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Ep 1: Hydra Think You Are? · Hedgerows & Hatchlings

• Episode 1 Hydra Think You Are 30.10: Let us step over the stream, breathe in deep the scent of wildflowers, listen awild to bird song, and know that nature is the greatest source of health and well-being. Sometimes, or in some places, it might be simpler to say that nature is magic. And if that can be believed, then maybe gardeners and conservationists. Can become witches and wizards. But not everyone appreciates nature's plenty. Some seek progress and prosperity through the ever-turning cogs of industry without a backwards glance at what it might churn up. As civilization expands and expands, the wild is asked to make itself smaller and smaller. Surely, it can be our responsibility to preserve and protect a home not just for us, but for all life, lest its vibrant nature be dimmed. The old gardeners did just that, tending to a rambling reserve of carefully managed habitats for rare and magical creatures to thrive. Then One hundred years ago, the gates to the reserve were sealed shut. Until now, footsteps crunch over brown and golden leaves. It is a bright autumn morning. A young gnome is walking through the woods, carrying an unusual staff, an even more unusual amount of luggage, and a confidence in knowing which way to go. This is aided by the long columns of lime trees either side of the path, seeming to go as far as the eye can see, their branches meeting overhead, filtering the sunshine through canopies of yellow and gold. If a hundred years of leafletter, roots, and ground cover have buried the once-cleared path, the intentional planting of the lime trees prevail as a clear guide. You feel certain that following the limelines will get you exactly where you need to be. So I would like to invite these character to the reserve. How would you like to start your visit? I pull out a little. I hold it up above my head. I go, no signal. Put it back in my pocket. I keep walking, little bit disgruntled. Frustrated that you can't find a connection on your scry hone. You're walking down this path, and you just feel the hair standing up on your neck. That you just feel conscious that something is watching you. And I would like to offer you to roll me a perception check to see if you might be able to look back. I love it. I'm so smart. I'm so smart. So you've been walking some time and the limelines seem to come to a point where two tall trees seem to present an archway as a more prominent entrance to a vast opening. And it's at this point that you feel like something's been watching you and maybe following you. And as you turn to see, you just see a flash of vision. Colour. Orangy red blur just disappears through the trees. And then you hear a twig snap. And it takes your attention over to the archway of trees, and you can see just through the archway there is a very large blackberry bush. And you definitely heard some like rustling. There's just enough movement for you to see that something is behind it. At the base of the bush. You can just make out two cloven hooves and above the bush you can see just poking out are two ridged horns. I'm gonna run towards the blackberry bush and try to uproot it. Chaos. Instant chaos. Okay. As you begin running towards the blackberry bush, you are not the only racing footsteps that can be heard. in this serene setting because that you also hear boom boom boom. Heavy footfalls running almost towards you. It might almost nearly stop you in your tracks. In fact, roll me a dexterity throw because this might catch you off guard. Seven. With a seven, what this oncoming stampede of heavy footfall is just gonna catch you off guard. Your foot's gonna slip on the wet leaves. You're just gonna fall straight on your back. And from down the ground, you haven't hurt yourself, you see now approaching. This enormous metallic looking construct. Your character in the city might have seen something that resembles a robot. And this seems to resemble some kind of suit of armour, tainted green through old mossy rust, and with an arm perfectly straight and a hand perfectly flat is this large automaton charging towards the blackberry bush. I'd like to introduce Bench to the game. Hello. Glad to be here. my character sort of comes quite abruptly to a halt in in front of the bush and just says like Look and and it points with its other hand to the outstretched hand and it goes I found one of your people and it points to this small little moth that's on its hands and then with the outstretched hand it sort of kneels down and just presents the little moth in its its hand. And from within the bush, I would like to invite Holden to chime in on how their character would reasonably respond to this sudden arrival of this enormous giant robot. I'm probably just gonna pop up and be like, What a mine, one of mine. Does the moth look okay? Shouldn't shouldn't they be sleeping? Isn't it sleep time for moths? Not me, but other moths. Th that was my concern, really. My brain's all over the place. I can't he remember all the stuff I used to be able to, so I was hoping you being a moth, it being a moth, I thought you'd be able to y you have a bit of la conversation, you know. Yeah. V, you would see that the horns and the hooves present themselves to be a upright humanoid figure, resembling a Sater, which is, you know, like a fawn person, as we lovingly refer to Mr. Tumnus. At this point, it would be quite apparent that lying down in the wet leaves is a young gnome. I set up, I'm wearing a gigantic orange blazer. I have insane orange hair and I go, you're not supposed to be here. My character just turns very slowly and looks, tries to find V, eventually does, and just looking down at you from quite high up. Is just this what looks like a helmet, a sort of hollow helmet with hollow eyes and a jaw but no expression on its face. And it just says, I beg your pardon. You're not supposed to be here. Is one of you a hydra? No. I'm a roost. Natural plenty presents. I never thought that there would be I hope that's Episode one. Hydra think you are. Hey Holden, could you describe your character for us please? his name's Moth. He's obviously a Sater. He's got like a hard crop messy candy floss pink bob. The horns kind of come out like moth antennas and the top bits are like ridged with gold so they look like in the sun it looks like the antennas. And then in terms of what he's wearing it's very kind of circus themed so it's kind of like a turtleneck corset. It looks kind of like cold shoulder to butterfly sleeves but really it's like a cuff which goes around there into butterfly sleeves. And then is wearing a sleeveless coat which when it turns around looks like the back of like moth wings which are closed. And then is wearing like you know like the rough collars that you get? It's wearing like a giant version of that as almost like a skirt but not quite a skirt. And then has like really dark black, almost purple black goat legs. Ooh. Yeah. You're not supposed to be here. I received a brief that no one else would be here. Why are you here? I've always been here like invitation. Who sent you an invitation? Not an invitation, it was a brief. A brief? Martha's gonna pop like sideways from behind the robot and try and put the black breeze in the top of like his head helmet thing and be like, a brief from who? I stand I'm also wearing bright orange pants. It's like being confronted with a block of orange right now. I go. go by. I turn around as if to go. And I will say that as you go, you are holding in your hand this long staff. With what looks like some sort of reptilian head. Not real, but like a wooden crude carving or an interpretation, like almost like an ancient interpretation of some sort of serpent. And its mouth is open and from it emits a red, almost magical laser beam that, as V's character goes, is literally holding it up upright and outright. And it is Walking in the direction of where the laser beam is pointing, which is further in through the archway, further towards this enormous concatree and a sort of semicircle around it of woven willow walls all around, creating what looks to be like some sort of wild living lodge and thing you're holding is guiding you in that direction as you try and push past or get past these two characters. Can I use minor illusion to make it look like the snakeheads come alive on her stick? It's a cam trip. So we just want it to look like it's moving. 100%. I would like you to roll then to see like how effective it is. Maybe if you do like a performance check maybe if it's a bit of artistic flair. Thirteen total for performance. I would say then as you're walking V this serpent head just suddenly almost turns to look at you and starts chomping its mouth towards you. or or whatever you would actually prefer would you like? Exactly that, exactly that. yeah. Scream, I throw the staff. Amazing. The staff just like bounces on the ground a few times and then the staff becomes almost like a serpentine tail and it starts like wriggling in the ground towards the tree. And in this chaos, I'm gonna offer to Benge. Could you roll me a charisma saving throw, please? Ooh, I'll try. Come on. I'd love to have charisma. Ten. Around ten. At a moment where you're still like processing this essentially intruder and trying to figure out what's going on, you feel something within your being coming up through your joints and almost like vibrating out of you somewhere deep. And it is the automated function of something being triggered that you can't prevent happening, and it is some sort of vocal. That essentially welcomes V's character. I think my character just very abruptly walks up to V's character and then its mouth, if that's like its jaw, just goes completely open. So its head is like almost like on its back, and then from it just comes this much louder, it's it's still its same voice, but it's almost like to the surrounding area. Hello and welcome to the reserve! We hope you enjoy your time. Here. Please be respectful to the animals and plants you find here. But have a good time. If you need any help, please find a sentinel that can help you around. And then it's his helmet just recloses back. And then again, the expressionless face. And then my character just goes, Hmm, I