Not Another D&D Podcast - C3 Ep. 58: Giant Egos (The Ice Knife Saga)
Episode Date: April 18, 2024Duck Team attempts diplomacy with some very angry giants! Calder gets stuck with the annoying guy, Sol becomes a stress ball, and Callie plays a soothing tune. Support us at Patreon.com/...Naddpod to get access to the after-show and a bunch of other Naddpod content! Get tickets to our upcoming live shows at naddpod.com/live.Music / Sound Effects Include: “A Wizard’s Tournament” by Emily Axford."The Scrappers" by Emily Axford."Left is Left and Right is Center" by Emily Axford."A Fairy Remembers" by Emily Axford."Secret Basement" by Emily Axford."The Bronze Bastard" by Emily Axford."Spearmint & Tea Leaves" by Emily Axford."Snake Fight" by Emily Axford."Sea Elves" by Emily Axford."All I Need is One Thread to Spin a Web" by Emily Axford."A Haven Away From Home" by Emily Axford."A Memory" by Emily Axford."Shadowfell" by Emily Axford."Ilsed's Secret" by Emily Axford."The Purge" by Emily Axford. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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This is a HeadGum Podcast.
Welcome to the Campaign After the Campaign.
This is Not Another D&D Podcast.
Welcome back to Bahumia, everybody.
Bahumia.
Wow, so nice.
Just a little sparkle for your day, Murph.
Hey, thanks.
Wow.
Yeah, just a little sparkle.
Just a little sprinkle for your brain.
Yeah, you needed that pick me up.
Yes, I was super down before we started.
Just seeing all of you people.
Yeah, you were pissed.
Made me upset, but now that, you know,
God said Buh-Hum-Ya nicely, I'm back in.
You're welcome, man. I'm back in, hey thanks.
I came over and Murph was just like skipping rocks
into a pond and sighing.
I was just like, my man needs a little something extra today.
And then I looked at him and I sneered,
but then he said, Bohemia nicely.
And I brightened.
Yeah, it all is forgiven.
I brightened.
The pond is accessible from the podcast studio.
I am your dungeon.
Everyone. Mur am your dungeon. Oh, I do.
Everyone!
Murph a pond.
They don't even know that my name is Murph yet.
I'm your dungeon master, Brian Murphy, joined by Jake Hurwitz.
Built like a fridge, just pushed my brother off of a bridge,
called her Kill Day.
Yeah!
Yes.
And then, of course, we've got Emily Axford.
Knocking at Destiny's door, It's Calliope Petrichor
Master of giant Aladdin dragon chest. I forget which order we put it in but I like
That's not yeah, I don't think that's
That's not it. I don't think that's it.
Dragon, Aladdin, Giant.
E-D-G-C maybe.
Aladdin, Giant, Dragon?
We'll figure it out.
Giant, Aladdin, Dragon.
E-G-D-C, so A.
You can't put giant first,
because then it sounds like it's giant, Aladdin.
I like Aladdin, Giant, Dragon, Chess.
Aladdin, Giant, Dragon.
But then it sounds like it's an Aladdin
versus a giant dragon.
Oh.
No, but I mean, that's the fun of it, isn't it?
I really thought it was Aladdin, Dragon,
because I was imagining Dragon.
Oh, it was Aladdin, Dragon. But I was imagining. Oh, it was a Ladran dragon.
It was, because of the joke about the band.
But I think we also called it like four different things.
Right, but if you look at the acronyms,
you're gonna end up with Edgack or Eggdok.
Which one do we prefer?
I love them both, honestly.
Let's say that different people call it different things.
Oh, yes.
So much rife in the community.
So much.
It depends where you're from.
Yeah, and then of course we've got cauldron tanner.
Oh, my world is spinning, but I stay winning
because I'm always Peregrine-ing.
Oh, yes.
It's all Beaufort.
Yeah, early rose, I really liked Peregrine.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to asking you about that.
I looked at a thesaurus.
Really?
Because I just went to Wikipedia and was like,
what do Peregrine falcons have to do with this?
Well, they do kind of have to do with it.
Ah, save it.
Okay, we'll talk about it on the short rest.
Save it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
All right, I was just saying save it for the short rest
two minutes into the episode.
Off to an absolutely killer start.
Fuck it, let's plug our Twitters, why not?
Yeah, let's do it.
Ah!
Ah, Jay Corwitz is me. Adjay Corvitz is me.
Adjay Corvitz is Emily.
Yes.
I gave Emily the login to my account.
And I've got a new thing where I'm making sauces.
So I'm just going to be the sauce god.
Just general sauces.
Sauce god.
Sauce god.
Sauce god.
Could be pasta sauce, could be condiments, we don't know.
It's just freaking sauce.
You don't know, that's the joy.
Sauce god.
You don't know. Let's go ahead and do a little recap.
So last time, you ventured deeper
into the crystal labyrinth of the ice knife
and faced challenges all on your own.
Kali played a game of strategy against a fragment
of her mother's spirit.
Saul faced off-
Mommy.
Mommy.
Saul faced off against two swags
and Calder confronted his brother Gowan.
Kaliope learned that her mother had her divination powers
awakened by Queen Jovir, which in essence destroyed
her ability to live in the present.
The fragment revealed to Kali that she and her friends
were Peregrine weavers of fate who would determine the future.
She warned, so sick, so sweet.
She warned Kaliope that it was time to stop being the
pawn and start being the player and introduced her to her next challenge, a game of, and
I wrote it down here, a Ladran Giant Dragon Chest.
Eggdawg!
That's how I like it.
That's how I like it.
That's how I like it.
We're an Eggdawg house.
This is an Eggdawg house, thanks.
Meanwhile, Saul saw visions of two narratives surrounding the missing Swags.
On one side, he saw the story of Swag stopping an ambush at East Watch and being brought
to Ingrids.
On the other he saw the story of Swag saving giants in Cold Break and bringing them to
the Frozen Fist.
The two Swags materialized in front of Saul and both insisted that they were the real
one.
Before a conclusion could be settled, a strange black mist filled the room and possessed the
Swags,
causing them to attack. Sometimes you just gotta fight it out. You gotta. When Calder confronted
Gowin, the latter revealed that he had struck a deal with Alexandrite. Gowin said that the frog
in the alchemist's lab was a false swag and had threatened the village, first killing Boris Frigg,
then replacing the kill to his neighbors, and eventually absorbing Ingrid when he didn't act fast enough.
With a knife to his family's throat, Gowan saw no other path forward and agreed to give
her the ice knife.
Calder pleaded with him, and Gowan was talked down from full-on combat to a wrestling match.
Saul finished his challenge first by pretty much brute forcing it, attacking both swags.
That's my fraud!
This is how I live my life!
That's my sauce god!
I hate riddles, I love sauce.
If you punch the riddle hard enough, you might just break the riddle.
Yeah, and turn it into sauce.
Do not invite me to escape rooms.
That's true, you can just kick the door down in an escape room.
They can't keep you in there, that's not legal.
They've already got your money.
If you freak out hard enough, they'll come get you.
They'll actually come get you really fast,
because some of the stuff in the rooms is expensive.
That's the cheat code for every escape room.
Just kick the emergency exit.
I walk out crying and say, solve this.
Just spit on all the paper.
Just say, I think I smell smoke in here.
Is that a guess?
And you'll win.
And then when they come out, be like, do I get a t-shirt?
Yeah.
I figured it out.
I figured it out.
The ultimate escape room.
Another win for the sauce guy.
But you did favor the one that you
suspected of being false, the frog from Ingrid's lab.
Once he was defeated, the other revealed himself
as the true swag.
This reflection of Saul's bratty explained that the original dream of them in the swamp was
a true connection, but that it had been hijacked by Alexandrite, where Saul had
been fed false information from then on out. They said goodbye for now, but Swag
said that Commander Fuldar of the Frozen Fist knew more. Meanwhile, Calder was
quicker on the jump and got Gawain to the edge of the ice bridge, barely saving himself with a clutch deck saving throw.
Gawain planted his feet and regained the momentum, pushing Calder to the edge himself.
But just as it seemed Calder would be thrown off, he pulled Gawain off, then used his helm to teleport himself back.
Gawain was sent falling off into the abyss smirking.
Gotcha. Gotcha. At the same time, Kali was able to defeat her mother by using her piece's movement
abilities, retreating and letting her mother face a pair of wild card dragons before pouncing.
After her defeat, Callie's mom left her with a few words of wisdom, strategy beats strength,
the enemy of your enemy is your friend, and the very specifically worded, if your enemy
thinks they have all the pieces to win,
let them.
As Callie's mother disappeared,
you floated down to the ice bridge
where Havoc confirmed that Gawon was alive
and had passed his challenge.
