Cursebreaker | 3 - The Un-dehr-dahk
Before we begin, I would like to take a moment to, visit a memory of Burt's. Burt, this was a few years ago, maybe 2 or 3 years ago. We are in your apartment. You have an old friend of yours, Brax. His name is Brax Minow.
Tim / GM:He just finished, investigating something, and he is telling you about it so that you can make an article out of it and submit it to the paper in Tildry, hoping that it'll get some notoriety and maybe make some change. First of all, tell us about your digs in Tildrey. What is your apartment? Where what does your dwelling look like?
Thomas / Guy:I think it'd be more like a dormitory for the people who work at the, librarian.
Tim / GM:Sure. So there's yeah. Okay. On-site living kind of thing?
Tara / Journey:Yeah. So Campus housing.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, like, probably a pretty small unit. Mhmm. And it's just stacked with books and scrolls, as many as I can fit in there, you know, not much for decoration.
Thomas / Guy:Pretty sparse. Not like squalid, but
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. So it's it's it's kind of between monk life and like regular life sort of thing. Yeah. So he just kinda got there and he's asking, he says, hey, Bert.
Tim / GM:Do you got anything to drink? This was kind of a doozy.
Thomas / Guy:Sure, Brax. Got a couple of brews over there. Help yourself.
Tim / GM:He, he rifles through a couple of your drawers and pours himself a little clay cup of something, takes a swig, looks at you, and says, it got a little scary there. I'm I'm gonna be honest with you. I I feel like my life was in danger, Bert. So here's the thing. I, I was investigating this this potion scene.
Tim / GM:Right? And it was it was a big name, and, I guess I'll just tell you right now, it was it was, it was fizzle potions. I knew something was was going on with them, so I investigated a little bit. It didn't take long for me to find out, Bert. Fizzle potions, they were watering their stuff down to a significant degree.
Tim / GM:And that's fine when you're thinking about, like, you know, fun potions and, you know, morning wake up potions, but when we're talking about health potions, Bert, you water those down, people are gonna die.
Thomas / Guy:That ain't right, Brex.
Tim / GM:But here's the thing, this is where it gets worse, and this is why I'm afraid, Bert. Mhmm. And this is where I'm gonna need you.
Thomas / Guy:Mhmm.
Tim / GM:The second court of Tildrey knew about this. No. They were supporting it. They were benefiting from it.
Thomas / Guy:How do you know? What's your proof?
Tim / GM:It's like, I I hate to say it. I mean, I I got some documents. I made copies, but this is ironclad, Bert. You and me, we're gonna be at the center of this. This is a takedown.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, yeah. This is good stuff, Franks.
Tim / GM:But you understand, like, there's there's real concern here, Bert. They could get us. They could get us before we get this out. And and, I mean, I'm talking to you for a couple reasons, but one of them is, you know, I don't I can't do any offensive magic. I'm just bad at it.
Tim / GM:I've never gotten the hang for it.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. It's okay, bud. We all have our strengths.
Tim / GM:So I'm I'm I'm asking you 2 things. Is 1, are you gonna submit this article and get in bad favor with the second court? And number 2, are you gonna defend me if things get rough?
Thomas / Guy:Branks, you know I got your back, and you know this story absolutely has to get out there. I mean, the next time someone is in a scrape, they go for a swig of the health potion and it doesn't do what they want, it's it's criminal.
Tim / GM:I'd I shudder to think about it, and you know this is good stuff. We're on the right side of history here. But, man, I I knew I could depend on you, Brett. Brett. Oh my god.
Tim / GM:I'm sorry.
Thomas / Guy:That's my pen name.
Tim / GM:I knew I could depend on you, Bert. But man, if I ever wind up dead one of these days, you're gonna have to do some real investigating.
Thomas / Guy:I hope that never happens.
Tim / GM:And will fade
John / Doran:out on that.
Tim / GM:Last time in the curse breaker arc, Holly and Snack apprehended Henry Muldriff, a wizard from Tildry who turns out not to be the nightmare wizard, while Uli, Bert and Tibio apprehended a young girl who turns out to be Henry Muldriffs' daughter. Maisie and Henry are in lamplight trying to find the source of a curse that killed Maisie's mother, Henry's partner. The curse destroyed her body and turned her into a terribly powerful monster that had to be hunted and killed. Henry had already blown his last shot at solving the mystery. He followed the clues to a hidden black market beneath the docks of lamplights, but the muscle guarding the area wouldn't let him in.
Tim / GM:Back at the tavern, Bert, Tibio and Snack were sitting down to breakfast when a strange passerby decided to sit with them. A moment later, the stranger was lunging across the table to try to stab Bert, but immediately abandoned the assault. Before they could figure out what happened, someone outside throws a rocket Tibio through a glass window, which is exactly where we find ourselves. Uli and Holly, are coming from opposite ends of the street, and they see a civilian, standing, empty handed in front of a broken glass window. You both saw them just throw this rock into the tavern.
Hannah / Eryn:What in tarnation?
Speaker 6:Does does he look like he's gonna throw another rock?
Tim / GM:No. He looks completely dumbfounded. He, he looks up at What in tarnation and sees Holly and says, I I didn't I didn't do that.
Hannah / Eryn:Get out of here. What? You we just saw you throw a rock in there.
Tim / GM:He chooses to go with get out of here instead of we just saw you. And, then looks over at Uli and says, and he runs down the
Hannah / Eryn:window, and I can repair a single break.
Tim / GM:Sure. Yeah. We'll let that fly. So, Holly from outside, looks at the window and and kind of, gestures with her hand. And the entire window I could
Hannah / Eryn:touch it.
John / Doran:Snack will not let this slight go unpunished. And I'm running to the window and I'm gonna try to jump through. No.
Hannah / Eryn:Just as I'm mending it, I'm just gonna touch the window with my hand after, you know, doing myself.
Tim / GM:Snack just let's do a contested dexterity between the 2.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. That is a d 20?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. And then add your dexterity modifier. 16.
Tara / Journey:Oh.
Thomas / Guy:I think on a tie, snack becomes fused
Tim / GM:into the window.
Hannah / Eryn:It dies immediately. 17th.
Tim / GM:So, yeah. Everybody inside the tavern, hears a boom, as, Snack slams up against the newly repaired I'm
Hannah / Eryn:polishing
Tara / Journey:it. I'm looking in at
Hannah / Eryn:snack on the floor. Yeah. Oh, so And I like I'm polishing it and I'm looking in at Snack on the floor. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:Oh, Snack, are you okay?
Tim / GM:You see little little stars floating around his head. But you also look through to see, Bert, is holding a knife, that he took from a patron who just tried to stab him. And, the patron is sitting in a chair looking like a scolded child staring at his hands.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly is gonna go and look in the tavern.
Tim / GM:And, he he's just kinda starting again. He's like, please, just just can we just forget about this and you just let me go? I I I that wasn't me. I didn't stab you. I didn't try.
Hannah / Eryn:Stab you? What?
Thomas / Guy:Hey, haleuli. Anybody, try to kill you while you were up?
Hannah / Eryn:Always. I mean, no, but we just saw that guy throw a rock in the window.
Thomas / Guy:We've had 2 extremely poor assassination attempts.
Speaker 7:Miss Holly, we are under attack.
Speaker 6:I'd like to say oh, sorry.
Tim / GM:No. Go
Hannah / Eryn:ahead. What would you like to say?
Speaker 6:Oh, I was gonna say, I'd like to say that this isn't normal, but it is by the docs usually.
Hannah / Eryn:Really? This happens a lot?
Speaker 6:Not this particular occurrence, but yeah. I mean, people are always fighting about stupid things.
Thomas / Guy:Well, it's not only that, but as soon as they attack, they immediately, go soft, like they never meant to do it.
Speaker 6:That's a little different.
Hannah / Eryn:That's just what happened outside, Uli. Yeah. Weird. Strange. Oh.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, guys. I also figured out where the underdark wait. Under underdark
Speaker 6:Yes. Would it happen to be Shh. Shh.
Tara / Journey:Shh. Shh. Shh. Shh. Shh.
Tara / Journey:Under the dark. Yes.
Hannah / Eryn:But I also found out that there's a Minotaur named Dave. Well, his friends call him Dave. Oh, I know Dave. You know Dave?