I don't know where that came from, but I I guess. I guess you're you're welcome to have a look round. It's a bit run down than it used to be. We've we've been trying to clear up, but when it's when we're done, I'm sure it will look impressive like it used to. Arm Roost, nice to meet ya. And it stretches out his hand to shake. She reaches out her hand, grabs it with like a hesitant two fingers, shakes, and is like Thank you, MmRG Marizi. You're old. And a as you're shaking the hand as well, you just hear the rattle of like a thousand different what sounds like loose bolts in its arm and body. And I go, You're really old. Where are you from? I'm from here. I live here. And I'd like the term vintage rather than old. But yes, y you're correct. I've been here a while. No no vintage is in shops. You're Old. When were you built? What is this? What is going on? And then I think the little brown owl gives a little knock on the top of his head and he goes, yes, bear with me a second, madam. I've I've just got to apologize to the owl that lives in my head. I'm sorry about that fella. I didn't I didn't expect my whole head to come off. It's it's been a while since that's happened, but at least everyone in the vicinities now knows they're welcome to have a look around. I just wish there was more to see. But you can you can pop back in. I think that's it for announcements for now. Holden, can I just ask what you've been doing in this during this interaction? Probably watching, looking a little bit betrayed that Roost would just invite this person to look around. slightly relieved that he said visitor though, so it's okay because they're not gonna stay. They'll just come, see some stuff and then leave, so that's okay. And now I'm probably picking up the blackberries that fell off the top of his hat when he opened up. Margie kind of takes a step or two closer and is like, is it Is it you that broke my hydro beam and turned it into a thing? Is that your fault? I would never reveal a magician's tricks. But no. No, it's not me. It's not one of my tricks. But I think it should pop back to normal as you remember it for now. And then I think Roost actually. goes over to where the staff or the snake was just to have a look out of i his own curiosity at what what it is. I would imagine that for Roost, like his vision is maybe so objective that to him, even if the illusion is still apparent to Margie, Roost just sees this long, motionless staff. But It still does have this serpentine head with the mouth open and this magical laser which is like pointing quite visibly towards an area that is not far from where the main big tree is. An overgrown section you haven't really explored yet, and the beam is pointing right towards that section. I think Margie Marzi leaves all of her things which are numerous. When she fell initially, she dropped A large ledger, a large for her magical device, and also a gigantic chest that she's been carrying behind her. All of those have scattered across the ground. Instead of picking any of them up, she crouches down towards the beam. She looks at where it's going. She runs towards where the laser is pointing. Be careful, Rulin. There's a lot of Roots and weeds and plants and vines all over the place. And I think he ambles after her in that direction. So I'm gonna say that we have Margie running towards what as you get closer seems to visibly be this very you can almost smell it. This marshy overgrown pond. And it's very hard to tell it's a pond except for you can see these like Long reeds coming out of the ground and these plants that would would survive in water, except it smells so sort of boggy that as you get close, you can see there's like very little water in this pond. I'm gonna say Margie crouches down at the edge of this non-watered pond and is like peering into it. Can I roll a perception check to see if I see anything under the surface? Or is it like murky? Absolutely, you can. Roll me a perception check, please. my goodness. First first one of the story. It's a big day. It's a big day. Okay. Marji Marzi leaning over into this murky, grimy pond, which smells very pungent just to be up close to it. A root that you're holding turns out to be an old rotted down stick and it just gives way. And you just fall face forward into this big splash, and all this muck and grime sprays up, and this small gnome with bright orange hair goes into this enormous pit of Sludge and bog and muck. As Margy goes in, can Roose with he's still got his little moth in his outstretched hand. With the other hand, can he just very quickly reach in to grab Margimarzi from the the bog and try to lift her out? Can moth stop him from doing that? From the pond you hear mmm maybe she can swim. We should see, if she's really welcome here by everything as well as you. Can Margie Marzi swim? Excuse me, can ya swim? Are you a confident swimmer? Splash, splash, splash. And just the top of her head just kind of like comes up, but it's full of mud. And then just her nose and her mouth comes up. She's like coughing mud. She's like, help me, help me. Nature's giving you a hug. Roost Roos turns to the Holden's character and goes, Can you just can you hold the moth briefly, moth? Yeah, right. I'll take the moth. And Margie, you feel this firm metallic arm reach in and give you stable sort of something to grab to sort of pull you out. You almost hear like a hydraulic piston going off as he like pulls you forward. As Roos pulls Margie out, he he like lifts her like a almost like a puppy, up to Full height. So she's now just suspended at like about six foot above the pond and just says, you're not allowed to swim here, I don't think. We used to have a lifeguard, but I don't know where he's gone. She just stares at him for like ten seconds. She's holding on to his arm like by the hand. This is really bad conditions for a pull-up. She goes, give me a shower now. Great, because I think I can do that. I just remember what is it, elementalism? Yes, beckon water. Moth's gonna step way, way, way back. Without saying anything, after Margi Marzi asks for a shower, Roost just sort of uses activates elementalism. His his jaw slowly opens again. The owl, the little brown owl very quickly just goes out and goes, just flies away. And then there's just this Stream of spit. Clear water, but spit is just like being sprayed at you, Margie, as Roost sort of revolves you around in his hand. So you're getting like a full 360-degree wash. and then afterwards, Roost just sort of pops you down on the ground. Just whilst that's all happening, I'm gonna see if I can get the little owl to land on my head and offer it some of the blackberries from like a little pouch. And we're just gonna be like watching like with popcorn. 100% that happens. I love it. I stand there after being put down. I look like the emoji that's like the face with just the line. I know it. And I'm like, thank you, I guess. You're welcome. Hmm. As water from within Roost has finished washing down Margie, like little water droplets cascade over the pond. And it does prompt a bit of movement. Coming up through the water, almost the size of a fist, comes this very small scaly, like I know. First things first. I wanna know what your favourite colours are. This is really important. Margy, orange. Orange, Holden. Dusty Lavender, yeah. Dusty Lavender and Benge? Faroost Grey. Ooh, okay. This is good. Margie, can you roll me a D4, please? Okay. So suspicious. Four. okay, okay. Ooh. It's gonna be none of those colours. It's gonna be my favorite colour. You see the size of a hand, this burgundy-colored, like deep red wine, scaled reptilian head, just poke its head out of the water. And it has these two enormous eyes that are just like struggling to open. It's as if. This tiny creature is opening its eyes for the very first time. As this tiny head just seems to look around at the world. And it's got like top of its head what looks like little scaly fins at the top. And almost protruding like what would maybe be like little horns, but just like little bumps. But its eyes are so wide and it's got this tiny mouth and it looks towards the three of you with these wide eyes. And then there's a splash of water, and a bigger head comes up, and there's a big chomp. And this this little creature is gone. And this slightly larger head, which is still burgundy-scaled, just munches down, chumps once or twice, burps, and then looks very satisfied, and you see what looks to be this reptilian head. Has with these big eyes, looks like a slightly older version than what you just saw, and as it comes up from the surface, you see it has the body the size of a sort of tortoise, and it has these little tiny legs and a tail that propels it around, and it seems to want to like chase its own tail and it starts spinning in circles. I mean Well that's that's that's nature for ya. That's that's what happens, isn't it? survival of the fittest, I guess. Can can Roost like in in his own mind just check if he if he's aware what this thing is? Hundred percent from his sort of Roll me a nature check, please. Encyclopedia Fifteen. Okay. As your lens is do a little twitch and a little zoom in, you can now see, analyzing it, that where the small head was before was actually around the neck of the same creature. This is a very small Hydra, and you just saw one of its heads grow up for the first time, and a larger, more dominant head. Bite down and eat its own secondary head. Because this creature is much smaller than any Hydra should be. If ever you think of a fish that usually tends to grow bigger based on the size of the pond or the lake, this Hydra clearly is in a space far too small for it where its growth has been stunted. Can Margie Marzi turn to roost and go, give the pond a shower? Willa. I suppose if you're a visitor I've gotta I've gotta help you out don't I so I'll I'll give it a go. Give me a constitution check please. Thirteen. Thirteen. Lucky for some. When you start to engage your method of conjuring water, maybe it's literally from the ether you're like getting moisture from the air and building it up in such a way, you recognise that it takes quite a long time to store up enough water to spray and you used pretty much most of your internal storage of water on that shower. You can exert some, but you know