Together you made your way through the next door
and came upon a war room covered in frost.
As you made plans for diplomacy
to befriend the giant warlords,
a familiar mist began to fill the room,
defrosting the giants with a malevolent force.
And that's where we are now.
Okay, they're defrosting now. Should we get them like a towel or something?
Yeah, I mean, I think that the last thing they saw was Aureox, who looks, at least has some resemblance to me, betraying them or at least deceiving them just casting a big ice spell at yeah
I'm just gonna maybe get a bit scared
Behind like a icy stalagmite. Oh, yeah. Yeah, this is a huge room. It's a huge war room
So you are in this war room watching as a black mist begins melting the ice away
It is tough to make out individual features at first because they're so caked in frost
But as the ice melts away
You see the forms of five giant warlords beginning to emerge as their bodies move
Huge chunks of ice break off and you hear loud moans from beings woken by a slumber that's lasted thousands
of years and is there anything besides just kind of making yourself scarce and hiding is there
anything you'd like to do because i'm going to say this is going to take a round or two before
they're able to react can i make a pot of coffee I feel like let's get a newspaper to be like this is the day.
Oh, that's very good.
Can I take off my tabard and like hop up and hand it to them so they can like wipe their
face off?
Okay.
Just try to like help them readjust.
You're like, it's been a long time.
We can talk, but first here, something to wipe your face.
Okay.
So you're going to come at it from from like we're here to take care of you
We're here to help yeah introduce you to the world exactly just the beginning of Austin Powers exactly
Perfect they're gonna take a three minute piss
We're ready for that. I was doing them a piss hole
I will say that Calder famously cannot make fire so it might be hard for him to make coffee
But you can get it right through yeah
hard for him to make coffee, but you can get it ready. Cold brew.
Yeah, you make some cold brew coffee.
But as the ice around the room melts away,
you see enormous tables with giant pieces,
maps of Bohemia tracking the movements of troops,
miniatures of giants marking the movements of their armies,
ones of dragons marking the dragons.
There are different settlements and outposts
marked on the map,
and standing around the table are these five stirring warlords. The biggest is a primordial
fire giant. Steam comes off of him as the snow melts away. He wears black armor and a helm that
looks like a giant bull. As he defrosts, a spark lights under his armor and his inner body bursts into flames.
As fire licks out from beneath his plate mail, looks like almost like a being of pure fire,
and the mouth of his bull helm breathes black smoke. And you just hear as he stirs,
Ugh, what has happened? Aureox, show yourself!
Good morning.
Just all in good time, all in good time.
I will get you a fresh Tappert.
You've clearly burned my first one.
Looks around, just trying to make sense of the room.
The next two awake is a Primordial Storm giant
that looks like a giant merfolk,
sort of almost like a proto-ol guppy.
She's got a fish humanoid upper half
and a mermaid lower half,
but is kind of hovering in the air.
And she's covered in bright aquamarine scales
that protect her armor.
And she wields a trident and has hair of green seaweed.
What is the meaning of this? Next to her is a primordial stone giant.
They look elemental, like a sentient rock being.
Whoa.
As they wake from their slumber, you see gray stone eyelids open up,
revealing dark eyes that glare at you.
Uh, just kind of looking across the room,
it does not seem like they have a mouth,
but they crack their big stony knuckles,
then cross their arms and kind of each time they move,
you hear air escaping from beneath like the rocks
that make up their joints.
And it almost sounds like judgmental or angry groans
as they move.
A judgmental elemental.
Ah.
Hey, honeysuckle, share some of your rocks with them.
Grr.
Come on, do it.
Honeysuckle, do not eat them.
Do not eat them.
Grr.
Grr.
Grr.
You see the stone giant looks at honeysuckle
kind of adversarially.
One of the last to wake up is a hill giant woman with thick side
burns and disheveled messy hair. She's the shortest but still giant and built
like a power lifter. As soon as she wakes up she's the last to- or the last of
these four to kind of get going but as soon as she is able to move her body
enough the rest of the ice shatters
around her and she immediately grabs the war table with a finger and flips it across the
room.
What happened?
What happened?
Ariox, show yourself!
Um, how do you like your coffee?
She screams in your face.
You look like you could use a scone.
And the last to wake is a cloud giant
who seems to get a grip on his surroundings
faster than the rest.
As you saw him kind of defrosting,
he looked almost amused in his frozen state.
And when the frost falls off him,
he clocks you guys immediately.
The other guys are kind of like looking around the room, yelling about Aureox in various
states of anger.
But this dude seems like he kind of knows the score, looks over, sees you guys, kind
of squint his eyes.
He's sort of a fae-looking giant with pointy ears, but there are elements about him that seem more
like Air Genasi or Cloud Giant or like Elemental. His joints are connected by
swirling balls of air allowing him to move in unnatural ways and as he comes
out he just kind of studies the room looks around at everyone and you guys
see the black mist that has just melted away the snow and the frost
and all these guys continues to fill the room and as it reaches each one of their faces you see their
eyes flicker red like their irises kind of take on a red glow and you guys can hear whispers around
you in the ether you hear frozen by ari Raydac, you lost the war,
small folk have taken over as havoc fills them in on the
happenings in the past few millennia while they were
slumbering. You get the sense that they are kind of
immediately, not charmed, but essentially immediately
magically filled in on their insane circumstances. And there is an immediate uproar
as these giant lords all start screaming,
shoving each other, but more importantly, pointing at you.
Whoa, it's a disgrace, it's a disgrace, Oryx!
Everybody go ahead and roll initiative.
Oh god.
That's an 18 for me.
16.
24.
Okay, so the way this is going to work,
you do see even with having been filled in,
Havoc, with each one of Havoc's little tricks,
it does not seem like Havoc is fully ever
really embodying someone and making them do anything.
It always seems like Havoc kind of pushes somebody
in one direction or another,
or uses the truth to fuck with people, you know, in that kind of like malevolent trickster way. So
you see these people are not charmed, they just found out the circumstances in a very inconvenient
way for you and are very pissed. So the people around the room are in different states of being angry.
This is going to be a half combat, half diplomacy encounter.
Kind of up to you guys how much you can withstand, because these are very powerful beings, and
how much you want these dudes on your side, because you were told by the Sunflower that
they could be allies in
the future against the crown.
How this is going to work is that every giant has a different temperament towards you.
There is aggressive is the worst.
That means they're going to attack you.
Dubious means they do not trust you and with a bad persuasion check could be pushed to
aggressive.
Interested means they'll hear you out and aligned means that they will defend you.
So if somebody likes your idea,
they might stop somebody else from killing you.
It does seem as these guys were yelling about, you know,
like, get them, where's our Aureox, all of this.
It does seem like some of them hate each other as well.
Like you can kind of get a read
that this was kind of an alliance of convenience
for some of them. So you don't, you don't get the sense that they're all on the same
side. Right. If you want to win someone over, you have to try to appeal to them directly.
If you try to go to the whole room, you risk pissing off four out of the five people. And
that might very well get you killed if that makes sense. Okay. Each time you succeed,
you bump up. So you can go from aggressive to dubious to interested to aligned.
Anytime you win by like a lot, by like five or 10, I might bump it up to.
If you fail spectacularly, it could be bumped down by two.
So it's up to you guys to kind of buff each other up
so that you can make these diplomatic things, use your abilities to figure out sort
of their dynamics and everything to use them against each other or legitimately try to
appeal to them while also surviving. You see the hill giant that woke up, the very paranoid
looking woman that was screaming is full on feral and attacking. Like she is. Yeah. Yeah.
So first act is Saul. You see the hill giant woman,
that was the one who flipped the table.
She is at diplomacy aggressive times two,
which means she needs to be tossed down twice
just to stop attacking you.
You tricked me!
You tricked me!
Okay. You! Me? Yeah! Personally? Yeah! You woke me! You tricked me! You! You! Me? Personally?
Yeah! You woke me up!
You know I'm mad!
Do you want to go back to sleep?
I don't know! I don't want to be up here!
Do you want me to get you a Chase Lounge or something?
Yeah! Where is it?
Why did you offer her a Chase Lounge? We can't get that.
Produce it now! We can't get that. Produce it now!
Oh, we can't deliver furniture.
So she is ready to attack.
She's kind of attacking in the way though of like,
Auriok's tricked me, everyone's an enemy.
Just kind of like a paranoia.
The stone giant, the sort of rock elemental looking person,
they look dubious.
They are arms crossed looking at you angrily.
You see the storm giant, the proto ol' guppy,
the like fish mermaid is standing near the stone giant
and also looking at you dubiously.
And just going, I insult, and insult!