Speaker 6:Yeah. Yeah. We drink together sometimes.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, that's like, on dates?
Speaker 6:No. Oh. I'm not into
Hannah / Eryn:I mean, he's kinda, you know, beefy. Minitox.
Speaker 6:Bert. I feel very uncomfortable.
Tim / GM:Bert, you see the civilian that first tried to stab you suddenly gets this like dead look in their eye and they start walking towards Holly.
Thomas / Guy:Holly, look out. He's got that look in his eyes again.
Hannah / Eryn:The Minotaur?
Tim / GM:And, Holly, you you you wheeled around to see this this guy, who's, he's got he's just wearing, like, street clothes. It's kind of like a a an off white tunic, and he's got like a big nose and kinda short spiky brown hair. And he he looks at you with with kind of no recognition of what he's seeing, and he just goes to strangle you. So he's gonna try to grapple you, Holly.
Speaker 6:Can I help?
Tim / GM:Yes. You absolutely.
Speaker 6:I would like to grab the scruff of his neck.
Tim / GM:Okay. So let's have a three way contested grapple.
Tara / Journey:Okay. Is this the window guy or the stabby guy?
Tim / GM:Window guy ended up running away,
Thomas / Guy:so it's just stabby guy.
Hannah / Eryn:I rolled a natural 20.
Tim / GM:Hell yeah.
Speaker 6:Oh, shit. Yes.
Hannah / Eryn:Did you
Tim / GM:get a natural one?
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. I love it.
Tim / GM:So this is what happens. The person, the civilian with the dead look in his eyes, just goes to strangle Holly and puts his hands up to grab her neck. And, Holly, in almost sort of like a trained sort of motion, flies both of his arms out to the side to get them away from her neck, spins him around, and then, sort of pulls one of his arms up behind his back in that sort of subdueal manner and holds him there and says, what do you say, Holly?
Hannah / Eryn:What the what the hell?
Tim / GM:And, and then at that moment, Uli, who also stood to action and tried to grapple, hugs Holly from behind and just wraps her arms
Hannah / Eryn:around her. What the Uli? Oh my goodness.
Speaker 6:I I I I I'm so sorry.
Speaker 7:Miss Holly, miss Uli, this man, he has cursed.
Hannah / Eryn:We should tie this person up.
Tim / GM:Yes. What? No. God. What did I do?
Speaker 7:Sir, you are still a ghost. You must stay where you are.
Hannah / Eryn:Is you guys said there was a jail in this town. I think we need to put him in a jail. We need to put him somewhere where he can't hurt other people.
Speaker 7:It won't it won't make any difference. There are many. There are many cursed people. We've been under attack twice.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, maybe we better armor up.
Speaker 7:This man said he may have gone to the under under deck.
Hannah / Eryn:Sir? And she's, like, holding him still. And she's like
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:Tell me where you were this morning.
Tim / GM:I just, I I did my morning routine. I I got up at 5:30. I I I took care of chicken. At 5:30.
Hannah / Eryn:Why were you up that early?
Thomas / Guy:It's just what I do. It's supposed to be good for you. Right? You do the whole routine. You have stability in your life.
Hannah / Eryn:What's the name of your chicken?
Tim / GM:They don't name them. That's kinda morbid because, you you know, at the end, you gotta anyway, this morning, I didn't nothing special. I, you know, I did the chickens. I had my breakfast. I got my elixir.
Tim / GM:I went to the docks. I did some fishing. I came over here.
Thomas / Guy:Where'd you get the elixir?
Tara / Journey:The elixir. What?
Thomas / Guy:Where'd you get it?
Tim / GM:At at, Joe. He's the elixir salesman. You guys see the tavern keeper step out from behind the kitchen holding a dripping cleaver and staring down each of you, and he says, good morning.
Tara / Journey:Dripping with what?
Tim / GM:Blood.
Tara / Journey:Dope.
Speaker 6:I'm going to I'm getting out of here. This is I don't like this.
Thomas / Guy:What is the next meal?
John / Doran:I'm looking at his cleaver.
Thomas / Guy:We are out of bacon.
Tim / GM:You you kinda see, he sort of, like, blinks and shakes his head, and he goes, what? Sorry, Snack. What did you say?
Thomas / Guy:Your knife. Oh.
Tara / Journey:He is cursed.
Thomas / Guy:This thing?
Hannah / Eryn:He is cursed.
Thomas / Guy:Well, thanks for the stay, sir. It's real great digs. We loved it, but we gotta be on now.
Tim / GM:Did you guys finish eating? Is is everything okay?
Tara / Journey:Yeah. It was Yep.
Thomas / Guy:Yep. Couldn't be better. Just got
Tara / Journey:gotta get going, going, you know. Tibbio starts backing away toward the door.
Speaker 6:Can I actually hold this guy by the scrub of his neck and, like, lead him out the door?
Tim / GM:Yeah. You can take him with you if you want.
Speaker 6:I'm not gonna hug him.
Tim / GM:Yeah. He he's, like, he's pretty, like, going with whatever you guys wanna do right now since he's clearly in trouble.
Speaker 7:See you later, mister tavern keeper.
Thomas / Guy:Bye. Don't stab anybody.
Tim / GM:He he kinda, like, drops his expression a little bit and he doesn't say anything. And he just kinda, like, slowly nods with the cleaver in his hand as you guys leave.
Hannah / Eryn:Scary.
John / Doran:As we're running, as we're starting to head out Uh-huh. Snack wants to bond a bit.
Thomas / Guy:Companions, I must say, coming to the surface world, I was concerned I would not
John / Doran:fit in quite well, but
Thomas / Guy:I think I'm getting the hang of this. I I'm starting to understand your customs and, ways of life. Mister Snack, most people don't usually stab people so often over there, I gotta warn you. Oh,
John / Doran:okay. We'll see.
Hannah / Eryn:I think we need to, find a safe place outside of town. I know a lady. Vanessa? What's Veronica? Veronica.
Tim / GM:Veronica Venus actually lives within the town boundaries. Remember, lamplight is on lockdown. You guys are on a laptop.
Hannah / Eryn:I had, like, the image that she was just, like, up the wood path or something
Tim / GM:like that. She's kind of in the outskirts of the town, but she's still within city limits.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay.
Thomas / Guy:We just need to not be around people, I think.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. We need to make a plan.
Speaker 6:That sounds lovely.
Speaker 7:Let's let's go see Veronica because she knows Yeah. Some magic.
Hannah / Eryn:I can give her her cards back too. Could we bring could we bring that back? He needs to just be gone. No. What's his name?
Hannah / Eryn:What's his name?
Tara / Journey:Did we ever figure out his name?
Hannah / Eryn:They don't have names.
Tara / Journey:And I wrote him in my notes as stabby guy. I don't think that helps.
Tim / GM:My name's, Ethan.
Speaker 7:Ethan, you should come with us to be safe. Maybe you can help us find the curse and prevent any others from experiencing what you have experienced.
Thomas / Guy:Are are you are you sure about that?
Hannah / Eryn:I feel like I don't know if we can keep tabs on them. I guess we could try to wrap them up in rope the whole time. I'm I'm saying we should give them a
Speaker 6:text handy. This is for your own good. You can you can shut up.
Tim / GM:I understand that.
Speaker 6:Can I tie your hands? Oh, I I don't need your permission.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm gonna And then And then, Polly's like, it's okay. We're sheriff.
Tara / Journey:Can I web him? Cuties.
Tim / GM:What's that?
Tara / Journey:What if I web him?
Tim / GM:That'd probably work. Yeah.
Speaker 6:Yeah. I don't actually have rope. So
Speaker 7:Sir, I'm so sorry, mister mister Ethan. I'm so sorry, but we need the information that you carry and I think it would be best if you come with us so we can get to the root of this curse.
Hannah / Eryn:I feel like this is like bringing a zombie back to your home to study him. I mean, this always goes terribly wrong, but I'm just
Speaker 7:wondering Well, I'm just attack either way.
Tim / GM:Ethan says, I mean, that's that's fine. Just just get it over with.
Speaker 7:I cast Webb.
Hannah / Eryn:I cast Webb. And the whole
Tim / GM:time you just hear me like
John / Doran:What does it look like? Yeah.
Speaker 6:Web. What
Tim / GM:does you casting Webb look like?
Hannah / Eryn:It comes out of your mouth.