that. As you start spraying the pond, the little hydra is raising its head and opening its mouth to drink some of the sort of what could be considered fresh water in its comparable situation. The water level rises ever so slightly, but then your supply runs out and you recognize it's gonna take some time to rejuvenate that amount of water. Yeah. I think as it comes to the end of the spray, it's it's coming out and it's getting less and less. And then it just like sputters. So you know when like something's running out of water it just starts going And then Rich is like coughing even though he doesn't have lungs. It just kinda goes, Insufficient water supply Or or I think that might be it for a while. This Hydra doesn't look very happy door. If it makes it feel better it just ate one of its own heads. But shouldn't really be doing that. Should be eating different things in food and having a wander. But I I don't think it's very happy where it is. Understandably, 'cause I have to say this isn't this pond is a shadow of its its previous self. It used to be beautiful and clean and it would have the the Hydra would have been well happy here. Is there like another lake? Is there a giant lake we can go drop it off to? I was gonna touch Roost and Cast Guidance and be like, is there anything in your memory banks of a giant lake? And see if you can do a history check for us. Hmm. Let me think. A giant leak. In the meantime, while they're conversing and checking, Margie is gonna run back to her chest. Uh-huh. Open it and start throwing things from it. She's looking for something. Okay. Go continue. Okay, love it. it's a ten again, another round ten. Did you add a D4? Fourteen. Nine. Fourteen. You would as you sort of running analytics of like the local map, maybe The two of you have been here for a week now, and maybe you haven't ventured much further than the perimeter of the lime trees around the grounds. You would remember in sort of almost being able to visualize a large bird's eye view, or this little owl view of the reserve. You know that about half a mile away in a sort of East direction is a very large body of water. And you do remember also with that history check that there did used to be a running stream connecting this tiny pond to a river that connected to that lake. But as you look around, it's so dry around this stagnant pond that any visible clue to that stream is buried by overgrown years old leaf litter and sticks and stones. I I remember Eastwater is the biggest body of water we've got here, so if we can get the Hydra there, I I think it will have plenty of room to swim around and get back to its normal size. But it might be a bit difficult to get it there. There used to be a connecting river, if I remember correctly, but it seems dried up from what I can see, so we might have to get him there a different way. Or her there. I c I can he really tell from from the position I'm in currently. S sounds sounds of running sounds of running. Margie Marseille is coming back towards them in her hands is carrying a large mound of what looks like crushed up sardines. Okay, okay And she runs to the edge of the pond, she kneels down and she holds her arms out. Can you roll me a animal handling check with advantage? The advantage coming from these very stanky sardines. stanky. Okay, first roll is a five. Okay. The then the waft of the scent of the sardines really kicks in and this hydra head just starts to turn. Second roll is a seventeen. Yeah. This small hydra at the smell of the sardines just lifts its good head and its little back tailed like a propeller and it sort of like grooves through the water and gets too close to the water's edge. And are you reaching its hand out so it can reach the sardines? I am at the edge. of the pond. There is risk of falling in. There is definitely risk. And I'm leaned over with my arms out into the pond. Can can Roost just like delicately grab onto the edge of Marj so she doesn't like a toddler. Fall in again. Like a toddler, yeah, you just very like he reaches it. It doesn't even ask. And I would like you to roll me a dexterity saving throw. You're not in risk of falling in, but there is now a row of very sharp teeth coming right towards your hand. Four. Four. It's four. It's four. Okay. You do feel sudden pain in your hand as this tiny Hydra head starts chomping at the sardines, and your hand is just like committed to giving this Hydra sardines that you do feel a few sort of like nibbles on your hand. I would like you to take your first one. One point of damage from this baby Hydra. This Hydra is chomping it down voraciously and seems very satisfied by what you have provided him or her. Those sardines must be nice and neat in your own head. Margie's like, probably. Cannibalism doesn't sound fun. Just a thought. No, but you'd be surprised at never mind, I digress. What? No! No! Okay. So you have this this Hydra has finished the portion of sardines, has another big burp, and starts to sort of shimmy its way back into the pond. Margie Marzi mentioned something about her luggage as in multiple bags or as in some form of containers. Yes, she has one giant chest, it's magically locked. She also has a suitcase. Okay. Martha's gonna try and get into the chest. No And realize that it's locked and then look at the suitcase and see if that's big enough to put the hydra in to transport it. nice yeah I I literally said to V, I'm gonna give you a magically locked chest because Holden will open it if it's not magically locked. I mean yeah obviously. But the suitcase I'm gonna say is not magic. Also, how is the moth in the hand, by the way? Still just chillin'? The moth, I think, is there until you find somewhere suitable to just place it down, but it's still like as long as your hand is being steady, it's still chillin'. Okay. You do find that the ch the suitcase has a number of I'm guessing this will be personal effects, Margie, of like clothes and All Moth is just gonna drag the suitcase in front of him and be like, Can we use this to transport the Hydra? Like, do you need all this stuff? I don't think you need all this stuff. Like you also have all that stuff. Like you don't need all this stuff, right? And starts like going to unzip it. Your only clean outfit available. Martha's gonna carefully stack it on top of the chest. When it's empty, Margie takes it from Holden's character. It's open. I guess she sets it like on the surface of the pot and she tilts it so that if something were to slither in, it could. So as Margie puts the suitcase in invitingly towards the Hydra, is it anything you try to do to get the Hydra's attention? Because it it is now currently back into its sort of habitual movement chasing its own tail. She's gonna make a clicking sound. Like you know how for cats you're like sort of like that. Nice. Give me an animal handling check please. make you fall in again, but I think as you're reaching out the suitcase, the Hydra is far more occupied and in fact I won't go into detail, but it looks like another head is forming so it is very distracted. Can I use my illusion to make it look like there's a new Hydra head forming in the suitcase? Let's do a performance check for the flair and artistic vision of your minor illusion to see how hard it is for the Hydra to resist a bit of lunch popping up. Well, that's a one, but I add five, but it's a one. As you go to cast the minor illusion, maybe even feeling that reluctance to even invite it to want to eat its own head, you're even a bit unsure in the casting, but at that exact moment. You realize that you'd have had a very patient the little owl has been eating blackberries from your hand this whole time like popcorn. And the little owl flies away back to Roost's head. Now your hand is an open invitation of blackberries. There is a flash of orange red. And almost seemingly from nowhere you hear a little like of tiny wings and a robin flies out, grabs a blackberry out of your hand, and flies over and lands on a bush nearby. And This I would imagine would take you by surprise, stops the spellcasting. You do see as well that your hand, while the the Robin probably took the last blackberry, there is also a a deposit of some droppings. It was the little owl or it was the robin, you're not quite sure. And as the robin lands on this berry bush, and as it perches itself watching you all, there is a sound of something knocking loose. Maybe it it knocked another berry or a bit of loose stone, and I you swear you hear a very distant plop a plop of water from beneath that blackberry bush. Can Roos go over to investigate this bush to see what the sound came? It's really just a rambling, overgrown assortment of brambles with blackberries all over, and as you get close, the robin will just like cock its head and then fly away somewhere, so it's the opposite side, maybe watching you from another blackberry bush. And you come close and you realize there is some ivy climbing up a very tall copper pole. Which is coming up through the bush. And if you were to pull away parts of the be the berry bush and parts of the ivy, you would uncover a very old stone well that has been buried by this berry bush. And subsequent ivy trailing up. And on top of the well, you can see down that there used to be a wooden hatch, but it's all rotted away. And coming up from the well are these sort of two bronze sort of poles that almost seem to have on top, maybe like a roof that the wells have. Marjorie Marseille, I think, is gonna take a look over and be like, wait, what are you doing? And she maybe gets up. drops the suitcase on the ground and starts shuffling over. Roost just goes, Well, there's a well. can he remember this being here? And then I think Roost peers down. into the well and then to see how deep it is I use again it's elementalism but I use beckon fire. It's not like a full flame but it's like little bits of ember or something. He sneezes out and they sort of fall down into the well w with the the aim to see how how far it goes down and and how deep it's I love it. Can we make it canon that it comes out of your what would be like nostrils could you sneeze it out. Yeah, yeah. There's again there's just one it's almost like a metal nose. It just goes Yeah. Like a bit of steam comes out. Like a spray. Two jets of like almost