And then you've got the fire giant
who is not as intense as the hill giant,
not coming at you aggressive times two,
coming at you aggressive times one.
Small folk and their tricks, I won't be tricked twice.
No one is trying to trick.
We are just looking for furniture.
The only trick is that there's no chase lounges
in this room, which I guarantee you is not by design.
I've known you for one minute.
I've known you for one minute and you've tricked us once
saying there was a chase lounge.
I just as slow.
I demand a chase lounge for the Empire.
That's very good sir.
I know!
And then finally the Cloud Giant, who is last in the initiative, looks interested.
Just kind of like looking around the room, clicking his tongue.
But Saul, you are first to act.
Alright, so am I able to address all of them at once?
Anything you do to everyone is with disadvantage,
because you're never going to get everybody on the same page.
They are beyond furious right now.
Gotcha, gotcha.
All right, that checks out.
OK, so what I want to do first, I do think that the Hill
Giant is maybe our most pressing concern.
What did you call me? What did you call me?
I'm concerned.
We said you were a pressing concern.
Did you hear that?
A pressing concern?
I am concerned for your well-being.
Yeah?
Yes.
You should be concerned for your own well-being.
Which is why we need to get you a chaise lounge to relax in.
We need to get you something.
What's the lounge?
Are you hearing about the slounge? I'm going to do a perception get you a chaise lounge to relax in. We need to get you something. We're in the lounge, you're hearing about the lounge.
I'm gonna do a perception check for a chaise lounge.
Say 17.
You see, you know, there's chairs in here.
I am going to just like skedaddle over
to the most comfortable looking chair
and push it towards the hill giant.
Okay.
And then if you would allow me for my action,
I want to just kind of like slap Cali on the back
and give her guidance.
Right on.
Thank you.
Slap her on the back and give her guidance.
We clearly have a lot to discuss,
but we should be comfortable while we do it.
I apologize deeply for the lack of a chaise lounge,
but perhaps this comfortable, very regal looking chair
will support your grand ass. You said very regal looking chair will support your trend.
Regal looking chair?
You said a chase lounge.
You're tricking me again.
I hate being tricked.
If you would like to just, you know what?
Actually, I'm about the size of a stress ball.
If you want to just give me a good squeeze, if that's going to help you.
Yes. All right. Yeah.
Now you're speaking my language.
I offer myself up., yeah you go up
So I'm gonna say actions are going to need to be used if you're going to do like a diplomatic play
So you do need to take an action so it's all you're not gonna get a persuasion check
You can do it as a you know
I'll say as a bonus action if you want to do a disadvantage, but you do risk offending
God it's a very tenuous situation, but I will say only two of them are attacking you right now. All right
You guys just look at you angrily
We can fall further than this. I'll do it with this again. Okay
Okay, if you fail by five or more
She's gonna drop another level and get even more pissed gotcha gotcha gonna be an even bigger hole to dig out of
It's a 15 and a 17 okay, so the low roll is gonna be an even bigger hole to dig out of. Ooh, it's a 15 and a 17.
Okay.
So the low roll is gonna be a 17 with my modifier.
That fails by more than five.
No!
She is aggressive times three now.
Oh.
Okay.
Okay.
Just screams.
Good Lord.
I'm gonna pop you!
If it so pleases.
Her hilliness.
That is her turn.
She is going to take Saul up on the stress ball thing.
Oh no.
And he's gonna try to pop him.
She runs over and just starts squeezing at Saul.
She just might.
She actually uses a great club,
so she starts taking cracks.
Actually, whiffs on the first one is just so pissed off.
Stay still! I am trying my best. starts taking cracks. Actually, whiffs on the first one is just so pissed off.
Stay still!
I am trying my best.
Does hit on the second attack for 25 damage.
All righty.
Oh, and off mic, we had taken a short rest beforehand.
So if anybody at home remembers last episode,
Saul took a lot of damage.
He rolled a bunch of hit dice,
so he's back up quite a bit at this point.
A few.
After the Hill Giants turn, only gets two attacks, that is Calder's turn.
Calder, you see the mood in the room has worsened.
Well squeezed, your hilliness.
Um, okay. I'm gonna let Saul handle that.
Calder, please. I'm dying.
Aggressive times three, I'm looking at I'm dying. I'm dying. I'm dying. I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying.
I'm dying. I'm dying. I'm dying. I'm dying. I'm dying. But it also behooves you to like help out Kali or help out somebody that's got good persuasion because these
DCs are fucking hard. Yeah, I know that now
Okay, I maybe I'll sidle up to the the two warlords who are looking dubious
Oh, okay
You see the storm giants and the stone giants both have their arms crossed and you see the storm giant looks at you and goes
What is the meaning of this? Explain yourself!
I don't know why he said the chase lounge thing. I haven't seen one of those in a long time.
It was a great offense!
Yes, I agree.
He lied! He said it was a chase lounge and then he seems to be bringing some other type of chair.
I meant a chase lounge,
like no one's having sex in this room.
His intent is to acquire and give you a chase lounge.
I believe in him.
I just don't know how quick it's gonna happen.
Why are we talking about chairs?
I honestly don't know.
I don't know.
What has happened here?
What has happened here?
I think the best thing we could do is calm your friend down.
We'll reset up this table
and we'll give you a new lay of the land.
Things look a lot different now
and we know what it looks like on the outside.
As you say that, you see the cloud giant speaks up
and goes, yes, perhaps cooler heads would prevail
if we all took a moment and spoke, aha.
Oh no.
Yes, this creepy gentleman has the right of it.
A fine observation, aha.
I bow to him.
You see, the Storm giant thinks about it.
And what would you like to do?
A persuasion check, Calder?
Yeah, I'll do a persuasion check on the storm giant.
Okay, great.
19.
Okay, 19 does not get her out of dubious, but does not anger her.
You see, she looks to converse with the stone giant,
who seems like that is who she is most aligned with,
and perhaps they are speaking psychically or something,
but you see, she turns to them and they speak for a moment.
Would you let me action surge
and give Callie the help action?
Yes, I would, yes, sure, rest.
All right, Callie, I got it warmed up for ya.
Okay, OK.
And then after Calder, that is the Stone Giant's turn.
You see the Stone Giant confiding something
with the Storm Giant, looks at you, Calder,
sort of leans in this enormous, enormous, enormous giant,
head the size of a boulder.
Giant eyes occasionally will close them,
so all you see is this giant rock in your face
to kind of intimidate you,
gives you a good look,
and then leans back and folds their arms,
still trying to get a read on the situation,
but not going to attack.
After the stone giant's turn, that is Kaliope's turn.
OK, I am going to from behind my little slag mite.
I'm going to start playing a calming lullaby
that my mother used to play from the Feywild.
Something common that anyone from the Feywild might recognize.
Awesome.
And with that, I'm going to bonus action, emissary of peace, and I'm going to slowly
walk out from behind the stalagmite and I'm going to address everyone.
And I'm going to say, yeah.
And I'm going to say, my name and I'm going to say, my name is Kaliapipetricor.
I'm also from the Feywild and we are here
because we have the rare opportunity
to rid the Feywild of the crowns.
We don't have to build paradise in the material plane.
We have a chance to reclaim it at home.
Okay.
You've got a help action from Calder.
I have a help action, a Squire die that I never used.
Guidance.
Wow.
Okay.
All right.
Hell yeah.
All right.
Go ahead and make a persuasion check.
And this is going to be, it's everyone it's automatically with disadvantage
I've got but you've got advantage so that makes it flat
18 on the die let's start adding shit up bitch
Let's proceed with the Squire die and guidance that takes it to 21 and since I have my emissary of peace
my Persuasion is at 14, so that's a 35.
Fuck yeah.
Fuck yeah.
Yeah.
I can't believe I tried, I can't believe I tried at all.
35, that was your pathfinder number, son.
I have a plus three.
35, I need to do some math,
because some people are gonna jump a couple.
Now that I know Callie's gonna roll that,
can I go
Back and be a root or two a bunch of people
Had a squire die and guidance so
35 is a pretty freaking rare roll
You keep popping out as she uses me like a stress ball your head pops out from between her fingers
It's like you know those like flesh-colored stress balls that the eyes like bulge out of me right now You keep popping out as she uses you like a stress ball. Your head pops out from between her fingers.
You know those flesh-colored stress balls
that the eyes bulge out of?
That's me right now.
Callie, you come out from behind a rock playing this song.