Tim / GM:Your bones?
Tara / Journey:No.
Speaker 7:I, Yeah. It comes out of my little skeleton fingertips.
Tim / GM:Nice.
Tara / Journey:Because when I cast my magic, I cast it through my skeleton arms. So it's gross white bones sticking out and squishing out nasty webs that wrap up this dude, and I spin him in a circle like Shelob and wrap him up all good. And then
Speaker 6:what I'm thinking.
Tara / Journey:Let his feet free. He's got his little ankles free, and he can walk along with us. But he can't do us any harm because his arms are tied to his sides.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. He,
Speaker 6:Is he jaundiced?
Hannah / Eryn:No. What?
Tim / GM:I didn't
Tara / Journey:I didn't stab him.
Tim / GM:He says, yeah. Okay. I can't say that I prefer this to ropes, but this is fine.
Hannah / Eryn:What a good sport you are.
Tim / GM:And, even. Doug.
Hannah / Eryn:Sorry. I'm bad with names.
Tim / GM:So he continues to waddle along with you guys. Before you guys make it to Veronica's, actually, just a moment later, you see a familiar face out on the docks. Or sorry. It's all docks when I so I mean, he's on the he's on the boardwalk, and he's actually loading things into a caravan. And, you notice him first by the gigantic great sword on his back, but he turns to your group No.
Tim / GM:And he says, I'd say good morning, but
Speaker 6:It's never a good morning when you're around.
Tim / GM:He says, well, it's just not a good morning. And, Uli, he turns to show you the side of his face that can't be healed by magic. He has a not insignificant burn that runs kind of from his lip all the way up to the top of his scalp, and he's missing a chunk of hair. And he was sort of a masculine pretty boy before all this, and that's definitely gone from him. Whoops.
Tim / GM:He says, yeah, Whoops. This was my chance to turn things around and try to play the hero side a little bit. But we must soldier on. I'm leaving here. I'm headed west.
Tim / GM:I I'd say I hope to never meet any of you again, but, Uli, I hope I do see you someday outside of the city limits.
Speaker 6:Can't say I wish for the same? Also, you know you're not allowed to leave. Right? We're on lockdown.
Tim / GM:Well, I can get farther away than this, and we can await it out. And, you see a woman come around the side of the caravan. She's got long, black hair, and she's got these very dark geometric tattoos under both of her eyes. She says, let's get going. I mean, we don't have to really get going, but I mean, I gotta get stuff packed up.
Tim / GM:And you said you would help. Right? I says, yeah. I'll I'll help, but only if I don't have to pay for the trip. She says, yeah.
Tim / GM:Yeah. That's fine. And, like I said, I'll get you to Tildrey, but that's the end of the road, pal. And he goes, yeah. I understand.
Tim / GM:And they, they move off together trying to get to the the sort of queue at the edge of town to leave as soon as possible, once the lockdown is finished.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. Bye forever, Emery.
Speaker 6:Let's hope.
Tim / GM:So he passes by and the last person you see on your way to Veronica is Sheriff Tandy. She stops in front of you and says, oh, it's only been a few hours, Uli, and I See, you've already made an arrest.
Speaker 6:But, I mean, why do you have to blame me for this?
Speaker 7:Madame Gerald Undie, the whole town is cursed. You must be very alarmed.
Tim / GM:TBO.
Hannah / Eryn:Someone tried to strangle me in the tavern just, like, 20 minutes ago. So I really think, you know, you need more than just inexperienced deputies. No offense, everybody. But, yeah, there's something weird going on in this town. And, like, something happened.
Hannah / Eryn:Someone broke a window of the tavern. Someone tried to stab my friend.
Speaker 7:This man
Thomas / Guy:tried to stab me.
Speaker 6:About the tavern keep is covered in blood.
Tim / GM:Ethan looks up and says, I did. She says, wait, wait, wait, wait. Are you being serious and then literal with all of this? They he tried to stab you?
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. He was bad at it, but he tried it.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Someone tried to choke me out, but I rolled a natural twenty. So good luck, sir, to those self defense.
Tim / GM:Thank god for that.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, it was on Ethan.
Speaker 6:I would like to say that they aren't aware they're doing it. They have no control over it. Also, Emery is leaving town. Did you approve that?
Tim / GM:Oh, she, looks off into the distance and says, he'll get stopped at the gates, I'm sure.
Speaker 6:I should just let him go.
Hannah / Eryn:You seem like you have a real control over what's happening here, sheriff.
Tim / GM:I promise you I do. This is just news to me. I'm sorry. I'm still thinking it over. So this man here tried to stab you and has no recollection of it?
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. We kind of think that it might be due to some substances that he took. And then she kinda looks at everybody like, are we telling the the sheriff everything?
Tim / GM:She says, do you know what substances?
Hannah / Eryn:Well, he mentioned an elixir that he gets every morning.
Tim / GM:When you say the word elixir, you hear a shing. And Tandy has drawn a short blade on you, Holly, and she's pointing it right at your throat.
Thomas / Guy:No.
Speaker 6:I'm going to walk in front of her.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm gonna cast expedit expeditious retreat Okay. Myself Okay. And I dash away.
Tim / GM:Okay. So kind of at the same time. She wasn't moving to strike you, just to threaten you. Holly sort of switches places with Uli who stands up in her place. And, Uli, what do you say to Tandy?
Speaker 6:Put that down.
Tim / GM:She she has no recognition in your eyes. She doesn't know who she's looking at.
Speaker 6:Blade ward.
Tim / GM:Nice. Okay. And, you you throw up a blade ward and just a moment later, she comes down with her sword and makes an attack straight across your body. And she gets a 12 to hit.
Speaker 6:She does hit.
Tim / GM:Okay. And she strikes you for 4 slashing damage, which the blade word cuts in half to 2.
Thomas / Guy:You make a good
Tim / GM:2. So
Speaker 6:I don't wanna fight her back because I don't wanna get in more trouble.
Tim / GM:So, yeah, she she takes a swing at you, and it, you know, it nicks your clothes a little bit, and you you take a side step out of the way.
Speaker 6:Hey. Woah. Woah.
Tara / Journey:I tried to step behind her.
Speaker 6:Were you gonna do something?
John / Doran:Snack is, casting a zap spell
Hannah / Eryn:Okay.
John / Doran:On Tandi.
Tim / GM:Okay.
John / Doran:So I I picture kind of, like, the emperor and, Star Wars kinda like hands moving like that as he casts the spell
Tim / GM:Yeah.
John / Doran:And and shoots, eldritch blast, at Tandy.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. You guys see Snack's fingers just doing these, like, wild random motions. Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:Have we seen Snack do this?
John / Doran:I say. And then I shoot, Eldritch Blast.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. I
Speaker 6:know he had powers.
Tim / GM:An 8? Yeah. An 8 does not hit Tandy. So you guys see an Eldritch Blast. What what color is it?
Tim / GM:What does it look like?
Tara / Journey:Eldritch puff.
John / Doran:Yeah. It's a bright purple.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. This bright purple violet light just goes whizzing by Tandy's head and then fizzles out into a stream of smoke that spirals off into the sky. And, and, at that moment, Tandy, like, shakes her head and she goes, oh my god. And she drops her sword on the ground and it it clangs on the boardwalk.
Tim / GM:And she looks at all of you and she says, lock me up. You have to lock me up.
Speaker 6:K. Where's where are your keys?
Hannah / Eryn:Can you squoosh more web on her?
Tara / Journey:Yep. I can do that.
Speaker 7:Madam Sharif, I'm so sorry. We will figure this out. I promise. And then I cast web.
Tim / GM:Okay. And, yeah. The same thing. You just kinda like spin
John / Doran:her And
Tara / Journey:I and I stick her to Ethan.
Hannah / Eryn:I just have a chain
John / Doran:Snek is dancing around like,
Thomas / Guy:yeah. Small prisoners.
John / Doran:I'm just tapping around.
Tim / GM:So, yeah, you guys have this small chain of of 2 prisoners that are all together.
Speaker 7:Madam, I don't want you to lose your sword. So I pick up her sword, and I stick it on the outside of the web.
Tim / GM:Just sticking it to the web? Yeah. Okay. Got
Tara / Journey:it. So she doesn't lose that.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So she, if you if you agree to it, she guides you to the jail so that she can be put into a cell.