like you know when petrol is on fire it seems solid for a second. Yeah. And yeah, they sort of drop like little flame balls and they go down the well and you sort of watch them go down this black abyss of a dark shaft, but the flame lights up as it goes and you're able to like with your analytical vision see that it goes down about 20 feet, and then at the bottom you hear a ps where it lands in a in water. I hear the little ps. It is a well, yes. Well in that case, what if we put the water from the well in a suitcase and we clean water and it climbs in. Is there is there a bucket to the well, James? Well Well There isn't a bucket on the well because it seems to be basically just the stone foundation and everything else is either rotted away where it's wood. There's some very old bronze, like it's gone green tinted a little bit like Roost's own metallic makeup. But what I will say is as Roost is investigating the well. I would like cause he couldn't remember it. I would like to put that to a history check if you don't mind, Benj. Rolling. Ooh. I think he might remember this one. Eighteen. Eighteen. Okay. You suddenly, in a flash of vision, you see a hooded figure. Not a mysterious, like sinister hooded figure, but just like a a nondescript person in a in a almost like a monk's habit going to fetch water from the well, and above you do see where the bronze poles go up. There did used to be a sign above there, some sort of important sign, and the the gardeners would go and send a bucket down to the well and collect water, but you also know that within this well there is a water system that was Manipulated through a mixture of magic and a little bit of clever cunning crafted by the sentinels and the old gardeners to distribute water around the reserve, like a large irrigation system that would feed other areas that needed water. And you do remember now in this flash of vision that close by there was this beautiful thriving pond that had a running stream attached to it that would lead to the rivers that led to. The lake and the spring of that water came from within this well. I think you like as you said, this all comes as a flash to sort of Roost's mind. And then as he as as he's been leaning over the well, he suddenly juts back up and goes, hold on! It's all coming back to me. My favourite colour's grey, but there's some other things in there as well. And the well it's it's a system of waterways all connected underground. But the water i used to be higher. Hmm I think we might have to we might have to get down there somehow. I've not got a rope, but I've got a chin. And as he says that, he li he lifts one of his his hands up and then it just pops off. And then this this sort of spool of chain just sort of rolls out. The entirety of it just like spools at his feet and goes. If you're feeling brave, I wouldn't normally ask this of a a visitor, but I f I feel like we might need to get the water flowing to help out this Hydra. So if you're feeling up to it. We could get you down into the well, but you're gonna have to climb down this chain. With her hands on her hips, she looks at the roll of chain that's like spurted out onto the ground. She looks at Roost's where his eyes are. She looks at the chain again. She goes, Well, I'm already full of pawn, let's do it. Amazing, amazing. We're going what's it called? Splunk? I hate that splinking. What's it called we're I hate that word so much. Okay, so I would like to bring Moth into this moment of investigating the well. I think up until Roost explained the like irrigation system, Moth has been like, Why are you spending time on the well? Like it can't fit in there, so this is pointless. It's kind of just been looking at the blackberry bush where the Robin was and being like, Let's just get some more berries. I'm happy for you. If you started picking berries this whole time and like stashing berries in your pockets, I'm happy with that. Okay. But then if Margie Marzi wants a friend to go down with, then I can go down, I guess. It's up to you. I think Margie is Margie is currently like holding Roost's chain and slowly lowering it down the well so that it's not like a pff. As you're lowering the chain, like moth, are you nearby? Yeah, I'll go over and watch. I don't know that I have much faith in Majimazi, so I might go down and depending on how efficient it looks like it's going. As the chain is being lowered, all three of you can see the the sort of the darkness below down the well and the chain just lowering like link by link getting down until it's like you hear it sort of like splash into water and then hit the floor and you almost like feel this cold draft come up. So you do feel this airflow coming from the well and this sort of darkness and almost like this And then you hear another sound. And this sound is quite disturbing. You hear this. Here's slapping of moisture and crunching. And then you hear that was horrible. Almost, I'm glad it was. It was so meant to be. And then you hear a voice, and it seems to say something like, and now it's time for the crab legs. And you realize the voice and the and the slurping noises is actually coming from Margie's pocket. And Margie, your scry hone for a second. Had had gained a connection, and then you hear connection last, and it just goes silent again. I think Ruth just goes, what what was that? Nothing, nothing. That sounded horrible. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Let's Who are you keeping in your pocket? You're keeping a person in your pocket? Who is that? Nobody. People keep getting smaller and smaller. Last time I was awake, ev everyone was fully sized. You two are are small. The Hydra's small. Now there's an even smaller thing in your pocket. Maybe you're just big, maybe you're just Margie's just voluntarily launching herself down the well, holding onto the chains, like any going anywhere but being above with these two. Yes. Okay. Margie starts absailing down the well. I am gonna put it to a check. Let's do an acrobatics check. Can Roos like sturdy himself in some way to try and give like some advantage to Margie as she goes down? 100%. Yeah, you sort of like if I really plant my feet in the channel. I reckon that your feet almost have like Little tripod attachments that stab into the ground. it's the sort of thing where now you're completely stationary, nothing could shake you. So you have an advantage, V. It's a 13. 13. I would say you're able to start confidently descending, even though Roost's voice sounds alarmed, his physical being is very still and stationary as you just as you start cautiously descending down this dark well. I'm gonna watch. Margie Mazie climbing down and then I'm gonna turn to Roost and be like, we can't trust someone who lies about having someone else in their pocket, right? I well, I'm out of predicament here, cause she's a visitor. And I've gotta I've gotta be polite and welcoming to visitors. You can be polite and welcoming and absolutely not trust them. No, I I'm I'm I'm slightly confused about the weird talking person thing she's got in her pocket. So let's get I may I mean she seemed eager to help out with the well, so let's see how it goes and then we'll Yeah but why we'll we'll ask him about that later. Dunno, that that staff thing she had the laser and the the whatever else. But Okay right now I'm just trying to make sure she doesn't fall and break her legs 'cause that wouldn't be very good. Can you take the weight of of both of us? Can I climb down at the same time? I should think so. Boom. Unless my om omniscient dungeon master says otherwise. I I think so, yes. These two small beings, it'll certainly be very safe. You're still as concrete at the moment, I would say. Then yes. Nah I can support you both, but be careful. 'Cause I can't fit down the well after you if you fall. I would say at the moment, so as to not limit you to be above the well for this investigation, I did have the idea that your your vision lenses, almost like goggles, can detach And have them be like a wireless link. But the range is thirty feet, so wherever the chain can go, your eyes can go. I feel like I've only got one lens. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like one one of them's just completely hollow. Whatever lens was there is now gone. And then the other one's got like a little lens that sort of goes up. So I think that one just like pops out. And then as Baji and Mother like sort of splunking as they're going down on the on the chain, I think just like above them without any warning comes This little eye lens thing that belongs to Roost that's just there to have a little look. As we're going down, I'm gonna invite Little Buddy to come out and play, even though you know it's sleep time. Well the darkness makes it sort of like I always imagine it to be sort of like hidden amongst your long coat, almost like a backpack. This little lantern comes floating up by moth's shoulder and flicks once and twice, and then a big light comes on as it sort of comes round to wake up and this floating lantern illuminates the whole shaft and Margie by this point you're probably very close to the bottom of the well and all of a sudden it's fully lit up. You can see the water beneath your feet. So it's an aiding light. But it sort of does float towards Moth and Cockett's lantern face, as if questioning why on earth you're suddenly down a well shaft. Margie Marzi is gonna look up above her and be like, Who Why didn't you use that earlier? We didn't need it earlier. And at your exclamation, the the lantern sort of shines its light down at Margie like a spotlight and then comes flying down to you and gets like really in your face. You're just like blinded by this bright interrogation light and it's just like vibrating. Margie is like squinting really hard at it. She's like, what? The the lantern just starts revolving around you like as if doing a full body analytics, shining a light at you and then starts doing like the flashing light as if to say there's an emergency. Buddy, buddy, buddy, it's fine. She's she's an audience member. And that that the flashing stops and it gets a lot dimmer, a lot warmer, and then the lantern just starts bobbing gently, almost like a little dance. It just sort of starts this nice swaying to create this much, much warmer light