You see, at first when they see you,
they see a winter eladrin sneaking out from behind a rock
after having just been frozen by a winter eladrin and they go to pounce. Some of the ones that are even looking kind of
calm look like they're getting shifting uncomfortably getting ready to fight. You
start to play this song and you see the cloud giant seems to recognize the song and kind of hums along and the other Giants seem to
recognize it as well and it does seem to have a soothing effect on the room you
see some of the black mist starts to go away the sort of unnatural malevolence
that was filling this room that was complicating it starts to kind of
disperse and now you're justating it, starts to kind of disperse,
and now you're just left with the real world kind of diplomacy of this tense situation.
But when you say that, you pique the interest of everyone in the room.
You see the stone giant takes their arms and was kind of looking at Calder, trying to size Calder up
and sort of intimidate him.
Instead now leans back, stops having their arms crossed and turns and starts whispering
to the storm giant, who also looks interested and confused.
So they go from dubious to interested.
You see the fire giant was about to draw his
massive war hammer but takes his hand off of it and moves from aggressive to
dubious and looks at you and goes, what do you mean? What nonsense is this? More
small-folk trickery. The cloud giant looks like he might be aligned with you at this point.
Kind of hovers over, has like an air elemental quality to him, so like kind of floats over
to kind of stand next to you as a defense or as a show of support.
I go to my hair and I produce a peace lily and hand it to him.
He takes it.
A fine present.
You see, he takes the flower, blows into it and makes like a bouquet of it, gives one
to you, goes over, gives one to the storm giant, gives one to the stone giant, goes to give one
to the hill giant who smacks it away,
is still at aggressive one.
I'm gonna kill this fucking frog, man!
And that is your right!
So she's still furious.
You see the fire giant also rejects the flower,
then looks down at you Kali and goes
What do you mean a time to to destroy the crowns? I mean that there is a rare opportunity to
Return the Feywild to its unbridled glory and I lay my swords at his feet
You submit yourself to the will of the Empire
You submit yourself to the will of the Empire. Akkora little scoffs.
Join the Empire, pathetic!
Why do that when you could have the wisdom of the sea?
The sea?
Why would anyone want the sea when you could have magma and the land and the Empire?
There should be instead of a seelie or an unseelie king or queen,
there should be a steamy unsealy king or queen.
You want to be kings and queens?
It would be different.
I would be a steamy king instead of an unsteamy king.
Do you understand the difference?
I don't think anyone here wants that.
Do you hear everyone murmurs in agreement
that they don't want that?
I certainly don't want that.
You know nothing!
I look to the rest of them and I'm like, were you just escaping because you wanted
to be king or queen or regent?
You see the storm giant goes, no, no, of course not.
We should rule by council.
And if someone were to be needed to lead that council, she should probably be wise and have the power of the ocean.
You don't think the king needs to be steamy?
Yes, if they needed it to be steamy, then that would be fire and water.
Yeah, that would be the two of you pairing up.
I refuse.
We can all agree it's excellent wordplay, right?
The Empire!
He just keeps putting his fist up.
I look at everyone but the fire giant and I say,
we are here to relieve ourselves of empires and empires.
But not in what?
What?
He's beside himself.
What do you mean?
Your way is old and it's proved itself rotten.
You see the cloud giant goes,
yes, yes, let's all take a moment and introduce ourselves.
The one with the fiery passion as it were,
ah, that is the high ember lord Charbon.
Charbon.
Charmed.
Charred, I'm sure. You see, grabs you by the collar. The High Emberlord Charbon. Charbon. Charmed.
Charred, I'm sure.
You see, grabs you by the collar.
I don't like jokes.
It wasn't a joke.
It's High Emberlord Charbon.
It wasn't a joke.
I don't like puns.
Your steaminess, I apologize, your steaminess.
Submit to the Empire.
Calder, you have to work with this one.
I've had enough of it.
Your embernance. Your embernance I will accept. Calder, you have to work with this one. I've had enough of it.
Your embernance!
Your embernance I will accept!
Yeah, grabs Calder by the collar.
Cloud Giant continues and gestures to the Stone Giant.
This is Stone Commander Basalt Von Shale.
I curtsy.
Stone Giant nods respectfully.
Still interested, not like aligned with you guys yet, but kind of like wants to hear you
out.
And then of course next to them is the glorious wave mother, Akoralil.
I bow to her as well.
Ah, finally!
Getting some respect around here!
And then the Cloud Giant gestures to himself. My name is Garrosh.
I was Aureox's master of whispers.
What is expected of a master of whispers?
Everything and nothing.
Did he tell you of the betrayal?
Tell me?
No.
Okay.
He seems, he's kind of unreadable.
Give me an insight check.
See right through it.
All right.
That's only a 14.
No, no fucking clue what that means.
He just said, told me?
No.
And this wonderful young giant is Bear Lane.
And that's the hill giant that is still attacking Saul.
I'll say, while this is all happening,
Saul is being chased around the room by Bear Lane,
who is just destroying everything.
It is like an earthquake happening
in this room in the background.
She is spirited and we need some spirits.
So welcome, Bear Lane.
She unfortunately will not get tired.
Oh.
Yes.
That is gonna be great once we're on the same side.
I know what, the hills have ups and downs
and we're gonna ride them together.
Okay, so we're going to go back into initiative order.
So to deal with Bear Lane mostly.
I will say that you do notice that kind of,
nobody likes Charbon.
Like nobody likes Charbon.
Everyone is dubious of Garrosh, the master of whispers.
Sure.
No shit.
Yeah, no shit, everybody's dubious of the master of whispers.
Everyone seems kind of annoyed by Charbon.
Basalt and Acorilil seem like they are allies, and everyone seemed
to have a soft spot for Bear Lane.
There's like a little bit of like a tummy.
I do too.
Bear Lane.
She's so spirited.
So passionate.
I get the sense that back in your kingdom,
you would probably chase around jesters
and pound them all day, right?
I hate kingdoms!
Right, right, right.
I give her a bardic inspiration.
I trip Saul.
So that is
Kenna's turn. Kenna
is going to, I'll say
she'll give a help action
to Saul
to try to calm Bear Lane down and
will also hit you with a
squire inspiration.
Kenna starts to chase Bear Lane around the room
and goes, Miss Bear Lane, Miss Bear Lane,
please, can I interest you in a crochet frog
to use as a stress ball?
Ah!
That is Garrosh's turn.
And you know what, I'll say Garrosh,
you guys have gotten him up to Aligned.
So Garrosh is going to
You see hold an action
Doesn't look like the type of person who acts without thinking about how it might look so kind of like
Holds back top of the round is Saul so Saul you are still being chased by Bear Lane. Okay. Yeah, I say
Lady Bear Lane, you can clearly see that our efforts are wasted here
to arguing amongst ourselves that the true enemy lies beyond.
There's enemies?
Oh, yes, indeed.
Where? Kill them, Bear Lane.
Find me Adam.
In the Feywild, they have forged crowns.
Get him.
Crowns to constrict you.
Okay.
Beat the shit out of this frog.
Yes. Interesting, interesting. There are other frogs to destroy. Get the shit out of this frog. Yes. Interesting.
There were other frogs to destroy.
In the kingdom beyond.
She looks around for more frogs.
More frogs you say?
Indeed, you can make a chaise lounge out of their bones.
Go ahead and give me, yeah,
she's clearly like a barbarian in her age.
Go ahead and roll with advantage.
Okay.
Nat 20!
Wow!
Yes.
What is that total?
Cause she might jump several things if you pass by a lot.
Okay.
Cause right now you're at aggressive one.
So she'll just get to dubious,
which will make her stop attacking.
That'd be great.
Would love that.
25.
Wow.
Okay.
Right on. So she does does she just bumps up one she
goes from aggressive to dubious but you see she stops sure she goes to like
attack you but instead grabs you and picks you up and looks at you closely
you have nice words frog thank you I how come you woke me up and now I'm mad? We woke you up because
the time for action has come. There's no more time to slumber. I like action. Indeed. Yes. I like
action. The rumbling of the hills. You must awaken and you must come with us because there
are crowns out there. Crowns that wish to trap you in their twisted ways. And the Feywild, we gotta put the wild back
in the Feywild, right?
You see, she nods, she seems kind of on board with this.
So you guys are kind of out of combat for now.
There can always be a disastrous impasse
or something like that, because it does not seem
like all of these guys are on the same side.
It does seem like High Ember Lord Sharbon does just want to also become the king.
I've fully pushed High Lord Charbon onto Calder.
I'm like, you both like fire.
I love fire.
I am fire.
And then I walk away.
Yeah, I find it useful for keeping warm.
I'm going to get another drink.
It is life, is it not? I said nice, not life it useful. Yes. For keeping warm. I'm gonna get another drink. It's nice. It is life, is it not?
I said nice, not life, but I can-
Let me- let me apposit a question.
Sure.
Okay?
I- I- they're also in the middle of something, so maybe we should listen to them.
First off, what is your name, little Ember?