Thomas / Guy:I feel like this place could get pretty full unless we figure this out soon.
Speaker 6:It's weird being on the other side of the bars.
John / Doran:Oh, wow.
Hannah / Eryn:Lock them up, Tibia. Wait. Wait. Wait.
Tara / Journey:I locked them up. But, madame Sheriff Dendi, do you also have an elixir?
Tim / GM:An elixir?
Speaker 6:Yeah. She had one this morning.
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah. Joe's Rosewater?
Speaker 6:Yep.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Why? Yeah.
Speaker 7:How many people have this elixir in the morning?
Tim / GM:I I know he makes it in big batches now. It's fairly popular.
Speaker 7:Is it a new Abixar?
Tim / GM:No. Not new. I've been drinking him for months.
Thomas / Guy:Maybe a new formula?
Speaker 6:Yeah. Did it taste different this time?
Tim / GM:Didn't taste different. What's this about? What's your thoughts?
Speaker 7:As soon as we mentioned the Alexelle, you drew your sword.
Hannah / Eryn:It's cursed or something.
Speaker 6:Do you think I could recollect the people in line I saw this morning?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Make a history check.
Tara / Journey:Make a recollection check.
Tim / GM:Make a recollection.
Hannah / Eryn:Recollection. Rec a
Tara / Journey:rec a rec a rec a
Tim / GM:Yeah. You kinda scan through your memories. And you remember voices, but no faces.
Tara / Journey:You remember there was one blurry person behind you. Yeah. And it was someone with legs out there.
Speaker 6:Pay attention to people.
Hannah / Eryn:We're gonna be out, but we'll be back for you. Just chill here. And hopefully no one else, comes through. And then now I'm gonna reach through the bar and try to take the sword and stick unstick it from her and just put it on the outside of the sword.
Tim / GM:Alright. So, yeah, you laid down the sword. It's, like, covered in, like, cobwebs.
Speaker 6:Don't let it too close to
Hannah / Eryn:the I'll make sure it's far enough away so she can't grab it, but Sure. It's still sticky. It's sticky.
Tim / GM:And she's on the inside of the bars, and she looks up at all of you and she says, thank you. You all did a really good job this morning.
Hannah / Eryn:Thank
Speaker 6:you. Am I forgetting
Tara / Journey:Tibia was grinning ear to ear.
Tim / GM:She looks at you, Uli, and she says, not even close. And then you see her eyes go dead again and she's just staring straight at Bert.
Tara / Journey:I slammed the doors shut on those cells so fast.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. And we skedaddle out of there like like, our little legs Yeah. Float above the air. And then we It's a new style. Yep.
Tim / GM:As soon as you guys make it out to the street, you first see a large sandwich. And that sandwich is attached to Todd Pohl, who is enjoying a sandwich outside of the jail. Sure. And he says, hey, Holly.
Hannah / Eryn:Todd, have you had an elixir today? What? Have you had Joe's elixir today?
Tim / GM:No. What? Did he come up with a new flavor or something?
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, thank god. Okay. So we think the elixir is cursing the townspeople and making them wanna kill people, particularly this group for some reason.
Tim / GM:Okay. Slow down. Last time we talked, you wanted to get into the underdogs. What does that have to do with elixirs?
Hannah / Eryn:I don't know yet. It's adjacent. Just don't drink anything. It's just extra curses. Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:Don't don't drink anything. Only salt water for you.
John / Doran:Snek has taken out his rope and is starting to, walk around Todd Paul trying to
Hannah / Eryn:wrap him up. Snek? No. What?
Tim / GM:He says, do I need to be worried about this?
Hannah / Eryn:Just Just don't drink any potions or elixirs from Joe.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Of course not. That guy's a shyster.
Hannah / Eryn:Of course he is. Do you know if he gets ingredients from the under doc?
Tim / GM:I bet. Yeah. I'm sure.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. We were gonna try to go ask Vereenus. Veronica. Veronica Venus.
Tim / GM:Well, I was actually looking for you, Holly.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, me?
Tim / GM:Yeah. I wanted to talk about that thing we talked about this morning, about the dots. About the under doc.
Tara / Journey:The under doc. Okay.
Tim / GM:Remember how I said that there was gonna be a guy named Dave Mhmm. That you could talk to to get in? His shift is coming up, and he's only there for, like, an hour. So you gotta get there. Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:Do you got any more tips that you thought of?
Tim / GM:Dave is a super good judge of character. There's a chance he already even knows who you guys are.
Hannah / Eryn:Shit. So don't lie to him.
Tim / GM:I wouldn't chance it, but
Thomas / Guy:Todd, is this the one that gives the scales and makes you powerful? This this one.
Tim / GM:You're talking about magic items?
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah.
Tim / GM:I mean, they sell magic items down there for sure.
Thomas / Guy:Really? Yeah. Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:Alright. So what you're saying is we gotta go to the underdock now?
Tim / GM:Pretty soon.
Hannah / Eryn:It's in
Tim / GM:the out for a bit. Okay. Just just try to act normal. You know? Cool.
Tim / GM:Alright. Anyway, I'm off to do some fishing. I already should be fishing. I'm kinda shirking my duties here. Well, I'll see you guys later.
Tim / GM:I was just gonna finish my sandwich.
Speaker 7:Nice to meet you, mister Burr.
Tim / GM:Tadpole. Good to meet you.
Hannah / Eryn:Alright. So I guess we probably should try to get in while Dave's man in the door.
Speaker 7:Oli, should we split up?
Thomas / Guy:If we split, maybe someone should go check out Joe's, but it could be dangerous.
Speaker 7:Uday knows Joe.
Speaker 6:I also know Dave.
Hannah / Eryn:I feel like she's a bad girl, so she's probably in with Dave. He's a bad boy. Bad pentar? I don't know. It's okay if you slept with him.
Hannah / Eryn:I don't know. I didn't sleep with him and it's hard. It's okay. You can admit it to me.
Tara / Journey:Only the top part is a bowl on a minotaur, by the way.
Speaker 6:Yeah. Yeah. I know. Anyway
Tim / GM:so safe to say that you guys at least venture to Blackwater Row, which is where the entrance is supposed to be?
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Holly is gonna cast disguise self, but she's just gonna change her exact same outfit but make it all black. Okay. That's cool.
Speaker 6:I'd like to go to the underdog, I think.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. I hate Joe.
Tara / Journey:It's probably safest if we all go together.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. So when you guys get to Blackwater Row, just like they said, it's the last alleyway on the left, and you peer into it and you see a narrow alleyway between 2 buildings that stops on a dead end. Among the trash bins and crates there, a Minotaur is sitting on a stool peeling potatoes. That must be Dave.
Tim / GM:Hi.
Hannah / Eryn:My name's Holly. Are you are you Dave? I've heard about you from my good friend, Todd Pohl.
Tim / GM:He, barely looks up from his potatoes and just says, I'm Dave.
Speaker 6:Hey, Dave.
Tim / GM:Uli.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly just winks out of Uli.
Tim / GM:It's quite the crowd you've brought here today.
Speaker 6:We need to get in. Please and thank you.
Tim / GM:I could let you in, but, Uli, you know whatever happened down there is on my neck.
Speaker 6:I promise to be on my best behavior.
Tim / GM:I saw what happened at the dock, Sully.
Speaker 6:That was not my best behavior.
Tim / GM:Thing is, they don't take kindly to casting at all down there.
Speaker 6:I won't even lift a finger.
Tim / GM:I know it's not always up to you.
Speaker 6:You can take it up with me after if something happens.
Tim / GM:Oh, I will. And he, he, cleans his cleaver a little bit against his lap. And, you can see his his cleaver is surprisingly clean looking and sort of ornate. It's got this bright blue handle and gold trim to it. And then he cuts a potato in half, and he says, I'll let you down there.
Tim / GM:I'll let all of you down there, but you screw up one little thing. I'm coming for you, and you're gonna hear me coming. I'm not quiet on this boardwalk.
Thomas / Guy:Well, I'll keep an eye on her, mister Dave.
Speaker 6:Yeah. I have babysitters now.
Tim / GM:He gives a little chuckle at that, and his chuckle sounds like he stands up, moves his crate out of the way, shuffles his potatoes a little bit. You can go down through here, but I need you to come back up in less than an hour. Do you understand?
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. No problem. Mhmm.