and is no longer as intense. There she does a little hop and there's a little splash of water as she gets to the bottom. She's like great and full of Whatever's down here. Cool. What do I do next? Behind you there is a tunnel that seems open where this shallow water seems to be flowing down, and this tunnel seems to go on and on and on. And in fact, as you're looking down it, the floating lantern seems to like float towards the entrance to this tunnel, and you can just see the light stretching almost an endless distance, almost until maybe you see it turn at an angle at a certain point. But opposite that is another tunnel opening, but this one isn't open. This one is very, very blocked with a whole assortment of debris and muck and branches, and even you see what looks to be like some sort of mushrooms. I am gonna say as well, for the second time today, Margie, you feel as though you are being watched. Can you roll me a perception check, please? Yeah, I can roll a perception check for you. I'm scared, I'm scared. I got a 14. Okay. Plus one. Fifteen. Lovely. You feel like you're being watched down here and unlike before, you look directly at what is looking at you because as you look at the blockage, you see the being in front of you is some sort of gas spore. That has an eyeball in the center, and as you see it watching you, you notice that the blockage is littered with fungus and mushrooms. Like there's a purple one, there's there's one that's got like a really big caps that have like holes in the caps that almost look like tiny mouths. Margie is looking at all of these mushrooms and this gigantic eyeball, and she says, guys. an aside that this is a creature I think. I don't think that we should crush it from the top of the well. Obviously Rooster's eye is or one of his eyes is is down there. and then just from the top you hear. Yeah I don't remember this being here last time I was down so it's it's a new addition. But I agree we we probably shouldn't crush it. Do you think it can talk hello? Hello? The eyeball just blinks once. Boing if you can understand me. I think you have to give it more direction than that. Boing if you Tell it to blink once for yes and blink twice for no. Links twice. I'm not sure this method is working. As Marji started shouting, making a very loud noise, there You actually see and hear that a very loud noise answers you, and you see that the mushroom caps that have the small holes on it, the holes start to open up wide, and you hear this shrieking sound, and it's ear piercing, and it's coming from several of these mushrooms on this blockage, and it is screeching out really loud, it's deafening. Only roost above the well can sort of manage it because that's where his audio receptors are. But for moth and for Margie, it's overwhelming. Overwhelmingly loud, and eventually it dissipates down again, and in the silence that follows, you do hear from down the opposite corridor, far down to the elbow where it seems to go off somewhere else, you do hear a splashing sound and a low moan. Sort of a And it echoes down towards you and it does sound like the ship Hi everyone, I hope you're enjoying the episode so far. I just wanted to take a quick moment to tell you about why we're making hedgerows and hatchlings. Six months from now, I'll be running the London Marathon, raising money for the Motor Neuron Disease Association, a cause very close to my family. Every day, six people are diagnosed with MD in the UK. The MD Association provides support for people living with the disease and their families as they face an incredibly difficult and frightening time. Through natural plenty, we wanted to. Create something fun and wholesome to share alongside my fundraising. A little adventure each week, some joy, and an opportunity to bring people together to help others. If you're enjoying the show and you're able to contribute, please consider donating through my just giving page. You'll find the link in the show notes. Any amount would be hugely appreciated. Also, if you'd like to join our Natural Plenty Discord community, please choose to share your email address with me when donating so you can receive. Receive an invite. Thank you so much for listening and for supporting us. Now it's time to jump back in that well. Margie has covered her ears. It's like, hey, hey, shh, no, it's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. No, it's okay. It's really okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shouted at you. It's fine. I'm sorry. Can you just roll me like an animal handling check to see how how carefully and quietly you can appease these mushrooms? I got a four. Amazing. It is the number of the game with that four as you're trying to calm it down. The central round-looking sort of fungus that has an Eyeball on it actually puffs out a cloud of smoke towards you. This like sickly purple looking gas which doesn't hit moth, but it does hit Marji full in the face. I need you to roll me a constitution saving throw. So you need to roll me a constitution Are you joking? you take one poison damage and you now technically have Contracted a disease. so you do you do feel that this spore does get into your throat and you do feel a bit woozy. what a day. Yeah, what a day for Margie. From the from the top of the well, you just hear Roos shout retroactively, I th I think, just before this happens, he goes, Be careful, don't breathe in any weird spores while you're down there. Goodness knows what kind of odd things have been brewing down there. She screams back up As you're screaming, the mushroom with the mouth starts shrieking again. After it settles, you do hear some movement coming down the other end of the corridor as something seems to be approaching. Is there anything you'd like to do, Moth? I'm sure that's fine. Does the mushroom thing look stuck or like it's purposefully grown in the tunnel? I would like you to roll me a nature check or an investigation check, please. Okay. Sixteens. that's good. As the shrieking is still ringing in your ears, you can see that the three different types of mushrooms are all connected over this blockage. You can see there seems to be like one central rectangle piece of debris that has got caught almost like perfectly in the tunnel opening and then like muck and grime and branches are filled in the gaps to really like cake in this blockage. But you can see that all three of the mushrooms all have these very faint white roots coming from them. All the leaf litter and organic matter that has built up around this blockage, the roots are growing into that and around it and I'm gonna say that with this investigation check, you remember once your mentor explaining to you that sometimes it is worth talking to things like mushrooms and learning about the ground because they share what is known as a mycelium network. And these white roots that you see is called hyphae. And the hyphae connect to one another and they can communicate to one another. And so Because they're all connected, they have so much information about trees and the ground and the worm life, and your mentor would sometimes say that he could learn more from mushrooms than the wisest scholars. That comes to you and the thing that is relevant in this situation is that all of these mushrooms are intricately woven and therefore separating them one by one will be difficult, but separating it as one whole mass is possible. But as you have witnessed, these mushrooms don't like too much jostling around because they have means of presenting defensive mechanisms. Okay, I'm gonna use disguise cell. Love it. To make myself look like I'm covered in mushrooms. Like I'm I'm one of them, but like my character's shape, but as like mushrooms. my gosh, I love that. And then I'm gonna try and convince the mushrooms to withdraw from the outer sides and keep themselves whole so that we can lift them out of the well. I would like you to give me in this form a persuasion check with advantage. nice! eighteen. eighteen. You seem to be able to convey the notion of retracting some of its outer roots and keep contained to the main sort of central piece that it is clung to. And you do see a small bit of shifting movement on the fringes of the blockage where these threads seem to just like nestle and tighten in and sort of like retract slightly. And everything it actually almost seems to compress itself a bit smaller. And you do also see the purple. Capped mushrooms. Underneath their caps, you see tiny movement, and you see these green-backed tiny beetles that have these shimmering green wings and these orange heads. And there seems to be dozens of them living amongst the purple mushrooms. And also finding places to hide amongst bits of wood that have been added into whatever has blocked this thing. Can I yell up to Roost and be like, hey Roost, do we have a compost area that these guys can we can move these guys to? I'm sure we do somewhere. Yeah, I As you shout, the the shrieking mushroom just starts shrieking at you again. No no no and as as the shrieking continues you you hear this mmm and round the corner down behind you you hear these psh of these footsteps and you turn around to see cloven hooves and long ridged horns as this bulky looking bison type. being starts coming round the corner. It's got a moppy fringe of like moss covered hair covering its eyes. It's got his long horns and it starts walking towards you, just so you know. Because the shrieking is caught as Woody, what are you doing here? Who is that? What are you? As it comes towards you Margie, it's immediately tries to eat some of your clothing and will take a bite out of It will just munch at w like you say you're wearing a waistcoat, it like takes a big corner of your waistcoat off. I think Margie at this point is she's like, fine. She takes off her orange jacket, she keeps the tattered waistcoat, and she holds the orange jacket out. She's like, here, you want it? Take it, eat it, whatever. This It's over. This being which I'm gonna lovingly call a cave cow starts munching happily at the jacket. It's not been Margie's day, really, has it? what does the rest of you wanna do now that you have this newcomer? From from my my little eye down there, do I know what it is? Will I will I recognise it as a cave cow or yeah, good a good