Uh, not Ember, Calder.
Calder Kilday.
Calder Kilday.
Of the Ice Knife, yes.
Kind of a cold-based guy, but that doesn't mean we can't get along.
Okay, and explain to me what this Eladrin means.
Why is it a time to destroy the crowns when the great Empire could not destroy the crowns?
Yes, well, the Empire is going to be... Yes, yes, exactly. You've heard well the Empire yeah it's going to be yes yes
exactly heard of the Empire right yeah we were a great army very great very
warm a toasty army and we still are and you still are and you would be even a
toast to the toasty army yes
I'm barely paying attention, but I just keep giving Calder a thumbs up. I keep on waving her back
Kelly Calder I keep holding up one minute. I love what you're saying. I didn't pick you up that helped me
Let's tell Kelly about it Kelly, I need you to meet my friend.
Yes.
What did you mean when you said that the grounds could be destroyed because the greatest armies
in the Feywild, greatest among them the Empire.
And you hear Akura Lily just goes, the armies of the sea actually were more powerful and
held out longer against the unstealing courts than the
kingdom of the endless flame. Nonsense! I have never bent the knee! The kingdom of endless flame
lives as long as my flame fires bright! Looks at you, Calli. Well, because we have come into possession of a very important part of Oberyn's prophecy.
And I do a little whistle that only the serpents can hear to summon them to come forward.
Nom nom nom.
You see honeysuckle and licorice come forward.
And you see at first High Emberlord Charbon scoffs and goes,
Huh, what are your tiny worms going to do against the might of the courts?
Do you remember Oberyn?
How he said that the Feywild would regret the taming of the Feywild?
And he had this prophecy.
These are two of his three creatures dispatched to destroy the crowns.
It's all coming to pass and you are lucky enough to see it through.
Charbon, you see on his face, he does recognize the prophecy of Oberon. You do see he looks at
the little serpents skeptically because they just, you know, they're the size of like ponies.
skeptically because they just you know they're the size of like ponies. Honeysuckles a little bit bigger but they are like kind of
small but you see Garrosh the master of whispers walks forward and goes if you
won't take her at her word allow me to prove it to you my lord and he is going
to cast zone of Truth on you.
Whoa.
As the magic hits me,
I affect like a very open posture,
like my hands out, I'm telling the truth.
And I just say, I know this because I went
to the beast lands and I spoke with Oberyn.
This is the will of Oberyn.
But Oberyn hates the giant kin in the
Aladrin. But he hates the crowns more and that's going to work out in your favor.
You see, um, a Coralil interjects and goes, Well that's all well and good, but are we to
understand that you're on the same side as Ariox, the man who betrayed us and froze us for thousands of years, manipulating us?
Ariox's life ended with deep regret. I don't think even he was on his own side. I think he really regretted what he did to you all. He paid the price for it. Ray Dak kills him.
He paid the price for it.
Radak kills him.
You see... Charbin pipes in and goes,
Yes, yes, the spirit told us he killed Radak, our ally, the warlord Radak. He was supposed to be the general.
And Garrosh chimes in and goes,
Yes, don't you find it a bit strange that
and goes, yes, don't you find it a bit strange that despite our disagreements, we all came together and got on the same page to elect Radak to be our leader ahead of everyone else?
Doesn't it feel like there may have been some unnatural influence?
And everybody kind of looks around. You still see a little bit of this mist down here, like the remnants of havoc that you dispersed and
Grosh goes, I have an affinity for
detecting magic and this here is like a less subtle version of a bloodlust that was infecting this army.
I believe you are being manipulated by Rhaedac as much as you were by Ariox.
I would say even more so.
Now we found ourselves here for different reasons, but we still came to the Material
Plane as a consolation prize.
Now, these small folk offer you your dream.
They path home.
You see Charbon sizes you up, Kali.
You see Barrelayne sizes up, sizes up Saul.
She's so spirited, I love her.
Saul just gives like a really big grin.
Yeah.
And the other giants all kind of nod
and Acora Lil goes, very well. If you have a way to destroy these crowns, then perhaps there is a path to us working together.
We shall discuss this with our bannermen, and speak further once you make your way to the Feywild.
I look around to see what she means by bannermen.
You see Garrosh leans in to whisper to you
and goes, these are very magical giant Kin Lords
and some of them have the ability to summon creatures
and elementals to their side.
And Okorilulu commands the sea.
Oh, that's so cool.
I just went to the ocean for like the first time recently, or at least like deep into
the ocean.
I'm learning how to swim.
I'm actually like killing it with swimming.
That's so good.
That's excellent.
We had a great time down there.
We have a son.
Yeah. Summon your bannermen. We had a great time down there. We have a son.
Some of your bannermen will make a feast.
Fuck.
We don't have any fucking food.
A feast?
A feast on a chase lounge?
Yeah.
You see, why don't we keep making promises?
Karosh goes, well, surely entire armies would not fit down here in a haunted dungeon. O'Cora-Lil, I believe you have a way to plane shift the others to the Feywild, and we can
meet up and speak more there.
Charbon goes, very well.
We will do a tactical retreat and consult our better men.
Unfamiliar.
We will speak more of this in the Feywild.
Indeed.
All glory to the Empire!
Yes.
That's your thing.
I do wish you glory, you know, maybe getting really good at painting or something.
Glory in the arts, really.
Quite good, Lord Chob.
And you see, Akora Lily begins to cast a great spell. You see she's got a trident.
You see a bunch of giant bubbles begin to emerge around and
Should we meet at Korra Lily's place?
Because she died.
How many spell slots does she have? Because we did promise Calder's parents a vacation.
You see the bubbles encapsulate each one of the giants except for G'rosh and then the
bubbles pop and you see a flash of green as it seems they have disappeared.
Oh no, I was 20 feet in the air.
Yeah, Bear Lane was holding you up, drops you, Saul, and you are all now left in this
room with G'rosh.
Okay.
Wow.
Hey there, NAD polls.
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Grosh clears his throat and turns to you and goes Apologies my allies were understandably upset but
you handled it perfectly you are as amazing as advertised
uh-huh. Advertise? What do you mean by that? Who advertised us?
Did we put out a flyer? Is there a billboard? No it wasn't a billboard or a flyer
We should get a billboard. Are we in a commercial?
It was sort of like.
What are we promoting?
Because I didn't agree to promote anything.
I saw you in the divination room.
What are they using my likeness for?
Oh, well, I guess I have starred in a series of books.
The likeness isn't exactly right.
The illustrations really don't do me justice.
I'm sure they're wonderful, and I'd love to read them someday.
But I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that series.
Kinnick, would you grab the book? Could you grab the copy?
Yes, of course. I hand him a book.
A fine gift. Thank you.
Of course.
Puts it away in his pack.
Your breath smells like strawberry vape.
All right.
I flashed them a thumbs up.
I'm sorry, you saw us in the divination room. You saw the pictures.
Yes. Uh, Auriarchs didn't tell me about all of his visions per se,
but I was able to take a little peek at his divination room.
It's quite a fascinating room.
Can I ask you, did Auriarchs paint all that, or is it like magical means
that projected all the images on the wall?
I believe it's a bit of both. I think he sort of runs his hand over it and then it sort
of appears.
So like...
Quite elegant.
Yeah.
It's like wiping away like a foggy mirror or something like that.
Indeed, yes. I think that's an astute observation.
Saul gives another thumbs up to call it a fail.
That one was earned.
Two for two.
There is really, I mean, no sneaking up on a diviner.
So I suspect Aureox intended for me to see it
because though I am a mere footnote compared to you,
I did see myself in the future and based on the rough
timeline of it all from what I can estimate I should be long dead by now.
Can I ask you a personal question?
Of course.
And I really want you to answer it honestly. There's no wrong answer.
How do you feel personally about Auriokz right now?
Do you hold a grudge based on what he did?
A grudge? No. No, of course not. I do not hold a grudge against Auriokz.
In fact, Auriokz helped me see the light. I once worked for the Unseelie Court.
Really?
Yes.
Well, the courts were actually originally founded as a way to empower us.
The Feywild used to be much more wild, shall we say.
Ha ha ha. Looks at you, laughs harder. Feywild used to be much more wild, shall we say. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Looks at you, laughs harder.
More like the Fey Miles these days.
Oh my God.
Indeed.
Geez.
It was a pity laugh.
Everyone gave me a pity laugh.
I leave the room.
Mine was real.
Kelly.
I give you the flattest smile.
Before the crowns, while the archfey were still living amongst us, we were
victim to their whims and whimsy. They didn't rule over us, not technically at least, but they were
gods. They treated you like playthings. Exactly, they could pretty much do as they pleased, and
some were kind, some were cruel, but to most of them, the wellbeing of mortals
was an afterthought.