Tim / GM:Before my shift is over. Otherwise, you might not like the person that's letting you out.
Speaker 7:Sounds good.
Tim / GM:Have a great time. Keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times.
Hannah / Eryn:Dave, quick question. Love your cleave, by the way. You know, Joe, the elixir guy, he's he's down here a lot.
Tim / GM:Right? Yeah. I know Joe.
Hannah / Eryn:Does he have a favorite, like, shop in the underdock that he goes to?
Tim / GM:Careful. I think you should go.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. Thanks. Bye. She jumps in.
Tara / Journey:I lag behind, just a little bit and I say,
Speaker 7:excuse me, ma'am. Monsieur Dave, can I ask what are you making with the pomme de terre?
Tim / GM:With the what am I making with what?
Speaker 7:The the pomme de terre. Oh, the potato.
Tim / GM:Oh, I don't actually know. I just need something inconspicuous to do when I'm in the alleyway. So I walk to the restaurant next door and get some fruit to cut up or not that potatoes are fruit, but usually it's fruit. And today it wasn't fruit. So I I just I screwed up when I said fruit.
Tim / GM:Usually it's fruit.
Speaker 7:They are very good with fromage. Goodbye.
Tim / GM:With fromage. And you guys descend this rickety set of steep wooden steps into the underdock. Once you guys get down there, you see, you see only a handful of people there. Most of their faces are hooded or covered. You see a dim wooden boardwalk.
Tim / GM:It smells damp in here. And you can hear the lapping of water against the docks beneath you. So you're much lower now than you were before. You see 3 distinct storefronts set up here. 1 has a bunch of covered rags.
Tim / GM:1 is a single person sitting at a desk, and one is another Minotaur standing over a canvas blanket that's really lumpy.
Speaker 6:Oh, no. It's Dave's brother.
Thomas / Guy:Alright, gang.
Tara / Journey:It's the weirdest question.
Tim / GM:As as this big crowd, which is you guys, descends into the underdog, a few of the patrons that are already there make an effort to conceal themselves better and, kind of turn away from you. A few people even brush past you to leave when they see you. So there's really only a couple people in here that really want nothing to do with you, and then there are 3 storefronts.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. So what's our mission? We're looking for where Joe's elixir comes from?
Hannah / Eryn:Elixir ingredients. Off of me. How how much can I tell what's above us, on the dock above us? Are, like, things marked? Like, I could be like, this is x is the tavern or whatever.
Tim / GM:So you guys came in, Blackwater Row, which is not like, that's where Joe's shop is. And so looking where Joe's potion shop would be, there's a storefront in front of it down here. And behind that is a back room, and you can see a flickering light and a little bit of smoke coming out of that back room.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. I'm gonna go into the shop where I think Joe's right under where Joe's elixir stand would be on the up dock.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So you, you pass by, 2 storefronts. When you get to the last one, and, it's another, minotaur who's standing over this, canvas that's got a bunch of lumps underneath it. And he says, adventurer looking for power?
Hannah / Eryn:Always. Holly feels very cool because she's on black. Yeah. And she's like, yes. I belong here.
Tim / GM:A witch perhaps. I may have something for you.
Hannah / Eryn:What's your name, sir?
Tim / GM:You can call me Buster.
Speaker 7:Alright, Buster.
Tim / GM:What is it you're looking for?
Hannah / Eryn:I need a potion.
Tim / GM:Potions you can buy well enough upstairs.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm looking for a potion to control somebody.
Tim / GM:His eyes kinda like flicker like back and forth. And he he was kind of like peeling up the canvas to show you what he has, and then he like throws the blanket back over it. He looks like across the way, and he like nods at a guy who's sitting down. The guy across the way draws his curtains like his shop is closed.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, shit.
Tim / GM:Says, we've got nothing like that here. I think you should leave. We sell magic items here, not potions.
Hannah / Eryn:No. No. No. I need ingredients. Sorry.
Hannah / Eryn:I misspoke.
Tim / GM:Nothing like that here.
Tara / Journey:While Holly is accosting a shopkeep, I tap on Bert's shoulder.
Speaker 7:Wow. Could you detect the magic that you felt from Ethan? Could you try to detect the same magic here?
Thomas / Guy:Dave said they don't like casting down here, so I might need a small distraction. Somebody do something weird.
Speaker 7:What if I make you invisible?
Tara / Journey:Oh, that's after casting. Oh. I
Thomas / Guy:mean, I could just stand behind your very large cloak, I guess.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Oui.
Thomas / Guy:Or Uli's very large body.
Tara / Journey:I look around to make sure nobody's really, like, watching watching, and I kinda, like, back my way to an alley and awkwardly put up one elbow on the wall of the alley and then magically expanded the rib cage of my skeleton Yeah. Mhmm. To make him a little bit bigger.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:I creep behind there and I cast detect magic. Okay.
Tim / GM:I'll need you to make a stealth check for this, but take advantage with, with Tibeo's help.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. 17, I think. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Okay. Right after you cast it, you're like staring straight at Buster, the shopkeeper. Mhmm. Just trying to look past him, and he's like staring straight at you. And your heart just like stops for a second.
Tim / GM:And then he kind of, like, passes over you and just keeps on looking.
Tara / Journey:I, like, do, like, a weird kind of open mouth smile and, like, my eyes half closed just like, hi.
Tim / GM:Fingerbone falls off.
Tara / Journey:Hello.
Tim / GM:So when you cast detect magic, you see the exact same magic effect that was on Ethan. You see it coming out of that back room like a spotlight. Whereas what you saw on Ethan was a very diluted effect. This seems to be the source of it.
Thomas / Guy:That's gotta be it. Where? Right behind them.
Tara / Journey:So this is behind the other minotaurs Mhmm. Stuff?
Thomas / Guy:The where Holly's talking to the guy right now. It looks like it's not going real well.
Speaker 7:Okay. Okay. We will have to find a way.
Tim / GM:Ma'am, I'm going to ask you one last time. You're gonna buy something or you're going to leave my storefront?
Speaker 6:I wanna walk into the store.
Hannah / Eryn:Wait. What are you selling though? You didn't even tell me.
Tim / GM:He he bring he drags back the canvas, and Uli, you can see it too. He's got an array of items laid out on this table. He's got, like, he's got like a bell, a dagger. He's got a rope. He's got like all sorts of like classic adventuring staples.
Tim / GM:So like weapons, armor, trinkets, all this kind of stuff. It's all in this big ugly heap on the table.
Speaker 6:Where did you acquire these?
Tim / GM:They're imports. Mhmm.
Hannah / Eryn:I need a rope. That rope looks sturdy.
Tim / GM:Very good. Yes. You have a good eye.
Hannah / Eryn:How much for the rope?
Tim / GM:He, he references a, a 3 ring binder, and he says, I'll need, 10 gold pieces for the rope.
Hannah / Eryn:That's highway robbery, sir.
Tara / Journey:Okay. So Bert.
Speaker 7:Yes. Bert, I have an idea. Walk on my feet.
Tara / Journey:And I open the trench cloak up so that he can walk on my skeleton feet like a like a little kid at a wedding.
Thomas / Guy:Mhmm. You get it.
Tara / Journey:And then I cover him up with the trench cloak, And I slowly, carefully penguin walk over to the shop.
Tim / GM:I'm gonna have you make a stealth check with not advantage.
Tara / Journey:Oh my god. I don't have my dice.
Speaker 6:Are these just normal weapons?
Tim / GM:Guaranteed. Everything beneath this canvas is a magic item. Absolutely guaranteed.
Speaker 6:Alright. Do you know what they do?
Tim / GM:Like I said, they were imports. There's, a bit of a loss of bookkeeping in the process of obtaining these.
Speaker 6:So you're just selling things for random prices, not knowing what they do?
Tim / GM:If you can find a better source of magic items for these prices, go seek that out.
Speaker 6:Do they have, like, brass knuckles or anything?
Tim / GM:Yeah. They, absolutely do.
Speaker 6:Cool. I want one.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. I'll buy the rope for 10 g.
Tara / Journey:Okay. So for the you said without advantage?
Tim / GM:Correct.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Okay. 17.
Tim / GM:Okay. That also passes with flying colors. So you've shuffled over to a better position.
Thomas / Guy:So we're, like, near we can probably hear their conversation. Yes.