point, give me a nature check please. Nature one. It's a cave cow. Yeah. It's a cave. but I would say with that with that natural one you do you do see that Rooster's likely got a log of every animal and monster and creature that he has ever encountered or might encounter, this thing doesn't exist. And maybe for the first time since you've been awake. This entity here that doesn't read as something that you can understand is maybe the most terrifying thing you have ever encountered thus far. So I've just panicked at being like it's a cave cow. Does the cave cow look stressed, or does it look like they just kinda wandered in here from somewhere else? It definitely looks like it wandered in here from somewhere else and After it's finished eating the jacket, it does seem to start eyeing up the fungus shape that is moss. So so maybe we can tie the cave cow to the piece of wood and get it to drag the giant fungus ball out of here? Is the cave cow gonna eat it? N no. How do you know? Cause I don't think they eat mushrooms. Okay. As as you say that, it starts like it starts looking towards you moth and then almost licking its lips it starts to walk towards you. A sure 'cause I feel like it might want It's probably just the blackberries that I have and I I hold out a hand for the blackberries. It definitely a big tongue comes out and y it's you feel its wet nose on your hand and it takes it takes the blackberries and starts eating the blackberries. Yeah, see it's just the blackberries. I would say as well, floating lantern has just come between you and the cave cow just to be like, just to check it's okay. And as it does, the cave cowl noticeably winces at the bright light and sort of ties away a bit. So your cave cow is gonna stay in the cave? Margie's like, yeah, I'm gonna use this waistcoat. She's taking the waistcoat, she ties it around the cave cow as a harness. She then gets into her backpack, pulls out A string of short but thick rope. Not enough so that she could have gotten down the well, but enough that she can tie this to the harness and then to the mushroom formation. And she's like, well, that should do something. Yeah, I'll I'll start walking with the black breeze, like bringing more out down the other tunnel. so you're gonna get ahead of the cave cow and lure it with the blackberries. Yeah. I love it. As you do go to move, the the floating lantern just follows you. The cave cow does flinch as the floating lantern comes in front of his face. Is it's just another audience member. It's just another audience. And at that the floating lantern looks between you all and then hovers slightly up the well shaft to give you more room lighting rather than blinding light. And the cave cow is much more comfortable following you. For this luring, and because the cave cow is gonna soon start to feel resistance from the rope attached to the plump, as the resistance comes, I would like you to roll me an animal handling check to continue to enti entice the cave cow forwards. And also Margi, while this is happening Is there anything that you're doing to support the clump coming out of its position? I kinda wanna like nudge it a little and see if I can do that. Cause I've already contracted the spores. So feel like there's feeling nothing else. Nothing else will happen to me if I sort of like nudge it a little. Preemptively from above can Roos be racking his brain to see if he knows any remedies for mushroom related spore illnesses. Ooh, very good. Yes. You can definitely give me a medicine check. on on that. Okay. twelve? I'm gonna tell you this, just to add to the stakes. You know this with a twelve. And I'm gonna read it verbatim. Okay. So spores invade an infected creature system, which is Margi. This will kill the creature in a number of hours equal to one D12 plus the creature's constitution score, unless the disease is removed. So because you have that information, Benj, I'm gonna invite you to roll me a D12 to tell us how long Margi has before this disease kills her. god, okay. Fingers crossed everyone. Whatever this is plus one is how many hours Margi will live. That's one. two. You've got two. So two hours. Unbeknownst to mo to Margie. Somehow Rooster has just been doing the calculation. The the this calculation's going up on Rooster's head and goes just internally to himself, he just goes no. First visitor we've had in in ages and I I can't have a no, I can't have anyone popping their clogs. When everyone comes back I'll be I'll be in big trouble. He keeps that to himself for the time be. Well actually no. He keeps acknowledging himself and then just da because if I shout it doesn't I'm far enough away that it doesn't scream doesn't. Correct, correct. I just go. just maybe Get your skirts on! If you just hurry up. I I I think it might be best if we get this moving quicker than we are. Okay. I would like Holden your first animal handling check, please. yeah. I'm gonna use guidance as well this time. The stakes couldn't be higher. Eighteen. Eighteen! That's great. As you entice the cave cow forward with the blackberries, it recognizes the resistance as the rope goes a bit taut, as the tension starts to build where it's pulling the clump. And you are managed to convince the cave cow that it is worth the physical strain for these blackberries. I'm now gonna hand over to Margie. Slingshot out of my pocket. It's teeny, it's handmade. It's like a 10-year-old child made this slingshot. I'm gonna just try to get the part of the mushroom formation that is on its like tightest corner but is connected to s as many of the pieces as possible so that if it does let loose, then a lot of it will kind of like go pssh. Nice. So you're just trying to create a breakage where it's just gonna ease the ease it come through. And I will pepper in the fact that I feel a little bit faint. yeah. You're definitely getting woozy at this point. yeah, so I rolled a one. Holden's the only one that's been rolling well today. I rolled a one. So what's gonna happen is you're gonna aim with all the best intention in the world this slingshot. And you know that you can do this in such a way that is delicate that even though it seems like you're attacking the mushroom, you know that when you release there is a bit of magical gust that sort of disperses some force through air and through gently sort of massaging bits away. It's very, very delicate what you're doing, and you're an expert at this. You've used this slingshot for no end of means. However Mm-hmm. The protective mushroom doesn't know this, so as you go to attack it, the violet fungus, which is housing the beetles, does actually make an attack. I'm gonna do an attack roll. That's fun for me. I rolled a 15, which I'm guessing is gonna beat you AC. That was actually a multi-attack. This this violet fungus, twice these two little tentacles come out from the purple caps, which are protecting these little beetles. And I'm gonna roll a d8 of damage. You're level one, so. god. A level one wizard? A level one level one wizard. It's three damage. Three necrotic damage. Are you still alive? Am I, James? Well I think you took one damage from the Hydra, one damage from the Gaspor, three you're on two hit points. Do I die, James? So at zero you go unconscious, and then what that would Welcome to Dungeons and Dragons. If I get two points more, I go unconsciously. Correct. I have a question about the poison. Yeah. As time passes, does it increase and I get hit points sooner? the poison won't add hit points. It just means that in two hours, if you haven't been cured, you will die. Yeah, well, we have 26 weeks to do this. so you better cure me or else. backup characters everybody for our nice wholesome family game. Whilst this is all going on down in the well. Roost in his internal robot mind has a clock that's now just taken down. That's like Bargie's life span. And I think he just he he whispers, I I cast spook the animals, little brown owl. And I'm keeping it quiet so no one can hear, besides me and the owl and I'm like, L little brown owl, d I I don't suppose you or your other owl friends Or or avian friends know anything about mushrooms, like have you have you ever eaten a dodgy mushroom and needed to feel a bit better afterwards? Cause I might need to if you do listen, you do this favor for me, like I'll do a favour for you. I'll I'll I'll make your nest nicer than it already is. Whatever you want is on the table, but I just need to figure out how to deal with, let's say hypothetically, someone being poisoned by mushroom spores. Roll me a persuasion check, please. Ho ho ho ho 17. Lovely. Okay. The owl conveys to you almost like it taps on your skull several times, which you're used to. It's usually its way of expressing its annoyance. But this time. your brain shakes about a bit and the disparity between your seeing eye above ground and your seeing eye below ground, there's a blurred vision of owls looking after one another and one being a bit woozy and a bit poorly from eating a mushroom and then another one gathering together some fluid that forms underneath another mushroom and It's a purple mushroom that has tiny little beetles scurrying around and the beetles leave in its wake a little secretion that's like basically its droppings and it's gathered together, taken to the sickly owl, seems to help it come to and cure the disease. Is it so sorry, is it's the beetle droppings? Yeah, the beetle droppings. Roosevelt just cools down. just a quickie. Just a quickie down there. hope all is going well. I'd I'll just say maybe th those little purple mushrooms with the beetles, if you save one of them and and one of the little beetle droppings that are on then that that might make you feel a bit better, Margie. You've just gotta you've gotta trust me on this one, like. You just gotta trust me before you open that and the water gets flowing, have have a nibble of one of them mushrooms. But you gotta make sure. that a beetle has gone to the loo on it. And if it has, then you'll be safe. But I think that'll make you feel better. Anyway, all the best. She takes a timid step towards the mushrooms who she's attacked like three times now. And she goes, Can I just have can I just have one those? Can I just have one of those? One of you. Can I eat one of you? Just for fun. Please. And I'm