The crowns were divine magical items
that gifted demigod-like status to the wearer
and powers to the people under their protection.
Making it demigods of a mortal.
Indeed, which then allowed us to start fighting back against the Archfey.
The problem came after the Archfey stopped using the realm as their personal plaything.
The crowns stuck around.
So who rules the Feywild now? Who holds the crowns?
At the time, the unseelie queen was Queen Ezra, but I've been asleep for 10,000 years,
so there's likely new monarchs.
Queen Jovier and Queen Cirilla.
Okay, so there are two crowns.
Did you see any evidence working with Queen Ezra as she had a crown of it having a corrupting effect.
Because I'm wondering if, I know Queen Jovier started very principled, but I wonder if the
crown has corrupted some of those principles.
It has power, certainly, but it's not cursed.
Did you see Queen Azra's behavior change
as he worked with her?
Yes, I saw the power go to her head, certainly,
but I don't believe it was anything magical.
It's not magic power, it's just power.
That's so classic, that in the Feywild,
the thing that corrupts is not magic.
Yes, and-
That's so fey.
That's so fey. No way. Yes. That's so fey. That's so fey.
No way.
So fey.
So fey.
But it is my understanding that you've brought Oberon to our side.
You see he looks down at Foster.
You've got a familiar of him right here.
Nice to see you again.
You see Garrosh does a little bow to Foster
and Foster kind of looks dubious.
Goes,
Waaah.
Foster, do you know this man?
Waaah.
Do you?
Waaah.
He kind of shrugs.
You kind of know?
You remember the face, not the name.
The name, not face.
Garrosh goes,
I have not met this particular familiar of Oberon, but I've met Oberon,
I can sense his magic.
And also, like I said, I peeked on the wall.
So I'm aware that Oberon's prophecy has come true, but rather than destroy us, it could
potentially save us.
Yeah.
The way Oberon talks about it, it doesn't seem like he's some archfey who wants
to come back in and reclaim the wild. It's almost like he loved it for what it was, and
he'd be happy to know it returned to what he once loved. Yeah. I don't think Oberon has a side.
Oberon wants to do away with all sides. Yeah. Yes, he was actually one of the more sympathetic
Archfey at first, believe it or not.
Okay, good, because you were talking about Archfey
and I was thinking, oh gosh, who am I consulting with?
Well, he's still terrifying.
I can't think of a polite way to put it.
He's got my mother's soul.
Well, there you go.
Yes, quite good reason to be fearful or trepidatious
around him. He understood at first our need to protect ourselves, but he feared
perhaps rightly that humanity would rob the realm of its wild and magical spirit
and he didn't come to hate mortals until the courts were solidified.
But it seems perhaps time has softened his heart, or maybe he just fears this great machine
so much that he knows he can't afford to keep old enemies. Uh-huh. Imagine that. Oberon fearing that Alexandrite could even come to the beastlands.
I mean, we don't really know everything she's capable of yet.
Every time we think we've got her figured out, she leaps ahead of us.
It could be self-preservation on Oberon's part, or it could be some flicker of still caring for
the land of the Feywild.
Because it's almost like it was a land that he once tended.
Indeed. A lot of the life born of that realm can be attributed to Oberon.
Okay, well, I think I need to prepare you that.
I think we need to kind of face off with
a spiritual lingering of at least half of Ariax.
Oh yeah, before we get anywhere near the Feywild,
we've got bigger problems.
Yeah, there's sort of,
I don't know if you've noticed this lingering bad energy
that's-
Yes.
Yeah.
The vibes are off.
The vibes are definitely a bit off and they've been off for some time.
You know, 10,000 years or so, gestures to the room.
Remember how mad everyone was?
You seem really chill about it though.
Were you like still somewhat aware during all this or were you fully frozen?
I was fully frozen.
Okay, cool.
But I elected to be part of it.
Like I said, I saw myself on the wall, knew I couldn't possibly be alive unless I was
part of Ariox's plan.
And so I...
You strike me as someone who's a bit breezy.
You know, you just kind of go with the flow a little bit.
There you go.
That's me.
Breezy.
Do you have a house back in the Feywild?
Do you have a space that you're hoping to see if it's still there?
Or a loved one?
I do have a cloud that I miss greatly.
God, I hope it's still there. That's so cute.
Me too.
Is it a cloud that anyone can stand on or just cloud giants?
What, I fall through?
I could help you stand on it for sure.
Wow. I'd love to stand on a cloud.
That seems fun.
Yes.
But this entity that you're speaking of,
gestures around the room.
You see there is still some black mist
around the outer edges.
Yeah, we're talking about you.
Kind of kick at it.
Yeah, you see it kind of disperses back like hiding,
but like a fly on the wall watching.
I take a little hand vac and try and vacuum it up.
Just keep spitting out the back of it.
But you see Garrosh looks around at it and goes,
this has a bit of Ariox in it, a bit of Radak,
which is interesting.
As I had mentioned to my allies when they were still here,
this is reminiscent of something that Radak had been doing
while he was leading armies here. There was sort of an aura about him that brought out hatred and
anger in others, and he was using it to sort of not fully manipulate, but to kind of push the scales to give himself more power.
So this is reminiscent of that, but again, something different.
The visions of Ariax, or at least his note-keeping of them, are vague.
All I know is what I've told you and that you are facing a great machine.
Now I know that you are supposed to fight this thing here in the Frigid North, but I
admit to not fully understanding how we get there.
But if you were to give me information about what you have faced here, perhaps I can help you disseminate some of it.
That's just too quick, Insight Chair.
Yeah, go ahead.
Shout out to the two crew.
I accidentally swallowed some of the black mist.
11.
I got a 14.
Completely unreadable.
Okay. Okay.
Caldor, Saul, what do you think we do here?
Do we see any other exits from this room?
Does this look like a dead end almost to us?
Give me a perception check.
Okay.
Just a nine.
You see black mist gathering around the edge of the room.
You can't see beyond it, but there could be a door against one of the walls.
But you don't see it right now.
Okay.
Okay. Okay.
If we're gonna have to trust Garrosh out in the Feywild,
we might as well trust him here.
So I'll tell him that I fought Gawain.
Okay.
I'll tell him about the spirit of Havoc,
kind of putting brother against brother.
I guess like kind of tricking us,
but also kind of exerting its influence,
um, like, heightening emotions.
Yeah.
You see, as you say that,
Garrosh takes it all in and goes,
that does strike me as odd.
It also sort of, like, wore the face of my mother that does strike me as odd.
It also sort of like wore the face of my mother,
but it was difficult to see. It was almost like my memories of her
and also Ariax's memories of her.
Yeah.
Smushed together.
Is it odd because it's so personal?
The fact that your brother is here
and you're fighting each other, so you have opposing agendas,
it seems strange to me that the guardian here, Havoc, would see you both as being worthy.
Is it just a competition to the spirit or is it something more?
All of the challenges we faced involved?
reflections and reminiscences in some way either memories we've had or literally having to fight an ice version of
Gowan they they all wanted to sort of teach us something, but I think it was always something we maybe
knew ourselves already it was almost like
breaking through the ice in a weird way to finding like a truth we maybe knew.
You see, as you say that, Saul, Grosh, Saul's looking at a piece of ice and he's cooking it together. Grosh points to you and goes, that is the language of diviners.
Huh? They can't tell you exactly what you need to do. and goes, that is the language of Diviners.
They can't tell you exactly what you need to do,
or else you might overthink it.
You might not do it.
An enemy could learn your plan and work to stop you.
Havoc, it seems to be trying to reach you
or teach you something.
Yeah, yeah, I'm on are raised by diviners
So I know everything about what it's like
Never tell you exactly what they want always want to hold your hand should try and push you in the right direction
so that strikes me as a bit strange and
Clearly Aureox does not have full control over whatever
this is.
Otherwise, it would have just let in the good guys and stopped the bad guys.
But I suspect he would have known that his powers combined with Radax would have left
behind some kind of magical reverberation.
Maybe it is as simple as he knew it would be an effective curse to protect the ice knife,
but it seems like overkill or an oversight, and Ariox was known to be quite precise.
Do you think there's a chance that Ariox knew he was going to die, so he let himself mingle
with Redox's power to create this curse?
I believe the curse was intentional, yes.
I believe seeing Radak's magical influence over his allies may have sparked visions, or even just an idea from Ariox
even just an idea from Ariox to create something new. Whatever this malevolent spirit of havoc, it may have more purpose than to just safeguard this relic.
Can we capture it in something?
Like a big jar.
Perhaps you can.
Perhaps you can find where it is emanating from.
Okay.
Let's try and find where it's emanating from.