Tim / GM:Yep.
Tara / Journey:And my goal is to allow Bert to get out of my trench coat, sneak into the shop, into the back room, should he so desire. No. Because you small.
Thomas / Guy:I am small, but am I sneaky? Wait.
Tim / GM:Wait. I shouldn't be talking out loud.
John / Doran:Everyone's looking at him. Yeah.
Tim / GM:At that time, Uli, he he hands you the the brass knuckles and he says, just 5 gold for these. They're priced to move.
Speaker 6:Alright.
Tim / GM:Both of you, I need you to roll a d 6 who just bought things and report me the, number.
Hannah / Eryn:Report me.
Tim / GM:Report me.
Tara / Journey:4.
Hannah / Eryn:I got 6. K.
Thomas / Guy:This is weird. Can I do some sort of, like, knowledge check about minutars?
Tim / GM:For
Thomas / Guy:sure. Does Bert know if minotaurs are wise?
Tim / GM:Minotaurs, they're not like especially intelligent. They're incredibly perceptive. Like, not a lot gets by them.
Thomas / Guy:Which is wisdom. Right? Yes. Yeah. I can try to sneak in, but I I might be able to get them to let us in.
Thomas / Guy:But if that fails, I won't be able to sneak in anymore.
Tim / GM:Snack, you hear from that back room, you hear like a it's the unmistakable laughter of kobolds.
Thomas / Guy:Interesting.
Tim / GM:You you peer over the counter and you can see, right kind of in the doorway of this back room, there are 2 kobolds that are like kind of on all fours on the ground facing each other looking at something on the floor.
Thomas / Guy:How curious. What are the chances I can sneak over there and get a closer look?
Tim / GM:Again, the, the Minotaur, buster with the items, kind of has a frontline defense of this back room. So you you'd you'd always be within 10 or 15 feet of him to try to get there. It's a difficult path.
Thomas / Guy:Sorry. The cold boats are in that back room?
Tim / GM:Yes. Okay. So after you got through Buster, they would be the next thing to face.
John / Doran:What are they doing? Can I kinda tell?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Go ahead and give me a perception check. Okay. 7. Okay.
Tim / GM:Do they are laughing at each other while looking at each other.
Thomas / Guy:Another thing I was wondering is how how big is Snack, in comparison to us gnomes?
John / Doran:I am 2 feet 1 inch.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. I'm 38. So Oh,
Tim / GM:okay. So significantly smaller. Yeah. While you guys are trying to make these tactical decisions on how to get back there, Buster, all of a sudden, his eyes just, like, go wide. Everyone who's close hears him say shit.
Tim / GM:And, he says, I I, I need to close-up, the shop for a second. And he, throws the canvas back over the items, and Buster disappears into the back room.
John / Doran:Snek, seeing this opportunity, goes under the, blanket covering
Hannah / Eryn:Mhmm.
John / Doran:And, shovels some things into the lamp.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. Why don't you roll, 3 d 6? 9. Sorry.
Tim / GM:Can you give me
John / Doran:those numbers separately? 5 31.
Tim / GM:Alright. So yeah. You you grab, what do you grab? You can like feel a lot of things in there. Like I said, there's like there's a bell, there's like a feather, a short sword, like an iron spike.
John / Doran:I was told to get things that are shiny. So I'm going for anything that's Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So you get, you get a silver chalice, you get a pair of iron manacles, and,
Hannah / Eryn:A coin.
Tim / GM:Yeah. A coin. That's shiny.
John / Doran:Alright. Snek is an intelligent creature and I I leave behind, a
Thomas / Guy:crowbar. Okay. And that's it. Okay.
Tara / Journey:She'll never notice.
John / Doran:And I crawl out.
Tim / GM:The rest of you, can definitely feel it. If there is a time to strike, it's now. This is the least, observation you're going to have in the underdog.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Holly's scooting on and back and stuff.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I'd dash back there. Didn't he go in there? Toe.
Tim / GM:He did. Yeah. Yeah. Buster went into the back room.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm just gonna fall right behind him as he goes in.
Tim / GM:Okay. So, yeah, nobody in the underdock like notices something going kind of wrong here, But the kobolds at the entrance, they do stop you. And they said, nobody allowed in.
Speaker 6:I walk past them.
Tim / GM:He says, nobody allowed in.
Speaker 6:Yeah. I walk over them.
Hannah / Eryn:Me too.
Tim / GM:I
Speaker 6:am a lot taller.
Thomas / Guy:Buster said we could come in.
Tara / Journey:He says, through my trench clip. Right.
Tim / GM:He,
Thomas / Guy:They probably aren't tall enough to, like, see your face.
Tim / GM:One of the kobolds reaches over and grabs this, this big brass bell, and he says, nobody gets in.
Hannah / Eryn:Hey. We're new workers here. We gotta get it back there
Speaker 6:to help out. The bell?
Tim / GM:Yeah. It's like almost as big as him. It's like 12 inches tall.
Speaker 6:Okay. I reduce it.
Tim / GM:Okay. Snack. You noticed the thing on the ground that they were doing. They were playing Hawk Rocks, which is a game that you know incredibly well.
Hannah / Eryn:Do Cobalt's always love playing games? Is that a Cobalt thing?
Thomas / Guy:They have a lot
Tim / GM:of downtime.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:Because they played another, like, horseshoe game in one of our campaigns.
Tara / Journey:Ultimate henchman. Yeah.
John / Doran:So I was hiding behind the nearest pole or something. Okay. And then I I kind of, come out from under it when I notice that what they're doing. Yeah. Totally disregarding the rest of the situation.
John / Doran:And I say, hot crocs.
Tim / GM:And you hear 2 voices at the same time goes, hot crocs. Hot crocs.
Thomas / Guy:Can I play such a game with you?
Tim / GM:What do you wager? What's your wager? I have many riches.
John / Doran:And I reach into the the lamp and I pull out the silver chalice.
Hannah / Eryn:And I
John / Doran:put it back.
Tim / GM:There, his eyes go wide. He goes
Thomas / Guy:Oh, yes. Many more things of such nature.
Tim / GM:Very good. Very good. He looks at his cohort, and his cohort keeps shaking his head like, no. No. Nobody gets in.
Tim / GM:We can't. And then they're, like, kinda bickering, and then he kinda like snaps at them. And he, like, walks away out of the shop, And he looks at you and says, Haw Crocs.
Tara / Journey:Let's do this.
Tim / GM:Uli, the the bell that like the one that walked away was holding the tiny bell, and he, like, sets it down as he's leaving because it's not gonna do him any kind.
Speaker 6:I'm just gonna pick it up and put it somewhere they can't reach it. And then
John / Doran:Yeah. You put
Thomas / Guy:it on a
Tim / GM:high shelf, the Cobalt would never find it.
Speaker 6:Okay. Mister Stack.
Thomas / Guy:Perhaps you should also wager our admission to the tent if you
Tim / GM:win. He, gets down on all fours and he, he makes, 3 claws with each hand
Hannah / Eryn:Okay.
Tim / GM:And he drags these claws through the boardwalk beneath them. So he makes 6 lines. And then in the center of this, he places a heavy stone. So that is the stone that needs to move. If it gets all the way to your side, he wins.
Tim / GM:If it gets all the way to his side, you win. Yeah. Each round, you're both going to wager something. Whoever wagers the more valuable thing automatically advances 1.
John / Doran:Okay. And
Tim / GM:then the second part is to throw something at the rock in the middle to try to make it move towards your opponent. So there is a wager and a physical aspect.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. Before Snack starts, I wanna give him a slap on the back and say, good luck, mister Snack. And I'm casting guidance on you, which gives you a let's say add a d four to any ability check. Thank you, Bert.
Tim / GM:So to start a game of Horcrux, you have to put up your wager. This is the thing that you win sorry. You're not putting up a wager to start. You are you are saying what you get if you win of what they have. So you can you can just make a claim.
Tim / GM:You say, I want your something or, you know what, I want this.
Thomas / Guy:What, by all means, do you have to wager?
Tim / GM:Says, I have many shinies to wager, but, you'll see those later. What I want from you is I want. And, he, like, looks your whole group up and down, and he says, I want his hand. And he points to Tibio. Done.
Tim / GM:And if you win, what do you take? What do you take?
Thomas / Guy:Show me. What do you have?
