do we get to keep our badges?
Tim / GM:Yeah. She didn't say anything about you guys. Okay.
Speaker 3:Does anyone here know Emery or like him?
Tim / GM:You hear a, well,
John / Doran:Uli, I do not have a badge either. They have not kicked me out.
Thomas / Guy:I think we are fine.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly, has finally returned from her rendezvous with, Todd Pohl, and she's walking up to, the in the front of the inn where the boardwalk is area and she sees what's going on and she's just like, oh, what the hell? And she sees Uli just sitting on the side of the dock all charred and walks up to her.
Tim / GM:Uli, you're being dragged out with the same rope now, and you're just kind of like you're just, like, you're kind of grabbed by your, like, chest and under your arms, and you're just slowly, like, spinning around So you
Speaker 3:know as they reach
Tim / GM:you out.
Speaker 2:A dog looks when it feels ashamed of itself. Yeah.
Tim / GM:You got your metaphorical tail between your legs.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Yeah. Holly's gonna go up to, her and, just, try to, like, comfort her a little bit and be like, are you okay?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't have a job anymore.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about that. It was barely a
Speaker 2:job. Lamplight is my home.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, yeah, but we'll, we'll, we'll find you something better. What happened? Well, obviously I kicked some ass. I can see that
Speaker 2:Andy didn't like it very much.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh my goodness. And you ended up breaking the whole boardwalk. That must be a first. No. Not the first time.
Hannah / Eryn:No. You've been under there. Before. Oh my goodness. I guess it was
Speaker 2:just one too many times.
Hannah / Eryn:Alright. Well, let's get you cleaned up. So Holly's gonna help her up and, try to take her into the end Yeah.
Tim / GM:The tangled jib.
Hannah / Eryn:Get changed and cleaned up.
Tim / GM:Do the rest of you go to the tangled jib still?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
John / Doran:Yes. Snack sneaks in because usually he is not allowed in. Yes. Of course.
Tim / GM:So yeah. Just kind of between the feet of everybody else, you just sort of weave your way in.
John / Doran:Yep. I'm hide hiding under the, barrel tables and
Tim / GM:Yes. Yes.
John / Doran:Eventually make my way over to Tangerine.
Tim / GM:Just kind of like base to base, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Alright. You enter a warm tavern that smells of damp wood and deliciously cooked fish.
Tim / GM:Patrons fill more than half the tables, and a dull roar of laughter and conversation makes you feel at ease. Sheriff Tandy is at the bar with a number of beverages sitting in front of her. She says, hello, everyone. Sorry about that outburst. Been having a lot of trouble with that one ever since she's been here.
Tim / GM:That's not the first time she's managed a damaged property and and, Emery didn't look so good.
Hannah / Eryn:Is is Emery here right now?
Tim / GM:No. He's he he went off to, be taken care of by some doctors.
Speaker 3:Okay. Emery was very rude, and he started the fight.
Tim / GM:Well, he didn't strike me as the rude type, so I'll have to investigate later.
Speaker 3:He pushed me.
Tim / GM:Have you met him? Yes. We had tea this morning. He was nothing but charming.
Speaker 3:He's a liar. Well,
Tim / GM:that may be, but time will tell.
Speaker 7:Tibio shakes his head and says that
Speaker 3:we are supposed to give you all of our what we've learned for our per diem.
Tim / GM:Indeed. What have you learned?
Hannah / Eryn:And then Well, first, why don't you grab us dinner and a drink and then we can talk over here. And, Holly's gonna sit down at a table with, Ooby, still kinda like making sure she feels okay and then, like, gets attention to the waiter to bring over some food.
Tim / GM:Tandy sees Uli sitting at a table, kind of, like, immediately afterwards.
Speaker 2:Uli is a wedding icon.
Tim / GM:And she just kinda shakes her head, and she says, I need it, Uli. You're out of here as soon as lockdown is over. I don't we don't need you around here. Okay? We got plenty of dock workers, and none of them bust up my floorboards every day.
Speaker 2:Would you believe me if I said I didn't do it on purpose?
Tim / GM:I know you didn't do it on purpose, Ollie.
Thomas / Guy:Hey, Tandry. If we catch this nightmare wizard for you, and Uli helps, what will you say you'll let her stay?
Speaker 2:I'll fix the docs for free.
Tim / GM:It'd go a long way to repair a little bit of the reputation she's earned. We'll see. But, Uli, if you cause one more copper's worth of damage in this city, I'll I'll drown you myself. Wow.
Speaker 2:I'd like to see you try it.
Tim / GM:Don't push it, Uli.
Hannah / Eryn:Why don't we get some food in our stomachs?
Speaker 7:So while everyone's eating, Tibio in a burst of chattiness describes the day's events
Tim / GM:to
Speaker 7:Tandy and summarizes everything that happened Yeah. Except for the Todd Pohl stuff.