Where's the leak?
Let's follow every tendril and curl of this mist.
Yeah, you look around the outside.
Everybody give me perception checks.
I will do detect magic in case that helps in a way.
Hell yeah.
I only got a seven.
14.
18.
Yes.
Great.
Saul, you get with a 14,
you can see that the smoke is kind of moving
in different directions,
but you see kind of where it may be starting
and Callie with an 18,
you straight up see where it likely is
and with like detect magic you're able to see like the as the smoke is kind of
moving around you will occasionally see the outline of an archway it seems like
the smoke is pouring in from that direction okay let's go towards it I
enlarge my fist and fan all of the smoke away. Hell yeah. You start fanning all of the smoke away.
And you see, as you do that, Garrosh pulls back.
And it is a cloud giant, kind of has, like,
control weather type abilities.
You see, it lets out a great, powerful, magical breath that
blows away a bunch of the smoke in addition to everything.
Nasty, you just woke up. Sorry for the morning breath, everyone.
Oh, gargle something.
Come on.
Does anyone have a mint?
Callie, have you realized that this guy is like a living vape?
This is so nasty.
You see, yeah, a lot of it disperses and opens up this new path.
And you see that the tendrils of this smoke begin retreating back down the hallway,
towards another far-off end.
Okay, we'll follow.
Yeah.
I believe I might be of more help outside of this place, so I'll see you in the village.
In the village? Back in Iceknife?
Yes.
You've never been there before
Have you?
Are you just gonna walk in?
You have money a time traveler am I going to wander into the food you need like money for a hotel
I'm magical. I'm going to use spell. He doesn't have money. I don't of course
I don't have money at least let us give you like a name of someone you can stay with and I give him a map of
Boris Frigg's lake house.
Okay.
So even if the sheets are washed, you gotta wash them again.
I was just going to like fly up into the air and hide in the clouds or something.
Okay, well just make sure you take out the trash.
Fly up into the air.
Okay.
And then fly into the lake house. And then fly into the lake house Fly into the lake. Excellent. Go down the chimney. That's open. Again, I know the
ice not the village does not exist. But again, I peeked at the wall. Right. Right.
Yes. I've thought a lot about this. I did not just without doing my homework
decide to be frozen for 10,000 years. I'm the only one who elected to do this.
I know enough. I know enough.
I read the outline.
It just felt like a Brendan Fraser movie.
I give him five gold.
You said peak, you said peak.
I don't know how much you studied it.
That was sort of an underselling of it.
I studied it.
Stop being proud.
Take the lake house keys.
I'll take the lake house, give me five gold.
I could use dinner, I'm hungry.
Just don't use the powder room on the first floor, okay? Very well.
Gregor, I've protected it ten years ago,
and it's never been the same.
Very well.
So like havoc, but in a toilet deck.
Hell yeah.
Yeah.
Okay, get over the idea of him just wandering in the town.
Hello. It's not that weird. It's just a get over the idea of him just wandering into town. Hello!
It's not that weird! It's just a-
Greetings, future of Pearson!
A magical cloud giant talking to Frostyde? It's not that fucking weird!
He doesn't understand what's- I don't understand what's so strange about it, really.
Like, you're just dressed kinda weird at the time.
Yeah, you're in like really really dated fashion. Yeah, you see his air elemental joints spin in all directions as he casts a very powerful
unfamiliar spell that turns him into a cloud
and he disappears and you feel a cool breeze pass by you.
I'm just saying that frilly collar is gonna make him stand out.
Yeah, and those jawed purrs? Come on.
I mean, what's with the wig he was wearing too?
I think that was just his hair, dude.
Really?
Yeah.
Yeah, I think he had just taken a hat off
before he got frozen or something.
Just gonna sworn it was a powdered wig, wow.
Yeah, no, I think it was a hat head, yeah.
He had bed head.
Gaurosh still has bed head from all the frost.
Even as a mist.
Yeah, it just flies away.
10,000 year bedhead.
God, even that mist looks like it has hat head.
But yeah, you guys see this archway
with black mist in the distance.
OK.
Let's do it.
Sweet.
Let's just puff out our chests and just say,
Aria, the prophecy has been fulfilled.
It is time for you to finally rest.
You guys enter the hall and see Black Mist.
Now, instead of just like completely filling the tunnels,
is now just along the sides and there's like these tendrils kind of reaching out.
You see it gets thicker farther down the hall
and you feel a strange sense of malevolent power.
The force of havoc is way stronger here
and you feel like you are moving towards its source.
Okay. Okay.
Let's confession time. Uh-huh.
Is anyone hanging on to anything bad that's
going to be used against them? Oh jeez. Let's just all say nope. Clear of heart and just
keep going. I have oh yeah um yeah clear of heart. Clear of heart. I took an extra granola
bar. What? Do you remember when we first got to the ice knife and I said I wasn't hungry?
Yeah.
I was actually hungry.
Oh, Kenna.
I was lying.
I lied to my knights.
Damn it.
Damn it all.
Kenna gets on the ground and just starts banging into the ice.
Guys, I know that knitted boots aren't a good idea, OK?
Really?
Yeah.
Yeah, I knew.
Why did you double down?
They're just socks, they're socks.
Why did you double down then?
I don't know.
I thought if I doubled down, then maybe that would convince
Calder there was a good idea, and then that would just
convince everyone, and it would become a fashion phenomenon
sort of thing.
They could just be great socks, Saul.
Don't you understand?
You're right.
I don't know why I reached beyond my means. okay and it dries and hugs all when we were in
Sunet I pissed the water you pissed in the water yeah I think that's fine I think
everyone was doing that right oh okay did you not do it the designated
bathroom area guys I know I told you we don't we didn't have any quilts at the
house and I gave you a
Radio sleeping bag, but it's cuz I was really cold and I used the quilt for myself
I was really cold all night. He is all the quilt. I almost got a fever
So well my toes my toes were so cold all night at a curl. You could have hit something
I used it on the socks. Honestly, I pissed the raggy quilt that you gave us.
What? Why are you pissing everywhere?
Why are you pissing on everything?
It's I'm a woman and the girl.
It's Hetchagore.
I don't have time.
You were in the bathroom so much at that house, why didn't you piss while you were in there?
I got shy.
Do you guys feel the influence of havoc causing you to lash out at each other?
This isn't us! We're being manipulated!
I take out my sword and I charge.
Yeah, you guys see as you keep walking after having this little fight
and things are getting like more heated, you do feel these little spats that you're having
that at first were just like, let's just get everything out so we're pure of heart.
You guys are starting to get like a little bit mad at each other and you see...
Yeah, you guys can just whip it out and piss anywhere.
Yeah, but I don't.
I could do it too.
I don't do that.
You see the writing on the walls,
but instead of havoc addressing you directly,
it's so fast that it's now hard for you to take in all at once.
It seems less like a coherent message and more like someone's
running thoughts. Everybody go ahead and give me perception checks.
Ooh, 19 on the die. 19 on my die as well. Damn, I got an 18.
Dude. Oh my God. 18? 23. Wow. Nice try. Embarrassing.
You feel that looking around at all these messages, you guys
feel like you're getting to the core of this last moment between Ariox and Raydac and you see
messages like, not yet, the plan, no, him first, him first, break down the gate. Break down the gate. Break down.
Break down. Break down. The gate. The gate. The gate. Break down first. You see images
of Calder fighting Gowin. Two swords clashing, but with slashes through them.
Like the spirit is clawing out that vision.
But on closer inspection with a 23,
Callie, you recognize that the sword Gawain is using
in the etching is not Howl, his normal sword.
He is using the ice knife.
What?
Okay, where is the ice knife. What? Okay, where is the ice knife?
As you ask that, you see,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
written everywhere along the walls.
Him first, him first, over and over and over again,
and pictures of Gawain and exes through Calder.
Gawain got the ice knife?. Gawain got the ice knife.
Did Gawain get the ice knife?
The spirit writes back, he will.
And then the black mist suddenly pulls back,
running along the walls,
erasing everything else written in the tunnel.
As it retracts, you can see in the distance,
Gawain running down an adjoining hallway,
suddenly ahead of you. Before you can see in the distance, Gawain running down an adjoining hallway, suddenly ahead of you.
Before you can even call out,
the Black Mist gathers between you and him
and lashes out at you with shadowy tendrils.
And that's where we'll end our session.
What the fuck?
What the fuck?
Is it a clone?
Did you interface with a clone?
The worst thing I did was the quilt thing.
I didn't do anything with the clone.
We shall find out more next time.
We can talk about this more over on our short rest.
Patreon.com slash nadpod.
That's N-E-D-D-P-O-D.
Don't sing yet.
Oh, I got it.