Speaker 7:Snack. Miss your snack.
Tim / GM:What is it?
Speaker 7:Please. We we need to get past the curtain.
Thomas / Guy:Past the curtain.
Speaker 7:We need all of us to get past the curtain. Snack, there's magic items
Tim / GM:And magic items.
Thomas / Guy:Behind the curtain. I see.
Speaker 7:He won't let us pass unless you win.
John / Doran:Okay. I, shift on my focus back over to this kobold. If I
Thomas / Guy:win, I get something from behind the
Tim / GM:curtain. None
Hannah / Eryn:of my shiny. Agreed. -Agreed. -Yes.
Tim / GM:My first gambit. And he, pulls out a single gold piece, 1 GP, and puts it down. He says, what is your worth?
John / Doran:I pull out 2 gold pieces.
Thomas / Guy:He says, damn it.
Tim / GM:And, so you advance one space.
Hannah / Eryn:That doesn't mean
Tim / GM:so the the large stone in the center of the the six lines has moved from the middle position towards your opponent by 1. So you've got 2 more successes and you've won this.
Thomas / Guy:It's a good ass game.
Tim / GM:So now for the physical parts, he he kind of he gets his, like, rock ready to go. And, he says, what is y'all rock? I will use this rock.
John / Doran:And I pull out an inconspicuous looking rock, but, Snack knows that this rock always hits.
Hannah / Eryn:So Oh. What? Yeah.
Tim / GM:He says, not so big. Yes. I think you have the smaller rock. Is my rock permissible since your rock is smaller? And he hands you a larger, but probably lighter stone.
Tim / GM:This is fine with snack. He says, very polite and, gets his stone ready. Are you going to be aggressive, defensive, or tricky in your assault?
John / Doran:I'm just gonna be aggressive. Okay. You know?
Tim / GM:Okay. And I'm going to determine what he is going to do. Okay. Okay. So now you're going to roll against each other to hit the rock to advance.
Tim / GM:Okay. K? Go ahead. And you have advantage at least.
John / Doran:Alright. We'll see how this goes. Yeah. Oh, great. Well, do I have proficiency with rocks?
John / Doran:Yeah. Simple weapon.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, absolutely.
John / Doran:I guess it has to be strength based, so I end up with a 9.
Tim / GM:Okay. You smack the rock dead on, which is not a surprise to you.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah.
Tim / GM:He hits it at the same time. He went with a very aggressive strategy as well. Okay. You just hit it harder by a little bit, and and you advance one space. If you get one more, you guys are in already.
Tim / GM:He looks up at you and he says, okay. Okay. Snack. And he looks back behind
Speaker 7:Snack. Snack.
Tim / GM:Snack. Looks back behind the curtain and says, I can't let them in. I wager.
John / Doran:So Snack, is good at this game in his mind. I'm going to use the deception and pretend that I am very, I'm like like I'm sweating and nervous and I mumble something under my breath like,
Thomas / Guy:I shouldn't have wagered on my coins.
John / Doran:Trying to deceive him into thinking I overbid.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Make a, make a deception check.
John / Doran:Okay. Got a 13.
Tim / GM:Okay. He says he says wager. What what do we have, wager? He says, I wager one gold piece and he lays it down and smirks at you.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, dear. Well,
John / Doran:I pull out I pull out the silver chalice that I showed him earlier and set that down.
Tim / GM:He says, what?
Thomas / Guy:Oh, I forgot. I I forgot I had this.
Speaker 6:But but this is gold.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, but this is this is
Tim / GM:a silver and it and it is a chalice. He he holds up his his he holds up his gold coin to the rest of the group and he's appealing to you.
Speaker 6:He says, this is gold. That's just silver.
Hannah / Eryn:Its craftsmanship is remarkable.
Tim / GM:Tell me, what is it worth?
Hannah / Eryn:At least 20 gold pieces.
Speaker 6:I almost feel bad for him.
Tim / GM:Winning on a gambit. Despicable.
Thomas / Guy:Such is a wave of hock hawks.
Tim / GM:Hush, all of you, Hush. Quickly. Very quickly. Quietly. You take you take something.
Tim / GM:You take one thing, and you leave. You understand me? Of course. I'm very powerful. My dragon hood isn't here.
Tim / GM:I will I could transcend by the time you come back.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh.
John / Doran:And I quickly run into the Okay. The manicure.
Hannah / Eryn:I mean,
Tim / GM:he gestures all of you guys in there.
Hannah / Eryn:I go in. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:Are we going in already? Weird.
Tim / GM:Yeah. He just let you guys in. The other cobalt quit on the spot. You don't need
Tara / Journey:to walk you don't need to walk on my skeleton feet anymore, Bert.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Bert just like crawls out of the robe like, okay.
John / Doran:So Snack, is definitely looking for shiny things. Yeah. He's totally unaware of the actual mission at hand here. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:Is Buster back here?
Tim / GM:Not in this room. Okay. What are these other rooms? You guys see a large vial of blood that is dripping into a complex series of tubes, and it's being distributed into like 20 individual vials. It's incredibly diluted blood that is being distributed to these vials.
Tim / GM:And what ends up in the vials is a very rose colored elixir.
Speaker 6:The rose water.
Tim / GM:Dress. You see a a desk with, two notes.
Speaker 6:I'm gonna swipe the notes.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 6:And a vial of
Tim / GM:blood. Okay.
Speaker 6:Like undiluted. I want
Hannah / Eryn:can I try to detect what the blood is?
Tim / GM:For sure. And, Uli, just confirming your suspicion, you see, labels that say miracle rose water on them.
Speaker 6:I'm I'm also going to take one of those.
Tim / GM:The labels? Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 6:And just slip them in my pocket, and then I'm gonna go.
Tim / GM:Go ahead, Holly.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm trying to see if I can detect what type of blood it is. Yeah. 17, is it a certain type of check or intelligence?
Thomas / Guy:You can
Tim / GM:go with survival or arcana.
Hannah / Eryn:So 19.
Tim / GM:Okay. With a 19, you come to understand, this is one of It might be the only blood that you would be able to recognize or tell apart because of the magic that surrounds this blood and how really vile it is. This is unmistakably vampire blood.
Speaker 7:It's vampire blood, everybody.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, cool, but bad.
Hannah / Eryn:Wait. Who's a vampire then? Not not me. I haven't seen any vampires.
Thomas / Guy:Don't vampires usually do the opposite? I've seen a vampire once.
Speaker 6:Oh. Wait.
Thomas / Guy:Really, Snack? Yeah. He showed me the way out of the underdark. Underdark? Underdark.
Speaker 7:Nick, no. I believe you are confused. We are in the in the dark right now.
Thomas / Guy:I
Speaker 6:understand. Guys, I think I think we should leave.
Tim / GM:So there's 2 notes that you just swiped. Do you read those, Uli?
Speaker 6:I mean, I'll skim over them, but Let me
Tim / GM:take a look at those, Uli.
Speaker 6:Okay. You you can keep them.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. Speed read those.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. Well, I can't read.
Tim / GM:So there are 2 notes. 1 is like a letter that looks like it's traveled a lot. The other one is like a scrap of paper that was like left on the desk as like a note to self kind of thing. The letter reads as follows. I hope everything arrived intact.
Tim / GM:The courier comes highly recommended. Please supply her with a list of anything else you need to be successful. It will be supplied to you. PS, this batch of gear is significantly more dangerous and will draw more attention. Distribute them slowly.
Tim / GM:The beetle and the great sword are particularly dangerous and should be fascinating.
Speaker 7:Didn't, really have a great sword?
Speaker 6:He did.
Tim / GM:The second note, Bert, is a torn scrap of paper that says, human wizard, brown hair, fancy boots. Gnome cleric, Bert Wisherspoon. Half work, Uli, dock worker, lives at room 11 at the gray mist building. Thin human male, possibly wizard. Strong looking, light haired human male, incapacitated.
Tim / GM:Cobalt Hireling.
Thomas / Guy:This list has us on it.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm glad they noticed my boots. Okay. Let's get the book out of here. Yeah. Holly scoots out the door.
Thomas / Guy:Wait. Should we should we bust this thing up? Just let them keep running?
Hannah / Eryn:I mean We'll come back.
Speaker 6:We have proof now so we can
Hannah / Eryn:I mean, they can get more proof? I'm not worried about it.