just gonna cut back to hold on for a second. While the cave cow has limited attention span, it's gonna need another animal handling check to keep it. Engaged in this blackberry race. The sort of carrot ahead of the face. 16. Amazing. Just for a bit of flavour. How do you manage to convince this cave cow that the work is worth these blackberries? Because it's it's like now having to push a little bit harder. I think I'm gonna ask Little Buddy to go down behind the cave cow so it's brighter. Behind so it's also coming away from the light as well as towards the blackberries. Okay, that's perfect. So as you change the ambient lighting, the cave cow just like all of a sudden feels even more comfortable and it knows that it's happy place is a dark, wet, moist tunnel with blackberries, and it goes towards you. And as you're asking Margie if you can eat one of the purple mushrooms, a purple mushroom propels towards you as this final comes the whole thing is. Pushed towards you as this huge clump of mushrooms comes falling forward, and the lantern is there just in time. It rushes towards the blockage to stop it falling face forward into the water. And you recognize now that all of the mushrooms are tangled and tied, or rather, rooted around a large, what looks to be like a steel plate. It's like a large sort of sheet metal that now that is sort of clanging against the stone of the tunnel. But that you have dislodged the piece that had basically all of the mushrooms on it. The lantern is sort of holding it up so it doesn't just like face plant into the water. I've getting catch the mushroom that has spurted out towards me. I'm gonna catch it in my mouth. I'm gonna swallow it whole. I'm gonna gag. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna I'm not gonna evacuate though. I'm gonna go towards the second sheet metal and James is can I do a I'm gonna take my slingshot and I'm gonna do the same thing but with maybe without sentient mushrooms so hopefully it will work this time. I'm gonna sling at the corner of the sheet metal and I'm gonna roll high. I'm gonna roll high. I'm not gonna roll You rolled a four plus five nine. Okay, hey, listen. This is the magic four has helped you because As you shoot and you you miss the corner of the sheet, nothing bad happens, but you realize as you shoot that the lantern sort of flicks its light back at you and it's like straining under the pressure of this like sheet metal covered in mushrooms, falling onto it, and it's sort of turning its light towards you, asking for help, because also you recognize that if you knock the sheet metal behind it, there is gonna be nothing stopping a torrent of water cascading through. Grab the chin, grab the chin. I'm turning around. Box name yet. Nice. Grab the chain, you're gonna go up. But but what about the cow? Cows can swim. Absolutely cattle up. Holden, do you want to do a nature check on the cave cow to see if you know anything more about it? nineteen. Brilliant. So you know this to be a Rothe. This is an underdark cattle. I don't know whether Moth does know anything about the Underdark, but it tells you that essentially The tunnels that are connected to the well that is outside the lodge is connected to the underdark. and it's come up for some water, but it can go back down and is likely gonna enter a space that it will continue to so just to make that clear that you don't have to worry about the rotate going off if the tunnels are about to flood. Okay. Margie is gonna look up the well. Think about it. Okay, so what if we what if we what if mm-hmm So what if we tie the mushrooms to the chain? To the chain? Yeah. And then go. And yeah. Okay. I'm in. Yeah. So I take the I untie the mushrooms from the cow, I tie the harness onto the chain instead. The roost just very like slowly and delicately starts retracting the chain, so it's just is coming back up the well. Then I think just eventually it sort of gets to the top, gets a little bit stuck, and it just gives like a final tug of the chain, and then it all sort of just goes like goes over the side of the well. Ow. Yeah. Mission success. Perfect. So the mushrooms and the clump are safely above ground on the side. So down below, all you have remaining is the sheet metal that doesn't have mushrooms on it, which is still blocking the water flow. Roost lowers the chain back down, so it's back at the bottom of the well in case anyone needs to escape. Wait, but I know. Margie Margie's like, okay. Do you trust smear? No. That's why I'm here. Do you trust Roost? Kinda. Kinda? What what do you mean, kinda? Will you get on the chain? Okay. Okay, get on the chain. Okay, I'm gonna hold it like at the base. I'm gonna take more string out of my backpack. I'm gonna s tie it to like a little like mmm to a part of the sheet metal. I'm gonna hold the other end of it. And then I'm gonna hold the chain with my other hand. I'm gonna be like, okay. When you pull me up, this string is gonna pull the sheet metal out. Water is going to gush out. We have to go up very quickly. Do you understand? Yeah, I'm also gonna hold on to Margie Marzi, because I don't trust that she's gonna hold on strong enough. She's like, I'm gonna count to three, and then Roose, you're gonna pull us up. One, two, three. Three. And the chain links just start At such a speed and the velocity of it pulls the both of you up, but you have to hold on tight, and the force of it coming up, tension you feel in your hand, Margie, as the string goes tall. I'm gonna have to ask you to like roll me like essentially a strength check to see if you can hold on to it. Thirteen plus what was yours? Okay. I'm giving guidance because I'm holding on to her because I didn't think she was strong enough anyway. I love it. Is that a D4? Yeah, a D4. Okay, I a sixteen. As a sixteen, you You are able to keep hold of it, and as the firm string that you have attached to the sheet metal, it pulls it out. Water starts cascading through. It pushes the sheet metal through. The sheet metal almost goes to the opposite end of the other tunnel, the other open tunnel, and might get lodged. But as it does, your string goes tight and you're able to hold it, and with all your might and with moth holding that extra grip. The two of you can hold on to the weight of the sheet metal as the chain is taking you up the well shaft and the two of you holding on tight and the floating lantern is going above you, creating this light, and Roost's little eye is catching up to make sure it doesn't get caught by the water that's starting to fill the bottom tunnels and start to fill the well and is literally splashing at your feet as you're going up. And you have this sheet metal coming all the way up as you get to the top. You both are launched out over the top of the well and land on the ground. The sheet metal comes up over you and smacks on the ground to your side. And you're both just lying there on your backs as the water level rises to the top and you hear all sorts of gurgling and splashing and you hear trickling water. Trickling water for the first time around you. As the water returns to the surface around the stagnant pond, you see grooves in the ground start to flow with a current of water, revealing a very shallow stream connecting water from this well spring, and water starts to fill the pond. But as you're lying there, is there anything you want to do or say to each other as you're lying there, just like panting hard probably. Margie is gonna be like So, what's your name? I'm gonna be like you're a really troublesome visitor. And my name's Moss, by the way. good, thanks. Cool. Did it. As the water starts filling the pond close by, you can see the little hydra starts to test out the new current, and instead of swimming in circles, the little hydra starts to swim in the direction of a small stream, which seems to guide it away from the pond. I think he's happy. We just let him go. Then he's just a little baby. But Margie's gonna be like Stay here for a bit. I just wanna make sure. I mean, maybe just while you dry out. I'm a professional hydro car. That sounds like a fake job. I could help you. Can I do an insight check? Cause that sounds fake. You can do an insight check, yeah. I only got an eleven, so. Roost wanders over to sort of the the sheet metal that that's now been released and sort of just picks it up. His gears are turning and and trying to put these pieces together because it's it's something he feels he should know. but I think it's also something he realizes that this feels like a similar kind of material to what he's made of, but it's not all clear in his mind at the moment of of sort of why that is or where everyone else is. There's a there's a lot of gaps in in his mind. Not just the cave cow. I think there's, you know, there's there's other things. sadder things that he can't really fully remember. But I think he he sort of reaches out and just grabs hold of the the metal pole and the well and just sort of leans against it. And you feel a little spark and there's almost like an electric shock running through your body. And all of a sudden you're back to where you were earlier that day in the memory of the running stream and the well being used and that hooded figure that is Gathering water from the well with a bucket, with his back to you, you actually hear him speak to you. Well. My friend, I'm glad you're here on this day. The reserves open finally a place for anyone to come to to seek some refuge, spend time amongst nature help us tend to the reserve And he's looking up above the well, and you can see these metal poles that are not rusted or covered in grime and overgrown, this newly erected sign that you see is the equivalent of the two sheet metal placed together. But in this flashback, you can actually see some words that clearly say a large welcome and let it be known. Anyone who comes to this reserve is welcome, and we may tend to them as we do the creatures and plants that inhabit it. And as you look up at the sign, you do kind of see that where it says welcome, there is also like a distinct name of what the reserve is called. But this is where like the memory sort of shudders a bit for the time being. The name is the bit that in reality is currently covered in mushrooms. So it's completely obscured. It's like the reality seeping