I'm too stressed to sing.
Yeah.
I'm too stressed.
You should be.
You should be.
Does anyone have anything they'd like to plug?
I saw a really funny movie on the airplane.
What movie?
I think the name of it was Bottoms.
Okay.
Oh yeah.
It was really funny.
Hell yeah.
All right.
Check out Bottoms.
I think it's called Bottoms.
Check it out.
Yeah.
I'll plug the band TWRP.
They just came out with an album called Digital Nightmare
and it's kind of robot funk in a way that I really like.
It's very silly but it's really groovy music
and I like listening to it.
Sweet.
Sick.
Check it out.
I'll plug my sister's band, Honey Magpie.
They're really sweet and groovy too.
I love listening to them.
Sweet and groovy.
Right on.
I've been listening to,
I've been on a wrestling nostalgia trip.
I've been listening to the Attitude Era been on a wrestling nostalgia trip. I've been listening to the attitude era podcast
Oh, yeah
Funny I said do you want to try to meet them?
Is this an invitation right here, could you be a guest?
Leave me alone. I just want to be a listener
And you can follow us on social media there, may or may not use, at Siege Merce Me, at
Call These Call Ball, at X for Gemily, no, at J for Jake.
The youth of the nation.
Using a hashtag not by the family.
The youth of the nation.
The youth of the nation.
The youth of the nation.
We already sang.
We just need some control, Murph!
It's the end of the show, everyone, and you know what that means. It's time to shout out our benevolent council of elders, starting with
Brad D, Jeffrey S, Lord of the Fjord, Hugh C, Later McSkater, Matt M. Cutter W. Jeff C. Daniel G. Dungeon Mama. Back and
more sexual than ever. Welcome back. Daniel the Dastardly Dave.
Beardman Dan. Danny P. Bryant. Best friend to Nathan the Horse. Victor T. Balnor's boy.
Who needs a friend?
Justin I.
Danny Danster.
TJM.
Trelai the Crefe.
Discolanius.
Christopher B.
Damiel R.
Jordan L.
Zyboyk version of Josh the Kobold.
Targot.
Stevie Wags.
Hellish Rebuke-er PhD.
Awpulp.
No juice.
Princess Yar.
Jory S.
Jack L.
Nicholas C.
Star of every film ever made in Bohemia,
now starring in the Iron Deep production of
A Squire Never Tires.
Samuel B. Mike H. Alka Schmeltzer Plus. now starring in the Iron Deep production of A Squire Never Tires.
Samuel B. Mike H. Elka Schmeltzer Plus.
Great Value Gemma. Adam G. Tyler F. Nebadger.
Panama James. Heredrian.
Carboro Chapel Hill FPV. Rex Thuniel the White.
Diana De Los Lopez, Cici Lulu,
RQ Pajon, so rapid folk detective, Timmy R. Reiko,
Calder Comes Cold, shout out to the cold cum companions,
Frosty Facial, wow.
Taylor B, the vengeful one One-Winged Angel.
Cass, skateboard, Cass.
Steven, speeds into the season of Snaze and Sea.
Mike K. Lady Taco and Team Incredulity.
Jake L. Nick W. William W. Big Bed.
Beardo the Mad.
Eric McD, Ananorama, Percival, Fredrick Stein, Van Musel, Klasowski
the Shruller the Third, J. Dragonborn, Guardian of the Vibe and their Piranha Princess, Decent Ben A, Dave H, Christian S, showing sweet blue hole.
Oh my god.
Dustin S, Danny F, Hawkeye Pierce, Book Fires Assistant, Izzy F, DPC is awesome!
Shown, the shade tree, mechanic of Zerbldar.
Summer Rose, Grand Tare, Cat C, Misa of House Injunza,
Ariel the occasional mermaid, Selena and the Lacey Raptor, Bee Perky, Howay! Maxwell J,
Lauren H, Nolani the coffee barista brewing fighter of Bahumia. Serv 16, The Bone Duster.
Annie, The Feywild Therapist.
Skillful Ferret!
You know I wanna see all these new giants.
I mean, bare lane if you don't have time to do all,
but of course I wanna see all.
Connor Savage, Salil.
Weed Goku 69, aka Gunk at 16 experimenting with drugs, Bioquart 7, Amber
Dextrous, Sullivan H, Trubb, Hopjapper, Jack H, King of the Mole People under Arndeep,
dressed in blue and fighting his way through a bracket style tournament, Lindsey W, Valen, Carlin C, Emily S,
Noah the Bullywug Boy, hashtag release the filthy guppy cat,
James G, EverythingBago, the eladrin who just wants
to hang out with his pet badger, Strappy,
Daddy Master Dandy, Hon, Eric B,
Marcos, learns the balance druid.
Frida M. Tracy pay the Kirk Elf librarian.
Maggie S. Holly Hyena.
Giovanni the fighter.
Akash the car.
Andrew the crick pranks walker.
Doofenis.
Russell H. A monk named Dilgo.
Cody C. Keych, Pentium II processor,
Lorelei the succubus and Kira her busty queen,
Matt M, your friendly neighborhood,
Yon and Yonkel, Andrew and Sid,
John Adams, the right-in candidate for 2024,
Meg, the mail carrier carrier manager of Bohemia.
Interesting, has there been a promotion?
Congrats, so.
James F, Jimmy A, M4L, Austin S, Wayfarer now has to do
something with the trolls.
Get rid of them, turn to page 42.
Keep them, turn to page 69.
Shane C, Burpo, Goodbarrel, Barbarian, Wilschlander, Garrett G. One Big
Curd, Mr. D. Ethan B. Hayley the Half Orc, Box Clifton, Olivia the Enchanting Bod, and
Jared the Soap Opera Cleric who recommend you don't eat the chocolate inside but hope you still enjoy Winterslade, Riley S, Fico, Garrett, the artificer, Anthony the raddest of dudes
Josh H, Caleb L, the fairy say om nom nom nom nom, Ketchup Dumbledore the bear onesie wearing barbarian. Lexi H, MJ the BFG, Artavius Crass,
Geno T, Mama Belle, Tristan the talentless hunk.
Leon K, legendary hero of Bohemia from a future campaign.
Well, that's good, we know there's a future then.
Shenanigans O'Connor,
Mios the Great,
Joshua S.,
Alexander,
Linz W.,
Angel La Pamela the Forever Vindicated,
Emma S.,
Red the Reforged Warforged,
Pavu Eskenar,
the Goliath Paladin providing service with a smile,
Emilia, leader of men and friends to elves.
The Grinch tried to pump my gas in Jersey
so I put the car in reverse.
Whoo, that is a good,
that is a really, really good setup.
We need to do more of those.
A cat napping in a sunbeam listening to a podcast.
C Jam Hiptin.
Shelby, Kenna's second favorite sprite girl.
The surprise is out.
She is in fact on Karnah.
Definitely Shelby, Garthalax said so.
Jackson R. Blake H.
Searching for a sweet plea.
With his bestie big Bev.
Pawpaw Sky Days. Claire and Cal. Meemaw Sky Days. Oh, it his bestie big bev. Papa Sky Days, Claire and Cal, Mima Sky Days, oh, it's me.
Tommy W, Hayley the Human, Megan N, the Big M,
Balor's best friend Steve, Stephanie of House in Zunza,
Jake's Ramen Shop RIP, Melchior the Brave Leonin Warrior,
who even cares about the rest of the party
Benjamin A
Sacrificial otaku pen name for Callie's cousin who discovered anime is trying to spread the word all over Bohemia get the word out there
Mikkel A. Josh H form hooves and legs
Froakie Maple the Shy Bookworm
Ashley Seth E Billy Batson,
Tori the drag goose son of the blind bisexual goose,
Baikon, and father of 69, Cygnet,
which is a real goose, look him up.
There's actually a constellation
that I believe is called Cygnet that looks like a swan. Wolfwing
pup escaped the Nautiloid but crashed in a new place called Alavast and now
working at the Romanchen. Michael, Lyle, S the second. Jacob, the purveyor of
shenanigans. Nova cry, parcel, Dex R, Hannah A, Ace Dregs,
Hi Lord of Critsburg, Brody R, Joshua F,
Darius D, Troy's Mom, Vin Diagram, Nurse Betty 141,
GKC, Teehee, Teehee, Hocinator, Bird of Holding,
Clinton P,
Cam the Frogman, Swag's dry cousin from Gladehome.
Oh, he's from Gladehome,
he's actually much more proper sounding.
Cam the Frogman, Swag's dry cousin from Gladehome.
And finally, Dean, thank you all so much.
We love you.
We couldn't do this without you.
Thank you.
Goodbye, sweeties.
That was a hate gum podcast.