Speaker 3:But
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. I'll hop in and share that stuff as you get to those parts and snack is
Speaker 7:Should I do a a summary? Should I try?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Do your best.
Speaker 3:Madame Tandy, today we went to Blackwater Grill and we heard about the flying fish and we heard about how the flying fish were turned into cookies. And the man with the 2 ones was at the end of the dock, and he saved the people from the flying fish, but the fish were not real. They were cartoon fish. Right. And they were drawing of fish, and then they were cookies on the floor.
Speaker 3:And they were stomped into dust, and we found the dust. And we talked to Donna, and she sells bubbles, And she says the fish were not local. And we talked to Joe, and he tried to make me try an elixir, but I don't think it was a good one. And then we spoke to a bard, and the bard said that the fish turned into cookies, and she sang us a song about the cookie fish.
Tim / GM:She says, fish cookies?
Speaker 3:And then we said we said hello to Veronica Venus, and she says that the man, Henry, is in crisis with his family.
Tim / GM:Henry.
Thomas / Guy:So there you have it, Tandree. Case closed, I'd say.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, not quite close. We're we're still trying to find Henry, and I'm working with with Todd Pohl on on some of that. Excellent name, Todd Paul. I love it.
Tim / GM:Yes. Tell me, did the fish cookies look like this? And she, reaches to the bar top and she pulls up a couple, fish crackers that look remarkably similar to the ones that you saw.
Speaker 3:So Exact more.
Tim / GM:Someone who has a great familiarity with fish crackers is the nightmare wizard. I don't know. At that moment, you guys hear just a small ruckus, at the front of the tavern. This is not a place where, young people can find themselves, on their own. But you do see a little girl, 8 or 9 years old, at the front door, and she is kind of doing the potty dance.
Tim / GM:And, the guy at the front just keeps, like, shaking his head and kind of, like, pushing her away, And then she just kinda, like, actually tries to push past him, and then he's, like, no, and just kinda, like, grabs her and, like, pushes her out the door again and closes the door to the to the tavern.
Thomas / Guy:Can I ask the barkeep where those crackers came from?
Tim / GM:I make them fresh every morning myself. You interested in the recipe? I'll sell it to you.
Thomas / Guy:Like you bake them?
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:Do you have any idea how these ended up outside last night? I call out the other one we got from the bard. I think it's from the bard.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Sometimes animals get into them. I leave out whatever people don't eat. I'll leave it out overnight, you know, so like the orphans and stuff can eat them.
Thomas / Guy:Mhmm. So you don't know anything about the flying fish last night?
Tim / GM:No. I worked late here. I wasn't anywhere near Blackwater. Quit pointing fingers. Put that badge away.
Thomas / Guy:This badge means I can point fingers.
Tim / GM:You guys also see in the room, a man with sort of wiry, black hair, who's at a table by himself, doing a little bit of a Strider impression. Strider. He's got, kind of dark clothing, and he's really just kind of hiding himself tucked away.
Hannah / Eryn:Is he human?
Tim / GM:He is human.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly, is going to kinda eye him up and, take notice of him. And then as she's sitting at the table eating, she's gonna, like, try to look at his feet, his boots. Mhmm.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So you, you kind of, like, turn and get, like, lower and a little bit lower and lower still until finally you see, the extremely telltale sign of a, size 10 skippers. Skekker? Skekkers.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. I think it's Skekkers. Holly audibly gasps, and she's like
Tim / GM:when you do that, the audible gasp is matched with the sound of a chair scooting back, as he stands to leave the bar. As he does so, you guys start to notice a few drips.
Speaker 2:I need some air.
Tim / GM:Okay. So, yeah, Uly steps up and, walks out kind of at the same time. And as she does, you guys notice a single droplet form from the ceiling and fall to the floor, and it catches your eye. And then another, and you hear a sort of slow hush around the bar. And people start looking up towards the ceiling and sort of, what?
Tim / GM:What in
Thomas / Guy:the hell?
Tim / GM:And, you look up and the bar top is suddenly slick. And, what was initially a sprinkle is now a full on downpour inside this tavern. Everybody's kind of taking shelter and putting things over their heads.
Hannah / Eryn:Rainforest Cafe.
Thomas / Guy:Snack is
John / Doran:he get? Terrified. And, he's worried he's gonna yeah. He runs out.
Hannah / Eryn:My chameleon catches a raindrop on his tongue.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. I'm running out to to, protect my book.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. Yeah. You don't wanna get that thing wet. So, yeah, the 3 of you kind of burst out into the alleyway.
Tim / GM:And here you see, to the west, is, the child, quite far away, who is at the, the door asking to use the bathroom, quite far away now, to the west. And then to the east, you see, the man you assume to be Henry Meldriff, walking away to the east. And I think next time, we will figure out who you're going to follow and how. Alright. Perfect.
John / Doran:That's a wrap.
Tim / GM:That's a wrap.