through. Yeah. I think Roos knows that it's not he he's not in like the present moment. But I think he goes to speak but can't find the words. There's almost like an error or a lag kind of thing. And I think just sort of the memory fades. quite somber. No no. He just says wait, wait, what one more important thing One more important thing that I want you to always remember because you'll likely outlive me and everyone else here because you're a a sentinel that never mind, I don't have to go into details. Listen, this sign. I need the details. I've lost the details. We don't want to burden your memory bank, but listen, this is very important. That sign is not just there to welcome visitors. There is an enchantment that uses this sign as some kind of beacon that can connect. To the skylines that carry all sorts of messages and signals all over so that anywhere, anytime, our reserve can be reached and found and connected with as many people who need it. I think again as as as the memory fades, I think Ruiz feels like he's got divine purpose in a way. Like he's he's been given a a focus again. And I think he just the words that are on the sheet metal that aren't obscured by sort of mushroom and moss and rust or whatever, I think he just sort of traces them with his finger and then just kind of to himself just goes, Welcome. And then your vision changes s drastically, and suddenly you're underneath the great canopy tree, and it's dark, and there's lightning in the sky, and the same hooded figure is by your side, and he places a hand on your shoulder, and he he turns to face you, and you just see this darkness through the hood, but you hear his voice say, No. I thought we had more time. And then you hear this low rumble, this And then you see right in front of you, almost no, coming through the hood, you see the face, this wet nose and mossy fringe and horns. Mmm and that's like the end of the vision. Ruby stumbles back and just like, No! Not the key of cow! Not the key of cow. And at at that moment Moth is still questioning Margie's statement that she is a Hydra expert, I believe it was. And as Roost is shaking from that brief moment, like for for Margie and Moth, no time has passed. This has happened in a flash of missions. But that sort of energy that has come from what we now know to be some sort of almost like a satellite essentially, from the metal on the well connecting to you and connecting to the sheet metal, this hum And this burst of energy vibrates out of you, and there's almost a tangible zap in the air that seems to strike through the ether and hit out at Margi's pocket. And Margi, a voice from your pocket starts to loudly exclaim. Little Miss Marzipan in Bakery Commotion. Margarita Marzipan spotted rescuing a winged roll. Connection last. Who is in your pocket? I'm like Nobody Nobody. It's up to you, Moth, how much you heard of that. I think it might serve some of your insight of eleven. But that's up to up to you to to play out. I think for moth it's enough to be clearly not a Hydra expert, but why you would lie about it is s is unclear at the moment. I've saved other creatures before. I can help you out with this one. You can see until you're dry that visitors can't stay overnight. Er That's not actually quite true, Moff. Company policy says we can't let any visitors leave if they're feeling a bit poorly. So you get to stay here until you feel a bit better. Fine. Cool. What's your chest? Can I can I look inside it? No. I'm gonna try opening it again. I'm gonna say that the the magical chest that is magically locked is still magically locked. I can't eat all of those mushrooms. Where do we put them? I was gonna say we could take them to the lodge because we've got that underground bit in the lodge. Show me the lodge! So we're gonna go to the lodge and I think we're gonna let Roost carry the mushrooms because I actually don't think either of us can probably carry them. Roost would carry it in both hands, and going towards the lodge is this beautiful horse chestnut tree that's like a very large golden leafed canopy, and around the trunk you first approach an outer ring of this like woven willow outhouse that is kind of like a horseshoe around the tree, which has like a front entrance that you can go. through and it's referred to as the living lodge because the woven willow is alive and growing and there's also other shrubs and ivy that sort of build together the structure of this lodge that kind of goes around in a semicircle around the tree. Ken do you have like what is this? Can I sit down? Can I lie down? Well this is this is the lodge. This is the inside. You can sit wherever you want. Roost and I sleep out in the tree though. You guys are really interesting. You guys are really interesting. Could I just offer that as a city girl, coming in here feeling very woozy and on two hit points and being shown that this is the best place to get some rest, as moth is like being like, ta-da! And it's just like this barren space where like the ground is just earth. There's no furniture and there are these like corridors that lead round and you can see beyond there's like a nice little open garden at the base of the tree, but it is like so basic there's no home comforts. She looks around, she looks into Moth's eyes. She goes, boy. And she just passes out onto the floor. Just like her all of her clothes are like soaked with mud and water. And she's just like, her legs are like tangled beneath her. She's like, ugh. That's brilliant. Good night. Fade to black. Roos is just staring at the collapsed little gnome in front of him. There's definitely like a warning going on in his head, like this isn't good and just goes no. Well we we better put her somewhere where she can rest. So he he sort of leans down. grabs her like a little kitten and just like goes over to the the west wing, has a look around, realises that f for a visitor it's pr is probably not a a sort of five star resort, but tries to find somewhere that there's like a bed of leaves and sort of a sort of quite a crude like pillow setup. I think Moth is gonna feel bad and is gonna give Margie the hammock for this evening. So that Margi can dry out a little bit. so you're gonna string up the the the hammock. Not like in a high tree, but just like Just in the willow. I see. nice. So you set up Margi in there and then is there anything moth you would like to do before your long rest? I think probably just climb up in the tree and be annoyed about it. Roost, is there anything that you would like to do before going into the evening? I think as Margie seems settled now, I think Roost wants to just double check on the Hydra to make sure that's that's all been resolved, sort of thing, just to himself. the last time you you saw it it it was travelling along the stream, so maybe you sort of walk maybe half a mile and plodding along you eventually come to this Great lake, this big opening where you can see on the water this tiny dark red glint of a of a small hydra happily swimming around the water, investigating its new vast habitat. I think Roost just feels for for the first time in a while feels like all is as it should be, and then it just it feels like a nice nostalgic sort of feeling. What I will leave this image with Roost is as you He's watching the Hydra. He does just see a little ripple in the water, and a tiny hand-sized head come up through the water, this little burgundy head, and these little eyes pop out and open for the first time, taking in this vast surrounding of this huge lake. And the larger head looks down at the little head. The two of them just look at one another and look out at their vast surroundings. taking in this new view that they've never quite seen before. And they just sit in the quiet and the serene. Much the same as Roost is taking in this tranquil setting. And then there's another little plop of water as another head comes out of the water just in front of them. But it's not Hydra head. It's like a little fish head just comes out and just looks as if greeting the Hydra. The two Hydra heads look at each other. They look at the fish. There's a big splash, then the Hydra heads start eating the fish. And you know, this Hydra's gonna be okay. And maybe the week passes with checking on the Hydra, checking on Marji, essentially taking care of these two occupants of the reserve that have both found and been welcomed into new habitats. And as the Attention to Margie starts to bring her around, and maybe there are days where she's in and out of consciousness, and Roosters by her bedside, giving her some of the antidote from the beetle droppings. finally there is a day from your viewpoint, Margie, morning comes, and you wake up to the sound of bird song. There's this beautiful dawn chorus, and light fills your eyes as Around you welcomes morning light through leaves and branches, and you feel yourself though in an unfamiliar position, you are quite comfortably lying in a hammock, and you do feel as though the physical discomfort of the gas spores and the potential disease does seem to be cleansed from your body. I will just take a moment to Taken all of the things that I'm experiencing like sensorally. And I think I've been living in a city for so long that I have not recalled or remembered the fact that when I was really, really young, I used to really enjoy the natural environment. And I think being in this space, there's a sort of like Lifting and freeing of something inside that I hadn't realized was locked up. And that's I think where I'll leave her. The trees there singing to the tune of a song. And the wind is gently ringing, the bell that brings the morning. Welcome up the dawn. Hedra's Natchlings is a natural planty production, edited by me, James Bradford Young, featuring Holden as Moth, Vivian Hunt as Marj Marzi, and Benjamin McMahon as Roost. The voice of the Robin. All about the dove. Red leaves are falling, the barn owl is calling, welcome off the dawn. Our theme song is Not Anymore by OTE featuring Sarah Pumphrey and our credit song is Welcome to the Dawn by Roy Williams, licensed through epidemic sound. The trees they're singing Tune of a song. Gently ringing, the bell that brings the morning. Welcome up the dawn. Thank you for visiting the old reserve. We hope you'll join us again next week.