Tim / GM:Okay. And you guys see on the table behind you as you're turning to leave this room is another canvas like the one that you had seen outside covering a few items, not a lot.
Hannah / Eryn:Do we all see it?
Tara / Journey:Jake and I. I'll Yeah. While you guys are reading the note, I'll check that out.
Tim / GM:So you you pull back the canvas on this. You see a pair of heavy gauntlets, that actually end in like a thick metal plate. These gauntlets are made for punching.
Speaker 6:Oh, I like those.
Tim / GM:You see a scepter that immediately whispers to snack. Yes.
John / Doran:Good. That's what I need more influence. Dubious intent.
Thomas / Guy:I could just have like a solo campaign.
Tim / GM:So snack, when you you, like, turn at the sound of canvas being pulled off and you see the scepter and it just kind of stares at you and you stare back at it and it says, snack. Genie. What? West. What?
Tim / GM:The lonely mountain west. Go. Find power, of course. There is also a golden beetle on the table. There is a cat statue and a bone talisman.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly just sweeps them all into her bag. Let's go. Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:Careful. That stuff's dangerous.
Tara / Journey:I saw I saw that bone and I was like
John / Doran:Alright. Snack climbs up till I grab the scepter.
Hannah / Eryn:Look at it more later. Let's go.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Snack grabs the scepter before it falls into your bag.
Hannah / Eryn:That's right.
John / Doran:Alright. Let's go.
Tim / GM:You can all see you can all see Snack just staring at this thing.
Thomas / Guy:I'll deal with that later.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Let's see.
Speaker 7:Hide it away.
Speaker 6:Or yeah. Hide hide it. Don't let anyone see you took that.
John / Doran:You also need me to take out a oil lamp, and, it just kind of like yeah. It just enters into
Tim / GM:it. Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:Makes this get weirder and weirder the more time I spend with you all. I
Speaker 6:don't know.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Alright. Let's go. Bye.
Tim / GM:You guys hear heavy footsteps.
Speaker 6:Dip out. Dip out.
Tim / GM:Coming from backroom.
John / Doran:Okay. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Farther back into the complex, and you hear
Tara / Journey:Everyone run.
Tim / GM:What was that? And you hear stomp stomp stomp.
Speaker 6:I'm gonna scoop up, Bert and Snag. Oh, no.
Tim / GM:That's good. I'm booking it. Okay. Cool. Who is last in the line of people that are running out of here?
Tara / Journey:Probably me.
Thomas / Guy:Probably Bully or
Speaker 6:I'm sorry I didn't scoop you too.
Tara / Journey:I'm too big to scoop.
Tim / GM:Let's have Uli and Tibio, can roll, decks against each
Hannah / Eryn:other. Shit.
Tim / GM:Lose or loses? 96.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, no. Alright. Can
Speaker 6:I can I reduce her and grab her too?
Tim / GM:It's a little too quick for that. You feel a large strong hand grab your loose robe, tibio, and just kind of whip you to the ground, a little bit backwards, against the floor end of the complex a little deeper while your party runs away from you out front. At that exact moment, Bert, you feel incredibly nauseous and then your vision kind of goes white and anybody who's around Bert just sees him disappear.
Speaker 6:What the fuck? I was holding on to him.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:So am I invisible or, like, you're not holding me anymore?
Speaker 6:Am I holding him anymore? No.
Tim / GM:He's gone. Yeah. He is not you don't feel his weight or anything.
Speaker 6:Oh, fuck. And the
Tim / GM:last thing you hear or the first thing you hear, Bert, as you open your eyes in the second court of Tildrey is, Bert Wisherspoon, do you know why you've been brought to the stand to testify today? Oh.
Speaker 6:Cats. Oh, no. Cats.
Tim / GM:Oh, no. Oh, shit.
Hannah / Eryn:So wait. Can the court just summon people whenever they want?
Tim / GM:No. Okay. Here's the thing, Bert. You know court processions like the back of your hand. You know how this all is supposed to work.
Tim / GM:You are supposed to get a 70 2, 48, and 24 hour notice before you're summoned to court. None of that happened.
Thomas / Guy:Okay.
Tim / GM:You immediately show up in this chair in the 2nd Court of Tildrey, and there are 3 judges that are sitting high above you on raised pedestals, and they say, do you know why you've been brought to court to testify today?
Thomas / Guy:Your your honors, I believe I do, but I must heavily protest. I did not receive any warning, not a 72, not a 48, and not a 24.
Tim / GM:Perhaps you were negligent in checking your notices.
Thomas / Guy:Checking notices is kinda my thing. I don't think that was it.
Tim / GM:Well, we could, of course, look into this matter after your case, Bert.
Thomas / Guy:This is very bad timing for me.
Tim / GM:We understand, and, again, the court would advise you to check your notices with more frequency. Continuing on to the matter at hand, Bert. Yeah. You are an accomplice in the murder of Samantha Barrow, murdered by Brax Minow. How do you plead in this case?
Thomas / Guy:Okay. I would like to return to the initial question of why I am here in court, and that is to say, no. I don't. This is the first time hearing of this.
Tim / GM:Brax Minnow is a murderer.
Thomas / Guy:That doesn't seem like a thing a judge should say.
Tim / GM:Yeah. The judge next to him says, allegedly.
Hannah / Eryn:Right. Well,
Speaker 6:that makes
Thomas / Guy:sense. Technically counts.
Tim / GM:And, the judge who had been talking the whole time says, and, Bert, you know in Tildrey that covering up for a murder is accomplished murder.
Thomas / Guy:That's an ancient law. There's a number of precedents that would indicate that
Tim / GM:well spoken, Bert. A tried and true law indeed. Samantha was a researcher, for agricultural magics and a very up and coming young lady, killed in cold blood with a magic missile spell from Braxminnow.
Thomas / Guy:Do I know the Samantha person?
Tim / GM:You've never heard of
John / Doran:her. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:And is Brax here?
Tim / GM:You, like, scan the room really quickly for any sign of Brax, and you see him in the central person being judged seat
Thomas / Guy:Okay.
Tim / GM:With a giant spotlight on him, and he's got manacles on both of his arms, and he, like, squints to the light to see you. Rex.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. What evidence do you have that Rex supposedly committed this crime?
Tim / GM:We have multiple witnesses of excellent character who claimed to have seen Brax at the scene of the crime. We found we found blood on Brax's clothes as well as Samantha's hair in his apartment. We have an important question for you, Bert. Where were you on the night of this past November 22nd at 8 PM? Do you have any such record of this night?
Tim / GM:Are you do you even keep records?
Tara / Journey:What's going on? What's
Thomas / Guy:going on? Do I even keep records?
Tim / GM:And you flip through your book. You eventually hone in on the day. You're a little flustered, but November 22nd this past year. It's a pretty short entry. It says, work as usual, not a lot of downtime.
Tim / GM:Busy, but productive. Next paragraph. Brax invited a bunch of people out for drinks. It turned out to be a good time, even though it was just me and him in the end. Nobody else showed up, but we made the best of it.
Tim / GM:Too bad we both ended up getting sick, but I've never had that much fun with Brax for so long. And you can see you remember that night. You were with Brax from 6 PM to 2 in the morning. You guys got sick together. He was nowhere near any of this.
Thomas / Guy:I do remember this night, in fact, now that I see my notes. Brax and I were together the entire night. We were, out drinking at the bar.
Tim / GM:And, we're supposed to trust some note that you probably just jotted down? You hear the 3rd judge say, of course not. Bert is a respected reporter. Everyone sees him with his book. It's sort of a thing.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. People know my book. They know my writings. They can trust me.
Tim / GM:The, the first judge looks at the third with this, like, scathing kind of glare and says, I see. It seems, the trial of Braxton Minow will be extended. What a bother. Bert, you're dismissed.
Thomas / Guy:Dismiss? And what do you mean extended? Shouldn't that just pretty much shut the case right there?
Tim / GM:Well, we're going to need some more time to, investigate further and see if there's no other black marks on his record.
Thomas / Guy:Well, black marks shouldn't matter in this case if he's innocent and he has a, alibi.
Tim / GM:The judge, like, stands up in their in their chair, doesn't get much taller, but says, character counts for a lot, Bert. And here in Tilderie, we're all about character. And they snap, and, you feel yourself fading away back into the previous scene.
